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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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