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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/38399-8.txt b/38399-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..888ddf0 --- /dev/null +++ b/38399-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14948 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Harper's New Monthly Magazine Vol. IV, No. +19, Dec 1851, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Harper's New Monthly Magazine Vol. IV, No. 19, Dec 1851 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: December 24, 2011 [EBook #38399] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY *** + + + + +Produced by Judith Wirawan, David Kline, and The Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + HARPER'S + + NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. + + + VOLUME IV. + + DECEMBER, 1851, TO MAY, 1852. + + + NEW YORK: + + HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, + + 329 & 331 PEARL STREET, + + FRANKLIN SQUARE. + + 1852. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + + +The Fourth Volume of HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE is completed by the +issue of the present number. The Publishers embrace the opportunity of +renewing the expression of their thanks to the public and the press, for +the extraordinary degree of favor with which its successive Numbers have +been received. Although it has but just reached the close of its second +year, its regular circulation is believed to be at least twice as great +as that of any similar work ever issued in any part of the world. + +The Magazine will be continued in the same general style, and upon the +same plan, as heretofore. Its leading purpose is to furnish, at the +lowest price, and in the best form, the greatest possible amount of the +useful and entertaining literary productions of the present age. While +it is by no means indifferent to the highest departments of culture, it +seeks primarily to place before the great masses of the people, in every +section of the country, and in every walk of life, the most attractive +and instructive selections from the current literature of the day. No +degree of labor or expense will be spared upon any department. The most +gifted and popular authors of the country write constantly for its +pages; the pictorial illustrations by which every Number is embellished +are of the best style, and by the most distinguished artists; the +selections for its pages are made from the widest range and with the +greatest care; and nothing will be left undone, either in providing +material, or in its outward dress, which will tend in any degree to make +it more worthy the remarkable favor with which it has been received. + +The Magazine will contain regularly as hitherto: + +_First._--One or more original articles upon some topic of general +interest, written by some popular writer, and illustrated by from +fifteen to thirty wood engravings, executed in the highest style of art: + +_Second._--Copious selections from the current periodical literature of +the day, with tales of the most distinguished authors, such as DICKENS, +BULWER, LEVER, and others--chosen always for their literary merit, +popular interest, and general utility: + +_Third._--A Monthly Record of the events of the day, foreign and +domestic, prepared with care, and with entire freedom from prejudice and +partiality of every kind: + +_Fourth._--Critical Notices of the Books of the day, written with +ability, candor, and spirit, and designed to give the public a clear and +reliable estimate of the important works constantly issuing from the +press: + +_Fifth._--A Monthly Summary of European Intelligence concerning Books, +Authors, and whatever else has interest and importance for the +cultivated reader: + +_Sixth._--An Editor's Table, in which some of the leading topics of the +day will be discussed with ability and independence: + +_Seventh._--An Editor's Easy Chair, or Drawer, which will be devoted to +literary and general gossip, memoranda of the topics talked about in +social circles, graphic sketches of the most interesting minor matters +of the day, anecdotes of literary men, sentences of interest from papers +not worth reprinting at length, and generally an agreeable and +entertaining collection of literary miscellany. + +The Publishers trust that it is not necessary for them to reiterate +their assurances that nothing shall ever be admitted to the pages of the +Magazine in the slightest degree offensive to delicacy or to any moral +sentiment. They will seek steadily to exert upon the public a healthy +moral influence, and to improve the character, as well as please the +taste, of their readers. They will aim to make their Magazine the most +complete repertory of whatever is both useful and agreeable in the +current literary productions of the day. + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME IV. + + + Amalie de Bourblanc, the Lost Child 202 + American Arctic Expedition 11 + Anecdotes and Aphorisms 348 + Anecdotes of Leopards and Jaguars 227 + Anecdotes of Monkeys 464 + Artist's Sacrifice 624 + Ass of La Marca 354 + Benjamin Franklin. By JACOB ABBOTT 145, 289 + Bird-hunting Spider 78 + Black Eagle in a Bad Way 217 + Bleak House. By CHARLES DICKENS 649, 809 + Blighted Flowers 549 + Boston Tea-Party. By B. J. LOSSING 1 + Bow Window 50 + Brace of Blunders 540 + Chewing the Buyo 408 + Child's Toy 476 + Christmas as we grow Older. By CHARLES DICKENS 390 + Christmas in Company of John Doe. By CHARLES DICKENS 386 + Christmas in Germany 499 + Clara Corsini--a Tale of Naples 68 + Conspiracy of the Clocks 185 + Crime Detected 768 + Curious Page of Family History 351 + Curse of Gold--A Dream 335 + Czar of Russia at a Ball 828 + Difficulty 56 + Diligence in doing Good 781 + Dream of the Weary Heart 511 + + EDITOR'S DRAWER. + + Tailing on; The John Jones Party; How many Times did the + Hedge-pig mew? Touching the Tin, 134. The Deformed's Hope; + Looking out for Number One--Abroad and at Home; Leaves and Coats; + The Mathematical Monomaniac, 135. A puzzled Doctor, 136. A Text + for a Sermon; The entombed Racer; Cause and Effect; Vagaries of + the Insane, 268. Munchausenism; Love and Mammon; Professional + Enthusiasm, 269. Mind your P's and Q's; Sympathy thrown away; + Winter Duties, 270. Experiments in Flying; Affair of + Honor--almost, 271. Takin' Notes; Having One's Faculties; Great + Talkers, 421. Witnesses and Counsel--with an Example; Physiognomy + at Fault; Mercantile Drummers, 422. On Discontentment; + Omnipresence of the Deity; To Snuffers and Chewers; The French + and Death, 412. Rat and Owl Fight; Moralizing on Climbing a + greased Pole; Inquisitiveness, with an Instance thereof, 565. + Street Thoughts by a Surgeon; The Millionaire without a Sou; The + Deaf-and-Dumb Boy; Workers in Worsted, 566. Subscribing + Something; Bad Spelling; Lending Umbrellas, 567. Something about + Music; The Workhouse Clock, 568. Sweets in Paris; Something about + China, 569. Difference of Opinion; a Tale of other Times, 704. + Stealing Sermons; About Snuff; Laughter; Looking-glass + Reflections; Something from Sam Slick, 705. Turning the Tables: + Youthful Age; Fools and Madmen; Under Canvas, 706. Joking in + Letters; Welsh Card of Invitation; Chiffoniers in Paris, 707. + Harrowing Lines, 708. Eating cooked Rain; Patent Medicine Toast; + New Language of Flowers, 847. Song of the Turkey; Marks of + Affection; Tired of Nothing to do; Lame and impotent Conclusion, + 848. Orders is Orders; The Sleeping Child; Dickens's Denouements; + Statistical Fellows, 849. Keep your Receipts; Giving a Look; + About Dandies; Chawls Yellowplush on Lit'ry Men; Deep-blue + Stockings, 850. A Climax; Some Love-Verses; A Criminal + Curiosity-hunter; a Skate-vender on Thaws, 851. + + EDITOR'S EASY CHAIR. + + Kossuth; Louis Napoleon; A Workingman for President, 131. Musical + Chit-chat; Lumley and Rossini; America in the Exhibition, 132. A + very French Story of Love and Devotion; Another of Devotion and + Smuggling, 133. Kossuth and our Enthusiasm for him, 265. On Lola + Montez; Dumas and the French Censorship; Signor Braschi; Female + Stock-brokers; The consoled Disconsolates, 266. An Italian + Romance, 267. Louis Napoleon's Coup d'état; Kossuth Talk, 418. + Paris Gossip; Cavaignac and his Bride elect; The Lottery of Gold, + 419. Home Gossip; How Mr. Coper sold a horse, 420. The Hard + Winter; The Forrest Trial, 563. The French Usurpation; + President-making and Morals in the Metropolis; A Bit of Paris + Life; Legacies to Litterateurs, 564. Now; Close of the Carnival; + the Cooper Testimonial; Lectures; Exemplary Damages, 702. + Congressional Manners; The Maine Liquor Law; Reminiscence of + Maffit; French Writers, 703. The Chevalier's Stroke for a Wife, + 704. More about the Weather, 843. Sir John Franklin; Free Speech; + Lola in Boston; Jenny Goldschmidt, 844. Marriage Associations; + About Punch; Magisterial Beards; An equine Passport, 845. + Matrimonial Confidence; Dancing in the Beau Monde; Major M'Gowd's + Story, 846. + + EDITOR'S TABLE. + + Time and Space, 128. Testimony of Geology to the Supernatural, + 130. The Year, 262. The Pulpit and the Press, 265. The Value of + the Union, 415. The Seventh Census, 557. The Immensity of the + Universe, 562. The Spiritual Telegraph, 699. History the World's + Memory, 700. Mental Alchemy:--Credulity and Skepticism, 839. + + Episode of the Italian Revolution 771 + Esther Hammond's Wedding Day 520 + Eyes made to Order 91 + Fashionable Forger 231 + Fashions for December 143 + Fashions for January 287 + Fashions for February 431 + Fashions for March 575 + Fashions for April 719 + Fashions for May 863 + Forgotten Celebrity 778 + French Flower Girl 54 + Gold--What, and Where from 87 + Good Old Times in Paris 395 + Great Objects attained by Little Things 330 + Habits and Character of the Dog-Rib Indians 690 + Helen Corrie 391 + High Life in the Olden Time 254 + How Gunpowder is Made 643 + How Men Rise in the World 211 + Hunting the Alligator 668 + Impressions of England in 1851. By FREDRIKA BREMER 616 + Indian Pet 38 + Insane Philosopher 647 + Introduction of the Potato into France 622 + Keep Him Out 515 + Knights of the Cross. By CAROLINE CHESEBRO' 221 + Kossuth--A Biographical Sketch 40 + + LEAVES FROM PUNCH. + + Better Luck next Time; Doing one a Special Favor; Etymological + Inventions, 141. Off Point Judith; Singular Phenomenon; A Slight + Mistake; New Biographies, 142. Arrant Extortion; Mr. Booby in the + New Costume, 285. A Bloomer in Leap Year; Strong-minded Bloomer, + 286. A Horrible Business; Rather too much of a Good Thing, 429. + Mrs. Baker's Pet, 430. Signs of the Times; France is Tranquil, + 573. The Road to Ruin; New Street-sweeping Machines, 574. Going + to Cover, 173. Revolution on Bayonets; Thoughts on French + Affairs; Early Publication in Paris, 714. Scene from the + President's Progress, 715. Touching Sympathy; Sound Advice, 716. + Effects of a Strike, 717. Perfect Identification; Calling the + Police; The Seven Wonders of a Young Lady, 718. Butcher Boys of + the Upper Ten, 857. The Inquisitive Omnibus Driver; The Flunky's + Idea of Beauty, 858. A Competent Adviser; Scrupulous Regard for + Truth, 859. Awful Effects of an Eye-glass; Penalties; Rather + Severe, 860. What I heard about Myself in the Exhibition; The + Peer on the Press, 861. The Interior of a French Court of Justice + in 1851, 862. + + Legend of the Lost Well 47 + Legend of the Weeping Chamber 358 + Life and Death. By the Author of _Alton Locke_ 216 + + LITERARY NOTICES. + + BOOKS NOTICED. + + Melville's Moby Dick; Putnam's Hand-books; Rural Homes; + Hawthorne's Wonder-Book, 137. Greeley's Glances at Europe; + Stoddard's Poems; Neander on Philippians; Heavenly Recognition; + Lindsay and Blackiston's Gift-Books; Bishop McIlvaine's Charge, + 138. Taylor's Wesley and Methodism, 272. Boyd's Young's Night + Thoughts; Mrs. Lee's Florence; Words in Earnest; Herbert's + Captains of the Old World; Ida Pfeiffer's Voyage Round the World, + 273. Reveries of a Bachelor; James's Aims and Obstacles; Simm's + Norman Maurice; Richard's Claims of Science; Greenwood Leaves; + Winter in Spitzbergen; Dream-land by Daylight, 274. Memoir of + Mary Lyon; Woods's Sixteen Months at the Gold Diggings; + Wainwright's Land of Bondage; Mrs. Kirkland's Evening Book; The + Tutor's Ward; Thompson's Hints to Employers, 275. Layard's + Nineveh; Saunders's Great Metropolis; Ik. Marvel's Dream-life; + Florence Sackville; Clovernook, 424. Salander and the Dragon; + Spring's First Woman; Edwards's Select Poetry; Sovereigns of the + Bible; Hawthorne's Snow Image; Summerfield; The Podesta's + Daughter; Ross's What I saw in New York; Curtis's Western + Portraiture; Stephen's Lectures on the History of France, 425. + Chambers's Life and Works of Burns, 569. Abbott's Corner Stone; + Browne's History of Classical Literature; Dickson's Life, Sleep, + and Pain; Head's Faggot of French Sticks; Hudson's Shakspeare; + Simmon's Greek Girl; House on the Rock; Companions of my + Solitude; Wright's Sorcery and Magic; Ravenscliffe; Mitford's + Recollections of a Literary Life, 570. Memoirs of Margaret Fuller + Ossoli; Edwards's Charity and its Fruits, 708. Richardson's + Arctic Searching Expedition; Bonynge's Future Wealth of America; + Copland's Dictionary of Medicine; Cheever's Reel in the Bottle; + The Head of the Family; Neander's Exposition of James; Men and + Women of the Eighteenth Century; Bon Gaultier's Book of Ballads; + Walker's Rhyming Dictionary, 709. Stiles's Austria in 1848-49, + 852. Forester's Field Sports; Simms's Golden Christmas; + Falkenburg; Isa; The Howadji in Syria, 853. Stuart's Commentary + on Proverbs; Parker's Story of a Soul; Arthur and Carpenter's + Cabinet Histories; Mosheim's Christianity before Constantine; + Pulszky's Tales and Traditions of Hungary; Aytoun's Lays of the + Scottish Cavaliers; Barnes's Notes on Revelation, 854. Kirwan's + Romanism at Home, 855. + + PERSONAL AND LITERARY INTELLIGENCE. + + Hawthorne; _Literary Gazette_ on Hitchcock; The _News_ on + Vestiges of Civilization; Westminster Review; New Works + announced; Assyrian Sculptures; Pension to Reid; Christopher + North; Map of France; Manuscripts of Lalande; Dumas's Memoirs, + 139. Documents on the Thirty Years' War; Douglas Jerrold's Works, + 275. Lady Bulwer; Rise of Bunsen; New College, Edinburgh; Madame + Pfeiffer; Richardson's Arctic Expedition, 276. Plays by Jerrold + and Marston; Stephen's Lectures; Critique on Hildreth; On Moby + Dick; Shakspeare for Kossuth; Landor on Kossuth; Critique on + Springer's Forest Life; On Layard's Nineveh, 277. Alison; Works + denounced; Brougham; Translations of Scott; New Works in France, + 278. M. Vattemare; The Elzevirs; Daguerre; Heine; Leipzig Easter + Fair; Papers in Germany; Japanese Dictionary; Excavations at + Athens; Ximenes; Spanish Classics; Ida Hahn-Hahn; Professor + Nuylz; Oriental MSS.; Proscription in Italy; Discovery of Old + Paintings in Münster; Jeffrey; Mr. Jerdan; Brougham; Gutzlaff, + 425. Carlyle's Sterling; Yeast; Blake; Dickens in Danish; Delta; + Stephen: M'Cosh; Hahn-Hahn; Junius; Kossuth's Eloquence; + Beresford, 426. Guizot; Revolutionary Walls; Migne's Book + Establishment; French Works; Bonaparte and Literature; Silvio + Pellico; German Novels; Oersted; Oehlenschläger; Menzel; Heine, + 427. Schiller Festival; Zahn; Kosmos; Servian Poetry; Shakspeare + in Swedish; Italian Book on America; Chinese Geography; Turkish + Grammar and Dictionary; Ticknor in Spanish, 428. Westminster + Review; New Books; Benedict; Macaulay, 570. Browning's Shelley; + Junius; Budhist Monuments; Freund's German-English Lexicon; + Bulwer's Works; The Head of the Family; Lossing's Field-Book; + Hawthorne; Eliot Warburton, 571. French Literary Exiles; + Lamartine; Count Ficquelmont; Works on the Coup d'Etat; Louis + Philippe and Letters; George Sand; Humboldt; Schiller's Library; + Hagberg; Translations into Spanish, 572. Theological + Translations; Bohn's New Publications; Greek Professorship in + Edinburgh; Dr. Robinson; Talvi, 710. Moby Dick; Tests in Scottish + Universities; Montalembert; Cavaignac; The Press in Paris; + Posthumous Work by Meinhold, 711; Lamartine's Civilisateur; + Eugene Sue; Neuman's English Empire in Asia; English Literature + in Germany; Nitzsch on Hahn-Hahn; Gutzkow; The Rhenish Times; + Hebrew Books; Literature of Hungary; Monument to Oken, 712. + Cockburn's Life of Jeffrey; Grote's History of Greece; Farini's + History of the Roman State; The Shelley Forgeries; James R. + Lowell; Papers of Margaret Fuller, 855. Life of Fox; Sale of rare + Books; Greek Professor at Edinburgh; Bleak House in German; + Macaulay in German; Barante's Histoire de la Convention + Nationale; Pierre Leroux; Chamfort; George Sand; Stuart of + Dunleath in French; Epistolary Forgeries; Anselm Feuerbach; Bust + of Schelling; Goethe and Schiller Literature; Count + Platen-Hallermünde; Lives of the Sovereigns of Russia, 856. + + OBITUARIES. + + Archibald Alexander, D. D.; J. Kearney Rodgers, M. D.; Granville + Sharp Pattison, M. D.; Gardner G. Howland, 122. Dr. Wingard; + Byron's Sister; H. P. Borrell; Dr. Gutzlaff; Mrs. Sherwood, 140. + King of Hanover, 261. Professors Wolff and Humbert, 280. Joel R. + Poinsett; Moses Stuart, 411. Marshal Soult, 414. William Wyon; + Rev. J. H. Caunter; Chevalier Lavy; M. de St. Priest; Paul Erman; + Professor Dunbar; Dr. Sadleir; Basil Montague, 426. T. H. Turner, + 570. Baron D'Ohsen; Robert Blackwood; Serangelli, 712. Hon. + Jeremiah Morrow, 836. Thomas Moore; Archbishop Murray; Sir + Herbert Jenner Fust, 837. Marshal Marmont; Armand Marrast, 838. + + Louis Napoleon and his Nose 833 + Love Affair at Cranford 457 + Masked Ball at Vienna 469 + Maurice Tiernay, the Soldier of Fortune. By CHARLES + LEVER 57, 187, 339 + Mazzini, the Italian Liberal 404 + Miracle of Life 500 + + MONTHLY RECORD OF CURRENT EVENTS. + + UNITED STATES. + + The November Elections: success of the Union Party in Georgia, + South Carolina, Mississippi, and Alabama, 120. Adoption of the + New Constitution in Virginia, 120. Election in Pennsylvania, 120. + Return of the Arctic Expedition, 121. Dinner to Mr. Grinnell, + 121. Imprisonment of John S. Thrasher in Havana, 121, 258, 553. + Appeal of Mr. Tyler in behalf of the Cuban prisoners, 121. + Inauguration of Gov. Campbell of Tennessee, 121. Convention of + Cotton-planters in Macon, 121. Decision in favor of Morse's + Telegraph, 122. Decision of the Methodist Book-fund case, 122. + Letter of Mr. Clay on the Compromise, 122. Elections in + California, 122. General Intelligence from California, 122, 258, + 411, 553, 693, 835. General Intelligence from Oregon, 122, 411, + 693. Volcanic Eruption in the Sandwich Islands, 123. General + Intelligence from New Mexico, 123, 259, 411, 553, 693,835. + Arrival of Kossuth, and reception in New York, 255. Speech of + Kossuth at the Corporation banquet in New York, 255. At the Press + dinner, 256. Opening of the Thirty-second Congress, 256. Abstract + of the President's Message, 256. Correspondence with foreign + Powers respecting Cuba, 258. Official vote in New York, 258. + Speech of Kossuth at the Bar dinner in New York, 410. Kossuth at + Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, 410. Opening + of the New York Legislature and Message of Governor Hunt, 410. + Opening of the Pennsylvania Legislature, 411. Mr. Clay resigns + his seat in the Senate, 411. Destruction of the Congressional + Library, 411. American expedition to the Sandwich Islands, 411. + Kossuth at the West, 551. Esterhazy, Batthyanyi, Pulszky, and + Szemere on Kossuth, 551. Speeches in Congress on Intervention, + 552. Outrage at Greytown disavowed by the English government, + 553. Legislative nominations for the Presidency, 553. Message of + Gov. Farwell of Wisconsin, 553. The U.S. Indemnity in Texas, 553. + Letter of Mr. Buchanan, 553. Of Mr. Benton, 553. General + proceedings in Congress, 692. Correspondence respecting Kossuth, + 692. Mr. Webster's discourse before the Historical Society, 693. + Commemorative meeting to J. Fenimore Cooper. 693. Archbishop + Hughes's lecture on Catholicism in the United States, 693. Whig + State Convention in Kentucky, 693. In Indiana, 693. Webster + meeting in New York, 693. Washington's birthday at the Capital, + 693. Mormon disturbances in Utah, 694. Debates in the Senate on + Intervention; speech of Mr. Soulé, 834. Abstraction of public + papers, 834. Mr. Cass on the Wilmot Proviso, 834. Presidential + speeches in the House, 834. Political Conventions in various + States, and nominations for the Presidency, 834. Proceedings in + the Legislature of Mississippi, 834. State debt of Pennsylvania, + 835. Mr. Webster at Trenton, 835. Accident at Hell-gate, 835. + Return of Cuban prisoners, 835. Letter of Mr. Clay on the + Presidency, 835. Expedition to Japan, 835. Loss of steamer North + America, 835. Col. Berzenczey's expedition to Tartary, 835. + + SOUTHERN AMERICA. + + Election of Montt as President of Chili, 123. Attempt at + insurrection, 123, 412. Contest against Rosas in Buenos Ayres, + 124, 694, 835. Difficulties growing out of the Tehuantepec right + of way in Mexico, 124. Insurrection in the northern departments + under Caravajal, 124, 412, 553, 694, 835. Letters to the + Governors of the departments, 124. General Intelligence from + Mexico, 124, 412, 553, 835. Message of the President of + Venezuela, 694. Disturbance in Chili penal settlements, 694, 835. + Mexican claims for Indian depredations, 835. Defeat and flight of + Rosas, 836. Peruvian expedition against Ecuador, 836. Gold in New + Grenada, 836. + + GREAT BRITAIN. + + Arrival of Kossuth at Southampton, 124. Speech of Kossuth at + Winchester, 125. Close of the Great Exhibition, 126. Disturbances + in Ireland, 126. War at the Cape of Good Hope, 126, 554, 696. + Opposition of the Sultan of Turkey to the Suez Railway, 126. + Kossuth at Birmingham, Manchester, London, and Southampton, 259. + Embarkation for America, 259. Resignation of Lord Palmerston and + appointment of Earl Granville as Foreign Secretary, 412. + Deputation of merchants to Lord John Russell, 412. Dinner to Mr. + Walker, 412. From Ireland, 412. Petitions from Scotland against + the Maynooth grant, 413. Burning of the steamer Amazon, 554. The + national defenses, 554. Controversy between workmen and + employers, 554. Movements of the Reformers, 554. Gold in + Australia, 554. Destruction of Lagos in Africa by the British, + 554, 696. Meeting of Parliament and the Queen's Speech, 694. + Explanations as to the retirement of Lord Palmerston, 694. Defeat + and resignation of the Russell Ministry, 695. Appointment of a + Protectionist Ministry, 696. Correspondence with Austria + respecting political refugees, 696. Disaster from water, 696. New + expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, 697. Attitude of the + Derby Ministry, 836. Position of Lord John Russell, 837. Mr. + Disraeli's address to his constituents, 837. Revival of the Anti + Corn-Law League, 837. Mr. Layard declines to continue in office, + 837. + + FRANCE. + + The President demands the repeal of the election law of May 31; + the Ministers refuse their assent and resign, 126. Formation of a + new Ministry, 127. Insults to the Republican members of Assembly, + 127. Meeting of the Assembly, Message of the President, demanding + the restoration of universal suffrage, and its rejection by the + Assembly, 260. Progress of the struggle between the President and + Assembly, 261. President's speech on distributing prizes to + exhibitors, 261. The President dissolves the Assembly and assumes + the sole powers of government, 413. His decree, 413. Arrest of + members of Assembly, 413. Unsuccessful attempts at resistance, + 413. Great majorities returned in favor of the President, 414, + 554. Correspondence between the English and French Governments, + 414. Celebration at the result of the election, 554. Speech of M. + Baroche, 555. Proceedings of the President, 555. The new + Constitution decreed by the President, 555. Formation of a + Ministry of Police and of State, 556. Seizure of the property of + the Orleans family, 556. Measures limiting discussion, 556. New + Legislative law, 697. Letter of the Orleans princes, 697. The + Ministry of Police, 697. Dinner by the President to English + residents, 697. Decree regulating the press, 697. Correspondence + between the government and the Emperor of Russia, 697. + Proceedings in relation to Belgium, 698. Success of the + government in the elections, 837. Presidential decree for + mortgage banks, 837. Decree respecting the College of France, + 837. Judges superannuated at seventy years, 837. Prize for + adaptation of Voltaic pile, 838. Donation to M. Foucauld, 838. + New military medal and pension, 838. French demands upon Belgium + refused, 838. Correspondence between Austria, Prussia, and Russia + respecting France, 838. French demands upon Switzerland, 839. + + SOUTHERN EUROPE. + + Neapolitan answer to Mr. Gladstone's letter, 127. New Colonial + Council in Spain for Cuba, 127. Austrian rigor in Italy, 261. + Pardon of the American prisoners in Spain, 414. Attempt to + assassinate the Queen of Spain, 698. Change in the government of + the Spanish colonies, 839. + + CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE. + + Preparations in Prussia, 127. Telegraphic arrangements in + Germany, 127. The Polish provinces of Prussia excluded from the + Confederation, 127. The Emperor of Austria declares himself + absolute, 127. Elections in Switzerland, 261. Critical state of + affairs in Austria, 261, 414. Austria and France, 414. Annulling + of the Constitution of 1849 in Austria, 556. General + Intelligence, 556. Attitude assumed by the European powers toward + France, 678. Demands of France upon Switzerland in relation to + political refugees, 698. Transferrence of Holstein to Denmark, + 698. Switzerland menaced by a commercial blockade, 839. + + THE EAST. + + General Intelligence, 127. Negotiations in Turkey respecting the + Holy Sepulchre, 414. Hostilities in India, 415. Changes of + Ministry in Greece and Turkey, 698. Generosity of the Porte + toward rebels, 839. High interest forbidden in Turkey, 839. Death + of the Persian Vizier, 839. Hostilities between the English and + Burmese, 839. + + Mr. Potts's New Years Adventures 281 + My First Place 489 + My Novel; or, Varieties in English Life. By SIR EDWARD BULWER + LYTTON 105, 239, 371, 525, 673, 793 + Mysteries 65 + My Traveling Companion 636 + Napoleon Bonaparte. By JOHN S. C. ABBOTT 22, 166, 310, 592, 736 + New Discoveries in Ghosts 512 + Old Maid's First Love 360 + Orphan's Dream of Christmas 385 + Our School. By CHARLES DICKENS 75 + Paradise Lost 611 + Personal Sketches and Reminiscences. By MARY RUSSELL MITFORD 503 + Pipe Clay and Clay Pipes 688 + Pleasures and Perils of Ballooning 96 + Poison Eaters 364 + Potter of Tours 219 + Promise Unfulfilled 80 + Public Executions in England 542 + Recollections of St. Petersburg 447 + Rising Generationism 478 + Rodolphus.--A Franconia Story. By JACOB ABBOTT 433, 577, 721 + Short Chapter on Frogs 791 + Sicilian Vespers 790 + Sleep to Startle us 830 + Stolen Bank Notes 627 + Story of a Bear 786 + Story of Oriental Love 75 + Story of Rembrandt 516 + Street Scenes of the French Usurpation 399 + Suwarrow--Sketch of 409 + Talk about the Spider 200 + Taste of French Dungeons 670 + Taste of Austrian Jails 481 + The Bedoueen, Mahomad Alee, and the Bazaars. By GEORGE WILLIAM + CURTIS 755 + The Brothers 212 + The Expectant--A Tale of Life 93 + The Game of Chess 205 + The German Emigrants. By JOHN DOGGETT, Jr. 183 + The Little Sisters 641 + The Lost Ages 547 + The Mighty Magician 772 + The Moor's Revenge. By EPES SARGENT 669 + The Mountain Torrent 466 + The Night Train 783 + The Opera. By THOMAS CARLYLE 252 + The Ornithologist 470 + The Point of Honor 494 + The Sublime Porte 332 + The Tub School 85 + Thiers--Sketch of his Life 214 + Thy Will be Done. By GEORGE P. MORRIS 119 + Tiger Roche.--An Irish Character 760 + To be Read at Dusk. By CHARLES DICKENS 235 + True Courage 620 + Two Kinds of Honesty 773 + Vagaries of the Imagination 63 + Vatteville Ruby 613 + Vision of Charles XI. 397 + What becomes of the Rind? 402 + What to do in the Mean Time 545 + Who knew Best 485 + Wives of Great Lawyers 764 + Wonderful Toys 634 + You're Another 105 + Zoological Stories 769 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + PAGE + 1. Casting the Tea over in Boston Harbor 1 + 2. Boston in 1770-74 3 + 3. Faneuil Hall 4 + 4. Portrait of Governor Hutchinson 5 + 5. Portrait of the Earl of Dartmouth 5 + 6. House of John Hancock 6 + 7. Province House 7 + 8. The Old South Church, Boston 7 + 9. Portrait of David Kinnison 9 + 10. Portrait of George R. T. Hewes 10 + 11. Pouring Tea down the Throat of America 10 + 12. Route of the Arctic Expedition (Map) 12 + 13. Vessels beating to Windward of Iceberg 12 + 14. Perilous Situation of the Advance and Rescue 13 + 15. Discovery Ships near the Devil's Thumb 14 + 16. The Advance leading the Prince Albert 15 + 17. The Advance stranded at Cape Riley 16 + 18. Anvil-Block, and Guide-Board 17 + 19. Three Graves at Beechy 17 + 20. The Advance and Rescue at Barlow's Inlet 18 + 21. The Advance in Barrow's Straits 19 + 22. The Advance and Rescue drifting 19 + 23. The Advance and Rescue in the Winter 20 + 24. The Advance in Davis's Straits 20 + 25. The Advance among Hummocks 21 + 26. Stern of the Rescue in the Ice 21 + 27. The Passage of the Tagliamento 24 + 28. The Gorge of Neumarkt 26 + 29. The Venetian Envoys 27 + 30. The Conference dissolved 30 + 31. The Court at Milan 31 + 32. The Triumphal Journey 33 + 33. The Delivery of the Treaty 34 + 34. Portrait of Kossuth 40 + 35. Better Luck next Time 141 + 36. Doing One a Special Favor 141 + 37. Off Point Judith 142 + 38. Singular Phenomenon 142 + 39. A Slight Mistake 142 + 40. Costumes for December 143 + 41. Parisian, Frileuse, and Camara Cloaks 144 + 41. Child's Costume 144 + 43. Portrait of Franklin 145 + 44. The Franklin Smithy 145 + 45. Franklin at Ten Years of Age 146 + 46. Building the Pier at the Mill-pond 146 + 47. Franklin reading in his Chamber 147 + 48. The Franklin Family 147 + 49. Franklin studying in the Printing-office 147 + 50. Franklin's First Literary Essay 148 + 51. Franklin ill-used by his Brother 149 + 52. Franklin plans to escape 149 + 53. The Sloop at Sea 149 + 54. Franklin traveling through the Storm 150 + 55. The old Woman's Hospitality 150 + 56. Franklin with his Penny Rolls 150 + 57. Franklin gives the Bread to a poor Woman 151 + 58. Franklin asleep in the Meeting-house 152 + 59. Franklin with Bradford and Keimer 152 + 60. The Quakeress's Counsel 153 + 61. Franklin showing his Money 153 + 62. Franklin and the Governor of New York 154 + 63. Collins flung overboard 154 + 64. Reading on the Banks of the River 155 + 65. Franklin's Courtship 155 + 66. Franklin takes Leave of Miss Read 155 + 67. Franklin delivers his Letter 156 + 68. Franklin at the Book-store 156 + 69. Franklin carrying Type Forms 157 + 70. The Widow Lady of Duke-street 157 + 71. The Recluse Lodger 157 + 72. Franklin looking out of the Window 158 + 73. The Copper-plate Press 158 + 74. Franklin's First Job 159 + 75. The Junto Club 160 + 76. Meredith on a Spree 160 + 77. Grief of Miss Read 161 + 78. Franklin with the Wheelbarrow 161 + 79. The Library 162 + 80. Industry of Mrs. Franklin 162 + 81. The China Bowl and Silver Spoon 162 + 82. The Gardener at work 163 + 83. Grinding the Ax 163 + 84. The Widow carrying on Business 164 + 85. Franklin playing Chess 164 + 86. Franklin takes Charge of his Nephew 165 + 87. Portrait of Whitefield 165 + 88. The Expedition to Egypt 166 + 89. Napoleon embarking for Egypt 169 + 90. Napoleon looking at the distant Alps 170 + 91. The Disembarkation in Egypt 173 + 92. The March through the Desert 175 + 93. The Battle of the Pyramids 178 + 94. The Egyptian Ruins 183 + 95. Mr. Potts makes his Toilet 281 + 96. Mr. Potts suffers--Inexpressibly 281 + 97. Mr. Potts is discomposed 281 + 98. Mr. Potts in the wrong Apartment 282 + 99. Mr. Potts enchanted 283 + 100. Mr. Potts assumes a striking Attitude 283 + 101. Mr. Potts makes a Sensation 283 + 102. Mr. Potts tears himself away 284 + 103. Mr. Potts receives a Lecture 284 + 104. Arrant Extortion 285 + 105. Mr. Booby in the New Costume 285 + 106. A Bloomer in Leap Year 286 + 107. The Strong-minded Bloomer 286 + 108. Winter Costumes 287 + 109. Walking Dress 288 + 110. Hood and Head-dress 288 + 111. Preparing the Regimental Colors 290 + 112. Franklin on Military Duty 290 + 113. Franklin's Colloquy with the Quaker 291 + 114. The Indian Pow-wow 291 + 115. The Female Street-sweeper 292 + 116. The Horse and Packages for Camp 293 + 117. The precipitous Flight 293 + 118. March to Gnadenhütten 294 + 119. Franklin's military Escort 295 + 120. Portrait of Buffon 296 + 121. Franklin and the new Governor 296 + 122. Sign of St. George and the Dragon 297 + 123. The Ship in Peril of the Rocks 297 + 124. Franklin writing to his Wife 298 + 125. The Old Man from the Desert 298 + 126. Portrait of Mrs. Franklin 299 + 127. Franklin on his Tour of Inspection 300 + 128. Bees swarming 301 + 129. Franklin's Departure from Chester 301 + 130. Reception of the Satin 302 + 131. Franklin transformed by his new Dress 302 + 132. Franklin repulsed from Lord Hillsborough's 303 + 133. The Boston Riot 304 + 134. Portrait of Lord Chatham 304 + 135. Portrait of Lord Camden 304 + 136. Franklin at Chess with the Lady 305 + 137. Drafting the Declaration of Independence 306 + 138. Old Age 307 + 139. Feeling toward Franklin in Paris 308 + 140. Portrait of Lafayette 309 + 141. Franklin's Amusement in Age 309 + 142. Napoleon's Escape from the Red Sea 310 + 143. The Dromedary Regiment 312 + 144. The Plague Hospital at Acre 317 + 145. The Bomb-shell exploding 320 + 146. Arrival of the Courier 326 + 147. Napoleon and Kleber 328 + 148. The Return from Egypt 329 + 149. A Horrible Business 429 + 150. Mrs. Baker's Pet 430 + 151. Costumes for February 431 + 152. Evening Dress 432 + 153. Full Dress for Home 432 + 154. The Rabbit House 433 + 155. The Pursuit 437 + 156. The Raft 439 + 157. Up the Ladder 441 + 158. The Yard at Mr. Randon's 442 + 159. Plan of Mr. Randon's House 444 + 160. The Great Room 444 + 161. Inundation at St. Petersburg 449 + 162. Russian Ice Mountains 452 + 163. Punishment for Drunkenness 454 + 164. Russian Isvoshtshiks 455 + 165. The Easter Kiss--agreeable 456 + 166. The Easter Kiss--as matter of Duty 456 + 167. The Easter Kiss--under Difficulties 456 + 168. The Easter Kiss--disagreeable 456 + 169. France is tranquil 573 + 170. The President's Road to Ruin 574 + 171. New Parisian Street-sweeping Machine 574 + 172. Costumes for March 575 + 173. Young Lady's Toilet 576 + 174. Morning Toilet 576 + 175. Ellen Asleep 578 + 176. The Snow-shoes 579 + 177. The Funeral 583 + 178. The Boys and the Boat 585 + 179. The Evasion 587 + 180. Raising the Hasp 591 + 181. The Corn-barn 591 + 182. Napoleon's Return from Egypt 595 + 183. Napoleon and the Atheists 596 + 184. Napoleon's Landing at Frejus 598 + 185. Napoleon's Reconciliation with Josephine 602 + 186. Napoleon on the Way to St. Cloud 608 + 187. Napoleon in the Council of Five Hundred 609 + 188. The Little Old Lady 662 + 189. Miss Jellyby 667 + 190. Going to Cover 711 + 191. Revolutionary Inquiries 714 + 192. Early Publication of a Paper in Paris 714 + 193. Scene from the President's Progress 715 + 194. Touching Sympathy 716 + 195. Sound Advice 716 + 196. Effects of a Strike 717 + 197. Perfect Identification 718 + 198. Calling the Police 718 + 199. Fashions for April 719 + 200. Dress Toilet 720 + 201. Child's Fancy Costume 720 + 202. The Drag Ride 722 + 203. The Well 724 + 204. The Conflagration 726 + 205. The barred Window 727 + 206. Antonio's Picture 728 + 207. The Court Room 729 + 208. The Arrest 732 + 209. The Governor 735 + 210. The Consuls and the Gold 737 + 211. Napoleon in the Temple 739 + 212. Napoleon's Entrance into the Tuileries 742 + 213. Napoleon and the Vendeean Chief 746 + 214. Napoleon and the Duchess of Guiche 750 + 215. Napoleon and Bourrienne 751 + 216. Unavailing Intercession of Josephine 753 + 217. The Lord Chancellor copies from Memory 814 + 218. Coavinses 821 + 219. Butcher-Boys of the Upper Ten 857 + 220. The Inquiring Omnibus Driver 857 + 221. Flunky's Idea of Beauty 858 + 222. A Competent Adviser 859 + 223. Regard for the Truth 859 + 224. Awful Effect of Eye-glasses 860 + 225. Rather Severe 860 + 226. Portrait of a Gentleman 861 + 227. The Peer on the Press 861 + 228. Interior of a French Court of Justice 862 + 229. Fashions for May 863 + 230. Visiting Dress 864 + 231. Home Toilet 864 + + + + + HARPER'S + + NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. + + No. XIX.--DECEMBER, 1851.--VOL. IV. + + +[Illustration: CASTING TEA OVERBOARD IN BOSTON HARBOR.] + + + + +THE BOSTON TEA PARTY.[1] + +BY BENSON J. LOSSING. + + +Revolutions which dismember and overturn empires, disrupt political +systems, and change not only the forms of civil government, but +frequently the entire character of society, are often incited by causes +so remote, and apparently inconsiderable and inadequate, that the +superficial observer would never detect them, or would laugh +incredulously if presented to his consideration as things of moment. +Yet, like the little spring of a watch, coiled unseen within the dark +recess of its chamber, the influences of such remote causes operating +upon certain combinations, give motion, power, and value to latent +energies, and form the _primum mobile_ of the whole machinery of +wonderful events which produce revolutions. + +As a general rule, revolutions in states are the results of isolated +rebellions; and rebellions have their birth in desires to cast off evils +inflicted by actual oppressions. These evils generally consist of the +interferences of rulers with the physical well-being of the governed; +and very few of the political changes in empires which so prominently +mark the course of human history, have had a higher incentive to +resistance than the maintenance of creature comforts. Abridgment of +personal liberty in the exercise of natural rights, excessive taxation, +and extortion of public officers, whereby individual competence and +consequent ease have not been attainable, these have generally been the +chief counts in the indictment, when the people have arisen in their +might and arraigned their rulers at the bar of the world's judgment. + +The American Revolution, which succeeded local rebellions in the various +provinces, was an exception to a general rule. History furnishes no +parallel example of a people free, prosperous, and happy, rising from +the couch of ease to gird on the panoply of war, with a certainty of +encountering perhaps years of privation and distress, to combat the +intangible _principle_ of despotism. The taxes of which the English +colonies in America complained, and which were the ostensible cause of +dissatisfaction, were almost nominal, and only in the smallest degree +affected the general prosperity of the people. But the method employed +in levying those slight taxes, and the prerogatives assumed by the king +and his ministers, plainly revealed the _principles_ of tyranny, and +were the causes which produced the quarrel. In these assumptions the +kernel of despotism was very apparent, and the sagacious Americans, +accustomed to vigorous and independent thought, and a free interchange +of opinions, foresaw the speedy springing of that germ into the bulk and +vigor of an umbrageous tree, that would overshadow the land and bear the +bitter fruit of tyrannous misrule. Foreseeing this, they resolved +neither to water it kindly, nor generously dig about its roots and open +them to the genial influences of the blessed sun and the dews; but, on +the contrary, to eradicate it. Tyranny had no abiding-place in America +when the quarrel with the imperial government began, and the War of the +Revolution, in its inception and progress, was eminently a war of +principle. + +How little could the wisest political seer have perceived of an +elemental cause of a revolution in America, and the dismemberment of the +British Empire, in two pounds and two ounces of TEA, which, a little +less than two centuries ago, the East India Company sent as a present to +Charles the Second of England! Little did the "merrie monarch" think, +while sitting with Nell Gwynn, the Earl of Rochester, and a few other +favorites, in his private parlor at Whitehall, and that new beverage +gave pleasure to his sated taste, that events connected with the use of +the herb would shake the throne of England, albeit a Guelph, a wiser and +more virtuous monarch than any Stuart, should sit thereon. Yet it was +even so; and TEA, within a hundred years after that viceregal +corporation made its gift to royalty, became one of the causes which led +to rebellion and revolution, resulting in the independence of the +Anglo-American colonies, and the founding of our Republic. + +When the first exuberant feelings of joy, which filled the hearts of the +Americans when intelligence of the repeal of the Stamp Act reached them, +had subsided, and sober judgment analyzed the Declaratory act of William +Pitt which accompanied the Repeal Bill, they perceived small cause for +congratulation. They knew Pitt to be a friend--an earnest and sincere +friend of the colonists. He had labored shoulder to shoulder with Barrè, +Conway, Burke, and others, to effect the repeal, and had recently +declared boldly in the House of Commons, "I rejoice that America has +resisted. Three millions of people, so dead to all the feelings of +liberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit +instruments to make slaves of the rest." Yet he saw hesitation; he saw +_pride_ standing in the place of _righteousness_, and he allowed +_expediency_ to usurp the place of _principle_, in order to accomplish a +great good. He introduced the Declaratory Act, which was a sort of salvo +to the national honor, that a majority of votes might be secured for the +Repeal Bill. That act affirmed that Parliament possessed the power _to +bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever_; clearly implying the right +to impose taxes to any extent, and in any manner that ministers might +think proper. That temporizing measure was unworthy of the great +statesman, and had not the colonists possessed too many proofs of his +friendship to doubt his constancy, they would now have placed him in the +category of the enemies of America. They plainly perceived that no +actual concession had been made, and that the passage of the Repeal Bill +was only a truce in the systematic endeavors of ministers to hold +absolute control over the Americans. The loud acclamations of joy and +the glad expressions of loyalty to the king, which rung throughout +America in the spring and early summer of 1766, died away into low +whispers before autumn, and as winter approached, and other schemes for +taxation, such as a new clause in the mutiny act developed, were evolved +from the ministerial laboratory, loud murmurings went over the sea from +every English colony in the New World. + +Much good was anticipated by the exercise of the enlightened policy of +the Rockingham ministry, under whose auspices the Stamp Act had been +repealed, when it was suddenly dissolved, and William Pitt, who was now +elevated to the peerage, became prime minister. Had not physical +infirmities borne heavily upon Lord Chatham, all would have been well; +but while he was tortured by gout, and lay swathed in flannels at his +country-seat at Hayes, weaker heads controlled the affairs of state. +Charles Townshend, Pitt's Chancellor of the Exchequer, a vain, truckling +statesman, coalesced with Grenville, the father of the Stamp Act, in the +production of another scheme for deriving a revenue from America. Too +honest to be governed by expediency, Grenville had already proposed +levying a direct tax upon the Americans of two millions of dollars per +annum, allowing them to raise that sum in their own way. Townshend had +the sagacity to perceive that such a measure would meet with no favor; +but in May, 1767, he attempted to accomplish the same result by +introducing a bill providing for the imposition of a duty upon glass, +paper, painters' colors, and TEA imported from Great Britain into +America. This was only another form of taxation, and judicious men in +Parliament viewed the proposition with deep concern. Burke and others +denounced it in the Commons; and Shelburne in the House of Lords warned +ministers to have a care how they proceeded in the matter, for he +clearly foresaw insurrection, perhaps a revolution as a consequence. But +the voice of prudence, uttering words of prophecy, was disregarded; +Townshend's bill was passed, and became a law at the close of June, by +receiving the royal signature. Other acts, equally obnoxious to the +Americans, soon became laws by the sanction of the king, and the +principles of despotism, concealed behind the honest-featured +Declaratory Act, were displayed in all their deformity. + +During the summer and autumn, John Dickenson sent forth his powerful +_Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer_. Written in a simple manner, they +were easily understood. They laid bare the evident designs of the +ministry; proved the unconstitutionality of the late acts of Parliament, +and taught the people the necessity of united resistance to the slow +but certain approaches of oppression. + +[Illustration: BOSTON IN 1770-74.] + +Boston, "the ringleader in rebellion," soon took the initiative step in +revolutionary movements, and during 1768, tumults occurred, which caused +Governor Bernard to call for troops to awe the people. General Thomas +Gage, then commander-in-chief of the British forces in America, ordered +two regiments from Halifax. Borne by a fleet which blockaded the harbor +in September, they landed upon Long Wharf, in Boston, on Sunday morning, +and while the people were desirous of worshiping quietly in their +meeting-houses, these soldiers marched to the Common with charged +muskets, fixed bayonets, drums beating, and colors flying, with all the +pomp and insolence of victorious troops entering a vanquished city. It +was a great blunder, and Governor Bernard soon perceived it. + +A convention of delegates from every town but one in Massachusetts was +in session, when the fleet arrived in Nantasket roads. They were not +alarmed by the approach of cannon and bayonets, but deliberated coolly, +and denounced firmly the current measures of government. Guided by their +advice, the select-men of Boston refused to furnish quarters for the +troops, and they were obliged to encamp on the open Common, where +insults were daily bandied between the military hirelings and the +people. The inhabitants of Boston, and of the whole province felt +insulted--ay, degraded--and every feeling of patriotism and manhood +rebelled. The alternative was plain before them--_submission or the +bayonet!_ + +Great indignation prevailed from the Penobscot to the St. Mary's, and +the cause of Boston became the common cause of all the colonists. They +resented the insult as if offered to themselves; and hatred of royal +rule became a fixed emotion in the hearts of thousands. Legislative +assemblies spoke out freely, and for the crime of being thus +independent, royal governors dissolved them. Delegates returned to their +constituents, each an eloquent crusader against oppression; and in every +village and hamlet men congregated to consult upon the public good, and +to determine upon a remedy for the monster evil now sitting like an +incubus upon the peace and prosperity of the land. + +As a countervailing measure, merchants in the various coast towns +entered into an agreement to cease importing from Great Britain, every +thing but a few articles of common necessity (and especially those +things enumerated in the impost bill), from the first of January, 1769, +to the first of January, 1770, unless the obnoxious act should be sooner +repealed. The people every where seconded this movement by earnest +co-operation, and Provincial legislatures commended the scheme. An +agreement, presented in the Virginia House of Burgesses by Washington, +was signed by every member; and in all the colonies the people entered +at once upon a course of self-denial. For more than a year this powerful +engine of retaliation waged war upon British commerce in a +constitutional way, before ministers would listen to petitions and +remonstrances; and it was not until virtual rebellion in the British +capital, born of commercial distress, menaced the ministry, that the +expostulations of the Americans were noticed, except with sneers. + +In America meetings were frequently held, and men thus encouraged each +other by mutual conference. Nor did _men_, alone, preach and practice +self-denial; American _women_, the wives and daughters of patriots, cast +their influence into the scale of patriotism, and by cheering voices and +noble examples, became efficient co-workers. And when, in Boston, +cupidity overcame patriotism, and the defection of a few merchants who +loved gold more than liberty, aroused the friends of the +non-importation leagues, and assembled them in general council in +Faneuil Hall, there to declare that they would "totally abstain from the +use of TEA," and other proscribed articles, the women of that city, +fired with zeal for the general good, spoke out publicly and decidedly +upon the subject. Early in February, 1770, the mistresses of three +hundred families subscribed their names to a league, binding themselves +not to use any more TEA until the impost clause in the Revenue Act +should be repealed. Their daughters speedily followed their patriotic +example, and three days afterward, a multitude of young ladies in Boston +and vicinity, signed the following pledge: + +"We, the daughters of those patriots who have, and do now appear for the +public interest, and in that principally regard their posterity--as +such, do with pleasure engage with them in denying ourselves the +drinking of foreign TEA, in hopes to frustrate a plan which tends to +deprive a whole community of all that is valuable in life." + +[Illustration: FANEUIL HALL.] + +From that time, TEA was a proscribed article in Boston, and opposition +to the form of oppression was strongly manifested by the unanimity with +which the pleasant beverage was discarded. Nor did the ladies of Boston +bear this honor alone, but in Salem, Newport, Norwich, New York, +Philadelphia, Annapolis, Williamsburg, Wilmington, Charleston, and +Savannah, the women sipped "the balsamic hyperion," made from the dried +leaves of the raspberry plant, and discarded "the poisonous bohea." The +newspapers of the day abound with notices of social gatherings where +foreign tea was entirely discarded. + +About this time Lord North succeeded Townshend as Chancellor of the +Exchequer. He was an honest man, a statesman of good parts, and a +sincere friend to English liberty. He doubtless desired to discharge his +duty faithfully, yet in dealing with the Americans, he utterly +misunderstood their character and temper, and could not perceive the +justice of their demands. This was the minister who mismanaged the +affairs of Great Britain throughout the whole of our war for +independence, and by his pertinacity in attempts to tax the colonies, +and in opposing them in their efforts to maintain their rights, he +finally drove them to rebellion, and protracted the war until +reconciliation was out of the question. + +Early in 1770, the British merchants, the most influential class in the +realm, were driven by the non-importation agreements to become the +friends of the colonists, and to join with them in petitions and +remonstrances. The London merchants suffered more from the operations of +the new Revenue Laws, than the Americans. They had early foreseen the +consequences of an attempt to tax the colonists; and when Townshend's +scheme was first proposed, they offered to pay an equivalent sum into +the Treasury, rather than risk the loss of the rapidly-increasing +American trade. Now, that anticipated loss was actual, and was bearing +heavily upon them. It also affected the national exchequer. In one year, +exports to America had decreased in amount to the value of almost four +millions of dollars; and within three years (1767 to 1770), the +government revenue from America decreased from five hundred and fifty +thousand dollars per annum, to one hundred and fifty thousand. These +facts awakened the people; these figures alarmed the government; and +early in March, Lord North asked leave to bring in a bill, in the House +of Commons, for repealing the duties upon glass, paper, and painters' +colors, but retaining the duty of three-pence upon TEA. This impost was +very small--avowedly a "pepper-corn rent," retained to save the national +honor, about which ministers prated so loudly. The friends of +America--the _true_ friends of English liberty and "national +honor"--asked for a repeal of the whole act; the stubborn king, and the +short-sighted ministry would not consent to make the concession. North's +bill became a law in April, and he fondly imagined that the +insignificant three-pence a pound, upon a single article of luxury, +would now be overlooked by the colonists. How egregiously he +misapprehended their character! + +When intelligence of this act reached America, the scheme found no +admirers. The people had never complained of the _amount_ of the taxes +levied by impost; it was trifling. They asserted that Great Britain had +_no right to tax them at all_, without their consent. It was for a great +_principle_ they were contending; and they regarded the retention of the +duty of three-pence upon the single article of TEA, as much a violation +of the constitutional rights of the colonists, as if there had been laid +an impost a hundred-fold greater, upon a score of articles. This was the +issue, and no partial concessions would be considered. + +The non-importation agreements began to be disregarded by many +merchants, and six months before this repeal bill became a law, they had +agreed, in several places, to import every thing but TEA, and that +powerful lever of opposition had now almost ceased to work. TEA being an +article of luxury, the resolutions to discard that were generally +adhered to, and concerning TEA, alone, the quarrel was continued. + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON] + +For two years very little occurred to disturb the tranquillity of New +England. Thomas Hutchinson, a man of fair abilities, but possessed of +very little prudence or sound judgment, succeeded Bernard as Governor of +Massachusetts. New men, zealous and capable, were coming forth from +among the people, to do battle for right and freedom. Poor Otis, whose +eloquent voice had often stirred up the fires of rebellion in the hearts +of the Bostonians, when _Writs of Assistance_, and the _Stamp Act_, +elicited his denunciations, and who, with prophetic voice, had told his +brethren in Great Britain, "Our fathers were a _good_ people, we have +been a _free_ people, and if you will not let us be so any longer, we +shall be a _great_ people," was now under a cloud. But his colleagues, +some of them very young, were growing strong and experienced. John +Adams, then six-and-thirty, and rapidly rising in public estimation, +occupied the seat of Otis in the General Assembly. John Hancock, one of +the wealthiest merchants of Boston; Samuel Adams, a Puritan of great +experience and tried integrity; Joseph Warren, a young physician, full +of energy and hope, who afterward fell on Breed's Hill; Josiah Quincy, a +polished orator, though almost a stripling; Thomas Cushing, James +Warren, Dr. Samuel Church, Robert Treat Paine--these became the popular +leaders, and fostered "the child independence," which John Adams said, +was born when Otis denounced the Writs of Assistance, and the populace +sympathized. These were the men who, at private meetings, concerted +plans for public action; and with them, Hutchinson soon quarreled. They +issued a circular, declaring the rights of the colonies, and enumerating +their grievances. Hutchinson denounced it as seditious and traitorous; +and while the public mind was excited by the quarrel, Dr. Franklin, who +was agent for the colony in England, transmitted to the Speaker of the +Assembly several private letters, written by the governor to members of +Parliament, in which he spoke disrespectfully of the Americans, and +recommended the adoption of coercive measures to abridge "what are +called English liberties." These revelations raised a furious storm, and +the people were with difficulty restrained from inflicting personal +violence upon the governor. All classes, from the men in legislative +council to the plainest citizen, felt a disgust that could not be +concealed, and a breach was opened between ruler and people that grew +wider every day. + +[Illustration: EARL OF DARTMOUTH.] + +The Earl of Hillsborough, who had been Secretary of State for the +Colonies during the past few years of excitement, was now succeeded by +Lord Dartmouth, a personal friend to Dr. Franklin, a sagacious +statesman, and a man sincerely disposed to do justice to the colonies. +Had his councils prevailed, the duty upon tea would have been taken off, +and all cause for discontent on the part of the colonies, removed. But +North's blindness, countenanced by ignorant or wicked advisers, +prevailed in the cabinet, and the olive-branch of peace and +reconciliation, constantly held out by the Americans while declaring +their rights, was spurned. + +At the beginning of 1773, the East India Company, feeling the effects of +the non-importation agreements and the colonial contraband trade, opened +the way for reconciliation, while endeavoring to benefit themselves. +Already seventeen millions of pounds of tea had accumulated in their +warehouses in England, and the demand for it in America was daily +diminishing. To open anew an extensive market so suddenly closed, the +Company offered to allow government to retain six-pence upon the pound +as an exportation tariff, if they would take off the duty of +three-pence. Ministers had now a fair opportunity, not only to +conciliate the colonies in an honorable way, but to procure, without +expense, double the amount of revenue. But the ministry, deluded by +false views of national honor, would not listen to the proposition, but +stupidly favored the East India Company, while persisting in +unrighteousness toward the Americans. A bill was passed in May, to allow +the Company to export tea to America on their own account, without +paying export duty, while the impost of three-pence was continued. The +mother country thus taught the colonists to regard her as a voluntary +oppressor. + +While the bill for allowing the East India Company to export tea to +America on their own account, was under consideration in Parliament, Dr. +Franklin, Arthur Lee, and others, apprised the colonists of the +movement; and when, a few weeks afterward, several large vessels laden +with the plant, were out upon the Atlantic, bound for American ports, +the people here were actively preparing to prevent the landing of the +cargoes. The Company had appointed consignees in various seaport towns, +and these being generally known to the people, were warned to resign +their commissions, or hold them at their peril. + +[Illustration: HANCOCK'S HOUSE.] + +In Boston the most active measures were taken to prevent the landing of +the tea. The consignees were all friends of government; two of them were +Governor Hutchinson's sons, and a third (Richard Clarke, father-in-law +of John Singleton Copley, the eminent painter), was his nephew. Their +neighbors expostulated with them, but in vain; and as the time for the +expected arrival of two or three tea-ships approached, the public mind +became feverish. On the first of November several of the leading "Sons +of Liberty," as the patriots were called, met at the house of John +Hancock, on Beacon-street, facing the Common, to consult upon the public +good, touching the expected tea ships. A public meeting was decided +upon, and on the morning of the third the following placard was posted +in many places within the city: + + "TO THE FREEMEN OF THIS AND THE NEIGHBORING TOWNS. + + "_Gentlemen._--You are desired to meet at the Liberty Tree this + day at twelve o'clock at noon, then and there to hear the persons + to whom the TEA shipped by the East India Company is consigned, + make a public resignation of their offices as consignees, upon + oath; and also swear that they will reship any teas that may be + consigned to them by the said Company, by the first vessel + sailing to London. + + O. C. Sec'y. + + "Boston, Nov. 3, 1773. + + "[Illustration: A pointing finger] Show me the man that dare take + this down!" + +The consignees were summoned at an early hour in the morning, to appear +under Liberty Tree (a huge elm, which stood at the present junction of +Washington and Essex streets), and resign their commissions. They +treated the summons with contempt, and refused to comply. At the +appointed hour the town-crier proclaimed the meeting, and the +church-bells of the city also gave the annunciation. Timid men remained +at home, but about five hundred people assembled near the tree, from the +top of which floated the New England flag. No definite action was taken, +and at three o'clock the meeting had dispersed. + +On the 5th, another meeting was held, over which John Hancock presided. +Several short but vehement speeches were made, in which were uttered +many seditious sentiments; eight resistance resolutions adopted by the +Philadelphians were agreed too; and a committee was appointed to wait +upon the consignees, who, it was known, were then at Clarke's store, on +King-street, and request them to resign. Again those gentlemen refused +compliance, and when the committee reported to the meeting, it was voted +that the answer of the consignees was "unsatisfactory and highly +affrontive." This meeting also adjourned without deciding upon any +definite course for future action. + +The excitement in Boston now hourly increased. Grave citizens +congregated at the corners of the streets to interchange sentiments, and +all seemed to have a presentiment that the sanguinary scenes of the 5th +of March, 1770, when blood flowed in the streets of Boston, were about +to be reproduced. + +The troops introduced by Bernard had been removed from the city, and +there was no legal power but that of the civil authorities, to suppress +disorder. On the 12th, the captain-general of the province issued an +order for the Governor's Guards, of which John Hancock was colonel, to +stand in readiness to assist the civil magistrate in preserving order. +This corps, being strongly imbued with the sentiments of their +commander, utterly disregarded the requisition. Business was, in a +measure, suspended, and general uneasiness prevailed. + +[Illustration: PROVINCE HOUSE.] + +On the 18th, another meeting was held in Faneuil Hall, and a committee +was again appointed to wait upon the consignees and request them to +resign. Again they refused, and that evening the house of Richard +Clarke, on School-street, was surrounded by an unruly crowd. A pistol +was fired from the house, but without serious effect other than exciting +the mob to deeds of violence; the windows were demolished, and the +family menaced with personal injury. Better counsels than those of anger +soon prevailed, and at midnight the town was quiet. The meeting, in the +mean while, had received the report of the committee in silence, and +adjourned without uttering a word. This silence was ominous of evil to +the friends of government. The consignees were alarmed, for it was +evident that the people were determined to _talk_ only, no more, but +henceforth to _act_. The governor, also, properly interpreted their +silence as a calm before a storm, and he called his council together at +the Province House, to consult upon measures for preserving the peace of +the city. During their session the frightened consignees presented a +petition to the council, asking leave to resign their commissions into +the hands of the governor and his advisers, and praying them to adopt +measures for the safe landing of the teas. The council, equally fearful +of the popular vengeance, refused the prayer of their petition, and the +consignees withdrew, for safety, to Castle William, a strong fortress at +the entrance of the harbor, then garrisoned by a portion of the troops +who had been encamped on Boston Common. The flight of the consignees +allayed the excitement for a few days. + +On Sunday evening, the 28th of November, the _Dartmouth_, Captain Hall, +one of the East India Company's ships, arrived in the harbor. The next +morning the following handbill was posted in every part of the city: + + "_Friends! Brethren! Countrymen!_--That worst of plagues, the + detested TEA shipped for this port, by the East India Company, is + now arrived in the harbor. The hour of destruction, or manly + opposition to the machinations of tyranny, stares you in the + face; every friend to his country, to himself, and to posterity, + is now called upon to meet at _Faneuil Hall_, at nine o'clock + THIS DAY (at which time the bells will ring), to make united and + successful resistance to this last, worst, and most destructive + measure of administration. + + "Boston, Nov. 29th, 1773." + +[Illustration: THE "OLD SOUTH."] + +A large concourse assembled in and around Faneuil Hall at the appointed +hour, too large to be admitted within its walls, and they adjourned to +the Old South Meeting House, on the corner of the present Washington and +Milk streets. Hancock, the Adamses, Warren, Quincy, and other popular +leaders and influential citizens were there. Firmness marked all the +proceedings, and within that sanctuary of religion they made resolves of +gravest import. It was agreed that no TEA should be landed within the +precincts of Boston; that no duty should be paid; and that it should be +sent back in the same bottom. They also voted that Mr. Roch, the owner +of the _Dartmouth_, "be directed not to enter the tea at his peril; and +that Captain Hall be informed, and at his peril, not to suffer any of +the tea to be landed." They ordered the ship to be moored at Griffin's +wharf, near the present Liverpool dock, and appointed a guard of +twenty-five men to watch her. + +When the meeting was about to adjourn, a letter was received from the +consignees, offering to store the tea until they could write to England +and obtain instructions from the owners. The people had resolved that +not a chest should be landed, and the offer was at once rejected. The +sheriff, who was present, then stepped upon the back of a pew, and read +a proclamation by the governor, ordering the assembly to disperse. It +was received with hisses. Another resolution was then adopted, ordering +two other tea vessels, then hourly expected, to be moored at Griffin's +wharf; and, after solemnly pledging themselves to carry their several +resolutions into effect at all hazards, and thanking the people in +attendance from the neighboring towns for their sympathy, they +adjourned. + +Every thing relating to the TEA movement was now in the hands of the +Boston Committee of Correspondence. A large volunteer guard was +enrolled, and every necessary preparation was made to support the +resistance resolutions of the 29th. A fortnight elapsed without any +special public occurrence, when, on the afternoon of the 13th of +December, intelligence went through the town that the _Eleanor_, Captain +James Bruce, and the _Beaver_, Captain Hezekiah Coffin, ships of the +East India Company, laden with tea, had entered the harbor. They were +moored at Griffin's wharf by the volunteer guard, and that night there +were many sleepless eyes in Boston. The Sons of Liberty convened at an +early hour in the evening, and expresses were sent to the neighboring +towns with the intelligence. Early the next morning the following +placard appeared: + + "_Friends! Brethren! Countrymen!_--The perfidious arts of your + restless enemies to render ineffectual the resolutions of the + body of the people, demand your assembling at the Old South + Meeting House precisely at two o'clock this day, at which time + the bells will ring." + +The "Old South" was crowded at the appointed hour, yet perfect order +prevailed. It was resolved to order Mr. Roch to apply immediately for a +clearance for his ship, and send her to sea. The owner was in a dilemma, +for the governor had taken measures, since the arrival of the Dartmouth, +to prevent her sailing out of the harbor. Admiral Montague, who happened +to be in Boston, was directed to fit out two armed vessels, and station +them at the entrance to the harbor, to act in concert with Colonel +Leslie, the commander of the garrison at the Castle. Leslie had already +received written orders from the governor not to allow any vessel to +pass the guns of the fort, outward, without a permit, signed by himself. +Of course Mr. Roch could do nothing. + +As no effort had yet been made to land the tea, the meeting adjourned, +to assemble again on the 16th, at the same place. These several popular +assemblies attracted great attention in the other colonies; and from New +York and Philadelphia in particular, letters, expressive of the +strongest sympathy and encouragement, were received by the Committee of +Correspondence. At the appointed hour on the 16th, the "Old South" was +again crowded, and the streets near were filled with a multitude, eager +to participate in the proceedings. They had flocked in from the +neighboring towns by hundreds. So great a gathering of people had never +before occurred in Boston. Samuel Phillips Savage, of Weston, was chosen +Moderator, or Chairman, and around him sat many men who, two years +afterward, were the recognized leaders of the Revolution in +Massachusetts. When the preliminary business was closed, and the meeting +was about to appoint committees for more vigorous action than had +hitherto been directed, the youthful Josiah Quincy arose, and with words +almost of prophecy, uttered with impassioned cadence, he harangued the +multitude. "It is not, Mr. Moderator," he said, "the spirit that vapors +within these walls that must stand us in stead. The exertions of this +day will call forth events which will make a very different spirit +necessary for our salvation. Whoever supposes that shouts and hosannas +will terminate the trials of this day, entertains a childish fancy. We +must be grossly ignorant of the importance and the value of the prize +for which we contend: we must be equally ignorant of the power of those +who have combined against us; we must be blind to that malice, +inveteracy, and insatiable revenge, which actuates our enemies, public +and private, abroad and in our bosoms, to hope that we shall end this +controversy without the sharpest conflicts--to flatter ourselves that +popular resolves, popular harangues, popular acclamations, and popular +vapor will vanquish our foes. Let us consider the issue. Let us look to +the end. Let us weigh and consider before we advance to those measures +which must bring on the most trying and terrible struggle this country +ever saw." This gifted young patriot did not live to see the struggle he +so confidently anticipated; for, when blood was flowing, in the first +conflicts at Lexington and Concord, eighteen month's afterward, he was +dying with consumption, on ship-board, almost within sight of his native +land. + +The people, in the "Old South," were greatly agitated when Quincy closed +his harangue. It was between three and four o'clock in the afternoon. +The question was immediately proposed to the meeting, "Will you abide by +your former resolutions with respect to not suffering the TEA to be +landed?" The vast assembly within, as with one voice, replied +affirmatively, and when the purport was known without, the multitude +there responded in accordance. The meeting now awaited the return of Mr. +Roch, who had been to the governor to request a permit for his vessel to +leave the harbor. Hutchinson, alarmed at the stormy aspect of affairs, +had taken counsel of his fears, and withdrawn from the city to his +country-house at Milton, a few miles from Boston. It was sunset when +Roch returned and informed the meeting that the governor refused to +grant a permit, until a clearance should be exhibited. As a clearance +had already been refused by the collector of the port, until the cargo +should be landed, it was evident that government officers had concerted +to resist the demands of the people. Like a sea lashed by a storm, that +meeting swayed with excitement, and eagerly demanded from the leaders +some indication for immediate action. Night was fast approaching, and as +the twilight deepened, a call was made for candles. At that moment, a +person in the gallery, disguised in the garb of a Mohawk Indian, gave a +war-whoop, which was answered from without. That signal, like the notes +of a trumpet before the battle-charge, fired the assemblage, and as +another voice in the gallery shouted, "Boston harbor a tea-pot to-night! +Hurrah for Griffin's wharf!" a motion to adjourn was carried, and the +multitude rushed to the street. "To Griffin's wharf! to Griffin's +wharf!" again shouted several voices, while a dozen men, disguised as +Indians, were seen speeding over Fort Hill, in that direction. The +populace followed, and in a few minutes the scene of excitement was +transferred from the "Old South" to the water side. + +No doubt the vigilant patriots had arranged this movement, in +anticipation of the refusal of the governor to allow the _Dartmouth_ to +depart; for concert of action marked all the operations at the wharf. +The number of persons disguised as Indians, was fifteen or twenty, and +these, with others who joined them, appeared to recognize Lendall Pitts, +a mechanic of Boston, as their leader. Under his directions, about sixty +persons boarded the three tea-ships, brought the chests upon deck, broke +them open, and cast their contents into the water. The _Dartmouth_ was +boarded first; the _Eleanor_ and _Beaver_ were next entered; and within +the space of two hours, the contents of three hundred and forty-two +chests of tea were cast into the waters of the harbor. During the +occurrence very little excitement was manifested among the multitude +upon the wharf; and as soon as the work of destruction was completed, +the active party marched in perfect order back into the town, preceded +by a drum and fife, dispersed to their homes, and Boston, untarnished by +actual mob or riot, was never more tranquil than on that bright and +frosty December night. + +A British squadron was not more than a quarter of a mile from Griffin's +wharf, where this event occurred, and British troops were near, yet the +whole proceeding was uninterrupted. The newspapers of the day doubtless +gave the correct interpretation to this apathy. Something far more +serious had been anticipated, if an attempt should be made to land the +tea; and the owners of the vessels, as well as the public authorities, +civil and military, doubtless thanked the _rioters_, in their secret +thoughts, for thus extricating them from a serious dilemma. They would +doubtless have been worsted in an attempt forcibly to land the tea; now, +the vessels were saved from destruction; no blood was spilt; the courage +of the civil and military officers remained unimpeached; the "_national +honor_" was not compromised, and the Bostonians, having carried their +resolutions into effect, were satisfied. The East India Company alone, +which was the actual loser, had cause for complaint. + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF DAVID KINNISON] + +It may be asked, Who were the men actively engaged in this high-handed +measure? Were they an ignorant rabble, with no higher motives than the +gratification of a mobocratic spirit? By no means. While some of them +were doubtless governed, in a measure, by such a motive, the greater +portion were young men and lads who belonged to the respectable part of +the community, and of the fifty-nine participators whose names have been +preserved, some of them held honorable stations in after life; some +battled nobly in defense of liberty in the Continental Army of the +Revolution which speedily followed, and almost all of them, according to +traditionary testimony, were entitled to the respect due to good +citizens. Only one, of all that band, as far as is known, is yet among +the living, and he has survived almost a half century beyond the +allotted period of human life. When the present century dawned, he had +almost reached the goal of three score and ten years; and now, at the +age of _one hundred and fifteen years_, DAVID KINNISON, of Chicago, +Illinois, holds the eminent position of the _last survivor of the Boston +Tea Party_! When the writer, in 1848, procured the portrait and +autograph of the aged patriot, he was living among strangers and +ignorant of the earthly existence of one of all his twenty-two children. +A daughter survives, and having been made acquainted of the existence +of her father, by the publication of this portrait in the "Field-Book," +she hastened to him, and is now smoothing the pillow of the patriarch as +he is gradually passing into the long and peaceful slumber of the grave. + +[Illustration: GEORGE ROBERT TWELVES HEWES.] + +The life of another actor was spared, until within ten years, and his +portrait, also, is preserved. GEORGE ROBERT TWELVES HEWES, was supposed +to be the latest survivor, until the name of David Kinnison was made +public. Soon not one of all that party will be among the living. + +Before closing this article let us advert to the _effect_ produced by +the destruction of the tea in Boston Harbor, for to effects alone are +causes indebted for importance. + +The events of the 16th of December produced a deep sensation throughout +the British realm. They struck a sympathetic chord in every colony which +afterward rebeled; and even Canada, Halifax, and the West Indies, had no +serious voice of censure for the Bostonians. But the ministerial party +here, and the public in England, amazed at the audacity of the Americans +in opposing royal authority, and in destroying private property, called +loudly for punishment; and even the friends of the colonists in +Parliament were, for a moment, silent, for they could not fully excuse +the lawless act. Another and a powerful party was now made a principal +in the quarrel; the East India Company whose property had been +destroyed, was now directly interested in the question of taxation. That +huge monopoly which had controlled the commerce of the Indies for more +than a century and a half, was then almost at the zenith of its power. +Already it had laid the foundation, broad and deep, of that +British-Indian Empire which now comprises the whole of Hindostan, from +the Himalaya Mountains to Cape Comorin, with a population of more than +one hundred and twenty millions, and its power in the government affairs +of Great Britain, was almost vice-regal. Unawed by the fleets and +armies of the imperial government, and by the wealth and power of this +corporation, the Bostonians justified their acts by the rules of justice +and the guarantees of the British constitution; and the next vessel to +England, after the event was known there, carried out an honest +proposition to the East India Company, from the people of Boston, to pay +for the tea destroyed. The whole matter rested at once upon its original +basis--the right of Great Britain to tax the colonies--and this fair +proposition of the Bostonians disarmed ministers of half their weapons +of vituperation. The American party in England saw nothing whereof to be +ashamed, and the presses, opposed to the ministry, teemed with grave +disquisitions, satires, and lampoons, all favorable to the colonists, +while art lent its aid in the production of several caricatures similar +to the one here given, in which Lord North is represented as pouring tea +down the throat of unwilling America, who is held fast by Lord Mansfield +(then employed by government in drawing up the various acts so obnoxious +to the colonists), while Britannia stands by, weeping at the distress of +her daughter. In America, almost every newspaper of the few printed, was +filled with arguments, epigrams, parables, sonnets, dialogues, and every +form of expression favorable to the resistance made in Boston to the +arbitrary acts of government; and a voice of approval went forth from +pulpits, courts of law, and the provincial legislatures. + +[Illustration: POURING TEA DOWN THE THROAT OF AMERICA] + +Great was the exasperation of the king and his ministers when +intelligence of the proceedings in Boston reached them. According to +Burke, the "House of Lords was like a seething caldron"--the House of +Commons was "as hot as Faneuil Hall or the Old South Meeting House at +Boston." Ministers and their supporters charged the colonies with open +rebellion, while the opposition denounced, in the strongest language +which common courtesy would allow, the foolish, unjust, and wicked +course of government. + +In cabinet council, the king and his ministers deliberately considered +the matter, and the result was a determination to use coercive measures +against the colonies. The first of these schemes was a bill brought +forward in March, 1774, which provided for the closing of the port of +Boston, and the removal of customs, courts of justice, and government +offices of every kind from Boston to Salem. This was avowedly a +retaliatory measure; and the famous _Boston Port Bill_, which, more than +any other act of the British government, was instrumental in driving the +colonies to rebellion, became a law within a hundred days after the +destruction of the tea. In the debate upon this bill, the most violent +language was used toward the Americans. Lord North justified the measure +by asserting that Boston was "the centre of rebellious commotion in +America; the ring-leader in every riot." Mr. Herbert declared that the +Americans deserved no consideration; that they were "never actuated by +decency or reason, and that they always chose tarring and feathering as +an argument;" while Mr. Van, another ministerial supporter, +denounced the people of Boston as totally unworthy of civilized +forbearance--declared that "they ought to have their town knocked about +their ears, and destroyed;" and concluded his tirade of abuse by quoting +the factious cry of the old Roman orators, "Delenda est +Carthago!"--Carthage must be destroyed. + +Edmund Burke, who now commenced his series of splendid orations in favor +of America, denounced the whole scheme as essentially wicked and unjust, +because it punished the innocent with the guilty. "You will thus +irrevocably alienate the hearts of the colonies from the mother +country," he exclaimed. "The bill is unjust, since it bears only upon +the city of Boston, while it is notorious that all America is in flames; +that the cities of Philadelphia, of New York, and all the maritime towns +of the continent, have exhibited the same disobedience. You are +contending for a matter which the Bostonians will not give up quietly. +They can not, by such means, be made to bow to the authority of +ministers; on the contrary, you will find their obstinacy confirmed and +their fury exasperated. The acts of resistance in their city have not +been confined to the populace alone, but men of the first rank and +opulent fortune in the place have openly countenanced them. One city in +proscription and the rest in rebellion, can never be a remedial measure +for disturbances. Have you considered whether you have troops and ships +sufficient to reduce the people of the whole American continent to your +devotion?" From denunciation he passed to appeal, and besought ministers +to pause ere they should strike a blow that would forever separate the +colonies from Great Britain. But the pleadings of Burke and others, were +in vain, and "deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity," this, +and other rigorous measures, were put in operation by ministers. + +The industry and enterprise of Boston was crushed when, on the first of +June, the _Port Bill_ went into operation; but her voice of wail, as it +went over the land, awakened the noblest expressions and acts of +sympathy, and the blow inflicted upon her was resented by all the +colonies. They all felt that forbearance was no longer a virtue. Ten +years they had pleaded, petitioned, remonstrated; they were uniformly +answered by insult. There seemed no other alternative but abject +submission, or open, armed resistance. They chose the latter, and +thirteen months after the Boston _Port Bill_ became a law, the battle at +Lexington and Concord had been fought, and Boston was beleaguered by an +army of patriots. The Battle of Bunker Hill soon followed; a continental +army was organized with Washington at its head, and the war of the +Revolution began. Eight long years it continued, when the oppressors, +exhausted, gave up the contest. Peace came, and with it, INDEPENDENCE; +and the Republic of the United States took its place among the nations +of the earth. + +How conspicuous the feeble Chinese plant should appear among these +important events let the voice of history determine. + + + + +THE AMERICAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION. + + +The safe return of the Expedition sent out by Mr. Henry Grinnell, an +opulent merchant of New York city, in search of Sir John Franklin and +his companions, is an event of much interest; and the voyage, though not +resulting in the discovery of the long-absent mariners, presents many +considerations satisfactory to the parties immediately concerned, and to +the American public in general. + +In the second volume of the Magazine, on pages 588 to 597 inclusive, we +printed some interesting extracts from the journal of Mr. W. PARKER +SNOW, of the _Prince Albert_, a vessel which sailed from Aberdeen with a +crew of Scotchmen, upon the same errand of mercy. That account is +illustrated by engravings; and in his narrative, Mr. Snow makes +favorable mention of Mr. Grinnell's enterprise, and the character of the +officers, crew, and vessels. We now present a more detailed account of +the American Expedition, its adventures and results, together with +several graphic illustrations, engraved from drawings made in the polar +seas during the voyage, by Mr. CHARLES BERRY, a seaman of the _Advance_, +the largest of the two vessels. These drawings, though made with a +pencil in hands covered with thick mittens, while the thermometer +indicated from 20° to 40° below zero, exhibit much artistic skill in +correctness of outline and beauty of finish. Mr. Berry is a native of +Hamburg, Germany, and was properly educated for the duties of the +counting-room and the accomplishments of social life. Attracted by the +romance of + + "The sea, the sea, the deep blue sea," + +he abandoned home for the perilous and exciting life of a sailor. +Although only thirty years of age, he has been fifteen years upon the +ocean. Five years he was in the English service, much of the time in the +waters near the Arctic Circle; the remainder has been spent in the +service of the United States. He was with the _Germantown_ in the Gulf, +during the war with Mexico, and accompanied her marines at the siege of +Vera Cruz. He was in the _North Carolina_ when Lieutenant De Haven went +on board seeking volunteers for the Arctic Expedition. He offered his +services; they were accepted, and a more skillful and faithful seaman +never went aloft. And it is pleasant to hear with what enthusiasm he +speaks of Commander De Haven, as a skillful navigator and kind-hearted +man. "He was as kind to me as a brother," he said, "and I would go with +him to the ends of the earth, if he wanted me." Although he speaks +English somewhat imperfectly, yet we have listened with great pleasure +to his intelligent narrative of the perils, occupations, sports, and +duties of the voyage. Since his return he has met an uncle, the +commander of a merchant vessel, and, for the first time in fifteen +years, he received intelligence from his family. "My mother is dead," +said he to us, while the tears gushed involuntarily from his eyes; "I +have no one to go home to now--I shall stay here." + +[Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE ROUTE OF THE EXPEDITION. +(The solid black line shows the outward course of the vessels; the +dotted line denotes the drift of the vessels, their baffled attempt to +reach Lancaster Sound a second time, and their return home.)] + +We shall not attempt to give a detailed narrative of the events of the +Expedition; we shall relate only some of the most noteworthy +circumstances, especially those which the pencil of the sailor-artist +has illustrated. By reference to the small map on the preceding page, +the relative position of the places named; the track of the vessels in +their outward voyage; their ice-drift of more than a thousand miles, and +their abortive attempt to penetrate the ice of Baffin's Bay a second +time, will be more clearly understood. + +[Illustration: ADVANCE AND RESCUE BEATING TO WINDWARD OF AN ICEBERG +THREE MILES IN CIRCUMFERENCE.] + +Mr. Grinnell's Expedition consisted of only two small brigs, the +_Advance_ of 140 tons; the _Rescue_ of only 90 tons. The former had been +engaged in the Havana trade; the latter was a new vessel, built for the +merchant service. Both were strengthened for the Arctic voyage at a +heavy cost. They were then placed under the directions of our Navy +board, and subject to naval regulations as if in permanent service. The +command was given to Lieutenant E. De Haven, a young naval officer who +accompanied the United States Exploring Expedition. The result has +proved that a better choice could not have been made. His officers +consisted of Mr. Murdoch, sailing-master; Dr. E. K. Kane, Surgeon and +Naturalist; and Mr. Lovell, midshipman. The _Advance_ had a crew of +twelve men when she sailed; two of them complaining of sickness, and +expressing a desire to return home, were left at the Danish settlement +at Disko Island, on the coast of Greenland. + +The Expedition left New York on the 23d of May, 1850, and was absent a +little more than sixteen months. They passed the eastern extremity of +Newfoundland ten days after leaving Sandy Hook, and then sailed +east-northeast, directly for Cape Comfort, on the coast of Greenland. +The weather was generally fine, and only a single accident occurred on +the voyage to that country of frost and snow. Off the coast of Labrador, +they met an iceberg making its way toward the tropics. The night was +very dark, and as the huge voyager had no "light out" the _Advance_ +could not be censured for running foul. She was punished, however, by +the loss of her jib-boom, as she ran against the iceberg at the rate of +seven or eight knots an hour. + +The voyagers did not land at Cape Comfort, but turning northward, sailed +along the southwest coast of Greenland, sometimes in an open sea, and +sometimes in the midst of broad acres of broken ice (particularly in +Davis's Straits), as far as Whale Island. On the way the anniversary of +our national independence occurred; it was observed by the seamen by +"splicing the main-brace"--in other words, they were allowed an extra +glass of grog on that day. + +From Whale Island, a boat, with two officers and four seamen, was sent +to Disko Island, a distance of about 26 miles, to a Danish settlement +there, to procure skin clothing and other articles necessary for use +during the rigors of a Polar winter. The officers were entertained at +the government house; the seamen were comfortably lodged with the +Esquimaux, sleeping in fur bags at night. They returned to the ship the +following day, and the Expedition proceeded on its voyage. When passing +the little Danish settlement of Upernavick, they were boarded by natives +for the first time. They were out in government whale-boats, hunting for +ducks and seals. These hardy children of the Arctic Circle were not shy, +for through the Danes, the English whalers, and government expeditions, +they had become acquainted with men of other latitudes. + +[Illustration: PERILOUS SITUATION OF THE ADVANCE AND RESCUE IN MELVILLE +BAY.] + +When the Expedition reached Melville Bay, which, on account of its +fearful character, is also called the _Devil's Nip_, the voyagers began +to witness more of the grandeur and perils of Arctic scenes. Icebergs of +all dimensions came bearing down from the Polar seas like vast +squadrons, and the roar of their rending came over the waters like the +booming of the heavy broadsides of contending navies. They also +encountered immense _floes_, with only narrow channels between, and at +times their situation was exceedingly perilous. On one occasion, after +heaving through fields of ice for five consecutive weeks, two immense +_floes_, between which they were making their way, gradually approached +each other, and for several hours they expected their tiny vessels--tiny +when compared with the mighty objects around them--would be crushed. An +immense _calf_ of ice six or eight feet thick slid under the _Rescue_, +lifting her almost "high and dry," and careening her partially upon her +beam's end. By means of ice-anchors (large iron hooks), they kept her +from capsizing. In this position they remained about sixty hours, when, +with saws and axes, they succeeded in relieving her. The ice now opened +a little, and they finally warped through into clear water. While they +were thus confined, polar bears came around them in abundance, greedy +for prey, and the seamen indulged a little in the perilous sports of the +chase. + +[Illustration: THE ADVANCE, RESCUE, AND PRINCE ALBERT NEAR THE DEVIL'S +THUMB.] + +The open sea continued but a short time, when they again became +entangled among _bergs_, _floes_, and _hummocks_, and encountered the +most fearful perils. Sometimes they anchored their vessels to icebergs, +and sometimes to _floes_ or masses of _hummock_. On one of these +occasions, while the cook, an active Frenchman, was upon a _berg_, +making a place for an anchor, the mass of ice split beneath him, and he +was dropped through the yawning fissure into the water, a distance of +almost thirty feet. Fortunately the masses, as is often the case, did +not close up again, but floated apart, and the poor cook was hauled on +board more dead than alive, from excessive fright. It was in this +fearful region that they first encountered _pack-ice_, and there they +were locked in from the 7th to the 23d of July. During that time they +were joined by the yacht _Prince Albert_, commanded by Captain Forsyth, +of the Royal Navy, and together the three vessels were anchored, for a +while, to an immense field of ice, in sight of the _Devil's Thumb_. That +high, rocky peak, situated in latitude 74° 22' was about thirty miles +distant, and with the dark hills adjacent, presented a strange aspect +where all was white and glittering. The peak and the hills are masses of +rock, with occasionally a lichen or a moss growing upon their otherwise +naked surfaces. In the midst of the vast ice-field loomed up many lofty +_bergs_, all of them in motion--slow and majestic motion. + +From the _Devil's Thumb_ the American vessels passed onward through the +_pack_ toward Sabine's Islands, while the _Prince Albert_ essayed to +make a more westerly course. They reached Cape York at the beginning of +August. Far across the ice, landward, they discovered, through their +glasses, several men, apparently making signals; and for a while they +rejoiced in the belief that they saw a portion of Sir John Franklin's +companions. Four men (among whom was our sailor-artist) were dispatched +with a whale-boat to reconnoitre. They soon discovered the men to be +Esquimaux, who, by signs, professed great friendship, and endeavored to +get the voyagers to accompany them to their homes beyond the hills. They +declined: and as soon as they returned to the vessel, the expedition +again pushed forward, and made its way to Cape Dudley Digges, which they +reached on the 7th of August. + +At Cape Dudley Digges they were charmed by the sight of the _Crimson +Cliffs_, spoken of by Captain Parry and other Arctic navigators. These +are lofty cliffs of dark brown stone, covered with snow of a rich +crimson color. It was a magnificent sight in that cold region, to see +such an apparently warm object standing out in bold relief against the +dark blue back-ground of a polar sky. This was the most northern point +to which the expedition penetrated. The whole coast which they had +passed from Disko to this cape is high, rugged, and barren, only some of +the low points, stretching into the sea, bearing a species of dwarf fir. +Northeast from the cape rise the Arctic Highlands, to an unknown +altitude; and stretching away northward is the unexplored Smith's Sound, +filled with impenetrable ice. + +[Illustration: THE ADVANCE LEADING THE PRINCE ALBERT, NEAR LEOPOLD +ISLAND.] + +From Cape Dudley Digges, the _Advance_ and _Rescue_, beating against +wind and tide in the midst of the ice-fields, made Wolstenholme Sound, +and then changing their course to the southwest, emerged from the fields +into the open waters of Lancaster Sound. Here, on the 18th of August, +they encountered a tremendous gale, which lasted about twenty-four +hours. The two vessels parted company during the storm, and remained +separate several days. Across Lancaster Sound, the _Advance_ made her +way to Barrow's Straits, and on the 22d discovered the _Prince Albert_ +on the southern shore of the straits, near Leopold Island, a mass of +lofty, precipitous rocks, dark and barren, and hooded and draped with +snow. The weather was fine, and soon the officers and crews of the two +vessels met in friendly greeting. Those of the _Prince Albert_ were much +astonished, for they (being towed by a steamer) left the Americans in +Melville Bay on the 6th, pressing northward through the _pack_, and +could not conceive how they so soon and safely penetrated it. Captain +Forsyth had attempted to reach a particular point, where he intended to +remain through the winter, but finding the passage thereto completely +blocked up with ice, he had resolved, on the very day when the Americans +appeared, to "'bout ship," and return home. This fact, and the +disappointment felt by Mr. Snow, are mentioned in our former article. + +The two vessels remained together a day or two, when they parted +company, the _Prince Albert_ to return home, and the _Advance_ to make +further explorations. It was off Leopold Island, on the 23d of August, +that the "mad Yankee" took the lead through the vast masses of floating +ice, so vividly described by Mr. Snow, and so graphically portrayed by +the sailor-artist. "The way was before them," says Mr. Snow, who stood +upon the deck of the _Advance_; "the stream of ice had to be either gone +through boldly, or a long _detour_ made; and, despite the heaviness of +the stream, _they pushed the vessel through in her proper course_. Two +or three shocks, as she came in contact with some large pieces, were +unheeded; and the moment the last block was past the bow, the officer +sung out,'So: steady as she goes on her course;' and came aft as if +nothing more than ordinary sailing had been going on. I observed our own +little bark nobly following in the American's wake; and as I afterward +learned, she got through it pretty well, though not without much doubt +of the propriety of keeping on in such procedure after the 'mad Yankee,' +as he was called by our mate." + +From Leopold Island the _Advance_ proceeded to the northwest, and on the +25th reached Cape Riley, another amorphous mass, not so regular and +precipitate as Leopold Island, but more lofty. Here a strong tide, +setting in to the shore, drifted the _Advance_ toward the beach, where +she stranded. Around her were small bergs and large masses of floating +ice, all under the influence of the strong current. It was about two +o'clock in the afternoon when she struck. By diligent labor in removing +every thing from her deck to a small _floe_, she was so lightened, that +at four o'clock the next morning she floated, and soon every thing was +properly replaced. + +[Illustration: THE ADVANCE STRANDED AT CAPE RILEY.] + +Near Cape Riley the Americans fell in with a portion of an English +Expedition, and there also the _Rescue_, left behind in the gale in +Lancaster Sound, overtook the _Advance_. There was Captain Penny with +the _Sophia_ and _Lady Franklin_; the veteran Sir John Ross, with the +_Felix_, and Commodore Austin, with the _Resolute_ steamer. Together the +navigators of both nations explored the coast at and near Cape Riley, +and on the 27th they saw in a cove on the shore of Beechy Island, or +Beechy Cape, on the east side of the entrance to Wellington Channel, +unmistakable evidence that Sir John Franklin and his companions were +there in April, 1846. There they found many articles known to belong to +the British Navy, and some that were the property of the _Erebus_ and +_Terror_, the ships under the command of Sir John. There lay, bleached +to the whiteness of the surrounding snow, a piece of _canvas_, with the +name of the _Terror_, marked upon it with indestructible charcoal. It +was very faint, yet perfectly legible. Near it was a _guide board_, +lying flat upon its face, having been prostrated by the wind. It had +evidently been used to direct exploring parties to the vessels, or, +rather, to the encampment on shore. The board was pine, thirteen inches +in length and six and a half in breadth, and nailed to a boarding pike +eight feet in length. It is supposed that the sudden opening of the ice, +caused Sir John to depart hastily, and that in so doing, this pike and +its board were left behind. They also found a large number of _tin +canisters_, such as are used for packing meats for a sea voyage; an +_anvil block_; remnants of clothing, which evinced, by numerous patches +and their threadbare character, that they had been worn as long as the +owners could keep them on; the remains of an _India rubber glove_, lined +with wool; some old _sacks_; a _cask_, or tub, partly filled with +charcoal, and an unfinished _rope-mat_, which, like other fibrous +fabrics, was bleached white. + +[Illustration: ANVIL BLOCK. GUIDE BOARD.] + +But the most interesting, and at the same time most melancholy traces of +the navigators, were _three graves_, in a little sheltered cove, each +with a board at the head, bearing the name of the sleeper below. These +inscriptions testify positively when Sir John and his companions were +there. The board at the head of the grave on the left has the following +inscription: + +"Sacred to the memory of JOHN TORRINGTON, who departed this life, +January 1st, A. D., 1846, on board her Majesty's ship _Terror_, aged 20 +years." + +On the centre one--"Sacred to the memory of JOHN HARTNELL, A. B., of her +Majesty's ship _Erebus_; died, January 4th, 1846, aged 25 years. 'Thus +saith the Lord of Hosts, Consider your ways:' Haggai, chap. i. v. 7." + +On the right--"Sacred to the memory of W. BRAINE, R. M., of her +Majesty's ship _Erebus_, who died April 3d, 1846, aged 32 years. 'Choose +you this day whom you will serve:' Joshua, chap. xxiv., part of the 15th +verse." + +[Illustration: THREE GRAVES AT BEECHY.[2]] + +How much later than April 3d (the date upon the last-named head-board), +Sir John remained at Beechy, can not be determined. They saw evidences +of his having gone northward, for sledge tracks in that direction were +very visible. It is the opinion of Dr. Kane that, on the breaking up of +the ice, in the spring, Sir John passed northward with his ships through +Wellington Channel, into the great Polar basin, and that he did not +return. This, too, is the opinion of Captain Penny, and he zealously +urges the British government to send a powerful screw steamer to pass +through that channel, and explore the _theoretically_ more hospitable +coasts beyond. This will doubtless be undertaken another season, it +being the opinions of Captains Parry, Beechy, Sir John Ross, and others, +expressed at a conference with the Board of Admiralty, in September, +that the season was too far advanced to attempt it the present year. Dr. +Kane, in a letter to Mr. Grinnell, since the return of the expedition, +thus expresses his opinion concerning the safety of Sir John and his +companions. After saying, "I should think that he is now to be sought +for north and west of Cornwallis Island," he adds, "as to the chance of +the destruction of his party by the casualties of ice, the return of our +own party after something more than the usual share of them, is the only +_fact_ that I can add to what we knew when we set out. The hazards from +cold and privation of food may be almost looked upon as subordinate. The +snow-hut, the fire and light from the moss-lamp fed with blubber, the +seal, the narwhal, the white whale, and occasionally abundant stores of +migratory birds, would sustain vigorous life. The scurvy, the worst +visitation of explorers deprived of permanent quarters, is more rare in +the depths of a Polar winter, than in the milder weather of the moist +summer; and our two little vessels encountered both seasons without +losing a man." + +[Illustration: THE ADVANCE AND RESCUE AT BARLOW'S INLET.] + +Leaving Beechy Cape, our expedition forced its way through the ice to +Barlow's Inlet, where they narrowly escaped being frozen in for the +winter. They endeavored to enter the Inlet, for the purpose of making it +their winter quarters, but were prevented by the mass of _pack-ice_ at +its entrance. It was on the 4th of September, 1850, when they arrived +there, and after remaining seven or eight days, they abandoned the +attempt to enter. On the right and left of the above picture, are seen +the dark rocks at the entrance of the Inlet, and in the centre the +frozen waters and the range of hills beyond. There was much smooth ice +within the Inlet, and while the vessels lay anchored to the "field," +officers and crew exercised and amused themselves by skating. On the +left of the Inlet, (indicated by the dark conical object,) they +discovered a _Cairn_ (a heap of stones with a cavity) eight or ten feet +in height, which was erected by Captain Ommanny of the English +Expedition then in the Polar waters. Within it he had placed two +letters, for "whom it might concern." Commander De Haven also deposited +a letter there. It is believed to be the only post-office in the world, +free for the use of all nations. The rocks, here, presented vast +fissures made by the frost; and at the foot of the cliff on the right, +that powerful agent had cast down vast heaps of _debris_. + +From Barlow's Inlet, our Expedition moved slowly westward, battling with +the ice every rood of the way, until they reached Griffin's Island, at +about 96° west longitude from Greenwich. This was attained on the 11th, +and was the extreme westing made by the expedition. All beyond seemed +impenetrable ice; and, despairing of making any further discoveries +before the winter should set in, they resolved to return home. Turning +eastward, they hoped to reach Davis's Straits by the southern route, +before the cold and darkness came on, but they were doomed to +disappointment. Near the entrance to Wellington Channel they became +completely locked in by _hummock-ice_, and soon found themselves +drifting with an irresistible tide up that channel toward the pole. + +Now began the most perilous adventures of the navigators. The summer day +was drawing to a close; the diurnal visits of the pale sun were rapidly +shortening, and soon the long polar night, with all its darkness and +horrors, would fall upon them. Slowly they drifted in those vast fields +of ice, whither, or to what result, they knew not. Locked in the moving +yet compact mass; liable every moment to be crushed; far away from land; +the mercury sinking daily lower and lower from the zero figure, toward +the point where that metal freezes, they felt small hope of ever +reaching home again. Yet they prepared for winter comforts and winter +sports, as cheerfully as if lying safe in Barlow's Inlet. As the winter +advanced, the crews of both vessels went on board the larger one. They +unshipped the rudders of each to prevent their being injured by the ice, +covered the deck of the _Advance_ with felt, prepared their stores, and +made arrangements for enduring the long winter, now upon them. Physical +and mental activity being necessary for the preservation of health, they +daily exercised in the open air for several hours. They built ice huts, +hunted the huge white bears and the little polar foxes, and when the +darkness of the winter night had spread over them, they arranged in-door +amusements and employments. + +[Illustration: SITUATION OF THE ADVANCE IN BARROW'S STRAITS] + +Before the end of October, the sun made its appearance for the last +time, and the awful polar night closed in. Early in November they wholly +abandoned the _Rescue_, and both crews made the _Advance_ their +permanent winter home. The cold soon became intense; the mercury +congealed, and the spirit thermometer indicated 46° below zero! Its +average range was 30° to 35°. They had drifted helplessly up Wellington +Channel as high as the point 4. on the map, almost to the latitude from +whence Captain Penny saw an open sea, and which all believe to be the +great polar basin, where there is a more genial clime than that which +intervenes between the Arctic Circle and the 75th degree. Here, when +almost in sight of the open ocean, that mighty polar tide, with its vast +masses of ice, suddenly ebbed, and our little vessels were carried back +as resistlessly as before, through Barrow's Straits into Lancaster +Sound! All this while the immense fields of _hummock-ice_ were moving, +and the vessels were in hourly danger of being crushed and destroyed. At +length, while drifting through Barrow's Straits, the congealed mass, as +if crushed together by the opposite shores, became more compact, and the +_Advance_ was elevated almost seven feet by the stern, and keeled two +feet eight inches, starboard, as seen in the engraving. In this position +she remained, with very little alteration, for five consecutive months; +for, soon after entering Baffin's Bay in the midst of the winter, the +ice became frozen in one immense tract, covering millions of acres. Thus +frozen in, sometimes more than a hundred miles from land, they drifted +slowly along the southwest coast of Baffin's Bay, a distance of more +than a thousand miles from Wellington Channel. For eleven weeks that +dreary night continued, and during that time the disc of the sun was +never seen above the horizon. Yet nature was not wholly forbidding in +aspect. Sometimes the Aurora Borealis would flash up still further +northward; and sometimes Aurora Parhelia--mock suns and mock +moons--would appear in varied beauty in the starry sky. Brilliant, too, +were the northern constellations; and when the real moon was at its +full, it made its stately circuit in the heavens without descending +below the horizon, and lighted up the vast piles of ice with a pale +lustre, almost as great as the morning twilights of more genial skies. + +[Illustration: ADVANCE AND RESCUE DRIFTING IN WELLINGTON SOUND.] + +Around the vessels the crews built a wall of ice; and in ice huts they +stowed away their cordage and stores to make room for exercise on the +decks. They organized a theatrical company, and amused themselves and +the officers with comedy well performed. Behind the pieces of _hummock_ +each actor learned his part, and by means of calico they transformed +themselves into female characters, as occasion required. These dramas +were acted upon the deck of the _Advance_, sometimes while the +thermometer indicated 30° below zero, and actors and audience highly +enjoyed the fun. They also went out in parties during that long night, +fully armed, to hunt the polar bear, the grim monarch of the frozen +North, on which occasions they often encountered perilous adventures. +They played at foot-ball, and exercised themselves in drawing sledges, +heavily laden with provisions. Five hours of each twenty-four, they +thus exercised in the open air, and once a week each man washed his +whole body in cold snow water. Serious sickness was consequently +avoided, and the scurvy which attacked them soon yielded to remedies. + +[Illustration: ADVANCE AND RESCUE DURING THE WINTER OF 1850-51.] + +Often during that fearful night, they expected the disaster of having +their vessels crushed. All through November and December, before the ice +became fast, they slept in their clothes, with knapsacks on their backs, +and sledges upon the ice, laden with stores, not knowing at what moment +the vessels might be demolished, and themselves forced to leave them and +make their way toward land. On the 8th of December, and the 23d of +January, they actually lowered their boats and stood upon the ice, for +the crushing masses were making the timbers of the gallant vessel creak +and its decks to rise in the centre. They were then ninety miles from +land, and hope hardly whispered an encouraging idea of life being +sustained. On the latter occasion, when officers and crew stood upon the +ice, with the ropes of their provision sledges in their hands, a +terrible snow-drift came from the northeast, and intense darkness +shrouded them. Had the vessel then been crushed, all must have perished. +But God, who ruled the storm, also put forth his protecting arm and +saved them. + +Early in February the northern horizon began to be streaked with +gorgeous twilight, the herald of the approaching king of day; and on the +18th the disc of the sun first appeared above the horizon. As its golden +rim rose above the glittering snow-drifts and piles of ice, three hearty +cheers went up from those hardy mariners, and they welcomed their +deliverer from the chains of frost as cordially as those of old who +chanted, + + "See! the conquering hero comes! + Sound the trumpet, beat the drums." + +[Illustration: THE ADVANCE IN DAVIS'S STRAITS, JUNE 5, 1851.] + +[Illustration: STERN OF THE RESCUE IN THE ICE.] + +Day after day it rose higher and higher, and while the pallid faces of +the voyagers, bleached during that long night, darkened by its beams, +the vast masses of ice began to yield to its fervid influences. The +scurvy disappeared, and from that time, until their arrival home, not a +man suffered from sickness. As they slowly drifted through Davis's +Straits, and the ice gave indications of breaking up, the voyagers made +preparations for sailing. The _Rescue_ was re-occupied, (May 13th 1851), +and her stern-post, which had been broken by the ice in Barrow's +Straits, was repaired. To accomplish this, they were obliged to dig +away the ice which was from 12 to 14 feet thick around her, as +represented in the engraving. They re-shipped their rudders; removed the +felt covering; placed their stores on deck, and then patiently awaited +the disruption of the ice. This event was very sudden and appalling. It +began to give way on the 5th of June, and in the space of twenty minutes +the whole mass, as far as the eye could reach became one vast field of +moving _floes_. On the 10th of June they emerged into open water (7, on +the map) a little south of the Arctic Circle, in latitude 65° 30'. They +immediately repaired to Godhaven, on the coast of Greenland, where they +re-fitted, and, unappalled by the perils through which they had just +passed, they once more turned their prows northward to encounter anew +the ice squadrons of Baffin's Bay. Again they traversed the coast of +Greenland to about the 73d degree, when they bore to the westward, and +on the 7th and 8th of July passed the English whaling fleet near the +Dutch Islands. Onward they pressed through the accumulating ice to +Baffin's Island, where, on the 11th, they were joined by the _Prince +Albert_, then out upon another cruise. They continued in company until +the 3d of August, when the _Albert_ departed for the westward, +determined to try the more southern passage. Here again (8,) our +expedition encountered vast fields of _hummock-ice_, and were subjected +to the most imminent perils. The floating ice, as if moved by adverse +currents, tumbled in huge masses, and reared upon the sides of the +sturdy little vessels like monsters of the deep intent upon destruction. +These masses broke in the bulwarks, and sometimes fell over upon the +decks with terrible force, like rocks rolled over a plain by mountain +torrents. The noise was fearful; so deafening that the mariners could +scarcely hear each other's voices. The sounds of these rolling masses, +together with the rending of the icebergs floating near, and the vast +_floes_, produced a din like the discharge of a thousand pieces of +ordnance upon a field of battle. + +[Illustration: THE ADVANCE AMONG HUMMOCKS] + +Finding the north and west closed against further progress, by +impenetrable ice, the brave De Haven was balked, and turning his vessels +homeward, they came out into an open sea, somewhat crippled, but not a +plank seriously started. During a storm off the banks of Newfoundland, a +thousand miles from New York, the vessels parted company. The _Advance_ +arrived safely at the Navy Yard at Brooklyn on the 30th of September, +and the _Rescue_ joined her there a few days afterward. Toward the close +of October the government resigned the vessels into the hands of Mr. +Grinnell, to be used in other service, but with the stipulation that +they are to be subject to the order of the Secretary of the Navy in the +spring, if required for another expedition in search of Sir John +Franklin. + +We have thus given a very brief account of the principal events of +interest connected with the American Arctic Expedition; the officers of +which will doubtless publish a more detailed narrative. Aside from the +success which attended our little vessels in encountering the perils of +the polar seas, there are associations which must forever hallow the +effort as one of the noblest exhibitions of the true glory of nations. +The navies of America and England have before met upon the ocean, but +they met for deadly strife. Now, too, they met for strife, equally +determined, but not with each other. They met in the holy cause of +benevolence and human sympathy, to battle with the elements beneath the +Arctic Circle; and the chivalric heroism which the few stout hearts of +the two nations displayed in that terrible conflict, redounds a +thousand-fold more to the glory of the actors, their governments, and +the race, than if four-score ships, with ten thousand armed men had +fought for the mastery of each other upon the broad ocean, and battered +hulks and marred corpses had gone down to the coral caves of the sea, a +dreadful offering to the demon of Discord. In the latter event, troops +of widows and orphan children would have sent up a cry of wail; now, the +heroes _advanced_ manfully to _rescue_ husbands and fathers to restore +them to their wives and children. How glorious the thought! and how +suggestive of the beauty of that fast approaching day, when the nations +shall sit down in peace as united children of one household. + + + + +NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.[3] + +BY JOHN S. C. ABBOTT. + +CONCLUSION OF THE FIRST ITALIAN CAMPAIGN. + + +Mantua had now fallen. The Austrians were driven from Italy. The Pope, +with the humility of a child, had implored the clemency of the +conqueror. Still Austria refused to make peace with republican France, +and with indomitable perseverance gathered her resources for another +conflict. Napoleon resolved to march directly upon Vienna. His object +was peace, not conquest. In no other possible way could peace be +attained. It was a bold enterprise. Leaving the whole breadth of Italy +between his armies and France, he prepared to cross the rugged summits +of the Carnic Alps, and to plunge, with an army of but fifty thousand +men, into the very heart of one of the most proud and powerful empires +upon the globe, numbering twenty millions of inhabitants. Napoleon +wished to make an ally of Venice. To her government he said, "Your whole +territory is imbued with revolutionary principles. One single word from +me will excite a blaze of insurrection through all your provinces. Ally +yourself with France, make a few modifications in your government such +as are indispensable for the welfare of the people, and we will pacify +public opinion and will sustain your authority." Advice more prudent and +humane could not have been given. The haughty aristocracy of Venice +refused the alliance, raised an army of sixty thousand men, ready at any +moment to fall upon Napoleon's rear, and demanded neutrality. "Be +neutral, then," said Napoleon, "but remember, if you violate your +neutrality, if you harass my troops, if you cut off my supplies, I will +take ample vengeance. I march upon Vienna. Conduct which could be +forgiven were I in Italy, will be unpardonable when I am in Austria. The +hour that witnesses the treachery of Venice, shall terminate her +independence." + +Mantua was the birth-place of Virgil. During centuries of wealth and +luxurious ease neither Italy nor Austria had found time to rear any +monument in honor of the illustrious Mantuan bard. But hardly had the +cannon of Napoleon ceased to resound around the beleaguered city, and +the smoke of the conflict had hardly passed away, ere the young +conqueror, ever more interested in the refinements of peace than in the +desolations of war, in the midst of the din of arms, and contending +against the intrigues of hostile nations, reared a mausoleum and +arranged a gorgeous festival in honor of the immortal poet. Thus he +endeavored to shed renown upon intellectual greatness, and to rouse the +degenerate Italians to appreciate and to emulate the glory of their +fathers. From these congenial pursuits of peace he again turned, with +undiminished energy, to pursue the unrelenting assailants of his +country. + +Leaving ten thousand men in garrison to watch the neutrality of the +Italian governments, Napoleon, early in March, removed his head-quarters +to Bassano. He then issued to his troops the following martial +proclamation, which, like bugle notes of defiance, reverberated over the +hostile and astonished monarchies of Europe. "Soldiers! the campaign +just ended has given you imperishable renown. You have been victorious +in fourteen pitched battles and seventy actions. You have taken more +than a hundred thousand prisoners, five hundred field-pieces, two +thousand heavy guns, and four pontoon trains. You have maintained the +army during the whole campaign. In addition to this you have sent six +millions of dollars to the public treasury, and have enriched the +National Museum with three hundred masterpieces of the arts of ancient +and modern Italy, which it has required thirty centuries to produce. You +have conquered the finest countries in Europe. The French flag waves for +the first time upon the Adriatic opposite to Macedon, the native country +of Alexander. Still higher destinies await you. I know that you will not +prove unworthy of them. Of all the foes that conspired to stifle the +Republic in its birth, the Austrian Emperor alone remains before you. To +obtain peace we must seek it in the heart of his hereditary state. You +will there find a brave people, whose religion and customs you will +respect, and whose property you will hold sacred. Remember that it is +liberty you carry to the brave Hungarian nation." + +The Archduke Charles, brother of the king, was now intrusted with the +command of the Austrian army. His character can not be better described +than in the language of his magnanimous antagonist. "Prince Charles," +said Napoleon, "is a man whose conduct can never attract blame. His +soul belongs to the heroic age, but his heart to that of gold. More than +all he is a good man, and that includes every thing, when said of a +prince." Early in March, Charles, a young man of about Napoleon's age, +who had already obtained renown upon the Rhine, was in command of an +army of 50,000 men stationed upon the banks of the Piave. From different +parts of the empire 40,000 men were on the march to join him. This would +give him 90,000 troops to array against the French. Napoleon, with the +recruits which he had obtained from France and Italy, had now a force of +fifty thousand men with which to undertake this apparently desperate +enterprise. The eyes of all Europe were upon the two combatants. It was +the almost universal sentiment, that, intoxicated with success, Napoleon +was rushing to irretrievable ruin. But Napoleon never allowed enthusiasm +to run away with his judgment. His plans were deeply laid, and all the +combinations of chance carefully calculated. + +The storms of winter were still howling around the snow-clad summits of +the Alps, and it was not thought possible that thus early in the season +he would attempt the passage of so formidable a barrier. A dreadful +tempest of wind and rain swept earth and sky when Napoleon gave the +order to march. The troops, with their accustomed celerity, reached the +banks of the Piave. The Austrians, astonished at the sudden apparition +of the French in the midst of the elemental warfare, and unprepared to +resist them, hastily retired some forty miles to the eastern banks of +the Tagliamento. Napoleon closely followed the retreating foe. At nine +o'clock in the morning of the 10th of March, the French army arrived +upon the banks of the river. Here they found a wide stream, rippling +over a gravelly bed, with difficulty fordable. The imperial troops, in +most magnificent array, were drawn up upon an extended plain on the +opposite shore. Parks of artillery were arranged to sweep with +grape-shot the whole surface of the water. In long lines the infantry, +with bristling bayonets and prepared to rain down upon their foes a +storm of bullets, presented apparently an invincible front. Upon the two +wings of this imposing army vast squadrons of cavalry awaited the +moment, with restless steeds, when they might charge upon the foe, +should he effect a landing. + +The French army had been marching all night over miry roads, and through +mountain defiles. With the gloom of the night the storm had passed away, +and the cloudless sun of a warm spring morning dawned upon the valley, +as the French troops arrived upon the banks of the river. Their clothes +were torn, and drenched with rain, and soiled with mud. And yet it was +an imposing array as forty thousand men, with plumes and banners and +proud steeds, and the music of a hundred bands, marched down, in that +bright sunshine, upon the verdant meadows which skirted the Tagliamento. +But it was a fearful barrier which presented itself before them. The +rapid river, the vast masses of the enemy in their strong +intrenchments, the frowning batteries, loaded to the muzzle with +grape-shot, to sweep the advancing ranks, the well fed war-horses in +countless numbers, prancing for the charge, apparently presented an +obstacle which no human energy could surmount. + +Napoleon, seeing the ample preparations made to oppose him, ordered his +troops to withdraw beyond the reach of the enemies' fire, and to prepare +for breakfast. As by magic the martial array was at once transformed +into a peaceful picnic scene. Arms were laid aside. The soldiers threw +themselves upon the green grass, just sprouting in the valley, beneath +the rays of the sun of early spring. Fires were kindled, kettles +boiling, knapsacks opened, and groups, in carelessness and joviality, +gathered around fragments of bread and meat. + +[Illustration: THE PASSAGE OF THE TAGLIAMENTO.] + +The Archduke Charles, seeing that Napoleon declined the attempt to pass +the river until he had refreshed his exhausted troops, withdrew his +forces also into the rear to their encampments. When all was quiet, and +the Austrians were thrown completely off their guard, suddenly the +trumpets sounded the preconcerted signal. The French troops, disciplined +to prompt movements, sprang to their arms, instantly formed in battle +array, plunged into the stream, and, before the Austrians had recovered +from their astonishment, were half across the river. This movement was +executed with such inconceivable rapidity, as to excite the admiration +as well as the consternation of their enemies. With the precision and +beauty of the parade ground, the several divisions of the army gained +the opposite shore. The Austrians rallied as speedily as possible. But +it was too late. A terrible battle ensued. Napoleon was victor at every +point. The Imperial army, with their ranks sadly thinned, and leaving +the ground gory with the blood of the slain, retreated in confusion to +await the arrival of the reinforcements coming to their aid. Napoleon +pressed upon their rear, every hour attacking them, and not allowing +them one moment to recover from their panic. The Austrian troops, thus +suddenly and unexpectedly defeated, were thrown into the extreme of +dejection. The exultant French, convinced of the absolute invincibility +of their beloved chief, ambitiously sought out points of peril and +adventures of desperation, and with shouts of laughter, and jokes, and +making the welkin ring with songs of liberty, plunged into the densest +masses of their foes. The different divisions of the army vied with each +other in their endeavor to perform feats of the most romantic valor, and +in the display of the most perfect contempt of life. In every fortress, +at every mountain pass, upon every rapid stream, the Austrians made a +stand to arrest the march of the conqueror. But with the footsteps of a +giant, Napoleon crowded upon them, pouring an incessant storm of +destruction upon their fugitive ranks. He drove the Austrians to the +foot of the mountains. He pursued them up the steep acclivities. He +charged the tempests of wind and smothering snow with the sound of the +trumpet, and his troops exulted in waging war with combined man and the +elements. Soon both pursuers and pursued stood upon the summit of the +Carnic Alps. They were in the region of almost perpetual snow. The vast +glaciers, which seemed memorials of eternity, spread bleak and cold +around them. The clouds floated beneath their feet. The eagle wheeled +and screamed as he soared over the sombre firs and pines far below on +the mountain sides. Here the Austrians made a desperate stand. On the +storm-washed crags of granite, behind fields of ice and drifts of snow +which the French cavalry could not traverse, they sought to intrench +themselves against their tireless pursuer. To retreat down the long and +narrow defiles of the mountains, with the French in hot pursuit behind, +hurling upon them every missile of destruction, bullets, and balls, and +craggy fragments of the cliffs, was a calamity to be avoided at every +hazard. Upon the summit of Mount Tarwis, the battle, decisive of this +fearful question, was to be fought. It was an appropriate arena for the +fell deeds of war. Wintry winds swept the bleak and icy eminence, and a +clear, cold, cloudless sky canopied the two armies as, with fiend-like +ferocity, they hurled themselves upon each other. The thunder of +artillery reverberated above the clouds. The shout of onset and the +shrieks of the wounded were heard upon eminences which even the wing of +the eagle had rarely attained. Squadrons of cavalry fell upon fields of +ice, and men and horses were precipitated into fathomless depths below. +The snow drifts of Mount Tarwis were soon crimsoned with blood, and the +warm current from human hearts congealed with the eternal glacier, and +there, embalmed in ice, it long and mournfully testified of man's +inhumanity to man. + +The Archduke Charles, having exhausted his last reserve, was compelled +to retreat. Many of the soldiers threw away their arms, and escaped over +the crags of the mountains; thousands were taken prisoners; multitudes +were left dead upon the ice, and half-buried in the drifts of snow. But +Charles, brave and energetic, still kept the mass of his army together, +and with great skill conducted his precipitate retreat. With merciless +vigor the French troops pursued, pouring down upon the retreating masses +a perfect storm of bullets, and rolling over the precipitous sides of +the mountains huge rocks, which swept away whole companies at once. The +bleeding, breathless fugitives at last arrived in the valley below. +Napoleon followed close in their rear. The Alps were now passed. The +French were in Austria. They heard a new language. The scenery, the +houses, the customs of the inhabitants, all testified that they were no +longer in Italy. They had with unparalleled audacity entered the very +heart of the Austrian empire, and with unflinching resolution were +marching upon the capital of twenty millions of people, behind whose +ramparts, strengthened by the labor of ages, Maria Theresa had bidden +defiance to the invading Turks. + +Twenty days had now passed since the opening of the campaign, and the +Austrians were already driven over the Alps, and having lost a fourth of +their numbers in the various conflicts which had occurred, dispirited by +disaster, were retreating to intrench themselves for a final struggle +within the walls of Vienna. Napoleon, with 45,000 men, flushed with +victory, was rapidly descending the fertile steams which flow into the +Danube. + +Under these triumphant circumstances Napoleon showed his humanity, and +his earnest desire for peace, in dictating the following most noble +letter, so characteristic of his strong and glowing intellect. It was +addressed to his illustrious adversary, the Archduke Charles. + +"General-in-chief. Brave soldiers, while they make war, desire peace. +Has not this war already continued six years? Have we not slain enough +of our fellow-men? Have we not inflicted a sufficiency of woes upon +suffering humanity? It demands repose upon all sides. Europe, which took +up arms against the French Republic, has laid them aside. Your nation +alone remains hostile, and blood is about to flow more copiously than +ever. This sixth campaign has commenced with sinister omens. Whatever +may be its issue, many thousand men, on the one side and the other, must +perish. And after all we must come to an accommodation, for every thing +has an end, not even excepting the passion of hatred. You, general, who +by birth approach so near the throne, and are above all the little +passions which too often influence ministers and governments, are you +resolved to deserve the title of benefactor of humanity, and of the real +saviour of Austria. Do not imagine that I deny the possibility of saving +Austria by the force of arms. But even in such an event your country +will not be the less ravaged. As for myself, if the overture which I +have the honor to make, shall be the means of saving a single life, I +shall be more proud of the civic crown which I shall be conscious of +having deserved, than of all the melancholy glory which military success +can confer." + +To these magnanimous overtures the Archduke replied: "In the duty +assigned to me there is no power either to scrutinize the causes or to +terminate the duration of the war, I am not invested with any authority +in that respect, and therefore can not enter into any negotiation for +peace." + +In this most interesting correspondence, Napoleon, the plebeian general, +speaks with the dignity and the authority of a sovereign; with a +natural, unaffected tone of command, as if accustomed from infancy to +homage and empire. The brother of the king is compelled to look upward +to the pinnacle upon which transcendent abilities have placed his +antagonist. The conquering Napoleon pleads for peace; but Austria hates +republican liberty even more than war. Upon the rejection of these +proposals the thunders of Napoleon's artillery were again heard, and +over the hills and through the valleys, onward he rushed with his +impetuous troops, allowing his foe no repose. At every mountain gorge, +at every rapid river, the Austrians stood, and were slain. Each walled +town was the scene of a sanguinary conflict, and the Austrians were +often driven in the wildest confusion pell-mell with the victors through +the streets. At last they approached another mountain range called the +Stipian Alps. Here, at the frightful gorge of Neumarkt, a defile so +gloomy and terrific that even the peaceful tourist can not pass through +it unawed, Charles again made a desperate effort to arrest his pursuers. +It was of no avail. Blood flowed in torrents, thousands were slain. The +Austrians, encumbered with baggage-wagons and artillery, choked the +narrow passages, and a scene of indescribable horror ensued. The French +cavalry made most destructive charges upon the dense masses. Cannon +balls plowed their way through the confused ranks, and the Austrian rear +and the French van struggled, hand to hand, in the blood-red gorge. But +the Austrians were swept along like withered leaves before the mountain +gales. Napoleon was now at Leoben. From the eminences around the city, +with the telescope, the distant spires of Vienna could be discerned. +Here the victorious general halted for a day, to collect his scattered +forces. Charles hurried along the great road to the capital, with the +fragments of his army, striving to concentrate all the strength of the +empire within those venerable and hitherto impregnable fortifications. + +[Illustration: THE GORGE OF NEUMARKT.] + +All was consternation in Vienna. The king, dukes, nobles, fled like deer +before approaching hounds, seeking refuge in the distant wilds of +Hungary. The Danube was covered with boats conveying the riches of the +city and the terrified families out of the reach of danger. Among the +illustrious fugitives was Maria Louisa, then a child but six years of +age, flying from that dreaded Napoleon whose bride she afterward became. +All the military resources of Austria were immediately called into +requisition; the fortifications were repaired; the militia organized and +drilled; and in the extremity of mortification and despair all the +energies of the empire were roused for final resistance. Charles, to +gain time, sent a flag of truce requesting a suspension of arms for +twenty-four hours. Napoleon, too wary to be caught in a trap which he +had recently sprung upon his foes, replied that moments were precious, +and that they might fight and negotiate at the same time. Napoleon also +issued to the Austrian people one of his glowing proclamations which was +scattered all over the region he had overrun. He assured the _people_ +that he was their friend, that he was fighting not for conquest but for +peace; that the Austrian government, bribed by British gold, was waging +an unjust war against France: that the _people_ of Austria should find +in him a protector, who would respect their religion and defend them in +all their rights. His deeds were in accordance with his words. The +French soldiers, inspired by the example of their beloved chief, treated +the unarmed Austrians as friends, and nothing was taken from them +without ample remuneration. + +The people of Austria now began to clamor loudly for peace. Charles, +seeing the desperate posture of affairs, earnestly urged it upon his +brother, the Emperor, declaring that the empire could no longer be saved +by arms. Embassadors were immediately dispatched from the imperial court +authorized to settle the basis of peace. They implored a suspension of +arms for five days, to settle the preliminaries. Napoleon nobly replied, +"In the present posture of our military affairs, a suspension of +hostilities must be very seriously adverse to the interests of the +French army. But if by such a sacrifice, that peace, which is so +desirable and so essential to the happiness of the people, can be +secured, I shall not regret consenting to your desires." A garden in the +vicinity of Leoben was declared neutral ground, and here, in the midst +of the bivouacs of the French army, the negotiations were conducted. The +Austrian commissioners, in the treaty which they proposed, had set down +as the first article, that the Emperor recognized the French Republic. +"Strike that out," said Napoleon, proudly. "The Republic is like the +sun; none but the blind can fail to see it. We are our own masters, and +shall establish any government we prefer." This exclamation was not +merely a burst of romantic enthusiasm, but it was dictated by a deep +insight into the possibilities of the future. "If one day the French +people," he afterward remarked, "should wish to create a monarchy, the +Emperor might object that he had recognized a republic." Both parties +being now desirous of terminating the war, the preliminaries were soon +settled. Napoleon, as if he were already the Emperor of France, waited +not for the plenipotentiaries from Paris, but signed the treaty in his +own name. He thus placed himself upon an equal footing with the Emperor +of Austria. The equality was unhesitatingly recognized by the Imperial +government. In the settlement of the difficulties between these two +majestic powers, neither of them manifested much regard for the minor +states. Napoleon allowed Austria to take under her protection many of +the states of Venice, for Venice had proved treacherous to her professed +neutrality, and merited no protection from his hands. + +[Illustration: THE VENETIAN ENVOYS.] + +Napoleon, having thus conquered peace, turned to lay the rod upon +trembling Venice. Richly did Venice deserve his chastising blows. In +those days, when railroads and telegraphs were unknown, the transmission +of intelligence was slow. The little army of Napoleon had traversed +weary leagues of mountains and vales, and having passed beyond the +snow-clad summits of the Alps, were lost to Italian observation, far +away upon the tributaries of the Danube. Rumor, with her thousand voices +filled the air. It was reported that Napoleon was defeated--that he was +a captive--that his army was destroyed. The Venetian oligarchy, proud, +cowardly, and revengeful, now raised the cry, "Death to the French." The +priests incited the peasants to frenzy. They attacked unarmed Frenchmen +in the streets and murdered them. They assailed the troops in garrison +with overwhelming numbers. The infuriated populace even burst into the +hospitals, and poniarded the wounded and the dying in their beds. +Napoleon, who was by no means distinguished for meekness and +long-suffering, turned sternly to inflict upon them punishment which +should long be remembered. The haughty oligarchy was thrown into a +paroxysm of terror, when it was announced, that Napoleon was victor +instead of vanquished, and that, having humbled the pride of Austria, he +was now returning with an indignant and triumphant army burning for +vengeance. The Venetian Senate, bewildered with fright, dispatched +agents to deprecate his wrath. Napoleon, with a pale and marble face, +received them. Without uttering a word he listened to their awkward +attempts at an apology, heard their humble submission, and even endured +in silence their offer of millions of gold to purchase his pardon. Then +in tones of firmness which sent paleness to their cheeks and palpitation +to their hearts, he exclaimed, "If you could proffer me the treasures of +Peru, could you strew your whole country with gold, it would not atone +for the blood which has been treacherously spilt. You have murdered my +children. The lion of St. Mark[4] must lick the dust. Go." The Venetians +in their terror sent enormous sums to Paris, and succeeded in bribing +the Directory, ever open to such appeals. Orders were accordingly +transmitted to Napoleon, to spare the ancient Senate and aristocracy of +Venice. But Napoleon, who despised the Directory, and who was probably +already dreaming of its overthrow, conscious that he possessed powers +which they could not shake, paid no attention to their orders. He +marched resistlessly into the dominions of the doge. The thunders of +Napoleon's cannon were reverberating across the lagoons which surround +the Queen of the Adriatic. The doge, pallid with consternation, +assembled the Grand Council, and proposed the surrender of their +institutions to Napoleon, to be remodeled according to his pleasure. +While they were deliberating, the uproar of insurrection was heard in +the streets. The aristocrats and the republicans fell furiously upon +each other. The discharge of fire-arms was heard under the very windows +of the council-house. Opposing shouts of "Liberty forever," and "Long +live St. Mark," resounded through the streets. The city was threatened +with fire and pillage. Amid this horrible confusion three thousand +French soldiers crossed the lagoons in boats and entered the city. They +were received with long shouts of welcome by the populace, hungering for +republican liberty. Resistance was hopeless. An unconditional surrender +was made to Napoleon, and thus fell one of the most execrable tyrannies +this world has ever known. The course Napoleon then pursued was so +magnanimous as to extort praise from his bitterest foes. He immediately +threw open the prison doors to all who were suffering for political +opinions. He pardoned all offenses against himself. He abolished +aristocracy, and established a popular government, which should fairly +represent all classes of the community. The public debt was regarded as +sacred, and even the pensions continued to the poor nobles. It was a +glorious reform for the Venetian nation. It was a terrible downfall for +the Venetian aristocracy. The banner of the new republic now floated +from the windows of the palace, and as it waved exultingly in the +breeze, it was greeted with the most enthusiastic acclamations, by the +people who had been trampled under the foot of oppression for fifteen +hundred years. + +All Italy was now virtually at the feet of Napoleon. Not a year had yet +elapsed since he, a nameless young man of twenty-five years of age, with +thirty thousand ragged and half starved troops, had crept along the +shores of the Mediterranean, hoping to surprise his powerful foes. He +had now traversed the whole extent of Italy, compelled all its hostile +states to respect republican France, and had humbled the Emperor of +Austria as emperor had rarely been humbled before. The Italians, +recognizing him as a countryman, and proud of his world-wide renown, +regarded him, not as a conqueror, but as a liberator. His popularity was +boundless. Wherever he appeared the most enthusiastic acclamations +welcomed him. Bonfires blazed upon every hill in honor of his movements. +The bells rang their merriest peals, wherever he appeared. Long lines of +maidens strewed roses in his path. The reverberations of artillery and +the huzzas of the populace saluted his footsteps. Europe was at peace; +and Napoleon was the great pacificator. For this object he had contended +against the most formidable coalitions. He had sheathed his victorious +sword, the very moment his enemies were willing to retire from the +strife. + +Still the position of Napoleon required the most consummate firmness +and wisdom. All the states of Italy, Piedmont, Genoa, Naples, the States +of the Church, Parma, Tuscany, were agitated with the intense desire for +liberty. Napoleon was unwilling to encourage insurrection. He could not +lend his arms to oppose those who were struggling for popular rights. In +Genoa, the patriots rose. The haughty aristocracy fell in revenge upon +the French, who chanced to be in the territory. Napoleon was thus +compelled to interfere. The Genoese aristocracy were forced to abdicate, +and the patriot party, as in Venice, assumed the government. But the +Genoese democracy began now in their turn, to trample upon the rights of +their former oppressors. The revolutionary scenes which had disgraced +Paris, began to be re-enacted in the streets of Genoa. They excluded the +priests and the nobles from participating in the government, as the +nobles and priests had formerly excluded them. Acts of lawless violence +passed unpunished. The religion of the Catholic priests was treated with +derision. Napoleon, earnestly and eloquently, thus urged upon them a +more humane policy. "I will respond, citizens, to the confidence you +have reposed in me. It is not enough that you refrain from hostility to +religion. You should do nothing which can cause inquietude to tender +consciences. To exclude the nobles from any public office, is an act of +extreme injustice. You thus repeat the wrong which you condemn in them. +Why are the people of Genoa so changed? Their first impulses of +fraternal kindness have been succeeded by fear and terror. Remember that +the priests were the first who rallied around the tree of liberty. They +first told you that the morality of the gospel is democratic. Men have +taken advantage of the faults, perhaps of the crimes of individual +priests, to unite against Christianity. You have proscribed without +discrimination. When a state becomes accustomed to condemn without +hearing, to applaud a discourse because it impassioned; when +exaggeration and madness are called virtue, moderation and equity +designated as crimes, that state is near its ruin. Believe me, I shall +consider _that_ one of the happiest moments of my life in which I hear +that the people of Genoa are united among themselves and live happily." + +This advice, thus given to Genoa, was intended to re-act upon France, +for the Directory then had under discussion a motion for banishing all +the nobles from the Republic. The voice of Napoleon was thus delicately +and efficiently introduced into the debate, and the extreme and terrible +measure was at once abandoned. + +Napoleon performed another act at this time, which drew down upon him a +very heavy load of obloquy from the despotic governments of Europe, but +which must secure the approval of every generous mind. There was a small +state in Italy called the Valteline, eighteen miles wide, and fifty-four +miles long, containing one hundred and sixty thousand inhabitants. These +unfortunate people had become subjects to a German state called the +Grisons, and, deprived of all political privileges, were ground down by +the most humiliating oppression. The inhabitants of the Valteline, +catching the spirit of liberty, revolted and addressed a manifesto to +all Europe, setting forth their wrongs, and declaring their +determination to recover those rights, of which they had been defrauded. +Both parties sent deputies to Napoleon, soliciting his interference, +virtually agreeing to abide by his decision. Napoleon, to promote +conciliation and peace, proposed that the Valtelines should remain with +the Grisons as one people, and that the Grisons should confer upon them +equal political privileges with themselves. Counsel more moderate and +judicious could not have been given. But the proud Grisons, accustomed +to trample upon their victims, with scorn refused to share with them the +rights of humanity. Napoleon then issued a decree, saying, "_It is not +just that one people should be subject to another people._ Since the +Grisons have refused equal rights to the inhabitants of the Valteline, +the latter are at liberty to unite themselves with the Cisalpine +Republic." This decision was received with bursts of enthusiastic joy by +the liberated people, and they were immediately embraced within the +borders of the new republic. + +The great results we have thus far narrated in this chapter were +accomplished in six weeks. In the face of powerful armies, Napoleon had +traversed hundreds of miles of territory. He had forded rivers, with the +storm of lead and iron falling pitilessly around him. He had crossed the +Alps, dragging his artillery through snow three feet in depth, scattered +the armies of Austria to the winds, imposed peace upon that proud and +powerful empire, recrossed the Alps, laid low the haughty despotism of +Venice, established a popular government in the emancipated provinces, +and revolutionized Genoa. Josephine was now with him in the palace of +Milan. From every state in Italy couriers were coming and going, +deprecating his anger, soliciting his counsel, imploring his protection. +The destiny of Europe seemed to be suspended upon his decisions. His +power transcended that of all the potentates in Europe. A brilliant +court of beautiful ladies surrounded Josephine, and all vied to do +homage to the illustrious conqueror. The enthusiastic Italians thronged +his gates, and waited for hours to catch a glance of the youthful hero. +The feminine delicacy of his physical frame, so disproportionate with +his mighty renown, did but add to the enthusiasm which his presence ever +inspired. His strong arm had won for France peace with all the world, +England alone excepted. The indomitable islanders, protected by the +ocean from the march of invading armies, still continued the unrelenting +warfare. Wherever her navy could penetrate she assailed the French, and +as the horrors of war could not reach her shores, she refused to live on +any terms of peace with Republican France. + +Napoleon now established his residence, or rather his court, at +Montebello, a beautiful palace in the vicinity of Milan. His frame was +emaciate in the extreme from the prodigious toils which he had endured. +Yet he scarcely allowed himself an hour of relaxation. Questions of vast +moment, relative to the settlement of political affairs in Italy, were +yet to be adjusted, and Napoleon, exhausted as he was in body, devoted +the tireless energies of his mind to the work. His labors were now +numerous. He was treating with the plenipotentiaries of Austria, +organizing the Italian Republic, creating a navy in the Adriatic, and +forming the most magnificent projects relative to the Mediterranean. +These were the works in which he delighted, constructing canals, and +roads, improving harbors, erecting bridges, churches, naval and military +dépôts, calling cities and navies into existence, awaking every where +the hum of prosperous industry. All the states of Italy were imbued with +local prejudices and petty jealousies of each other. To break down these +jealousies, he endeavored to consolidate the Republicans into one single +state, with Milan for the capital. He strove in multiplied ways to rouse +martial energy among the effeminate Italians. Conscious that the new +republic could not long stand alive in the midst of the surrounding +monarchies so hostile to its existence, that it could only be strong by +the alliance of France, he conceived the design of a high road, broad, +safe, and magnificent, from Paris to Geneva, thence across the Simplon +through the plains of Lombardy to Milan. He was in treaty with the +government of Switzerland, for the construction of the road through its +territories; and had sent engineers to explore the route and make an +estimate of the expense. He himself arranged all the details with the +greatest precision. He contemplated also, at the same time, with the +deepest interest and solicitude, the empire which England had gained on +the seas. To cripple the power of this formidable foe, he formed the +design of taking possession of the islands of the Mediterranean. "From +these different posts," he wrote to the Directory, "we shall command the +Mediterranean, we shall keep an eye upon the Ottoman empire, which is +crumbling to pieces, and we shall have it in our power to render the +dominion of the ocean almost useless to the English. They have +possession of the Cape of Good Hope. We can do without it. _Let us +occupy Egypt._ We shall be in the direct road for India. It will be easy +for us to found there one of the finest colonies in the world. _It is in +Egypt that we must attack England._" + +It was in this way that Napoleon _rested_ after the toils of the most +arduous campaigns mortal man had ever passed through. The Austrians were +rapidly recruiting their forces from their vast empire, and now began to +throw many difficulties in the way of a final adjustment. The last +conference between the negotiating parties was held at Campo Formio, a +small village about ten miles east of the Tagliamento. The commissioners +were seated at an oblong table, the four Austrian negotiators upon one +side, Napoleon by himself upon the other. The Austrians demanded terms +to which Napoleon could not accede, threatening at the same time that +if Napoleon did not accept these terms, the armies of Russia would be +united with those of Austria, and France should be compelled to adopt +those less favorable. One of the Austrian commissioners concluded an +insulting apostrophe, by saying, "Austria desires peace, and she will +severely condemn the negotiator who sacrifices the interest and repose +of his country to military ambition." Napoleon, cool and collected, sat +in silence while these sentiments were uttered. Then rising from the +table he took from the sideboard a beautiful porcelain vase. +"Gentlemen," said he, "the truce is broken; war is declared. But +remember, in three months I will demolish your monarchy as I now shatter +this porcelain." With these words he dashed the vase into fragments upon +the floor, and bowing to the astounded negotiators, abruptly withdrew. +With his accustomed promptness of action he instantly dispatched an +officer to the Archduke, to inform him that hostilities would be +re-commenced in twenty-four hours; and entering his carriage, urged his +horses with the speed of the wind, toward the head-quarters of the army. +One of the conditions of this treaty upon which Napoleon insisted, was +the release of La Fayette, then imprisoned for his republican +sentiments, in the dungeons of Olmutz. The Austrian plenipotentiaries +were thunderstruck by this decision, and immediately agreed to the terms +which Napoleon demanded. The next day at five o'clock the treaty of +Campo Formio was signed. + +[Illustration: THE CONFERENCE DISSOLVED.] + +The terms which Napoleon offered the Austrians in this treaty, though +highly advantageous to France, were far more lenient to Austria, than +that government had any right to expect. The Directory in Paris, anxious +to strengthen itself against the monarchical governments of Europe by +revolutionizing the whole of Italy and founding there republican +governments, positively forbade Napoleon to make peace with Austria, +unless the freedom of the Republic of Venice was recognized. Napoleon +wrote to the Directory that if they insisted upon that ultimatum, the +renewal of the war would be inevitable. The Directory replied, "Austria +has long desired to swallow up Italy, and to acquire maritime power. It +is the interest of France to prevent both of these designs. It is +evident that if the Emperor acquires Venice, with its territorial +possessions, he will secure an entrance into the whole of Lombardy. We +should be treating as if we had been conquered. What would posterity say +of us if we surrender that great city with its naval arsenals to the +Emperor. The whole question comes to this: Shall we give up Italy to the +Austrians? The French government neither can nor will do so. It would +prefer all the hazards of war." + +Napoleon wished for peace. He could only obtain it by disobeying the +orders of his government. The middle of October had now arrived. One +morning, at daybreak, he was informed that the mountains were covered +with snow. Leaping from his bed, he ran to the window, and saw that the +storms of winter had really commenced on the bleak heights. "What! +before the middle of October!" he exclaimed: "what a country is this! +Well, we must make peace." He shut himself up in his cabinet for an +hour, and carefully reviewed the returns of the army. "I can not have," +said he to Bourrienne, "more than sixty thousand men in the field. Even +if victorious I must lose twenty thousand in killed and wounded. And +how, with forty thousand, can I withstand the whole force of the +Austrian monarchy, who will hasten to the relief of Vienna? The armies +of the Rhine could not advance to my succor before the middle of +November, and before that time arrives the Alps will be impassable from +snow. It is all over. I will sign the peace. The government and the +lawyers may say what they choose." + +This treaty, extended France to the Rhine, recognized the Cisalpine +Republic, composed of the Cispadane Republic and Lombardy, and allowed +the Emperor of Austria to extend his sway over several of the states of +Venice. Napoleon was very desirous of securing republican liberty in +Venice. Most illustriously did he exhibit his anxiety for peace in +consenting to sacrifice that desire, and to disobey the positive +commands of his government, rather than renew the horrors of battle. He +did not think it his duty to keep Europe involved in war, that he might +secure republican liberty for Venice, when it was very doubtful whether +the Venetians were sufficiently enlightened to govern themselves, and +when, perhaps, one half of the nation were so ignorant as to prefer +despotism. The whole glory of this peace redounds to his honor. His +persistence in that demand which the Directory enjoined, would but have +kindled anew the flames of war. + +During these discussions at Campo Formio, every possible endeavor was +made which the most delicate ingenuity could devise, to influence +Napoleon in his decisions by personal considerations. The wealth of +Europe was literally laid at his feet. Millions upon millions in gold +were proffered him. But his proud spirit could not be thus tarnished. +When some one alluded to the different course pursued by the Directors, +he replied, "You are not then aware, citizen, that there is not one of +those Directors whom I could not bring, for four thousand dollars, to +kiss my boot." The Venetians offered him a present of one million five +hundred thousand dollars. He smiled, and declined the offer. The Emperor +of Austria, professing the most profound admiration of his heroic +character, entreated him to accept a principality, to consist of at +least two hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, for himself and his +heirs. This was indeed an alluring offer to a young man but twenty-five +years of age, and who had but just emerged from obscurity and poverty. +The young general transmitted his thanks to the Emperor for this proof +of his good-will, but added, that he could accept of no honors but such +as were conferred upon him by the French people, and that he should +always be satisfied with whatever they might be disposed to offer. + +[Illustration: THE COURT AT MILAN.] + +While at Montebello, transacting the affairs of his victorious army, +Josephine presided with most admirable propriety and grace, over the gay +circle of Milan. Napoleon, who well understood the imposing influence of +courtly pomp and splendor, while extremely simple in his personal +habiliments, dazzled the eyes of the Milanese with all the pageantry of +a court. The destinies of Europe were even then suspended upon his nod. +He was tracing out the lines of empire, and dukes, and princes, and +kings were soliciting his friendship. Josephine, by her surpassing +loveliness of person and of character, won universal admiration. Her +wonderful tact, her genius, and her amiability vastly strengthened the +influence of her husband. "I conquer provinces," said Napoleon, "but +Josephine wins hearts." She frequently, in after years, reverted to this +as the happiest period of her life. To them both it must have been as a +bewildering dream. But a few months before, Josephine was in prison, +awaiting her execution; and her children were literally begging bread in +the streets. Hardly a year had elapsed since Napoleon, a penniless +Corsican soldier, was studying in a garret in Paris, hardly knowing +where to obtain a single franc. Now the name of Napoleon was emblazoned +through Europe. He had become more powerful than the government of his +own country. He was overthrowing and uprearing dynasties. The question +of peace or war was suspended upon his lips. The proudest potentates of +Europe were ready, at any price, to purchase his favor. Josephine +reveled in the exuberance of her dreamlike prosperity and exaltation. +Her benevolent heart was gratified with the vast power she now possessed +of conferring happiness. She was beloved, adored. She had long cherished +the desire of visiting this land, so illustrious in the most lofty +reminiscences. Even Italy can hardly present a more delightful excursion +than the ride from Milan to the romantic, mountain-embowered lakes of +Como and Maggiore. It was a bright and sunny Italian morning when +Napoleon, with his blissful bride, drove along the luxuriant valleys and +the vine-clad hill-sides to Lake Maggiore. They were accompanied by a +numerous and glittering retinue. Here they embarked upon this beautiful +sheet of water, in a boat with silken awnings and gay banners, and the +rowers beat time to the most voluptuous music. They landed upon +Beautiful Island, which, like another Eden, emerges from the bosom of +the lake. This became the favorite retreat of Napoleon. Its monastic +palace, so sombre in its antique architecture, was in peculiar +accordance with that strange melancholy which, with but now and then a +ray of sunshine, ever overshadowed his spirit. On one of these occasions +Josephine was standing upon a terrace with several ladies, under a large +orange-tree, profusely laden with its golden treasures. As their +attention was all absorbed in admiring the beautiful landscape, Napoleon +slipped up unperceived, and, by a sudden shake, brought down a shower of +the rich fruit upon their heads. Josephine's companions screamed with +fright and ran; but she remained unmoved. Napoleon laughed heartily and +said: "Why, Josephine, you stand fire like one of my veterans." "And why +should I not?" she promptly replied, "am I not the wife of their +general?" + +Every conceivable temptation was at this time presented to entice +Napoleon into habits of licentiousness. Purity was a virtue then and +there almost unknown. Some one speaking of Napoleon's universal talents, +compared him with Solomon. "Poh," exclaimed another, "What do you mean +by calling him wiser than Solomon. The Jewish king had seven hundred +wives and three hundred concubines, while Napoleon is contented with one +wife, and she older than himself." The corruption of those days of +infidelity was such, that the ladies were jealous of Josephine's +exclusive influence over her illustrious spouse, and they exerted all +their powers of fascination to lead him astray. The loftiness of +Napoleon's ambition, and those principles instilled so early by a +mother's lips as to be almost instincts, were his safeguard. Josephine +was exceedingly gratified, some of the ladies said, "insufferably +vain," that Napoleon clung so faithfully and confidingly to her. +"Truly," he said, "I have something else to think of than love. No man +wins triumphs in that way, without forfeiting some palms of glory. I +have traced out my plan, and the finest eyes in the world, and there are +some very fine eyes here, shall not make me deviate a hair's breadth +from it." + +A lady of rank, after wearying him one day with a string of the most +fulsome compliments, exclaimed, among other things, "What is life worth, +if one can not be General Bonaparte," Napoleon fixed his eyes coldly +upon her, and said, "Madame! one may be a dutiful wife, and the good +mother of a family." + +The jealousy which the Directory entertained of Napoleon's vast +accession of power induced them to fill his court with spies, who +watched all his movements and reported his words. Josephine, frank and +candid and a stranger to all artifice, could not easily conceal her +knowledge or her thoughts. Napoleon consequently seldom intrusted to her +any plans which he was unwilling to have made known. "A secret," he once +observed, "is burdensome to Josephine." He was careful that she should +not be thus encumbered. He would be indeed a shrewd man who could extort +any secret from the bosom of Napoleon. He could impress a marble-like +immovableness upon his features, which no scrutiny could penetrate. Said +Josephine in subsequent years, "I never once beheld Napoleon for a +moment perfectly at ease--not even with myself. He is constantly on the +alert. If at any time he appears to show a little confidence, it is +merely a feint to throw the person with whom he converses, off his +guard, and to draw forth his sentiments; but never does he himself +disclose his real thoughts." + +The French Government remonstrated bitterly against the surrender of +Venice to Austria. Napoleon replied. "It costs nothing for a handful of +declaimers to rave about the establishment of _republics_ every where. I +wish these gentlemen would make a winter campaign. You little know the +people of Italy. You are laboring under a great delusion. You suppose +that liberty can do great things to a base, cowardly, and superstitious +people. You wish me to perform miracles. I have not the art of doing so. +Since coming into Italy I have derived little, if any, support from the +love of the Italian people for liberty and equality." + +The treaty of peace signed at Campo Formio, Napoleon immediately sent to +Paris. Though he had disobeyed the positive commands of the Directory, +in thus making peace, the Directors did not dare to refuse its +ratification. The victorious young general was greatly applauded by the +people, for refusing the glory of a new campaign, in which they doubted +not that he would have obtained fresh laurels, that he might secure +peace for bleeding Europe. On the 17th of November Napoleon left Milan +for the Congress at Rastadt, to which he was appointed, with +plenipotentiary powers. At the moment of leaving he addressed the +following proclamation to the Cisalpine Republic: "We have given you +liberty. Take care to preserve it. To be worthy of your destiny make +only discreet and honorable laws, and cause them to be executed with +energy. Favor the diffusion of knowledge, and respect religion. Compose +your battalions not of disreputable men, but of citizens imbued with the +principles of the Republic, and closely linked with its prosperity. You +have need to impress yourselves with the feeling of your strength, and +with the dignity which befits the free man. Divided and bowed down by +ages of tyranny, you could not alone have achieved your independence. In +a few years, if true to yourselves, no nation will be strong enough to +wrest liberty from you. Till then the great nation will protect you." + +Napoleon, leaving Josephine at Milan, traveled rapidly through Piedmont, +intending to proceed by the way of Switzerland to Rastadt. His journey +was an uninterrupted scene of triumph. Illuminations, processions, +bonfires, the ringing of bells, the explosions of artillery, the huzzas +of the populace, and above all the most cordial and warm-hearted +acclamations of ladies, accompanied him all the way. The enthusiasm was +indescribable. Napoleon had no fondness for such displays. He but +slightly regarded the applause of the populace. + +[Illustration: THE TRIUMPHAL JOURNEY.] + +"It must be delightful," said Bourrienne, "to be greeted with such +demonstrations of enthusiastic admiration." "Bah!" Napoleon replied; +"this same unthinking crowd, under a slight change of circumstances, +would follow me just as eagerly to the scaffold." + +Traveling with great rapidity, he appeared and vanished like a meteor, +ever retaining the same calm, pensive, thoughtful aspect. A person, who +saw him upon this occasion, thus described his appearance: "I beheld +with deep interest and extreme attention that extraordinary man, who has +performed such great deeds, and about whom there is something which +seems to indicate that his career is not yet terminated. I found him +much like his portraits, small in stature, thin, pale, with an air of +fatigue, but not as has been reported in ill-health. He appeared to me +to listen with more abstraction than interest, as if occupied rather +with what he was thinking of, than with what was said to him. There is +great intelligence in his countenance, along with an expression of +habitual meditation, which reveals nothing of what is passing within. In +that thinking head, in that daring mind, it is impossible not to suppose +that some designs are engendering, which will have their influence on +the destinies of Europe." Napoleon did not remain long at Rastadt, for +all the questions of great political importance were already settled, +and he had no liking for those discussions of minor points which +engrossed the attention of the petty German princes, who were assembled +at that Congress. He accordingly prepared for his departure. + +In taking leave of the army he thus bade adieu to his troops. "Soldiers! +I leave you to-morrow. In separating myself from the army I am consoled +with the thought that I shall soon meet you again, and engage with you +in new enterprises. Soldiers! when conversing among yourselves of the +kings you have vanquished, of the people upon whom you have conferred +liberty, of the victories you have won in two campaigns, say, '_In the +next two we will accomplish still more._'" + +Napoleon's attention was already eagerly directed to the gorgeous East. +These vast kingdoms, enveloped in mystery, presented just the realm for +his exuberant imagination to range. It was the theatre, as he eloquently +said, "of mighty empires, where all the great revolutions of the earth +have arisen, where mind had its birth, and all religions their cradle, +and where six hundred millions of men still have their dwelling-place." + +Napoleon left Rastadt, and traveling incognito through France, arrived +in Paris the 7th of December, 1797, having been absent but about +eighteen months. His arrival had been awaited with the most intense +impatience. The enthusiasm of that most enthusiastic capital had been +excited to the highest pitch. The whole population were burning with the +desire to see the youthful hero whose achievements seemed to surpass the +fictions of romance. But Napoleon was nowhere visible. A strange mystery +seemed to envelop him. He studiously avoided observation; very seldom +made his appearance at any place of public amusement; dressed like the +most unobtrusive private citizen, and glided unknown through the crowd, +whose enthusiasm was roused to the highest pitch to get a sight of the +hero. He took a small house in the Rue Chanteraine, which street +immediately received the name of Rue de la Victoire, in honor of +Napoleon. He sought only the society of men of high intellectual and +scientific attainments. In this course he displayed a profound knowledge +of human nature, and vastly enhanced public curiosity by avoiding its +gratification. + +[Illustration: THE DELIVERY OF THE TREATY.] + +The Directory, very jealous of Napoleon's popularity, yet impelled by +the voice of the people, now prepared a triumphal festival for the +delivery of the treaty of Campo Formio. The magnificent court of the +Luxembourg was arranged and decorated for this gorgeous show. At the +further end of the court a large platform was raised, where the five +Directors were seated, dressed in the costume of the Roman Senate, at +the foot of the altar of their country. Embassadors, ministers, +magistrates, and the members of the two councils were assembled on seats +ranged amphitheatrically around. Vast galleries were crowded with all +that was illustrious in rank, beauty, and character in the metropolis. +Magnificent trophies, composed of the banners taken from the enemy, +embellished the court, while the surrounding walls were draped with +festoons of tri-colored tapestry. Bands of music filled the air with +martial sounds, while the very walls of Paris were shaken by the +thunders of exploding artillery and by the acclamations of the countless +thousands who thronged the court. + +It was the 10th of December, 1797. A bright sun shone through cloudless +skies upon the resplendent scene. Napoleon had been in Paris but five +days. Few of the citizens had as yet been favored with a sight of the +hero, whom all were impatient to behold. At last a great flourish of +trumpets announced his approach. He ascended the platform dressed in the +utmost simplicity of a civilian's costume, accompanied by Talleyrand, +and his aids-de-camp, all gorgeously dressed, and much taller men than +himself, but evidently regarding him with the most profound homage. The +contrast was most striking. Every eye was riveted upon Napoleon. The +thunder of the cannon was drowned in the still louder thunder of +enthusiastic acclamations which simultaneously arose from the whole +assemblage. The fountains of human emotion were never more deeply moved. +The graceful delicacy of his fragile figure, his remarkably youthful +appearance, his pale and wasted cheeks, the classic outline of his +finely moulded features, the indescribable air of pensiveness and +self-forgetfulness which he ever carried with him, and all associated +with his most extraordinary achievements, aroused an intensity of +enthusiastic emotion which has perhaps never been surpassed. No one who +witnessed the scenes of that day ever forgot them. Talleyrand introduced +the hero in a brief and eloquent speech. "For a moment," said he, in +conclusion, "I did feel on his account that disquietude which, in an +infant republic, arises from every thing which seems to destroy the +equality of the citizens. But I was wrong. Individual grandeur, far from +being dangerous to equality, is its highest triumph. And on this +occasion every Frenchman must feel himself elevated by the hero of his +country. And when I reflect upon all which he has done to shroud from +envy that light of glory; on that ancient love of simplicity which +distinguishes him in his favorite studies; his love for the abstract +sciences; his admiration for that sublime Ossian which seems to detach +him from the world; on his well known contempt for luxury, for pomp, for +all that constitutes the pride of ignoble minds, I am convinced that, +far from dreading his ambition, we shall one day have occasion to rouse +it anew to allure him from the sweets of studious retirement." Napoleon, +apparently quite unmoved by this unbounded applause, and as calm and +unembarrassed as if speaking to an under-officer in his tent, thus +briefly replied: "Citizens! The French people, in order to be free, had +kings to combat. To obtain a constitution founded on reason it had the +prejudices of eighteen centuries to overcome. Priestcraft, feudalism, +despotism, have successively, for two thousand years, governed Europe. +From the peace you have just concluded dates the era of representative +governments. You have succeeded in organizing the great nation, whose +vast territory is circumscribed only because nature herself has fixed +its limits. You have done more. The two finest countries in Europe, +formerly so renowned for the arts, the sciences, and the illustrious men +whose cradle they were, see with the greatest hopes genius and freedom +issuing from the tomb of their ancestors. I have the honor to deliver to +you the treaty signed at Campo Formio, and ratified by the emperor. +Peace secures the liberty, the prosperity, and the glory of the +Republic. As soon as the happiness of France is secured by the best +organic laws, the whole of Europe will be free." + +The moment Napoleon began to speak the most profound silence reigned +throughout the assembly. The desire to hear his voice was so intense, +that hardly did the audience venture to move a limb or to breathe, while +in tones, calm and clear, he addressed them. The moment he ceased +speaking, a wild burst of enthusiasm filled the air. The most +unimpassioned lost their self-control. Shouts of "Live Napoleon the +conqueror of Italy, the pacificator of Europe, the saviour of France," +resounded loud and long. Barras, in the name of the Directory, replied, +"Nature," exclaimed the orator in his enthusiasm, "has exhausted her +energies in the production of a Bonaparte. Go," said he turning to +Napoleon, "crown a life, so illustrious, by a conquest which the great +nation owes to its outraged dignity. Go, and by the punishment of the +cabinet of London, strike terror into the hearts of all who would +miscalculate the powers of a free people. Let the conquerors of the Po, +the Rhine, and the Tiber, march under your banners. The ocean will be +proud to bear them. It is a slave still indignant who blushes for his +fetters. Hardly will the tri-colored standard wave on the blood-stained +shores of the Thames, ere an unanimous cry will bless your arrival, and +that generous nation will receive you as its liberator." Chenier's +famous Hymn to Liberty was then sung in full chorus, accompanied by a +magnificent orchestra. In the ungovernable enthusiasm of the moment the +five Directors arose and encircled Napoleon in their arms. The blast of +trumpets, the peal of martial bands, the thunder of cannon, and the +acclamations of the countless multitude rent the air. Says Thiers, "All +heads were overcome with the intoxication. Thus it was that France threw +herself into the hands of an extraordinary man. Let us not censure the +weakness of our fathers. That glory reaches us only through the clouds +of time and adversity, and yet it transports us! Let us say with +Æschylus, 'How would it have been had we seen the monster himself!'" + +Napoleon's powers of conversation were inimitable. There was a +peculiarity in every phrase he uttered which bore the impress of +originality and genius. He fascinated every one who approached him. He +never spoke of his own achievements, but in most lucid and dramatic +recitals often portrayed the bravery of the army and the heroic exploits +of his generals. + +He was now elected a member of the celebrated Institute, a society +composed of the most illustrious literary and scientific men in France. +He eagerly accepted the invitation, and returned the following answer. +"The suffrages of the distinguished men who compose the Institute honor +me. I feel sensibly that before I can become their equal I must long be +their pupil. The only true conquests--those which awaken no regret--are +those obtained over ignorance. The most honorable, as the most useful +pursuit of nations, is that which contributes to the extension of human +intellect. The real greatness of the French Republic ought henceforth to +consist in the acquisition of the whole sum of human knowledge, and in +not allowing a single new idea to exist, which does not owe its birth to +their exertions." He laid aside entirely the dress of a soldier, and, +constantly attending the meetings of the Institute, as a philosopher and +a scholar became one of its brightest ornaments. His comprehensive mind +enabled him at once to grasp any subject to which he turned his +attention. In one hour he would make himself master of the accumulated +learning to which others had devoted the labor of years. He immediately, +as a literary man, assumed almost as marked a pre-eminence among these +distinguished scholars, as he had already acquired as a general on +fields of blood. Apparently forgetting the renown he had already +attained, with boundless ambition he pressed on to still greater +achievements, deeming nothing accomplished while any thing remained to +be done. Subsequently he referred to his course at this time and +remarked, "Mankind are in the end always governed by superiority of +intellectual qualities, and none are more sensible of this than the +military profession. When, on my return from Italy, I assumed the dress +of the Institute, and associated with men of science, I knew what I was +doing, I was sure of not being misunderstood by the lowest drummer in +the army." + +A strong effort was made at this time, by the royalists, for the +restoration of the Bourbons. Napoleon, while he despised the inefficient +government of the Directory, was by no means willing that the despotic +Bourbons should crush the spirit of liberty in France. Napoleon was not +adverse to a monarchy. But he wished for a monarch who would consult the +interests of the _people_, and not merely pamper the luxury and pride of +the nobles. He formed the plan and guided the energies which discomfited +the royalists, and sustained the Directors. Thus twice had the strong +arm of this young man protected the government. The Directors, in their +multiplied perplexities, often urged his presence in their councils, to +advise with them on difficult questions. Quiet and reserved he would +take his seat at their table, and by that superiority of tact which ever +distinguished him, and by that intellectual pre-eminence which could not +be questioned, he assumed a moral position far above them all, and +guided those gray-haired diplomatists, as a father guides his children. +Whenever he entered their presence, he instinctively assumed the +supremacy, and it was instinctively recognized. + +The altars of religion, overthrown by revolutionary violence, still +remained prostrate. The churches were closed, the Sabbath abolished, the +sacraments were unknown, the priests were in exile. A whole generation +had grown up in France without any knowledge of Christianity. Corruption +was universal. A new sect sprang up called Theophilanthropists, who +gleaned, as the basis of their system, some of the moral precepts of the +gospel, divested of the sublime sanctions of Christianity. They soon, +however, found that it is not by flowers of rhetoric, and smooth-flowing +verses, and poetic rhapsodies upon the beauty of love and charity, of +rivulets and skies, that the stern heart of man can be controlled. +Leviathan is not so tamed. Man, exposed to temptations which rive his +soul, trembling upon the brink of fearful calamities, and glowing with +irrepressible desires, can only be allured and overawed when the voice +of love and mercy, blends with Sinai's thunders. "There was frequently," +says the Duchess of Abrantes, "so much truth in the moral virtues which +this new sect inculcated, that if the Evangelists had not said the same +things much better, eighteen hundred years before them, one might have +been tempted to embrace their opinions." + +Napoleon took a correct view of these enthusiasts. "They can accomplish +nothing," said he, "they are merely actors." "How!" it was replied, "do +you thus stigmatize those whose tenets inculcate universal benevolence +and the moral virtues?" "All systems of morality," Napoleon rejoined, +"are fine. The gospel alone has exhibited a complete assemblage of the +principles of morality, divested of all absurdity. It is not composed, +like your creed, of a few common-place sentences put into bad verse. Do +you wish to see that which is really sublime? Repeat the Lord's Prayer. +Such enthusiasts are only to be encountered by the weapons of ridicule. +All their efforts will prove ineffectual." + +Republican France was now at peace with all the world, England alone +excepted. The English government still waged unrelenting war against the +Republic, and strained every nerve to rouse the monarchies of Europe +again to combine to force a detested dynasty upon the French people. The +British navy, in its invincibility, had almost annihilated the commerce +of France. In their ocean-guarded isle, safe from the ravages of war +themselves, their fleet could extend those ravages to all shores. The +Directory raised an army for the invasion of England, and gave to +Napoleon the command. Drawing the sword, not of aggression but of +defense, he immediately proceeded to a survey of the French coast, +opposite to England, and to form his judgment respecting the feasibility +of the majestic enterprise. Taking three of his generals in his +carriage, he passed eight days in this tour of observation. With great +energy and tact he immediately made himself familiar with every thing +which could aid him in coming to a decision. He surveyed the coast, +examined the ships and the fortifications, selected the best points for +embarkation, and examined until midnight sailors, pilots, smugglers, and +fishermen. He made objections, and carefully weighed their answers. Upon +his return to Paris his friend Bourrienne said to him, "Well, general! +what do you think of the enterprise? Is it feasible?" "No!" he promptly +replied, shaking his head. "It is too hazardous. I will not undertake +it. I will not risk on such a stake the fate of our beautiful France." +At the same time that he was making this survey of the coast, with his +accustomed energy of mind, he was also studying another plan for +resisting the assaults of the British government. The idea of attacking +England, by the way of Egypt in her East Indian acquisitions, had taken +full possession of his imagination. He filled his carriage with all the +books he could find in the libraries of Paris, relating to Egypt. With +almost miraculous rapidity he explored the pages, treasuring up, in his +capacious and retentive memory, every idea of importance. +Interlineations and comments on the margin of these books, in his own +hand-writing, testify to the indefatigable energy of his mind. + +Napoleon was now almost adored by the republicans all over Europe, as +the great champion of popular rights. The people looked to him as their +friend and advocate. In England, in particular, there was a large, +influential, and increasing party, dissatisfied with the prerogatives of +the crown, and with the exclusive privileges of the nobility, who were +never weary of proclaiming the praises of this champion of liberty and +equality. The brilliance of his intellect, the purity of his morals, the +stoical firmness of his self-endurance, his untiring energy, the glowing +eloquence of every sentence which fell from his lips, his youth and +feminine stature, and his wondrous achievements, all combined to invest +him with a fascination such as no mortal man ever exerted before. The +command of the army for the invasion of England was now assigned to +Napoleon. He became the prominent and dreaded foe of that great empire. +And yet the common people who were to fight the battles almost to a man +loved him. The throne trembled. The nobles were in consternation. "If we +deal fairly and justly with France," Lord Chatham is reported frankly to +have avowed, "the English government will not exist for four-and-twenty +hours." It was necessary to change public sentiment and to rouse +feelings of personal animosity against this powerful antagonist. To +render Napoleon unpopular, all the wealth and energies of the government +were called into requisition, opening upon him the batteries of +ceaseless invective. The English press teemed with the most atrocious +and absurd abuse. It is truly amusing, in glancing over the pamphlets of +that day, to contemplate the enormity of the vices attributed to him, +and their contradictory nature. He was represented as a perfect demon in +human form. He was a robber and a miser, plundering the treasuries of +nations that he might hoard his countless millions, and he was also a +profligate and a spendthrift, squandering upon his lusts the wealth of +empires. He was wallowing in licentiousness, his camp a harem of +pollution, ridding himself by poison of his concubines as his vagrant +desires wandered from them; at the same time he was _physically an +imbecile_--a monster--whom God in his displeasure had deprived of the +passions and the powers of healthy manhood. He was an idol whom the +entranced people bowed down before and worshiped, with more than +Oriental servility. He was also a sanguinary heartless, merciless +butcher, exulting in carnage, grinding the bones of his own wounded +soldiers into the dust beneath his chariot wheels, and finding congenial +music for his depraved and malignant spirit in the shrieks of the +mangled and the groans of the dying. To Catholic Ireland he was +represented as seizing the venerable Pope by his gray hairs, and thus +dragging him over the marble floor of his palace. To Protestant England, +on the contrary, he was exhibited as in league with the Pope, whom he +treated with the utmost adulation, endeavoring to strengthen the +despotism of the sword with the energies of superstition. + +The philosophical composure with which Napoleon regarded this incessant +flow of invective was strikingly grand. "Of all the libels and +pamphlets," said Napoleon subsequently, "with which the English +ministers have inundated Europe, there is not one which will reach +posterity. When I have been asked to cause answers to be written to +them, I have uniformly replied, 'My victories and my works of public +improvement are the only response which it becomes me to make.' When +there shall not be a trace of these libels to be found, the great +monuments of utility which I have reared, and the code of laws that I +have formed, will descend to the most remote ages, and future historians +will avenge the wrongs done me by my contemporaries. There was a time," +said he again, "when all crimes seemed to belong to me of right; thus I +poisoned Hoche,[5] I strangled Pichegru[6] in his cell, I caused +Kleber[7] to be assassinated in Egypt, I blew out Desaix's[8] brains at +Marengo, I cut the throats of persons who were confined in prison, I +dragged the Pope by the hair of his head, and a hundred similar +absurdities. As yet," he again said, "I have not seen one of those +libels which is worthy of an answer. Would you have me sit down and +reply to Goldsmith, Pichon, or the Quarterly Review? They are so +contemptible and so absurdly false, that they do not merit any other +notice, than to write _false_, _false_, on every page. The only truth I +have seen in them is, that I one day met an officer, General Rapp, I +believe, on the field of battle, with his face begrimed with smoke and +covered with blood, and that I exclaimed, 'Oh, comme il est beau! _O, +how beautiful the sight!_' This is true enough. And of it they have made +a crime. My commendation of the gallantry of a brave soldier, is +construed into a proof of my delighting in blood." + +The revolutionary government were in the habit of celebrating the 21st +of January with great public rejoicing, as the anniversary of the +execution of the king. They urged Napoleon to honor the festival by his +presence, and to take a conspicuous part in the festivities. He +peremptorily declined. "This fête," said he, "commemorates a melancholy +event, a tragedy; and can be agreeable to but few people. It is proper +to celebrate victories; but victims left upon the field of battle are to +be lamented. To celebrate the anniversary of a man's death is an act +unworthy of a government; it creates more enemies than friends--it +estranges instead of conciliating; it irritates instead of calming; it +shakes the foundations of government instead of adding to their +strength." The ministry urged that it was the custom with all nations to +celebrate the downfall of tyrants; and that Napoleon's influence over +the public mind was so powerful, that his absence would be regarded as +indicative of hostility to the government, and would be highly +prejudicial to the interests of the Republic. At last Napoleon consented +to attend, as a private member of the Institute, taking no active part +in the ceremonies, but merely walking with the members of the class to +which he belonged. As soon as the procession entered the Church of St. +Sulpice, all eyes were searching for Napoleon. He was soon descried, and +every one else was immediately eclipsed. At the close of the ceremony, +the air was rent with the shouts, "Long live Napoleon!" The Directory +were made exceedingly uneasy by ominous exclamations in the streets, "We +will drive away these lawyers, and make the _Little Corporal_ king." +These cries wonderfully accelerated the zeal of the Directors, in +sending Napoleon to Egypt. And most devoutly did they hope that from +that distant land he would never return. + + + + +AN INDIAN PET. + + +The ichneumon, called in India the neulah, benjee, or mungoos, is known +all over that country. I have seen it on the banks of the Ganges, and +among the old walls of Jaunpore, Sirhind, and at Loodianah; for, like +others of the weasel kind, this little animal delights in places where +it can lurk and peep--such as heaps of stones and ruins; and there is no +lack of these in old Indian cities. + +That the neulah is a fierce, terrible, blood-thirsty, destructive little +creature, I experienced to my cost; but notwithstanding all the +provocation I received, I was led to become his friend and protector, +and so finding him out to be the most charming and amiable pet in the +world. + +In my military career (for I was for a long time attached to the army) I +was stationed at Jaunpore, and having a house with many conveniences, I +took pleasure in rearing poultry; but scarcely a single chicken could be +magnified to a hen: the rapacious neulahs, fond of tender meat, +waylaying all my young broods, sucking their blood, and feasting on +their brains. But such devastations could not be allowed to pass with +impunity; so we watched the enemy, and succeeded in shooting several of +the offenders, prowling among the hennah or mehendy hedges, where the +clucking-hens used to repose in the shade, surrounded by their progeny. + +After one of these _battues_, my little daughter happened to go to the +fowl-house in the evening in search of eggs, and was greatly startled by +a melancholy squeaking which seemed to proceed from an old rat-hole in +one corner. Upon proper investigation this was suspected to be the nest +of one of the neulahs which had suffered the last sentence of the law; +but how to get at the young we did not know, unless by digging up the +floor, and of this I did not approve. So the little young ones would +have perished but for a childish freak of my young daughter. She seated +herself before the nest, and imitated the cry of the famished little +animals so well, that three wee, hairless, blind creatures crept out, +like newly-born rabbits, but with long tails, in the hope of meeting +with their lost mamma. + +Our hearts immediately warmed toward the little helpless ones, and no +one wished to wreak the sins of the parents upon the orphans; and +knowing that neulahs were reared as pets, I proposed to my daughter that +she should select one for herself, and give the others to two of my +servants. + +My daughter's protégée, however, was the only one that survived under +its new _régime_; and Jumnie, as she called her nursling, throve well, +and soon attained its full size, knowing its name, and endearing itself +to every body by its gambols and tricks. She was like the most +blithesome of little kittens, and played with our fingers, and frolicked +on the sofas, sleeping occasionally behind one of the cushions, and at +other times coiling herself up in her own little flannel bed. + +In the course of time, however, Jumnie grew up to maturity, being one +year old, and formed an attachment for one of her own race--a wild, +roving bandit of a neulah, who committed such deeds of atrocity in the +fowl-house as to compel us to take up arms again. If she had only made +her mistress the confidante of her love!--but, alas! little did we +suspect _our_ neulah of a companionship with thieves and assassins; and +so leaving her, we thought, to her customary frolics, we marched upon +the stronghold of the enemy. Two neulahs appeared, we fired, and one +fell, the other running off unscathed. We all hastened to the wounded +and bleeding victim, and my little daughter first of all; but how shall +I describe her grief when she saw her little Jumnie writhing at her feet +in the agonies of death! If I had had the least idea of Jumnie's having +formed such an attachment, I should have spared the guilty for the sake +of the innocent, and Jumnie might long have lived a favorite pet; but +the deed was done. + +The neulahs, like other of the weasel kind--and like some animals I know +of a loftier species--are very rapacious, slaying without reference to +their wants; and Jumnie, although fond of milk, used to delight in +livers and brains of fowls, which she relished even after they were +dressed for our table. + +The natives of India never molest the neulah. They like to see it about +their dwellings, on account of its snake and rat-killing propensities; +and on a similar account it must have been that this creature was +deified by the Egyptians, whose country abounded with reptiles, and +would have been absolutely alive with crocodiles but for the havoc it +made among the numerous eggs, which it delighted to suck. For this +reason the ichneumons were embalmed as public benefactors, and their +bodies are still found lying in state in some of the pyramids. Among the +Hindoos, however, the neulah does not obtain quite such high honors, +although the elephant, monkey, lion, snake, rat, goose, &c., play a +prominent part in the religious myths, and are styled the Bâhons, or +vehicles of the gods. + +In Hindoostan the ichneumon is not supposed to kill the crocodile, +though it is in the mouth of every old woman that it possesses the +knowledge of a remedy against the bite of a poisonous snake, which its +instinct leads it to dig out of the ground; but this _on dit_ has never +been ascertained to be true, and my belief is that it is only based on +the great agility and dexterity of the neulah. Eye-witnesses say that +his battles with man's greatest enemy end generally in the death of the +snake, which the neulah seizes by the back of the neck, and after +frequent onsets at last kills and eats, rejecting nothing but the head. + +The color of the Indian neulah is a grayish-brown; but its chief beauty +lies in its splendid squirrel-like tail, and lively, prominent, +dark-brown eyes. Like most of the weasel kind, however, it has rather a +disagreeable odor; and if it were not for this there would not be a +sweeter pet in existence. + + * * * * * + +So far the experience of an Old Indian; and we now turn to another +authority on the highly-curious subject just glanced at--the knowledge +of the ichneumon of a specific against the poison of the snake. Calder +Campbell, in his recent series of tales, "Winter Nights"--and capital +amusement for such nights they are--describes in almost a painfully +truthful manner the adventure of an officer in India, who was an +eye-witness, under very extraordinary circumstances, to the feat of the +ichneumon. The officer, through some accident, was wandering on foot, +and at night, through a desolate part of the country, and at length, +overcome with fatigue, threw himself down on the dry, crisp spear-grass, +and just as the faint edge of the dawn appeared, fell asleep. + +"No doubt of it! I slept soundly, sweetly--no doubt of it! I have never +_since then_ slept in the open air either soundly or sweetly, for my +awaking was full of horror! Before I was fully awake, however, I had a +strange perception of danger, which tied me down to the earth, warning +me against all motion. I knew that there was a shadow creeping over me, +beneath which to lie in dumb inaction was the wisest resource. I felt +that my lower extremities were being invaded by the heavy coils of a +living chain; but as if a providential opiate had been infused into my +system, preventing all movement of thew or sinew, I knew not till I was +wide awake that an enormous serpent covered the whole of my nether +limbs, up to the knees! + +"'My God! I am lost!' was the mental exclamation I made, as every drop +of blood in my veins seemed turned to ice; and anon I shook like an +aspen leaf, until the very fear that my sudden palsy might rouse the +reptile, occasioned a revulsion of feeling, and I again lay paralyzed. + +"It slept, or at all events remained stirless; and how long it so +remained I know not, for time to the fear-struck is as the ring of +eternity. All at once the sky cleared up--the moon shone out--the stars +glanced over me; I could see them all, as I lay stretched on my side, +one hand under my head, whence I dared not remove it; neither dared I +looked downward at the loathsome bed-fellow which my evil stars had sent +me. + +"Unexpectedly, a new object of terror supervened: a curious purring +sound behind me, followed by two smart taps on the ground, put the snake +on the alert, for it moved, and I felt that it was crawling upward to my +breast. At that moment, when I was almost maddened by insupportable +apprehension into starting up to meet, perhaps, certain destruction, +something sprang upon my shoulder--upon the reptile! There was a shrill +cry from the new assailant, a loud, appalling hiss from the serpent. For +an instant I could feel them wrestling, as it were, on my body; in the +next, they were beside me on the turf; in another, a few paces off, +struggling, twisting round each other, fighting furiously, I beheld +them--a _mungoos_ or ichneumon and a _cobra di capello_! + +"I started up; I watched that most singular combat, for all was now +clear as day. I saw them stand aloof for a moment--the deep, venomous +fascination of the snaky glance powerless against the keen, quick, +restless orbs of its opponent: I saw this duel of the eye exchange once +more for closer conflict: I saw that the mungoos was bitten; that it +darted away, doubtless in search of that still unknown plant whose +juices are its alleged antidote against snake-bite; that it returned +with fresh vigor to the attack; and then, glad sight! I saw the cobra di +capello, maimed from hooded head to scaly tail, fall lifeless from its +hitherto demi-erect position with a baffled hiss; while the wonderful +victor, indulging itself in a series of leaps upon the body of its +antagonist, danced and bounded about, purring and spitting like an +enraged cat! + +"Little graceful creature! I have ever since kept a pet mungoos--the +most attached, the most playful, and the most frog-devouring of all +animals." + + * * * * * + +Many other authors refer to the alleged antidote against a snake-bite, +known only to the ichneumon, and there are about as many different +opinions as there are authors; but, on the whole, our Old Indian appears +to us to be on the strongest side. + + + + +KOSSUTH--A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. + + +[Illustration: KOSSUTH, AS GOVERNOR OF HUNGARY IN 1849.] + +Louis Kossuth[9] was born at Monok, in Zemplin, one of the northern +counties of Hungary, on the 27th of April, 1806. His family was ancient, +but impoverished; his father served in the Austrian army during the wars +against Napoleon; his mother, who still survives to exult in the glory +of her son, is represented to be a woman of extraordinary force of mind +and character. Kossuth thus adds another to the long list of great men +who seem to have inherited their genius from their mothers. As a boy he +was remarkable for the winning gentleness of his disposition, and for an +earnest enthusiasm, which gave promise of future eminence, could he but +break the bonds imposed by low birth and iron fortune. A young clergyman +was attracted by the character of the boy, and voluntarily took upon +himself the office of his tutor, and thus first opened before his mind +visions of a broader world than that of the miserable village of his +residence. But these serene days of powers expanding under genial +guidance soon passed away. His father died, his tutor was translated to +another post, and the walls of his prison-house seemed again to close +upon the boy. But by the aid of members of his family, themselves in +humble circumstances, he was enabled to attend such schools as the +district furnished. Little worth knowing was taught there; but among +that little was the Latin language; and through that door the young +dreamer was introduced into the broad domains of history, where, +abandoning the mean present, he could range at will through the immortal +past. History relates nothing so spirit-stirring as the struggles of +some bold patriot to overthrow or resist arbitrary power. Hence the +young student of history is always a republican; but, unlike many +others, Kossuth never changed from that faith. + +The annals of Hungary contain nothing so brilliant as the series of +desperate conflicts which were waged at intervals for more than two +centuries to maintain the elective character of the Hungarian monarchy, +in opposition to the attempts of the House of Austria to make the crown +hereditary in the Hapsburg line. In these wars, from 1527 to 1715, +seventeen of the family of Kossuth had been attainted for high treason +against Austria. The last, most desperate, and decisively unsuccessful +struggle was that waged by Rakozky, at the beginning of the last +century. Kossuth pored over the chronicles and annals which narrate the +incidents of this contest, till he was master of all the minutest +details. It might then have been predicted that he would one day write +the history of that fruitless struggle, and the biography of its hero; +but no one would have dared to prophesy that he would so closely +reproduce it in deeds. + +In times of peace, the law offers to an aspiring youth the readiest +means of ascent from a low degree to lofty stations. Kossuth, therefore, +when just entering upon manhood, made his way to Pesth, the capital, to +study the legal profession. Here he entered the office of a notary, and +began gradually to make himself known by his liberal opinions, and the +fervid eloquence with which he set forth and maintained them; and men +began to see in him the promise of a powerful public writer, orator, and +debater. + +The man and the hour were alike preparing. In 1825, the year before +Kossuth arrived at Pesth, the critical state of her Italian possessions +compelled Austria to provide extraordinary revenues. The Hungarian Diet +was then assembled, after an interval of thirteen years. This Diet at +once demanded certain measures of reform before they would make the +desired pecuniary grants. The court was obliged to concede these +demands. Kossuth, having completed his legal studies, and finding no +favorable opening in the capital, returned, in 1830, to his native +district, and commenced the practice of the law, with marked success. He +also began to make his way toward public life by his assiduous +attendance and intelligent action in the local assemblies. A new Diet +was assembled in 1832, and he received a commission as the +representative, in the Diet, of a magnate who was absent. As proxy for +an absentee, he was only charged, by the Hungarian Constitution, with a +very subordinate part, his functions being more those of a counsel than +of a delegate. This, however, was a post much sought for by young and +aspiring lawyers, as giving them an opportunity of mastering legal +forms, displaying their abilities, and forming advantageous connections. + +This Diet renewed the Liberal struggle with increased vigor. By far the +best talent of Hungary was ranged upon the Liberal side. Kossuth early +made himself known as a debater, and gradually won his way upward, and +became associated with the leading men of the Liberal party, many of +whom were among the proudest and richest of the Hungarian magnates. He +soon undertook to publish a report of the debates and proceedings of the +Diet. This attempt was opposed by the Palatine, and a law hunted up +which forbade the "printing and publishing" of these reports. He for a +while evaded the law by having his sheet lithographed. It increased in +its development of democratic tendencies, and in popularity, until +finally the lithographic press was seized by Government. Kossuth, +determined not to be baffled, still issued his journal, every copy being +written out by scribes, of whom he employed a large number. To avoid +seizure at the post-office, they were circulated through the local +authorities, who were almost invariably on the Liberal side. This was a +period of intense activity on the part of Kossuth. He attended the +meetings of the Diet, and the conferences of the deputies, edited his +paper, read almost all new works on politics and political economy, and +studied French and English for the sake of reading the debates in the +French Chambers and the British Parliament; allowing himself, we are +told, but three hours' sleep in the twenty-four. His periodical +penetrated into every part of the kingdom, and men saw with wonder a +young and almost unknown public writer boldly pitting himself against +Metternich and the whole Austrian Cabinet. Kossuth might well, at this +period declare that he "felt within himself something nameless." + +In the succeeding Diets the Opposition grew still more determined. +Kossuth, though twice admonished by Government, still continued his +journal; and no longer confined himself to simple reports of the +proceedings of the Diet, but added political remarks of the keenest +satire and most bitter denunciation. He was aware that his course was a +perilous one. He was once found by a friend walking in deep reverie in +the fortress of Buda, and in reply to a question as to the subject of +his meditations, he said, "I was looking at the casemates, for I fear +that I shall soon be quartered there." Government finally determined to +use arguments more cogent than discussion could furnish. Baron +Wesselenyi, the leader of the Liberal party, and the most prominent +advocate of the removal of urbarial burdens, was arrested, together with +a number of his adherents. Kossuth was of course a person of too much +note to be overlooked, and on the 4th of May, 1837, to use the words of +an Austrian partisan, "it happened that as he was promenading in the +vicinity of Buda, he was seized by the myrmidons of the law, and +confined in the lower walls of the fortress, there to consider, in +darkness and solitude, how dangerous it is to defy a powerful +government, and to swerve from the path of law and of prudence." + +Kossuth became at once sanctified in the popular mind as a martyr. +Liberal subscriptions were raised through the country for the benefit of +his mother and sisters, whom he had supported by his exertions, and who +were now left without protection. Wesselenyi became blind in prison; +Lovassi, an intimate friend of Kossuth, lost his reason; and Kossuth +himself, as was certified by his physicians, was in imminent risk of +falling a victim to a serious disease. The rigor of his confinement was +mitigated; he was allowed books, newspapers, and writing materials, and +suffered to walk daily upon the bastions of the fortress, in charge of +an officer. Among those who were inspired with admiration for his +political efforts, and with sympathy for his fate, was Teresa Mezlenyi, +the young daughter of a nobleman. She sent him books, and corresponded +with him during his imprisonment; and they were married in 1841, soon +after his liberation. + +The action of the drama went on, though Kossuth was for a while +withdrawn from the stage. His connection with Wesselenyi procured for +him a degree of influence among the higher magnates which he could +probably in no other way have attained. Their aid was as essential to +the early success of the Liberals, as was the support of Essex and +Manchester to the Parliament of England at the commencement of the +contest with Charles I. + +In the second year of Kossuth's imprisonment, Austria again needed +Hungarian assistance. The threatening aspect of affairs in the East, +growing out of the relations between Turkey and Egypt, determined all +the great powers to increase their armaments. A demand was made upon the +Hungarian Diet for an additional levy of 18,000 troops. A large body of +delegates was chosen pledged to oppose this grant except upon condition +of certain concessions, among which was a general amnesty, with a +special reference to the cases of Wesselenyi and Kossuth. The most +sagacious of the Conservative party advised Government to liberate all +the prisoners, with the exception of Kossuth; and to do this before the +meeting of the Diet, in order that their liberation might not be made a +condition of granting the levy; which must be the occasion of great +excitement. The Cabinet temporized, and did nothing. The Diet was +opened, and the contest was waged during six months. The Opposition had +a majority of two in the Chamber of Deputies, but were in a meagre +minority in the Chamber of Magnates. But Metternich and the Cabinet grew +alarmed at the struggle, and were eager to obtain the grant of men, and +to close the refractory Diet. In 1840 a royal rescript suddenly made its +appearance, granting the amnesty, accompanied also with conciliatory +remarks, and the demands of the Government for men and money were at +once complied with. This action of Government weakened the ranks of its +supporters among the Hungarian magnates, who thus found themselves +exposed to the charge of being more despotic than the Cabinet of +Metternich itself. + +Kossuth issued from prison in 1840, after an imprisonment of three +years, bearing in his debilitated frame, his pallid face, and glassy +eyes, traces of severe sufferings, both of mind and body. He repaired +for a time to a watering-place among the mountains to recruit his +shattered health. His imprisonment had done more for his influence than +he could have effected if at liberty. The visitors at the watering-place +treated with silent respect the man who moved about among them in +dressing-gown and slippers, and whose slow steps, and languid features +disfigured with yellow spots, proclaimed him an invalid. Abundant +subscriptions had been made for his benefit and that of his family, and +he now stood on an equality with the proudest magnates. These had so +often used the name of the "Martyr of the liberty of the press" in +pointing their speeches, that they now had no choice but to accept the +popular verdict as their own. Kossuth, in the meanwhile mingled little +with the society at the watering-place; but preferred, as his health +improved, to wander among the forest-clad hills and lonely valleys, +where, says one who there became acquainted with him, and was his +frequent companion, "the song of birds, a group of trees, and even the +most insignificant phenomena of nature furnished occasions for +conversation." But now and then flashes would burst forth which showed +that he was revolving other things in his mind. Sometimes a chord would +be casually struck which awoke deeper feelings, then his rare eloquence +would burst forth with the fearful earnestness of conviction, and he +hurled forth sentences instinct with life and passion. The wife of the +Lord-Lieutenant, the daughter of a great magnate, was attracted by his +appearance, and desired this companion of Kossuth to introduce him to +her house. When this desire was made known to Kossuth, the mysterious +and nervous expression passed over his face, which characterizes it when +excited. "No," he exclaimed, "I will not go to that woman's house; her +father subscribed four-pence to buy a rope to hang me with!" + +Soon after his liberation, he came forward as the principal editor of +the "Pesth Gazette" (_Pesthi Hirlap_), which a bookseller, who enjoyed +the protection of the Government, had received permission to establish. +The name of the editor was now sufficient to electrify the country; and +Kossuth at once stood forth as the advocate of the rights of the lower +and middle classes against the inordinate privileges and immunities +enjoyed by the magnates. But when he went to the extent of demanding +that the house-tax should be paid by all classes in the community, not +even excepting the highest nobility, a party was raised up against him +among the nobles, who established a paper to combat so disorganizing a +doctrine. This party, backed by the influence of Government, succeeded +in defeating the election of Kossuth as member from Pesth for the Diet +of 1843. He was, however, very active in the local Assembly of the +capital. + +Kossuth was not altogether without support among the higher nobles. The +blind old Wesselenyi traversed the country, advocating rural freedom and +the abolition of the urbarial burdens. Among his supporters at this +period also, was Count Louis Batthyanyi, one of the most considerable of +the Magyar magnates, subsequently President of the Hungarian Ministry, +and the most illustrious martyr of the Hungarian cause. Aided by his +powerful support, Kossuth was again brought forward, in 1847, as one of +the two candidates from Pesth. The Government party, aware that they +were in a decided minority, limited their efforts to an attempt to +defeat the election of Kossuth. This they endeavored to effect by +stratagem. The Liberal party nominated Szentkiraly and Kossuth. The +Government party also named the former. The Royal Administrator, who +presided at the election, decided that Szentkiraly was chosen by +acclamation; but that a poll must be held for the other member. Before +the intention of Kossuth to present himself as a candidate was known, +the Liberals had proposed M. Balla as second delegate. He at once +resigned in favor of Kossuth. The Government party cast their votes for +him, in hopes of drawing off a portion of the Liberal party from the +support of Kossuth. M. Balla loudly but unavailingly protested against +this stratagem; and when after a scrutiny of twelve hours, Kossuth was +declared elected, Balla was the first to applaud. That night Kossuth, +Balla, and Szentkiraly were serenaded by the citizens of Pesth; they +descended together to the street, and walked arm-in-arm among the crowd. +The Royal Administrator was severely reprimanded for not having found +means to prevent the election of Kossuth. + +Kossuth no sooner took his seat in the Diet than the foremost place was +at once conceded to him. At the opening of the session he moved an +address to the king, concluding with the petition that "liberal +institutions, similar to those of the Hungarian Constitution, might be +accorded to all the hereditary states, that thus might be created a +united Austrian monarchy, based upon broad and constitutional +principles." During the early months of the session Kossuth showed +himself a most accomplished parliamentary orator and debater; and +carried on a series of attacks upon the policy of the Austrian Cabinet, +which for skill and power have few parallels in the annals of +parliamentary warfare. Those form a very inadequate conception of its +scope and power, whose ideas of the eloquence of Kossuth are derived +solely from the impassioned and exclamatory harangues which he flung out +during the war. These were addressed to men wrought up to the utmost +tension, and can be judged fairly only by men in a state of high +excitement. He adapted his matter and manner to the occasion and the +audience. Some of his speeches are marked by a stringency of logic +worthy of Webster or Calhoun:--but it was what all eloquence of a high +order must ever be--"Logic red-hot." + +Now came the French Revolution of February, 1848. The news of it reached +Vienna on the 1st of March, and was received at Pressburg on the 2d. On +the following day Kossuth delivered his famous speech on the finances +and the state of the monarchy generally, concluding with a proposed +"Address to the Throne," urging a series of reformatory measures. Among +the foremost of these was the emancipation of the country from feudal +burdens--the proprietors of the soil to be indemnified by the state; +equalizing taxation; a faithful administration of the revenue to be +satisfactorily guaranteed; the further development of the representative +system; and the establishment of a government representing the voice of, +and responsible to the nation.[10] The speech produced an effect almost +without parallel in the annals of debate. Not a word was uttered in +reply, and the motion was unanimously carried. On the 13th of March took +place the revolution in Vienna which overthrew the Metternich Cabinet. +On the 15th, the Constitution granted by the Emperor to all the nations +within the Empire was solemnly proclaimed, amidst the wildest transports +of joy. Henceforth there were to be no more Germans or Sclavonians, +Magyars or Italians; strangers embraced and kissed each other in the +streets, for all the heterogeneous races of the Empire were now +brothers:--as likewise were all the nations of the earth at Anacharsis +Klootz's "Feast of Pikes" in Paris, on that 14th day of July in the year +of grace 1790--and yet, notwithstanding, came the "Reign of Terror." + +Among the demands made by the Hungarian Diet was that of a separate and +responsible Ministry for Hungary. The Palatine, Archduke Stephen, to +whom the conduct of affairs in Hungary had been intrusted, persuaded the +Emperor to accede to this demand, and on the following day Batthyanyi, +who with Kossuth and a deputation of delegates of the Diet was in +Vienna, was named President of the Hungarian Ministry. It was, however, +understood that Kossuth was the life and soul of the new Ministry. + +Kossuth assumed the department of Finance, then, as long before and now, +the post of difficulty under Austrian administration. The Diet meanwhile +went on to consummate the series of reforms which Kossuth had so long +and steadfastly advocated. The remnants of feudalism were swept +away--the landed proprietors being indemnified by the state for the loss +they sustained. The civil and political rights which had heretofore been +in the exclusive possession of the nobles, were extended to the burghers +and the peasants. A new electoral law was framed, according the right of +suffrage to every possessor of property to the amount of about one +hundred and fifty dollars. The whole series of bills received the royal +signature on the 11th of April; the Diet having previously adjourned to +meet on the 2d of July. + +Up to this time there had been indeed a vigorous and decided opposition, +but no insurrection. The true cause of the Hungarian war was the +hostility of the Austrian Government to the whole series of reformatory +measures which had been effected through the instrumentality of Kossuth; +but its immediate occasion was the jealousy which sprung up among the +Serbian and Croatian dependencies of Hungary against the Hungarian +Ministry. This soon broke out into an open revolt, headed by Baron +Jellachich, who had just been appointed Ban or Lord of Croatia. How far +the Serbs and Croats had occasion for jealousy, is of little consequence +to our present purpose to inquire; though we may say, in passing, that +the proceedings of the Magyars toward the other Hungarian races was +marked by a far more just and generous feeling and conduct than could +have been possibly expected; and that the whole ground of hostility was +sheer misrepresentation; and this, if we may credit the latest and best +authorities, is now admitted by the Sclavic races themselves. But +however the case may have been as between the Magyars and Croats, as +between the Hungarians and Austria, the hostile course of the latter is +without excuse or palliation. The Emperor had solemnly sanctioned the +action of the Diet, and did as solemnly denounce the proceedings of +Jellachich. On the 29th of May the Ban was summoned to present himself +at Innspruck, to answer for his conduct; and as he did not make his +appearance, an Imperial manifesto was issued on the 10th of June, +depriving him of all his dignities, and commanding the authorities at +once to break off all intercourse with him. He, however, still continued +his operations, and levied an army for the invasion of Hungary, and a +fierce and bloody war of races broke out, marked on both sides by the +most fearful atrocities. + +The Hungarian Diet was opened on the 5th of July, when the Palatine, +Archduke Stephen, in the name of the king, solemnly denounced the +conduct of the insurgent Croats. A few days after, Kossuth, in a speech +in the Diet, set forth the perilous state of affairs, and concluded by +asking for authority to raise an army of 200,000 men, and a large amount +of money. These proposals were adopted by acclamation, the enthusiasm in +the Diet rendering any debate impossible and superfluous. + +The Imperial forces having been victorious in Italy, and one pressing +danger being thus averted from the Empire, the Austrian Cabinet began +openly to display its hostility to the Hungarian movement. Jellachich +repaired to Innspruck, and was openly acknowledged by the court, and the +decree of deposition was revoked. Early in September Hungary and Austria +stood in an attitude of undisguised hostility. On the 5th of that month, +Kossuth, though enfeebled by illness, was carried to the hall of the +Diet where he delivered a speech, declaring that so formidable were the +dangers that surrounded the nation, that the Ministers might soon be +forced to call upon the Diet to name a Dictator, clothed with unlimited +powers, to save the country; but before taking this final step they +would recommend a last appeal to the Imperial government. A large +deputation was thereupon dispatched to the Emperor, to lay before him +the demands of the Hungarian nation. No satisfactory answer was +returned, and the deputation left the Imperial presence in silence. On +their return, they plucked from their caps the plumes of the united +colors of Austria and Hungary, and replaced them with red feathers, and +hoisted a flag of the same color on the steamer which conveyed them to +Pesth. Their report produced the most intense agitation in the Diet, and +at the capital, but it was finally resolved to make one more attempt for +a pacific settlement of the question. In order that no obstacle might be +interposed by their presence, Kossuth and his colleagues resigned, and a +new Ministry was appointed. A deputation was sent to the National +Assembly at Vienna, which refused to receive it. Jellachich had in the +mean time entered Hungary with a large army, not as yet, however, openly +sanctioned by Imperial authority. The Diet seeing the imminent peril of +the country, conferred dictatorial powers upon Kossuth. The Palatine +resigned his post, and left the kingdom. The Emperor appointed Count +Lemberg to take the entire command of the Hungarian army. The Diet +declared the appointment illegal, and the Count, arriving at Pesth +without escort, was slain in the streets of the capital by the populace, +in a sudden outbreak. The Emperor forthwith placed the kingdom under +martial law, giving the supreme civil and military power to Jellachich. +The Diet at once revolted; declared itself permanent, and appointed +Kossuth Governor, and President of the Committee of Safety. + +There was now but one course left for the Hungarians: to maintain by +force of arms the position they had assumed. We can not detail the +events of the war which followed, but merely touch upon the most salient +points. Jellachich was speedily driven out of Hungary, toward Vienna. In +October, the Austrian forces were concentrated under command of +Windischgrätz, to the number of 120,000 veterans, and were put on the +march for Hungary. To oppose them, the only forces under the command of +the new Government of Hungary, were 20,000 regular infantry, 7000 +cavalry, and 14,000 recruits, who received the name of Honveds, or +"protectors of home." Of all the movements that followed, Kossuth was +the soul and chief. His burning and passionate appeals stirred up the +souls of the peasants, and sent them by thousands to the camp. He +kindled enthusiasm, he organized that enthusiasm, and transformed those +raw recruits into soldiers more than a match for the veteran troops of +Austria. Though himself not a soldier, he discovered and drew about him +soldiers and generals of a high order. The result was that Windischgrätz +was driven back from Hungary, and of the 120,000 troops which he led +into that kingdom in October, one half were killed, disabled, or taken +prisoners at the end of April. The state of the war on the 1st of May, +may be gathered from the Imperial manifesto of that date, which +announced that "the insurrection in Hungary had grown to such an +extent," that the Imperial Government "had been induced to appeal to the +assistance of his Majesty the Czar of all the Russias, who generously +and readily granted it to a most satisfactory extent." The issue of the +contest could no longer be doubtful, when the immense weight of Russia +was thrown into the scale. Had all power, civil and military been +concentrated in one person, and had he displayed the brilliant +generalship and desperate courage which Napoleon manifested in 1814, +when the overwhelming forces of the allies were marching upon Paris, the +fall of Hungary might have been delayed for a few weeks, perhaps to +another campaign; but it could not have been averted. In modern warfare +there is a limit beyond which devotion and enthusiasm can not supply the +place of numbers and material force. And that limit was overpassed when +Russia and Austria were pitted against Hungary. + +The chronology of the Hungarian struggle may be thus stated: On the 9th +of September, 1848, Jellachich crossed the Drave and invaded Hungary; +and was driven back at the close of that month toward Vienna. In +October, Windischgrätz advanced into Hungary, and took possession of +Pesth, the capital. On the 14th of April, 1849, the Declaration of +Hungarian Independence was promulgated. At the close of that month, the +Austrians were driven out at every point, and the issue of the contest, +as between Hungary and Austria, was settled. On the 1st of May the +Russian intervention was announced. On the 11th of August Kossuth +resigned his dictatorship into the hands of Görgey who, two days after, +in effect closed the war by surrendering to the Russians. + +The Hungarian war thus lasted a little more than eleven months; during +which time there was but one ruling and directing spirit; and that was +Kossuth, to whose immediate career we now return. + +Early in January it was found advisable to remove the seat of government +from Pesth to the town of Debreczin, situated in the interior. Pesth was +altogether indefensible, and the Austrian army were close upon it; but +here the Hungarians had collected a vast amount of stores and +ammunition, the preservation of which was of the utmost importance. In +saving these the administrative power of Kossuth was strikingly +manifested. For three days and three nights he labored uninterruptedly +in superintending the removal, which was successfully effected. From the +heaviest locomotive engine down to a shot-belt, all the stores were +packed up and carried away, so that when the Austrians took possession +of Pesth, they only gained the eclat of occupying the Hungarian capital, +without acquiring the least solid advantage. + +Debreczin was the scene where Kossuth displayed his transcendent +abilities as an administrator, a statesman, and an orator. The +population of the town was about 50,000, which was at once almost +doubled, so that every one was forced to put up with such accommodations +as he could find, and occupy the least possible amount of space. Kossuth +himself occupied the Town Hall. On the first floor was a spacious +ante-room, constantly filled with persons waiting for an interview, +which was, necessarily, a matter of delay, as each one was admitted in +his turn; the only exception being in cases where public business +required an immediate audience. + +This ante-room opened into two spacious apartments, in one of which the +secretaries of the Governor were always at work. Here Kossuth received +strangers. At these audiences he spoke but little, but listened +attentively, occasionally taking notes of any thing that seemed of +importance. His secretaries were continually coming to him to receive +directions, to present a report, or some document to receive his +signature. These he never omitted to examine carefully, before affixing +his signature, even amidst the greatest pressure of business; at the +same time listening to the speaker. "Be brief," he used to say, "but for +that very reason forget nothing." These hours of audience were also his +hours of work, and here it was that he wrote those stirring appeals +which aroused and kept alive the spirit of his countrymen. It was only +when he had some document of extraordinary importance to prepare, that +he retired to his closet. These audiences usually continued until far +into the night, the ante-room being often as full at midnight as in the +morning. Although of a delicate constitution, broken also by his +imprisonment, the excitement bore him up under the immense mental and +bodily exertion, and while there was work to do he was never ill. + +He usually allowed himself an hour for rest or relaxation, from two till +three o'clock, when he was accustomed to take a drive with his wife and +children to a little wood at a short distance, where he would seek out +some retired spot, and play upon the grass with his children, and for a +moment forget the pressing cares of state. + +At three o'clock he dined; and at the conclusion of his simple meal, was +again at his post. This round of audiences was frequently interrupted by +a council of war, a conference of ministers, or the review of a regiment +just on the point of setting out for the seat of hostilities. New +battalions seemed to spring from the earth at his command, and he made a +point of reviewing each, and delivering to them a brief address, which +was always received with a burst of "_eljens_." + +At Debreczin the sittings of the House of Assembly were held in what had +been the chapel of the Protestant College. Kossuth attended these +sittings only when he had some important communications to make. Then he +always walked over from the Town Hall. Entering the Assembly, he +ascended the rostrum, if it was not occupied; if it was, he took his +place in any vacant seat, none being specially set apart for the +Governor. He was a monarch, but with an invisible throne, the hearts of +his subjects. When the rostrum was vacant, he would ascend it, and lay +before the Assembly his propositions, or sway all hearts by his burning +and fervent eloquence. + +Such was the daily life of Kossuth at the temporary seat of government, +bearing upon his shoulders the affairs of state, calling up, as if by +magic, regiment after regiment, providing for their arming, equipment, +and maintenance, while the Hungarian generals were contending on the +field, with various fortunes; triumphantly against the Austrians, +desperately and hopelessly when Russia was added to the enemy. + +The defeat of Bem at Temesvar, on the 9th of August gave the death-blow +to the cause. Two days afterward, Kossuth and Görgey stood alone in the +bow-window of a small chamber in the fortress of Arad. What passed +between them no man knows; but from that room Görgey went forth Dictator +of Hungary; and Kossuth followed him to set out on his journey of exile. +On the same day the new Dictator announced to the Russians his intention +to surrender the forces under his command. The following day he marched +to the place designated, where the Russian General Rudiger arrived on +the 13th, and Görgey's army, numbering 24,000 men, with 144 pieces of +artillery, laid down their arms. + +Nothing remained for Kossuth and his companions but flight. They gained +the Turkish frontier, and threw themselves on the hospitality of the +Sultan, who promised them a safe asylum. Russia and Austria demanded +that the fugitives should be given up; and for some months it was +uncertain whether the Turkish Government would dare to refuse. At first +a decided negative was returned; then the Porte wavered; and it was +officially announced to Kossuth and his companions that the only means +for them to avoid surrendry would be to abjure the faith of their +fathers; and thus take advantage of the fundamental Moslem law, that any +fugitive embracing the Mohammedan faith can claim the protection of the +Government. Kossuth refused to purchase his life at such a price. And +finally Austria and Russia were induced to modify their demand, and +merely to insist upon the detention of the fugitives. On the other hand, +the Turkish Government was urged to allow them to depart. Early in the +present year, Mr. Webster, as Secretary of State, directed our Minister +at Constantinople to urge the Porte to suffer the exiles to come to the +United States. A similar course was pursued by the British Government. +It was promised that these representations should be complied with; but +so late as in March of the present year, Kossuth addressed a letter to +our Chargé at Constantinople, despairing of his release being granted. +But happily his fears were groundless; and our Government was notified +that on the 1st of September, the day on which terminated the period of +detention agreed upon by the Sultan, Kossuth and his companions would be +free to depart to any part of the world. The United States steam-frigate +Mississippi, was at once placed at his disposal. The offer was accepted. +On the 12th of September the steamer reached Smyrna, with the +illustrious exile and his family and suite on board, bound to our +shores, after a short visit in England. The Government of France, in the +meanwhile, denied him the privilege of passing through their territory. +While this sheet is passing through the press, we are in daily +expectation of the arrival of Kossuth in our country, where a welcome +awaits him warmer and more enthusiastic than has greeted any man who has +ever approached our shores, saving only the time when LA FAYETTE was our +nation's honored guest. + +It is right and fitting that it should be so. When a monarch is +dethroned it is appropriate that neighboring monarchies should accord a +hearty and hospitable reception to him, as the representative of the +monarchical principle, even though his own personal character should +present no claims upon esteem or regard. Kossuth comes to us as the +exiled representative of those fundamental principles upon which our +political institutions are based. He is the representative of these +principles, not by the accident of birth, but by deliberate choice. He +has maintained them at a fearful hazard. It is therefore our duty and +our privilege to greet him with a hearty, "Well done!" + +Kossuth occupies a position peculiarly his own, whether we regard the +circumstances of his rise, or the feelings which have followed him in +his fall. Born in the middle ranks of life, he raised himself by sheer +force of intellect to the loftiest place among the proudest nobles on +earth, without ever deserting or being deserted by the class from which +he sprung. He effected a sweeping reform without appealing to any sordid +or sanguinary motive. No soldier himself, he transformed a country into +a camp, and a nation into an army. He transmuted his words into +batteries, and his thoughts into soldiers. Without ever having looked +upon a stricken field, he organized the most complete system of +resistance to despotism that the history of revolutions has furnished. +It failed, but only failed where nothing could have succeeded. + +Not less peculiar are the feelings which have followed him in his fall. +Men who have saved a state have received the unbounded love and +gratitude of their countrymen. Those who have fallen in the lost battle +for popular rights, or who have sealed their devotion on the scaffold or +in the dungeon, are reverenced as martyrs forevermore. But Kossuth's +endeavors have been sanctified and hallowed neither by success nor by +martyrdom. He is the living leader of a lost cause. His country is +ruined, its nationality destroyed, and through his efforts. Yet no +Hungarian lays this ruin to his charge; and the first lesson taught the +infant Magyar is a blessing upon his name. Yet whatever the future may +have in store, his efforts have not been lost efforts. The tree which he +planted in blood and agony and tears, though its tender shoots have been +trampled down by the Russian bear, will yet spring up again to gladden, +if not his heart, yet those of his children or his children's children. +The man may perish, but the cause endures. + + + + +THE LEGEND OF THE LOST WELL. + + +In ancient times there existed in the desert that lies to the west of +Egypt--somewhere between the sun at its setting and the city of Siout--a +tribe of Arabs that called themselves Waled Allah, or The Children of +God. They professed Mohammedanism, but were in every other respect +different from their neighbors to the north and south, and from the +inhabitants of the land of Egypt. It was their custom during the months +of summer to draw near to the confines of the cultivated country and +hold intercourse with its people, selling camels and wool, and other +desert productions; but when winter came they drew off toward the +interior of the wilderness, and it was not known where they abode. They +were by no means great in numbers; but such was their skill in arms, and +their reputation for courage, that no tribe ever ventured to trespass on +their limits, and all caravans eagerly paid to them the tribute of +safe-conduct. + +Such was the case for many years; but at length it came to pass that the +Waled Allah, after departing as usual for the winter, returned in great +disorder and distress toward the neighborhood of the Nile. Those who saw +them on that occasion reported that their sufferings must have been +tremendous. More than two-thirds of their cattle, a great number of the +women and children, and several of the less hardy men, were missing; but +they would not at first confess what had happened to them. When, +however, they asked permission to settle temporarily on some unoccupied +lands, the curious and inquisitive went among them, and by degrees the +truth came out. + +It appeared that many centuries ago one of their tribe, following the +track of some camels that had strayed, had ventured to a great distance +in the desert, and had discovered a pass in the mountains leading into a +spacious valley, in the midst of which was a well of the purest water, +that overflowed and fertilized the land around. As the man at once +understood the importance of his discovery, he devoted himself for his +tribe, and returned slowly, piling up stones here and there that the way +might not again be lost. When he arrived at the station he had only +sufficient strength to relate what he had seen before he died of +fatigue and thirst. So they called the well after him--Bir Hassan. + +It was found that the valley was only habitable during the winter; for +being surrounded with perpendicular rocks it became like a furnace in +the hot season--the vegetation withered into dust, and the waters hid +themselves within the bowels of the earth. They resolved, therefore, to +spend one half of their time in that spot, where they built a city; and +during the other half of their time they dwelt, as I have said, on the +confines of the land of Egypt. + +But it was found that only by a miracle had the well of Hassan been +discovered. Those who tried without the aid of the road-marks to make +their way to it invariably failed. So it became an institution of the +tribe that two men should be left, with a sufficient supply of water and +food, in a large cave overlooking the desert near the entrance of the +valley; and that they should watch for the coming of the tribe, and when +a great fire was lighted on a certain hill, should answer by another +fire, and thus guide their people. This being settled, the piles of +stones were dispersed, lest the greedy Egyptians, hearing by chance of +this valley, should make their way to it. + +How long matters continued in this state is not recorded, but at length, +when the tribe set out to return to their winter quarters, and reached +the accustomed station and lighted the fire, no answering fire appeared. +They passed the first night in expectation, and the next day, and the +next night, saying: "Probably the men are negligent;" but at length they +began to despair. They had brought but just sufficient water with them +for the journey, and death began to menace them. In vain they endeavored +to find the road. A retreat became necessary; and, as I have said, they +returned and settled on the borders of the land of Egypt. Many men, +however, went back many times year after year to endeavor to find the +lost well; but some were never heard of more, and some returned, saying +that the search was in vain. + +Nearly a hundred years passed away, and the well became forgotten, and +the condition of the tribe had undergone a sad change. It never +recovered its great disaster: wealth and courage disappeared; and the +governors of Egypt, seeing the people dependent and humble-spirited, +began, as is their wont, to oppress them, and lay on taxes and insults. +Many times a bold man of their number would propose that they should go +and join some of the other tribes of Arabs, and solicit to be +incorporated with them; but the idea was laughed at as extravagant, and +they continued to live on in misery and degradation. + +It happened that the chief of the tribe at the time of which I now speak +was a man of gentle character and meek disposition, named Abdallah the +Good, and that he had a son, like one of the olden time, stout, and +brave as a lion, named Ali. This youth could not brook the subjection in +which his people were kept, nor the wrongs daily heaped upon them, and +was constantly revolving in his mind the means of escape and revenge. +When he gave utterance to these sentiments, however, his father, +Abdallah, severely rebuked him; for he feared the power of the lords of +Egypt, and dreaded lest mischief might befall his family or his tribe. + +Now contemporary with Abdallah the Good there was a governor of Siout +named Omar the Evil. He had gained a great reputation in the country by +his cruelties and oppressions, and was feared by high and low. Several +times had he treated the Waled Allah with violence and indignity, +bestowing upon them the name of Waled Sheitan, or Children of the Devil, +and otherwise vexing and annoying them, besides levying heavy tribute, +and punishing with extreme severity the slightest offense. One day he +happened to be riding along in the neighborhood of their encampment when +he observed Ali trying the paces of a handsome horse which he had +purchased. Covetousness entered his mind, and calling to the youth, he +said, "What is the price of thy horse?" + +"It is not for sale," was the reply. + +No sooner were the words uttered than Omar made a signal to his men, who +rushed forward, threw the young man to the ground in spite of his +resistance, and leaving him there, returned leading the horse. Omar +commanded them to bring it with them, and rode away, laughing heartily +at his exploit. + +But Ali was not the man to submit tamely to such injustice. He +endeavored at first to rouse the passions of his tribe, but not +succeeding, resolved to revenge himself or die in the attempt. One +night, therefore, he took a sharp dagger, disguised himself, and lurking +about the governor's palace, contrived to introduce himself without +being seen, and to reach the garden, where he had heard it was the +custom of Omar to repose awhile as he waited for his supper. A light +guided him to the kiosque where the tyrant slept alone, not knowing that +vengeance was nigh. Ali paused a moment, doubting whether it was just to +strike an unprepared foe; but he remembered all his tribe had suffered +as well as himself, and raising his dagger, advanced stealthily toward +the couch where the huge form of the governor lay. + +A slight figure suddenly interposed between him and the sleeping man. It +was that of a young girl, who, with terror in her looks, waved him back. +"What wouldst thou, youth?" she inquired. + +"I come to slay that enemy," replied Ali, endeavoring to pass her and +effect his purpose while there was yet time. + +"It is my father," said she, still standing in the way and awing him by +the power of her beauty. + +"Thy father is a tyrant, and deserves to die." + +"If he be a tyrant he is still my father; and thou, why shouldst thou +condemn him?" + +"He has injured me and my tribe." + +"Let injuries be forgiven, as we are commanded. I will speak for thee +and thy tribe. Is not thy life valuable to thee? Retire ere it be too +late; and by my mother, who is dead, I swear to thee that I will cause +justice to be done." + +"Not from any hopes of justice, but as a homage to God for having +created such marvelous beauty, do I retire and spare the life of that +man which I hold in my hands." + +So saying Ali sprang away, and effected his escape. No sooner was he out +of sight than Omar, who had been awakened by the sound of voices, but +who had feigned sleep when he heard what turn affairs were taking, arose +and laughed, saying: "Well done, Amina! thou art worthy of thy father. +How thou didst cajole that son of a dog by false promises?" + +"Nay, father; what I have promised must be performed." + +"Ay, ay. Thou didst promise justice, and, by the beards of my ancestors, +justice shall assuredly be done!" + +Next day Ali was seized and conducted to the prison adjoining the +governor's palace. Amina, when she heard of this, in vain sought to +obtain his release. Her father laughed at her scruples, and avowed his +intention of putting the young man to death in the cruelest possible +manner. He had him brought before him, bound and manacled, and amused +himself by reviling and taunting him--calling him a fool for having +yielded to the persuasions of a foolish girl! Ali, in spite of all, did +not reply; for he now thought more of Amina than of the indignities to +which he was subjected; and instead of replying with imprudent courage, +as under other circumstances he might have done, he took care not to +exasperate the tyrant, and meanwhile revolved in his mind the means of +escape. If he expected that his mildness would disarm the fury of Omar, +never was mistake greater; for almost in the same breath with the order +for his being conducted back to prison was given that for public +proclamation of his execution to take place on the next day. + +There came, however, a saviour during the night: it was the young Amina, +who, partly moved by generous indignation that her word should have been +given in vain, partly by another feeling, bribed the jailers, and +leading forth the young man, placed him by the side of his trusty steed +which had been stolen from him, and bade him fly for his life. He +lingered to thank her and enjoy her society. They talked long and more +and more confidentially. At length the first streaks of dawn began to +show themselves; and Amina, as she urged him to begone, clung to the +skirts of his garments. He hesitated a moment, a few hurried words +passed, and presently she was behind him on the horse, clasping his +waist, and away they went toward the mountains, into the midst of which +they soon penetrated by a rugged defile. + +Amina had been prudent enough to prepare a small supply of provisions, +and Ali knew where at that season water was to be found in small +quantities. His intention was to penetrate to a certain distance in the +desert, and then turning south, to seek the encampment of a tribe with +some of whose members he was acquainted. Their prospects were not very +discouraging; for even if pursuit were attempted, Ali justly confided in +his superior knowledge of the desert: he expected in five days to reach +the tents toward which he directed his course, and he calculated that +the small bag of flour which Amina had provided would prevent them at +least from dying of hunger during that time. + +The first stage was a long one. For seven hours he proceeded in a direct +line from the rising sun, the uncomplaining Amina clinging still to him; +but at length the horse began to exhibit symptoms of fatigue, and its +male rider of anxiety. They had traversed an almost uninterrupted +succession of rocky valleys, but now reached an elevated undulating +plain covered with huge black boulders that seemed to stretch like a +petrified sea to the distant horizon. Now and then they had seen during +their morning's ride, in certain little sheltered nooks, small patches +of a stunted vegetation; but now all was bleak and barren, and grim like +the crater of a volcano. And yet it was here that Ali expected evidently +to find water--most necessary to them; for all three were feeling the +symptoms of burning thirst. He paused every now and then, checking his +steed, and rising in his stirrups to gaze ahead or on one side; but each +time his search was in vain. At length he said: "Possibly I have, in the +hurry of my thoughts, taken the wrong defile, in which case nothing but +death awaits us. We shall not have strength to retrace our footsteps, +and must die here in this horrible place. Stand upon the saddlebow, +Amina, while I support thee: if thou seest any thing like a white +shining cloud upon the ground, we are saved." + +Amina did as she was told, and gazed for a few moments around. Suddenly +she cried: "I see, as it were a mist of silver far, far away to the +left." + +"It is the first well," replied Ali; and he urged his stumbling steed in +that direction. + +It soon appeared that they were approaching a mound of dazzling +whiteness. Close by was a little hollow, apparently dry. But Ali soon +scraped away a quantity of the clayey earth, and presently the water +began to collect, trickling in from the sides. In a couple of hours they +procured enough for themselves and for the horse, and ate some flour +diluted in a wooden bowl; after which they lay down to rest beneath a +ledge of rock that threw a little shade. Toward evening, after Ali had +carefully choked up the well, lest it might be dried by the sun, they +resumed their journey, and arrived about midnight at a lofty rock in the +midst of the plain, visible at a distance of many hours in the +moonlight. In a crevice near the summit of this they found a fair supply +of water, and having refreshed themselves, reposed until dawn. Then +Amina prepared their simple meal, and soon afterward off they went again +over the burning plain. + +This time, as Ali knew beforehand, there was no prospect of well or +water for twenty-four hours; and unfortunately they had not been able to +procure a skin. However, they carried some flour well moistened in their +wooden bowl, which they covered with a large piece of wet linen, and +studied to keep from the sun. They traveled almost without intermission +the whole of that day and a great part of the night. Ali now saw that it +was necessary to rest, and they remained where they were until near +morning. + +"Dearest Amina," said he, returning to the young girl after having +climbed to the top of a lofty rock and gazed anxiously ahead, "I think I +see the mountain where the next water is to be found. If thou art strong +enough, we will push on at once." + +Though faint and weary, Amina said: "Let us be going;" and now it was +necessary for Ali to walk, the horse refusing to carry any longer a +double burden. They advanced, however, rapidly; and at length reached +the foot of a lofty range of mountains, all white, and shining in the +sun like silver. In one of the gorges near the summit Ali knew there was +usually a small reservoir of water; but he had only been there once in +his boyhood, when on his way to visit the tribe with which he now +expected to find a shelter. However, he thought he recognized various +landmarks, and began to ascend with confidence. The sun beat furiously +down on the barren and glistering ground; and the horse exhausted, more +than once refused to proceed. He had not eaten once since their +departure, and Ali knew that he must perish ere the journey was +concluded. + +As they neared the summit of the ridge, the young man recognized with +joy a rock in the shape of a crouching camel that had formerly been +pointed out to him as indicating the neighborhood of the reservoir, and +pressed on with renewed confidence. What was his horror, however, on +reaching the place he sought, at beholding it quite dry! dry, and hot as +an oven! The water had all escaped by a crevice recently formed. Ali now +believed that death was inevitable; and folding the fainting Amina in +his arms, sat down and bewailed his lot in a loud voice. + +Suddenly a strange sight presented itself. A small caravan appeared +coming down the ravine--not of camels, nor of horses, nor asses, but of +goats and a species of wild antelope. They moved slowly, and behind them +walked with tottering steps a man of great age with a vast white beard, +supporting himself with a long stick. Ali rushed forward to a goat which +bore a water-skin, seized it, and without asking permission carried it +to Amina. Both drank with eagerness; and it was not until they were well +satisfied that they noticed the strange old man looking at them with +interest and curiosity. Then they told their story; and the owner of the +caravan in his turn told his, which was equally wonderful. + +"And what was the old man's story?" inquired the listeners in one +breath. + +"It shall be related to-morrow. The time for sleep has come." + +I was not fortunate enough to hear the conclusion of this legend, told +in the simple matter-of-fact words of Wahsa; but one of our attendants +gave me the substance. The old man of the caravan was stated to be the +younger of the two watchers left behind more than a hundred years before +at Bir Hassan. His companion had been killed, and he himself wounded by +some wild beast, which had prevented the necessary signals from being +made. He understood that some terrible disaster had occurred, and dared +not brave the vengeance which he thought menaced him from the survivors. +So he resolved to stay in the valley, and had accordingly remained for a +hundred years, at the expiration of which period he had resolved to set +out on a pilgrimage to the Nile, in order to ascertain if any members of +the tribes still remained, that he might communicate the secret of the +valley before he perished. Like the first discoverer, he had marked the +way by heaps of stones, and died when his narrative was concluded. Ali +and Amina made their way to the valley, where, according to the +narrative, they found a large city, scarcely if at all ruined, and took +up their abode in one of the palaces. Shortly afterward Ali returned to +Egypt, and led off his father, Abdallah the Good, and the remnants of +his tribe in secret. Omar was furious, and following them, endeavored to +discover the valley, of which the tradition was well known. Not +succeeding, he resolved to wait for the summer; but the tribe never +reappeared in Egypt, and is said to have passed the hot months in the +oasis of Farafreh, to which they subsequently removed on the destruction +of their favorite valley by an earthquake. + +This tradition, though containing some improbable incidents, may +nevertheless be founded on fact, and may contain, under a legendary +form, the history of the peopling of the oases of the desert. It is, +however, chiefly interesting from the manner in which it illustrates the +important influence which the discovery or destruction of a copious well +of pure water may exercise on the fortunes of a people. It may +sometimes, in fact, as represented in this instance, be a matter of life +and death; and no doubt the Waled Allah are not the only tribe who have +been raised to an enviable prosperity, or sunk into the depths of +misery, by the fluctuating supply of water in the desert. + + + + +THE BOW-WINDOW. + +AN ENGLISH TALE. + + +There is something so English, so redolent of home, of flowers in large +antique stands, about a bow-window, that we are always pleased when we +catch a glimpse of one, even if it be when but forming the front of an +inn. It gives a picturesque look too, to a home, that is quite +refreshing to gaze on, and when journeying in foreign lands, fond +recollections of dear England come flooding o'er us, if we happen, in +some out-of-the-way village, on such a memory of the land from whence we +came. I have not, from absence from my country, seen such a thing for +some few years; but there is one fresh in my memory, with its green +short Venetian blinds, its large chintz curtains, its comfortable view +up and down the terrace where we lived, to say nothing of its +associations in connection with my childhood. But it is not of this +bow-window that I would speak, it is of one connected with the fortunes +of my friend Maria Walker, and which had a considerable influence on her +happiness. + +Maria Walker was usually allowed to be the beauty of one of the small +towns round London in the direction of Greenwich, of which ancient place +she was a native. Her father had originally practiced as a physician in +that place, but circumstances had caused his removal to another +locality, which promised more profitable returns. The house they +occupied was an ancient red brick mansion in the centre of the town, +with a large bow-window, always celebrated for its geraniums, myrtles, +and roses that, with a couple of small orange-trees, were the admiration +of the neighborhood. Not that Thomas Walker, Esq. had any horticultural +tastes--on the contrary, he was very severe on our sex for devoting +their minds to such trifles as music, flowers, and fancy work; but then +blue-eyed Maria Walker differed with him in opinion, and plainly told +him so--saucy, pert girl, as even I thought her, though several years my +senior. Not that she neglected any more serious duties for those lighter +amusements; the poorer patients of her father ever found in her a +friend. Mr. Walker strongly objected to giving any thing away, it was a +bad example, he said, and people never valued what they got for nothing; +but many was the box of pills and vial of medicine which Maria smuggled +under her father's very nose, to poor people who could not afford to +pay; of course he knew nothing about it, good, easy man, though it would +have puzzled a philosopher to have told how the girl could have prepared +them. She was an active member, too, of a charitable coal club, made +flannel for the poor, and even distributed tracts upon occasion. When +this was done, then she would turn to her pleasures, which were her +little world. She was twenty, and I was not sixteen at the time of which +I speak, but yet we were the best friends in the world. I used to go and +sit in the bow-window; while she would play the piano for hours +together, I had some fancy-work on my lap; but my chief amusement was to +watch the passers-by. I don't think that I am changed by half-a-dozen +more years of experience, for I still like a lively street, and dislike +nothing more than a look out upon a square French court in this great +city of Paris, where houses are more like prisons than pleasant +residences. But to return to my bow-window. + +In front of the house of the Walkers, had been, a few years before, an +open space, but which now, thanks to the rapid march of improvement, was +being changed into a row of very good houses. There were a dozen of +them, and they were dignified with the name of Beauchamp Terrace. They +were, about the time I speak of, all to let; the last finishing touch +had been put to them, the railings had been painted, the rubbish all +removed, and they wanted nothing, save furniture and human beings to +make them assume a civilized and respectable appearance. I called one +morning on Maria Walker, her father was out, she had been playing the +piano till she was tired, so we sat down in the bow-window and talked. + +"So the houses are letting?" said I, who took an interest in the terrace +which I had seen grow under my eyes. + +"Two are let," replied she, "and both to private families; papa is +pleased, he looks upon these twelve houses as twelve new patients." + +"But," said I, laughing, "have you not read the advertisement: 'Healthy +and airy situation, rising neighborhood, and yet only one medical man.'" + +"Oh! yes," smiled Maria; "but sickness, I am sorry to say, is very apt +to run about at some time or other, even in airy situations." + +"But, Maria, you are mistaken, there are three houses let," said I, +suddenly, "the bill is taken down opposite, it has been let since +yesterday." + +"Oh, yes, I recollect a very nice young man driving up there yesterday, +and looking over the house for an hour; I suppose he has taken it." + +"A nice young man," said I, "that is very interesting--I suppose a young +couple just married." + +"Very likely," replied Maria Walker, laughing; but whether at the fact +of my making up my mind to its being an interesting case of matrimony, +or what else, I know not. + +It was a week before I saw Maria again, and when I did, she caught me by +the hand, drew me rapidly to the window, and with a semi-tragic +expression, pointed to the house over the way. I looked. What was my +astonishment when, on the door in large letters, I read these words, +"Mr. Edward Radstock, M. D." + +"A rival," cried I, clapping my hands, thoughtless girl that I was; +"another feud of Montague and Capulet. Maria, could not a Romeo and +Juliet be found to terminate it?" + +"Don't laugh," replied Maria, gravely; "papa is quite ill with vexation; +imagine, in a small town like this, two doctors! it's all the fault of +that advertisement. Some scheming young man has seen it, and finding no +hope of practice elsewhere, has come here. I suppose he is as poor as a +rat." + +At this instant the sound of horses' footsteps was heard, and then three +vans full of furniture appeared in sight. They were coming our way. We +looked anxiously to see before which house they stopped. I must confess +that what Maria said interested me in the young doctor, and I really +hoped all this was for him. Maria said nothing, but, with a frown on her +brow, she waited the progress of events. As I expected, the vans stopped +before the young doctor's house, and in a few minutes the men began to +unload. My friend turned pale as she saw that the vehicles were full of +elegant furniture. + +"The wretch has got a young wife, too," she exclaimed, as a piano and +harp came to view, and then she added, rising, "this will never do; +they must be put down at once; _they_ are strangers in the neighborhood, +_we_ are well known. Sit down at that desk, my dear girl, and help me to +make out a list of all the persons _we_ can invite to a ball and evening +party. I look upon them as impertinent interlopers, and they must be +crushed." + +I laughingly acquiesced, and aided by her, soon wrote out a list of +invitations to be given. + +"But now," said Miss Walker, after a few moments of deep reflection, +"one name more must be added, _they_ must be invited." + +"Who?" exclaimed I, in a tone of genuine surprise. + +"Mr. and Mrs. Edward Radstock," replied Maria, triumphantly, while I +could scarcely speak from astonishment. + +The rest of my narrative I collected from the lips of my friend, a +little more than a year later. + +The ball took place to the admiration of all C----. It was a splendid +affair: a select band came down from London, in which two foreigners, +with dreadfully un-euphonic names, played upon two unknown instruments, +that deafened nearly every sensitive person in the room, and would have +driven every body away, had not they been removed into the drawing-room +balcony; then there was a noble Italian, reduced to a tenor-singer, who +astonished the company, equally by the extraordinary number of strange +songs that he sang, and the number of ices and jellies which he ate; +then there were one or two literary men, who wrote anonymously, but +might have been celebrated, only they scorned to put their names forward +among the common herd, the [Greek: hoi polloi] already known to the +public; there was a young poet too, who thought Alfred Tennyson +infinitely superior to Shakspeare, and by the air with which he read a +poem, seemed to insinuate that he himself was greater than either; and +then there was a funny gentleman, who could imitate Henry Russell, John +Parry, Buckstone, or any body, only he had a cold and could not get +beyond a negro recitation, which might have been Chinese poetry for all +the company understood of it. In fact it was the greatest affair of the +kind which C---- had seen for many a long day. Mr. and _Miss_ Radstock +came, and were received with cold politeness by both father and +daughter. The young man was good-looking, with an intelligent eye, a +pleasing address, and none of that pertness of manner which usually +belongs to those who have just thrown off the medical student to become +the doctor. Miss Radstock, his sister, who kept house for him, until he +found a wife, was a charming girl of about twenty. She smiled at the +manner of both Mr. and Miss Walker, but said nothing. Young Radstock's +only revenge for the lady of the house's coldness and stateliness of +tone, was asking her to dance at the first opportunity, which certainly +was vexatious, for his tone was so pleasing, his manner so courteous, +that my friend Maria could not but feel pleased--when she wanted to be +irate, distant, and haughty. + +They danced together several times, and to the astonishment of many +friends of the young lady, of myself in particular, they went down to +supper the best friends in the world, laughing and joking like old +acquaintances. + +Next day, however, she resumed her original coldness of manner when the +brother and sister called to pay their respects. She was simply polite, +and no more, and after two or three words they retired, Emily Radstock +becoming as stiff and formal as her new acquaintance. From that day +Maria became very miserable. She was not avaricious, and did not fear +her father losing his practice from any pecuniary motives, but it was +pride that influenced her. Her father had for some years monopolized the +parish, as his predecessor had for forty years before him; and now to +behold a young unfledged physician setting up exactly opposite, and +threatening to divide in time the business of the town, was dreadful. +_The_ physician of the town, sounded better, too, than one of the +doctors, and altogether it was a most unpleasant affair. + +Maria's place was now always the bow-window. She had no amusement but to +watch the opposite house, to see if patients came, or if Edward Radstock +made any attempt to call about and introduce himself. But for some time +she had the satisfaction of remarking, that not a soul called at the +house, save the butcher, the baker, and other contributors to the +interior comforts of man, and Maria began to feel the hope that Edward +Radstock would totally fail in his endeavors to introduce himself. She +remarked, however, that the young man took it very quietly; he sat by +his sister's side while she played the piano, or with a book and a cigar +at the open window, or took Emily a drive in his gig; always, when he +remarked Maria at the open window, bowing with provoking courtesy, +nothing daunted by her coldness of manner, or her pretense of not +noticing his politeness. + +One day Mr. Walker was out, he had been called to a distance to see a +patient, who was very seriously ill, when Maria sat at the bow-window +looking up the street. Suddenly she saw a boy come running down on their +side of the way; she knew him by his bright buttons, light jacket, and +gold lace. It was the page of the Perkinses, a family with a host of +little children, who, from constant colds, indigestions, and fits of +illness, caused by too great a liking for the pleasures of the table, +which a fond mother had not the heart to restrain, were continually on +Mr. Walker's books. + +The boy rang violently at the bell, and Maria opened the parlor-door and +listened. + +"Is Mr. Walker at home?" said the boy, scarcely able to speak from want +of breath. + +"No," replied the maid who had opened the door. + +"He will be home directly," said Maria, advancing. + +"Oh! but missus can't wait, there's little Peter been and swallowed a +marble, and the baby's took with fits," and away rushed the boy across +the road to the hated rival's house. + +Maria retreated into her room and sank down upon a sofa. The enemy had +gained an entrance into the camp, it was quite clear. In a moment more +she rose, just in time to see Mr. Edward Radstock hurrying down the +street beside the little page, without waiting to order his gig. This +was a severe blow to the doctor's daughter. The Perkinses were a leading +family in the town, and one to whom her father was called almost every +day in the year. They had a large circle of acquaintances, and if young +Radstock became their medical adviser, others would surely follow. In +about an hour, the young man returned and joined his sister in the +drawing-room, as if nothing had happened. This was more provoking than +his success. If he had assumed an air of importance and bustle, and had +hurried up to inform his sister with an air of joy and triumph of what +had happened, she might have been tempted to pity him, but he did every +thing in such a quiet, gentlemanly way, that she felt considerable alarm +for the future. + +Maria was in the habit of spending most of her evenings from home, her +father being generally out, and that large house in consequence lonely. +The town of C---- was famous for its tea and whist-parties, and though +Maria was not of an age to play cards, except to please others, she, +however, sometimes condescended to do so. One evening she was invited to +the house of a Mrs. Brunton, who announced her intention of receiving +company every Thursday. She went, and found the circle very pleasant and +agreeable, but, horror of horrors--there was Mr. Edward Radstock and his +sister Emily; and worse than that, when a lady present volunteered to +play a quadrille, and the ladies accepted eagerly, up he came, of all +others, to invite her to dance! Mrs. Brunton the instant before had +asked her to play at whist, to oblige three regular players, who could +not find a fourth. + +"I am afraid," she said, quietly, but in rather distant tones, "I am +engaged"--the young man looked surprised, even hurt, for no gentleman +had spoken to her since she had entered the room--"to make a fourth at +the whist-table, but--" + +"Oh, go and dance, Miss Walker," exclaimed Mrs. Brunton, "I did not know +dancing was going to begin, when I asked you to make up a rubber." + +Maria offered her hand to the young man, and walked away to the +dancing-room. Despite herself, that evening she was very much pleased +with him. He was well informed, had traveled, was full of taste and +feeling, and conversed with animation and originality; he sought every +opportunity of addressing himself to her, and found these opportunities +without much difficulty. For several Thursdays the same thing occurred. +The young man began to find a little practice. He was popular wherever +he went, and whenever he was called in was quite sure of keeping up the +connection. He was asked out to all the principal parties in the town; +and had Mr. Walker been not very much liked, would have proved a very +serious rival. + +One morning the father and daughter were at breakfast. Maria, who began +to like her bow-window better than ever, sat near it to scent the +fragrance of her flowers. When the young doctor came out, she always now +returned his bow, and a young lady opposite declared in confidence to +her dressmaker that she had even kissed her hand to him once. However +this may be, Maria sat at the bow-window, pouring out tea for her father +in a very abstracted mood. Mr. Walker had been called out at an early +hour, and returned late. He was not in the best of humors, having waited +four hours beyond his time for his tea. + +"I shall die in the workhouse," said he, as he buttered his toast with +an irritability of manner quite alarming. "This Radstock is getting all +the practice. I heard of two new patients yesterday." + +"Oh, papa," replied Maria, gently. "I don't think he has got a dozen +altogether." + +"A dozen--but that's a dozen lost to me, miss. It's a proof that people +think me old--worn out--useless." + +"Nonsense, papa; C---- is increasing in population every day, and for +every one he gets, you get two." + +"My dear," replied Mr. Walker, with considerable animation, "I think you +are beginning to side with my rival." + +A loud knocking came this instant to the door, and the man-servant +immediately after announced "Dr. Radstock." + +Mr. Walker had no time to make any remark, ere the young man entered the +room, bowing most politely to the old gentleman and his daughter; both +looked confused, and the father much surprised. He was in elegant +morning costume, and looked both handsome and happy--the old doctor +thought, triumphant. + +"Pardon me, sir," said he, "for disturbing you at this early hour; but +your numerous calls take you so much out, that one must take you when +one can find you. My errand will doubtless surprise you, but I am very +frank and open; my object in visiting you is to ask permission to pay my +addresses to your daughter." + +"To do what, sir?" thundered the old doctor in a towering passion. "Are +you not satisfied with trying to take from me my practice, but you must +ask me for my child? I tell you, sir, nothing on earth would make me +consent to your marriage with my daughter." + +"But, sir," said Edward Radstock, turning to Maria, "I have your +daughter's permission to make this request. I told her of my intentions +last night, and she authorized me to say that she approved of them." + +"Maria," exclaimed the father, almost choking with rage, "is this true?" + +"My dear papa, I am in no hurry to get married, but if I did, I must +say, that I should never think of marrying any one but Edward Radstock. +I will not get married against your will, but I will never marry any one +else; nothing will make me." + +"Ungrateful girl," muttered Mr. Thomas Walker, and next minute he sank +back in his chair in a fit of apoplexy. + +"Open the window, raise the blinds," said the young man, preparing with +promptitude and earnestness to take the necessary remedies, "be not +alarmed. It is not a dangerous attack." + +Maria quietly obeyed her lover, quite aware of the necessity of +self-possession and presence of mind in a case like the present. In half +an hour Mr. Walker was lying in a large, airy bedroom, and the young man +had left, at the request of Maria, to attend a patient of her father's. +It was late at night before Edward was able to take a moment's rest. +What with his own patients, and those of his rival, he was overwhelmed +with business; but at eleven o'clock he approached the bedside of the +father of Maria, who, with her dear Emily now by her side, sat watching. + +"He sleeps soundly," said Maria in a low tone, as Edward entered. + +"Yes, and is doing well," replied Radstock. "I answer for his being up +and stirring to-morrow, if he desires it." + +"But it will be better for him to rest some days," said Maria. + +"But, my dear Miss Walker," continued the young doctor, "what will his +patients do?" + +"You can attend to them as you have done to-day," replied Maria. + +"My dear Miss Walker, you, who know me, could trust me with your +father's patients; you know, that when he was able to go about, I would +hand them all back to him without hesitation. But you must be aware, +that for your father to discover me attending to his patients, would +retard his recovery. If I do as you ask me, I must retire from C---- +immediately on his convalescence." + +"No, sir," said Dr. Walker, in a faint voice, "I shall not be about for +a month; after making me take to my bed, the least you can do is to +attend to my patients." + +"If you wish it, sir--?" + +"I insist upon it; and to prevent any opposition, you can say we are +going into partnership." + +"But--" said Edward. + +"If you want my daughter," continued Dr. Walker, gruffly, "you must do +as I tell you. If you wish to be my son-in-law, you must be my partner, +work like a horse, slave day and night, while I smoke my pipe and drink +my grog." + +"My dear sir," exclaimed the young man, "you overwhelm me." + +"Dear papa!" said Maria. + +"Yes, dear papa!" muttered old Walker; "pretty girl you are; give a +party to crush the interloper; faint when he gets his first patient; +watch him from your bow-window like a cat watches a mouse, and +then--marry him." + +"But, my dear papa, is not this the surest way to destroy the +opposition?" said happy Maria. + +"Yes! because we can not crush him, we take him as a partner," grumbled +old Walker; "never heard of such a thing; nice thing it is to have +children who take part with your enemies." + +Nobody made any reply, and after a little more faint attempts at +fault-finding, the old doctor fell asleep. + +About six months later, after a journey to Scotland, which made me lose +sight of Maria, I drove up the streets of C----, after my return to my +native Greenwich, which, with its beautiful park, its Blackheath, its +splendid and glorious monument of English greatness, its historic +associations, I dearly love, and eager to see the dear girl, never +stopped until I was in her arms. + +"How you have grown," said she, with a sweet and happy smile. + +"Grown! indeed; do you take me for a child?" cried I, laughing. "And +you! how well and pleased you look; always at the bow-window, too; I saw +you as I came up." + +"I am very seldom there now," said she, with a strange smile. + +"Why?" + +"Because I live over the way," replied she, still smiling. + +"Over the way?" said I. + +"Yes, my dear girl; alas! for the mutability of human things--Maria +Walker is now Mrs. Radstock." + +I could not help it; I laughed heartily. I was very glad. I had been +interested in the young man, and the _dénoûement_ was delightful. + +The firm of Walker and Radstock prospered remarkably without rivalry, +despite a great increase in the neighborhood; but the experience of the +old man, and the perseverance of the young, frightened away all +opposition. They proved satisfactorily that union is indeed strength. +Young Radstock was a very good husband. He told me privately that he had +fallen in love with Maria the very first day he saw her; and every time +I hear from them I am told of a fresh accession to the number of faces +that stare across for grandpapa, who generally, when about to pay them a +visit, shows himself first at the Bow-window. + + + + +THE FRENCH FLOWER GIRL. + + +I was lingering listlessly over a cup of coffee on the Boulevard des +Italiens, in June. At that moment I had neither profound nor useful +resources of thought. I sate simply conscious of the cool air, the blue +sky, the white houses, the lights, and the lions, which combine to +render that universally pleasant period known as "after dinner," so +peculiarly agreeable in Paris. + +In this mood my eyes fell upon a pair of orbs fixed intently upon me. +Whether the process was effected by the eyes, or by some pretty little +fingers, simply, I can not say; but, at the same moment, a rose was +insinuated into my button-hole, a gentle voice addressed me, and I +beheld, in connection with the eyes, the fingers, and the voice, a girl. +She carried on her arm a basket of flowers, and was, literally, nothing +more nor less than one of the _Bouquetières_ who fly along the +Boulevards like butterflies, with the difference that they turn their +favorite flowers to a more practical account. + +Following the example of some other distracted _décorés_, who I found +were sharing my honors, I placed a piece of money--I believe, in my +case, it was silver--in the hand of the girl; and, receiving about five +hundred times its value, in the shape of a smile and a "_Merci bien, +monsieur!_" was again left alone--("desolate," a Frenchman would have +said)--in the crowded and carousing Boulevard. + +To meet a perambulating and persuasive _Bouquetière_, who places a +flower in your coat and waits for a pecuniary acknowledgment, is +scarcely a rare adventure in Paris; but I was interested--unaccountably +so--in this young girl: her whole manner and bearing was so different +and distinct from all others of her calling. Without any of that +appearance which, in England, we are accustomed to call "theatrical," +she was such a being as we can scarcely believe in out of a ballet. Not, +however, that her attire departed--except, perhaps, in a certain +coquetish simplicity--from the conventional mode: its only decorations +seemed to be ribbons, which also gave a character to the little cap that +perched itself with such apparent insecurity upon her head. Living a +life that seemed one long summer's day--one floral _fête_--with a means +of existence that seemed so frail and immaterial--she conveyed an +impression of _unreality_. She might be likened to a Nymph, or a Naiad, +but for the certain something that brought you back to the theatre, +intoxicating the senses, at once, with the strange, indescribable +fascinations of hot chandeliers--close and perfumed air--foot-lights, +and fiddlers. + +Evening after evening I saw the same girl--generally at the same +place--and, it may be readily imagined, became one of the most constant +of her _clientelle_. I learned, too, as many facts relating to her as +could be learned where most was mystery. Her peculiar and persuasive +mode of disposing of her flowers (a mode which has since become worse +than vulgarized by bad imitators) was originally her own graceful +instinct--or whim, if you will. It was something new and natural, and +amused many, while it displeased none. The sternest of stockbrokers, +even, could not choose but be decorated. Accordingly, this new Nydia of +Thessaly went out with her basket one day, awoke next morning, and found +herself famous. + +Meantime there was much discussion, and more mystification, as to who +this Queen of Flowers could be--where she lived--and so forth. Nothing +was known of her except her name--Hermance. More than one adventurous +student--you may guess I am stating the number within bounds--traced her +steps for hour after hour, till night set in--in vain. Her flowers +disposed of, she was generally joined by an old man, respectably clad, +whose arm she took with a certain confidence, that sufficiently marked +him as a parent or protector; and the two always contrived sooner or +later, in some mysterious manner, to disappear. + +After all stratagems have failed, it generally occurs to people to ask a +direct question. But this in the present case was impossible. Hermance +was never seen except in very public places--often in crowds--and to +exchange twenty consecutive words with her, was considered a most +fortunate feat. Notwithstanding, too, her strange, wild way of gaining +her livelihood, there was a certain dignity in her manner which sufficed +to cool the too curious. + +As for the directors of the theatres, they exhibited a most appropriate +amount of madness on her account; and I believe that at several of the +theatres, Hermance might have commanded her own terms. But only one of +these miserable men succeeded in making a tangible proposal, and he was +treated with most glorious contempt. There was, indeed, something doubly +dramatic in the _Bouquetière's_ disdain of the drama. She who _lived_ a +romance could never descend to act one. She would rather be Rosalind +than Rachel. She refused the part of Cerito, and chose to be an Alma on +her own account. + +It may be supposed that where there was so much mystery, imagination +would not be idle. To have believed all the conflicting stories about +Hermance, would be to come to the conclusion that she was the stolen +child of noble parents, brought up by an _ouvrier_: but that somehow her +father was a tailor of dissolute habits, who lived a contented life of +continual drunkenness, on the profits of his daughter's industry;--that +her mother was a deceased duchess--but, on the other hand, was alive, +and carried on the flourishing business of a _blanchisseuse_. As for the +private life of the young lady herself, it was reflected in such a magic +mirror of such contradictory impossibilities, in the delicate +discussions held upon the subject, that one had no choice but to +disbelieve every thing. + +One day a new impulse was given to this gossip by the appearance of the +_Bouquetière_ in a startling hat of some expensive straw, and of a make +bordering on the ostentatious. It could not be doubted that the profits +of her light labors were sufficient to enable her to multiply such +finery to almost any extent, had she chosen; but in Paris the adoption +of a bonnet or a hat, in contradistinction to the little cap of the +_grisette_, is considered an assumption of a superior grade, and unless +warranted by the "position" of the wearer, is resented as an +impertinence. In Paris, indeed, there are only two classes of +women--those with bonnets, and those without; and these stand in the +same relation to one another, as the two great classes into which the +world may be divided--the powers that be, and the powers that want to +be. Under these circumstances, it may be supposed that the surmises were +many and marvelous. The little _Bouquetière_ was becoming +proud--becoming a lady;--but how? why? and above all--where? Curiosity +was never more rampant, and scandal never more inventive. + +For my part, I saw nothing in any of these appearances worthy, in +themselves, of a second thought; nothing could have destroyed the +strong and strange interest which I had taken in the girl; and it would +have required something more potent than a straw hat--however coquettish +in crown, and audacious in brim--to have shaken my belief in her truth +and goodness. Her presence, for the accustomed few minutes, in the +afternoon or evening, became to me--I will not say a necessity, but +certainly a habit;--and a habit is sufficiently despotic when + + "A fair face and a tender voice have made me--" + +I will not say "mad and blind," as the remainder of the line would +insinuate--but most deliciously in my senses, and most luxuriously wide +awake! + +But to come to the catastrophe-- + + "One morn we missed _her_ in the accustomed spot--" + +Not only, indeed, from "accustomed" and probable spots, but from +unaccustomed, improbable, and even impossible spots--all of which were +duly searched--was she missed. In short, she was not to be found at all. +All was amazement on the Boulevards. Hardened old _flaneurs_ turned pale +under their rouge, and some of the younger ones went about with drooping +mustaches, which, for want of the _cire_, had fallen into the "yellow +leaf." + +A few days sufficed, however, for the cure of these sentimentalities. A +clever little monkey at the Hippodrome, and a gentleman who stood on his +head while he ate his dinner, became the immediate objects of interest, +and Hermance seemed to be forgotten. I was one of the few who retained +any hope of finding her, and my wanderings for that purpose, without any +guide, clew, information, or indication, seem to me now something +absurd. In the course of my walks, I met an old man, who was pointed out +to me as her father--met him frequently, alone. The expression of his +face was quite sufficient to assure me that he was on the same +mission--and with about as much chance of success as myself. Once I +tried to speak to him; but he turned aside, and avoided me with a manner +that there could be no mistaking. This surprised me, for I had no reason +to suppose that he had ever seen my face before. + +A paragraph in one of the newspapers at last threw some light on the +matter. The _Bouquetière_ had never been so friendless or unprotected as +people had supposed. In all her wanderings she was accompanied, or +rather followed, by her father; whenever she stopped, then he stopped +also; and never was he distant more than a dozen yards, I wonder that he +was not recognized by hundreds, but I conclude he made some change in +his attire or appearance, from time to time. One morning this strange +pair were proceeding on their ramble as usual, when, passing through a +rather secluded street, the _Bouquetière_ made a sudden bound from the +pavement, sprung into a post-chaise, the door of which stood open, and +was immediately whirled away, as fast as four horses could tear--leaving +the old man alone with his despair, and the basket of flowers. + +Three months have passed away since the disappearance of the +_Bouquetière_; but only a few days since I found myself one evening very +dull at one of those "brilliant receptions," for which Paris is so +famous. I was making for the door, with a view to an early departure, +when my hostess detained me, for the purpose of presenting me to a lady +who was monopolizing all the admiration of the evening--she was the +newly-married bride of a young German baron of great wealth, and noted +for a certain wild kind of genius, and utter scorn of conventionalities. +The next instant I found myself introduced to a pair of eyes that could +never be mistaken. I dropped into a vacant chair by their side, and +entered into conversation. The baronne observed that she had met me +before, but could not remember where, and in the same breath asked me if +I was a lover of flowers. + +I muttered something about loving beauty in any shape, and admired a +bouquet which she held in her hand. + +The baronne selected a flower, and asked me if it was not a peculiarly +fine specimen. I assented; and the flower, not being re-demanded, I did +not return it. The conversation changed to other subjects, and, shortly +afterward the baronne took her leave with her husband. They left Paris +next day for the baron's family estate, and I have never seen them +since. + +I learned subsequently that some strange stories had obtained +circulation respecting the previous life of the baronne. Whatever they +were, it is very certain that this or some other reason has made the +profession of _Bouquetière_ most inconveniently popular in Paris. Young +ladies of all ages that can, with any degree of courtesy, be included in +that category, and of all degrees of beauty short of the hunch-back, may +be seen in all directions intruding their flowers with fatal pertinacity +upon inoffensive loungers, and making war upon button-holes that never +did them any harm. The youngest of young girls, I find, are being +trained to the calling, who are all destined, I suppose, to marry +distinguished foreigners from some distant and facetious country. + +I should have mentioned before, that a friend calling upon me the +morning after my meeting with the baronne, saw the flower which she had +placed in my hand standing in a glass of water on the table. An idea +struck me: "Do you know any thing of the language of flowers?" I asked. + +"Something," was the reply. + +"What, then, is the meaning of this?" + +"SECRECY." + + + + +DIFFICULTY. + + +There is an aim which all Nature seeks; the flower that opens from the +bud--the light that breaks the cloud into a thousand forms of beauty--is +calmly striving to assume the perfect glory of its power; and the child, +whose proud laugh heralds the mastery of a new lesson, unconsciously +develops the same life-impulse seeking to prove the power it has felt +its own. + +This is the real goal of life shining dimly from afar; for as our +fullest power was never yet attained, it is a treasure which must be +sought, its extent and distance being unknown. No man can tell what he +can do, or suffer, until tried; his path of action broadens out before +him; and, while a path appears, there is power to traverse it. It is +like the fabled hill of Genius, that ever presented a loftier elevation +above the one attained. It is like the glory of the stars, which shine +by borrowed light, each seeming source of which is tributary to one more +distant, until the view is lost to us; yet we only know there must be a +life-giving centre, and, to the steady mind, though the goal of life be +dim and distant, its light is fixed and certain, while all lesser aims +are but reflections of this glory in myriad-descending shades, which +must be passed, one by one, as the steps of the ladder on which he +mounts to Heaven. + +Man has an unfortunate predilection to pervert whatever God throws in +his way to aid him, and thus turn good to evil. The minor hopes which +spur to action are mistaken for the final one; and we often look no +higher than some mean wish, allowing that to rule us which should have +been our servant. From this false view rises little exertion, for it is +impossible for man to believe in something better and be content with +worse. We all aim at self-control and independence while in the shadow +of a power which controls us, whispering innerly, "Thus far shalt thou +go, and no farther;" but how apt is self-indulgence to suit this limit +to its own measure, and suffer veneration and doubt to overgrow and +suppress the rising hope of independent thought. "I am not permitted to +know this, or to do this," is the excuse of the weak and trivial; but +the question should be, "_Can_ I know or do this?" for what is not +permitted we can not do. We may not know the events of the future, or +the period of a thought, or the Great First Cause, but we may hope to +see and combine the atoms of things--pierce the realms of space--make +the wilderness a garden--attain perfection of soul and body; and for +this our end we may master all things needful. + +There is nothing possible that faith and striving can not do; take the +road, and it must lead you to the goal, though strewn with difficulties, +and cast through pain and shade. If each would strain his energies to +gain what he has dared to hope for, he would succeed, for since that +which we love and honor is in our nature, it is to be drawn forth, and +what is not there we can not wish. + +Our greatest drawback is, not that we expect too much, but that we do +too little; we set our worship low, and let our higher powers lie +dormant; thus are we never masters, but blind men stumbling in each +other's way. As maturity means self-controlling power, so he who gains +not this is childish, and must submit, infant-like, to be controlled by +others. This guidance we must feel in our upward course, and be grateful +for the check; but as we have each a work to do, we must look beyond +help to independence. The school-boy receives aid in learning that he +may one day strive with his own power, for if he always depends on help +he can never be a useful man. + +He who seeks for himself no path, but merely follows where others have +been before, covering his own want with another's industry, may find the +road not long or thickly set, but he does and gains nothing. He who bows +to difficulty, settling at the foot of the hill instead of struggling to +its top, may get a sheltered place--a snug retreat, but the world in its +glory he can never see, and the pestilence from the low ground he must +imbibe. We may rest in perfect comfort, but the health that comes of +labor will fade away. The trees of the forest were not planted that man +might pass round and live between them, but that he might cut them down +and use them. The savage has little toil before him, but the civilized +man has greater power of happiness. + +Would a man be powerful, and bid his genius rule his fellow-men? he must +toil to gain means; while his thought reads the hearts that he would +sway, he must be led into temptation, and pass through pain and danger, +ere he can know what another may endure. Would he pour golden truth upon +the page of life? he must seek it from every source, weigh the relations +of life, and concede to its taste, that he may best apply it, for the +proverb must be written in fair round hand, that common men may read it. +Would he picture the life of man or nature? he must go forth with heart +and eye alive, nor turn from the sorest notes of human woe, or the +coarsest tones of vice; he must watch the finest ray of light, and mark +the falling of the last withered leaf. Would he be actively benevolent? +winter cold, nor summer lassitude must not appall him; in season and out +of season he must be ready; injured pride, wounded feeling must not +unstring his energy, while stooping to learn from the simplest lips the +nature of those wants to which he would minister. + +In all accomplishment there is difficulty; the greater the work, the +greater the pains. There is no such thing as sudden inspiration or +grace, for the steps of life are slow, and what is not thus attained is +nothing worth. In darkness the eyes must be accustomed to the gloom when +objects appear, one by one, until the most distant is perceived; but, in +a sudden light the eyes are pained, and blinded, and left weak. + +At school, we found that when one difficulty was surmounted another was +presented; mastering "Addition" would not do--we must learn +"Subtraction;" so it is in life. A finished work is a glory won, but a +mind content with one accomplishment is childish, and its weakness +renders it incapable of applying that--"From him that hath not shall be +taken away even that he hath;" his one talent shall rise up to him as a +shame. A little sphere insures but little happiness. + +There is a time of youth for all; but youth has a sphere of hope that, +embracing the whole aim which man must work for, gives unbounded +happiness. Thus God would equalize the lot of all where necessity would +create difference; it is only when states are forced unnaturally that +misery ensues. When those who would seem to be men are children in +endeavor, we see that God's will is not done, but a falsehood. The +greatest of us have asked and taken guidance in their rising course, and +owned inferiority without shame; but his is a poor heart that looks to +be inferior ever; and shameful indeed it is, when those who are thus +poor imagine or assume a right to respect as self-supporting men. How +painfully ridiculous it is to see the lazy man look down on his +struggling wife as the "weaker vessel," or the idle sinecurist hold +contempt for the tradesman who is working his way to higher wealth by +honest toil. Were the aims of living truly seen, no man would be +dishonored because useful. But wait awhile; the world is drawing near +the real point, and we shall find that the self-denying, fearless +energy, that works its will in spite of pettiness, must gain its end, +and become richest; that the man who begins with a penny in the hope of +thousands will grow wealthier than his aimless brother of the snug +annuity; for while the largest wealth that is not earned is limited, the +result of ceaseless toil is incalculable, since the progress of the soul +is infinite! + + + + +MAURICE TIERNAY, + +THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE.[11] + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +A GLANCE AT THE "PREFECTURE DE POLICE." + +Poor Mahon's melancholy story made a deep impression upon me, and I +returned to Paris execrating the whole race of spies and "Mouchards," +and despising, with a most hearty contempt, a government compelled to +use such agencies for its existence. It seemed to me so utterly +impossible to escape the snares of a system so artfully interwoven, and +so vain to rely on innocence as a protection, that I felt a kind of +reckless hardihood as to whatever might betide me, and rode into the +Cour of the Prefecture with a bold indifference as to my fate that I +have often wondered at since. + +The horse on which I was mounted was immediately recognized as I +entered; and the obsequious salutations that met me showed that I was +regarded as one of the trusty followers of the Minister; and in this +capacity was I ushered into a large waiting-room, where a considerable +number of persons were assembled, whose air and appearance, now that +necessity for disguise was over, unmistakably pronounced them to be +spies of the police. Some, indeed, were occupied in taking off their +false whiskers and mustaches; others were removing shades from their +eyes; and one was carefully opening what had been the hump on his back, +in search of a paper he was anxious to discover. + +I had very little difficulty in ascertaining that these were all the +very lowest order of "Mouchards," whose sphere of duty rarely led beyond +the Fauxbourg or the Battyriolles, and indeed soon saw that my own +appearance among them led to no little surprise and astonishment. + +"You are looking for Nicquard, monsieur?" said one, "but he has not come +yet." + +"No; monsieur wants to see Boule-de-Fer," said another. + +"Here's José can fetch him," cried a third. + +"He'll have to carry him, then," growled out another, "for I saw him in +the Morgue this morning!" + +"What! dead?" exclaimed several together. + +"As dead as four stabs in the heart and lungs can make a man! He must +have been meddling where he had no business, for there was a piece of a +lace ruffle found in his fingers." + +"Ah, voila!" cried another, "that comes of mixing in high society." + +I did not wait for the discussion that followed, but stole quietly away, +as the disputants were waxing warm. Instead of turning into the Cour +again, however, I passed out into a corridor, at the end of which was a +door of green cloth. Pushing open this, I found myself in a chamber, +where a single clerk was writing at a table. + +"You're late to-day, and he's not in a good humor," said he, scarcely +looking up from his paper, "go in!" + +Resolving to see my adventure to the end, I asked no further questions, +but passed on to the room beyond. A person who stood within the door-way +withdrew as I entered, and I found myself standing face to face with the +Marquis de Maurepas, or, to speak more properly, the Minister Fouché. He +was standing at the fire-place as I came in, reading a newspaper, but no +sooner had he caught sight of me than he laid it down, and, with his +hands crossed behind his back, continued steadily staring at me. + +"Diable!" exclaimed he, at last, "how came you here?" + +"Nothing more naturally, sir, than from the wish to restore what you +were so good as to lend me, and express my sincere gratitude for a most +hospitable reception." + +"But who admitted you?" + +"I fancy your saddle-cloth was my introduction, sir, for it was speedily +recognized. Gesler's cap was never held in greater honor." + +"You are a very courageous young gentleman, I must say--very courageous, +indeed," said he, with a sardonic grin that was any thing but +encouraging. + +"The better chance that I may find favor with Monsieur de Fouché," +replied I. + +"That remains to be seen, sir," said he, seating himself in his chair, +and motioning me to a spot in front of it. "Who are you?" + +"A lieutenant of the 9th Hussars, sir; by name Maurice Tiernay." + +"I don't care for that," said he, impatiently; "what's your +occupation?--how do you live?--with whom do you associate?" + +"I have neither means nor associates. I have been liberated from the +Temple but a few days back; and what is to be my future, and where, are +facts of which I know as little as does Monsieur de Fouché of my past +history." + +"It would seem that every adventurer, every fellow destitute of home, +family, fortune, and position, thinks that his natural refuge lies in +this Ministry, and that I must be his guardian." + +"I never thought so, sir." + +"Then why are you here? What other than personal reasons procures me the +honor of this visit?" + +"As Monsieur de Fouché will not believe in my sense of gratitude, +perhaps he may put some faith in my curiosity, and excuse the natural +anxiety I feel to know if Monsieur de Maurepas has really benefited by +the pleasure of my society." + +"Hardi, monsieur, bien hardi," said the Minister, with a peculiar +expression of irony about the mouth that made me almost shudder. He rang +a little hand-bell as he spoke, and a servant made his appearance. + +"You have forgotten to leave me my snuff-box, Geoffroy," said he, +mildly, to the valet, who at once left the room, and speedily returned +with a magnificently-chased gold box, on which the initials of the First +Consul were embossed in diamonds. + +"Arrange those papers, and place those books on the shelves," said the +Minister. And then turning to me, as if resuming a previous +conversation, went on-- + +"As to that memoir of which we were speaking t'other night, monsieur, it +would be exceedingly interesting just now; and I have no doubt that you +will see the propriety of confiding to me what you already promised to +Monsieur de Maurepas. That will do, Geoffroy; leave us." + +The servant retired, and we were once more alone. + +"I possess no secrets, sir, worthy the notice of the Minister of +Police," said I boldly. + +"Of that I may presume to be the better judge," said Fouché calmly. "But +waiving this question, there is another of some importance. You have, +partly by accident, partly by a boldness not devoid of peril, obtained +some little insight into the habits and details of this Ministry; at +least, you have seen enough to suspect more, and misrepresent what you +can not comprehend. Now, sir, there is an almost universal custom in all +secret societies, of making those who intrude surreptitiously within +their limits, to take every oath and pledge of that society, and to +assume every responsibility that attaches to its voluntary members--" + +"Excuse my interrupting you, sir; but my intrusion was purely +involuntary; I was made the dupe of a police spy." + +"Having ascertained which," resumed he, coldly, "your wisest policy +would have been to have kept the whole incident for yourself alone, and +neither have uttered one syllable about it, nor ventured to come here, +as you have done, to display what you fancy to be your power over the +Minister of Police. You are a very young man, and the lesson may +possibly be of service to you; and never forget that to attempt a +contest of address with those whose habits have taught them every wile +and subtlety of their fellow-men, will always be a failure. This +Ministry would be a sorry engine of government if men of your stamp +could out-wit it." + +I stood abashed and confused under a rebuke which, at the same time, I +felt to be but half deserved. + +"Do you understand Spanish?" asked he suddenly. + +"No, sir, not a word." + +"I'm sorry for it; you should learn that language without loss of time. +Leave your address with my secretary, and call here by Monday or Tuesday +next." + +"If I may presume so far, sir," said I, with a great effort to seem +collected, "I would infer that your intention is to employ me in some +capacity or other. It is, therefore, better I should say at once, I have +neither the ability nor the desire for such occupation. I have always +been a soldier. Whatever reverses of fortune I may meet with, I would +wish still to continue in the same career. At all events, I could never +become a--a--" + +"Spy. Say the word out; its meaning conveys nothing offensive to my +ears, young man. I may grieve over the corruption that requires such a +system; but I do not confound the remedy with the disease." + +"My sentiments are different, sir," said I resolutely, as I moved toward +the door. "I have the honor to wish you a good morning." + +"Stay a moment, Tiernay," said he, looking for something among his +papers; "there are, probably, situations where all your scruples could +find accommodation, and even be serviceable, too." + +"I would rather not place them in peril, Mons. Le Ministre." + +"There are people in this city of Paris who would not despise my +protection, young man; some of them to the full as well supplied with +the gifts of fortune as Mons. Tiernay." + +"And, doubtless, more fitted to deserve it!" said I, sarcastically; for +every moment now rendered me more courageous. + +"And, doubtless, more fitted to deserve it," repeated he after me, with +a wave of the hand in token of adieu. + +I bowed respectfully, and was retiring, when he called out in a low and +gentle voice-- + +"Before you go, Mons. de Tiernay, I will thank you to restore my +snuff-box." + +"Your snuff-box, sir!" cried I, indignantly, "what do I know of it?" + +"In a moment of inadvertence, you may, probably, have placed it in your +pocket," said he, smiling; "do me the favor to search there." + +"This is unnecessary insult, sir," said I fiercely; "and you forget that +I am a French officer!" + +"It is of more consequence that you should remember it," said he calmly; +"and now, sir, do as I have told you." + +"It is well, sir, that this scene has no witness," said I, boiling over +with passion, "or, by Heaven, all the dignity of your station should not +save you." + +"Your observation is most just," said he, with the same coolness. "It +is as well that we are quite alone; and for this reason I beg to repeat +my request. If you persist in a refusal, and force me to ring that +bell--" + +"You would not dare to offer me such an indignity," said I, trembling +with rage. + +"You leave me no alternative, sir," said he, rising, and taking the bell +in his hand. "My honor is also engaged in this question. I have +preferred a charge--" + +"You have," cried I, interrupting, "and for whose falsehood I am +resolved to hold you responsible." + +"To prove which, you must show your innocence." + +"There, then--there are my pockets; here are the few things I possess. +This is my pocket-book--my purse. Oh, heavens, what is this?" cried I, +as I drew forth the gold box, along with the other contents of my +pocket; and then staggering back, I fell, overwhelmed with shame and +sickness, against the wall. For some seconds I neither saw nor heard any +thing; a vague sense of ineffable disgrace--of some ignominy that made +life a misery, was over me, and I closed my eyes with the wish never to +open them more. + +"The box has a peculiar value in my eyes, sir," said he; "it was a +present from the First Consul, otherwise I might have hesitated--" + +"Oh, sir, you can not, you dare not, suppose me guilty of a theft. You +seem bent on being my ruin; but, for mercy's sake, let your hatred of me +take some other shape than this. Involve me in what snares, what +conspiracies you will, give me what share you please in any guilt, but +spare me the degradation of such a shame." + +He seemed to enjoy the torments I was suffering, and actually revel in +the contemplation of my misery; for he never spoke a word, but continued +steadily to stare me in the face. + +"Sit down here, monsieur," said he, at length, while he pointed to a +chair near him; "I wish to say a few words to you, in all seriousness, +and in good faith, also." + +I seated myself, and he went on. + +"The events of the last two days must have made such an impression on +your mind that even the most remarkable incidents of your life could not +compete with. You fancied yourself a great discoverer, and that, by the +happy conjuncture of intelligence and accident, you had actually +fathomed the depths of that wonderful system of police, which, more +powerful than armies or councils, is the real government of France! I +will not stop now to convince you that you have not wandered out of the +very shallowest channels of this system. It is enough that you have been +admitted to an audience with me, to suggest an opposite conviction, and +give to your recital, when you repeat the tale, a species of importance. +Now, sir, my counsel to you is, never to repeat it, and for this reason; +nobody possessed of common powers of judgment will ever believe you! not +one, sir! No one would ever believe that Monsieur Fouché had made so +grave a mistake, no more than he would believe that a man of good name +and birth, a French officer, could have stolen a snuff-box. You see, +Monsieur de Tiernay, that I acquit you of this shameful act. Imitate my +generosity, sir, and forget all that you have witnessed since Tuesday +last. I have given you good advice, sir; if I find that you profit by +it, we may see more of each other." + +Scarcely appreciating the force of his parable, and thinking of nothing +save the vindication of my honor, I muttered a few unmeaning words, and +withdrew, glad to escape a presence which had assumed, to my terrified +senses, all the diabolical subtlety of satanic influence. Trusting that +no future accident of my life should ever bring me within such +precincts, I hurried from the place as though it were contaminated and +plague-stricken. + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +"THE VILLAGE OF SCHWARTZ-ACH." + +I was destitute enough when I quitted the "Temple," a few days back; but +my condition now was sadder still, for in addition to my poverty and +friendlessness, I had imbibed a degree of distrust and suspicion that +made me shun my fellow-men, and actually shrink from the contact of a +stranger. The commonest show of courtesy, the most ordinary exercise of +politeness, struck me as the secret wiles of that police, whose +machinations, I fancied, were still spread around me. I had conceived a +most intense hatred of civilization, or, at least, of what I rashly +supposed to be the inherent vices of civilized life. I longed for what I +deemed must be the glorious independence of a savage. If I could but +discover this Paradise beyond seas, of which the marquise raved so much; +if I only could find out that glorious land which neither knew secret +intrigues nor conspiracies, I should leave France forever, taking any +condition, or braving any mischances fate might have in store for me. + +There was something peculiarly offensive in the treatment I had met +with. Imprisoned on suspicion, I was liberated without any "amende;" +neither punished like a guilty man, nor absolved as an innocent one. I +was sent out upon the world as though the state would not own nor +acknowledge me; a dangerous practice, as I often thought, if only +adopted on a large scale. It was some days before I could summon +resolution to ascertain exactly my position: at last I did muster up +courage, and under pretense of wishing to address a letter to myself, I +applied at the Ministry of War for the address of Lieutenant Tiernay, of +the 9th Hussars. I was one of a large crowd similarly engaged, some +inquiring for sons that had fallen in battle, or husbands or fathers in +far away countries. The office was only open each morning for two hours, +and consequently, as the expiration of the time drew nigh, the eagerness +of the inquirers became far greater, and the contrast with the cold +apathy of the clerks the more strongly marked. I had given way to many, +who were weaker than myself, and less able to buffet with the crowd +about them; and at last, when, wearied by waiting, I was drawing nigh +the table, my attention was struck by an old, a very old man, who, with +a beard white as snow, and long mustaches of the same color, was making +great efforts to gain the front rank. I stretched out my hand, and +caught his, and by considerable exertion, at last succeeded in placing +him in front of me. + +He thanked me fervently, in a strange kind of German, a _patois_ I had +never heard before, and kissed my hand three or four times over in his +gratitude; indeed, so absorbed was he for the time in his desire to +thank me, that I had to recall him to the more pressing reason of his +presence, and warn him that but a few minutes more of the hour remained +free. + +"Speak up," cried the clerk, as the old man muttered something in a low +and very indistinct voice; "speak up; and remember, my friend, that we +do not profess to give information further back than the times of 'Louis +Quatorze.'" + +This allusion to the years of the old man was loudly applauded by his +colleagues, who drew nigh to stare at the cause of it. + +"Sacre bleu! he is talking Hebrew," said another, "and asking for a +friend who fell at Ramoth Gilead." + +"He is speaking German," said I, peremptorily, "and asking for a +relative whom he believes to have embarked with the expedition to +Egypt." + +"Are you a sworn interpreter, young man?" asked an older and more +consequential-looking personage. + +I was about to return a hasty reply to this impertinence, but I thought +of the old man, and the few seconds that still remained for his inquiry, +and I smothered my anger, and was silent. + +"What rank did he hold?" inquired one of the clerks, who had listened +with rather more patience to the old man. I translated the question for +the peasant, who, in reply, confessed that he could not tell. The youth +was his only son, and had left home many years before, and never +written. A neighbor, however, who had traveled in foreign parts, had +brought tidings that he had gone with the expedition to Egypt, and was +already high in the French army. + +"You are not quite certain that he did not command the army of Egypt?" +said one of the clerks in mockery of the old man's story. + +"It is not unlikely," said the peasant gravely, "he was a brave and bold +youth, and could have lifted two such as you with one hand and hurled +you out of that window." + +"Let us hear his name once more," said the elder clerk; "it is worth +remembering." + +"I have told you already. It was Karl Kleber." + +"The General--General Kleber!" cried three or four in a breath. + +"Mayhap," was all the reply. + +"And are you the father of the great general of Egypt?" asked the elder, +with an air of deep respect. + +"Kleber is my son; and so that he is alive and well, I care little if a +general or simple soldier." + +Not a word was said in answer to this speech, and each seemed to feel +reluctant to tell the sad tidings. At last the elder clerk said, "You +have lost a good son, and France one of her greatest captains. The +General Kleber is dead." + +"Dead!" said the old man, slowly. + +"In the very moment of his greatest glory, too, when he had won the +country of the Pyramids, and made Egypt a colony of France." + +"When did he die? said the peasant. + +"The last accounts from the East brought the news; and this very day the +Council of State has accorded a pension to his family of ten thousand +livres." + +"They may keep their money. I am all that remains, and have no want of +it; and I should be poorer still before I'd take it." + +These words he uttered in a low, harsh tone, and pushed his way back +though the crowd. + +One moment more was enough for _my_ inquiry. + +"Maurice Tiernay, of the 9th--_destitué_," was the short and stunning +answer I received. + +"Is there any reason alleged--is there any charge imputed to him?" asked +I, timidly. + +"Ma foi! you must go to the Minister of War with that question. Perhaps +he was pay-master, and embezzled the funds of the regiment; perhaps he +liked royalist gold better than republican silver; or perhaps he +preferred the company of the baggage-train and the 'ambulances,' when he +should have been at the head of his squadron." + +I did not care to listen longer to this impertinence, and making my way +out I gained the street. The old peasant was still standing there, like +one stunned and overwhelmed by some great shock, and neither heeding the +crowd that passed, nor the groups that halted occasionally to stare at +him. + +"Come along with _me_," said I, taking his hand in mine. "_Your_ +calamity is a heavy one, but _mine_ is harder to bear up against." + +He suffered himself to be led away like a child, and never spoke a word +as we walked along toward the "barriere," beyond which, at a short +distance, was a little ordinary, where I used to dine. There we had our +dinner together, and as the evening wore on the old man rallied enough +to tell me of his son's early life, and his departure for the army. Of +his great career _I_ could speak freely, for Kleber's name was, in +soldier esteem, scarcely second to that of Bonaparte himself. Not all +the praises I could bestow, however, were sufficient to turn the old man +from his stern conviction, that a peasant in the "Lech Thal" was a more +noble and independent man than the greatest general that ever marched to +victory. + +"We have been some centuries there," said he, "and none of our name has +incurred a shadow of disgrace. Why should not Karl have lived like his +ancestors?" + +It was useless to appeal to the glory his son had gained--the noble +reputation he had left behind him. The peasant saw in the soldier but +one who hired out his courage and his blood, and deemed the calling a +low and unworthy one. I suppose I was not the first who, in the effort +to convince another, found himself shaken in his own convictions; for I +own before I lay down that night many of the old man's arguments assumed +a force and power that I could not resist, and held possession of my +mind even after I fell asleep. In my dreams I was once more beside the +American lake, and that little colony of simple people, where I had seen +all that was best of my life, and learned the few lessons I had ever +received of charity and good-nature. + +From what the peasant said, the primitive habits of the Lech Thal must +be almost like those of that little colony, and I willingly assented to +his offer to accompany him in his journey homeward. He seemed to feel a +kind of satisfaction in turning my thoughts away from a career that he +held so cheaply, and talked enthusiastically of the tranquil life of the +Bregenzer-wald. + +We left Paris the following morning, and, partly by diligence, partly on +foot, reached Strassburg in a few days; thence we proceeded by Kehel to +Freyburg, and, crossing the Lake of Constance at Rorsbach, we entered +the Bregenzer-wald on the twelfth morning of our journey. I suppose that +most men preserve fresher memory of the stirring and turbulent scenes of +their lives than of the more peaceful and tranquil ones, and I shall not +be deemed singular when I say, that some years passed over me in this +quiet spot and seemed as but a few weeks. The old peasant was the +"Vorsteher," or ruler of the village, by whom all disputes were settled, +and all litigation of an humble kind decided--a species of voluntary +jurisdiction maintained to this very day in that primitive region. My +occupation there was as a species of secretary to the court, an office +quite new to the villagers, but which served to impress them more +reverentially than ever in favor of this rude justice. My legal duties +over, I became a vine-dresser, a wood-cutter, or a deer-stalker, as +season and weather dictated. My evenings being always devoted to the +task of a schoolmaster. A curious seminary was it, too, embracing every +class from childhood to advanced age, all eager for knowledge, and all +submitting to the most patient discipline to attain it. There was much +to make me happy in that humble lot. I had the love and esteem of all +around me; there was neither a harassing doubt for the future, nor the +rich man's contumely to oppress me; my life was made up of occupations +which alternately engaged mind and body, and, above all and worth all +besides, I had a sense of duty, a feeling that I was doing that which +was useful to my fellow-men; and however great may be a man's station in +life, if it want this element, the humblest peasant that rises to his +daily toil has a nobler and a better part. + +As I trace these lines how many memories of the spot are rising before +me! Scenes I had long forgotten--faces I had ceased to remember! And +now I see the little wooden bridge--a giant tree, guarded by a single +rail, that crossed the torrent in front of our cottage; and I behold +once more the little waxen image of the Virgin over the door, in whose +glass shrine at nightfall a candle ever burned! and I hear the low hum +of the villagers' prayer as the Angelus is singing, and see on every +crag or cliff the homebound hunter kneeling in his deep devotion! + +Happy people, and not less good than happy! Your bold and barren +mountains have been the safeguard of your virtue and your innocence! +Long may they prove so, and long may the waves of the world's ambition +be staid at their rocky feet! + +I was beginning to forget all that I had seen of life, or, if not +forget, at least to regard it as a wild and troubled dream, when an +accident, one of those things we always regard as the merest chances, +once more opened the flood-gates of memory, and sent the whole past in a +strong current through my brain. + +In this mountain region the transition from winter to summer is effected +in a few days. Some hours of a scorching sun and south wind swell the +torrents with melted snow; the icebergs fall thundering from cliff and +crag, and the sporting waterfall once more dashes over the precipice. +The trees burst into leaf, and the grass springs up green and fresh from +its wintry covering; and from the dreary aspect of snow-capped hills and +leaden clouds, nature changes to fertile plains and hills, and a sky of +almost unbroken blue. + +It was on a glorious evening in April, when all these changes were +passing, that I was descending the mountain above our village after a +hard day's chamois hunting. Anxious to reach the plain before nightfall, +I could not, however, help stopping from time to time to watch the +golden and ruby tints of the sun upon the snow, or see the turquoise +blue which occasionally marked the course of a rivulet through the +glaciers. The Alp-horn was sounding from every cliff and height, and the +lowing of the cattle swelled into a rich and mellow chorus. It was a +beautiful picture, realizing in every tint and hue, in every sound and +cadence, all that one can fancy of romantic simplicity, and I surveyed +it with a swelling and a grateful heart. + +As I turned to resume my way, I was struck by the sound of voices +speaking, as I fancied, in French, and before I could settle the doubt +with myself, I saw in front of me a party of some six or seven soldiers, +who, with their muskets slung behind them, were descending the steep +path by the aid of sticks. + +Weary-looking and foot-sore as they were, their dress, their bearing, +and their soldier-like air, struck me forcibly, and sent into my heart a +thrill I had not known for many a day before. I came up quickly behind +them, and could overhear their complaints at having mistaken the road, +and their maledictions, muttered in no gentle spirit, on the stupid +mountaineers who could not understand French. + +"Here comes another fellow, let us try _him_," said one, as he turned +and saw me near. "Schwartz-Ach, Schwartz-Ach," added he, addressing me, +and reading the name from a slip of paper in his hand. + +"I am going to the village," said I, in French, "and will show the way +with pleasure." + +"How! what! are you a Frenchman, then?" cried the corporal, in +amazement. + +"Even so," said I. + +"Then by what chance are you living in this wild spot? How, in the name +of wonder, can you exist here?" + +"With venison like this," said I, pointing to a chamois buck on my +shoulder, "and the red wine of the Lech Thal, a man may manage to forget +Veray's and the "Dragon Vert," particularly as they are not associated +with a bill and a waiter!" + +"And perhaps you are a royalist," cried another, "and don't like how +matters are going on at home?" + +"I have not that excuse for my exile," said I, coldly. + +"Have you served, then?" + +I nodded. + +"Ah, I see," said the corporal, "you grew weary of parade and guard +mounting." + +"If you mean that I deserted," said I, "you are wrong there also; and +now let it be my turn to ask a few questions. What is France about? Is +the Republic still as great and victorious as ever?" + +"Sacre bleu, man, what are you thinking of? We are an Empire some years +back, and Napoleon has made as many kings as he has got brothers and +cousins to crown." + +"And the army, where is it?" + +"Ask for some half dozen armies, and you'll still be short of the mark. +We have one in Hamburg, and another in the far North, holding the +Russians in check; we have garrisons in every fortress of Prussia and +the Rhine Land; we have some eighty thousand fellows in Poland and +Gallicia; double as many more in Spain; Italy is our own, and so will be +Austria ere many days go over." + +Boastfully as all this was spoken, I found it to be not far from truth, +and learned, as we walked along, that the emperor was, at that very +moment, on the march to meet the Archduke Charles, who, with a numerous +army, was advancing on Ratisbon, the little party of soldiers being +portion of a force dispatched to explore the passes of the "Voralberg," +and report on how far they might be practicable for the transmission of +troops to act on the left flank and rear of the Austrian army. Their +success had up to this time been very slight, and the corporal was +making for Schwartz-Ach, as a spot where he hoped to rendezvous with +some of his comrades. They were much disappointed on my telling them +that I had quitted the village that morning, and that not a soldier had +been seen there. There was, however, no other spot to pass the night in, +and they willingly accepted the offer I made them of a shelter and a +supper in our cottage. + +(TO BE CONTINUED.) + + + + +VAGARIES OF THE IMAGINATION. + + +"Fancy it burgundy," said Boniface of his ale, "only fancy it, and it is +worth a guinea a quart!" Boniface was a philosopher: fancy can do much +more than that. Those who fancy themselves laboring under an affection +of the heart are not slow in verifying the apprehension: the uneasy and +constant watching of its pulsations soon disturbs the circulation, and +malady may ensue beyond the power of medicine. Some physicians believe +that inflammation can be induced in any part of the body by a fearful +attention being continually directed toward it; indeed it has been a +question with some whether the stigmata (the marks of the wounds of our +Saviour) may not have been produced on the devotee by the influences of +an excited imagination. The hypochondriac has been known to expire when +forced to pass through a door which he fancied too narrow to admit his +person. The story of the criminal who, unconscious of the arrival of the +reprieve, died under the stroke of a wet handkerchief, believing it to +be the ax, is well known. Paracelsus held, "that there is in man an +imagination which really effects and brings to pass the things that did +not before exist; for a man by imagination willing to move his body +moves it in fact, and by his imagination and the commerce of invisible +powers he may also move another body." Paracelsus would not have been +surprised at the feats of electro-biology. He exhorts his patients to +have "a good faith, a strong imagination, and they shall find the +effects. All doubt," he says, "destroys work, and leaves it imperfect in +the wise designs of nature; it is from faith that imagination draws its +strength, it is by faith it becomes complete and realized; he who +believeth in nature will obtain from nature to the extent of his faith, +and let the object of this faith be real or imaginary, he nevertheless +reaps similar results--and hence the cause of superstition." + +So early as 1462, Pomponatus of Mantua came to the conclusion, in his +work on incantation, that all the arts of sorcery and witchcraft were +the result of natural operations. He conceived that it was not +improbable that external means, called into action by the soul, might +relieve our sufferings, and that there did, moreover, exist individuals +endowed with salutary properties; so it might, therefore, be easily +conceived that marvelous effects should be produced by the imagination +and by confidence, more especially when these are reciprocal between the +patient and the person who assists his recovery. Two years after, the +same opinion was advanced by Agrippa in Cologne. "The soul," he said, +"if inflamed by a fervent imagination, could dispense health and +disease, not only in the individual himself, but in other bodies." +However absurd these opinions may have been considered, or looked on as +enthusiastic, the time has come when they will be gravely examined. + +That medical professors have at all times believed the imagination to +possess a strange and powerful influence over mind and body is proved +by their writings, by some of their prescriptions, and by their +oft-repeated direction in the sick-chamber to divert the patient's mind +from dwelling on his own state and from attending to the symptoms of his +complaint. They consider the reading of medical books which accurately +describe the symptoms of various complaints as likely to have an +injurious effect, not only on the delicate but on persons in full +health; and they are conscious how many died during the time of the +plague and cholera, not only of these diseases but from the dread of +them, which brought on all the fatal symptoms. So evident was the effect +produced by the detailed accounts of the cholera in the public papers in +the year 1849, that it was found absolutely necessary to restrain the +publications on the subject. The illusions under which vast numbers +acted and suffered have gone, indeed, to the most extravagant extent: +individuals, not merely singly but in communities, have actually +believed in their own transformation. A nobleman of the court of Louis +XIV. fancied himself a dog, and would pop his head out of the window to +bark at the passengers; while the barking disease at the camp-meetings +of the Methodists of North America has been described as "extravagant +beyond belief." Rollin and Hecquet have recorded a malady by which the +inmates of an extensive convent near Paris were attacked simultaneously +every day at the same hour, when they believed themselves transformed +into cats, and a universal mewing was kept up throughout the convent for +some hours. But of all dreadful forms which this strange hallucination +took, none was so terrible as that of the lycanthropy, which at one +period spread through Europe; in which the unhappy sufferers, believing +themselves wolves, went prowling about the forests, uttering the most +terrific howlings, carrying off lambs from the flocks, and gnawing dead +bodies in their graves. + +While every day's experience adds some new proof of the influence +possessed by the imagination over the body, the supposed effect of +contagion has become a question of doubt. Lately, at a meeting in +Edinburgh, Professor Dick gave it as his opinion that there was no such +thing as hydrophobia in the lower animals: "what went properly by that +name was simply an inflammation of the brain; and the disease, in the +case of human beings, was caused by an over-excited imagination, worked +upon by the popular delusion on the effects of a bite by rabid animals." +The following paragraph from the "Curiosities of Medicine" appears to +justify this now common enough opinion:--"Several persons had been +bitten by a rabid dog in the Faubourg St. Antoine, and three of them had +died in our hospital. A report, however, was prevalent that we kept a +mixture which would effectually prevent the fatal termination; and no +less than six applicants who had been bitten were served with a draught +of colored water, and in no one instance did hydrophobia ensue." + +A remarkable cure through a similar aid of the imagination took place in +a patient of Dr. Beddoes, who was at the time very sanguine about the +effect of nitrous acid gas in paralytic cases. Anxious that it should be +imbibed by one of his patients, he sent an invalid to Sir Humphry Davy, +with a request that he would administer the gas. Sir Humphry put the +bulb of the thermometer under the tongue of the paralytic, to ascertain +the temperature of the body, that he might be sure whether it would be +affected at all by the inhalation of the gas. The patient, full of faith +from what the enthusiastic physician had assured him would be the +result, and believing that the thermometer was what was to effect the +cure, exclaimed at once that he felt better. Sir Humphry, anxious to see +what imagination would do in such a case, did not attempt to undeceive +the man, but saying that he had done enough for him that day, desired +him to be with him the next morning. The thermometer was then applied as +it had been the day before, and for every day during a fortnight--at the +end of which time the patient was perfectly cured. + +Perhaps there is nothing on record more curious of this kind than the +cures unwittingly performed by Chief-justice Holt. It seems that for a +youthful frolic he and his companions had put up at a country inn; they, +however, found themselves without the means of defraying their expenses, +and were at a loss to know what they should do in such an emergency. +Holt, however, perceived that the innkeeper's daughter looked very ill, +and on inquiring what was the matter, learned that she had the ague; +when, passing himself off for a medical student, he said that he had an +infallible cure for the complaint. He then collected a number of plants, +mixed them up with various ceremonies, and inclosed them in parchment, +on which he scrawled divers cabalistic characters. When all was +completed, he suspended the amulet round the neck of the young woman, +and, strange to say, the ague left her and never returned. The landlord, +grateful for the restoration of his daughter, not only declined +receiving any payment from the youths, but pressed them to remain as +long as they pleased. Many years after, when Holt was on the bench, a +woman was brought before him, charged with witchcraft: she was accused +of curing the ague by charms. All she said in defense was, that she did +possess a ball which was a sovereign remedy in the complaint. The charm +was produced and handed to the judge, who recognized the very ball which +he had himself compounded in his boyish days, when out of mere fun he +had assumed the character of a medical practitioner. + +Many distinguished physicians have candidly confessed that they +preferred confidence to art. Faith in the remedy is often not only half +the cure, but the whole cure. Madame de Genlis tells of a girl who had +lost the use of her leg for five years, and could only move with the +help of crutches, while her back had to be supported: she was in such a +pitiable state of weakness, the physicians had pronounced her case +incurable. She, however, took it into her head that if she was taken to +Notre Dame de Liesse she would certainly recover. It was fifteen +leagues from Carlepont where she lived. She was placed in a cart which +her father drove, while her sister sat by her supporting her back. The +moment the steeple of Notre Dame de Liesse was in sight she uttered an +exclamation, and said that her leg was getting well. She alighted from +the car without assistance, and no longer requiring the help of her +crutches, she ran into the church. When she returned home the villagers +gathered about her, scarcely believing that it was indeed the girl who +had left them in such a wretched state, now they saw her running and +bounding along, no longer a cripple, but as active as any among them. + +Not less extraordinary are the cures which are effected by some sudden +agitation. An alarm of fire has been known to restore a patient entirely +or for a time, from a tedious illness: it is no uncommon thing to hear +of the victim of a severe fit of the gout, whose feet have been utterly +powerless, running nimbly away from some approaching danger. Poor +Grimaldi in his declining years had almost quite lost the use of his +limbs owing to the most hopeless debility. As he sat one day by the bed +side of his wife, who was ill, word was brought to him that a friend +waited below to see him. He got down to the parlor with extreme +difficulty. His friend was the bearer of heavy news which he dreaded to +communicate: it was the death of Grimaldi's son, who, though reckless +and worthless, was fondly loved by the poor father. The intelligence was +broken as gently as such a sad event could be: but in an instant +Grimaldi sprung from his chair--his lassitude and debility were gone, +his breathing, which had for a long time been difficult, became +perfectly easy--he was hardly a moment in bounding up the stairs which +but a quarter of an hour before he had passed with extreme difficulty in +ten minutes; he reached the bed-side, and told his wife that their son +was dead; and as she burst into an agony of grief he flung himself into +a chair, and became again instantaneously, as it has been touchingly +described, "an enfeebled and crippled old man." + +The imagination, which is remarkable for its ungovernable influence, +comes into action on some occasions periodically with the most precise +regularity. A friend once told us of a young relation who was subject to +nervous attacks: she was spending some time at the sea-side for change +of air, but the evening-gun, fired from the vessel in the bay at eight +o'clock, was always the signal for a nervous attack: the instant the +report was heard she fell back insensible, as if she had been shot. +Those about her endeavored if possible to withdraw her thoughts from the +expected moment: at length one evening they succeeded, and while she was +engaged in an interesting conversation the evening-gun was unnoticed. +By-and-by she asked the hour, and appeared uneasy when she found the +time had passed. The next evening it was evident that she would not let +her attention be withdrawn: the gun fired, and she swooned away: and +when revived, another fainting fit succeeded, as if it were to make up +for the omission of the preceding evening! It is told of the great +tragic actress Clairon, who had been the innocent cause of the suicide +of a man who destroyed himself by a pistol-shot, that ever after, at the +exact moment when the fatal deed had been perpetrated--one o'clock in +the morning--she heard the shot. If asleep, it awakened her; if engaged +in conversation, it interrupted her; in solitude or in company, at home +or traveling, in the midst of revelry or at her devotions, she was sure +to hear it to the very moment. + +The same indelible impression has been made in hundreds of cases, and on +persons of every variety of temperament and every pursuit, whether +engaged in business, science, or art, or rapt in holy contemplation. On +one occasion Pascal had been thrown down on a bridge which had no +parapet, and his imagination was so haunted forever after by the danger, +that he always fancied himself on the brink of a steep precipice +overhanging an abyss ready to engulf him. This illusion had taken such +possession of his mind that the friends who came to converse with him +were obliged to place the chairs on which they seated themselves between +him and the fancied danger. But the effects of terror are the best known +of all the vagaries of imagination. + +A very remarkable case of the influence of imagination occurred between +sixty and seventy years since in Dublin, connected with the celebrated +frolics of Dalkey Island. It is said Curran and his gay companions +delighted to spend a day there, and that with them originated the frolic +of electing "a king of Dalkey and the adjacent islands," and appointing +his chancellor and all the officers of state. A man in the middle rank +of life, universally respected, and remarkable alike for kindly and +generous feelings and a convivial spirit, was unanimously elected to +fill the throne. He entered with his whole heart into all the humors of +the pastime, in which the citizens of Dublin so long delighted. A +journal was kept, called the "Dalkey Gazette," in which all public +proceedings were inserted, and it afforded great amusement to its +conductors. But the mock pageantry, the affected loyalty, and the +pretended homage of his subjects, at length began to excite the +imagination of "King John," as he was called. Fiction at length became +with him reality, and he fancied himself "every inch a king." His family +and friends perceived with dismay and deep sorrow the strange delusion +which nothing could shake: he would speak on no subject save the kingdom +of Dalkey and its government, and he loved to dwell on the various +projects he had in contemplation for the benefit of his people, and +boasted of his high prerogative: he never could conceive himself +divested for one moment of his royal powers, and exacted the most +profound deference to his kingly authority. The last year and a half of +his life were spent in Swift's hospital for lunatics. He felt his last +hours approaching, but no gleam of returning reason marked the parting +scene: to the very last instant he believed himself a king, and all his +cares and anxieties were for his people. He spoke in high terms of his +chancellor, his attorney-general, and all his officers of state, and of +the dignitaries of the church: he recommended them to his kingdom, and +trusted they might all retain the high offices which they now held. He +spoke on the subject with a dignified calmness well becoming the solemn +leave-taking of a monarch; but when he came to speak of the crown he was +about to relinquish forever his feelings were quite overcome, and the +tears rolled down his cheeks: "I leave it," said he, "to my people, and +to him whom they may elect as my successor!" This remarkable scene is +recorded in some of the notices of deaths for the year 1788. The +delusion, though most painful to his friends, was far from an unhappy +one to its victim: his feelings were gratified to the last while +thinking he was occupied with the good of his fellow-creatures--an +occupation best suited to his benevolent disposition. + + + + +MYSTERIES! + + +"I believe nothing that I do not understand," is the favorite saying of +Mr. Pettipo Dapperling, a gentleman who very much prides himself on his +intellectual perspicacity. Yet ask Mr. Pettipo if he understands how it +is that he wags his little finger, and he can give you no reasonable +account of it. He will tell you (for he has read books and "studied" +anatomy), that the little finger consists of so many jointed bones, that +there are tendons attached to them before and behind, which belong to +certain muscles, and that when these muscles are made to contract, the +finger wags. And this is nearly all that Mr. Pettipo knows about it! How +it is that the volition acts on the muscles, what volition is, what the +will is--Mr. Pettipo knows not. He knows quite as little about the +Sensation which resides in the skin of that little finger--how it is +that it feels and appreciates forms and surfaces--why it detects heat +and cold--in what way its papillæ erect themselves, and its pores open +and close--about all this he is entirely in the dark. And yet Mr. +Pettipo is under the necessity of believing that his little finger wags, +and that it is endowed with the gift of sensation, though he in fact +knows nothing whatever of the why or the wherefore. + +We must believe a thousand things that we can not understand. Matter and +its combinations are a grand mystery--how much more so, Life and its +manifestations. Look at those far-off worlds majestically wheeling in +their appointed orbits, millions of miles off: or, look at this earth on +which we live, performing its diurnal motion upon its own axis, and its +annual circle round the sun! What do we understand of the causes of such +motions? what can we ever know about them, beyond the facts that such +things are so? To discover and apprehend facts is much, and it is nearly +our limit. To ultimate causes we can never ascend. But to have an eye +open to receive facts and apprehend their relative value--that is a +great deal--that is our duty; and not to reject, suspect, or refuse to +accept them, because they happen to clash with our preconceived notions, +or, like Mr. Pettipo Dapperling, because we "can not understand" them. + +"O, my dear Kepler!" writes Galileo to his friend, "how I wish that we +could have one hearty laugh together! Here at Padua is the principal +Professor of Philosophy, whom I have repeatedly and urgently requested +to look at the moon and planets through my glass, which he +pertinaciously refuses to do. Why are you not here? What shouts of +laughter we should have at this glorious folly! And to hear the +Professor of Philosophy at Pisa lecturing before the Grand Duke with +logical arguments, as if with magical incantations to charm the new +planets out of the sky!" + +Rub a stick of wax against your coat-sleeve, and it emits sparks: hold +it near to light, fleecy particles of wool or cotton, and it first +attracts, then it repels them. What do you understand about that, Mr. +Pettipo, except merely that it is so? Stroke the cat's back before the +fire, and you will observe the same phenomena. Your own body will, in +like manner, emit sparks in certain states, but you know nothing about +why it is so. + +Pour a solution of muriate of lime into one of sulphate of potash--both +clear fluids; but no sooner are they mixed together than they become +nearly solid. How is that? You tell me that an ingredient of the one +solution combines with an ingredient of the other, and an insoluble +sulphate of lime is produced. Well! you tell me a fact; but you do not +account for it by saying that the lime has a greater attraction for the +sulphuric acid than the potash has: you do not _understand_ how it +is--you merely see that it is so. You must believe it. + +But when you come to Life, and its wonderful manifestations, you are +more in the dark than ever. You understand less about this than you do +even of dead matter. Take an ordinary every-day fact: you drop two +seeds, whose component parts are the same, into the same soil. They grow +up so close together that their roots mingle and their stalks +intertwine. The one plant produces a long slender leaf, the other a +short flat leaf--the one brings forth a beautiful flower, the other an +ugly scruff--the one sheds abroad a delicious fragrance, the other is +entirely inodorous. The hemlock, the wheatstalk, and the rose-tree, out +of the same chemical ingredients contained in the soil, educe, the one +deadly poison, the other wholesome food, the third a bright consummate +flower. Can you tell me, Mr. Pettipo, how is this? Do you understand the +secret by which the roots of these plants accomplish so much more than +all your science can do, and so infinitely excel the most skillful +combinations of the philosopher? You can only recognize the fact--but +you can not unravel the mystery. Your saying that it is the "nature" of +the plants, does not in the slightest degree clear up the difficulty. +You can not get at the ultimate fact--only the proximate one is seen by +you. + +But lo! here is a wonderful little plant--touch it, and the leaves +shrink on the instant: one leaf seeming to be in intimate sympathy with +the rest, and the whole leaves in its neighborhood shrinking up at the +touch of a foreign object. Or, take the simple pimpernel, which closes +its eye as the sun goes down, and opens as he rises again--shrinks at +the approach of rain, and expands in fair weather. The hop twines round +the pole in the direction of the sun, and-- + + "The sunflower turns on her god when he sets, + The same look that she turned when he rose." + +Do we know any thing about these things, further than they are so? + +A partridge chick breaks its shell and steps forth into its new world. +Instantly it runs about and picks up the seeds lying about on the +ground. It had never learned to run, or to see, or to select its food; +but it does all these on the instant. The lamb of a few hours' old +frisks about full of life, and sucks its dam's teat with as much +accuracy as if it had studied the principle of the air-pump. Instinct +comes full-grown into the world at once, and we know nothing about it, +neither does the Mr. Dapperling above named. + +When we ascend to the higher orders of animated being--to man +himself--we are as much in the dark as before--perhaps more so. Here we +have matter arranged in its most highly-organized forms--moving, +feeling, and thinking. In man the animal powers are concentrated; and +the thinking powers are brought to their highest point. How, by the +various arrangements of matter in man's body, one portion of the nervous +system should convey volitions from the brain to the limbs and the outer +organs--how another part should convey sensations with the suddenness of +lightning--and how, finally, a third portion should collect these +sensations, react upon them, store them up by a process called Memory, +reproduce them in thought, compare them, philosophize upon them, embody +them in books--is a great and unfathomable mystery! + +Life itself! how wonderful it is! Who can understand it, or unravel its +secret! From a tiny vesicle, at first almost imperceptible to the eye, +but gradually growing and accumulating about it fresh materials, which +are in turns organized and laid down, each in their set places, at +length a body is formed, becomes developed--passing through various +inferior stages of being--those of polype, fish, frog, and +animal--until, at length, the human being rises above all these forms, +and the law of the human animal life is fulfilled. First, he is merely +instinctive, then sensitive, then reflective--the last the greatest, the +crowning work of man's development. But what do we _know_ of it all? Do +we not merely see that it is so, and turn aside from the great mystery +in despair of ever unraveling it? + +The body sleeps? Volition, sensation, and thought, become suspended for +a time, while the animal powers live on; capillary arteries working, +heart beating, lungs playing, all without an effort--voluntarily and +spontaneously. The shadow of some recent thought agitates the brain, +and the sleeper dreams. Or, his volition may awake, while sensation is +still profoundly asleep, and then we have the somnambule, walking in his +sleep. Or, volition may be profoundly asleep, while the senses are +preternaturally excited, as in the abnormal mesmeric state. Here we have +a new class of phenomena, more wonderful because less usual, but not a +whit more mysterious than the most ordinary manifestations of life. + +We are astonished to hear men refusing to credit the evidence of their +senses as to mesmeric phenomena, on the ground that they can not +"understand" them. When they can not understand the commonest +manifestations of life--the causation of volition, sensation, or +thought--why should they refuse belief on such a ground? Are the facts +real? Are these things so? This should be the chief consideration with +us. Mysteries they may be; but all life, all matter, all that is, are +mysteries too. Do we refuse to believe in the electric telegraph, +because the instantaneous transmission of intelligence between points a +thousand miles apart seems at first sight fabulous, and, to the +uninitiated, profoundly mysterious? Why should not thought--the most +wonderful and subtle of known agencies--manifest itself in equally +extraordinary ways? + +We do not know that what the mesmerists call _clairvoyance_ is yet to be +held as established by sufficient evidence. Numerous strongly +authenticated cases have certainly been adduced by persons whose +evidence is above suspicion--as, for instance, by Swedenborg (attested +by many impartial witnesses), by Goethe, by Zschokke, by Townshend, by +Martineau, and others; but the evidence seems still to want +confirmation. Only, we say, let us not prejudge the case--let us wait +patiently for all sorts of evidence. We can not argue _à priori_ that +_clairvoyance_ is not true, any more than the Professor at Padua could +argue, with justice, that the worlds which Galileo's telescope revealed +in the depths of space, were all a sham. That truth was established by +extended observation. Let us wait and see whether this may not yet be +established, too, by similar means. + +Some of the things which the mesmerists, who go the length of +_clairvoyance_, tell us, certainly have a very mysterious look; and were +not sensation, thought, and all the manifestations of Life (not yet half +investigated) all alike mysterious, we might be disposed to shut our +eyes with the rest, and say we refused to believe, because we "did not +understand." + +But equally extraordinary relations to the same effect have been made by +men who were neither mesmerists nor clairvoyantes. For instance, Kant, +the German writer, relates that Swedenborg once, when living at +Gottenburg, some three hundred miles from Stockholm, suddenly rose up +and went out, when at the house of one Kostel, in the company of fifteen +persons. After a few minutes he returned, pale and alarmed, and informed +the party that a dangerous fire had just broken out in Stockholm, in +Sudermalm, and that the fire was spreading fast. He was restless, and +went out often; he said that the house of one of his friends, whom he +named, was already in ashes, and that his own was in danger. At eight +o'clock, after he had been out again, he joyfully exclaimed, "Thank God, +the fire is extinguished the third door from my house." This statement +of Swedenborg's spread through the town, and occasioned consternation +and wonder. The governor heard of it, and sent for Swedenborg, who +described the particulars of the fire--where and how it had begun, in +what manner it had ceased, and how long it had continued. On the Monday +evening, two days after the fire, a messenger arrived from Gottenburg, +who had been dispatched during the time of the fire, and the +intelligence he brought confirmed all that Swedenborg had said as to its +commencement: and on the following morning the royal courier arrived at +the governor's with full intelligence of the calamity, which did not +differ in the least from the relation which Swedenborg had given +immediately after the fire had ceased on the Saturday evening. + +A circumstance has occurred while the writer was engaged in the +preparation of this paper, which is of an equally curious character, to +say the least of it. The lady who is the subject of it is a relation of +the writer, and is no believer in the "Mysteries of Mesmerism." It may +be remarked, however, that she is of a very sensitive and excitable +nervous temperament. It happened, that on the night of the 30th of +April, a frightful accident occurred on the Birkenhead, Lancashire, and +Cheshire Railway, in consequence of first one train, and then another, +running into the trains preceding. A frightful scene of tumult, +mutilation, and death ensued. It happened that the husband of the lady +in question was a passenger in the first train; though she did not know +that he intended to go to the Chester races, having been in Liverpool +that day on other business. But she had scarcely fallen asleep, ere, +half-dozing, half-awake, she _saw_ the accident occur--the terror, the +alarm, and the death. She walked up and down her chamber in terror and +alarm the whole night, and imparted her fears to others in the morning. +Her husband was not injured, though greatly shaken by the collision, and +much alarmed; and when he returned home in the course of the following +day, he could scarcely believe his wife when she informed him of the +circumstances which had been so mysteriously revealed to her in +connection with his journey of the preceding day! + +Zschokke, an estimable man, well known as a philosopher, statesman, and +author, possessed, according to his own and contemporary accounts, the +most extraordinary power of divination of the characters and lives of +other men with whom he came in contact. He called it his "inward sight," +and at first he was himself quite as much astonished at it as others +were. Writing of this feature himself, he says: "It has happened to me, +sometimes, on my first meeting with strangers, as I listened silently +to their discourse, that their former life, with many trifling +circumstances therewith connected, or frequently some particular scene +in that life, has passed quite involuntarily, and, as it were, +dream-like, yet perfectly distinct, before me. During this time, I +usually feel so entirely absorbed in the contemplation of the stranger +life, that at last I no longer see clearly the face of the unknown, +wherein I undesignedly read, nor distinctly hear the voices of the +speakers, which before served in some measure as a commentary to the +text of their features. For a long time I held such visions as delusions +of the fancy, and the more so as they showed me even the dress and +motions of the actors, rooms, furniture, and other accessories. By way +of jest, I once, in a family circle at Kirchberg, related the secret +history of a seamstress who had just left the room and the house. I had +never seen her before in my life; people were astonished and laughed, +but were not to be persuaded that I did not previously know the +relations of which I spoke, for what I had uttered was the _literal_ +truth; I, on my part, was no less astonished that my dream-pictures were +confirmed by the reality. I became more attentive to the subject, and +when propriety admitted it, I would relate to those whose life thus +passed before me, the subject of my vision, that I might thereby obtain +confirmation or refutation of it. It was invariably ratified, not +without consideration on their part. I myself had less confidence than +any one in this mental jugglery. So often as I revealed my visionary +gifts to any new person, I regularly expected to hear the answer: 'It +was not so.' I felt a secret shudder when my auditors replied that it +was _true_, or when their astonishment betrayed my accuracy before they +spoke."[12] Zschokke gives numerous instances of this extraordinary power +of divination or waking clairvoyance, and mentions other persons whom he +met, who possessed the same marvelous power. + +The "Posthumous Memoirs of La Harpe" contain equally extraordinary +revelations, looking _forward_, instead of backward, as in Zschokke's +case, into the frightful events of the great French Revolution, the +sightseer being Cazove, a well-known novel writer, who lived previous to +the frightful outbreak. Mary Howitt, in her account of the extraordinary +"Preaching Epidemic of Sweden," recites circumstances of the same kind, +equally wonderful; and the Rev. Mr. Sandy and Mr. Townshend's books on +mesmerism are full of similar marvels. Among the various statements, the +grand point is, how much of them is true? What are the _facts_ of +mesmerism? To quote the great Bacon: "He who hath not first, and before +all, intimately explained the movements of the human mind, and therein +most accurately distinguished the course of knowledge and the seats of +error, shall find all things masked, and, as it were, enchanted; and, +until he undo the charm, shall be unable to interpret." How few of us +have yet arrived at this enviable position. + + + + +CLARA CORSINI.--A TALE OF NAPLES. + + +A young French traveler, named Ernest Leroy, on arriving at Naples, +found himself during the first few days quite confused by the multitude +of his impressions. Now as it was in search of impressions that he had +left his beloved Paris, there was nothing, it should seem, very grievous +in this; and yet in the midst of his excitement there occurred intervals +of intolerable weariness of spirit--moments when he looked upon the +Strada Toledo with disgust, wished himself any where but in San Carlos, +sneered at Posilippo, pooh-poohed Vesuvius, and was generally skeptical +as to the superiority of _the Bay_ over the Bosphorus, which he had not +seen. All this came to pass because he had set out on the principle of +traveling in a hurry, or, as he expressed it, making the most of his +time. Every night before going to bed he made out and wrote down a +programme of next day's duties--assigning so many hours to each sight, +and so many minutes to each meal, but forgetting altogether to allow +himself any opportunity for repose or digestion. + +Thus he had come from Paris _viâ_ Milan, Florence, and Rome, to +Naples--the whole in the space of three weeks, during which, as will be +easily imagined, he had visited an incredible number of churches, +galleries, temples, and ruins of every description. In order to profit +as much as possible by his travels he had arranged beforehand five or +six series of ideas, or meditations as he called them: one on the +assistance afforded by the fine arts to the progress of civilization, +another consisting of a string of sublime commonplaces on the fall of +empires and the moral value of monumental history; and so on. Each of +these meditations he endeavored to recall on appropriate occasions; and +he never had leisure to reflect, that for any instruction he was +deriving from what he saw he might as well have stopped at home. +However, having some imagination and talent, he frequently found himself +carried away by thoughts born of the occasion, and so irresistibly, that +once or twice he went through a whole gallery or church before he had +done with the train of ideas suggested by some previous sight, and was +only made aware that he had seen some unique painting or celebrated +windows of stained-glass by the guide claiming payment for his trouble, +and asking him to sign a testimonial doing justice to his civility and +great store of valuable information. It is only just to state that M. +Ernest never failed to comply with either of these demands. + +When, however, as we have said, he had been two or three days in Naples, +and had rushed over the ground generally traversed by tourists, our +young traveler began to feel weary and disgusted. For some time he did +not understand what was the matter, and upbraided himself with the lack +of industry and decline of enthusiasm, which made him look forward with +horror to the summons of Giacomo, his guide, to be up and doing. At +length, however, during one sleepless night the truth flashed upon him, +and in the morning, to his own surprise and delight, he mustered up +courage to dismiss Giacomo with a handsome present, and to declare that +that day at least he was resolved to see nothing. + +What a delightful stroll he took along the seashore that morning with +his eyes half-closed lest he might be tempted to look around for +information! He went toward Portici, but he saw nothing except the sand +and pebbles at his feet, and the white-headed surf that broke near at +hand. For the first time since his departure from Paris he felt +light-minded and at ease; and the only incident that occurred to disturb +his equanimity was, when his eyes rested for half a second on a broken +pillar in a vine-garden, and he was obliged to make an effort to pass by +without ascertaining whether it was of Roman date. But this feat once +accomplished, he threw up his cap for joy, shouted "_Victoire!_" and +really felt independent. + +He was much mistaken, however, if he supposed it to be possible to +remain long in the enjoyment of that _dolce far niente_, the first savor +of which so captivated him. One day, two days passed, at the end of +which he found that while he had supposed himself to be doing nothing, +he had in reality made the great and only discovery of his +travels--namely, that the new country in which he found himself was +inhabited, and that, too, by people who, though not quite so different +from his countrymen as the savages of the South Sea Islands, possessed +yet a very marked character of their own, worthy of study and +observation. Thenceforward his journal began to be filled with notes on +costume, manners, &c.; and in three weeks, with wonderful modesty, after +combining the results of all his researches, he came to the conclusion +that he understood nothing at all of the character of the Italians. + +In this humble state of mind he wandered forth one morning in the +direction of the Castle of St. Elmo, to enjoy the cool breeze that came +wafting from the sea, and mingled with and tempered the early sunbeams +as they streamed over the eastern hills. Having reached a broad, silent +street, bordered only by a few houses and gardens, he resolved not to +extend his walk further, but sat down on an old wooden bench under the +shade of a platane-tree that drooped over a lofty wall. Here he remained +some time watching the few passengers that occasionally turned a distant +corner and advanced toward him. He noticed that they all stopped at some +one of the houses further down the street, and that none reached as far +as where he sat; which led him first to observe that beyond his position +were only two large houses, both apparently uninhabited. One, indeed, +was quite ruined--many of the windows were built up or covered with old +boards; but the other showed fewer symptoms of decay, and might be +imagined to belong to some family at that time absent in the country. + +He had just come to this very important conclusion when his attention +was diverted by the near approach of two ladies elegantly dressed, +followed by an elderly serving-man in plain livery, carrying a couple of +mass-books. They passed him rather hurriedly, but not before he had time +to set them down as mother and daughter, and to be struck with the great +beauty and grace of the latter. Indeed, so susceptible in that idle mood +was he of new impressions, that before the young lady had gone on more +than twenty paces he determined that he was in love with her, and by an +instinctive impulse rose to follow. At this moment the serving-man +turned round, and threw a calm but inquisitive glance toward him. He +checked himself, and affected to look the other way for a while, then +prepared to carry out his original intention. To his great surprise, +however, both ladies and follower had disappeared. + +An ordinary man would have guessed at once that they had gone into one +of the houses previously supposed to be uninhabited, but M. Ernest Leroy +must needs fancy, first, that he had seen a vision, and then that the +objects of his interest had been snatched away by some evil spirit. +Mechanically, however, he hurried to the end of the street, which he +found terminated in an open piece of ground, which there had not been +time for any one to traverse. At length the rational explanation of the +matter occurred to him, and he felt for a moment inclined to knock at +the door of the house that was in best preservation, and complain of +what he persisted in considering a mysterious disappearance. However, +not being quite mad, he checked himself, and returning to his wooden +bench, sat down, and endeavored to be very miserable. + +But this would have been out of character. Instead thereof he began to +feel a new interest in life, and to look back with some contempt on the +two previous phases of his travels. With youthful romance and French +confidence he resolved to follow up this adventure, never doubting for a +moment of the possibility of ultimate success, nor of the excellence of +the object of his hopes. What means to adopt did not, it is true, +immediately suggest themselves; and he remained sitting for more than an +hour gazing at the great silent house opposite, until the unpleasant +consciousness that he had not breakfasted forced him to beat a retreat. + +We have not space to develop--luckily it is not necessary--all the wild +imaginings that fluttered through the brain of our susceptible traveler +on his return to his lodgings, and especially after a nourishing +breakfast had imparted to him new strength and vivacity. Under their +influence he repaired again to his post on the old wooden bench under +the platane-tree, and even had the perseverance to make a third visit in +the evening; for--probably, because he expected the adventure to draw +out to a considerable length--he did not imitate the foolish fantasy of +some lovers, and deprive himself of his regular meals. He saw nothing +that day; but next morning he had the inexpressible satisfaction of +again beholding the two ladies approach, followed by their +respectable-looking servant. They passed without casting a glance toward +him; but their attendant this time not only turned round, but stopped, +and gazed at him in a manner he would have thought impertinent on +another occasion. For the moment, however, this was precisely what he +wanted, and without thinking much of the consequences that might ensue, +he hastily made a sign requesting an interview. The man only stared the +more, and then turning on his heel, gravely followed the two ladies, who +had just arrived at the gateway of their house. + +"I do not know what to make of that rascally valet," thought Ernest. "He +seems at once respectable and hypocritical. Probably my appearance does +not strike him as representing sufficient wealth, otherwise the hopes of +a fair bribe would have induced him at any rate to come out and ask me +what I meant." + +He was, of course, once more at his post in the afternoon; and this time +he had the satisfaction of seeing the door open, and the elderly +serving-man saunter slowly out, as if disposed to enjoy the air. First +he stopped on the steps, cracking pistachio-nuts, and jerking the shells +into the road with his thumb; then took two or three steps gently toward +the other end of the street; and at last, just as Ernest was about to +follow him, veered round and began to stroll quietly across the road, +still cracking his nuts, in the direction of the old wooden bench. + +"The villain has at length made up his mind," soliloquized our lover. +"He pretends to come out quite by accident, and will express great +surprise when I accost him in the way I intend." + +The elderly serving-man still came on, seemingly not at all in a hurry +to arrive, and gave ample time for an examination of his person. His +face was handsome, though lined by age and care, and was adorned by a +short grizzled beard. There was something very remarkable in the +keenness of his large gray eyes, as there was indeed about his whole +demeanor. His dress was a plain suit of black, that might have suited a +gentleman; and if Ernest had been less occupied with one idea he would +not have failed to see in this respectable domestic a prince reduced by +misfortune to live on wages, or a hero who had never had an opportunity +of exhibiting his worth. + +When this interesting person had reached the corner of the bench he set +himself down with a slight nod of apology or recognition--it was +difficult to say which--and went on eating his nuts quite unconcernedly. +As often happens in such cases, Ernest felt rather puzzled how to enter +upon business, and was trying to muster up an appearance of +condescending familiarity--suitable, he thought, to the occasion--when +the old man, very affably holding out his paper-bag that he might take +some nuts, saved him the trouble by observing: "You are a stranger, sir, +I believe?" + +"Yes, my good fellow," was the reply of Ernest, in academical Italian; +"and I have come to this county--" + +"I thought so," interrupted the serving-man, persisting in his offer of +nuts, but showing very little interest about Ernest's views in visiting +Italy--"by your behavior." + +"My behavior!" exclaimed the young man, a little nettled. + +"Precisely. But your quality of stranger has hitherto protected you from +any disagreeable consequences." + +This was said so quietly, so amiably, that the warning or menace wrapped +up in the words lost much of its bitter savor; yet our traveler could +not refrain from a haughty glance toward this audacious domestic, on +whom, however, it was lost, for he was deeply intent on his pistachios. +After a moment Ernest recovered his self-possession, remembered his +schemes, and drawing a little nearer the serving-man, laid his hand +confidentially on the sleeve of his coat, and said: "My good man, I have +a word or two for your private ear." + +Not expressing the least surprise or interest, the other replied: "I am +ready to hear what you have to say, provided you will not call me any +more your good man. I am not a good man, nor am I your man, without +offense be it spoken. My name is Alfonso." + +"Well, Alfonso, you are an original person, and I will not call you a +good man, though honesty and candor be written on your countenance. +(Alfonso smiled, but said nothing). But listen to me attentively, +remembering that though neither am I a good man, yet am I a generous +one. I passionately love your mistress." + +"Ah!" said Alfonso, with any thing but a benevolent expression of +countenance. Ernest, who was no physiognomist, noticed nothing; and +being mounted on his new hobby-horse, proceeded at once to give a +history of his impressions since the previous morning. When he had +concluded, the old man, who seemed all benevolence again, simply +observed: "Then it is the younger of the two ladies that captivated your +affections in this unaccountable manner!" + +"Of course," cried Ernest; "and I beseech you, my amiable Alfonso, to +put me in the way of declaring what I experience." + +"You are an extraordinary young man," was the grave reply; "an +extraordinary, an imprudent, and, I will add, a reckless person. You +fall in love with a person of whom you know nothing--not even the name. +This, however, is, I believe, according to rule among a certain class of +minds. Not satisfied with this, you can find no better way of +introducing yourself to her notice than endeavoring to corrupt one whom +you must have divined to be a confidential servant. Others would have +sought an introduction to the family; you dream at once of a clandestine +intercourse--" + +"I assure you--" interrupted Ernest, feeling both ashamed and indignant +at these remarks proceeding from one so inferior in station. + +"Assure me nothing, sir, as to your intentions, for you do not know them +yourself. I understand you perfectly, because I was once young and +thoughtless like you. Now listen to me: in that house dwells the +Contessa Corsini, with her daughter Clara; and if these two persons had +no one to protect them but themselves and a foolish old servitor, whom +the first comer judges capable of corruption, they would ere this have +been much molested; but it happens that the Count Corsini is not dead, +and inhabiteth with them, although seldom coming forth into the public +streets. What say you, young man, does not this a little disturb your +plans?" + +"In the first place," replied Ernest, "I am offended that you will +persist in implying--more, it is true, by your manner than your +words--that my views are not perfectly avowable." + +"Then why, in the name of Heaven, do you not make yourself known to the +count, stating your object, and asking formally for his daughter's +hand?" + +"Not so fast, Alfonso. It was necessary for me to learn, as a beginning, +that there was a count in the case." + +"And what do you know now? Perhaps those women are two adventurers, and +I a rascal playing a virtuous part, in order the better to deceive you." + +"You do not look like a rascal," said Ernest, quite innocently. At which +observation the old man condescended to laugh heartily, and seemed from +that moment to take quite a liking to his new acquaintance. After a +little while, indeed, he began to give some information about the young +Clara, who, he said, was only sixteen years of age, though quite a woman +in appearance, and not unaccomplished. As to her dowry--Ernest +interrupted him by saying, that he wished for no information on that +point, being himself rich. The old man smiled amiably, and ended the +conversation by requesting another interview next day at the same hour, +by which time, he said, he might have some news to tell. + +Ernest returned home in high spirits, which sank by degrees, however, +when he reflected that as Alfonso declined favoring any clandestine +correspondence, there was little in reality to be expected from him. +True, he had given him some information, and he might now, by means of +his letters of introduction, contrive to make acquaintance with the +count. But though he spent the whole evening and next morning in making +inquiries, he could not meet with any one who had ever even heard of +such a person. "Possibly," he thought, "the old sinner may have been +laughing at me all the time, and entered into conversation simply with +the object of getting up a story to divert the other domestics of the +house. If such be the case, he may be sure I shall wreak vengeance upon +him." + +In spite of these reflections, he was at his post at the hour appointed, +and felt quite overjoyed when Alfonso made his appearance. The old man +said that a plan had suggested itself by which he might be introduced +into the house--namely, that he should pretend to be a professor of +drawing, and offer his services. Ernest did not inquire how Alfonso came +to know that he was an amateur artist, but eagerly complied with the +plan, and was instructed to call on the following morning, and to say +that he had heard that a drawing-master was wanted. + +He went accordingly, not very boldly, it is true, and looking very much +in reality like a poor professor anxious to obtain employment. The +contessa, who was yet young and beautiful, received him politely, +listened to his proposals, and made no difficulty in accepting them. The +preliminaries arranged, Clara was called, and, to Ernest's astonishment, +came bouncing into the room like a great school-girl, looked him very +hard in the face, and among the first things she said, asked him if he +was not the man she had seen two mornings following sitting opposite the +house on the bench under the platane tree. + +Now Ernest had imagined to himself something so refined, so delicate, so +fairy-like, instead of this plain reality, that he all at once began to +feel disgusted, and to wish he had acted more prudently. And yet there +was Clara, exactly as he had seen her, except that she had exchanged the +demure, conventional step adopted by ladies in the street for the free +motions of youth; and except that, instead of casting her eyes to the +earth, or glancing at him sideways, she now looked toward him with a +frank and free gaze, and spoke what came uppermost in her mind. Certes, +most men would have chosen that moment to fall in love with so charming +a creature; for charming she was beyond all doubt, with large, rich, +black eyes, pouting ruby lips, fine oval cheeks, and a mass of ebony +hair; but Ernest's first impression was disappointment, and he began to +criticise both her and every thing by which she was surrounded. + +He saw at once that there was poverty in the house. The furniture was +neat, but scanty; and the door had been opened by a female servant, who +had evidently been disturbed from some domestic avocations. The contessa +and her daughter were dressed very plainly--far differently from what +they had been in the street; and it was an easy matter to see that this +plainness was not adopted from choice but from necessity. Had Clara come +into the room with a slow, creeping step, keeping her eyes modestly +fixed on the chipped marble floor, not one of these observations would +have been made: the large, dreary house would have been a palace in +Ernest's eyes; but his taste was a morbid one, and in five minutes after +he had begun to give his lesson, he began to fear that the conquest he +had so ardently desired would be only too easy. + +There was something, however, so cheerful and fascinating in Clara's +manner that he could not but soon learn to feel pleasure in her society: +and when he went away he determined, instead of starting off for Sicily, +as he had at first thought of doing, to pay at least one more visit to +the house in the character of drawing master. Alfonso joined him as he +walked slowly homeward, and asked him how things had passed. He related +frankly his first impressions, to which the old man listened very +attentively without making any remark. At parting, however, he shook his +head, saying that young men were of all animals the most difficult to +content. + +Next day, when Ernest went to give his lesson, he was told by Alfonso +that the contessa, being indisposed, had remained in bed, but that he +should find Clara in the garden. There was something romantic in the +sound of this, so he hurried to the spot indicated, impatient to have +the commonplace impressions of the previous day effaced. This time his +disgust was complete. He found Clara engaged in assisting the servant +maid to wring and hang out some clothes they had just finished washing. +She seemed not at all put out by being caught thus humbly employed; but +begging him to wait a little, finished her work, ran away, dressed +somewhat carefully, and returning begged he would return to the house. +He followed with cheeks burning with shame: he felt the utmost contempt +for himself because he had fallen in love with this little housewife, +and the greatest indignation against her for having presumed, very +innocently, to excite so poetical a sentiment; and, in the stupidity of +his offended self-love, resolved to avenge himself by making some +spiteful remark ere he escaped from a house into which he considered +that he had been regularly entrapped. Accordingly, when she took the +pencil in hand, he observed that probably she imagined that contact with +soap-suds would improve the delicacy of her touch. Clara did not reply, +but began to sketch in a manner that proved she had listened to the +pedantic rules he had laid down on occasion of the previous lesson more +from modesty than because she was in want of them. Then suddenly rising +without attending to some cavil he thought it his duty to make, she went +to the piano, and beginning to play, drew forth such ravishing notes, +that Ernest, who was himself no contemptible musician, could not refrain +from applauding enthusiastically. She received his compliments with a +slight shrug of the shoulders, and commenced a song that enabled her to +display with full effect the capabilities of her magnificent voice. The +soap-suds were forgotten; and Ernest's romance was coming back upon him: +he began to chide himself for his foolish prejudices; and thought that, +after all, with a little training, Clara might be made quite a lady. +Suddenly, however, she broke off her song, and turning toward him with +an ironical smile, said: "Not bad for a housemaid, Mr. Professor--is +it?" + +He attempted to excuse himself, but he was evidently judged; and, what +was more--not as an obscure drawing-master, but as M. Ernest Leroy. His +identity was evidently no secret; and she even called him by his name. +He endeavored in vain to make a fine speech to apologize for his +ill-behavior; but she interrupted him keenly, though good-humoredly, and +the entrance of Alfonso was fatal to a fine scene of despair he was +about to enact. Clara upon this retired with a profound salute; and +Alfonso spoke with more of dignity than usual in his manner, and said: +"My young friend, you must excuse a little deception which has been +practiced on you, or rather which you have practiced upon yourself. I am +going to be very free and frank with you to-day. I am not what you take +me for. I am the Count Corsini, a Roman; and because I have not the +means of keeping a man-servant, when the women of my family go to church +I follow them, as you saw. This is not unusual among my countrymen. It +is a foolish pride I know; but so it is. However, the matter interests +you not. You saw my daughter Clara, and thought you loved her. I was +willing, as on inquiry I found you to be a respectable person, to see +how you could agree together; but your pride--I managed and overheard +all--has destroyed your chance. My daughter will seek another husband." + +There was a cold friendliness in Alfonso's tone which roused the pride +of Ernest. He affected to laugh, called himself a foolish madcap, but +hinted that a splendid marriage awaited him, if he chose, on his return +to Paris; and went away endeavoring to look unconcerned. The following +morning he was on board a vessel bound for Palermo, very sea-sick it is +true, but thinking at the same time a great deal more of Clara than he +could have thought possible had it been predicted. + +Some few years afterward Ernest Leroy was in one of the _salons_ of the +Fauxbourg St. Germain. Still a bachelor, he no longer felt those sudden +emotions to which he had been subject in his earlier youth. He was +beginning to talk less of sentiments present and more of sentiments +passed. In confidential moods he would lay his hand upon his +waistcoat--curved out at its lower extremity, by the by, by a notable +increase of substance--and allude to a certain divine Clara who had +illuminated a moment of his existence. But he was too discreet to enter +into details. + +Well, being in that _salon_, as we have said, pretending to amuse +himself, his attention was suddenly drawn by the announcement of Lady +D----. He turned round, probably to quiz _la belle Anglaise_ he expected +to behold. What was his astonishment on recognizing in the superb woman +who leaned on the arm of a tall, military-looking Englishman, the +identical Clara Corsini of his youthful memories. He felt at first sick +at heart; but, taking courage, soon went up and spoke to her. She +remembered him with some little difficulty, smiled, and holding out her +alabaster hand, said gently: "Do you see any trace of the soap-suds?" +She never imagined he had any feeling in him, and only knew the truth +when a large, round tear fell on the diamond of her ring. "Charles," +said Ernest awhile afterward to a friend, "it is stifling hot and +dreadfully stupid here. Let us go and have a game of billiards." + + + + +OUR SCHOOL. + +BY CHARLES DICKENS. + + +We went to look at it, only this last Midsummer, and found that the +Railway had cut it up root and branch. A great trunk-line had swallowed +the play-ground, sliced away the school-room, and pared off the corner +of the house: which, thus curtailed of its proportions, presented +itself, in a green stage of stucco, profile-wise toward the road, like a +forlorn flat-iron without a handle, standing on end. + +It seems as if our schools were doomed to be the sport of change. We +have faint recollections of a Preparatory Day-School, which we have +sought in vain, and which must have been pulled down to make a new +street, ages ago. We have dim impressions, scarcely amounting to a +belief, that it was over a dyer's shop. We know that you went up steps +to it; that you frequently grazed your knees in doing so; that you +generally got your leg over the scraper, in trying to scrape the mud off +a very unsteady little shoe. The mistress of the Establishment holds no +place in our memory; but, rampant on one eternal door-mat, in an eternal +entry, long and narrow, is a puffy pug-dog, with a personal animosity +toward us, who triumphs over Time. The bark of that baleful Pug, a +certain radiating way he had of snapping at our undefended legs, the +ghastly grinning of his moist black muzzle and white teeth, and the +insolence of his crisp tail curled like a pastoral crook, all live and +flourish. From an otherwise unaccountable association of him with a +fiddle, we conclude that he was of French extraction, and his name +_Fidèle_. He belonged to some female, chiefly inhabiting a back-parlor, +whose life appears to us to have been consumed in sniffing, and in +wearing a brown beaver bonnet. For her, he would sit up and balance cake +upon his nose, and not eat it until twenty had been counted. To the best +of our belief, we were once called in to witness this performance; when, +unable, even in his milder moments, to endure our presence, he instantly +made at us, cake and all. + +Why a something in mourning, called "Miss Frost," should still connect +itself with our preparatory school, we are unable to say. We retain no +impression of the beauty of Miss Frost--if she were beautiful; or of the +mental fascinations of Miss Frost--if she were accomplished; yet her +name and her black dress hold an enduring place in our remembrance. An +equally impersonal boy, whose name has long since shaped itself +unalterably into "Master Mawls," is not to be dislodged from our brain. +Retaining no vindictive feeling toward Mawls--no feeling whatever, +indeed--we infer that neither he nor we can have loved Miss Frost. Our +first impression of Death and Burial is associated with this formless +pair. We all three nestled awfully in a corner one wintry day, when the +wind was blowing shrill, with Miss Frost's pinafore over our heads; and +Miss Frost told us in a whisper about somebody being "screwed down." It +is the only distinct recollection we preserve of these impalpable +creatures, except a suspicion that the manners of Master Mawls were +susceptible of much improvement. Generally speaking, we may observe that +whenever we see a child intently occupied with its nose, to the +exclusion of all other subjects of interest, our mind reverts in a flash +to Master Mawls. + +But, the School that was Our School before the Railroad came and +overthrew it, was quite another sort of place. We were old enough to be +put into Virgil when we went there, and to get Prizes for a variety of +polishing on which the rust has long accumulated. It was a School of +some celebrity in its neighborhood--nobody could have said why--and we +had the honor to attain and hold the eminent position of first boy. The +master was supposed among us to know nothing, and one of the ushers was +supposed to know every thing. We are still inclined to think the +first-named supposition perfectly correct. + +We have a general idea that its subject had been in the leather trade, +and had bought us--meaning our School--of another proprietor, who was +immensely learned. Whether this belief had any real foundation, we are +not likely ever to know now. The only branches of education with which +he showed the least acquaintance, were, ruling, and corporally +punishing. He was always ruling ciphering-books with a bloated mahogany +ruler, or smiting the palms of offenders with the same diabolical +instrument, or viciously drawing a pair of pantaloons tight with one of +his large hands, and caning the wearer with the other. We have no doubt +whatever that this occupation was the principal solace of his existence. + +A profound respect for money pervaded Our School, which was, of course, +derived from its Chief. We remember an idiotic, goggle-eyed boy, with a +big head and half-crowns without end, who suddenly appeared as a +parlor-boarder, and was rumored to have come by sea from some mysterious +part of the earth where his parents rolled in gold. He was usually +called "Mr." by the Chief, and was said to feed in the parlor on steaks +and gravy; likewise to drink currant wine. And he openly stated that if +rolls and coffee were ever denied him at breakfast, he would write home +to that unknown part of the globe from which he had come, and cause +himself to be recalled to the regions of gold. He was put into no form +or class, but learnt alone, as little as he liked--and he liked very +little--and there was a belief among us that this was because he was too +wealthy to be "taken down." His special treatment, and our vague +association of him with the sea, and with storms, and sharks, and coral +reefs, occasioned the wildest legends to be circulated as his history. A +tragedy in blank verse was written on the subject--if our memory does +not deceive us, by the hand that now chronicles these recollections--in +which his father figured as a Pirate, and was shot for a voluminous +catalogue of atrocities: first imparting to his wife the secret of the +cave in which his wealth was stored, and from which his only son's +half-crowns now issued. Dumbledon (the boy's name) was represented as +"yet unborn," when his brave father met his fate; and the despair and +grief of Mrs. Dumbledon at that calamity was movingly shadowed forth as +having weakened the parlor-boarder's mind. This production was received +with great favor, and was twice performed with closed doors in the +dining-room. But, it got wind, and was seized as libelous, and brought +the unlucky poet into severe affliction. Some two years afterward, all +of a sudden one day, Dumbledon vanished. It was whispered that the +Chief himself had taken him down to the Docks, and reshipped him for the +Spanish Main; but nothing certain was ever known about his +disappearance. At this hour, we can not thoroughly disconnect him from +California. + +Our School was rather famous for mysterious pupils. There was another--a +heavy young man, with a large double-cased silver watch, and a fat +knife, the handle of which was a perfect tool-box--who unaccountably +appeared one day at a special desk of his own, erected close to that of +the Chief, with whom he held familiar converse. He lived in the parlor, +and went out for walks, and never took the least notice of us--even of +us, the first boy--unless to give us a depreciatory kick, or grimly to +take our hat off and throw it away, when he encountered us out of doors: +which unpleasant ceremony he always performed as he passed--not even +condescending to stop for the purpose. Some of us believed that the +classical attainments of this phenomenon were terrific, but that his +penmanship and arithmetic were defective, and he had come there to mend +them; others, that he was going to set up a school, and had paid the +Chief "twenty-five pound down," for leave to see Our School at work. The +gloomier spirits even said that he was going to buy _us_; against which +contingency conspiracies were set on foot for a general defection and +running away. However, he never did that. After staying for a quarter, +during which period, though closely observed, he was never seen to do +any thing but make pens out of quills, write small-hand in a secret +portfolio, and punch the point of the sharpest blade in his knife into +his desk, all over it, he, too, disappeared, and his place knew him no +more. + +There was another boy, a fair, meek boy, with a delicate complexion and +rich curling hair, who, we found out, or thought we found out (we have +no idea now, and probably had none then, on what grounds, but it was +confidentially revealed from mouth to mouth), was the son of a Viscount +who had deserted his lovely mother. It was understood that if he had his +rights, he would be worth twenty thousand a year. And that if his mother +ever met his father, she would shoot him with a silver pistol which she +carried, always loaded to the muzzle, for that purpose. He was a very +suggestive topic. So was a young Mulatto, who was always believed +(though very amiable) to have a dagger about him somewhere. But, we +think they were both outshone, upon the whole, by another boy who +claimed to have been born on the twenty-ninth of February, and to have +only one birthday in five years. We suspect this to have been a +fiction--but he lived upon it all the time he was at Our School. + +The principal currency of Our School was slate-pencil. It had some +inexplicable value, that was never ascertained, never reduced to a +standard. To have a great hoard of it, was somehow to be rich. We used +to bestow it in charity, and confer it as a precious boon upon our +chosen friends. When the holidays were coming, contributions were +solicited for certain boys whose relatives were in India, and who were +appealed for under the generic name of "Holiday-stoppers"--appropriate +marks of remembrance that should enliven and cheer them in their +homeless state. Personally, we always contributed these tokens of +sympathy in the form of slate-pencil, and always felt that it would be a +comfort and a treasure to them. + +Our School was remarkable for white mice. Red-polls, linnets, and even +canaries, were kept in desks, drawers, hat-boxes, and other strange +refuges for birds; but white mice were the favorite stock. The boys +trained the mice, much better than the masters trained the boys. We +recall one white mouse, who lived in the cover of a Latin dictionary, +who ran up ladders, drew Roman chariots, shouldered muskets, turned +wheels, and even made a very creditable appearance on the stage as the +Dog of Montargis. He might have achieved greater things, but for having +the misfortune to mistake his way in a triumphal procession to the +Capitol, when he fell into a deep inkstand, and was dyed black, and +drowned. The mice were the occasion of some most ingenious engineering, +in the construction of their houses and instruments of performance. The +famous one belonged to a Company of proprietors, some of whom have since +made Railroads, Engines, and Telegraphs; the chairman has erected mills +and bridges in New Zealand. + +The usher at our school, who was considered to know every thing as +opposed to the Chief who was considered to know nothing, was a bony, +gentle-faced, clerical-looking young man in rusty black. It was +whispered that he was sweet upon one of Maxby's sisters (Maxby lived +close by, and was a day pupil), and further that he "favored Maxby." As +we remember, he taught Italian to Maxby's sisters on half-holidays. He +once went to the play with them, and wore a white waistcoat and a rose: +which was considered among us equivalent to a declaration. We were of +opinion on that occasion that to the last moment he expected Maxby's +father to ask him to dinner at five o'clock, and therefore neglected his +own dinner at half-past one, and finally got none. We exaggerated in our +imaginations the extent to which he punished Maxby's father's cold meat +at supper; and we agreed to believe that he was elevated with wine and +water when he came home. But, we all liked him; for he had a good +knowledge of boys, and would have made it a much better school if he had +had more power. He was writing-master, mathematical-master, English +master, made out the bills, mended the pens, and did all sorts of +things. He divided the little boys with the Latin master (they were +smuggled through their rudimentary books, at odd times when there was +nothing else to do), and he always called at parents' houses to inquire +after sick boys, because he had gentlemanly manners. He was rather +musical, and on some remote quarter-day had bought an old trombone; but +a bit of it was lost, and it made the most extraordinary sounds when he +sometimes tried to play it of an evening. His holidays never began (on +account of the bills) until long after ours; but in the summer-vacations +he used to take pedestrian excursions with a knapsack; and at +Christmas-time he went to see his father at Chipping Norton, who we all +said (on no authority) was a dairy-fed-pork-butcher. Poor fellow! He was +very low all day on Maxby's sister's wedding-day, and afterward was +thought to favor Maxby more than ever, though he had been expected to +spite him. He has been dead these twenty years. Poor fellow! + +Our remembrance of Our School, presents the Latin master as a colorless, +doubled-up, near-sighted man with a crutch, who was always cold, and +always putting onions into his ears for deafness, and always disclosing +ends of flannel under all his garments, and almost always applying a +ball of pocket-handkerchief to some part of his face with a screwing +action round and round. He was a very good scholar, and took great pains +where he saw intelligence and a desire to learn; otherwise, perhaps not. +Our memory presents him (unless teased into a passion) with as little +energy as color--as having been worried and tormented into monotonous +feebleness--as having had the best part of his life ground out of him in +a mill of boys. We remember with terror how he fell asleep one sultry +afternoon with the little smuggled class before him, and awoke not when +the footstep of the Chief fell heavy on the floor; how the Chief aroused +him, in the midst of a dread silence, and said, "Mr. Blinkins, are you +ill, sir?" how he blushingly replied, "Sir, rather so;" how the Chief +retorted with severity, "Mr. Blinkins, this is no place to be ill in" +(which was very, very true), and walked back, solemn as the ghost in +Hamlet, until, catching a wandering eye, he caned that boy for +inattention, and happily expressed his feelings toward the Latin master +through the medium of a substitute. + +There was a fat little dancing-master who used to come in a gig, and +taught the more advanced among us hornpipes (as an accomplishment in +great social demand in after-life); and there was a brisk little French +master who used to come in the sunniest weather with a handleless +umbrella, and to whom the Chief was always polite, because (as we +believed), if the Chief offended him, he would instantly address the +Chief in French, and forever confound him before the boys with his +inability to understand or reply. + +There was, besides, a serving man, whose name was Phil. Our +retrospective glance presents Phil as a shipwrecked carpenter, cast away +upon the desert island of a school, and carrying into practice an +ingenious inkling of many trades. He mended whatever was broken, and +made whatever was wanted. He was general glazier, among other things, +and mended all the broken windows--at the prime cost (as was darkly +rumored among us) of ninepence for every square charged three-and-six to +parents. We had a high opinion of his mechanical genius, and generally +held that the Chief "knew something bad of him," and on pain of +divulgence enforced Phil to be his bondsman. We particularly remember +that Phil had a sovereign contempt for learning; which engenders in us a +respect for his sagacity, as it implies his accurate observation of the +relative positions of the Chief and the ushers. He was an impenetrable +man, who waited at table between whiles, and, throughout "the half" kept +the boxes in severe custody. He was morose, even to the Chief, and never +smiled, except at breaking-up, when, in acknowledgment of the toast, +"Success to Phil! Hooray!" he would slowly carve a grin out of his +wooden face, where it would remain until we were all gone. Nevertheless, +one time when we had the scarlet fever in the school, Phil nursed all +the sick boys of his own accord, and was like a mother to them. + +There was another school not far off, and of course our school could +have nothing to say to that school. It is mostly the way with schools, +whether of boys or men. Well! the railway has swallowed up ours, and the +locomotives now run smoothly over its ashes. + + So fades and languishes, grows dim and dies, + All that this world is proud of, + +and is not proud of, too. It had little reason to be proud of Our +School, and has done much better since in that way, and will do far +better yet. + + + + +A STORY OF ORIENTAL LOVE. + + +Poets have complained in all countries and in all ages, that true love +ever meets with obstacles and hindrances, and the highest efforts of +their art have been exhausted in commemorating the sufferings or the +triumphs of affection. Will the theme ever cease to interest? Will the +hopes, the fears, the joys, the vows of lovers, ever be deemed matters +of light moment, unworthy to be embalmed and preserved in those immortal +caskets which genius knows how to frame out of words? If that dreary +time be destined to come--if victory decide in favor of those mechanical +philosophers who would drive sentiment out of the world--sad will be the +lot of mortals; for it is better to die with a heart full of love, than +live for an age without feeling one vibration of that divine passion. + +I am almost ashamed to translate into this level English, the sublime +rhapsody with which the worthy Sheikh Ibrahim introduced the simple +story about to be repeated. The truth is, I do not remember much of what +he said, and at times he left me far behind, as he soared up through the +cloudy heaven of his enthusiasm. I could only occasionally discern his +meaning as it flashed along; but a solemn, rapturous murmur of +inarticulate sounds swept over my soul, and prepared it to receive with +devout faith and respect, what else might have appeared to me a silly +tale of truth and constancy and passionate devotion. I forgot the +thousand musquitoes that were whirling with threatening buzz around; the +bubbling of the water-pipe grew gradually less frequent, and at length +died away; and the sides of the kiosque overlooking the river, with its +flitting sails and palm-fringed shores dimming in the twilight, seemed +to open and throw back a long vista into the past. I listened, and the +Sheikh continued to speak: + +I will relate the story of Gadallah, the son of the sword-maker, and of +Hosneh, the daughter of the merchant. It is handed down to us by +tradition, and the fathers of some yet living, remember to have heard it +told by eye-witnesses. Not that any great weight of testimony is +required to exact belief. No extraordinary incident befell the lovers; +and the pure-hearted, when they hear these things, will say within +themselves, "This must be so; we would have done likewise." + +Gadallah was a youth of wonderful beauty; his like is only to be seen +once in a long summer's day, by the favor of God. All Cairo spoke of +him, and mothers envied his mother, and fathers his father; and maidens +who beheld him grew faint with admiration, and loved as hopelessly as if +he had been the brightest star of heaven. For he did not incline to such +thoughts, and had been taught to despise women, and to believe that they +were all wicked and designing--full of craft and falsehood. Such +instructions had his mother given him, for she knew the snares that +would beset so beautiful a youth, and feared for him, lest he might be +led into danger and misfortune. + +Gadallah worked with his father in the shop, and being a cunning +artificer, assisted to support the family. He had many brothers and +sisters, all younger than he; but there were times when money was scarce +with them, and they were compelled to borrow for their daily expenses of +their neighbors, and to trust to Providence for the means of repayment. +Thus time passed, and they became neither richer nor poorer, as is the +common lot of men who labor for their bread; but neither Gadallah nor +his father repined. When Allah gave good fortune they blessed him, and +when no good fortune was bestowed, they blessed him for not taking away +that which they had. They who spend their lives in industry and in +praise of God, can not be unhappy. + +It came to pass one day, that a man richly dressed, riding on a mule, +and followed by servants, stopped opposite the shop, and calling to the +father of Gadallah, said to him: "O Sheikh, I have a sword, the hilt of +which is broken, and I desire thee to come to my house and mend it; for +it is of much value, and there is a word of power written on it, and I +can not allow it to leave the shelter of my roof." The sword-maker +answered: "O master, it will be better that my son should accompany +thee; for he is young, and his eyes are sharp, and his hand is clever, +while I am growing old, and not fit for the finer work." The customer +replied that it was well, and having given Gadallah time to take his +tools, rode slowly away, the youth following him at a modest distance. + +They proceeded to a distant quarter, where the streets were silent and +the houses large and lofty, surrounded by gardens with tall trees that +trembled overhead in the sun-light. At length they stopped before a +mansion fit for a prince, and Gadallah entered along with the owner. A +spacious court, with fountains playing in the shade of two large +sycamores, and surrounded by light colonnades, so struck the young +sword-maker with astonishment, that he exclaimed: "Blessed be God, whose +creatures are permitted to rear palaces so beautiful!" These words +caused the master to smile with benignity, for who is insensible to the +praise of his own house? And he said: "Young man, thou seest only a +portion of that which has been bestowed upon me--extolled be the Lord +and his Prophet; follow me." So they passed through halls of surprising +magnificence, until they came to a lofty door, over which swept long +crimson curtains, and which was guarded by a black slave with a sword in +his hand. He looked at Gadallah with surprise when the master said +"open," but obeying, admitted them to a spacious saloon--more splendid +than any that had preceded. + +Now Gadallah having never seen the interior of any house better than +that of his neighbor the barber, who was a relation by the mother's +side, and highly respected as a man of wealth and condition, was lost in +amazement and wonder at all he beheld, not knowing that he was the most +beautiful thing in that saloon, and scarcely ventured to walk, lest he +might stain the polished marble or the costly carpets. His conductor, +who was evidently a good man, from the delight he honestly showed at +this artless tribute to his magnificence, took him to a small cabinet +containing a chest inlaid with mother-of-pearl. This he opened, and +producing a sword, the like of which never came from Damascus, bade him +observe where the hilt was broken, and ordered him to mend it carefully. +Then he left him, saying he would return in an hour. + +Gadallah began his work with the intention of being very industrious; +but he soon paused to admire at leisure the splendor of the saloon; when +he had fed his eyes with this, he turned to a window that looked upon a +garden, and saw that it was adorned with lovely trees, bright flowers, +elegant kiosques, and running fountains. An aviary hard by was filled +with singing-birds, which warbled the praises of the Creator. His mind +soon became a wilderness of delight, in which leaf-laden branches waved, +and roses, and anemones, and pinks, and fifty more of the bright +daughters of spring, blushed and glittered; and melody wandered with +hesitating steps, like a spirit seeking the coolest and sweetest place +of rest. This was like an exquisite dream; but presently, straying in a +path nigh at hand, he beheld an unvailed maiden and her attendant. It +was but for a moment she appeared, yet her image was so brightly thrown +in upon his heart, that he loved her ever afterward with a love as +unchangeable as the purity of the heavens. When she was gone, he sat +himself down beside the broken sword and wept. + +The master of the house came back, and gently chid him for his idleness. +"Go," said he, "and return to-morrow at the same hour. Thou hast now +sufficiently fed thine eyes--go; but remember, envy me not the wealth +which God hath bestowed." Gadallah went his way, having first +ascertained from the servants, that his employer was the Arabian +merchant Zen-ed-din, whose daughter Hosneh was said to surpass in beauty +all the maidens of the land of Egypt. On reaching the house, he repaired +to his mother's side, and sitting down, told her of all he had seen and +all he felt, beseeching her to advise him and predict good fortune to +him. + +Fatoumeh, the mother of Gadallah, was a wise woman, and understood that +his case was hopeless, unless his desires received accomplishment. But +it seemed to her impossible that the son of the poor sword-maker should +ever be acceptable to the daughter of the wealthy merchant. She wept +plentifully at the prospect of misery that unfolded itself, and when her +husband came in, he also wept; and all three mingled their tears +together until a late hour of the night. + +Next day Gadallah went at the appointed hour to the merchant's house, +and being kindly received, finished the work set to him; but saw no more +of the maiden who had disturbed his mind. Zen-ed-din paid him handsomely +for his trouble, and added some words of good advice. This done, he +gently dismissed him, promising he would recall him shortly for other +work; and the youth returned home despairing of all future happiness. +The strength of his love was so great, that it shook him like a mighty +fever, and he remained ill upon his couch that day, and the next, and +the next, until he approached the margin of the grave; but his hour was +not yet come, and he recovered. + +In the mean time, the Angel of Death received permission from the +Almighty to smite thirty thousand of the inhabitants of Cairo; and he +sent a great plague, that introduced sorrow into every house. It flew +rapidly from quarter to quarter, and from street to street, smiting the +chosen of the tomb--the young, the old, the bad, the good, the rich, the +poor--here, there, every where; in the palace, the hovel, the shop, the +market-place, the deewan. All day and all night the shriek of sorrow +resounded in the air; and the thoroughfares were filled with people +following corpses to the cemetery. Many fled into other cities and other +lands; but the plague followed those who were doomed, and struck them +down by the wayside, or in the midst of their new friends. + +It happened that the merchant Zen-ed-din had gone upon a journey, and +had left his house, and his harem, and his lovely daughter, under the +care of Providence, so that when Gadallah recovered, before the +pestilence reached its height, he waited in vain in the shop, expecting +that the merchant would pass, and invite him again to his house. At +length the affliction of the city reached so great a degree of +intensity, that all business was put a stop to, the bazaars were +deserted, and men waited beneath their own roofs the inevitable decrees +of fate. + +Gadallah, who had confidence in God, spent part of his time walking in +the streets; but every day went and sat on a stone bench opposite to +Zen-ed-din's house, expecting to see some one come forth who might tell +him that all were well within. But the doors remained closed, and not a +sound ever proceeded from the interior of the vast mansion. At length, +however, when he came at the usual hour, he perceived that the great +entrance-gate was left half-open, and he mustered up courage to enter. +He found the Bawab dead on his bench, and two black slaves by the side +of the fountain. His heart smote him with a presentiment of evil. He +advanced into the inner halls without seeing a sign of life. Behind the +great crimson curtains that swept over the doorway of the saloon where +he had worked, lay the guardian with his sword still in his hand. He +pressed forward, finding every place deserted. Raising his voice at +length, he called aloud, and asked if any living thing remained within +those walls. No reply came but the echo that sounded dismally along the +roof; with a heart oppressed by fear, he entered what he knew to be the +ladies' private apartments; and here he found the attendant of Hosneh +dying. She looked amazed at beholding a stranger, and, at first, refused +to reply to his questions. But, at length, in a faint voice, she said +that the plague had entered the house the day before like a raging lion, +that many fell victims almost instantly, and that the women of the harem +in a state of wild alarm had fled. "And Hosneh?" inquired Gadallah. "She +is laid out in the kiosque, in the garden," replied the girl, who almost +immediately afterward breathed her last. + +Gadallah remained for some time gazing at her, and still listening, as +if to ascertain that he had heard correctly. Then he made his way to the +garden, and searched the kiosques, without finding what he sought, until +he came to one raised on a light terrace, amid a grove of waving trees. +Here beneath a canopy of white silk, on pillows of white silk, and all +clothed in white silk, lay the form that had so long dwelt in his heart. +Without fear of the infection, having first asked pardon of God, he +stooped over her, and kissed those lips that had never even spoken to a +man except her father; and he wished that death might come to him +likewise; and he ventured to lie down by her side, that the two whom +life could never have brought together, might be found united at least +under one shroud. + +A rustling close by attracted his attention. It was a dove fluttering +down to her accustomed place on a bough, which once gained, she rolled +forth from her swelling throat a cooing challenge to her partner in a +distant tree. On reverting his look to the face of Hosneh, Gadallah +thought he saw a faint red tint upon the lips he had pressed, like the +first blush of the dawn in a cold sky. He gazed with wonder and delight, +and became convinced he was not mistaken. He ran to a fountain and +brought water in a large hollow leaf, partly poured it between the +pearly teeth, which he parted timidly with his little finger, and partly +sprinkled it over the maiden's face and bosom. At length a sigh shook +her frame--so soft, so gentle that a lover's senses alone could have +discerned it; and then, after an interval of perfect tranquillity, her +eyes opened, gazed for a moment at the youth, and closed not in +weakness, but as if dazzled by his beauty. Gadallah bent over her, +watching for the least motion, the least indication of returning +consciousness; listening for the first word, the first murmur that might +break from those lips which he had tasted without warrant. He waited +long, but not in vain; for at last there came a sweet smile, and a +small, low voice cried, "Sabrea! where is Sabrea?" Gadallah now cast +more water, and succeeded in restoring Hosneh to perfect consciousness, +and to modest fear. + +He sat at her feet and told her what had happened, omitting no one +thing--not even the love which he had conceived for her; and he +promised, in the absence of her friends, to attend upon her with respect +and devotion, until her strength and health should return. She was but a +child in years, and innocent as are the angels; and hearing the +frankness of his speech, consented to what he proposed. And he attended +her that day and the next, until she was able to rise upon her couch, +and sit and talk in a low voice with him of love. He found every thing +that was required in the way of food amply stored in the house, the +gates of which he closed, lest robbers might enter; but he did not often +go into it, for fear of the infection, and this was his excuse for not +returning once to his parents' house, lest he might carry death with +him. + +On the fourth day Hosneh was well enough to walk a little in the garden, +supported by the arms of Gadallah, who now wished that he might spend +his life in this manner. But the decrees of fate were not yet +accomplished. On the fifth day the young man became ill; he had sucked +the disease from the lips of Hosneh in that only kiss which he had +ventured; and before the sun went down, Hosneh was attending on him in +despair, as he had attended on her in hope. She, too, brought water to +bathe his forehead and his lips; she, too, watched for the signs of +returning life, and as she passed the night by his side, gazing on his +face, often mistook the sickly play of the moonbeams, as they fell +between the trees, for the smile which she would have given her life to +purchase. + +Praise be to God, it was not written that either of them should die; and +not many days afterward, toward the hour of evening, they were sitting +in another kiosque beside a fountain, pale and wan it is true, looking +more like pensive angels than mortal beings, but still with hearts full +of happiness that broke out from time to time in bright smiles, which +were reflected from one to the other as surely as were their forms in +the clear water by which they reclined. Gadallah held the hand of Hosneh +in his, and listened as she told how her mother had long ago been dead, +how her father loved her, and how he would surely have died had any harm +befallen her. She praised the courage, and the modesty, and the +gentleness of Gadallah--for he had spoken despondingly about the chances +of their future union, and said that when Zen-ed-din returned, she would +relate all that had happened, and fall at his knees and say, "Father, +give me to Gadallah." + +The sun had just set, the golden streams that had been pouring into the +garden seemed now sporting with the clouds overhead; solid shadows were +thickening around; the flowers and the blossoms breathed forth their +most fragrant perfumes; the last cooing of the drowsy doves was +trembling on all sides; the nightingale was trying her voice in a few +short, melancholy snatches: it was an hour for delight and joy; and the +two lovers bent their heads closer together; closer, until their +ringlets mingled, and their sighs, and the glances of their eyes. Then +Gadallah suddenly arose, and said, "Daughter of my master, let there be +a sword placed betwixt me and thee." And as he spoke, a bright blade +gleamed betwixt him and the abashed maiden; and they were both seized +with strong hands and hurried away. + +Zen-ed-din had returned from his journey, and finding the great gate +closed, had come round with his followers to the garden entrance, which +he easily opened. Struck by the silence of the whole place, he advanced +cautiously until he heard voices talking in the kiosque. Then he drew +near, and overheard the whole of what had passed, and admired the +modesty and virtue of Gadallah. He caused him to be seized and thrown +that night into a dark room, that he might show his power; and he spoke +harshly to his daughter, because of her too great trustfulness, and her +unpermitted love. But when he understood all that had happened, and had +sufficiently admired the wonderful workings of God's Providence, he said +to himself, "Surely this youth and this maiden were created one for the +other, and the decrees of fate must be accomplished." So he took +Gadallah forth from his prison, and embraced him, calling him his son, +and sent for his parents, and told them what had happened, and they all +rejoiced; and in due time the marriage took place, and it was blessed, +and the children's children of Hosneh and Gadallah still live among us. + +While the excellent sheikh was rapidly running over the concluding +statements of his narrative, I remember having read the chief incident +in some European tradition--possibly borrowed, as so many of our +traditions are, from the East--and then a single line of one of our +poets, who has versified the story, came unbidden to my memory; but I +could not recollect the poet's name, nor understand how the train of +association could be so abruptly broken. The line doubtless describes +the first interview of the lover with the plague-stricken maiden--it is +as follows: + + "And folds the bright infection to his breast." + + + + +A BIRD-HUNTING SPIDER. + + +When the veracity of any person has been impugned, it is a duty which we +owe to society, if it lies in our power, to endeavor to establish it; +and when that person is a lady gallantry redoubles the obligation. Our +chivalry is, on the present occasion, excited in favor of Madame Merian, +who, toward the latter end of the seventeenth century, and during a two +years' residence in Surinam, employed her leisure in studying the many +interesting forms of winged and vegetable life indigenous to that +prolific country. After her return to Holland, her native land, she +published the results of her researches. Her writings, although +abounding in many inaccuracies and seeming fables, contained much +curious and new information; all the more valuable from the objects of +her study having been, at that period, either entirely unknown to the +naturalists of Europe, or vaguely reported by stray seafaring visitants; +who, with the usual license of travelers, were more anxious to strike +their hearers with astonishment than to extend their knowledge. + +These works were rendered still more attractive by numerous plates--the +result of Madame Merian's artistic skill--with which they were profusely +embellished. It is one of these which, with the description accompanying +it, has caused her truth to be called into question by subsequent +writers; who, we must conclude, had either not the good fortune or the +good eyesight to verify her statements by their own experience. The +illustration to which I allude represents a large spider carrying off in +its jaws a humming-bird, whose nest appears close at hand, and who had +apparently been seized while sitting on its eggs. + +Linnæus, however, did not doubt the lady, and called the spider (which +belongs to the genus _Mygale_), "avicularia" (bird-eating). Whether this +ferocious-looking hunter does occasionally capture small birds; or +whether he subsists entirely on the wasps, bees, ants, and beetles which +every where abound, what I chanced myself to see in the forest will help +to determine. + +Shortly after daybreak, one morning in 1848, while staying at a +wood-cutting establishment on the Essequibo, a short distance above the +confluence of that river and the Magaruni, we--a tall Yorkshireman and +myself--started in our "wood-skin" to examine some spring hooks which we +had set during the previous evening, in the embouchure of a neighboring +creek. Our breakfast that morning depended on our success. Our chagrin +may be imagined on finding all the baits untouched save one; and from +that, some lurking cayman had snapped the body of the captured fish, +leaving nothing but the useless head dangling in the air. After mentally +dispatching our spoiler--who had not tricked us for the first time--to a +place very far distant, we paddled further up the creek in search of a +maam, or maroudi; or, indeed, of any thing eatable--bird, beast, or +reptile. We had not proceeded far, when my companion, Blottle, who was +sitting, gun in hand, prepared to deal destruction on the first living +creature we might chance to encounter--suddenly fired at some object +moving rapidly along the topmost branch of a tree which overhung the +sluggish stream a short way in advance. For a moment or two the success +of his aim seemed doubtful; then something came tumbling through the +intervening foliage, and I guided the canoe beneath, lest the prey +should be lost in the water. Our surprise was not unmingled, I must +confess, with vexation at first, on finding that the strange character +of our game removed our morning's repast as far off as ever. A huge +spider and a half-fledged bird lay in the bottom of our canoe--the one +with disjointed limbs and mutilated carcass; the other uninjured by the +shot, but nearly dead, though still faintly palpitating. The remains of +the spider showed him larger than any I had previously seen--smaller, +however, than one from Brazil, before me while I write--and may have +measured some two-and-half inches in the body, with limbs about twice +that length. He was rough and shaggy, with a thick covering of hair or +bristles; which, besides giving him an additional appearance of +strength, considerably increased the fierceness of his aspect. The hairs +were in some parts fully an inch long, of a dark brown color, inclining +to black. His powerful jaws and sturdy arms seemed never adapted for the +death-struggle of prey less noble than this small member of the +feathered race, for whom our succor had unhappily arrived too late. The +victim had been snatched from the nest while the mother was probably +assisting to collect a morning's meal for her offspring. It had been +clutched by the neck immediately above the shoulders: the marks of the +murderer's talons still remained; and, although no blood had escaped +from the wounds, they were much inflamed and swollen. + +The few greenish-brown feathers sparingly scattered among the down in +the wings, were insufficient to furnish me with a clew toward a +knowledge of its species. That it was a humming-bird, however, or one of +an allied genus, seemed apparent from the length of its bill. The king +of the humming-birds, as the Creoles call the topaz-throat (_Trochilus +pella_ of naturalists), is the almost exclusive frequenter of Marabella +Creek, where the overspreading foliage--here and there admitting stray +gleams of sunshine--forms a cool and shady, though sombre retreat, +peculiarly adapted to his disposition; and I strongly suspect that it +was the nest of this species which the spider had favored with a visit. +After making a minute inspection of the two bodies, we consigned them to +a watery grave; both of us convinced that, whatever the detractors of +Madame Merian may urge, that lady was correct in assigning to the +bush-spider an ambition which often soars above the insect, and +occasionally tempts him to make a meal of some stray feathered denizen +of the forest. This conclusion, I may add, was fully confirmed some few +weeks after, by my witnessing a still more interesting rencontre between +members of the several races. "Eat the eater," is one of Nature's laws; +and, after preventing its accomplishment by depriving the spider of his +food, strict justice would probably have balked us of ours. Fortunately +not--one of the heartiest breakfasts I ever made, and one of the +tenderest and most succulent of meat, was that very morning. Well I +remember exclaiming, at that time, "_Hæc olim meminisse juvabit!_"--it +was my first dish of stewed monkey and yams. + + + + +PROMISE UNFULFILLED.--A TALE OF THE COAST-GUARD. + + +The _Rose_ had been becalmed for several days in Cowes Harbor, and +utterly at a loss how else to cheat the time, I employed myself one +afternoon in sauntering up and down the quay, whistling for a breeze, +and listlessly watching the slow approach of a row-boat, bringing the +mail and a few passengers from Southampton, the packet-cutter to which +the boat belonged being as hopelessly immovable, except for such drift +as the tide gave her, as the _Rose_. The slowness of its approach--for I +expected a messenger with letters--added to my impatient weariness; and +as, according to my reckoning, it would be at least an hour before the +boat reached the landing-steps, I returned to the Fountain Inn in the +High-street, called for a glass of negus, and as I lazily sipped it, +once more turned over the newspapers lying on the table, though with +scarcely a hope of coming athwart a line that I had not read half a +dozen times before. I was mistaken. There was a "Cornwall Gazette" among +them which I had not before seen, and in one corner of it I lit upon +this, to me in all respects new and extremely interesting paragraph: "We +copy the following statement from a contemporary, solely for the purpose +of contradicting it: 'It is said that the leader of the smugglers in the +late desperate affray with the coast guard in St. Michael's Bay, was no +other than Mr. George Polwhele Hendrick, of Lostwithiel, formerly, as +our readers are aware, a lieutenant in the royal navy, and dismissed the +king's service by sentence of court-martial at the close of the war.' +There is no foundation for this imputation. Mrs. Hendrick, of Lostwithiel, +requests us to state that her son, from whom she heard but about ten +days since, commands a first-class ship in the merchant navy of the +United States." + +I was exceedingly astonished. The court-martial I had not heard of, and +having never overhauled the Navy List for such a purpose, the absence of +the name of G. P. Hendrick had escaped my notice. What could have been +his offense? Some hasty, passionate act, no doubt; for of misbehavior +before the enemy, or of the commission of deliberate wrong, it was +impossible to suspect him. He was, I personally knew, as eager as flame +in combat; and his frank, perhaps heedless generosity of temperament, +was abundantly apparent to every one acquainted with him. I had known +him for a short time only; but the few days of our acquaintance were +passed under circumstances which bring out the true nature of a man more +prominently and unmistakably than might twenty years of humdrum, +every-day life. The varnish of pretension falls quickly off in presence +of sudden and extreme peril--peril especially requiring presence of mind +and energy to beat it back. It was in such a position that I recognized +some of the high qualities of Lieutenant Hendrick. The two sloops of war +in which we respectively served, were consorts for awhile on the South +African coast, during which time we fell in with a Franco-Italian +privateer or pirate--for the distinction between the two is much more +technical than real. She was to leeward when we sighted her, and not +very distant from the shore, and so quickly did she shoal her water, +that pursuit by either of the sloops was out of the question. Being a +stout vessel of her class, and full of men, four boats--three of the +_Scorpion's_ and one of her consort's--were detached in pursuit. The +breeze gradually failed, and we were fast coming up with our friend when +he vanished behind a head-land, on rounding which we found he had +disappeared up a narrow, winding river, of no great depth of water. We +of course followed, and, after about a quarter of an hour's hard pull, +found, on suddenly turning a sharp elbow of the stream, that we had +caught a Tartar. We had, in fact, come upon a complete nest of +privateers--a rendezvous or dépôt they termed it. The vessel was already +anchored across the channel, and we were flanked on each shore by a +crowd of desperadoes, well provided with small arms, and with two or +three pieces of light ordnance among them. The shouts of defiance with +which they greeted us as we swept into the deadly trap were instantly +followed by a general and murderous discharge of both musketry and +artillery; and as the smoke cleared away I saw that the leading pinnace, +commanded by Hendrick, had been literally knocked to pieces, and that +the little living portion of the crew were splashing about in the river. + +There was time but for one look, for if we allowed the rascals time to +reload their guns our own fate would inevitably be a similar one. The +men understood this, and with a loud cheer swept eagerly on toward the +privateer, while the two remaining boats engaged the flanking shore +forces, and I was soon involved in about the fiercest _mêlée_ I ever had +the honor to assist at. The furious struggle on the deck of the +privateer lasted but about five minutes only, at the end of which all +that remained of us were thrust over the side. Some tumbled into the +boat, others, like myself, were pitched into the river. As soon as I +came to the surface, and had time to shake my ears and look about me, I +saw Lieutenant Hendrick, who, the instant the pinnace he commanded was +destroyed, had, with equal daring and presence of mind, swam toward a +boat at the privateer's stern, cut the rope that held her, with the +sword he carried between his teeth, and forthwith began picking up his +half-drowned boat's crew. This was already accomplished, and he now +performed the same service for me and mine. This done, we again sprang +at our ugly customer, he at the bow, and I about midships. Hendrick was +the first to leap on the enemy's deck; and so fierce and well-sustained +was the assault this time, that in less than ten minutes we were +undisputed victors so far as the vessel was concerned. The fight on the +shore continued obstinate and bloody, and it was not till we had twice +discharged the privateer's guns among the desperate rascals that they +broke and fled. The dashing, yet cool and skillful bravery evinced by +Lieutenant Hendrick in this brief but tumultuous and sanguinary affair +was admiringly remarked upon by all who witnessed it, few of whom while +gazing at the sinewy, active form, the fine, pale, flashing countenance, +and the dark, thunderous eyes of the young officer--if I may use such a +term, for in their calmest aspect a latent volcano appeared to slumber +in their gleaming depths--could refuse to subscribe to the opinion of a +distinguished admiral, who more than once observed that there was no +more promising officer in the British naval service than Lieutenant +Hendrick. + +Well, all this, which has taken me so many words to relate, flashed +before me like a scene in a theatre, as I read the paragraph in the +Cornish paper. The _Scorpion_ and her consort parted company a few days +after this fight, and I had not since then seen or heard of Hendrick +till now. I was losing myself in conjecture as to the probable or +possible cause of so disgraceful a termination to a career that promised +so brilliantly, when the striking of the bar-clock warned me that the +mail-boat was by this time arrived. I sallied forth and reached the +pier-steps just a minute or so before the boat arrived there. The +messenger I expected was in her, and I was turning away with the parcel +he handed me, when my attention was arrested by a stout, unwieldy +fellow, who stumbled awkwardly out of the boat, and hurriedly came up +the steps. The face of the man was pale, thin, hatchet-shaped, and +anxious, and the gray, ferrety eyes were restless and perturbed; while +the stout round body was that of a yeoman of the bulkiest class, but so +awkwardly made up that it did not require any very lengthened scrutiny +to perceive that the shrunken carcass appropriate to such a lanky and +dismal visage occupied but a small space within the thick casing of +padding and extra garments in which it was swathed. His light-brown wig, +too, surmounted by a broad-brimmer, had got a little awry, dangerously +revealing the scanty locks of iron-gray beneath. It was not difficult to +run up these little items to a pretty accurate sum total, and I had +little doubt that the hasting and nervous traveler was fleeing either +from a constable or a sheriff's officer. It was, however, no affair of +mine, and I was soon busy with the letters just brought me. + +The most important tidings they contained was that Captain Pickard--the +master of a smuggling craft of some celebrity, called _Les Trois +Frères_, in which for the last twelve months or more he had been +carrying on a daring and successful trade throughout the whole line of +the southern and western coasts--was likely to be found at this +particular time near a particular spot in the back of the Wight. This +information was from a sure source in the enemy's camp, and it was +consequently with great satisfaction that I observed indications of the +coming on of a breeze, and in all probability a stiff one. I was not +disappointed; and in less than an hour the _Rose_ was stretching her +white wings beneath a brisk northwester over to Portsmouth, where I had +some slight official business to transact previous to looking after +friend Pickard. This was speedily dispatched, and I was stepping into +the boat on my return to the cutter, when a panting messenger informed +me that the port-admiral desired to see me instantly. + +"The telegraph has just announced," said the admiral, "that Sparkes, the +defaulter, who has for some time successfully avoided capture, will +attempt to leave the kingdom from the Wight, as he is known to have been +in communication with some of the smuggling gentry there. He is supposed +to have a large amount of government moneys in his possession; you will +therefore, Lieutenant Warneford, exert yourself vigilantly to secure +him." + +"What is his description?" + +"Mr. James," replied the admiral, addressing one of the telegraph +clerks, "give Lieutenant Warneford the description transmitted." Mr. +James did so, and I read: "Is said to have disguised himself as a stout +countryman; wears a blue coat with bright buttons, buff waistcoat, a +brown wig, and a Quaker's hat. He is of a slight, lanky figure, five +feet nine inches in height. He has two pock-marks on his forehead, and +lisps in his speech." + +"By Jove, sir," I exclaimed, "I saw this fellow only about two hours +ago!" I then briefly related what had occurred, and was directed not to +lose a moment in hastening to secure the fugitive. + +The wind had considerably increased by this time, and the _Rose_ was +soon again off Cowes, where Mr. Roberts, the first mate, and six men, +were sent on shore with orders to make the best of his way to +Bonchurch--about which spot I knew, if any where, the brown-wigged +gentleman would endeavor to embark--while the _Rose_ went round to +intercept him seaward; which she did at a spanking rate, for it was now +blowing half a gale of wind. Evening had fallen before we reached our +destination, but so clear and bright with moon and stars that distant +objects were as visible as by day. I had rightly guessed how it would +be, for we had no sooner opened up Bonchurch shore or beach than Roberts +signaled us that our man was on board the cutter running off at about a +league from us in the direction of Cape La Hogue. I knew, too, from the +cutter's build, and the cut and set of her sails, that she was no other +than Captain Pickard's boasted craft, so that there was a chance of +killing two birds with one stone. We evidently gained, though slowly, +upon _Les Trois Frères_; and this, after about a quarter of an hour's +run, appeared to be her captain's own opinion, for he suddenly changed +his course, and stood toward the Channel Islands, in the hope, I doubted +not, that I should not follow him in such weather as was likely to come +on through the dangerous intricacies of the iron-bound coast about +Guernsey and the adjacent islets. Master Pickard was mistaken; for +knowing the extreme probability of being led such a dance, I had brought +a pilot with me from Cowes, as well acquainted with Channel navigation +as the smuggler himself could be. _Les Trois Frères_, it was soon +evident, was now upon her best point of sailing, and it was all that we +could do to hold our own with her. This was vexatious; but the aspect of +the heavens forbade me showing more canvas, greatly as I was tempted to +do so. + +It was lucky I did not. The stars were still shining over our heads from +an expanse of blue without a cloud, and the full moon also as yet held +her course unobscured, but there had gathered round her a glittering +halo-like ring, and away to windward huge masses of black cloud, piled +confusedly on each other, were fast spreading over the heavens. The +thick darkness had spread over about half the visible sky, presenting a +singular contrast to the silver brightness of the other portion, when +suddenly a sheet of vivid flame broke out of the blackness, instantly +followed by deafening explosions, as if a thousand cannons were bursting +immediately over our heads. At the same moment the tempest came leaping +and hissing along the white-crested waves, and struck the _Rose_ abeam +with such terrible force, that for one startling moment I doubted if she +would right again. It was a vain fear; and in a second or two she was +tearing through the water at a tremendous rate. _Les Trois Frères_ had +not been so lucky: she had carried away her topmast, and sustained other +damage; but so well and boldly was she handled, and so perfectly under +command appeared her crew, that these accidents were, so far as it was +possible to do so, promptly repaired; and so little was she crippled in +comparative speed, that, although it was clear enough after a time, that +the _Rose_ gained something on her, it was so slowly that the issue of +the chase continued extremely doubtful. The race was an exciting one: +the Caskets, Alderney, were swiftly past, and at about two o'clock in +the morning we made the Guernsey lights. We were, by this time, within a +mile of _Les Trois Frères_; and she, determined at all risks to get rid +of her pursuer, ventured upon passing through a narrow opening between +the small islets of Herm and Jethon, abreast of Guernsey--the same +passage, I believe, by which Captain, afterward Admiral Lord Saumarez, +escaped with his frigate from a French squadron in the early days of the +last war. + +Fine and light as the night had again become, the attempt, blowing as it +did, was a perilous, and proved to be a fatal one. _Les Trois Frères_ +struck upon a reef on the side of Jethon--a rock with then but one poor +habitation upon it, which one might throw a biscuit over; and by the +time the _Rose_ had brought up in the Guernsey Roads, the smuggler, as +far as could be ascertained by our night-glasses, had entirely +disappeared. What had become of the crew and the important passenger was +the next point to be ascertained; but although the wind had by this time +somewhat abated, it was not, under the pilot's advice, till near eight +o'clock that the _Rose's_ boat, with myself and a stout crew, pulled off +for the scene of the catastrophe. We needed not to have hurried +ourselves. The half-drowned smugglers, all but three of whom had escaped +with life, were in a truly sorry plight, every one of them being more or +less maimed, bruised, and bleeding. _Les Trois Frères_ had gone entirely +to pieces, and as there was no possible means of escape from the +desolate place, our arrival, with the supplies we brought, was looked +upon rather as a deliverance than otherwise. To my inquiries respecting +their passenger, the men answered by saying he was in the house with the +captain. I immediately proceeded thither, and found one of the two rooms +on the ground-floor occupied by four or five of the worst injured of the +contrabandists, and the gentleman I was chiefly in pursuit of, Mr. +Samuel Sparkes. There was no mistaking Mr. Sparkes, notwithstanding he +had substituted the disguise of a sailor for that of a jolly +agriculturist. + +"You are, I believe, sir, the Mr. Samuel Sparkes for whose presence +certain personages in London are just now rather anxious?" + +His deathy face grew more corpse-like as I spoke, but he nevertheless +managed to stammer out, "No; Jamth Edward, thir." + +"At all events, that pretty lisp, and those two marks on the forehead, +belong to Samuel Sparkes, Esquire, and you must be detained till you +satisfactorily explain how you came by them. Stevens, take this person +into close custody, and have him searched at once. And now, gentlemen +smugglers," I continued, "pray, inform me where I may see your renowned +captain?" + +"He is in the next room," replied a decent-tongued chap sitting near the +fire; "and he desired me to give his compliments to Lieutenant +Warneford, and say he wished to see him _alone_." + +"Very civil and considerate, upon my word! In this room, do you say?" + +"Yes, sir; in that room." I pushed open a rickety door, and found myself +in a dingy hole of a room, little more than about a couple of yards +square, at the further side of which stood a lithe, sinewy man in a blue +pea-jacket, and with a fur-cap on his head. His back was toward me; and +as my entrance did not cause him to change his position, I said, "You +are Captain Pickard, I am informed?" + +He swung sharply round as I spoke, threw off his cap, and said, briefly +and sternly, "Yes, Warneford, I _am_ Captain Pickard." + +The sudden unmasking of a loaded battery immediately in my front could +not have so confounded and startled me as these words did, as they +issued from the lips of the man before me. The curling black hair, the +dark flashing eyes, the marble features, were those of Lieutenant +Hendrick--of the gallant seaman whose vigorous arm I had seen turn the +tide of battle against desperate odds on the deck of a privateer! + +"Hendrick!" I at length exclaimed, for the sudden inrush of painful +emotion choked my speech for a time--"can it indeed be you?" + +"Ay, truly, Warneford. The Hendrick of whom Collingwood prophesied high +things is fallen thus low; and worse remains behind. There is a price +set upon my capture, as you know; and escape is, I take it, out of the +question." I comprehended the slow, meaning tone in which the last +sentence was spoken, and the keen glance that accompanied it. Hendrick, +too, instantly read the decisive though unspoken reply. + +"Of course it is out of the question," he went on. "I was but a fool to +even seem to doubt that it was. You must do your duty, Warneford, I +know; and since this fatal mishap was to occur, I am glad for many +reasons that I have fallen into your hands." + +"So am not I; and I wish with all my soul you had successfully threaded +the passage you essayed." + +"The fellow who undertook to pilot us failed in nerve at the critical +moment. Had he not done so, _Les Trois Frères_ would have been long +since beyond your reach. But the past is past, and the future of dark +and bitter time will be swift and brief." + +"What have you especially to dread? I know a reward has been offered for +your apprehension, but not for what precise offense." + +"The unfortunate business in St. Michael's Bay." + +"Good God! The newspaper was right, then! But neither of the wounded men +have died, I hear, so that--that--" + +"The _mercy_ of transportation may, you think, be substituted for the +capital penalty." He laughed bitterly. + +"Or--or," I hesitatingly suggested, "you may not be identified--that is, +legally so." + +"Easily, easily, Warneford. I must not trust to that rotten cable. +Neither the coast-guard nor the fellows with me know me indeed as +Hendrick, ex-lieutenant of the royal navy; and that is a secret you +will, I know, religiously respect." + +I promised to do so: the painful interview terminated; and in about two +hours the captain and surviving crew of _Les Trois Frères_, and Mr. +Samuel Sparkes, were safely on board the _Rose_. Hendrick had papers to +arrange; and as the security of his person was all I was responsible +for, he was accommodated in my cabin, where I left him to confer with +the Guernsey authorities, in whose bailiwick Jethon is situated. The +matter of jurisdiction--the offenses with which the prisoners were +charged having been committed in England--was soon arranged; and by five +o'clock in the evening the _Rose_ was on her way to England, under an +eight-knot breeze from the southwest. + +As soon as we were fairly underweigh, I went below to have a last +conference with unfortunate Hendrick. There was a parcel on the table +directed to "Mrs. Hendrick, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, care of Lieutenant +Warneford." Placing it in my hands, he entreated me to see it securely +conveyed to its address unexamined and unopened. I assured him that I +would do so; and tears, roughly dashed away, sprang to his eyes as he +grasped and shook my hand. I felt half-choked; and when he again +solemnly adjured me, under no circumstances, to disclose the identity of +Captain Pickard and Lieutenant Hendrick, I could only reply by a +seaman's hand-grip, requiring no additional pledge of words. + +We sat silently down, and I ordered some wine to be brought in. "You +promised to tell me," I said, "how all this unhappy business came +about." + +"I am about to do so," he answered. "It is an old tale, of which the +last black chapter owes its color, let me frankly own, to my own hot and +impatient temper as much as to a complication of adverse circumstances." +He poured out a glass of wine, and proceeded at first slowly and calmly, +but gradually, as passion gathered strength and way upon him, with +flushed and impetuous eagerness to the close: + +"I was born near Lostwithiel, Cornwall. My father, a younger and needy +son of no profession, died when I was eight years of age. My mother has +about eighty pounds a year in her own right, and with that pittance, +helped by self-privation, unfelt because endured for her darling boy, +she gave me a sufficient education, and fitted me out respectably; when, +thanks to Pellew, I obtained a midshipman's warrant in the British +service. This occurred in my sixteenth year. Dr. Redstone, at whose +'High School' I acquired what slight classical learning, long since +forgotten, I once possessed, was married in second nuptials to a virago +of a wife, who brought him, besides her precious self, a red-headed cub +by a former marriage. His, the son's, name was Kershaw. The doctor had +one child about my own age, a daughter, Ellen Redstone. I am not about +to prate to you of the bread-and-butter sentiment of mere children, nor +of Ellen's wonderful graces of mind and person: I doubt, indeed, if I +thought her very pretty at the time; but she was meekness itself, and my +boy's heart used, I well remember, to leap as if it would burst my bosom +at witnessing her patient submission to the tyranny of her +mother-in-law; and one of the greatest pleasures I ever experienced was +giving young Kershaw, a much bigger fellow than myself, a good thrashing +for some brutality toward her--an exploit that of course rendered me a +remarkable favorite with the great bumpkin's mother. + +"Well, I went to sea, and did not again see Ellen till seven years +afterward, when, during absence on sick leave, I met her at Penzance, in +the neighborhood of which place the doctor had for some time resided. +She was vastly improved in person, but was still meek, dove-eyed, gentle +Ellen, and pretty nearly as much dominated by her mother-in-law as +formerly. Our child-acquaintance was renewed; and, suffice it to say, +that I soon came to love her with a fervency surprising even to myself. +My affection was reciprocated: we pledged faith with each other; and it +was agreed that at the close of the war, whenever that should be, we +were to marry, and dwell together like turtle-doves in the pretty +hermitage that Ellen's fancy loved to conjure up, and with her voice of +music untiringly dilate upon. I was again at sea, and the answer to my +first letter brought the surprising intelligence that Mrs. Redstone had +become quite reconciled to our future union, and that I might +consequently send my letters direct to the High School. Ellen's letter +was prettily expressed enough, but somehow I did not like its tone. It +did not read like her spoken language, at all events. This, however, +must, I concluded, be mere fancy; and our correspondence continued for a +couple of years--till the peace, in fact--when the frigate, of which I +was now second-lieutenant, arrived at Plymouth to be paid off. We were +awaiting the admiral's inspection, which for some reason or other was +unusually delayed, when a bag of letters was brought on board, with one +for me bearing the Penzance postmark. I tore it open, and found that it +was subscribed by an old and intimate friend. He had accidentally met +with Ellen Redstone for the first time since I left. She looked thin and +ill, and in answer to his persistent questioning, had told him she had +only heard once from me since I went to sea, and that was to renounce +our engagement; and she added that she was going to be married in a day +or two to the Rev. Mr. Williams, a dissenting minister of fair means and +respectable character. My friend assured her there must be some mistake, +but she shook her head incredulously; and with eyes brimful of tears, +and shaking voice, bade him, when he saw me, say that she freely forgave +me, but that her heart was broken. This was the substance, and as I +read, a hurricane of dismay and rage possessed me. There was not, I +felt, a moment to be lost. Unfortunately the captain was absent, and the +frigate temporarily under the command of the first-lieutenant. You knew +Lieutenant ----?" + +"I did, for one of the most cold-blooded martinets that ever trod a +quarter-deck." + +"Well, him I sought, and asked temporary leave of absence. He refused. I +explained, hurriedly, imploringly explained the circumstances in which I +was placed. He sneeringly replied, that sentimental nonsense of that +kind could not be permitted to interfere with the king's service. You +know, Warneford, how naturally hot and impetuous is my temper, and at +that moment my brain seemed literally aflame: high words followed, and +in a transport of rage I struck the taunting coward a violent blow in +the face--following up the outrage by drawing my sword, and challenging +him to instant combat. You may guess the sequel. I was immediately +arrested by the guard, and tried a few days afterward by court-martial. +Exmouth stood my friend, or I know not what sentence might have been +passed, and I was dismissed the service." + +"I was laid up for several weeks by fever about that time," I remarked; +"and it thus happened, doubtless, that I did not see any report of the +trial." + +"The moment I was liberated I hastened, literally almost in a state of +madness, to Penzance. It was all true, and I was too late! Ellen had +been married something more than a week. It was Kershaw and his mother's +doings. Him I half-killed; but it is needless to go into details of the +frantic violence with which I conducted myself. I broke madly into the +presence of the newly-married couple: Ellen swooned with terror, and her +husband, white with consternation, and trembling in every limb, had +barely, I remember, sufficient power to stammer out, 'that he would pray +for me.' The next six months is a blank. I went to London; fell +into evil courses, drank, gambled; heard after a while that +Ellen was dead--the shock of which partially checked my downward +progress--partially only. I left off drinking, but not gambling, and +ultimately I became connected with a number of disreputable persons, +among whom was your prisoner Sparkes. He found part of the capital with +which I have been carrying on the contraband trade for the last two +years. I had, however, fully determined to withdraw myself from the +dangerous though exciting pursuit. This was to have been my last trip; +but you know," he added, bitterly, "it is always upon the last turn of +the dice that the devil wins his victim." + +He ceased speaking, and we both remained silent for several minutes. +What on my part _could_ be said or suggested? + +"You hinted just now," I remarked, after a while, "that all your +remaining property was in this parcel. You have, however, of course, +reserved sufficient for your defense?" + +A strange smile curled his lip, and a wild, brief flash of light broke +from his dark eyes, as he answered, "O yes; more than enough--more, much +more than will be required." + +"I am glad of that." We were again silent, and I presently exclaimed, +"Suppose we take a turn on deck--the heat here stifles one." + +"With all my heart," he answered; and we both left the cabin. + +We continued to pace the deck side by side for some time without +interchanging a syllable. The night was beautifully clear and fine, and +the cool breeze that swept over the star and moon-lit waters gradually +allayed the feverish nervousness which the unfortunate lieutenant's +narrative had excited. + +"A beautiful, however illusive world," he by-and-by sadly resumed; "this +Death--now so close at my heels--wrenches us from. And yet you and I, +Warneford, have seen men rush to encounter the King of Terrors, as he is +called, as readily as if summoned to a bridal." + +"A sense of duty and a habit of discipline will always overpower, in men +of our race and profession, the vulgar fear of death." + +"Is it not also, think you, the greater fear of disgrace, dishonor in +the eyes of the world, which outweighs the lesser dread?" + +"No doubt that has an immense influence. What would our sweethearts, +sisters, mothers, say if they heard we had turned craven? What would +they say in England? Nelson well understood this feeling, and appealed +to it in his last great signal." + +"Ay, to be sure," he musingly replied; "what would our mothers say--feel +rather--at witnessing their sons' dishonor? That is the master-chord." +We once more relapsed into silence; and after another dozen or so turns +on the deck, Hendrick seated himself on the combings of the main +hatchway. His countenance, I observed, was still pale as marble, but a +livelier, more resolute expression had gradually kindled in his +brilliant eyes. He was, I concluded, nerving himself to meet the chances +of his position with constancy and fortitude. + +"I shall go below again," I said. "Come; it may be some weeks before we +have another glass of wine together." + +"I will be with you directly," he answered, and I went down. He did not, +however, follow, and I was about calling him, when I heard his step on +the stairs. He stopped at the threshold of the cabin, and there was a +flushing intensity of expression about his face which quite startled me. +As if moved by second thoughts, he stepped in. "One last glass with you, +Warneford: God bless you!" He drained and set the glass on the table. +"The lights at the corner of the Wight are just made," he hurriedly went +on. "It is not likely I shall have an opportunity of again speaking with +you; and let me again hear you say that you will under any circumstances +keep secret from all the world--my mother especially--that Captain +Pickard and Lieutenant Hendrick were one person." + +"I will; but why--" + +"God bless you!" he broke in. "I must go on deck again." + +He vanished as he spoke, and a dim suspicion of his purpose arose in my +mind; but before I could act upon it, a loud, confused outcry arose on +the deck, and as I rushed up the cabin stairs, I heard amid the hurrying +to and fro of feet, the cries of "Man overboard!"--"Bout ship!"--"Down +with the helm!" The cause of the commotion was soon explained: Hendrick +had sprung overboard; and looking in the direction pointed out by the +man at the wheel, I plainly discerned him already considerably astern of +the cutter. His face was turned toward us, and the instant I appeared he +waved one arm wildly in the air: I could hear the words, "Your promise!" +distinctly, and the next instant the moonlight played upon the spot +where he had vanished. Boats were lowered, and we passed and repassed +over and near the place for nearly half an hour. Vainly: he did not +reappear. + +I have only further to add, that the parcel intrusted to me was safely +delivered, and that I have reason to believe Mrs. Hendrick remained to +her last hour ignorant of the sad fate of her son. It was her +impression, induced by his last letter, that he was about to enter the +South-American service under Cochrane, and she ultimately resigned +herself to a belief that he had there met a brave man's death. My +promise was scrupulously kept, nor is it by this publication in the +slightest degree broken; for both the names of Hendrick and Pickard are +fictitious, and so is the place assigned as that of the lieutenant's +birth. That rascal Sparkes, I am glad to be able to say--chasing whom +made me an actor in the melancholy affair--was sent over the herring +pond for life. + + + + +THE TUB SCHOOL. + + +Speaking without passion, we are bound to state, in broad terms, that +the founder of the Diogenic philosophy was emphatically a humbug. Some +people might call him by a harsher name; we content ourselves with the +popular vernacular. Formidable as he was--this unwashed +dog-baptized--with a kind of savage grandeur, too, about his +independence and his fearlessness--still was he a humbug; setting forth +fancies for facts, and judging all men by the measure of one. Manifestly +afflicted with a liver complaint, his physical disorders wore the mask +of mental power, and a state of body that required a course of calomel +or a dose of purifying powders, passed current in the world for +intellectual superiority; not a rare case in times when madness was +accounted potent inspiration, and when the exhibition of mesmeric +phenomena formed the title of the Pythoness to her mystic tripod. + +Diogenes is not the only man whose disturbed digestion has led +multitudes, like an _ignis fatuus_, into the bogs and marshes of +falsehood. Abundance of sects are about, which their respective +followers class under one generic head of inspiration, but which have +sprung from the same hepatic inaction, or epigrastic inflammation, as +that which made the cynic believe in the divinity of dirt, and see in a +tub the fittest temple to virtue. All that narrows the sympathies--all +that makes a man think better of himself than of his "neighbors"--all +that compresses the illimitable mercy of God into a small talisman which +you and your followers alone possess--all that creates condemnation--is +of the Diogenic Tub School; corrupt in the core, and rotten in the +root--fruit, leaves, and flowers, the heritage of death. + +A superstitious reverence for a bilious condition of body, and an +abhorrence of soap and water, as savoring of idolatry or of +luxury--according to the dress and nation of the Cynic--made up the +fundamental ideas of his school; and to this day they are the cabala of +one division of the sect. We confess not to be able to see much beauty +in either of these conditions, and are rather proud than otherwise of +our state of disbelief; holding health and cleanliness in high honor, +and hoping much of moral improvement from their better preservation. But +to the Tub School, good digestive powers, and their consequence, good +temper, were evidences of lax principles, and cleanliness was +ungodliness or effeminacy; as the unpurified denouncer prayed to St. +Giles, or sacrificed to Venus Cloacina. Take the old monks as an +example. Not that we are about to condemn the whole Catholic Church +under a cowled mask. She has valuable men among her sons; but, in such a +large body, there must of necessity be some members weaker than the +rest; and the mendicant friars, and do-nothing monks, were about the +weakest and the worst that ever appeared by the Catholic altar. They +were essentially of the Tub School, as false to the best purposes of +mankind as the famous old savage of Alexander's time. Dirt and vanity, +bile and condemnation, were the paternosters of their litany; and what +else lay in the tub which the king over-shadowed from the sun? All the +accounts of which we read, of pious horror of baths and washhouses--all +the frantic renunciation of laundresses, and the belief in hair shirts, +to the prejudice of honest linen--all the religious zeal against +small-tooth combs, and the sin which lay in razors and nail-brushes--all +the holy preference given to coarse cobbling of skins of beasts, over +civilized tailoring of seemly garments--all the superiority of bare +feet, which never knew the meaning of a pediluvium, over those which +shoes and hose kept warm, and foot-baths rendered clean--all the hatred +of madness against the refinements of life, and the cultivation of the +beautiful: these were the evidences of the Diogenic philosophy; and of +Monachism too; and of other forms of faith, which we could name in the +same breath. And how much good was in them? What natural divinity lies +in fur, which the cotton plant does not possess? Wherein consists the +holiness of mud, and the ungodliness of alkali? wherein the purity of a +matted beard, and the impiety of Metcalfe's brushes, and Mechi's magic +strop? It may be so; and we all the while may be mentally blind; and +yet, if we lived in a charnel-house, whose horrors the stony core of a +cataract concealed, we could not wish to be couched, that seeing, we +might understand the frightful conditions of which blindness kept us +ignorant. + +But bating the baths and wash-houses, hempen girdles, and hairy +garments, we quarrel still with the _animus_ of Diogenes and his train. +Its social savageness was bad enough--its spiritual insolence was worse. +The separatism--the "stand off, for I am holier than thou"--the +condemnation of a whole world, if walking apart from _his_ way--the +substitution of solitary exaltation for the activity of charity--the +proud judgment of GOD'S world, and the presumptuous division into good +and evil of the Eternal; all this was and is of the Cynic's philosophy; +and all this is what we abjure with heart and soul, as the main link of +the chain which binds men to cruelty, to ignorance, and to sin; for the +unloosing of which we must wait before we see them fairly in the way of +progress. + +How false the religion of condemnation!--how hardening to the +heart!--how narrowing to the sympathies! We take a section for the +whole, and swear that the illimitable All must be according to the form +of the unit I; we make ourselves gods, and judge of the infinite +universe by the teaching of our finite senses. They who do this most are +they whom men call "zealous for God's glory," "stern sticklers for the +truth," and "haters of latitudinarianism." And if all the social +charities are swept down in their course, they are mourned over gently; +but only so much as if they were sparrows lying dead beneath the blast +that slew the enemy. "'Tis a pity," say they, "that men must be firm to +the truth, yet cruel to their fellows; but if it must be so, why, let +them fall fast as snow-flakes. What is human life, compared to the +preservation of the truth?" Ah! friends and brothers--is not the +necessity of cruelty the warrantry of falsehood? The truth of life is +LOVE, and all which negatives love is false; and every drop of blood +that ever flowed in the preservation of any dogma, bore in its necessity +the condemnation of that dogma. + +Turn where we will, and as far backward as we will, we ever find the +spirit of the Diogenic philosophy; and clothed, too, in much the same +garb and unseemly disorder as that in vogue among the dog-baptized. +Ancient East gives us many parallels; and to this day, dirty, lazy +fakirs of Hindostan assault the olfactories, and call for curses on the +effeminacy of the cleanly and the sane. Sometimes, though, the +Diogenites assume the scrupulosity of the Pharisee, and then they retain +only the crimes of the Inquisition, not the habits and apparel of the +Bosjesmen. Take the sincere Pharisee, for instance; regard his holy +horror of the Samaritan (the Independent of his day) for failing in the +strict letter of the law; hear his stern denunciations against all +sinners, be they moral or be they doctrinal, mark the unpitying "Crucify +him! crucify him!" against Him who taught novel doctrines of equality +and brotherhood, and the nullity of form; see the purity of his own +Pharisaic life, and grant him his proud curse on all that are not like +unto him. He is a Cynic in his heart, one who judges of universal +humanity by the individualism of one. Then, the hoary, hairy, +dog-baptized, who scoffed at all the decencies of life, not to speak of +its amenities, and had no gentle Plato's pride of refinement, with all +the brutal pride of coarseness--did Diogenes worthily represent the best +functions of manhood? Again, the monks and friars of the dark ages, and +the hermits of old, they who left the world of man "made in the image of +God," because they were holier than their brethren, and might have +naught in common with the likeness of the Elohim; they who gave up the +deeds of charity for the endless repetition of masses and vespers, and +who thought to do God better service by mumbling masses in a cowl, than +by living among their fellows, loving, aiding, and improving--were not +all these followers in the train of Diogenes?--if not in the dirt, then +in the bile; if not in the garb, then in the heart. Denouncers, +condemners; narrowing, not enlarging; hating, not loving; they were +traitors to the virtue of life, while dreaming that they alone held it +sacred. + +And now, have we no snarling Cynics, no Pharisee, no Inquisitor? Have we +taken to good heart the divine record of love, of faith, which an +æsthetic age has sublimated into credos, and left actions as a _caput +mortuum_? Have we looked into the meaning of the practical lesson which +the Master taught when he forgave the adulteress, and sat at meat with +the sinners? or have we not rather cherished the spiritual pride which +shapes out bitter words of censure for our fellows, and lays such stress +on likeness that it overlooks unity? The question is worthy of an +answer. + +The world is wide. Beasts and fishes, birds and reptiles, weeds and +flowers--which _here_ are weeds, and _there_ are flowers, according to +local fancy--the dwarfed shrub of the Alpine steeps, and the monster +palm of the tropical plains; the world is wide enough to contain them +all, and man is wise enough to love them all, each in its sphere, and +its degree. But what we do for Nature, we refuse to Humanity. To her we +allow diversity; to him we prescribe sameness; in her we see the +loveliness of unlikeness, the symmetry of variation; in him we must have +multitudes shaped by one universal rule; and what we do not look for in +the senseless tree, we attempt on the immortal soul. Religion, +philosophy, and social politics, must be of the same form with all men, +else woe to the wight who thinks out of the straight line! Diagonal +minds are never popular, and the hand which draws one radius smites him +who lines another equal to it in all its parts, and from the same +centre-point. The Catholic denies the Protestant; the Episcopalian +contemns the Presbyterian; the Free Kirk is shed like a branching horn; +the Independent denounces the Swedenborgian; the Mormonite is persecuted +by the Unitarian. It is one unvarying round; the same thing called by +different names. Now all this is the very soul of Diogenism. Cowl, +mitre, or band--distinctive signs to each party--all are lost in the +shadow of the tub, and jumbled up into a strange form, which hath the +name of Him of Sinope engraved on its forehead. Separatism and +denunciation against him who is not with thee in all matters of faith, +make thee, my friend, a Cynic in thy heart; and, though thou mayst wear +Nicoll's paletots and Medwin's boots, and mayst prank thyself in all +imaginable coxcombries, thou art still but a Diogenite, a Cynic, and a +Pharisee; washing the outside of the platter, but leaving the inside +encrusted still, believing falsely, that thou hast naught to do with a +cause, because thou hast not worn its cockade. + +Yet, are we going past the Tub School, though it lingers still in high +places. We see it in party squabbles, not so much of politics to-day, as +of the most esoteric doctrines of faith. We hear great men discussing +the question of "prevenient grace," as they would discuss the +composition of milk punch, and we hear them mutually anathematize each +other on this plain and demonstrable proposition. We call this +Diogenism, and of a virulent sort, too. We know that certain men are +tabooed by certain other men; that a churchman refuses communion with +him who is of no church, or of a different church; and that one Arian +thinks dreadful things of another Arian. We call these men Pharisees, +who deny kindred with the Samaritans--but we remember who it was that +befriended the Samaritans. We know that monks still exist, whose duty to +man consists in endless prayers to GOD (in using vain repetitions as +the Heathens do); who open their mouths wide, and expect that Heaven +will fill them; who hold the active duties of life in no esteem; and +separate themselves from their fellows in all the grandeur of religious +superiority. We can not see much difference between these men, the +Hindoo fakirs, and the unsavory gentlemen of the Grecian tub. They are +all of the same genus; but, Heaven be praised! they are dying out from +the world of man, as leprosy, and the black plague, and other evils are +dying out. True enlightenment will extirpate them, as well as other +malaria. If Sanitary Commissions sweep out the cholera, acknowledged +Love will sweep out all this idleness and solitary hatred, and make men +at last confess that Love and Recognition are grander things than +contempt and intolerance; in a word, that real Christianity is better +than any form whatsoever of the Diogenic philosophy of hatred. + + + + +GOLD--WHAT IT IS AND WHERE IT COMES FROM. + + +Road-mending is pretty general at this time of the year, and upon roads +now being newly macadamized we may pick up a good many differing +specimens of granite. On the newly-broken surface of one of them, four +substances of which it is composed can be perceived with great +distinctness. The more earthy-looking rock, in which the others seem to +be embedded, is called felspar; the little hard white stones are bits of +quartz; the dark specks are specks of hornblende, and the shining scales +are mica. Felspar, quartz, hornblende, and mica are the four +constituents of granite. These are among the rocks of the most ancient +times, which form a complete barrier to the power of the geologist in +turning back the pages which relate the story of our globe. Layer under +layer--leaf behind leaf--we find printed the characters of life in all +past ages, till at last we come to rocks--greenstone, porphyry, quartz, +granite, and others--which contain no trace of life; which do not show, +as rocks above them do, that they have been deposited by water; but +which have a crystalline form, and set our minds to think of heat and +pressure. These lowest rocks are frequently called "igneous," in +contradistinction to the stratified rocks nearer the surface, which have +been obviously deposited under water. Between the two there is not an +abrupt transition; for above the igneous, and below the aqueous, are +rocks which belong to the set above them, insomuch as they are +stratified; while they belong to the set below them--insomuch as they +are crystalline, contain no traces of life, and lead us by their +characters to think of heat and pressure. These rocks, on account of +their equivocal position, are called metamorphic. + +Under the influence of air, combined with that of water--water +potent in streams, lakes, and seas, but not less potent as a +vapor in our atmosphere, when aided by alternations in the +temperature--granite decomposes. We noticed that one of the constituents +of granite--felspar--was a comparatively earthy-looking mass, in which +the other matters seemed to be embedded. In the decomposition of +granite, this felspar is the first thing to give way; it becomes +friable, and rains or rivers wash it down. Capital soil it makes. When +the constituents of granite part in this way, quartz is the heaviest, +and settles. Felspar and the others may run with the stream, more or +less; quartz is not moved so easily. Now, as our neighbors in America +would put it, "that's a fact;" and it concerns our gossip about gold. + +Below the oldest rocks there lie hidden the sources of that volcanic +action which is not yet very correctly understood. Fortunately, we are +not now called upon for any explanation of it: it is enough for us that +such a force exists; and thrusting below, forces granite and such rocks +(which ought to lie quite at the bottom), through a rent made in the +upper layers, and still up into the air, until, in some places, they +form the summit of considerable mountains. Such changes are not often, +if ever, the results of a single, mighty heave, which generates a great +catastrophe upon the surface of the earth; they are the products of a +force constantly applied through ages in a given manner. In all geologic +reasoning we are apt to err grossly when we leave out of our calculation +the important element of time. These lower rocks, then--these +greenstones, porphyries and granites, sienites and serpentines--thrust +themselves in many places through the upper strata of the earth's crust, +in such a way as to form mountain ranges. Now, it is a fact, that +wherever the oldest of the aqueous deposits--such as those called +clay-slates, limestones, and greywacke sandstones--happen to be +superficial, so as to be broken through by pressure from below, and +intruded upon by the igneous rocks (especially if the said igneous rocks +form ranges tending at all from north to south), there gold may be +looked for. Gold, it is true, may be found combined with much newer +formations; but it is under the peculiar circumstances just now +mentioned that gold may be expected to be found in any great and +valuable store. + +In Australia, the gold discoveries, so new and surprising to the public, +are not new to the scientific world. More than two years ago, in an +"Essay on the Distribution of Gold Ore," read before the British +Association, to which our readers will be indebted for some of the facts +contained in the present gossip, Sir Roderick Murchison "reminded his +geological auditors that, in considering the composition of the chief, +or eastern ridge of Australia, and its direction from north to south, he +had foretold (as well as Colonel Helmersen, of the Russian Imperial +Mines) that gold would be found in it; and he stated that, in the last +year, one gentleman resident in Sydney, who had read what he had written +and spoken on this point, had sent him specimens of gold ore found in +the Blue Mountains; while, from another source, he had learnt that the +parallel north and south ridge in the Adelaide region, which had yielded +so much copper, had also given undoubted signs of gold ore. The +operation of English laws, by which noble metals lapse to the crown, had +induced Sir Roderick Murchison to represent to Her Majesty's Secretary +of State that no colonists would bestir themselves in gold-mining, if +some clear declaration on the subject were not made; but, as no measures +on this head seemed to be in contemplation, he inferred that the +government may be of opinion, that the discovery of any notable quantity +of gold might derange the stability and regular industry of a great +colony, which eventually must depend upon its agricultural products." +That was the language used by Sir Roderick Murchison in September, 1849; +and in September, 1851, we are all startled by the fact which brings +emphatic confirmation of his prophecy. + +But it is not only about the Blue Mountains, and in other districts, +where the gold is now sought, that the geologic conditions under which +gold may be sought reasonably are fulfilled. Take, for example, the Ural +Mountains. In very ancient times the Scythian natives supplied gold from +thence; and gold was supplied also by European tribes in Germany and +elsewhere. Most of those sources were worked out, or forgotten. Russia +for centuries possessed the Ural, and forgot its gold. Many of us were +boys when that was rediscovered. The mountains had been worked for their +iron and copper by German miners, who accidentally hit upon a vein of +gold. The solid vein was worked near Ekatrinburg--a process expensive +and, comparatively, unproductive, as we shall presently explain. Then +gold being discovered accidentally in the superficial drift, the more +profitable work commenced. It is only within the last very few years +that Russia has discovered gold in another portion of her soil, among +the spurs of the Altai Mountains, between the Jena and the Lenisei, and +along the shores of Lake Baikal. This district has been enormously +productive, and, for about four years before the discovery of gold in +California, had been adding largely to the gross amount of that metal +annually supplied for the uses of society. The extent of this new +district now worked is equal to the whole area of France; but all the +gold-bearing land in Russia is not yet by any means discovered. The +whole area of country in Russia which fulfills the conditions of a +gold-bearing district is immense. Eastward of the Ural Chain it includes +a large part of Siberia; and also in Russian America there is nearly +equal reason for believing that hereafter gold will be discovered. + +Before we quit Asia, we may observe, that the Chinese produce gold out +of their soil; and although many of the mountain ranges in that country +tend from east to west, yet the conditions of the surface, and the +meridional directions of the mountains too, would indicate in China some +extensive districts over which gold would probably be found in tolerable +abundance. Gold exists also in Lydia and Hindostan. + +Now to pass over to America, where, as we have already said, the +Russians have a district in which gold may some day be discovered. In +many districts along the line of the Rocky Mountains, especially in that +part of them which is included in the British territory, gold may be +looked for. The gold region of California has been recently discovered. +Gold in Mexico, where the conditions are again fulfilled, is not a new +discovery. Gold in Central America lies neglected, on account of the sad +political condition of the little states there. There is gold to be +found, perhaps, in the United States, some distance eastward of the +Rocky Mountains. Certainly gold districts will be found about the +Alleghanies. Gold has been found in Georgia, North and South Carolina, +and Virginia; it exists also in Canada, and may, probably, be found not +very far north, on the British side of the St. Lawrence. In the frozen +regions, which shut in those straits and bays of the North Pole, to +which early adventurers were sent from England on the search for gold, +gold districts most probably exist, although the shining matter was not +gold which first excited the cupidity of our forefathers. Passing now to +South America, New Granada, Peru, Brazil, La Plata, Chili, even +Patagonia, contain districts which say, "Look for gold." There are one +or two districts in Africa where gold exists; certainly in more +districts than that which is called the Gold Coast, between the Niger +and Cape Verd; also between Darfur and Abyssinia; and on the Mozambique +Coast, opposite Madagascar. In Australia, the full extent of our gold +treasure is not yet discovered. In Europe, out of Russia, Hungary +supplies yearly one or two hundred thousand pounds worth; there is gold +in Transylvania and Bohemia; the Rhine washes gold down into its sands +from the crystalline rocks of the high Alps. The Danube, Rhone, and +Tagus, yield gold also in small quantities. There are neglected mines of +gold in Spain. + +To come nearer home. In the mining fields of Leadhills, in Scotland, +gold was washed for busily in the time of Queen Elizabeth. It is found +also in Glen Turret, in Perthshire, and at Cumberhead, in Lanarkshire. +Attempts have been made to turn to account the gold existing in North +Wales and Cornwall. About sixty years ago, gold was found accidentally +in the bed of streams which run from a mountain on the confines of +Wicklow and Wexford, by name, Croghan Kinshela. A good deal of gold was +collected by the people, who, having the first pick, had soon earned +about ten thousand pounds among them by their findings. Government then +established works, and having realized in two years three thousand six +hundred and seventy-five pounds by the sale of gold, which it cost them +more than that amount to get, they let the matter drop, judiciously. + +Let nobody be dazzled, however, by this enumeration of gold districts, +which is not by any means complete. It is quite true that there is no +metal diffused so widely over the world's surface as gold is, with a +single exception, that of iron. But with regard to gold, there is this +important fact to be taken into account, that it is not often to be +obtained from veins, but is found sprinkled--in many cases sprinkled +very sparingly; it is found mixed with quartz and broken rock, or sand +and alluvial deposit, often in quantities extremely small, so that the +time lost in its separation--even though it be the time of slaves--is of +more value than the gold; and so the gold does not repay the labor of +extraction. It is only where a gold district does not fall below a +certain limit in its richness, that it yields a profit to the laborer. +Pure gold in lumps, or grains, or flakes, is to be found only at the +surface. Where, as is here and there the case, a vein of it is found +deep in connection with the quartz, it is combined with other minerals, +from which it can be separated only by an expensive process; so that a +gold vein, when found, generally yields less profit than a field. As for +gold-hunting in general, the history of every gold district unites to +prove that the trade is bad. It is a lottery in which, to be sure, there +are some prizes, but there is quite the usual preponderance of blanks. + +The villages of gold-seekers about Accra and elsewhere, on the Gold +Coast, are the villages of negroes more squalid and wretched than free +negroes usually are. The wretchedness of gold-hunters in the rich field +of California is by this time a hackneyed theme. Take, now, the picture +of a tolerably prosperous gold-seeker in Brazil. He goes into the river +with a leathern jacket on, having a leathern bag fastened before him. In +his hand he carries a round bowl, of fig-tree wood, about four or five +feet in circumference, and one foot deep. He goes into the river at a +part where it is not rapid, where it makes a bend, and where it has deep +holes. Be pleased to remember that, and do not yet lose sight of what +was before said about the heaviness of quartz. The gold-seeker, then, +standing in the water, scrapes away with his feet the large stones and +the upper layers of sand, and fishes up a bowlful of the older gravel. +This he shakes and washes, and removes the upper layer; the gold being +the heaviest thing in the bowl, sinks, and when he has got rid of all +the other matter, which is after a quarter of an hour's work, or more, +he puts into his pouch the residual treasure, which is worth twopence +farthing, on an average. He may earn in this way about sevenpence an +hour--not bad wages, but, taken in connection with the nature of the +work, they do not look exceedingly attractive. Here is a safe income, at +any rate--no lottery. A lump of gold, combined with quartz, like that +which has been dragged from California by its lucky finder--a lump worth +more than three thousand pounds--is not a prize attainable in river +washing. That lump, its owner says, he got out of a vein, which vein he +comes to Europe to seek aid in working. Veins of quartz containing gold, +when they occur, directly they cease to be superficial, cease generally +to be very profitable to their owners. But of that we shall have to say +more presently. + +By this time we have had occasion to observe more than once that gold +and quartz are very friendly neighbors. Now, we will make use of the +fact which we have been saving up so long, that when granite +decomposes, quartz, the heaviest material is least easily carried away, +and when carried away is first to be deposited by currents. Gold also, +is very heavy; in its lightest compound, it is twelve times heavier than +water, and pure gold is nineteen times heavier; gold, therefore, when +stirred out of its place by water, will soon settle to the bottom. Very +often gold will not be moved at all, nor even quartz; so gold and quartz +remain, while substances which formerly existed in their neighborhood +are washed away. Or when the whole is swept away together, after the +gold has begun sinking, quartz will soon be sinking too; and so, even in +shingle or alluvial deposits, gold and quartz are apt to occur as +exceedingly close neighbors to each other. + +How the gold forms in those old rocks, we have no right to say. Be it +remembered, that in newer formations it occurs, although more sparingly. +How the gold forms, we do not know. In fact, we have no right to say of +gold that it is formed at all. In the present state of chemistry, gold +is considered as an element, a simple substance, of which other things +are formed, not being itself compounded out of others. In the present +state of our knowledge, therefore--and the metals _may_ really be +elements--we have nothing to trouble ourselves about. Gold being one of +the elements (there are somewhere about forty in all) of which the earth +is built, of course existed from the beginning, and will be found in the +oldest rocks. It exists, like other elements, in combination. It is +combined with iron, antimony, manganese, copper, arsenic, and other +things. But it is one great peculiarity of gold that it is not easily +oxydized or rusted; rust being caused in metals by the action of oxygen +contained in our air. When, therefore, gold, in a compound state, comes +to be superficial, the air acting on the mass will generally oxydize the +other metals, and so act upon them, more especially where water helps, +that in the lapse of time this superficial gold will have been purified +in the laboratory of nature, and may be finally picked up in the pure, +or nearly pure, state; or else it may be washed, equally pure, from the +superficial earth, as is now done in the majority of gold districts. But +deep below the surface, in quartz veins contained within the bowels of a +mountain--though, to be sure, it is not often found in such +positions--gold exists generally in a condition far from pure; the +chemistry of the artisan must do what the chemistry of nature had +effected in the other case; and this involves rather an expensive +process. + +Surface gold is found, comparatively pure, in lumps of very various +sizes, or in rounded grains, or in small scales. In this state it is +found in the Ural district, contained in a mass of coarse gravel, like +that found in the neighborhood of London; elsewhere, it is contained in +a rough shingle, with much quartz; and elsewhere, in a more mud-like +alluvial deposit. The water that has washed it out of its first bed has +not been always a mere mountain torrent, or a river, or a succession of +rains. Gold shingle and sand have been accumulated in many districts, by +the same causes which produced our local drifts, in which the bones of +the mammoth, the rhinoceros, and other extinct quadrupeds occur. + +The nearly pure gold thus deposited in very superficial layers, may be +readily distinguished from all other things that have external +resemblance to it. Gold in this state has always, more or less, its +well-known color, and the little action of the air upon it causes its +particles to glitter, though they be distributed only in minute scales +through a bed of sand. But there are other things that glitter. Scales +of mica, to the eye only, very much resemble gold. But gold is extremely +heavy; twelve or nineteen times heavier than that same bulk of water; +mica is very light: sand itself being but three times heavier than +water. Let, therefore, sand, with glittering scales in it, be shaken +with water, and let us watch the order of the settling. If the scales be +gold they will sink first, and quickly, to the bottom; if they be mica, +they will take their time, and be among the last to sink. It is this +property of gold--its weight--which enables us to obtain it by the +process called gold-washing. Earth containing gold, being agitated in +water, the gold falls to the bottom. Turbid water containing gold, being +poured over a skin, the gold falls and becomes entangled in the hairs; +or such water being poured over a board with transverse grooves, the +gold is caught in the depressions. This is the reason why the Brazilian +searcher looks for a depression in the bottom of the river, and this is +also the origin of those peculiar rich bits occasionally found in the +alluvium of a large gold-field. Where there has been a hollow, as the +water passed it, gold continually was arrested there, forming those +valuable deposits which the Brazilians call Caldeiraos. Sometimes, where +the waters have been arrested in the hollow of a mountain, they have, in +the same way, dropped an excessive store of gold. This quality of +weight, therefore, is of prime importance in the history of gold; it +determined the character of its deposits in the first instance; it +enables us now to extract it easily from its surrounding matter, and +enables us to detect it in a piece of rock, where it may not be +distinctly visible. There are two substances which look exceedingly like +gold;--copper and iron pyrites, substances familiar to most of us. We +need never be puzzled to distinguish them. Gold is a soft metal, softer +than iron, copper, and silver, although harder than tin or lead. It will +scratch tin or lead; but it will be scratched with the other metals. +That is to say, you can scratch gold with a common knife. Now, iron +pyrites is harder than steel, and therefore a knife will fail to scratch +it. Gold and iron pyrites, therefore, need never be mistaken for each +other by any man who has a piece of steel about him. Copper pyrites can +be scratched with steel. But then there is another very familiar +property of gold, by which, in this case, it can be distinguished. Gold +is very malleable; beat on it with a stone, and it will flatten, but not +break; and when it breaks, it shows that it is torn asunder, by the +thready, fibrous nature of its fracture. Beat with a stone on copper +pyrites, and it immediately begins to crumble. No acid, by itself, can +affect gold; but a mixture of one part nitric, and four parts muriatic +acid, is called Aqua Regia, because in this mixture gold does dissolve. +A common test for gold, in commerce, is to put nitric acid over it, +which has no action if the gold be true. There is, also, a hard smooth +stone, called Lydian stone, or flinty jasper, by the mineralogists, and +_touchstone_ by the jewelers, on which gold makes a certain mark; and +the character of the streak made on such a stone will indicate pretty +well the purity or value of the gold that makes it. + +We have said that when the gold occurs in a deep-seated vein, combined +with other minerals, its extraction becomes no longer a simple process. +Let us now point out generally what the nature of this process is, and +then we shall conclude our brief discussion; for what else we might say, +either lies beyond our present purpose, or has been made, by the talking +and writing of the last two years, sufficiently familiar to all +listeners or readers. Mr. Gardner, superintendent of the Royal Botanic +Garden of Ceylon, thus describes the process of extracting gold out of +the mine of Morro Velho. This mine, when St. Hilaire visited it, was +considered as exhausted; it is now one of the richest in Brazil. Thus +Mr. Gardner writes of it: + +"The ore is first removed from its bed by blasting, and it is afterward +broken, by female slaves, into small pieces; after which it is conveyed +to the stamping-machine, to be reduced to powder. A small stream of +water, constantly made to run through them, carries away the pulverized +matter to what is called the Strakes--a wooden platform, slightly +inclined, and divided into a number of very shallow compartments, of +fourteen inches in width, the length being about twenty-six feet. The +floor of each of these compartments is covered with pieces of tanned +hide, about three feet long, and sixteen inches wide, which have the +hair on. The particles of gold are deposited among the hairs, while the +earthy matter, being lighter, is washed away. The greater part of the +gold dust is collected on the three upper, or head skins, which are +changed every four hours, while the lower skins are changed every six or +eight hours, according to the richness of the ore. The sand which is +washed from the head skins is collected together, and amalgamated with +quicksilver, in barrels; while that from the lower skins is conveyed to +the washing-house, and concentrated over strakes of similar construction +to those of the stamping-mill, till it be rich enough to be amalgamated +with that from the head-skins. The barrels into which this rich sand is +put, together with the quicksilver, are turned by water; and the process +of amalgamation is generally completed in the course of forty-eight +hours. When taken out, the amalgam is separated from the sand by +washing. It is then pressed on chamois skins, and the quicksilver is +separated from the gold by sublimation." + +Let us explain those latter processes in more detail. If you dip a gold +ring or a sovereign into quicksilver, it will be silvered by it, and the +silvering will not come off. This union of theirs is called an amalgam. +On a ring or sovereign it is mere silvering; but when the gold is in a +state of powder, and the amalgamation takes place on a complete scale, +it forms a white, doughy mass, in which there is included much loose +quicksilver. This doughy mass is presently washed clear of all +impurities, and is then squeezed in skins or cloths, through the +pores of which loose quicksilver is forced, and saved for future +operations. The rest of the quicksilver is burnt out. Under a +moderately strong heat, quicksilver evaporates, or--to speak more +scientifically--sublimes; and gold does not. The amalgam, therefore, +being subjected to heat, the quicksilver escapes by sublimation, leaving +the gold pure. The quicksilver escapes by sublimation; but its owner +does not wish it quite to escape out of his premises, because it is an +expensive article. Chambers are therefore made over the ovens, in which +the mercury may once again condense, and whence it may be collected +again afterward. But, with all precaution, a considerable waste always +takes place. Other processes are also in use for the separation of gold +from its various alloys. We have described that which is of most +universal application. Let us not omit noting the significance of the +fact, that a quicksilver mine exists in California. + + + + +EYES MADE TO ORDER. + + +Contradictory opinions prevail as to the limits that should be assigned +to the privilege of calling Art to the aid of Nature. To some persons a +wig is the type of a false and hollow age; an emblem of deceit; a device +of ingenious vanity, covering the wearer with gross and unpardonable +deceit. In like manner, a crusade has been waged against the skill of +the dentist--against certain artificial "extents in aid" of symmetry +effected by the milliner. + +The other side argues, in favor of the wig, that, in the social +intercourse of men, it is a laudable object for any individual to +propose to himself, by making an agreeable appearance, to please, rather +than repel his associates. On the simple ground that he would rather +please than offend, an individual, not having the proper complement of +hair and countenance, places a cunningly-fashioned wig upon his head, +artificial teeth in his mouth, and an artificial nose upon his face. A +certain money-lender, it is urged, acknowledged the elevating power of +beauty when he drew a vail before the portrait of his favorite picture, +that he might not see the semblance of a noble countenance, while he +extorted his crushing interest from desperate customers. It is late in +the age, say the pro-wig party, to be called upon to urge the refining +power that dwells in the beautiful; and, on the other hand, the +depression and the coarseness which often attend the constant +contemplation of things unsightly. The consciousness of giving +unpleasant sensations to spectators, haunts all people who are visibly +disfigured. The bald man of five-and-twenty is an unpleasant object; +because premature baldness is unnatural and ugly. Argue the question +according to the strictest rules of formal logic, and you will arrive at +nothing more than that the thing is undoubtedly unpleasant to behold, +and that therefore some reason exists that should urge men to remove it, +or hide it. Undoubtedly, a wig is a counterfeit of natural hair; but is +it not a counterfeit worn in deference to the sense of the world, and +with the view of presenting an agreeable, instead of a disagreeable +object? Certainly. A pinch of philosophy is therefore sprinkled about a +wig, and the wearer is not necessarily a coxcomb. As regards artificial +teeth, stronger pleas--even than those which support wigs--may be +entered. Digestion demands that food should be masticated. Shall, then, +a toothless person be forced to live upon spoon-meat, because artificial +ivories are denounced as sinful? These questions are fast coming to +issue, for Science has so far come to the aid of human nature, that +according to an enthusiastic professor, it will be difficult, in the +course of another century, to tell how or where any man or woman is +deficient. A millennium for Deformity is, it seems, not far distant. M. +Boissonneau of Paris, constructs eyes with such extraordinary precision, +that the artificial eye, we are told, is not distinguishable from the +natural eye. The report of his pretensions will, it is to be feared, +spread consternation among those who hold in abhorrence, and consider +artificial teeth incompatible with Christianity; yet the fact must be +honestly declared, that it is no longer safe for poets to write sonnets +about the eyes of their mistresses, since those eyes may be M. +Boissonneau's. + +The old, rude, artificial eyes are simply oval shells, all made from one +pattern, and differing only in size and in color. No pretension to +artistic or scientific skill has been claimed by the artificial-eye +manufacturer--he has made a certain number of deep blues, light blues, +hazels, and others, according to the state of the eye-market. These rude +shells were constructed mainly with the view of giving the wearer an +almond-shaped eye, and with little regard to its matching the eye in +sound and active service. Artificial eyes were not made to order: but +the patient was left to pick out the eye he would prefer to wear, as he +would pick out a glove. The manufacture was kept a profound mystery, and +few medical men had access to its secrets. The manufacturers sold eyes +by the gross, to retail-dealers, at a low price; and these supplied +patients. Under this system, artificial eyes were only applicable in the +very rare cases of atrophy of the globe; and the effect produced was +even more repulsive than that of the diseased eye. The disease was +hidden by an unnatural and repulsive expression, which it is difficult +to describe. While one eye was gazing intently in your face, the other +was fixed in another direction--immovable, the more hideous because at +first you mistook it for a natural eye. A smile may over spread the +face, animate the lip, and lighten up the natural eye; but there was the +glass eye--fixed, lustreless, and dead. It had other disadvantages: it +interfered with the lachrymal functions, and sometimes caused a tear to +drop in the happiest moments. + +The new artificial eye is nothing more than a plastic skullcap, set +accurately upon the bulb of the diseased eye, so that it moves with the +bulb as freely as the sound eye. The lids play freely over it; the +lachrymal functions continue their healthy action; and the bulb is +effectually protected from currents of cold air and particles of dust. +But these effects can be gained only by modeling each artificial eye +upon the particular bulb it is destined to cover; thus removing the +manufacture of artificial eyes from the hands of clumsy mechanics, to +the superintendence of the scientific artist. Every individual case, +according to the condition of the bulb, requires an artificial eye of a +different model from all previously made. In no two cases are the bulbs +found in precisely the same condition; and, therefore, only the +scientific workman, proceeding on well-grounded principles, can pretend +to practice ocular prothesis with success. The newly-invented shell is +of metallic enamel, which may be fitted like an outer cuticle to the +bulb--the cornea of which is destroyed--and restores to the patient his +natural appearance. The invention, however, will, we fear, increase our +skepticism. We shall begin to look in people's eyes, as we have been +accustomed to examine a luxuriant head of hair, when it suddenly shoots +upon a surface hitherto remarkable only for a very straggling crop. Yet, +it would be well to abate the spirit of sarcasm with which wigs and +artificial teeth have been treated. Undoubtedly, it is more pleasant to +owe one's hair to nature than to Truefit; to be indebted to natural +causes for pearly teeth; and to have sparkling eyes with light in them. +Every man and woman would rather have an aquiline nose than the most +playful pug; no one would exchange eyes agreeing to turn in one +direction, for the pertest squint; or legs observing something +approaching to a straight line, for undecided legs, with contradictory +bends. Hence dumb-bells, shoulder-boards, gymnastic exercises, the +consumption of sugar steeped in Eau-de-Cologne (a French recipe for +imparting brightness to the eyes), ingenious padding, kalydors, odontos, +Columbian balms, bandolines, and a thousand other ingenious devices. +Devices with an object, surely--that object, the production of a +pleasing _personnel_. It is a wise policy to remove from sight the +calamities which horrify or sadden; and, as far as possible, to +cultivate all that pleases from its beauty or its grace. Therefore, let +us shake our friend with the cork-leg by the hand, and, acknowledging +that the imitation is worn in deference to our senses, receive it as a +veritable flesh-and-blood limb; let us accept the wig of our unfortunate +young companion, as the hair which he has lost; let us shut our eyes to +the gold work that fastens the brilliantly white teeth of a young lady, +whose natural dentition has been replaced; and, above all, let us never +show, by sign or word, that the appearance of our friend (who has +suffered tortures, and lost the sight of one eye) is changed after the +treatment invented by M. Boissonneau. + + + + +THE EXPECTANT.--A TALE OF LIFE. + + +When a boy I was sent to school in a country village in one of the +midland counties. Midvale lay on a gentle slope at the foot of a lofty +hill, round which the turnpike-road wound scientifically to diminish the +steepness of the declivity; and the London coach, as it smoked along the +white road regularly at half-past four o'clock, with one wheel dragged, +might be tracked for two good miles before it crossed the bridge over +the brook below and disappeared from sight. We generally rushed out of +the afternoon school as the twanging horn of the guard woke up our quiet +one street; and a fortunate fellow I always thought was Griffith +Maclean, our only day-boarder, who on such occasions would often chase +the flying mail, and seizing the hand of the guard, an old servant of +his uncle's, mount on the roof, and ride as far as he chose for the mere +trouble of walking back again. Our school consisted of between twenty +and thirty boys, under the care of a master who knew little and taught +still less; for having three sermons to preach every Sunday, besides two +on week-days, he had but little leisure to spare for the duties of the +school; and the only usher he could afford to keep was a needy, +hard-working lad, whose poverty and time-worn habiliments deprived him +of any moral control over the boys. This state of things, coupled with +the nervous and irascible temper of the pedagogue, naturally produced a +good deal of delinquency, which was duly scored off on the backs of the +offenders every morning before breakfast. Thus what we wanted in tuition +was made up in flogging; and if the master was rarely in the school, he +made amends for his absence by a vigorous use of his prerogative while +he was there. Griffith Maclean, who was never present on these +occasions, coming only at nine o'clock, was yet our common benefactor. +One by one he had taken all our jackets to a cobbling tailor in the +village, and got them for a trifling cost so well lined with old +remnants of a kind of felt or serge, for the manufacture of which the +place was famous, that we could afford to stand up without wincing, and +even to laugh through our wry faces under the matutinal ceremony of +caning. Further, Griffith was the sole means of communication with the +shopkeepers, and bought our cakes, fruit, and playthings, when we had +money to spend, and would generally contrive to convey a hunch of bread +and cheese from home, to any starving victim who was condemned to +fasting for his transgressions. In return for all this sympathy we could +do no less than relieve Griffith, as far as possible, from the trouble +and 'bother,' as he called it, of study. We worked his sums regularly +for days beforehand, translated his Latin, and read over his lessons +with our fingers as he stood up to repeat them before the master. + +Griffith's mother was the daughter of a gentleman residing in the +neighborhood of Midvale. Fifteen years ago she had eloped with a young +Irish officer--an unprincipled fortune-hunter--who, finding himself +mistaken in his venture, the offended father having refused any portion, +had at first neglected and finally deserted his wife, who had returned +home with Griffith, her only child, to seek a reconciliation with her +parents. This had never been cordially granted. The old man had other +children who had not disobeyed him, and to them, at his death, he +bequeathed the bulk of his property, allotting to Griffith's mother only +a life-interest in a small estate which brought her something less than +a hundred pounds a year. But the family were wealthy, and the fond +mother hoped, indeed fully expected, that they would make a gentlemanly +provision for her only child. In this expectation Griffith was nurtured +and bred; and being reminded every day that he was born a gentleman, +grew up with the notion that application and labor of any sort were +unbecoming the character he would have to sustain. He was a boy of +average natural abilities, and with industry might have cultivated them +to advantage: but industry was a plebeian virtue, which his silly mother +altogether discountenanced, and withstood the attempts, not very +vigorous, of the schoolmaster to enforce. Thus he was never punished, +seldom reproved; and the fact that he was the sole individual so +privileged in a school where both reproof and punishment were so +plentiful, could not fail of impressing him with a great idea of his own +importance. Schoolboys are fond of speculating on their future +prospects, and of dilating on the fancied pleasures of manhood and +independence, and the delights of some particular trade or profession +upon which they have set their hearts; the farm, the forge, the loom, +the counter, the press, the desk, have as eager partisans among the +knucklers at _taw_ as among older children; and while crouching round +the dim spark of fire on a wet winter day, we were wont to chalk out for +ourselves a future course of life when released from the drudgery, as we +thought it, of school. Some declared for building, carpentering, +farming, milling, or cattle-breeding; some were panting for life in the +great city; some longed for the sea and travel to foreign countries; and +some for a quiet life at home amid rural sports and the old family +faces. Above all, Griffith Maclean towered in unapproachable greatness. +"I shall be a gentleman," said he; "if I don't have a commission in the +army--which I am not sure I should like, because it's a bore to be +ordered off where you don't want to go--I shall have an official +situation under government, with next to nothing to do but to see life +and enjoy myself." Poor Griffith! + +Time wore on. One fine morning I was packed, along with a couple of +boxes, on the top of the London coach; and before forty-eight hours had +elapsed, found myself bound apprentice to a hard-working master and a +laborious profession in the heart of London. Seven years I served and +wrought in acquiring the art and mystery, as my indentures termed it, of +my trade. Seven times in the course of this period it was my pleasant +privilege to visit Midvale, where some of my relations dwelt, and at +each visit I renewed the intimacy with my old school-fellow, Griffith. +He was qualifying himself for the life of a gentleman by leading one of +idleness; and I envied him not a little his proficiency in the use of +the angle and the gun, and the opportunity he occasionally enjoyed of +following the hounds upon a borrowed horse. At my last visit, at the end +of my term of apprenticeship, I felt rather hurt at the cold reception +his mother gave me, and at the very haughty, off-hand bearing of +Griffith himself; and I resolved to be as independent as he by giving +him an opportunity of dropping the acquaintance if he chose. I +understood, however, that both he and his mother were still feeding upon +expectation, and that they hoped every thing from General ----, to whom +application had been made on Griffith's behalf, as the son of an +officer, and that they confidently expected a cadetship that would open +up the road to promotion and fortune. The wished-for appointment did not +arrive. Poor Griffith's father had died without leaving that reputation +behind him which might have paved the way for his son's advancement, and +the application was not complied with. This was a mortifying blow to the +mother, whose pride it painfully crushed. Griffith, now of age, proposed +that they should remove to London, where, living in the very source and +centre of official appointments, they might bring their influence to +bear upon any suitable berth that might be vacant. They accordingly left +Midvale and came to town, where they lived in complete retirement upon a +very limited income. I met Griffith accidentally after he had been in +London about a year. He shook me heartily by the hand, was in high +spirits, and informed me that he had at length secured the promise of an +appointment to a situation in S----House, in case T----, the sitting +member, should be again returned for the county. His mother had three +tenants, each with a vote, at her command; and he was going down to +Midvale, as the election was shortly coming off, and would bag a hundred +votes, at least, he felt sure, before polling-day. I could not help +thinking as he rattled away, that this was just the one thing he was fit +for. With much of the air, gait, and manners of a gentleman, he combined +a perfection in the details of fiddle-faddle and small talk rarely to be +met with; and from having no independent opinion of his own upon any +subject whatever, was so much the better qualified to secure the voices +of those who had. He went down to Midvale, canvassed the whole district +with astonishing success, and had the honor of dining with his patron, +the triumphant candidate, at the conclusion of the poll. On his return +to town, in the overflowings of his joy, he wrote a note to me +expressive of his improved prospects, and glorying in the certainty of +at length obtaining an official appointment. I was very glad to hear the +good news, but still more surprised at the terms in which it was +conveyed; the little that Griffith had learned at school he had almost +contrived to lose altogether in the eight or nine years that had elapsed +since he had left it. He seemed to ignore the very existence of such +contrivances as syntax and orthography; and I really had grave doubts as +to whether he was competent to undertake even an official situation in +S---- House. + +These doubts were not immediately resolved. Members of parliament, +secure in their seats, are not precisely so anxious to perform as they +sometimes are ready to promise when their seats seem sliding from under +them. It was very nearly two years before Griffith received any fruit +from his electioneering labors, during which time he had been leading a +life of lounging, do-nothing, dreamy semi-consciousness, occasionally +varied by a suddenly-conceived and indignant remonstrance, hurled in +foolscap at the head of the defalcating member for the county. During +all this time fortune used him but scurvily: his mother's tenants at +Midvale clamored for a reduction of rent; one decamped without payment +of arrears; repairs were necessary, and had to be done and paid for. +These drawbacks reduced the small income upon which they lived, and +sensibly affected the outward man of the gentlemanly Griffith: he began +to look seedy, and occasionally borrowed a few shillings of me when we +casually met, which he forgot to pay. I must do him the credit to say +that he never avoided me on account of these trifling debts, but with an +innate frankness characteristic of his boyhood, continued his friendship +and his confidences. At length the happy day arrived. He received his +appointment, bearing the remuneration of £200 a year, which he devoutly +believed was to lead to something infinitely greater, and called on me +on his way to the office where he was to be installed and indoctrinated +into his function. + +The grand object of her life--the settlement of her son--thus +accomplished, the mother returned to Midvale, where she shortly after +died, in the full conviction that Griffith was on the road to preferment +and fortune. The little estate--upon the proceeds of which she had +frugally maintained herself and son--passed, at her death, into the +hands of one of her brothers, none of whom took any further notice of +Griffith, who had mortally offended them by his instrumentality in +returning the old member for the county, whom it was their endeavor to +unseat. There is a mystery connected with Griffith's tenure of office +which I could never succeed in fathoming. He held it but for six months, +when, probably not being competent to keep it, he sold it to an +advertising applicant, who offered a douceur of £300 for such a berth. +How the transfer was arranged I can not tell, not knowing the recondite +formula in use upon these occasions. Suffice it to say that Griffith had +his £300, paid his little debts, renewed his wardrobe and his +expectations, and began to cast about for a new patron. He was now a +gentleman about town, and exceedingly well he both looked and acted the +character: he had prudence enough to do it upon an economical scale, and +though living upon his capital, doled it out with a sparing hand. As +long as his money lasted he did very well; but before the end of the +third year the bloom of his gentility had worn off, and it was plain +that he was painfully economizing the remnant of his funds. + +About this time I happened to remove to a different quarter of the +metropolis, and lost sight of him for more than a year. One morning, +expecting a letter of some importance, I waited for the postman before +walking to business. What was my astonishment on responding personally +to his convulsive "b'bang," to recognize under the gold-banded hat and +red-collared coat of that peripatetic official the gentlemanly figure +and features of my old schoolfellow Griffith Maclean! + +"What! Griff?" I exclaimed: "is it possible?--can this be you?" + +"Well," said he, "I am inclined to think it is. You see, old fellow, a +man must do something or starve. This is all I could get out of that +shabby fellow T---- and I should not have got this had I not well +worried him. He knows I have no longer a vote for the county. However, I +shan't wear this livery long: there are good berths enough in the +post-office. If they don't pretty soon give me something fit for a +gentleman to do, I shall take myself off as soon as any thing better +offers. But, by George? there is not much time allowed for talking: I +must be off--farewell!" + +Soon after this meeting the fourpenny deliveries commenced; and these +were before long followed by the establishment of the universal +Penny-post. This was too much for Griffith. He swore he was walked off +his legs; that people did nothing upon earth but write letters; that he +was jaded to death by lugging them about; that he had no intention of +walking into his coffin for the charge of one penny; and, finally, that +he would have no more of it. Accordingly he made application for +promotion on the strength of his recommendation, was refused as a matter +of course, and vacated his post for the pleasure of a week's rest, which +he declared was more than it was honestly worth. + +By this time destiny had made me a housekeeper in "merry Islington;" and +poor Griff, now reduced to his shifts, waited on me one morning with a +document to which he wanted my signature, the object of which was to get +him into the police force. Though doubting his perseverance in any +thing, I could not but comply with his desire, especially as many of my +neighbors had done the same. The paper testified only as to character; +and as Griff was sobriety itself, and as it would have required +considerable ingenuity to fasten any vice upon him, I might have been +hardly justified in refusing. I represented to him as I wrote my name, +that should he be successful, he would really have an opportunity of +rising by perseverance in good conduct to an upper grade. "Of course," +said he, "that is my object; it would never do for a gentleman to sit +down contented as a policeman. I intend to rise from the ranks, and I +trust you will live to see me one day at the head of the force." + +He succeeded in his application; and not long after signing his paper I +saw him indued with the long coat, oil-cape, and glazed hat of the +brotherhood, marching off in Indian file for night-duty to his beat in +the H---- Road. Whether the night air disagreed with his stomach, or +whether his previous duty as a postman had made him doubly drowsy, I can +not say, but he was found by the inspector on going his rounds in a +position too near the horizontal for the regulations of the force, and +suspended, after repeated trangression, for sleeping upon a bench under +a covered doorway while a robbery was going on in the neighborhood. He +soon found that the profession was not at all adapted to his habits, and +had not power enough over them to subdue them to his vocation. He +lingered on for a few weeks under the suspicious eye of authority, and +at length took the advice of the inspector, and withdrew from the force. + +He did not make his appearance before me as I expected, and I lost sight +of him for a long while. What new shifts and contrivances he had +recourse to--what various phases of poverty and deprivation he became +acquainted with during the two years that he was absent from my sight, +are secrets which no man can fathom. I was standing at the foot of +Blackfriar's Bridge one morning waiting for a clear passage to cross the +road, and began mechanically reading a printed board, offering to all +the sons of Adam--whom, for the especial profit of the slopsellers, +Heaven sends naked into the world--garments of the choicest broadcloth +for next to nothing, and had just mastered the whole of the +large-printed lie, when my eye fell full upon the bearer of the board, +whose haggard but still gentlemanly face revealed to me the lineaments +of my old friend Griff. He laughed in spite of his rags as our eyes met, +and seized my proffered hand. + +"And what," said I, not daring to be silent, "do they pay you for this?" + +"Six shillings a week," said Griff, "and that's better than nothing." + +"Six shillings and your board of course?" + +"Yes, this board" (tapping the placarded timber); "and a confounded +heavy board it is. Sometimes when the wind takes it, though, I'm +thinking it will fly away with me into the river, heavy as it is." + +"And do you stand here all day?" + +"No, not when it rains: the wet spoils the print, and we have orders to +run under cover. After one o'clock I walk about with it wherever I like, +and stretch my legs a bit. There's no great hardship in it if the pay +was better." + +I left my old playmate better resigned to his lowly lot than I thought +to have found him. It was clear that he had at length found a function +for which he was at least qualified; that he knew the fact; and that the +knowledge imparted some small spice of satisfaction to his mind. I am +happy to have to state that this was the deepest depth to which he has +fallen. He has never been a _sandwich_--I am sure indeed he would never +have borne it. With his heavy board mounted on a stout staff, he could +imagine himself, as no doubt he often did, a standard-bearer on the +battle-field, determined to defend his colors with his last breath; and +his tall, gentlemanly, and somewhat officer-like figure, might well +suggest the comparison to a casual spectator. But to encase his genteel +proportions in a surtout of papered planks, or hang a huge wooden +extinguisher over his shoulders labeled with colored stripes--it would +never have done: it would have blotted out the gentleman, and therefore +have worn away the heart of one whose shapely gentility was all that was +left to him. + +One might have thought, after all the vicissitudes he had passed +through, that the soul of Griffith Maclean was dead to the voice of +ambition. Not so, however. On the first establishment of the +street-orderlies, that chord in his nature spontaneously vibrated once +again. If he could only get an appointment it would be a rise in the +social scale--leading by degrees--who can tell?--to the resumption of +his original status, or even something beyond.... I hear a gentle knock, +a modest, low-toned single dab, at the street-door as I am sitting down +to supper on my return home after the fatigues of business. Betty is in +no hurry to go to the door, as she is poaching a couple of eggs, and +prides herself upon performing that delicate operation in irreproachable +style. "Squilsh!" they go one after another into the saucepan--I hear it +as plainly as though I were in the kitchen. Now the plates clatter; the +tray is loading; and now the eggs are walking up stairs, steaming under +Betty's face, when "dab" again--a thought, only a thought louder than +before--at the street-door. The spirit of patience is outside; and now +Betty runs with an apology for keeping him waiting. "Here's a man wants +to speak to master; says he'll wait if you are engaged, sir; he ain't in +no hurry." "Show him in;" and in walks Griff, again armed with a +document--a petition for employment as a street-orderly, with +testimonials of good character, honesty, and all that. Of course I again +append my signature, without any allusion to the police force. I wish +him all success, and have a long talk over past fun and follies, and +present hopes and future prospects, and the philosophy of poverty and +the deceitfulness of wealth. We part at midnight, and Griff next day +gets the desiderated appointment. + +It is raining hard while I write, and by the same token I know that at +this precise moment Griffith in his glazed hat, and short blouse, and +ponderous mud-shoes, is clearing a channel for the diluted muck of C---- +street, city, and directing the black, oozy current by the shortest cut +to the open grating connected with the common sewer. I am as sure as +though I were superintending the operation, that he handles his peculiar +instrument--a sort of hybrid between a hoe and a rake--with the grace +and air of a gentleman--a grace and an air proclaiming to the world +that though _in_ the profession, whatever it may be called, which he has +assumed, he is not _of_ it, and vindicating the workmanship of nature, +who, whatever circumstances may have compelled him to become, cast him +in the mould of a gentleman. It is said that in London every man finds +his level. Whether Griffith Maclean, after all his vicissitudes, has +found his, I do not pretend to say. Happily for him, he thinks that +fortune has done her worst, and that he is bound to rise on her +revolving wheel as high at least as he has fallen low. May the hope +stick by him, and give birth to energies productive of its realization! + + + + +THE PLEASURES AND PERILS OF BALLOONING. + + +It would appear that, in almost every age, from time immemorial, there +has been a strong feeling in certain ambitious mortals to ascend among +the clouds. They have felt with Hecate-- + + "Oh what a dainty pleasure 'tis + To sail in the air!" + +So many, besides those who have actually indulged in it, have felt +desirous of tasting the "dainty pleasure" of a perilous flight, that we +are compelled to believe that the attraction is not only much greater +than the inducement held out would leave one to expect, but that it is +far more extensive than generally supposed. Eccentric ambition, daring, +vanity, and the love of excitement and novelty, have been quite as +strong impulses as the love of science, and of making new discoveries in +man's mastery over physical nature. Nevertheless, the latter feeling +has, no doubt, been the main-stay, if not the forerunner and father of +these attempts, and has held it in public respect, notwithstanding the +many follies that have been committed. + +To master the physical elements, has always been the great aim of man. +He commenced with earth, his own natural, obvious, and immediate +element, and he has succeeded to a prodigious extent, being able to do +(so far as he knows) almost whatever he wills with the surface; and, +though reminded every now and then by some terrible disaster that he is +getting "out of bounds" has effected great conquests amidst the dark +depths beneath the surface. Water and fire came next in requisition; and +by the process of ages, man may fairly congratulate himself on the +extraordinary extent, both in kind and degree, to which he has subjected +them to his designs--designs which have become complicated and +stupendous in the means by which they are carried out, and having +commensurate results both of abstract knowledge and practical utility. +But the element of air has hitherto been too subtle for all his +projects, and defied his attempts at conquest. That element which +permeates all earthly bodies, and without breathing which the animal +machine can not continue its vital functions--into that grand natural +reservoir of breath, there is every physical indication that it is not +intended man should ascend as its lord. Traveling and voyaging man must +be content with earth and ocean;--the sublime highways of air, are, to +all appearance, denied to his wanderings. + +Wild and daring as was the act, it is no less true that men's first +attempts at a flight through the air were literally with wings. They +conjectured that by elongating their arms with a broad mechanical +covering, they could convert them into wings; and forgetting that birds +possess air-cells, which they can inflate, that their bones are full of +air instead of marrow, and, also, that they possess enormous strength of +sinews expressly for this purpose, these desperate half-theorists have +launched themselves from towers and other high places, and floundered +down to the demolition of their necks, or limbs, according to the +obvious laws and penalties of nature. We do not allude to the Icarus of +old, or any fabulous or remote aspirants, but to modern times. Wonderful +as it may seem, there are some instances in which they escaped with only +a few broken bones. Milton tells a story of this kind in his "History of +Britain;" the flying man being a monk of Malmsbury, "in his youth." He +lived to be impudent and jocose on the subject, and attributed his +failure entirely to his having forgotten to wear a broad tail of +feathers. In 1742 the Marquis de Bacqueville announced that he would fly +with wings from the top of his own house on the _Quai des Theatins_ to +the garden of the _Tuileries_. He actually accomplished half the +distance, when, being exhausted with his efforts, the wings no longer +beat the air, and he came down into the Seine, and would have escaped +unhurt, but that he fell against one of the floating machines of the +Parisian laundresses, and thereby fractured his leg. But the most +successful of all these instances of the extraordinary, however +misapplied, force of human energies and daring, was that of a certain +citizen of Bologna, in the thirteenth century, who actually managed, +with some kind of wing contrivance, to fly from the mountain of Bologna +to the River Reno, without injury. "Wonderful! admirable!" cried all the +citizens of Bologna. "Stop a little!" said the officers of the Holy +Inquisition; "this must be looked into." They sat in sacred conclave. If +the man had been killed, said they, or even mutilated shockingly, our +religious scruples would have been satisfied; but, as he has escaped +unhurt, it is clear that he must be in league with the devil. The poor +"successful" man was therefore condemned to be burnt alive; and the +sentence of the Holy Catholic Church was carried into Christian +execution. + +That flying, however, could be effected by the assistance of some more +elaborate sort of machinery, or with the aid of chemistry, was believed +at an early period. Friar Bacon suggested it; so did Bishop Wilkins, and +the Marquis of Worcester; it was likewise projected by Fleyder, by the +Jesuit Lana, and many other speculative men of ability. So far, however, +as we can see, the first real discoverer of the balloon was Dr. Black, +who, in 1767, proposed to inflate a large skin with hydrogen gas; and +the first who brought theory into practice were the brothers +Montgolfier. But their theory was that of the "fire-balloon," or the +formation of an artificial cloud, of smoke, by means of heat from a +lighted brazier placed beneath an enormous bag, or balloon, and fed with +fuel while up in the air. The Academy of Sciences immediately gave the +invention every encouragement, and two gentlemen volunteered to risk an +ascent in this alarming machine. + +The first of these was Pilâtre de Rosier, a gentleman of scientific +attainments, who was to conduct the machine, and he was accompanied by +the Marquis d'Arlandes, an officer in the Guards. They ascended in the +presence of the Court of France, and all the scientific men in Paris. +They had several narrow escapes of the whole machine taking fire, but +eventually returned to the ground in safety. Both these courageous men +came to untimely ends subsequently. Pilâtre de Rosier, admiring the +success of the balloon afterward made by Professor Charles, and others, +(_viz._, a balloon filled with hydrogen gas), conceived the idea of +uniting the two systems, and accordingly ascended with a large balloon +of that kind, having a small fire-balloon beneath it--the upper one to +sustain the greater portion of the weight, the lower one to enable him +to alter his specific gravity as occasion might require, and thus to +avoid the usual expenditure of gas and ballast. Right in theory--but he +had forgotten one thing. Ascending too high, confident in his theory, +the upper balloon became distended too much, and poured down a stream of +hydrogen gas, in self-relief, which reached the little furnace of the +fire-balloon, and the whole machine became presently one mass of flame. +It was consumed in the air, as it descended, and with it of course, the +unfortunate Pilâtre de Rosier. The untimely fate of the Marquis +d'Arlandes, his companion in the first ascent ever made in a balloon, +was hastened by one of those circumstances which display the curious +anomalies in human nature;--he was broken for cowardice in the execution +of his military duties, and is supposed to have committed suicide. + +If we consider the shape, structure, appurtenances, and capabilities of +a ship of early ages, and one of the present time, we must be struck +with admiration at the great improvement that has been made, and the +advantages that have been obtained; but balloons are very nearly what +they were from the first, and are as much at the mercy of the wind for +the direction they will take. Neither is there at present any certain +prospect of an alteration in this condition. Their so-called "voyage" is +little more than "drifting," and can be no more, except by certain +manoeuvres which obtain precarious exceptions, such as rising to take +the chance of different currents, or lowering a long and weighty rope +upon the earth (an ingenious invention of Mr. Green's, called the "guide +rope"), to be trailed along the ground. If, however, man is ever to be a +flying animal, and to travel in the air whither he listeth, it must be +by other means than wings, balloons, paddle-machines, and aerial +ships--several of which are now building in America, in Paris, and in +London. We do not doubt the mechanical genius of inventors--but the +motive power. We will offer a few remarks on these projects before we +conclude. + +But let us, at all events, ascend into the sky! Taking balloons as they +are, "for better, for worse," as Mr. Green would say--let us for once +have a flight in the air. + +The first thing you naturally expect is some extraordinary sensation in +springing high up into the air, which takes away your breath for a time. +But no such matter occurs. The extraordinary thing is, that you +experience no sensation at all, so far as motion is concerned. So true +is this, that on one occasion, when Mr. Green wished to rise a little +above a dense crowd, in order to get out of the extreme heat and +pressure that surrounded his balloon, those who held the ropes, +misunderstanding his direction, let go entirely, and the balloon +instantly rose, while the aeronaut remained calmly seated, wiping his +forehead with a handkerchief, after the exertions he had undergone in +preparing for the flight, and totally unconscious of what had happened. +He declares that he only became aware of the circumstance, when, on +reaching a considerable elevation (a few seconds are often quite enough +for that), he heard the shouts of the multitude becoming fainter and +fainter, which caused him to start up, and look over the edge of the +car. + +A similar unconsciousness of the time of their departure from earth has +often happened to "passengers." A very amusing illustration of this is +given in a letter published by Mr. Poole, the well-known author, shortly +after his ascent. "I do not despise you," says he, "for talking about a +balloon going up, for it is an error which you share in common with some +millions of our fellow-creatures; and I, in the days of my ignorance, +thought with the rest of you. I know better now. The fact is, we do not +_go up_ at all; but at about five minutes past six on the evening of +Friday, the 14th of September, 1838--at about that time, Vauxhall +Gardens, with all the people in them, _went down_!" What follows is +excellent. "I can not have been deceived," says he; "I speak from the +evidence of my senses, founded upon repetition of the fact. Upon each of +the three or four experimental trials of the powers of the balloon to +enable the people to glide away from us with safety to themselves--down +they all went about thirty feet?--then, up they came again, and so on. +There we sat quietly all the while, in our wicker buck-basket, utterly +unconscious of motion; till, at length, Mr. Green snapping a little +iron, and thus letting loose the rope by which _the earth was suspended +to us_--like Atropos, cutting the connection between us with a pair of +shears--down it went, with every thing on it; and your poor, paltry, +little Dutch toy of a town, (your Great Metropolis, as you insolently +call it), having been placed on casters for the occasion--I am satisfied +of _that_--was gently rolled away from under us."[13] + +Feeling nothing of the ascending motion, the first impression that takes +possession of you in "going up" in a balloon, is the quietude--the +silence, that grows more and more entire. The restless heaving to and +fro of the huge inflated sphere above your head (to say nothing of the +noise of the crowd), the flapping of ropes, the rustling of silk, and +the creaking of the basketwork of the car--all has ceased. There is a +total cessation of all atmospheric resistance. You sit in a silence +which becomes more perfect every second. After the bustle of many moving +objects, you stare before you into blank air. We make no observations on +other sensations--to wit, the very natural one of a certain increased +pulse, at being so high up, with a chance of coming down so suddenly, if +any little matter went wrong. As all this will differ with different +individuals, according to their nervous systems and imaginations, we +will leave each person to his own impressions. + +So much for what you first feel; and now what is the first thing you do? +In this case every body is alike. We all do the same thing. We look over +the side of the car. We do this very cautiously--keeping a firm seat, as +though we clung to our seat by a certain attraction of cohesion--and +then, holding on by the edge, we carefully protrude the peak of our +traveling-cap, and then the tip of the nose, over the edge of the car, +upon which we rest our mouth. Every thing below is seen in so +new a form, so flat, compressed and simultaneously--so much +too-much-at-a-time--that the first look is hardly so satisfactory as +could be desired. But soon we thrust the chin fairly over the edge, and +take a good stare downward; and this repays us much better. Objects +appear under very novel circumstances from this vertical position, and +ascending retreat from them (though it is _they_ that appear to sink and +retreat from us). They are stunted and foreshortened, and rapidly +flattened to a map-like appearance; they get smaller and smaller, and +clearer and clearer. "An idea," says Monck Mason, "involuntarily seizes +upon the mind, that the earth with all its inhabitants had, by some +unaccountable effort of nature, been suddenly precipitated from its +hold, and was in the act of slipping away from beneath the aeronaut's +feet into the murky recesses of some unfathomable abyss below. Every +thing, in fact, but himself, seems to have been suddenly endowed with +motion." Away goes the earth, with all its objects--sinking lower and +lower, and every thing becoming less and less, but getting more and more +distinct and defined as they diminish in size. But, besides the retreat +toward minuteness, the phantasmagoria flattens as it lessens--men and +women are of five inches high, then of four, three, two, one inch--and +now a speck; the Great Western is a narrow strip of parchment, and upon +it you see a number of little trunks "running away with each other," +while the Great Metropolis itself is a board set out with toys; its +public edifices turned into "baby-houses, and pepper-casters, and +extinguishers, and chess-men, with here and there a dish-cover--things +which are called domes, and spires, and steeples!" As for the Father of +Rivers, he becomes a dusky-gray, winding streamlet, and his largest +ships are no more than flat pale decks, all the masts and rigging being +foreshortened to nothing. We soon come now to the shadowy, the +indistinct--and then all is lost in air. Floating clouds fill up all the +space beneath. Lovely colors outspread themselves, ever-varying in tone, +and in their forms or outlines--now sweeping in broad lines--now rolling +and heaving in huge, richly, yet softly-tinted billows--while sometimes, +through a great opening, rift, or break, you see a level expanse of gray +or blue fields at an indefinite depth below. And all this time there is +a noiseless cataract of snowy cloud-rocks falling around you--falling +swiftly on all sides of the car, in great fleecy masses--in small +snow-white and glistening fragments--and immense compound masses--all +white, and soft, and swiftly rushing past you, giddily, and incessantly +down, down, and all with the silence of a dream--strange, lustrous, +majestic, incomprehensible. + +Aeronauts, of late years, have become, in many instances, respectable +and business-like, and not given to extravagant fictions about their +voyages, which now, more generally, take the form of a not very lively +log. But it used to be very different when the art was in its infancy, +some thirty or forty years ago, and young balloonists indulged in +romantic fancies. We do not believe that there was a direct intention to +tell falsehoods, but that they often deceived themselves very amusingly. +Thus, it has been asserted, that when you attained a great elevation, +the air became so rarefied that you could not breathe, and that small +objects, being thrown out of the balloon, could not fall, and stuck +against the side of the car. Also, that wild birds, being taken up and +suddenly let loose, could not fly properly, but returned immediately to +the car for an explanation. One aeronaut declared that his head became +so contracted by his great elevation, that his hat tumbled over his +eyes, and persisted in resting on the bridge of his nose. This assertion +was indignantly rebutted by another aeronaut of the same period, who +declared that, on the contrary, the head expanded in proportion to the +elevation; in proof of which he stated, that on his last ascent he went +so high that his hat burst. Another of these romantic personages +described a wonderful feat of skill and daring which he had performed up +in the air. At an elevation of two miles, his balloon burst several +degrees above "the equator" (meaning, above the middle region of the +balloon), whereupon he crept up the lines that attached the car, until +he reached the netting that inclosed the balloon; and up this netting he +clambered, until he reached the aperture, into which he thrust--not his +head--but his pocket handkerchief! Mr. Monck Mason, to whose +"Aeronautica" we are indebted for the anecdote, gives eight different +reasons to show the impossibility of any such feat having ever been +performed in the air. One of these is highly graphic. The "performer" +would change the line of gravitation by such an attempt: he would never +be able to mount the sides, and would only be like the squirrel in its +revolving cage. He would, however, pull the netting round--the spot +where he clung to, ever remaining the lowest--until having reversed the +machine, the balloon would probably make its _escape_, in an elongated +shape, through the large interstices of that portion of the net-work +which is just above the car, when the balloon is in its proper position! +But the richest of all these romances is the following brief +statement:--A scientific gentleman, well advanced in years (who had +"probably witnessed the experiment of the restoration of a withered pear +beneath the exhausted receiver of a pneumatic machine") was impressed +with a conviction, on ascending to a considerable height in a balloon, +that every line and wrinkle of his face had totally disappeared, owing, +as he said, to the preternatural distension of his skin; and that, to +the astonishment of his companion, he rapidly began to assume the +delicate aspect and blooming appearance of his early youth! + +These things are all self-delusions. A bit of paper or a handkerchief +might cling to the outside of the car, but a penny-piece would, +undoubtedly, fall direct to the earth. Wild birds do not return to the +car, but descend in circles, till, passing through the clouds, they see +whereabouts to go, and then they fly downward as usual. We have no +difficulty in breathing; on the contrary, being "called upon," we sing a +song. Our head does not contract, so as to cause our hat to extinguish +our eyes and nose; neither does it expand to the size of a prize +pumpkin. We see that it is impossible to climb up the netting of the +balloon over-head, and so do not think of attempting it; neither do we +find all the lines in our face getting filled up, and the loveliness of +our "blushing morning" taking the place of a marked maturity. These +fancies are not less ingenious and comical than that of the sailor who +hit upon the means of using a balloon to make a rapid voyage to any part +of the earth. "The earth spins round," said he, "at a great rate, don't +it? Well, I'd go up two or three miles high in my balloon, and then 'lay +to,' and when any place on the globe I wished to touch at, passed +underneath me, down I'd drop upon it." + +But we are still floating high in air. How do we feel all this time? +"Calm, sir--calm and resigned." Yes, and more than this. After a little +while, when you find nothing happens, and see nothing likely to happen +(and you will more especially feel this under the careful conduct of the +veteran Green), a delightful serenity takes the place of all other +sensations--to which the extraordinary silence, as well as the pale +beauty and floating hues that surround you, is chiefly attributable. The +silence is perfect--a wonder and a rapture. We hear the ticking of our +watches. Tick! tick!--or is it the beat of our own hearts? We are sure +of the watch; and now we think we can hear both. + +Two other sensations must, by no means, be forgotten. You become very +cold, and desperately hungry. But you have got a warm outer coat, and +traveling boots, and other valuable things, and you have not left behind +you the pigeon-pie, the ham, cold beef, bottled ale and brandy. + +Of the increased coldness which you feel on passing from a bright cloud +into a dark one, the balloon is quite as sensitive as you can be; and, +probably, much more so, for it produces an immediate change of altitude. +The expansion and contraction which romantic gentlemen fancied took +place in the size of their heads, does really take place in the balloon, +according as it passes from a cloud of one temperature into that of +another. + +We are now nearly three miles high. Nothing is to be seen but pale air +above--around--on all sides, with floating clouds beneath. How should +you like to descend in a parachute?--to be dangled by a long line from +the bottom of the car, and suddenly to be "let go," and to dip at once +clean down through those gray-blue and softly rose-tinted clouds, +skimming so gently beneath us? Not at all: oh, by no manner of +means--thank you! Ah, you are thinking of the fate of poor Cocking, the +enthusiast in parachutes, concerning whom, and his fatal "improvement," +the public is satisfied that it knows every thing, from the one final +fact--that he was killed. But there is something more than that in it, +as we fancy. + +Two words against parachutes. In the first place, there is no use to +which, at present, they can be applied; and, in the second, they are so +unsafe as to be likely, in all cases, to cost a life for each descent. +In the concise words of Mr. Green, we should say--"the best parachute is +a balloon; the others are bad things to have to deal with." + +Mr. Cocking, as we have said, was an enthusiast in parachutes. He felt +sure he had discovered a new, and the true, principle. All parachutes, +before his day, had been constructed to descend in a concave form, like +that of an open umbrella; the consequence of which was, that the +parachute descended with a violent swinging from side to side, which +sometimes threw the man in the basket in almost a horizontal position. +Mr. Cocking conceived that the converse form; viz., an inverted cone (of +large dimensions), would remedy this evil; and becoming convinced, we +suppose, by some private experiments with models, he agreed to descend +on a certain day. The time was barely adequate to his construction of +the parachute, and did not admit of such actual experiments with a +sheep, or pig, or other animal, as prudence would naturally have +suggested. Besides the want of time, however, Cocking equally wanted +prudence; he felt sure of his new principle; this new form of parachute +was the hobby of his life, and up he went on the appointed day (for what +aeronaut shall dare to "disappoint the Public?")--dangling by a rope, +fifty feet long, from the bottom of the car of Mr. Green's great Nassau +Balloon. + +The large upper rim of the parachute, in imitation, we suppose, of the +hollow bones of a bird, was made of hollow tin--a most inapplicable and +brittle material; and besides this, it had two fractures. But Mr. +Cocking was not to be deterred; convinced of the truth of his discovery, +up he would go. Mr. Green was not equally at ease, and positively +refused to touch the latch of the "liberating iron," which was to detach +the parachute from the balloon. Mr. Cocking arranged to do this himself, +for which means he procured a piece of new cord of upward of fifty feet +in length, which was fastened to the latch above in the car, and led +down to his hand in the basket of the parachute. Up they went to a great +height, and disappeared among the clouds. + +Mr. Green had taken up one friend with him in the car; and, knowing well +what would happen the instant so great a weight as the parachute and man +were detached, he had provided a small balloon inside the car, filled +with atmospheric air, with two mouth-pieces. They were now upward of a +mile high. + +"How do you feel, Mr. Cocking?" called out Green. "Never better, or more +delighted in my life," answered Cocking. Though hanging at fifty feet +distance, in the utter silence of that region, every accent was easily +heard. "But, perhaps you will alter your mind?" suggested Green. "By no +means," cried Cocking; "but, how high are we?"--"Upward of a mile."--"I +must go higher, Mr. Green--I must be taken up two miles before I +liberate the parachute." Now, Mr. Green, having some regard for himself +and his friend, as well as for poor Cocking, was determined not to do +any such thing. After some further colloquy, therefore, during which Mr. +Green threw out a little more ballast, and gained a little more +elevation, he finally announced that he could go no higher, as he now +needed all the ballast he had for their own safety in the balloon. "Very +well," said Cocking, "if you really will not take me any higher, I shall +say good-by." + +At this juncture Green called out, "Now, Mr. Cocking, if your mind at +all misgives you about your parachute, I have provided a tackle up here, +which I can lower down to you, and then wind you up into the car by my +little grapnel-iron windlass, and nobody need be the wiser."--"Certainly +not," cried Cocking; "thank you all the same. I shall now make ready to +pull the latch-cord." Finding he was determined, Green and his friend +both crouched down in the car, and took hold of the mouth-pieces of +their little air-balloon. "All ready?" called out Cocking. "All +ready!" answered the veteran aeronaut above. "Good-night, Mr. +Green!"--"Good-night, Mr. Cocking!"--"A pleasant voyage to you, Mr. +Green--good-night!" + +There was a perfect silence--a few seconds of intense suspense--and then +the aeronauts in the car felt a jerk upon the latch. It had not been +forcible enough to open the liberating iron. Cocking had failed to +detach the parachute. Another pause of horrid silence ensued. + +Then came a strong jerk upon the latch, and in an instant, the great +balloon shot upward with a side-long swirl, like a wounded serpent. They +saw their flag clinging flat down against the flag-staff, while a +torrent of gas rushed down upon them through the aperture in the balloon +above their heads, and continued to pour down into the car for a length +of time that would have suffocated them but for the judgmatic provision +of the little balloon of atmospheric air, to the mouth-pieces of which +their own mouths were fixed, as they crouched down at the bottom of the +car. Of Mr. Cocking's fate, or the result of his experiment, they had +not the remotest knowledge. They only knew the parachute was gone! + +The termination of Mr. Cocking's experiment is well known. For a few +seconds he descended quickly, but steadily, and without swinging--as he +had designed, and insisted would be the result--when, suddenly, those +who were watching with glasses below, saw the parachute lean on one +side--then give a lurch to the other--then the large upper circle +collapsed (the disastrous hollow tin-tubing having evidently broken up), +and the machine entered the upper part of a cloud: in a few more seconds +it was seen to emerge from the lower part of the cloud--the whole thing +turned over--and then, like a closed-up broken umbrella, it shot +straight down to the earth. The unfortunate, and, as most people regard +him, the foolish enthusiast, was found still in the basket in which he +reached the earth. He was quite insensible, but uttered a moan; and in +ten minutes he was dead. + +Half a word in favor of parachutes. True, they are of no use "at +present;" but who knows of what use such things may one day be? As to +Mr. Cocking's invention, the disaster seems to be attributable to errors +of detail, rather than of principle. Mr. Green is of opinion, from an +examination of the _broken_ latch-cord, combined with other +circumstances, which would require diagrams to describe satisfactorily, +that after Mr. Cocking had failed to liberate himself the first time, he +twisted the cord round his hand to give a good jerk, forgetting that in +doing so, he united himself to the balloon above, as it would be +impossible to disengage his hand in time. By this means he was violently +jerked into his parachute, which broke the latch-cord; but the tin tube +was not able to bear such a shock, and this caused so serious a +fracture, in addition to its previous unsound condition, that it soon +afterward collapsed. This leads one to conjecture that had the outer rim +been made of strong wicker-work, or whale-bone, so as to be somewhat +pliable, and that Mr. Green had liberated the parachute, instead of Mr. +Cocking, it would have descended to the earth with perfect +safety--skimming the air, instead of the violent oscillations of the old +form of this machine. We conclude, however, with Mr. Green's +laconic--that the safest parachute is a balloon. + +But here we are--still above the clouds! We may assume that you would +not like to be "let off" in a parachute, even on the improved principle; +we will therefore prepare for descending with the balloon. This is a +work requiring great skill and care to effect safely, so as to alight on +a suitable piece of ground, and without any detriment to the voyagers, +the balloon, gardens, crops, &c. + +The valve-line is pulled!--out rushes the gas from the top of the +balloon--you see the flag fly upward--down through the clouds you sink +faster and faster--lower and lower. Now you begin to see dark masses +below--there's the Old Earth again!--the dark masses now discover +themselves to be little forests, little towns, tree-tops, +house-tops--out goes a shower of sand from the ballast-bags, and our +descent becomes slower--another shower, and up we mount again, in search +of a better spot to alight upon. Our guardian aeronaut gives each of us +a bag of ballast, and directs us to throw out its contents when he calls +each of us by name, and in such quantities only as he specifies. +Moreover, no one is suddenly to leap out of the balloon, when it touches +the earth; partly because it may cost him his own life or limbs, and +partly because it would cause the balloon to shoot up again with those +who remained, and so make them lose the advantage of the good descent +already gained, if nothing worse happened. Meantime, the grapnel-iron +has been lowered, and dangling down at the end of a strong rope of a +hundred and fifty feet long. It is now trailing over the ground. Three +bricklayers' laborers are in chase of it. It catches upon a bank--it +tears its way through. Now the three bricklayers are joined by a couple +of fellows in smock-frocks, a policeman, five boys, followed by three +little girls, and, last of all, a woman with a child in her arms, all +running, shouting, screaming, and yelling, as the grapnel-iron and rope +go trailing and bobbing over the ground before them. At last the iron +catches upon a hedge--grapples with its roots; the balloon is arrested, +but struggles hard; three or four men seize the rope, and down we are +hauled, and held fast till the aerial Monster, with many a gigantic +heave and pant, surrenders at discretion, and begins to resign its +inflated robust proportions. It subsides in irregular waves--sinks, +puffs, flattens--dies to a mere shriveled skin; and being folded up, +like Peter Schlemil's shadow, is put into a bag, and stowed away at the +bottom of the little car it so recently overshadowed with its buoyant +enormity. + +We are glad it is all over; delighted, and edified as we have been, we +are very glad to take our supper at the solid, firmly-fixed oak table of +a country inn, with a brick wall and a barn-door for our only prospect, +as the evening closes in. Of etherial currents, and the scenery of +infinite space, we have had enough for the present. + +Touching the accidents which occur to balloons, we feel persuaded that +in the great majority of cases they are caused by inexperience, +ignorance, rashness, folly, or--more commonly than all--the necessities +attending a "show." Once "announced" for a certain day, or _night_ (an +abominable practice, which ought to be prevented)--and, whatever the +state of the wind and weather, and whatever science and the good sense +of an experienced aeronaut may know and suggest of imprudence--up the +poor man must go, simply because the public have paid their money to +see him do it. He must go, or he will be ruined. + +But nothing can more strikingly display the comparative safety which is +attained by great knowledge, foresight, and care, than the fact of the +veteran, Charles Green, being now in the four hundred and eighty-ninth +year of his balloonical age; having made that number of ascents, and +taken up one thousand four hundred and thirteen persons, with no fatal +accident to himself, or to them, and seldom with any damage to his +balloons. + +Nevertheless, from causes over which he had no control, our veteran has +had two or three "close shaves." On one occasion he was blown out to sea +with the Great Nassau balloon. Observing some vessels, from which he +knew he should obtain assistance, he commenced a rapid descent in the +direction of the Nore. The valve was opened, and the car first struck +the water some two miles north of Sheerness. But the wind was blowing +fresh, and, by reason of the buoyancy of the balloon, added to the +enormous surface it presented to the wind, they were drawn through the +water at a speed which set defiance to all the vessels and boats that +were now out on the chase. It should be mentioned, that the speed was so +vehement, and the car so un-boat-like, that the aeronauts (Mr. Green and +Mr. Rush, of Elsenham Hall, Essex) were dragged through, that is +_under_, every wave they encountered, and had a good prospect of being +drowned upon the surface. Seeing that the balloon could not be +overtaken, Mr. Green managed to let go his large grapnel-iron, which +shortly afterward took effect at the bottom, where, by a fortunate +circumstance (for them) there was a sunken wreck, in which the iron took +hold. The progress of the balloon being thus arrested, a boat soon came +up, and relieved the aeronauts; but no boat could venture to approach +the monster balloon, which still continued to struggle, and toss, and +bound from side to side. It would have capsized any boat that came near +it, in an instant. It was impossible to do any thing with it till Mr. +Green obtained assistance from a revenue cutter, from which he solicited +the services of an armed boat, and the crew fired muskets with +ball-cartridge into the rolling Monster, until she gradually sank down +flat upon the waves, but not until she had been riddled with sixty-two +bullet holes. + +So much for perils by sea; but the greatest of all the veteran's dangers +was caused by a diabolical trick, the perpetrator of which was never +discovered. It was as follows: + +In the year 1832, on ascending from Cheltenham, one of those malicious +wretches who may be regarded as half fool and half devil, contrived +partially to sever the ropes of the car, in such a manner as not to be +perceived before the balloon had quited the ground; when receiving, for +the first time, the whole weight of the contents, they suddenly gave +way. Every thing fell out of the car, the aeronauts just having time to +secure a painful and precarious attachment to the hoop. Lightened of its +load, the balloon, with frightful velocity, immediately commenced its +upward course, and ere Mr. Green could obtain possession of the +valve-string, which the first violence of the accident had placed beyond +his reach, attained an altitude of upward of ten thousand feet. Their +situation was terrific. Clinging to the hoop with desperate retention, +not daring to trust any portion of their weight upon the margin of the +car, that still remained suspended by a single cord beneath their feet, +lest that also might give way, and they should be deprived of their only +remaining counterpoise, all they could do was to resign themselves to +chance, and endeavor to retain their hold until the exhaustion of the +gas should have determined the career of the balloon. To complete the +horrors of their situation, the net-work, drawn awry by the awkward and +unequal disposition of the weight, began to break about the upper part +of the machine--mesh after mesh giving way, with a succession of reports +like those of a pistol; while, through the opening thus created, the +balloon began rapidly to ooze out, and swelling as it escaped beyond the +fissure, presented the singular appearance of a huge hour-glass floating +in the upper regions of the sky. After having continued for a +considerable length of time in this condition, every moment expecting to +be precipitated to the earth by the final detachment of the balloon, at +length they began slowly to descend. When they had arrived within about +a hundred feet from the ground, the event they had anticipated at length +occurred; the balloon, rushing through the opening in the net-work with +a tremendous explosion, suddenly made its escape, and they fell to the +earth in a state of insensibility, from which with great difficulty, +they were eventually recovered. + +Apart from the question of dangers, which science, as we have seen, can +reduce to a minimum--and apart also from the question of practical +utility, of which we do not see much at present, yet of which we know +not what may be derived in future--what are the probabilities of +improvement in the art of ballooning, aerostation, or the means of +traveling through the air in a given direction? + +The conditions seem to be these. In order to fly in the air, and steer +in a given direction during a given period, it is requisite to take up a +buoyancy and a power which shall be greater (and continuously so during +the voyage) than needful to sustain its own mechanical weight, together +with that of the aeronauts and their various appurtenances; and as much +also in excess of these requisitions as shall overcome the adverse +action of the wind upon the resisting surface presented by the machine. +At present no such power is known which can be used in combination with +a balloon, or other gas machine. If we could condense electricity, then +the thing might be done; other subtle powers may also be discovered with +the progress of science, but we must wait for them before we can fairly +make definite voyages in the air, and reduce human flying to a practical +utility, or a safe and rational pleasure. + + + + +MY NOVEL; OR, VARIETIES IN ENGLISH LIFE.[14] + + +BOOK VIII.--INITIAL CHAPTER. + +THE ABUSE OF INTELLECT. + +There is at present so vehement a flourish of trumpets, and so +prodigious a roll of the drum, whenever we are called upon to throw up +our hats, and cry "Huzza" to the "March of Enlightenment," that, out of +that very spirit of contradiction natural to all rational animals, one +is tempted to stop one's ears, and say, "Gently, gently; LIGHT is +noiseless; how comes 'Enlightenment' to make such a clatter? Meanwhile, +if it be not impertinent, pray, where is enlightenment marching to?" Ask +that question of any six of the loudest bawlers in the procession, and +I'll wager ten-pence to California that you get six very unsatisfactory +answers. One respectable gentleman, who, to our great astonishment, +insists upon calling himself a "slave," but has a remarkably free way of +expressing his opinions, will reply--"Enlightenment is marching toward +the nine points of the Charter." Another, with his hair _à la jeune +France_, who has taken a fancy to his friend's wife, and is rather +embarrassed with his own, asserts that Enlightenment is proceeding +toward the Rights of Women, the reign of Social Love, and the +annihilation of Tyrannical Prejudice. A third, who has the air of a man +well to do in the middle class, more modest in his hopes, because he +neither wishes to have his head broken by his errand-boy, nor his wife +carried off to an Agapemoné by his apprentice, does not take +Enlightenment a step further than a siege on Debrett, and a cannonade on +the Budget. Illiberal man! the march that he swells will soon trample +_him_ under foot. No one fares so ill in a crowd as the man who is +wedged in the middle. A fourth, looking wild and dreamy, as if he had +come out of the cave of Trophonius, and who is a mesmeriser and a +mystic, thinks Enlightenment is in full career toward the good old days +of alchemists and necromancers. A fifth, whom one might take for a +Quaker, asserts that the march of Enlightenment is a crusade for +universal philanthropy, vegetable diet, and the perpetuation of peace, +by means of speeches, which certainly do produce a very contrary effect +from the Philippics of Demosthenes! The sixth--(good fellow, without a +rag on his back)--does not care a straw where the march goes. He can't +be worse off than he is; and it is quite immaterial to him whether he +goes to the dogstar above, or the bottomless pit below. I say nothing, +however, against the march, while we take it all together. Whatever +happens, one is in good company; and though I am somewhat indolent by +nature, and would rather stay at home with Locke and Burke (dull dogs +though they were), than have my thoughts set off helter-skelter with +those cursed trumpets and drums, blown and dub-a-dubbed by fellows that +I vow to Heaven I would not trust with a five-pound note--still, if I +must march, I must; and so deuce take the hindmost. But when it comes +to individual marchers upon their own account--privateers and +condottieri of Enlightenment--who have filled their pockets with +lucifer-matches, and have a sublime contempt for their neighbors' barns +and hay-ricks, I don't see why I should throw myself into the seventh +heaven of admiration and ecstasy. + +If those who are eternally rhapsodizing on the celestial blessings that +are to follow Enlightenment, Universal Knowledge, and so forth, would +just take their eyes out of their pockets, and look about them, I would +respectfully inquire if they have never met any very knowing and +enlightened gentleman, whose acquaintance is by no means desirable. If +not, they are monstrous lucky. Every man must judge by his own +experience; and the worst rogues I have ever encountered were amazingly +well-informed, clever fellows! From dunderheads and dunces we can +protect ourselves; but from your sharp-witted gentleman, all +enlightenment and no prejudice, we have but to cry, "Heaven defend us!" +It is true, that the rogue (let him be ever so enlightened) usually +comes to no good himself (though not before he has done harm enough to +his neighbors). But that only shows that the world wants something else +in those it rewards, besides intelligence _per se_ and in the abstract; +and is much too old a world to allow any Jack Horner to pick out its +plums for his own personal gratification. Hence a man of very moderate +intelligence, who believes in God, suffers his heart to beat with human +sympathies, and keeps his eyes off your strong-box, will perhaps gain a +vast deal more power than knowledge ever gives to a rogue. + +Wherefore, though I anticipate an outcry against me on the part of the +blockheads, who, strange to say, are the most credulous idolators of +enlightenment, and, if knowledge were power, would rot on a dunghill; +yet, nevertheless, I think all really enlightened men will agree with +me, that when one falls in with detached sharpshooters from the general +march of enlightenment, it is no reason that we should make ourselves a +target, because enlightenment has furnished them with a gun. It has, +doubtless, been already remarked by the judicious reader, that of the +numerous characters introduced into this work, the larger portion belong +to that species which we call the INTELLECTUAL--that through them are +analyzed and developed human intellect, in various forms and directions. +So that this History, rightly considered, is a kind of humble, familiar +Epic, or, if you prefer it, a long Serio-Comedy, upon the varieties of +English Life in this our century, set in movement by the intelligences +most prevalent. And where more ordinary and less refined types of the +species round and complete the survey of our passing generation, they +will often suggest, by contrast, the deficiencies which mere +intellectual culture leaves in the human being. Certainly I have no +spite against intellect and enlightenment. Heaven forbid I should be +such a Goth. I am only the advocate for common sense and fair play. I +don't think an able man necessarily an angel; but I think if his heart +match his head, and both proceed in the Great March under a divine +Oriflamme, he goes as near to the angel as humanity will permit: if not, +if he has but a penn'orth of heart to a pound of brains, I say, +"_Bonjour, mon ange?_ I see not the starry upward wings, but the +groveling cloven-hoof." I'd rather be offuscated by the Squire of +Hazeldean, than enlightened by Randal Leslie. Every man to his taste. +But intellect itself (not in the philosophical, but the ordinary sense +of the term) is rarely, if ever, one completed harmonious agency; it is +not one faculty, but a compound of many, some of which are often at war +with each other, and mar the concord of the whole. Few of us but have +some predominant faculty, in itself a strength; but which (usurping +unseasonably dominion over the rest), shares the lot of all tyranny, +however brilliant, and leaves the empire weak against disaffection +within, and invasion from without. Hence intellect may be perverted in a +man of evil disposition, and sometimes merely wasted in a man of +excellent impulses, for want of the necessary discipline, or of a strong +ruling motive. I doubt if there be one person in the world, who has +obtained a high reputation for talent, who has not met somebody much +cleverer than himself, which said somebody has never obtained any +reputation at all! Men like Audley Egerton are constantly seen in the +great positions of life; while men like Harley L'Estrange, who could +have beaten them hollow in any thing equally striven for by both, float +away down the stream, and, unless some sudden stimulant arouse the +dreamy energies, vanish out of sight into silent graves. If Hamlet and +Polonius were living now, Polonius would have a much better chance of +being Chancellor of the Exchequer, though Hamlet would unquestionably be +a much more intellectual character. What would become of Hamlet? Heaven +knows! Dr. Arnold said, from his experience of a school, that the +difference between one man and another was not mere ability--it was +energy. There is a great deal of truth in that saying. + +Submitting these hints to the judgment and penetration of the sagacious, +I enter on the fresh division of this work, and see already Randal +Leslie gnawing his lip on the back ground. The German poet observes, +that the Cow of Isis is to some the divine symbol of knowledge, to +others but the milch cow, only regarded for the pounds of butter she +will yield. O, tendency of our age, to look on Isis as the milch cow! O, +prostitution of the grandest desires to the basest uses! Gaze on the +goddess, Randal Leslie, and get ready thy churn and thy scales. Let us +see what the butter will fetch in the market. + + +CHAPTER II. + +A new reign has commenced. There has been a general election; the +unpopularity of the Administration has been apparent at the hustings. +Audley Egerton, hitherto returned by vast majorities, has barely escaped +defeat--thanks to a majority of five. The expenses of his election are +said to have been prodigious. "But who can stand against such wealth as +Egerton's--no doubt, backed, too, by the Treasury purse?" said the +defeated candidate. It is toward the close of October; London is already +full; Parliament will meet in less than a fortnight. + +In one of the principal apartments of that hotel in which foreigners may +discover what is meant by English comfort, and the price which +foreigners must pay for it, there sat two persons, side by side, engaged +in close conversation. The one was a female, in whose pale, clear +complexion and raven hair--in whose eyes, vivid with a power of +expression rarely bestowed on the beauties of the north, we recognize +Beatrice, Marchesa di Negra. Undeniably handsome as was the Italian +lady, her companion, though a man, and far advanced into middle age, was +yet more remarkable for personal advantages. There was a strong family +likeness between the two; but there was also a striking contrast in air, +manner, and all that stamps on the physiognomy the idiosyncrasies of +character. There was something of gravity, of earnestness and passion, +in Beatrice's countenance when carefully examined; her smile at times +might be false, but it was rarely ironical, never cynical. Her gestures, +though graceful, were unrestrained and frequent. You could see she was a +daughter of the south. Her companion, on the contrary, preserved on the +fair smooth face, to which years had given scarcely a line or wrinkle, +something that might have passed, at first glance, for the levity and +thoughtlessness of a gay and youthful nature; but the smile, though +exquisitely polished, took at times the derision of a sneer. In his +manners he was as composed and as free from gesture as an Englishman. +His hair was of that red brown with which the Italian painters produce +such marvelous effects of color; and, if here and there a silver thread +gleamed through the locks, it was lost at once amid their luxuriance. +His eyes were light, and his complexion, though without much color, was +singularly transparent. His beauty, indeed, would have been rather +womanly than masculine, but for the height and sinewy spareness of a +frame in which muscular strength was rather adorned than concealed by an +admirable elegance of proportion. You would never have guessed this man +to be an Italian: more likely you would have supposed him a Parisian. He +conversed in French, his dress was of French fashion, his mode of +thought seemed French. Not that he was like the Frenchman of the present +day--an animal, either rude or reserved; but your ideal of the _Marquis_ +of the old _régime_--the _roué_ of the Regency. + +Italian, however, he was, and of a race renowned in Italian history. +But, as if ashamed of his country and his birth, he affected to be a +citizen of the world. Heaven help the world if it hold only such +citizens! + +"But, Giulio," said Beatrice di Negra, speaking in Italian, "even +granting that you discover this girl, can you suppose that her father +will ever consent to your alliance? Surely you know too well the nature +of your kinsman?" + +"_Tu te trompes, ma soeur_," replied Giulio Franzini, Count di +Peschiera, in French as usual--"_tu te trompes_; I knew it before he had +gone through exile and penury. How can I know it now? But comfort +yourself, my too anxious Beatrice; I shall not care for his consent till +I have made sure of his daughter's." + +"But how win that in despite of the father?" + +"_Eh, mordieu!_" interrupted the Count, with true French gayety; "what +would become of all the comedies ever written, if marriages were not +made in despite of the father? Look you," he resumed, with a very slight +compression of his lip, and a still slighter movement in his +chair--"look you, this is no question of ifs and buts; it is a question +of must and shall--a question of existence to you and to me. When Danton +was condemned to the guillotine, he said, flinging a pellet of bread at +the nose of his respectable judge--'_Mon individu sera bientôt dans le +néant_'--_My_ patrimony is there already! I am loaded with debts. I see +before me, on the one side, ruin or suicide; on the other side, wedlock +and wealth." + +"But from those vast possessions which you have been permitted to enjoy +so long, have you really saved nothing against the time when they might +be reclaimed at your hands?" + +"My sister," replied the Count, "do I look like a man who saved? +Besides, when the Austrian Emperor, unwilling to raze from his Lombard +domains a name and a house so illustrious as our kinsman's, and +desirous, while punishing that kinsman's rebellion, to reward my +adherence, forbore the peremptory confiscation of those vast +possessions, at which my mouth waters while we speak, but, annexing them +to the Crown during pleasure, allowed me, as the next of male kin, to +retain the revenues of one half for the same very indefinite period--had +I not every reason to suppose, that, before long, I could so influence +his majesty or his minister, as to obtain a decree that might transfer +the whole, unconditionally and absolutely, to myself? And, methinks, I +should have done so, but for this accursed, intermeddling English +milord, who has never ceased to besiege the court or the minister with +alleged extenuations of our cousin's rebellion, and proofless assertions +that I shared it in order to entangle my kinsman, and betrayed it in +order to profit by his spoils. So that, at last, in return for all my +services, and in answer to all my claims, I received from the minister +himself this cold reply--'Count of Peschiera, your aid was important, +and your reward has been large. That reward, it would not be for your +honor to extend, and justify the ill-opinion of your Italian countrymen, +by formally appropriating to yourself all that was forfeited by the +treason you denounced. A name so noble as yours should be dearer to you +than fortune itself.'" + +"Ah, Giulio!" cried Beatrice, her face lighting up, changed in its whole +character--"those were words that might make the demon that tempts to +avarice, fly from your breast in shame." + +The Count opened his eyes in great amaze; then he glanced round the +room, and said, quietly: + +"Nobody else hears you, my dear Beatrice; talk common sense. Heroics +sound well in mixed society; but there is nothing less suited to the +tone of a family conversation." + +Madame di Negra bent down her head abashed, and that sudden change in +the expression of her countenance, which had seemed to betray +susceptibility to generous emotion, faded as suddenly away. + +"But still," she said, coldly, "you enjoy one half of those ample +revenues--why talk, then, of suicide and ruin?" + +"I enjoy them at the pleasure of the crown; and what if it be the +pleasure of the crown to recall our cousin, and reinstate him in his +possessions?" + +"There is a _probability_, then, of that pardon? When you first employed +me in your researches, you only thought there was a _possibility_." + +"There is a great probability of it, and therefore I am here. I learned +some little time since that the question of such recall had been +suggested by the Emperor, and discussed in Council. The danger to the +State, which might arise from our cousin's wealth, his alleged +abilities--(abilities! bah!)--and his popular name, deferred any +decision on the point; and, indeed, the difficulty of dealing with +myself must have embarrassed the ministry. But it is a mere question of +time. He can not long remain excluded from the general amnesty, already +extended to the other refugees. The person who gave me this information +is high in power, and friendly to myself; and he added a piece of +advice, on which I acted. 'It was intimated,' said he, 'by one of the +partisans of your kinsman, that the exile could give a hostage for his +loyalty in the person of his daughter and heiress; that she had arrived +at marriageable age; that if she were to wed, with the Emperor's +consent, some one whose attachment to the Austrian crown was +unquestionable, there would be a guarantee both for the faith of the +father, and for the transmission of so important a heritage to safe and +loyal hands. Why not' (continued my friend) 'apply to the Emperor for +his consent to that alliance for yourself? you, on whom he can depend; +you who, if the daughter should die, would be the legal heir to those +lands?' On that hint I spoke." + +"You saw the Emperor?" + +"And after combating the unjust prepossessions against me, I stated, +that so far from my cousin having any fair cause of resentment against +me, when all was duly explained to him, I did not doubt that he would +willingly give me the hand of his child." + +"You did!" cried the Marchesa, amazed. + +"And," continued the Count, imperturbably, as he smoothed, with careless +hand, the snowy plaits of his shirt front--"and that I should thus have +the happiness of becoming myself the guarantee of my kinsman's +loyalty--the agent for the restoration of his honors, while, in the eyes +of the envious and malignant, I should clear up my own name from all +suspicion that I had wronged him." + +"And the Emperor consented?" + +"_Pardieu_, my dear sister. What else could his majesty do? My +proposition smoothed every obstacle, and reconciled policy with mercy. +It remains, therefore, only to find out, what has hitherto baffled all +our researches, the retreat of our dear kinsfolk, and to make myself a +welcome lover to the demoiselle. There is some disparity of years, I +own; but--unless your sex and my glass flatter me overmuch--I am still a +match for many a gallant of five-and-twenty." + +The Count said this with so charming a smile, and looked so +pre-eminently handsome, that he carried off the coxcombry of the words +as gracefully as if they had been spoken by some dazzling hero of the +grand old comedy of Parisian life. + +Then interlacing his fingers, and lightly leaning his hands, thus +clasped, upon his sister's shoulder, he looked into her face, and said +slowly--"And now, my sister, for some gentle but deserved reproach. Have +you not sadly failed me in the task I imposed on your regard for my +interests? Is it not some years since you first came to England on the +mission of discovering these worthy relatives of ours? Did I not entreat +you to seduce into your toils the man whom I knew to be my enemy, and +who was indubitably acquainted with our cousin's retreat--a secret he +has hitherto locked within his bosom? Did you not tell me, that though +he was then in England, you could find no occasion even to meet him, but +that you had obtained the friendship of the statesman to whom I directed +your attention as his most intimate associate? And yet you, whose charms +are usually so irresistible, learn nothing from the statesman, as you +see nothing of _milord_. Nay, baffled and misled, you actually supposed +that the quarry has taken refuge in France. You go thither--you pretend +to search the capital--the provinces, Switzerland, _que sais-je?_ all in +vain--though--_-foi de gentilhomme_--your police cost me dearly--you +return to England--the same chase and the same result. _Palsambleu, ma +soeur_, I do too much credit to your talents not to question your zeal. +In a word have you been in earnest--or have you not had some womanly +pleasure in amusing yourself and abusing my trust?" + +"Giulio," answered Beatrice, sadly, "you know the influence you have +exercised over my character and my fate. Your reproaches are not just. I +made such inquiries as were in my power, and I have now cause to believe +that I know one who is possessed of this secret, and can guide us to +it." + +"Ah, you do!" exclaimed the Count. Beatrice did not heed the +exclamation, but hurried on. + +"But grant that my heart shrunk from the task you imposed on me, would +it not have been natural? When I first came to England, you informed me +that your object in discovering the exiles was one which I could +honestly aid. You naturally desired first to know if the daughter lived; +if not, you were the heir. If she did, you assured me you desired to +effect, through my mediation, some liberal compromise with Alphonso, by +which you would have sought to obtain his restoration, provided he would +leave you for life in possession of the grant you hold from the crown. +While these were your objects, I did my best, ineffectual as it was, to +obtain the information required." + +"And what made me lose so important though so ineffectual an ally?" +asked the Count, still smiling; but a gleam that belied the smile shot +from his eye. + +"What! when you bade me receive and co-operate with the miserable +spies--the false Italians--whom you sent over, and seek to entangle this +poor exile, when found, in some rash correspondence, to be revealed to +the court; when you sought to seduce the daughter of the Counts of +Peschiera, the descendant of those who had ruled in Italy, into the +informer, the corrupter, and the traitress! No, Giulio--then I recoiled; +and then, fearful of your own sway over me, I retreated into France. I +have answered you frankly." + +The Count removed his hands from the shoulders on which they had +reclined so cordially. + +"And this," said he, "is your wisdom, and this your gratitude. You, +whose fortunes are bound up in mine--you, who subsist on my bounty--you, +who--" + +"Hold," cried the Marchesa, rising, and with a burst of emotion, as if +stung to the utmost, and breaking into revolt from the tyranny of +years--"Hold--gratitude! bounty! Brother, brother--what, indeed, do I +owe to you? The shame and the misery of a life. While yet a child, you +condemned me to marry against my will--against my heart--against my +prayers--and laughed at my tears when I knelt to you for mercy. I was +pure then, Giulio--pure and innocent as the flowers in my virgin crown. +And now--now--" + +Beatrice stopped abruptly, and clasped her hands before her face. + +"Now you upbraid me," said the Count, unruffled by her sudden passion, +"because I gave you in marriage to a man young and noble?" + +"Old in vices and mean of soul! The marriage I forgave you. You had the +right, according to the customs of our country, to dispose of my hand. +But I forgave you not the consolations that you whispered in the ear of +a wretched and insulted wife." + +"Pardon me the remark," replied the Count, with a courtly bend of his +head, "but those consolations were also conformable to the customs of +our country, and I was not aware till now that you had wholly disdained +them. And," continued the Count, "you were not so long a wife that the +gall of the chain should smart still. You were soon left a widow--free, +childless, young, beautiful." + +"And penniless." + +"True, Di Negra was a gambler, and very unlucky; no fault of mine. I +could neither keep the cards from his hands, nor advise him how to play +them." + +"And my own portion? Oh, Giulio, I knew but at his death why you had +condemned me to that renegade Genoese. He owed you money, and, against +honor, and, I believe, against law, you had accepted my fortune in +discharge of the debt." + +"He had no other way to discharge it--a debt of honor must be paid--old +stories these. What matters? Since then my purse has been open to you?" + +"Yes, not as your sister, but your instrument--your spy! Yes, your purse +has been open--with a niggard hand." + +"_Un peu de conscience, ma chère_, you are so extravagant. But come, be +plain. What would you?" + +"I would be free from you." + +"That is, you would form some second marriage with one of these rich +island lords. _Ma foi_, I respect your ambition." + +"It is not so high. I aim but to escape from slavery--to be placed +beyond dishonorable temptation. I desire," cried Beatrice with increased +emotion, "I desire to re-enter the life of woman." + +"Eno'!" said the Count with a visible impatience, "is there any thing in +the attainment of your object that should render you indifferent to +mine? You desire to marry, if I comprehend you right. And to marry, as +becomes you, you should bring to your husband not debts, but a dowry. Be +it so. I will restore the portion that I saved from the spendthrift +clutch of the Genoese--the moment that it is mine to bestow--the moment +that I am husband to my kinsman's heiress. And now, Beatrice, you imply +that my former notions revolted your conscience; my present plan should +content it; for by this marriage shall our kinsman regain his country, +and repossess, at least, half his lands. And if I am not an excellent +husband to the demoiselle, it will be her own fault. I have sown my wild +oats. _Je suis bon prince_, when I have things a little my own way. It +is my hope and my intention, and certainly it will be my interest, to +become _digne époux et irréproachable père de famille_. I speak +lightly--'tis my way. I mean seriously. The little girl will be very +happy with me, and I shall succeed in soothing all resentment her father +may retain. Will you aid me then--yes or no? Aid me, and you shall +indeed be free. The magician will release the fair spirit he has bound +to his will. Aid me not, _ma chère_, and mark, I do not threaten--I do +but warn--aid me not; grant that I become a beggar, and ask yourself +what is to become of you--still young, still beautiful, and still +penniless? Nay, worse than penniless; you have done me the honor" (and +here the Count, looking on the table, drew a letter from a portfolio, +emblazoned with his arms and coronet), "you have done me the honor to +consult me as to your debts." + +"You will restore my fortune?" said the Marchesa, irresolutely--and +averting her head from an odious schedule of figures. + +"When my own, with your aid, is secured." + +"But do you not overate the value of my aid?" + +"Possibly," said the Count, with a caressing suavity--and he kissed his +sister's forehead. + +"Possibly; but by my honor, I wish to repair to you any wrong, real or +supposed, I may have done you in past times. I wish to find again my own +dear sister. I may overvalue your aid, but not the affection from which +it comes. Let us be friends, _cara Beatrice mia_," added the Count, for +the first time employing Italian words. + +The Marchesa laid her head on his shoulder, and her tears flowed softly. +Evidently this man had great influence over her--and evidently, whatever +her cause for complaint, her affection for him was still sisterly and +strong. A nature with fine flashes of generosity, spirit, honor, and +passion, was hers--but uncultured, unguided--spoilt by the worst social +examples--easily led into wrong--not always aware where the wrong +was--letting affections good or bad whisper away her conscience, or +blind her reason. Such women are often far more dangerous when induced +to wrong, than those who are thoroughly abandoned--such women are the +accomplices men like the Count of Peschiera most desire to obtain. + +"Ah, Giulio," said Beatrice, after a pause, and looking up at him +through her tears, "when you speak to me thus, you know you can do with +me what you will. Fatherless and motherless, whom had my childhood to +love and obey but you?" + +"Dear Beatrice," murmured the Count tenderly--and he again kissed her +forehead. "So," he continued more carelessly--"so the reconciliation is +effected, and our interests and our hearts re-allied. Now, alas, to +descend to business. You say that you know some one whom you believe to +be acquainted with the lurking-place of my father-in-law--that is to +be!" + +"I think so. You remind me that I have an appointment with him this day; +it is near the hour--I must leave you." + +"To learn the secret?--Quick--quick. I have no fear of your success, if +it is by his heart that you lead him?" + +"You mistake; on his heart I have no hold. But he has a friend who loves +me, and honorably, and whose cause he pleads. I think here that I have +some means to control or persuade him. If not--ah, he is of a character +that perplexes me in all but his worldly ambition; and how can we +foreigners influence him through _that_?" + +"Is he poor, or is he extravagant?" + +"Not extravagant, and not positively poor, but dependent." + +"Then we have him," said the Count composedly. "If his assistance be +worth buying, we can bid high for it. _Sur mon âme_, I never yet knew +money fail with any man who was both worldly and dependent. I put him +and myself in your hands." + +Thus saying, the Count opened the door, and conducted his sister with +formal politeness to her carriage. He then returned, reseated himself, +and mused in silence. As he did so, the muscles of his countenance +relaxed. The levity of the Frenchman fled from his visage, and in his +eye, as it gazed abstractedly into space, there was that steady depth so +remarkable in the old portraits of Florentine diplomatist, or Venetian +oligarch. Thus seen, there was in that face, despite all its beauty, +something that would have awed back even the fond gaze of love; +something hard, collected, inscrutable, remorseless, but this change of +countenance did not last long. Evidently, thought, though intense for +the moment, was not habitual to the man. Evidently, he had lived the +life which takes all things lightly--so he rose with a look of fatigue, +shook and stretched himself, as if to cast off, or grow out of an +unwelcome and irksome mood. An hour afterward, the Count of Peschiera +was charming all eyes, and pleasing all ears, in the saloon of a +high-born beauty, whose acquaintance he had made at Vienna, and whose +charms, according to that old and never truth-speaking oracle, Polite +Scandal, were now said to have attracted to London the brilliant +foreigner. + + +CHAPTER III. + +The Marchesa regained her house, which was in Curzon-street, and +withdrew to her own room, to re-adjust her dress, and remove from her +countenance all trace of the tears she had shed. + +Half-an-hour afterward she was seated in her drawing-room, composed and +calm; nor, seeing her then, could you have guessed that she was capable +of so much emotion and so much weakness. In that stately exterior, in +that quiet attitude, in that elaborate and finished elegance which comes +alike from the arts of the toilet and the conventional repose of rank, +you could see but the woman of the world and the great lady. + +A knock at the door was heard, and in a few moments there entered a +visitor, with the easy familiarity of intimate acquaintance--a young +man, but with none of the bloom of youth. His hair, fine as a woman's, +was thin and scanty, but it fell low over the forehead, and concealed +that noblest of our human features. "A gentleman," says Apuleius, +"ought, if he can, to wear his whole mind on his forehead."[15] The +young visitor would never have committed so frank an imprudence. His +cheek was pale, and in his step and his movements there was a languor +that spoke of fatigued nerves or delicate health. But the light of the +eye and the tone of the voice were those of a mental temperament +controlling the bodily--vigorous and energetic. For the rest his general +appearance was distinguished by a refinement alike intellectual and +social. Once seen, you would not easily forget him. And the reader no +doubt already recognizes Randal Leslie. His salutation, as I before +said, was that of intimate familiarity; yet it was given and replied to +with that unreserved openness which denotes the absence of a more tender +sentiment. + +Seating himself by the Marchesa's side, Randal began first to converse +on the fashionable topics and gossip of the day; but it was observable, +that, while he extracted from her the current anecdote and scandal of +the great world, neither anecdote nor scandal did he communicate in +return. Randal Leslie had already learned the art not to commit himself, +not to have quoted against him one ill-natured remark upon the eminent. +Nothing more injures the man who would rise beyond the fame of the +_salons_, than to be considered a backbiter and gossip; "yet it is +always useful," thought Randal Leslie, "to know the foibles--the small +social and private springs by which the great are moved. Critical +occasions may arise in which such knowledge may be power." And hence, +perhaps (besides a more private motive, soon to be perceived), Randal +did not consider his time thrown away in cultivating Madame di Negra's +friendship. For despite much that was whispered against her, she had +succeeded in dispelling the coldness with which she had at first been +received in the London circles. Her beauty, her grace, and her high +birth, had raised her into fashion, and the homage of men of the first +station, while it perhaps injured her reputation as woman, added to her +celebrity as fine lady. So much do we cold English, prudes though we be, +forgive to the foreigner what we avenge on the native. + +Sliding at last from these general topics into very well-bred and +elegant personal compliment, and reciting various eulogies, which Lord +this the Duke of that had passed on the Marchesa's charms, Randal laid +his hand on hers, with the license of admitted friendship, and said-- + +"But since you have deigned to confide in me, since when (happily for +me, and with a generosity of which no coquette could have been capable) +you, in good time, repressed into friendship feelings that might else +have ripened into those you are formed to inspire and disdain to return, +you told me with your charming smile, 'Let no one speak to me of love +who does not offer me his hand, and with it the means to supply tastes +that I fear are terribly extravagant;' since thus you allowed me to +divine your natural objects, and upon that understanding our intimacy +has been founded, you will pardon me for saying that the admiration you +excite among the _grands seigneurs_ I have named, only serves to defeat +your own purpose, and scare away admirers less brilliant, but more in +earnest. Most of these gentlemen are unfortunately married; and they who +are not belong to those members of our aristocracy who, in marriage, +seek more than beauty and wit--namely, connections to strengthen their +political station, or wealth to redeem a mortgage and sustain a title." + +"My dear Mr. Leslie," replied the Marchesa--and a certain sadness might +be detected in the tone of the voice and the droop of the eye--"I have +lived long enough in the real world to appreciate the baseness and the +falsehood of most of those sentiments which take the noblest names. I +see through the hearts of the admirers you parade before me, and know +that not one of them would shelter with his ermine the woman to whom he +talks of his heart. Ah," continued Beatrice, with a softness of which +she was unconscious, but which might have been extremely dangerous to +youth less steeled and self-guarded than was Randal Leslie's--"ah, I am +less ambitious than you suppose. I have dreamed of a friend, a +companion, a protector, with feelings still fresh, undebased by the low +round of vulgar dissipation and mean pleasures--of a heart so new, that +it might restore my own to what it was in its happy spring. I have seen +in your country some marriages, the mere contemplation of which has +filled my eyes with delicious tears. I have learned in England to know +the value of home. And with such a heart as I describe, and such a home, +I could forget that I ever knew a less pure ambition." + +"This language does not surprise me," said Randal; "yet it does not +harmonize with your former answer to me." + +"To you," repeated Beatrice, smiling, and regaining her lighter manner; +"to you--true. But I never had the vanity to think that your affection +for me could bear the sacrifices it would cost you in marriage; that +you, with your ambition, could bound your dreams of happiness to home. +And then, too," said she, raising her head, and with a certain grave +pride in her air--"and _then_, I could not have consented to share my +fate with one whom my poverty would cripple. I could not listen to my +heart, if it had beat for a lover without fortune, for to him I could +then have brought but a burden, and betrayed him into a union with +poverty and debt. _Now_, it may be different. Now I may have the dowry +that befits my birth. And now I may be free to choose according to my +heart as woman, not according to my necessities, as one poor, harassed, +and despairing." + +"Ah," said Randal, interested, and drawing still closer toward his fair +companion--"ah, I congratulate you sincerely; you have cause, then, to +think that you shall be--rich?" + +The Marchesa paused before she answered, and during that pause Randal +relaxed the web of the scheme which he had been secretly weaving, and +rapidly considered whether, if Beatrice di Negra would indeed be rich, +she might answer to himself as a wife; and in what way, if so, he had +best change his tone from that of friendship into that of love. While +thus reflecting, Beatrice answered: + +"Not rich for an Englishwoman; for an Italian, yes. My fortune should be +half a million--" + +"Half a million!" cried Randal, and with difficulty he restrained +himself from falling at her feet in adoration. + +"Of francs!" continued the Marchesa. + +"Francs! Ah," said Randal, with a long-drawn breath, and recovering from +his sudden enthusiasm, "about twenty thousand pounds!--eight hundred a +year at four per cent. A very handsome portion, certainly--(Genteel +poverty! he murmured to himself. What an escape I have had! but I see--I +see. This will smooth all difficulties in the way of my better and +earlier project. I see)--a very handsome portion," he repeated +aloud--"not for a _grand seigneur_, indeed, but still for a gentleman of +birth and expectations worthy of your choice, if ambition be not your +first object. Ah, while you spoke with such endearing eloquence of +feelings that were fresh, of a heart that was new, of the happy English +home, you might guess that my thoughts ran to my friend who loves you so +devotedly, and who so realizes your ideal. Providentially, with us, +happy marriages and happy homes are found not in the gay circles of +London fashion, but at the hearths of our rural nobility--our untitled +country gentlemen. And who, among all your adorers, can offer you a lot +so really enviable as the one whom, I see by your blush, you already +guess that I refer to?" + +"Did I blush?" said the Marchesa, with a silvery laugh. "Nay, I think +that your zeal for your friend misled you. But I will own frankly, I +have been touched by his honest, ingenuous love--so evident, yet rather +looked than spoken. I have contrasted the love that honors me, with the +suitors that seek to degrade; more I can not say. For though I grant +that your friend is handsome, high-spirited, and generous, still he is +not what--" + +"You mistake, believe me," interrupted Randal. "You shall not finish +your sentence. He _is_ all that you do not yet suppose him; for his +shyness, and his very love, his very respect for your superiority, do +not allow his mind and his nature to appear to advantage. You, it is +true, have a taste for letters and poetry rare among your countrywomen. +He has not at present--few men have. But what Cimon would not be refined +by so fair an Iphigenia? Such frivolities as he now shows belong but to +youth and inexperience of life. Happy the brother who could see his +sister the wife of Frank Hazeldean." + +The Marchesa bent her cheek on her hand in silence. To her, marriage was +more than it usually seems to dreaming maiden or to disconsolate widow. +So had the strong desire to escape from the control of her unprincipled +and remorseless brother grown a part of her very soul--so had whatever +was best and highest in her very mixed and complex character been galled +and outraged by her friendless and exposed position, the equivocal +worship rendered to her beauty, the various debasements to which +pecuniary embarrassments had subjected her--not without design on the +part of the Count, who though grasping, was not miserly, and who by +precarious and seemingly capricious gifts at one time, and refusals of +all aid at another, had involved her in debt in order to retain his hold +on her--so utterly painful and humiliating to a woman of her pride and +her birth was the station that she held in the world--that in marriage +she saw liberty, life, honor, self-redemption; and these thoughts while +they compelled her to co-operate with the schemes by which the Count, on +securing to himself a bride, was to bestow on herself a dower, also +disposed her now to receive with favor Randal Leslie's pleadings on +behalf of his friend. + +The advocate saw that he had made an impression, and with the marvelous +skill which his knowledge of those natures that engaged his study +bestowed on his intelligence, he continued to improve his cause by such +representations as were likely to be most effective. With what admirable +tact he avoided panegyric of Frank as the mere individual, and drew him +rather as the type, the ideal of what a woman in Beatrice's position +might desire in the safety, peace, and honor of a home, in the trust and +constancy, and honest confiding love of its partner! He did not paint an +elysium; he described a haven; he did not glowingly delineate a hero of +romance--he soberly portrayed that representative of the Respectable and +the Real which a woman turns to when romance begins to seem to her but +delusion. Verily, if you could have looked into the heart of the person +he addressed, and heard him speak, you would have cried admiringly, +"Knowledge _is_ power; and this man, if as able on a larger field of +action, should play no mean part in the history of his time." + +Slowly Beatrice roused herself from the reveries which crept over her as +he spoke--slowly, and with a deep sigh, and said, + +"Well, well, grant all you say; at least before I can listen to so +honorable a love, I must be relieved from the base and sordid pressure +that weighs on me. I can not say to the man who wooes me, 'Will you pay +the debts of the daughter of Franzini, and the widow of di Negra?'" + +"Nay, your debts, surely, make so slight a portion of your dowry." + +"But the dowry has to be secured;" and here, turning the tables upon her +companion, as the apt proverb expresses it, Madame di Negra extended her +hand to Randal, and said in her most winning accents, "You are, then, +truly and sincerely my friend?" + +"Can you doubt it?" + +"I prove that I do not, for I ask your assistance." + +"Mine? How?" + +"Listen; my brother has arrived in London--" + +"I see that arrival announced in the papers." + +"And he comes, empowered by the consent of the Emperor, to ask the hand +of a relation and countrywoman of his; an alliance that will heal long +family dissensions, and add to his own fortunes those of an heiress. My +brother, like myself, has been extravagant. The dowry which by law he +still owes me it would distress him to pay till this marriage be +assured." + +"I understand," said Randal. "But how can I aid this marriage?" + +"By assisting us to discover the bride. She, with her father, sought +refuge and concealment in England." + +"The father had, then, taken part in some political disaffections, and +was proscribed?" + +"Exactly so; and so well has he concealed himself that he has baffled +all our efforts to discover his retreat. My brother can obtain him his +pardon in cementing this alliance--" + +"Proceed." + +"Ah, Randal, Randal, is this the frankness of friendship? You know that +I have before sought to obtain the secret of our relation's +retreat--sought in vain to obtain it from Mr. Egerton who assuredly +knows it--" + +"But who communicates no secrets to living man," said Randal, almost +bitterly; "who, close and compact as iron, is as little malleable to me +as to you." + +"Pardon me. I know you so well that I believe you could attain to any +secret you sought earnestly to acquire. Nay, more, I believe that you +know already that secret which I ask you to share with me." + +"What on earth makes you think so?" + +"When, some weeks ago, you asked me to describe the personal appearance +and manners of the exile, which I did partly from the recollections of +my childhood, partly from the description given to me by others, I could +not but notice your countenance, and remark its change; in spite," said +the Marchesa, smiling and watching Randal while she spoke--"in spite of +your habitual self-command. And when I pressed you to own that you had +actually seen some one who tallied with that description, your denial +did not deceive me. Still more, when returning recently, of your own +accord, to the subject, you questioned me so shrewdly as to my motives +in seeking the clew to our refugees, and I did not then answer you +satisfactorily, I could detect--" + +"Ha, ha," interrupted Randal, with the low soft laugh by which +occasionally he infringed upon Lord Chesterfield's recommendation to +shun a merriment so natural as to be ill-bred--"ha, ha, you have the +fault of all observers too minute and refined. But even granting that I +may have seen some Italian exiles (which is likely enough), what could +be more simple than my seeking to compare your description with their +appearance; and granting that I might suspect some one among them to be +the man you search for, what more simple, also, than that I should +desire to know if you meant him harm or good in discovering his +'whereabout?' For ill," added Randal, with an air of prudery, "ill would +it become me to betray, even to friendship, the retreat of one who would +hide from persecution; and even if I did so--for honor itself is a weak +safeguard against your fascinations--such indiscretion might be fatal to +my future career." + +"How?" + +"Do you not say that Egerton knows the secret, yet will not +communicate?--and is he a man who would ever forgive in me an imprudence +that committed himself? My dear friend, I will tell you more. When +Audley Egerton first noticed my growing intimacy with you, he said, with +his usual dryness of counsel, 'Randal, I do not ask you to discontinue +acquaintance with Madame di Negra--for an acquaintance with women like +her, forms the manners and refines the intellect; but charming women are +dangerous, and Madame di Negra is--a charming woman.'" + +The Marchesa's face flushed. Randal resumed: "'Your fair acquaintance' +(I am still quoting Egerton) 'seeks to discover the home of a countryman +of hers. She suspects that I know it. She may try to learn it through +you. Accident may possibly give you the information she requires. Beware +how you betray it. By one such weakness I should judge of your general +character. He from whom a woman can extract a secret will never be fit +for public life.' Therefore, my dear Marchesa, even supposing I possess +this secret, you would be no true friend of mine to ask me to reveal +what would emperil all my prospects. For as yet," added Randal, with a +gloomy shade on his brow--"as yet I do not stand alone and erect--I +_lean_; I am dependent." + +"There may be a way," replied Madame di Negra, persisting, "to +communicate this intelligence, without the possibility of Mr. Egerton's +tracing our discovery to yourself; and, though I will not press you +further, I add this--You urge me to accept your friend's hand; you seem +interested in the success of his suit, and you plead it with a warmth +that shows how much you regard what you suppose is his happiness; I will +never accept his hand till I can do so without blush for my penury--till +my dowry is secured, and that can only be by my brother's union with the +exile's daughter. For your friend's sake, therefore, think well how you +can aid me in the first step to that alliance. The young lady once +discovered, and my brother has no fear for the success of his suit." + +"And you would marry Frank, if the dower was secured?" + +"Your arguments in his favor seem irresistible," replied Beatrice, +looking down. + +A flash went from Randal's eyes, and he mused a few moments. + +Then slowly rising, and drawing on his gloves, he said, + +"Well, at least you so far reconcile my honor toward aiding your +research, that you now inform me you mean no ill to the exile." + +"Ill!--the restoration to fortune, honors, his native land." + +"And you so far enlist my heart on your side, that you inspire me with +the hope to contribute to the happiness of two friends whom I dearly +love. I will, therefore, diligently seek to ascertain if, among the +refugees I have met with, lurk those whom you seek; and if so, I will +thoughtfully consider how to give you the clew. Meanwhile, not one +incautious word to Egerton." + +"Trust me--I am a woman of the world." + +Randal now had gained the door. He paused, and renewed carelessly, + +"This young lady must be heiress to great wealth, to induce a man of +your brother's rank to take so much pains to discover her." + +"Her wealth _will_ be vast," replied the Marchesa; "and if any thing +from wealth or influence in a foreign state could be permitted to prove +my brother's gratitude--" + +"Ah, fie," interrupted Randal, and approaching Madame di Negra, he +lifted her hand to his lips, and said gallantly, + +"This is reward enough to your _preux chevalier_." + +With those words he took his leave. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +With his hands behind him, and his head drooping on his breast--slow, +stealthy, noiseless, Randal Leslie glided along the streets on leaving +the Italian's house. Across the scheme he had before revolved, there +glanced another yet more glittering, for its gain might be more sure and +immediate. If the exile's daughter were heiress to such wealth, might he +himself hope--. He stopped short even in his own soliloquy, and his +breath came quick. Now, in his last visit to Hazeldean, he had come in +contact with Riccabocca, and been struck by the beauty of Violante. A +vague suspicion had crossed him that these might be the persons of whom +the Marchesa was in search, and the suspicion had been confirmed by +Beatrice's description of the refugee she desired to discover. But as he +had not then learned the reason for her inquiries, nor conceived the +possibility that he could have any personal interest in ascertaining the +truth, he had only classed the secret in question among those the +further research into which might be left to time and occasion. +Certainly the reader will not do the unscrupulous intellect of Randal +Leslie the injustice to suppose that he was deterred from confiding to +his fair friend all that he knew of Riccabocca, by the refinement of +honor to which he had so chivalrously alluded. He had correctly stated +Audley Egerton's warning against any indiscreet confidence, though he +had forborne to mention a more recent and direct renewal of the same +caution. His first visit to Hazeldean had been paid without consulting +Egerton. He had been passing some days at his father's house and had +gone over thence to the Squire's. On his return to London, he had, +however, mentioned this visit to Audley, who had seemed annoyed and even +displeased at it, though Randal well knew sufficient of Egerton's +character to know that such feeling could scarce be occasioned merely by +his estrangement from his half brother. This dissatisfaction had, +therefore, puzzled the young man. But as it was necessary to his views +to establish intimacy with the Squire, he did not yield the point with +his customary deference to his patron's whims. He, therefore, observed +that he should be very sorry to do any thing displeasing to his +benefactor, but that his father had been naturally anxious that he +should not appear positively to slight the friendly overtures of Mr. +Hazeldean. + +"Why naturally?" asked Egerton. + +"Because you know that Mr. Hazeldean is a relation of mine--that my +grandmother was a Hazeldean." + +"Ah!" said Egerton, who, as it has been before said, knew little, and +cared less, about the Hazeldean pedigree, "I was either not aware of +that circumstance, or had forgotten it. And your father thinks that the +Squire may leave you a legacy?" + +"Oh, sir, my father is not so mercenary--such an idea never entered his +head. But the Squire himself has indeed said, 'Why, if any thing +happened to Frank, you would be next heir to my lands, and therefore we +ought to know each other.' But--" + +"Enough," interrupted Egerton, "I am the last man to pretend to the +right of standing between you and a single chance of fortune, or of aid +to it. And whom did you meet at Hazeldean?" + +"There was no one there, sir; not even Frank." + +"Hum. Is the Squire not on good terms with his parson? Any quarrel about +tithes?" + +"Oh, no quarrel. I forgot Mr. Dale; I saw him pretty often. He admires +and praises you very much, sir." + +"Me--and why? What did he say of me?" + +"That your heart was as sound as your head; that he had once seen you +about some old parishioners of his; and that he had been much impressed +with a depth of feeling he could not have anticipated in a man of the +world, and a statesman." + +"Oh, that was all; some affair when I was member for Lansmere?" + +"I suppose so." + +Here the conversation was broken off; but the next time Randal was led +to visit the Squire he had formally asked Egerton's consent, who, after +a moment's hesitation, had as formally replied, "I have no objection." + +On returning from this visit, Randal mentioned that he had seen +Riccabocca; and Egerton, a little startled at first, said composedly, +"Doubtless one of the political refugees; take care not to set Madame di +Negra on his track. Remember, she is suspected of being a spy of the +Austrian government." + +"Rely on me, sir," said Randal; "but I should think this poor Doctor can +scarcely be the person she seeks to discover?" + +"That is no affair of ours," answered Egerton; "we are English +gentlemen, and make not a step toward the secrets of another." + +Now, when Randal revolved this rather ambiguous answer, and recalled the +uneasiness with which Egerton had first heard of his visit to Hazeldean, +he thought that he was indeed near the secret which Egerton desired to +conceal from him and from all--viz., the incognito of the Italian whom +Lord L'Estrange had taken under his protection. + +"My cards," said Randal to himself, as, with a deep-drawn sigh, he +resumed his soliloquy, "are becoming difficult to play. On the one hand, +to entangle Frank into marriage with this foreigner, the Squire would +never forgive him. On the other hand, if she will not marry him without +the dowry--and that depends on her brother's wedding this +countrywoman--and that countrywoman be, as I surmise, Violante--and +Violante be this heiress, and to be won by me! Tush, tush. Such delicate +scruples in a woman so placed and so constituted as Beatrice di Negra, +must be easily talked away. Nay, the loss itself of this alliance to her +brother, the loss of her own dowry--the very pressure of poverty and +debt--would compel her into the sole escape left to her option. I will +then follow up the old plan; I will go down to Hazeldean, and see if +there be any substance in the new one; and then to reconcile +both--aha--the House of Leslie shall rise yet from its ruin--and--" + +Here he was startled from his reverie by a friendly slap on the +shoulder, and an exclamation--"Why, Randal, you are more absent than +when you used to steal away from the cricket-ground, muttering Greek +verses at Eton." + +"My dear Frank," said Randal, "you--you are so _brusque_, and I was just +thinking of you." + +"Were you? And kindly, then, I am sure," said Frank Hazeldean, his +honest, handsome face lighted up with the unsuspecting genial trust of +friendship; "and heaven knows," he added, with a sadder voice, and a +graver expression on his eye and lip--"Heaven knows I want all the +kindness you can give me!" + +"I thought," said Randal, "that your father's last supply, of which I +was fortunate enough to be the bearer, would clear off your more +pressing debts. I don't pretend to preach, but really I must say once +more, you should not be so extravagant." + +FRANK (seriously).--"I have done my best to reform. I have sold off my +horses, and I have not touched dice nor card these six months; I would +not even put into the raffle for the last Derby." This last was said +with the air of a man who doubted the possibility of obtaining belief to +some assertion of preternatural abstinence and virtue. + +RANDAL.--"Is it possible? But, with such self-conquest, how is it that +you can not contrive to live within the bounds of a very liberal +allowance?" + +FRANK (despondingly).--"Why, when a man once gets his head under water, +it is so hard to float back again on the surface. You see, I attribute +all my embarrassments to that first concealment of my debts from my +father, when they could have been so easily met, and when he came up to +town so kindly." + +"I am sorry, then, that I gave you that advice." + +"Oh, you meant it so kindly, I don't reproach you; it was all my own +fault." + +"Why, indeed, I did urge you to pay off that moiety of your debts left +unpaid, with your allowance. Had you done so, all had been well." + +"Yes, but poor Borrowwell got into such a scrape at Goodwood; I could +not resist him--a debt of honor, _that_ must be paid; so when I signed +another bill for him, he could not pay it, poor fellow: really he would +have shot himself, if I had not renewed it; and now it is swelled to +such an amount with that cursed interest, that _he_ never can pay it; +and one bill, of course, begets another, and to be renewed every three +months; 'tis the devil and all! So little as I ever got for all I have +borrowed," added Frank with a kind of rueful amaze. "Not £1500 ready +money; and it would cost me almost as much yearly--if I had it." + +"Only £1500." + +"Well, besides seven large chests of the worst cigars you ever smoked; +three pipes of wine that no one would drink, and a great bear, that had +been imported from Greenland for the sake of its grease." + +"That should at least have saved you a bill with your hairdresser." + +"I paid his bill with it," said Frank, "and very good-natured he was to +take the monster off my hands; it had already hugged two soldiers and +one groom into the shape of a flounder. I tell you what," resumed Frank, +after a short pause, "I have a great mind even now to tell my father +honestly all my embarrassments." + +RANDAL (solemnly).--"Hum!" + +FRANK.--"What? don't you think it would be the best way? I never can +save enough--never can pay off what I owe; and it rolls like a +snowball." + +RANDAL.--"Judging by the Squire's talk, I think that with the first +sight of your affairs you would forfeit his favor forever; and your +mother would be so shocked, especially after supposing that the sum I +brought you so lately sufficed to pay off every claim on you. If you had +not assured her of that, it might be different; but she who so hates an +untruth, and who said to the Squire, 'Frank says this will clear him; +and with all his faults, Frank never yet told a lie.'" + +"Oh my dear mother!--I fancy I hear her!" cried Frank with deep emotion. +"But I did not tell a lie, Randal; I did not say that that sum would +clear me." + +"You empowered and begged me to say so," replied Randal, with grave +coldness; "and don't blame me if I believed you." + +"No, no! I only said it would clear me for the moment." + +"I misunderstood you, then, sadly; and such mistakes involve my own +honor. Pardon me, Frank; don't ask my aid in future. You see, with the +best intentions I only compromise myself." + +"If you forsake me, I may as well go and throw myself into the river," +said Frank in a tone of despair; "and sooner or later my father must +know my necessities. The Jews threaten to go to him already; and the +longer the delay, the more terrible the explanation." + +"I don't see why your father should ever learn the state of your +affairs; and it seems to me that you could pay off these usurers, and +get rid of these bills, by raising money on comparatively easy terms--" + +"How?" cried Frank eagerly. + +"Why, the Casino property is entailed on you, and you might obtain a sum +upon that, not to be paid till the property becomes yours." + +"At my poor father's death? Oh, no--no! I can not bear the idea of this +cold-blooded calculation on a father's death. I know it is not uncommon; +I know other fellows who have done it, but they never had parents so +kind as mine; and even in them it shocked and revolted me. The +contemplating a father's death and profiting by the contemplation--it +seems a kind of parricide--it is not natural, Randal. Besides, don't you +remember what the governor said--he actually wept while he said it, +'Never calculate on my death; I could not bear that.' Oh, Randal, don't +speak of it!" + +"I respect your sentiments; but still all the post-obits you could raise +could not shorten Mr. Hazeldean's life by a day. However, dismiss that +idea; we must think of some other device. Ha, Frank! you are a handsome +fellow, and your expectations are great--why don't you marry some woman +with money?" + +"Pooh!" exclaimed Frank, coloring. "You know, Randal, that there is but +one woman in the world I can ever think of, and I love her so devotedly, +that, though I was as gay as most men before, I really feel as if the +rest of her sex had lost every charm. I was passing through the street +now--merely to look up at her windows--" + +"You speak of Madame di Negra? I have just left her. Certainly she is +two or three years older than you; but if you can get over that +misfortune, why not marry her?" + +"Marry her!" cried Frank in amaze, and all his color fled from his +cheeks. "Marry her!--are you serious?" + +"Why not?" + +"But even if she, who is so accomplished, so admired--even if she would +accept me, she is, you know, poorer than myself. She has told me so +frankly. That woman has such a noble heart, and--and--my father would +never consent, nor my mother either. I know they would not." + +"Because she is a foreigner?" + +"Yes--partly." + +"Yet the Squire suffered his cousin to marry a foreigner." + +"That was different. He had no control over Jemima; and a +daughter-in-law is so different; and my father is so English in his +notions; and Madame di Negra, you see, is altogether so foreign. Her +very graces would be against her in his eyes." + +"I think you do both your parents injustice. A foreigner of low +birth--an actress or singer, for instance--of course would be highly +objectionable; but a woman, like Madame di Negra, of such high birth and +connections--" + +Frank shook his head. "I don't think the governor would care a straw +about her connections, if she were a king's daughter. He considers all +foreigners pretty much alike. And then, you know"--Frank's voice sank +into a whisper--"you know that one of the very reasons why she is so +dear to me would be an insuperable objection to the old-fashioned folks +at home." + +"I don't understand you, Frank." + +"I love her the more," said young Hazeldean, raising his front with a +noble pride, that seemed to speak of his descent from a race of +cavaliers and gentlemen--"I love her the more because the world has +slandered her name--because I believe her to be pure and wronged. But +would they at the Hall--they who do not see with a lover's eyes--they +who have all the stubborn English notions about the indecorum and +license of Continental manners, and will so readily credit the worst? O, +no--I love--I can not help it--but I have no hope." + +"It is very possible that you may be right," exclaimed Randal, as if +struck and half-convinced by his companion's argument--"very possible; +and certainly I think that the homely folks at the Hall would fret and +fume at first, if they heard you were married to Madame di Negra. Yet +still, when your father learned that you had done so, not from passion +alone, but to save him from all pecuniary sacrifice--to clear yourself +of debt--to--" + +"What do you mean?" exclaimed Frank impatiently. + +"I have reason to know that Madame di Negra will have as large a portion +as your father could reasonably expect you to receive with any English +wife. And when this is properly stated to the Squire, and the high +position and rank of your wife fully established and brought home to +him--for I must think that these would tell, despite your exaggerated +notions of his prejudices--and then, when he really sees Madame di +Negra, and can judge of her beauty and rare gifts, upon my word, I +think, Frank, that there would be no cause for fear. After all, too, you +are his only son. He will have no option but to forgive you; and I know +how anxiously both your parents wish to see you settled in life." + +Frank's whole countenance became illuminated. "There is no one who +understands the Squire like you, certainly," said he, with lively joy. +"He has the highest opinion of your judgment. And you really believe you +could smooth matters?" + +"I believe so, but I should be sorry to induce you to run any risk; and +if, on cool consideration, you think that risk is incurred, I strongly +advise you to avoid all occasion of seeing the poor Marchesa. Ah, you +wince; but I say it for her sake as well as your own. First, you must be +aware, that, unless you have serious thoughts of marriage, your +attentions can but add to the very rumors that, equally groundless, you +so feelingly resent; and, secondly, because I don't think any man has a +right to win the affections of a woman--especially a woman who seems +likely to love with her whole heart and soul--merely to gratify his own +vanity." + +"Vanity! Good heavens, can you think so poorly of me? But as to the +Marchesa's affections," continued Frank, with a faltering voice, "do you +really and honestly believe that they are to be won by me?" + +"I fear lest they may be half won already," said Randal, with a smile +and a shake of the head; "but she is too proud to let you see any effect +you may produce on her, especially when, as I take it for granted, you +have never hinted at the hope of obtaining her hand." + +"I never till now conceived such a hope. My dear Randal, all my cares +have vanished--I tread upon air--I have a great mind to call on her at +once." + +"Stay, stay," said Randal. "Let me give you a caution. I have just +informed you that Madame di Negra will have, what you suspected not +before, a fortune suitable to her birth; any abrupt change in your +manner at present might induce her to believe that you were influenced +by that intelligence." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Frank, stopping short, as if wounded to the quick. "And +I feel guilty--feel as if I _was_ influenced by that intelligence. So I +am, too, when I reflect," he continued, with a _naïveté_ that was half +pathetic; "but I hope she will not be so _very_ rich--if so, I'll not +call." + +"Make your mind easy, it is but a portion of some twenty or thirty +thousand pounds, that would just suffice to discharge all your debts, +clear away all obstacles to your union, and in return for which you +could secure a more than adequate jointure and settlement on the Casino +property. Now I am on that head, I will be yet more communicative. +Madame di Negra has a noble heart, as you say, and told me herself, +that, until her brother on his arrival had assured her of this dowry, +she would never have consented to marry you--never cripple with her own +embarrassments the man she loves. Ah! with what delight she will hail +the thought of assisting you to win back your father's heart! But be +guarded, meanwhile. And now, Frank, what say you--would it not be well +if I run down to Hazeldean to sound your parents? It is rather +inconvenient to me, to be sure, to leave town just at present; but I +would do more than that to render you a smaller service. Yes, I'll go to +Rood Hall to-morrow, and thence to Hazeldean. I am sure your father will +press me to stay, and I shall have ample opportunities to judge of the +manner in which he would be likely to regard your marriage with Madame +di Negra--supposing always it were properly put to him. We can then act +accordingly." + +"My dear, dear Randal. How can I thank you? If ever a poor fellow like +me can serve you in return--but that's impossible." + +"Why, certainly, I will never ask you to be security to a bill of mine," +said Randal, laughing. "I practice the economy I preach." + +"Ah!" said Frank with a groan, "that is because your mind is +cultivated--you have so many resources; and all my faults have come from +idleness. If I had any thing to do on a rainy day, I should never have +got into these scrapes." + +"Oh! you will have enough to do some day managing your property. We who +have no property must find one in knowledge. Adieu, my dear Frank; I +must go home now. By the way, you have never, by chance, spoken of the +Riccaboccas to Madame di Negra?" + +"The Riccaboccas? No. That's well thought of. It may interest her to +know that a relation of mine has married her countryman. Very odd that I +never did mention it; but, to say truth, I really do talk so little to +her; she is so superior, and I feel positively shy with her." + +"Do me the favor, Frank," said Randal, waiting patiently till this reply +ended--for he was devising all the time what reason to give for his +request--"never to allude to the Riccaboccas either to her or to her +brother, to whom you are sure to be presented." + +"Why not allude to them?" + +Randal hesitated a moment. His invention was still at fault, and, for a +wonder, he thought it the best policy to go pretty near the truth. + +"Why, I will tell you. The Marchesa conceals nothing from her brother, +and he is one of the few Italians who are in high favor with the +Austrian court." + +"Well!" + +"And I suspect that poor Dr. Riccabocca fled his country from some mad +experiment at revolution, and is still hiding from the Austrian police." + +"But they can't hurt him here," said Frank, with an Englishman's dogged +inborn conviction of the sanctity of his native island. "I should like +to see an Austrian pretend to dictate to us whom to receive and whom to +reject." + +"Hum--that's true and constitutional, no doubt; but Riccabocca may have +excellent reasons--and, to speak plainly, I know he has, (perhaps as +affecting the safety of friends in Italy)--for preserving his incognito, +and we are bound to respect those reasons without inquiring further." + +"Still, I can not think so meanly of Madame di Negra," persisted Frank +(shrewd here, though credulous elsewhere, and both from his sense of +honor), "as to suppose that she would descend to be a spy, and injure a +poor countryman of her own, who trusts to the same hospitality she +receives herself at our English hands. Oh, if I thought that, I could +not love her!" added Frank, with energy. + +"Certainly you are right. But see in what a false position you would +place both her brother and herself. If they knew Riccabocca's secret, +and proclaimed it to the Austrian government, as you say, it would be +cruel and mean; but if they knew it and concealed it, it might involve +them both in the most serious consequences. You know the Austrian policy +is proverbially so jealous and tyrannical?" + +"Well, the newspapers say so, certainly." + +"And, in short, your discretion can do no harm, and your indiscretion +may. Therefore, give me your word, Frank. I can't stay to argue now." + +"I'll not allude to the Riccaboccas, upon my honor," answered Frank; +"still I am sure they would be as safe with the Marchesa as with--" + +"I rely on your honor," interrupted Randal, hastily, and hurried off. + + +CHAPTER V. + +Toward the evening of the following day, Randal Leslie walked slowly +from a village on the main road (about two miles from Rood Hall), at +which he had got out of the coach. He passed through meads and +corn-fields, and by the skirts of woods which had formerly belonged to +his ancestors, but had long since been alienated. He was alone amidst +the haunts of his boyhood, the scenes in which he had first invoked the +grand Spirit of Knowledge, to bid the Celestial Still One minister to +the commands of an earthly and turbulent ambition. He paused often in +his path, especially when the undulations of the ground gave a glimpse +of the gray church tower, or the gloomy firs that rose above the +desolate wastes of Rood. + +"Here," thought Randal, with a softening eye--"here, how often, +comparing the fertility of the lands passed away from the inheritance of +my fathers, with the forlorn wilds that are left to their mouldering +hall--here, how often have I said to myself--'I will rebuild the +fortunes of my house.' And straightway Toil lost its aspect of drudge, +and grew kingly, and books became as living armies to serve my thought. +Again--again--O thou haughty Past, brace and strengthen me in the battle +with the Future." His pale lips writhed as he soliloquized, for his +conscience spoke to him while he thus addressed his will, and its voice +was heard more audibly in the quiet of the rural landscape, than amid +the turmoil and din of that armed and sleepless camp which we call a +city. + +Doubtless, though Ambition have objects more vast and beneficent than +the restoration of a name--_that_ in itself is high and chivalrous, and +appeals to a strong interest in the human heart. But all emotions, and +all ends, of a nobler character, had seemed to filter themselves free +from every golden grain in passing through the mechanism of Randal's +intellect, and came forth at last into egotism clear and unalloyed. +Nevertheless, it is a strange truth that, to a man of cultivated mind, +however perverted and vicious, there are vouchsafed gleams of brighter +sentiments, irregular perceptions of moral beauty, denied to the brutal +unreasoning wickedness of uneducated villainy--which perhaps ultimately +serve as his punishment--according to the old thought of the satirist, +that there is no greater curse than to perceive virtue, yet adopt +vice. And as the solitary schemer walked slowly on, and his +childhood--innocent at least of deed--came distinct before him through +the halo of bygone dreams--dreams far purer than those from which he now +rose each morning to the active world of Man--a profound melancholy +crept over him, and suddenly he exclaimed aloud, "_Then_ I aspired to be +renowned and great--_now_, how is it that, so advanced in my career, all +that seemed lofty in the means has vanished from me, and the only means +that I contemplate are those which my childhood would have called poor +and vile? Ah! is it that I then read but books, and now my knowledge has +passed onward, and men contaminate more than books? But," he continued +in a lower voice, as if arguing with himself, "if power is only so to be +won--and of what use is knowledge if it be not power--does not success +in life justify all things? And who prizes the wise man if he fails?" He +continued his way, but still the soft tranquillity around rebuked him, +and still his reason was dissatisfied, as well as his conscience. There +are times when Nature, like a bath of youth, seems to restore to the +jaded soul its freshness--times from which some men have emerged, as if +reborn. The crises of life are very silent. Suddenly the scene opened on +Randal Leslie's eyes. The bare desert common--the dilapidated +church--the old house, partially seen in the dank dreary hollow, into +which it seemed to Randal to have sunken deeper and lowlier than when he +saw it last. And on the common were some young men playing at hockey. +That old-fashioned game, now very uncommon in England, except at +schools, was still preserved in the primitive simplicity of Rood by the +young yeomen and farmers. Randal stood by the stile and looked on, for +among the players he recognized his brother Oliver. Presently the ball +was struck toward Oliver, and the group instantly gathered round that +young gentleman, and snatched him from Randal's eye; but the elder +brother heard a displeasing din, a derisive laughter. Oliver had shrunk +from the danger of the thick clubbed sticks that plied around him, and +received some strokes across the legs, for his voice rose whining, and +was drowned by shouts of, "Go to your mammy. That's Noll Leslie--all +over. Butter shins." + +Randal's sallow face became scarlet. "The jest of boors--a Leslie!" he +muttered, and ground his teeth. He sprang over the stile, and walked +erect and haughtily across the ground. The players cried out +indignantly. Randal raised his hat, and they recognized him, and stopped +the game. For him at least a certain respect was felt. Oliver turned +round quickly, and ran up to him. Randal caught his arm firmly, and, +without saying a word to the rest, drew him away toward the house. +Oliver cast a regretful, lingering look behind him, rubbed his shins, +and then stole a timid glance toward Randal's severe and moody +countenance. + +"You are not angry that I was playing at hockey with our neighbors," +said he deprecatingly, observing that Randal would not break the +silence. + +"No," replied the elder brother; "but, in associating with his +inferiors, a gentleman still knows how to maintain his dignity. There is +no harm in playing with inferiors, but it is necessary to a gentleman to +play so that he is not the laughing-stock of clowns." + +Oliver hung his head, and made no answer. They came into the slovenly +precincts of the court, and the pigs stared at them from the palings as +they had stared years before, at Frank Hazeldean. + +Mr. Leslie senior, in a shabby straw hat, was engaged in feeding the +chickens before the threshold, and he performed even that occupation +with a maundering lackadaisical slothfulness, dropping down the grains +almost one by one from his inert dreamy fingers. + +Randal's sister, her hair still and forever hanging about her ears, was +seated on a rush-bottom chair, reading a tattered novel; and from the +parlor window was heard the querulous voice of Mrs. Leslie, in high +fidget and complaint. + +Somehow or other, as the young heir to all this helpless poverty stood +in the court-yard, with his sharp, refined, intelligent features, and +his strange elegance of dress and aspect, one better comprehended how, +left solely to the egotism of his knowledge and his ambition, in such a +family, and without any of the sweet nameless lessons of Home, he had +grown up into such close and secret solitude of soul--how the mind had +taken so little nutriment from the heart, and how that affection and +respect which the warm circle of the hearth usually calls forth had +passed with him to the graves of dead fathers, growing, as it were, +bloodless and ghoul-like amid the charnels on which they fed. + +"Ha, Randal, boy," said Mr. Leslie, looking up lazily, "how d'ye do? Who +could have expected you? My dear--my dear," he cried, in a broken voice, +and as if in helpless dismay, "here's Randal, and he'll be wanting +dinner, or supper, or something." But in the mean while, Randal's sister +Juliet had sprung up and thrown her arms round her brother's neck, and +he had drawn her aside caressingly, for Randal's strongest human +affection was for this sister. + +"You are growing very pretty, Juliet," said he, smoothing back her hair; +"why do yourself such injustice--why not pay more attention to your +appearance, as I have so often begged you to do?" + +"I did not expect you, dear Randal; you always come so suddenly, and +catch us _en dish-a-bill_." + +"Dish-a-bill!" echoed Randal, with a groan.--"_Dishabille!_--you ought +never to be so caught!" + +"No one else does so catch us--nobody else ever comes! Heigho," and the +young lady sighed very heartily. + +"Patience, patience; my day is coming, and then yours, my sister," +replied Randal with genuine pity, as he gazed upon what a little care +could have trained into so fair a flower, and what now looked so like a +weed. + +Here Mrs. Leslie, in a state of intense excitement--having rushed +through the parlor--leaving a fragment of her gown between the yawning +brass of the never-mended Brummagem work-table--tore across the +hall--whirled out of the door, scattering the chickens to the right and +left, and clutched hold of Randal in her motherly embrace. "La, how you +do shake my nerves," she cried, after giving him a most hearty and +uncomfortable kiss. "And you are hungry, too, and nothing in the house +but cold mutton! Jenny, Jenny, I say Jenny! Juliet, have you seen Jenny? +Where's Jenny? Out with the old man, I'll be bound." + +"I am not hungry, mother," said Randal; "I wish for nothing but tea." +Juliet, scrambling up her hair, darted into the house to prepare the +tea, and also to "tidy herself." She dearly loved her fine brother, but +she was greatly in awe of him. + +Randal seated himself on the broken pales. "Take care they don't come +down," said Mr. Leslie, with some anxiety. + +"Oh, sir, I am very light; nothing comes down with me." + +The pigs stared up, and grunted in amaze at the stranger. + +"Mother," said the young man, detaining Mrs. Leslie, who wanted to set +off in chase of Jenny--"mother, you should not let Oliver associate with +those village boors. It is time to think of a profession for him." + +"Oh, he eats us out of house and home--such an appetite! But as to a +profession--what is he fit for! He will never be a scholar." + +Randal nodded a moody assent; for, indeed, Oliver had been sent to +Cambridge, and supported there out of Randal's income from his official +pay;--and Oliver had been plucked for his Little Go. + +"There is the army," said the elder brother--"a gentleman's calling. How +handsome Juliet ought to be--but--I left money for masters--and she +pronounces French like a chambermaid." + +"Yet she is fond of her book too. She's always reading, and good for +nothing else." + +"Reading!--those trashy novels!" + +"So like you--you always come to scold, and make things unpleasant," +said Mrs. Leslie, peevishly. "You are grown too fine for us, and I am +sure we suffer affronts enough from others, not to want a little respect +from our own children." + +"I did not mean to affront you," said Randal, sadly. "Pardon me. But who +else has done so?" + +Then Mrs. Leslie went into a minute and most irritating catalogue of all +the mortifications and insults she had received; the grievances of a +petty provincial family, with much pretension and small power; of all +people, indeed, without the disposition to please--without the ability +to serve--who exaggerate every offense, and are thankful for no +kindness. Farmer Jones had insolently refused to send his wagon twenty +miles for coals. Mr. Giles, the butcher, requesting the payment of his +bill, had stated that the custom at Rood was too small for him to allow +credit. Squire Thornhill, who was the present owner of the fairest slice +of the old Leslie domains, had taken the liberty to ask permission to +shoot over Mr. Leslie's land, since Mr. Leslie did not preserve. Lady +Spratt (new people from the city, who hired a neighboring country seat) +had taken a discharged servant of Mrs. Leslie's without applying for the +character. The Lord Lieutenant had given a ball, and had not invited the +Leslies. Mr. Leslie's tenants had voted against their landlord's wish at +the recent election. More than all, Squire Hazeldean and his Harry had +called at Rood, and though Mrs. Leslie had screamed out to Jenny, "Not +at home," she had been seen at the window, and the Squire had actually +forced his way in, and caught the whole family "in a state not fit to be +seen." That was a trifle, but the Squire had presumed to instruct Mr. +Leslie how to manage his property, and Mrs. Hazeldean had actually told +Juliet to hold up her head and tie up her hair, "as if we were her +cottagers!" said Mrs. Leslie, with the pride of a Montfydget. + +All these and various other annoyances, though Randal was too sensible +not to perceive their insignificance, still galled and mortified the +listening heir of Rood. They showed, at least, even to the well-meant +officiousness of the Hazeldeans, the small account in which the fallen +family was held. As he sat still on the moss-grown pale, gloomy and +taciturn, his mother standing beside him, with her cap awry, Mr. Leslie +shamblingly sauntered up and said, in a pensive, dolorous whine-- + +"I wish we had a good sum of money, Randal, boy!" + +To do Mr. Leslie justice, he seldom gave vent to any wish that savored +of avarice. His mind must be singularly aroused, to wander out of its +normal limits of sluggish, dull content. + +So Randal looked at him in surprise, and said, "Do you, sir?--why?" + +"The manors of Rood and Dulmansberry, and all the lands therein, which +my great-grandfather sold away, are to be sold again when Squire +Thornhill's eldest son comes of age, to cut off the entail. Sir John +Spratt talks of buying them. I should like to have them back again! 'Tis +a shame to see the Leslie estates hawked about, and bought by Spratts +and people. I wish I had a great--great sum of ready money." + +The poor gentleman extended his helpless fingers as he spoke, and fell +into a dejected reverie. + +Randal sprang from the paling, a movement which frightened the +contemplative pigs, and set them off squalling and scampering. "When +does young Thornhill come of age?" + +"He was nineteen last August. I know it, because the day he was born I +picked up my fossil of the sea-horse, just by Dulmansberry church, when +the joy-bells were ringing. My fossil sea-horse? It will be an heirloom, +Randal--" + +"Two years--nearly two years--yet--ah, ah!" said Randal; and his sister +now appearing to announce that tea was ready, he threw his arm round her +neck and kissed her. Juliet had arranged her hair and trimmed up her +dress. She looked very pretty, and she had now the air of a +gentlewoman--something of Randal's own refinement in her slender +proportions and well-shaped head. + +"Be patient, patient still, my dear sister," whispered Randal, "and keep +your heart whole for two years longer." + +The young man was gay and good-humored over his simple meal, while his +family grouped round him. When it was over, Mr. Leslie lighted his pipe, +and called for his brandy-and-water. Mrs. Leslie began to question about +London and Court, and the new King and the new Queen, and Mr. Audley +Egerton, and hoped Mr. Egerton would leave Randal all his money, and +that Randal would marry a rich woman, and that the King would make him a +prime-minister one of these days; and then she would like to see if +Farmer Jones would refuse to send his wagon for coals! And every now and +then, as the word "riches" or "money" caught Mr. Leslie's ear, he shook +his head, drew his pipe from his mouth, and muttered, "A Spratt should +not have what belonged to my great-great-grandfather, if I had a good +sum of ready money!--the old family estates!" Oliver and Juliet sate +silent, and on their good-behavior; and Randal, indulging his +own reveries, dreamily heard the words "money," "Spratt," +"great-great-grandfather," "rich wife," "family estates;" and they +sounded to him vague and afar off, like whispers from the world of +romance and legend--weird prophecies of things to be. + +Such was the hearth which warmed the viper that nestled and gnawed at +the heart of Randal, poisoned all the aspirations that youth should have +rendered pure, ambition lofty, and knowledge beneficent and divine. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +When the rest of the household were in deep sleep, Randal stood long at +his open window, looking over the dreary, comfortless scene--the moon +gleaming from skies half-autumnal, half-wintry, upon squalid decay, +through the ragged fissures of the firs; and when he lay down to rest, +his sleep was feverish, and troubled by turbulent dreams. + +However, he was up early, and with an unwonted color in his cheeks, +which his sister ascribed to the country air. After breakfast, he took +his way toward Hazeldean, mounted upon a tolerable horse, which he hired +of a neighboring farmer who occasionally hunted. Before noon, the garden +and terrace of the Casino came in sight. He reined in his horse, and by +the little fountain at which Leonard had been wont to eat his radishes +and con his book, he saw Riccabocca seated under the shade of the red +umbrella. And by the Italian's side stood a form that a Greek of old +might have deemed the Naiad of the Fount; for in its youthful beauty +there was something so full of poetry--something at once so sweet and so +stately--that it spoke to the imagination while it charmed the sense. + +Randal dismounted, tied his horse to the gate, and, walking down a +trellised alley, came suddenly to the spot. His dark shadow fell over +the clear mirror of the fountain just as Riccabocca had said, "All here +is so secure from evil!--the waves of the fountain are never troubled +like those of the river!" and Violante had answered in her soft native +tongue, and lifting her dark, spiritual eyes--"But the fountain would be +but a lifeless pool, oh, my father, if the spray did not mount toward +the skies!" + +(TO BE CONTINUED.) + + + + +YOU'RE ANOTHER! + + +"You're another!" It's a vulgar retort, but a common one--though not +much in use among well-bred people. But there are many ways of saying +it--various modes of conveying the same meaning. "_Et tu Brute_," +observed some one, on reading a debate in the House of Commons; "I often +see these words quoted; what can they mean?" "I should say," was the +answer, "they mean, 'Oh, you brute!'" "Well, I rather think they mean +'_You're another!_'" Let the classicist determine which interpretation +is the right one. + +"You're another!" may be conveyed in a mild tone and manner. For +instance:--"The right honorable gentleman seems not to apprehend the +points of the argument: he says he does not understand how so and so is +so and so. We can only supply him with arguments level to the meanest +capacity, not with brains. Nature having been sparing in her endowments +to the honorable gentleman, must be matter of deep regret to those who +are under the painful necessity of listening to the oft-times-refuted +assertions and so-called arguments which he has advanced upon this very +question." + +The honorable gentleman, thus delicately alluded to, replies, "My +honorable and learned friend (if he will permit me to call him so) +complains that his arguments are not understood; the simple reason being +that they are unintelligible. He calls them arguments level to the +meanest capacity, and let me assure him they are level to the meanest +capacity only, for they are his own. Let me hasten to relieve his +anxiety as to the remarks which I have felt it my duty to make upon the +question under discussion, by assuring him that they have been +understood by those who have intelligence to appreciate them, though I +am not prepared to vouch as much for my honorable and learned friend on +the other side of the House." Thus, + + Each lolls the tongue out at the other, + And shakes his empty noddle at his brother. + +One honorable member accuses another of stating that which is the +"reverse of true"--the other responds by a charge of "gross +misrepresentation of the facts of the case." Coalheavers would use a +shorter and more emphatic word to express the same thing, though it +would neither be classical nor conformable to the rules of the House. +The Frenchman delicately defined a white lie to be "valking round about +de trooth." We know what honorable members mean when they talk in the +above guise. It is, "You're another!" + +Dr. Whiston accuses the Chapter of Rochester with applying for their own +purposes the funds bequeathed by pious men of former times for the +education of the poor. The reply of the Chapter is--"You Atheist!" and +they deprive the doctor of his living. Sir Samuel Romilly once proposed +to alter the law of bankruptcy, and to make freehold estates assets +appropriable for debts, like personal property. The existing law he held +to be pregnant with dishonesty and fraud against creditors. Mr. Canning +immediately was down upon him with the "You're another" argument. +"Dishonesty!" he said, "why, this proposal is neither more nor less than +a dangerous and most dishonest attack upon the aristocracy, and the +beginning of something which may end, if carried, like the French +Revolution." + +Worthy men are often found differing about some speculative point, +respecting which neither can have any more certain knowledge than the +other, and they wax fierce and bitter, each devoting the other to a fate +which we dare not venture to describe. One calls the other "bigot," who +retorts by calling out "idolater," or perhaps "fanatic;" and the phrases +are bandied about with the gusto and fervor of Billingsgate--the meaning +of the whole is, "You're another!" + +Literary men have frequently ventured into this bandying about of +strange talk. Rival country editors have sometimes been great adepts in +it; though the fashion is gradually going out of date. There is nothing +like the bitterness of criticism now, which used to prevail some fifty +years ago. Godwin mildly assailed Southey as a renegade, in return for +which Southey abused Godwin's abominably ugly nose. Moore spoke +slightingly of Leigh Hunt's Cockney poetry, and Leigh Hunt in reply +ridiculed Moore's diminutive figure. Southey cut up Byron in the +Reviews, and Byron cut up Southey in the Vision of Judgment. Scott did +not appreciate Coleridge, and Coleridge spoke of Ivanhoe and The Bride +of Lammermoor as "those wretched abortions." + +You often hear of talkers who are "good at a retort." It means they can +say "You're another!" in a biting, clever way. The wit of many men is of +this kind--cutting and sarcastic. Nicknames grow out of it--the +Christian calls the Turk an Infidel--as the Turk calls the Christian a +Dog of an Unbeliever. Whig and Tory retort on each other the charge of +oppressor. "The priest calls the lawyer a cheat, the lawyer beknaves the +divine." It all means "You're another!" Phrenologists say the propensity +arises in the organ of combativeness. However that may be, there is need +of an abatement. Retort, even the most delicately put, is indignation, +and indignation is the handsome brother of hatred. It breeds bitterness +between man and man, and produces nothing but evil. The practice is only +a modification of Billingsgate, cover it with what elegant device we +may. In any guise the "You're another" style of speech ought to be +deprecated and discountenanced. + + + + +THY WILL BE DONE. + +BY GEN. GEORGE P. MORRIS. + + + I. + + Searcher of Hearts!--from mine erase + All thoughts that should not be, + And in its deep recesses trace + My gratitude to Thee! + + + II. + + Hearer of Prayer!--oh guide aright + Each word and deed of mine; + Life's battle teach me how to fight, + And be the victory Thine. + + + III. + + Giver of All!--for every good + In the Redeemer came:-- + For raiment, shelter, and for food, + I thank Thee in His name. + + + IV. + + Father and Son and Holy Ghost! + Thou glorious Three in One! + Thou knowest best what I need most, + And let Thy will be done. + + + + +Monthly Record of Current Events. + + +UNITED STATES. + +The political events of the month just closed have been of considerable +interest. November is the month for elections in several of the most +important States: the interest which usually belongs to these events is +enhanced in this instance by the fact that they precede a Presidential +contest, which occurs next year, and they are scanned, therefore, with +the more care as indicative of its results. In several of the States, +however, the elections of this year do not afford any substantial ground +for predicting their votes in the Presidential election, as questions +were at issue now which may not greatly influence them then. In GEORGIA, +for example the old political parties were wholly broken up, and the +divisions which they occasion did not prevail. Both the candidates for +Governor were prominent members of the Democratic party; but Hon. HOWELL +COBB, Speaker of the last House of Representatives in Congress, was put +forward as the Union candidate, while Mr. MCDONALD, his opponent, was +the candidate of those who were in favor of seceding from the Union, on +account of the Compromise measures of 1850. The same division prevailed +in the Congressional contest, the nominees being Unionists and +Secessionists, without regard to other distinctions. The general result +was announced in our November Record. The Union party elected _six_ out +of the _eight_ members of Congress, and Mr. COBB was elected Governor by +a very large majority. The following is a statement of the vote in each +of the Congressional districts, upon both tickets; and gives an accurate +view of the sentiments of the people of the State upon that subject: + + GOVERNOR. CONGRESS. + + _Cong. Districts._ _Cobb._ _McDonald._ _Union._ _Secession._ + + First district 4,268 3,986 4,011 4,297 + Second ditto 8,213 7,050 8,107 6,985 + Third ditto 6,114 6,123 5,853 6,011 + Fourth ditto 7,568 5,391 7,750 5,601 + Fifth ditto 13,676 7,082 13,882 7,481 + Sixth ditto 6,952 3,037 6,937 2,819 + Seventh ditto 4,726 2,134 4,744 1,955 + Eighth ditto 4,744 2,669 4,704 2,538 + ------- ------- ------ ------ + Total 56,261 37,472 55,988 37,699 + Cobb's majority 18,789 Union Cong. ditto 18,319 + +This shows a popular majority of over eighteen thousand in favor of the +Union. The election of Members of the Legislature took place at the same +time, and resulted in the choice to the Senate of _thirty-nine_ Union +and _eight_ Secession Senators, and to the House of _one hundred and +one_ Union, and _twenty-six_ Southern-rights men. Upon the Legislature +thus chosen will devolve the duty of electing a Senator in the Congress +of the United States, in place of Mr. BERRIEN, whose term expires next +spring. + +In SOUTH CAROLINA an election has taken place for members of Congress +and delegates to a State Convention, in which the same issue superseded +all others. One party avowed itself in favor of the immediate and +separate secession of the State from the Union, while the other was in +favor of awaiting the co-operation of other Southern States. Both held +that the action of the Federal Government had been hostile to Southern +interests and rights, and both professed to be in favor of taking +measures of redress. They differed, however, as to the means and time of +action, and the following table shows the relative strength of each +party in the State--those in favor of the Union as it is, of course, +voting with the Co-operationists: + + _Cong. Districts._ _Secession._ _Co-operation._ + + First district 3,392 4,085 + Second ditto 1,816 5,010 + Third ditto 2,523 3,467 + Fourth ditto 2,698 4,377 + Fifth ditto 2,475 3,369 + Sixth ditto 1,454 2,827 + Seventh ditto 3,352 1,910 + ------ ------ + Total 17,710 25,045 + Co-operation majority 7,335 + +Elections in MISSISSIPPI and in ALABAMA, involving the same issue, have +been already noticed. The results of the canvass in these four Southern +States are of interest as showing the relative strength of the two +parties in that section of the Union. The following table shows the vote +upon each side, in each State, in round numbers: + + _Total vote._ _Union._ _Secession._ _Maj._ + Mississippi 50,100 28,700 21,400 7,300 + Alabama 74,800 40,500 34,300 6,200 + Georgia 93,733 56,261 37,472 18,789 + S. Carolina 42,755 25,045 17,710 7,335 + ------- ------- ------- ------ + Total 261,388 150,506 110,882 39,524 + +In VIRGINIA the election was for members of Congress, and upon the +adoption of the new Constitution. The result has been that the +Congressional delegation stands as before, and the new Constitution was +adopted by a very large majority. Among the Whig members defeated was +Hon. John Minor Botts, who has since written a letter attributing his +defeat to the stand which he took in Convention in favor of a mixed +basis of representation. The new Constitution adopts the principle of +universal suffrage in all elections, limited, however, to white male +citizens who are twenty-one years of age, and who have resided two years +in the State and one year in the county in which they vote. Persons in +the naval or military service of the United States are not to be deemed +residents in the State by reason of being stationed therein. No person +will have the right to vote who is of unsound mind, or a pauper, or a +non-commissioned officer, soldier, seaman, or marine in the service of +the United States, or who has been convicted of bribery in an election, +or of any infamous offense. In all elections votes are required to be +given openly _viva voce_, and not by ballot, except that dumb persons +entitled to suffrage may vote by ballot. Under the new Constitution, the +Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General are to be elected by +the people. These officers for the ensuing term, as well as members of +the Senate and House of Representatives, are to be chosen on the 8th day +of December next. The seats of all members of the General Assembly +already elected will be from that date vacated by the effect of the new +Constitution. + +In PENNSYLVANIA the election for Governor, Canal Commissioner, and five +Judges of the Supreme Court, occurred on the last Monday in October, and +resulted as follows: + + _Governor._ BIGLER (Dem.) 186,499 8,465 _Maj._ + JOHNSTON (Whig) 178,034 + _Canal Com._ CLOVER (Dem.) 184,014 8,660 _Maj._ + STROHM (Whig) 175,354 + _Judges._ CAMPBELL (Dem.) 175,975 + LOWRIE " 185,353 Elected. + LEWIS " 183,975 " + BLACK " 185,868 " + GIBSON " 184,371 " + COULTER (Whig) 179,999 " + COMLEY " 174,336 + CHAMBERS " 174,350 + MEREDITH " 173,491 + JESSUP " 172,273 + +In the Legislature there are, Senators 16 Democrats, 16 Whigs, and one +Native American; in the House of Representatives, 54 Democrats and 46 +Whigs. + +Elections have also been held in Ohio, New York, Wisconsin, Maryland, +and Massachusetts; but up to the time of closing this record, official +returns have not been received. + +We have already mentioned the return of the expedition sent out by Mr. +Henry Grinnell in search of the great English navigator, Sir John +Franklin, and the general result of their Arctic explorations. Surgeon +E. K. KANE, who accompanied the expedition, has since published a +letter, in which he expresses the opinion that Sir John, while wintering +in the cove near Beechy's Island, where unmistakable signs of his +presence were discovered, found a path-way made by the opening of the +ice, toward the north, and that he passed northward by Wellington +Channel and did not return. The American expedition was caught in an ice +drift nearly opposite the spot of Franklin's first sojourn, and borne +northward in the ice for fifteen days. Into the region north and west of +Cornwallis Island, which is open sometimes and may be always, a +continuance of the drift a few days longer would have borne the American +Squadron: and in that region Mr. Kane thinks Sir John Franklin must now +be sought. The chances of his destruction by ice, or by want of food, he +thinks, are not great. The British residents of New York gave Mr. +Grinnell a public dinner on the 4th of November at the Astor House, at +which a large company sat down, Mr. Anthony Barclay presiding. Great +interest continues to be felt in the search for Sir John Franklin, and +it is probable that it will be renewed in the early spring. In the +preceding pages of this Number will be found an exceedingly interesting +history of the Expedition, from the journal of one of its +members--accompanied by numerous illustrations of the scenes and +incidents encountered during the voyage. + +The case of Mr. John S. Thrasher, an American gentleman resident at +Havana, has excited a good deal of public interest. Mr. T. has resided +there for a number of years. He was the editor and proprietor of the +_Faro Industrial_, a paper devoted entirely to commercial matters, and +which he had conducted with energy, ability, and success. While the +American prisoners were in Havana, Mr. Thrasher took a marked interest +in them, and did all in his power to alleviate the discomforts of their +position. For some reason, which has never yet been assigned, he +incurred the distrust of the authorities, and on the 1st of September he +was prohibited from issuing his paper which was seized. Feeling +confident that his property would soon be restored, he devoted himself +to procure comforts for his countrymen who had been condemned to +transportation. The police, however, were ordered strictly to watch his +movements. His letters were stopped, seized, and examined; but they +contained nothing to warrant proceedings against him. On the arrival of +the steamer _Georgia_ from the United States, two policemen followed him +and saw him receive letters from the clerk. They arrested him on landing +and searched his papers, but found nothing but a business letter. For +two or three days he continued under arrest, when a letter was brought +to him sealed, directed to him, and said to have been found upon his +desk. It proved to be written in cipher, but Mr. Thrasher declared +himself ignorant alike of its contents and its author. This, however, +was of no avail. He was immediately committed to prison, and on the 25th +of September was thrust into a damp, dark dungeon, cut from the rock and +level with the sea, with a bare board for furniture, and where death +will be the inevitable consequence of a few weeks' confinement. At the +latest dates no charges had been publicly made against him, his trial +had not taken place, and no one was admitted to see him. The result of +the affair is looked for with great anxiety. + +The late President TYLER has written a letter to the Spanish Minister in +the United States, appealing for the pardon and release of the Americans +taken prisoners in Cuba. He ventures to make the application in view of +the friendly relations which existed between him and M. Calderon de la +Barca during his administration, and ventures to hope that his request +will be laid before the Queen of Spain. He concedes the flagrancy of +their offense, but urges that sufficient punishment has already been +inflicted, and that their pardon will do much toward softening the +feelings of the people of this country toward the Spanish government, +and preventing future attempts upon the peace of its colonies. + +Gen. WM. B. CAMPBELL was inaugurated Governor of Tennessee on the 16th +of October. His inaugural address referred briefly to national affairs. +He spoke in the highest terms of commendation of those who secured the +passage of the Compromise bills, in the Congress of 1850, and of the +firm manner in which they have been maintained by the President. The +disastrous results of secession were strongly depicted. He urged that it +must inevitably lead to bloody civil wars, alike melancholy and +deplorable for the victors and the vanquished. He pledged himself to +maintain the Compromise measures, because he believed their continuance +on the statute book will promote prosperity and happiness, while an +interference with them will inevitably produce agitation, mischief, and +misery. + +A Convention of cotton planters was held at Macon, Georgia, on the 28th +of October. About three hundred delegates were in attendance, of whom +two hundred came from half the counties in Georgia, sixty-eight from one +quarter of those of Alabama, nineteen from five counties of Florida, and +one or two from each of several other Southern states. Ex-Governor +MOSELEY, of Florida, was chosen President. The object of the Convention +was to render the planters of cotton more independent of the ordinary +vicissitudes of trade, and to enable them to obtain more uniformly high +prices for their great staple. A great variety of opinions prevailed +upon the subject. Various modes were suggested, but as none seemed +acceptable, the whole subject was referred to a Committee of twenty-one, +but even this Committee could not agree. A proposition was then +_rejected_, by a vote of 48 to 43, which provided that planters should +make returns to a Central Committee to be established of the cotton +housed by the middle of January; and further, that not more than +two-thirds of the crop should be sold before the 1st of May, and for not +less than eight cents a pound; and that the remaining third should be +sold at a time to be recommended by the Central Committee. A minority +report was presented in favor of the Florida scheme for a Cotton +Planters' Association, with a capital of twenty millions of dollars, and +a warehouse for the storage of cotton, whereby prices might be +contracted. This met the violent opposition of the Convention. +Resolutions were finally adopted recommending Central, State, and County +Associations to collect statistical and general information respecting +the production and consumption of cotton. A committee was also appointed +to procure such legislative acts as may be for the interest of planters. +Resolutions were also passed to encourage Southern manufacturers to +employ slave labor in their factories. Having urged another Cotton +Planters' Convention, and exhorted delegates to arouse the public on the +subject, by lectures and otherwise, the assembly adjourned _sine die_, +after a session of several days, in which it will be observed that very +little business was transacted. + +The magnetic telegraph has become so common an agent of transmitting +intelligence in this country, as to render all news of its progress +interesting and important. Prof. MORSE has been for some time +prosecuting other persons for infringing his patent. A rival line, using +the machinery of Mr. BAIN, has been for some years in operation between +New York and Philadelphia. A suit was commenced against the Company and +has been for some years pending in the United States Circuit Court. It +has just been decided by Judge KANE, in favor of the claimants under +Prof. Morse's patents. The several points ruled by the Court in this +case, are: 1. That an _art_ is the subject of a patent, as well as an +implement or a machine. 2. That an inventor may surrender and obtain a +re-issue of his patent more than once if necessary. 3. That Prof. Morse +was the first inventor of the art of recording signs at a distance by +means of electro-magnetism, or the magnetic telegraph. 4. That the +several parts or elements of the Morse Telegraph are covered and +protected by his patent, as new inventions, and are really new, either +as single, independent inventions, or as parts of a new combination for +the purpose specified. 5. That the patent granted to Prof. Morse for his +"Local Circuit" is valid, and that the "Branch Circuit" of the Bain line +is an infringement of it. 6. That the subject and principles of the +chemical telegraph are clearly embraced in Morse's patents. These are +the chief questions in dispute. The counsel for the complainants were +directed to draw up a decree to be made by the Court, in accordance with +the prayer of the bill and the decision just given. The case will of +course now be carried to the Supreme Court of the United States. + +In the New Monthly Magazine for July last (No. 14, Vol. III. p. 274) we +gave a detailed statement of the legal controversy between the Methodist +Episcopal Church South and the Methodist Episcopal Church, brought by +the former to recover a portion of the "Book Fund." The suit came on May +19, in the United States Circuit Court, and was elaborately argued by +distinguished counsel. The decision, which was then deferred, was given +by Judge NELSON on the 10th of November. It was long and elaborate, +going over the whole ground involved, sketching the history of the case, +and stating the legal principles applicable to it. He decided that the +separation was legal, and that the Methodist Episcopal Church South is +entitled to a portion of the Fund. This must end the controversy unless +an appeal should be taken to the Supreme Court of the United States. + +A large number of the citizens of New York recently addressed a letter +to Hon. HENRY CLAY, requesting him to address a meeting in that city in +favor of the Compromise measures of 1850, expressing a belief that +additional exertions were needed to prevent propositions for the repeal +or modification of some of the laws. Mr. Clay's reply, dated Oct. 3, is +long and elaborate. Declining the invitation, he expresses great +interest in the subject, and says he believes that the great majority of +the people in every section of the Union, are satisfied with, or +acquiesce in, the compromise. The only law which encounters any +hostility, is that relating to the surrender of fugitive slaves; and +this is now almost universally obeyed. Mr. Clay proceeds to urge the +necessity of such a law and its rigid execution; and he then examines +the principle of secession from the Union, as it is presented and +advocated in some of the Southern States. + +Rev. ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER, D. D., distinguished as one of the oldest and +ablest theologians in the country, died at Princeton, N. J. on the 22d +of October, aged 81. He was a native of Virginia, and became a minister +in the Presbyterian Church at the age of 21. He was early appointed +President of Hampton Sidney College. He afterward was called to the +Third Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, and was stationed, there, +when in 1812, the Theological Seminary was established at Princeton. He +was appointed the first Professor in that Seminary. + +Dr. J. KEARNEY RODGERS, distinguished in New York as a surgeon, and of +eminently useful and estimable character, died on the 9th of November. +Dr. GRANVILLE SHARP PATTISON, also celebrated in this country as well as +in England for medical science and practical skill, died on the 13th. He +was distinguished as an anatomist, and was the author of several works +upon medical subjects which enjoyed a wide celebrity and are still used +as standard treatises.--GARDNER G. HOWLAND, well-known as one of the +oldest, most enterprising, and wealthiest merchants of New York, and one +of the most beneficent and public spirited inhabitants of that city, +died suddenly on the 13th. + +From CALIFORNIA our intelligence is to the 1st of October. The State +election had resulted in a Democratic victory. Mr. BIGLER, the +Democratic candidate, was elected Governor by about 1500 majority; +Messrs. MARSHALL and MCCORKLE, Democrats, are elected to Congress; and +the Legislature, upon which will devolve the duty of electing a U. S. +Senator, is strongly Democratic also.----The Capital of the State has +been removed back from Vallejo to San José.----The intelligence from the +mines is highly encouraging; new veins of gold are constantly +discovered, and the old placers have never been known to yield more +plentifully.----The Indians in all the northern sections of the country +are represented as being highly troublesome, and traveling there has +become dangerous.----A large party of Mormons have purchased the rancho +of San Bernardino, near Los Angelos; they gave $60,000 for it, and are +to take possession of it very soon.----A railroad from San Francisco to +San José, the first in California, has been commenced.----The Vigilance +Committee at San Francisco, has come to an end. Order and quiet are +completely restored, and a feeling of security is rapidly gaining +ground. The city is increasing very fast both in population and in +extent.----Disastrous news has been received from the American whaling +fleet in the North Pacific. Ten or twelve of the ships have been lost: +the season has been very unprofitable for all. + +From OREGON, we learn that emigrants were coming in rapidly, though a +late heavy snow-storm had seriously retarded the progress of emigrants +through the mountains. The suffering from cold, and in some instances +from lack of provisions, has been very severe.----The Snake Indians are +becoming hostile and troublesome. Mr. Hudson Clark, from Illinois, with +his family, having got ahead of the train with which he was traveling, +was attacked by about thirty Indians, near Raft River, and his mother +and brother were killed. Others had been killed a few days previously. +Outrages in different sections led to the belief that the Indians were +about to assume their former attitude of hostility toward the +inhabitants.----Steps have been taken by a Convention of Delegates +from the country north of the Columbia River, to form a new territorial +government, or failing in that, to organize a new State, and ask +admission into the Union. The reasons for this step are the great extent +of country, its distance from the Capital, and the total absence of all +municipal law and civil officers. + +In the SANDWICH ISLANDS, the volcanic Mountain Maunaloa, had given +tokens of an eruption early in August. A letter in the _Polynesian_ of +the 12th says: "The great crater of Maunaloa, that was generally thought +to be quite extinct, is now in action. For a few days a heavy cloud, +having the appearance of smoke, has been observed to hover over the +summit of the mountain. Last night the mountain stood out in bold +relief, unobstructed by clouds or mist, and presented a sublime and +awfully grand appearance, belching forth flames and cinders that again +fell in showers at a distance. The heavy bank of smoke that lowered over +its top, presented the appearance of the mountain itself poised upon its +apex. It is possible that another eruption may take place like that of +1843, and liquid lava be seen flowing down its sides." + +From NEW MEXICO we have intelligence to the last of October. Serious +difficulties had occurred, which excited deep hostility between the +American and Mexican portions of the population, and threatened to +inflict lasting injury upon the country. The election for a Delegate to +Congress, was held on the 1st of September. A number of Americans went +to the polls at Los Ranchos, for the purpose of voting, but were refused +by the Mexican authorities. Insisting upon their right a general quarrel +ensued. The county judge, a Mexican named Ambrosio Armijo, ordered out a +number of armed men, who killed an American named Edward Burtnett, +stripping and mangling his body. An investigation was held, but without +any important result. On the 23d, Mr. W. C. Skinner, who had taken an +active part in the effort to bring the authors of this outrage to +punishment, was at Los Ranchos, and became involved in a dispute with a +Mexican, named Juan C. Armijo. As he left him a number of Armijo's peons +fell upon him with clubs, and killed him on the spot. Mr. Skinner was +from Connecticut, and an active opponent of the Governor in the +Legislature of which he was a member. Meetings of the Americans were +held, at which the conduct of the Mexicans was denounced, and the +attention of the General Government at Washington, called to the +condition of the territory.----Major Weightman has been elected Delegate +to Congress: loud complaints are made of frauds at the election.----The +new military post in the Navajo country, is at Cañon Bonito: Col. Summer +and his command were in pursuit of the Indians. Two soldiers who had +left Santa Fé with the mail, for the Navajo country, had not been heard +from, and were supposed to have been killed.----Business was dull, and +the season very wet. + + +SOUTH AMERICA. + +From CHILI, we have news of another insurrection. The term of office of +the late President, Gen. BULNES, expired on the 16th of September. In +August the new election had taken place, and resulted in the choice of +Don MANUEL MONTT over his opponent, Gen. CRUZ. Montt was a successful +lawyer of Santiago, and had held a post in the cabinet of the former +administration. He was brought forward as the candidate of the +government, which rendered him exceedingly obnoxious to the people. His +opponent, Gen. Cruz, had been one of the heroes of the revolution and +enjoyed great popularity with the army and a large portion of the +people, especially of the province of Conception, of which he was the +chief officer. Fearing his influence then upon the election, the +government removed him, and this created great disaffection among the +people. Loud threats were heard, that Montt, who had received a very +large majority, should not be inaugurated: the government, nevertheless, +steadily went on with their preparations for that event. The revolt +first broke out at Coquimbo, on the 8th of September, where the +disaffected party deposed and banished the government officers, seized +the custom-house with about $70,000, and levied forced loans from many +of the wealthy inhabitants. They then seized the steamer "Fire-fly," +belonging to an English gentleman, and sent her to Conception, the +stronghold of Gen. Cruz, to arouse his friends to a similar movement +there. An outbreak had already taken place in that department; the +insurgents had been very successful--banished all the old officers, and +appointed new ones, and seized the Chilian mail steamer, with $30,000 +belonging to the government. Up to this time, Gen. Cruz had kept himself +aloof from the movement, and had counseled his friends against it. +Feeling satisfied with their success, they determined to await the +action of the other provinces. Meanwhile, the government having heard of +the revolt, and seeing that it was confined to these two departments, +took active measures for its suppression. A detachment of infantry, +consisting of 300 or 400 men, was sent to Valparaiso, but was induced to +march to join the insurgents in Coquimbo. Intelligence of this defection +created the most intense excitement at the Capital, and the city was at +once put under martial-law, and a company of artillery was sent against +the deserters, who were all brought back without bloodshed, within +forty-eight hours. Their leaders were thrown into prison, and would +probably be shot. Other troops were sent to the disaffected region, and +the few ships belonging to the Chilian navy were sent to blockade the +ports of Coquimbo and Talcahuano. Meantime, the inauguration of +President Montt took place on the 18th of September, the anniversary of +Chilian independence, and that day as well as the 17th, and 19th, were +devoted to magnificent festivities at Santiago. Gen. Bulnes had left for +Conception, to raise troops for the government on the road, and put +himself at their head. There were rumors that he had been compelled to +fall back, and that Gen. Cruz had put himself at the head of the +movement in Conception. He had issued a proclamation to the army, and +authorized a steamer to cruise in his service. At Coquimbo, Gen. Correa +was in command of the insurgent forces, and it was reported that he had +forced the government troops under Gen. Guzman, to fall back. The +British admiral, on hearing of the seizure of the "Fire-fly" steamer, +had sent two steam-frigates to recover her and demand indemnity. One of +them, the _Gorgon_, captured her at Coquimbo, and the commander had +entered into a convention with the party in power there, agreeing to +raise the blockade of that port, on their agreeing to pay $30,000 +indemnity to Mr. Lambert, and $10,000 as ransom for the steamer, which +he had seized as a pirate, "provided the British admiral should decide +that he had a right to seize her." Great dissatisfaction has been felt +among the foreign residents at the terms of this convention. Both the +British and American squadrons were watchfully protecting the commerce +of their respective countries. The issue of the contest between the +government and the insurgents has not yet reached us, but the latest +advices state that the government felt confident in its ability to +repress the insurrection; its strength and resources are shown by the +fact that it had remitted $80,000 to England, to meet dividends and +canal bonds. + +We have further news of interest from Buenos Ayres. Our intelligence of +last month left Oribe, with a large force, on the 30th of July, in daily +expectation of having a battle with the Brazilian troops under Urquiza +and Garzon--each contending for dominion over Uruguay. The contest seems +to have been ended without a fight. As Oribe advanced against the allied +troops, he lost his men by desertion in great numbers, and by the end of +August six thousand of his cavalry had joined the standard of Urquiza, +whose strength was rapidly increased. Finding the force against him to +be such as to forbid all hope of a successful battle, Oribe seems to +have abandoned all hope. He had made up his mind to evacuate the +Oriental territory, and for that purpose had requested the French +admiral to convey him, with the Argentine troops, to Buenos Ayres. This +request had been refused: and this refusal led to new desertions from +Oribe's force. Rosas was still in the field, but would be compelled to +surrender. + + +MEXICO. + +We have intelligence from Mexico to the 15th of October. The political +condition of the country was one of great embarrassment and peril. +Dangers seem to threaten the country from every quarter. On the southern +border is the danger growing out of the grant to the United States of +right of way across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. If the railroad is built +there, it is feared that the energy and business enterprise which the +Americans will infuse into that section of the country, will gradually +Americanize it, and thus lead inevitably to its separation from Mexico. +On the other hand, if the grant is revoked, there is great danger of war +with the United States, which could end only in renewed loss of +territory. Upon the northwest again, there is a prospect of invasion +from California. Thousands of the adventurous inhabitants of that State +are settling in the western section of Mexico and preparing the way for +its separation from the central government. + +A still more serious danger menaces them from the Northern departments, +in which, as was mentioned in our last Number, a revolution has broken +out which promises to be entirely successful. Later advices confirm this +prospect. After taking Reynosa, Gen. Caravajal, the leader of the +revolution, marched to Matamoras, which he reached on the 20th of +October, and forthwith attacked the place, which had been prepared for +an obstinate defense, under Gen. Avalos. Several engagements between the +opposing forces had taken place, and the besieged army is said to have +lost two hundred men. The inhabitants of Matamoras had been forced to +leave, part of the town had been twice on fire, and a great amount of +property was destroyed. But the city still held out. + +The general government had addressed a note, through the Minister of +War, under date of September 25, to the Governors of the Northern +States, expressing confidence in their fidelity and urging them to spare +no effort to crush the revolt. The Governors had replied to the +requisitions upon them for troops, that their departments were not +injured by the revolution and that they would not aid its suppression. +This fact shows that the movement has decided strength among the +Mexicans themselves. + +The Legislature of the State of Vera Cruz has passed a resolution +requesting Congress to charter a railroad from Vera Cruz to Acapulco, by +way of Mexico. A good deal of hostility is evinced to a reported design +of the Pope to send a nuncio to the capital.--The British Minister has +demanded from Mexico a judicial decree in favor of British creditors, +and has menaced the government with a blockade of their ports as the +alternative.--There had been a military revolt of part of the troops in +Yucatan, which had been suppressed, and six of the soldiers shot. + + +GREAT BRITAIN. + +The arrival of KOSSUTH and the closing of the Great Exhibition, are the +two events by which the month in England has been distinguished. The +great Hungarian received a very cordial welcome. He came to Gibraltar +from Constantinople by the United States steam frigate Mississippi, +which had been sent out by the American government to convey him to the +United States. On reaching Marseilles he proposed to go through France +to England, for the purpose of leaving his children there; and then to +meet the Mississippi again at Gibraltar. The French government refused +him permission to pass through France. The receipt of this refusal +excited a good deal of feeling among the people of Marseilles, who +gathered in immense numbers to testify their regard for the illustrious +exile, and their regret at the action of their government. In reply to +their manifestations, Kossuth addressed them a letter of thanks, which +was published in _Le Peuple_ at Marseilles. In this he merely alluded to +the action of the government and assured them that he did not hold the +French people responsible for it. He then proceeded in the frigate to +Gibraltar, where, after staying two or three days, and receiving the +utmost civilities of the British officers there, he embarked on board +the British steamer Madrid, in which he reached Southampton on the 23d +of October. A large concourse of people met him on the wharf and +escorted him, with great enthusiasm and hearty cheering, to the +residence of the mayor. In answer to the loud cheers with which he was +greeted, he came out upon the balcony and briefly addressed the crowd, +warmly thanking them for their welcome and expressing the profoundest +gratitude to England for the aid she had given to his deliverance from +prison.--The same day an address from the people of Southampton was +presented to him in the Town Hall, to which he replied at some length. +He spoke of the feeling with which he had always studied the character +and institutions of England, and said that it was her municipal +institutions which had preserved to Hungary some spirit of public life +and constitutional liberty, against the hostile acts of Austria. The +doctrine of centralization had been fatal to France and other European +nations. It was the foe of liberty--the sure agent of absolute power. He +attributed much of England's freedom to her municipal institutions. For +himself, he regarded these demonstrations of respect as paid to the +political principles he represented, rather than his person. He believed +that England would not allow Russia to control the destinies of +Europe--that her people would not assist the ambition of a few families, +but the moral welfare and dignity of humanity. He hoped to see some of +those powerful associations of English people, by which so much is done +for political rights, directing their attention, and extending their +powerful aid to Hungary. For himself life was of no value, except as he +could make use of it for the liberty of his own country and the benefit +of humanity. He took the expression of respect by which he had been met, +as an encouragement to go on in that way which he had taken for the aim +of his life, and which he hoped the blessings of the Almighty, and the +sympathy of the people of England and of generous hearts all over the +world, might help to carry to a happy issue. It was a much greater merit +to acknowledge a principle in adversity than to pay a tribute to its +success. He thanked them for their sympathy and assured them of the +profound admiration he had always entertained for the free institutions +of England. + +On the 24th, KOSSUTH went to the country house of the mayor, and on the +25th attended a _déjeûner_ at Winchester, where he made a long speech, +being mainly an historical outline of the Hungarian revolution. He +explained the original character of Hungary, as a constitutional +monarchy, and its position between Russia, Austria, and Turkey. Its +constitution was aristocratic, but its aristocracy was not rich, nor was +it opposed to the constitutional rights of the people. Hungary had a +parliament and county municipal institutions, and to the latter he +attributed the preservation of the people's rights. All the orders of +the government to any municipal magistrate, must be forwarded through +county meetings, where they were discussed, and sometimes withheld. They +thus formed a strong barrier against the encroachments of the +government; and no county needed such a barrier more, for during more +than three centuries, the House of Hapsburg had not at its head a man +who was a friend to political freedom. The House of Hapsburg ruled +Hungary, but only according to treaties--one of the conditions of which +was, that they were to rule the people of Hungary only through Hungarian +institutions, and according to its own laws. Austria had succeeded in +absorbing all the other provinces connected with her--but her attempts +upon Hungary had proved unsuccessful. Her constant efforts to subdue +Hungary had convinced her rulers that to the nobles alone her defense +ought not to be intrusted, but that all the people should have an equal +interest in their constitutional rights. This was the direction of +public opinion in Hungary in 1825. The first effort of the patriotic +party, therefore, was to emancipate the people--to relieve the peasantry +from their obligation to give 104 days out of every year to their +landlords, one-ninth of their produce to their seigneur, and one-tenth +to the bishop. This was only effected by slow degrees. In the long +parliament, from 1832 to 1836, a measure was carried giving the peasant +the right to purchase exemption from the duties with the consent of his +landlord. This, however, was vetoed by the Regent. The government then +set itself to work to corrupt the county constituencies, by which +members of the Commons were chosen. They appointed officers to be +present at every meeting, and to control every act. This system the +liberal party resisted, because they wished the county meetings to be +free. And this struggle went on until 1847, just before the breaking out +of the French Revolution. The revolution in Vienna followed that event, +and this threw all power into the hands of Kossuth and his party. He at +once proposed to emancipate the peasantry, and to indemnify the +landlords from the land. The measure was carried at once, through both +Houses; and Kossuth and his friends then went on, to give to every +inhabitant a right to vote, and to establish representative +institutions, including a responsible ministry. The Emperor gave his +sanction to all these laws. Yet very soon after a rebellion was incited +by Austria among the Serbs, who resisted the new Hungarian government, +and declared their independence. The Palatine, representing the King, +called for an army to put down the rebellion, and Jellachich, who was +its leader, was proclaimed a traitor. But soon successes in Italy +enabled the Emperor to act more openly, and he recognized Jellachich as +his friend, and commissioned him to march with an army against Hungary. +He did so, but was driven back. The Emperor then appointed him governor; +but the Hungarians would not receive him. Then came an open war with +Austria, in which the Hungarians were successful. Reliable information +was then received that Russia was about to join Austria in the war, and +that Hungary had nowhere to look for aid. It was then proposed that, if +Hungary was forced to contend against two mighty nations, the reward of +success should be its independence. What followed, all know. He declared +his belief that, but for the treason of Görgey, the Hungarians could +have defeated the united armies of their foes. But the House of +Hapsburg, as a dynasty, exists no more. It merely vegetates at the whim +of the mighty Czar, to whom it has become the obedient servant. But if +England would only say that Russia should not thus set her foot on the +neck of Hungary, all might yet be well. Hungary would have knowledge, +patriotism, loyalty, and courage enough to dispose of its own domestic +matters, as it is the sovereign right of every nation to do. This was +the cause for which he asked the generous sympathy of the English +people; and he thanked them cordially for the attention they had given +to his remarks. + +On the same occasion Mr. COBDEN spoke in favor of the intervention of +England to prevent Russia from crushing Hungary, and obtaining control +of Europe, and Mr. J. R. CROSKEY, the American Consul at Southampton, +expressed the opinion that the time would come, if it had not already +come, when the United States would be forced into taking more than an +interest in European politics. + +KOSSUTH again addressed the company, thanking them for the interest +taken in the welfare of his unhappy country, and expressing the hope +that, supported by this sympathy, the hopes expressed might be realized +at no distant day. He spoke also of the different ways in which nations +may promote the happiness and welfare of their people. England, he said, +wants no change, because she is governed by a constitutional monarchy, +under which all classes in the country enjoy the full benefits of free +institutions. The consequence is, the people of England are masters of +their own fates--defenders of her institutions--obedient to the laws, +and vigilant in their behavior--and the country has become, and must +forever continue, under such institutions, to be great, glorious, and +free. Then the United States is a republic--and though governed in a +different way from England, the people of the United States have no +motive for desiring a change--they have got liberty, freedom, and every +means for the full development of their social condition and position. +Under their government, the people of the United States have, in sixty +years, arrived at a position of which they may well be proud--and the +English people, too, have good reason to be proud of their descendants +and the share which she has had in the planting of so great a nation on +the other side of the Atlantic. It was most gratifying to see so great +and glorious a nation thriving under a Constitution but little more than +sixty years old. It is not every republic in which freedom is found to +exist, and he said he could cite examples in proof of his assertion--and +he deeply lamented that there is among them one great and glorious +nation where the people do not yet enjoy that liberty which their noble +minds so well fit them for. It is not every monarchy that is good +because under it you enjoy full liberty and freedom. Therefore he felt +that it is not the living under a government called a republic, that +will secure the liberties of the people, but that quite as just and +honest laws may exist under a monarchy as under a republic. If he wanted +an illustration, he need only examine the institutions of England and +the United States, to show that under different forms of government +equal liberty can and does exist. It was to increase the liberties of +the people that they had endeavored to widen the basis on which their +Constitution rested, so as to include the whole population, and thus +give them an interest in the maintenance of social order. + +M. KOSSUTH had visited London privately, mainly to consult a physician +concerning his health, which is delicate. He intended to remain in +England until the 14th of November, and then sail for New York in one of +the American steamers. + +The Great Exhibition was closed Oct. 15 with public ceremonies. The +building was densely filled with spectators, and there was a general +attendance of all who had been officially connected with the Exhibition +in any way. Viscount Canning read the report of the Council of the +Chairmen of Juries, rehearsing the manner in which they had endeavored +to discharge the duties devolved upon them. There had been thirty-four +acting juries, composed equally of British subjects and foreigners. The +chairmen of these juries were formed into a Council, to determine the +conditions upon which prizes should be awarded, and to secure, so far as +possible, uniformity in the action of the juries. It was ultimately +decided that only two kinds of medals should be awarded, one the _prize_ +medal, to be conferred wherever a certain standard of excellence in +production or workmanship had been attained, and to be awarded by the +juries: the other the _council_ medal, to be awarded by the council, +upon the recommendation of a jury, for some important novelty of +invention or application, either in material or processes of +manufacture, or originality combined with great beauty of design. The +number of prize medals awarded was 2918: of council medals 170. +Honorable mention was made of other exhibitors whose works did not +entitle them to medals. The whole number of exhibitors was about 17,000. +Prince ALBERT responded to this report, on behalf of the Royal +Commissioners, thanking the jurors and others for the care and assiduity +with which they had performed their duties, and closing with the +expression of the hope that the Exhibition might prove to be a happy +means of promoting unity among nations, and peace and good will among +the various races of mankind. The honor of knighthood has been conferred +upon Mr. Paxton, the designer of the building, Mr. Cubitt, the engineer, +and Mr. Fox, the contractor. The total number of visits to the +Exhibition has been 6,201,856: 466 schools and twenty-three parties of +agricultural laborers have visited it. The entire sum received from the +Exhibition has been £505,107 5_s._ 7_d._ of which £356,808 1_s._ was +taken at the doors. About £90 of bad silver was taken--nearly all on the +half-crown and five shilling days. Of the 170 council medals distributed +76 went to the United Kingdom, 57 to France, 7 to Prussia, 5 to the +United States, 4 to Austria, 3 to Bavaria, 2 each to Belgium, +Switzerland, and Tuscany, 1 each to Holland, Russia, Rome, Egypt, the +East India Company, Spain, Tunis, and Turkey, and one each to Prince +Albert, Mr. Paxton, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Cubitt. + +The sum of £758,196 from the British revenue for the quarter ending +October 11, is available toward the payment of the national debt. The +sum of £3,004,048 has been appropriated to that object during the year. + +The Queen returned on the 12th of October from a protracted tour in +Scotland. She visited Liverpool and Manchester on her return, and in +both cities was received with great enthusiasm. + +Serious difficulties have arisen in Ireland out of the loans made by +government to the various unions for the relief. As the time for +repaying these advances comes round, the country is found to be unable +to pay the taxes levied for that purpose. These rates run from five to +ten shillings in the pound. In some of the unions a disposition to +repudiate the debt has been shown--but this has generally proved to be +only a desire to postpone it until it can be done without oppressively +taxing the property. The question has excited a great deal of feeling, +and the difficulty is not yet surmounted. + +The public is anxiously awaiting the details of Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S +promised reform bill. It is of course understood that its leading object +will be to extend the elective franchise, and the bare thought of this +has stimulated the organs of Toryism to prophetic lamentations over the +ruin which so radical a movement will certainly bring upon the British +Empire. + +English colonial affairs engage a good deal of attention. At the Cape of +Good Hope the government is engaged in a war with the native Kaffirs, +which does not make satisfactory progress. At the latest accounts, +coming down to September 12th, the hostile natives continued to vex the +frontiers, and Sir Harry Smith, the military commandant, had found it +necessary to lead new forces against them. A severe battle was fought on +the 1st of September, and repeated engagements had been had +subsequently, in all which great injury had been inflicted upon the +English troops. It was supposed that ten thousand men would be required, +in addition to the force already there, to restore peace to the +disaffected district. The construction of a railway through Egypt, by +English capitalists, has met with serious obstacles in the refusal of +the Turkish Sultan to allow his subject, the Pacha of Egypt, to treat +with foreigners for the purpose of allowing the work to go on. He has, +however, given the English to understand, that he is not hostile to the +railway, but is only unwilling that it should become a pretext for +making the Pacha independent of him. Lord Palmerston acquiesces in the +justice of this view; and there will probably be no difficulty in +arranging the whole matter. + + +FRANCE. + +Political affairs in France have taken a remarkable turn within the past +month. The President persisted in his determination to be a candidate +for re-election, and finding that he could not receive the support of +the majority as the government was constituted, resolved upon a bold +return to universal suffrage. Having been elected to the Presidency by +universal suffrage, and finding that the restricted suffrage would ruin +him, he determined to repeal the law of May, which disfranchised three +millions of voters, and throw himself again upon the whole people of +France. He accordingly demanded from his Ministers their consent to the +abrogation of that law. They refused, and on the 14th of October all +tendered their resignation. They were at once accepted by the President, +but the Ministry were to retain their places until a new one could be +formed. This proved to be a task of great difficulty. It was officially +announced that the President was preparing his Message for the +approaching session of the Assembly, and that in this document he would, +first, lay down in very distinct terms, the abrogation of the law of +May 31; secondly, that he will express his irrevocable resolution to +maintain the policy of order, of conservation, and authority, and that +he would make no concession to anarchical ideas, under whatever flag or +name they may shelter themselves. + +A new Ministry was definitively formed on the 27th of October, +constituted as follows: + + _Justice_ M. CORBIN. + _Foreign Affairs_ M. TURGOT. + _Public Instruction_ M. C. GIRAUD. + _Interior_ M. DE THOROGNY. + _Agriculture and Commerce_ M. DE CASIABIAUCA. + _Public Works_ M. LACROSSE. + _War_ Gen. LEROY DE ST. ARNAUD. + _Marine_ M. HIPPOLYTE FOURTOUL. + _Finance_ M. BLONDEL. + _Prefect of Police_ M. DE MAUPAS. + +In several instances, within a few weeks past, the Republican +representatives in the various departments of France, have been +subjected to gross insults from the police and other agents of the +government. M. Sartin, the representative for Allier, has submitted a +statement to the Assembly, saying that while dining with a friend at +Montlucon, two brigadiers of gendarmerie entered and told the company +that, as the company exceeded fifteen, it was a political meeting within +the prohibition of the government. M. Sartin produced his medal of +representative of the people, and claimed immunity. He was told that no +such immunity existed, except during the session of the Assembly. Quite +a scuffle ensued, in which one or two persons were wounded. These +proceedings soon collected a crowd, and the people declared that no more +arrests should be made. Several squadrons of cavalry soon arrived, and +as the result, thirteen persons were sent to prison.--In Saucerre also, +the magistrates having arrested three persons, one of whom was the +former mayor, the inhabitants rose and attempted a rescue. The military +in the neighborhood collected and dispersed the crowd, twenty-six of +whom were arrested and committed to prison. + + +SOUTHERN EUROPE. + +There is no news of special interest from Southern Europe. We have +already noticed the letters of Mr. GLADSTONE to Lord ABERDEEN, exposing +the abominations of the Neapolitan government, in its persecution of +state prisoners--together with the official reply which the King of +Naples has caused to be made to it. Lord Palmerston sent a copy of Mr. +Gladstone's letters to the British representatives at each European +Court, with instructions to lay them before the Court to which he was +accredited. The Neapolitan Minister in London sent to Lord Palmerston a +book written in reply to Mr. Gladstone's letters, by an English +gentleman named M'Farlane, and requested him to send this also to those +British representatives who had been furnished with the other. Lord P. +replied to this request in a spirited letter, declaring his object to +have been to arouse the public sentiment of Europe against the cruelties +and outrageous violations of law and justice of which the government of +Naples is constantly guilty, and saying that the King of Naples was very +much mistaken, if he believed public opinion could be controlled or +changed by such a pitiful diatribe as that of Mr. M'Farlane. The only +way of conciliating the sentiment of Europe upon this subject, was by +remedying the evils which had excited its indignation. The Courts of +Germany, Austria, and Russia, to which Mr. Gladstone's letters were +sent, have complained of this act as an unwarrantable interference, on +the part of Lord Palmerston, with the internal administration of Naples. +In the German Diet, at Frankfort, Count Thun protested against the +course pursued by the British Minister, and maintained that to criticise +the criminal justice of other countries is a most flagrant breach of the +rights of nations. If English statesmen could interfere with the conduct +of the King of Naples, for imprisoning men for supporting the +Constitution which he had sworn to maintain, they might also interfere +with the violations of their oaths, as well as of justice, of which the +governments of Austria, Saxony, Baden, and other countries had been +guilty; and then, said he, what was to become of kingly freedom and +independence? The Diet, on his motion, resolved to express to the +British Minister their astonishment at the course the British government +had pursued. + +In PRUSSIA vigorous preparations are made for anticipated difficulties +in France in the spring of 1852, after the Presidential election. The +troops of all the German states are to be put on a full war +establishment, and to be ready for immediate action early in the spring. +The western fortresses have received orders to be in readiness for war. + +A general Congress has been held of representatives from the several +German states, to make some common arrangement for the management of the +electric telegraph. They have agreed that all messages shall be +forwarded without interruption, that a common scale of charges shall be +adopted, and that the receipts shall go into a common fund, to be +distributed among the several states in proportion to the number of +miles of telegraphic communication running through them. + +The German Diet has resolved that the annexation of the Prussian Polish +provinces to the confederation two years ago, was illegal and void. It +has also determined to take into consideration the claims of the Ritter +party in Hanover, to have the abolition of their nobility privileges +revoked. This abolition was effected during the recent revolutions, but +it was done in a perfectly legal manner. + +The Emperor of Austria, not long since, wrote a letter to Prince +Schwartzenberg, stating that the Ministry would henceforth be +responsible to him alone, and that he would answer for the government. +This declaration, that the government was hereafter to be absolute, +excited deep feeling throughout the country, and it was supposed that it +might lead to a political crisis. On the 11th of October, however, the +Ministers took the oath of obedience to the Emperor, under this new +definition of their powers and responsibilities. The Emperor recently +visited Lombardy, where he had a very cold reception. + +In SPAIN changes have been made in the administration of the island of +Cuba. A Colonial Council has been created, which is to have charge of +all affairs relating to the colonial possessions, except such as are +specially directed by other Ministers. The Captain-general of each +colony is to conduct its affairs under the direction of the Council. It +is said that the Spanish Government intends to relax its customs +regulations in favor of England. + +From INDIA and the EAST late intelligence has been received. The Indian +frontier continued undisturbed: the troops suffered greatly from +sickness. There had been an outbreak in Malabar, which caused great loss +of life. The rebellion in China still goes on, but details of its +progress are lacking. + + + + +Editor's Table. + + +Time and Space--what are they? Do they belong to the world without, or +to the world within, or to some mysterious and inseparable union of both +departments of being? We hope the reader will be under no alarm from +such a beginning, or entertain any fear of being treated to a dish of +indigestible metaphysics. The terms we have placed at the head of our +Editor's Table, as suggestive of appropriate thoughts for the closing +month of the year, are, indeed, the deepest in philosophy. In all ages +have they been the watchwords of the schools. Aristotle failed in the +attempt to measure them. Kant acknowledged his inability to fathom the +profundity of their significance. And yet there are none, perhaps, that +enter more into the musings of that common philosophy which is for all +minds, for all ages, and for all conditions in life. Who has not thought +on the enigma of time and space, each baffling every effort the mind may +make for its pure and perfect conception without some aid from the +notion of its inseparable correlative? Where is the man, or child even, +who has not been drawn to some contemplation of that wondrous stream on +whose bosom we are sailing, but of which we can conceive neither origin +nor outlet; that mysterious river ever sweeping us along as by some +irresistible _outward_ force, and yet seeming to be so strangely +affected by the internal condition of each soul that is voyaging upon +its current--at one time the scenery upon its banks gliding by with a +placid swiftness that arrests the attention even of the least +reflective--at another, the mind recalled from a reverie which has +seemingly carried us onward many a league from the last remembered +observation of our mental longitude, but only to discover, with +surprise, that the objects on either shore have hardly receded a +perceptible distance in the perspective of our spiritual panorama. We +have passed the equinoctial line, and are under fair sail for the +enchanted kingdom of Candaya, when, like Don Quixotte and Sancho on the +smooth-flowing Ebro, we start up to find the rocks and trees, and all +the familiar features of the same old "real world" yet full in sight, +and that we have scarcely drifted a stone's throw from the point of our +departure. It is astonishing to what a distance the mental wanderings +may extend in the briefest periods. The idea was never better expressed +than by a pious old deacon, who used most feelingly to lament this sin +of wandering thoughts in the midst of holy services. Between the first +and fourth lines of a hymn, he would say, the soul may rove to the very +ends of the earth. The fixed outward measure arresting the attention by +its marked commencement and its closing cadence, presented the extent of +such subjective excursions in their most startling light. Childhood, +too, furnishes vivid illustrations of the same psychological +phenomena--childhood, that musing introspective period, which, on some +accounts, may be regarded as the most metaphysical portion of human +life. Who has not some reminiscences of this kind belonging to his +boyish existence? How in health the morning has seemed to burst upon him +in apparent simultaneousness with the moment when his head first dropped +upon the pillow, and he has wondered to think how mysteriously he had +leaped the interval which unerring outward indications had compelled him +to assign to the measured continuity of his existence! How has he, on +the other hand, in sickness, marked the unvaried ticking of the clock +through the long dark night, and fancied that the slow-pacing hours +would never flee away. His one sense and thought of pain, had arrested +the current of his being, and even the outer world seemed to stand +still, as though in sympathy with the suspended movement of his own +inner life. In experiences such as these, the mind of the child has been +brought directly upon the deepest problem in psychology. He has been on +the shore of the great mystery, and Kant, and Fichte, and Coleridge +could go no farther, except, it may be, to show how utterly unfathomable +for our present faculties, the mystery is. Philosophy comes back ever to +the same unexplained position. She can not conceive of mind as existing +out of time and space, and she can not well conceive of time and space +as wholly separate from the idea of successive thought, or, in other +words, a perceiving and measuring mind. + +Such phenomena present themselves in our most ordinary existence. Let a +man be in the habit of tracing back his roving thoughts, until he +connects them with the last remembered link from which the wandering +reverie commenced, and he will be amazed to find how long a time may in +a few moments have passed through the mind. The minute hand has barely +changed its position, and not only images and thoughts, but hopes, and +fears, and moral states have been called out, which, under other +circumstances, might have occupied an outward period extending it in +almost any assignable ratio. Indeed it is impossible to assign any limit +here. As far as our moral life is measured by actual spiritual exercise, +a man may sin as much in a minute as, at another time, in a day. He may +have had, in the same brief interval, a heaven of love and joy, which, +in a different inward condition of the spirit, months and years would +hardly have sufficed to realize. + +Such cases are familiar to all reflective minds. Even as they take place +in ordinary health, they may well produce the conviction, that there are +mysteries enough for our study in our most common experience, without +resorting to mesmerism or spiritual rappings. It is, however, in +sickness, that such phenomena assume their most startling aspect, and +furnish subjects of the most serious thought. The apparent decay of the +mind in connection with that of the body--the apparent injuries the one +sustains from the maladies of the other, have furnished arguments for +the infidel, and painful doubts for the unwilling skeptic. But there is +another aspect to facts of this kind. They sometimes show themselves in +a way which must be more startling to the materialist than to the +believer. They furnish evidence that the present body, instead of being +essential to the spirit's highest exercises, is only its temporary +regulator, intended for a period to _limit_ its powers, by keeping them +in enchained harmony with that outer world of nature in which the human +spirit is to receive its first intellectual and moral training. If it +does not originate the _law_ of successive thought, it governs and +measures its _movement_. Through the dark closet to which it confines +the soul, images and ideas are made to pass, one by one, in orderly +march; and while the body is in health, and does not sleep, and holds +steady intercourse with the world around us, it performs this +restraining and regulative office with some good degree of uniformity. +Viewed merely in reference to its own inner machinery, the clock may +have any kind or degree of movement. It may perform the apparent +revolutions of days and years, in seconds and fragments of seconds. But +attach to it a pendulum of a proper length, and its rates are +immediately adjusted to the steady course of external nature. The new +regulative power is determined by the mass and gravity of the earth. It +is what the diurnal rotation causes it to be. The latter, again, is +linked with the annual revolution, and this, again, with some far-off +millennial, or millio-millennial, cycle of the sun, and so on, until the +little time-piece on our Editor's Table, is in harmony with the _magnus +annus_, the great cosmical year, the _one_ all-embracing time of the +universe. The regulative action of the body upon the soul, although far +less uniform, presents a fair analogy. In ordinary health, the measured +flow of thought and feeling will bear some relation to the circulation +of the blood, the course of respiration, and those general cycles of the +body, or human _micro-cosmos_, which have acquired and preserved a +steady rate of movement. It is true that there are times, even in +health, when the thoughts burst from this regulative control, imparting +their own impetus to the nervous fluid, giving a hurried agitation to +the quick-panting breath, and sending the blood in maddened velocity +through the heart and veins. But it is in sickness that such a breaking +away from the ordinary check becomes most striking. The pendulum +removed, or the spring broken, how rapidly spin round the whizzing +wheels by which objective time is measured. And so of our spiritual +state. In that harmony between the inward and the outward, in which +health consists, we are insensible to the presence of the regulative +power. In the slightest sicknesses we feel the dragging chain, and time +moves slow, and sometimes almost stops. It is in this crisis of severe +disease that a deeper change takes place. Some link is snapped; and then +how inconceivably rapid may be, and sometimes is, the course of thought. +Now the long-buried past comes up, and moves before us, not in slow +succession, but in that swift array which would seem to place it +altogether upon the canvas. At other times, the soul goes out into a +self-created future; a dream it may be called, but having, as far as the +spirit is concerned, no less of authentic moral and intellectual +interest on that account. Suppose even the whole physical world to be +all a dream. What then? No article of moral truth would be in the least +changed; joy and suffering, right and wrong, would be no less real. +Might they not be regarded as even the more tremendously real, from the +very fact that they would be, in that case, the only realities in the +universe? Nothing here is really gained by any play upon that most +indefinable of all terms--reality. If that is _real_ which most deeply +affects us, and enters most intimately into our conscious being, then in +a most _real_ sense may it be affirmed, that years sometimes pass in the +crisis of a fever, and that a life-time--an intellectual and a moral +life-time--may be lived in what, to spectators, may have seemed to have +been but a moment of syncope, or of returning sensibility to outward +things. Such facts should startle us. They give us a glimpse of those +fearful energies which even now the spirit possesses, and which may +exhibit themselves with a thousand-fold more power, when all the +balance-wheels and regulating pendulums shall have been taken off, and +the soul left to develop that higher law of its being which now remains, +in a great degree, suspended and inert, like the chemist's latent heat +and light. + +In illustration of such a view, we might refer to recorded facts having +every mark of authenticity. They come to as from all ages. There is the +strange story which Plutarch gives us of the trance of Thespesius, and +of the immense series of wonders he witnessed during the short period of +apparent death. Strikingly similar to this is that remarkable account of +Rev. William Tennent which must be familiar to most of our readers. +Something analogous is reported of that strange inner life to which we +lately called attention in the account of Rachel Baker. To the same +effect the story, told by Addison, we think, of the Dervise and his +Magic Water, possessed of such wondrous properties, that the moment +between the plunging and the withdrawing of the head, became, +subjectively, a life-time filled with events of most absorbing interest. +But that may be called an Oriental romance. Another instance we would +relate from our own personal acquaintance with the one who was himself +the subject of a similar supercorporeal and supersensual action of the +spirit. He was a man bearing a high reputation for piety and integrity. +It was at the close of a day devoted to sacred services of an unusually +solemn kind that he related to us what, in the familiar language of +certain denominations of Christians, might be called his religious +experience. It was, indeed, of no ordinary nature, and there was one +part, especially, which made no ordinary impression on our memory. We +can only, in the most rapid manner, touch upon the main facts, as they +bear upon the thoughts we have been presenting. In the crisis of a +violent typhus fever, during a period which could not have occupied, at +the utmost, more than half an hour, a subjective life was lived, +extending not merely to hours and days, but through long years of varied +and most thrilling experience. He had traveled to foreign lands, and +encountered every species of adventure. He had amassed wealth and lost +it. He had formed new social bonds with their natural accompaniments of +joy and grief. He had committed crimes and suffered for them. He had +been in exile, cast out, and homeless. He had been in battle and in +shipwreck. He had been sick and recovered. And, finally, he had died, +and gone to judgment, and received the condemnation of the lost. Ages +had passed in outer darkness, during all which the exercises of the soul +were as active, and as distinct, and as coherently arranged, as at any +period of his existence. At length a fairly perceptible beam of light, +coming seemingly from an immense distance, steals faintly into his +prison-house. Nearer, and nearer still, it comes, although years and +years are occupied with its slow, yet steady approach. But it does +increase. Fuller, and clearer, and higher, grows the light of hope, +until all around him, and above him, is filled with the benign glory of +its presence. He dares once more look upward, and as he does so, he +beholds beaming upon him the countenance of his watching friend, bending +over him with the announcement that the crisis is past, and that +coolness is once more returning to his burning frame. Only a prolonged +dream, it might perhaps be said. But dreams in general run parallel with +the movement of outward time, or if they do go beyond it, it is never by +any such enormously magnified excess. But besides the apparent length of +such a trance, there was also this striking and essential difference. +Dreams may be more or less vivid; but all possess this common character, +that in the waking state we immediately recognize them as dreams; and +this not merely by way of inference from our changed condition, but +because, in themselves, they possess that unmistakably subjective, or +dream-like aspect, we can never separate from their outward +contemplation. They almost immediately put on the dress of dreams. The +air of reality, so fresh on our first awakening, begins straightway to +gather a shade about it. As they grow dimmer and dimmer, the very effort +at recalling only drives them farther off, and renders them more +indistinct, just as certain optical delusions ever melt away from the +gaze that is directed most steadily toward them. Thus the phantoms of +our sleep dissolve rapidly "into thin air." As we strive to hold fast +their features in the memory, they vanish farther and farther from the +view, until we can just discern their pale, ghostly forms receding, in +the distance, through the "gate of horn" into the land of irrecoverable +oblivion. This characteristic of ordinary dreaming has ever furnished +the ground of a favorite comparison both in sacred and classical +poetry--"Like a vision of the night"--"As a dream when one +awaketh"--"Like a morning dream"-- + + Tenuesque recessit in auras-- + Par levibus ventis, volucrique simillima somno. + +But these visions of the trance, are, in this respect, of a different, +as well as deeper, nature. The subject of our narrative most solemnly +averred that the scenes and feelings of this strange experience were +ever after not only real in appearance, but the most vividly real of any +part of his remembered existence. They never passed away into the place +and form of dreams. He knew they were subjective, but only from outward +testimony, and for some time even this was hardly sufficient to prevent +the deep impression exhibiting itself in his speech and intercourse with +the world to which he had returned. To his deeper consciousness they +ever seemed realities, ever to form a part of his most veritable being. +Our common dreams are more closely connected with the outer world, and +the nearest sphere of sensation. They are generally suggested by +obscurely felt bodily impressions. They belong to a state semi-conscious +of the presence of things around us. But the others come from a deeper +source. They are not + + Such stuff as dreams are made of-- + +But belong to the more interior workings of the spirit, when disease has +released it, either wholly or partially, from the restrictive outward +influence. Still, whatever may be our theory of explanation, the thought +we would set forth remains equally impressive. Such facts as these show +the amazing power of the soul in respect to time. They teach us that in +respect to our spiritual, as well as our material organization, we are +indeed "most fearfully and wonderfully made." They startle us with the +supposition that, in another state of existence, time may be mainly, if +not wholly what the spiritual action causes it to appear. We have heard +of well-attested cases, in which the whole past, even to its most minute +events, has flashed before the soul, in the dying moments, or during +some brief period of imminent danger arousing the spirit to a +preternatural energy. If there be truth in such experiences, then no +former exercise or emotion of the soul is ever lost. They belong to us +still, just as much as our present thought, or our present sensation, +and at some period may start up again to sleep no more, causing us +actually to realize that conception of Boethius which now appears only a +scholastic subtlety--_a whole life ever in one_, carrying with it a +consciousness of its whole abiding presence in every moment of its +existence--_tota simul et interminabilis vitæ possessio_. But we may +give the thought a more plain and practical turn. Even now, it may be +said, what we have lived forms still a part of our being. However it may +stand in respect to outward time, _it is never past to us_. We are too +much in the habit of regarding ourselves only in reference to what may +_seem_ our present moral state. We need the corrective power of the +idea that we ARE, not simply what we may now _appear_ to be, but all we +ever have been, and that such we must forever BE, unless in the +psychology and theology of a higher dispensation there is some mode of +separating us from our former selves. Now the soul is broken and +dispersed. Then will it come together, and as in the poetic imagination +of the resurrection of the body, bone meets its fellow-bone, and dust +hastens to join once more in living organization with its kindred dust, +so in the soul's _anastasis_ will all the lost and scattered thoughts +come home again to their spiritual abode, and from the chaos of the past +will stand forth forever one fixed and changeless being, the discordant +and deformed result of a false and evil life, or a glorious organization +in harmony with all that is fair and good in the universe. + + * * * * * + +Geology has created difficulties in the interpretation of certain parts +of the Scriptures; but these are more than balanced by a most important +aid, which in another respect, it is rendering to the cause of faith. +The former are fast giving way before that sound interpretation of the +primeval record which was maintained by some of the most learned and +pious in the Church, centuries before the new science was ever dreamed +of. The latter is gathering strength from every fresh discovery. We +refer to the proof geology is furnishing of the late origin of the human +race, and of the absolute necessity of ascribing it to a supernatural +cause. While there has been an ascending scale of orders, every new +order has commenced with the most mature specimens. The subsequent +history has been ever one of degeneracy, until a higher power came to +the aid of exhausted nature, and made another step of real progress in +the supernatural organization of a superior type. The largest fishes, +the most powerful reptiles, were first in the periods of their +respective families. And thus it went on until the introduction of the +human species. An attenuating series of physical and hyper-physical +powers forms the only theory which, on the fair Baconian induction, will +account for the phenomena presented. There are scientific as well as +theological bigots, and both are equally puzzled to explain the facts on +either set of principles to the exclusion of the other. It is chiefly, +however, in regard to man that the argument acquires its great +importance; as bearing directly on that first article, and fundamental +support of all faith--the veritable existence of the supernatural. This +is not the same with faith in the Scriptures, and yet is most intimately +connected with it. With the utter rejection of the latter, must soon go +all available belief in a personal deity or a personal future state; and +so, on the contrary, whatever in science shuts up the soul to a clear +belief in the supernatural, even in its most remote aspect, is so much +gained, ultimately, for the cause of the written oracles. And this is +just what geology is now doing. She proves, beyond doubt, the late +introduction of man upon the earth, and thus compels us to admit the +most supernatural of all known events within a period comparatively very +near to our own. The fact that, after a very few thousand years, the +light of history is quenched in total darkness, presenting no farther +trace of man or human things, goes far to prove his prior non-existence. +But it might, perhaps, be maintained, that of former generations, only +the merest fragments had, from time to time, survived the wreck of +physical convulsions, in which all outward memoranda of their older +existence had wholly perished. Such memorials, it is true, might have +departed from the surface, but then geology must have found them. She +has dug up abundant remains of types and orders, which, from their +position in the strata, she is compelled to assign to a period anterior +to that of man. There would have been no lack of zeal on the part of +some of her votaries. More than once, on the supposed discovery of some +old bone in a wrong place (to which it had been carried by some ordinary +disturbance of the deposits), have they rejoiced thereat, "like one who +findeth great spoil." But the evidence is now beyond all impeachment. +Remains of every other type have been discovered. The relative periods +of their different deposits have been ascertained. No stone, we may +literally say it, has been left unturned; and yet, not a single joint or +splinter of a human bone has been found to reward the search. The +argument from this is of immense importance. The essence of all +skepticism will be found, on analysis, to consist in a secret distrust +of the very existence of any thing supernatural--a latent doubt whether, +after all, every thing may not be nature, and nature every thing. +_Unnatural_ as it may seem, there are those who actually take delight in +such a view. It hides from the consciousness a secret, yet real +antipathy to the thought of a personal God, and the moral power of such +an idea. Whatever disturbs this feeling excites alarm, lest all the +foundations of unbelief (if we may use the word of a thing which has no +foundations) should be rendered insecure by the bare possibility of such +_direct_ interference. Hence the moral power of well attested miracles, +although it has been denied, even by religious writers, that there is +any such moral power. It is the felt presence of a near personal Deity. +It is the startling thought of the Great _Life_ of the universe coming +very nigh to us, and revealing the latent skepticism of men's souls. +Although greatly transcending, it is like the effect produced by those +operations of nature that startle us by their instantaneous exhibition +of resistless power, and which no amount of science can prevent our +regarding with reverence, or religious awe. With all our knowledge of +physical laws, no man, we venture to say it, is wholly an atheist, or +even a consistent naturalist, when the earth is heaving, or the +lightning bolts are striking thick and fast around him. + +Be it, then, near or remote, one unanswerable evidence of supernatural +intervention gives a foundation for all faith. And this geology does. +Only a few centuries back, on any chronology--a mere yesterday we may +say--she brings us face to face with the most stupendous of personal, +miraculous interventions. No mediate stages--no transitional +developments have been, or can be discovered--no links of half human, +half beastly monsters, such as the old Epicureans loved to imagine, and +some modern savans would have been glad to find. Nothing of this kind, +but all at once, after ages of fishes, and reptiles, and every kind of +lower animation, "a new thing upon the earth"--the wondrous human body +united to that surpassingly wondrous entity, the human soul, and both +new born, in all their maturity, from a previous state of non-existence. +So the rocks tell us; and the rocks, we are assured, on good scientific +authority, "can not deceive us" like the "poetical myths of man's +unreasoning infancy." + +Now what difficulties are there for faith after this? What is there in +any of the earlier narrations of the Bible that should stumble us--such +as the account of the flood, or the burning of Sodom, or the +transactions at Sinai? The supernatural once established, and in such an +astounding way as this, what more natural than that the new created race +should receive their earliest moral nurture directly from the source of +their so recent existence? What more credible than such an early +intercourse as the Bible reveals--when God walked with men, and spake to +them from his supernatural abode, and angels came and went on messages +of reproof or mercy. How _irrational_ the skepticism, which, when +compelled to admit the one will still stumble at the other, as being in +itself, and aside from outward testimony, too marvelous for belief. +There are those who are yet disposed to assail with desperation the +doctrine of man's late supernatural origin. But the danger from that +source is past. Geology and the Scriptures speak the same language here. +There is no need of any forced exegesis to bring them into harmony. It +is only of yesterday that the Eternal Deity has been upon the earth. His +footsteps are more recent than many of those natural changes science has +taken such pains to trace. Geology has proved, beyond all doubt, the +fact of man's _creation_; what then is there hard for faith in the +revealed facts of his _redemption_? Is the supernatural origin of a soul +an event more easy to be believed than a series of supernatural +interventions for its deliverance from moral evil, and its exaltation to +a destiny worthy of its heavenly origin? + + + + +Editor's Easy Chair. + + +Next to the winter weather, which is just now beguiling the town ladies +to as pretty a show of velvets and of martens, as the importers could +desire--talk is centering upon that redoubtable hero, LOUIS KOSSUTH. We +are an impulsive people, and take off our hats, one moment, with a +hearty good-will and devotion; and thrust them over our ears, the next, +with the most dogged contempt; and it would not be strange, therefore, +if we sometimes made mistakes in our practice of civilities. We fell, +naturally enough, into a momentary counter current--started by anonymous +and ill-natured letter writers from the other side of the sea--in regard +to KOSSUTH. While he was riding the very topmost wave of popular +admiration, a rumor that he had been uncivil and unduly exacting in his +intercourse with the officers of the Mississippi frigate, struck his +gallant craft and threatened to whelm her under the sea she was so +triumphantly riding. The opportune arrival of the Mississippi, and the +unanimous testimony of her officers to the respectful and altogether +proper demeanor of the Hungarian hero, restored him to favor and even +swelled the tide which sweeps him to a higher point of popularity than +any other foreigner, LA FAYETTE excepted, has ever reached in our +republican country. How he has earned their respect, a biographical +sketch in another part of our Magazine will enable each reader to judge +for himself. + +Linked to KOSSUTH is the new talk about the new and strange action of +that gone-by hero LOUIS NAPOLEON. Curiosity-mongers can not but be +gratified at such spectacle of a Republic as France just now presents; +where a man is not only afraid to express his opinions, but is afraid to +entertain them! It must be a gratifying scene for such old hankerers +after the lusts of Despotism, and the energy of Emperors, as METTERNICH, +to see the loving fraternity of our sister Republic, called France, +running over into such heart-felt action of benevolence and liberality +as characterize the diplomacy of FAUCHER! + +Stout EMILE DE GIRARDIN, working away at his giant _Presse_, with the +same indomitable courage, and the same incongruity of impulse, which +belonged to his battle for LOUIS NAPOLEON, now raises the war cry of a +_Working-man_ for President! And his reasoning is worth quoting; for it +offers an honest, though sad picture of the heart of political France. +"The choice lies," says he, "between LOUIS NAPOLEON and another. LOUIS +NAPOLEON has the eclat of his name to work upon the ignorant millions of +country voters: unless that _other_ shall have similar eclat, there is +no hope. No name in France can start a cry, even now, like the name of +NAPOLEON. Therefore," says GIRARDIN, "abandon the name of a man, and +take the name of a _class_. Choose your workingman, no matter who, and +let the rally be--'The Laborer, or the Prince!'" + +There is not a little good sense in this, viewed as a matter of +political strategy; but as a promise of national weal, it is fearfully +vain. Heaven help our good estate of the Union, when we must resort to +such chicanery, to guard our seat of honor, and to secure the guaranty +of our Freedom! + + * * * * * + +The cool air--nothing else--has quickened our pen-stroke to a side-dash +at political action: we will loiter back now, in our old, gossiping way, +to the pleasant current of the dinner chat. + +The winter-music has its share of regard; and between +Biscaccianti--whose American birth does not seem to lend any patriotic +fervor to her triumphs--and the new Opera, conversation is again set off +with its rounding Italian expletives, and our ladies--very many of +them--show proof of their enthusiasm, by their bouquets, and their +_bravos_. It would seem that we are becoming, with all our practical +cast, almost as music-loving a people as the finest of foreign +_dillettanti_: we defy a stranger to work his way easily and deftly into +the habit of our salon talk, without meeting with such surfeit of +musical _critique_, as he would hardly find at any _soirée_ of the +Chausée d'Antin, or of Grosvenor Place. There is bruited just now, with +fresh force, the old design of music for the million; and an opera house +with five thousand seats, will be--if carried into effect--a wonder to +ourselves, and to the world. + + * * * * * + +As our pen runs just now to music, it may be worth while to sketch--from +Parisian chronicle--an interview of the famous composer ROSSINI, with +the great musical purveyor of the old world--Mr. LUMLEY. + +ROSSINI, it is well known, has lately lived in a quiet and indolent +seclusion; and however much he may enjoy his honors, has felt little +disposition to renew them. The English Director, anxious to secure some +crowning triumph for his winter campaign, and knowing well that a new +composition of the great Italian would be a novelty sure of success, +determined to try, at the cost of an Italian voyage, a personal +interview. + +ROSSINI lives at Bologna--a gloomy old town, under the thrall and shadow +of the modern Gallic papacy. He inhabits an obscure house, in a dark and +narrow street. Mr. Lumley rings his bell, and is informed by the +_padrona_ that the great master has just finished his siesta, and will +perhaps see him. He enters his little parlor unannounced. It is +comfortably furnished--as comfort is counted in the flea-swarming houses +of Italy; the furniture is rich and old; the piano is covered with dust. +The old master of sweet sounds is seated in a high-backed chair, with a +gray cat upon his knees, and another cat dextrously poising on his lank +shoulder, playing with the tassel of his velvet cap. + +He rises to meet the stranger with an air of _ennui_, and a look of +annoyance, that seems to say, "Please sir, your face is strange, and +your business is unknown." + +"My name is Lumley," says the imperturbable Director. + +"Lumley--Lumley," says the master, "I do not know the name." + +It is a hard thing for the most enterprising musical director of Europe +to believe that he is utterly unknown to the first composer of Southern +Europe. + +"You should be an Englishman," continues the host. "Yet the English are +good fellows, though something indiscreet. They are capital sailors, for +example; and good fishermen. Pray, do you fish, monsieur? If your visit +looks that way, you are welcome." + +"Precisely," says the smiling Director; "I bring you a new style of +bait, which will be, I am sure, quite to your fancy." And with this he +unrolls his "fly-book," and lays upon the table bank-bills to the amount +of one hundred thousand francs. He knows the master's reputed avarice, +and watches his eye gloating on the treasure as he goes on. "I am, may +it please you, Director of the Opera at London and at Paris. I wish a +new opera three months from now. I offer you these notes as advance +premium for its completion. Will you accept the terms, and gratify +Europe?" + +The old man's eye dwelt on the notes: he ceased fondling the gray cat. +"A hundred thousand francs in bank-notes," said he, speaking to himself. + +"You prefer gold, perhaps," said the Englishman. + +"Not at all." + +"You accept, then?" + +The old man's brow grew flushed. A thought of indignity crossed his +mind. "There is then a dearth of composers, that you come to trouble an +old man's peace?" + +"Not at all: the world is full of them--gaining honors every season," +and the wily Director talked in a phrase to stir the old master's pride; +and again the brow grew flushed, as a thought of the electric notes came +over him, that had flashed through Europe and the world, and made his +name immortal. + +The Director waited hopefully. + +But the paroxysm of pride went by; "I _can not_:" said the old man, +plaintively. "My life is done; my brain is dry!" + +And the Director left him, with his tasseled cap lying against the high +chair back and the gray cat playing upon his knee. + + * * * * * + +In English papers, the ending of the Great Exhibition has not yet ceased +to give point to paragraphs. Observers say that the despoiling of the +palace of its wonders, reduces sadly the effect of the building; and it +is to be feared that the reaction may lead to its entire demolition. +Every country represented is finding some ground for self-gratulation in +its peculiar awards; and the opinion is universal, that they have been +honestly and fairly made. For ourselves, whatever our later boasts may +be, it is quite certain that on the score of _taste_, we made a bad show +in the palace. It was in bad taste to claim more room than we could +fill; it was in bad taste, to decorate our comparatively small show, +with insignia and lettering so glaring and pretentious; it was in bad +taste, not to wear a little more of that modesty, which conscious +strength ought certainly to give. + +But, on the other hand, now that the occasion is over, we may +congratulate ourselves on having made signal triumphs in just _those +Arts which most distinguish civilized man from the savage_; and in +having lost honor only _in those Arts, which most distinguish a +luxurious nation from the hardy energy of practical workers._ + + * * * * * + +It is an odd indication of national characteristic, that a little +episode of love rarely finds a narrator in either English or American +journalism; whereas, nothing is more common than to find the most habile +of French _feuilletonists_ turning their pen to a deft exposition of +some little garret story of affection; which, if it be only well told, +is sure to have the range of all the journals in France. + +Our eye just now falls upon something of the sort, with the taking +caption of "Love and Devotion;" and in order to give our seventy odd +thousand readers an idea of the graceful way in which such French story +is told, we shall render the half-story into English: + +In 1848, a young girl of high family, who had been reared in luxury, and +who had previously lost her mother, found herself in a single day +fatherless and penniless. The friends to whom she would have naturally +looked for protection and consolation, were either ruined or away. +Nothing remained but personal effort to secure a livelihood. + +She rented a small garret-room, and sought to secure such comforts as +she required by embroidering. But employers were few and suspicious. +Want and care wore upon her feeble frame, and she fell sick. With none +to watch over or provide for her, she would soon have passed off (as +thousands do in that gay world) to a quick and a lonely death. + +But there happened to be living in the same pile of building, and upon +the same landing, a young Piedmontese street-porter, who had seen often, +with admiring eyes, the frail and beautiful figure of his neighbor. He +devised a plan for her support, and for proper attendance. He professed +to be the agent of some third party of wealth, who furnished the means +regularly for whatever she might require. His earnings were small; but +by dint of early and hard working, he succeeded in furnishing all that +her necessities required. + +After some weeks, Mlle. SOPHIE (such is the name our paragraphist gives +the heroine) recovered; and was, of course, anxious to learn from the +poor Piedmontese the name of her benefactor. The poor fellow, however, +was true to the trust of his own devotion, and told nothing. Times grew +better, and SOPHIE had a hope of interesting the old friends of her +family. She had no acquaintance to employ as mediator but the poor +Piedmontese. He accepted readily the task, and, armed with her +authority, he plead so modestly, and yet so earnestly for the +unfortunate girl, that she recovered again her position, and with it no +small portion of her lost estate. + +Again she endeavored to find the name of her generous benefactor, but no +promises could wrest the secret from the faithful Giacomo. At least, +thought the grateful SOPHIE, the messenger of his bounties shall not go +unrewarded; and she inclosed a large sum to her neighbor of the garret. + +Poor Giacomo was overcome!--the sight of the money, and of the delicate +note of thanks, opened his eyes to the wide difference of estate that +lay between him and the adored object of his long devotion. To gain her +heart was impossible; to live without it, was even more impossible. He +determined--in the Paris way--to put an end to his cankerous hope, and +to his life--together. + +Upon a ledge of the deserted chamber he found a vial of medicine, which +his own hard-earned money had purchased, and with this he determined to +slip away from the world, and from his grief. + +He penned a letter, in his rude way, full of his love, and of his +desolation, and having left it where it would reach SOPHIE, when all +should be over, he swallowed the poison. Happily--(French story is +always happy in these interventions)--a friend had need of his services +shortly after! and hearing sad groans at his door, he burst it open, and +finding the dangerous state of the Piedmontese, ran for a physician. +Prompt effort brought GIACOMO to life again. But his story had been +told; and before this, the gay SOPHIE had grown sad over the history of +his griefs. + +We should like well to finish up our tale of devotions, with mention of +the graceful recognition of the love of the infatuated Piedmontese, by +the blooming Mademoiselle SOPHIE. But, alas! truth--as represented by +the ingenious Journalist--forbids such sequel. And we can only write, in +view of the vain devotion of the Sardinian lover--_le pauvre Giacomo!_ + + * * * * * + +Yet again, these graceful columns of French newsmakers, lend us an +episode--of quite another sort of devotion. The other showed that the +persuasion of love is often vain; and this will show, that the +persuasion of a wife is--vainer still. + +--A grave magistrate of France--no matter who--was voyaging through +Belgium with his wife. They had spun out a month of summer with that +graceful mingling of idlesse and wonder, that a Frenchwoman can so well +graft upon the habit of a husband's travel: they had bidden adieu to +Brussels, and to Liege, and were fast nearing the border-town, beyond +which lay their own sunny realm of France. + +The wife suddenly cuts short her smiles, and whispers her husband--"_Mon +cher_, I have been guilty of an imprudence." + +"It is not possible." + +"_Si_: a great one. I have my satchel full of laces, they are +contraband; pray, take them and hide them until the frontier is past." + +The husband was thunderstruck: "But, my dear, I--a magistrate, conceal +contraband goods?" + +"Pray, consider, _mon cher_, they are worth fifteen hundred francs; +there is not a moment to lose." + +"But, my dear!" + +"Quick--in your hat--the whistle is sounding--" + +There seemed no alternative, and the poor man bestowed the contraband +laces in his _chapeau_. + +The officials at the frontier, on recognizing the dignity of the +traveler, abstained from any examination of his luggage, and offered him +every facility. Thus far his good fortune was unexpected. But some +unlucky attendant had communicated to the town authorities the presence +of so distinguished a personage. The town authorities were zealous to +show respect; and posted at once to the station to make token of their +regard. The magistrate was charmed with such attention--so unexpected, +and so heart-felt. He could not refrain from the most gracious +expression of his _reconnaissance_; he tenders them his thanks in set +terms;--he bids them adieu;--and, in final acknowledgment of their +kindness--he lifts his hat, with enthusiastic flourish. + +--A shower of Mechlin lace covers the poor man, like a bridal vail! + +The French Government winks at the vices, and short-comings of +representatives and President; but with a humble magistrate, the matter +is different. The poor man, _bon-grè_--_mal-grè_, was stopped upon the +frontier--was shorn of his bridal covering; and in company with his +desponding wife, still (so GUINOT says) pays the forfeit of his yielding +disposition, in a dusky, and grated chamber of the old border town of +----. + + + + +Editor's Drawer. + + +Well, "_Election is over_," for one thing, and we breathe again. The +freemen of the "Empire State" have walked up to the polls, the +"captain's office" of the boat on which we are all embarked, and +"settled" the whole matter. The little slips of paper have done the +deed, without revolution and without bloodshed. Some are rejoiced, +because they have succeeded; others lament that when they were all ready +at any moment to die for their country and a fat office, their offers +were not accepted by the sovereigns. Some, with not much character to +spare of their own, are grieved to find that "tailing-on" upon +individual eminence won't always "do" with the people. And, by-the-by, +speaking of "tailing-on," there "hangs a tale," which is worth +recording. It may be old, but we heard it for the first time the other +evening, and it made us "laugh consumedly." This it is:--At the time of +the first election of General WASHINGTON to the Presidency, there was a +party in one of the Southern States, called the "_John Jones' Party_." +The said Jones, after whom the party took its name, was a man of talent; +a plotting, shrewd fellow, with a good deal of a kind of "Yankee +cunning;" in short, possessing all the requisites of a successful +politician, except personal popularity. To overcome this latter +deficiency, of which he was well aware, especially in a contest with a +popular candidate for Congress, John Jones early avowed himself as the +peculiar and devoted friend of General WASHINGTON, and on this safe +ground, as he thought, he endeavored to place his rival in opposition. +In order to carry out this object more effectually, he called a meeting +of his county, of "All those friendly to the election of General GEORGE +WASHINGTON!" + +On the day appointed, Mr. John Jones appeared, and was, on the +cut-and-dried motion of a friendly adherent, made chairman of the +meeting. He opened the proceedings by a high and carefully-studied +eulogium upon the life and services of WASHINGTON, but taking care only +to speak of himself as his early patron, and most devoted friend. He +concluded his remarks by a proposition to form a party, to be called +"_The True and Only Sons of the Father of his Country_:" and for that +object, he submitted to the meeting a resolution something like the +following: + +"_Resolved_, That we are the friends of General GEORGE WASHINGTON, and +will sustain him in the coming election against all other competitors." + +"Gentlemen," said Mr. Jones, after reading the resolution, "the Chair is +now about to put the question. The chairman hopes that every man will +declare his sentiments, either for or against the resolution. All those +in favor of the resolution will please to say 'Ay.'" + +A thundering "_Ay_!" shook the very walls of the building. The united +voices were like the "sound of many waters." + +"Now, gentlemen, for the opposition," said John Jones. "All those who +are contrary-minded, will please to say '_No_!'" + +Not a solitary voice was heard. The dead silence seemed to confuse Mr. +Jones very much. After some hesitation and fidgeting, he said: + +"Gentlemen, _do vote_. The Chair can not decide a disputed question when +nobody votes on the other side. We want a direct vote, so that the +country may know who are the real and true friends of General +WASHINGTON." + +Upon this appeal, one of the audience arose, and said: + +"I perceive the unpleasant dilemma in which the Chair is placed; and in +order to relieve the presiding officer from his quandary, I now propose +to amend the resolution, by adding, after the name of General +WASHINGTON--'_and John Jones for Congress_.'" + +"The amendment is in order--I accept the amendment," said the chairman, +speaking very quickly; "and the Chair will now put the question as +amended: + +"All those who are in favor of General WASHINGTON for President, and +John Jones for Congress, will please to say, 'Ay.'" + +"Ay--ay!" said John Jones and his brother, with loud voices, which they +had supposed would be drowned in the unanimous thunder of the +affirmative vote. + +The "Chair" squirmed and hesitated. "Put the contrary!" said a hundred +voices, at the same moment: + +"All those op--po--po--sed," said the Chair, "will please to say, 'No!'" + +"No--o--o--o!!" thundered every voice but two in the whole assembly, and +these were Jones' and his brother's. Then followed a roar of laughter, +as CARLYLE says, "like the neighing of all Tattersall's." + +"Gentlemen," said Mr. Jones, "the Chair perceives that there are people +in this meeting who don't belong to _our_ party: they have evidently +come here to agitate, and make mischief. I, therefore, do now adjourn +this meeting!" + +Whereupon, he left the chair; and amid shouts and huzzahs for +WASHINGTON, and groans for John Jones, he "departed the premises." + + * * * * * + +We find in the "Drawer" a rich specimen of logic-chopping, at which +there was a hearty laugh more years ago than we care to remember. It is +an admirable satire upon half the labored criticisms of Shakspeare with +which the world has been deluged: + + "Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed; + Thrice, and once the hedge-pig whined!" + MACBETH + +"I never was more puzzled in my life than in deciding upon the right +reading of this passage. The important inquiry is, Did the hedge-pig +_whine once_, or _thrice and once_? Without stopping to inquire whether +hedge-pigs exist in Scotland, that is, pigs with quills in their backs, +the great question occurs, _how many times did he whine_? It appears +from the text that the cat mewed three times. Now would not a virtuous +emulation induce the hedge-pig to endeavor to get the last word in the +controversy; and how was this to be obtained, save by whining thrice +_and_ once? The most learned commentators upon SHAKSPEARE have given the +passage thus: + + "Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed; + Thrice; and once the hedge-pig whined." + +"Thereby awarding the palm to the brinded cat. The fact is, they probably +entertained reasonable doubts whether the hedge-pig was a native of +Scotland, and a sense of national pride induced them to lean on the side +of the productions of their country. I think a heedful examination of +the two lines, will satisfy the unbiased examiner that the hedge-pig +whined, at least, four times. It becomes me, however, as a candid +critic, to say, that reasonable doubts exist in both cases!" + + * * * * * + +Doesn't the impressive inquiry embodied in the ensuing touching lines, +somewhat enter into the matrimonial thoughts of _some_ of our city +"offerers?" + + "Oh! do not paint her charms to me, + I know that she is fair! + I know her lips might tempt the bee, + Her eyes with stars compare: + Such transient gifts I ne'er could prize, + My heart they could not win: + I do not scorn my Mary's eyes, + But--has she any '_tin_?' + + "The fairest cheek, alas! may fade, + Beneath the touch of years; + The eyes where light and gladness played, + May soon grow dim with tears: + I would love's fires should to the last + Still burn, as they begin; + But beauty's reign too soon is past; + So--has she any '_tin_?'" + + * * * * * + +There is something very touching and pathetic in a circumstance +mentioned to us a night or two ago, in the sick-room of a friend. A poor +little girl, a cripple, and deformed from her birth, was seized with a +disorder which threatened to remove her from a world where she had +suffered so much. She was a very affectionate child, and no word of +complaining had ever passed her lips. Sometimes the tears would come in +her eyes, when she saw, in the presence of children more physically +blessed than herself, the severity of her deprivation, but that was all. +She was so gentle, so considerate of giving pain, and so desirous to +please all around her, that she had endeared herself to every member of +her family, and to all who knew her. + +At length it was seen, so rapid had been the progress of her disease, +that she could not long survive. She grew worse and worse, until one +night, in an interval of pain, she called her mother to her bed-side, +and said, "Mother, I am dying now. I hope I shall see you, and my +brother and sisters in Heaven. Won't I be _straight_, and not a cripple, +mother, when I _do_ get to Heaven?" And so the poor little sorrowing +child passed forever away. + + * * * * * + +"I heard something a moment ago," writes a correspondent in a Southern +city, "which I will give you the skeleton of. It made me laugh not a +little; for it struck me, that it disclosed a transfer of 'Yankee +Tricks' to the other side of the Atlantic. It would appear, that a +traveler stopped at Brussels, in a post-chaise, and being a little +sharp-set, he was anxious to buy a piece of cherry-pie, before his +vehicle should set out; but he was afraid to leave the public +conveyance, lest it might drive off and leave _him_. So, calling a lad +to him from the other side of the street, he gave him a piece of money, +and requested him to go to a restaurant or confectionery, in the near +vicinity, and purchase the pastry; and then, to 'make assurance doubly +sure,' he gave him _another_ piece of money, and told him to buy some +for himself at the same time. The lad went off on a run, and in a little +while came back, eating a piece of pie, and looking very complacent and +happy. Walking up to the window of the post-chaise, he said, with the +most perfect _nonchalance_, returning at the same time one of the pieces +of money which had been given him by the gentleman, 'The restaurateur +had only _one_ piece of pie left, and that _I_ bought with my money, +that you gave me!'" + +This anecdote, which we are assured is strictly true, is not unlike one, +equally authentic, which had its origin in an Eastern city. A mechanic, +who had sent a bill for some article to a not very conscientious +pay-master in the neighborhood, finding no returns, at length "gave it +up as a bad job." A lucky thought, however, struck him one day, as he +sat in the door of his shop, and saw a debt-collector going by, who was +notorious for sticking to a delinquent until _some_ result was obtained. +The creditor called the collector in, told him the circumstances, handed +him the account, and added: + +"Now, if you will collect that debt, I'll give you half of it; or, if +you don't collect but _half_ of the bill, I'll divide _that_ with you." + +The collector took the bill, and said, "I guess, I can get half of it, +_any_ how. At any rate, if I don't, it shan't be for want of _trying_ +hard enough." + +Nothing more was seen of the collector for some five or six months; +until one day the creditor thought he saw "the indefatigable" trying to +avoid him by turning suddenly down a by-street of the town. "Halloo! Mr. +----!" said he; "how about that bill against Mr. Slowpay? Have you +collected it yet?" "Not the _hull_ on it, I hain't," said the +imperturbable collector; "but I c'lected _my_ half within four weeks +a'ter you gin' me the account, and he hain't paid me nothin' since. I +tell him, every time I see him, that you want the money _very_ bad; but +he don't seem to mind it a bit. He is dreadful 'slow pay,' as you said, +when you give me the bill! Good-morning!" And off went the collector, +"staying no further question!" + + * * * * * + +There is a comical blending of the "sentimental" and the +"matter-of-fact" in the ensuing lines, which will find a way to the +heart of every poor fellow, who, at this inclement season of the year, +is in want of a new coat: + + By winter's chill the fragrant flower is nipped, + To be new-clothed with brighter tints in spring + The blasted tree of verdant leaves is stripped, + A fresher foliage on each branch to bring. + + The aerial songster moults his plumerie, + To vie in sleekness with each feathered brother. + A twelvemonth's wear hath ta'en thy nap from thee, + My seedy coat!--_when_ shall I get another? + + * * * * * + +"My name," said a tall, good-looking man, with a decidedly _distingué_ +air, as he entered the office of a daily newspaper in a sister city, "my +name, Sir, is PAGE--Ed-w-a-rd Pos-th-el-wa-ite PA-GE! You have heard of +me no doubt. In fact, Sir, I was sent to you, by Mr. C----r, of the +'---- Gazette.' I spent some time with him--an hour perhaps--conversing +with him. But as I was about explaining to him a little problem which I +had had in my mind for some time, I _thought_ I saw that he was busy, +and couldn't hear me. In fact, he _said_, 'I wish you would do me the +kindness to go _now_ and come _again_; and always send up your _name_, +so that I may know that it is _you_; otherwise,' said he, 'I _shouldn't_ +know that it was _you_, and might _refuse_ you without knowing it.' Now, +Sir, that was kind--that was kind, and gentlemanly, and I shall remember +it. Then he told me to come to see _you_; he said yours was an afternoon +paper, and that _your_ paper for to-day was out, while he was engaged in +getting his ready for the morning. He rose, Sir, and saw me to the door; +and downstairs; in fact, Sir, he came with me to the corner, and showed +me your office; and for fear I should miss my way, he gave a lad a +sixpence, to _show_ me here, Sir. + +"They call me crazy, Sir, _some_ people do--_crazy_! The reason is +simple--I'm above their comprehension. Do I _seem_ crazy? I am an +educated man, my conduct has been unexceptionable. I've wronged no +man--never did a man an injury. I wouldn't do it. + +"I came to America in 1829 2^_m_ which being multiplied by Cæsar's +co-sine, which is C B to Q equal X' 3^_m_." + +Yes, reader; this was PAGE, the Monomaniac: a man perfectly sound on +any subject, and capable of conversing upon any topic, intelligently and +rationally, until it so happened, in the course of conversation, that he +_mentioned any numerical figure_, when his wild imagination was off at a +tangent, and he became suddenly as "mad as a March hare" on _one +subject_. _Here_ his monomania was complete. In every thing else, there +was no incoherency; nothing in his speech or manner that any gentleman +might not either say or do. So much for the man: now for a condensed +exhibition of his peculiar idiosyncrasy, as exhibited in a paper which +he published, devoted to an elaborate illustration of the great extent +to which he carried the science of mathematics. The _fragments_ of +various knowledge, like the tumbling objects in a kaleidoscope, are so +jumbled together, that we defy any philosopher, astronomer, or +mathematician, to read it without roaring with laughter; for the feeling +of the ridiculous will overcome the sensations of sympathy and pity. But +listen: "Here's '_wisdom_' for you," as Captain Cuttle would say: +_intense_ wisdom: + + "Squares are to circles as Miss Sarai 18 when she did wed her + Abram 20 on Procrustes' bed, and 19 parted between each head; so + Sarah when 90 to Abraham when 100, and so 18 squared in 324, a + square to circle 18 × 20 = 360, a square to circle 400, a square + to circle 444, or half _Jesous_ 888 in half the Yankee era 1776; + which 888 is sustained by the early Fathers and Blondel on the + Sibyls. It is a square to triangle Sherwood's no-variation circle + 666 in the sequel. But 19 squared is 361 between 360 and 362, + each of which multiply by the Sun's magic compass 36, Franklin's + magic circle of circles 360 × 36 considered. + + "Squares are to circles as 18 to 20, or 18 squared in 324 to 18 × + 20 = 360. But more exactly as 17 to 19, or 324 to 362 × 36, or + half 26064. As 9 to 10, so square 234000 to circle 26000. + + POSITIVES. MEANS. NEGATIVES. + 20736 23328 25920 + 20736 23400 26064 + 4)20736 23422 26108 + ------- ----- ----- + A. M. 5855 this year 1851. + + "Squares are to circles as 17 to 19, or 23360 to 26108. The + sequel's 5832 and 5840 are quadrants of 23328 and 23360. + + "18 cubed is 5832, the world's age in 1828, 5840 its age in the + Halley comet year 1836, 5878 its age the next transit of Venus in + 1874, but 5870 is its age in the prophet's year 1866. + + POSITIVES. MEANS. NEGATIVES. + { 5832 5855 5870 over X. } + { 5840 5855 5878 under X. } + 1828 A.D. 1851 now! 1874 over X. + 1836 A.D. 1851 now! 1866 under X. + + "100 times the Saros 18 = 18-1/2 = 19 in 1800 last year's 1850, + 1900 for new moons. + + "If 360 degrees, each 18, in Guy's 6480, evidently 360 × 18-1/2 + in the adorable 6660, or ten no-variation circles, each 36 × + 18-1/2 = 666, like ten Chaldee solar cycles, each 600 in our + great theme, 6000, the second advent date of Messiah, as + explained by Barnabas, Chap. xiii in the Apocryphal New + Testament, 600 and 666 being square and circle, like 5994 and + 6660. Therefore 5995 sum the Arabic 28, or Persic 32, or Turkish + 33 letters. + + "But as 9 to 10, so square 1665 of the Latin IVXLCDM = 1666 to + circle last year's 1850--12 such signs are as much 19980 and + 22200, whose quadrants are 4995 and 5550, as 12 signs, each the + Halley comet year 1836, are 5508 Olympiads, the Greek Church + claiming this era 5508 for Christ. + + "But though the ecliptic angle has decreased only 40 × 40 in 1600 + during 43 × 43 = 1849, say 1850 from the birth of Christ, and + double that since the creation; yet 1600 and Yankee era 1776 + being square and circle like 9 and 10--place 32 for a round of + the seasons in a compass of 32 points, or shrine them in 32 + chessmen, like 1600 and 1600 in each of 16 pieces; then shall 32 + times Sherwood's no-variation circle 666, meaning 666 rounds of + the seasons, each 32, be 12 signs, each 1776, or 24 degrees in + the ecliptic angle, each _Jesous_ 888, in circle 21312 to square + 19200, or 12 signs each 1600, that the quadrants of square 19200 + and circle 21312 may be the Cherubim of Glory 4800 and 5328; + which explains ten Great Paschal cycles each 532, a square to + circle 665 of the Beast's number 666. Because, like 3, 4, 5, in + my Urim and Thummim's 12 jewels, are + + TRIANGLES. SQUARES. CIRCLES. + 3600 4800 6000 + 3990 5320 6650 + + "Because 3990 of the Latin Church's era 4000 for Christ, is + doubled in the Julian period 7980. + + "Every knight of the queen of night may know that each of 9 + columns in the Moon's magic compass for 9 squared in 81, sums + 369, and that 370 are between it and 371, while 19 times 18-1/2 + approach 351, when 19 squared are 361 in + + POSITIVES. MEANS. NEGATIVES. + 350 360 370 + 351 361 371 + 369 370 371 + + "The Saros 18 times 369 in 6642 of the above 6650; but 18 × 370 = + 6660, or 360 times 18-1/2. + + "1800 and proemptosis 2400 are half this Seraphim 3600 and + Cherubim 4800: but 7 × 7 × 49 × 49 = 2401 in 4802. + + 5328 5320 + 4802 4810 + ---- ---- + 10130 10130 + + "All that Homer's Iliad ever meant, was this: 10 years as degrees + on Ahaz's dial between the positive 4790, mean 4800, negative + 4810: If the Septuagints' 72 times 90 in 360 × 18 = 6480, equally + 72 times 24 and 66 degrees in 12 cubed and 4752." + +Now it is about enough to make one crazy to read this over; and yet it +is impossible not to _see_, as it is impossible not to _laugh at_ the +transient glimpses of scattered knowledge which the singular ollapodrida +contains. + + * * * * * + +"If you regard, Mr. Editor, the following," says a city friend, "as +worthy a place in your 'Drawer,' you are perfectly welcome to it. It was +an actual occurrence, and its authenticity is beyond a question: + +"Many years ago, when sloops were substituted for steamboats on the +Hudson River, a celebrated Divine was on his way to hold forth to the +inhabitants of a certain village, not many miles from New York. One of +his fellow-passengers who was an unsophisticated countryman, to make +himself appear 'large' in the eyes of the passengers, entered into a +conversation with the learned Doctor of Divinity. After several ordinary +remarks, and introducing himself as one of the congregation, to whom he +(the doctor) would expound the Word on the morrow, the following +conversation took place: + +"'Wal, Doctor, I reckon you know the Scripters pooty good,' remarked the +countryman. + +"'Really, my friend,' said the clergyman, 'I leave that for _other_ +persons to determine. You know it does not become a person of any +delicacy to utter praise in his own behalf.' + +"'So it doesn't,' replied the querist; 'but I've heerd folks say, you +know rather more than _we_ do. They say you're pooty good in larning +folks the BIBLE: but I guess I can give you a poser.' + +"'I am pleased to answer questions, and feel gratified to tender +information at any time, always considering it my _duty_ to impart +instruction, as far as it lies in my power,' replied the clergyman. + +"'Wall,' says the countryman, with all the imperturbable gravity in the +world, 'I spose you've heerd tell on, in the Big BOOK, 'bout Aaron and +the golden calf: now, in your opinion, do you think the calf Aaron +worshiped, was a heifer or a bull?' + +"The Doctor of Divinity, as may be imagined, immediately '_vamosed_,' +and left the countryman bragging to the by-standers, that he had +completely nonplussed the clergyman!" + + + + +Literary Notices. + + +A new work by HERMAN MELVILLE, entitled _Moby Dick; or, The Whale_, has +just been issued by Harper and Brothers, which, in point of richness and +variety of incident, originality of conception, and splendor of +description, surpasses any of the former productions of this highly +successful author. _Moby Dick_ is the name of an old White Whale; half +fish and half devil; the terror of the Nantucket cruisers; the scourge +of distant oceans; leading an invulnerable, charmed life; the subject of +many grim and ghostly traditions. This huge sea monster has a conflict +with one Captain Ahab; the veteran Nantucket salt comes off second best; +not only loses a leg in the affray, but receives a twist in the brain; +becomes the victim of a deep, cunning monomania; believes himself +predestined to take a bloody revenge on his fearful enemy; pursues him +with fierce demoniac energy of purpose; and at last perishes in the +dreadful fight, just as he deems that he has reached the goal of his +frantic passion. On this slight framework, the author has constructed a +romance, a tragedy, and a natural history, not without numerous +gratuitous suggestions on psychology, ethics, and theology. Beneath the +whole story, the subtle, imaginative reader may perhaps find a pregnant +allegory, intended to illustrate the mystery of human life. Certain it +is that the rapid, pointed hints which are often thrown out, with the +keenness and velocity of a harpoon, penetrate deep into the heart of +things, showing that the genius of the author for moral analysis is +scarcely surpassed by his wizard power of description. + +In the course of the narrative the habits of the whale are fully and +ably described. Frequent graphic and instructive sketches of the +fishery, of sea-life in a whaling vessel, and of the manners and customs +of strange nations are interspersed with excellent artistic effect among +the thrilling scenes of the story. The various processes of procuring +oil are explained with the minute, painstaking fidelity of a statistical +record, contrasting strangely with the weird, phantom-like character of +the plot, and of some of the leading personages, who present a no less +unearthly appearance than the witches in Macbeth. These sudden and +decided transitions form a striking feature of the volume. Difficult of +management, in the highest degree, they are wrought with consummate +skill. To a less gifted author, they would inevitably have proved fatal. +He has not only deftly avoided their dangers, but made them an element +of great power. They constantly pique the attention of the reader, +keeping curiosity alive, and presenting the combined charm of surprise +and alternation. + +The introductory chapters of the volume, containing sketches of life in +the great marts of Whalingdom, New Bedford and Nantucket, are pervaded +with a fine vein of comic humor, and reveal a succession of +portraitures, in which the lineaments of nature shine forth, through a +good deal of perverse, intentional exaggeration. To many readers, these +will prove the most interesting portions of the work. Nothing can be +better than the description of the owners of the vessel, Captain Peleg +and Captain Bildad, whose acquaintance we make before the commencement +of the voyage. The character of Captain Ahab also opens upon us with +wonderful power. He exercises a wild, bewildering fascination by his +dark and mysterious nature, which is not at all diminished when we +obtain a clearer insight into his strange history. Indeed, all the +members of the ship's company, the three mates, Starbuck, Stubbs, and +Flash, the wild, savage Gayheader, the case-hardened old blacksmith, to +say nothing of the pearl of a New Zealand harpooner, the bosom friend of +the narrator--all stand before us in the strongest individual relief, +presenting a unique picture gallery, which every artist must despair of +rivaling. + +The plot becomes more intense and tragic, as it approaches toward the +denouement. The malicious old Moby Dick, after long cruisings in pursuit +of him, is at length discovered. He comes up to the battle, like an army +with banners. He seems inspired with the same fierce, inveterate cunning +with which Captain Ahab has followed the traces of his mortal foe. The +fight is described in letters of blood. It is easy to foresee which will +be the victor in such a contest. We need not say that the ill-omened +ship is broken in fragments by the wrath of the weltering fiend. Captain +Ahab becomes the prey of his intended victim. The crew perish. One alone +escapes to tell the tale. Moby Dick disappears unscathed, and for aught +we know, is the same "delicate monster," whose power in destroying +another ship is just announced from Panama. + +G. P. Putnam announces the _Home Cyclopedia_, a series of works in the +various branches of knowledge, including history, literature, and the +fine arts, biography, geography, science, and the useful arts, to be +comprised in six large duodecimos. Of this series have recently appeared +_The Hand-book of Literature and the Fine Arts_, edited by GEORGE RIPLEY +and BAYARD TAYLOR, and _The Hand-book of Universal Biography_, by PARKE +GODWIN. The plan of the Encyclopedia is excellent, adapted to the wants +of the American people, and suited to facilitate the acquisition of +knowledge. As a collateral aid in a methodical course of study, and a +work of reference in the daily reading, which enters so largely into the +habits of our countrymen, it will, no doubt, prove of great utility. + +_Rural Homes_, by GERVASSE WHEELER (published by Charles Scribner), is +intended to aid persons proposing to build, in the construction of +houses suited to American country life. The author writes like a man of +sense, culture, and taste. He is evidently an ardent admirer of John +Ruskin, and has caught something of his æsthetic spirit. Not that he +deals in mere theories. His book is eminently practical. He is familiar +with the details of his subject, and sets them forth with great +simplicity and directness. No one about to establish a rural homestead +should neglect consulting its instructive pages. + +Ticknor, Reed, and Fields have published a new work, by NATHANIEL +HAWTHORNE, for juvenile readers, entitled _A Wonder-Book for Boys and +Girls_ with engravings by Barker from designs by Billings. It is founded +on various old classical legends, but they are so ingeniously wrought +over and stamped with the individuality of the author, as to exercise +the effect of original productions. Mr. Hawthorne never writes more +genially and agreeably than when attempting to amuse children. He seems +to find a welcome relief in their inartificial ways from his own weird +and sombre fancies. Watching their frisky gambols and odd humors, he +half forgets the saturnine moods from which he draws the materials of +his most effective fictions, and becomes himself a child. A vein of airy +gayety runs through the present volume, revealing a sunny and beautiful +side of the author's nature, and forming a delightful contrast to the +stern, though irresistibly fascinating horrors, which he wields with +such terrific mastery in his recent productions. Child and man will love +this work equally well. Its character may be compared to the honey with +which the author crowns the miraculous hoard of Baucis and Philemon. +"But oh the honey! I may just as well let it alone, without trying to +describe how exquisitely it smelt and looked. Its color was that of the +purest and most transparent gold; and it had the odor of a thousand +flowers; but of such flowers as never grew in an earthly garden, and to +seek which the bees must have flown high above the clouds. Never was +such honey tasted, seen, or smelt. The perfume floated around the +kitchen, and made it so delightful, that had you closed your eyes you +would instantly have forgotten the low ceiling and smoky walls, and have +fancied yourself in an arbor with celestial honeysuckles creeping over +it." + +_Glances at Europe_, by HORACE GREELEY (published by Dewitt and +Davenport), has passed rapidly to a second edition, being eagerly called +for by the numerous admirers of the author in his capacity as public +journalist. Composed in the excitement of a hurried European tour, +aiming at accuracy of detail rather than at nicety of language, intended +for the mass of intelligent readers rather than for the denizens of +libraries, these letters make no claim to profound speculation or to a +high degree of literary finish. They are plain, straight-forward, +matter-of-fact statements of what the writer saw and heard in the course +of his travels, recording at night the impressions made in the day, +without reference to the opinions or descriptions of previous travelers. +The information concerning various European countries, with which they +abound, is substantial and instructive; often connected with topics +seldom noticed by tourists; and conveyed in a fresh and lively style. +With the reputation of the author for acute observation and forcible +expression, this volume is bound to circulate widely among the people. + +Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, have issued a new volume of _Poems_, by +RICHARD HENRY STODDARD, consisting of a collection of pieces which have +been before published, and several which here make their appearance for +the first time. It will serve to elevate the already brilliant +reputation of the youthful author. His vocation to poetry is clearly +stamped on his productions. Combining great spontaneity of feeling, with +careful and elaborate composition, he not only shows a native instinct +of verse, but a lofty ideal of poetry as an art. He has entered the path +which will lead to genuine and lofty fame. The success of his early +effusions has not elated him with a vain conceit of his own genius. +Hence, we look for still more admirable productions than any contained +in the present volume. He is evidently destined to grow, and we have +full faith in the fulfillment of his destiny. His fancy is rich in +images of gorgeous and delicate beauty; a deep vein of reflection +underlies his boldest excursions; and on themes of tender and pathetic +interest, his words murmur with a plaintive melody that reaches the +hidden source of tears. His style, no doubt, betrays the influence of +frequent communings with his favorite poets. He is eminently susceptible +and receptive. He does not wander in the spicy groves of poetical +enchantment, without bearing away sweet odors. But this is no +impeachment of his own individuality. He is not only drawn by the +subtle affinities of genius to the study of the best models, but all the +impressions which he receives, take a new form from his own plastic +nature. The longest poem in the volume is entitled, "The Castle in the +Air"--a production of rare magnificence. "The Hymn to Flora," is full of +exquisite beauties, showing a masterly skill in the poetical application +of classical legends. "Harley River," "The Blacksmith's Shop," "The Old +Elm," are sweet rural pictures, soft and glowing as a June meadow in +sunset. "The Household Dirge," and several of the "Songs and Sonnets," +are marked by a depth of tenderness which is too earnest for any +language but that of the most severe simplicity. + +We have a translation of NEANDER _on the Philippians_, by Mrs. H. C. +CONANT, which renders that admirable practical commentary into sound and +vigorous English. A difficult task accomplished with uncommon skill. +(Published by Lewis Colby). + +_The Heavenly Recognition_, by Rev. H. HARBAUGH, is the title of an +interesting religious work on the question, "Shall we know our friends +in Heaven?" This is treated by the author with great copiousness of +detail, and in a spirit of profound reverence and sincere Christian +faith. His book will be welcome to all readers who delight in +speculations on the mysteries of the unseen world. Relying mainly on the +testimony of Scripture, the author seeks for evidence on the subject in +a variety of collateral sources, which he sets forth in a tone of strong +and delightful confidence. (Published by Lindsay and Blackiston). + +Lindsay and Blackiston have issued several richly ornamented gift books, +which will prove attractive during the season of festivity and +friendship. Among them are, "_The Star of Bethlehem_," by Rev. H. +HASTINGS WELD, a collection of Christmas stories, with elegant +engravings. "_The Woodbine_," edited by CAROLINE MAY, containing +original pieces and selections, among the latter, "several racy stories +of Old England," and a tempting series of _Tales_ for _Boys_ and +_Girls_, by Mrs. HUGHES, a justly celebrated writer of juvenile works. + +Bishop MCILVAINE'S _Charge_ on the subject of _Spiritual Regeneration_ +has been issued in a neat pamphlet by Harper and Brothers. It forms an +able and appropriate contribution to doctrinal theology, at a time when +the topic discussed has gained a peculiar interest from the present +position of Catholicism both in England and America. The theme is +handled by Bishop McIlvaine with his accustomed vigor and earnestness, +and is illustrated by the fruits of extensive research. + + * * * * * + +Speaking of the decease of our illustrious countryman, FENIMORE COOPER, +the _London Athenæum_ has the following discriminating remarks: "Mr. +COOPER was at home on the sea or in his own backwoods. His happiest +tales are those of 'painted chiefs with pointed spears'--to use a happy +description of Mr. Longfellow; and so felicitous has he been in setting +them bodily, as it were, before the reader, that hereafter he will be +referred to by ethnological and antiquarian writers as historical +authority on the character and condition of the Lost Tribes of America. +In his later works Mr. COOPER wandered too often and too much from the +field of Romance into that of Polemics--and into the latter he imported +a querulous spirit, and an extraordinarily loose logical method. All his +more recent fictions have the taint of this temper, and the drawback of +this controversial weakness. His political creed it would be very +difficult to extract entire from the body of his writings; and he has +been so singularly infelicitous in its partial expositions, that even +of the discordant features which make up the whole, we generally find +ourselves disagreeing in some measure with all. But throughout the whole +course of his writing, whenever he turned back into his own domain of +narrative fiction, the Genius of his youth continued to do him service, +and something of his old power over the minds of readers continued to +the last. His faults as a writer are far outbalanced by his great +qualities--and altogether, he is the most original writer that America +has yet produced--and one of whom she may well be proud." + + * * * * * + +"HAWTHORNE," says a London critic, "has few equals among the writers of +fiction in the English language. There is a freshness, an originality of +thought, a quiet humor, a power of description, a quaintness of +expression in his tales, which recommend them to readers wearied of the +dull commonplaces of all but a select few of the English novelists of +our own time. He is beyond measure the best writer of fiction yet +produced by America, somewhat resembling DICKENS in many of his +excellencies, yet without imitating him. His style is his own entirely." + + * * * * * + +In a notice of HITCHCOCK'S "Religion of Geology," the London _Literary +Gazette_ remarks: "Dr. HITCHCOCK is a veteran American clergyman, of +high reputation and unaffected piety. Officially, he is President of +Amherst College, and Professor of Natural Theology and Geology in that +institution. As a geologist, he holds a very distinguished position, and +is universally reputed an original observer and philosophical inquirer. +His fame is European as well as American. No author has ever entered +upon his subject better fitted for his task. The work consists of a +series of lectures, which may be characterized as so many scientific +sermons. They are clear in style, logical in argument, always earnest, +and often eloquent. The author of the valuable and most interesting work +before us combines in an eminent degree the qualifications of theologian +and geologist." + + * * * * * + +The _London News_ briefly hits off an American work which has attracted +little attention in this country: "A fast-sailing American clipper has +appeared in the seas of philosophy. The author of 'Vestiges of +Civilization; or the Etiology of History, Religious, Æsthetical, +Political, and Philosophical,' advertised as written within two months, +has puzzled the scientific public as much as did the original MS. of +'Pepys' Diary.' The reader, however, may be comforted in his +bewilderment by finding that the author himself is but little better +off. In a note there is a confession which should certainly have been +extended to the whole production: "I freely own that, touching these +extreme terms of the complication in Life and Mind, or rather the +precise combinations of polarities that should produce them, _my meaning +is at present very far from clear, even to myself_. And yet I know that +I _have_ a meaning; that it is logically involved in my statement; and +is such as (perhaps within half a century) will set the name of some +distinct enunciator side by side with, if not superior to that of +Newton." + + * * * * * + +The _Westminster Review_ has passed into the hands of John Chapman, the +well-known publisher of works on Rationalistic theology. _The Leader_ +rather naïvely remarks, "We rely too much on his sagacity to entertain +the fear, not unfrequently expressed, of his making the Review over +theological, which would be its ruin." + + * * * * * + +Among the prominent forthcoming works announced by the English +publishers, are the following:--"A Lady's Voyage round the World;" from +the German of IDA PFEIFFER, from which some interesting extracts have +already appeared in Blackwood.--"Wesley and Methodism," by ISAAC +TAYLOR--"Lectures on the History of France," by Professor Sir JAMES +STEPHENS--A condensed Edition of DR. LAYARD'S "Discoveries at Nineveh," +prepared by the Author for popular reading--A second volume of +LAMARTINE'S "History of the Restoration of the Monarchy in France"--An +improved Edition of the "Life and Works of Robert Burns"--Richardson's +"Boat Voyage," or a History of the Expedition in Search of Sir John +Franklin. + + * * * * * + +It is said that the recent discoveries of Colonel Rawlinson in relation +to the inscriptions on the Assyrian sculptures have awakened the British +Government to the great historical value of those monuments--and that a +sum of £1500 has been placed at his disposal to assist toward the +prosecution of excavations and inquiries in Assyria. Colonel Rawlinson +will, it is understood, proceed immediately to Bagdad; and from thence +direct his explorations toward any quarter which may appear to him +likely to yield important results. + + * * * * * + +Mr. WILLIAM WEIR, a literary veteran of ability and accomplishment, is +about to publish, from the papers of one who mixed much with it, another +view of English literary society in the days of Johnson. + + * * * * * + +A pension of £100 a year on the civil list has been granted to the +family of the late Rev. JAMES SEATON REID, D. D., Professor of Church +History in Glasgow, and author of the _History of Presbyterianism in +Ireland_, besides other works on theology. + + * * * * * + +In consequence of the present delicate state of health of Professor +WILSON, the renowned "Christopher North," he has been obliged to make +arrangements for dispensing with the delivery of his lectures on moral +philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, at the ensuing session. +Principal LEE is to undertake the duty for the learned Professor. + + * * * * * + +The map of France, which was begun in 1817, is not yet finished. It is +to contain 258 sheets, of which 149 are already published. There yet +remains five years' work in surveying, and nine years' work in +engraving, to be done. The total cost will exceed £400,000 sterling. Up +to this time 2249 staff-officers have been employed in the work. + + * * * * * + +When the celebrated astronomer Lalande died, nearly fifty years ago, his +manuscripts were divided among his heirs--a partition which was +agreeable to law, but very injurious to science. M. Lefrançais de +Lalande, a staff-officer, impressed with the importance of re-collecting +these papers, has, after much trouble, succeeded in getting together the +astronomical memoranda of his ancestor to the extent of not less than +thirty-six volumes. These he presented to M. Arago; and the latter, to +obviate the chances of a future similar dispersion, has made a gift of +them to the library of the Paris Observatory. + + * * * * * + +In announcing the "Memoirs of his own Life," by ALEXANDRE DUMAS, the +correspondent of the _Literary Gazette_ indulges in a lively, +exaggerated portraiture of the great _feuilletonist_: "Another addition +to that class of French literature, called 'Memoirs,' is about to +appear, and from the hand of no less a personage than Alexandre Dumas. +The great romancer is to tell the world the history of his own eventful +life, and his extraordinary literary career. The chances are that the +work will be one of the most brilliant of the kind that has yet been +published--and that is saying a great deal, when we call to mind the +immense host of memoir writers which France possesses, and that among +them are an Antony Hamilton and a Duke de Saint Simon. Having mixed +familiarly with all descriptions of society, from that of crowned heads +and princes of the blood, down to strolling players--having been behind +the scenes of the political, the literary, the theatrical, the artistic, +the financial, and the trading worlds--having risen unaided from the +humble position of subordinate clerk in the office of Louis Philippe's +accountant, to that of the most popular of living romancers in all +Europe--having found an immense fortune in his inkstand, and squandered +it like a genius (or a fool)--having rioted in more than princely +luxury, and been reduced to the sore strait of wondering where he could +get credit for a dinner--having wandered far and wide, taking life as it +came--now dining with a king, anon sleeping with a brigand--one day +killing lions in the Sahara, and the next (according to his own account) +being devoured by a bear in the Pyrenees--having edited a daily +newspaper and managed a theatre, and failed in both--having built a +magnificent chateau, and had it sold by auction--having commanded in the +National Guard, and done fierce battle with bailiffs and duns--having +been decorated by almost every potentate in Europe, so that the breast +of his coat is more variegated with ribbons than the rainbow with +colors--having published more than any man living, and perhaps as much +as any man dead--having fought duels innumerable--and having been more +quizzed, and caricatured, and lampooned, and satirized, and abused, and +slandered, and admired, and envied, than any human being now +alive--Alexandre must have an immensity to tell, and none of his +contemporaries, we may be sure, could tell it better--few so well. Only +we may fear that it will be mixed up with a vast deal of--imagination. +But _n'importe_!" + + * * * * * + +In the course of a revision of the archives of Celli, a box has been +found containing a collection of important documents from the Thirty +Years' War, viz., part of the private correspondence of Duke George of +Brunswick-Lüneburg, with drafts of his own epistles, and original +letters from Pappenheim, Gustavus Adolphus, and Piccolomini. + + * * * * * + +The Stockholm papers announce the death, in his seventy-first year, of +Dr. THOMAS WINGARD, Archbishop of Upsal and Primate of the Kingdom of +Sweden. Dr. Wingard had long occupied the chair of Sacred Philology at +the University of Lund. He has left to the University of Upsal his +library, consisting of upward of 34,000 volumes--and his rich +collections of coins and medals, and of Scandinavian antiquities. This +is the fourth library bequeathed to the University of Upsal within the +space of a year--adding to its book-shelves no fewer than 115,000 +volumes. The entire number of volumes possessed by the university is now +said to be 288,000--11,000 of these being in manuscript. + + * * * * * + +The _London Athenæum_ announces the death of the Hon. Mrs. LEE--sister +to the late Lord Byron, and whose name will ever be dear to the lovers +of that poet's verse for the affecting manner in which it is therein +enshrined. Few readers of Byron will forget his affectionate recurrences +to his sister--made more touching from the bitterness of his memories +toward all those whom he accused of contributing to the desolation of +his home and the shattering of his household gods. The once familiar +name met with in the common obituary of the journals will have recalled +to many a one that burst of grateful tenderness with which the bard +twines a laurel for his sister's forehead, which will be laid now upon +her grave--and of which the following is a leaf: + + From the wreck of the past which hath perished + This much I at least may recall, + That what I most tenderly cherished + Deserved to be dearest of all. + In the desert a fountain is springing + In the wide waste there still is a tree, + And a bird in my solitude singing + Which speaks to my spirit of thee. + + * * * * * + +Numismatic science has to lament the loss of a long known, learned, and +distinguished cultivator, Mr. H. P. BORRELL, who died on the 2d inst. at +Smyrna. His numerous excellent memoirs on Greek coins, and his clever +work on the coins of Cyprus, form permanent memorials of his erudition, +research, and correct judgment. + + * * * * * + +The last mail from China informs us of the death of Dr. GUTZLAFF, at one +of the British ports in that country, on the 9th of August last, in his +forty-eighth year. The decease of this distinguished Eastern scholar +will be learnt with regret by those who take an interest in the progress +of European civilization in China. Dr. Gutzlaff was one of the most +ardent and indefatigable of the laborers in that cause: and it will be +very difficult to fill up the void which his death has occasioned. He +was a Pomeranian by birth; and was originally sent to Batavia, +Singapore, and Siam by the Netherlands Missionary Society in 1827. He +first reached China in 1831; and he appears to have spent the next two +years in visiting and exploring certain portions of the Chinese coast, +which, previously to that time, had not been visited by any European--or +of which, at least, no authentic knowledge was possessed. On the death +of the elder Morrison, in 1834, Dr. Gutzlaff was employed as an +Interpreter by the British Superintendency; and at a subsequent period +he was promoted to the office of Chinese Secretary to the British +Plenipotentiary and Superintendent of Trade. That employment he held to +the time of his death. Dr. Gutzlaff had ceased to consider himself as a +missionary for some years past; but he never relinquished his practice +of teaching and exhorting among the Chinese communities in the midst of +whom he was placed. + + * * * * * + +The death of Mrs. MARY SHERWOOD, the celebrated English authoress, took +place at Twickenham about the middle of September. She had attained the +ripe old age of seventy-six years, but her mind preserved its usual +vigor and serenity, unimpaired by the influence of time. She died in the +exercise of a tranquil spirit, and firm religious faith. It is said that +a biography, prepared from materials left by the deceased, will soon +make its appearance from the pen of her youngest daughter, a lady who +inherits a portion of her mother's genius and character. A complete +edition of Mrs. Sherwood's works, published by Harper and Brothers, has +found numerous readers in this country, by whom the name of the writer +will long be held in affectionate remembrance. + + + + +A Leaf not from Punch. + + +[Illustration: FIRST SPORTSMAN.--"My dear sir, I am very sorry that I +hit you in the leg. Pray excuse me this time. I'll aim higher next +time!" + +SECOND SPORTSMAN.--"Aim higher next time! No, I thank you. I'd rather +you wouldn't."] + + +ETYMOLOGICAL INVENTIONS. + +We perceive, with great alarm, the increasing number of abstruse names +given to various simple articles of clothing and commerce. Rather to +keep a head of the world than even to run with it, we intend to +register--or dispose of for a consideration--the sole right of producing +the following articles: + +The _Protean Crononhotontologos_, or Changeable Surtout, the tails of +which button under to form a dress coat; can be reefed to make a +shooting-coat; folded into a cut-a-way; or taken away altogether to turn +into a sailing jacket. It is black outside and green within, with sets +of shifting buttons, so that it may be used either for dress or +sporting, evening or morning, with equal propriety. + +The _Oddrotistone_, or Pumice Beard-leveler, for shaving without water, +soap, brush, or razor, and removing all pimples and freckles by pure +mechanical action. Strongly recommended to travelers with delicate +skins. + +The _Hicockolorum_, or Patent Fuel, warranted never to smoke, smell, +decrease in bulk, or throw out dangerous gases, and equally adapted for +Calorific, Church, Vesta, Air-tight, Registering, Cooking, and all +manner of stoves. By simply recollecting never to light it, all these +conditions will be fulfilled, or we forfeit fifty thousand dollars. + +The _Antilavetorium_, or Perpetual Shirt-collar, which, being formed of +enameled tin, never requires to be washed, is not likely to droop or +turn down. + +The _Thoraxolicon_, or Everlasting Shirt-front, comes under the same +patent, which may be had also, perforated in patterns, after the +fashionable style. + +The _Silicobroma_, a preparation of pure flint-stone, which makes a very +excellent soup, by boiling in a pot, with the requisite quantity of meat +and vegetables. + + +[Illustration: SEEDY INDIVIDUAL.--"I've dropped in to do you a very +great favor, sir." + +MAN OF BUSINESS.--"Well, what is it?" + +SEEDY INDIVIDUAL.--"I'm going to allow you the pleasure of lending me +five dollars."] + + +[Illustration: OFF POINT JUDITH. + +OLD LADY.--"Now, my good man, I hope you are sure it will really do me +good, because I can not touch it but as medicine."] + + +[Illustration: A SLIGHT MISTAKE. + +We have been much grieved of late to observe the growing tendency among +ladies to _shave their foreheads_, in the hope of intellectualizing +their countenances, and this occurs more especially among the literary +portion of the fair sex. We subjoin a portrait, but mention no names. + +The mistake is this. The height of a forehead depends upon the height of +the frontal bone--not upon the growth of the hair; and, therefore, when +the forehead retreats, it is absurd to suppose that height can be given +by shaving the head, even to the crown. Added to this, it is impossible +to conceal the blue mark which the shorn stumps of hair still _will_ +leave; and, therefore, we hope soon to see the practice abolished.] + + +[Illustration: OLD LADY--(_holding a very small Cabbage_).--"What! 3_d._ +for such a small Cabbage? Why, I never heerd o' such a thing!" + +GREENGROCER.--"Werry sorry, marm; but it's all along o' that Exhibition! +What with them Foreigners, and the Gents as smokes, Cabbages has riz."] + + +NEW BIOGRAPHIES. + +MR. SMITH.--This celebrated personage has filled many important public +and private situations: in fact, we find his name connected with all the +great events of the time. He was a divine, an actor, an officer, and an +author. But afterward getting into bad company, he was sentenced to the +State Prison, and subsequently hanged. His family branches, which are +very extensive, are fully treated of in the Directory. + +WARREN.--The discoverer of the famous Jet Blacking. Upon the backs of +the bottle labels he wrote his celebrated tale of _Ten Thousand a Year_, +thus shining in two lines. He lost his life at Bunker Hill. + + + + +Fashions for December. + + +[Illustration: FIGS. 1, 2.--BALL AND EVENING DRESSES.] + +The figure on the left, in the above illustration, shows a very rich +ball costume, with jewels. Hair in raised bands, forming a point in +front, leaving the forehead open, and spreading elegantly at the sides. +A large cord of pearls is rolled in the hair, and forms, in two rows, a +_Marie Stuart_, over the forehead, then mixed with the back hair, falls +to the right and left in interlaced rings. Body low, square in front, +but rather high on the shoulder. The dress is plain silk, the ornaments +silk-net and lace. The whole of the front of the body is ornamented with +rows of lace and silk-net _bouillons_. Each row of lace covers a +_bouillon_, and leaves one uncovered. There are five or six rows of +lace. They are gathered, and it will be seen they are raised by the row +of puffs they cover. Two rows of lace are put on as trimming on each +side of the stomacher. They start from the same point, spreading wider +as they rise, as far as the back, where they form a _berthe_. The skirt +is trimmed with three rows, one over the other, composed of silk-net +puffs; one at bottom, another one-third of the height up, and the other +two-thirds up. Three lace flounces decorate this skirt, and each falls +on the edge of the puffs. + +The figure on the right exhibits a beautiful evening dress. Hair in +puffed bands, waved, rather short, wreath of variegated geraniums, +placed at the sides. Plain silk dress, with silk-net _ruchés_ about +three inches apart, from the bottom upward. Sleeves, tight and short, +edged with a _ruché_ at bottom. The body is covered with silk-net, +opening heart-shape. It is trimmed with two silk-net _berthes_, gathered +a little, with a hem about half an inch wide, marked by a small gold +cord. A row of variegated flowers runs along the top of the body. The +upper skirt, of silk-net, is raised cross-wise, from the front toward +the back, up to the side bouquet. The hem of each skirt is two inches +deep, and is also marked by a gold cord. The side bouquet, of flowers +like those in the hair, is fixed to the body, and hangs in branches on +the skirt. The outer sleeves are silk-net, with a hem at the end, and +raised cross-wise like the skirt, so as to show the under-sleeves. + +In the picture, upon the next page, we give illustrations of three +styles of cloaks, the most fashionable for the present winter. They are +called by the Parisian modists respectively, PARISIAN, FRILEUSE, and +CAMARA. The PARISIAN is a walking cloak of satin or _gros_ d'Ecosse, +trimmed with velvet of different widths sewed on flat; velvet buttons. +The FRILEUSE is a wadded pelisse of satin _à la reine_ or common. +Trimming _à la vieille_ of the same, with velvet bands. The pelerine may +form a hood. The sleeves are wide and straight. The CAMARA is a cloak of +plain cloth, forming a _Talma_ behind, and open cross-wise in front to +prevent draping. Wide flat collar. Ornaments consist of velvet fretwork +with braid round it. + +[Illustration: FIGS. 3, 4, 5.--PARISIAN, FRILEUSE, AND CAMARA CLOAKS.] + +Figure 6 represents an elegant costume for a little girl, three or four +years of age--a pretty, fair haired creature. Frock of white silk, +embroidered sky blue, body low and square in front, with two silk +lapels, embroidered and festooned; a frill along the top of front, with +an embroidered insertion below it. The sleeves are embroidered; a broad +blue ribbon passes between the shoulder and the sleeve, and is fastened +at top by a _rosette_ with loose ends. This manner of tying the ribbon +raises the sleeve and leaves the arm uncovered at top. The skirt is +composed of two insertions and two embroidered flounces. An embroidered +petticoat reaches below the skirt. The sash is of blue silk and very +wide. + +[Illustration: FIG. 6.--CHILD'S COSTUME.] + +Velvet, as a trimming, was never more fashionable than at present. There +are at this season few articles included in the category of ladies' +costume to which a trimming of velvet may not be applied. Velvet is now +employed to ornament plain dresses, as well as those of the most elegant +description. One of the new dresses we have seen, is composed of +maroon-color silk. The skirt has three flounces, each edged with two +rows of black velvet ribbon, of the width of half an inch. The corsage +and sleeves are ornamented with the same trimming. Another dress, +composed of deep violet or puce-color silk, has the flounces edged also +with rows of black velvet. The majority of the dresses, made at the +present season, have high corsages, though composed of silk of very rich +and thick texture. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] The Engravings which illustrate this article (except the +frontispiece) are from Lossing's _Pictorial Field-Book of the +Revolution_, now in course of publication by Harper and Brothers. + +[2] This and the picture of the _guide-board_ and _anvil block_ are +copied from sketches made by Captain Austin of the English Expedition. + +[3] Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by Harper +and Brothers, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the +Southern District of New York. + +[4] The armorial bearing of Venice + +[5] Lazare Hoche, a very distinguished young general, who died very +suddenly in the army. "Hoche," said Bonaparte, "was one of the first +generals that ever France produced. He was brave, intelligent, abounding +in talent, decisive, and penetrating." + +[6] Charles Pichegru, a celebrated French general, who entered into a +conspiracy to overthrow the consular government and restore the +Bourbons. He was arrested and conducted to the Temple, where he was one +morning found dead in his bed. The physicians, who met on the occasion, +asserted that he had strangled himself with his cravat. "Pichegru," said +Napoleon, "instructed me in mathematics at Brienne when I was about ten +years old. As a general he was a man of no ordinary talent. After he had +united himself with the Bourbons, he sacrificed the lives of upward of +twenty thousand of his soldiers by throwing them purposely in the +enemies' hands, whom he had informed beforehand of his intentions." + +[7] General Kleber fell beneath the poinard of an assassin in Egypt, +when Napoleon was in Paris. + +[8] General Desaix fell, pierced by a bullet, on the field of Marengo. +Napoleon deeply deplored his loss, as that of one of his most faithful +and devoted friends. + +[9] Pronounced as though written _Kos-shoot_, with the accent on the +last syllable. The Magyar equivalent for the French LOUIS and the German +LUDWIG is LAJOS. We have given the date of his birth, which seems best +authenticated. The notice of the Austrian police, quoted below, makes +him to have been born in 1804; still another account gives 1801 as the +year of his birth. The portrait which we furnish is from a picture taken +a little more than two years since in Hungary, for Messrs. GOUPIL, the +well-known picture-dealers of Paris and New York, and is undoubtedly an +authentic likeness of him at that time. The following is a pen-and-ink +portrait of Kossuth, drawn by those capital artists, the Police +authorities of Vienna:--"_Louis Kossuth_, an ex-advocate, journalist, +Minister of Finance, President of the Committee of Defense, Governor of +the Hungarian Republic, born in Hungary, Catholic [this is an error, +Kossuth is of the Lutheran faith], married. He is of middle height, +strong, thin; the face oval, complexion pale, the forehead high and +open, hair chestnut, eyes blue, eyebrows dark and very thick, mouth very +small and well-formed, teeth fine, chin round. He wears a mustache and +imperial, and his curled hair does not entirely cover the upper part of +the head. He has a white and delicate hand, the fingers long. He speaks +German, Hungarian, Latin, Slovack, a little French and Italian. His +bearing when calm, is solemn, full of a certain dignity; his movements +elegant, his voice agreeable, softly penetrating, and very distinct, +even when he speaks low. He produces, in general, the effect of an +enthusiast; his looks often fixed on the heavens; and the expression of +his eyes, which are fine, contributes to give him the air of a dreamer. +His exterior does not announce the energy of his character." Photography +could hardly produce a picture more minutely accurate. + +[10] We have not space to present any portion of this admirable speech. +It is given at length in PULSZKY'S Introduction to SCHLESSINGER'S "_War +in Hungary_," which has been republished in this country; in a +different, and somewhat indifferent translation, in the anonymous +"_Louis Kossuth and Hungary_," published in London, written strongly in +the Austrian interest. In this latter, however, the "Address to the +Throne," by far the most important and weighty portion of the speech, is +omitted. A portion of the speech, taken from this latter source, and of +course not embracing the Address, is given in Dr. TEFFT'S recent +valuable work, "_Hungary and Kossuth_." The whole speech constitutes a +historical document of great importance. + +[11] Continued from the November Number. + +[12] Autobiography of Zschokke, p. 119-170. + +[13] "Crotchets in the Air, or an Un-scientific Account of a Balloon +Trip," by John Poole, Esq. Colburn, 1838. + +[14] Continued from the November Number. + +[15] I must be pardoned for annexing the original, since it loses much by +translation:--"Hominem liberum et magnificum debere, si queat, in +primori fronte, animum gestare." + + * * * * * + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Words surrounded by _ are italicized. + +Obvious punctuation errors have been repaired, other punctuations have +been left as printed in the paper book. + +Obvious printer's errors have been repaired, other inconsistent +spellings have been kept, including: +- use of hyphen (e.g. "chess-men" and "chessmen"); +- accents (e.g. "denouement" and "dénoûement"); +- place names (e.g. "Hindostan" and "Hindoostan"). + +In the Table of Contents, following names have been corrected to match +the text they refer to: +- "Batthyani" corrected to be "Batthyanyi" (551. Esterhazy, Batthyanyi); +- "Blackistone" corrected to be "Blackinston" (Lindsay and Blackiston's). + +Pg 10, caption added to illustration (Pouring Tea down the Throat of +America). + +Pg 11, word "of" added (unworthy of civilized forbearance). + +Pg 40, title added to article (Kossuth--A Biographical Sketch). + +Pg 56, word "few" added (only a few days). + +Pg 85, word "go" added (I must go on deck). + +Pg 96, name "Cliff" corrected to be "Griffith" (Griffith in his). + +Pg 139, name "Pfeifer" corrected to be "Pfeiffer" (Ida Pfeiffer). + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Harper's New Monthly Magazine Vol. IV, +No. 19, Dec 1851, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY *** + +***** This file should be named 38399-8.txt or 38399-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/3/9/38399/ + +Produced by Judith Wirawan, David Kline, and The Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +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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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: Harper's New Monthly Magazine Vol. IV, No. 19, Dec 1851 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: December 24, 2011 [EBook #38399] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY *** + + + + +Produced by Judith Wirawan, David Kline, and The Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h1>HARPER'S</h1> + +<h1>NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.</h1> + +<h3>VOLUME IV.</h3> + +<h2>DECEMBER, 1851, TO MAY, 1852.</h2> + +<hr /> + +<h4>NEW YORK:<br /> + +HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,<br /> + +<small>329 & 331 PEARL STREET,<br /> + +FRANKLIN SQUARE.</small><br /> + +1852.</h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ADVERTISEMENT.</h2> + + +<p>The Fourth Volume of <span class="smcap">Harper's New Monthly Magazine</span> is completed by the issue of the +present number. The Publishers embrace the opportunity of renewing the expression of their +thanks to the public and the press, for the extraordinary degree of favor with which its successive +Numbers have been received. Although it has but just reached the close of its second year, its +regular circulation is believed to be at least twice as great as that of any similar work ever issued in +any part of the world.</p> + +<p>The Magazine will be continued in the same general style, and upon the same plan, as heretofore. +Its leading purpose is to furnish, at the lowest price, and in the best form, the greatest possible +amount of the useful and entertaining literary productions of the present age. While it is by no +means indifferent to the highest departments of culture, it seeks primarily to place before the great +masses of the people, in every section of the country, and in every walk of life, the most attractive +and instructive selections from the current literature of the day. No degree of labor or expense +will be spared upon any department. The most gifted and popular authors of the country write +constantly for its pages; the pictorial illustrations by which every Number is embellished are of the +best style, and by the most distinguished artists; the selections for its pages are made from the +widest range and with the greatest care; and nothing will be left undone, either in providing material, +or in its outward dress, which will tend in any degree to make it more worthy the remarkable favor +with which it has been received.</p> + +<p>The Magazine will contain regularly as hitherto:</p> + +<p><i>First.</i>—One or more original articles upon some topic of general interest, written by some popular +writer, and illustrated by from fifteen to thirty wood engravings, executed in the highest style +of art:</p> + +<p><i>Second.</i>—Copious selections from the current periodical literature of the day, with tales of the +most distinguished authors, such as <span class="smcap">Dickens, Bulwer, Lever</span>, and others—chosen always for their +literary merit, popular interest, and general utility:</p> + +<p><i>Third.</i>—A Monthly Record of the events of the day, foreign and domestic, prepared with care, +and with entire freedom from prejudice and partiality of every kind:</p> + +<p><i>Fourth.</i>—Critical Notices of the Books of the day, written with ability, candor, and spirit, and +designed to give the public a clear and reliable estimate of the important works constantly issuing +from the press:</p> + +<p><i>Fifth.</i>—A Monthly Summary of European Intelligence concerning Books, Authors, and whatever +else has interest and importance for the cultivated reader:</p> + +<p><i>Sixth.</i>—An Editor's Table, in which some of the leading topics of the day will be discussed with +ability and independence:</p> + +<p><i>Seventh.</i>—An Editor's Easy Chair, or Drawer, which will be devoted to literary and general +gossip, memoranda of the topics talked about in social circles, graphic sketches of the most interesting +minor matters of the day, anecdotes of literary men, sentences of interest from papers not +worth reprinting at length, and generally an agreeable and entertaining collection of literary +miscellany.</p> + +<p>The Publishers trust that it is not necessary for them to reiterate their assurances that nothing +shall ever be admitted to the pages of the Magazine in the slightest degree offensive to delicacy or +to any moral sentiment. They will seek steadily to exert upon the public a healthy moral influence, +and to improve the character, as well as please the taste, of their readers. They will aim +to make their Magazine the most complete repertory of whatever is both useful and agreeable in +the current literary productions of the day.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS OF VOLUME IV.</h2> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="90%" summary="Contents of Volume IV"> +<tr><td align="left">Amalie de Bourblanc, the Lost Child</td><td align="right">202</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">American Arctic Expedition</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Anecdotes and Aphorisms</td><td align="right">348</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Anecdotes of Leopards and Jaguars</td><td align="right">227</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Anecdotes of Monkeys</td><td align="right">464</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Artist's Sacrifice</td><td align="right">624</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Ass of La Marca</td><td align="right">354</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Benjamin Franklin. By <span class="smcap">Jacob Abbott</span></td><td align="right">145, 289</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Bird-hunting Spider</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Black Eagle in a Bad Way</td><td align="right">217</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Bleak House. By <span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span></td><td align="right">649, 809</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Blighted Flowers</td><td align="right">549</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Boston Tea-Party. By B. J. <span class="smcap">Lossing</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Bow Window</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Brace of Blunders</td><td align="right">540</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Chewing the Buyo</td><td align="right">408</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Child's Toy</td><td align="right">476</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Christmas as we grow Older. By <span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span></td><td align="right">390</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Christmas in Company of John Doe. By <span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span></td><td align="right">386</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Christmas in Germany</td><td align="right">499</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Clara Corsini—a Tale of Naples</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Conspiracy of the Clocks</td><td align="right">185</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Crime Detected</td><td align="right">768</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Curious Page of Family History</td><td align="right">351</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Curse of Gold—A Dream</td><td align="right">335</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Czar of Russia at a Ball</td><td align="right">828</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Difficulty</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Diligence in doing Good</td><td align="right">781</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Dream of the Weary Heart</td><td align="right">511</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Editor's Drawer</span>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>Tailing on; The John Jones Party; How many +Times did the Hedge-pig mew? Touching the +Tin, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>. The Deformed's Hope; Looking out +for Number One—Abroad and at Home; Leaves +and Coats; The Mathematical Monomaniac, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>. +A puzzled Doctor, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>. A Text for a Sermon; +The entombed Racer; Cause and Effect; Vagaries +of the Insane, 268. Munchausenism; Love and +Mammon; Professional Enthusiasm, 269. Mind +your P's and Q's; Sympathy thrown away; Winter +Duties, 270. Experiments in Flying; Affair +of Honor—almost, 271. Takin' Notes; Having +One's Faculties; Great Talkers, 421. Witnesses +and Counsel—with an Example; Physiognomy at +Fault; Mercantile Drummers, 422. On Discontentment; +Omnipresence of the Deity; To Snuffers +and Chewers; The French and Death, 412. +Rat and Owl Fight; Moralizing on Climbing a +greased Pole; Inquisitiveness, with an Instance +thereof, 565. Street Thoughts by a Surgeon; The +Millionaire without a Sou; The Deaf-and-Dumb +Boy; Workers in Worsted, 566. Subscribing +Something; Bad Spelling; Lending Umbrellas, +567. Something about Music; The Workhouse +Clock, 568. Sweets in Paris; Something about +China, 569. Difference of Opinion; a Tale of other +Times, 704. Stealing Sermons; About Snuff; +Laughter; Looking-glass Reflections; Something +from Sam Slick, 705. Turning the Tables: Youthful +Age; Fools and Madmen; Under Canvas, 706. +Joking in Letters; Welsh Card of Invitation; +Chiffoniers in Paris, 707. Harrowing Lines, 708. +Eating cooked Rain; Patent Medicine Toast; +New Language of Flowers, 847. Song of the +Turkey; Marks of Affection; Tired of Nothing +to do; Lame and impotent Conclusion, 848. Orders +is Orders; The Sleeping Child; Dickens's +Denouements; Statistical Fellows, 849. Keep your +Receipts; Giving a Look; About Dandies; Chawls +Yellowplush on Lit'ry Men; Deep-blue Stockings, +850. A Climax; Some Love-Verses; A Criminal +Curiosity-hunter; a Skate-vender on Thaws, +851.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Editor's Easy Chair</span>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>Kossuth; Louis Napoleon; A Workingman for +President, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>. Musical Chit-chat; Lumley and +Rossini; America in the Exhibition, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>. A very +French Story of Love and Devotion; Another of +Devotion and Smuggling, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>. Kossuth and our +Enthusiasm for him, 265. On Lola Montez; Dumas +and the French Censorship; Signor Braschi; +Female Stock-brokers; The consoled Disconsolates, +266. An Italian Romance, 267. Louis Napoleon's +Coup d'état; Kossuth Talk, 418. Paris +Gossip; Cavaignac and his Bride elect; The Lottery +of Gold, 419. Home Gossip; How Mr. Coper +sold a horse, 420. The Hard Winter; The Forrest +Trial, 563. The French Usurpation; President-making +and Morals in the Metropolis; A Bit of +Paris Life; Legacies to Litterateurs, 564. Now; +Close of the Carnival; the Cooper Testimonial; +Lectures; Exemplary Damages, 702. Congressional +Manners; The Maine Liquor Law; Reminiscence +of Maffit; French Writers, 703. The +Chevalier's Stroke for a Wife, 704. More about the +Weather, 843. Sir John Franklin; Free Speech; +Lola in Boston; Jenny Goldschmidt, 844. Marriage +Associations; About Punch; Magisterial +Beards; An equine Passport, 845. Matrimonial +Confidence; Dancing in the Beau Monde; Major +M'Gowd's Story, 846.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Editor's Table</span>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>Time and Space, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>. Testimony of Geology +to the Supernatural, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>. The Year, 262. The +Pulpit and the Press, 265. The Value of the +Union, 415. The Seventh Census, 557. The +Immensity of the Universe, 562. The Spiritual +Telegraph, 699. History the World's Memory, +700. Mental Alchemy:—Credulity and Skepticism, +839.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Episode of the Italian Revolution</td><td align="right">771</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Esther Hammond's Wedding Day</td><td align="right">520</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Eyes made to Order</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Fashionable Forger</td><td align="right">231</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Fashions for December</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Fashions for January</td><td align="right">287</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Fashions for February</td><td align="right">431</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Fashions for March</td><td align="right">575</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Fashions for April</td><td align="right">719</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Fashions for May</td><td align="right">863</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Forgotten Celebrity</td><td align="right">778</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">French Flower Girl</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Gold—What, and Where from</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Good Old Times in Paris</td><td align="right">395</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Great Objects attained by Little Things</td><td align="right">330</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Habits and Character of the Dog-Rib Indians</td><td align="right">690</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Helen Corrie</td><td align="right">391</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">High Life in the Olden Time</td><td align="right">254</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">How Gunpowder is Made</td><td align="right">643</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">How Men Rise in the World</td><td align="right">211</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Hunting the Alligator</td><td align="right">668</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Impressions of England in 1851. By <span class="smcap">Fredrika Bremer</span></td><td align="right">616</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Indian Pet</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Insane Philosopher</td><td align="right">647</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Introduction of the Potato into France</td><td align="right">622</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Keep Him Out</td><td align="right">515</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Knights of the Cross. By <span class="smcap">Caroline Chesebro</span>'</td><td align="right">221</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Kossuth—A Biographical Sketch</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Leaves From Punch</span>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>Better Luck next Time; Doing one a Special +Favor; Etymological Inventions, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>. Off Point +Judith; Singular Phenomenon; A Slight Mistake; +New Biographies, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>. Arrant Extortion; Mr. +Booby in the New Costume, 285. A Bloomer in +Leap Year; Strong-minded Bloomer, 286. A Horrible +Business; Rather too much of a Good Thing, +429. Mrs. Baker's Pet, 430. Signs of the Times; +France is Tranquil, 573. The Road to Ruin; +New Street-sweeping Machines, 574. Going to +Cover, 173. Revolution on Bayonets; Thoughts +on French Affairs; Early Publication in Paris, +714. Scene from the President's Progress, 715. +Touching Sympathy; Sound Advice, 716. Effects +of a Strike, 717. Perfect Identification; +Calling the Police; The Seven Wonders of a +Young Lady, 718. Butcher Boys of the Upper +Ten, 857. The Inquisitive Omnibus Driver; The +Flunky's Idea of Beauty, 858. A Competent Adviser; +Scrupulous Regard for Truth, 859. Awful +Effects of an Eye-glass; Penalties; Rather Severe, +860. What I heard about Myself in the Exhibition; +The Peer on the Press, 861. The Interior +of a French Court of Justice in 1851, 862.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Legend of the Lost Well</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Legend of the Weeping Chamber</td><td align="right">358</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Life and Death. By the Author of <i>Alton Locke</i></td><td align="right">216</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Literary Notices</span>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>BOOKS NOTICED</small>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>Melville's Moby Dick; Putnam's Hand-books; +Rural Homes; Hawthorne's Wonder-Book, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>. +Greeley's Glances at Europe; Stoddard's Poems; +Neander on Philippians; Heavenly Recognition; +Lindsay and Blackiston's Gift-Books; Bishop +McIlvaine's Charge, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>. Taylor's Wesley and +Methodism, 272. Boyd's Young's Night Thoughts; +Mrs. Lee's Florence; Words in Earnest; Herbert's +Captains of the Old World; Ida Pfeiffer's +Voyage Round the World, 273. Reveries of a +Bachelor; James's Aims and Obstacles; Simm's +Norman Maurice; Richard's Claims of Science; +Greenwood Leaves; Winter in Spitzbergen; +Dream-land by Daylight, 274. Memoir of Mary +Lyon; Woods's Sixteen Months at the Gold Diggings; +Wainwright's Land of Bondage; Mrs. +Kirkland's Evening Book; The Tutor's Ward; +Thompson's Hints to Employers, 275. Layard's +Nineveh; Saunders's Great Metropolis; Ik. Marvel's +Dream-life; Florence Sackville; Clovernook, +424. Salander and the Dragon; Spring's +First Woman; Edwards's Select Poetry; Sovereigns +of the Bible; Hawthorne's Snow Image; +Summerfield; The Podesta's Daughter; Ross's +What I saw in New York; Curtis's Western Portraiture; +Stephen's Lectures on the History of +France, 425. Chambers's Life and Works of Burns, +569. Abbott's Corner Stone; Browne's History of +Classical Literature; Dickson's Life, Sleep, and +Pain; Head's Faggot of French Sticks; Hudson's +Shakspeare; Simmon's Greek Girl; House on the +Rock; Companions of my Solitude; Wright's Sorcery +and Magic; Ravenscliffe; Mitford's Recollections +of a Literary Life, 570. Memoirs of Margaret +Fuller Ossoli; Edwards's Charity and its +Fruits, 708. Richardson's Arctic Searching Expedition; +Bonynge's Future Wealth of America; +Copland's Dictionary of Medicine; Cheever's Reel +in the Bottle; The Head of the Family; Neander's +Exposition of James; Men and Women of +the Eighteenth Century; Bon Gaultier's Book +of Ballads; Walker's Rhyming Dictionary, 709. +Stiles's Austria in 1848-49, 852. Forester's Field +Sports; Simms's Golden Christmas; Falkenburg; +Isa; The Howadji in Syria, 853. Stuart's Commentary +on Proverbs; Parker's Story of a Soul; +Arthur and Carpenter's Cabinet Histories; Mosheim's +Christianity before Constantine; Pulszky's +Tales and Traditions of Hungary; Aytoun's Lays +of the Scottish Cavaliers; Barnes's Notes on Revelation, +854. Kirwan's Romanism at Home, 855.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>PERSONAL AND LITERARY INTELLIGENCE</small>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>Hawthorne; <i>Literary Gazette</i> on Hitchcock; +The <i>News</i> on Vestiges of Civilization; Westminster +Review; New Works announced; Assyrian +Sculptures; Pension to Reid; Christopher North; +Map of France; Manuscripts of Lalande; Dumas's +Memoirs, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>. Documents on the Thirty +Years' War; Douglas Jerrold's Works, 275. Lady +Bulwer; Rise of Bunsen; New College, Edinburgh; +Madame Pfeiffer; Richardson's Arctic Expedition, +276. Plays by Jerrold and Marston; +Stephen's Lectures; Critique on Hildreth; On +Moby Dick; Shakspeare for Kossuth; Landor on +Kossuth; Critique on Springer's Forest Life; +On Layard's Nineveh, 277. Alison; Works denounced; +Brougham; Translations of Scott; New +Works in France, 278. M. Vattemare; The Elzevirs; +Daguerre; Heine; Leipzig Easter Fair; +Papers in Germany; Japanese Dictionary; Excavations +at Athens; Ximenes; Spanish Classics; +Ida Hahn-Hahn; Professor Nuylz; Oriental +MSS.; Proscription in Italy; Discovery of Old +Paintings in Münster; Jeffrey; Mr. Jerdan; +Brougham; Gutzlaff, 425. Carlyle's Sterling; +Yeast; Blake; Dickens in Danish; Delta; Stephen: +M'Cosh; Hahn-Hahn; Junius; Kossuth's +Eloquence; Beresford, 426. Guizot; Revolutionary +Walls; Migne's Book Establishment; French +Works; Bonaparte and Literature; Silvio Pellico; +German Novels; Oersted; Oehlenschläger; Menzel; +Heine, 427. Schiller Festival; Zahn; Kosmos; +Servian Poetry; Shakspeare in Swedish; +Italian Book on America; Chinese Geography; +Turkish Grammar and Dictionary; Ticknor in +Spanish, 428. Westminster Review; New Books; +Benedict; Macaulay, 570. Browning's Shelley; +Junius; Budhist Monuments; Freund's German-English +Lexicon; Bulwer's Works; The Head +of the Family; Lossing's Field-Book; Hawthorne; +Eliot Warburton, 571. French Literary Exiles; +Lamartine; Count Ficquelmont; Works on the +Coup d'Etat; Louis Philippe and Letters; George +Sand; Humboldt; Schiller's Library; Hagberg; +Translations into Spanish, 572. Theological +Translations; Bohn's New Publications; Greek +Professorship in Edinburgh; Dr. Robinson; Talvi, +710. Moby Dick; Tests in Scottish Universities; +Montalembert; Cavaignac; The Press in Paris; +Posthumous Work by Meinhold, 711; Lamartine's +Civilisateur; Eugene Sue; Neuman's English +Empire in Asia; English Literature in Germany; +Nitzsch on Hahn-Hahn; Gutzkow; The Rhenish +Times; Hebrew Books; Literature of Hungary; +Monument to Oken, 712. Cockburn's Life of Jeffrey; +Grote's History of Greece; Farini's History +of the Roman State; The Shelley Forgeries; +James R. Lowell; Papers of Margaret Fuller, +855. Life of Fox; Sale of rare Books; Greek +Professor at Edinburgh; Bleak House in German; +Macaulay in German; Barante's Histoire de la +Convention Nationale; Pierre Leroux; Chamfort; +George Sand; Stuart of Dunleath in French; +Epistolary Forgeries; Anselm Feuerbach; Bust +of Schelling; Goethe and Schiller Literature; +Count Platen-Hallermünde; Lives of the Sovereigns +of Russia, 856.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>OBITUARIES</small>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>Archibald Alexander, D. D.; J. Kearney Rodgers, +M. D.; Granville Sharp Pattison, M. D.; +Gardner G. Howland, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>. Dr. Wingard; Byron's +Sister; H. P. Borrell; Dr. Gutzlaff; Mrs. Sherwood, +140. King of Hanover, 261. Professors +Wolff and Humbert, 280. Joel R. Poinsett; Moses +Stuart, 411. Marshal Soult, 414. William +Wyon; Rev. J. H. Caunter; Chevalier Lavy; M. +de St. Priest; Paul Erman; Professor Dunbar; +Dr. Sadleir; Basil Montague, 426. T. H. Turner, +570. Baron D'Ohsen; Robert Blackwood; Serangelli, +712. Hon. Jeremiah Morrow, 836. Thomas +Moore; Archbishop Murray; Sir Herbert Jenner +Fust, 837. Marshal Marmont; Armand Marrast, +838.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Louis Napoleon and his Nose</td><td align="right">833</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Love Affair at Cranford</td><td align="right">457</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Masked Ball at Vienna</td><td align="right">469</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Maurice Tiernay, the Soldier of Fortune. By <span class="smcap">Charles Lever</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_57">57</a>, 187, 339</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Mazzini, the Italian Liberal</td><td align="right">404</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Miracle of Life</td><td align="right">500</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Monthly Record of Current Events</span>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>UNITED STATES</small>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>The November Elections: success of the Union +Party in Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, +and Alabama, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>. Adoption of the New Constitution +in Virginia, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>. Election in Pennsylvania, +<a href="#Page_120">120</a>. Return of the Arctic Expedition, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>. Dinner +to Mr. Grinnell, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>. Imprisonment of John +S. Thrasher in Havana, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, 258, 553. Appeal of +Mr. Tyler in behalf of the Cuban prisoners, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>. +Inauguration of Gov. Campbell of Tennessee, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>. +Convention of Cotton-planters in Macon, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>. Decision +in favor of Morse's Telegraph, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>. Decision +of the Methodist Book-fund case, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>. Letter +of Mr. Clay on the Compromise, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>. Elections +in California, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>. General Intelligence from California, +<a href="#Page_122">122</a>, 258, 411, 553, 693, 835. General Intelligence +from Oregon, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, 411, 693. Volcanic +Eruption in the Sandwich Islands, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>. General +Intelligence from New Mexico, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, 259, 411, 553, +693,835. Arrival of Kossuth, and reception in New +York, 255. Speech of Kossuth at the Corporation +banquet in New York, 255. At the Press dinner, +256. Opening of the Thirty-second Congress, 256. +Abstract of the President's Message, 256. Correspondence +with foreign Powers respecting Cuba, +258. Official vote in New York, 258. Speech of +Kossuth at the Bar dinner in New York, 410. +Kossuth at Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and +Washington, 410. Opening of the New York +Legislature and Message of Governor Hunt, 410. +Opening of the Pennsylvania Legislature, 411. +Mr. Clay resigns his seat in the Senate, 411. Destruction +of the Congressional Library, 411. American +expedition to the Sandwich Islands, 411. +Kossuth at the West, 551. Esterhazy, Batthyanyi, +Pulszky, and Szemere on Kossuth, 551. Speeches +in Congress on Intervention, 552. Outrage at +Greytown disavowed by the English government, +553. Legislative nominations for the Presidency, +553. Message of Gov. Farwell of Wisconsin, +553. The U.S. Indemnity in Texas, 553. Letter +of Mr. Buchanan, 553. Of Mr. Benton, 553. +General proceedings in Congress, 692. Correspondence +respecting Kossuth, 692. Mr. Webster's +discourse before the Historical Society, 693. +Commemorative meeting to J. Fenimore Cooper. +693. Archbishop Hughes's lecture on Catholicism +in the United States, 693. Whig State Convention +in Kentucky, 693. In Indiana, 693. Webster +meeting in New York, 693. Washington's +birthday at the Capital, 693. Mormon disturbances +in Utah, 694. Debates in the Senate on Intervention; +speech of Mr. Soulé, 834. Abstraction of +public papers, 834. Mr. Cass on the Wilmot Proviso, +834. Presidential speeches in the House, +834. Political Conventions in various States, and +nominations for the Presidency, 834. Proceedings +in the Legislature of Mississippi, 834. State +debt of Pennsylvania, 835. Mr. Webster at Trenton, +835. Accident at Hell-gate, 835. Return of +Cuban prisoners, 835. Letter of Mr. Clay on the +Presidency, 835. Expedition to Japan, 835. Loss +of steamer North America, 835. Col. Berzenczey's +expedition to Tartary, 835.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>SOUTHERN AMERICA</small>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>Election of Montt as President of Chili, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>. +Attempt at insurrection, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, 412. Contest against +Rosas in Buenos Ayres, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, 694, 835. Difficulties +growing out of the Tehuantepec right of way +in Mexico, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>. Insurrection in the northern departments +under Caravajal, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, 412, 553, 694, 835. +Letters to the Governors of the departments, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>. +General Intelligence from Mexico, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, 412, 553, +835. Message of the President of Venezuela, 694. +Disturbance in Chili penal settlements, 694, 835. +Mexican claims for Indian depredations, 835. Defeat +and flight of Rosas, 836. Peruvian expedition +against Ecuador, 836. Gold in New Grenada, +836.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>GREAT BRITAIN</small>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>Arrival of Kossuth at Southampton, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>. Speech +of Kossuth at Winchester, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>. Close of the +Great Exhibition, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>. Disturbances in Ireland, +<a href="#Page_126">126</a>. War at the Cape of Good Hope, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, 554, +696. Opposition of the Sultan of Turkey to the +Suez Railway, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>. Kossuth at Birmingham, +Manchester, London, and Southampton, 259. Embarkation +for America, 259. Resignation of Lord +Palmerston and appointment of Earl Granville as +Foreign Secretary, 412. Deputation of merchants +to Lord John Russell, 412. Dinner to Mr. Walker, +412. From Ireland, 412. Petitions from Scotland +against the Maynooth grant, 413. Burning of the +steamer Amazon, 554. The national defenses, +554. Controversy between workmen and employers, +554. Movements of the Reformers, 554. Gold +in Australia, 554. Destruction of Lagos in Africa +by the British, 554, 696. Meeting of Parliament +and the Queen's Speech, 694. Explanations as +to the retirement of Lord Palmerston, 694. Defeat +and resignation of the Russell Ministry, 695. +Appointment of a Protectionist Ministry, 696. +Correspondence with Austria respecting political +refugees, 696. Disaster from water, 696. New +expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, 697. +Attitude of the Derby Ministry, 836. Position of +Lord John Russell, 837. Mr. Disraeli's address +to his constituents, 837. Revival of the Anti Corn-Law +League, 837. Mr. Layard declines to continue +in office, 837.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>FRANCE</small>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>The President demands the repeal of the election +law of May 31; the Ministers refuse their assent +and resign, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>. Formation of a new Ministry, +<a href="#Page_127">127</a>. Insults to the Republican members of +Assembly, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>. Meeting of the Assembly, Message +of the President, demanding the restoration +of universal suffrage, and its rejection by the Assembly, +260. Progress of the struggle between +the President and Assembly, 261. President's +speech on distributing prizes to exhibitors, 261. +The President dissolves the Assembly and assumes +the sole powers of government, 413. His +decree, 413. Arrest of members of Assembly, +413. Unsuccessful attempts at resistance, 413. +Great majorities returned in favor of the President, +414, 554. Correspondence between the English +and French Governments, 414. Celebration at +the result of the election, 554. Speech of M. Baroche, +555. Proceedings of the President, 555. +The new Constitution decreed by the President, +555. Formation of a Ministry of Police and of +State, 556. Seizure of the property of the Orleans +family, 556. Measures limiting discussion, 556. +New Legislative law, 697. Letter of the Orleans +princes, 697. The Ministry of Police, 697. Dinner +by the President to English residents, 697. +Decree regulating the press, 697. Correspondence +between the government and the Emperor of +Russia, 697. Proceedings in relation to Belgium, +698. Success of the government in the elections, +837. Presidential decree for mortgage banks, +837. Decree respecting the College of France, +837. Judges superannuated at seventy years, +837. Prize for adaptation of Voltaic pile, 838. +Donation to M. Foucauld, 838. New military +medal and pension, 838. French demands upon +Belgium refused, 838. Correspondence between +Austria, Prussia, and Russia respecting France, +838. French demands upon Switzerland, 839.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>SOUTHERN EUROPE</small>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>Neapolitan answer to Mr. Gladstone's letter, +<a href="#Page_127">127</a>. New Colonial Council in Spain for Cuba, +<a href="#Page_127">127</a>. Austrian rigor in Italy, 261. Pardon of the +American prisoners in Spain, 414. Attempt to +assassinate the Queen of Spain, 698. Change in +the government of the Spanish colonies, 839.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE</small>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>Preparations in Prussia, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>. Telegraphic arrangements +in Germany, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>. The Polish provinces +of Prussia excluded from the Confederation, +<a href="#Page_127">127</a>. The Emperor of Austria declares himself +absolute, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>. Elections in Switzerland, 261. +Critical state of affairs in Austria, 261, 414. Austria +and France, 414. Annulling of the Constitution +of 1849 in Austria, 556. General Intelligence, +556. Attitude assumed by the European +powers toward France, 678. Demands of France +upon Switzerland in relation to political refugees, +698. Transferrence of Holstein to Denmark, 698. +Switzerland menaced by a commercial blockade, +839.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>THE EAST</small>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>General Intelligence, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>. Negotiations in +Turkey respecting the Holy Sepulchre, 414. Hostilities +in India, 415. Changes of Ministry in +Greece and Turkey, 698. Generosity of the Porte +toward rebels, 839. High interest forbidden in +Turkey, 839. Death of the Persian Vizier, 839. +Hostilities between the English and Burmese, 839.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Mr. Potts's New Years Adventures</td><td align="right">281</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">My First Place</td><td align="right">489</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">My Novel; or, Varieties in English Life. By <span class="smcap">Sir Edward Bulwer +Lytton</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#My_Novel">105</a>, 239, 371, 525, 673, 793</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Mysteries</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">My Traveling Companion</td><td align="right">636</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Napoleon Bonaparte. By <span class="smcap">John S. C. Abbott</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_22">22</a>, 166, 310, 592, 736</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">New Discoveries in Ghosts</td><td align="right">512</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Old Maid's First Love</td><td align="right">360</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Orphan's Dream of Christmas</td><td align="right">385</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Our School. By <span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Our_School">75</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Paradise Lost</td><td align="right">611</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Personal Sketches and Reminiscences. By <span class="smcap">Mary Russell Mitford</span></td><td align="right">503</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Pipe Clay and Clay Pipes</td><td align="right">688</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Pleasures and Perils of Ballooning</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Poison Eaters</td><td align="right">364</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Potter of Tours</td><td align="right">219</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Promise Unfulfilled</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Public Executions in England</td><td align="right">542</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Recollections of St. Petersburg</td><td align="right">447</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Rising Generationism</td><td align="right">478</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Rodolphus.—A Franconia Story. By <span class="smcap">Jacob Abbott</span></td><td align="right">433, 577, 721</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Short Chapter on Frogs</td><td align="right">791</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Sicilian Vespers</td><td align="right">790</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Sleep to Startle us</td><td align="right">830</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Stolen Bank Notes</td><td align="right">627</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Story of a Bear</td><td align="right">786</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Story of Oriental Love</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Story of Rembrandt</td><td align="right">516</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Street Scenes of the French Usurpation</td><td align="right">399</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Suwarrow—Sketch of</td><td align="right">409</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Talk about the Spider</td><td align="right">200</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Taste of French Dungeons</td><td align="right">670</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Taste of Austrian Jails</td><td align="right">481</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Bedoueen, Mahomad Alee, and the Bazaars. By <span class="smcap">George William +Curtis</span></td><td align="right">755</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Brothers</td><td align="right">212</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Expectant—A Tale of Life</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Game of Chess</td><td align="right">205</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The German Emigrants. By <span class="smcap">John Doggett</span>, Jr.</td><td align="right">183</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Little Sisters</td><td align="right">641</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Lost Ages</td><td align="right">547</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Mighty Magician</td><td align="right">772</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Moor's Revenge. By <span class="smcap">Epes Sargent</span></td><td align="right">669</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Mountain Torrent</td><td align="right">466</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Night Train</td><td align="right">783</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Opera. By <span class="smcap">Thomas Carlyle</span></td><td align="right">252</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Ornithologist</td><td align="right">470</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Point of Honor</td><td align="right">494</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Sublime Porte</td><td align="right">332</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Tub School</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Thiers—Sketch of his Life</td><td align="right">214</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Thy Will be Done. By <span class="smcap">George P. Morris</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Tiger Roche.—An Irish Character</td><td align="right">760</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">To be Read at Dusk. By <span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span></td><td align="right">235</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">True Courage</td><td align="right">620</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Two Kinds of Honesty</td><td align="right">773</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Vagaries of the Imagination</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Vatteville Ruby</td><td align="right">613</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Vision of Charles XI.</td><td align="right">397</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">What becomes of the Rind?</td><td align="right">402</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">What to do in the Mean Time</td><td align="right">545</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Who knew Best</td><td align="right">485</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Wives of Great Lawyers</td><td align="right">764</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Wonderful Toys</td><td align="right">634</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">You're Another</td><td align="right"><a href="#Another">105</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Zoological Stories</td><td align="right">769</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATION</h2> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="90%" summary=""> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">1.</td><td align="left">Casting the Tea over in Boston Harbor</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">2.</td><td align="left">Boston in 1770-74</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">3.</td><td align="left">Faneuil Hall</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_4">4</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">4.</td><td align="left">Portrait of Governor Hutchinson</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">5.</td><td align="left">Portrait of the Earl of Dartmouth</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">6.</td><td align="left">House of John Hancock</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_6">6</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">7.</td><td align="left">Province House</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">8.</td><td align="left">The Old South Church, Boston</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">9.</td><td align="left">Portrait of David Kinnison</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">10.</td><td align="left">Portrait of George R. T. Hewes</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_10">10</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">11.</td><td align="left">Pouring Tea down the Throat of America</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_10">10</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">12.</td><td align="left">Route of the Arctic Expedition (Map)</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">13.</td><td align="left">Vessels beating to Windward of Iceberg</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_13">12</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">14.</td><td align="left">Perilous Situation of the Advance and Rescue</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_14">13</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">15.</td><td align="left">Discovery Ships near the Devil's Thumb</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">16.</td><td align="left">The Advance leading the Prince Albert</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">17.</td><td align="left">The Advance stranded at Cape Riley</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">18.</td><td align="left">Anvil-Block, and Guide-Board</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">19.</td><td align="left">Three Graves at Beechy</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">20.</td><td align="left">The Advance and Rescue at Barlow's Inlet</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">21.</td><td align="left">The Advance in Barrow's Straits</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">22.</td><td align="left">The Advance and Rescue drifting</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">23.</td><td align="left">The Advance and Rescue in the Winter</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_21">20</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">24.</td><td align="left">The Advance in Davis's Straits</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_21">20</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">25.</td><td align="left">The Advance among Hummocks</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_22">21</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">26.</td><td align="left">Stern of the Rescue in the Ice</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">27.</td><td align="left">The Passage of the Tagliamento</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">28.</td><td align="left">The Gorge of Neumarkt</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">29.</td><td align="left">The Venetian Envoys</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">30.</td><td align="left">The Conference dissolved</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">31.</td><td align="left">The Court at Milan</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">32.</td><td align="left">The Triumphal Journey</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">33.</td><td align="left">The Delivery of the Treaty</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_34">34</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">34.</td><td align="left">Portrait of Kossuth</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">35.</td><td align="left">Better Luck next Time</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">36.</td><td align="left">Doing One a Special Favor</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">37.</td><td align="left">Off Point Judith</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">38.</td><td align="left">Singular Phenomenon</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">39.</td><td align="left">A Slight Mistake</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">40.</td><td align="left">Costumes for December</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">41.</td><td align="left">Parisian, Frileuse, and Camara Cloaks</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">42.</td><td align="left">Child's Costume</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">43.</td><td align="left">Portrait of Franklin</td><td align="right">145</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">44.</td><td align="left">The Franklin Smithy</td><td align="right">145</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">45.</td><td align="left">Franklin at Ten Years of Age</td><td align="right">146</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">46.</td><td align="left">Building the Pier at the Mill-pond</td><td align="right">146</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">47.</td><td align="left">Franklin reading in his Chamber</td><td align="right">147</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">48.</td><td align="left">The Franklin Family</td><td align="right">147</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">49.</td><td align="left">Franklin studying in the Printing-office</td><td align="right">147</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">50.</td><td align="left">Franklin's First Literary Essay</td><td align="right">148</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">51.</td><td align="left">Franklin ill-used by his Brother</td><td align="right">149</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">52.</td><td align="left">Franklin plans to escape</td><td align="right">149</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">53.</td><td align="left">The Sloop at Sea</td><td align="right">149</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">54.</td><td align="left">Franklin traveling through the Storm</td><td align="right">150</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">55.</td><td align="left">The old Woman's Hospitality</td><td align="right">150</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">56.</td><td align="left">Franklin with his Penny Rolls</td><td align="right">150</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">57.</td><td align="left">Franklin gives the Bread to a poor Woman</td><td align="right">151</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">58.</td><td align="left">Franklin asleep in the Meeting-house</td><td align="right">152</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">59.</td><td align="left">Franklin with Bradford and Keimer</td><td align="right">152</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">60.</td><td align="left">The Quakeress's Counsel</td><td align="right">153</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">61.</td><td align="left">Franklin showing his Money</td><td align="right">153</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">62.</td><td align="left">Franklin and the Governor of New York</td><td align="right">154</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">63.</td><td align="left">Collins flung overboard</td><td align="right">154</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">64.</td><td align="left">Reading on the Banks of the River</td><td align="right">155</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">65.</td><td align="left">Franklin's Courtship</td><td align="right">155</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">66.</td><td align="left">Franklin takes Leave of Miss Read</td><td align="right">155</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">67.</td><td align="left">Franklin delivers his Letter</td><td align="right">156</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">68.</td><td align="left">Franklin at the Book-store</td><td align="right">156</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">69.</td><td align="left">Franklin carrying Type Forms</td><td align="right">157</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">70.</td><td align="left">The Widow Lady of Duke-street</td><td align="right">157</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">71.</td><td align="left">The Recluse Lodger</td><td align="right">157</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">72.</td><td align="left">Franklin looking out of the Window</td><td align="right">158</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">73.</td><td align="left">The Copper-plate Press</td><td align="right">158</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">74.</td><td align="left">Franklin's First Job</td><td align="right">159</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">75.</td><td align="left">The Junto Club</td><td align="right">160</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">76.</td><td align="left">Meredith on a Spree</td><td align="right">160</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">77.</td><td align="left">Grief of Miss Read</td><td align="right">161</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">78.</td><td align="left">Franklin with the Wheelbarrow</td><td align="right">161</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">79.</td><td align="left">The Library</td><td align="right">162</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">80.</td><td align="left">Industry of Mrs. Franklin</td><td align="right">162</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">81.</td><td align="left">The China Bowl and Silver Spoon</td><td align="right">162</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">82.</td><td align="left">The Gardener at work</td><td align="right">163</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">83.</td><td align="left">Grinding the Ax</td><td align="right">163</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">84.</td><td align="left">The Widow carrying on Business</td><td align="right">164</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">85.</td><td align="left">Franklin playing Chess</td><td align="right">164</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">86.</td><td align="left">Franklin takes Charge of his Nephew</td><td align="right">165</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">87.</td><td align="left">Portrait of Whitefield</td><td align="right">165</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">88.</td><td align="left">The Expedition to Egypt</td><td align="right">166</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">89.</td><td align="left">Napoleon embarking for Egypt</td><td align="right">169</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">90.</td><td align="left">Napoleon looking at the distant Alps</td><td align="right">170</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">91.</td><td align="left">The Disembarkation in Egypt</td><td align="right">173</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">92.</td><td align="left">The March through the Desert</td><td align="right">175</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">93.</td><td align="left">The Battle of the Pyramids</td><td align="right">178</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">94.</td><td align="left">The Egyptian Ruins</td><td align="right">183</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">95.</td><td align="left">Mr. Potts makes his Toilet</td><td align="right">281</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">96.</td><td align="left">Mr. Potts suffers—Inexpressibly</td><td align="right">281</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">97.</td><td align="left">Mr. Potts is discomposed</td><td align="right">281</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">98.</td><td align="left">Mr. Potts in the wrong Apartment</td><td align="right">282</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">99.</td><td align="left">Mr. Potts enchanted</td><td align="right">283</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">100.</td><td align="left">Mr. Potts assumes a striking Attitude</td><td align="right">283</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">101.</td><td align="left">Mr. Potts makes a Sensation</td><td align="right">283</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">102.</td><td align="left">Mr. Potts tears himself away</td><td align="right">284</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">103.</td><td align="left">Mr. Potts receives a Lecture</td><td align="right">284</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">104.</td><td align="left">Arrant Extortion</td><td align="right">285</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">105.</td><td align="left">Mr. Booby in the New Costume</td><td align="right">285</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">106.</td><td align="left">A Bloomer in Leap Year</td><td align="right">286</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">107.</td><td align="left">The Strong-minded Bloomer</td><td align="right">286</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">108.</td><td align="left">Winter Costumes</td><td align="right">287</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">109.</td><td align="left">Walking Dress</td><td align="right">288</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">110.</td><td align="left">Hood and Head-dress</td><td align="right">288</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">111.</td><td align="left">Preparing the Regimental Colors</td><td align="right">290</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">112.</td><td align="left">Franklin on Military Duty</td><td align="right">290</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">113.</td><td align="left">Franklin's Colloquy with the Quaker</td><td align="right">291</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">114.</td><td align="left">The Indian Pow-wow</td><td align="right">291</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">115.</td><td align="left">The Female Street-sweeper</td><td align="right">292</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">116.</td><td align="left">The Horse and Packages for Camp</td><td align="right">293</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">117.</td><td align="left">The precipitous Flight</td><td align="right">293</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">118.</td><td align="left">March to Gnadenhütten</td><td align="right">294</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">119.</td><td align="left">Franklin's military Escort</td><td align="right">295</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">120.</td><td align="left">Portrait of Buffon</td><td align="right">296</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">121.</td><td align="left">Franklin and the new Governor</td><td align="right">296</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">122.</td><td align="left">Sign of St. George and the Dragon</td><td align="right">297</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">123.</td><td align="left">The Ship in Peril of the Rocks</td><td align="right">297</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">124.</td><td align="left">Franklin writing to his Wife</td><td align="right">298</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">125.</td><td align="left">The Old Man from the Desert</td><td align="right">298</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">126.</td><td align="left">Portrait of Mrs. Franklin</td><td align="right">299</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">127.</td><td align="left">Franklin on his Tour of Inspection</td><td align="right">300</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">128.</td><td align="left">Bees swarming</td><td align="right">301</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">129.</td><td align="left">Franklin's Departure from Chester</td><td align="right">301</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">130.</td><td align="left">Reception of the Satin</td><td align="right">302</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">131.</td><td align="left">Franklin transformed by his new Dress</td><td align="right">302</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">132.</td><td align="left">Franklin repulsed from Lord Hillsborough's</td><td align="right">303</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">133.</td><td align="left">The Boston Riot</td><td align="right">304</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">134.</td><td align="left">Portrait of Lord Chatham</td><td align="right">304</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">135.</td><td align="left">Portrait of Lord Camden</td><td align="right">304</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">136.</td><td align="left">Franklin at Chess with the Lady</td><td align="right">305</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">137.</td><td align="left">Drafting the Declaration of Independence</td><td align="right">306</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">138.</td><td align="left">Old Age</td><td align="right">307</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">139.</td><td align="left">Feeling toward Franklin in Paris</td><td align="right">308</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">140.</td><td align="left">Portrait of Lafayette</td><td align="right">309</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">141.</td><td align="left">Franklin's Amusement in Age</td><td align="right">309</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">142.</td><td align="left">Napoleon's Escape from the Red Sea</td><td align="right">310</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">143.</td><td align="left">The Dromedary Regiment</td><td align="right">312</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">144.</td><td align="left">The Plague Hospital at Acre</td><td align="right">317</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">145.</td><td align="left">The Bomb-shell exploding</td><td align="right">320</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">146.</td><td align="left">Arrival of the Courier</td><td align="right">326</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">147.</td><td align="left">Napoleon and Kleber</td><td align="right">328</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">148.</td><td align="left">The Return from Egypt</td><td align="right">329</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">149.</td><td align="left">A Horrible Business</td><td align="right">429</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">150.</td><td align="left">Mrs. Baker's Pet</td><td align="right">430</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">151.</td><td align="left">Costumes for February</td><td align="right">431</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">152.</td><td align="left">Evening Dress</td><td align="right">432</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">153.</td><td align="left">Full Dress for Home</td><td align="right">432</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">154.</td><td align="left">The Rabbit House</td><td align="right">433</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">155.</td><td align="left">The Pursuit</td><td align="right">437</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">156.</td><td align="left">The Raft</td><td align="right">439</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">157.</td><td align="left">Up the Ladder</td><td align="right">441</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">158.</td><td align="left">The Yard at Mr. Randon's</td><td align="right">442</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">159.</td><td align="left">Plan of Mr. Randon's House</td><td align="right">444</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">160.</td><td align="left">The Great Room</td><td align="right">444</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">161.</td><td align="left">Inundation at St. Petersburg</td><td align="right">449</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">162.</td><td align="left">Russian Ice Mountains</td><td align="right">452</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">163.</td><td align="left">Punishment for Drunkenness</td><td align="right">454</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">164.</td><td align="left">Russian Isvoshtshiks</td><td align="right">455</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">165.</td><td align="left">The Easter Kiss—agreeable</td><td align="right">456</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">166.</td><td align="left">The Easter Kiss—as matter of Duty</td><td align="right">456</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">167.</td><td align="left">The Easter Kiss—under Difficulties</td><td align="right">456</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">168.</td><td align="left">The Easter Kiss—disagreeable</td><td align="right">456</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">169.</td><td align="left">France is tranquil</td><td align="right">573</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">170.</td><td align="left">The President's Road to Ruin</td><td align="right">574</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">171.</td><td align="left">New Parisian Street-sweeping Machine</td><td align="right">574</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">172.</td><td align="left">Costumes for March</td><td align="right">575</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">173.</td><td align="left">Young Lady's Toilet</td><td align="right">576</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">174.</td><td align="left">Morning Toilet</td><td align="right">576</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">175.</td><td align="left">Ellen Asleep</td><td align="right">578</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">176.</td><td align="left">The Snow-shoes</td><td align="right">579</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">177.</td><td align="left">The Funeral</td><td align="right">583</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">178.</td><td align="left">The Boys and the Boat</td><td align="right">585</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">179.</td><td align="left">The Evasion</td><td align="right">587</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">180.</td><td align="left">Raising the Hasp</td><td align="right">591</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">181.</td><td align="left">The Corn-barn</td><td align="right">591</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">182.</td><td align="left">Napoleon's Return from Egypt</td><td align="right">595</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">183.</td><td align="left">Napoleon and the Atheists</td><td align="right">596</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">184.</td><td align="left">Napoleon's Landing at Frejus</td><td align="right">598</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">185.</td><td align="left">Napoleon's Reconciliation with Josephine</td><td align="right">602</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">186.</td><td align="left">Napoleon on the Way to St. Cloud</td><td align="right">608</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">187.</td><td align="left">Napoleon in the Council of Five Hundred</td><td align="right">609</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">188.</td><td align="left">The Little Old Lady</td><td align="right">662</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">189.</td><td align="left">Miss Jellyby</td><td align="right">667</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">190.</td><td align="left">Going to Cover</td><td align="right">711</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">191.</td><td align="left">Revolutionary Inquiries</td><td align="right">714</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">192.</td><td align="left">Early Publication of a Paper in Paris</td><td align="right">714</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">193.</td><td align="left">Scene from the President's Progress</td><td align="right">715</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">194.</td><td align="left">Touching Sympathy</td><td align="right">716</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">195.</td><td align="left">Sound Advice</td><td align="right">716</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">196.</td><td align="left">Effects of a Strike</td><td align="right">717</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">197.</td><td align="left">Perfect Identification</td><td align="right">718</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">198.</td><td align="left">Calling the Police</td><td align="right">718</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">199.</td><td align="left">Fashions for April</td><td align="right">719</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">200.</td><td align="left">Dress Toilet</td><td align="right">720</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">201.</td><td align="left">Child's Fancy Costume</td><td align="right">720</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">202.</td><td align="left">The Drag Ride</td><td align="right">722</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">203.</td><td align="left">The Well</td><td align="right">724</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">204.</td><td align="left">The Conflagration</td><td align="right">726</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">205.</td><td align="left">The barred Window</td><td align="right">727</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">206.</td><td align="left">Antonio's Picture</td><td align="right">728</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">207.</td><td align="left">The Court Room</td><td align="right">729</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">208.</td><td align="left">The Arrest</td><td align="right">732</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">209.</td><td align="left">The Governor</td><td align="right">735</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">210.</td><td align="left">The Consuls and the Gold</td><td align="right">737</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">211.</td><td align="left">Napoleon in the Temple</td><td align="right">739</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">212.</td><td align="left">Napoleon's Entrance into the Tuileries</td><td align="right">742</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">213.</td><td align="left">Napoleon and the Vendeean Chief</td><td align="right">746</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">214.</td><td align="left">Napoleon and the Duchess of Guiche</td><td align="right">750</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">215.</td><td align="left">Napoleon and Bourrienne</td><td align="right">751</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">216.</td><td align="left">Unavailing Intercession of Josephine</td><td align="right">753</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">217.</td><td align="left">The Lord Chancellor copies from Memory</td><td align="right">814</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">218.</td><td align="left">Coavinses</td><td align="right">821</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">219.</td><td align="left">Butcher-Boys of the Upper Ten</td><td align="right">857</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">220.</td><td align="left">The Inquiring Omnibus Driver</td><td align="right">857</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">221.</td><td align="left">Flunky's Idea of Beauty</td><td align="right">858</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">222.</td><td align="left">A Competent Adviser</td><td align="right">859</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">223.</td><td align="left">Regard for the Truth</td><td align="right">859</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">224.</td><td align="left">Awful Effect of Eye-glasses</td><td align="right">860</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">225.</td><td align="left">Rather Severe</td><td align="right">860</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">226.</td><td align="left">Portrait of a Gentleman</td><td align="right">861</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">227.</td><td align="left">The Peer on the Press</td><td align="right">861</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">228.</td><td align="left">Interior of a French Court of Justice</td><td align="right">862</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">229.</td><td align="left">Fashions for May</td><td align="right">863</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">230.</td><td align="left">Visiting Dress</td><td align="right">864</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">231.</td><td align="left">Home Toilet</td><td align="right">864</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h1><small>HARPER'S</small><br /> + +NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.</h1> + +<hr /> +<h4><span class="smcap">No</span>. XIX.—DECEMBER, 1851.—<span class="smcap">Vol.</span> IV.</h4> +<hr /> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 682px;"> +<img src="images/illo_01.jpg" width="682" height="422" alt="CASTING TEA OVERBOARD IN BOSTON HARBOR." title="" /> +<span class="caption">CASTING TEA OVERBOARD IN BOSTON HARBOR.</span> +</div> + + + +<h2>THE BOSTON TEA PARTY.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h2> + +<h3>BY BENSON J. LOSSING.</h3> + + +<p>Revolutions which dismember and overturn +empires, disrupt political systems, and +change not only the forms of civil government, +but frequently the entire character of society, are +often incited by causes so remote, and apparently +inconsiderable and inadequate, that the superficial +observer would never detect them, or would +laugh incredulously if presented to his consideration +as things of moment. Yet, like the little +spring of a watch, coiled unseen within the dark +recess of its chamber, the influences of such remote +causes operating upon certain combinations, +give motion, power, and value to latent energies, +and form the <i>primum mobile</i> of the whole machinery +of wonderful events which produce revolutions.</p> + +<p>As a general rule, revolutions in states are the +results of isolated rebellions; and rebellions have +their birth in desires to cast off evils inflicted by +actual oppressions. These evils generally consist +of the interferences of rulers with the physical +well-being of the governed; and very few of the +political changes in empires which so prominently +mark the course of human history, have had a +higher incentive to resistance than the maintenance +of creature comforts. Abridgment of personal +liberty in the exercise of natural rights, +excessive taxation, and extortion of public officers, +whereby individual competence and consequent +ease have not been attainable, these have generally +been the chief counts in the indictment, +when the people have arisen in their might and +arraigned their rulers at the bar of the world's +judgment.</p> + +<p>The American Revolution, which succeeded +local rebellions in the various provinces, was an +exception to a general rule. History furnishes +no parallel example of a people free, prosperous, +and happy, rising from the couch of ease to gird +on the panoply of war, with a certainty of encountering +perhaps years of privation and distress, +to combat the intangible <i>principle</i> of despotism. +The taxes of which the English colonies +in America complained, and which were the +ostensible cause of dissatisfaction, were almost +nominal, and only in the smallest degree affected +the general prosperity of the people. But the +method employed in levying those slight taxes, +and the prerogatives assumed by the king and +his ministers, plainly revealed the <i>principles</i> of +tyranny, and were the causes which produced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> +the quarrel. In these assumptions the kernel of +despotism was very apparent, and the sagacious +Americans, accustomed to vigorous and independent +thought, and a free interchange of opinions, +foresaw the speedy springing of that germ into +the bulk and vigor of an umbrageous tree, that +would overshadow the land and bear the bitter +fruit of tyrannous misrule. Foreseeing this, they +resolved neither to water it kindly, nor generously +dig about its roots and open them to the genial +influences of the blessed sun and the dews; but, +on the contrary, to eradicate it. Tyranny had +no abiding-place in America when the quarrel +with the imperial government began, and the +War of the Revolution, in its inception and progress, +was eminently a war of principle.</p> + +<p>How little could the wisest political seer have +perceived of an elemental cause of a revolution +in America, and the dismemberment of the British +Empire, in two pounds and two ounces of TEA, +which, a little less than two centuries ago, the +East India Company sent as a present to Charles +the Second of England! Little did the "merrie +monarch" think, while sitting with Nell Gwynn, +the Earl of Rochester, and a few other favorites, +in his private parlor at Whitehall, and that new +beverage gave pleasure to his sated taste, that +events connected with the use of the herb would +shake the throne of England, albeit a Guelph, a +wiser and more virtuous monarch than any Stuart, +should sit thereon. Yet it was even so; and TEA, +within a hundred years after that viceregal corporation +made its gift to royalty, became one of +the causes which led to rebellion and revolution, +resulting in the independence of the Anglo-American +colonies, and the founding of our +Republic.</p> + +<p>When the first exuberant feelings of joy, which +filled the hearts of the Americans when intelligence +of the repeal of the Stamp Act reached +them, had subsided, and sober judgment analyzed +the Declaratory act of William Pitt which +accompanied the Repeal Bill, they perceived +small cause for congratulation. They knew Pitt +to be a friend—an earnest and sincere friend of +the colonists. He had labored shoulder to shoulder +with Barrè, Conway, Burke, and others, to +effect the repeal, and had recently declared boldly +in the House of Commons, "I rejoice that +America has resisted. Three millions of people, +so dead to all the feelings of liberty as voluntarily +to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instruments +to make slaves of the rest." Yet he +saw hesitation; he saw <i>pride</i> standing in the +place of <i>righteousness</i>, and he allowed <i>expediency</i> +to usurp the place of <i>principle</i>, in order to accomplish +a great good. He introduced the Declaratory +Act, which was a sort of salvo to the national +honor, that a majority of votes might be +secured for the Repeal Bill. That act affirmed +that Parliament possessed the power <i>to bind the +colonies in all cases whatsoever</i>; clearly implying +the right to impose taxes to any extent, and in +any manner that ministers might think proper. +That temporizing measure was unworthy of the +great statesman, and had not the colonists possessed +too many proofs of his friendship to doubt +his constancy, they would now have placed him +in the category of the enemies of America. They +plainly perceived that no actual concession had +been made, and that the passage of the Repeal +Bill was only a truce in the systematic endeavors +of ministers to hold absolute control over the +Americans. The loud acclamations of joy and +the glad expressions of loyalty to the king, +which rung throughout America in the spring +and early summer of 1766, died away into low +whispers before autumn, and as winter approached, +and other schemes for taxation, such +as a new clause in the mutiny act developed, +were evolved from the ministerial laboratory, +loud murmurings went over the sea from every +English colony in the New World.</p> + +<p>Much good was anticipated by the exercise of +the enlightened policy of the Rockingham ministry, +under whose auspices the Stamp Act had +been repealed, when it was suddenly dissolved, +and William Pitt, who was now elevated to the +peerage, became prime minister. Had not physical +infirmities borne heavily upon Lord Chatham, +all would have been well; but while he was tortured +by gout, and lay swathed in flannels at his +country-seat at Hayes, weaker heads controlled +the affairs of state. Charles Townshend, Pitt's +Chancellor of the Exchequer, a vain, truckling +statesman, coalesced with Grenville, the father +of the Stamp Act, in the production of another +scheme for deriving a revenue from America. +Too honest to be governed by expediency, Grenville +had already proposed levying a direct tax +upon the Americans of two millions of dollars +per annum, allowing them to raise that sum in +their own way. Townshend had the sagacity +to perceive that such a measure would meet +with no favor; but in May, 1767, he attempted +to accomplish the same result by introducing a +bill providing for the imposition of a duty upon +glass, paper, painters' colors, and <span class="smcap">tea</span> imported +from Great Britain into America. This was +only another form of taxation, and judicious men +in Parliament viewed the proposition with deep +concern. Burke and others denounced it in the +Commons; and Shelburne in the House of Lords +warned ministers to have a care how they proceeded +in the matter, for he clearly foresaw insurrection, +perhaps a revolution as a consequence. +But the voice of prudence, uttering words of +prophecy, was disregarded; Townshend's bill +was passed, and became a law at the close of +June, by receiving the royal signature. Other +acts, equally obnoxious to the Americans, soon +became laws by the sanction of the king, and the +principles of despotism, concealed behind the +honest-featured Declaratory Act, were displayed +in all their deformity.</p> + +<p>During the summer and autumn, John Dickenson +sent forth his powerful <i>Letters of a Pennsylvania +Farmer</i>. Written in a simple manner, +they were easily understood. They laid bare the +evident designs of the ministry; proved the unconstitutionality +of the late acts of Parliament, +and taught the people the necessity of united<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> +resistance to the slow but certain approaches of +oppression.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 718px;"> +<img src="images/illo_02.jpg" width="718" height="393" alt="BOSTON IN 1770-74." title="" /> +<span class="caption">BOSTON IN 1770-74.</span> +</div> + +<p>Boston, "the ringleader in rebellion," soon +took the initiative step in revolutionary movements, +and during 1768, tumults occurred, which +caused Governor Bernard to call for troops to awe +the people. General Thomas Gage, then commander-in-chief +of the British forces in America, +ordered two regiments from Halifax. Borne by +a fleet which blockaded the harbor in September, +they landed upon Long Wharf, in Boston, on +Sunday morning, and while the people were desirous +of worshiping quietly in their meeting-houses, +these soldiers marched to the Common +with charged muskets, fixed bayonets, drums +beating, and colors flying, with all the pomp and +insolence of victorious troops entering a vanquished +city. It was a great blunder, and Governor +Bernard soon perceived it.</p> + +<p>A convention of delegates from every town +but one in Massachusetts was in session, when +the fleet arrived in Nantasket roads. They were +not alarmed by the approach of cannon and bayonets, +but deliberated coolly, and denounced +firmly the current measures of government. +Guided by their advice, the select-men of Boston +refused to furnish quarters for the troops, and +they were obliged to encamp on the open Common, +where insults were daily bandied between +the military hirelings and the people. The inhabitants +of Boston, and of the whole province +felt insulted—ay, degraded—and every feeling +of patriotism and manhood rebelled. The alternative +was plain before them—<i>submission or the +bayonet!</i></p> + +<p>Great indignation prevailed from the Penobscot +to the St. Mary's, and the cause of Boston +became the common cause of all the colonists. +They resented the insult as if offered to themselves; +and hatred of royal rule became a fixed +emotion in the hearts of thousands. Legislative +assemblies spoke out freely, and for the crime +of being thus independent, royal governors dissolved +them. Delegates returned to their constituents, +each an eloquent crusader against oppression; +and in every village and hamlet men +congregated to consult upon the public good, and +to determine upon a remedy for the monster evil +now sitting like an incubus upon the peace and +prosperity of the land.</p> + +<p>As a countervailing measure, merchants in the +various coast towns entered into an agreement to +cease importing from Great Britain, every thing +but a few articles of common necessity (and especially +those things enumerated in the impost +bill), from the first of January, 1769, to the first +of January, 1770, unless the obnoxious act should +be sooner repealed. The people every where seconded +this movement by earnest co-operation, and +Provincial legislatures commended the scheme. +An agreement, presented in the Virginia House +of Burgesses by Washington, was signed by every +member; and in all the colonies the people entered +at once upon a course of self-denial. For +more than a year this powerful engine of retaliation +waged war upon British commerce in a constitutional +way, before ministers would listen to +petitions and remonstrances; and it was not until +virtual rebellion in the British capital, born +of commercial distress, menaced the ministry, +that the expostulations of the Americans were +noticed, except with sneers.</p> + +<p>In America meetings were frequently held, and +men thus encouraged each other by mutual conference. +Nor did <i>men</i>, alone, preach and practice +self-denial; American <i>women</i>, the wives and +daughters of patriots, cast their influence into the +scale of patriotism, and by cheering voices and +noble examples, became efficient co-workers. +And when, in Boston, cupidity overcame patriotism, +and the defection of a few merchants who +loved gold more than liberty, aroused the friends<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +of the non-importation leagues, and assembled +them in general council in Faneuil Hall, there to +declare that they would "totally abstain from the +use of <span class="smcap">tea</span>," and other proscribed articles, the +women of that city, fired with zeal for the general +good, spoke out publicly and decidedly upon +the subject. Early in February, 1770, the mistresses +of three hundred families subscribed their +names to a league, binding themselves not to use +any more <span class="smcap">tea</span> until the impost clause in the Revenue +Act should be repealed. Their daughters +speedily followed their patriotic example, and +three days afterward, a multitude of young ladies +in Boston and vicinity, signed the following +pledge:</p> + +<p>"We, the daughters of those patriots who have, +and do now appear for the public interest, and in +that principally regard their posterity—as such, +do with pleasure engage with them in denying +ourselves the drinking of foreign <span class="smcap">tea</span>, in hopes +to frustrate a plan which tends to deprive a whole +community of all that is valuable in life."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<img src="images/illo_03.jpg" width="640" height="494" alt="FANEUIL HALL." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FANEUIL HALL.</span> +</div> + +<p>From that time, <span class="smcap">tea</span> was a proscribed article +in Boston, and opposition to the form of oppression +was strongly manifested by the unanimity +with which the pleasant beverage was discarded. +Nor did the ladies of Boston bear this honor +alone, but in Salem, Newport, Norwich, New +York, Philadelphia, Annapolis, Williamsburg, +Wilmington, Charleston, and Savannah, the women +sipped "the balsamic hyperion," made from +the dried leaves of the raspberry plant, and discarded +"the poisonous bohea." The newspapers +of the day abound with notices of social gatherings +where foreign tea was entirely discarded.</p> + +<p>About this time Lord North succeeded Townshend +as Chancellor of the Exchequer. He was an +honest man, a statesman of good parts, and a sincere +friend to English liberty. He doubtless desired +to discharge his duty faithfully, yet in dealing +with the Americans, he utterly misunderstood +their character and temper, and could not +perceive the justice of their demands. This was +the minister who mismanaged the affairs of Great +Britain throughout the whole of our war for independence, +and by his pertinacity in attempts +to tax the colonies, and in opposing them in their +efforts to maintain their rights, he finally drove +them to rebellion, and protracted the war until +reconciliation was out of the question.</p> + +<p>Early in 1770, the British merchants, the most +influential class in the realm, were driven by the +non-importation agreements to become the friends +of the colonists, and to join with them in petitions +and remonstrances. The London merchants +suffered more from the operations of the +new Revenue Laws, than the Americans. They +had early foreseen the consequences of an attempt +to tax the colonists; and when Townshend's +scheme was first proposed, they offered +to pay an equivalent sum into the Treasury, +rather than risk the loss of the rapidly-increasing +American trade. Now, that anticipated loss was +actual, and was bearing heavily upon them. It +also affected the national exchequer. In one +year, exports to America had decreased in amount +to the value of almost four millions of dollars; +and within three years (1767 to 1770), the government +revenue from America decreased from +five hundred and fifty thousand dollars per annum, +to one hundred and fifty thousand. These +facts awakened the people; these figures alarmed +the government; and early in March, Lord North +asked leave to bring in a bill, in the House of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +Commons, for repealing the duties upon glass, +paper, and painters' colors, but retaining the +duty of three-pence upon <span class="smcap">tea</span>. This impost was +very small—avowedly a "pepper-corn rent," retained +to save the national honor, about which +ministers prated so loudly. The friends of America—the +<i>true</i> friends of English liberty and "national +honor"—asked for a repeal of the whole +act; the stubborn king, and the short-sighted +ministry would not consent to make the concession. +North's bill became a law in April, and he +fondly imagined that the insignificant three-pence +a pound, upon a single article of luxury, would +now be overlooked by the colonists. How egregiously +he misapprehended their character!</p> + +<p>When intelligence of this act reached America, +the scheme found no admirers. The people had +never complained of the <i>amount</i> of the taxes levied +by impost; it was trifling. They asserted that +Great Britain had <i>no right to tax them at all</i>, +without their consent. It was for a great <i>principle</i> +they were contending; and they regarded +the retention of the duty of three-pence upon the +single article of <span class="smcap">tea</span>, as much a violation of the +constitutional rights of the colonists, as if there +had been laid an impost a hundred-fold greater, +upon a score of articles. This was the issue, and +no partial concessions would be considered.</p> + +<p>The non-importation agreements began to be +disregarded by many merchants, and six months +before this repeal bill became a law, they had +agreed, in several places, to import every thing +but <span class="smcap">tea</span>, and that powerful lever of opposition +had now almost ceased to work. <span class="smcap">Tea</span> being an +article of luxury, the resolutions to discard that +were generally adhered to, and concerning <span class="smcap">tea</span>, +alone, the quarrel was continued.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 241px;"> +<img src="images/illo_04.jpg" width="241" height="321" alt="HUTCHINSON" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>For two years very little occurred to disturb +the tranquillity +of New England. +Thomas +Hutchinson, +a man of +fair abilities, +but possessed +of very little +prudence or +sound judgment, +succeeded +Bernard +as Governor +of Massachusetts. +New men, +zealous and +capable, were +coming forth +from among the people, to do battle for right and +freedom. Poor Otis, whose eloquent voice had often +stirred up the fires of rebellion in the hearts of +the Bostonians, when <i>Writs of Assistance</i>, and +the <i>Stamp Act</i>, elicited his denunciations, and +who, with prophetic voice, had told his brethren +in Great Britain, "Our fathers were a <i>good</i> people, +we have been a <i>free</i> people, and if you will +not let us be so any longer, we shall be a <i>great</i> +people," was now under a cloud. But his colleagues, +some of them very young, were growing +strong and experienced. John Adams, then six-and-thirty, +and rapidly rising in public estimation, +occupied the seat of Otis in the General Assembly. +John Hancock, one of the wealthiest +merchants of Boston; Samuel Adams, a Puritan +of great experience and tried integrity; Joseph +Warren, a young physician, full of energy and +hope, who afterward fell on Breed's Hill; Josiah +Quincy, a polished orator, though almost a stripling; +Thomas Cushing, James Warren, Dr. Samuel +Church, Robert Treat Paine—these became +the popular leaders, and fostered "the child independence," +which John Adams said, was born +when Otis denounced the Writs of Assistance, and +the populace sympathized. These were the men +who, at private meetings, concerted plans for public +action; and with them, Hutchinson soon quarreled. +They issued a circular, declaring the rights +of the colonies, and enumerating their grievances. +Hutchinson denounced it as seditious and traitorous; +and while the public mind was excited +by the quarrel, Dr. Franklin, who was agent for +the colony in England, transmitted to the Speaker +of the Assembly several private letters, written by +the governor to members of Parliament, in which +he spoke disrespectfully of the Americans, and +recommended the adoption of coercive measures +to abridge "what are called English liberties." +These revelations raised a furious storm, and +the people were with difficulty restrained from +inflicting personal violence upon the governor. +All classes, from the men in legislative council +to the plainest citizen, felt a disgust that could +not be concealed, and a breach was opened between +ruler and people that grew wider every +day.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 346px;"> +<img src="images/illo_05.jpg" width="346" height="420" alt="EARL OF DARTMOUTH." title="" /> +<span class="caption">EARL OF DARTMOUTH.</span> +</div> + +<p>The Earl of Hillsborough, who had been Secretary +of State for the Colonies during the past +few years of excitement, was now succeeded by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +Lord Dartmouth, a personal friend to Dr. Franklin, +a sagacious statesman, and a man sincerely +disposed to do justice to the colonies. +Had his councils prevailed, the duty +upon tea would have been taken off, +and all cause for discontent on the +part of the colonies, removed. But +North's blindness, countenanced by +ignorant or wicked advisers, prevailed +in the cabinet, and the olive-branch +of peace and reconciliation, constantly +held out by the Americans while declaring +their rights, was spurned.</p> + +<p>At the beginning of 1773, the East +India Company, feeling the effects of +the non-importation agreements and +the colonial contraband trade, opened +the way for reconciliation, while endeavoring +to benefit themselves. Already +seventeen millions of pounds +of tea had accumulated in their warehouses +in England, and the demand for it in +America was daily diminishing. To open anew +an extensive market so suddenly closed, the +Company offered to allow government to retain +six-pence upon the pound as an exportation tariff, +if they would take off the duty of three-pence. +Ministers had now a fair opportunity, not only to +conciliate the colonies in an honorable way, but +to procure, without expense, double the amount +of revenue. But the ministry, deluded by false +views of national honor, would not listen to the +proposition, but stupidly favored the East India +Company, while persisting in unrighteousness +toward the Americans. A bill was passed in +May, to allow the Company to export tea to +America on their own account, without paying +export duty, while the impost of three-pence was +continued. The mother country thus taught the +colonists to regard her as a voluntary oppressor.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 418px;"> +<img src="images/illo_06.jpg" width="418" height="311" alt="HANCOCK'S HOUSE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">HANCOCK'S HOUSE.</span> +</div> + +<p>While the bill for allowing the East India +Company to export tea to America on their own +account, was under consideration in Parliament, +Dr. Franklin, Arthur Lee, and others, apprised +the colonists of the movement; and when, a few +weeks afterward, several large vessels laden with +the plant, were out upon the Atlantic, bound for +American ports, the people here were actively +preparing to prevent the landing of the cargoes. +The Company had appointed consignees in various +seaport towns, and these being generally +known to the people, were warned to resign their +commissions, or hold them at their peril.</p> + +<p>In Boston the most active measures were taken +to prevent the landing of the tea. The consignees +were all friends of government; two +of them were Governor Hutchinson's sons, and +a third (Richard Clarke, father-in-law of John +Singleton Copley, the eminent painter), was +his nephew. Their neighbors expostulated with +them, but in vain; and as the time for the expected +arrival of two or three tea-ships approached, +the public mind became feverish. On the +first of November several of the leading "Sons +of Liberty," as the patriots were called, met at +the house of John Hancock, on Beacon-street, +facing the Common, to consult upon the public +good, touching the expected tea ships. A public +meeting was decided upon, and on the morning +of the third the following placard was posted in +many places within the city:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"TO THE FREEMEN OF THIS AND THE NEIGHBORING TOWNS.</p> + +<p>"<i>Gentlemen.</i>—You are desired to meet at the +Liberty Tree this day at twelve o'clock at noon, +then and there to hear the persons to whom the +<span class="smcap">Tea</span> shipped by the East India Company is consigned, +make a public resignation of their offices +as consignees, upon oath; and also swear that +they will reship any teas that may be consigned +to them by the said Company, by the first vessel +sailing to London.</p> + +<p> +O. C. Sec'y.<br /> +</p> + +<p>"Boston, Nov. 3, 1773.</p> + +<p>"<img src="images/illo_06a.jpg" alt="A pointing finger" width="32" height="16" /> +Show me the man that dare take this +down!"</p></blockquote> + +<p>The consignees were summoned at an early +hour in the morning, to appear under Liberty +Tree (a huge elm, which stood at the present +junction of Washington and Essex streets), and +resign their commissions. They treated the +summons with contempt, and refused to comply. +At the appointed hour the town-crier proclaimed +the meeting, and the church-bells of the city +also gave the annunciation. Timid men remained +at home, but about five hundred people assembled +near the tree, from the top of which floated +the New England flag. No definite action was +taken, and at three o'clock the meeting had dispersed.</p> + +<p>On the 5th, another meeting was held, over +which John Hancock presided. Several short but +vehement speeches were made, in which were +uttered many seditious sentiments; eight resistance +resolutions adopted by the Philadelphians +were agreed too; and a committee was appointed +to wait upon the consignees, who, it was known, +were then at Clarke's store, on King-street, +and request them to resign. Again those gentlemen +refused compliance, and when the committee +reported to the meeting, it was voted that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +the answer of the consignees was "unsatisfactory +and highly affrontive." This meeting also +adjourned without deciding upon any definite +course for future action.</p> + +<p>The excitement in Boston now hourly increased. +Grave citizens congregated at the corners +of the streets to interchange sentiments, +and all seemed to have a presentiment that the +sanguinary scenes of the 5th of March, 1770, +when blood flowed in the streets of Boston, were +about to be reproduced.</p> + +<p>The troops introduced by Bernard had been +removed from the city, and there was no legal +power but that of the civil authorities, to suppress +disorder. On the 12th, the captain-general +of the province issued an order for the Governor's +Guards, of which John Hancock was colonel, to +stand in readiness to assist the civil magistrate +in preserving order. This corps, being strongly +imbued with the sentiments of their commander, +utterly disregarded the requisition. Business +was, in a measure, suspended, and general uneasiness +prevailed.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 338px;"> +<img src="images/illo_07.jpg" width="338" height="275" alt="PROVINCE HOUSE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">PROVINCE HOUSE.</span> +</div> + +<p>On the 18th, another meeting was held in +Faneuil Hall, and a committee was again appointed +to wait upon the consignees and request +them to resign. Again they refused, and that +evening the house of Richard Clarke, on School-street, +was surrounded by an unruly crowd. A +pistol was fired from the house, but without +serious effect other than exciting the mob to +deeds of violence; the windows were demolished, +and the family menaced with personal injury. +Better counsels than those of anger soon prevailed, +and at midnight the town was quiet. +The meeting, in the mean while, had received the +report of the committee in silence, and adjourned +without uttering a word. This silence was ominous +of evil to the friends of government. The +consignees were alarmed, for it was evident that +the people were determined to <i>talk</i> only, no more, +but henceforth to <i>act</i>. The governor, also, properly +interpreted their silence as a calm before a +storm, and he called his council together at the +Province House, to consult upon measures for +preserving the peace of the city. During their +session the frightened consignees presented a +petition to the council, asking leave to resign +their commissions into the hands of the governor +and his advisers, and praying them to adopt +measures for the safe landing of the teas. The +council, equally fearful of the popular vengeance, +refused the prayer of their petition, and the consignees +withdrew, for safety, to Castle William, +a strong fortress at the entrance of the harbor, +then garrisoned by a portion of the troops who +had been encamped on Boston Common. The +flight of the consignees allayed the excitement +for a few days.</p> + +<p>On Sunday evening, the 28th of November, +the <i>Dartmouth</i>, Captain Hall, one of the East +India Company's ships, arrived in the harbor. +The next morning the following handbill was +posted in every part of the city:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<i>Friends! Brethren! Countrymen!</i>—That +worst of plagues, the detested <span class="smcap">Tea</span> shipped for +this port, by the East India Company, is now +arrived in the harbor. The hour of destruction, +or manly opposition to the machinations of tyranny, +stares you in the face; every friend to his +country, to himself, and to posterity, is now called +upon to meet at <i>Faneuil Hall</i>, at nine o'clock +<span class="smcap">This Day</span> (at which time the bells will ring), to +make united and successful resistance to this +last, worst, and most destructive measure of administration.</p> + +<p>"Boston, Nov. 29th, 1773."</p></blockquote> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 279px;"> +<img src="images/illo_08.jpg" width="279" height="420" alt="THE "OLD SOUTH."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE "OLD SOUTH."</span> +</div> + +<p>A large concourse assembled in and around +Faneuil Hall at the appointed hour, too large to +be admitted within its walls, and +they adjourned to the Old South +Meeting House, on the corner of +the present Washington and Milk +streets. Hancock, the Adamses, +Warren, Quincy, and other +popular leaders and influential +citizens were there. Firmness +marked all the proceedings, and +within that sanctuary of religion +they made resolves of gravest +import. It was agreed that +no <span class="smcap">tea</span> +should +be landed +within +the +precincts +of +Boston; +that no +duty +should +be paid; +and that +it should +be sent back in the same bottom. They also +voted that Mr. Roch, the owner of the <i>Dartmouth</i>, +"be directed not to enter the tea at his peril; +and that Captain Hall be informed, and at his +peril, not to suffer any of the tea to be landed." +They ordered the ship to be moored at Griffin's +wharf, near the present Liverpool dock, and appointed +a guard of twenty-five men to watch her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> + +<p>When the meeting was about to adjourn, a +letter was received from the consignees, offering +to store the tea until they could write to England +and obtain instructions from the owners. The +people had resolved that not a chest should be +landed, and the offer was at once rejected. The +sheriff, who was present, then stepped upon +the back of a pew, and read a proclamation +by the governor, ordering the assembly to disperse. +It was received with hisses. Another +resolution was then adopted, ordering two other +tea vessels, then hourly expected, to be moored +at Griffin's wharf; and, after solemnly pledging +themselves to carry their several resolutions into +effect at all hazards, and thanking the people in +attendance from the neighboring towns for their +sympathy, they adjourned.</p> + +<p>Every thing relating to the <span class="smcap">tea</span> movement was +now in the hands of the Boston Committee of +Correspondence. A large volunteer guard was +enrolled, and every necessary preparation was +made to support the resistance resolutions of +the 29th. A fortnight elapsed without any special +public occurrence, when, on the afternoon of +the 13th of December, intelligence went through +the town that the <i>Eleanor</i>, Captain James Bruce, +and the <i>Beaver</i>, Captain Hezekiah Coffin, ships +of the East India Company, laden with tea, had +entered the harbor. They were moored at Griffin's +wharf by the volunteer guard, and that night +there were many sleepless eyes in Boston. The +Sons of Liberty convened at an early hour in the +evening, and expresses were sent to the neighboring +towns with the intelligence. Early the +next morning the following placard appeared:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<i>Friends! Brethren! Countrymen!</i>—The perfidious +arts of your restless enemies to render +ineffectual the resolutions of the body of the +people, demand your assembling at the Old South +Meeting House precisely at two o'clock this day, +at which time the bells will ring."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The "Old South" was crowded at the appointed +hour, yet perfect order prevailed. It was resolved +to order Mr. Roch to apply immediately for a +clearance for his ship, and send her to sea. The +owner was in a dilemma, for the governor had +taken measures, since the arrival of the Dartmouth, +to prevent her sailing out of the harbor. +Admiral Montague, who happened to be in Boston, +was directed to fit out two armed vessels, +and station them at the entrance to the harbor, to +act in concert with Colonel Leslie, the commander +of the garrison at the Castle. Leslie had already +received written orders from the governor not to +allow any vessel to pass the guns of the fort, outward, +without a permit, signed by himself. Of +course Mr. Roch could do nothing.</p> + +<p>As no effort had yet been made to land the +tea, the meeting adjourned, to assemble again on +the 16th, at the same place. These several +popular assemblies attracted great attention in +the other colonies; and from New York and +Philadelphia in particular, letters, expressive of +the strongest sympathy and encouragement, were +received by the Committee of Correspondence. +At the appointed hour on the 16th, the "Old +South" was again crowded, and the streets near +were filled with a multitude, eager to participate +in the proceedings. They had flocked in from +the neighboring towns by hundreds. So great +a gathering of people had never before occurred +in Boston. Samuel Phillips Savage, of Weston, +was chosen Moderator, or Chairman, and around +him sat many men who, two years afterward, +were the recognized leaders of the Revolution in +Massachusetts. When the preliminary business +was closed, and the meeting was about to appoint +committees for more vigorous action than had +hitherto been directed, the youthful Josiah Quincy +arose, and with words almost of prophecy, +uttered with impassioned cadence, he harangued +the multitude. "It is not, Mr. Moderator," he +said, "the spirit that vapors within these walls +that must stand us in stead. The exertions of +this day will call forth events which will make a +very different spirit necessary for our salvation. +Whoever supposes that shouts and hosannas will +terminate the trials of this day, entertains a childish +fancy. We must be grossly ignorant of the +importance and the value of the prize for which +we contend: we must be equally ignorant of the +power of those who have combined against us; +we must be blind to that malice, inveteracy, and +insatiable revenge, which actuates our enemies, +public and private, abroad and in our bosoms, to +hope that we shall end this controversy without +the sharpest conflicts—to flatter ourselves +that popular resolves, popular harangues, popular +acclamations, and popular vapor will vanquish +our foes. Let us consider the issue. Let +us look to the end. Let us weigh and consider +before we advance to those measures which must +bring on the most trying and terrible struggle this +country ever saw." This gifted young patriot did +not live to see the struggle he so confidently anticipated; +for, when blood was flowing, in the +first conflicts at Lexington and Concord, eighteen +month's afterward, he was dying with consumption, +on ship-board, almost within sight of his +native land.</p> + +<p>The people, in the "Old South," were greatly +agitated when Quincy closed his harangue. It +was between three and four o'clock in the afternoon. +The question was immediately proposed +to the meeting, "Will you abide by your former +resolutions with respect to not suffering the <span class="smcap">tea</span> +to be landed?" The vast assembly within, as +with one voice, replied affirmatively, and when +the purport was known without, the multitude +there responded in accordance. The meeting +now awaited the return of Mr. Roch, who had +been to the governor to request a permit for his +vessel to leave the harbor. Hutchinson, alarmed +at the stormy aspect of affairs, had taken counsel +of his fears, and withdrawn from the city to his +country-house at Milton, a few miles from Boston. +It was sunset when Roch returned and informed +the meeting that the governor refused to grant a +permit, until a clearance should be exhibited. As +a clearance had already been refused by the collector +of the port, until the cargo should be landed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +it was evident that government officers had concerted +to resist the demands of the people. Like +a sea lashed by a storm, that meeting swayed +with excitement, and eagerly demanded from the +leaders some indication for immediate action. +Night was fast approaching, and as the twilight +deepened, a call was made for candles. At that +moment, a person in the gallery, disguised in the +garb of a Mohawk Indian, gave a war-whoop, +which was answered from without. That signal, +like the notes of a trumpet before the battle-charge, +fired the assemblage, and as another voice +in the gallery shouted, "Boston harbor a tea-pot +to-night! Hurrah for Griffin's wharf!" a motion +to adjourn was carried, and the multitude rushed +to the street. "To Griffin's wharf! to Griffin's +wharf!" again shouted several voices, while a +dozen men, disguised as Indians, were seen +speeding over Fort Hill, in that direction. The +populace followed, and in a few minutes the scene +of excitement was transferred from the "Old +South" to the water side.</p> + +<p>No doubt the vigilant patriots had arranged +this movement, in anticipation of the refusal of +the governor to allow the <i>Dartmouth</i> to depart; +for concert of action marked all the operations at +the wharf. The number of persons disguised +as Indians, was fifteen or twenty, +and these, with others who joined them, +appeared to recognize Lendall Pitts, a mechanic +of Boston, as their leader. Under +his directions, about sixty persons boarded +the three tea-ships, brought the chests upon +deck, broke them open, and cast their contents +into the water. The <i>Dartmouth</i> was +boarded first; the <i>Eleanor</i> and <i>Beaver</i> were +next entered; and within the space of two +hours, the contents of three hundred and +forty-two chests of tea were cast into the +waters of the harbor. During the occurrence +very little excitement was manifested +among the multitude upon the wharf; and +as soon as the work of destruction was +completed, the active party marched in +perfect order back into the town, preceded +by a drum and fife, dispersed to their +homes, and Boston, untarnished by actual +mob or riot, was never more tranquil than +on that bright and frosty December night.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 386px;"> +<img src="images/illo_09.jpg" width="386" height="570" alt="DAVID KINNISON" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>A British squadron was not more than +a quarter of a mile from Griffin's wharf, +where this event occurred, and British +troops were near, yet the whole proceeding +was uninterrupted. The newspapers +of the day doubtless gave the correct interpretation +to this apathy. Something far +more serious had been anticipated, if an attempt +should be made to land the tea; and +the owners of the vessels, as well as the +public authorities, civil and military, doubtless +thanked the <i>rioters</i>, in their secret thoughts, for +thus extricating them from a serious dilemma. +They would doubtless have been worsted in an +attempt forcibly to land the tea; now, the vessels +were saved from destruction; no blood was spilt; +the courage of the civil and military officers remained +unimpeached; the "<i>national honor</i>" was +not compromised, and the Bostonians, having +carried their resolutions into effect, were satisfied. +The East India Company alone, which was the +actual loser, had cause for complaint.</p> + +<p>It may be asked, Who were the men actively +engaged in this high-handed measure? Were +they an ignorant rabble, with no higher motives +than the gratification of a mobocratic spirit? By +no means. While some of them were doubtless +governed, in a measure, by such a motive, the +greater portion were young men and lads who +belonged to the respectable part of the community, +and of the fifty-nine participators whose +names have been preserved, some of them held +honorable stations in after life; some battled +nobly in defense of liberty in the Continental +Army of the Revolution which speedily followed, +and almost all of them, according to traditionary +testimony, were entitled to the respect due to +good citizens. Only one, of all that band, as +far as is known, is yet among the living, and he +has survived almost a half century beyond the +allotted period of human life. When the present +century dawned, he had almost reached the goal +of three score and ten years; and now, at the age +of <i>one hundred and fifteen years</i>, <span class="smcap">David Kinnison</span>, +of Chicago, Illinois, holds the eminent position +of the <i>last survivor of the Boston Tea Party</i>! +When the writer, in 1848, procured the portrait +and autograph of the aged patriot, he was living +among strangers and ignorant of the earthly existence +of one of all his twenty-two children. A<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +daughter survives, and having been made acquainted +of the existence of her father, by the +publication of this portrait in the "Field-Book," +she hastened to him, and is now smoothing the +pillow of the patriarch as he is gradually passing +into the long and peaceful slumber of the grave.</p> + +<p>The life of another actor was spared, until +within ten years, and his portrait, also, is preserved. +<span class="smcap">George Robert Twelves Hewes</span>, +was supposed to be the latest survivor, until +the name of David Kinnison was made public. +Soon not one of all that party will be among +the living.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 339px;"> +<img src="images/illo_10.jpg" width="339" height="364" alt="GEORGE ROBERT TWELVES HEWES." title="" /> +<span class="caption">GEORGE ROBERT TWELVES HEWES.</span> +</div> + +<p>Before closing this article let us advert to the +<i>effect</i> produced by the destruction of the tea in +Boston Harbor, for to effects alone are causes +indebted for importance.</p> + +<p>The events of the 16th of December produced +a deep sensation throughout the British realm. +They struck a sympathetic chord in every colony +which afterward rebeled; and even Canada, Halifax, +and the West Indies, had no serious voice of +censure for the Bostonians. But the ministerial +party here, and the public in England, amazed +at the audacity of the Americans in opposing +royal authority, and in destroying private property, +called loudly for punishment; and even +the friends of the colonists in Parliament were, +for a moment, silent, for they could not fully +excuse the lawless act. Another and a powerful +party was now made a principal in the quarrel; +the East India Company whose property +had been destroyed, was now directly interested +in the question of taxation. That huge monopoly +which had controlled the commerce of the +Indies for more than a century and a half, was +then almost at the zenith of its power. Already +it had laid the foundation, broad and deep, of +that British-Indian Empire which now comprises +the whole of Hindostan, from the Himalaya +Mountains to Cape Comorin, with a population +of more than one hundred and twenty millions, +and its power in the government affairs of Great +Britain, was almost vice-regal. Unawed by the +fleets and armies of the imperial government, and +by the wealth and power of this corporation, the +Bostonians justified their acts by the rules of +justice and the guarantees of the British constitution; +and the next vessel to England, after +the event was known there, carried out an honest +proposition to the East India Company, from +the people of Boston, to pay for the tea destroyed. +The whole matter rested at once upon its original +basis—the right of Great Britain to tax the +colonies—and this fair proposition of the Bostonians +disarmed ministers of half their weapons +of vituperation. The American party in England +saw nothing whereof to be ashamed, and the +presses, opposed to the ministry, teemed with +grave disquisitions, satires, and lampoons, all favorable +to the colonists, while art lent its aid in +the production of several caricatures similar to +the one here given, in which Lord North is represented +as pouring tea down the throat of unwilling +America, who is held fast by Lord Mansfield +(then employed by government in drawing up +the various acts so obnoxious to the colonists), +while Britannia stands by, weeping at the distress +of her daughter. In America, almost every +newspaper of the few printed, was filled with arguments, +epigrams, parables, sonnets, dialogues, +and every form of expression favorable to the +resistance made in Boston to the arbitrary acts +of government; and a voice of approval went +forth from pulpits, courts of law, and the provincial +legislatures.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 335px;"> +<img src="images/illo_11.jpg" width="335" height="266" alt="Pouring tea down the throat of America" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Great was the exasperation of the king and +his ministers when intelligence of the proceedings +in Boston reached them. According to +Burke, the "House of Lords was like a seething +caldron"—the House of Commons was "as hot +as Faneuil Hall or the Old South Meeting House +at Boston." Ministers and their supporters charged +the colonies with open rebellion, while the +opposition denounced, in the strongest language +which common courtesy would allow, the foolish, +unjust, and wicked course of government.</p> + +<p>In cabinet council, the king and his ministers +deliberately considered the matter, and the result +was a determination to use coercive measures +against the colonies. The first of these schemes +was a bill brought forward in March, 1774, which +provided for the closing of the port of Boston,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +and the removal of customs, courts of justice, +and government offices of every kind from Boston +to Salem. This was avowedly a retaliatory +measure; and the famous <i>Boston Port Bill</i>, +which, more than any other act of the British +government, was instrumental in driving the +colonies to rebellion, became a law within a hundred +days after the destruction of the tea. In +the debate upon this bill, the most violent language +was used toward the Americans. Lord +North justified the measure by asserting that +Boston was "the centre of rebellious commotion +in America; the ring-leader in every riot." Mr. +Herbert declared that the Americans deserved no +consideration; that they were "never actuated +by decency or reason, and that they always +chose tarring and feathering as an argument;" +while Mr. Van, another ministerial supporter, +denounced the people of Boston as totally unworthy of +civilized forbearance—declared that "they +ought to have their town knocked about their +ears, and destroyed;" and concluded his tirade +of abuse by quoting the factious cry of the old +Roman orators, "Delenda est Carthago!"—Carthage +must be destroyed.</p> + +<p>Edmund Burke, who now commenced his +series of splendid orations in favor of America, +denounced the whole scheme as essentially wicked +and unjust, because it punished the innocent +with the guilty. "You will thus irrevocably +alienate the hearts of the colonies from the mother +country," he exclaimed. "The bill is unjust, +since it bears only upon the city of Boston, while +it is notorious that all America is in flames; that +the cities of Philadelphia, of New York, and all +the maritime towns of the continent, have exhibited +the same disobedience. You are contending +for a matter which the Bostonians will +not give up quietly. They can not, by such +means, be made to bow to the authority of ministers; +on the contrary, you will find their obstinacy +confirmed and their fury exasperated. +The acts of resistance in their city have not been +confined to the populace alone, but men of the +first rank and opulent fortune in the place have +openly countenanced them. One city in proscription +and the rest in rebellion, can never be +a remedial measure for disturbances. Have you +considered whether you have troops and ships +sufficient to reduce the people of the whole +American continent to your devotion?" From +denunciation he passed to appeal, and besought +ministers to pause ere they should strike a blow +that would forever separate the colonies from +Great Britain. But the pleadings of Burke and +others, were in vain, and "deaf to the voice of justice +and of consanguinity," this, and other rigorous +measures, were put in operation by ministers.</p> + +<p>The industry and enterprise of Boston was +crushed when, on the first of June, the <i>Port Bill</i> +went into operation; but her voice of wail, as it +went over the land, awakened the noblest expressions +and acts of sympathy, and the blow +inflicted upon her was resented by all the colonies. +They all felt that forbearance was no +longer a virtue. Ten years they had pleaded, +petitioned, remonstrated; they were uniformly +answered by insult. There seemed no other alternative +but abject submission, or open, armed +resistance. They chose the latter, and thirteen +months after the Boston <i>Port Bill</i> became a law, +the battle at Lexington and Concord had been +fought, and Boston was beleaguered by an army +of patriots. The Battle of Bunker Hill soon +followed; a continental army was organized with +Washington at its head, and the war of the +Revolution began. Eight long years it continued, +when the oppressors, exhausted, gave up the +contest. Peace came, and with it, <span class="smcap">Independence</span>; +and the Republic of the United States +took its place among the nations of the earth.</p> + +<p>How conspicuous the feeble Chinese plant +should appear among these important events let +the voice of history determine.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE AMERICAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION.</h2> + + +<p>The safe return of the Expedition sent out +by Mr. Henry Grinnell, an opulent merchant +of New York city, in search of Sir John Franklin +and his companions, is an event of much +interest; and the voyage, though not resulting +in the discovery of the long-absent mariners, +presents many considerations satisfactory to the +parties immediately concerned, and to the American +public in general.</p> + +<p>In the second volume of the Magazine, on +pages 588 to 597 inclusive, we printed some interesting +extracts from the journal of Mr. W. +<span class="smcap">Parker Snow</span>, of the <i>Prince Albert</i>, a vessel which +sailed from Aberdeen with a crew of Scotchmen, +upon the same errand of mercy. That account +is illustrated by engravings; and in his narrative, +Mr. Snow makes favorable mention of Mr. Grinnell's +enterprise, and the character of the officers, +crew, and vessels. We now present a more detailed +account of the American Expedition, its +adventures and results, together with several +graphic illustrations, engraved from drawings +made in the polar seas during the voyage, by +Mr. <span class="smcap">Charles Berry</span>, a seaman of the <i>Advance</i>, +the largest of the two vessels. These drawings, +though made with a pencil in hands covered +with thick mittens, while the thermometer indicated +from 20° to 40° below zero, exhibit much +artistic skill in correctness of outline and beauty +of finish. Mr. Berry is a native of Hamburg, +Germany, and was properly educated for the +duties of the counting-room and the accomplishments +of social life. Attracted by the romance of</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The sea, the sea, the deep blue sea,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>he abandoned home for the perilous and exciting +life of a sailor. Although only thirty years of +age, he has been fifteen years upon the ocean. +Five years he was in the English service, much +of the time in the waters near the Arctic Circle; +the remainder has been spent in the service of +the United States. He was with the <i>Germantown</i> +in the Gulf, during the war with Mexico, +and accompanied her marines at the siege of +Vera Cruz. He was in the <i>North Carolina</i> when +Lieutenant De Haven went on board seeking +volunteers for the Arctic Expedition. He offered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +his services; they were accepted, and a more +skillful and faithful seaman never went aloft. +And it is pleasant to hear with what enthusiasm +he speaks of Commander De Haven, as a skillful +navigator and kind-hearted man. "He was as +kind to me as a brother," he said, "and I would +go with him to the ends of the earth, if he wanted +me." Although he speaks English somewhat +imperfectly, yet we have listened with great pleasure +to his intelligent narrative of the perils, occupations, +sports, and duties of the voyage. Since +his return he has met an uncle, the commander +of a merchant vessel, and, for the first time in +fifteen years, he received intelligence from his +family. "My mother is dead," said he to us, +while the tears gushed involuntarily from his +eyes; "I have no one to go home to now—I +shall stay here."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 667px;"> +<img src="images/illo_12_small.jpg" width="667" height="304" alt="MAP SHOWING THE ROUTE OF THE EXPEDITION." title="" /> +<span class="caption">MAP SHOWING THE ROUTE OF THE EXPEDITION.<br /> +(The solid black line shows the outward course of the vessels; the dotted line denotes the drift of the vessels, +their baffled attempt to reach Lancaster Sound a second time, and their return home.)<br /> +[<a href="images/illo_12.jpg">Click for larger map</a>]</span> +</div> + +<p>We shall not attempt to give a detailed narrative +of the events of the Expedition; we shall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +relate only some of the most noteworthy circumstances, +especially those which the pencil of the +sailor-artist has illustrated. By reference to the +small map on the preceding page, the relative +position of the places named; the track of the +vessels in their outward voyage; their ice-drift of +more than a thousand miles, and their abortive +attempt to penetrate the ice of Baffin's Bay a +second time, will be more clearly understood.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 675px;"> +<img src="images/illo_13.jpg" width="675" height="591" alt="ADVANCE AND RESCUE BEATING TO WINDWARD OF AN ICEBERG THREE MILES IN CIRCUMFERENCE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">ADVANCE AND RESCUE BEATING TO WINDWARD OF AN ICEBERG THREE MILES IN CIRCUMFERENCE.</span> +</div> + +<p>Mr. Grinnell's Expedition consisted of only +two small brigs, the <i>Advance</i> of 140 tons; the +<i>Rescue</i> of only 90 tons. The former had been +engaged in the Havana trade; the latter was a +new vessel, built for the merchant service. Both +were strengthened for the Arctic voyage at a +heavy cost. They were then placed under the +directions of our Navy board, and subject to naval +regulations as if in permanent service. The +command was given to Lieutenant E. De Haven, +a young naval officer who accompanied the United +States Exploring Expedition. The result has +proved that a better choice could not have been +made. His officers consisted of Mr. Murdoch, +sailing-master; Dr. E. K. Kane, Surgeon and +Naturalist; and Mr. Lovell, midshipman. The +<i>Advance</i> had a crew of twelve men when she +sailed; two of them complaining of sickness, +and expressing a desire to return home, were +left at the Danish settlement at Disko Island, +on the coast of Greenland.</p> + +<p>The Expedition left New York on the 23d +of May, 1850, and was absent a little more than +sixteen months. They passed the eastern extremity +of Newfoundland ten days after leaving +Sandy Hook, and then sailed east-northeast, +directly for Cape Comfort, on the coast of Greenland. +The weather was generally fine, and only +a single accident occurred on the voyage to that +country of frost and snow. Off the coast of +Labrador, they met an iceberg making its way +toward the tropics. The night was very dark, +and as the huge voyager had no "light out" the +<i>Advance</i> could not be censured for running foul. +She was punished, however, by the loss of her +jib-boom, as she ran against the iceberg at the +rate of seven or eight knots an hour.</p> + +<p>The voyagers did not land at Cape Comfort, +but turning northward, sailed along the southwest +coast of Greenland, sometimes in an open +sea, and sometimes in the midst of broad acres +of broken ice (particularly in Davis's Straits), as +far as Whale Island. On the way the anniversary +of our national independence occurred; +it was observed by the seamen by "splicing the +main-brace"—in other words, they were allowed +an extra glass of grog on that day.</p> + +<p>From Whale Island, a boat, with two officers +and four seamen, was sent to Disko Island, a distance +of about 26 miles, to a Danish settlement +there, to procure skin clothing and other articles +necessary for use during the rigors of a Polar +winter. The officers were entertained at the +government house; the seamen were comfortably +lodged with the Esquimaux, sleeping in fur bags<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +at night. They returned to the ship the following +day, and the Expedition proceeded on its voyage. +When passing the little Danish settlement +of Upernavick, they were boarded by natives for +the first time. They were out in government +whale-boats, hunting for ducks and seals. These +hardy children of the Arctic Circle were not shy, +for through the Danes, the English whalers, and +government expeditions, they had become acquainted +with men of other latitudes.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 699px;"> +<img src="images/illo_14.jpg" width="699" height="561" alt="PERILOUS SITUATION OF THE ADVANCE AND RESCUE IN MELVILLE BAY." title="" /> +<span class="caption">PERILOUS SITUATION OF THE ADVANCE AND RESCUE IN MELVILLE BAY.</span> +</div> + +<p>When the Expedition reached Melville Bay, +which, on account of its fearful character, is also +called the <i>Devil's Nip</i>, the voyagers began to +witness more of the grandeur and perils of Arctic +scenes. Icebergs of all dimensions came bearing +down from the Polar seas like vast squadrons, +and the roar of their rending came over the waters +like the booming of the heavy broadsides of +contending navies. They also encountered immense +<i>floes</i>, with only narrow channels between, +and at times their situation was exceedingly perilous. +On one occasion, after heaving through +fields of ice for five consecutive weeks, two immense +<i>floes</i>, between which they were making +their way, gradually approached each other, and +for several hours they expected their tiny vessels—tiny +when compared with the mighty objects +around them—would be crushed. An immense +<i>calf</i> of ice six or eight feet thick slid under +the <i>Rescue</i>, lifting her almost "high and dry," +and careening her partially upon her beam's end. +By means of ice-anchors (large iron hooks), +they kept her from capsizing. In this position +they remained about sixty hours, when, with +saws and axes, they succeeded in relieving her. +The ice now opened a little, and they finally +warped through into clear water. While they +were thus confined, polar bears came around +them in abundance, greedy for prey, and the +seamen indulged a little in the perilous sports of +the chase.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 678px;"> +<img src="images/illo_15.jpg" width="678" height="602" alt="THE ADVANCE, RESCUE, AND PRINCE ALBERT NEAR THE DEVIL'S THUMB." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE ADVANCE, RESCUE, AND PRINCE ALBERT NEAR THE DEVIL'S THUMB.</span> +</div> + +<p>The open sea continued but a short time, when +they again became entangled among <i>bergs</i>, <i>floes</i>, and +<i>hummocks</i>, and encountered the most fearful +perils. Sometimes they anchored their vessels +to icebergs, and sometimes to <i>floes</i> or masses +of <i>hummock</i>. On one of these occasions, while +the cook, an active Frenchman, was upon a <i>berg</i>, +making a place for an anchor, the mass of ice +split beneath him, and he was dropped through +the yawning fissure into the water, a distance of +almost thirty feet. Fortunately the masses, as is +often the case, did not close up again, but floated +apart, and the poor cook was hauled on board +more dead than alive, from excessive fright. It +was in this fearful region that they first encountered +<i>pack-ice</i>, and there they were locked +in from the 7th to the 23d of July. During that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +time they were joined by the yacht <i>Prince Albert</i>, +commanded by Captain Forsyth, of the Royal +Navy, and together the three vessels were anchored, +for a while, to an immense field of ice, +in sight of the <i>Devil's Thumb</i>. That high, rocky +peak, situated in latitude 74° 22' was about thirty +miles distant, and with the dark hills adjacent, +presented a strange aspect where all was white +and glittering. The peak and the hills are masses +of rock, with occasionally a lichen or a moss +growing upon their otherwise naked surfaces. +In the midst of the vast ice-field loomed up many +lofty <i>bergs</i>, all of them in motion—slow and +majestic motion.</p> + +<p>From the <i>Devil's Thumb</i> the American vessels +passed onward through the <i>pack</i> toward Sabine's +Islands, while the <i>Prince Albert</i> essayed to make +a more westerly course. They reached Cape +York at the beginning of August. Far across +the ice, landward, they discovered, through their +glasses, several men, apparently making signals; +and for a while they rejoiced in the belief that +they saw a portion of Sir John Franklin's companions. +Four men (among whom was our +sailor-artist) were dispatched with a whale-boat +to reconnoitre. They soon discovered the men +to be Esquimaux, who, by signs, professed great +friendship, and endeavored to get the voyagers +to accompany them to their homes beyond the +hills. They declined: and as soon as they returned +to the vessel, the expedition again pushed +forward, and made its way to Cape Dudley +Digges, which they reached on the 7th of August.</p> + +<p>At Cape Dudley Digges they were charmed by +the sight of the <i>Crimson Cliffs</i>, spoken of by Captain +Parry and other Arctic navigators. These +are lofty cliffs of dark brown stone, covered with +snow of a rich crimson color. It was a magnificent +sight in that cold region, to see such an +apparently warm object standing out in bold relief +against the dark blue back-ground of a polar +sky. This was the most northern point to which +the expedition penetrated. The whole coast +which they had passed from Disko to this cape +is high, rugged, and barren, only some of the low +points, stretching into the sea, bearing a species +of dwarf fir. Northeast from the cape rise the +Arctic Highlands, to an unknown altitude; and +stretching away northward is the unexplored +Smith's Sound, filled with impenetrable ice.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 698px;"> +<img src="images/illo_16.jpg" width="698" height="604" alt="THE ADVANCE LEADING THE PRINCE ALBERT, NEAR LEOPOLD ISLAND." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE ADVANCE LEADING THE PRINCE ALBERT, NEAR LEOPOLD ISLAND.</span> +</div> + +<p>From Cape Dudley Digges, the <i>Advance</i> and +<i>Rescue</i>, beating against wind and tide in the +midst of the ice-fields, made Wolstenholme +Sound, and then changing their course to the +southwest, emerged from the fields into the open +waters of Lancaster Sound. Here, on the 18th +of August, they encountered a tremendous gale, +which lasted about twenty-four hours. The two +vessels parted company during the storm, and +remained separate several days. Across Lancaster<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +Sound, the <i>Advance</i> made her way to Barrow's +Straits, and on the 22d discovered the +<i>Prince Albert</i> on the southern shore of the straits, +near Leopold Island, a mass of lofty, precipitous +rocks, dark and barren, and hooded and draped +with snow. The weather was fine, and soon +the officers and crews of the two vessels met in +friendly greeting. Those of the <i>Prince Albert</i> +were much astonished, for they (being towed by +a steamer) left the Americans in Melville Bay on +the 6th, pressing northward through the <i>pack</i>, and +could not conceive how they so soon and safely +penetrated it. Captain Forsyth had attempted +to reach a particular point, where he intended to +remain through the winter, but finding the passage +thereto completely blocked up with ice, he +had resolved, on the very day when the Americans +appeared, to "'bout ship," and return home. +This fact, and the disappointment felt by Mr. +Snow, are mentioned in our former article.</p> + +<p>The two vessels remained together a day or +two, when they parted company, the <i>Prince Albert</i> +to return home, and the <i>Advance</i> to make +further explorations. It was off Leopold Island, +on the 23d of August, that the "mad Yankee" +took the lead through the vast masses of floating +ice, so vividly described by Mr. Snow, and so +graphically portrayed by the sailor-artist. "The +way was before them," says Mr. Snow, who stood +upon the deck of the <i>Advance</i>; "the stream of +ice had to be either gone through boldly, or a +long <i>detour</i> made; and, despite the heaviness of +the stream, <i>they pushed the vessel through in her +proper course</i>. Two or three shocks, as she came +in contact with some large pieces, were unheeded; +and the moment the last block was past +the bow, the officer sung out,'So: steady as she +goes on her course;' and came aft as if nothing +more than ordinary sailing had been going on. +I observed our own little bark nobly following +in the American's wake; and as I afterward +learned, she got through it pretty well, though +not without much doubt of the propriety of keeping +on in such procedure after the 'mad Yankee,' +as he was called by our mate."</p> + +<p>From Leopold Island the <i>Advance</i> proceeded +to the northwest, and on the 25th reached Cape +Riley, another amorphous mass, not so regular +and precipitate as Leopold Island, but more lofty. +Here a strong tide, setting in to the shore, drifted +the <i>Advance</i> toward the beach, where she stranded. +Around her were small bergs and large masses +of floating ice, all under the influence of the strong +current. It was about two o'clock in the afternoon +when she struck. By diligent labor in removing +every thing from her deck to a small <i>floe</i>, +she was so lightened, that at four o'clock the next +morning she floated, and soon every thing was +properly replaced.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 657px;"> +<img src="images/illo_17.jpg" width="657" height="497" alt="THE ADVANCE STRANDED AT CAPE RILEY." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE ADVANCE STRANDED AT CAPE RILEY.</span> +</div> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 326px;"> +<img src="images/illo_18.jpg" width="326" height="599" alt="ANVIL BLOCK. GUIDE BOARD." title="" /> +<span class="caption">ANVIL BLOCK. GUIDE BOARD.</span> +</div> + +<p>Near Cape Riley the Americans fell in with +a portion of an English Expedition, and there +also the <i>Rescue</i>, left behind in the gale in Lancaster +Sound, overtook the <i>Advance</i>. There +was Captain Penny with the <i>Sophia</i> and <i>Lady +Franklin</i>; the veteran Sir John Ross, with the +<i>Felix</i>, and Commodore Austin, with the <i>Resolute</i> +steamer. Together the navigators of both nations +explored the coast at and near Cape Riley, +and on the 27th they saw in a cove on the shore +of Beechy Island, or Beechy Cape, on the east +side of the entrance to Wellington Channel, +unmistakable evidence that Sir John Franklin +and his companions were there in April, 1846. +There they found many articles known to belong<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +to the British Navy, and some that were +the property of the <i>Erebus</i> and <i>Terror</i>, the ships +under the command of Sir John. There lay, +bleached to the whiteness of the surrounding +snow, a piece of <i>canvas</i>, with the name of the <i>Terror</i>, +marked upon it with indestructible charcoal. +It was very faint, yet perfectly legible. Near it +was a <i>guide board</i>, +lying flat upon its +face, having been +prostrated by the +wind. It had evidently +been used to +direct exploring parties +to the vessels, +or, rather, to the encampment +on shore. +The board was pine, +thirteen inches in +length and six and a +half in breadth, and +nailed to a boarding +pike eight feet in +length. It is supposed +that the sudden +opening of the +ice, caused Sir John to depart hastily, and that in +so doing, this pike and its board were left behind. +They also found a large number of <i>tin canisters</i>, +such as are used for packing meats for a sea +voyage; an <i>anvil block</i>; remnants of clothing, +which evinced, by numerous patches and their +threadbare character, that they had been worn as +long as the owners could keep them on; the remains +of an <i>India rubber glove</i>, lined with wool; +some old <i>sacks</i>; a <i>cask</i>, or tub, partly filled with +charcoal, and an unfinished <i>rope-mat</i>, which, like +other fibrous fabrics, was bleached white.</p> + +<p>But the most interesting, and at the same time +most melancholy traces of the navigators, were +<i>three graves</i>, in a little sheltered cove, each with +a board at the head, bearing the name of the +sleeper below. These inscriptions testify positively +when Sir John and his companions were +there. The board at the head of the grave on +the left has the following inscription:</p> + +<p>"Sacred to the memory of <span class="smcap">John Torrington</span>, +who departed this life, January 1st, <span class="smcap">a. d.</span>, 1846, on +board her Majesty's ship <i>Terror</i>, aged 20 years."</p> + +<p>On the centre one—"Sacred to the memory +of <span class="smcap">John Hartnell</span>, A. B., of her Majesty's ship +<i>Erebus</i>; died, January 4th, 1846, aged 25 years. +'Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Consider your +ways:' Haggai, chap. i. v. 7."</p> + +<p>On the right—"Sacred to the memory of W. +<span class="smcap">Braine</span>, R. M., of her Majesty's ship <i>Erebus</i>, who +died April 3d, 1846, aged 32 years. 'Choose you +this day whom you will serve:' Joshua, chap. +xxiv., part of the 15th verse."</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 324px;"> +<img src="images/illo_19.jpg" width="324" height="232" alt="THREE GRAVES AT BEECHY." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THREE GRAVES AT BEECHY.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></span> +</div> + +<p>How much later than April 3d (the date upon +the last-named head-board), Sir John remained at +Beechy, can not be determined. They saw evidences +of his having gone northward, for sledge +tracks in that direction were very visible. It is +the opinion of Dr. Kane that, on the breaking up +of the ice, in the spring, Sir John passed northward +with his ships through Wellington Channel, +into the great Polar basin, and that he did not +return. This, too, is the opinion of Captain +Penny, and he zealously urges the British government +to send a powerful screw steamer to pass +through that channel, and explore the <i>theoretically</i> +more hospitable coasts beyond. This will +doubtless be undertaken another season, it being +the opinions of Captains Parry, Beechy, Sir John +Ross, and others, expressed at a conference with +the Board of Admiralty, in September, that the +season was too far advanced to attempt it the +present year. Dr. Kane, in a letter to Mr. Grinnell, +since the return of the expedition, thus expresses +his opinion concerning the safety of Sir +John and his companions. After saying, "I should +think that he is now to be sought for north and west +of Cornwallis Island," he adds, "as to the chance +of the destruction of his party by the casualties of +ice, the return of our own party after something +more than the usual share of them, is the only +<i>fact</i> that I can add to what we knew when we +set out. The hazards from cold and privation of +food may be almost looked upon as subordinate. +The snow-hut, the fire and light from the moss-lamp +fed with blubber, the seal, the narwhal, the +white whale, and occasionally abundant stores of +migratory birds, would sustain vigorous life. The +scurvy, the worst visitation of explorers deprived +of permanent quarters, is more rare in the depths +of a Polar winter, than in the milder weather of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +the moist summer; and our two little vessels encountered +both seasons without losing a man."</p> + +<p>Leaving Beechy Cape, our expedition forced its +way through the ice to Barlow's Inlet, where they +narrowly escaped being frozen in for the winter. +They endeavored to enter the Inlet, for the purpose +of making it their winter quarters, but were +prevented by the mass of <i>pack-ice</i> at its entrance. +It was on the 4th of September, 1850, when they +arrived there, and after remaining seven or eight +days, they abandoned the attempt to enter. On +the right and left of the above picture, are seen +the dark rocks at the entrance of the Inlet, and +in the centre the frozen waters and the range of +hills beyond. There was much smooth ice within +the Inlet, and while the vessels lay anchored +to the "field," officers and crew exercised and +amused themselves by skating. On the left of +the Inlet, (indicated by the dark conical object,) +they discovered a <i>Cairn</i> (a heap of stones with +a cavity) eight or ten feet in height, which was +erected by Captain Ommanny of the English Expedition +then in the Polar waters. Within it he +had placed two letters, for "whom it might concern." +Commander De Haven also deposited a +letter there. It is believed to be the only post-office +in the world, free for the use of all nations. +The rocks, here, presented vast fissures made by +the frost; and at the foot of the cliff on the right, +that powerful agent had cast down vast heaps of +<i>debris</i>.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 646px;"> +<img src="images/illo_20.jpg" width="646" height="526" alt="THE ADVANCE AND RESCUE AT BARLOW'S INLET." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE ADVANCE AND RESCUE AT BARLOW'S INLET.</span> +</div> + +<p>From Barlow's Inlet, our Expedition moved +slowly westward, battling with the ice every +rood of the way, until they reached Griffin's +Island, at about 96° west longitude from Greenwich. +This was attained on the 11th, and was +the extreme westing made by the expedition. +All beyond seemed impenetrable ice; and, despairing +of making any further discoveries before +the winter should set in, they resolved to return +home. Turning eastward, they hoped to reach +Davis's Straits by the southern route, before +the cold and darkness came on, but they were +doomed to disappointment. Near the entrance +to Wellington Channel they became completely +locked in by <i>hummock-ice</i>, and soon found themselves +drifting with an irresistible tide up that +channel toward the pole.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 658px;"> +<img src="images/illo_22.jpg" width="658" height="455" alt="ADVANCE AND RESCUE DRIFTING IN WELLINGTON SOUND." title="" /> +<span class="caption">ADVANCE AND RESCUE DRIFTING IN WELLINGTON SOUND.</span> +</div> + +<p>Now began the most perilous adventures of +the navigators. The summer day was drawing +to a close; the diurnal visits of the pale sun +were rapidly shortening, and soon the long polar +night, with all its darkness and horrors, would +fall upon them. Slowly they drifted in those +vast fields of ice, whither, or to what result, they +knew not. Locked in the moving yet compact +mass; liable every moment to be crushed; far +away from land; the mercury sinking daily +lower and lower from the zero figure, toward the +point where that metal freezes, they felt small +hope of ever reaching home again. Yet they +prepared for winter comforts and winter sports, +as cheerfully as if lying safe in Barlow's Inlet. +As the winter advanced, the crews of both vessels +went on board the larger one. They unshipped +the rudders of each to prevent their being injured +by the ice, covered the deck of the <i>Advance</i> with +felt, prepared their stores, and made arrangements<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +for enduring the long winter, now upon them. +Physical and mental activity being necessary +for the preservation of health, they daily exercised +in the open air for several hours. They +built ice huts, hunted the huge white bears and +the little polar foxes, and when the darkness of +the winter night had spread over them, they +arranged in-door amusements and employments.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 309px;"> +<img src="images/illo_21.jpg" width="309" height="214" alt="SITUATION OF THE ADVANCE IN BARROW'S STRAITS" title="" /> +<span class="caption">SITUATION OF THE ADVANCE IN BARROW'S STRAITS</span> +</div> + +<p>Before the end of October, the sun made its +appearance for the last time, and the awful polar +night closed in. Early in November they wholly +abandoned the <i>Rescue</i>, and both crews made +the <i>Advance</i> their permanent winter home. The +cold soon became intense; the mercury congealed, +and the spirit thermometer indicated 46° +below zero! Its average range was 30° to 35°. +They had drifted helplessly up Wellington Channel +as high as the point 4. on the map, almost to +the latitude from whence Captain Penny saw an +open sea, and which all believe to be the great +polar basin, where there is a more genial clime +than that which intervenes between the Arctic +Circle and the 75th degree. Here, when almost +in sight of the open ocean, that mighty polar +tide, with its vast masses of ice, suddenly ebbed, +and our little vessels were carried back as resistlessly +as before, through Barrow's Straits into +Lancaster Sound! All this while the immense +fields of <i>hummock-ice</i> were moving, and the +vessels were in hourly danger of being crushed +and destroyed. At length, while drifting through +Barrow's Straits, the congealed mass, as if crushed +together by the opposite shores, became more +compact, and the <i>Advance</i> was elevated almost +seven feet by the stern, and keeled two feet eight +inches, starboard, as seen in the engraving. In +this position she remained, with very little alteration, +for five consecutive months; for, soon +after entering Baffin's Bay in the midst of the +winter, the ice became frozen in one immense +tract, covering millions of acres. Thus frozen +in, sometimes more than a hundred miles from +land, they drifted slowly along the southwest +coast of Baffin's Bay, a distance of more than a +thousand miles from Wellington Channel. For +eleven weeks that dreary night continued, and +during that time the disc of the sun was never +seen above the horizon. Yet nature was not +wholly forbidding in aspect. Sometimes the +Aurora Borealis would flash up still further +northward; and sometimes Aurora Parhelia—mock +suns and mock moons—would appear in +varied beauty in the starry sky. Brilliant, too, +were the northern constellations; and when the +real moon was at its full, it made its stately +circuit in the heavens without descending below +the horizon, and lighted up the vast piles of ice +with a pale lustre, almost as great as the morning +twilights of more genial skies.</p> + +<p>Around the vessels the crews built a wall of +ice; and in ice huts they stowed away their +cordage and stores to make room for exercise on +the decks. They organized a theatrical company,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +and amused themselves and the officers +with comedy well performed. Behind the pieces +of <i>hummock</i> each actor learned his part, and by +means of calico they transformed themselves into +female characters, as occasion required. These +dramas were acted upon the deck of the <i>Advance</i>, +sometimes while the thermometer indicated 30° +below zero, and actors and audience highly enjoyed +the fun. They also went out in parties +during that long night, fully armed, to hunt the +polar bear, the grim monarch of the frozen North, +on which occasions they often encountered perilous +adventures. They played at foot-ball, and +exercised themselves in drawing sledges, heavily<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +laden with provisions. Five hours of each twenty-four, +they thus exercised in the open air, and +once a week each man washed his whole body in +cold snow water. Serious sickness was consequently +avoided, and the scurvy which attacked +them soon yielded to remedies.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 679px;"> +<img src="images/illo_23.jpg" width="679" height="438" alt="ADVANCE AND RESCUE DURING THE WINTER OF 1850-51." title="" /> +<span class="caption">ADVANCE AND RESCUE DURING THE WINTER OF 1850-51.</span> +</div> + +<p>Often during that fearful night, they expected +the disaster of having their vessels crushed. All +through November and December, before the ice +became fast, they slept in their clothes, with +knapsacks on their backs, and sledges upon the +ice, laden with stores, not knowing at what +moment the vessels might be demolished, and +themselves forced to leave them and make their +way toward land. On the 8th of December, and +the 23d of January, they actually lowered their +boats and stood upon the ice, for the crushing +masses were making the timbers of the gallant +vessel creak and its decks to rise in the centre. +They were then ninety miles from land, and +hope hardly whispered an encouraging idea of +life being sustained. On the latter occasion, +when officers and crew stood upon the ice, with +the ropes of their provision sledges in their +hands, a terrible snow-drift came from the northeast, +and intense darkness shrouded them. Had +the vessel then been crushed, all must have +perished. But God, who ruled the storm, also +put forth his protecting arm and saved them.</p> + +<p>Early in February the northern horizon began +to be streaked with gorgeous twilight, the herald +of the approaching king of day; and on the 18th +the disc of the sun first appeared above the horizon. +As its golden rim rose above the glittering +snow-drifts and piles of ice, three hearty cheers +went up from those hardy mariners, and they +welcomed their deliverer from the chains of frost +as cordially as those of old who chanted,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"See! the conquering hero comes!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sound the trumpet, beat the drums."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 326px;"> +<img src="images/illo_26.jpg" width="326" height="271" alt="STERN OF THE RESCUE IN THE ICE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">STERN OF THE RESCUE IN THE ICE.</span></div> + +<p>Day after day it rose higher and higher, and +while the pallid faces of the voyagers, bleached +during that long night, darkened by its beams, the +vast masses of ice began to yield to its fervid +influences. The scurvy disappeared, and from +that time, until their arrival home, not a man +suffered from sickness. As they slowly drifted +through Davis's Straits, and the ice gave indications +of breaking up, the voyagers made preparations +for sailing. The <i>Rescue</i> was re-occupied, +(May 13th 1851), and her stern-post, which had +been broken by the ice in Barrow's Straits, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +repaired. To accomplish this, they were obliged +to dig away the ice which was from 12 to 14 feet +thick around her, as represented in the engraving. +They re-shipped their rudders; removed the felt +covering; placed their stores on deck, and then +patiently awaited the disruption of the ice. This +event was very sudden and appalling. It began +to give way on the 5th of June, and in the space +of twenty minutes the whole mass, as far as the +eye could reach became one vast field of moving +<i>floes</i>. On the 10th of June they emerged into +open water (7, on the map) a little south of the +Arctic Circle, in latitude 65° 30'. They immediately +repaired to Godhaven, on the coast of +Greenland, where they re-fitted, and, unappalled +by the perils through which they had just +passed, they once more turned their prows northward +to encounter anew the ice squadrons of +Baffin's Bay. Again they traversed the coast of +Greenland to about the 73d degree, when they +bore to the westward, and on the 7th and 8th of +July passed the English whaling fleet near the +Dutch Islands. Onward they pressed through +the accumulating ice to Baffin's Island, where, +on the 11th, they were joined by the <i>Prince Albert</i>, +then out upon another cruise. They continued +in company until the 3d of August, when +the <i>Albert</i> departed for the westward, determined +to try the more southern passage. Here again +(8,) our expedition encountered vast fields of <i>hummock-ice</i>, +and were subjected to the most imminent +perils. The floating ice, as if moved by +adverse currents, tumbled in huge masses, and +reared upon the sides of the sturdy little vessels +like monsters of the deep intent upon destruction. +These masses broke in the bulwarks, and sometimes +fell over upon the decks with terrible force, +like rocks rolled over a plain by mountain torrents. +The noise was fearful; so deafening that +the mariners could scarcely hear each other's +voices. The sounds of these rolling masses, together +with the rending of the icebergs floating +near, and the vast <i>floes</i>, produced a din like the +discharge of a thousand pieces of ordnance upon +a field of battle.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 662px;"> +<img src="images/illo_24.jpg" width="662" height="524" alt="THE ADVANCE IN DAVIS'S STRAITS, JUNE 5, 1851." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE ADVANCE IN DAVIS'S STRAITS, JUNE 5, 1851.</span> +</div> + +<p>Finding the north and west closed against further +progress, by impenetrable ice, the brave De +Haven was balked, and turning his vessels homeward, +they came out into an open sea, somewhat +crippled, but not a plank seriously started. During +a storm off the banks of Newfoundland, a +thousand miles from New York, the vessels parted +company. The <i>Advance</i> arrived safely at the +Navy Yard at Brooklyn on the 30th of September, +and the <i>Rescue</i> joined her there a few days afterward. +Toward the close of October the government +resigned the vessels into the hands of Mr. +Grinnell, to be used in other service, but with +the stipulation that they are to be subject to the +order of the Secretary of the Navy in the spring, +if required for another expedition in search of +Sir John Franklin.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 664px;"> +<img src="images/illo_25.jpg" width="664" height="517" alt="THE ADVANCE AMONG HUMMOCKS" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE ADVANCE AMONG HUMMOCKS</span> +</div> + +<p>We have thus given a very brief account of +the principal events of interest connected with +the American Arctic Expedition; the officers of +which will doubtless publish a more detailed narrative. +Aside from the success which attended +our little vessels in encountering the perils of the +polar seas, there are associations which must +forever hallow the effort as one of the noblest +exhibitions of the true glory of nations. The +navies of America and England have before met +upon the ocean, but they met for deadly strife. +Now, too, they met for strife, equally determined, +but not with each other. They met in the holy +cause of benevolence and human sympathy, to +battle with the elements beneath the Arctic Circle; +and the chivalric heroism which the few +stout hearts of the two nations displayed in that +terrible conflict, redounds a thousand-fold more +to the glory of the actors, their governments, and +the race, than if four-score ships, with ten thousand +armed men had fought for the mastery of +each other upon the broad ocean, and battered +hulks and marred corpses had gone down to the +coral caves of the sea, a dreadful offering to the +demon of Discord. In the latter event, troops of +widows and orphan children would have sent up +a cry of wail; now, the heroes <i>advanced</i> manfully +to <i>rescue</i> husbands and fathers to restore them to +their wives and children. How glorious the +thought! and how suggestive of the beauty of that +fast approaching day, when the nations shall sit +down in peace as united children of one household.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></h2> + +<h3>BY JOHN S. C. ABBOTT.</h3> + +<h4>CONCLUSION OF THE FIRST ITALIAN CAMPAIGN.</h4> + + +<p>Mantua had now fallen. The Austrians +were driven from Italy. The Pope, with +the humility of a child, had implored the clemency +of the conqueror. Still Austria refused to +make peace with republican France, and with +indomitable perseverance gathered her resources +for another conflict. Napoleon resolved to march +directly upon Vienna. His object was peace, +not conquest. In no other possible way could +peace be attained. It was a bold enterprise. +Leaving the whole breadth of Italy between his +armies and France, he prepared to cross the rugged +summits of the Carnic Alps, and to plunge, +with an army of but fifty thousand men, into the +very heart of one of the most proud and powerful +empires upon the globe, numbering twenty +millions of inhabitants. Napoleon wished to +make an ally of Venice. To her government +he said, "Your whole territory is imbued with +revolutionary principles. One single word from +me will excite a blaze of insurrection through +all your provinces. Ally yourself with France, +make a few modifications in your government +such as are indispensable for the welfare of the +people, and we will pacify public opinion and +will sustain your authority." Advice more prudent +and humane could not have been given. +The haughty aristocracy of Venice refused the +alliance, raised an army of sixty thousand men, +ready at any moment to fall upon Napoleon's +rear, and demanded neutrality. "Be neutral,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> +then," said Napoleon, "but remember, if you +violate your neutrality, if you harass my troops, +if you cut off my supplies, I will take ample +vengeance. I march upon Vienna. Conduct +which could be forgiven were I in Italy, will be +unpardonable when I am in Austria. The hour +that witnesses the treachery of Venice, shall +terminate her independence."</p> + +<p>Mantua was the birth-place of Virgil. During +centuries of wealth and luxurious ease neither +Italy nor Austria had found time to rear any +monument in honor of the illustrious Mantuan +bard. But hardly had the cannon of Napoleon +ceased to resound around the beleaguered city, +and the smoke of the conflict had hardly passed +away, ere the young conqueror, ever more interested +in the refinements of peace than in the +desolations of war, in the midst of the din of +arms, and contending against the intrigues of +hostile nations, reared a mausoleum and arranged +a gorgeous festival in honor of the immortal +poet. Thus he endeavored to shed renown upon +intellectual greatness, and to rouse the degenerate +Italians to appreciate and to emulate the glory +of their fathers. From these congenial pursuits +of peace he again turned, with undiminished energy, +to pursue the unrelenting assailants of his +country.</p> + +<p>Leaving ten thousand men in garrison to watch +the neutrality of the Italian governments, Napoleon, +early in March, removed his head-quarters +to Bassano. He then issued to his troops the +following martial proclamation, which, like bugle +notes of defiance, reverberated over the hostile +and astonished monarchies of Europe. "Soldiers! +the campaign just ended has given you +imperishable renown. You have been victorious +in fourteen pitched battles and seventy actions. +You have taken more than a hundred thousand +prisoners, five hundred field-pieces, two thousand +heavy guns, and four pontoon trains. You have +maintained the army during the whole campaign. +In addition to this you have sent six millions of +dollars to the public treasury, and have enriched +the National Museum with three hundred masterpieces +of the arts of ancient and modern Italy, +which it has required thirty centuries to produce. +You have conquered the finest countries in Europe. +The French flag waves for the first time +upon the Adriatic opposite to Macedon, the native +country of Alexander. Still higher destinies +await you. I know that you will not prove unworthy +of them. Of all the foes that conspired +to stifle the Republic in its birth, the Austrian +Emperor alone remains before you. To obtain +peace we must seek it in the heart of his hereditary +state. You will there find a brave people, +whose religion and customs you will respect, and +whose property you will hold sacred. Remember +that it is liberty you carry to the brave Hungarian +nation."</p> + +<p>The Archduke Charles, brother of the king, +was now intrusted with the command of the +Austrian army. His character can not be better +described than in the language of his magnanimous +antagonist. "Prince Charles," said Napoleon, +"is a man whose conduct can never attract +blame. His soul belongs to the heroic +age, but his heart to that of gold. More than +all he is a good man, and that includes every +thing, when said of a prince." Early in March, +Charles, a young man of about Napoleon's age, +who had already obtained renown upon the +Rhine, was in command of an army of 50,000 +men stationed upon the banks of the Piave. +From different parts of the empire 40,000 men +were on the march to join him. This would +give him 90,000 troops to array against the +French. Napoleon, with the recruits which he +had obtained from France and Italy, had now a +force of fifty thousand men with which to undertake +this apparently desperate enterprise. The +eyes of all Europe were upon the two combatants. +It was the almost universal sentiment, +that, intoxicated with success, Napoleon was +rushing to irretrievable ruin. But Napoleon +never allowed enthusiasm to run away with his +judgment. His plans were deeply laid, and all +the combinations of chance carefully calculated.</p> + +<p>The storms of winter were still howling around +the snow-clad summits of the Alps, and it was +not thought possible that thus early in the season +he would attempt the passage of so formidable a +barrier. A dreadful tempest of wind and rain +swept earth and sky when Napoleon gave the +order to march. The troops, with their accustomed +celerity, reached the banks of the Piave. +The Austrians, astonished at the sudden apparition +of the French in the midst of the elemental +warfare, and unprepared to resist them, hastily +retired some forty miles to the eastern banks of +the Tagliamento. Napoleon closely followed +the retreating foe. At nine o'clock in the morning +of the 10th of March, the French army arrived +upon the banks of the river. Here they +found a wide stream, rippling over a gravelly bed, +with difficulty fordable. The imperial troops, in +most magnificent array, were drawn up upon an +extended plain on the opposite shore. Parks of +artillery were arranged to sweep with grape-shot +the whole surface of the water. In long lines +the infantry, with bristling bayonets and prepared +to rain down upon their foes a storm of bullets, +presented apparently an invincible front. Upon +the two wings of this imposing army vast squadrons +of cavalry awaited the moment, with restless +steeds, when they might charge upon the +foe, should he effect a landing.</p> + +<p>The French army had been marching all night +over miry roads, and through mountain defiles. +With the gloom of the night the storm had passed +away, and the cloudless sun of a warm spring +morning dawned upon the valley, as the French +troops arrived upon the banks of the river. Their +clothes were torn, and drenched with rain, and +soiled with mud. And yet it was an imposing +array as forty thousand men, with plumes and +banners and proud steeds, and the music of a +hundred bands, marched down, in that bright sunshine, +upon the verdant meadows which skirted +the Tagliamento. But it was a fearful barrier +which presented itself before them. The rapid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +river, the vast masses of the enemy in their +strong intrenchments, the frowning batteries, +loaded to the muzzle with grape-shot, to sweep +the advancing ranks, the well fed war-horses in +countless numbers, prancing for the charge, apparently +presented an obstacle which no human +energy could surmount.</p> + +<p>Napoleon, seeing the ample preparations made +to oppose him, ordered his troops to withdraw +beyond the reach of the enemies' fire, and to prepare +for breakfast. As by magic the martial array +was at once transformed into a peaceful picnic +scene. Arms were laid aside. The soldiers +threw themselves upon the green grass, just +sprouting in the valley, beneath the rays of the +sun of early spring. Fires were kindled, kettles +boiling, knapsacks opened, and groups, in carelessness +and joviality, gathered around fragments +of bread and meat.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 673px;"> +<img src="images/illo_27.jpg" width="673" height="428" alt="THE PASSAGE OF THE TAGLIAMENTO." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE PASSAGE OF THE TAGLIAMENTO.</span> +</div> + +<p>The Archduke Charles, seeing that Napoleon +declined the attempt to pass the river until he +had refreshed his exhausted troops, withdrew his +forces also into the rear to their encampments. +When all was quiet, and the Austrians were +thrown completely off their guard, suddenly the +trumpets sounded the preconcerted signal. The +French troops, disciplined to prompt movements, +sprang to their arms, instantly formed in battle +array, plunged into the stream, and, before the +Austrians had recovered from their astonishment, +were half across the river. This movement was +executed with such inconceivable rapidity, as to +excite the admiration as well as the consternation +of their enemies. With the precision and beauty +of the parade ground, the several divisions of the +army gained the opposite shore. The Austrians +rallied as speedily as possible. But it was too +late. A terrible battle ensued. Napoleon was +victor at every point. The Imperial army, with +their ranks sadly thinned, and leaving the ground +gory with the blood of the slain, retreated in confusion +to await the arrival of the reinforcements +coming to their aid. Napoleon pressed upon their +rear, every hour attacking them, and not allowing +them one moment to recover from their panic. +The Austrian troops, thus suddenly and unexpectedly +defeated, were thrown into the extreme +of dejection. The exultant French, convinced of +the absolute invincibility of their beloved chief, +ambitiously sought out points of peril and adventures +of desperation, and with shouts of laughter, +and jokes, and making the welkin ring with songs +of liberty, plunged into the densest masses of their +foes. The different divisions of the army vied +with each other in their endeavor to perform +feats of the most romantic valor, and in the display +of the most perfect contempt of life. In +every fortress, at every mountain pass, upon every +rapid stream, the Austrians made a stand to arrest +the march of the conqueror. But with the footsteps +of a giant, Napoleon crowded upon them, +pouring an incessant storm of destruction upon +their fugitive ranks. He drove the Austrians to +the foot of the mountains. He pursued them up +the steep acclivities. He charged the tempests +of wind and smothering snow with the sound of +the trumpet, and his troops exulted in waging +war with combined man and the elements. Soon +both pursuers and pursued stood upon the summit +of the Carnic Alps. They were in the region +of almost perpetual snow. The vast glaciers, +which seemed memorials of eternity, spread bleak +and cold around them. The clouds floated beneath +their feet. The eagle wheeled and screamed as +he soared over the sombre firs and pines far below +on the mountain sides. Here the Austrians made +a desperate stand. On the storm-washed crags +of granite, behind fields of ice and drifts of snow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +which the French cavalry could not traverse, they +sought to intrench themselves against their tireless +pursuer. To retreat down the long and narrow +defiles of the mountains, with the French in +hot pursuit behind, hurling upon them every missile +of destruction, bullets, and balls, and craggy +fragments of the cliffs, was a calamity to be avoided +at every hazard. Upon the summit of Mount +Tarwis, the battle, decisive of this fearful question, +was to be fought. It was an appropriate arena +for the fell deeds of war. Wintry winds swept +the bleak and icy eminence, and a clear, cold, +cloudless sky canopied the two armies as, with +fiend-like ferocity, they hurled themselves upon +each other. The thunder of artillery reverberated +above the clouds. The shout of onset and the +shrieks of the wounded were heard upon eminences +which even the wing of the eagle had +rarely attained. Squadrons of cavalry fell upon +fields of ice, and men and horses were precipitated +into fathomless depths below. The snow +drifts of Mount Tarwis were soon crimsoned with +blood, and the warm current from human hearts +congealed with the eternal glacier, and there, embalmed +in ice, it long and mournfully testified of +man's inhumanity to man.</p> + +<p>The Archduke Charles, having exhausted his +last reserve, was compelled to retreat. Many of +the soldiers threw away their arms, and escaped +over the crags of the mountains; thousands were +taken prisoners; multitudes were left dead upon +the ice, and half-buried in the drifts of snow. But +Charles, brave and energetic, still kept the mass +of his army together, and with great skill conducted +his precipitate retreat. With merciless +vigor the French troops pursued, pouring down +upon the retreating masses a perfect storm of +bullets, and rolling over the precipitous sides of +the mountains huge rocks, which swept away +whole companies at once. The bleeding, breathless +fugitives at last arrived in the valley below. +Napoleon followed close in their rear. The Alps +were now passed. The French were in Austria. +They heard a new language. The scenery, the +houses, the customs of the inhabitants, all testified +that they were no longer in Italy. They had +with unparalleled audacity entered the very heart +of the Austrian empire, and with unflinching +resolution were marching upon the capital of +twenty millions of people, behind whose ramparts, +strengthened by the labor of ages, Maria Theresa +had bidden defiance to the invading Turks.</p> + +<p>Twenty days had now passed since the opening +of the campaign, and the Austrians were +already driven over the Alps, and having lost a +fourth of their numbers in the various conflicts +which had occurred, dispirited by disaster, were +retreating to intrench themselves for a final struggle +within the walls of Vienna. Napoleon, with +45,000 men, flushed with victory, was rapidly descending +the fertile steams which flow into the +Danube.</p> + +<p>Under these triumphant circumstances Napoleon +showed his humanity, and his earnest desire +for peace, in dictating the following most noble +letter, so characteristic of his strong and glowing +intellect. It was addressed to his illustrious adversary, +the Archduke Charles.</p> + +<p>"General-in-chief. Brave soldiers, while they +make war, desire peace. Has not this war already +continued six years? Have we not slain +enough of our fellow-men? Have we not inflicted +a sufficiency of woes upon suffering humanity? +It demands repose upon all sides. +Europe, which took up arms against the French +Republic, has laid them aside. Your nation +alone remains hostile, and blood is about to flow +more copiously than ever. This sixth campaign +has commenced with sinister omens. Whatever +may be its issue, many thousand men, on the one +side and the other, must perish. And after all +we must come to an accommodation, for every +thing has an end, not even excepting the passion of +hatred. You, general, who by birth approach so +near the throne, and are above all the little passions +which too often influence ministers and governments, +are you resolved to deserve the title of +benefactor of humanity, and of the real saviour +of Austria. Do not imagine that I deny the possibility +of saving Austria by the force of arms. +But even in such an event your country will not +be the less ravaged. As for myself, if the overture +which I have the honor to make, shall be +the means of saving a single life, I shall be more +proud of the civic crown which I shall be conscious +of having deserved, than of all the melancholy +glory which military success can confer."</p> + +<p>To these magnanimous overtures the Archduke +replied: "In the duty assigned to me there is +no power either to scrutinize the causes or to +terminate the duration of the war, I am not invested +with any authority in that respect, and therefore +can not enter into any negotiation for peace."</p> + +<p>In this most interesting correspondence, Napoleon, +the plebeian general, speaks with the dignity +and the authority of a sovereign; with a natural, +unaffected tone of command, as if accustomed +from infancy to homage and empire. The brother +of the king is compelled to look upward to the +pinnacle upon which transcendent abilities have +placed his antagonist. The conquering Napoleon +pleads for peace; but Austria hates republican +liberty even more than war. Upon the rejection +of these proposals the thunders of Napoleon's +artillery were again heard, and over the +hills and through the valleys, onward he rushed +with his impetuous troops, allowing his foe no +repose. At every mountain gorge, at every rapid +river, the Austrians stood, and were slain. Each +walled town was the scene of a sanguinary conflict, +and the Austrians were often driven in the +wildest confusion pell-mell with the victors +through the streets. At last they approached +another mountain range called the Stipian Alps. +Here, at the frightful gorge of Neumarkt, a defile +so gloomy and terrific that even the peaceful tourist +can not pass through it unawed, Charles again +made a desperate effort to arrest his pursuers. It +was of no avail. Blood flowed in torrents, thousands +were slain. The Austrians, encumbered +with baggage-wagons and artillery, choked the +narrow passages, and a scene of indescribable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +horror ensued. The French cavalry made most +destructive charges upon the dense masses. Cannon +balls plowed their way through the confused +ranks, and the Austrian rear and the French van +struggled, hand to hand, in the blood-red gorge. +But the Austrians were swept along like withered +leaves before the mountain gales. Napoleon was +now at Leoben. From the eminences around the +city, with the telescope, the distant spires of Vienna +could be discerned. Here the victorious +general halted for a day, to collect his scattered +forces. Charles hurried along the great road to +the capital, with the fragments of his army, striving +to concentrate all the strength of the empire +within those venerable and hitherto impregnable +fortifications.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 673px;"> +<img src="images/illo_28.jpg" width="673" height="432" alt="THE GORGE OF NEUMARKT." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE GORGE OF NEUMARKT.</span> +</div> + +<p>All was consternation in Vienna. The king, +dukes, nobles, fled like deer before approaching +hounds, seeking refuge in the distant wilds of +Hungary. The Danube was covered with boats +conveying the riches of the city and the terrified +families out of the reach of danger. Among the +illustrious fugitives was Maria Louisa, then a +child but six years of age, flying from that dreaded +Napoleon whose bride she afterward became. All +the military resources of Austria were immediately +called into requisition; the fortifications +were repaired; the militia organized and drilled; +and in the extremity of mortification and despair +all the energies of the empire were roused for +final resistance. Charles, to gain time, sent a +flag of truce requesting a suspension of arms for +twenty-four hours. Napoleon, too wary to be +caught in a trap which he had recently sprung +upon his foes, replied that moments were precious, +and that they might fight and negotiate at +the same time. Napoleon also issued to the +Austrian people one of his glowing proclamations +which was scattered all over the region he had +overrun. He assured the <i>people</i> that he was their +friend, that he was fighting not for conquest but +for peace; that the Austrian government, bribed +by British gold, was waging an unjust war against +France: that the <i>people</i> of Austria should find in +him a protector, who would respect their religion +and defend them in all their rights. His deeds +were in accordance with his words. The French +soldiers, inspired by the example of their beloved +chief, treated the unarmed Austrians as friends, +and nothing was taken from them without ample +remuneration.</p> + +<p>The people of Austria now began to clamor +loudly for peace. Charles, seeing the desperate +posture of affairs, earnestly urged it upon his +brother, the Emperor, declaring that the empire +could no longer be saved by arms. Embassadors +were immediately dispatched from the imperial +court authorized to settle the basis of peace. +They implored a suspension of arms for five days, +to settle the preliminaries. Napoleon nobly replied, +"In the present posture of our military affairs, +a suspension of hostilities must be very +seriously adverse to the interests of the French +army. But if by such a sacrifice, that peace, +which is so desirable and so essential to the happiness +of the people, can be secured, I shall not +regret consenting to your desires." A garden in +the vicinity of Leoben was declared neutral +ground, and here, in the midst of the bivouacs +of the French army, the negotiations were conducted. +The Austrian commissioners, in the +treaty which they proposed, had set down as the +first article, that the Emperor recognized the +French Republic. "Strike that out," said Napoleon, +proudly. "The Republic is like the +sun; none but the blind can fail to see it. We +are our own masters, and shall establish any +government we prefer." This exclamation was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +not merely a burst of romantic enthusiasm, but +it was dictated by a deep insight into the possibilities +of the future. "If one day the French +people," he afterward remarked, "should wish +to create a monarchy, the Emperor might object +that he had recognized a republic." Both parties +being now desirous of terminating the war, +the preliminaries were soon settled. Napoleon, +as if he were already the Emperor of France, +waited not for the plenipotentiaries from Paris, +but signed the treaty in his own name. He thus +placed himself upon an equal footing with the +Emperor of Austria. The equality was unhesitatingly +recognized by the Imperial government. +In the settlement of the difficulties between these +two majestic powers, neither of them manifested +much regard for the minor states. Napoleon allowed +Austria to take under her protection many +of the states of Venice, for Venice had proved +treacherous to her professed neutrality, and merited +no protection from his hands.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 607px;"> +<img src="images/illo_29.jpg" width="607" height="431" alt="THE VENETIAN ENVOYS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE VENETIAN ENVOYS.</span> +</div> + +<p>Napoleon, having thus conquered peace, turned +to lay the rod upon trembling Venice. Richly +did Venice deserve his chastising blows. In +those days, when railroads and telegraphs were +unknown, the transmission of intelligence was +slow. The little army of Napoleon had traversed +weary leagues of mountains and vales, and having +passed beyond the snow-clad summits of the +Alps, were lost to Italian observation, far away +upon the tributaries of the Danube. Rumor, +with her thousand voices filled the air. It was +reported that Napoleon was defeated—that he +was a captive—that his army was destroyed. +The Venetian oligarchy, proud, cowardly, and +revengeful, now raised the cry, "Death to the +French." The priests incited the peasants to +frenzy. They attacked unarmed Frenchmen in +the streets and murdered them. They assailed +the troops in garrison with overwhelming numbers. +The infuriated populace even burst into +the hospitals, and poniarded the wounded and +the dying in their beds. Napoleon, who was by +no means distinguished for meekness and long-suffering, +turned sternly to inflict upon them +punishment which should long be remembered. +The haughty oligarchy was thrown into a paroxysm +of terror, when it was announced, that Napoleon +was victor instead of vanquished, and that, +having humbled the pride of Austria, he was +now returning with an indignant and triumphant +army burning for vengeance. The Venetian +Senate, bewildered with fright, dispatched agents +to deprecate his wrath. Napoleon, with a pale +and marble face, received them. Without uttering +a word he listened to their awkward attempts +at an apology, heard their humble submission, +and even endured in silence their offer of millions +of gold to purchase his pardon. Then in tones +of firmness which sent paleness to their cheeks +and palpitation to their hearts, he exclaimed, +"If you could proffer me the treasures of Peru, +could you strew your whole country with gold, +it would not atone for the blood which has been +treacherously spilt. You have murdered my +children. The lion of St. Mark<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> must lick the +dust. Go." The Venetians in their terror sent +enormous sums to Paris, and succeeded in bribing +the Directory, ever open to such appeals. Orders +were accordingly transmitted to Napoleon, to +spare the ancient Senate and aristocracy of +Venice. But Napoleon, who despised the Directory, +and who was probably already dreaming +of its overthrow, conscious that he possessed +powers which they could not shake, paid no +attention to their orders. He marched resistlessly +into the dominions of the doge. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +thunders of Napoleon's cannon were reverberating +across the lagoons which surround the Queen of +the Adriatic. The doge, pallid with consternation, +assembled the Grand Council, and proposed +the surrender of their institutions to Napoleon, +to be remodeled according to his pleasure. While +they were deliberating, the uproar of insurrection +was heard in the streets. The aristocrats and +the republicans fell furiously upon each other. +The discharge of fire-arms was heard under the +very windows of the council-house. Opposing +shouts of "Liberty forever," and "Long live St. +Mark," resounded through the streets. The city +was threatened with fire and pillage. Amid this +horrible confusion three thousand French soldiers +crossed the lagoons in boats and entered the city. +They were received with long shouts of welcome +by the populace, hungering for republican liberty. +Resistance was hopeless. An unconditional surrender +was made to Napoleon, and thus fell one +of the most execrable tyrannies this world has +ever known. The course Napoleon then pursued +was so magnanimous as to extort praise from his +bitterest foes. He immediately threw open the +prison doors to all who were suffering for political +opinions. He pardoned all offenses against +himself. He abolished aristocracy, and established +a popular government, which should fairly +represent all classes of the community. The +public debt was regarded as sacred, and even the +pensions continued to the poor nobles. It was +a glorious reform for the Venetian nation. It +was a terrible downfall for the Venetian aristocracy. +The banner of the new republic now +floated from the windows of the palace, and as it +waved exultingly in the breeze, it was greeted +with the most enthusiastic acclamations, by the +people who had been trampled under the foot of +oppression for fifteen hundred years.</p> + +<p>All Italy was now virtually at the feet of +Napoleon. Not a year had yet elapsed since he, +a nameless young man of twenty-five years of +age, with thirty thousand ragged and half starved +troops, had crept along the shores of the Mediterranean, +hoping to surprise his powerful foes. +He had now traversed the whole extent of Italy, +compelled all its hostile states to respect republican +France, and had humbled the Emperor of +Austria as emperor had rarely been humbled before. +The Italians, recognizing him as a countryman, +and proud of his world-wide renown, regarded +him, not as a conqueror, but as a liberator. +His popularity was boundless. Wherever +he appeared the most enthusiastic acclamations +welcomed him. Bonfires blazed upon every hill +in honor of his movements. The bells rang their +merriest peals, wherever he appeared. Long +lines of maidens strewed roses in his path. The +reverberations of artillery and the huzzas of the +populace saluted his footsteps. Europe was at +peace; and Napoleon was the great pacificator. +For this object he had contended against the +most formidable coalitions. He had sheathed +his victorious sword, the very moment his enemies +were willing to retire from the strife.</p> + +<p>Still the position of Napoleon required the +most consummate firmness and wisdom. All the +states of Italy, Piedmont, Genoa, Naples, the +States of the Church, Parma, Tuscany, were agitated +with the intense desire for liberty. Napoleon +was unwilling to encourage insurrection. +He could not lend his arms to oppose those who +were struggling for popular rights. In Genoa, +the patriots rose. The haughty aristocracy fell +in revenge upon the French, who chanced to be +in the territory. Napoleon was thus compelled to +interfere. The Genoese aristocracy were forced +to abdicate, and the patriot party, as in Venice, +assumed the government. But the Genoese +democracy began now in their turn, to trample +upon the rights of their former oppressors. +The revolutionary scenes which had disgraced +Paris, began to be re-enacted in the streets of +Genoa. They excluded the priests and the nobles +from participating in the government, as the +nobles and priests had formerly excluded them. +Acts of lawless violence passed unpunished. +The religion of the Catholic priests was treated +with derision. Napoleon, earnestly and eloquently, +thus urged upon them a more humane +policy. "I will respond, citizens, to the confidence +you have reposed in me. It is not enough +that you refrain from hostility to religion. You +should do nothing which can cause inquietude +to tender consciences. To exclude the nobles +from any public office, is an act of extreme injustice. +You thus repeat the wrong which you +condemn in them. Why are the people of Genoa +so changed? Their first impulses of fraternal +kindness have been succeeded by fear and terror. +Remember that the priests were the first who +rallied around the tree of liberty. They first +told you that the morality of the gospel is democratic. +Men have taken advantage of the faults, +perhaps of the crimes of individual priests, +to unite against Christianity. You have proscribed +without discrimination. When a state +becomes accustomed to condemn without hearing, +to applaud a discourse because it impassioned; +when exaggeration and madness are called virtue, +moderation and equity designated as crimes, that +state is near its ruin. Believe me, I shall consider +<i>that</i> one of the happiest moments of my life in +which I hear that the people of Genoa are united +among themselves and live happily."</p> + +<p>This advice, thus given to Genoa, was intended +to re-act upon France, for the Directory then had +under discussion a motion for banishing all the +nobles from the Republic. The voice of Napoleon +was thus delicately and efficiently introduced +into the debate, and the extreme and terrible +measure was at once abandoned.</p> + +<p>Napoleon performed another act at this time, +which drew down upon him a very heavy load +of obloquy from the despotic governments of +Europe, but which must secure the approval of +every generous mind. There was a small state +in Italy called the Valteline, eighteen miles wide, +and fifty-four miles long, containing one hundred +and sixty thousand inhabitants. These unfortunate +people had become subjects to a German +state called the Grisons, and, deprived of all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +political privileges, were ground down by the +most humiliating oppression. The inhabitants +of the Valteline, catching the spirit of liberty, revolted +and addressed a manifesto to all Europe, +setting forth their wrongs, and declaring their +determination to recover those rights, of which +they had been defrauded. Both parties sent +deputies to Napoleon, soliciting his interference, +virtually agreeing to abide by his decision. Napoleon, +to promote conciliation and peace, proposed +that the Valtelines should remain with the +Grisons as one people, and that the Grisons +should confer upon them equal political privileges +with themselves. Counsel more moderate +and judicious could not have been given. But +the proud Grisons, accustomed to trample upon +their victims, with scorn refused to share with +them the rights of humanity. Napoleon then issued +a decree, saying, "<i>It is not just that one +people should be subject to another people.</i> Since +the Grisons have refused equal rights to the inhabitants +of the Valteline, the latter are at liberty +to unite themselves with the Cisalpine Republic." +This decision was received with bursts of +enthusiastic joy by the liberated people, and they +were immediately embraced within the borders +of the new republic.</p> + +<p>The great results we have thus far narrated in +this chapter were accomplished in six weeks. +In the face of powerful armies, Napoleon had +traversed hundreds of miles of territory. He had +forded rivers, with the storm of lead and iron +falling pitilessly around him. He had crossed +the Alps, dragging his artillery through snow +three feet in depth, scattered the armies of Austria +to the winds, imposed peace upon that proud +and powerful empire, recrossed the Alps, laid low +the haughty despotism of Venice, established a +popular government in the emancipated provinces, +and revolutionized Genoa. Josephine was +now with him in the palace of Milan. From +every state in Italy couriers were coming and +going, deprecating his anger, soliciting his counsel, +imploring his protection. The destiny of +Europe seemed to be suspended upon his decisions. +His power transcended that of all the +potentates in Europe. A brilliant court of beautiful +ladies surrounded Josephine, and all vied to +do homage to the illustrious conqueror. The +enthusiastic Italians thronged his gates, and +waited for hours to catch a glance of the youthful +hero. The feminine delicacy of his physical +frame, so disproportionate with his mighty renown, +did but add to the enthusiasm which his presence +ever inspired. His strong arm had won for +France peace with all the world, England alone +excepted. The indomitable islanders, protected +by the ocean from the march of invading armies, +still continued the unrelenting warfare. Wherever +her navy could penetrate she assailed the +French, and as the horrors of war could not reach +her shores, she refused to live on any terms of +peace with Republican France.</p> + +<p>Napoleon now established his residence, or +rather his court, at Montebello, a beautiful palace +in the vicinity of Milan. His frame was +emaciate in the extreme from the prodigious toils +which he had endured. Yet he scarcely allowed +himself an hour of relaxation. Questions of vast +moment, relative to the settlement of political +affairs in Italy, were yet to be adjusted, and Napoleon, +exhausted as he was in body, devoted the +tireless energies of his mind to the work. His +labors were now numerous. He was treating +with the plenipotentiaries of Austria, organizing +the Italian Republic, creating a navy in the Adriatic, +and forming the most magnificent projects +relative to the Mediterranean. These were the +works in which he delighted, constructing canals, +and roads, improving harbors, erecting bridges, +churches, naval and military dépôts, calling cities +and navies into existence, awaking every where +the hum of prosperous industry. All the states +of Italy were imbued with local prejudices and +petty jealousies of each other. To break down +these jealousies, he endeavored to consolidate +the Republicans into one single state, with Milan +for the capital. He strove in multiplied ways +to rouse martial energy among the effeminate +Italians. Conscious that the new republic could +not long stand alive in the midst of the surrounding +monarchies so hostile to its existence, that it +could only be strong by the alliance of France, +he conceived the design of a high road, broad, +safe, and magnificent, from Paris to Geneva, +thence across the Simplon through the plains of +Lombardy to Milan. He was in treaty with the +government of Switzerland, for the construction +of the road through its territories; and had sent +engineers to explore the route and make an estimate +of the expense. He himself arranged all +the details with the greatest precision. He contemplated +also, at the same time, with the deepest +interest and solicitude, the empire which England +had gained on the seas. To cripple the +power of this formidable foe, he formed the design +of taking possession of the islands of the +Mediterranean. "From these different posts," +he wrote to the Directory, "we shall command +the Mediterranean, we shall keep an eye upon the +Ottoman empire, which is crumbling to pieces, +and we shall have it in our power to render the +dominion of the ocean almost useless to the English. +They have possession of the Cape of +Good Hope. We can do without it. <i>Let us +occupy Egypt.</i> We shall be in the direct road +for India. It will be easy for us to found there +one of the finest colonies in the world. <i>It is in +Egypt that we must attack England.</i>"</p> + +<p>It was in this way that Napoleon <i>rested</i> after +the toils of the most arduous campaigns mortal +man had ever passed through. The Austrians +were rapidly recruiting their forces from their +vast empire, and now began to throw many difficulties +in the way of a final adjustment. The +last conference between the negotiating parties +was held at Campo Formio, a small village about +ten miles east of the Tagliamento. The commissioners +were seated at an oblong table, the +four Austrian negotiators upon one side, Napoleon +by himself upon the other. The Austrians +demanded terms to which Napoleon could not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +accede, threatening at the same time that if Napoleon +did not accept these terms, the armies of +Russia would be united with those of Austria, +and France should be compelled to adopt those +less favorable. One of the Austrian commissioners +concluded an insulting apostrophe, by saying, +"Austria desires peace, and she will severely +condemn the negotiator who sacrifices the interest +and repose of his country to military ambition." +Napoleon, cool and collected, sat in silence +while these sentiments were uttered. Then +rising from the table he took from the sideboard +a beautiful porcelain vase. "Gentlemen," said +he, "the truce is broken; war is declared. But +remember, in three months I will demolish your +monarchy as I now shatter this porcelain." With +these words he dashed the vase into fragments +upon the floor, and bowing to the astounded negotiators, +abruptly withdrew. With his accustomed +promptness of action he instantly dispatched +an officer to the Archduke, to inform him that +hostilities would be re-commenced in twenty-four +hours; and entering his carriage, urged his +horses with the speed of the wind, toward the +head-quarters of the army. One of the conditions +of this treaty upon which Napoleon insisted, was +the release of La Fayette, then imprisoned for his +republican sentiments, in the dungeons of Olmutz. +The Austrian plenipotentiaries were thunderstruck +by this decision, and immediately agreed +to the terms which Napoleon demanded. The +next day at five o'clock the treaty of Campo Formio +was signed.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 619px;"> +<img src="images/illo_30.jpg" width="619" height="424" alt="THE CONFERENCE DISSOLVED." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE CONFERENCE DISSOLVED.</span> +</div> + +<p>The terms which Napoleon offered the Austrians +in this treaty, though highly advantageous +to France, were far more lenient to Austria, than +that government had any right to expect. The +Directory in Paris, anxious to strengthen itself +against the monarchical governments of Europe +by revolutionizing the whole of Italy and founding +there republican governments, positively forbade +Napoleon to make peace with Austria, unless +the freedom of the Republic of Venice was +recognized. Napoleon wrote to the Directory +that if they insisted upon that ultimatum, the +renewal of the war would be inevitable. The +Directory replied, "Austria has long desired to +swallow up Italy, and to acquire maritime power. +It is the interest of France to prevent both of these +designs. It is evident that if the Emperor acquires +Venice, with its territorial possessions, he will +secure an entrance into the whole of Lombardy. +We should be treating as if we had been conquered. +What would posterity say of us if we +surrender that great city with its naval arsenals +to the Emperor. The whole question comes +to this: Shall we give up Italy to the Austrians? +The French government neither can nor +will do so. It would prefer all the hazards of +war."</p> + +<p>Napoleon wished for peace. He could only +obtain it by disobeying the orders of his government. +The middle of October had now arrived. +One morning, at daybreak, he was informed that +the mountains were covered with snow. Leaping +from his bed, he ran to the window, and saw +that the storms of winter had really commenced +on the bleak heights. "What! before the middle +of October!" he exclaimed: "what a country +is this! Well, we must make peace." He +shut himself up in his cabinet for an hour, and +carefully reviewed the returns of the army. "I +can not have," said he to Bourrienne, "more +than sixty thousand men in the field. Even if +victorious I must lose twenty thousand in killed +and wounded. And how, with forty thousand, +can I withstand the whole force of the Austrian +monarchy, who will hasten to the relief of Vienna?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> +The armies of the Rhine could not advance +to my succor before the middle of November, +and before that time arrives the Alps will be +impassable from snow. It is all over. I will +sign the peace. The government and the lawyers +may say what they choose."</p> + +<p>This treaty, extended France to the Rhine, +recognized the Cisalpine Republic, composed of +the Cispadane Republic and Lombardy, and allowed +the Emperor of Austria to extend his +sway over several of the states of Venice. Napoleon +was very desirous of securing republican +liberty in Venice. Most illustriously did he exhibit +his anxiety for peace in consenting to sacrifice +that desire, and to disobey the positive commands +of his government, rather than renew the +horrors of battle. He did not think it his duty to +keep Europe involved in war, that he might secure +republican liberty for Venice, when it was very +doubtful whether the Venetians were sufficiently +enlightened to govern themselves, and when, perhaps, +one half of the nation were so ignorant as +to prefer despotism. The whole glory of this +peace redounds to his honor. His persistence +in that demand which the Directory enjoined, +would but have kindled anew the flames of war.</p> + +<p>During these discussions at Campo Formio, +every possible endeavor was made which the +most delicate ingenuity could devise, to influence +Napoleon in his decisions by personal considerations. +The wealth of Europe was literally laid +at his feet. Millions upon millions in gold were +proffered him. But his proud spirit could not be +thus tarnished. When some one alluded to the +different course pursued by the Directors, he replied, +"You are not then aware, citizen, that +there is not one of those Directors whom I could +not bring, for four thousand dollars, to kiss my +boot." The Venetians offered him a present of +one million five hundred thousand dollars. He +smiled, and declined the offer. The Emperor of +Austria, professing the most profound admiration +of his heroic character, entreated him to accept +a principality, to consist of at least two hundred +and fifty thousand inhabitants, for himself and his +heirs. This was indeed an alluring offer to a +young man but twenty-five years of age, and who +had but just emerged from obscurity and poverty. +The young general transmitted his thanks to the +Emperor for this proof of his good-will, but added, +that he could accept of no honors but such as +were conferred upon him by the French people, +and that he should always be satisfied with whatever +they might be disposed to offer.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 683px;"> +<img src="images/illo_31.jpg" width="683" height="437" alt="THE COURT AT MILAN." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE COURT AT MILAN.</span> +</div> + +<p>While at Montebello, transacting the affairs of +his victorious army, Josephine presided with most +admirable propriety and grace, over the gay circle +of Milan. Napoleon, who well understood the +imposing influence of courtly pomp and splendor, +while extremely simple in his personal habiliments, +dazzled the eyes of the Milanese with all +the pageantry of a court. The destinies of Europe +were even then suspended upon his nod. +He was tracing out the lines of empire, and +dukes, and princes, and kings were soliciting his +friendship. Josephine, by her surpassing loveliness +of person and of character, won universal +admiration. Her wonderful tact, her genius, and +her amiability vastly strengthened the influence +of her husband. "I conquer provinces," said +Napoleon, "but Josephine wins hearts." She +frequently, in after years, reverted to this as the +happiest period of her life. To them both it must +have been as a bewildering dream. But a few +months before, Josephine was in prison, awaiting +her execution; and her children were literally +begging bread in the streets. Hardly a year +had elapsed since Napoleon, a penniless Corsican<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +soldier, was studying in a garret in Paris, +hardly knowing where to obtain a single franc. +Now the name of Napoleon was emblazoned +through Europe. He had become more powerful +than the government of his own country. He +was overthrowing and uprearing dynasties. The +question of peace or war was suspended upon his +lips. The proudest potentates of Europe were +ready, at any price, to purchase his favor. Josephine +reveled in the exuberance of her dreamlike +prosperity and exaltation. Her benevolent heart +was gratified with the vast power she now possessed +of conferring happiness. She was beloved, +adored. She had long cherished the desire of +visiting this land, so illustrious in the most lofty +reminiscences. Even Italy can hardly present +a more delightful excursion than the ride from +Milan to the romantic, mountain-embowered lakes +of Como and Maggiore. It was a bright and sunny +Italian morning when Napoleon, with his blissful +bride, drove along the luxuriant valleys and +the vine-clad hill-sides to Lake Maggiore. They +were accompanied by a numerous and glittering +retinue. Here they embarked upon this beautiful +sheet of water, in a boat with silken awnings +and gay banners, and the rowers beat time to the +most voluptuous music. They landed upon Beautiful +Island, which, like another Eden, emerges +from the bosom of the lake. This became the +favorite retreat of Napoleon. Its monastic palace, +so sombre in its antique architecture, was in +peculiar accordance with that strange melancholy +which, with but now and then a ray of sunshine, +ever overshadowed his spirit. On one of these +occasions Josephine was standing upon a terrace +with several ladies, under a large orange-tree, +profusely laden with its golden treasures. As +their attention was all absorbed in admiring the +beautiful landscape, Napoleon slipped up unperceived, +and, by a sudden shake, brought down a +shower of the rich fruit upon their heads. Josephine's +companions screamed with fright and ran; +but she remained unmoved. Napoleon laughed +heartily and said: "Why, Josephine, you stand +fire like one of my veterans." "And why should +I not?" she promptly replied, "am I not the wife +of their general?"</p> + +<p>Every conceivable temptation was at this time +presented to entice Napoleon into habits of licentiousness. +Purity was a virtue then and there almost +unknown. Some one speaking of Napoleon's +universal talents, compared him with Solomon. +"Poh," exclaimed another, "What do you mean +by calling him wiser than Solomon. The Jewish +king had seven hundred wives and three hundred +concubines, while Napoleon is contented with one +wife, and she older than himself." The corruption +of those days of infidelity was such, that the +ladies were jealous of Josephine's exclusive influence +over her illustrious spouse, and they exerted +all their powers of fascination to lead him +astray. The loftiness of Napoleon's ambition, +and those principles instilled so early by a mother's +lips as to be almost instincts, were his safeguard. +Josephine was exceedingly gratified, +some of the ladies said, "insufferably vain," +that Napoleon clung so faithfully and confidingly +to her. "Truly," he said, "I have something +else to think of than love. No man wins triumphs +in that way, without forfeiting some +palms of glory. I have traced out my plan, and +the finest eyes in the world, and there are some +very fine eyes here, shall not make me deviate a +hair's breadth from it."</p> + +<p>A lady of rank, after wearying him one day +with a string of the most fulsome compliments, +exclaimed, among other things, "What is life +worth, if one can not be General Bonaparte," +Napoleon fixed his eyes coldly upon her, and +said, "Madame! one may be a dutiful wife, and +the good mother of a family."</p> + +<p>The jealousy which the Directory entertained +of Napoleon's vast accession of power induced +them to fill his court with spies, who watched all +his movements and reported his words. Josephine, +frank and candid and a stranger to all artifice, +could not easily conceal her knowledge or +her thoughts. Napoleon consequently seldom intrusted +to her any plans which he was unwilling +to have made known. "A secret," he once observed, +"is burdensome to Josephine." He was +careful that she should not be thus encumbered. +He would be indeed a shrewd man who could +extort any secret from the bosom of Napoleon. +He could impress a marble-like immovableness +upon his features, which no scrutiny could penetrate. +Said Josephine in subsequent years, "I +never once beheld Napoleon for a moment perfectly +at ease—not even with myself. He is +constantly on the alert. If at any time he appears +to show a little confidence, it is merely a +feint to throw the person with whom he converses, +off his guard, and to draw forth his sentiments; +but never does he himself disclose his +real thoughts."</p> + +<p>The French Government remonstrated bitterly +against the surrender of Venice to Austria. +Napoleon replied. "It costs nothing for a handful +of declaimers to rave about the establishment +of <i>republics</i> every where. I wish these gentlemen +would make a winter campaign. You little know +the people of Italy. You are laboring under a +great delusion. You suppose that liberty can do +great things to a base, cowardly, and superstitious +people. You wish me to perform miracles. I +have not the art of doing so. Since coming into +Italy I have derived little, if any, support from +the love of the Italian people for liberty and +equality."</p> + +<p>The treaty of peace signed at Campo Formio, +Napoleon immediately sent to Paris. Though +he had disobeyed the positive commands of the +Directory, in thus making peace, the Directors +did not dare to refuse its ratification. The victorious +young general was greatly applauded by +the people, for refusing the glory of a new campaign, +in which they doubted not that he would +have obtained fresh laurels, that he might secure +peace for bleeding Europe. On the 17th of November +Napoleon left Milan for the Congress at +Rastadt, to which he was appointed, with plenipotentiary +powers. At the moment of leaving<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +he addressed the following proclamation to the +Cisalpine Republic: "We have given you liberty. +Take care to preserve it. To be worthy of your +destiny make only discreet and honorable laws, +and cause them to be executed with energy. +Favor the diffusion of knowledge, and respect +religion. Compose your battalions not of disreputable +men, but of citizens imbued with the +principles of the Republic, and closely linked +with its prosperity. You have need to impress +yourselves with the feeling of your strength, and +with the dignity which befits the free man. Divided +and bowed down by ages of tyranny, you +could not alone have achieved your independence. +In a few years, if true to yourselves, no nation +will be strong enough to wrest liberty from you. +Till then the great nation will protect you."</p> + +<p>Napoleon, leaving Josephine at Milan, traveled +rapidly through Piedmont, intending to proceed +by the way of Switzerland to Rastadt. His journey +was an uninterrupted scene of triumph. Illuminations, +processions, bonfires, the ringing of +bells, the explosions of artillery, the huzzas of +the populace, and above all the most cordial and +warm-hearted acclamations of ladies, accompanied +him all the way. The enthusiasm was indescribable. +Napoleon had no fondness for such +displays. He but slightly regarded the applause +of the populace.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 657px;"> +<img src="images/illo_32.jpg" width="657" height="435" alt="THE TRIUMPHAL JOURNEY." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE TRIUMPHAL JOURNEY.</span> +</div> + +<p>"It must be delightful," said Bourrienne, "to +be greeted with such demonstrations of enthusiastic +admiration." "Bah!" Napoleon replied; +"this same unthinking crowd, under a slight +change of circumstances, would follow me just +as eagerly to the scaffold."</p> + +<p>Traveling with great rapidity, he appeared +and vanished like a meteor, ever retaining the +same calm, pensive, thoughtful aspect. A person, +who saw him upon this occasion, thus described +his appearance: "I beheld with deep interest +and extreme attention that extraordinary +man, who has performed such great deeds, and +about whom there is something which seems to +indicate that his career is not yet terminated. I +found him much like his portraits, small in stature, +thin, pale, with an air of fatigue, but not as has +been reported in ill-health. He appeared to me +to listen with more abstraction than interest, as +if occupied rather with what he was thinking +of, than with what was said to him. There +is great intelligence in his countenance, along +with an expression of habitual meditation, which +reveals nothing of what is passing within. In +that thinking head, in that daring mind, it is impossible +not to suppose that some designs are +engendering, which will have their influence on +the destinies of Europe." Napoleon did not remain +long at Rastadt, for all the questions of +great political importance were already settled, +and he had no liking for those discussions of +minor points which engrossed the attention of +the petty German princes, who were assembled +at that Congress. He accordingly prepared for +his departure.</p> + +<p>In taking leave of the army he thus bade adieu +to his troops. "Soldiers! I leave you to-morrow. +In separating myself from the army I +am consoled with the thought that I shall soon +meet you again, and engage with you in new +enterprises. Soldiers! when conversing among +yourselves of the kings you have vanquished, of +the people upon whom you have conferred liberty, +of the victories you have won in two campaigns, +say, '<i>In the next two we will accomplish +still more.</i>'"</p> + +<p>Napoleon's attention was already eagerly directed +to the gorgeous East. These vast kingdoms, +enveloped in mystery, presented just the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +realm for his exuberant imagination to range. +It was the theatre, as he eloquently said, "of +mighty empires, where all the great revolutions +of the earth have arisen, where mind had its birth, +and all religions their cradle, and where six hundred +millions of men still have their dwelling-place."</p> + +<p>Napoleon left Rastadt, and traveling incognito +through France, arrived in Paris the 7th of December, +1797, having been absent but about +eighteen months. His arrival had been awaited +with the most intense impatience. The enthusiasm +of that most enthusiastic capital had been +excited to the highest pitch. The whole population +were burning with the desire to see the +youthful hero whose achievements seemed to +surpass the fictions of romance. But Napoleon +was nowhere visible. A strange mystery seemed +to envelop him. He studiously avoided observation; +very seldom made his appearance at any +place of public amusement; dressed like the +most unobtrusive private citizen, and glided unknown +through the crowd, whose enthusiasm +was roused to the highest pitch to get a sight +of the hero. He took a small house in the Rue +Chanteraine, which street immediately received +the name of Rue de la Victoire, in honor of Napoleon. +He sought only the society of men of high +intellectual and scientific attainments. In this +course he displayed a profound knowledge of +human nature, and vastly enhanced public curiosity +by avoiding its gratification.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 682px;"> +<img src="images/illo_33.jpg" width="682" height="437" alt="THE DELIVERY OF THE TREATY." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE DELIVERY OF THE TREATY.</span> +</div> + +<p>The Directory, very jealous of Napoleon's popularity, +yet impelled by the voice of the people, +now prepared a triumphal festival for the delivery +of the treaty of Campo Formio. The +magnificent court of the Luxembourg was arranged +and decorated for this gorgeous show. +At the further end of the court a large platform +was raised, where the five Directors were seated, +dressed in the costume of the Roman Senate, at +the foot of the altar of their country. Embassadors, +ministers, magistrates, and the members of +the two councils were assembled on seats ranged +amphitheatrically around. Vast galleries were +crowded with all that was illustrious in rank, +beauty, and character in the metropolis. Magnificent +trophies, composed of the banners taken +from the enemy, embellished the court, while the +surrounding walls were draped with festoons +of tri-colored tapestry. Bands of music filled the +air with martial sounds, while the very walls of +Paris were shaken by the thunders of exploding +artillery and by the acclamations of the countless +thousands who thronged the court.</p> + +<p>It was the 10th of December, 1797. A bright +sun shone through cloudless skies upon the resplendent +scene. Napoleon had been in Paris +but five days. Few of the citizens had as yet +been favored with a sight of the hero, whom all +were impatient to behold. At last a great flourish +of trumpets announced his approach. He +ascended the platform dressed in the utmost simplicity +of a civilian's costume, accompanied by +Talleyrand, and his aids-de-camp, all gorgeously +dressed, and much taller men than himself, but +evidently regarding him with the most profound +homage. The contrast was most striking. Every +eye was riveted upon Napoleon. The thunder +of the cannon was drowned in the still louder +thunder of enthusiastic acclamations which simultaneously +arose from the whole assemblage. +The fountains of human emotion were never more +deeply moved. The graceful delicacy of his fragile +figure, his remarkably youthful appearance, +his pale and wasted cheeks, the classic outline +of his finely moulded features, the indescribable +air of pensiveness and self-forgetfulness which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +he ever carried with him, and all associated with +his most extraordinary achievements, aroused an +intensity of enthusiastic emotion which has perhaps +never been surpassed. No one who witnessed +the scenes of that day ever forgot them. +Talleyrand introduced the hero in a brief and +eloquent speech. "For a moment," said he, in +conclusion, "I did feel on his account that disquietude +which, in an infant republic, arises from +every thing which seems to destroy the equality +of the citizens. But I was wrong. Individual +grandeur, far from being dangerous to equality, +is its highest triumph. And on this occasion +every Frenchman must feel himself elevated by +the hero of his country. And when I reflect upon +all which he has done to shroud from envy that +light of glory; on that ancient love of simplicity +which distinguishes him in his favorite studies; +his love for the abstract sciences; his admiration +for that sublime Ossian which seems to detach +him from the world; on his well known contempt +for luxury, for pomp, for all that constitutes +the pride of ignoble minds, I am convinced +that, far from dreading his ambition, we shall +one day have occasion to rouse it anew to allure +him from the sweets of studious retirement." +Napoleon, apparently quite unmoved by this unbounded +applause, and as calm and unembarrassed +as if speaking to an under-officer in his +tent, thus briefly replied: "Citizens! The French +people, in order to be free, had kings to combat. +To obtain a constitution founded on reason it had +the prejudices of eighteen centuries to overcome. +Priestcraft, feudalism, despotism, have successively, +for two thousand years, governed Europe. +From the peace you have just concluded dates +the era of representative governments. You +have succeeded in organizing the great nation, +whose vast territory is circumscribed only because +nature herself has fixed its limits. You +have done more. The two finest countries in +Europe, formerly so renowned for the arts, the +sciences, and the illustrious men whose cradle +they were, see with the greatest hopes genius +and freedom issuing from the tomb of their ancestors. +I have the honor to deliver to you the +treaty signed at Campo Formio, and ratified by +the emperor. Peace secures the liberty, the +prosperity, and the glory of the Republic. As +soon as the happiness of France is secured by +the best organic laws, the whole of Europe will +be free."</p> + +<p>The moment Napoleon began to speak the +most profound silence reigned throughout the +assembly. The desire to hear his voice was so +intense, that hardly did the audience venture to +move a limb or to breathe, while in tones, calm +and clear, he addressed them. The moment he +ceased speaking, a wild burst of enthusiasm filled +the air. The most unimpassioned lost their self-control. +Shouts of "Live Napoleon the conqueror +of Italy, the pacificator of Europe, the saviour +of France," resounded loud and long. Barras, +in the name of the Directory, replied, "Nature," +exclaimed the orator in his enthusiasm, "has exhausted +her energies in the production of a Bonaparte. +Go," said he turning to Napoleon, "crown +a life, so illustrious, by a conquest which the +great nation owes to its outraged dignity. Go, +and by the punishment of the cabinet of London, +strike terror into the hearts of all who would +miscalculate the powers of a free people. Let +the conquerors of the Po, the Rhine, and the Tiber, +march under your banners. The ocean will +be proud to bear them. It is a slave still indignant +who blushes for his fetters. Hardly will +the tri-colored standard wave on the blood-stained +shores of the Thames, ere an unanimous cry +will bless your arrival, and that generous nation +will receive you as its liberator." Chenier's famous +Hymn to Liberty was then sung in full +chorus, accompanied by a magnificent orchestra. +In the ungovernable enthusiasm of the moment +the five Directors arose and encircled Napoleon in +their arms. The blast of trumpets, the peal of +martial bands, the thunder of cannon, and the +acclamations of the countless multitude rent the +air. Says Thiers, "All heads were overcome +with the intoxication. Thus it was that France +threw herself into the hands of an extraordinary +man. Let us not censure the weakness of our +fathers. That glory reaches us only through +the clouds of time and adversity, and yet it transports +us! Let us say with Æschylus, 'How +would it have been had we seen the monster himself!'"</p> + +<p>Napoleon's powers of conversation were inimitable. +There was a peculiarity in every phrase +he uttered which bore the impress of originality +and genius. He fascinated every one who approached +him. He never spoke of his own +achievements, but in most lucid and dramatic +recitals often portrayed the bravery of the army +and the heroic exploits of his generals.</p> + +<p>He was now elected a member of the celebrated +Institute, a society composed of the most +illustrious literary and scientific men in France. +He eagerly accepted the invitation, and returned +the following answer. "The suffrages of the +distinguished men who compose the Institute +honor me. I feel sensibly that before I can become +their equal I must long be their pupil. The +only true conquests—those which awaken no regret—are +those obtained over ignorance. The +most honorable, as the most useful pursuit of +nations, is that which contributes to the extension +of human intellect. The real greatness of +the French Republic ought henceforth to consist +in the acquisition of the whole sum of human +knowledge, and in not allowing a single new +idea to exist, which does not owe its birth to +their exertions." He laid aside entirely the dress +of a soldier, and, constantly attending the meetings +of the Institute, as a philosopher and a scholar +became one of its brightest ornaments. His +comprehensive mind enabled him at once to +grasp any subject to which he turned his attention. +In one hour he would make himself master +of the accumulated learning to which others +had devoted the labor of years. He immediately, +as a literary man, assumed almost as marked a +pre-eminence among these distinguished scholars,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +as he had already acquired as a general on fields +of blood. Apparently forgetting the renown he +had already attained, with boundless ambition he +pressed on to still greater achievements, deeming +nothing accomplished while any thing remained +to be done. Subsequently he referred to his +course at this time and remarked, "Mankind are +in the end always governed by superiority of intellectual +qualities, and none are more sensible +of this than the military profession. When, on +my return from Italy, I assumed the dress of the +Institute, and associated with men of science, I +knew what I was doing, I was sure of not being +misunderstood by the lowest drummer in the +army."</p> + +<p>A strong effort was made at this time, by the +royalists, for the restoration of the Bourbons. +Napoleon, while he despised the inefficient government +of the Directory, was by no means willing +that the despotic Bourbons should crush the +spirit of liberty in France. Napoleon was not adverse +to a monarchy. But he wished for a monarch +who would consult the interests of the <i>people</i>, +and not merely pamper the luxury and pride +of the nobles. He formed the plan and guided +the energies which discomfited the royalists, +and sustained the Directors. Thus twice had +the strong arm of this young man protected the +government. The Directors, in their multiplied +perplexities, often urged his presence in their +councils, to advise with them on difficult questions. +Quiet and reserved he would take his +seat at their table, and by that superiority of tact +which ever distinguished him, and by that intellectual +pre-eminence which could not be questioned, +he assumed a moral position far above +them all, and guided those gray-haired diplomatists, +as a father guides his children. Whenever +he entered their presence, he instinctively assumed +the supremacy, and it was instinctively +recognized.</p> + +<p>The altars of religion, overthrown by revolutionary +violence, still remained prostrate. The +churches were closed, the Sabbath abolished, the +sacraments were unknown, the priests were in +exile. A whole generation had grown up in +France without any knowledge of Christianity. +Corruption was universal. A new sect sprang +up called Theophilanthropists, who gleaned, as +the basis of their system, some of the moral precepts +of the gospel, divested of the sublime sanctions +of Christianity. They soon, however, found +that it is not by flowers of rhetoric, and smooth-flowing +verses, and poetic rhapsodies upon the +beauty of love and charity, of rivulets and skies, +that the stern heart of man can be controlled. +Leviathan is not so tamed. Man, exposed to +temptations which rive his soul, trembling upon +the brink of fearful calamities, and glowing with +irrepressible desires, can only be allured and +overawed when the voice of love and mercy, +blends with Sinai's thunders. "There was frequently," +says the Duchess of Abrantes, "so +much truth in the moral virtues which this new +sect inculcated, that if the Evangelists had not +said the same things much better, eighteen hundred +years before them, one might have been +tempted to embrace their opinions."</p> + +<p>Napoleon took a correct view of these enthusiasts. +"They can accomplish nothing," said +he, "they are merely actors." "How!" it was +replied, "do you thus stigmatize those whose +tenets inculcate universal benevolence and the +moral virtues?" "All systems of morality," +Napoleon rejoined, "are fine. The gospel alone +has exhibited a complete assemblage of the principles +of morality, divested of all absurdity. It +is not composed, like your creed, of a few common-place +sentences put into bad verse. Do +you wish to see that which is really sublime? +Repeat the Lord's Prayer. Such enthusiasts +are only to be encountered by the weapons of +ridicule. All their efforts will prove ineffectual."</p> + +<p>Republican France was now at peace with all +the world, England alone excepted. The English +government still waged unrelenting war against +the Republic, and strained every nerve to rouse +the monarchies of Europe again to combine to +force a detested dynasty upon the French people. +The British navy, in its invincibility, had almost +annihilated the commerce of France. In their +ocean-guarded isle, safe from the ravages of war +themselves, their fleet could extend those ravages +to all shores. The Directory raised an army for +the invasion of England, and gave to Napoleon +the command. Drawing the sword, not of aggression +but of defense, he immediately proceeded +to a survey of the French coast, opposite to England, +and to form his judgment respecting the +feasibility of the majestic enterprise. Taking +three of his generals in his carriage, he passed +eight days in this tour of observation. With +great energy and tact he immediately made himself +familiar with every thing which could aid him +in coming to a decision. He surveyed the coast, +examined the ships and the fortifications, selected +the best points for embarkation, and examined +until midnight sailors, pilots, smugglers, and +fishermen. He made objections, and carefully +weighed their answers. Upon his return to Paris +his friend Bourrienne said to him, "Well, general! +what do you think of the enterprise? Is +it feasible?" "No!" he promptly replied, shaking +his head. "It is too hazardous. I will not +undertake it. I will not risk on such a stake the +fate of our beautiful France." At the same time +that he was making this survey of the coast, with +his accustomed energy of mind, he was also studying +another plan for resisting the assaults of +the British government. The idea of attacking +England, by the way of Egypt in her East Indian +acquisitions, had taken full possession of his imagination. +He filled his carriage with all the +books he could find in the libraries of Paris, +relating to Egypt. With almost miraculous +rapidity he explored the pages, treasuring up, +in his capacious and retentive memory, every +idea of importance. Interlineations and comments +on the margin of these books, in his own +hand-writing, testify to the indefatigable energy +of his mind.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p> + +<p>Napoleon was now almost adored by the republicans +all over Europe, as the great champion +of popular rights. The people looked to him as +their friend and advocate. In England, in particular, +there was a large, influential, and increasing +party, dissatisfied with the prerogatives of the +crown, and with the exclusive privileges of the +nobility, who were never weary of proclaiming +the praises of this champion of liberty and equality. +The brilliance of his intellect, the purity of +his morals, the stoical firmness of his self-endurance, +his untiring energy, the glowing eloquence +of every sentence which fell from his lips, his +youth and feminine stature, and his wondrous +achievements, all combined to invest him with a +fascination such as no mortal man ever exerted +before. The command of the army for the invasion +of England was now assigned to Napoleon. +He became the prominent and dreaded foe of that +great empire. And yet the common people who +were to fight the battles almost to a man loved +him. The throne trembled. The nobles were +in consternation. "If we deal fairly and justly +with France," Lord Chatham is reported frankly +to have avowed, "the English government will +not exist for four-and-twenty hours." It was +necessary to change public sentiment and to rouse +feelings of personal animosity against this powerful +antagonist. To render Napoleon unpopular, +all the wealth and energies of the government +were called into requisition, opening upon him +the batteries of ceaseless invective. The English +press teemed with the most atrocious and absurd +abuse. It is truly amusing, in glancing over the +pamphlets of that day, to contemplate the enormity +of the vices attributed to him, and their contradictory +nature. He was represented as a perfect +demon in human form. He was a robber and +a miser, plundering the treasuries of nations that +he might hoard his countless millions, and he was +also a profligate and a spendthrift, squandering +upon his lusts the wealth of empires. He was +wallowing in licentiousness, his camp a harem +of pollution, ridding himself by poison of his +concubines as his vagrant desires wandered from +them; at the same time he was <i>physically an imbecile</i>—a +monster—whom God in his displeasure +had deprived of the passions and the powers of +healthy manhood. He was an idol whom the +entranced people bowed down before and worshiped, +with more than Oriental servility. He +was also a sanguinary heartless, merciless butcher, +exulting in carnage, grinding the bones of his +own wounded soldiers into the dust beneath his +chariot wheels, and finding congenial music for +his depraved and malignant spirit in the shrieks +of the mangled and the groans of the dying. To +Catholic Ireland he was represented as seizing +the venerable Pope by his gray hairs, and thus +dragging him over the marble floor of his palace. +To Protestant England, on the contrary, he was +exhibited as in league with the Pope, whom he +treated with the utmost adulation, endeavoring to +strengthen the despotism of the sword with the +energies of superstition.</p> + +<p>The philosophical composure with which Napoleon +regarded this incessant flow of invective +was strikingly grand. "Of all the libels and +pamphlets," said Napoleon subsequently, "with +which the English ministers have inundated Europe, +there is not one which will reach posterity. +When I have been asked to cause answers to be +written to them, I have uniformly replied, 'My +victories and my works of public improvement +are the only response which it becomes me to +make.' When there shall not be a trace of these +libels to be found, the great monuments of utility +which I have reared, and the code of laws that I +have formed, will descend to the most remote ages, +and future historians will avenge the wrongs done +me by my contemporaries. There was a time," +said he again, "when all crimes seemed to belong +to me of right; thus I poisoned Hoche,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> I strangled +Pichegru<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> in his cell, I caused Kleber<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> to +be assassinated in Egypt, I blew out Desaix's<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> +brains at Marengo, I cut the throats of persons +who were confined in prison, I dragged the Pope +by the hair of his head, and a hundred similar +absurdities. As yet," he again said, "I have not +seen one of those libels which is worthy of an +answer. Would you have me sit down and reply +to Goldsmith, Pichon, or the Quarterly Review? +They are so contemptible and so absurdly false, +that they do not merit any other notice, than to +write <i>false</i>, <i>false</i>, on every page. The only truth +I have seen in them is, that I one day met an +officer, General Rapp, I believe, on the field of +battle, with his face begrimed with smoke and +covered with blood, and that I exclaimed, 'Oh, +comme il est beau! <i>O, how beautiful the sight!</i>' +This is true enough. And of it they have made +a crime. My commendation of the gallantry of +a brave soldier, is construed into a proof of my +delighting in blood."</p> + +<p>The revolutionary government were in the +habit of celebrating the 21st of January with +great public rejoicing, as the anniversary of the +execution of the king. They urged Napoleon to +honor the festival by his presence, and to take a +conspicuous part in the festivities. He peremptorily +declined. "This fête," said he, "commemorates +a melancholy event, a tragedy; and +can be agreeable to but few people. It is proper<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +to celebrate victories; but victims left upon the +field of battle are to be lamented. To celebrate +the anniversary of a man's death is an act unworthy +of a government; it creates more enemies +than friends—it estranges instead of conciliating; +it irritates instead of calming; it shakes the +foundations of government instead of adding to +their strength." The ministry urged that it was +the custom with all nations to celebrate the downfall +of tyrants; and that Napoleon's influence +over the public mind was so powerful, that his +absence would be regarded as indicative of hostility +to the government, and would be highly +prejudicial to the interests of the Republic. At +last Napoleon consented to attend, as a private +member of the Institute, taking no active part in +the ceremonies, but merely walking with the +members of the class to which he belonged. As +soon as the procession entered the Church of St. +Sulpice, all eyes were searching for Napoleon. +He was soon descried, and every one else was +immediately eclipsed. At the close of the ceremony, +the air was rent with the shouts, "Long +live Napoleon!" The Directory were made exceedingly +uneasy by ominous exclamations in the +streets, "We will drive away these lawyers, and +make the <i>Little Corporal</i> king." These cries +wonderfully accelerated the zeal of the Directors, +in sending Napoleon to Egypt. And most devoutly +did they hope that from that distant land +he would never return.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>AN INDIAN PET.</h2> + + +<p>The ichneumon, called in India the neulah, +benjee, or mungoos, is known all over that +country. I have seen it on the banks of the +Ganges, and among the old walls of Jaunpore, +Sirhind, and at Loodianah; for, like others of +the weasel kind, this little animal delights in +places where it can lurk and peep—such as heaps +of stones and ruins; and there is no lack of these +in old Indian cities.</p> + +<p>That the neulah is a fierce, terrible, blood-thirsty, +destructive little creature, I experienced +to my cost; but notwithstanding all the provocation +I received, I was led to become his +friend and protector, and so finding him out +to be the most charming and amiable pet in the +world.</p> + +<p>In my military career (for I was for a long time +attached to the army) I was stationed at Jaunpore, +and having a house with many conveniences, +I took pleasure in rearing poultry; but scarcely +a single chicken could be magnified to a hen: +the rapacious neulahs, fond of tender meat, waylaying +all my young broods, sucking their blood, +and feasting on their brains. But such devastations +could not be allowed to pass with impunity; +so we watched the enemy, and succeeded in +shooting several of the offenders, prowling among +the hennah or mehendy hedges, where the clucking-hens +used to repose in the shade, surrounded +by their progeny.</p> + +<p>After one of these <i>battues</i>, my little daughter +happened to go to the fowl-house in the evening +in search of eggs, and was greatly startled by a +melancholy squeaking which seemed to proceed +from an old rat-hole in one corner. Upon proper +investigation this was suspected to be the nest of +one of the neulahs which had suffered the last +sentence of the law; but how to get at the young +we did not know, unless by digging up the floor, +and of this I did not approve. So the little young +ones would have perished but for a childish freak +of my young daughter. She seated herself before +the nest, and imitated the cry of the famished +little animals so well, that three wee, hairless, +blind creatures crept out, like newly-born rabbits, +but with long tails, in the hope of meeting +with their lost mamma.</p> + +<p>Our hearts immediately warmed toward the little +helpless ones, and no one wished to wreak the +sins of the parents upon the orphans; and knowing +that neulahs were reared as pets, I proposed +to my daughter that she should select one for +herself, and give the others to two of my servants.</p> + +<p>My daughter's protégée, however, was the only +one that survived under its new <i>régime</i>; and +Jumnie, as she called her nursling, throve well, +and soon attained its full size, knowing its name, +and endearing itself to every body by its gambols +and tricks. She was like the most blithesome of +little kittens, and played with our fingers, and +frolicked on the sofas, sleeping occasionally behind +one of the cushions, and at other times +coiling herself up in her own little flannel +bed.</p> + +<p>In the course of time, however, Jumnie grew +up to maturity, being one year old, and formed +an attachment for one of her own race—a wild, +roving bandit of a neulah, who committed such +deeds of atrocity in the fowl-house as to compel +us to take up arms again. If she had only made +her mistress the confidante of her love!—but, +alas! little did we suspect <i>our</i> neulah of a companionship +with thieves and assassins; and so +leaving her, we thought, to her customary frolics, +we marched upon the stronghold of the enemy. +Two neulahs appeared, we fired, and one fell, +the other running off unscathed. We all hastened +to the wounded and bleeding victim, and +my little daughter first of all; but how shall I +describe her grief when she saw her little Jumnie +writhing at her feet in the agonies of death! +If I had had the least idea of Jumnie's having +formed such an attachment, I should have spared +the guilty for the sake of the innocent, and Jumnie +might long have lived a favorite pet; but the +deed was done.</p> + +<p>The neulahs, like other of the weasel kind—and +like some animals I know of a loftier species—are +very rapacious, slaying without reference +to their wants; and Jumnie, although fond of +milk, used to delight in livers and brains of fowls, +which she relished even after they were dressed +for our table.</p> + +<p>The natives of India never molest the neulah. +They like to see it about their dwellings, on account +of its snake and rat-killing propensities; +and on a similar account it must have been that +this creature was deified by the Egyptians, whose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +country abounded with reptiles, and would have +been absolutely alive with crocodiles but for the +havoc it made among the numerous eggs, which +it delighted to suck. For this reason the ichneumons +were embalmed as public benefactors, and +their bodies are still found lying in state in some +of the pyramids. Among the Hindoos, however, +the neulah does not obtain quite such high honors, +although the elephant, monkey, lion, snake, rat, +goose, &c., play a prominent part in the religious +myths, and are styled the Bâhons, or vehicles of +the gods.</p> + +<p>In Hindoostan the ichneumon is not supposed +to kill the crocodile, though it is in the mouth of +every old woman that it possesses the knowledge +of a remedy against the bite of a poisonous snake, +which its instinct leads it to dig out of the ground; +but this <i>on dit</i> has never been ascertained to be +true, and my belief is that it is only based on the +great agility and dexterity of the neulah. Eye-witnesses +say that his battles with man's greatest +enemy end generally in the death of the snake, +which the neulah seizes by the back of the neck, +and after frequent onsets at last kills and eats, +rejecting nothing but the head.</p> + +<p>The color of the Indian neulah is a grayish-brown; +but its chief beauty lies in its splendid +squirrel-like tail, and lively, prominent, dark-brown +eyes. Like most of the weasel kind, however, +it has rather a disagreeable odor; and if it +were not for this there would not be a sweeter +pet in existence.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>So far the experience of an Old Indian; and +we now turn to another authority on the highly-curious +subject just glanced at—the knowledge +of the ichneumon of a specific against the poison +of the snake. Calder Campbell, in his recent +series of tales, "Winter Nights"—and capital +amusement for such nights they are—describes +in almost a painfully truthful manner the adventure +of an officer in India, who was an eye-witness, +under very extraordinary circumstances, to +the feat of the ichneumon. The officer, through +some accident, was wandering on foot, and at +night, through a desolate part of the country, +and at length, overcome with fatigue, threw himself +down on the dry, crisp spear-grass, and just +as the faint edge of the dawn appeared, fell +asleep.</p> + +<p>"No doubt of it! I slept soundly, sweetly—no +doubt of it! I have never <i>since then</i> slept in +the open air either soundly or sweetly, for my +awaking was full of horror! Before I was fully +awake, however, I had a strange perception of +danger, which tied me down to the earth, warning +me against all motion. I knew that there +was a shadow creeping over me, beneath which +to lie in dumb inaction was the wisest resource. +I felt that my lower extremities were being invaded +by the heavy coils of a living chain; but +as if a providential opiate had been infused into +my system, preventing all movement of thew or +sinew, I knew not till I was wide awake that an +enormous serpent covered the whole of my nether +limbs, up to the knees!</p> + +<p>"'My God! I am lost!' was the mental exclamation +I made, as every drop of blood in my +veins seemed turned to ice; and anon I shook +like an aspen leaf, until the very fear that my +sudden palsy might rouse the reptile, occasioned +a revulsion of feeling, and I again lay paralyzed.</p> + +<p>"It slept, or at all events remained stirless; and +how long it so remained I know not, for time to the +fear-struck is as the ring of eternity. All at once +the sky cleared up—the moon shone out—the +stars glanced over me; I could see them all, as +I lay stretched on my side, one hand under my +head, whence I dared not remove it; neither +dared I looked downward at the loathsome bed-fellow +which my evil stars had sent me.</p> + +<p>"Unexpectedly, a new object of terror supervened: +a curious purring sound behind me, followed +by two smart taps on the ground, put the +snake on the alert, for it moved, and I felt that +it was crawling upward to my breast. At that +moment, when I was almost maddened by insupportable +apprehension into starting up to meet, +perhaps, certain destruction, something sprang +upon my shoulder—upon the reptile! There was +a shrill cry from the new assailant, a loud, appalling +hiss from the serpent. For an instant I could +feel them wrestling, as it were, on my body; in +the next, they were beside me on the turf; in +another, a few paces off, struggling, twisting +round each other, fighting furiously, I beheld +them—a <i>mungoos</i> or ichneumon and a <i>cobra di +capello</i>!</p> + +<p>"I started up; I watched that most singular +combat, for all was now clear as day. I saw +them stand aloof for a moment—the deep, venomous +fascination of the snaky glance powerless +against the keen, quick, restless orbs of its opponent: +I saw this duel of the eye exchange +once more for closer conflict: I saw that the +mungoos was bitten; that it darted away, doubtless +in search of that still unknown plant whose +juices are its alleged antidote against snake-bite; +that it returned with fresh vigor to the attack; +and then, glad sight! I saw the cobra di capello, +maimed from hooded head to scaly tail, fall lifeless +from its hitherto demi-erect position with a +baffled hiss; while the wonderful victor, indulging +itself in a series of leaps upon the body of +its antagonist, danced and bounded about, purring +and spitting like an enraged cat!</p> + +<p>"Little graceful creature! I have ever since +kept a pet mungoos—the most attached, the most +playful, and the most frog-devouring of all animals."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Many other authors refer to the alleged antidote +against a snake-bite, known only to the ichneumon, +and there are about as many different +opinions as there are authors; but, on the whole, +our Old Indian appears to us to be on the strongest +side.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>KOSSUTH—A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.</h2> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 549px;"> +<img src="images/illo_34.jpg" width="549" height="618" alt="KOSSUTH, AS GOVERNOR OF HUNGARY IN 1849." title="" /> +<span class="caption">KOSSUTH, AS GOVERNOR OF HUNGARY IN 1849.</span> +</div> + +<p>Louis Kossuth<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> was born at Monok, in +Zemplin, one of the northern counties of +Hungary, on the 27th of April, 1806. His family +was ancient, but impoverished; his father served +in the Austrian army during the wars against +Napoleon; his mother, who still survives to exult +in the glory of her son, is represented to be +a woman of extraordinary force of mind and character. +Kossuth thus adds another to the long +list of great men who seem to have inherited +their genius from their mothers. As a boy he +was remarkable for the winning gentleness of +his disposition, and for an earnest enthusiasm, +which gave promise of future eminence, could he +but break the bonds imposed by low birth and +iron fortune. A young clergyman was attracted +by the character of the boy, and voluntarily took +upon himself the office of his tutor, and thus first +opened before his mind visions of a broader world +than that of the miserable village of his residence. +But these serene days of powers expanding under +genial guidance soon passed away. His father +died, his tutor was translated to another post, +and the walls of his prison-house seemed again +to close upon the boy. But by the aid of members +of his family, themselves in humble circumstances,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +he was enabled to attend such schools +as the district furnished. Little worth knowing +was taught there; but among that little was the +Latin language; and through that door the young +dreamer was introduced into the broad domains +of history, where, abandoning the mean present, +he could range at will through the immortal past. +History relates nothing so spirit-stirring as the +struggles of some bold patriot to overthrow or +resist arbitrary power. Hence the young student +of history is always a republican; but, unlike many +others, Kossuth never changed from that faith.</p> + +<p>The annals of Hungary contain nothing so +brilliant as the series of desperate conflicts which +were waged at intervals for more than two centuries +to maintain the elective character of the +Hungarian monarchy, in opposition to the attempts +of the House of Austria to make the +crown hereditary in the Hapsburg line. In these +wars, from 1527 to 1715, seventeen of the family +of Kossuth had been attainted for high treason +against Austria. The last, most desperate, and +decisively unsuccessful struggle was that waged +by Rakozky, at the beginning of the last century. +Kossuth pored over the chronicles and annals +which narrate the incidents of this contest, till +he was master of all the minutest details. It +might then have been predicted that he would +one day write the history of that fruitless struggle, +and the biography of its hero; but no one +would have dared to prophesy that he would so +closely reproduce it in deeds.</p> + +<p>In times of peace, the law offers to an aspiring +youth the readiest means of ascent from a low +degree to lofty stations. Kossuth, therefore, when +just entering upon manhood, made his way to +Pesth, the capital, to study the legal profession. +Here he entered the office of a notary, and began +gradually to make himself known by his liberal +opinions, and the fervid eloquence with which he +set forth and maintained them; and men began +to see in him the promise of a powerful public +writer, orator, and debater.</p> + +<p>The man and the hour were alike preparing. +In 1825, the year before Kossuth arrived at Pesth, +the critical state of her Italian possessions compelled +Austria to provide extraordinary revenues. +The Hungarian Diet was then assembled, after +an interval of thirteen years. This Diet at once +demanded certain measures of reform before they +would make the desired pecuniary grants. The +court was obliged to concede these demands. +Kossuth, having completed his legal studies, and +finding no favorable opening in the capital, returned, +in 1830, to his native district, and commenced +the practice of the law, with marked +success. He also began to make his way toward +public life by his assiduous attendance and intelligent +action in the local assemblies. A new Diet +was assembled in 1832, and he received a commission +as the representative, in the Diet, of a +magnate who was absent. As proxy for an absentee, +he was only charged, by the Hungarian +Constitution, with a very subordinate part, his +functions being more those of a counsel than of +a delegate. This, however, was a post much +sought for by young and aspiring lawyers, as +giving them an opportunity of mastering legal +forms, displaying their abilities, and forming advantageous +connections.</p> + +<p>This Diet renewed the Liberal struggle with +increased vigor. By far the best talent of Hungary +was ranged upon the Liberal side. Kossuth +early made himself known as a debater, and +gradually won his way upward, and became +associated with the leading men of the Liberal +party, many of whom were among the proudest +and richest of the Hungarian magnates. He +soon undertook to publish a report of the debates +and proceedings of the Diet. This attempt was +opposed by the Palatine, and a law hunted up +which forbade the "printing and publishing" of +these reports. He for a while evaded the law +by having his sheet lithographed. It increased +in its development of democratic tendencies, and +in popularity, until finally the lithographic press +was seized by Government. Kossuth, determined +not to be baffled, still issued his journal, every +copy being written out by scribes, of whom he +employed a large number. To avoid seizure at +the post-office, they were circulated through the +local authorities, who were almost invariably on +the Liberal side. This was a period of intense +activity on the part of Kossuth. He attended +the meetings of the Diet, and the conferences of +the deputies, edited his paper, read almost all +new works on politics and political economy, and +studied French and English for the sake of reading +the debates in the French Chambers and the +British Parliament; allowing himself, we are +told, but three hours' sleep in the twenty-four. +His periodical penetrated into every part of the +kingdom, and men saw with wonder a young and +almost unknown public writer boldly pitting himself +against Metternich and the whole Austrian +Cabinet. Kossuth might well, at this period +declare that he "felt within himself something +nameless."</p> + +<p>In the succeeding Diets the Opposition grew +still more determined. Kossuth, though twice +admonished by Government, still continued his +journal; and no longer confined himself to simple +reports of the proceedings of the Diet, but +added political remarks of the keenest satire and +most bitter denunciation. He was aware that +his course was a perilous one. He was once +found by a friend walking in deep reverie in the +fortress of Buda, and in reply to a question as +to the subject of his meditations, he said, "I was +looking at the casemates, for I fear that I shall +soon be quartered there." Government finally +determined to use arguments more cogent than +discussion could furnish. Baron Wesselenyi, +the leader of the Liberal party, and the most +prominent advocate of the removal of urbarial +burdens, was arrested, together with a number +of his adherents. Kossuth was of course a person +of too much note to be overlooked, and on +the 4th of May, 1837, to use the words of an +Austrian partisan, "it happened that as he was +promenading in the vicinity of Buda, he was +seized by the myrmidons of the law, and confined<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +in the lower walls of the fortress, there to consider, +in darkness and solitude, how dangerous it +is to defy a powerful government, and to swerve +from the path of law and of prudence."</p> + +<p>Kossuth became at once sanctified in the popular +mind as a martyr. Liberal subscriptions +were raised through the country for the benefit +of his mother and sisters, whom he had supported +by his exertions, and who were now left without +protection. Wesselenyi became blind in prison; +Lovassi, an intimate friend of Kossuth, lost his +reason; and Kossuth himself, as was certified +by his physicians, was in imminent risk of falling +a victim to a serious disease. The rigor of his +confinement was mitigated; he was allowed +books, newspapers, and writing materials, and +suffered to walk daily upon the bastions of the +fortress, in charge of an officer. Among those +who were inspired with admiration for his political +efforts, and with sympathy for his fate, was +Teresa Mezlenyi, the young daughter of a nobleman. +She sent him books, and corresponded +with him during his imprisonment; and they +were married in 1841, soon after his liberation.</p> + +<p>The action of the drama went on, though Kossuth +was for a while withdrawn from the stage. +His connection with Wesselenyi procured for him +a degree of influence among the higher magnates +which he could probably in no other way have +attained. Their aid was as essential to the early +success of the Liberals, as was the support of +Essex and Manchester to the Parliament of England +at the commencement of the contest with +Charles I.</p> + +<p>In the second year of Kossuth's imprisonment, +Austria again needed Hungarian assistance. +The threatening aspect of affairs in the East, +growing out of the relations between Turkey +and Egypt, determined all the great powers to +increase their armaments. A demand was made +upon the Hungarian Diet for an additional levy +of 18,000 troops. A large body of delegates was +chosen pledged to oppose this grant except upon +condition of certain concessions, among which +was a general amnesty, with a special reference +to the cases of Wesselenyi and Kossuth. The +most sagacious of the Conservative party advised +Government to liberate all the prisoners, with the +exception of Kossuth; and to do this before the +meeting of the Diet, in order that their liberation +might not be made a condition of granting the +levy; which must be the occasion of great excitement. +The Cabinet temporized, and did nothing. +The Diet was opened, and the contest +was waged during six months. The Opposition +had a majority of two in the Chamber of Deputies, +but were in a meagre minority in the Chamber +of Magnates. But Metternich and the Cabinet +grew alarmed at the struggle, and were eager +to obtain the grant of men, and to close the refractory +Diet. In 1840 a royal rescript suddenly +made its appearance, granting the amnesty, accompanied +also with conciliatory remarks, and +the demands of the Government for men and +money were at once complied with. This action +of Government weakened the ranks of its supporters +among the Hungarian magnates, who +thus found themselves exposed to the charge of +being more despotic than the Cabinet of Metternich +itself.</p> + +<p>Kossuth issued from prison in 1840, after an +imprisonment of three years, bearing in his debilitated +frame, his pallid face, and glassy eyes, +traces of severe sufferings, both of mind and +body. He repaired for a time to a watering-place +among the mountains to recruit his shattered +health. His imprisonment had done more +for his influence than he could have effected if +at liberty. The visitors at the watering-place +treated with silent respect the man who moved +about among them in dressing-gown and slippers, +and whose slow steps, and languid features +disfigured with yellow spots, proclaimed him an +invalid. Abundant subscriptions had been made +for his benefit and that of his family, and he now +stood on an equality with the proudest magnates. +These had so often used the name of the "Martyr +of the liberty of the press" in pointing their +speeches, that they now had no choice but to accept +the popular verdict as their own. Kossuth, +in the meanwhile mingled little with the society +at the watering-place; but preferred, as his +health improved, to wander among the forest-clad +hills and lonely valleys, where, says one +who there became acquainted with him, and was +his frequent companion, "the song of birds, a +group of trees, and even the most insignificant +phenomena of nature furnished occasions for +conversation." But now and then flashes would +burst forth which showed that he was revolving +other things in his mind. Sometimes a chord +would be casually struck which awoke deeper +feelings, then his rare eloquence would burst +forth with the fearful earnestness of conviction, +and he hurled forth sentences instinct with life +and passion. The wife of the Lord-Lieutenant, +the daughter of a great magnate, was attracted +by his appearance, and desired this companion +of Kossuth to introduce him to her house. When +this desire was made known to Kossuth, the +mysterious and nervous expression passed over +his face, which characterizes it when excited. +"No," he exclaimed, "I will not go to that woman's +house; her father subscribed four-pence +to buy a rope to hang me with!"</p> + +<p>Soon after his liberation, he came forward as +the principal editor of the "Pesth Gazette" +(<i>Pesthi Hirlap</i>), which a bookseller, who enjoyed +the protection of the Government, had received +permission to establish. The name of the editor +was now sufficient to electrify the country; and +Kossuth at once stood forth as the advocate of +the rights of the lower and middle classes against +the inordinate privileges and immunities enjoyed +by the magnates. But when he went to the extent +of demanding that the house-tax should be +paid by all classes in the community, not even +excepting the highest nobility, a party was raised +up against him among the nobles, who established +a paper to combat so disorganizing a doctrine. +This party, backed by the influence of +Government, succeeded in defeating the election<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +of Kossuth as member from Pesth for the Diet +of 1843. He was, however, very active in the +local Assembly of the capital.</p> + +<p>Kossuth was not altogether without support +among the higher nobles. The blind old Wesselenyi +traversed the country, advocating rural +freedom and the abolition of the urbarial burdens. +Among his supporters at this period also, +was Count Louis Batthyanyi, one of the most +considerable of the Magyar magnates, subsequently +President of the Hungarian Ministry, +and the most illustrious martyr of the Hungarian +cause. Aided by his powerful support, Kossuth +was again brought forward, in 1847, as one of the +two candidates from Pesth. The Government +party, aware that they were in a decided minority, +limited their efforts to an attempt to defeat the +election of Kossuth. This they endeavored to +effect by stratagem. The Liberal party nominated +Szentkiraly and Kossuth. The Government +party also named the former. The Royal +Administrator, who presided at the election, decided +that Szentkiraly was chosen by acclamation; +but that a poll must be held for the other +member. Before the intention of Kossuth to +present himself as a candidate was known, the +Liberals had proposed M. Balla as second delegate. +He at once resigned in favor of Kossuth. +The Government party cast their votes for him, +in hopes of drawing off a portion of the Liberal +party from the support of Kossuth. M. Balla +loudly but unavailingly protested against this +stratagem; and when after a scrutiny of twelve +hours, Kossuth was declared elected, Balla was +the first to applaud. That night Kossuth, Balla, +and Szentkiraly were serenaded by the citizens +of Pesth; they descended together to the street, +and walked arm-in-arm among the crowd. The +Royal Administrator was severely reprimanded +for not having found means to prevent the election +of Kossuth.</p> + +<p>Kossuth no sooner took his seat in the Diet +than the foremost place was at once conceded to +him. At the opening of the session he moved +an address to the king, concluding with the petition +that "liberal institutions, similar to those +of the Hungarian Constitution, might be accorded +to all the hereditary states, that thus might +be created a united Austrian monarchy, based +upon broad and constitutional principles." During +the early months of the session Kossuth +showed himself a most accomplished parliamentary +orator and debater; and carried on a series +of attacks upon the policy of the Austrian Cabinet, +which for skill and power have few parallels +in the annals of parliamentary warfare. Those +form a very inadequate conception of its scope +and power, whose ideas of the eloquence of Kossuth +are derived solely from the impassioned and +exclamatory harangues which he flung out during +the war. These were addressed to men wrought +up to the utmost tension, and can be judged fairly +only by men in a state of high excitement. +He adapted his matter and manner to the occasion +and the audience. Some of his speeches +are marked by a stringency of logic worthy of +Webster or Calhoun:—but it was what all eloquence +of a high order must ever be—"Logic +red-hot."</p> + +<p>Now came the French Revolution of February, +1848. The news of it reached Vienna on the +1st of March, and was received at Pressburg on +the 2d. On the following day Kossuth delivered +his famous speech on the finances and the state +of the monarchy generally, concluding with a proposed +"Address to the Throne," urging a series +of reformatory measures. Among the foremost +of these was the emancipation of the country +from feudal burdens—the proprietors of the soil +to be indemnified by the state; equalizing taxation; +a faithful administration of the revenue to +be satisfactorily guaranteed; the further development +of the representative system; and the establishment +of a government representing the voice +of, and responsible to the nation.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> The speech +produced an effect almost without parallel in the +annals of debate. Not a word was uttered in +reply, and the motion was unanimously carried. +On the 13th of March took place the revolution +in Vienna which overthrew the Metternich Cabinet. +On the 15th, the Constitution granted by +the Emperor to all the nations within the Empire +was solemnly proclaimed, amidst the wildest +transports of joy. Henceforth there were to +be no more Germans or Sclavonians, Magyars or +Italians; strangers embraced and kissed each +other in the streets, for all the heterogeneous +races of the Empire were now brothers:—as likewise +were all the nations of the earth at Anacharsis +Klootz's "Feast of Pikes" in Paris, on +that 14th day of July in the year of grace 1790—and +yet, notwithstanding, came the "Reign of +Terror."</p> + +<p>Among the demands made by the Hungarian +Diet was that of a separate and responsible Ministry +for Hungary. The Palatine, Archduke +Stephen, to whom the conduct of affairs in Hungary +had been intrusted, persuaded the Emperor +to accede to this demand, and on the following +day Batthyanyi, who with Kossuth and a deputation +of delegates of the Diet was in Vienna, +was named President of the Hungarian Ministry. +It was, however, understood that Kossuth was +the life and soul of the new Ministry.</p> + +<p>Kossuth assumed the department of Finance, +then, as long before and now, the post of difficulty +under Austrian administration. The Diet +meanwhile went on to consummate the series of +reforms which Kossuth had so long and steadfastly +advocated. The remnants of feudalism<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +were swept away—the landed proprietors being +indemnified by the state for the loss they sustained. +The civil and political rights which had +heretofore been in the exclusive possession of +the nobles, were extended to the burghers and +the peasants. A new electoral law was framed, +according the right of suffrage to every possessor +of property to the amount of about one hundred +and fifty dollars. The whole series of bills received +the royal signature on the 11th of April; +the Diet having previously adjourned to meet on +the 2d of July.</p> + +<p>Up to this time there had been indeed a vigorous +and decided opposition, but no insurrection. +The true cause of the Hungarian war was the +hostility of the Austrian Government to the whole +series of reformatory measures which had been +effected through the instrumentality of Kossuth; +but its immediate occasion was the jealousy +which sprung up among the Serbian and Croatian +dependencies of Hungary against the Hungarian +Ministry. This soon broke out into an +open revolt, headed by Baron Jellachich, who had +just been appointed Ban or Lord of Croatia. How +far the Serbs and Croats had occasion for jealousy, +is of little consequence to our present +purpose to inquire; though we may say, in passing, +that the proceedings of the Magyars toward +the other Hungarian races was marked by a far +more just and generous feeling and conduct than +could have been possibly expected; and that the +whole ground of hostility was sheer misrepresentation; +and this, if we may credit the latest +and best authorities, is now admitted by the +Sclavic races themselves. But however the case +may have been as between the Magyars and +Croats, as between the Hungarians and Austria, +the hostile course of the latter is without excuse +or palliation. The Emperor had solemnly sanctioned +the action of the Diet, and did as solemnly +denounce the proceedings of Jellachich. On the +29th of May the Ban was summoned to present +himself at Innspruck, to answer for his conduct; +and as he did not make his appearance, an Imperial +manifesto was issued on the 10th of June, depriving +him of all his dignities, and commanding +the authorities at once to break off all intercourse +with him. He, however, still continued his operations, +and levied an army for the invasion of +Hungary, and a fierce and bloody war of races +broke out, marked on both sides by the most +fearful atrocities.</p> + +<p>The Hungarian Diet was opened on the 5th +of July, when the Palatine, Archduke Stephen, +in the name of the king, solemnly denounced the +conduct of the insurgent Croats. A few days +after, Kossuth, in a speech in the Diet, set forth +the perilous state of affairs, and concluded by asking +for authority to raise an army of 200,000 men, +and a large amount of money. These proposals +were adopted by acclamation, the enthusiasm in +the Diet rendering any debate impossible and +superfluous.</p> + +<p>The Imperial forces having been victorious in +Italy, and one pressing danger being thus averted +from the Empire, the Austrian Cabinet began +openly to display its hostility to the Hungarian +movement. Jellachich repaired to Innspruck, +and was openly acknowledged by the court, and +the decree of deposition was revoked. Early in +September Hungary and Austria stood in an attitude +of undisguised hostility. On the 5th of +that month, Kossuth, though enfeebled by illness, +was carried to the hall of the Diet where he delivered +a speech, declaring that so formidable +were the dangers that surrounded the nation, +that the Ministers might soon be forced to call +upon the Diet to name a Dictator, clothed with +unlimited powers, to save the country; but before +taking this final step they would recommend +a last appeal to the Imperial government. A +large deputation was thereupon dispatched to +the Emperor, to lay before him the demands of +the Hungarian nation. No satisfactory answer +was returned, and the deputation left the Imperial +presence in silence. On their return, they +plucked from their caps the plumes of the united +colors of Austria and Hungary, and replaced +them with red feathers, and hoisted a flag of the +same color on the steamer which conveyed them +to Pesth. Their report produced the most intense +agitation in the Diet, and at the capital, but +it was finally resolved to make one more attempt +for a pacific settlement of the question. In order +that no obstacle might be interposed by their +presence, Kossuth and his colleagues resigned, +and a new Ministry was appointed. A deputation +was sent to the National Assembly at Vienna, +which refused to receive it. Jellachich +had in the mean time entered Hungary with a +large army, not as yet, however, openly sanctioned +by Imperial authority. The Diet seeing +the imminent peril of the country, conferred dictatorial +powers upon Kossuth. The Palatine +resigned his post, and left the kingdom. The +Emperor appointed Count Lemberg to take the +entire command of the Hungarian army. The +Diet declared the appointment illegal, and the +Count, arriving at Pesth without escort, was +slain in the streets of the capital by the populace, +in a sudden outbreak. The Emperor forthwith +placed the kingdom under martial law, +giving the supreme civil and military power to +Jellachich. The Diet at once revolted; declared +itself permanent, and appointed Kossuth Governor, +and President of the Committee of Safety.</p> + +<p>There was now but one course left for the +Hungarians: to maintain by force of arms the +position they had assumed. We can not detail +the events of the war which followed, but merely +touch upon the most salient points. Jellachich +was speedily driven out of Hungary, toward +Vienna. In October, the Austrian forces were +concentrated under command of Windischgrätz, +to the number of 120,000 veterans, and were put +on the march for Hungary. To oppose them, the +only forces under the command of the new Government +of Hungary, were 20,000 regular infantry, +7000 cavalry, and 14,000 recruits, who +received the name of Honveds, or "protectors +of home." Of all the movements that followed, +Kossuth was the soul and chief. His burning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +and passionate appeals stirred up the souls of +the peasants, and sent them by thousands to the +camp. He kindled enthusiasm, he organized +that enthusiasm, and transformed those raw recruits +into soldiers more than a match for the +veteran troops of Austria. Though himself not +a soldier, he discovered and drew about him +soldiers and generals of a high order. The result +was that Windischgrätz was driven back +from Hungary, and of the 120,000 troops which +he led into that kingdom in October, one half +were killed, disabled, or taken prisoners at the +end of April. The state of the war on the 1st +of May, may be gathered from the Imperial manifesto +of that date, which announced that "the +insurrection in Hungary had grown to such an +extent," that the Imperial Government "had +been induced to appeal to the assistance of his +Majesty the Czar of all the Russias, who generously +and readily granted it to a most satisfactory +extent." The issue of the contest could no longer +be doubtful, when the immense weight of Russia +was thrown into the scale. Had all power, +civil and military been concentrated in one person, +and had he displayed the brilliant generalship +and desperate courage which Napoleon +manifested in 1814, when the overwhelming +forces of the allies were marching upon Paris, +the fall of Hungary might have been delayed for +a few weeks, perhaps to another campaign; but +it could not have been averted. In modern warfare +there is a limit beyond which devotion and +enthusiasm can not supply the place of numbers +and material force. And that limit was overpassed +when Russia and Austria were pitted +against Hungary.</p> + +<p>The chronology of the Hungarian struggle +may be thus stated: On the 9th of September, +1848, Jellachich crossed the Drave and invaded +Hungary; and was driven back at the close of +that month toward Vienna. In October, Windischgrätz +advanced into Hungary, and took +possession of Pesth, the capital. On the 14th +of April, 1849, the Declaration of Hungarian +Independence was promulgated. At the close +of that month, the Austrians were driven out at +every point, and the issue of the contest, as between +Hungary and Austria, was settled. On +the 1st of May the Russian intervention was +announced. On the 11th of August Kossuth +resigned his dictatorship into the hands of Görgey +who, two days after, in effect closed the war +by surrendering to the Russians.</p> + +<p>The Hungarian war thus lasted a little more +than eleven months; during which time there +was but one ruling and directing spirit; and +that was Kossuth, to whose immediate career +we now return.</p> + +<p>Early in January it was found advisable to +remove the seat of government from Pesth to +the town of Debreczin, situated in the interior. +Pesth was altogether indefensible, and the Austrian +army were close upon it; but here the Hungarians +had collected a vast amount of stores and +ammunition, the preservation of which was of the +utmost importance. In saving these the administrative +power of Kossuth was strikingly manifested. +For three days and three nights he labored +uninterruptedly in superintending the removal, +which was successfully effected. From +the heaviest locomotive engine down to a shot-belt, +all the stores were packed up and carried +away, so that when the Austrians took possession +of Pesth, they only gained the eclat of occupying +the Hungarian capital, without acquiring +the least solid advantage.</p> + +<p>Debreczin was the scene where Kossuth displayed +his transcendent abilities as an administrator, +a statesman, and an orator. The population +of the town was about 50,000, which was at +once almost doubled, so that every one was forced +to put up with such accommodations as he could +find, and occupy the least possible amount of +space. Kossuth himself occupied the Town Hall. +On the first floor was a spacious ante-room, constantly +filled with persons waiting for an interview, +which was, necessarily, a matter of delay, +as each one was admitted in his turn; the only +exception being in cases where public business +required an immediate audience.</p> + +<p>This ante-room opened into two spacious apartments, +in one of which the secretaries of the Governor +were always at work. Here Kossuth received +strangers. At these audiences he spoke +but little, but listened attentively, occasionally +taking notes of any thing that seemed of importance. +His secretaries were continually coming +to him to receive directions, to present a report, or +some document to receive his signature. These +he never omitted to examine carefully, before affixing +his signature, even amidst the greatest +pressure of business; at the same time listening +to the speaker. "Be brief," he used to say, "but +for that very reason forget nothing." These +hours of audience were also his hours of work, +and here it was that he wrote those stirring appeals +which aroused and kept alive the spirit of +his countrymen. It was only when he had some +document of extraordinary importance to prepare, +that he retired to his closet. These audiences +usually continued until far into the night, the ante-room +being often as full at midnight as in the +morning. Although of a delicate constitution, +broken also by his imprisonment, the excitement +bore him up under the immense mental and bodily +exertion, and while there was work to do he +was never ill.</p> + +<p>He usually allowed himself an hour for rest or +relaxation, from two till three o'clock, when he +was accustomed to take a drive with his wife and +children to a little wood at a short distance, where +he would seek out some retired spot, and play +upon the grass with his children, and for a moment +forget the pressing cares of state.</p> + +<p>At three o'clock he dined; and at the conclusion +of his simple meal, was again at his post. +This round of audiences was frequently interrupted +by a council of war, a conference of ministers, +or the review of a regiment just on the +point of setting out for the seat of hostilities. +New battalions seemed to spring from the earth +at his command, and he made a point of reviewing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +each, and delivering to them a brief address, +which was always received with a burst of +"<i>eljens</i>."</p> + +<p>At Debreczin the sittings of the House of Assembly +were held in what had been the chapel +of the Protestant College. Kossuth attended +these sittings only when he had some important +communications to make. Then he always +walked over from the Town Hall. Entering the +Assembly, he ascended the rostrum, if it was not +occupied; if it was, he took his place in any vacant +seat, none being specially set apart for the +Governor. He was a monarch, but with an invisible +throne, the hearts of his subjects. When +the rostrum was vacant, he would ascend it, and +lay before the Assembly his propositions, or sway +all hearts by his burning and fervent eloquence.</p> + +<p>Such was the daily life of Kossuth at the temporary +seat of government, bearing upon his +shoulders the affairs of state, calling up, as if by +magic, regiment after regiment, providing for +their arming, equipment, and maintenance, while +the Hungarian generals were contending on the +field, with various fortunes; triumphantly against +the Austrians, desperately and hopelessly when +Russia was added to the enemy.</p> + +<p>The defeat of Bem at Temesvar, on the 9th of +August gave the death-blow to the cause. Two +days afterward, Kossuth and Görgey stood alone +in the bow-window of a small chamber in the +fortress of Arad. What passed between them +no man knows; but from that room Görgey went +forth Dictator of Hungary; and Kossuth followed +him to set out on his journey of exile. On the +same day the new Dictator announced to the +Russians his intention to surrender the forces +under his command. The following day he +marched to the place designated, where the Russian +General Rudiger arrived on the 13th, and +Görgey's army, numbering 24,000 men, with 144 +pieces of artillery, laid down their arms.</p> + +<p>Nothing remained for Kossuth and his companions +but flight. They gained the Turkish +frontier, and threw themselves on the hospitality +of the Sultan, who promised them a safe asylum. +Russia and Austria demanded that the fugitives +should be given up; and for some months it was +uncertain whether the Turkish Government would +dare to refuse. At first a decided negative was +returned; then the Porte wavered; and it was +officially announced to Kossuth and his companions +that the only means for them to avoid +surrendry would be to abjure the faith of their +fathers; and thus take advantage of the fundamental +Moslem law, that any fugitive embracing +the Mohammedan faith can claim the protection +of the Government. Kossuth refused to purchase +his life at such a price. And finally Austria +and Russia were induced to modify their +demand, and merely to insist upon the detention +of the fugitives. On the other hand, the Turkish +Government was urged to allow them to depart. +Early in the present year, Mr. Webster, +as Secretary of State, directed our Minister at +Constantinople to urge the Porte to suffer the +exiles to come to the United States. A similar +course was pursued by the British Government. +It was promised that these representations should +be complied with; but so late as in March of the +present year, Kossuth addressed a letter to our +Chargé at Constantinople, despairing of his release +being granted. But happily his fears were +groundless; and our Government was notified +that on the 1st of September, the day on which +terminated the period of detention agreed upon +by the Sultan, Kossuth and his companions would +be free to depart to any part of the world. The +United States steam-frigate Mississippi, was at +once placed at his disposal. The offer was accepted. +On the 12th of September the steamer +reached Smyrna, with the illustrious exile and +his family and suite on board, bound to our shores, +after a short visit in England. The Government +of France, in the meanwhile, denied him the privilege +of passing through their territory. While +this sheet is passing through the press, we are +in daily expectation of the arrival of Kossuth in +our country, where a welcome awaits him warmer +and more enthusiastic than has greeted any +man who has ever approached our shores, saving +only the time when <span class="smcap">La Fayette</span> was our nation's +honored guest.</p> + +<p>It is right and fitting that it should be so. +When a monarch is dethroned it is appropriate +that neighboring monarchies should accord a +hearty and hospitable reception to him, as the +representative of the monarchical principle, even +though his own personal character should present +no claims upon esteem or regard. Kossuth comes +to us as the exiled representative of those fundamental +principles upon which our political institutions +are based. He is the representative of +these principles, not by the accident of birth, but +by deliberate choice. He has maintained them +at a fearful hazard. It is therefore our duty and +our privilege to greet him with a hearty, "Well +done!"</p> + +<p>Kossuth occupies a position peculiarly his own, +whether we regard the circumstances of his rise, +or the feelings which have followed him in his +fall. Born in the middle ranks of life, he raised +himself by sheer force of intellect to the loftiest +place among the proudest nobles on earth, without +ever deserting or being deserted by the class +from which he sprung. He effected a sweeping +reform without appealing to any sordid or sanguinary +motive. No soldier himself, he transformed +a country into a camp, and a nation into +an army. He transmuted his words into batteries, +and his thoughts into soldiers. Without +ever having looked upon a stricken field, he organized +the most complete system of resistance +to despotism that the history of revolutions has +furnished. It failed, but only failed where nothing +could have succeeded.</p> + +<p>Not less peculiar are the feelings which have +followed him in his fall. Men who have saved +a state have received the unbounded love and +gratitude of their countrymen. Those who have +fallen in the lost battle for popular rights, or who +have sealed their devotion on the scaffold or in +the dungeon, are reverenced as martyrs forevermore.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +But Kossuth's endeavors have been sanctified +and hallowed neither by success nor by +martyrdom. He is the living leader of a lost +cause. His country is ruined, its nationality destroyed, +and through his efforts. Yet no Hungarian +lays this ruin to his charge; and the first +lesson taught the infant Magyar is a blessing +upon his name. Yet whatever the future may +have in store, his efforts have not been lost +efforts. The tree which he planted in blood and +agony and tears, though its tender shoots have +been trampled down by the Russian bear, will +yet spring up again to gladden, if not his heart, +yet those of his children or his children's children. +The man may perish, but the cause endures.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE LEGEND OF THE LOST WELL.</h2> + + +<p>In ancient times there existed in the desert +that lies to the west of Egypt—somewhere +between the sun at its setting and the city of +Siout—a tribe of Arabs that called themselves +Waled Allah, or The Children of God. They +professed Mohammedanism, but were in every +other respect different from their neighbors to +the north and south, and from the inhabitants of +the land of Egypt. It was their custom during +the months of summer to draw near to the confines +of the cultivated country and hold intercourse +with its people, selling camels and wool, +and other desert productions; but when winter +came they drew off toward the interior of the +wilderness, and it was not known where they +abode. They were by no means great in numbers; +but such was their skill in arms, and their +reputation for courage, that no tribe ever ventured +to trespass on their limits, and all caravans +eagerly paid to them the tribute of safe-conduct.</p> + +<p>Such was the case for many years; but at +length it came to pass that the Waled Allah, +after departing as usual for the winter, returned +in great disorder and distress toward the neighborhood +of the Nile. Those who saw them on +that occasion reported that their sufferings must +have been tremendous. More than two-thirds +of their cattle, a great number of the women and +children, and several of the less hardy men, were +missing; but they would not at first confess what +had happened to them. When, however, they +asked permission to settle temporarily on some +unoccupied lands, the curious and inquisitive went +among them, and by degrees the truth came +out.</p> + +<p>It appeared that many centuries ago one of +their tribe, following the track of some camels +that had strayed, had ventured to a great distance +in the desert, and had discovered a pass in +the mountains leading into a spacious valley, in +the midst of which was a well of the purest water, +that overflowed and fertilized the land around. +As the man at once understood the importance of +his discovery, he devoted himself for his tribe, and +returned slowly, piling up stones here and there +that the way might not again be lost. When +he arrived at the station he had only sufficient +strength to relate what he had seen before he +died of fatigue and thirst. So they called the +well after him—Bir Hassan.</p> + +<p>It was found that the valley was only habitable +during the winter; for being surrounded +with perpendicular rocks it became like a furnace +in the hot season—the vegetation withered +into dust, and the waters hid themselves within +the bowels of the earth. They resolved, therefore, +to spend one half of their time in that spot, +where they built a city; and during the other +half of their time they dwelt, as I have said, on +the confines of the land of Egypt.</p> + +<p>But it was found that only by a miracle had +the well of Hassan been discovered. Those who +tried without the aid of the road-marks to make +their way to it invariably failed. So it became +an institution of the tribe that two men should +be left, with a sufficient supply of water and +food, in a large cave overlooking the desert near +the entrance of the valley; and that they should +watch for the coming of the tribe, and when a +great fire was lighted on a certain hill, should +answer by another fire, and thus guide their +people. This being settled, the piles of stones +were dispersed, lest the greedy Egyptians, hearing +by chance of this valley, should make their +way to it.</p> + +<p>How long matters continued in this state is +not recorded, but at length, when the tribe set +out to return to their winter quarters, and reached +the accustomed station and lighted the fire, +no answering fire appeared. They passed the +first night in expectation, and the next day, and +the next night, saying: "Probably the men are +negligent;" but at length they began to despair. +They had brought but just sufficient water with +them for the journey, and death began to menace +them. In vain they endeavored to find the road. +A retreat became necessary; and, as I have said, +they returned and settled on the borders of the +land of Egypt. Many men, however, went back +many times year after year to endeavor to find +the lost well; but some were never heard of +more, and some returned, saying that the search +was in vain.</p> + +<p>Nearly a hundred years passed away, and the +well became forgotten, and the condition of the +tribe had undergone a sad change. It never recovered +its great disaster: wealth and courage +disappeared; and the governors of Egypt, seeing +the people dependent and humble-spirited, began, +as is their wont, to oppress them, and lay on +taxes and insults. Many times a bold man of +their number would propose that they should go +and join some of the other tribes of Arabs, and +solicit to be incorporated with them; but the idea +was laughed at as extravagant, and they continued +to live on in misery and degradation.</p> + +<p>It happened that the chief of the tribe at the +time of which I now speak was a man of gentle +character and meek disposition, named Abdallah +the Good, and that he had a son, like one of the +olden time, stout, and brave as a lion, named +Ali. This youth could not brook the subjection +in which his people were kept, nor the wrongs +daily heaped upon them, and was constantly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +revolving in his mind the means of escape and +revenge. When he gave utterance to these sentiments, +however, his father, Abdallah, severely rebuked +him; for he feared the power of the +lords of Egypt, and dreaded lest mischief might +befall his family or his tribe.</p> + +<p>Now contemporary with Abdallah the Good +there was a governor of Siout named Omar the +Evil. He had gained a great reputation in the +country by his cruelties and oppressions, and +was feared by high and low. Several times had +he treated the Waled Allah with violence and +indignity, bestowing upon them the name of +Waled Sheitan, or Children of the Devil, and +otherwise vexing and annoying them, besides +levying heavy tribute, and punishing with extreme +severity the slightest offense. One day +he happened to be riding along in the neighborhood +of their encampment when he observed Ali +trying the paces of a handsome horse which he +had purchased. Covetousness entered his mind, +and calling to the youth, he said, "What is the +price of thy horse?"</p> + +<p>"It is not for sale," was the reply.</p> + +<p>No sooner were the words uttered than Omar +made a signal to his men, who rushed forward, +threw the young man to the ground in spite of +his resistance, and leaving him there, returned +leading the horse. Omar commanded them to +bring it with them, and rode away, laughing +heartily at his exploit.</p> + +<p>But Ali was not the man to submit tamely to +such injustice. He endeavored at first to rouse +the passions of his tribe, but not succeeding, resolved +to revenge himself or die in the attempt. +One night, therefore, he took a sharp dagger, +disguised himself, and lurking about the governor's +palace, contrived to introduce himself without +being seen, and to reach the garden, where +he had heard it was the custom of Omar to repose +awhile as he waited for his supper. A +light guided him to the kiosque where the tyrant +slept alone, not knowing that vengeance was +nigh. Ali paused a moment, doubting whether +it was just to strike an unprepared foe; but he +remembered all his tribe had suffered as well as +himself, and raising his dagger, advanced stealthily +toward the couch where the huge form of the +governor lay.</p> + +<p>A slight figure suddenly interposed between +him and the sleeping man. It was that of a +young girl, who, with terror in her looks, waved +him back. "What wouldst thou, youth?" she +inquired.</p> + +<p>"I come to slay that enemy," replied Ali, +endeavoring to pass her and effect his purpose +while there was yet time.</p> + +<p>"It is my father," said she, still standing in +the way and awing him by the power of her +beauty.</p> + +<p>"Thy father is a tyrant, and deserves to +die."</p> + +<p>"If he be a tyrant he is still my father; and +thou, why shouldst thou condemn him?"</p> + +<p>"He has injured me and my tribe."</p> + +<p>"Let injuries be forgiven, as we are commanded. +I will speak for thee and thy tribe. Is not +thy life valuable to thee? Retire ere it be too +late; and by my mother, who is dead, I swear +to thee that I will cause justice to be done."</p> + +<p>"Not from any hopes of justice, but as a +homage to God for having created such marvelous +beauty, do I retire and spare the life of that +man which I hold in my hands."</p> + +<p>So saying Ali sprang away, and effected his +escape. No sooner was he out of sight than +Omar, who had been awakened by the sound of +voices, but who had feigned sleep when he +heard what turn affairs were taking, arose and +laughed, saying: "Well done, Amina! thou art +worthy of thy father. How thou didst cajole +that son of a dog by false promises?"</p> + +<p>"Nay, father; what I have promised must be +performed."</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay. Thou didst promise justice, and, +by the beards of my ancestors, justice shall assuredly +be done!"</p> + +<p>Next day Ali was seized and conducted to +the prison adjoining the governor's palace. Amina, +when she heard of this, in vain sought to +obtain his release. Her father laughed at her +scruples, and avowed his intention of putting +the young man to death in the cruelest possible +manner. He had him brought before him, bound +and manacled, and amused himself by reviling +and taunting him—calling him a fool for having +yielded to the persuasions of a foolish girl! Ali, +in spite of all, did not reply; for he now thought +more of Amina than of the indignities to which +he was subjected; and instead of replying with +imprudent courage, as under other circumstances +he might have done, he took care not to exasperate +the tyrant, and meanwhile revolved in his +mind the means of escape. If he expected that +his mildness would disarm the fury of Omar, +never was mistake greater; for almost in the +same breath with the order for his being conducted +back to prison was given that for public +proclamation of his execution to take place on +the next day.</p> + +<p>There came, however, a saviour during the +night: it was the young Amina, who, partly +moved by generous indignation that her word +should have been given in vain, partly by another +feeling, bribed the jailers, and leading forth the +young man, placed him by the side of his trusty +steed which had been stolen from him, and bade +him fly for his life. He lingered to thank her +and enjoy her society. They talked long and +more and more confidentially. At length the +first streaks of dawn began to show themselves; +and Amina, as she urged him to begone, clung +to the skirts of his garments. He hesitated a +moment, a few hurried words passed, and presently +she was behind him on the horse, clasping +his waist, and away they went toward the mountains, +into the midst of which they soon penetrated +by a rugged defile.</p> + +<p>Amina had been prudent enough to prepare a +small supply of provisions, and Ali knew where +at that season water was to be found in small +quantities. His intention was to penetrate to a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +certain distance in the desert, and then turning +south, to seek the encampment of a tribe with +some of whose members he was acquainted. +Their prospects were not very discouraging; for +even if pursuit were attempted, Ali justly confided +in his superior knowledge of the desert: +he expected in five days to reach the tents toward +which he directed his course, and he calculated +that the small bag of flour which Amina +had provided would prevent them at least from +dying of hunger during that time.</p> + +<p>The first stage was a long one. For seven +hours he proceeded in a direct line from the +rising sun, the uncomplaining Amina clinging +still to him; but at length the horse began to +exhibit symptoms of fatigue, and its male rider +of anxiety. They had traversed an almost uninterrupted +succession of rocky valleys, but now +reached an elevated undulating plain covered with +huge black boulders that seemed to stretch like +a petrified sea to the distant horizon. Now and +then they had seen during their morning's ride, +in certain little sheltered nooks, small patches of +a stunted vegetation; but now all was bleak and +barren, and grim like the crater of a volcano. +And yet it was here that Ali expected evidently +to find water—most necessary to them; for all +three were feeling the symptoms of burning +thirst. He paused every now and then, checking +his steed, and rising in his stirrups to gaze +ahead or on one side; but each time his search +was in vain. At length he said: "Possibly I +have, in the hurry of my thoughts, taken the +wrong defile, in which case nothing but death +awaits us. We shall not have strength to retrace +our footsteps, and must die here in this horrible +place. Stand upon the saddlebow, Amina, +while I support thee: if thou seest any thing +like a white shining cloud upon the ground, we +are saved."</p> + +<p>Amina did as she was told, and gazed for a +few moments around. Suddenly she cried: "I +see, as it were a mist of silver far, far away to +the left."</p> + +<p>"It is the first well," replied Ali; and he +urged his stumbling steed in that direction.</p> + +<p>It soon appeared that they were approaching +a mound of dazzling whiteness. Close by was +a little hollow, apparently dry. But Ali soon +scraped away a quantity of the clayey earth, and +presently the water began to collect, trickling in +from the sides. In a couple of hours they procured +enough for themselves and for the horse, +and ate some flour diluted in a wooden bowl; +after which they lay down to rest beneath a +ledge of rock that threw a little shade. Toward +evening, after Ali had carefully choked up the +well, lest it might be dried by the sun, they resumed +their journey, and arrived about midnight +at a lofty rock in the midst of the plain, visible +at a distance of many hours in the moonlight. +In a crevice near the summit of this they found +a fair supply of water, and having refreshed +themselves, reposed until dawn. Then Amina +prepared their simple meal, and soon afterward +off they went again over the burning plain.</p> + +<p>This time, as Ali knew beforehand, there was +no prospect of well or water for twenty-four +hours; and unfortunately they had not been able +to procure a skin. However, they carried some +flour well moistened in their wooden bowl, which +they covered with a large piece of wet linen, and +studied to keep from the sun. They traveled +almost without intermission the whole of that +day and a great part of the night. Ali now saw +that it was necessary to rest, and they remained +where they were until near morning.</p> + +<p>"Dearest Amina," said he, returning to the +young girl after having climbed to the top of a +lofty rock and gazed anxiously ahead, "I think +I see the mountain where the next water is to be +found. If thou art strong enough, we will push +on at once."</p> + +<p>Though faint and weary, Amina said: "Let +us be going;" and now it was necessary for Ali +to walk, the horse refusing to carry any longer a +double burden. They advanced, however, rapidly; +and at length reached the foot of a lofty range +of mountains, all white, and shining in the sun +like silver. In one of the gorges near the summit +Ali knew there was usually a small reservoir +of water; but he had only been there once in his +boyhood, when on his way to visit the tribe with +which he now expected to find a shelter. However, +he thought he recognized various landmarks, +and began to ascend with confidence. +The sun beat furiously down on the barren and +glistering ground; and the horse exhausted, more +than once refused to proceed. He had not eaten +once since their departure, and Ali knew that +he must perish ere the journey was concluded.</p> + +<p>As they neared the summit of the ridge, the +young man recognized with joy a rock in the +shape of a crouching camel that had formerly +been pointed out to him as indicating the neighborhood +of the reservoir, and pressed on with renewed +confidence. What was his horror, however, +on reaching the place he sought, at beholding +it quite dry! dry, and hot as an oven! The +water had all escaped by a crevice recently formed. +Ali now believed that death was inevitable; +and folding the fainting Amina in his arms, sat +down and bewailed his lot in a loud voice.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a strange sight presented itself. A +small caravan appeared coming down the ravine—not +of camels, nor of horses, nor asses, but of +goats and a species of wild antelope. They +moved slowly, and behind them walked with tottering +steps a man of great age with a vast white +beard, supporting himself with a long stick. Ali +rushed forward to a goat which bore a water-skin, +seized it, and without asking permission carried +it to Amina. Both drank with eagerness; and +it was not until they were well satisfied that +they noticed the strange old man looking at them +with interest and curiosity. Then they told their +story; and the owner of the caravan in his turn +told his, which was equally wonderful.</p> + +<p>"And what was the old man's story?" inquired +the listeners in one breath.</p> + +<p>"It shall be related to-morrow. The time for +sleep has come."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p> + +<p>I was not fortunate enough to hear the conclusion +of this legend, told in the simple matter-of-fact +words of Wahsa; but one of our attendants +gave me the substance. The old man of the +caravan was stated to be the younger of the two +watchers left behind more than a hundred years +before at Bir Hassan. His companion had been +killed, and he himself wounded by some wild +beast, which had prevented the necessary signals +from being made. He understood that some terrible +disaster had occurred, and dared not brave +the vengeance which he thought menaced him +from the survivors. So he resolved to stay in +the valley, and had accordingly remained for a +hundred years, at the expiration of which period +he had resolved to set out on a pilgrimage to the +Nile, in order to ascertain if any members of the +tribes still remained, that he might communicate +the secret of the valley before he perished. Like +the first discoverer, he had marked the way by +heaps of stones, and died when his narrative was +concluded. Ali and Amina made their way to +the valley, where, according to the narrative, they +found a large city, scarcely if at all ruined, and +took up their abode in one of the palaces. Shortly +afterward Ali returned to Egypt, and led off his +father, Abdallah the Good, and the remnants of +his tribe in secret. Omar was furious, and following +them, endeavored to discover the valley, +of which the tradition was well known. Not +succeeding, he resolved to wait for the summer; +but the tribe never reappeared in Egypt, and is +said to have passed the hot months in the oasis +of Farafreh, to which they subsequently removed +on the destruction of their favorite valley by an +earthquake.</p> + +<p>This tradition, though containing some improbable +incidents, may nevertheless be founded on +fact, and may contain, under a legendary form, +the history of the peopling of the oases of the +desert. It is, however, chiefly interesting from +the manner in which it illustrates the important +influence which the discovery or destruction of a +copious well of pure water may exercise on the +fortunes of a people. It may sometimes, in fact, +as represented in this instance, be a matter of life +and death; and no doubt the Waled Allah are +not the only tribe who have been raised to an +enviable prosperity, or sunk into the depths of +misery, by the fluctuating supply of water in the +desert.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE BOW-WINDOW</h2> + +<h3>AN ENGLISH TALE</h3> + + +<p>There is something so English, so redolent +of home, of flowers in large antique stands, +about a bow-window, that we are always pleased +when we catch a glimpse of one, even if it be +when but forming the front of an inn. It gives +a picturesque look too, to a home, that is quite +refreshing to gaze on, and when journeying in +foreign lands, fond recollections of dear England +come flooding o'er us, if we happen, in some out-of-the-way +village, on such a memory of the land +from whence we came. I have not, from absence +from my country, seen such a thing for some few +years; but there is one fresh in my memory, +with its green short Venetian blinds, its large +chintz curtains, its comfortable view up and down +the terrace where we lived, to say nothing of its +associations in connection with my childhood. +But it is not of this bow-window that I would +speak, it is of one connected with the fortunes +of my friend Maria Walker, and which had a +considerable influence on her happiness.</p> + +<p>Maria Walker was usually allowed to be the +beauty of one of the small towns round London +in the direction of Greenwich, of which ancient +place she was a native. Her father had originally +practiced as a physician in that place, but +circumstances had caused his removal to another +locality, which promised more profitable returns. +The house they occupied was an ancient red +brick mansion in the centre of the town, with a +large bow-window, always celebrated for its geraniums, +myrtles, and roses that, with a couple +of small orange-trees, were the admiration of the +neighborhood. Not that Thomas Walker, Esq. +had any horticultural tastes—on the contrary, he +was very severe on our sex for devoting their +minds to such trifles as music, flowers, and fancy +work; but then blue-eyed Maria Walker differed +with him in opinion, and plainly told him +so—saucy, pert girl, as even I thought her, +though several years my senior. Not that she +neglected any more serious duties for those lighter +amusements; the poorer patients of her father +ever found in her a friend. Mr. Walker strongly +objected to giving any thing away, it was a bad +example, he said, and people never valued what +they got for nothing; but many was the box of +pills and vial of medicine which Maria smuggled +under her father's very nose, to poor people +who could not afford to pay; of course he knew +nothing about it, good, easy man, though it would +have puzzled a philosopher to have told how the +girl could have prepared them. She was an active +member, too, of a charitable coal club, made +flannel for the poor, and even distributed tracts +upon occasion. When this was done, then she +would turn to her pleasures, which were her little +world. She was twenty, and I was not sixteen +at the time of which I speak, but yet we +were the best friends in the world. I used to +go and sit in the bow-window; while she would +play the piano for hours together, I had some +fancy-work on my lap; but my chief amusement +was to watch the passers-by. I don't think that +I am changed by half-a-dozen more years of experience, +for I still like a lively street, and dislike +nothing more than a look out upon a square +French court in this great city of Paris, where +houses are more like prisons than pleasant residences. +But to return to my bow-window.</p> + +<p>In front of the house of the Walkers, had been, +a few years before, an open space, but which +now, thanks to the rapid march of improvement, +was being changed into a row of very good +houses. There were a dozen of them, and they +were dignified with the name of Beauchamp Terrace. +They were, about the time I speak of, all +to let; the last finishing touch had been put to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +them, the railings had been painted, the rubbish +all removed, and they wanted nothing, save furniture +and human beings to make them assume +a civilized and respectable appearance. I called +one morning on Maria Walker, her father was +out, she had been playing the piano till she was +tired, so we sat down in the bow-window and +talked.</p> + +<p>"So the houses are letting?" said I, who took +an interest in the terrace which I had seen grow +under my eyes.</p> + +<p>"Two are let," replied she, "and both to private +families; papa is pleased, he looks upon +these twelve houses as twelve new patients."</p> + +<p>"But," said I, laughing, "have you not read +the advertisement: 'Healthy and airy situation, +rising neighborhood, and yet only one medical +man.'"</p> + +<p>"Oh! yes," smiled Maria; "but sickness, I +am sorry to say, is very apt to run about at some +time or other, even in airy situations."</p> + +<p>"But, Maria, you are mistaken, there are three +houses let," said I, suddenly, "the bill is taken +down opposite, it has been let since yesterday."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I recollect a very nice young man +driving up there yesterday, and looking over the +house for an hour; I suppose he has taken it."</p> + +<p>"A nice young man," said I, "that is very interesting—I +suppose a young couple just married."</p> + +<p>"Very likely," replied Maria Walker, laughing; +but whether at the fact of my making up +my mind to its being an interesting case of matrimony, +or what else, I know not.</p> + +<p>It was a week before I saw Maria again, and +when I did, she caught me by the hand, drew +me rapidly to the window, and with a semi-tragic +expression, pointed to the house over the way. +I looked. What was my astonishment when, on +the door in large letters, I read these words, +"Mr. Edward Radstock, M. D."</p> + +<p>"A rival," cried I, clapping my hands, thoughtless +girl that I was; "another feud of Montague +and Capulet. Maria, could not a Romeo and +Juliet be found to terminate it?"</p> + +<p>"Don't laugh," replied Maria, gravely; "papa +is quite ill with vexation; imagine, in a small +town like this, two doctors! it's all the fault of +that advertisement. Some scheming young man +has seen it, and finding no hope of practice elsewhere, +has come here. I suppose he is as poor +as a rat."</p> + +<p>At this instant the sound of horses' footsteps +was heard, and then three vans full of furniture +appeared in sight. They were coming our way. +We looked anxiously to see before which house +they stopped. I must confess that what Maria +said interested me in the young doctor, and I +really hoped all this was for him. Maria said +nothing, but, with a frown on her brow, she +waited the progress of events. As I expected, +the vans stopped before the young doctor's house, +and in a few minutes the men began to unload. +My friend turned pale as she saw that the vehicles +were full of elegant furniture.</p> + +<p>"The wretch has got a young wife, too," she +exclaimed, as a piano and harp came to view, +and then she added, rising, "this will never +do; they must be put down at once; <i>they</i> are +strangers in the neighborhood, <i>we</i> are well known. +Sit down at that desk, my dear girl, and help me +to make out a list of all the persons <i>we</i> can invite +to a ball and evening party. I look upon +them as impertinent interlopers, and they must +be crushed."</p> + +<p>I laughingly acquiesced, and aided by her, +soon wrote out a list of invitations to be given.</p> + +<p>"But now," said Miss Walker, after a few +moments of deep reflection, "one name more +must be added, <i>they</i> must be invited."</p> + +<p>"Who?" exclaimed I, in a tone of genuine +surprise.</p> + +<p>"Mr. and Mrs. Edward Radstock," replied +Maria, triumphantly, while I could scarcely speak +from astonishment.</p> + +<p>The rest of my narrative I collected from the +lips of my friend, a little more than a year later.</p> + +<p>The ball took place to the admiration of all +C——. It was a splendid affair: a select band +came down from London, in which two foreigners, +with dreadfully un-euphonic names, played +upon two unknown instruments, that deafened +nearly every sensitive person in the room, and +would have driven every body away, had not +they been removed into the drawing-room balcony; +then there was a noble Italian, reduced +to a tenor-singer, who astonished the company, +equally by the extraordinary number of strange +songs that he sang, and the number of ices and +jellies which he ate; then there were one or two +literary men, who wrote anonymously, but might +have been celebrated, only they scorned to put +their names forward among the common herd, +the οἱ πολλοί already known to the public; there +was a young poet too, who thought Alfred Tennyson +infinitely superior to Shakspeare, and by +the air with which he read a poem, seemed to +insinuate that he himself was greater than either; +and then there was a funny gentleman, who could +imitate Henry Russell, John Parry, Buckstone, +or any body, only he had a cold and could not +get beyond a negro recitation, which might have +been Chinese poetry for all the company understood +of it. In fact it was the greatest affair of +the kind which C—— had seen for many a long +day. Mr. and <i>Miss</i> Radstock came, and were +received with cold politeness by both father and +daughter. The young man was good-looking, +with an intelligent eye, a pleasing address, and +none of that pertness of manner which usually +belongs to those who have just thrown off the +medical student to become the doctor. Miss +Radstock, his sister, who kept house for him, +until he found a wife, was a charming girl of +about twenty. She smiled at the manner of both +Mr. and Miss Walker, but said nothing. Young +Radstock's only revenge for the lady of the +house's coldness and stateliness of tone, was +asking her to dance at the first opportunity, +which certainly was vexatious, for his tone was +so pleasing, his manner so courteous, that my +friend Maria could not but feel pleased—when +she wanted to be irate, distant, and haughty.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> + +<p>They danced together several times, and to +the astonishment of many friends of the young +lady, of myself in particular, they went down to +supper the best friends in the world, laughing +and joking like old acquaintances.</p> + +<p>Next day, however, she resumed her original +coldness of manner when the brother and sister +called to pay their respects. She was simply +polite, and no more, and after two or three words +they retired, Emily Radstock becoming as stiff +and formal as her new acquaintance. From that +day Maria became very miserable. She was not +avaricious, and did not fear her father losing his +practice from any pecuniary motives, but it was +pride that influenced her. Her father had for +some years monopolized the parish, as his predecessor +had for forty years before him; and +now to behold a young unfledged physician setting +up exactly opposite, and threatening to divide +in time the business of the town, was dreadful. +<i>The</i> physician of the town, sounded better, +too, than one of the doctors, and altogether it +was a most unpleasant affair.</p> + +<p>Maria's place was now always the bow-window. +She had no amusement but to watch the +opposite house, to see if patients came, or if +Edward Radstock made any attempt to call about +and introduce himself. But for some time she +had the satisfaction of remarking, that not a soul +called at the house, save the butcher, the baker, +and other contributors to the interior comforts +of man, and Maria began to feel the hope that +Edward Radstock would totally fail in his endeavors +to introduce himself. She remarked, +however, that the young man took it very quietly; +he sat by his sister's side while she played +the piano, or with a book and a cigar at the open +window, or took Emily a drive in his gig; always, +when he remarked Maria at the open window, +bowing with provoking courtesy, nothing +daunted by her coldness of manner, or her pretense +of not noticing his politeness.</p> + +<p>One day Mr. Walker was out, he had been +called to a distance to see a patient, who was +very seriously ill, when Maria sat at the bow-window +looking up the street. Suddenly she +saw a boy come running down on their side of +the way; she knew him by his bright buttons, +light jacket, and gold lace. It was the page of +the Perkinses, a family with a host of little children, +who, from constant colds, indigestions, and +fits of illness, caused by too great a liking for the +pleasures of the table, which a fond mother had +not the heart to restrain, were continually on +Mr. Walker's books.</p> + +<p>The boy rang violently at the bell, and Maria +opened the parlor-door and listened.</p> + +<p>"Is Mr. Walker at home?" said the boy, +scarcely able to speak from want of breath.</p> + +<p>"No," replied the maid who had opened the door.</p> + +<p>"He will be home directly," said Maria, advancing.</p> + +<p>"Oh! but missus can't wait, there's little Peter +been and swallowed a marble, and the baby's +took with fits," and away rushed the boy across +the road to the hated rival's house.</p> + +<p>Maria retreated into her room and sank down +upon a sofa. The enemy had gained an entrance +into the camp, it was quite clear. In a moment +more she rose, just in time to see Mr. Edward +Radstock hurrying down the street beside the +little page, without waiting to order his gig. +This was a severe blow to the doctor's daughter. +The Perkinses were a leading family in the town, +and one to whom her father was called almost +every day in the year. They had a large circle +of acquaintances, and if young Radstock became +their medical adviser, others would surely follow. +In about an hour, the young man returned and +joined his sister in the drawing-room, as if nothing +had happened. This was more provoking +than his success. If he had assumed an air of +importance and bustle, and had hurried up to +inform his sister with an air of joy and triumph +of what had happened, she might have been +tempted to pity him, but he did every thing in +such a quiet, gentlemanly way, that she felt considerable +alarm for the future.</p> + +<p>Maria was in the habit of spending most of +her evenings from home, her father being generally +out, and that large house in consequence +lonely. The town of C—— was famous for its +tea and whist-parties, and though Maria was not +of an age to play cards, except to please others, +she, however, sometimes condescended to do so. +One evening she was invited to the house of a +Mrs. Brunton, who announced her intention of +receiving company every Thursday. She went, +and found the circle very pleasant and agreeable, +but, horror of horrors—there was Mr. Edward +Radstock and his sister Emily; and worse than +that, when a lady present volunteered to play a +quadrille, and the ladies accepted eagerly, up he +came, of all others, to invite her to dance! Mrs. +Brunton the instant before had asked her to play +at whist, to oblige three regular players, who +could not find a fourth.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid," she said, quietly, but in rather +distant tones, "I am engaged"—the young man +looked surprised, even hurt, for no gentleman +had spoken to her since she had entered the +room—"to make a fourth at the whist-table, +but—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, go and dance, Miss Walker," exclaimed +Mrs. Brunton, "I did not know dancing was going +to begin, when I asked you to make up a rubber."</p> + +<p>Maria offered her hand to the young man, and +walked away to the dancing-room. Despite herself, +that evening she was very much pleased +with him. He was well informed, had traveled, +was full of taste and feeling, and conversed with +animation and originality; he sought every opportunity +of addressing himself to her, and found +these opportunities without much difficulty. For +several Thursdays the same thing occurred. The +young man began to find a little practice. He +was popular wherever he went, and whenever +he was called in was quite sure of keeping up +the connection. He was asked out to all the +principal parties in the town; and had Mr. +Walker been not very much liked, would have +proved a very serious rival.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p> + +<p>One morning the father and daughter were at +breakfast. Maria, who began to like her bow-window +better than ever, sat near it to scent the +fragrance of her flowers. When the young doctor +came out, she always now returned his bow, +and a young lady opposite declared in confidence +to her dressmaker that she had even kissed her +hand to him once. However this may be, Maria +sat at the bow-window, pouring out tea for her +father in a very abstracted mood. Mr. Walker +had been called out at an early hour, and returned +late. He was not in the best of humors, +having waited four hours beyond his time for +his tea.</p> + +<p>"I shall die in the workhouse," said he, as +he buttered his toast with an irritability of manner +quite alarming. "This Radstock is getting +all the practice. I heard of two new patients +yesterday."</p> + +<p>"Oh, papa," replied Maria, gently. "I don't +think he has got a dozen altogether."</p> + +<p>"A dozen—but that's a dozen lost to me, miss. +It's a proof that people think me old—worn out—useless."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, papa; C—— is increasing in +population every day, and for every one he gets, +you get two."</p> + +<p>"My dear," replied Mr. Walker, with considerable +animation, "I think you are beginning to +side with my rival."</p> + +<p>A loud knocking came this instant to the door, +and the man-servant immediately after announced +"Dr. Radstock."</p> + +<p>Mr. Walker had no time to make any remark, +ere the young man entered the room, bowing +most politely to the old gentleman and his +daughter; both looked confused, and the father +much surprised. He was in elegant morning +costume, and looked both handsome and happy—the +old doctor thought, triumphant.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, sir," said he, "for disturbing +you at this early hour; but your numerous calls +take you so much out, that one must take you +when one can find you. My errand will doubtless +surprise you, but I am very frank and open; +my object in visiting you is to ask permission to +pay my addresses to your daughter."</p> + +<p>"To do what, sir?" thundered the old doctor +in a towering passion. "Are you not satisfied +with trying to take from me my practice, but you +must ask me for my child? I tell you, sir, nothing +on earth would make me consent to your +marriage with my daughter."</p> + +<p>"But, sir," said Edward Radstock, turning to +Maria, "I have your daughter's permission to +make this request. I told her of my intentions +last night, and she authorized me to say that she +approved of them."</p> + +<p>"Maria," exclaimed the father, almost choking +with rage, "is this true?"</p> + +<p>"My dear papa, I am in no hurry to get married, +but if I did, I must say, that I should never +think of marrying any one but Edward Radstock. +I will not get married against your will, but I +will never marry any one else; nothing will +make me."</p> + +<p>"Ungrateful girl," muttered Mr. Thomas +Walker, and next minute he sank back in his +chair in a fit of apoplexy.</p> + +<p>"Open the window, raise the blinds," said the +young man, preparing with promptitude and +earnestness to take the necessary remedies, "be +not alarmed. It is not a dangerous attack."</p> + +<p>Maria quietly obeyed her lover, quite aware +of the necessity of self-possession and presence +of mind in a case like the present. In half an +hour Mr. Walker was lying in a large, airy bedroom, +and the young man had left, at the request +of Maria, to attend a patient of her father's. It +was late at night before Edward was able to take +a moment's rest. What with his own patients, +and those of his rival, he was overwhelmed with +business; but at eleven o'clock he approached +the bedside of the father of Maria, who, with her +dear Emily now by her side, sat watching.</p> + +<p>"He sleeps soundly," said Maria in a low tone, +as Edward entered.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and is doing well," replied Radstock. +"I answer for his being up and stirring to-morrow, +if he desires it."</p> + +<p>"But it will be better for him to rest some +days," said Maria.</p> + +<p>"But, my dear Miss Walker," continued the +young doctor, "what will his patients do?"</p> + +<p>"You can attend to them as you have done +to-day," replied Maria.</p> + +<p>"My dear Miss Walker, you, who know me, +could trust me with your father's patients; you +know, that when he was able to go about, I +would hand them all back to him without hesitation. +But you must be aware, that for your +father to discover me attending to his patients, +would retard his recovery. If I do as you ask +me, I must retire from C—— immediately on his +convalescence."</p> + +<p>"No, sir," said Dr. Walker, in a faint voice, +"I shall not be about for a month; after making +me take to my bed, the least you can do is to attend +to my patients."</p> + +<p>"If you wish it, sir—?"</p> + +<p>"I insist upon it; and to prevent any opposition, +you can say we are going into partnership."</p> + +<p>"But—" said Edward.</p> + +<p>"If you want my daughter," continued Dr. +Walker, gruffly, "you must do as I tell you. If +you wish to be my son-in-law, you must be my +partner, work like a horse, slave day and night, +while I smoke my pipe and drink my grog."</p> + +<p>"My dear sir," exclaimed the young man, +"you overwhelm me."</p> + +<p>"Dear papa!" said Maria.</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear papa!" muttered old Walker; +"pretty girl you are; give a party to crush the +interloper; faint when he gets his first patient; +watch him from your bow-window like a cat +watches a mouse, and then—marry him."</p> + +<p>"But, my dear papa, is not this the surest +way to destroy the opposition?" said happy +Maria.</p> + +<p>"Yes! because we can not crush him, we +take him as a partner," grumbled old Walker; +"never heard of such a thing; nice thing it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +to have children who take part with your enemies."</p> + +<p>Nobody made any reply, and after a little +more faint attempts at fault-finding, the old doctor +fell asleep.</p> + +<p>About six months later, after a journey to +Scotland, which made me lose sight of Maria, I +drove up the streets of C——, after my return +to my native Greenwich, which, with its beautiful +park, its Blackheath, its splendid and glorious +monument of English greatness, its historic +associations, I dearly love, and eager to see the +dear girl, never stopped until I was in her arms.</p> + +<p>"How you have grown," said she, with a +sweet and happy smile.</p> + +<p>"Grown! indeed; do you take me for a child?" +cried I, laughing. "And you! how well and +pleased you look; always at the bow-window, +too; I saw you as I came up."</p> + +<p>"I am very seldom there now," said she, with +a strange smile.</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because I live over the way," replied she, +still smiling.</p> + +<p>"Over the way?" said I.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my dear girl; alas! for the mutability +of human things—Maria Walker is now Mrs. +Radstock."</p> + +<p>I could not help it; I laughed heartily. I was +very glad. I had been interested in the young +man, and the <i>dénoûement</i> was delightful.</p> + +<p>The firm of Walker and Radstock prospered +remarkably without rivalry, despite a great increase +in the neighborhood; but the experience +of the old man, and the perseverance of the +young, frightened away all opposition. They +proved satisfactorily that union is indeed strength. +Young Radstock was a very good husband. He +told me privately that he had fallen in love with +Maria the very first day he saw her; and every +time I hear from them I am told of a fresh accession +to the number of faces that stare across +for grandpapa, who generally, when about to pay +them a visit, shows himself first at the Bow-window.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE FRENCH FLOWER GIRL.</h2> + + +<p>I was lingering listlessly over a cup of coffee +on the Boulevard des Italiens, in June. At +that moment I had neither profound nor useful +resources of thought. I sate simply conscious +of the cool air, the blue sky, the white houses, the +lights, and the lions, which combine to render +that universally pleasant period known as "after +dinner," so peculiarly agreeable in Paris.</p> + +<p>In this mood my eyes fell upon a pair of orbs +fixed intently upon me. Whether the process +was effected by the eyes, or by some pretty little +fingers, simply, I can not say; but, at the same +moment, a rose was insinuated into my button-hole, +a gentle voice addressed me, and I beheld, +in connection with the eyes, the fingers, and the +voice, a girl. She carried on her arm a basket +of flowers, and was, literally, nothing more nor +less than one of the <i>Bouquetières</i> who fly along +the Boulevards like butterflies, with the difference +that they turn their favorite flowers to a more +practical account.</p> + +<p>Following the example of some other distracted +<i>décorés</i>, who I found were sharing my honors, +I placed a piece of money—I believe, in my case, +it was silver—in the hand of the girl; and, receiving +about five hundred times its value, in the +shape of a smile and a "<i>Merci bien, monsieur!</i>" +was again left alone—("desolate," a Frenchman +would have said)—in the crowded and carousing +Boulevard.</p> + +<p>To meet a perambulating and persuasive +<i>Bouquetière</i>, who places a flower in your coat and +waits for a pecuniary acknowledgment, is scarcely +a rare adventure in Paris; but I was interested—unaccountably +so—in this young girl: her whole manner and bearing was so +different and distinct from all others of her calling. Without +any of that appearance which, in England, we +are accustomed to call "theatrical," she was such +a being as we can scarcely believe in out of a +ballet. Not, however, that her attire departed—except, +perhaps, in a certain coquetish simplicity—from +the conventional mode: its only decorations +seemed to be ribbons, which also gave a +character to the little cap that perched itself with +such apparent insecurity upon her head. Living +a life that seemed one long summer's day—one +floral <i>fête</i>—with a means of existence that seemed +so frail and immaterial—she conveyed an impression +of <i>unreality</i>. She might be likened to a +Nymph, or a Naiad, but for the certain something +that brought you back to the theatre, intoxicating +the senses, at once, with the strange, indescribable +fascinations of hot chandeliers—close and +perfumed air—foot-lights, and fiddlers.</p> + +<p>Evening after evening I saw the same girl—generally +at the same place—and, it may be +readily imagined, became one of the most constant +of her <i>clientelle</i>. I learned, too, as many +facts relating to her as could be learned where +most was mystery. Her peculiar and persuasive +mode of disposing of her flowers (a mode which +has since become worse than vulgarized by bad +imitators) was originally her own graceful instinct—or +whim, if you will. It was something new +and natural, and amused many, while it displeased +none. The sternest of stockbrokers, even, could +not choose but be decorated. Accordingly, this +new Nydia of Thessaly went out with her basket +one day, awoke next morning, and found herself +famous.</p> + +<p>Meantime there was much discussion, and +more mystification, as to who this Queen of +Flowers could be—where she lived—and so forth. +Nothing was known of her except her name—Hermance. +More than one adventurous student—you +may guess I am stating the number within +bounds—traced her steps for hour after hour, +till night set in—in vain. Her flowers disposed +of, she was generally joined by an old man, respectably +clad, whose arm she took with a certain +confidence, that sufficiently marked him as +a parent or protector; and the two always contrived +sooner or later, in some mysterious manner, to disappear.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> + +<p>After all stratagems have failed, it generally +occurs to people to ask a direct question. But +this in the present case was impossible. Hermance +was never seen except in very public +places—often in crowds—and to exchange twenty +consecutive words with her, was considered +a most fortunate feat. Notwithstanding, too, +her strange, wild way of gaining her livelihood, +there was a certain dignity in her manner which +sufficed to cool the too curious.</p> + +<p>As for the directors of the theatres, they exhibited +a most appropriate amount of madness on +her account; and I believe that at several of the +theatres, Hermance might have commanded her +own terms. But only one of these miserable +men succeeded in making a tangible proposal, +and he was treated with most glorious contempt. +There was, indeed, something doubly dramatic +in the <i>Bouquetière's</i> disdain of the drama. She +who <i>lived</i> a romance could never descend to act +one. She would rather be Rosalind than Rachel. +She refused the part of Cerito, and chose to be +an Alma on her own account.</p> + +<p>It may be supposed that where there was so +much mystery, imagination would not be idle. +To have believed all the conflicting stories about +Hermance, would be to come to the conclusion +that she was the stolen child of noble parents, +brought up by an <i>ouvrier</i>: but that somehow +her father was a tailor of dissolute habits, who +lived a contented life of continual drunkenness, +on the profits of his daughter's industry;—that +her mother was a deceased duchess—but, on the +other hand, was alive, and carried on the flourishing +business of a <i>blanchisseuse</i>. As for the private +life of the young lady herself, it was reflected +in such a magic mirror of such contradictory +impossibilities, in the delicate discussions held +upon the subject, that one had no choice but to +disbelieve every thing.</p> + +<p>One day a new impulse was given to this gossip +by the appearance of the <i>Bouquetière</i> in a +startling hat of some expensive straw, and of a +make bordering on the ostentatious. It could +not be doubted that the profits of her light labors +were sufficient to enable her to multiply such +finery to almost any extent, had she chosen; but +in Paris the adoption of a bonnet or a hat, in +contradistinction to the little cap of the <i>grisette</i>, +is considered an assumption of a superior grade, +and unless warranted by the "position" of the +wearer, is resented as an impertinence. In Paris, +indeed, there are only two classes of women—those +with bonnets, and those without; and these +stand in the same relation to one another, as the +two great classes into which the world may be +divided—the powers that be, and the powers that +want to be. Under these circumstances, it may +be supposed that the surmises were many and +marvelous. The little <i>Bouquetière</i> was becoming +proud—becoming a lady;—but how? why? and +above all—where? Curiosity was never more +rampant, and scandal never more inventive.</p> + +<p>For my part, I saw nothing in any of these +appearances worthy, in themselves, of a second +thought; nothing could have destroyed the strong +and strange interest which I had taken in the +girl; and it would have required something more +potent than a straw hat—however coquettish in +crown, and audacious in brim—to have shaken +my belief in her truth and goodness. Her presence, +for the accustomed few minutes, in the +afternoon or evening, became to me—I will not +say a necessity, but certainly a habit;—and a +habit is sufficiently despotic when</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"A fair face and a tender voice have made me—"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I will not say "mad and blind," as the remainder +of the line would insinuate—but most deliciously +in my senses, and most luxuriously +wide awake!</p> + +<p>But to come to the catastrophe—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"One morn we missed <i>her</i> in the accustomed spot—"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Not only, indeed, from "accustomed" and probable +spots, but from unaccustomed, improbable, +and even impossible spots—all of which were +duly searched—was she missed. In short, she +was not to be found at all. All was amazement +on the Boulevards. Hardened old <i>flaneurs</i> turned +pale under their rouge, and some of the younger +ones went about with drooping mustaches, +which, for want of the <i>cire</i>, had fallen into the +"yellow leaf."</p> + +<p>A few days sufficed, however, for the cure of +these sentimentalities. A clever little monkey +at the Hippodrome, and a gentleman who stood +on his head while he ate his dinner, became the +immediate objects of interest, and Hermance +seemed to be forgotten. I was one of the few +who retained any hope of finding her, and my +wanderings for that purpose, without any guide, +clew, information, or indication, seem to me now +something absurd. In the course of my walks, +I met an old man, who was pointed out to me as +her father—met him frequently, alone. The expression +of his face was quite sufficient to assure +me that he was on the same mission—and with +about as much chance of success as myself. +Once I tried to speak to him; but he turned +aside, and avoided me with a manner that there +could be no mistaking. This surprised me, for +I had no reason to suppose that he had ever seen +my face before.</p> + +<p>A paragraph in one of the newspapers at last +threw some light on the matter. The <i>Bouquetière</i> +had never been so friendless or unprotected as +people had supposed. In all her wanderings she +was accompanied, or rather followed, by her father; +whenever she stopped, then he stopped +also; and never was he distant more than a +dozen yards, I wonder that he was not recognized +by hundreds, but I conclude he made some +change in his attire or appearance, from time to +time. One morning this strange pair were proceeding +on their ramble as usual, when, passing +through a rather secluded street, the <i>Bouquetière</i> +made a sudden bound from the pavement, sprung +into a post-chaise, the door of which stood open, +and was immediately whirled away, as fast as +four horses could tear—leaving the old man +alone with his despair, and the basket of flowers.</p> + +<p>Three months have passed away since the disappearance +of the <i>Bouquetière</i>; but only a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> few +days since I found myself one evening very dull +at one of those "brilliant receptions," for which +Paris is so famous. I was making for the door, +with a view to an early departure, when my hostess +detained me, for the purpose of presenting +me to a lady who was monopolizing all the admiration +of the evening—she was the newly-married +bride of a young German baron of great +wealth, and noted for a certain wild kind of +genius, and utter scorn of conventionalities. The +next instant I found myself introduced to a pair +of eyes that could never be mistaken. I dropped +into a vacant chair by their side, and entered +into conversation. The baronne observed that +she had met me before, but could not remember +where, and in the same breath asked me if I was +a lover of flowers.</p> + +<p>I muttered something about loving beauty in +any shape, and admired a bouquet which she +held in her hand.</p> + +<p>The baronne selected a flower, and asked me +if it was not a peculiarly fine specimen. I assented; +and the flower, not being re-demanded, +I did not return it. The conversation changed +to other subjects, and, shortly afterward the baronne +took her leave with her husband. They +left Paris next day for the baron's family estate, +and I have never seen them since.</p> + +<p>I learned subsequently that some strange stories +had obtained circulation respecting the previous +life of the baronne. Whatever they were, +it is very certain that this or some other reason +has made the profession of <i>Bouquetière</i> most +inconveniently popular in Paris. Young ladies of +all ages that can, with any degree of courtesy, +be included in that category, and of all degrees +of beauty short of the hunch-back, may be seen +in all directions intruding their flowers with fatal +pertinacity upon inoffensive loungers, and making +war upon button-holes that never did them +any harm. The youngest of young girls, I find, +are being trained to the calling, who are all destined, +I suppose, to marry distinguished foreigners +from some distant and facetious country.</p> + +<p>I should have mentioned before, that a friend +calling upon me the morning after my meeting +with the baronne, saw the flower which she had +placed in my hand standing in a glass of water +on the table. An idea struck me: "Do you +know any thing of the language of flowers?" I +asked.</p> + +<p>"Something," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"What, then, is the meaning of this?"</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Secrecy.</span>"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>DIFFICULTY.</h2> + + +<p>There is an aim which all Nature seeks; +the flower that opens from the bud—the +light that breaks the cloud into a thousand forms +of beauty—is calmly striving to assume the perfect +glory of its power; and the child, whose +proud laugh heralds the mastery of a new lesson, +unconsciously develops the same life-impulse +seeking to prove the power it has felt its +own.</p> + +<p>This is the real goal of life shining dimly from +afar; for as our fullest power was never yet attained, +it is a treasure which must be sought, +its extent and distance being unknown. No man +can tell what he can do, or suffer, until tried; +his path of action broadens out before him; and, +while a path appears, there is power to traverse +it. It is like the fabled hill of Genius, that ever +presented a loftier elevation above the one attained. +It is like the glory of the stars, which +shine by borrowed light, each seeming source of +which is tributary to one more distant, until the +view is lost to us; yet we only know there must +be a life-giving centre, and, to the steady mind, +though the goal of life be dim and distant, its +light is fixed and certain, while all lesser aims +are but reflections of this glory in myriad-descending +shades, which must be passed, one by +one, as the steps of the ladder on which he +mounts to Heaven.</p> + +<p>Man has an unfortunate predilection to pervert +whatever God throws in his way to aid him, +and thus turn good to evil. The minor hopes +which spur to action are mistaken for the final +one; and we often look no higher than some +mean wish, allowing that to rule us which should +have been our servant. From this false view +rises little exertion, for it is impossible for man +to believe in something better and be content +with worse. We all aim at self-control and independence +while in the shadow of a power which +controls us, whispering innerly, "Thus far shalt +thou go, and no farther;" but how apt is self-indulgence +to suit this limit to its own measure, +and suffer veneration and doubt to overgrow and +suppress the rising hope of independent thought. +"I am not permitted to know this, or to do this," +is the excuse of the weak and trivial; but the +question should be, "<i>Can</i> I know or do this?" +for what is not permitted we can not do. We +may not know the events of the future, or the +period of a thought, or the Great First Cause, +but we may hope to see and combine the atoms +of things—pierce the realms of space—make the +wilderness a garden—attain perfection of soul +and body; and for this our end we may master +all things needful.</p> + +<p>There is nothing possible that faith and striving +can not do; take the road, and it must lead +you to the goal, though strewn with difficulties, +and cast through pain and shade. If each would +strain his energies to gain what he has dared to +hope for, he would succeed, for since that which +we love and honor is in our nature, it is to be +drawn forth, and what is not there we can not +wish.</p> + +<p>Our greatest drawback is, not that we expect +too much, but that we do too little; we set our +worship low, and let our higher powers lie dormant; +thus are we never masters, but blind men +stumbling in each other's way. As maturity +means self-controlling power, so he who gains +not this is childish, and must submit, infant-like, +to be controlled by others. This guidance we +must feel in our upward course, and be grateful +for the check; but as we have each a work to +do, we must look beyond help to independence.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +The school-boy receives aid in learning that he +may one day strive with his own power, for if +he always depends on help he can never be a +useful man.</p> + +<p>He who seeks for himself no path, but merely +follows where others have been before, covering +his own want with another's industry, may find +the road not long or thickly set, but he does and +gains nothing. He who bows to difficulty, settling +at the foot of the hill instead of struggling +to its top, may get a sheltered place—a snug retreat, +but the world in its glory he can never see, +and the pestilence from the low ground he must +imbibe. We may rest in perfect comfort, but +the health that comes of labor will fade away. +The trees of the forest were not planted that +man might pass round and live between them, +but that he might cut them down and use them. +The savage has little toil before him, but the +civilized man has greater power of happiness.</p> + +<p>Would a man be powerful, and bid his genius +rule his fellow-men? he must toil to gain means; +while his thought reads the hearts that he would +sway, he must be led into temptation, and pass +through pain and danger, ere he can know what +another may endure. Would he pour golden +truth upon the page of life? he must seek it from +every source, weigh the relations of life, and concede +to its taste, that he may best apply it, for +the proverb must be written in fair round hand, +that common men may read it. Would he picture +the life of man or nature? he must go forth +with heart and eye alive, nor turn from the sorest +notes of human woe, or the coarsest tones of vice; +he must watch the finest ray of light, and mark +the falling of the last withered leaf. Would he +be actively benevolent? winter cold, nor summer +lassitude must not appall him; in season and out +of season he must be ready; injured pride, +wounded feeling must not unstring his energy, +while stooping to learn from the simplest lips +the nature of those wants to which he would +minister.</p> + +<p>In all accomplishment there is difficulty; the +greater the work, the greater the pains. There +is no such thing as sudden inspiration or grace, +for the steps of life are slow, and what is not +thus attained is nothing worth. In darkness the +eyes must be accustomed to the gloom when objects +appear, one by one, until the most distant +is perceived; but, in a sudden light the eyes are +pained, and blinded, and left weak.</p> + +<p>At school, we found that when one difficulty +was surmounted another was presented; mastering +"Addition" would not do—we must learn +"Subtraction;" so it is in life. A finished work +is a glory won, but a mind content with one accomplishment +is childish, and its weakness renders +it incapable of applying that—"From him +that hath not shall be taken away even that he +hath;" his one talent shall rise up to him as a +shame. A little sphere insures but little happiness.</p> + +<p>There is a time of youth for all; but youth +has a sphere of hope that, embracing the whole +aim which man must work for, gives unbounded +happiness. Thus God would equalize the lot of +all where necessity would create difference; it +is only when states are forced unnaturally that +misery ensues. When those who would seem +to be men are children in endeavor, we see that +God's will is not done, but a falsehood. The +greatest of us have asked and taken guidance in +their rising course, and owned inferiority without +shame; but his is a poor heart that looks to +be inferior ever; and shameful indeed it is, when +those who are thus poor imagine or assume a +right to respect as self-supporting men. How +painfully ridiculous it is to see the lazy man look +down on his struggling wife as the "weaker vessel," +or the idle sinecurist hold contempt for the +tradesman who is working his way to higher +wealth by honest toil. Were the aims of living +truly seen, no man would be dishonored because +useful. But wait awhile; the world is drawing +near the real point, and we shall find that the self-denying, +fearless energy, that works its will in +spite of pettiness, must gain its end, and become +richest; that the man who begins with a penny +in the hope of thousands will grow wealthier +than his aimless brother of the snug annuity; for +while the largest wealth that is not earned is +limited, the result of ceaseless toil is incalculable, +since the progress of the soul is infinite!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>MAURICE TIERNAY, THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></h2> + +<h3>CHAPTER XLVI.</h3> + +<h4>A GLANCE AT THE "PREFECTURE DE POLICE."</h4> + + +<p>Poor Mahon's melancholy story made a deep +impression upon me, and I returned to Paris +execrating the whole race of spies and "Mouchards," +and despising, with a most hearty contempt, +a government compelled to use such +agencies for its existence. It seemed to me so +utterly impossible to escape the snares of a system +so artfully interwoven, and so vain to rely +on innocence as a protection, that I felt a kind +of reckless hardihood as to whatever might betide +me, and rode into the Cour of the Prefecture with +a bold indifference as to my fate that I have often +wondered at since.</p> + +<p>The horse on which I was mounted was immediately +recognized as I entered; and the obsequious +salutations that met me showed that I +was regarded as one of the trusty followers of +the Minister; and in this capacity was I ushered +into a large waiting-room, where a considerable +number of persons were assembled, whose air +and appearance, now that necessity for disguise +was over, unmistakably pronounced them to be +spies of the police. Some, indeed, were occupied +in taking off their false whiskers and +mustaches; others were removing shades from +their eyes; and one was carefully opening what +had been the hump on his back, in search of a +paper he was anxious to discover.</p> + +<p>I had very little difficulty in ascertaining that +these were all the very lowest order of "Mouchards," +whose sphere of duty rarely led beyond +the Fauxbourg or the Battyriolles, and indeed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +soon saw that my own appearance among them +led to no little surprise and astonishment.</p> + +<p>"You are looking for Nicquard, monsieur?" +said one, "but he has not come yet."</p> + +<p>"No; monsieur wants to see Boule-de-Fer," +said another.</p> + +<p>"Here's José can fetch him," cried a third.</p> + +<p>"He'll have to carry him, then," growled out another, +"for I saw him in the Morgue this morning!"</p> + +<p>"What! dead?" exclaimed several together.</p> + +<p>"As dead as four stabs in the heart and lungs +can make a man! He must have been meddling +where he had no business, for there was a piece +of a lace ruffle found in his fingers."</p> + +<p>"Ah, voila!" cried another, "that comes of +mixing in high society."</p> + +<p>I did not wait for the discussion that followed, +but stole quietly away, as the disputants were +waxing warm. Instead of turning into the Cour +again, however, I passed out into a corridor, at +the end of which was a door of green cloth. +Pushing open this, I found myself in a chamber, +where a single clerk was writing at a table.</p> + +<p>"You're late to-day, and he's not in a good +humor," said he, scarcely looking up from his +paper, "go in!"</p> + +<p>Resolving to see my adventure to the end, I +asked no further questions, but passed on to the +room beyond. A person who stood within the +door-way withdrew as I entered, and I found +myself standing face to face with the Marquis de +Maurepas, or, to speak more properly, the Minister +Fouché. He was standing at the fire-place +as I came in, reading a newspaper, but no sooner +had he caught sight of me than he laid it down, +and, with his hands crossed behind his back, continued +steadily staring at me.</p> + +<p>"Diable!" exclaimed he, at last, "how came +you here?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing more naturally, sir, than from the +wish to restore what you were so good as to lend +me, and express my sincere gratitude for a most +hospitable reception."</p> + +<p>"But who admitted you?"</p> + +<p>"I fancy your saddle-cloth was my introduction, +sir, for it was speedily recognized. Gesler's +cap was never held in greater honor."</p> + +<p>"You are a very courageous young gentleman, +I must say—very courageous, indeed," said he, +with a sardonic grin that was any thing but encouraging.</p> + +<p>"The better chance that I may find favor with +Monsieur de Fouché," replied I.</p> + +<p>"That remains to be seen, sir," said he, seating +himself in his chair, and motioning me to a +spot in front of it. "Who are you?"</p> + +<p>"A lieutenant of the 9th Hussars, sir; by +name Maurice Tiernay."</p> + +<p>"I don't care for that," said he, impatiently; +"what's your occupation?—how do you live?—with +whom do you associate?"</p> + +<p>"I have neither means nor associates. I have +been liberated from the Temple but a few days +back; and what is to be my future, and where, +are facts of which I know as little as does Monsieur +de Fouché of my past history."</p> + +<p>"It would seem that every adventurer, every +fellow destitute of home, family, fortune, and +position, thinks that his natural refuge lies in +this Ministry, and that I must be his guardian."</p> + +<p>"I never thought so, sir."</p> + +<p>"Then why are you here? What other than +personal reasons procures me the honor of this +visit?"</p> + +<p>"As Monsieur de Fouché will not believe in +my sense of gratitude, perhaps he may put some +faith in my curiosity, and excuse the natural +anxiety I feel to know if Monsieur de Maurepas +has really benefited by the pleasure of my society."</p> + +<p>"Hardi, monsieur, bien hardi," said the Minister, +with a peculiar expression of irony about the +mouth that made me almost shudder. He rang +a little hand-bell as he spoke, and a servant made +his appearance.</p> + +<p>"You have forgotten to leave me my snuff-box, +Geoffroy," said he, mildly, to the valet, who +at once left the room, and speedily returned with +a magnificently-chased gold box, on which the +initials of the First Consul were embossed in +diamonds.</p> + +<p>"Arrange those papers, and place those books +on the shelves," said the Minister. And then +turning to me, as if resuming a previous conversation, +went on—</p> + +<p>"As to that memoir of which we were speaking +t'other night, monsieur, it would be exceedingly +interesting just now; and I have no doubt +that you will see the propriety of confiding to me +what you already promised to Monsieur de +Maurepas. That will do, Geoffroy; leave us."</p> + +<p>The servant retired, and we were once more +alone.</p> + +<p>"I possess no secrets, sir, worthy the notice +of the Minister of Police," said I boldly.</p> + +<p>"Of that I may presume to be the better +judge," said Fouché calmly. "But waiving this +question, there is another of some importance. +You have, partly by accident, partly by a boldness +not devoid of peril, obtained some little insight +into the habits and details of this Ministry; at +least, you have seen enough to suspect more, and +misrepresent what you can not comprehend. +Now, sir, there is an almost universal custom in +all secret societies, of making those who intrude +surreptitiously within their limits, to take every +oath and pledge of that society, and to assume +every responsibility that attaches to its voluntary +members—"</p> + +<p>"Excuse my interrupting you, sir; but my +intrusion was purely involuntary; I was made +the dupe of a police spy."</p> + +<p>"Having ascertained which," resumed he, +coldly, "your wisest policy would have been to +have kept the whole incident for yourself alone, +and neither have uttered one syllable about it, +nor ventured to come here, as you have done, to +display what you fancy to be your power over +the Minister of Police. You are a very young +man, and the lesson may possibly be of service +to you; and never forget that to attempt a contest +of address with those whose habits have +taught them every wile and subtlety of their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +fellow-men, will always be a failure. This +Ministry would be a sorry engine of government +if men of your stamp could out-wit it."</p> + +<p>I stood abashed and confused under a rebuke +which, at the same time, I felt to be but half deserved.</p> + +<p>"Do you understand Spanish?" asked he suddenly.</p> + +<p>"No, sir, not a word."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry for it; you should learn that language +without loss of time. Leave your address +with my secretary, and call here by Monday or +Tuesday next."</p> + +<p>"If I may presume so far, sir," said I, with a +great effort to seem collected, "I would infer +that your intention is to employ me in some +capacity or other. It is, therefore, better I +should say at once, I have neither the ability nor +the desire for such occupation. I have always +been a soldier. Whatever reverses of fortune I +may meet with, I would wish still to continue in +the same career. At all events, I could never +become a—a—"</p> + +<p>"Spy. Say the word out; its meaning conveys +nothing offensive to my ears, young man. +I may grieve over the corruption that requires +such a system; but I do not confound the remedy +with the disease."</p> + +<p>"My sentiments are different, sir," said I resolutely, +as I moved toward the door. "I have +the honor to wish you a good morning."</p> + +<p>"Stay a moment, Tiernay," said he, looking +for something among his papers; "there are, +probably, situations where all your scruples could +find accommodation, and even be serviceable, too."</p> + +<p>"I would rather not place them in peril, Mons. +Le Ministre."</p> + +<p>"There are people in this city of Paris who +would not despise my protection, young man; +some of them to the full as well supplied with +the gifts of fortune as Mons. Tiernay."</p> + +<p>"And, doubtless, more fitted to deserve it!" +said I, sarcastically; for every moment now rendered +me more courageous.</p> + +<p>"And, doubtless, more fitted to deserve it," +repeated he after me, with a wave of the hand in +token of adieu.</p> + +<p>I bowed respectfully, and was retiring, when +he called out in a low and gentle voice—</p> + +<p>"Before you go, Mons. de Tiernay, I will +thank you to restore my snuff-box."</p> + +<p>"Your snuff-box, sir!" cried I, indignantly, +"what do I know of it?"</p> + +<p>"In a moment of inadvertence, you may, probably, +have placed it in your pocket," said he, +smiling; "do me the favor to search there."</p> + +<p>"This is unnecessary insult, sir," said I +fiercely; "and you forget that I am a French +officer!"</p> + +<p>"It is of more consequence that you should +remember it," said he calmly; "and now, sir, +do as I have told you."</p> + +<p>"It is well, sir, that this scene has no witness," +said I, boiling over with passion, "or, by Heaven, +all the dignity of your station should not save you."</p> + +<p>"Your observation is most just," said he, with +the same coolness. "It is as well that we are +quite alone; and for this reason I beg to repeat +my request. If you persist in a refusal, and force +me to ring that bell—"</p> + +<p>"You would not dare to offer me such an indignity," +said I, trembling with rage.</p> + +<p>"You leave me no alternative, sir," said he, +rising, and taking the bell in his hand. "My +honor is also engaged in this question. I have +preferred a charge—"</p> + +<p>"You have," cried I, interrupting, "and for +whose falsehood I am resolved to hold you responsible."</p> + +<p>"To prove which, you must show your innocence."</p> + +<p>"There, then—there are my pockets; here +are the few things I possess. This is my pocket-book—my +purse. Oh, heavens, what is this?" +cried I, as I drew forth the gold box, along with +the other contents of my pocket; and then staggering +back, I fell, overwhelmed with shame and +sickness, against the wall. For some seconds I +neither saw nor heard any thing; a vague sense +of ineffable disgrace—of some ignominy that +made life a misery, was over me, and I closed +my eyes with the wish never to open them more.</p> + +<p>"The box has a peculiar value in my eyes, sir," +said he; "it was a present from the First Consul, +otherwise I might have hesitated—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, sir, you can not, you dare not, suppose +me guilty of a theft. You seem bent on being +my ruin; but, for mercy's sake, let your hatred +of me take some other shape than this. Involve +me in what snares, what conspiracies you will, +give me what share you please in any guilt, but +spare me the degradation of such a shame."</p> + +<p>He seemed to enjoy the torments I was suffering, +and actually revel in the contemplation of my +misery; for he never spoke a word, but continued +steadily to stare me in the face.</p> + +<p>"Sit down here, monsieur," said he, at length, +while he pointed to a chair near him; "I wish +to say a few words to you, in all seriousness, and +in good faith, also."</p> + +<p>I seated myself, and he went on.</p> + +<p>"The events of the last two days must have +made such an impression on your mind that even +the most remarkable incidents of your life could +not compete with. You fancied yourself a great +discoverer, and that, by the happy conjuncture +of intelligence and accident, you had actually +fathomed the depths of that wonderful system of +police, which, more powerful than armies or +councils, is the real government of France! I +will not stop now to convince you that you have +not wandered out of the very shallowest channels +of this system. It is enough that you have been +admitted to an audience with me, to suggest an +opposite conviction, and give to your recital, +when you repeat the tale, a species of importance. +Now, sir, my counsel to you is, never to repeat +it, and for this reason; nobody possessed of common +powers of judgment will ever believe you! +not one, sir! No one would ever believe that +Monsieur Fouché had made so grave a mistake, +no more than he would believe that a man of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +good name and birth, a French officer, could have +stolen a snuff-box. You see, Monsieur de Tiernay, +that I acquit you of this shameful act. +Imitate my generosity, sir, and forget all that +you have witnessed since Tuesday last. I have +given you good advice, sir; if I find that you +profit by it, we may see more of each other."</p> + +<p>Scarcely appreciating the force of his parable, +and thinking of nothing save the vindication of +my honor, I muttered a few unmeaning words, +and withdrew, glad to escape a presence which +had assumed, to my terrified senses, all the +diabolical subtlety of satanic influence. Trusting +that no future accident of my life should +ever bring me within such precincts, I hurried +from the place as though it were contaminated +and plague-stricken.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XLVII.</h3> + +<h4>"THE VILLAGE OF SCHWARTZ-ACH."</h4> + + +<p>I was destitute enough when I quitted the +"Temple," a few days back; but my condition +now was sadder still, for in addition to my +poverty and friendlessness, I had imbibed a degree +of distrust and suspicion that made me shun +my fellow-men, and actually shrink from the +contact of a stranger. The commonest show of +courtesy, the most ordinary exercise of politeness, +struck me as the secret wiles of that police, +whose machinations, I fancied, were still spread +around me. I had conceived a most intense +hatred of civilization, or, at least, of what I +rashly supposed to be the inherent vices of civilized +life. I longed for what I deemed must be +the glorious independence of a savage. If I +could but discover this Paradise beyond seas, of +which the marquise raved so much; if I only +could find out that glorious land which neither +knew secret intrigues nor conspiracies, I should +leave France forever, taking any condition, or +braving any mischances fate might have in store +for me.</p> + +<p>There was something peculiarly offensive in +the treatment I had met with. Imprisoned on +suspicion, I was liberated without any "amende;" +neither punished like a guilty man, nor absolved +as an innocent one. I was sent out upon the +world as though the state would not own nor +acknowledge me; a dangerous practice, as I often +thought, if only adopted on a large scale. It was +some days before I could summon resolution to +ascertain exactly my position: at last I did muster +up courage, and under pretense of wishing to +address a letter to myself, I applied at the Ministry +of War for the address of Lieutenant Tiernay, +of the 9th Hussars. I was one of a large crowd +similarly engaged, some inquiring for sons that +had fallen in battle, or husbands or fathers in far +away countries. The office was only open each +morning for two hours, and consequently, as the +expiration of the time drew nigh, the eagerness +of the inquirers became far greater, and the contrast +with the cold apathy of the clerks the more +strongly marked. I had given way to many, who +were weaker than myself, and less able to buffet +with the crowd about them; and at last, when, +wearied by waiting, I was drawing nigh the table, +my attention was struck by an old, a very old +man, who, with a beard white as snow, and long +mustaches of the same color, was making great +efforts to gain the front rank. I stretched out +my hand, and caught his, and by considerable exertion, +at last succeeded in placing him in front +of me.</p> + +<p>He thanked me fervently, in a strange kind +of German, a <i>patois</i> I had never heard before, +and kissed my hand three or four times over in +his gratitude; indeed, so absorbed was he for +the time in his desire to thank me, that I had to +recall him to the more pressing reason of his +presence, and warn him that but a few minutes +more of the hour remained free.</p> + +<p>"Speak up," cried the clerk, as the old man +muttered something in a low and very indistinct +voice; "speak up; and remember, my friend, +that we do not profess to give information further +back than the times of 'Louis Quatorze.'"</p> + +<p>This allusion to the years of the old man was +loudly applauded by his colleagues, who drew +nigh to stare at the cause of it.</p> + +<p>"Sacre bleu! he is talking Hebrew," said +another, "and asking for a friend who fell at +Ramoth Gilead."</p> + +<p>"He is speaking German," said I, peremptorily, +"and asking for a relative whom he believes +to have embarked with the expedition to +Egypt."</p> + +<p>"Are you a sworn interpreter, young man?" +asked an older and more consequential-looking +personage.</p> + +<p>I was about to return a hasty reply to this impertinence, +but I thought of the old man, and the +few seconds that still remained for his inquiry, +and I smothered my anger, and was silent.</p> + +<p>"What rank did he hold?" inquired one of +the clerks, who had listened with rather more +patience to the old man. I translated the question +for the peasant, who, in reply, confessed +that he could not tell. The youth was his only +son, and had left home many years before, and +never written. A neighbor, however, who had +traveled in foreign parts, had brought tidings +that he had gone with the expedition to Egypt, +and was already high in the French army.</p> + +<p>"You are not quite certain that he did not +command the army of Egypt?" said one of the +clerks in mockery of the old man's story.</p> + +<p>"It is not unlikely," said the peasant gravely, +"he was a brave and bold youth, and could have +lifted two such as you with one hand and hurled +you out of that window."</p> + +<p>"Let us hear his name once more," said the +elder clerk; "it is worth remembering."</p> + +<p>"I have told you already. It was Karl Kleber."</p> + +<p>"The General—General Kleber!" cried three +or four in a breath.</p> + +<p>"Mayhap," was all the reply.</p> + +<p>"And are you the father of the great general +of Egypt?" asked the elder, with an air of deep +respect.</p> + +<p>"Kleber is my son; and so that he is alive<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +and well, I care little if a general or simple +soldier."</p> + +<p>Not a word was said in answer to this speech, +and each seemed to feel reluctant to tell the sad +tidings. At last the elder clerk said, "You +have lost a good son, and France one of her +greatest captains. The General Kleber is dead."</p> + +<p>"Dead!" said the old man, slowly.</p> + +<p>"In the very moment of his greatest glory, +too, when he had won the country of the Pyramids, +and made Egypt a colony of France."</p> + +<p>"When did he die? said the peasant.</p> + +<p>"The last accounts from the East brought the +news; and this very day the Council of State +has accorded a pension to his family of ten thousand +livres."</p> + +<p>"They may keep their money. I am all that +remains, and have no want of it; and I should +be poorer still before I'd take it."</p> + +<p>These words he uttered in a low, harsh tone, +and pushed his way back though the crowd.</p> + +<p>One moment more was enough for <i>my</i> inquiry.</p> + +<p>"Maurice Tiernay, of the 9th—<i>destitué</i>," was +the short and stunning answer I received.</p> + +<p>"Is there any reason alleged—is there any +charge imputed to him?" asked I, timidly.</p> + +<p>"Ma foi! you must go to the Minister of +War with that question. Perhaps he was pay-master, +and embezzled the funds of the regiment; +perhaps he liked royalist gold better than republican +silver; or perhaps he preferred the company +of the baggage-train and the 'ambulances,' +when he should have been at the head of his +squadron."</p> + +<p>I did not care to listen longer to this impertinence, +and making my way out I gained the +street. The old peasant was still standing there, +like one stunned and overwhelmed by some +great shock, and neither heeding the crowd that +passed, nor the groups that halted occasionally +to stare at him.</p> + +<p>"Come along with <i>me</i>," said I, taking his +hand in mine. "<i>Your</i> calamity is a heavy one, +but <i>mine</i> is harder to bear up against."</p> + +<p>He suffered himself to be led away like a +child, and never spoke a word as we walked +along toward the "barriere," beyond which, at +a short distance, was a little ordinary, where I +used to dine. There we had our dinner together, +and as the evening wore on the old man rallied +enough to tell me of his son's early life, and +his departure for the army. Of his great career +<i>I</i> could speak freely, for Kleber's name was, in +soldier esteem, scarcely second to that of Bonaparte +himself. Not all the praises I could bestow, +however, were sufficient to turn the old +man from his stern conviction, that a peasant in +the "Lech Thal" was a more noble and independent +man than the greatest general that ever +marched to victory.</p> + +<p>"We have been some centuries there," said +he, "and none of our name has incurred a +shadow of disgrace. Why should not Karl have +lived like his ancestors?"</p> + +<p>It was useless to appeal to the glory his son +had gained—the noble reputation he had left +behind him. The peasant saw in the soldier +but one who hired out his courage and his blood, +and deemed the calling a low and unworthy one. +I suppose I was not the first who, in the effort +to convince another, found himself shaken in his +own convictions; for I own before I lay down +that night many of the old man's arguments +assumed a force and power that I could not resist, +and held possession of my mind even after +I fell asleep. In my dreams I was once more +beside the American lake, and that little colony +of simple people, where I had seen all that was +best of my life, and learned the few lessons I had +ever received of charity and good-nature.</p> + +<p>From what the peasant said, the primitive +habits of the Lech Thal must be almost like +those of that little colony, and I willingly assented +to his offer to accompany him in his journey +homeward. He seemed to feel a kind of satisfaction +in turning my thoughts away from a +career that he held so cheaply, and talked enthusiastically +of the tranquil life of the Bregenzer-wald.</p> + +<p>We left Paris the following morning, and, +partly by diligence, partly on foot, reached Strassburg +in a few days; thence we proceeded by +Kehel to Freyburg, and, crossing the Lake of +Constance at Rorsbach, we entered the Bregenzer-wald +on the twelfth morning of our journey. +I suppose that most men preserve fresher memory +of the stirring and turbulent scenes of their +lives than of the more peaceful and tranquil +ones, and I shall not be deemed singular when +I say, that some years passed over me in this +quiet spot and seemed as but a few weeks. The +old peasant was the "Vorsteher," or ruler of the +village, by whom all disputes were settled, and +all litigation of an humble kind decided—a species +of voluntary jurisdiction maintained to this +very day in that primitive region. My occupation +there was as a species of secretary to the +court, an office quite new to the villagers, but +which served to impress them more reverentially +than ever in favor of this rude justice. My legal +duties over, I became a vine-dresser, a wood-cutter, +or a deer-stalker, as season and weather +dictated. My evenings being always devoted to +the task of a schoolmaster. A curious seminary +was it, too, embracing every class from childhood +to advanced age, all eager for knowledge, +and all submitting to the most patient discipline +to attain it. There was much to make me happy +in that humble lot. I had the love and esteem +of all around me; there was neither a harassing +doubt for the future, nor the rich man's +contumely to oppress me; my life was made up +of occupations which alternately engaged mind +and body, and, above all and worth all besides, +I had a sense of duty, a feeling that I was doing +that which was useful to my fellow-men; and +however great may be a man's station in life, if +it want this element, the humblest peasant that +rises to his daily toil has a nobler and a better part.</p> + +<p>As I trace these lines how many memories of +the spot are rising before me! Scenes I had +long forgotten—faces I had ceased to remember!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +And now I see the little wooden bridge—a giant +tree, guarded by a single rail, that crossed the +torrent in front of our cottage; and I behold once +more the little waxen image of the Virgin over +the door, in whose glass shrine at nightfall a candle +ever burned! and I hear the low hum of the +villagers' prayer as the Angelus is singing, and +see on every crag or cliff the homebound hunter +kneeling in his deep devotion!</p> + +<p>Happy people, and not less good than happy! +Your bold and barren mountains have been the +safeguard of your virtue and your innocence! +Long may they prove so, and long may the waves +of the world's ambition be staid at their rocky feet!</p> + +<p>I was beginning to forget all that I had seen +of life, or, if not forget, at least to regard it as a +wild and troubled dream, when an accident, one +of those things we always regard as the merest +chances, once more opened the flood-gates of +memory, and sent the whole past in a strong +current through my brain.</p> + +<p>In this mountain region the transition from +winter to summer is effected in a few days. +Some hours of a scorching sun and south wind +swell the torrents with melted snow; the icebergs +fall thundering from cliff and crag, and +the sporting waterfall once more dashes over the +precipice. The trees burst into leaf, and the +grass springs up green and fresh from its wintry +covering; and from the dreary aspect of snow-capped +hills and leaden clouds, nature changes +to fertile plains and hills, and a sky of almost +unbroken blue.</p> + +<p>It was on a glorious evening in April, when +all these changes were passing, that I was descending +the mountain above our village after a +hard day's chamois hunting. Anxious to reach +the plain before nightfall, I could not, however, +help stopping from time to time to watch the +golden and ruby tints of the sun upon the snow, +or see the turquoise blue which occasionally +marked the course of a rivulet through the glaciers. +The Alp-horn was sounding from every +cliff and height, and the lowing of the cattle +swelled into a rich and mellow chorus. It was +a beautiful picture, realizing in every tint and +hue, in every sound and cadence, all that one +can fancy of romantic simplicity, and I surveyed +it with a swelling and a grateful heart.</p> + +<p>As I turned to resume my way, I was struck +by the sound of voices speaking, as I fancied, in +French, and before I could settle the doubt with +myself, I saw in front of me a party of some six +or seven soldiers, who, with their muskets slung +behind them, were descending the steep path by +the aid of sticks.</p> + +<p>Weary-looking and foot-sore as they were, +their dress, their bearing, and their soldier-like +air, struck me forcibly, and sent into my heart +a thrill I had not known for many a day before. +I came up quickly behind them, and could overhear +their complaints at having mistaken the +road, and their maledictions, muttered in no gentle +spirit, on the stupid mountaineers who could +not understand French.</p> + +<p>"Here comes another fellow, let us try <i>him</i>," +said one, as he turned and saw me near. +"Schwartz-Ach, Schwartz-Ach," added he, addressing +me, and reading the name from a slip +of paper in his hand.</p> + +<p>"I am going to the village," said I, in French, +"and will show the way with pleasure."</p> + +<p>"How! what! are you a Frenchman, then?" +cried the corporal, in amazement.</p> + +<p>"Even so," said I.</p> + +<p>"Then by what chance are you living in this +wild spot? How, in the name of wonder, can +you exist here?"</p> + +<p>"With venison like this," said I, pointing to +a chamois buck on my shoulder, "and the red +wine of the Lech Thal, a man may manage to +forget Veray's and the "Dragon Vert," particularly +as they are not associated with a bill and a +waiter!"</p> + +<p>"And perhaps you are a royalist," cried another, +"and don't like how matters are going on +at home?"</p> + +<p>"I have not that excuse for my exile," said I, +coldly.</p> + +<p>"Have you served, then?"</p> + +<p>I nodded.</p> + +<p>"Ah, I see," said the corporal, "you grew +weary of parade and guard mounting."</p> + +<p>"If you mean that I deserted," said I, "you are +wrong there also; and now let it be my turn to ask +a few questions. What is France about? Is the +Republic still as great and victorious as ever?"</p> + +<p>"Sacre bleu, man, what are you thinking of? +We are an Empire some years back, and Napoleon +has made as many kings as he has got +brothers and cousins to crown."</p> + +<p>"And the army, where is it?"</p> + +<p>"Ask for some half dozen armies, and you'll +still be short of the mark. We have one in Hamburg, +and another in the far North, holding the +Russians in check; we have garrisons in every +fortress of Prussia and the Rhine Land; we +have some eighty thousand fellows in Poland +and Gallicia; double as many more in Spain; +Italy is our own, and so will be Austria ere +many days go over."</p> + +<p>Boastfully as all this was spoken, I found it to +be not far from truth, and learned, as we walked +along, that the emperor was, at that very moment, +on the march to meet the Archduke Charles, +who, with a numerous army, was advancing on +Ratisbon, the little party of soldiers being portion +of a force dispatched to explore the passes +of the "Voralberg," and report on how far they +might be practicable for the transmission of troops +to act on the left flank and rear of the Austrian +army. Their success had up to this time been +very slight, and the corporal was making for +Schwartz-Ach, as a spot where he hoped to rendezvous +with some of his comrades. They were +much disappointed on my telling them that I had +quitted the village that morning, and that not a +soldier had been seen there. There was, however, +no other spot to pass the night in, and they +willingly accepted the offer I made them of a +shelter and a supper in our cottage.</p> + +<h4>(TO BE CONTINUED.)</h4> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>VAGARIES OF THE IMAGINATION.</h2> + + +<p>"Fancy it burgundy," said Boniface of his +ale, "only fancy it, and it is worth a guinea +a quart!" Boniface was a philosopher: fancy +can do much more than that. Those who fancy +themselves laboring under an affection of the +heart are not slow in verifying the apprehension: +the uneasy and constant watching of its pulsations +soon disturbs the circulation, and malady +may ensue beyond the power of medicine. Some +physicians believe that inflammation can be induced +in any part of the body by a fearful attention +being continually directed toward it; indeed +it has been a question with some whether the +stigmata (the marks of the wounds of our Saviour) +may not have been produced on the devotee by +the influences of an excited imagination. The +hypochondriac has been known to expire when +forced to pass through a door which he fancied +too narrow to admit his person. The story of +the criminal who, unconscious of the arrival of +the reprieve, died under the stroke of a wet handkerchief, +believing it to be the ax, is well known. +Paracelsus held, "that there is in man an imagination +which really effects and brings to pass +the things that did not before exist; for a man +by imagination willing to move his body moves +it in fact, and by his imagination and the commerce +of invisible powers he may also move another +body." Paracelsus would not have been +surprised at the feats of electro-biology. He exhorts +his patients to have "a good faith, a strong +imagination, and they shall find the effects. All +doubt," he says, "destroys work, and leaves it +imperfect in the wise designs of nature; it is +from faith that imagination draws its strength, it +is by faith it becomes complete and realized; he +who believeth in nature will obtain from nature to +the extent of his faith, and let the object of this faith +be real or imaginary, he nevertheless reaps similar +results—and hence the cause of superstition."</p> + +<p>So early as 1462, Pomponatus of Mantua came +to the conclusion, in his work on incantation, +that all the arts of sorcery and witchcraft were +the result of natural operations. He conceived +that it was not improbable that external means, +called into action by the soul, might relieve our +sufferings, and that there did, moreover, exist individuals +endowed with salutary properties; so it +might, therefore, be easily conceived that marvelous +effects should be produced by the imagination +and by confidence, more especially when these +are reciprocal between the patient and the person +who assists his recovery. Two years after, the +same opinion was advanced by Agrippa in Cologne. +"The soul," he said, "if inflamed by a +fervent imagination, could dispense health and +disease, not only in the individual himself, but +in other bodies." However absurd these opinions +may have been considered, or looked on as enthusiastic, +the time has come when they will be +gravely examined.</p> + +<p>That medical professors have at all times believed +the imagination to possess a strange and +powerful influence over mind and body is proved +by their writings, by some of their prescriptions, +and by their oft-repeated direction in the sick-chamber +to divert the patient's mind from dwelling +on his own state and from attending to the +symptoms of his complaint. They consider the +reading of medical books which accurately describe +the symptoms of various complaints as +likely to have an injurious effect, not only on the +delicate but on persons in full health; and they +are conscious how many died during the time of +the plague and cholera, not only of these diseases +but from the dread of them, which brought on all +the fatal symptoms. So evident was the effect +produced by the detailed accounts of the cholera +in the public papers in the year 1849, that it was +found absolutely necessary to restrain the publications +on the subject. The illusions under which +vast numbers acted and suffered have gone, indeed, +to the most extravagant extent: individuals, +not merely singly but in communities, have actually +believed in their own transformation. A +nobleman of the court of Louis XIV. fancied +himself a dog, and would pop his head out of the +window to bark at the passengers; while the +barking disease at the camp-meetings of the +Methodists of North America has been described +as "extravagant beyond belief." Rollin and +Hecquet have recorded a malady by which the +inmates of an extensive convent near Paris were +attacked simultaneously every day at the same +hour, when they believed themselves transformed +into cats, and a universal mewing was kept up +throughout the convent for some hours. But of +all dreadful forms which this strange hallucination +took, none was so terrible as that of the +lycanthropy, which at one period spread through +Europe; in which the unhappy sufferers, believing +themselves wolves, went prowling about the +forests, uttering the most terrific howlings, carrying +off lambs from the flocks, and gnawing +dead bodies in their graves.</p> + +<p>While every day's experience adds some new +proof of the influence possessed by the imagination +over the body, the supposed effect of contagion +has become a question of doubt. Lately, +at a meeting in Edinburgh, Professor Dick gave +it as his opinion that there was no such thing as +hydrophobia in the lower animals: "what went +properly by that name was simply an inflammation +of the brain; and the disease, in the case of +human beings, was caused by an over-excited imagination, +worked upon by the popular delusion on +the effects of a bite by rabid animals." The following +paragraph from the "Curiosities of Medicine" +appears to justify this now common enough +opinion:—"Several persons had been bitten by +a rabid dog in the Faubourg St. Antoine, and +three of them had died in our hospital. A report, +however, was prevalent that we kept a mixture +which would effectually prevent the fatal termination; +and no less than six applicants who +had been bitten were served with a draught of +colored water, and in no one instance did hydrophobia +ensue."</p> + +<p>A remarkable cure through a similar aid of the +imagination took place in a patient of Dr. Beddoes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +who was at the time very sanguine about +the effect of nitrous acid gas in paralytic cases. +Anxious that it should be imbibed by one of his +patients, he sent an invalid to Sir Humphry Davy, +with a request that he would administer the gas. +Sir Humphry put the bulb of the thermometer +under the tongue of the paralytic, to ascertain +the temperature of the body, that he might be +sure whether it would be affected at all by the +inhalation of the gas. The patient, full of faith +from what the enthusiastic physician had assured +him would be the result, and believing that the +thermometer was what was to effect the cure, +exclaimed at once that he felt better. Sir Humphry, +anxious to see what imagination would do +in such a case, did not attempt to undeceive the +man, but saying that he had done enough for +him that day, desired him to be with him the +next morning. The thermometer was then applied +as it had been the day before, and for every +day during a fortnight—at the end of which time +the patient was perfectly cured.</p> + +<p>Perhaps there is nothing on record more curious +of this kind than the cures unwittingly performed +by Chief-justice Holt. It seems that for a youthful +frolic he and his companions had put up at a +country inn; they, however, found themselves +without the means of defraying their expenses, +and were at a loss to know what they should do +in such an emergency. Holt, however, perceived +that the innkeeper's daughter looked very ill, and +on inquiring what was the matter, learned that +she had the ague; when, passing himself off for +a medical student, he said that he had an infallible +cure for the complaint. He then collected a +number of plants, mixed them up with various +ceremonies, and inclosed them in parchment, on +which he scrawled divers cabalistic characters. +When all was completed, he suspended the amulet +round the neck of the young woman, and, strange +to say, the ague left her and never returned. The +landlord, grateful for the restoration of his daughter, +not only declined receiving any payment from +the youths, but pressed them to remain as long +as they pleased. Many years after, when Holt +was on the bench, a woman was brought before +him, charged with witchcraft: she was accused +of curing the ague by charms. All she said in +defense was, that she did possess a ball which +was a sovereign remedy in the complaint. The +charm was produced and handed to the judge, +who recognized the very ball which he had himself +compounded in his boyish days, when out +of mere fun he had assumed the character of a +medical practitioner.</p> + +<p>Many distinguished physicians have candidly +confessed that they preferred confidence to art. +Faith in the remedy is often not only half the +cure, but the whole cure. Madame de Genlis +tells of a girl who had lost the use of her leg for +five years, and could only move with the help of +crutches, while her back had to be supported: +she was in such a pitiable state of weakness, the +physicians had pronounced her case incurable. +She, however, took it into her head that if she +was taken to Notre Dame de Liesse she would +certainly recover. It was fifteen leagues from +Carlepont where she lived. She was placed in +a cart which her father drove, while her sister +sat by her supporting her back. The moment +the steeple of Notre Dame de Liesse was in sight +she uttered an exclamation, and said that her leg +was getting well. She alighted from the car +without assistance, and no longer requiring the +help of her crutches, she ran into the church. +When she returned home the villagers gathered +about her, scarcely believing that it was indeed +the girl who had left them in such a wretched +state, now they saw her running and bounding +along, no longer a cripple, but as active as any +among them.</p> + +<p>Not less extraordinary are the cures which are +effected by some sudden agitation. An alarm of +fire has been known to restore a patient entirely +or for a time, from a tedious illness: it is no uncommon +thing to hear of the victim of a severe fit +of the gout, whose feet have been utterly powerless, +running nimbly away from some approaching +danger. Poor Grimaldi in his declining years +had almost quite lost the use of his limbs owing +to the most hopeless debility. As he sat one day +by the bed side of his wife, who was ill, word +was brought to him that a friend waited below +to see him. He got down to the parlor with extreme +difficulty. His friend was the bearer of +heavy news which he dreaded to communicate: +it was the death of Grimaldi's son, who, though +reckless and worthless, was fondly loved by the +poor father. The intelligence was broken as +gently as such a sad event could be: but in an +instant Grimaldi sprung from his chair—his lassitude +and debility were gone, his breathing, +which had for a long time been difficult, became +perfectly easy—he was hardly a moment in bounding +up the stairs which but a quarter of an hour +before he had passed with extreme difficulty in +ten minutes; he reached the bed-side, and told +his wife that their son was dead; and as she +burst into an agony of grief he flung himself into +a chair, and became again instantaneously, as it +has been touchingly described, "an enfeebled and +crippled old man."</p> + +<p>The imagination, which is remarkable for its +ungovernable influence, comes into action on +some occasions periodically with the most precise +regularity. A friend once told us of a young +relation who was subject to nervous attacks: she +was spending some time at the sea-side for change +of air, but the evening-gun, fired from the vessel +in the bay at eight o'clock, was always the signal +for a nervous attack: the instant the report was +heard she fell back insensible, as if she had been +shot. Those about her endeavored if possible to +withdraw her thoughts from the expected moment: +at length one evening they succeeded, and +while she was engaged in an interesting conversation +the evening-gun was unnoticed. By-and-by +she asked the hour, and appeared uneasy when +she found the time had passed. The next evening +it was evident that she would not let her +attention be withdrawn: the gun fired, and she +swooned away: and when revived, another fainting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +fit succeeded, as if it were to make up for the +omission of the preceding evening! It is told of +the great tragic actress Clairon, who had been +the innocent cause of the suicide of a man who +destroyed himself by a pistol-shot, that ever after, +at the exact moment when the fatal deed had +been perpetrated—one o'clock in the morning—she +heard the shot. If asleep, it awakened her; +if engaged in conversation, it interrupted her; in +solitude or in company, at home or traveling, in +the midst of revelry or at her devotions, she was +sure to hear it to the very moment.</p> + +<p>The same indelible impression has been made +in hundreds of cases, and on persons of every +variety of temperament and every pursuit, whether +engaged in business, science, or art, or rapt in +holy contemplation. On one occasion Pascal +had been thrown down on a bridge which had no +parapet, and his imagination was so haunted forever +after by the danger, that he always fancied +himself on the brink of a steep precipice overhanging +an abyss ready to engulf him. This +illusion had taken such possession of his mind +that the friends who came to converse with him +were obliged to place the chairs on which they +seated themselves between him and the fancied +danger. But the effects of terror are the best +known of all the vagaries of imagination.</p> + +<p>A very remarkable case of the influence of imagination +occurred between sixty and seventy +years since in Dublin, connected with the celebrated +frolics of Dalkey Island. It is said Curran +and his gay companions delighted to spend a day +there, and that with them originated the frolic +of electing "a king of Dalkey and the adjacent +islands," and appointing his chancellor and all +the officers of state. A man in the middle rank +of life, universally respected, and remarkable +alike for kindly and generous feelings and a convivial +spirit, was unanimously elected to fill the +throne. He entered with his whole heart into +all the humors of the pastime, in which the citizens +of Dublin so long delighted. A journal was +kept, called the "Dalkey Gazette," in which all +public proceedings were inserted, and it afforded +great amusement to its conductors. But the mock +pageantry, the affected loyalty, and the pretended +homage of his subjects, at length began to excite +the imagination of "King John," as he was called. +Fiction at length became with him reality, and he +fancied himself "every inch a king." His family +and friends perceived with dismay and deep sorrow +the strange delusion which nothing could +shake: he would speak on no subject save the +kingdom of Dalkey and its government, and he +loved to dwell on the various projects he had in +contemplation for the benefit of his people, and +boasted of his high prerogative: he never could +conceive himself divested for one moment of his +royal powers, and exacted the most profound +deference to his kingly authority. The last year +and a half of his life were spent in Swift's hospital +for lunatics. He felt his last hours approaching, +but no gleam of returning reason +marked the parting scene: to the very last instant +he believed himself a king, and all his cares +and anxieties were for his people. He spoke in +high terms of his chancellor, his attorney-general, +and all his officers of state, and of the dignitaries +of the church: he recommended them to his kingdom, +and trusted they might all retain the high +offices which they now held. He spoke on the +subject with a dignified calmness well becoming +the solemn leave-taking of a monarch; but when +he came to speak of the crown he was about to +relinquish forever his feelings were quite overcome, +and the tears rolled down his cheeks: "I +leave it," said he, "to my people, and to him +whom they may elect as my successor!" This +remarkable scene is recorded in some of the +notices of deaths for the year 1788. The delusion, +though most painful to his friends, was far +from an unhappy one to its victim: his feelings +were gratified to the last while thinking he was +occupied with the good of his fellow-creatures—an +occupation best suited to his benevolent disposition.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>MYSTERIES!</h2> + + +<p>"I believe nothing that I do not understand," +is the favorite saying of Mr. Pettipo +Dapperling, a gentleman who very much +prides himself on his intellectual perspicacity. +Yet ask Mr. Pettipo if he understands how it is +that he wags his little finger, and he can give +you no reasonable account of it. He will tell +you (for he has read books and "studied" anatomy), +that the little finger consists of so many +jointed bones, that there are tendons attached +to them before and behind, which belong to certain +muscles, and that when these muscles are +made to contract, the finger wags. And this is +nearly all that Mr. Pettipo knows about it! How +it is that the volition acts on the muscles, what +volition is, what the will is—Mr. Pettipo knows +not. He knows quite as little about the Sensation +which resides in the skin of that little finger—how +it is that it feels and appreciates forms +and surfaces—why it detects heat and cold—in +what way its papillæ erect themselves, and its +pores open and close—about all this he is entirely +in the dark. And yet Mr. Pettipo is under +the necessity of believing that his little finger +wags, and that it is endowed with the gift of +sensation, though he in fact knows nothing whatever +of the why or the wherefore.</p> + +<p>We must believe a thousand things that we +can not understand. Matter and its combinations +are a grand mystery—how much more so, Life +and its manifestations. Look at those far-off +worlds majestically wheeling in their appointed +orbits, millions of miles off: or, look at this +earth on which we live, performing its diurnal +motion upon its own axis, and its annual circle +round the sun! What do we understand of the +causes of such motions? what can we ever know +about them, beyond the facts that such things +are so? To discover and apprehend facts is +much, and it is nearly our limit. To ultimate +causes we can never ascend. But to have an +eye open to receive facts and apprehend their +relative value—that is a great deal—that is our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +duty; and not to reject, suspect, or refuse to accept +them, because they happen to clash with +our preconceived notions, or, like Mr. Pettipo Dapperling, +because we "can not understand" them.</p> + +<p>"O, my dear Kepler!" writes Galileo to his +friend, "how I wish that we could have one +hearty laugh together! Here at Padua is the +principal Professor of Philosophy, whom I have +repeatedly and urgently requested to look at the +moon and planets through my glass, which he +pertinaciously refuses to do. Why are you not +here? What shouts of laughter we should have +at this glorious folly! And to hear the Professor +of Philosophy at Pisa lecturing before the +Grand Duke with logical arguments, as if with +magical incantations to charm the new planets +out of the sky!"</p> + +<p>Rub a stick of wax against your coat-sleeve, +and it emits sparks: hold it near to light, fleecy +particles of wool or cotton, and it first attracts, +then it repels them. What do you understand +about that, Mr. Pettipo, except merely that it is +so? Stroke the cat's back before the fire, and +you will observe the same phenomena. Your +own body will, in like manner, emit sparks in +certain states, but you know nothing about why +it is so.</p> + +<p>Pour a solution of muriate of lime into one of +sulphate of potash—both clear fluids; but no +sooner are they mixed together than they become +nearly solid. How is that? You tell me that +an ingredient of the one solution combines with +an ingredient of the other, and an insoluble sulphate +of lime is produced. Well! you tell me +a fact; but you do not account for it by saying +that the lime has a greater attraction for the sulphuric +acid than the potash has: you do not +<i>understand</i> how it is—you merely see that it is +so. You must believe it.</p> + +<p>But when you come to Life, and its wonderful +manifestations, you are more in the dark than +ever. You understand less about this than you +do even of dead matter. Take an ordinary every-day +fact: you drop two seeds, whose component +parts are the same, into the same soil. They +grow up so close together that their roots mingle +and their stalks intertwine. The one plant produces +a long slender leaf, the other a short flat +leaf—the one brings forth a beautiful flower, the +other an ugly scruff—the one sheds abroad a delicious +fragrance, the other is entirely inodorous. +The hemlock, the wheatstalk, and the rose-tree, +out of the same chemical ingredients contained +in the soil, educe, the one deadly poison, the other +wholesome food, the third a bright consummate +flower. Can you tell me, Mr. Pettipo, how +is this? Do you understand the secret by which +the roots of these plants accomplish so much +more than all your science can do, and so infinitely +excel the most skillful combinations of the +philosopher? You can only recognize the fact—but +you can not unravel the mystery. Your saying +that it is the "nature" of the plants, does not +in the slightest degree clear up the difficulty. +You can not get at the ultimate fact—only the +proximate one is seen by you.</p> + +<p>But lo! here is a wonderful little plant—touch +it, and the leaves shrink on the instant: one leaf +seeming to be in intimate sympathy with the rest, +and the whole leaves in its neighborhood shrinking +up at the touch of a foreign object. Or, take +the simple pimpernel, which closes its eye as the +sun goes down, and opens as he rises again—shrinks +at the approach of rain, and expands in +fair weather. The hop twines round the pole in +the direction of the sun, and—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The sunflower turns on her god when he sets,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The same look that she turned when he rose."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Do we know any thing about these things, +further than they are so?</p> + +<p>A partridge chick breaks its shell and steps +forth into its new world. Instantly it runs about +and picks up the seeds lying about on the ground. +It had never learned to run, or to see, or to select +its food; but it does all these on the instant. +The lamb of a few hours' old frisks about full of +life, and sucks its dam's teat with as much accuracy +as if it had studied the principle of the air-pump. +Instinct comes full-grown into the world +at once, and we know nothing about it, neither +does the Mr. Dapperling above named.</p> + +<p>When we ascend to the higher orders of animated +being—to man himself—we are as much +in the dark as before—perhaps more so. Here +we have matter arranged in its most highly-organized +forms—moving, feeling, and thinking. +In man the animal powers are concentrated; and +the thinking powers are brought to their highest +point. How, by the various arrangements of +matter in man's body, one portion of the nervous +system should convey volitions from the brain to +the limbs and the outer organs—how another +part should convey sensations with the suddenness +of lightning—and how, finally, a third portion +should collect these sensations, react upon +them, store them up by a process called Memory, +reproduce them in thought, compare them, philosophize +upon them, embody them in books—is +a great and unfathomable mystery!</p> + +<p>Life itself! how wonderful it is! Who can +understand it, or unravel its secret! From a +tiny vesicle, at first almost imperceptible to the +eye, but gradually growing and accumulating +about it fresh materials, which are in turns organized +and laid down, each in their set places, +at length a body is formed, becomes developed—passing +through various inferior stages of being—those +of polype, fish, frog, and animal—until, +at length, the human being rises above all these +forms, and the law of the human animal life is +fulfilled. First, he is merely instinctive, then +sensitive, then reflective—the last the greatest, +the crowning work of man's development. But +what do we <i>know</i> of it all? Do we not merely +see that it is so, and turn aside from the great +mystery in despair of ever unraveling it?</p> + +<p>The body sleeps? Volition, sensation, and +thought, become suspended for a time, while the +animal powers live on; capillary arteries working, +heart beating, lungs playing, all without an +effort—voluntarily and spontaneously. The +shadow of some recent thought agitates the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +brain, and the sleeper dreams. Or, his volition +may awake, while sensation is still profoundly +asleep, and then we have the somnambule, walking +in his sleep. Or, volition may be profoundly +asleep, while the senses are preternaturally excited, +as in the abnormal mesmeric state. Here +we have a new class of phenomena, more wonderful +because less usual, but not a whit more +mysterious than the most ordinary manifestations +of life.</p> + +<p>We are astonished to hear men refusing to +credit the evidence of their senses as to mesmeric +phenomena, on the ground that they can not +"understand" them. When they can not understand +the commonest manifestations of life—the +causation of volition, sensation, or thought—why +should they refuse belief on such a ground? Are +the facts real? Are these things so? This should +be the chief consideration with us. Mysteries +they may be; but all life, all matter, all that is, +are mysteries too. Do we refuse to believe in +the electric telegraph, because the instantaneous +transmission of intelligence between points a +thousand miles apart seems at first sight fabulous, +and, to the uninitiated, profoundly mysterious? +Why should not thought—the most wonderful +and subtle of known agencies—manifest +itself in equally extraordinary ways?</p> + +<p>We do not know that what the mesmerists call +<i>clairvoyance</i> is yet to be held as established by +sufficient evidence. Numerous strongly authenticated +cases have certainly been adduced by persons +whose evidence is above suspicion—as, for +instance, by Swedenborg (attested by many impartial +witnesses), by Goethe, by Zschokke, by +Townshend, by Martineau, and others; but the +evidence seems still to want confirmation. Only, +we say, let us not prejudge the case—let us wait +patiently for all sorts of evidence. We can not +argue <i>à priori</i> that <i>clairvoyance</i> is not true, any +more than the Professor at Padua could argue, +with justice, that the worlds which Galileo's +telescope revealed in the depths of space, were +all a sham. That truth was established by extended +observation. Let us wait and see whether +this may not yet be established, too, by similar +means.</p> + +<p>Some of the things which the mesmerists, who +go the length of <i>clairvoyance</i>, tell us, certainly +have a very mysterious look; and were not sensation, +thought, and all the manifestations of Life +(not yet half investigated) all alike mysterious, +we might be disposed to shut our eyes with the +rest, and say we refused to believe, because we +"did not understand."</p> + +<p>But equally extraordinary relations to the same +effect have been made by men who were neither +mesmerists nor clairvoyantes. For instance, +Kant, the German writer, relates that Swedenborg +once, when living at Gottenburg, some three +hundred miles from Stockholm, suddenly rose up +and went out, when at the house of one Kostel, +in the company of fifteen persons. After a few +minutes he returned, pale and alarmed, and informed +the party that a dangerous fire had just +broken out in Stockholm, in Sudermalm, and that +the fire was spreading fast. He was restless, and +went out often; he said that the house of one +of his friends, whom he named, was already in +ashes, and that his own was in danger. At eight +o'clock, after he had been out again, he joyfully +exclaimed, "Thank God, the fire is extinguished +the third door from my house." This statement +of Swedenborg's spread through the town, and +occasioned consternation and wonder. The governor +heard of it, and sent for Swedenborg, who +described the particulars of the fire—where and +how it had begun, in what manner it had ceased, +and how long it had continued. On the Monday +evening, two days after the fire, a messenger arrived +from Gottenburg, who had been dispatched +during the time of the fire, and the intelligence +he brought confirmed all that Swedenborg had +said as to its commencement: and on the following +morning the royal courier arrived at the governor's +with full intelligence of the calamity, +which did not differ in the least from the relation +which Swedenborg had given immediately +after the fire had ceased on the Saturday evening.</p> + +<p>A circumstance has occurred while the writer +was engaged in the preparation of this paper, +which is of an equally curious character, to say +the least of it. The lady who is the subject of it +is a relation of the writer, and is no believer in +the "Mysteries of Mesmerism." It may be remarked, +however, that she is of a very sensitive +and excitable nervous temperament. It happened, +that on the night of the 30th of April, a +frightful accident occurred on the Birkenhead, +Lancashire, and Cheshire Railway, in consequence +of first one train, and then another, running +into the trains preceding. A frightful +scene of tumult, mutilation, and death ensued. +It happened that the husband of the lady in +question was a passenger in the first train; +though she did not know that he intended to go +to the Chester races, having been in Liverpool +that day on other business. But she had scarcely +fallen asleep, ere, half-dozing, half-awake, she +<i>saw</i> the accident occur—the terror, the alarm, +and the death. She walked up and down her +chamber in terror and alarm the whole night, +and imparted her fears to others in the morning. +Her husband was not injured, though greatly +shaken by the collision, and much alarmed; and +when he returned home in the course of the following +day, he could scarcely believe his wife +when she informed him of the circumstances +which had been so mysteriously revealed to her +in connection with his journey of the preceding +day!</p> + +<p>Zschokke, an estimable man, well known as a +philosopher, statesman, and author, possessed, +according to his own and contemporary accounts, +the most extraordinary power of divination of the +characters and lives of other men with whom he +came in contact. He called it his "inward +sight," and at first he was himself quite as much +astonished at it as others were. Writing of this +feature himself, he says: "It has happened to +me, sometimes, on my first meeting with strangers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +as I listened silently to their discourse, that +their former life, with many trifling circumstances +therewith connected, or frequently some particular +scene in that life, has passed quite involuntarily, +and, as it were, dream-like, yet perfectly +distinct, before me. During this time, I usually +feel so entirely absorbed in the contemplation of +the stranger life, that at last I no longer see +clearly the face of the unknown, wherein I undesignedly +read, nor distinctly hear the voices of +the speakers, which before served in some measure +as a commentary to the text of their features. +For a long time I held such visions as delusions +of the fancy, and the more so as they showed me +even the dress and motions of the actors, rooms, +furniture, and other accessories. By way of +jest, I once, in a family circle at Kirchberg, related +the secret history of a seamstress who had +just left the room and the house. I had never +seen her before in my life; people were astonished +and laughed, but were not to be persuaded +that I did not previously know the relations of +which I spoke, for what I had uttered was the +<i>literal</i> truth; I, on my part, was no less astonished +that my dream-pictures were confirmed by +the reality. I became more attentive to the subject, +and when propriety admitted it, I would relate +to those whose life thus passed before me, +the subject of my vision, that I might thereby obtain +confirmation or refutation of it. It was invariably +ratified, not without consideration on +their part. I myself had less confidence than +any one in this mental jugglery. So often as I +revealed my visionary gifts to any new person, I +regularly expected to hear the answer: 'It was +not so.' I felt a secret shudder when my auditors +replied that it was <i>true</i>, or when their astonishment +betrayed my accuracy before they +spoke."<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> Zschokke gives numerous instances +of this extraordinary power of divination or waking +clairvoyance, and mentions other persons +whom he met, who possessed the same marvelous +power.</p> + +<p>The "Posthumous Memoirs of La Harpe" contain +equally extraordinary revelations, looking <i>forward</i>, +instead of backward, as in Zschokke's case, +into the frightful events of the great French Revolution, +the sightseer being Cazove, a well-known +novel writer, who lived previous to the frightful +outbreak. Mary Howitt, in her account of the +extraordinary "Preaching Epidemic of Sweden," +recites circumstances of the same kind, equally +wonderful; and the Rev. Mr. Sandy and Mr. +Townshend's books on mesmerism are full of +similar marvels. Among the various statements, +the grand point is, how much of them is true? +What are the <i>facts</i> of mesmerism? To quote +the great Bacon: "He who hath not first, and +before all, intimately explained the movements +of the human mind, and therein most accurately +distinguished the course of knowledge and the +seats of error, shall find all things masked, and, +as it were, enchanted; and, until he undo the +charm, shall be unable to interpret." How few +of us have yet arrived at this enviable position.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CLARA CORSINI.—A TALE OF NAPLES.</h2> + + +<p>A young French traveler, named Ernest Leroy, +on arriving at Naples, found himself during +the first few days quite confused by the multitude +of his impressions. Now as it was in +search of impressions that he had left his beloved +Paris, there was nothing, it should seem, +very grievous in this; and yet in the midst of his +excitement there occurred intervals of intolerable +weariness of spirit—moments when he looked +upon the Strada Toledo with disgust, wished +himself any where but in San Carlos, sneered at +Posilippo, pooh-poohed Vesuvius, and was generally +skeptical as to the superiority of <i>the Bay</i> +over the Bosphorus, which he had not seen. All +this came to pass because he had set out on the +principle of traveling in a hurry, or, as he expressed +it, making the most of his time. Every +night before going to bed he made out and wrote +down a programme of next day's duties—assigning +so many hours to each sight, and so many +minutes to each meal, but forgetting altogether +to allow himself any opportunity for repose or +digestion.</p> + +<p>Thus he had come from Paris <i>viâ</i> Milan, Florence, +and Rome, to Naples—the whole in the +space of three weeks, during which, as will be +easily imagined, he had visited an incredible number +of churches, galleries, temples, and ruins of +every description. In order to profit as much as +possible by his travels he had arranged beforehand +five or six series of ideas, or meditations as +he called them: one on the assistance afforded +by the fine arts to the progress of civilization, +another consisting of a string of sublime commonplaces +on the fall of empires and the moral value +of monumental history; and so on. Each of +these meditations he endeavored to recall on appropriate +occasions; and he never had leisure to +reflect, that for any instruction he was deriving +from what he saw he might as well have stopped +at home. However, having some imagination +and talent, he frequently found himself carried +away by thoughts born of the occasion, and so +irresistibly, that once or twice he went through a +whole gallery or church before he had done with +the train of ideas suggested by some previous +sight, and was only made aware that he had seen +some unique painting or celebrated windows of +stained-glass by the guide claiming payment for +his trouble, and asking him to sign a testimonial +doing justice to his civility and great store of valuable +information. It is only just to state that +M. Ernest never failed to comply with either of +these demands.</p> + +<p>When, however, as we have said, he had been +two or three days in Naples, and had rushed over +the ground generally traversed by tourists, our +young traveler began to feel weary and disgusted. +For some time he did not understand what was +the matter, and upbraided himself with the lack +of industry and decline of enthusiasm, which +made him look forward with horror to the summons +of Giacomo, his guide, to be up and doing. +At length, however, during one sleepless night<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +the truth flashed upon him, and in the morning, +to his own surprise and delight, he mustered up +courage to dismiss Giacomo with a handsome +present, and to declare that that day at least he +was resolved to see nothing.</p> + +<p>What a delightful stroll he took along the seashore +that morning with his eyes half-closed lest +he might be tempted to look around for information! +He went toward Portici, but he saw nothing +except the sand and pebbles at his feet, and +the white-headed surf that broke near at hand. +For the first time since his departure from Paris +he felt light-minded and at ease; and the only +incident that occurred to disturb his equanimity +was, when his eyes rested for half a second on +a broken pillar in a vine-garden, and he was +obliged to make an effort to pass by without ascertaining +whether it was of Roman date. But +this feat once accomplished, he threw up his cap +for joy, shouted "<i>Victoire!</i>" and really felt independent.</p> + +<p>He was much mistaken, however, if he supposed +it to be possible to remain long in the enjoyment +of that <i>dolce far niente</i>, the first savor of +which so captivated him. One day, two days +passed, at the end of which he found that while +he had supposed himself to be doing nothing, he +had in reality made the great and only discovery +of his travels—namely, that the new country in +which he found himself was inhabited, and that, +too, by people who, though not quite so different +from his countrymen as the savages of the South +Sea Islands, possessed yet a very marked character +of their own, worthy of study and observation. +Thenceforward his journal began to be +filled with notes on costume, manners, &c.; and +in three weeks, with wonderful modesty, after +combining the results of all his researches, he +came to the conclusion that he understood nothing +at all of the character of the Italians.</p> + +<p>In this humble state of mind he wandered +forth one morning in the direction of the Castle +of St. Elmo, to enjoy the cool breeze that came +wafting from the sea, and mingled with and tempered +the early sunbeams as they streamed over +the eastern hills. Having reached a broad, silent +street, bordered only by a few houses and gardens, +he resolved not to extend his walk further, +but sat down on an old wooden bench under the +shade of a platane-tree that drooped over a lofty +wall. Here he remained some time watching +the few passengers that occasionally turned a +distant corner and advanced toward him. He +noticed that they all stopped at some one of the +houses further down the street, and that none +reached as far as where he sat; which led him +first to observe that beyond his position were only +two large houses, both apparently uninhabited. +One, indeed, was quite ruined—many of the windows +were built up or covered with old boards; +but the other showed fewer symptoms of decay, +and might be imagined to belong to some family +at that time absent in the country.</p> + +<p>He had just come to this very important conclusion +when his attention was diverted by the +near approach of two ladies elegantly dressed, +followed by an elderly serving-man in plain livery, +carrying a couple of mass-books. They passed +him rather hurriedly, but not before he had time +to set them down as mother and daughter, and to +be struck with the great beauty and grace of the +latter. Indeed, so susceptible in that idle mood +was he of new impressions, that before the young +lady had gone on more than twenty paces he determined +that he was in love with her, and by an +instinctive impulse rose to follow. At this moment +the serving-man turned round, and threw +a calm but inquisitive glance toward him. He +checked himself, and affected to look the other +way for a while, then prepared to carry out his +original intention. To his great surprise, however, +both ladies and follower had disappeared.</p> + +<p>An ordinary man would have guessed at once +that they had gone into one of the houses previously +supposed to be uninhabited, but M. Ernest +Leroy must needs fancy, first, that he had seen a +vision, and then that the objects of his interest +had been snatched away by some evil spirit. Mechanically, +however, he hurried to the end of the +street, which he found terminated in an open +piece of ground, which there had not been time +for any one to traverse. At length the rational +explanation of the matter occurred to him, and +he felt for a moment inclined to knock at the door +of the house that was in best preservation, and +complain of what he persisted in considering a +mysterious disappearance. However, not being +quite mad, he checked himself, and returning to +his wooden bench, sat down, and endeavored to +be very miserable.</p> + +<p>But this would have been out of character. +Instead thereof he began to feel a new interest +in life, and to look back with some contempt on +the two previous phases of his travels. With +youthful romance and French confidence he resolved +to follow up this adventure, never doubting +for a moment of the possibility of ultimate +success, nor of the excellence of the object of his +hopes. What means to adopt did not, it is true, +immediately suggest themselves; and he remained +sitting for more than an hour gazing at +the great silent house opposite, until the unpleasant +consciousness that he had not breakfasted +forced him to beat a retreat.</p> + +<p>We have not space to develop—luckily it is +not necessary—all the wild imaginings that fluttered +through the brain of our susceptible traveler +on his return to his lodgings, and especially after +a nourishing breakfast had imparted to him new +strength and vivacity. Under their influence he repaired +again to his post on the old wooden bench +under the platane-tree, and even had the perseverance +to make a third visit in the evening; for—probably, +because he expected the adventure to +draw out to a considerable length—he did not +imitate the foolish fantasy of some lovers, and +deprive himself of his regular meals. He saw +nothing that day; but next morning he had the +inexpressible satisfaction of again beholding the +two ladies approach, followed by their respectable-looking +servant. They passed without casting +a glance toward him; but their attendant this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +time not only turned round, but stopped, and +gazed at him in a manner he would have thought +impertinent on another occasion. For the moment, +however, this was precisely what he wanted, +and without thinking much of the consequences +that might ensue, he hastily made a sign +requesting an interview. The man only stared +the more, and then turning on his heel, gravely +followed the two ladies, who had just arrived at +the gateway of their house.</p> + +<p>"I do not know what to make of that rascally +valet," thought Ernest. "He seems at once +respectable and hypocritical. Probably my appearance +does not strike him as representing +sufficient wealth, otherwise the hopes of a fair +bribe would have induced him at any rate to +come out and ask me what I meant."</p> + +<p>He was, of course, once more at his post in +the afternoon; and this time he had the satisfaction +of seeing the door open, and the elderly +serving-man saunter slowly out, as if disposed to +enjoy the air. First he stopped on the steps, +cracking pistachio-nuts, and jerking the shells +into the road with his thumb; then took two or +three steps gently toward the other end of the +street; and at last, just as Ernest was about +to follow him, veered round and began to stroll +quietly across the road, still cracking his nuts, +in the direction of the old wooden bench.</p> + +<p>"The villain has at length made up his mind," +soliloquized our lover. "He pretends to come +out quite by accident, and will express great surprise +when I accost him in the way I intend."</p> + +<p>The elderly serving-man still came on, seemingly +not at all in a hurry to arrive, and gave ample +time for an examination of his person. His +face was handsome, though lined by age and +care, and was adorned by a short grizzled beard. +There was something very remarkable in the +keenness of his large gray eyes, as there was +indeed about his whole demeanor. His dress was +a plain suit of black, that might have suited a +gentleman; and if Ernest had been less occupied +with one idea he would not have failed to see in +this respectable domestic a prince reduced by +misfortune to live on wages, or a hero who had +never had an opportunity of exhibiting his worth.</p> + +<p>When this interesting person had reached the +corner of the bench he set himself down with a +slight nod of apology or recognition—it was difficult +to say which—and went on eating his nuts +quite unconcernedly. As often happens in such +cases, Ernest felt rather puzzled how to enter upon +business, and was trying to muster up an appearance +of condescending familiarity—suitable, +he thought, to the occasion—when the old man, +very affably holding out his paper-bag that he +might take some nuts, saved him the trouble by +observing: "You are a stranger, sir, I believe?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, my good fellow," was the reply of Ernest, +in academical Italian; "and I have come +to this county—"</p> + +<p>"I thought so," interrupted the serving-man, +persisting in his offer of nuts, but showing very +little interest about Ernest's views in visiting +Italy—"by your behavior."</p> + +<p>"My behavior!" exclaimed the young man, a +little nettled.</p> + +<p>"Precisely. But your quality of stranger has +hitherto protected you from any disagreeable consequences."</p> + +<p>This was said so quietly, so amiably, that the +warning or menace wrapped up in the words lost +much of its bitter savor; yet our traveler could +not refrain from a haughty glance toward this +audacious domestic, on whom, however, it was +lost, for he was deeply intent on his pistachios. +After a moment Ernest recovered his self-possession, +remembered his schemes, and drawing a +little nearer the serving-man, laid his hand confidentially +on the sleeve of his coat, and said: +"My good man, I have a word or two for your +private ear."</p> + +<p>Not expressing the least surprise or interest, +the other replied: "I am ready to hear what you +have to say, provided you will not call me any +more your good man. I am not a good man, nor +am I your man, without offense be it spoken. +My name is Alfonso."</p> + +<p>"Well, Alfonso, you are an original person, +and I will not call you a good man, though honesty +and candor be written on your countenance. +(Alfonso smiled, but said nothing). But listen +to me attentively, remembering that though neither +am I a good man, yet am I a generous one. +I passionately love your mistress."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Alfonso, with any thing but a +benevolent expression of countenance. Ernest, +who was no physiognomist, noticed nothing; +and being mounted on his new hobby-horse, proceeded +at once to give a history of his impressions +since the previous morning. When he had +concluded, the old man, who seemed all benevolence +again, simply observed: "Then it is the +younger of the two ladies that captivated your +affections in this unaccountable manner!"</p> + +<p>"Of course," cried Ernest; "and I beseech +you, my amiable Alfonso, to put me in the way +of declaring what I experience."</p> + +<p>"You are an extraordinary young man," was +the grave reply; "an extraordinary, an imprudent, +and, I will add, a reckless person. You fall +in love with a person of whom you know nothing—not +even the name. This, however, is, I believe, +according to rule among a certain class of +minds. Not satisfied with this, you can find no +better way of introducing yourself to her notice +than endeavoring to corrupt one whom you must +have divined to be a confidential servant. Others +would have sought an introduction to the +family; you dream at once of a clandestine intercourse—"</p> + +<p>"I assure you—" interrupted Ernest, feeling +both ashamed and indignant at these remarks +proceeding from one so inferior in station.</p> + +<p>"Assure me nothing, sir, as to your intentions, +for you do not know them yourself. I understand +you perfectly, because I was once young +and thoughtless like you. Now listen to me: in +that house dwells the Contessa Corsini, with her +daughter Clara; and if these two persons had no +one to protect them but themselves and a foolish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +old servitor, whom the first comer judges capable +of corruption, they would ere this have been +much molested; but it happens that the Count +Corsini is not dead, and inhabiteth with them, +although seldom coming forth into the public +streets. What say you, young man, does not +this a little disturb your plans?"</p> + +<p>"In the first place," replied Ernest, "I am offended +that you will persist in implying—more, +it is true, by your manner than your words—that +my views are not perfectly avowable."</p> + +<p>"Then why, in the name of Heaven, do you +not make yourself known to the count, stating +your object, and asking formally for his daughter's +hand?"</p> + +<p>"Not so fast, Alfonso. It was necessary for +me to learn, as a beginning, that there was a +count in the case."</p> + +<p>"And what do you know now? Perhaps those +women are two adventurers, and I a rascal playing +a virtuous part, in order the better to deceive +you."</p> + +<p>"You do not look like a rascal," said Ernest, +quite innocently. At which observation the old +man condescended to laugh heartily, and seemed +from that moment to take quite a liking to his +new acquaintance. After a little while, indeed, +he began to give some information about the +young Clara, who, he said, was only sixteen +years of age, though quite a woman in appearance, +and not unaccomplished. As to her dowry—Ernest +interrupted him by saying, that he +wished for no information on that point, being +himself rich. The old man smiled amiably, and +ended the conversation by requesting another interview +next day at the same hour, by which time, +he said, he might have some news to tell.</p> + +<p>Ernest returned home in high spirits, which +sank by degrees, however, when he reflected that +as Alfonso declined favoring any clandestine correspondence, +there was little in reality to be expected +from him. True, he had given him some +information, and he might now, by means of his +letters of introduction, contrive to make acquaintance +with the count. But though he spent the +whole evening and next morning in making inquiries, +he could not meet with any one who had +ever even heard of such a person. "Possibly," +he thought, "the old sinner may have been laughing +at me all the time, and entered into conversation +simply with the object of getting up a story +to divert the other domestics of the house. If +such be the case, he may be sure I shall wreak +vengeance upon him."</p> + +<p>In spite of these reflections, he was at his post +at the hour appointed, and felt quite overjoyed +when Alfonso made his appearance. The old +man said that a plan had suggested itself by +which he might be introduced into the house—namely, +that he should pretend to be a professor +of drawing, and offer his services. Ernest did +not inquire how Alfonso came to know that he +was an amateur artist, but eagerly complied with +the plan, and was instructed to call on the following +morning, and to say that he had heard that a +drawing-master was wanted.</p> + +<p>He went accordingly, not very boldly, it is true, +and looking very much in reality like a poor professor +anxious to obtain employment. The contessa, +who was yet young and beautiful, received +him politely, listened to his proposals, and made +no difficulty in accepting them. The preliminaries +arranged, Clara was called, and, to Ernest's +astonishment, came bouncing into the room like +a great school-girl, looked him very hard in the +face, and among the first things she said, asked +him if he was not the man she had seen two +mornings following sitting opposite the house on +the bench under the platane tree.</p> + +<p>Now Ernest had imagined to himself something +so refined, so delicate, so fairy-like, instead +of this plain reality, that he all at once began to +feel disgusted, and to wish he had acted more +prudently. And yet there was Clara, exactly as +he had seen her, except that she had exchanged +the demure, conventional step adopted by ladies +in the street for the free motions of youth; and +except that, instead of casting her eyes to the +earth, or glancing at him sideways, she now looked +toward him with a frank and free gaze, and +spoke what came uppermost in her mind. Certes, +most men would have chosen that moment to fall +in love with so charming a creature; for charming +she was beyond all doubt, with large, rich, +black eyes, pouting ruby lips, fine oval cheeks, +and a mass of ebony hair; but Ernest's first impression +was disappointment, and he began to +criticise both her and every thing by which she +was surrounded.</p> + +<p>He saw at once that there was poverty in the +house. The furniture was neat, but scanty; and +the door had been opened by a female servant, +who had evidently been disturbed from some domestic +avocations. The contessa and her daughter +were dressed very plainly—far differently from +what they had been in the street; and it was an +easy matter to see that this plainness was not +adopted from choice but from necessity. Had +Clara come into the room with a slow, creeping +step, keeping her eyes modestly fixed on the +chipped marble floor, not one of these observations +would have been made: the large, dreary +house would have been a palace in Ernest's eyes; +but his taste was a morbid one, and in five minutes +after he had begun to give his lesson, he +began to fear that the conquest he had so ardently +desired would be only too easy.</p> + +<p>There was something, however, so cheerful +and fascinating in Clara's manner that he could +not but soon learn to feel pleasure in her society: +and when he went away he determined, instead +of starting off for Sicily, as he had at first thought +of doing, to pay at least one more visit to the +house in the character of drawing master. Alfonso +joined him as he walked slowly homeward, +and asked him how things had passed. He related +frankly his first impressions, to which the +old man listened very attentively without making +any remark. At parting, however, he shook his +head, saying that young men were of all animals +the most difficult to content.</p> + +<p>Next day, when Ernest went to give his lesson,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +he was told by Alfonso that the contessa, +being indisposed, had remained in bed, but that +he should find Clara in the garden. There was +something romantic in the sound of this, so he +hurried to the spot indicated, impatient to have +the commonplace impressions of the previous day +effaced. This time his disgust was complete. +He found Clara engaged in assisting the servant +maid to wring and hang out some clothes they +had just finished washing. She seemed not at +all put out by being caught thus humbly employed; +but begging him to wait a little, finished +her work, ran away, dressed somewhat carefully, +and returning begged he would return to the +house. He followed with cheeks burning with +shame: he felt the utmost contempt for himself +because he had fallen in love with this little housewife, +and the greatest indignation against her for +having presumed, very innocently, to excite so +poetical a sentiment; and, in the stupidity of his +offended self-love, resolved to avenge himself by +making some spiteful remark ere he escaped from +a house into which he considered that he had been +regularly entrapped. Accordingly, when she took +the pencil in hand, he observed that probably she +imagined that contact with soap-suds would improve +the delicacy of her touch. Clara did not reply, +but began to sketch in a manner that proved +she had listened to the pedantic rules he had laid +down on occasion of the previous lesson more +from modesty than because she was in want of +them. Then suddenly rising without attending +to some cavil he thought it his duty to make, she +went to the piano, and beginning to play, drew +forth such ravishing notes, that Ernest, who was +himself no contemptible musician, could not refrain +from applauding enthusiastically. She received +his compliments with a slight shrug of the +shoulders, and commenced a song that enabled +her to display with full effect the capabilities of +her magnificent voice. The soap-suds were forgotten; +and Ernest's romance was coming back +upon him: he began to chide himself for his foolish +prejudices; and thought that, after all, with +a little training, Clara might be made quite a +lady. Suddenly, however, she broke off her song, +and turning toward him with an ironical smile, +said: "Not bad for a housemaid, Mr. Professor—is +it?"</p> + +<p>He attempted to excuse himself, but he was +evidently judged; and, what was more—not as +an obscure drawing-master, but as M. Ernest +Leroy. His identity was evidently no secret; +and she even called him by his name. He endeavored +in vain to make a fine speech to apologize +for his ill-behavior; but she interrupted him +keenly, though good-humoredly, and the entrance +of Alfonso was fatal to a fine scene of despair he +was about to enact. Clara upon this retired with +a profound salute; and Alfonso spoke with more +of dignity than usual in his manner, and said: +"My young friend, you must excuse a little deception +which has been practiced on you, or rather +which you have practiced upon yourself. I am +going to be very free and frank with you to-day. +I am not what you take me for. I am the Count +Corsini, a Roman; and because I have not the +means of keeping a man-servant, when the women +of my family go to church I follow them, as you +saw. This is not unusual among my countrymen. +It is a foolish pride I know; but so it is. +However, the matter interests you not. You saw +my daughter Clara, and thought you loved her. +I was willing, as on inquiry I found you to be a +respectable person, to see how you could agree +together; but your pride—I managed and overheard +all—has destroyed your chance. My daughter +will seek another husband."</p> + +<p>There was a cold friendliness in Alfonso's tone +which roused the pride of Ernest. He affected +to laugh, called himself a foolish madcap, but +hinted that a splendid marriage awaited him, if +he chose, on his return to Paris; and went away +endeavoring to look unconcerned. The following +morning he was on board a vessel bound for +Palermo, very sea-sick it is true, but thinking at +the same time a great deal more of Clara than he +could have thought possible had it been predicted.</p> + +<p>Some few years afterward Ernest Leroy was +in one of the <i>salons</i> of the Fauxbourg St. Germain. +Still a bachelor, he no longer felt those sudden +emotions to which he had been subject in his earlier +youth. He was beginning to talk less of sentiments +present and more of sentiments passed. +In confidential moods he would lay his hand upon +his waistcoat—curved out at its lower extremity, +by the by, by a notable increase of substance—and +allude to a certain divine Clara who had +illuminated a moment of his existence. But he +was too discreet to enter into details.</p> + +<p>Well, being in that <i>salon</i>, as we have said, +pretending to amuse himself, his attention was +suddenly drawn by the announcement of Lady +D——. He turned round, probably to quiz <i>la +belle Anglaise</i> he expected to behold. What was +his astonishment on recognizing in the superb +woman who leaned on the arm of a tall, military-looking +Englishman, the identical Clara Corsini +of his youthful memories. He felt at first sick +at heart; but, taking courage, soon went up and +spoke to her. She remembered him with some +little difficulty, smiled, and holding out her alabaster +hand, said gently: "Do you see any trace +of the soap-suds?" She never imagined he had +any feeling in him, and only knew the truth when +a large, round tear fell on the diamond of her +ring. "Charles," said Ernest awhile afterward +to a friend, "it is stifling hot and dreadfully +stupid here. Let us go and have a game of +billiards."</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Our_School" id="Our_School">OUR SCHOOL.</a></h2> + +<h3>BY CHARLES DICKENS.</h3> + + +<p>We went to look at it, only this last Midsummer, +and found that the Railway had cut it +up root and branch. A great trunk-line had swallowed +the play-ground, sliced away the school-room, +and pared off the corner of the house: +which, thus curtailed of its proportions, presented +itself, in a green stage of stucco, profile-wise toward +the road, like a forlorn flat-iron without a +handle, standing on end.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p> + +<p>It seems as if our schools were doomed to be +the sport of change. We have faint recollections +of a Preparatory Day-School, which we have +sought in vain, and which must have been pulled +down to make a new street, ages ago. We have +dim impressions, scarcely amounting to a belief, +that it was over a dyer's shop. We know that +you went up steps to it; that you frequently +grazed your knees in doing so; that you generally +got your leg over the scraper, in trying to +scrape the mud off a very unsteady little shoe. +The mistress of the Establishment holds no place +in our memory; but, rampant on one eternal +door-mat, in an eternal entry, long and narrow, +is a puffy pug-dog, with a personal animosity +toward us, who triumphs over Time. The bark +of that baleful Pug, a certain radiating way he +had of snapping at our undefended legs, the +ghastly grinning of his moist black muzzle and +white teeth, and the insolence of his crisp tail +curled like a pastoral crook, all live and flourish. +From an otherwise unaccountable association of +him with a fiddle, we conclude that he was of +French extraction, and his name <i>Fidèle</i>. He belonged +to some female, chiefly inhabiting a back-parlor, +whose life appears to us to have been +consumed in sniffing, and in wearing a brown +beaver bonnet. For her, he would sit up and +balance cake upon his nose, and not eat it until +twenty had been counted. To the best of our +belief, we were once called in to witness this +performance; when, unable, even in his milder +moments, to endure our presence, he instantly +made at us, cake and all.</p> + +<p>Why a something in mourning, called "Miss +Frost," should still connect itself with our preparatory +school, we are unable to say. We retain +no impression of the beauty of Miss Frost—if +she were beautiful; or of the mental fascinations +of Miss Frost—if she were accomplished; yet her +name and her black dress hold an enduring place +in our remembrance. An equally impersonal boy, +whose name has long since shaped itself unalterably +into "Master Mawls," is not to be dislodged +from our brain. Retaining no vindictive feeling +toward Mawls—no feeling whatever, indeed—we +infer that neither he nor we can have loved Miss +Frost. Our first impression of Death and Burial +is associated with this formless pair. We all three +nestled awfully in a corner one wintry day, when +the wind was blowing shrill, with Miss Frost's +pinafore over our heads; and Miss Frost told us +in a whisper about somebody being "screwed +down." It is the only distinct recollection we +preserve of these impalpable creatures, except a +suspicion that the manners of Master Mawls were +susceptible of much improvement. Generally +speaking, we may observe that whenever we see +a child intently occupied with its nose, to the exclusion +of all other subjects of interest, our mind +reverts in a flash to Master Mawls.</p> + +<p>But, the School that was Our School before the +Railroad came and overthrew it, was quite another +sort of place. We were old enough to be +put into Virgil when we went there, and to get +Prizes for a variety of polishing on which the rust +has long accumulated. It was a School of some +celebrity in its neighborhood—nobody could have +said why—and we had the honor to attain and +hold the eminent position of first boy. The master +was supposed among us to know nothing, and +one of the ushers was supposed to know every +thing. We are still inclined to think the first-named +supposition perfectly correct.</p> + +<p>We have a general idea that its subject had +been in the leather trade, and had bought us—meaning +our School—of another proprietor, who +was immensely learned. Whether this belief +had any real foundation, we are not likely ever +to know now. The only branches of education +with which he showed the least acquaintance, +were, ruling, and corporally punishing. He was +always ruling ciphering-books with a bloated +mahogany ruler, or smiting the palms of offenders +with the same diabolical instrument, or viciously +drawing a pair of pantaloons tight with one of +his large hands, and caning the wearer with the +other. We have no doubt whatever that this +occupation was the principal solace of his existence.</p> + +<p>A profound respect for money pervaded Our +School, which was, of course, derived from its +Chief. We remember an idiotic, goggle-eyed +boy, with a big head and half-crowns without +end, who suddenly appeared as a parlor-boarder, +and was rumored to have come by sea from some +mysterious part of the earth where his parents +rolled in gold. He was usually called "Mr." by +the Chief, and was said to feed in the parlor on +steaks and gravy; likewise to drink currant +wine. And he openly stated that if rolls and +coffee were ever denied him at breakfast, he +would write home to that unknown part of the +globe from which he had come, and cause himself +to be recalled to the regions of gold. He +was put into no form or class, but learnt alone, +as little as he liked—and he liked very little—and +there was a belief among us that this was +because he was too wealthy to be "taken down." +His special treatment, and our vague association +of him with the sea, and with storms, and sharks, +and coral reefs, occasioned the wildest legends +to be circulated as his history. A tragedy in +blank verse was written on the subject—if our +memory does not deceive us, by the hand that +now chronicles these recollections—in which his +father figured as a Pirate, and was shot for a +voluminous catalogue of atrocities: first imparting +to his wife the secret of the cave in which +his wealth was stored, and from which his only +son's half-crowns now issued. Dumbledon (the +boy's name) was represented as "yet unborn," +when his brave father met his fate; and the despair +and grief of Mrs. Dumbledon at that calamity +was movingly shadowed forth as having +weakened the parlor-boarder's mind. This production +was received with great favor, and was +twice performed with closed doors in the dining-room. +But, it got wind, and was seized as libelous, +and brought the unlucky poet into severe +affliction. Some two years afterward, all of a +sudden one day, Dumbledon vanished. It was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +whispered that the Chief himself had taken him +down to the Docks, and reshipped him for the +Spanish Main; but nothing certain was ever +known about his disappearance. At this hour, +we can not thoroughly disconnect him from California.</p> + +<p>Our School was rather famous for mysterious +pupils. There was another—a heavy young +man, with a large double-cased silver watch, and +a fat knife, the handle of which was a perfect +tool-box—who unaccountably appeared one day +at a special desk of his own, erected close to that +of the Chief, with whom he held familiar converse. +He lived in the parlor, and went out for +walks, and never took the least notice of us—even +of us, the first boy—unless to give us a depreciatory +kick, or grimly to take our hat off and +throw it away, when he encountered us out of +doors: which unpleasant ceremony he always +performed as he passed—not even condescending +to stop for the purpose. Some of us believed +that the classical attainments of this phenomenon +were terrific, but that his penmanship and arithmetic +were defective, and he had come there to +mend them; others, that he was going to set up +a school, and had paid the Chief "twenty-five +pound down," for leave to see Our School at +work. The gloomier spirits even said that he +was going to buy <i>us</i>; against which contingency +conspiracies were set on foot for a general +defection and running away. However, he never +did that. After staying for a quarter, during +which period, though closely observed, he was +never seen to do any thing but make pens out of +quills, write small-hand in a secret portfolio, and +punch the point of the sharpest blade in his knife +into his desk, all over it, he, too, disappeared, and +his place knew him no more.</p> + +<p>There was another boy, a fair, meek boy, with +a delicate complexion and rich curling hair, who, +we found out, or thought we found out (we have +no idea now, and probably had none then, on +what grounds, but it was confidentially revealed +from mouth to mouth), was the son of a Viscount +who had deserted his lovely mother. It was understood +that if he had his rights, he would be +worth twenty thousand a year. And that if his +mother ever met his father, she would shoot him +with a silver pistol which she carried, always +loaded to the muzzle, for that purpose. He was +a very suggestive topic. So was a young Mulatto, +who was always believed (though very amiable) +to have a dagger about him somewhere. +But, we think they were both outshone, upon +the whole, by another boy who claimed to have +been born on the twenty-ninth of February, and +to have only one birthday in five years. We +suspect this to have been a fiction—but he lived +upon it all the time he was at Our School.</p> + +<p>The principal currency of Our School was +slate-pencil. It had some inexplicable value, +that was never ascertained, never reduced to a +standard. To have a great hoard of it, was somehow +to be rich. We used to bestow it in charity, +and confer it as a precious boon upon our chosen +friends. When the holidays were coming, contributions +were solicited for certain boys whose +relatives were in India, and who were appealed +for under the generic name of "Holiday-stoppers"—appropriate +marks of remembrance that +should enliven and cheer them in their homeless +state. Personally, we always contributed these +tokens of sympathy in the form of slate-pencil, +and always felt that it would be a comfort and a +treasure to them.</p> + +<p>Our School was remarkable for white mice. +Red-polls, linnets, and even canaries, were kept +in desks, drawers, hat-boxes, and other strange +refuges for birds; but white mice were the favorite +stock. The boys trained the mice, much +better than the masters trained the boys. We +recall one white mouse, who lived in the cover +of a Latin dictionary, who ran up ladders, drew +Roman chariots, shouldered muskets, turned +wheels, and even made a very creditable appearance +on the stage as the Dog of Montargis. He +might have achieved greater things, but for having +the misfortune to mistake his way in a triumphal +procession to the Capitol, when he fell +into a deep inkstand, and was dyed black, and +drowned. The mice were the occasion of some +most ingenious engineering, in the construction +of their houses and instruments of performance. +The famous one belonged to a Company of proprietors, +some of whom have since made Railroads, +Engines, and Telegraphs; the chairman +has erected mills and bridges in New Zealand.</p> + +<p>The usher at our school, who was considered +to know every thing as opposed to the Chief who +was considered to know nothing, was a bony, +gentle-faced, clerical-looking young man in rusty +black. It was whispered that he was sweet upon +one of Maxby's sisters (Maxby lived close by, +and was a day pupil), and further that he "favored +Maxby." As we remember, he taught +Italian to Maxby's sisters on half-holidays. He +once went to the play with them, and wore a +white waistcoat and a rose: which was considered +among us equivalent to a declaration. We +were of opinion on that occasion that to the last +moment he expected Maxby's father to ask him +to dinner at five o'clock, and therefore neglected +his own dinner at half-past one, and finally got +none. We exaggerated in our imaginations the +extent to which he punished Maxby's father's +cold meat at supper; and we agreed to believe +that he was elevated with wine and water when +he came home. But, we all liked him; for he +had a good knowledge of boys, and would have +made it a much better school if he had had more +power. He was writing-master, mathematical-master, +English master, made out the bills, mended +the pens, and did all sorts of things. He divided +the little boys with the Latin master (they +were smuggled through their rudimentary books, +at odd times when there was nothing else to do), +and he always called at parents' houses to inquire +after sick boys, because he had gentlemanly +manners. He was rather musical, and on +some remote quarter-day had bought an old trombone; +but a bit of it was lost, and it made the most +extraordinary sounds when he sometimes tried<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +to play it of an evening. His holidays never began +(on account of the bills) until long after ours; +but in the summer-vacations he used to take pedestrian +excursions with a knapsack; and at +Christmas-time he went to see his father at +Chipping Norton, who we all said (on no authority) +was a dairy-fed-pork-butcher. Poor fellow! +He was very low all day on Maxby's sister's +wedding-day, and afterward was thought to favor +Maxby more than ever, though he had been expected +to spite him. He has been dead these +twenty years. Poor fellow!</p> + +<p>Our remembrance of Our School, presents the +Latin master as a colorless, doubled-up, near-sighted +man with a crutch, who was always +cold, and always putting onions into his ears +for deafness, and always disclosing ends of flannel +under all his garments, and almost always +applying a ball of pocket-handkerchief to some +part of his face with a screwing action round +and round. He was a very good scholar, and +took great pains where he saw intelligence and +a desire to learn; otherwise, perhaps not. Our +memory presents him (unless teased into a passion) +with as little energy as color—as having +been worried and tormented into monotonous +feebleness—as having had the best part of his +life ground out of him in a mill of boys. We +remember with terror how he fell asleep one +sultry afternoon with the little smuggled class +before him, and awoke not when the footstep +of the Chief fell heavy on the floor; how the +Chief aroused him, in the midst of a dread silence, +and said, "Mr. Blinkins, are you ill, sir?" +how he blushingly replied, "Sir, rather so;" +how the Chief retorted with severity, "Mr. Blinkins, +this is no place to be ill in" (which was +very, very true), and walked back, solemn as +the ghost in Hamlet, until, catching a wandering +eye, he caned that boy for inattention, and happily +expressed his feelings toward the Latin +master through the medium of a substitute.</p> + +<p>There was a fat little dancing-master who +used to come in a gig, and taught the more advanced +among us hornpipes (as an accomplishment +in great social demand in after-life); and +there was a brisk little French master who used +to come in the sunniest weather with a handleless +umbrella, and to whom the Chief was always +polite, because (as we believed), if the +Chief offended him, he would instantly address +the Chief in French, and forever confound him +before the boys with his inability to understand +or reply.</p> + +<p>There was, besides, a serving man, whose +name was Phil. Our retrospective glance presents +Phil as a shipwrecked carpenter, cast away +upon the desert island of a school, and carrying +into practice an ingenious inkling of many trades. +He mended whatever was broken, and made +whatever was wanted. He was general glazier, +among other things, and mended all the broken +windows—at the prime cost (as was darkly rumored +among us) of ninepence for every square +charged three-and-six to parents. We had a +high opinion of his mechanical genius, and generally +held that the Chief "knew something bad +of him," and on pain of divulgence enforced Phil +to be his bondsman. We particularly remember +that Phil had a sovereign contempt for learning; +which engenders in us a respect for his sagacity, +as it implies his accurate observation of the relative +positions of the Chief and the ushers. He +was an impenetrable man, who waited at table +between whiles, and, throughout "the half" kept +the boxes in severe custody. He was morose, +even to the Chief, and never smiled, except at +breaking-up, when, in acknowledgment of the +toast, "Success to Phil! Hooray!" he would +slowly carve a grin out of his wooden face, where +it would remain until we were all gone. Nevertheless, +one time when we had the scarlet fever +in the school, Phil nursed all the sick boys of his +own accord, and was like a mother to them.</p> + +<p>There was another school not far off, and of +course our school could have nothing to say to +that school. It is mostly the way with schools, +whether of boys or men. Well! the railway has +swallowed up ours, and the locomotives now run +smoothly over its ashes.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">So fades and languishes, grows dim and dies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All that this world is proud of,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>and is not proud of, too. It had little reason to +be proud of Our School, and has done much better +since in that way, and will do far better yet.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A STORY OF ORIENTAL LOVE.</h2> + + +<p>Poets have complained in all countries and +in all ages, that true love ever meets with obstacles +and hindrances, and the highest efforts of +their art have been exhausted in commemorating +the sufferings or the triumphs of affection. +Will the theme ever cease to interest? Will the +hopes, the fears, the joys, the vows of lovers, ever +be deemed matters of light moment, unworthy to +be embalmed and preserved in those immortal +caskets which genius knows how to frame out +of words? If that dreary time be destined to +come—if victory decide in favor of those mechanical +philosophers who would drive sentiment out +of the world—sad will be the lot of mortals; for +it is better to die with a heart full of love, than +live for an age without feeling one vibration of +that divine passion.</p> + +<p>I am almost ashamed to translate into this level +English, the sublime rhapsody with which the +worthy Sheikh Ibrahim introduced the simple story +about to be repeated. The truth is, I do not +remember much of what he said, and at times he +left me far behind, as he soared up through the +cloudy heaven of his enthusiasm. I could only +occasionally discern his meaning as it flashed +along; but a solemn, rapturous murmur of inarticulate +sounds swept over my soul, and prepared +it to receive with devout faith and respect, what +else might have appeared to me a silly tale of +truth and constancy and passionate devotion. I +forgot the thousand musquitoes that were whirling +with threatening buzz around; the bubbling +of the water-pipe grew gradually less frequent, +and at length died away; and the sides of the +kiosque overlooking the river, with its flitting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> +sails and palm-fringed shores dimming in the +twilight, seemed to open and throw back a long +vista into the past. I listened, and the Sheikh +continued to speak:</p> + +<p>I will relate the story of Gadallah, the son of +the sword-maker, and of Hosneh, the daughter +of the merchant. It is handed down to us by +tradition, and the fathers of some yet living, remember +to have heard it told by eye-witnesses. +Not that any great weight of testimony is required +to exact belief. No extraordinary incident befell +the lovers; and the pure-hearted, when they hear +these things, will say within themselves, "This +must be so; we would have done likewise."</p> + +<p>Gadallah was a youth of wonderful beauty; +his like is only to be seen once in a long summer's +day, by the favor of God. All Cairo spoke +of him, and mothers envied his mother, and fathers +his father; and maidens who beheld him +grew faint with admiration, and loved as hopelessly +as if he had been the brightest star of +heaven. For he did not incline to such thoughts, +and had been taught to despise women, and to +believe that they were all wicked and designing—full +of craft and falsehood. Such instructions +had his mother given him, for she knew the +snares that would beset so beautiful a youth, +and feared for him, lest he might be led into +danger and misfortune.</p> + +<p>Gadallah worked with his father in the shop, +and being a cunning artificer, assisted to support +the family. He had many brothers and sisters, +all younger than he; but there were times when +money was scarce with them, and they were compelled +to borrow for their daily expenses of their +neighbors, and to trust to Providence for the +means of repayment. Thus time passed, and +they became neither richer nor poorer, as is the +common lot of men who labor for their bread; +but neither Gadallah nor his father repined. +When Allah gave good fortune they blessed him, +and when no good fortune was bestowed, they +blessed him for not taking away that which they +had. They who spend their lives in industry and +in praise of God, can not be unhappy.</p> + +<p>It came to pass one day, that a man richly +dressed, riding on a mule, and followed by servants, +stopped opposite the shop, and calling to +the father of Gadallah, said to him: "O Sheikh, +I have a sword, the hilt of which is broken, and +I desire thee to come to my house and mend it; +for it is of much value, and there is a word of +power written on it, and I can not allow it to +leave the shelter of my roof." The sword-maker +answered: "O master, it will be better that +my son should accompany thee; for he is young, +and his eyes are sharp, and his hand is clever, +while I am growing old, and not fit for the finer +work." The customer replied that it was well, +and having given Gadallah time to take his tools, +rode slowly away, the youth following him at a +modest distance.</p> + +<p>They proceeded to a distant quarter, where the +streets were silent and the houses large and lofty, +surrounded by gardens with tall trees that trembled +overhead in the sun-light. At length they +stopped before a mansion fit for a prince, and Gadallah +entered along with the owner. A spacious +court, with fountains playing in the shade of two +large sycamores, and surrounded by light colonnades, +so struck the young sword-maker with astonishment, +that he exclaimed: "Blessed be God, +whose creatures are permitted to rear palaces so +beautiful!" These words caused the master to +smile with benignity, for who is insensible to the +praise of his own house? And he said: "Young +man, thou seest only a portion of that which has +been bestowed upon me—extolled be the Lord +and his Prophet; follow me." So they passed +through halls of surprising magnificence, until +they came to a lofty door, over which swept long +crimson curtains, and which was guarded by a +black slave with a sword in his hand. He looked +at Gadallah with surprise when the master said +"open," but obeying, admitted them to a spacious +saloon—more splendid than any that had preceded.</p> + +<p>Now Gadallah having never seen the interior +of any house better than that of his neighbor the +barber, who was a relation by the mother's side, +and highly respected as a man of wealth and condition, +was lost in amazement and wonder at all +he beheld, not knowing that he was the most +beautiful thing in that saloon, and scarcely ventured +to walk, lest he might stain the polished +marble or the costly carpets. His conductor, who +was evidently a good man, from the delight he +honestly showed at this artless tribute to his magnificence, +took him to a small cabinet containing +a chest inlaid with mother-of-pearl. This he +opened, and producing a sword, the like of which +never came from Damascus, bade him observe +where the hilt was broken, and ordered him to +mend it carefully. Then he left him, saying he +would return in an hour.</p> + +<p>Gadallah began his work with the intention of +being very industrious; but he soon paused to +admire at leisure the splendor of the saloon; +when he had fed his eyes with this, he turned to +a window that looked upon a garden, and saw +that it was adorned with lovely trees, bright flowers, +elegant kiosques, and running fountains. An +aviary hard by was filled with singing-birds, +which warbled the praises of the Creator. His +mind soon became a wilderness of delight, in +which leaf-laden branches waved, and roses, and +anemones, and pinks, and fifty more of the bright +daughters of spring, blushed and glittered; and +melody wandered with hesitating steps, like a +spirit seeking the coolest and sweetest place of +rest. This was like an exquisite dream; but +presently, straying in a path nigh at hand, he +beheld an unvailed maiden and her attendant. +It was but for a moment she appeared, yet her +image was so brightly thrown in upon his heart, +that he loved her ever afterward with a love +as unchangeable as the purity of the heavens. +When she was gone, he sat himself down beside +the broken sword and wept.</p> + +<p>The master of the house came back, and gently +chid him for his idleness. "Go," said he, "and +return to-morrow at the same hour. Thou hast<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +now sufficiently fed thine eyes—go; but remember, +envy me not the wealth which God hath +bestowed." Gadallah went his way, having first +ascertained from the servants, that his employer +was the Arabian merchant Zen-ed-din, whose +daughter Hosneh was said to surpass in beauty +all the maidens of the land of Egypt. On reaching +the house, he repaired to his mother's side, +and sitting down, told her of all he had seen and +all he felt, beseeching her to advise him and predict +good fortune to him.</p> + +<p>Fatoumeh, the mother of Gadallah, was a wise +woman, and understood that his case was hopeless, +unless his desires received accomplishment. +But it seemed to her impossible that the son of +the poor sword-maker should ever be acceptable +to the daughter of the wealthy merchant. She +wept plentifully at the prospect of misery that +unfolded itself, and when her husband came in, +he also wept; and all three mingled their tears +together until a late hour of the night.</p> + +<p>Next day Gadallah went at the appointed hour +to the merchant's house, and being kindly received, +finished the work set to him; but saw no +more of the maiden who had disturbed his mind. +Zen-ed-din paid him handsomely for his trouble, +and added some words of good advice. This done, +he gently dismissed him, promising he would recall +him shortly for other work; and the youth +returned home despairing of all future happiness. +The strength of his love was so great, that it +shook him like a mighty fever, and he remained +ill upon his couch that day, and the next, and +the next, until he approached the margin of the +grave; but his hour was not yet come, and he +recovered.</p> + +<p>In the mean time, the Angel of Death received +permission from the Almighty to smite thirty +thousand of the inhabitants of Cairo; and he +sent a great plague, that introduced sorrow into +every house. It flew rapidly from quarter to +quarter, and from street to street, smiting the +chosen of the tomb—the young, the old, the bad, +the good, the rich, the poor—here, there, every +where; in the palace, the hovel, the shop, the +market-place, the deewan. All day and all night +the shriek of sorrow resounded in the air; and +the thoroughfares were filled with people following +corpses to the cemetery. Many fled into other +cities and other lands; but the plague followed +those who were doomed, and struck them down +by the wayside, or in the midst of their new +friends.</p> + +<p>It happened that the merchant Zen-ed-din had +gone upon a journey, and had left his house, and +his harem, and his lovely daughter, under the +care of Providence, so that when Gadallah recovered, +before the pestilence reached its height, +he waited in vain in the shop, expecting that the +merchant would pass, and invite him again to his +house. At length the affliction of the city reached +so great a degree of intensity, that all business +was put a stop to, the bazaars were deserted, and +men waited beneath their own roofs the inevitable +decrees of fate.</p> + +<p>Gadallah, who had confidence in God, spent +part of his time walking in the streets; but every +day went and sat on a stone bench opposite to +Zen-ed-din's house, expecting to see some one +come forth who might tell him that all were well +within. But the doors remained closed, and not +a sound ever proceeded from the interior of the +vast mansion. At length, however, when he +came at the usual hour, he perceived that the +great entrance-gate was left half-open, and he +mustered up courage to enter. He found the +Bawab dead on his bench, and two black slaves +by the side of the fountain. His heart smote +him with a presentiment of evil. He advanced +into the inner halls without seeing a sign of life. +Behind the great crimson curtains that swept +over the doorway of the saloon where he had +worked, lay the guardian with his sword still in +his hand. He pressed forward, finding every +place deserted. Raising his voice at length, he +called aloud, and asked if any living thing remained +within those walls. No reply came but +the echo that sounded dismally along the roof; +with a heart oppressed by fear, he entered what +he knew to be the ladies' private apartments; +and here he found the attendant of Hosneh dying. +She looked amazed at beholding a stranger, +and, at first, refused to reply to his questions. +But, at length, in a faint voice, she said that the +plague had entered the house the day before like +a raging lion, that many fell victims almost instantly, +and that the women of the harem in a +state of wild alarm had fled. "And Hosneh?" +inquired Gadallah. "She is laid out in the +kiosque, in the garden," replied the girl, who +almost immediately afterward breathed her last.</p> + +<p>Gadallah remained for some time gazing at her, +and still listening, as if to ascertain that he had +heard correctly. Then he made his way to the +garden, and searched the kiosques, without finding +what he sought, until he came to one raised +on a light terrace, amid a grove of waving trees. +Here beneath a canopy of white silk, on pillows +of white silk, and all clothed in white silk, lay +the form that had so long dwelt in his heart. +Without fear of the infection, having first asked +pardon of God, he stooped over her, and kissed +those lips that had never even spoken to a man +except her father; and he wished that death +might come to him likewise; and he ventured +to lie down by her side, that the two whom life +could never have brought together, might be +found united at least under one shroud.</p> + +<p>A rustling close by attracted his attention. It +was a dove fluttering down to her accustomed +place on a bough, which once gained, she rolled +forth from her swelling throat a cooing challenge +to her partner in a distant tree. On reverting his +look to the face of Hosneh, Gadallah thought he +saw a faint red tint upon the lips he had pressed, +like the first blush of the dawn in a cold sky. He +gazed with wonder and delight, and became convinced +he was not mistaken. He ran to a fountain +and brought water in a large hollow leaf, +partly poured it between the pearly teeth, which +he parted timidly with his little finger, and partly +sprinkled it over the maiden's face and bosom.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +At length a sigh shook her frame—so soft, so +gentle that a lover's senses alone could have discerned +it; and then, after an interval of perfect +tranquillity, her eyes opened, gazed for a moment +at the youth, and closed not in weakness, but as +if dazzled by his beauty. Gadallah bent over +her, watching for the least motion, the least indication +of returning consciousness; listening for +the first word, the first murmur that might break +from those lips which he had tasted without warrant. +He waited long, but not in vain; for at +last there came a sweet smile, and a small, low +voice cried, "Sabrea! where is Sabrea?" Gadallah +now cast more water, and succeeded in restoring +Hosneh to perfect consciousness, and to +modest fear.</p> + +<p>He sat at her feet and told her what had happened, +omitting no one thing—not even the love +which he had conceived for her; and he promised, +in the absence of her friends, to attend upon +her with respect and devotion, until her strength +and health should return. She was but a child +in years, and innocent as are the angels; and +hearing the frankness of his speech, consented to +what he proposed. And he attended her that +day and the next, until she was able to rise upon +her couch, and sit and talk in a low voice with +him of love. He found every thing that was +required in the way of food amply stored in the +house, the gates of which he closed, lest robbers +might enter; but he did not often go into it, for +fear of the infection, and this was his excuse for +not returning once to his parents' house, lest he +might carry death with him.</p> + +<p>On the fourth day Hosneh was well enough to +walk a little in the garden, supported by the arms +of Gadallah, who now wished that he might spend +his life in this manner. But the decrees of fate +were not yet accomplished. On the fifth day the +young man became ill; he had sucked the disease +from the lips of Hosneh in that only kiss +which he had ventured; and before the sun went +down, Hosneh was attending on him in despair, +as he had attended on her in hope. She, too, +brought water to bathe his forehead and his lips; +she, too, watched for the signs of returning life, +and as she passed the night by his side, gazing +on his face, often mistook the sickly play of the +moonbeams, as they fell between the trees, for +the smile which she would have given her life to +purchase.</p> + +<p>Praise be to God, it was not written that either +of them should die; and not many days afterward, +toward the hour of evening, they were sitting +in another kiosque beside a fountain, pale +and wan it is true, looking more like pensive angels +than mortal beings, but still with hearts full +of happiness that broke out from time to time in +bright smiles, which were reflected from one to +the other as surely as were their forms in the +clear water by which they reclined. Gadallah +held the hand of Hosneh in his, and listened as +she told how her mother had long ago been dead, +how her father loved her, and how he would surely +have died had any harm befallen her. She +praised the courage, and the modesty, and the +gentleness of Gadallah—for he had spoken despondingly +about the chances of their future +union, and said that when Zen-ed-din returned, +she would relate all that had happened, and fall at +his knees and say, "Father, give me to Gadallah."</p> + +<p>The sun had just set, the golden streams that +had been pouring into the garden seemed now +sporting with the clouds overhead; solid shadows +were thickening around; the flowers and the +blossoms breathed forth their most fragrant perfumes; +the last cooing of the drowsy doves was +trembling on all sides; the nightingale was trying +her voice in a few short, melancholy snatches: +it was an hour for delight and joy; and the two +lovers bent their heads closer together; closer, +until their ringlets mingled, and their sighs, and +the glances of their eyes. Then Gadallah suddenly +arose, and said, "Daughter of my master, +let there be a sword placed betwixt me and thee." +And as he spoke, a bright blade gleamed betwixt +him and the abashed maiden; and they were +both seized with strong hands and hurried away.</p> + +<p>Zen-ed-din had returned from his journey, and +finding the great gate closed, had come round +with his followers to the garden entrance, which +he easily opened. Struck by the silence of the +whole place, he advanced cautiously until he +heard voices talking in the kiosque. Then he +drew near, and overheard the whole of what had +passed, and admired the modesty and virtue of +Gadallah. He caused him to be seized and +thrown that night into a dark room, that he might +show his power; and he spoke harshly to his +daughter, because of her too great trustfulness, +and her unpermitted love. But when he understood +all that had happened, and had sufficiently +admired the wonderful workings of God's Providence, +he said to himself, "Surely this youth and +this maiden were created one for the other, and +the decrees of fate must be accomplished." So +he took Gadallah forth from his prison, and embraced +him, calling him his son, and sent for his +parents, and told them what had happened, and +they all rejoiced; and in due time the marriage +took place, and it was blessed, and the children's +children of Hosneh and Gadallah still live among +us.</p> + +<p>While the excellent sheikh was rapidly running +over the concluding statements of his narrative, +I remember having read the chief incident +in some European tradition—possibly borrowed, +as so many of our traditions are, from the East—and +then a single line of one of our poets, who +has versified the story, came unbidden to my +memory; but I could not recollect the poet's +name, nor understand how the train of association +could be so abruptly broken. The line doubtless +describes the first interview of the lover with +the plague-stricken maiden—it is as follows:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And folds the bright infection to his breast."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A BIRD-HUNTING SPIDER.</h2> + + +<p>When the veracity of any person has been +impugned, it is a duty which we owe to +society, if it lies in our power, to endeavor to +establish it; and when that person is a lady<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +gallantry redoubles the obligation. Our chivalry +is, on the present occasion, excited in favor of +Madame Merian, who, toward the latter end of +the seventeenth century, and during a two years' +residence in Surinam, employed her leisure in +studying the many interesting forms of winged +and vegetable life indigenous to that prolific +country. After her return to Holland, her native +land, she published the results of her researches. +Her writings, although abounding in +many inaccuracies and seeming fables, contained +much curious and new information; all the more +valuable from the objects of her study having +been, at that period, either entirely unknown to +the naturalists of Europe, or vaguely reported by +stray seafaring visitants; who, with the usual +license of travelers, were more anxious to strike +their hearers with astonishment than to extend +their knowledge.</p> + +<p>These works were rendered still more attractive +by numerous plates—the result of Madame +Merian's artistic skill—with which they were +profusely embellished. It is one of these which, +with the description accompanying it, has caused +her truth to be called into question by subsequent +writers; who, we must conclude, had either not +the good fortune or the good eyesight to verify +her statements by their own experience. The +illustration to which I allude represents a large +spider carrying off in its jaws a humming-bird, +whose nest appears close at hand, and who had +apparently been seized while sitting on its eggs.</p> + +<p>Linnæus, however, did not doubt the lady, and +called the spider (which belongs to the genus +<i>Mygale</i>), "avicularia" (bird-eating). Whether +this ferocious-looking hunter does occasionally +capture small birds; or whether he subsists entirely +on the wasps, bees, ants, and beetles which +every where abound, what I chanced myself to +see in the forest will help to determine.</p> + +<p>Shortly after daybreak, one morning in 1848, +while staying at a wood-cutting establishment +on the Essequibo, a short distance above the +confluence of that river and the Magaruni, we—a +tall Yorkshireman and myself—started in our +"wood-skin" to examine some spring hooks +which we had set during the previous evening, +in the embouchure of a neighboring creek. Our +breakfast that morning depended on our success. +Our chagrin may be imagined on finding all the +baits untouched save one; and from that, some +lurking cayman had snapped the body of the captured +fish, leaving nothing but the useless head +dangling in the air. After mentally dispatching +our spoiler—who had not tricked us for the first +time—to a place very far distant, we paddled +further up the creek in search of a maam, or +maroudi; or, indeed, of any thing eatable—bird, +beast, or reptile. We had not proceeded far, +when my companion, Blottle, who was sitting, +gun in hand, prepared to deal destruction on the +first living creature we might chance to encounter—suddenly +fired at some object moving rapidly +along the topmost branch of a tree which +overhung the sluggish stream a short way in +advance. For a moment or two the success of +his aim seemed doubtful; then something came +tumbling through the intervening foliage, and I +guided the canoe beneath, lest the prey should +be lost in the water. Our surprise was not unmingled, +I must confess, with vexation at first, +on finding that the strange character of our game +removed our morning's repast as far off as ever. +A huge spider and a half-fledged bird lay in the +bottom of our canoe—the one with disjointed +limbs and mutilated carcass; the other uninjured +by the shot, but nearly dead, though still faintly +palpitating. The remains of the spider showed +him larger than any I had previously seen—smaller, +however, than one from Brazil, before +me while I write—and may have measured some +two-and-half inches in the body, with limbs about +twice that length. He was rough and shaggy, +with a thick covering of hair or bristles; which, +besides giving him an additional appearance of +strength, considerably increased the fierceness +of his aspect. The hairs were in some parts +fully an inch long, of a dark brown color, inclining +to black. His powerful jaws and sturdy +arms seemed never adapted for the death-struggle +of prey less noble than this small member of +the feathered race, for whom our succor had unhappily +arrived too late. The victim had been +snatched from the nest while the mother was +probably assisting to collect a morning's meal +for her offspring. It had been clutched by the +neck immediately above the shoulders: the marks +of the murderer's talons still remained; and, although +no blood had escaped from the wounds, +they were much inflamed and swollen.</p> + +<p>The few greenish-brown feathers sparingly +scattered among the down in the wings, were +insufficient to furnish me with a clew toward a +knowledge of its species. That it was a humming-bird, +however, or one of an allied genus, +seemed apparent from the length of its bill. +The king of the humming-birds, as the Creoles +call the topaz-throat (<i>Trochilus pella</i> of naturalists), +is the almost exclusive frequenter of Marabella +Creek, where the overspreading foliage—here +and there admitting stray gleams of sunshine—forms +a cool and shady, though sombre +retreat, peculiarly adapted to his disposition; +and I strongly suspect that it was the nest of +this species which the spider had favored with +a visit. After making a minute inspection of +the two bodies, we consigned them to a watery +grave; both of us convinced that, whatever the +detractors of Madame Merian may urge, that +lady was correct in assigning to the bush-spider +an ambition which often soars above the insect, +and occasionally tempts him to make a meal of +some stray feathered denizen of the forest. This +conclusion, I may add, was fully confirmed some +few weeks after, by my witnessing a still more +interesting rencontre between members of the +several races. "Eat the eater," is one of Nature's +laws; and, after preventing its accomplishment +by depriving the spider of his food, +strict justice would probably have balked us of +ours. Fortunately not—one of the heartiest +breakfasts I ever made, and one of the tenderest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +and most succulent of meat, was that very morning. +Well I remember exclaiming, at that time, +"<i>Hæc olim meminisse juvabit!</i>"—it was my first +dish of stewed monkey and yams.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>PROMISE UNFULFILLED.—A TALE OF THE COAST-GUARD.</h2> + + +<p>The <i>Rose</i> had been becalmed for several days +in Cowes Harbor, and utterly at a loss how +else to cheat the time, I employed myself one +afternoon in sauntering up and down the quay, +whistling for a breeze, and listlessly watching +the slow approach of a row-boat, bringing the +mail and a few passengers from Southampton, +the packet-cutter to which the boat belonged +being as hopelessly immovable, except for such +drift as the tide gave her, as the <i>Rose</i>. The +slowness of its approach—for I expected a messenger +with letters—added to my impatient weariness; +and as, according to my reckoning, it +would be at least an hour before the boat reached +the landing-steps, I returned to the Fountain Inn +in the High-street, called for a glass of negus, +and as I lazily sipped it, once more turned over +the newspapers lying on the table, though with +scarcely a hope of coming athwart a line that I +had not read half a dozen times before. I was +mistaken. There was a "Cornwall Gazette" +among them which I had not before seen, and in +one corner of it I lit upon this, to me in all respects +new and extremely interesting paragraph: +"We copy the following statement from a contemporary, +solely for the purpose of contradicting +it: 'It is said that the leader of the smugglers +in the late desperate affray with the coast +guard in St. Michael's Bay, was no other than +Mr. George Polwhele Hendrick, of Lostwithiel, +formerly, as our readers are aware, a lieutenant +in the royal navy, and dismissed the king's service +by sentence of court-martial at the close of +the war.' There is no foundation for this imputation. +Mrs. Hendrick, of Lostwithiel, requests +us to state that her son, from whom she heard +but about ten days since, commands a first-class +ship in the merchant navy of the United States."</p> + +<p>I was exceedingly astonished. The court-martial +I had not heard of, and having never +overhauled the Navy List for such a purpose, +the absence of the name of G. P. Hendrick had +escaped my notice. What could have been his +offense? Some hasty, passionate act, no doubt; +for of misbehavior before the enemy, or of the +commission of deliberate wrong, it was impossible +to suspect him. He was, I personally knew, +as eager as flame in combat; and his frank, perhaps +heedless generosity of temperament, was +abundantly apparent to every one acquainted +with him. I had known him for a short time +only; but the few days of our acquaintance were +passed under circumstances which bring out the +true nature of a man more prominently and unmistakably +than might twenty years of humdrum, +every-day life. The varnish of pretension +falls quickly off in presence of sudden and extreme +peril—peril especially requiring presence +of mind and energy to beat it back. It was in +such a position that I recognized some of the +high qualities of Lieutenant Hendrick. The two +sloops of war in which we respectively served, +were consorts for awhile on the South African +coast, during which time we fell in with a Franco-Italian +privateer or pirate—for the distinction +between the two is much more technical than +real. She was to leeward when we sighted her, +and not very distant from the shore, and so quickly +did she shoal her water, that pursuit by either +of the sloops was out of the question. Being a +stout vessel of her class, and full of men, four +boats—three of the <i>Scorpion's</i> and one of her consort's—were +detached in pursuit. The breeze +gradually failed, and we were fast coming up +with our friend when he vanished behind a head-land, +on rounding which we found he had disappeared +up a narrow, winding river, of no great +depth of water. We of course followed, and, after +about a quarter of an hour's hard pull, found, on +suddenly turning a sharp elbow of the stream, that +we had caught a Tartar. We had, in fact, come +upon a complete nest of privateers—a rendezvous +or dépôt they termed it. The vessel was already +anchored across the channel, and we were +flanked on each shore by a crowd of desperadoes, +well provided with small arms, and with two or +three pieces of light ordnance among them. The +shouts of defiance with which they greeted us as +we swept into the deadly trap were instantly +followed by a general and murderous discharge +of both musketry and artillery; and as the smoke +cleared away I saw that the leading pinnace, commanded +by Hendrick, had been literally knocked +to pieces, and that the little living portion of +the crew were splashing about in the river.</p> + +<p>There was time but for one look, for if we allowed +the rascals time to reload their guns our +own fate would inevitably be a similar one. The +men understood this, and with a loud cheer swept +eagerly on toward the privateer, while the two remaining +boats engaged the flanking shore forces, +and I was soon involved in about the fiercest +<i>mêlée</i> I ever had the honor to assist at. The furious +struggle on the deck of the privateer lasted +but about five minutes only, at the end of which +all that remained of us were thrust over the side. +Some tumbled into the boat, others, like myself, +were pitched into the river. As soon as I came +to the surface, and had time to shake my ears +and look about me, I saw Lieutenant Hendrick, +who, the instant the pinnace he commanded was +destroyed, had, with equal daring and presence +of mind, swam toward a boat at the privateer's +stern, cut the rope that held her, with the sword +he carried between his teeth, and forthwith began +picking up his half-drowned boat's crew. This +was already accomplished, and he now performed +the same service for me and mine. This done, +we again sprang at our ugly customer, he at the +bow, and I about midships. Hendrick was the +first to leap on the enemy's deck; and so fierce +and well-sustained was the assault this time, that +in less than ten minutes we were undisputed +victors so far as the vessel was concerned. The +fight on the shore continued obstinate and bloody,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> +and it was not till we had twice discharged the +privateer's guns among the desperate rascals +that they broke and fled. The dashing, yet cool +and skillful bravery evinced by Lieutenant Hendrick +in this brief but tumultuous and sanguinary +affair was admiringly remarked upon by all who +witnessed it, few of whom while gazing at the +sinewy, active form, the fine, pale, flashing countenance, +and the dark, thunderous eyes of the +young officer—if I may use such a term, for in +their calmest aspect a latent volcano appeared to +slumber in their gleaming depths—could refuse +to subscribe to the opinion of a distinguished admiral, +who more than once observed that there +was no more promising officer in the British naval +service than Lieutenant Hendrick.</p> + +<p>Well, all this, which has taken me so many +words to relate, flashed before me like a scene +in a theatre, as I read the paragraph in the +Cornish paper. The <i>Scorpion</i> and her consort +parted company a few days after this fight, and +I had not since then seen or heard of Hendrick +till now. I was losing myself in conjecture as +to the probable or possible cause of so disgraceful +a termination to a career that promised so +brilliantly, when the striking of the bar-clock +warned me that the mail-boat was by this time +arrived. I sallied forth and reached the pier-steps +just a minute or so before the boat arrived +there. The messenger I expected was in her, +and I was turning away with the parcel he handed +me, when my attention was arrested by a +stout, unwieldy fellow, who stumbled awkwardly +out of the boat, and hurriedly came up the +steps. The face of the man was pale, thin, +hatchet-shaped, and anxious, and the gray, ferrety +eyes were restless and perturbed; while the +stout round body was that of a yeoman of the +bulkiest class, but so awkwardly made up that +it did not require any very lengthened scrutiny +to perceive that the shrunken carcass appropriate +to such a lanky and dismal visage occupied but +a small space within the thick casing of padding +and extra garments in which it was swathed. +His light-brown wig, too, surmounted by a broad-brimmer, +had got a little awry, dangerously revealing +the scanty locks of iron-gray beneath. +It was not difficult to run up these little items +to a pretty accurate sum total, and I had little +doubt that the hasting and nervous traveler was +fleeing either from a constable or a sheriff's officer. +It was, however, no affair of mine, and I +was soon busy with the letters just brought me.</p> + +<p>The most important tidings they contained was +that Captain Pickard—the master of a smuggling +craft of some celebrity, called <i>Les Trois Frères</i>, +in which for the last twelve months or more he +had been carrying on a daring and successful +trade throughout the whole line of the southern +and western coasts—was likely to be found at +this particular time near a particular spot in the +back of the Wight. This information was from +a sure source in the enemy's camp, and it was +consequently with great satisfaction that I observed +indications of the coming on of a breeze, +and in all probability a stiff one. I was not disappointed; +and in less than an hour the <i>Rose</i> +was stretching her white wings beneath a brisk +northwester over to Portsmouth, where I had +some slight official business to transact previous +to looking after friend Pickard. This was speedily +dispatched, and I was stepping into the boat +on my return to the cutter, when a panting messenger +informed me that the port-admiral desired +to see me instantly.</p> + +<p>"The telegraph has just announced," said the +admiral, "that Sparkes, the defaulter, who has +for some time successfully avoided capture, will +attempt to leave the kingdom from the Wight, +as he is known to have been in communication +with some of the smuggling gentry there. He +is supposed to have a large amount of government +moneys in his possession; you will therefore, +Lieutenant Warneford, exert yourself vigilantly +to secure him."</p> + +<p>"What is his description?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. James," replied the admiral, addressing +one of the telegraph clerks, "give Lieutenant +Warneford the description transmitted." Mr. +James did so, and I read: "Is said to have disguised +himself as a stout countryman; wears a +blue coat with bright buttons, buff waistcoat, a +brown wig, and a Quaker's hat. He is of a +slight, lanky figure, five feet nine inches in height. +He has two pock-marks on his forehead, and lisps +in his speech."</p> + +<p>"By Jove, sir," I exclaimed, "I saw this fellow +only about two hours ago!" I then briefly +related what had occurred, and was directed not +to lose a moment in hastening to secure the +fugitive.</p> + +<p>The wind had considerably increased by this +time, and the <i>Rose</i> was soon again off Cowes, +where Mr. Roberts, the first mate, and six men, +were sent on shore with orders to make the best +of his way to Bonchurch—about which spot I +knew, if any where, the brown-wigged gentleman +would endeavor to embark—while the <i>Rose</i> +went round to intercept him seaward; which +she did at a spanking rate, for it was now blowing +half a gale of wind. Evening had fallen before +we reached our destination, but so clear and +bright with moon and stars that distant objects +were as visible as by day. I had rightly guessed +how it would be, for we had no sooner opened +up Bonchurch shore or beach than Roberts signaled +us that our man was on board the cutter +running off at about a league from us in the direction +of Cape La Hogue. I knew, too, from +the cutter's build, and the cut and set of her +sails, that she was no other than Captain Pickard's +boasted craft, so that there was a chance +of killing two birds with one stone. We evidently +gained, though slowly, upon <i>Les Trois +Frères</i>; and this, after about a quarter of an +hour's run, appeared to be her captain's own +opinion, for he suddenly changed his course, and +stood toward the Channel Islands, in the hope, +I doubted not, that I should not follow him in +such weather as was likely to come on through +the dangerous intricacies of the iron-bound coast +about Guernsey and the adjacent islets. Master<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> +Pickard was mistaken; for knowing the extreme +probability of being led such a dance, I had +brought a pilot with me from Cowes, as well acquainted +with Channel navigation as the smuggler +himself could be. <i>Les Trois Frères</i>, it was +soon evident, was now upon her best point of +sailing, and it was all that we could do to hold +our own with her. This was vexatious; but +the aspect of the heavens forbade me showing +more canvas, greatly as I was tempted to do so.</p> + +<p>It was lucky I did not. The stars were still +shining over our heads from an expanse of blue +without a cloud, and the full moon also as yet held +her course unobscured, but there had gathered +round her a glittering halo-like ring, and away +to windward huge masses of black cloud, piled +confusedly on each other, were fast spreading +over the heavens. The thick darkness had spread +over about half the visible sky, presenting a singular +contrast to the silver brightness of the +other portion, when suddenly a sheet of vivid +flame broke out of the blackness, instantly followed +by deafening explosions, as if a thousand +cannons were bursting immediately over our +heads. At the same moment the tempest came +leaping and hissing along the white-crested +waves, and struck the <i>Rose</i> abeam with such +terrible force, that for one startling moment I +doubted if she would right again. It was a vain +fear; and in a second or two she was tearing +through the water at a tremendous rate. <i>Les +Trois Frères</i> had not been so lucky: she had +carried away her topmast, and sustained other +damage; but so well and boldly was she handled, +and so perfectly under command appeared her +crew, that these accidents were, so far as it was +possible to do so, promptly repaired; and so little +was she crippled in comparative speed, that, +although it was clear enough after a time, that +the <i>Rose</i> gained something on her, it was so +slowly that the issue of the chase continued +extremely doubtful. The race was an exciting +one: the Caskets, Alderney, were swiftly past, +and at about two o'clock in the morning we made +the Guernsey lights. We were, by this time, +within a mile of <i>Les Trois Frères</i>; and she, determined +at all risks to get rid of her pursuer, +ventured upon passing through a narrow opening +between the small islets of Herm and Jethon, +abreast of Guernsey—the same passage, I believe, +by which Captain, afterward Admiral Lord +Saumarez, escaped with his frigate from a French +squadron in the early days of the last war.</p> + +<p>Fine and light as the night had again become, +the attempt, blowing as it did, was a perilous, +and proved to be a fatal one. <i>Les Trois Frères</i> +struck upon a reef on the side of Jethon—a rock +with then but one poor habitation upon it, which +one might throw a biscuit over; and by the time +the <i>Rose</i> had brought up in the Guernsey Roads, +the smuggler, as far as could be ascertained by our +night-glasses, had entirely disappeared. What +had become of the crew and the important passenger +was the next point to be ascertained; but +although the wind had by this time somewhat +abated, it was not, under the pilot's advice, till +near eight o'clock that the <i>Rose's</i> boat, with myself +and a stout crew, pulled off for the scene of +the catastrophe. We needed not to have hurried +ourselves. The half-drowned smugglers, all but +three of whom had escaped with life, were in a +truly sorry plight, every one of them being more +or less maimed, bruised, and bleeding. <i>Les Trois +Frères</i> had gone entirely to pieces, and as there +was no possible means of escape from the desolate +place, our arrival, with the supplies we brought, +was looked upon rather as a deliverance than +otherwise. To my inquiries respecting their +passenger, the men answered by saying he was +in the house with the captain. I immediately +proceeded thither, and found one of the two rooms +on the ground-floor occupied by four or five of the +worst injured of the contrabandists, and the gentleman +I was chiefly in pursuit of, Mr. Samuel +Sparkes. There was no mistaking Mr. Sparkes, +notwithstanding he had substituted the disguise +of a sailor for that of a jolly agriculturist.</p> + +<p>"You are, I believe, sir, the Mr. Samuel Sparkes +for whose presence certain personages in London +are just now rather anxious?"</p> + +<p>His deathy face grew more corpse-like as I +spoke, but he nevertheless managed to stammer +out, "No; Jamth Edward, thir."</p> + +<p>"At all events, that pretty lisp, and those two +marks on the forehead, belong to Samuel Sparkes, +Esquire, and you must be detained till you satisfactorily +explain how you came by them. Stevens, +take this person into close custody, and have him +searched at once. And now, gentlemen smugglers," +I continued, "pray, inform me where I +may see your renowned captain?"</p> + +<p>"He is in the next room," replied a decent-tongued +chap sitting near the fire; "and he desired +me to give his compliments to Lieutenant +Warneford, and say he wished to see him <i>alone</i>."</p> + +<p>"Very civil and considerate, upon my word! +In this room, do you say?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir; in that room." I pushed open a +rickety door, and found myself in a dingy hole +of a room, little more than about a couple of yards +square, at the further side of which stood a lithe, +sinewy man in a blue pea-jacket, and with a fur-cap +on his head. His back was toward me; and +as my entrance did not cause him to change his +position, I said, "You are Captain Pickard, I am +informed?"</p> + +<p>He swung sharply round as I spoke, threw off +his cap, and said, briefly and sternly, "Yes, +Warneford, I <i>am</i> Captain Pickard."</p> + +<p>The sudden unmasking of a loaded battery +immediately in my front could not have so confounded +and startled me as these words did, as +they issued from the lips of the man before me. +The curling black hair, the dark flashing eyes, +the marble features, were those of Lieutenant +Hendrick—of the gallant seaman whose vigorous +arm I had seen turn the tide of battle against +desperate odds on the deck of a privateer!</p> + +<p>"Hendrick!" I at length exclaimed, for the +sudden inrush of painful emotion choked my +speech for a time—"can it indeed be you?"</p> + +<p>"Ay, truly, Warneford. The Hendrick of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> +whom Collingwood prophesied high things is +fallen thus low; and worse remains behind. +There is a price set upon my capture, as you +know; and escape is, I take it, out of the question." +I comprehended the slow, meaning tone +in which the last sentence was spoken, and the +keen glance that accompanied it. Hendrick, too, +instantly read the decisive though unspoken reply.</p> + +<p>"Of course it is out of the question," he went +on. "I was but a fool to even seem to doubt +that it was. You must do your duty, Warneford, +I know; and since this fatal mishap was to occur, +I am glad for many reasons that I have fallen into +your hands."</p> + +<p>"So am not I; and I wish with all my soul +you had successfully threaded the passage you +essayed."</p> + +<p>"The fellow who undertook to pilot us failed +in nerve at the critical moment. Had he not +done so, <i>Les Trois Frères</i> would have been long +since beyond your reach. But the past is past, +and the future of dark and bitter time will be swift +and brief."</p> + +<p>"What have you especially to dread? I know +a reward has been offered for your apprehension, +but not for what precise offense."</p> + +<p>"The unfortunate business in St. Michael's +Bay."</p> + +<p>"Good God! The newspaper was right, +then! But neither of the wounded men have +died, I hear, so that—that—"</p> + +<p>"The <i>mercy</i> of transportation may, you think, +be substituted for the capital penalty." He +laughed bitterly.</p> + +<p>"Or—or," I hesitatingly suggested, "you may +not be identified—that is, legally so."</p> + +<p>"Easily, easily, Warneford. I must not trust +to that rotten cable. Neither the coast-guard nor +the fellows with me know me indeed as Hendrick, +ex-lieutenant of the royal navy; and that is a +secret you will, I know, religiously respect."</p> + +<p>I promised to do so: the painful interview +terminated; and in about two hours the captain +and surviving crew of <i>Les Trois Frères</i>, and Mr. +Samuel Sparkes, were safely on board the <i>Rose</i>. +Hendrick had papers to arrange; and as the +security of his person was all I was responsible +for, he was accommodated in my cabin, where I +left him to confer with the Guernsey authorities, +in whose bailiwick Jethon is situated. The matter +of jurisdiction—the offenses with which the +prisoners were charged having been committed +in England—was soon arranged; and by five +o'clock in the evening the <i>Rose</i> was on her way +to England, under an eight-knot breeze from the +southwest.</p> + +<p>As soon as we were fairly underweigh, I went +below to have a last conference with unfortunate +Hendrick. There was a parcel on the table directed +to "Mrs. Hendrick, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, +care of Lieutenant Warneford." Placing it in +my hands, he entreated me to see it securely +conveyed to its address unexamined and unopened. +I assured him that I would do so; and tears, +roughly dashed away, sprang to his eyes as he +grasped and shook my hand. I felt half-choked; +and when he again solemnly adjured me, under +no circumstances, to disclose the identity of Captain +Pickard and Lieutenant Hendrick, I could +only reply by a seaman's hand-grip, requiring no +additional pledge of words.</p> + +<p>We sat silently down, and I ordered some wine +to be brought in. "You promised to tell me," +I said, "how all this unhappy business came +about."</p> + +<p>"I am about to do so," he answered. "It is +an old tale, of which the last black chapter owes +its color, let me frankly own, to my own hot and +impatient temper as much as to a complication of +adverse circumstances." He poured out a glass +of wine, and proceeded at first slowly and calmly, +but gradually, as passion gathered strength +and way upon him, with flushed and impetuous +eagerness to the close:</p> + +<p>"I was born near Lostwithiel, Cornwall. My +father, a younger and needy son of no profession, +died when I was eight years of age. My mother +has about eighty pounds a year in her own right, +and with that pittance, helped by self-privation, +unfelt because endured for her darling boy, she +gave me a sufficient education, and fitted me out +respectably; when, thanks to Pellew, I obtained +a midshipman's warrant in the British service. +This occurred in my sixteenth year. Dr. Redstone, +at whose 'High School' I acquired what +slight classical learning, long since forgotten, I +once possessed, was married in second nuptials +to a virago of a wife, who brought him, besides +her precious self, a red-headed cub by a former +marriage. His, the son's, name was Kershaw. +The doctor had one child about my own age, a +daughter, Ellen Redstone. I am not about to +prate to you of the bread-and-butter sentiment +of mere children, nor of Ellen's wonderful graces +of mind and person: I doubt, indeed, if I thought +her very pretty at the time; but she was meekness +itself, and my boy's heart used, I well remember, +to leap as if it would burst my bosom +at witnessing her patient submission to the tyranny +of her mother-in-law; and one of the +greatest pleasures I ever experienced was giving +young Kershaw, a much bigger fellow than myself, +a good thrashing for some brutality toward +her—an exploit that of course rendered me a +remarkable favorite with the great bumpkin's +mother.</p> + +<p>"Well, I went to sea, and did not again see +Ellen till seven years afterward, when, during +absence on sick leave, I met her at Penzance, +in the neighborhood of which place the doctor +had for some time resided. She was vastly improved +in person, but was still meek, dove-eyed, +gentle Ellen, and pretty nearly as much dominated +by her mother-in-law as formerly. Our +child-acquaintance was renewed; and, suffice it +to say, that I soon came to love her with a fervency +surprising even to myself. My affection was +reciprocated: we pledged faith with each other; +and it was agreed that at the close of the war, +whenever that should be, we were to marry, and +dwell together like turtle-doves in the pretty hermitage +that Ellen's fancy loved to conjure up,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> +and with her voice of music untiringly dilate +upon. I was again at sea, and the answer to +my first letter brought the surprising intelligence +that Mrs. Redstone had become quite reconciled +to our future union, and that I might consequently +send my letters direct to the High School. +Ellen's letter was prettily expressed enough, but +somehow I did not like its tone. It did not read +like her spoken language, at all events. This, +however, must, I concluded, be mere fancy; and +our correspondence continued for a couple of +years—till the peace, in fact—when the frigate, +of which I was now second-lieutenant, arrived at +Plymouth to be paid off. We were awaiting the +admiral's inspection, which for some reason or +other was unusually delayed, when a bag of letters +was brought on board, with one for me bearing +the Penzance postmark. I tore it open, and +found that it was subscribed by an old and intimate +friend. He had accidentally met with Ellen +Redstone for the first time since I left. She +looked thin and ill, and in answer to his persistent +questioning, had told him she had only heard +once from me since I went to sea, and that was +to renounce our engagement; and she added that +she was going to be married in a day or two to +the Rev. Mr. Williams, a dissenting minister of +fair means and respectable character. My friend +assured her there must be some mistake, but she +shook her head incredulously; and with eyes +brimful of tears, and shaking voice, bade him, +when he saw me, say that she freely forgave me, +but that her heart was broken. This was the +substance, and as I read, a hurricane of dismay +and rage possessed me. There was not, I felt, +a moment to be lost. Unfortunately the captain +was absent, and the frigate temporarily under the +command of the first-lieutenant. You knew +Lieutenant ——?"</p> + +<p>"I did, for one of the most cold-blooded martinets +that ever trod a quarter-deck."</p> + +<p>"Well, him I sought, and asked temporary +leave of absence. He refused. I explained, hurriedly, +imploringly explained the circumstances +in which I was placed. He sneeringly replied, +that sentimental nonsense of that kind could not +be permitted to interfere with the king's service. +You know, Warneford, how naturally hot and +impetuous is my temper, and at that moment my +brain seemed literally aflame: high words followed, +and in a transport of rage I struck the +taunting coward a violent blow in the face—following +up the outrage by drawing my sword, and +challenging him to instant combat. You may +guess the sequel. I was immediately arrested +by the guard, and tried a few days afterward by +court-martial. Exmouth stood my friend, or I +know not what sentence might have been passed, +and I was dismissed the service."</p> + +<p>"I was laid up for several weeks by fever +about that time," I remarked; "and it thus happened, +doubtless, that I did not see any report of +the trial."</p> + +<p>"The moment I was liberated I hastened, literally +almost in a state of madness, to Penzance. +It was all true, and I was too late! Ellen had +been married something more than a week. It +was Kershaw and his mother's doings. Him I +half-killed; but it is needless to go into details +of the frantic violence with which I conducted +myself. I broke madly into the presence of the +newly-married couple: Ellen swooned with terror, +and her husband, white with consternation, +and trembling in every limb, had barely, I remember, +sufficient power to stammer out, 'that he +would pray for me.' The next six months is a +blank. I went to London; fell into evil courses, +drank, gambled; heard after a while that Ellen +was dead—the shock of which partially checked +my downward progress—partially only. I left +off drinking, but not gambling, and ultimately I +became connected with a number of disreputable +persons, among whom was your prisoner Sparkes. +He found part of the capital with which I have +been carrying on the contraband trade for the +last two years. I had, however, fully determined +to withdraw myself from the dangerous though +exciting pursuit. This was to have been my last +trip; but you know," he added, bitterly, "it is +always upon the last turn of the dice that the +devil wins his victim."</p> + +<p>He ceased speaking, and we both remained +silent for several minutes. What on my part +<i>could</i> be said or suggested?</p> + +<p>"You hinted just now," I remarked, after a +while, "that all your remaining property was in +this parcel. You have, however, of course, reserved +sufficient for your defense?"</p> + +<p>A strange smile curled his lip, and a wild, brief +flash of light broke from his dark eyes, as he answered, +"O yes; more than enough—more, much +more than will be required."</p> + +<p>"I am glad of that." We were again silent, +and I presently exclaimed, "Suppose we take a +turn on deck—the heat here stifles one."</p> + +<p>"With all my heart," he answered; and we +both left the cabin.</p> + +<p>We continued to pace the deck side by side for +some time without interchanging a syllable. The +night was beautifully clear and fine, and the cool +breeze that swept over the star and moon-lit +waters gradually allayed the feverish nervousness +which the unfortunate lieutenant's narrative +had excited.</p> + +<p>"A beautiful, however illusive world," he by-and-by +sadly resumed; "this Death—now so +close at my heels—wrenches us from. And yet +you and I, Warneford, have seen men rush to +encounter the King of Terrors, as he is called, +as readily as if summoned to a bridal."</p> + +<p>"A sense of duty and a habit of discipline will +always overpower, in men of our race and profession, +the vulgar fear of death."</p> + +<p>"Is it not also, think you, the greater fear of +disgrace, dishonor in the eyes of the world, which +outweighs the lesser dread?"</p> + +<p>"No doubt that has an immense influence. +What would our sweethearts, sisters, mothers, +say if they heard we had turned craven? What +would they say in England? Nelson well understood +this feeling, and appealed to it in his +last great signal."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ay, to be sure," he musingly replied; "what +would our mothers say—feel rather—at witnessing +their sons' dishonor? That is the master-chord." +We once more relapsed into silence; +and after another dozen or so turns on the deck, +Hendrick seated himself on the combings of the +main hatchway. His countenance, I observed, +was still pale as marble, but a livelier, more resolute +expression had gradually kindled in his +brilliant eyes. He was, I concluded, nerving himself +to meet the chances of his position with constancy +and fortitude.</p> + +<p>"I shall go below again," I said. "Come; it +may be some weeks before we have another glass +of wine together."</p> + +<p>"I will be with you directly," he answered, and +I went down. He did not, however, follow, and +I was about calling him, when I heard his step +on the stairs. He stopped at the threshold of +the cabin, and there was a flushing intensity of +expression about his face which quite startled +me. As if moved by second thoughts, he stepped +in. "One last glass with you, Warneford: +God bless you!" He drained and set the glass on +the table. "The lights at the corner of the +Wight are just made," he hurriedly went on. +"It is not likely I shall have an opportunity of +again speaking with you; and let me again hear +you say that you will under any circumstances +keep secret from all the world—my mother especially—that +Captain Pickard and Lieutenant +Hendrick were one person."</p> + +<p>"I will; but why—"</p> + +<p>"God bless you!" he broke in. "I must go on +deck again."</p> + +<p>He vanished as he spoke, and a dim suspicion +of his purpose arose in my mind; but before I +could act upon it, a loud, confused outcry arose +on the deck, and as I rushed up the cabin stairs, +I heard amid the hurrying to and fro of feet, the +cries of "Man overboard!"—"Bout ship!"—"Down +with the helm!" The cause of the commotion +was soon explained: Hendrick had sprung +overboard; and looking in the direction pointed +out by the man at the wheel, I plainly discerned +him already considerably astern of the cutter. +His face was turned toward us, and the instant +I appeared he waved one arm wildly in the air: +I could hear the words, "Your promise!" distinctly, +and the next instant the moonlight played +upon the spot where he had vanished. Boats +were lowered, and we passed and repassed over +and near the place for nearly half an hour. Vainly: +he did not reappear.</p> + +<p>I have only further to add, that the parcel intrusted +to me was safely delivered, and that I +have reason to believe Mrs. Hendrick remained +to her last hour ignorant of the sad fate of her +son. It was her impression, induced by his last +letter, that he was about to enter the South-American +service under Cochrane, and she ultimately +resigned herself to a belief that he had +there met a brave man's death. My promise was +scrupulously kept, nor is it by this publication in +the slightest degree broken; for both the names +of Hendrick and Pickard are fictitious, and so is +the place assigned as that of the lieutenant's +birth. That rascal Sparkes, I am glad to be able +to say—chasing whom made me an actor in the +melancholy affair—was sent over the herring +pond for life.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE TUB SCHOOL.</h2> + + +<p>Speaking without passion, we are bound to +state, in broad terms, that the founder of the +Diogenic philosophy was emphatically a humbug. +Some people might call him by a harsher name; +we content ourselves with the popular vernacular. +Formidable as he was—this unwashed dog-baptized—with +a kind of savage grandeur, too, +about his independence and his fearlessness—still +was he a humbug; setting forth fancies for +facts, and judging all men by the measure of one. +Manifestly afflicted with a liver complaint, his +physical disorders wore the mask of mental power, +and a state of body that required a course of +calomel or a dose of purifying powders, passed +current in the world for intellectual superiority; +not a rare case in times when madness was accounted +potent inspiration, and when the exhibition +of mesmeric phenomena formed the title +of the Pythoness to her mystic tripod.</p> + +<p>Diogenes is not the only man whose disturbed +digestion has led multitudes, like an <i>ignis fatuus</i>, +into the bogs and marshes of falsehood. Abundance +of sects are about, which their respective +followers class under one generic head of inspiration, +but which have sprung from the same +hepatic inaction, or epigrastic inflammation, as +that which made the cynic believe in the divinity +of dirt, and see in a tub the fittest temple to virtue. +All that narrows the sympathies—all that +makes a man think better of himself than of his +"neighbors"—all that compresses the illimitable +mercy of God into a small talisman which you +and your followers alone possess—all that creates +condemnation—is of the Diogenic Tub School; +corrupt in the core, and rotten in the root—fruit, +leaves, and flowers, the heritage of death.</p> + +<p>A superstitious reverence for a bilious condition +of body, and an abhorrence of soap and +water, as savoring of idolatry or of luxury—according +to the dress and nation of the Cynic—made +up the fundamental ideas of his school; +and to this day they are the cabala of one division +of the sect. We confess not to be able to see +much beauty in either of these conditions, and +are rather proud than otherwise of our state of +disbelief; holding health and cleanliness in high +honor, and hoping much of moral improvement +from their better preservation. But to the Tub +School, good digestive powers, and their consequence, +good temper, were evidences of lax principles, +and cleanliness was ungodliness or effeminacy; +as the unpurified denouncer prayed to +St. Giles, or sacrificed to Venus Cloacina. Take +the old monks as an example. Not that we are +about to condemn the whole Catholic Church +under a cowled mask. She has valuable men +among her sons; but, in such a large body, +there must of necessity be some members weaker +than the rest; and the mendicant friars, and do-nothing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> +monks, were about the weakest and the +worst that ever appeared by the Catholic altar. +They were essentially of the Tub School, as +false to the best purposes of mankind as the +famous old savage of Alexander's time. Dirt +and vanity, bile and condemnation, were the +paternosters of their litany; and what else lay +in the tub which the king over-shadowed from +the sun? All the accounts of which we read, of +pious horror of baths and washhouses—all the +frantic renunciation of laundresses, and the belief +in hair shirts, to the prejudice of honest linen—all +the religious zeal against small-tooth combs, +and the sin which lay in razors and nail-brushes—all +the holy preference given to coarse cobbling +of skins of beasts, over civilized tailoring of seemly +garments—all the superiority of bare feet, +which never knew the meaning of a pediluvium, +over those which shoes and hose kept warm, +and foot-baths rendered clean—all the hatred of +madness against the refinements of life, and the +cultivation of the beautiful: these were the evidences +of the Diogenic philosophy; and of Monachism +too; and of other forms of faith, which +we could name in the same breath. And how +much good was in them? What natural divinity +lies in fur, which the cotton plant does not possess? +Wherein consists the holiness of mud, +and the ungodliness of alkali? wherein the purity +of a matted beard, and the impiety of Metcalfe's +brushes, and Mechi's magic strop? It +may be so; and we all the while may be mentally +blind; and yet, if we lived in a charnel-house, +whose horrors the stony core of a cataract +concealed, we could not wish to be couched, that +seeing, we might understand the frightful conditions +of which blindness kept us ignorant.</p> + +<p>But bating the baths and wash-houses, hempen +girdles, and hairy garments, we quarrel still with +the <i>animus</i> of Diogenes and his train. Its social +savageness was bad enough—its spiritual insolence +was worse. The separatism—the "stand +off, for I am holier than thou"—the condemnation +of a whole world, if walking apart from <i>his</i> way—the +substitution of solitary exaltation for the +activity of charity—the proud judgment of <span class="smcap">God</span>'S +world, and the presumptuous division into good +and evil of the Eternal; all this was and is of the +Cynic's philosophy; and all this is what we abjure +with heart and soul, as the main link of the +chain which binds men to cruelty, to ignorance, +and to sin; for the unloosing of which we must +wait before we see them fairly in the way of +progress.</p> + +<p>How false the religion of condemnation!—how +hardening to the heart!—how narrowing to the +sympathies! We take a section for the whole, +and swear that the illimitable All must be according +to the form of the unit I; we make ourselves +gods, and judge of the infinite universe by the +teaching of our finite senses. They who do this +most are they whom men call "zealous for God's +glory," "stern sticklers for the truth," and "haters +of latitudinarianism." And if all the social +charities are swept down in their course, they +are mourned over gently; but only so much as +if they were sparrows lying dead beneath the +blast that slew the enemy. "'Tis a pity," say +they, "that men must be firm to the truth, yet +cruel to their fellows; but if it must be so, why, +let them fall fast as snow-flakes. What is human +life, compared to the preservation of the truth?" +Ah! friends and brothers—is not the necessity +of cruelty the warrantry of falsehood? The truth +of life is <span class="smcap">Love</span>, and all which negatives love is +false; and every drop of blood that ever flowed +in the preservation of any dogma, bore in its +necessity the condemnation of that dogma.</p> + +<p>Turn where we will, and as far backward as +we will, we ever find the spirit of the Diogenic +philosophy; and clothed, too, in much the same +garb and unseemly disorder as that in vogue +among the dog-baptized. Ancient East gives us +many parallels; and to this day, dirty, lazy fakirs +of Hindostan assault the olfactories, and call for +curses on the effeminacy of the cleanly and the +sane. Sometimes, though, the Diogenites assume +the scrupulosity of the Pharisee, and then +they retain only the crimes of the Inquisition, +not the habits and apparel of the Bosjesmen. +Take the sincere Pharisee, for instance; regard +his holy horror of the Samaritan (the Independent +of his day) for failing in the strict letter of the +law; hear his stern denunciations against all +sinners, be they moral or be they doctrinal, +mark the unpitying "Crucify him! crucify him!" +against Him who taught novel doctrines of equality +and brotherhood, and the nullity of form; see +the purity of his own Pharisaic life, and grant +him his proud curse on all that are not like unto +him. He is a Cynic in his heart, one who judges +of universal humanity by the individualism of +one. Then, the hoary, hairy, dog-baptized, who +scoffed at all the decencies of life, not to speak +of its amenities, and had no gentle Plato's pride +of refinement, with all the brutal pride of coarseness—did +Diogenes worthily represent the best +functions of manhood? Again, the monks and +friars of the dark ages, and the hermits of old, +they who left the world of man "made in the +image of God," because they were holier than +their brethren, and might have naught in common +with the likeness of the Elohim; they who gave +up the deeds of charity for the endless repetition +of masses and vespers, and who thought to do +God better service by mumbling masses in a +cowl, than by living among their fellows, loving, +aiding, and improving—were not all these followers +in the train of Diogenes?—if not in the +dirt, then in the bile; if not in the garb, then in +the heart. Denouncers, condemners; narrowing, +not enlarging; hating, not loving; they were +traitors to the virtue of life, while dreaming that +they alone held it sacred.</p> + +<p>And now, have we no snarling Cynics, no +Pharisee, no Inquisitor? Have we taken to good +heart the divine record of love, of faith, which an +æsthetic age has sublimated into credos, and left +actions as a <i>caput mortuum</i>? Have we looked +into the meaning of the practical lesson which +the Master taught when he forgave the adulteress, +and sat at meat with the sinners? or have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +we not rather cherished the spiritual pride which +shapes out bitter words of censure for our fellows, +and lays such stress on likeness that it overlooks +unity? The question is worthy of an answer.</p> + +<p>The world is wide. Beasts and fishes, birds +and reptiles, weeds and flowers—which <i>here</i> are +weeds, and <i>there</i> are flowers, according to local +fancy—the dwarfed shrub of the Alpine steeps, +and the monster palm of the tropical plains; the +world is wide enough to contain them all, and +man is wise enough to love them all, each in its +sphere, and its degree. But what we do for +Nature, we refuse to Humanity. To her we +allow diversity; to him we prescribe sameness; +in her we see the loveliness of unlikeness, the +symmetry of variation; in him we must have +multitudes shaped by one universal rule; and +what we do not look for in the senseless tree, +we attempt on the immortal soul. Religion, +philosophy, and social politics, must be of the +same form with all men, else woe to the wight +who thinks out of the straight line! Diagonal +minds are never popular, and the hand which +draws one radius smites him who lines another +equal to it in all its parts, and from the same +centre-point. The Catholic denies the Protestant; +the Episcopalian contemns the Presbyterian; the +Free Kirk is shed like a branching horn; the Independent +denounces the Swedenborgian; the +Mormonite is persecuted by the Unitarian. It is +one unvarying round; the same thing called by +different names. Now all this is the very soul +of Diogenism. Cowl, mitre, or band—distinctive +signs to each party—all are lost in the shadow +of the tub, and jumbled up into a strange form, +which hath the name of Him of Sinope engraved +on its forehead. Separatism and denunciation +against him who is not with thee in all matters +of faith, make thee, my friend, a Cynic in thy +heart; and, though thou mayst wear Nicoll's +paletots and Medwin's boots, and mayst prank +thyself in all imaginable coxcombries, thou art +still but a Diogenite, a Cynic, and a Pharisee; +washing the outside of the platter, but leaving +the inside encrusted still, believing falsely, that +thou hast naught to do with a cause, because +thou hast not worn its cockade.</p> + +<p>Yet, are we going past the Tub School, though +it lingers still in high places. We see it in party +squabbles, not so much of politics to-day, as of +the most esoteric doctrines of faith. We hear +great men discussing the question of "prevenient +grace," as they would discuss the composition +of milk punch, and we hear them mutually anathematize +each other on this plain and demonstrable +proposition. We call this Diogenism, +and of a virulent sort, too. We know that certain +men are tabooed by certain other men; that +a churchman refuses communion with him who +is of no church, or of a different church; and +that one Arian thinks dreadful things of another +Arian. We call these men Pharisees, who deny +kindred with the Samaritans—but we remember +who it was that befriended the Samaritans. We +know that monks still exist, whose duty to man +consists in endless prayers to <span class="smcap">God</span> (in using vain +repetitions as the Heathens do); who open their +mouths wide, and expect that Heaven will fill +them; who hold the active duties of life in no +esteem; and separate themselves from their fellows +in all the grandeur of religious superiority. +We can not see much difference between these +men, the Hindoo fakirs, and the unsavory gentlemen +of the Grecian tub. They are all of the +same genus; but, Heaven be praised! they are +dying out from the world of man, as leprosy, and +the black plague, and other evils are dying out. +True enlightenment will extirpate them, as well +as other malaria. If Sanitary Commissions sweep +out the cholera, acknowledged Love will sweep +out all this idleness and solitary hatred, and make +men at last confess that Love and Recognition +are grander things than contempt and intolerance; +in a word, that real Christianity is better +than any form whatsoever of the Diogenic philosophy +of hatred.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>GOLD—WHAT IT IS AND WHERE IT COMES FROM.</h2> + + +<p>Road-mending is pretty general at this +time of the year, and upon roads now being +newly macadamized we may pick up a good many +differing specimens of granite. On the newly-broken +surface of one of them, four substances +of which it is composed can be perceived with +great distinctness. The more earthy-looking +rock, in which the others seem to be embedded, +is called felspar; the little hard white stones are +bits of quartz; the dark specks are specks of +hornblende, and the shining scales are mica. Felspar, +quartz, hornblende, and mica are the four +constituents of granite. These are among the +rocks of the most ancient times, which form a +complete barrier to the power of the geologist in +turning back the pages which relate the story of +our globe. Layer under layer—leaf behind leaf—we +find printed the characters of life in all +past ages, till at last we come to rocks—greenstone, +porphyry, quartz, granite, and others—which +contain no trace of life; which do not +show, as rocks above them do, that they have +been deposited by water; but which have a crystalline +form, and set our minds to think of heat +and pressure. These lowest rocks are frequently +called "igneous," in contradistinction to the +stratified rocks nearer the surface, which have +been obviously deposited under water. Between +the two there is not an abrupt transition; for +above the igneous, and below the aqueous, are +rocks which belong to the set above them, insomuch +as they are stratified; while they belong +to the set below them—insomuch as they are +crystalline, contain no traces of life, and lead us +by their characters to think of heat and pressure. +These rocks, on account of their equivocal position, +are called metamorphic.</p> + +<p>Under the influence of air, combined with that +of water—water potent in streams, lakes, and +seas, but not less potent as a vapor in our atmosphere, +when aided by alternations in the temperature—granite +decomposes. We noticed that +one of the constituents of granite—felspar—was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +a comparatively earthy-looking mass, in which +the other matters seemed to be embedded. In +the decomposition of granite, this felspar is the +first thing to give way; it becomes friable, and +rains or rivers wash it down. Capital soil it +makes. When the constituents of granite part +in this way, quartz is the heaviest, and settles. +Felspar and the others may run with the stream, +more or less; quartz is not moved so easily. +Now, as our neighbors in America would put it, +"that's a fact;" and it concerns our gossip about +gold.</p> + +<p>Below the oldest rocks there lie hidden the +sources of that volcanic action which is not yet +very correctly understood. Fortunately, we are +not now called upon for any explanation of it: +it is enough for us that such a force exists; and +thrusting below, forces granite and such rocks +(which ought to lie quite at the bottom), through +a rent made in the upper layers, and still up into +the air, until, in some places, they form the summit +of considerable mountains. Such changes +are not often, if ever, the results of a single, +mighty heave, which generates a great catastrophe +upon the surface of the earth; they are the +products of a force constantly applied through +ages in a given manner. In all geologic reasoning +we are apt to err grossly when we leave out +of our calculation the important element of time. +These lower rocks, then—these greenstones, porphyries +and granites, sienites and serpentines—thrust +themselves in many places through the +upper strata of the earth's crust, in such a way +as to form mountain ranges. Now, it is a fact, +that wherever the oldest of the aqueous deposits—such +as those called clay-slates, limestones, +and greywacke sandstones—happen to be superficial, +so as to be broken through by pressure +from below, and intruded upon by the igneous +rocks (especially if the said igneous rocks form +ranges tending at all from north to south), there +gold may be looked for. Gold, it is true, may be +found combined with much newer formations; but +it is under the peculiar circumstances just now +mentioned that gold may be expected to be found +in any great and valuable store.</p> + +<p>In Australia, the gold discoveries, so new and +surprising to the public, are not new to the scientific +world. More than two years ago, in an +"Essay on the Distribution of Gold Ore," read +before the British Association, to which our +readers will be indebted for some of the facts +contained in the present gossip, Sir Roderick +Murchison "reminded his geological auditors +that, in considering the composition of the chief, +or eastern ridge of Australia, and its direction +from north to south, he had foretold (as well as +Colonel Helmersen, of the Russian Imperial +Mines) that gold would be found in it; and he +stated that, in the last year, one gentleman resident +in Sydney, who had read what he had written +and spoken on this point, had sent him specimens +of gold ore found in the Blue Mountains; +while, from another source, he had learnt that +the parallel north and south ridge in the Adelaide +region, which had yielded so much copper, had +also given undoubted signs of gold ore. The +operation of English laws, by which noble metals +lapse to the crown, had induced Sir Roderick +Murchison to represent to Her Majesty's Secretary +of State that no colonists would bestir themselves +in gold-mining, if some clear declaration +on the subject were not made; but, as no measures +on this head seemed to be in contemplation, +he inferred that the government may be of opinion, +that the discovery of any notable quantity of +gold might derange the stability and regular industry +of a great colony, which eventually must +depend upon its agricultural products." That +was the language used by Sir Roderick Murchison +in September, 1849; and in September, 1851, +we are all startled by the fact which brings emphatic +confirmation of his prophecy.</p> + +<p>But it is not only about the Blue Mountains, +and in other districts, where the gold is now +sought, that the geologic conditions under which +gold may be sought reasonably are fulfilled. Take, +for example, the Ural Mountains. In very ancient +times the Scythian natives supplied gold from +thence; and gold was supplied also by European +tribes in Germany and elsewhere. Most of those +sources were worked out, or forgotten. Russia +for centuries possessed the Ural, and forgot its +gold. Many of us were boys when that was rediscovered. +The mountains had been worked for +their iron and copper by German miners, who +accidentally hit upon a vein of gold. The solid +vein was worked near Ekatrinburg—a process +expensive and, comparatively, unproductive, as +we shall presently explain. Then gold being +discovered accidentally in the superficial drift, +the more profitable work commenced. It is only +within the last very few years that Russia has +discovered gold in another portion of her soil, +among the spurs of the Altai Mountains, between +the Jena and the Lenisei, and along the shores +of Lake Baikal. This district has been enormously +productive, and, for about four years before +the discovery of gold in California, had been +adding largely to the gross amount of that metal +annually supplied for the uses of society. The +extent of this new district now worked is equal +to the whole area of France; but all the gold-bearing +land in Russia is not yet by any means +discovered. The whole area of country in Russia +which fulfills the conditions of a gold-bearing +district is immense. Eastward of the Ural Chain +it includes a large part of Siberia; and also in +Russian America there is nearly equal reason for +believing that hereafter gold will be discovered.</p> + +<p>Before we quit Asia, we may observe, that the +Chinese produce gold out of their soil; and although +many of the mountain ranges in that +country tend from east to west, yet the conditions +of the surface, and the meridional directions of +the mountains too, would indicate in China some +extensive districts over which gold would probably +be found in tolerable abundance. Gold exists +also in Lydia and Hindostan.</p> + +<p>Now to pass over to America, where, as we +have already said, the Russians have a district +in which gold may some day be discovered. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> +many districts along the line of the Rocky Mountains, +especially in that part of them which is included +in the British territory, gold may be looked +for. The gold region of California has been +recently discovered. Gold in Mexico, where the +conditions are again fulfilled, is not a new discovery. +Gold in Central America lies neglected, +on account of the sad political condition of the +little states there. There is gold to be found, +perhaps, in the United States, some distance eastward +of the Rocky Mountains. Certainly gold +districts will be found about the Alleghanies. +Gold has been found in Georgia, North and South +Carolina, and Virginia; it exists also in Canada, +and may, probably, be found not very far north, +on the British side of the St. Lawrence. In the +frozen regions, which shut in those straits and +bays of the North Pole, to which early adventurers +were sent from England on the search for +gold, gold districts most probably exist, although +the shining matter was not gold which first excited +the cupidity of our forefathers. Passing +now to South America, New Granada, Peru, +Brazil, La Plata, Chili, even Patagonia, contain +districts which say, "Look for gold." There are +one or two districts in Africa where gold exists; +certainly in more districts than that which is +called the Gold Coast, between the Niger and +Cape Verd; also between Darfur and Abyssinia; +and on the Mozambique Coast, opposite Madagascar. +In Australia, the full extent of our gold +treasure is not yet discovered. In Europe, out +of Russia, Hungary supplies yearly one or two +hundred thousand pounds worth; there is gold +in Transylvania and Bohemia; the Rhine washes +gold down into its sands from the crystalline rocks +of the high Alps. The Danube, Rhone, and Tagus, +yield gold also in small quantities. There +are neglected mines of gold in Spain.</p> + +<p>To come nearer home. In the mining fields +of Leadhills, in Scotland, gold was washed for +busily in the time of Queen Elizabeth. It is +found also in Glen Turret, in Perthshire, and at +Cumberhead, in Lanarkshire. Attempts have +been made to turn to account the gold existing +in North Wales and Cornwall. About sixty +years ago, gold was found accidentally in the bed +of streams which run from a mountain on the +confines of Wicklow and Wexford, by name, +Croghan Kinshela. A good deal of gold was collected +by the people, who, having the first pick, +had soon earned about ten thousand pounds +among them by their findings. Government then +established works, and having realized in two +years three thousand six hundred and seventy-five +pounds by the sale of gold, which it cost +them more than that amount to get, they let the +matter drop, judiciously.</p> + +<p>Let nobody be dazzled, however, by this enumeration +of gold districts, which is not by any means +complete. It is quite true that there is no metal +diffused so widely over the world's surface as gold +is, with a single exception, that of iron. But +with regard to gold, there is this important fact +to be taken into account, that it is not often to be +obtained from veins, but is found sprinkled—in +many cases sprinkled very sparingly; it is found +mixed with quartz and broken rock, or sand and +alluvial deposit, often in quantities extremely +small, so that the time lost in its separation—even +though it be the time of slaves—is of more +value than the gold; and so the gold does not +repay the labor of extraction. It is only where a +gold district does not fall below a certain limit in +its richness, that it yields a profit to the laborer. +Pure gold in lumps, or grains, or flakes, is to be +found only at the surface. Where, as is here +and there the case, a vein of it is found deep in +connection with the quartz, it is combined with +other minerals, from which it can be separated +only by an expensive process; so that a gold +vein, when found, generally yields less profit +than a field. As for gold-hunting in general, the +history of every gold district unites to prove that +the trade is bad. It is a lottery in which, to be +sure, there are some prizes, but there is quite the +usual preponderance of blanks.</p> + +<p>The villages of gold-seekers about Accra and +elsewhere, on the Gold Coast, are the villages of +negroes more squalid and wretched than free negroes +usually are. The wretchedness of gold-hunters +in the rich field of California is by this +time a hackneyed theme. Take, now, the picture +of a tolerably prosperous gold-seeker in +Brazil. He goes into the river with a leathern +jacket on, having a leathern bag fastened before +him. In his hand he carries a round bowl, of fig-tree +wood, about four or five feet in circumference, +and one foot deep. He goes into the river at +a part where it is not rapid, where it makes a +bend, and where it has deep holes. Be pleased to +remember that, and do not yet lose sight of what +was before said about the heaviness of quartz. +The gold-seeker, then, standing in the water, +scrapes away with his feet the large stones and +the upper layers of sand, and fishes up a bowlful +of the older gravel. This he shakes and washes, +and removes the upper layer; the gold being the +heaviest thing in the bowl, sinks, and when he +has got rid of all the other matter, which is after +a quarter of an hour's work, or more, he puts into +his pouch the residual treasure, which is worth +twopence farthing, on an average. He may earn +in this way about sevenpence an hour—not bad +wages, but, taken in connection with the nature +of the work, they do not look exceedingly attractive. +Here is a safe income, at any rate—no lottery. +A lump of gold, combined with quartz, +like that which has been dragged from California +by its lucky finder—a lump worth more than three +thousand pounds—is not a prize attainable in +river washing. That lump, its owner says, he got +out of a vein, which vein he comes to Europe to +seek aid in working. Veins of quartz containing +gold, when they occur, directly they cease to be +superficial, cease generally to be very profitable +to their owners. But of that we shall have to +say more presently.</p> + +<p>By this time we have had occasion to observe +more than once that gold and quartz are very +friendly neighbors. Now, we will make use of +the fact which we have been saving up so long,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> +that when granite decomposes, quartz, the heaviest +material is least easily carried away, and +when carried away is first to be deposited by +currents. Gold also, is very heavy; in its lightest +compound, it is twelve times heavier than +water, and pure gold is nineteen times heavier; +gold, therefore, when stirred out of its place by +water, will soon settle to the bottom. Very often +gold will not be moved at all, nor even quartz; so +gold and quartz remain, while substances which +formerly existed in their neighborhood are washed +away. Or when the whole is swept away +together, after the gold has begun sinking, quartz +will soon be sinking too; and so, even in shingle +or alluvial deposits, gold and quartz are apt to occur +as exceedingly close neighbors to each other.</p> + +<p>How the gold forms in those old rocks, we have +no right to say. Be it remembered, that in newer +formations it occurs, although more sparingly. +How the gold forms, we do not know. In fact, +we have no right to say of gold that it is formed +at all. In the present state of chemistry, gold is +considered as an element, a simple substance, of +which other things are formed, not being itself +compounded out of others. In the present state +of our knowledge, therefore—and the metals <i>may</i> +really be elements—we have nothing to trouble +ourselves about. Gold being one of the elements +(there are somewhere about forty in all) of which +the earth is built, of course existed from the beginning, +and will be found in the oldest rocks. +It exists, like other elements, in combination. It +is combined with iron, antimony, manganese, +copper, arsenic, and other things. But it is one +great peculiarity of gold that it is not easily oxydized +or rusted; rust being caused in metals by +the action of oxygen contained in our air. When, +therefore, gold, in a compound state, comes to be +superficial, the air acting on the mass will generally +oxydize the other metals, and so act upon +them, more especially where water helps, that in +the lapse of time this superficial gold will have +been purified in the laboratory of nature, and may +be finally picked up in the pure, or nearly pure, +state; or else it may be washed, equally pure, +from the superficial earth, as is now done in the +majority of gold districts. But deep below the +surface, in quartz veins contained within the +bowels of a mountain—though, to be sure, it is +not often found in such positions—gold exists +generally in a condition far from pure; the chemistry +of the artisan must do what the chemistry +of nature had effected in the other case; and this +involves rather an expensive process.</p> + +<p>Surface gold is found, comparatively pure, in +lumps of very various sizes, or in rounded grains, +or in small scales. In this state it is found in +the Ural district, contained in a mass of coarse +gravel, like that found in the neighborhood of +London; elsewhere, it is contained in a rough +shingle, with much quartz; and elsewhere, in a +more mud-like alluvial deposit. The water that +has washed it out of its first bed has not been +always a mere mountain torrent, or a river, or a +succession of rains. Gold shingle and sand have +been accumulated in many districts, by the same +causes which produced our local drifts, in which +the bones of the mammoth, the rhinoceros, and +other extinct quadrupeds occur.</p> + +<p>The nearly pure gold thus deposited in very +superficial layers, may be readily distinguished +from all other things that have external resemblance +to it. Gold in this state has always, +more or less, its well-known color, and the little +action of the air upon it causes its particles to +glitter, though they be distributed only in minute +scales through a bed of sand. But there are +other things that glitter. Scales of mica, to the +eye only, very much resemble gold. But gold is +extremely heavy; twelve or nineteen times heavier +than that same bulk of water; mica is very +light: sand itself being but three times heavier +than water. Let, therefore, sand, with glittering +scales in it, be shaken with water, and let us +watch the order of the settling. If the scales be +gold they will sink first, and quickly, to the bottom; +if they be mica, they will take their time, +and be among the last to sink. It is this property +of gold—its weight—which enables us to obtain +it by the process called gold-washing. Earth +containing gold, being agitated in water, the gold +falls to the bottom. Turbid water containing +gold, being poured over a skin, the gold falls and +becomes entangled in the hairs; or such water +being poured over a board with transverse grooves, +the gold is caught in the depressions. This is +the reason why the Brazilian searcher looks for +a depression in the bottom of the river, and this +is also the origin of those peculiar rich bits occasionally +found in the alluvium of a large gold-field. +Where there has been a hollow, as the +water passed it, gold continually was arrested +there, forming those valuable deposits which the +Brazilians call Caldeiraos. Sometimes, where the +waters have been arrested in the hollow of a +mountain, they have, in the same way, dropped +an excessive store of gold. This quality of weight, +therefore, is of prime importance in the history +of gold; it determined the character of its deposits +in the first instance; it enables us now to +extract it easily from its surrounding matter, and +enables us to detect it in a piece of rock, where +it may not be distinctly visible. There are two +substances which look exceedingly like gold;—copper +and iron pyrites, substances familiar to +most of us. We need never be puzzled to distinguish +them. Gold is a soft metal, softer than +iron, copper, and silver, although harder than tin +or lead. It will scratch tin or lead; but it will +be scratched with the other metals. That is to +say, you can scratch gold with a common knife. +Now, iron pyrites is harder than steel, and therefore +a knife will fail to scratch it. Gold and iron +pyrites, therefore, need never be mistaken for +each other by any man who has a piece of steel +about him. Copper pyrites can be scratched with +steel. But then there is another very familiar +property of gold, by which, in this case, it can +be distinguished. Gold is very malleable; beat +on it with a stone, and it will flatten, but not +break; and when it breaks, it shows that it is +torn asunder, by the thready, fibrous nature of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +its fracture. Beat with a stone on copper pyrites, +and it immediately begins to crumble. No +acid, by itself, can affect gold; but a mixture of +one part nitric, and four parts muriatic acid, is +called Aqua Regia, because in this mixture gold +does dissolve. A common test for gold, in commerce, +is to put nitric acid over it, which has no +action if the gold be true. There is, also, a hard +smooth stone, called Lydian stone, or flinty jasper, +by the mineralogists, and <i>touchstone</i> by the +jewelers, on which gold makes a certain mark; +and the character of the streak made on such a +stone will indicate pretty well the purity or value +of the gold that makes it.</p> + +<p>We have said that when the gold occurs in a +deep-seated vein, combined with other minerals, +its extraction becomes no longer a simple process. +Let us now point out generally what the nature +of this process is, and then we shall conclude our +brief discussion; for what else we might say, +either lies beyond our present purpose, or has +been made, by the talking and writing of the last +two years, sufficiently familiar to all listeners or +readers. Mr. Gardner, superintendent of the +Royal Botanic Garden of Ceylon, thus describes +the process of extracting gold out of the mine of +Morro Velho. This mine, when St. Hilaire visited +it, was considered as exhausted; it is now +one of the richest in Brazil. Thus Mr. Gardner +writes of it:</p> + +<p>"The ore is first removed from its bed by +blasting, and it is afterward broken, by female +slaves, into small pieces; after which it is conveyed +to the stamping-machine, to be reduced to +powder. A small stream of water, constantly +made to run through them, carries away the pulverized +matter to what is called the Strakes—a +wooden platform, slightly inclined, and divided +into a number of very shallow compartments, of +fourteen inches in width, the length being about +twenty-six feet. The floor of each of these compartments +is covered with pieces of tanned hide, +about three feet long, and sixteen inches wide, +which have the hair on. The particles of gold +are deposited among the hairs, while the earthy +matter, being lighter, is washed away. The +greater part of the gold dust is collected on the +three upper, or head skins, which are changed +every four hours, while the lower skins are +changed every six or eight hours, according to +the richness of the ore. The sand which is +washed from the head skins is collected together, +and amalgamated with quicksilver, in barrels; +while that from the lower skins is conveyed to +the washing-house, and concentrated over strakes +of similar construction to those of the stamping-mill, +till it be rich enough to be amalgamated +with that from the head-skins. The barrels into +which this rich sand is put, together with the +quicksilver, are turned by water; and the process +of amalgamation is generally completed in the +course of forty-eight hours. When taken out, +the amalgam is separated from the sand by washing. +It is then pressed on chamois skins, and +the quicksilver is separated from the gold by +sublimation."</p> + +<p>Let us explain those latter processes in more +detail. If you dip a gold ring or a sovereign into +quicksilver, it will be silvered by it, and the silvering +will not come off. This union of theirs +is called an amalgam. On a ring or sovereign it +is mere silvering; but when the gold is in a state +of powder, and the amalgamation takes place on +a complete scale, it forms a white, doughy mass, +in which there is included much loose quicksilver. +This doughy mass is presently washed +clear of all impurities, and is then squeezed in +skins or cloths, through the pores of which loose +quicksilver is forced, and saved for future operations. +The rest of the quicksilver is burnt out. +Under a moderately strong heat, quicksilver evaporates, +or—to speak more scientifically—sublimes; +and gold does not. The amalgam, therefore, +being subjected to heat, the quicksilver +escapes by sublimation, leaving the gold pure. +The quicksilver escapes by sublimation; but its +owner does not wish it quite to escape out of his +premises, because it is an expensive article. +Chambers are therefore made over the ovens, in +which the mercury may once again condense, +and whence it may be collected again afterward. +But, with all precaution, a considerable waste +always takes place. Other processes are also in +use for the separation of gold from its various +alloys. We have described that which is of +most universal application. Let us not omit +noting the significance of the fact, that a quicksilver +mine exists in California.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>EYES MADE TO ORDER.</h2> + + +<p>Contradictory opinions prevail as to the +limits that should be assigned to the privilege +of calling Art to the aid of Nature. To +some persons a wig is the type of a false and +hollow age; an emblem of deceit; a device of +ingenious vanity, covering the wearer with gross +and unpardonable deceit. In like manner, a crusade +has been waged against the skill of the dentist—against +certain artificial "extents in aid" +of symmetry effected by the milliner.</p> + +<p>The other side argues, in favor of the wig, that, +in the social intercourse of men, it is a laudable +object for any individual to propose to himself, +by making an agreeable appearance, to please, +rather than repel his associates. On the simple +ground that he would rather please than offend, +an individual, not having the proper complement +of hair and countenance, places a cunningly-fashioned +wig upon his head, artificial teeth in +his mouth, and an artificial nose upon his face. +A certain money-lender, it is urged, acknowledged +the elevating power of beauty when he +drew a vail before the portrait of his favorite +picture, that he might not see the semblance of +a noble countenance, while he extorted his crushing +interest from desperate customers. It is late +in the age, say the pro-wig party, to be called +upon to urge the refining power that dwells in +the beautiful; and, on the other hand, the depression +and the coarseness which often attend +the constant contemplation of things unsightly. +The consciousness of giving unpleasant sensations<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +to spectators, haunts all people who are +visibly disfigured. The bald man of five-and-twenty +is an unpleasant object; because premature +baldness is unnatural and ugly. Argue the +question according to the strictest rules of formal +logic, and you will arrive at nothing more than +that the thing is undoubtedly unpleasant to behold, +and that therefore some reason exists that +should urge men to remove it, or hide it. Undoubtedly, +a wig is a counterfeit of natural hair; +but is it not a counterfeit worn in deference to +the sense of the world, and with the view of presenting +an agreeable, instead of a disagreeable +object? Certainly. A pinch of philosophy is +therefore sprinkled about a wig, and the wearer +is not necessarily a coxcomb. As regards artificial +teeth, stronger pleas—even than those +which support wigs—may be entered. Digestion +demands that food should be masticated. +Shall, then, a toothless person be forced to live +upon spoon-meat, because artificial ivories are +denounced as sinful? These questions are fast +coming to issue, for Science has so far come to +the aid of human nature, that according to an +enthusiastic professor, it will be difficult, in the +course of another century, to tell how or where +any man or woman is deficient. A millennium +for Deformity is, it seems, not far distant. M. +Boissonneau of Paris, constructs eyes with such +extraordinary precision, that the artificial eye, we +are told, is not distinguishable from the natural +eye. The report of his pretensions will, it is to +be feared, spread consternation among those who +hold in abhorrence, and consider artificial teeth +incompatible with Christianity; yet the fact must +be honestly declared, that it is no longer safe for +poets to write sonnets about the eyes of their +mistresses, since those eyes may be M. Boissonneau's.</p> + +<p>The old, rude, artificial eyes are simply oval +shells, all made from one pattern, and differing +only in size and in color. No pretension to artistic +or scientific skill has been claimed by the +artificial-eye manufacturer—he has made a certain +number of deep blues, light blues, hazels, +and others, according to the state of the eye-market. +These rude shells were constructed +mainly with the view of giving the wearer an +almond-shaped eye, and with little regard to its +matching the eye in sound and active service. +Artificial eyes were not made to order: but the +patient was left to pick out the eye he would +prefer to wear, as he would pick out a glove. +The manufacture was kept a profound mystery, +and few medical men had access to its secrets. +The manufacturers sold eyes by the gross, to +retail-dealers, at a low price; and these supplied +patients. Under this system, artificial eyes were +only applicable in the very rare cases of atrophy +of the globe; and the effect produced was even +more repulsive than that of the diseased eye. +The disease was hidden by an unnatural and repulsive +expression, which it is difficult to describe. +While one eye was gazing intently in your face, +the other was fixed in another direction—immovable, +the more hideous because at first you mistook +it for a natural eye. A smile may over +spread the face, animate the lip, and lighten up +the natural eye; but there was the glass eye—fixed, +lustreless, and dead. It had other disadvantages: +it interfered with the lachrymal functions, +and sometimes caused a tear to drop in the +happiest moments.</p> + +<p>The new artificial eye is nothing more than a +plastic skullcap, set accurately upon the bulb of +the diseased eye, so that it moves with the bulb +as freely as the sound eye. The lids play freely +over it; the lachrymal functions continue their +healthy action; and the bulb is effectually protected +from currents of cold air and particles of +dust. But these effects can be gained only by +modeling each artificial eye upon the particular +bulb it is destined to cover; thus removing the +manufacture of artificial eyes from the hands of +clumsy mechanics, to the superintendence of the +scientific artist. Every individual case, according +to the condition of the bulb, requires an artificial +eye of a different model from all previously +made. In no two cases are the bulbs found in +precisely the same condition; and, therefore, +only the scientific workman, proceeding on well-grounded +principles, can pretend to practice ocular +prothesis with success. The newly-invented +shell is of metallic enamel, which may be fitted +like an outer cuticle to the bulb—the cornea of +which is destroyed—and restores to the patient +his natural appearance. The invention, however, +will, we fear, increase our skepticism. We +shall begin to look in people's eyes, as we have +been accustomed to examine a luxuriant head of +hair, when it suddenly shoots upon a surface +hitherto remarkable only for a very straggling +crop. Yet, it would be well to abate the spirit +of sarcasm with which wigs and artificial teeth +have been treated. Undoubtedly, it is more +pleasant to owe one's hair to nature than to +Truefit; to be indebted to natural causes for +pearly teeth; and to have sparkling eyes with +light in them. Every man and woman would +rather have an aquiline nose than the most playful +pug; no one would exchange eyes agreeing +to turn in one direction, for the pertest squint; +or legs observing something approaching to a +straight line, for undecided legs, with contradictory +bends. Hence dumb-bells, shoulder-boards, +gymnastic exercises, the consumption of sugar +steeped in Eau-de-Cologne (a French recipe for +imparting brightness to the eyes), ingenious padding, +kalydors, odontos, Columbian balms, bandolines, +and a thousand other ingenious devices. +Devices with an object, surely—that object, the +production of a pleasing <i>personnel</i>. It is a wise +policy to remove from sight the calamities which +horrify or sadden; and, as far as possible, to cultivate +all that pleases from its beauty or its grace. +Therefore, let us shake our friend with the cork-leg +by the hand, and, acknowledging that the +imitation is worn in deference to our senses, receive +it as a veritable flesh-and-blood limb; let +us accept the wig of our unfortunate young companion, +as the hair which he has lost; let us shut +our eyes to the gold work that fastens the brilliantly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> +white teeth of a young lady, whose natural +dentition has been replaced; and, above all, let +us never show, by sign or word, that the appearance +of our friend (who has suffered tortures, +and lost the sight of one eye) is changed after +the treatment invented by M. Boissonneau.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE EXPECTANT.—A TALE OF LIFE.</h2> + + +<p>When a boy I was sent to school in a country +village in one of the midland counties. +Midvale lay on a gentle slope at the foot of a +lofty hill, round which the turnpike-road wound +scientifically to diminish the steepness of the +declivity; and the London coach, as it smoked +along the white road regularly at half-past four +o'clock, with one wheel dragged, might be tracked +for two good miles before it crossed the bridge +over the brook below and disappeared from sight. +We generally rushed out of the afternoon school +as the twanging horn of the guard woke up our +quiet one street; and a fortunate fellow I always +thought was Griffith Maclean, our only day-boarder, +who on such occasions would often +chase the flying mail, and seizing the hand of +the guard, an old servant of his uncle's, mount +on the roof, and ride as far as he chose for the +mere trouble of walking back again. Our school +consisted of between twenty and thirty boys, +under the care of a master who knew little and +taught still less; for having three sermons to +preach every Sunday, besides two on week-days, +he had but little leisure to spare for the duties of +the school; and the only usher he could afford +to keep was a needy, hard-working lad, whose +poverty and time-worn habiliments deprived him +of any moral control over the boys. This state +of things, coupled with the nervous and irascible +temper of the pedagogue, naturally produced a +good deal of delinquency, which was duly scored +off on the backs of the offenders every morning +before breakfast. Thus what we wanted in tuition +was made up in flogging; and if the master +was rarely in the school, he made amends for +his absence by a vigorous use of his prerogative +while he was there. Griffith Maclean, who was +never present on these occasions, coming only +at nine o'clock, was yet our common benefactor. +One by one he had taken all our jackets to a +cobbling tailor in the village, and got them for a +trifling cost so well lined with old remnants of a +kind of felt or serge, for the manufacture of which +the place was famous, that we could afford to +stand up without wincing, and even to laugh +through our wry faces under the matutinal ceremony +of caning. Further, Griffith was the sole +means of communication with the shopkeepers, +and bought our cakes, fruit, and playthings, +when we had money to spend, and would generally +contrive to convey a hunch of bread and +cheese from home, to any starving victim who +was condemned to fasting for his transgressions. +In return for all this sympathy we could do no +less than relieve Griffith, as far as possible, from +the trouble and 'bother,' as he called it, of study. +We worked his sums regularly for days beforehand, +translated his Latin, and read over his lessons +with our fingers as he stood up to repeat +them before the master.</p> + +<p>Griffith's mother was the daughter of a gentleman +residing in the neighborhood of Midvale. +Fifteen years ago she had eloped with a young +Irish officer—an unprincipled fortune-hunter—who, +finding himself mistaken in his venture, the +offended father having refused any portion, had +at first neglected and finally deserted his wife, +who had returned home with Griffith, her only +child, to seek a reconciliation with her parents. +This had never been cordially granted. The old +man had other children who had not disobeyed +him, and to them, at his death, he bequeathed +the bulk of his property, allotting to Griffith's +mother only a life-interest in a small estate which +brought her something less than a hundred pounds +a year. But the family were wealthy, and the +fond mother hoped, indeed fully expected, that +they would make a gentlemanly provision for +her only child. In this expectation Griffith was +nurtured and bred; and being reminded every +day that he was born a gentleman, grew up with +the notion that application and labor of any sort +were unbecoming the character he would have +to sustain. He was a boy of average natural +abilities, and with industry might have cultivated +them to advantage: but industry was a plebeian +virtue, which his silly mother altogether discountenanced, +and withstood the attempts, not +very vigorous, of the schoolmaster to enforce. +Thus he was never punished, seldom reproved; +and the fact that he was the sole individual so +privileged in a school where both reproof and +punishment were so plentiful, could not fail of +impressing him with a great idea of his own importance. +Schoolboys are fond of speculating +on their future prospects, and of dilating on the +fancied pleasures of manhood and independence, +and the delights of some particular trade or profession +upon which they have set their hearts; +the farm, the forge, the loom, the counter, the +press, the desk, have as eager partisans among +the knucklers at <i>taw</i> as among older children; +and while crouching round the dim spark of fire +on a wet winter day, we were wont to chalk out +for ourselves a future course of life when released +from the drudgery, as we thought it, of school. +Some declared for building, carpentering, farming, +milling, or cattle-breeding; some were panting +for life in the great city; some longed for +the sea and travel to foreign countries; and some +for a quiet life at home amid rural sports and the +old family faces. Above all, Griffith Maclean +towered in unapproachable greatness. "I shall +be a gentleman," said he; "if I don't have a +commission in the army—which I am not sure I +should like, because it's a bore to be ordered off +where you don't want to go—I shall have an +official situation under government, with next to +nothing to do but to see life and enjoy myself." +Poor Griffith!</p> + +<p>Time wore on. One fine morning I was packed, +along with a couple of boxes, on the top of +the London coach; and before forty-eight hours +had elapsed, found myself bound apprentice to a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> +hard-working master and a laborious profession +in the heart of London. Seven years I served +and wrought in acquiring the art and mystery, +as my indentures termed it, of my trade. Seven +times in the course of this period it was my pleasant +privilege to visit Midvale, where some of +my relations dwelt, and at each visit I renewed +the intimacy with my old school-fellow, Griffith. +He was qualifying himself for the life of a gentleman +by leading one of idleness; and I envied +him not a little his proficiency in the use of the +angle and the gun, and the opportunity he occasionally +enjoyed of following the hounds upon a +borrowed horse. At my last visit, at the end of +my term of apprenticeship, I felt rather hurt at +the cold reception his mother gave me, and at +the very haughty, off-hand bearing of Griffith +himself; and I resolved to be as independent as +he by giving him an opportunity of dropping the +acquaintance if he chose. I understood, however, +that both he and his mother were still feeding +upon expectation, and that they hoped every +thing from General ——, to whom application +had been made on Griffith's behalf, as the son +of an officer, and that they confidently expected +a cadetship that would open up the road to promotion +and fortune. The wished-for appointment +did not arrive. Poor Griffith's father had +died without leaving that reputation behind him +which might have paved the way for his son's +advancement, and the application was not complied +with. This was a mortifying blow to the +mother, whose pride it painfully crushed. Griffith, +now of age, proposed that they should remove +to London, where, living in the very source +and centre of official appointments, they might +bring their influence to bear upon any suitable +berth that might be vacant. They accordingly +left Midvale and came to town, where they lived +in complete retirement upon a very limited income. +I met Griffith accidentally after he had +been in London about a year. He shook me +heartily by the hand, was in high spirits, and informed +me that he had at length secured the promise +of an appointment to a situation in S—— +House, in case T——, the sitting member, should +be again returned for the county. His mother +had three tenants, each with a vote, at her command; +and he was going down to Midvale, as +the election was shortly coming off, and would +bag a hundred votes, at least, he felt sure, before +polling-day. I could not help thinking as he +rattled away, that this was just the one thing he +was fit for. With much of the air, gait, and manners +of a gentleman, he combined a perfection +in the details of fiddle-faddle and small talk rarely +to be met with; and from having no independent +opinion of his own upon any subject whatever, +was so much the better qualified to secure +the voices of those who had. He went down to +Midvale, canvassed the whole district with astonishing +success, and had the honor of dining +with his patron, the triumphant candidate, at the +conclusion of the poll. On his return to town, +in the overflowings of his joy, he wrote a note to +me expressive of his improved prospects, and +glorying in the certainty of at length obtaining +an official appointment. I was very glad to hear +the good news, but still more surprised at the +terms in which it was conveyed; the little that +Griffith had learned at school he had almost +contrived to lose altogether in the eight or nine +years that had elapsed since he had left it. He +seemed to ignore the very existence of such contrivances +as syntax and orthography; and I really +had grave doubts as to whether he was competent +to undertake even an official situation in +S—— House.</p> + +<p>These doubts were not immediately resolved. +Members of parliament, secure in their seats, are +not precisely so anxious to perform as they sometimes +are ready to promise when their seats seem +sliding from under them. It was very nearly +two years before Griffith received any fruit from +his electioneering labors, during which time he +had been leading a life of lounging, do-nothing, +dreamy semi-consciousness, occasionally varied +by a suddenly-conceived and indignant remonstrance, +hurled in foolscap at the head of the defalcating +member for the county. During all this +time fortune used him but scurvily: his mother's +tenants at Midvale clamored for a reduction of +rent; one decamped without payment of arrears; +repairs were necessary, and had to be done and +paid for. These drawbacks reduced the small +income upon which they lived, and sensibly affected +the outward man of the gentlemanly Griffith: +he began to look seedy, and occasionally +borrowed a few shillings of me when we casually +met, which he forgot to pay. I must do him the +credit to say that he never avoided me on account +of these trifling debts, but with an innate frankness +characteristic of his boyhood, continued his +friendship and his confidences. At length the +happy day arrived. He received his appointment, +bearing the remuneration of £200 a year, which +he devoutly believed was to lead to something +infinitely greater, and called on me on his way +to the office where he was to be installed and indoctrinated +into his function.</p> + +<p>The grand object of her life—the settlement +of her son—thus accomplished, the mother returned +to Midvale, where she shortly after died, +in the full conviction that Griffith was on the +road to preferment and fortune. The little estate—upon +the proceeds of which she had frugally +maintained herself and son—passed, at her death, +into the hands of one of her brothers, none of whom +took any further notice of Griffith, who had mortally +offended them by his instrumentality in returning +the old member for the county, whom it +was their endeavor to unseat. There is a mystery +connected with Griffith's tenure of office which +I could never succeed in fathoming. He held it +but for six months, when, probably not being +competent to keep it, he sold it to an advertising +applicant, who offered a douceur of £300 for +such a berth. How the transfer was arranged I +can not tell, not knowing the recondite formula +in use upon these occasions. Suffice it to say +that Griffith had his £300, paid his little debts, +renewed his wardrobe and his expectations, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +began to cast about for a new patron. He was +now a gentleman about town, and exceedingly +well he both looked and acted the character: he +had prudence enough to do it upon an economical +scale, and though living upon his capital, doled +it out with a sparing hand. As long as his +money lasted he did very well; but before the +end of the third year the bloom of his gentility +had worn off, and it was plain that he was painfully +economizing the remnant of his funds.</p> + +<p>About this time I happened to remove to a different +quarter of the metropolis, and lost sight of +him for more than a year. One morning, expecting +a letter of some importance, I waited for the +postman before walking to business. What was +my astonishment on responding personally to his +convulsive "b'bang," to recognize under the gold-banded +hat and red-collared coat of that peripatetic +official the gentlemanly figure and features +of my old schoolfellow Griffith Maclean!</p> + +<p>"What! Griff?" I exclaimed: "is it possible?—can +this be you?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said he, "I am inclined to think it is. +You see, old fellow, a man must do something or +starve. This is all I could get out of that shabby +fellow T—— and I should not have got this had +I not well worried him. He knows I have no +longer a vote for the county. However, I shan't +wear this livery long: there are good berths +enough in the post-office. If they don't pretty +soon give me something fit for a gentleman to do, +I shall take myself off as soon as any thing better +offers. But, by George? there is not much time +allowed for talking: I must be off—farewell!"</p> + +<p>Soon after this meeting the fourpenny deliveries +commenced; and these were before long +followed by the establishment of the universal +Penny-post. This was too much for Griffith. +He swore he was walked off his legs; that people +did nothing upon earth but write letters; +that he was jaded to death by lugging them +about; that he had no intention of walking into +his coffin for the charge of one penny; and, +finally, that he would have no more of it. Accordingly +he made application for promotion on +the strength of his recommendation, was refused +as a matter of course, and vacated his post for +the pleasure of a week's rest, which he declared +was more than it was honestly worth.</p> + +<p>By this time destiny had made me a housekeeper +in "merry Islington;" and poor Griff, +now reduced to his shifts, waited on me one +morning with a document to which he wanted my +signature, the object of which was to get him +into the police force. Though doubting his perseverance +in any thing, I could not but comply +with his desire, especially as many of my neighbors +had done the same. The paper testified only +as to character; and as Griff was sobriety itself, +and as it would have required considerable ingenuity +to fasten any vice upon him, I might have +been hardly justified in refusing. I represented +to him as I wrote my name, that should he be +successful, he would really have an opportunity +of rising by perseverance in good conduct to an +upper grade. "Of course," said he, "that is +my object; it would never do for a gentleman to +sit down contented as a policeman. I intend to +rise from the ranks, and I trust you will live to +see me one day at the head of the force."</p> + +<p>He succeeded in his application; and not long +after signing his paper I saw him indued with +the long coat, oil-cape, and glazed hat of the +brotherhood, marching off in Indian file for night-duty +to his beat in the H—— Road. Whether +the night air disagreed with his stomach, or +whether his previous duty as a postman had +made him doubly drowsy, I can not say, but he +was found by the inspector on going his rounds +in a position too near the horizontal for the regulations +of the force, and suspended, after repeated +trangression, for sleeping upon a bench +under a covered doorway while a robbery was +going on in the neighborhood. He soon found +that the profession was not at all adapted to his +habits, and had not power enough over them to +subdue them to his vocation. He lingered on for +a few weeks under the suspicious eye of authority, +and at length took the advice of the inspector, +and withdrew from the force.</p> + +<p>He did not make his appearance before me as +I expected, and I lost sight of him for a long +while. What new shifts and contrivances he +had recourse to—what various phases of poverty +and deprivation he became acquainted with during +the two years that he was absent from my sight, +are secrets which no man can fathom. I was +standing at the foot of Blackfriar's Bridge one +morning waiting for a clear passage to cross the +road, and began mechanically reading a printed +board, offering to all the sons of Adam—whom, +for the especial profit of the slopsellers, Heaven +sends naked into the world—garments of the +choicest broadcloth for next to nothing, and had +just mastered the whole of the large-printed lie, +when my eye fell full upon the bearer of the +board, whose haggard but still gentlemanly face +revealed to me the lineaments of my old friend +Griff. He laughed in spite of his rags as our +eyes met, and seized my proffered hand.</p> + +<p>"And what," said I, not daring to be silent, +"do they pay you for this?"</p> + +<p>"Six shillings a week," said Griff, "and that's +better than nothing."</p> + +<p>"Six shillings and your board of course?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, this board" (tapping the placarded +timber); "and a confounded heavy board it is. +Sometimes when the wind takes it, though, I'm +thinking it will fly away with me into the river, +heavy as it is."</p> + +<p>"And do you stand here all day?"</p> + +<p>"No, not when it rains: the wet spoils the +print, and we have orders to run under cover. +After one o'clock I walk about with it wherever +I like, and stretch my legs a bit. There's no +great hardship in it if the pay was better."</p> + +<p>I left my old playmate better resigned to his +lowly lot than I thought to have found him. It +was clear that he had at length found a function +for which he was at least qualified; that he knew +the fact; and that the knowledge imparted some +small spice of satisfaction to his mind. I am<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +happy to have to state that this was the deepest +depth to which he has fallen. He has never +been a <i>sandwich</i>—I am sure indeed he would +never have borne it. With his heavy board +mounted on a stout staff, he could imagine himself, +as no doubt he often did, a standard-bearer +on the battle-field, determined to defend his colors +with his last breath; and his tall, gentlemanly, +and somewhat officer-like figure, might well suggest +the comparison to a casual spectator. But +to encase his genteel proportions in a surtout of +papered planks, or hang a huge wooden extinguisher +over his shoulders labeled with colored +stripes—it would never have done: it would have +blotted out the gentleman, and therefore have +worn away the heart of one whose shapely gentility +was all that was left to him.</p> + +<p>One might have thought, after all the vicissitudes +he had passed through, that the soul of +Griffith Maclean was dead to the voice of ambition. +Not so, however. On the first establishment +of the street-orderlies, that chord in his +nature spontaneously vibrated once again. If he +could only get an appointment it would be a rise +in the social scale—leading by degrees—who can +tell?—to the resumption of his original status, or +even something beyond.... I hear a gentle +knock, a modest, low-toned single dab, at the +street-door as I am sitting down to supper on my +return home after the fatigues of business. Betty +is in no hurry to go to the door, as she is poaching +a couple of eggs, and prides herself upon +performing that delicate operation in irreproachable +style. "Squilsh!" they go one after another +into the saucepan—I hear it as plainly as +though I were in the kitchen. Now the plates +clatter; the tray is loading; and now the eggs +are walking up stairs, steaming under Betty's +face, when "dab" again—a thought, only a +thought louder than before—at the street-door. +The spirit of patience is outside; and now Betty +runs with an apology for keeping him waiting. +"Here's a man wants to speak to master; says +he'll wait if you are engaged, sir; he ain't in no +hurry." "Show him in;" and in walks Griff, +again armed with a document—a petition for +employment as a street-orderly, with testimonials +of good character, honesty, and all that. Of +course I again append my signature, without any +allusion to the police force. I wish him all success, +and have a long talk over past fun and +follies, and present hopes and future prospects, +and the philosophy of poverty and the deceitfulness +of wealth. We part at midnight, and Griff +next day gets the desiderated appointment.</p> + +<p>It is raining hard while I write, and by the +same token I know that at this precise moment +Griffith in his glazed hat, and short blouse, and +ponderous mud-shoes, is clearing a channel for +the diluted muck of C—— street, city, and directing +the black, oozy current by the shortest +cut to the open grating connected with the common +sewer. I am as sure as though I were +superintending the operation, that he handles his +peculiar instrument—a sort of hybrid between a +hoe and a rake—with the grace and air of a +gentleman—a grace and an air proclaiming to +the world that though <i>in</i> the profession, whatever +it may be called, which he has assumed, he +is not <i>of</i> it, and vindicating the workmanship of +nature, who, whatever circumstances may have +compelled him to become, cast him in the mould +of a gentleman. It is said that in London every +man finds his level. Whether Griffith Maclean, +after all his vicissitudes, has found his, I do not +pretend to say. Happily for him, he thinks that +fortune has done her worst, and that he is bound +to rise on her revolving wheel as high at least as +he has fallen low. May the hope stick by him, +and give birth to energies productive of its realization!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE PLEASURES AND PERILS OF BALLOONING.</h2> + + +<p>It would appear that, in almost every age, from +time immemorial, there has been a strong feeling +in certain ambitious mortals to ascend among +the clouds. They have felt with Hecate—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Oh what a dainty pleasure 'tis<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To sail in the air!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>So many, besides those who have actually indulged +in it, have felt desirous of tasting the +"dainty pleasure" of a perilous flight, that we +are compelled to believe that the attraction is not +only much greater than the inducement held out +would leave one to expect, but that it is far more +extensive than generally supposed. Eccentric +ambition, daring, vanity, and the love of excitement +and novelty, have been quite as strong impulses +as the love of science, and of making new +discoveries in man's mastery over physical nature. +Nevertheless, the latter feeling has, no doubt, +been the main-stay, if not the forerunner and father +of these attempts, and has held it in public +respect, notwithstanding the many follies that have +been committed.</p> + +<p>To master the physical elements, has always +been the great aim of man. He commenced with +earth, his own natural, obvious, and immediate +element, and he has succeeded to a prodigious +extent, being able to do (so far as he knows) +almost whatever he wills with the surface; and, +though reminded every now and then by some +terrible disaster that he is getting "out of bounds" +has effected great conquests amidst the dark depths +beneath the surface. Water and fire came next +in requisition; and by the process of ages, man +may fairly congratulate himself on the extraordinary +extent, both in kind and degree, to which +he has subjected them to his designs—designs +which have become complicated and stupendous +in the means by which they are carried out, and +having commensurate results both of abstract +knowledge and practical utility. But the element +of air has hitherto been too subtle for all his projects, +and defied his attempts at conquest. That +element which permeates all earthly bodies, and +without breathing which the animal machine can +not continue its vital functions—into that grand +natural reservoir of breath, there is every physical +indication that it is not intended man should +ascend as its lord. Traveling and voyaging man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +must be content with earth and ocean;—the sublime +highways of air, are, to all appearance, denied +to his wanderings.</p> + +<p>Wild and daring as was the act, it is no less +true that men's first attempts at a flight through +the air were literally with wings. They conjectured +that by elongating their arms with a broad +mechanical covering, they could convert them into +wings; and forgetting that birds possess air-cells, +which they can inflate, that their bones are full of +air instead of marrow, and, also, that they possess +enormous strength of sinews expressly for +this purpose, these desperate half-theorists have +launched themselves from towers and other high +places, and floundered down to the demolition of +their necks, or limbs, according to the obvious +laws and penalties of nature. We do not allude +to the Icarus of old, or any fabulous or remote +aspirants, but to modern times. Wonderful as +it may seem, there are some instances in which +they escaped with only a few broken bones. +Milton tells a story of this kind in his "History +of Britain;" the flying man being a monk of +Malmsbury, "in his youth." He lived to be impudent +and jocose on the subject, and attributed +his failure entirely to his having forgotten to wear +a broad tail of feathers. In 1742 the Marquis de +Bacqueville announced that he would fly with +wings from the top of his own house on the <i>Quai +des Theatins</i> to the garden of the <i>Tuileries</i>. He +actually accomplished half the distance, when, +being exhausted with his efforts, the wings no +longer beat the air, and he came down into the +Seine, and would have escaped unhurt, but that +he fell against one of the floating machines of +the Parisian laundresses, and thereby fractured +his leg. But the most successful of all these instances +of the extraordinary, however misapplied, +force of human energies and daring, was that of +a certain citizen of Bologna, in the thirteenth +century, who actually managed, with some kind +of wing contrivance, to fly from the mountain +of Bologna to the River Reno, without injury. +"Wonderful! admirable!" cried all the citizens +of Bologna. "Stop a little!" said the officers of +the Holy Inquisition; "this must be looked into." +They sat in sacred conclave. If the man had +been killed, said they, or even mutilated shockingly, +our religious scruples would have been +satisfied; but, as he has escaped unhurt, it is clear +that he must be in league with the devil. The +poor "successful" man was therefore condemned +to be burnt alive; and the sentence of the Holy +Catholic Church was carried into Christian execution.</p> + +<p>That flying, however, could be effected by the +assistance of some more elaborate sort of machinery, +or with the aid of chemistry, was believed at +an early period. Friar Bacon suggested it; so +did Bishop Wilkins, and the Marquis of Worcester; +it was likewise projected by Fleyder, by the +Jesuit Lana, and many other speculative men of +ability. So far, however, as we can see, the first +real discoverer of the balloon was Dr. Black, who, +in 1767, proposed to inflate a large skin with +hydrogen gas; and the first who brought theory +into practice were the brothers Montgolfier. But +their theory was that of the "fire-balloon," or the +formation of an artificial cloud, of smoke, by means +of heat from a lighted brazier placed beneath an +enormous bag, or balloon, and fed with fuel while +up in the air. The Academy of Sciences immediately +gave the invention every encouragement, +and two gentlemen volunteered to risk an ascent +in this alarming machine.</p> + +<p>The first of these was Pilâtre de Rosier, a gentleman +of scientific attainments, who was to conduct +the machine, and he was accompanied by +the Marquis d'Arlandes, an officer in the Guards. +They ascended in the presence of the Court of +France, and all the scientific men in Paris. They +had several narrow escapes of the whole machine +taking fire, but eventually returned to the ground +in safety. Both these courageous men came to +untimely ends subsequently. Pilâtre de Rosier, +admiring the success of the balloon afterward +made by Professor Charles, and others, (<i>viz.</i>, a +balloon filled with hydrogen gas), conceived the +idea of uniting the two systems, and accordingly +ascended with a large balloon of that kind, +having a small fire-balloon beneath it—the upper +one to sustain the greater portion of the weight, +the lower one to enable him to alter his specific +gravity as occasion might require, and thus to +avoid the usual expenditure of gas and ballast. +Right in theory—but he had forgotten one thing. +Ascending too high, confident in his theory, the +upper balloon became distended too much, and +poured down a stream of hydrogen gas, in self-relief, +which reached the little furnace of the fire-balloon, +and the whole machine became presently +one mass of flame. It was consumed in the +air, as it descended, and with it of course, the +unfortunate Pilâtre de Rosier. The untimely +fate of the Marquis d'Arlandes, his companion in +the first ascent ever made in a balloon, was hastened +by one of those circumstances which display +the curious anomalies in human nature;—he was +broken for cowardice in the execution of his military +duties, and is supposed to have committed +suicide.</p> + +<p>If we consider the shape, structure, appurtenances, +and capabilities of a ship of early ages, +and one of the present time, we must be struck +with admiration at the great improvement that +has been made, and the advantages that have +been obtained; but balloons are very nearly what +they were from the first, and are as much at +the mercy of the wind for the direction they will +take. Neither is there at present any certain +prospect of an alteration in this condition. Their +so-called "voyage" is little more than "drifting," +and can be no more, except by certain manœuvres +which obtain precarious exceptions, such as rising +to take the chance of different currents, or lowering +a long and weighty rope upon the earth +(an ingenious invention of Mr. Green's, called +the "guide rope"), to be trailed along the ground. +If, however, man is ever to be a flying animal, +and to travel in the air whither he listeth, it must +be by other means than wings, balloons, paddle-machines, +and aerial ships—several of which are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +now building in America, in Paris, and in London. +We do not doubt the mechanical genius of inventors—but +the motive power. We will offer a few +remarks on these projects before we conclude.</p> + +<p>But let us, at all events, ascend into the sky! +Taking balloons as they are, "for better, for +worse," as Mr. Green would say—let us for once +have a flight in the air.</p> + +<p>The first thing you naturally expect is some +extraordinary sensation in springing high up into +the air, which takes away your breath for a time. +But no such matter occurs. The extraordinary +thing is, that you experience no sensation at all, +so far as motion is concerned. So true is this, +that on one occasion, when Mr. Green wished to +rise a little above a dense crowd, in order to get +out of the extreme heat and pressure that surrounded +his balloon, those who held the ropes, +misunderstanding his direction, let go entirely, +and the balloon instantly rose, while the aeronaut +remained calmly seated, wiping his forehead with +a handkerchief, after the exertions he had undergone +in preparing for the flight, and totally unconscious +of what had happened. He declares +that he only became aware of the circumstance, +when, on reaching a considerable elevation (a +few seconds are often quite enough for that), he +heard the shouts of the multitude becoming fainter +and fainter, which caused him to start up, and +look over the edge of the car.</p> + +<p>A similar unconsciousness of the time of their +departure from earth has often happened to "passengers." +A very amusing illustration of this is +given in a letter published by Mr. Poole, the well-known +author, shortly after his ascent. "I do +not despise you," says he, "for talking about a +balloon going up, for it is an error which you +share in common with some millions of our fellow-creatures; +and I, in the days of my ignorance, +thought with the rest of you. I know better now. +The fact is, we do not <i>go up</i> at all; but at about +five minutes past six on the evening of Friday, +the 14th of September, 1838—at about that time, +Vauxhall Gardens, with all the people in them, +<i>went down</i>!" What follows is excellent. "I +can not have been deceived," says he; "I speak +from the evidence of my senses, founded upon +repetition of the fact. Upon each of the three or +four experimental trials of the powers of the balloon +to enable the people to glide away from us +with safety to themselves—down they all went +about thirty feet?—then, up they came again, +and so on. There we sat quietly all the while, +in our wicker buck-basket, utterly unconscious +of motion; till, at length, Mr. Green snapping a +little iron, and thus letting loose the rope by which +<i>the earth was suspended to us</i>—like Atropos, cutting +the connection between us with a pair of +shears—down it went, with every thing on it; +and your poor, paltry, little Dutch toy of a town, +(your Great Metropolis, as you insolently call it), +having been placed on casters for the occasion—I +am satisfied of <i>that</i>—was gently rolled away +from under us."<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>Feeling nothing of the ascending motion, the +first impression that takes possession of you in +"going up" in a balloon, is the quietude—the +silence, that grows more and more entire. The +restless heaving to and fro of the huge inflated +sphere above your head (to say nothing of the +noise of the crowd), the flapping of ropes, the +rustling of silk, and the creaking of the basketwork +of the car—all has ceased. There is a +total cessation of all atmospheric resistance. You +sit in a silence which becomes more perfect every +second. After the bustle of many moving objects, +you stare before you into blank air. We make +no observations on other sensations—to wit, the +very natural one of a certain increased pulse, at +being so high up, with a chance of coming down +so suddenly, if any little matter went wrong. As +all this will differ with different individuals, according +to their nervous systems and imaginations, +we will leave each person to his own impressions.</p> + +<p>So much for what you first feel; and now what +is the first thing you do? In this case every +body is alike. We all do the same thing. We +look over the side of the car. We do this very +cautiously—keeping a firm seat, as though we +clung to our seat by a certain attraction of cohesion—and +then, holding on by the edge, we +carefully protrude the peak of our traveling-cap, +and then the tip of the nose, over the edge of +the car, upon which we rest our mouth. Every +thing below is seen in so new a form, so flat, +compressed and simultaneously—so much too-much-at-a-time—that +the first look is hardly so +satisfactory as could be desired. But soon we +thrust the chin fairly over the edge, and take a +good stare downward; and this repays us much +better. Objects appear under very novel circumstances +from this vertical position, and ascending +retreat from them (though it is <i>they</i> that appear +to sink and retreat from us). They are stunted +and foreshortened, and rapidly flattened to a map-like +appearance; they get smaller and smaller, +and clearer and clearer. "An idea," says Monck +Mason, "involuntarily seizes upon the mind, that +the earth with all its inhabitants had, by some +unaccountable effort of nature, been suddenly +precipitated from its hold, and was in the act of +slipping away from beneath the aeronaut's feet +into the murky recesses of some unfathomable +abyss below. Every thing, in fact, but himself, +seems to have been suddenly endowed with motion." +Away goes the earth, with all its objects—sinking +lower and lower, and every thing becoming +less and less, but getting more and more +distinct and defined as they diminish in size. +But, besides the retreat toward minuteness, the +phantasmagoria flattens as it lessens—men and +women are of five inches high, then of four, three, +two, one inch—and now a speck; the Great +Western is a narrow strip of parchment, and +upon it you see a number of little trunks "running +away with each other," while the Great +Metropolis itself is a board set out with toys; its +public edifices turned into "baby-houses, and +pepper-casters, and extinguishers, and chess-men,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> +with here and there a dish-cover—things which +are called domes, and spires, and steeples!" As +for the Father of Rivers, he becomes a dusky-gray, +winding streamlet, and his largest ships are +no more than flat pale decks, all the masts and +rigging being foreshortened to nothing. We soon +come now to the shadowy, the indistinct—and +then all is lost in air. Floating clouds fill up all +the space beneath. Lovely colors outspread +themselves, ever-varying in tone, and in their +forms or outlines—now sweeping in broad lines—now +rolling and heaving in huge, richly, yet +softly-tinted billows—while sometimes, through +a great opening, rift, or break, you see a level +expanse of gray or blue fields at an indefinite +depth below. And all this time there is a noiseless +cataract of snowy cloud-rocks falling around +you—falling swiftly on all sides of the car, in +great fleecy masses—in small snow-white and +glistening fragments—and immense compound +masses—all white, and soft, and swiftly rushing +past you, giddily, and incessantly down, down, +and all with the silence of a dream—strange, +lustrous, majestic, incomprehensible.</p> + +<p>Aeronauts, of late years, have become, in many +instances, respectable and business-like, and not +given to extravagant fictions about their voyages, +which now, more generally, take the form of a +not very lively log. But it used to be very different +when the art was in its infancy, some +thirty or forty years ago, and young balloonists +indulged in romantic fancies. We do not believe +that there was a direct intention to tell falsehoods, +but that they often deceived themselves very +amusingly. Thus, it has been asserted, that +when you attained a great elevation, the air became +so rarefied that you could not breathe, and +that small objects, being thrown out of the balloon, +could not fall, and stuck against the side +of the car. Also, that wild birds, being taken up +and suddenly let loose, could not fly properly, but +returned immediately to the car for an explanation. +One aeronaut declared that his head became +so contracted by his great elevation, that his hat +tumbled over his eyes, and persisted in resting on +the bridge of his nose. This assertion was indignantly +rebutted by another aeronaut of the +same period, who declared that, on the contrary, +the head expanded in proportion to the elevation; +in proof of which he stated, that on his last ascent +he went so high that his hat burst. Another +of these romantic personages described a +wonderful feat of skill and daring which he had +performed up in the air. At an elevation of two +miles, his balloon burst several degrees above +"the equator" (meaning, above the middle region +of the balloon), whereupon he crept up the lines +that attached the car, until he reached the netting +that inclosed the balloon; and up this netting +he clambered, until he reached the aperture, +into which he thrust—not his head—but his +pocket handkerchief! Mr. Monck Mason, to +whose "Aeronautica" we are indebted for the +anecdote, gives eight different reasons to show +the impossibility of any such feat having ever +been performed in the air. One of these is highly +graphic. The "performer" would change the +line of gravitation by such an attempt: he would +never be able to mount the sides, and would only +be like the squirrel in its revolving cage. He +would, however, pull the netting round—the spot +where he clung to, ever remaining the lowest—until +having reversed the machine, the balloon +would probably make its <i>escape</i>, in an elongated +shape, through the large interstices of that portion +of the net-work which is just above the car, +when the balloon is in its proper position! But +the richest of all these romances is the following +brief statement:—A scientific gentleman, well +advanced in years (who had "probably witnessed +the experiment of the restoration of a withered +pear beneath the exhausted receiver of a pneumatic +machine") was impressed with a conviction, +on ascending to a considerable height in a balloon, +that every line and wrinkle of his face had totally +disappeared, owing, as he said, to the preternatural +distension of his skin; and that, to the astonishment +of his companion, he rapidly began to +assume the delicate aspect and blooming appearance +of his early youth!</p> + +<p>These things are all self-delusions. A bit of +paper or a handkerchief might cling to the outside +of the car, but a penny-piece would, undoubtedly, +fall direct to the earth. Wild birds do not +return to the car, but descend in circles, till, passing +through the clouds, they see whereabouts to +go, and then they fly downward as usual. We +have no difficulty in breathing; on the contrary, +being "called upon," we sing a song. Our head +does not contract, so as to cause our hat to extinguish +our eyes and nose; neither does it expand +to the size of a prize pumpkin. We see +that it is impossible to climb up the netting of the +balloon over-head, and so do not think of attempting +it; neither do we find all the lines in our face +getting filled up, and the loveliness of our "blushing +morning" taking the place of a marked maturity. +These fancies are not less ingenious and +comical than that of the sailor who hit upon the +means of using a balloon to make a rapid voyage +to any part of the earth. "The earth spins +round," said he, "at a great rate, don't it? Well, +I'd go up two or three miles high in my balloon, +and then 'lay to,' and when any place on the +globe I wished to touch at, passed underneath me, +down I'd drop upon it."</p> + +<p>But we are still floating high in air. How do +we feel all this time? "Calm, sir—calm and +resigned." Yes, and more than this. After a +little while, when you find nothing happens, and +see nothing likely to happen (and you will more +especially feel this under the careful conduct of +the veteran Green), a delightful serenity takes +the place of all other sensations—to which the +extraordinary silence, as well as the pale beauty +and floating hues that surround you, is chiefly +attributable. The silence is perfect—a wonder +and a rapture. We hear the ticking of our +watches. Tick! tick!—or is it the beat of our +own hearts? We are sure of the watch; and +now we think we can hear both.</p> + +<p>Two other sensations must, by no means, be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +forgotten. You become very cold, and desperately +hungry. But you have got a warm outer +coat, and traveling boots, and other valuable +things, and you have not left behind you the +pigeon-pie, the ham, cold beef, bottled ale and +brandy.</p> + +<p>Of the increased coldness which you feel on +passing from a bright cloud into a dark one, the +balloon is quite as sensitive as you can be; and, +probably, much more so, for it produces an immediate +change of altitude. The expansion and contraction +which romantic gentlemen fancied took +place in the size of their heads, does really take +place in the balloon, according as it passes from +a cloud of one temperature into that of another.</p> + +<p>We are now nearly three miles high. Nothing +is to be seen but pale air above—around—on all +sides, with floating clouds beneath. How should +you like to descend in a parachute?—to be dangled +by a long line from the bottom of the car, and suddenly +to be "let go," and to dip at once clean +down through those gray-blue and softly rose-tinted +clouds, skimming so gently beneath us? +Not at all: oh, by no manner of means—thank +you! Ah, you are thinking of the fate of poor +Cocking, the enthusiast in parachutes, concerning +whom, and his fatal "improvement," the +public is satisfied that it knows every thing, from +the one final fact—that he was killed. But there +is something more than that in it, as we fancy.</p> + +<p>Two words against parachutes. In the first +place, there is no use to which, at present, they +can be applied; and, in the second, they are so +unsafe as to be likely, in all cases, to cost a life +for each descent. In the concise words of Mr. +Green, we should say—"the best parachute is a +balloon; the others are bad things to have to +deal with."</p> + +<p>Mr. Cocking, as we have said, was an enthusiast +in parachutes. He felt sure he had discovered +a new, and the true, principle. All parachutes, +before his day, had been constructed to +descend in a concave form, like that of an open +umbrella; the consequence of which was, that +the parachute descended with a violent swinging +from side to side, which sometimes threw the +man in the basket in almost a horizontal position. +Mr. Cocking conceived that the converse +form; viz., an inverted cone (of large dimensions), +would remedy this evil; and becoming +convinced, we suppose, by some private experiments +with models, he agreed to descend on a +certain day. The time was barely adequate to +his construction of the parachute, and did not +admit of such actual experiments with a sheep, +or pig, or other animal, as prudence would naturally +have suggested. Besides the want of time, +however, Cocking equally wanted prudence; he +felt sure of his new principle; this new form of +parachute was the hobby of his life, and up he +went on the appointed day (for what aeronaut +shall dare to "disappoint the Public?")—dangling +by a rope, fifty feet long, from the bottom +of the car of Mr. Green's great Nassau Balloon.</p> + +<p>The large upper rim of the parachute, in imitation, +we suppose, of the hollow bones of a +bird, was made of hollow tin—a most inapplicable +and brittle material; and besides this, it had two +fractures. But Mr. Cocking was not to be deterred; +convinced of the truth of his discovery, +up he would go. Mr. Green was not equally at +ease, and positively refused to touch the latch of +the "liberating iron," which was to detach the +parachute from the balloon. Mr. Cocking arranged +to do this himself, for which means he +procured a piece of new cord of upward of fifty +feet in length, which was fastened to the latch +above in the car, and led down to his hand in the +basket of the parachute. Up they went to a +great height, and disappeared among the clouds.</p> + +<p>Mr. Green had taken up one friend with him +in the car; and, knowing well what would happen +the instant so great a weight as the parachute +and man were detached, he had provided a +small balloon inside the car, filled with atmospheric +air, with two mouth-pieces. They were +now upward of a mile high.</p> + +<p>"How do you feel, Mr. Cocking?" called out +Green. "Never better, or more delighted in my +life," answered Cocking. Though hanging at +fifty feet distance, in the utter silence of that +region, every accent was easily heard. "But, +perhaps you will alter your mind?" suggested +Green. "By no means," cried Cocking; "but, +how high are we?"—"Upward of a mile."—"I +must go higher, Mr. Green—I must be taken up +two miles before I liberate the parachute." Now, +Mr. Green, having some regard for himself and +his friend, as well as for poor Cocking, was determined +not to do any such thing. After some +further colloquy, therefore, during which Mr. +Green threw out a little more ballast, and gained +a little more elevation, he finally announced that +he could go no higher, as he now needed all the +ballast he had for their own safety in the balloon. +"Very well," said Cocking, "if you really will +not take me any higher, I shall say good-by."</p> + +<p>At this juncture Green called out, "Now, Mr. +Cocking, if your mind at all misgives you about +your parachute, I have provided a tackle up here, +which I can lower down to you, and then wind +you up into the car by my little grapnel-iron +windlass, and nobody need be the wiser."—"Certainly +not," cried Cocking; "thank you all +the same. I shall now make ready to pull the +latch-cord." Finding he was determined, Green +and his friend both crouched down in the car, +and took hold of the mouth-pieces of their little +air-balloon. "All ready?" called out Cocking. +"All ready!" answered the veteran aeronaut +above. "Good-night, Mr. Green!"—"Good-night, +Mr. Cocking!"—"A pleasant voyage to +you, Mr. Green—good-night!"</p> + +<p>There was a perfect silence—a few seconds +of intense suspense—and then the aeronauts in +the car felt a jerk upon the latch. It had not been +forcible enough to open the liberating iron. +Cocking had failed to detach the parachute. +Another pause of horrid silence ensued.</p> + +<p>Then came a strong jerk upon the latch, and +in an instant, the great balloon shot upward with +a side-long swirl, like a wounded serpent. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>y +saw their flag clinging flat down against the +flag-staff, while a torrent of gas rushed down +upon them through the aperture in the balloon +above their heads, and continued to pour down +into the car for a length of time that would have +suffocated them but for the judgmatic provision +of the little balloon of atmospheric air, to the +mouth-pieces of which their own mouths were +fixed, as they crouched down at the bottom of +the car. Of Mr. Cocking's fate, or the result of +his experiment, they had not the remotest knowledge. +They only knew the parachute was gone!</p> + +<p>The termination of Mr. Cocking's experiment +is well known. For a few seconds he descended +quickly, but steadily, and without swinging—as +he had designed, and insisted would be the result—when, +suddenly, those who were watching +with glasses below, saw the parachute lean on +one side—then give a lurch to the other—then +the large upper circle collapsed (the disastrous +hollow tin-tubing having evidently broken up), +and the machine entered the upper part of a +cloud: in a few more seconds it was seen to +emerge from the lower part of the cloud—the +whole thing turned over—and then, like a closed-up +broken umbrella, it shot straight down to the +earth. The unfortunate, and, as most people regard +him, the foolish enthusiast, was found still +in the basket in which he reached the earth. He +was quite insensible, but uttered a moan; and in +ten minutes he was dead.</p> + +<p>Half a word in favor of parachutes. True, +they are of no use "at present;" but who knows +of what use such things may one day be? As +to Mr. Cocking's invention, the disaster seems to +be attributable to errors of detail, rather than of +principle. Mr. Green is of opinion, from an examination +of the <i>broken</i> latch-cord, combined with +other circumstances, which would require diagrams +to describe satisfactorily, that after Mr. +Cocking had failed to liberate himself the first +time, he twisted the cord round his hand to give +a good jerk, forgetting that in doing so, he united +himself to the balloon above, as it would be impossible +to disengage his hand in time. By this +means he was violently jerked into his parachute, +which broke the latch-cord; but the tin tube was +not able to bear such a shock, and this caused so +serious a fracture, in addition to its previous unsound +condition, that it soon afterward collapsed. +This leads one to conjecture that had the outer +rim been made of strong wicker-work, or whale-bone, +so as to be somewhat pliable, and that Mr. +Green had liberated the parachute, instead of Mr. +Cocking, it would have descended to the earth +with perfect safety—skimming the air, instead of +the violent oscillations of the old form of this machine. +We conclude, however, with Mr. Green's +laconic—that the safest parachute is a balloon.</p> + +<p>But here we are—still above the clouds! We +may assume that you would not like to be "let +off" in a parachute, even on the improved principle; +we will therefore prepare for descending +with the balloon. This is a work requiring great +skill and care to effect safely, so as to alight on a +suitable piece of ground, and without any detriment +to the voyagers, the balloon, gardens, +crops, &c.</p> + +<p>The valve-line is pulled!—out rushes the gas +from the top of the balloon—you see the flag fly +upward—down through the clouds you sink faster +and faster—lower and lower. Now you begin +to see dark masses below—there's the Old Earth +again!—the dark masses now discover themselves +to be little forests, little towns, tree-tops, +house-tops—out goes a shower of sand from the +ballast-bags, and our descent becomes slower—another +shower, and up we mount again, in +search of a better spot to alight upon. Our +guardian aeronaut gives each of us a bag of ballast, +and directs us to throw out its contents +when he calls each of us by name, and in such +quantities only as he specifies. Moreover, no +one is suddenly to leap out of the balloon, when +it touches the earth; partly because it may cost +him his own life or limbs, and partly because it +would cause the balloon to shoot up again with +those who remained, and so make them lose the +advantage of the good descent already gained, if +nothing worse happened. Meantime, the grapnel-iron +has been lowered, and dangling down at +the end of a strong rope of a hundred and fifty +feet long. It is now trailing over the ground. +Three bricklayers' laborers are in chase of it. It +catches upon a bank—it tears its way through. +Now the three bricklayers are joined by a couple +of fellows in smock-frocks, a policeman, five boys, +followed by three little girls, and, last of all, a +woman with a child in her arms, all running, +shouting, screaming, and yelling, as the grapnel-iron +and rope go trailing and bobbing over the +ground before them. At last the iron catches +upon a hedge—grapples with its roots; the balloon +is arrested, but struggles hard; three or +four men seize the rope, and down we are hauled, +and held fast till the aerial Monster, with many a +gigantic heave and pant, surrenders at discretion, +and begins to resign its inflated robust proportions. +It subsides in irregular waves—sinks, +puffs, flattens—dies to a mere shriveled skin; +and being folded up, like Peter Schlemil's shadow, +is put into a bag, and stowed away at the +bottom of the little car it so recently overshadowed +with its buoyant enormity.</p> + +<p>We are glad it is all over; delighted, and edified +as we have been, we are very glad to take +our supper at the solid, firmly-fixed oak table of +a country inn, with a brick wall and a barn-door +for our only prospect, as the evening closes in. +Of etherial currents, and the scenery of infinite +space, we have had enough for the present.</p> + +<p>Touching the accidents which occur to balloons, +we feel persuaded that in the great majority +of cases they are caused by inexperience, +ignorance, rashness, folly, or—more commonly +than all—the necessities attending a "show." +Once "announced" for a certain day, or <i>night</i> +(an abominable practice, which ought to be prevented)—and, +whatever the state of the wind +and weather, and whatever science and the good +sense of an experienced aeronaut may know and +suggest of imprudence—up the poor man must<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +go, simply because the public have paid their +money to see him do it. He must go, or he will +be ruined.</p> + +<p>But nothing can more strikingly display the +comparative safety which is attained by great +knowledge, foresight, and care, than the fact of the +veteran, Charles Green, being now in the four +hundred and eighty-ninth year of his balloonical +age; having made that number of ascents, and +taken up one thousand four hundred and thirteen +persons, with no fatal accident to himself, or to +them, and seldom with any damage to his balloons.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, from causes over which he had +no control, our veteran has had two or three +"close shaves." On one occasion he was blown +out to sea with the Great Nassau balloon. Observing +some vessels, from which he knew he +should obtain assistance, he commenced a rapid +descent in the direction of the Nore. The valve +was opened, and the car first struck the water +some two miles north of Sheerness. But the +wind was blowing fresh, and, by reason of the +buoyancy of the balloon, added to the enormous +surface it presented to the wind, they were drawn +through the water at a speed which set defiance +to all the vessels and boats that were now out on +the chase. It should be mentioned, that the +speed was so vehement, and the car so un-boat-like, +that the aeronauts (Mr. Green and Mr. Rush, +of Elsenham Hall, Essex) were dragged through, +that is <i>under</i>, every wave they encountered, and +had a good prospect of being drowned upon the +surface. Seeing that the balloon could not be +overtaken, Mr. Green managed to let go his large +grapnel-iron, which shortly afterward took effect +at the bottom, where, by a fortunate circumstance +(for them) there was a sunken wreck, in which +the iron took hold. The progress of the balloon +being thus arrested, a boat soon came up, and +relieved the aeronauts; but no boat could venture +to approach the monster balloon, which still continued +to struggle, and toss, and bound from side +to side. It would have capsized any boat that +came near it, in an instant. It was impossible +to do any thing with it till Mr. Green obtained +assistance from a revenue cutter, from which he +solicited the services of an armed boat, and the +crew fired muskets with ball-cartridge into the +rolling Monster, until she gradually sank down +flat upon the waves, but not until she had been +riddled with sixty-two bullet holes.</p> + +<p>So much for perils by sea; but the greatest of +all the veteran's dangers was caused by a diabolical +trick, the perpetrator of which was never +discovered. It was as follows:</p> + +<p>In the year 1832, on ascending from Cheltenham, +one of those malicious wretches who may +be regarded as half fool and half devil, contrived +partially to sever the ropes of the car, in such a +manner as not to be perceived before the balloon +had quited the ground; when receiving, for the +first time, the whole weight of the contents, they +suddenly gave way. Every thing fell out of the +car, the aeronauts just having time to secure a +painful and precarious attachment to the hoop. +Lightened of its load, the balloon, with frightful +velocity, immediately commenced its upward +course, and ere Mr. Green could obtain possession +of the valve-string, which the first violence +of the accident had placed beyond his reach, attained +an altitude of upward of ten thousand feet. +Their situation was terrific. Clinging to the +hoop with desperate retention, not daring to trust +any portion of their weight upon the margin of +the car, that still remained suspended by a single +cord beneath their feet, lest that also might give +way, and they should be deprived of their only +remaining counterpoise, all they could do was to +resign themselves to chance, and endeavor to retain +their hold until the exhaustion of the gas +should have determined the career of the balloon. +To complete the horrors of their situation, the +net-work, drawn awry by the awkward and unequal +disposition of the weight, began to break +about the upper part of the machine—mesh after +mesh giving way, with a succession of reports +like those of a pistol; while, through the opening +thus created, the balloon began rapidly to ooze +out, and swelling as it escaped beyond the fissure, +presented the singular appearance of a huge +hour-glass floating in the upper regions of the +sky. After having continued for a considerable +length of time in this condition, every moment +expecting to be precipitated to the earth by the +final detachment of the balloon, at length they +began slowly to descend. When they had arrived +within about a hundred feet from the ground, +the event they had anticipated at length +occurred; the balloon, rushing through the opening +in the net-work with a tremendous explosion, +suddenly made its escape, and they fell to the +earth in a state of insensibility, from which with +great difficulty, they were eventually recovered.</p> + +<p>Apart from the question of dangers, which +science, as we have seen, can reduce to a minimum—and +apart also from the question of practical +utility, of which we do not see much at +present, yet of which we know not what may be +derived in future—what are the probabilities of +improvement in the art of ballooning, aerostation, +or the means of traveling through the air in a +given direction?</p> + +<p>The conditions seem to be these. In order to +fly in the air, and steer in a given direction during +a given period, it is requisite to take up a +buoyancy and a power which shall be greater +(and continuously so during the voyage) than +needful to sustain its own mechanical weight, +together with that of the aeronauts and their +various appurtenances; and as much also in +excess of these requisitions as shall overcome +the adverse action of the wind upon the resisting +surface presented by the machine. At present +no such power is known which can be used in +combination with a balloon, or other gas machine. +If we could condense electricity, then the thing +might be done; other subtle powers may also be +discovered with the progress of science, but we +must wait for them before we can fairly make +definite voyages in the air, and reduce human +flying to a practical utility, or a safe and rational +pleasure.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="My_Novel" id="My_Novel"></a>MY NOVEL; OR, VARIETIES IN ENGLISH LIFE.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></h2> + +<h3>BOOK VIII.—INITIAL CHAPTER.</h3> + +<h4>THE ABUSE OF INTELLECT.</h4> + + +<p>There is at present so vehement a flourish +of trumpets, and so prodigious a roll of the +drum, whenever we are called upon to throw up +our hats, and cry "Huzza" to the "March of +Enlightenment," that, out of that very spirit of +contradiction natural to all rational animals, one +is tempted to stop one's ears, and say, "Gently, +gently; <span class="smcap">light</span> is noiseless; how comes 'Enlightenment' +to make such a clatter? Meanwhile, +if it be not impertinent, pray, where is enlightenment +marching to?" Ask that question of any +six of the loudest bawlers in the procession, and +I'll wager ten-pence to California that you get +six very unsatisfactory answers. One respectable +gentleman, who, to our great astonishment, +insists upon calling himself a "slave," but has a +remarkably free way of expressing his opinions, +will reply—"Enlightenment is marching toward +the nine points of the Charter." Another, with +his hair <i>à la jeune France</i>, who has taken a fancy +to his friend's wife, and is rather embarrassed +with his own, asserts that Enlightenment is proceeding +toward the Rights of Women, the reign +of Social Love, and the annihilation of Tyrannical +Prejudice. A third, who has the air of a man +well to do in the middle class, more modest in +his hopes, because he neither wishes to have his +head broken by his errand-boy, nor his wife carried +off to an Agapemoné by his apprentice, does +not take Enlightenment a step further than a +siege on Debrett, and a cannonade on the Budget. +Illiberal man! the march that he swells will soon +trample <i>him</i> under foot. No one fares so ill in +a crowd as the man who is wedged in the middle. +A fourth, looking wild and dreamy, as if +he had come out of the cave of Trophonius, and +who is a mesmeriser and a mystic, thinks Enlightenment +is in full career toward the good old days +of alchemists and necromancers. A fifth, whom +one might take for a Quaker, asserts that the +march of Enlightenment is a crusade for universal +philanthropy, vegetable diet, and the perpetuation +of peace, by means of speeches, which +certainly do produce a very contrary effect from +the Philippics of Demosthenes! The sixth—(good +fellow, without a rag on his back)—does +not care a straw where the march goes. He +can't be worse off than he is; and it is quite immaterial +to him whether he goes to the dogstar +above, or the bottomless pit below. I say nothing, +however, against the march, while we +take it all together. Whatever happens, one is +in good company; and though I am somewhat +indolent by nature, and would rather stay at +home with Locke and Burke (dull dogs though +they were), than have my thoughts set off helter-skelter +with those cursed trumpets and drums, +blown and dub-a-dubbed by fellows that I vow to +Heaven I would not trust with a five-pound note—still, +if I must march, I must; and so deuce +take the hindmost. But when it comes to individual +marchers upon their own account—privateers +and condottieri of Enlightenment—who +have filled their pockets with lucifer-matches, +and have a sublime contempt for their neighbors' +barns and hay-ricks, I don't see why I should +throw myself into the seventh heaven of admiration +and ecstasy.</p> + +<p>If those who are eternally rhapsodizing on the +celestial blessings that are to follow Enlightenment, +Universal Knowledge, and so forth, would +just take their eyes out of their pockets, and look +about them, I would respectfully inquire if they +have never met any very knowing and enlightened +gentleman, whose acquaintance is by no +means desirable. If not, they are monstrous +lucky. Every man must judge by his own experience; +and the worst rogues I have ever encountered +were amazingly well-informed, clever +fellows! From dunderheads and dunces we can +protect ourselves; but from your sharp-witted +gentleman, all enlightenment and no prejudice, +we have but to cry, "Heaven defend us!" It +is true, that the rogue (let him be ever so enlightened) +usually comes to no good himself +(though not before he has done harm enough to +his neighbors). But that only shows that the +world wants something else in those it rewards, +besides intelligence <i>per se</i> and in the abstract; +and is much too old a world to allow any Jack +Horner to pick out its plums for his own personal +gratification. Hence a man of very moderate +intelligence, who believes in God, suffers his +heart to beat with human sympathies, and keeps +his eyes off your strong-box, will perhaps gain +a vast deal more power than knowledge ever +gives to a rogue.</p> + +<p>Wherefore, though I anticipate an outcry +against me on the part of the blockheads, who, +strange to say, are the most credulous idolators +of enlightenment, and, if knowledge were power, +would rot on a dunghill; yet, nevertheless, I think +all really enlightened men will agree with me, +that when one falls in with detached sharpshooters +from the general march of enlightenment, it +is no reason that we should make ourselves a +target, because enlightenment has furnished them +with a gun. It has, doubtless, been already remarked +by the judicious reader, that of the numerous +characters introduced into this work, the +larger portion belong to that species which we +call the <span class="smcap">Intellectual</span>—that through them are +analyzed and developed human intellect, in +various forms and directions. So that this History, +rightly considered, is a kind of humble, +familiar Epic, or, if you prefer it, a long Serio-Comedy, +upon the varieties of English Life in +this our century, set in movement by the intelligences +most prevalent. And where more ordinary +and less refined types of the species round +and complete the survey of our passing generation, +they will often suggest, by contrast, the deficiencies +which mere intellectual culture leaves +in the human being. Certainly I have no spite +against intellect and enlightenment. Heaven<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +forbid I should be such a Goth. I am only the +advocate for common sense and fair play. I +don't think an able man necessarily an angel; +but I think if his heart match his head, and both +proceed in the Great March under a divine Oriflamme, +he goes as near to the angel as humanity +will permit: if not, if he has but a penn'orth +of heart to a pound of brains, I say, "<i>Bonjour, +mon ange?</i> I see not the starry upward wings, +but the groveling cloven-hoof." I'd rather be +offuscated by the Squire of Hazeldean, than enlightened +by Randal Leslie. Every man to his +taste. But intellect itself (not in the philosophical, +but the ordinary sense of the term) is rarely, +if ever, one completed harmonious agency; it is +not one faculty, but a compound of many, some +of which are often at war with each other, and +mar the concord of the whole. Few of us but have +some predominant faculty, in itself a strength; +but which (usurping unseasonably dominion over +the rest), shares the lot of all tyranny, however +brilliant, and leaves the empire weak against +disaffection within, and invasion from without. +Hence intellect may be perverted in a man of +evil disposition, and sometimes merely wasted +in a man of excellent impulses, for want of the +necessary discipline, or of a strong ruling motive. +I doubt if there be one person in the world, who +has obtained a high reputation for talent, who +has not met somebody much cleverer than himself, +which said somebody has never obtained +any reputation at all! Men like Audley Egerton +are constantly seen in the great positions +of life; while men like Harley L'Estrange, who +could have beaten them hollow in any thing +equally striven for by both, float away down the +stream, and, unless some sudden stimulant arouse +the dreamy energies, vanish out of sight into silent +graves. If Hamlet and Polonius were living +now, Polonius would have a much better chance +of being Chancellor of the Exchequer, though +Hamlet would unquestionably be a much more +intellectual character. What would become of +Hamlet? Heaven knows! Dr. Arnold said, +from his experience of a school, that the difference +between one man and another was not mere +ability—it was energy. There is a great deal +of truth in that saying.</p> + +<p>Submitting these hints to the judgment and +penetration of the sagacious, I enter on the fresh +division of this work, and see already Randal Leslie +gnawing his lip on the back ground. The +German poet observes, that the Cow of Isis is to +some the divine symbol of knowledge, to others +but the milch cow, only regarded for the pounds +of butter she will yield. O, tendency of our age, +to look on Isis as the milch cow! O, prostitution +of the grandest desires to the basest uses! +Gaze on the goddess, Randal Leslie, and get +ready thy churn and thy scales. Let us see +what the butter will fetch in the market.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3> + +<p>A new reign has commenced. There has +been a general election; the unpopularity of the +Administration has been apparent at the hustings. +Audley Egerton, hitherto returned by +vast majorities, has barely escaped defeat—thanks +to a majority of five. The expenses of +his election are said to have been prodigious. +"But who can stand against such wealth as +Egerton's—no doubt, backed, too, by the Treasury +purse?" said the defeated candidate. It is +toward the close of October; London is already +full; Parliament will meet in less than a fortnight.</p> + +<p>In one of the principal apartments of that hotel +in which foreigners may discover what is +meant by English comfort, and the price which +foreigners must pay for it, there sat two persons, +side by side, engaged in close conversation. The +one was a female, in whose pale, clear complexion +and raven hair—in whose eyes, vivid with a +power of expression rarely bestowed on the beauties +of the north, we recognize Beatrice, Marchesa +di Negra. Undeniably handsome as was +the Italian lady, her companion, though a man, +and far advanced into middle age, was yet more +remarkable for personal advantages. There was +a strong family likeness between the two; but +there was also a striking contrast in air, manner, +and all that stamps on the physiognomy the +idiosyncrasies of character. There was something +of gravity, of earnestness and passion, in +Beatrice's countenance when carefully examined; +her smile at times might be false, but it +was rarely ironical, never cynical. Her gestures, +though graceful, were unrestrained and +frequent. You could see she was a daughter of +the south. Her companion, on the contrary, preserved +on the fair smooth face, to which years +had given scarcely a line or wrinkle, something +that might have passed, at first glance, for the +levity and thoughtlessness of a gay and youthful +nature; but the smile, though exquisitely polished, +took at times the derision of a sneer. In +his manners he was as composed and as free from +gesture as an Englishman. His hair was of that +red brown with which the Italian painters produce +such marvelous effects of color; and, if here +and there a silver thread gleamed through the +locks, it was lost at once amid their luxuriance. +His eyes were light, and his complexion, though +without much color, was singularly transparent. +His beauty, indeed, would have been rather womanly +than masculine, but for the height and sinewy +spareness of a frame in which muscular +strength was rather adorned than concealed by +an admirable elegance of proportion. You would +never have guessed this man to be an Italian: +more likely you would have supposed him a Parisian. +He conversed in French, his dress was +of French fashion, his mode of thought seemed +French. Not that he was like the Frenchman of +the present day—an animal, either rude or reserved; +but your ideal of the <i>Marquis</i> of the old +<i>régime</i>—the <i>roué</i> of the Regency.</p> + +<p>Italian, however, he was, and of a race renowned +in Italian history. But, as if ashamed +of his country and his birth, he affected to be a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +citizen of the world. Heaven help the world if +it hold only such citizens!</p> + +<p>"But, Giulio," said Beatrice di Negra, speaking +in Italian, "even granting that you discover +this girl, can you suppose that her father will +ever consent to your alliance? Surely you know +too well the nature of your kinsman?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Tu te trompes, ma sœur</i>," replied Giulio +Franzini, Count di Peschiera, in French as usual—"<i>tu +te trompes</i>; I knew it before he had gone +through exile and penury. How can I know it +now? But comfort yourself, my too anxious +Beatrice; I shall not care for his consent till I +have made sure of his daughter's."</p> + +<p>"But how win that in despite of the father?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Eh, mordieu!</i>" interrupted the Count, with +true French gayety; "what would become of all +the comedies ever written, if marriages were not +made in despite of the father? Look you," he +resumed, with a very slight compression of his +lip, and a still slighter movement in his chair—"look +you, this is no question of ifs and buts; it +is a question of must and shall—a question of existence +to you and to me. When Danton was +condemned to the guillotine, he said, flinging a +pellet of bread at the nose of his respectable +judge—'<i>Mon individu sera bientôt dans le néant</i>'—<i>My</i> +patrimony is there already! I am loaded +with debts. I see before me, on the one side, +ruin or suicide; on the other side, wedlock and +wealth."</p> + +<p>"But from those vast possessions which you +have been permitted to enjoy so long, have you +really saved nothing against the time when they +might be reclaimed at your hands?"</p> + +<p>"My sister," replied the Count, "do I look +like a man who saved? Besides, when the Austrian +Emperor, unwilling to raze from his Lombard +domains a name and a house so illustrious +as our kinsman's, and desirous, while punishing +that kinsman's rebellion, to reward my adherence, +forbore the peremptory confiscation of +those vast possessions, at which my mouth waters +while we speak, but, annexing them to the +Crown during pleasure, allowed me, as the next +of male kin, to retain the revenues of one half for +the same very indefinite period—had I not every +reason to suppose, that, before long, I could so +influence his majesty or his minister, as to obtain +a decree that might transfer the whole, unconditionally +and absolutely, to myself? And, +methinks, I should have done so, but for this accursed, +intermeddling English milord, who has +never ceased to besiege the court or the minister +with alleged extenuations of our cousin's rebellion, +and proofless assertions that I shared it +in order to entangle my kinsman, and betrayed +it in order to profit by his spoils. So that, at +last, in return for all my services, and in answer +to all my claims, I received from the minister +himself this cold reply—'Count of Peschiera, +your aid was important, and your reward has +been large. That reward, it would not be for +your honor to extend, and justify the ill-opinion +of your Italian countrymen, by formally appropriating +to yourself all that was forfeited by the +treason you denounced. A name so noble as +yours should be dearer to you than fortune itself.'"</p> + +<p>"Ah, Giulio!" cried Beatrice, her face lighting +up, changed in its whole character—"those +were words that might make the demon that +tempts to avarice, fly from your breast in shame."</p> + +<p>The Count opened his eyes in great amaze; +then he glanced round the room, and said, quietly:</p> + +<p>"Nobody else hears you, my dear Beatrice; +talk common sense. Heroics sound well in +mixed society; but there is nothing less suited +to the tone of a family conversation."</p> + +<p>Madame di Negra bent down her head abashed, +and that sudden change in the expression of +her countenance, which had seemed to betray +susceptibility to generous emotion, faded as suddenly +away.</p> + +<p>"But still," she said, coldly, "you enjoy one +half of those ample revenues—why talk, then, of +suicide and ruin?"</p> + +<p>"I enjoy them at the pleasure of the crown; +and what if it be the pleasure of the crown to recall +our cousin, and reinstate him in his possessions?"</p> + +<p>"There is a <i>probability</i>, then, of that pardon? +When you first employed me in your researches, +you only thought there was a <i>possibility</i>."</p> + +<p>"There is a great probability of it, and therefore +I am here. I learned some little time since +that the question of such recall had been suggested +by the Emperor, and discussed in Council. +The danger to the State, which might arise +from our cousin's wealth, his alleged abilities—(abilities! +bah!)—and his popular name, deferred +any decision on the point; and, indeed, the difficulty +of dealing with myself must have embarrassed +the ministry. But it is a mere question +of time. He can not long remain excluded from +the general amnesty, already extended to the +other refugees. The person who gave me this +information is high in power, and friendly to myself; +and he added a piece of advice, on which +I acted. 'It was intimated,' said he, 'by one of +the partisans of your kinsman, that the exile could +give a hostage for his loyalty in the person of his +daughter and heiress; that she had arrived at +marriageable age; that if she were to wed, with +the Emperor's consent, some one whose attachment +to the Austrian crown was unquestionable, +there would be a guarantee both for the faith of +the father, and for the transmission of so important +a heritage to safe and loyal hands. Why +not' (continued my friend) 'apply to the Emperor +for his consent to that alliance for yourself? you, +on whom he can depend; you who, if the daughter +should die, would be the legal heir to those +lands?' On that hint I spoke."</p> + +<p>"You saw the Emperor?"</p> + +<p>"And after combating the unjust prepossessions +against me, I stated, that so far from my +cousin having any fair cause of resentment +against me, when all was duly explained to +him, I did not doubt that he would willingly +give me the hand of his child."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You did!" cried the Marchesa, amazed.</p> + +<p>"And," continued the Count, imperturbably, +as he smoothed, with careless hand, the snowy +plaits of his shirt front—"and that I should thus +have the happiness of becoming myself the guarantee +of my kinsman's loyalty—the agent for the +restoration of his honors, while, in the eyes of +the envious and malignant, I should clear up my +own name from all suspicion that I had wronged +him."</p> + +<p>"And the Emperor consented?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Pardieu</i>, my dear sister. What else could +his majesty do? My proposition smoothed every +obstacle, and reconciled policy with mercy. It +remains, therefore, only to find out, what has +hitherto baffled all our researches, the retreat of +our dear kinsfolk, and to make myself a welcome +lover to the demoiselle. There is some disparity +of years, I own; but—unless your sex and my +glass flatter me overmuch—I am still a match +for many a gallant of five-and-twenty."</p> + +<p>The Count said this with so charming a smile, +and looked so pre-eminently handsome, that he +carried off the coxcombry of the words as gracefully +as if they had been spoken by some dazzling +hero of the grand old comedy of Parisian +life.</p> + +<p>Then interlacing his fingers, and lightly leaning +his hands, thus clasped, upon his sister's +shoulder, he looked into her face, and said slowly—"And +now, my sister, for some gentle but deserved +reproach. Have you not sadly failed me +in the task I imposed on your regard for my interests? +Is it not some years since you first came +to England on the mission of discovering these +worthy relatives of ours? Did I not entreat you +to seduce into your toils the man whom I knew +to be my enemy, and who was indubitably acquainted +with our cousin's retreat—a secret he +has hitherto locked within his bosom? Did you +not tell me, that though he was then in England, +you could find no occasion even to meet him, but +that you had obtained the friendship of the statesman +to whom I directed your attention as his +most intimate associate? And yet you, whose +charms are usually so irresistible, learn nothing +from the statesman, as you see nothing of <i>milord</i>. +Nay, baffled and misled, you actually supposed +that the quarry has taken refuge in France. You +go thither—you pretend to search the capital—the +provinces, Switzerland, <i>que sais-je?</i> all in vain—though—<i>-foi +de gentilhomme</i>—your police cost +me dearly—you return to England—the same +chase and the same result. <i>Palsambleu, ma sœur</i>, +I do too much credit to your talents not to question +your zeal. In a word have you been in earnest—or +have you not had some womanly pleasure in +amusing yourself and abusing my trust?"</p> + +<p>"Giulio," answered Beatrice, sadly, "you +know the influence you have exercised over my +character and my fate. Your reproaches are +not just. I made such inquiries as were in my +power, and I have now cause to believe that I +know one who is possessed of this secret, and +can guide us to it."</p> + +<p>"Ah, you do!" exclaimed the Count. Beatrice +did not heed the exclamation, but hurried on.</p> + +<p>"But grant that my heart shrunk from the +task you imposed on me, would it not have been +natural? When I first came to England, you +informed me that your object in discovering the +exiles was one which I could honestly aid. You +naturally desired first to know if the daughter +lived; if not, you were the heir. If she did, you +assured me you desired to effect, through my +mediation, some liberal compromise with Alphonso, +by which you would have sought to obtain +his restoration, provided he would leave you +for life in possession of the grant you hold from +the crown. While these were your objects, I +did my best, ineffectual as it was, to obtain the +information required."</p> + +<p>"And what made me lose so important though +so ineffectual an ally?" asked the Count, still +smiling; but a gleam that belied the smile shot +from his eye.</p> + +<p>"What! when you bade me receive and co-operate +with the miserable spies—the false Italians—whom +you sent over, and seek to entangle +this poor exile, when found, in some rash correspondence, +to be revealed to the court; when +you sought to seduce the daughter of the Counts +of Peschiera, the descendant of those who had +ruled in Italy, into the informer, the corrupter, +and the traitress! No, Giulio—then I recoiled; +and then, fearful of your own sway over me, I +retreated into France. I have answered you +frankly."</p> + +<p>The Count removed his hands from the shoulders +on which they had reclined so cordially.</p> + +<p>"And this," said he, "is your wisdom, and +this your gratitude. You, whose fortunes are +bound up in mine—you, who subsist on my bounty—you, +who—"</p> + +<p>"Hold," cried the Marchesa, rising, and with +a burst of emotion, as if stung to the utmost, and +breaking into revolt from the tyranny of years—"Hold—gratitude! +bounty! Brother, brother—what, +indeed, do I owe to you? The shame +and the misery of a life. While yet a child, you +condemned me to marry against my will—against +my heart—against my prayers—and +laughed at my tears when I knelt to you for +mercy. I was pure then, Giulio—pure and innocent +as the flowers in my virgin crown. And +now—now—"</p> + +<p>Beatrice stopped abruptly, and clasped her +hands before her face.</p> + +<p>"Now you upbraid me," said the Count, unruffled +by her sudden passion, "because I gave +you in marriage to a man young and noble?"</p> + +<p>"Old in vices and mean of soul! The marriage +I forgave you. You had the right, according +to the customs of our country, to dispose +of my hand. But I forgave you not the consolations +that you whispered in the ear of a wretched +and insulted wife."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me the remark," replied the Count, +with a courtly bend of his head, "but those consolations +were also conformable to the customs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +of our country, and I was not aware till now that +you had wholly disdained them. And," continued +the Count, "you were not so long a wife +that the gall of the chain should smart still. You +were soon left a widow—free, childless, young, +beautiful."</p> + +<p>"And penniless."</p> + +<p>"True, Di Negra was a gambler, and very +unlucky; no fault of mine. I could neither keep +the cards from his hands, nor advise him how to +play them."</p> + +<p>"And my own portion? Oh, Giulio, I knew +but at his death why you had condemned me to +that renegade Genoese. He owed you money, +and, against honor, and, I believe, against law, +you had accepted my fortune in discharge of the +debt."</p> + +<p>"He had no other way to discharge it—a debt +of honor must be paid—old stories these. What +matters? Since then my purse has been open +to you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, not as your sister, but your instrument—your +spy! Yes, your purse has been open—with +a niggard hand."</p> + +<p>"<i>Un peu de conscience, ma chère</i>, you are so +extravagant. But come, be plain. What would +you?"</p> + +<p>"I would be free from you."</p> + +<p>"That is, you would form some second marriage +with one of these rich island lords. <i>Ma +foi</i>, I respect your ambition."</p> + +<p>"It is not so high. I aim but to escape from +slavery—to be placed beyond dishonorable temptation. +I desire," cried Beatrice with increased +emotion, "I desire to re-enter the life of woman."</p> + +<p>"Eno'!" said the Count with a visible impatience, +"is there any thing in the attainment of +your object that should render you indifferent +to mine? You desire to marry, if I comprehend +you right. And to marry, as becomes you, you +should bring to your husband not debts, but a +dowry. Be it so. I will restore the portion +that I saved from the spendthrift clutch of the +Genoese—the moment that it is mine to bestow—the +moment that I am husband to my kinsman's +heiress. And now, Beatrice, you imply +that my former notions revolted your conscience; +my present plan should content it; for by this +marriage shall our kinsman regain his country, +and repossess, at least, half his lands. And if I +am not an excellent husband to the demoiselle, +it will be her own fault. I have sown my wild +oats. <i>Je suis bon prince</i>, when I have things a +little my own way. It is my hope and my intention, +and certainly it will be my interest, to +become <i>digne époux et irréproachable père de famille</i>. +I speak lightly—'tis my way. I mean +seriously. The little girl will be very happy +with me, and I shall succeed in soothing all resentment +her father may retain. Will you aid +me then—yes or no? Aid me, and you shall +indeed be free. The magician will release the +fair spirit he has bound to his will. Aid me not, +<i>ma chère</i>, and mark, I do not threaten—I do but +warn—aid me not; grant that I become a beggar, +and ask yourself what is to become of you—still +young, still beautiful, and still penniless? +Nay, worse than penniless; you have done me +the honor" (and here the Count, looking on the +table, drew a letter from a portfolio, emblazoned +with his arms and coronet), "you have done me +the honor to consult me as to your debts."</p> + +<p>"You will restore my fortune?" said the +Marchesa, irresolutely—and averting her head +from an odious schedule of figures.</p> + +<p>"When my own, with your aid, is secured."</p> + +<p>"But do you not overate the value of my aid?"</p> + +<p>"Possibly," said the Count, with a caressing +suavity—and he kissed his sister's forehead.</p> + +<p>"Possibly; but by my honor, I wish to repair to +you any wrong, real or supposed, I may have +done you in past times. I wish to find again +my own dear sister. I may overvalue your aid, +but not the affection from which it comes. Let +us be friends, <i>cara Beatrice mia</i>," added the +Count, for the first time employing Italian words.</p> + +<p>The Marchesa laid her head on his shoulder, +and her tears flowed softly. Evidently this man +had great influence over her—and evidently, +whatever her cause for complaint, her affection +for him was still sisterly and strong. A nature +with fine flashes of generosity, spirit, honor, and +passion, was hers—but uncultured, unguided—spoilt +by the worst social examples—easily led +into wrong—not always aware where the wrong +was—letting affections good or bad whisper +away her conscience, or blind her reason. Such +women are often far more dangerous when induced +to wrong, than those who are thoroughly +abandoned—such women are the accomplices +men like the Count of Peschiera most desire to +obtain.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Giulio," said Beatrice, after a pause, +and looking up at him through her tears, "when +you speak to me thus, you know you can do +with me what you will. Fatherless and motherless, +whom had my childhood to love and obey +but you?"</p> + +<p>"Dear Beatrice," murmured the Count tenderly—and +he again kissed her forehead. "So," +he continued more carelessly—"so the reconciliation +is effected, and our interests and our +hearts re-allied. Now, alas, to descend to business. +You say that you know some one whom +you believe to be acquainted with the lurking-place +of my father-in-law—that is to be!"</p> + +<p>"I think so. You remind me that I have an +appointment with him this day; it is near the +hour—I must leave you."</p> + +<p>"To learn the secret?—Quick—quick. I +have no fear of your success, if it is by his heart +that you lead him?"</p> + +<p>"You mistake; on his heart I have no hold. +But he has a friend who loves me, and honorably, +and whose cause he pleads. I think here +that I have some means to control or persuade +him. If not—ah, he is of a character that perplexes +me in all but his worldly ambition; and +how can we foreigners influence him through +<i>that</i>?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Is he poor, or is he extravagant?"</p> + +<p>"Not extravagant, and not positively poor, +but dependent."</p> + +<p>"Then we have him," said the Count composedly. +"If his assistance be worth buying, +we can bid high for it. <i>Sur mon âme</i>, I never +yet knew money fail with any man who was both +worldly and dependent. I put him and myself +in your hands."</p> + +<p>Thus saying, the Count opened the door, and +conducted his sister with formal politeness to +her carriage. He then returned, reseated himself, +and mused in silence. As he did so, the +muscles of his countenance relaxed. The levity +of the Frenchman fled from his visage, and in +his eye, as it gazed abstractedly into space, there +was that steady depth so remarkable in the old +portraits of Florentine diplomatist, or Venetian +oligarch. Thus seen, there was in that face, +despite all its beauty, something that would have +awed back even the fond gaze of love; something +hard, collected, inscrutable, remorseless, +but this change of countenance did not last +long. Evidently, thought, though intense for the +moment, was not habitual to the man. Evidently, +he had lived the life which takes all things lightly—so +he rose with a look of fatigue, shook and +stretched himself, as if to cast off, or grow out +of an unwelcome and irksome mood. An hour +afterward, the Count of Peschiera was charming +all eyes, and pleasing all ears, in the saloon of a +high-born beauty, whose acquaintance he had +made at Vienna, and whose charms, according +to that old and never truth-speaking oracle, +Polite Scandal, were now said to have attracted +to London the brilliant foreigner.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3> + +<p>The Marchesa regained her house, which was +in Curzon-street, and withdrew to her own room, +to re-adjust her dress, and remove from her +countenance all trace of the tears she had shed.</p> + +<p>Half-an-hour afterward she was seated in her +drawing-room, composed and calm; nor, seeing +her then, could you have guessed that she was +capable of so much emotion and so much weakness. +In that stately exterior, in that quiet attitude, +in that elaborate and finished elegance +which comes alike from the arts of the toilet +and the conventional repose of rank, you could +see but the woman of the world and the great +lady.</p> + +<p>A knock at the door was heard, and in a few +moments there entered a visitor, with the easy +familiarity of intimate acquaintance—a young +man, but with none of the bloom of youth. His +hair, fine as a woman's, was thin and scanty, +but it fell low over the forehead, and concealed +that noblest of our human features. "A gentleman," +says Apuleius, "ought, if he can, to +wear his whole mind on his forehead."<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> The +young visitor would never have committed so +frank an imprudence. His cheek was pale, and +in his step and his movements there was a languor +that spoke of fatigued nerves or delicate +health. But the light of the eye and the tone +of the voice were those of a mental temperament +controlling the bodily—vigorous and energetic. +For the rest his general appearance was distinguished +by a refinement alike intellectual and +social. Once seen, you would not easily forget +him. And the reader no doubt already recognizes +Randal Leslie. His salutation, as I before +said, was that of intimate familiarity; yet it was +given and replied to with that unreserved openness +which denotes the absence of a more tender +sentiment.</p> + +<p>Seating himself by the Marchesa's side, Randal +began first to converse on the fashionable +topics and gossip of the day; but it was observable, +that, while he extracted from her the current +anecdote and scandal of the great world, +neither anecdote nor scandal did he communicate +in return. Randal Leslie had already learned +the art not to commit himself, not to have quoted +against him one ill-natured remark upon the +eminent. Nothing more injures the man who +would rise beyond the fame of the <i>salons</i>, than +to be considered a backbiter and gossip; "yet it +is always useful," thought Randal Leslie, "to +know the foibles—the small social and private +springs by which the great are moved. Critical +occasions may arise in which such knowledge +may be power." And hence, perhaps (besides +a more private motive, soon to be perceived), +Randal did not consider his time thrown away +in cultivating Madame di Negra's friendship. +For despite much that was whispered against +her, she had succeeded in dispelling the coldness +with which she had at first been received in the +London circles. Her beauty, her grace, and +her high birth, had raised her into fashion, and +the homage of men of the first station, while it +perhaps injured her reputation as woman, added +to her celebrity as fine lady. So much do we +cold English, prudes though we be, forgive to +the foreigner what we avenge on the native.</p> + +<p>Sliding at last from these general topics into +very well-bred and elegant personal compliment, +and reciting various eulogies, which Lord this +the Duke of that had passed on the Marchesa's +charms, Randal laid his hand on hers, with the +license of admitted friendship, and said—</p> + +<p>"But since you have deigned to confide in me, +since when (happily for me, and with a generosity +of which no coquette could have been capable) +you, in good time, repressed into friendship +feelings that might else have ripened into those +you are formed to inspire and disdain to return, +you told me with your charming smile, 'Let no +one speak to me of love who does not offer me +his hand, and with it the means to supply tastes +that I fear are terribly extravagant;' since thus +you allowed me to divine your natural objects, +and upon that understanding our intimacy has +been founded, you will pardon me for saying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +that the admiration you excite among the <i>grands +seigneurs</i> I have named, only serves to defeat +your own purpose, and scare away admirers +less brilliant, but more in earnest. Most of +these gentlemen are unfortunately married; and +they who are not belong to those members of +our aristocracy who, in marriage, seek more +than beauty and wit—namely, connections to +strengthen their political station, or wealth to +redeem a mortgage and sustain a title."</p> + +<p>"My dear Mr. Leslie," replied the Marchesa—and +a certain sadness might be detected in the +tone of the voice and the droop of the eye—"I +have lived long enough in the real world to appreciate +the baseness and the falsehood of most +of those sentiments which take the noblest names. +I see through the hearts of the admirers you parade +before me, and know that not one of them +would shelter with his ermine the woman to +whom he talks of his heart. Ah," continued +Beatrice, with a softness of which she was unconscious, +but which might have been extremely +dangerous to youth less steeled and self-guarded +than was Randal Leslie's—"ah, I am less +ambitious than you suppose. I have dreamed +of a friend, a companion, a protector, with feelings +still fresh, undebased by the low round of +vulgar dissipation and mean pleasures—of a +heart so new, that it might restore my own to +what it was in its happy spring. I have seen in +your country some marriages, the mere contemplation +of which has filled my eyes with delicious +tears. I have learned in England to +know the value of home. And with such a heart +as I describe, and such a home, I could forget +that I ever knew a less pure ambition."</p> + +<p>"This language does not surprise me," said +Randal; "yet it does not harmonize with your +former answer to me."</p> + +<p>"To you," repeated Beatrice, smiling, and +regaining her lighter manner; "to you—true. +But I never had the vanity to think that your +affection for me could bear the sacrifices it would +cost you in marriage; that you, with your ambition, +could bound your dreams of happiness to +home. And then, too," said she, raising her +head, and with a certain grave pride in her air—"and +<i>then</i>, I could not have consented to +share my fate with one whom my poverty would +cripple. I could not listen to my heart, if it had +beat for a lover without fortune, for to him I +could then have brought but a burden, and betrayed +him into a union with poverty and debt. +<i>Now</i>, it may be different. Now I may have the +dowry that befits my birth. And now I may be +free to choose according to my heart as woman, +not according to my necessities, as one poor, +harassed, and despairing."</p> + +<p>"Ah," said Randal, interested, and drawing +still closer toward his fair companion—"ah, I +congratulate you sincerely; you have cause, +then, to think that you shall be—rich?"</p> + +<p>The Marchesa paused before she answered, +and during that pause Randal relaxed the web +of the scheme which he had been secretly weaving, +and rapidly considered whether, if Beatrice +di Negra would indeed be rich, she might answer +to himself as a wife; and in what way, if +so, he had best change his tone from that of +friendship into that of love. While thus reflecting, +Beatrice answered:</p> + +<p>"Not rich for an Englishwoman; for an Italian, +yes. My fortune should be half a million—"</p> + +<p>"Half a million!" cried Randal, and with +difficulty he restrained himself from falling at +her feet in adoration.</p> + +<p>"Of francs!" continued the Marchesa.</p> + +<p>"Francs! Ah," said Randal, with a long-drawn +breath, and recovering from his sudden +enthusiasm, "about twenty thousand pounds!—eight +hundred a year at four per cent. A +very handsome portion, certainly—(Genteel poverty! +he murmured to himself. What an escape +I have had! but I see—I see. This will +smooth all difficulties in the way of my better +and earlier project. I see)—a very handsome +portion," he repeated aloud—"not for a <i>grand +seigneur</i>, indeed, but still for a gentleman of +birth and expectations worthy of your choice, if +ambition be not your first object. Ah, while +you spoke with such endearing eloquence of +feelings that were fresh, of a heart that was new, +of the happy English home, you might guess +that my thoughts ran to my friend who loves +you so devotedly, and who so realizes your ideal. +Providentially, with us, happy marriages and +happy homes are found not in the gay circles of +London fashion, but at the hearths of our rural +nobility—our untitled country gentlemen. And +who, among all your adorers, can offer you a lot +so really enviable as the one whom, I see by +your blush, you already guess that I refer to?"</p> + +<p>"Did I blush?" said the Marchesa, with a +silvery laugh. "Nay, I think that your zeal for +your friend misled you. But I will own frankly, +I have been touched by his honest, ingenuous +love—so evident, yet rather looked than spoken. +I have contrasted the love that honors me, with +the suitors that seek to degrade; more I can +not say. For though I grant that your friend is +handsome, high-spirited, and generous, still he +is not what—"</p> + +<p>"You mistake, believe me," interrupted Randal. +"You shall not finish your sentence. He +<i>is</i> all that you do not yet suppose him; for his +shyness, and his very love, his very respect +for your superiority, do not allow his mind and +his nature to appear to advantage. You, it is +true, have a taste for letters and poetry rare +among your countrywomen. He has not at +present—few men have. But what Cimon would +not be refined by so fair an Iphigenia? Such frivolities +as he now shows belong but to youth and inexperience +of life. Happy the brother who could +see his sister the wife of Frank Hazeldean."</p> + +<p>The Marchesa bent her cheek on her hand in +silence. To her, marriage was more than it +usually seems to dreaming maiden or to disconsolate +widow. So had the strong desire to escape +from the control of her unprincipled and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +remorseless brother grown a part of her very +soul—so had whatever was best and highest in +her very mixed and complex character been +galled and outraged by her friendless and exposed +position, the equivocal worship rendered +to her beauty, the various debasements to which +pecuniary embarrassments had subjected her—not +without design on the part of the Count, who +though grasping, was not miserly, and who by +precarious and seemingly capricious gifts at one +time, and refusals of all aid at another, had involved +her in debt in order to retain his hold on +her—so utterly painful and humiliating to a woman +of her pride and her birth was the station +that she held in the world—that in marriage she +saw liberty, life, honor, self-redemption; and +these thoughts while they compelled her to co-operate +with the schemes by which the Count, +on securing to himself a bride, was to bestow on +herself a dower, also disposed her now to receive +with favor Randal Leslie's pleadings on behalf +of his friend.</p> + +<p>The advocate saw that he had made an impression, +and with the marvelous skill which his +knowledge of those natures that engaged his study +bestowed on his intelligence, he continued to improve +his cause by such representations as were +likely to be most effective. With what admirable +tact he avoided panegyric of Frank as the mere +individual, and drew him rather as the type, the +ideal of what a woman in Beatrice's position +might desire in the safety, peace, and honor of a +home, in the trust and constancy, and honest confiding +love of its partner! He did not paint an +elysium; he described a haven; he did not glowingly +delineate a hero of romance—he soberly +portrayed that representative of the Respectable +and the Real which a woman turns to when romance +begins to seem to her but delusion. Verily, +if you could have looked into the heart of the person +he addressed, and heard him speak, you +would have cried admiringly, "Knowledge <i>is</i> +power; and this man, if as able on a larger field +of action, should play no mean part in the history +of his time."</p> + +<p>Slowly Beatrice roused herself from the reveries +which crept over her as he spoke—slowly, +and with a deep sigh, and said,</p> + +<p>"Well, well, grant all you say; at least before +I can listen to so honorable a love, I must be relieved +from the base and sordid pressure that +weighs on me. I can not say to the man who +wooes me, 'Will you pay the debts of the daughter +of Franzini, and the widow of di Negra?'"</p> + +<p>"Nay, your debts, surely, make so slight a +portion of your dowry."</p> + +<p>"But the dowry has to be secured;" and here, +turning the tables upon her companion, as the +apt proverb expresses it, Madame di Negra extended +her hand to Randal, and said in her most +winning accents, "You are, then, truly and sincerely +my friend?"</p> + +<p>"Can you doubt it?"</p> + +<p>"I prove that I do not, for I ask your assistance."</p> + +<p>"Mine? How?"</p> + +<p>"Listen; my brother has arrived in London—"</p> + +<p>"I see that arrival announced in the papers."</p> + +<p>"And he comes, empowered by the consent +of the Emperor, to ask the hand of a relation +and countrywoman of his; an alliance that will +heal long family dissensions, and add to his own +fortunes those of an heiress. My brother, like +myself, has been extravagant. The dowry which +by law he still owes me it would distress him to +pay till this marriage be assured."</p> + +<p>"I understand," said Randal. "But how can +I aid this marriage?"</p> + +<p>"By assisting us to discover the bride. She, +with her father, sought refuge and concealment +in England."</p> + +<p>"The father had, then, taken part in some +political disaffections, and was proscribed?"</p> + +<p>"Exactly so; and so well has he concealed +himself that he has baffled all our efforts to discover +his retreat. My brother can obtain him +his pardon in cementing this alliance—"</p> + +<p>"Proceed."</p> + +<p>"Ah, Randal, Randal, is this the frankness of +friendship? You know that I have before sought +to obtain the secret of our relation's retreat—sought +in vain to obtain it from Mr. Egerton +who assuredly knows it—"</p> + +<p>"But who communicates no secrets to living +man," said Randal, almost bitterly; "who, close +and compact as iron, is as little malleable to me +as to you."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me. I know you so well that I believe +you could attain to any secret you sought +earnestly to acquire. Nay, more, I believe that +you know already that secret which I ask you to +share with me."</p> + +<p>"What on earth makes you think so?"</p> + +<p>"When, some weeks ago, you asked me to +describe the personal appearance and manners +of the exile, which I did partly from the recollections +of my childhood, partly from the description +given to me by others, I could not but notice +your countenance, and remark its change; in +spite," said the Marchesa, smiling and watching +Randal while she spoke—"in spite of your habitual +self-command. And when I pressed you +to own that you had actually seen some one who +tallied with that description, your denial did not +deceive me. Still more, when returning recently, +of your own accord, to the subject, you questioned +me so shrewdly as to my motives in seeking +the clew to our refugees, and I did not then +answer you satisfactorily, I could detect—"</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha," interrupted Randal, with the low +soft laugh by which occasionally he infringed +upon Lord Chesterfield's recommendation to shun +a merriment so natural as to be ill-bred—"ha, +ha, you have the fault of all observers too minute +and refined. But even granting that I may have +seen some Italian exiles (which is likely enough), +what could be more simple than my seeking to +compare your description with their appearance; +and granting that I might suspect some one +among them to be the man you search for, what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +more simple, also, than that I should desire to +know if you meant him harm or good in discovering +his 'whereabout?' For ill," added Randal, +with an air of prudery, "ill would it become +me to betray, even to friendship, the retreat of +one who would hide from persecution; and even +if I did so—for honor itself is a weak safeguard +against your fascinations—such indiscretion +might be fatal to my future career."</p> + +<p>"How?"</p> + +<p>"Do you not say that Egerton knows the +secret, yet will not communicate?—and is he a +man who would ever forgive in me an imprudence +that committed himself? My dear friend, +I will tell you more. When Audley Egerton +first noticed my growing intimacy with you, he +said, with his usual dryness of counsel, 'Randal, +I do not ask you to discontinue acquaintance with +Madame di Negra—for an acquaintance with +women like her, forms the manners and refines +the intellect; but charming women are dangerous, +and Madame di Negra is—a charming woman.'"</p> + +<p>The Marchesa's face flushed. Randal resumed: +"'Your fair acquaintance' (I am still +quoting Egerton) 'seeks to discover the home +of a countryman of hers. She suspects that I +know it. She may try to learn it through you. +Accident may possibly give you the information +she requires. Beware how you betray it. By +one such weakness I should judge of your general +character. He from whom a woman can +extract a secret will never be fit for public life.' +Therefore, my dear Marchesa, even supposing +I possess this secret, you would be no true friend +of mine to ask me to reveal what would emperil +all my prospects. For as yet," added Randal, +with a gloomy shade on his brow—"as yet I do +not stand alone and erect—I <i>lean</i>; I am dependent."</p> + +<p>"There may be a way," replied Madame di +Negra, persisting, "to communicate this intelligence, +without the possibility of Mr. Egerton's +tracing our discovery to yourself; and, though I +will not press you further, I add this—You urge +me to accept your friend's hand; you seem interested +in the success of his suit, and you plead +it with a warmth that shows how much you regard +what you suppose is his happiness; I will +never accept his hand till I can do so without +blush for my penury—till my dowry is secured, +and that can only be by my brother's union with +the exile's daughter. For your friend's sake, +therefore, think well how you can aid me in the +first step to that alliance. The young lady once +discovered, and my brother has no fear for the +success of his suit."</p> + +<p>"And you would marry Frank, if the dower +was secured?"</p> + +<p>"Your arguments in his favor seem irresistible," +replied Beatrice, looking down.</p> + +<p>A flash went from Randal's eyes, and he mused +a few moments.</p> + +<p>Then slowly rising, and drawing on his gloves, +he said,</p> + +<p>"Well, at least you so far reconcile my honor +toward aiding your research, that you now inform +me you mean no ill to the exile."</p> + +<p>"Ill!—the restoration to fortune, honors, his +native land."</p> + +<p>"And you so far enlist my heart on your side, +that you inspire me with the hope to contribute +to the happiness of two friends whom I dearly +love. I will, therefore, diligently seek to ascertain +if, among the refugees I have met with, +lurk those whom you seek; and if so, I will +thoughtfully consider how to give you the clew. +Meanwhile, not one incautious word to Egerton."</p> + +<p>"Trust me—I am a woman of the world."</p> + +<p>Randal now had gained the door. He paused, +and renewed carelessly,</p> + +<p>"This young lady must be heiress to great +wealth, to induce a man of your brother's rank +to take so much pains to discover her."</p> + +<p>"Her wealth <i>will</i> be vast," replied the Marchesa; +"and if any thing from wealth or influence +in a foreign state could be permitted to +prove my brother's gratitude—"</p> + +<p>"Ah, fie," interrupted Randal, and approaching +Madame di Negra, he lifted her hand to his +lips, and said gallantly,</p> + +<p>"This is reward enough to your <i>preux chevalier</i>."</p> + +<p>With those words he took his leave.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3> + +<p>With his hands behind him, and his head +drooping on his breast—slow, stealthy, noiseless, +Randal Leslie glided along the streets on leaving +the Italian's house. Across the scheme he had +before revolved, there glanced another yet more +glittering, for its gain might be more sure and +immediate. If the exile's daughter were heiress +to such wealth, might he himself hope—. He +stopped short even in his own soliloquy, and his +breath came quick. Now, in his last visit to +Hazeldean, he had come in contact with Riccabocca, +and been struck by the beauty of Violante. +A vague suspicion had crossed him that these +might be the persons of whom the Marchesa was +in search, and the suspicion had been confirmed +by Beatrice's description of the refugee she desired +to discover. But as he had not then learned +the reason for her inquiries, nor conceived +the possibility that he could have any personal +interest in ascertaining the truth, he had only +classed the secret in question among those the +further research into which might be left to time +and occasion. Certainly the reader will not do +the unscrupulous intellect of Randal Leslie the +injustice to suppose that he was deterred from +confiding to his fair friend all that he knew of +Riccabocca, by the refinement of honor to which +he had so chivalrously alluded. He had correctly +stated Audley Egerton's warning against any +indiscreet confidence, though he had forborne to +mention a more recent and direct renewal of the +same caution. His first visit to Hazeldean had +been paid without consulting Egerton. He had +been passing some days at his father's house<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +and had gone over thence to the Squire's. On +his return to London, he had, however, mentioned +this visit to Audley, who had seemed annoyed +and even displeased at it, though Randal well +knew sufficient of Egerton's character to know +that such feeling could scarce be occasioned +merely by his estrangement from his half brother. +This dissatisfaction had, therefore, puzzled the +young man. But as it was necessary to his views +to establish intimacy with the Squire, he did not +yield the point with his customary deference to +his patron's whims. He, therefore, observed that +he should be very sorry to do any thing displeasing +to his benefactor, but that his father had +been naturally anxious that he should not appear +positively to slight the friendly overtures of Mr. +Hazeldean.</p> + +<p>"Why naturally?" asked Egerton.</p> + +<p>"Because you know that Mr. Hazeldean is a +relation of mine—that my grandmother was a +Hazeldean."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Egerton, who, as it has been before +said, knew little, and cared less, about the +Hazeldean pedigree, "I was either not aware +of that circumstance, or had forgotten it. And +your father thinks that the Squire may leave you +a legacy?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, sir, my father is not so mercenary—such +an idea never entered his head. But the Squire +himself has indeed said, 'Why, if any thing happened +to Frank, you would be next heir to my +lands, and therefore we ought to know each other.' +But—"</p> + +<p>"Enough," interrupted Egerton, "I am the +last man to pretend to the right of standing between +you and a single chance of fortune, or of +aid to it. And whom did you meet at Hazeldean?"</p> + +<p>"There was no one there, sir; not even +Frank."</p> + +<p>"Hum. Is the Squire not on good terms with +his parson? Any quarrel about tithes?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no quarrel. I forgot Mr. Dale; I saw +him pretty often. He admires and praises you +very much, sir."</p> + +<p>"Me—and why? What did he say of me?"</p> + +<p>"That your heart was as sound as your head; +that he had once seen you about some old parishioners +of his; and that he had been much impressed +with a depth of feeling he could not +have anticipated in a man of the world, and a +statesman."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that was all; some affair when I was +member for Lansmere?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose so."</p> + +<p>Here the conversation was broken off; but the +next time Randal was led to visit the Squire he +had formally asked Egerton's consent, who, after +a moment's hesitation, had as formally replied, +"I have no objection."</p> + +<p>On returning from this visit, Randal mentioned +that he had seen Riccabocca; and Egerton, a +little startled at first, said composedly, "Doubtless +one of the political refugees; take care not +to set Madame di Negra on his track. Remember, +she is suspected of being a spy of the Austrian +government."</p> + +<p>"Rely on me, sir," said Randal; "but I should +think this poor Doctor can scarcely be the person +she seeks to discover?"</p> + +<p>"That is no affair of ours," answered Egerton; +"we are English gentlemen, and make not +a step toward the secrets of another."</p> + +<p>Now, when Randal revolved this rather ambiguous +answer, and recalled the uneasiness with +which Egerton had first heard of his visit to Hazeldean, +he thought that he was indeed near the +secret which Egerton desired to conceal from +him and from all—viz., the incognito of the Italian +whom Lord L'Estrange had taken under his +protection.</p> + +<p>"My cards," said Randal to himself, as, with +a deep-drawn sigh, he resumed his soliloquy, +"are becoming difficult to play. On the one hand, +to entangle Frank into marriage with this foreigner, +the Squire would never forgive him. On +the other hand, if she will not marry him without +the dowry—and that depends on her brother's +wedding this countrywoman—and that countrywoman +be, as I surmise, Violante—and Violante +be this heiress, and to be won by me! Tush, +tush. Such delicate scruples in a woman so +placed and so constituted as Beatrice di Negra, +must be easily talked away. Nay, the loss itself +of this alliance to her brother, the loss of her +own dowry—the very pressure of poverty and +debt—would compel her into the sole escape left +to her option. I will then follow up the old plan; +I will go down to Hazeldean, and see if there be +any substance in the new one; and then to reconcile +both—aha—the House of Leslie shall rise +yet from its ruin—and—"</p> + +<p>Here he was startled from his reverie by a +friendly slap on the shoulder, and an exclamation—"Why, +Randal, you are more absent than +when you used to steal away from the cricket-ground, +muttering Greek verses at Eton."</p> + +<p>"My dear Frank," said Randal, "you—you +are so <i>brusque</i>, and I was just thinking of you."</p> + +<p>"Were you? And kindly, then, I am sure," +said Frank Hazeldean, his honest, handsome face +lighted up with the unsuspecting genial trust of +friendship; "and heaven knows," he added, with +a sadder voice, and a graver expression on his +eye and lip—"Heaven knows I want all the kindness +you can give me!"</p> + +<p>"I thought," said Randal, "that your father's +last supply, of which I was fortunate enough to +be the bearer, would clear off your more pressing +debts. I don't pretend to preach, but really +I must say once more, you should not be so extravagant."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frank</span> (seriously).—"I have done my best +to reform. I have sold off my horses, and I have +not touched dice nor card these six months; I +would not even put into the raffle for the last +Derby." This last was said with the air of a +man who doubted the possibility of obtaining belief +to some assertion of preternatural abstinence +and virtue.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Randal</span>.—"Is it possible? But, with such +self-conquest, how is it that you can not contrive +to live within the bounds of a very liberal allowance?"</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frank</span> (despondingly).—"Why, when a man +once gets his head under water, it is so hard +to float back again on the surface. You see, I +attribute all my embarrassments to that first +concealment of my debts from my father, when +they could have been so easily met, and when +he came up to town so kindly."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry, then, that I gave you that advice."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you meant it so kindly, I don't reproach +you; it was all my own fault."</p> + +<p>"Why, indeed, I did urge you to pay off that +moiety of your debts left unpaid, with your allowance. +Had you done so, all had been well."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but poor Borrowwell got into such a +scrape at Goodwood; I could not resist him—a +debt of honor, <i>that</i> must be paid; so when I +signed another bill for him, he could not pay it, +poor fellow: really he would have shot himself, +if I had not renewed it; and now it is swelled to +such an amount with that cursed interest, that +<i>he</i> never can pay it; and one bill, of course, begets +another, and to be renewed every three +months; 'tis the devil and all! So little as I +ever got for all I have borrowed," added Frank +with a kind of rueful amaze. "Not £1500 ready +money; and it would cost me almost as much +yearly—if I had it."</p> + +<p>"Only £1500."</p> + +<p>"Well, besides seven large chests of the worst +cigars you ever smoked; three pipes of wine +that no one would drink, and a great bear, that +had been imported from Greenland for the sake +of its grease."</p> + +<p>"That should at least have saved you a bill +with your hairdresser."</p> + +<p>"I paid his bill with it," said Frank, "and +very good-natured he was to take the monster +off my hands; it had already hugged two soldiers +and one groom into the shape of a flounder. I +tell you what," resumed Frank, after a short +pause, "I have a great mind even now to tell +my father honestly all my embarrassments."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Randal</span> (solemnly).—"Hum!"</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frank</span>.—"What? don't you think it would +be the best way? I never can save enough—never +can pay off what I owe; and it rolls like +a snowball."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Randal</span>.—"Judging by the Squire's talk, I +think that with the first sight of your affairs you +would forfeit his favor forever; and your mother +would be so shocked, especially after supposing +that the sum I brought you so lately sufficed to +pay off every claim on you. If you had not assured +her of that, it might be different; but she +who so hates an untruth, and who said to the +Squire, 'Frank says this will clear him; and +with all his faults, Frank never yet told a lie.'"</p> + +<p>"Oh my dear mother!—I fancy I hear her!" +cried Frank with deep emotion. "But I did +not tell a lie, Randal; I did not say that that +sum would clear me."</p> + +<p>"You empowered and begged me to say so," +replied Randal, with grave coldness; "and don't +blame me if I believed you."</p> + +<p>"No, no! I only said it would clear me for +the moment."</p> + +<p>"I misunderstood you, then, sadly; and such +mistakes involve my own honor. Pardon me, +Frank; don't ask my aid in future. You see, +with the best intentions I only compromise myself."</p> + +<p>"If you forsake me, I may as well go and +throw myself into the river," said Frank in a +tone of despair; "and sooner or later my father +must know my necessities. The Jews threaten +to go to him already; and the longer the delay, +the more terrible the explanation."</p> + +<p>"I don't see why your father should ever learn +the state of your affairs; and it seems to me +that you could pay off these usurers, and get rid +of these bills, by raising money on comparatively +easy terms—"</p> + +<p>"How?" cried Frank eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Why, the Casino property is entailed on you, +and you might obtain a sum upon that, not to be +paid till the property becomes yours."</p> + +<p>"At my poor father's death? Oh, no—no! +I can not bear the idea of this cold-blooded calculation +on a father's death. I know it is not +uncommon; I know other fellows who have +done it, but they never had parents so kind as +mine; and even in them it shocked and revolted +me. The contemplating a father's death and +profiting by the contemplation—it seems a kind +of parricide—it is not natural, Randal. Besides, +don't you remember what the governor said—he +actually wept while he said it, 'Never calculate +on my death; I could not bear that.' Oh, Randal, +don't speak of it!"</p> + +<p>"I respect your sentiments; but still all the +post-obits you could raise could not shorten Mr. +Hazeldean's life by a day. However, dismiss +that idea; we must think of some other device. +Ha, Frank! you are a handsome fellow, and +your expectations are great—why don't you +marry some woman with money?"</p> + +<p>"Pooh!" exclaimed Frank, coloring. "You +know, Randal, that there is but one woman in +the world I can ever think of, and I love her so +devotedly, that, though I was as gay as most +men before, I really feel as if the rest of her sex +had lost every charm. I was passing through +the street now—merely to look up at her windows—"</p> + +<p>"You speak of Madame di Negra? I have +just left her. Certainly she is two or three +years older than you; but if you can get over +that misfortune, why not marry her?"</p> + +<p>"Marry her!" cried Frank in amaze, and all +his color fled from his cheeks. "Marry her!—are +you serious?"</p> + +<p>"Why not?"</p> + +<p>"But even if she, who is so accomplished, so +admired—even if she would accept me, she is, +you know, poorer than myself. She has told me +so frankly. That woman has such a noble heart,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +and—and—my father would never consent, nor +my mother either. I know they would not."</p> + +<p>"Because she is a foreigner?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—partly."</p> + +<p>"Yet the Squire suffered his cousin to marry +a foreigner."</p> + +<p>"That was different. He had no control over +Jemima; and a daughter-in-law is so different; +and my father is so English in his notions; and +Madame di Negra, you see, is altogether so +foreign. Her very graces would be against her +in his eyes."</p> + +<p>"I think you do both your parents injustice. +A foreigner of low birth—an actress or singer, +for instance—of course would be highly objectionable; +but a woman, like Madame di Negra, of +such high birth and connections—"</p> + +<p>Frank shook his head. "I don't think the +governor would care a straw about her connections, +if she were a king's daughter. He considers +all foreigners pretty much alike. And +then, you know"—Frank's voice sank into a +whisper—"you know that one of the very reasons +why she is so dear to me would be an insuperable +objection to the old-fashioned folks at +home."</p> + +<p>"I don't understand you, Frank."</p> + +<p>"I love her the more," said young Hazeldean, +raising his front with a noble pride, that seemed +to speak of his descent from a race of cavaliers +and gentlemen—"I love her the more because +the world has slandered her name—because I +believe her to be pure and wronged. But would +they at the Hall—they who do not see with a +lover's eyes—they who have all the stubborn +English notions about the indecorum and license +of Continental manners, and will so readily +credit the worst? O, no—I love—I can not +help it—but I have no hope."</p> + +<p>"It is very possible that you may be right," +exclaimed Randal, as if struck and half-convinced +by his companion's argument—"very possible; +and certainly I think that the homely folks at +the Hall would fret and fume at first, if they +heard you were married to Madame di Negra. +Yet still, when your father learned that you had +done so, not from passion alone, but to save him +from all pecuniary sacrifice—to clear yourself +of debt—to—"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" exclaimed Frank impatiently.</p> + +<p>"I have reason to know that Madame di +Negra will have as large a portion as your +father could reasonably expect you to receive +with any English wife. And when this is properly +stated to the Squire, and the high position +and rank of your wife fully established and +brought home to him—for I must think that +these would tell, despite your exaggerated notions +of his prejudices—and then, when he really +sees Madame di Negra, and can judge of her +beauty and rare gifts, upon my word, I think, +Frank, that there would be no cause for fear. +After all, too, you are his only son. He will +have no option but to forgive you; and I know +how anxiously both your parents wish to see you +settled in life."</p> + +<p>Frank's whole countenance became illuminated. +"There is no one who understands the +Squire like you, certainly," said he, with lively +joy. "He has the highest opinion of your judgment. +And you really believe you could smooth +matters?"</p> + +<p>"I believe so, but I should be sorry to induce +you to run any risk; and if, on cool consideration, +you think that risk is incurred, I strongly +advise you to avoid all occasion of seeing the +poor Marchesa. Ah, you wince; but I say it +for her sake as well as your own. First, you +must be aware, that, unless you have serious +thoughts of marriage, your attentions can but +add to the very rumors that, equally groundless, +you so feelingly resent; and, secondly, because +I don't think any man has a right to win the +affections of a woman—especially a woman who +seems likely to love with her whole heart and +soul—merely to gratify his own vanity."</p> + +<p>"Vanity! Good heavens, can you think so +poorly of me? But as to the Marchesa's affections," +continued Frank, with a faltering voice, +"do you really and honestly believe that they +are to be won by me?"</p> + +<p>"I fear lest they may be half won already," +said Randal, with a smile and a shake of the +head; "but she is too proud to let you see any +effect you may produce on her, especially when, +as I take it for granted, you have never hinted +at the hope of obtaining her hand."</p> + +<p>"I never till now conceived such a hope. My +dear Randal, all my cares have vanished—I +tread upon air—I have a great mind to call on +her at once."</p> + +<p>"Stay, stay," said Randal. "Let me give +you a caution. I have just informed you that +Madame di Negra will have, what you suspected +not before, a fortune suitable to her birth; +any abrupt change in your manner at present +might induce her to believe that you were influenced +by that intelligence."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" exclaimed Frank, stopping short, as +if wounded to the quick. "And I feel guilty—feel +as if I <i>was</i> influenced by that intelligence. +So I am, too, when I reflect," he continued, with +a <i>naïveté</i> that was half pathetic; "but I hope +she will not be so <i>very</i> rich—if so, I'll not call."</p> + +<p>"Make your mind easy, it is but a portion of +some twenty or thirty thousand pounds, that +would just suffice to discharge all your debts, +clear away all obstacles to your union, and in return +for which you could secure a more than +adequate jointure and settlement on the Casino +property. Now I am on that head, I will be yet +more communicative. Madame di Negra has a +noble heart, as you say, and told me herself, that, +until her brother on his arrival had assured her +of this dowry, she would never have consented +to marry you—never cripple with her own embarrassments +the man she loves. Ah! with +what delight she will hail the thought of assisting +you to win back your father's heart! But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +be guarded, meanwhile. And now, Frank, +what say you—would it not be well if I run +down to Hazeldean to sound your parents? It +is rather inconvenient to me, to be sure, to leave +town just at present; but I would do more than +that to render you a smaller service. Yes, I'll +go to Rood Hall to-morrow, and thence to +Hazeldean. I am sure your father will press me +to stay, and I shall have ample opportunities to +judge of the manner in which he would be likely +to regard your marriage with Madame di Negra—supposing +always it were properly put to him. +We can then act accordingly."</p> + +<p>"My dear, dear Randal. How can I thank +you? If ever a poor fellow like me can serve +you in return—but that's impossible."</p> + +<p>"Why, certainly, I will never ask you to be +security to a bill of mine," said Randal, laughing. +"I practice the economy I preach."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Frank with a groan, "that is because +your mind is cultivated—you have so many +resources; and all my faults have come from +idleness. If I had any thing to do on a rainy +day, I should never have got into these scrapes."</p> + +<p>"Oh! you will have enough to do some day +managing your property. We who have no +property must find one in knowledge. Adieu, +my dear Frank; I must go home now. By the +way, you have never, by chance, spoken of the +Riccaboccas to Madame di Negra?"</p> + +<p>"The Riccaboccas? No. That's well thought +of. It may interest her to know that a relation +of mine has married her countryman. Very odd +that I never did mention it; but, to say truth, I +really do talk so little to her; she is so superior, +and I feel positively shy with her."</p> + +<p>"Do me the favor, Frank," said Randal, waiting +patiently till this reply ended—for he was +devising all the time what reason to give for his +request—"never to allude to the Riccaboccas +either to her or to her brother, to whom you are +sure to be presented."</p> + +<p>"Why not allude to them?"</p> + +<p>Randal hesitated a moment. His invention +was still at fault, and, for a wonder, he thought +it the best policy to go pretty near the truth.</p> + +<p>"Why, I will tell you. The Marchesa conceals +nothing from her brother, and he is one of +the few Italians who are in high favor with the +Austrian court."</p> + +<p>"Well!"</p> + +<p>"And I suspect that poor Dr. Riccabocca fled +his country from some mad experiment at revolution, +and is still hiding from the Austrian police."</p> + +<p>"But they can't hurt him here," said Frank, +with an Englishman's dogged inborn conviction +of the sanctity of his native island. "I should +like to see an Austrian pretend to dictate to us +whom to receive and whom to reject."</p> + +<p>"Hum—that's true and constitutional, no +doubt; but Riccabocca may have excellent +reasons—and, to speak plainly, I know he has, +(perhaps as affecting the safety of friends in +Italy)—for preserving his incognito, and we are +bound to respect those reasons without inquiring +further."</p> + +<p>"Still, I can not think so meanly of Madame +di Negra," persisted Frank (shrewd here, though +credulous elsewhere, and both from his sense of +honor), "as to suppose that she would descend +to be a spy, and injure a poor countryman of her +own, who trusts to the same hospitality she receives +herself at our English hands. Oh, if I +thought that, I could not love her!" added Frank, +with energy.</p> + +<p>"Certainly you are right. But see in what a +false position you would place both her brother +and herself. If they knew Riccabocca's secret, +and proclaimed it to the Austrian government, +as you say, it would be cruel and mean; but if +they knew it and concealed it, it might involve +them both in the most serious consequences. +You know the Austrian policy is proverbially so +jealous and tyrannical?"</p> + +<p>"Well, the newspapers say so, certainly."</p> + +<p>"And, in short, your discretion can do no harm, +and your indiscretion may. Therefore, give me +your word, Frank. I can't stay to argue now."</p> + +<p>"I'll not allude to the Riccaboccas, upon my +honor," answered Frank; "still I am sure they +would be as safe with the Marchesa as with—"</p> + +<p>"I rely on your honor," interrupted Randal, +hastily, and hurried off.</p> + + +<hr /> + +<h3>CHAPTER V.</h3> + + +<p>Toward the evening of the following day, +Randal Leslie walked slowly from a village on +the main road (about two miles from Rood Hall), +at which he had got out of the coach. He passed +through meads and corn-fields, and by the skirts +of woods which had formerly belonged to his +ancestors, but had long since been alienated. +He was alone amidst the haunts of his boyhood, +the scenes in which he had first invoked the +grand Spirit of Knowledge, to bid the Celestial +Still One minister to the commands of an earthly +and turbulent ambition. He paused often in +his path, especially when the undulations of the +ground gave a glimpse of the gray church tower, +or the gloomy firs that rose above the desolate +wastes of Rood.</p> + +<p>"Here," thought Randal, with a softening eye—"here, +how often, comparing the fertility of +the lands passed away from the inheritance of +my fathers, with the forlorn wilds that are left +to their mouldering hall—here, how often have I +said to myself—'I will rebuild the fortunes of my +house.' And straightway Toil lost its aspect of +drudge, and grew kingly, and books became as +living armies to serve my thought. Again—again—O +thou haughty Past, brace and strengthen +me in the battle with the Future." His pale +lips writhed as he soliloquized, for his conscience +spoke to him while he thus addressed his will, and +its voice was heard more audibly in the quiet of +the rural landscape, than amid the turmoil and din +of that armed and sleepless camp which we call +a city.</p> + +<p>Doubtless, though Ambition have objects more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> +vast and beneficent than the restoration of a name—<i>that</i> +in itself is high and chivalrous, and appeals +to a strong interest in the human heart. But all +emotions, and all ends, of a nobler character, had +seemed to filter themselves free from every golden +grain in passing through the mechanism of Randal's +intellect, and came forth at last into egotism +clear and unalloyed. Nevertheless, it is a strange +truth that, to a man of cultivated mind, however +perverted and vicious, there are vouchsafed +gleams of brighter sentiments, irregular perceptions +of moral beauty, denied to the brutal unreasoning +wickedness of uneducated villainy—which +perhaps ultimately serve as his punishment—according +to the old thought of the satirist, that +there is no greater curse than to perceive virtue, +yet adopt vice. And as the solitary schemer +walked slowly on, and his childhood—innocent at +least of deed—came distinct before him through +the halo of bygone dreams—dreams far purer than +those from which he now rose each morning to the +active world of Man—a profound melancholy +crept over him, and suddenly he exclaimed aloud, +"<i>Then</i> I aspired to be renowned and great—<i>now</i>, +how is it that, so advanced in my career, all that +seemed lofty in the means has vanished from me, +and the only means that I contemplate are those +which my childhood would have called poor and +vile? Ah! is it that I then read but books, and +now my knowledge has passed onward, and men +contaminate more than books? But," he continued +in a lower voice, as if arguing with himself, +"if power is only so to be won—and of what use +is knowledge if it be not power—does not success +in life justify all things? And who prizes the wise +man if he fails?" He continued his way, but still +the soft tranquillity around rebuked him, and still +his reason was dissatisfied, as well as his conscience. +There are times when Nature, like a +bath of youth, seems to restore to the jaded soul +its freshness—times from which some men have +emerged, as if reborn. The crises of life are +very silent. Suddenly the scene opened on Randal +Leslie's eyes. The bare desert common—the +dilapidated church—the old house, partially +seen in the dank dreary hollow, into which it +seemed to Randal to have sunken deeper and +lowlier than when he saw it last. And on the +common were some young men playing at hockey. +That old-fashioned game, now very uncommon +in England, except at schools, was still preserved +in the primitive simplicity of Rood by the +young yeomen and farmers. Randal stood by the +stile and looked on, for among the players he +recognized his brother Oliver. Presently the +ball was struck toward Oliver, and the group instantly +gathered round that young gentleman, and +snatched him from Randal's eye; but the elder +brother heard a displeasing din, a derisive laughter. +Oliver had shrunk from the danger of the +thick clubbed sticks that plied around him, and +received some strokes across the legs, for his +voice rose whining, and was drowned by shouts +of, "Go to your mammy. That's Noll Leslie—all +over. Butter shins."</p> + +<p>Randal's sallow face became scarlet. "The +jest of boors—a Leslie!" he muttered, and +ground his teeth. He sprang over the stile, and +walked erect and haughtily across the ground. +The players cried out indignantly. Randal raised +his hat, and they recognized him, and stopped the +game. For him at least a certain respect was +felt. Oliver turned round quickly, and ran up to +him. Randal caught his arm firmly, and, without +saying a word to the rest, drew him away +toward the house. Oliver cast a regretful, lingering +look behind him, rubbed his shins, and then +stole a timid glance toward Randal's severe and +moody countenance.</p> + +<p>"You are not angry that I was playing at +hockey with our neighbors," said he deprecatingly, +observing that Randal would not break the +silence.</p> + +<p>"No," replied the elder brother; "but, in associating +with his inferiors, a gentleman still +knows how to maintain his dignity. There is no +harm in playing with inferiors, but it is necessary +to a gentleman to play so that he is not the laughing-stock +of clowns."</p> + +<p>Oliver hung his head, and made no answer. +They came into the slovenly precincts of the +court, and the pigs stared at them from the palings +as they had stared years before, at Frank +Hazeldean.</p> + +<p>Mr. Leslie senior, in a shabby straw hat, was +engaged in feeding the chickens before the threshold, +and he performed even that occupation with +a maundering lackadaisical slothfulness, dropping +down the grains almost one by one from his +inert dreamy fingers.</p> + +<p>Randal's sister, her hair still and forever hanging +about her ears, was seated on a rush-bottom +chair, reading a tattered novel; and from the +parlor window was heard the querulous voice of +Mrs. Leslie, in high fidget and complaint.</p> + +<p>Somehow or other, as the young heir to all this +helpless poverty stood in the court-yard, with +his sharp, refined, intelligent features, and his +strange elegance of dress and aspect, one better +comprehended how, left solely to the egotism of +his knowledge and his ambition, in such a family, +and without any of the sweet nameless lessons +of Home, he had grown up into such close +and secret solitude of soul—how the mind had +taken so little nutriment from the heart, and how +that affection and respect which the warm circle +of the hearth usually calls forth had passed +with him to the graves of dead fathers, growing, +as it were, bloodless and ghoul-like amid the +charnels on which they fed.</p> + +<p>"Ha, Randal, boy," said Mr. Leslie, looking +up lazily, "how d'ye do? Who could have expected +you? My dear—my dear," he cried, in +a broken voice, and as if in helpless dismay, +"here's Randal, and he'll be wanting dinner, or +supper, or something." But in the mean while, +Randal's sister Juliet had sprung up and thrown +her arms round her brother's neck, and he had +drawn her aside caressingly, for Randal's strongest +human affection was for this sister.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You are growing very pretty, Juliet," said +he, smoothing back her hair; "why do yourself +such injustice—why not pay more attention to +your appearance, as I have so often begged you +to do?"</p> + +<p>"I did not expect you, dear Randal; you always +come so suddenly, and catch us <i>en dish-a-bill</i>."</p> + +<p>"Dish-a-bill!" echoed Randal, with a groan.—"<i>Dishabille!</i>—you +ought never to be so +caught!"</p> + +<p>"No one else does so catch us—nobody else +ever comes! Heigho," and the young lady sighed +very heartily.</p> + +<p>"Patience, patience; my day is coming, and +then yours, my sister," replied Randal with genuine +pity, as he gazed upon what a little care +could have trained into so fair a flower, and what +now looked so like a weed.</p> + +<p>Here Mrs. Leslie, in a state of intense excitement—having +rushed through the parlor—leaving +a fragment of her gown between the yawning +brass of the never-mended Brummagem +work-table—tore across the hall—whirled out of +the door, scattering the chickens to the right and +left, and clutched hold of Randal in her motherly +embrace. "La, how you do shake my nerves," +she cried, after giving him a most hearty and +uncomfortable kiss. "And you are hungry, too, +and nothing in the house but cold mutton! Jenny, +Jenny, I say Jenny! Juliet, have you seen +Jenny? Where's Jenny? Out with the old +man, I'll be bound."</p> + +<p>"I am not hungry, mother," said Randal; "I +wish for nothing but tea." Juliet, scrambling +up her hair, darted into the house to prepare the +tea, and also to "tidy herself." She dearly loved +her fine brother, but she was greatly in awe of +him.</p> + +<p>Randal seated himself on the broken pales. +"Take care they don't come down," said Mr. +Leslie, with some anxiety.</p> + +<p>"Oh, sir, I am very light; nothing comes +down with me."</p> + +<p>The pigs stared up, and grunted in amaze at +the stranger.</p> + +<p>"Mother," said the young man, detaining Mrs. +Leslie, who wanted to set off in chase of Jenny—"mother, +you should not let Oliver associate +with those village boors. It is time to think of +a profession for him."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he eats us out of house and home—such +an appetite! But as to a profession—what is he +fit for! He will never be a scholar."</p> + +<p>Randal nodded a moody assent; for, indeed, +Oliver had been sent to Cambridge, and supported +there out of Randal's income from his official +pay;—and Oliver had been plucked for his Little +Go.</p> + +<p>"There is the army," said the elder brother—"a +gentleman's calling. How handsome Juliet +ought to be—but—I left money for masters—and +she pronounces French like a chambermaid."</p> + +<p>"Yet she is fond of her book too. She's always +reading, and good for nothing else."</p> + +<p>"Reading!—those trashy novels!"</p> + +<p>"So like you—you always come to scold, and +make things unpleasant," said Mrs. Leslie, peevishly. +"You are grown too fine for us, and I +am sure we suffer affronts enough from others, +not to want a little respect from our own children."</p> + +<p>"I did not mean to affront you," said Randal, +sadly. "Pardon me. But who else has done +so?"</p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Leslie went into a minute and most +irritating catalogue of all the mortifications and +insults she had received; the grievances of a +petty provincial family, with much pretension +and small power; of all people, indeed, without +the disposition to please—without the ability to +serve—who exaggerate every offense, and are +thankful for no kindness. Farmer Jones had +insolently refused to send his wagon twenty +miles for coals. Mr. Giles, the butcher, requesting +the payment of his bill, had stated that +the custom at Rood was too small for him to +allow credit. Squire Thornhill, who was the +present owner of the fairest slice of the old Leslie +domains, had taken the liberty to ask permission +to shoot over Mr. Leslie's land, since +Mr. Leslie did not preserve. Lady Spratt (new +people from the city, who hired a neighboring +country seat) had taken a discharged servant of +Mrs. Leslie's without applying for the character. +The Lord Lieutenant had given a ball, and had +not invited the Leslies. Mr. Leslie's tenants +had voted against their landlord's wish at the +recent election. More than all, Squire Hazeldean +and his Harry had called at Rood, and +though Mrs. Leslie had screamed out to Jenny, +"Not at home," she had been seen at the window, +and the Squire had actually forced his way +in, and caught the whole family "in a state not +fit to be seen." That was a trifle, but the +Squire had presumed to instruct Mr. Leslie how +to manage his property, and Mrs. Hazeldean +had actually told Juliet to hold up her head and +tie up her hair, "as if we were her cottagers!" +said Mrs. Leslie, with the pride of a Montfydget.</p> + +<p>All these and various other annoyances, though +Randal was too sensible not to perceive their insignificance, +still galled and mortified the listening +heir of Rood. They showed, at least, even +to the well-meant officiousness of the Hazeldeans, +the small account in which the fallen family was +held. As he sat still on the moss-grown pale, +gloomy and taciturn, his mother standing beside +him, with her cap awry, Mr. Leslie shamblingly +sauntered up and said, in a pensive, dolorous +whine—</p> + +<p>"I wish we had a good sum of money, Randal, +boy!"</p> + +<p>To do Mr. Leslie justice, he seldom gave vent +to any wish that savored of avarice. His mind +must be singularly aroused, to wander out of +its normal limits of sluggish, dull content.</p> + +<p>So Randal looked at him in surprise, and said, +"Do you, sir?—why?"</p> + +<p>"The manors of Rood and Dulmansberry, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> +all the lands therein, which my great-grandfather +sold away, are to be sold again when Squire +Thornhill's eldest son comes of age, to cut off +the entail. Sir John Spratt talks of buying +them. I should like to have them back again! +'Tis a shame to see the Leslie estates hawked +about, and bought by Spratts and people. +I wish I had a great—great sum of ready +money."</p> + +<p>The poor gentleman extended his helpless +fingers as he spoke, and fell into a dejected +reverie.</p> + +<p>Randal sprang from the paling, a movement +which frightened the contemplative pigs, and +set them off squalling and scampering. "When +does young Thornhill come of age?"</p> + +<p>"He was nineteen last August. I know it, +because the day he was born I picked up my +fossil of the sea-horse, just by Dulmansberry +church, when the joy-bells were ringing. My +fossil sea-horse? It will be an heirloom, Randal—"</p> + +<p>"Two years—nearly two years—yet—ah, +ah!" said Randal; and his sister now appearing +to announce that tea was ready, he threw his +arm round her neck and kissed her. Juliet had +arranged her hair and trimmed up her dress. +She looked very pretty, and she had now the air +of a gentlewoman—something of Randal's own +refinement in her slender proportions and well-shaped +head.</p> + +<p>"Be patient, patient still, my dear sister," +whispered Randal, "and keep your heart whole +for two years longer."</p> + +<p>The young man was gay and good-humored +over his simple meal, while his family grouped +round him. When it was over, Mr. Leslie lighted +his pipe, and called for his brandy-and-water. +Mrs. Leslie began to question about London and +Court, and the new King and the new Queen, +and Mr. Audley Egerton, and hoped Mr. Egerton +would leave Randal all his money, and that +Randal would marry a rich woman, and that +the King would make him a prime-minister one +of these days; and then she would like to see if +Farmer Jones would refuse to send his wagon +for coals! And every now and then, as the word +"riches" or "money" caught Mr. Leslie's ear, +he shook his head, drew his pipe from his mouth, +and muttered, "A Spratt should not have what +belonged to my great-great-grandfather, if I had +a good sum of ready money!—the old family +estates!" Oliver and Juliet sate silent, and on +their good-behavior; and Randal, indulging his +own reveries, dreamily heard the words "money," +"Spratt," "great-great-grandfather," "rich +wife," "family estates;" and they sounded to +him vague and afar off, like whispers from the +world of romance and legend—weird prophecies +of things to be.</p> + +<p>Such was the hearth which warmed the viper +that nestled and gnawed at the heart of Randal, +poisoned all the aspirations that youth should +have rendered pure, ambition lofty, and knowledge +beneficent and divine.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h3>CHAPTER VI.</h3> + +<p>When the rest of the household were in deep +sleep, Randal stood long at his open window, +looking over the dreary, comfortless scene—the +moon gleaming from skies half-autumnal, +half-wintry, upon squalid decay, through the +ragged fissures of the firs; and when he lay +down to rest, his sleep was feverish, and troubled +by turbulent dreams.</p> + +<p>However, he was up early, and with an unwonted +color in his cheeks, which his sister +ascribed to the country air. After breakfast, +he took his way toward Hazeldean, mounted +upon a tolerable horse, which he hired of a +neighboring farmer who occasionally hunted. +Before noon, the garden and terrace of the Casino +came in sight. He reined in his horse, and +by the little fountain at which Leonard had been +wont to eat his radishes and con his book, he saw +Riccabocca seated under the shade of the red +umbrella. And by the Italian's side stood a form +that a Greek of old might have deemed the Naiad +of the Fount; for in its youthful beauty there was +something so full of poetry—something at once +so sweet and so stately—that it spoke to the imagination +while it charmed the sense.</p> + +<p>Randal dismounted, tied his horse to the gate, +and, walking down a trellised alley, came suddenly +to the spot. His dark shadow fell over the +clear mirror of the fountain just as Riccabocca +had said, "All here is so secure from evil!—the +waves of the fountain are never troubled like those +of the river!" and Violante had answered in her +soft native tongue, and lifting her dark, spiritual +eyes—"But the fountain would be but a lifeless +pool, oh, my father, if the spray did not mount +toward the skies!"</p> + +<h4>(TO BE CONTINUED.)</h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Another" id="Another"></a>YOU'RE ANOTHER!</h2> + + +<p>"You're another!" It's a vulgar retort, but +a common one—though not much in use +among well-bred people. But there are many +ways of saying it—various modes of conveying +the same meaning. "<i>Et tu Brute</i>," observed +some one, on reading a debate in the House of +Commons; "I often see these words quoted; +what can they mean?" "I should say," was +the answer, "they mean, 'Oh, you brute!'" +"Well, I rather think they mean '<i>You're another!</i>'" +Let the classicist determine which interpretation +is the right one.</p> + +<p>"You're another!" may be conveyed in a mild +tone and manner. For instance:—"The right +honorable gentleman seems not to apprehend the +points of the argument: he says he does not understand +how so and so is so and so. We can +only supply him with arguments level to the +meanest capacity, not with brains. Nature having +been sparing in her endowments to the honorable +gentleman, must be matter of deep regret +to those who are under the painful necessity of +listening to the oft-times-refuted assertions and +so-called arguments which he has advanced upon +this very question."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> + +<p>The honorable gentleman, thus delicately alluded +to, replies, "My honorable and learned +friend (if he will permit me to call him so) complains +that his arguments are not understood; +the simple reason being that they are unintelligible. +He calls them arguments level to the meanest +capacity, and let me assure him they are +level to the meanest capacity only, for they are +his own. Let me hasten to relieve his anxiety +as to the remarks which I have felt it my duty +to make upon the question under discussion, by +assuring him that they have been understood by +those who have intelligence to appreciate them, +though I am not prepared to vouch as much for +my honorable and learned friend on the other +side of the House." Thus,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Each lolls the tongue out at the other,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And shakes his empty noddle at his brother.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>One honorable member accuses another of stating +that which is the "reverse of true"—the other +responds by a charge of "gross misrepresentation +of the facts of the case." Coalheavers would +use a shorter and more emphatic word to express +the same thing, though it would neither be classical +nor conformable to the rules of the House. +The Frenchman delicately defined a white lie +to be "valking round about de trooth." We +know what honorable members mean when they +talk in the above guise. It is, "You're another!"</p> + +<p>Dr. Whiston accuses the Chapter of Rochester +with applying for their own purposes the funds +bequeathed by pious men of former times for the +education of the poor. The reply of the Chapter +is—"You Atheist!" and they deprive the +doctor of his living. Sir Samuel Romilly once +proposed to alter the law of bankruptcy, and to +make freehold estates assets appropriable for +debts, like personal property. The existing law +he held to be pregnant with dishonesty and fraud +against creditors. Mr. Canning immediately was +down upon him with the "You're another" argument. +"Dishonesty!" he said, "why, this +proposal is neither more nor less than a dangerous +and most dishonest attack upon the +aristocracy, and the beginning of something +which may end, if carried, like the French Revolution."</p> + +<p>Worthy men are often found differing about +some speculative point, respecting which neither +can have any more certain knowledge than the +other, and they wax fierce and bitter, each devoting +the other to a fate which we dare not +venture to describe. One calls the other "bigot," +who retorts by calling out "idolater," or perhaps +"fanatic;" and the phrases are bandied +about with the gusto and fervor of Billingsgate—the +meaning of the whole is, "You're +another!"</p> + +<p>Literary men have frequently ventured into +this bandying about of strange talk. Rival country +editors have sometimes been great adepts in +it; though the fashion is gradually going out of +date. There is nothing like the bitterness of +criticism now, which used to prevail some fifty +years ago. Godwin mildly assailed Southey as +a renegade, in return for which Southey abused +Godwin's abominably ugly nose. Moore spoke +slightingly of Leigh Hunt's Cockney poetry, and +Leigh Hunt in reply ridiculed Moore's diminutive +figure. Southey cut up Byron in the Reviews, +and Byron cut up Southey in the Vision +of Judgment. Scott did not appreciate Coleridge, +and Coleridge spoke of Ivanhoe and The +Bride of Lammermoor as "those wretched abortions."</p> + +<p>You often hear of talkers who are "good at a +retort." It means they can say "You're another!" +in a biting, clever way. The wit of +many men is of this kind—cutting and sarcastic. +Nicknames grow out of it—the Christian calls +the Turk an Infidel—as the Turk calls the Christian +a Dog of an Unbeliever. Whig and Tory retort +on each other the charge of oppressor. "The +priest calls the lawyer a cheat, the lawyer beknaves +the divine." It all means "You're another!" +Phrenologists say the propensity arises +in the organ of combativeness. However that +may be, there is need of an abatement. Retort, +even the most delicately put, is indignation, and +indignation is the handsome brother of hatred. +It breeds bitterness between man and man, and +produces nothing but evil. The practice is only +a modification of Billingsgate, cover it with what +elegant device we may. In any guise the +"You're another" style of speech ought to be +deprecated and discountenanced.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THY WILL BE DONE.</h2> + +<h3>BY GEN. GEORGE P. MORRIS.</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">I.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Searcher of Hearts!—from mine erase<br /></span> +<span class="i2">All thoughts that should not be,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And in its deep recesses trace<br /></span> +<span class="i2">My gratitude to Thee!<br /></span> +</div><br /><div class="stanza"> + +<span class="i6">II.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Hearer of Prayer!—oh guide aright<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Each word and deed of mine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Life's battle teach me how to fight,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And be the victory Thine.<br /></span> +</div><br /><div class="stanza"> + +<span class="i6">III.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Giver of All!—for every good<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In the Redeemer came:—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For raiment, shelter, and for food,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I thank Thee in His name.<br /></span> +</div><br /><div class="stanza"> + +<span class="i6">IV.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Father and Son and Holy Ghost!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thou glorious Three in One!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou knowest best what I need most,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And let Thy will be done.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>Monthly Record of Current Events.</h2> + + +<h4>UNITED STATES.</h4> + +<p>The political events of the month just closed have +been of considerable interest. November is the +month for elections in several of the most important +States: the interest which usually belongs to these +events is enhanced in this instance by the fact that +they precede a Presidential contest, which occurs +next year, and they are scanned, therefore, with the +more care as indicative of its results. In several of +the States, however, the elections of this year do not +afford any substantial ground for predicting their votes +in the Presidential election, as questions were at issue +now which may not greatly influence them then. +In <span class="smcap">Georgia</span>, for example the old political parties +were wholly broken up, and the divisions which they +occasion did not prevail. Both the candidates for +Governor were prominent members of the Democratic +party; but Hon. <span class="smcap">Howell Cobb</span>, Speaker of +the last House of Representatives in Congress, was +put forward as the Union candidate, while Mr. +<span class="smcap">McDonald</span>, his opponent, was the candidate of those +who were in favor of seceding from the Union, on +account of the Compromise measures of 1850. The +same division prevailed in the Congressional contest, +the nominees being Unionists and Secessionists, +without regard to other distinctions. The general +result was announced in our November Record. The +Union party elected <i>six</i> out of the <i>eight</i> members of +Congress, and Mr. <span class="smcap">Cobb</span> was elected Governor by a +very large majority. The following is a statement +of the vote in each of the Congressional districts, +upon both tickets; and gives an accurate view of +the sentiments of the people of the State upon that +subject:</p> + + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td colspan="2">GOVERNOR.</td><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;"> </span></td><td colspan="2">CONGRESS.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><i>Cong. Districts.</i></td><td align="right"><i>Cobb.</i></td><td align="right"> <i>McDonald.</i></td><td> </td><td align="right"><i>Union.</i></td><td align="right"> <i>Secession.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> First district</td><td align="right">4,268</td><td align="right">3,986</td><td> </td><td align="right">4,011</td><td align="right">4,297</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Second ditto</td><td align="right">8,213</td><td align="right">7,050</td><td> </td><td align="right">8,107</td><td align="right">6,985</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Third ditto</td><td align="right">6,114</td><td align="right">6,123</td><td> </td><td align="right">5,853</td><td align="right">6,011</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Fourth ditto</td><td align="right">7,568</td><td align="right">5,391</td><td> </td><td align="right">7,750</td><td align="right">5,601</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Fifth ditto</td><td align="right">13,676</td><td align="right">7,082</td><td> </td><td align="right">13,882</td><td align="right">7,481</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Sixth ditto</td><td align="right">6,952</td><td align="right">3,037</td><td> </td><td align="right">6,937</td><td align="right">2,819</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Seventh ditto</td><td align="right">4,726</td><td align="right">2,134</td><td> </td><td align="right">4,744</td><td align="right">1,955</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Eighth ditto</td><td align="right">4,744</td><td align="right">2,669</td><td> </td><td align="right">4,704</td><td align="right">2,538</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right">———</td><td align="right">———</td><td> </td><td align="right">———</td><td align="right">———</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Total</td><td align="right">56,261</td><td align="right">37,472</td><td> </td><td align="right">55,988</td><td align="right">37,699</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Cobb's majority</td><td align="right">18,789</td><td align="right" colspan="3">Union Cong. ditto</td><td align="right">18,319</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>This shows a popular majority of over eighteen +thousand in favor of the Union. The election of +Members of the Legislature took place at the same +time, and resulted in the choice to the Senate of +<i>thirty-nine</i> Union and <i>eight</i> Secession Senators, and +to the House of <i>one hundred and one</i> Union, and +<i>twenty-six</i> Southern-rights men. Upon the Legislature +thus chosen will devolve the duty of electing a +Senator in the Congress of the United States, in place +of Mr. <span class="smcap">Berrien</span>, whose term expires next spring.</p> + +<p>In <span class="smcap">South Carolina</span> an election has taken place +for members of Congress and delegates to a State +Convention, in which the same issue superseded all +others. One party avowed itself in favor of the +immediate and separate secession of the State from +the Union, while the other was in favor of awaiting +the co-operation of other Southern States. Both held +that the action of the Federal Government had been +hostile to Southern interests and rights, and both +professed to be in favor of taking measures of redress. +They differed, however, as to the means and +time of action, and the following table shows the +relative strength of each party in the State—those in +favor of the Union as it is, of course, voting with the +Co-operationists:</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left"><i><span style="margin-right: 2em;">Cong. Districts.</span></i></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><i>Secession.</i></td><td align="right" colspan="2"><i>Co-operation.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> First district</td><td align="right">3,392</td><td><span style="margin-left: 2em;"> </span></td><td align="right">4,085</td><td><span style="margin-left: 2em;"> </span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Second ditto</td><td align="right">1,816</td><td> </td><td align="right">5,010</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Third ditto</td><td align="right">2,523</td><td> </td><td align="right">3,467</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Fourth ditto</td><td align="right">2,698</td><td> </td><td align="right">4,377</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Fifth ditto</td><td align="right">2,475</td><td> </td><td align="right">3,369</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Sixth ditto</td><td align="right">1,454</td><td> </td><td align="right">2,827</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Seventh ditto</td><td align="right">3,352</td><td> </td><td align="right">1,910</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right">———</td><td> </td><td align="right">———</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Total</td><td align="right">17,710</td><td> </td><td align="right">25,045</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2">Co-operation majority</td><td> </td><td align="right">7,335</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>Elections in <span class="smcap">Mississippi</span> and in <span class="smcap">Alabama</span>, involving +the same issue, have been already noticed. The results +of the canvass in these four Southern States +are of interest as showing the relative strength of the +two parties in that section of the Union. The following +table shows the vote upon each side, in each State, +in round numbers:</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right"><i>Total vote.</i></td><td align="right"><i>Union.</i></td><td align="right"><i>Secession.</i></td><td align="right"><i>Maj.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Mississippi</td><td align="right">50,100</td><td align="right">28,700</td><td align="right">21,400</td><td align="right">7,300</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Alabama</td><td align="right">74,800</td><td align="right">40,500</td><td align="right">34,300</td><td align="right">6,200</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Georgia</td><td align="right">93,733</td><td align="right">56,261</td><td align="right">37,472</td><td align="right">18,789</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">S. Carolina</td><td align="right">42,755</td><td align="right">25,045</td><td align="right">17,710</td><td align="right">7,335</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">———</span></td><td align="right"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">———</span></td><td align="right"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">———</span></td><td align="right"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">———</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Total</td><td align="right">261,388</td><td align="right">150,506</td><td align="right">110,882</td><td align="right">39,524</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>In <span class="smcap">Virginia</span> the election was for members of Congress, +and upon the adoption of the new Constitution. +The result has been that the Congressional delegation +stands as before, and the new Constitution was adopted +by a very large majority. Among the Whig members +defeated was Hon. John Minor Botts, who has +since written a letter attributing his defeat to the +stand which he took in Convention in favor of a +mixed basis of representation. The new Constitution +adopts the principle of universal suffrage in all +elections, limited, however, to white male citizens +who are twenty-one years of age, and who have resided +two years in the State and one year in the +county in which they vote. Persons in the naval or +military service of the United States are not to be +deemed residents in the State by reason of being +stationed therein. No person will have the right to +vote who is of unsound mind, or a pauper, or a non-commissioned +officer, soldier, seaman, or marine in +the service of the United States, or who has been +convicted of bribery in an election, or of any infamous +offense. In all elections votes are required to be +given openly <i>viva voce</i>, and not by ballot, except that +dumb persons entitled to suffrage may vote by ballot. +Under the new Constitution, the Governor, Lieutenant +Governor, and Attorney General are to be +elected by the people. These officers for the ensuing +term, as well as members of the Senate and +House of Representatives, are to be chosen on the +8th day of December next. The seats of all members +of the General Assembly already elected will be from +that date vacated by the effect of the new Constitution.</p> + +<p>In <span class="smcap">Pennsylvania</span> the election for Governor, Canal +Commissioner, and five Judges of the Supreme +Court, occurred on the last Monday in October, and +resulted as follows:</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left"><i>Governor</i>.</td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Bigler</span></td><td>(Dem.)</td><td align="right"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">186,499</span></td><td align="right"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">8,465 <i>Maj.</i></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Johnston</span></td><td>(Whig)</td><td align="right">178,034</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-right: 2em;"><i>Canal Com</i>.</span></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Clover</span></td><td>(Dem.)</td><td align="right">184,014</td><td align="right">8,660 <i>Maj.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Strohm</span></td><td>(Whig)</td><td align="right">175,354</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><i>Judges</i>.</td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Campbell</span></td><td>(Dem.)</td><td align="right">175,975</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Lowrie</span></td><td>"</td><td align="right">185,353</td><td>Elected.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Lewis</span></td><td>"</td><td align="right">183,975</td><td>"</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Black</span></td><td>"</td><td align="right">185,868</td><td>"</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Gibson</span></td><td>"</td><td align="right">184,371</td><td>"</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Coulter</span></td><td>(Whig)</td><td align="right">179,999</td><td>"</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Comley</span></td><td>"</td><td align="right">174,336</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Chambers</span></td><td>"</td><td align="right">174,350</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Meredith</span></td><td>"</td><td align="right">173,491</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Jessup</span></td><td>"</td><td align="right">172,273</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>In the Legislature there are, Senators 16 Democrats,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +16 Whigs, and one Native American; in the House +of Representatives, 54 Democrats and 46 Whigs.</p> + +<p>Elections have also been held in Ohio, New York, +Wisconsin, Maryland, and Massachusetts; but up to +the time of closing this record, official returns +have not been received.</p> + +<p>We have already mentioned the return of the expedition +sent out by Mr. Henry Grinnell in search +of the great English navigator, Sir John Franklin, +and the general result of their Arctic explorations. +Surgeon <span class="smcap">E. K. Kane</span>, who accompanied the expedition, +has since published a letter, in which he expresses +the opinion that Sir John, while wintering in +the cove near Beechy's Island, where unmistakable +signs of his presence were discovered, found a path-way +made by the opening of the ice, toward the +north, and that he passed northward by Wellington +Channel and did not return. The American expedition +was caught in an ice drift nearly opposite the +spot of Franklin's first sojourn, and borne northward +in the ice for fifteen days. Into the region north and +west of Cornwallis Island, which is open sometimes +and may be always, a continuance of the drift a few +days longer would have borne the American Squadron: +and in that region Mr. Kane thinks Sir John +Franklin must now be sought. The chances of his +destruction by ice, or by want of food, he thinks, are +not great. The British residents of New York gave +Mr. Grinnell a public dinner on the 4th of November +at the Astor House, at which a large company sat +down, Mr. Anthony Barclay presiding. Great interest +continues to be felt in the search for Sir John Franklin, +and it is probable that it will be renewed in the +early spring. In the preceding pages of this Number +will be found an exceedingly interesting history of the +Expedition, from the journal of one of its members—accompanied +by numerous illustrations of the scenes +and incidents encountered during the voyage.</p> + +<p>The case of Mr. John S. Thrasher, an American +gentleman resident at Havana, has excited a good +deal of public interest. Mr. T. has resided there for +a number of years. He was the editor and proprietor +of the <i>Faro Industrial</i>, a paper devoted entirely to +commercial matters, and which he had conducted +with energy, ability, and success. While the American +prisoners were in Havana, Mr. Thrasher took a +marked interest in them, and did all in his power to +alleviate the discomforts of their position. For some +reason, which has never yet been assigned, he incurred +the distrust of the authorities, and on the 1st +of September he was prohibited from issuing his paper +which was seized. Feeling confident that his +property would soon be restored, he devoted himself +to procure comforts for his countrymen who had been +condemned to transportation. The police, however, +were ordered strictly to watch his movements. His +letters were stopped, seized, and examined; but they +contained nothing to warrant proceedings against him. +On the arrival of the steamer <i>Georgia</i> from the United +States, two policemen followed him and saw him receive +letters from the clerk. They arrested him on +landing and searched his papers, but found nothing +but a business letter. For two or three days he continued +under arrest, when a letter was brought to +him sealed, directed to him, and said to have been +found upon his desk. It proved to be written in cipher, +but Mr. Thrasher declared himself ignorant +alike of its contents and its author. This, however, +was of no avail. He was immediately committed to +prison, and on the 25th of September was thrust into +a damp, dark dungeon, cut from the rock and level +with the sea, with a bare board for furniture, and +where death will be the inevitable consequence of a +few weeks' confinement. At the latest dates no +charges had been publicly made against him, his trial +had not taken place, and no one was admitted to see +him. The result of the affair is looked for with great +anxiety.</p> + +<p>The late President <span class="smcap">Tyler</span> has written a letter to +the Spanish Minister in the United States, appealing +for the pardon and release of the Americans taken +prisoners in Cuba. He ventures to make the application +in view of the friendly relations which existed +between him and M. Calderon de la Barca during +his administration, and ventures to hope that his request +will be laid before the Queen of Spain. He +concedes the flagrancy of their offense, but urges that +sufficient punishment has already been inflicted, and +that their pardon will do much toward softening the +feelings of the people of this country toward the +Spanish government, and preventing future attempts +upon the peace of its colonies.</p> + +<p>Gen. <span class="smcap">Wm. B. Campbell</span> was inaugurated Governor +of Tennessee on the 16th of October. His inaugural +address referred briefly to national affairs. He spoke +in the highest terms of commendation of those who +secured the passage of the Compromise bills, in the +Congress of 1850, and of the firm manner in which +they have been maintained by the President. The +disastrous results of secession were strongly depicted. +He urged that it must inevitably lead to bloody +civil wars, alike melancholy and deplorable for the +victors and the vanquished. He pledged himself to +maintain the Compromise measures, because he believed +their continuance on the statute book will promote +prosperity and happiness, while an interference +with them will inevitably produce agitation, mischief, +and misery.</p> + +<p>A Convention of cotton planters was held at Macon, +Georgia, on the 28th of October. About three +hundred delegates were in attendance, of whom two +hundred came from half the counties in Georgia, +sixty-eight from one quarter of those of Alabama, +nineteen from five counties of Florida, and one or +two from each of several other Southern states. Ex-Governor +<span class="smcap">Moseley</span>, of Florida, was chosen President. +The object of the Convention was to render +the planters of cotton more independent of the ordinary +vicissitudes of trade, and to enable them to obtain more +uniformly high prices for their great staple. +A great variety of opinions prevailed upon the subject. +Various modes were suggested, but as none +seemed acceptable, the whole subject was referred to +a Committee of twenty-one, but even this Committee +could not agree. A proposition was then <i>rejected</i>, by +a vote of 48 to 43, which provided that planters should +make returns to a Central Committee to be established +of the cotton housed by the middle of January; +and further, that not more than two-thirds of the crop +should be sold before the 1st of May, and for not less +than eight cents a pound; and that the remaining +third should be sold at a time to be recommended by +the Central Committee. A minority report was presented +in favor of the Florida scheme for a Cotton +Planters' Association, with a capital of twenty millions +of dollars, and a warehouse for the storage of +cotton, whereby prices might be contracted. This +met the violent opposition of the Convention. Resolutions +were finally adopted recommending Central, +State, and County Associations to collect statistical +and general information respecting the production +and consumption of cotton. A committee was also +appointed to procure such legislative acts as may be +for the interest of planters. Resolutions were also +passed to encourage Southern manufacturers to employ +slave labor in their factories. Having urged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> +another Cotton Planters' Convention, and exhorted +delegates to arouse the public on the subject, by lectures +and otherwise, the assembly adjourned <i>sine die</i>, +after a session of several days, in which it will be +observed that very little business was transacted.</p> + +<p>The magnetic telegraph has become so common an +agent of transmitting intelligence in this country, as +to render all news of its progress interesting and important. +Prof. <span class="smcap">Morse</span> has been for some time prosecuting +other persons for infringing his patent. A +rival line, using the machinery of Mr. <span class="smcap">Bain</span>, has +been for some years in operation between New York +and Philadelphia. A suit was commenced against +the Company and has been for some years pending in +the United States Circuit Court. It has just been +decided by Judge <span class="smcap">Kane</span>, in favor of the claimants +under Prof. Morse's patents. The several points +ruled by the Court in this case, are: 1. That an <i>art</i> +is the subject of a patent, as well as an implement +or a machine. 2. That an inventor may surrender and +obtain a re-issue of his patent more than once if necessary. +3. That Prof. Morse was the first inventor of +the art of recording signs at a distance by means of +electro-magnetism, or the magnetic telegraph. 4. That +the several parts or elements of the Morse +Telegraph are covered and protected by his patent, +as new inventions, and are really new, either as +single, independent inventions, or as parts of a new +combination for the purpose specified. 5. That the +patent granted to Prof. Morse for his "Local Circuit" +is valid, and that the "Branch Circuit" of the +Bain line is an infringement of it. 6. That the subject +and principles of the chemical telegraph are +clearly embraced in Morse's patents. These are the +chief questions in dispute. The counsel for the +complainants were directed to draw up a decree to +be made by the Court, in accordance with the prayer +of the bill and the decision just given. The case +will of course now be carried to the Supreme Court +of the United States.</p> + +<p>In the New Monthly Magazine for July last (No. +14, Vol. III. p. 274) we gave a detailed statement of +the legal controversy between the Methodist Episcopal +Church South and the Methodist Episcopal +Church, brought by the former to recover a portion +of the "Book Fund." The suit came on May 19, in +the United States Circuit Court, and was elaborately +argued by distinguished counsel. The decision, +which was then deferred, was given by Judge <span class="smcap">Nelson</span> +on the 10th of November. It was long and +elaborate, going over the whole ground involved, +sketching the history of the case, and stating the +legal principles applicable to it. He decided that +the separation was legal, and that the Methodist +Episcopal Church South is entitled to a portion of +the Fund. This must end the controversy unless +an appeal should be taken to the Supreme Court of +the United States.</p> + +<p>A large number of the citizens of New York recently +addressed a letter to Hon. <span class="smcap">Henry Clay</span>, requesting +him to address a meeting in that city in +favor of the Compromise measures of 1850, expressing +a belief that additional exertions were needed to +prevent propositions for the repeal or modification +of some of the laws. Mr. Clay's reply, dated Oct. 3, +is long and elaborate. Declining the invitation, he +expresses great interest in the subject, and says he +believes that the great majority of the people in every +section of the Union, are satisfied with, or acquiesce +in, the compromise. The only law which encounters +any hostility, is that relating to the surrender of fugitive +slaves; and this is now almost universally +obeyed. Mr. Clay proceeds to urge the necessity +of such a law and its rigid execution; and he then +examines the principle of secession from the Union, +as it is presented and advocated in some of the +Southern States.</p> + +<p>Rev. <span class="smcap">Archibald Alexander</span>, D. D., distinguished +as one of the oldest and ablest theologians in the +country, died at Princeton, N. J. on the 22d of October, +aged 81. He was a native of Virginia, and +became a minister in the Presbyterian Church at the +age of 21. He was early appointed President of +Hampton Sidney College. He afterward was called +to the Third Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, +and was stationed, there, when in 1812, the Theological +Seminary was established at Princeton. He +was appointed the first Professor in that Seminary.</p> + +<p>Dr. J. <span class="smcap">Kearney Rodgers</span>, distinguished in New +York as a surgeon, and of eminently useful and estimable +character, died on the 9th of November. Dr. +<span class="smcap">Granville Sharp Pattison</span>, also celebrated in +this country as well as in England for medical science +and practical skill, died on the 13th. He was distinguished +as an anatomist, and was the author of +several works upon medical subjects which enjoyed +a wide celebrity and are still used as standard +treatises.—<span class="smcap">Gardner G. Howland</span>, well-known as one +of the oldest, most enterprising, and wealthiest merchants +of New York, and one of the most beneficent +and public spirited inhabitants of that city, died suddenly +on the 13th.</p> + +<p>From <span class="smcap">California</span> our intelligence is to the 1st of +October. The State election had resulted in a Democratic +victory. Mr. <span class="smcap">Bigler</span>, the Democratic candidate, was +elected Governor by about 1500 majority; +Messrs. <span class="smcap">Marshall</span> and <span class="smcap">McCorkle</span>, Democrats, are +elected to Congress; and the Legislature, upon +which will devolve the duty of electing a U. S. Senator, +is strongly Democratic also.——The Capital of +the State has been removed back from Vallejo to San +José.——The intelligence from the mines is highly +encouraging; new veins of gold are constantly discovered, +and the old placers have never been known +to yield more plentifully.——The Indians in all the +northern sections of the country are represented as +being highly troublesome, and traveling there has become +dangerous.——A large party of Mormons have +purchased the rancho of San Bernardino, near Los +Angelos; they gave $60,000 for it, and are to take +possession of it very soon.——A railroad from San +Francisco to San José, the first in California, has +been commenced.——The Vigilance Committee at +San Francisco, has come to an end. Order and quiet +are completely restored, and a feeling of security is +rapidly gaining ground. The city is increasing very +fast both in population and in extent.——Disastrous +news has been received from the American whaling +fleet in the North Pacific. Ten or twelve of the +ships have been lost: the season has been very +unprofitable for all.</p> + +<p>From <span class="smcap">Oregon</span>, we learn that emigrants were coming +in rapidly, though a late heavy snow-storm had +seriously retarded the progress of emigrants through +the mountains. The suffering from cold, and in some +instances from lack of provisions, has been very severe.——The +Snake Indians are becoming hostile +and troublesome. Mr. Hudson Clark, from Illinois, +with his family, having got ahead of the train with +which he was traveling, was attacked by about thirty +Indians, near Raft River, and his mother and brother +were killed. Others had been killed a few days previously. +Outrages in different sections led to the belief +that the Indians were about to assume their +former attitude of hostility toward the inhabitants.——Steps +have been taken by a Convention of Delegates<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> +from the country north of the Columbia River, +to form a new territorial government, or failing in +that, to organize a new State, and ask admission into +the Union. The reasons for this step are the great +extent of country, its distance from the Capital, and +the total absence of all municipal law and civil officers.</p> + +<p>In the <span class="smcap">Sandwich Islands</span>, the volcanic Mountain +Maunaloa, had given tokens of an eruption early in +August. A letter in the <i>Polynesian</i> of the 12th says: +"The great crater of Maunaloa, that was generally +thought to be quite extinct, is now in action. For a +few days a heavy cloud, having the appearance of +smoke, has been observed to hover over the summit +of the mountain. Last night the mountain stood out +in bold relief, unobstructed by clouds or mist, and +presented a sublime and awfully grand appearance, +belching forth flames and cinders that again fell in +showers at a distance. The heavy bank of smoke +that lowered over its top, presented the appearance +of the mountain itself poised upon its apex. It is +possible that another eruption may take place like +that of 1843, and liquid lava be seen flowing down +its sides."</p> + +<p>From <span class="smcap">New Mexico</span> we have intelligence to the +last of October. Serious difficulties had occurred, +which excited deep hostility between the American +and Mexican portions of the population, and threatened +to inflict lasting injury upon the country. The +election for a Delegate to Congress, was held on the +1st of September. A number of Americans went to +the polls at Los Ranchos, for the purpose of voting, +but were refused by the Mexican authorities. Insisting +upon their right a general quarrel ensued. +The county judge, a Mexican named Ambrosio Armijo, +ordered out a number of armed men, who killed +an American named Edward Burtnett, stripping and +mangling his body. An investigation was held, but +without any important result. On the 23d, Mr. W. +C. Skinner, who had taken an active part in the effort +to bring the authors of this outrage to punishment, +was at Los Ranchos, and became involved in a dispute +with a Mexican, named Juan C. Armijo. As he +left him a number of Armijo's peons fell upon him +with clubs, and killed him on the spot. Mr. Skinner +was from Connecticut, and an active opponent of the +Governor in the Legislature of which he was a member. +Meetings of the Americans were held, at which +the conduct of the Mexicans was denounced, and the +attention of the General Government at Washington, +called to the condition of the territory.——Major +Weightman has been elected Delegate to Congress: +loud complaints are made of frauds at the election.——The +new military post in the Navajo country, +is at Cañon Bonito: Col. Summer and his command +were in pursuit of the Indians. Two soldiers who +had left Santa Fé with the mail, for the Navajo +country, had not been heard from, and were supposed +to have been killed.——Business was dull, and the +season very wet.</p> + + +<h4>SOUTH AMERICA.</h4> + +<p>From <span class="smcap">Chili</span>, we have news of another insurrection. +The term of office of the late President, Gen. +<span class="smcap">Bulnes</span>, expired on the 16th of September. In August +the new election had taken place, and resulted +in the choice of Don <span class="smcap">Manuel Montt</span> over his opponent, +Gen. <span class="smcap">Cruz</span>. Montt was a successful lawyer of +Santiago, and had held a post in the cabinet of the +former administration. He was brought forward as +the candidate of the government, which rendered him +exceedingly obnoxious to the people. His opponent, +Gen. Cruz, had been one of the heroes of the revolution +and enjoyed great popularity with the army and +a large portion of the people, especially of the province +of Conception, of which he was the chief officer. +Fearing his influence then upon the election, the government +removed him, and this created great disaffection +among the people. Loud threats were heard, +that Montt, who had received a very large majority, +should not be inaugurated: the government, nevertheless, +steadily went on with their preparations for +that event. The revolt first broke out at Coquimbo, +on the 8th of September, where the disaffected party +deposed and banished the government officers, seized +the custom-house with about $70,000, and levied +forced loans from many of the wealthy inhabitants. +They then seized the steamer "Fire-fly," belonging +to an English gentleman, and sent her to Conception, +the stronghold of Gen. Cruz, to arouse his friends to +a similar movement there. An outbreak had already +taken place in that department; the insurgents had +been very successful—banished all the old officers, +and appointed new ones, and seized the Chilian mail +steamer, with $30,000 belonging to the government. +Up to this time, Gen. Cruz had kept himself aloof +from the movement, and had counseled his friends +against it. Feeling satisfied with their success, they +determined to await the action of the other provinces. +Meanwhile, the government having heard of the revolt, +and seeing that it was confined to these two departments, +took active measures for its suppression. +A detachment of infantry, consisting of 300 or 400 +men, was sent to Valparaiso, but was induced to +march to join the insurgents in Coquimbo. Intelligence +of this defection created the most intense excitement +at the Capital, and the city was at once put +under martial-law, and a company of artillery was +sent against the deserters, who were all brought back +without bloodshed, within forty-eight hours. Their +leaders were thrown into prison, and would probably +be shot. Other troops were sent to the disaffected +region, and the few ships belonging to the Chilian +navy were sent to blockade the ports of Coquimbo +and Talcahuano. Meantime, the inauguration of +President Montt took place on the 18th of September, +the anniversary of Chilian independence, and +that day as well as the 17th, and 19th, were devoted +to magnificent festivities at Santiago. Gen. Bulnes +had left for Conception, to raise troops for the government +on the road, and put himself at their head. +There were rumors that he had been compelled to +fall back, and that Gen. Cruz had put himself at the +head of the movement in Conception. He had issued +a proclamation to the army, and authorized a steamer +to cruise in his service. At Coquimbo, Gen. Correa +was in command of the insurgent forces, and it was +reported that he had forced the government troops +under Gen. Guzman, to fall back. The British admiral, +on hearing of the seizure of the "Fire-fly" +steamer, had sent two steam-frigates to recover her +and demand indemnity. One of them, the <i>Gorgon</i>, +captured her at Coquimbo, and the commander had +entered into a convention with the party in power +there, agreeing to raise the blockade of that port, on +their agreeing to pay $30,000 indemnity to Mr. Lambert, +and $10,000 as ransom for the steamer, which +he had seized as a pirate, "provided the British admiral +should decide that he had a right to seize her." +Great dissatisfaction has been felt among the foreign +residents at the terms of this convention. Both the +British and American squadrons were watchfully +protecting the commerce of their respective countries. +The issue of the contest between the government +and the insurgents has not yet reached us, but +the latest advices state that the government felt confident +in its ability to repress the insurrection; its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> +strength and resources are shown by the fact that it +had remitted $80,000 to England, to meet dividends +and canal bonds.</p> + +<p>We have further news of interest from Buenos +Ayres. Our intelligence of last month left Oribe, +with a large force, on the 30th of July, in daily expectation +of having a battle with the Brazilian troops +under Urquiza and Garzon—each contending for dominion +over Uruguay. The contest seems to have +been ended without a fight. As Oribe advanced +against the allied troops, he lost his men by desertion +in great numbers, and by the end of August six +thousand of his cavalry had joined the standard of +Urquiza, whose strength was rapidly increased. Finding +the force against him to be such as to forbid all +hope of a successful battle, Oribe seems to have abandoned +all hope. He had made up his mind to evacuate +the Oriental territory, and for that purpose had +requested the French admiral to convey him, with +the Argentine troops, to Buenos Ayres. This request +had been refused: and this refusal led to new +desertions from Oribe's force. Rosas was still in the +field, but would be compelled to surrender.</p> + + +<h4>MEXICO.</h4> + +<p>We have intelligence from Mexico to the 15th of +October. The political condition of the country was +one of great embarrassment and peril. Dangers seem +to threaten the country from every quarter. On the +southern border is the danger growing out of the grant +to the United States of right of way across the Isthmus +of Tehuantepec. If the railroad is built there, +it is feared that the energy and business enterprise +which the Americans will infuse into that section of +the country, will gradually Americanize it, and thus +lead inevitably to its separation from Mexico. On +the other hand, if the grant is revoked, there is great +danger of war with the United States, which could +end only in renewed loss of territory. Upon the +northwest again, there is a prospect of invasion from +California. Thousands of the adventurous inhabitants +of that State are settling in the western section +of Mexico and preparing the way for its separation +from the central government.</p> + +<p>A still more serious danger menaces them from +the Northern departments, in which, as was mentioned +in our last Number, a revolution has broken +out which promises to be entirely successful. Later +advices confirm this prospect. After taking Reynosa, +Gen. Caravajal, the leader of the revolution, marched +to Matamoras, which he reached on the 20th of +October, and forthwith attacked the place, which +had been prepared for an obstinate defense, under +Gen. Avalos. Several engagements between the opposing +forces had taken place, and the besieged army +is said to have lost two hundred men. The inhabitants +of Matamoras had been forced to leave, part +of the town had been twice on fire, and a great +amount of property was destroyed. But the city +still held out.</p> + +<p>The general government had addressed a note, +through the Minister of War, under date of September +25, to the Governors of the Northern States, expressing +confidence in their fidelity and urging them +to spare no effort to crush the revolt. The Governors +had replied to the requisitions upon them for +troops, that their departments were not injured by +the revolution and that they would not aid its suppression. +This fact shows that the movement has +decided strength among the Mexicans themselves.</p> + +<p>The Legislature of the State of Vera Cruz has +passed a resolution requesting Congress to charter +a railroad from Vera Cruz to Acapulco, by way of +Mexico. A good deal of hostility is evinced to a reported +design of the Pope to send a nuncio to the +capital.—The British Minister has demanded from +Mexico a judicial decree in favor of British creditors, +and has menaced the government with a blockade +of their ports as the alternative.—There had been a +military revolt of part of the troops in Yucatan, which +had been suppressed, and six of the soldiers shot.</p> + + +<h4>GREAT BRITAIN.</h4> + +<p>The arrival of <span class="smcap">Kossuth</span> and the closing of the +Great Exhibition, are the two events by which the +month in England has been distinguished. The +great Hungarian received a very cordial welcome. +He came to Gibraltar from Constantinople by the +United States steam frigate Mississippi, which had +been sent out by the American government to convey +him to the United States. On reaching Marseilles +he proposed to go through France to England, +for the purpose of leaving his children there; and +then to meet the Mississippi again at Gibraltar. +The French government refused him permission to +pass through France. The receipt of this refusal +excited a good deal of feeling among the people of +Marseilles, who gathered in immense numbers to +testify their regard for the illustrious exile, and their +regret at the action of their government. In reply to +their manifestations, Kossuth addressed them a letter +of thanks, which was published in <i>Le Peuple</i> at +Marseilles. In this he merely alluded to the action +of the government and assured them that he did not +hold the French people responsible for it. He then +proceeded in the frigate to Gibraltar, where, after +staying two or three days, and receiving the utmost +civilities of the British officers there, he embarked +on board the British steamer Madrid, in which he +reached Southampton on the 23d of October. A +large concourse of people met him on the wharf and +escorted him, with great enthusiasm and hearty +cheering, to the residence of the mayor. In answer +to the loud cheers with which he was greeted, he +came out upon the balcony and briefly addressed the +crowd, warmly thanking them for their welcome and +expressing the profoundest gratitude to England for +the aid she had given to his deliverance from prison.—The +same day an address from the people of Southampton +was presented to him in the Town Hall, to +which he replied at some length. He spoke of the +feeling with which he had always studied the character +and institutions of England, and said that it +was her municipal institutions which had preserved +to Hungary some spirit of public life and constitutional +liberty, against the hostile acts of Austria. +The doctrine of centralization had been fatal to +France and other European nations. It was the foe +of liberty—the sure agent of absolute power. He +attributed much of England's freedom to her municipal +institutions. For himself, he regarded these +demonstrations of respect as paid to the political +principles he represented, rather than his person. +He believed that England would not allow Russia +to control the destinies of Europe—that her people +would not assist the ambition of a few families, but +the moral welfare and dignity of humanity. He +hoped to see some of those powerful associations of +English people, by which so much is done for political +rights, directing their attention, and extending +their powerful aid to Hungary. For himself life was +of no value, except as he could make use of it for +the liberty of his own country and the benefit of humanity. +He took the expression of respect by which +he had been met, as an encouragement to go on in +that way which he had taken for the aim of his life, +and which he hoped the blessings of the Almighty, +and the sympathy of the people of England and of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +generous hearts all over the world, might help to +carry to a happy issue. It was a much greater merit +to acknowledge a principle in adversity than to pay +a tribute to its success. He thanked them for their +sympathy and assured them of the profound admiration +he had always entertained for the free institutions +of England.</p> + +<p>On the 24th, <span class="smcap">Kossuth</span> went to the country house of +the mayor, and on the 25th attended a <i>déjeûner</i> at Winchester, +where he made a long speech, being mainly +an historical outline of the Hungarian revolution. He +explained the original character of Hungary, as a +constitutional monarchy, and its position between +Russia, Austria, and Turkey. Its constitution was +aristocratic, but its aristocracy was not rich, nor was +it opposed to the constitutional rights of the people. +Hungary had a parliament and county municipal institutions, +and to the latter he attributed the preservation +of the people's rights. All the orders of the +government to any municipal magistrate, must be +forwarded through county meetings, where they were +discussed, and sometimes withheld. They thus +formed a strong barrier against the encroachments +of the government; and no county needed such a +barrier more, for during more than three centuries, +the House of Hapsburg had not at its head a man +who was a friend to political freedom. The House +of Hapsburg ruled Hungary, but only according to +treaties—one of the conditions of which was, that they +were to rule the people of Hungary only through +Hungarian institutions, and according to its own +laws. Austria had succeeded in absorbing all the +other provinces connected with her—but her attempts +upon Hungary had proved unsuccessful. Her constant +efforts to subdue Hungary had convinced her +rulers that to the nobles alone her defense ought not +to be intrusted, but that all the people should have +an equal interest in their constitutional rights. This +was the direction of public opinion in Hungary in +1825. The first effort of the patriotic party, therefore, +was to emancipate the people—to relieve the +peasantry from their obligation to give 104 days out +of every year to their landlords, one-ninth of their +produce to their seigneur, and one-tenth to the bishop. +This was only effected by slow degrees. In the long +parliament, from 1832 to 1836, a measure was carried +giving the peasant the right to purchase exemption +from the duties with the consent of his landlord. +This, however, was vetoed by the Regent. The +government then set itself to work to corrupt the +county constituencies, by which members of the +Commons were chosen. They appointed officers to +be present at every meeting, and to control every +act. This system the liberal party resisted, because +they wished the county meetings to be free. And +this struggle went on until 1847, just before the +breaking out of the French Revolution. The revolution +in Vienna followed that event, and this threw +all power into the hands of Kossuth and his party. +He at once proposed to emancipate the peasantry, +and to indemnify the landlords from the land. The +measure was carried at once, through both Houses; +and Kossuth and his friends then went on, to give +to every inhabitant a right to vote, and to establish +representative institutions, including a responsible +ministry. The Emperor gave his sanction to all +these laws. Yet very soon after a rebellion was incited +by Austria among the Serbs, who resisted the +new Hungarian government, and declared their independence. +The Palatine, representing the King, +called for an army to put down the rebellion, and +Jellachich, who was its leader, was proclaimed a +traitor. But soon successes in Italy enabled the +Emperor to act more openly, and he recognized Jellachich +as his friend, and commissioned him to march +with an army against Hungary. He did so, but was +driven back. The Emperor then appointed him governor; +but the Hungarians would not receive him. +Then came an open war with Austria, in which the +Hungarians were successful. Reliable information +was then received that Russia was about to join +Austria in the war, and that Hungary had nowhere +to look for aid. It was then proposed that, if Hungary +was forced to contend against two mighty nations, +the reward of success should be its independence. +What followed, all know. He declared his +belief that, but for the treason of Görgey, the Hungarians +could have defeated the united armies of their +foes. But the House of Hapsburg, as a dynasty, exists +no more. It merely vegetates at the whim of the +mighty Czar, to whom it has become the obedient +servant. But if England would only say that Russia +should not thus set her foot on the neck of Hungary, +all might yet be well. Hungary would have knowledge, +patriotism, loyalty, and courage enough to dispose +of its own domestic matters, as it is the sovereign +right of every nation to do. This was the cause for +which he asked the generous sympathy of the English +people; and he thanked them cordially for the +attention they had given to his remarks.</p> + +<p>On the same occasion Mr. <span class="smcap">Cobden</span> spoke in favor +of the intervention of England to prevent Russia +from crushing Hungary, and obtaining control of +Europe, and Mr. J. R. <span class="smcap">Croskey</span>, the American +Consul at Southampton, expressed the opinion that +the time would come, if it had not already come, +when the United States would be forced into taking +more than an interest in European politics.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Kossuth</span> again addressed the company, thanking +them for the interest taken in the welfare of his +unhappy country, and expressing the hope that, +supported by this sympathy, the hopes expressed might +be realized at no distant day. He spoke also of the +different ways in which nations may promote the +happiness and welfare of their people. England, he +said, wants no change, because she is governed by a +constitutional monarchy, under which all classes in +the country enjoy the full benefits of free institutions. +The consequence is, the people of England are masters +of their own fates—defenders of her institutions—obedient +to the laws, and vigilant in their behavior—and +the country has become, and must forever +continue, under such institutions, to be great, glorious, +and free. Then the United States is a republic—and +though governed in a different way from +England, the people of the United States have no +motive for desiring a change—they have got liberty, +freedom, and every means for the full development +of their social condition and position. Under their +government, the people of the United States have, +in sixty years, arrived at a position of which they +may well be proud—and the English people, too, +have good reason to be proud of their descendants +and the share which she has had in the planting of +so great a nation on the other side of the Atlantic. +It was most gratifying to see so great and glorious a +nation thriving under a Constitution but little more +than sixty years old. It is not every republic in +which freedom is found to exist, and he said he could +cite examples in proof of his assertion—and he deeply +lamented that there is among them one great and +glorious nation where the people do not yet enjoy +that liberty which their noble minds so well fit them +for. It is not every monarchy that is good because +under it you enjoy full liberty and freedom. Therefore +he felt that it is not the living under a government<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> +called a republic, that will secure the liberties +of the people, but that quite as just and honest laws +may exist under a monarchy as under a republic. If +he wanted an illustration, he need only examine the +institutions of England and the United States, to +show that under different forms of government equal +liberty can and does exist. It was to increase the +liberties of the people that they had endeavored to +widen the basis on which their Constitution rested, +so as to include the whole population, and thus give +them an interest in the maintenance of social order.</p> + +<p>M. <span class="smcap">Kossuth</span> had visited London privately, mainly +to consult a physician concerning his health, which +is delicate. He intended to remain in England until +the 14th of November, and then sail for New York in +one of the American steamers.</p> + +<p>The Great Exhibition was closed Oct. 15 with +public ceremonies. The building was densely filled +with spectators, and there was a general attendance +of all who had been officially connected with the +Exhibition in any way. Viscount Canning read the +report of the Council of the Chairmen of Juries, rehearsing +the manner in which they had endeavored +to discharge the duties devolved upon them. There +had been thirty-four acting juries, composed equally +of British subjects and foreigners. The chairmen +of these juries were formed into a Council, to determine +the conditions upon which prizes should be +awarded, and to secure, so far as possible, uniformity +in the action of the juries. It was ultimately decided +that only two kinds of medals should be awarded, +one the <i>prize</i> medal, to be conferred wherever a certain +standard of excellence in production or workmanship +had been attained, and to be awarded by +the juries: the other the <i>council</i> medal, to be awarded +by the council, upon the recommendation of a jury, +for some important novelty of invention or application, +either in material or processes of manufacture, +or originality combined with great beauty of design. +The number of prize medals awarded was 2918: of +council medals 170. Honorable mention was made +of other exhibitors whose works did not entitle them +to medals. The whole number of exhibitors was +about 17,000. Prince <span class="smcap">Albert</span> responded to this +report, on behalf of the Royal Commissioners, thanking +the jurors and others for the care and assiduity +with which they had performed their duties, and +closing with the expression of the hope that the Exhibition +might prove to be a happy means of promoting +unity among nations, and peace and good +will among the various races of mankind. The +honor of knighthood has been conferred upon Mr. +Paxton, the designer of the building, Mr. Cubitt, the +engineer, and Mr. Fox, the contractor. The total +number of visits to the Exhibition has been 6,201,856: +466 schools and twenty-three parties of agricultural +laborers have visited it. The entire sum received +from the Exhibition has been £505,107 5<i>s.</i> 7<i>d.</i> of +which £356,808 1<i>s.</i> was taken at the doors. About +£90 of bad silver was taken—nearly all on the half-crown +and five shilling days. Of the 170 council +medals distributed 76 went to the United Kingdom, +57 to France, 7 to Prussia, 5 to the United States, 4 +to Austria, 3 to Bavaria, 2 each to Belgium, Switzerland, +and Tuscany, 1 each to Holland, Russia, Rome, +Egypt, the East India Company, Spain, Tunis, and +Turkey, and one each to Prince Albert, Mr. Paxton, +Mr. Fox, and Mr. Cubitt.</p> + +<p>The sum of £758,196 from the British revenue for +the quarter ending October 11, is available toward +the payment of the national debt. The sum of +£3,004,048 has been appropriated to that object +during the year.</p> + +<p>The Queen returned on the 12th of October from +a protracted tour in Scotland. She visited Liverpool +and Manchester on her return, and in both cities +was received with great enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>Serious difficulties have arisen in Ireland out of +the loans made by government to the various unions +for the relief. As the time for repaying these advances +comes round, the country is found to be unable +to pay the taxes levied for that purpose. These +rates run from five to ten shillings in the pound. In +some of the unions a disposition to repudiate the +debt has been shown—but this has generally proved +to be only a desire to postpone it until it can be done +without oppressively taxing the property. The question +has excited a great deal of feeling, and the difficulty +is not yet surmounted.</p> + +<p>The public is anxiously awaiting the details of +Lord <span class="smcap">John Russell's</span> promised reform bill. It is of +course understood that its leading object will be to +extend the elective franchise, and the bare thought +of this has stimulated the organs of Toryism to prophetic +lamentations over the ruin which so radical a +movement will certainly bring upon the British Empire.</p> + +<p>English colonial affairs engage a good deal of attention. +At the Cape of Good Hope the government +is engaged in a war with the native Kaffirs, which +does not make satisfactory progress. At the latest +accounts, coming down to September 12th, the hostile +natives continued to vex the frontiers, and Sir +Harry Smith, the military commandant, had found it +necessary to lead new forces against them. A severe +battle was fought on the 1st of September, and +repeated engagements had been had subsequently, in +all which great injury had been inflicted upon the +English troops. It was supposed that ten thousand +men would be required, in addition to the force already +there, to restore peace to the disaffected district. +The construction of a railway through Egypt, by +English capitalists, has met with serious obstacles +in the refusal of the Turkish Sultan to allow his +subject, the Pacha of Egypt, to treat with foreigners +for the purpose of allowing the work to go on. He +has, however, given the English to understand, that +he is not hostile to the railway, but is only unwilling +that it should become a pretext for making the +Pacha independent of him. Lord Palmerston acquiesces +in the justice of this view; and there will +probably be no difficulty in arranging the whole +matter.</p> + + +<h4>FRANCE.</h4> + +<p>Political affairs in France have taken a remarkable +turn within the past month. The President +persisted in his determination to be a candidate for +re-election, and finding that he could not receive the +support of the majority as the government was constituted, +resolved upon a bold return to universal +suffrage. Having been elected to the Presidency by +universal suffrage, and finding that the restricted +suffrage would ruin him, he determined to repeal the +law of May, which disfranchised three millions of +voters, and throw himself again upon the whole people +of France. He accordingly demanded from his +Ministers their consent to the abrogation of that law. +They refused, and on the 14th of October all tendered +their resignation. They were at once accepted +by the President, but the Ministry were to retain +their places until a new one could be formed. This +proved to be a task of great difficulty. It was officially +announced that the President was preparing +his Message for the approaching session of the Assembly, +and that in this document he would, first, +lay down in very distinct terms, the abrogation of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +the law of May 31; secondly, that he will express +his irrevocable resolution to maintain the policy of +order, of conservation, and authority, and that he +would make no concession to anarchical ideas, under +whatever flag or name they may shelter themselves.</p> + +<p>A new Ministry was definitively formed on the +27th of October, constituted as follows:</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left"><i>Justice</i></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">M. Corbin.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><i>Foreign Affairs</i></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">M. Turgot.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><i>Public Instruction</i></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">M. C. Giraud.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><i>Interior</i></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">M. de Thorogny.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-right: 2em;"><i>Agriculture and Commerce</i></span></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">M. de Casiabiauca.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><i>Public Works</i></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">M. Lacrosse.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><i>War</i></td><td align="left">Gen. <span class="smcap">Leroy de St. Arnaud.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><i>Marine</i></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">M. Hippolyte Fourtoul.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><i>Finance</i></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">M. Blondel.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><i>Prefect of Police</i></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">M. de Maupas.</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>In several instances, within a few weeks past, the +Republican representatives in the various departments +of France, have been subjected to gross insults +from the police and other agents of the government. +M. Sartin, the representative for Allier, has +submitted a statement to the Assembly, saying that +while dining with a friend at Montlucon, two brigadiers +of gendarmerie entered and told the company +that, as the company exceeded fifteen, it was a political +meeting within the prohibition of the government. +M. Sartin produced his medal of representative +of the people, and claimed immunity. He was +told that no such immunity existed, except during +the session of the Assembly. Quite a scuffle ensued, +in which one or two persons were wounded. These +proceedings soon collected a crowd, and the people +declared that no more arrests should be made. Several +squadrons of cavalry soon arrived, and as the +result, thirteen persons were sent to prison.—In +Saucerre also, the magistrates having arrested three +persons, one of whom was the former mayor, the inhabitants +rose and attempted a rescue. The military +in the neighborhood collected and dispersed the +crowd, twenty-six of whom were arrested and committed +to prison.</p> + + +<h4>SOUTHERN EUROPE.</h4> + +<p>There is no news of special interest from Southern +Europe. We have already noticed the letters of +Mr. <span class="smcap">Gladstone</span> to Lord <span class="smcap">Aberdeen</span>, exposing the +abominations of the Neapolitan government, in its +persecution of state prisoners—together with the official +reply which the King of Naples has caused to +be made to it. Lord Palmerston sent a copy of Mr. +Gladstone's letters to the British representatives at +each European Court, with instructions to lay them +before the Court to which he was accredited. The +Neapolitan Minister in London sent to Lord Palmerston +a book written in reply to Mr. Gladstone's letters, +by an English gentleman named M'Farlane, +and requested him to send this also to those British +representatives who had been furnished with the +other. Lord P. replied to this request in a spirited +letter, declaring his object to have been to arouse +the public sentiment of Europe against the cruelties +and outrageous violations of law and justice of which +the government of Naples is constantly guilty, and +saying that the King of Naples was very much mistaken, +if he believed public opinion could be controlled +or changed by such a pitiful diatribe as that +of Mr. M'Farlane. The only way of conciliating the +sentiment of Europe upon this subject, was by remedying +the evils which had excited its indignation. +The Courts of Germany, Austria, and Russia, to +which Mr. Gladstone's letters were sent, have complained +of this act as an unwarrantable interference, +on the part of Lord Palmerston, with the internal +administration of Naples. In the German Diet, at +Frankfort, Count Thun protested against the course +pursued by the British Minister, and maintained that +to criticise the criminal justice of other countries is +a most flagrant breach of the rights of nations. If +English statesmen could interfere with the conduct +of the King of Naples, for imprisoning men for supporting +the Constitution which he had sworn to +maintain, they might also interfere with the violations +of their oaths, as well as of justice, of which +the governments of Austria, Saxony, Baden, and +other countries had been guilty; and then, said he, +what was to become of kingly freedom and independence? +The Diet, on his motion, resolved to express +to the British Minister their astonishment at the +course the British government had pursued.</p> + +<p>In <span class="smcap">Prussia</span> vigorous preparations are made for +anticipated difficulties in France in the spring of +1852, after the Presidential election. The troops of +all the German states are to be put on a full war +establishment, and to be ready for immediate action +early in the spring. The western fortresses have +received orders to be in readiness for war.</p> + +<p>A general Congress has been held of representatives +from the several German states, to make some +common arrangement for the management of the +electric telegraph. They have agreed that all messages +shall be forwarded without interruption, that a +common scale of charges shall be adopted, and that +the receipts shall go into a common fund, to be +distributed among the several states in proportion +to the number of miles of telegraphic communication +running through them.</p> + +<p>The German Diet has resolved that the annexation +of the Prussian Polish provinces to the confederation +two years ago, was illegal and void. It has also determined +to take into consideration the claims of the +Ritter party in Hanover, to have the abolition of +their nobility privileges revoked. This abolition +was effected during the recent revolutions, but it +was done in a perfectly legal manner.</p> + +<p>The Emperor of Austria, not long since, wrote a +letter to Prince Schwartzenberg, stating that the +Ministry would henceforth be responsible to him +alone, and that he would answer for the government. +This declaration, that the government was hereafter +to be absolute, excited deep feeling throughout the +country, and it was supposed that it might lead to a +political crisis. On the 11th of October, however, +the Ministers took the oath of obedience to the Emperor, +under this new definition of their powers and +responsibilities. The Emperor recently visited Lombardy, +where he had a very cold reception.</p> + +<p>In <span class="smcap">Spain</span> changes have been made in the administration +of the island of Cuba. A Colonial Council +has been created, which is to have charge of all +affairs relating to the colonial possessions, except +such as are specially directed by other Ministers. The +Captain-general of each colony is to conduct its affairs +under the direction of the Council. It is said +that the Spanish Government intends to relax its +customs regulations in favor of England.</p> + +<p>From <span class="smcap">India</span> and the <span class="smcap">East</span> late intelligence has +been received. The Indian frontier continued +undisturbed: the troops suffered greatly from +sickness. There had been an outbreak in Malabar, +which caused great loss of life. The rebellion in +China still goes on, but details of its progress +are lacking.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>Editor's Table</h2> + + +<p>Time and Space—what are they? Do they +belong to the world without, or to the world +within, or to some mysterious and inseparable union +of both departments of being? We hope the reader +will be under no alarm from such a beginning, or entertain +any fear of being treated to a dish of indigestible +metaphysics. The terms we have placed at +the head of our Editor's Table, as suggestive of appropriate +thoughts for the closing month of the year, +are, indeed, the deepest in philosophy. In all ages +have they been the watchwords of the schools. Aristotle +failed in the attempt to measure them. Kant +acknowledged his inability to fathom the profundity +of their significance. And yet there are none, perhaps, +that enter more into the musings of that common +philosophy which is for all minds, for all ages, +and for all conditions in life. Who has not thought +on the enigma of time and space, each baffling every +effort the mind may make for its pure and perfect +conception without some aid from the notion of its +inseparable correlative? Where is the man, or child +even, who has not been drawn to some contemplation +of that wondrous stream on whose bosom we are +sailing, but of which we can conceive neither origin +nor outlet; that mysterious river ever sweeping us +along as by some irresistible <i>outward</i> force, and yet +seeming to be so strangely affected by the internal +condition of each soul that is voyaging upon its current—at +one time the scenery upon its banks gliding +by with a placid swiftness that arrests the attention +even of the least reflective—at another, the mind +recalled from a reverie which has seemingly carried +us onward many a league from the last remembered +observation of our mental longitude, but only to discover, +with surprise, that the objects on either shore +have hardly receded a perceptible distance in the perspective +of our spiritual panorama. We have passed +the equinoctial line, and are under fair sail for the enchanted +kingdom of Candaya, when, like Don Quixotte +and Sancho on the smooth-flowing Ebro, we start +up to find the rocks and trees, and all the familiar +features of the same old "real world" yet full in sight, +and that we have scarcely drifted a stone's throw from +the point of our departure. It is astonishing to what a +distance the mental wanderings may extend in the +briefest periods. The idea was never better expressed +than by a pious old deacon, who used most feelingly +to lament this sin of wandering thoughts in the midst +of holy services. Between the first and fourth lines +of a hymn, he would say, the soul may rove to the +very ends of the earth. The fixed outward measure +arresting the attention by its marked commencement +and its closing cadence, presented the extent of such +subjective excursions in their most startling light. +Childhood, too, furnishes vivid illustrations of the +same psychological phenomena—childhood, that musing +introspective period, which, on some accounts, +may be regarded as the most metaphysical portion of +human life. Who has not some reminiscences of this +kind belonging to his boyish existence? How in health +the morning has seemed to burst upon him in apparent +simultaneousness with the moment when his +head first dropped upon the pillow, and he has wondered +to think how mysteriously he had leaped the +interval which unerring outward indications had compelled +him to assign to the measured continuity of +his existence! How has he, on the other hand, in +sickness, marked the unvaried ticking of the clock +through the long dark night, and fancied that the +slow-pacing hours would never flee away. His one +sense and thought of pain, had arrested the current +of his being, and even the outer world seemed to +stand still, as though in sympathy with the suspended +movement of his own inner life. In experiences +such as these, the mind of the child has been brought +directly upon the deepest problem in psychology. +He has been on the shore of the great mystery, and +Kant, and Fichte, and Coleridge could go no farther, +except, it may be, to show how utterly unfathomable +for our present faculties, the mystery is. Philosophy +comes back ever to the same unexplained position. +She can not conceive of mind as existing out of time +and space, and she can not well conceive of time +and space as wholly separate from the idea of successive +thought, or, in other words, a perceiving and +measuring mind.</p> + +<p>Such phenomena present themselves in our most +ordinary existence. Let a man be in the habit of +tracing back his roving thoughts, until he connects +them with the last remembered link from which the +wandering reverie commenced, and he will be amazed +to find how long a time may in a few moments have +passed through the mind. The minute hand has +barely changed its position, and not only images and +thoughts, but hopes, and fears, and moral states have +been called out, which, under other circumstances, +might have occupied an outward period extending it +in almost any assignable ratio. Indeed it is impossible +to assign any limit here. As far as our moral +life is measured by actual spiritual exercise, a man +may sin as much in a minute as, at another time, in +a day. He may have had, in the same brief interval, +a heaven of love and joy, which, in a different inward +condition of the spirit, months and years would +hardly have sufficed to realize.</p> + +<p>Such cases are familiar to all reflective minds. +Even as they take place in ordinary health, they may +well produce the conviction, that there are mysteries +enough for our study in our most common experience, +without resorting to mesmerism or spiritual rappings. +It is, however, in sickness, that such phenomena assume +their most startling aspect, and furnish subjects +of the most serious thought. The apparent decay of +the mind in connection with that of the body—the +apparent injuries the one sustains from the maladies +of the other, have furnished arguments for the infidel, +and painful doubts for the unwilling skeptic. But +there is another aspect to facts of this kind. They +sometimes show themselves in a way which must be +more startling to the materialist than to the believer. +They furnish evidence that the present body, instead +of being essential to the spirit's highest exercises, is +only its temporary regulator, intended for a period to +<i>limit</i> its powers, by keeping them in enchained harmony +with that outer world of nature in which the +human spirit is to receive its first intellectual and +moral training. If it does not originate the <i>law</i> of +successive thought, it governs and measures its <i>movement</i>. +Through the dark closet to which it confines +the soul, images and ideas are made to pass, one by +one, in orderly march; and while the body is in +health, and does not sleep, and holds steady intercourse +with the world around us, it performs this restraining +and regulative office with some good degree +of uniformity. Viewed merely in reference to its +own inner machinery, the clock may have any kind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> +or degree of movement. It may perform the apparent +revolutions of days and years, in seconds and fragments +of seconds. But attach to it a pendulum of a +proper length, and its rates are immediately adjusted +to the steady course of external nature. The new +regulative power is determined by the mass and gravity +of the earth. It is what the diurnal rotation +causes it to be. The latter, again, is linked with the +annual revolution, and this, again, with some far-off +millennial, or millio-millennial, cycle of the sun, and +so on, until the little time-piece on our Editor's Table, +is in harmony with the <i>magnus annus</i>, the great cosmical +year, the <i>one</i> all-embracing time of the universe. +The regulative action of the body upon the soul, although +far less uniform, presents a fair analogy. In +ordinary health, the measured flow of thought and +feeling will bear some relation to the circulation of +the blood, the course of respiration, and those general +cycles of the body, or human <i>micro-cosmos</i>, +which have acquired and preserved a steady rate of +movement. It is true that there are times, even in +health, when the thoughts burst from this regulative +control, imparting their own impetus to the nervous +fluid, giving a hurried agitation to the quick-panting +breath, and sending the blood in maddened velocity +through the heart and veins. But it is in sickness +that such a breaking away from the ordinary check +becomes most striking. The pendulum removed, or +the spring broken, how rapidly spin round the whizzing +wheels by which objective time is measured. +And so of our spiritual state. In that harmony between +the inward and the outward, in which health +consists, we are insensible to the presence of the regulative +power. In the slightest sicknesses we feel +the dragging chain, and time moves slow, and sometimes +almost stops. It is in this crisis of severe disease +that a deeper change takes place. Some link +is snapped; and then how inconceivably rapid may +be, and sometimes is, the course of thought. Now +the long-buried past comes up, and moves before us, +not in slow succession, but in that swift array which +would seem to place it altogether upon the canvas. +At other times, the soul goes out into a self-created +future; a dream it may be called, but having, as far +as the spirit is concerned, no less of authentic moral +and intellectual interest on that account. Suppose +even the whole physical world to be all a dream. +What then? No article of moral truth would be in +the least changed; joy and suffering, right and wrong, +would be no less real. Might they not be regarded +as even the more tremendously real, from the very +fact that they would be, in that case, the only realities +in the universe? Nothing here is really gained +by any play upon that most indefinable of all terms—reality. +If that is <i>real</i> which most deeply affects us, +and enters most intimately into our conscious being, +then in a most <i>real</i> sense may it be affirmed, that +years sometimes pass in the crisis of a fever, and that +a life-time—an intellectual and a moral life-time—may +be lived in what, to spectators, may have seemed +to have been but a moment of syncope, or of returning +sensibility to outward things. Such facts should +startle us. They give us a glimpse of those fearful +energies which even now the spirit possesses, and +which may exhibit themselves with a thousand-fold +more power, when all the balance-wheels and regulating +pendulums shall have been taken off, and the +soul left to develop that higher law of its being which +now remains, in a great degree, suspended and inert, +like the chemist's latent heat and light.</p> + +<p>In illustration of such a view, we might refer to +recorded facts having every mark of authenticity. +They come to as from all ages. There is the strange +story which Plutarch gives us of the trance of Thespesius, +and of the immense series of wonders he witnessed +during the short period of apparent death. +Strikingly similar to this is that remarkable account +of Rev. William Tennent which must be familiar to +most of our readers. Something analogous is reported +of that strange inner life to which we lately +called attention in the account of Rachel Baker. To +the same effect the story, told by Addison, we think, +of the Dervise and his Magic Water, possessed of +such wondrous properties, that the moment between +the plunging and the withdrawing of the head, became, +subjectively, a life-time filled with events of +most absorbing interest. But that may be called an +Oriental romance. Another instance we would relate +from our own personal acquaintance with the +one who was himself the subject of a similar supercorporeal +and supersensual action of the spirit. He +was a man bearing a high reputation for piety and +integrity. It was at the close of a day devoted to +sacred services of an unusually solemn kind that he +related to us what, in the familiar language of certain +denominations of Christians, might be called his religious +experience. It was, indeed, of no ordinary +nature, and there was one part, especially, which +made no ordinary impression on our memory. We +can only, in the most rapid manner, touch upon the +main facts, as they bear upon the thoughts we have +been presenting. In the crisis of a violent typhus +fever, during a period which could not have occupied, +at the utmost, more than half an hour, a subjective +life was lived, extending not merely to hours and +days, but through long years of varied and most +thrilling experience. He had traveled to foreign +lands, and encountered every species of adventure. +He had amassed wealth and lost it. He had formed +new social bonds with their natural accompaniments +of joy and grief. He had committed crimes and suffered +for them. He had been in exile, cast out, and +homeless. He had been in battle and in shipwreck. +He had been sick and recovered. And, finally, he +had died, and gone to judgment, and received the +condemnation of the lost. Ages had passed in outer +darkness, during all which the exercises of the soul +were as active, and as distinct, and as coherently +arranged, as at any period of his existence. At length +a fairly perceptible beam of light, coming seemingly +from an immense distance, steals faintly into his +prison-house. Nearer, and nearer still, it comes, +although years and years are occupied with its slow, +yet steady approach. But it does increase. Fuller, +and clearer, and higher, grows the light of hope, until +all around him, and above him, is filled with the benign +glory of its presence. He dares once more look +upward, and as he does so, he beholds beaming upon +him the countenance of his watching friend, bending +over him with the announcement that the crisis is +past, and that coolness is once more returning to his +burning frame. Only a prolonged dream, it might +perhaps be said. But dreams in general run parallel +with the movement of outward time, or if they do go +beyond it, it is never by any such enormously magnified +excess. But besides the apparent length of +such a trance, there was also this striking and essential +difference. Dreams may be more or less vivid; +but all possess this common character, that in the +waking state we immediately recognize them as +dreams; and this not merely by way of inference +from our changed condition, but because, in themselves, +they possess that unmistakably subjective, or +dream-like aspect, we can never separate from their +outward contemplation. They almost immediately +put on the dress of dreams. The air of reality, so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> +fresh on our first awakening, begins straightway to +gather a shade about it. As they grow dimmer and +dimmer, the very effort at recalling only drives them +farther off, and renders them more indistinct, just as +certain optical delusions ever melt away from the +gaze that is directed most steadily toward them. +Thus the phantoms of our sleep dissolve rapidly +"into thin air." As we strive to hold fast their +features in the memory, they vanish farther and +farther from the view, until we can just discern their +pale, ghostly forms receding, in the distance, through +the "gate of horn" into the land of irrecoverable +oblivion. This characteristic of ordinary dreaming +has ever furnished the ground of a favorite comparison +both in sacred and classical poetry—"Like a +vision of the night"—"As a dream when one awaketh"—"Like +a morning dream"—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">Tenuesque recessit in auras—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Par levibus ventis, volucrique simillima somno.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>But these visions of the trance, are, in this respect, +of a different, as well as deeper, nature. The subject +of our narrative most solemnly averred that the +scenes and feelings of this strange experience were +ever after not only real in appearance, but the most +vividly real of any part of his remembered existence. +They never passed away into the place and form of +dreams. He knew they were subjective, but only +from outward testimony, and for some time even this +was hardly sufficient to prevent the deep impression +exhibiting itself in his speech and intercourse with +the world to which he had returned. To his deeper +consciousness they ever seemed realities, ever to +form a part of his most veritable being. Our common +dreams are more closely connected with the +outer world, and the nearest sphere of sensation. +They are generally suggested by obscurely felt bodily +impressions. They belong to a state semi-conscious +of the presence of things around us. But the +others come from a deeper source. They are not</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Such stuff as dreams are made of—<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>But belong to the more interior workings of the spirit, +when disease has released it, either wholly or partially, +from the restrictive outward influence. Still, +whatever may be our theory of explanation, the +thought we would set forth remains equally impressive. +Such facts as these show the amazing power +of the soul in respect to time. They teach us that in +respect to our spiritual, as well as our material organization, +we are indeed "most fearfully and wonderfully +made." They startle us with the supposition +that, in another state of existence, time may be mainly, +if not wholly what the spiritual action causes it +to appear. We have heard of well-attested cases, in +which the whole past, even to its most minute events, +has flashed before the soul, in the dying moments, or +during some brief period of imminent danger arousing +the spirit to a preternatural energy. If there be +truth in such experiences, then no former exercise +or emotion of the soul is ever lost. They belong to +us still, just as much as our present thought, or our +present sensation, and at some period may start up +again to sleep no more, causing us actually to realize +that conception of Boethius which now appears only +a scholastic subtlety—<i>a whole life ever in one</i>, carrying +with it a consciousness of its whole abiding presence +in every moment of its existence—<i>tota simul et +interminabilis vitæ possessio</i>. But we may give the +thought a more plain and practical turn. Even now, +it may be said, what we have lived forms still a part +of our being. However it may stand in respect to +outward time, <i>it is never past to us</i>. We are too +much in the habit of regarding ourselves only in reference +to what may <i>seem</i> our present moral state. +We need the corrective power of the idea that we +<span class="smcap">are</span>, not simply what we may now <i>appear</i> to be, but +all we ever have been, and that such we must forever +<span class="smcap">be</span>, unless in the psychology and theology of a +higher dispensation there is some mode of separating +us from our former selves. Now the soul is broken +and dispersed. Then will it come together, and as +in the poetic imagination of the resurrection of the +body, bone meets its fellow-bone, and dust hastens +to join once more in living organization with its +kindred dust, so in the soul's <i>anastasis</i> will all the +lost and scattered thoughts come home again to their +spiritual abode, and from the chaos of the past will +stand forth forever one fixed and changeless being, +the discordant and deformed result of a false and +evil life, or a glorious organization in harmony with +all that is fair and good in the universe.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Geology has created difficulties in the interpretation +of certain parts of the Scriptures; but these +are more than balanced by a most important aid, +which in another respect, it is rendering to the cause +of faith. The former are fast giving way before that +sound interpretation of the primeval record which +was maintained by some of the most learned and +pious in the Church, centuries before the new science +was ever dreamed of. The latter is gathering +strength from every fresh discovery. We refer to +the proof geology is furnishing of the late origin of +the human race, and of the absolute necessity of +ascribing it to a supernatural cause. While there +has been an ascending scale of orders, every new +order has commenced with the most mature specimens. +The subsequent history has been ever one +of degeneracy, until a higher power came to the aid +of exhausted nature, and made another step of real +progress in the supernatural organization of a superior +type. The largest fishes, the most powerful +reptiles, were first in the periods of their respective +families. And thus it went on until the introduction +of the human species. An attenuating series of +physical and hyper-physical powers forms the only +theory which, on the fair Baconian induction, will +account for the phenomena presented. There are +scientific as well as theological bigots, and both are +equally puzzled to explain the facts on either set of +principles to the exclusion of the other. It is chiefly, +however, in regard to man that the argument acquires +its great importance; as bearing directly on that first +article, and fundamental support of all faith—the veritable +existence of the supernatural. This is not the +same with faith in the Scriptures, and yet is most +intimately connected with it. With the utter rejection +of the latter, must soon go all available belief in +a personal deity or a personal future state; and so, +on the contrary, whatever in science shuts up the +soul to a clear belief in the supernatural, even in its +most remote aspect, is so much gained, ultimately, +for the cause of the written oracles. And this is +just what geology is now doing. She proves, beyond +doubt, the late introduction of man upon the +earth, and thus compels us to admit the most supernatural +of all known events within a period comparatively +very near to our own. The fact that, after a +very few thousand years, the light of history is +quenched in total darkness, presenting no farther +trace of man or human things, goes far to prove his +prior non-existence. But it might, perhaps, be maintained, +that of former generations, only the merest +fragments had, from time to time, survived the wreck +of physical convulsions, in which all outward memoranda +of their older existence had wholly perished. +Such memorials, it is true, might have departed from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> +the surface, but then geology must have found them. +She has dug up abundant remains of types and orders, +which, from their position in the strata, she is +compelled to assign to a period anterior to that of +man. There would have been no lack of zeal on the +part of some of her votaries. More than once, on the +supposed discovery of some old bone in a wrong +place (to which it had been carried by some ordinary +disturbance of the deposits), have they rejoiced thereat, +"like one who findeth great spoil." But the evidence +is now beyond all impeachment. Remains of +every other type have been discovered. The relative +periods of their different deposits have been ascertained. +No stone, we may literally say it, has +been left unturned; and yet, not a single joint or +splinter of a human bone has been found to reward +the search. The argument from this is of immense +importance. The essence of all skepticism will be +found, on analysis, to consist in a secret distrust of +the very existence of any thing supernatural—a latent +doubt whether, after all, every thing may not be nature, +and nature every thing. <i>Unnatural</i> as it may +seem, there are those who actually take delight in +such a view. It hides from the consciousness a secret, +yet real antipathy to the thought of a personal +God, and the moral power of such an idea. Whatever +disturbs this feeling excites alarm, lest all the +foundations of unbelief (if we may use the word of +a thing which has no foundations) should be rendered +insecure by the bare possibility of such <i>direct</i> interference. +Hence the moral power of well attested +miracles, although it has been denied, even by religious +writers, that there is any such moral power. It +is the felt presence of a near personal Deity. It is +the startling thought of the Great <i>Life</i> of the universe +coming very nigh to us, and revealing the latent +skepticism of men's souls. Although greatly transcending, +it is like the effect produced by those operations +of nature that startle us by their instantaneous +exhibition of resistless power, and which no +amount of science can prevent our regarding with +reverence, or religious awe. With all our knowledge +of physical laws, no man, we venture to say it, is +wholly an atheist, or even a consistent naturalist, +when the earth is heaving, or the lightning bolts are +striking thick and fast around him.</p> + +<p>Be it, then, near or remote, one unanswerable evidence +of supernatural intervention gives a foundation +for all faith. And this geology does. Only a few +centuries back, on any chronology—a mere yesterday +we may say—she brings us face to face with the +most stupendous of personal, miraculous interventions. +No mediate stages—no transitional developments +have been, or can be discovered—no links of +half human, half beastly monsters, such as the old +Epicureans loved to imagine, and some modern savans +would have been glad to find. Nothing of this +kind, but all at once, after ages of fishes, and reptiles, +and every kind of lower animation, "a new thing +upon the earth"—the wondrous human body united +to that surpassingly wondrous entity, the human soul, +and both new born, in all their maturity, from a previous +state of non-existence. So the rocks tell us; +and the rocks, we are assured, on good scientific +authority, "can not deceive us" like the "poetical +myths of man's unreasoning infancy."</p> + +<p>Now what difficulties are there for faith after this? +What is there in any of the earlier narrations of the +Bible that should stumble us—such as the account +of the flood, or the burning of Sodom, or the transactions +at Sinai? The supernatural once established, +and in such an astounding way as this, what +more natural than that the new created race should +receive their earliest moral nurture directly from the +source of their so recent existence? What more +credible than such an early intercourse as the Bible +reveals—when God walked with men, and spake to +them from his supernatural abode, and angels came +and went on messages of reproof or mercy. How +<i>irrational</i> the skepticism, which, when compelled to +admit the one will still stumble at the other, as being +in itself, and aside from outward testimony, too marvelous +for belief. There are those who are yet disposed +to assail with desperation the doctrine of man's +late supernatural origin. But the danger from that +source is past. Geology and the Scriptures speak the +same language here. There is no need of any forced +exegesis to bring them into harmony. It is only of +yesterday that the Eternal Deity has been upon the +earth. His footsteps are more recent than many of +those natural changes science has taken such pains +to trace. Geology has proved, beyond all doubt, the +fact of man's <i>creation</i>; what then is there hard for +faith in the revealed facts of his <i>redemption</i>? Is the +supernatural origin of a soul an event more easy to +be believed than a series of supernatural interventions +for its deliverance from moral evil, and its exaltation +to a destiny worthy of its heavenly origin?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>Editor's Easy Chair.</h2> + + +<p>Next to the winter weather, which is just now +beguiling the town ladies to as pretty a show of +velvets and of martens, as the importers could desire—talk +is centering upon that redoubtable hero, <span class="smcap">Louis +Kossuth</span>. We are an impulsive people, and take +off our hats, one moment, with a hearty good-will and +devotion; and thrust them over our ears, the next, +with the most dogged contempt; and it would not be +strange, therefore, if we sometimes made mistakes in +our practice of civilities. We fell, naturally enough, +into a momentary counter current—started by anonymous +and ill-natured letter writers from the other +side of the sea—in regard to <span class="smcap">Kossuth</span>. While he +was riding the very topmost wave of popular admiration, +a rumor that he had been uncivil and unduly +exacting in his intercourse with the officers of +the Mississippi frigate, struck his gallant craft and +threatened to whelm her under the sea she was so +triumphantly riding. The opportune arrival of the +Mississippi, and the unanimous testimony of her officers +to the respectful and altogether proper demeanor +of the Hungarian hero, restored him to favor and even +swelled the tide which sweeps him to a higher point +of popularity than any other foreigner, <span class="smcap">La Fayette</span> +excepted, has ever reached in our republican country. +How he has earned their respect, a biographical +sketch in another part of our Magazine will enable +each reader to judge for himself.</p> + +<p>Linked to <span class="smcap">Kossuth</span> is the new talk about the new +and strange action of that gone-by hero <span class="smcap">Louis Napoleon</span>. +Curiosity-mongers can not but be gratified +at such spectacle of a Republic as France just now +presents; where a man is not only afraid to express +his opinions, but is afraid to entertain them! It must +be a gratifying scene for such old hankerers after the +lusts of Despotism, and the energy of Emperors, as +<span class="smcap">Metternich</span>, to see the loving fraternity of our +sister Republic, called France, running over into +such heart-felt action of benevolence and liberality +as characterize the diplomacy of <span class="smcap">Faucher</span>!</p> + +<p>Stout <span class="smcap">Emile de Girardin</span>, working away at his +giant <i>Presse</i>, with the same indomitable courage, and +the same incongruity of impulse, which belonged to +his battle for <span class="smcap">Louis Napoleon</span>, now raises the war<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +cry of a <i>Working-man</i> for President! And his reasoning +is worth quoting; for it offers an honest, +though sad picture of the heart of political France. +"The choice lies," says he, "between <span class="smcap">Louis Napoleon</span> +and another. <span class="smcap">Louis Napoleon</span> has the eclat +of his name to work upon the ignorant millions of +country voters: unless that <i>other</i> shall have similar +eclat, there is no hope. No name in France can +start a cry, even now, like the name of <span class="smcap">Napoleon</span>. +Therefore," says <span class="smcap">Girardin</span>, "abandon the name of +a man, and take the name of a <i>class</i>. Choose your +workingman, no matter who, and let the rally be—'The +Laborer, or the Prince!'"</p> + +<p>There is not a little good sense in this, viewed as +a matter of political strategy; but as a promise of +national weal, it is fearfully vain. Heaven help our +good estate of the Union, when we must resort to +such chicanery, to guard our seat of honor, and to +secure the guaranty of our Freedom!</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>The cool air—nothing else—has quickened our +pen-stroke to a side-dash at political action: we will +loiter back now, in our old, gossiping way, to the +pleasant current of the dinner chat.</p> + +<p>The winter-music has its share of regard; and between +Biscaccianti—whose American birth does not +seem to lend any patriotic fervor to her triumphs—and +the new Opera, conversation is again set off with +its rounding Italian expletives, and our ladies—very +many of them—show proof of their enthusiasm, by +their bouquets, and their <i>bravos</i>. It would seem that +we are becoming, with all our practical cast, almost +as music-loving a people as the finest of foreign <i>dillettanti</i>: +we defy a stranger to work his way easily +and deftly into the habit of our salon talk, without +meeting with such surfeit of musical <i>critique</i>, as he +would hardly find at any <i>soirée</i> of the Chausée d'Antin, +or of Grosvenor Place. There is bruited just +now, with fresh force, the old design of music for +the million; and an opera house with five thousand +seats, will be—if carried into effect—a wonder to +ourselves, and to the world.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>As our pen runs just now to music, it may be +worth while to sketch—from Parisian chronicle—an +interview of the famous composer <span class="smcap">Rossini</span>, +with the great musical purveyor of the old world—Mr. +<span class="smcap">Lumley</span>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Rossini</span>, it is well known, has lately lived in a +quiet and indolent seclusion; and however much he +may enjoy his honors, has felt little disposition to +renew them. The English Director, anxious to secure +some crowning triumph for his winter campaign, +and knowing well that a new composition of +the great Italian would be a novelty sure of success, +determined to try, at the cost of an Italian voyage, +a personal interview.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Rossini</span> lives at Bologna—a gloomy old town, +under the thrall and shadow of the modern Gallic +papacy. He inhabits an obscure house, in a dark +and narrow street. Mr. Lumley rings his bell, and +is informed by the <i>padrona</i> that the great master has +just finished his siesta, and will perhaps see him. +He enters his little parlor unannounced. It is comfortably +furnished—as comfort is counted in the flea-swarming +houses of Italy; the furniture is rich and +old; the piano is covered with dust. The old master +of sweet sounds is seated in a high-backed chair, +with a gray cat upon his knees, and another cat dextrously +poising on his lank shoulder, playing with +the tassel of his velvet cap.</p> + +<p>He rises to meet the stranger with an air of <i>ennui</i>, +and a look of annoyance, that seems to say, "Please +sir, your face is strange, and your business is unknown."</p> + +<p>"My name is Lumley," says the imperturbable +Director.</p> + +<p>"Lumley—Lumley," says the master, "I do not +know the name."</p> + +<p>It is a hard thing for the most enterprising musical +director of Europe to believe that he is utterly unknown +to the first composer of Southern Europe.</p> + +<p>"You should be an Englishman," continues the +host. "Yet the English are good fellows, though +something indiscreet. They are capital sailors, for +example; and good fishermen. Pray, do you fish, +monsieur? If your visit looks that way, you are +welcome."</p> + +<p>"Precisely," says the smiling Director; "I bring +you a new style of bait, which will be, I am sure, +quite to your fancy." And with this he unrolls his +"fly-book," and lays upon the table bank-bills to the +amount of one hundred thousand francs. He knows +the master's reputed avarice, and watches his eye +gloating on the treasure as he goes on. "I am, may +it please you, Director of the Opera at London and at +Paris. I wish a new opera three months from now. +I offer you these notes as advance premium for its +completion. Will you accept the terms, and gratify +Europe?"</p> + +<p>The old man's eye dwelt on the notes: he ceased +fondling the gray cat. "A hundred thousand francs +in bank-notes," said he, speaking to himself.</p> + +<p>"You prefer gold, perhaps," said the Englishman.</p> + +<p>"Not at all."</p> + +<p>"You accept, then?"</p> + +<p>The old man's brow grew flushed. A thought of +indignity crossed his mind. "There is then a dearth +of composers, that you come to trouble an old man's +peace?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all: the world is full of them—gaining +honors every season," and the wily Director talked +in a phrase to stir the old master's pride; and again +the brow grew flushed, as a thought of the electric +notes came over him, that had flashed through Europe +and the world, and made his name immortal.</p> + +<p>The Director waited hopefully.</p> + +<p>But the paroxysm of pride went by; "I <i>can not</i>:" +said the old man, plaintively. "My life is done; +my brain is dry!"</p> + +<p>And the Director left him, with his tasseled cap +lying against the high chair back and the gray cat +playing upon his knee.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>In English papers, the ending of the Great Exhibition +has not yet ceased to give point to paragraphs. +Observers say that the despoiling of the palace of its +wonders, reduces sadly the effect of the building; +and it is to be feared that the reaction may lead to +its entire demolition. Every country represented is +finding some ground for self-gratulation in its peculiar +awards; and the opinion is universal, that they +have been honestly and fairly made. For ourselves, +whatever our later boasts may be, it is quite certain +that on the score of <i>taste</i>, we made a bad show in +the palace. It was in bad taste to claim more room +than we could fill; it was in bad taste, to decorate our +comparatively small show, with insignia and lettering +so glaring and pretentious; it was in bad taste, +not to wear a little more of that modesty, which conscious +strength ought certainly to give.</p> + +<p>But, on the other hand, now that the occasion is +over, we may congratulate ourselves on having made +signal triumphs in just <i>those Arts which most distinguish +civilized man from the savage</i>; and in having +lost honor only <i>in those Arts, which most distinguish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> +a luxurious nation from the hardy energy of practical +workers.</i></p> + +<hr /> + +<p>It is an odd indication of national characteristic, +that a little episode of love rarely finds a narrator in +either English or American journalism; whereas, +nothing is more common than to find the most habile +of French <i>feuilletonists</i> turning their pen to a deft +exposition of some little garret story of affection; +which, if it be only well told, is sure to have the +range of all the journals in France.</p> + +<p>Our eye just now falls upon something of the sort, +with the taking caption of "Love and Devotion;" +and in order to give our seventy odd thousand readers +an idea of the graceful way in which such French +story is told, we shall render the half-story into English:</p> + +<p>In 1848, a young girl of high family, who had +been reared in luxury, and who had previously lost +her mother, found herself in a single day fatherless +and penniless. The friends to whom she would have +naturally looked for protection and consolation, were +either ruined or away. Nothing remained but personal +effort to secure a livelihood.</p> + +<p>She rented a small garret-room, and sought to secure +such comforts as she required by embroidering. +But employers were few and suspicious. Want and +care wore upon her feeble frame, and she fell sick. +With none to watch over or provide for her, she +would soon have passed off (as thousands do in that +gay world) to a quick and a lonely death.</p> + +<p>But there happened to be living in the same pile +of building, and upon the same landing, a young +Piedmontese street-porter, who had seen often, with +admiring eyes, the frail and beautiful figure of his +neighbor. He devised a plan for her support, and +for proper attendance. He professed to be the agent +of some third party of wealth, who furnished the +means regularly for whatever she might require. His +earnings were small; but by dint of early and hard +working, he succeeded in furnishing all that her necessities +required.</p> + +<p>After some weeks, Mlle. <span class="smcap">Sophie</span> (such is the name +our paragraphist gives the heroine) recovered; and +was, of course, anxious to learn from the poor Piedmontese +the name of her benefactor. The poor fellow, +however, was true to the trust of his own devotion, +and told nothing. Times grew better, and +<span class="smcap">Sophie</span> had a hope of interesting the old friends of +her family. She had no acquaintance to employ as +mediator but the poor Piedmontese. He accepted +readily the task, and, armed with her authority, he +plead so modestly, and yet so earnestly for the unfortunate +girl, that she recovered again her position, +and with it no small portion of her lost estate.</p> + +<p>Again she endeavored to find the name of her generous +benefactor, but no promises could wrest the +secret from the faithful Giacomo. At least, thought +the grateful <span class="smcap">Sophie</span>, the messenger of his bounties +shall not go unrewarded; and she inclosed a large +sum to her neighbor of the garret.</p> + +<p>Poor Giacomo was overcome!—the sight of the +money, and of the delicate note of thanks, opened +his eyes to the wide difference of estate that lay between +him and the adored object of his long devotion. +To gain her heart was impossible; to live without +it, was even more impossible. He determined—in +the Paris way—to put an end to his cankerous hope, +and to his life—together.</p> + +<p>Upon a ledge of the deserted chamber he found a +vial of medicine, which his own hard-earned money +had purchased, and with this he determined to slip +away from the world, and from his grief.</p> + +<p>He penned a letter, in his rude way, full of his +love, and of his desolation, and having left it where it +would reach <span class="smcap">Sophie</span>, when all should be over, he +swallowed the poison. Happily—(French story is +always happy in these interventions)—a friend had +need of his services shortly after! and hearing sad +groans at his door, he burst it open, and finding the +dangerous state of the Piedmontese, ran for a physician. +Prompt effort brought <span class="smcap">Giacomo</span> to life again. +But his story had been told; and before this, the gay +<span class="smcap">Sophie</span> had grown sad over the history of his griefs.</p> + +<p>We should like well to finish up our tale of devotions, +with mention of the graceful recognition of the +love of the infatuated Piedmontese, by the blooming +Mademoiselle <span class="smcap">Sophie</span>. But, alas! truth—as represented +by the ingenious Journalist—forbids such sequel. +And we can only write, in view of the vain +devotion of the Sardinian lover—<i>le pauvre Giacomo!</i></p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Yet again, these graceful columns of French newsmakers, +lend us an episode—of quite another sort of +devotion. The other showed that the persuasion of +love is often vain; and this will show, that the persuasion +of a wife is—vainer still.</p> + +<p>—A grave magistrate of France—no matter who—was +voyaging through Belgium with his wife. They +had spun out a month of summer with that graceful +mingling of idlesse and wonder, that a Frenchwoman +can so well graft upon the habit of a husband's +travel: they had bidden adieu to Brussels, and to +Liege, and were fast nearing the border-town, beyond +which lay their own sunny realm of France.</p> + +<p>The wife suddenly cuts short her smiles, and whispers +her husband—"<i>Mon cher</i>, I have been guilty of +an imprudence."</p> + +<p>"It is not possible."</p> + +<p>"<i>Si</i>: a great one. I have my satchel full of laces, +they are contraband; pray, take them and hide them +until the frontier is past."</p> + +<p>The husband was thunderstruck: "But, my dear, +I—a magistrate, conceal contraband goods?"</p> + +<p>"Pray, consider, <i>mon cher</i>, they are worth fifteen +hundred francs; there is not a moment to lose."</p> + +<p>"But, my dear!"</p> + +<p>"Quick—in your hat—the whistle is sounding—"</p> + +<p>There seemed no alternative, and the poor man +bestowed the contraband laces in his <i>chapeau</i>.</p> + +<p>The officials at the frontier, on recognizing the dignity +of the traveler, abstained from any examination +of his luggage, and offered him every facility. Thus +far his good fortune was unexpected. But some unlucky +attendant had communicated to the town authorities +the presence of so distinguished a personage. +The town authorities were zealous to show +respect; and posted at once to the station to make +token of their regard. The magistrate was charmed +with such attention—so unexpected, and so heart-felt. +He could not refrain from the most gracious +expression of his <i>reconnaissance</i>; he tenders them his +thanks in set terms;—he bids them adieu;—and, in +final acknowledgment of their kindness—he lifts his +hat, with enthusiastic flourish.</p> + +<p>—A shower of Mechlin lace covers the poor man, +like a bridal vail!</p> + +<p>The French Government winks at the vices, and +short-comings of representatives and President; but +with a humble magistrate, the matter is different. +The poor man, <i>bon-grè</i>—<i>mal-grè</i>, was stopped upon +the frontier—was shorn of his bridal covering; and +in company with his desponding wife, still (so <span class="smcap">Guinot</span> +says) pays the forfeit of his yielding disposition, +in a dusky, and grated chamber of the old border +town of ——.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>Editor's Drawer.</h2> + + +<p>Well, "<i>Election is over</i>," for one thing, and we +breathe again. The freemen of the "Empire +State" have walked up to the polls, the "captain's +office" of the boat on which we are all embarked, and +"settled" the whole matter. The little slips of paper +have done the deed, without revolution and without +bloodshed. Some are rejoiced, because they have +succeeded; others lament that when they were all +ready at any moment to die for their country and a +fat office, their offers were not accepted by the sovereigns. +Some, with not much character to spare +of their own, are grieved to find that "tailing-on" +upon individual eminence won't always "do" with +the people. And, by-the-by, speaking of "tailing-on," +there "hangs a tale," which is worth recording. +It may be old, but we heard it for the first time the +other evening, and it made us "laugh consumedly." +This it is:—At the time of the first election of General +<span class="smcap">Washington</span> to the Presidency, there was a party +in one of the Southern States, called the "<i>John Jones' +Party</i>." The said Jones, after whom the party took +its name, was a man of talent; a plotting, shrewd +fellow, with a good deal of a kind of "Yankee cunning;" +in short, possessing all the requisites of a +successful politician, except personal popularity. +To overcome this latter deficiency, of which he was +well aware, especially in a contest with a popular +candidate for Congress, John Jones early avowed +himself as the peculiar and devoted friend of General +<span class="smcap">Washington</span>, and on this safe ground, as he +thought, he endeavored to place his rival in opposition. +In order to carry out this object more effectually, +he called a meeting of his county, of "All those +friendly to the election of General <span class="smcap">George Washington</span>!"</p> + +<p>On the day appointed, Mr. John Jones appeared, +and was, on the cut-and-dried motion of a friendly +adherent, made chairman of the meeting. He opened +the proceedings by a high and carefully-studied eulogium +upon the life and services of <span class="smcap">Washington</span>, +but taking care only to speak of himself as his early +patron, and most devoted friend. He concluded his +remarks by a proposition to form a party, to be called +"<i>The True and Only Sons of the Father of his Country</i>:" +and for that object, he submitted to the meeting +a resolution something like the following:</p> + +<p>"<i>Resolved</i>, That we are the friends of General +<span class="smcap">George Washington</span>, and will sustain him in the +coming election against all other competitors."</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," said Mr. Jones, after reading the +resolution, "the Chair is now about to put the question. +The chairman hopes that every man will +declare his sentiments, either for or against the +resolution. All those in favor of the resolution will +please to say 'Ay.'"</p> + +<p>A thundering "<i>Ay</i>!" shook the very walls of the +building. The united voices were like the "sound +of many waters."</p> + +<p>"Now, gentlemen, for the opposition," said John +Jones. "All those who are contrary-minded, will +please to say '<i>No</i>!'"</p> + +<p>Not a solitary voice was heard. The dead silence +seemed to confuse Mr. Jones very much. After some +hesitation and fidgeting, he said:</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen, <i>do vote</i>. The Chair can not decide a +disputed question when nobody votes on the other +side. We want a direct vote, so that the country +may know who are the real and true friends of General +<span class="smcap">Washington</span>."</p> + +<p>Upon this appeal, one of the audience arose, and +said:</p> + +<p>"I perceive the unpleasant dilemma in which the +Chair is placed; and in order to relieve the presiding +officer from his quandary, I now propose to amend +the resolution, by adding, after the name of General +<span class="smcap">Washington</span>—'<i>and John Jones for Congress</i>.'"</p> + +<p>"The amendment is in order—I accept the amendment," +said the chairman, speaking very quickly; +"and the Chair will now put the question as amended:</p> + +<p>"All those who are in favor of General <span class="smcap">Washington</span> +for President, and John Jones for Congress, will +please to say, 'Ay.'"</p> + +<p>"Ay—ay!" said John Jones and his brother, with +loud voices, which they had supposed would be +drowned in the unanimous thunder of the affirmative +vote.</p> + +<p>The "Chair" squirmed and hesitated. "Put the +contrary!" said a hundred voices, at the same moment:</p> + +<p>"All those op—po—po—sed," said the Chair, "will +please to say, 'No!'"</p> + +<p>"No—o—o—o!!" thundered every voice but two +in the whole assembly, and these were Jones' and +his brother's. Then followed a roar of laughter, as +<span class="smcap">Carlyle</span> says, "like the neighing of all Tattersall's."</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," said Mr. Jones, "the Chair perceives +that there are people in this meeting who +don't belong to <i>our</i> party: they have evidently come +here to agitate, and make mischief. I, therefore, do +now adjourn this meeting!"</p> + +<p>Whereupon, he left the chair; and amid shouts +and huzzahs for <span class="smcap">Washington</span>, and groans for John +Jones, he "departed the premises."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>We find in the "Drawer" a rich specimen of logic-chopping, +at which there was a hearty laugh more +years ago than we care to remember. It is an admirable +satire upon half the labored criticisms of +Shakspeare with which the world has been deluged:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thrice, and once the hedge-pig whined!"<br /></span> +<span class="i12"><span class="smcap">Macbeth</span><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"I never was more puzzled in my life than in deciding +upon the right reading of this passage. The +important inquiry is, Did the hedge-pig <i>whine once</i>, or +<i>thrice and once</i>? Without stopping to inquire whether +hedge-pigs exist in Scotland, that is, pigs with quills +in their backs, the great question occurs, <i>how many +times did he whine</i>? It appears from the text that the +cat mewed three times. Now would not a virtuous +emulation induce the hedge-pig to endeavor to get the +last word in the controversy; and how was this to be +obtained, save by whining thrice <i>and</i> once? The +most learned commentators upon <span class="smcap">Shakspeare</span> have +given the passage thus:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thrice; and once the hedge-pig whined."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Thereby awarding the palm to the brinded cat. The +fact is, they probably entertained reasonable doubts +whether the hedge-pig was a native of Scotland, and +a sense of national pride induced them to lean on the +side of the productions of their country. I think a +heedful examination of the two lines, will satisfy +the unbiased examiner that the hedge-pig whined, at +least, four times. It becomes me, however, as a candid +critic, to say, that reasonable doubts exist in both +cases!"</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Doesn't the impressive inquiry embodied in the +ensuing touching lines, somewhat enter into the matrimonial +thoughts of <i>some</i> of our city "offerers?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Oh! do not paint her charms to me,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I know that she is fair!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I know her lips might tempt the bee,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Her eyes with stars compare:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such transient gifts I ne'er could prize,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">My heart they could not win:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I do not scorn my Mary's eyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But—has she any '<i>tin</i>?'<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The fairest cheek, alas! may fade,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Beneath the touch of years;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The eyes where light and gladness played,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">May soon grow dim with tears:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I would love's fires should to the last<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Still burn, as they begin;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But beauty's reign too soon is past;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">So—has she any '<i>tin</i>?'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<hr /> + +<p>There is something very touching and pathetic +in a circumstance mentioned to us a night or two +ago, in the sick-room of a friend. A poor little girl, +a cripple, and deformed from her birth, was seized +with a disorder which threatened to remove her from +a world where she had suffered so much. She was +a very affectionate child, and no word of complaining +had ever passed her lips. Sometimes the tears would +come in her eyes, when she saw, in the presence of +children more physically blessed than herself, the +severity of her deprivation, but that was all. She +was so gentle, so considerate of giving pain, and so +desirous to please all around her, that she had endeared +herself to every member of her family, and to +all who knew her.</p> + +<p>At length it was seen, so rapid had been the progress +of her disease, that she could not long survive. +She grew worse and worse, until one night, in an interval +of pain, she called her mother to her bed-side, +and said, "Mother, I am dying now. I hope I shall +see you, and my brother and sisters in Heaven. +Won't I be <i>straight</i>, and not a cripple, mother, when +I <i>do</i> get to Heaven?" And so the poor little sorrowing +child passed forever away.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>"I heard something a moment ago," writes a correspondent +in a Southern city, "which I will give +you the skeleton of. It made me laugh not a little; +for it struck me, that it disclosed a transfer of 'Yankee +Tricks' to the other side of the Atlantic. It would +appear, that a traveler stopped at Brussels, in a post-chaise, +and being a little sharp-set, he was anxious +to buy a piece of cherry-pie, before his vehicle should +set out; but he was afraid to leave the public conveyance, +lest it might drive off and leave <i>him</i>. So, +calling a lad to him from the other side of the street, +he gave him a piece of money, and requested him to +go to a restaurant or confectionery, in the near vicinity, +and purchase the pastry; and then, to 'make assurance +doubly sure,' he gave him <i>another</i> piece of money, +and told him to buy some for himself at the same time. +The lad went off on a run, and in a little while came +back, eating a piece of pie, and looking very complacent +and happy. Walking up to the window of +the post-chaise, he said, with the most perfect <i>nonchalance</i>, +returning at the same time one of the pieces +of money which had been given him by the gentleman, +'The restaurateur had only <i>one</i> piece of pie left, +and that <i>I</i> bought with my money, that you gave +me!'"</p> + +<p>This anecdote, which we are assured is strictly +true, is not unlike one, equally authentic, which had +its origin in an Eastern city. A mechanic, who had +sent a bill for some article to a not very conscientious +pay-master in the neighborhood, finding no returns, +at length "gave it up as a bad job." A lucky thought, +however, struck him one day, as he sat in the door +of his shop, and saw a debt-collector going by, who +was notorious for sticking to a delinquent until <i>some</i> +result was obtained. The creditor called the collector +in, told him the circumstances, handed him the account, +and added:</p> + +<p>"Now, if you will collect that debt, I'll give you +half of it; or, if you don't collect but <i>half</i> of the bill, +I'll divide <i>that</i> with you."</p> + +<p>The collector took the bill, and said, "I guess, I +can get half of it, <i>any</i> how. At any rate, if I don't, +it shan't be for want of <i>trying</i> hard enough."</p> + +<p>Nothing more was seen of the collector for some +five or six months; until one day the creditor thought +he saw "the indefatigable" trying to avoid him by +turning suddenly down a by-street of the town. +"Halloo! Mr. ——!" said he; "how about that bill +against Mr. Slowpay? Have you collected it yet?" +"Not the <i>hull</i> on it, I hain't," said the imperturbable +collector; "but I c'lected <i>my</i> half within four weeks +a'ter you gin' me the account, and he hain't paid me +nothin' since. I tell him, every time I see him, that +you want the money <i>very</i> bad; but he don't seem to +mind it a bit. He is dreadful 'slow pay,' as you said, +when you give me the bill! Good-morning!" And +off went the collector, "staying no further question!"</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>There is a comical blending of the "sentimental" +and the "matter-of-fact" in the ensuing lines, which +will find a way to the heart of every poor fellow, who, +at this inclement season of the year, is in want of a +new coat:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">By winter's chill the fragrant flower is nipped,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To be new-clothed with brighter tints in spring<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The blasted tree of verdant leaves is stripped,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A fresher foliage on each branch to bring.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The aerial songster moults his plumerie,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To vie in sleekness with each feathered brother.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A twelvemonth's wear hath ta'en thy nap from thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My seedy coat!—<i>when</i> shall I get another?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<hr /> + +<p>"My name," said a tall, good-looking man, with a +decidedly <i>distingué</i> air, as he entered the office of a +daily newspaper in a sister city, "my name, Sir, is +<span class="smcap">Page</span>—Ed-w-a-rd Pos-th-el-wa-ite <span class="smcap">Pa-ge</span>! You +have heard of me no doubt. In fact, Sir, I was sent +to you, by Mr. C——r, of the '—— Gazette.' I +spent some time with him—an hour perhaps—conversing +with him. But as I was about explaining +to him a little problem which I had had in my mind +for some time, I <i>thought</i> I saw that he was busy, and +couldn't hear me. In fact, he <i>said</i>, 'I wish you would +do me the kindness to go <i>now</i> and come <i>again</i>; and +always send up your <i>name</i>, so that I may know that +it is <i>you</i>; otherwise,' said he, 'I <i>shouldn't</i> know that +it was <i>you</i>, and might <i>refuse</i> you without knowing it.' +Now, Sir, that was kind—that was kind, and gentlemanly, +and I shall remember it. Then he told me +to come to see <i>you</i>; he said yours was an afternoon +paper, and that <i>your</i> paper for to-day was out, while +he was engaged in getting his ready for the morning. +He rose, Sir, and saw me to the door; and downstairs; +in fact, Sir, he came with me to the corner, +and showed me your office; and for fear I should +miss my way, he gave a lad a sixpence, to <i>show</i> me +here, Sir.</p> + +<p>"They call me crazy, Sir, <i>some</i> people do—<i>crazy</i>! +The reason is simple—I'm above their comprehension. +Do I <i>seem</i> crazy? I am an educated man, +my conduct has been unexceptionable. I've wronged +no man—never did a man an injury. I wouldn't do it.</p> + +<p>"I came to America in 1829 2^<i>m</i> which being multiplied +by Cæsar's co-sine, which is C B to Q equal +X' 3^<i>m</i>."</p> + +<p>Yes, reader; this was <span class="smcap">Page</span>, the Monomaniac: a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +man perfectly sound on any subject, and capable of +conversing upon any topic, intelligently and rationally, +until it so happened, in the course of conversation, +that he <i>mentioned any numerical figure</i>, when his +wild imagination was off at a tangent, and he became +suddenly as "mad as a March hare" on <i>one subject</i>. +<i>Here</i> his monomania was complete. In every thing +else, there was no incoherency; nothing in his +speech or manner that any gentleman might not +either say or do. So much for the man: now for a +condensed exhibition of his peculiar idiosyncrasy, as +exhibited in a paper which he published, devoted to +an elaborate illustration of the great extent to which +he carried the science of mathematics. The <i>fragments</i> +of various knowledge, like the tumbling objects +in a kaleidoscope, are so jumbled together, that we +defy any philosopher, astronomer, or mathematician, +to read it without roaring with laughter; for the feeling +of the ridiculous will overcome the sensations of +sympathy and pity. But listen: "Here's '<i>wisdom</i>' for +you," as Captain Cuttle would say: <i>intense</i> wisdom:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Squares are to circles as Miss Sarai 18 when she did +wed her Abram 20 on Procrustes' bed, and 19 parted between +each head; so Sarah when 90 to Abraham when +100, and so 18 squared in 324, a square to circle 18 × 20 = 360, +a square to circle 400, a square to circle 444, or half +<i>Jesous</i> 888 in half the Yankee era 1776; which 888 is +sustained by the early Fathers and Blondel on the Sibyls. +It is a square to triangle Sherwood's no-variation circle +666 in the sequel. But 19 squared is 361 between 360 and +362, each of which multiply by the Sun's magic compass +36, Franklin's magic circle of circles 360 × 36 considered.</p> + +<p>"Squares are to circles as 18 to 20, or 18 squared in +324 to 18 × 20 = 360. But more exactly as 17 to 19, or +324 to 362 × 36, or half 26064. As 9 to 10, so square +234000 to circle 26000.</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2">POSITIVES.</td><td>MEANS.</td><td align="left"> </td><td align="left">NEGATIVES.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">20736</td><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 4em;"> </span></td><td>23328</td><td align="left"> </td><td>25920</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">20736</td><td align="left"> </td><td>23400</td><td align="left"> </td><td>26064</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">4)20736</td><td align="left"> </td><td>23422</td><td align="left"> </td><td>26108</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">———</td><td align="left"> </td><td>———</td><td align="left"> </td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="left"> </td><td>A.M. 5855</td><td>this year</td><td>1851.</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>"Squares are to circles as 17 to 19, or 23360 to 26108. +The sequel's 5832 and 5840 are quadrants of 23328 and +23360.</p> + +<p>"18 cubed is 5832, the world's age in 1828, 5840 its age in +the Halley comet year 1836, 5878 its age the next transit of +Venus in 1874, but 5870 is its age in the prophet's year 1866.</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td>POSITIVES.</td><td align="left"> </td><td>MEANS.</td><td align="left"> </td><td>NEGATIVES.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span style='font-size:200%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:1em;text-indent:0;'>{</span></td><td>5832<br />5840</td><td align="left"> </td><td>5855<br />5855</td><td align="left"> </td><td>5870<br />5878</td><td align="left">over X.<br />under X.</td> <td align="right"><span style='font-size:200%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:1em;text-indent:0;'> } </span> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td>1828</td><td align="left"> A.D.</td><td>1851</td><td align="left"> now!</td><td>1874</td><td align="left"> over X.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td>1836</td><td align="left"> A.D.</td><td>1851</td><td align="left"> now!</td><td>1866 </td><td align="left">under X.</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>"100 times the Saros 18 = 18-1/2 = 19 in 1800 last year's +1850, 1900 for new moons.</p> + +<p>"If 360 degrees, each 18, in Guy's 6480, evidently +360 × 18-1/2 in the adorable 6660, or ten no-variation circles, +each 36 × 18-1/2 = 666, like ten Chaldee solar cycles, each +600 in our great theme, 6000, the second advent date of +Messiah, as explained by Barnabas, Chap. xiii in the +Apocryphal New Testament, 600 and 666 being square +and circle, like 5994 and 6660. Therefore 5995 sum the +Arabic 28, or Persic 32, or Turkish 33 letters.</p> + +<p>"But as 9 to 10, so square 1665 of the Latin IVXLCDM = 1666 +to circle last year's 1850—12 such signs are as much +19980 and 22200, whose quadrants are 4995 and 5550, as +12 signs, each the Halley comet year 1836, are 5508 Olympiads, +the Greek Church claiming this era 5508 for Christ.</p> + +<p>"But though the ecliptic angle has decreased only +40 × 40 in 1600 during 43 × 43 = 1849, say 1850 from the +birth of Christ, and double that since the creation; yet +1600 and Yankee era 1776 being square and circle like 9 +and 10—place 32 for a round of the seasons in a compass +of 32 points, or shrine them in 32 chessmen, like 1600 and +1600 in each of 16 pieces; then shall 32 times Sherwood's +no-variation circle 666, meaning 666 rounds of the seasons, +each 32, be 12 signs, each 1776, or 24 degrees in the +ecliptic angle, each <i>Jesous</i> 888, in circle 21312 to square +19200, or 12 signs each 1600, that the quadrants of square +19200 and circle 21312 may be the Cherubim of Glory 4800 +and 5328; which explains ten Great Paschal cycles each +532, a square to circle 665 of the Beast's number 666. Because, +like 3, 4, 5, in my Urim and Thummim's 12 jewels, are</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td>TRIANGLES.</td><td><span style="margin-left: 2em;"> </span></td><td align="right">SQUARES.</td><td><span style="margin-left: 2em;"> </span></td><td>CIRCLES.</td></tr> +<tr><td>3600</td><td> </td><td>4800</td><td> </td><td>6000</td></tr> +<tr><td>3990</td><td> </td><td>5320</td><td> </td><td>6650</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>"Because 3990 of the Latin Church's era 4000 for +Christ, is doubled in the Julian period 7980.</p> + +<p>"Every knight of the queen of night may know that +each of 9 columns in the Moon's magic compass for 9 +squared in 81, sums 369, and that 370 are between it and +371, while 19 times 18-1/2 approach 351, when 19 squared +are 361 in</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td>POSITIVES.</td><td><span style="margin-left: 2em;"> </span></td><td>MEANS.</td><td><span style="margin-left: 2em;"> </span></td><td>NEGATIVES.</td></tr> +<tr><td>350</td><td> </td><td>360</td><td> </td><td>370</td></tr> +<tr><td>351</td><td> </td><td>361</td><td> </td><td>371</td></tr> +<tr><td>369</td><td> </td><td>370</td><td> </td><td>371</td></tr> +</table></div> +<p>"The Saros 18 times 369 in 6642 of the above 6650; +but 18 × 370 = 6660, or 360 times 18-1/2.</p> + +<p>"1800 and proemptosis 2400 are half this Seraphim 3600 +and Cherubim 4800: but 7 × 7 × 49 × 49 = 2401 in 4802.</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td>5328</td><td><span style="margin-left: 2em;"> </span></td><td>5320</td></tr> +<tr><td>4802</td><td> </td><td>4810</td></tr> +<tr><td>——</td><td> </td><td>——</td></tr> +<tr><td>10130</td><td> </td><td>10130</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>"All that Homer's Iliad ever meant, was this: 10 +years as degrees on Ahaz's dial between the positive +4790, mean 4800, negative 4810: If the Septuagints' 72 +times 90 in 360 × 18 = 6480, equally 72 times 24 and 66 +degrees in 12 cubed and 4752."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Now it is about enough to make one crazy to read +this over; and yet it is impossible not to <i>see</i>, as it is +impossible not to <i>laugh at</i> the transient glimpses of +scattered knowledge which the singular ollapodrida +contains.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>"If you regard, Mr. Editor, the following," says +a city friend, "as worthy a place in your 'Drawer,' +you are perfectly welcome to it. It was an actual occurrence, +and its authenticity is beyond a question:</p> + +<p>"Many years ago, when sloops were substituted +for steamboats on the Hudson River, a celebrated +Divine was on his way to hold forth to the inhabitants +of a certain village, not many miles from New +York. One of his fellow-passengers who was an +unsophisticated countryman, to make himself appear +'large' in the eyes of the passengers, entered into a +conversation with the learned Doctor of Divinity. +After several ordinary remarks, and introducing himself +as one of the congregation, to whom he (the +doctor) would expound the Word on the morrow, +the following conversation took place:</p> + +<p>"'Wal, Doctor, I reckon you know the Scripters +pooty good,' remarked the countryman.</p> + +<p>"'Really, my friend,' said the clergyman, 'I leave +that for <i>other</i> persons to determine. You know it +does not become a person of any delicacy to utter +praise in his own behalf.'</p> + +<p>"'So it doesn't,' replied the querist; 'but I've +heerd folks say, you know rather more than <i>we</i> do. +They say you're pooty good in larning folks the <span class="smcap">Bible</span>: +but I guess I can give you a poser.'</p> + +<p>"'I am pleased to answer questions, and feel gratified +to tender information at any time, always considering +it my <i>duty</i> to impart instruction, as far as it +lies in my power,' replied the clergyman.</p> + +<p>"'Wall,' says the countryman, with all the imperturbable +gravity in the world, 'I spose you've heerd +tell on, in the Big <span class="smcap">Book</span>, 'bout Aaron and the golden +calf: now, in your opinion, do you think the calf +Aaron worshiped, was a heifer or a bull?'</p> + +<p>"The Doctor of Divinity, as may be imagined, +immediately '<i>vamosed</i>,' and left the countryman +bragging to the by-standers, that he had completely +nonplussed the clergyman!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>Literary Notices</h2> + + +<p>A new work by <span class="smcap">Herman Melville</span>, entitled +<i>Moby Dick; or, The Whale</i>, has just been issued +by Harper and Brothers, which, in point of richness +and variety of incident, originality of conception, and +splendor of description, surpasses any of the former +productions of this highly successful author. <i>Moby +Dick</i> is the name of an old White Whale; half fish +and half devil; the terror of the Nantucket cruisers; +the scourge of distant oceans; leading an invulnerable, +charmed life; the subject of many grim and +ghostly traditions. This huge sea monster has a +conflict with one Captain Ahab; the veteran Nantucket +salt comes off second best; not only loses a +leg in the affray, but receives a twist in the brain; +becomes the victim of a deep, cunning monomania; +believes himself predestined to take a bloody revenge +on his fearful enemy; pursues him with fierce demoniac +energy of purpose; and at last perishes in the +dreadful fight, just as he deems that he has reached +the goal of his frantic passion. On this slight framework, +the author has constructed a romance, a tragedy, +and a natural history, not without numerous gratuitous +suggestions on psychology, ethics, and theology. +Beneath the whole story, the subtle, imaginative +reader may perhaps find a pregnant allegory, intended +to illustrate the mystery of human life. Certain it +is that the rapid, pointed hints which are often thrown +out, with the keenness and velocity of a harpoon, +penetrate deep into the heart of things, showing that +the genius of the author for moral analysis is scarcely +surpassed by his wizard power of description.</p> + +<p>In the course of the narrative the habits of the +whale are fully and ably described. Frequent graphic +and instructive sketches of the fishery, of sea-life +in a whaling vessel, and of the manners and customs +of strange nations are interspersed with excellent +artistic effect among the thrilling scenes of the +story. The various processes of procuring oil are +explained with the minute, painstaking fidelity of a +statistical record, contrasting strangely with the +weird, phantom-like character of the plot, and of +some of the leading personages, who present a no +less unearthly appearance than the witches in Macbeth. +These sudden and decided transitions form a +striking feature of the volume. Difficult of management, +in the highest degree, they are wrought with +consummate skill. To a less gifted author, they +would inevitably have proved fatal. He has not only +deftly avoided their dangers, but made them an element +of great power. They constantly pique the attention +of the reader, keeping curiosity alive, and +presenting the combined charm of surprise and alternation.</p> + +<p>The introductory chapters of the volume, containing +sketches of life in the great marts of Whalingdom, +New Bedford and Nantucket, are pervaded with +a fine vein of comic humor, and reveal a succession of +portraitures, in which the lineaments of nature shine +forth, through a good deal of perverse, intentional +exaggeration. To many readers, these will prove +the most interesting portions of the work. Nothing +can be better than the description of the owners of +the vessel, Captain Peleg and Captain Bildad, whose +acquaintance we make before the commencement of +the voyage. The character of Captain Ahab also +opens upon us with wonderful power. He exercises +a wild, bewildering fascination by his dark and mysterious +nature, which is not at all diminished when +we obtain a clearer insight into his strange history. +Indeed, all the members of the ship's company, the +three mates, Starbuck, Stubbs, and Flash, the wild, +savage Gayheader, the case-hardened old blacksmith, +to say nothing of the pearl of a New Zealand harpooner, +the bosom friend of the narrator—all stand +before us in the strongest individual relief, presenting +a unique picture gallery, which every artist must +despair of rivaling.</p> + +<p>The plot becomes more intense and tragic, as it +approaches toward the denouement. The malicious +old Moby Dick, after long cruisings in pursuit of him, +is at length discovered. He comes up to the battle, +like an army with banners. He seems inspired with +the same fierce, inveterate cunning with which Captain +Ahab has followed the traces of his mortal foe. The +fight is described in letters of blood. It is easy to +foresee which will be the victor in such a contest. +We need not say that the ill-omened ship is broken +in fragments by the wrath of the weltering fiend. +Captain Ahab becomes the prey of his intended victim. +The crew perish. One alone escapes to tell +the tale. Moby Dick disappears unscathed, and for +aught we know, is the same "delicate monster," +whose power in destroying another ship is just announced +from Panama.</p> + +<p>G. P. Putnam announces the <i>Home Cyclopedia</i>, a +series of works in the various branches of knowledge, +including history, literature, and the fine arts, biography, +geography, science, and the useful arts, to be +comprised in six large duodecimos. Of this series +have recently appeared <i>The Hand-book of Literature +and the Fine Arts</i>, edited by <span class="smcap">George Ripley</span> and +<span class="smcap">Bayard Taylor</span>, and <i>The Hand-book of Universal +Biography</i>, by <span class="smcap">Parke Godwin</span>. The plan of the +Encyclopedia is excellent, adapted to the wants of +the American people, and suited to facilitate the acquisition +of knowledge. As a collateral aid in a +methodical course of study, and a work of reference +in the daily reading, which enters so largely into the +habits of our countrymen, it will, no doubt, prove of +great utility.</p> + +<p><i>Rural Homes</i>, by <span class="smcap">Gervasse Wheeler</span> (published +by Charles Scribner), is intended to aid persons proposing +to build, in the construction of houses suited +to American country life. The author writes like a +man of sense, culture, and taste. He is evidently +an ardent admirer of John Ruskin, and has caught +something of his æsthetic spirit. Not that he deals +in mere theories. His book is eminently practical. +He is familiar with the details of his subject, and +sets them forth with great simplicity and directness. +No one about to establish a rural homestead should +neglect consulting its instructive pages.</p> + +<p>Ticknor, Reed, and Fields have published a new +work, by <span class="smcap">Nathaniel Hawthorne</span>, for juvenile readers, +entitled <i>A Wonder-Book for Boys and Girls</i> +with engravings by Barker from designs by Billings. +It is founded on various old classical legends, but +they are so ingeniously wrought over and stamped +with the individuality of the author, as to exercise +the effect of original productions. Mr. Hawthorne +never writes more genially and agreeably than when +attempting to amuse children. He seems to find a +welcome relief in their inartificial ways from his +own weird and sombre fancies. Watching their +frisky gambols and odd humors, he half forgets the +saturnine moods from which he draws the materials<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> +of his most effective fictions, and becomes himself a +child. A vein of airy gayety runs through the present +volume, revealing a sunny and beautiful side of +the author's nature, and forming a delightful contrast +to the stern, though irresistibly fascinating horrors, +which he wields with such terrific mastery in his recent +productions. Child and man will love this work +equally well. Its character may be compared to the +honey with which the author crowns the miraculous +hoard of Baucis and Philemon. "But oh the honey! +I may just as well let it alone, without trying to describe +how exquisitely it smelt and looked. Its color +was that of the purest and most transparent gold; +and it had the odor of a thousand flowers; but of +such flowers as never grew in an earthly garden, +and to seek which the bees must have flown high +above the clouds. Never was such honey tasted, +seen, or smelt. The perfume floated around the +kitchen, and made it so delightful, that had you +closed your eyes you would instantly have forgotten +the low ceiling and smoky walls, and have fancied +yourself in an arbor with celestial honeysuckles +creeping over it."</p> + +<p><i>Glances at Europe</i>, by <span class="smcap">Horace Greeley</span> (published +by Dewitt and Davenport), has passed rapidly +to a second edition, being eagerly called for by the +numerous admirers of the author in his capacity as +public journalist. Composed in the excitement of a +hurried European tour, aiming at accuracy of detail +rather than at nicety of language, intended for the +mass of intelligent readers rather than for the denizens +of libraries, these letters make no claim to profound +speculation or to a high degree of literary finish. +They are plain, straight-forward, matter-of-fact +statements of what the writer saw and heard in the +course of his travels, recording at night the impressions +made in the day, without reference to the opinions +or descriptions of previous travelers. The information +concerning various European countries, +with which they abound, is substantial and instructive; +often connected with topics seldom noticed by +tourists; and conveyed in a fresh and lively style. +With the reputation of the author for acute observation +and forcible expression, this volume is bound to +circulate widely among the people.</p> + +<p>Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, have issued a new volume +of <i>Poems</i>, by <span class="smcap">Richard Henry Stoddard</span>, consisting +of a collection of pieces which have been before +published, and several which here make their +appearance for the first time. It will serve to elevate +the already brilliant reputation of the youthful author. +His vocation to poetry is clearly stamped on his productions. +Combining great spontaneity of feeling, +with careful and elaborate composition, he not only +shows a native instinct of verse, but a lofty ideal of +poetry as an art. He has entered the path which will +lead to genuine and lofty fame. The success of his +early effusions has not elated him with a vain conceit +of his own genius. Hence, we look for still more +admirable productions than any contained in the present +volume. He is evidently destined to grow, and +we have full faith in the fulfillment of his destiny. +His fancy is rich in images of gorgeous and delicate +beauty; a deep vein of reflection underlies his boldest +excursions; and on themes of tender and pathetic +interest, his words murmur with a plaintive melody +that reaches the hidden source of tears. His style, +no doubt, betrays the influence of frequent communings +with his favorite poets. He is eminently susceptible +and receptive. He does not wander in the +spicy groves of poetical enchantment, without bearing +away sweet odors. But this is no impeachment of +his own individuality. He is not only drawn by the +subtle affinities of genius to the study of the best +models, but all the impressions which he receives, +take a new form from his own plastic nature. The +longest poem in the volume is entitled, "The Castle +in the Air"—a production of rare magnificence. +"The Hymn to Flora," is full of exquisite beauties, +showing a masterly skill in the poetical application +of classical legends. "Harley River," "The Blacksmith's +Shop," "The Old Elm," are sweet rural pictures, +soft and glowing as a June meadow in sunset. +"The Household Dirge," and several of the "Songs +and Sonnets," are marked by a depth of tenderness +which is too earnest for any language but that of the +most severe simplicity.</p> + +<p>We have a translation of <span class="smcap">Neander</span> <i>on the Philippians</i>, +by Mrs. <span class="smcap">H. C. Conant</span>, which renders that +admirable practical commentary into sound and vigorous +English. A difficult task accomplished with +uncommon skill. (Published by Lewis Colby).</p> + +<p><i>The Heavenly Recognition</i>, by Rev. <span class="smcap">H. Harbaugh</span>, +is the title of an interesting religious work on the +question, "Shall we know our friends in Heaven?" +This is treated by the author with great copiousness +of detail, and in a spirit of profound reverence and +sincere Christian faith. His book will be welcome +to all readers who delight in speculations on the mysteries +of the unseen world. Relying mainly on the +testimony of Scripture, the author seeks for evidence +on the subject in a variety of collateral sources, which +he sets forth in a tone of strong and delightful confidence. +(Published by Lindsay and Blackiston).</p> + +<p>Lindsay and Blackiston have issued several richly +ornamented gift books, which will prove attractive +during the season of festivity and friendship. Among +them are, "<i>The Star of Bethlehem</i>," by Rev. <span class="smcap">H. Hastings +Weld</span>, a collection of Christmas stories, with +elegant engravings. "<i>The Woodbine</i>," edited by +<span class="smcap">Caroline May</span>, containing original pieces and selections, +among the latter, "several racy stories of +Old England," and a tempting series of <i>Tales</i> for <i>Boys</i> +and <i>Girls</i>, by Mrs. <span class="smcap">Hughes</span>, a justly celebrated +writer of juvenile works.</p> + +<p>Bishop <span class="smcap">McIlvaine's</span> <i>Charge</i> on the subject of +<i>Spiritual Regeneration</i> has been issued in a neat +pamphlet by Harper and Brothers. It forms an able +and appropriate contribution to doctrinal theology, at +a time when the topic discussed has gained a peculiar +interest from the present position of Catholicism both +in England and America. The theme is handled by +Bishop McIlvaine with his accustomed vigor and +earnestness, and is illustrated by the fruits of extensive +research.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Speaking of the decease of our illustrious countryman, +<span class="smcap">Fenimore Cooper</span>, the <i>London Athenæum</i> has +the following discriminating remarks: "Mr. <span class="smcap">Cooper</span> +was at home on the sea or in his own backwoods. +His happiest tales are those of 'painted chiefs with +pointed spears'—to use a happy description of Mr. +Longfellow; and so felicitous has he been in setting +them bodily, as it were, before the reader, that hereafter +he will be referred to by ethnological and antiquarian +writers as historical authority on the character +and condition of the Lost Tribes of America. In +his later works Mr. <span class="smcap">Cooper</span> wandered too often and +too much from the field of Romance into that of Polemics—and +into the latter he imported a querulous +spirit, and an extraordinarily loose logical method. +All his more recent fictions have the taint of this +temper, and the drawback of this controversial weakness. +His political creed it would be very difficult +to extract entire from the body of his writings; and +he has been so singularly infelicitous in its partial<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> +expositions, that even of the discordant features +which make up the whole, we generally find ourselves +disagreeing in some measure with all. But +throughout the whole course of his writing, whenever +he turned back into his own domain of narrative fiction, +the Genius of his youth continued to do him +service, and something of his old power over the +minds of readers continued to the last. His faults +as a writer are far outbalanced by his great qualities—and +altogether, he is the most original writer that +America has yet produced—and one of whom she +may well be proud."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Hawthorne</span>," says a London critic, "has few +equals among the writers of fiction in the English +language. There is a freshness, an originality of +thought, a quiet humor, a power of description, a +quaintness of expression in his tales, which recommend +them to readers wearied of the dull commonplaces +of all but a select few of the English novelists +of our own time. He is beyond measure the best +writer of fiction yet produced by America, somewhat +resembling <span class="smcap">Dickens</span> in many of his excellencies, +yet without imitating him. His style is his own +entirely."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>In a notice of <span class="smcap">Hitchcock's</span> "Religion of Geology," +the London <i>Literary Gazette</i> remarks: "Dr. +<span class="smcap">Hitchcock</span> is a veteran American clergyman, of +high reputation and unaffected piety. Officially, he +is President of Amherst College, and Professor of +Natural Theology and Geology in that institution. +As a geologist, he holds a very distinguished position, +and is universally reputed an original observer and +philosophical inquirer. His fame is European as +well as American. No author has ever entered upon +his subject better fitted for his task. The work consists +of a series of lectures, which may be characterized +as so many scientific sermons. They are clear +in style, logical in argument, always earnest, and +often eloquent. The author of the valuable and most +interesting work before us combines in an eminent +degree the qualifications of theologian and geologist."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>The <i>London News</i> briefly hits off an American +work which has attracted little attention in this +country: "A fast-sailing American clipper has appeared +in the seas of philosophy. The author of +'Vestiges of Civilization; or the Etiology of History, +Religious, Æsthetical, Political, and Philosophical,' +advertised as written within two months, has puzzled +the scientific public as much as did the original +MS. of 'Pepys' Diary.' The reader, however, may +be comforted in his bewilderment by finding that the +author himself is but little better off. In a note there +is a confession which should certainly have been extended +to the whole production: "I freely own that, +touching these extreme terms of the complication in +Life and Mind, or rather the precise combinations +of polarities that should produce them, <i>my meaning +is at present very far from clear, even to myself</i>. And +yet I know that I <i>have</i> a meaning; that it is logically +involved in my statement; and is such as (perhaps +within half a century) will set the name of some distinct +enunciator side by side with, if not superior to +that of Newton."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>The <i>Westminster Review</i> has passed into the hands +of John Chapman, the well-known publisher of works +on Rationalistic theology. <i>The Leader</i> rather naïvely +remarks, "We rely too much on his sagacity to entertain +the fear, not unfrequently expressed, of his +making the Review over theological, which would +be its ruin."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Among the prominent forthcoming works announced +by the English publishers, are the following:—"A +Lady's Voyage round the World;" from the German +of <span class="smcap">Ida Pfeiffer</span>, from which some interesting extracts +have already appeared in Blackwood.—"Wesley +and Methodism," by <span class="smcap">Isaac Taylor</span>—"Lectures +on the History of France," by Professor Sir <span class="smcap">James +Stephens</span>—A condensed Edition of <span class="smcap">Dr. Layard's</span> +"Discoveries at Nineveh," prepared by the Author +for popular reading—A second volume of <span class="smcap">Lamartine's</span> +"History of the Restoration of the Monarchy +in France"—An improved Edition of the "Life and +Works of Robert Burns"—Richardson's "Boat Voyage," +or a History of the Expedition in Search of Sir +John Franklin.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>It is said that the recent discoveries of Colonel +Rawlinson in relation to the inscriptions on the Assyrian +sculptures have awakened the British Government +to the great historical value of those monuments—and +that a sum of £1500 has been placed at his +disposal to assist toward the prosecution of excavations +and inquiries in Assyria. Colonel Rawlinson +will, it is understood, proceed immediately to Bagdad; +and from thence direct his explorations toward +any quarter which may appear to him likely to yield +important results.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">William Weir</span>, a literary veteran of ability +and accomplishment, is about to publish, from the +papers of one who mixed much with it, another view +of English literary society in the days of Johnson.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>A pension of £100 a year on the civil list has been +granted to the family of the late Rev. <span class="smcap">James Seaton +Reid</span>, D. D., Professor of Church History in Glasgow, +and author of the <i>History of Presbyterianism in +Ireland</i>, besides other works on theology.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>In consequence of the present delicate state of +health of Professor <span class="smcap">Wilson</span>, the renowned "Christopher +North," he has been obliged to make arrangements +for dispensing with the delivery of his lectures +on moral philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, +at the ensuing session. Principal <span class="smcap">Lee</span> is to undertake +the duty for the learned Professor.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>The map of France, which was begun in 1817, is +not yet finished. It is to contain 258 sheets, of which +149 are already published. There yet remains five +years' work in surveying, and nine years' work in +engraving, to be done. The total cost will exceed +£400,000 sterling. Up to this time 2249 staff-officers +have been employed in the work.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>When the celebrated astronomer Lalande died, +nearly fifty years ago, his manuscripts were divided +among his heirs—a partition which was agreeable to +law, but very injurious to science. M. Lefrançais +de Lalande, a staff-officer, impressed with the importance +of re-collecting these papers, has, after much +trouble, succeeded in getting together the astronomical +memoranda of his ancestor to the extent of not +less than thirty-six volumes. These he presented to +M. Arago; and the latter, to obviate the chances of +a future similar dispersion, has made a gift of them +to the library of the Paris Observatory.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>In announcing the "Memoirs of his own Life," +by <span class="smcap">Alexandre Dumas</span>, the correspondent of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +<i>Literary Gazette</i> indulges in a lively, exaggerated +portraiture of the great <i>feuilletonist</i>: "Another addition +to that class of French literature, called 'Memoirs,' +is about to appear, and from the hand of no +less a personage than Alexandre Dumas. The great +romancer is to tell the world the history of his own +eventful life, and his extraordinary literary career. +The chances are that the work will be one of the +most brilliant of the kind that has yet been published—and +that is saying a great deal, when we call to +mind the immense host of memoir writers which +France possesses, and that among them are an Antony +Hamilton and a Duke de Saint Simon. Having +mixed familiarly with all descriptions of society, from +that of crowned heads and princes of the blood, down +to strolling players—having been behind the scenes of +the political, the literary, the theatrical, the artistic, +the financial, and the trading worlds—having risen +unaided from the humble position of subordinate clerk +in the office of Louis Philippe's accountant, to that +of the most popular of living romancers in all Europe—having +found an immense fortune in his inkstand, +and squandered it like a genius (or a fool)—having +rioted in more than princely luxury, and been reduced +to the sore strait of wondering where he could +get credit for a dinner—having wandered far and +wide, taking life as it came—now dining with a king, +anon sleeping with a brigand—one day killing lions +in the Sahara, and the next (according to his own +account) being devoured by a bear in the Pyrenees—having +edited a daily newspaper and managed a +theatre, and failed in both—having built a magnificent +chateau, and had it sold by auction—having commanded +in the National Guard, and done fierce battle +with bailiffs and duns—having been decorated by +almost every potentate in Europe, so that the breast +of his coat is more variegated with ribbons than the +rainbow with colors—having published more than +any man living, and perhaps as much as any man +dead—having fought duels innumerable—and having +been more quizzed, and caricatured, and lampooned, +and satirized, and abused, and slandered, and admired, +and envied, than any human being now alive—Alexandre +must have an immensity to tell, and none of his +contemporaries, we may be sure, could tell it better—few +so well. Only we may fear that it will be mixed +up with a vast deal of—imagination. But <i>n'importe</i>!"</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>In the course of a revision of the archives of Celli, +a box has been found containing a collection of important +documents from the Thirty Years' War, viz., +part of the private correspondence of Duke George +of Brunswick-Lüneburg, with drafts of his own epistles, +and original letters from Pappenheim, Gustavus +Adolphus, and Piccolomini.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>The Stockholm papers announce the death, in his +seventy-first year, of Dr. <span class="smcap">Thomas Wingard</span>, Archbishop +of Upsal and Primate of the Kingdom of +Sweden. Dr. Wingard had long occupied the chair +of Sacred Philology at the University of Lund. He +has left to the University of Upsal his library, consisting +of upward of 34,000 volumes—and his rich +collections of coins and medals, and of Scandinavian +antiquities. This is the fourth library bequeathed to +the University of Upsal within the space of a year—adding +to its book-shelves no fewer than 115,000 +volumes. The entire number of volumes possessed +by the university is now said to be 288,000—11,000 +of these being in manuscript.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>The <i>London Athenæum</i> announces the death of the +Hon. Mrs. <span class="smcap">Lee</span>—sister to the late Lord Byron, and +whose name will ever be dear to the lovers of that +poet's verse for the affecting manner in which it is +therein enshrined. Few readers of Byron will forget +his affectionate recurrences to his sister—made +more touching from the bitterness of his memories +toward all those whom he accused of contributing to +the desolation of his home and the shattering of his +household gods. The once familiar name met with +in the common obituary of the journals will have +recalled to many a one that burst of grateful tenderness +with which the bard twines a laurel for his sister's +forehead, which will be laid now upon her +grave—and of which the following is a leaf:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">From the wreck of the past which hath perished<br /></span> +<span class="i2">This much I at least may recall,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That what I most tenderly cherished<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Deserved to be dearest of all.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the desert a fountain is springing<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In the wide waste there still is a tree,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And a bird in my solitude singing<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Which speaks to my spirit of thee.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<hr /> + +<p>Numismatic science has to lament the loss of a +long known, learned, and distinguished cultivator, +Mr. H. P. <span class="smcap">Borrell</span>, who died on the 2d inst. at +Smyrna. His numerous excellent memoirs on Greek +coins, and his clever work on the coins of Cyprus, +form permanent memorials of his erudition, research, +and correct judgment.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>The last mail from China informs us of the death +of Dr. <span class="smcap">Gutzlaff</span>, at one of the British ports in that +country, on the 9th of August last, in his forty-eighth +year. The decease of this distinguished Eastern +scholar will be learnt with regret by those who take +an interest in the progress of European civilization +in China. Dr. Gutzlaff was one of the most ardent +and indefatigable of the laborers in that cause: and +it will be very difficult to fill up the void which his +death has occasioned. He was a Pomeranian by +birth; and was originally sent to Batavia, Singapore, +and Siam by the Netherlands Missionary Society in +1827. He first reached China in 1831; and he appears +to have spent the next two years in visiting +and exploring certain portions of the Chinese coast, +which, previously to that time, had not been visited +by any European—or of which, at least, no authentic +knowledge was possessed. On the death of the +elder Morrison, in 1834, Dr. Gutzlaff was employed +as an Interpreter by the British Superintendency; +and at a subsequent period he was promoted to the +office of Chinese Secretary to the British Plenipotentiary +and Superintendent of Trade. That employment +he held to the time of his death. Dr. +Gutzlaff had ceased to consider himself as a missionary +for some years past; but he never relinquished his +practice of teaching and exhorting among the Chinese +communities in the midst of whom he was placed.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>The death of Mrs. <span class="smcap">Mary Sherwood</span>, the celebrated +English authoress, took place at Twickenham +about the middle of September. She had attained +the ripe old age of seventy-six years, but her mind +preserved its usual vigor and serenity, unimpaired +by the influence of time. She died in the exercise +of a tranquil spirit, and firm religious faith. It is +said that a biography, prepared from materials left by +the deceased, will soon make its appearance from the +pen of her youngest daughter, a lady who inherits a +portion of her mother's genius and character. A complete +edition of Mrs. Sherwood's works, published by +Harper and Brothers, has found numerous readers in +this country, by whom the name of the writer will +long be held in affectionate remembrance.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A Leaf not from Punch.</h2> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 433px;"> +<img src="images/illo_35.jpg" width="433" height="434" alt="Two Sportsmen" title="" /> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">First Sportsman</span>.—"My dear sir, I am very sorry that I hit you in the +leg. Pray excuse me this time. I'll aim higher next time!"</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Second Sportsman</span>.—"Aim higher next time! No, I thank you. I'd +rather you wouldn't."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="center"><b>ETYMOLOGICAL INVENTIONS.</b></p> + +<p>We perceive, with great +alarm, the increasing number +of abstruse names given to +various simple articles of clothing +and commerce. Rather to +keep a head of the world than +even to run with it, we intend +to register—or dispose of for a +consideration—the sole right of +producing the following articles:</p> + +<p>The <i>Protean Crononhotontologos</i>, +or Changeable Surtout, the +tails of which button under to +form a dress coat; can be reefed +to make a shooting-coat; folded +into a cut-a-way; or taken away +altogether to turn into a sailing +jacket. It is black outside and +green within, with sets of shifting +buttons, so that it may be +used either for dress or sporting, +evening or morning, with +equal propriety.</p> + +<p>The <i>Oddrotistone</i>, or Pumice +Beard-leveler, for shaving without +water, soap, brush, or razor, +and removing all pimples and +freckles by pure mechanical action. +Strongly recommended to +travelers with delicate skins.</p> + +<p>The <i>Hicockolorum</i>, or Patent +Fuel, warranted never to smoke, +smell, decrease in bulk, or throw +out dangerous gases, and equally +adapted for Calorific, Church, +Vesta, Air-tight, Registering, +Cooking, and all manner of +stoves. By simply recollecting +never to light it, all these conditions +will be fulfilled, or we +forfeit fifty thousand dollars.</p> + +<p>The <i>Antilavetorium</i>, or Perpetual +Shirt-collar, which, being +formed of enameled tin, never +requires to be washed, is not +likely to droop or turn down.</p> + +<p>The <i>Thoraxolicon</i>, or Everlasting +Shirt-front, comes under the +same patent, which may be had +also, perforated in patterns, after +the fashionable style.</p> + +<p>The <i>Silicobroma</i>, a preparation +of pure flint-stone, which makes +a very excellent soup, by boiling +in a pot, with the requisite quantity +of meat and vegetables.</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 436px;"> +<img src="images/illo_36.jpg" width="436" height="431" alt="Seedy Individual vs Man of Business" title="" /> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Seedy Individual</span>.—"I've dropped in to do you a very great favor, +sir."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Man of Business</span>.—"Well, what is it?"</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Seedy Individual</span>.—"I'm going to allow you the pleasure of lending +me five dollars."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 359px;"> +<img src="images/illo_37.jpg" width="359" height="480" alt="OFF POINT JUDITH." title="" /> +<span class="caption">OFF POINT JUDITH.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Old Lady</span>.—"Now, my good man, I hope you are sure +it will really do me good, because I can not touch it but +as medicine."</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 297px;"> +<img src="images/illo_39.jpg" width="297" height="347" alt="A SLIGHT MISTAKE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">A SLIGHT MISTAKE.</span> +</div> + +<p>We have been much grieved of late to observe +the growing tendency among ladies +to <i>shave their foreheads</i>, in the hope of intellectualizing +their countenances, and this occurs +more especially among the literary portion of +the fair sex. We subjoin a portrait, but mention +no names.</p> + +<p>The mistake is this. The height of a forehead +depends upon the height of the frontal +bone—not upon the growth of the hair; and, +therefore, when the forehead retreats, it is absurd +to suppose that height +can be given by shaving the +head, even to the crown. +Added to this, it is impossible +to conceal the blue mark +which the shorn stumps of +hair still <i>will</i> leave; and, therefore, +we hope soon to see the +practice abolished.</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 502px;"> +<img src="images/illo_38.jpg" width="502" height="503" alt="Old Lady vs Greengrocer" title="" /> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Old Lady</span>—(<i>holding a very small Cabbage</i>).—"What! 3<i>d.</i> for such a small +Cabbage? Why, I never heerd o' such a thing!"</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Greengrocer</span>.—"Werry sorry, marm; but it's all along o' that Exhibition! +What with them Foreigners, and the Gents as smokes, Cabbages has riz."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="center"><b>NEW BIOGRAPHIES.</b></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Smith.</span>—This celebrated +personage has filled many +important public and private +situations: in fact, we find his +name connected with all the +great events of the time. He +was a divine, an actor, an +officer, and an author. But +afterward getting into bad +company, he was sentenced +to the State Prison, and subsequently +hanged. His family +branches, which are very +extensive, are fully treated of +in the Directory.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Warren.</span>—The discoverer +of the famous Jet Blacking. +Upon the backs of the bottle +labels he wrote his celebrated +tale of <i>Ten Thousand a Year</i>, +thus shining in two lines. He +lost his life at Bunker Hill.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>Fashions for December.</h2> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 601px;"> +<img src="images/illo_40.jpg" width="601" height="702" alt="Figs. 1, 2.—Ball and Evening Dresses." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Figs. 1, 2.—Ball and Evening Dresses.</span> +</div> + +<p>The figure on the left, in the above illustration, +shows a very rich ball costume, with jewels. +Hair in raised bands, forming a point in front, leaving +the forehead open, and spreading elegantly at the +sides. A large cord of pearls is rolled in the hair, +and forms, in two rows, a <i>Marie Stuart</i>, over the +forehead, then mixed with the back hair, falls to the +right and left in interlaced rings. Body low, square +in front, but rather high on the shoulder. The dress +is plain silk, the ornaments silk-net and lace. The +whole of the front of the body is ornamented with +rows of lace and silk-net <i>bouillons</i>. Each row of +lace covers a <i>bouillon</i>, and leaves one uncovered. +There are five or six rows of lace. They are gathered, +and it will be seen they are raised by the row +of puffs they cover. Two rows of lace are put on as +trimming on each side of the stomacher. They start +from the same point, spreading wider as they rise, as +far as the back, where they form a <i>berthe</i>. The skirt +is trimmed with three rows, one over the other, composed +of silk-net puffs; one at bottom, another one-third +of the height up, and the other two-thirds up. +Three lace flounces decorate this skirt, and each +falls on the edge of the puffs.</p> + +<p>The figure on the right exhibits a beautiful evening +dress. Hair in puffed bands, waved, rather short, +wreath of variegated geraniums, placed at the sides. +Plain silk dress, with silk-net <i>ruchés</i> about three +inches apart, from the bottom upward. Sleeves, +tight and short, edged with a <i>ruché</i> at bottom. The +body is covered with silk-net, opening heart-shape. +It is trimmed with two silk-net <i>berthes</i>, gathered a +little, with a hem about half an inch wide, marked +by a small gold cord. A row of variegated flowers +runs along the top of the body. The upper skirt, of +silk-net, is raised cross-wise, from the front toward +the back, up to the side bouquet. The hem of each +skirt is two inches deep, and is also marked by a gold +cord. The side bouquet, of flowers like those in the +hair, is fixed to the body, and hangs in branches on +the skirt. The outer sleeves are silk-net, with a hem +at the end, and raised cross-wise like the skirt, so as +to show the under-sleeves.</p> + +<p>In the picture, upon the next page, we give illustrations +of three styles of cloaks, the most fashionable +for the present winter. They are called by the +Parisian modists respectively, <span class="smcap">Parisian</span>, <span class="smcap">Frileuse</span>, +and <span class="smcap">Camara</span>. The <span class="smcap">Parisian</span> is a walking cloak of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +satin or <i>gros</i> d'Ecosse, trimmed with velvet of different +widths sewed on flat; velvet buttons. The +<span class="smcap">Frileuse</span> is a wadded pelisse of satin <i>à la reine</i> or +common. Trimming <i>à la vieille</i> of the same, with +velvet bands. The pelerine may form a hood. The +sleeves are wide and straight. The <span class="smcap">Camara</span> is a +cloak of plain cloth, forming a <i>Talma</i> behind, and +open cross-wise in front to prevent draping. Wide +flat collar. Ornaments consist of velvet fretwork +with braid round it.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 643px;"> +<img src="images/illo_41.jpg" width="643" height="585" alt="Figs. 3, 4, 5.—Parisian, Frileuse, and Camara Cloaks." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Figs. 3, 4, 5.—Parisian, Frileuse, and Camara Cloaks.</span> +</div> + +<p>Figure 6 represents an elegant costume for a little +girl, three or four years of age—a pretty, fair haired +creature. Frock of white silk, embroidered sky blue, +body low and square in front, with two silk lapels, +embroidered and festooned; a frill along the top of +front, with an embroidered insertion below it. The +sleeves are embroidered; a broad blue ribbon passes +between the shoulder and the sleeve, and is fastened +at top by a <i>rosette</i> with loose ends. This manner of +tying the ribbon raises the sleeve and leaves the arm +uncovered at top. The skirt is composed of two insertions +and two embroidered flounces. An embroidered +petticoat reaches below the skirt. The sash +is of blue silk and very wide.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 275px;"> +<img src="images/illo_42.jpg" width="275" height="428" alt="Fig. 6.—Child's Costume." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 6.—Child's Costume.</span> +</div> + +<p>Velvet, as a trimming, was never more fashionable +than at present. There are at this season few articles +included in the category of ladies' costume to which +a trimming of velvet may not be applied. Velvet is +now employed to ornament plain dresses, as well as +those of the most elegant description. One of the +new dresses we have seen, is composed of maroon-color +silk. The skirt has three flounces, each edged +with two rows of black velvet ribbon, of the width of +half an inch. The corsage and sleeves are ornamented +with the same trimming. Another dress, composed of +deep violet or puce-color silk, has the flounces edged +also with rows of black velvet. The majority of the +dresses, made at the present season, have high corsages, +though composed of silk of very rich and thick +texture.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>FOOTNOTES:</h2> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The Engravings which illustrate this article (except +the frontispiece) are from Lossing's <i>Pictorial Field-Book +of the Revolution</i>, now in course of publication by Harper +and Brothers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> This and the picture of the <i>guide-board</i> and <i>anvil block</i> +are copied from sketches made by Captain Austin of the +English Expedition.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year +1851, by Harper and Brothers, in the Clerk's Office of the +District Court of the Southern District of New York.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> The armorial bearing of Venice</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Lazare Hoche, a very distinguished young general, +who died very suddenly in the army. "Hoche," said +Bonaparte, "was one of the first generals that ever France +produced. He was brave, intelligent, abounding in talent, +decisive, and penetrating."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Charles Pichegru, a celebrated French general, who +entered into a conspiracy to overthrow the consular government +and restore the Bourbons. He was arrested and +conducted to the Temple, where he was one morning found +dead in his bed. The physicians, who met on the occasion, +asserted that he had strangled himself with his cravat. +"Pichegru," said Napoleon, "instructed me in mathematics +at Brienne when I was about ten years old. As a +general he was a man of no ordinary talent. After he +had united himself with the Bourbons, he sacrificed the +lives of upward of twenty thousand of his soldiers by +throwing them purposely in the enemies' hands, whom he +had informed beforehand of his intentions."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> General Kleber fell beneath the poinard of an assassin +in Egypt, when Napoleon was in Paris.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> General Desaix fell, pierced by a bullet, on the field +of Marengo. Napoleon deeply deplored his loss, as that +of one of his most faithful and devoted friends.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Pronounced as though written <i>Kos-shoot</i>, with the +accent on the last syllable. The Magyar equivalent for the +French <span class="smcap">Louis</span> and the German <span class="smcap">Ludwig</span> is <span class="smcap">Lajos</span>. We +have given the date of his birth, which seems best authenticated. +The notice of the Austrian police, quoted below, +makes him to have been born in 1804; still another account +gives 1801 as the year of his birth. The portrait +which we furnish is from a picture taken a little more +than two years since in Hungary, for Messrs. <span class="smcap">Goupil</span>, +the well-known picture-dealers of Paris and New York, +and is undoubtedly an authentic likeness of him at that +time. The following is a pen-and-ink portrait of Kossuth, +drawn by those capital artists, the Police authorities of +Vienna:—"<i>Louis Kossuth</i>, an ex-advocate, journalist, +Minister of Finance, President of the Committee of Defense, +Governor of the Hungarian Republic, born in Hungary, +Catholic [this is an error, Kossuth is of the Lutheran +faith], married. He is of middle height, strong, thin; the +face oval, complexion pale, the forehead high and open, +hair chestnut, eyes blue, eyebrows dark and very thick, +mouth very small and well-formed, teeth fine, chin round. +He wears a mustache and imperial, and his curled hair +does not entirely cover the upper part of the head. He has +a white and delicate hand, the fingers long. He speaks +German, Hungarian, Latin, Slovack, a little French and +Italian. His bearing when calm, is solemn, full of a certain +dignity; his movements elegant, his voice agreeable, +softly penetrating, and very distinct, even when he speaks +low. He produces, in general, the effect of an enthusiast; +his looks often fixed on the heavens; and the expression +of his eyes, which are fine, contributes to give him the +air of a dreamer. His exterior does not announce the +energy of his character." Photography could hardly produce +a picture more minutely accurate.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> We have not space to present any portion of this admirable +speech. It is given at length in <span class="smcap">Pulszky's</span> Introduction +to <span class="smcap">Schlessinger's</span> "<i>War in Hungary</i>," which +has been republished in this country; in a different, and +somewhat indifferent translation, in the anonymous +"<i>Louis Kossuth and Hungary</i>," published in London, +written strongly in the Austrian interest. In this latter, +however, the "Address to the Throne," by far the most +important and weighty portion of the speech, is omitted. +A portion of the speech, taken from this latter source, +and of course not embracing the Address, is given in Dr. +<span class="smcap">Tefft's</span> recent valuable work, "<i>Hungary and Kossuth</i>." +The whole speech constitutes a historical document of +great importance.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Continued from the November Number.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Autobiography of Zschokke, p. 119-170.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> "Crotchets in the Air, or an Un-scientific Account of a +Balloon Trip," by John Poole, Esq. Colburn, 1838.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Continued from the November Number.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> I must be pardoned for annexing the original, since +it loses much by translation:—"Hominem liberum et +magnificum debere, si queat, in primori fronte, animum +gestare."</p><br /></div> + + +<div class="tnotes"><h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3> + +<div class="tnote"><p>Obvious punctuation errors have been repaired, other punctuations have +been left as printed in the paper book.</p></div> + +<div class="tnote"><p>Obvious printer's errors have been repaired, other inconsistent +spellings have been kept, including:<br /> +- use of hyphen (e.g. "chess-men" and "chessmen");<br /> +- accents (e.g. "denouement" and "dénoûement");<br /> +- place names (e.g. "Hindostan" and "Hindoostan").</p></div> + +<div class="tnote"><p>In the Table of Contents, following names have been corrected to match +the text they refer to:<br /> +- "Batthyani" corrected to be "Batthyanyi" (551. Esterhazy, Batthyanyi);<br /> +- "Blackistone" corrected to be "Blackinston" (Lindsay and Blackiston's).</p></div> + +<div class="tnote"><p>Pg 11, word "of" added (unworthy of civilized forbearance).</p> +</div> + +<div class="tnote"><p>Pg 40, title added to article (Kossuth—A Biographical Sketch).</p> +</div> + +<div class="tnote"><p>Pg 56, word "few" added (only a few days).</p> +</div> + +<div class="tnote"><p>Pg 85, word "go" added (I must go on deck).</p> +</div> + +<div class="tnote"><p>Pg 96, name "Cliff" corrected to be "Griffith" (Griffith in his).</p> +</div> + +<div class="tnote"><p>Pg 139, name "Pfeifer" corrected to be "Pfeiffer" (Ida Pfeiffer).</p> +</div></div> + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Harper's New Monthly Magazine Vol. IV, +No. 19, Dec 1851, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY *** + +***** This file should be named 38399-h.htm or 38399-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/3/9/38399/ + +Produced by Judith Wirawan, David Kline, and The Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +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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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: Harper's New Monthly Magazine Vol. IV, No. 19, Dec 1851 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: December 24, 2011 [EBook #38399] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY *** + + + + +Produced by Judith Wirawan, David Kline, and The Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + HARPER'S + + NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. + + + VOLUME IV. + + DECEMBER, 1851, TO MAY, 1852. + + + NEW YORK: + + HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, + + 329 & 331 PEARL STREET, + + FRANKLIN SQUARE. + + 1852. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + + +The Fourth Volume of HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE is completed by the +issue of the present number. The Publishers embrace the opportunity of +renewing the expression of their thanks to the public and the press, for +the extraordinary degree of favor with which its successive Numbers have +been received. Although it has but just reached the close of its second +year, its regular circulation is believed to be at least twice as great +as that of any similar work ever issued in any part of the world. + +The Magazine will be continued in the same general style, and upon the +same plan, as heretofore. Its leading purpose is to furnish, at the +lowest price, and in the best form, the greatest possible amount of the +useful and entertaining literary productions of the present age. While +it is by no means indifferent to the highest departments of culture, it +seeks primarily to place before the great masses of the people, in every +section of the country, and in every walk of life, the most attractive +and instructive selections from the current literature of the day. No +degree of labor or expense will be spared upon any department. The most +gifted and popular authors of the country write constantly for its +pages; the pictorial illustrations by which every Number is embellished +are of the best style, and by the most distinguished artists; the +selections for its pages are made from the widest range and with the +greatest care; and nothing will be left undone, either in providing +material, or in its outward dress, which will tend in any degree to make +it more worthy the remarkable favor with which it has been received. + +The Magazine will contain regularly as hitherto: + +_First._--One or more original articles upon some topic of general +interest, written by some popular writer, and illustrated by from +fifteen to thirty wood engravings, executed in the highest style of art: + +_Second._--Copious selections from the current periodical literature of +the day, with tales of the most distinguished authors, such as DICKENS, +BULWER, LEVER, and others--chosen always for their literary merit, +popular interest, and general utility: + +_Third._--A Monthly Record of the events of the day, foreign and +domestic, prepared with care, and with entire freedom from prejudice and +partiality of every kind: + +_Fourth._--Critical Notices of the Books of the day, written with +ability, candor, and spirit, and designed to give the public a clear and +reliable estimate of the important works constantly issuing from the +press: + +_Fifth._--A Monthly Summary of European Intelligence concerning Books, +Authors, and whatever else has interest and importance for the +cultivated reader: + +_Sixth._--An Editor's Table, in which some of the leading topics of the +day will be discussed with ability and independence: + +_Seventh._--An Editor's Easy Chair, or Drawer, which will be devoted to +literary and general gossip, memoranda of the topics talked about in +social circles, graphic sketches of the most interesting minor matters +of the day, anecdotes of literary men, sentences of interest from papers +not worth reprinting at length, and generally an agreeable and +entertaining collection of literary miscellany. + +The Publishers trust that it is not necessary for them to reiterate +their assurances that nothing shall ever be admitted to the pages of the +Magazine in the slightest degree offensive to delicacy or to any moral +sentiment. They will seek steadily to exert upon the public a healthy +moral influence, and to improve the character, as well as please the +taste, of their readers. They will aim to make their Magazine the most +complete repertory of whatever is both useful and agreeable in the +current literary productions of the day. + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME IV. + + + Amalie de Bourblanc, the Lost Child 202 + American Arctic Expedition 11 + Anecdotes and Aphorisms 348 + Anecdotes of Leopards and Jaguars 227 + Anecdotes of Monkeys 464 + Artist's Sacrifice 624 + Ass of La Marca 354 + Benjamin Franklin. By JACOB ABBOTT 145, 289 + Bird-hunting Spider 78 + Black Eagle in a Bad Way 217 + Bleak House. By CHARLES DICKENS 649, 809 + Blighted Flowers 549 + Boston Tea-Party. By B. J. LOSSING 1 + Bow Window 50 + Brace of Blunders 540 + Chewing the Buyo 408 + Child's Toy 476 + Christmas as we grow Older. By CHARLES DICKENS 390 + Christmas in Company of John Doe. By CHARLES DICKENS 386 + Christmas in Germany 499 + Clara Corsini--a Tale of Naples 68 + Conspiracy of the Clocks 185 + Crime Detected 768 + Curious Page of Family History 351 + Curse of Gold--A Dream 335 + Czar of Russia at a Ball 828 + Difficulty 56 + Diligence in doing Good 781 + Dream of the Weary Heart 511 + + EDITOR'S DRAWER. + + Tailing on; The John Jones Party; How many Times did the + Hedge-pig mew? Touching the Tin, 134. The Deformed's Hope; + Looking out for Number One--Abroad and at Home; Leaves and Coats; + The Mathematical Monomaniac, 135. A puzzled Doctor, 136. A Text + for a Sermon; The entombed Racer; Cause and Effect; Vagaries of + the Insane, 268. Munchausenism; Love and Mammon; Professional + Enthusiasm, 269. Mind your P's and Q's; Sympathy thrown away; + Winter Duties, 270. Experiments in Flying; Affair of + Honor--almost, 271. Takin' Notes; Having One's Faculties; Great + Talkers, 421. Witnesses and Counsel--with an Example; Physiognomy + at Fault; Mercantile Drummers, 422. On Discontentment; + Omnipresence of the Deity; To Snuffers and Chewers; The French + and Death, 412. Rat and Owl Fight; Moralizing on Climbing a + greased Pole; Inquisitiveness, with an Instance thereof, 565. + Street Thoughts by a Surgeon; The Millionaire without a Sou; The + Deaf-and-Dumb Boy; Workers in Worsted, 566. Subscribing + Something; Bad Spelling; Lending Umbrellas, 567. Something about + Music; The Workhouse Clock, 568. Sweets in Paris; Something about + China, 569. Difference of Opinion; a Tale of other Times, 704. + Stealing Sermons; About Snuff; Laughter; Looking-glass + Reflections; Something from Sam Slick, 705. Turning the Tables: + Youthful Age; Fools and Madmen; Under Canvas, 706. Joking in + Letters; Welsh Card of Invitation; Chiffoniers in Paris, 707. + Harrowing Lines, 708. Eating cooked Rain; Patent Medicine Toast; + New Language of Flowers, 847. Song of the Turkey; Marks of + Affection; Tired of Nothing to do; Lame and impotent Conclusion, + 848. Orders is Orders; The Sleeping Child; Dickens's Denouements; + Statistical Fellows, 849. Keep your Receipts; Giving a Look; + About Dandies; Chawls Yellowplush on Lit'ry Men; Deep-blue + Stockings, 850. A Climax; Some Love-Verses; A Criminal + Curiosity-hunter; a Skate-vender on Thaws, 851. + + EDITOR'S EASY CHAIR. + + Kossuth; Louis Napoleon; A Workingman for President, 131. Musical + Chit-chat; Lumley and Rossini; America in the Exhibition, 132. A + very French Story of Love and Devotion; Another of Devotion and + Smuggling, 133. Kossuth and our Enthusiasm for him, 265. On Lola + Montez; Dumas and the French Censorship; Signor Braschi; Female + Stock-brokers; The consoled Disconsolates, 266. An Italian + Romance, 267. Louis Napoleon's Coup d'etat; Kossuth Talk, 418. + Paris Gossip; Cavaignac and his Bride elect; The Lottery of Gold, + 419. Home Gossip; How Mr. Coper sold a horse, 420. The Hard + Winter; The Forrest Trial, 563. The French Usurpation; + President-making and Morals in the Metropolis; A Bit of Paris + Life; Legacies to Litterateurs, 564. Now; Close of the Carnival; + the Cooper Testimonial; Lectures; Exemplary Damages, 702. + Congressional Manners; The Maine Liquor Law; Reminiscence of + Maffit; French Writers, 703. The Chevalier's Stroke for a Wife, + 704. More about the Weather, 843. Sir John Franklin; Free Speech; + Lola in Boston; Jenny Goldschmidt, 844. Marriage Associations; + About Punch; Magisterial Beards; An equine Passport, 845. + Matrimonial Confidence; Dancing in the Beau Monde; Major M'Gowd's + Story, 846. + + EDITOR'S TABLE. + + Time and Space, 128. Testimony of Geology to the Supernatural, + 130. The Year, 262. The Pulpit and the Press, 265. The Value of + the Union, 415. The Seventh Census, 557. The Immensity of the + Universe, 562. The Spiritual Telegraph, 699. History the World's + Memory, 700. Mental Alchemy:--Credulity and Skepticism, 839. + + Episode of the Italian Revolution 771 + Esther Hammond's Wedding Day 520 + Eyes made to Order 91 + Fashionable Forger 231 + Fashions for December 143 + Fashions for January 287 + Fashions for February 431 + Fashions for March 575 + Fashions for April 719 + Fashions for May 863 + Forgotten Celebrity 778 + French Flower Girl 54 + Gold--What, and Where from 87 + Good Old Times in Paris 395 + Great Objects attained by Little Things 330 + Habits and Character of the Dog-Rib Indians 690 + Helen Corrie 391 + High Life in the Olden Time 254 + How Gunpowder is Made 643 + How Men Rise in the World 211 + Hunting the Alligator 668 + Impressions of England in 1851. By FREDRIKA BREMER 616 + Indian Pet 38 + Insane Philosopher 647 + Introduction of the Potato into France 622 + Keep Him Out 515 + Knights of the Cross. By CAROLINE CHESEBRO' 221 + Kossuth--A Biographical Sketch 40 + + LEAVES FROM PUNCH. + + Better Luck next Time; Doing one a Special Favor; Etymological + Inventions, 141. Off Point Judith; Singular Phenomenon; A Slight + Mistake; New Biographies, 142. Arrant Extortion; Mr. Booby in the + New Costume, 285. A Bloomer in Leap Year; Strong-minded Bloomer, + 286. A Horrible Business; Rather too much of a Good Thing, 429. + Mrs. Baker's Pet, 430. Signs of the Times; France is Tranquil, + 573. The Road to Ruin; New Street-sweeping Machines, 574. Going + to Cover, 173. Revolution on Bayonets; Thoughts on French + Affairs; Early Publication in Paris, 714. Scene from the + President's Progress, 715. Touching Sympathy; Sound Advice, 716. + Effects of a Strike, 717. Perfect Identification; Calling the + Police; The Seven Wonders of a Young Lady, 718. Butcher Boys of + the Upper Ten, 857. The Inquisitive Omnibus Driver; The Flunky's + Idea of Beauty, 858. A Competent Adviser; Scrupulous Regard for + Truth, 859. Awful Effects of an Eye-glass; Penalties; Rather + Severe, 860. What I heard about Myself in the Exhibition; The + Peer on the Press, 861. The Interior of a French Court of Justice + in 1851, 862. + + Legend of the Lost Well 47 + Legend of the Weeping Chamber 358 + Life and Death. By the Author of _Alton Locke_ 216 + + LITERARY NOTICES. + + BOOKS NOTICED. + + Melville's Moby Dick; Putnam's Hand-books; Rural Homes; + Hawthorne's Wonder-Book, 137. Greeley's Glances at Europe; + Stoddard's Poems; Neander on Philippians; Heavenly Recognition; + Lindsay and Blackiston's Gift-Books; Bishop McIlvaine's Charge, + 138. Taylor's Wesley and Methodism, 272. Boyd's Young's Night + Thoughts; Mrs. Lee's Florence; Words in Earnest; Herbert's + Captains of the Old World; Ida Pfeiffer's Voyage Round the World, + 273. Reveries of a Bachelor; James's Aims and Obstacles; Simm's + Norman Maurice; Richard's Claims of Science; Greenwood Leaves; + Winter in Spitzbergen; Dream-land by Daylight, 274. Memoir of + Mary Lyon; Woods's Sixteen Months at the Gold Diggings; + Wainwright's Land of Bondage; Mrs. Kirkland's Evening Book; The + Tutor's Ward; Thompson's Hints to Employers, 275. Layard's + Nineveh; Saunders's Great Metropolis; Ik. Marvel's Dream-life; + Florence Sackville; Clovernook, 424. Salander and the Dragon; + Spring's First Woman; Edwards's Select Poetry; Sovereigns of the + Bible; Hawthorne's Snow Image; Summerfield; The Podesta's + Daughter; Ross's What I saw in New York; Curtis's Western + Portraiture; Stephen's Lectures on the History of France, 425. + Chambers's Life and Works of Burns, 569. Abbott's Corner Stone; + Browne's History of Classical Literature; Dickson's Life, Sleep, + and Pain; Head's Faggot of French Sticks; Hudson's Shakspeare; + Simmon's Greek Girl; House on the Rock; Companions of my + Solitude; Wright's Sorcery and Magic; Ravenscliffe; Mitford's + Recollections of a Literary Life, 570. Memoirs of Margaret Fuller + Ossoli; Edwards's Charity and its Fruits, 708. Richardson's + Arctic Searching Expedition; Bonynge's Future Wealth of America; + Copland's Dictionary of Medicine; Cheever's Reel in the Bottle; + The Head of the Family; Neander's Exposition of James; Men and + Women of the Eighteenth Century; Bon Gaultier's Book of Ballads; + Walker's Rhyming Dictionary, 709. Stiles's Austria in 1848-49, + 852. Forester's Field Sports; Simms's Golden Christmas; + Falkenburg; Isa; The Howadji in Syria, 853. Stuart's Commentary + on Proverbs; Parker's Story of a Soul; Arthur and Carpenter's + Cabinet Histories; Mosheim's Christianity before Constantine; + Pulszky's Tales and Traditions of Hungary; Aytoun's Lays of the + Scottish Cavaliers; Barnes's Notes on Revelation, 854. Kirwan's + Romanism at Home, 855. + + PERSONAL AND LITERARY INTELLIGENCE. + + Hawthorne; _Literary Gazette_ on Hitchcock; The _News_ on + Vestiges of Civilization; Westminster Review; New Works + announced; Assyrian Sculptures; Pension to Reid; Christopher + North; Map of France; Manuscripts of Lalande; Dumas's Memoirs, + 139. Documents on the Thirty Years' War; Douglas Jerrold's Works, + 275. Lady Bulwer; Rise of Bunsen; New College, Edinburgh; Madame + Pfeiffer; Richardson's Arctic Expedition, 276. Plays by Jerrold + and Marston; Stephen's Lectures; Critique on Hildreth; On Moby + Dick; Shakspeare for Kossuth; Landor on Kossuth; Critique on + Springer's Forest Life; On Layard's Nineveh, 277. Alison; Works + denounced; Brougham; Translations of Scott; New Works in France, + 278. M. Vattemare; The Elzevirs; Daguerre; Heine; Leipzig Easter + Fair; Papers in Germany; Japanese Dictionary; Excavations at + Athens; Ximenes; Spanish Classics; Ida Hahn-Hahn; Professor + Nuylz; Oriental MSS.; Proscription in Italy; Discovery of Old + Paintings in Muenster; Jeffrey; Mr. Jerdan; Brougham; Gutzlaff, + 425. Carlyle's Sterling; Yeast; Blake; Dickens in Danish; Delta; + Stephen: M'Cosh; Hahn-Hahn; Junius; Kossuth's Eloquence; + Beresford, 426. Guizot; Revolutionary Walls; Migne's Book + Establishment; French Works; Bonaparte and Literature; Silvio + Pellico; German Novels; Oersted; Oehlenschlaeger; Menzel; Heine, + 427. Schiller Festival; Zahn; Kosmos; Servian Poetry; Shakspeare + in Swedish; Italian Book on America; Chinese Geography; Turkish + Grammar and Dictionary; Ticknor in Spanish, 428. Westminster + Review; New Books; Benedict; Macaulay, 570. Browning's Shelley; + Junius; Budhist Monuments; Freund's German-English Lexicon; + Bulwer's Works; The Head of the Family; Lossing's Field-Book; + Hawthorne; Eliot Warburton, 571. French Literary Exiles; + Lamartine; Count Ficquelmont; Works on the Coup d'Etat; Louis + Philippe and Letters; George Sand; Humboldt; Schiller's Library; + Hagberg; Translations into Spanish, 572. Theological + Translations; Bohn's New Publications; Greek Professorship in + Edinburgh; Dr. Robinson; Talvi, 710. Moby Dick; Tests in Scottish + Universities; Montalembert; Cavaignac; The Press in Paris; + Posthumous Work by Meinhold, 711; Lamartine's Civilisateur; + Eugene Sue; Neuman's English Empire in Asia; English Literature + in Germany; Nitzsch on Hahn-Hahn; Gutzkow; The Rhenish Times; + Hebrew Books; Literature of Hungary; Monument to Oken, 712. + Cockburn's Life of Jeffrey; Grote's History of Greece; Farini's + History of the Roman State; The Shelley Forgeries; James R. + Lowell; Papers of Margaret Fuller, 855. Life of Fox; Sale of rare + Books; Greek Professor at Edinburgh; Bleak House in German; + Macaulay in German; Barante's Histoire de la Convention + Nationale; Pierre Leroux; Chamfort; George Sand; Stuart of + Dunleath in French; Epistolary Forgeries; Anselm Feuerbach; Bust + of Schelling; Goethe and Schiller Literature; Count + Platen-Hallermuende; Lives of the Sovereigns of Russia, 856. + + OBITUARIES. + + Archibald Alexander, D. D.; J. Kearney Rodgers, M. D.; Granville + Sharp Pattison, M. D.; Gardner G. Howland, 122. Dr. Wingard; + Byron's Sister; H. P. Borrell; Dr. Gutzlaff; Mrs. Sherwood, 140. + King of Hanover, 261. Professors Wolff and Humbert, 280. Joel R. + Poinsett; Moses Stuart, 411. Marshal Soult, 414. William Wyon; + Rev. J. H. Caunter; Chevalier Lavy; M. de St. Priest; Paul Erman; + Professor Dunbar; Dr. Sadleir; Basil Montague, 426. T. H. Turner, + 570. Baron D'Ohsen; Robert Blackwood; Serangelli, 712. Hon. + Jeremiah Morrow, 836. Thomas Moore; Archbishop Murray; Sir + Herbert Jenner Fust, 837. Marshal Marmont; Armand Marrast, 838. + + Louis Napoleon and his Nose 833 + Love Affair at Cranford 457 + Masked Ball at Vienna 469 + Maurice Tiernay, the Soldier of Fortune. By CHARLES + LEVER 57, 187, 339 + Mazzini, the Italian Liberal 404 + Miracle of Life 500 + + MONTHLY RECORD OF CURRENT EVENTS. + + UNITED STATES. + + The November Elections: success of the Union Party in Georgia, + South Carolina, Mississippi, and Alabama, 120. Adoption of the + New Constitution in Virginia, 120. Election in Pennsylvania, 120. + Return of the Arctic Expedition, 121. Dinner to Mr. Grinnell, + 121. Imprisonment of John S. Thrasher in Havana, 121, 258, 553. + Appeal of Mr. Tyler in behalf of the Cuban prisoners, 121. + Inauguration of Gov. Campbell of Tennessee, 121. Convention of + Cotton-planters in Macon, 121. Decision in favor of Morse's + Telegraph, 122. Decision of the Methodist Book-fund case, 122. + Letter of Mr. Clay on the Compromise, 122. Elections in + California, 122. General Intelligence from California, 122, 258, + 411, 553, 693, 835. General Intelligence from Oregon, 122, 411, + 693. Volcanic Eruption in the Sandwich Islands, 123. General + Intelligence from New Mexico, 123, 259, 411, 553, 693,835. + Arrival of Kossuth, and reception in New York, 255. Speech of + Kossuth at the Corporation banquet in New York, 255. At the Press + dinner, 256. Opening of the Thirty-second Congress, 256. Abstract + of the President's Message, 256. Correspondence with foreign + Powers respecting Cuba, 258. Official vote in New York, 258. + Speech of Kossuth at the Bar dinner in New York, 410. Kossuth at + Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, 410. Opening + of the New York Legislature and Message of Governor Hunt, 410. + Opening of the Pennsylvania Legislature, 411. Mr. Clay resigns + his seat in the Senate, 411. Destruction of the Congressional + Library, 411. American expedition to the Sandwich Islands, 411. + Kossuth at the West, 551. Esterhazy, Batthyanyi, Pulszky, and + Szemere on Kossuth, 551. Speeches in Congress on Intervention, + 552. Outrage at Greytown disavowed by the English government, + 553. Legislative nominations for the Presidency, 553. Message of + Gov. Farwell of Wisconsin, 553. The U.S. Indemnity in Texas, 553. + Letter of Mr. Buchanan, 553. Of Mr. Benton, 553. General + proceedings in Congress, 692. Correspondence respecting Kossuth, + 692. Mr. Webster's discourse before the Historical Society, 693. + Commemorative meeting to J. Fenimore Cooper. 693. Archbishop + Hughes's lecture on Catholicism in the United States, 693. Whig + State Convention in Kentucky, 693. In Indiana, 693. Webster + meeting in New York, 693. Washington's birthday at the Capital, + 693. Mormon disturbances in Utah, 694. Debates in the Senate on + Intervention; speech of Mr. Soule, 834. Abstraction of public + papers, 834. Mr. Cass on the Wilmot Proviso, 834. Presidential + speeches in the House, 834. Political Conventions in various + States, and nominations for the Presidency, 834. Proceedings in + the Legislature of Mississippi, 834. State debt of Pennsylvania, + 835. Mr. Webster at Trenton, 835. Accident at Hell-gate, 835. + Return of Cuban prisoners, 835. Letter of Mr. Clay on the + Presidency, 835. Expedition to Japan, 835. Loss of steamer North + America, 835. Col. Berzenczey's expedition to Tartary, 835. + + SOUTHERN AMERICA. + + Election of Montt as President of Chili, 123. Attempt at + insurrection, 123, 412. Contest against Rosas in Buenos Ayres, + 124, 694, 835. Difficulties growing out of the Tehuantepec right + of way in Mexico, 124. Insurrection in the northern departments + under Caravajal, 124, 412, 553, 694, 835. Letters to the + Governors of the departments, 124. General Intelligence from + Mexico, 124, 412, 553, 835. Message of the President of + Venezuela, 694. Disturbance in Chili penal settlements, 694, 835. + Mexican claims for Indian depredations, 835. Defeat and flight of + Rosas, 836. Peruvian expedition against Ecuador, 836. Gold in New + Grenada, 836. + + GREAT BRITAIN. + + Arrival of Kossuth at Southampton, 124. Speech of Kossuth at + Winchester, 125. Close of the Great Exhibition, 126. Disturbances + in Ireland, 126. War at the Cape of Good Hope, 126, 554, 696. + Opposition of the Sultan of Turkey to the Suez Railway, 126. + Kossuth at Birmingham, Manchester, London, and Southampton, 259. + Embarkation for America, 259. Resignation of Lord Palmerston and + appointment of Earl Granville as Foreign Secretary, 412. + Deputation of merchants to Lord John Russell, 412. Dinner to Mr. + Walker, 412. From Ireland, 412. Petitions from Scotland against + the Maynooth grant, 413. Burning of the steamer Amazon, 554. The + national defenses, 554. Controversy between workmen and + employers, 554. Movements of the Reformers, 554. Gold in + Australia, 554. Destruction of Lagos in Africa by the British, + 554, 696. Meeting of Parliament and the Queen's Speech, 694. + Explanations as to the retirement of Lord Palmerston, 694. Defeat + and resignation of the Russell Ministry, 695. Appointment of a + Protectionist Ministry, 696. Correspondence with Austria + respecting political refugees, 696. Disaster from water, 696. New + expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, 697. Attitude of the + Derby Ministry, 836. Position of Lord John Russell, 837. Mr. + Disraeli's address to his constituents, 837. Revival of the Anti + Corn-Law League, 837. Mr. Layard declines to continue in office, + 837. + + FRANCE. + + The President demands the repeal of the election law of May 31; + the Ministers refuse their assent and resign, 126. Formation of a + new Ministry, 127. Insults to the Republican members of Assembly, + 127. Meeting of the Assembly, Message of the President, demanding + the restoration of universal suffrage, and its rejection by the + Assembly, 260. Progress of the struggle between the President and + Assembly, 261. President's speech on distributing prizes to + exhibitors, 261. The President dissolves the Assembly and assumes + the sole powers of government, 413. His decree, 413. Arrest of + members of Assembly, 413. Unsuccessful attempts at resistance, + 413. Great majorities returned in favor of the President, 414, + 554. Correspondence between the English and French Governments, + 414. Celebration at the result of the election, 554. Speech of M. + Baroche, 555. Proceedings of the President, 555. The new + Constitution decreed by the President, 555. Formation of a + Ministry of Police and of State, 556. Seizure of the property of + the Orleans family, 556. Measures limiting discussion, 556. New + Legislative law, 697. Letter of the Orleans princes, 697. The + Ministry of Police, 697. Dinner by the President to English + residents, 697. Decree regulating the press, 697. Correspondence + between the government and the Emperor of Russia, 697. + Proceedings in relation to Belgium, 698. Success of the + government in the elections, 837. Presidential decree for + mortgage banks, 837. Decree respecting the College of France, + 837. Judges superannuated at seventy years, 837. Prize for + adaptation of Voltaic pile, 838. Donation to M. Foucauld, 838. + New military medal and pension, 838. French demands upon Belgium + refused, 838. Correspondence between Austria, Prussia, and Russia + respecting France, 838. French demands upon Switzerland, 839. + + SOUTHERN EUROPE. + + Neapolitan answer to Mr. Gladstone's letter, 127. New Colonial + Council in Spain for Cuba, 127. Austrian rigor in Italy, 261. + Pardon of the American prisoners in Spain, 414. Attempt to + assassinate the Queen of Spain, 698. Change in the government of + the Spanish colonies, 839. + + CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE. + + Preparations in Prussia, 127. Telegraphic arrangements in + Germany, 127. The Polish provinces of Prussia excluded from the + Confederation, 127. The Emperor of Austria declares himself + absolute, 127. Elections in Switzerland, 261. Critical state of + affairs in Austria, 261, 414. Austria and France, 414. Annulling + of the Constitution of 1849 in Austria, 556. General + Intelligence, 556. Attitude assumed by the European powers toward + France, 678. Demands of France upon Switzerland in relation to + political refugees, 698. Transferrence of Holstein to Denmark, + 698. Switzerland menaced by a commercial blockade, 839. + + THE EAST. + + General Intelligence, 127. Negotiations in Turkey respecting the + Holy Sepulchre, 414. Hostilities in India, 415. Changes of + Ministry in Greece and Turkey, 698. Generosity of the Porte + toward rebels, 839. High interest forbidden in Turkey, 839. Death + of the Persian Vizier, 839. Hostilities between the English and + Burmese, 839. + + Mr. Potts's New Years Adventures 281 + My First Place 489 + My Novel; or, Varieties in English Life. By SIR EDWARD BULWER + LYTTON 105, 239, 371, 525, 673, 793 + Mysteries 65 + My Traveling Companion 636 + Napoleon Bonaparte. By JOHN S. C. ABBOTT 22, 166, 310, 592, 736 + New Discoveries in Ghosts 512 + Old Maid's First Love 360 + Orphan's Dream of Christmas 385 + Our School. By CHARLES DICKENS 75 + Paradise Lost 611 + Personal Sketches and Reminiscences. By MARY RUSSELL MITFORD 503 + Pipe Clay and Clay Pipes 688 + Pleasures and Perils of Ballooning 96 + Poison Eaters 364 + Potter of Tours 219 + Promise Unfulfilled 80 + Public Executions in England 542 + Recollections of St. Petersburg 447 + Rising Generationism 478 + Rodolphus.--A Franconia Story. By JACOB ABBOTT 433, 577, 721 + Short Chapter on Frogs 791 + Sicilian Vespers 790 + Sleep to Startle us 830 + Stolen Bank Notes 627 + Story of a Bear 786 + Story of Oriental Love 75 + Story of Rembrandt 516 + Street Scenes of the French Usurpation 399 + Suwarrow--Sketch of 409 + Talk about the Spider 200 + Taste of French Dungeons 670 + Taste of Austrian Jails 481 + The Bedoueen, Mahomad Alee, and the Bazaars. By GEORGE WILLIAM + CURTIS 755 + The Brothers 212 + The Expectant--A Tale of Life 93 + The Game of Chess 205 + The German Emigrants. By JOHN DOGGETT, Jr. 183 + The Little Sisters 641 + The Lost Ages 547 + The Mighty Magician 772 + The Moor's Revenge. By EPES SARGENT 669 + The Mountain Torrent 466 + The Night Train 783 + The Opera. By THOMAS CARLYLE 252 + The Ornithologist 470 + The Point of Honor 494 + The Sublime Porte 332 + The Tub School 85 + Thiers--Sketch of his Life 214 + Thy Will be Done. By GEORGE P. MORRIS 119 + Tiger Roche.--An Irish Character 760 + To be Read at Dusk. By CHARLES DICKENS 235 + True Courage 620 + Two Kinds of Honesty 773 + Vagaries of the Imagination 63 + Vatteville Ruby 613 + Vision of Charles XI. 397 + What becomes of the Rind? 402 + What to do in the Mean Time 545 + Who knew Best 485 + Wives of Great Lawyers 764 + Wonderful Toys 634 + You're Another 105 + Zoological Stories 769 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + PAGE + 1. Casting the Tea over in Boston Harbor 1 + 2. Boston in 1770-74 3 + 3. Faneuil Hall 4 + 4. Portrait of Governor Hutchinson 5 + 5. Portrait of the Earl of Dartmouth 5 + 6. House of John Hancock 6 + 7. Province House 7 + 8. The Old South Church, Boston 7 + 9. Portrait of David Kinnison 9 + 10. Portrait of George R. T. Hewes 10 + 11. Pouring Tea down the Throat of America 10 + 12. Route of the Arctic Expedition (Map) 12 + 13. Vessels beating to Windward of Iceberg 12 + 14. Perilous Situation of the Advance and Rescue 13 + 15. Discovery Ships near the Devil's Thumb 14 + 16. The Advance leading the Prince Albert 15 + 17. The Advance stranded at Cape Riley 16 + 18. Anvil-Block, and Guide-Board 17 + 19. Three Graves at Beechy 17 + 20. The Advance and Rescue at Barlow's Inlet 18 + 21. The Advance in Barrow's Straits 19 + 22. The Advance and Rescue drifting 19 + 23. The Advance and Rescue in the Winter 20 + 24. The Advance in Davis's Straits 20 + 25. The Advance among Hummocks 21 + 26. Stern of the Rescue in the Ice 21 + 27. The Passage of the Tagliamento 24 + 28. The Gorge of Neumarkt 26 + 29. The Venetian Envoys 27 + 30. The Conference dissolved 30 + 31. The Court at Milan 31 + 32. The Triumphal Journey 33 + 33. The Delivery of the Treaty 34 + 34. Portrait of Kossuth 40 + 35. Better Luck next Time 141 + 36. Doing One a Special Favor 141 + 37. Off Point Judith 142 + 38. Singular Phenomenon 142 + 39. A Slight Mistake 142 + 40. Costumes for December 143 + 41. Parisian, Frileuse, and Camara Cloaks 144 + 41. Child's Costume 144 + 43. Portrait of Franklin 145 + 44. The Franklin Smithy 145 + 45. Franklin at Ten Years of Age 146 + 46. Building the Pier at the Mill-pond 146 + 47. Franklin reading in his Chamber 147 + 48. The Franklin Family 147 + 49. Franklin studying in the Printing-office 147 + 50. Franklin's First Literary Essay 148 + 51. Franklin ill-used by his Brother 149 + 52. Franklin plans to escape 149 + 53. The Sloop at Sea 149 + 54. Franklin traveling through the Storm 150 + 55. The old Woman's Hospitality 150 + 56. Franklin with his Penny Rolls 150 + 57. Franklin gives the Bread to a poor Woman 151 + 58. Franklin asleep in the Meeting-house 152 + 59. Franklin with Bradford and Keimer 152 + 60. The Quakeress's Counsel 153 + 61. Franklin showing his Money 153 + 62. Franklin and the Governor of New York 154 + 63. Collins flung overboard 154 + 64. Reading on the Banks of the River 155 + 65. Franklin's Courtship 155 + 66. Franklin takes Leave of Miss Read 155 + 67. Franklin delivers his Letter 156 + 68. Franklin at the Book-store 156 + 69. Franklin carrying Type Forms 157 + 70. The Widow Lady of Duke-street 157 + 71. The Recluse Lodger 157 + 72. Franklin looking out of the Window 158 + 73. The Copper-plate Press 158 + 74. Franklin's First Job 159 + 75. The Junto Club 160 + 76. Meredith on a Spree 160 + 77. Grief of Miss Read 161 + 78. Franklin with the Wheelbarrow 161 + 79. The Library 162 + 80. Industry of Mrs. Franklin 162 + 81. The China Bowl and Silver Spoon 162 + 82. The Gardener at work 163 + 83. Grinding the Ax 163 + 84. The Widow carrying on Business 164 + 85. Franklin playing Chess 164 + 86. Franklin takes Charge of his Nephew 165 + 87. Portrait of Whitefield 165 + 88. The Expedition to Egypt 166 + 89. Napoleon embarking for Egypt 169 + 90. Napoleon looking at the distant Alps 170 + 91. The Disembarkation in Egypt 173 + 92. The March through the Desert 175 + 93. The Battle of the Pyramids 178 + 94. The Egyptian Ruins 183 + 95. Mr. Potts makes his Toilet 281 + 96. Mr. Potts suffers--Inexpressibly 281 + 97. Mr. Potts is discomposed 281 + 98. Mr. Potts in the wrong Apartment 282 + 99. Mr. Potts enchanted 283 + 100. Mr. Potts assumes a striking Attitude 283 + 101. Mr. Potts makes a Sensation 283 + 102. Mr. Potts tears himself away 284 + 103. Mr. Potts receives a Lecture 284 + 104. Arrant Extortion 285 + 105. Mr. Booby in the New Costume 285 + 106. A Bloomer in Leap Year 286 + 107. The Strong-minded Bloomer 286 + 108. Winter Costumes 287 + 109. Walking Dress 288 + 110. Hood and Head-dress 288 + 111. Preparing the Regimental Colors 290 + 112. Franklin on Military Duty 290 + 113. Franklin's Colloquy with the Quaker 291 + 114. The Indian Pow-wow 291 + 115. The Female Street-sweeper 292 + 116. The Horse and Packages for Camp 293 + 117. The precipitous Flight 293 + 118. March to Gnadenhuetten 294 + 119. Franklin's military Escort 295 + 120. Portrait of Buffon 296 + 121. Franklin and the new Governor 296 + 122. Sign of St. George and the Dragon 297 + 123. The Ship in Peril of the Rocks 297 + 124. Franklin writing to his Wife 298 + 125. The Old Man from the Desert 298 + 126. Portrait of Mrs. Franklin 299 + 127. Franklin on his Tour of Inspection 300 + 128. Bees swarming 301 + 129. Franklin's Departure from Chester 301 + 130. Reception of the Satin 302 + 131. Franklin transformed by his new Dress 302 + 132. Franklin repulsed from Lord Hillsborough's 303 + 133. The Boston Riot 304 + 134. Portrait of Lord Chatham 304 + 135. Portrait of Lord Camden 304 + 136. Franklin at Chess with the Lady 305 + 137. Drafting the Declaration of Independence 306 + 138. Old Age 307 + 139. Feeling toward Franklin in Paris 308 + 140. Portrait of Lafayette 309 + 141. Franklin's Amusement in Age 309 + 142. Napoleon's Escape from the Red Sea 310 + 143. The Dromedary Regiment 312 + 144. The Plague Hospital at Acre 317 + 145. The Bomb-shell exploding 320 + 146. Arrival of the Courier 326 + 147. Napoleon and Kleber 328 + 148. The Return from Egypt 329 + 149. A Horrible Business 429 + 150. Mrs. Baker's Pet 430 + 151. Costumes for February 431 + 152. Evening Dress 432 + 153. Full Dress for Home 432 + 154. The Rabbit House 433 + 155. The Pursuit 437 + 156. The Raft 439 + 157. Up the Ladder 441 + 158. The Yard at Mr. Randon's 442 + 159. Plan of Mr. Randon's House 444 + 160. The Great Room 444 + 161. Inundation at St. Petersburg 449 + 162. Russian Ice Mountains 452 + 163. Punishment for Drunkenness 454 + 164. Russian Isvoshtshiks 455 + 165. The Easter Kiss--agreeable 456 + 166. The Easter Kiss--as matter of Duty 456 + 167. The Easter Kiss--under Difficulties 456 + 168. The Easter Kiss--disagreeable 456 + 169. France is tranquil 573 + 170. The President's Road to Ruin 574 + 171. New Parisian Street-sweeping Machine 574 + 172. Costumes for March 575 + 173. Young Lady's Toilet 576 + 174. Morning Toilet 576 + 175. Ellen Asleep 578 + 176. The Snow-shoes 579 + 177. The Funeral 583 + 178. The Boys and the Boat 585 + 179. The Evasion 587 + 180. Raising the Hasp 591 + 181. The Corn-barn 591 + 182. Napoleon's Return from Egypt 595 + 183. Napoleon and the Atheists 596 + 184. Napoleon's Landing at Frejus 598 + 185. Napoleon's Reconciliation with Josephine 602 + 186. Napoleon on the Way to St. Cloud 608 + 187. Napoleon in the Council of Five Hundred 609 + 188. The Little Old Lady 662 + 189. Miss Jellyby 667 + 190. Going to Cover 711 + 191. Revolutionary Inquiries 714 + 192. Early Publication of a Paper in Paris 714 + 193. Scene from the President's Progress 715 + 194. Touching Sympathy 716 + 195. Sound Advice 716 + 196. Effects of a Strike 717 + 197. Perfect Identification 718 + 198. Calling the Police 718 + 199. Fashions for April 719 + 200. Dress Toilet 720 + 201. Child's Fancy Costume 720 + 202. The Drag Ride 722 + 203. The Well 724 + 204. The Conflagration 726 + 205. The barred Window 727 + 206. Antonio's Picture 728 + 207. The Court Room 729 + 208. The Arrest 732 + 209. The Governor 735 + 210. The Consuls and the Gold 737 + 211. Napoleon in the Temple 739 + 212. Napoleon's Entrance into the Tuileries 742 + 213. Napoleon and the Vendeean Chief 746 + 214. Napoleon and the Duchess of Guiche 750 + 215. Napoleon and Bourrienne 751 + 216. Unavailing Intercession of Josephine 753 + 217. The Lord Chancellor copies from Memory 814 + 218. Coavinses 821 + 219. Butcher-Boys of the Upper Ten 857 + 220. The Inquiring Omnibus Driver 857 + 221. Flunky's Idea of Beauty 858 + 222. A Competent Adviser 859 + 223. Regard for the Truth 859 + 224. Awful Effect of Eye-glasses 860 + 225. Rather Severe 860 + 226. Portrait of a Gentleman 861 + 227. The Peer on the Press 861 + 228. Interior of a French Court of Justice 862 + 229. Fashions for May 863 + 230. Visiting Dress 864 + 231. Home Toilet 864 + + + + + HARPER'S + + NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. + + No. XIX.--DECEMBER, 1851.--VOL. IV. + + +[Illustration: CASTING TEA OVERBOARD IN BOSTON HARBOR.] + + + + +THE BOSTON TEA PARTY.[1] + +BY BENSON J. LOSSING. + + +Revolutions which dismember and overturn empires, disrupt political +systems, and change not only the forms of civil government, but +frequently the entire character of society, are often incited by causes +so remote, and apparently inconsiderable and inadequate, that the +superficial observer would never detect them, or would laugh +incredulously if presented to his consideration as things of moment. +Yet, like the little spring of a watch, coiled unseen within the dark +recess of its chamber, the influences of such remote causes operating +upon certain combinations, give motion, power, and value to latent +energies, and form the _primum mobile_ of the whole machinery of +wonderful events which produce revolutions. + +As a general rule, revolutions in states are the results of isolated +rebellions; and rebellions have their birth in desires to cast off evils +inflicted by actual oppressions. These evils generally consist of the +interferences of rulers with the physical well-being of the governed; +and very few of the political changes in empires which so prominently +mark the course of human history, have had a higher incentive to +resistance than the maintenance of creature comforts. Abridgment of +personal liberty in the exercise of natural rights, excessive taxation, +and extortion of public officers, whereby individual competence and +consequent ease have not been attainable, these have generally been the +chief counts in the indictment, when the people have arisen in their +might and arraigned their rulers at the bar of the world's judgment. + +The American Revolution, which succeeded local rebellions in the various +provinces, was an exception to a general rule. History furnishes no +parallel example of a people free, prosperous, and happy, rising from +the couch of ease to gird on the panoply of war, with a certainty of +encountering perhaps years of privation and distress, to combat the +intangible _principle_ of despotism. The taxes of which the English +colonies in America complained, and which were the ostensible cause of +dissatisfaction, were almost nominal, and only in the smallest degree +affected the general prosperity of the people. But the method employed +in levying those slight taxes, and the prerogatives assumed by the king +and his ministers, plainly revealed the _principles_ of tyranny, and +were the causes which produced the quarrel. In these assumptions the +kernel of despotism was very apparent, and the sagacious Americans, +accustomed to vigorous and independent thought, and a free interchange +of opinions, foresaw the speedy springing of that germ into the bulk and +vigor of an umbrageous tree, that would overshadow the land and bear the +bitter fruit of tyrannous misrule. Foreseeing this, they resolved +neither to water it kindly, nor generously dig about its roots and open +them to the genial influences of the blessed sun and the dews; but, on +the contrary, to eradicate it. Tyranny had no abiding-place in America +when the quarrel with the imperial government began, and the War of the +Revolution, in its inception and progress, was eminently a war of +principle. + +How little could the wisest political seer have perceived of an +elemental cause of a revolution in America, and the dismemberment of the +British Empire, in two pounds and two ounces of TEA, which, a little +less than two centuries ago, the East India Company sent as a present to +Charles the Second of England! Little did the "merrie monarch" think, +while sitting with Nell Gwynn, the Earl of Rochester, and a few other +favorites, in his private parlor at Whitehall, and that new beverage +gave pleasure to his sated taste, that events connected with the use of +the herb would shake the throne of England, albeit a Guelph, a wiser and +more virtuous monarch than any Stuart, should sit thereon. Yet it was +even so; and TEA, within a hundred years after that viceregal +corporation made its gift to royalty, became one of the causes which led +to rebellion and revolution, resulting in the independence of the +Anglo-American colonies, and the founding of our Republic. + +When the first exuberant feelings of joy, which filled the hearts of the +Americans when intelligence of the repeal of the Stamp Act reached them, +had subsided, and sober judgment analyzed the Declaratory act of William +Pitt which accompanied the Repeal Bill, they perceived small cause for +congratulation. They knew Pitt to be a friend--an earnest and sincere +friend of the colonists. He had labored shoulder to shoulder with Barre, +Conway, Burke, and others, to effect the repeal, and had recently +declared boldly in the House of Commons, "I rejoice that America has +resisted. Three millions of people, so dead to all the feelings of +liberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit +instruments to make slaves of the rest." Yet he saw hesitation; he saw +_pride_ standing in the place of _righteousness_, and he allowed +_expediency_ to usurp the place of _principle_, in order to accomplish a +great good. He introduced the Declaratory Act, which was a sort of salvo +to the national honor, that a majority of votes might be secured for the +Repeal Bill. That act affirmed that Parliament possessed the power _to +bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever_; clearly implying the right +to impose taxes to any extent, and in any manner that ministers might +think proper. That temporizing measure was unworthy of the great +statesman, and had not the colonists possessed too many proofs of his +friendship to doubt his constancy, they would now have placed him in the +category of the enemies of America. They plainly perceived that no +actual concession had been made, and that the passage of the Repeal Bill +was only a truce in the systematic endeavors of ministers to hold +absolute control over the Americans. The loud acclamations of joy and +the glad expressions of loyalty to the king, which rung throughout +America in the spring and early summer of 1766, died away into low +whispers before autumn, and as winter approached, and other schemes for +taxation, such as a new clause in the mutiny act developed, were evolved +from the ministerial laboratory, loud murmurings went over the sea from +every English colony in the New World. + +Much good was anticipated by the exercise of the enlightened policy of +the Rockingham ministry, under whose auspices the Stamp Act had been +repealed, when it was suddenly dissolved, and William Pitt, who was now +elevated to the peerage, became prime minister. Had not physical +infirmities borne heavily upon Lord Chatham, all would have been well; +but while he was tortured by gout, and lay swathed in flannels at his +country-seat at Hayes, weaker heads controlled the affairs of state. +Charles Townshend, Pitt's Chancellor of the Exchequer, a vain, truckling +statesman, coalesced with Grenville, the father of the Stamp Act, in the +production of another scheme for deriving a revenue from America. Too +honest to be governed by expediency, Grenville had already proposed +levying a direct tax upon the Americans of two millions of dollars per +annum, allowing them to raise that sum in their own way. Townshend had +the sagacity to perceive that such a measure would meet with no favor; +but in May, 1767, he attempted to accomplish the same result by +introducing a bill providing for the imposition of a duty upon glass, +paper, painters' colors, and TEA imported from Great Britain into +America. This was only another form of taxation, and judicious men in +Parliament viewed the proposition with deep concern. Burke and others +denounced it in the Commons; and Shelburne in the House of Lords warned +ministers to have a care how they proceeded in the matter, for he +clearly foresaw insurrection, perhaps a revolution as a consequence. But +the voice of prudence, uttering words of prophecy, was disregarded; +Townshend's bill was passed, and became a law at the close of June, by +receiving the royal signature. Other acts, equally obnoxious to the +Americans, soon became laws by the sanction of the king, and the +principles of despotism, concealed behind the honest-featured +Declaratory Act, were displayed in all their deformity. + +During the summer and autumn, John Dickenson sent forth his powerful +_Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer_. Written in a simple manner, they +were easily understood. They laid bare the evident designs of the +ministry; proved the unconstitutionality of the late acts of Parliament, +and taught the people the necessity of united resistance to the slow +but certain approaches of oppression. + +[Illustration: BOSTON IN 1770-74.] + +Boston, "the ringleader in rebellion," soon took the initiative step in +revolutionary movements, and during 1768, tumults occurred, which caused +Governor Bernard to call for troops to awe the people. General Thomas +Gage, then commander-in-chief of the British forces in America, ordered +two regiments from Halifax. Borne by a fleet which blockaded the harbor +in September, they landed upon Long Wharf, in Boston, on Sunday morning, +and while the people were desirous of worshiping quietly in their +meeting-houses, these soldiers marched to the Common with charged +muskets, fixed bayonets, drums beating, and colors flying, with all the +pomp and insolence of victorious troops entering a vanquished city. It +was a great blunder, and Governor Bernard soon perceived it. + +A convention of delegates from every town but one in Massachusetts was +in session, when the fleet arrived in Nantasket roads. They were not +alarmed by the approach of cannon and bayonets, but deliberated coolly, +and denounced firmly the current measures of government. Guided by their +advice, the select-men of Boston refused to furnish quarters for the +troops, and they were obliged to encamp on the open Common, where +insults were daily bandied between the military hirelings and the +people. The inhabitants of Boston, and of the whole province felt +insulted--ay, degraded--and every feeling of patriotism and manhood +rebelled. The alternative was plain before them--_submission or the +bayonet!_ + +Great indignation prevailed from the Penobscot to the St. Mary's, and +the cause of Boston became the common cause of all the colonists. They +resented the insult as if offered to themselves; and hatred of royal +rule became a fixed emotion in the hearts of thousands. Legislative +assemblies spoke out freely, and for the crime of being thus +independent, royal governors dissolved them. Delegates returned to their +constituents, each an eloquent crusader against oppression; and in every +village and hamlet men congregated to consult upon the public good, and +to determine upon a remedy for the monster evil now sitting like an +incubus upon the peace and prosperity of the land. + +As a countervailing measure, merchants in the various coast towns +entered into an agreement to cease importing from Great Britain, every +thing but a few articles of common necessity (and especially those +things enumerated in the impost bill), from the first of January, 1769, +to the first of January, 1770, unless the obnoxious act should be sooner +repealed. The people every where seconded this movement by earnest +co-operation, and Provincial legislatures commended the scheme. An +agreement, presented in the Virginia House of Burgesses by Washington, +was signed by every member; and in all the colonies the people entered +at once upon a course of self-denial. For more than a year this powerful +engine of retaliation waged war upon British commerce in a +constitutional way, before ministers would listen to petitions and +remonstrances; and it was not until virtual rebellion in the British +capital, born of commercial distress, menaced the ministry, that the +expostulations of the Americans were noticed, except with sneers. + +In America meetings were frequently held, and men thus encouraged each +other by mutual conference. Nor did _men_, alone, preach and practice +self-denial; American _women_, the wives and daughters of patriots, cast +their influence into the scale of patriotism, and by cheering voices and +noble examples, became efficient co-workers. And when, in Boston, +cupidity overcame patriotism, and the defection of a few merchants who +loved gold more than liberty, aroused the friends of the +non-importation leagues, and assembled them in general council in +Faneuil Hall, there to declare that they would "totally abstain from the +use of TEA," and other proscribed articles, the women of that city, +fired with zeal for the general good, spoke out publicly and decidedly +upon the subject. Early in February, 1770, the mistresses of three +hundred families subscribed their names to a league, binding themselves +not to use any more TEA until the impost clause in the Revenue Act +should be repealed. Their daughters speedily followed their patriotic +example, and three days afterward, a multitude of young ladies in Boston +and vicinity, signed the following pledge: + +"We, the daughters of those patriots who have, and do now appear for the +public interest, and in that principally regard their posterity--as +such, do with pleasure engage with them in denying ourselves the +drinking of foreign TEA, in hopes to frustrate a plan which tends to +deprive a whole community of all that is valuable in life." + +[Illustration: FANEUIL HALL.] + +From that time, TEA was a proscribed article in Boston, and opposition +to the form of oppression was strongly manifested by the unanimity with +which the pleasant beverage was discarded. Nor did the ladies of Boston +bear this honor alone, but in Salem, Newport, Norwich, New York, +Philadelphia, Annapolis, Williamsburg, Wilmington, Charleston, and +Savannah, the women sipped "the balsamic hyperion," made from the dried +leaves of the raspberry plant, and discarded "the poisonous bohea." The +newspapers of the day abound with notices of social gatherings where +foreign tea was entirely discarded. + +About this time Lord North succeeded Townshend as Chancellor of the +Exchequer. He was an honest man, a statesman of good parts, and a +sincere friend to English liberty. He doubtless desired to discharge his +duty faithfully, yet in dealing with the Americans, he utterly +misunderstood their character and temper, and could not perceive the +justice of their demands. This was the minister who mismanaged the +affairs of Great Britain throughout the whole of our war for +independence, and by his pertinacity in attempts to tax the colonies, +and in opposing them in their efforts to maintain their rights, he +finally drove them to rebellion, and protracted the war until +reconciliation was out of the question. + +Early in 1770, the British merchants, the most influential class in the +realm, were driven by the non-importation agreements to become the +friends of the colonists, and to join with them in petitions and +remonstrances. The London merchants suffered more from the operations of +the new Revenue Laws, than the Americans. They had early foreseen the +consequences of an attempt to tax the colonists; and when Townshend's +scheme was first proposed, they offered to pay an equivalent sum into +the Treasury, rather than risk the loss of the rapidly-increasing +American trade. Now, that anticipated loss was actual, and was bearing +heavily upon them. It also affected the national exchequer. In one year, +exports to America had decreased in amount to the value of almost four +millions of dollars; and within three years (1767 to 1770), the +government revenue from America decreased from five hundred and fifty +thousand dollars per annum, to one hundred and fifty thousand. These +facts awakened the people; these figures alarmed the government; and +early in March, Lord North asked leave to bring in a bill, in the House +of Commons, for repealing the duties upon glass, paper, and painters' +colors, but retaining the duty of three-pence upon TEA. This impost was +very small--avowedly a "pepper-corn rent," retained to save the national +honor, about which ministers prated so loudly. The friends of +America--the _true_ friends of English liberty and "national +honor"--asked for a repeal of the whole act; the stubborn king, and the +short-sighted ministry would not consent to make the concession. North's +bill became a law in April, and he fondly imagined that the +insignificant three-pence a pound, upon a single article of luxury, +would now be overlooked by the colonists. How egregiously he +misapprehended their character! + +When intelligence of this act reached America, the scheme found no +admirers. The people had never complained of the _amount_ of the taxes +levied by impost; it was trifling. They asserted that Great Britain had +_no right to tax them at all_, without their consent. It was for a great +_principle_ they were contending; and they regarded the retention of the +duty of three-pence upon the single article of TEA, as much a violation +of the constitutional rights of the colonists, as if there had been laid +an impost a hundred-fold greater, upon a score of articles. This was the +issue, and no partial concessions would be considered. + +The non-importation agreements began to be disregarded by many +merchants, and six months before this repeal bill became a law, they had +agreed, in several places, to import every thing but TEA, and that +powerful lever of opposition had now almost ceased to work. TEA being an +article of luxury, the resolutions to discard that were generally +adhered to, and concerning TEA, alone, the quarrel was continued. + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON] + +For two years very little occurred to disturb the tranquillity of New +England. Thomas Hutchinson, a man of fair abilities, but possessed of +very little prudence or sound judgment, succeeded Bernard as Governor of +Massachusetts. New men, zealous and capable, were coming forth from +among the people, to do battle for right and freedom. Poor Otis, whose +eloquent voice had often stirred up the fires of rebellion in the hearts +of the Bostonians, when _Writs of Assistance_, and the _Stamp Act_, +elicited his denunciations, and who, with prophetic voice, had told his +brethren in Great Britain, "Our fathers were a _good_ people, we have +been a _free_ people, and if you will not let us be so any longer, we +shall be a _great_ people," was now under a cloud. But his colleagues, +some of them very young, were growing strong and experienced. John +Adams, then six-and-thirty, and rapidly rising in public estimation, +occupied the seat of Otis in the General Assembly. John Hancock, one of +the wealthiest merchants of Boston; Samuel Adams, a Puritan of great +experience and tried integrity; Joseph Warren, a young physician, full +of energy and hope, who afterward fell on Breed's Hill; Josiah Quincy, a +polished orator, though almost a stripling; Thomas Cushing, James +Warren, Dr. Samuel Church, Robert Treat Paine--these became the popular +leaders, and fostered "the child independence," which John Adams said, +was born when Otis denounced the Writs of Assistance, and the populace +sympathized. These were the men who, at private meetings, concerted +plans for public action; and with them, Hutchinson soon quarreled. They +issued a circular, declaring the rights of the colonies, and enumerating +their grievances. Hutchinson denounced it as seditious and traitorous; +and while the public mind was excited by the quarrel, Dr. Franklin, who +was agent for the colony in England, transmitted to the Speaker of the +Assembly several private letters, written by the governor to members of +Parliament, in which he spoke disrespectfully of the Americans, and +recommended the adoption of coercive measures to abridge "what are +called English liberties." These revelations raised a furious storm, and +the people were with difficulty restrained from inflicting personal +violence upon the governor. All classes, from the men in legislative +council to the plainest citizen, felt a disgust that could not be +concealed, and a breach was opened between ruler and people that grew +wider every day. + +[Illustration: EARL OF DARTMOUTH.] + +The Earl of Hillsborough, who had been Secretary of State for the +Colonies during the past few years of excitement, was now succeeded by +Lord Dartmouth, a personal friend to Dr. Franklin, a sagacious +statesman, and a man sincerely disposed to do justice to the colonies. +Had his councils prevailed, the duty upon tea would have been taken off, +and all cause for discontent on the part of the colonies, removed. But +North's blindness, countenanced by ignorant or wicked advisers, +prevailed in the cabinet, and the olive-branch of peace and +reconciliation, constantly held out by the Americans while declaring +their rights, was spurned. + +At the beginning of 1773, the East India Company, feeling the effects of +the non-importation agreements and the colonial contraband trade, opened +the way for reconciliation, while endeavoring to benefit themselves. +Already seventeen millions of pounds of tea had accumulated in their +warehouses in England, and the demand for it in America was daily +diminishing. To open anew an extensive market so suddenly closed, the +Company offered to allow government to retain six-pence upon the pound +as an exportation tariff, if they would take off the duty of +three-pence. Ministers had now a fair opportunity, not only to +conciliate the colonies in an honorable way, but to procure, without +expense, double the amount of revenue. But the ministry, deluded by +false views of national honor, would not listen to the proposition, but +stupidly favored the East India Company, while persisting in +unrighteousness toward the Americans. A bill was passed in May, to allow +the Company to export tea to America on their own account, without +paying export duty, while the impost of three-pence was continued. The +mother country thus taught the colonists to regard her as a voluntary +oppressor. + +While the bill for allowing the East India Company to export tea to +America on their own account, was under consideration in Parliament, Dr. +Franklin, Arthur Lee, and others, apprised the colonists of the +movement; and when, a few weeks afterward, several large vessels laden +with the plant, were out upon the Atlantic, bound for American ports, +the people here were actively preparing to prevent the landing of the +cargoes. The Company had appointed consignees in various seaport towns, +and these being generally known to the people, were warned to resign +their commissions, or hold them at their peril. + +[Illustration: HANCOCK'S HOUSE.] + +In Boston the most active measures were taken to prevent the landing of +the tea. The consignees were all friends of government; two of them were +Governor Hutchinson's sons, and a third (Richard Clarke, father-in-law +of John Singleton Copley, the eminent painter), was his nephew. Their +neighbors expostulated with them, but in vain; and as the time for the +expected arrival of two or three tea-ships approached, the public mind +became feverish. On the first of November several of the leading "Sons +of Liberty," as the patriots were called, met at the house of John +Hancock, on Beacon-street, facing the Common, to consult upon the public +good, touching the expected tea ships. A public meeting was decided +upon, and on the morning of the third the following placard was posted +in many places within the city: + + "TO THE FREEMEN OF THIS AND THE NEIGHBORING TOWNS. + + "_Gentlemen._--You are desired to meet at the Liberty Tree this + day at twelve o'clock at noon, then and there to hear the persons + to whom the TEA shipped by the East India Company is consigned, + make a public resignation of their offices as consignees, upon + oath; and also swear that they will reship any teas that may be + consigned to them by the said Company, by the first vessel + sailing to London. + + O. C. Sec'y. + + "Boston, Nov. 3, 1773. + + "[Illustration: A pointing finger] Show me the man that dare take + this down!" + +The consignees were summoned at an early hour in the morning, to appear +under Liberty Tree (a huge elm, which stood at the present junction of +Washington and Essex streets), and resign their commissions. They +treated the summons with contempt, and refused to comply. At the +appointed hour the town-crier proclaimed the meeting, and the +church-bells of the city also gave the annunciation. Timid men remained +at home, but about five hundred people assembled near the tree, from the +top of which floated the New England flag. No definite action was taken, +and at three o'clock the meeting had dispersed. + +On the 5th, another meeting was held, over which John Hancock presided. +Several short but vehement speeches were made, in which were uttered +many seditious sentiments; eight resistance resolutions adopted by the +Philadelphians were agreed too; and a committee was appointed to wait +upon the consignees, who, it was known, were then at Clarke's store, on +King-street, and request them to resign. Again those gentlemen refused +compliance, and when the committee reported to the meeting, it was voted +that the answer of the consignees was "unsatisfactory and highly +affrontive." This meeting also adjourned without deciding upon any +definite course for future action. + +The excitement in Boston now hourly increased. Grave citizens +congregated at the corners of the streets to interchange sentiments, and +all seemed to have a presentiment that the sanguinary scenes of the 5th +of March, 1770, when blood flowed in the streets of Boston, were about +to be reproduced. + +The troops introduced by Bernard had been removed from the city, and +there was no legal power but that of the civil authorities, to suppress +disorder. On the 12th, the captain-general of the province issued an +order for the Governor's Guards, of which John Hancock was colonel, to +stand in readiness to assist the civil magistrate in preserving order. +This corps, being strongly imbued with the sentiments of their +commander, utterly disregarded the requisition. Business was, in a +measure, suspended, and general uneasiness prevailed. + +[Illustration: PROVINCE HOUSE.] + +On the 18th, another meeting was held in Faneuil Hall, and a committee +was again appointed to wait upon the consignees and request them to +resign. Again they refused, and that evening the house of Richard +Clarke, on School-street, was surrounded by an unruly crowd. A pistol +was fired from the house, but without serious effect other than exciting +the mob to deeds of violence; the windows were demolished, and the +family menaced with personal injury. Better counsels than those of anger +soon prevailed, and at midnight the town was quiet. The meeting, in the +mean while, had received the report of the committee in silence, and +adjourned without uttering a word. This silence was ominous of evil to +the friends of government. The consignees were alarmed, for it was +evident that the people were determined to _talk_ only, no more, but +henceforth to _act_. The governor, also, properly interpreted their +silence as a calm before a storm, and he called his council together at +the Province House, to consult upon measures for preserving the peace of +the city. During their session the frightened consignees presented a +petition to the council, asking leave to resign their commissions into +the hands of the governor and his advisers, and praying them to adopt +measures for the safe landing of the teas. The council, equally fearful +of the popular vengeance, refused the prayer of their petition, and the +consignees withdrew, for safety, to Castle William, a strong fortress at +the entrance of the harbor, then garrisoned by a portion of the troops +who had been encamped on Boston Common. The flight of the consignees +allayed the excitement for a few days. + +On Sunday evening, the 28th of November, the _Dartmouth_, Captain Hall, +one of the East India Company's ships, arrived in the harbor. The next +morning the following handbill was posted in every part of the city: + + "_Friends! Brethren! Countrymen!_--That worst of plagues, the + detested TEA shipped for this port, by the East India Company, is + now arrived in the harbor. The hour of destruction, or manly + opposition to the machinations of tyranny, stares you in the + face; every friend to his country, to himself, and to posterity, + is now called upon to meet at _Faneuil Hall_, at nine o'clock + THIS DAY (at which time the bells will ring), to make united and + successful resistance to this last, worst, and most destructive + measure of administration. + + "Boston, Nov. 29th, 1773." + +[Illustration: THE "OLD SOUTH."] + +A large concourse assembled in and around Faneuil Hall at the appointed +hour, too large to be admitted within its walls, and they adjourned to +the Old South Meeting House, on the corner of the present Washington and +Milk streets. Hancock, the Adamses, Warren, Quincy, and other popular +leaders and influential citizens were there. Firmness marked all the +proceedings, and within that sanctuary of religion they made resolves of +gravest import. It was agreed that no TEA should be landed within the +precincts of Boston; that no duty should be paid; and that it should be +sent back in the same bottom. They also voted that Mr. Roch, the owner +of the _Dartmouth_, "be directed not to enter the tea at his peril; and +that Captain Hall be informed, and at his peril, not to suffer any of +the tea to be landed." They ordered the ship to be moored at Griffin's +wharf, near the present Liverpool dock, and appointed a guard of +twenty-five men to watch her. + +When the meeting was about to adjourn, a letter was received from the +consignees, offering to store the tea until they could write to England +and obtain instructions from the owners. The people had resolved that +not a chest should be landed, and the offer was at once rejected. The +sheriff, who was present, then stepped upon the back of a pew, and read +a proclamation by the governor, ordering the assembly to disperse. It +was received with hisses. Another resolution was then adopted, ordering +two other tea vessels, then hourly expected, to be moored at Griffin's +wharf; and, after solemnly pledging themselves to carry their several +resolutions into effect at all hazards, and thanking the people in +attendance from the neighboring towns for their sympathy, they +adjourned. + +Every thing relating to the TEA movement was now in the hands of the +Boston Committee of Correspondence. A large volunteer guard was +enrolled, and every necessary preparation was made to support the +resistance resolutions of the 29th. A fortnight elapsed without any +special public occurrence, when, on the afternoon of the 13th of +December, intelligence went through the town that the _Eleanor_, Captain +James Bruce, and the _Beaver_, Captain Hezekiah Coffin, ships of the +East India Company, laden with tea, had entered the harbor. They were +moored at Griffin's wharf by the volunteer guard, and that night there +were many sleepless eyes in Boston. The Sons of Liberty convened at an +early hour in the evening, and expresses were sent to the neighboring +towns with the intelligence. Early the next morning the following +placard appeared: + + "_Friends! Brethren! Countrymen!_--The perfidious arts of your + restless enemies to render ineffectual the resolutions of the + body of the people, demand your assembling at the Old South + Meeting House precisely at two o'clock this day, at which time + the bells will ring." + +The "Old South" was crowded at the appointed hour, yet perfect order +prevailed. It was resolved to order Mr. Roch to apply immediately for a +clearance for his ship, and send her to sea. The owner was in a dilemma, +for the governor had taken measures, since the arrival of the Dartmouth, +to prevent her sailing out of the harbor. Admiral Montague, who happened +to be in Boston, was directed to fit out two armed vessels, and station +them at the entrance to the harbor, to act in concert with Colonel +Leslie, the commander of the garrison at the Castle. Leslie had already +received written orders from the governor not to allow any vessel to +pass the guns of the fort, outward, without a permit, signed by himself. +Of course Mr. Roch could do nothing. + +As no effort had yet been made to land the tea, the meeting adjourned, +to assemble again on the 16th, at the same place. These several popular +assemblies attracted great attention in the other colonies; and from New +York and Philadelphia in particular, letters, expressive of the +strongest sympathy and encouragement, were received by the Committee of +Correspondence. At the appointed hour on the 16th, the "Old South" was +again crowded, and the streets near were filled with a multitude, eager +to participate in the proceedings. They had flocked in from the +neighboring towns by hundreds. So great a gathering of people had never +before occurred in Boston. Samuel Phillips Savage, of Weston, was chosen +Moderator, or Chairman, and around him sat many men who, two years +afterward, were the recognized leaders of the Revolution in +Massachusetts. When the preliminary business was closed, and the meeting +was about to appoint committees for more vigorous action than had +hitherto been directed, the youthful Josiah Quincy arose, and with words +almost of prophecy, uttered with impassioned cadence, he harangued the +multitude. "It is not, Mr. Moderator," he said, "the spirit that vapors +within these walls that must stand us in stead. The exertions of this +day will call forth events which will make a very different spirit +necessary for our salvation. Whoever supposes that shouts and hosannas +will terminate the trials of this day, entertains a childish fancy. We +must be grossly ignorant of the importance and the value of the prize +for which we contend: we must be equally ignorant of the power of those +who have combined against us; we must be blind to that malice, +inveteracy, and insatiable revenge, which actuates our enemies, public +and private, abroad and in our bosoms, to hope that we shall end this +controversy without the sharpest conflicts--to flatter ourselves that +popular resolves, popular harangues, popular acclamations, and popular +vapor will vanquish our foes. Let us consider the issue. Let us look to +the end. Let us weigh and consider before we advance to those measures +which must bring on the most trying and terrible struggle this country +ever saw." This gifted young patriot did not live to see the struggle he +so confidently anticipated; for, when blood was flowing, in the first +conflicts at Lexington and Concord, eighteen month's afterward, he was +dying with consumption, on ship-board, almost within sight of his native +land. + +The people, in the "Old South," were greatly agitated when Quincy closed +his harangue. It was between three and four o'clock in the afternoon. +The question was immediately proposed to the meeting, "Will you abide by +your former resolutions with respect to not suffering the TEA to be +landed?" The vast assembly within, as with one voice, replied +affirmatively, and when the purport was known without, the multitude +there responded in accordance. The meeting now awaited the return of Mr. +Roch, who had been to the governor to request a permit for his vessel to +leave the harbor. Hutchinson, alarmed at the stormy aspect of affairs, +had taken counsel of his fears, and withdrawn from the city to his +country-house at Milton, a few miles from Boston. It was sunset when +Roch returned and informed the meeting that the governor refused to +grant a permit, until a clearance should be exhibited. As a clearance +had already been refused by the collector of the port, until the cargo +should be landed, it was evident that government officers had concerted +to resist the demands of the people. Like a sea lashed by a storm, that +meeting swayed with excitement, and eagerly demanded from the leaders +some indication for immediate action. Night was fast approaching, and as +the twilight deepened, a call was made for candles. At that moment, a +person in the gallery, disguised in the garb of a Mohawk Indian, gave a +war-whoop, which was answered from without. That signal, like the notes +of a trumpet before the battle-charge, fired the assemblage, and as +another voice in the gallery shouted, "Boston harbor a tea-pot to-night! +Hurrah for Griffin's wharf!" a motion to adjourn was carried, and the +multitude rushed to the street. "To Griffin's wharf! to Griffin's +wharf!" again shouted several voices, while a dozen men, disguised as +Indians, were seen speeding over Fort Hill, in that direction. The +populace followed, and in a few minutes the scene of excitement was +transferred from the "Old South" to the water side. + +No doubt the vigilant patriots had arranged this movement, in +anticipation of the refusal of the governor to allow the _Dartmouth_ to +depart; for concert of action marked all the operations at the wharf. +The number of persons disguised as Indians, was fifteen or twenty, and +these, with others who joined them, appeared to recognize Lendall Pitts, +a mechanic of Boston, as their leader. Under his directions, about sixty +persons boarded the three tea-ships, brought the chests upon deck, broke +them open, and cast their contents into the water. The _Dartmouth_ was +boarded first; the _Eleanor_ and _Beaver_ were next entered; and within +the space of two hours, the contents of three hundred and forty-two +chests of tea were cast into the waters of the harbor. During the +occurrence very little excitement was manifested among the multitude +upon the wharf; and as soon as the work of destruction was completed, +the active party marched in perfect order back into the town, preceded +by a drum and fife, dispersed to their homes, and Boston, untarnished by +actual mob or riot, was never more tranquil than on that bright and +frosty December night. + +A British squadron was not more than a quarter of a mile from Griffin's +wharf, where this event occurred, and British troops were near, yet the +whole proceeding was uninterrupted. The newspapers of the day doubtless +gave the correct interpretation to this apathy. Something far more +serious had been anticipated, if an attempt should be made to land the +tea; and the owners of the vessels, as well as the public authorities, +civil and military, doubtless thanked the _rioters_, in their secret +thoughts, for thus extricating them from a serious dilemma. They would +doubtless have been worsted in an attempt forcibly to land the tea; now, +the vessels were saved from destruction; no blood was spilt; the courage +of the civil and military officers remained unimpeached; the "_national +honor_" was not compromised, and the Bostonians, having carried their +resolutions into effect, were satisfied. The East India Company alone, +which was the actual loser, had cause for complaint. + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF DAVID KINNISON] + +It may be asked, Who were the men actively engaged in this high-handed +measure? Were they an ignorant rabble, with no higher motives than the +gratification of a mobocratic spirit? By no means. While some of them +were doubtless governed, in a measure, by such a motive, the greater +portion were young men and lads who belonged to the respectable part of +the community, and of the fifty-nine participators whose names have been +preserved, some of them held honorable stations in after life; some +battled nobly in defense of liberty in the Continental Army of the +Revolution which speedily followed, and almost all of them, according to +traditionary testimony, were entitled to the respect due to good +citizens. Only one, of all that band, as far as is known, is yet among +the living, and he has survived almost a half century beyond the +allotted period of human life. When the present century dawned, he had +almost reached the goal of three score and ten years; and now, at the +age of _one hundred and fifteen years_, DAVID KINNISON, of Chicago, +Illinois, holds the eminent position of the _last survivor of the Boston +Tea Party_! When the writer, in 1848, procured the portrait and +autograph of the aged patriot, he was living among strangers and +ignorant of the earthly existence of one of all his twenty-two children. +A daughter survives, and having been made acquainted of the existence +of her father, by the publication of this portrait in the "Field-Book," +she hastened to him, and is now smoothing the pillow of the patriarch as +he is gradually passing into the long and peaceful slumber of the grave. + +[Illustration: GEORGE ROBERT TWELVES HEWES.] + +The life of another actor was spared, until within ten years, and his +portrait, also, is preserved. GEORGE ROBERT TWELVES HEWES, was supposed +to be the latest survivor, until the name of David Kinnison was made +public. Soon not one of all that party will be among the living. + +Before closing this article let us advert to the _effect_ produced by +the destruction of the tea in Boston Harbor, for to effects alone are +causes indebted for importance. + +The events of the 16th of December produced a deep sensation throughout +the British realm. They struck a sympathetic chord in every colony which +afterward rebeled; and even Canada, Halifax, and the West Indies, had no +serious voice of censure for the Bostonians. But the ministerial party +here, and the public in England, amazed at the audacity of the Americans +in opposing royal authority, and in destroying private property, called +loudly for punishment; and even the friends of the colonists in +Parliament were, for a moment, silent, for they could not fully excuse +the lawless act. Another and a powerful party was now made a principal +in the quarrel; the East India Company whose property had been +destroyed, was now directly interested in the question of taxation. That +huge monopoly which had controlled the commerce of the Indies for more +than a century and a half, was then almost at the zenith of its power. +Already it had laid the foundation, broad and deep, of that +British-Indian Empire which now comprises the whole of Hindostan, from +the Himalaya Mountains to Cape Comorin, with a population of more than +one hundred and twenty millions, and its power in the government affairs +of Great Britain, was almost vice-regal. Unawed by the fleets and +armies of the imperial government, and by the wealth and power of this +corporation, the Bostonians justified their acts by the rules of justice +and the guarantees of the British constitution; and the next vessel to +England, after the event was known there, carried out an honest +proposition to the East India Company, from the people of Boston, to pay +for the tea destroyed. The whole matter rested at once upon its original +basis--the right of Great Britain to tax the colonies--and this fair +proposition of the Bostonians disarmed ministers of half their weapons +of vituperation. The American party in England saw nothing whereof to be +ashamed, and the presses, opposed to the ministry, teemed with grave +disquisitions, satires, and lampoons, all favorable to the colonists, +while art lent its aid in the production of several caricatures similar +to the one here given, in which Lord North is represented as pouring tea +down the throat of unwilling America, who is held fast by Lord Mansfield +(then employed by government in drawing up the various acts so obnoxious +to the colonists), while Britannia stands by, weeping at the distress of +her daughter. In America, almost every newspaper of the few printed, was +filled with arguments, epigrams, parables, sonnets, dialogues, and every +form of expression favorable to the resistance made in Boston to the +arbitrary acts of government; and a voice of approval went forth from +pulpits, courts of law, and the provincial legislatures. + +[Illustration: POURING TEA DOWN THE THROAT OF AMERICA] + +Great was the exasperation of the king and his ministers when +intelligence of the proceedings in Boston reached them. According to +Burke, the "House of Lords was like a seething caldron"--the House of +Commons was "as hot as Faneuil Hall or the Old South Meeting House at +Boston." Ministers and their supporters charged the colonies with open +rebellion, while the opposition denounced, in the strongest language +which common courtesy would allow, the foolish, unjust, and wicked +course of government. + +In cabinet council, the king and his ministers deliberately considered +the matter, and the result was a determination to use coercive measures +against the colonies. The first of these schemes was a bill brought +forward in March, 1774, which provided for the closing of the port of +Boston, and the removal of customs, courts of justice, and government +offices of every kind from Boston to Salem. This was avowedly a +retaliatory measure; and the famous _Boston Port Bill_, which, more than +any other act of the British government, was instrumental in driving the +colonies to rebellion, became a law within a hundred days after the +destruction of the tea. In the debate upon this bill, the most violent +language was used toward the Americans. Lord North justified the measure +by asserting that Boston was "the centre of rebellious commotion in +America; the ring-leader in every riot." Mr. Herbert declared that the +Americans deserved no consideration; that they were "never actuated by +decency or reason, and that they always chose tarring and feathering as +an argument;" while Mr. Van, another ministerial supporter, +denounced the people of Boston as totally unworthy of civilized +forbearance--declared that "they ought to have their town knocked about +their ears, and destroyed;" and concluded his tirade of abuse by quoting +the factious cry of the old Roman orators, "Delenda est +Carthago!"--Carthage must be destroyed. + +Edmund Burke, who now commenced his series of splendid orations in favor +of America, denounced the whole scheme as essentially wicked and unjust, +because it punished the innocent with the guilty. "You will thus +irrevocably alienate the hearts of the colonies from the mother +country," he exclaimed. "The bill is unjust, since it bears only upon +the city of Boston, while it is notorious that all America is in flames; +that the cities of Philadelphia, of New York, and all the maritime towns +of the continent, have exhibited the same disobedience. You are +contending for a matter which the Bostonians will not give up quietly. +They can not, by such means, be made to bow to the authority of +ministers; on the contrary, you will find their obstinacy confirmed and +their fury exasperated. The acts of resistance in their city have not +been confined to the populace alone, but men of the first rank and +opulent fortune in the place have openly countenanced them. One city in +proscription and the rest in rebellion, can never be a remedial measure +for disturbances. Have you considered whether you have troops and ships +sufficient to reduce the people of the whole American continent to your +devotion?" From denunciation he passed to appeal, and besought ministers +to pause ere they should strike a blow that would forever separate the +colonies from Great Britain. But the pleadings of Burke and others, were +in vain, and "deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity," this, +and other rigorous measures, were put in operation by ministers. + +The industry and enterprise of Boston was crushed when, on the first of +June, the _Port Bill_ went into operation; but her voice of wail, as it +went over the land, awakened the noblest expressions and acts of +sympathy, and the blow inflicted upon her was resented by all the +colonies. They all felt that forbearance was no longer a virtue. Ten +years they had pleaded, petitioned, remonstrated; they were uniformly +answered by insult. There seemed no other alternative but abject +submission, or open, armed resistance. They chose the latter, and +thirteen months after the Boston _Port Bill_ became a law, the battle at +Lexington and Concord had been fought, and Boston was beleaguered by an +army of patriots. The Battle of Bunker Hill soon followed; a continental +army was organized with Washington at its head, and the war of the +Revolution began. Eight long years it continued, when the oppressors, +exhausted, gave up the contest. Peace came, and with it, INDEPENDENCE; +and the Republic of the United States took its place among the nations +of the earth. + +How conspicuous the feeble Chinese plant should appear among these +important events let the voice of history determine. + + + + +THE AMERICAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION. + + +The safe return of the Expedition sent out by Mr. Henry Grinnell, an +opulent merchant of New York city, in search of Sir John Franklin and +his companions, is an event of much interest; and the voyage, though not +resulting in the discovery of the long-absent mariners, presents many +considerations satisfactory to the parties immediately concerned, and to +the American public in general. + +In the second volume of the Magazine, on pages 588 to 597 inclusive, we +printed some interesting extracts from the journal of Mr. W. PARKER +SNOW, of the _Prince Albert_, a vessel which sailed from Aberdeen with a +crew of Scotchmen, upon the same errand of mercy. That account is +illustrated by engravings; and in his narrative, Mr. Snow makes +favorable mention of Mr. Grinnell's enterprise, and the character of the +officers, crew, and vessels. We now present a more detailed account of +the American Expedition, its adventures and results, together with +several graphic illustrations, engraved from drawings made in the polar +seas during the voyage, by Mr. CHARLES BERRY, a seaman of the _Advance_, +the largest of the two vessels. These drawings, though made with a +pencil in hands covered with thick mittens, while the thermometer +indicated from 20 deg. to 40 deg. below zero, exhibit much artistic skill in +correctness of outline and beauty of finish. Mr. Berry is a native of +Hamburg, Germany, and was properly educated for the duties of the +counting-room and the accomplishments of social life. Attracted by the +romance of + + "The sea, the sea, the deep blue sea," + +he abandoned home for the perilous and exciting life of a sailor. +Although only thirty years of age, he has been fifteen years upon the +ocean. Five years he was in the English service, much of the time in the +waters near the Arctic Circle; the remainder has been spent in the +service of the United States. He was with the _Germantown_ in the Gulf, +during the war with Mexico, and accompanied her marines at the siege of +Vera Cruz. He was in the _North Carolina_ when Lieutenant De Haven went +on board seeking volunteers for the Arctic Expedition. He offered his +services; they were accepted, and a more skillful and faithful seaman +never went aloft. And it is pleasant to hear with what enthusiasm he +speaks of Commander De Haven, as a skillful navigator and kind-hearted +man. "He was as kind to me as a brother," he said, "and I would go with +him to the ends of the earth, if he wanted me." Although he speaks +English somewhat imperfectly, yet we have listened with great pleasure +to his intelligent narrative of the perils, occupations, sports, and +duties of the voyage. Since his return he has met an uncle, the +commander of a merchant vessel, and, for the first time in fifteen +years, he received intelligence from his family. "My mother is dead," +said he to us, while the tears gushed involuntarily from his eyes; "I +have no one to go home to now--I shall stay here." + +[Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE ROUTE OF THE EXPEDITION. +(The solid black line shows the outward course of the vessels; the +dotted line denotes the drift of the vessels, their baffled attempt to +reach Lancaster Sound a second time, and their return home.)] + +We shall not attempt to give a detailed narrative of the events of the +Expedition; we shall relate only some of the most noteworthy +circumstances, especially those which the pencil of the sailor-artist +has illustrated. By reference to the small map on the preceding page, +the relative position of the places named; the track of the vessels in +their outward voyage; their ice-drift of more than a thousand miles, and +their abortive attempt to penetrate the ice of Baffin's Bay a second +time, will be more clearly understood. + +[Illustration: ADVANCE AND RESCUE BEATING TO WINDWARD OF AN ICEBERG +THREE MILES IN CIRCUMFERENCE.] + +Mr. Grinnell's Expedition consisted of only two small brigs, the +_Advance_ of 140 tons; the _Rescue_ of only 90 tons. The former had been +engaged in the Havana trade; the latter was a new vessel, built for the +merchant service. Both were strengthened for the Arctic voyage at a +heavy cost. They were then placed under the directions of our Navy +board, and subject to naval regulations as if in permanent service. The +command was given to Lieutenant E. De Haven, a young naval officer who +accompanied the United States Exploring Expedition. The result has +proved that a better choice could not have been made. His officers +consisted of Mr. Murdoch, sailing-master; Dr. E. K. Kane, Surgeon and +Naturalist; and Mr. Lovell, midshipman. The _Advance_ had a crew of +twelve men when she sailed; two of them complaining of sickness, and +expressing a desire to return home, were left at the Danish settlement +at Disko Island, on the coast of Greenland. + +The Expedition left New York on the 23d of May, 1850, and was absent a +little more than sixteen months. They passed the eastern extremity of +Newfoundland ten days after leaving Sandy Hook, and then sailed +east-northeast, directly for Cape Comfort, on the coast of Greenland. +The weather was generally fine, and only a single accident occurred on +the voyage to that country of frost and snow. Off the coast of Labrador, +they met an iceberg making its way toward the tropics. The night was +very dark, and as the huge voyager had no "light out" the _Advance_ +could not be censured for running foul. She was punished, however, by +the loss of her jib-boom, as she ran against the iceberg at the rate of +seven or eight knots an hour. + +The voyagers did not land at Cape Comfort, but turning northward, sailed +along the southwest coast of Greenland, sometimes in an open sea, and +sometimes in the midst of broad acres of broken ice (particularly in +Davis's Straits), as far as Whale Island. On the way the anniversary of +our national independence occurred; it was observed by the seamen by +"splicing the main-brace"--in other words, they were allowed an extra +glass of grog on that day. + +From Whale Island, a boat, with two officers and four seamen, was sent +to Disko Island, a distance of about 26 miles, to a Danish settlement +there, to procure skin clothing and other articles necessary for use +during the rigors of a Polar winter. The officers were entertained at +the government house; the seamen were comfortably lodged with the +Esquimaux, sleeping in fur bags at night. They returned to the ship the +following day, and the Expedition proceeded on its voyage. When passing +the little Danish settlement of Upernavick, they were boarded by natives +for the first time. They were out in government whale-boats, hunting for +ducks and seals. These hardy children of the Arctic Circle were not shy, +for through the Danes, the English whalers, and government expeditions, +they had become acquainted with men of other latitudes. + +[Illustration: PERILOUS SITUATION OF THE ADVANCE AND RESCUE IN MELVILLE +BAY.] + +When the Expedition reached Melville Bay, which, on account of its +fearful character, is also called the _Devil's Nip_, the voyagers began +to witness more of the grandeur and perils of Arctic scenes. Icebergs of +all dimensions came bearing down from the Polar seas like vast +squadrons, and the roar of their rending came over the waters like the +booming of the heavy broadsides of contending navies. They also +encountered immense _floes_, with only narrow channels between, and at +times their situation was exceedingly perilous. On one occasion, after +heaving through fields of ice for five consecutive weeks, two immense +_floes_, between which they were making their way, gradually approached +each other, and for several hours they expected their tiny vessels--tiny +when compared with the mighty objects around them--would be crushed. An +immense _calf_ of ice six or eight feet thick slid under the _Rescue_, +lifting her almost "high and dry," and careening her partially upon her +beam's end. By means of ice-anchors (large iron hooks), they kept her +from capsizing. In this position they remained about sixty hours, when, +with saws and axes, they succeeded in relieving her. The ice now opened +a little, and they finally warped through into clear water. While they +were thus confined, polar bears came around them in abundance, greedy +for prey, and the seamen indulged a little in the perilous sports of the +chase. + +[Illustration: THE ADVANCE, RESCUE, AND PRINCE ALBERT NEAR THE DEVIL'S +THUMB.] + +The open sea continued but a short time, when they again became +entangled among _bergs_, _floes_, and _hummocks_, and encountered the +most fearful perils. Sometimes they anchored their vessels to icebergs, +and sometimes to _floes_ or masses of _hummock_. On one of these +occasions, while the cook, an active Frenchman, was upon a _berg_, +making a place for an anchor, the mass of ice split beneath him, and he +was dropped through the yawning fissure into the water, a distance of +almost thirty feet. Fortunately the masses, as is often the case, did +not close up again, but floated apart, and the poor cook was hauled on +board more dead than alive, from excessive fright. It was in this +fearful region that they first encountered _pack-ice_, and there they +were locked in from the 7th to the 23d of July. During that time they +were joined by the yacht _Prince Albert_, commanded by Captain Forsyth, +of the Royal Navy, and together the three vessels were anchored, for a +while, to an immense field of ice, in sight of the _Devil's Thumb_. That +high, rocky peak, situated in latitude 74 deg. 22' was about thirty miles +distant, and with the dark hills adjacent, presented a strange aspect +where all was white and glittering. The peak and the hills are masses of +rock, with occasionally a lichen or a moss growing upon their otherwise +naked surfaces. In the midst of the vast ice-field loomed up many lofty +_bergs_, all of them in motion--slow and majestic motion. + +From the _Devil's Thumb_ the American vessels passed onward through the +_pack_ toward Sabine's Islands, while the _Prince Albert_ essayed to +make a more westerly course. They reached Cape York at the beginning of +August. Far across the ice, landward, they discovered, through their +glasses, several men, apparently making signals; and for a while they +rejoiced in the belief that they saw a portion of Sir John Franklin's +companions. Four men (among whom was our sailor-artist) were dispatched +with a whale-boat to reconnoitre. They soon discovered the men to be +Esquimaux, who, by signs, professed great friendship, and endeavored to +get the voyagers to accompany them to their homes beyond the hills. They +declined: and as soon as they returned to the vessel, the expedition +again pushed forward, and made its way to Cape Dudley Digges, which they +reached on the 7th of August. + +At Cape Dudley Digges they were charmed by the sight of the _Crimson +Cliffs_, spoken of by Captain Parry and other Arctic navigators. These +are lofty cliffs of dark brown stone, covered with snow of a rich +crimson color. It was a magnificent sight in that cold region, to see +such an apparently warm object standing out in bold relief against the +dark blue back-ground of a polar sky. This was the most northern point +to which the expedition penetrated. The whole coast which they had +passed from Disko to this cape is high, rugged, and barren, only some of +the low points, stretching into the sea, bearing a species of dwarf fir. +Northeast from the cape rise the Arctic Highlands, to an unknown +altitude; and stretching away northward is the unexplored Smith's Sound, +filled with impenetrable ice. + +[Illustration: THE ADVANCE LEADING THE PRINCE ALBERT, NEAR LEOPOLD +ISLAND.] + +From Cape Dudley Digges, the _Advance_ and _Rescue_, beating against +wind and tide in the midst of the ice-fields, made Wolstenholme Sound, +and then changing their course to the southwest, emerged from the fields +into the open waters of Lancaster Sound. Here, on the 18th of August, +they encountered a tremendous gale, which lasted about twenty-four +hours. The two vessels parted company during the storm, and remained +separate several days. Across Lancaster Sound, the _Advance_ made her +way to Barrow's Straits, and on the 22d discovered the _Prince Albert_ +on the southern shore of the straits, near Leopold Island, a mass of +lofty, precipitous rocks, dark and barren, and hooded and draped with +snow. The weather was fine, and soon the officers and crews of the two +vessels met in friendly greeting. Those of the _Prince Albert_ were much +astonished, for they (being towed by a steamer) left the Americans in +Melville Bay on the 6th, pressing northward through the _pack_, and +could not conceive how they so soon and safely penetrated it. Captain +Forsyth had attempted to reach a particular point, where he intended to +remain through the winter, but finding the passage thereto completely +blocked up with ice, he had resolved, on the very day when the Americans +appeared, to "'bout ship," and return home. This fact, and the +disappointment felt by Mr. Snow, are mentioned in our former article. + +The two vessels remained together a day or two, when they parted +company, the _Prince Albert_ to return home, and the _Advance_ to make +further explorations. It was off Leopold Island, on the 23d of August, +that the "mad Yankee" took the lead through the vast masses of floating +ice, so vividly described by Mr. Snow, and so graphically portrayed by +the sailor-artist. "The way was before them," says Mr. Snow, who stood +upon the deck of the _Advance_; "the stream of ice had to be either gone +through boldly, or a long _detour_ made; and, despite the heaviness of +the stream, _they pushed the vessel through in her proper course_. Two +or three shocks, as she came in contact with some large pieces, were +unheeded; and the moment the last block was past the bow, the officer +sung out,'So: steady as she goes on her course;' and came aft as if +nothing more than ordinary sailing had been going on. I observed our own +little bark nobly following in the American's wake; and as I afterward +learned, she got through it pretty well, though not without much doubt +of the propriety of keeping on in such procedure after the 'mad Yankee,' +as he was called by our mate." + +From Leopold Island the _Advance_ proceeded to the northwest, and on the +25th reached Cape Riley, another amorphous mass, not so regular and +precipitate as Leopold Island, but more lofty. Here a strong tide, +setting in to the shore, drifted the _Advance_ toward the beach, where +she stranded. Around her were small bergs and large masses of floating +ice, all under the influence of the strong current. It was about two +o'clock in the afternoon when she struck. By diligent labor in removing +every thing from her deck to a small _floe_, she was so lightened, that +at four o'clock the next morning she floated, and soon every thing was +properly replaced. + +[Illustration: THE ADVANCE STRANDED AT CAPE RILEY.] + +Near Cape Riley the Americans fell in with a portion of an English +Expedition, and there also the _Rescue_, left behind in the gale in +Lancaster Sound, overtook the _Advance_. There was Captain Penny with +the _Sophia_ and _Lady Franklin_; the veteran Sir John Ross, with the +_Felix_, and Commodore Austin, with the _Resolute_ steamer. Together the +navigators of both nations explored the coast at and near Cape Riley, +and on the 27th they saw in a cove on the shore of Beechy Island, or +Beechy Cape, on the east side of the entrance to Wellington Channel, +unmistakable evidence that Sir John Franklin and his companions were +there in April, 1846. There they found many articles known to belong to +the British Navy, and some that were the property of the _Erebus_ and +_Terror_, the ships under the command of Sir John. There lay, bleached +to the whiteness of the surrounding snow, a piece of _canvas_, with the +name of the _Terror_, marked upon it with indestructible charcoal. It +was very faint, yet perfectly legible. Near it was a _guide board_, +lying flat upon its face, having been prostrated by the wind. It had +evidently been used to direct exploring parties to the vessels, or, +rather, to the encampment on shore. The board was pine, thirteen inches +in length and six and a half in breadth, and nailed to a boarding pike +eight feet in length. It is supposed that the sudden opening of the ice, +caused Sir John to depart hastily, and that in so doing, this pike and +its board were left behind. They also found a large number of _tin +canisters_, such as are used for packing meats for a sea voyage; an +_anvil block_; remnants of clothing, which evinced, by numerous patches +and their threadbare character, that they had been worn as long as the +owners could keep them on; the remains of an _India rubber glove_, lined +with wool; some old _sacks_; a _cask_, or tub, partly filled with +charcoal, and an unfinished _rope-mat_, which, like other fibrous +fabrics, was bleached white. + +[Illustration: ANVIL BLOCK. GUIDE BOARD.] + +But the most interesting, and at the same time most melancholy traces of +the navigators, were _three graves_, in a little sheltered cove, each +with a board at the head, bearing the name of the sleeper below. These +inscriptions testify positively when Sir John and his companions were +there. The board at the head of the grave on the left has the following +inscription: + +"Sacred to the memory of JOHN TORRINGTON, who departed this life, +January 1st, A. D., 1846, on board her Majesty's ship _Terror_, aged 20 +years." + +On the centre one--"Sacred to the memory of JOHN HARTNELL, A. B., of her +Majesty's ship _Erebus_; died, January 4th, 1846, aged 25 years. 'Thus +saith the Lord of Hosts, Consider your ways:' Haggai, chap. i. v. 7." + +On the right--"Sacred to the memory of W. BRAINE, R. M., of her +Majesty's ship _Erebus_, who died April 3d, 1846, aged 32 years. 'Choose +you this day whom you will serve:' Joshua, chap. xxiv., part of the 15th +verse." + +[Illustration: THREE GRAVES AT BEECHY.[2]] + +How much later than April 3d (the date upon the last-named head-board), +Sir John remained at Beechy, can not be determined. They saw evidences +of his having gone northward, for sledge tracks in that direction were +very visible. It is the opinion of Dr. Kane that, on the breaking up of +the ice, in the spring, Sir John passed northward with his ships through +Wellington Channel, into the great Polar basin, and that he did not +return. This, too, is the opinion of Captain Penny, and he zealously +urges the British government to send a powerful screw steamer to pass +through that channel, and explore the _theoretically_ more hospitable +coasts beyond. This will doubtless be undertaken another season, it +being the opinions of Captains Parry, Beechy, Sir John Ross, and others, +expressed at a conference with the Board of Admiralty, in September, +that the season was too far advanced to attempt it the present year. Dr. +Kane, in a letter to Mr. Grinnell, since the return of the expedition, +thus expresses his opinion concerning the safety of Sir John and his +companions. After saying, "I should think that he is now to be sought +for north and west of Cornwallis Island," he adds, "as to the chance of +the destruction of his party by the casualties of ice, the return of our +own party after something more than the usual share of them, is the only +_fact_ that I can add to what we knew when we set out. The hazards from +cold and privation of food may be almost looked upon as subordinate. The +snow-hut, the fire and light from the moss-lamp fed with blubber, the +seal, the narwhal, the white whale, and occasionally abundant stores of +migratory birds, would sustain vigorous life. The scurvy, the worst +visitation of explorers deprived of permanent quarters, is more rare in +the depths of a Polar winter, than in the milder weather of the moist +summer; and our two little vessels encountered both seasons without +losing a man." + +[Illustration: THE ADVANCE AND RESCUE AT BARLOW'S INLET.] + +Leaving Beechy Cape, our expedition forced its way through the ice to +Barlow's Inlet, where they narrowly escaped being frozen in for the +winter. They endeavored to enter the Inlet, for the purpose of making it +their winter quarters, but were prevented by the mass of _pack-ice_ at +its entrance. It was on the 4th of September, 1850, when they arrived +there, and after remaining seven or eight days, they abandoned the +attempt to enter. On the right and left of the above picture, are seen +the dark rocks at the entrance of the Inlet, and in the centre the +frozen waters and the range of hills beyond. There was much smooth ice +within the Inlet, and while the vessels lay anchored to the "field," +officers and crew exercised and amused themselves by skating. On the +left of the Inlet, (indicated by the dark conical object,) they +discovered a _Cairn_ (a heap of stones with a cavity) eight or ten feet +in height, which was erected by Captain Ommanny of the English +Expedition then in the Polar waters. Within it he had placed two +letters, for "whom it might concern." Commander De Haven also deposited +a letter there. It is believed to be the only post-office in the world, +free for the use of all nations. The rocks, here, presented vast +fissures made by the frost; and at the foot of the cliff on the right, +that powerful agent had cast down vast heaps of _debris_. + +From Barlow's Inlet, our Expedition moved slowly westward, battling with +the ice every rood of the way, until they reached Griffin's Island, at +about 96 deg. west longitude from Greenwich. This was attained on the 11th, +and was the extreme westing made by the expedition. All beyond seemed +impenetrable ice; and, despairing of making any further discoveries +before the winter should set in, they resolved to return home. Turning +eastward, they hoped to reach Davis's Straits by the southern route, +before the cold and darkness came on, but they were doomed to +disappointment. Near the entrance to Wellington Channel they became +completely locked in by _hummock-ice_, and soon found themselves +drifting with an irresistible tide up that channel toward the pole. + +Now began the most perilous adventures of the navigators. The summer day +was drawing to a close; the diurnal visits of the pale sun were rapidly +shortening, and soon the long polar night, with all its darkness and +horrors, would fall upon them. Slowly they drifted in those vast fields +of ice, whither, or to what result, they knew not. Locked in the moving +yet compact mass; liable every moment to be crushed; far away from land; +the mercury sinking daily lower and lower from the zero figure, toward +the point where that metal freezes, they felt small hope of ever +reaching home again. Yet they prepared for winter comforts and winter +sports, as cheerfully as if lying safe in Barlow's Inlet. As the winter +advanced, the crews of both vessels went on board the larger one. They +unshipped the rudders of each to prevent their being injured by the ice, +covered the deck of the _Advance_ with felt, prepared their stores, and +made arrangements for enduring the long winter, now upon them. Physical +and mental activity being necessary for the preservation of health, they +daily exercised in the open air for several hours. They built ice huts, +hunted the huge white bears and the little polar foxes, and when the +darkness of the winter night had spread over them, they arranged in-door +amusements and employments. + +[Illustration: SITUATION OF THE ADVANCE IN BARROW'S STRAITS] + +Before the end of October, the sun made its appearance for the last +time, and the awful polar night closed in. Early in November they wholly +abandoned the _Rescue_, and both crews made the _Advance_ their +permanent winter home. The cold soon became intense; the mercury +congealed, and the spirit thermometer indicated 46 deg. below zero! Its +average range was 30 deg. to 35 deg.. They had drifted helplessly up Wellington +Channel as high as the point 4. on the map, almost to the latitude from +whence Captain Penny saw an open sea, and which all believe to be the +great polar basin, where there is a more genial clime than that which +intervenes between the Arctic Circle and the 75th degree. Here, when +almost in sight of the open ocean, that mighty polar tide, with its vast +masses of ice, suddenly ebbed, and our little vessels were carried back +as resistlessly as before, through Barrow's Straits into Lancaster +Sound! All this while the immense fields of _hummock-ice_ were moving, +and the vessels were in hourly danger of being crushed and destroyed. At +length, while drifting through Barrow's Straits, the congealed mass, as +if crushed together by the opposite shores, became more compact, and the +_Advance_ was elevated almost seven feet by the stern, and keeled two +feet eight inches, starboard, as seen in the engraving. In this position +she remained, with very little alteration, for five consecutive months; +for, soon after entering Baffin's Bay in the midst of the winter, the +ice became frozen in one immense tract, covering millions of acres. Thus +frozen in, sometimes more than a hundred miles from land, they drifted +slowly along the southwest coast of Baffin's Bay, a distance of more +than a thousand miles from Wellington Channel. For eleven weeks that +dreary night continued, and during that time the disc of the sun was +never seen above the horizon. Yet nature was not wholly forbidding in +aspect. Sometimes the Aurora Borealis would flash up still further +northward; and sometimes Aurora Parhelia--mock suns and mock +moons--would appear in varied beauty in the starry sky. Brilliant, too, +were the northern constellations; and when the real moon was at its +full, it made its stately circuit in the heavens without descending +below the horizon, and lighted up the vast piles of ice with a pale +lustre, almost as great as the morning twilights of more genial skies. + +[Illustration: ADVANCE AND RESCUE DRIFTING IN WELLINGTON SOUND.] + +Around the vessels the crews built a wall of ice; and in ice huts they +stowed away their cordage and stores to make room for exercise on the +decks. They organized a theatrical company, and amused themselves and +the officers with comedy well performed. Behind the pieces of _hummock_ +each actor learned his part, and by means of calico they transformed +themselves into female characters, as occasion required. These dramas +were acted upon the deck of the _Advance_, sometimes while the +thermometer indicated 30 deg. below zero, and actors and audience highly +enjoyed the fun. They also went out in parties during that long night, +fully armed, to hunt the polar bear, the grim monarch of the frozen +North, on which occasions they often encountered perilous adventures. +They played at foot-ball, and exercised themselves in drawing sledges, +heavily laden with provisions. Five hours of each twenty-four, they +thus exercised in the open air, and once a week each man washed his +whole body in cold snow water. Serious sickness was consequently +avoided, and the scurvy which attacked them soon yielded to remedies. + +[Illustration: ADVANCE AND RESCUE DURING THE WINTER OF 1850-51.] + +Often during that fearful night, they expected the disaster of having +their vessels crushed. All through November and December, before the ice +became fast, they slept in their clothes, with knapsacks on their backs, +and sledges upon the ice, laden with stores, not knowing at what moment +the vessels might be demolished, and themselves forced to leave them and +make their way toward land. On the 8th of December, and the 23d of +January, they actually lowered their boats and stood upon the ice, for +the crushing masses were making the timbers of the gallant vessel creak +and its decks to rise in the centre. They were then ninety miles from +land, and hope hardly whispered an encouraging idea of life being +sustained. On the latter occasion, when officers and crew stood upon the +ice, with the ropes of their provision sledges in their hands, a +terrible snow-drift came from the northeast, and intense darkness +shrouded them. Had the vessel then been crushed, all must have perished. +But God, who ruled the storm, also put forth his protecting arm and +saved them. + +Early in February the northern horizon began to be streaked with +gorgeous twilight, the herald of the approaching king of day; and on the +18th the disc of the sun first appeared above the horizon. As its golden +rim rose above the glittering snow-drifts and piles of ice, three hearty +cheers went up from those hardy mariners, and they welcomed their +deliverer from the chains of frost as cordially as those of old who +chanted, + + "See! the conquering hero comes! + Sound the trumpet, beat the drums." + +[Illustration: THE ADVANCE IN DAVIS'S STRAITS, JUNE 5, 1851.] + +[Illustration: STERN OF THE RESCUE IN THE ICE.] + +Day after day it rose higher and higher, and while the pallid faces of +the voyagers, bleached during that long night, darkened by its beams, +the vast masses of ice began to yield to its fervid influences. The +scurvy disappeared, and from that time, until their arrival home, not a +man suffered from sickness. As they slowly drifted through Davis's +Straits, and the ice gave indications of breaking up, the voyagers made +preparations for sailing. The _Rescue_ was re-occupied, (May 13th 1851), +and her stern-post, which had been broken by the ice in Barrow's +Straits, was repaired. To accomplish this, they were obliged to dig +away the ice which was from 12 to 14 feet thick around her, as +represented in the engraving. They re-shipped their rudders; removed the +felt covering; placed their stores on deck, and then patiently awaited +the disruption of the ice. This event was very sudden and appalling. It +began to give way on the 5th of June, and in the space of twenty minutes +the whole mass, as far as the eye could reach became one vast field of +moving _floes_. On the 10th of June they emerged into open water (7, on +the map) a little south of the Arctic Circle, in latitude 65 deg. 30'. They +immediately repaired to Godhaven, on the coast of Greenland, where they +re-fitted, and, unappalled by the perils through which they had just +passed, they once more turned their prows northward to encounter anew +the ice squadrons of Baffin's Bay. Again they traversed the coast of +Greenland to about the 73d degree, when they bore to the westward, and +on the 7th and 8th of July passed the English whaling fleet near the +Dutch Islands. Onward they pressed through the accumulating ice to +Baffin's Island, where, on the 11th, they were joined by the _Prince +Albert_, then out upon another cruise. They continued in company until +the 3d of August, when the _Albert_ departed for the westward, +determined to try the more southern passage. Here again (8,) our +expedition encountered vast fields of _hummock-ice_, and were subjected +to the most imminent perils. The floating ice, as if moved by adverse +currents, tumbled in huge masses, and reared upon the sides of the +sturdy little vessels like monsters of the deep intent upon destruction. +These masses broke in the bulwarks, and sometimes fell over upon the +decks with terrible force, like rocks rolled over a plain by mountain +torrents. The noise was fearful; so deafening that the mariners could +scarcely hear each other's voices. The sounds of these rolling masses, +together with the rending of the icebergs floating near, and the vast +_floes_, produced a din like the discharge of a thousand pieces of +ordnance upon a field of battle. + +[Illustration: THE ADVANCE AMONG HUMMOCKS] + +Finding the north and west closed against further progress, by +impenetrable ice, the brave De Haven was balked, and turning his vessels +homeward, they came out into an open sea, somewhat crippled, but not a +plank seriously started. During a storm off the banks of Newfoundland, a +thousand miles from New York, the vessels parted company. The _Advance_ +arrived safely at the Navy Yard at Brooklyn on the 30th of September, +and the _Rescue_ joined her there a few days afterward. Toward the close +of October the government resigned the vessels into the hands of Mr. +Grinnell, to be used in other service, but with the stipulation that +they are to be subject to the order of the Secretary of the Navy in the +spring, if required for another expedition in search of Sir John +Franklin. + +We have thus given a very brief account of the principal events of +interest connected with the American Arctic Expedition; the officers of +which will doubtless publish a more detailed narrative. Aside from the +success which attended our little vessels in encountering the perils of +the polar seas, there are associations which must forever hallow the +effort as one of the noblest exhibitions of the true glory of nations. +The navies of America and England have before met upon the ocean, but +they met for deadly strife. Now, too, they met for strife, equally +determined, but not with each other. They met in the holy cause of +benevolence and human sympathy, to battle with the elements beneath the +Arctic Circle; and the chivalric heroism which the few stout hearts of +the two nations displayed in that terrible conflict, redounds a +thousand-fold more to the glory of the actors, their governments, and +the race, than if four-score ships, with ten thousand armed men had +fought for the mastery of each other upon the broad ocean, and battered +hulks and marred corpses had gone down to the coral caves of the sea, a +dreadful offering to the demon of Discord. In the latter event, troops +of widows and orphan children would have sent up a cry of wail; now, the +heroes _advanced_ manfully to _rescue_ husbands and fathers to restore +them to their wives and children. How glorious the thought! and how +suggestive of the beauty of that fast approaching day, when the nations +shall sit down in peace as united children of one household. + + + + +NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.[3] + +BY JOHN S. C. ABBOTT. + +CONCLUSION OF THE FIRST ITALIAN CAMPAIGN. + + +Mantua had now fallen. The Austrians were driven from Italy. The Pope, +with the humility of a child, had implored the clemency of the +conqueror. Still Austria refused to make peace with republican France, +and with indomitable perseverance gathered her resources for another +conflict. Napoleon resolved to march directly upon Vienna. His object +was peace, not conquest. In no other possible way could peace be +attained. It was a bold enterprise. Leaving the whole breadth of Italy +between his armies and France, he prepared to cross the rugged summits +of the Carnic Alps, and to plunge, with an army of but fifty thousand +men, into the very heart of one of the most proud and powerful empires +upon the globe, numbering twenty millions of inhabitants. Napoleon +wished to make an ally of Venice. To her government he said, "Your whole +territory is imbued with revolutionary principles. One single word from +me will excite a blaze of insurrection through all your provinces. Ally +yourself with France, make a few modifications in your government such +as are indispensable for the welfare of the people, and we will pacify +public opinion and will sustain your authority." Advice more prudent and +humane could not have been given. The haughty aristocracy of Venice +refused the alliance, raised an army of sixty thousand men, ready at any +moment to fall upon Napoleon's rear, and demanded neutrality. "Be +neutral, then," said Napoleon, "but remember, if you violate your +neutrality, if you harass my troops, if you cut off my supplies, I will +take ample vengeance. I march upon Vienna. Conduct which could be +forgiven were I in Italy, will be unpardonable when I am in Austria. The +hour that witnesses the treachery of Venice, shall terminate her +independence." + +Mantua was the birth-place of Virgil. During centuries of wealth and +luxurious ease neither Italy nor Austria had found time to rear any +monument in honor of the illustrious Mantuan bard. But hardly had the +cannon of Napoleon ceased to resound around the beleaguered city, and +the smoke of the conflict had hardly passed away, ere the young +conqueror, ever more interested in the refinements of peace than in the +desolations of war, in the midst of the din of arms, and contending +against the intrigues of hostile nations, reared a mausoleum and +arranged a gorgeous festival in honor of the immortal poet. Thus he +endeavored to shed renown upon intellectual greatness, and to rouse the +degenerate Italians to appreciate and to emulate the glory of their +fathers. From these congenial pursuits of peace he again turned, with +undiminished energy, to pursue the unrelenting assailants of his +country. + +Leaving ten thousand men in garrison to watch the neutrality of the +Italian governments, Napoleon, early in March, removed his head-quarters +to Bassano. He then issued to his troops the following martial +proclamation, which, like bugle notes of defiance, reverberated over the +hostile and astonished monarchies of Europe. "Soldiers! the campaign +just ended has given you imperishable renown. You have been victorious +in fourteen pitched battles and seventy actions. You have taken more +than a hundred thousand prisoners, five hundred field-pieces, two +thousand heavy guns, and four pontoon trains. You have maintained the +army during the whole campaign. In addition to this you have sent six +millions of dollars to the public treasury, and have enriched the +National Museum with three hundred masterpieces of the arts of ancient +and modern Italy, which it has required thirty centuries to produce. You +have conquered the finest countries in Europe. The French flag waves for +the first time upon the Adriatic opposite to Macedon, the native country +of Alexander. Still higher destinies await you. I know that you will not +prove unworthy of them. Of all the foes that conspired to stifle the +Republic in its birth, the Austrian Emperor alone remains before you. To +obtain peace we must seek it in the heart of his hereditary state. You +will there find a brave people, whose religion and customs you will +respect, and whose property you will hold sacred. Remember that it is +liberty you carry to the brave Hungarian nation." + +The Archduke Charles, brother of the king, was now intrusted with the +command of the Austrian army. His character can not be better described +than in the language of his magnanimous antagonist. "Prince Charles," +said Napoleon, "is a man whose conduct can never attract blame. His +soul belongs to the heroic age, but his heart to that of gold. More than +all he is a good man, and that includes every thing, when said of a +prince." Early in March, Charles, a young man of about Napoleon's age, +who had already obtained renown upon the Rhine, was in command of an +army of 50,000 men stationed upon the banks of the Piave. From different +parts of the empire 40,000 men were on the march to join him. This would +give him 90,000 troops to array against the French. Napoleon, with the +recruits which he had obtained from France and Italy, had now a force of +fifty thousand men with which to undertake this apparently desperate +enterprise. The eyes of all Europe were upon the two combatants. It was +the almost universal sentiment, that, intoxicated with success, Napoleon +was rushing to irretrievable ruin. But Napoleon never allowed enthusiasm +to run away with his judgment. His plans were deeply laid, and all the +combinations of chance carefully calculated. + +The storms of winter were still howling around the snow-clad summits of +the Alps, and it was not thought possible that thus early in the season +he would attempt the passage of so formidable a barrier. A dreadful +tempest of wind and rain swept earth and sky when Napoleon gave the +order to march. The troops, with their accustomed celerity, reached the +banks of the Piave. The Austrians, astonished at the sudden apparition +of the French in the midst of the elemental warfare, and unprepared to +resist them, hastily retired some forty miles to the eastern banks of +the Tagliamento. Napoleon closely followed the retreating foe. At nine +o'clock in the morning of the 10th of March, the French army arrived +upon the banks of the river. Here they found a wide stream, rippling +over a gravelly bed, with difficulty fordable. The imperial troops, in +most magnificent array, were drawn up upon an extended plain on the +opposite shore. Parks of artillery were arranged to sweep with +grape-shot the whole surface of the water. In long lines the infantry, +with bristling bayonets and prepared to rain down upon their foes a +storm of bullets, presented apparently an invincible front. Upon the two +wings of this imposing army vast squadrons of cavalry awaited the +moment, with restless steeds, when they might charge upon the foe, +should he effect a landing. + +The French army had been marching all night over miry roads, and through +mountain defiles. With the gloom of the night the storm had passed away, +and the cloudless sun of a warm spring morning dawned upon the valley, +as the French troops arrived upon the banks of the river. Their clothes +were torn, and drenched with rain, and soiled with mud. And yet it was +an imposing array as forty thousand men, with plumes and banners and +proud steeds, and the music of a hundred bands, marched down, in that +bright sunshine, upon the verdant meadows which skirted the Tagliamento. +But it was a fearful barrier which presented itself before them. The +rapid river, the vast masses of the enemy in their strong +intrenchments, the frowning batteries, loaded to the muzzle with +grape-shot, to sweep the advancing ranks, the well fed war-horses in +countless numbers, prancing for the charge, apparently presented an +obstacle which no human energy could surmount. + +Napoleon, seeing the ample preparations made to oppose him, ordered his +troops to withdraw beyond the reach of the enemies' fire, and to prepare +for breakfast. As by magic the martial array was at once transformed +into a peaceful picnic scene. Arms were laid aside. The soldiers threw +themselves upon the green grass, just sprouting in the valley, beneath +the rays of the sun of early spring. Fires were kindled, kettles +boiling, knapsacks opened, and groups, in carelessness and joviality, +gathered around fragments of bread and meat. + +[Illustration: THE PASSAGE OF THE TAGLIAMENTO.] + +The Archduke Charles, seeing that Napoleon declined the attempt to pass +the river until he had refreshed his exhausted troops, withdrew his +forces also into the rear to their encampments. When all was quiet, and +the Austrians were thrown completely off their guard, suddenly the +trumpets sounded the preconcerted signal. The French troops, disciplined +to prompt movements, sprang to their arms, instantly formed in battle +array, plunged into the stream, and, before the Austrians had recovered +from their astonishment, were half across the river. This movement was +executed with such inconceivable rapidity, as to excite the admiration +as well as the consternation of their enemies. With the precision and +beauty of the parade ground, the several divisions of the army gained +the opposite shore. The Austrians rallied as speedily as possible. But +it was too late. A terrible battle ensued. Napoleon was victor at every +point. The Imperial army, with their ranks sadly thinned, and leaving +the ground gory with the blood of the slain, retreated in confusion to +await the arrival of the reinforcements coming to their aid. Napoleon +pressed upon their rear, every hour attacking them, and not allowing +them one moment to recover from their panic. The Austrian troops, thus +suddenly and unexpectedly defeated, were thrown into the extreme of +dejection. The exultant French, convinced of the absolute invincibility +of their beloved chief, ambitiously sought out points of peril and +adventures of desperation, and with shouts of laughter, and jokes, and +making the welkin ring with songs of liberty, plunged into the densest +masses of their foes. The different divisions of the army vied with each +other in their endeavor to perform feats of the most romantic valor, and +in the display of the most perfect contempt of life. In every fortress, +at every mountain pass, upon every rapid stream, the Austrians made a +stand to arrest the march of the conqueror. But with the footsteps of a +giant, Napoleon crowded upon them, pouring an incessant storm of +destruction upon their fugitive ranks. He drove the Austrians to the +foot of the mountains. He pursued them up the steep acclivities. He +charged the tempests of wind and smothering snow with the sound of the +trumpet, and his troops exulted in waging war with combined man and the +elements. Soon both pursuers and pursued stood upon the summit of the +Carnic Alps. They were in the region of almost perpetual snow. The vast +glaciers, which seemed memorials of eternity, spread bleak and cold +around them. The clouds floated beneath their feet. The eagle wheeled +and screamed as he soared over the sombre firs and pines far below on +the mountain sides. Here the Austrians made a desperate stand. On the +storm-washed crags of granite, behind fields of ice and drifts of snow +which the French cavalry could not traverse, they sought to intrench +themselves against their tireless pursuer. To retreat down the long and +narrow defiles of the mountains, with the French in hot pursuit behind, +hurling upon them every missile of destruction, bullets, and balls, and +craggy fragments of the cliffs, was a calamity to be avoided at every +hazard. Upon the summit of Mount Tarwis, the battle, decisive of this +fearful question, was to be fought. It was an appropriate arena for the +fell deeds of war. Wintry winds swept the bleak and icy eminence, and a +clear, cold, cloudless sky canopied the two armies as, with fiend-like +ferocity, they hurled themselves upon each other. The thunder of +artillery reverberated above the clouds. The shout of onset and the +shrieks of the wounded were heard upon eminences which even the wing of +the eagle had rarely attained. Squadrons of cavalry fell upon fields of +ice, and men and horses were precipitated into fathomless depths below. +The snow drifts of Mount Tarwis were soon crimsoned with blood, and the +warm current from human hearts congealed with the eternal glacier, and +there, embalmed in ice, it long and mournfully testified of man's +inhumanity to man. + +The Archduke Charles, having exhausted his last reserve, was compelled +to retreat. Many of the soldiers threw away their arms, and escaped over +the crags of the mountains; thousands were taken prisoners; multitudes +were left dead upon the ice, and half-buried in the drifts of snow. But +Charles, brave and energetic, still kept the mass of his army together, +and with great skill conducted his precipitate retreat. With merciless +vigor the French troops pursued, pouring down upon the retreating masses +a perfect storm of bullets, and rolling over the precipitous sides of +the mountains huge rocks, which swept away whole companies at once. The +bleeding, breathless fugitives at last arrived in the valley below. +Napoleon followed close in their rear. The Alps were now passed. The +French were in Austria. They heard a new language. The scenery, the +houses, the customs of the inhabitants, all testified that they were no +longer in Italy. They had with unparalleled audacity entered the very +heart of the Austrian empire, and with unflinching resolution were +marching upon the capital of twenty millions of people, behind whose +ramparts, strengthened by the labor of ages, Maria Theresa had bidden +defiance to the invading Turks. + +Twenty days had now passed since the opening of the campaign, and the +Austrians were already driven over the Alps, and having lost a fourth of +their numbers in the various conflicts which had occurred, dispirited by +disaster, were retreating to intrench themselves for a final struggle +within the walls of Vienna. Napoleon, with 45,000 men, flushed with +victory, was rapidly descending the fertile steams which flow into the +Danube. + +Under these triumphant circumstances Napoleon showed his humanity, and +his earnest desire for peace, in dictating the following most noble +letter, so characteristic of his strong and glowing intellect. It was +addressed to his illustrious adversary, the Archduke Charles. + +"General-in-chief. Brave soldiers, while they make war, desire peace. +Has not this war already continued six years? Have we not slain enough +of our fellow-men? Have we not inflicted a sufficiency of woes upon +suffering humanity? It demands repose upon all sides. Europe, which took +up arms against the French Republic, has laid them aside. Your nation +alone remains hostile, and blood is about to flow more copiously than +ever. This sixth campaign has commenced with sinister omens. Whatever +may be its issue, many thousand men, on the one side and the other, must +perish. And after all we must come to an accommodation, for every thing +has an end, not even excepting the passion of hatred. You, general, who +by birth approach so near the throne, and are above all the little +passions which too often influence ministers and governments, are you +resolved to deserve the title of benefactor of humanity, and of the real +saviour of Austria. Do not imagine that I deny the possibility of saving +Austria by the force of arms. But even in such an event your country +will not be the less ravaged. As for myself, if the overture which I +have the honor to make, shall be the means of saving a single life, I +shall be more proud of the civic crown which I shall be conscious of +having deserved, than of all the melancholy glory which military success +can confer." + +To these magnanimous overtures the Archduke replied: "In the duty +assigned to me there is no power either to scrutinize the causes or to +terminate the duration of the war, I am not invested with any authority +in that respect, and therefore can not enter into any negotiation for +peace." + +In this most interesting correspondence, Napoleon, the plebeian general, +speaks with the dignity and the authority of a sovereign; with a +natural, unaffected tone of command, as if accustomed from infancy to +homage and empire. The brother of the king is compelled to look upward +to the pinnacle upon which transcendent abilities have placed his +antagonist. The conquering Napoleon pleads for peace; but Austria hates +republican liberty even more than war. Upon the rejection of these +proposals the thunders of Napoleon's artillery were again heard, and +over the hills and through the valleys, onward he rushed with his +impetuous troops, allowing his foe no repose. At every mountain gorge, +at every rapid river, the Austrians stood, and were slain. Each walled +town was the scene of a sanguinary conflict, and the Austrians were +often driven in the wildest confusion pell-mell with the victors through +the streets. At last they approached another mountain range called the +Stipian Alps. Here, at the frightful gorge of Neumarkt, a defile so +gloomy and terrific that even the peaceful tourist can not pass through +it unawed, Charles again made a desperate effort to arrest his pursuers. +It was of no avail. Blood flowed in torrents, thousands were slain. The +Austrians, encumbered with baggage-wagons and artillery, choked the +narrow passages, and a scene of indescribable horror ensued. The French +cavalry made most destructive charges upon the dense masses. Cannon +balls plowed their way through the confused ranks, and the Austrian rear +and the French van struggled, hand to hand, in the blood-red gorge. But +the Austrians were swept along like withered leaves before the mountain +gales. Napoleon was now at Leoben. From the eminences around the city, +with the telescope, the distant spires of Vienna could be discerned. +Here the victorious general halted for a day, to collect his scattered +forces. Charles hurried along the great road to the capital, with the +fragments of his army, striving to concentrate all the strength of the +empire within those venerable and hitherto impregnable fortifications. + +[Illustration: THE GORGE OF NEUMARKT.] + +All was consternation in Vienna. The king, dukes, nobles, fled like deer +before approaching hounds, seeking refuge in the distant wilds of +Hungary. The Danube was covered with boats conveying the riches of the +city and the terrified families out of the reach of danger. Among the +illustrious fugitives was Maria Louisa, then a child but six years of +age, flying from that dreaded Napoleon whose bride she afterward became. +All the military resources of Austria were immediately called into +requisition; the fortifications were repaired; the militia organized and +drilled; and in the extremity of mortification and despair all the +energies of the empire were roused for final resistance. Charles, to +gain time, sent a flag of truce requesting a suspension of arms for +twenty-four hours. Napoleon, too wary to be caught in a trap which he +had recently sprung upon his foes, replied that moments were precious, +and that they might fight and negotiate at the same time. Napoleon also +issued to the Austrian people one of his glowing proclamations which was +scattered all over the region he had overrun. He assured the _people_ +that he was their friend, that he was fighting not for conquest but for +peace; that the Austrian government, bribed by British gold, was waging +an unjust war against France: that the _people_ of Austria should find +in him a protector, who would respect their religion and defend them in +all their rights. His deeds were in accordance with his words. The +French soldiers, inspired by the example of their beloved chief, treated +the unarmed Austrians as friends, and nothing was taken from them +without ample remuneration. + +The people of Austria now began to clamor loudly for peace. Charles, +seeing the desperate posture of affairs, earnestly urged it upon his +brother, the Emperor, declaring that the empire could no longer be saved +by arms. Embassadors were immediately dispatched from the imperial court +authorized to settle the basis of peace. They implored a suspension of +arms for five days, to settle the preliminaries. Napoleon nobly replied, +"In the present posture of our military affairs, a suspension of +hostilities must be very seriously adverse to the interests of the +French army. But if by such a sacrifice, that peace, which is so +desirable and so essential to the happiness of the people, can be +secured, I shall not regret consenting to your desires." A garden in the +vicinity of Leoben was declared neutral ground, and here, in the midst +of the bivouacs of the French army, the negotiations were conducted. The +Austrian commissioners, in the treaty which they proposed, had set down +as the first article, that the Emperor recognized the French Republic. +"Strike that out," said Napoleon, proudly. "The Republic is like the +sun; none but the blind can fail to see it. We are our own masters, and +shall establish any government we prefer." This exclamation was not +merely a burst of romantic enthusiasm, but it was dictated by a deep +insight into the possibilities of the future. "If one day the French +people," he afterward remarked, "should wish to create a monarchy, the +Emperor might object that he had recognized a republic." Both parties +being now desirous of terminating the war, the preliminaries were soon +settled. Napoleon, as if he were already the Emperor of France, waited +not for the plenipotentiaries from Paris, but signed the treaty in his +own name. He thus placed himself upon an equal footing with the Emperor +of Austria. The equality was unhesitatingly recognized by the Imperial +government. In the settlement of the difficulties between these two +majestic powers, neither of them manifested much regard for the minor +states. Napoleon allowed Austria to take under her protection many of +the states of Venice, for Venice had proved treacherous to her professed +neutrality, and merited no protection from his hands. + +[Illustration: THE VENETIAN ENVOYS.] + +Napoleon, having thus conquered peace, turned to lay the rod upon +trembling Venice. Richly did Venice deserve his chastising blows. In +those days, when railroads and telegraphs were unknown, the transmission +of intelligence was slow. The little army of Napoleon had traversed +weary leagues of mountains and vales, and having passed beyond the +snow-clad summits of the Alps, were lost to Italian observation, far +away upon the tributaries of the Danube. Rumor, with her thousand voices +filled the air. It was reported that Napoleon was defeated--that he was +a captive--that his army was destroyed. The Venetian oligarchy, proud, +cowardly, and revengeful, now raised the cry, "Death to the French." The +priests incited the peasants to frenzy. They attacked unarmed Frenchmen +in the streets and murdered them. They assailed the troops in garrison +with overwhelming numbers. The infuriated populace even burst into the +hospitals, and poniarded the wounded and the dying in their beds. +Napoleon, who was by no means distinguished for meekness and +long-suffering, turned sternly to inflict upon them punishment which +should long be remembered. The haughty oligarchy was thrown into a +paroxysm of terror, when it was announced, that Napoleon was victor +instead of vanquished, and that, having humbled the pride of Austria, he +was now returning with an indignant and triumphant army burning for +vengeance. The Venetian Senate, bewildered with fright, dispatched +agents to deprecate his wrath. Napoleon, with a pale and marble face, +received them. Without uttering a word he listened to their awkward +attempts at an apology, heard their humble submission, and even endured +in silence their offer of millions of gold to purchase his pardon. Then +in tones of firmness which sent paleness to their cheeks and palpitation +to their hearts, he exclaimed, "If you could proffer me the treasures of +Peru, could you strew your whole country with gold, it would not atone +for the blood which has been treacherously spilt. You have murdered my +children. The lion of St. Mark[4] must lick the dust. Go." The Venetians +in their terror sent enormous sums to Paris, and succeeded in bribing +the Directory, ever open to such appeals. Orders were accordingly +transmitted to Napoleon, to spare the ancient Senate and aristocracy of +Venice. But Napoleon, who despised the Directory, and who was probably +already dreaming of its overthrow, conscious that he possessed powers +which they could not shake, paid no attention to their orders. He +marched resistlessly into the dominions of the doge. The thunders of +Napoleon's cannon were reverberating across the lagoons which surround +the Queen of the Adriatic. The doge, pallid with consternation, +assembled the Grand Council, and proposed the surrender of their +institutions to Napoleon, to be remodeled according to his pleasure. +While they were deliberating, the uproar of insurrection was heard in +the streets. The aristocrats and the republicans fell furiously upon +each other. The discharge of fire-arms was heard under the very windows +of the council-house. Opposing shouts of "Liberty forever," and "Long +live St. Mark," resounded through the streets. The city was threatened +with fire and pillage. Amid this horrible confusion three thousand +French soldiers crossed the lagoons in boats and entered the city. They +were received with long shouts of welcome by the populace, hungering for +republican liberty. Resistance was hopeless. An unconditional surrender +was made to Napoleon, and thus fell one of the most execrable tyrannies +this world has ever known. The course Napoleon then pursued was so +magnanimous as to extort praise from his bitterest foes. He immediately +threw open the prison doors to all who were suffering for political +opinions. He pardoned all offenses against himself. He abolished +aristocracy, and established a popular government, which should fairly +represent all classes of the community. The public debt was regarded as +sacred, and even the pensions continued to the poor nobles. It was a +glorious reform for the Venetian nation. It was a terrible downfall for +the Venetian aristocracy. The banner of the new republic now floated +from the windows of the palace, and as it waved exultingly in the +breeze, it was greeted with the most enthusiastic acclamations, by the +people who had been trampled under the foot of oppression for fifteen +hundred years. + +All Italy was now virtually at the feet of Napoleon. Not a year had yet +elapsed since he, a nameless young man of twenty-five years of age, with +thirty thousand ragged and half starved troops, had crept along the +shores of the Mediterranean, hoping to surprise his powerful foes. He +had now traversed the whole extent of Italy, compelled all its hostile +states to respect republican France, and had humbled the Emperor of +Austria as emperor had rarely been humbled before. The Italians, +recognizing him as a countryman, and proud of his world-wide renown, +regarded him, not as a conqueror, but as a liberator. His popularity was +boundless. Wherever he appeared the most enthusiastic acclamations +welcomed him. Bonfires blazed upon every hill in honor of his movements. +The bells rang their merriest peals, wherever he appeared. Long lines of +maidens strewed roses in his path. The reverberations of artillery and +the huzzas of the populace saluted his footsteps. Europe was at peace; +and Napoleon was the great pacificator. For this object he had contended +against the most formidable coalitions. He had sheathed his victorious +sword, the very moment his enemies were willing to retire from the +strife. + +Still the position of Napoleon required the most consummate firmness +and wisdom. All the states of Italy, Piedmont, Genoa, Naples, the States +of the Church, Parma, Tuscany, were agitated with the intense desire for +liberty. Napoleon was unwilling to encourage insurrection. He could not +lend his arms to oppose those who were struggling for popular rights. In +Genoa, the patriots rose. The haughty aristocracy fell in revenge upon +the French, who chanced to be in the territory. Napoleon was thus +compelled to interfere. The Genoese aristocracy were forced to abdicate, +and the patriot party, as in Venice, assumed the government. But the +Genoese democracy began now in their turn, to trample upon the rights of +their former oppressors. The revolutionary scenes which had disgraced +Paris, began to be re-enacted in the streets of Genoa. They excluded the +priests and the nobles from participating in the government, as the +nobles and priests had formerly excluded them. Acts of lawless violence +passed unpunished. The religion of the Catholic priests was treated with +derision. Napoleon, earnestly and eloquently, thus urged upon them a +more humane policy. "I will respond, citizens, to the confidence you +have reposed in me. It is not enough that you refrain from hostility to +religion. You should do nothing which can cause inquietude to tender +consciences. To exclude the nobles from any public office, is an act of +extreme injustice. You thus repeat the wrong which you condemn in them. +Why are the people of Genoa so changed? Their first impulses of +fraternal kindness have been succeeded by fear and terror. Remember that +the priests were the first who rallied around the tree of liberty. They +first told you that the morality of the gospel is democratic. Men have +taken advantage of the faults, perhaps of the crimes of individual +priests, to unite against Christianity. You have proscribed without +discrimination. When a state becomes accustomed to condemn without +hearing, to applaud a discourse because it impassioned; when +exaggeration and madness are called virtue, moderation and equity +designated as crimes, that state is near its ruin. Believe me, I shall +consider _that_ one of the happiest moments of my life in which I hear +that the people of Genoa are united among themselves and live happily." + +This advice, thus given to Genoa, was intended to re-act upon France, +for the Directory then had under discussion a motion for banishing all +the nobles from the Republic. The voice of Napoleon was thus delicately +and efficiently introduced into the debate, and the extreme and terrible +measure was at once abandoned. + +Napoleon performed another act at this time, which drew down upon him a +very heavy load of obloquy from the despotic governments of Europe, but +which must secure the approval of every generous mind. There was a small +state in Italy called the Valteline, eighteen miles wide, and fifty-four +miles long, containing one hundred and sixty thousand inhabitants. These +unfortunate people had become subjects to a German state called the +Grisons, and, deprived of all political privileges, were ground down by +the most humiliating oppression. The inhabitants of the Valteline, +catching the spirit of liberty, revolted and addressed a manifesto to +all Europe, setting forth their wrongs, and declaring their +determination to recover those rights, of which they had been defrauded. +Both parties sent deputies to Napoleon, soliciting his interference, +virtually agreeing to abide by his decision. Napoleon, to promote +conciliation and peace, proposed that the Valtelines should remain with +the Grisons as one people, and that the Grisons should confer upon them +equal political privileges with themselves. Counsel more moderate and +judicious could not have been given. But the proud Grisons, accustomed +to trample upon their victims, with scorn refused to share with them the +rights of humanity. Napoleon then issued a decree, saying, "_It is not +just that one people should be subject to another people._ Since the +Grisons have refused equal rights to the inhabitants of the Valteline, +the latter are at liberty to unite themselves with the Cisalpine +Republic." This decision was received with bursts of enthusiastic joy by +the liberated people, and they were immediately embraced within the +borders of the new republic. + +The great results we have thus far narrated in this chapter were +accomplished in six weeks. In the face of powerful armies, Napoleon had +traversed hundreds of miles of territory. He had forded rivers, with the +storm of lead and iron falling pitilessly around him. He had crossed the +Alps, dragging his artillery through snow three feet in depth, scattered +the armies of Austria to the winds, imposed peace upon that proud and +powerful empire, recrossed the Alps, laid low the haughty despotism of +Venice, established a popular government in the emancipated provinces, +and revolutionized Genoa. Josephine was now with him in the palace of +Milan. From every state in Italy couriers were coming and going, +deprecating his anger, soliciting his counsel, imploring his protection. +The destiny of Europe seemed to be suspended upon his decisions. His +power transcended that of all the potentates in Europe. A brilliant +court of beautiful ladies surrounded Josephine, and all vied to do +homage to the illustrious conqueror. The enthusiastic Italians thronged +his gates, and waited for hours to catch a glance of the youthful hero. +The feminine delicacy of his physical frame, so disproportionate with +his mighty renown, did but add to the enthusiasm which his presence ever +inspired. His strong arm had won for France peace with all the world, +England alone excepted. The indomitable islanders, protected by the +ocean from the march of invading armies, still continued the unrelenting +warfare. Wherever her navy could penetrate she assailed the French, and +as the horrors of war could not reach her shores, she refused to live on +any terms of peace with Republican France. + +Napoleon now established his residence, or rather his court, at +Montebello, a beautiful palace in the vicinity of Milan. His frame was +emaciate in the extreme from the prodigious toils which he had endured. +Yet he scarcely allowed himself an hour of relaxation. Questions of vast +moment, relative to the settlement of political affairs in Italy, were +yet to be adjusted, and Napoleon, exhausted as he was in body, devoted +the tireless energies of his mind to the work. His labors were now +numerous. He was treating with the plenipotentiaries of Austria, +organizing the Italian Republic, creating a navy in the Adriatic, and +forming the most magnificent projects relative to the Mediterranean. +These were the works in which he delighted, constructing canals, and +roads, improving harbors, erecting bridges, churches, naval and military +depots, calling cities and navies into existence, awaking every where +the hum of prosperous industry. All the states of Italy were imbued with +local prejudices and petty jealousies of each other. To break down these +jealousies, he endeavored to consolidate the Republicans into one single +state, with Milan for the capital. He strove in multiplied ways to rouse +martial energy among the effeminate Italians. Conscious that the new +republic could not long stand alive in the midst of the surrounding +monarchies so hostile to its existence, that it could only be strong by +the alliance of France, he conceived the design of a high road, broad, +safe, and magnificent, from Paris to Geneva, thence across the Simplon +through the plains of Lombardy to Milan. He was in treaty with the +government of Switzerland, for the construction of the road through its +territories; and had sent engineers to explore the route and make an +estimate of the expense. He himself arranged all the details with the +greatest precision. He contemplated also, at the same time, with the +deepest interest and solicitude, the empire which England had gained on +the seas. To cripple the power of this formidable foe, he formed the +design of taking possession of the islands of the Mediterranean. "From +these different posts," he wrote to the Directory, "we shall command the +Mediterranean, we shall keep an eye upon the Ottoman empire, which is +crumbling to pieces, and we shall have it in our power to render the +dominion of the ocean almost useless to the English. They have +possession of the Cape of Good Hope. We can do without it. _Let us +occupy Egypt._ We shall be in the direct road for India. It will be easy +for us to found there one of the finest colonies in the world. _It is in +Egypt that we must attack England._" + +It was in this way that Napoleon _rested_ after the toils of the most +arduous campaigns mortal man had ever passed through. The Austrians were +rapidly recruiting their forces from their vast empire, and now began to +throw many difficulties in the way of a final adjustment. The last +conference between the negotiating parties was held at Campo Formio, a +small village about ten miles east of the Tagliamento. The commissioners +were seated at an oblong table, the four Austrian negotiators upon one +side, Napoleon by himself upon the other. The Austrians demanded terms +to which Napoleon could not accede, threatening at the same time that +if Napoleon did not accept these terms, the armies of Russia would be +united with those of Austria, and France should be compelled to adopt +those less favorable. One of the Austrian commissioners concluded an +insulting apostrophe, by saying, "Austria desires peace, and she will +severely condemn the negotiator who sacrifices the interest and repose +of his country to military ambition." Napoleon, cool and collected, sat +in silence while these sentiments were uttered. Then rising from the +table he took from the sideboard a beautiful porcelain vase. +"Gentlemen," said he, "the truce is broken; war is declared. But +remember, in three months I will demolish your monarchy as I now shatter +this porcelain." With these words he dashed the vase into fragments upon +the floor, and bowing to the astounded negotiators, abruptly withdrew. +With his accustomed promptness of action he instantly dispatched an +officer to the Archduke, to inform him that hostilities would be +re-commenced in twenty-four hours; and entering his carriage, urged his +horses with the speed of the wind, toward the head-quarters of the army. +One of the conditions of this treaty upon which Napoleon insisted, was +the release of La Fayette, then imprisoned for his republican +sentiments, in the dungeons of Olmutz. The Austrian plenipotentiaries +were thunderstruck by this decision, and immediately agreed to the terms +which Napoleon demanded. The next day at five o'clock the treaty of +Campo Formio was signed. + +[Illustration: THE CONFERENCE DISSOLVED.] + +The terms which Napoleon offered the Austrians in this treaty, though +highly advantageous to France, were far more lenient to Austria, than +that government had any right to expect. The Directory in Paris, anxious +to strengthen itself against the monarchical governments of Europe by +revolutionizing the whole of Italy and founding there republican +governments, positively forbade Napoleon to make peace with Austria, +unless the freedom of the Republic of Venice was recognized. Napoleon +wrote to the Directory that if they insisted upon that ultimatum, the +renewal of the war would be inevitable. The Directory replied, "Austria +has long desired to swallow up Italy, and to acquire maritime power. It +is the interest of France to prevent both of these designs. It is +evident that if the Emperor acquires Venice, with its territorial +possessions, he will secure an entrance into the whole of Lombardy. We +should be treating as if we had been conquered. What would posterity say +of us if we surrender that great city with its naval arsenals to the +Emperor. The whole question comes to this: Shall we give up Italy to the +Austrians? The French government neither can nor will do so. It would +prefer all the hazards of war." + +Napoleon wished for peace. He could only obtain it by disobeying the +orders of his government. The middle of October had now arrived. One +morning, at daybreak, he was informed that the mountains were covered +with snow. Leaping from his bed, he ran to the window, and saw that the +storms of winter had really commenced on the bleak heights. "What! +before the middle of October!" he exclaimed: "what a country is this! +Well, we must make peace." He shut himself up in his cabinet for an +hour, and carefully reviewed the returns of the army. "I can not have," +said he to Bourrienne, "more than sixty thousand men in the field. Even +if victorious I must lose twenty thousand in killed and wounded. And +how, with forty thousand, can I withstand the whole force of the +Austrian monarchy, who will hasten to the relief of Vienna? The armies +of the Rhine could not advance to my succor before the middle of +November, and before that time arrives the Alps will be impassable from +snow. It is all over. I will sign the peace. The government and the +lawyers may say what they choose." + +This treaty, extended France to the Rhine, recognized the Cisalpine +Republic, composed of the Cispadane Republic and Lombardy, and allowed +the Emperor of Austria to extend his sway over several of the states of +Venice. Napoleon was very desirous of securing republican liberty in +Venice. Most illustriously did he exhibit his anxiety for peace in +consenting to sacrifice that desire, and to disobey the positive +commands of his government, rather than renew the horrors of battle. He +did not think it his duty to keep Europe involved in war, that he might +secure republican liberty for Venice, when it was very doubtful whether +the Venetians were sufficiently enlightened to govern themselves, and +when, perhaps, one half of the nation were so ignorant as to prefer +despotism. The whole glory of this peace redounds to his honor. His +persistence in that demand which the Directory enjoined, would but have +kindled anew the flames of war. + +During these discussions at Campo Formio, every possible endeavor was +made which the most delicate ingenuity could devise, to influence +Napoleon in his decisions by personal considerations. The wealth of +Europe was literally laid at his feet. Millions upon millions in gold +were proffered him. But his proud spirit could not be thus tarnished. +When some one alluded to the different course pursued by the Directors, +he replied, "You are not then aware, citizen, that there is not one of +those Directors whom I could not bring, for four thousand dollars, to +kiss my boot." The Venetians offered him a present of one million five +hundred thousand dollars. He smiled, and declined the offer. The Emperor +of Austria, professing the most profound admiration of his heroic +character, entreated him to accept a principality, to consist of at +least two hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, for himself and his +heirs. This was indeed an alluring offer to a young man but twenty-five +years of age, and who had but just emerged from obscurity and poverty. +The young general transmitted his thanks to the Emperor for this proof +of his good-will, but added, that he could accept of no honors but such +as were conferred upon him by the French people, and that he should +always be satisfied with whatever they might be disposed to offer. + +[Illustration: THE COURT AT MILAN.] + +While at Montebello, transacting the affairs of his victorious army, +Josephine presided with most admirable propriety and grace, over the gay +circle of Milan. Napoleon, who well understood the imposing influence of +courtly pomp and splendor, while extremely simple in his personal +habiliments, dazzled the eyes of the Milanese with all the pageantry of +a court. The destinies of Europe were even then suspended upon his nod. +He was tracing out the lines of empire, and dukes, and princes, and +kings were soliciting his friendship. Josephine, by her surpassing +loveliness of person and of character, won universal admiration. Her +wonderful tact, her genius, and her amiability vastly strengthened the +influence of her husband. "I conquer provinces," said Napoleon, "but +Josephine wins hearts." She frequently, in after years, reverted to this +as the happiest period of her life. To them both it must have been as a +bewildering dream. But a few months before, Josephine was in prison, +awaiting her execution; and her children were literally begging bread in +the streets. Hardly a year had elapsed since Napoleon, a penniless +Corsican soldier, was studying in a garret in Paris, hardly knowing +where to obtain a single franc. Now the name of Napoleon was emblazoned +through Europe. He had become more powerful than the government of his +own country. He was overthrowing and uprearing dynasties. The question +of peace or war was suspended upon his lips. The proudest potentates of +Europe were ready, at any price, to purchase his favor. Josephine +reveled in the exuberance of her dreamlike prosperity and exaltation. +Her benevolent heart was gratified with the vast power she now possessed +of conferring happiness. She was beloved, adored. She had long cherished +the desire of visiting this land, so illustrious in the most lofty +reminiscences. Even Italy can hardly present a more delightful excursion +than the ride from Milan to the romantic, mountain-embowered lakes of +Como and Maggiore. It was a bright and sunny Italian morning when +Napoleon, with his blissful bride, drove along the luxuriant valleys and +the vine-clad hill-sides to Lake Maggiore. They were accompanied by a +numerous and glittering retinue. Here they embarked upon this beautiful +sheet of water, in a boat with silken awnings and gay banners, and the +rowers beat time to the most voluptuous music. They landed upon +Beautiful Island, which, like another Eden, emerges from the bosom of +the lake. This became the favorite retreat of Napoleon. Its monastic +palace, so sombre in its antique architecture, was in peculiar +accordance with that strange melancholy which, with but now and then a +ray of sunshine, ever overshadowed his spirit. On one of these occasions +Josephine was standing upon a terrace with several ladies, under a large +orange-tree, profusely laden with its golden treasures. As their +attention was all absorbed in admiring the beautiful landscape, Napoleon +slipped up unperceived, and, by a sudden shake, brought down a shower of +the rich fruit upon their heads. Josephine's companions screamed with +fright and ran; but she remained unmoved. Napoleon laughed heartily and +said: "Why, Josephine, you stand fire like one of my veterans." "And why +should I not?" she promptly replied, "am I not the wife of their +general?" + +Every conceivable temptation was at this time presented to entice +Napoleon into habits of licentiousness. Purity was a virtue then and +there almost unknown. Some one speaking of Napoleon's universal talents, +compared him with Solomon. "Poh," exclaimed another, "What do you mean +by calling him wiser than Solomon. The Jewish king had seven hundred +wives and three hundred concubines, while Napoleon is contented with one +wife, and she older than himself." The corruption of those days of +infidelity was such, that the ladies were jealous of Josephine's +exclusive influence over her illustrious spouse, and they exerted all +their powers of fascination to lead him astray. The loftiness of +Napoleon's ambition, and those principles instilled so early by a +mother's lips as to be almost instincts, were his safeguard. Josephine +was exceedingly gratified, some of the ladies said, "insufferably +vain," that Napoleon clung so faithfully and confidingly to her. +"Truly," he said, "I have something else to think of than love. No man +wins triumphs in that way, without forfeiting some palms of glory. I +have traced out my plan, and the finest eyes in the world, and there are +some very fine eyes here, shall not make me deviate a hair's breadth +from it." + +A lady of rank, after wearying him one day with a string of the most +fulsome compliments, exclaimed, among other things, "What is life worth, +if one can not be General Bonaparte," Napoleon fixed his eyes coldly +upon her, and said, "Madame! one may be a dutiful wife, and the good +mother of a family." + +The jealousy which the Directory entertained of Napoleon's vast +accession of power induced them to fill his court with spies, who +watched all his movements and reported his words. Josephine, frank and +candid and a stranger to all artifice, could not easily conceal her +knowledge or her thoughts. Napoleon consequently seldom intrusted to her +any plans which he was unwilling to have made known. "A secret," he once +observed, "is burdensome to Josephine." He was careful that she should +not be thus encumbered. He would be indeed a shrewd man who could extort +any secret from the bosom of Napoleon. He could impress a marble-like +immovableness upon his features, which no scrutiny could penetrate. Said +Josephine in subsequent years, "I never once beheld Napoleon for a +moment perfectly at ease--not even with myself. He is constantly on the +alert. If at any time he appears to show a little confidence, it is +merely a feint to throw the person with whom he converses, off his +guard, and to draw forth his sentiments; but never does he himself +disclose his real thoughts." + +The French Government remonstrated bitterly against the surrender of +Venice to Austria. Napoleon replied. "It costs nothing for a handful of +declaimers to rave about the establishment of _republics_ every where. I +wish these gentlemen would make a winter campaign. You little know the +people of Italy. You are laboring under a great delusion. You suppose +that liberty can do great things to a base, cowardly, and superstitious +people. You wish me to perform miracles. I have not the art of doing so. +Since coming into Italy I have derived little, if any, support from the +love of the Italian people for liberty and equality." + +The treaty of peace signed at Campo Formio, Napoleon immediately sent to +Paris. Though he had disobeyed the positive commands of the Directory, +in thus making peace, the Directors did not dare to refuse its +ratification. The victorious young general was greatly applauded by the +people, for refusing the glory of a new campaign, in which they doubted +not that he would have obtained fresh laurels, that he might secure +peace for bleeding Europe. On the 17th of November Napoleon left Milan +for the Congress at Rastadt, to which he was appointed, with +plenipotentiary powers. At the moment of leaving he addressed the +following proclamation to the Cisalpine Republic: "We have given you +liberty. Take care to preserve it. To be worthy of your destiny make +only discreet and honorable laws, and cause them to be executed with +energy. Favor the diffusion of knowledge, and respect religion. Compose +your battalions not of disreputable men, but of citizens imbued with the +principles of the Republic, and closely linked with its prosperity. You +have need to impress yourselves with the feeling of your strength, and +with the dignity which befits the free man. Divided and bowed down by +ages of tyranny, you could not alone have achieved your independence. In +a few years, if true to yourselves, no nation will be strong enough to +wrest liberty from you. Till then the great nation will protect you." + +Napoleon, leaving Josephine at Milan, traveled rapidly through Piedmont, +intending to proceed by the way of Switzerland to Rastadt. His journey +was an uninterrupted scene of triumph. Illuminations, processions, +bonfires, the ringing of bells, the explosions of artillery, the huzzas +of the populace, and above all the most cordial and warm-hearted +acclamations of ladies, accompanied him all the way. The enthusiasm was +indescribable. Napoleon had no fondness for such displays. He but +slightly regarded the applause of the populace. + +[Illustration: THE TRIUMPHAL JOURNEY.] + +"It must be delightful," said Bourrienne, "to be greeted with such +demonstrations of enthusiastic admiration." "Bah!" Napoleon replied; +"this same unthinking crowd, under a slight change of circumstances, +would follow me just as eagerly to the scaffold." + +Traveling with great rapidity, he appeared and vanished like a meteor, +ever retaining the same calm, pensive, thoughtful aspect. A person, who +saw him upon this occasion, thus described his appearance: "I beheld +with deep interest and extreme attention that extraordinary man, who has +performed such great deeds, and about whom there is something which +seems to indicate that his career is not yet terminated. I found him +much like his portraits, small in stature, thin, pale, with an air of +fatigue, but not as has been reported in ill-health. He appeared to me +to listen with more abstraction than interest, as if occupied rather +with what he was thinking of, than with what was said to him. There is +great intelligence in his countenance, along with an expression of +habitual meditation, which reveals nothing of what is passing within. In +that thinking head, in that daring mind, it is impossible not to suppose +that some designs are engendering, which will have their influence on +the destinies of Europe." Napoleon did not remain long at Rastadt, for +all the questions of great political importance were already settled, +and he had no liking for those discussions of minor points which +engrossed the attention of the petty German princes, who were assembled +at that Congress. He accordingly prepared for his departure. + +In taking leave of the army he thus bade adieu to his troops. "Soldiers! +I leave you to-morrow. In separating myself from the army I am consoled +with the thought that I shall soon meet you again, and engage with you +in new enterprises. Soldiers! when conversing among yourselves of the +kings you have vanquished, of the people upon whom you have conferred +liberty, of the victories you have won in two campaigns, say, '_In the +next two we will accomplish still more._'" + +Napoleon's attention was already eagerly directed to the gorgeous East. +These vast kingdoms, enveloped in mystery, presented just the realm for +his exuberant imagination to range. It was the theatre, as he eloquently +said, "of mighty empires, where all the great revolutions of the earth +have arisen, where mind had its birth, and all religions their cradle, +and where six hundred millions of men still have their dwelling-place." + +Napoleon left Rastadt, and traveling incognito through France, arrived +in Paris the 7th of December, 1797, having been absent but about +eighteen months. His arrival had been awaited with the most intense +impatience. The enthusiasm of that most enthusiastic capital had been +excited to the highest pitch. The whole population were burning with the +desire to see the youthful hero whose achievements seemed to surpass the +fictions of romance. But Napoleon was nowhere visible. A strange mystery +seemed to envelop him. He studiously avoided observation; very seldom +made his appearance at any place of public amusement; dressed like the +most unobtrusive private citizen, and glided unknown through the crowd, +whose enthusiasm was roused to the highest pitch to get a sight of the +hero. He took a small house in the Rue Chanteraine, which street +immediately received the name of Rue de la Victoire, in honor of +Napoleon. He sought only the society of men of high intellectual and +scientific attainments. In this course he displayed a profound knowledge +of human nature, and vastly enhanced public curiosity by avoiding its +gratification. + +[Illustration: THE DELIVERY OF THE TREATY.] + +The Directory, very jealous of Napoleon's popularity, yet impelled by +the voice of the people, now prepared a triumphal festival for the +delivery of the treaty of Campo Formio. The magnificent court of the +Luxembourg was arranged and decorated for this gorgeous show. At the +further end of the court a large platform was raised, where the five +Directors were seated, dressed in the costume of the Roman Senate, at +the foot of the altar of their country. Embassadors, ministers, +magistrates, and the members of the two councils were assembled on seats +ranged amphitheatrically around. Vast galleries were crowded with all +that was illustrious in rank, beauty, and character in the metropolis. +Magnificent trophies, composed of the banners taken from the enemy, +embellished the court, while the surrounding walls were draped with +festoons of tri-colored tapestry. Bands of music filled the air with +martial sounds, while the very walls of Paris were shaken by the +thunders of exploding artillery and by the acclamations of the countless +thousands who thronged the court. + +It was the 10th of December, 1797. A bright sun shone through cloudless +skies upon the resplendent scene. Napoleon had been in Paris but five +days. Few of the citizens had as yet been favored with a sight of the +hero, whom all were impatient to behold. At last a great flourish of +trumpets announced his approach. He ascended the platform dressed in the +utmost simplicity of a civilian's costume, accompanied by Talleyrand, +and his aids-de-camp, all gorgeously dressed, and much taller men than +himself, but evidently regarding him with the most profound homage. The +contrast was most striking. Every eye was riveted upon Napoleon. The +thunder of the cannon was drowned in the still louder thunder of +enthusiastic acclamations which simultaneously arose from the whole +assemblage. The fountains of human emotion were never more deeply moved. +The graceful delicacy of his fragile figure, his remarkably youthful +appearance, his pale and wasted cheeks, the classic outline of his +finely moulded features, the indescribable air of pensiveness and +self-forgetfulness which he ever carried with him, and all associated +with his most extraordinary achievements, aroused an intensity of +enthusiastic emotion which has perhaps never been surpassed. No one who +witnessed the scenes of that day ever forgot them. Talleyrand introduced +the hero in a brief and eloquent speech. "For a moment," said he, in +conclusion, "I did feel on his account that disquietude which, in an +infant republic, arises from every thing which seems to destroy the +equality of the citizens. But I was wrong. Individual grandeur, far from +being dangerous to equality, is its highest triumph. And on this +occasion every Frenchman must feel himself elevated by the hero of his +country. And when I reflect upon all which he has done to shroud from +envy that light of glory; on that ancient love of simplicity which +distinguishes him in his favorite studies; his love for the abstract +sciences; his admiration for that sublime Ossian which seems to detach +him from the world; on his well known contempt for luxury, for pomp, for +all that constitutes the pride of ignoble minds, I am convinced that, +far from dreading his ambition, we shall one day have occasion to rouse +it anew to allure him from the sweets of studious retirement." Napoleon, +apparently quite unmoved by this unbounded applause, and as calm and +unembarrassed as if speaking to an under-officer in his tent, thus +briefly replied: "Citizens! The French people, in order to be free, had +kings to combat. To obtain a constitution founded on reason it had the +prejudices of eighteen centuries to overcome. Priestcraft, feudalism, +despotism, have successively, for two thousand years, governed Europe. +From the peace you have just concluded dates the era of representative +governments. You have succeeded in organizing the great nation, whose +vast territory is circumscribed only because nature herself has fixed +its limits. You have done more. The two finest countries in Europe, +formerly so renowned for the arts, the sciences, and the illustrious men +whose cradle they were, see with the greatest hopes genius and freedom +issuing from the tomb of their ancestors. I have the honor to deliver to +you the treaty signed at Campo Formio, and ratified by the emperor. +Peace secures the liberty, the prosperity, and the glory of the +Republic. As soon as the happiness of France is secured by the best +organic laws, the whole of Europe will be free." + +The moment Napoleon began to speak the most profound silence reigned +throughout the assembly. The desire to hear his voice was so intense, +that hardly did the audience venture to move a limb or to breathe, while +in tones, calm and clear, he addressed them. The moment he ceased +speaking, a wild burst of enthusiasm filled the air. The most +unimpassioned lost their self-control. Shouts of "Live Napoleon the +conqueror of Italy, the pacificator of Europe, the saviour of France," +resounded loud and long. Barras, in the name of the Directory, replied, +"Nature," exclaimed the orator in his enthusiasm, "has exhausted her +energies in the production of a Bonaparte. Go," said he turning to +Napoleon, "crown a life, so illustrious, by a conquest which the great +nation owes to its outraged dignity. Go, and by the punishment of the +cabinet of London, strike terror into the hearts of all who would +miscalculate the powers of a free people. Let the conquerors of the Po, +the Rhine, and the Tiber, march under your banners. The ocean will be +proud to bear them. It is a slave still indignant who blushes for his +fetters. Hardly will the tri-colored standard wave on the blood-stained +shores of the Thames, ere an unanimous cry will bless your arrival, and +that generous nation will receive you as its liberator." Chenier's +famous Hymn to Liberty was then sung in full chorus, accompanied by a +magnificent orchestra. In the ungovernable enthusiasm of the moment the +five Directors arose and encircled Napoleon in their arms. The blast of +trumpets, the peal of martial bands, the thunder of cannon, and the +acclamations of the countless multitude rent the air. Says Thiers, "All +heads were overcome with the intoxication. Thus it was that France threw +herself into the hands of an extraordinary man. Let us not censure the +weakness of our fathers. That glory reaches us only through the clouds +of time and adversity, and yet it transports us! Let us say with +AEschylus, 'How would it have been had we seen the monster himself!'" + +Napoleon's powers of conversation were inimitable. There was a +peculiarity in every phrase he uttered which bore the impress of +originality and genius. He fascinated every one who approached him. He +never spoke of his own achievements, but in most lucid and dramatic +recitals often portrayed the bravery of the army and the heroic exploits +of his generals. + +He was now elected a member of the celebrated Institute, a society +composed of the most illustrious literary and scientific men in France. +He eagerly accepted the invitation, and returned the following answer. +"The suffrages of the distinguished men who compose the Institute honor +me. I feel sensibly that before I can become their equal I must long be +their pupil. The only true conquests--those which awaken no regret--are +those obtained over ignorance. The most honorable, as the most useful +pursuit of nations, is that which contributes to the extension of human +intellect. The real greatness of the French Republic ought henceforth to +consist in the acquisition of the whole sum of human knowledge, and in +not allowing a single new idea to exist, which does not owe its birth to +their exertions." He laid aside entirely the dress of a soldier, and, +constantly attending the meetings of the Institute, as a philosopher and +a scholar became one of its brightest ornaments. His comprehensive mind +enabled him at once to grasp any subject to which he turned his +attention. In one hour he would make himself master of the accumulated +learning to which others had devoted the labor of years. He immediately, +as a literary man, assumed almost as marked a pre-eminence among these +distinguished scholars, as he had already acquired as a general on +fields of blood. Apparently forgetting the renown he had already +attained, with boundless ambition he pressed on to still greater +achievements, deeming nothing accomplished while any thing remained to +be done. Subsequently he referred to his course at this time and +remarked, "Mankind are in the end always governed by superiority of +intellectual qualities, and none are more sensible of this than the +military profession. When, on my return from Italy, I assumed the dress +of the Institute, and associated with men of science, I knew what I was +doing, I was sure of not being misunderstood by the lowest drummer in +the army." + +A strong effort was made at this time, by the royalists, for the +restoration of the Bourbons. Napoleon, while he despised the inefficient +government of the Directory, was by no means willing that the despotic +Bourbons should crush the spirit of liberty in France. Napoleon was not +adverse to a monarchy. But he wished for a monarch who would consult the +interests of the _people_, and not merely pamper the luxury and pride of +the nobles. He formed the plan and guided the energies which discomfited +the royalists, and sustained the Directors. Thus twice had the strong +arm of this young man protected the government. The Directors, in their +multiplied perplexities, often urged his presence in their councils, to +advise with them on difficult questions. Quiet and reserved he would +take his seat at their table, and by that superiority of tact which ever +distinguished him, and by that intellectual pre-eminence which could not +be questioned, he assumed a moral position far above them all, and +guided those gray-haired diplomatists, as a father guides his children. +Whenever he entered their presence, he instinctively assumed the +supremacy, and it was instinctively recognized. + +The altars of religion, overthrown by revolutionary violence, still +remained prostrate. The churches were closed, the Sabbath abolished, the +sacraments were unknown, the priests were in exile. A whole generation +had grown up in France without any knowledge of Christianity. Corruption +was universal. A new sect sprang up called Theophilanthropists, who +gleaned, as the basis of their system, some of the moral precepts of the +gospel, divested of the sublime sanctions of Christianity. They soon, +however, found that it is not by flowers of rhetoric, and smooth-flowing +verses, and poetic rhapsodies upon the beauty of love and charity, of +rivulets and skies, that the stern heart of man can be controlled. +Leviathan is not so tamed. Man, exposed to temptations which rive his +soul, trembling upon the brink of fearful calamities, and glowing with +irrepressible desires, can only be allured and overawed when the voice +of love and mercy, blends with Sinai's thunders. "There was frequently," +says the Duchess of Abrantes, "so much truth in the moral virtues which +this new sect inculcated, that if the Evangelists had not said the same +things much better, eighteen hundred years before them, one might have +been tempted to embrace their opinions." + +Napoleon took a correct view of these enthusiasts. "They can accomplish +nothing," said he, "they are merely actors." "How!" it was replied, "do +you thus stigmatize those whose tenets inculcate universal benevolence +and the moral virtues?" "All systems of morality," Napoleon rejoined, +"are fine. The gospel alone has exhibited a complete assemblage of the +principles of morality, divested of all absurdity. It is not composed, +like your creed, of a few common-place sentences put into bad verse. Do +you wish to see that which is really sublime? Repeat the Lord's Prayer. +Such enthusiasts are only to be encountered by the weapons of ridicule. +All their efforts will prove ineffectual." + +Republican France was now at peace with all the world, England alone +excepted. The English government still waged unrelenting war against the +Republic, and strained every nerve to rouse the monarchies of Europe +again to combine to force a detested dynasty upon the French people. The +British navy, in its invincibility, had almost annihilated the commerce +of France. In their ocean-guarded isle, safe from the ravages of war +themselves, their fleet could extend those ravages to all shores. The +Directory raised an army for the invasion of England, and gave to +Napoleon the command. Drawing the sword, not of aggression but of +defense, he immediately proceeded to a survey of the French coast, +opposite to England, and to form his judgment respecting the feasibility +of the majestic enterprise. Taking three of his generals in his +carriage, he passed eight days in this tour of observation. With great +energy and tact he immediately made himself familiar with every thing +which could aid him in coming to a decision. He surveyed the coast, +examined the ships and the fortifications, selected the best points for +embarkation, and examined until midnight sailors, pilots, smugglers, and +fishermen. He made objections, and carefully weighed their answers. Upon +his return to Paris his friend Bourrienne said to him, "Well, general! +what do you think of the enterprise? Is it feasible?" "No!" he promptly +replied, shaking his head. "It is too hazardous. I will not undertake +it. I will not risk on such a stake the fate of our beautiful France." +At the same time that he was making this survey of the coast, with his +accustomed energy of mind, he was also studying another plan for +resisting the assaults of the British government. The idea of attacking +England, by the way of Egypt in her East Indian acquisitions, had taken +full possession of his imagination. He filled his carriage with all the +books he could find in the libraries of Paris, relating to Egypt. With +almost miraculous rapidity he explored the pages, treasuring up, in his +capacious and retentive memory, every idea of importance. +Interlineations and comments on the margin of these books, in his own +hand-writing, testify to the indefatigable energy of his mind. + +Napoleon was now almost adored by the republicans all over Europe, as +the great champion of popular rights. The people looked to him as their +friend and advocate. In England, in particular, there was a large, +influential, and increasing party, dissatisfied with the prerogatives of +the crown, and with the exclusive privileges of the nobility, who were +never weary of proclaiming the praises of this champion of liberty and +equality. The brilliance of his intellect, the purity of his morals, the +stoical firmness of his self-endurance, his untiring energy, the glowing +eloquence of every sentence which fell from his lips, his youth and +feminine stature, and his wondrous achievements, all combined to invest +him with a fascination such as no mortal man ever exerted before. The +command of the army for the invasion of England was now assigned to +Napoleon. He became the prominent and dreaded foe of that great empire. +And yet the common people who were to fight the battles almost to a man +loved him. The throne trembled. The nobles were in consternation. "If we +deal fairly and justly with France," Lord Chatham is reported frankly to +have avowed, "the English government will not exist for four-and-twenty +hours." It was necessary to change public sentiment and to rouse +feelings of personal animosity against this powerful antagonist. To +render Napoleon unpopular, all the wealth and energies of the government +were called into requisition, opening upon him the batteries of +ceaseless invective. The English press teemed with the most atrocious +and absurd abuse. It is truly amusing, in glancing over the pamphlets of +that day, to contemplate the enormity of the vices attributed to him, +and their contradictory nature. He was represented as a perfect demon in +human form. He was a robber and a miser, plundering the treasuries of +nations that he might hoard his countless millions, and he was also a +profligate and a spendthrift, squandering upon his lusts the wealth of +empires. He was wallowing in licentiousness, his camp a harem of +pollution, ridding himself by poison of his concubines as his vagrant +desires wandered from them; at the same time he was _physically an +imbecile_--a monster--whom God in his displeasure had deprived of the +passions and the powers of healthy manhood. He was an idol whom the +entranced people bowed down before and worshiped, with more than +Oriental servility. He was also a sanguinary heartless, merciless +butcher, exulting in carnage, grinding the bones of his own wounded +soldiers into the dust beneath his chariot wheels, and finding congenial +music for his depraved and malignant spirit in the shrieks of the +mangled and the groans of the dying. To Catholic Ireland he was +represented as seizing the venerable Pope by his gray hairs, and thus +dragging him over the marble floor of his palace. To Protestant England, +on the contrary, he was exhibited as in league with the Pope, whom he +treated with the utmost adulation, endeavoring to strengthen the +despotism of the sword with the energies of superstition. + +The philosophical composure with which Napoleon regarded this incessant +flow of invective was strikingly grand. "Of all the libels and +pamphlets," said Napoleon subsequently, "with which the English +ministers have inundated Europe, there is not one which will reach +posterity. When I have been asked to cause answers to be written to +them, I have uniformly replied, 'My victories and my works of public +improvement are the only response which it becomes me to make.' When +there shall not be a trace of these libels to be found, the great +monuments of utility which I have reared, and the code of laws that I +have formed, will descend to the most remote ages, and future historians +will avenge the wrongs done me by my contemporaries. There was a time," +said he again, "when all crimes seemed to belong to me of right; thus I +poisoned Hoche,[5] I strangled Pichegru[6] in his cell, I caused +Kleber[7] to be assassinated in Egypt, I blew out Desaix's[8] brains at +Marengo, I cut the throats of persons who were confined in prison, I +dragged the Pope by the hair of his head, and a hundred similar +absurdities. As yet," he again said, "I have not seen one of those +libels which is worthy of an answer. Would you have me sit down and +reply to Goldsmith, Pichon, or the Quarterly Review? They are so +contemptible and so absurdly false, that they do not merit any other +notice, than to write _false_, _false_, on every page. The only truth I +have seen in them is, that I one day met an officer, General Rapp, I +believe, on the field of battle, with his face begrimed with smoke and +covered with blood, and that I exclaimed, 'Oh, comme il est beau! _O, +how beautiful the sight!_' This is true enough. And of it they have made +a crime. My commendation of the gallantry of a brave soldier, is +construed into a proof of my delighting in blood." + +The revolutionary government were in the habit of celebrating the 21st +of January with great public rejoicing, as the anniversary of the +execution of the king. They urged Napoleon to honor the festival by his +presence, and to take a conspicuous part in the festivities. He +peremptorily declined. "This fete," said he, "commemorates a melancholy +event, a tragedy; and can be agreeable to but few people. It is proper +to celebrate victories; but victims left upon the field of battle are to +be lamented. To celebrate the anniversary of a man's death is an act +unworthy of a government; it creates more enemies than friends--it +estranges instead of conciliating; it irritates instead of calming; it +shakes the foundations of government instead of adding to their +strength." The ministry urged that it was the custom with all nations to +celebrate the downfall of tyrants; and that Napoleon's influence over +the public mind was so powerful, that his absence would be regarded as +indicative of hostility to the government, and would be highly +prejudicial to the interests of the Republic. At last Napoleon consented +to attend, as a private member of the Institute, taking no active part +in the ceremonies, but merely walking with the members of the class to +which he belonged. As soon as the procession entered the Church of St. +Sulpice, all eyes were searching for Napoleon. He was soon descried, and +every one else was immediately eclipsed. At the close of the ceremony, +the air was rent with the shouts, "Long live Napoleon!" The Directory +were made exceedingly uneasy by ominous exclamations in the streets, "We +will drive away these lawyers, and make the _Little Corporal_ king." +These cries wonderfully accelerated the zeal of the Directors, in +sending Napoleon to Egypt. And most devoutly did they hope that from +that distant land he would never return. + + + + +AN INDIAN PET. + + +The ichneumon, called in India the neulah, benjee, or mungoos, is known +all over that country. I have seen it on the banks of the Ganges, and +among the old walls of Jaunpore, Sirhind, and at Loodianah; for, like +others of the weasel kind, this little animal delights in places where +it can lurk and peep--such as heaps of stones and ruins; and there is no +lack of these in old Indian cities. + +That the neulah is a fierce, terrible, blood-thirsty, destructive little +creature, I experienced to my cost; but notwithstanding all the +provocation I received, I was led to become his friend and protector, +and so finding him out to be the most charming and amiable pet in the +world. + +In my military career (for I was for a long time attached to the army) I +was stationed at Jaunpore, and having a house with many conveniences, I +took pleasure in rearing poultry; but scarcely a single chicken could be +magnified to a hen: the rapacious neulahs, fond of tender meat, +waylaying all my young broods, sucking their blood, and feasting on +their brains. But such devastations could not be allowed to pass with +impunity; so we watched the enemy, and succeeded in shooting several of +the offenders, prowling among the hennah or mehendy hedges, where the +clucking-hens used to repose in the shade, surrounded by their progeny. + +After one of these _battues_, my little daughter happened to go to the +fowl-house in the evening in search of eggs, and was greatly startled by +a melancholy squeaking which seemed to proceed from an old rat-hole in +one corner. Upon proper investigation this was suspected to be the nest +of one of the neulahs which had suffered the last sentence of the law; +but how to get at the young we did not know, unless by digging up the +floor, and of this I did not approve. So the little young ones would +have perished but for a childish freak of my young daughter. She seated +herself before the nest, and imitated the cry of the famished little +animals so well, that three wee, hairless, blind creatures crept out, +like newly-born rabbits, but with long tails, in the hope of meeting +with their lost mamma. + +Our hearts immediately warmed toward the little helpless ones, and no +one wished to wreak the sins of the parents upon the orphans; and +knowing that neulahs were reared as pets, I proposed to my daughter that +she should select one for herself, and give the others to two of my +servants. + +My daughter's protegee, however, was the only one that survived under +its new _regime_; and Jumnie, as she called her nursling, throve well, +and soon attained its full size, knowing its name, and endearing itself +to every body by its gambols and tricks. She was like the most +blithesome of little kittens, and played with our fingers, and frolicked +on the sofas, sleeping occasionally behind one of the cushions, and at +other times coiling herself up in her own little flannel bed. + +In the course of time, however, Jumnie grew up to maturity, being one +year old, and formed an attachment for one of her own race--a wild, +roving bandit of a neulah, who committed such deeds of atrocity in the +fowl-house as to compel us to take up arms again. If she had only made +her mistress the confidante of her love!--but, alas! little did we +suspect _our_ neulah of a companionship with thieves and assassins; and +so leaving her, we thought, to her customary frolics, we marched upon +the stronghold of the enemy. Two neulahs appeared, we fired, and one +fell, the other running off unscathed. We all hastened to the wounded +and bleeding victim, and my little daughter first of all; but how shall +I describe her grief when she saw her little Jumnie writhing at her feet +in the agonies of death! If I had had the least idea of Jumnie's having +formed such an attachment, I should have spared the guilty for the sake +of the innocent, and Jumnie might long have lived a favorite pet; but +the deed was done. + +The neulahs, like other of the weasel kind--and like some animals I know +of a loftier species--are very rapacious, slaying without reference to +their wants; and Jumnie, although fond of milk, used to delight in +livers and brains of fowls, which she relished even after they were +dressed for our table. + +The natives of India never molest the neulah. They like to see it about +their dwellings, on account of its snake and rat-killing propensities; +and on a similar account it must have been that this creature was +deified by the Egyptians, whose country abounded with reptiles, and +would have been absolutely alive with crocodiles but for the havoc it +made among the numerous eggs, which it delighted to suck. For this +reason the ichneumons were embalmed as public benefactors, and their +bodies are still found lying in state in some of the pyramids. Among the +Hindoos, however, the neulah does not obtain quite such high honors, +although the elephant, monkey, lion, snake, rat, goose, &c., play a +prominent part in the religious myths, and are styled the Bahons, or +vehicles of the gods. + +In Hindoostan the ichneumon is not supposed to kill the crocodile, +though it is in the mouth of every old woman that it possesses the +knowledge of a remedy against the bite of a poisonous snake, which its +instinct leads it to dig out of the ground; but this _on dit_ has never +been ascertained to be true, and my belief is that it is only based on +the great agility and dexterity of the neulah. Eye-witnesses say that +his battles with man's greatest enemy end generally in the death of the +snake, which the neulah seizes by the back of the neck, and after +frequent onsets at last kills and eats, rejecting nothing but the head. + +The color of the Indian neulah is a grayish-brown; but its chief beauty +lies in its splendid squirrel-like tail, and lively, prominent, +dark-brown eyes. Like most of the weasel kind, however, it has rather a +disagreeable odor; and if it were not for this there would not be a +sweeter pet in existence. + + * * * * * + +So far the experience of an Old Indian; and we now turn to another +authority on the highly-curious subject just glanced at--the knowledge +of the ichneumon of a specific against the poison of the snake. Calder +Campbell, in his recent series of tales, "Winter Nights"--and capital +amusement for such nights they are--describes in almost a painfully +truthful manner the adventure of an officer in India, who was an +eye-witness, under very extraordinary circumstances, to the feat of the +ichneumon. The officer, through some accident, was wandering on foot, +and at night, through a desolate part of the country, and at length, +overcome with fatigue, threw himself down on the dry, crisp spear-grass, +and just as the faint edge of the dawn appeared, fell asleep. + +"No doubt of it! I slept soundly, sweetly--no doubt of it! I have never +_since then_ slept in the open air either soundly or sweetly, for my +awaking was full of horror! Before I was fully awake, however, I had a +strange perception of danger, which tied me down to the earth, warning +me against all motion. I knew that there was a shadow creeping over me, +beneath which to lie in dumb inaction was the wisest resource. I felt +that my lower extremities were being invaded by the heavy coils of a +living chain; but as if a providential opiate had been infused into my +system, preventing all movement of thew or sinew, I knew not till I was +wide awake that an enormous serpent covered the whole of my nether +limbs, up to the knees! + +"'My God! I am lost!' was the mental exclamation I made, as every drop +of blood in my veins seemed turned to ice; and anon I shook like an +aspen leaf, until the very fear that my sudden palsy might rouse the +reptile, occasioned a revulsion of feeling, and I again lay paralyzed. + +"It slept, or at all events remained stirless; and how long it so +remained I know not, for time to the fear-struck is as the ring of +eternity. All at once the sky cleared up--the moon shone out--the stars +glanced over me; I could see them all, as I lay stretched on my side, +one hand under my head, whence I dared not remove it; neither dared I +looked downward at the loathsome bed-fellow which my evil stars had sent +me. + +"Unexpectedly, a new object of terror supervened: a curious purring +sound behind me, followed by two smart taps on the ground, put the snake +on the alert, for it moved, and I felt that it was crawling upward to my +breast. At that moment, when I was almost maddened by insupportable +apprehension into starting up to meet, perhaps, certain destruction, +something sprang upon my shoulder--upon the reptile! There was a shrill +cry from the new assailant, a loud, appalling hiss from the serpent. For +an instant I could feel them wrestling, as it were, on my body; in the +next, they were beside me on the turf; in another, a few paces off, +struggling, twisting round each other, fighting furiously, I beheld +them--a _mungoos_ or ichneumon and a _cobra di capello_! + +"I started up; I watched that most singular combat, for all was now +clear as day. I saw them stand aloof for a moment--the deep, venomous +fascination of the snaky glance powerless against the keen, quick, +restless orbs of its opponent: I saw this duel of the eye exchange once +more for closer conflict: I saw that the mungoos was bitten; that it +darted away, doubtless in search of that still unknown plant whose +juices are its alleged antidote against snake-bite; that it returned +with fresh vigor to the attack; and then, glad sight! I saw the cobra di +capello, maimed from hooded head to scaly tail, fall lifeless from its +hitherto demi-erect position with a baffled hiss; while the wonderful +victor, indulging itself in a series of leaps upon the body of its +antagonist, danced and bounded about, purring and spitting like an +enraged cat! + +"Little graceful creature! I have ever since kept a pet mungoos--the +most attached, the most playful, and the most frog-devouring of all +animals." + + * * * * * + +Many other authors refer to the alleged antidote against a snake-bite, +known only to the ichneumon, and there are about as many different +opinions as there are authors; but, on the whole, our Old Indian appears +to us to be on the strongest side. + + + + +KOSSUTH--A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. + + +[Illustration: KOSSUTH, AS GOVERNOR OF HUNGARY IN 1849.] + +Louis Kossuth[9] was born at Monok, in Zemplin, one of the northern +counties of Hungary, on the 27th of April, 1806. His family was ancient, +but impoverished; his father served in the Austrian army during the wars +against Napoleon; his mother, who still survives to exult in the glory +of her son, is represented to be a woman of extraordinary force of mind +and character. Kossuth thus adds another to the long list of great men +who seem to have inherited their genius from their mothers. As a boy he +was remarkable for the winning gentleness of his disposition, and for an +earnest enthusiasm, which gave promise of future eminence, could he but +break the bonds imposed by low birth and iron fortune. A young clergyman +was attracted by the character of the boy, and voluntarily took upon +himself the office of his tutor, and thus first opened before his mind +visions of a broader world than that of the miserable village of his +residence. But these serene days of powers expanding under genial +guidance soon passed away. His father died, his tutor was translated to +another post, and the walls of his prison-house seemed again to close +upon the boy. But by the aid of members of his family, themselves in +humble circumstances, he was enabled to attend such schools as the +district furnished. Little worth knowing was taught there; but among +that little was the Latin language; and through that door the young +dreamer was introduced into the broad domains of history, where, +abandoning the mean present, he could range at will through the immortal +past. History relates nothing so spirit-stirring as the struggles of +some bold patriot to overthrow or resist arbitrary power. Hence the +young student of history is always a republican; but, unlike many +others, Kossuth never changed from that faith. + +The annals of Hungary contain nothing so brilliant as the series of +desperate conflicts which were waged at intervals for more than two +centuries to maintain the elective character of the Hungarian monarchy, +in opposition to the attempts of the House of Austria to make the crown +hereditary in the Hapsburg line. In these wars, from 1527 to 1715, +seventeen of the family of Kossuth had been attainted for high treason +against Austria. The last, most desperate, and decisively unsuccessful +struggle was that waged by Rakozky, at the beginning of the last +century. Kossuth pored over the chronicles and annals which narrate the +incidents of this contest, till he was master of all the minutest +details. It might then have been predicted that he would one day write +the history of that fruitless struggle, and the biography of its hero; +but no one would have dared to prophesy that he would so closely +reproduce it in deeds. + +In times of peace, the law offers to an aspiring youth the readiest +means of ascent from a low degree to lofty stations. Kossuth, therefore, +when just entering upon manhood, made his way to Pesth, the capital, to +study the legal profession. Here he entered the office of a notary, and +began gradually to make himself known by his liberal opinions, and the +fervid eloquence with which he set forth and maintained them; and men +began to see in him the promise of a powerful public writer, orator, and +debater. + +The man and the hour were alike preparing. In 1825, the year before +Kossuth arrived at Pesth, the critical state of her Italian possessions +compelled Austria to provide extraordinary revenues. The Hungarian Diet +was then assembled, after an interval of thirteen years. This Diet at +once demanded certain measures of reform before they would make the +desired pecuniary grants. The court was obliged to concede these +demands. Kossuth, having completed his legal studies, and finding no +favorable opening in the capital, returned, in 1830, to his native +district, and commenced the practice of the law, with marked success. He +also began to make his way toward public life by his assiduous +attendance and intelligent action in the local assemblies. A new Diet +was assembled in 1832, and he received a commission as the +representative, in the Diet, of a magnate who was absent. As proxy for +an absentee, he was only charged, by the Hungarian Constitution, with a +very subordinate part, his functions being more those of a counsel than +of a delegate. This, however, was a post much sought for by young and +aspiring lawyers, as giving them an opportunity of mastering legal +forms, displaying their abilities, and forming advantageous connections. + +This Diet renewed the Liberal struggle with increased vigor. By far the +best talent of Hungary was ranged upon the Liberal side. Kossuth early +made himself known as a debater, and gradually won his way upward, and +became associated with the leading men of the Liberal party, many of +whom were among the proudest and richest of the Hungarian magnates. He +soon undertook to publish a report of the debates and proceedings of the +Diet. This attempt was opposed by the Palatine, and a law hunted up +which forbade the "printing and publishing" of these reports. He for a +while evaded the law by having his sheet lithographed. It increased in +its development of democratic tendencies, and in popularity, until +finally the lithographic press was seized by Government. Kossuth, +determined not to be baffled, still issued his journal, every copy being +written out by scribes, of whom he employed a large number. To avoid +seizure at the post-office, they were circulated through the local +authorities, who were almost invariably on the Liberal side. This was a +period of intense activity on the part of Kossuth. He attended the +meetings of the Diet, and the conferences of the deputies, edited his +paper, read almost all new works on politics and political economy, and +studied French and English for the sake of reading the debates in the +French Chambers and the British Parliament; allowing himself, we are +told, but three hours' sleep in the twenty-four. His periodical +penetrated into every part of the kingdom, and men saw with wonder a +young and almost unknown public writer boldly pitting himself against +Metternich and the whole Austrian Cabinet. Kossuth might well, at this +period declare that he "felt within himself something nameless." + +In the succeeding Diets the Opposition grew still more determined. +Kossuth, though twice admonished by Government, still continued his +journal; and no longer confined himself to simple reports of the +proceedings of the Diet, but added political remarks of the keenest +satire and most bitter denunciation. He was aware that his course was a +perilous one. He was once found by a friend walking in deep reverie in +the fortress of Buda, and in reply to a question as to the subject of +his meditations, he said, "I was looking at the casemates, for I fear +that I shall soon be quartered there." Government finally determined to +use arguments more cogent than discussion could furnish. Baron +Wesselenyi, the leader of the Liberal party, and the most prominent +advocate of the removal of urbarial burdens, was arrested, together with +a number of his adherents. Kossuth was of course a person of too much +note to be overlooked, and on the 4th of May, 1837, to use the words of +an Austrian partisan, "it happened that as he was promenading in the +vicinity of Buda, he was seized by the myrmidons of the law, and +confined in the lower walls of the fortress, there to consider, in +darkness and solitude, how dangerous it is to defy a powerful +government, and to swerve from the path of law and of prudence." + +Kossuth became at once sanctified in the popular mind as a martyr. +Liberal subscriptions were raised through the country for the benefit of +his mother and sisters, whom he had supported by his exertions, and who +were now left without protection. Wesselenyi became blind in prison; +Lovassi, an intimate friend of Kossuth, lost his reason; and Kossuth +himself, as was certified by his physicians, was in imminent risk of +falling a victim to a serious disease. The rigor of his confinement was +mitigated; he was allowed books, newspapers, and writing materials, and +suffered to walk daily upon the bastions of the fortress, in charge of +an officer. Among those who were inspired with admiration for his +political efforts, and with sympathy for his fate, was Teresa Mezlenyi, +the young daughter of a nobleman. She sent him books, and corresponded +with him during his imprisonment; and they were married in 1841, soon +after his liberation. + +The action of the drama went on, though Kossuth was for a while +withdrawn from the stage. His connection with Wesselenyi procured for +him a degree of influence among the higher magnates which he could +probably in no other way have attained. Their aid was as essential to +the early success of the Liberals, as was the support of Essex and +Manchester to the Parliament of England at the commencement of the +contest with Charles I. + +In the second year of Kossuth's imprisonment, Austria again needed +Hungarian assistance. The threatening aspect of affairs in the East, +growing out of the relations between Turkey and Egypt, determined all +the great powers to increase their armaments. A demand was made upon the +Hungarian Diet for an additional levy of 18,000 troops. A large body of +delegates was chosen pledged to oppose this grant except upon condition +of certain concessions, among which was a general amnesty, with a +special reference to the cases of Wesselenyi and Kossuth. The most +sagacious of the Conservative party advised Government to liberate all +the prisoners, with the exception of Kossuth; and to do this before the +meeting of the Diet, in order that their liberation might not be made a +condition of granting the levy; which must be the occasion of great +excitement. The Cabinet temporized, and did nothing. The Diet was +opened, and the contest was waged during six months. The Opposition had +a majority of two in the Chamber of Deputies, but were in a meagre +minority in the Chamber of Magnates. But Metternich and the Cabinet grew +alarmed at the struggle, and were eager to obtain the grant of men, and +to close the refractory Diet. In 1840 a royal rescript suddenly made its +appearance, granting the amnesty, accompanied also with conciliatory +remarks, and the demands of the Government for men and money were at +once complied with. This action of Government weakened the ranks of its +supporters among the Hungarian magnates, who thus found themselves +exposed to the charge of being more despotic than the Cabinet of +Metternich itself. + +Kossuth issued from prison in 1840, after an imprisonment of three +years, bearing in his debilitated frame, his pallid face, and glassy +eyes, traces of severe sufferings, both of mind and body. He repaired +for a time to a watering-place among the mountains to recruit his +shattered health. His imprisonment had done more for his influence than +he could have effected if at liberty. The visitors at the watering-place +treated with silent respect the man who moved about among them in +dressing-gown and slippers, and whose slow steps, and languid features +disfigured with yellow spots, proclaimed him an invalid. Abundant +subscriptions had been made for his benefit and that of his family, and +he now stood on an equality with the proudest magnates. These had so +often used the name of the "Martyr of the liberty of the press" in +pointing their speeches, that they now had no choice but to accept the +popular verdict as their own. Kossuth, in the meanwhile mingled little +with the society at the watering-place; but preferred, as his health +improved, to wander among the forest-clad hills and lonely valleys, +where, says one who there became acquainted with him, and was his +frequent companion, "the song of birds, a group of trees, and even the +most insignificant phenomena of nature furnished occasions for +conversation." But now and then flashes would burst forth which showed +that he was revolving other things in his mind. Sometimes a chord would +be casually struck which awoke deeper feelings, then his rare eloquence +would burst forth with the fearful earnestness of conviction, and he +hurled forth sentences instinct with life and passion. The wife of the +Lord-Lieutenant, the daughter of a great magnate, was attracted by his +appearance, and desired this companion of Kossuth to introduce him to +her house. When this desire was made known to Kossuth, the mysterious +and nervous expression passed over his face, which characterizes it when +excited. "No," he exclaimed, "I will not go to that woman's house; her +father subscribed four-pence to buy a rope to hang me with!" + +Soon after his liberation, he came forward as the principal editor of +the "Pesth Gazette" (_Pesthi Hirlap_), which a bookseller, who enjoyed +the protection of the Government, had received permission to establish. +The name of the editor was now sufficient to electrify the country; and +Kossuth at once stood forth as the advocate of the rights of the lower +and middle classes against the inordinate privileges and immunities +enjoyed by the magnates. But when he went to the extent of demanding +that the house-tax should be paid by all classes in the community, not +even excepting the highest nobility, a party was raised up against him +among the nobles, who established a paper to combat so disorganizing a +doctrine. This party, backed by the influence of Government, succeeded +in defeating the election of Kossuth as member from Pesth for the Diet +of 1843. He was, however, very active in the local Assembly of the +capital. + +Kossuth was not altogether without support among the higher nobles. The +blind old Wesselenyi traversed the country, advocating rural freedom and +the abolition of the urbarial burdens. Among his supporters at this +period also, was Count Louis Batthyanyi, one of the most considerable of +the Magyar magnates, subsequently President of the Hungarian Ministry, +and the most illustrious martyr of the Hungarian cause. Aided by his +powerful support, Kossuth was again brought forward, in 1847, as one of +the two candidates from Pesth. The Government party, aware that they +were in a decided minority, limited their efforts to an attempt to +defeat the election of Kossuth. This they endeavored to effect by +stratagem. The Liberal party nominated Szentkiraly and Kossuth. The +Government party also named the former. The Royal Administrator, who +presided at the election, decided that Szentkiraly was chosen by +acclamation; but that a poll must be held for the other member. Before +the intention of Kossuth to present himself as a candidate was known, +the Liberals had proposed M. Balla as second delegate. He at once +resigned in favor of Kossuth. The Government party cast their votes for +him, in hopes of drawing off a portion of the Liberal party from the +support of Kossuth. M. Balla loudly but unavailingly protested against +this stratagem; and when after a scrutiny of twelve hours, Kossuth was +declared elected, Balla was the first to applaud. That night Kossuth, +Balla, and Szentkiraly were serenaded by the citizens of Pesth; they +descended together to the street, and walked arm-in-arm among the crowd. +The Royal Administrator was severely reprimanded for not having found +means to prevent the election of Kossuth. + +Kossuth no sooner took his seat in the Diet than the foremost place was +at once conceded to him. At the opening of the session he moved an +address to the king, concluding with the petition that "liberal +institutions, similar to those of the Hungarian Constitution, might be +accorded to all the hereditary states, that thus might be created a +united Austrian monarchy, based upon broad and constitutional +principles." During the early months of the session Kossuth showed +himself a most accomplished parliamentary orator and debater; and +carried on a series of attacks upon the policy of the Austrian Cabinet, +which for skill and power have few parallels in the annals of +parliamentary warfare. Those form a very inadequate conception of its +scope and power, whose ideas of the eloquence of Kossuth are derived +solely from the impassioned and exclamatory harangues which he flung out +during the war. These were addressed to men wrought up to the utmost +tension, and can be judged fairly only by men in a state of high +excitement. He adapted his matter and manner to the occasion and the +audience. Some of his speeches are marked by a stringency of logic +worthy of Webster or Calhoun:--but it was what all eloquence of a high +order must ever be--"Logic red-hot." + +Now came the French Revolution of February, 1848. The news of it reached +Vienna on the 1st of March, and was received at Pressburg on the 2d. On +the following day Kossuth delivered his famous speech on the finances +and the state of the monarchy generally, concluding with a proposed +"Address to the Throne," urging a series of reformatory measures. Among +the foremost of these was the emancipation of the country from feudal +burdens--the proprietors of the soil to be indemnified by the state; +equalizing taxation; a faithful administration of the revenue to be +satisfactorily guaranteed; the further development of the representative +system; and the establishment of a government representing the voice of, +and responsible to the nation.[10] The speech produced an effect almost +without parallel in the annals of debate. Not a word was uttered in +reply, and the motion was unanimously carried. On the 13th of March took +place the revolution in Vienna which overthrew the Metternich Cabinet. +On the 15th, the Constitution granted by the Emperor to all the nations +within the Empire was solemnly proclaimed, amidst the wildest transports +of joy. Henceforth there were to be no more Germans or Sclavonians, +Magyars or Italians; strangers embraced and kissed each other in the +streets, for all the heterogeneous races of the Empire were now +brothers:--as likewise were all the nations of the earth at Anacharsis +Klootz's "Feast of Pikes" in Paris, on that 14th day of July in the year +of grace 1790--and yet, notwithstanding, came the "Reign of Terror." + +Among the demands made by the Hungarian Diet was that of a separate and +responsible Ministry for Hungary. The Palatine, Archduke Stephen, to +whom the conduct of affairs in Hungary had been intrusted, persuaded the +Emperor to accede to this demand, and on the following day Batthyanyi, +who with Kossuth and a deputation of delegates of the Diet was in +Vienna, was named President of the Hungarian Ministry. It was, however, +understood that Kossuth was the life and soul of the new Ministry. + +Kossuth assumed the department of Finance, then, as long before and now, +the post of difficulty under Austrian administration. The Diet meanwhile +went on to consummate the series of reforms which Kossuth had so long +and steadfastly advocated. The remnants of feudalism were swept +away--the landed proprietors being indemnified by the state for the loss +they sustained. The civil and political rights which had heretofore been +in the exclusive possession of the nobles, were extended to the burghers +and the peasants. A new electoral law was framed, according the right of +suffrage to every possessor of property to the amount of about one +hundred and fifty dollars. The whole series of bills received the royal +signature on the 11th of April; the Diet having previously adjourned to +meet on the 2d of July. + +Up to this time there had been indeed a vigorous and decided opposition, +but no insurrection. The true cause of the Hungarian war was the +hostility of the Austrian Government to the whole series of reformatory +measures which had been effected through the instrumentality of Kossuth; +but its immediate occasion was the jealousy which sprung up among the +Serbian and Croatian dependencies of Hungary against the Hungarian +Ministry. This soon broke out into an open revolt, headed by Baron +Jellachich, who had just been appointed Ban or Lord of Croatia. How far +the Serbs and Croats had occasion for jealousy, is of little consequence +to our present purpose to inquire; though we may say, in passing, that +the proceedings of the Magyars toward the other Hungarian races was +marked by a far more just and generous feeling and conduct than could +have been possibly expected; and that the whole ground of hostility was +sheer misrepresentation; and this, if we may credit the latest and best +authorities, is now admitted by the Sclavic races themselves. But +however the case may have been as between the Magyars and Croats, as +between the Hungarians and Austria, the hostile course of the latter is +without excuse or palliation. The Emperor had solemnly sanctioned the +action of the Diet, and did as solemnly denounce the proceedings of +Jellachich. On the 29th of May the Ban was summoned to present himself +at Innspruck, to answer for his conduct; and as he did not make his +appearance, an Imperial manifesto was issued on the 10th of June, +depriving him of all his dignities, and commanding the authorities at +once to break off all intercourse with him. He, however, still continued +his operations, and levied an army for the invasion of Hungary, and a +fierce and bloody war of races broke out, marked on both sides by the +most fearful atrocities. + +The Hungarian Diet was opened on the 5th of July, when the Palatine, +Archduke Stephen, in the name of the king, solemnly denounced the +conduct of the insurgent Croats. A few days after, Kossuth, in a speech +in the Diet, set forth the perilous state of affairs, and concluded by +asking for authority to raise an army of 200,000 men, and a large amount +of money. These proposals were adopted by acclamation, the enthusiasm in +the Diet rendering any debate impossible and superfluous. + +The Imperial forces having been victorious in Italy, and one pressing +danger being thus averted from the Empire, the Austrian Cabinet began +openly to display its hostility to the Hungarian movement. Jellachich +repaired to Innspruck, and was openly acknowledged by the court, and the +decree of deposition was revoked. Early in September Hungary and Austria +stood in an attitude of undisguised hostility. On the 5th of that month, +Kossuth, though enfeebled by illness, was carried to the hall of the +Diet where he delivered a speech, declaring that so formidable were the +dangers that surrounded the nation, that the Ministers might soon be +forced to call upon the Diet to name a Dictator, clothed with unlimited +powers, to save the country; but before taking this final step they +would recommend a last appeal to the Imperial government. A large +deputation was thereupon dispatched to the Emperor, to lay before him +the demands of the Hungarian nation. No satisfactory answer was +returned, and the deputation left the Imperial presence in silence. On +their return, they plucked from their caps the plumes of the united +colors of Austria and Hungary, and replaced them with red feathers, and +hoisted a flag of the same color on the steamer which conveyed them to +Pesth. Their report produced the most intense agitation in the Diet, and +at the capital, but it was finally resolved to make one more attempt for +a pacific settlement of the question. In order that no obstacle might be +interposed by their presence, Kossuth and his colleagues resigned, and a +new Ministry was appointed. A deputation was sent to the National +Assembly at Vienna, which refused to receive it. Jellachich had in the +mean time entered Hungary with a large army, not as yet, however, openly +sanctioned by Imperial authority. The Diet seeing the imminent peril of +the country, conferred dictatorial powers upon Kossuth. The Palatine +resigned his post, and left the kingdom. The Emperor appointed Count +Lemberg to take the entire command of the Hungarian army. The Diet +declared the appointment illegal, and the Count, arriving at Pesth +without escort, was slain in the streets of the capital by the populace, +in a sudden outbreak. The Emperor forthwith placed the kingdom under +martial law, giving the supreme civil and military power to Jellachich. +The Diet at once revolted; declared itself permanent, and appointed +Kossuth Governor, and President of the Committee of Safety. + +There was now but one course left for the Hungarians: to maintain by +force of arms the position they had assumed. We can not detail the +events of the war which followed, but merely touch upon the most salient +points. Jellachich was speedily driven out of Hungary, toward Vienna. In +October, the Austrian forces were concentrated under command of +Windischgraetz, to the number of 120,000 veterans, and were put on the +march for Hungary. To oppose them, the only forces under the command of +the new Government of Hungary, were 20,000 regular infantry, 7000 +cavalry, and 14,000 recruits, who received the name of Honveds, or +"protectors of home." Of all the movements that followed, Kossuth was +the soul and chief. His burning and passionate appeals stirred up the +souls of the peasants, and sent them by thousands to the camp. He +kindled enthusiasm, he organized that enthusiasm, and transformed those +raw recruits into soldiers more than a match for the veteran troops of +Austria. Though himself not a soldier, he discovered and drew about him +soldiers and generals of a high order. The result was that Windischgraetz +was driven back from Hungary, and of the 120,000 troops which he led +into that kingdom in October, one half were killed, disabled, or taken +prisoners at the end of April. The state of the war on the 1st of May, +may be gathered from the Imperial manifesto of that date, which +announced that "the insurrection in Hungary had grown to such an +extent," that the Imperial Government "had been induced to appeal to the +assistance of his Majesty the Czar of all the Russias, who generously +and readily granted it to a most satisfactory extent." The issue of the +contest could no longer be doubtful, when the immense weight of Russia +was thrown into the scale. Had all power, civil and military been +concentrated in one person, and had he displayed the brilliant +generalship and desperate courage which Napoleon manifested in 1814, +when the overwhelming forces of the allies were marching upon Paris, the +fall of Hungary might have been delayed for a few weeks, perhaps to +another campaign; but it could not have been averted. In modern warfare +there is a limit beyond which devotion and enthusiasm can not supply the +place of numbers and material force. And that limit was overpassed when +Russia and Austria were pitted against Hungary. + +The chronology of the Hungarian struggle may be thus stated: On the 9th +of September, 1848, Jellachich crossed the Drave and invaded Hungary; +and was driven back at the close of that month toward Vienna. In +October, Windischgraetz advanced into Hungary, and took possession of +Pesth, the capital. On the 14th of April, 1849, the Declaration of +Hungarian Independence was promulgated. At the close of that month, the +Austrians were driven out at every point, and the issue of the contest, +as between Hungary and Austria, was settled. On the 1st of May the +Russian intervention was announced. On the 11th of August Kossuth +resigned his dictatorship into the hands of Goergey who, two days after, +in effect closed the war by surrendering to the Russians. + +The Hungarian war thus lasted a little more than eleven months; during +which time there was but one ruling and directing spirit; and that was +Kossuth, to whose immediate career we now return. + +Early in January it was found advisable to remove the seat of government +from Pesth to the town of Debreczin, situated in the interior. Pesth was +altogether indefensible, and the Austrian army were close upon it; but +here the Hungarians had collected a vast amount of stores and +ammunition, the preservation of which was of the utmost importance. In +saving these the administrative power of Kossuth was strikingly +manifested. For three days and three nights he labored uninterruptedly +in superintending the removal, which was successfully effected. From the +heaviest locomotive engine down to a shot-belt, all the stores were +packed up and carried away, so that when the Austrians took possession +of Pesth, they only gained the eclat of occupying the Hungarian capital, +without acquiring the least solid advantage. + +Debreczin was the scene where Kossuth displayed his transcendent +abilities as an administrator, a statesman, and an orator. The +population of the town was about 50,000, which was at once almost +doubled, so that every one was forced to put up with such accommodations +as he could find, and occupy the least possible amount of space. Kossuth +himself occupied the Town Hall. On the first floor was a spacious +ante-room, constantly filled with persons waiting for an interview, +which was, necessarily, a matter of delay, as each one was admitted in +his turn; the only exception being in cases where public business +required an immediate audience. + +This ante-room opened into two spacious apartments, in one of which the +secretaries of the Governor were always at work. Here Kossuth received +strangers. At these audiences he spoke but little, but listened +attentively, occasionally taking notes of any thing that seemed of +importance. His secretaries were continually coming to him to receive +directions, to present a report, or some document to receive his +signature. These he never omitted to examine carefully, before affixing +his signature, even amidst the greatest pressure of business; at the +same time listening to the speaker. "Be brief," he used to say, "but for +that very reason forget nothing." These hours of audience were also his +hours of work, and here it was that he wrote those stirring appeals +which aroused and kept alive the spirit of his countrymen. It was only +when he had some document of extraordinary importance to prepare, that +he retired to his closet. These audiences usually continued until far +into the night, the ante-room being often as full at midnight as in the +morning. Although of a delicate constitution, broken also by his +imprisonment, the excitement bore him up under the immense mental and +bodily exertion, and while there was work to do he was never ill. + +He usually allowed himself an hour for rest or relaxation, from two till +three o'clock, when he was accustomed to take a drive with his wife and +children to a little wood at a short distance, where he would seek out +some retired spot, and play upon the grass with his children, and for a +moment forget the pressing cares of state. + +At three o'clock he dined; and at the conclusion of his simple meal, was +again at his post. This round of audiences was frequently interrupted by +a council of war, a conference of ministers, or the review of a regiment +just on the point of setting out for the seat of hostilities. New +battalions seemed to spring from the earth at his command, and he made a +point of reviewing each, and delivering to them a brief address, which +was always received with a burst of "_eljens_." + +At Debreczin the sittings of the House of Assembly were held in what had +been the chapel of the Protestant College. Kossuth attended these +sittings only when he had some important communications to make. Then he +always walked over from the Town Hall. Entering the Assembly, he +ascended the rostrum, if it was not occupied; if it was, he took his +place in any vacant seat, none being specially set apart for the +Governor. He was a monarch, but with an invisible throne, the hearts of +his subjects. When the rostrum was vacant, he would ascend it, and lay +before the Assembly his propositions, or sway all hearts by his burning +and fervent eloquence. + +Such was the daily life of Kossuth at the temporary seat of government, +bearing upon his shoulders the affairs of state, calling up, as if by +magic, regiment after regiment, providing for their arming, equipment, +and maintenance, while the Hungarian generals were contending on the +field, with various fortunes; triumphantly against the Austrians, +desperately and hopelessly when Russia was added to the enemy. + +The defeat of Bem at Temesvar, on the 9th of August gave the death-blow +to the cause. Two days afterward, Kossuth and Goergey stood alone in the +bow-window of a small chamber in the fortress of Arad. What passed +between them no man knows; but from that room Goergey went forth Dictator +of Hungary; and Kossuth followed him to set out on his journey of exile. +On the same day the new Dictator announced to the Russians his intention +to surrender the forces under his command. The following day he marched +to the place designated, where the Russian General Rudiger arrived on +the 13th, and Goergey's army, numbering 24,000 men, with 144 pieces of +artillery, laid down their arms. + +Nothing remained for Kossuth and his companions but flight. They gained +the Turkish frontier, and threw themselves on the hospitality of the +Sultan, who promised them a safe asylum. Russia and Austria demanded +that the fugitives should be given up; and for some months it was +uncertain whether the Turkish Government would dare to refuse. At first +a decided negative was returned; then the Porte wavered; and it was +officially announced to Kossuth and his companions that the only means +for them to avoid surrendry would be to abjure the faith of their +fathers; and thus take advantage of the fundamental Moslem law, that any +fugitive embracing the Mohammedan faith can claim the protection of the +Government. Kossuth refused to purchase his life at such a price. And +finally Austria and Russia were induced to modify their demand, and +merely to insist upon the detention of the fugitives. On the other hand, +the Turkish Government was urged to allow them to depart. Early in the +present year, Mr. Webster, as Secretary of State, directed our Minister +at Constantinople to urge the Porte to suffer the exiles to come to the +United States. A similar course was pursued by the British Government. +It was promised that these representations should be complied with; but +so late as in March of the present year, Kossuth addressed a letter to +our Charge at Constantinople, despairing of his release being granted. +But happily his fears were groundless; and our Government was notified +that on the 1st of September, the day on which terminated the period of +detention agreed upon by the Sultan, Kossuth and his companions would be +free to depart to any part of the world. The United States steam-frigate +Mississippi, was at once placed at his disposal. The offer was accepted. +On the 12th of September the steamer reached Smyrna, with the +illustrious exile and his family and suite on board, bound to our +shores, after a short visit in England. The Government of France, in the +meanwhile, denied him the privilege of passing through their territory. +While this sheet is passing through the press, we are in daily +expectation of the arrival of Kossuth in our country, where a welcome +awaits him warmer and more enthusiastic than has greeted any man who has +ever approached our shores, saving only the time when LA FAYETTE was our +nation's honored guest. + +It is right and fitting that it should be so. When a monarch is +dethroned it is appropriate that neighboring monarchies should accord a +hearty and hospitable reception to him, as the representative of the +monarchical principle, even though his own personal character should +present no claims upon esteem or regard. Kossuth comes to us as the +exiled representative of those fundamental principles upon which our +political institutions are based. He is the representative of these +principles, not by the accident of birth, but by deliberate choice. He +has maintained them at a fearful hazard. It is therefore our duty and +our privilege to greet him with a hearty, "Well done!" + +Kossuth occupies a position peculiarly his own, whether we regard the +circumstances of his rise, or the feelings which have followed him in +his fall. Born in the middle ranks of life, he raised himself by sheer +force of intellect to the loftiest place among the proudest nobles on +earth, without ever deserting or being deserted by the class from which +he sprung. He effected a sweeping reform without appealing to any sordid +or sanguinary motive. No soldier himself, he transformed a country into +a camp, and a nation into an army. He transmuted his words into +batteries, and his thoughts into soldiers. Without ever having looked +upon a stricken field, he organized the most complete system of +resistance to despotism that the history of revolutions has furnished. +It failed, but only failed where nothing could have succeeded. + +Not less peculiar are the feelings which have followed him in his fall. +Men who have saved a state have received the unbounded love and +gratitude of their countrymen. Those who have fallen in the lost battle +for popular rights, or who have sealed their devotion on the scaffold or +in the dungeon, are reverenced as martyrs forevermore. But Kossuth's +endeavors have been sanctified and hallowed neither by success nor by +martyrdom. He is the living leader of a lost cause. His country is +ruined, its nationality destroyed, and through his efforts. Yet no +Hungarian lays this ruin to his charge; and the first lesson taught the +infant Magyar is a blessing upon his name. Yet whatever the future may +have in store, his efforts have not been lost efforts. The tree which he +planted in blood and agony and tears, though its tender shoots have been +trampled down by the Russian bear, will yet spring up again to gladden, +if not his heart, yet those of his children or his children's children. +The man may perish, but the cause endures. + + + + +THE LEGEND OF THE LOST WELL. + + +In ancient times there existed in the desert that lies to the west of +Egypt--somewhere between the sun at its setting and the city of Siout--a +tribe of Arabs that called themselves Waled Allah, or The Children of +God. They professed Mohammedanism, but were in every other respect +different from their neighbors to the north and south, and from the +inhabitants of the land of Egypt. It was their custom during the months +of summer to draw near to the confines of the cultivated country and +hold intercourse with its people, selling camels and wool, and other +desert productions; but when winter came they drew off toward the +interior of the wilderness, and it was not known where they abode. They +were by no means great in numbers; but such was their skill in arms, and +their reputation for courage, that no tribe ever ventured to trespass on +their limits, and all caravans eagerly paid to them the tribute of +safe-conduct. + +Such was the case for many years; but at length it came to pass that the +Waled Allah, after departing as usual for the winter, returned in great +disorder and distress toward the neighborhood of the Nile. Those who saw +them on that occasion reported that their sufferings must have been +tremendous. More than two-thirds of their cattle, a great number of the +women and children, and several of the less hardy men, were missing; but +they would not at first confess what had happened to them. When, +however, they asked permission to settle temporarily on some unoccupied +lands, the curious and inquisitive went among them, and by degrees the +truth came out. + +It appeared that many centuries ago one of their tribe, following the +track of some camels that had strayed, had ventured to a great distance +in the desert, and had discovered a pass in the mountains leading into a +spacious valley, in the midst of which was a well of the purest water, +that overflowed and fertilized the land around. As the man at once +understood the importance of his discovery, he devoted himself for his +tribe, and returned slowly, piling up stones here and there that the way +might not again be lost. When he arrived at the station he had only +sufficient strength to relate what he had seen before he died of +fatigue and thirst. So they called the well after him--Bir Hassan. + +It was found that the valley was only habitable during the winter; for +being surrounded with perpendicular rocks it became like a furnace in +the hot season--the vegetation withered into dust, and the waters hid +themselves within the bowels of the earth. They resolved, therefore, to +spend one half of their time in that spot, where they built a city; and +during the other half of their time they dwelt, as I have said, on the +confines of the land of Egypt. + +But it was found that only by a miracle had the well of Hassan been +discovered. Those who tried without the aid of the road-marks to make +their way to it invariably failed. So it became an institution of the +tribe that two men should be left, with a sufficient supply of water and +food, in a large cave overlooking the desert near the entrance of the +valley; and that they should watch for the coming of the tribe, and when +a great fire was lighted on a certain hill, should answer by another +fire, and thus guide their people. This being settled, the piles of +stones were dispersed, lest the greedy Egyptians, hearing by chance of +this valley, should make their way to it. + +How long matters continued in this state is not recorded, but at length, +when the tribe set out to return to their winter quarters, and reached +the accustomed station and lighted the fire, no answering fire appeared. +They passed the first night in expectation, and the next day, and the +next night, saying: "Probably the men are negligent;" but at length they +began to despair. They had brought but just sufficient water with them +for the journey, and death began to menace them. In vain they endeavored +to find the road. A retreat became necessary; and, as I have said, they +returned and settled on the borders of the land of Egypt. Many men, +however, went back many times year after year to endeavor to find the +lost well; but some were never heard of more, and some returned, saying +that the search was in vain. + +Nearly a hundred years passed away, and the well became forgotten, and +the condition of the tribe had undergone a sad change. It never +recovered its great disaster: wealth and courage disappeared; and the +governors of Egypt, seeing the people dependent and humble-spirited, +began, as is their wont, to oppress them, and lay on taxes and insults. +Many times a bold man of their number would propose that they should go +and join some of the other tribes of Arabs, and solicit to be +incorporated with them; but the idea was laughed at as extravagant, and +they continued to live on in misery and degradation. + +It happened that the chief of the tribe at the time of which I now speak +was a man of gentle character and meek disposition, named Abdallah the +Good, and that he had a son, like one of the olden time, stout, and +brave as a lion, named Ali. This youth could not brook the subjection in +which his people were kept, nor the wrongs daily heaped upon them, and +was constantly revolving in his mind the means of escape and revenge. +When he gave utterance to these sentiments, however, his father, +Abdallah, severely rebuked him; for he feared the power of the lords of +Egypt, and dreaded lest mischief might befall his family or his tribe. + +Now contemporary with Abdallah the Good there was a governor of Siout +named Omar the Evil. He had gained a great reputation in the country by +his cruelties and oppressions, and was feared by high and low. Several +times had he treated the Waled Allah with violence and indignity, +bestowing upon them the name of Waled Sheitan, or Children of the Devil, +and otherwise vexing and annoying them, besides levying heavy tribute, +and punishing with extreme severity the slightest offense. One day he +happened to be riding along in the neighborhood of their encampment when +he observed Ali trying the paces of a handsome horse which he had +purchased. Covetousness entered his mind, and calling to the youth, he +said, "What is the price of thy horse?" + +"It is not for sale," was the reply. + +No sooner were the words uttered than Omar made a signal to his men, who +rushed forward, threw the young man to the ground in spite of his +resistance, and leaving him there, returned leading the horse. Omar +commanded them to bring it with them, and rode away, laughing heartily +at his exploit. + +But Ali was not the man to submit tamely to such injustice. He +endeavored at first to rouse the passions of his tribe, but not +succeeding, resolved to revenge himself or die in the attempt. One +night, therefore, he took a sharp dagger, disguised himself, and lurking +about the governor's palace, contrived to introduce himself without +being seen, and to reach the garden, where he had heard it was the +custom of Omar to repose awhile as he waited for his supper. A light +guided him to the kiosque where the tyrant slept alone, not knowing that +vengeance was nigh. Ali paused a moment, doubting whether it was just to +strike an unprepared foe; but he remembered all his tribe had suffered +as well as himself, and raising his dagger, advanced stealthily toward +the couch where the huge form of the governor lay. + +A slight figure suddenly interposed between him and the sleeping man. It +was that of a young girl, who, with terror in her looks, waved him back. +"What wouldst thou, youth?" she inquired. + +"I come to slay that enemy," replied Ali, endeavoring to pass her and +effect his purpose while there was yet time. + +"It is my father," said she, still standing in the way and awing him by +the power of her beauty. + +"Thy father is a tyrant, and deserves to die." + +"If he be a tyrant he is still my father; and thou, why shouldst thou +condemn him?" + +"He has injured me and my tribe." + +"Let injuries be forgiven, as we are commanded. I will speak for thee +and thy tribe. Is not thy life valuable to thee? Retire ere it be too +late; and by my mother, who is dead, I swear to thee that I will cause +justice to be done." + +"Not from any hopes of justice, but as a homage to God for having +created such marvelous beauty, do I retire and spare the life of that +man which I hold in my hands." + +So saying Ali sprang away, and effected his escape. No sooner was he out +of sight than Omar, who had been awakened by the sound of voices, but +who had feigned sleep when he heard what turn affairs were taking, arose +and laughed, saying: "Well done, Amina! thou art worthy of thy father. +How thou didst cajole that son of a dog by false promises?" + +"Nay, father; what I have promised must be performed." + +"Ay, ay. Thou didst promise justice, and, by the beards of my ancestors, +justice shall assuredly be done!" + +Next day Ali was seized and conducted to the prison adjoining the +governor's palace. Amina, when she heard of this, in vain sought to +obtain his release. Her father laughed at her scruples, and avowed his +intention of putting the young man to death in the cruelest possible +manner. He had him brought before him, bound and manacled, and amused +himself by reviling and taunting him--calling him a fool for having +yielded to the persuasions of a foolish girl! Ali, in spite of all, did +not reply; for he now thought more of Amina than of the indignities to +which he was subjected; and instead of replying with imprudent courage, +as under other circumstances he might have done, he took care not to +exasperate the tyrant, and meanwhile revolved in his mind the means of +escape. If he expected that his mildness would disarm the fury of Omar, +never was mistake greater; for almost in the same breath with the order +for his being conducted back to prison was given that for public +proclamation of his execution to take place on the next day. + +There came, however, a saviour during the night: it was the young Amina, +who, partly moved by generous indignation that her word should have been +given in vain, partly by another feeling, bribed the jailers, and +leading forth the young man, placed him by the side of his trusty steed +which had been stolen from him, and bade him fly for his life. He +lingered to thank her and enjoy her society. They talked long and more +and more confidentially. At length the first streaks of dawn began to +show themselves; and Amina, as she urged him to begone, clung to the +skirts of his garments. He hesitated a moment, a few hurried words +passed, and presently she was behind him on the horse, clasping his +waist, and away they went toward the mountains, into the midst of which +they soon penetrated by a rugged defile. + +Amina had been prudent enough to prepare a small supply of provisions, +and Ali knew where at that season water was to be found in small +quantities. His intention was to penetrate to a certain distance in the +desert, and then turning south, to seek the encampment of a tribe with +some of whose members he was acquainted. Their prospects were not very +discouraging; for even if pursuit were attempted, Ali justly confided in +his superior knowledge of the desert: he expected in five days to reach +the tents toward which he directed his course, and he calculated that +the small bag of flour which Amina had provided would prevent them at +least from dying of hunger during that time. + +The first stage was a long one. For seven hours he proceeded in a direct +line from the rising sun, the uncomplaining Amina clinging still to him; +but at length the horse began to exhibit symptoms of fatigue, and its +male rider of anxiety. They had traversed an almost uninterrupted +succession of rocky valleys, but now reached an elevated undulating +plain covered with huge black boulders that seemed to stretch like a +petrified sea to the distant horizon. Now and then they had seen during +their morning's ride, in certain little sheltered nooks, small patches +of a stunted vegetation; but now all was bleak and barren, and grim like +the crater of a volcano. And yet it was here that Ali expected evidently +to find water--most necessary to them; for all three were feeling the +symptoms of burning thirst. He paused every now and then, checking his +steed, and rising in his stirrups to gaze ahead or on one side; but each +time his search was in vain. At length he said: "Possibly I have, in the +hurry of my thoughts, taken the wrong defile, in which case nothing but +death awaits us. We shall not have strength to retrace our footsteps, +and must die here in this horrible place. Stand upon the saddlebow, +Amina, while I support thee: if thou seest any thing like a white +shining cloud upon the ground, we are saved." + +Amina did as she was told, and gazed for a few moments around. Suddenly +she cried: "I see, as it were a mist of silver far, far away to the +left." + +"It is the first well," replied Ali; and he urged his stumbling steed in +that direction. + +It soon appeared that they were approaching a mound of dazzling +whiteness. Close by was a little hollow, apparently dry. But Ali soon +scraped away a quantity of the clayey earth, and presently the water +began to collect, trickling in from the sides. In a couple of hours they +procured enough for themselves and for the horse, and ate some flour +diluted in a wooden bowl; after which they lay down to rest beneath a +ledge of rock that threw a little shade. Toward evening, after Ali had +carefully choked up the well, lest it might be dried by the sun, they +resumed their journey, and arrived about midnight at a lofty rock in the +midst of the plain, visible at a distance of many hours in the +moonlight. In a crevice near the summit of this they found a fair supply +of water, and having refreshed themselves, reposed until dawn. Then +Amina prepared their simple meal, and soon afterward off they went again +over the burning plain. + +This time, as Ali knew beforehand, there was no prospect of well or +water for twenty-four hours; and unfortunately they had not been able to +procure a skin. However, they carried some flour well moistened in their +wooden bowl, which they covered with a large piece of wet linen, and +studied to keep from the sun. They traveled almost without intermission +the whole of that day and a great part of the night. Ali now saw that it +was necessary to rest, and they remained where they were until near +morning. + +"Dearest Amina," said he, returning to the young girl after having +climbed to the top of a lofty rock and gazed anxiously ahead, "I think I +see the mountain where the next water is to be found. If thou art strong +enough, we will push on at once." + +Though faint and weary, Amina said: "Let us be going;" and now it was +necessary for Ali to walk, the horse refusing to carry any longer a +double burden. They advanced, however, rapidly; and at length reached +the foot of a lofty range of mountains, all white, and shining in the +sun like silver. In one of the gorges near the summit Ali knew there was +usually a small reservoir of water; but he had only been there once in +his boyhood, when on his way to visit the tribe with which he now +expected to find a shelter. However, he thought he recognized various +landmarks, and began to ascend with confidence. The sun beat furiously +down on the barren and glistering ground; and the horse exhausted, more +than once refused to proceed. He had not eaten once since their +departure, and Ali knew that he must perish ere the journey was +concluded. + +As they neared the summit of the ridge, the young man recognized with +joy a rock in the shape of a crouching camel that had formerly been +pointed out to him as indicating the neighborhood of the reservoir, and +pressed on with renewed confidence. What was his horror, however, on +reaching the place he sought, at beholding it quite dry! dry, and hot as +an oven! The water had all escaped by a crevice recently formed. Ali now +believed that death was inevitable; and folding the fainting Amina in +his arms, sat down and bewailed his lot in a loud voice. + +Suddenly a strange sight presented itself. A small caravan appeared +coming down the ravine--not of camels, nor of horses, nor asses, but of +goats and a species of wild antelope. They moved slowly, and behind them +walked with tottering steps a man of great age with a vast white beard, +supporting himself with a long stick. Ali rushed forward to a goat which +bore a water-skin, seized it, and without asking permission carried it +to Amina. Both drank with eagerness; and it was not until they were well +satisfied that they noticed the strange old man looking at them with +interest and curiosity. Then they told their story; and the owner of the +caravan in his turn told his, which was equally wonderful. + +"And what was the old man's story?" inquired the listeners in one +breath. + +"It shall be related to-morrow. The time for sleep has come." + +I was not fortunate enough to hear the conclusion of this legend, told +in the simple matter-of-fact words of Wahsa; but one of our attendants +gave me the substance. The old man of the caravan was stated to be the +younger of the two watchers left behind more than a hundred years before +at Bir Hassan. His companion had been killed, and he himself wounded by +some wild beast, which had prevented the necessary signals from being +made. He understood that some terrible disaster had occurred, and dared +not brave the vengeance which he thought menaced him from the survivors. +So he resolved to stay in the valley, and had accordingly remained for a +hundred years, at the expiration of which period he had resolved to set +out on a pilgrimage to the Nile, in order to ascertain if any members of +the tribes still remained, that he might communicate the secret of the +valley before he perished. Like the first discoverer, he had marked the +way by heaps of stones, and died when his narrative was concluded. Ali +and Amina made their way to the valley, where, according to the +narrative, they found a large city, scarcely if at all ruined, and took +up their abode in one of the palaces. Shortly afterward Ali returned to +Egypt, and led off his father, Abdallah the Good, and the remnants of +his tribe in secret. Omar was furious, and following them, endeavored to +discover the valley, of which the tradition was well known. Not +succeeding, he resolved to wait for the summer; but the tribe never +reappeared in Egypt, and is said to have passed the hot months in the +oasis of Farafreh, to which they subsequently removed on the destruction +of their favorite valley by an earthquake. + +This tradition, though containing some improbable incidents, may +nevertheless be founded on fact, and may contain, under a legendary +form, the history of the peopling of the oases of the desert. It is, +however, chiefly interesting from the manner in which it illustrates the +important influence which the discovery or destruction of a copious well +of pure water may exercise on the fortunes of a people. It may +sometimes, in fact, as represented in this instance, be a matter of life +and death; and no doubt the Waled Allah are not the only tribe who have +been raised to an enviable prosperity, or sunk into the depths of +misery, by the fluctuating supply of water in the desert. + + + + +THE BOW-WINDOW. + +AN ENGLISH TALE. + + +There is something so English, so redolent of home, of flowers in large +antique stands, about a bow-window, that we are always pleased when we +catch a glimpse of one, even if it be when but forming the front of an +inn. It gives a picturesque look too, to a home, that is quite +refreshing to gaze on, and when journeying in foreign lands, fond +recollections of dear England come flooding o'er us, if we happen, in +some out-of-the-way village, on such a memory of the land from whence we +came. I have not, from absence from my country, seen such a thing for +some few years; but there is one fresh in my memory, with its green +short Venetian blinds, its large chintz curtains, its comfortable view +up and down the terrace where we lived, to say nothing of its +associations in connection with my childhood. But it is not of this +bow-window that I would speak, it is of one connected with the fortunes +of my friend Maria Walker, and which had a considerable influence on her +happiness. + +Maria Walker was usually allowed to be the beauty of one of the small +towns round London in the direction of Greenwich, of which ancient place +she was a native. Her father had originally practiced as a physician in +that place, but circumstances had caused his removal to another +locality, which promised more profitable returns. The house they +occupied was an ancient red brick mansion in the centre of the town, +with a large bow-window, always celebrated for its geraniums, myrtles, +and roses that, with a couple of small orange-trees, were the admiration +of the neighborhood. Not that Thomas Walker, Esq. had any horticultural +tastes--on the contrary, he was very severe on our sex for devoting +their minds to such trifles as music, flowers, and fancy work; but then +blue-eyed Maria Walker differed with him in opinion, and plainly told +him so--saucy, pert girl, as even I thought her, though several years my +senior. Not that she neglected any more serious duties for those lighter +amusements; the poorer patients of her father ever found in her a +friend. Mr. Walker strongly objected to giving any thing away, it was a +bad example, he said, and people never valued what they got for nothing; +but many was the box of pills and vial of medicine which Maria smuggled +under her father's very nose, to poor people who could not afford to +pay; of course he knew nothing about it, good, easy man, though it would +have puzzled a philosopher to have told how the girl could have prepared +them. She was an active member, too, of a charitable coal club, made +flannel for the poor, and even distributed tracts upon occasion. When +this was done, then she would turn to her pleasures, which were her +little world. She was twenty, and I was not sixteen at the time of which +I speak, but yet we were the best friends in the world. I used to go and +sit in the bow-window; while she would play the piano for hours +together, I had some fancy-work on my lap; but my chief amusement was to +watch the passers-by. I don't think that I am changed by half-a-dozen +more years of experience, for I still like a lively street, and dislike +nothing more than a look out upon a square French court in this great +city of Paris, where houses are more like prisons than pleasant +residences. But to return to my bow-window. + +In front of the house of the Walkers, had been, a few years before, an +open space, but which now, thanks to the rapid march of improvement, was +being changed into a row of very good houses. There were a dozen of +them, and they were dignified with the name of Beauchamp Terrace. They +were, about the time I speak of, all to let; the last finishing touch +had been put to them, the railings had been painted, the rubbish all +removed, and they wanted nothing, save furniture and human beings to +make them assume a civilized and respectable appearance. I called one +morning on Maria Walker, her father was out, she had been playing the +piano till she was tired, so we sat down in the bow-window and talked. + +"So the houses are letting?" said I, who took an interest in the terrace +which I had seen grow under my eyes. + +"Two are let," replied she, "and both to private families; papa is +pleased, he looks upon these twelve houses as twelve new patients." + +"But," said I, laughing, "have you not read the advertisement: 'Healthy +and airy situation, rising neighborhood, and yet only one medical man.'" + +"Oh! yes," smiled Maria; "but sickness, I am sorry to say, is very apt +to run about at some time or other, even in airy situations." + +"But, Maria, you are mistaken, there are three houses let," said I, +suddenly, "the bill is taken down opposite, it has been let since +yesterday." + +"Oh, yes, I recollect a very nice young man driving up there yesterday, +and looking over the house for an hour; I suppose he has taken it." + +"A nice young man," said I, "that is very interesting--I suppose a young +couple just married." + +"Very likely," replied Maria Walker, laughing; but whether at the fact +of my making up my mind to its being an interesting case of matrimony, +or what else, I know not. + +It was a week before I saw Maria again, and when I did, she caught me by +the hand, drew me rapidly to the window, and with a semi-tragic +expression, pointed to the house over the way. I looked. What was my +astonishment when, on the door in large letters, I read these words, +"Mr. Edward Radstock, M. D." + +"A rival," cried I, clapping my hands, thoughtless girl that I was; +"another feud of Montague and Capulet. Maria, could not a Romeo and +Juliet be found to terminate it?" + +"Don't laugh," replied Maria, gravely; "papa is quite ill with vexation; +imagine, in a small town like this, two doctors! it's all the fault of +that advertisement. Some scheming young man has seen it, and finding no +hope of practice elsewhere, has come here. I suppose he is as poor as a +rat." + +At this instant the sound of horses' footsteps was heard, and then three +vans full of furniture appeared in sight. They were coming our way. We +looked anxiously to see before which house they stopped. I must confess +that what Maria said interested me in the young doctor, and I really +hoped all this was for him. Maria said nothing, but, with a frown on her +brow, she waited the progress of events. As I expected, the vans stopped +before the young doctor's house, and in a few minutes the men began to +unload. My friend turned pale as she saw that the vehicles were full of +elegant furniture. + +"The wretch has got a young wife, too," she exclaimed, as a piano and +harp came to view, and then she added, rising, "this will never do; +they must be put down at once; _they_ are strangers in the neighborhood, +_we_ are well known. Sit down at that desk, my dear girl, and help me to +make out a list of all the persons _we_ can invite to a ball and evening +party. I look upon them as impertinent interlopers, and they must be +crushed." + +I laughingly acquiesced, and aided by her, soon wrote out a list of +invitations to be given. + +"But now," said Miss Walker, after a few moments of deep reflection, +"one name more must be added, _they_ must be invited." + +"Who?" exclaimed I, in a tone of genuine surprise. + +"Mr. and Mrs. Edward Radstock," replied Maria, triumphantly, while I +could scarcely speak from astonishment. + +The rest of my narrative I collected from the lips of my friend, a +little more than a year later. + +The ball took place to the admiration of all C----. It was a splendid +affair: a select band came down from London, in which two foreigners, +with dreadfully un-euphonic names, played upon two unknown instruments, +that deafened nearly every sensitive person in the room, and would have +driven every body away, had not they been removed into the drawing-room +balcony; then there was a noble Italian, reduced to a tenor-singer, who +astonished the company, equally by the extraordinary number of strange +songs that he sang, and the number of ices and jellies which he ate; +then there were one or two literary men, who wrote anonymously, but +might have been celebrated, only they scorned to put their names forward +among the common herd, the [Greek: hoi polloi] already known to the +public; there was a young poet too, who thought Alfred Tennyson +infinitely superior to Shakspeare, and by the air with which he read a +poem, seemed to insinuate that he himself was greater than either; and +then there was a funny gentleman, who could imitate Henry Russell, John +Parry, Buckstone, or any body, only he had a cold and could not get +beyond a negro recitation, which might have been Chinese poetry for all +the company understood of it. In fact it was the greatest affair of the +kind which C---- had seen for many a long day. Mr. and _Miss_ Radstock +came, and were received with cold politeness by both father and +daughter. The young man was good-looking, with an intelligent eye, a +pleasing address, and none of that pertness of manner which usually +belongs to those who have just thrown off the medical student to become +the doctor. Miss Radstock, his sister, who kept house for him, until he +found a wife, was a charming girl of about twenty. She smiled at the +manner of both Mr. and Miss Walker, but said nothing. Young Radstock's +only revenge for the lady of the house's coldness and stateliness of +tone, was asking her to dance at the first opportunity, which certainly +was vexatious, for his tone was so pleasing, his manner so courteous, +that my friend Maria could not but feel pleased--when she wanted to be +irate, distant, and haughty. + +They danced together several times, and to the astonishment of many +friends of the young lady, of myself in particular, they went down to +supper the best friends in the world, laughing and joking like old +acquaintances. + +Next day, however, she resumed her original coldness of manner when the +brother and sister called to pay their respects. She was simply polite, +and no more, and after two or three words they retired, Emily Radstock +becoming as stiff and formal as her new acquaintance. From that day +Maria became very miserable. She was not avaricious, and did not fear +her father losing his practice from any pecuniary motives, but it was +pride that influenced her. Her father had for some years monopolized the +parish, as his predecessor had for forty years before him; and now to +behold a young unfledged physician setting up exactly opposite, and +threatening to divide in time the business of the town, was dreadful. +_The_ physician of the town, sounded better, too, than one of the +doctors, and altogether it was a most unpleasant affair. + +Maria's place was now always the bow-window. She had no amusement but to +watch the opposite house, to see if patients came, or if Edward Radstock +made any attempt to call about and introduce himself. But for some time +she had the satisfaction of remarking, that not a soul called at the +house, save the butcher, the baker, and other contributors to the +interior comforts of man, and Maria began to feel the hope that Edward +Radstock would totally fail in his endeavors to introduce himself. She +remarked, however, that the young man took it very quietly; he sat by +his sister's side while she played the piano, or with a book and a cigar +at the open window, or took Emily a drive in his gig; always, when he +remarked Maria at the open window, bowing with provoking courtesy, +nothing daunted by her coldness of manner, or her pretense of not +noticing his politeness. + +One day Mr. Walker was out, he had been called to a distance to see a +patient, who was very seriously ill, when Maria sat at the bow-window +looking up the street. Suddenly she saw a boy come running down on their +side of the way; she knew him by his bright buttons, light jacket, and +gold lace. It was the page of the Perkinses, a family with a host of +little children, who, from constant colds, indigestions, and fits of +illness, caused by too great a liking for the pleasures of the table, +which a fond mother had not the heart to restrain, were continually on +Mr. Walker's books. + +The boy rang violently at the bell, and Maria opened the parlor-door and +listened. + +"Is Mr. Walker at home?" said the boy, scarcely able to speak from want +of breath. + +"No," replied the maid who had opened the door. + +"He will be home directly," said Maria, advancing. + +"Oh! but missus can't wait, there's little Peter been and swallowed a +marble, and the baby's took with fits," and away rushed the boy across +the road to the hated rival's house. + +Maria retreated into her room and sank down upon a sofa. The enemy had +gained an entrance into the camp, it was quite clear. In a moment more +she rose, just in time to see Mr. Edward Radstock hurrying down the +street beside the little page, without waiting to order his gig. This +was a severe blow to the doctor's daughter. The Perkinses were a leading +family in the town, and one to whom her father was called almost every +day in the year. They had a large circle of acquaintances, and if young +Radstock became their medical adviser, others would surely follow. In +about an hour, the young man returned and joined his sister in the +drawing-room, as if nothing had happened. This was more provoking than +his success. If he had assumed an air of importance and bustle, and had +hurried up to inform his sister with an air of joy and triumph of what +had happened, she might have been tempted to pity him, but he did every +thing in such a quiet, gentlemanly way, that she felt considerable alarm +for the future. + +Maria was in the habit of spending most of her evenings from home, her +father being generally out, and that large house in consequence lonely. +The town of C---- was famous for its tea and whist-parties, and though +Maria was not of an age to play cards, except to please others, she, +however, sometimes condescended to do so. One evening she was invited to +the house of a Mrs. Brunton, who announced her intention of receiving +company every Thursday. She went, and found the circle very pleasant and +agreeable, but, horror of horrors--there was Mr. Edward Radstock and his +sister Emily; and worse than that, when a lady present volunteered to +play a quadrille, and the ladies accepted eagerly, up he came, of all +others, to invite her to dance! Mrs. Brunton the instant before had +asked her to play at whist, to oblige three regular players, who could +not find a fourth. + +"I am afraid," she said, quietly, but in rather distant tones, "I am +engaged"--the young man looked surprised, even hurt, for no gentleman +had spoken to her since she had entered the room--"to make a fourth at +the whist-table, but--" + +"Oh, go and dance, Miss Walker," exclaimed Mrs. Brunton, "I did not know +dancing was going to begin, when I asked you to make up a rubber." + +Maria offered her hand to the young man, and walked away to the +dancing-room. Despite herself, that evening she was very much pleased +with him. He was well informed, had traveled, was full of taste and +feeling, and conversed with animation and originality; he sought every +opportunity of addressing himself to her, and found these opportunities +without much difficulty. For several Thursdays the same thing occurred. +The young man began to find a little practice. He was popular wherever +he went, and whenever he was called in was quite sure of keeping up the +connection. He was asked out to all the principal parties in the town; +and had Mr. Walker been not very much liked, would have proved a very +serious rival. + +One morning the father and daughter were at breakfast. Maria, who began +to like her bow-window better than ever, sat near it to scent the +fragrance of her flowers. When the young doctor came out, she always now +returned his bow, and a young lady opposite declared in confidence to +her dressmaker that she had even kissed her hand to him once. However +this may be, Maria sat at the bow-window, pouring out tea for her father +in a very abstracted mood. Mr. Walker had been called out at an early +hour, and returned late. He was not in the best of humors, having waited +four hours beyond his time for his tea. + +"I shall die in the workhouse," said he, as he buttered his toast with +an irritability of manner quite alarming. "This Radstock is getting all +the practice. I heard of two new patients yesterday." + +"Oh, papa," replied Maria, gently. "I don't think he has got a dozen +altogether." + +"A dozen--but that's a dozen lost to me, miss. It's a proof that people +think me old--worn out--useless." + +"Nonsense, papa; C---- is increasing in population every day, and for +every one he gets, you get two." + +"My dear," replied Mr. Walker, with considerable animation, "I think you +are beginning to side with my rival." + +A loud knocking came this instant to the door, and the man-servant +immediately after announced "Dr. Radstock." + +Mr. Walker had no time to make any remark, ere the young man entered the +room, bowing most politely to the old gentleman and his daughter; both +looked confused, and the father much surprised. He was in elegant +morning costume, and looked both handsome and happy--the old doctor +thought, triumphant. + +"Pardon me, sir," said he, "for disturbing you at this early hour; but +your numerous calls take you so much out, that one must take you when +one can find you. My errand will doubtless surprise you, but I am very +frank and open; my object in visiting you is to ask permission to pay my +addresses to your daughter." + +"To do what, sir?" thundered the old doctor in a towering passion. "Are +you not satisfied with trying to take from me my practice, but you must +ask me for my child? I tell you, sir, nothing on earth would make me +consent to your marriage with my daughter." + +"But, sir," said Edward Radstock, turning to Maria, "I have your +daughter's permission to make this request. I told her of my intentions +last night, and she authorized me to say that she approved of them." + +"Maria," exclaimed the father, almost choking with rage, "is this true?" + +"My dear papa, I am in no hurry to get married, but if I did, I must +say, that I should never think of marrying any one but Edward Radstock. +I will not get married against your will, but I will never marry any one +else; nothing will make me." + +"Ungrateful girl," muttered Mr. Thomas Walker, and next minute he sank +back in his chair in a fit of apoplexy. + +"Open the window, raise the blinds," said the young man, preparing with +promptitude and earnestness to take the necessary remedies, "be not +alarmed. It is not a dangerous attack." + +Maria quietly obeyed her lover, quite aware of the necessity of +self-possession and presence of mind in a case like the present. In half +an hour Mr. Walker was lying in a large, airy bedroom, and the young man +had left, at the request of Maria, to attend a patient of her father's. +It was late at night before Edward was able to take a moment's rest. +What with his own patients, and those of his rival, he was overwhelmed +with business; but at eleven o'clock he approached the bedside of the +father of Maria, who, with her dear Emily now by her side, sat watching. + +"He sleeps soundly," said Maria in a low tone, as Edward entered. + +"Yes, and is doing well," replied Radstock. "I answer for his being up +and stirring to-morrow, if he desires it." + +"But it will be better for him to rest some days," said Maria. + +"But, my dear Miss Walker," continued the young doctor, "what will his +patients do?" + +"You can attend to them as you have done to-day," replied Maria. + +"My dear Miss Walker, you, who know me, could trust me with your +father's patients; you know, that when he was able to go about, I would +hand them all back to him without hesitation. But you must be aware, +that for your father to discover me attending to his patients, would +retard his recovery. If I do as you ask me, I must retire from C---- +immediately on his convalescence." + +"No, sir," said Dr. Walker, in a faint voice, "I shall not be about for +a month; after making me take to my bed, the least you can do is to +attend to my patients." + +"If you wish it, sir--?" + +"I insist upon it; and to prevent any opposition, you can say we are +going into partnership." + +"But--" said Edward. + +"If you want my daughter," continued Dr. Walker, gruffly, "you must do +as I tell you. If you wish to be my son-in-law, you must be my partner, +work like a horse, slave day and night, while I smoke my pipe and drink +my grog." + +"My dear sir," exclaimed the young man, "you overwhelm me." + +"Dear papa!" said Maria. + +"Yes, dear papa!" muttered old Walker; "pretty girl you are; give a +party to crush the interloper; faint when he gets his first patient; +watch him from your bow-window like a cat watches a mouse, and +then--marry him." + +"But, my dear papa, is not this the surest way to destroy the +opposition?" said happy Maria. + +"Yes! because we can not crush him, we take him as a partner," grumbled +old Walker; "never heard of such a thing; nice thing it is to have +children who take part with your enemies." + +Nobody made any reply, and after a little more faint attempts at +fault-finding, the old doctor fell asleep. + +About six months later, after a journey to Scotland, which made me lose +sight of Maria, I drove up the streets of C----, after my return to my +native Greenwich, which, with its beautiful park, its Blackheath, its +splendid and glorious monument of English greatness, its historic +associations, I dearly love, and eager to see the dear girl, never +stopped until I was in her arms. + +"How you have grown," said she, with a sweet and happy smile. + +"Grown! indeed; do you take me for a child?" cried I, laughing. "And +you! how well and pleased you look; always at the bow-window, too; I saw +you as I came up." + +"I am very seldom there now," said she, with a strange smile. + +"Why?" + +"Because I live over the way," replied she, still smiling. + +"Over the way?" said I. + +"Yes, my dear girl; alas! for the mutability of human things--Maria +Walker is now Mrs. Radstock." + +I could not help it; I laughed heartily. I was very glad. I had been +interested in the young man, and the _denouement_ was delightful. + +The firm of Walker and Radstock prospered remarkably without rivalry, +despite a great increase in the neighborhood; but the experience of the +old man, and the perseverance of the young, frightened away all +opposition. They proved satisfactorily that union is indeed strength. +Young Radstock was a very good husband. He told me privately that he had +fallen in love with Maria the very first day he saw her; and every time +I hear from them I am told of a fresh accession to the number of faces +that stare across for grandpapa, who generally, when about to pay them a +visit, shows himself first at the Bow-window. + + + + +THE FRENCH FLOWER GIRL. + + +I was lingering listlessly over a cup of coffee on the Boulevard des +Italiens, in June. At that moment I had neither profound nor useful +resources of thought. I sate simply conscious of the cool air, the blue +sky, the white houses, the lights, and the lions, which combine to +render that universally pleasant period known as "after dinner," so +peculiarly agreeable in Paris. + +In this mood my eyes fell upon a pair of orbs fixed intently upon me. +Whether the process was effected by the eyes, or by some pretty little +fingers, simply, I can not say; but, at the same moment, a rose was +insinuated into my button-hole, a gentle voice addressed me, and I +beheld, in connection with the eyes, the fingers, and the voice, a girl. +She carried on her arm a basket of flowers, and was, literally, nothing +more nor less than one of the _Bouquetieres_ who fly along the +Boulevards like butterflies, with the difference that they turn their +favorite flowers to a more practical account. + +Following the example of some other distracted _decores_, who I found +were sharing my honors, I placed a piece of money--I believe, in my +case, it was silver--in the hand of the girl; and, receiving about five +hundred times its value, in the shape of a smile and a "_Merci bien, +monsieur!_" was again left alone--("desolate," a Frenchman would have +said)--in the crowded and carousing Boulevard. + +To meet a perambulating and persuasive _Bouquetiere_, who places a +flower in your coat and waits for a pecuniary acknowledgment, is +scarcely a rare adventure in Paris; but I was interested--unaccountably +so--in this young girl: her whole manner and bearing was so different +and distinct from all others of her calling. Without any of that +appearance which, in England, we are accustomed to call "theatrical," +she was such a being as we can scarcely believe in out of a ballet. Not, +however, that her attire departed--except, perhaps, in a certain +coquetish simplicity--from the conventional mode: its only decorations +seemed to be ribbons, which also gave a character to the little cap that +perched itself with such apparent insecurity upon her head. Living a +life that seemed one long summer's day--one floral _fete_--with a means +of existence that seemed so frail and immaterial--she conveyed an +impression of _unreality_. She might be likened to a Nymph, or a Naiad, +but for the certain something that brought you back to the theatre, +intoxicating the senses, at once, with the strange, indescribable +fascinations of hot chandeliers--close and perfumed air--foot-lights, +and fiddlers. + +Evening after evening I saw the same girl--generally at the same +place--and, it may be readily imagined, became one of the most constant +of her _clientelle_. I learned, too, as many facts relating to her as +could be learned where most was mystery. Her peculiar and persuasive +mode of disposing of her flowers (a mode which has since become worse +than vulgarized by bad imitators) was originally her own graceful +instinct--or whim, if you will. It was something new and natural, and +amused many, while it displeased none. The sternest of stockbrokers, +even, could not choose but be decorated. Accordingly, this new Nydia of +Thessaly went out with her basket one day, awoke next morning, and found +herself famous. + +Meantime there was much discussion, and more mystification, as to who +this Queen of Flowers could be--where she lived--and so forth. Nothing +was known of her except her name--Hermance. More than one adventurous +student--you may guess I am stating the number within bounds--traced her +steps for hour after hour, till night set in--in vain. Her flowers +disposed of, she was generally joined by an old man, respectably clad, +whose arm she took with a certain confidence, that sufficiently marked +him as a parent or protector; and the two always contrived sooner or +later, in some mysterious manner, to disappear. + +After all stratagems have failed, it generally occurs to people to ask a +direct question. But this in the present case was impossible. Hermance +was never seen except in very public places--often in crowds--and to +exchange twenty consecutive words with her, was considered a most +fortunate feat. Notwithstanding, too, her strange, wild way of gaining +her livelihood, there was a certain dignity in her manner which sufficed +to cool the too curious. + +As for the directors of the theatres, they exhibited a most appropriate +amount of madness on her account; and I believe that at several of the +theatres, Hermance might have commanded her own terms. But only one of +these miserable men succeeded in making a tangible proposal, and he was +treated with most glorious contempt. There was, indeed, something doubly +dramatic in the _Bouquetiere's_ disdain of the drama. She who _lived_ a +romance could never descend to act one. She would rather be Rosalind +than Rachel. She refused the part of Cerito, and chose to be an Alma on +her own account. + +It may be supposed that where there was so much mystery, imagination +would not be idle. To have believed all the conflicting stories about +Hermance, would be to come to the conclusion that she was the stolen +child of noble parents, brought up by an _ouvrier_: but that somehow her +father was a tailor of dissolute habits, who lived a contented life of +continual drunkenness, on the profits of his daughter's industry;--that +her mother was a deceased duchess--but, on the other hand, was alive, +and carried on the flourishing business of a _blanchisseuse_. As for the +private life of the young lady herself, it was reflected in such a magic +mirror of such contradictory impossibilities, in the delicate +discussions held upon the subject, that one had no choice but to +disbelieve every thing. + +One day a new impulse was given to this gossip by the appearance of the +_Bouquetiere_ in a startling hat of some expensive straw, and of a make +bordering on the ostentatious. It could not be doubted that the profits +of her light labors were sufficient to enable her to multiply such +finery to almost any extent, had she chosen; but in Paris the adoption +of a bonnet or a hat, in contradistinction to the little cap of the +_grisette_, is considered an assumption of a superior grade, and unless +warranted by the "position" of the wearer, is resented as an +impertinence. In Paris, indeed, there are only two classes of +women--those with bonnets, and those without; and these stand in the +same relation to one another, as the two great classes into which the +world may be divided--the powers that be, and the powers that want to +be. Under these circumstances, it may be supposed that the surmises were +many and marvelous. The little _Bouquetiere_ was becoming +proud--becoming a lady;--but how? why? and above all--where? Curiosity +was never more rampant, and scandal never more inventive. + +For my part, I saw nothing in any of these appearances worthy, in +themselves, of a second thought; nothing could have destroyed the +strong and strange interest which I had taken in the girl; and it would +have required something more potent than a straw hat--however coquettish +in crown, and audacious in brim--to have shaken my belief in her truth +and goodness. Her presence, for the accustomed few minutes, in the +afternoon or evening, became to me--I will not say a necessity, but +certainly a habit;--and a habit is sufficiently despotic when + + "A fair face and a tender voice have made me--" + +I will not say "mad and blind," as the remainder of the line would +insinuate--but most deliciously in my senses, and most luxuriously wide +awake! + +But to come to the catastrophe-- + + "One morn we missed _her_ in the accustomed spot--" + +Not only, indeed, from "accustomed" and probable spots, but from +unaccustomed, improbable, and even impossible spots--all of which were +duly searched--was she missed. In short, she was not to be found at all. +All was amazement on the Boulevards. Hardened old _flaneurs_ turned pale +under their rouge, and some of the younger ones went about with drooping +mustaches, which, for want of the _cire_, had fallen into the "yellow +leaf." + +A few days sufficed, however, for the cure of these sentimentalities. A +clever little monkey at the Hippodrome, and a gentleman who stood on his +head while he ate his dinner, became the immediate objects of interest, +and Hermance seemed to be forgotten. I was one of the few who retained +any hope of finding her, and my wanderings for that purpose, without any +guide, clew, information, or indication, seem to me now something +absurd. In the course of my walks, I met an old man, who was pointed out +to me as her father--met him frequently, alone. The expression of his +face was quite sufficient to assure me that he was on the same +mission--and with about as much chance of success as myself. Once I +tried to speak to him; but he turned aside, and avoided me with a manner +that there could be no mistaking. This surprised me, for I had no reason +to suppose that he had ever seen my face before. + +A paragraph in one of the newspapers at last threw some light on the +matter. The _Bouquetiere_ had never been so friendless or unprotected as +people had supposed. In all her wanderings she was accompanied, or +rather followed, by her father; whenever she stopped, then he stopped +also; and never was he distant more than a dozen yards, I wonder that he +was not recognized by hundreds, but I conclude he made some change in +his attire or appearance, from time to time. One morning this strange +pair were proceeding on their ramble as usual, when, passing through a +rather secluded street, the _Bouquetiere_ made a sudden bound from the +pavement, sprung into a post-chaise, the door of which stood open, and +was immediately whirled away, as fast as four horses could tear--leaving +the old man alone with his despair, and the basket of flowers. + +Three months have passed away since the disappearance of the +_Bouquetiere_; but only a few days since I found myself one evening very +dull at one of those "brilliant receptions," for which Paris is so +famous. I was making for the door, with a view to an early departure, +when my hostess detained me, for the purpose of presenting me to a lady +who was monopolizing all the admiration of the evening--she was the +newly-married bride of a young German baron of great wealth, and noted +for a certain wild kind of genius, and utter scorn of conventionalities. +The next instant I found myself introduced to a pair of eyes that could +never be mistaken. I dropped into a vacant chair by their side, and +entered into conversation. The baronne observed that she had met me +before, but could not remember where, and in the same breath asked me if +I was a lover of flowers. + +I muttered something about loving beauty in any shape, and admired a +bouquet which she held in her hand. + +The baronne selected a flower, and asked me if it was not a peculiarly +fine specimen. I assented; and the flower, not being re-demanded, I did +not return it. The conversation changed to other subjects, and, shortly +afterward the baronne took her leave with her husband. They left Paris +next day for the baron's family estate, and I have never seen them +since. + +I learned subsequently that some strange stories had obtained +circulation respecting the previous life of the baronne. Whatever they +were, it is very certain that this or some other reason has made the +profession of _Bouquetiere_ most inconveniently popular in Paris. Young +ladies of all ages that can, with any degree of courtesy, be included in +that category, and of all degrees of beauty short of the hunch-back, may +be seen in all directions intruding their flowers with fatal pertinacity +upon inoffensive loungers, and making war upon button-holes that never +did them any harm. The youngest of young girls, I find, are being +trained to the calling, who are all destined, I suppose, to marry +distinguished foreigners from some distant and facetious country. + +I should have mentioned before, that a friend calling upon me the +morning after my meeting with the baronne, saw the flower which she had +placed in my hand standing in a glass of water on the table. An idea +struck me: "Do you know any thing of the language of flowers?" I asked. + +"Something," was the reply. + +"What, then, is the meaning of this?" + +"SECRECY." + + + + +DIFFICULTY. + + +There is an aim which all Nature seeks; the flower that opens from the +bud--the light that breaks the cloud into a thousand forms of beauty--is +calmly striving to assume the perfect glory of its power; and the child, +whose proud laugh heralds the mastery of a new lesson, unconsciously +develops the same life-impulse seeking to prove the power it has felt +its own. + +This is the real goal of life shining dimly from afar; for as our +fullest power was never yet attained, it is a treasure which must be +sought, its extent and distance being unknown. No man can tell what he +can do, or suffer, until tried; his path of action broadens out before +him; and, while a path appears, there is power to traverse it. It is +like the fabled hill of Genius, that ever presented a loftier elevation +above the one attained. It is like the glory of the stars, which shine +by borrowed light, each seeming source of which is tributary to one more +distant, until the view is lost to us; yet we only know there must be a +life-giving centre, and, to the steady mind, though the goal of life be +dim and distant, its light is fixed and certain, while all lesser aims +are but reflections of this glory in myriad-descending shades, which +must be passed, one by one, as the steps of the ladder on which he +mounts to Heaven. + +Man has an unfortunate predilection to pervert whatever God throws in +his way to aid him, and thus turn good to evil. The minor hopes which +spur to action are mistaken for the final one; and we often look no +higher than some mean wish, allowing that to rule us which should have +been our servant. From this false view rises little exertion, for it is +impossible for man to believe in something better and be content with +worse. We all aim at self-control and independence while in the shadow +of a power which controls us, whispering innerly, "Thus far shalt thou +go, and no farther;" but how apt is self-indulgence to suit this limit +to its own measure, and suffer veneration and doubt to overgrow and +suppress the rising hope of independent thought. "I am not permitted to +know this, or to do this," is the excuse of the weak and trivial; but +the question should be, "_Can_ I know or do this?" for what is not +permitted we can not do. We may not know the events of the future, or +the period of a thought, or the Great First Cause, but we may hope to +see and combine the atoms of things--pierce the realms of space--make +the wilderness a garden--attain perfection of soul and body; and for +this our end we may master all things needful. + +There is nothing possible that faith and striving can not do; take the +road, and it must lead you to the goal, though strewn with difficulties, +and cast through pain and shade. If each would strain his energies to +gain what he has dared to hope for, he would succeed, for since that +which we love and honor is in our nature, it is to be drawn forth, and +what is not there we can not wish. + +Our greatest drawback is, not that we expect too much, but that we do +too little; we set our worship low, and let our higher powers lie +dormant; thus are we never masters, but blind men stumbling in each +other's way. As maturity means self-controlling power, so he who gains +not this is childish, and must submit, infant-like, to be controlled by +others. This guidance we must feel in our upward course, and be grateful +for the check; but as we have each a work to do, we must look beyond +help to independence. The school-boy receives aid in learning that he +may one day strive with his own power, for if he always depends on help +he can never be a useful man. + +He who seeks for himself no path, but merely follows where others have +been before, covering his own want with another's industry, may find the +road not long or thickly set, but he does and gains nothing. He who bows +to difficulty, settling at the foot of the hill instead of struggling to +its top, may get a sheltered place--a snug retreat, but the world in its +glory he can never see, and the pestilence from the low ground he must +imbibe. We may rest in perfect comfort, but the health that comes of +labor will fade away. The trees of the forest were not planted that man +might pass round and live between them, but that he might cut them down +and use them. The savage has little toil before him, but the civilized +man has greater power of happiness. + +Would a man be powerful, and bid his genius rule his fellow-men? he must +toil to gain means; while his thought reads the hearts that he would +sway, he must be led into temptation, and pass through pain and danger, +ere he can know what another may endure. Would he pour golden truth upon +the page of life? he must seek it from every source, weigh the relations +of life, and concede to its taste, that he may best apply it, for the +proverb must be written in fair round hand, that common men may read it. +Would he picture the life of man or nature? he must go forth with heart +and eye alive, nor turn from the sorest notes of human woe, or the +coarsest tones of vice; he must watch the finest ray of light, and mark +the falling of the last withered leaf. Would he be actively benevolent? +winter cold, nor summer lassitude must not appall him; in season and out +of season he must be ready; injured pride, wounded feeling must not +unstring his energy, while stooping to learn from the simplest lips the +nature of those wants to which he would minister. + +In all accomplishment there is difficulty; the greater the work, the +greater the pains. There is no such thing as sudden inspiration or +grace, for the steps of life are slow, and what is not thus attained is +nothing worth. In darkness the eyes must be accustomed to the gloom when +objects appear, one by one, until the most distant is perceived; but, in +a sudden light the eyes are pained, and blinded, and left weak. + +At school, we found that when one difficulty was surmounted another was +presented; mastering "Addition" would not do--we must learn +"Subtraction;" so it is in life. A finished work is a glory won, but a +mind content with one accomplishment is childish, and its weakness +renders it incapable of applying that--"From him that hath not shall be +taken away even that he hath;" his one talent shall rise up to him as a +shame. A little sphere insures but little happiness. + +There is a time of youth for all; but youth has a sphere of hope that, +embracing the whole aim which man must work for, gives unbounded +happiness. Thus God would equalize the lot of all where necessity would +create difference; it is only when states are forced unnaturally that +misery ensues. When those who would seem to be men are children in +endeavor, we see that God's will is not done, but a falsehood. The +greatest of us have asked and taken guidance in their rising course, and +owned inferiority without shame; but his is a poor heart that looks to +be inferior ever; and shameful indeed it is, when those who are thus +poor imagine or assume a right to respect as self-supporting men. How +painfully ridiculous it is to see the lazy man look down on his +struggling wife as the "weaker vessel," or the idle sinecurist hold +contempt for the tradesman who is working his way to higher wealth by +honest toil. Were the aims of living truly seen, no man would be +dishonored because useful. But wait awhile; the world is drawing near +the real point, and we shall find that the self-denying, fearless +energy, that works its will in spite of pettiness, must gain its end, +and become richest; that the man who begins with a penny in the hope of +thousands will grow wealthier than his aimless brother of the snug +annuity; for while the largest wealth that is not earned is limited, the +result of ceaseless toil is incalculable, since the progress of the soul +is infinite! + + + + +MAURICE TIERNAY, + +THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE.[11] + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +A GLANCE AT THE "PREFECTURE DE POLICE." + +Poor Mahon's melancholy story made a deep impression upon me, and I +returned to Paris execrating the whole race of spies and "Mouchards," +and despising, with a most hearty contempt, a government compelled to +use such agencies for its existence. It seemed to me so utterly +impossible to escape the snares of a system so artfully interwoven, and +so vain to rely on innocence as a protection, that I felt a kind of +reckless hardihood as to whatever might betide me, and rode into the +Cour of the Prefecture with a bold indifference as to my fate that I +have often wondered at since. + +The horse on which I was mounted was immediately recognized as I +entered; and the obsequious salutations that met me showed that I was +regarded as one of the trusty followers of the Minister; and in this +capacity was I ushered into a large waiting-room, where a considerable +number of persons were assembled, whose air and appearance, now that +necessity for disguise was over, unmistakably pronounced them to be +spies of the police. Some, indeed, were occupied in taking off their +false whiskers and mustaches; others were removing shades from their +eyes; and one was carefully opening what had been the hump on his back, +in search of a paper he was anxious to discover. + +I had very little difficulty in ascertaining that these were all the +very lowest order of "Mouchards," whose sphere of duty rarely led beyond +the Fauxbourg or the Battyriolles, and indeed soon saw that my own +appearance among them led to no little surprise and astonishment. + +"You are looking for Nicquard, monsieur?" said one, "but he has not come +yet." + +"No; monsieur wants to see Boule-de-Fer," said another. + +"Here's Jose can fetch him," cried a third. + +"He'll have to carry him, then," growled out another, "for I saw him in +the Morgue this morning!" + +"What! dead?" exclaimed several together. + +"As dead as four stabs in the heart and lungs can make a man! He must +have been meddling where he had no business, for there was a piece of a +lace ruffle found in his fingers." + +"Ah, voila!" cried another, "that comes of mixing in high society." + +I did not wait for the discussion that followed, but stole quietly away, +as the disputants were waxing warm. Instead of turning into the Cour +again, however, I passed out into a corridor, at the end of which was a +door of green cloth. Pushing open this, I found myself in a chamber, +where a single clerk was writing at a table. + +"You're late to-day, and he's not in a good humor," said he, scarcely +looking up from his paper, "go in!" + +Resolving to see my adventure to the end, I asked no further questions, +but passed on to the room beyond. A person who stood within the door-way +withdrew as I entered, and I found myself standing face to face with the +Marquis de Maurepas, or, to speak more properly, the Minister Fouche. He +was standing at the fire-place as I came in, reading a newspaper, but no +sooner had he caught sight of me than he laid it down, and, with his +hands crossed behind his back, continued steadily staring at me. + +"Diable!" exclaimed he, at last, "how came you here?" + +"Nothing more naturally, sir, than from the wish to restore what you +were so good as to lend me, and express my sincere gratitude for a most +hospitable reception." + +"But who admitted you?" + +"I fancy your saddle-cloth was my introduction, sir, for it was speedily +recognized. Gesler's cap was never held in greater honor." + +"You are a very courageous young gentleman, I must say--very courageous, +indeed," said he, with a sardonic grin that was any thing but +encouraging. + +"The better chance that I may find favor with Monsieur de Fouche," +replied I. + +"That remains to be seen, sir," said he, seating himself in his chair, +and motioning me to a spot in front of it. "Who are you?" + +"A lieutenant of the 9th Hussars, sir; by name Maurice Tiernay." + +"I don't care for that," said he, impatiently; "what's your +occupation?--how do you live?--with whom do you associate?" + +"I have neither means nor associates. I have been liberated from the +Temple but a few days back; and what is to be my future, and where, are +facts of which I know as little as does Monsieur de Fouche of my past +history." + +"It would seem that every adventurer, every fellow destitute of home, +family, fortune, and position, thinks that his natural refuge lies in +this Ministry, and that I must be his guardian." + +"I never thought so, sir." + +"Then why are you here? What other than personal reasons procures me the +honor of this visit?" + +"As Monsieur de Fouche will not believe in my sense of gratitude, +perhaps he may put some faith in my curiosity, and excuse the natural +anxiety I feel to know if Monsieur de Maurepas has really benefited by +the pleasure of my society." + +"Hardi, monsieur, bien hardi," said the Minister, with a peculiar +expression of irony about the mouth that made me almost shudder. He rang +a little hand-bell as he spoke, and a servant made his appearance. + +"You have forgotten to leave me my snuff-box, Geoffroy," said he, +mildly, to the valet, who at once left the room, and speedily returned +with a magnificently-chased gold box, on which the initials of the First +Consul were embossed in diamonds. + +"Arrange those papers, and place those books on the shelves," said the +Minister. And then turning to me, as if resuming a previous +conversation, went on-- + +"As to that memoir of which we were speaking t'other night, monsieur, it +would be exceedingly interesting just now; and I have no doubt that you +will see the propriety of confiding to me what you already promised to +Monsieur de Maurepas. That will do, Geoffroy; leave us." + +The servant retired, and we were once more alone. + +"I possess no secrets, sir, worthy the notice of the Minister of +Police," said I boldly. + +"Of that I may presume to be the better judge," said Fouche calmly. "But +waiving this question, there is another of some importance. You have, +partly by accident, partly by a boldness not devoid of peril, obtained +some little insight into the habits and details of this Ministry; at +least, you have seen enough to suspect more, and misrepresent what you +can not comprehend. Now, sir, there is an almost universal custom in all +secret societies, of making those who intrude surreptitiously within +their limits, to take every oath and pledge of that society, and to +assume every responsibility that attaches to its voluntary members--" + +"Excuse my interrupting you, sir; but my intrusion was purely +involuntary; I was made the dupe of a police spy." + +"Having ascertained which," resumed he, coldly, "your wisest policy +would have been to have kept the whole incident for yourself alone, and +neither have uttered one syllable about it, nor ventured to come here, +as you have done, to display what you fancy to be your power over the +Minister of Police. You are a very young man, and the lesson may +possibly be of service to you; and never forget that to attempt a +contest of address with those whose habits have taught them every wile +and subtlety of their fellow-men, will always be a failure. This +Ministry would be a sorry engine of government if men of your stamp +could out-wit it." + +I stood abashed and confused under a rebuke which, at the same time, I +felt to be but half deserved. + +"Do you understand Spanish?" asked he suddenly. + +"No, sir, not a word." + +"I'm sorry for it; you should learn that language without loss of time. +Leave your address with my secretary, and call here by Monday or Tuesday +next." + +"If I may presume so far, sir," said I, with a great effort to seem +collected, "I would infer that your intention is to employ me in some +capacity or other. It is, therefore, better I should say at once, I have +neither the ability nor the desire for such occupation. I have always +been a soldier. Whatever reverses of fortune I may meet with, I would +wish still to continue in the same career. At all events, I could never +become a--a--" + +"Spy. Say the word out; its meaning conveys nothing offensive to my +ears, young man. I may grieve over the corruption that requires such a +system; but I do not confound the remedy with the disease." + +"My sentiments are different, sir," said I resolutely, as I moved toward +the door. "I have the honor to wish you a good morning." + +"Stay a moment, Tiernay," said he, looking for something among his +papers; "there are, probably, situations where all your scruples could +find accommodation, and even be serviceable, too." + +"I would rather not place them in peril, Mons. Le Ministre." + +"There are people in this city of Paris who would not despise my +protection, young man; some of them to the full as well supplied with +the gifts of fortune as Mons. Tiernay." + +"And, doubtless, more fitted to deserve it!" said I, sarcastically; for +every moment now rendered me more courageous. + +"And, doubtless, more fitted to deserve it," repeated he after me, with +a wave of the hand in token of adieu. + +I bowed respectfully, and was retiring, when he called out in a low and +gentle voice-- + +"Before you go, Mons. de Tiernay, I will thank you to restore my +snuff-box." + +"Your snuff-box, sir!" cried I, indignantly, "what do I know of it?" + +"In a moment of inadvertence, you may, probably, have placed it in your +pocket," said he, smiling; "do me the favor to search there." + +"This is unnecessary insult, sir," said I fiercely; "and you forget that +I am a French officer!" + +"It is of more consequence that you should remember it," said he calmly; +"and now, sir, do as I have told you." + +"It is well, sir, that this scene has no witness," said I, boiling over +with passion, "or, by Heaven, all the dignity of your station should not +save you." + +"Your observation is most just," said he, with the same coolness. "It +is as well that we are quite alone; and for this reason I beg to repeat +my request. If you persist in a refusal, and force me to ring that +bell--" + +"You would not dare to offer me such an indignity," said I, trembling +with rage. + +"You leave me no alternative, sir," said he, rising, and taking the bell +in his hand. "My honor is also engaged in this question. I have +preferred a charge--" + +"You have," cried I, interrupting, "and for whose falsehood I am +resolved to hold you responsible." + +"To prove which, you must show your innocence." + +"There, then--there are my pockets; here are the few things I possess. +This is my pocket-book--my purse. Oh, heavens, what is this?" cried I, +as I drew forth the gold box, along with the other contents of my +pocket; and then staggering back, I fell, overwhelmed with shame and +sickness, against the wall. For some seconds I neither saw nor heard any +thing; a vague sense of ineffable disgrace--of some ignominy that made +life a misery, was over me, and I closed my eyes with the wish never to +open them more. + +"The box has a peculiar value in my eyes, sir," said he; "it was a +present from the First Consul, otherwise I might have hesitated--" + +"Oh, sir, you can not, you dare not, suppose me guilty of a theft. You +seem bent on being my ruin; but, for mercy's sake, let your hatred of me +take some other shape than this. Involve me in what snares, what +conspiracies you will, give me what share you please in any guilt, but +spare me the degradation of such a shame." + +He seemed to enjoy the torments I was suffering, and actually revel in +the contemplation of my misery; for he never spoke a word, but continued +steadily to stare me in the face. + +"Sit down here, monsieur," said he, at length, while he pointed to a +chair near him; "I wish to say a few words to you, in all seriousness, +and in good faith, also." + +I seated myself, and he went on. + +"The events of the last two days must have made such an impression on +your mind that even the most remarkable incidents of your life could not +compete with. You fancied yourself a great discoverer, and that, by the +happy conjuncture of intelligence and accident, you had actually +fathomed the depths of that wonderful system of police, which, more +powerful than armies or councils, is the real government of France! I +will not stop now to convince you that you have not wandered out of the +very shallowest channels of this system. It is enough that you have been +admitted to an audience with me, to suggest an opposite conviction, and +give to your recital, when you repeat the tale, a species of importance. +Now, sir, my counsel to you is, never to repeat it, and for this reason; +nobody possessed of common powers of judgment will ever believe you! not +one, sir! No one would ever believe that Monsieur Fouche had made so +grave a mistake, no more than he would believe that a man of good name +and birth, a French officer, could have stolen a snuff-box. You see, +Monsieur de Tiernay, that I acquit you of this shameful act. Imitate my +generosity, sir, and forget all that you have witnessed since Tuesday +last. I have given you good advice, sir; if I find that you profit by +it, we may see more of each other." + +Scarcely appreciating the force of his parable, and thinking of nothing +save the vindication of my honor, I muttered a few unmeaning words, and +withdrew, glad to escape a presence which had assumed, to my terrified +senses, all the diabolical subtlety of satanic influence. Trusting that +no future accident of my life should ever bring me within such +precincts, I hurried from the place as though it were contaminated and +plague-stricken. + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +"THE VILLAGE OF SCHWARTZ-ACH." + +I was destitute enough when I quitted the "Temple," a few days back; but +my condition now was sadder still, for in addition to my poverty and +friendlessness, I had imbibed a degree of distrust and suspicion that +made me shun my fellow-men, and actually shrink from the contact of a +stranger. The commonest show of courtesy, the most ordinary exercise of +politeness, struck me as the secret wiles of that police, whose +machinations, I fancied, were still spread around me. I had conceived a +most intense hatred of civilization, or, at least, of what I rashly +supposed to be the inherent vices of civilized life. I longed for what I +deemed must be the glorious independence of a savage. If I could but +discover this Paradise beyond seas, of which the marquise raved so much; +if I only could find out that glorious land which neither knew secret +intrigues nor conspiracies, I should leave France forever, taking any +condition, or braving any mischances fate might have in store for me. + +There was something peculiarly offensive in the treatment I had met +with. Imprisoned on suspicion, I was liberated without any "amende;" +neither punished like a guilty man, nor absolved as an innocent one. I +was sent out upon the world as though the state would not own nor +acknowledge me; a dangerous practice, as I often thought, if only +adopted on a large scale. It was some days before I could summon +resolution to ascertain exactly my position: at last I did muster up +courage, and under pretense of wishing to address a letter to myself, I +applied at the Ministry of War for the address of Lieutenant Tiernay, of +the 9th Hussars. I was one of a large crowd similarly engaged, some +inquiring for sons that had fallen in battle, or husbands or fathers in +far away countries. The office was only open each morning for two hours, +and consequently, as the expiration of the time drew nigh, the eagerness +of the inquirers became far greater, and the contrast with the cold +apathy of the clerks the more strongly marked. I had given way to many, +who were weaker than myself, and less able to buffet with the crowd +about them; and at last, when, wearied by waiting, I was drawing nigh +the table, my attention was struck by an old, a very old man, who, with +a beard white as snow, and long mustaches of the same color, was making +great efforts to gain the front rank. I stretched out my hand, and +caught his, and by considerable exertion, at last succeeded in placing +him in front of me. + +He thanked me fervently, in a strange kind of German, a _patois_ I had +never heard before, and kissed my hand three or four times over in his +gratitude; indeed, so absorbed was he for the time in his desire to +thank me, that I had to recall him to the more pressing reason of his +presence, and warn him that but a few minutes more of the hour remained +free. + +"Speak up," cried the clerk, as the old man muttered something in a low +and very indistinct voice; "speak up; and remember, my friend, that we +do not profess to give information further back than the times of 'Louis +Quatorze.'" + +This allusion to the years of the old man was loudly applauded by his +colleagues, who drew nigh to stare at the cause of it. + +"Sacre bleu! he is talking Hebrew," said another, "and asking for a +friend who fell at Ramoth Gilead." + +"He is speaking German," said I, peremptorily, "and asking for a +relative whom he believes to have embarked with the expedition to +Egypt." + +"Are you a sworn interpreter, young man?" asked an older and more +consequential-looking personage. + +I was about to return a hasty reply to this impertinence, but I thought +of the old man, and the few seconds that still remained for his inquiry, +and I smothered my anger, and was silent. + +"What rank did he hold?" inquired one of the clerks, who had listened +with rather more patience to the old man. I translated the question for +the peasant, who, in reply, confessed that he could not tell. The youth +was his only son, and had left home many years before, and never +written. A neighbor, however, who had traveled in foreign parts, had +brought tidings that he had gone with the expedition to Egypt, and was +already high in the French army. + +"You are not quite certain that he did not command the army of Egypt?" +said one of the clerks in mockery of the old man's story. + +"It is not unlikely," said the peasant gravely, "he was a brave and bold +youth, and could have lifted two such as you with one hand and hurled +you out of that window." + +"Let us hear his name once more," said the elder clerk; "it is worth +remembering." + +"I have told you already. It was Karl Kleber." + +"The General--General Kleber!" cried three or four in a breath. + +"Mayhap," was all the reply. + +"And are you the father of the great general of Egypt?" asked the elder, +with an air of deep respect. + +"Kleber is my son; and so that he is alive and well, I care little if a +general or simple soldier." + +Not a word was said in answer to this speech, and each seemed to feel +reluctant to tell the sad tidings. At last the elder clerk said, "You +have lost a good son, and France one of her greatest captains. The +General Kleber is dead." + +"Dead!" said the old man, slowly. + +"In the very moment of his greatest glory, too, when he had won the +country of the Pyramids, and made Egypt a colony of France." + +"When did he die? said the peasant. + +"The last accounts from the East brought the news; and this very day the +Council of State has accorded a pension to his family of ten thousand +livres." + +"They may keep their money. I am all that remains, and have no want of +it; and I should be poorer still before I'd take it." + +These words he uttered in a low, harsh tone, and pushed his way back +though the crowd. + +One moment more was enough for _my_ inquiry. + +"Maurice Tiernay, of the 9th--_destitue_," was the short and stunning +answer I received. + +"Is there any reason alleged--is there any charge imputed to him?" asked +I, timidly. + +"Ma foi! you must go to the Minister of War with that question. Perhaps +he was pay-master, and embezzled the funds of the regiment; perhaps he +liked royalist gold better than republican silver; or perhaps he +preferred the company of the baggage-train and the 'ambulances,' when he +should have been at the head of his squadron." + +I did not care to listen longer to this impertinence, and making my way +out I gained the street. The old peasant was still standing there, like +one stunned and overwhelmed by some great shock, and neither heeding the +crowd that passed, nor the groups that halted occasionally to stare at +him. + +"Come along with _me_," said I, taking his hand in mine. "_Your_ +calamity is a heavy one, but _mine_ is harder to bear up against." + +He suffered himself to be led away like a child, and never spoke a word +as we walked along toward the "barriere," beyond which, at a short +distance, was a little ordinary, where I used to dine. There we had our +dinner together, and as the evening wore on the old man rallied enough +to tell me of his son's early life, and his departure for the army. Of +his great career _I_ could speak freely, for Kleber's name was, in +soldier esteem, scarcely second to that of Bonaparte himself. Not all +the praises I could bestow, however, were sufficient to turn the old man +from his stern conviction, that a peasant in the "Lech Thal" was a more +noble and independent man than the greatest general that ever marched to +victory. + +"We have been some centuries there," said he, "and none of our name has +incurred a shadow of disgrace. Why should not Karl have lived like his +ancestors?" + +It was useless to appeal to the glory his son had gained--the noble +reputation he had left behind him. The peasant saw in the soldier but +one who hired out his courage and his blood, and deemed the calling a +low and unworthy one. I suppose I was not the first who, in the effort +to convince another, found himself shaken in his own convictions; for I +own before I lay down that night many of the old man's arguments assumed +a force and power that I could not resist, and held possession of my +mind even after I fell asleep. In my dreams I was once more beside the +American lake, and that little colony of simple people, where I had seen +all that was best of my life, and learned the few lessons I had ever +received of charity and good-nature. + +From what the peasant said, the primitive habits of the Lech Thal must +be almost like those of that little colony, and I willingly assented to +his offer to accompany him in his journey homeward. He seemed to feel a +kind of satisfaction in turning my thoughts away from a career that he +held so cheaply, and talked enthusiastically of the tranquil life of the +Bregenzer-wald. + +We left Paris the following morning, and, partly by diligence, partly on +foot, reached Strassburg in a few days; thence we proceeded by Kehel to +Freyburg, and, crossing the Lake of Constance at Rorsbach, we entered +the Bregenzer-wald on the twelfth morning of our journey. I suppose that +most men preserve fresher memory of the stirring and turbulent scenes of +their lives than of the more peaceful and tranquil ones, and I shall not +be deemed singular when I say, that some years passed over me in this +quiet spot and seemed as but a few weeks. The old peasant was the +"Vorsteher," or ruler of the village, by whom all disputes were settled, +and all litigation of an humble kind decided--a species of voluntary +jurisdiction maintained to this very day in that primitive region. My +occupation there was as a species of secretary to the court, an office +quite new to the villagers, but which served to impress them more +reverentially than ever in favor of this rude justice. My legal duties +over, I became a vine-dresser, a wood-cutter, or a deer-stalker, as +season and weather dictated. My evenings being always devoted to the +task of a schoolmaster. A curious seminary was it, too, embracing every +class from childhood to advanced age, all eager for knowledge, and all +submitting to the most patient discipline to attain it. There was much +to make me happy in that humble lot. I had the love and esteem of all +around me; there was neither a harassing doubt for the future, nor the +rich man's contumely to oppress me; my life was made up of occupations +which alternately engaged mind and body, and, above all and worth all +besides, I had a sense of duty, a feeling that I was doing that which +was useful to my fellow-men; and however great may be a man's station in +life, if it want this element, the humblest peasant that rises to his +daily toil has a nobler and a better part. + +As I trace these lines how many memories of the spot are rising before +me! Scenes I had long forgotten--faces I had ceased to remember! And +now I see the little wooden bridge--a giant tree, guarded by a single +rail, that crossed the torrent in front of our cottage; and I behold +once more the little waxen image of the Virgin over the door, in whose +glass shrine at nightfall a candle ever burned! and I hear the low hum +of the villagers' prayer as the Angelus is singing, and see on every +crag or cliff the homebound hunter kneeling in his deep devotion! + +Happy people, and not less good than happy! Your bold and barren +mountains have been the safeguard of your virtue and your innocence! +Long may they prove so, and long may the waves of the world's ambition +be staid at their rocky feet! + +I was beginning to forget all that I had seen of life, or, if not +forget, at least to regard it as a wild and troubled dream, when an +accident, one of those things we always regard as the merest chances, +once more opened the flood-gates of memory, and sent the whole past in a +strong current through my brain. + +In this mountain region the transition from winter to summer is effected +in a few days. Some hours of a scorching sun and south wind swell the +torrents with melted snow; the icebergs fall thundering from cliff and +crag, and the sporting waterfall once more dashes over the precipice. +The trees burst into leaf, and the grass springs up green and fresh from +its wintry covering; and from the dreary aspect of snow-capped hills and +leaden clouds, nature changes to fertile plains and hills, and a sky of +almost unbroken blue. + +It was on a glorious evening in April, when all these changes were +passing, that I was descending the mountain above our village after a +hard day's chamois hunting. Anxious to reach the plain before nightfall, +I could not, however, help stopping from time to time to watch the +golden and ruby tints of the sun upon the snow, or see the turquoise +blue which occasionally marked the course of a rivulet through the +glaciers. The Alp-horn was sounding from every cliff and height, and the +lowing of the cattle swelled into a rich and mellow chorus. It was a +beautiful picture, realizing in every tint and hue, in every sound and +cadence, all that one can fancy of romantic simplicity, and I surveyed +it with a swelling and a grateful heart. + +As I turned to resume my way, I was struck by the sound of voices +speaking, as I fancied, in French, and before I could settle the doubt +with myself, I saw in front of me a party of some six or seven soldiers, +who, with their muskets slung behind them, were descending the steep +path by the aid of sticks. + +Weary-looking and foot-sore as they were, their dress, their bearing, +and their soldier-like air, struck me forcibly, and sent into my heart a +thrill I had not known for many a day before. I came up quickly behind +them, and could overhear their complaints at having mistaken the road, +and their maledictions, muttered in no gentle spirit, on the stupid +mountaineers who could not understand French. + +"Here comes another fellow, let us try _him_," said one, as he turned +and saw me near. "Schwartz-Ach, Schwartz-Ach," added he, addressing me, +and reading the name from a slip of paper in his hand. + +"I am going to the village," said I, in French, "and will show the way +with pleasure." + +"How! what! are you a Frenchman, then?" cried the corporal, in +amazement. + +"Even so," said I. + +"Then by what chance are you living in this wild spot? How, in the name +of wonder, can you exist here?" + +"With venison like this," said I, pointing to a chamois buck on my +shoulder, "and the red wine of the Lech Thal, a man may manage to forget +Veray's and the "Dragon Vert," particularly as they are not associated +with a bill and a waiter!" + +"And perhaps you are a royalist," cried another, "and don't like how +matters are going on at home?" + +"I have not that excuse for my exile," said I, coldly. + +"Have you served, then?" + +I nodded. + +"Ah, I see," said the corporal, "you grew weary of parade and guard +mounting." + +"If you mean that I deserted," said I, "you are wrong there also; and +now let it be my turn to ask a few questions. What is France about? Is +the Republic still as great and victorious as ever?" + +"Sacre bleu, man, what are you thinking of? We are an Empire some years +back, and Napoleon has made as many kings as he has got brothers and +cousins to crown." + +"And the army, where is it?" + +"Ask for some half dozen armies, and you'll still be short of the mark. +We have one in Hamburg, and another in the far North, holding the +Russians in check; we have garrisons in every fortress of Prussia and +the Rhine Land; we have some eighty thousand fellows in Poland and +Gallicia; double as many more in Spain; Italy is our own, and so will be +Austria ere many days go over." + +Boastfully as all this was spoken, I found it to be not far from truth, +and learned, as we walked along, that the emperor was, at that very +moment, on the march to meet the Archduke Charles, who, with a numerous +army, was advancing on Ratisbon, the little party of soldiers being +portion of a force dispatched to explore the passes of the "Voralberg," +and report on how far they might be practicable for the transmission of +troops to act on the left flank and rear of the Austrian army. Their +success had up to this time been very slight, and the corporal was +making for Schwartz-Ach, as a spot where he hoped to rendezvous with +some of his comrades. They were much disappointed on my telling them +that I had quitted the village that morning, and that not a soldier had +been seen there. There was, however, no other spot to pass the night in, +and they willingly accepted the offer I made them of a shelter and a +supper in our cottage. + +(TO BE CONTINUED.) + + + + +VAGARIES OF THE IMAGINATION. + + +"Fancy it burgundy," said Boniface of his ale, "only fancy it, and it is +worth a guinea a quart!" Boniface was a philosopher: fancy can do much +more than that. Those who fancy themselves laboring under an affection +of the heart are not slow in verifying the apprehension: the uneasy and +constant watching of its pulsations soon disturbs the circulation, and +malady may ensue beyond the power of medicine. Some physicians believe +that inflammation can be induced in any part of the body by a fearful +attention being continually directed toward it; indeed it has been a +question with some whether the stigmata (the marks of the wounds of our +Saviour) may not have been produced on the devotee by the influences of +an excited imagination. The hypochondriac has been known to expire when +forced to pass through a door which he fancied too narrow to admit his +person. The story of the criminal who, unconscious of the arrival of the +reprieve, died under the stroke of a wet handkerchief, believing it to +be the ax, is well known. Paracelsus held, "that there is in man an +imagination which really effects and brings to pass the things that did +not before exist; for a man by imagination willing to move his body +moves it in fact, and by his imagination and the commerce of invisible +powers he may also move another body." Paracelsus would not have been +surprised at the feats of electro-biology. He exhorts his patients to +have "a good faith, a strong imagination, and they shall find the +effects. All doubt," he says, "destroys work, and leaves it imperfect in +the wise designs of nature; it is from faith that imagination draws its +strength, it is by faith it becomes complete and realized; he who +believeth in nature will obtain from nature to the extent of his faith, +and let the object of this faith be real or imaginary, he nevertheless +reaps similar results--and hence the cause of superstition." + +So early as 1462, Pomponatus of Mantua came to the conclusion, in his +work on incantation, that all the arts of sorcery and witchcraft were +the result of natural operations. He conceived that it was not +improbable that external means, called into action by the soul, might +relieve our sufferings, and that there did, moreover, exist individuals +endowed with salutary properties; so it might, therefore, be easily +conceived that marvelous effects should be produced by the imagination +and by confidence, more especially when these are reciprocal between the +patient and the person who assists his recovery. Two years after, the +same opinion was advanced by Agrippa in Cologne. "The soul," he said, +"if inflamed by a fervent imagination, could dispense health and +disease, not only in the individual himself, but in other bodies." +However absurd these opinions may have been considered, or looked on as +enthusiastic, the time has come when they will be gravely examined. + +That medical professors have at all times believed the imagination to +possess a strange and powerful influence over mind and body is proved +by their writings, by some of their prescriptions, and by their +oft-repeated direction in the sick-chamber to divert the patient's mind +from dwelling on his own state and from attending to the symptoms of his +complaint. They consider the reading of medical books which accurately +describe the symptoms of various complaints as likely to have an +injurious effect, not only on the delicate but on persons in full +health; and they are conscious how many died during the time of the +plague and cholera, not only of these diseases but from the dread of +them, which brought on all the fatal symptoms. So evident was the effect +produced by the detailed accounts of the cholera in the public papers in +the year 1849, that it was found absolutely necessary to restrain the +publications on the subject. The illusions under which vast numbers +acted and suffered have gone, indeed, to the most extravagant extent: +individuals, not merely singly but in communities, have actually +believed in their own transformation. A nobleman of the court of Louis +XIV. fancied himself a dog, and would pop his head out of the window to +bark at the passengers; while the barking disease at the camp-meetings +of the Methodists of North America has been described as "extravagant +beyond belief." Rollin and Hecquet have recorded a malady by which the +inmates of an extensive convent near Paris were attacked simultaneously +every day at the same hour, when they believed themselves transformed +into cats, and a universal mewing was kept up throughout the convent for +some hours. But of all dreadful forms which this strange hallucination +took, none was so terrible as that of the lycanthropy, which at one +period spread through Europe; in which the unhappy sufferers, believing +themselves wolves, went prowling about the forests, uttering the most +terrific howlings, carrying off lambs from the flocks, and gnawing dead +bodies in their graves. + +While every day's experience adds some new proof of the influence +possessed by the imagination over the body, the supposed effect of +contagion has become a question of doubt. Lately, at a meeting in +Edinburgh, Professor Dick gave it as his opinion that there was no such +thing as hydrophobia in the lower animals: "what went properly by that +name was simply an inflammation of the brain; and the disease, in the +case of human beings, was caused by an over-excited imagination, worked +upon by the popular delusion on the effects of a bite by rabid animals." +The following paragraph from the "Curiosities of Medicine" appears to +justify this now common enough opinion:--"Several persons had been +bitten by a rabid dog in the Faubourg St. Antoine, and three of them had +died in our hospital. A report, however, was prevalent that we kept a +mixture which would effectually prevent the fatal termination; and no +less than six applicants who had been bitten were served with a draught +of colored water, and in no one instance did hydrophobia ensue." + +A remarkable cure through a similar aid of the imagination took place in +a patient of Dr. Beddoes, who was at the time very sanguine about the +effect of nitrous acid gas in paralytic cases. Anxious that it should be +imbibed by one of his patients, he sent an invalid to Sir Humphry Davy, +with a request that he would administer the gas. Sir Humphry put the +bulb of the thermometer under the tongue of the paralytic, to ascertain +the temperature of the body, that he might be sure whether it would be +affected at all by the inhalation of the gas. The patient, full of faith +from what the enthusiastic physician had assured him would be the +result, and believing that the thermometer was what was to effect the +cure, exclaimed at once that he felt better. Sir Humphry, anxious to see +what imagination would do in such a case, did not attempt to undeceive +the man, but saying that he had done enough for him that day, desired +him to be with him the next morning. The thermometer was then applied as +it had been the day before, and for every day during a fortnight--at the +end of which time the patient was perfectly cured. + +Perhaps there is nothing on record more curious of this kind than the +cures unwittingly performed by Chief-justice Holt. It seems that for a +youthful frolic he and his companions had put up at a country inn; they, +however, found themselves without the means of defraying their expenses, +and were at a loss to know what they should do in such an emergency. +Holt, however, perceived that the innkeeper's daughter looked very ill, +and on inquiring what was the matter, learned that she had the ague; +when, passing himself off for a medical student, he said that he had an +infallible cure for the complaint. He then collected a number of plants, +mixed them up with various ceremonies, and inclosed them in parchment, +on which he scrawled divers cabalistic characters. When all was +completed, he suspended the amulet round the neck of the young woman, +and, strange to say, the ague left her and never returned. The landlord, +grateful for the restoration of his daughter, not only declined +receiving any payment from the youths, but pressed them to remain as +long as they pleased. Many years after, when Holt was on the bench, a +woman was brought before him, charged with witchcraft: she was accused +of curing the ague by charms. All she said in defense was, that she did +possess a ball which was a sovereign remedy in the complaint. The charm +was produced and handed to the judge, who recognized the very ball which +he had himself compounded in his boyish days, when out of mere fun he +had assumed the character of a medical practitioner. + +Many distinguished physicians have candidly confessed that they +preferred confidence to art. Faith in the remedy is often not only half +the cure, but the whole cure. Madame de Genlis tells of a girl who had +lost the use of her leg for five years, and could only move with the +help of crutches, while her back had to be supported: she was in such a +pitiable state of weakness, the physicians had pronounced her case +incurable. She, however, took it into her head that if she was taken to +Notre Dame de Liesse she would certainly recover. It was fifteen +leagues from Carlepont where she lived. She was placed in a cart which +her father drove, while her sister sat by her supporting her back. The +moment the steeple of Notre Dame de Liesse was in sight she uttered an +exclamation, and said that her leg was getting well. She alighted from +the car without assistance, and no longer requiring the help of her +crutches, she ran into the church. When she returned home the villagers +gathered about her, scarcely believing that it was indeed the girl who +had left them in such a wretched state, now they saw her running and +bounding along, no longer a cripple, but as active as any among them. + +Not less extraordinary are the cures which are effected by some sudden +agitation. An alarm of fire has been known to restore a patient entirely +or for a time, from a tedious illness: it is no uncommon thing to hear +of the victim of a severe fit of the gout, whose feet have been utterly +powerless, running nimbly away from some approaching danger. Poor +Grimaldi in his declining years had almost quite lost the use of his +limbs owing to the most hopeless debility. As he sat one day by the bed +side of his wife, who was ill, word was brought to him that a friend +waited below to see him. He got down to the parlor with extreme +difficulty. His friend was the bearer of heavy news which he dreaded to +communicate: it was the death of Grimaldi's son, who, though reckless +and worthless, was fondly loved by the poor father. The intelligence was +broken as gently as such a sad event could be: but in an instant +Grimaldi sprung from his chair--his lassitude and debility were gone, +his breathing, which had for a long time been difficult, became +perfectly easy--he was hardly a moment in bounding up the stairs which +but a quarter of an hour before he had passed with extreme difficulty in +ten minutes; he reached the bed-side, and told his wife that their son +was dead; and as she burst into an agony of grief he flung himself into +a chair, and became again instantaneously, as it has been touchingly +described, "an enfeebled and crippled old man." + +The imagination, which is remarkable for its ungovernable influence, +comes into action on some occasions periodically with the most precise +regularity. A friend once told us of a young relation who was subject to +nervous attacks: she was spending some time at the sea-side for change +of air, but the evening-gun, fired from the vessel in the bay at eight +o'clock, was always the signal for a nervous attack: the instant the +report was heard she fell back insensible, as if she had been shot. +Those about her endeavored if possible to withdraw her thoughts from the +expected moment: at length one evening they succeeded, and while she was +engaged in an interesting conversation the evening-gun was unnoticed. +By-and-by she asked the hour, and appeared uneasy when she found the +time had passed. The next evening it was evident that she would not let +her attention be withdrawn: the gun fired, and she swooned away: and +when revived, another fainting fit succeeded, as if it were to make up +for the omission of the preceding evening! It is told of the great +tragic actress Clairon, who had been the innocent cause of the suicide +of a man who destroyed himself by a pistol-shot, that ever after, at the +exact moment when the fatal deed had been perpetrated--one o'clock in +the morning--she heard the shot. If asleep, it awakened her; if engaged +in conversation, it interrupted her; in solitude or in company, at home +or traveling, in the midst of revelry or at her devotions, she was sure +to hear it to the very moment. + +The same indelible impression has been made in hundreds of cases, and on +persons of every variety of temperament and every pursuit, whether +engaged in business, science, or art, or rapt in holy contemplation. On +one occasion Pascal had been thrown down on a bridge which had no +parapet, and his imagination was so haunted forever after by the danger, +that he always fancied himself on the brink of a steep precipice +overhanging an abyss ready to engulf him. This illusion had taken such +possession of his mind that the friends who came to converse with him +were obliged to place the chairs on which they seated themselves between +him and the fancied danger. But the effects of terror are the best known +of all the vagaries of imagination. + +A very remarkable case of the influence of imagination occurred between +sixty and seventy years since in Dublin, connected with the celebrated +frolics of Dalkey Island. It is said Curran and his gay companions +delighted to spend a day there, and that with them originated the frolic +of electing "a king of Dalkey and the adjacent islands," and appointing +his chancellor and all the officers of state. A man in the middle rank +of life, universally respected, and remarkable alike for kindly and +generous feelings and a convivial spirit, was unanimously elected to +fill the throne. He entered with his whole heart into all the humors of +the pastime, in which the citizens of Dublin so long delighted. A +journal was kept, called the "Dalkey Gazette," in which all public +proceedings were inserted, and it afforded great amusement to its +conductors. But the mock pageantry, the affected loyalty, and the +pretended homage of his subjects, at length began to excite the +imagination of "King John," as he was called. Fiction at length became +with him reality, and he fancied himself "every inch a king." His family +and friends perceived with dismay and deep sorrow the strange delusion +which nothing could shake: he would speak on no subject save the kingdom +of Dalkey and its government, and he loved to dwell on the various +projects he had in contemplation for the benefit of his people, and +boasted of his high prerogative: he never could conceive himself +divested for one moment of his royal powers, and exacted the most +profound deference to his kingly authority. The last year and a half of +his life were spent in Swift's hospital for lunatics. He felt his last +hours approaching, but no gleam of returning reason marked the parting +scene: to the very last instant he believed himself a king, and all his +cares and anxieties were for his people. He spoke in high terms of his +chancellor, his attorney-general, and all his officers of state, and of +the dignitaries of the church: he recommended them to his kingdom, and +trusted they might all retain the high offices which they now held. He +spoke on the subject with a dignified calmness well becoming the solemn +leave-taking of a monarch; but when he came to speak of the crown he was +about to relinquish forever his feelings were quite overcome, and the +tears rolled down his cheeks: "I leave it," said he, "to my people, and +to him whom they may elect as my successor!" This remarkable scene is +recorded in some of the notices of deaths for the year 1788. The +delusion, though most painful to his friends, was far from an unhappy +one to its victim: his feelings were gratified to the last while +thinking he was occupied with the good of his fellow-creatures--an +occupation best suited to his benevolent disposition. + + + + +MYSTERIES! + + +"I believe nothing that I do not understand," is the favorite saying of +Mr. Pettipo Dapperling, a gentleman who very much prides himself on his +intellectual perspicacity. Yet ask Mr. Pettipo if he understands how it +is that he wags his little finger, and he can give you no reasonable +account of it. He will tell you (for he has read books and "studied" +anatomy), that the little finger consists of so many jointed bones, that +there are tendons attached to them before and behind, which belong to +certain muscles, and that when these muscles are made to contract, the +finger wags. And this is nearly all that Mr. Pettipo knows about it! How +it is that the volition acts on the muscles, what volition is, what the +will is--Mr. Pettipo knows not. He knows quite as little about the +Sensation which resides in the skin of that little finger--how it is +that it feels and appreciates forms and surfaces--why it detects heat +and cold--in what way its papillae erect themselves, and its pores open +and close--about all this he is entirely in the dark. And yet Mr. +Pettipo is under the necessity of believing that his little finger wags, +and that it is endowed with the gift of sensation, though he in fact +knows nothing whatever of the why or the wherefore. + +We must believe a thousand things that we can not understand. Matter and +its combinations are a grand mystery--how much more so, Life and its +manifestations. Look at those far-off worlds majestically wheeling in +their appointed orbits, millions of miles off: or, look at this earth on +which we live, performing its diurnal motion upon its own axis, and its +annual circle round the sun! What do we understand of the causes of such +motions? what can we ever know about them, beyond the facts that such +things are so? To discover and apprehend facts is much, and it is nearly +our limit. To ultimate causes we can never ascend. But to have an eye +open to receive facts and apprehend their relative value--that is a +great deal--that is our duty; and not to reject, suspect, or refuse to +accept them, because they happen to clash with our preconceived notions, +or, like Mr. Pettipo Dapperling, because we "can not understand" them. + +"O, my dear Kepler!" writes Galileo to his friend, "how I wish that we +could have one hearty laugh together! Here at Padua is the principal +Professor of Philosophy, whom I have repeatedly and urgently requested +to look at the moon and planets through my glass, which he +pertinaciously refuses to do. Why are you not here? What shouts of +laughter we should have at this glorious folly! And to hear the +Professor of Philosophy at Pisa lecturing before the Grand Duke with +logical arguments, as if with magical incantations to charm the new +planets out of the sky!" + +Rub a stick of wax against your coat-sleeve, and it emits sparks: hold +it near to light, fleecy particles of wool or cotton, and it first +attracts, then it repels them. What do you understand about that, Mr. +Pettipo, except merely that it is so? Stroke the cat's back before the +fire, and you will observe the same phenomena. Your own body will, in +like manner, emit sparks in certain states, but you know nothing about +why it is so. + +Pour a solution of muriate of lime into one of sulphate of potash--both +clear fluids; but no sooner are they mixed together than they become +nearly solid. How is that? You tell me that an ingredient of the one +solution combines with an ingredient of the other, and an insoluble +sulphate of lime is produced. Well! you tell me a fact; but you do not +account for it by saying that the lime has a greater attraction for the +sulphuric acid than the potash has: you do not _understand_ how it +is--you merely see that it is so. You must believe it. + +But when you come to Life, and its wonderful manifestations, you are +more in the dark than ever. You understand less about this than you do +even of dead matter. Take an ordinary every-day fact: you drop two +seeds, whose component parts are the same, into the same soil. They grow +up so close together that their roots mingle and their stalks +intertwine. The one plant produces a long slender leaf, the other a +short flat leaf--the one brings forth a beautiful flower, the other an +ugly scruff--the one sheds abroad a delicious fragrance, the other is +entirely inodorous. The hemlock, the wheatstalk, and the rose-tree, out +of the same chemical ingredients contained in the soil, educe, the one +deadly poison, the other wholesome food, the third a bright consummate +flower. Can you tell me, Mr. Pettipo, how is this? Do you understand the +secret by which the roots of these plants accomplish so much more than +all your science can do, and so infinitely excel the most skillful +combinations of the philosopher? You can only recognize the fact--but +you can not unravel the mystery. Your saying that it is the "nature" of +the plants, does not in the slightest degree clear up the difficulty. +You can not get at the ultimate fact--only the proximate one is seen by +you. + +But lo! here is a wonderful little plant--touch it, and the leaves +shrink on the instant: one leaf seeming to be in intimate sympathy with +the rest, and the whole leaves in its neighborhood shrinking up at the +touch of a foreign object. Or, take the simple pimpernel, which closes +its eye as the sun goes down, and opens as he rises again--shrinks at +the approach of rain, and expands in fair weather. The hop twines round +the pole in the direction of the sun, and-- + + "The sunflower turns on her god when he sets, + The same look that she turned when he rose." + +Do we know any thing about these things, further than they are so? + +A partridge chick breaks its shell and steps forth into its new world. +Instantly it runs about and picks up the seeds lying about on the +ground. It had never learned to run, or to see, or to select its food; +but it does all these on the instant. The lamb of a few hours' old +frisks about full of life, and sucks its dam's teat with as much +accuracy as if it had studied the principle of the air-pump. Instinct +comes full-grown into the world at once, and we know nothing about it, +neither does the Mr. Dapperling above named. + +When we ascend to the higher orders of animated being--to man +himself--we are as much in the dark as before--perhaps more so. Here we +have matter arranged in its most highly-organized forms--moving, +feeling, and thinking. In man the animal powers are concentrated; and +the thinking powers are brought to their highest point. How, by the +various arrangements of matter in man's body, one portion of the nervous +system should convey volitions from the brain to the limbs and the outer +organs--how another part should convey sensations with the suddenness of +lightning--and how, finally, a third portion should collect these +sensations, react upon them, store them up by a process called Memory, +reproduce them in thought, compare them, philosophize upon them, embody +them in books--is a great and unfathomable mystery! + +Life itself! how wonderful it is! Who can understand it, or unravel its +secret! From a tiny vesicle, at first almost imperceptible to the eye, +but gradually growing and accumulating about it fresh materials, which +are in turns organized and laid down, each in their set places, at +length a body is formed, becomes developed--passing through various +inferior stages of being--those of polype, fish, frog, and +animal--until, at length, the human being rises above all these forms, +and the law of the human animal life is fulfilled. First, he is merely +instinctive, then sensitive, then reflective--the last the greatest, the +crowning work of man's development. But what do we _know_ of it all? Do +we not merely see that it is so, and turn aside from the great mystery +in despair of ever unraveling it? + +The body sleeps? Volition, sensation, and thought, become suspended for +a time, while the animal powers live on; capillary arteries working, +heart beating, lungs playing, all without an effort--voluntarily and +spontaneously. The shadow of some recent thought agitates the brain, +and the sleeper dreams. Or, his volition may awake, while sensation is +still profoundly asleep, and then we have the somnambule, walking in his +sleep. Or, volition may be profoundly asleep, while the senses are +preternaturally excited, as in the abnormal mesmeric state. Here we have +a new class of phenomena, more wonderful because less usual, but not a +whit more mysterious than the most ordinary manifestations of life. + +We are astonished to hear men refusing to credit the evidence of their +senses as to mesmeric phenomena, on the ground that they can not +"understand" them. When they can not understand the commonest +manifestations of life--the causation of volition, sensation, or +thought--why should they refuse belief on such a ground? Are the facts +real? Are these things so? This should be the chief consideration with +us. Mysteries they may be; but all life, all matter, all that is, are +mysteries too. Do we refuse to believe in the electric telegraph, +because the instantaneous transmission of intelligence between points a +thousand miles apart seems at first sight fabulous, and, to the +uninitiated, profoundly mysterious? Why should not thought--the most +wonderful and subtle of known agencies--manifest itself in equally +extraordinary ways? + +We do not know that what the mesmerists call _clairvoyance_ is yet to be +held as established by sufficient evidence. Numerous strongly +authenticated cases have certainly been adduced by persons whose +evidence is above suspicion--as, for instance, by Swedenborg (attested +by many impartial witnesses), by Goethe, by Zschokke, by Townshend, by +Martineau, and others; but the evidence seems still to want +confirmation. Only, we say, let us not prejudge the case--let us wait +patiently for all sorts of evidence. We can not argue _a priori_ that +_clairvoyance_ is not true, any more than the Professor at Padua could +argue, with justice, that the worlds which Galileo's telescope revealed +in the depths of space, were all a sham. That truth was established by +extended observation. Let us wait and see whether this may not yet be +established, too, by similar means. + +Some of the things which the mesmerists, who go the length of +_clairvoyance_, tell us, certainly have a very mysterious look; and were +not sensation, thought, and all the manifestations of Life (not yet half +investigated) all alike mysterious, we might be disposed to shut our +eyes with the rest, and say we refused to believe, because we "did not +understand." + +But equally extraordinary relations to the same effect have been made by +men who were neither mesmerists nor clairvoyantes. For instance, Kant, +the German writer, relates that Swedenborg once, when living at +Gottenburg, some three hundred miles from Stockholm, suddenly rose up +and went out, when at the house of one Kostel, in the company of fifteen +persons. After a few minutes he returned, pale and alarmed, and informed +the party that a dangerous fire had just broken out in Stockholm, in +Sudermalm, and that the fire was spreading fast. He was restless, and +went out often; he said that the house of one of his friends, whom he +named, was already in ashes, and that his own was in danger. At eight +o'clock, after he had been out again, he joyfully exclaimed, "Thank God, +the fire is extinguished the third door from my house." This statement +of Swedenborg's spread through the town, and occasioned consternation +and wonder. The governor heard of it, and sent for Swedenborg, who +described the particulars of the fire--where and how it had begun, in +what manner it had ceased, and how long it had continued. On the Monday +evening, two days after the fire, a messenger arrived from Gottenburg, +who had been dispatched during the time of the fire, and the +intelligence he brought confirmed all that Swedenborg had said as to its +commencement: and on the following morning the royal courier arrived at +the governor's with full intelligence of the calamity, which did not +differ in the least from the relation which Swedenborg had given +immediately after the fire had ceased on the Saturday evening. + +A circumstance has occurred while the writer was engaged in the +preparation of this paper, which is of an equally curious character, to +say the least of it. The lady who is the subject of it is a relation of +the writer, and is no believer in the "Mysteries of Mesmerism." It may +be remarked, however, that she is of a very sensitive and excitable +nervous temperament. It happened, that on the night of the 30th of +April, a frightful accident occurred on the Birkenhead, Lancashire, and +Cheshire Railway, in consequence of first one train, and then another, +running into the trains preceding. A frightful scene of tumult, +mutilation, and death ensued. It happened that the husband of the lady +in question was a passenger in the first train; though she did not know +that he intended to go to the Chester races, having been in Liverpool +that day on other business. But she had scarcely fallen asleep, ere, +half-dozing, half-awake, she _saw_ the accident occur--the terror, the +alarm, and the death. She walked up and down her chamber in terror and +alarm the whole night, and imparted her fears to others in the morning. +Her husband was not injured, though greatly shaken by the collision, and +much alarmed; and when he returned home in the course of the following +day, he could scarcely believe his wife when she informed him of the +circumstances which had been so mysteriously revealed to her in +connection with his journey of the preceding day! + +Zschokke, an estimable man, well known as a philosopher, statesman, and +author, possessed, according to his own and contemporary accounts, the +most extraordinary power of divination of the characters and lives of +other men with whom he came in contact. He called it his "inward sight," +and at first he was himself quite as much astonished at it as others +were. Writing of this feature himself, he says: "It has happened to me, +sometimes, on my first meeting with strangers, as I listened silently +to their discourse, that their former life, with many trifling +circumstances therewith connected, or frequently some particular scene +in that life, has passed quite involuntarily, and, as it were, +dream-like, yet perfectly distinct, before me. During this time, I +usually feel so entirely absorbed in the contemplation of the stranger +life, that at last I no longer see clearly the face of the unknown, +wherein I undesignedly read, nor distinctly hear the voices of the +speakers, which before served in some measure as a commentary to the +text of their features. For a long time I held such visions as delusions +of the fancy, and the more so as they showed me even the dress and +motions of the actors, rooms, furniture, and other accessories. By way +of jest, I once, in a family circle at Kirchberg, related the secret +history of a seamstress who had just left the room and the house. I had +never seen her before in my life; people were astonished and laughed, +but were not to be persuaded that I did not previously know the +relations of which I spoke, for what I had uttered was the _literal_ +truth; I, on my part, was no less astonished that my dream-pictures were +confirmed by the reality. I became more attentive to the subject, and +when propriety admitted it, I would relate to those whose life thus +passed before me, the subject of my vision, that I might thereby obtain +confirmation or refutation of it. It was invariably ratified, not +without consideration on their part. I myself had less confidence than +any one in this mental jugglery. So often as I revealed my visionary +gifts to any new person, I regularly expected to hear the answer: 'It +was not so.' I felt a secret shudder when my auditors replied that it +was _true_, or when their astonishment betrayed my accuracy before they +spoke."[12] Zschokke gives numerous instances of this extraordinary power +of divination or waking clairvoyance, and mentions other persons whom he +met, who possessed the same marvelous power. + +The "Posthumous Memoirs of La Harpe" contain equally extraordinary +revelations, looking _forward_, instead of backward, as in Zschokke's +case, into the frightful events of the great French Revolution, the +sightseer being Cazove, a well-known novel writer, who lived previous to +the frightful outbreak. Mary Howitt, in her account of the extraordinary +"Preaching Epidemic of Sweden," recites circumstances of the same kind, +equally wonderful; and the Rev. Mr. Sandy and Mr. Townshend's books on +mesmerism are full of similar marvels. Among the various statements, the +grand point is, how much of them is true? What are the _facts_ of +mesmerism? To quote the great Bacon: "He who hath not first, and before +all, intimately explained the movements of the human mind, and therein +most accurately distinguished the course of knowledge and the seats of +error, shall find all things masked, and, as it were, enchanted; and, +until he undo the charm, shall be unable to interpret." How few of us +have yet arrived at this enviable position. + + + + +CLARA CORSINI.--A TALE OF NAPLES. + + +A young French traveler, named Ernest Leroy, on arriving at Naples, +found himself during the first few days quite confused by the multitude +of his impressions. Now as it was in search of impressions that he had +left his beloved Paris, there was nothing, it should seem, very grievous +in this; and yet in the midst of his excitement there occurred intervals +of intolerable weariness of spirit--moments when he looked upon the +Strada Toledo with disgust, wished himself any where but in San Carlos, +sneered at Posilippo, pooh-poohed Vesuvius, and was generally skeptical +as to the superiority of _the Bay_ over the Bosphorus, which he had not +seen. All this came to pass because he had set out on the principle of +traveling in a hurry, or, as he expressed it, making the most of his +time. Every night before going to bed he made out and wrote down a +programme of next day's duties--assigning so many hours to each sight, +and so many minutes to each meal, but forgetting altogether to allow +himself any opportunity for repose or digestion. + +Thus he had come from Paris _via_ Milan, Florence, and Rome, to +Naples--the whole in the space of three weeks, during which, as will be +easily imagined, he had visited an incredible number of churches, +galleries, temples, and ruins of every description. In order to profit +as much as possible by his travels he had arranged beforehand five or +six series of ideas, or meditations as he called them: one on the +assistance afforded by the fine arts to the progress of civilization, +another consisting of a string of sublime commonplaces on the fall of +empires and the moral value of monumental history; and so on. Each of +these meditations he endeavored to recall on appropriate occasions; and +he never had leisure to reflect, that for any instruction he was +deriving from what he saw he might as well have stopped at home. +However, having some imagination and talent, he frequently found himself +carried away by thoughts born of the occasion, and so irresistibly, that +once or twice he went through a whole gallery or church before he had +done with the train of ideas suggested by some previous sight, and was +only made aware that he had seen some unique painting or celebrated +windows of stained-glass by the guide claiming payment for his trouble, +and asking him to sign a testimonial doing justice to his civility and +great store of valuable information. It is only just to state that M. +Ernest never failed to comply with either of these demands. + +When, however, as we have said, he had been two or three days in Naples, +and had rushed over the ground generally traversed by tourists, our +young traveler began to feel weary and disgusted. For some time he did +not understand what was the matter, and upbraided himself with the lack +of industry and decline of enthusiasm, which made him look forward with +horror to the summons of Giacomo, his guide, to be up and doing. At +length, however, during one sleepless night the truth flashed upon him, +and in the morning, to his own surprise and delight, he mustered up +courage to dismiss Giacomo with a handsome present, and to declare that +that day at least he was resolved to see nothing. + +What a delightful stroll he took along the seashore that morning with +his eyes half-closed lest he might be tempted to look around for +information! He went toward Portici, but he saw nothing except the sand +and pebbles at his feet, and the white-headed surf that broke near at +hand. For the first time since his departure from Paris he felt +light-minded and at ease; and the only incident that occurred to disturb +his equanimity was, when his eyes rested for half a second on a broken +pillar in a vine-garden, and he was obliged to make an effort to pass by +without ascertaining whether it was of Roman date. But this feat once +accomplished, he threw up his cap for joy, shouted "_Victoire!_" and +really felt independent. + +He was much mistaken, however, if he supposed it to be possible to +remain long in the enjoyment of that _dolce far niente_, the first savor +of which so captivated him. One day, two days passed, at the end of +which he found that while he had supposed himself to be doing nothing, +he had in reality made the great and only discovery of his +travels--namely, that the new country in which he found himself was +inhabited, and that, too, by people who, though not quite so different +from his countrymen as the savages of the South Sea Islands, possessed +yet a very marked character of their own, worthy of study and +observation. Thenceforward his journal began to be filled with notes on +costume, manners, &c.; and in three weeks, with wonderful modesty, after +combining the results of all his researches, he came to the conclusion +that he understood nothing at all of the character of the Italians. + +In this humble state of mind he wandered forth one morning in the +direction of the Castle of St. Elmo, to enjoy the cool breeze that came +wafting from the sea, and mingled with and tempered the early sunbeams +as they streamed over the eastern hills. Having reached a broad, silent +street, bordered only by a few houses and gardens, he resolved not to +extend his walk further, but sat down on an old wooden bench under the +shade of a platane-tree that drooped over a lofty wall. Here he remained +some time watching the few passengers that occasionally turned a distant +corner and advanced toward him. He noticed that they all stopped at some +one of the houses further down the street, and that none reached as far +as where he sat; which led him first to observe that beyond his position +were only two large houses, both apparently uninhabited. One, indeed, +was quite ruined--many of the windows were built up or covered with old +boards; but the other showed fewer symptoms of decay, and might be +imagined to belong to some family at that time absent in the country. + +He had just come to this very important conclusion when his attention +was diverted by the near approach of two ladies elegantly dressed, +followed by an elderly serving-man in plain livery, carrying a couple of +mass-books. They passed him rather hurriedly, but not before he had time +to set them down as mother and daughter, and to be struck with the great +beauty and grace of the latter. Indeed, so susceptible in that idle mood +was he of new impressions, that before the young lady had gone on more +than twenty paces he determined that he was in love with her, and by an +instinctive impulse rose to follow. At this moment the serving-man +turned round, and threw a calm but inquisitive glance toward him. He +checked himself, and affected to look the other way for a while, then +prepared to carry out his original intention. To his great surprise, +however, both ladies and follower had disappeared. + +An ordinary man would have guessed at once that they had gone into one +of the houses previously supposed to be uninhabited, but M. Ernest Leroy +must needs fancy, first, that he had seen a vision, and then that the +objects of his interest had been snatched away by some evil spirit. +Mechanically, however, he hurried to the end of the street, which he +found terminated in an open piece of ground, which there had not been +time for any one to traverse. At length the rational explanation of the +matter occurred to him, and he felt for a moment inclined to knock at +the door of the house that was in best preservation, and complain of +what he persisted in considering a mysterious disappearance. However, +not being quite mad, he checked himself, and returning to his wooden +bench, sat down, and endeavored to be very miserable. + +But this would have been out of character. Instead thereof he began to +feel a new interest in life, and to look back with some contempt on the +two previous phases of his travels. With youthful romance and French +confidence he resolved to follow up this adventure, never doubting for a +moment of the possibility of ultimate success, nor of the excellence of +the object of his hopes. What means to adopt did not, it is true, +immediately suggest themselves; and he remained sitting for more than an +hour gazing at the great silent house opposite, until the unpleasant +consciousness that he had not breakfasted forced him to beat a retreat. + +We have not space to develop--luckily it is not necessary--all the wild +imaginings that fluttered through the brain of our susceptible traveler +on his return to his lodgings, and especially after a nourishing +breakfast had imparted to him new strength and vivacity. Under their +influence he repaired again to his post on the old wooden bench under +the platane-tree, and even had the perseverance to make a third visit in +the evening; for--probably, because he expected the adventure to draw +out to a considerable length--he did not imitate the foolish fantasy of +some lovers, and deprive himself of his regular meals. He saw nothing +that day; but next morning he had the inexpressible satisfaction of +again beholding the two ladies approach, followed by their +respectable-looking servant. They passed without casting a glance toward +him; but their attendant this time not only turned round, but stopped, +and gazed at him in a manner he would have thought impertinent on +another occasion. For the moment, however, this was precisely what he +wanted, and without thinking much of the consequences that might ensue, +he hastily made a sign requesting an interview. The man only stared the +more, and then turning on his heel, gravely followed the two ladies, who +had just arrived at the gateway of their house. + +"I do not know what to make of that rascally valet," thought Ernest. "He +seems at once respectable and hypocritical. Probably my appearance does +not strike him as representing sufficient wealth, otherwise the hopes of +a fair bribe would have induced him at any rate to come out and ask me +what I meant." + +He was, of course, once more at his post in the afternoon; and this time +he had the satisfaction of seeing the door open, and the elderly +serving-man saunter slowly out, as if disposed to enjoy the air. First +he stopped on the steps, cracking pistachio-nuts, and jerking the shells +into the road with his thumb; then took two or three steps gently toward +the other end of the street; and at last, just as Ernest was about to +follow him, veered round and began to stroll quietly across the road, +still cracking his nuts, in the direction of the old wooden bench. + +"The villain has at length made up his mind," soliloquized our lover. +"He pretends to come out quite by accident, and will express great +surprise when I accost him in the way I intend." + +The elderly serving-man still came on, seemingly not at all in a hurry +to arrive, and gave ample time for an examination of his person. His +face was handsome, though lined by age and care, and was adorned by a +short grizzled beard. There was something very remarkable in the +keenness of his large gray eyes, as there was indeed about his whole +demeanor. His dress was a plain suit of black, that might have suited a +gentleman; and if Ernest had been less occupied with one idea he would +not have failed to see in this respectable domestic a prince reduced by +misfortune to live on wages, or a hero who had never had an opportunity +of exhibiting his worth. + +When this interesting person had reached the corner of the bench he set +himself down with a slight nod of apology or recognition--it was +difficult to say which--and went on eating his nuts quite unconcernedly. +As often happens in such cases, Ernest felt rather puzzled how to enter +upon business, and was trying to muster up an appearance of +condescending familiarity--suitable, he thought, to the occasion--when +the old man, very affably holding out his paper-bag that he might take +some nuts, saved him the trouble by observing: "You are a stranger, sir, +I believe?" + +"Yes, my good fellow," was the reply of Ernest, in academical Italian; +"and I have come to this county--" + +"I thought so," interrupted the serving-man, persisting in his offer of +nuts, but showing very little interest about Ernest's views in visiting +Italy--"by your behavior." + +"My behavior!" exclaimed the young man, a little nettled. + +"Precisely. But your quality of stranger has hitherto protected you from +any disagreeable consequences." + +This was said so quietly, so amiably, that the warning or menace wrapped +up in the words lost much of its bitter savor; yet our traveler could +not refrain from a haughty glance toward this audacious domestic, on +whom, however, it was lost, for he was deeply intent on his pistachios. +After a moment Ernest recovered his self-possession, remembered his +schemes, and drawing a little nearer the serving-man, laid his hand +confidentially on the sleeve of his coat, and said: "My good man, I have +a word or two for your private ear." + +Not expressing the least surprise or interest, the other replied: "I am +ready to hear what you have to say, provided you will not call me any +more your good man. I am not a good man, nor am I your man, without +offense be it spoken. My name is Alfonso." + +"Well, Alfonso, you are an original person, and I will not call you a +good man, though honesty and candor be written on your countenance. +(Alfonso smiled, but said nothing). But listen to me attentively, +remembering that though neither am I a good man, yet am I a generous +one. I passionately love your mistress." + +"Ah!" said Alfonso, with any thing but a benevolent expression of +countenance. Ernest, who was no physiognomist, noticed nothing; and +being mounted on his new hobby-horse, proceeded at once to give a +history of his impressions since the previous morning. When he had +concluded, the old man, who seemed all benevolence again, simply +observed: "Then it is the younger of the two ladies that captivated your +affections in this unaccountable manner!" + +"Of course," cried Ernest; "and I beseech you, my amiable Alfonso, to +put me in the way of declaring what I experience." + +"You are an extraordinary young man," was the grave reply; "an +extraordinary, an imprudent, and, I will add, a reckless person. You +fall in love with a person of whom you know nothing--not even the name. +This, however, is, I believe, according to rule among a certain class of +minds. Not satisfied with this, you can find no better way of +introducing yourself to her notice than endeavoring to corrupt one whom +you must have divined to be a confidential servant. Others would have +sought an introduction to the family; you dream at once of a clandestine +intercourse--" + +"I assure you--" interrupted Ernest, feeling both ashamed and indignant +at these remarks proceeding from one so inferior in station. + +"Assure me nothing, sir, as to your intentions, for you do not know them +yourself. I understand you perfectly, because I was once young and +thoughtless like you. Now listen to me: in that house dwells the +Contessa Corsini, with her daughter Clara; and if these two persons had +no one to protect them but themselves and a foolish old servitor, whom +the first comer judges capable of corruption, they would ere this have +been much molested; but it happens that the Count Corsini is not dead, +and inhabiteth with them, although seldom coming forth into the public +streets. What say you, young man, does not this a little disturb your +plans?" + +"In the first place," replied Ernest, "I am offended that you will +persist in implying--more, it is true, by your manner than your +words--that my views are not perfectly avowable." + +"Then why, in the name of Heaven, do you not make yourself known to the +count, stating your object, and asking formally for his daughter's +hand?" + +"Not so fast, Alfonso. It was necessary for me to learn, as a beginning, +that there was a count in the case." + +"And what do you know now? Perhaps those women are two adventurers, and +I a rascal playing a virtuous part, in order the better to deceive you." + +"You do not look like a rascal," said Ernest, quite innocently. At which +observation the old man condescended to laugh heartily, and seemed from +that moment to take quite a liking to his new acquaintance. After a +little while, indeed, he began to give some information about the young +Clara, who, he said, was only sixteen years of age, though quite a woman +in appearance, and not unaccomplished. As to her dowry--Ernest +interrupted him by saying, that he wished for no information on that +point, being himself rich. The old man smiled amiably, and ended the +conversation by requesting another interview next day at the same hour, +by which time, he said, he might have some news to tell. + +Ernest returned home in high spirits, which sank by degrees, however, +when he reflected that as Alfonso declined favoring any clandestine +correspondence, there was little in reality to be expected from him. +True, he had given him some information, and he might now, by means of +his letters of introduction, contrive to make acquaintance with the +count. But though he spent the whole evening and next morning in making +inquiries, he could not meet with any one who had ever even heard of +such a person. "Possibly," he thought, "the old sinner may have been +laughing at me all the time, and entered into conversation simply with +the object of getting up a story to divert the other domestics of the +house. If such be the case, he may be sure I shall wreak vengeance upon +him." + +In spite of these reflections, he was at his post at the hour appointed, +and felt quite overjoyed when Alfonso made his appearance. The old man +said that a plan had suggested itself by which he might be introduced +into the house--namely, that he should pretend to be a professor of +drawing, and offer his services. Ernest did not inquire how Alfonso came +to know that he was an amateur artist, but eagerly complied with the +plan, and was instructed to call on the following morning, and to say +that he had heard that a drawing-master was wanted. + +He went accordingly, not very boldly, it is true, and looking very much +in reality like a poor professor anxious to obtain employment. The +contessa, who was yet young and beautiful, received him politely, +listened to his proposals, and made no difficulty in accepting them. The +preliminaries arranged, Clara was called, and, to Ernest's astonishment, +came bouncing into the room like a great school-girl, looked him very +hard in the face, and among the first things she said, asked him if he +was not the man she had seen two mornings following sitting opposite the +house on the bench under the platane tree. + +Now Ernest had imagined to himself something so refined, so delicate, so +fairy-like, instead of this plain reality, that he all at once began to +feel disgusted, and to wish he had acted more prudently. And yet there +was Clara, exactly as he had seen her, except that she had exchanged the +demure, conventional step adopted by ladies in the street for the free +motions of youth; and except that, instead of casting her eyes to the +earth, or glancing at him sideways, she now looked toward him with a +frank and free gaze, and spoke what came uppermost in her mind. Certes, +most men would have chosen that moment to fall in love with so charming +a creature; for charming she was beyond all doubt, with large, rich, +black eyes, pouting ruby lips, fine oval cheeks, and a mass of ebony +hair; but Ernest's first impression was disappointment, and he began to +criticise both her and every thing by which she was surrounded. + +He saw at once that there was poverty in the house. The furniture was +neat, but scanty; and the door had been opened by a female servant, who +had evidently been disturbed from some domestic avocations. The contessa +and her daughter were dressed very plainly--far differently from what +they had been in the street; and it was an easy matter to see that this +plainness was not adopted from choice but from necessity. Had Clara come +into the room with a slow, creeping step, keeping her eyes modestly +fixed on the chipped marble floor, not one of these observations would +have been made: the large, dreary house would have been a palace in +Ernest's eyes; but his taste was a morbid one, and in five minutes after +he had begun to give his lesson, he began to fear that the conquest he +had so ardently desired would be only too easy. + +There was something, however, so cheerful and fascinating in Clara's +manner that he could not but soon learn to feel pleasure in her society: +and when he went away he determined, instead of starting off for Sicily, +as he had at first thought of doing, to pay at least one more visit to +the house in the character of drawing master. Alfonso joined him as he +walked slowly homeward, and asked him how things had passed. He related +frankly his first impressions, to which the old man listened very +attentively without making any remark. At parting, however, he shook his +head, saying that young men were of all animals the most difficult to +content. + +Next day, when Ernest went to give his lesson, he was told by Alfonso +that the contessa, being indisposed, had remained in bed, but that he +should find Clara in the garden. There was something romantic in the +sound of this, so he hurried to the spot indicated, impatient to have +the commonplace impressions of the previous day effaced. This time his +disgust was complete. He found Clara engaged in assisting the servant +maid to wring and hang out some clothes they had just finished washing. +She seemed not at all put out by being caught thus humbly employed; but +begging him to wait a little, finished her work, ran away, dressed +somewhat carefully, and returning begged he would return to the house. +He followed with cheeks burning with shame: he felt the utmost contempt +for himself because he had fallen in love with this little housewife, +and the greatest indignation against her for having presumed, very +innocently, to excite so poetical a sentiment; and, in the stupidity of +his offended self-love, resolved to avenge himself by making some +spiteful remark ere he escaped from a house into which he considered +that he had been regularly entrapped. Accordingly, when she took the +pencil in hand, he observed that probably she imagined that contact with +soap-suds would improve the delicacy of her touch. Clara did not reply, +but began to sketch in a manner that proved she had listened to the +pedantic rules he had laid down on occasion of the previous lesson more +from modesty than because she was in want of them. Then suddenly rising +without attending to some cavil he thought it his duty to make, she went +to the piano, and beginning to play, drew forth such ravishing notes, +that Ernest, who was himself no contemptible musician, could not refrain +from applauding enthusiastically. She received his compliments with a +slight shrug of the shoulders, and commenced a song that enabled her to +display with full effect the capabilities of her magnificent voice. The +soap-suds were forgotten; and Ernest's romance was coming back upon him: +he began to chide himself for his foolish prejudices; and thought that, +after all, with a little training, Clara might be made quite a lady. +Suddenly, however, she broke off her song, and turning toward him with +an ironical smile, said: "Not bad for a housemaid, Mr. Professor--is +it?" + +He attempted to excuse himself, but he was evidently judged; and, what +was more--not as an obscure drawing-master, but as M. Ernest Leroy. His +identity was evidently no secret; and she even called him by his name. +He endeavored in vain to make a fine speech to apologize for his +ill-behavior; but she interrupted him keenly, though good-humoredly, and +the entrance of Alfonso was fatal to a fine scene of despair he was +about to enact. Clara upon this retired with a profound salute; and +Alfonso spoke with more of dignity than usual in his manner, and said: +"My young friend, you must excuse a little deception which has been +practiced on you, or rather which you have practiced upon yourself. I am +going to be very free and frank with you to-day. I am not what you take +me for. I am the Count Corsini, a Roman; and because I have not the +means of keeping a man-servant, when the women of my family go to church +I follow them, as you saw. This is not unusual among my countrymen. It +is a foolish pride I know; but so it is. However, the matter interests +you not. You saw my daughter Clara, and thought you loved her. I was +willing, as on inquiry I found you to be a respectable person, to see +how you could agree together; but your pride--I managed and overheard +all--has destroyed your chance. My daughter will seek another husband." + +There was a cold friendliness in Alfonso's tone which roused the pride +of Ernest. He affected to laugh, called himself a foolish madcap, but +hinted that a splendid marriage awaited him, if he chose, on his return +to Paris; and went away endeavoring to look unconcerned. The following +morning he was on board a vessel bound for Palermo, very sea-sick it is +true, but thinking at the same time a great deal more of Clara than he +could have thought possible had it been predicted. + +Some few years afterward Ernest Leroy was in one of the _salons_ of the +Fauxbourg St. Germain. Still a bachelor, he no longer felt those sudden +emotions to which he had been subject in his earlier youth. He was +beginning to talk less of sentiments present and more of sentiments +passed. In confidential moods he would lay his hand upon his +waistcoat--curved out at its lower extremity, by the by, by a notable +increase of substance--and allude to a certain divine Clara who had +illuminated a moment of his existence. But he was too discreet to enter +into details. + +Well, being in that _salon_, as we have said, pretending to amuse +himself, his attention was suddenly drawn by the announcement of Lady +D----. He turned round, probably to quiz _la belle Anglaise_ he expected +to behold. What was his astonishment on recognizing in the superb woman +who leaned on the arm of a tall, military-looking Englishman, the +identical Clara Corsini of his youthful memories. He felt at first sick +at heart; but, taking courage, soon went up and spoke to her. She +remembered him with some little difficulty, smiled, and holding out her +alabaster hand, said gently: "Do you see any trace of the soap-suds?" +She never imagined he had any feeling in him, and only knew the truth +when a large, round tear fell on the diamond of her ring. "Charles," +said Ernest awhile afterward to a friend, "it is stifling hot and +dreadfully stupid here. Let us go and have a game of billiards." + + + + +OUR SCHOOL. + +BY CHARLES DICKENS. + + +We went to look at it, only this last Midsummer, and found that the +Railway had cut it up root and branch. A great trunk-line had swallowed +the play-ground, sliced away the school-room, and pared off the corner +of the house: which, thus curtailed of its proportions, presented +itself, in a green stage of stucco, profile-wise toward the road, like a +forlorn flat-iron without a handle, standing on end. + +It seems as if our schools were doomed to be the sport of change. We +have faint recollections of a Preparatory Day-School, which we have +sought in vain, and which must have been pulled down to make a new +street, ages ago. We have dim impressions, scarcely amounting to a +belief, that it was over a dyer's shop. We know that you went up steps +to it; that you frequently grazed your knees in doing so; that you +generally got your leg over the scraper, in trying to scrape the mud off +a very unsteady little shoe. The mistress of the Establishment holds no +place in our memory; but, rampant on one eternal door-mat, in an eternal +entry, long and narrow, is a puffy pug-dog, with a personal animosity +toward us, who triumphs over Time. The bark of that baleful Pug, a +certain radiating way he had of snapping at our undefended legs, the +ghastly grinning of his moist black muzzle and white teeth, and the +insolence of his crisp tail curled like a pastoral crook, all live and +flourish. From an otherwise unaccountable association of him with a +fiddle, we conclude that he was of French extraction, and his name +_Fidele_. He belonged to some female, chiefly inhabiting a back-parlor, +whose life appears to us to have been consumed in sniffing, and in +wearing a brown beaver bonnet. For her, he would sit up and balance cake +upon his nose, and not eat it until twenty had been counted. To the best +of our belief, we were once called in to witness this performance; when, +unable, even in his milder moments, to endure our presence, he instantly +made at us, cake and all. + +Why a something in mourning, called "Miss Frost," should still connect +itself with our preparatory school, we are unable to say. We retain no +impression of the beauty of Miss Frost--if she were beautiful; or of the +mental fascinations of Miss Frost--if she were accomplished; yet her +name and her black dress hold an enduring place in our remembrance. An +equally impersonal boy, whose name has long since shaped itself +unalterably into "Master Mawls," is not to be dislodged from our brain. +Retaining no vindictive feeling toward Mawls--no feeling whatever, +indeed--we infer that neither he nor we can have loved Miss Frost. Our +first impression of Death and Burial is associated with this formless +pair. We all three nestled awfully in a corner one wintry day, when the +wind was blowing shrill, with Miss Frost's pinafore over our heads; and +Miss Frost told us in a whisper about somebody being "screwed down." It +is the only distinct recollection we preserve of these impalpable +creatures, except a suspicion that the manners of Master Mawls were +susceptible of much improvement. Generally speaking, we may observe that +whenever we see a child intently occupied with its nose, to the +exclusion of all other subjects of interest, our mind reverts in a flash +to Master Mawls. + +But, the School that was Our School before the Railroad came and +overthrew it, was quite another sort of place. We were old enough to be +put into Virgil when we went there, and to get Prizes for a variety of +polishing on which the rust has long accumulated. It was a School of +some celebrity in its neighborhood--nobody could have said why--and we +had the honor to attain and hold the eminent position of first boy. The +master was supposed among us to know nothing, and one of the ushers was +supposed to know every thing. We are still inclined to think the +first-named supposition perfectly correct. + +We have a general idea that its subject had been in the leather trade, +and had bought us--meaning our School--of another proprietor, who was +immensely learned. Whether this belief had any real foundation, we are +not likely ever to know now. The only branches of education with which +he showed the least acquaintance, were, ruling, and corporally +punishing. He was always ruling ciphering-books with a bloated mahogany +ruler, or smiting the palms of offenders with the same diabolical +instrument, or viciously drawing a pair of pantaloons tight with one of +his large hands, and caning the wearer with the other. We have no doubt +whatever that this occupation was the principal solace of his existence. + +A profound respect for money pervaded Our School, which was, of course, +derived from its Chief. We remember an idiotic, goggle-eyed boy, with a +big head and half-crowns without end, who suddenly appeared as a +parlor-boarder, and was rumored to have come by sea from some mysterious +part of the earth where his parents rolled in gold. He was usually +called "Mr." by the Chief, and was said to feed in the parlor on steaks +and gravy; likewise to drink currant wine. And he openly stated that if +rolls and coffee were ever denied him at breakfast, he would write home +to that unknown part of the globe from which he had come, and cause +himself to be recalled to the regions of gold. He was put into no form +or class, but learnt alone, as little as he liked--and he liked very +little--and there was a belief among us that this was because he was too +wealthy to be "taken down." His special treatment, and our vague +association of him with the sea, and with storms, and sharks, and coral +reefs, occasioned the wildest legends to be circulated as his history. A +tragedy in blank verse was written on the subject--if our memory does +not deceive us, by the hand that now chronicles these recollections--in +which his father figured as a Pirate, and was shot for a voluminous +catalogue of atrocities: first imparting to his wife the secret of the +cave in which his wealth was stored, and from which his only son's +half-crowns now issued. Dumbledon (the boy's name) was represented as +"yet unborn," when his brave father met his fate; and the despair and +grief of Mrs. Dumbledon at that calamity was movingly shadowed forth as +having weakened the parlor-boarder's mind. This production was received +with great favor, and was twice performed with closed doors in the +dining-room. But, it got wind, and was seized as libelous, and brought +the unlucky poet into severe affliction. Some two years afterward, all +of a sudden one day, Dumbledon vanished. It was whispered that the +Chief himself had taken him down to the Docks, and reshipped him for the +Spanish Main; but nothing certain was ever known about his +disappearance. At this hour, we can not thoroughly disconnect him from +California. + +Our School was rather famous for mysterious pupils. There was another--a +heavy young man, with a large double-cased silver watch, and a fat +knife, the handle of which was a perfect tool-box--who unaccountably +appeared one day at a special desk of his own, erected close to that of +the Chief, with whom he held familiar converse. He lived in the parlor, +and went out for walks, and never took the least notice of us--even of +us, the first boy--unless to give us a depreciatory kick, or grimly to +take our hat off and throw it away, when he encountered us out of doors: +which unpleasant ceremony he always performed as he passed--not even +condescending to stop for the purpose. Some of us believed that the +classical attainments of this phenomenon were terrific, but that his +penmanship and arithmetic were defective, and he had come there to mend +them; others, that he was going to set up a school, and had paid the +Chief "twenty-five pound down," for leave to see Our School at work. The +gloomier spirits even said that he was going to buy _us_; against which +contingency conspiracies were set on foot for a general defection and +running away. However, he never did that. After staying for a quarter, +during which period, though closely observed, he was never seen to do +any thing but make pens out of quills, write small-hand in a secret +portfolio, and punch the point of the sharpest blade in his knife into +his desk, all over it, he, too, disappeared, and his place knew him no +more. + +There was another boy, a fair, meek boy, with a delicate complexion and +rich curling hair, who, we found out, or thought we found out (we have +no idea now, and probably had none then, on what grounds, but it was +confidentially revealed from mouth to mouth), was the son of a Viscount +who had deserted his lovely mother. It was understood that if he had his +rights, he would be worth twenty thousand a year. And that if his mother +ever met his father, she would shoot him with a silver pistol which she +carried, always loaded to the muzzle, for that purpose. He was a very +suggestive topic. So was a young Mulatto, who was always believed +(though very amiable) to have a dagger about him somewhere. But, we +think they were both outshone, upon the whole, by another boy who +claimed to have been born on the twenty-ninth of February, and to have +only one birthday in five years. We suspect this to have been a +fiction--but he lived upon it all the time he was at Our School. + +The principal currency of Our School was slate-pencil. It had some +inexplicable value, that was never ascertained, never reduced to a +standard. To have a great hoard of it, was somehow to be rich. We used +to bestow it in charity, and confer it as a precious boon upon our +chosen friends. When the holidays were coming, contributions were +solicited for certain boys whose relatives were in India, and who were +appealed for under the generic name of "Holiday-stoppers"--appropriate +marks of remembrance that should enliven and cheer them in their +homeless state. Personally, we always contributed these tokens of +sympathy in the form of slate-pencil, and always felt that it would be a +comfort and a treasure to them. + +Our School was remarkable for white mice. Red-polls, linnets, and even +canaries, were kept in desks, drawers, hat-boxes, and other strange +refuges for birds; but white mice were the favorite stock. The boys +trained the mice, much better than the masters trained the boys. We +recall one white mouse, who lived in the cover of a Latin dictionary, +who ran up ladders, drew Roman chariots, shouldered muskets, turned +wheels, and even made a very creditable appearance on the stage as the +Dog of Montargis. He might have achieved greater things, but for having +the misfortune to mistake his way in a triumphal procession to the +Capitol, when he fell into a deep inkstand, and was dyed black, and +drowned. The mice were the occasion of some most ingenious engineering, +in the construction of their houses and instruments of performance. The +famous one belonged to a Company of proprietors, some of whom have since +made Railroads, Engines, and Telegraphs; the chairman has erected mills +and bridges in New Zealand. + +The usher at our school, who was considered to know every thing as +opposed to the Chief who was considered to know nothing, was a bony, +gentle-faced, clerical-looking young man in rusty black. It was +whispered that he was sweet upon one of Maxby's sisters (Maxby lived +close by, and was a day pupil), and further that he "favored Maxby." As +we remember, he taught Italian to Maxby's sisters on half-holidays. He +once went to the play with them, and wore a white waistcoat and a rose: +which was considered among us equivalent to a declaration. We were of +opinion on that occasion that to the last moment he expected Maxby's +father to ask him to dinner at five o'clock, and therefore neglected his +own dinner at half-past one, and finally got none. We exaggerated in our +imaginations the extent to which he punished Maxby's father's cold meat +at supper; and we agreed to believe that he was elevated with wine and +water when he came home. But, we all liked him; for he had a good +knowledge of boys, and would have made it a much better school if he had +had more power. He was writing-master, mathematical-master, English +master, made out the bills, mended the pens, and did all sorts of +things. He divided the little boys with the Latin master (they were +smuggled through their rudimentary books, at odd times when there was +nothing else to do), and he always called at parents' houses to inquire +after sick boys, because he had gentlemanly manners. He was rather +musical, and on some remote quarter-day had bought an old trombone; but +a bit of it was lost, and it made the most extraordinary sounds when he +sometimes tried to play it of an evening. His holidays never began (on +account of the bills) until long after ours; but in the summer-vacations +he used to take pedestrian excursions with a knapsack; and at +Christmas-time he went to see his father at Chipping Norton, who we all +said (on no authority) was a dairy-fed-pork-butcher. Poor fellow! He was +very low all day on Maxby's sister's wedding-day, and afterward was +thought to favor Maxby more than ever, though he had been expected to +spite him. He has been dead these twenty years. Poor fellow! + +Our remembrance of Our School, presents the Latin master as a colorless, +doubled-up, near-sighted man with a crutch, who was always cold, and +always putting onions into his ears for deafness, and always disclosing +ends of flannel under all his garments, and almost always applying a +ball of pocket-handkerchief to some part of his face with a screwing +action round and round. He was a very good scholar, and took great pains +where he saw intelligence and a desire to learn; otherwise, perhaps not. +Our memory presents him (unless teased into a passion) with as little +energy as color--as having been worried and tormented into monotonous +feebleness--as having had the best part of his life ground out of him in +a mill of boys. We remember with terror how he fell asleep one sultry +afternoon with the little smuggled class before him, and awoke not when +the footstep of the Chief fell heavy on the floor; how the Chief aroused +him, in the midst of a dread silence, and said, "Mr. Blinkins, are you +ill, sir?" how he blushingly replied, "Sir, rather so;" how the Chief +retorted with severity, "Mr. Blinkins, this is no place to be ill in" +(which was very, very true), and walked back, solemn as the ghost in +Hamlet, until, catching a wandering eye, he caned that boy for +inattention, and happily expressed his feelings toward the Latin master +through the medium of a substitute. + +There was a fat little dancing-master who used to come in a gig, and +taught the more advanced among us hornpipes (as an accomplishment in +great social demand in after-life); and there was a brisk little French +master who used to come in the sunniest weather with a handleless +umbrella, and to whom the Chief was always polite, because (as we +believed), if the Chief offended him, he would instantly address the +Chief in French, and forever confound him before the boys with his +inability to understand or reply. + +There was, besides, a serving man, whose name was Phil. Our +retrospective glance presents Phil as a shipwrecked carpenter, cast away +upon the desert island of a school, and carrying into practice an +ingenious inkling of many trades. He mended whatever was broken, and +made whatever was wanted. He was general glazier, among other things, +and mended all the broken windows--at the prime cost (as was darkly +rumored among us) of ninepence for every square charged three-and-six to +parents. We had a high opinion of his mechanical genius, and generally +held that the Chief "knew something bad of him," and on pain of +divulgence enforced Phil to be his bondsman. We particularly remember +that Phil had a sovereign contempt for learning; which engenders in us a +respect for his sagacity, as it implies his accurate observation of the +relative positions of the Chief and the ushers. He was an impenetrable +man, who waited at table between whiles, and, throughout "the half" kept +the boxes in severe custody. He was morose, even to the Chief, and never +smiled, except at breaking-up, when, in acknowledgment of the toast, +"Success to Phil! Hooray!" he would slowly carve a grin out of his +wooden face, where it would remain until we were all gone. Nevertheless, +one time when we had the scarlet fever in the school, Phil nursed all +the sick boys of his own accord, and was like a mother to them. + +There was another school not far off, and of course our school could +have nothing to say to that school. It is mostly the way with schools, +whether of boys or men. Well! the railway has swallowed up ours, and the +locomotives now run smoothly over its ashes. + + So fades and languishes, grows dim and dies, + All that this world is proud of, + +and is not proud of, too. It had little reason to be proud of Our +School, and has done much better since in that way, and will do far +better yet. + + + + +A STORY OF ORIENTAL LOVE. + + +Poets have complained in all countries and in all ages, that true love +ever meets with obstacles and hindrances, and the highest efforts of +their art have been exhausted in commemorating the sufferings or the +triumphs of affection. Will the theme ever cease to interest? Will the +hopes, the fears, the joys, the vows of lovers, ever be deemed matters +of light moment, unworthy to be embalmed and preserved in those immortal +caskets which genius knows how to frame out of words? If that dreary +time be destined to come--if victory decide in favor of those mechanical +philosophers who would drive sentiment out of the world--sad will be the +lot of mortals; for it is better to die with a heart full of love, than +live for an age without feeling one vibration of that divine passion. + +I am almost ashamed to translate into this level English, the sublime +rhapsody with which the worthy Sheikh Ibrahim introduced the simple +story about to be repeated. The truth is, I do not remember much of what +he said, and at times he left me far behind, as he soared up through the +cloudy heaven of his enthusiasm. I could only occasionally discern his +meaning as it flashed along; but a solemn, rapturous murmur of +inarticulate sounds swept over my soul, and prepared it to receive with +devout faith and respect, what else might have appeared to me a silly +tale of truth and constancy and passionate devotion. I forgot the +thousand musquitoes that were whirling with threatening buzz around; the +bubbling of the water-pipe grew gradually less frequent, and at length +died away; and the sides of the kiosque overlooking the river, with its +flitting sails and palm-fringed shores dimming in the twilight, seemed +to open and throw back a long vista into the past. I listened, and the +Sheikh continued to speak: + +I will relate the story of Gadallah, the son of the sword-maker, and of +Hosneh, the daughter of the merchant. It is handed down to us by +tradition, and the fathers of some yet living, remember to have heard it +told by eye-witnesses. Not that any great weight of testimony is +required to exact belief. No extraordinary incident befell the lovers; +and the pure-hearted, when they hear these things, will say within +themselves, "This must be so; we would have done likewise." + +Gadallah was a youth of wonderful beauty; his like is only to be seen +once in a long summer's day, by the favor of God. All Cairo spoke of +him, and mothers envied his mother, and fathers his father; and maidens +who beheld him grew faint with admiration, and loved as hopelessly as if +he had been the brightest star of heaven. For he did not incline to such +thoughts, and had been taught to despise women, and to believe that they +were all wicked and designing--full of craft and falsehood. Such +instructions had his mother given him, for she knew the snares that +would beset so beautiful a youth, and feared for him, lest he might be +led into danger and misfortune. + +Gadallah worked with his father in the shop, and being a cunning +artificer, assisted to support the family. He had many brothers and +sisters, all younger than he; but there were times when money was scarce +with them, and they were compelled to borrow for their daily expenses of +their neighbors, and to trust to Providence for the means of repayment. +Thus time passed, and they became neither richer nor poorer, as is the +common lot of men who labor for their bread; but neither Gadallah nor +his father repined. When Allah gave good fortune they blessed him, and +when no good fortune was bestowed, they blessed him for not taking away +that which they had. They who spend their lives in industry and in +praise of God, can not be unhappy. + +It came to pass one day, that a man richly dressed, riding on a mule, +and followed by servants, stopped opposite the shop, and calling to the +father of Gadallah, said to him: "O Sheikh, I have a sword, the hilt of +which is broken, and I desire thee to come to my house and mend it; for +it is of much value, and there is a word of power written on it, and I +can not allow it to leave the shelter of my roof." The sword-maker +answered: "O master, it will be better that my son should accompany +thee; for he is young, and his eyes are sharp, and his hand is clever, +while I am growing old, and not fit for the finer work." The customer +replied that it was well, and having given Gadallah time to take his +tools, rode slowly away, the youth following him at a modest distance. + +They proceeded to a distant quarter, where the streets were silent and +the houses large and lofty, surrounded by gardens with tall trees that +trembled overhead in the sun-light. At length they stopped before a +mansion fit for a prince, and Gadallah entered along with the owner. A +spacious court, with fountains playing in the shade of two large +sycamores, and surrounded by light colonnades, so struck the young +sword-maker with astonishment, that he exclaimed: "Blessed be God, whose +creatures are permitted to rear palaces so beautiful!" These words +caused the master to smile with benignity, for who is insensible to the +praise of his own house? And he said: "Young man, thou seest only a +portion of that which has been bestowed upon me--extolled be the Lord +and his Prophet; follow me." So they passed through halls of surprising +magnificence, until they came to a lofty door, over which swept long +crimson curtains, and which was guarded by a black slave with a sword in +his hand. He looked at Gadallah with surprise when the master said +"open," but obeying, admitted them to a spacious saloon--more splendid +than any that had preceded. + +Now Gadallah having never seen the interior of any house better than +that of his neighbor the barber, who was a relation by the mother's +side, and highly respected as a man of wealth and condition, was lost in +amazement and wonder at all he beheld, not knowing that he was the most +beautiful thing in that saloon, and scarcely ventured to walk, lest he +might stain the polished marble or the costly carpets. His conductor, +who was evidently a good man, from the delight he honestly showed at +this artless tribute to his magnificence, took him to a small cabinet +containing a chest inlaid with mother-of-pearl. This he opened, and +producing a sword, the like of which never came from Damascus, bade him +observe where the hilt was broken, and ordered him to mend it carefully. +Then he left him, saying he would return in an hour. + +Gadallah began his work with the intention of being very industrious; +but he soon paused to admire at leisure the splendor of the saloon; when +he had fed his eyes with this, he turned to a window that looked upon a +garden, and saw that it was adorned with lovely trees, bright flowers, +elegant kiosques, and running fountains. An aviary hard by was filled +with singing-birds, which warbled the praises of the Creator. His mind +soon became a wilderness of delight, in which leaf-laden branches waved, +and roses, and anemones, and pinks, and fifty more of the bright +daughters of spring, blushed and glittered; and melody wandered with +hesitating steps, like a spirit seeking the coolest and sweetest place +of rest. This was like an exquisite dream; but presently, straying in a +path nigh at hand, he beheld an unvailed maiden and her attendant. It +was but for a moment she appeared, yet her image was so brightly thrown +in upon his heart, that he loved her ever afterward with a love as +unchangeable as the purity of the heavens. When she was gone, he sat +himself down beside the broken sword and wept. + +The master of the house came back, and gently chid him for his idleness. +"Go," said he, "and return to-morrow at the same hour. Thou hast now +sufficiently fed thine eyes--go; but remember, envy me not the wealth +which God hath bestowed." Gadallah went his way, having first +ascertained from the servants, that his employer was the Arabian +merchant Zen-ed-din, whose daughter Hosneh was said to surpass in beauty +all the maidens of the land of Egypt. On reaching the house, he repaired +to his mother's side, and sitting down, told her of all he had seen and +all he felt, beseeching her to advise him and predict good fortune to +him. + +Fatoumeh, the mother of Gadallah, was a wise woman, and understood that +his case was hopeless, unless his desires received accomplishment. But +it seemed to her impossible that the son of the poor sword-maker should +ever be acceptable to the daughter of the wealthy merchant. She wept +plentifully at the prospect of misery that unfolded itself, and when her +husband came in, he also wept; and all three mingled their tears +together until a late hour of the night. + +Next day Gadallah went at the appointed hour to the merchant's house, +and being kindly received, finished the work set to him; but saw no more +of the maiden who had disturbed his mind. Zen-ed-din paid him handsomely +for his trouble, and added some words of good advice. This done, he +gently dismissed him, promising he would recall him shortly for other +work; and the youth returned home despairing of all future happiness. +The strength of his love was so great, that it shook him like a mighty +fever, and he remained ill upon his couch that day, and the next, and +the next, until he approached the margin of the grave; but his hour was +not yet come, and he recovered. + +In the mean time, the Angel of Death received permission from the +Almighty to smite thirty thousand of the inhabitants of Cairo; and he +sent a great plague, that introduced sorrow into every house. It flew +rapidly from quarter to quarter, and from street to street, smiting the +chosen of the tomb--the young, the old, the bad, the good, the rich, the +poor--here, there, every where; in the palace, the hovel, the shop, the +market-place, the deewan. All day and all night the shriek of sorrow +resounded in the air; and the thoroughfares were filled with people +following corpses to the cemetery. Many fled into other cities and other +lands; but the plague followed those who were doomed, and struck them +down by the wayside, or in the midst of their new friends. + +It happened that the merchant Zen-ed-din had gone upon a journey, and +had left his house, and his harem, and his lovely daughter, under the +care of Providence, so that when Gadallah recovered, before the +pestilence reached its height, he waited in vain in the shop, expecting +that the merchant would pass, and invite him again to his house. At +length the affliction of the city reached so great a degree of +intensity, that all business was put a stop to, the bazaars were +deserted, and men waited beneath their own roofs the inevitable decrees +of fate. + +Gadallah, who had confidence in God, spent part of his time walking in +the streets; but every day went and sat on a stone bench opposite to +Zen-ed-din's house, expecting to see some one come forth who might tell +him that all were well within. But the doors remained closed, and not a +sound ever proceeded from the interior of the vast mansion. At length, +however, when he came at the usual hour, he perceived that the great +entrance-gate was left half-open, and he mustered up courage to enter. +He found the Bawab dead on his bench, and two black slaves by the side +of the fountain. His heart smote him with a presentiment of evil. He +advanced into the inner halls without seeing a sign of life. Behind the +great crimson curtains that swept over the doorway of the saloon where +he had worked, lay the guardian with his sword still in his hand. He +pressed forward, finding every place deserted. Raising his voice at +length, he called aloud, and asked if any living thing remained within +those walls. No reply came but the echo that sounded dismally along the +roof; with a heart oppressed by fear, he entered what he knew to be the +ladies' private apartments; and here he found the attendant of Hosneh +dying. She looked amazed at beholding a stranger, and, at first, refused +to reply to his questions. But, at length, in a faint voice, she said +that the plague had entered the house the day before like a raging lion, +that many fell victims almost instantly, and that the women of the harem +in a state of wild alarm had fled. "And Hosneh?" inquired Gadallah. "She +is laid out in the kiosque, in the garden," replied the girl, who almost +immediately afterward breathed her last. + +Gadallah remained for some time gazing at her, and still listening, as +if to ascertain that he had heard correctly. Then he made his way to the +garden, and searched the kiosques, without finding what he sought, until +he came to one raised on a light terrace, amid a grove of waving trees. +Here beneath a canopy of white silk, on pillows of white silk, and all +clothed in white silk, lay the form that had so long dwelt in his heart. +Without fear of the infection, having first asked pardon of God, he +stooped over her, and kissed those lips that had never even spoken to a +man except her father; and he wished that death might come to him +likewise; and he ventured to lie down by her side, that the two whom +life could never have brought together, might be found united at least +under one shroud. + +A rustling close by attracted his attention. It was a dove fluttering +down to her accustomed place on a bough, which once gained, she rolled +forth from her swelling throat a cooing challenge to her partner in a +distant tree. On reverting his look to the face of Hosneh, Gadallah +thought he saw a faint red tint upon the lips he had pressed, like the +first blush of the dawn in a cold sky. He gazed with wonder and delight, +and became convinced he was not mistaken. He ran to a fountain and +brought water in a large hollow leaf, partly poured it between the +pearly teeth, which he parted timidly with his little finger, and partly +sprinkled it over the maiden's face and bosom. At length a sigh shook +her frame--so soft, so gentle that a lover's senses alone could have +discerned it; and then, after an interval of perfect tranquillity, her +eyes opened, gazed for a moment at the youth, and closed not in +weakness, but as if dazzled by his beauty. Gadallah bent over her, +watching for the least motion, the least indication of returning +consciousness; listening for the first word, the first murmur that might +break from those lips which he had tasted without warrant. He waited +long, but not in vain; for at last there came a sweet smile, and a +small, low voice cried, "Sabrea! where is Sabrea?" Gadallah now cast +more water, and succeeded in restoring Hosneh to perfect consciousness, +and to modest fear. + +He sat at her feet and told her what had happened, omitting no one +thing--not even the love which he had conceived for her; and he +promised, in the absence of her friends, to attend upon her with respect +and devotion, until her strength and health should return. She was but a +child in years, and innocent as are the angels; and hearing the +frankness of his speech, consented to what he proposed. And he attended +her that day and the next, until she was able to rise upon her couch, +and sit and talk in a low voice with him of love. He found every thing +that was required in the way of food amply stored in the house, the +gates of which he closed, lest robbers might enter; but he did not often +go into it, for fear of the infection, and this was his excuse for not +returning once to his parents' house, lest he might carry death with +him. + +On the fourth day Hosneh was well enough to walk a little in the garden, +supported by the arms of Gadallah, who now wished that he might spend +his life in this manner. But the decrees of fate were not yet +accomplished. On the fifth day the young man became ill; he had sucked +the disease from the lips of Hosneh in that only kiss which he had +ventured; and before the sun went down, Hosneh was attending on him in +despair, as he had attended on her in hope. She, too, brought water to +bathe his forehead and his lips; she, too, watched for the signs of +returning life, and as she passed the night by his side, gazing on his +face, often mistook the sickly play of the moonbeams, as they fell +between the trees, for the smile which she would have given her life to +purchase. + +Praise be to God, it was not written that either of them should die; and +not many days afterward, toward the hour of evening, they were sitting +in another kiosque beside a fountain, pale and wan it is true, looking +more like pensive angels than mortal beings, but still with hearts full +of happiness that broke out from time to time in bright smiles, which +were reflected from one to the other as surely as were their forms in +the clear water by which they reclined. Gadallah held the hand of Hosneh +in his, and listened as she told how her mother had long ago been dead, +how her father loved her, and how he would surely have died had any harm +befallen her. She praised the courage, and the modesty, and the +gentleness of Gadallah--for he had spoken despondingly about the chances +of their future union, and said that when Zen-ed-din returned, she would +relate all that had happened, and fall at his knees and say, "Father, +give me to Gadallah." + +The sun had just set, the golden streams that had been pouring into the +garden seemed now sporting with the clouds overhead; solid shadows were +thickening around; the flowers and the blossoms breathed forth their +most fragrant perfumes; the last cooing of the drowsy doves was +trembling on all sides; the nightingale was trying her voice in a few +short, melancholy snatches: it was an hour for delight and joy; and the +two lovers bent their heads closer together; closer, until their +ringlets mingled, and their sighs, and the glances of their eyes. Then +Gadallah suddenly arose, and said, "Daughter of my master, let there be +a sword placed betwixt me and thee." And as he spoke, a bright blade +gleamed betwixt him and the abashed maiden; and they were both seized +with strong hands and hurried away. + +Zen-ed-din had returned from his journey, and finding the great gate +closed, had come round with his followers to the garden entrance, which +he easily opened. Struck by the silence of the whole place, he advanced +cautiously until he heard voices talking in the kiosque. Then he drew +near, and overheard the whole of what had passed, and admired the +modesty and virtue of Gadallah. He caused him to be seized and thrown +that night into a dark room, that he might show his power; and he spoke +harshly to his daughter, because of her too great trustfulness, and her +unpermitted love. But when he understood all that had happened, and had +sufficiently admired the wonderful workings of God's Providence, he said +to himself, "Surely this youth and this maiden were created one for the +other, and the decrees of fate must be accomplished." So he took +Gadallah forth from his prison, and embraced him, calling him his son, +and sent for his parents, and told them what had happened, and they all +rejoiced; and in due time the marriage took place, and it was blessed, +and the children's children of Hosneh and Gadallah still live among us. + +While the excellent sheikh was rapidly running over the concluding +statements of his narrative, I remember having read the chief incident +in some European tradition--possibly borrowed, as so many of our +traditions are, from the East--and then a single line of one of our +poets, who has versified the story, came unbidden to my memory; but I +could not recollect the poet's name, nor understand how the train of +association could be so abruptly broken. The line doubtless describes +the first interview of the lover with the plague-stricken maiden--it is +as follows: + + "And folds the bright infection to his breast." + + + + +A BIRD-HUNTING SPIDER. + + +When the veracity of any person has been impugned, it is a duty which we +owe to society, if it lies in our power, to endeavor to establish it; +and when that person is a lady gallantry redoubles the obligation. Our +chivalry is, on the present occasion, excited in favor of Madame Merian, +who, toward the latter end of the seventeenth century, and during a two +years' residence in Surinam, employed her leisure in studying the many +interesting forms of winged and vegetable life indigenous to that +prolific country. After her return to Holland, her native land, she +published the results of her researches. Her writings, although +abounding in many inaccuracies and seeming fables, contained much +curious and new information; all the more valuable from the objects of +her study having been, at that period, either entirely unknown to the +naturalists of Europe, or vaguely reported by stray seafaring visitants; +who, with the usual license of travelers, were more anxious to strike +their hearers with astonishment than to extend their knowledge. + +These works were rendered still more attractive by numerous plates--the +result of Madame Merian's artistic skill--with which they were profusely +embellished. It is one of these which, with the description accompanying +it, has caused her truth to be called into question by subsequent +writers; who, we must conclude, had either not the good fortune or the +good eyesight to verify her statements by their own experience. The +illustration to which I allude represents a large spider carrying off in +its jaws a humming-bird, whose nest appears close at hand, and who had +apparently been seized while sitting on its eggs. + +Linnaeus, however, did not doubt the lady, and called the spider (which +belongs to the genus _Mygale_), "avicularia" (bird-eating). Whether this +ferocious-looking hunter does occasionally capture small birds; or +whether he subsists entirely on the wasps, bees, ants, and beetles which +every where abound, what I chanced myself to see in the forest will help +to determine. + +Shortly after daybreak, one morning in 1848, while staying at a +wood-cutting establishment on the Essequibo, a short distance above the +confluence of that river and the Magaruni, we--a tall Yorkshireman and +myself--started in our "wood-skin" to examine some spring hooks which we +had set during the previous evening, in the embouchure of a neighboring +creek. Our breakfast that morning depended on our success. Our chagrin +may be imagined on finding all the baits untouched save one; and from +that, some lurking cayman had snapped the body of the captured fish, +leaving nothing but the useless head dangling in the air. After mentally +dispatching our spoiler--who had not tricked us for the first time--to a +place very far distant, we paddled further up the creek in search of a +maam, or maroudi; or, indeed, of any thing eatable--bird, beast, or +reptile. We had not proceeded far, when my companion, Blottle, who was +sitting, gun in hand, prepared to deal destruction on the first living +creature we might chance to encounter--suddenly fired at some object +moving rapidly along the topmost branch of a tree which overhung the +sluggish stream a short way in advance. For a moment or two the success +of his aim seemed doubtful; then something came tumbling through the +intervening foliage, and I guided the canoe beneath, lest the prey +should be lost in the water. Our surprise was not unmingled, I must +confess, with vexation at first, on finding that the strange character +of our game removed our morning's repast as far off as ever. A huge +spider and a half-fledged bird lay in the bottom of our canoe--the one +with disjointed limbs and mutilated carcass; the other uninjured by the +shot, but nearly dead, though still faintly palpitating. The remains of +the spider showed him larger than any I had previously seen--smaller, +however, than one from Brazil, before me while I write--and may have +measured some two-and-half inches in the body, with limbs about twice +that length. He was rough and shaggy, with a thick covering of hair or +bristles; which, besides giving him an additional appearance of +strength, considerably increased the fierceness of his aspect. The hairs +were in some parts fully an inch long, of a dark brown color, inclining +to black. His powerful jaws and sturdy arms seemed never adapted for the +death-struggle of prey less noble than this small member of the +feathered race, for whom our succor had unhappily arrived too late. The +victim had been snatched from the nest while the mother was probably +assisting to collect a morning's meal for her offspring. It had been +clutched by the neck immediately above the shoulders: the marks of the +murderer's talons still remained; and, although no blood had escaped +from the wounds, they were much inflamed and swollen. + +The few greenish-brown feathers sparingly scattered among the down in +the wings, were insufficient to furnish me with a clew toward a +knowledge of its species. That it was a humming-bird, however, or one of +an allied genus, seemed apparent from the length of its bill. The king +of the humming-birds, as the Creoles call the topaz-throat (_Trochilus +pella_ of naturalists), is the almost exclusive frequenter of Marabella +Creek, where the overspreading foliage--here and there admitting stray +gleams of sunshine--forms a cool and shady, though sombre retreat, +peculiarly adapted to his disposition; and I strongly suspect that it +was the nest of this species which the spider had favored with a visit. +After making a minute inspection of the two bodies, we consigned them to +a watery grave; both of us convinced that, whatever the detractors of +Madame Merian may urge, that lady was correct in assigning to the +bush-spider an ambition which often soars above the insect, and +occasionally tempts him to make a meal of some stray feathered denizen +of the forest. This conclusion, I may add, was fully confirmed some few +weeks after, by my witnessing a still more interesting rencontre between +members of the several races. "Eat the eater," is one of Nature's laws; +and, after preventing its accomplishment by depriving the spider of his +food, strict justice would probably have balked us of ours. Fortunately +not--one of the heartiest breakfasts I ever made, and one of the +tenderest and most succulent of meat, was that very morning. Well I +remember exclaiming, at that time, "_Haec olim meminisse juvabit!_"--it +was my first dish of stewed monkey and yams. + + + + +PROMISE UNFULFILLED.--A TALE OF THE COAST-GUARD. + + +The _Rose_ had been becalmed for several days in Cowes Harbor, and +utterly at a loss how else to cheat the time, I employed myself one +afternoon in sauntering up and down the quay, whistling for a breeze, +and listlessly watching the slow approach of a row-boat, bringing the +mail and a few passengers from Southampton, the packet-cutter to which +the boat belonged being as hopelessly immovable, except for such drift +as the tide gave her, as the _Rose_. The slowness of its approach--for I +expected a messenger with letters--added to my impatient weariness; and +as, according to my reckoning, it would be at least an hour before the +boat reached the landing-steps, I returned to the Fountain Inn in the +High-street, called for a glass of negus, and as I lazily sipped it, +once more turned over the newspapers lying on the table, though with +scarcely a hope of coming athwart a line that I had not read half a +dozen times before. I was mistaken. There was a "Cornwall Gazette" among +them which I had not before seen, and in one corner of it I lit upon +this, to me in all respects new and extremely interesting paragraph: "We +copy the following statement from a contemporary, solely for the purpose +of contradicting it: 'It is said that the leader of the smugglers in the +late desperate affray with the coast guard in St. Michael's Bay, was no +other than Mr. George Polwhele Hendrick, of Lostwithiel, formerly, as +our readers are aware, a lieutenant in the royal navy, and dismissed the +king's service by sentence of court-martial at the close of the war.' +There is no foundation for this imputation. Mrs. Hendrick, of Lostwithiel, +requests us to state that her son, from whom she heard but about ten +days since, commands a first-class ship in the merchant navy of the +United States." + +I was exceedingly astonished. The court-martial I had not heard of, and +having never overhauled the Navy List for such a purpose, the absence of +the name of G. P. Hendrick had escaped my notice. What could have been +his offense? Some hasty, passionate act, no doubt; for of misbehavior +before the enemy, or of the commission of deliberate wrong, it was +impossible to suspect him. He was, I personally knew, as eager as flame +in combat; and his frank, perhaps heedless generosity of temperament, +was abundantly apparent to every one acquainted with him. I had known +him for a short time only; but the few days of our acquaintance were +passed under circumstances which bring out the true nature of a man more +prominently and unmistakably than might twenty years of humdrum, +every-day life. The varnish of pretension falls quickly off in presence +of sudden and extreme peril--peril especially requiring presence of mind +and energy to beat it back. It was in such a position that I recognized +some of the high qualities of Lieutenant Hendrick. The two sloops of war +in which we respectively served, were consorts for awhile on the South +African coast, during which time we fell in with a Franco-Italian +privateer or pirate--for the distinction between the two is much more +technical than real. She was to leeward when we sighted her, and not +very distant from the shore, and so quickly did she shoal her water, +that pursuit by either of the sloops was out of the question. Being a +stout vessel of her class, and full of men, four boats--three of the +_Scorpion's_ and one of her consort's--were detached in pursuit. The +breeze gradually failed, and we were fast coming up with our friend when +he vanished behind a head-land, on rounding which we found he had +disappeared up a narrow, winding river, of no great depth of water. We +of course followed, and, after about a quarter of an hour's hard pull, +found, on suddenly turning a sharp elbow of the stream, that we had +caught a Tartar. We had, in fact, come upon a complete nest of +privateers--a rendezvous or depot they termed it. The vessel was already +anchored across the channel, and we were flanked on each shore by a +crowd of desperadoes, well provided with small arms, and with two or +three pieces of light ordnance among them. The shouts of defiance with +which they greeted us as we swept into the deadly trap were instantly +followed by a general and murderous discharge of both musketry and +artillery; and as the smoke cleared away I saw that the leading pinnace, +commanded by Hendrick, had been literally knocked to pieces, and that +the little living portion of the crew were splashing about in the river. + +There was time but for one look, for if we allowed the rascals time to +reload their guns our own fate would inevitably be a similar one. The +men understood this, and with a loud cheer swept eagerly on toward the +privateer, while the two remaining boats engaged the flanking shore +forces, and I was soon involved in about the fiercest _melee_ I ever had +the honor to assist at. The furious struggle on the deck of the +privateer lasted but about five minutes only, at the end of which all +that remained of us were thrust over the side. Some tumbled into the +boat, others, like myself, were pitched into the river. As soon as I +came to the surface, and had time to shake my ears and look about me, I +saw Lieutenant Hendrick, who, the instant the pinnace he commanded was +destroyed, had, with equal daring and presence of mind, swam toward a +boat at the privateer's stern, cut the rope that held her, with the +sword he carried between his teeth, and forthwith began picking up his +half-drowned boat's crew. This was already accomplished, and he now +performed the same service for me and mine. This done, we again sprang +at our ugly customer, he at the bow, and I about midships. Hendrick was +the first to leap on the enemy's deck; and so fierce and well-sustained +was the assault this time, that in less than ten minutes we were +undisputed victors so far as the vessel was concerned. The fight on the +shore continued obstinate and bloody, and it was not till we had twice +discharged the privateer's guns among the desperate rascals that they +broke and fled. The dashing, yet cool and skillful bravery evinced by +Lieutenant Hendrick in this brief but tumultuous and sanguinary affair +was admiringly remarked upon by all who witnessed it, few of whom while +gazing at the sinewy, active form, the fine, pale, flashing countenance, +and the dark, thunderous eyes of the young officer--if I may use such a +term, for in their calmest aspect a latent volcano appeared to slumber +in their gleaming depths--could refuse to subscribe to the opinion of a +distinguished admiral, who more than once observed that there was no +more promising officer in the British naval service than Lieutenant +Hendrick. + +Well, all this, which has taken me so many words to relate, flashed +before me like a scene in a theatre, as I read the paragraph in the +Cornish paper. The _Scorpion_ and her consort parted company a few days +after this fight, and I had not since then seen or heard of Hendrick +till now. I was losing myself in conjecture as to the probable or +possible cause of so disgraceful a termination to a career that promised +so brilliantly, when the striking of the bar-clock warned me that the +mail-boat was by this time arrived. I sallied forth and reached the +pier-steps just a minute or so before the boat arrived there. The +messenger I expected was in her, and I was turning away with the parcel +he handed me, when my attention was arrested by a stout, unwieldy +fellow, who stumbled awkwardly out of the boat, and hurriedly came up +the steps. The face of the man was pale, thin, hatchet-shaped, and +anxious, and the gray, ferrety eyes were restless and perturbed; while +the stout round body was that of a yeoman of the bulkiest class, but so +awkwardly made up that it did not require any very lengthened scrutiny +to perceive that the shrunken carcass appropriate to such a lanky and +dismal visage occupied but a small space within the thick casing of +padding and extra garments in which it was swathed. His light-brown wig, +too, surmounted by a broad-brimmer, had got a little awry, dangerously +revealing the scanty locks of iron-gray beneath. It was not difficult to +run up these little items to a pretty accurate sum total, and I had +little doubt that the hasting and nervous traveler was fleeing either +from a constable or a sheriff's officer. It was, however, no affair of +mine, and I was soon busy with the letters just brought me. + +The most important tidings they contained was that Captain Pickard--the +master of a smuggling craft of some celebrity, called _Les Trois +Freres_, in which for the last twelve months or more he had been +carrying on a daring and successful trade throughout the whole line of +the southern and western coasts--was likely to be found at this +particular time near a particular spot in the back of the Wight. This +information was from a sure source in the enemy's camp, and it was +consequently with great satisfaction that I observed indications of the +coming on of a breeze, and in all probability a stiff one. I was not +disappointed; and in less than an hour the _Rose_ was stretching her +white wings beneath a brisk northwester over to Portsmouth, where I had +some slight official business to transact previous to looking after +friend Pickard. This was speedily dispatched, and I was stepping into +the boat on my return to the cutter, when a panting messenger informed +me that the port-admiral desired to see me instantly. + +"The telegraph has just announced," said the admiral, "that Sparkes, the +defaulter, who has for some time successfully avoided capture, will +attempt to leave the kingdom from the Wight, as he is known to have been +in communication with some of the smuggling gentry there. He is supposed +to have a large amount of government moneys in his possession; you will +therefore, Lieutenant Warneford, exert yourself vigilantly to secure +him." + +"What is his description?" + +"Mr. James," replied the admiral, addressing one of the telegraph +clerks, "give Lieutenant Warneford the description transmitted." Mr. +James did so, and I read: "Is said to have disguised himself as a stout +countryman; wears a blue coat with bright buttons, buff waistcoat, a +brown wig, and a Quaker's hat. He is of a slight, lanky figure, five +feet nine inches in height. He has two pock-marks on his forehead, and +lisps in his speech." + +"By Jove, sir," I exclaimed, "I saw this fellow only about two hours +ago!" I then briefly related what had occurred, and was directed not to +lose a moment in hastening to secure the fugitive. + +The wind had considerably increased by this time, and the _Rose_ was +soon again off Cowes, where Mr. Roberts, the first mate, and six men, +were sent on shore with orders to make the best of his way to +Bonchurch--about which spot I knew, if any where, the brown-wigged +gentleman would endeavor to embark--while the _Rose_ went round to +intercept him seaward; which she did at a spanking rate, for it was now +blowing half a gale of wind. Evening had fallen before we reached our +destination, but so clear and bright with moon and stars that distant +objects were as visible as by day. I had rightly guessed how it would +be, for we had no sooner opened up Bonchurch shore or beach than Roberts +signaled us that our man was on board the cutter running off at about a +league from us in the direction of Cape La Hogue. I knew, too, from the +cutter's build, and the cut and set of her sails, that she was no other +than Captain Pickard's boasted craft, so that there was a chance of +killing two birds with one stone. We evidently gained, though slowly, +upon _Les Trois Freres_; and this, after about a quarter of an hour's +run, appeared to be her captain's own opinion, for he suddenly changed +his course, and stood toward the Channel Islands, in the hope, I doubted +not, that I should not follow him in such weather as was likely to come +on through the dangerous intricacies of the iron-bound coast about +Guernsey and the adjacent islets. Master Pickard was mistaken; for +knowing the extreme probability of being led such a dance, I had brought +a pilot with me from Cowes, as well acquainted with Channel navigation +as the smuggler himself could be. _Les Trois Freres_, it was soon +evident, was now upon her best point of sailing, and it was all that we +could do to hold our own with her. This was vexatious; but the aspect of +the heavens forbade me showing more canvas, greatly as I was tempted to +do so. + +It was lucky I did not. The stars were still shining over our heads from +an expanse of blue without a cloud, and the full moon also as yet held +her course unobscured, but there had gathered round her a glittering +halo-like ring, and away to windward huge masses of black cloud, piled +confusedly on each other, were fast spreading over the heavens. The +thick darkness had spread over about half the visible sky, presenting a +singular contrast to the silver brightness of the other portion, when +suddenly a sheet of vivid flame broke out of the blackness, instantly +followed by deafening explosions, as if a thousand cannons were bursting +immediately over our heads. At the same moment the tempest came leaping +and hissing along the white-crested waves, and struck the _Rose_ abeam +with such terrible force, that for one startling moment I doubted if she +would right again. It was a vain fear; and in a second or two she was +tearing through the water at a tremendous rate. _Les Trois Freres_ had +not been so lucky: she had carried away her topmast, and sustained other +damage; but so well and boldly was she handled, and so perfectly under +command appeared her crew, that these accidents were, so far as it was +possible to do so, promptly repaired; and so little was she crippled in +comparative speed, that, although it was clear enough after a time, that +the _Rose_ gained something on her, it was so slowly that the issue of +the chase continued extremely doubtful. The race was an exciting one: +the Caskets, Alderney, were swiftly past, and at about two o'clock in +the morning we made the Guernsey lights. We were, by this time, within a +mile of _Les Trois Freres_; and she, determined at all risks to get rid +of her pursuer, ventured upon passing through a narrow opening between +the small islets of Herm and Jethon, abreast of Guernsey--the same +passage, I believe, by which Captain, afterward Admiral Lord Saumarez, +escaped with his frigate from a French squadron in the early days of the +last war. + +Fine and light as the night had again become, the attempt, blowing as it +did, was a perilous, and proved to be a fatal one. _Les Trois Freres_ +struck upon a reef on the side of Jethon--a rock with then but one poor +habitation upon it, which one might throw a biscuit over; and by the +time the _Rose_ had brought up in the Guernsey Roads, the smuggler, as +far as could be ascertained by our night-glasses, had entirely +disappeared. What had become of the crew and the important passenger was +the next point to be ascertained; but although the wind had by this time +somewhat abated, it was not, under the pilot's advice, till near eight +o'clock that the _Rose's_ boat, with myself and a stout crew, pulled off +for the scene of the catastrophe. We needed not to have hurried +ourselves. The half-drowned smugglers, all but three of whom had escaped +with life, were in a truly sorry plight, every one of them being more or +less maimed, bruised, and bleeding. _Les Trois Freres_ had gone entirely +to pieces, and as there was no possible means of escape from the +desolate place, our arrival, with the supplies we brought, was looked +upon rather as a deliverance than otherwise. To my inquiries respecting +their passenger, the men answered by saying he was in the house with the +captain. I immediately proceeded thither, and found one of the two rooms +on the ground-floor occupied by four or five of the worst injured of the +contrabandists, and the gentleman I was chiefly in pursuit of, Mr. +Samuel Sparkes. There was no mistaking Mr. Sparkes, notwithstanding he +had substituted the disguise of a sailor for that of a jolly +agriculturist. + +"You are, I believe, sir, the Mr. Samuel Sparkes for whose presence +certain personages in London are just now rather anxious?" + +His deathy face grew more corpse-like as I spoke, but he nevertheless +managed to stammer out, "No; Jamth Edward, thir." + +"At all events, that pretty lisp, and those two marks on the forehead, +belong to Samuel Sparkes, Esquire, and you must be detained till you +satisfactorily explain how you came by them. Stevens, take this person +into close custody, and have him searched at once. And now, gentlemen +smugglers," I continued, "pray, inform me where I may see your renowned +captain?" + +"He is in the next room," replied a decent-tongued chap sitting near the +fire; "and he desired me to give his compliments to Lieutenant +Warneford, and say he wished to see him _alone_." + +"Very civil and considerate, upon my word! In this room, do you say?" + +"Yes, sir; in that room." I pushed open a rickety door, and found myself +in a dingy hole of a room, little more than about a couple of yards +square, at the further side of which stood a lithe, sinewy man in a blue +pea-jacket, and with a fur-cap on his head. His back was toward me; and +as my entrance did not cause him to change his position, I said, "You +are Captain Pickard, I am informed?" + +He swung sharply round as I spoke, threw off his cap, and said, briefly +and sternly, "Yes, Warneford, I _am_ Captain Pickard." + +The sudden unmasking of a loaded battery immediately in my front could +not have so confounded and startled me as these words did, as they +issued from the lips of the man before me. The curling black hair, the +dark flashing eyes, the marble features, were those of Lieutenant +Hendrick--of the gallant seaman whose vigorous arm I had seen turn the +tide of battle against desperate odds on the deck of a privateer! + +"Hendrick!" I at length exclaimed, for the sudden inrush of painful +emotion choked my speech for a time--"can it indeed be you?" + +"Ay, truly, Warneford. The Hendrick of whom Collingwood prophesied high +things is fallen thus low; and worse remains behind. There is a price +set upon my capture, as you know; and escape is, I take it, out of the +question." I comprehended the slow, meaning tone in which the last +sentence was spoken, and the keen glance that accompanied it. Hendrick, +too, instantly read the decisive though unspoken reply. + +"Of course it is out of the question," he went on. "I was but a fool to +even seem to doubt that it was. You must do your duty, Warneford, I +know; and since this fatal mishap was to occur, I am glad for many +reasons that I have fallen into your hands." + +"So am not I; and I wish with all my soul you had successfully threaded +the passage you essayed." + +"The fellow who undertook to pilot us failed in nerve at the critical +moment. Had he not done so, _Les Trois Freres_ would have been long +since beyond your reach. But the past is past, and the future of dark +and bitter time will be swift and brief." + +"What have you especially to dread? I know a reward has been offered for +your apprehension, but not for what precise offense." + +"The unfortunate business in St. Michael's Bay." + +"Good God! The newspaper was right, then! But neither of the wounded men +have died, I hear, so that--that--" + +"The _mercy_ of transportation may, you think, be substituted for the +capital penalty." He laughed bitterly. + +"Or--or," I hesitatingly suggested, "you may not be identified--that is, +legally so." + +"Easily, easily, Warneford. I must not trust to that rotten cable. +Neither the coast-guard nor the fellows with me know me indeed as +Hendrick, ex-lieutenant of the royal navy; and that is a secret you +will, I know, religiously respect." + +I promised to do so: the painful interview terminated; and in about two +hours the captain and surviving crew of _Les Trois Freres_, and Mr. +Samuel Sparkes, were safely on board the _Rose_. Hendrick had papers to +arrange; and as the security of his person was all I was responsible +for, he was accommodated in my cabin, where I left him to confer with +the Guernsey authorities, in whose bailiwick Jethon is situated. The +matter of jurisdiction--the offenses with which the prisoners were +charged having been committed in England--was soon arranged; and by five +o'clock in the evening the _Rose_ was on her way to England, under an +eight-knot breeze from the southwest. + +As soon as we were fairly underweigh, I went below to have a last +conference with unfortunate Hendrick. There was a parcel on the table +directed to "Mrs. Hendrick, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, care of Lieutenant +Warneford." Placing it in my hands, he entreated me to see it securely +conveyed to its address unexamined and unopened. I assured him that I +would do so; and tears, roughly dashed away, sprang to his eyes as he +grasped and shook my hand. I felt half-choked; and when he again +solemnly adjured me, under no circumstances, to disclose the identity of +Captain Pickard and Lieutenant Hendrick, I could only reply by a +seaman's hand-grip, requiring no additional pledge of words. + +We sat silently down, and I ordered some wine to be brought in. "You +promised to tell me," I said, "how all this unhappy business came +about." + +"I am about to do so," he answered. "It is an old tale, of which the +last black chapter owes its color, let me frankly own, to my own hot and +impatient temper as much as to a complication of adverse circumstances." +He poured out a glass of wine, and proceeded at first slowly and calmly, +but gradually, as passion gathered strength and way upon him, with +flushed and impetuous eagerness to the close: + +"I was born near Lostwithiel, Cornwall. My father, a younger and needy +son of no profession, died when I was eight years of age. My mother has +about eighty pounds a year in her own right, and with that pittance, +helped by self-privation, unfelt because endured for her darling boy, +she gave me a sufficient education, and fitted me out respectably; when, +thanks to Pellew, I obtained a midshipman's warrant in the British +service. This occurred in my sixteenth year. Dr. Redstone, at whose +'High School' I acquired what slight classical learning, long since +forgotten, I once possessed, was married in second nuptials to a virago +of a wife, who brought him, besides her precious self, a red-headed cub +by a former marriage. His, the son's, name was Kershaw. The doctor had +one child about my own age, a daughter, Ellen Redstone. I am not about +to prate to you of the bread-and-butter sentiment of mere children, nor +of Ellen's wonderful graces of mind and person: I doubt, indeed, if I +thought her very pretty at the time; but she was meekness itself, and my +boy's heart used, I well remember, to leap as if it would burst my bosom +at witnessing her patient submission to the tyranny of her +mother-in-law; and one of the greatest pleasures I ever experienced was +giving young Kershaw, a much bigger fellow than myself, a good thrashing +for some brutality toward her--an exploit that of course rendered me a +remarkable favorite with the great bumpkin's mother. + +"Well, I went to sea, and did not again see Ellen till seven years +afterward, when, during absence on sick leave, I met her at Penzance, in +the neighborhood of which place the doctor had for some time resided. +She was vastly improved in person, but was still meek, dove-eyed, gentle +Ellen, and pretty nearly as much dominated by her mother-in-law as +formerly. Our child-acquaintance was renewed; and, suffice it to say, +that I soon came to love her with a fervency surprising even to myself. +My affection was reciprocated: we pledged faith with each other; and it +was agreed that at the close of the war, whenever that should be, we +were to marry, and dwell together like turtle-doves in the pretty +hermitage that Ellen's fancy loved to conjure up, and with her voice of +music untiringly dilate upon. I was again at sea, and the answer to my +first letter brought the surprising intelligence that Mrs. Redstone had +become quite reconciled to our future union, and that I might +consequently send my letters direct to the High School. Ellen's letter +was prettily expressed enough, but somehow I did not like its tone. It +did not read like her spoken language, at all events. This, however, +must, I concluded, be mere fancy; and our correspondence continued for a +couple of years--till the peace, in fact--when the frigate, of which I +was now second-lieutenant, arrived at Plymouth to be paid off. We were +awaiting the admiral's inspection, which for some reason or other was +unusually delayed, when a bag of letters was brought on board, with one +for me bearing the Penzance postmark. I tore it open, and found that it +was subscribed by an old and intimate friend. He had accidentally met +with Ellen Redstone for the first time since I left. She looked thin and +ill, and in answer to his persistent questioning, had told him she had +only heard once from me since I went to sea, and that was to renounce +our engagement; and she added that she was going to be married in a day +or two to the Rev. Mr. Williams, a dissenting minister of fair means and +respectable character. My friend assured her there must be some mistake, +but she shook her head incredulously; and with eyes brimful of tears, +and shaking voice, bade him, when he saw me, say that she freely forgave +me, but that her heart was broken. This was the substance, and as I +read, a hurricane of dismay and rage possessed me. There was not, I +felt, a moment to be lost. Unfortunately the captain was absent, and the +frigate temporarily under the command of the first-lieutenant. You knew +Lieutenant ----?" + +"I did, for one of the most cold-blooded martinets that ever trod a +quarter-deck." + +"Well, him I sought, and asked temporary leave of absence. He refused. I +explained, hurriedly, imploringly explained the circumstances in which I +was placed. He sneeringly replied, that sentimental nonsense of that +kind could not be permitted to interfere with the king's service. You +know, Warneford, how naturally hot and impetuous is my temper, and at +that moment my brain seemed literally aflame: high words followed, and +in a transport of rage I struck the taunting coward a violent blow in +the face--following up the outrage by drawing my sword, and challenging +him to instant combat. You may guess the sequel. I was immediately +arrested by the guard, and tried a few days afterward by court-martial. +Exmouth stood my friend, or I know not what sentence might have been +passed, and I was dismissed the service." + +"I was laid up for several weeks by fever about that time," I remarked; +"and it thus happened, doubtless, that I did not see any report of the +trial." + +"The moment I was liberated I hastened, literally almost in a state of +madness, to Penzance. It was all true, and I was too late! Ellen had +been married something more than a week. It was Kershaw and his mother's +doings. Him I half-killed; but it is needless to go into details of the +frantic violence with which I conducted myself. I broke madly into the +presence of the newly-married couple: Ellen swooned with terror, and her +husband, white with consternation, and trembling in every limb, had +barely, I remember, sufficient power to stammer out, 'that he would pray +for me.' The next six months is a blank. I went to London; fell +into evil courses, drank, gambled; heard after a while that +Ellen was dead--the shock of which partially checked my downward +progress--partially only. I left off drinking, but not gambling, and +ultimately I became connected with a number of disreputable persons, +among whom was your prisoner Sparkes. He found part of the capital with +which I have been carrying on the contraband trade for the last two +years. I had, however, fully determined to withdraw myself from the +dangerous though exciting pursuit. This was to have been my last trip; +but you know," he added, bitterly, "it is always upon the last turn of +the dice that the devil wins his victim." + +He ceased speaking, and we both remained silent for several minutes. +What on my part _could_ be said or suggested? + +"You hinted just now," I remarked, after a while, "that all your +remaining property was in this parcel. You have, however, of course, +reserved sufficient for your defense?" + +A strange smile curled his lip, and a wild, brief flash of light broke +from his dark eyes, as he answered, "O yes; more than enough--more, much +more than will be required." + +"I am glad of that." We were again silent, and I presently exclaimed, +"Suppose we take a turn on deck--the heat here stifles one." + +"With all my heart," he answered; and we both left the cabin. + +We continued to pace the deck side by side for some time without +interchanging a syllable. The night was beautifully clear and fine, and +the cool breeze that swept over the star and moon-lit waters gradually +allayed the feverish nervousness which the unfortunate lieutenant's +narrative had excited. + +"A beautiful, however illusive world," he by-and-by sadly resumed; "this +Death--now so close at my heels--wrenches us from. And yet you and I, +Warneford, have seen men rush to encounter the King of Terrors, as he is +called, as readily as if summoned to a bridal." + +"A sense of duty and a habit of discipline will always overpower, in men +of our race and profession, the vulgar fear of death." + +"Is it not also, think you, the greater fear of disgrace, dishonor in +the eyes of the world, which outweighs the lesser dread?" + +"No doubt that has an immense influence. What would our sweethearts, +sisters, mothers, say if they heard we had turned craven? What would +they say in England? Nelson well understood this feeling, and appealed +to it in his last great signal." + +"Ay, to be sure," he musingly replied; "what would our mothers say--feel +rather--at witnessing their sons' dishonor? That is the master-chord." +We once more relapsed into silence; and after another dozen or so turns +on the deck, Hendrick seated himself on the combings of the main +hatchway. His countenance, I observed, was still pale as marble, but a +livelier, more resolute expression had gradually kindled in his +brilliant eyes. He was, I concluded, nerving himself to meet the chances +of his position with constancy and fortitude. + +"I shall go below again," I said. "Come; it may be some weeks before we +have another glass of wine together." + +"I will be with you directly," he answered, and I went down. He did not, +however, follow, and I was about calling him, when I heard his step on +the stairs. He stopped at the threshold of the cabin, and there was a +flushing intensity of expression about his face which quite startled me. +As if moved by second thoughts, he stepped in. "One last glass with you, +Warneford: God bless you!" He drained and set the glass on the table. +"The lights at the corner of the Wight are just made," he hurriedly went +on. "It is not likely I shall have an opportunity of again speaking with +you; and let me again hear you say that you will under any circumstances +keep secret from all the world--my mother especially--that Captain +Pickard and Lieutenant Hendrick were one person." + +"I will; but why--" + +"God bless you!" he broke in. "I must go on deck again." + +He vanished as he spoke, and a dim suspicion of his purpose arose in my +mind; but before I could act upon it, a loud, confused outcry arose on +the deck, and as I rushed up the cabin stairs, I heard amid the hurrying +to and fro of feet, the cries of "Man overboard!"--"Bout ship!"--"Down +with the helm!" The cause of the commotion was soon explained: Hendrick +had sprung overboard; and looking in the direction pointed out by the +man at the wheel, I plainly discerned him already considerably astern of +the cutter. His face was turned toward us, and the instant I appeared he +waved one arm wildly in the air: I could hear the words, "Your promise!" +distinctly, and the next instant the moonlight played upon the spot +where he had vanished. Boats were lowered, and we passed and repassed +over and near the place for nearly half an hour. Vainly: he did not +reappear. + +I have only further to add, that the parcel intrusted to me was safely +delivered, and that I have reason to believe Mrs. Hendrick remained to +her last hour ignorant of the sad fate of her son. It was her +impression, induced by his last letter, that he was about to enter the +South-American service under Cochrane, and she ultimately resigned +herself to a belief that he had there met a brave man's death. My +promise was scrupulously kept, nor is it by this publication in the +slightest degree broken; for both the names of Hendrick and Pickard are +fictitious, and so is the place assigned as that of the lieutenant's +birth. That rascal Sparkes, I am glad to be able to say--chasing whom +made me an actor in the melancholy affair--was sent over the herring +pond for life. + + + + +THE TUB SCHOOL. + + +Speaking without passion, we are bound to state, in broad terms, that +the founder of the Diogenic philosophy was emphatically a humbug. Some +people might call him by a harsher name; we content ourselves with the +popular vernacular. Formidable as he was--this unwashed +dog-baptized--with a kind of savage grandeur, too, about his +independence and his fearlessness--still was he a humbug; setting forth +fancies for facts, and judging all men by the measure of one. Manifestly +afflicted with a liver complaint, his physical disorders wore the mask +of mental power, and a state of body that required a course of calomel +or a dose of purifying powders, passed current in the world for +intellectual superiority; not a rare case in times when madness was +accounted potent inspiration, and when the exhibition of mesmeric +phenomena formed the title of the Pythoness to her mystic tripod. + +Diogenes is not the only man whose disturbed digestion has led +multitudes, like an _ignis fatuus_, into the bogs and marshes of +falsehood. Abundance of sects are about, which their respective +followers class under one generic head of inspiration, but which have +sprung from the same hepatic inaction, or epigrastic inflammation, as +that which made the cynic believe in the divinity of dirt, and see in a +tub the fittest temple to virtue. All that narrows the sympathies--all +that makes a man think better of himself than of his "neighbors"--all +that compresses the illimitable mercy of God into a small talisman which +you and your followers alone possess--all that creates condemnation--is +of the Diogenic Tub School; corrupt in the core, and rotten in the +root--fruit, leaves, and flowers, the heritage of death. + +A superstitious reverence for a bilious condition of body, and an +abhorrence of soap and water, as savoring of idolatry or of +luxury--according to the dress and nation of the Cynic--made up the +fundamental ideas of his school; and to this day they are the cabala of +one division of the sect. We confess not to be able to see much beauty +in either of these conditions, and are rather proud than otherwise of +our state of disbelief; holding health and cleanliness in high honor, +and hoping much of moral improvement from their better preservation. But +to the Tub School, good digestive powers, and their consequence, good +temper, were evidences of lax principles, and cleanliness was +ungodliness or effeminacy; as the unpurified denouncer prayed to St. +Giles, or sacrificed to Venus Cloacina. Take the old monks as an +example. Not that we are about to condemn the whole Catholic Church +under a cowled mask. She has valuable men among her sons; but, in such a +large body, there must of necessity be some members weaker than the +rest; and the mendicant friars, and do-nothing monks, were about the +weakest and the worst that ever appeared by the Catholic altar. They +were essentially of the Tub School, as false to the best purposes of +mankind as the famous old savage of Alexander's time. Dirt and vanity, +bile and condemnation, were the paternosters of their litany; and what +else lay in the tub which the king over-shadowed from the sun? All the +accounts of which we read, of pious horror of baths and washhouses--all +the frantic renunciation of laundresses, and the belief in hair shirts, +to the prejudice of honest linen--all the religious zeal against +small-tooth combs, and the sin which lay in razors and nail-brushes--all +the holy preference given to coarse cobbling of skins of beasts, over +civilized tailoring of seemly garments--all the superiority of bare +feet, which never knew the meaning of a pediluvium, over those which +shoes and hose kept warm, and foot-baths rendered clean--all the hatred +of madness against the refinements of life, and the cultivation of the +beautiful: these were the evidences of the Diogenic philosophy; and of +Monachism too; and of other forms of faith, which we could name in the +same breath. And how much good was in them? What natural divinity lies +in fur, which the cotton plant does not possess? Wherein consists the +holiness of mud, and the ungodliness of alkali? wherein the purity of a +matted beard, and the impiety of Metcalfe's brushes, and Mechi's magic +strop? It may be so; and we all the while may be mentally blind; and +yet, if we lived in a charnel-house, whose horrors the stony core of a +cataract concealed, we could not wish to be couched, that seeing, we +might understand the frightful conditions of which blindness kept us +ignorant. + +But bating the baths and wash-houses, hempen girdles, and hairy +garments, we quarrel still with the _animus_ of Diogenes and his train. +Its social savageness was bad enough--its spiritual insolence was worse. +The separatism--the "stand off, for I am holier than thou"--the +condemnation of a whole world, if walking apart from _his_ way--the +substitution of solitary exaltation for the activity of charity--the +proud judgment of GOD'S world, and the presumptuous division into good +and evil of the Eternal; all this was and is of the Cynic's philosophy; +and all this is what we abjure with heart and soul, as the main link of +the chain which binds men to cruelty, to ignorance, and to sin; for the +unloosing of which we must wait before we see them fairly in the way of +progress. + +How false the religion of condemnation!--how hardening to the +heart!--how narrowing to the sympathies! We take a section for the +whole, and swear that the illimitable All must be according to the form +of the unit I; we make ourselves gods, and judge of the infinite +universe by the teaching of our finite senses. They who do this most are +they whom men call "zealous for God's glory," "stern sticklers for the +truth," and "haters of latitudinarianism." And if all the social +charities are swept down in their course, they are mourned over gently; +but only so much as if they were sparrows lying dead beneath the blast +that slew the enemy. "'Tis a pity," say they, "that men must be firm to +the truth, yet cruel to their fellows; but if it must be so, why, let +them fall fast as snow-flakes. What is human life, compared to the +preservation of the truth?" Ah! friends and brothers--is not the +necessity of cruelty the warrantry of falsehood? The truth of life is +LOVE, and all which negatives love is false; and every drop of blood +that ever flowed in the preservation of any dogma, bore in its necessity +the condemnation of that dogma. + +Turn where we will, and as far backward as we will, we ever find the +spirit of the Diogenic philosophy; and clothed, too, in much the same +garb and unseemly disorder as that in vogue among the dog-baptized. +Ancient East gives us many parallels; and to this day, dirty, lazy +fakirs of Hindostan assault the olfactories, and call for curses on the +effeminacy of the cleanly and the sane. Sometimes, though, the +Diogenites assume the scrupulosity of the Pharisee, and then they retain +only the crimes of the Inquisition, not the habits and apparel of the +Bosjesmen. Take the sincere Pharisee, for instance; regard his holy +horror of the Samaritan (the Independent of his day) for failing in the +strict letter of the law; hear his stern denunciations against all +sinners, be they moral or be they doctrinal, mark the unpitying "Crucify +him! crucify him!" against Him who taught novel doctrines of equality +and brotherhood, and the nullity of form; see the purity of his own +Pharisaic life, and grant him his proud curse on all that are not like +unto him. He is a Cynic in his heart, one who judges of universal +humanity by the individualism of one. Then, the hoary, hairy, +dog-baptized, who scoffed at all the decencies of life, not to speak of +its amenities, and had no gentle Plato's pride of refinement, with all +the brutal pride of coarseness--did Diogenes worthily represent the best +functions of manhood? Again, the monks and friars of the dark ages, and +the hermits of old, they who left the world of man "made in the image of +God," because they were holier than their brethren, and might have +naught in common with the likeness of the Elohim; they who gave up the +deeds of charity for the endless repetition of masses and vespers, and +who thought to do God better service by mumbling masses in a cowl, than +by living among their fellows, loving, aiding, and improving--were not +all these followers in the train of Diogenes?--if not in the dirt, then +in the bile; if not in the garb, then in the heart. Denouncers, +condemners; narrowing, not enlarging; hating, not loving; they were +traitors to the virtue of life, while dreaming that they alone held it +sacred. + +And now, have we no snarling Cynics, no Pharisee, no Inquisitor? Have we +taken to good heart the divine record of love, of faith, which an +aesthetic age has sublimated into credos, and left actions as a _caput +mortuum_? Have we looked into the meaning of the practical lesson which +the Master taught when he forgave the adulteress, and sat at meat with +the sinners? or have we not rather cherished the spiritual pride which +shapes out bitter words of censure for our fellows, and lays such stress +on likeness that it overlooks unity? The question is worthy of an +answer. + +The world is wide. Beasts and fishes, birds and reptiles, weeds and +flowers--which _here_ are weeds, and _there_ are flowers, according to +local fancy--the dwarfed shrub of the Alpine steeps, and the monster +palm of the tropical plains; the world is wide enough to contain them +all, and man is wise enough to love them all, each in its sphere, and +its degree. But what we do for Nature, we refuse to Humanity. To her we +allow diversity; to him we prescribe sameness; in her we see the +loveliness of unlikeness, the symmetry of variation; in him we must have +multitudes shaped by one universal rule; and what we do not look for in +the senseless tree, we attempt on the immortal soul. Religion, +philosophy, and social politics, must be of the same form with all men, +else woe to the wight who thinks out of the straight line! Diagonal +minds are never popular, and the hand which draws one radius smites him +who lines another equal to it in all its parts, and from the same +centre-point. The Catholic denies the Protestant; the Episcopalian +contemns the Presbyterian; the Free Kirk is shed like a branching horn; +the Independent denounces the Swedenborgian; the Mormonite is persecuted +by the Unitarian. It is one unvarying round; the same thing called by +different names. Now all this is the very soul of Diogenism. Cowl, +mitre, or band--distinctive signs to each party--all are lost in the +shadow of the tub, and jumbled up into a strange form, which hath the +name of Him of Sinope engraved on its forehead. Separatism and +denunciation against him who is not with thee in all matters of faith, +make thee, my friend, a Cynic in thy heart; and, though thou mayst wear +Nicoll's paletots and Medwin's boots, and mayst prank thyself in all +imaginable coxcombries, thou art still but a Diogenite, a Cynic, and a +Pharisee; washing the outside of the platter, but leaving the inside +encrusted still, believing falsely, that thou hast naught to do with a +cause, because thou hast not worn its cockade. + +Yet, are we going past the Tub School, though it lingers still in high +places. We see it in party squabbles, not so much of politics to-day, as +of the most esoteric doctrines of faith. We hear great men discussing +the question of "prevenient grace," as they would discuss the +composition of milk punch, and we hear them mutually anathematize each +other on this plain and demonstrable proposition. We call this +Diogenism, and of a virulent sort, too. We know that certain men are +tabooed by certain other men; that a churchman refuses communion with +him who is of no church, or of a different church; and that one Arian +thinks dreadful things of another Arian. We call these men Pharisees, +who deny kindred with the Samaritans--but we remember who it was that +befriended the Samaritans. We know that monks still exist, whose duty to +man consists in endless prayers to GOD (in using vain repetitions as +the Heathens do); who open their mouths wide, and expect that Heaven +will fill them; who hold the active duties of life in no esteem; and +separate themselves from their fellows in all the grandeur of religious +superiority. We can not see much difference between these men, the +Hindoo fakirs, and the unsavory gentlemen of the Grecian tub. They are +all of the same genus; but, Heaven be praised! they are dying out from +the world of man, as leprosy, and the black plague, and other evils are +dying out. True enlightenment will extirpate them, as well as other +malaria. If Sanitary Commissions sweep out the cholera, acknowledged +Love will sweep out all this idleness and solitary hatred, and make men +at last confess that Love and Recognition are grander things than +contempt and intolerance; in a word, that real Christianity is better +than any form whatsoever of the Diogenic philosophy of hatred. + + + + +GOLD--WHAT IT IS AND WHERE IT COMES FROM. + + +Road-mending is pretty general at this time of the year, and upon roads +now being newly macadamized we may pick up a good many differing +specimens of granite. On the newly-broken surface of one of them, four +substances of which it is composed can be perceived with great +distinctness. The more earthy-looking rock, in which the others seem to +be embedded, is called felspar; the little hard white stones are bits of +quartz; the dark specks are specks of hornblende, and the shining scales +are mica. Felspar, quartz, hornblende, and mica are the four +constituents of granite. These are among the rocks of the most ancient +times, which form a complete barrier to the power of the geologist in +turning back the pages which relate the story of our globe. Layer under +layer--leaf behind leaf--we find printed the characters of life in all +past ages, till at last we come to rocks--greenstone, porphyry, quartz, +granite, and others--which contain no trace of life; which do not show, +as rocks above them do, that they have been deposited by water; but +which have a crystalline form, and set our minds to think of heat and +pressure. These lowest rocks are frequently called "igneous," in +contradistinction to the stratified rocks nearer the surface, which have +been obviously deposited under water. Between the two there is not an +abrupt transition; for above the igneous, and below the aqueous, are +rocks which belong to the set above them, insomuch as they are +stratified; while they belong to the set below them--insomuch as they +are crystalline, contain no traces of life, and lead us by their +characters to think of heat and pressure. These rocks, on account of +their equivocal position, are called metamorphic. + +Under the influence of air, combined with that of water--water +potent in streams, lakes, and seas, but not less potent as a +vapor in our atmosphere, when aided by alternations in the +temperature--granite decomposes. We noticed that one of the constituents +of granite--felspar--was a comparatively earthy-looking mass, in which +the other matters seemed to be embedded. In the decomposition of +granite, this felspar is the first thing to give way; it becomes +friable, and rains or rivers wash it down. Capital soil it makes. When +the constituents of granite part in this way, quartz is the heaviest, +and settles. Felspar and the others may run with the stream, more or +less; quartz is not moved so easily. Now, as our neighbors in America +would put it, "that's a fact;" and it concerns our gossip about gold. + +Below the oldest rocks there lie hidden the sources of that volcanic +action which is not yet very correctly understood. Fortunately, we are +not now called upon for any explanation of it: it is enough for us that +such a force exists; and thrusting below, forces granite and such rocks +(which ought to lie quite at the bottom), through a rent made in the +upper layers, and still up into the air, until, in some places, they +form the summit of considerable mountains. Such changes are not often, +if ever, the results of a single, mighty heave, which generates a great +catastrophe upon the surface of the earth; they are the products of a +force constantly applied through ages in a given manner. In all geologic +reasoning we are apt to err grossly when we leave out of our calculation +the important element of time. These lower rocks, then--these +greenstones, porphyries and granites, sienites and serpentines--thrust +themselves in many places through the upper strata of the earth's crust, +in such a way as to form mountain ranges. Now, it is a fact, that +wherever the oldest of the aqueous deposits--such as those called +clay-slates, limestones, and greywacke sandstones--happen to be +superficial, so as to be broken through by pressure from below, and +intruded upon by the igneous rocks (especially if the said igneous rocks +form ranges tending at all from north to south), there gold may be +looked for. Gold, it is true, may be found combined with much newer +formations; but it is under the peculiar circumstances just now +mentioned that gold may be expected to be found in any great and +valuable store. + +In Australia, the gold discoveries, so new and surprising to the public, +are not new to the scientific world. More than two years ago, in an +"Essay on the Distribution of Gold Ore," read before the British +Association, to which our readers will be indebted for some of the facts +contained in the present gossip, Sir Roderick Murchison "reminded his +geological auditors that, in considering the composition of the chief, +or eastern ridge of Australia, and its direction from north to south, he +had foretold (as well as Colonel Helmersen, of the Russian Imperial +Mines) that gold would be found in it; and he stated that, in the last +year, one gentleman resident in Sydney, who had read what he had written +and spoken on this point, had sent him specimens of gold ore found in +the Blue Mountains; while, from another source, he had learnt that the +parallel north and south ridge in the Adelaide region, which had yielded +so much copper, had also given undoubted signs of gold ore. The +operation of English laws, by which noble metals lapse to the crown, had +induced Sir Roderick Murchison to represent to Her Majesty's Secretary +of State that no colonists would bestir themselves in gold-mining, if +some clear declaration on the subject were not made; but, as no measures +on this head seemed to be in contemplation, he inferred that the +government may be of opinion, that the discovery of any notable quantity +of gold might derange the stability and regular industry of a great +colony, which eventually must depend upon its agricultural products." +That was the language used by Sir Roderick Murchison in September, 1849; +and in September, 1851, we are all startled by the fact which brings +emphatic confirmation of his prophecy. + +But it is not only about the Blue Mountains, and in other districts, +where the gold is now sought, that the geologic conditions under which +gold may be sought reasonably are fulfilled. Take, for example, the Ural +Mountains. In very ancient times the Scythian natives supplied gold from +thence; and gold was supplied also by European tribes in Germany and +elsewhere. Most of those sources were worked out, or forgotten. Russia +for centuries possessed the Ural, and forgot its gold. Many of us were +boys when that was rediscovered. The mountains had been worked for their +iron and copper by German miners, who accidentally hit upon a vein of +gold. The solid vein was worked near Ekatrinburg--a process expensive +and, comparatively, unproductive, as we shall presently explain. Then +gold being discovered accidentally in the superficial drift, the more +profitable work commenced. It is only within the last very few years +that Russia has discovered gold in another portion of her soil, among +the spurs of the Altai Mountains, between the Jena and the Lenisei, and +along the shores of Lake Baikal. This district has been enormously +productive, and, for about four years before the discovery of gold in +California, had been adding largely to the gross amount of that metal +annually supplied for the uses of society. The extent of this new +district now worked is equal to the whole area of France; but all the +gold-bearing land in Russia is not yet by any means discovered. The +whole area of country in Russia which fulfills the conditions of a +gold-bearing district is immense. Eastward of the Ural Chain it includes +a large part of Siberia; and also in Russian America there is nearly +equal reason for believing that hereafter gold will be discovered. + +Before we quit Asia, we may observe, that the Chinese produce gold out +of their soil; and although many of the mountain ranges in that country +tend from east to west, yet the conditions of the surface, and the +meridional directions of the mountains too, would indicate in China some +extensive districts over which gold would probably be found in tolerable +abundance. Gold exists also in Lydia and Hindostan. + +Now to pass over to America, where, as we have already said, the +Russians have a district in which gold may some day be discovered. In +many districts along the line of the Rocky Mountains, especially in that +part of them which is included in the British territory, gold may be +looked for. The gold region of California has been recently discovered. +Gold in Mexico, where the conditions are again fulfilled, is not a new +discovery. Gold in Central America lies neglected, on account of the sad +political condition of the little states there. There is gold to be +found, perhaps, in the United States, some distance eastward of the +Rocky Mountains. Certainly gold districts will be found about the +Alleghanies. Gold has been found in Georgia, North and South Carolina, +and Virginia; it exists also in Canada, and may, probably, be found not +very far north, on the British side of the St. Lawrence. In the frozen +regions, which shut in those straits and bays of the North Pole, to +which early adventurers were sent from England on the search for gold, +gold districts most probably exist, although the shining matter was not +gold which first excited the cupidity of our forefathers. Passing now to +South America, New Granada, Peru, Brazil, La Plata, Chili, even +Patagonia, contain districts which say, "Look for gold." There are one +or two districts in Africa where gold exists; certainly in more +districts than that which is called the Gold Coast, between the Niger +and Cape Verd; also between Darfur and Abyssinia; and on the Mozambique +Coast, opposite Madagascar. In Australia, the full extent of our gold +treasure is not yet discovered. In Europe, out of Russia, Hungary +supplies yearly one or two hundred thousand pounds worth; there is gold +in Transylvania and Bohemia; the Rhine washes gold down into its sands +from the crystalline rocks of the high Alps. The Danube, Rhone, and +Tagus, yield gold also in small quantities. There are neglected mines of +gold in Spain. + +To come nearer home. In the mining fields of Leadhills, in Scotland, +gold was washed for busily in the time of Queen Elizabeth. It is found +also in Glen Turret, in Perthshire, and at Cumberhead, in Lanarkshire. +Attempts have been made to turn to account the gold existing in North +Wales and Cornwall. About sixty years ago, gold was found accidentally +in the bed of streams which run from a mountain on the confines of +Wicklow and Wexford, by name, Croghan Kinshela. A good deal of gold was +collected by the people, who, having the first pick, had soon earned +about ten thousand pounds among them by their findings. Government then +established works, and having realized in two years three thousand six +hundred and seventy-five pounds by the sale of gold, which it cost them +more than that amount to get, they let the matter drop, judiciously. + +Let nobody be dazzled, however, by this enumeration of gold districts, +which is not by any means complete. It is quite true that there is no +metal diffused so widely over the world's surface as gold is, with a +single exception, that of iron. But with regard to gold, there is this +important fact to be taken into account, that it is not often to be +obtained from veins, but is found sprinkled--in many cases sprinkled +very sparingly; it is found mixed with quartz and broken rock, or sand +and alluvial deposit, often in quantities extremely small, so that the +time lost in its separation--even though it be the time of slaves--is of +more value than the gold; and so the gold does not repay the labor of +extraction. It is only where a gold district does not fall below a +certain limit in its richness, that it yields a profit to the laborer. +Pure gold in lumps, or grains, or flakes, is to be found only at the +surface. Where, as is here and there the case, a vein of it is found +deep in connection with the quartz, it is combined with other minerals, +from which it can be separated only by an expensive process; so that a +gold vein, when found, generally yields less profit than a field. As for +gold-hunting in general, the history of every gold district unites to +prove that the trade is bad. It is a lottery in which, to be sure, there +are some prizes, but there is quite the usual preponderance of blanks. + +The villages of gold-seekers about Accra and elsewhere, on the Gold +Coast, are the villages of negroes more squalid and wretched than free +negroes usually are. The wretchedness of gold-hunters in the rich field +of California is by this time a hackneyed theme. Take, now, the picture +of a tolerably prosperous gold-seeker in Brazil. He goes into the river +with a leathern jacket on, having a leathern bag fastened before him. In +his hand he carries a round bowl, of fig-tree wood, about four or five +feet in circumference, and one foot deep. He goes into the river at a +part where it is not rapid, where it makes a bend, and where it has deep +holes. Be pleased to remember that, and do not yet lose sight of what +was before said about the heaviness of quartz. The gold-seeker, then, +standing in the water, scrapes away with his feet the large stones and +the upper layers of sand, and fishes up a bowlful of the older gravel. +This he shakes and washes, and removes the upper layer; the gold being +the heaviest thing in the bowl, sinks, and when he has got rid of all +the other matter, which is after a quarter of an hour's work, or more, +he puts into his pouch the residual treasure, which is worth twopence +farthing, on an average. He may earn in this way about sevenpence an +hour--not bad wages, but, taken in connection with the nature of the +work, they do not look exceedingly attractive. Here is a safe income, at +any rate--no lottery. A lump of gold, combined with quartz, like that +which has been dragged from California by its lucky finder--a lump worth +more than three thousand pounds--is not a prize attainable in river +washing. That lump, its owner says, he got out of a vein, which vein he +comes to Europe to seek aid in working. Veins of quartz containing gold, +when they occur, directly they cease to be superficial, cease generally +to be very profitable to their owners. But of that we shall have to say +more presently. + +By this time we have had occasion to observe more than once that gold +and quartz are very friendly neighbors. Now, we will make use of the +fact which we have been saving up so long, that when granite +decomposes, quartz, the heaviest material is least easily carried away, +and when carried away is first to be deposited by currents. Gold also, +is very heavy; in its lightest compound, it is twelve times heavier than +water, and pure gold is nineteen times heavier; gold, therefore, when +stirred out of its place by water, will soon settle to the bottom. Very +often gold will not be moved at all, nor even quartz; so gold and quartz +remain, while substances which formerly existed in their neighborhood +are washed away. Or when the whole is swept away together, after the +gold has begun sinking, quartz will soon be sinking too; and so, even in +shingle or alluvial deposits, gold and quartz are apt to occur as +exceedingly close neighbors to each other. + +How the gold forms in those old rocks, we have no right to say. Be it +remembered, that in newer formations it occurs, although more sparingly. +How the gold forms, we do not know. In fact, we have no right to say of +gold that it is formed at all. In the present state of chemistry, gold +is considered as an element, a simple substance, of which other things +are formed, not being itself compounded out of others. In the present +state of our knowledge, therefore--and the metals _may_ really be +elements--we have nothing to trouble ourselves about. Gold being one of +the elements (there are somewhere about forty in all) of which the earth +is built, of course existed from the beginning, and will be found in the +oldest rocks. It exists, like other elements, in combination. It is +combined with iron, antimony, manganese, copper, arsenic, and other +things. But it is one great peculiarity of gold that it is not easily +oxydized or rusted; rust being caused in metals by the action of oxygen +contained in our air. When, therefore, gold, in a compound state, comes +to be superficial, the air acting on the mass will generally oxydize the +other metals, and so act upon them, more especially where water helps, +that in the lapse of time this superficial gold will have been purified +in the laboratory of nature, and may be finally picked up in the pure, +or nearly pure, state; or else it may be washed, equally pure, from the +superficial earth, as is now done in the majority of gold districts. But +deep below the surface, in quartz veins contained within the bowels of a +mountain--though, to be sure, it is not often found in such +positions--gold exists generally in a condition far from pure; the +chemistry of the artisan must do what the chemistry of nature had +effected in the other case; and this involves rather an expensive +process. + +Surface gold is found, comparatively pure, in lumps of very various +sizes, or in rounded grains, or in small scales. In this state it is +found in the Ural district, contained in a mass of coarse gravel, like +that found in the neighborhood of London; elsewhere, it is contained in +a rough shingle, with much quartz; and elsewhere, in a more mud-like +alluvial deposit. The water that has washed it out of its first bed has +not been always a mere mountain torrent, or a river, or a succession of +rains. Gold shingle and sand have been accumulated in many districts, by +the same causes which produced our local drifts, in which the bones of +the mammoth, the rhinoceros, and other extinct quadrupeds occur. + +The nearly pure gold thus deposited in very superficial layers, may be +readily distinguished from all other things that have external +resemblance to it. Gold in this state has always, more or less, its +well-known color, and the little action of the air upon it causes its +particles to glitter, though they be distributed only in minute scales +through a bed of sand. But there are other things that glitter. Scales +of mica, to the eye only, very much resemble gold. But gold is extremely +heavy; twelve or nineteen times heavier than that same bulk of water; +mica is very light: sand itself being but three times heavier than +water. Let, therefore, sand, with glittering scales in it, be shaken +with water, and let us watch the order of the settling. If the scales be +gold they will sink first, and quickly, to the bottom; if they be mica, +they will take their time, and be among the last to sink. It is this +property of gold--its weight--which enables us to obtain it by the +process called gold-washing. Earth containing gold, being agitated in +water, the gold falls to the bottom. Turbid water containing gold, being +poured over a skin, the gold falls and becomes entangled in the hairs; +or such water being poured over a board with transverse grooves, the +gold is caught in the depressions. This is the reason why the Brazilian +searcher looks for a depression in the bottom of the river, and this is +also the origin of those peculiar rich bits occasionally found in the +alluvium of a large gold-field. Where there has been a hollow, as the +water passed it, gold continually was arrested there, forming those +valuable deposits which the Brazilians call Caldeiraos. Sometimes, where +the waters have been arrested in the hollow of a mountain, they have, in +the same way, dropped an excessive store of gold. This quality of +weight, therefore, is of prime importance in the history of gold; it +determined the character of its deposits in the first instance; it +enables us now to extract it easily from its surrounding matter, and +enables us to detect it in a piece of rock, where it may not be +distinctly visible. There are two substances which look exceedingly like +gold;--copper and iron pyrites, substances familiar to most of us. We +need never be puzzled to distinguish them. Gold is a soft metal, softer +than iron, copper, and silver, although harder than tin or lead. It will +scratch tin or lead; but it will be scratched with the other metals. +That is to say, you can scratch gold with a common knife. Now, iron +pyrites is harder than steel, and therefore a knife will fail to scratch +it. Gold and iron pyrites, therefore, need never be mistaken for each +other by any man who has a piece of steel about him. Copper pyrites can +be scratched with steel. But then there is another very familiar +property of gold, by which, in this case, it can be distinguished. Gold +is very malleable; beat on it with a stone, and it will flatten, but not +break; and when it breaks, it shows that it is torn asunder, by the +thready, fibrous nature of its fracture. Beat with a stone on copper +pyrites, and it immediately begins to crumble. No acid, by itself, can +affect gold; but a mixture of one part nitric, and four parts muriatic +acid, is called Aqua Regia, because in this mixture gold does dissolve. +A common test for gold, in commerce, is to put nitric acid over it, +which has no action if the gold be true. There is, also, a hard smooth +stone, called Lydian stone, or flinty jasper, by the mineralogists, and +_touchstone_ by the jewelers, on which gold makes a certain mark; and +the character of the streak made on such a stone will indicate pretty +well the purity or value of the gold that makes it. + +We have said that when the gold occurs in a deep-seated vein, combined +with other minerals, its extraction becomes no longer a simple process. +Let us now point out generally what the nature of this process is, and +then we shall conclude our brief discussion; for what else we might say, +either lies beyond our present purpose, or has been made, by the talking +and writing of the last two years, sufficiently familiar to all +listeners or readers. Mr. Gardner, superintendent of the Royal Botanic +Garden of Ceylon, thus describes the process of extracting gold out of +the mine of Morro Velho. This mine, when St. Hilaire visited it, was +considered as exhausted; it is now one of the richest in Brazil. Thus +Mr. Gardner writes of it: + +"The ore is first removed from its bed by blasting, and it is afterward +broken, by female slaves, into small pieces; after which it is conveyed +to the stamping-machine, to be reduced to powder. A small stream of +water, constantly made to run through them, carries away the pulverized +matter to what is called the Strakes--a wooden platform, slightly +inclined, and divided into a number of very shallow compartments, of +fourteen inches in width, the length being about twenty-six feet. The +floor of each of these compartments is covered with pieces of tanned +hide, about three feet long, and sixteen inches wide, which have the +hair on. The particles of gold are deposited among the hairs, while the +earthy matter, being lighter, is washed away. The greater part of the +gold dust is collected on the three upper, or head skins, which are +changed every four hours, while the lower skins are changed every six or +eight hours, according to the richness of the ore. The sand which is +washed from the head skins is collected together, and amalgamated with +quicksilver, in barrels; while that from the lower skins is conveyed to +the washing-house, and concentrated over strakes of similar construction +to those of the stamping-mill, till it be rich enough to be amalgamated +with that from the head-skins. The barrels into which this rich sand is +put, together with the quicksilver, are turned by water; and the process +of amalgamation is generally completed in the course of forty-eight +hours. When taken out, the amalgam is separated from the sand by +washing. It is then pressed on chamois skins, and the quicksilver is +separated from the gold by sublimation." + +Let us explain those latter processes in more detail. If you dip a gold +ring or a sovereign into quicksilver, it will be silvered by it, and the +silvering will not come off. This union of theirs is called an amalgam. +On a ring or sovereign it is mere silvering; but when the gold is in a +state of powder, and the amalgamation takes place on a complete scale, +it forms a white, doughy mass, in which there is included much loose +quicksilver. This doughy mass is presently washed clear of all +impurities, and is then squeezed in skins or cloths, through the +pores of which loose quicksilver is forced, and saved for future +operations. The rest of the quicksilver is burnt out. Under a +moderately strong heat, quicksilver evaporates, or--to speak more +scientifically--sublimes; and gold does not. The amalgam, therefore, +being subjected to heat, the quicksilver escapes by sublimation, leaving +the gold pure. The quicksilver escapes by sublimation; but its owner +does not wish it quite to escape out of his premises, because it is an +expensive article. Chambers are therefore made over the ovens, in which +the mercury may once again condense, and whence it may be collected +again afterward. But, with all precaution, a considerable waste always +takes place. Other processes are also in use for the separation of gold +from its various alloys. We have described that which is of most +universal application. Let us not omit noting the significance of the +fact, that a quicksilver mine exists in California. + + + + +EYES MADE TO ORDER. + + +Contradictory opinions prevail as to the limits that should be assigned +to the privilege of calling Art to the aid of Nature. To some persons a +wig is the type of a false and hollow age; an emblem of deceit; a device +of ingenious vanity, covering the wearer with gross and unpardonable +deceit. In like manner, a crusade has been waged against the skill of +the dentist--against certain artificial "extents in aid" of symmetry +effected by the milliner. + +The other side argues, in favor of the wig, that, in the social +intercourse of men, it is a laudable object for any individual to +propose to himself, by making an agreeable appearance, to please, rather +than repel his associates. On the simple ground that he would rather +please than offend, an individual, not having the proper complement of +hair and countenance, places a cunningly-fashioned wig upon his head, +artificial teeth in his mouth, and an artificial nose upon his face. A +certain money-lender, it is urged, acknowledged the elevating power of +beauty when he drew a vail before the portrait of his favorite picture, +that he might not see the semblance of a noble countenance, while he +extorted his crushing interest from desperate customers. It is late in +the age, say the pro-wig party, to be called upon to urge the refining +power that dwells in the beautiful; and, on the other hand, the +depression and the coarseness which often attend the constant +contemplation of things unsightly. The consciousness of giving +unpleasant sensations to spectators, haunts all people who are visibly +disfigured. The bald man of five-and-twenty is an unpleasant object; +because premature baldness is unnatural and ugly. Argue the question +according to the strictest rules of formal logic, and you will arrive at +nothing more than that the thing is undoubtedly unpleasant to behold, +and that therefore some reason exists that should urge men to remove it, +or hide it. Undoubtedly, a wig is a counterfeit of natural hair; but is +it not a counterfeit worn in deference to the sense of the world, and +with the view of presenting an agreeable, instead of a disagreeable +object? Certainly. A pinch of philosophy is therefore sprinkled about a +wig, and the wearer is not necessarily a coxcomb. As regards artificial +teeth, stronger pleas--even than those which support wigs--may be +entered. Digestion demands that food should be masticated. Shall, then, +a toothless person be forced to live upon spoon-meat, because artificial +ivories are denounced as sinful? These questions are fast coming to +issue, for Science has so far come to the aid of human nature, that +according to an enthusiastic professor, it will be difficult, in the +course of another century, to tell how or where any man or woman is +deficient. A millennium for Deformity is, it seems, not far distant. M. +Boissonneau of Paris, constructs eyes with such extraordinary precision, +that the artificial eye, we are told, is not distinguishable from the +natural eye. The report of his pretensions will, it is to be feared, +spread consternation among those who hold in abhorrence, and consider +artificial teeth incompatible with Christianity; yet the fact must be +honestly declared, that it is no longer safe for poets to write sonnets +about the eyes of their mistresses, since those eyes may be M. +Boissonneau's. + +The old, rude, artificial eyes are simply oval shells, all made from one +pattern, and differing only in size and in color. No pretension to +artistic or scientific skill has been claimed by the artificial-eye +manufacturer--he has made a certain number of deep blues, light blues, +hazels, and others, according to the state of the eye-market. These rude +shells were constructed mainly with the view of giving the wearer an +almond-shaped eye, and with little regard to its matching the eye in +sound and active service. Artificial eyes were not made to order: but +the patient was left to pick out the eye he would prefer to wear, as he +would pick out a glove. The manufacture was kept a profound mystery, and +few medical men had access to its secrets. The manufacturers sold eyes +by the gross, to retail-dealers, at a low price; and these supplied +patients. Under this system, artificial eyes were only applicable in the +very rare cases of atrophy of the globe; and the effect produced was +even more repulsive than that of the diseased eye. The disease was +hidden by an unnatural and repulsive expression, which it is difficult +to describe. While one eye was gazing intently in your face, the other +was fixed in another direction--immovable, the more hideous because at +first you mistook it for a natural eye. A smile may over spread the +face, animate the lip, and lighten up the natural eye; but there was the +glass eye--fixed, lustreless, and dead. It had other disadvantages: it +interfered with the lachrymal functions, and sometimes caused a tear to +drop in the happiest moments. + +The new artificial eye is nothing more than a plastic skullcap, set +accurately upon the bulb of the diseased eye, so that it moves with the +bulb as freely as the sound eye. The lids play freely over it; the +lachrymal functions continue their healthy action; and the bulb is +effectually protected from currents of cold air and particles of dust. +But these effects can be gained only by modeling each artificial eye +upon the particular bulb it is destined to cover; thus removing the +manufacture of artificial eyes from the hands of clumsy mechanics, to +the superintendence of the scientific artist. Every individual case, +according to the condition of the bulb, requires an artificial eye of a +different model from all previously made. In no two cases are the bulbs +found in precisely the same condition; and, therefore, only the +scientific workman, proceeding on well-grounded principles, can pretend +to practice ocular prothesis with success. The newly-invented shell is +of metallic enamel, which may be fitted like an outer cuticle to the +bulb--the cornea of which is destroyed--and restores to the patient his +natural appearance. The invention, however, will, we fear, increase our +skepticism. We shall begin to look in people's eyes, as we have been +accustomed to examine a luxuriant head of hair, when it suddenly shoots +upon a surface hitherto remarkable only for a very straggling crop. Yet, +it would be well to abate the spirit of sarcasm with which wigs and +artificial teeth have been treated. Undoubtedly, it is more pleasant to +owe one's hair to nature than to Truefit; to be indebted to natural +causes for pearly teeth; and to have sparkling eyes with light in them. +Every man and woman would rather have an aquiline nose than the most +playful pug; no one would exchange eyes agreeing to turn in one +direction, for the pertest squint; or legs observing something +approaching to a straight line, for undecided legs, with contradictory +bends. Hence dumb-bells, shoulder-boards, gymnastic exercises, the +consumption of sugar steeped in Eau-de-Cologne (a French recipe for +imparting brightness to the eyes), ingenious padding, kalydors, odontos, +Columbian balms, bandolines, and a thousand other ingenious devices. +Devices with an object, surely--that object, the production of a +pleasing _personnel_. It is a wise policy to remove from sight the +calamities which horrify or sadden; and, as far as possible, to +cultivate all that pleases from its beauty or its grace. Therefore, let +us shake our friend with the cork-leg by the hand, and, acknowledging +that the imitation is worn in deference to our senses, receive it as a +veritable flesh-and-blood limb; let us accept the wig of our unfortunate +young companion, as the hair which he has lost; let us shut our eyes to +the gold work that fastens the brilliantly white teeth of a young lady, +whose natural dentition has been replaced; and, above all, let us never +show, by sign or word, that the appearance of our friend (who has +suffered tortures, and lost the sight of one eye) is changed after the +treatment invented by M. Boissonneau. + + + + +THE EXPECTANT.--A TALE OF LIFE. + + +When a boy I was sent to school in a country village in one of the +midland counties. Midvale lay on a gentle slope at the foot of a lofty +hill, round which the turnpike-road wound scientifically to diminish the +steepness of the declivity; and the London coach, as it smoked along the +white road regularly at half-past four o'clock, with one wheel dragged, +might be tracked for two good miles before it crossed the bridge over +the brook below and disappeared from sight. We generally rushed out of +the afternoon school as the twanging horn of the guard woke up our quiet +one street; and a fortunate fellow I always thought was Griffith +Maclean, our only day-boarder, who on such occasions would often chase +the flying mail, and seizing the hand of the guard, an old servant of +his uncle's, mount on the roof, and ride as far as he chose for the mere +trouble of walking back again. Our school consisted of between twenty +and thirty boys, under the care of a master who knew little and taught +still less; for having three sermons to preach every Sunday, besides two +on week-days, he had but little leisure to spare for the duties of the +school; and the only usher he could afford to keep was a needy, +hard-working lad, whose poverty and time-worn habiliments deprived him +of any moral control over the boys. This state of things, coupled with +the nervous and irascible temper of the pedagogue, naturally produced a +good deal of delinquency, which was duly scored off on the backs of the +offenders every morning before breakfast. Thus what we wanted in tuition +was made up in flogging; and if the master was rarely in the school, he +made amends for his absence by a vigorous use of his prerogative while +he was there. Griffith Maclean, who was never present on these +occasions, coming only at nine o'clock, was yet our common benefactor. +One by one he had taken all our jackets to a cobbling tailor in the +village, and got them for a trifling cost so well lined with old +remnants of a kind of felt or serge, for the manufacture of which the +place was famous, that we could afford to stand up without wincing, and +even to laugh through our wry faces under the matutinal ceremony of +caning. Further, Griffith was the sole means of communication with the +shopkeepers, and bought our cakes, fruit, and playthings, when we had +money to spend, and would generally contrive to convey a hunch of bread +and cheese from home, to any starving victim who was condemned to +fasting for his transgressions. In return for all this sympathy we could +do no less than relieve Griffith, as far as possible, from the trouble +and 'bother,' as he called it, of study. We worked his sums regularly +for days beforehand, translated his Latin, and read over his lessons +with our fingers as he stood up to repeat them before the master. + +Griffith's mother was the daughter of a gentleman residing in the +neighborhood of Midvale. Fifteen years ago she had eloped with a young +Irish officer--an unprincipled fortune-hunter--who, finding himself +mistaken in his venture, the offended father having refused any portion, +had at first neglected and finally deserted his wife, who had returned +home with Griffith, her only child, to seek a reconciliation with her +parents. This had never been cordially granted. The old man had other +children who had not disobeyed him, and to them, at his death, he +bequeathed the bulk of his property, allotting to Griffith's mother only +a life-interest in a small estate which brought her something less than +a hundred pounds a year. But the family were wealthy, and the fond +mother hoped, indeed fully expected, that they would make a gentlemanly +provision for her only child. In this expectation Griffith was nurtured +and bred; and being reminded every day that he was born a gentleman, +grew up with the notion that application and labor of any sort were +unbecoming the character he would have to sustain. He was a boy of +average natural abilities, and with industry might have cultivated them +to advantage: but industry was a plebeian virtue, which his silly mother +altogether discountenanced, and withstood the attempts, not very +vigorous, of the schoolmaster to enforce. Thus he was never punished, +seldom reproved; and the fact that he was the sole individual so +privileged in a school where both reproof and punishment were so +plentiful, could not fail of impressing him with a great idea of his own +importance. Schoolboys are fond of speculating on their future +prospects, and of dilating on the fancied pleasures of manhood and +independence, and the delights of some particular trade or profession +upon which they have set their hearts; the farm, the forge, the loom, +the counter, the press, the desk, have as eager partisans among the +knucklers at _taw_ as among older children; and while crouching round +the dim spark of fire on a wet winter day, we were wont to chalk out for +ourselves a future course of life when released from the drudgery, as we +thought it, of school. Some declared for building, carpentering, +farming, milling, or cattle-breeding; some were panting for life in the +great city; some longed for the sea and travel to foreign countries; and +some for a quiet life at home amid rural sports and the old family +faces. Above all, Griffith Maclean towered in unapproachable greatness. +"I shall be a gentleman," said he; "if I don't have a commission in the +army--which I am not sure I should like, because it's a bore to be +ordered off where you don't want to go--I shall have an official +situation under government, with next to nothing to do but to see life +and enjoy myself." Poor Griffith! + +Time wore on. One fine morning I was packed, along with a couple of +boxes, on the top of the London coach; and before forty-eight hours had +elapsed, found myself bound apprentice to a hard-working master and a +laborious profession in the heart of London. Seven years I served and +wrought in acquiring the art and mystery, as my indentures termed it, of +my trade. Seven times in the course of this period it was my pleasant +privilege to visit Midvale, where some of my relations dwelt, and at +each visit I renewed the intimacy with my old school-fellow, Griffith. +He was qualifying himself for the life of a gentleman by leading one of +idleness; and I envied him not a little his proficiency in the use of +the angle and the gun, and the opportunity he occasionally enjoyed of +following the hounds upon a borrowed horse. At my last visit, at the end +of my term of apprenticeship, I felt rather hurt at the cold reception +his mother gave me, and at the very haughty, off-hand bearing of +Griffith himself; and I resolved to be as independent as he by giving +him an opportunity of dropping the acquaintance if he chose. I +understood, however, that both he and his mother were still feeding upon +expectation, and that they hoped every thing from General ----, to whom +application had been made on Griffith's behalf, as the son of an +officer, and that they confidently expected a cadetship that would open +up the road to promotion and fortune. The wished-for appointment did not +arrive. Poor Griffith's father had died without leaving that reputation +behind him which might have paved the way for his son's advancement, and +the application was not complied with. This was a mortifying blow to the +mother, whose pride it painfully crushed. Griffith, now of age, proposed +that they should remove to London, where, living in the very source and +centre of official appointments, they might bring their influence to +bear upon any suitable berth that might be vacant. They accordingly left +Midvale and came to town, where they lived in complete retirement upon a +very limited income. I met Griffith accidentally after he had been in +London about a year. He shook me heartily by the hand, was in high +spirits, and informed me that he had at length secured the promise of an +appointment to a situation in S----House, in case T----, the sitting +member, should be again returned for the county. His mother had three +tenants, each with a vote, at her command; and he was going down to +Midvale, as the election was shortly coming off, and would bag a hundred +votes, at least, he felt sure, before polling-day. I could not help +thinking as he rattled away, that this was just the one thing he was fit +for. With much of the air, gait, and manners of a gentleman, he combined +a perfection in the details of fiddle-faddle and small talk rarely to be +met with; and from having no independent opinion of his own upon any +subject whatever, was so much the better qualified to secure the voices +of those who had. He went down to Midvale, canvassed the whole district +with astonishing success, and had the honor of dining with his patron, +the triumphant candidate, at the conclusion of the poll. On his return +to town, in the overflowings of his joy, he wrote a note to me +expressive of his improved prospects, and glorying in the certainty of +at length obtaining an official appointment. I was very glad to hear the +good news, but still more surprised at the terms in which it was +conveyed; the little that Griffith had learned at school he had almost +contrived to lose altogether in the eight or nine years that had elapsed +since he had left it. He seemed to ignore the very existence of such +contrivances as syntax and orthography; and I really had grave doubts as +to whether he was competent to undertake even an official situation in +S---- House. + +These doubts were not immediately resolved. Members of parliament, +secure in their seats, are not precisely so anxious to perform as they +sometimes are ready to promise when their seats seem sliding from under +them. It was very nearly two years before Griffith received any fruit +from his electioneering labors, during which time he had been leading a +life of lounging, do-nothing, dreamy semi-consciousness, occasionally +varied by a suddenly-conceived and indignant remonstrance, hurled in +foolscap at the head of the defalcating member for the county. During +all this time fortune used him but scurvily: his mother's tenants at +Midvale clamored for a reduction of rent; one decamped without payment +of arrears; repairs were necessary, and had to be done and paid for. +These drawbacks reduced the small income upon which they lived, and +sensibly affected the outward man of the gentlemanly Griffith: he began +to look seedy, and occasionally borrowed a few shillings of me when we +casually met, which he forgot to pay. I must do him the credit to say +that he never avoided me on account of these trifling debts, but with an +innate frankness characteristic of his boyhood, continued his friendship +and his confidences. At length the happy day arrived. He received his +appointment, bearing the remuneration of L200 a year, which he devoutly +believed was to lead to something infinitely greater, and called on me +on his way to the office where he was to be installed and indoctrinated +into his function. + +The grand object of her life--the settlement of her son--thus +accomplished, the mother returned to Midvale, where she shortly after +died, in the full conviction that Griffith was on the road to preferment +and fortune. The little estate--upon the proceeds of which she had +frugally maintained herself and son--passed, at her death, into the +hands of one of her brothers, none of whom took any further notice of +Griffith, who had mortally offended them by his instrumentality in +returning the old member for the county, whom it was their endeavor to +unseat. There is a mystery connected with Griffith's tenure of office +which I could never succeed in fathoming. He held it but for six months, +when, probably not being competent to keep it, he sold it to an +advertising applicant, who offered a douceur of L300 for such a berth. +How the transfer was arranged I can not tell, not knowing the recondite +formula in use upon these occasions. Suffice it to say that Griffith had +his L300, paid his little debts, renewed his wardrobe and his +expectations, and began to cast about for a new patron. He was now a +gentleman about town, and exceedingly well he both looked and acted the +character: he had prudence enough to do it upon an economical scale, and +though living upon his capital, doled it out with a sparing hand. As +long as his money lasted he did very well; but before the end of the +third year the bloom of his gentility had worn off, and it was plain +that he was painfully economizing the remnant of his funds. + +About this time I happened to remove to a different quarter of the +metropolis, and lost sight of him for more than a year. One morning, +expecting a letter of some importance, I waited for the postman before +walking to business. What was my astonishment on responding personally +to his convulsive "b'bang," to recognize under the gold-banded hat and +red-collared coat of that peripatetic official the gentlemanly figure +and features of my old schoolfellow Griffith Maclean! + +"What! Griff?" I exclaimed: "is it possible?--can this be you?" + +"Well," said he, "I am inclined to think it is. You see, old fellow, a +man must do something or starve. This is all I could get out of that +shabby fellow T---- and I should not have got this had I not well +worried him. He knows I have no longer a vote for the county. However, I +shan't wear this livery long: there are good berths enough in the +post-office. If they don't pretty soon give me something fit for a +gentleman to do, I shall take myself off as soon as any thing better +offers. But, by George? there is not much time allowed for talking: I +must be off--farewell!" + +Soon after this meeting the fourpenny deliveries commenced; and these +were before long followed by the establishment of the universal +Penny-post. This was too much for Griffith. He swore he was walked off +his legs; that people did nothing upon earth but write letters; that he +was jaded to death by lugging them about; that he had no intention of +walking into his coffin for the charge of one penny; and, finally, that +he would have no more of it. Accordingly he made application for +promotion on the strength of his recommendation, was refused as a matter +of course, and vacated his post for the pleasure of a week's rest, which +he declared was more than it was honestly worth. + +By this time destiny had made me a housekeeper in "merry Islington;" and +poor Griff, now reduced to his shifts, waited on me one morning with a +document to which he wanted my signature, the object of which was to get +him into the police force. Though doubting his perseverance in any +thing, I could not but comply with his desire, especially as many of my +neighbors had done the same. The paper testified only as to character; +and as Griff was sobriety itself, and as it would have required +considerable ingenuity to fasten any vice upon him, I might have been +hardly justified in refusing. I represented to him as I wrote my name, +that should he be successful, he would really have an opportunity of +rising by perseverance in good conduct to an upper grade. "Of course," +said he, "that is my object; it would never do for a gentleman to sit +down contented as a policeman. I intend to rise from the ranks, and I +trust you will live to see me one day at the head of the force." + +He succeeded in his application; and not long after signing his paper I +saw him indued with the long coat, oil-cape, and glazed hat of the +brotherhood, marching off in Indian file for night-duty to his beat in +the H---- Road. Whether the night air disagreed with his stomach, or +whether his previous duty as a postman had made him doubly drowsy, I can +not say, but he was found by the inspector on going his rounds in a +position too near the horizontal for the regulations of the force, and +suspended, after repeated trangression, for sleeping upon a bench under +a covered doorway while a robbery was going on in the neighborhood. He +soon found that the profession was not at all adapted to his habits, and +had not power enough over them to subdue them to his vocation. He +lingered on for a few weeks under the suspicious eye of authority, and +at length took the advice of the inspector, and withdrew from the force. + +He did not make his appearance before me as I expected, and I lost sight +of him for a long while. What new shifts and contrivances he had +recourse to--what various phases of poverty and deprivation he became +acquainted with during the two years that he was absent from my sight, +are secrets which no man can fathom. I was standing at the foot of +Blackfriar's Bridge one morning waiting for a clear passage to cross the +road, and began mechanically reading a printed board, offering to all +the sons of Adam--whom, for the especial profit of the slopsellers, +Heaven sends naked into the world--garments of the choicest broadcloth +for next to nothing, and had just mastered the whole of the +large-printed lie, when my eye fell full upon the bearer of the board, +whose haggard but still gentlemanly face revealed to me the lineaments +of my old friend Griff. He laughed in spite of his rags as our eyes met, +and seized my proffered hand. + +"And what," said I, not daring to be silent, "do they pay you for this?" + +"Six shillings a week," said Griff, "and that's better than nothing." + +"Six shillings and your board of course?" + +"Yes, this board" (tapping the placarded timber); "and a confounded +heavy board it is. Sometimes when the wind takes it, though, I'm +thinking it will fly away with me into the river, heavy as it is." + +"And do you stand here all day?" + +"No, not when it rains: the wet spoils the print, and we have orders to +run under cover. After one o'clock I walk about with it wherever I like, +and stretch my legs a bit. There's no great hardship in it if the pay +was better." + +I left my old playmate better resigned to his lowly lot than I thought +to have found him. It was clear that he had at length found a function +for which he was at least qualified; that he knew the fact; and that the +knowledge imparted some small spice of satisfaction to his mind. I am +happy to have to state that this was the deepest depth to which he has +fallen. He has never been a _sandwich_--I am sure indeed he would never +have borne it. With his heavy board mounted on a stout staff, he could +imagine himself, as no doubt he often did, a standard-bearer on the +battle-field, determined to defend his colors with his last breath; and +his tall, gentlemanly, and somewhat officer-like figure, might well +suggest the comparison to a casual spectator. But to encase his genteel +proportions in a surtout of papered planks, or hang a huge wooden +extinguisher over his shoulders labeled with colored stripes--it would +never have done: it would have blotted out the gentleman, and therefore +have worn away the heart of one whose shapely gentility was all that was +left to him. + +One might have thought, after all the vicissitudes he had passed +through, that the soul of Griffith Maclean was dead to the voice of +ambition. Not so, however. On the first establishment of the +street-orderlies, that chord in his nature spontaneously vibrated once +again. If he could only get an appointment it would be a rise in the +social scale--leading by degrees--who can tell?--to the resumption of +his original status, or even something beyond.... I hear a gentle knock, +a modest, low-toned single dab, at the street-door as I am sitting down +to supper on my return home after the fatigues of business. Betty is in +no hurry to go to the door, as she is poaching a couple of eggs, and +prides herself upon performing that delicate operation in irreproachable +style. "Squilsh!" they go one after another into the saucepan--I hear it +as plainly as though I were in the kitchen. Now the plates clatter; the +tray is loading; and now the eggs are walking up stairs, steaming under +Betty's face, when "dab" again--a thought, only a thought louder than +before--at the street-door. The spirit of patience is outside; and now +Betty runs with an apology for keeping him waiting. "Here's a man wants +to speak to master; says he'll wait if you are engaged, sir; he ain't in +no hurry." "Show him in;" and in walks Griff, again armed with a +document--a petition for employment as a street-orderly, with +testimonials of good character, honesty, and all that. Of course I again +append my signature, without any allusion to the police force. I wish +him all success, and have a long talk over past fun and follies, and +present hopes and future prospects, and the philosophy of poverty and +the deceitfulness of wealth. We part at midnight, and Griff next day +gets the desiderated appointment. + +It is raining hard while I write, and by the same token I know that at +this precise moment Griffith in his glazed hat, and short blouse, and +ponderous mud-shoes, is clearing a channel for the diluted muck of C---- +street, city, and directing the black, oozy current by the shortest cut +to the open grating connected with the common sewer. I am as sure as +though I were superintending the operation, that he handles his peculiar +instrument--a sort of hybrid between a hoe and a rake--with the grace +and air of a gentleman--a grace and an air proclaiming to the world +that though _in_ the profession, whatever it may be called, which he has +assumed, he is not _of_ it, and vindicating the workmanship of nature, +who, whatever circumstances may have compelled him to become, cast him +in the mould of a gentleman. It is said that in London every man finds +his level. Whether Griffith Maclean, after all his vicissitudes, has +found his, I do not pretend to say. Happily for him, he thinks that +fortune has done her worst, and that he is bound to rise on her +revolving wheel as high at least as he has fallen low. May the hope +stick by him, and give birth to energies productive of its realization! + + + + +THE PLEASURES AND PERILS OF BALLOONING. + + +It would appear that, in almost every age, from time immemorial, there +has been a strong feeling in certain ambitious mortals to ascend among +the clouds. They have felt with Hecate-- + + "Oh what a dainty pleasure 'tis + To sail in the air!" + +So many, besides those who have actually indulged in it, have felt +desirous of tasting the "dainty pleasure" of a perilous flight, that we +are compelled to believe that the attraction is not only much greater +than the inducement held out would leave one to expect, but that it is +far more extensive than generally supposed. Eccentric ambition, daring, +vanity, and the love of excitement and novelty, have been quite as +strong impulses as the love of science, and of making new discoveries in +man's mastery over physical nature. Nevertheless, the latter feeling +has, no doubt, been the main-stay, if not the forerunner and father of +these attempts, and has held it in public respect, notwithstanding the +many follies that have been committed. + +To master the physical elements, has always been the great aim of man. +He commenced with earth, his own natural, obvious, and immediate +element, and he has succeeded to a prodigious extent, being able to do +(so far as he knows) almost whatever he wills with the surface; and, +though reminded every now and then by some terrible disaster that he is +getting "out of bounds" has effected great conquests amidst the dark +depths beneath the surface. Water and fire came next in requisition; and +by the process of ages, man may fairly congratulate himself on the +extraordinary extent, both in kind and degree, to which he has subjected +them to his designs--designs which have become complicated and +stupendous in the means by which they are carried out, and having +commensurate results both of abstract knowledge and practical utility. +But the element of air has hitherto been too subtle for all his +projects, and defied his attempts at conquest. That element which +permeates all earthly bodies, and without breathing which the animal +machine can not continue its vital functions--into that grand natural +reservoir of breath, there is every physical indication that it is not +intended man should ascend as its lord. Traveling and voyaging man must +be content with earth and ocean;--the sublime highways of air, are, to +all appearance, denied to his wanderings. + +Wild and daring as was the act, it is no less true that men's first +attempts at a flight through the air were literally with wings. They +conjectured that by elongating their arms with a broad mechanical +covering, they could convert them into wings; and forgetting that birds +possess air-cells, which they can inflate, that their bones are full of +air instead of marrow, and, also, that they possess enormous strength of +sinews expressly for this purpose, these desperate half-theorists have +launched themselves from towers and other high places, and floundered +down to the demolition of their necks, or limbs, according to the +obvious laws and penalties of nature. We do not allude to the Icarus of +old, or any fabulous or remote aspirants, but to modern times. Wonderful +as it may seem, there are some instances in which they escaped with only +a few broken bones. Milton tells a story of this kind in his "History of +Britain;" the flying man being a monk of Malmsbury, "in his youth." He +lived to be impudent and jocose on the subject, and attributed his +failure entirely to his having forgotten to wear a broad tail of +feathers. In 1742 the Marquis de Bacqueville announced that he would fly +with wings from the top of his own house on the _Quai des Theatins_ to +the garden of the _Tuileries_. He actually accomplished half the +distance, when, being exhausted with his efforts, the wings no longer +beat the air, and he came down into the Seine, and would have escaped +unhurt, but that he fell against one of the floating machines of the +Parisian laundresses, and thereby fractured his leg. But the most +successful of all these instances of the extraordinary, however +misapplied, force of human energies and daring, was that of a certain +citizen of Bologna, in the thirteenth century, who actually managed, +with some kind of wing contrivance, to fly from the mountain of Bologna +to the River Reno, without injury. "Wonderful! admirable!" cried all the +citizens of Bologna. "Stop a little!" said the officers of the Holy +Inquisition; "this must be looked into." They sat in sacred conclave. If +the man had been killed, said they, or even mutilated shockingly, our +religious scruples would have been satisfied; but, as he has escaped +unhurt, it is clear that he must be in league with the devil. The poor +"successful" man was therefore condemned to be burnt alive; and the +sentence of the Holy Catholic Church was carried into Christian +execution. + +That flying, however, could be effected by the assistance of some more +elaborate sort of machinery, or with the aid of chemistry, was believed +at an early period. Friar Bacon suggested it; so did Bishop Wilkins, and +the Marquis of Worcester; it was likewise projected by Fleyder, by the +Jesuit Lana, and many other speculative men of ability. So far, however, +as we can see, the first real discoverer of the balloon was Dr. Black, +who, in 1767, proposed to inflate a large skin with hydrogen gas; and +the first who brought theory into practice were the brothers +Montgolfier. But their theory was that of the "fire-balloon," or the +formation of an artificial cloud, of smoke, by means of heat from a +lighted brazier placed beneath an enormous bag, or balloon, and fed with +fuel while up in the air. The Academy of Sciences immediately gave the +invention every encouragement, and two gentlemen volunteered to risk an +ascent in this alarming machine. + +The first of these was Pilatre de Rosier, a gentleman of scientific +attainments, who was to conduct the machine, and he was accompanied by +the Marquis d'Arlandes, an officer in the Guards. They ascended in the +presence of the Court of France, and all the scientific men in Paris. +They had several narrow escapes of the whole machine taking fire, but +eventually returned to the ground in safety. Both these courageous men +came to untimely ends subsequently. Pilatre de Rosier, admiring the +success of the balloon afterward made by Professor Charles, and others, +(_viz._, a balloon filled with hydrogen gas), conceived the idea of +uniting the two systems, and accordingly ascended with a large balloon +of that kind, having a small fire-balloon beneath it--the upper one to +sustain the greater portion of the weight, the lower one to enable him +to alter his specific gravity as occasion might require, and thus to +avoid the usual expenditure of gas and ballast. Right in theory--but he +had forgotten one thing. Ascending too high, confident in his theory, +the upper balloon became distended too much, and poured down a stream of +hydrogen gas, in self-relief, which reached the little furnace of the +fire-balloon, and the whole machine became presently one mass of flame. +It was consumed in the air, as it descended, and with it of course, the +unfortunate Pilatre de Rosier. The untimely fate of the Marquis +d'Arlandes, his companion in the first ascent ever made in a balloon, +was hastened by one of those circumstances which display the curious +anomalies in human nature;--he was broken for cowardice in the execution +of his military duties, and is supposed to have committed suicide. + +If we consider the shape, structure, appurtenances, and capabilities of +a ship of early ages, and one of the present time, we must be struck +with admiration at the great improvement that has been made, and the +advantages that have been obtained; but balloons are very nearly what +they were from the first, and are as much at the mercy of the wind for +the direction they will take. Neither is there at present any certain +prospect of an alteration in this condition. Their so-called "voyage" is +little more than "drifting," and can be no more, except by certain +manoeuvres which obtain precarious exceptions, such as rising to take +the chance of different currents, or lowering a long and weighty rope +upon the earth (an ingenious invention of Mr. Green's, called the "guide +rope"), to be trailed along the ground. If, however, man is ever to be a +flying animal, and to travel in the air whither he listeth, it must be +by other means than wings, balloons, paddle-machines, and aerial +ships--several of which are now building in America, in Paris, and in +London. We do not doubt the mechanical genius of inventors--but the +motive power. We will offer a few remarks on these projects before we +conclude. + +But let us, at all events, ascend into the sky! Taking balloons as they +are, "for better, for worse," as Mr. Green would say--let us for once +have a flight in the air. + +The first thing you naturally expect is some extraordinary sensation in +springing high up into the air, which takes away your breath for a time. +But no such matter occurs. The extraordinary thing is, that you +experience no sensation at all, so far as motion is concerned. So true +is this, that on one occasion, when Mr. Green wished to rise a little +above a dense crowd, in order to get out of the extreme heat and +pressure that surrounded his balloon, those who held the ropes, +misunderstanding his direction, let go entirely, and the balloon +instantly rose, while the aeronaut remained calmly seated, wiping his +forehead with a handkerchief, after the exertions he had undergone in +preparing for the flight, and totally unconscious of what had happened. +He declares that he only became aware of the circumstance, when, on +reaching a considerable elevation (a few seconds are often quite enough +for that), he heard the shouts of the multitude becoming fainter and +fainter, which caused him to start up, and look over the edge of the +car. + +A similar unconsciousness of the time of their departure from earth has +often happened to "passengers." A very amusing illustration of this is +given in a letter published by Mr. Poole, the well-known author, shortly +after his ascent. "I do not despise you," says he, "for talking about a +balloon going up, for it is an error which you share in common with some +millions of our fellow-creatures; and I, in the days of my ignorance, +thought with the rest of you. I know better now. The fact is, we do not +_go up_ at all; but at about five minutes past six on the evening of +Friday, the 14th of September, 1838--at about that time, Vauxhall +Gardens, with all the people in them, _went down_!" What follows is +excellent. "I can not have been deceived," says he; "I speak from the +evidence of my senses, founded upon repetition of the fact. Upon each of +the three or four experimental trials of the powers of the balloon to +enable the people to glide away from us with safety to themselves--down +they all went about thirty feet?--then, up they came again, and so on. +There we sat quietly all the while, in our wicker buck-basket, utterly +unconscious of motion; till, at length, Mr. Green snapping a little +iron, and thus letting loose the rope by which _the earth was suspended +to us_--like Atropos, cutting the connection between us with a pair of +shears--down it went, with every thing on it; and your poor, paltry, +little Dutch toy of a town, (your Great Metropolis, as you insolently +call it), having been placed on casters for the occasion--I am satisfied +of _that_--was gently rolled away from under us."[13] + +Feeling nothing of the ascending motion, the first impression that takes +possession of you in "going up" in a balloon, is the quietude--the +silence, that grows more and more entire. The restless heaving to and +fro of the huge inflated sphere above your head (to say nothing of the +noise of the crowd), the flapping of ropes, the rustling of silk, and +the creaking of the basketwork of the car--all has ceased. There is a +total cessation of all atmospheric resistance. You sit in a silence +which becomes more perfect every second. After the bustle of many moving +objects, you stare before you into blank air. We make no observations on +other sensations--to wit, the very natural one of a certain increased +pulse, at being so high up, with a chance of coming down so suddenly, if +any little matter went wrong. As all this will differ with different +individuals, according to their nervous systems and imaginations, we +will leave each person to his own impressions. + +So much for what you first feel; and now what is the first thing you do? +In this case every body is alike. We all do the same thing. We look over +the side of the car. We do this very cautiously--keeping a firm seat, as +though we clung to our seat by a certain attraction of cohesion--and +then, holding on by the edge, we carefully protrude the peak of our +traveling-cap, and then the tip of the nose, over the edge of the car, +upon which we rest our mouth. Every thing below is seen in so +new a form, so flat, compressed and simultaneously--so much +too-much-at-a-time--that the first look is hardly so satisfactory as +could be desired. But soon we thrust the chin fairly over the edge, and +take a good stare downward; and this repays us much better. Objects +appear under very novel circumstances from this vertical position, and +ascending retreat from them (though it is _they_ that appear to sink and +retreat from us). They are stunted and foreshortened, and rapidly +flattened to a map-like appearance; they get smaller and smaller, and +clearer and clearer. "An idea," says Monck Mason, "involuntarily seizes +upon the mind, that the earth with all its inhabitants had, by some +unaccountable effort of nature, been suddenly precipitated from its +hold, and was in the act of slipping away from beneath the aeronaut's +feet into the murky recesses of some unfathomable abyss below. Every +thing, in fact, but himself, seems to have been suddenly endowed with +motion." Away goes the earth, with all its objects--sinking lower and +lower, and every thing becoming less and less, but getting more and more +distinct and defined as they diminish in size. But, besides the retreat +toward minuteness, the phantasmagoria flattens as it lessens--men and +women are of five inches high, then of four, three, two, one inch--and +now a speck; the Great Western is a narrow strip of parchment, and upon +it you see a number of little trunks "running away with each other," +while the Great Metropolis itself is a board set out with toys; its +public edifices turned into "baby-houses, and pepper-casters, and +extinguishers, and chess-men, with here and there a dish-cover--things +which are called domes, and spires, and steeples!" As for the Father of +Rivers, he becomes a dusky-gray, winding streamlet, and his largest +ships are no more than flat pale decks, all the masts and rigging being +foreshortened to nothing. We soon come now to the shadowy, the +indistinct--and then all is lost in air. Floating clouds fill up all the +space beneath. Lovely colors outspread themselves, ever-varying in tone, +and in their forms or outlines--now sweeping in broad lines--now rolling +and heaving in huge, richly, yet softly-tinted billows--while sometimes, +through a great opening, rift, or break, you see a level expanse of gray +or blue fields at an indefinite depth below. And all this time there is +a noiseless cataract of snowy cloud-rocks falling around you--falling +swiftly on all sides of the car, in great fleecy masses--in small +snow-white and glistening fragments--and immense compound masses--all +white, and soft, and swiftly rushing past you, giddily, and incessantly +down, down, and all with the silence of a dream--strange, lustrous, +majestic, incomprehensible. + +Aeronauts, of late years, have become, in many instances, respectable +and business-like, and not given to extravagant fictions about their +voyages, which now, more generally, take the form of a not very lively +log. But it used to be very different when the art was in its infancy, +some thirty or forty years ago, and young balloonists indulged in +romantic fancies. We do not believe that there was a direct intention to +tell falsehoods, but that they often deceived themselves very amusingly. +Thus, it has been asserted, that when you attained a great elevation, +the air became so rarefied that you could not breathe, and that small +objects, being thrown out of the balloon, could not fall, and stuck +against the side of the car. Also, that wild birds, being taken up and +suddenly let loose, could not fly properly, but returned immediately to +the car for an explanation. One aeronaut declared that his head became +so contracted by his great elevation, that his hat tumbled over his +eyes, and persisted in resting on the bridge of his nose. This assertion +was indignantly rebutted by another aeronaut of the same period, who +declared that, on the contrary, the head expanded in proportion to the +elevation; in proof of which he stated, that on his last ascent he went +so high that his hat burst. Another of these romantic personages +described a wonderful feat of skill and daring which he had performed up +in the air. At an elevation of two miles, his balloon burst several +degrees above "the equator" (meaning, above the middle region of the +balloon), whereupon he crept up the lines that attached the car, until +he reached the netting that inclosed the balloon; and up this netting he +clambered, until he reached the aperture, into which he thrust--not his +head--but his pocket handkerchief! Mr. Monck Mason, to whose +"Aeronautica" we are indebted for the anecdote, gives eight different +reasons to show the impossibility of any such feat having ever been +performed in the air. One of these is highly graphic. The "performer" +would change the line of gravitation by such an attempt: he would never +be able to mount the sides, and would only be like the squirrel in its +revolving cage. He would, however, pull the netting round--the spot +where he clung to, ever remaining the lowest--until having reversed the +machine, the balloon would probably make its _escape_, in an elongated +shape, through the large interstices of that portion of the net-work +which is just above the car, when the balloon is in its proper position! +But the richest of all these romances is the following brief +statement:--A scientific gentleman, well advanced in years (who had +"probably witnessed the experiment of the restoration of a withered pear +beneath the exhausted receiver of a pneumatic machine") was impressed +with a conviction, on ascending to a considerable height in a balloon, +that every line and wrinkle of his face had totally disappeared, owing, +as he said, to the preternatural distension of his skin; and that, to +the astonishment of his companion, he rapidly began to assume the +delicate aspect and blooming appearance of his early youth! + +These things are all self-delusions. A bit of paper or a handkerchief +might cling to the outside of the car, but a penny-piece would, +undoubtedly, fall direct to the earth. Wild birds do not return to the +car, but descend in circles, till, passing through the clouds, they see +whereabouts to go, and then they fly downward as usual. We have no +difficulty in breathing; on the contrary, being "called upon," we sing a +song. Our head does not contract, so as to cause our hat to extinguish +our eyes and nose; neither does it expand to the size of a prize +pumpkin. We see that it is impossible to climb up the netting of the +balloon over-head, and so do not think of attempting it; neither do we +find all the lines in our face getting filled up, and the loveliness of +our "blushing morning" taking the place of a marked maturity. These +fancies are not less ingenious and comical than that of the sailor who +hit upon the means of using a balloon to make a rapid voyage to any part +of the earth. "The earth spins round," said he, "at a great rate, don't +it? Well, I'd go up two or three miles high in my balloon, and then 'lay +to,' and when any place on the globe I wished to touch at, passed +underneath me, down I'd drop upon it." + +But we are still floating high in air. How do we feel all this time? +"Calm, sir--calm and resigned." Yes, and more than this. After a little +while, when you find nothing happens, and see nothing likely to happen +(and you will more especially feel this under the careful conduct of the +veteran Green), a delightful serenity takes the place of all other +sensations--to which the extraordinary silence, as well as the pale +beauty and floating hues that surround you, is chiefly attributable. The +silence is perfect--a wonder and a rapture. We hear the ticking of our +watches. Tick! tick!--or is it the beat of our own hearts? We are sure +of the watch; and now we think we can hear both. + +Two other sensations must, by no means, be forgotten. You become very +cold, and desperately hungry. But you have got a warm outer coat, and +traveling boots, and other valuable things, and you have not left behind +you the pigeon-pie, the ham, cold beef, bottled ale and brandy. + +Of the increased coldness which you feel on passing from a bright cloud +into a dark one, the balloon is quite as sensitive as you can be; and, +probably, much more so, for it produces an immediate change of altitude. +The expansion and contraction which romantic gentlemen fancied took +place in the size of their heads, does really take place in the balloon, +according as it passes from a cloud of one temperature into that of +another. + +We are now nearly three miles high. Nothing is to be seen but pale air +above--around--on all sides, with floating clouds beneath. How should +you like to descend in a parachute?--to be dangled by a long line from +the bottom of the car, and suddenly to be "let go," and to dip at once +clean down through those gray-blue and softly rose-tinted clouds, +skimming so gently beneath us? Not at all: oh, by no manner of +means--thank you! Ah, you are thinking of the fate of poor Cocking, the +enthusiast in parachutes, concerning whom, and his fatal "improvement," +the public is satisfied that it knows every thing, from the one final +fact--that he was killed. But there is something more than that in it, +as we fancy. + +Two words against parachutes. In the first place, there is no use to +which, at present, they can be applied; and, in the second, they are so +unsafe as to be likely, in all cases, to cost a life for each descent. +In the concise words of Mr. Green, we should say--"the best parachute is +a balloon; the others are bad things to have to deal with." + +Mr. Cocking, as we have said, was an enthusiast in parachutes. He felt +sure he had discovered a new, and the true, principle. All parachutes, +before his day, had been constructed to descend in a concave form, like +that of an open umbrella; the consequence of which was, that the +parachute descended with a violent swinging from side to side, which +sometimes threw the man in the basket in almost a horizontal position. +Mr. Cocking conceived that the converse form; viz., an inverted cone (of +large dimensions), would remedy this evil; and becoming convinced, we +suppose, by some private experiments with models, he agreed to descend +on a certain day. The time was barely adequate to his construction of +the parachute, and did not admit of such actual experiments with a +sheep, or pig, or other animal, as prudence would naturally have +suggested. Besides the want of time, however, Cocking equally wanted +prudence; he felt sure of his new principle; this new form of parachute +was the hobby of his life, and up he went on the appointed day (for what +aeronaut shall dare to "disappoint the Public?")--dangling by a rope, +fifty feet long, from the bottom of the car of Mr. Green's great Nassau +Balloon. + +The large upper rim of the parachute, in imitation, we suppose, of the +hollow bones of a bird, was made of hollow tin--a most inapplicable and +brittle material; and besides this, it had two fractures. But Mr. +Cocking was not to be deterred; convinced of the truth of his discovery, +up he would go. Mr. Green was not equally at ease, and positively +refused to touch the latch of the "liberating iron," which was to detach +the parachute from the balloon. Mr. Cocking arranged to do this himself, +for which means he procured a piece of new cord of upward of fifty feet +in length, which was fastened to the latch above in the car, and led +down to his hand in the basket of the parachute. Up they went to a great +height, and disappeared among the clouds. + +Mr. Green had taken up one friend with him in the car; and, knowing well +what would happen the instant so great a weight as the parachute and man +were detached, he had provided a small balloon inside the car, filled +with atmospheric air, with two mouth-pieces. They were now upward of a +mile high. + +"How do you feel, Mr. Cocking?" called out Green. "Never better, or more +delighted in my life," answered Cocking. Though hanging at fifty feet +distance, in the utter silence of that region, every accent was easily +heard. "But, perhaps you will alter your mind?" suggested Green. "By no +means," cried Cocking; "but, how high are we?"--"Upward of a mile."--"I +must go higher, Mr. Green--I must be taken up two miles before I +liberate the parachute." Now, Mr. Green, having some regard for himself +and his friend, as well as for poor Cocking, was determined not to do +any such thing. After some further colloquy, therefore, during which Mr. +Green threw out a little more ballast, and gained a little more +elevation, he finally announced that he could go no higher, as he now +needed all the ballast he had for their own safety in the balloon. "Very +well," said Cocking, "if you really will not take me any higher, I shall +say good-by." + +At this juncture Green called out, "Now, Mr. Cocking, if your mind at +all misgives you about your parachute, I have provided a tackle up here, +which I can lower down to you, and then wind you up into the car by my +little grapnel-iron windlass, and nobody need be the wiser."--"Certainly +not," cried Cocking; "thank you all the same. I shall now make ready to +pull the latch-cord." Finding he was determined, Green and his friend +both crouched down in the car, and took hold of the mouth-pieces of +their little air-balloon. "All ready?" called out Cocking. "All +ready!" answered the veteran aeronaut above. "Good-night, Mr. +Green!"--"Good-night, Mr. Cocking!"--"A pleasant voyage to you, Mr. +Green--good-night!" + +There was a perfect silence--a few seconds of intense suspense--and then +the aeronauts in the car felt a jerk upon the latch. It had not been +forcible enough to open the liberating iron. Cocking had failed to +detach the parachute. Another pause of horrid silence ensued. + +Then came a strong jerk upon the latch, and in an instant, the great +balloon shot upward with a side-long swirl, like a wounded serpent. They +saw their flag clinging flat down against the flag-staff, while a +torrent of gas rushed down upon them through the aperture in the balloon +above their heads, and continued to pour down into the car for a length +of time that would have suffocated them but for the judgmatic provision +of the little balloon of atmospheric air, to the mouth-pieces of which +their own mouths were fixed, as they crouched down at the bottom of the +car. Of Mr. Cocking's fate, or the result of his experiment, they had +not the remotest knowledge. They only knew the parachute was gone! + +The termination of Mr. Cocking's experiment is well known. For a few +seconds he descended quickly, but steadily, and without swinging--as he +had designed, and insisted would be the result--when, suddenly, those +who were watching with glasses below, saw the parachute lean on one +side--then give a lurch to the other--then the large upper circle +collapsed (the disastrous hollow tin-tubing having evidently broken up), +and the machine entered the upper part of a cloud: in a few more seconds +it was seen to emerge from the lower part of the cloud--the whole thing +turned over--and then, like a closed-up broken umbrella, it shot +straight down to the earth. The unfortunate, and, as most people regard +him, the foolish enthusiast, was found still in the basket in which he +reached the earth. He was quite insensible, but uttered a moan; and in +ten minutes he was dead. + +Half a word in favor of parachutes. True, they are of no use "at +present;" but who knows of what use such things may one day be? As to +Mr. Cocking's invention, the disaster seems to be attributable to errors +of detail, rather than of principle. Mr. Green is of opinion, from an +examination of the _broken_ latch-cord, combined with other +circumstances, which would require diagrams to describe satisfactorily, +that after Mr. Cocking had failed to liberate himself the first time, he +twisted the cord round his hand to give a good jerk, forgetting that in +doing so, he united himself to the balloon above, as it would be +impossible to disengage his hand in time. By this means he was violently +jerked into his parachute, which broke the latch-cord; but the tin tube +was not able to bear such a shock, and this caused so serious a +fracture, in addition to its previous unsound condition, that it soon +afterward collapsed. This leads one to conjecture that had the outer rim +been made of strong wicker-work, or whale-bone, so as to be somewhat +pliable, and that Mr. Green had liberated the parachute, instead of Mr. +Cocking, it would have descended to the earth with perfect +safety--skimming the air, instead of the violent oscillations of the old +form of this machine. We conclude, however, with Mr. Green's +laconic--that the safest parachute is a balloon. + +But here we are--still above the clouds! We may assume that you would +not like to be "let off" in a parachute, even on the improved principle; +we will therefore prepare for descending with the balloon. This is a +work requiring great skill and care to effect safely, so as to alight on +a suitable piece of ground, and without any detriment to the voyagers, +the balloon, gardens, crops, &c. + +The valve-line is pulled!--out rushes the gas from the top of the +balloon--you see the flag fly upward--down through the clouds you sink +faster and faster--lower and lower. Now you begin to see dark masses +below--there's the Old Earth again!--the dark masses now discover +themselves to be little forests, little towns, tree-tops, +house-tops--out goes a shower of sand from the ballast-bags, and our +descent becomes slower--another shower, and up we mount again, in search +of a better spot to alight upon. Our guardian aeronaut gives each of us +a bag of ballast, and directs us to throw out its contents when he calls +each of us by name, and in such quantities only as he specifies. +Moreover, no one is suddenly to leap out of the balloon, when it touches +the earth; partly because it may cost him his own life or limbs, and +partly because it would cause the balloon to shoot up again with those +who remained, and so make them lose the advantage of the good descent +already gained, if nothing worse happened. Meantime, the grapnel-iron +has been lowered, and dangling down at the end of a strong rope of a +hundred and fifty feet long. It is now trailing over the ground. Three +bricklayers' laborers are in chase of it. It catches upon a bank--it +tears its way through. Now the three bricklayers are joined by a couple +of fellows in smock-frocks, a policeman, five boys, followed by three +little girls, and, last of all, a woman with a child in her arms, all +running, shouting, screaming, and yelling, as the grapnel-iron and rope +go trailing and bobbing over the ground before them. At last the iron +catches upon a hedge--grapples with its roots; the balloon is arrested, +but struggles hard; three or four men seize the rope, and down we are +hauled, and held fast till the aerial Monster, with many a gigantic +heave and pant, surrenders at discretion, and begins to resign its +inflated robust proportions. It subsides in irregular waves--sinks, +puffs, flattens--dies to a mere shriveled skin; and being folded up, +like Peter Schlemil's shadow, is put into a bag, and stowed away at the +bottom of the little car it so recently overshadowed with its buoyant +enormity. + +We are glad it is all over; delighted, and edified as we have been, we +are very glad to take our supper at the solid, firmly-fixed oak table of +a country inn, with a brick wall and a barn-door for our only prospect, +as the evening closes in. Of etherial currents, and the scenery of +infinite space, we have had enough for the present. + +Touching the accidents which occur to balloons, we feel persuaded that +in the great majority of cases they are caused by inexperience, +ignorance, rashness, folly, or--more commonly than all--the necessities +attending a "show." Once "announced" for a certain day, or _night_ (an +abominable practice, which ought to be prevented)--and, whatever the +state of the wind and weather, and whatever science and the good sense +of an experienced aeronaut may know and suggest of imprudence--up the +poor man must go, simply because the public have paid their money to +see him do it. He must go, or he will be ruined. + +But nothing can more strikingly display the comparative safety which is +attained by great knowledge, foresight, and care, than the fact of the +veteran, Charles Green, being now in the four hundred and eighty-ninth +year of his balloonical age; having made that number of ascents, and +taken up one thousand four hundred and thirteen persons, with no fatal +accident to himself, or to them, and seldom with any damage to his +balloons. + +Nevertheless, from causes over which he had no control, our veteran has +had two or three "close shaves." On one occasion he was blown out to sea +with the Great Nassau balloon. Observing some vessels, from which he +knew he should obtain assistance, he commenced a rapid descent in the +direction of the Nore. The valve was opened, and the car first struck +the water some two miles north of Sheerness. But the wind was blowing +fresh, and, by reason of the buoyancy of the balloon, added to the +enormous surface it presented to the wind, they were drawn through the +water at a speed which set defiance to all the vessels and boats that +were now out on the chase. It should be mentioned, that the speed was so +vehement, and the car so un-boat-like, that the aeronauts (Mr. Green and +Mr. Rush, of Elsenham Hall, Essex) were dragged through, that is +_under_, every wave they encountered, and had a good prospect of being +drowned upon the surface. Seeing that the balloon could not be +overtaken, Mr. Green managed to let go his large grapnel-iron, which +shortly afterward took effect at the bottom, where, by a fortunate +circumstance (for them) there was a sunken wreck, in which the iron took +hold. The progress of the balloon being thus arrested, a boat soon came +up, and relieved the aeronauts; but no boat could venture to approach +the monster balloon, which still continued to struggle, and toss, and +bound from side to side. It would have capsized any boat that came near +it, in an instant. It was impossible to do any thing with it till Mr. +Green obtained assistance from a revenue cutter, from which he solicited +the services of an armed boat, and the crew fired muskets with +ball-cartridge into the rolling Monster, until she gradually sank down +flat upon the waves, but not until she had been riddled with sixty-two +bullet holes. + +So much for perils by sea; but the greatest of all the veteran's dangers +was caused by a diabolical trick, the perpetrator of which was never +discovered. It was as follows: + +In the year 1832, on ascending from Cheltenham, one of those malicious +wretches who may be regarded as half fool and half devil, contrived +partially to sever the ropes of the car, in such a manner as not to be +perceived before the balloon had quited the ground; when receiving, for +the first time, the whole weight of the contents, they suddenly gave +way. Every thing fell out of the car, the aeronauts just having time to +secure a painful and precarious attachment to the hoop. Lightened of its +load, the balloon, with frightful velocity, immediately commenced its +upward course, and ere Mr. Green could obtain possession of the +valve-string, which the first violence of the accident had placed beyond +his reach, attained an altitude of upward of ten thousand feet. Their +situation was terrific. Clinging to the hoop with desperate retention, +not daring to trust any portion of their weight upon the margin of the +car, that still remained suspended by a single cord beneath their feet, +lest that also might give way, and they should be deprived of their only +remaining counterpoise, all they could do was to resign themselves to +chance, and endeavor to retain their hold until the exhaustion of the +gas should have determined the career of the balloon. To complete the +horrors of their situation, the net-work, drawn awry by the awkward and +unequal disposition of the weight, began to break about the upper part +of the machine--mesh after mesh giving way, with a succession of reports +like those of a pistol; while, through the opening thus created, the +balloon began rapidly to ooze out, and swelling as it escaped beyond the +fissure, presented the singular appearance of a huge hour-glass floating +in the upper regions of the sky. After having continued for a +considerable length of time in this condition, every moment expecting to +be precipitated to the earth by the final detachment of the balloon, at +length they began slowly to descend. When they had arrived within about +a hundred feet from the ground, the event they had anticipated at length +occurred; the balloon, rushing through the opening in the net-work with +a tremendous explosion, suddenly made its escape, and they fell to the +earth in a state of insensibility, from which with great difficulty, +they were eventually recovered. + +Apart from the question of dangers, which science, as we have seen, can +reduce to a minimum--and apart also from the question of practical +utility, of which we do not see much at present, yet of which we know +not what may be derived in future--what are the probabilities of +improvement in the art of ballooning, aerostation, or the means of +traveling through the air in a given direction? + +The conditions seem to be these. In order to fly in the air, and steer +in a given direction during a given period, it is requisite to take up a +buoyancy and a power which shall be greater (and continuously so during +the voyage) than needful to sustain its own mechanical weight, together +with that of the aeronauts and their various appurtenances; and as much +also in excess of these requisitions as shall overcome the adverse +action of the wind upon the resisting surface presented by the machine. +At present no such power is known which can be used in combination with +a balloon, or other gas machine. If we could condense electricity, then +the thing might be done; other subtle powers may also be discovered with +the progress of science, but we must wait for them before we can fairly +make definite voyages in the air, and reduce human flying to a practical +utility, or a safe and rational pleasure. + + + + +MY NOVEL; OR, VARIETIES IN ENGLISH LIFE.[14] + + +BOOK VIII.--INITIAL CHAPTER. + +THE ABUSE OF INTELLECT. + +There is at present so vehement a flourish of trumpets, and so +prodigious a roll of the drum, whenever we are called upon to throw up +our hats, and cry "Huzza" to the "March of Enlightenment," that, out of +that very spirit of contradiction natural to all rational animals, one +is tempted to stop one's ears, and say, "Gently, gently; LIGHT is +noiseless; how comes 'Enlightenment' to make such a clatter? Meanwhile, +if it be not impertinent, pray, where is enlightenment marching to?" Ask +that question of any six of the loudest bawlers in the procession, and +I'll wager ten-pence to California that you get six very unsatisfactory +answers. One respectable gentleman, who, to our great astonishment, +insists upon calling himself a "slave," but has a remarkably free way of +expressing his opinions, will reply--"Enlightenment is marching toward +the nine points of the Charter." Another, with his hair _a la jeune +France_, who has taken a fancy to his friend's wife, and is rather +embarrassed with his own, asserts that Enlightenment is proceeding +toward the Rights of Women, the reign of Social Love, and the +annihilation of Tyrannical Prejudice. A third, who has the air of a man +well to do in the middle class, more modest in his hopes, because he +neither wishes to have his head broken by his errand-boy, nor his wife +carried off to an Agapemone by his apprentice, does not take +Enlightenment a step further than a siege on Debrett, and a cannonade on +the Budget. Illiberal man! the march that he swells will soon trample +_him_ under foot. No one fares so ill in a crowd as the man who is +wedged in the middle. A fourth, looking wild and dreamy, as if he had +come out of the cave of Trophonius, and who is a mesmeriser and a +mystic, thinks Enlightenment is in full career toward the good old days +of alchemists and necromancers. A fifth, whom one might take for a +Quaker, asserts that the march of Enlightenment is a crusade for +universal philanthropy, vegetable diet, and the perpetuation of peace, +by means of speeches, which certainly do produce a very contrary effect +from the Philippics of Demosthenes! The sixth--(good fellow, without a +rag on his back)--does not care a straw where the march goes. He can't +be worse off than he is; and it is quite immaterial to him whether he +goes to the dogstar above, or the bottomless pit below. I say nothing, +however, against the march, while we take it all together. Whatever +happens, one is in good company; and though I am somewhat indolent by +nature, and would rather stay at home with Locke and Burke (dull dogs +though they were), than have my thoughts set off helter-skelter with +those cursed trumpets and drums, blown and dub-a-dubbed by fellows that +I vow to Heaven I would not trust with a five-pound note--still, if I +must march, I must; and so deuce take the hindmost. But when it comes +to individual marchers upon their own account--privateers and +condottieri of Enlightenment--who have filled their pockets with +lucifer-matches, and have a sublime contempt for their neighbors' barns +and hay-ricks, I don't see why I should throw myself into the seventh +heaven of admiration and ecstasy. + +If those who are eternally rhapsodizing on the celestial blessings that +are to follow Enlightenment, Universal Knowledge, and so forth, would +just take their eyes out of their pockets, and look about them, I would +respectfully inquire if they have never met any very knowing and +enlightened gentleman, whose acquaintance is by no means desirable. If +not, they are monstrous lucky. Every man must judge by his own +experience; and the worst rogues I have ever encountered were amazingly +well-informed, clever fellows! From dunderheads and dunces we can +protect ourselves; but from your sharp-witted gentleman, all +enlightenment and no prejudice, we have but to cry, "Heaven defend us!" +It is true, that the rogue (let him be ever so enlightened) usually +comes to no good himself (though not before he has done harm enough to +his neighbors). But that only shows that the world wants something else +in those it rewards, besides intelligence _per se_ and in the abstract; +and is much too old a world to allow any Jack Horner to pick out its +plums for his own personal gratification. Hence a man of very moderate +intelligence, who believes in God, suffers his heart to beat with human +sympathies, and keeps his eyes off your strong-box, will perhaps gain a +vast deal more power than knowledge ever gives to a rogue. + +Wherefore, though I anticipate an outcry against me on the part of the +blockheads, who, strange to say, are the most credulous idolators of +enlightenment, and, if knowledge were power, would rot on a dunghill; +yet, nevertheless, I think all really enlightened men will agree with +me, that when one falls in with detached sharpshooters from the general +march of enlightenment, it is no reason that we should make ourselves a +target, because enlightenment has furnished them with a gun. It has, +doubtless, been already remarked by the judicious reader, that of the +numerous characters introduced into this work, the larger portion belong +to that species which we call the INTELLECTUAL--that through them are +analyzed and developed human intellect, in various forms and directions. +So that this History, rightly considered, is a kind of humble, familiar +Epic, or, if you prefer it, a long Serio-Comedy, upon the varieties of +English Life in this our century, set in movement by the intelligences +most prevalent. And where more ordinary and less refined types of the +species round and complete the survey of our passing generation, they +will often suggest, by contrast, the deficiencies which mere +intellectual culture leaves in the human being. Certainly I have no +spite against intellect and enlightenment. Heaven forbid I should be +such a Goth. I am only the advocate for common sense and fair play. I +don't think an able man necessarily an angel; but I think if his heart +match his head, and both proceed in the Great March under a divine +Oriflamme, he goes as near to the angel as humanity will permit: if not, +if he has but a penn'orth of heart to a pound of brains, I say, +"_Bonjour, mon ange?_ I see not the starry upward wings, but the +groveling cloven-hoof." I'd rather be offuscated by the Squire of +Hazeldean, than enlightened by Randal Leslie. Every man to his taste. +But intellect itself (not in the philosophical, but the ordinary sense +of the term) is rarely, if ever, one completed harmonious agency; it is +not one faculty, but a compound of many, some of which are often at war +with each other, and mar the concord of the whole. Few of us but have +some predominant faculty, in itself a strength; but which (usurping +unseasonably dominion over the rest), shares the lot of all tyranny, +however brilliant, and leaves the empire weak against disaffection +within, and invasion from without. Hence intellect may be perverted in a +man of evil disposition, and sometimes merely wasted in a man of +excellent impulses, for want of the necessary discipline, or of a strong +ruling motive. I doubt if there be one person in the world, who has +obtained a high reputation for talent, who has not met somebody much +cleverer than himself, which said somebody has never obtained any +reputation at all! Men like Audley Egerton are constantly seen in the +great positions of life; while men like Harley L'Estrange, who could +have beaten them hollow in any thing equally striven for by both, float +away down the stream, and, unless some sudden stimulant arouse the +dreamy energies, vanish out of sight into silent graves. If Hamlet and +Polonius were living now, Polonius would have a much better chance of +being Chancellor of the Exchequer, though Hamlet would unquestionably be +a much more intellectual character. What would become of Hamlet? Heaven +knows! Dr. Arnold said, from his experience of a school, that the +difference between one man and another was not mere ability--it was +energy. There is a great deal of truth in that saying. + +Submitting these hints to the judgment and penetration of the sagacious, +I enter on the fresh division of this work, and see already Randal +Leslie gnawing his lip on the back ground. The German poet observes, +that the Cow of Isis is to some the divine symbol of knowledge, to +others but the milch cow, only regarded for the pounds of butter she +will yield. O, tendency of our age, to look on Isis as the milch cow! O, +prostitution of the grandest desires to the basest uses! Gaze on the +goddess, Randal Leslie, and get ready thy churn and thy scales. Let us +see what the butter will fetch in the market. + + +CHAPTER II. + +A new reign has commenced. There has been a general election; the +unpopularity of the Administration has been apparent at the hustings. +Audley Egerton, hitherto returned by vast majorities, has barely escaped +defeat--thanks to a majority of five. The expenses of his election are +said to have been prodigious. "But who can stand against such wealth as +Egerton's--no doubt, backed, too, by the Treasury purse?" said the +defeated candidate. It is toward the close of October; London is already +full; Parliament will meet in less than a fortnight. + +In one of the principal apartments of that hotel in which foreigners may +discover what is meant by English comfort, and the price which +foreigners must pay for it, there sat two persons, side by side, engaged +in close conversation. The one was a female, in whose pale, clear +complexion and raven hair--in whose eyes, vivid with a power of +expression rarely bestowed on the beauties of the north, we recognize +Beatrice, Marchesa di Negra. Undeniably handsome as was the Italian +lady, her companion, though a man, and far advanced into middle age, was +yet more remarkable for personal advantages. There was a strong family +likeness between the two; but there was also a striking contrast in air, +manner, and all that stamps on the physiognomy the idiosyncrasies of +character. There was something of gravity, of earnestness and passion, +in Beatrice's countenance when carefully examined; her smile at times +might be false, but it was rarely ironical, never cynical. Her gestures, +though graceful, were unrestrained and frequent. You could see she was a +daughter of the south. Her companion, on the contrary, preserved on the +fair smooth face, to which years had given scarcely a line or wrinkle, +something that might have passed, at first glance, for the levity and +thoughtlessness of a gay and youthful nature; but the smile, though +exquisitely polished, took at times the derision of a sneer. In his +manners he was as composed and as free from gesture as an Englishman. +His hair was of that red brown with which the Italian painters produce +such marvelous effects of color; and, if here and there a silver thread +gleamed through the locks, it was lost at once amid their luxuriance. +His eyes were light, and his complexion, though without much color, was +singularly transparent. His beauty, indeed, would have been rather +womanly than masculine, but for the height and sinewy spareness of a +frame in which muscular strength was rather adorned than concealed by an +admirable elegance of proportion. You would never have guessed this man +to be an Italian: more likely you would have supposed him a Parisian. He +conversed in French, his dress was of French fashion, his mode of +thought seemed French. Not that he was like the Frenchman of the present +day--an animal, either rude or reserved; but your ideal of the _Marquis_ +of the old _regime_--the _roue_ of the Regency. + +Italian, however, he was, and of a race renowned in Italian history. +But, as if ashamed of his country and his birth, he affected to be a +citizen of the world. Heaven help the world if it hold only such +citizens! + +"But, Giulio," said Beatrice di Negra, speaking in Italian, "even +granting that you discover this girl, can you suppose that her father +will ever consent to your alliance? Surely you know too well the nature +of your kinsman?" + +"_Tu te trompes, ma soeur_," replied Giulio Franzini, Count di +Peschiera, in French as usual--"_tu te trompes_; I knew it before he had +gone through exile and penury. How can I know it now? But comfort +yourself, my too anxious Beatrice; I shall not care for his consent till +I have made sure of his daughter's." + +"But how win that in despite of the father?" + +"_Eh, mordieu!_" interrupted the Count, with true French gayety; "what +would become of all the comedies ever written, if marriages were not +made in despite of the father? Look you," he resumed, with a very slight +compression of his lip, and a still slighter movement in his +chair--"look you, this is no question of ifs and buts; it is a question +of must and shall--a question of existence to you and to me. When Danton +was condemned to the guillotine, he said, flinging a pellet of bread at +the nose of his respectable judge--'_Mon individu sera bientot dans le +neant_'--_My_ patrimony is there already! I am loaded with debts. I see +before me, on the one side, ruin or suicide; on the other side, wedlock +and wealth." + +"But from those vast possessions which you have been permitted to enjoy +so long, have you really saved nothing against the time when they might +be reclaimed at your hands?" + +"My sister," replied the Count, "do I look like a man who saved? +Besides, when the Austrian Emperor, unwilling to raze from his Lombard +domains a name and a house so illustrious as our kinsman's, and +desirous, while punishing that kinsman's rebellion, to reward my +adherence, forbore the peremptory confiscation of those vast +possessions, at which my mouth waters while we speak, but, annexing them +to the Crown during pleasure, allowed me, as the next of male kin, to +retain the revenues of one half for the same very indefinite period--had +I not every reason to suppose, that, before long, I could so influence +his majesty or his minister, as to obtain a decree that might transfer +the whole, unconditionally and absolutely, to myself? And, methinks, I +should have done so, but for this accursed, intermeddling English +milord, who has never ceased to besiege the court or the minister with +alleged extenuations of our cousin's rebellion, and proofless assertions +that I shared it in order to entangle my kinsman, and betrayed it in +order to profit by his spoils. So that, at last, in return for all my +services, and in answer to all my claims, I received from the minister +himself this cold reply--'Count of Peschiera, your aid was important, +and your reward has been large. That reward, it would not be for your +honor to extend, and justify the ill-opinion of your Italian countrymen, +by formally appropriating to yourself all that was forfeited by the +treason you denounced. A name so noble as yours should be dearer to you +than fortune itself.'" + +"Ah, Giulio!" cried Beatrice, her face lighting up, changed in its whole +character--"those were words that might make the demon that tempts to +avarice, fly from your breast in shame." + +The Count opened his eyes in great amaze; then he glanced round the +room, and said, quietly: + +"Nobody else hears you, my dear Beatrice; talk common sense. Heroics +sound well in mixed society; but there is nothing less suited to the +tone of a family conversation." + +Madame di Negra bent down her head abashed, and that sudden change in +the expression of her countenance, which had seemed to betray +susceptibility to generous emotion, faded as suddenly away. + +"But still," she said, coldly, "you enjoy one half of those ample +revenues--why talk, then, of suicide and ruin?" + +"I enjoy them at the pleasure of the crown; and what if it be the +pleasure of the crown to recall our cousin, and reinstate him in his +possessions?" + +"There is a _probability_, then, of that pardon? When you first employed +me in your researches, you only thought there was a _possibility_." + +"There is a great probability of it, and therefore I am here. I learned +some little time since that the question of such recall had been +suggested by the Emperor, and discussed in Council. The danger to the +State, which might arise from our cousin's wealth, his alleged +abilities--(abilities! bah!)--and his popular name, deferred any +decision on the point; and, indeed, the difficulty of dealing with +myself must have embarrassed the ministry. But it is a mere question of +time. He can not long remain excluded from the general amnesty, already +extended to the other refugees. The person who gave me this information +is high in power, and friendly to myself; and he added a piece of +advice, on which I acted. 'It was intimated,' said he, 'by one of the +partisans of your kinsman, that the exile could give a hostage for his +loyalty in the person of his daughter and heiress; that she had arrived +at marriageable age; that if she were to wed, with the Emperor's +consent, some one whose attachment to the Austrian crown was +unquestionable, there would be a guarantee both for the faith of the +father, and for the transmission of so important a heritage to safe and +loyal hands. Why not' (continued my friend) 'apply to the Emperor for +his consent to that alliance for yourself? you, on whom he can depend; +you who, if the daughter should die, would be the legal heir to those +lands?' On that hint I spoke." + +"You saw the Emperor?" + +"And after combating the unjust prepossessions against me, I stated, +that so far from my cousin having any fair cause of resentment against +me, when all was duly explained to him, I did not doubt that he would +willingly give me the hand of his child." + +"You did!" cried the Marchesa, amazed. + +"And," continued the Count, imperturbably, as he smoothed, with careless +hand, the snowy plaits of his shirt front--"and that I should thus have +the happiness of becoming myself the guarantee of my kinsman's +loyalty--the agent for the restoration of his honors, while, in the eyes +of the envious and malignant, I should clear up my own name from all +suspicion that I had wronged him." + +"And the Emperor consented?" + +"_Pardieu_, my dear sister. What else could his majesty do? My +proposition smoothed every obstacle, and reconciled policy with mercy. +It remains, therefore, only to find out, what has hitherto baffled all +our researches, the retreat of our dear kinsfolk, and to make myself a +welcome lover to the demoiselle. There is some disparity of years, I +own; but--unless your sex and my glass flatter me overmuch--I am still a +match for many a gallant of five-and-twenty." + +The Count said this with so charming a smile, and looked so +pre-eminently handsome, that he carried off the coxcombry of the words +as gracefully as if they had been spoken by some dazzling hero of the +grand old comedy of Parisian life. + +Then interlacing his fingers, and lightly leaning his hands, thus +clasped, upon his sister's shoulder, he looked into her face, and said +slowly--"And now, my sister, for some gentle but deserved reproach. Have +you not sadly failed me in the task I imposed on your regard for my +interests? Is it not some years since you first came to England on the +mission of discovering these worthy relatives of ours? Did I not entreat +you to seduce into your toils the man whom I knew to be my enemy, and +who was indubitably acquainted with our cousin's retreat--a secret he +has hitherto locked within his bosom? Did you not tell me, that though +he was then in England, you could find no occasion even to meet him, but +that you had obtained the friendship of the statesman to whom I directed +your attention as his most intimate associate? And yet you, whose charms +are usually so irresistible, learn nothing from the statesman, as you +see nothing of _milord_. Nay, baffled and misled, you actually supposed +that the quarry has taken refuge in France. You go thither--you pretend +to search the capital--the provinces, Switzerland, _que sais-je?_ all in +vain--though--_-foi de gentilhomme_--your police cost me dearly--you +return to England--the same chase and the same result. _Palsambleu, ma +soeur_, I do too much credit to your talents not to question your zeal. +In a word have you been in earnest--or have you not had some womanly +pleasure in amusing yourself and abusing my trust?" + +"Giulio," answered Beatrice, sadly, "you know the influence you have +exercised over my character and my fate. Your reproaches are not just. I +made such inquiries as were in my power, and I have now cause to believe +that I know one who is possessed of this secret, and can guide us to +it." + +"Ah, you do!" exclaimed the Count. Beatrice did not heed the +exclamation, but hurried on. + +"But grant that my heart shrunk from the task you imposed on me, would +it not have been natural? When I first came to England, you informed me +that your object in discovering the exiles was one which I could +honestly aid. You naturally desired first to know if the daughter lived; +if not, you were the heir. If she did, you assured me you desired to +effect, through my mediation, some liberal compromise with Alphonso, by +which you would have sought to obtain his restoration, provided he would +leave you for life in possession of the grant you hold from the crown. +While these were your objects, I did my best, ineffectual as it was, to +obtain the information required." + +"And what made me lose so important though so ineffectual an ally?" +asked the Count, still smiling; but a gleam that belied the smile shot +from his eye. + +"What! when you bade me receive and co-operate with the miserable +spies--the false Italians--whom you sent over, and seek to entangle this +poor exile, when found, in some rash correspondence, to be revealed to +the court; when you sought to seduce the daughter of the Counts of +Peschiera, the descendant of those who had ruled in Italy, into the +informer, the corrupter, and the traitress! No, Giulio--then I recoiled; +and then, fearful of your own sway over me, I retreated into France. I +have answered you frankly." + +The Count removed his hands from the shoulders on which they had +reclined so cordially. + +"And this," said he, "is your wisdom, and this your gratitude. You, +whose fortunes are bound up in mine--you, who subsist on my bounty--you, +who--" + +"Hold," cried the Marchesa, rising, and with a burst of emotion, as if +stung to the utmost, and breaking into revolt from the tyranny of +years--"Hold--gratitude! bounty! Brother, brother--what, indeed, do I +owe to you? The shame and the misery of a life. While yet a child, you +condemned me to marry against my will--against my heart--against my +prayers--and laughed at my tears when I knelt to you for mercy. I was +pure then, Giulio--pure and innocent as the flowers in my virgin crown. +And now--now--" + +Beatrice stopped abruptly, and clasped her hands before her face. + +"Now you upbraid me," said the Count, unruffled by her sudden passion, +"because I gave you in marriage to a man young and noble?" + +"Old in vices and mean of soul! The marriage I forgave you. You had the +right, according to the customs of our country, to dispose of my hand. +But I forgave you not the consolations that you whispered in the ear of +a wretched and insulted wife." + +"Pardon me the remark," replied the Count, with a courtly bend of his +head, "but those consolations were also conformable to the customs of +our country, and I was not aware till now that you had wholly disdained +them. And," continued the Count, "you were not so long a wife that the +gall of the chain should smart still. You were soon left a widow--free, +childless, young, beautiful." + +"And penniless." + +"True, Di Negra was a gambler, and very unlucky; no fault of mine. I +could neither keep the cards from his hands, nor advise him how to play +them." + +"And my own portion? Oh, Giulio, I knew but at his death why you had +condemned me to that renegade Genoese. He owed you money, and, against +honor, and, I believe, against law, you had accepted my fortune in +discharge of the debt." + +"He had no other way to discharge it--a debt of honor must be paid--old +stories these. What matters? Since then my purse has been open to you?" + +"Yes, not as your sister, but your instrument--your spy! Yes, your purse +has been open--with a niggard hand." + +"_Un peu de conscience, ma chere_, you are so extravagant. But come, be +plain. What would you?" + +"I would be free from you." + +"That is, you would form some second marriage with one of these rich +island lords. _Ma foi_, I respect your ambition." + +"It is not so high. I aim but to escape from slavery--to be placed +beyond dishonorable temptation. I desire," cried Beatrice with increased +emotion, "I desire to re-enter the life of woman." + +"Eno'!" said the Count with a visible impatience, "is there any thing in +the attainment of your object that should render you indifferent to +mine? You desire to marry, if I comprehend you right. And to marry, as +becomes you, you should bring to your husband not debts, but a dowry. Be +it so. I will restore the portion that I saved from the spendthrift +clutch of the Genoese--the moment that it is mine to bestow--the moment +that I am husband to my kinsman's heiress. And now, Beatrice, you imply +that my former notions revolted your conscience; my present plan should +content it; for by this marriage shall our kinsman regain his country, +and repossess, at least, half his lands. And if I am not an excellent +husband to the demoiselle, it will be her own fault. I have sown my wild +oats. _Je suis bon prince_, when I have things a little my own way. It +is my hope and my intention, and certainly it will be my interest, to +become _digne epoux et irreproachable pere de famille_. I speak +lightly--'tis my way. I mean seriously. The little girl will be very +happy with me, and I shall succeed in soothing all resentment her father +may retain. Will you aid me then--yes or no? Aid me, and you shall +indeed be free. The magician will release the fair spirit he has bound +to his will. Aid me not, _ma chere_, and mark, I do not threaten--I do +but warn--aid me not; grant that I become a beggar, and ask yourself +what is to become of you--still young, still beautiful, and still +penniless? Nay, worse than penniless; you have done me the honor" (and +here the Count, looking on the table, drew a letter from a portfolio, +emblazoned with his arms and coronet), "you have done me the honor to +consult me as to your debts." + +"You will restore my fortune?" said the Marchesa, irresolutely--and +averting her head from an odious schedule of figures. + +"When my own, with your aid, is secured." + +"But do you not overate the value of my aid?" + +"Possibly," said the Count, with a caressing suavity--and he kissed his +sister's forehead. + +"Possibly; but by my honor, I wish to repair to you any wrong, real or +supposed, I may have done you in past times. I wish to find again my own +dear sister. I may overvalue your aid, but not the affection from which +it comes. Let us be friends, _cara Beatrice mia_," added the Count, for +the first time employing Italian words. + +The Marchesa laid her head on his shoulder, and her tears flowed softly. +Evidently this man had great influence over her--and evidently, whatever +her cause for complaint, her affection for him was still sisterly and +strong. A nature with fine flashes of generosity, spirit, honor, and +passion, was hers--but uncultured, unguided--spoilt by the worst social +examples--easily led into wrong--not always aware where the wrong +was--letting affections good or bad whisper away her conscience, or +blind her reason. Such women are often far more dangerous when induced +to wrong, than those who are thoroughly abandoned--such women are the +accomplices men like the Count of Peschiera most desire to obtain. + +"Ah, Giulio," said Beatrice, after a pause, and looking up at him +through her tears, "when you speak to me thus, you know you can do with +me what you will. Fatherless and motherless, whom had my childhood to +love and obey but you?" + +"Dear Beatrice," murmured the Count tenderly--and he again kissed her +forehead. "So," he continued more carelessly--"so the reconciliation is +effected, and our interests and our hearts re-allied. Now, alas, to +descend to business. You say that you know some one whom you believe to +be acquainted with the lurking-place of my father-in-law--that is to +be!" + +"I think so. You remind me that I have an appointment with him this day; +it is near the hour--I must leave you." + +"To learn the secret?--Quick--quick. I have no fear of your success, if +it is by his heart that you lead him?" + +"You mistake; on his heart I have no hold. But he has a friend who loves +me, and honorably, and whose cause he pleads. I think here that I have +some means to control or persuade him. If not--ah, he is of a character +that perplexes me in all but his worldly ambition; and how can we +foreigners influence him through _that_?" + +"Is he poor, or is he extravagant?" + +"Not extravagant, and not positively poor, but dependent." + +"Then we have him," said the Count composedly. "If his assistance be +worth buying, we can bid high for it. _Sur mon ame_, I never yet knew +money fail with any man who was both worldly and dependent. I put him +and myself in your hands." + +Thus saying, the Count opened the door, and conducted his sister with +formal politeness to her carriage. He then returned, reseated himself, +and mused in silence. As he did so, the muscles of his countenance +relaxed. The levity of the Frenchman fled from his visage, and in his +eye, as it gazed abstractedly into space, there was that steady depth so +remarkable in the old portraits of Florentine diplomatist, or Venetian +oligarch. Thus seen, there was in that face, despite all its beauty, +something that would have awed back even the fond gaze of love; +something hard, collected, inscrutable, remorseless, but this change of +countenance did not last long. Evidently, thought, though intense for +the moment, was not habitual to the man. Evidently, he had lived the +life which takes all things lightly--so he rose with a look of fatigue, +shook and stretched himself, as if to cast off, or grow out of an +unwelcome and irksome mood. An hour afterward, the Count of Peschiera +was charming all eyes, and pleasing all ears, in the saloon of a +high-born beauty, whose acquaintance he had made at Vienna, and whose +charms, according to that old and never truth-speaking oracle, Polite +Scandal, were now said to have attracted to London the brilliant +foreigner. + + +CHAPTER III. + +The Marchesa regained her house, which was in Curzon-street, and +withdrew to her own room, to re-adjust her dress, and remove from her +countenance all trace of the tears she had shed. + +Half-an-hour afterward she was seated in her drawing-room, composed and +calm; nor, seeing her then, could you have guessed that she was capable +of so much emotion and so much weakness. In that stately exterior, in +that quiet attitude, in that elaborate and finished elegance which comes +alike from the arts of the toilet and the conventional repose of rank, +you could see but the woman of the world and the great lady. + +A knock at the door was heard, and in a few moments there entered a +visitor, with the easy familiarity of intimate acquaintance--a young +man, but with none of the bloom of youth. His hair, fine as a woman's, +was thin and scanty, but it fell low over the forehead, and concealed +that noblest of our human features. "A gentleman," says Apuleius, +"ought, if he can, to wear his whole mind on his forehead."[15] The +young visitor would never have committed so frank an imprudence. His +cheek was pale, and in his step and his movements there was a languor +that spoke of fatigued nerves or delicate health. But the light of the +eye and the tone of the voice were those of a mental temperament +controlling the bodily--vigorous and energetic. For the rest his general +appearance was distinguished by a refinement alike intellectual and +social. Once seen, you would not easily forget him. And the reader no +doubt already recognizes Randal Leslie. His salutation, as I before +said, was that of intimate familiarity; yet it was given and replied to +with that unreserved openness which denotes the absence of a more tender +sentiment. + +Seating himself by the Marchesa's side, Randal began first to converse +on the fashionable topics and gossip of the day; but it was observable, +that, while he extracted from her the current anecdote and scandal of +the great world, neither anecdote nor scandal did he communicate in +return. Randal Leslie had already learned the art not to commit himself, +not to have quoted against him one ill-natured remark upon the eminent. +Nothing more injures the man who would rise beyond the fame of the +_salons_, than to be considered a backbiter and gossip; "yet it is +always useful," thought Randal Leslie, "to know the foibles--the small +social and private springs by which the great are moved. Critical +occasions may arise in which such knowledge may be power." And hence, +perhaps (besides a more private motive, soon to be perceived), Randal +did not consider his time thrown away in cultivating Madame di Negra's +friendship. For despite much that was whispered against her, she had +succeeded in dispelling the coldness with which she had at first been +received in the London circles. Her beauty, her grace, and her high +birth, had raised her into fashion, and the homage of men of the first +station, while it perhaps injured her reputation as woman, added to her +celebrity as fine lady. So much do we cold English, prudes though we be, +forgive to the foreigner what we avenge on the native. + +Sliding at last from these general topics into very well-bred and +elegant personal compliment, and reciting various eulogies, which Lord +this the Duke of that had passed on the Marchesa's charms, Randal laid +his hand on hers, with the license of admitted friendship, and said-- + +"But since you have deigned to confide in me, since when (happily for +me, and with a generosity of which no coquette could have been capable) +you, in good time, repressed into friendship feelings that might else +have ripened into those you are formed to inspire and disdain to return, +you told me with your charming smile, 'Let no one speak to me of love +who does not offer me his hand, and with it the means to supply tastes +that I fear are terribly extravagant;' since thus you allowed me to +divine your natural objects, and upon that understanding our intimacy +has been founded, you will pardon me for saying that the admiration you +excite among the _grands seigneurs_ I have named, only serves to defeat +your own purpose, and scare away admirers less brilliant, but more in +earnest. Most of these gentlemen are unfortunately married; and they who +are not belong to those members of our aristocracy who, in marriage, +seek more than beauty and wit--namely, connections to strengthen their +political station, or wealth to redeem a mortgage and sustain a title." + +"My dear Mr. Leslie," replied the Marchesa--and a certain sadness might +be detected in the tone of the voice and the droop of the eye--"I have +lived long enough in the real world to appreciate the baseness and the +falsehood of most of those sentiments which take the noblest names. I +see through the hearts of the admirers you parade before me, and know +that not one of them would shelter with his ermine the woman to whom he +talks of his heart. Ah," continued Beatrice, with a softness of which +she was unconscious, but which might have been extremely dangerous to +youth less steeled and self-guarded than was Randal Leslie's--"ah, I am +less ambitious than you suppose. I have dreamed of a friend, a +companion, a protector, with feelings still fresh, undebased by the low +round of vulgar dissipation and mean pleasures--of a heart so new, that +it might restore my own to what it was in its happy spring. I have seen +in your country some marriages, the mere contemplation of which has +filled my eyes with delicious tears. I have learned in England to know +the value of home. And with such a heart as I describe, and such a home, +I could forget that I ever knew a less pure ambition." + +"This language does not surprise me," said Randal; "yet it does not +harmonize with your former answer to me." + +"To you," repeated Beatrice, smiling, and regaining her lighter manner; +"to you--true. But I never had the vanity to think that your affection +for me could bear the sacrifices it would cost you in marriage; that +you, with your ambition, could bound your dreams of happiness to home. +And then, too," said she, raising her head, and with a certain grave +pride in her air--"and _then_, I could not have consented to share my +fate with one whom my poverty would cripple. I could not listen to my +heart, if it had beat for a lover without fortune, for to him I could +then have brought but a burden, and betrayed him into a union with +poverty and debt. _Now_, it may be different. Now I may have the dowry +that befits my birth. And now I may be free to choose according to my +heart as woman, not according to my necessities, as one poor, harassed, +and despairing." + +"Ah," said Randal, interested, and drawing still closer toward his fair +companion--"ah, I congratulate you sincerely; you have cause, then, to +think that you shall be--rich?" + +The Marchesa paused before she answered, and during that pause Randal +relaxed the web of the scheme which he had been secretly weaving, and +rapidly considered whether, if Beatrice di Negra would indeed be rich, +she might answer to himself as a wife; and in what way, if so, he had +best change his tone from that of friendship into that of love. While +thus reflecting, Beatrice answered: + +"Not rich for an Englishwoman; for an Italian, yes. My fortune should be +half a million--" + +"Half a million!" cried Randal, and with difficulty he restrained +himself from falling at her feet in adoration. + +"Of francs!" continued the Marchesa. + +"Francs! Ah," said Randal, with a long-drawn breath, and recovering from +his sudden enthusiasm, "about twenty thousand pounds!--eight hundred a +year at four per cent. A very handsome portion, certainly--(Genteel +poverty! he murmured to himself. What an escape I have had! but I see--I +see. This will smooth all difficulties in the way of my better and +earlier project. I see)--a very handsome portion," he repeated +aloud--"not for a _grand seigneur_, indeed, but still for a gentleman of +birth and expectations worthy of your choice, if ambition be not your +first object. Ah, while you spoke with such endearing eloquence of +feelings that were fresh, of a heart that was new, of the happy English +home, you might guess that my thoughts ran to my friend who loves you so +devotedly, and who so realizes your ideal. Providentially, with us, +happy marriages and happy homes are found not in the gay circles of +London fashion, but at the hearths of our rural nobility--our untitled +country gentlemen. And who, among all your adorers, can offer you a lot +so really enviable as the one whom, I see by your blush, you already +guess that I refer to?" + +"Did I blush?" said the Marchesa, with a silvery laugh. "Nay, I think +that your zeal for your friend misled you. But I will own frankly, I +have been touched by his honest, ingenuous love--so evident, yet rather +looked than spoken. I have contrasted the love that honors me, with the +suitors that seek to degrade; more I can not say. For though I grant +that your friend is handsome, high-spirited, and generous, still he is +not what--" + +"You mistake, believe me," interrupted Randal. "You shall not finish +your sentence. He _is_ all that you do not yet suppose him; for his +shyness, and his very love, his very respect for your superiority, do +not allow his mind and his nature to appear to advantage. You, it is +true, have a taste for letters and poetry rare among your countrywomen. +He has not at present--few men have. But what Cimon would not be refined +by so fair an Iphigenia? Such frivolities as he now shows belong but to +youth and inexperience of life. Happy the brother who could see his +sister the wife of Frank Hazeldean." + +The Marchesa bent her cheek on her hand in silence. To her, marriage was +more than it usually seems to dreaming maiden or to disconsolate widow. +So had the strong desire to escape from the control of her unprincipled +and remorseless brother grown a part of her very soul--so had whatever +was best and highest in her very mixed and complex character been galled +and outraged by her friendless and exposed position, the equivocal +worship rendered to her beauty, the various debasements to which +pecuniary embarrassments had subjected her--not without design on the +part of the Count, who though grasping, was not miserly, and who by +precarious and seemingly capricious gifts at one time, and refusals of +all aid at another, had involved her in debt in order to retain his hold +on her--so utterly painful and humiliating to a woman of her pride and +her birth was the station that she held in the world--that in marriage +she saw liberty, life, honor, self-redemption; and these thoughts while +they compelled her to co-operate with the schemes by which the Count, on +securing to himself a bride, was to bestow on herself a dower, also +disposed her now to receive with favor Randal Leslie's pleadings on +behalf of his friend. + +The advocate saw that he had made an impression, and with the marvelous +skill which his knowledge of those natures that engaged his study +bestowed on his intelligence, he continued to improve his cause by such +representations as were likely to be most effective. With what admirable +tact he avoided panegyric of Frank as the mere individual, and drew him +rather as the type, the ideal of what a woman in Beatrice's position +might desire in the safety, peace, and honor of a home, in the trust and +constancy, and honest confiding love of its partner! He did not paint an +elysium; he described a haven; he did not glowingly delineate a hero of +romance--he soberly portrayed that representative of the Respectable and +the Real which a woman turns to when romance begins to seem to her but +delusion. Verily, if you could have looked into the heart of the person +he addressed, and heard him speak, you would have cried admiringly, +"Knowledge _is_ power; and this man, if as able on a larger field of +action, should play no mean part in the history of his time." + +Slowly Beatrice roused herself from the reveries which crept over her as +he spoke--slowly, and with a deep sigh, and said, + +"Well, well, grant all you say; at least before I can listen to so +honorable a love, I must be relieved from the base and sordid pressure +that weighs on me. I can not say to the man who wooes me, 'Will you pay +the debts of the daughter of Franzini, and the widow of di Negra?'" + +"Nay, your debts, surely, make so slight a portion of your dowry." + +"But the dowry has to be secured;" and here, turning the tables upon her +companion, as the apt proverb expresses it, Madame di Negra extended her +hand to Randal, and said in her most winning accents, "You are, then, +truly and sincerely my friend?" + +"Can you doubt it?" + +"I prove that I do not, for I ask your assistance." + +"Mine? How?" + +"Listen; my brother has arrived in London--" + +"I see that arrival announced in the papers." + +"And he comes, empowered by the consent of the Emperor, to ask the hand +of a relation and countrywoman of his; an alliance that will heal long +family dissensions, and add to his own fortunes those of an heiress. My +brother, like myself, has been extravagant. The dowry which by law he +still owes me it would distress him to pay till this marriage be +assured." + +"I understand," said Randal. "But how can I aid this marriage?" + +"By assisting us to discover the bride. She, with her father, sought +refuge and concealment in England." + +"The father had, then, taken part in some political disaffections, and +was proscribed?" + +"Exactly so; and so well has he concealed himself that he has baffled +all our efforts to discover his retreat. My brother can obtain him his +pardon in cementing this alliance--" + +"Proceed." + +"Ah, Randal, Randal, is this the frankness of friendship? You know that +I have before sought to obtain the secret of our relation's +retreat--sought in vain to obtain it from Mr. Egerton who assuredly +knows it--" + +"But who communicates no secrets to living man," said Randal, almost +bitterly; "who, close and compact as iron, is as little malleable to me +as to you." + +"Pardon me. I know you so well that I believe you could attain to any +secret you sought earnestly to acquire. Nay, more, I believe that you +know already that secret which I ask you to share with me." + +"What on earth makes you think so?" + +"When, some weeks ago, you asked me to describe the personal appearance +and manners of the exile, which I did partly from the recollections of +my childhood, partly from the description given to me by others, I could +not but notice your countenance, and remark its change; in spite," said +the Marchesa, smiling and watching Randal while she spoke--"in spite of +your habitual self-command. And when I pressed you to own that you had +actually seen some one who tallied with that description, your denial +did not deceive me. Still more, when returning recently, of your own +accord, to the subject, you questioned me so shrewdly as to my motives +in seeking the clew to our refugees, and I did not then answer you +satisfactorily, I could detect--" + +"Ha, ha," interrupted Randal, with the low soft laugh by which +occasionally he infringed upon Lord Chesterfield's recommendation to +shun a merriment so natural as to be ill-bred--"ha, ha, you have the +fault of all observers too minute and refined. But even granting that I +may have seen some Italian exiles (which is likely enough), what could +be more simple than my seeking to compare your description with their +appearance; and granting that I might suspect some one among them to be +the man you search for, what more simple, also, than that I should +desire to know if you meant him harm or good in discovering his +'whereabout?' For ill," added Randal, with an air of prudery, "ill would +it become me to betray, even to friendship, the retreat of one who would +hide from persecution; and even if I did so--for honor itself is a weak +safeguard against your fascinations--such indiscretion might be fatal to +my future career." + +"How?" + +"Do you not say that Egerton knows the secret, yet will not +communicate?--and is he a man who would ever forgive in me an imprudence +that committed himself? My dear friend, I will tell you more. When +Audley Egerton first noticed my growing intimacy with you, he said, with +his usual dryness of counsel, 'Randal, I do not ask you to discontinue +acquaintance with Madame di Negra--for an acquaintance with women like +her, forms the manners and refines the intellect; but charming women are +dangerous, and Madame di Negra is--a charming woman.'" + +The Marchesa's face flushed. Randal resumed: "'Your fair acquaintance' +(I am still quoting Egerton) 'seeks to discover the home of a countryman +of hers. She suspects that I know it. She may try to learn it through +you. Accident may possibly give you the information she requires. Beware +how you betray it. By one such weakness I should judge of your general +character. He from whom a woman can extract a secret will never be fit +for public life.' Therefore, my dear Marchesa, even supposing I possess +this secret, you would be no true friend of mine to ask me to reveal +what would emperil all my prospects. For as yet," added Randal, with a +gloomy shade on his brow--"as yet I do not stand alone and erect--I +_lean_; I am dependent." + +"There may be a way," replied Madame di Negra, persisting, "to +communicate this intelligence, without the possibility of Mr. Egerton's +tracing our discovery to yourself; and, though I will not press you +further, I add this--You urge me to accept your friend's hand; you seem +interested in the success of his suit, and you plead it with a warmth +that shows how much you regard what you suppose is his happiness; I will +never accept his hand till I can do so without blush for my penury--till +my dowry is secured, and that can only be by my brother's union with the +exile's daughter. For your friend's sake, therefore, think well how you +can aid me in the first step to that alliance. The young lady once +discovered, and my brother has no fear for the success of his suit." + +"And you would marry Frank, if the dower was secured?" + +"Your arguments in his favor seem irresistible," replied Beatrice, +looking down. + +A flash went from Randal's eyes, and he mused a few moments. + +Then slowly rising, and drawing on his gloves, he said, + +"Well, at least you so far reconcile my honor toward aiding your +research, that you now inform me you mean no ill to the exile." + +"Ill!--the restoration to fortune, honors, his native land." + +"And you so far enlist my heart on your side, that you inspire me with +the hope to contribute to the happiness of two friends whom I dearly +love. I will, therefore, diligently seek to ascertain if, among the +refugees I have met with, lurk those whom you seek; and if so, I will +thoughtfully consider how to give you the clew. Meanwhile, not one +incautious word to Egerton." + +"Trust me--I am a woman of the world." + +Randal now had gained the door. He paused, and renewed carelessly, + +"This young lady must be heiress to great wealth, to induce a man of +your brother's rank to take so much pains to discover her." + +"Her wealth _will_ be vast," replied the Marchesa; "and if any thing +from wealth or influence in a foreign state could be permitted to prove +my brother's gratitude--" + +"Ah, fie," interrupted Randal, and approaching Madame di Negra, he +lifted her hand to his lips, and said gallantly, + +"This is reward enough to your _preux chevalier_." + +With those words he took his leave. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +With his hands behind him, and his head drooping on his breast--slow, +stealthy, noiseless, Randal Leslie glided along the streets on leaving +the Italian's house. Across the scheme he had before revolved, there +glanced another yet more glittering, for its gain might be more sure and +immediate. If the exile's daughter were heiress to such wealth, might he +himself hope--. He stopped short even in his own soliloquy, and his +breath came quick. Now, in his last visit to Hazeldean, he had come in +contact with Riccabocca, and been struck by the beauty of Violante. A +vague suspicion had crossed him that these might be the persons of whom +the Marchesa was in search, and the suspicion had been confirmed by +Beatrice's description of the refugee she desired to discover. But as he +had not then learned the reason for her inquiries, nor conceived the +possibility that he could have any personal interest in ascertaining the +truth, he had only classed the secret in question among those the +further research into which might be left to time and occasion. +Certainly the reader will not do the unscrupulous intellect of Randal +Leslie the injustice to suppose that he was deterred from confiding to +his fair friend all that he knew of Riccabocca, by the refinement of +honor to which he had so chivalrously alluded. He had correctly stated +Audley Egerton's warning against any indiscreet confidence, though he +had forborne to mention a more recent and direct renewal of the same +caution. His first visit to Hazeldean had been paid without consulting +Egerton. He had been passing some days at his father's house and had +gone over thence to the Squire's. On his return to London, he had, +however, mentioned this visit to Audley, who had seemed annoyed and even +displeased at it, though Randal well knew sufficient of Egerton's +character to know that such feeling could scarce be occasioned merely by +his estrangement from his half brother. This dissatisfaction had, +therefore, puzzled the young man. But as it was necessary to his views +to establish intimacy with the Squire, he did not yield the point with +his customary deference to his patron's whims. He, therefore, observed +that he should be very sorry to do any thing displeasing to his +benefactor, but that his father had been naturally anxious that he +should not appear positively to slight the friendly overtures of Mr. +Hazeldean. + +"Why naturally?" asked Egerton. + +"Because you know that Mr. Hazeldean is a relation of mine--that my +grandmother was a Hazeldean." + +"Ah!" said Egerton, who, as it has been before said, knew little, and +cared less, about the Hazeldean pedigree, "I was either not aware of +that circumstance, or had forgotten it. And your father thinks that the +Squire may leave you a legacy?" + +"Oh, sir, my father is not so mercenary--such an idea never entered his +head. But the Squire himself has indeed said, 'Why, if any thing +happened to Frank, you would be next heir to my lands, and therefore we +ought to know each other.' But--" + +"Enough," interrupted Egerton, "I am the last man to pretend to the +right of standing between you and a single chance of fortune, or of aid +to it. And whom did you meet at Hazeldean?" + +"There was no one there, sir; not even Frank." + +"Hum. Is the Squire not on good terms with his parson? Any quarrel about +tithes?" + +"Oh, no quarrel. I forgot Mr. Dale; I saw him pretty often. He admires +and praises you very much, sir." + +"Me--and why? What did he say of me?" + +"That your heart was as sound as your head; that he had once seen you +about some old parishioners of his; and that he had been much impressed +with a depth of feeling he could not have anticipated in a man of the +world, and a statesman." + +"Oh, that was all; some affair when I was member for Lansmere?" + +"I suppose so." + +Here the conversation was broken off; but the next time Randal was led +to visit the Squire he had formally asked Egerton's consent, who, after +a moment's hesitation, had as formally replied, "I have no objection." + +On returning from this visit, Randal mentioned that he had seen +Riccabocca; and Egerton, a little startled at first, said composedly, +"Doubtless one of the political refugees; take care not to set Madame di +Negra on his track. Remember, she is suspected of being a spy of the +Austrian government." + +"Rely on me, sir," said Randal; "but I should think this poor Doctor can +scarcely be the person she seeks to discover?" + +"That is no affair of ours," answered Egerton; "we are English +gentlemen, and make not a step toward the secrets of another." + +Now, when Randal revolved this rather ambiguous answer, and recalled the +uneasiness with which Egerton had first heard of his visit to Hazeldean, +he thought that he was indeed near the secret which Egerton desired to +conceal from him and from all--viz., the incognito of the Italian whom +Lord L'Estrange had taken under his protection. + +"My cards," said Randal to himself, as, with a deep-drawn sigh, he +resumed his soliloquy, "are becoming difficult to play. On the one hand, +to entangle Frank into marriage with this foreigner, the Squire would +never forgive him. On the other hand, if she will not marry him without +the dowry--and that depends on her brother's wedding this +countrywoman--and that countrywoman be, as I surmise, Violante--and +Violante be this heiress, and to be won by me! Tush, tush. Such delicate +scruples in a woman so placed and so constituted as Beatrice di Negra, +must be easily talked away. Nay, the loss itself of this alliance to her +brother, the loss of her own dowry--the very pressure of poverty and +debt--would compel her into the sole escape left to her option. I will +then follow up the old plan; I will go down to Hazeldean, and see if +there be any substance in the new one; and then to reconcile +both--aha--the House of Leslie shall rise yet from its ruin--and--" + +Here he was startled from his reverie by a friendly slap on the +shoulder, and an exclamation--"Why, Randal, you are more absent than +when you used to steal away from the cricket-ground, muttering Greek +verses at Eton." + +"My dear Frank," said Randal, "you--you are so _brusque_, and I was just +thinking of you." + +"Were you? And kindly, then, I am sure," said Frank Hazeldean, his +honest, handsome face lighted up with the unsuspecting genial trust of +friendship; "and heaven knows," he added, with a sadder voice, and a +graver expression on his eye and lip--"Heaven knows I want all the +kindness you can give me!" + +"I thought," said Randal, "that your father's last supply, of which I +was fortunate enough to be the bearer, would clear off your more +pressing debts. I don't pretend to preach, but really I must say once +more, you should not be so extravagant." + +FRANK (seriously).--"I have done my best to reform. I have sold off my +horses, and I have not touched dice nor card these six months; I would +not even put into the raffle for the last Derby." This last was said +with the air of a man who doubted the possibility of obtaining belief to +some assertion of preternatural abstinence and virtue. + +RANDAL.--"Is it possible? But, with such self-conquest, how is it that +you can not contrive to live within the bounds of a very liberal +allowance?" + +FRANK (despondingly).--"Why, when a man once gets his head under water, +it is so hard to float back again on the surface. You see, I attribute +all my embarrassments to that first concealment of my debts from my +father, when they could have been so easily met, and when he came up to +town so kindly." + +"I am sorry, then, that I gave you that advice." + +"Oh, you meant it so kindly, I don't reproach you; it was all my own +fault." + +"Why, indeed, I did urge you to pay off that moiety of your debts left +unpaid, with your allowance. Had you done so, all had been well." + +"Yes, but poor Borrowwell got into such a scrape at Goodwood; I could +not resist him--a debt of honor, _that_ must be paid; so when I signed +another bill for him, he could not pay it, poor fellow: really he would +have shot himself, if I had not renewed it; and now it is swelled to +such an amount with that cursed interest, that _he_ never can pay it; +and one bill, of course, begets another, and to be renewed every three +months; 'tis the devil and all! So little as I ever got for all I have +borrowed," added Frank with a kind of rueful amaze. "Not L1500 ready +money; and it would cost me almost as much yearly--if I had it." + +"Only L1500." + +"Well, besides seven large chests of the worst cigars you ever smoked; +three pipes of wine that no one would drink, and a great bear, that had +been imported from Greenland for the sake of its grease." + +"That should at least have saved you a bill with your hairdresser." + +"I paid his bill with it," said Frank, "and very good-natured he was to +take the monster off my hands; it had already hugged two soldiers and +one groom into the shape of a flounder. I tell you what," resumed Frank, +after a short pause, "I have a great mind even now to tell my father +honestly all my embarrassments." + +RANDAL (solemnly).--"Hum!" + +FRANK.--"What? don't you think it would be the best way? I never can +save enough--never can pay off what I owe; and it rolls like a +snowball." + +RANDAL.--"Judging by the Squire's talk, I think that with the first +sight of your affairs you would forfeit his favor forever; and your +mother would be so shocked, especially after supposing that the sum I +brought you so lately sufficed to pay off every claim on you. If you had +not assured her of that, it might be different; but she who so hates an +untruth, and who said to the Squire, 'Frank says this will clear him; +and with all his faults, Frank never yet told a lie.'" + +"Oh my dear mother!--I fancy I hear her!" cried Frank with deep emotion. +"But I did not tell a lie, Randal; I did not say that that sum would +clear me." + +"You empowered and begged me to say so," replied Randal, with grave +coldness; "and don't blame me if I believed you." + +"No, no! I only said it would clear me for the moment." + +"I misunderstood you, then, sadly; and such mistakes involve my own +honor. Pardon me, Frank; don't ask my aid in future. You see, with the +best intentions I only compromise myself." + +"If you forsake me, I may as well go and throw myself into the river," +said Frank in a tone of despair; "and sooner or later my father must +know my necessities. The Jews threaten to go to him already; and the +longer the delay, the more terrible the explanation." + +"I don't see why your father should ever learn the state of your +affairs; and it seems to me that you could pay off these usurers, and +get rid of these bills, by raising money on comparatively easy terms--" + +"How?" cried Frank eagerly. + +"Why, the Casino property is entailed on you, and you might obtain a sum +upon that, not to be paid till the property becomes yours." + +"At my poor father's death? Oh, no--no! I can not bear the idea of this +cold-blooded calculation on a father's death. I know it is not uncommon; +I know other fellows who have done it, but they never had parents so +kind as mine; and even in them it shocked and revolted me. The +contemplating a father's death and profiting by the contemplation--it +seems a kind of parricide--it is not natural, Randal. Besides, don't you +remember what the governor said--he actually wept while he said it, +'Never calculate on my death; I could not bear that.' Oh, Randal, don't +speak of it!" + +"I respect your sentiments; but still all the post-obits you could raise +could not shorten Mr. Hazeldean's life by a day. However, dismiss that +idea; we must think of some other device. Ha, Frank! you are a handsome +fellow, and your expectations are great--why don't you marry some woman +with money?" + +"Pooh!" exclaimed Frank, coloring. "You know, Randal, that there is but +one woman in the world I can ever think of, and I love her so devotedly, +that, though I was as gay as most men before, I really feel as if the +rest of her sex had lost every charm. I was passing through the street +now--merely to look up at her windows--" + +"You speak of Madame di Negra? I have just left her. Certainly she is +two or three years older than you; but if you can get over that +misfortune, why not marry her?" + +"Marry her!" cried Frank in amaze, and all his color fled from his +cheeks. "Marry her!--are you serious?" + +"Why not?" + +"But even if she, who is so accomplished, so admired--even if she would +accept me, she is, you know, poorer than myself. She has told me so +frankly. That woman has such a noble heart, and--and--my father would +never consent, nor my mother either. I know they would not." + +"Because she is a foreigner?" + +"Yes--partly." + +"Yet the Squire suffered his cousin to marry a foreigner." + +"That was different. He had no control over Jemima; and a +daughter-in-law is so different; and my father is so English in his +notions; and Madame di Negra, you see, is altogether so foreign. Her +very graces would be against her in his eyes." + +"I think you do both your parents injustice. A foreigner of low +birth--an actress or singer, for instance--of course would be highly +objectionable; but a woman, like Madame di Negra, of such high birth and +connections--" + +Frank shook his head. "I don't think the governor would care a straw +about her connections, if she were a king's daughter. He considers all +foreigners pretty much alike. And then, you know"--Frank's voice sank +into a whisper--"you know that one of the very reasons why she is so +dear to me would be an insuperable objection to the old-fashioned folks +at home." + +"I don't understand you, Frank." + +"I love her the more," said young Hazeldean, raising his front with a +noble pride, that seemed to speak of his descent from a race of +cavaliers and gentlemen--"I love her the more because the world has +slandered her name--because I believe her to be pure and wronged. But +would they at the Hall--they who do not see with a lover's eyes--they +who have all the stubborn English notions about the indecorum and +license of Continental manners, and will so readily credit the worst? O, +no--I love--I can not help it--but I have no hope." + +"It is very possible that you may be right," exclaimed Randal, as if +struck and half-convinced by his companion's argument--"very possible; +and certainly I think that the homely folks at the Hall would fret and +fume at first, if they heard you were married to Madame di Negra. Yet +still, when your father learned that you had done so, not from passion +alone, but to save him from all pecuniary sacrifice--to clear yourself +of debt--to--" + +"What do you mean?" exclaimed Frank impatiently. + +"I have reason to know that Madame di Negra will have as large a portion +as your father could reasonably expect you to receive with any English +wife. And when this is properly stated to the Squire, and the high +position and rank of your wife fully established and brought home to +him--for I must think that these would tell, despite your exaggerated +notions of his prejudices--and then, when he really sees Madame di +Negra, and can judge of her beauty and rare gifts, upon my word, I +think, Frank, that there would be no cause for fear. After all, too, you +are his only son. He will have no option but to forgive you; and I know +how anxiously both your parents wish to see you settled in life." + +Frank's whole countenance became illuminated. "There is no one who +understands the Squire like you, certainly," said he, with lively joy. +"He has the highest opinion of your judgment. And you really believe you +could smooth matters?" + +"I believe so, but I should be sorry to induce you to run any risk; and +if, on cool consideration, you think that risk is incurred, I strongly +advise you to avoid all occasion of seeing the poor Marchesa. Ah, you +wince; but I say it for her sake as well as your own. First, you must be +aware, that, unless you have serious thoughts of marriage, your +attentions can but add to the very rumors that, equally groundless, you +so feelingly resent; and, secondly, because I don't think any man has a +right to win the affections of a woman--especially a woman who seems +likely to love with her whole heart and soul--merely to gratify his own +vanity." + +"Vanity! Good heavens, can you think so poorly of me? But as to the +Marchesa's affections," continued Frank, with a faltering voice, "do you +really and honestly believe that they are to be won by me?" + +"I fear lest they may be half won already," said Randal, with a smile +and a shake of the head; "but she is too proud to let you see any effect +you may produce on her, especially when, as I take it for granted, you +have never hinted at the hope of obtaining her hand." + +"I never till now conceived such a hope. My dear Randal, all my cares +have vanished--I tread upon air--I have a great mind to call on her at +once." + +"Stay, stay," said Randal. "Let me give you a caution. I have just +informed you that Madame di Negra will have, what you suspected not +before, a fortune suitable to her birth; any abrupt change in your +manner at present might induce her to believe that you were influenced +by that intelligence." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Frank, stopping short, as if wounded to the quick. "And +I feel guilty--feel as if I _was_ influenced by that intelligence. So I +am, too, when I reflect," he continued, with a _naivete_ that was half +pathetic; "but I hope she will not be so _very_ rich--if so, I'll not +call." + +"Make your mind easy, it is but a portion of some twenty or thirty +thousand pounds, that would just suffice to discharge all your debts, +clear away all obstacles to your union, and in return for which you +could secure a more than adequate jointure and settlement on the Casino +property. Now I am on that head, I will be yet more communicative. +Madame di Negra has a noble heart, as you say, and told me herself, +that, until her brother on his arrival had assured her of this dowry, +she would never have consented to marry you--never cripple with her own +embarrassments the man she loves. Ah! with what delight she will hail +the thought of assisting you to win back your father's heart! But be +guarded, meanwhile. And now, Frank, what say you--would it not be well +if I run down to Hazeldean to sound your parents? It is rather +inconvenient to me, to be sure, to leave town just at present; but I +would do more than that to render you a smaller service. Yes, I'll go to +Rood Hall to-morrow, and thence to Hazeldean. I am sure your father will +press me to stay, and I shall have ample opportunities to judge of the +manner in which he would be likely to regard your marriage with Madame +di Negra--supposing always it were properly put to him. We can then act +accordingly." + +"My dear, dear Randal. How can I thank you? If ever a poor fellow like +me can serve you in return--but that's impossible." + +"Why, certainly, I will never ask you to be security to a bill of mine," +said Randal, laughing. "I practice the economy I preach." + +"Ah!" said Frank with a groan, "that is because your mind is +cultivated--you have so many resources; and all my faults have come from +idleness. If I had any thing to do on a rainy day, I should never have +got into these scrapes." + +"Oh! you will have enough to do some day managing your property. We who +have no property must find one in knowledge. Adieu, my dear Frank; I +must go home now. By the way, you have never, by chance, spoken of the +Riccaboccas to Madame di Negra?" + +"The Riccaboccas? No. That's well thought of. It may interest her to +know that a relation of mine has married her countryman. Very odd that I +never did mention it; but, to say truth, I really do talk so little to +her; she is so superior, and I feel positively shy with her." + +"Do me the favor, Frank," said Randal, waiting patiently till this reply +ended--for he was devising all the time what reason to give for his +request--"never to allude to the Riccaboccas either to her or to her +brother, to whom you are sure to be presented." + +"Why not allude to them?" + +Randal hesitated a moment. His invention was still at fault, and, for a +wonder, he thought it the best policy to go pretty near the truth. + +"Why, I will tell you. The Marchesa conceals nothing from her brother, +and he is one of the few Italians who are in high favor with the +Austrian court." + +"Well!" + +"And I suspect that poor Dr. Riccabocca fled his country from some mad +experiment at revolution, and is still hiding from the Austrian police." + +"But they can't hurt him here," said Frank, with an Englishman's dogged +inborn conviction of the sanctity of his native island. "I should like +to see an Austrian pretend to dictate to us whom to receive and whom to +reject." + +"Hum--that's true and constitutional, no doubt; but Riccabocca may have +excellent reasons--and, to speak plainly, I know he has, (perhaps as +affecting the safety of friends in Italy)--for preserving his incognito, +and we are bound to respect those reasons without inquiring further." + +"Still, I can not think so meanly of Madame di Negra," persisted Frank +(shrewd here, though credulous elsewhere, and both from his sense of +honor), "as to suppose that she would descend to be a spy, and injure a +poor countryman of her own, who trusts to the same hospitality she +receives herself at our English hands. Oh, if I thought that, I could +not love her!" added Frank, with energy. + +"Certainly you are right. But see in what a false position you would +place both her brother and herself. If they knew Riccabocca's secret, +and proclaimed it to the Austrian government, as you say, it would be +cruel and mean; but if they knew it and concealed it, it might involve +them both in the most serious consequences. You know the Austrian policy +is proverbially so jealous and tyrannical?" + +"Well, the newspapers say so, certainly." + +"And, in short, your discretion can do no harm, and your indiscretion +may. Therefore, give me your word, Frank. I can't stay to argue now." + +"I'll not allude to the Riccaboccas, upon my honor," answered Frank; +"still I am sure they would be as safe with the Marchesa as with--" + +"I rely on your honor," interrupted Randal, hastily, and hurried off. + + +CHAPTER V. + +Toward the evening of the following day, Randal Leslie walked slowly +from a village on the main road (about two miles from Rood Hall), at +which he had got out of the coach. He passed through meads and +corn-fields, and by the skirts of woods which had formerly belonged to +his ancestors, but had long since been alienated. He was alone amidst +the haunts of his boyhood, the scenes in which he had first invoked the +grand Spirit of Knowledge, to bid the Celestial Still One minister to +the commands of an earthly and turbulent ambition. He paused often in +his path, especially when the undulations of the ground gave a glimpse +of the gray church tower, or the gloomy firs that rose above the +desolate wastes of Rood. + +"Here," thought Randal, with a softening eye--"here, how often, +comparing the fertility of the lands passed away from the inheritance of +my fathers, with the forlorn wilds that are left to their mouldering +hall--here, how often have I said to myself--'I will rebuild the +fortunes of my house.' And straightway Toil lost its aspect of drudge, +and grew kingly, and books became as living armies to serve my thought. +Again--again--O thou haughty Past, brace and strengthen me in the battle +with the Future." His pale lips writhed as he soliloquized, for his +conscience spoke to him while he thus addressed his will, and its voice +was heard more audibly in the quiet of the rural landscape, than amid +the turmoil and din of that armed and sleepless camp which we call a +city. + +Doubtless, though Ambition have objects more vast and beneficent than +the restoration of a name--_that_ in itself is high and chivalrous, and +appeals to a strong interest in the human heart. But all emotions, and +all ends, of a nobler character, had seemed to filter themselves free +from every golden grain in passing through the mechanism of Randal's +intellect, and came forth at last into egotism clear and unalloyed. +Nevertheless, it is a strange truth that, to a man of cultivated mind, +however perverted and vicious, there are vouchsafed gleams of brighter +sentiments, irregular perceptions of moral beauty, denied to the brutal +unreasoning wickedness of uneducated villainy--which perhaps ultimately +serve as his punishment--according to the old thought of the satirist, +that there is no greater curse than to perceive virtue, yet adopt +vice. And as the solitary schemer walked slowly on, and his +childhood--innocent at least of deed--came distinct before him through +the halo of bygone dreams--dreams far purer than those from which he now +rose each morning to the active world of Man--a profound melancholy +crept over him, and suddenly he exclaimed aloud, "_Then_ I aspired to be +renowned and great--_now_, how is it that, so advanced in my career, all +that seemed lofty in the means has vanished from me, and the only means +that I contemplate are those which my childhood would have called poor +and vile? Ah! is it that I then read but books, and now my knowledge has +passed onward, and men contaminate more than books? But," he continued +in a lower voice, as if arguing with himself, "if power is only so to be +won--and of what use is knowledge if it be not power--does not success +in life justify all things? And who prizes the wise man if he fails?" He +continued his way, but still the soft tranquillity around rebuked him, +and still his reason was dissatisfied, as well as his conscience. There +are times when Nature, like a bath of youth, seems to restore to the +jaded soul its freshness--times from which some men have emerged, as if +reborn. The crises of life are very silent. Suddenly the scene opened on +Randal Leslie's eyes. The bare desert common--the dilapidated +church--the old house, partially seen in the dank dreary hollow, into +which it seemed to Randal to have sunken deeper and lowlier than when he +saw it last. And on the common were some young men playing at hockey. +That old-fashioned game, now very uncommon in England, except at +schools, was still preserved in the primitive simplicity of Rood by the +young yeomen and farmers. Randal stood by the stile and looked on, for +among the players he recognized his brother Oliver. Presently the ball +was struck toward Oliver, and the group instantly gathered round that +young gentleman, and snatched him from Randal's eye; but the elder +brother heard a displeasing din, a derisive laughter. Oliver had shrunk +from the danger of the thick clubbed sticks that plied around him, and +received some strokes across the legs, for his voice rose whining, and +was drowned by shouts of, "Go to your mammy. That's Noll Leslie--all +over. Butter shins." + +Randal's sallow face became scarlet. "The jest of boors--a Leslie!" he +muttered, and ground his teeth. He sprang over the stile, and walked +erect and haughtily across the ground. The players cried out +indignantly. Randal raised his hat, and they recognized him, and stopped +the game. For him at least a certain respect was felt. Oliver turned +round quickly, and ran up to him. Randal caught his arm firmly, and, +without saying a word to the rest, drew him away toward the house. +Oliver cast a regretful, lingering look behind him, rubbed his shins, +and then stole a timid glance toward Randal's severe and moody +countenance. + +"You are not angry that I was playing at hockey with our neighbors," +said he deprecatingly, observing that Randal would not break the +silence. + +"No," replied the elder brother; "but, in associating with his +inferiors, a gentleman still knows how to maintain his dignity. There is +no harm in playing with inferiors, but it is necessary to a gentleman to +play so that he is not the laughing-stock of clowns." + +Oliver hung his head, and made no answer. They came into the slovenly +precincts of the court, and the pigs stared at them from the palings as +they had stared years before, at Frank Hazeldean. + +Mr. Leslie senior, in a shabby straw hat, was engaged in feeding the +chickens before the threshold, and he performed even that occupation +with a maundering lackadaisical slothfulness, dropping down the grains +almost one by one from his inert dreamy fingers. + +Randal's sister, her hair still and forever hanging about her ears, was +seated on a rush-bottom chair, reading a tattered novel; and from the +parlor window was heard the querulous voice of Mrs. Leslie, in high +fidget and complaint. + +Somehow or other, as the young heir to all this helpless poverty stood +in the court-yard, with his sharp, refined, intelligent features, and +his strange elegance of dress and aspect, one better comprehended how, +left solely to the egotism of his knowledge and his ambition, in such a +family, and without any of the sweet nameless lessons of Home, he had +grown up into such close and secret solitude of soul--how the mind had +taken so little nutriment from the heart, and how that affection and +respect which the warm circle of the hearth usually calls forth had +passed with him to the graves of dead fathers, growing, as it were, +bloodless and ghoul-like amid the charnels on which they fed. + +"Ha, Randal, boy," said Mr. Leslie, looking up lazily, "how d'ye do? Who +could have expected you? My dear--my dear," he cried, in a broken voice, +and as if in helpless dismay, "here's Randal, and he'll be wanting +dinner, or supper, or something." But in the mean while, Randal's sister +Juliet had sprung up and thrown her arms round her brother's neck, and +he had drawn her aside caressingly, for Randal's strongest human +affection was for this sister. + +"You are growing very pretty, Juliet," said he, smoothing back her hair; +"why do yourself such injustice--why not pay more attention to your +appearance, as I have so often begged you to do?" + +"I did not expect you, dear Randal; you always come so suddenly, and +catch us _en dish-a-bill_." + +"Dish-a-bill!" echoed Randal, with a groan.--"_Dishabille!_--you ought +never to be so caught!" + +"No one else does so catch us--nobody else ever comes! Heigho," and the +young lady sighed very heartily. + +"Patience, patience; my day is coming, and then yours, my sister," +replied Randal with genuine pity, as he gazed upon what a little care +could have trained into so fair a flower, and what now looked so like a +weed. + +Here Mrs. Leslie, in a state of intense excitement--having rushed +through the parlor--leaving a fragment of her gown between the yawning +brass of the never-mended Brummagem work-table--tore across the +hall--whirled out of the door, scattering the chickens to the right and +left, and clutched hold of Randal in her motherly embrace. "La, how you +do shake my nerves," she cried, after giving him a most hearty and +uncomfortable kiss. "And you are hungry, too, and nothing in the house +but cold mutton! Jenny, Jenny, I say Jenny! Juliet, have you seen Jenny? +Where's Jenny? Out with the old man, I'll be bound." + +"I am not hungry, mother," said Randal; "I wish for nothing but tea." +Juliet, scrambling up her hair, darted into the house to prepare the +tea, and also to "tidy herself." She dearly loved her fine brother, but +she was greatly in awe of him. + +Randal seated himself on the broken pales. "Take care they don't come +down," said Mr. Leslie, with some anxiety. + +"Oh, sir, I am very light; nothing comes down with me." + +The pigs stared up, and grunted in amaze at the stranger. + +"Mother," said the young man, detaining Mrs. Leslie, who wanted to set +off in chase of Jenny--"mother, you should not let Oliver associate with +those village boors. It is time to think of a profession for him." + +"Oh, he eats us out of house and home--such an appetite! But as to a +profession--what is he fit for! He will never be a scholar." + +Randal nodded a moody assent; for, indeed, Oliver had been sent to +Cambridge, and supported there out of Randal's income from his official +pay;--and Oliver had been plucked for his Little Go. + +"There is the army," said the elder brother--"a gentleman's calling. How +handsome Juliet ought to be--but--I left money for masters--and she +pronounces French like a chambermaid." + +"Yet she is fond of her book too. She's always reading, and good for +nothing else." + +"Reading!--those trashy novels!" + +"So like you--you always come to scold, and make things unpleasant," +said Mrs. Leslie, peevishly. "You are grown too fine for us, and I am +sure we suffer affronts enough from others, not to want a little respect +from our own children." + +"I did not mean to affront you," said Randal, sadly. "Pardon me. But who +else has done so?" + +Then Mrs. Leslie went into a minute and most irritating catalogue of all +the mortifications and insults she had received; the grievances of a +petty provincial family, with much pretension and small power; of all +people, indeed, without the disposition to please--without the ability +to serve--who exaggerate every offense, and are thankful for no +kindness. Farmer Jones had insolently refused to send his wagon twenty +miles for coals. Mr. Giles, the butcher, requesting the payment of his +bill, had stated that the custom at Rood was too small for him to allow +credit. Squire Thornhill, who was the present owner of the fairest slice +of the old Leslie domains, had taken the liberty to ask permission to +shoot over Mr. Leslie's land, since Mr. Leslie did not preserve. Lady +Spratt (new people from the city, who hired a neighboring country seat) +had taken a discharged servant of Mrs. Leslie's without applying for the +character. The Lord Lieutenant had given a ball, and had not invited the +Leslies. Mr. Leslie's tenants had voted against their landlord's wish at +the recent election. More than all, Squire Hazeldean and his Harry had +called at Rood, and though Mrs. Leslie had screamed out to Jenny, "Not +at home," she had been seen at the window, and the Squire had actually +forced his way in, and caught the whole family "in a state not fit to be +seen." That was a trifle, but the Squire had presumed to instruct Mr. +Leslie how to manage his property, and Mrs. Hazeldean had actually told +Juliet to hold up her head and tie up her hair, "as if we were her +cottagers!" said Mrs. Leslie, with the pride of a Montfydget. + +All these and various other annoyances, though Randal was too sensible +not to perceive their insignificance, still galled and mortified the +listening heir of Rood. They showed, at least, even to the well-meant +officiousness of the Hazeldeans, the small account in which the fallen +family was held. As he sat still on the moss-grown pale, gloomy and +taciturn, his mother standing beside him, with her cap awry, Mr. Leslie +shamblingly sauntered up and said, in a pensive, dolorous whine-- + +"I wish we had a good sum of money, Randal, boy!" + +To do Mr. Leslie justice, he seldom gave vent to any wish that savored +of avarice. His mind must be singularly aroused, to wander out of its +normal limits of sluggish, dull content. + +So Randal looked at him in surprise, and said, "Do you, sir?--why?" + +"The manors of Rood and Dulmansberry, and all the lands therein, which +my great-grandfather sold away, are to be sold again when Squire +Thornhill's eldest son comes of age, to cut off the entail. Sir John +Spratt talks of buying them. I should like to have them back again! 'Tis +a shame to see the Leslie estates hawked about, and bought by Spratts +and people. I wish I had a great--great sum of ready money." + +The poor gentleman extended his helpless fingers as he spoke, and fell +into a dejected reverie. + +Randal sprang from the paling, a movement which frightened the +contemplative pigs, and set them off squalling and scampering. "When +does young Thornhill come of age?" + +"He was nineteen last August. I know it, because the day he was born I +picked up my fossil of the sea-horse, just by Dulmansberry church, when +the joy-bells were ringing. My fossil sea-horse? It will be an heirloom, +Randal--" + +"Two years--nearly two years--yet--ah, ah!" said Randal; and his sister +now appearing to announce that tea was ready, he threw his arm round her +neck and kissed her. Juliet had arranged her hair and trimmed up her +dress. She looked very pretty, and she had now the air of a +gentlewoman--something of Randal's own refinement in her slender +proportions and well-shaped head. + +"Be patient, patient still, my dear sister," whispered Randal, "and keep +your heart whole for two years longer." + +The young man was gay and good-humored over his simple meal, while his +family grouped round him. When it was over, Mr. Leslie lighted his pipe, +and called for his brandy-and-water. Mrs. Leslie began to question about +London and Court, and the new King and the new Queen, and Mr. Audley +Egerton, and hoped Mr. Egerton would leave Randal all his money, and +that Randal would marry a rich woman, and that the King would make him a +prime-minister one of these days; and then she would like to see if +Farmer Jones would refuse to send his wagon for coals! And every now and +then, as the word "riches" or "money" caught Mr. Leslie's ear, he shook +his head, drew his pipe from his mouth, and muttered, "A Spratt should +not have what belonged to my great-great-grandfather, if I had a good +sum of ready money!--the old family estates!" Oliver and Juliet sate +silent, and on their good-behavior; and Randal, indulging his +own reveries, dreamily heard the words "money," "Spratt," +"great-great-grandfather," "rich wife," "family estates;" and they +sounded to him vague and afar off, like whispers from the world of +romance and legend--weird prophecies of things to be. + +Such was the hearth which warmed the viper that nestled and gnawed at +the heart of Randal, poisoned all the aspirations that youth should have +rendered pure, ambition lofty, and knowledge beneficent and divine. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +When the rest of the household were in deep sleep, Randal stood long at +his open window, looking over the dreary, comfortless scene--the moon +gleaming from skies half-autumnal, half-wintry, upon squalid decay, +through the ragged fissures of the firs; and when he lay down to rest, +his sleep was feverish, and troubled by turbulent dreams. + +However, he was up early, and with an unwonted color in his cheeks, +which his sister ascribed to the country air. After breakfast, he took +his way toward Hazeldean, mounted upon a tolerable horse, which he hired +of a neighboring farmer who occasionally hunted. Before noon, the garden +and terrace of the Casino came in sight. He reined in his horse, and by +the little fountain at which Leonard had been wont to eat his radishes +and con his book, he saw Riccabocca seated under the shade of the red +umbrella. And by the Italian's side stood a form that a Greek of old +might have deemed the Naiad of the Fount; for in its youthful beauty +there was something so full of poetry--something at once so sweet and so +stately--that it spoke to the imagination while it charmed the sense. + +Randal dismounted, tied his horse to the gate, and, walking down a +trellised alley, came suddenly to the spot. His dark shadow fell over +the clear mirror of the fountain just as Riccabocca had said, "All here +is so secure from evil!--the waves of the fountain are never troubled +like those of the river!" and Violante had answered in her soft native +tongue, and lifting her dark, spiritual eyes--"But the fountain would be +but a lifeless pool, oh, my father, if the spray did not mount toward +the skies!" + +(TO BE CONTINUED.) + + + + +YOU'RE ANOTHER! + + +"You're another!" It's a vulgar retort, but a common one--though not +much in use among well-bred people. But there are many ways of saying +it--various modes of conveying the same meaning. "_Et tu Brute_," +observed some one, on reading a debate in the House of Commons; "I often +see these words quoted; what can they mean?" "I should say," was the +answer, "they mean, 'Oh, you brute!'" "Well, I rather think they mean +'_You're another!_'" Let the classicist determine which interpretation +is the right one. + +"You're another!" may be conveyed in a mild tone and manner. For +instance:--"The right honorable gentleman seems not to apprehend the +points of the argument: he says he does not understand how so and so is +so and so. We can only supply him with arguments level to the meanest +capacity, not with brains. Nature having been sparing in her endowments +to the honorable gentleman, must be matter of deep regret to those who +are under the painful necessity of listening to the oft-times-refuted +assertions and so-called arguments which he has advanced upon this very +question." + +The honorable gentleman, thus delicately alluded to, replies, "My +honorable and learned friend (if he will permit me to call him so) +complains that his arguments are not understood; the simple reason being +that they are unintelligible. He calls them arguments level to the +meanest capacity, and let me assure him they are level to the meanest +capacity only, for they are his own. Let me hasten to relieve his +anxiety as to the remarks which I have felt it my duty to make upon the +question under discussion, by assuring him that they have been +understood by those who have intelligence to appreciate them, though I +am not prepared to vouch as much for my honorable and learned friend on +the other side of the House." Thus, + + Each lolls the tongue out at the other, + And shakes his empty noddle at his brother. + +One honorable member accuses another of stating that which is the +"reverse of true"--the other responds by a charge of "gross +misrepresentation of the facts of the case." Coalheavers would use a +shorter and more emphatic word to express the same thing, though it +would neither be classical nor conformable to the rules of the House. +The Frenchman delicately defined a white lie to be "valking round about +de trooth." We know what honorable members mean when they talk in the +above guise. It is, "You're another!" + +Dr. Whiston accuses the Chapter of Rochester with applying for their own +purposes the funds bequeathed by pious men of former times for the +education of the poor. The reply of the Chapter is--"You Atheist!" and +they deprive the doctor of his living. Sir Samuel Romilly once proposed +to alter the law of bankruptcy, and to make freehold estates assets +appropriable for debts, like personal property. The existing law he held +to be pregnant with dishonesty and fraud against creditors. Mr. Canning +immediately was down upon him with the "You're another" argument. +"Dishonesty!" he said, "why, this proposal is neither more nor less than +a dangerous and most dishonest attack upon the aristocracy, and the +beginning of something which may end, if carried, like the French +Revolution." + +Worthy men are often found differing about some speculative point, +respecting which neither can have any more certain knowledge than the +other, and they wax fierce and bitter, each devoting the other to a fate +which we dare not venture to describe. One calls the other "bigot," who +retorts by calling out "idolater," or perhaps "fanatic;" and the phrases +are bandied about with the gusto and fervor of Billingsgate--the meaning +of the whole is, "You're another!" + +Literary men have frequently ventured into this bandying about of +strange talk. Rival country editors have sometimes been great adepts in +it; though the fashion is gradually going out of date. There is nothing +like the bitterness of criticism now, which used to prevail some fifty +years ago. Godwin mildly assailed Southey as a renegade, in return for +which Southey abused Godwin's abominably ugly nose. Moore spoke +slightingly of Leigh Hunt's Cockney poetry, and Leigh Hunt in reply +ridiculed Moore's diminutive figure. Southey cut up Byron in the +Reviews, and Byron cut up Southey in the Vision of Judgment. Scott did +not appreciate Coleridge, and Coleridge spoke of Ivanhoe and The Bride +of Lammermoor as "those wretched abortions." + +You often hear of talkers who are "good at a retort." It means they can +say "You're another!" in a biting, clever way. The wit of many men is of +this kind--cutting and sarcastic. Nicknames grow out of it--the +Christian calls the Turk an Infidel--as the Turk calls the Christian a +Dog of an Unbeliever. Whig and Tory retort on each other the charge of +oppressor. "The priest calls the lawyer a cheat, the lawyer beknaves the +divine." It all means "You're another!" Phrenologists say the propensity +arises in the organ of combativeness. However that may be, there is need +of an abatement. Retort, even the most delicately put, is indignation, +and indignation is the handsome brother of hatred. It breeds bitterness +between man and man, and produces nothing but evil. The practice is only +a modification of Billingsgate, cover it with what elegant device we +may. In any guise the "You're another" style of speech ought to be +deprecated and discountenanced. + + + + +THY WILL BE DONE. + +BY GEN. GEORGE P. MORRIS. + + + I. + + Searcher of Hearts!--from mine erase + All thoughts that should not be, + And in its deep recesses trace + My gratitude to Thee! + + + II. + + Hearer of Prayer!--oh guide aright + Each word and deed of mine; + Life's battle teach me how to fight, + And be the victory Thine. + + + III. + + Giver of All!--for every good + In the Redeemer came:-- + For raiment, shelter, and for food, + I thank Thee in His name. + + + IV. + + Father and Son and Holy Ghost! + Thou glorious Three in One! + Thou knowest best what I need most, + And let Thy will be done. + + + + +Monthly Record of Current Events. + + +UNITED STATES. + +The political events of the month just closed have been of considerable +interest. November is the month for elections in several of the most +important States: the interest which usually belongs to these events is +enhanced in this instance by the fact that they precede a Presidential +contest, which occurs next year, and they are scanned, therefore, with +the more care as indicative of its results. In several of the States, +however, the elections of this year do not afford any substantial ground +for predicting their votes in the Presidential election, as questions +were at issue now which may not greatly influence them then. In GEORGIA, +for example the old political parties were wholly broken up, and the +divisions which they occasion did not prevail. Both the candidates for +Governor were prominent members of the Democratic party; but Hon. HOWELL +COBB, Speaker of the last House of Representatives in Congress, was put +forward as the Union candidate, while Mr. MCDONALD, his opponent, was +the candidate of those who were in favor of seceding from the Union, on +account of the Compromise measures of 1850. The same division prevailed +in the Congressional contest, the nominees being Unionists and +Secessionists, without regard to other distinctions. The general result +was announced in our November Record. The Union party elected _six_ out +of the _eight_ members of Congress, and Mr. COBB was elected Governor by +a very large majority. The following is a statement of the vote in each +of the Congressional districts, upon both tickets; and gives an accurate +view of the sentiments of the people of the State upon that subject: + + GOVERNOR. CONGRESS. + + _Cong. Districts._ _Cobb._ _McDonald._ _Union._ _Secession._ + + First district 4,268 3,986 4,011 4,297 + Second ditto 8,213 7,050 8,107 6,985 + Third ditto 6,114 6,123 5,853 6,011 + Fourth ditto 7,568 5,391 7,750 5,601 + Fifth ditto 13,676 7,082 13,882 7,481 + Sixth ditto 6,952 3,037 6,937 2,819 + Seventh ditto 4,726 2,134 4,744 1,955 + Eighth ditto 4,744 2,669 4,704 2,538 + ------- ------- ------ ------ + Total 56,261 37,472 55,988 37,699 + Cobb's majority 18,789 Union Cong. ditto 18,319 + +This shows a popular majority of over eighteen thousand in favor of the +Union. The election of Members of the Legislature took place at the same +time, and resulted in the choice to the Senate of _thirty-nine_ Union +and _eight_ Secession Senators, and to the House of _one hundred and +one_ Union, and _twenty-six_ Southern-rights men. Upon the Legislature +thus chosen will devolve the duty of electing a Senator in the Congress +of the United States, in place of Mr. BERRIEN, whose term expires next +spring. + +In SOUTH CAROLINA an election has taken place for members of Congress +and delegates to a State Convention, in which the same issue superseded +all others. One party avowed itself in favor of the immediate and +separate secession of the State from the Union, while the other was in +favor of awaiting the co-operation of other Southern States. Both held +that the action of the Federal Government had been hostile to Southern +interests and rights, and both professed to be in favor of taking +measures of redress. They differed, however, as to the means and time of +action, and the following table shows the relative strength of each +party in the State--those in favor of the Union as it is, of course, +voting with the Co-operationists: + + _Cong. Districts._ _Secession._ _Co-operation._ + + First district 3,392 4,085 + Second ditto 1,816 5,010 + Third ditto 2,523 3,467 + Fourth ditto 2,698 4,377 + Fifth ditto 2,475 3,369 + Sixth ditto 1,454 2,827 + Seventh ditto 3,352 1,910 + ------ ------ + Total 17,710 25,045 + Co-operation majority 7,335 + +Elections in MISSISSIPPI and in ALABAMA, involving the same issue, have +been already noticed. The results of the canvass in these four Southern +States are of interest as showing the relative strength of the two +parties in that section of the Union. The following table shows the vote +upon each side, in each State, in round numbers: + + _Total vote._ _Union._ _Secession._ _Maj._ + Mississippi 50,100 28,700 21,400 7,300 + Alabama 74,800 40,500 34,300 6,200 + Georgia 93,733 56,261 37,472 18,789 + S. Carolina 42,755 25,045 17,710 7,335 + ------- ------- ------- ------ + Total 261,388 150,506 110,882 39,524 + +In VIRGINIA the election was for members of Congress, and upon the +adoption of the new Constitution. The result has been that the +Congressional delegation stands as before, and the new Constitution was +adopted by a very large majority. Among the Whig members defeated was +Hon. John Minor Botts, who has since written a letter attributing his +defeat to the stand which he took in Convention in favor of a mixed +basis of representation. The new Constitution adopts the principle of +universal suffrage in all elections, limited, however, to white male +citizens who are twenty-one years of age, and who have resided two years +in the State and one year in the county in which they vote. Persons in +the naval or military service of the United States are not to be deemed +residents in the State by reason of being stationed therein. No person +will have the right to vote who is of unsound mind, or a pauper, or a +non-commissioned officer, soldier, seaman, or marine in the service of +the United States, or who has been convicted of bribery in an election, +or of any infamous offense. In all elections votes are required to be +given openly _viva voce_, and not by ballot, except that dumb persons +entitled to suffrage may vote by ballot. Under the new Constitution, the +Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General are to be elected by +the people. These officers for the ensuing term, as well as members of +the Senate and House of Representatives, are to be chosen on the 8th day +of December next. The seats of all members of the General Assembly +already elected will be from that date vacated by the effect of the new +Constitution. + +In PENNSYLVANIA the election for Governor, Canal Commissioner, and five +Judges of the Supreme Court, occurred on the last Monday in October, and +resulted as follows: + + _Governor._ BIGLER (Dem.) 186,499 8,465 _Maj._ + JOHNSTON (Whig) 178,034 + _Canal Com._ CLOVER (Dem.) 184,014 8,660 _Maj._ + STROHM (Whig) 175,354 + _Judges._ CAMPBELL (Dem.) 175,975 + LOWRIE " 185,353 Elected. + LEWIS " 183,975 " + BLACK " 185,868 " + GIBSON " 184,371 " + COULTER (Whig) 179,999 " + COMLEY " 174,336 + CHAMBERS " 174,350 + MEREDITH " 173,491 + JESSUP " 172,273 + +In the Legislature there are, Senators 16 Democrats, 16 Whigs, and one +Native American; in the House of Representatives, 54 Democrats and 46 +Whigs. + +Elections have also been held in Ohio, New York, Wisconsin, Maryland, +and Massachusetts; but up to the time of closing this record, official +returns have not been received. + +We have already mentioned the return of the expedition sent out by Mr. +Henry Grinnell in search of the great English navigator, Sir John +Franklin, and the general result of their Arctic explorations. Surgeon +E. K. KANE, who accompanied the expedition, has since published a +letter, in which he expresses the opinion that Sir John, while wintering +in the cove near Beechy's Island, where unmistakable signs of his +presence were discovered, found a path-way made by the opening of the +ice, toward the north, and that he passed northward by Wellington +Channel and did not return. The American expedition was caught in an ice +drift nearly opposite the spot of Franklin's first sojourn, and borne +northward in the ice for fifteen days. Into the region north and west of +Cornwallis Island, which is open sometimes and may be always, a +continuance of the drift a few days longer would have borne the American +Squadron: and in that region Mr. Kane thinks Sir John Franklin must now +be sought. The chances of his destruction by ice, or by want of food, he +thinks, are not great. The British residents of New York gave Mr. +Grinnell a public dinner on the 4th of November at the Astor House, at +which a large company sat down, Mr. Anthony Barclay presiding. Great +interest continues to be felt in the search for Sir John Franklin, and +it is probable that it will be renewed in the early spring. In the +preceding pages of this Number will be found an exceedingly interesting +history of the Expedition, from the journal of one of its +members--accompanied by numerous illustrations of the scenes and +incidents encountered during the voyage. + +The case of Mr. John S. Thrasher, an American gentleman resident at +Havana, has excited a good deal of public interest. Mr. T. has resided +there for a number of years. He was the editor and proprietor of the +_Faro Industrial_, a paper devoted entirely to commercial matters, and +which he had conducted with energy, ability, and success. While the +American prisoners were in Havana, Mr. Thrasher took a marked interest +in them, and did all in his power to alleviate the discomforts of their +position. For some reason, which has never yet been assigned, he +incurred the distrust of the authorities, and on the 1st of September he +was prohibited from issuing his paper which was seized. Feeling +confident that his property would soon be restored, he devoted himself +to procure comforts for his countrymen who had been condemned to +transportation. The police, however, were ordered strictly to watch his +movements. His letters were stopped, seized, and examined; but they +contained nothing to warrant proceedings against him. On the arrival of +the steamer _Georgia_ from the United States, two policemen followed him +and saw him receive letters from the clerk. They arrested him on landing +and searched his papers, but found nothing but a business letter. For +two or three days he continued under arrest, when a letter was brought +to him sealed, directed to him, and said to have been found upon his +desk. It proved to be written in cipher, but Mr. Thrasher declared +himself ignorant alike of its contents and its author. This, however, +was of no avail. He was immediately committed to prison, and on the 25th +of September was thrust into a damp, dark dungeon, cut from the rock and +level with the sea, with a bare board for furniture, and where death +will be the inevitable consequence of a few weeks' confinement. At the +latest dates no charges had been publicly made against him, his trial +had not taken place, and no one was admitted to see him. The result of +the affair is looked for with great anxiety. + +The late President TYLER has written a letter to the Spanish Minister in +the United States, appealing for the pardon and release of the Americans +taken prisoners in Cuba. He ventures to make the application in view of +the friendly relations which existed between him and M. Calderon de la +Barca during his administration, and ventures to hope that his request +will be laid before the Queen of Spain. He concedes the flagrancy of +their offense, but urges that sufficient punishment has already been +inflicted, and that their pardon will do much toward softening the +feelings of the people of this country toward the Spanish government, +and preventing future attempts upon the peace of its colonies. + +Gen. WM. B. CAMPBELL was inaugurated Governor of Tennessee on the 16th +of October. His inaugural address referred briefly to national affairs. +He spoke in the highest terms of commendation of those who secured the +passage of the Compromise bills, in the Congress of 1850, and of the +firm manner in which they have been maintained by the President. The +disastrous results of secession were strongly depicted. He urged that it +must inevitably lead to bloody civil wars, alike melancholy and +deplorable for the victors and the vanquished. He pledged himself to +maintain the Compromise measures, because he believed their continuance +on the statute book will promote prosperity and happiness, while an +interference with them will inevitably produce agitation, mischief, and +misery. + +A Convention of cotton planters was held at Macon, Georgia, on the 28th +of October. About three hundred delegates were in attendance, of whom +two hundred came from half the counties in Georgia, sixty-eight from one +quarter of those of Alabama, nineteen from five counties of Florida, and +one or two from each of several other Southern states. Ex-Governor +MOSELEY, of Florida, was chosen President. The object of the Convention +was to render the planters of cotton more independent of the ordinary +vicissitudes of trade, and to enable them to obtain more uniformly high +prices for their great staple. A great variety of opinions prevailed +upon the subject. Various modes were suggested, but as none seemed +acceptable, the whole subject was referred to a Committee of twenty-one, +but even this Committee could not agree. A proposition was then +_rejected_, by a vote of 48 to 43, which provided that planters should +make returns to a Central Committee to be established of the cotton +housed by the middle of January; and further, that not more than +two-thirds of the crop should be sold before the 1st of May, and for not +less than eight cents a pound; and that the remaining third should be +sold at a time to be recommended by the Central Committee. A minority +report was presented in favor of the Florida scheme for a Cotton +Planters' Association, with a capital of twenty millions of dollars, and +a warehouse for the storage of cotton, whereby prices might be +contracted. This met the violent opposition of the Convention. +Resolutions were finally adopted recommending Central, State, and County +Associations to collect statistical and general information respecting +the production and consumption of cotton. A committee was also appointed +to procure such legislative acts as may be for the interest of planters. +Resolutions were also passed to encourage Southern manufacturers to +employ slave labor in their factories. Having urged another Cotton +Planters' Convention, and exhorted delegates to arouse the public on the +subject, by lectures and otherwise, the assembly adjourned _sine die_, +after a session of several days, in which it will be observed that very +little business was transacted. + +The magnetic telegraph has become so common an agent of transmitting +intelligence in this country, as to render all news of its progress +interesting and important. Prof. MORSE has been for some time +prosecuting other persons for infringing his patent. A rival line, using +the machinery of Mr. BAIN, has been for some years in operation between +New York and Philadelphia. A suit was commenced against the Company and +has been for some years pending in the United States Circuit Court. It +has just been decided by Judge KANE, in favor of the claimants under +Prof. Morse's patents. The several points ruled by the Court in this +case, are: 1. That an _art_ is the subject of a patent, as well as an +implement or a machine. 2. That an inventor may surrender and obtain a +re-issue of his patent more than once if necessary. 3. That Prof. Morse +was the first inventor of the art of recording signs at a distance by +means of electro-magnetism, or the magnetic telegraph. 4. That the +several parts or elements of the Morse Telegraph are covered and +protected by his patent, as new inventions, and are really new, either +as single, independent inventions, or as parts of a new combination for +the purpose specified. 5. That the patent granted to Prof. Morse for his +"Local Circuit" is valid, and that the "Branch Circuit" of the Bain line +is an infringement of it. 6. That the subject and principles of the +chemical telegraph are clearly embraced in Morse's patents. These are +the chief questions in dispute. The counsel for the complainants were +directed to draw up a decree to be made by the Court, in accordance with +the prayer of the bill and the decision just given. The case will of +course now be carried to the Supreme Court of the United States. + +In the New Monthly Magazine for July last (No. 14, Vol. III. p. 274) we +gave a detailed statement of the legal controversy between the Methodist +Episcopal Church South and the Methodist Episcopal Church, brought by +the former to recover a portion of the "Book Fund." The suit came on May +19, in the United States Circuit Court, and was elaborately argued by +distinguished counsel. The decision, which was then deferred, was given +by Judge NELSON on the 10th of November. It was long and elaborate, +going over the whole ground involved, sketching the history of the case, +and stating the legal principles applicable to it. He decided that the +separation was legal, and that the Methodist Episcopal Church South is +entitled to a portion of the Fund. This must end the controversy unless +an appeal should be taken to the Supreme Court of the United States. + +A large number of the citizens of New York recently addressed a letter +to Hon. HENRY CLAY, requesting him to address a meeting in that city in +favor of the Compromise measures of 1850, expressing a belief that +additional exertions were needed to prevent propositions for the repeal +or modification of some of the laws. Mr. Clay's reply, dated Oct. 3, is +long and elaborate. Declining the invitation, he expresses great +interest in the subject, and says he believes that the great majority of +the people in every section of the Union, are satisfied with, or +acquiesce in, the compromise. The only law which encounters any +hostility, is that relating to the surrender of fugitive slaves; and +this is now almost universally obeyed. Mr. Clay proceeds to urge the +necessity of such a law and its rigid execution; and he then examines +the principle of secession from the Union, as it is presented and +advocated in some of the Southern States. + +Rev. ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER, D. D., distinguished as one of the oldest and +ablest theologians in the country, died at Princeton, N. J. on the 22d +of October, aged 81. He was a native of Virginia, and became a minister +in the Presbyterian Church at the age of 21. He was early appointed +President of Hampton Sidney College. He afterward was called to the +Third Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, and was stationed, there, +when in 1812, the Theological Seminary was established at Princeton. He +was appointed the first Professor in that Seminary. + +Dr. J. KEARNEY RODGERS, distinguished in New York as a surgeon, and of +eminently useful and estimable character, died on the 9th of November. +Dr. GRANVILLE SHARP PATTISON, also celebrated in this country as well as +in England for medical science and practical skill, died on the 13th. He +was distinguished as an anatomist, and was the author of several works +upon medical subjects which enjoyed a wide celebrity and are still used +as standard treatises.--GARDNER G. HOWLAND, well-known as one of the +oldest, most enterprising, and wealthiest merchants of New York, and one +of the most beneficent and public spirited inhabitants of that city, +died suddenly on the 13th. + +From CALIFORNIA our intelligence is to the 1st of October. The State +election had resulted in a Democratic victory. Mr. BIGLER, the +Democratic candidate, was elected Governor by about 1500 majority; +Messrs. MARSHALL and MCCORKLE, Democrats, are elected to Congress; and +the Legislature, upon which will devolve the duty of electing a U. S. +Senator, is strongly Democratic also.----The Capital of the State has +been removed back from Vallejo to San Jose.----The intelligence from the +mines is highly encouraging; new veins of gold are constantly +discovered, and the old placers have never been known to yield more +plentifully.----The Indians in all the northern sections of the country +are represented as being highly troublesome, and traveling there has +become dangerous.----A large party of Mormons have purchased the rancho +of San Bernardino, near Los Angelos; they gave $60,000 for it, and are +to take possession of it very soon.----A railroad from San Francisco to +San Jose, the first in California, has been commenced.----The Vigilance +Committee at San Francisco, has come to an end. Order and quiet are +completely restored, and a feeling of security is rapidly gaining +ground. The city is increasing very fast both in population and in +extent.----Disastrous news has been received from the American whaling +fleet in the North Pacific. Ten or twelve of the ships have been lost: +the season has been very unprofitable for all. + +From OREGON, we learn that emigrants were coming in rapidly, though a +late heavy snow-storm had seriously retarded the progress of emigrants +through the mountains. The suffering from cold, and in some instances +from lack of provisions, has been very severe.----The Snake Indians are +becoming hostile and troublesome. Mr. Hudson Clark, from Illinois, with +his family, having got ahead of the train with which he was traveling, +was attacked by about thirty Indians, near Raft River, and his mother +and brother were killed. Others had been killed a few days previously. +Outrages in different sections led to the belief that the Indians were +about to assume their former attitude of hostility toward the +inhabitants.----Steps have been taken by a Convention of Delegates +from the country north of the Columbia River, to form a new territorial +government, or failing in that, to organize a new State, and ask +admission into the Union. The reasons for this step are the great extent +of country, its distance from the Capital, and the total absence of all +municipal law and civil officers. + +In the SANDWICH ISLANDS, the volcanic Mountain Maunaloa, had given +tokens of an eruption early in August. A letter in the _Polynesian_ of +the 12th says: "The great crater of Maunaloa, that was generally thought +to be quite extinct, is now in action. For a few days a heavy cloud, +having the appearance of smoke, has been observed to hover over the +summit of the mountain. Last night the mountain stood out in bold +relief, unobstructed by clouds or mist, and presented a sublime and +awfully grand appearance, belching forth flames and cinders that again +fell in showers at a distance. The heavy bank of smoke that lowered over +its top, presented the appearance of the mountain itself poised upon its +apex. It is possible that another eruption may take place like that of +1843, and liquid lava be seen flowing down its sides." + +From NEW MEXICO we have intelligence to the last of October. Serious +difficulties had occurred, which excited deep hostility between the +American and Mexican portions of the population, and threatened to +inflict lasting injury upon the country. The election for a Delegate to +Congress, was held on the 1st of September. A number of Americans went +to the polls at Los Ranchos, for the purpose of voting, but were refused +by the Mexican authorities. Insisting upon their right a general quarrel +ensued. The county judge, a Mexican named Ambrosio Armijo, ordered out a +number of armed men, who killed an American named Edward Burtnett, +stripping and mangling his body. An investigation was held, but without +any important result. On the 23d, Mr. W. C. Skinner, who had taken an +active part in the effort to bring the authors of this outrage to +punishment, was at Los Ranchos, and became involved in a dispute with a +Mexican, named Juan C. Armijo. As he left him a number of Armijo's peons +fell upon him with clubs, and killed him on the spot. Mr. Skinner was +from Connecticut, and an active opponent of the Governor in the +Legislature of which he was a member. Meetings of the Americans were +held, at which the conduct of the Mexicans was denounced, and the +attention of the General Government at Washington, called to the +condition of the territory.----Major Weightman has been elected Delegate +to Congress: loud complaints are made of frauds at the election.----The +new military post in the Navajo country, is at Canon Bonito: Col. Summer +and his command were in pursuit of the Indians. Two soldiers who had +left Santa Fe with the mail, for the Navajo country, had not been heard +from, and were supposed to have been killed.----Business was dull, and +the season very wet. + + +SOUTH AMERICA. + +From CHILI, we have news of another insurrection. The term of office of +the late President, Gen. BULNES, expired on the 16th of September. In +August the new election had taken place, and resulted in the choice of +Don MANUEL MONTT over his opponent, Gen. CRUZ. Montt was a successful +lawyer of Santiago, and had held a post in the cabinet of the former +administration. He was brought forward as the candidate of the +government, which rendered him exceedingly obnoxious to the people. His +opponent, Gen. Cruz, had been one of the heroes of the revolution and +enjoyed great popularity with the army and a large portion of the +people, especially of the province of Conception, of which he was the +chief officer. Fearing his influence then upon the election, the +government removed him, and this created great disaffection among the +people. Loud threats were heard, that Montt, who had received a very +large majority, should not be inaugurated: the government, nevertheless, +steadily went on with their preparations for that event. The revolt +first broke out at Coquimbo, on the 8th of September, where the +disaffected party deposed and banished the government officers, seized +the custom-house with about $70,000, and levied forced loans from many +of the wealthy inhabitants. They then seized the steamer "Fire-fly," +belonging to an English gentleman, and sent her to Conception, the +stronghold of Gen. Cruz, to arouse his friends to a similar movement +there. An outbreak had already taken place in that department; the +insurgents had been very successful--banished all the old officers, and +appointed new ones, and seized the Chilian mail steamer, with $30,000 +belonging to the government. Up to this time, Gen. Cruz had kept himself +aloof from the movement, and had counseled his friends against it. +Feeling satisfied with their success, they determined to await the +action of the other provinces. Meanwhile, the government having heard of +the revolt, and seeing that it was confined to these two departments, +took active measures for its suppression. A detachment of infantry, +consisting of 300 or 400 men, was sent to Valparaiso, but was induced to +march to join the insurgents in Coquimbo. Intelligence of this defection +created the most intense excitement at the Capital, and the city was at +once put under martial-law, and a company of artillery was sent against +the deserters, who were all brought back without bloodshed, within +forty-eight hours. Their leaders were thrown into prison, and would +probably be shot. Other troops were sent to the disaffected region, and +the few ships belonging to the Chilian navy were sent to blockade the +ports of Coquimbo and Talcahuano. Meantime, the inauguration of +President Montt took place on the 18th of September, the anniversary of +Chilian independence, and that day as well as the 17th, and 19th, were +devoted to magnificent festivities at Santiago. Gen. Bulnes had left for +Conception, to raise troops for the government on the road, and put +himself at their head. There were rumors that he had been compelled to +fall back, and that Gen. Cruz had put himself at the head of the +movement in Conception. He had issued a proclamation to the army, and +authorized a steamer to cruise in his service. At Coquimbo, Gen. Correa +was in command of the insurgent forces, and it was reported that he had +forced the government troops under Gen. Guzman, to fall back. The +British admiral, on hearing of the seizure of the "Fire-fly" steamer, +had sent two steam-frigates to recover her and demand indemnity. One of +them, the _Gorgon_, captured her at Coquimbo, and the commander had +entered into a convention with the party in power there, agreeing to +raise the blockade of that port, on their agreeing to pay $30,000 +indemnity to Mr. Lambert, and $10,000 as ransom for the steamer, which +he had seized as a pirate, "provided the British admiral should decide +that he had a right to seize her." Great dissatisfaction has been felt +among the foreign residents at the terms of this convention. Both the +British and American squadrons were watchfully protecting the commerce +of their respective countries. The issue of the contest between the +government and the insurgents has not yet reached us, but the latest +advices state that the government felt confident in its ability to +repress the insurrection; its strength and resources are shown by the +fact that it had remitted $80,000 to England, to meet dividends and +canal bonds. + +We have further news of interest from Buenos Ayres. Our intelligence of +last month left Oribe, with a large force, on the 30th of July, in daily +expectation of having a battle with the Brazilian troops under Urquiza +and Garzon--each contending for dominion over Uruguay. The contest seems +to have been ended without a fight. As Oribe advanced against the allied +troops, he lost his men by desertion in great numbers, and by the end of +August six thousand of his cavalry had joined the standard of Urquiza, +whose strength was rapidly increased. Finding the force against him to +be such as to forbid all hope of a successful battle, Oribe seems to +have abandoned all hope. He had made up his mind to evacuate the +Oriental territory, and for that purpose had requested the French +admiral to convey him, with the Argentine troops, to Buenos Ayres. This +request had been refused: and this refusal led to new desertions from +Oribe's force. Rosas was still in the field, but would be compelled to +surrender. + + +MEXICO. + +We have intelligence from Mexico to the 15th of October. The political +condition of the country was one of great embarrassment and peril. +Dangers seem to threaten the country from every quarter. On the southern +border is the danger growing out of the grant to the United States of +right of way across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. If the railroad is built +there, it is feared that the energy and business enterprise which the +Americans will infuse into that section of the country, will gradually +Americanize it, and thus lead inevitably to its separation from Mexico. +On the other hand, if the grant is revoked, there is great danger of war +with the United States, which could end only in renewed loss of +territory. Upon the northwest again, there is a prospect of invasion +from California. Thousands of the adventurous inhabitants of that State +are settling in the western section of Mexico and preparing the way for +its separation from the central government. + +A still more serious danger menaces them from the Northern departments, +in which, as was mentioned in our last Number, a revolution has broken +out which promises to be entirely successful. Later advices confirm this +prospect. After taking Reynosa, Gen. Caravajal, the leader of the +revolution, marched to Matamoras, which he reached on the 20th of +October, and forthwith attacked the place, which had been prepared for +an obstinate defense, under Gen. Avalos. Several engagements between the +opposing forces had taken place, and the besieged army is said to have +lost two hundred men. The inhabitants of Matamoras had been forced to +leave, part of the town had been twice on fire, and a great amount of +property was destroyed. But the city still held out. + +The general government had addressed a note, through the Minister of +War, under date of September 25, to the Governors of the Northern +States, expressing confidence in their fidelity and urging them to spare +no effort to crush the revolt. The Governors had replied to the +requisitions upon them for troops, that their departments were not +injured by the revolution and that they would not aid its suppression. +This fact shows that the movement has decided strength among the +Mexicans themselves. + +The Legislature of the State of Vera Cruz has passed a resolution +requesting Congress to charter a railroad from Vera Cruz to Acapulco, by +way of Mexico. A good deal of hostility is evinced to a reported design +of the Pope to send a nuncio to the capital.--The British Minister has +demanded from Mexico a judicial decree in favor of British creditors, +and has menaced the government with a blockade of their ports as the +alternative.--There had been a military revolt of part of the troops in +Yucatan, which had been suppressed, and six of the soldiers shot. + + +GREAT BRITAIN. + +The arrival of KOSSUTH and the closing of the Great Exhibition, are the +two events by which the month in England has been distinguished. The +great Hungarian received a very cordial welcome. He came to Gibraltar +from Constantinople by the United States steam frigate Mississippi, +which had been sent out by the American government to convey him to the +United States. On reaching Marseilles he proposed to go through France +to England, for the purpose of leaving his children there; and then to +meet the Mississippi again at Gibraltar. The French government refused +him permission to pass through France. The receipt of this refusal +excited a good deal of feeling among the people of Marseilles, who +gathered in immense numbers to testify their regard for the illustrious +exile, and their regret at the action of their government. In reply to +their manifestations, Kossuth addressed them a letter of thanks, which +was published in _Le Peuple_ at Marseilles. In this he merely alluded to +the action of the government and assured them that he did not hold the +French people responsible for it. He then proceeded in the frigate to +Gibraltar, where, after staying two or three days, and receiving the +utmost civilities of the British officers there, he embarked on board +the British steamer Madrid, in which he reached Southampton on the 23d +of October. A large concourse of people met him on the wharf and +escorted him, with great enthusiasm and hearty cheering, to the +residence of the mayor. In answer to the loud cheers with which he was +greeted, he came out upon the balcony and briefly addressed the crowd, +warmly thanking them for their welcome and expressing the profoundest +gratitude to England for the aid she had given to his deliverance from +prison.--The same day an address from the people of Southampton was +presented to him in the Town Hall, to which he replied at some length. +He spoke of the feeling with which he had always studied the character +and institutions of England, and said that it was her municipal +institutions which had preserved to Hungary some spirit of public life +and constitutional liberty, against the hostile acts of Austria. The +doctrine of centralization had been fatal to France and other European +nations. It was the foe of liberty--the sure agent of absolute power. He +attributed much of England's freedom to her municipal institutions. For +himself, he regarded these demonstrations of respect as paid to the +political principles he represented, rather than his person. He believed +that England would not allow Russia to control the destinies of +Europe--that her people would not assist the ambition of a few families, +but the moral welfare and dignity of humanity. He hoped to see some of +those powerful associations of English people, by which so much is done +for political rights, directing their attention, and extending their +powerful aid to Hungary. For himself life was of no value, except as he +could make use of it for the liberty of his own country and the benefit +of humanity. He took the expression of respect by which he had been met, +as an encouragement to go on in that way which he had taken for the aim +of his life, and which he hoped the blessings of the Almighty, and the +sympathy of the people of England and of generous hearts all over the +world, might help to carry to a happy issue. It was a much greater merit +to acknowledge a principle in adversity than to pay a tribute to its +success. He thanked them for their sympathy and assured them of the +profound admiration he had always entertained for the free institutions +of England. + +On the 24th, KOSSUTH went to the country house of the mayor, and on the +25th attended a _dejeuner_ at Winchester, where he made a long speech, +being mainly an historical outline of the Hungarian revolution. He +explained the original character of Hungary, as a constitutional +monarchy, and its position between Russia, Austria, and Turkey. Its +constitution was aristocratic, but its aristocracy was not rich, nor was +it opposed to the constitutional rights of the people. Hungary had a +parliament and county municipal institutions, and to the latter he +attributed the preservation of the people's rights. All the orders of +the government to any municipal magistrate, must be forwarded through +county meetings, where they were discussed, and sometimes withheld. They +thus formed a strong barrier against the encroachments of the +government; and no county needed such a barrier more, for during more +than three centuries, the House of Hapsburg had not at its head a man +who was a friend to political freedom. The House of Hapsburg ruled +Hungary, but only according to treaties--one of the conditions of which +was, that they were to rule the people of Hungary only through Hungarian +institutions, and according to its own laws. Austria had succeeded in +absorbing all the other provinces connected with her--but her attempts +upon Hungary had proved unsuccessful. Her constant efforts to subdue +Hungary had convinced her rulers that to the nobles alone her defense +ought not to be intrusted, but that all the people should have an equal +interest in their constitutional rights. This was the direction of +public opinion in Hungary in 1825. The first effort of the patriotic +party, therefore, was to emancipate the people--to relieve the peasantry +from their obligation to give 104 days out of every year to their +landlords, one-ninth of their produce to their seigneur, and one-tenth +to the bishop. This was only effected by slow degrees. In the long +parliament, from 1832 to 1836, a measure was carried giving the peasant +the right to purchase exemption from the duties with the consent of his +landlord. This, however, was vetoed by the Regent. The government then +set itself to work to corrupt the county constituencies, by which +members of the Commons were chosen. They appointed officers to be +present at every meeting, and to control every act. This system the +liberal party resisted, because they wished the county meetings to be +free. And this struggle went on until 1847, just before the breaking out +of the French Revolution. The revolution in Vienna followed that event, +and this threw all power into the hands of Kossuth and his party. He at +once proposed to emancipate the peasantry, and to indemnify the +landlords from the land. The measure was carried at once, through both +Houses; and Kossuth and his friends then went on, to give to every +inhabitant a right to vote, and to establish representative +institutions, including a responsible ministry. The Emperor gave his +sanction to all these laws. Yet very soon after a rebellion was incited +by Austria among the Serbs, who resisted the new Hungarian government, +and declared their independence. The Palatine, representing the King, +called for an army to put down the rebellion, and Jellachich, who was +its leader, was proclaimed a traitor. But soon successes in Italy +enabled the Emperor to act more openly, and he recognized Jellachich as +his friend, and commissioned him to march with an army against Hungary. +He did so, but was driven back. The Emperor then appointed him governor; +but the Hungarians would not receive him. Then came an open war with +Austria, in which the Hungarians were successful. Reliable information +was then received that Russia was about to join Austria in the war, and +that Hungary had nowhere to look for aid. It was then proposed that, if +Hungary was forced to contend against two mighty nations, the reward of +success should be its independence. What followed, all know. He declared +his belief that, but for the treason of Goergey, the Hungarians could +have defeated the united armies of their foes. But the House of +Hapsburg, as a dynasty, exists no more. It merely vegetates at the whim +of the mighty Czar, to whom it has become the obedient servant. But if +England would only say that Russia should not thus set her foot on the +neck of Hungary, all might yet be well. Hungary would have knowledge, +patriotism, loyalty, and courage enough to dispose of its own domestic +matters, as it is the sovereign right of every nation to do. This was +the cause for which he asked the generous sympathy of the English +people; and he thanked them cordially for the attention they had given +to his remarks. + +On the same occasion Mr. COBDEN spoke in favor of the intervention of +England to prevent Russia from crushing Hungary, and obtaining control +of Europe, and Mr. J. R. CROSKEY, the American Consul at Southampton, +expressed the opinion that the time would come, if it had not already +come, when the United States would be forced into taking more than an +interest in European politics. + +KOSSUTH again addressed the company, thanking them for the interest +taken in the welfare of his unhappy country, and expressing the hope +that, supported by this sympathy, the hopes expressed might be realized +at no distant day. He spoke also of the different ways in which nations +may promote the happiness and welfare of their people. England, he said, +wants no change, because she is governed by a constitutional monarchy, +under which all classes in the country enjoy the full benefits of free +institutions. The consequence is, the people of England are masters of +their own fates--defenders of her institutions--obedient to the laws, +and vigilant in their behavior--and the country has become, and must +forever continue, under such institutions, to be great, glorious, and +free. Then the United States is a republic--and though governed in a +different way from England, the people of the United States have no +motive for desiring a change--they have got liberty, freedom, and every +means for the full development of their social condition and position. +Under their government, the people of the United States have, in sixty +years, arrived at a position of which they may well be proud--and the +English people, too, have good reason to be proud of their descendants +and the share which she has had in the planting of so great a nation on +the other side of the Atlantic. It was most gratifying to see so great +and glorious a nation thriving under a Constitution but little more than +sixty years old. It is not every republic in which freedom is found to +exist, and he said he could cite examples in proof of his assertion--and +he deeply lamented that there is among them one great and glorious +nation where the people do not yet enjoy that liberty which their noble +minds so well fit them for. It is not every monarchy that is good +because under it you enjoy full liberty and freedom. Therefore he felt +that it is not the living under a government called a republic, that +will secure the liberties of the people, but that quite as just and +honest laws may exist under a monarchy as under a republic. If he wanted +an illustration, he need only examine the institutions of England and +the United States, to show that under different forms of government +equal liberty can and does exist. It was to increase the liberties of +the people that they had endeavored to widen the basis on which their +Constitution rested, so as to include the whole population, and thus +give them an interest in the maintenance of social order. + +M. KOSSUTH had visited London privately, mainly to consult a physician +concerning his health, which is delicate. He intended to remain in +England until the 14th of November, and then sail for New York in one of +the American steamers. + +The Great Exhibition was closed Oct. 15 with public ceremonies. The +building was densely filled with spectators, and there was a general +attendance of all who had been officially connected with the Exhibition +in any way. Viscount Canning read the report of the Council of the +Chairmen of Juries, rehearsing the manner in which they had endeavored +to discharge the duties devolved upon them. There had been thirty-four +acting juries, composed equally of British subjects and foreigners. The +chairmen of these juries were formed into a Council, to determine the +conditions upon which prizes should be awarded, and to secure, so far as +possible, uniformity in the action of the juries. It was ultimately +decided that only two kinds of medals should be awarded, one the _prize_ +medal, to be conferred wherever a certain standard of excellence in +production or workmanship had been attained, and to be awarded by the +juries: the other the _council_ medal, to be awarded by the council, +upon the recommendation of a jury, for some important novelty of +invention or application, either in material or processes of +manufacture, or originality combined with great beauty of design. The +number of prize medals awarded was 2918: of council medals 170. +Honorable mention was made of other exhibitors whose works did not +entitle them to medals. The whole number of exhibitors was about 17,000. +Prince ALBERT responded to this report, on behalf of the Royal +Commissioners, thanking the jurors and others for the care and assiduity +with which they had performed their duties, and closing with the +expression of the hope that the Exhibition might prove to be a happy +means of promoting unity among nations, and peace and good will among +the various races of mankind. The honor of knighthood has been conferred +upon Mr. Paxton, the designer of the building, Mr. Cubitt, the engineer, +and Mr. Fox, the contractor. The total number of visits to the +Exhibition has been 6,201,856: 466 schools and twenty-three parties of +agricultural laborers have visited it. The entire sum received from the +Exhibition has been L505,107 5_s._ 7_d._ of which L356,808 1_s._ was +taken at the doors. About L90 of bad silver was taken--nearly all on the +half-crown and five shilling days. Of the 170 council medals distributed +76 went to the United Kingdom, 57 to France, 7 to Prussia, 5 to the +United States, 4 to Austria, 3 to Bavaria, 2 each to Belgium, +Switzerland, and Tuscany, 1 each to Holland, Russia, Rome, Egypt, the +East India Company, Spain, Tunis, and Turkey, and one each to Prince +Albert, Mr. Paxton, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Cubitt. + +The sum of L758,196 from the British revenue for the quarter ending +October 11, is available toward the payment of the national debt. The +sum of L3,004,048 has been appropriated to that object during the year. + +The Queen returned on the 12th of October from a protracted tour in +Scotland. She visited Liverpool and Manchester on her return, and in +both cities was received with great enthusiasm. + +Serious difficulties have arisen in Ireland out of the loans made by +government to the various unions for the relief. As the time for +repaying these advances comes round, the country is found to be unable +to pay the taxes levied for that purpose. These rates run from five to +ten shillings in the pound. In some of the unions a disposition to +repudiate the debt has been shown--but this has generally proved to be +only a desire to postpone it until it can be done without oppressively +taxing the property. The question has excited a great deal of feeling, +and the difficulty is not yet surmounted. + +The public is anxiously awaiting the details of Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S +promised reform bill. It is of course understood that its leading object +will be to extend the elective franchise, and the bare thought of this +has stimulated the organs of Toryism to prophetic lamentations over the +ruin which so radical a movement will certainly bring upon the British +Empire. + +English colonial affairs engage a good deal of attention. At the Cape of +Good Hope the government is engaged in a war with the native Kaffirs, +which does not make satisfactory progress. At the latest accounts, +coming down to September 12th, the hostile natives continued to vex the +frontiers, and Sir Harry Smith, the military commandant, had found it +necessary to lead new forces against them. A severe battle was fought on +the 1st of September, and repeated engagements had been had +subsequently, in all which great injury had been inflicted upon the +English troops. It was supposed that ten thousand men would be required, +in addition to the force already there, to restore peace to the +disaffected district. The construction of a railway through Egypt, by +English capitalists, has met with serious obstacles in the refusal of +the Turkish Sultan to allow his subject, the Pacha of Egypt, to treat +with foreigners for the purpose of allowing the work to go on. He has, +however, given the English to understand, that he is not hostile to the +railway, but is only unwilling that it should become a pretext for +making the Pacha independent of him. Lord Palmerston acquiesces in the +justice of this view; and there will probably be no difficulty in +arranging the whole matter. + + +FRANCE. + +Political affairs in France have taken a remarkable turn within the past +month. The President persisted in his determination to be a candidate +for re-election, and finding that he could not receive the support of +the majority as the government was constituted, resolved upon a bold +return to universal suffrage. Having been elected to the Presidency by +universal suffrage, and finding that the restricted suffrage would ruin +him, he determined to repeal the law of May, which disfranchised three +millions of voters, and throw himself again upon the whole people of +France. He accordingly demanded from his Ministers their consent to the +abrogation of that law. They refused, and on the 14th of October all +tendered their resignation. They were at once accepted by the President, +but the Ministry were to retain their places until a new one could be +formed. This proved to be a task of great difficulty. It was officially +announced that the President was preparing his Message for the +approaching session of the Assembly, and that in this document he would, +first, lay down in very distinct terms, the abrogation of the law of +May 31; secondly, that he will express his irrevocable resolution to +maintain the policy of order, of conservation, and authority, and that +he would make no concession to anarchical ideas, under whatever flag or +name they may shelter themselves. + +A new Ministry was definitively formed on the 27th of October, +constituted as follows: + + _Justice_ M. CORBIN. + _Foreign Affairs_ M. TURGOT. + _Public Instruction_ M. C. GIRAUD. + _Interior_ M. DE THOROGNY. + _Agriculture and Commerce_ M. DE CASIABIAUCA. + _Public Works_ M. LACROSSE. + _War_ Gen. LEROY DE ST. ARNAUD. + _Marine_ M. HIPPOLYTE FOURTOUL. + _Finance_ M. BLONDEL. + _Prefect of Police_ M. DE MAUPAS. + +In several instances, within a few weeks past, the Republican +representatives in the various departments of France, have been +subjected to gross insults from the police and other agents of the +government. M. Sartin, the representative for Allier, has submitted a +statement to the Assembly, saying that while dining with a friend at +Montlucon, two brigadiers of gendarmerie entered and told the company +that, as the company exceeded fifteen, it was a political meeting within +the prohibition of the government. M. Sartin produced his medal of +representative of the people, and claimed immunity. He was told that no +such immunity existed, except during the session of the Assembly. Quite +a scuffle ensued, in which one or two persons were wounded. These +proceedings soon collected a crowd, and the people declared that no more +arrests should be made. Several squadrons of cavalry soon arrived, and +as the result, thirteen persons were sent to prison.--In Saucerre also, +the magistrates having arrested three persons, one of whom was the +former mayor, the inhabitants rose and attempted a rescue. The military +in the neighborhood collected and dispersed the crowd, twenty-six of +whom were arrested and committed to prison. + + +SOUTHERN EUROPE. + +There is no news of special interest from Southern Europe. We have +already noticed the letters of Mr. GLADSTONE to Lord ABERDEEN, exposing +the abominations of the Neapolitan government, in its persecution of +state prisoners--together with the official reply which the King of +Naples has caused to be made to it. Lord Palmerston sent a copy of Mr. +Gladstone's letters to the British representatives at each European +Court, with instructions to lay them before the Court to which he was +accredited. The Neapolitan Minister in London sent to Lord Palmerston a +book written in reply to Mr. Gladstone's letters, by an English +gentleman named M'Farlane, and requested him to send this also to those +British representatives who had been furnished with the other. Lord P. +replied to this request in a spirited letter, declaring his object to +have been to arouse the public sentiment of Europe against the cruelties +and outrageous violations of law and justice of which the government of +Naples is constantly guilty, and saying that the King of Naples was very +much mistaken, if he believed public opinion could be controlled or +changed by such a pitiful diatribe as that of Mr. M'Farlane. The only +way of conciliating the sentiment of Europe upon this subject, was by +remedying the evils which had excited its indignation. The Courts of +Germany, Austria, and Russia, to which Mr. Gladstone's letters were +sent, have complained of this act as an unwarrantable interference, on +the part of Lord Palmerston, with the internal administration of Naples. +In the German Diet, at Frankfort, Count Thun protested against the +course pursued by the British Minister, and maintained that to criticise +the criminal justice of other countries is a most flagrant breach of the +rights of nations. If English statesmen could interfere with the conduct +of the King of Naples, for imprisoning men for supporting the +Constitution which he had sworn to maintain, they might also interfere +with the violations of their oaths, as well as of justice, of which the +governments of Austria, Saxony, Baden, and other countries had been +guilty; and then, said he, what was to become of kingly freedom and +independence? The Diet, on his motion, resolved to express to the +British Minister their astonishment at the course the British government +had pursued. + +In PRUSSIA vigorous preparations are made for anticipated difficulties +in France in the spring of 1852, after the Presidential election. The +troops of all the German states are to be put on a full war +establishment, and to be ready for immediate action early in the spring. +The western fortresses have received orders to be in readiness for war. + +A general Congress has been held of representatives from the several +German states, to make some common arrangement for the management of the +electric telegraph. They have agreed that all messages shall be +forwarded without interruption, that a common scale of charges shall be +adopted, and that the receipts shall go into a common fund, to be +distributed among the several states in proportion to the number of +miles of telegraphic communication running through them. + +The German Diet has resolved that the annexation of the Prussian Polish +provinces to the confederation two years ago, was illegal and void. It +has also determined to take into consideration the claims of the Ritter +party in Hanover, to have the abolition of their nobility privileges +revoked. This abolition was effected during the recent revolutions, but +it was done in a perfectly legal manner. + +The Emperor of Austria, not long since, wrote a letter to Prince +Schwartzenberg, stating that the Ministry would henceforth be +responsible to him alone, and that he would answer for the government. +This declaration, that the government was hereafter to be absolute, +excited deep feeling throughout the country, and it was supposed that it +might lead to a political crisis. On the 11th of October, however, the +Ministers took the oath of obedience to the Emperor, under this new +definition of their powers and responsibilities. The Emperor recently +visited Lombardy, where he had a very cold reception. + +In SPAIN changes have been made in the administration of the island of +Cuba. A Colonial Council has been created, which is to have charge of +all affairs relating to the colonial possessions, except such as are +specially directed by other Ministers. The Captain-general of each +colony is to conduct its affairs under the direction of the Council. It +is said that the Spanish Government intends to relax its customs +regulations in favor of England. + +From INDIA and the EAST late intelligence has been received. The Indian +frontier continued undisturbed: the troops suffered greatly from +sickness. There had been an outbreak in Malabar, which caused great loss +of life. The rebellion in China still goes on, but details of its +progress are lacking. + + + + +Editor's Table. + + +Time and Space--what are they? Do they belong to the world without, or +to the world within, or to some mysterious and inseparable union of both +departments of being? We hope the reader will be under no alarm from +such a beginning, or entertain any fear of being treated to a dish of +indigestible metaphysics. The terms we have placed at the head of our +Editor's Table, as suggestive of appropriate thoughts for the closing +month of the year, are, indeed, the deepest in philosophy. In all ages +have they been the watchwords of the schools. Aristotle failed in the +attempt to measure them. Kant acknowledged his inability to fathom the +profundity of their significance. And yet there are none, perhaps, that +enter more into the musings of that common philosophy which is for all +minds, for all ages, and for all conditions in life. Who has not thought +on the enigma of time and space, each baffling every effort the mind may +make for its pure and perfect conception without some aid from the +notion of its inseparable correlative? Where is the man, or child even, +who has not been drawn to some contemplation of that wondrous stream on +whose bosom we are sailing, but of which we can conceive neither origin +nor outlet; that mysterious river ever sweeping us along as by some +irresistible _outward_ force, and yet seeming to be so strangely +affected by the internal condition of each soul that is voyaging upon +its current--at one time the scenery upon its banks gliding by with a +placid swiftness that arrests the attention even of the least +reflective--at another, the mind recalled from a reverie which has +seemingly carried us onward many a league from the last remembered +observation of our mental longitude, but only to discover, with +surprise, that the objects on either shore have hardly receded a +perceptible distance in the perspective of our spiritual panorama. We +have passed the equinoctial line, and are under fair sail for the +enchanted kingdom of Candaya, when, like Don Quixotte and Sancho on the +smooth-flowing Ebro, we start up to find the rocks and trees, and all +the familiar features of the same old "real world" yet full in sight, +and that we have scarcely drifted a stone's throw from the point of our +departure. It is astonishing to what a distance the mental wanderings +may extend in the briefest periods. The idea was never better expressed +than by a pious old deacon, who used most feelingly to lament this sin +of wandering thoughts in the midst of holy services. Between the first +and fourth lines of a hymn, he would say, the soul may rove to the very +ends of the earth. The fixed outward measure arresting the attention by +its marked commencement and its closing cadence, presented the extent of +such subjective excursions in their most startling light. Childhood, +too, furnishes vivid illustrations of the same psychological +phenomena--childhood, that musing introspective period, which, on some +accounts, may be regarded as the most metaphysical portion of human +life. Who has not some reminiscences of this kind belonging to his +boyish existence? How in health the morning has seemed to burst upon him +in apparent simultaneousness with the moment when his head first dropped +upon the pillow, and he has wondered to think how mysteriously he had +leaped the interval which unerring outward indications had compelled him +to assign to the measured continuity of his existence! How has he, on +the other hand, in sickness, marked the unvaried ticking of the clock +through the long dark night, and fancied that the slow-pacing hours +would never flee away. His one sense and thought of pain, had arrested +the current of his being, and even the outer world seemed to stand +still, as though in sympathy with the suspended movement of his own +inner life. In experiences such as these, the mind of the child has been +brought directly upon the deepest problem in psychology. He has been on +the shore of the great mystery, and Kant, and Fichte, and Coleridge +could go no farther, except, it may be, to show how utterly unfathomable +for our present faculties, the mystery is. Philosophy comes back ever to +the same unexplained position. She can not conceive of mind as existing +out of time and space, and she can not well conceive of time and space +as wholly separate from the idea of successive thought, or, in other +words, a perceiving and measuring mind. + +Such phenomena present themselves in our most ordinary existence. Let a +man be in the habit of tracing back his roving thoughts, until he +connects them with the last remembered link from which the wandering +reverie commenced, and he will be amazed to find how long a time may in +a few moments have passed through the mind. The minute hand has barely +changed its position, and not only images and thoughts, but hopes, and +fears, and moral states have been called out, which, under other +circumstances, might have occupied an outward period extending it in +almost any assignable ratio. Indeed it is impossible to assign any limit +here. As far as our moral life is measured by actual spiritual exercise, +a man may sin as much in a minute as, at another time, in a day. He may +have had, in the same brief interval, a heaven of love and joy, which, +in a different inward condition of the spirit, months and years would +hardly have sufficed to realize. + +Such cases are familiar to all reflective minds. Even as they take place +in ordinary health, they may well produce the conviction, that there are +mysteries enough for our study in our most common experience, without +resorting to mesmerism or spiritual rappings. It is, however, in +sickness, that such phenomena assume their most startling aspect, and +furnish subjects of the most serious thought. The apparent decay of the +mind in connection with that of the body--the apparent injuries the one +sustains from the maladies of the other, have furnished arguments for +the infidel, and painful doubts for the unwilling skeptic. But there is +another aspect to facts of this kind. They sometimes show themselves in +a way which must be more startling to the materialist than to the +believer. They furnish evidence that the present body, instead of being +essential to the spirit's highest exercises, is only its temporary +regulator, intended for a period to _limit_ its powers, by keeping them +in enchained harmony with that outer world of nature in which the human +spirit is to receive its first intellectual and moral training. If it +does not originate the _law_ of successive thought, it governs and +measures its _movement_. Through the dark closet to which it confines +the soul, images and ideas are made to pass, one by one, in orderly +march; and while the body is in health, and does not sleep, and holds +steady intercourse with the world around us, it performs this +restraining and regulative office with some good degree of uniformity. +Viewed merely in reference to its own inner machinery, the clock may +have any kind or degree of movement. It may perform the apparent +revolutions of days and years, in seconds and fragments of seconds. But +attach to it a pendulum of a proper length, and its rates are +immediately adjusted to the steady course of external nature. The new +regulative power is determined by the mass and gravity of the earth. It +is what the diurnal rotation causes it to be. The latter, again, is +linked with the annual revolution, and this, again, with some far-off +millennial, or millio-millennial, cycle of the sun, and so on, until the +little time-piece on our Editor's Table, is in harmony with the _magnus +annus_, the great cosmical year, the _one_ all-embracing time of the +universe. The regulative action of the body upon the soul, although far +less uniform, presents a fair analogy. In ordinary health, the measured +flow of thought and feeling will bear some relation to the circulation +of the blood, the course of respiration, and those general cycles of the +body, or human _micro-cosmos_, which have acquired and preserved a +steady rate of movement. It is true that there are times, even in +health, when the thoughts burst from this regulative control, imparting +their own impetus to the nervous fluid, giving a hurried agitation to +the quick-panting breath, and sending the blood in maddened velocity +through the heart and veins. But it is in sickness that such a breaking +away from the ordinary check becomes most striking. The pendulum +removed, or the spring broken, how rapidly spin round the whizzing +wheels by which objective time is measured. And so of our spiritual +state. In that harmony between the inward and the outward, in which +health consists, we are insensible to the presence of the regulative +power. In the slightest sicknesses we feel the dragging chain, and time +moves slow, and sometimes almost stops. It is in this crisis of severe +disease that a deeper change takes place. Some link is snapped; and then +how inconceivably rapid may be, and sometimes is, the course of thought. +Now the long-buried past comes up, and moves before us, not in slow +succession, but in that swift array which would seem to place it +altogether upon the canvas. At other times, the soul goes out into a +self-created future; a dream it may be called, but having, as far as the +spirit is concerned, no less of authentic moral and intellectual +interest on that account. Suppose even the whole physical world to be +all a dream. What then? No article of moral truth would be in the least +changed; joy and suffering, right and wrong, would be no less real. +Might they not be regarded as even the more tremendously real, from the +very fact that they would be, in that case, the only realities in the +universe? Nothing here is really gained by any play upon that most +indefinable of all terms--reality. If that is _real_ which most deeply +affects us, and enters most intimately into our conscious being, then in +a most _real_ sense may it be affirmed, that years sometimes pass in the +crisis of a fever, and that a life-time--an intellectual and a moral +life-time--may be lived in what, to spectators, may have seemed to have +been but a moment of syncope, or of returning sensibility to outward +things. Such facts should startle us. They give us a glimpse of those +fearful energies which even now the spirit possesses, and which may +exhibit themselves with a thousand-fold more power, when all the +balance-wheels and regulating pendulums shall have been taken off, and +the soul left to develop that higher law of its being which now remains, +in a great degree, suspended and inert, like the chemist's latent heat +and light. + +In illustration of such a view, we might refer to recorded facts having +every mark of authenticity. They come to as from all ages. There is the +strange story which Plutarch gives us of the trance of Thespesius, and +of the immense series of wonders he witnessed during the short period of +apparent death. Strikingly similar to this is that remarkable account of +Rev. William Tennent which must be familiar to most of our readers. +Something analogous is reported of that strange inner life to which we +lately called attention in the account of Rachel Baker. To the same +effect the story, told by Addison, we think, of the Dervise and his +Magic Water, possessed of such wondrous properties, that the moment +between the plunging and the withdrawing of the head, became, +subjectively, a life-time filled with events of most absorbing interest. +But that may be called an Oriental romance. Another instance we would +relate from our own personal acquaintance with the one who was himself +the subject of a similar supercorporeal and supersensual action of the +spirit. He was a man bearing a high reputation for piety and integrity. +It was at the close of a day devoted to sacred services of an unusually +solemn kind that he related to us what, in the familiar language of +certain denominations of Christians, might be called his religious +experience. It was, indeed, of no ordinary nature, and there was one +part, especially, which made no ordinary impression on our memory. We +can only, in the most rapid manner, touch upon the main facts, as they +bear upon the thoughts we have been presenting. In the crisis of a +violent typhus fever, during a period which could not have occupied, at +the utmost, more than half an hour, a subjective life was lived, +extending not merely to hours and days, but through long years of varied +and most thrilling experience. He had traveled to foreign lands, and +encountered every species of adventure. He had amassed wealth and lost +it. He had formed new social bonds with their natural accompaniments of +joy and grief. He had committed crimes and suffered for them. He had +been in exile, cast out, and homeless. He had been in battle and in +shipwreck. He had been sick and recovered. And, finally, he had died, +and gone to judgment, and received the condemnation of the lost. Ages +had passed in outer darkness, during all which the exercises of the soul +were as active, and as distinct, and as coherently arranged, as at any +period of his existence. At length a fairly perceptible beam of light, +coming seemingly from an immense distance, steals faintly into his +prison-house. Nearer, and nearer still, it comes, although years and +years are occupied with its slow, yet steady approach. But it does +increase. Fuller, and clearer, and higher, grows the light of hope, +until all around him, and above him, is filled with the benign glory of +its presence. He dares once more look upward, and as he does so, he +beholds beaming upon him the countenance of his watching friend, bending +over him with the announcement that the crisis is past, and that +coolness is once more returning to his burning frame. Only a prolonged +dream, it might perhaps be said. But dreams in general run parallel with +the movement of outward time, or if they do go beyond it, it is never by +any such enormously magnified excess. But besides the apparent length of +such a trance, there was also this striking and essential difference. +Dreams may be more or less vivid; but all possess this common character, +that in the waking state we immediately recognize them as dreams; and +this not merely by way of inference from our changed condition, but +because, in themselves, they possess that unmistakably subjective, or +dream-like aspect, we can never separate from their outward +contemplation. They almost immediately put on the dress of dreams. The +air of reality, so fresh on our first awakening, begins straightway to +gather a shade about it. As they grow dimmer and dimmer, the very effort +at recalling only drives them farther off, and renders them more +indistinct, just as certain optical delusions ever melt away from the +gaze that is directed most steadily toward them. Thus the phantoms of +our sleep dissolve rapidly "into thin air." As we strive to hold fast +their features in the memory, they vanish farther and farther from the +view, until we can just discern their pale, ghostly forms receding, in +the distance, through the "gate of horn" into the land of irrecoverable +oblivion. This characteristic of ordinary dreaming has ever furnished +the ground of a favorite comparison both in sacred and classical +poetry--"Like a vision of the night"--"As a dream when one +awaketh"--"Like a morning dream"-- + + Tenuesque recessit in auras-- + Par levibus ventis, volucrique simillima somno. + +But these visions of the trance, are, in this respect, of a different, +as well as deeper, nature. The subject of our narrative most solemnly +averred that the scenes and feelings of this strange experience were +ever after not only real in appearance, but the most vividly real of any +part of his remembered existence. They never passed away into the place +and form of dreams. He knew they were subjective, but only from outward +testimony, and for some time even this was hardly sufficient to prevent +the deep impression exhibiting itself in his speech and intercourse with +the world to which he had returned. To his deeper consciousness they +ever seemed realities, ever to form a part of his most veritable being. +Our common dreams are more closely connected with the outer world, and +the nearest sphere of sensation. They are generally suggested by +obscurely felt bodily impressions. They belong to a state semi-conscious +of the presence of things around us. But the others come from a deeper +source. They are not + + Such stuff as dreams are made of-- + +But belong to the more interior workings of the spirit, when disease has +released it, either wholly or partially, from the restrictive outward +influence. Still, whatever may be our theory of explanation, the thought +we would set forth remains equally impressive. Such facts as these show +the amazing power of the soul in respect to time. They teach us that in +respect to our spiritual, as well as our material organization, we are +indeed "most fearfully and wonderfully made." They startle us with the +supposition that, in another state of existence, time may be mainly, if +not wholly what the spiritual action causes it to appear. We have heard +of well-attested cases, in which the whole past, even to its most minute +events, has flashed before the soul, in the dying moments, or during +some brief period of imminent danger arousing the spirit to a +preternatural energy. If there be truth in such experiences, then no +former exercise or emotion of the soul is ever lost. They belong to us +still, just as much as our present thought, or our present sensation, +and at some period may start up again to sleep no more, causing us +actually to realize that conception of Boethius which now appears only a +scholastic subtlety--_a whole life ever in one_, carrying with it a +consciousness of its whole abiding presence in every moment of its +existence--_tota simul et interminabilis vitae possessio_. But we may +give the thought a more plain and practical turn. Even now, it may be +said, what we have lived forms still a part of our being. However it may +stand in respect to outward time, _it is never past to us_. We are too +much in the habit of regarding ourselves only in reference to what may +_seem_ our present moral state. We need the corrective power of the +idea that we ARE, not simply what we may now _appear_ to be, but all we +ever have been, and that such we must forever BE, unless in the +psychology and theology of a higher dispensation there is some mode of +separating us from our former selves. Now the soul is broken and +dispersed. Then will it come together, and as in the poetic imagination +of the resurrection of the body, bone meets its fellow-bone, and dust +hastens to join once more in living organization with its kindred dust, +so in the soul's _anastasis_ will all the lost and scattered thoughts +come home again to their spiritual abode, and from the chaos of the past +will stand forth forever one fixed and changeless being, the discordant +and deformed result of a false and evil life, or a glorious organization +in harmony with all that is fair and good in the universe. + + * * * * * + +Geology has created difficulties in the interpretation of certain parts +of the Scriptures; but these are more than balanced by a most important +aid, which in another respect, it is rendering to the cause of faith. +The former are fast giving way before that sound interpretation of the +primeval record which was maintained by some of the most learned and +pious in the Church, centuries before the new science was ever dreamed +of. The latter is gathering strength from every fresh discovery. We +refer to the proof geology is furnishing of the late origin of the human +race, and of the absolute necessity of ascribing it to a supernatural +cause. While there has been an ascending scale of orders, every new +order has commenced with the most mature specimens. The subsequent +history has been ever one of degeneracy, until a higher power came to +the aid of exhausted nature, and made another step of real progress in +the supernatural organization of a superior type. The largest fishes, +the most powerful reptiles, were first in the periods of their +respective families. And thus it went on until the introduction of the +human species. An attenuating series of physical and hyper-physical +powers forms the only theory which, on the fair Baconian induction, will +account for the phenomena presented. There are scientific as well as +theological bigots, and both are equally puzzled to explain the facts on +either set of principles to the exclusion of the other. It is chiefly, +however, in regard to man that the argument acquires its great +importance; as bearing directly on that first article, and fundamental +support of all faith--the veritable existence of the supernatural. This +is not the same with faith in the Scriptures, and yet is most intimately +connected with it. With the utter rejection of the latter, must soon go +all available belief in a personal deity or a personal future state; and +so, on the contrary, whatever in science shuts up the soul to a clear +belief in the supernatural, even in its most remote aspect, is so much +gained, ultimately, for the cause of the written oracles. And this is +just what geology is now doing. She proves, beyond doubt, the late +introduction of man upon the earth, and thus compels us to admit the +most supernatural of all known events within a period comparatively very +near to our own. The fact that, after a very few thousand years, the +light of history is quenched in total darkness, presenting no farther +trace of man or human things, goes far to prove his prior non-existence. +But it might, perhaps, be maintained, that of former generations, only +the merest fragments had, from time to time, survived the wreck of +physical convulsions, in which all outward memoranda of their older +existence had wholly perished. Such memorials, it is true, might have +departed from the surface, but then geology must have found them. She +has dug up abundant remains of types and orders, which, from their +position in the strata, she is compelled to assign to a period anterior +to that of man. There would have been no lack of zeal on the part of +some of her votaries. More than once, on the supposed discovery of some +old bone in a wrong place (to which it had been carried by some ordinary +disturbance of the deposits), have they rejoiced thereat, "like one who +findeth great spoil." But the evidence is now beyond all impeachment. +Remains of every other type have been discovered. The relative periods +of their different deposits have been ascertained. No stone, we may +literally say it, has been left unturned; and yet, not a single joint or +splinter of a human bone has been found to reward the search. The +argument from this is of immense importance. The essence of all +skepticism will be found, on analysis, to consist in a secret distrust +of the very existence of any thing supernatural--a latent doubt whether, +after all, every thing may not be nature, and nature every thing. +_Unnatural_ as it may seem, there are those who actually take delight in +such a view. It hides from the consciousness a secret, yet real +antipathy to the thought of a personal God, and the moral power of such +an idea. Whatever disturbs this feeling excites alarm, lest all the +foundations of unbelief (if we may use the word of a thing which has no +foundations) should be rendered insecure by the bare possibility of such +_direct_ interference. Hence the moral power of well attested miracles, +although it has been denied, even by religious writers, that there is +any such moral power. It is the felt presence of a near personal Deity. +It is the startling thought of the Great _Life_ of the universe coming +very nigh to us, and revealing the latent skepticism of men's souls. +Although greatly transcending, it is like the effect produced by those +operations of nature that startle us by their instantaneous exhibition +of resistless power, and which no amount of science can prevent our +regarding with reverence, or religious awe. With all our knowledge of +physical laws, no man, we venture to say it, is wholly an atheist, or +even a consistent naturalist, when the earth is heaving, or the +lightning bolts are striking thick and fast around him. + +Be it, then, near or remote, one unanswerable evidence of supernatural +intervention gives a foundation for all faith. And this geology does. +Only a few centuries back, on any chronology--a mere yesterday we may +say--she brings us face to face with the most stupendous of personal, +miraculous interventions. No mediate stages--no transitional +developments have been, or can be discovered--no links of half human, +half beastly monsters, such as the old Epicureans loved to imagine, and +some modern savans would have been glad to find. Nothing of this kind, +but all at once, after ages of fishes, and reptiles, and every kind of +lower animation, "a new thing upon the earth"--the wondrous human body +united to that surpassingly wondrous entity, the human soul, and both +new born, in all their maturity, from a previous state of non-existence. +So the rocks tell us; and the rocks, we are assured, on good scientific +authority, "can not deceive us" like the "poetical myths of man's +unreasoning infancy." + +Now what difficulties are there for faith after this? What is there in +any of the earlier narrations of the Bible that should stumble us--such +as the account of the flood, or the burning of Sodom, or the +transactions at Sinai? The supernatural once established, and in such an +astounding way as this, what more natural than that the new created race +should receive their earliest moral nurture directly from the source of +their so recent existence? What more credible than such an early +intercourse as the Bible reveals--when God walked with men, and spake to +them from his supernatural abode, and angels came and went on messages +of reproof or mercy. How _irrational_ the skepticism, which, when +compelled to admit the one will still stumble at the other, as being in +itself, and aside from outward testimony, too marvelous for belief. +There are those who are yet disposed to assail with desperation the +doctrine of man's late supernatural origin. But the danger from that +source is past. Geology and the Scriptures speak the same language here. +There is no need of any forced exegesis to bring them into harmony. It +is only of yesterday that the Eternal Deity has been upon the earth. His +footsteps are more recent than many of those natural changes science has +taken such pains to trace. Geology has proved, beyond all doubt, the +fact of man's _creation_; what then is there hard for faith in the +revealed facts of his _redemption_? Is the supernatural origin of a soul +an event more easy to be believed than a series of supernatural +interventions for its deliverance from moral evil, and its exaltation to +a destiny worthy of its heavenly origin? + + + + +Editor's Easy Chair. + + +Next to the winter weather, which is just now beguiling the town ladies +to as pretty a show of velvets and of martens, as the importers could +desire--talk is centering upon that redoubtable hero, LOUIS KOSSUTH. We +are an impulsive people, and take off our hats, one moment, with a +hearty good-will and devotion; and thrust them over our ears, the next, +with the most dogged contempt; and it would not be strange, therefore, +if we sometimes made mistakes in our practice of civilities. We fell, +naturally enough, into a momentary counter current--started by anonymous +and ill-natured letter writers from the other side of the sea--in regard +to KOSSUTH. While he was riding the very topmost wave of popular +admiration, a rumor that he had been uncivil and unduly exacting in his +intercourse with the officers of the Mississippi frigate, struck his +gallant craft and threatened to whelm her under the sea she was so +triumphantly riding. The opportune arrival of the Mississippi, and the +unanimous testimony of her officers to the respectful and altogether +proper demeanor of the Hungarian hero, restored him to favor and even +swelled the tide which sweeps him to a higher point of popularity than +any other foreigner, LA FAYETTE excepted, has ever reached in our +republican country. How he has earned their respect, a biographical +sketch in another part of our Magazine will enable each reader to judge +for himself. + +Linked to KOSSUTH is the new talk about the new and strange action of +that gone-by hero LOUIS NAPOLEON. Curiosity-mongers can not but be +gratified at such spectacle of a Republic as France just now presents; +where a man is not only afraid to express his opinions, but is afraid to +entertain them! It must be a gratifying scene for such old hankerers +after the lusts of Despotism, and the energy of Emperors, as METTERNICH, +to see the loving fraternity of our sister Republic, called France, +running over into such heart-felt action of benevolence and liberality +as characterize the diplomacy of FAUCHER! + +Stout EMILE DE GIRARDIN, working away at his giant _Presse_, with the +same indomitable courage, and the same incongruity of impulse, which +belonged to his battle for LOUIS NAPOLEON, now raises the war cry of a +_Working-man_ for President! And his reasoning is worth quoting; for it +offers an honest, though sad picture of the heart of political France. +"The choice lies," says he, "between LOUIS NAPOLEON and another. LOUIS +NAPOLEON has the eclat of his name to work upon the ignorant millions of +country voters: unless that _other_ shall have similar eclat, there is +no hope. No name in France can start a cry, even now, like the name of +NAPOLEON. Therefore," says GIRARDIN, "abandon the name of a man, and +take the name of a _class_. Choose your workingman, no matter who, and +let the rally be--'The Laborer, or the Prince!'" + +There is not a little good sense in this, viewed as a matter of +political strategy; but as a promise of national weal, it is fearfully +vain. Heaven help our good estate of the Union, when we must resort to +such chicanery, to guard our seat of honor, and to secure the guaranty +of our Freedom! + + * * * * * + +The cool air--nothing else--has quickened our pen-stroke to a side-dash +at political action: we will loiter back now, in our old, gossiping way, +to the pleasant current of the dinner chat. + +The winter-music has its share of regard; and between +Biscaccianti--whose American birth does not seem to lend any patriotic +fervor to her triumphs--and the new Opera, conversation is again set off +with its rounding Italian expletives, and our ladies--very many of +them--show proof of their enthusiasm, by their bouquets, and their +_bravos_. It would seem that we are becoming, with all our practical +cast, almost as music-loving a people as the finest of foreign +_dillettanti_: we defy a stranger to work his way easily and deftly into +the habit of our salon talk, without meeting with such surfeit of +musical _critique_, as he would hardly find at any _soiree_ of the +Chausee d'Antin, or of Grosvenor Place. There is bruited just now, with +fresh force, the old design of music for the million; and an opera house +with five thousand seats, will be--if carried into effect--a wonder to +ourselves, and to the world. + + * * * * * + +As our pen runs just now to music, it may be worth while to sketch--from +Parisian chronicle--an interview of the famous composer ROSSINI, with +the great musical purveyor of the old world--Mr. LUMLEY. + +ROSSINI, it is well known, has lately lived in a quiet and indolent +seclusion; and however much he may enjoy his honors, has felt little +disposition to renew them. The English Director, anxious to secure some +crowning triumph for his winter campaign, and knowing well that a new +composition of the great Italian would be a novelty sure of success, +determined to try, at the cost of an Italian voyage, a personal +interview. + +ROSSINI lives at Bologna--a gloomy old town, under the thrall and shadow +of the modern Gallic papacy. He inhabits an obscure house, in a dark and +narrow street. Mr. Lumley rings his bell, and is informed by the +_padrona_ that the great master has just finished his siesta, and will +perhaps see him. He enters his little parlor unannounced. It is +comfortably furnished--as comfort is counted in the flea-swarming houses +of Italy; the furniture is rich and old; the piano is covered with dust. +The old master of sweet sounds is seated in a high-backed chair, with a +gray cat upon his knees, and another cat dextrously poising on his lank +shoulder, playing with the tassel of his velvet cap. + +He rises to meet the stranger with an air of _ennui_, and a look of +annoyance, that seems to say, "Please sir, your face is strange, and +your business is unknown." + +"My name is Lumley," says the imperturbable Director. + +"Lumley--Lumley," says the master, "I do not know the name." + +It is a hard thing for the most enterprising musical director of Europe +to believe that he is utterly unknown to the first composer of Southern +Europe. + +"You should be an Englishman," continues the host. "Yet the English are +good fellows, though something indiscreet. They are capital sailors, for +example; and good fishermen. Pray, do you fish, monsieur? If your visit +looks that way, you are welcome." + +"Precisely," says the smiling Director; "I bring you a new style of +bait, which will be, I am sure, quite to your fancy." And with this he +unrolls his "fly-book," and lays upon the table bank-bills to the amount +of one hundred thousand francs. He knows the master's reputed avarice, +and watches his eye gloating on the treasure as he goes on. "I am, may +it please you, Director of the Opera at London and at Paris. I wish a +new opera three months from now. I offer you these notes as advance +premium for its completion. Will you accept the terms, and gratify +Europe?" + +The old man's eye dwelt on the notes: he ceased fondling the gray cat. +"A hundred thousand francs in bank-notes," said he, speaking to himself. + +"You prefer gold, perhaps," said the Englishman. + +"Not at all." + +"You accept, then?" + +The old man's brow grew flushed. A thought of indignity crossed his +mind. "There is then a dearth of composers, that you come to trouble an +old man's peace?" + +"Not at all: the world is full of them--gaining honors every season," +and the wily Director talked in a phrase to stir the old master's pride; +and again the brow grew flushed, as a thought of the electric notes came +over him, that had flashed through Europe and the world, and made his +name immortal. + +The Director waited hopefully. + +But the paroxysm of pride went by; "I _can not_:" said the old man, +plaintively. "My life is done; my brain is dry!" + +And the Director left him, with his tasseled cap lying against the high +chair back and the gray cat playing upon his knee. + + * * * * * + +In English papers, the ending of the Great Exhibition has not yet ceased +to give point to paragraphs. Observers say that the despoiling of the +palace of its wonders, reduces sadly the effect of the building; and it +is to be feared that the reaction may lead to its entire demolition. +Every country represented is finding some ground for self-gratulation in +its peculiar awards; and the opinion is universal, that they have been +honestly and fairly made. For ourselves, whatever our later boasts may +be, it is quite certain that on the score of _taste_, we made a bad show +in the palace. It was in bad taste to claim more room than we could +fill; it was in bad taste, to decorate our comparatively small show, +with insignia and lettering so glaring and pretentious; it was in bad +taste, not to wear a little more of that modesty, which conscious +strength ought certainly to give. + +But, on the other hand, now that the occasion is over, we may +congratulate ourselves on having made signal triumphs in just _those +Arts which most distinguish civilized man from the savage_; and in +having lost honor only _in those Arts, which most distinguish a +luxurious nation from the hardy energy of practical workers._ + + * * * * * + +It is an odd indication of national characteristic, that a little +episode of love rarely finds a narrator in either English or American +journalism; whereas, nothing is more common than to find the most habile +of French _feuilletonists_ turning their pen to a deft exposition of +some little garret story of affection; which, if it be only well told, +is sure to have the range of all the journals in France. + +Our eye just now falls upon something of the sort, with the taking +caption of "Love and Devotion;" and in order to give our seventy odd +thousand readers an idea of the graceful way in which such French story +is told, we shall render the half-story into English: + +In 1848, a young girl of high family, who had been reared in luxury, and +who had previously lost her mother, found herself in a single day +fatherless and penniless. The friends to whom she would have naturally +looked for protection and consolation, were either ruined or away. +Nothing remained but personal effort to secure a livelihood. + +She rented a small garret-room, and sought to secure such comforts as +she required by embroidering. But employers were few and suspicious. +Want and care wore upon her feeble frame, and she fell sick. With none +to watch over or provide for her, she would soon have passed off (as +thousands do in that gay world) to a quick and a lonely death. + +But there happened to be living in the same pile of building, and upon +the same landing, a young Piedmontese street-porter, who had seen often, +with admiring eyes, the frail and beautiful figure of his neighbor. He +devised a plan for her support, and for proper attendance. He professed +to be the agent of some third party of wealth, who furnished the means +regularly for whatever she might require. His earnings were small; but +by dint of early and hard working, he succeeded in furnishing all that +her necessities required. + +After some weeks, Mlle. SOPHIE (such is the name our paragraphist gives +the heroine) recovered; and was, of course, anxious to learn from the +poor Piedmontese the name of her benefactor. The poor fellow, however, +was true to the trust of his own devotion, and told nothing. Times grew +better, and SOPHIE had a hope of interesting the old friends of her +family. She had no acquaintance to employ as mediator but the poor +Piedmontese. He accepted readily the task, and, armed with her +authority, he plead so modestly, and yet so earnestly for the +unfortunate girl, that she recovered again her position, and with it no +small portion of her lost estate. + +Again she endeavored to find the name of her generous benefactor, but no +promises could wrest the secret from the faithful Giacomo. At least, +thought the grateful SOPHIE, the messenger of his bounties shall not go +unrewarded; and she inclosed a large sum to her neighbor of the garret. + +Poor Giacomo was overcome!--the sight of the money, and of the delicate +note of thanks, opened his eyes to the wide difference of estate that +lay between him and the adored object of his long devotion. To gain her +heart was impossible; to live without it, was even more impossible. He +determined--in the Paris way--to put an end to his cankerous hope, and +to his life--together. + +Upon a ledge of the deserted chamber he found a vial of medicine, which +his own hard-earned money had purchased, and with this he determined to +slip away from the world, and from his grief. + +He penned a letter, in his rude way, full of his love, and of his +desolation, and having left it where it would reach SOPHIE, when all +should be over, he swallowed the poison. Happily--(French story is +always happy in these interventions)--a friend had need of his services +shortly after! and hearing sad groans at his door, he burst it open, and +finding the dangerous state of the Piedmontese, ran for a physician. +Prompt effort brought GIACOMO to life again. But his story had been +told; and before this, the gay SOPHIE had grown sad over the history of +his griefs. + +We should like well to finish up our tale of devotions, with mention of +the graceful recognition of the love of the infatuated Piedmontese, by +the blooming Mademoiselle SOPHIE. But, alas! truth--as represented by +the ingenious Journalist--forbids such sequel. And we can only write, in +view of the vain devotion of the Sardinian lover--_le pauvre Giacomo!_ + + * * * * * + +Yet again, these graceful columns of French newsmakers, lend us an +episode--of quite another sort of devotion. The other showed that the +persuasion of love is often vain; and this will show, that the +persuasion of a wife is--vainer still. + +--A grave magistrate of France--no matter who--was voyaging through +Belgium with his wife. They had spun out a month of summer with that +graceful mingling of idlesse and wonder, that a Frenchwoman can so well +graft upon the habit of a husband's travel: they had bidden adieu to +Brussels, and to Liege, and were fast nearing the border-town, beyond +which lay their own sunny realm of France. + +The wife suddenly cuts short her smiles, and whispers her husband--"_Mon +cher_, I have been guilty of an imprudence." + +"It is not possible." + +"_Si_: a great one. I have my satchel full of laces, they are +contraband; pray, take them and hide them until the frontier is past." + +The husband was thunderstruck: "But, my dear, I--a magistrate, conceal +contraband goods?" + +"Pray, consider, _mon cher_, they are worth fifteen hundred francs; +there is not a moment to lose." + +"But, my dear!" + +"Quick--in your hat--the whistle is sounding--" + +There seemed no alternative, and the poor man bestowed the contraband +laces in his _chapeau_. + +The officials at the frontier, on recognizing the dignity of the +traveler, abstained from any examination of his luggage, and offered him +every facility. Thus far his good fortune was unexpected. But some +unlucky attendant had communicated to the town authorities the presence +of so distinguished a personage. The town authorities were zealous to +show respect; and posted at once to the station to make token of their +regard. The magistrate was charmed with such attention--so unexpected, +and so heart-felt. He could not refrain from the most gracious +expression of his _reconnaissance_; he tenders them his thanks in set +terms;--he bids them adieu;--and, in final acknowledgment of their +kindness--he lifts his hat, with enthusiastic flourish. + +--A shower of Mechlin lace covers the poor man, like a bridal vail! + +The French Government winks at the vices, and short-comings of +representatives and President; but with a humble magistrate, the matter +is different. The poor man, _bon-gre_--_mal-gre_, was stopped upon the +frontier--was shorn of his bridal covering; and in company with his +desponding wife, still (so GUINOT says) pays the forfeit of his yielding +disposition, in a dusky, and grated chamber of the old border town of +----. + + + + +Editor's Drawer. + + +Well, "_Election is over_," for one thing, and we breathe again. The +freemen of the "Empire State" have walked up to the polls, the +"captain's office" of the boat on which we are all embarked, and +"settled" the whole matter. The little slips of paper have done the +deed, without revolution and without bloodshed. Some are rejoiced, +because they have succeeded; others lament that when they were all ready +at any moment to die for their country and a fat office, their offers +were not accepted by the sovereigns. Some, with not much character to +spare of their own, are grieved to find that "tailing-on" upon +individual eminence won't always "do" with the people. And, by-the-by, +speaking of "tailing-on," there "hangs a tale," which is worth +recording. It may be old, but we heard it for the first time the other +evening, and it made us "laugh consumedly." This it is:--At the time of +the first election of General WASHINGTON to the Presidency, there was a +party in one of the Southern States, called the "_John Jones' Party_." +The said Jones, after whom the party took its name, was a man of talent; +a plotting, shrewd fellow, with a good deal of a kind of "Yankee +cunning;" in short, possessing all the requisites of a successful +politician, except personal popularity. To overcome this latter +deficiency, of which he was well aware, especially in a contest with a +popular candidate for Congress, John Jones early avowed himself as the +peculiar and devoted friend of General WASHINGTON, and on this safe +ground, as he thought, he endeavored to place his rival in opposition. +In order to carry out this object more effectually, he called a meeting +of his county, of "All those friendly to the election of General GEORGE +WASHINGTON!" + +On the day appointed, Mr. John Jones appeared, and was, on the +cut-and-dried motion of a friendly adherent, made chairman of the +meeting. He opened the proceedings by a high and carefully-studied +eulogium upon the life and services of WASHINGTON, but taking care only +to speak of himself as his early patron, and most devoted friend. He +concluded his remarks by a proposition to form a party, to be called +"_The True and Only Sons of the Father of his Country_:" and for that +object, he submitted to the meeting a resolution something like the +following: + +"_Resolved_, That we are the friends of General GEORGE WASHINGTON, and +will sustain him in the coming election against all other competitors." + +"Gentlemen," said Mr. Jones, after reading the resolution, "the Chair is +now about to put the question. The chairman hopes that every man will +declare his sentiments, either for or against the resolution. All those +in favor of the resolution will please to say 'Ay.'" + +A thundering "_Ay_!" shook the very walls of the building. The united +voices were like the "sound of many waters." + +"Now, gentlemen, for the opposition," said John Jones. "All those who +are contrary-minded, will please to say '_No_!'" + +Not a solitary voice was heard. The dead silence seemed to confuse Mr. +Jones very much. After some hesitation and fidgeting, he said: + +"Gentlemen, _do vote_. The Chair can not decide a disputed question when +nobody votes on the other side. We want a direct vote, so that the +country may know who are the real and true friends of General +WASHINGTON." + +Upon this appeal, one of the audience arose, and said: + +"I perceive the unpleasant dilemma in which the Chair is placed; and in +order to relieve the presiding officer from his quandary, I now propose +to amend the resolution, by adding, after the name of General +WASHINGTON--'_and John Jones for Congress_.'" + +"The amendment is in order--I accept the amendment," said the chairman, +speaking very quickly; "and the Chair will now put the question as +amended: + +"All those who are in favor of General WASHINGTON for President, and +John Jones for Congress, will please to say, 'Ay.'" + +"Ay--ay!" said John Jones and his brother, with loud voices, which they +had supposed would be drowned in the unanimous thunder of the +affirmative vote. + +The "Chair" squirmed and hesitated. "Put the contrary!" said a hundred +voices, at the same moment: + +"All those op--po--po--sed," said the Chair, "will please to say, 'No!'" + +"No--o--o--o!!" thundered every voice but two in the whole assembly, and +these were Jones' and his brother's. Then followed a roar of laughter, +as CARLYLE says, "like the neighing of all Tattersall's." + +"Gentlemen," said Mr. Jones, "the Chair perceives that there are people +in this meeting who don't belong to _our_ party: they have evidently +come here to agitate, and make mischief. I, therefore, do now adjourn +this meeting!" + +Whereupon, he left the chair; and amid shouts and huzzahs for +WASHINGTON, and groans for John Jones, he "departed the premises." + + * * * * * + +We find in the "Drawer" a rich specimen of logic-chopping, at which +there was a hearty laugh more years ago than we care to remember. It is +an admirable satire upon half the labored criticisms of Shakspeare with +which the world has been deluged: + + "Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed; + Thrice, and once the hedge-pig whined!" + MACBETH + +"I never was more puzzled in my life than in deciding upon the right +reading of this passage. The important inquiry is, Did the hedge-pig +_whine once_, or _thrice and once_? Without stopping to inquire whether +hedge-pigs exist in Scotland, that is, pigs with quills in their backs, +the great question occurs, _how many times did he whine_? It appears +from the text that the cat mewed three times. Now would not a virtuous +emulation induce the hedge-pig to endeavor to get the last word in the +controversy; and how was this to be obtained, save by whining thrice +_and_ once? The most learned commentators upon SHAKSPEARE have given the +passage thus: + + "Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed; + Thrice; and once the hedge-pig whined." + +"Thereby awarding the palm to the brinded cat. The fact is, they probably +entertained reasonable doubts whether the hedge-pig was a native of +Scotland, and a sense of national pride induced them to lean on the side +of the productions of their country. I think a heedful examination of +the two lines, will satisfy the unbiased examiner that the hedge-pig +whined, at least, four times. It becomes me, however, as a candid +critic, to say, that reasonable doubts exist in both cases!" + + * * * * * + +Doesn't the impressive inquiry embodied in the ensuing touching lines, +somewhat enter into the matrimonial thoughts of _some_ of our city +"offerers?" + + "Oh! do not paint her charms to me, + I know that she is fair! + I know her lips might tempt the bee, + Her eyes with stars compare: + Such transient gifts I ne'er could prize, + My heart they could not win: + I do not scorn my Mary's eyes, + But--has she any '_tin_?' + + "The fairest cheek, alas! may fade, + Beneath the touch of years; + The eyes where light and gladness played, + May soon grow dim with tears: + I would love's fires should to the last + Still burn, as they begin; + But beauty's reign too soon is past; + So--has she any '_tin_?'" + + * * * * * + +There is something very touching and pathetic in a circumstance +mentioned to us a night or two ago, in the sick-room of a friend. A poor +little girl, a cripple, and deformed from her birth, was seized with a +disorder which threatened to remove her from a world where she had +suffered so much. She was a very affectionate child, and no word of +complaining had ever passed her lips. Sometimes the tears would come in +her eyes, when she saw, in the presence of children more physically +blessed than herself, the severity of her deprivation, but that was all. +She was so gentle, so considerate of giving pain, and so desirous to +please all around her, that she had endeared herself to every member of +her family, and to all who knew her. + +At length it was seen, so rapid had been the progress of her disease, +that she could not long survive. She grew worse and worse, until one +night, in an interval of pain, she called her mother to her bed-side, +and said, "Mother, I am dying now. I hope I shall see you, and my +brother and sisters in Heaven. Won't I be _straight_, and not a cripple, +mother, when I _do_ get to Heaven?" And so the poor little sorrowing +child passed forever away. + + * * * * * + +"I heard something a moment ago," writes a correspondent in a Southern +city, "which I will give you the skeleton of. It made me laugh not a +little; for it struck me, that it disclosed a transfer of 'Yankee +Tricks' to the other side of the Atlantic. It would appear, that a +traveler stopped at Brussels, in a post-chaise, and being a little +sharp-set, he was anxious to buy a piece of cherry-pie, before his +vehicle should set out; but he was afraid to leave the public +conveyance, lest it might drive off and leave _him_. So, calling a lad +to him from the other side of the street, he gave him a piece of money, +and requested him to go to a restaurant or confectionery, in the near +vicinity, and purchase the pastry; and then, to 'make assurance doubly +sure,' he gave him _another_ piece of money, and told him to buy some +for himself at the same time. The lad went off on a run, and in a little +while came back, eating a piece of pie, and looking very complacent and +happy. Walking up to the window of the post-chaise, he said, with the +most perfect _nonchalance_, returning at the same time one of the pieces +of money which had been given him by the gentleman, 'The restaurateur +had only _one_ piece of pie left, and that _I_ bought with my money, +that you gave me!'" + +This anecdote, which we are assured is strictly true, is not unlike one, +equally authentic, which had its origin in an Eastern city. A mechanic, +who had sent a bill for some article to a not very conscientious +pay-master in the neighborhood, finding no returns, at length "gave it +up as a bad job." A lucky thought, however, struck him one day, as he +sat in the door of his shop, and saw a debt-collector going by, who was +notorious for sticking to a delinquent until _some_ result was obtained. +The creditor called the collector in, told him the circumstances, handed +him the account, and added: + +"Now, if you will collect that debt, I'll give you half of it; or, if +you don't collect but _half_ of the bill, I'll divide _that_ with you." + +The collector took the bill, and said, "I guess, I can get half of it, +_any_ how. At any rate, if I don't, it shan't be for want of _trying_ +hard enough." + +Nothing more was seen of the collector for some five or six months; +until one day the creditor thought he saw "the indefatigable" trying to +avoid him by turning suddenly down a by-street of the town. "Halloo! Mr. +----!" said he; "how about that bill against Mr. Slowpay? Have you +collected it yet?" "Not the _hull_ on it, I hain't," said the +imperturbable collector; "but I c'lected _my_ half within four weeks +a'ter you gin' me the account, and he hain't paid me nothin' since. I +tell him, every time I see him, that you want the money _very_ bad; but +he don't seem to mind it a bit. He is dreadful 'slow pay,' as you said, +when you give me the bill! Good-morning!" And off went the collector, +"staying no further question!" + + * * * * * + +There is a comical blending of the "sentimental" and the +"matter-of-fact" in the ensuing lines, which will find a way to the +heart of every poor fellow, who, at this inclement season of the year, +is in want of a new coat: + + By winter's chill the fragrant flower is nipped, + To be new-clothed with brighter tints in spring + The blasted tree of verdant leaves is stripped, + A fresher foliage on each branch to bring. + + The aerial songster moults his plumerie, + To vie in sleekness with each feathered brother. + A twelvemonth's wear hath ta'en thy nap from thee, + My seedy coat!--_when_ shall I get another? + + * * * * * + +"My name," said a tall, good-looking man, with a decidedly _distingue_ +air, as he entered the office of a daily newspaper in a sister city, "my +name, Sir, is PAGE--Ed-w-a-rd Pos-th-el-wa-ite PA-GE! You have heard of +me no doubt. In fact, Sir, I was sent to you, by Mr. C----r, of the +'---- Gazette.' I spent some time with him--an hour perhaps--conversing +with him. But as I was about explaining to him a little problem which I +had had in my mind for some time, I _thought_ I saw that he was busy, +and couldn't hear me. In fact, he _said_, 'I wish you would do me the +kindness to go _now_ and come _again_; and always send up your _name_, +so that I may know that it is _you_; otherwise,' said he, 'I _shouldn't_ +know that it was _you_, and might _refuse_ you without knowing it.' Now, +Sir, that was kind--that was kind, and gentlemanly, and I shall remember +it. Then he told me to come to see _you_; he said yours was an afternoon +paper, and that _your_ paper for to-day was out, while he was engaged in +getting his ready for the morning. He rose, Sir, and saw me to the door; +and downstairs; in fact, Sir, he came with me to the corner, and showed +me your office; and for fear I should miss my way, he gave a lad a +sixpence, to _show_ me here, Sir. + +"They call me crazy, Sir, _some_ people do--_crazy_! The reason is +simple--I'm above their comprehension. Do I _seem_ crazy? I am an +educated man, my conduct has been unexceptionable. I've wronged no +man--never did a man an injury. I wouldn't do it. + +"I came to America in 1829 2^_m_ which being multiplied by Caesar's +co-sine, which is C B to Q equal X' 3^_m_." + +Yes, reader; this was PAGE, the Monomaniac: a man perfectly sound on +any subject, and capable of conversing upon any topic, intelligently and +rationally, until it so happened, in the course of conversation, that he +_mentioned any numerical figure_, when his wild imagination was off at a +tangent, and he became suddenly as "mad as a March hare" on _one +subject_. _Here_ his monomania was complete. In every thing else, there +was no incoherency; nothing in his speech or manner that any gentleman +might not either say or do. So much for the man: now for a condensed +exhibition of his peculiar idiosyncrasy, as exhibited in a paper which +he published, devoted to an elaborate illustration of the great extent +to which he carried the science of mathematics. The _fragments_ of +various knowledge, like the tumbling objects in a kaleidoscope, are so +jumbled together, that we defy any philosopher, astronomer, or +mathematician, to read it without roaring with laughter; for the feeling +of the ridiculous will overcome the sensations of sympathy and pity. But +listen: "Here's '_wisdom_' for you," as Captain Cuttle would say: +_intense_ wisdom: + + "Squares are to circles as Miss Sarai 18 when she did wed her + Abram 20 on Procrustes' bed, and 19 parted between each head; so + Sarah when 90 to Abraham when 100, and so 18 squared in 324, a + square to circle 18 x 20 = 360, a square to circle 400, a square + to circle 444, or half _Jesous_ 888 in half the Yankee era 1776; + which 888 is sustained by the early Fathers and Blondel on the + Sibyls. It is a square to triangle Sherwood's no-variation circle + 666 in the sequel. But 19 squared is 361 between 360 and 362, + each of which multiply by the Sun's magic compass 36, Franklin's + magic circle of circles 360 x 36 considered. + + "Squares are to circles as 18 to 20, or 18 squared in 324 to 18 x + 20 = 360. But more exactly as 17 to 19, or 324 to 362 x 36, or + half 26064. As 9 to 10, so square 234000 to circle 26000. + + POSITIVES. MEANS. NEGATIVES. + 20736 23328 25920 + 20736 23400 26064 + 4)20736 23422 26108 + ------- ----- ----- + A. M. 5855 this year 1851. + + "Squares are to circles as 17 to 19, or 23360 to 26108. The + sequel's 5832 and 5840 are quadrants of 23328 and 23360. + + "18 cubed is 5832, the world's age in 1828, 5840 its age in the + Halley comet year 1836, 5878 its age the next transit of Venus in + 1874, but 5870 is its age in the prophet's year 1866. + + POSITIVES. MEANS. NEGATIVES. + { 5832 5855 5870 over X. } + { 5840 5855 5878 under X. } + 1828 A.D. 1851 now! 1874 over X. + 1836 A.D. 1851 now! 1866 under X. + + "100 times the Saros 18 = 18-1/2 = 19 in 1800 last year's 1850, + 1900 for new moons. + + "If 360 degrees, each 18, in Guy's 6480, evidently 360 x 18-1/2 + in the adorable 6660, or ten no-variation circles, each 36 x + 18-1/2 = 666, like ten Chaldee solar cycles, each 600 in our + great theme, 6000, the second advent date of Messiah, as + explained by Barnabas, Chap. xiii in the Apocryphal New + Testament, 600 and 666 being square and circle, like 5994 and + 6660. Therefore 5995 sum the Arabic 28, or Persic 32, or Turkish + 33 letters. + + "But as 9 to 10, so square 1665 of the Latin IVXLCDM = 1666 to + circle last year's 1850--12 such signs are as much 19980 and + 22200, whose quadrants are 4995 and 5550, as 12 signs, each the + Halley comet year 1836, are 5508 Olympiads, the Greek Church + claiming this era 5508 for Christ. + + "But though the ecliptic angle has decreased only 40 x 40 in 1600 + during 43 x 43 = 1849, say 1850 from the birth of Christ, and + double that since the creation; yet 1600 and Yankee era 1776 + being square and circle like 9 and 10--place 32 for a round of + the seasons in a compass of 32 points, or shrine them in 32 + chessmen, like 1600 and 1600 in each of 16 pieces; then shall 32 + times Sherwood's no-variation circle 666, meaning 666 rounds of + the seasons, each 32, be 12 signs, each 1776, or 24 degrees in + the ecliptic angle, each _Jesous_ 888, in circle 21312 to square + 19200, or 12 signs each 1600, that the quadrants of square 19200 + and circle 21312 may be the Cherubim of Glory 4800 and 5328; + which explains ten Great Paschal cycles each 532, a square to + circle 665 of the Beast's number 666. Because, like 3, 4, 5, in + my Urim and Thummim's 12 jewels, are + + TRIANGLES. SQUARES. CIRCLES. + 3600 4800 6000 + 3990 5320 6650 + + "Because 3990 of the Latin Church's era 4000 for Christ, is + doubled in the Julian period 7980. + + "Every knight of the queen of night may know that each of 9 + columns in the Moon's magic compass for 9 squared in 81, sums + 369, and that 370 are between it and 371, while 19 times 18-1/2 + approach 351, when 19 squared are 361 in + + POSITIVES. MEANS. NEGATIVES. + 350 360 370 + 351 361 371 + 369 370 371 + + "The Saros 18 times 369 in 6642 of the above 6650; but 18 x 370 = + 6660, or 360 times 18-1/2. + + "1800 and proemptosis 2400 are half this Seraphim 3600 and + Cherubim 4800: but 7 x 7 x 49 x 49 = 2401 in 4802. + + 5328 5320 + 4802 4810 + ---- ---- + 10130 10130 + + "All that Homer's Iliad ever meant, was this: 10 years as degrees + on Ahaz's dial between the positive 4790, mean 4800, negative + 4810: If the Septuagints' 72 times 90 in 360 x 18 = 6480, equally + 72 times 24 and 66 degrees in 12 cubed and 4752." + +Now it is about enough to make one crazy to read this over; and yet it +is impossible not to _see_, as it is impossible not to _laugh at_ the +transient glimpses of scattered knowledge which the singular ollapodrida +contains. + + * * * * * + +"If you regard, Mr. Editor, the following," says a city friend, "as +worthy a place in your 'Drawer,' you are perfectly welcome to it. It was +an actual occurrence, and its authenticity is beyond a question: + +"Many years ago, when sloops were substituted for steamboats on the +Hudson River, a celebrated Divine was on his way to hold forth to the +inhabitants of a certain village, not many miles from New York. One of +his fellow-passengers who was an unsophisticated countryman, to make +himself appear 'large' in the eyes of the passengers, entered into a +conversation with the learned Doctor of Divinity. After several ordinary +remarks, and introducing himself as one of the congregation, to whom he +(the doctor) would expound the Word on the morrow, the following +conversation took place: + +"'Wal, Doctor, I reckon you know the Scripters pooty good,' remarked the +countryman. + +"'Really, my friend,' said the clergyman, 'I leave that for _other_ +persons to determine. You know it does not become a person of any +delicacy to utter praise in his own behalf.' + +"'So it doesn't,' replied the querist; 'but I've heerd folks say, you +know rather more than _we_ do. They say you're pooty good in larning +folks the BIBLE: but I guess I can give you a poser.' + +"'I am pleased to answer questions, and feel gratified to tender +information at any time, always considering it my _duty_ to impart +instruction, as far as it lies in my power,' replied the clergyman. + +"'Wall,' says the countryman, with all the imperturbable gravity in the +world, 'I spose you've heerd tell on, in the Big BOOK, 'bout Aaron and +the golden calf: now, in your opinion, do you think the calf Aaron +worshiped, was a heifer or a bull?' + +"The Doctor of Divinity, as may be imagined, immediately '_vamosed_,' +and left the countryman bragging to the by-standers, that he had +completely nonplussed the clergyman!" + + + + +Literary Notices. + + +A new work by HERMAN MELVILLE, entitled _Moby Dick; or, The Whale_, has +just been issued by Harper and Brothers, which, in point of richness and +variety of incident, originality of conception, and splendor of +description, surpasses any of the former productions of this highly +successful author. _Moby Dick_ is the name of an old White Whale; half +fish and half devil; the terror of the Nantucket cruisers; the scourge +of distant oceans; leading an invulnerable, charmed life; the subject of +many grim and ghostly traditions. This huge sea monster has a conflict +with one Captain Ahab; the veteran Nantucket salt comes off second best; +not only loses a leg in the affray, but receives a twist in the brain; +becomes the victim of a deep, cunning monomania; believes himself +predestined to take a bloody revenge on his fearful enemy; pursues him +with fierce demoniac energy of purpose; and at last perishes in the +dreadful fight, just as he deems that he has reached the goal of his +frantic passion. On this slight framework, the author has constructed a +romance, a tragedy, and a natural history, not without numerous +gratuitous suggestions on psychology, ethics, and theology. Beneath the +whole story, the subtle, imaginative reader may perhaps find a pregnant +allegory, intended to illustrate the mystery of human life. Certain it +is that the rapid, pointed hints which are often thrown out, with the +keenness and velocity of a harpoon, penetrate deep into the heart of +things, showing that the genius of the author for moral analysis is +scarcely surpassed by his wizard power of description. + +In the course of the narrative the habits of the whale are fully and +ably described. Frequent graphic and instructive sketches of the +fishery, of sea-life in a whaling vessel, and of the manners and customs +of strange nations are interspersed with excellent artistic effect among +the thrilling scenes of the story. The various processes of procuring +oil are explained with the minute, painstaking fidelity of a statistical +record, contrasting strangely with the weird, phantom-like character of +the plot, and of some of the leading personages, who present a no less +unearthly appearance than the witches in Macbeth. These sudden and +decided transitions form a striking feature of the volume. Difficult of +management, in the highest degree, they are wrought with consummate +skill. To a less gifted author, they would inevitably have proved fatal. +He has not only deftly avoided their dangers, but made them an element +of great power. They constantly pique the attention of the reader, +keeping curiosity alive, and presenting the combined charm of surprise +and alternation. + +The introductory chapters of the volume, containing sketches of life in +the great marts of Whalingdom, New Bedford and Nantucket, are pervaded +with a fine vein of comic humor, and reveal a succession of +portraitures, in which the lineaments of nature shine forth, through a +good deal of perverse, intentional exaggeration. To many readers, these +will prove the most interesting portions of the work. Nothing can be +better than the description of the owners of the vessel, Captain Peleg +and Captain Bildad, whose acquaintance we make before the commencement +of the voyage. The character of Captain Ahab also opens upon us with +wonderful power. He exercises a wild, bewildering fascination by his +dark and mysterious nature, which is not at all diminished when we +obtain a clearer insight into his strange history. Indeed, all the +members of the ship's company, the three mates, Starbuck, Stubbs, and +Flash, the wild, savage Gayheader, the case-hardened old blacksmith, to +say nothing of the pearl of a New Zealand harpooner, the bosom friend of +the narrator--all stand before us in the strongest individual relief, +presenting a unique picture gallery, which every artist must despair of +rivaling. + +The plot becomes more intense and tragic, as it approaches toward the +denouement. The malicious old Moby Dick, after long cruisings in pursuit +of him, is at length discovered. He comes up to the battle, like an army +with banners. He seems inspired with the same fierce, inveterate cunning +with which Captain Ahab has followed the traces of his mortal foe. The +fight is described in letters of blood. It is easy to foresee which will +be the victor in such a contest. We need not say that the ill-omened +ship is broken in fragments by the wrath of the weltering fiend. Captain +Ahab becomes the prey of his intended victim. The crew perish. One alone +escapes to tell the tale. Moby Dick disappears unscathed, and for aught +we know, is the same "delicate monster," whose power in destroying +another ship is just announced from Panama. + +G. P. Putnam announces the _Home Cyclopedia_, a series of works in the +various branches of knowledge, including history, literature, and the +fine arts, biography, geography, science, and the useful arts, to be +comprised in six large duodecimos. Of this series have recently appeared +_The Hand-book of Literature and the Fine Arts_, edited by GEORGE RIPLEY +and BAYARD TAYLOR, and _The Hand-book of Universal Biography_, by PARKE +GODWIN. The plan of the Encyclopedia is excellent, adapted to the wants +of the American people, and suited to facilitate the acquisition of +knowledge. As a collateral aid in a methodical course of study, and a +work of reference in the daily reading, which enters so largely into the +habits of our countrymen, it will, no doubt, prove of great utility. + +_Rural Homes_, by GERVASSE WHEELER (published by Charles Scribner), is +intended to aid persons proposing to build, in the construction of +houses suited to American country life. The author writes like a man of +sense, culture, and taste. He is evidently an ardent admirer of John +Ruskin, and has caught something of his aesthetic spirit. Not that he +deals in mere theories. His book is eminently practical. He is familiar +with the details of his subject, and sets them forth with great +simplicity and directness. No one about to establish a rural homestead +should neglect consulting its instructive pages. + +Ticknor, Reed, and Fields have published a new work, by NATHANIEL +HAWTHORNE, for juvenile readers, entitled _A Wonder-Book for Boys and +Girls_ with engravings by Barker from designs by Billings. It is founded +on various old classical legends, but they are so ingeniously wrought +over and stamped with the individuality of the author, as to exercise +the effect of original productions. Mr. Hawthorne never writes more +genially and agreeably than when attempting to amuse children. He seems +to find a welcome relief in their inartificial ways from his own weird +and sombre fancies. Watching their frisky gambols and odd humors, he +half forgets the saturnine moods from which he draws the materials of +his most effective fictions, and becomes himself a child. A vein of airy +gayety runs through the present volume, revealing a sunny and beautiful +side of the author's nature, and forming a delightful contrast to the +stern, though irresistibly fascinating horrors, which he wields with +such terrific mastery in his recent productions. Child and man will love +this work equally well. Its character may be compared to the honey with +which the author crowns the miraculous hoard of Baucis and Philemon. +"But oh the honey! I may just as well let it alone, without trying to +describe how exquisitely it smelt and looked. Its color was that of the +purest and most transparent gold; and it had the odor of a thousand +flowers; but of such flowers as never grew in an earthly garden, and to +seek which the bees must have flown high above the clouds. Never was +such honey tasted, seen, or smelt. The perfume floated around the +kitchen, and made it so delightful, that had you closed your eyes you +would instantly have forgotten the low ceiling and smoky walls, and have +fancied yourself in an arbor with celestial honeysuckles creeping over +it." + +_Glances at Europe_, by HORACE GREELEY (published by Dewitt and +Davenport), has passed rapidly to a second edition, being eagerly called +for by the numerous admirers of the author in his capacity as public +journalist. Composed in the excitement of a hurried European tour, +aiming at accuracy of detail rather than at nicety of language, intended +for the mass of intelligent readers rather than for the denizens of +libraries, these letters make no claim to profound speculation or to a +high degree of literary finish. They are plain, straight-forward, +matter-of-fact statements of what the writer saw and heard in the course +of his travels, recording at night the impressions made in the day, +without reference to the opinions or descriptions of previous travelers. +The information concerning various European countries, with which they +abound, is substantial and instructive; often connected with topics +seldom noticed by tourists; and conveyed in a fresh and lively style. +With the reputation of the author for acute observation and forcible +expression, this volume is bound to circulate widely among the people. + +Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, have issued a new volume of _Poems_, by +RICHARD HENRY STODDARD, consisting of a collection of pieces which have +been before published, and several which here make their appearance for +the first time. It will serve to elevate the already brilliant +reputation of the youthful author. His vocation to poetry is clearly +stamped on his productions. Combining great spontaneity of feeling, with +careful and elaborate composition, he not only shows a native instinct +of verse, but a lofty ideal of poetry as an art. He has entered the path +which will lead to genuine and lofty fame. The success of his early +effusions has not elated him with a vain conceit of his own genius. +Hence, we look for still more admirable productions than any contained +in the present volume. He is evidently destined to grow, and we have +full faith in the fulfillment of his destiny. His fancy is rich in +images of gorgeous and delicate beauty; a deep vein of reflection +underlies his boldest excursions; and on themes of tender and pathetic +interest, his words murmur with a plaintive melody that reaches the +hidden source of tears. His style, no doubt, betrays the influence of +frequent communings with his favorite poets. He is eminently susceptible +and receptive. He does not wander in the spicy groves of poetical +enchantment, without bearing away sweet odors. But this is no +impeachment of his own individuality. He is not only drawn by the +subtle affinities of genius to the study of the best models, but all the +impressions which he receives, take a new form from his own plastic +nature. The longest poem in the volume is entitled, "The Castle in the +Air"--a production of rare magnificence. "The Hymn to Flora," is full of +exquisite beauties, showing a masterly skill in the poetical application +of classical legends. "Harley River," "The Blacksmith's Shop," "The Old +Elm," are sweet rural pictures, soft and glowing as a June meadow in +sunset. "The Household Dirge," and several of the "Songs and Sonnets," +are marked by a depth of tenderness which is too earnest for any +language but that of the most severe simplicity. + +We have a translation of NEANDER _on the Philippians_, by Mrs. H. C. +CONANT, which renders that admirable practical commentary into sound and +vigorous English. A difficult task accomplished with uncommon skill. +(Published by Lewis Colby). + +_The Heavenly Recognition_, by Rev. H. HARBAUGH, is the title of an +interesting religious work on the question, "Shall we know our friends +in Heaven?" This is treated by the author with great copiousness of +detail, and in a spirit of profound reverence and sincere Christian +faith. His book will be welcome to all readers who delight in +speculations on the mysteries of the unseen world. Relying mainly on the +testimony of Scripture, the author seeks for evidence on the subject in +a variety of collateral sources, which he sets forth in a tone of strong +and delightful confidence. (Published by Lindsay and Blackiston). + +Lindsay and Blackiston have issued several richly ornamented gift books, +which will prove attractive during the season of festivity and +friendship. Among them are, "_The Star of Bethlehem_," by Rev. H. +HASTINGS WELD, a collection of Christmas stories, with elegant +engravings. "_The Woodbine_," edited by CAROLINE MAY, containing +original pieces and selections, among the latter, "several racy stories +of Old England," and a tempting series of _Tales_ for _Boys_ and +_Girls_, by Mrs. HUGHES, a justly celebrated writer of juvenile works. + +Bishop MCILVAINE'S _Charge_ on the subject of _Spiritual Regeneration_ +has been issued in a neat pamphlet by Harper and Brothers. It forms an +able and appropriate contribution to doctrinal theology, at a time when +the topic discussed has gained a peculiar interest from the present +position of Catholicism both in England and America. The theme is +handled by Bishop McIlvaine with his accustomed vigor and earnestness, +and is illustrated by the fruits of extensive research. + + * * * * * + +Speaking of the decease of our illustrious countryman, FENIMORE COOPER, +the _London Athenaeum_ has the following discriminating remarks: "Mr. +COOPER was at home on the sea or in his own backwoods. His happiest +tales are those of 'painted chiefs with pointed spears'--to use a happy +description of Mr. Longfellow; and so felicitous has he been in setting +them bodily, as it were, before the reader, that hereafter he will be +referred to by ethnological and antiquarian writers as historical +authority on the character and condition of the Lost Tribes of America. +In his later works Mr. COOPER wandered too often and too much from the +field of Romance into that of Polemics--and into the latter he imported +a querulous spirit, and an extraordinarily loose logical method. All his +more recent fictions have the taint of this temper, and the drawback of +this controversial weakness. His political creed it would be very +difficult to extract entire from the body of his writings; and he has +been so singularly infelicitous in its partial expositions, that even +of the discordant features which make up the whole, we generally find +ourselves disagreeing in some measure with all. But throughout the whole +course of his writing, whenever he turned back into his own domain of +narrative fiction, the Genius of his youth continued to do him service, +and something of his old power over the minds of readers continued to +the last. His faults as a writer are far outbalanced by his great +qualities--and altogether, he is the most original writer that America +has yet produced--and one of whom she may well be proud." + + * * * * * + +"HAWTHORNE," says a London critic, "has few equals among the writers of +fiction in the English language. There is a freshness, an originality of +thought, a quiet humor, a power of description, a quaintness of +expression in his tales, which recommend them to readers wearied of the +dull commonplaces of all but a select few of the English novelists of +our own time. He is beyond measure the best writer of fiction yet +produced by America, somewhat resembling DICKENS in many of his +excellencies, yet without imitating him. His style is his own entirely." + + * * * * * + +In a notice of HITCHCOCK'S "Religion of Geology," the London _Literary +Gazette_ remarks: "Dr. HITCHCOCK is a veteran American clergyman, of +high reputation and unaffected piety. Officially, he is President of +Amherst College, and Professor of Natural Theology and Geology in that +institution. As a geologist, he holds a very distinguished position, and +is universally reputed an original observer and philosophical inquirer. +His fame is European as well as American. No author has ever entered +upon his subject better fitted for his task. The work consists of a +series of lectures, which may be characterized as so many scientific +sermons. They are clear in style, logical in argument, always earnest, +and often eloquent. The author of the valuable and most interesting work +before us combines in an eminent degree the qualifications of theologian +and geologist." + + * * * * * + +The _London News_ briefly hits off an American work which has attracted +little attention in this country: "A fast-sailing American clipper has +appeared in the seas of philosophy. The author of 'Vestiges of +Civilization; or the Etiology of History, Religious, AEsthetical, +Political, and Philosophical,' advertised as written within two months, +has puzzled the scientific public as much as did the original MS. of +'Pepys' Diary.' The reader, however, may be comforted in his +bewilderment by finding that the author himself is but little better +off. In a note there is a confession which should certainly have been +extended to the whole production: "I freely own that, touching these +extreme terms of the complication in Life and Mind, or rather the +precise combinations of polarities that should produce them, _my meaning +is at present very far from clear, even to myself_. And yet I know that +I _have_ a meaning; that it is logically involved in my statement; and +is such as (perhaps within half a century) will set the name of some +distinct enunciator side by side with, if not superior to that of +Newton." + + * * * * * + +The _Westminster Review_ has passed into the hands of John Chapman, the +well-known publisher of works on Rationalistic theology. _The Leader_ +rather naively remarks, "We rely too much on his sagacity to entertain +the fear, not unfrequently expressed, of his making the Review over +theological, which would be its ruin." + + * * * * * + +Among the prominent forthcoming works announced by the English +publishers, are the following:--"A Lady's Voyage round the World;" from +the German of IDA PFEIFFER, from which some interesting extracts have +already appeared in Blackwood.--"Wesley and Methodism," by ISAAC +TAYLOR--"Lectures on the History of France," by Professor Sir JAMES +STEPHENS--A condensed Edition of DR. LAYARD'S "Discoveries at Nineveh," +prepared by the Author for popular reading--A second volume of +LAMARTINE'S "History of the Restoration of the Monarchy in France"--An +improved Edition of the "Life and Works of Robert Burns"--Richardson's +"Boat Voyage," or a History of the Expedition in Search of Sir John +Franklin. + + * * * * * + +It is said that the recent discoveries of Colonel Rawlinson in relation +to the inscriptions on the Assyrian sculptures have awakened the British +Government to the great historical value of those monuments--and that a +sum of L1500 has been placed at his disposal to assist toward the +prosecution of excavations and inquiries in Assyria. Colonel Rawlinson +will, it is understood, proceed immediately to Bagdad; and from thence +direct his explorations toward any quarter which may appear to him +likely to yield important results. + + * * * * * + +Mr. WILLIAM WEIR, a literary veteran of ability and accomplishment, is +about to publish, from the papers of one who mixed much with it, another +view of English literary society in the days of Johnson. + + * * * * * + +A pension of L100 a year on the civil list has been granted to the +family of the late Rev. JAMES SEATON REID, D. D., Professor of Church +History in Glasgow, and author of the _History of Presbyterianism in +Ireland_, besides other works on theology. + + * * * * * + +In consequence of the present delicate state of health of Professor +WILSON, the renowned "Christopher North," he has been obliged to make +arrangements for dispensing with the delivery of his lectures on moral +philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, at the ensuing session. +Principal LEE is to undertake the duty for the learned Professor. + + * * * * * + +The map of France, which was begun in 1817, is not yet finished. It is +to contain 258 sheets, of which 149 are already published. There yet +remains five years' work in surveying, and nine years' work in +engraving, to be done. The total cost will exceed L400,000 sterling. Up +to this time 2249 staff-officers have been employed in the work. + + * * * * * + +When the celebrated astronomer Lalande died, nearly fifty years ago, his +manuscripts were divided among his heirs--a partition which was +agreeable to law, but very injurious to science. M. Lefrancais de +Lalande, a staff-officer, impressed with the importance of re-collecting +these papers, has, after much trouble, succeeded in getting together the +astronomical memoranda of his ancestor to the extent of not less than +thirty-six volumes. These he presented to M. Arago; and the latter, to +obviate the chances of a future similar dispersion, has made a gift of +them to the library of the Paris Observatory. + + * * * * * + +In announcing the "Memoirs of his own Life," by ALEXANDRE DUMAS, the +correspondent of the _Literary Gazette_ indulges in a lively, +exaggerated portraiture of the great _feuilletonist_: "Another addition +to that class of French literature, called 'Memoirs,' is about to +appear, and from the hand of no less a personage than Alexandre Dumas. +The great romancer is to tell the world the history of his own eventful +life, and his extraordinary literary career. The chances are that the +work will be one of the most brilliant of the kind that has yet been +published--and that is saying a great deal, when we call to mind the +immense host of memoir writers which France possesses, and that among +them are an Antony Hamilton and a Duke de Saint Simon. Having mixed +familiarly with all descriptions of society, from that of crowned heads +and princes of the blood, down to strolling players--having been behind +the scenes of the political, the literary, the theatrical, the artistic, +the financial, and the trading worlds--having risen unaided from the +humble position of subordinate clerk in the office of Louis Philippe's +accountant, to that of the most popular of living romancers in all +Europe--having found an immense fortune in his inkstand, and squandered +it like a genius (or a fool)--having rioted in more than princely +luxury, and been reduced to the sore strait of wondering where he could +get credit for a dinner--having wandered far and wide, taking life as it +came--now dining with a king, anon sleeping with a brigand--one day +killing lions in the Sahara, and the next (according to his own account) +being devoured by a bear in the Pyrenees--having edited a daily +newspaper and managed a theatre, and failed in both--having built a +magnificent chateau, and had it sold by auction--having commanded in the +National Guard, and done fierce battle with bailiffs and duns--having +been decorated by almost every potentate in Europe, so that the breast +of his coat is more variegated with ribbons than the rainbow with +colors--having published more than any man living, and perhaps as much +as any man dead--having fought duels innumerable--and having been more +quizzed, and caricatured, and lampooned, and satirized, and abused, and +slandered, and admired, and envied, than any human being now +alive--Alexandre must have an immensity to tell, and none of his +contemporaries, we may be sure, could tell it better--few so well. Only +we may fear that it will be mixed up with a vast deal of--imagination. +But _n'importe_!" + + * * * * * + +In the course of a revision of the archives of Celli, a box has been +found containing a collection of important documents from the Thirty +Years' War, viz., part of the private correspondence of Duke George of +Brunswick-Lueneburg, with drafts of his own epistles, and original +letters from Pappenheim, Gustavus Adolphus, and Piccolomini. + + * * * * * + +The Stockholm papers announce the death, in his seventy-first year, of +Dr. THOMAS WINGARD, Archbishop of Upsal and Primate of the Kingdom of +Sweden. Dr. Wingard had long occupied the chair of Sacred Philology at +the University of Lund. He has left to the University of Upsal his +library, consisting of upward of 34,000 volumes--and his rich +collections of coins and medals, and of Scandinavian antiquities. This +is the fourth library bequeathed to the University of Upsal within the +space of a year--adding to its book-shelves no fewer than 115,000 +volumes. The entire number of volumes possessed by the university is now +said to be 288,000--11,000 of these being in manuscript. + + * * * * * + +The _London Athenaeum_ announces the death of the Hon. Mrs. LEE--sister +to the late Lord Byron, and whose name will ever be dear to the lovers +of that poet's verse for the affecting manner in which it is therein +enshrined. Few readers of Byron will forget his affectionate recurrences +to his sister--made more touching from the bitterness of his memories +toward all those whom he accused of contributing to the desolation of +his home and the shattering of his household gods. The once familiar +name met with in the common obituary of the journals will have recalled +to many a one that burst of grateful tenderness with which the bard +twines a laurel for his sister's forehead, which will be laid now upon +her grave--and of which the following is a leaf: + + From the wreck of the past which hath perished + This much I at least may recall, + That what I most tenderly cherished + Deserved to be dearest of all. + In the desert a fountain is springing + In the wide waste there still is a tree, + And a bird in my solitude singing + Which speaks to my spirit of thee. + + * * * * * + +Numismatic science has to lament the loss of a long known, learned, and +distinguished cultivator, Mr. H. P. BORRELL, who died on the 2d inst. at +Smyrna. His numerous excellent memoirs on Greek coins, and his clever +work on the coins of Cyprus, form permanent memorials of his erudition, +research, and correct judgment. + + * * * * * + +The last mail from China informs us of the death of Dr. GUTZLAFF, at one +of the British ports in that country, on the 9th of August last, in his +forty-eighth year. The decease of this distinguished Eastern scholar +will be learnt with regret by those who take an interest in the progress +of European civilization in China. Dr. Gutzlaff was one of the most +ardent and indefatigable of the laborers in that cause: and it will be +very difficult to fill up the void which his death has occasioned. He +was a Pomeranian by birth; and was originally sent to Batavia, +Singapore, and Siam by the Netherlands Missionary Society in 1827. He +first reached China in 1831; and he appears to have spent the next two +years in visiting and exploring certain portions of the Chinese coast, +which, previously to that time, had not been visited by any European--or +of which, at least, no authentic knowledge was possessed. On the death +of the elder Morrison, in 1834, Dr. Gutzlaff was employed as an +Interpreter by the British Superintendency; and at a subsequent period +he was promoted to the office of Chinese Secretary to the British +Plenipotentiary and Superintendent of Trade. That employment he held to +the time of his death. Dr. Gutzlaff had ceased to consider himself as a +missionary for some years past; but he never relinquished his practice +of teaching and exhorting among the Chinese communities in the midst of +whom he was placed. + + * * * * * + +The death of Mrs. MARY SHERWOOD, the celebrated English authoress, took +place at Twickenham about the middle of September. She had attained the +ripe old age of seventy-six years, but her mind preserved its usual +vigor and serenity, unimpaired by the influence of time. She died in the +exercise of a tranquil spirit, and firm religious faith. It is said that +a biography, prepared from materials left by the deceased, will soon +make its appearance from the pen of her youngest daughter, a lady who +inherits a portion of her mother's genius and character. A complete +edition of Mrs. Sherwood's works, published by Harper and Brothers, has +found numerous readers in this country, by whom the name of the writer +will long be held in affectionate remembrance. + + + + +A Leaf not from Punch. + + +[Illustration: FIRST SPORTSMAN.--"My dear sir, I am very sorry that I +hit you in the leg. Pray excuse me this time. I'll aim higher next +time!" + +SECOND SPORTSMAN.--"Aim higher next time! No, I thank you. I'd rather +you wouldn't."] + + +ETYMOLOGICAL INVENTIONS. + +We perceive, with great alarm, the increasing number of abstruse names +given to various simple articles of clothing and commerce. Rather to +keep a head of the world than even to run with it, we intend to +register--or dispose of for a consideration--the sole right of producing +the following articles: + +The _Protean Crononhotontologos_, or Changeable Surtout, the tails of +which button under to form a dress coat; can be reefed to make a +shooting-coat; folded into a cut-a-way; or taken away altogether to turn +into a sailing jacket. It is black outside and green within, with sets +of shifting buttons, so that it may be used either for dress or +sporting, evening or morning, with equal propriety. + +The _Oddrotistone_, or Pumice Beard-leveler, for shaving without water, +soap, brush, or razor, and removing all pimples and freckles by pure +mechanical action. Strongly recommended to travelers with delicate +skins. + +The _Hicockolorum_, or Patent Fuel, warranted never to smoke, smell, +decrease in bulk, or throw out dangerous gases, and equally adapted for +Calorific, Church, Vesta, Air-tight, Registering, Cooking, and all +manner of stoves. By simply recollecting never to light it, all these +conditions will be fulfilled, or we forfeit fifty thousand dollars. + +The _Antilavetorium_, or Perpetual Shirt-collar, which, being formed of +enameled tin, never requires to be washed, is not likely to droop or +turn down. + +The _Thoraxolicon_, or Everlasting Shirt-front, comes under the same +patent, which may be had also, perforated in patterns, after the +fashionable style. + +The _Silicobroma_, a preparation of pure flint-stone, which makes a very +excellent soup, by boiling in a pot, with the requisite quantity of meat +and vegetables. + + +[Illustration: SEEDY INDIVIDUAL.--"I've dropped in to do you a very +great favor, sir." + +MAN OF BUSINESS.--"Well, what is it?" + +SEEDY INDIVIDUAL.--"I'm going to allow you the pleasure of lending me +five dollars."] + + +[Illustration: OFF POINT JUDITH. + +OLD LADY.--"Now, my good man, I hope you are sure it will really do me +good, because I can not touch it but as medicine."] + + +[Illustration: A SLIGHT MISTAKE. + +We have been much grieved of late to observe the growing tendency among +ladies to _shave their foreheads_, in the hope of intellectualizing +their countenances, and this occurs more especially among the literary +portion of the fair sex. We subjoin a portrait, but mention no names. + +The mistake is this. The height of a forehead depends upon the height of +the frontal bone--not upon the growth of the hair; and, therefore, when +the forehead retreats, it is absurd to suppose that height can be given +by shaving the head, even to the crown. Added to this, it is impossible +to conceal the blue mark which the shorn stumps of hair still _will_ +leave; and, therefore, we hope soon to see the practice abolished.] + + +[Illustration: OLD LADY--(_holding a very small Cabbage_).--"What! 3_d._ +for such a small Cabbage? Why, I never heerd o' such a thing!" + +GREENGROCER.--"Werry sorry, marm; but it's all along o' that Exhibition! +What with them Foreigners, and the Gents as smokes, Cabbages has riz."] + + +NEW BIOGRAPHIES. + +MR. SMITH.--This celebrated personage has filled many important public +and private situations: in fact, we find his name connected with all the +great events of the time. He was a divine, an actor, an officer, and an +author. But afterward getting into bad company, he was sentenced to the +State Prison, and subsequently hanged. His family branches, which are +very extensive, are fully treated of in the Directory. + +WARREN.--The discoverer of the famous Jet Blacking. Upon the backs of +the bottle labels he wrote his celebrated tale of _Ten Thousand a Year_, +thus shining in two lines. He lost his life at Bunker Hill. + + + + +Fashions for December. + + +[Illustration: FIGS. 1, 2.--BALL AND EVENING DRESSES.] + +The figure on the left, in the above illustration, shows a very rich +ball costume, with jewels. Hair in raised bands, forming a point in +front, leaving the forehead open, and spreading elegantly at the sides. +A large cord of pearls is rolled in the hair, and forms, in two rows, a +_Marie Stuart_, over the forehead, then mixed with the back hair, falls +to the right and left in interlaced rings. Body low, square in front, +but rather high on the shoulder. The dress is plain silk, the ornaments +silk-net and lace. The whole of the front of the body is ornamented with +rows of lace and silk-net _bouillons_. Each row of lace covers a +_bouillon_, and leaves one uncovered. There are five or six rows of +lace. They are gathered, and it will be seen they are raised by the row +of puffs they cover. Two rows of lace are put on as trimming on each +side of the stomacher. They start from the same point, spreading wider +as they rise, as far as the back, where they form a _berthe_. The skirt +is trimmed with three rows, one over the other, composed of silk-net +puffs; one at bottom, another one-third of the height up, and the other +two-thirds up. Three lace flounces decorate this skirt, and each falls +on the edge of the puffs. + +The figure on the right exhibits a beautiful evening dress. Hair in +puffed bands, waved, rather short, wreath of variegated geraniums, +placed at the sides. Plain silk dress, with silk-net _ruches_ about +three inches apart, from the bottom upward. Sleeves, tight and short, +edged with a _ruche_ at bottom. The body is covered with silk-net, +opening heart-shape. It is trimmed with two silk-net _berthes_, gathered +a little, with a hem about half an inch wide, marked by a small gold +cord. A row of variegated flowers runs along the top of the body. The +upper skirt, of silk-net, is raised cross-wise, from the front toward +the back, up to the side bouquet. The hem of each skirt is two inches +deep, and is also marked by a gold cord. The side bouquet, of flowers +like those in the hair, is fixed to the body, and hangs in branches on +the skirt. The outer sleeves are silk-net, with a hem at the end, and +raised cross-wise like the skirt, so as to show the under-sleeves. + +In the picture, upon the next page, we give illustrations of three +styles of cloaks, the most fashionable for the present winter. They are +called by the Parisian modists respectively, PARISIAN, FRILEUSE, and +CAMARA. The PARISIAN is a walking cloak of satin or _gros_ d'Ecosse, +trimmed with velvet of different widths sewed on flat; velvet buttons. +The FRILEUSE is a wadded pelisse of satin _a la reine_ or common. +Trimming _a la vieille_ of the same, with velvet bands. The pelerine may +form a hood. The sleeves are wide and straight. The CAMARA is a cloak of +plain cloth, forming a _Talma_ behind, and open cross-wise in front to +prevent draping. Wide flat collar. Ornaments consist of velvet fretwork +with braid round it. + +[Illustration: FIGS. 3, 4, 5.--PARISIAN, FRILEUSE, AND CAMARA CLOAKS.] + +Figure 6 represents an elegant costume for a little girl, three or four +years of age--a pretty, fair haired creature. Frock of white silk, +embroidered sky blue, body low and square in front, with two silk +lapels, embroidered and festooned; a frill along the top of front, with +an embroidered insertion below it. The sleeves are embroidered; a broad +blue ribbon passes between the shoulder and the sleeve, and is fastened +at top by a _rosette_ with loose ends. This manner of tying the ribbon +raises the sleeve and leaves the arm uncovered at top. The skirt is +composed of two insertions and two embroidered flounces. An embroidered +petticoat reaches below the skirt. The sash is of blue silk and very +wide. + +[Illustration: FIG. 6.--CHILD'S COSTUME.] + +Velvet, as a trimming, was never more fashionable than at present. There +are at this season few articles included in the category of ladies' +costume to which a trimming of velvet may not be applied. Velvet is now +employed to ornament plain dresses, as well as those of the most elegant +description. One of the new dresses we have seen, is composed of +maroon-color silk. The skirt has three flounces, each edged with two +rows of black velvet ribbon, of the width of half an inch. The corsage +and sleeves are ornamented with the same trimming. Another dress, +composed of deep violet or puce-color silk, has the flounces edged also +with rows of black velvet. The majority of the dresses, made at the +present season, have high corsages, though composed of silk of very rich +and thick texture. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] The Engravings which illustrate this article (except the +frontispiece) are from Lossing's _Pictorial Field-Book of the +Revolution_, now in course of publication by Harper and Brothers. + +[2] This and the picture of the _guide-board_ and _anvil block_ are +copied from sketches made by Captain Austin of the English Expedition. + +[3] Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by Harper +and Brothers, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the +Southern District of New York. + +[4] The armorial bearing of Venice + +[5] Lazare Hoche, a very distinguished young general, who died very +suddenly in the army. "Hoche," said Bonaparte, "was one of the first +generals that ever France produced. He was brave, intelligent, abounding +in talent, decisive, and penetrating." + +[6] Charles Pichegru, a celebrated French general, who entered into a +conspiracy to overthrow the consular government and restore the +Bourbons. He was arrested and conducted to the Temple, where he was one +morning found dead in his bed. The physicians, who met on the occasion, +asserted that he had strangled himself with his cravat. "Pichegru," said +Napoleon, "instructed me in mathematics at Brienne when I was about ten +years old. As a general he was a man of no ordinary talent. After he had +united himself with the Bourbons, he sacrificed the lives of upward of +twenty thousand of his soldiers by throwing them purposely in the +enemies' hands, whom he had informed beforehand of his intentions." + +[7] General Kleber fell beneath the poinard of an assassin in Egypt, +when Napoleon was in Paris. + +[8] General Desaix fell, pierced by a bullet, on the field of Marengo. +Napoleon deeply deplored his loss, as that of one of his most faithful +and devoted friends. + +[9] Pronounced as though written _Kos-shoot_, with the accent on the +last syllable. The Magyar equivalent for the French LOUIS and the German +LUDWIG is LAJOS. We have given the date of his birth, which seems best +authenticated. The notice of the Austrian police, quoted below, makes +him to have been born in 1804; still another account gives 1801 as the +year of his birth. The portrait which we furnish is from a picture taken +a little more than two years since in Hungary, for Messrs. GOUPIL, the +well-known picture-dealers of Paris and New York, and is undoubtedly an +authentic likeness of him at that time. The following is a pen-and-ink +portrait of Kossuth, drawn by those capital artists, the Police +authorities of Vienna:--"_Louis Kossuth_, an ex-advocate, journalist, +Minister of Finance, President of the Committee of Defense, Governor of +the Hungarian Republic, born in Hungary, Catholic [this is an error, +Kossuth is of the Lutheran faith], married. He is of middle height, +strong, thin; the face oval, complexion pale, the forehead high and +open, hair chestnut, eyes blue, eyebrows dark and very thick, mouth very +small and well-formed, teeth fine, chin round. He wears a mustache and +imperial, and his curled hair does not entirely cover the upper part of +the head. He has a white and delicate hand, the fingers long. He speaks +German, Hungarian, Latin, Slovack, a little French and Italian. His +bearing when calm, is solemn, full of a certain dignity; his movements +elegant, his voice agreeable, softly penetrating, and very distinct, +even when he speaks low. He produces, in general, the effect of an +enthusiast; his looks often fixed on the heavens; and the expression of +his eyes, which are fine, contributes to give him the air of a dreamer. +His exterior does not announce the energy of his character." Photography +could hardly produce a picture more minutely accurate. + +[10] We have not space to present any portion of this admirable speech. +It is given at length in PULSZKY'S Introduction to SCHLESSINGER'S "_War +in Hungary_," which has been republished in this country; in a +different, and somewhat indifferent translation, in the anonymous +"_Louis Kossuth and Hungary_," published in London, written strongly in +the Austrian interest. In this latter, however, the "Address to the +Throne," by far the most important and weighty portion of the speech, is +omitted. A portion of the speech, taken from this latter source, and of +course not embracing the Address, is given in Dr. TEFFT'S recent +valuable work, "_Hungary and Kossuth_." The whole speech constitutes a +historical document of great importance. + +[11] Continued from the November Number. + +[12] Autobiography of Zschokke, p. 119-170. + +[13] "Crotchets in the Air, or an Un-scientific Account of a Balloon +Trip," by John Poole, Esq. Colburn, 1838. + +[14] Continued from the November Number. + +[15] I must be pardoned for annexing the original, since it loses much by +translation:--"Hominem liberum et magnificum debere, si queat, in +primori fronte, animum gestare." + + * * * * * + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Words surrounded by _ are italicized. + +Obvious punctuation errors have been repaired, other punctuations have +been left as printed in the paper book. + +Obvious printer's errors have been repaired, other inconsistent +spellings have been kept, including: +- use of hyphen (e.g. "chess-men" and "chessmen"); +- accents (e.g. "denouement" and "denouement"); +- place names (e.g. "Hindostan" and "Hindoostan"). + +In the Table of Contents, following names have been corrected to match +the text they refer to: +- "Batthyani" corrected to be "Batthyanyi" (551. Esterhazy, Batthyanyi); +- "Blackistone" corrected to be "Blackinston" (Lindsay and Blackiston's). + +Pg 10, caption added to illustration (Pouring Tea down the Throat of +America). + +Pg 11, word "of" added (unworthy of civilized forbearance). + +Pg 40, title added to article (Kossuth--A Biographical Sketch). + +Pg 56, word "few" added (only a few days). + +Pg 85, word "go" added (I must go on deck). + +Pg 96, name "Cliff" corrected to be "Griffith" (Griffith in his). + +Pg 139, name "Pfeifer" corrected to be "Pfeiffer" (Ida Pfeiffer). + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Harper's New Monthly Magazine Vol. IV, +No. 19, Dec 1851, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY *** + +***** This file should be named 38399.txt or 38399.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/3/9/38399/ + +Produced by Judith Wirawan, David Kline, and The Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +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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