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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 15, August, 1851 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: December 25, 2011 [EBook #38409] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY *** + + + + +Produced by David Kline, Henry Gardiner and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<hr class="ThoughtBreak" /> + +<div class="center" style="width: 25em; margin: auto; border: solid 1px; padding: 1em;"> +Transcriber's Note: The original publication has been replicated faithfully except as listed +<a href="#Changes" name="Start" id="Start">here</a>. +</div> + +<hr class="ThoughtBreak" /> + +<h1 class="smcap" style="margin: 4em 4em; line-height: 2em;">HARPER'S<br /> + +NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.<br /> + +No. XV.—AUGUST, 1851.—Vol. III.</h1> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2 style="margin: 4em auto 2em auto;">TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="TOC" style="margin: auto;"> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#NAPOLEON_BONAPARTE">NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_289">289</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_SOMNAMBULE">THE SOMNAMBULE.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_304">304</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_HOUSEHOLD_OF_SIR_THOS_MOREA">THE HOUSEHOLD OF SIR THO<sup>S</sup>. MORE.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_310">310</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#REMINISCENCES_OF_AN_ATTORNEY">REMINISCENCES OF AN ATTORNEY.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_314">314</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#VILLAGE_LIFE_IN_GERMANY">VILLAGE LIFE IN GERMANY.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_320">320</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#A_PEEP_AT_THE_PERAHARRA">A PEEP AT THE "PERAHARRA.</a>"</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_322">322</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#A_TOBACCO_FACTORY_IN_SPAIN">A TOBACCO FACTORY IN SPAIN.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_326">326</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#INFIRMITIES_OF_GENIUS">INFIRMITIES OF GENIUS.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_327">327</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#RACE_HORSES_AND_HORSE_RACES">RACE HORSES AND HORSE RACES.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_329">329</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#HARTLEY_COLERIDGE">HARTLEY COLERIDGE.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_334">334</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_ORIENTAL_SALOONS_IN_MADRID">THE ORIENTAL SALOONS IN MADRID.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_335">335</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#PHANTOMS_AND_REALITIES_AN_AUTOBIOGRAPHYA">PHANTOMS AND REALITIES.—AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_337">337</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_FEET-WASHING_ON_GOOD_FRIDAY_IN_MUNICH">THE FEET-WASHING ON GOOD FRIDAY IN MUNICH.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_349">349</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#A_PEDESTRIAN_IN_HOLLAND">A PEDESTRIAN IN HOLLAND.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_351">351</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_LAST_PRIESTESS_OF_PELE">THE LAST PRIESTESS OF PELE.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_354">354</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#A_SPANISH_BULL_FIGHT">A SPANISH BULL FIGHT.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_359">359</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#MAURICE_TIERNAY_THE_SOLDIER_OF_FORTUNEA">MAURICE TIERNAY, THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_360">360</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#FRENCH_COTTAGE_COOKERY">FRENCH COTTAGE COOKERY.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_369">369</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#STUDENT_LIFE_IN_PARIS">STUDENT LIFE IN PARIS.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_373">373</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#A_FAQUIRS_CURSE">A FAQUIR'S CURSE.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_375">375</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#LOVE_AND_SMUGGLING_A_STORY_OF_THE_ENGLISH_COAST">LOVE AND SMUGGLING.—A STORY OF THE ENGLISH COAST.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_378">378</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#AMERICAN_NOTABILITIESA">AMERICAN NOTABILITIES.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_384">384</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_HUNTERS_WIFE">THE HUNTER'S WIFE.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_388">388</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_WARNINGS_OF_THE_PAST">THE WARNINGS OF THE PAST.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_391">391</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_PIE_SHOPS_OF_LONDON">THE PIE SHOPS OF LONDON.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_392">392</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#MY_NOVEL_OR_VARIETIES_IN_ENGLISH_LIFEA">MY NOVEL; OR, VARIETIES IN ENGLISH LIFE.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_394">394</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Monthly_Record_of_Current_Events">Monthly Record of Current Events.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_411">411</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Literary_Notices">Literary Notices.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_419">419</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Editors_Drawer">Editor's Drawer.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_420">420</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#WOMANS_EMANCIPATION">WOMAN'S EMANCIPATION.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_424">424</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Three_Leaves_from_Punch">Three Leaves from Punch.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_425">425</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#FASHIONS_FOR_AUGUST">FASHIONS FOR AUGUST.</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_431">431</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> +<div><!--001.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">289</a></span></div> + +<h2><a name="NAPOLEON_BONAPARTE" id="NAPOLEON_BONAPARTE"></a>NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.</h2> + +<div class="c4">BY JOHN S. C. ABBOTT</div> + +<h3>I. CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH.</h3> + +<p>The island of Corsica, sublimely picturesque with its wild ravines and +rugged mountains, emerges from the bosom of the Mediterranean Sea, about +one hundred miles from the coast of France. It was formerly a province +of Italy, and was Italian in its language, sympathies, and customs. In +the year 1767 it was invaded by a French army, and after several most +sanguinary conflicts, the inhabitants were compelled to yield to +superior power, and Corsica was annexed to the empire of the Bourbons.</p> + +<p>At the time of this invasion there was a young lawyer, of Italian +extraction, residing upon the island, whose name was Charles Bonaparte. +He was endowed with commanding beauty of person, great vigor of mind, +and his remote lineage was illustrious, but the opulence of the noble +house had passed away, and the descendant of a family, whose line could +be traced far back into the twilight of the dark ages, was under the +fortunate necessity of being dependent for his support upon the energies +of his own mind. He had married Letitia Raniolini, one of the most +beautiful and accomplished of the young ladies of Corsica. Of thirteen +children born to them eight survived to attain maturity. As a successful +lawyer the father of this large family was able to provide them with an +ample competence. His illustrious descent gave him an elevated position +in society, and the energies of his mind, ever in vigorous action, +invested him with powerful influence.</p> + +<p>The family occupied a town house, an ample stone mansion, in Ajaccio, +the principal city of the island. They also enjoyed a very delightful +country retreat near the sea-shore, a few miles from Ajaccio. This rural +home was the favorite resort of the children during the heats of summer. +When the French invaded Corsica, Charles Bonaparte, then quite a young +man, having been married but a few years, abandoned the peaceful +profession of the law, and grasping his sword, united with his +countrymen, under the banner of General Paoli, to resist the invaders. +His wife, Letitia, had then but one child, Joseph. She was expecting +soon to give birth to another. Civil war was desolating the little +island. Paoli and his band of patriots, defeated again and again, were +retreating before their victorious foes into the fastnesses of the +mountains. Letitia followed the fortunes of her husband, and, +notwithstanding the embarrassment of her condition, accompanied him on +horseback in these perilous and fatiguing expeditions. The conflict, +however, was short, and, by the energies of the sword, Corsica became a +province of France, and the Italians who inhabited the island became the +unwilling subjects of the Bourbon throne. On the 15th of August, 1769, +in anticipation of her confinement, Letitia had taken refuge in her town +house at Ajaccio. On the morning of that day she attended church, but, +during the service, admonished by approaching pains, she was obliged +suddenly to return home, and throwing herself upon a couch, covered with +an ancient piece of tapestry, upon which was embroidered the battles and +the heroes of the Illiad, she gave birth to her second son, Napoleon +Bonaparte. Had the young Napoleon seen the light two months earlier he +would have been by birth an Italian, not a Frenchman, for but eight +weeks had then elapsed since the island had been transferred to the +dominion of France.</p> + +<p>The father of Napoleon died not many years after the birth of that child +whose subsequent renown has filled the world. He is said to have +appreciated the remarkable powers of his son, and, in the delirium which +preceded his death, he was calling upon Napoleon to help him. Madame +Bonaparte, by this event, was left a widow with eight children, Joseph, +Napoleon, Lucien, Jerome, Eliza, Pauline, and Caroline. Her means were +limited, but her mental endowments were commensurate with the weighty +responsibilities which devolved upon her. Her children all appreciated +the superiority of her character, and yielded, with perfect and +unquestioning submission, to her authority. Napoleon in particular ever +regarded his mother with the most profound respect and affection. He +repeatedly declared that the family were entirely indebted to her for +that physical, intellectual, and moral training, which prepared them to +ascend the lofty summits of power to which they finally attained. He was +so deeply impressed with the sense of these obligations that he often +said, "My opinion is that the future good or bad conduct of a child, +depends entirely upon its mother." One of his first acts, on attaining +power, was to surround his mother with every luxury which wealth could +furnish. And when placed at the head of the government of France, he +immediately and energetically established schools for female education, +remarking that France needed nothing so much to promote its regeneration +as good mothers. +<!--002.png--><span class="pagenum">290</span> +</p> + +<p>Madame Bonaparte after the death of her husband, resided with her +children in their country house. It was a retired residence, approached +by an avenue overarched by lofty trees and bordered by flowering shrubs. +A smooth, sunny lawn, which extended in front of the house, lured these +children, so unconscious of the high destinies which awaited them, to +their infantile sports. They chased the butterfly; they played in the +little pools of water with their naked feet; in childish gambols they +rode upon the back of the faithful dog, as happy as if their brows were +never to ache beneath the burden of a crown. How mysterious the designs +of that inscrutable Providence, which, in the island of Corsica, under +the sunny skies of the Mediterranean, was thus rearing a Napoleon, and +far away, beneath the burning sun of the tropics, under the shade of the +cocoa groves and orange-trees of the West Indies, was moulding the +person and ennobling the affections of the beautiful and lovely +Josephine. It was by a guidance, which neither of these children sought, +that they were conducted from their widely separated and obscure homes +to the metropolis of France. There, by their united energies, which had +been fostered in solitary studies and deepest musings they won for +themselves the proudest throne upon which the sun has ever risen; a +throne which in power and splendor eclipsed all that had been told of +Roman, or Persian, or Egyptian greatness.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_01.jpg" width="700" height="482" +alt="A mansion." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE BIRTH-HOUSE OF NAPOLEON.</span> +</div> + +<p>The dilapidated villa in Corsica, where Napoleon passed his infantile +years, still exists, and the thoughtful tourist loses himself in pensive +reverie as he wanders over the lawn where those children have played—as +he passes through the vegetable garden in the rear of the house, which +enticed them to toil with their tiny hoes and spades, and as he +struggles through the wilderness of shrubbery, now running to wild +waste, in the midst of which once could have been heard the merry shouts +of these infantile kings and queens. Their voices are now hushed in +death. But the records of earth can not show a more eventful drama than +that enacted by these young Bonapartes between the cradle and the grave.</p> + +<p>There is, in a sequestered and romantic spot upon the ground, an +isolated granite rock, of wild and rugged form, in the fissures of which +there is something resembling a cave, which still retains the name of +"Napoleon's Grotto." This solitary rock was the favorite resort of the +pensive and meditative child, even in his earliest years. When his +brothers and sisters were in most happy companionship in the garden, or +on the lawn, and the air resounded with their mirthful voices, Napoleon +would steal away alone to his loved retreat. There, in the long and +sunny afternoons, with a book in his hand, he would repose, in a +recumbent posture, for hours, gazing upon the broad expanse of the +Mediterranean, spread out before him, and upon the blue sky, which +overarched his head. Who can imagine the visions which in those hours +arose before the expanding energies of that wonderful mind?</p> + +<p>Napoleon could not be called an amiable child. He was silent and +retiring in his disposition, melancholy and irritable in his +temperament, and impatient of restraint. He was not fond of +companionship nor of play. He had no natural joyousness or buoyancy of +spirit, no frankness of disposition. His brothers and sisters were not +fond of him, though they admitted his superiority. "Joseph," said an +uncle at that time, +<!--003.png--><span class="pagenum">291</span> +"is the eldest of the family, but Napoleon is its +head." His passionate energy and decision of character were such that +his brother Joseph, who was a mild, amiable, and unassuming boy, was +quite in subjection to his will. It was observed that his proud spirit +was unrelenting under any severity of punishment. With stoical firmness, +and without the shedding of a tear, he would endure any inflictions. At +one time he was unjustly accused of a fault which another had committed. +He silently endured the punishment and submitted to the disgrace, and to +the subsistence for three days on the coarsest fare, rather than betray +his companion; and he did this, not from any special friendship for the +one in the wrong, but from an innate pride and firmness of spirit. +Impulsive in his disposition, his anger was easily and violently +aroused, and as rapidly passed away. There were no tendencies to cruelty +in his nature, and no malignant passion could long hold him in +subjection.</p> + +<p>There is still preserved upon the island of Corsica, as an interesting +relic, a small brass cannon, weighing about thirty pounds, which was the +early and favorite plaything of Napoleon. Its loud report was music to +his childish ears. In imaginary battle he saw whole squadrons mown down +by the discharges of his formidable piece of artillery. Napoleon was the +favorite child of his father, and had often sat upon his knee; and, with +a throbbing heart, a heaving bosom, and a tearful eye, listened to his +recital of those bloody battles in which the patriots of Corsica had +been compelled to yield to the victorious French. Napoleon hated the +French. He fought those battles over again. He delighted, in fancy, to +sweep away the embattled host with his discharges of grape-shot; to see +the routed foe, flying over the plain, and to witness the dying and the +dead covering the ground. He left the bat and the ball, the kite and the +hoop for others, and in this strange divertisement found exhilarating +joy.</p> + +<p>He loved to hear, from his mother's lips, the story of her hardships and +sufferings, as, with her husband and the vanquished Corsicans, she fled +from village to village, and from fastness to fastness before their +conquering enemies. The mother was probably but little aware of the +warlike spirit she was thus nurturing in the bosom of her son, but with +her own high mental endowments, she could not be insensible of the +extraordinary capacities which had been conferred upon the silent, +thoughtful, pensive listener. There were no mirthful tendencies in the +character of Napoleon; no tendencies in childhood, youth, or manhood to +frivolous amusements or fashionable dissipation. "My mother," said +Napoleon, at St. Helena, "loves me. She is capable of selling every +thing for me, even to her last article of clothing." This distinguished +lady died at Marseilles in the year 1822, about a year after the death +of her illustrious son upon the island of St. Helena. Seven of her +children were still living, to each of whom she bequeathed nearly two +millions of dollars; while<!--004.png--> to her brother, Cardinal Fesch, she left a +superb palace, embellished with the most magnificent decorations of +furniture, paintings, and sculpture which Europe could furnish. The son, +who had conferred all this wealth—to whom the family was indebted for +all this greatness, and who had filled the world with his renown, died a +prisoner in a dilapidated stable, upon the most bleak and barren isle of +the ocean. The dignified character of this exalted lady is illustrated +by the following anecdote: Soon after Napoleon's assumption of the +imperial purple, he happened to meet his mother in the gardens of St. +Cloud. The Emperor was surrounded with his courtiers, and half playfully +extended his hand for her to kiss. "Not so, my son," she gravely +replied, at the same time presenting her hand in return, "it is your +duty to kiss the hand of her who gave you life."</p> + +<p>"Left without guide, without support," says Napoleon, "my mother was +obliged to take the direction of affairs upon herself. But the task was +not above her strength. She managed every thing, provided for every +thing with a prudence which could neither have been expected from her +sex nor from her age. Ah, what a woman! where shall we look for her +equal? She watched over us with a solicitude unexampled. Every low +sentiment, every ungenerous affection was discouraged and discarded. She +suffered nothing but that which was grand and elevated to take root in +our youthful understandings. She abhorred falsehood, and would not +tolerate the slightest act of disobedience. None of our faults were +overlooked. Losses, privations, fatigue had no effect upon her. She +endured all, braved all. She had the energy of a man, combined with the +gentleness and delicacy of a woman."</p> + +<p>A bachelor uncle owned the rural retreat where the family resided. He +was very wealthy, but very parsimonious. The young Bonapartes, though +living in the abundant enjoyment of all the necessaries of life, could +obtain but little money for the purchase of those thousand little +conveniences and luxuries which every boy covets. Whenever they ventured +to ask their uncle for coppers, he invariably pleaded poverty, assuring +them that though he had lands and vineyards, goats and poultry, he had +no money. At last the boys discovered a bag of doubloons secreted upon a +shelf. They formed a conspiracy, and, by the aid of Pauline, who was too +young to understand the share which she had in the mischief, they +contrived, on a certain occasion, when the uncle was pleading poverty, +to draw down the bag, and the glittering gold rolled over the floor. The +boys burst into shouts of laughter, while the good old man was almost +choked with indignation. Just at that moment Madame Bonaparte came in. +Her presence immediately silenced the merriment. She severely +reprimanded her sons for their improper behavior, and ordered them to +collect again the scattered doubloons.</p> + +<p>When the island of Corsica was surrendered to the French, Count +Marbœuf was appointed, +<!--005.png--><span class="pagenum">292</span> +by the Court at Paris, as its governor. The +beauty of Madame Bonaparte, and her rich intellectual endowments, +attracted his admiration, and they frequently met in the small but +aristocratic circle of society, which the island afforded. He became a +warm friend of the family, and manifested much interest in the welfare +of the little Napoleon. The gravity of the child, his air of pensive +thoughtfulness, the oracular style of his remarks, which characterized +even that early period of life, strongly attracted the attention of the +governor, and he predicted that Napoleon would create for himself a path +through life of more than ordinary splendor.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_02.jpg" width="700" height="477" +alt="Children playing in front of the mansion." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE HOME OF NAPOLEON'S CHILDHOOD.</span> +</div> + +<p>When Napoleon was but five or six years of age, he was placed in a +school with a number of other children. There a fair-haired little +maiden won his youthful heart. It was Napoleon's first love. His +impetuous nature was all engrossed by this new passion, and he inspired +as ardent an affection in the bosom of his loved companion as that which +she had enkindled in his own. He walked to and from school, holding the +hand of Giacominetta. He abandoned all the plays and companionship of +the other children to talk and muse with her. The older boys and girls +made themselves very merry with the display of affection which the +loving couple exhibited. Their mirth, however, exerted not the slightest +influence to abash Napoleon, though often his anger would be so aroused +by their insulting ridicule, that, regardless of the number or the size +of his adversaries, with sticks, stones, and every other implement which +came in his way, he would rush into their midst and attack them with +such a recklessness of consequences, that they were generally put to +flight. Then, with the pride of a conqueror, he would take the hand of +his infantile friend. The little Napoleon was, at this period of his +life, very careless in his dress, and almost invariably appeared with +his stockings slipped down about his heels. Some witty boy formed a +couplet, which was often shouted upon the play-ground, not a little to +the annoyance of the young lover.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Napoleone di mezza calzetta<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fa l'amore à Giacominetta.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Napoleon with his stockings half off<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Makes love to Giacominetta.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>When Napoleon was about ten years of age, Count Marbœuf obtained for +him admission to the military school at Brienne, near Paris. Forty years +afterward Napoleon remarked that he never could forget the pangs which +he then felt, when parting from his mother. Stoic as he was, his +stoicism then forsook him, and he wept like any other child. His journey +led him through Italy, and crossing France, he entered Paris. Little did +the young Corsican then imagine as he gazed awe-stricken upon the +splendors of the metropolis, that all those thronged streets were yet to +resound with his name, and that in those gorgeous palaces the proudest +kings and queens of Europe were to bow obsequiously before his unrivaled +power. The ardent and studious boy was soon established in school. His +companions regarded him as a foreigner, as he spoke the Italian +language, and the French was to him almost an unknown tongue. He found +that his associates were composed mostly of the sons of the proud and +wealthy nobility of France. Their pockets were filled with money, and +they indulged in the most extravagant expenditures. The haughtiness with +which these worthless sons of imperious but debauched and enervated +<!--006.png--><span class="pagenum">293</span> + +sires, affected to look down upon the solitary and unfriended alien, +produced an impression upon his mind which was never effaced. The +revolutionary struggle, that long and lurid day of storms and desolation +was just beginning darkly to dawn; the portentous rumblings of that +approaching earthquake, which soon uphove both altar and throne, and +overthrew all of the most sacred institutions of France in chaotic ruin, +fell heavily upon the ear. The young noblemen at Brienne taunted +Napoleon with being the son of a Corsican lawyer; for in that day of +aristocratic domination the nobility regarded all with contempt who were +dependent upon any exertions of their own for support. They sneered at +the plainness of Napoleon's dress, and at the emptiness of his purse. +His proud spirit was stung to the quick by these indignities, and his +temper was roused by that disdain to which he was compelled to submit, +and from which he could find no refuge. Then it was that there was +implanted in his mind that hostility which he ever afterward so signally +manifested to rank founded not upon merit but upon the accident of +birth. He thus early espoused this prominent principle of republicanism: +"I hate those French," said he, in an hour of bitterness, "and I will do +them all the mischief in my power."</p> + +<p>Thirty years after this Napoleon said, "Called to the throne by the +voice of the people, my maxim has always been, '<i>A career open to +talent</i>,' without distinction of birth."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_03.jpg" width="700" height="487" +alt="Napoleon sitting under a tree, contemplating." title="" /> +<span class="caption">NAPOLEON AT BRIENNE.</span> +</div> + +<p>In consequence of this state of feeling, he secluded himself almost +entirely from his fellow-students, and buried himself in the midst of +his books and his maps. While they were wasting their time in +dissipation and in frivolous amusements, he consecrated his days and his +nights with untiring assiduity to study. He almost immediately elevated +himself above his companions, and, by his superiority, commanded their +respect. Soon he was regarded as the brightest ornament of the +institution, and Napoleon exulted in his conscious strength and his +undisputed exaltation. In all mathematical studies he became highly +distinguished. All books upon history, upon government, upon the +practical sciences he devoured with the utmost avidity. The poetry of +Homer and of Ossian he read and re-read with great delight. His mind +combined the poetical and the practical in most harmonious blending. In +a letter written to his mother at this time, he says, "With my sword by +my side, and Homer in my pocket, I hope to carve my way through the +world." Many of his companions regarded him as morose and moody, and +though they could not but respect him, they still disliked his recluse +habits and his refusal to participate in their amusements. He was seldom +seen upon the play-ground, but every leisure hour found him in the +library. The Lives of Plutarch he studied so thoroughly, and with such +profound admiration, that his whole soul became imbued with the spirit +of these illustrious men. All the thrilling scenes of Grecian and Roman +story, the rise and fall of empires, and deeds of heroic daring absorbed +his contemplation. Even at this early period of his life, and in all +subsequent years, he expressed utter contempt for those enervating tales +of fiction, with which so many of the readers of the present day are +squandering their time and enfeebling their energies. It may be doubted +whether he ever wasted an hour upon such worthless reading. When +afterward seated +<!--007.png--><span class="pagenum">294</span> +upon the throne of France, he would not allow a novel +to be brought into the palace; and has been known to take such a book +from the hands of a maid of honor, and after giving her a severe +reprimand to throw it into the fire. So great was his ardor for +intellectual improvement, that he considered every day as lost in which +he had not made perceptible progress in knowledge. By this rigid mental +discipline he acquired that wonderful power of concentration by which he +was ever enabled to simplify subjects the most difficult and +complicated.</p> + +<p>He made no efforts to conciliate the good-will of his fellow-students; +and he was so stern in his morals and so unceremonious in his manners +that he was familiarly called the Spartan. At this time he was +distinguished by his Italian complexion, a piercing eagle eye, and by +that energy of conversational expression which, through life, gave such +an oracular import to all his utterances. His unremitting application to +study, probably impaired his growth, for his fine head was developed +disproportionately with his small stature. Though stubborn and +self-willed in his intercourse with his equals, he was a firm friend of +strict discipline, and gave his support to established authority. This +trait of character, added to his diligence and brilliant attainments, +made him a great favorite with the professors. There was, however, one +exception. Napoleon took no interest in the study of the German +language. The German teacher, consequently, entertained a very +contemptible opinion of the talents of his pupil. It chanced that upon +one occasion Napoleon was absent from the class. M. Bouer, upon +inquiring, ascertained that he was employed that hour in the class of +engineers. "Oh! he does learn something, then," said the teacher, +ironically. "Why, sir!" a pupil rejoined; "he is esteemed the very first +mathematician in the school." "Truly," the irritated German replied, "I +have always heard it remarked, and have uniformly believed, that any +fool, and none but a fool, could learn mathematics." Napoleon afterward +relating this anecdote, laughingly said, "It would be curious to +ascertain whether M. Bouer lived long enough to learn my real character, +and enjoy the fruits of his own judgment."</p> + +<p>Each student at Brienne had a small portion of land allotted to him, +which he might cultivate, or not, as he pleased. Napoleon converted his +little field into a garden. To prevent intrusion, he surrounded it with +palisades, and planted it thickly with trees. In the centre of this, his +fortified camp, he constructed a pleasant bower, which became to him a +substitute for the beloved grotto he had left in Corsica. To this grotto +he was wont to repair to study and to meditate, where he was exposed to +no annoyances from his frivolous fellow-students. In those trumpet-toned +proclamations which subsequently so often electrified Europe, one can +see the influence of these hours of unremitting mental application.</p> + +<p>At that time he had few thoughts of any glory but military glory. Young +men were taught<!--008.png--> that the only path to renown was to be found through +fields of blood. All the peaceful arts of life, which tend to embellish +the world with competence and refinement, were despised. He only was the +chivalric gentleman, whose career was marked by conflagrations and +smouldering ruins, by the despair of the maiden, the tears and woe of +widows and orphans, and by the shrieks of the wounded and the dying. +Such was the school in which Napoleon was trained. The writings of +Voltaire and Rousseau had taught France, that the religion of Jesus +Christ was but a fable; that the idea of accountability at the bar of +God was a foolish superstition; that death was a sleep from which there +was no awaking; that life itself, aimless and objectless, was so +worthless a thing that it was a matter of most trivial importance how +soon its vapor should pass away. These peculiarities in the education of +Napoleon must be taken into account in forming a correct estimate of his +character. It could hardly be said that he was educated in a Christian +land. France renounced Christianity and plunged into the blackest of +Pagan darkness, without any religion, and without a God. Though the +altars of religion were not, at this time, entirely swept away, they +were thoroughly undermined by that torrent of infidelity which, in +crested billows, was surging over the land. Napoleon had but little +regard for the lives of others and still less for his own. He never +commanded the meanest soldier to go where he was not willing to lead +him. Having never been taught any correct ideas of probation or +retribution, the question whether a few thousand illiterate peasants, +should eat, drink, and sleep for a few years more or less, was in his +view of little importance compared with those great measures of +political wisdom which should meliorate the condition of Europe for +ages. It is Christianity alone which stamps importance upon each +individual life, and which invests the apparent trivialities of time +with the sublimities of eternity. It is, indeed, strange that Napoleon, +graduating at the schools of infidelity and of war, should have +cherished so much of the spirit of humanity, and should have formed so +many just conceptions of right and wrong. It is, indeed, strange that +surrounded by so many allurements to entice him to voluptuous indulgence +and self-abandonment, he should have retained a character, so +immeasurably superior in all moral worth, to that of nearly all the +crowned heads who occupied the thrones around him.</p> + +<p>The winter of 1784 was one of unusual severity. Large quantities of snow +fell, which so completely blocked up the walks, that the students at +Brienne could find but little amusement without doors. Napoleon +proposed, that to beguile the weary hours, they should erect an +extensive fortification of snow, with intrenchments and bastions, +parapets, ravelins, and horn-works. He had studied the science of +fortification with the utmost diligence, and, under his superintendence +the works were conceived and executed according to the strictest rules +of art. The power +<!--009.png--><span class="pagenum">295</span> +of his mind now displayed itself. No one thought of +questioning the authority of Napoleon. He planned and directed while a +hundred busy hands, with unquestioning alacrity, obeyed his will. The +works rapidly rose, and in such perfection of science, as to attract +crowds of the inhabitants of Brienne for their inspection. Napoleon +divided the school into two armies, one being intrusted with the defense +of the works, while the other composed the host of the besiegers. He +took upon himself the command of both bodies, now heading the besiegers +in the desperate assault, and now animating the besieged to an equally +vigorous defense. For several weeks this mimic warfare continued, during +which time many severe wounds were received on each side. In the heat of +the battle, when the bullets of snow were flying thick and fast, one of +the subordinate officers, venturing to disobey the commands of his +general, Napoleon felled him to the earth, inflicting a wound which left +a scar for life.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_04.jpg" width="700" height="458" +alt="A big snow-ball fight." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE SNOW FORT.</span> +</div> + +<p>In justice to Napoleon it must be related that when he had attained the +highest pitch of grandeur, this unfortunate school-boy, who had thus +experienced the rigor of Napoleon's military discipline, sought to +obtain an audience with the Emperor. Calamities had darkened the path of +the unfortunate man, and he was in poverty and obscurity. Napoleon, not +immediately recalling his name to mind, inquired if the applicant could +designate some incident of boyhood which would bring him to his +recollection. "Sire!" replied the courtier; "he has a deep scar upon his +forehead which he says was inflicted by your hand." "Ah!" rejoined +Napoleon, smiling; "I know the meaning of that scar perfectly well. It +was caused by an ice bullet which I hurled at his head. Bid him enter." +The poor man made his appearance, and immediately obtained from Napoleon +every thing that he requested.</p> + +<p>At one time the students at Brienne got up a private theatre for their +entertainment. The wife of the porter of the school, who sold the boys +cakes and apples, presented herself at the door of the theatre to obtain +admission to see the play, of the death of Cæsar, which was to be +performed that evening. Napoleon's sense of decorum was shocked at the +idea of the presence of a female among such a host of young men, and he +indignantly exclaimed, in characteristic language, "Remove that woman, +who brings here the license of camps."</p> + +<p>Napoleon remained in the school at Brienne for five years, from 1779 +till 1784. His vacations were usually spent in Corsica. He was +enthusiastically attached to his native island, and enjoyed exceedingly +rambling over its mountains, and through its valleys, and listening at +humble firesides to those traditions of violence and crime with which +every peasant was familiar. He was a great admirer of Paoli, the friend +of his father and the hero of Corsica. At Brienne the students were +invited to dine, by turns, with the principal of the school. One day +when Napoleon was at the table, one of the professors, knowing his young +pupil's admiration for Paoli, spoke disrespectfully of the distinguished +general, that he might tease the sensitive lad. Napoleon promptly and +energetically replied, "Paoli, sir, was a great man! He loved his +country; and I never shall forgive my father, for consenting to the +union of Corsica with France. He ought to have followed Paoli's fortunes +and to have fallen with him."</p> + +<p>Paoli, who upon the conquest of Corsica had fled to England, was +afterward permitted to return +<!--010.png--><span class="pagenum">296</span> +to his native island. Napoleon, though in +years but a boy, was, in mind a full-grown man. He sought the +acquaintance of Paoli, and they became intimate friends. The veteran +general and the manly boy took many excursions together over the island; +and Paoli pointed out to his intensely-interested companion, the fields +where sanguinary battles had been fought, and the positions which the +little army of Corsicans had occupied in the struggle for independence. +The energy and decision of character displayed by Napoleon produced such +an impression upon the mind of this illustrious man, that he at one time +exclaimed, "Oh, Napoleon! you do not at all resemble the moderns. You +belong only to the heroes of Plutarch."</p> + +<p>Pichegru, who afterward became so celebrated as the conqueror of Holland +and who came to so melancholy a death, was a member of the school at +Brienne at the same time with Napoleon. Being several years older than +the young Corsican, he instructed him in mathematics. The commanding +talents and firm character of his pupil deeply impressed the mind of +Pichegru. Many years after, when Napoleon was rising rapidly to power, +the Bourbons proposed to Pichegru, who had espoused the royalist cause, +to sound Napoleon and ascertain if he could be purchased to advocate +their claims. "It will be but lost time to attempt it," said Pichegru: +"I knew him in his youth. His character is inflexible. He has taken his +side, and he will not change it."</p> + +<p>One of the ladies of Brienne, occasionally invited some of the +school-boys to sup with her at her chateau. Napoleon was once passing +the evening with this lady, and, in the course of conversation, she +remarked, "Turenne was certainly a very great man; but I should have +liked him better had he not burned the Palatinate." "What signifies +that," was Napoleon's characteristic remark, "if the burning was +necessary to the object he had in +view?"<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> +This sentiment, uttered in +childhood, is a key to the character of Napoleon. It was his great moral +defect. To attain an end which he deemed important, he would ride over +every obstacle. He was not a cruel man. He was not a malignant man. It +was his great ambition to make himself illustrious by making France the +most powerful, enlightened, and happy empire upon the surface of the +globe. If, to attain this end, it was necessary to sacrifice a million +of lives, he would not shrink from the sacrifice. Had he been educated +in the school of Christianity, he might have learned that the end will +not sanctify the means. Napoleon was not a Christian.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> +Turenne was a marshal of France, and a distinguished +military leader in the reign of Louis XIV. He marched an invading army +into the Palatinate, a province of Germany, on the Rhine, and spread +devastation every where around him. From the top of his castle at +Manheim, the Elector of the Palatinate, at one time saw two of his +cities and twenty five of his villages in flames.</p></div> + +<p>His character for integrity and honor ever stood very high. At Brienne +he was a great favorite with the younger boys, whose rights he defended +against the invasions of the older.<!--011.png--> The indignation which Napoleon felt +at this time, in view of the arrogance of the young nobility, produced +an impression upon his character, the traces of which never passed away. +When his alliance with the royal house of Austria was proposed, the +Emperor Francis, whom Napoleon very irreverently called "an old +granny,"<a name="FNanchor_A_2" id="FNanchor_A_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> +was extremely anxious to prove the illustrious descent of +his prospective son-in-law.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_2" id="Footnote_A_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> +Some one repeated, to Maria Louisa, this remark of +Napoleon. She did not understand its meaning, and went to Talleyrand, +inquiring, "What does that mean, Monsieur, <i>an old granny</i>, what does it +mean?" "It means," the accomplished courtier replied, with one of his +most profound bows, "it means a venerable sage."</p></div> + +<p>He accordingly employed many persons to make researches among the +records of genealogy, to trace out the grandeur of his ancestral line. +Napoleon refused to have the account published, remarking, "I had rather +be the descendant of an honest man than of any petty tyrant of Italy. I +wish my nobility to commence with myself, and to derive all my titles +from the French people. I am the Rodolph of Hapsburg of my family. My +patent of nobility dates from the battle of +Montenotte."<a name="FNanchor_B_3" id="FNanchor_B_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_3" id="Footnote_B_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> +Rodolph of Hapsburg, was a gentleman, who by his own +energies had elevated himself to the imperial throne of Germany; and +became the founder of the house of Hapsburg. He was <i>the ancestor</i> to +whom the Austrian kings looked back with the loftiest pride.</p></div> + +<p>Upon the occasion of this marriage, the Pope, in order to render the +pedigree of Napoleon more illustrious, proposed the canonization of a +poor monk, by the name of Bonaparte, who for centuries had been quietly +reposing in his grave. "<i>Holy Father!</i>" exclaimed Napoleon, "<i>I beseech +you, spare me the ridicule of that step. You being in my power, all the +world will say that I forced you to create a saint out of my family.</i>" +To some remonstrances which were made against this marriage Napoleon +coolly replied, "I certainly should not enter into this alliance, if I +were not aware of the origin of Maria Louise being equally as noble as +my own."</p> + +<p>Still Napoleon was by no means regardless of that mysterious influence +which illustrious descent invariably exerts over the human mind. Through +his life one can trace the struggles of those conflicting sentiments. +The marshals of France, and the distinguished generals who surrounded +his throne, were raised from the rank and file of the army, by their own +merit; but he divorced his faithful Josephine, and married a daughter of +the Cæsars, that by an illustrious alliance he might avail himself of +this universal and innate prejudice. No power of reasoning can induce +one to look with the same interest upon the child of Cæsar and the child +of the beggar.</p> + +<p>Near the close of Napoleon's career, while Europe in arms was crowding +upon him, the Emperor found himself in desperate and hopeless conflict +on that very plain at Brienne, where in childhood he had reared his +fortification of snow. He sought an interview with the old woman, whom +he had ejected from the theatre, and from whom he had often purchased +milk and fruit. +<!--012.png--><span class="pagenum">297</span> +</p> + +<p>"Do you remember a boy by the name of Bonaparte," inquired Napoleon, +"who formerly attended this school?" "Yes! very well," was the answer. +"Did he always pay you for what he bought?" "Yes;" replied the old +woman, "and he often compelled the other boys to pay, when they wished +to defraud me." "Perhaps he may have forgotten a few sous," said +Napoleon, "and here is a purse of gold to discharge any outstanding debt +which may remain between us." At this same time he pointed out to his +companion a tree, under which, with unbounded delight, he read, when a +boy, Jerusalem Delivered, and where, in the warm summer evenings, with +indescribable luxury of emotion, he listened to the tolling of the bells +on the distant village-church spires. To such impressions his +sensibilities were peculiarly alive. The monarch then turned away sadly +from these reminiscenses of childhood, to plunge, seeking death, into +the smoke and the carnage of his last and despairing conflicts.</p> + +<p>It was a noble trait in the character of Napoleon, that in his day of +power he so generously remembered even the casual acquaintances of his +early years. He ever wrote an exceedingly illegible hand, as his +impetuous and restless spirit was such that he could not drive his pen +with sufficient rapidity over his paper. The poor writing-master at +Brienne was in utter despair, and could do nothing with his pupil. Years +after, Napoleon was sitting one day with Josephine, in his cabinet at +St. Cloud, when a poor man, with threadbare coat, was ushered into his +presence. Trembling before his former pupil, he announced himself as the +writing-master of Brienne, and solicited a pension from the Emperor. +Napoleon affected anger, and said, "Yes, you were my writing-master, +were you? and a pretty chirographist you made of me, too. Ask Josephine, +there, what she thinks of my handwriting!" The Empress, with that +amiable tact, which made her the most lovely of women, smilingly +replied, "I assure you, sir, his letters are perfectly delightful." The +Emperor laughed cordially at the well-timed compliment, and made the +poor old man comfortable for the rest of his days.</p> + +<p>In the days of his prosperity, amidst all the cares of empire, Napoleon +remembered the poor Corsican woman, who was the kind nurse of his +infancy, and settled upon her a pension of two hundred dollars a year. +Though far advanced in life, the good woman was determined to see her +little nursling, in the glory of whose exaltation her heart so +abundantly shared. With this object in view she made a journey to Paris. +The Emperor received her most kindly, and transported the happy woman +home again with her pension doubled.</p> + +<p>In one of Napoleon's composition exercises at Brienne, he gave rather +free utterance to his republican sentiments, and condemned the conduct +of the royal family. The professor of rhetoric rebuked the young +republican severely for the offensive passage, and to add to the +severity of<!--013.png--> the rebuke, compelled him to throw the paper into the fire. +Long afterward, the professor was commanded to attend a levee of the +First Consul to receive Napoleon's younger brother Jerome as a pupil. +Napoleon received him with great kindness, but at the close of the +business, very good-humoredly reminded him that times were very +considerably changed since the burning of that paper.</p> + +<p>Napoleon remained in the school of Brienne for five years, from 1779 +till 1784. He had just entered his fifteenth year, when he was promoted +to the military school at Paris. Annually, three of the best scholars, +from each of the twelve provincial military schools of France, were +promoted to the military school at Paris. This promotion, at the +earliest possible period in which his age would allow his admission, +shows the high rank, as a scholar, which Napoleon sustained. The records +of the Minister of War contain the following interesting entry:</p> + +<p>"State of the king's scholars eligible to enter into service, or to pass +to the school at Paris. Monsieur de Bonaparte (Napoleon), born 15th +August, 1769; in height five feet six and a half inches; has finished +his fourth season; of a good constitution, health excellent, character +mild, honest, and grateful; conduct exemplary; has always distinguished +himself by application to mathematics; understands history and geography +tolerably well; is indifferently skilled in merely ornamental studies, +and in Latin, in which he has only finished his fourth course; would +make an excellent sailor; deserves to be passed to the school at Paris."</p> + +<p>The military school at Paris, which Napoleon now entered, was furnished +with all the appliances of aristocratic luxury. It had been founded for +the sons of the nobility, who had been accustomed to every indulgence. +Each of the three hundred young men assembled in this school had a +servant to groom his horse, to polish his weapons, to brush his boots, +and to perform all other necessary menial services. The cadet reposed on +a luxurious bed, and was fed with sumptuous viands. There are few lads +of fifteen who would not have been delighted with the dignity, the ease, +and the independence of this style of living. Napoleon, however, +immediately saw that this was by no means the training requisite to +prepare officers for the toils and the hardships of war. He addressed an +energetic memorial to the governor, urging the banishment of this +effeminacy and voluptuousness from the military school. He argued that +the students should learn to groom their own horses, to clean their +armor, and to perform all those services, and to inure themselves to +those privations which would prepare them for the exposure and the toils +of actual service. No incident in the childhood or in the life of +Napoleon shows more decisively than this his energetic, self-reliant, +commanding character. The wisdom, the fortitude, and the foresight, not +only of mature years, but of the mature years of the most powerful +intellect, were here exhibited. The military school which he +<!--014.png--><span class="pagenum">298</span> +afterward +established at Fontainebleau, and which obtained such world-wide +celebrity, was founded upon the model of this youthful memorial. And one +distinguishing cause of the extraordinary popularity which Napoleon +afterward secured, was to be found in the fact, that through life he +called upon no one to encounter perils, or to endure hardships which he +was not perfectly ready himself to encounter or to endure.</p> + +<p>At Paris the elevation of his character, his untiring devotion to study, +his peculiar conversational energy, and the almost boundless information +he had acquired, attracted much attention. His solitary and recluse +habits, and his total want of sympathy with most of his fellow students +in their idleness, and in their frivolous amusements, rendered him far +from popular with the multitude. His great superiority was, however, +universally recognized. He pressed on in his studies with as much +vehemence as if he had been forewarned of the extraordinary career +before him, and that but a few months were left in which to garner up +those stores of knowledge with which he was to remodel the institutions +of Europe, and almost change the face of the world.</p> + +<p>About this time he was at Marseilles on some day of public festivity. A +large party of young gentlemen and ladies were amusing themselves with +dancing. Napoleon was rallied upon his want of gallantry in declining to +participate in the amusements of the evening. He replied, "It is not by +playing and dancing that a <i>man</i> is to be formed." Indeed he never, from +childhood, took any pleasure in fashionable dissipation. He had not a +very high opinion of men or women in general. He was perfectly willing +to provide amusements which he thought adapted to the capacities of the +masculine and feminine minions flitting about the court; but his own +expanded mind was so engrossed with vast projects of utility and renown, +that he found no moments to spare in cards and billiards, and he was at +the furthest possible remove from what may be called a lady's man.</p> + +<p>On one occasion a mathematical problem of great difficulty having been +proposed to the class, Napoleon, in order to solve it, secluded himself +in his room for seventy-two hours; and he solved the problem. This +extraordinary faculty of intense and continuous exertion both of mind +and body, was his distinguishing characteristic through life. Napoleon +did not blunder into renown. His triumphs were not casualties; his +achievements were not accidents; his grand conceptions were not the +brilliant flashes of unthinking and unpremeditated genius. Never did man +prepare the way for greatness by more untiring devotion to the +acquisition of all useful knowledge, and to the attainment of the +highest possible degree of mental discipline. That he possessed native +powers of mind, of extraordinary vigor it is true; but those powers were +expanded and energized by Herculean study. His mighty genius impelled to +the sacrifice of every indulgence, and to sleepless toil.<!--015.png--></p> + +<p>The vigor of Napoleon's mind, so conspicuous in conversation, was +equally remarkable in his exercises in composition. His professor of +Belles-Lettres remarked that Napoleon's amplifications ever reminded him +of "flaming missiles ejected from a volcano." While in the military +school at Paris the Abbé Raynal became so forcibly impressed with his +astonishing mental acquirements, and the extent of his capacities, that +he frequently invited him, though Napoleon was then but a lad of +sixteen, to breakfast at his table with other illustrious guests. His +mind was at that time characterized by great logical accuracy, united +with the most brilliant powers of masculine imagination. His +conversation, laconic, graphic, oracular, arrested every mind. Had the +vicissitudes of life so ordered his lot, he would undoubtedly have been +as distinguished in the walks of literature and in the halls of science, +as he became in the field and in the cabinet. That he was one of the +profoundest of thinkers all admit; and his trumpet-toned proclamations +resounded through Europe, rousing the army to almost a frenzy of +enthusiasm, and electrifying alike the peasant and the prince. Napoleon +had that comprehensive genius which would have been pre-eminent in any +pursuit to which he had devoted the energies of his mind. Great as were +his military victories, they were by no means the greatest of his +achievements.</p> + +<p>In September, 1785, Napoleon, then but sixteen years of age, was +examined to receive an appointment in the army. The mathematical branch +of the examination was conducted by the celebrated La Place. Napoleon +passed the ordeal triumphantly. In history he had made very extensive +attainments. His proclamations, his public addresses, his private +conferences with his ministers in his cabinet, all attest the +philosophical discrimination with which he had pondered the records of +the past, and had studied the causes of the rise and fall of empires. At +the close of his examination in history, the historical professor, +Monsieur Keruglion, wrote opposite to the signature of Napoleon, "A +Corsican by character and by birth. This young man will distinguish +himself in the world if favored by fortune." This professor was very +strongly attached to his brilliant pupil. He often invited him to +dinner, and cultivated his confidence. Napoleon in after years did not +forget this kindness, and many years after, upon the death of the +professor, settled a very handsome pension upon his widow. Napoleon, as +the result of this examination, was appointed second lieutenant in a +regiment of artillery. He was exceedingly gratified in becoming thus +early in life an officer in the army. To a boy of sixteen it must have +appeared the attainment of a very high degree of human grandeur.</p> + +<p>That evening, arrayed in his new uniform, with epaulets and the enormous +boots which at that time were worn by the artillery, in an exuberant +glow of spirits, he called upon a female friend, Mademoiselle Permon, +who afterward became Duchess of Abrantes, and who was regarded +<!--016.png--><span class="pagenum">299</span> +as one +of the most brilliant wits of the imperial court. A younger sister of +this lady, who had just returned from a boarding-school, was so much +struck with the comical appearance of Napoleon, whose feminine +proportions so little accorded with this military costume, that she +burst into an immoderate fit of laughter, declaring that he resembled +nothing so much as "Puss in Boots." The raillery was too just not to be +felt. Napoleon struggled against his sense of mortification, and soon +regained his accustomed equanimity. A few days after, to prove that he +cherished no rancorous recollection of the occurrence, he presented the +mirthful maiden with an elegantly bound copy of Puss in Boots.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_05.jpg" width="700" height="477" +alt="Bonaparte trying to socialize with women at evening gathering." title="" /> +<span class="caption">LIEUTENANT BONAPARTE.</span> +</div> + +<p>Napoleon soon, exulting in his new commission, repaired to Valence to +join his regiment. His excessive devotion to study had impeded the full +development of his physical frame. Though exceedingly thin and fragile +in figure, there was a girlish gracefulness and beauty in his form; and +his noble brow and piercing eye attracted attention and commanded +respect. One of the most distinguished ladies of the place, Madame du +Colombier, became much interested in the young lieutenant, and he was +frequently invited to her house. He was there introduced to much +intelligent and genteel society. In after life he frequently spoke with +gratitude of the advantages he derived from this early introduction to +refined and polished associates. Napoleon formed a strong attachment for +a daughter of Madame du Colombier, a young lady of about his own age and +possessed of many accomplishments. They frequently enjoyed morning and +evening rambles through the pleasant walks in the environs of Valence. +Napoleon subsequently speaking of this youthful attachment said, "We +were the most innocent creatures imaginable. We contrived short +interviews together. I well remember one which took place, on a +midsummer's morning, just as the light began to dawn. It will scarcely +be credited that all our felicity consisted in eating cherries +together." The vicissitudes of life soon separated these young friends +from each other, and they met not again for ten years. Napoleon, then +Emperor of France, was, with a magnificent retinue, passing through +Lyons, when this young lady, who had since been married, and who had +encountered many misfortunes, with some difficulty gained access to him, +environed as he was with all the etiquette of royalty. Napoleon +instantly recognized his former friend and inquired minutely respecting +all her joys and griefs. He immediately assigned to her husband a post +which secured for him an ample competence, and conferred upon her the +situation of a maid of honor to one of his sisters.</p> + +<p>From Valence Napoleon went to Lyons, having been ordered, with his +regiment, to that place in consequence of some disturbances which had +broken out there. His pay as lieutenant was quite inadequate to support +him in the rank of a gentleman. His widowed mother, with six children +younger than Napoleon, who was then but seventeen years of age, was +quite unable to supply him with funds. This pecuniary embarrassment +often exposed the high-spirited young officer to the keenest +mortification. It did not, however, in the slightest degree, impair his +energies or weaken his confidence in that peculiar consciousness, which +from childhood he had cherished, that he was endowed with extraordinary +powers, and that he was born to an exalted destiny. He secluded himself +from his brother officers, and, keeping aloof from all the haunts of +<!--017.png--><span class="pagenum">300</span> + +amusement and dissipation, cloistered himself in his study, and with +indefatigable energy devoted himself anew to the acquisition of +knowledge, laying up those inexhaustible stores of information and +gaining that mental discipline which proved of such incalculable +advantage to him in the brilliant career upon which he subsequently +entered.</p> + +<p>While at Lyons, Napoleon, friendless and poor, was taken sick. He had a +small room in the attic of an hotel, where, alone, he lingered through +the weary hours of hunger and pain. A lady from Geneva, visiting some +friends at Lyons, happened to learn that a young officer was sick in the +hotel. She could only ascertain, respecting him, that he was quite +young—that his name was Bonaparte—then an unknown name; and that his +purse was very scantily provided. Her benevolent feelings impelled her +to his bedside. She immediately felt the fascination with which Napoleon +could ever charm those who approached him. With unremitting kindness she +nursed him, and had the gratification of seeing him so far restored as +to be able to rejoin his regiment. Napoleon took his leave of the +benevolent lady with many expressions of gratitude for the kindness he +had experienced.</p> + +<p>After the lapse of years when Napoleon had been crowned Emperor, he +received a letter from this lady, congratulating him upon the eminence +he had attained, and informing him that disastrous days had darkened +around her. Napoleon immediately returned an answer, containing two +thousand dollars, and expressing the most friendly assurances of his +immediate attention to any favors she might in future solicit.</p> + +<p>The Academy at Lyons offered a prize for the best dissertation upon the +question: "What are the institutions most likely to contribute to human +happiness?" Napoleon wrote upon the subject, and though there were many +competitors, the prize was awarded to him. Many years afterward, when +seated upon the throne, his Minister Talleyrand sent a courier to Lyons +and obtained the manuscript. Thinking it would please the Emperor, he, +one day, when they were alone, put the essay into Napoleon's hands, +asking him if he knew the author. Napoleon immediately recognizing the +writing, threw it into the flames, saying at the same time, that it was +a boyish production full of visionary and impracticable schemes. He +also, in these hours of unceasing study, wrote a History of Corsica, +which he was preparing to publish, when the rising storms of the times +led him to lay aside his pen for the sword.</p> + +<p>Two great parties, the Royalists and the Republicans, were now +throughout France contending for the supremacy. Napoleon joined the +Republican side. Most of the officers in the army being sons of the Old +Nobility, were of the opposite party; and this made him very unpopular +with them. He, however, with great firmness, openly avowed his +sentiments, and eagerly watched the progress of those events, which he +thought would open to him a career of fame and<!--018.png--> fortune. He still +continued to prosecute his studies with untiring diligence. He was, at +this period of his life, considered proud, haughty, and irascible, +though he was loved with great enthusiasm by the few whose friendship he +chose to cultivate. His friends appreciated his distinguished character +and attainments, and predicted his future eminence. His remarkable +logical accuracy of mind, his lucid and energetic expressions, his +immense information upon all points of history and upon every subject of +practical importance, his extensive scientific attainments, and his +thorough accomplishments as an officer, rendered him an object of +general observation, and secured for him the respect even of the idlers +who disliked his unsocial habits.</p> + +<p>About this time, in consequence of some popular tumults at Auxonne, +Napoleon, with his regiment, was ordered to that place. He, with some +subaltern officers, was quartered at the house of a barber. Napoleon, as +usual, immediately, when off of duty, cloistered himself in his room +with his law books, his scientific treatises, his histories, and his +mathematics. His associate officers loitered through the listless days, +coquetting with the pretty wife of the barber, smoking cigars in the +shop, and listening to the petty gossip of the place. The barber's wife +was quite annoyed at receiving no attentions from the handsome, +distinguished, but ungallant young lieutenant. She accordingly disliked +him exceedingly. A few years after as Napoleon, then commander of the +army of Italy, was on his way to Marengo, he passed through Auxonne. He +stopped at the door of the barber's shop and asked his former hostess, +if she remembered a young officer by the name of Bonaparte, who was once +quartered in her family. "Indeed, I do," was the pettish reply, "and a +very disagreeable inmate he was. He was always either shut up in his +room or, if he walked out, he never condescended to speak to any one." +"Ah! my good woman," Napoleon rejoined; "had I passed my time as you +wished to have me, I should not now have been in command of the army of +Italy."</p> + +<p>The higher nobility and most of the officers in the army were in favor +of Royalty. The common soldiers and the great mass of the people were +advocates of Republicanism. Napoleon's fearless avowal, under all +circumstances, of his hostility to monarchy and his approval of popular +liberty, often exposed him to serious embarrassments. He has himself +given a very glowing account of an interview at one of the fashionable +residences at Auxonne, where he had been invited to meet an aristocratic +circle. The revolution was just breaking out in all its terror, and the +excitement was intense throughout France. In the course of conversation +Napoleon gave free utterance to his sentiments. They all instantly +assailed him, gentlemen and ladies, pell-mell. Napoleon was not a man to +retreat. His condensed sentences fell like hot shot among the crowd of +antagonists who surrounded him. The battle waxed warmer and warmer. +There was no one to utter a word in favor of Napoleon. +<!--019.png--><span class="pagenum">301</span> +He was a young +man of nineteen, surrounded by veteran generals and distinguished +nobles. Like Wellington at Waterloo he was wishing that some "Blucher or +night were come." Suddenly the door was opened, and the mayor of the +city was announced. Napoleon began to flatter himself that a rescue was +at hand, when the little great man in pompous dignity joined the +assailants and belabored the young officer at bay, more mercilessly than +all the rest. At last the lady of the house took compassion upon her +defenseless guest, and interposed to shield him from the blows which he +was receiving in the unequal contest.</p> + +<p>One evening, in the year 1790, there was a very brilliant party in the +drawing-rooms of M. Neckar, the celebrated financier. The Bastile had +just been demolished. The people, exulting in newly found power, and +dimly discerning long-defrauded rights, were trampling beneath their +feet, indiscriminately, all institutions, good and bad, upon which ages +had left their sanction. The gay and fickle Parisians, notwithstanding +the portentous approachings of a storm, the most fearful earth has ever +witnessed, were pleased with change, and with reckless curiosity awaited +the result of the appalling phenomenon exhibited around them. Many of +the higher nobility, terrified at the violence, daily growing more +resistless and extended, had sought personal safety in emigration. The +tone of society in the metropolis had, however, become decidedly +improved by the greater commingling, in all the large parties, of men +eminent in talents and in public services, as well as of those +illustrious in rank.</p> + +<p>The entertainments given by M. Neckar, embellished by the presence, as +the presiding genius, of his distinguished daughter, Madame de +Staël,<a name="FNanchor_A_4" id="FNanchor_A_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> +were brilliant in the extreme, assembling all the noted gentlemen and +ladies of the metropolis. On the occasion to which we refer, the +magnificent saloon was filled with men who had attained the highest +eminence in literature and science, or who, in those troubled times, had +ascended to posts of influence and honor in the state. Mirabeau was +there,<a name="FNanchor_B_5" id="FNanchor_B_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> +with his lofty brow and thunder<!--020.png--> tones, proud of his very +ugliness. +Talleyrand<a name="FNanchor_C_6" id="FNanchor_C_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> +moved majestically through the halls, +conspicuous for his gigantic proportions and courtly bearing. La +Fayette, rendered glorious as the friend of Washington and his companion +in arms, had gathered around him a group of congenial spirits. In the +embrasure of a window sat Madame de Staël. By the brilliance of her +conversational powers she had attracted to her side St. Just, who +afterward obtained such sanguinary notoriety; Malesherbes, the eloquent +and intrepid advocate of royalty; Lalande, the venerable astronomer; +Marmontel and Lagrange, illustrious mathematicians, and others, whose +fame was circulating through Europe.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_4" id="Footnote_A_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> +Napoleon, at St. Helena, gave the following graphic and +most discriminating sketch of the character of Madame de Staël. "She was +a woman of considerable talent and great ambition; but so extremely +intriguing and restless, as to give rise to the observation, that she +would throw her friends into the sea, that, at the moment of drowning, +she might have an opportunity of saving them. Shortly after my return +from the conquest of Italy, I was accosted by her in a large company, +though at that time I avoided going out much in public. She followed me +every where, and stuck so close that I could not shake her off. At last +she asked me, 'Who is at this moment the first woman in the world?' +intending to pay a compliment to me, and thinking that I would return +it. I looked at her, and replied, 'She, madame, who has borne the +greatest number of children,' an answer which greatly confused her." +From this hour she became the unrelenting enemy of Napoleon.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_5" id="Footnote_B_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> +"Few persons," said Mirabeau, "comprehend the power of my +ugliness." "If you would form an idea of my looks," he wrote to a lady +who had never seen him, "you must imagine a tiger who has had the +small-pox." "The life of Mirabeau," says Sydney Smith, "should embrace +all the talents and all the vices, every merit and every defect, every +glory and every disgrace. He was student, voluptuary, soldier, prisoner, +author, diplomatist, exile, pauper, courtier, democrat, orator, +statesman, traitor. He has seen more, suffered more, learned more, felt +more, done more, than any man of his own or any other age."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_6" id="Footnote_C_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> +Talleyrand, one of the most distinguished diplomatists, was +afterward elevated by the Emperor Napoleon to be Grand Chamberlain of +the Empire. He was celebrated for his witticisms. One day Mirabeau was +recounting the qualities which, in those difficult times, one should +possess to be minister of state. He was evidently describing his own +character, when, to the great mirth of all present, Talleyrand archly +interrupted him with the inquiry, "<i>He should also be pitted with the +small-pox, should he not?</i>"</p></div> + +<p>In one corner stood the celebrated Alfieri, reciting with almost +maniacal gesticulation his own poetry to a group of ladies. The grave +and philosophical Neckar was the centre of another group of careworn +statesmen, discussing the rising perils of the times. It was an +assemblage of all which Paris could afford of brilliance in rank, +talent, or station. About the middle of the evening, Josephine, the +beautiful, but then neglected wife of M. Beauharnais, was announced, +accompanied by her little son Eugène. Madame de Genlis, soon made her +appearance, attended by the brother of the king; and, conscious of her +intellectual dignity, floated through that sea of brilliance, recognized +wherever she approached, by the abundance of perfumery which her dress +exhaled. Madame Campan, the friend and companion of Maria Antoinette, +and other ladies and gentlemen of the Court were introduced, and the +party now consisted of a truly remarkable assemblage of distinguished +men and women. Parisian gayety seemed to banish all thoughts of the +troubles of the times, and the hours were surrendered to unrestrained +hilarity. Servants were gliding through the throng, bearing a profusion +of refreshments consisting of delicacies gathered from all quarters of +the globe.</p> + +<p>As the hour of midnight approached there was a lull in the buzz of +conversation, and the guests gathered in silent groups to listen to a +musical entertainment. Madame de Staël took her seat at the piano, while +Josephine prepared to accompany her with the harp. They both were +performers of singular excellence, and the whole assembly was hushed in +expectation. Just as they had commenced the first notes of a charming +<!--021.png--><span class="pagenum">302</span> + +duet the door of the saloon was thrown open, and two new guests entered +the apartment. The one was an elderly gentleman, of very venerable +aspect, and dressed in the extreme of simplicity. The other was a young +man, very small, pale, and slender. The elderly gentleman was +immediately recognized by all as the Abbé Raynal, one of the most +distinguished philosophers of France; but no one knew the pale, slender, +fragile youth who accompanied him. They both, that they might not +interrupt the music, silently took seats near the door. As soon as the +performance was ended, and the ladies had received those compliments +which their skill and taste elicited, the Abbé approached Madame de +Staël, accompanied by his young protégé, and introduced him as Monsieur +Napoleon Bonaparte. Bonaparte! that name which has since filled the +world, was then plebeian and unknown, and upon its utterance many of the +proud aristocrats in that assembly shrugged their shoulders, and turned +contemptuously away to their conversation and amusement.</p> + +<p>Madame de Staël had almost an instinctive perception of the presence of +genius. Her attention was instantly arrested by the few remarks with +which Napoleon addressed her. They were soon engaged in very animated +conversation. Josephine and several other ladies joined them. The group +grew larger and larger as the gentlemen began to gather around the +increasing circle. "Who is that young man who thus suddenly has gathered +such a group around him?" the proud Alfieri condescended to ask of the +Abbé Raynal. "He is," replied the Abbé, "a protégé of mine, and a young +man of very extraordinary talent. He is very industrious, well read, and +has made remarkable attainments in history, mathematics, and all +military science." Mirabeau came stalking across the room, lured by +curiosity to see what could be the source of the general attraction. +"Come here! come here!" said Madame de Staël, with a smile, and in an +under tone. "We have found a little great man. I will introduce him to +you, for I know that you are fond of men of genius."</p> + +<p>Mirabeau very graciously shook hands with Napoleon, and entered into +conversation with the untitled young man, without assuming any airs of +superiority. A group of distinguished men now gathered round them, and +the conversation became in some degree general. The Bishop of Autun +commended Fox and Sheridan for having asserted that the French army, by +refusing to obey the orders of their superiors to fire upon the +populace, had set a glorious example to all the armies of Europe; +because, by so doing, they had shown that men by becoming soldiers did +not cease to be citizens.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, my lord," exclaimed Napoleon, in tones of earnestness which +arrested general attention, "if I venture to interrupt you; but as I am +an officer I must claim the privilege of expressing my sentiments. It is +true that I am very young, and it may appear presumptuous in me to +address so many distinguished men; but<!--022.png--> during the last three years I +have paid intense attention to our political troubles. I see with sorrow +the state of our country, and I will incur censure rather than pass +unnoticed principles which are not only unsound but which are subversive +of all government. As much as any one I desire to see all abuses, +antiquated privileges, and usurped rights annulled. Nay! as I am at the +commencement of my career, it will be my best policy as well as my duty +to support the progress of popular institutions, and to promote reform +in every branch of the public administration. But as in the last twelve +months I have witnessed repeated alarming popular disturbances, and have +seen our best men divided into factions which threaten to be +irreconcilable, I sincerely believe that now <i>more than ever</i>, a strict +discipline in the army is absolutely necessary for the safety of our +constitutional government and for the maintenance of order. Nay! if our +troops are not compelled unhesitatingly to obey the commands of the +executive, we shall be exposed to the blind fury of democratic passions, +which will render France the most miserable country on the globe. The +ministry may be assured that if the daily increasing arrogance of the +Parisian mob is not repressed by a strong arm, and social order rigidly +maintained, we shall see not only this capital, but every other city in +France, thrown into a state of indescribable anarchy, while the real +friends of liberty, the enlightened patriots, now working for the best +good of our country, will sink beneath a set of demagogues, who, with +louder outcries for freedom on their tongues, will be in reality but a +horde of savages worse than the Neros of old."</p> + +<p>These emphatic sentences uttered by Napoleon, with an air of authority +which seemed natural to the youthful speaker, caused a profound +sensation. For a moment there was perfect silence in the group, and +every eye was riveted upon the pale and marble cheek of Napoleon. Neckar +and La Fayette listened with evident uneasiness to his bold and weighty +sentiments, as if conscious of the perils which his words so forcibly +portrayed. Mirabeau nodded once or twice significantly to Tallyrand, +seeming thus to say "that is exactly the truth." Some turned upon their +heels, exasperated at this fearless avowal of hostility to democratic +progress. Alfieri, one of the proudest of aristocrats, could hardly +restrain his delight, and gazed with amazement upon the intrepid young +man. "Condorcet," says an eye witness, "nearly made me cry out, by the +squeezes which he gave my hand at every sentence uttered by the pale, +slender, youthful speaker."</p> + +<p>As soon as Napoleon had concluded, Madame de Staël, turning to the Abbé +Raynal, cordially thanked him for having introduced her to the +acquaintance of one, cherishing views as a statesman so profound, and so +essential to present emergencies. Then turning to her father and his +colleagues, she said, with her accustomed air of dignity and authority, +"Gentlemen, I hope +<!--023.png--><span class="pagenum">303</span> +that you will heed the important truths which you +have now heard uttered." The young Napoleon, then but nineteen years of +age, thus suddenly became the most prominent individual in that whole +assembly. Wherever he moved many eyes followed him. He had none of the +airs of a man of fashion. He made no attempts at displays of gallantry. +A peaceful melancholy seemed to overshadow him, as, with an abstracted +air, he moved through the glittering throng, without being in the +slightest degree dazzled by its brilliance. The good old Abbé Raynal +appeared quite enraptured in witnessing this triumph of his young +protégé.</p> + +<p>Soon after this, in September, 1791, Napoleon, then twenty years of age, +on furlough, visited his native island. He had recently been promoted to +a first-lieutenancy. Upon returning to the home of his childhood, to +spend a few months in rural leisure, the first object of his attention +was to prepare for himself a study, where he could be secluded from all +interruption. For this purpose he selected a room in the attic of the +house, where he would be removed from all the noise of the family. Here, +with his books spread out before him, he passed days and nights of the +most incessant mental toil. He sought no recreation; he seldom went out; +he seldom saw any company. Had some guardian angel informed him of the +immense drafts which, in the future, were to be made upon his mind, he +could not have consecrated himself with more sleepless energy, to +prepare for the emergency. The life of Napoleon presents the most +striking illustration of the truth of the sentiment,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The heights by great men reached and kept<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Were not attained by sudden flight;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But they, while their companions slept,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Were toiling upward in the night."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_06.jpg" width="700" height="492" +alt="In a hired boat underway, paying out a string behind." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE WATER-EXCURSION.</span> +</div> + +<p>One cloudless morning, just after the sun had risen, he was sauntering +along by the sea-shore, in solitary musings, when he chanced to meet a +brother officer, who reproached him with his unsocial habits, and urged +him to indulge, for once, in a pleasure excursion. Napoleon, who had, +for some time, been desirous of taking a survey of the harbor, and of +examining some heights, upon the opposite side of the gulf, which, in +his view, commanded the town of Ajaccio, consented to the proposal, upon +the condition that his friend should accompany him upon the water. They +made a signal to some sailors on board a vessel riding at anchor, at +some distance from the shore, and were soon in a boat propelled by +vigorous rowers. Napoleon seated himself at the stern, and taking from +his pocket a ball of pack-thread, one end of which he had fastened upon +the shore, commenced the accurate measurement of the width of the gulf. +His companion, feeling no interest in the survey, and seeking only +listless pleasure, was not a little annoyed in having his amusement thus +converted into a study for which he had no relish. When they arrived at +the opposite side of the bay, Napoleon insisted upon climbing the +heights. Regardless of the remonstrances of his associate, who +complained of hunger, and of absence from the warm breakfast which was +in readiness for him, Napoleon persisted in exploring the ground. +Napoleon in describing the scene says: "My companion, quite uninterested +in researches of this kind, begged me to desist. I strove to divert him, +and to gain time to accomplish my purpose, but appetite made him deaf. +If I spoke to him of the width of the bay, he replied that he was +hungry, and that his warm +<!--024.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">304</a></span> +breakfast was cooling. If I pointed out to +him a church steeple or a house, which I could reach with my +bomb-shells, he replied, "Yes, but I have not breakfasted." At length, +late in the morning, we returned, but the friends with whom he was +expecting to breakfast, tired of the delay, had finished their repast, +so that, on his arrival he found neither guests nor banquet. He resolved +to be more cautious in future as to the companion he would choose, and +the hour in which he would set out, on an excursion of pleasure."</p> + +<p>Subsequently the English surmounted these very heights by a redoubt, and +then Napoleon had occasion to avail himself very efficiently of the +information acquired upon this occasion.</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="THE_SOMNAMBULE" id="THE_SOMNAMBULE"></a>THE SOMNAMBULE.</h2> + +<p>About twelve months ago Andrè Folitton, horticulturist and herbalist of +St. Cloud, a young man of worth and respectability, was united in +marriage to Julienne, daughter of an apothecary of the same place. Andrè +and Julienne had long loved each other, and congeniality of disposition, +parity of years, and health and strength, as well as a tolerably +comfortable setout in the world, seemed to promise for them many years +of happiness. Supremely contented, and equally disposed to render life +as pleasant and blithe as possible, the future seemed spread before +them, a long vista of peace and pleasantness, and bright were the +auguries which rose around them during the early days of their espousal.</p> + +<p>Though he loved mirth and fun as much as any one, Andrè was extremely +regular in his habits, and every engagement he made was pretty sure of +being punctually attended to. Julienne quickly discovered that thrice +every week, precisely at seven o'clock in the evening, her husband left +his home, to which he returned generally after the lapse of two hours. +Whither he went she did not know, nor could she find out.</p> + +<p>Andrè always parried her little inquisitions with jokes and laughter. +She perceived, however, that his excursions might be connected with +business in some way or other, for he never expended money, as he would +had he gone to a café or estaminet. Julienne's speculations went no +further than this. As to the husband and wife, had they been left to +themselves, not the slightest interruption of mutual good-feeling would +ever have arisen out of this matter.</p> + +<p>But it is a long lane which has no turning, and a very slight +circumstance gave an unhappy twist to the path which had promised such a +direct and pleasant voyage through life. Julienne had almost ceased to +puzzle herself about her husband's periodical absences, indeed had +ceased to joke when he returned from them, having easily learned—the +good-tempered little woman—to consider them as nothing more than some +engagement connected with the ordinary course of business. One night, +however, a neighbor, Madame Margot, stepped into the bowery cottage<!--025.png--> of +the young pair to have a chat and a cup of coffee with Madame Folitton. +Madame Margot, though she had more words than Julienne, and could keep +the conversation going at a more rattling pace, had by no means so sweet +and gracious a presence. Her sharp eye and thin lips were true indices +to a prying and somewhat ill-natured disposition; and the fact is, that +Madame Margot, having several times seen Andrè pass her house alone in +the evening, as if taking a walk by himself, had been seized with a +strong desire to know "how things were going on" between him and his +wife. Madame Margot had never joined other folks in their profuse +prophesies of future happiness when Andrè and Julienne were wedded. She +was not the woman to do it; her temper had spread her own bed, and her +husband's too, with thorns and briars, and so she declared that the +happiness of wedded life was something worse than a <i>mauvaise +plaisanterie</i>. "Eh, bien!" she exclaimed, when folks spoke of Andrè and +his wife. "I wish them well, but I have lived too long to suppose that +such a beginning as theirs can hold on long! We shall hear different +tales by and by!" So Madame Margot, with her sharp eye and thin lips, +eager to verify her prognostications, had visited Andrè's house to +reconnoitre.</p> + +<p>"M. Folitton? he is not here?" said she, in the course of conversation.</p> + +<p>"He is from home," answered Julienne; and as she saw the peering +expression of Madame Margot's face, she answered in such a manner as to +check further inquiry.</p> + +<p>"I knew it!" thought Madame Margot. "I was sure there was something +wrong!"</p> + +<p>"Andrè will be in presently," added Julienne.</p> + +<p>"Ah, well," exclaimed her companion, with the look of one resigned to +the inconveniences of life, "it is well that he is so attentive to +business; and very glad I am to see how much he has upon his hands: +early in the morning till late at night. Fortune and leisure await those +who work like him."</p> + +<p>"You are kind," said Julienne. "It is true that Andrè works very hard. +Let me fill your cup."</p> + +<p>"Ah, Julienne! On your wedding-day, my dear, all the songs were hosannas +and jubilates, and it really does seem that you are very happy and +comfortable. Is it not so?"</p> + +<p>"You are right, Madame Margot. Andrè and I are very happy, and we have +many blessings to be thankful for."</p> + +<p>"There is one thing," rejoined the wily lady, "which, allow me to say, +people who have businesses to look after feel rather strongly. Ay, well +do I and Margot know that business interferes terribly with domestic +happiness."</p> + +<p>"In what manner?" asked Julienne, in some surprise, for Madame Margot's +experience did not "come home" to her. "I have never thought so, nor +Andrè either, I believe."</p> + +<p>"Why, my dear, when people are abroad they can't be at home," continued +the inquisitress. "And as I and Margot feel that it is hard we +<!--026.png--><span class="pagenum">305</span> +can be +so very little together, I naturally think that other people must feel +the same. But, however, we <i>can</i> enjoy our little walk in the evening. I +am sure, my dear, you would like it all the better if you could do the +same."</p> + +<p>"I should," said Julienne; "but as Andrè's time is occupied, there is no +use thinking about it. I can't think where he goes," added she, +unguardedly and pensively.</p> + +<p>Madame Margot pricked up her ears.</p> + +<p>"Why, my dear!" exclaimed she, lowering her voice, as if about to say +something of momentous importance, "do you mean to say that you don't +know where he goes so many evenings in the week?" The good lady had +always exercised a sharp scrutiny over the movements of her lord, and +the bare idea of Julienne being ignorant of Andrè's proceedings excited +her indignation and pity.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, nor have I ever taken any trouble to know," answered +Julienne, frankly and carelessly.</p> + +<p>"Well, it's very good of you, I daresay," returned her visitor, with +something like contemptuous commiseration in her tone. "But, my friend, +you should think how necessary it is that husband and wife should be as +one person. It vexes me to find that Andrè does not acquaint you with +all his doings—especially with that to which he seems to pay such +unfailing attention. You shouldn't let it go on any longer, my dear, for +you don't know what may happen. It never smokes but there is fire. No +one can tell what might have happened between me and Margot had I not +always kept my eyes open: a little watchfulness has saved us worlds of +annoyance and trouble." Observing that Julienne looked offended, and was +about to say something, Madame Margot dextrously handed her cup with a +most gracious and winning bow, and launched into another topic, +resolving by all means not to spoil the effect of the stimulants and +hints she had let fall.</p> + +<p>When Andrè returned this night, Julienne, to his surprise, asked him +where he had been, and implored him to tell her. With a serious look he +answered that it was impossible, and begged her not to inquire into a +matter which in nowise concerned her, and which would cause her no sort +of surprise if she knew all. As usual, the two bantered each other over +the mystery, and the subject was dropped. But Madame Margot, though she +had not succeeded in setting the young folks by the ears, had +nevertheless implanted in a woman's breast an ardent desire to probe a +secret. Julienne, good as she was, could not vanquish nature, and a +curiosity possessed her as strong as Fatima's.</p> + +<p>One day as she was glancing over the columns of a newspaper of which +Andrè was a constant reader, an advertisement of a peculiar description +met her eye. It was headed <i>La Somnambule</i>, and announced that +Mademoiselle Trompere, whose <i>prodigieuses facultés</i> and <i>lucidité +extrême</i> had caused the greatest astonishment and excitement, continued +to give mesmeric<!--027.png--> <i>séances</i> on such and such days. Julienne then turned +the paper and read other matters, but now and then she looked back at +this advertisement, read it again and again, and presently laid it down +with a merry little laugh. There was a promise of inviolable secrecy at +the end of the announcement: that she regarded particularly. She had +heard stories of the wonders of clairvoyance, she was artless, and knew +little or nothing of the world, and thought it would be a capital joke +to try the power of Mademoiselle Trompere's <i>lucidité</i>. She was going +into Paris on business the very next day, and she resolved to put her +project into execution. She laughed gayly as she anticipated the +astonishment her husband would evince while she might let fall, some of +these days, when they were alone, that she knew his secret.</p> + +<p>Behold the young wife, with sparkling eyes, and a smile upon her fresh +lips, wending her way up the long and narrow Rue St. Nicholas in Paris! +Arrived at the house of the clairvoyante, she asked at the concierge for +Mademoiselle Trompere.</p> + +<p>"<i>Quatrième à gauche!</i>" cried the porter, and Julienne hurried up the +narrow staircase. Arrived at the fourth story, she rang the bell at the +door on the left, and awaited the issue of the summons in something like +trepidation. The door was opened, and there came forth an old man of +really venerable and imposing appearance. Thick locks of curling silver +hair were combed back off a high and well-formed forehead; and beneath +this appeared a countenance pale, but clear, and of serious and benign +expression. Thin, and of middle height, a long dark-green +robe-de-chambre made him appear tall, and the little Julienne thought +she had never seen so grand an old man before. From his +slightly-abstracted air, and a pair of silver-rimmed spectacles still +resting on his visage, one would have fancied he had just risen from +profound study. Julienne felt quite abashed that she should have +interrupted the labors of one who looked so much like a good seer, +especially as she thought what a trumpery and childish errand she had +come upon. It was with a faltering voice and a deprecating smile that +she asked for Mademoiselle Trompere.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" exclaimed the old man, as if just awakened to full presence of +mind; "you wish to see her? Wait one moment, my child."</p> + +<p>He spoke softly and tenderly, conveying the idea that he was good and +wise as well as aged. Julienne waited in the lobby of the suite of +apartments while he entered the salon. He returned after the lapse of a +few minutes, which seemed hours to the visitor, who began to grow +nervous, and to feel, to use a common phrase "ashamed of herself."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry," said the old man as he returned, "Mademoiselle is fully +engaged to-day. I might have told you so before, but I am forgetful. Can +your business be postponed, my child?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, indeed, yes!" answered Julienne, readily.</p> + +<p>"It is well," continued he. "To-day is Friday: +<!--028.png--><span class="pagenum">306</span> +can you return on +Monday? Mademoiselle will be most happy to assist in any investigation +you may wish to make."</p> + +<p>"Really"—commenced Julienne, intending, as haply Mademoiselle Trompere +was engaged at present, to have postponed her contemplated interview +<i>sine die</i>.</p> + +<p>"I will tell her to expect you on Monday," said the old man, gently +shaking Julienne's unresisting hand. "Pray, what may be your name?"</p> + +<p>"Folitton."</p> + +<p>"Married, I see," added he, looking at the ring upon her finger. "It is +well! Of the Folittons of the Rue St. Lazare?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Julienne; "I live at St. Cloud, where M. Folitton is a +florist and botanist."</p> + +<p>"Ah, I know him: a worthy and clever young man!" answered the seer. And +thus, holding her hand, they enjoyed a pleasing and confidential chat.</p> + +<p>Julienne, wishing she had never undertaken her adventure, or that, being +commenced, it were well over, kept her appointment on the Monday—it +being a very common thing for her in the summer-time to start off to +Paris. Something was continually being wanted from the vast storehouses +of the metropolis. Thus her journey attracted no attention.</p> + +<p>When she rang Mademoiselle Trompere's bell this second time, the summons +was answered by a little girl, who conducted her into the salon. On +entering, she perceived the old man whom she had before seen, writing at +a table covered with papers and large books, many of the latter being +open. A young woman, dressed in black, and of genteel appearance, but +the expression of whose features Julienne did not altogether like, was +sitting by the window busied with her crotchet-needles. The latter +personage rose from her seat, and inclined her head to Julienne.</p> + +<p>"Madame Folitton?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"My father has prepared me to expect you. I was much engaged when you +came the other day, but now I am at your service." She touched the old +man whom she called father upon the shoulder, but she had to repeat the +operation twice or thrice ere he turned his eyes from his manuscript, so +profoundly was his attention engaged thereon. He shifted his position +slowly, raised his spectacles, and rubbed his eyes like one awakened +from a dream.</p> + +<p>"He studies much," said Mademoiselle Trompere to Julienne, as if by way +of apology for the old man's abstraction. "Do you see?—here is Madame +Folitton."</p> + +<p>"Ah, it is well!" exclaimed he, as, with half sigh half smile, he +advanced to the young visitor and shook her hand. "She comes to consult +you, my child, as I have told you; and I half suspect the little lady is +not so anxious for the mere solving of what seems a riddle to her, as +she is to test the truth of clairvoyance; so we must be upon our metal. +Saucy little bird! She is not the only one who doubts the wondrous +insight<!--029.png--> into the mysteries of nature which science has in our day +obtained."</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle Trompere, the somnambule, then deposited herself in a large +and handsome armchair, softly cushioned in crimson velvet. She sat +upright for a while, and the old man and his daughter looked fixedly at +each other, while the former passed his right hand slowly up and down +before her face. After eight or ten "passes," her eyes suddenly closed, +her face grew white as death, and she sank back in an attitude of +complete repose. The old man continued making the "passes" for a minute +or two longer, and then going softly round to the back of the +somnambule, laid his hand lightly upon her head.</p> + +<p>"Mademoiselle is now ready for your interrogations," said he to +Julienne.</p> + +<p>Poor Julienne was frightened, and had she known beforehand that such a +mysterious operation as she had just witnessed would have been necessary +to the gratification of her whim, she would rather a thousand times have +let it remain unsatisfied. So flurried was she, that she knew not what +to ask, and would have been very glad to have paid her fee at once and +gone home again without testing the <i>lucidité extrême</i>. As if divining +her thoughts, the old man turned them into a different channel by +himself asking the question which Julienne had intended.</p> + +<p>"Can you give your visitor any information respecting M. Folitton at St. +Cloud?"</p> + +<p>"At St. Cloud say you?" said the somnambule, in a low, dreamy voice. +"Wait one moment Ah! now I see him. He is in a large garden. There are +workmen round him who ask him questions respecting the labor next to be +taken in hand. Now they leave him, each proceeding to his appointed +task. M. Folitton goes into his house. He takes a billet from his breast +and reads it. I can see the signature: it is <i>Marie Colonne</i>."</p> + +<p>Julienne started. The old man looked toward her wistfully, and then, as +if interpreting her thoughts, asked the somnambule, "Can you read the +contents of the billet?"</p> + +<p>"It is not very distinct," was the reply; "apparently written in haste. +The words are—<i>'Your fears, Andrè, are needless. What matters it that +Fate would seem to demand our eternal separation? Can we not be superior +to Fate? Have we not proved it? Do not fail to-night; but this I need +not tell you, for since you first discovered the grand mistake of your +life, you have not wavered.'</i> Monsieur Folitton reads it again and +again, and replaces it in his breast. He opens his desk and examines +something. I see it now: it is the miniature of a lady. She is young: +her hair is very long, her eyes dark and bright."</p> + +<p>"It is enough," said Julienne, rising quickly. "Be it true or false, I +will hear no more." She moved hurriedly toward the door, as if to escape +as quickly as possible from a cruel torment. The old man followed her.</p> + +<p>"I forgot," exclaimed the agitated girl, as she +<!--030.png--><span class="pagenum">307</span> +paused and drew from +her little glove the stipulated fee.</p> + +<p>That very evening Madame Margot repeated her visit, and requested to see +Julienne alone. She found her alone, but, as if she had something too +weighty to be said in the salle-à-manger, she insisted that they should +shut themselves up in Julienne's bedroom, while she relieved her loaded +mind.</p> + +<p>"Ah, poor Julienne!" said she, "I never come to see her of an evening +but I find her alone! Poor child! so innocent and unsuspecting too! +Well, we all have our trials; but to see one whom I love as if she were +my own child so treated, is enough to drive me mad!"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" asked Julienne, nervously, for her adventure with +the clairvoyante had given her a shock.</p> + +<p>"My dear, do you mean still to say that you don't know where your +husband spends his evenings?"</p> + +<p>"It is true; I do not know," said Julienne, blushing deeply; then +adding, in a tone which, though meant to be firm and resolute, was +painfully faint and timid—"nor do I wish to—"</p> + +<p>"Well, my child, <i>I</i> happen to know!" exclaimed Madame Margot, her sharp +eyes flashing with eager excitement. "By the merest chance in the world +I have made the discovery, and I considered it my duty to speak to you +directly, in the hope of saving you and your husband, if possible, from +much future misery. My love, prepare yourself for what I have to +tell:—Your husband repairs to M. Colonne's nearly every evening, and is +always admitted and let out by Mademoiselle Marie! She is the one who +gives him welcome, and bids him <i>adieu</i>! Oh, it is enough to drive one +crazy! My tears flowed for you last night, poor Julienne!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, restez tranquille!" said Julienne, coldly. She had started and +trembled upon hearing a tale which coincided so completely with the +revelations of the somnambule, but Madame Margot's acrid and triumphant +manner roused her indignation, and whether the story she told and the +inference she so readily founded upon it were true or false, Julienne +heartily wished her away—never to see her malignant eyes or hear her +bitter voice again. She was too proud to ask any questions for the sake +of proving what foundation her sympathizing companion had for her +suspicions. She loved Andrè warmly, and sincerely believed him to be +worthy of her love; but there was something in his own secrecy and in +the similarity of the different reports which had reached her ears this +day which staggered her earnest faith. A dreary feeling overcame her: +the radiance of her life was clouded over. The anchor which had held her +safely in a tranquil and beautiful bay seemed to have lost its hold +suddenly, and now she was tossing upon a strange and restless sea. And +Madame Marmot watched the quivering of her lip and the fevered flushing +of her face, and gloated upon the agony she had caused.</p> + +<p>"I have done my errand," said she, "and<!--031.png--> now my mind is a little more at +ease. Take what steps you think proper, my poor child; the sooner the +matter is settled the better for all parties; and if you should have any +difficulty, pray do not hesitate to apply to me. It might not yet be too +late to prevent mischief."</p> + +<p>Andrè came home that night as hearty and good-tempered as ever. He saw +that his little wife looked but poorly, and he affectionately inquired +what ailed her; caressed her, and tried to comfort and revive her. +Indescribably oppressed, she burst into tears. This relieved her, but +she was silent and <i>triste</i> the rest of the evening. She could not bear +to think of telling him what she had heard, and what she felt. Indeed a +deep feeling of reproach rose up in her heart as she looked in his frank +and sympathetic face; but she could not comprehend the mystery, and felt +miserable and crushed.</p> + +<p>The days passed on, and Andrè grieved to find his young wife grow no +better. At length, satisfied, from the peculiarity of her malady, from +her silent behavior, and the strange brooding manner in which he +sometimes found her regarding him—feeling assured that the change owed +its existence to something relating to himself—he gravely asked her +what had brought it about, and solemnly conjured her to conceal nothing +from him. So repugnant to her, however, was the idea of exhibiting a +feeling so gross, and so unjust to her husband, as she determined to +think, was her jealousy, that she still withheld the secret.</p> + +<p>She seemed to be pining day by day. Andrè's pain and vexation were as +deep as her own sadness. A mutual dissatisfaction was fast springing up +between them. While matters were at this pass, Madame Margot, who, like +the bats, rarely moved out before the evening, paid her third visit to +the house of the botanist. Andrè coming home earlier than usual this +night, she spent some time with the husband as well as the wife. Eagerly +she watched the behavior of the two, and acutely she judged how things +stood. Supper passed, however, without any allusion thereto, and Andrè +led madame to the door.</p> + +<p>"Poor Julienne!" said she when they were alone. "You do not take care of +her; she is looking very so-so."</p> + +<p>"It is true," said Andrè, sadly; "I can not understand it. She says she +is well, but there is something the matter I am sure."</p> + +<p>"Ah! don't tell me!" exclaimed Madame Margot, lifting her right arm, +protruding her head, and shaking her forefinger at him. "You can not +understand, eh? Ah, I'm too old a bird for that, and I haven't forgotten +how <i>I</i> was treated once by Margot!"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" inquired Andrè, seriously.</p> + +<p>"Mean! Ah, ah! it is very good, M. Folitton! You should have been made +an actor!"</p> + +<p>"Madame Margot, I can not joke with you, nor read your riddles. +Julienne's ailment is a serious matter to me."</p> + +<p>"Well, well! It is amusing to hear him! +<!--032.png--><span class="pagenum">308</span> +But one word in your ear, my +good Andrè. How can you expect your poor wife to look happy and pleased +when it is known all over St. Cloud that you are forever with Marie +Colonne? There!"</p> + +<p>"What—what!" cried Andrè; but Madame Margot was off, muttering and +tittering as she walked rapidly home. Andrè was thunderstruck. The +conversation between him and his young wife when he returned to the room +was any thing but satisfactory. He wished to draw from her all she knew; +but Julienne was cold and mysterious; and at length the husband became +angry, or else feigned to do so, as she half-suspected, by way of a +cloak for his misdeeds.</p> + +<p>"It seems we did not know much of each other after all," said Andrè, +ruefully one day. "After being together so many years too! Had any one +told me that so shortly after our marriage my house would be filled with +gloom and grief, I should have laughed finely, or taken offense."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Andrè, Andrè, Andrè!" cried poor Julienne, laying her face upon his +breast, while her tears flowed fast and thick—all the inward pride, +which, though creditable to her heart, was capable of effecting so much +misunderstanding, completely vanquished. "Why have there been secrets +between us? Why have we sought to conceal any thing from each other? I +am sure that our love is not dried up, and that there is something +mysterious to each of us in the bitterness of these days! We have both +had secrets: let me have what blame I may for mine—I can keep it no +longer." And then, with some shame and humiliation, she recounted to +Andrè the little history of her own feelings and doings—how at first +she cared nothing whither he went, or what he did, satisfied that he was +good, and that he loved her truly; how Madame Margot had paid her a +visit, and had stimulated her curiosity by sarcasm and pity; how she +came, after seeing an advertisement in the newspaper, to think of +visiting the somnambule, more by way of a joke than any thing else; the +revelations that were made to her, and the apparent confirmation they +received from what Madame Margot afterward told her. She was in too much +fear of making him angry to tell him before; but how could her little +head be expected to see through all this, and how withstand the +inevitable influences of such a trial?</p> + +<p>Andrè was aghast. Trembling with excitement, and muttering imprecations +against the clairvoyante and Madame Margot, he bade Julienne quickly +prepare to accompany him to Paris. He got his horse and gig ready, and +in a few minutes himself and his wife, the latter greatly agitated and +alarmed, were proceeding at a rapid pace along the road to Paris. Andrè +drove his good horse as he had never been driven before, and the five +miles betwixt St. Cloud and the capital were quickly passed. The Rue St. +Nicholas was presently gained, and the bell of the somnambule's +apartment sharply rung. The old man appeared, looking sage and +benevolent<!--033.png--> as ever. His attitude and aspect, imposing and tranquil, +somewhat checked the impetuosity of the angry husband. The latter even +bowed, and took off his hat as he asked to see Mademoiselle Trompere, +but his voice and quick breathing still betrayed his excitement. His +eagerness appeared to take the old man by surprise; he looked at +Julienne; but her head being turned away, he did not recognize her; and +after an instant of consideration, bade them enter. Mademoiselle the +clairvoyante was discovered sitting in the same place, and occupied in +the same manner, as she had before been found by Julienne. She looked up +from her employment, and scanned both husband and wife with a quick, +penetrating glance as they advanced toward her. Her features for an +instant betrayed some excitement as she noted the flushed cheek and +wrathful eye of the former. It was but for an instant, however: almost +immediately they were resolved into an expression of perfect +nonchalance.</p> + +<p>"Woman, your second-sight has cost us dear!" cried Andrè.</p> + +<p>"Monsieur!" interrupted Mademoiselle Trompere, sternly.</p> + +<p>"Your impositions will bring you into trouble, as they do other people," +continued Andrè. "Your lies bear seed—do you know it?—and grow into +poison, blighting and working mischief wherever you spread them. If you +do not fully contradict the tale you told my silly wife the other day, I +will let you know that you carry on a dangerous trade."</p> + +<p>"Your wife! My good man, you are mad!" returned the somnambule.</p> + +<p>"I am nearly so," said Andrè; "so take care what you say. My wife—look +at her—you have seen her before; you need not attempt to deny <i>that</i>. +She, in a foolish whim, came to you the other day, and you told her +certain falsehoods respecting me, which I now demand that you own to be +such. Acknowledge your trick, and I will have no more to say; but +refuse, and I go instantly to the préfet of police." The old man stood +by with a wandering look, as if stricken with sudden imbecility; but his +bolder companion regarded the furious visitor with absolute +<i>sang-froid</i>, fixing upon him a glance that never wavered.</p> + +<p>"My profession, my good man," said she, coldly, leaning back in her +cushioned chair, "is to discover truth, not to deny it. People consult +me when they find the course of their lives disturbed by secret causes, +and when the clearing up of such little mysteries is desirable. Your +wife, prompted by a very justifiable and proper curiosity, has availed +herself of the grand discovery of which I am an exponent. M. Folitton, +you accuse me of falsehood, and ask me to deny what I know to be true. +Of course I refuse to do any thing of the sort. Doubtless you think to +make yourself appear guiltless in the eyes of the wife whom you have +wronged, by frightening a woman, and forcing her to declare that you are +perfectly faithful and true. Impostor as you +<!--034.png--><span class="pagenum">309</span> +style me, I am neither +weak nor wicked enough for that!"</p> + +<p>"Then I must consult the préfet," said Andrè.</p> + +<p>"And I also," said the clairvoyante. "If necessary, I will not scruple +to make manifest to the whole world the truth of the revelations your +wife heard from me."</p> + +<p>"You are bold, woman!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, in common with the meanest living thing, I am bold when attacked. +You will not find it easy to turn me to your own account. Try, if you +are so disposed, by all means; but as surely as I know the truth, you +had better not!" This was uttered with such complete assurance, so +firmly and hardily, and her whole demeanor exhibited such supreme +defiance of him and reliance upon herself, that Andrè's indignation was +turned into bewilderment and perplexity. He abruptly seized the arm of +his agitated wife, and drawing it within his own, strode out of the +room, telling his contemptuous opponent that she should soon hear what +step he would take next. As yet, not a word of reconciliation or +explanation had passed between himself and Julienne. He was too proud to +make his peace with her before he had fully justified himself, do it how +he could.</p> + +<p>But the same evening he brought Mademoiselle Marie Colonne and her +father and mother to his house, and to them, in the presence of his +wife, related the story of his troubles, up to the passage between +himself and the lady of vaunted <i>lucidité</i> that morning. The worthy +family were highly indignant, but displayed much good-feeling toward +Julienne, who, sick at heart, was really deserving of commiseration. She +in her turn warmly denied that she had been actuated by any feeling of +suspicion or jealousy in consulting Mademoiselle Trompere: she had done +a very silly thing, and should repent it as long as she lived; but it +was merely a careless whim, and indeed was contemplated more as a joke +than any thing else, for being sure that Andrè was faithful to her, she +never had an idea that misunderstanding and misery to herself, induced +by remarkable coincidences, would result from what she did. She was now +perfectly satisfied, and trusted that Marie and her husband would +forgive her.</p> + +<p>"That all may be made perfectly clear," said Andrè, "let me now say +that, in thinking over it, as I never happened to do before, I can +hardly wonder Julienne took my frequent absences and my secrecy +concerning them amiss. I never dreamed that misery would happen from a +husband concealing so small a matter from his wife; but I now see how +very possible it is, and in future am resolved never to refuse to answer +when she inquires where I have been."</p> + +<p>He then explained to his wife that he had been a member of one of those +secret clubs which sprang up in such numbers all over France, but +especially in the neighborhood of Paris, immediately after the +Revolution of 1848. M. Colonne was the president of that club, and at +his house its meetings were held. All society<!--035.png--> was one great vortex of +antagonistic parties; and this club, consisting of several of the +substantial inhabitants of St. Cloud, owed its birth to the anxiety so +very commonly felt by the lovers of order and quiet to lay down for +themselves some unanimous and practical course of conduct in the event +of another outbreak. The continuance of tranquillity had for the +present, however, caused its dissolution, until, mayhap, another season +of disorder and violence should occur; "so in future," said Andrè, "I +shall spend my evenings at home!"</p> + +<p>Julienne heard this explanation with mingled feelings of pleasure and +regret. She humbly asked Marie to forgive her, and was quickly in the +embrace of the sympathizing young girl.</p> + +<p>M. Colonne, exceedingly wounded by the imputations which had been cast +upon the character of his daughter, of whom he was at once fond and +proud, paid Madame Margot a visit on his way home, and talked to the old +lady in a manner which caused her considerable trepidation, and no doubt +went far to check the propensity so strongly developed in the +composition of her character for picking holes in her neighbors' +jackets. He also resolved to prosecute Mademoiselle Trompere and her +confederate. This Andrè was hardly ready to do, being perfectly +satisfied, now the misunderstanding was cleared up; but M. Colonne +declared that no member of his family should be aspersed with impunity; +and even if it were solely on public grounds, to protect the unguarded +and the credulous from imposition and misery, he would spend a thousand +francs to make an example of the pair. Andrè was very reluctant, +however, to carry the affair before the public, and persuaded M. +Colonne, in the first place, to visit Mademoiselle Trompere with Marie, +and force her to contradict her tale; "Indeed," said he, "they had +better all go together, and then the woman would have no possible room +for subterfuge or persistence in her calumnies."</p> + +<p>They were off to Paris the next day. As it happened, M. Colonne and his +daughter preceded Andrè and Julienne at the house of the somnambule. M. +Colonne was a man of warm and quick temperament.</p> + +<p>"My name is Colonne," said he abruptly, the moment he stood before the +somnambule and her father; "this is my daughter Marie. We have made a +journey from St. Cloud purposely to inform you that your clairvoyance is +defective, and to warn you that, not being overskilled in the profession +you now follow, you had better choose another—a more honest and safe +one; for when people deal in slanders and lies, they risk intimate +acquaintance with police-officers and jails."</p> + +<p>"Ah, my father, did I not say so?" exclaimed Mademoiselle Trompere, +turning tranquilly to the old man. "I told you we should shortly have a +little sequel to the romance of the poor Folittons."</p> + +<p>"There will be another little sequel, mademoiselle, unless you quickly +apologize to my daughter!" said M. Colonne, warmly. +<!--036.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">310</a></span> +</p> + +<p>"M. Colonne," returned the somnambule, coolly, and even dictatorially, +"you have no doubt been induced to come here by a parental and honorable +feeling; but perhaps you are not aware that you yourself have been +duped."</p> + +<p>"No, indeed!" said M. Colonne, with a smile; "I am not so easily duped."</p> + +<p>"You think so, no doubt," continued Mademoiselle Trompere, smiling in +her turn. "Still, it is true: you are a dupe all the time. Your daughter +and M. Folitton know it well. They seek to escape suspicion of +intrigue—the one from her father, the other from his wife—by boldly +facing it out, and seeking to compel me, who happen to know all +concerning it, to declare that their virtue and honor are unimpeachable. +That I do not choose to do. They might content themselves, if they were +wise, with the satisfaction of knowing that such matters as I am engaged +to discover, do not go forth to the world, but remain solely betwixt +myself and them."</p> + +<p>"Admirable!" cried M. Colonne, amazed at this immense impudence.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mademoiselle Trompere, smiling ironically, "the case is so. +Poor M. Folitton the other day was going to turn the world upside down +because I would not contradict what I revealed to his wife. He +threatened me with the police, and I know not what more. Let him do it: +the result will be, that I shall be obliged to prove to the world the +truth of all I have said, and in doing that I should not have much +difficulty."</p> + +<p>"Well, well!" cried M. Colonne, fairly overcome. "Talking is of no use +here, I perceive!" and as he and his daughter hurried down the stairs, +the triumphant and derisive laughter of the somnambule tended by no +means to the restoration of their good temper.</p> + +<p>Andrè and his wife were just about to ascend as they arrived at the +bottom of the staircase, and to them they related the result of their +visit.</p> + +<p>Proceedings were now immediately commenced against Mademoiselle Trompere +and her alleged father, and the latter shortly found themselves before +the tribunal of correctional police. The case was made out so very +clearly—Julienne, Marie, and Andrè, the sole parties whom the +revelations of the sibyl concerned, being arrayed against her—that she +was immediately convicted of imposture, and the old man as a +confederate. In the course of the trial the wig of silver hair was +unceremoniously lifted from the head of the male prisoner by an officer +of police. The change effected in his appearance by this simple +operation was remarkable, and greatly to his disadvantage. The officer +then read from his police record a list of no fewer than nine +convictions for imposition and misconduct against the aged sinner. The +female was truly, it appeared, his daughter. They had visited many parts +of France and Belgium under different names, and the diligent inquiries +of the police had been successful in establishing against them a long +course of guilt—one scheme of imposture having been<!--037.png--> tried after +another, and each terminated by disgrace and punishment. They were now +sentenced to two years' imprisonment and a thousand francs' fine.</p> + +<p>All has gone brightly and pleasantly at Andrè's house since this +unpleasant affair, and so will continue, it is my belief. Husband and +wife seem on better terms with each other than ever. Madame Margot +sedulously keeps herself out of the way of the Folittons and the +Colonnes, nor do I suppose she will ever take coffee with Julienne any +more.</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="THE_HOUSEHOLD_OF_SIR_THOS_MOREA" id="THE_HOUSEHOLD_OF_SIR_THOS_MOREA"></a>THE HOUSEHOLD OF SIR THO<sup>S</sup>. +MORE.<a name="FNanchor_A_7" id="FNanchor_A_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></h2> + +<div class="c4">LIBELLUS A MARGARETA MORE. QUINDECIM ANNOS NATA, CHELSEIÆ INCEPTVS.</div> + +<div class="c5">"Nulla dies sine linea."</div> + +<p>Soe my fate is settled. Who knoweth at sunrise what will chance before +sunsett? No; the Greeks and Romans mighte speake of chance and of fate, +but we must not. Ruth's <i>hap</i> was to light on y<sup>e</sup> field of Boaz: but +what she thought casual, y<sup>e</sup> Lord had contrived.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_7" id="Footnote_A_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> +Continued from the July Number.</p></div> + +<p>Firste, he gives me y<sup>e</sup> marmot. Then, the marmot dies. Then, I, having +kept y<sup>e</sup> creature soe long, and being naturallie tender, must cry a +little over it. Then Will must come in and find me drying mine eyes. +Then he must, most unreasonablie, suppose that I c<sup>d</sup> not have loved the +poor animal for its owne sake soe much as for his; and thereupon, falle +a love-making in such downrighte earneste, that I, being alreadie +somewhat upset, and knowing 'twoulde please father ... and hating to be +perverse ... and thinking much better of Will since he hath studdied soe +hard, and given soe largelie to y<sup>e</sup> poor, and left off broaching his +heteroclite opinions.... I say, I supposed it must be soe, some time or +another, soe 'twas noe use hanging back for ever and ever, soe now +there's an end, and I pray God give us a quiet life.</p> + +<p>Noe one w<sup>d</sup> suppose me reckoning on a quiet life if they knew how I've +cried alle this forenoon, ever since I got quit of Will, by father's +carrying him off to Westminster. He'll tell father, I know, as they goe +along in the barge, or else coming back, which will be soone now, though +I've ta'en no heed of the hour. I wish 'twere cold weather, and that I +had a sore throat or stiff neck, or somewhat that might reasonablie send +me a-bed, and keep me there till to-morrow morning. But I'm quite well, +and 'tis the dog-days, and cook is thumping the rolling-pin on the +dresser, and dinner is being served, and here comes father.</p> + +<hr class="ThoughtBreak" /> + +<p>Father hath had some words with the Cardinall. 'Twas touching the +draught of some forayn treaty which y<sup>e</sup> Cardinall offered for his +criticism, or rather, for his commendation, which father c<sup>d</sup> not give. +This nettled his Grace, who exclaimed,—"By the mass, thou art the +veriest fool of all the council." Father, smiling, rejoined, "God be +thanked, the King our master hath but one fool therein." +<!--038.png--><span class="pagenum">311</span> +</p> + +<p>The Cardinall may rage, but he can't rob him of the royal favour. The +King was here yesterday, and walked for an hour or soe about the garden, +with his arm round father's neck. Will coulde not help felicitating +father upon it afterwards; to which father made answer, "I thank God I +find his Grace my very good lord indeed, and I believe he doth as +singularly favour me as any subject within this realm. Howbeit, son +Roper, I may tell thee between ourselves, I feel no cause to be proud +thereof, for if my head would win him a castle in France, it shoulde not +fail to fly off."</p> + +<p>—Father is graver than he used to be. No wonder. He hath much on his +mind; the calls on his time and thoughts are beyond belief: but God is +very good to him. His favour at home and abroad is immense: he hath good +health, soe have we alle; and his family are established to his mind and +settled alle about him, still under y<sup>e</sup> same fostering roof. Considering +that I am the most ordinarie of his daughters, 'tis singular I s<sup>d</sup> have +secured the best husband. Daisy lives peaceablie with Rupert Allington, +and is as indifferent, me seemeth, to him as to all y<sup>e</sup> world beside. +He, on his part, loves her and theire children with devotion, and woulde +pass half his time in y<sup>e</sup> nurserie. Dancey always had a hot temper, and +now and then plagues Bess; but she lets noe one know it but me. +Sometimes she comes into my chamber and cries a little, but the next +kind word brightens her up, and I verilie believe her pleasures far +exceed her payns. Giles Heron lost her through his own fault, and might +have regained her good opinion after all, had he taken half the pains +for her sake he now takes for her younger sister: I cannot think how +Cecy can favour him; yet I suspect he will win her, sooner or later. As +to mine own deare Will, 'tis the kindest, purest nature, the finest +soul, the ... and yet how I was senselesse enow once to undervalue him.</p> + +<p>Yes, I am a happy wife; a happy daughter; a happy mother. When my little +Bill stroaked dear father's face just now, and murmured "pretty!" he +burst out a-laughing, and cried,—</p> + +<p>"You are like the young Cyrus, who exclaimed,—'Oh! mother, how pretty +is my grandfather!' And yet, according to Xenophon, the old gentleman +was soe rouged and made up, as that none but a child woulde have admired +him!"</p> + +<p>"That's not the case," I observed, "with Bill's grandfather."</p> + +<p>"He's a More all over," says father, fondly. "Make a pun, Meg, if thou +canst, about Amor, Amore, or Amores. 'Twill onlie be the thousand and +first on our name. Here, little knave, see these cherries: tell me who +thou art, and thou shalt have one. 'More! More!' I knew it, sweet +villain. Take them all."</p> + +<p>I oft sitt for an hour or more, watching Hans Holbein at his brush. He +hath a rare gift of limning; and has, besides, the advantage of deare +Erasmus his recommendation, for whom he hath alreddie painted our +likenesses, but I think he has made us very ugly. His portraiture<!--039.png--> of my +grandfather is marvellous; ne'erthelesse. I look in vayn for y<sup>e</sup> +spirituallitie which our Lucchese friend, Antonio Bonvisi, tells us is +to be found in the productions of y<sup>e</sup> Italian schools.</p> + +<p>Holbein loves to paint with the lighte coming in upon his work from +above. He says a lighte from above puts objects in theire proper lighte, +and shews theire just proportions; a lighte from beneath reverses alle +y<sup>e</sup> naturall shadows. Surelie, this hath some truth if we spirituallize +it?</p> + +<hr class="ThoughtBreak" /> + +<p>Rupert's cousin, Rosamond Allington, is our guest. She is as beautiful +as ... not as an angel, for she lacks the look of goodness, but very +beautiful indeed. She cometh hither from Hever Castle, her account of +y<sup>e</sup> affairs whereof I like not. Mistress Anne is not there at present; +indeed, she is now always hanging about court, and followeth somewhat +too literallie the Scripturall injunction to Solomon's spouse—to forget +her father's house. The King likes well enow to be compared with +Solomon, but Mistress Anne is not his spouse yet, nor ever will be, I +hope. Flattery and Frenchified habitts have spoilt her, I trow.</p> + +<p>Rosamond says there is not a good chamber in the castle; even y<sup>e</sup> +ball-room, which is on y<sup>e</sup> upper floor of alle, being narrow and low. On +a rainy day, long ago, she and Mistress Anne were playing at shuttlecock +therein, when Rosamond's foot tripped at some unevennesse in y<sup>e</sup> floor, +and Mistress Anne, with a laugh, cried out, "Mind you goe not down into +y<sup>e</sup> dungeon"—then pulled up a trap-door in the ball-room floor, by an +iron ring, and made Rosamond look down into the unknown depth; alle in +y<sup>e</sup> blacknesse of darkness. 'Tis an awfulle thing to have onlie a step +from a ball-room to a dungeon. I'm glad we live in a modern house, we +have noe such fearsome sights here.</p> + +<p>Rosamond is sociable with alle, and mightilie taken with my husband, +who, in his grave way, jests with her pleasantlie enough. Daisy, who +seldom thinks anything worth giving an opinion on, said yestereven, when +they were bantering eache other in Robin Hood's Walk, "I'm glad, Meg, +she fancies your husband insteade of mine." 'Twas a foolish speech, and +had better have beene left unsaid. What a pity that folks who say soe +little shoulde say aught amiss. I have noe jealousy in my composition.</p> + +<hr class="ThoughtBreak" /> + +<p>Father, hearing little Tom Allington hammering over y<sup>e</sup> 34th Psalm this +morning,—</p> + +<p>"Child," says he, "don't say O! as unemphaticallie as if 'twere A, E, I, +or U. David is labouring to expresse a thoughte too big for +utterance.... '<i>Oh</i>,—<i>taste</i> and <i>see</i> that the Lord is good.' Try it +agayn. That's better, my little man. Yet once more."</p> + +<p>I'm glad Rosamond is going. That tiresome saying of Daisy's rankles. A +poisoned shaft will infect the soundest flesh. What a pity we ever use +such. I never will.</p> + +<hr class="ThoughtBreak" /> + +<p>Yes, she's gone, but Will is not happy. Oh, +<!--040.png--><span class="pagenum">312</span> +God, that I should ever +know this feeling! We can never be sure of ourselves; we can never be +sure of one another; we can never be sure of any but Thee. For Thou art +love itself, without a shadowe of turning; and dost even condescend, in +Thine exquisite tendernesse, to call Thyself a <i>jealous</i> God ... for of +whom are we jealous but of those whom we passionately love? And such is +the love, not the sternnesse, wherewith Thou sayest unto our souls, +"Thou <i>shalt</i> not love any God but me! thou <i>shalt</i> not make to thyself +anie earthlie idol! for I the Lord <i>thy</i> God am ... a <i>jealous</i> God,"—I +cannot bear a rival on my throne, which is your heart. Love me firste, +him next, even as much as you love yourself; and then I will bless you +both.</p> + +<p>Fecisti nos, etc.</p> + +<hr class="ThoughtBreak" /> + +<p>Sancta mater, ora pro nobis, ora, ora.</p> + +<p>Alas! am I awake, or dreaming still? He beganne to talk indistinctlie in +his sleep last night, and as I cannot beare to heare people speak when +they sleep but their heart waketh, I gently shooke him, and made him +turn about; but not until that he had distinctlie exclaimed, "Tu, Jesu, +es justicia mea." Thereon, a suddain light broke in on me, and I felt, I +know not how to expresse what sense of relief, at the apprehension that +his disquietation was not for Rosamond, but on y<sup>e</sup> old count of +justification by faith. Waking up, he says,—"Oh, sweet Meg, I am soe +unhappy," and gives way to tears; but I try to relieve him. But the +matter is too hard for me; we cannot unravel it, soe he holds his peace, +and sleeps, or affects to sleep, the while I pray to every saint in y<sup>e</sup> +calendar.</p> + +<p>I am glad I did him injustice; which is a strange thing for a wife to +say.</p> + +<hr class="ThoughtBreak" /> + +<p>How many, many tears have I shed! Poor, imprudent Will!</p> + +<p>To think of his escape from y<sup>e</sup> Cardinall's fangs, and yet that he will +probablie repeat y<sup>e</sup> offence. This morning father and he had a long, +and, I fear me, fruitless debate in the garden; on returning from which, +father took me aside and sayd,—</p> + +<p>"Meg, I have borne a long time with thine husband; I have reasoned and +argued with him, and still given him my poor, fatherly counsel; but I +perceive none of alle this can call him home agayn. And therefore, Meg, +I will no longer dispute with him.".... "Oh, father!".... "Nor yet will +I give him over; but I will set another way to work, and get me to God +and pray for him."</p> + +<p>And have I not done so alreadie?</p> + +<hr class="ThoughtBreak" /> + +<p>I feare me they parted unfriendlie; I hearde father say, "Thus much I +have a right to bind thee to, that thou indoctrinate not her in thine +own heresies. Thou shalt not imperill the salvation of my child."</p> + +<p>Since this there has beene an irresistible gloom on our spiritts, a +cloud between my husband's<!--041.png--> soul and mine, without a word spoken. I pray +but my prayers seem dead.</p> + +<p>... Last night, after seeking unto this saint and that, methought "why +not applie unto y<sup>e</sup> fountain head? Maybe these holy spiritts may have +limitations sett to y<sup>e</sup> power of theire intercessions—at anie rate, the +ears of Mary-mother are open to alle."</p> + +<p>Soe I beganne, "Pia mater, fons amoris...."</p> + +<p>Then, methoughte, "but I am onlie asking <i>her</i> to intercede—I'll mount +a step higher still...."</p> + +<p>Then I turned to y<sup>e</sup> great Intercessor of alle. But methought, "Still he +intercedes with another, although the same. And his owne saying was, 'In +that day ye shall ask <i>me nothing</i>. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, +<i>he</i> will give it you.'" Soe I did.</p> + +<p>I fancy I fell asleep with y<sup>e</sup> tears on my cheek. Will had not come up +stairs. Then came a heavie, heavie sleep, not such as giveth rest; and a +dark, wild dream. Methought I was tired of waiting for Will, and became +alarmed. The night seemed a month long, and at last I grew soe weary of +it, that I arose, put on some clothing, and went in search of him whom +my soul loveth. Soon I founde him, sitting in a muse; and said, "Will, +deare Will?" but he hearde me not; and, going up to touch him, I was +amazed to be broughte short up or ever I reached him, by something +invisible betwixt us, hard, and cleare, and colde, ... in short, a wall +of ice! Soe it seemed, in my strange dreame. I pushed at it, but could +not move it; called to him, but coulde not make him hear: and all y<sup>e</sup> +while my breath, I suppose, raised a vapor on the glassy substance, that +grew thicker and thicker, soe as slowlie to hide him from me. I coulde +discerne his head and shoulders, but not see down to his heart. Then I +shut mine eyes in despair, and when I opened 'em, he was hidden +altogether.</p> + +<p>Then I prayed. I put my hot brow agaynst y<sup>e</sup> ice, and I kept a weeping +hot tears, and y<sup>e</sup> warm breath of prayer kept issuing from my lips; and +still I was persisting, when, or ever I knew how, y<sup>e</sup> ice beganne to +melt! I felt it giving way! and, looking up, coulde in joyfulle +surprize, just discerne the lineaments of a figure close at t'other +side; y<sup>e</sup> face turned away, but yet in the guise of listening. And, +images being apt to seem magnified and distorted through vapours, +methought 'twas altogether bigger than Will, yet himself, +nothingthelesse; and, y<sup>e</sup> barrier between us having sunk away to +breast-height, I layd mine hand on's shoulder, and he turned his head, +smiling, though in silence; and ... oh, heaven! 'twas not Will, but +——.</p> + +<p>What coulde I doe, even in my dreame, but fall at his feet? What coulde +I doe, waking, but the same? 'Twas grey of morn; I was feverish and +unrefreshed, but I wanted noe more lying-a-bed. Will had arisen and gone +forthe; and I, as quicklie as I could make myself readie, sped after +him.</p> + +<p>I know not what I expected, nor what I meant to say. The moment I opened +the door of his closett, I stopt short. There he stoode, in the +<!--042.png--><span class="pagenum">313</span> +centre +of the chamber; his hand resting flat on an open book, his head raised +somewhat up, his eyes fixed on something or some one, as though in +speaking communion with 'em; his whole visage lightened up and glorifide +with an unspeakable calm and grandeur that seemed to transfigure him +before me; and, when he hearde my step, he turned about, and 'steade of +histing me away, helde out his arms.... We parted without neede to utter +a word.</p> + +<hr class="ThoughtBreak" /> + +<p>Events have followed too quick and thick for me to note 'em. Firste, +father's embassade to Cambray, which I shoulde have grieved at more on +our owne accounts, had it not broken off alle further collision with +Will. Thoroughlie home-sick, while abroad, poor father was; then, on his +return, he noe sooner sett his foot a-land, than y<sup>e</sup> King summoned him +to Woodstock. 'Twas a couple o' nights after he left us, that Will and I +were roused by Patteson's shouting beneath our window, "Fire, fire, +quoth Jeremiah!" and the house was a-fire sure enow. Greate part of y<sup>e</sup> +men's quarter, together with alle y<sup>e</sup> outhouses and barns, consumed +without remedie, and alle through y<sup>e</sup> carelessness of John Holt. +Howbeit, noe lives were lost, nor any one much hurt; and we thankfullie +obeyed deare father's behest, soe soone as we received y<sup>e</sup> same, that we +woulde get us to church, and there, upon our knees, return humble and +harty thanks to Almighty God for our late deliverance from a fearfulle +death. Alsoe, at fathers desire, we made up to y<sup>e</sup> poor people on our +premises theire various losses, which he bade us doe, even if it left +him without soe much as a spoon.</p> + +<p>But then came an equallie unlookt for, and more appalling event: y<sup>e</sup> +fall of my Lord Cardinall, whereby my father was shortlie raised to y<sup>e</sup> +highest pinnacle of professional greatnesse, being made Lord Chancellor, +to y<sup>e</sup> content, in some sort, of Wolsey himself, who sayd he was y<sup>e</sup> +onlie man fit to be his successor.</p> + +<p>The unheard-of splendour of his installation dazzled the vulgar; while +the wisdom that marked y<sup>e</sup> admirable discharge of his daylie duties, won +y<sup>e</sup> respect of alle thinking men, but surprized none who alreadie knew +father. On y<sup>e</sup> day succeeding his being sworn in, Patteson marched +hither and thither bearing a huge placard, inscribed, "Partnership +Dissolved;" and apparelled himself in an old suit, on which he had +bestowed a coating of black paint, with weepers of white paper; +assigning for't that "his brother was dead." "For now," quoth he, "that +they've made him Lord Chancellor, we shall ne'er see Sir Thomas more."</p> + +<p>Now, although y<sup>e</sup> poor Cardinal was commonlie helde to shew much +judgment in his decisions, owing to y<sup>e</sup> naturall soundness of his +understanding, yet, being noe lawyer, abuses had multiplied during his +chancellorship, more especiallie in y<sup>e</sup> way of enormous fees and +gratuities. Father, not content with shunning base lucre in his proper +person, will not let anie one under him, to his knowledge, touch a +bribe; whereat Dancey,<!--043.png--> after his funny fashion, complains, saying:</p> + +<p>"The fingers of my Lord Cardinall's veriest door-keepers were tipt with +gold, but I, since I married your daughter, have got noe pickings; which +in your case may be commendable, but in mine is nothing profitable." +Father, laughing, makes answer:</p> + +<p>"Your case is hard, son Dancey, but I can onlie say for your comfort, +that, soe far as honesty and justice are concerned, if mine owne father, +whom I reverence dearly, stoode before me on y<sup>e</sup> one hand, and the +devil, whom I hate extremely, on y<sup>e</sup> other, yet, the cause of y<sup>e</sup> latter +being just, I shoulde give the devil his due."</p> + +<p>Giles Heron hath found this to his cost. Presuming on his near connexion +with my father, he refused an equitable accommodation of a suit, which, +thereon, coming into court, father's decision was given flat against +him.</p> + +<p>His decision against mother was equallie impartiall, and had something +comique in it. Thus it befelle. A beggar-woman's little dog, which had +beene stolen from her, was offered my mother for sale, and she bought it +for a jewel of no greate value. After a week or soe, the owner finds +where her dog is, and cometh to make complaynt of y<sup>e</sup> theft to father, +then sitting in his hall. Sayth father, "Let's have a faire hearing in +open court; thou, mistress, stand there where you be, to have impartiall +justice; and thou, Dame Alice, come up hither, because thou art of y<sup>e</sup> +higher degree. Now, then, call each of you the puppy, and see which he +will follow." Soe Sweetheart, in spite of mother, springs off to y<sup>e</sup> old +beggar-woman, who, unable to keep from laughing, and yet moved at +mother's losse, sayth:</p> + +<p>"Tell'ee what, mistress ... thee shalt have 'un for a groat."</p> + +<p>"Nay," saith mother, "I won't mind giving thee a piece of gold;" soe the +bargain was satisfactorily concluded.</p> + +<p>Father's despatch of business is such, that, one morning before the end +of term, he was tolde there was no other cause nor petition to be sett +before him; the which, being a case unparallelled, he desired mighte be +formally recorded.</p> + +<p>He ne'er commences businesse in his owne court without first stepping +into y<sup>e</sup> court of King's Bench, and there kneeling down to receive my +grandfather's blessing. Will sayth 'tis worth a world to see y<sup>e</sup> unction +with which the deare old man bestows it on him.</p> + +<p>In Rogation-week, following the Rood as usuall, round y<sup>e</sup> parish, Heron +counselled him to go a horseback for y<sup>e</sup> greater seemlinesse, but he +made answer that 'twoulde be unseemlie indeede for y<sup>e</sup> servant to ride +after his master going a-foot.</p> + +<p>His grace of Norfolk, coming yesterday to dine with him, finds him in +the church-choir, singing, with a surplice on.</p> + +<p>"What!" cries y<sup>e</sup> Duke, as they walk home together, "my Lord Chancellor +playing the parish clerk? Sure, you dishonor the King and his office." +<!--044.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">314</a></span> +</p> + +<p>"Nay," says father, smiling, "your grace must not deem that the King, +your master and mine, will be offended at my honoring <i>his</i> Master."</p> + +<p>Sure, 'tis pleasant to heare father taking y<sup>e</sup> upper hand of these great +folks: and to have 'em coming and going, and waiting his pleasure, +because he is y<sup>e</sup> man whom y<sup>e</sup> King delighteth to honor.</p> + +<p>True, indeede, with Wolsey 'twas once y<sup>e</sup> same; but father neede not +feare y<sup>e</sup> same ruin; because he hath Him for his friend, whom Wolsey +said woulde not have forsaken him had he served Him as he served his +earthly master. 'Twas a misproud priest; and there's the truth on't. And +father is not misproud; and I don't believe we are; though proud of him +we cannot fail to be.</p> + +<p>And I know not why we may not be pleased with prosperitie, as well as +patient under adversitie; as long as we say, "Thou, Lord, hast made our +hill soe strong." 'Tis more difficult to bear with comelinesse, +doubtlesse; and envious folks there will be; and we know alle things +have an end, and everie sweet hath its sour, and everie fountain its +fall; but ... 'tis very pleasant for all that.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center">(TO BE CONTINUED.)</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="REMINISCENCES_OF_AN_ATTORNEY" id="REMINISCENCES_OF_AN_ATTORNEY"></a>REMINISCENCES OF AN ATTORNEY.</h2> + +<h3>THE CHEST OF DRAWERS.</h3> + +<p>I am about to relate a rather curious piece of domestic history, some of +the incidents of which, revealed at the time of their occurrence in +contemporary law reports, may be in the remembrance of many readers. It +took place in one of the midland counties, and at a place which I shall +call Watley; the names of the chief actors who figured in it must also, +to spare their modesty or their blushes, as the case may be, be changed; +and should one of those persons, spite of these precautions, apprehend +unpleasant recognition, he will be able to console himself with the +reflection, that all I state beyond that which may be gathered from the +records of the law courts will be generally ascribed to the fancy or +invention of the writer. And it is as well, perhaps, that it should be +so.</p> + +<p>Caleb Jennings, a shoemender, cobbler, snob—using the last word in its +genuine classical sense, and by no means according to the modern +interpretation by which it is held to signify a genteel sneak or +pretender—he was any thing but that—occupied, some twelve or thirteen +years ago, a stall at Watley, which, according to the traditions of the +place, had been hereditary in his family for several generations. He may +also be said to have flourished there, after the manner of cobblers; for +this, it must be remembered, was in the good old times, before the +gutta-percha revolution had carried ruin and dismay into the +stalls—those of cobblers—which in considerable numbers existed +throughout the kingdom. Like all his fraternity whom I have ever fallen +in with or heard of, Caleb was a sturdy Radical of the Major Cartwright +and Henry<!--045.png--> Hunt school; and being withal industrious, tolerably +skillful, not inordinately prone to the observance of Saint Mondays, +possessed, moreover, of a neatly-furnished sleeping and eating apartment +in the house of which the projecting first floor, supported on stone +pillars, overshadowed his humble workplace, he vaunted himself to be as +really rich as an estated squire, and far more independent.</p> + +<p>There was some truth in this boast, as the case which procured us the +honor of Mr. Jennings's acquaintance sufficiently proved. We were +employed to bring an action against a wealthy gentleman of the vicinity +of Watley for a brutal and unprovoked assault he had committed, when in +a state of partial inebriety, upon a respectable London tradesman who +had visited the place on business. On the day of trial our witnesses +appeared to have become suddenly afflicted with an almost total loss of +memory; and we were only saved from an adverse verdict by the plain, +straightforward evidence of Caleb, upon whose sturdy nature the various +arts which soften or neutralize hostile evidence had been tried in vain. +Mr. Flint, who personally superintended the case, took quite a liking to +the man; and it thus happened that we were called upon some time +afterward to aid the said Caleb in extricating himself from the +extraordinary and perplexing difficulty in which he suddenly and +unwittingly found himself involved.</p> + +<p>The projecting first floor of the house beneath which the humble +work-shop of Caleb Jennings modestly disclosed itself, had been occupied +for many years by an ailing and somewhat aged gentleman of the name of +Lisle. This Mr. Ambrose Lisle was a native of Watley, and had been a +prosperous merchant of the city of London. Since his return, after about +twenty years' absence, he had shut himself up in almost total seclusion, +nourishing a cynical bitterness and acrimony of temper which gradually +withered up the sources of health and life, till at length it became as +visible to himself as it had for some time been to others, that the oil +of existence was expended, burnt up, and that but a few weak flickers +more, and the ailing man's plaints and griefs would be hushed in the +dark silence of the grave.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lisle had no relatives at Watley, and the only individual with whom +he was on terms of personal intimacy was Mr. Peter Sowerby, an attorney +of the place, who had for many years transacted all his business. This +man visited Mr. Lisle most evenings, played at chess with him, and +gradually acquired an influence over his client which that weak +gentleman had once or twice feebly but vainly endeavored to shake off. +To this clever attorney, it was rumored, Mr. Lisle had bequeathed all +his wealth.</p> + +<p>This piece of information had been put in circulation by Caleb Jennings, +who was a sort of humble favorite of Mr. Lisle's, or, at all events, was +regarded by the misanthrope with less dislike than he manifested toward +others. Caleb cultivated a few flowers in a little plot of +<!--046.png--><span class="pagenum">315</span> +ground at +the back of the house, and Mr. Lisle would sometimes accept a rose or a +bunch of violets from him. Other slight services—especially since the +recent death of his old and garrulous woman-servant, Esther May, who had +accompanied him from London, and with whom Mr. Jennings had always been +upon terms of gossiping intimacy—had led to certain familiarities of +intercourse; and it thus happened that the inquisitive shoe-mender +became partially acquainted with the history of the wrongs and griefs +which preyed upon, and shortened the life of the prematurely-aged man.</p> + +<p>The substance of this every-day, commonplace story, as related to us by +Jennings, and subsequently enlarged and colored from other sources, may +be very briefly told.</p> + +<p>Ambrose Lisle, in consequence of an accident which occurred in his +infancy, was slightly deformed. His right shoulder—as I understood, for +I never saw him—grew out, giving an ungraceful and somewhat comical +twist to his figure, which, in female eyes—youthful ones at +least—sadly marred the effect of his intelligent and handsome +countenance. This personal defect rendered him shy and awkward in the +presence of women of his own class of society; and he had attained the +ripe age of thirty-seven years, and was a rich and prosperous man, +before he gave the slightest token of an inclination toward matrimony. +About a twelvemonth previous to that period of his life, the +deaths—quickly following each other—of a Mr. and Mrs. Stevens threw +their eldest daughter, Lucy, upon Mr. Lisle's hands. Mr. Lisle had been +left an orphan at a very early age, and Mrs. Stevens—his aunt, and then +a maiden lady—had, in accordance with his father's will, taken charge +of himself and brother till they severally attained their majority. +Long, however, before she married Mr. Stevens, by whom she had two +children—Lucy and Emily. Her husband, whom she survived but two months, +died insolvent; and in obedience to the dying wishes of his aunt, for +whom he appears to have felt the tenderest esteem, he took the eldest of +her orphan children to his home, intending to regard and provide for her +as his own adopted child and heiress. Emily, the other sister, found +refuge in the house of a still more distant relative than himself.</p> + +<p>The Stevenses had gone to live at a remote part of England—Yorkshire, I +believe—and it thus fell out, that till his cousin Lucy arrived at her +new home he had not seen her for more than ten years. The pale, and +somewhat plain child, as he had esteemed her, he was startled to find +had become a charming woman; and her naturally gay and joyous +temperament, quick talents, and fresh young beauty, rapidly acquired an +overwhelming influence over him. Strenuously but vainly he struggled +against the growing infatuation—argued, reasoned with himself—passed +in review the insurmountable objections to such a union, the difference +of age—he leading toward thirty-seven, she barely twenty-one; he +crooked, deformed, of reserved, taciturn<!--047.png--> temper—she full of young +life, and grace, and beauty. It was useless; and nearly a year had +passed in the bootless struggle when Lucy Stevens, who had vainly +striven to blind herself to the nature of the emotions by which her +cousin and guardian was animated toward her, intimated a wish to accept +her sister Emily's invitation to pass two or three months with her. This +brought the affair to a crisis. Buoying himself up with the illusions +which people in such an unreasonable frame of mind create for +themselves, he suddenly entered the sitting-room set apart for her +private use, with the desperate purpose of making his beautiful cousin a +formal offer of his hand. She was not in the apartment, but her opened +writing-desk, and a partly-finished letter lying on it, showed that she +had been recently there, and would probably soon return. Mr. Lisle took +two or three agitated turns about the room, one of which brought him +close to the writing-desk, and his glance involuntarily fell upon the +unfinished letter. Had a deadly serpent leaped suddenly at his throat, +the shock could not have been greater. At the head of the sheet of paper +was a clever pen-and-ink sketch of Lucy Stevens and himself; he, +kneeling to her in a lovelorn ludicrous attitude, and she laughing +immoderately at his lachrymose and pitiful aspect and speech. The letter +was addressed to her sister Emily; and the engaged lover saw not only +that his supposed secret was fully known, but that he himself was +mocked, laughed at for his doting folly. At least this was his +interpretation of the words which swam before his eyes. At the instant +Lucy returned, and a torrent of imprecation burst from the furious man, +in which wounded self-love, rageful pride, and long pent-up passion, +found utterance in wild and bitter words. Half an hour afterward Lucy +Stevens had left the merchant's house—forever, as it proved. She, +indeed, on arriving at her sister's, sent a letter supplicating +forgiveness for the thoughtless, and, as he deemed it, insulting sketch, +intended only for Emily's eye; but he replied merely by a note written +by one of his clerks, informing Miss Stevens that Mr. Lisle declined any +further correspondence with her.</p> + +<p>The ire of the angered and vindictive man had, however, begun sensibly +to abate, and old thoughts, memories, duties, suggested partly by the +blank which Lucy's absence made in his house, partly by remembrance of +the solemn promise he had made her mother, were strongly reviving in his +mind, when he read the announcement of her marriage in a provincial +journal, directed to him, as he believed, in the bride's hand-writing; +but this was an error, her sister having sent the newspaper. Mr. Lisle +also construed this into a deliberate mockery and insult, and from that +hour strove to banish all images and thoughts connected with his cousin +from his heart and memory.</p> + +<p>He unfortunately adopted the very worst course possible for effecting +this object. Had he remained amid the buzz and tumult of active +<!--048.png--><span class="pagenum">316</span> +life, a +mere sentimental disappointment, such as thousands of us have sustained +and afterward forgotten, would, there can be little doubt, have soon +ceased to afflict him. He chose to retire from business, visited Watley, +and habits of miserliness growing rapidly upon his cankered mind, never +afterward removed from the lodgings he had hired on first arriving +there. Thus madly hugging to himself sharp-pointed memories which a +sensible man would have speedily cast off and forgotten, the sour +misanthrope passed a useless, cheerless, weary existence, to which death +must have been a welcome relief.</p> + +<p>Matters were in this state with the morose and aged man—aged mentally +and corporeally, although his years were but fifty-eight—when Mr. Flint +made Mr. Jennings's acquaintance. Another month or so had passed away +when Caleb's attention was one day about noon claimed by a young man +dressed in mourning, accompanied by a female similarly attired, and from +their resemblance to each other, he conjectured, brother and sister. The +stranger wished to know if that was the house in which Mr. Ambrose Lisle +resided. Jennings said it was; and with civil alacrity left his stall +and rang the front-door bell. The summons was answered by the landlady's +servant, who, since Esther May's death, had waited on the first-floor +lodger: and the visitors were invited to go up-stairs. Caleb, much +wondering who they might be, returned to his stall, and from thence +passed into his eating and sleeping room just below Mr. Lisle's +apartments. He was in the act of taking a pipe from the mantle-shelf, in +order to the more deliberate and satisfactory cogitation on such an +unusual event, when he was startled by a loud shout, or scream rather, +from above. The quivering and excited voice was that of Mr. Lisle, and +the outcry was immediately followed by an explosion of unintelligible +exclamations from several persons. Caleb was up-stairs in an instant, +and found himself in the midst of a strangely-perplexing and distracted +scene. Mr. Lisle, pale as his shirt, shaking in every limb, and his eyes +on fire with passion, was hurling forth a torrent of vituperation and +reproach at the young woman, whom he evidently mistook for some one +else; while she, extremely terrified, and unable to stand but for the +assistance of her companion, was tendering a letter in her outstretched +hand, and uttering broken sentences, which her own agitation and the +fury of Mr. Lisle's invectives rendered totally incomprehensible. At +last the fierce old man struck the letter from her hand, and with +frantic rage ordered both the strangers to leave the room. Caleb urged +them to comply, and accompanied them down stairs. When they reached the +street, he observed a woman on the other side of the way, dressed in +mourning, and much older apparently, though he could not well see her +face through the thick vail she wore, than she who had thrown Mr. Lisle +into such an agony of rage, apparently waiting for them. To her the +young people immediately hastened, and after a brief<!--049.png--> conference the +three turned away up the street and Mr. Jennings saw no more of them.</p> + +<p>A quarter of an hour afterward the house-servant informed Caleb that Mr. +Lisle had retired to bed, and although still in great agitation, and, as +she feared, seriously indisposed, would not permit Dr. Clarke to be sent +for. So sudden and violent a hurricane in the usually dull and drowsy +atmosphere in which Jennings lived, excited and disturbed him greatly: +the hours, however, flew past without bringing any relief to his +curiosity, and evening was falling, when a peculiar knocking on the +floor overhead announced that Mr. Lisle desired his presence. That +gentleman was sitting up in bed, and in the growing darkness his face +could not be very distinctly seen; but Caleb instantly observed a vivid +and unusual light in the old man's eyes. The letter so strangely +delivered was lying open before him; and unless the shoemender was +greatly mistaken, there were stains of recent tears upon Mr. Lisle's +furrowed and hollow cheeks. The voice, too, it struck Caleb, though +eager, was gentle and wavering. "It was a mistake, Jennings," he said; +"I was mad for the moment. Are they gone?" he added in a yet more +subdued and gentle tone. Caleb informed him of what he had seen; and as +he did so, the strange light in the old man's eyes seemed to quiver and +sparkle with a yet intenser emotion than before. Presently he shaded +them with his hand, and remained several minutes silent. He then said +with a firmer voice: "I shall be glad if you will step to Mr. Sowerby, +and tell him I am too unwell to see him this evening. But be sure to say +nothing else," he eagerly added, as Caleb turned away in compliance with +his request; "and when you come back, let me see you again."</p> + +<p>When Jennings returned, he found to his great surprise Mr. Lisle up and +nearly dressed; and his astonishment increased a hundredfold upon +hearing that gentleman say, in a quick but perfectly collected and +decided manner, that he should set off for London by the mail-train.</p> + +<p>"For London—and by night!" exclaimed Caleb, scarcely sure that he heard +aright.</p> + +<p>"Yes—yes, I shall not be observed in the dark," sharply rejoined Mr. +Lisle; "and you, Caleb, must keep my secret from every body, especially +from Sowerby. I shall be here in time to see him to-morrow night, and he +will be none the wiser." This was said with a slight chuckle; and as +soon as his simple preparations were complete, Mr. Lisle, well wrapped +up, and his face almost hidden by shawls, locked his door, and assisted +by Jennings, stole furtively down stairs, and reached unrecognized the +rail way station just in time for the train.</p> + +<p>It was quite dark the next evening when Mr. Lisle returned; and so well +had he managed that Mr. Sowerby, who paid his usual visit about half an +hour afterward, had evidently heard nothing of the suspicious absence of +his esteemed client from Watley. The old man exulted over the success of +his deception to Caleb the next +<!--050.png--><span class="pagenum">317</span> +morning, but dropped no hint as to the +object of his sudden journey.</p> + +<p>Three days passed without the occurrence of any incident tending to the +enlightenment of Mr. Jennings upon these mysterious events, which, +however, he plainly saw had lamentably shaken the long-since failing +man. On the afternoon of the fourth day, Mr. Lisle walked, or rather +tottered, into Caleb's stall, and seated himself on the only vacant +stool it contained. His manner was confused, and frequently purposeless, +and there was an anxious, flurried expression in his face which Jennings +did not at all like. He remained silent for some time, with the +exception of partially inaudible snatches of comment or questionings, +apparently addressed to himself. At last he said: "I shall take a longer +journey to-morrow, Caleb—much longer: let me see—where did I say? Ah, +yes! to Glasgow; to be sure, to Glasgow!"</p> + +<p>"To Glasgow, and to-morrow!" exclaimed the astounded cobbler.</p> + +<p>"No, no—not Glasgow; they have removed," feebly rejoined Mr. Lisle. +"But Lucy has written it down for me. True—true; and to-morrow I shall +set out."</p> + +<p>The strange expression of Mr. Lisle's face became momentarily more +strongly marked, and Jennings, greatly alarmed, said: "You are ill, Mr. +Lisle; let me run for Dr. Clarke."</p> + +<p>"No—no," he murmured, at the same time striving to rise from his seat, +which he could only accomplish by Caleb's assistance, and so supported, +he staggered indoors. "I shall be better to morrow," he said faintly, +and then slowly added: "To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow! Ah, me! +Yes, as I said, to-morrow, I—" He paused abruptly, and they gained his +apartment. He seated himself, and then Jennings, at his mute +solicitation, assisted him to bed.</p> + +<p>He lay some time with his eyes closed; and Caleb could feel—for Mr. +Lisle held him firmly by the hand, as if to prevent his going away—a +convulsive shudder pass over his frame. At last he slowly opened his +eyes, and Caleb saw that he was indeed about to depart upon the long +journey from which there is no return. The lips of the dying man worked +inarticulately for some moments; and then with a mighty effort, as it +seemed, he said, while his trembling hand pointed feebly to a bureau +chest of drawers that stood in the room: "There—there, for Lucy; there, +the secret place is—" Some inaudible words followed, and then after a +still mightier struggle than before, he gasped out: "No word—no +word—to—to Sowerby—for her—Lucy."</p> + +<p>More was said, but undistinguishable by mortal ear; and after gazing +with an expression of indescribable anxiety in the scared face of his +awestruck listener, the wearied eyes slowly reclosed—the deep silence +flowed past; then the convulsive shudder came again, and he was dead!</p> + +<p>Caleb Jennings tremblingly summoned the house-servant and the landlady, +and was still confusedly<!--051.png--> pondering the broken sentences uttered by the +dying man, when Mr. Sowerby hurriedly arrived. The attorney's first care +was to assume the direction of affairs, and to place seals upon every +article containing or likely to contain any thing of value belonging to +the deceased. This done, he went away to give directions for the +funeral, which took place a few days afterward; and it was then formally +announced that Mr. Sowerby succeeded by will to the large property of +Ambrose Lisle; under trust, however, for the family, if any, of Robert +Lisle, the deceased's brother, who had gone when very young to India, +and had not been heard of for many years—a condition which did not at +all mar the joy of the crafty lawyer, he having long since instituted +private inquiries, which perfectly satisfied him that the said Robert +Lisle had died, unmarried, at Calcutta.</p> + +<p>Mr. Jennings was in a state of great dubiety and consternation. Sowerby +had emptied the chest of drawers of every valuable it contained; and +unless he had missed the secret receptacle Mr. Lisle had spoken of, the +deceased's intentions, whatever they might have been, were clearly +defeated. And if he had <i>not</i> discovered it, how could he, Jennings, get +at the drawers to examine them? A fortunate chance brought some relief +to his perplexities. Ambrose Lisle's furniture was advertised to be sold +by auction, and Caleb resolved to purchase the bureau chest of drawers +at almost any price, although to do so would oblige him to break into +his rent-money, then nearly due. The day of sale came, and the important +lot in its turn was put up. In one of the drawers there were a number of +loose newspapers, and other valueless scraps; and Caleb, with a sly +grin, asked the auctioneer if he sold the article with all its contents. +"Oh yes," said Sowerby, who was watching the sale; "the buyer may have +all it contains over his bargain, and much good may it do him." A laugh +followed the attorney's sneering remark, and the biddings went on. "I +want it," observed Caleb, "because it just fits a recess like this one +in my room underneath." This he said to quiet a suspicion he thought he +saw gathering upon the attorney's brow. It was finally knocked down to +Caleb at £5, 10s., a sum considerably beyond its real value; and he had +to borrow a sovereign in order to clear his speculative purchase. This +done, he carried off his prize, and as soon as the closing of the house +for the night secured him from interruption, he set eagerly to work in +search of the secret drawer. A long and patient examination was richly +rewarded. Behind one of the small drawers of the <i>secrétaire</i> portion of +the piece of furniture was another small one, curiously concealed, which +contained Bank-of-England notes to the amount of £200, tied up with a +letter, upon the back of which was written, in the deceased's +handwriting, "To take with me." The letter which Caleb, although he read +print with facility, had much difficulty in making out, was that which +Mr. Lisle had struck from the young woman's hand a few weeks before +<!--052.png--><span class="pagenum">318</span> +and +proved to be a very affecting appeal from Lucy Stevens, now Lucy Warner, +and a widow, with two grown-up children. Her husband had died in +insolvent circumstances, and she and her sister Emily, who was still +single, were endeavoring to carry on a school at Bristol, which promised +to be sufficiently prosperous if the sum of about £150 could be raised, +to save the furniture from her deceased husband's creditors. The claim +was pressing, for Mr. Warner had been dead nearly a year, and Mr. Lisle +being the only relative Mrs. Warner had in the world, she had ventured +to entreat his assistance for her mother's sake. There could be no moral +doubt, therefore, that this money was intended for Mrs. Warner's relief; +and early in the morning Mr. Caleb Jennings dressed himself in his +Sunday's suit, and with a brief announcement to his landlady that he was +about to leave Watley for a day or two on a visit to a friend, set off +for the railway station. He had not proceeded far when a difficulty +struck him: the bank-notes were all twenties; and were he to change a +twenty-pound note at the station, where he was well known, great would +be the tattle and wonderment, if nothing worse, that would ensue. So +Caleb tried his credit again, borrowed sufficient for his journey to +London, and there changed one of the notes.</p> + +<p>He soon reached Bristol, and blessed was the relief which the sum of +money he brought afforded Mrs. Warner. She expressed much sorrow for the +death of Mr. Lisle, and great gratitude to Caleb. The worthy man +accepted with some reluctance one of the notes, or at least as much as +remained of that which he had changed; and after exchanging promises +with the widow and her relatives to keep the matter secret, departed +homeward. The young woman, Mrs. Warner's daughter, who had brought the +letter to Watley, was, Caleb noticed, the very image of her mother, or +rather of what her mother must have been when young. This remarkable +resemblance it was, no doubt, which had for the moment so confounded and +agitated Mr. Lisle.</p> + +<p>Nothing occurred for about a fortnight after Caleb's return to disquiet +him, and he had begun to feel tolerably sure that his discovery of the +notes would remain unsuspected, when, one afternoon, the sudden and +impetuous entrance of Mr. Sowerby into his stall caused him to jump up +from his seat with surprise and alarm. The attorney's face was deathly +white, his eyes glared like a wild beast's, and his whole appearance +exhibited uncontrollable agitation. "A word with you, Mr. Jennings," he +gasped—"a word in private, and at once!" Caleb, in scarcely less +consternation than his visitor, led the way into his inner room, and +closed the door.</p> + +<p>"Restore—give back," screamed the attorney, vainly struggling to +dissemble the agitation which convulsed him—"that—that—which you have +purloined from the chest of drawers!"</p> + +<p>The hot blood rushed to Caleb's face and temples; the wild vehemence and +suddeness of<!--053.png--> the demand confounded him; and certain previous dim +suspicions that the law might not only pronounce what he had done +illegal, but possibly felonious, returned upon him with terrible force, +and he quite lost his presence of mind.</p> + +<p>"I can't—I can't," he stammered. "It's gone—given away—"</p> + +<p>"Gone!" shouted, or more correctly howled, Sowerby, at the same time +flying at Caleb's throat as if he would throttle him. "Gone—given away! +You lie—you want to drive a bargain with +me—dog!—liar!—rascal!—thief!"</p> + +<p>This was a species of attack which Jennings was at no loss how to meet. +He shook the attorney roughly off, and hurled him, in the midst of his +vituperation, to the further end of the room.</p> + +<p>They then stood glaring at each other in silence, till the attorney, +mastering himself as well as he could, essayed another and more rational +mode of attaining his purpose.</p> + +<p>"Come, come, Jennings," he said, "don't be a fool. Let us understand +each other. I have just discovered a paper, a memorandum of what you +have found in the drawers, and to obtain which you bought them. I don't +care for the money—keep it; only give me the papers—documents."</p> + +<p>"Papers—documents!" ejaculated Caleb in unfeigned surprise.</p> + +<p>"Yes—yes; of use to me only. You, I remember, can not read writing; but +they are of great consequence to me—to me only, I tell you."</p> + +<p>"You can't mean Mrs. Warner's letter?"</p> + +<p>"No—no; curse the letter! You are playing with a tiger! Keep the money, +I tell you; but give up the papers—documents—or I'll transport you!" +shouted Sowerby with reviving fury.</p> + +<p>Caleb, thoroughly bewildered, could only mechanically ejaculate that he +had no papers or documents.</p> + +<p>The rage of the attorney when he found he could extract nothing from +Jennings was frightful. He literally foamed with passion, uttered the +wildest threats; and then suddenly changing his key, offered the +astounded cobbler one—two—three thousand pounds: any sum he chose to +name, for the papers—documents! This scene of alternate violence and +cajolery lasted nearly an hour; and then Sowerby rushed from the house, +as if pursued by the furies, and leaving his auditor in a state of +thorough bewilderment and dismay. It occurred to Caleb, as soon as his +mind had settled into something like order, that there might be another +secret drawer; and the recollection of Mr. Lisle's journey to London +recurred suggestively to him. Another long and eager search, however, +proved fruitless; and the suspicion was given up, or, more correctly, +weakened.</p> + +<p>As soon as it was light the next morning, Mr. Sowerby was again with +him. He was more guarded now, and was at length convinced that Jennings +had no paper or document to give up. "It was only some important +memoranda," observed the attorney carelessly, "that would save +<!--054.png--><span class="pagenum">319</span> +me a +world of trouble in a lawsuit I shall have to bring against some heavy +debtors to Mr. Lisle's estate; but I must do as well as I can without +them. Good-morning." Just as he reached the door, a sudden thought +appeared to strike him. He stopped, and said: "By the way, Jennings, in +the hurry of business I forgot that Mr. Lisle had told me the chest of +drawers you bought, and a few other articles, were family relics which +he wished to be given to certain parties he named. The other things I +have got; and you, I suppose, will let me have the drawers for—say a +pound profit on your bargain?"</p> + +<p>Caleb was not the acutest man in the world; but this sudden proposition, +carelessly as it was made, suggested curious thoughts. "No," he +answered; "I shall not part with it. I shall keep it as a memorial of +Mr. Lisle."</p> + +<p>Sowerby's face assumed, as Caleb spoke, a ferocious expression. "Shall +you?" said he. "Then be sure, my fine fellow, that you shall also have +something to remember me by as long as you live!"</p> + +<p>He then went away, and a few days afterward Caleb was served with a writ +for the recovery of the two hundred pounds.</p> + +<p>The affair made a great noise in the place; and Caleb's conduct being +very generally approved, a subscription was set on foot to defray the +cost of defending the action—one Hayling, a rival attorney to Sowerby, +having asserted that the words used by the proprietor of the chest of +drawers at the sale barred his claim to the money found in them. This +wise gentleman was intrusted with the defense; and, strange to say, the +jury—a common one—spite of the direction of the judge, returned a +verdict for the defendant, upon the ground that Sowerby's jocular or +sneering remark amounted to a serious, valid leave and license to sell +two hundred pounds for five pounds ten shillings!</p> + +<p>Sowerby obtained, as a matter of course, a rule for a new trial; and a +fresh action was brought. All at once Hayling refused to go on, alleging +deficiency of funds. He told Jennings that in his opinion it would be +better that he should give in to Sowerby's whim, who only wanted the +drawers in order to comply with the testator's wishes. "Besides," +remarked Hayling in conclusion, "he is sure to get the article, you +know, when it comes to be sold under a writ of <i>fi fa</i>." A few days +after this conversation, it was ascertained that Hayling was to succeed +to Sowerby's business, the latter gentleman being about to retire upon +the fortune bequeathed him by Mr. Lisle.</p> + +<p>At last Caleb, driven nearly out of his senses, though still doggedly +obstinate, by the harassing perplexities in which he found himself, +thought of applying to us.</p> + +<p>"A very curious affair, upon my word," remarked Mr. Flint, as soon as +Caleb had unburdened himself of the story of his woes and cares; "and in +my opinion by no means explainable by Sowerby's anxiety to fulfill the +testator's wishes. He can not expect to get two hundred pence out<!--055.png--> of +you; and Mrs. Warner, you say, is equally unable to pay. Very odd +indeed. Perhaps if we could get time, something might turn up."</p> + +<p>With this view Flint looked over the papers Caleb had brought, and found +the declaration was in <i>trover</i>—a manifest error—the notes never +admittedly having been in Sowerby's actual possession. We accordingly +demurred to the form of action, and the proceedings were set aside. +This, however, proved of no ultimate benefit. Sowerby persevered, and a +fresh action was instituted against the unhappy shoemender. So utterly +overcrowed and disconsolate was poor Caleb, that he determined to give +up the drawers, which was all Sowerby even now required, and so wash his +hands of the unfortunate business. Previous, however, to this being +done, it was determined that another thorough and scientific examination +of the mysterious piece of furniture should be made; and for this +purpose Mr. Flint obtained a workman skilled in the mysteries of secret +contrivances, from the desk and dressing-case establishment in +King-street, Holborn, and proceeded with him to Watley.</p> + +<p>The man performed his task with great care and skill: every depth and +width was gauged and measured, in order to ascertain if there were any +false bottoms or backs; and the workman finally pronounced that there +was no concealed receptacle in the article.</p> + +<p>"I am sure there is," persisted Flint, whom disappointment as usual +rendered but the more obstinate; "and so is Sowerby: and he knows, too, +that it is so cunningly contrived as to be undiscoverable, except by a +person in the secret, which he no doubt at first imagined Caleb to be. +I'll tell you what we'll do: You have the necessary tools with you. +Split the confounded chest of drawers into shreds: I'll be answerable +for the consequences."</p> + +<p>This was done carefully and methodically, but for some time without +result. At length the large drawer next the floor had to be knocked to +pieces; and as it fell apart, one section of the bottom, which, like all +the others, was divided into two compartments, dropped asunder, and +discovered a parchment laid flat between the two thin leaves, which, +when pressed together in the grooves of the drawer, presented precisely +the same appearance as the rest. Flint snatched up the parchment, and +his eager eye had scarcely rested an instant on the writing, when a +shout of triumph burst from him. It was the last will and testament of +Ambrose Lisle, dated August 21, 1838—the day of his last hurried visit +to London. It revoked the former will, and bequeathed the whole of his +property, in equal portions, to his cousins Lucy Warner and Emily +Stevens, with succession to their children; but with reservation of +one-half to his brother Robert or children, should he be alive, or have +left offspring.</p> + +<p>Great, it may be supposed, was the jubilation of Caleb Jennings at this +discovery; and all Watley, by his agency, was in a marvelously short +space of time in a very similar state of excitement. +<!--056.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">320</a></span> +It was very late +that night when he reached his bed; and how he got there at all, and +what precisely had happened, except, indeed, that he had somewhere +picked up a splitting headache, was, for some time after he awoke the +next morning, very confusedly remembered.</p> + +<p>Mr. Flint, upon reflection, was by no means so exultant as the worthy +shoemender. The odd mode of packing away a deed of such importance, with +no assignable motive for doing so, except the needless awe with which +Sowerby was said to have inspired his feeble-spirited client, together +with what Caleb had said of the shattered state of the deceased's mind +after the interview with Mrs. Warner's daughter, suggested fears that +Sowerby might dispute, and perhaps successfully, the validity of this +last will. My excellent partner, however, determined, as was his wont, +to put a bold face on the matter; and first clearly settling in his own +mind what he should and what he should <i>not</i> say, waited upon Mr. +Sowerby. The news had preceded him, and he was at once surprised and +delighted to find that the nervous, crest-fallen attorney was quite +unaware of the advantages of his position. On condition of not being +called to account for the moneys he had received and expended, about +£1200, he destroyed the former will in Mr. Flint's presence, and gave up +at once all the deceased's papers. From these we learned that Mr. Lisle +had written a letter to Mrs. Warner, stating what he had done, and where +the will would be found, and that only herself and Jennings would know +the secret. From infirmity of purpose, or from having subsequently +determined on a personal interview, the letter was not posted; and +Sowerby subsequently discovered it, together with a memorandum of the +numbers of the bank notes found by Caleb in the secret drawer—the +eccentric gentleman appears to have had quite a mania for such +hiding-places—of a writing-desk.</p> + +<p>The affair was thus happily terminated: Mrs. Warner, her children, and +sister, were enriched, and Caleb Jennings was set up in a good way of +business in his native place, where he still flourishes. Over the centre +of his shop there is a large nondescript sign, surmounted by a golden +boot, which, upon close inspection, is found to bear some resemblance to +a huge bureau chest of drawers, all the circumstances connected with +which may be heard, for the asking, and in much fuller detail than I +have given, from the lips of the owner of the establishment, by any lady +or gentleman who will take the trouble of a journey to Watley for that +purpose.</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="VILLAGE_LIFE_IN_GERMANY" id="VILLAGE_LIFE_IN_GERMANY"></a>VILLAGE LIFE IN GERMANY.</h2> + +<h3>THE CLUB.</h3> + +<p>Lesmona possesses a club. Its meetings are suspended during summer, but +are resumed as autumn wanes. Professedly, it is a whist club; but +card-playing is in reality the least of its objects, its chief intention +being to cultivate a kindly feeling among the inhabitants of the village +and the neighborhood, by bringing them periodically together. I was duly +balloted for<!--057.png--> and admitted. On the Friday evening after this honor was +conferred on me, I was introduced. The meetings were held in Meyerholz's +inn, and in the same apartment which had served as a ball-room. Here I +found a dozen or fifteen of the notabilities of the place assembled. In +a short time they assorted themselves, and sat down, some to whist, some +to chess, while others contented themselves with looking on. The points +at whist were fixed at a grote, about equivalent to a halfpenny—any +higher play would have been considered gambling, and would have been +regarded with extreme disfavor. Doctor W——'s phrase, "To be, or not to +be," was, I now found, the usual signal for the end as well as the +beginning of the game. Wine, and still more commonly beer, were imbibed +during the course of it. The wine usually drank in that part of the +world is French wine—St. Julian or some other Bordeaux wine is the +commonest. Rhenish wine is very rare. Some indulged in what they called +"grogs"—a "grog" is a small tumbler of brandy-punch. Almost all smoked; +indeed the pastor of the village was the only person in it who never +did. The pipe was much preferred to the cigar, the smoke from the latter +being apt to be troublesome when the hands are engaged. Of course the +pipe was the long German one, consisting of mouth-piece, flexible tube, +polished or cherry-tree stem, schwammdose or receiver, and the more or +less ornamented head or bowl. Since I am speaking of pipes, I may +mention that in Germany every smoker possesses several—and these, of +course, vary much in length, calibre, and value. There is abundant +opportunity of displaying the owner's taste. Some have their armorial +bearings painted on the bowl. Among students, again, it is common to +present a friend with a bowl bearing one's likeness, the said likeness +being a <i>silhouette</i> or shade in profile. There are, of course, all the +other varieties of bowl; some have female figures, others landscapes or +public buildings, others the likenesses of well-known characters—John +Ronge was rather a favorite at the time I speak of. As to the stem, the +most esteemed are those of the cherry-tree, brought from the Vistula. +These stems disengage a pleasant odor.</p> + +<p>But to return. "To be, or not to be," says Dr. W—— as he rises. The +rest of the party finish their games, and think of supper. It is a +slight repast; each orders what he chooses, and there is no set table. A +beefsteak or a sandwich are the most common viands. The German +expression for sandwich, by the way, is rather circumlocutory—the +literal translation of it is, "a butter-bread-with-meat;" it is like +some of the other composite terms in that language which strike a +beginner as being so odd—<i>hand-shoes</i>, for instance, or <i>finger-hat</i>, +for gloves and a thimble.</p> + +<p>The club used to meet every Friday. Each alternate week, however, we had +what was called a ladies' club. On these occasions, the female portions +of the families of members were entitled to be present. The only other +difference was, that, when ladies came, the gentlemen abstained +<!--058.png--><span class="pagenum">321</span> +from +smoking pipes, and confined themselves to cigars.</p> + +<p>But it is time to break up. Cloaks and great-coats are donned. There is +a lighting of lanterns, for the roads are dark, and some of us have a +considerable way to go. We separate with a simultaneous "Good-night—may +you sleep well."</p> + +<h3>A TEMPERANCE MEETING.</h3> + +<p>A temperance meeting was announced as being about to be held at a +village called Blumenthal, situated a few miles from Lesmona. On the +appointed day, I proceeded thither with some friends. On our arrival at +the place, we found a large canvas-covered booth erected on the border +of an extensive wood; this booth was open on every side, being meant as +a protection only against the rays of the sun. Adjacent was an inn, a +solitary house, the village being at some little distance. Entering +here, I was not a little surprised to find the majority of the promoters +of temperance drinking wine. It was just ten o'clock of the forenoon. +The fact, however, was, first, that many had come from a considerable +distance, and stood in need of some refreshment, and secondly, that the +pledge given on entering the society went no further than a promise to +abstain from ardent spirits. Total abstinence seems not to find much +favor in Germany, and the efforts of the Mässigkeit-Verein are directed +almost entirely against the use of the deadly branntwein of the country. +This branntwein is made from the potato, and is not merely intoxicating, +but, even in small quantities, is of a most pernicious effect on the +human system, destroying the stomach, and affecting the nerves, even +when far from being indulged in to any thing like excess.</p> + +<p>At last the meeting began. A clergyman opened it with a short prayer, +and then the assembly sang a temperance hymn. The air to which it was +adapted was no other than our National Anthem—which, by the way, the +Germans fondly but erroneously claim as a German composition. Then came +the usual succession of speeches, then another hymn, and then the +meeting, it being past noon, adjourned for dinner. The meal was served +in the inn, and also in booths similar to that constructed for the +meeting; but many had brought their provisions with them, and stretched +themselves on the turf under the shade of the forest. Altogether—and +especially as a large number of women had attended, and these of all +classes, from the peasant in gaudy colors to the more simply-dressed +lady—the scene was most picturesque: it looked like a pic-nic on a +great scale. After dinner, there were more speeches and more music. The +speeches tired me, and I wandered into the wood, where I found the music +much improved by being heard at a distance. The fact is, that the +country people in this part of Germany are any thing but the proficients +in music, which, according to the idea commonly entertained on the +subject in Britain, all Germans are. They, on the contrary, know +scarcely any thing whatever of the art; even in the churches, +part-singing is unknown.<!--059.png--> While I was at Lesmona, the pastor of that +place had indeed begun to instruct the children of his parish in +psalmody, and, as he is perfectly competent to do so, a change may +ultimately be effected; but in my time the church music was absolutely +painful to listen to; the vocal was deafening and discordant, and, as +for the instrumental, I shall not to my dying day forget the inhuman +turn which old Mr. Müller the organist introduced, and with evident +complacency, too, at the end of every two or three bars. Even among the +upper classes in the country, music is but scantily cultivated. In +Lesmona, for instance, one family, and one alone, paid any attention to +the art. That family, however—all its members included—had attained to +a very high degree of excellence in it. In the large towns, on the other +hand, the case is very different. In Bremen, for example, I heard the +Paulus of Mendelssohn given entirely by amateurs, and both in the +choruses, and in the solos, the finish of the performance was perfect. +In the neighborhood of Hamburg, too, I have met small companies of +workmen from the town enjoying a short walk into the country, and +singing in parts with admirable precision and <i>ensemble</i>.</p> + +<p>But to return to Blumenthal. The meeting at last broke up. As soon as it +did, a fire balloon was sent up. What connection, however, this had with +the objects of the assembly, I never was able to ascertain.</p> + +<p>Since I have introduced the word Verein—union, or society—I may notice +one of another kind, a branch of which had its head-quarters at Lesmona. +I mean the Gustavus-Adolphus Society. Its object is to unite by a common +bond the common Protestantism of Germany. I have not heard lately of its +progress and success, but I always greatly doubted of its possibility, +and am convinced it can not endure, on its original footing at least. On +what common ground (unless it be a negative one, and that is worth +nothing), can the evangelical party and the rationalists take their +stand? Even while I was in Lesmona, the elements of discord had begun to +show themselves; for in that remote nook were found keen partisans; and +it was only by a compromise effected with the greatest difficulty that +the Lesmona branch of the union did not fall to pieces before it was +completely established. And, as for the compromise, such things never +last long.</p> + +<h3>EVENING PARTIES.</h3> + +<p>I found the inhabitants of Lesmona exceedingly hospitable. It is the +custom in that part of the world for any new-comer to pay a visit to +those people of the place, to whom he desires to make himself known. It +is in their option to return the visit or not. If the visit is not +returned, it is understood that the honor and pleasure and so forth of +your visit is declined; if, on the contrary, even a card is left for you +within a few days, you may count on the friendship of the family.</p> + +<p>One of the first visits I made was to Dr. W——. +<!--060.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">322</a></span> +As is usual, I was +offered coffee and a cigar. When they were finished, and my small-talk +exhausted, I took my leave, after what I thought a somewhat stiff +interview. Indeed I almost regretted I had gone. So much for first +impressions. I changed my mind, when within a very few days I received a +kind invitation to an evening party at the worthy doctor's house. Doctor +W——, as I found out when I came to know him, was quite a <i>character</i>. +Bred to the bar, he was soon found totally unqualified for his +profession, from the extraordinary benevolence of his nature. Instead of +seeking for practice, he did all he could to prevent his clients from +going to law. The consequence was, that, whatever may have been the +rewards of his conscience, his profession gave him but few. Finding, +therefore, that he had mistaken his vocation, and that his purse +remonstrated strongly against his continuing in the pursuit of forensic +distinction, he wisely abandoned the line he had at first chosen, and +accepted the post of chief custom-house-officer on the frontier of +Hanover and Bremen. Here, modestly but comfortably settled, he gave his +leisure hours to the study of history, and, in a congenial retirement, +soon found himself quite happy. He soon became remarkable for the +accuracy of his information, and more especially for his acquaintance +with minute points and details. Thus, for example, when on his return +from his journey to Marienbad, to which I have already alluded, he +visited the town and field of battle of Leipsic, he found himself as +much at home, with regard to the topography, as did the very guide he +had engaged to point out the places rendered famous by the great fight.</p> + +<p>On the evening appointed, I duly made my appearance in Madame W——'s +saloon or drawing-room. It was the handsomest I saw in the country, and +possessed a carpet. In general, this article, so indispensable to +English comfort, is represented, and that indeed but barely, by a few +straw mats scattered about. Tea was handed round. This the Germans drink +with cream, or wine, or neither. It is esteemed a great luxury, as it +costs dear, but they make it so weak, that there is not an old woman in +England who would not regard it with contempt. After tea, we began to +play at what they call company-games. Many of these are identical with +our own inn-door amusements. Thus, they have hide-the-handkerchief, +blind-man's-buff (which they call <i>the blind cow</i>), and many others. +One, however, seems to me quite peculiar, not merely to Germany, but to +this part of it. It is called <i>Luitye lebt noch</i>—literally, <i>the little +fellow is still alive</i>. <i>Luitye</i> is Plattdeutsch, or low German, the +dialect, as I have already said, of this district. The game is played +thus: The party form a circle. Some splints of wood, three or four +inches long, have been provided. One of these is lighted, and blown out +again in a few seconds. This is <i>luitye</i>. There is, of course, for some +little time, a part of the charcoal which remains red. The stick is +passed from hand to hand,<!--061.png--> each player, as he gives it to his neighbor, +exclaiming, "Luitye lebt noch!" He or she in whose hands it is finally +extinguished has to pay a forfeit. No one can refuse it when offered; +and one of the most amusing parts of the matter is to hold luitye—the +little fellow—till he is on the very point of expiring, and then to +force him on the person next you, so that he goes out before he can get +him further. It is, however, more amusing still, when he who would thus +victimize his friend delays too long, and is himself caught.</p> + +<p>After this, and some other German games, which I did not much enjoy, as +they consisted chiefly in the repetition of certain formal phrases, +without much meaning, we acted charades—not very successfully, I must +admit. Then we seated ourselves round a table, in the middle of which a +piece of light cotton was placed. At this we all began to blow fiercely, +and a tempest arose, on which the cotton was tossed about in all +directions. When it finally found refuge on the person of any of us, the +recipient was condemned to a forfeit. This game is entertaining enough, +and was carried on amidst much boisterous puffing and laughing, till +suddenly the cotton mysteriously disappeared. It appeared it had +actually been carried into the open mouth of a gentleman, whose powers +had been so severely taxed that he had lost his wind. This put an end to +the amusement, and we proceeded to draw the forfeits.</p> + +<p>Then we had supper. It was a less substantial and more judicious meal +than I had generally seen in the neighborhood. It was also a more +ambitious one; not a few of the dishes were disguised with the artistic +skill which is the pride of modern cookery. In particular, I remember +that I accepted a spoonful of what I thought was a composition of +raspberries, strawberries, and red currant jelly. It turned out to be a +sort of hashed lobster pickle. Shortly after supper we broke up.</p> + +<p>In such parties, I should remark that all present took part in them, +from the oldest to the youngest. What distinguished them most, besides +this, was a kind of homely cheerfulness that was quite delightful. Every +one came in good humor, and resolved to enjoy himself. And in this it +was very evident all succeeded. I never saw any dancing at any of these +soirées, and rarely was there any music. When, however, there was any of +the latter, it was excellent. I shall not soon forget the way in which +the music of Schiller's "Founding of the Bell" was performed by some of +my Lesmona and Ritterhude friends.</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="A_PEEP_AT_THE_PERAHARRA" id="A_PEEP_AT_THE_PERAHARRA"></a>A PEEP AT THE "PERAHARRA."</h2> + +<p>Of the religious festivals of the Buddhists of Ceylon, that known as the +Peraharra is the most important. It is observed at Kandy, the capital of +the ancient kings of Ceylon, and at Ratnapoora, the chief town of the +Saffragam district. Few good Buddhists will be absent from these +religious observances; and whole families may be seen journeying on foot +for many +<!--062.png--><span class="pagenum">323</span> +miles, over mountains, through dense jungles and unwholesome +swamps, across rapid and dangerous streams, along hot sandy pathways, +loaded with their pittance of food and the more bulky presents of fruit, +rice, oil, and flowers, to lay at the foot of the holy shrine of Buddha, +to be eventually devoured by the insatiable priests.</p> + +<p>In the month of July, 1840, I had a peep at the celebrated Peraharra of +Ratnapoora, where the shrine sacred to the memory of <i>Saman</i> rivals in +attraction the great <i>Dalada Maligawa</i> of Kandy. Like its mountain +competitor, it has its relic of Buddha enshrined in a richly-jeweled +casket, which is made an object of especial veneration to the votaries +of that god. <i>Saman</i> was the brother of the famed Rama, the Malabar +conqueror who invaded Ceylon in ages long past, and extirpated from its +flowery shores the race of mighty giants who had held its people in +subjection for many centuries—a sort of Oriental King Arthur. To Saman +was given the district of Saffragam; and the people of that country at +his death, promoted him to the dignity of a deity, as a slight token of +their regard.</p> + +<p>The Ratnapoora festival is the more attractive by reason of its being +made the occasion of a large traffic in precious stones, with which the +neighborhood abounds. In this way the great part of the Buddhists manage +to combine commerce with devotion.</p> + +<p>The road to the Saffragam district was, in the time at which I traveled +it, a very barbarous and dangerous affair, differing widely from the +excellent traces which existed through most of the maritime provinces of +Ceylon. It was then, in fact, little more than a mere bullock-track, or +bridle-path, with no bridges to aid in crossing the streams which +intersect it. The journey from Colombo to Ratnapoora may now be easily +performed in one day: at that time it required a good nag and careful +diligence to accomplish it in two.</p> + +<p>Day dawned as I got clear of the Pettah, or Black Town of Colombo, and +crossed a small stream which led me to the jungle, or village road, I +was to follow. In England, we should call such a muddy lane; but here +one knows little between the good high roads and the bullock-track. +Strange as it may sound to home travelers, one is often glad to see the +sun rise, and feel it warm the heavy, damp air in the tropics. Before me +lay a long straggling line of low jungle, indicating the road: far away +in the distance rose the high, bluff hill and rocks towering over the +once royal domain of <i>Avishawella</i>. Around, on every side, was water, +completely hiding the fields from view, and only allowing a bush, or a +tree, or a hut-top, to be seen peeping up through the aqueous vail, +dotting the wide expanse like daisies in a field. The rains had flooded +the whole of the low country, which, inundated by many mountain +torrents, could not discharge the mass of streams nearly so fast as it +received them. Over and across all this watery wilderness huge masses of +misty vapor came rolling and tumbling along, as though shrouding some<!--063.png--> +Titanic water-sprites who had been keeping it up rather late the night +before, and were not quite sure of the way home. One might have +imagined, indeed, that it was some universal washing-day, and that the +great lid of the national copper had just been lifted up.</p> + +<p>As the sun rose above the line of black rocks in the distance, its rays +lit up those misty monsters of the flood, imparting to them life-like +tints, which gave them beauty, and forms they had not known before. As +these sun-lit fogs rolled on, a thousand shapes moved fitfully among +them: troops of wild horsemen; crystal palaces with gilded gates; grim +figures playing at bopeep; hills, towns, and castles; with many a ship +at sea, and lovely cottages in quiet, sunny glades; all these, and more, +seemed there. With the sea-breeze, all that array of cloudy creatures +departed, leaving the air hot and stifling from the reflection of the +sun's rays in the endless flood above me. But where were the poor +Singalese villagers, their families, and their goods, amidst all this +wreck? As I jogged along, the cry of a child, the crowing of a cock, the +bark of a dog, floated across the ocean of mist, but whence came they? I +looked to the right and to the left. I strained my eyes straightforward, +but not a soul, or a feather, or a snout was to be seen. Presently the +fog cleared away, and I could see overhead into the trees. There, +chairs, tables, chatties, paddy-pounders, boxes of clothes, children in +cots, men, women, cats, dogs, all were there in one strange medley, +curiously ensconced among the wide-spreading branches of the trees. Over +their heads, and on each side, mats and cocoa-nut leaves were hung to +keep off rain and damp fogs, while against each side of the tree was +placed a thick notched stick, which served as a ladder for the whole +party. Here and there canoes were to be seen paddled across the fields +to keep up communication between the different villages. It was a +strange but desolate spectacle, and I was glad to find myself, at last, +free from the watery neighborhood, and once more riding on <i>terra +firma</i>.</p> + +<p>During the heat of the next day I turned aside to a shady green lane. A +mile along this quiet pathway I was tempted to rest myself at the mouth +of a dark-looking cave, by the side of a running stream of beautiful +water. Tying my pony to a bush, I entered at the low archway, and found +myself at once in utter darkness; but after a short time I began to +distinguish objects, and then saw, close to me, one whom I should have +least looked for in that strange, desolate spot. It was a Chinese, tail +and all. My first idea was, as I looked at the figure through the dim +light of the cave, that it was nothing more than a large China jar, or, +perhaps a huge tea-chest, left there by some traveler; but, when the +great, round face relaxed into a grin, and the little pea-like eyes +winked, and the tail moved, and the thick lips uttered broken English, I +took a proper view of the matter, and wished my cavern acquaintance +"good-morning." I soon gathered the occupation of See Chee in +<!--064.png--><span class="pagenum">324</span> +this +strange place; the cave we were then in was one of the many in that +neighborhood, in which a particular kind of swallow builds the edible +nests so highly prized by the Chinese and Japanese for conversion into +soups, stews, and, for aught we know, into tarts. The Chinaman told me, +what I was scarcely prepared to learn, that he rented from the Ceylon +government the privilege to seek these birds' nests in this district, +for which he paid the yearly sum of one hundred dollars, or seven +pounds, ten shillings. Procuring a <i>chule</i>, or native torch, the Chinese +nest-hunter showed me long ledges of shelving rock at the top of the +cavern, whereon whole legions of curious little gummy-like excrescences +were suspended; some were perfect nests, others were in course of +formation, and these latter I learned were the most valued; those which +had had the young birds reared in them being indifferently thought of, +and were only bought by the lower orders of soup-makers. Having rested +myself and pony, I once more pushed on for Ratnapoora, where I arrived, +heated, jaded, and dusty, by high noon.</p> + +<p>A chattie bath seldom fails to refresh the Indian traveler, and fit him +for the enjoyment of his meal. In the cool of the evening I strolled out +to watch the preparations for the nightly festivities. These continue +for about a fortnight, chiefly after sunset, though devotees may be seen +laying their simple offerings at the foot of the shrine, during most +part of the afternoon. The little bazaar of the town was alive with +business; all vestiges of its wonted filth and wretchedness were hidden +beneath long strips of white linen, and garlands of cocoa-nut leaves and +flowers hung round by bands of bright red cloth. Piles of tempting wares +were there; beads, bangles, and scarfs to decorate; rice, jaggery, and +sweetmeats to eat, and innumerable liquors to drink, were placed in +profuse array. The streets and lanes poured forth long strings of human +beings, heated with the sun, flushed with drink, and bedizened with +trumpery jewelry and mock finery. Poor tillers of the soil; beggarly +fishermen; mendicant cinnamon peelers; half-starved coolies; lean, +sickly women, and poor, immature children, passed onward in the motley +throng, burying their every-day misery beneath the savage mirth of a +night or two at the Peraharra.</p> + +<p>Following the living, dark stream, as closely as the heat, dust, and +strange odors would allow me, I arrived, at length, near to the Temple +of Saman. The edifice, of which I caught a distant glimpse, was half +concealed beneath the heavy, luxuriant foliage of cocoa-nut topes, +arekas, plantains, and banyan trees. An ocean of human heads filled up +the space around the building, from which proceeded the well-known +sounds of the reed and the tom-tom. Gay flags fluttered from the four +corners, and the lofty pinnacle in the centre; wreaths of flowers, +plaited leaves and ribbons of many colors, waved jauntily from roof to +door; while round the pillars of the walls and door posts clustered rich +bunches of most tempting fruit.<!--065.png--></p> + +<p>Close by this busy scene, another group was forming under a large and +lofty <i>Pandahl</i>, or open bungalow. Forcing my way to one corner of the +shed, I found a company of Indian jugglers consisting of two men, a +girl, and a child of perhaps three years. The men were habited in +strange uncouth dresses, with large strings of heavy black beads round +their necks; the girl was simply and neatly clad in white, with silver +bangles and anklets, and a necklace of native diamonds. It would be +impossible to detail all their extraordinary performances, which far +exceeded any thing I had ever read of their art. The quantity of iron +and brass ware which they contrived to swallow was truly marvelous; +ten-penny nails, clasp-knives, gimlets, were all treated as so many +items of pastry or confectionary, and I could but picture to myself the +havoc a dozen of these cormorants would commit in an ironmonger's shop. +Not the least remarkable of their feats was that of producing a sheet of +water upon the sand close at our feet; and, after conjuring upon its +clear surface half-a-dozen young ducks and geese, suddenly causing it to +freeze in such a solid mass as to allow of our walking across it without +causing so much as a crack in its crystal body. One more feat I must +relate; which was that of suspending the girl while seated on a sort of +ottoman, to the ridge-pole of the shed; and, at a given signal, removing +the rope by which she hung, leaving her still suspended in the air—not +with a regular apparatus, such as is used by the performers of a similar +trick in London and Paris, but apparently with no apparatus at all! For, +to my exceeding amazement, a sword was given to me, as the only European +of the company, and I was told to cut and slash as much as I pleased +above and around the girl. After some hesitation, I hacked and hewed the +air in every direction, around and close to the suspended maiden with a +vigor which would inevitably cut asunder any means of support; yet there +she swung unmoved, without any sort of apparent agent of suspension +except the air itself! Snake-charming and dancing completed the +entertainment. When I left the place it was night.</p> + +<p>Near the temple, all was noise and confusion, and it was with some +difficulty that I forced my way through the dense crowd, and reached the +steps of the venerated shrine. The priest stationed at the entrance made +a way in for me as well as he could, but the pressure inside was +intense. Hundreds of men and women pressed eagerly forward to reach the +flight of huge stone stairs which led up to the sacred depositary. It +was as bad as a crush to get into the Crystal Palace. My passage was so +slow that I had time to examine and admire the fine antique carved work +on the pillars and ceiling of the entrance-hall, as well as on the tall +pilasters which lined the ample staircase. There was a beauty of style +and a high degree of finish about this work that could not be attained +in Ceylon in the present day. Arrived, at length, at the inner temple or +sacred shrine above, I passed with the +<!--066.png--><span class="pagenum">325</span> +rest, between a richly brocaded +curtain which hung in folds across the entrance at the top of the +stairs, and stood before the famed relic of Buddha, or rather the +jeweled casket which contained it. I felt disappointed at the spectacle +here, arising, perhaps, from my taking no interest in the exhibition as +a religious ceremony, and looking at it merely as an empty show, not far +removed from the status of Bartholemew Fair. The strong glare of a +hundred lights, the heat and crowd of so many in so small a place, the +sickly perfume of the piles of Buddha flowers heaped before the shrine +by the pilgrims, the deafening, discordant din of a score of tom-toms, +and vile screeching pipes, made me glad enough to descend the stairs, +and, flinging a rupee into the poor-box of the god, to escape once more +into the fresh air.</p> + +<p>From the votaries of Saman I entered another crowd, assembled round a +gayly decorated building, which I at once perceived was a Hindoo temple. +Here, to the sound of much music, and by the light of many lamps, a +group of young dancing-girls were delighting the motley crowd. There +were but three of them, one a finely-made, tall, sylph-like creature, +with really graceful movements; the others younger, stouter, and far +less pleasing. A good deal of pains had evidently been taken with their +dress, which sparkled at all points with what I was assured were +precious stones. I have heard that it is not uncommon for these Nautch +girls to have jewelry about their dress to the value of twenty thousand +pounds. The graceful little jacket which the chief dancer wore over her +flowing white robes sparkled and glistened with something which was +quite new to me as articles of ornament: along the edge of her pure +white garment, shone a whole host of fire-flies, which by some ingenious +arrangement had been secured to the dress, and gave a strange and +pleasing novelty to the appearance of her attire, as she swept +gracefully round in slow and measured steps. The music to which these +people dance is any thing but pleasing to an English ear: indeed, there +is scarcely a trace of rhythm in it; yet they contrive to measure their +mazy and difficult dance by its notes with admirable precision. Long +custom has so attached them to their empty meaningless music that they +can appreciate no other. I am certain that M. Julien's band would +scarcely be listened to by the Singalese if there were a few tom-toms +within hearing. It is a curious fact that in the districts in which +these Nautch girls are brought up, education is so rare, that these +dancers are generally the only lay persons within many days' journey who +can either read or write. The priests can all read, if not write, and +they take care to instruct the temple-girls in order to enable them to +learn the various songs and legends for recital at their periodic +festivals. The rest of the population they keep in the densest +ignorance.</p> + +<p>Leaving the dancers and priests, I strolled toward the river +Kaloo-ganga, whose quiet, palm-shaded banks stood out in sweetest +contrast to<!--067.png--> the noisy revelry I had just beheld. The moon was near the +full, and rising high above the many rich green topes of palms, and +gorgeous plantains, lit up the peaceful scene with radiance not of +earth. It is hardly possible to conceive the magic beauty of moonlight +in the tropics; those who have witnessed it, can never forget their +feelings under its influence. The master hand of our finest painters +might attempt to depict it, but the affair would be a dead failure; and +did it succeed, strangers to these climes would pronounce it an +unnatural painting. Even in its reality, it bears the impress of +something half unearthly, and it requires the testimony of the huge +fingery leaves, as they wave to the breeze, to assure one that the whole +scene is not imaginary. Fully as bright and radiating, though softer in +its hue, than the broad sunshine, the moon poured down in living streams +its gifts of ether-light. The monster palms, the slender arekas, the +feathery bamboos and tamarinds, reveled in the harmony and glow of +radiant moonlight, which leaping down in phosphorescent waves, sprang on +from leaf to flower, from bud to herb, and streaming through the waving +seas of giant, emerald grass, died sparkling at its feet.</p> + +<p>Some of the topes along this gentle river grew so thickly that not the +faintest ray of light found its soft way among them; the deepest shade +was there, and only in one of these could I trace any vestiges of living +beings. A little hut was buried far away in the inmost recesses of a +tope—all bright above, all gloom below. The door was open, and from it +shone a faintly glimmering light; so tiny was the ray amidst that heavy +shade, so distant did it seem, that it defied all conception of space, +and made my eyes ache to gaze at it. I, at length, distinguished faint +sounds proceeding from it. They were those of a regular harmony. +Strolling nearer, I heard that they proceeded from cultivated voices. +What a sensation! The music was that of the "Evening Hymn!" and it came +upon me with the echoes of the uncouth Babel of Heathenism I had just +left still ringing in my ears, like the sunlight on a surging sea. When +I recovered from the delightful surprise, I found that the singers were +the family of a native missionary who had embraced Christianity.</p> + +<p>The next day the bazaar was crowded with dealers in and diggers for +precious stones. Hundreds of Moormen, Chitties, Arabs, Parsees, and +Singalese were busily employed in barter; and a most noisy operation it +was. In the neighborhood of Ratnapoora exist many tracts of clayey and +gravelly land, rich in rubies, sapphires, garnets, turquoise, and +cat's-eyes. For the privilege of digging for these, or of sifting them +from the sands of some of the rivers, the natives pay heavy rents to +Government; often sub-letting the ground, at large profits, to needy +speculators. Their harvest is usually offered for sale during the +Peraharra; and, be their gains what they may, they are generally rid of +the whole amount before the end of the festival. +<!--068.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">326</a></span> +The existence of this +source of wealth is, unfortunately, a bane, rather than a blessing, to +the district; for whole villages flock to the ruby-grounds, delving and +sifting for weeks together, utterly neglecting their rice-fields and +gardens. Arrack taverns have multiplied, intemperance has increased, +long tracts of fertile land have ceased to be sown with paddy, and the +country-people now buy their food from strangers, in place of growing +it, as formerly. It will be a happy time for Saffragam when its stores +of precious stones shall be exhausted; for not till then will peaceful +industry be once more sought.</p> + +<p>Struggling and forcing a way through the busy crowd were to be seen one +or two Hindoo fakeers, most repulsive objects, depending for subsistence +on the alms of pilgrims and others. One of these wretched creatures, in +the fulfillment of a vow, or as an act of fancied righteousness, had +held his left arm for so many years erect above his head, that it could +not now be moved—and grew transfixed, emaciated, and bony. It seemed +more like a dry, withered stick tied to the body than a part of itself. +The other fakeer had closed his hands so long that the finger-nails had +grown quite through the palms, and projected at the back of them; these +miserable-looking objects appeared to reap a tolerable harvest, and +seemed to be then in no pain.</p> + +<p>Under the shade of a banyan tree, a grave-looking Moorman was amusing a +crowd of boys and women with the recital of some wonderful or silly +legend. The trade of story-telling, in the East, is still a profitable +one, if I might judge from the comfortable appearance of this well-clad +talker.</p> + +<p>When I left Ratnapoora, crowds were still flocking into the town, for on +the morrow the huge temple elephants were expected to march in +procession through the place, decked out in all sorts of finery, and +bearing the casket and relic; but it was a wearisome spectacle, and I +was heartily glad to find myself once more on my pony, quietly winding +through green paddyfields and under shady topes.</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="A_TOBACCO_FACTORY_IN_SPAIN" id="A_TOBACCO_FACTORY_IN_SPAIN"></a>A TOBACCO FACTORY IN SPAIN.</h2> + +<p>This is the most immense establishment of the kind in Spain, and is +devoted exclusively to the manufacture of snuff and cigars. "Chewing" is +a habit to which the Spaniards are not addicted. Tobacco, being a +government monopoly, yields an enormous revenue to the crown; the +factories being the most extensive in the world, and the demand for the +weed even greater than the supply. The Fabrica of Seville, though +utterly devoid of architectural merit, is only surpassed in size by the +famous monastery of the Escurial. It is six hundred and sixty-two feet +in length, by five hundred and twenty-four in width: having been erected +by a fat Dutchman about the middle of the last century, its slight +claims to symmetry and elegance are in no degree to be wondered at. Its +substantiality, however,<!--069.png--> and excellent adaptation to the purposes for +which it was intended, render it well worthy of a careful examination, +either by the fastidious cigar-smoker or indefatigable snuff-taker. For +the edification of such in particular have we undertaken this brief +description of the edifice.</p> + +<p>Within its walls it has twenty-eight courts, while externally the +building is encompassed by a deep moat, in order to guard against the +possibility of smuggling on the part of the operatives. The number of +persons usually employed, ranges from five to six thousand, though +several thousand additional hands are sometimes called into requisition +in years of extraordinary demand. By far the greater proportion of these +are females, perhaps even four-fifths. Our application for admission was +readily granted, and such was the politeness of the managers, that they +put us immediately under the charge of a young Spaniard connected with +the building, with instructions to him to show us every part of the +establishment which we might desire to see. This mission he performed to +our entire satisfaction. We soon dispatched the snuff department which +occupies the ground floor, and which gave us such a terrible fit of +sneezing, that we were somewhat fearful our nasal organs would never +recover from the severe shock they had experienced. None but males were +employed in the snuff rooms, and more wretched-looking objects I think I +never saw.</p> + +<p>They were frightfully cadaverous and pale, showing distinctly in their +countenances the pernicious influence of such a poisoned and tobacco +impregnated atmosphere upon their constitutions. Their appearance was +more like that of demons than human beings, and it was with a sense of +the deepest aversion, that we left their dark and dismal quarters. +Ascending to the upper story, we entered an immense hall, running nearly +the whole length of the building, in which between three and four +thousand females, seated at tables, were busily engaged in the +manufacture of cigars. It was indeed a strange spectacle. Not a man was +to be seen among the enormous concourse, and even had there been half a +dozen, well might we have exclaimed, "What are these among so many?" The +females were of every age, from childhood upward, and, as a general +rule, their complexions were characterized by a sallow and unhealthy +look. The animation which prevailed among them on our sudden advent, was +perfectly overwhelming: such a din and clattering of voices were +absolutely deafening. Every mouth was in rapid motion, and quite rivaled +in its vibrations the meteoric movements of their hands. <i>We</i> were +evidently the engrossing subject of conversation, and our vanity was +consequently on the alert to overhear some of the remarks that were +made, and thus discover what impression our appearance had caused upon +the thickly-clustered damsels around us. But to our great dismay, we +heard but little of a complimentary nature, which aroused our +indignation to such a height, that +<!--070.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">327</a></span> +we were half inclined to make a +terrific charge amid the mighty throng, and seek revenge by kissing in +turn each beautiful culprit upon whom we could lay our hands. But +seriously, we saw very little beauty among them, which we attributed in +a great measure to the unwholesome nature of their occupation. Certainly +I never saw such a striking want of good looks among any other class in +Spain. In Seville these girls are termed <i>cigarreras</i>, and they have a +not very enviable reputation.</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="INFIRMITIES_OF_GENIUS" id="INFIRMITIES_OF_GENIUS"></a>INFIRMITIES OF GENIUS.</h2> + +<p>We must, in the first place, deny that there is any <i>necessary</i> +connection between genius and vice, or madness, or eccentricity. Genius +is a ray from heaven; and is naturally akin to all those things on earth +"which are lovely and pure, and of a good report." Its very name shows +its connection with the <i>genial</i> nature; its main moral element is love. +Men are now in their hearts so conscious of this, that when they hear of +instances of disconnection between genius and virtue, it is with a start +of surprise and horror; and we believe that though all the men of genius +who ever lived had been tainted with vice, still the <i>thoughtful</i> would +have been slow of drawing the horrible inference, that the brightest and +most divine-seeming power in the human mind was a fiend in the garb of a +radiant angel, and would have sought elsewhere for the real solution of +the problem. But when we remember that so many of this gifted order +<i>have</i> been true to themselves and to their mission, the belief is +strengthened, that the instances of a contrary kind can be accounted for +upon principles or facts which leave intact alike the sanity, the +health, and the morality, of genius <i>per se</i>.</p> + +<p>Such principles and facts there do exist; and we now proceed to +enumerate some of them. And first, some of the most flagrantly bad of +literary men have had no real pretensions to genius. Savage, for +example, Boyce, and Dermody, were men of tolerable talent, and +intolerable impudence, conceit, and profligacy. Churchill was of a +higher order, but has been ridiculously overrated by whoever it was that +wrote a paper on him, not long since, in the "Edinburgh Review"—a +disgraceful apology for a disgraceful and disgusting life. Swift and +Chatterton, with all their vast talents, wanted, we think, the fine +differentia, and the genial element of real poetic genius. And time +would fail us to enumerate the hundreds of lesser spirits who have +employed their small modica of light, which they mistook for genius, as +lamps allowing them to see their way more clearly down to the chambers +of death. Talent, however great, is not genius. Wit, however refined, is +not genius. Learning, however profound, is not genius. But genius has +been confounded not only with these respectable and valuable powers, but +with glibness of speech, a knack of rhyming, the faculty of echoing +others, elegance of language, fury of excitation, and a hundred other +qualities, either mechanical or morbid, and then the faults of such +feeble or<!--071.png--> diseased pretenders have been gravely laid down at the door +of the insulted genius of poetry.</p> + +<p>Secondly, real genius has not always received its due meed from the +world. Like real religion, it has found itself in an enemy's land. +Resisted, as it has often been, at every step, it has not been able +uniformly to maintain the dignity, or to enjoy the repose, to which it +was entitled. Men of genius have occasionally soured in temper, and this +has bred now the savage satisfaction with which Dr. Johnson wrote and +printed, in large capitals, the line in his "London"—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Slow rises worth by poverty depressed;"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>and now feelings still fiercer, more aggressive, and more destructive to +the moral balance of the soul. It is a painful predicament in which the +man of genius has often felt himself. Willing to give to all men a +portion of the bread of life, and unable to obtain the bread that +perisheth—balked in completing the unequal bargain of light from heaven +with earthly pelf—carrying about fragments of God's great general book +of truth from reluctant or contemptuous bookseller to +bookseller—subject even after his generous and noble thoughts are +issued to the world, to the faint praise, or chilly silence, or abusive +fury of oracular dunces—to the spurn of any mean slave who can find an +assassin's cloak in the "Anonymous," and who does not even, it may be, +take the trouble of looking at the divine thing he stabs, but strikes in +blind and brutal fury; such has been and is the experience of many of +whom the world is not worthy; and can it be wondered at, that some of +them sink in the strife, and that others, even while triumphing, do so +at the expense of much of the bloom, the expansive generosity, the +all-embracing sympathy which were their original inheritance? Think of +Byron's first volume, trampled like a weed in the dust—of Shelley's +magnificent "Revolt of Islam," insulted and chased out of public +view—of Keats's first volume and its judicial murder—of other +attempts, less successful, such as the treatment of Carlyle's "French +Revolution," at its first appearance, by a weekly journal (the +"Athenæum"), which <i>now</i> follows his proud path with its feeble and +unaccepted adulation, and then speak with more pity of the aberrations +into which the weaker sons of the muse have been hurried, and with more +respect of the stern insulation and growing indifference to opinion and +firmness of antagonistic determination which characterize her stronger +children.</p> + +<p>Thirdly, the aberrations of genius are often unduly magnified. The spots +in a star are invisible—those in a sun are marked by every telescope. +No man is a hero to his <i>valet de chambre</i>. And the reason often is, the +valet is an observant but malicious and near-sighted fool. He sees the +spots without seeing their small proportion to the magnitude of the orb. +Nay, he creates spots if he can not see them. The servants of Mrs. +Siddons, while she was giving her famous private readings from Milton +and Shakspeare, thought their mistress mad, and used to say, "There's +the old lady making as +<!--072.png--><span class="pagenum">328</span> +much noise as ever." Many and microscopic are +the eyes which follow the steps of genius; and, too often, while they +mark the mistakes, they are blind to the motives; to the palliations, to +the resistance, and to the remorse. The world first idolizes +genius—rates it even beyond its true worth—calls it perfect—remembers +its divine derivation, but forgets that it must shine on us through +earthly vessels, and then avenges on the earthly vessels the +disappointment of its own exaggerated expectations. Hence each careless +look, or word, or action of the hapless son of publicity, is noted, and, +if possible, misinterpreted; his occasional high spirits are traced to +physical excitement; his occasional stupidity voted a sin; his rapture +and the reaction from it are both called in to witness against him: nay, +an entire class of creatures arises, whose instinct it is to discover, +and whose trade it is to tell his faults as a writer, and his failings +as a man. It is under such a broad and searching glare, like that of a +stage, that many men of warm temperament, strong passions, and sensitive +feelings, have been obliged to play their part. And can we wonder +that—sometimes sickened at the excessive and unnatural heat, sometimes +dazzled by the overbearing and insolent light, and often disgusted at +the falsehood of their position, and the cruelty or incompetence of +their self-constituted judges—they have played it ludicrously or +woefully ill?</p> + +<p>But again, till of late, the moral nature, and moral culture of genius, +were things ignored by general opinion, by critics, and even by men of +genius themselves. Milton and a few others were thought lucky and +strange exceptions to the general rule. The general rule was understood +to be that the gifted were <span class="smcap">most</span> apt to go astray—that the very light +that was in them was darkness—that aberration, in a word, was the law +of their goings. One of their own number said that</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The light that led astray,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Was light from heaven."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Critics, such as Hazlitt, <i>too</i> well qualified to speak of the errors of +the genius which they criticised, were not content to palliate those by +circumstances, but defended them on the dangerous principle of necessary +connection. The powers of high intellect were magnified—its errors +excused—and its solemn duties and responsibilities passed over in +silence. The text, "Where much is given, much also shall be required," +was seldom quoted. Genius was regarded as a chartered libertine—not as +a child of divine law—guided, indeed, rather by the spirit than the +letter, but still in accordance with law, as well as with liberty—as a +capricious comet, not a planet, brighter and swifter than its fellows. +Now, we think all this is changing, and that the true judges and friends +of the poet, while admitting his fallibility, condemning his faults, and +forewarning him of his dangers, are ever ready to contend that his gift +is moral, that his power is conferred for holy purposes, that he is a +missionary of God, in a lower yet lofty sense—and<!--073.png--> that if he desecrate +his powers, he is a traitor to their original purposes, and shall share +in the condemnation of that servant who "was beaten with many stripes." +But must not the long—the written—the sung, the enacted prevalence of +a contrary opinion—of a false and low idea of genius, as a mere +minister of enjoyment, or child of impulse, irresponsible as the wind, +have tended to perpetuate the evils it extenuated, and to render the +gifted an easier prey to the temptations by which they were begirt, and +infinitely less sensible to the mischiefs which their careless or +vicious neglect of their high stewardship was certain to produce? Must +<span class="smcap">they</span> bear the whole blame? Must not a large portion of it accrue to the +age in which they lived, and to that public opinion which they breathed +like an atmosphere?</p> + +<p>We attribute the higher and purer efforts which genius is <i>beginning</i> to +make, both in art and in life, to the growing prevalence of a purer +opinion, and of a more severe, yet charitable criticism. The <i>public</i>, +indeed, has, as we have intimated above, much to learn yet, in its +treatment of its gifted children; but the wiser and better among the +critics have certainly been taught a lesson by the past. Into the +judgment of literary works the consideration of their moral purpose has +now entered as an irresistible element. And the same measure is also +fast being applied, mercifully, yet sternly, to our literary men.</p> + +<p>Finally, it follows from these remarks, that we expect every year to +hear less and less of the aberrations of genius. And that for various +reasons. First, fewer and fewer will, under our present state of +culture, claim to be considered as men of genius, and the public is less +likely to be troubled with the affected oddities of pretenders, and the +<i>niaiseries</i> of monkeys run desperate. Then, again, the profession of +letters is now less likely to be chosen by men of gifts, it is so +completely overdone; and need we say, that as a profession, its +exceeding precariousness and the indefinite position it gives to the +literary man have been very pernicious to his morals and his peace. Then</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"The old world <i>is</i> coming right,"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>and as it rights, is learning more to respect the literary character, to +understand its peculiar claims, and to allow for its <span class="smcap">sinless</span> +infirmities. Lastly—and chief of all, men of letters are <i>beginning</i> to +awaken—are feeling the strong inspiration of common sense—are using +literature less as a cripple's crutch and more as a man's staff—are +becoming more charitable to each other, and are sensible with a +profounder conviction that literature, as well as life, is a serious +thing, and that for all its "idle words" they must give an account at +the day of judgment. May this process be perfected in due time. And may +all, however humble, who write, feel that they have each his special +part to play in this work of perfectionment!</p> + +<p>We are very far from being blind worshipers of Thomas Carlyle. We +disapprove of much +<!--074.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">329</a></span> +that he has written. We think, that unintentionally, +he has done deep damage to the realities of faith, as well as to the +"shams" of hypocrisy. He has gone out from the one ark and has not +returned like the dove with the olive leaf—but rather, like the raven, +strayed and croaked hopelessly over the carcasses of this weltering age. +And our grief, at reading one or two of his recent pamphlets (which +posterity will rank with such sins of power, as the wilder works of +Swift and Byron), resembled that of a son whose father had disgraced his +gray hairs by a crime or outrage. But even in the depth of this +undiminished feeling of sorrow, we must acknowledge that no writer, save +Milton and Wordsworth, has done so much in our country to restore the +genuine respectability, and to proclaim the true mission of literature. +In his hands and on his eloquent tongue it appears no idle toy for the +amusement of the lovesick or the trifling—no mere excitement—but a +profound, as well as beautiful reality—to be attested, if necessary, by +a martyr's tears and blood, and at all events by the life and +conversation of an honest and virtuous man. And he has himself so +attested it. With Scott, literature was a great money-making machine. +With Byron it was the trunk of a mad elephant, through which he squirted +out his spite at man, his enmity at God, and his rage at even his own +shadow. Carlyle has held his genius as a trust—has sought to unite it +to his religion (whatever <i>that</i> may be)—has expressed it in the +language of a determined life—and has made, by the power of his +example, many to go and do likewise. If he has not produced a yet +broader and more permanent effect—if Carlyleism, as a system, is fast +weakening and dying away—if the young minds of the age are beginning to +crave something better than a creed with no articles, a gospel of +negations, a faith with no forms, a hope with no foundations, a +Christianity without facts (like a man with life and blood, but without +limbs)! the fault lies in the system, and not in the author of it. +Although, to this also we are tempted to attribute his well-known +disgust <i>latterly</i> at literature. He has tried to form his own sincere +love and prosecution of it into a religion, and has failed. And why? +Literature is only a subjective, and not an objective reality. It is +made to adorn and explain religion—but no sincerity of prosecution, or +depth of insight can change it into a religion itself. <i>That</i> must have +not only an inward significance, but an outward sign, more vital and +lasting than the Nature of the Poet. This the Christian finds in Jesus, +and the glorious facts connected with him. But Carlyle, with all his +deep earnestness, and purity of life, has become, we fear, a worshiper +without a God, a devotee with the object of the devotion extinct—a +strong swimmer in a Dead Sea, where no arm can cleave the salt and +sluggish waters—and although he seems to despise the mere adorer of +beauty, yet nothing else does he adore, and nothing else has he hitherto +taught, but this, that one may worship no distinctly objective Deity, +and be, nevertheless, a sincere, worthy,<!--075.png--> and high-minded man. But he +has left the questions unanswered: Will such a faith produce results on +the generality of men—will it <i>stand</i>? and, although it may so far +satisfy the conscience as to produce in one man, or a few like unto him, +the satisfaction of sincerity, can it produce the perseverance of +action, the patience of hope, and the energy of faith, which have +worked, and are working, in thousands and millions of Christian +men—alike high and humble, rich and poor, ignorant and refined? Still, +great should be the praise of a man who has redeemed literature from +degradation, and changed it into a noble, if not a thoroughly religious +thing, by the sheer force of genius, and rugged sincerity.</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="RACE_HORSES_AND_HORSE_RACES" id="RACE_HORSES_AND_HORSE_RACES"></a>RACE HORSES AND HORSE RACES.</h2> + +<p>It is Monday—the Monday before the Derby Day, and a railway takes us, +in less than an hour, from London Bridge to the capital of the racing +world, close to the abode of its Great Man, who is—need we add! the +Clerk of the Epsom Course. It is, necessarily, one of the best houses in +the place; being—honor to literature—a flourishing bookseller's shop. +We are presented to the official. He kindly conducts us to the Downs, to +show how the horses are temporarily stabled; to initiate us into some of +the mysteries of the "field;" to reveal to us, in fact, the private life +of the race-horse.</p> + +<p>We arrive at a neat farm-house, with more outbuildings than are usually +seen appended to so modest a homestead. A sturdy, well-dressed, +well-mannered, purpose-like, sensible-looking man, presents himself. He +has a Yorkshire accent. A few words pass between him and the Clerk of +the Course, in which we hear the latter asseverate with much emphasis +that we are, in a sporting sense, quite artless—we rather think +"green," was the exact expression—that we never bet a shilling, and are +quite incapable, if even willing, to take advantage of any information, +or of any inspection vouchsafed to us. Mr. Filbert (the trainer) +hesitates no longer. He moves his hat with honest politeness; bids us +follow him, and lays his finger on the latch of a stable.</p> + +<p>The trainer opens the door with one hand; and, with a gentleman-like +wave of the other, would give us the precedence. We hesitate. We would +rather not go in first. We acknowledge an enthusiastic admiration for +the race-horse; but at the very mention of a race-horse, the stumpy +animal whose portrait headed our earliest lesson of equine history, in +the chapters of the "Universal Spelling Book," vanishes from our view, +and the animal described in the Book of Job prances into our mind's eye: +"The glory of his nostril is terrible. He mocketh at fear and is not +affrighted. He swalloweth the ground with the fierceness of his rage." +To enjoy, therefore, a fine racer—not as one does a work of art—we +like the point of sight to be the point of distance. The safest point, +in case of accident (say, for instance, a sudden striking-out of the +hinder hoofs), we hold to be the vanishing +<!--076.png--><span class="pagenum">330</span> +point—a point by no means +attainable on the inside of that contracted kind of stable known as a +"loose-box."</p> + +<p>The trainer evidently mistakes our fears for modesty. We boldly step +forward to the outer edge of the threshold, but uncomfortably close to +the hind-quarters of Pollybus, a "favorite" for the Derby. When we +perceive that he has neither bit nor curb; nor bridle, nor halter, that +he is being "rubbed down" by a small boy, after having taken his +gallops; that there is nothing on earth—except the small boy—to +prevent his kicking, or plunging, or biting, or butting his visitors to +death; we breathe rather thickly. When the trainer exclaims, "Shut the +door, Sam!" and the little groom does his master's bidding, and boxes us +up, we desire to be breathing the fresh air of the Downs again.</p> + +<p>"Bless you, sir!" says our good-tempered informant, when he sees us +shrink away from Pollybus, changing sides at a signal from his cleaner; +"these horses" (we look round, and for the first time perceive, with a +tremor, the heels of another high-mettled racer protruding from an +adjoining stall) "these horses are as quiet as you are; and—I say it +without offense—just as well-behaved. It is quite laughable to hear the +notions of people who are not used to them. They are the gentlest and +most tractable creeturs in creation. Then, as to shape and symmetry, is +there any thing like them?"</p> + +<p>We acknowledge that Pretty Perth—the mare in the adjoining box—could +hardly be surpassed for beauty.</p> + +<p>"Ah, <i>can</i> you wonder at noblemen and gentlemen laying out their twenty +and thirty thousand a year on them?"</p> + +<p>"So much?"</p> + +<p>"Why, my gov'nor's stud costs us five-and-twenty thousand a-year, one +year with another. There's an eye, sir!"</p> + +<p>The large, prominent, but mild optics of Pretty Perth are at this moment +turned full upon us. Nothing, certainly, can be gentler than the +expression that beams from them. She is "taking," as Mr. Filbert is +pleased to say, "measure of us." She does not stare vulgarly, or peer +upon us a half-bred indifference; but, having duly and deliberately +satisfied her mind respecting our external appearance, allows her +attention to be leisurely diverted to some oats with which the boy had +just supplied the manger.</p> + +<p>"It is all a mistake," continues Mr. Filbert, commenting on certain +vulgar errors respecting race-horses; "thorough-breds are not nearly so +rampagious as mongrels and half-breds. The two horses in this stall are +gentlefolks, with as good blood in their veins as the best nobleman in +the land. They would be just as back'ard in doing any thing unworthy of +a lady or gentleman, as any lord or lady in St. James's—such as +kicking, or rearing, or shying, or biting. The pedigree of every horse +that starts in any great race, is to be traced as regularly up to James +the First's Arabian, or to Cromwell's White Turk, or to the Darley or +Godolphin barbs, as<!--077.png--> your great English families are to the Conqueror. +The worst thing they will do, is running away now and then with their +jockeys. And what's that? Why, only the animal's animal-spirit running +away with <i>him</i>. They are not," adds Mr. Filbert, with a merry twinkle +in his eye, "the only young bloods that are fond of going too fast."</p> + +<p>To our question whether he considers that a race-horse <i>could</i> go too +fast, Mr. Filbert gives a jolly negative, and remarks that it is all +owing to high feeding and fine air; "for, mind you, horses get much +better air to breathe than men do, and more of it."</p> + +<p>All this while the two boys are sibillating lustily while rubbing and +polishing the coats of their horses; which are as soft as velvet, and +much smoother. When the little grooms come to the fetlock and pastern, +the chamois-leather they have been using is discarded as too coarse and +rough, and they rub away down to the hoofs with their sleek and their +plump hands. Every wish they express, either in words or by signs, is +cheerfully obeyed by the horse. The terms the quadruped seems to be on +with the small biped, are those of the most easy and intimate +friendship. They thoroughly understand one another. We feel a little +ashamed of our mistrust of so much docility, and leave the stable with +much less awe of a race-horse than we entered it.</p> + +<p>"And now, Mr. Filbert, one delicate question—What security is there +against these horses being drugged, so that they may lose a race?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Filbert halts, places his legs apart, and his arms akimbo, and +throws into his reply a severe significance, mildly tinged with +indignation. He commences with saying, "I'll tell you where it is: there +is a deal more said about foul play and horses going amiss, than there +need be."</p> + +<p>"Then the boys are never heavily bribed?"</p> + +<p>"Heavily bribed, sir!" Mr. Filbert contracts his eyes, but sharpens up +their expression, to look the suspicion down. "Bribed! it may not be +hard to bribe a man, but it's not so easy to bribe a boy. What's the use +of a hundred-pound note to a child of ten or twelve years old? Try him +with a pen'north of apples, or a slice of pudding, and you have a better +chance; though I would not give you the price of a sugar-stick for it. +Nine out of ten of these lads would not have a hair of their horse's +tails ruffled if they could help it; much more any such harm as drugs or +downright poison. The boy and the horse are so fond of one another, that +a racing stable is a regular happy family of boys and horses. When the +foal is first born, it is turned loose into the paddock; and if his +mother don't give him enough milk, the cow makes up the deficiency. He +scampers about in this way for about a year: then he is 'taken up;' that +is, bitted, and backed by a 'dumb-jockey'—a cross of wood made for the +purpose. When he has got a little used to that, we try him with a +speaking jockey—a child some seven or eight years old, who has +<!--078.png--><span class="pagenum">331</span> +been +born, like the colt, in the stables. From that time till the horse +retires from the turf, the two are inseparable. They eat, drink, sleep, +go out and come in together. Under the directions of the trainer, the +boy tells the horse what to do, and he does it; for he knows that he is +indebted to the boy for every thing he gets. When he is hungry, it is +the boy that gives him his corn; when he is thirsty, the boy hands him +his water; if he gets a stone in his foot, the boy picks it out. By the +time the colt is old enough to run, he and the boy have got to like one +another so well that they fret to be away from one another. As for +bribing! Why, you may as well try to bribe the horse to poison the boy, +as the boy to let the horse be injured."</p> + +<p>"But the thing <i>has</i> happened, Mr. Filbert?"</p> + +<p>"Not so much as is talked about. Sometimes a likely foal is sent to a +training stable, and cracked up as something wonderful. He is entered to +run. On trial, he turns out to be next to nothing; and the backers, to +save their reputation, put it about that the horse was played tricks +with. There is hardly a great race, but you hear something about horses +going amiss by foul play."</p> + +<p>"Do many of these boys become jockeys?"</p> + +<p>"Mostly. Some of them are jockeys already, and ride 'their own' horses +as they call them. Here comes one."</p> + +<p>A miniature man, with a horsewhip neatly twisted round the crop or +handle, opens the gate.</p> + +<p>"Well, Tommy, how are you, Tommy?"</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, bobbish. Fine day, Mr. Filbert."</p> + +<p>Although Mr. Filbert tells us in a whisper that Tommy is only twelve +next birth-day, Tommy looks as if he had entered far into his teens. His +dress is deceptive. Light trowsers terminating in buttons, laced shoes, +long striped waistcoat, a cut-away coat, a colored cravat, a collar to +which juveniles aspire under the name of "stick-ups," and a Paris silk +hat, form his equipment.</p> + +<p>"Let's see, Tommy; what stakes did you win last?"</p> + +<p>Tommy flicks, with the end of his whip-crop, a speck of dirt from the +toe of his "off" shoe, and replies carelessly, "The Great +Northamptonshire upon Valentine. But then, I have won a many smaller +stakes, you know, Mr. Filbert."</p> + +<p>"Are there many jockeys so young as Tommy?"</p> + +<p>"Not many so young," says Tommy, tying a knot in his whip thong, "but a +good many smaller." Tommy then walks across the straw-yard to speak to +some stable friend he has come to see. Tommy has not only the +appearance, but the manners of a man.</p> + +<p>"That boy will be worth money," says Mr. Filbert. "It is no uncommon +thing for a master to give a lad like that a hundred pound when he wins +a race. As he can't spend it in hard-bake, or ginger-beer, or marbles +(the young rogue <i>does</i>, occasionally, get rid of a pound or two in +cigars), he saves it. I have known a<!--079.png--> racing-stable lad begin the world +at twenty, with from three to four thousand pound."</p> + +<p>Tommy is hopping back over the straw, as if he had forgotten something. +"O, I beg your pardon for not asking before," he says, "but—how does +Mrs. Filbert find herself?"</p> + +<p>"Quite well, thank you, Tommy." Tommy says he is glad to hear it, and +walks off like a family-man.</p> + +<p>Our interview with Mr. Filbert is finished, and we pace toward the +race-course with its indefatigable clerk. Presently, he points to a huge +white object that rears its leaden roof on the apex of the highest of +the "Downs." It is the Grand Stand. It is so extensive, so strong, and +so complete, that it seems built for eternity, instead of for busy use +during one day in the year, and for smaller requisitions during three +others. Its stability is equal to St. Paul's, or the Memnonian Temple. +Our astonishment, already excited, is increased when our cicerone tells +us that he pays as rent and in subscriptions to stakes to be run for, +nearly two thousand pounds per annum for that stand. Expecting an +unusually great concourse of visitors this year, he has erected a new +wing, extended the betting inclosure, and fitted up two apartments for +the exclusive use of ladies.</p> + +<p>Here we are! Let us go into the basement. First into the weighing-house, +where the jockeys "come to scale" after each race. We then inspect the +offices for the Clerk of the Course himself; wine-cellars, beer-cellars, +larders, sculleries, and kitchens, all as gigantically appointed, and as +copiously furnished as if they formed part of an ogre's castle. To +furnish the refreshment-saloon, the Grand Stand has in store two +thousand four hundred tumblers, one thousand two hundred wine-glasses, +three thousand plates and dishes, and several of the most elegant vases +we have seen out of the Glass Palace, decorated with artificial flowers. +An exciting odor of cookery meets us in our descent. Rows of spits are +turning rows of joints before blazing walls of fire. Cooks are trussing +fowls; confectioners are making jellies; kitchen-maids are plucking +pigeons; huge crates of boiled tongues are being garnished on dishes. +One hundred and thirty legs of lamb, sixty-five saddles of lamb, and one +hundred and thirty shoulders of lamb; in short, a whole flock of +sixty-five lambs have to be roasted, and dished, and garnished, by the +Derby Day. Twenty rounds of beef, four hundred lobsters, one hundred and +fifty tongues, twenty fillets of veal, one hundred sirloins of beef, +five hundred spring chickens, three hundred and fifty pigeon-pies; a +countless number of quartern loaves, and an incredible quantity of ham +have to be cut up into sandwiches; eight hundred eggs have got to be +boiled for the pigeon-pies and salads. The forests of lettuces, the +acres of cress, and beds of radishes, which will have to be chopped up; +the gallons of "dressings" that will have to be poured out and converted +into salads for the insatiable Derby Day, will be best understood by a +memorandum from the chief of that department +<!--080.png--><span class="pagenum">332</span> to the <i>chef de-cuisine</i>, +which happened, accidentally, to fall under our notice: "Pray don't +forget a large tub and a birch-broom for mixing the salad!"</p> + +<p>We are preparing to ascend, when we hear the familiar sound of a +printing machine. Are we deceived? O, no! The Grand Stand is like the +kingdom of China—self-supporting, self-sustaining. It scorns foreign +aid; even to the printing of the Racing Lists. This is the source of the +innumerable cards with which hawkers persecute the sporting world on its +way to the Derby, from the Elephant and Castle to the Grand Stand. +"Dorling's list! Dorling's correct list! with the names of the horses, +and colors of the riders!"</p> + +<p>We are now in the hall. On our left, are the parlors—refreshment rooms +specially devoted to the Jockey Club; on our right, a set of seats, +reserved, from the days of Flying Childers, for the members of White's +Clubhouse.</p> + +<p>We step out upon the lawn; in the midst is the betting-ring, where sums +of money of fabulous amounts change hands.</p> + +<p>The first floor is entirely occupied with a refreshment-room and a +police court. Summary justice is the law of the Grand Stand. Two +magistrates sit during the races. Is a pick-pocket detected, a +thimble-rigger caught, a policeman assaulted? The delinquent is brought +round to the Grand Stand, to be convicted, sentenced, and imprisoned in +as short a time as it takes to run a mile race.</p> + +<p>The sloping roof is covered with lead, in steps; the spectator from that +point has a bird's-eye view of the entire proceedings, and of the +surrounding country, which is beautifully picturesque. When the +foreground of the picture is brightened and broken by the vast multitude +that assembles here upon the Derby Day, it presents a whole which has no +parallel in the world.</p> + +<p>On that great occasion, an unused spectator might imagine that all +London turned out. There is little perceptible difference in the bustle +of its crowded streets, but all the roads leading to Epsom Downs are so +thronged and blocked by every description of carriage, that it is +marvelous to consider how, when, and where they were all made—out of +what possible wealth they are all maintained—and by what laws the +supply of horses is kept equal to the demand. Near the favorite bridges, +and at various leading points of the leading roads, clusters of people +post themselves by nine o'clock to see the Derby people pass. Then come +flitting by, barouches, phaetons, Broughams, gigs, four-wheeled chaises, +four-in-hands, Hansom cabs, cabs of lesser note, chaise-carts, +donkey-carts, tilted vans made arborescent with green boughs, and +carrying no end of people, and a cask of beer—equestrians, pedestrians, +horse-dealers, gentlemen, notabilities, and swindlers, by tens of +thousands—gradually thickening and accumulating, until, at last a mile +short of the turnpike, they become<!--081.png--> wedged together, and are very slowly +filtered through layers of policemen, mounted and a-foot, until, one by +one, they pass the gate, and skurry down the hill beyond. The most +singular combinations occur in these turnpike stoppages and presses. +Four-in-hand leaders look affectionately over the shoulders of ladies, +in bright shawls, perched in gigs; poles of carriages appear, uninvited, +in the midst of social parties in phaetons; little, fast, short-stepping +ponies run up carriage-wheels before they can be stopped and hold on +behind like footmen. Now, the gentleman who is unaccustomed to public +driving, gets into astonishing perplexities. Now, the Hansom cab whisks +craftily in and out, and seems occasionally to fly over a wagon or so. +Now the post-boy, on a jibbing or a shying horse, curses the evil hour +of his birth, and is ingloriously assisted by the shabby hostler out of +place, who is walking down with seven shabby companions, more or less +equine, open to the various chances of the road. Now, the air is fresh, +and the dust flies thick and fast. Now, the canvas booths upon the +course are seen to glisten and flutter in the distance. Now, the +adventurous vehicles make cuts across, and get into ruts and +gravel-pits. Now, the heather in bloom is like a field of gold, and the +roar of voices is like a wind. Now, we leave the hard road and go +smoothly rolling over the soft green turf, attended by an army of +importunate worshipers in red jackets and stable jackets, who make a +very Juggernaut car of our equipage, and now breathlessly call us My +Lord, and now, Your Honor. Now, we pass the outer settlements of tents, +where pots and kettles are—where gipsy children are—where airy +stabling is—where tares for horses may be bought—where water, water, +water, is proclaimed—where the Tumbler in an old pea-coat, with a +spangled fillet round his head, eats oysters, while his wife takes care +of the golden globes, and the knives, and also of the starry little boy, +their son, who lives principally upside-down. Now, we pay our one pound +at the barrier, and go faster on, still Juggernautwise, attended by our +devotees, until at last we are drawn, and rounded, and backed, and +sidled, and cursed, and complimented, and vociferated, into a station on +the hill opposite the Grand Stand, where we presently find ourselves on +foot, much bewildered, waited on by five respectful persons, who <i>will</i> +brush us all at once.</p> + +<p>Well, to be sure, there never was such a Derby Day, as this present +Derby Day! Never, to be sure, were there so many carriages, so many +fours, so many twos, so many ones, so many horsemen, so many people who +have come down by "rail," so many fine ladies in so many Broughams, so +many of Fortnum and Mason's hampers, so much ice and champagne! If I +were on the turf, and had a horse to enter for the Derby, I would call +that horse Fortnum and Mason, convinced that with that name he would +beat the field. Public opinion would bring him in somehow. Look where I +will—in some connection +<!--082.png--><span class="pagenum">333</span> +with the carriages—made fast upon the top, or +occupying the box, or tied up behind, or dangling below, or peeping out +of window—I see Fortnum and Mason. And now, Heavens! all the hampers +fly wide open, and the green Downs burst into a blossom of +lobster-salad!</p> + +<p>As if the great Trafalgar signal had been suddenly displayed from the +top of the Grand Stand, every man proceeds to do his duty. The weaker +spirits, who were ashamed to set the great example, follow it instantly, +and all around me there are table-cloths, pies, chickens, hams, tongues, +rolls, lettuces, radishes, shell-fish, broad-bottomed bottles, clinking +glasses, and carriages turned inside out. Amid the hum of voices a bell +rings. What's that? What's the matter? They are clearing the course. +Never mind. Try the pigeon-pie. A roar. What's the matter? It's only the +dog upon the course. Is that all? Glass of wine. Another roar. What's +that? It's only the man who wants to cross the course, and is +intercepted, and brought back. Is that all? I wonder whether it is +always the same dog and the same man, year after year! A great roar. +What's the matter? By Jupiter, they are going to start.</p> + +<p>A deeper hum and a louder roar. Every body standing on Fortnum and +Mason. Now they're off! No. <i>Now</i> they're off! No. <i>Now</i> they're off! +No. <i>Now</i> they are! Yes!</p> + +<p>There they go! Here they come! Where? Keep your eye on Tattenham Corner, +and you'll see 'em coming round in half a minute. Good gracious, look at +the Grand Stand, piled up with human beings to the top, and at the +wonderful effect of changing light as all their faces and uncovered +heads turn suddenly this way! Here they are! Who is? The horses! Where? +Here they come! Green first. No: Red first. No: Blue first. No: the +Favorite first! Who says so? Look! Hurrah! Hurrah! All over. Glorious +race. Favorite wins! Two hundred thousand pounds lost and won. You don't +say so? Pass the pie!</p> + +<p>Now, the pigeons fly away with the news. Now, every one dismounts from +the top of Fortnum and Mason, and falls to work with greater earnestness +than before, on carriage boxes, sides, tops, wheels, steps, roofs, and +rumbles. Now, the living stream upon the course, dammed for a little +while at one point, is released, and spreads like parti-colored grain. +Now, the roof of the Grand Stand is deserted. Now, rings are formed upon +the course, where strong men stand in pyramids on one another's heads; +where the Highland lady dances; where the Devonshire Lad sets-to with +the Bantam; where the Tumbler throws the golden globes about, with the +starry little boy tied round him in a knot.</p> + +<p>Now, all the variety of human riddles who propound themselves on +race-courses, come about the carriages, to be guessed. Now, the gipsy +woman, with the flashing red or yellow handkerchief about her head, and +the strange silvery-hoarse voice, appears, My pretty gentleman, to tell +your fortin, sir; for you have a merry eye,<!--083.png--> my gentleman, and surprises +is in store for you, connected with a dark lady as loves you better than +you love a kiss in a dark corner when the moon's a-shining; for you have +a lively 'art, my gentleman, and you shall know her secret thoughts, and +the first and last letters of her name, my pretty gentleman, if you will +cross your poor gipsy's hand with a little bit of silver, for the luck +of the fortin as the gipsy will read true, from the lines of your hand, +my gentleman, both as to what is past, and present, and to come. Now, +the Ethiopians, looking unutterably hideous in the sunlight, play old +banjoes and bones, on which no man could perform ten years ago, but +which, it seems, any man may play now, if he will only blacken his face, +put on a crisp wig, a white waistcoat and wristbands, a large white tie, +and give his mind to it. Now, the sickly-looking ventriloquist, with an +anxious face (and always with a wife in a shawl) teaches the alphabet to +the puppet pupil, whom he takes out of his pocket. Now, my sporting +gentlemen, you may ring the Bull, the Bull, the Bull; you may ring the +Bull! Now, try your luck at the knock-em-downs, my Noble Swells—twelve +heaves for sixpence, and a pincushion in the centre, worth ten times the +money! Now, the Noble Swells take five shillings' worth of "heaves," and +carry off a halfpenny wooden pear in triumph. Now, it hails, as it +always does hail, formidable wooden truncheons round the heads, bodies +and shins of the proprietors of the said knock-em-downs, whom nothing +hurts. Now, inscrutable creatures in smock frocks, beg for bottles. Now, +a coarse vagabond, or idiot, or a compound of the two, never beheld by +mortal off a race-course, minces about, with ample skirts and a tattered +parasol, counterfeiting a woman. Now, a shabby man, with an overhanging +forehead, and a slinking eye, produces a small board, and invites your +attention to something novel and curious—three thimbles and one little +pea—with a one, two, three—and a two, three, one—and a one—and a +two—in the middle—right hand, left hand—go you any bet from a crown +to five sovereigns you don't lift the thimble the pea's under! Now, +another gentleman (with a stick) much interested in the experiment, will +"go" two sovereigns that he does lift the thimble, provided strictly +that the shabby man holds his hand still, and don't touch 'em again. +Now, the bet's made, and the gentleman with the stick, lifts obviously +the wrong thimble, and loses. Now, it is as clear as day to an innocent +bystander, that the loser must have won if he had not blindly lifted the +wrong thimble—in which he is strongly confirmed by another gentleman +with a stick, also much interested, who proposes to "go him" halves—a +friendly sovereign to <i>his</i> sovereign—against the bank. Now, the +innocent agrees, and loses; and so the world turns round bringing +innocents with it in abundance, though the three confederates are +wretched actors, and could live by no other trade if they couldn't do it +better.</p> + +<p>Now, there is another bell, and another clearing of the course, and +another dog, and another +<!--084.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">334</a></span> +man, and another race. Now, there are all +these things all over again. Now, down among the carriage-wheels and +poles, a scrubby growth of drunken post-boys and the like has sprung +into existence, like weeds among the many-colored flowers of fine ladies +in Broughams, and so forth. Now, the drinking-booths are all full, and +tobacco-smoke is abroad, and an extremely civil gentleman confidentially +proposes roulette. And now, faces begin to be jaded, and horses are +harnessed, and wherever the old gray-headed beggarman goes, he gets +among traces and splinter-bars, and is roared at.</p> + +<p>So, now, we are on the road again, going home. Now, there are longer +stoppages than in the morning; for we are a dense mass of men and women, +wheels, horses, and dust. Now, all the houses on the road seem to be +turned inside out, like the carriages on the course, and the people +belonging to the houses, like the people belonging to the carriages, +occupy stations which they never occupy at another time—on leads, on +housetops, on out-buildings, at windows, in balconies, in doorways, in +gardens. Schools are drawn out to see the company go by. The academies +for young gentlemen favor us with dried peas; the Establishments for +Young Ladies (into which sanctuaries many wooden pears are pitched), +with bright eyes. We become sentimental, and wish we could marry +Clapham. The crowd thickens on both sides of the road. All London +appears to have come out to see us. It is like a triumphant +entry—except that, on the whole, we rather amuse than impress the +populace. There are little love-scenes among the chestnut trees by the +roadside—young gentlemen in gardens resentful of glances at young +ladies from coach-tops—other young gentlemen in other gardens, whose +arms, encircling young ladies, seem to be trained like the vines. There +are good family pictures—stout fathers and jolly mothers—rosy cheeks +squeezed in between the rails—and infinitesimal jockeys winning in +canters on walking-sticks. There are smart maid-servants among the +grooms at stable-doors, where Cook looms large and glowing. There is +plenty of smoking and drinking among the tilted vans and at the +public-houses, and some singing, but general order and good-humor. So, +we leave the gardens and come into the streets, and if we there +encounter a few ruffians throwing flour and chalk about, we know them +for the dregs and refuse of a fine, trustworthy people, deserving of all +confidence and honor.</p> + +<p>And now we are at home again—far from absolutely certain of the name of +the winner of the Derby—knowing nothing whatever about any other race +of the day—still tenderly affected by the beauty of Clapham—and +thoughtful over the ashes of Fortnum and Mason.</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="HARTLEY_COLERIDGE" id="HARTLEY_COLERIDGE"></a>HARTLEY COLERIDGE.</h2> + +<p>While reading Hartley Coleridge's life, we have been often grieved, but +never for a moment have been tempted to anger. There is so much +bonhomie, so much unaffected oddity, he is<!--085.png--> such a queer being, such a +<i>character</i>, in short, that you laugh more than you cry, and wonder more +than you laugh. The judge would be a severe one who could keep his +gravity while trying him. One mischief, too, which often attends faulty +men of genius is wanting in him. He has not turned his "diseases into +commodities"—paraded his vices as if they were virtues, nor sought to +circulate their virus. He is, as the old divines were wont to say, a +"<i>sensible</i> sinner," and lies so prostrate that none will have the heart +to trample on him. His vices, too, were so peculiarly interwoven with +his idiosyncrasy, which was to the last degree peculiar, that they can +find no imitators. When vice seems ludicrous and contemptible, few +follow it; it is only when covered with the gauzy vail of +sentimentalism, or when deliberately used as a foil to set off brilliant +powers, that it exerts an attraction dangerously compounded of its +native charm, and the splendors which shine beside it. Men who are +disposed to copy the sins of a gifted, popular, and noble poet like +Byron, and who, gazing at his sun-like beams, absorb his spots into +their darkened and swimming eyes, can only look with mockery, pity, and +avoidance upon the slips of an odd little man, driveling amid the +hedgerows and ditches of the lake country, even although his +accomplishments were great, his genius undoubted, and his name +Coleridge.</p> + +<p>His nature was, indeed, intensely singular. One might fancy him +extracted from his father's side, while he slept, and <i>dreamed</i>. He was +like an embodied dream of that mighty wizard. He had not the breadth, +the length, or the height of S. T. Coleridge's mind, but he had much of +his subtlety, his learning, his occasional sweetness, and his tremulous +tenderness. He was never, and yet always a child. The precocity he +displayed was amazing—and precocious, and nothing more, he continued to +the end. His life was a perpetual promise to <i>be</i>—a rich unexpanded +bud—while his father's was a perpetual promise to <i>do</i>—a flower +without adequate fruit. It was no wonder that when the father first saw +his child his far-stretching eye was clouded with sorrow as he thought, +"If I—a whole, such as has seldom been created, have had difficulty in +standing alone, how can this be part of myself? If a frail tendency, +running across my being, has damaged me, what is to become of one whose +name is Frailty?" Some such thought was apparently in his prophetic mind +when he wrote the sonnet beginning with</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Charles, my slow heart was only sad," &c.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Nor did the future history of the child belie the augury of this poetic +sigh of a fond, yet fearing parent, over the extracted, embodied frailty +and fineness of his own being.</p> + +<p>Indeed, a circle of evil auguries surrounded the childhood of little +Hartley. The calm, quiet eye of Wordsworth surveyed the sports of the +child, and finding them those of no common infant, he wrote the poem to +"H. C., six years old," where he says—</p> + +<!--086.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">335</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Thou art a dew-drop which the morn brings forth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ill-fitted to sustain unkindly shocks,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or to be trailed along the soiling earth."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>His power of youthful fancy and language was wonderful. Not even Scott's +story-telling faculty was equal to his. He delighted in recounting to +his brother and companions, not a series of tales, but "one continuous +tale, regularly evolved, and possessing a real unity, enchaining the +attention of his auditors for a space of years." "This enormous romance, +far exceeding in length the compositions of Calprenede, Scudery, or +Richardson, though delivered without premeditation, had a progressive +story with many turns and complications, with salient points recurring +at intervals, with a suspended interest varying in intensity, and +occasionally wrought up to a very high pitch, and at length a final +catastrophe and conclusion." While constructing this he was little more +than twelve years of age.</p> + +<p>A <i>curiosity</i>, Hartley Coleridge commenced life by being—and a +curiosity, somewhat battered and soiled, he continued to the end. His +peculiarity lay in such a combination of wonderful powers and wonderful +weaknesses, of the mind of a man, the heart of a child, and the body of +a dwarf, of purposes proud and high, and habits mean and low—as has +seldom been witnessed. The wild disorganization produced by such a +medley of contradictory qualities, no discipline, no fortunate +conjuncture of circumstances, nothing, perhaps, but death or miracle +could have reconciled. He was not <i>deranged</i>—but he was <i>disarranged</i> +in the most extraordinary degree. And such dark disarrangements are +sometimes more hopeless than madness itself. There is nothing for them +but that they be taken down, and cast into the new mould of the grave.</p> + +<p>This original tendency and formation are thus described by his brother: +"He had a certain infirmity of will—the specific evil of his life. His +sensibility was intense, and he had not wherewithal to control it. He +could not open a letter without trembling. He shrank from mental +pain—he was beyond measure impatient of constraint. He was liable to +paroxysms of rage, often the disguise of pity, self-accusation, or other +painful emotion—anger it could hardly be called—during which he bit +his arm or finger violently. He yielded, as it were unconsciously, to +slight temptations, slight in themselves, and slight to him, as if +swayed by a mechanical impulse apart from his own volition. It looked +like an organic defect—a congenital imperfection."</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Of such materials wretched men are made."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>And so it fared with poor Hartley Coleridge. Up, indeed, to the time +(1814) when he left school, he seems to have been as happy as most +schoolboys are—nay, happier than most, in constant intercourse with Mr. +Wordsworth, carrying on his English studies in his library at Allanbank, +in the vale of Grasmere, and having become acquainted with John Wilson, +then residing at his beautiful seat, Elleray, on the banks<!--087.png--> of +Windermere, who became from that time, and continued to the last, one of +his kindest friends. Through Mr. Southey's active intervention, he was +sent to Merton College, Oxford. His curriculum there was at first +distinguished. If inferior in scholarship to many, he yielded to none in +general knowledge, in genius, and, above all, in conversation. +Ultimately he gained a fellowship in Oriel, with high distinction. But +his powers of table-talk became snares to him, and at the close of his +probationary year he "was judged to have forfeited his fellowship on the +ground mainly of intemperance." Great efforts were made by his father +and others to reverse the sentence—but in vain. His ruin was now only a +question of time. He repaired to London, but the precarious life of a +man of letters was fitted to nurse instead of checking his morbid +tendencies and unhappy habits. He next returned to the Lake country, +commenced a school in conjunction with another gentleman, and even +talked of entering into holy orders. But nothing would prosper with him. +His school dwindled away, and he was reduced to make a scrambling +livelihood by contributing to periodicals; domesticated the while at +Grasmere, in the house of a farmer's widow. Various attempts were made, +ever and anon, to make him useful—by taking him to Leeds to edit a +biographical work, assisting a friend in teaching school at Ledbergh, +etc; but all in vain. To Grasmere he as uniformly found his way back, to +resume his erratic existence. In 1845, his mother's death brought him an +annuity, which placed him on a footing of complete independence. During +all this time he was employed fitfully in literary effort, wrote poems, +contributed papers to "Blackwood's Magazine," and delivered occasional +addresses to literary societies. He was gentle, amiable, frank; and, +notwithstanding his oddities and errors, was a great favorite with all +classes in Cumberland. He was, as a churchman and politician, liberal, +almost radical, in his opinions. He was a daily reader of his Bible. To +the last, he struggled sore to unloose the accursed bands of indolence +and sensualism which bound him; but to little purpose.</p> + +<p>At length, in the beginning of 1849, he departed this life, after giving +various evidences of a penitent spirit. He lies now in a spot, beside +which, in little more than a year, the dust of one—alike, but oh, how +different!—Wordsworth, was to be consigned. He was in his fifty-second +year. "His coffin, at the funeral, was light as that of a child." "It +was," says his brother, "a winter's day when he was carried to his last +earthly home, cold, but fine, with a few slight scuds of sleet and +gleams of sunshine, one of which greeted us as we entered Grasmere, and +another smiled brightly through the church-window. May it rest upon his +memory!"</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="THE_ORIENTAL_SALOONS_IN_MADRID" id="THE_ORIENTAL_SALOONS_IN_MADRID"></a>THE ORIENTAL SALOONS IN MADRID.</h2> + +<p>"Come," said Don Philippe to us one evening, "come with me to a ball at +the Salon de Oriente, where you will see a picture of +<!--088.png--><span class="pagenum">336</span> +Madrilenian life, +too characteristic to be overlooked—a miniature of its beauty, its +taste, and its profligacy combined, which no stranger who visits the +metropolis should fail to note, and studiously observe." Having nothing +of greater importance before us, we assented forthwith to the proposal +of our entertaining teacher, who escorted us thither, as soon as we +could put ourselves in proper trim for the occasion. The first glimpse +of the ball-room was like a fairy scene. It was built in imitation of an +Oriental palace, tastefully painted and illuminated with glittering +chandeliers, in the most brilliant manner. The hall was quite thronged +with persons of both sexes, a large proportion of whom were engaged in +dancing the "Polka Mazurka," to the inspiring music of a full and +splendid band. So exciting was the spectacle, that it was with the +greatest difficulty we restrained ourselves for a few moments from +rushing into the midst of the throng, and finally we broke from all +restraint, and bade defiance to the counsels of Don Philippe, who +evidently regarded us in the light of a couple of hot headed youths, +whose harvest of wild oats had not yet been fully gathered. Away we +dashed into the very midst of the merry sport as if, with military +ardor, we intended to carry the place by storm; having secured a pair of +female prizes, whose brilliant eyes, like lodestones, had drawn us +toward them, while under our sudden spell of excitement we mingled with +the concourse of laughing dancers, and became ourselves the gayest of +the gay. The bright glances which gleamed around us, from every female +eye, were softer than the blushes of the moonbeams! Every cheek was +flushed with pleasure; every lip was red with joy! The men were wild +with frolic, and the youthful damsels intoxicated with delight. Among +the former, whom should I recognize, to my infinite surprise and +astonishment, but my faithful guide to Segovia and the Escurial. In his +dress he was completely metamorphosed into a fashionable gentleman, with +white waistcoat and gloves, and the remainder of his suit of fine black +broadcloth. In manners, he had not a superior in the room. Approaching +me with respect, but with the polished ease of a man well acquainted +with the world, he saluted us with unaffected cordiality, and then +invited us to partake of some refreshments with him in an adjoining +apartment, expressly intended and adapted for this purpose. We did not +wish to offend him by a refusal, and therefore assented to his desire. +Seating ourselves at a table together, we called for a favorite beverage +among the Spaniards, composed of small-beer and lemon, mixed in +proportions to suit the taste of those desiring it. An immense bowl, +supplied with a certain quantity of iced lemonade, was first brought and +placed in the centre of the table before us. Two or three bottles of +beer were then opened and poured into this general receptacle, the +contents of which were stirred up briskly with a kind of ladle or large +spoon.<!--089.png--> Each of us then helped himself to the frothy compound, which, at +the same time that it is very agreeable to the palate, does not produce +the slightest inebriating effect.</p> + +<p>Turning to me, my quondam guide asked if I had passed a pleasant +evening. I replied in the affirmative, and told him I had been much +struck with his skillful performance upon "the light fantastic toe." He +seemed delighted with the compliment, and praised us highly in return, +for the manner in which we had conducted ourselves throughout the +entertainment. "These saloons," said he, "are resorted to by all classes +of gentlemen in the metropolis, without distinction of rank or station, +though they do not sustain so high a public reputation now as they +possessed in former years. This is owing to the fact, that ladies of +station no longer honor them with their presence, save during the period +of the 'masquerades,' when it is said that even the queen herself has +mingled among the general throng, confident that her disguise would +secure her from either scrutiny or recognition. The females whom you +have seen here to-night," continued my guide, "notwithstanding their +modest appearance and genteel manners, are most of them either +kept-mistresses or public courtesans, while the younger ones, apparently +under the protection of their mothers and aunts, by whom they are +accompanied, have been brought hither as to a market, in order to secure +an '<i>amante</i>' or lover, and make the most profitable sale of their +charms! This may sound very horrible to your ears, yet I assure you that +it is truth. You can scarcely have any conception of the extent of vice +which prevails in Madrid, nor of the lightness and indifference with +which it is regarded by the community. She who would be called by an +evil name in any other country, is only regarded as a gay and lively +girl in Spain, so low is the general standard of women. Absolute penury, +and the want of respectable employment, have tended to produce this +deplorable result, which must necessarily ensue, wherever the poverty +and mismanagement of a Government, and the consequent inactivity of +industry and commerce, does not create sufficient occupation for the +poorer classes, to keep them above starvation, without having recourse +to vice. It really offends me," continued my guide, with considerable +warmth, "to hear a noble people abused for the existence of faults which +do not properly belong to them." "Bravo," cried Don Philippe, "good, +good, good! Down with the government! Send the cursed ministers to the +infernals, and we'll have a grand Spanish republic. Then you'll see if +the Spaniards are not as industrious and brave, and the women as +virtuous and chaste, as those of any other land under the sun. Give the +people a fair chance, and they will rise, like the bird you call a +phœnix, and become a great and powerful nation. Success, I say, to +the glorious cause of liberty and republicanism in Spain!" +<!--090.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">337</a></span> +</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="PHANTOMS_AND_REALITIES_AN_AUTOBIOGRAPHYA" id="PHANTOMS_AND_REALITIES_AN_AUTOBIOGRAPHYA"></a>PHANTOMS AND REALITIES.—AN +AUTOBIOGRAPHY.<a name="FNanchor_A_8" id="FNanchor_A_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></h2> + +<h3>PART THE THIRD—NIGHT.</h3> + +<h4>IV.</h4> + +<p>The interval of suspense to which we were doomed before we received any +tidings of Forrester seemed to us interminable; and our speculations on +the cause of his silence did not contribute to make our solitude the +more endurable. We clung together, it is true; but it was like people on +a raft, with our heads stretched out, looking apart into the distance +for succor.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_8" id="Footnote_A_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> +Concluded from the July Number.</p></div> + +<p>At last, at the end of a fortnight, there came a note in Forrester's +handwriting (which I well remembered), signed only with an initial +letter, requiring to see me alone in a roadside hostelrie about half a +mile inland. The note was cautiously worded, so that if it fell into +other hands, its purport would be unintelligible.</p> + +<p>I thought this strange; but Forrester was always fond of a little +mystery, and on the present occasion there might be a necessity for it. +I am ashamed to say, that after I had read this note two or three times, +I felt some hesitation about giving him the meeting. The doubt was +unworthy of us both; yet I could not help asking myself, over and over +again, why he wished me to go alone?—why he appointed to meet me at +night?—why he should act under a mask in an affair which demanded the +utmost candor on all sides?—and a hundred other uncomfortable +questions. Circumstances had made me anxious and distrustful; and I was +so conscious of the irritable state of my nerves, that, even while these +suspicions were passing through my brain, I made an effort to do justice +to my friend by recalling to mind the incidents of our former +intercourse, throughout which he had displayed a fidelity and +steadfastness that entitled him to my most implicit confidence. Even if +it had been otherwise, I had no choice but to trust to him; it was +indispensable that we should know the determination of our implacable +enemy, and it was through Forrester alone we could obtain that +information.</p> + +<p>The night was dark and stormy. The solitary walk to the little inn +afforded me time to collect myself for an interview which I approached +with no slight uneasiness. I had left Astræa behind me in a depressed +and fretful mood. She could not comprehend why she was excluded from our +councils, and seemed to regard it as a sort of conspiracy to dishonor +and humiliate her. Every trifling circumstance that affected her +personally was viewed in the same light, with jealousy and suspicion. +Poor Astræa! Her life was already beginning to jar with mental discords, +and the shadows of the future were falling thickly upon her, and +darkening her path.</p> + +<p>The hostelrie at which I had the appointment with Forrester stood on the +edge of a bleak common. In that part of the country there are many +similar wastes, stretching a half mile or more into the interior, +covered with a scant and sickly herbage, and presenting on the surface +an arid<!--091.png--> picture of sand, stones, and shells, as if these great, +unprofitable pastures had been redeemed from the sea without being +converted into available land. There is a salt flavor in the air over +these wild inland stretches; the sea seems to pursue you with its saline +weeds, its keen winds, and measured murmurs; and the absolute solitude +of a scene in which you very rarely meet a house or a tree, is +calculated to make a dismal impression on a person otherwise out of +humor with the world. I felt it forcibly that night. I thought the +northeast wind that swept diagonally across the common was more wintry +and biting than usual; and the red light in the distant window of the +"Jolly Gardeners" (of all conceivable signs for such a spot!) looked as +if it were dancing away further and further from me as I advanced across +the heath.</p> + +<p>At last I reached the inn—a low tiled house, with a tattered portico +jutting out upon the road some ten or twelve feet, a few latticed +windows, and a narrow passage, lighted by a single candle in a sconce on +the wall, leading into a sanded parlor beyond a little square "bar" that +looked like the inside of a cupboard, decorated with a variety of jugs, +teacups, saucers, and other ware hung up in rows all round. The house +was altogether a very tolerable specimen of what used to be called an +ale-house in remote country districts; a place suggestive of the +strictest caution about liquors, but where you might repose with +confidence on an impromptu entertainment of rashers and eggs. It was +exactly the sort of house that Forrester would have preferred to a +well-appointed hostel in the days of our summer vagrancy, when we used +to wander toward Hampstead and Highgate, avoiding beaten tracks and +crowded localities, and seeking out for ourselves, whenever we could +find it, a secluded "Barley Mow" shut up in a nest of orchards. He had +not lost his early tastes—nor had I! That little "bar," with its +innumerable samples of delft, threw me back sundry years of my life, to +the time when I was free to dream or idle, to go into the haunts of men, +or to desert them at will. The incident was a trifling one in itself; +but it shot through my heart like a bolt of fire. It was the first time +I had gone out and left Astræa alone behind me. I thought of her, seated +in her lonely room, brooding over her desolation, and torturing herself +with speculations upon the business in which I was engaged: while I?—I +was out again on the high road, exulting in a man's privilege to act for +myself, with her destiny, for good or evil, at my disposal, and +possessing the power of returning into the world from whence I had drawn +her, and in which she could never again appear! I?—I was at large once +more, with the memories of the freedom and tranquillity I had +relinquished tempting my thoughts into rebellion. And she?—alas! she +never seemed in my eyes so forlorn and lost as at that moment!</p> + +<p>A single glance at the boxed-up "bar," and the honest round face, with a +skin-cap over it, that gaped at me behind a complete breastwork of +pewter and glass, awakened me from the state +<!--092.png--><span class="pagenum">338</span> of reverie in which I had +entered the house. I dare say I looked rather bewildered, like a man +just shaking off a fit of abstraction, for the honest round face +immediately started out of the chair which served as a socket for the +body to which it belonged, and without waiting to hear me ask any +questions, instantly proposed to conduct me to the gentleman up-stairs, +who had been for some time expecting my arrival.</p> + +<p>I found Forrester in a small room which was reached by a flight of +stairs, so sharp and precipitate, that they looked as if they were +inserted on the face of the wall. Having lighted me into the room, the +honest face disappeared, and left us alone together.</p> + +<p>Forrester stretched out his hand, as I thought, somewhat formally; then +motioning me to a seat opposite to him, waited in silence till the +landlord had left the room.</p> + +<p>"You are surprised I should have asked you to come here," he said.</p> + +<p>"No," I replied, interrupting him, hastily; "but I am surprised we did +not hear from you sooner. In the name of Heaven, what can have been the +cause of your silence?"</p> + +<p>"How long is it since I saw you?"</p> + +<p>"How long? Upward of a fortnight, and we expected a letter every day. +But the world forgets us when we forget ourselves."</p> + +<p>"It might be well with some people, if the world <i>did</i> forget them," he +rejoined; "but that is no affair of mine. I have not forgotten you, +whatever you may have deserved from others."</p> + +<p>This was uttered in a tone of asperity unusual with Forrester. But I +felt that I had provoked it by the unacknowledging spirit in which I had +met him after all the trouble he had taken on my account, and I was +proceeding to make the best apology I could, when he cut me short with a +wave of his hand, and entered upon the business that brought us +together.</p> + +<p>"You were aware when I undertook to negotiate between you and the +husband of Astræa, that I was his friend as well as yours. He had even +stronger claims upon my friendship; I had known him in our boyhood; and +when I returned, after an interval of years, and found him bereaved, as +I had been myself—and by the same person—you can not be astonished +that I should feel some interest in his situation."</p> + +<p>"I do not blame you for that," I returned, hardly knowing what I said, I +was so amazed by the tone and substance of this unexpected opening.</p> + +<p>"Blame me?" reiterated Forrester. "Blame me for sympathizing with an +early friend, whose life, like my own, had been blasted to the root? You +must suppose my nature to be something different from that of other men, +if you imagine I could witness his sufferings unmoved."</p> + +<p>"To what is this intended to lead?" I demanded. "When I saw you last, +your sympathies were not so exclusive. You were then, Forrester, the +friend of both?"</p> + +<p>"Am I not so still? What brings me here? It is not exactly the sort of +weather a man would<!--093.png--> select for a trip of pleasure into the country. +What brings me here? Your business. Does this look like a failure of +friendship? You are soured—isolation and self-reproaches, which pride +will not suffer you to acknowledge, have turned your blood to acid. You +are ready to quarrel for straws, and your whole care is how to escape +the responsibility which passion and selfishness have brought upon you."</p> + +<p>I leaped from my chair at these words, and looked fiercely at Forrester. +He was perfectly calm, and continued to speak in a voice of freezing +quietness.</p> + +<p>"Pray, resume your seat. It is sheer waste of time to lose your temper +with me. Either I must speak candidly to you, or there is an end to our +intercourse."</p> + +<p>"Yes—candidly, but not insultingly," I replied, seizing my chair, and, +after giving it a very ill-tempered fling upon the ground, throwing +myself into it.</p> + +<p>"How foolish it is in you to exhibit this humor to me," he resumed after +a short pause. "I imagine I have a right to speak to you exactly what I +think, and that the interest I have taken in your concerns ought to +protect me from the suspicion of desiring to insult you. Were it my cue +to insult you, it is not in this affair I should look for the grounds of +quarrel. But let that pass. I have seen the man whom you have made your +mortal enemy, and have endeavored to prevail upon him to break the +marriage. I have failed."</p> + +<p>"Failed? How? Why? What does he say? He is a fiend!"</p> + +<p>"Strange that he should have just the same opinion of you. Beelzebub is +rather a respectable and virtuous person in his estimation compared with +you. Just possible both may be right!"</p> + +<p>I never saw Forrester in this sort of vein before. It was as if he were +determined to lacerate my feelings and lay them bare; and yet there was +a certain eccentric kindness under this rough treatment, which helped to +reconcile me to it. At all events, I was bound to endure it; I knew that +if I outraged him by any show of distrust or violence, his lips would be +closed forever. I felt, too, that I had given him some provocation in +the first instance by the temper I had betrayed; and that the fault was +at least as much mine as his.</p> + +<p>"Well," I cried, "you must forgive me, Forrester, if I am a little +chafed and galled, and, as you say, soured. Circumstances have pressed +hardly upon me. Remember how long I have been shut out from +communication with society—and the state of anxiety and suspense in +which I have lived. You must make allowances for me."</p> + +<p>"Exactly. <i>I</i> must make allowances for <i>you</i>. But when I ask <i>you</i> to +make allowances for <i>him</i>, who has gone through sufferings a +hundred-fold more acute, which you have inflicted upon him, what kind of +response do I receive? No matter. I <i>do</i> make allowances for you. If you +are not entirely absorbed by selfish considerations, you +<!--094.png--><span class="pagenum">339</span> +will endeavor +to comprehend the wrong you have committed, and do what you can to avoid +making it worse."</p> + +<p>"Wrong? Premeditated wrong I never will admit. My conscience is clear of +that. But I will not argue with you. What would you have me do?"</p> + +<p>"Leave the country. You have no other alternative."</p> + +<p>"What? Fly from this demon, who first tempted me, and who now wants to +triumph over my ruin?"</p> + +<p>"You say your conscience is clear of wrong. You have a happy conscience. +But it deceives you. It is true, that when you first knew Astræa, you +were ignorant of his rights; but you were not ignorant of them when he +found you together and claimed her. Up to that moment, you might have +had some excuse. There was yet time to save her, yourself, and him. How +did you act, then? If we are to discuss this matter with any hope of +arriving at a rational conclusion, you must rid yourself of the +flattering deception that you have been doing no wrong. We are not +children, but grown-up men and responsible agents."</p> + +<p>"Well, I put myself in your hands. But that I should become an exile +because this man chooses to pursue me with vindictive feelings, <i>does</i> +seem something monstrous."</p> + +<p>"From your point of sight, I dare say it does. Just change places with +him. A man who desires to decide justly will always endeavor to look at +both sides of a question. Put yourself in his position. He loves this +woman. I am satisfied he loves her more truly and tenderly, and less +selfishly now than he ever loved her from the beginning. You sneer at +that. You do not credit the possibility of such a thing. It is a +constitutional fallacy of yours to believe that no man loves as you +do—that there is a leaven of earth in other men which mixes with their +devotion and corrupts it. You have nursed this creed all your life, and +it has grown with your growth. You alone are pure and spiritual. I +remember you had that notion once before. I remember how you exalted +yourself on the intensity and endurance of your passion. Surely by this +time you should have outlived that delusion; for even then you might +have seen men with hearts as—But I am wandering from the subject."</p> + +<p>"I understand you. I was young, superstitious, ignorant—"</p> + +<p>"I will speak plainly. You are not capable of a great devotion. Your +character is not strong enough. You have none of the elements of power +necessary to the maintenance of the martyrdom of love. In a nature +constituted like yours, passion burns up fiercely, and goes out +suddenly. I have heard you say—some years gone by!—that you were +consumed by a love which would end only with your life. I was silent. I +loved, too; but I vailed my eyes, and spoke not, as the coffin which +contained all I cherished in the world was lowered into the<!--095.png--> grave. +Hope—affection—the desire of life, were buried with it. You see me now +wasted, haggard, solitary, a wreck upon the waters. And you? I find you +plunged into the ecstasies of a new passion. And what of the old one? +Where are the traces of it now? Some men can not live except in this +condition of excitement. You are one of them. But do not deceive +yourself into the belief that others have not hearts, because they do +not show them in spasms such as these. Do not despise the faithful +agonies even of the dwarf!"</p> + +<p>I felt the severe justice of the reproach less in Forrester's words than +in his pallid face, and the pangs he struggled to conceal. I was even +secretly compelled to admit that there was a miserable truth in what he +said about Mephistophiles; yet it was difficult for me to give utterance +to the expression of any sympathy in the sufferings of a man who seemed +to have directed his whole energies to the pursuit of an insane and +unprofitable vengeance.</p> + +<p>"The portrait is not flattering," I observed. "But why do you thus put +me on the rack? What has all this to do with the matter that has brought +us together?"</p> + +<p>"It has every thing to do with it. The instability of your +character—the certainty of remorse and disappointment, passion sated +and exhausted, romance broken up, and nothing left but mutual +reproaches, which will not be the less bitter because they may not find +expression in words—the certainty that such is the fate to which Astræa +is doomed under your protection, justifies me in laying before you those +secrets of your nature which, without the help of some friendly monitor +like me, you would never be able to discover."</p> + +<p>This was said in a tone of sarcasm. No man knows himself. With much +modesty and humility in some things (springing, perhaps, from weakness +rather than discretion or reserve), I had always overrated myself in +others. I had a strong faith in my own constancy of purpose—in the +steadfastness of my principles and feelings. But it was true that I was +self-deceived, if Forrester and Astræa had read my character accurately. +Their agreement was something wonderful. They used almost the very same +words in describing the points on which my strength was likely to break +down. I was beginning to fear that they were right; but I owed a grave +responsibility to Astræa, and could not yet be brought to admit, even to +myself, that it was possible I should fail in it.</p> + +<p>"You judge from the rest of the world, and not from me, Forrester," I +replied. "But granted that it is as you say, how can that mend the +business? Believe me, you are ignorant of Astræa's character and mine. +No matter—let that pass. Suppose we should hereafter find our lives +wearisome and joyless, may we not justly trace the cause to the malice +that will not suffer us to redeem ourselves."</p> + +<p>"Is your redemption, by the strength of your own efforts, so sure, then? +Neither he whom +<!--096.png--><span class="pagenum">340</span> +you have wronged, nor I, have any faith in your +fortitude. We believe that if you were free to marry Astræa, a certain +sense of justice would induce you at once to make her your wife; but we +believe also, that the enchantment would perish at the altar. +Attachments that begin in one form of selfishness generally end in +another—even with people of the most amiable intentions."</p> + +<p>There was a scoff in his voice that made my blood tingle; but I subdued +myself. "Pray, come to the point," I exclaimed, impatiently.</p> + +<p>"The point is simple enough," he returned. "My mission has failed. He +will make no terms, take no steps for a divorce, listen to no +expostulations until a separation shall have taken place between you and +Astræa."</p> + +<p>"A separation?"</p> + +<p>"It is clear to me that, in looking forward to such a contingency, it is +not because he hopes or desires, under such circumstances, to see her +again; but because it would enable him, without pain or humiliation, to +become the guardian of her future life. It is the passion of his soul to +dedicate himself, unseen, to the sacred duty of watching over her."</p> + +<p>"Preposterous. He watch over her? The recollection of his former +guardianship is not so agreeable as to induce her to trust herself under +it again. As to separation, her devotion to me would make her spurn such +a proposition."</p> + +<p>"H—m! It is because I believed her pride would make her spurn it that I +recommended you to go abroad."</p> + +<p>"And why should we go abroad on that account?"</p> + +<p>"Because his revenge, sleepless and insatiable, will render it +impossible for you to remain in England."</p> + +<p>"His revenge! Pshaw! I am sick of hearing of it. Believe me, the word +has lost its terrors—if it ever had any."</p> + +<p>"You are wrong. My advice is prudent, and is given honestly, for both +your sakes. In England there is danger; abroad, you will be beyond his +reach."</p> + +<p>"Why," answered I, with a forced smile, "one would suppose that you were +speaking of the Grand Inquisition, or the Council of Ten, and that we +lived in a country where there was neither law nor social civilization. +What do you imagine I can possibly have to fear from him?"</p> + +<p>"A vengeance that you can not evade, so subtle and unrelenting as to +leave no hour of your existence free from dread and misery. Can you not +understand how a man whose life you have laid waste may haunt you with +his curse? Can you not comprehend the workings of a mortal hate, ever +waiting for its opportunity, patient, silent, untiring, never for an +instant losing sight of its object, and making all things and all +seasons subservient to its deadly purpose? <i>I</i> can understand this in +the most commonplace natures, when they are strongly acted upon; but in +him, fiery, self-willed, and vindictive, it is inevitable."</p> + +<p>"Is this an inference of your own, drawn from<!--097.png--> your knowledge of his +character, or has he confided his intentions to you?"</p> + +<p>"Even if he had not confided his intentions to me, I know him too well +not to foresee the course he will take; but he has concealed nothing of +his designs from me, except the mode in which he intends to work them +out. Of that I know nothing. But it is enough, surely, that such a man +should swear an oath of vengeance in my presence, to justify me in the +warning I have given you."</p> + +<p>"I thank you. And this warning—upon which we seem to put very different +valuations—is the result of your friendly interference?"</p> + +<p>"You are at liberty to doubt my friendship; but I will not leave my +motives open to misconstruction. I repeat to you that I give you this +warning, for <i>his</i> sake as much as for yours."</p> + +<p>"And why for his sake?"</p> + +<p>"Because if you avoid him you may save him from the perpetration of a +crime. The whole energies of his mind are directed to one end. He lives +for nothing else, and will pursue it at any cost or peril to himself. I +know him. If you are wise, you will heed my warning. If not, take your +own course. I have discharged my conscience, and have done."</p> + +<p>As he spoke these words, he drew his chair toward the fire, and sat +musing as if he had dropped out of the conversation.</p> + +<p>"Forrester," I exclaimed, "one question more! Why did you not +communicate this to Astræa yourself? Why did you leave to me the pain of +carrying home such ill news?"</p> + +<p>"Home!" repeated Forrester, involuntarily; then, raising his voice, he +went on: "Why did I not go to her, and tell her that she ought to +separate from you, if she had any regard for her own future security? +What should you have thought of my friendship if I had done that? Why, +you distrust me as it is."</p> + +<p>"No—I have no distrusts. It is evident on which side your sympathies +are engaged."</p> + +<p>"With whom should I sympathize—the wronged, or the wrong-doer?"</p> + +<p>"When we parted last, I believed that you felt otherwise."</p> + +<p>"When we parted last, you had made impressions upon me which I have +since found to be deceptive. I do not blame you for that. You told your +story in your own way, from your own point of sight: I believed it to be +true. Nor had I then looked into this man's heart—this suffering man in +his agony, whom you painted as a monster: I did not then know how +capable he was of loving and of suffering for love's sake—the noblest +and the most sorrowful of all suffering! nor how gently that heart, +crushed and struck to the core, had risen again to life, strengthened +and sweetened by the injuries it had learned to forgive! You can not +judge of that tenderness of soul, out of which a happier fortune and a +prosperous love might have drawn a life of kindliness and charity. +You—who, having accomplished your desires, are now reposing in the lull +of your sated passions—you +<!--098.png--><span class="pagenum">341</span> +can see nothing in him but the evil which +you have helped to nourish; his sacrifices and magnanimity are all +darkness to you."</p> + +<p>"I will listen no longer," I said, starting up from my chair. "I see +distinctly what is before me. Old friends fall from us in our +adversities. Well! new ones must be made. It is some comfort that the +world is wide enough for us all, and that the loss, even of such a +friend as you, is not irreparable."</p> + +<p>"H—m! a successful epitome of your creed and character! You can cast +old affections and memories from you with as little emotion as a bird +moults its feathers; and having got rid of one set of sensations, you +can begin again, and so go on, destroying and renewing, and still +thinking yourself misunderstood and injured, and taking your revenge in +fresh indulgences."</p> + +<p>"I will endure no more of this," I exclaimed, seizing my hat and going +toward the door; "let us part, before I forget the ties that once bound +us together."</p> + +<p>"Forget them?" he echoed, and his face grew ghastly pale; but, forcibly +controlling his agitation, he went on, in a low voice: "Have you not +forgotten them already? Have you not shaken them off like dust from your +feet? Ay, let us part; I am unfit to be your friend or companion. Leave +me to mate with him you have bereaved, and whose heart is desolate like +mine! There, at least, I shall find a community of feeling on one +point—the blight which we both owe to you. Go! Leave me—no words—no +words!"</p> + +<p>Had I spoken it would have been angrily. But although my pride was +wounded, and I was bitterly mortified and disappointed at the result of +a meeting, which, instead of alleviating my anxiety, had only loaded me +with miseries, I felt that it would have been barbarous at that moment, +had I given way to my own feelings. I stood and gazed upon him in +silence while I held the half-opened door in my hand.</p> + +<p>The old feeling was all at once revived, and as he buried his head in +his broad, shapeless hands, and bent over the table, the night when he +related to me the singular history with which he prefaced the +introduction to Gertrude, came back upon me with all its agonies and +terrors as freshly as if but a few weeks, instead of long and checkered +years, had elapsed in the interval. His great anguish on that occasion, +and the grandeur of the sacrifice he made to what he hoped would have +been the foundation of the life-long happiness of her he loved, returned +with painful distinctness. He was changed in nothing since, except in +the haggard expression of his face and figure. His heart—his strong, +manly heart—was still the same. His affections were in the grave with +Gertrude; he had traversed half the world, had been thrown into trying +circumstances, and doubtless, like other men, had been exposed to many +temptations, yet he had never swerved from his early attachment, and had +brought back with him from his wanderings the same truthfulness and the +same sorrow he had<!--099.png--> carried with him into exile. How strange it was that +he, of all men, should be cast by the force of accidental occurrences +into close communion with the dwarf! that the only men on earth who in +the depths of their hearts could—whether justly or unjustly, mattered +little—find a cause for hating and denouncing me, should be drawn +together, not by any sympathy of their own, but by a common resentment +against me! these two men, so utterly unlike each other in every thing +else, whose natures were as widely different and opposed as night and +day! And then in the midst of this rose up the memory of Gertrude, of +whom I could recollect nothing but a macilent figure, stretched upon a +sofa and scarcely breathing. The lineaments were gone, but there were +the spirit and the reproach, and the gloom that had settled on the +opening of my life, making all the rest wayward, fantastical, and +unreasoning.</p> + +<p>I paused at the door, looked for the last time on Forrester, and +noiselessly leaving the room, descended the stairs. In the next moment I +was out again on the bleak heath.</p> + +<h4>V.</h4> + +<p>On my return, I found Astræa pacing up and down the room in a state of +nervous irritation at my long absence. Her usual self-command was broken +down. The grace and dignity that once imparted to her an aspect of +calmness and power, were gone. Isolation was doing its work upon her! +Isolation and the feeling of banishment and disgrace which we struggled +with darkly in our minds, but which were slowly and surely destroying +our confidence in ourselves, and our trust in the future.</p> + +<p>She was impatient to hear what I had to relate to her, yet was so +ruffled by it, that she constantly interrupted me by exclamations of +scorn and anger. The suggestion of our separation, and the subsequent +guardianship of the dwarf, which I stated simply, without coloring or +comment, affected her differently. She looked at me in silence, as I +slowly repeated the words of Forrester, her lips trembled slightly, and +a faint flush spread over her face and forehead. There was a great +conflict going on, and I could see that her strength was unequal to it. +Gradually the flush deepened, and tears sprang into her eyes. I shall +never forget it! A sob broke from her, and crushing up her face in her +outspread hands with a wildness that almost terrified me, she exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"I never was humiliated till now! never till now! till now! O God! what +have I done that this bitterness should come upon me?"</p> + +<p>"Astræa! for Heaven's sake do not give way to these violent emotions. +After all, what does it come to?"</p> + +<p>She threw back her head with an expression of fierce reproach in her +eyes, and replied:</p> + +<p>"Disgrace! <i>You</i> do not feel it. <i>You</i> are safe, free, unscathed; but +<i>I</i>—<i>I</i>—and this is what women suffer who sacrifice themselves as I +have done!"</p> + +<p>"Come, you are nervous and desponding, Astræa. Why do you talk of +suffering? No +<!--100.png--><span class="pagenum">342</span> +body has the power to inflict suffering upon you now."</p> + +<p>"It is idle—idle—idle!" she answered, moving to and fro; "you can not +comprehend it. Men have no sense of these things. Happy for them it is +so. I believe you mean all in kindness—I believe your manhood, your +pride would not allow you to see me unprotected, lost, degraded so +early! No! don't speak! Let me go on. He makes a condition that I should +leave you—that I should violate the most solemn obligation of my life, +and proclaim myself that which my soul recoils from, and my lips dare +not utter; then, when I shall have damned myself, he will protect me! +With a forbearance, for which I ought to be thankful he will watch over +me unseen—provide for my wants—take care that I am fed and housed; and +having secured my dependence on him, and broken my rebellious heart, he +will take infinite credit to himself for the delicacy and magnanimity +with which he has treated me. Oh man—man! how little you know our +natures, and how superior we are to you, even in our degradation! I ask +you, in what light must he regard me who could presume to make such a +proposition? And in what light should I deserve to be regarded if I +accepted it?"</p> + +<p>"It is quite true, Astræa. I feel the whole force of your observations. +The proposition is an insult."</p> + +<p>"Thank you—thank you, for that word!" she exclaimed, throwing herself +into my arms, and bursting into a flood of tears. "There is something +yet left to cling to. Thank God, I am not yet so lost but that you +should feel it to be an insult to me. It is something not to be yet +quite beyond the reach of insult."</p> + +<p>"Astræa," I said, folding her tenderly in my arms, "compose yourself, +and trust to me. We must trust to each other. There—there—dear +Astræa!"</p> + +<p>"What a wretch should I be," she replied, "if <i>this</i> were all—if it +were for <i>this</i> I forfeited every thing; no, no, <i>you</i> don't think so. +It is my last hold—self-respect!—and it is in your keeping. For you I +gave up all—and would have given up life itself—it would be hard if I +should perish in my sin by his hands for whom I sinned!" Then releasing +herself from me, she grasped my arm, and looking earnestly into my face, +she demanded, "And what answer did you give to this proposal?"</p> + +<p>"Why, what answer should I give, but that I knew you would spurn it?"</p> + +<p>"That was right!" she cried; "right—manly—honest. We must let him know +that I am not the defenseless outcast he supposes; he must see and feel +that we can walk abroad as proudly in the open day as he or his. <i>His</i> +vengeance? What have we to fear? Let us cast the shame from us and show +ourselves to the world. We make our own disgrace by hiding and flying +from our friends. You see how our forbearance has been appreciated, and +what a charitable construction has been put upon our<!--101.png--> conduct. We owe it +to ourselves to vindicate ourselves. I will endure those dismal whispers +that carry a blight in every word no longer. I would rather die! +Come—let us decide once and forever our future course!"</p> + +<p>These were brave words, and bravely uttered. Toward the close, Astræa +had regained much of her original power; the strength of purpose and +towering will, which I remembered so well in former days, and which gave +so elevated a character to her beauty, came back once more, and lighted +up her fine features.</p> + +<p>It was late; but what were hours to us? Day or night made little +difference. We had no objects to call us up early—we had no occupations +for the next day—it was immaterial whether we retired or sat up; and so +in this listless mode of life we always followed the immediate impulse, +whatever it might be. When we found ourselves weary, we betook ourselves +to repose; when we felt inclined to talk and maunder over the fire, we +never troubled ourselves to ask what o'clock it was. In short, time had +no place in our calendar, which was governed, not by the revolutions of +the earth, but by our own moods and sensations.</p> + +<p>We discussed a great question that night. No theme before a debating +club—such as the choice between Peace and War, between Society or +Solitude, or any of those grand abstract antitheses that agitate +nations—was ever more completely exhausted in all its details than the +question—Whether we should leave England, or remain at home, and go +boldly into public, with the determination to live down the persecutions +of the dwarf.</p> + +<p>It was a question of life or death with us. We both felt that any fate +would be more welcome than the life to which we were then condemned. We +pined for human faces and human voices. We were sick at heart of eternal +loneliness. We longed for free intercourse with educated people like +ourselves, who would sympathize with our intellectual wants, and talk to +us in our own language. We had arrived at the discovery that the +solitude we had colored so brightly in those happy hours of romance +which love takes such pains in filling up with delusions, would be +rendered much more agreeable by an occasional variety, or an incidental +shock from without—any thing that would stir the pulses and awaken the +life-blood that was growing stagnant in our veins. We were not weary of +each other; on the contrary, anxiety had brought our hearts more closely +together; but we had drunk all the light out each other's eyes, and our +aspects were becoming wan and passionless from lack of change and +movement; we yearned for the presence even of strangers, to break up the +dullness and uniformity, and make us feel that we had an interest in the +living world, and that our love, sweet as it was in seclusion, was +sweeter still as a bond that linked us to the great family, from which +in our desolate retreat we felt ourselves entirely cut off.</p> + +<p>I need not detail the arguments by which our +<!--102.png--><span class="pagenum">343</span> +final resolution was +determined. To go abroad, and embrace a voluntary banishment, would have +looked like an admission of guilt, which Astræa persisted in +repudiating. Whatever verdict society might choose to pronounce, Astræa +would be governed only by her own. Her justice adapted itself expressly +to the occasion, setting aside the larger views which laws designed for +the general security must include. But such is woman's logic +ever!—circumstantially sensitive, clear, and narrow! Her voice was for +war. I had no motive for opposing her; my pride agreed with her—my +reason took the other side; but, in reality, I saw no great choice +either way. I knew, or felt, that society would never be reconciled to +us. Men have instincts on such points; but women, with their wild sense +of what may be called natural law, never can see these things in the +same light. This was a matter I could not argue with Astræa. I merely +told her that in our anomalous situation, we must not look for much +sympathy or consideration; that, in fact, I had known similar cases +(perhaps not quite so peculiar, but that made no difference in the eyes +of society), and that the issue of the struggle to get back always ended +in increased humiliation; yet I was, nevertheless, ready to adopt any +plan of life that would satisfy her feelings. I was bound to think of +that first, and perfectly willing to take chance for the rest.</p> + +<p>It was settled at last, at the close of our long council, that we should +adopt a sort of middle course; and before we returned to London, which +we now fully resolved to do at the opening of the season, we projected a +visit to Brighton, and one or two other places on the coast.</p> + +<h4>VI.</h4> + +<p>Talk of the sagacity of the lower animals, and the reasoning faculties +of man! We are the most inconsistent of all creatures; we are +perpetually contradicting ourselves, perpetually involved in anomalies +of our own making. It is impossible to reconcile half the things we do +with the exercise of that reason which we boast of as the grand +distinction that elevates us above the horse, the dog, the elephant. We +never find any of these animals doing unaccountable things, or +practically compromising their sagacity.</p> + +<p>For my part, looking back on my life, I feel that it is full of +contradictions, which, although apparent to me now, were not so in the +whirl of agitation out of which they surged. Here, for example, after a +flight from the world, and nearly six months' burial in the severest +solitude, behold us on a sudden in the midst of the gay crowds of +Brighton. The transition is something startling. It was so to us at the +time; and I confess that at this distance from the excitement which led +to it, I can not help regarding it as an act of signal temerity, +considering the circumstances in which we were placed.</p> + +<p>Astræa's spirits grew lighter; she cast off her gloom and reserve, and +surrendered herself to the full tide of human enjoyment in which we were +now floating. Whatever might have been the terror or misgiving at either +of our hearts,<!--103.png--> we did not show it in our looks. We wore a mask to each +other—a mask of kindness, each desiring to conceal the secret pang, and +to convey to the other a notion that all was at peace within! We were +mutually conscious of the well-meant deception, but thought it wiser and +more generous on both sides to affect entire confidence in the gayety we +assumed! Upon this hollow foundation we set about building the +superstructure of our future lives.</p> + +<p>We had a cheerful lodging facing the sea—rather a handsome and +extravagant lodging; for being intent upon our project of asserting +ourselves in the eyes of the world, we resolved to test any friends we +might happen to meet, by inviting them to our house. The landlady, a +respectable widow, was one of the most civil and obliging persons in the +world. Her whole establishment was at our disposal, and she never could +do too much to make us feel perfectly at our ease. Emerging as we had +just done from utter loneliness, with a strong fear that the hand of the +world was against us, all this attention and kindness touched us deeply. +Slight an incident as it was, it made us think better of our species, +and look forward more hopefully for ourselves. There was yet something +to live for! There always is, if we will only suffer our hearts to +explore for us, and find it out.</p> + +<p>Any person who has moved much in the London circles is sure to find a +numerous acquaintance at Brighton. We met several people we had known in +the great maelstrom of the West End. It was pleasant to us to exchange +salutes with them. It was like coming back after a long voyage, and +finding one's self at home again among old faces and household scenes. +We were intimate with none of these people; and as our knowledge of them +did not justify more than a passing recognition, which was generally +very cordial on both sides, we used to return from our drive every day, +exulting in the success of our experiment upon society. The world, after +all, was not so bad as we supposed.</p> + +<p>One day, sauntering on the sands, Astræa saw a lady at a distance whose +figure seemed to be familiar to her. She was an old schoolfellow of +hers, who had been recently married. They flew into each other's arms. +The meeting, indeed, was marked by such affectionate interest on the +part of the lady, who was a stranger to me, that I apprehended she was +entirely ignorant of our story. Almost the first question that passed +between them determined that fact; and as they had a great deal of news +to communicate to each other, it was arranged between them that they +should meet the next morning for a long gossip.</p> + +<p>Astræa went alone, and staid away half the day. She returned to me full +of glee. Her friend had listened to her history with the deepest +interest, and entirely agreed with her that she could not have acted +otherwise, adopting, at the same time, without hesitation, Astræa's +opinion of the sanctity of our union. It was not our fault that we had +not been married in a church +<!--104.png--><span class="pagenum">344</span> +and this generous lady, seeing the +embarrassment of our situation, enthusiastically declared that the world +might take its own course, but that <i>she</i>, at least, would never abandon +a friend under such circumstances. This was very cheering. I must +remark, however, that this lady was several years younger than Astræa, +under whose protection she had been taken at school, where Astræa had +been a resident for convenience, rather than a pupil, when she entered +it. In this way their attachment originated. It would have been +difficult for any young person to have been placed in such close and +endearing intimacy with Astræa, and not to have acquired an enthusiastic +regard for her. She always inspired that sort of feeling—a deep and +passionate love, great admiration of her intellect, implicit respect for +her judgment. In the eyes of her schoolfellow she was the model of all +human excellence. As easily would she have believed in an error of the +planetary system, as that Astræa could commit an aberration of any kind. +Whatever Astræa did, appeared to her unimpeachable. A feeling of +veneration like this carried away from school will stand many severe +shocks in the mind of a true-hearted girl before it will give way.</p> + +<p>This was all very well so far as the lady herself was concerned; but how +could we answer for the view her husband might take of the matter? She +volunteered in the most courageous way to take all that upon herself. +She could answer for her husband. She was very young, and very pretty, +and very giddy, and only just married, and her husband never denied her +any thing, and she ruled him with as queenly an influence as the heart +of the most imperious little beauty could desire. Nor did she reckon +without her host, as the event proved. Her husband, in the most +good-humored way, fell into her view of the case. He was one of those +easy-natured souls who, when they marry school-girls, feel themselves +called upon to marry the whole school, and to take its romps, and its +vows, and its bridesmaid pledges, to heart and home along with their +wives. He had heard her speak of Astræa a thousand times, and professed +to be very curious to see her; and so it was arranged that we should all +meet, and make the merriest double-bridal party in the universe. The +reunion was curious between these open-hearted, innocent young people, +with their track of bright flowers before them, and those who sat +opposite to them, with a terrible conviction that the path which lay +before <i>them</i> was covered with ashes.</p> + +<p>Our new friends had a large acquaintance at Brighton, and saw a great +deal of company; yet they were always glad to get away when they could, +and make a little holyday with us. Her husband entered into our meetings +with an ease and friendliness that were quite charming. He was an +indolent man, taking no trouble to look after pleasure, but ready to be +pleased in a passive way with any thing that other people enjoyed. As +for his wife, she was always in the highest spirits with Astræa. The +chatter they made together was quite an ecstasy. It seemed<!--105.png--> as if there +was no end to the things they had to talk about. Poor Astræa had been +shut up from her own sex so long, that the delight with which the +companionship of this young creature inspired her appeared to me +extremely pathetic and affecting.</p> + +<p>One morning we were walking on the Parade as usual. Among the carriages +that were flying about, we recognized the open phaeton of our friends. +It passed quite close to us—so close that we could have shaken hands +with them as they swept by. We expected that they would have stopped as +usual, and we stood and put out our hands—but the carriage went on. +There was a hasty bow from the lady, and then her head was quickly +turned aside, as if something had suddenly attracted her attention. +Astræa looked at me, and asked me what I thought of it? I evaded her +question, by saying that they had other friends, and that we must not be +too <i>exigeant</i>. Astræa made no remark, but merely shook her head and +walked on.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon we met them again. There was a gay crowd of people +walking, and our friends, in the midst of a group, were coming up toward +us. There was no possibility, at either side, of avoiding the meeting, +for the place was narrow, and we were compelled to pass each other +slowly. I could perceive, from the way in which Astræa's cheeks kindled, +that she was resolved to put her schoolfellow's friendship to the proof +at once. I anticipated the result, but thought it best not to interfere, +lest Astræa might suppose I shrank from the ordeal. We met face to face. +The lady grew very white, and then red, and then white again, and caught +her husband by the arm, and moved her lips as if she wished to appear to +be speaking to him, although she did not utter a word. Astræa looked +full into her eyes. Had the young wife seen a spectre from the grave, +she could not have been more effectually paralyzed. That look seemed to +turn her to stone. Not a single expression of greeting took place +between them. Upon the husband's part, the feeling was even less +equivocal. There was a dark, scowling frown upon his face as we came up; +he looked straight at us—and walked on. These <i>insouciant</i> men, who +take the world so indifferently on ordinary occasions, are always the +most fierce when roused. They hate the trouble of being obliged to act +with decision, and when compelled to do so, they cut it short by an +energetic demonstration, that they may fall back the sooner upon their +habitual lassitude.</p> + +<p>We returned to our lodging with a clear sense of our position. Galled as +I was on my own account, I felt it a hundred times more acutely on +account of Astræa. Here was her young friend and enthusiastic disciple, +who had always looked up to her with confidence and admiration, who had +heard her story, and clung all the more lovingly and protectingly to her +in pity for the unhappy circumstances in which she was placed, and this +friend had now abandoned and disowned her!—a blow under which some +women would +<!--106.png--><span class="pagenum">345</span> have sunk at once, and which would have made others +reckless and desperate. Upon Astræa it acted slowly and painfully. +Externally it did not seem to affect her much; but I could perceive from +that time a tendency to lapse into fits of silence, and a desire to be +alone, which I had not noticed before. Whenever she alluded to her +friend, she spoke of her as a weak person, who had never been remarkable +for much character, with a kind heart and no understanding, and always +carried away by the last speaker. Ascribing her inconsistency on this +occasion to the influence of her husband, we agreed to dismiss the +subject—not from our thoughts, that was impossible—but from our +conversation. Astræa was bruised and hurt; and through all her efforts +to conceal it, I saw that she suffered severely. It was the first touch +she had directly experienced of the ice of the world's contumely, and it +had struck in upon her heart.</p> + +<p>A few days passed away, and we were reconciling ourselves by daily +practice to the personal humiliation of passing and being passed in the +streets by the friends with whom we had been recently on terms of +absolutely hilarious alliance; when, on one occasion, on returning to +our solitary lodging, we were received at the door by our obliging +landlady in a manner which plainly showed that her opinion of us had +undergone a most singular change during our absence. Her quiet, sleepy +eyes scintillated with anger; her face was hot with excitement, and +instead of the civility she had hitherto invariably shown us, she all at +once broke out into a tirade which I will spare the reader the +unpleasantness of hearing: there can be no difficulty in guessing what +it was all about. This worthy woman had heard our history—falsified in +detail, and blackened by the most venomous exaggeration; and being a +very pure lodging-house keeper, standing upon the whiteness of her +morals and her caps, and trusting much to the patronage of the rector, +who allowed her to refer to him for the proprieties and respectabilities +of her establishment, she thought that the best way to vindicate her own +reputation was to assail ours in the most open and public manner. +Accordingly, she took care that every word she said should be overheard +by every body within reach, so that the whole neighborhood should know +of her indignation, and report it to her friend the rector. There never +was such a change in a woman; it was a saint turned into a demon. I +demanded her authority for the injurious aspersions she cast upon us, +and threatened her with a variety of tremendous, though exceedingly +vague, legal consequences—but to no effect. She desired us to leave the +house, and take our remedy; she would give us no satisfaction; she had +good grounds for what she said; that was enough for her; she knew what +"kind" we were; and a great deal more to the same purpose.</p> + +<p>We were deeply aggrieved at discovering that our private affairs were +talked of in this scandalous way. As to the vulgar violence of this +woman, we thought no more of it after the immediate<!--107.png--> irritation of her +assault on us was over. It was one of those coarse incidents, which, +like striking against an awkward person in the streets, happen to us all +in life, and are forgotten with the momentary annoyance. But these +reports of our situation being afloat, rendered it impossible to remain +in Brighton; so that very night we moved down the coast to Worthing. In +this dull little watering-place, where the people always seem bent on +avoiding each other, we thought we should be secure from evil tongues.</p> + +<p>It was late when we arrived, and we put up at the hotel, which, like +every thing else in Worthing, has an air of languor and idleness about +it. We liked the tone of the house. An eternal twilight brooded over the +rooms and passages. Every chamber was occupied, yet the place was as +still as a church. If you heard a footstep, it went stealthily as if it +were muffled, or "shod with felt;" and the only signs of life you caught +from the adjoining apartments, were when some noiseless lady in a +morning dress glided into the balcony, and after a side-long look at the +sea, glided back again. Out of doors, the order of the day was vigorous +promenading, but even this was conducted almost speechlessly, except +when a friendly group happened to collect and stop short, and then you +could hear an occasional joke and burst of laughter. The promenade was +the grand thing. It was not sauntering for relaxation, but brisk +exercise, that threw the blood into activity and exhilarated the +spirits. In the course of a week, we came to know every face in Worthing +by the introduction which this lusty amusement afforded us, and every +body in Worthing knew our faces. We were all out at a given hour, +tramping up and down at a swinging pace, and passing and repassing each +other so often, that we were as familiar with the whole guest population +of the place, and the whole guest population with us, as if we had known +each other all our lives. Every body had acquaintances there except +ourselves. We could see them making up little parties for excursions, +soirées, and other amusements; trifles that amused us as lookers-on, +but, nevertheless, made us feel our loneliness. We were <i>in</i> the crowd, +but not <i>of</i> it. Yet it was better to be in the open air among strangers +than to dwell in the desert.</p> + +<p>But it was not to be. Our story followed us. We began to perceive, after +a little time, that we were observed and noticed, and that people used +to turn and look after us. This was the first hint we received of what +was now becoming rather an alarming fact to us—that we were known. To +be known with us, was to be shunned, or impertinently gazed at, as if we +were either great criminals, or notorieties of no very respectable +order. At last, it became difficult for us to walk about, from the +universality of the notice we attracted; and at the hotel there was no +possibility of mistaking the nature of the curiosity, not of the most +respectful kind, which tracked us up the stairs and down the stairs, and +penetrated even to our rooms, in the person of a sinister-looking +waiter, who had the oddest conceivable +<!--108.png--><span class="pagenum">346</span> way of looking at us out of the +corner of one eye, which he pursed up and concentrated into a focus +expressly for the purpose. This sort of persecution was wearing us out. +It was like water dropped, drop by drop, upon a stone. The whisper of +shame came after us wherever we went. There was no escaping it; and I +began to suspect that there must be some mark upon us by which we were +known and detected. I believe there is more truth in this than most +people imagine. The habit of evasion and reserve, the apprehension of +being watched, and the secret consciousness of having something to +conceal, doubtless give an expression to one's entire action and +physiognomy which is likely to suggest unfavorable speculations. The +world is apt to think ill of the man who does not look it straight in +the face; and, upon the whole, perhaps the world is right.</p> + +<p>This doom pursued us wherever we went. We tried two or three other +places on the coast with the same result. Within a week we were sure to +be found out, and avoided or gazed at. The sight of human beings +enjoying themselves, and the right of looking on at them, were dearly +purchased at such a price as this. Our spirits were beginning to give +way under it; our nerves were so affected by the minute persecution +which we daily endured, that when we got into strange quarters, where we +were as yet unknown, we fancied that all eyes were upon us. A little +more of this sort of racking suspicion, mixed with fear and rage, and I +think I should have gone mad.</p> + +<p>Astræa bore it more heroically. She was tolerably calm, and used to +smile while I was glowing over with anger. I frequently felt inclined to +rush upon some of the people who stared at us, and demand of them what +they meant; but Astræa always checked me, and reminded me, that in these +small watering-places scandal was the entire occupation—that the +visitors had, in fact, nothing else to do all day long; and that if +every person who was tormented by their vicious curiosity were to +indulge in resentment, three-fourths of the time of the community would +be wasted in endeavoring to patch up the reputations that had been torn +to bits in the remaining fourth.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the courage with which she set herself against the +waters that were visibly closing round us on all sides, and the light, +yet earnest and fearful way she talked about it, her health was rapidly +declining. Her color was gone. She was growing thin; there was a slight +cough hovering upon her nerves; and she had become so fanciful, that she +could not bear to go out in the dusk of the evenings, although that was +the only time when we could walk out at our ease.</p> + +<p>These changes brought others. Her temper was altered; she tried to +subjugate herself, but could not; a notion seemed to have taken +possession of her that she was a weight upon me, and that the necessity +of sharing disgrace and exclusion with her was preying upon my mind.<!--109.png--> In +the first few months she was jealous of every hour I was absent from +her, and used to consider it a slight, and a proof that I was becoming +weary of her. Then all was new, and the gloss of novelty and enthusiasm +was yet upon her feelings. Now it was totally different; she had no +longer any care about herself; it was all for me. The dream of love had +been dreamed out, and she had ceased to regard herself as the object of +a devotion which was ready to incur shame and suffering for her sake. +She had seen that delusion to an end; and, having a real fear that, +being pent up continually with her, contracting the man's activity +within the sphere of the woman's limited range, would make our way of +life hateful to me at last, she now used to urge me to go out for long +walks in the country, or to visit the reading-rooms, and keep myself <i>au +courant</i> with the events of the day. Exercise, mental and physical, was +healthful for me, and she would not have me moped to death in the house. +For her own part, she would say to me, she rather liked having a little +time to herself; a woman has always something to do, and is never at a +loss for occupation; and while I was out, she hardly missed me till I +came back—she was so busy! These professions and entreaties were kindly +and judiciously meant, but the difficulty was to act upon them. She +could not endure solitude. She always dreaded to be left alone, and, +only that it was a greater dread to her to make a prisoner of me at the +risk of rendering my existence wretched, nothing could have induced her +to go through the hours of misery she suffered in my absence. This +conflict made her temper unequal and sometimes unreasonable; but in such +a situation, what else could be expected? We were haunted by shadows +that were forever falling about our path; move where we would, these +dark phantoms pursued us.</p> + +<p>Our lives were not like the lives of other people: we had no kindred, no +associations, no stir in the sad stagnation of day and night. Time +seemed to be mantling over us, and the breath of heaven to be becoming +less and less perceptible in our dreariness. Astræa was like a person +who was dying from the heart; and with all the fortitude I could bring +to my help, I felt it no easy task to lift myself out of the dismal +depression which occasionally seized upon me. At last we agreed that our +scheme of traveling about had disappointed our expectations, and that, +after all, London was the best of all places for people who sought +either of the extremes of society or seclusion. And so to London we +forthwith repaired.</p> + +<h4>VII.</h4> + +<p>The heart of the town, or the suburbs? The question was speedily decided +in favor of a small detached house, not very far from the Regent's Park. +We had the whole park for a pleasure-ground, a little scrap of verdure +of our own, and an open space and airy situation to regale our lungs in. +We entered upon our new locality with sensations of security we had felt +nowhere else. We seemed to have left behind us the +<!--110.png--><span class="pagenum">347</span> gloom and terror +that had been so long dogging our footsteps. Even Astræa brightened, and +grew better; her fretfulness was disappearing, and a tone of contentment +and cheerfulness supervening upon it. We were each of us more free in +our movements, and the dread of observation which had so long kept us in +a state of perpetual alarm, was gradually passing away.</p> + +<p>But what had become all this time of the vengeance of the dwarf? Had he +abandoned his great plan of revenge? Had he thought better of it, and, +finding that Astræa was immovable, addressed himself to some more +sensible pursuit than that of plaguing us? I sometimes touched upon the +subject to Astræa, but could not extract from her what her suspicions +were. She did not like to talk about him. She seemed to be ruled by a +superstitious fear of reviving the topic. It was like the old wives' +adage, "Talk of the devil, and he'll appear!"</p> + +<p>I can not exactly remember how long this lasted, or when it was that I +first detected in Astræa the return of the nervousness which had in some +degree abated upon our arrival in town. It could not, however, have been +more than two or three months after we had taken this house, that I +observed a striking change in her. Haggard lines seemed all of a sudden +to have been plowed round her eyes and cheeks, and her look had become +wild and unsettled. I never saw any body so completely shattered in so +short a time, and the transition from comparative tranquillity to a +state of excessive nervous excitement was so alarming, that I thought +there must have been some cause for it beyond that of mere physical +illness. I questioned her upon it, but always got the same +unsatisfactory answers, ending by entreating of me not to notice her, +but to let her go on in her own way. I can not recall what there was +about her manner—some strangeness in the way she looked at me or spoke +to me—that aroused the most painful suspicions. I confess I did not +know what to suspect; but there was a mental reservation of some kind, +and I was resolved to ascertain what it was. I had the utmost confidence +in Astræa; love with her was the most sacred of all obligations; and she +loved me sincerely—at least, she had loved me enthusiastically in the +beginning. What revolutions had since taken place in her heart, I could +not answer for. She had passed through a chaos in the interval that +might have destroyed the capacity of loving. That there was something +more in her thoughts than she had revealed, I felt sure; and the first +shape my suspicions took—natural enough in our circumstances, although +not the more just on that account—was a shape of jealousy. My alarm +immediately flew to the defense of my pride, or, as Forrester in his +cauterizing way would have called it, my selfishness; I resolved to +observe her closely, and I did so some time without being able to glean +any thing further.</p> + +<p>At last the secret of her wasting frame and pallid face was suddenly +divulged.</p> + +<p>One evening, toward the close of the summer,<!--111.png--> she remained out longer +and later than usual. Her walk, sometimes alone and sometimes with me, +was through the more secluded parts of the park. On this occasion, the +twilight was setting in, and she had not returned. With a dark and sulky +apprehension brooding in my mind, I resolved to go out in search of her. +We had not been confidential with each other of late; the old dreariness +had come back upon us, embittered with a captiousness and acerbity which +extracted all the sweets from our intercourse. A new element had found +its way between us: we had thoughts which we concealed from each other: +my distrust—her secret, whatever it was. This was a great evil; it +filled every hour of the day with lurking jealousies on both sides, +which one word would have dispelled forever.</p> + +<p>I seized my hat, and was about to leave the house, when I heard a sudden +noise at the street-door, and a flurry of agitated steps up the stairs. +Immediately afterward, the door of the room was thrown violently open, +and Astræa rushed in, pale and disheveled. She was evidently in a state +of great alarm and consternation, and turning wildly round, beckoned me +to see that the door was made fast. She could not speak, drawing her +breath hysterically, like a person laboring under the effects of a +serious fright.</p> + +<p>"Tranquilize yourself, Astræa," I cried; "there is nothing to fear here. +What is it? What has alarmed you?"</p> + +<p>"It is <i>he</i>," she replied, fixing her eyes wildly upon me—"<i>he</i> is +coming."</p> + +<p>"Who?"</p> + +<p>"He who has been upon our track ever and ever—who has never quitted +us—who never will leave us till we are dead."</p> + +<p>I did not dare to ask in words, but I asked with my eyes if it was the +dwarf she meant.</p> + +<p>"Ay, it is he. Be calm. It is your turn now to show your strength of +mind—to show whether you value the life I have devoted to you. I hoped +to have concealed this from you. We have suffered enough, and I hoped to +have hidden from you what I have suffered. But it is too late now. Hush! +O God!—that was his voice. You do not hear it—I do! It rings through +and through my brain. He is here—he has followed me. If you ever loved +me—and I know you did once!—prove it to me now. Go into the next room, +and promise me to stay there whatever happens. Listen; but speak +not—stir not. He is on the stairs!—will you not give me your promise? +Trust all to me—rely on me—be sure of me. Let go the door—he is +here!"</p> + +<p>I made no answer, but conveying to Astræa by a searching look that it +was my purpose to watch the issue, I withdrew by one door, while the +dwarf entered by the other. His voice, as he approached her, sounded in +my ears like the hiss of a serpent.</p> + +<p>"I have found you, then, at last—and alone, Astræa!"</p> + +<p>"Why do you follow me thus?" exclaimed Astræa, who stood motionless in +the centre of +<!--112.png--><span class="pagenum">348</span> the room, making a great effort to appear bold and calm, +but shuddering in every fibre beneath.</p> + +<p>"Why do I follow you? What should I do else?"</p> + +<p>"Live like other men. Seek occupation—any thing, rather than plunge +your own life and mine into this eternal horror."</p> + +<p>"Have I not occupation? Am I not attending you every where? Have I not +enough to do in waiting upon you from place to place?"</p> + +<p>"Abandon that fiendish mockery, and speak like a human being. What is it +you want?"</p> + +<p>The dwarf coiled himself up at this question, as if he were distilling +all the venom out of his black heart into the answer.</p> + +<p>"Revenge! It was for my revenge I hung upon your track, showed myself to +you at all times and in all places, letting you know that the destroyer +was at hand, so that you might go home and blast <i>his</i> happiness by your +broken spirits and shattered nerves. I have seen it work; I see it now, +in your quivering lip and emaciated hands. Where are the holiday roses +now—the exulting lover—the secret blisses?"</p> + +<p>Here, then, was poor Astræa's secret! The monster had been upon her +steps wherever we went; and, as I afterward learned, used to start up +suddenly before her in her solitary walks, to terrify her with threats +of sleepless vengeance, knowing that her fear of consequences would +prevent her from revealing to me the persecution under which she was +sinking. This ghastly pursuit of us (to which we were also indebted for +the scorn and obloquy we suffered) had gradually broken up Astræa's +health, and made the strong mind almost weak and superstitious. But I +must hasten on.</p> + +<p>"And this," cried Astræa, "is the generosity I was to have received at +your hands—this the magnanimity your friend gave you credit for!"</p> + +<p>"There was a condition to my magnanimity which you have forgotten. Had +you fulfilled that condition, I would have poured out my heart's blood +at your feet, could it have made you more secure and happy. Why did you +not forsake him, and trust to my generosity? No; you clung to him. You +maddened me, and left me nothing but—revenge. Did you suppose he could +escape me? I have no other life but this—to follow you as the +executioner follows the condemned to the scaffold, and make <i>his</i> life a +curse to <i>him</i>, as he has made <i>mine</i> to <i>me</i>. There's justice in +that—call it cruel, if you please; 'tis just—just—just!"</p> + +<p>"'Tis monstrous, and will draw down the punishment of Heaven on your +head."</p> + +<p>"Heaven will judge strictly between us. What am I? What have I to live +for? You have poisoned the earth for me. Every spot where we have been +together is accursed to me. I dare not look on the old haunts. I dare +not seek new scenes, for my soul is lonely, and no pleasure or delight +of nature can reach it. I should go mad were I not near you; it supplies +me with work—something to employ me—to keep my<!--113.png--> hands from +self-destruction. I weave stratagems all night, and watch my time all +day, day after day, patiently, to execute them. I have but one purpose +to fulfill, and when that is done, life is over. If I live long enough +to drive him mad, as he has maddened me, I shall be content, and go to +my grave happy. And I will do it; every hour gives me more strength. I +see the end nearer and nearer—it grows upon me. I awaken to my business +early; it is my first thought—my last; it never leaves me. Day after +day I have watched you, and have tracked you home at last. And here it +is you live—you, Astræa, whom I loved—whom I still—no, not that! You +live here with him—his wife! You call yourself his wife? Ha! ha! That +is good—his wife! I wonder to see you living, Astræa. I should have +looked for your corpse in this room rather than the living Astræa—the +proud, soaring, ambitious Astræa! Why do you not die? It would be +happier for you?"</p> + +<p>During the latter part of this speech, Astræa, who had made a great +struggle throughout to sustain the attitude she had "taken" in the first +instance, grew weak from terror and exhaustion, and sunk or tottered +upon a chair. The inflections of voice with which these inhuman taunts +were delivered, ending in a tone that came apparently, if I may so +express it, laden with tears from the heart of the speaker, were so +ingeniously varied and so skillfully employed, that it would have been +impossible, even for an indifferent listener, to have heard them without +being alternately agitated and enraged. For my part, a kind of frenzy +possessed me. I restrained myself as long as I could. I tried to obey +poor Astræa's injunction, for, seeing how much I had wronged her in my +thoughts, and what misery she must have suffered and concealed on my +account, I felt that I ought to spare her any further alarm my +forbearance could avert. But the harrowing scoffs of the fiend were +beyond my endurance—my self-control gave way at last, and bursting open +the door of the room in which I was concealed, I rushed out upon the +malignant wretch, who, to do him justice, courageously turned upon me, +and met me with his eyes glaring fiercely as of old.</p> + +<p>"Devil!" I exclaimed, "what do you do here? What do you want? Revenge? +Take it—in any shape you will. Only rid me of your presence, lest I +spurn you with my foot, and trample upon you."</p> + +<p>"You should have told me," he said, turning with an air of mockery to +Astræa, "that he was listening in the next room. I would have dressed my +phrases accordingly."</p> + +<p>"Again, I ask you why you come here? Answer me, or leave the room at +once."</p> + +<p>"Why do I come here? To gladden myself by looking at your wretchedness. +You are worse than I am—sunk below me a thousand fathoms deep in +degradation—every finger is pointed at you—you are steeped in +scorn—despised and loathed. I came to see this. It makes me supremely +happy." +<!--114.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">349</a></span> +</p> + +<p>"Go—there is the door," I cried, the blood tingling in my ears, and in +the tips of my fingers. Astræa saw that the excitement was rising, and +looked at me imploringly; but it was too late to attend to her scruples. +The dwarf looked at the door superciliously, and almost smiled when I +repeated my warning.</p> + +<p>"You will not leave the room? Be advised. I am not responsible for what +may happen after this. I am not master of myself. Go—it is the last +time I will utter the word. Go—or I will kill you on the spot!"</p> + +<p>He did not move, but looked at me wonderingly and incredulously. I +rushed upon him and grappled him by the neck. Astræa sprang up, and +begged of me to desist, for I was hanging over him, with my hand upon +his throat.</p> + +<p>"Let him go—let him go!" she exclaimed; "for my sake do not commit a +murder. Loosen your hold—there—there—have mercy on him, for my +sake—for the love of God, spare him—remember, we have injured him +enough already—remember that!"</p> + +<p>I would not loosen my hold; passion had given me the power and the +cruelty of a demon. There was a brief struggle, in which I flung him +heavily to the ground. I had seized his handkerchief, and twisted my +hand in it—he was nearly choked—his face was growing black; but I was +hardly conscious of all this, for the room was swimming round me as I +knelt over him. Astræa saw the change in his color, and with a shriek of +horror fell upon my arm. This action made me relax my hold. She had +fainted on his body.</p> + +<h4>CONCLUSION.</h4> + +<p>Why should I dwell any longer on these painful events? Had I known then, +as I afterward discovered, that the unhappy object of my wrath and +hatred had, ever since the flight of Astræa, betrayed symptoms of +aberration, and that the scheme of vengeance he nurtured so +relentlessly, was the stratagem of a disordered brain, I should have +treated him with mercy and compassion. But I was ignorant of the real +condition of his mind, and dealt with him as I should have dealt with a +responsible being. The violent excitement of that scene brought on a +crisis, which ended in a seizure of insanity. He still lives; if that +may be called living in which all memory of the past is extinguished, +and the present is a mere tangled skein of day-dreams.</p> + +<p>Astræa's health was utterly broken. It was not her physique that died, +but her heart, her spirits, her self-reliance, and her hope of the +future. She felt that there was nothing for her in this world but +remorse. The desolation that was round her killed her. She braved it +earnestly at first. Her noble heart and her true love she thought were +proof against the world and its hollow scorn. Alas! for true love and +noble hearts! They can not stand up alone in ice and storms. They must +be out in the sun with their allies round them, like frailer loves and +meaner hearts, or they will perish in their strength!<!--115.png--></p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="THE_FEET-WASHING_ON_GOOD_FRIDAY_IN_MUNICH" id="THE_FEET-WASHING_ON_GOOD_FRIDAY_IN_MUNICH"></a>THE FEET-WASHING ON GOOD FRIDAY IN MUNICH.</h2> + +<p>I have just witnessed the ceremony of the Feet-washing, which has been +announced for this month past as one of the great sights of the season. +My good friend at the <i>Kreigs Ministerium</i> kept his word faithfully +about procuring tickets for us. Accordingly, Myra F. and I have seen the +whole ceremony. At nine o'clock Myra was with me, and, early as it was, +Madame Thekla advised us to set off to the Palace, as people were always +wild about places, and if we came late, spite of our tickets, we should +see nothing. The good old soul also accompanied us, on the plea that, as +she was big and strong, she could push a way for us through the crowd, +and keep our places by main force. She stood guard over us—the good +creature!—for two mortal hours, and when the door at length was opened +by a grand lacquey, had the satisfaction of seeing us step through the +very first. But before this happy moment arrived, we had to wait, as I +said, two hours; and leaving, therefore, the patient old lady as our +representative before the little door which led into the gallery of the +Hercules Hall, whither our tickets admitted us, and before which door no +one but ourselves had yet presented themselves, Myra and I ranged along +the queer whitewashed galleries of the old portion of the palace in +which we were. Can not you see these vistas of whitewashed wall, with +grim old portraits of powdered ladies and gentlemen, in hoops, ruffles, +gold lace, and ermine, and framed in black frames, interspersed amid +heavy wreaths and arabesques of stucco?—dazzlingly white walls, +dazzlingly white arched ceilings, diminishing in long perspective! Now +we came upon a strange sort of a little kitchen in the thick wall, where +a quaint copper kettle, standing on the now cold hearth, told of coffee +made for some royal servant some hours before; we were now before the +door of some <i>Kammer-Jungfer</i>; now in the gallery with the whitewash, +but without the portraits, where, opposite to every door, stood a large, +white cupboard; a goodly row of them.</p> + +<p>Once we found ourselves below stairs and in one of the courts. There, on +passing through the door-way, you stood on a sort of terrace, above your +head a ceiling rich with ponderous wreaths of fruit and flowers, and +other stucco ornaments of the same style, which probably had once been +gilt, and with fading frescoes of gods, goddesses, and Cupids!</p> + +<p>This old part of the Royal Palace of Munich is quite a little town. We +discovered also a little tiny chapel, now quite forgotten in the glory +of Hess's frescoes, and the beauty of the new <i>Hof-Kapelle</i>. To-day this +old chapel was open, hung with black cloth, and illuminated with +numberless waxen tapers, and the altar verdant with shrubs and plants, +placed upon the altar steps. There was, however, a remarkably mouldy, +cold smell in the place; but I suppose the royal procession visited this +old chapel as +<!--116.png--><span class="pagenum">350</span> +well as the new one, on its way to the Hercules Hall. +This <i>cortège</i>, with the king and his brother walking beneath a splendid +canopy, and attended priests and courtiers, went, I believe, wandering +about a considerable time, to the edification of the populace, out of +all this, excepting from hearsay, I can not speak, having considered it +as the wiser thing for us to return to Madame Thekla and our door, +rather than await it.</p> + +<p>The Hercules Hall is rather small; and certainly more ugly than +beautiful, with numbers of old-fashioned chandeliers hanging from the +ceiling; a gallery at each end supported by marble pillars, with a row +of tall windows on either side; a dark, inlaid floor of some brown wood; +but with no sign whatever of Hercules to be seen. Suffice it to say, +that having noticed all this at a glance, we observed, in the centre of +the hall, a small altar covered with white linen, and bearing upon it +golden candlesticks, a missal bound in crimson velvet, a vailed +crucifix, and a golden ewer standing in a golden dish. On one side of +the altar rose a tall reading-desk, draped with sulphur-colored cloth, +upon which lay a large open book: a row of low, crimson stools stood +along the hall, opposite the altar; on the other side, across the +windows, ran a white and very long ottoman, raised upon a high step +covered with crimson cloth, and chairs of state were arranged at either +end of the hall below the galleries. The arrival of people below was +gradual, although our gallery and the gallery opposite had been crowded +for hours. We at length had the pleasure of seeing something commence.</p> + +<p>The door at the further end opened, and in streamed a crowd. Then +tottered in ancient representations of the twelve "apostles," clothed in +long violet robes, bound round the waist with white bands striped with +red, and with violet caps on their heads: on they tottered, supported on +either side by some poor relative, an old peasant-woman, a stalwart man +in a black velvet jacket, and bright black boots reaching to the knee, +or by a young, buxom girl in her holiday costume of bright apron and gay +bodice. On they come, feeble, wrinkled, with white locks falling on +their violet apparel, with palsied hands resting on the strong arms that +supported them—the oldest being a hundred and one, the youngest +eighty-seven years old! My eyes swam with sudden tears. There was a deal +of trouble in mounting them upon their long snowy throne; that crimson +step was a great mountain for their feeble feet and stiff knees to +climb. But at last they were all seated, their poor friends standing +behind them. A man in black marshaled them like little school-children; +he saw that all sat properly, and then began pulling off a black shoe +and stocking from the right foot of each. There, with drooped heads and +folded withered hands, they sat meekly expectant. A group of twelve +little girls, in lilac print frocks and silver swallow-tailed caps, +headed by an old woman in similar lilac and silver costume, took its +place to<!--117.png--> the right of the old men in a little knot; they were twelve +orphans who are clothed and educated by the queen, and who receive a +present on this day.</p> + +<p>The hall at the further end was by this time filled with bright +uniforms—blue, scarlet, white, and green. In front were seen King Max +and his brothers, also in their uniforms; numbers of ladies and +children; and choristers in white robes, who flitted, cloud-like, into a +small raised seat, set apart for them in a dark corner behind the +uniforms. A bevy of priests in gold, violet, blue, and black robes, with +burning tapers and swinging censers, enter; prostrate themselves before +the king of Bavaria, and before the King of Hosts, as typified to them +on the altar; they chant, murmur, and prostrate themselves again and +again. Incense fills the hall with its warm, odorous breath. They +present open books to the king and princes. And now the king, ungirding +his sword, which is received by an attendant gentleman, approaches the +oldest "apostle;" he receives the golden ewer, as it is handed from one +brother to another; he bends himself over the old foot; he drops a few +drops of water upon it; he receives a snowy napkin from the princes, and +lays it daintily over the honored foot; he again bows over the second, +and so on, through the whole twelve; a priest, with a cloth bound round +his loins, finishing the drying of the feet. A different scene must that +have been in Jerusalem, some eighteen hundred years ago!</p> + +<p>And now the king, with a gracious smile, hangs round the patient neck of +each old man a blue and white purse, containing a small sum of money. +The priests retire; the altar and reading-desk are removed. Six tables, +covered with snowy cloths, upon each two napkins, two small metal +drinking-cups, and two sets of knives, forks, and spoons, are carried +in, and joined into one long table, placed before the crimson step. In +the mean time the man in black has put on the twelve stockings and the +twelve shoes, and, with much ado, has helped down the twelve "apostles," +who now sit upon the step as a seat. Enter twelve footmen, in blue and +white liveries, each bearing a tray, covered with a white cloth, upon +which smoke six different meats, in white wooden bowls; a green +soup—remember it is <i>green Thursday</i>—two baked fish; two brown +somethings; a delicious-looking pudding; bright green spinach, upon +which repose a couple of tempting eggs, and a heap of stewed prunes. +Each footman, with his tray, is followed by a fellow-footman, carrying a +large bottle of golden-hued wine, and a huge, dark, rich looking roll on +silver waiters. The twelve footmen, with the trays, suddenly veer round, +and stand in a line opposite to the table, and each opposite to an +"apostle;" the twelve trays held before them, with their seventy-two +bowls, all forming a kind of pattern—soup, fishes, spinach; soup, +fishes, spinach; pudding, prunes, brown meats; puddings, prunes, brown +meats—all down the room. Behind stand the other footmen, with +<!--118.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">351</a></span> +their +twelve bottles of wine and their twelve rolls. I can assure you that, +seen from the gallery above, the effect was considerably comic.</p> + +<p>A priest, attended by two court-pages, who carry tall burning tapers, +steps forth in front of the trays and footmen, and chants a blessing. +The king and his brothers again approach the "apostles;" the choristers +burst forth into a glorious chant, till the whole hall is filled with +melody, and the king receives the dishes from his brothers, and places +them before the old men. Again I felt a thrill rush through me; it is so +graceful—though it be but a mere form, a mere shadow of the true +sentiment of love—any gentle act of kindness from the strong to the +weak, from the powerful to the very poor. As the king bowed himself +before the feeble old man of a hundred—though I knew it to be but a +mere ceremony—it was impossible not to recognize a poetical idea.</p> + +<p>It took a long time before the seventy and two meats were all placed on +the table, and then it took a very long time before the palsied old +hands could convey the soup to the old lips; some were too feeble, and +were fed by the man in black. It was curious to notice the different +ways in which the poor old fellows received the food from the king; some +slightly bowed their heads; others sat stolidly; others seemed sunk in +stupor.</p> + +<p>The Court soon retired, and twelve new baskets were brought by servants, +into which the five bowls of untasted food were placed; these, together +with the napkin, knife, fork, spoon and mug, bottle of wine, and bread, +are carried away by the old men; or, more properly speaking, are carried +away for them by their attendant relatives. Many of the poor old +fellows—I see by a printed paper which was distributed about, and which +contains a list of their names and ages—come from great distances; they +are chosen as being the oldest poor men in Bavaria. One only is out of +Munich, and he is ninety-three.</p> + +<p>We went down into the hall to have a nearer view of the "apostles;" but, +so very decrepit did the greater number appear, on a close inspection; +their faces so sad and vacant; there was such a trembling eagerness +after the food in the baskets, now hidden from their sight; such a +shouting into their deaf ears; such a guiding of feeble steps and +blinded, blear eyes; that I wished we had avoided this painful part of +the spectacle.</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="A_PEDESTRIAN_IN_HOLLAND" id="A_PEDESTRIAN_IN_HOLLAND"></a>A PEDESTRIAN IN HOLLAND.</h2> + +<p>While pacing along to Meppel, I made up my mind at all events to visit +Ommerschans; instead, therefore, of halting on reaching the town about +sunset, I left the main thoroughfare for a by-road, which, as usual, +formed the towing-path of a canal. With the aid of a countryman going in +the same direction, I passed for several miles through by-ways, and soon +after dusk arrived at De Wyk. Almost the first house in the village was +a <i>herbergje</i>; but there being no room,<!--119.png--> I went further, and presently +came to another—one of the long, low edifices which appear to be +peculiar to the rural districts in the northern provinces, the same roof +sheltering quadrupeds and bipeds. On opening the door, I found myself in +a large kitchen, dimly lighted by a single candle standing on a table, +round which sat a dozen rustics finishing their supper. Each one laid +down his spoon, and stared at me vigorously, and for some time my +question—"Kan ik hier overnachten?" ("Can I pass the night here?") +remained unanswered: sundry ejaculations alone were uttered. By and by, +both a mistress and maid appeared to minister to my needs, and tea and +eggs were quickly in preparation. Meanwhile, the men at the table were +making me the subject of discussion among themselves, and eying me with +curious looks. At length one of them asked me whence I came, and why I +was there; which queries were answered to their satisfaction, when +another rejoined,</p> + +<p>"And so mynheer comes from Fredericksoord, and is going to +Ommerschans?"—an observation which elicited a grunt of approval from +the whole company.</p> + +<p>"But how does mynheer find his way?" inquired the first speaker.</p> + +<p>"That is not very difficult. With a map in his pocket, and a tongue in +his head, a man may go all over the world."</p> + +<p>"Ja, that is good; but it is not easy sometimes to know which turning to +take. What does mynheer do then?"</p> + +<p>"I generally get to know the direction of the place I want to go to +before starting, and then steer my way by the sun or wind; and seldom +fail to arrive, as you may see by my being here."</p> + +<p>This explanation sufficed them for a time as a topic for further +discussion, and left me free to attend to my personal wants, which were +in the imperative mood. Before long, however, one of them began again by +asking, "What has mynheer to sell?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing: my knapsack contains only articles for my own use." Here a +brief confabulation followed, and I began to fancy the Dutchmen not less +expert in gathering information than the New Englanders, when the +question came.</p> + +<p>"Mynheer travels, then, for his own pleasure?"</p> + +<p>"Why not?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, mynheer says why not; but when one travels for pleasure, he must +have so much money in hand;" and, as he said this, the speaker tapped +significantly the palm of one of his hands with the fingers of the +other.</p> + +<p>Whether it was that they voted such journeyings an unwholesome +extravagance, or that their ideas were all exhausted, the group said no +more; and shortly afterward kicking off their stained and clumsy sabots, +they retired, without any further process of undressing, to their +sleeping-lairs. Some crept into a loft, others into beds contrived, as +berths in a ship, in recesses in the walls of the kitchen, two into +each; and before I had finished my tea, a concert of snores was +<!--120.png--><span class="pagenum">352</span> +going +on, where the bass certainly had the best of it.</p> + +<p>I have often found that a fatiguing walk on a hot day takes away all +relish for ordinary food: the appetite seems to demand some novelty—and +it was with no small pleasure that I accepted the landlady's offer to +add a plate of <i>framboose</i> (raspberries) to my repast; their cool and +agreeable flavor rendered them even more refreshing than the tea.</p> + +<p>In the intervals of talking and eating I had taken a survey of the +apartment, as far as it was illuminated by the solitary candle: it was +one that carried you back a century or two. The large hearth projected +several feet into the room, overhung by a canopy near the ceiling of +equal dimensions; and the top and back being lined with glazed white, +blue, and brown tiles, glistened as the light fell upon them from the +turf fire, and presented a cheerful aspect. A wooden screen fixed at one +side kept off draughts of air, and formed a snug corner for cold +evenings. The tables and chairs had been fabricated in the days when +timber was cheap, and strength was more considered than elegance. They +had little to fear from contact with the uneven paved floor. A goodly +array of bright polished cooking utensils hung upon the walls, and in +racks overhead a store of bacon and salt provisions, and bags and +bundles of dried herbs. Although rude in its appointments, and coarse in +its accommodations, the dwelling betrayed no marks of poverty; it was +perhaps up to the standard of the neighborhood, and in accordance with +the thrift that considers saving better than spending. The greatest +discomfort—to me at least—was the close, overpowering smell of cattle +which pervaded the whole place, and made you long for an inspiration of +purer air. From my seat I could see into an adjoining apartment, +similar, but better in character to the one described: this was to be my +<i>slaap-kamer</i>. I requested to have the window left partly open all +night, and immediately a look of suspicion came over the old woman's +face as she answered,</p> + +<p>"Neen, mynheer, neen; best not to have the window open; thieves will +come in."</p> + +<p>"Surely," I replied, "there are no thieves in this little village?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, but there were some thieves at Meppel last week."</p> + +<p>The landlady's apprehensions seemed so painful to her, that I ceased to +press the question, and followed her into the room, where she assured me +I should find the air sufficiently respirable, and bade me <i>goede +nacht</i>.</p> + +<p>In this room there were several wall-recesses, as in the other, but +cleaner and better fitted up. A bedstead at one corner, behind a narrow +screen extending a few feet from the door, was intended for me; the +sheets and coverlids, though coarse, were clean. Three wardrobes or +presses stood against the walls, so richly dark and antique in +appearance, and of such tasteful workmanship, that you at once knew the +date to be assigned to their manufacture, probably about the time<!--121.png--> that +the Prince of Orange fell beneath Geraart's pistol-shot; at all events, +when, instead of working by contract, artificers interfused a portion of +their own spirit into the productions of their skill. The chairs, by +their dimensions, had been clearly intended for the past generations, +who wore the broad skirts at which we so often smile in prints of old +costumes. The projection of the largest articles of furniture produced +sundry picturesque effects of light and shade, relieved and diversified +by the rows of polished pewter dishes ranged on racks against the wall +alternately with dishes of rare old china, that would have gladdened the +eyes of a virtuoso. There were rows of spoons, also, of shining, solid +pewter, all betokening resources of substantial comfort, and assisting +to give effect to a picture which fully occupied my attention while +undressing.</p> + +<p>The hostess, when she went out, had not closed the door; this I cared +little about, as it afforded some facility for circulation of air; but +her remark touching the thieves made me take the precaution to place my +watch and purse under the pillow, leaving such loose florins as were in +my pocket for any prowler who might think it worth while to pay me a +visit, that, finding some booty, he might there cease his search for +more. I left the candle burning on the table, and soon afterward the +girl came in and wished me a <i>goede nacht</i> as she carried it away.</p> + +<p>Presently all became still in the house, and as weariness softens the +hardest bed, I was soon asleep, notwithstanding the annoyance from +certain insects, which were neither bugs nor fleas, that came crawling +over me. I had lain thus in quiet repose for two or three hours, when I +was disturbed by a light shining in the room, and half-raising my +eyelids, I saw a tall figure clothed in white, holding a candle in its +hand, and gazing stealthily at me from behind the screen at the foot of +the bed. I did not start up or cry out, for a sufficient reason—I was +too drowsy. The figure withdrew; the room again became dark; I turned +round, and slept soundly until morning.</p> + +<p>I was up soon after five, being desirous to recommence my walk before +the heat came on, and, it need scarcely be said, found all my property +as I had left it. The old presses looked not less imposing than in the +faintly-illuminated gloom some hours previously; and I could see in the +daylight several articles which had then escaped my notice. Among them +was the <i>groote bijbel</i>, a portly folio in black letter, and in good +condition. How many suffering hearts had found support and consolation +in those ancient pages! When I went into the next room, the laborers had +taken their breakfast, and gone to their work, and the old lady sat near +the window mending stockings. She saluted me by inquiring if I had <i>wel +geslaapt</i>, and what I would take for breakfast. I chose raspberries with +milk and bread, and highly enjoyed the fresh-gathered fruit that looked +so tempting, coated with its early bloom. It was the most acceptable +breakfast of any which I ate in Holland. The hostess +<!--122.png--><span class="pagenum">353</span> +chatted on various +topics: in one of my replies, I chanced to mention the large Bible which +I had seen in the other room—"Ah," she said, "it is the best of books: +what should we do without it?" I then told her that a little Bible was +part of the contents of my knapsack, and on hearing this her manner at +once changed; the suspicion disappeared, and the benevolent demeanor +resumed its place. My request of the night before concerning the window +had made her very anxious; she had, it seemed, been led to regard me as +a suspicious character—as one likely to let in a confederate, or to +decamp myself surreptitiously. From this I at once understood it was she +who, clad in white, and holding a candle, had come into my room during +the night; perhaps to see whether her guest were lying still as an +honest traveler ought. We became, however, very excellent friends, and I +regretted not having time to stay two or three days, to get a little +further insight into village life, and the pursuits and resources of its +inhabitants: but that could not be. I was somewhat surprised on asking, +"<i>Hoe veel betalen?</i>" (How much to pay?) at the cheapness of my lodging +and entertainment: the charge was only eighteen stivers. I handed a +florin to the old lady, with an intimation that the two stivers' change +might go to the maid for her alacrity in raspberry plucking, on which +she replied, "<i>Dank voor haar</i>," with much emphasis. Then holding out +her hand, after assisting to place my knapsack in position, she bade me +good-by, with many wishes for a prosperous journey.</p> + +<p>It was a pleasant morning, with a bright sky and a hot sun, and a +feeling of exhilaration came over me as I left the close, sickening +smell of the house for the free and fresh air outside. The aspect of the +country was again different from that which I had already traversed. +Willows, so plentiful in the southern provinces, are rare on the dry +heath-lands of the north, while small plantations, and woods of birch, +beech, and oak are frequently met with. At times the route led along +narrow, winding lanes, between tangled hedges and overhanging trees, +where the shade and coolness made you feel the contrast the greater on +emerging upon the unsheltered and unfenced fields. Before long, I came +to another village, where the houses were built at random around a real +village green, such as you may see in some parts of Berkshire or +Hampshire, with tall umbrageous trees springing from the soft turf, and +old folk lounging, and children playing in their shadow. The post, which +visits the towns of Holland every day throughout the year, comes to such +villages as this two or three times a week, and thus keeps up its +communications with the great social world around. In another particular +they are well provided for—the means of instruction. Here, at one end +of the green, stood the schoolhouse, built of brick, well lighted, and +in good condition, decidedly the best building in the place. Indeed I do +not remember to have seen a shabby schoolhouse in Holland. It was too +early to see the scholars at their duties, but<!--123.png--> I looked in at the +windows, and saw that the interior was perfectly clean and well-ordered; +fitted with desks, closets, and shelves, with piles of books placed +ready for use on the latter, and maps hanging on the walls. How I wished +for a six months' holiday, to be able to linger at will among these +out-of-the-world communities, or wherever any thing more particularly +engaged my attention! Something to inform the mind or instruct the heart +is to be given or received wherever there are human beings. Soon after +passing the village, the road terminated suddenly on a part of the wild +heath, where the sand for nearly a mile on all sides lay bare, gleaming +palely in the sun, and no sign of a track visible in any direction. For +a few minutes I stood completely at fault, but at last bent my steps +toward some scattered trees in the distance. The deserts of Africa can +hardly be more dreary or trying to the wayfarer than that mile of sand +was to me. On reaching the trees, I again found a lane leading through +cultivated grounds; now a patch of grass, then barley, or wheat, or +potatoes, or buckwheat—the delicate blossoms of the latter scenting the +whole atmosphere, and alive with "innumerable bees." While standing +still to listen to their labor-inspired hum, I heard the cuckoo telling +his cheerful name to the neighborhood, although past the middle of July. +Then followed homely farms, standing a little off the road, the +homestead surrounded by rows of trees, somewhat after the fashion of +Normandy; and in one corner of the inclosure the never-failing +structure—four tall poles, erected in a parallelogram, with a square +thatched roof fitted upon them, sloping down on each side to form a +central point. The poles pass through the corners of this roof, which +thus can be made to slide up and down, according as the produce stored +beneath it is increased or diminished. Such a contrivance would perhaps +be useful to small farmers in England, when straitened for room in their +barns. Now and then I caught glimpses of haymakers working far off on a +meadow patch, and more than once the signs of tillage disappeared, and +there was the broad black heath under my feet, and stretching away to +the horizon, here and there intersected by a series of drains, cut +smooth and deep in the sandy soil, inclosing some acres of the barren +expanse—the preliminaries of cultivation. Then would come a mile or so +of woodland, with the thinnings and loppings of the trees cut into +lengths, and piled in stacks ready for the market, as I had seen on the +wharfs at Rotterdam, where firewood sells at eleven cents the bundle. A +party of woodcutters, with their wives and children, were encamped at +the entrance of a cross-road, disturbing the general stillness by the +sound of their voices and implements. The men and women were alike tall +and stout—remarkable specimens of the well-developed population of the +province, and reminding you of the peasantry in Westmoreland. The stacks +which they had set up were so long and high as to resemble a street with +little alleys between, where the children +<!--124.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">354</a></span> +played while their fathers +chopped and sawed, and their mothers tied the bundles, or tended the +fire over which the round pot swung with the breakfast. They called out +a friendly "Good-day, mynheer," as I passed.</p> + +<p>As the day advanced, it became oppressively hot; not a drop of drinkable +water was any where to be seen. I went to a cottage near the road to ask +for a draught, when a pitcherful was given to me that looked like pale +coffee, and was vapid and unrefreshing. The occupants of the cottage +told me that they were always obliged to strain it before drinking, to +free it from the fibres of turf held in suspension. These people, their +child, and their house were positively dirty, and looked comfortless: +the pigs lay in one corner of the kitchen, and the domestic utensils +stood about in apparently habitual disorder. They, however, were kind in +their manner, and wished me to sit down for a time and rest.</p> + +<p>Besides these and the woodcutters, I scarcely met a soul during the +walk, which lasted nearly four hours, by which time I came to the +outskirts of Ommerschans. I went into the tavern that stood at the +extremity of the long straight road leading through the centre of the +colony, where, after half-an-hour's rest, ten minutes' sleep, and a cup +of tea, I felt able to go and present myself to the director.</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="THE_LAST_PRIESTESS_OF_PELE" id="THE_LAST_PRIESTESS_OF_PELE"></a>THE LAST PRIESTESS OF PELE.</h2> + +<p>My erratic habits have led me through a variety of climes and scenes, +and, on two occasions, to the distant regions of Polynesia, even to the +shores of Hawaii, memorable as the death-scene of our famous navigator, +Cook. Hawaii is the principal of the Sandwich Islands, a group not +exceeded in interest by any which stud the broad bosom of the Pacific. +Their local situation, advantageous for purposes of commerce, is highly +important; but these remote shores present various subjects of interest +besides geographical position. The primitive race who inhabit them, so +long and totally isolated from the rest of the world, the enchanting +beauty of their scenery, the luxurious productions of their salubrious +climate, indicative of peace and plenty, furnish subjects worthy of +investigation; while, strangely contrasted with these bounties of +nature, is the awful sublimity of their volcanic mountains, that too +often burst forth into eruptions which spread frightful devastation over +scenes glowing with beauty, particularly the volcano of Kiranea, +probably the largest in the world. Even the first view of this island +struck me as remarkable, for it looks like congeries of mountains on one +common base, heaving their huge cones to the height of fourteen or +sixteen thousand feet above the level of the sea, while the lower +grounds, every where irregular, were covered with trees and with the +richest verdure. We were hospitably received by a native chief. An +Englishman who had long resided on the island acted as interpreter, and +by this means, as well as some knowledge which we had acquired of the +Polynesian language during a visit<!--125.png--> to Tahiti, my brother officers and I +made arrangements for a visit to the great volcano. It is well I should +here remind the reader of an event which proved to be an influential +epoch in the history of the people we were now among—the abolition of +their ancient and cruel system of idolatry, which was effected in the +year 1819, by a king whose natural good sense had enabled him to +perceive its absurdity and ill-consequences; so that when, some months +after, a few missionaries arrived from America with the philanthropic +intention of introducing the blessings of Christianity among them, they +found, by what was unquestionably a providential interposition, the +nation without any religion, released from the trammels of their ancient +superstitions, and, so far, prepared to receive the truths which they +were come to proclaim. These missionaries had been settled in the +islands a few years when my visit took place, and had many converts.</p> + +<p>The volcano we were desirous of seeing was thirty miles from the place +of our landing, and we set out for it on the following day, attended by +some of the natives, and also by the English settler, to act as +interpreter. The commencement of our journey seemed auspicious, leading +through a wood, where trees afforded a grateful shade from the heat of a +tropical sun, while gorgeous birds fluttered among their boughs, or +regaled us with the melody of their songs. The fragrant gardenia, and +other beautiful flowers, so highly prized in our own country as +hot-house plants, profusely adorned our path. But too soon the scene +began to change. By degrees, trees, shrubs, and flowers disappeared—all +traces of vegetation, except an occasional oasis. We were traversing a +tract of lava that looked like an inland sea, over which the wand of an +enchanter had suddenly waved while it was agitated by violent +undulations, and turned it into stone. Not only were the swells and +hollows distinctly marked, but the surface of the billows seemed covered +by a smaller ripple. Our passage over this petrified ocean was most +laborious, owing to the heat of the sun, the reflection of its light +from the lava, and also the unevenness of the way, which was as slippery +as glass.</p> + +<p>Just as day declined, we hailed with pleasure the residence of a chief, +where we were to pass the night, our friend at the harbor having +commissioned our attendants to introduce us as strangers in need of the +owner's hospitality, which was readily accorded. Our host and his +establishment evinced that advancement toward civilization was not +limited to the coast. His dwelling was divided into separate apartments +by screens of native cloth, and we were ushered into a large, airy, +reception-room, where we reposed our weary limbs on a divan covered with +mats, which extended the whole length of the apartment. A feast was +prepared for our entertainment; but I refrain from an account of the +baked dogs, hogs, and other dainties which adorned the board. During the +repast, a native bard sang, in a monotonous but sweet voice, "the deeds +of the days of other years," accompanying +<!--126.png--><span class="pagenum">355</span> +himself by beating a little +drum formed of a beautifully stained calabash; and then a group of +dancers were introduced for our amusement. But nothing interested me so +much as our host, who sat next to me at supper, performing the duties of +hospitality with an intuitive good-breeding and tact which I thought +quite a sufficient substitute for the conventional usages of European +society. He was, in common with all the aristocratic race of Hawaii, +tall, well-formed, with fine, muscular limbs, and a commanding air; his +complexion clear olive, and his handsome features wore an open and +intelligent expression. To my surprise, he spoke very tolerable English; +this was accounted for by long intimacy with our friend the interpreter, +and with the missionaries, who, since their settlement in the island, +had taught him to read. I was glad when he announced his intention of +accompanying us to the volcano, our journey to which we recommenced the +following morning. A toilsome one it proved, but Toleho, the young +chief, stuck close to me, and from such snatches of conversation as I +could hold with him, while we scrambled over masses of vitrified lava +and basaltic blocks jumbled together in wild confusion, the interest I +had felt in him at first sight was considerably increased. At length we +reached the great plain of the volcano, and the mountain of Mauna Loa +burst upon our view in all its magnificence, like an immense dome, of a +bronze color, rising from a plain twenty miles in breadth; its head was +covered with snow, the effect of which is peculiar when beheld under a +tropical sun.</p> + +<p>Nearly overcome with heat and fatigue, we sat down to rest. Through the +fissures of the rocks, there grew an abundance of small bushes bearing +fruit of a pleasant flavor, which we eagerly gathered to allay our +thirst. To this some of the natives objected, asserting that the berries +belonged to Pele, the goddess of the volcano, who would be much incensed +by our eating them, until some had been thrown into the crater as a +propitiatory oblation. The English settler who accompanied us, set about +proving the absurdity of their fears, and, while the point was being +discussed, I observed that Toleho, who was seated with me apart from the +others, was quietly refreshing himself with the forbidden fruit. I +inquired why he also did not fear the wrath of the formidable goddess?</p> + +<p>"Toleho knows better," he replied. "Toleho knows that there is but one +God; without His leave, the volcano can not hurt us. He looketh on the +earth, and it trembleth; he toucheth the hills, and they smoke."</p> + +<p>I now learned from him that, under the instruction of the missionaries, +he had been led to embrace the truths of Christianity.</p> + +<p>"I have lately avowed this conviction," he said; "and were I to remain +in this country, would do my utmost to promote a knowledge of the Bible +among my friends and people."</p> + +<p>"And have you any idea of leaving this country?" I inquired, with +surprise.<!--127.png--></p> + +<p>"Alas! yes, I <i>must</i> leave it," he replied, in a voice and with a look +of such deep dejection, that I understood it to be a subject of too +distressing a nature for further interrogatories, and we spoke about +other matters until the party was sufficiently rested to proceed to the +crater of Kiranea. I expected that we were for this purpose to ascend +the mountain which stood before us in such majestic beauty, and, +undaunted by the magnitude of the task, I longed to climb its stupendous +sides, and to inhale the pure atmosphere at its summit, so that it was +with a feeling of disappointment I heard myself called upon to behold +the crater upon the very plain to which we had already attained. At +first view, it seemed to be nothing but a huge black pit, totally +different from all we had imagined. There were no jets of fire, nothing +but a body of black smoke, rising high to the clear blue heavens, and +then spreading widely over the hemisphere. We journeyed onward, till we +found ourselves on the edge of a steep precipice inclosing a sunken +plain, in the middle of which was the crater. Our guides led to a part +of the precipice where descent was practicable, and, with some falls and +bruises, we all reached the basin beneath, which sounded hollow under +our tread, giving evidence, by smoking fissures here and there, of +subterranean burnings. As we advanced, the impression of vastness and +grandeur increased at every step; but, when we stopped at the edge of +the great crater, the sight was appalling. There we stood, mute with +astonishment and awe, transfixed like statues, our eyes riveted on the +abyss below, a vast flood of burning matter rolling to and fro in a +state of frightful ebullition. I know not how long we thus gazed, in +speechless wonder; but the natives had, meanwhile, employed themselves +in constructing, of branches of trees, ferns, and rushes, which, +nourished by the moisture of vapors, grew in chasms of lava, huts to +shelter us during the night, now fast approaching, and to them we were +glad to repair, when our emotion had somewhat subsided. The attendants +now cooked our supper in a crevice from which steam issued, and, after +doing ample justice to their labors in this volcanic <i>cuisine</i>, I again +walked to the edge of the crater, accompanied by Toleho.</p> + +<p>It was now quite dark, and truly it has been said, that what is +wonderful in the day becomes ten times more so at night. Now was the +time for viewing the volcano in all its magnificence. We seated +ourselves at a height of four or five hundred feet, directly over that +lake of fire: its cherry-colored waves were rolling below, with billows +crested and broken into sheets and spray of fire, like waters when the +hurricane sweeps them over a reef of rocks. There was a low murmuring +noise, and occasionally masses of red-hot matter were ejected seventy +feet into the air, which fell back into the lake with a hissing sound. +My companion, though accustomed from childhood to these wonders, seemed +fully to participate in my feelings. He evidently possessed a soul +susceptible of the sublime and beautiful +<!--128.png--><span class="pagenum">356</span> +and the scene on which we +gazed was associated in his mind, as I afterward learned, with early and +endearing recollections. He was gratified by my admiration of it, and +this congeniality of taste soon led him to treat me with the confidence +of an old friend. Presuming upon this, I ventured to recur to the hint +he had dropped that morning of an intention to quit his native island, +inquiring whether his profession of Christianity had subjected him to +any kind of persecution? He told me in reply, that Hawaiian converts +were nearly exempted from this ordeal of sincerity by the edict which +had abolished idolatry before the missionaries' arrival. "But," he +added, with intense feeling, "Toleho found the change hard, +notwithstanding. No fear of Pele; even were there any such, what could +that cruel goddess do to one who trusted in Jesus? But Pele's +priestess—the last she will ever have, but the loveliest, the dearest +of women—it was <i>that</i> Toleho found so hard." My expression of sympathy +elicited his full confidence, and, in a conversation which followed, +interrupted as our colloquial intercourse necessarily was by our +imperfect acquaintance with each other's language, I became possessed of +an outline of Toleho's previous history, which subsequent information +enabled me to fill up, as I shall now give it in detail.</p> + +<p>The young Hawaiian chief had, when a child, been betrothed to the +hereditary priestess of Pele, the Goddess of Fire, supposed to inhabit +the volcano of Kiranea. Whether this redoubtable deity be in any way +related to Bel, the Oriental god of the same terrible element, greater +scholars and antiquarians than I am must determine; but it seems to me +that the similarity of the names is a curious coincidence, which would +be not an uninteresting subject of investigation. The young priestess +was the only child of the khan, or steward of Pele, an office of honor +and emolument, his duty being to provide materials for the sacrifices, +such as cloth, hogs, fowls, and fruit, with which he was abundantly +furnished by her worshipers. The young lovers were constant companions +during their childhood, and were linked together by the endearing bonds +of early affection, which grew with their growth, and strengthened with +their strength. It appeared that the devotion of Toleho had never been +so ardently rendered to the imaginary goddess as to her beautiful young +priestess, for his natural acuteness often led him to skeptical +conclusions when he considered the national system of theology; nor had +his superior mind long dwelt upon such subjects, when, in the words of a +poet who has well described a somewhat similar +case,<a name="FNanchor_A_9" id="FNanchor_A_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_9" id="Footnote_A_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> +J. Montgomery, in the "Pelican Island."</p></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The gods whom his deluded countrymen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Acknowledged, were no gods to him; he scorn'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The impotence of skill that carved such figures,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And pitied the fatuity of those<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who saw not in the abortions of their hands,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The abortions of their minds."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It was, in truth, interesting to trace the history of<!--129.png--></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"This dark, endungeon'd spirit roused,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And struggling into glorious liberty."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Emancipated from the trammels of superstition, you will not wonder to +hear that his mind joyfully received the truths which God has revealed +to mankind, when, after the arrival of the missionaries, he had an +opportunity of hearing them: and I had reason to believe, that not only +was his understanding enlightened, but his heart deeply imbued with the +spirit of the gospel. Toleho's first wish was, to lead her he loved to +the joy and peace in believing which he now experienced. After a rumor +of the young chief's apostasy from the religion of his fathers had gone +forth, on returning one day from a visit to the missionary station, he +hastened to the dwelling of the khan.</p> + +<p>Oani was seated under the shade of a large eugenia tree, where she had +often before awaited his arrival, but she did not now spring forward to +meet him; her eyes were no longer lit up with joy when she beheld his +approach, and, after one look, expressive of deep sorrow, were turned +away. Toleho eagerly inquired if any misfortune had occurred? Was her +father ill?</p> + +<p>She burst into tears, and replied, "No—I weep because Oani must not +love Toleho any longer."</p> + +<p>He soon discovered that his change had awakened in the breast of the +khan feelings of opposition beyond any he had anticipated. Ancestral +pride—the office of khan being hereditary—early prejudices, +strengthened by time and self-interest, often too influential over the +actions of those who possess a better faith, exercised combined power on +the old man's mind. Perhaps he was also stimulated by the more generous +and romantic sentiment with which we are inclined to regard the decay of +what has been hallowed by antiquity; and he stigmatized those who +forsook the ancient idolatries as meanly subservient to the will of the +great, endeavoring to imbue the mind of his daughter with similar +feelings.</p> + +<p>Poor Oani had neither ability nor inclination for controversial +disquisitions. When her lover tried to lay before her the truths which +had influenced him to the change she deplored, a knowledge of which +would enable her to appreciate his motives, she would only weep, and +say, "Toleho, I am sad—sleep has gone from me, and my food has lost its +sweetness. If you do not worship Pele, her priestess must try not to +love you. No more may I sing for you when you are weary; no more gather +summer fruits to refresh you; nor bind sweet flowers in a chaplet for +your brow."</p> + +<p>When the chief remarked, that by her embracing Christianity these +objections to their union would be obviated, her only answer was, "Could +I leave my father? <i>He</i> never will forsake Pele. Could I—the only light +of his eyes—the last flower left to gladden the winter of his +life—could I leave his old age desolate?"</p> + +<p>The separation of these Polynesian lovers was now inevitable, and it was +a sore trial, for they were fondly attached. It was at this era of +their +<!--130.png--><span class="pagenum">357</span> +story that I became acquainted with the young chief, and great +was the interest with which I listened to his simple narration, +heightened, probably, by the extraordinary circumstances under which I +heard it, seated together as we were, at midnight, upon the brink of the +fiery abyss, contemplating a scene so stupendous, so "horribly +beautiful," that probably no other in this world can compete with it.</p> + +<p>I could now understand the cause of poor Toleho's intended expatriation. +Oani would probably be given to another. Could he bear to witness it? to +see her miserable? No; he would quit the scenes of his happy days, and, +far away from objects which might agitate his mind, and interfere with +duty, would spend his life in the service of Him who had graciously +"called him from darkness to light." His friends at the mission-house +had already arranged the matter with a captain, who would give him a +passage in his ship to the American States, where he was to use every +exertion in his power for the purpose of awakening an interest in the +cause of the Polynesian mission. Toleho then informed me, that on the +following morning would take place a great annual feast in honor of +Pele, designed to deprecate the wrath of the volcanic goddess, and +secure the country from earthquakes or inundations of lava, at which, of +course, the khan and the young priestess would preside. This would +afford him an opportunity of once more beholding the latter before he +left the islands—the last time he could ever hope to do so; and, for +the purpose of enjoying this melancholy pleasure, he had joined our +party to the volcano.</p> + +<p>We now returned to the hut, and I went to repose, rejoicing that I +should have an occasion of witnessing some of the idolatrous rites of +the natives before their final abolition.</p> + +<p>Next morning, while my companions prepared to examine the various +natural phenomena of the place, I put myself under the guidance of my +new friend, who took me across the lava plain to the heiau, or temple, +dedicated to Pele, an inclosure, with several stone idols standing in +the midst of it. Votaries had already assembled around the shrine, +adorning these frightful images with wreaths of flowers; and innumerable +offerings were laid before them. As the devotees continued to arrive, my +companion stood, watching every new comer, with an expression of anxiety +and agitation. At length the sound of music was heard, and a procession +approached, for which the crowd opened an avenue to the temple. At its +head was an old man, attired in what I supposed were the pontifical +robes, leading by the hand a young female. Over their heads was borne a +canopy, and they were followed by a train of attendants, each carrying a +staff of state, ornamented with polished tortoise-shell, the upper ends +being of feathers. The sage was the khan, and his companion the +priestess of Pele, whose beauty, I soon perceived had not been +exaggerated in her lover's glowing description. Never had I beheld a +form of more<!--131.png--> exquisite symmetry, set off by the simple elegance of the +native costume—a robe of white cloth confined round the waist with a +cincture of flowers; her head-dress was only "an od'rous chaplet of +sweet summer buds," binding her dark tresses; while round her neck, +arms, and slender ankles, were wreaths of the snowy and fragrant +gardenia. The features of this young creature were faultless, but wore +an expression of thoughtful abstraction, strikingly contrasted with +those of the persons who surrounded and gazed upon her, all, even the +old khan's, evincing a state of excitement.</p> + +<p>After some ceremonies had been performed in the temple, the various +contributions of the people were taken to the volcano, to be presented +to the goddess. Thither the procession moved, and Toleho and I followed +in the crowd. Arrived at the crater, the khan made an oration in praise +of Pele, deploring the national apostasy from her worship, until wrought +up to a state of great excitement, in which his auditors seemed to +participate, except the beautiful priestess, who, standing on the verge +of the gulf, still wore her look of calm dejection, while she received +small specimens of the various offerings from the votaries, and threw +them into the volcano, saying, in a voice of peculiar sweetness, "Accept +these offerings, Pele. Restrain thy wrath, and pour not the floods of +vengeance over our land. Save us, O Pele?"</p> + +<p>Toleho darted from the crowd, and stood beside her. His stately form was +drawn up to its full height; from his shoulders hung a splendid mantle +of green and scarlet feathers; his right arm was extended, and in it he +held a small book.</p> + +<p>"Oani! beloved Oani!" he exclaimed; "call not upon Pele to save you. +There is but one Saviour, and to know Him is life."</p> + +<p>"Recreant," cried the khan, "you have forsaken the great goddess +yourself, and you would now draw away her priestess."</p> + +<p>"Khan, and thou beloved Oani, listen," the chief replied, in a solemn +tone. "If there be such a deity as Pele, is she worthy of your +adoration? Is she not ever busy in works of mischief—destroying the +people, devastating our hills, and filling up our fruitful valleys with +floods of lava? Are they not cruel gods, who even require human +sacrifices? Could such beings have created that bright pure sky over our +heads, or that glorious sun which sends light and heat to ripen our corn +and our fruit? No! The Creator of all must be good, as well as great—an +object of love as well as of fear. Friends, countrymen, this book can +tell you of Him."</p> + +<p>This seemed to make some impression on the people, but the khan was even +more exasperated than before.</p> + +<p>"Traitor," he cried, "would you persuade us to disown our gods, while we +stand gazing on their terrible abode? They dwell in yonder fiery lake; +behold their houses!" pointing to the black conical craters which rose +here and there above the waves. "Do you not hear the roaring +<!--132.png--><span class="pagenum">358</span> +and +crackling of the flames? That is the music to which they dance; and in +yonder red surge they often play, sporting in its rolling billows. Pele +is a great goddess; acknowledge her power, Toleho, and Oani—her +priestess, the playmate of your childhood, the betrothed of your +youth—shall be yours, for she pines in secret for her loved one. Reject +Pele, and part with Oani forever."</p> + +<p>As he said this, a bright smile lit up the countenance of the young +priestess, as if hope had suddenly revived in her bosom. She turned +toward her lover with a look of imploring affection, laying her small +hands on his arm, and said, "Toleho will not leave me; we may love one +another still."</p> + +<p>He made a movement as if instinctively about to clasp her to his breast, +but seemed, with a strong effort, to resist the impulse; a convulsive +motion passed over his manly features; his strong frame trembled; and, +in a voice half-choked by contending feelings, he said, "Oani, I must—I +must leave you. There is but one God, and Him only will I serve. Beloved +maiden, trust to Him—not to senseless idols."</p> + +<p>She withdrew her hands, and clasped them together in mute despair. Her +father exclaimed, "Heed him not. Great is the power of Pele. My +daughter, you are her priestess; and, though you flung yourself from +that shelving rock on which you stand, into the gulf below, Pele could +save you." He was now in a state of frenzy. "She could and she <i>would</i> +save you; <i>prove</i> to them her power."</p> + +<p>"I will, I will," cried the unfortunate girl. "And I want her not to +save me if she can. Toleho forsakes me, and I wish not for life."</p> + +<p>Ere the outstretched hand of her lover could prevent it, she had turned +and sprung down the precipice.</p> + +<p>A yell of horror burst from the crowd, and there was a general rush +toward the spot, so great, that for several minutes I could not approach +it. Minutes of intense anxiety they were. I heard one voice exclaim, "He +will perish—Toleho—the pride of Hawaiian chiefs."</p> + +<p>"No," cried another, "he has almost reached the spot where she lies."</p> + +<p>An interval of silence followed. The people evidently watched some +critical event in breathless suspense. Then there was a shout of +joy—Toleho and his loved one were both in safety. There was, as I +afterward learned, a crag projecting from the wall-faced cliff over +which the young priestess had flung herself; on that spot she had +fallen, the elasticity of some shrubs and herbs with which it was +covered preserving her from any serious injury. Toleho, with wonderful +presence of mind and activity, had succeeded in descending to that +place, and, by means of a kind of ropes flung to him from the summit, +re-ascended, and, pale as death, but still firm and composed, had laid +his almost senseless burden in the arms of her father.</p> + +<p>The scene which followed would be difficult to describe. When, after +some time, a flood of<!--133.png--> tears had relieved the old khan, and enabled him +to speak, he tried to express gratitude to the deliverer of his +daughter, but could not say much. "Toleho," he cried, "you have saved +her life. We can not forsake the gods to whom our ancestors have been +priests for hundreds of years, to learn the religion of strangers who +come from distant lands whence originate the winds, but can not Oani +minister to Pele, and still be your wife?"</p> + +<p>Here was a trying offer to my poor friend. Again Oani turned on him that +bright smile, that beseeching look, which were hard to be withstood; +but, though there were symptoms of yielding, of a violent internal +struggle, he soon regained composure, and said, "It must not, can not +be—it is forbidden here," holding up the book. "Farewell, Oani. Never +will I forget you. I go to distant lands, but I will love you still. +Keep this book: in it are the words of life. In our happy days, I was +teaching you to read. Get some other teacher, and, for Toleho's sake, +learn all this book teaches, and we may yet meet where there is no +sorrow."</p> + +<p>One embrace, and he darted away. I followed with difficulty, keeping by +his side, as rapidly and silently he walked to the place where we had +agreed to meet our companions.</p> + +<p>In a few days, we sailed from Hawaii, but not before we had seen the +young Hawaiian chief bid adieu to his native land, and sail for America.</p> + +<p>Years passed away. Constant change of scene and variety of events had +nearly obliterated from my memory the story of the priestess and her +lover, when my wanderings once more brought me among the Polynesian +islands, and again to the shores of Hawaii. We were to remain but for a +few days, and, having visited the great volcano before, I now directed +my steps to the next object of interest in the neighborhood, what my +informant called "the Cascade of the Rainbow." This is a waterfall in +the river Wairuku, and surpassed in beauty all my anticipations. The +water, projected from a rock over a hundred feet in height, falls into a +circular basin, as smooth as a mirror, except where the stream plunges +in, and from its bright bosom reflects the enchanting scenery which +surrounds it; while trees and shrubs, laden with blossoms of various +hues, adorn its banks. Nor was the poetical appellation of this romantic +valley inappropriate, for, on the silver spray flung up by the fall of +waters, "an Iris sat" in its variegated beauty. "What a spot to spend +the evening of one's days in after a life of turmoil," I exclaimed. "But +probably, I have been anticipated in this idea, as there is, I see, a +cottage beyond that green lawn, and a tasteful, picturesque edifice it +appears." I walked toward it, and the neatness and comfort of every +thing were a new proof of the wonderful improvement which I had already +observed among the islanders, arising from the spread of Christianity +and civilization. The lady of the mansion, holding by one hand a child +who walked at her side, while with the other she supported a baby in her +arms, advanced +<!--134.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">359</a></span> +to meet and invite me in. She had, to a high degree, the +air of dignity, I had almost said of graceful elegance, which +characterizes the aristocracy of the island; and, when she bade me +welcome, the tones of her voice and the contour of her features seemed +familiar. "Oani!" thought I; "Oani, a wife and a mother. Poor Toleho! So +much for woman's constancy." But I wronged her—I wronged that sex who, +if inferior in other things, surpass us in depth and unchangeableness of +affection. We entered the sitting-room; her husband rose to receive +me—it was Toleho.</p> + +<p>After the departure of the chief, Oani had found no comfort in any thing +but in trying to fulfill his last request. One of the missionaries +assisted her, and she was soon able to read the Testament, which had +been his parting gift. Conviction of its truth, and a profession of +Christianity followed, in which she was uninfluenced by interested +motives, as she had not the most remote hope of ever seeing Toleho +again, but the missionaries, who held communication with him through the +American Society, informed him of the change, and he returned to Hawaii, +and claimed her as his own. I found them a loving and happy pair, and +left them so.</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="A_SPANISH_BULL_FIGHT" id="A_SPANISH_BULL_FIGHT"></a>A SPANISH BULL FIGHT.</h2> + +<p>One day Don Philippe insisted upon taking us to witness a bull-fight, +which was about to take place, and which it was reported, the queen +herself was expected to attend. This was a spectacle we had never yet +beheld, and our curiosity was therefore aroused to the highest possible +pitch of excitement. Visions of blood floated before our fancy, and +flashing steel gleamed across our sight. Anxiety stood on tip-toe, and +the moments flew slowly by, until the wished-for hour arrived. We left +the business of securing seats in the arena to Philippe, who, by early +application, succeeded in obtaining for us as eligible positions for +witnessing the spectacle as we could reasonably desire. The critical +moment was now at hand, our hearts almost leaped from our mouths, so +deeply were we excited in contemplation of the sanguinary event. At +length the trumpets sounded, and forthwith entered, in martial array, +the entire body of combatants, gayly dressed, and presenting together a +most striking and brilliant effect. Marching to the opposite side of the +ring, they respectfully bowed to the appointed authorities, and then +took their places, in complete readiness for action. At a given signal, +a small iron gate was suddenly opened, and in an instant a furious bull +bounded frantically into the arena; and then, as if petrified with +astonishment at the wonderful scene around him, he stood motionless for +a few seconds, staring wildly at the immense assembly, and pawing +vehemently the ground beneath his feet. It was a solemn and critical +moment, and I can truly say that I never before experienced such an +intense degree of curiosity and interest. My feelings were wound up to +the highest pitch of excitement,<!--135.png--> and I can scarcely believe that even +that terrible human tragedy, a bloody gladiatorial scene, could have +affected me more deeply. The compressed fury of the bull lasted but an +instant: suddenly his glaring eye caught the sight of a red flag, which +one of the <i>chulos</i>, or foot combatants, had waved before him, and +immediately he rushed after his nimble adversary, who evaded his pursuit +by jumping skillfully over the lower inclosure of the ring. The +herculean animal, thus balked in his rage, next plunged desperately +toward one of the <i>picadores</i>, or mounted horsemen, who calmly and +fearlessly awaited his approach, and then turned off his attack by the +masterly management of his long and steel-capped pike. Thwarted once +more in his purpose, he became still more frantic than before, while his +low and suppressed roar, expressive of the concentrated passion and rage +which burned within him, sounded like distant thunder to my ears. Half +closing his eyes, and lowering his formidable horns, he darted again at +one of the picadores, and with such tremendous power, that he completely +unhorsed him. Then shouts of applause from the spectators filled the +arena: "Bravo toro!" "Viva toro!" and other exclamations of +encouragement for the bull broke from every mouth. The picador lost no +time in springing to his feet and re-mounting his horse, which, however, +could scarcely stand, so weak was the poor creature from the stream of +blood issuing from the deep wound in his breast. As soon as the enraged +bull, whose attention had been purposely withdrawn by the chulos, beheld +his former adversary now crimsoned with gore, he rushed at him with the +most terrific fury, and, thrusting his horns savagely into the lower +part of the tottering animal, he almost raised him from his feet, and so +lacerated and tore open his abdomen, that his bowels gushed out upon the +ground. Unable any longer to sustain himself, the pitiable animal fell +down in the awful agonies of death, and in a few moments expired. Two +other horses shortly shared the same miserable fate, and their mangled +bodies were lying covered with blood, in the centre of the arena. The +bull himself was now becoming perceptibly exhausted, and his own end was +drawing nigh. For the purpose of stimulating and arousing into momentary +action his rapidly-waning strength, the assailants on foot attacked him +with barbed darts, called <i>banderillos</i>, which they thrust with skill +into each side of his brawny neck. Sometimes these little javelins are +charged with a prepared powder, which explodes the instant that the +sharp steel sinks into the flesh. The torture thus produced drives the +wretched animal to the extreme of madness, who bellows and bounds in his +agony, as if endued with the energy of a new life.</p> + +<p>On the present occasion, the arrows used were not of an explosive +character, yet they served scarcely less effectually to enrage the +furious monster. But hark! the last trumpet is sounding the awful +death-knell of the warrior-beast. The ring becomes instantly cleared, +and the +<!--136.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">360</a></span> +foaming animal stands motionless and alone, sole monarch of the +arena. But the fiat has gone forth, and the doom of death is impending +over him. The <i>matador</i> enters the ring by a secret door, and after +bowing to the president, and throwing down his cap in token of respect, +slowly and deliberately approaches his terrific adversary, who stands as +if enchained to the spot by a consciousness of the fearful destiny that +awaits him. The matador, undismayed by the ferocious aspect of the bull, +cautiously advances, with his eyes fixed firmly and magnetically upon +him; a bright Toledo blade glistens in his right hand, while in his left +he carries the <i>muleta</i>, or crimson flag, with which to exasperate the +declining spirit of his foe. An intense stillness reigns throughout the +vast assemblage, the most critical point of the tragedy is at hand, and +every glance is riveted upon the person and movements of the matador. A +single fatal thrust may launch him into eternity, yet no expression of +fear escapes him; cool, and self-possessed, he stands before his victim, +studious of every motion, and ready to take advantage of any chance.</p> + +<p>It is this wonderful display of skill and bravery that fascinates the +attention of a Spanish audience, and not the shedding of blood or the +sufferings of the animal, which are as much lost sight of in the +excitement of the moment as the gasping of a fish or the quivering of a +worm upon the hook is disregarded by the humane disciple of Izaak +Walton. The bull and matador, as motionless as if carved in marble, +present a fearfully artistic effect. At length, like an electric flash, +the polished steel of the matador flies in the air, and descends with +tremendous force into the neck of the doomed animal, burying itself in +the flesh, even up to the hilt. The blow is well made, and from the +mouth of the bull a torrent of blood gushes forth in a crimson stream; +he staggers, drops on his knees, recovers himself for an instant, and +then falls dead at the feet of his conqueror, amid the tumultuous +plaudits of the excited throng of spectators.</p> + +<p>Such is a slight sketch of a Spanish bull-fight. The impression made +upon our minds by the first representation was so deeply tinctured with +horror that we resolved never to attend another, though it is but fair +to state that this good resolution, like many others we have made in our +lives, was eventually overcome by temptations.</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="MAURICE_TIERNAY_THE_SOLDIER_OF_FORTUNEA" id="MAURICE_TIERNAY_THE_SOLDIER_OF_FORTUNEA"></a>MAURICE TIERNAY, THE SOLDIER OF +FORTUNE.<a name="FNanchor_A_10" id="FNanchor_A_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></h2> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXXV.<br /> + +A NOVEL COUNCIL OF WAR.</h3> + +<p>I had scarcely finished my breakfast, when a group of officers rode up +to our quarters to visit me. My arrival had already created an immense +sensation in the city, and all kinds of rumors were afloat as to the +tidings I had brought. The meagreness of the information would, indeed, +have seemed in strong contrast<!--137.png--> to the enterprise and hazard of the +escape, had I not had the craft to eke it out by that process of +suggestion and speculation in which I was rather an adept.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_10" id="Footnote_A_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> +Continued from the July Number.</p></div> + +<p>Little in substance as my information was, all the younger officers were +in favor of acting upon it. The English are no bad judges of our +position and chances, was the constant argument. <i>They</i> see exactly how +we stand; they know the relative forces of our army, and the enemy's; +and if the "cautious islanders"—such was the phrase—advised a <i>coup de +main</i>, it surely must have much in its favor. I lay stress upon the +remark, trifling as it may seem; but it is curious to know, that with +all the immense successes of England on sea, her reputation, at that +time, among Frenchmen, was rather for prudent and well-matured +undertakings, than for those daring enterprises which are as much the +character of her courage.</p> + +<p>My visitors continued to pour in during the morning, officers of every +arm and rank, some from mere idle curiosity, some to question and +interrogate, and not a few to solve doubts in their minds as to my being +really French, and a soldier, and not an agent of that <i>perfide Albion</i>, +whose treachery was become a proverb among us. Many were disappointed at +my knowing so little. I neither could tell the date of Napoleon's +passing St. Gothard, nor the amount of his force; neither knew I whether +he meant to turn eastward toward the plains of Lombardy, or march direct +to the relief of Genoa. Of Moreau's success in Germany, too, I had only +heard vaguely; and, of course, could recount nothing. I could overhear, +occasionally, around and about me, the murmurs of dissatisfaction my +ignorance called forth, and was not a little grateful to an old +artillery captain for saying "That's the very best thing about the lad; +a spy would have had his whole lesson by heart."</p> + +<p>"You are right, sir," cried I, catching at the words; "I may know but +little, and that little, perhaps, valueless and insignificant; but my +truth no man shall gainsay."</p> + +<p>The boldness of this speech from one wasted and miserable as I was, with +tattered shoes and ragged clothes, caused a hearty laugh, in which, as +much from policy as feeling, I joined myself.</p> + +<p>"Come here, mon cher," said an infantry colonel, as, walking to the door +of the room, he drew his telescope from his pocket, "you tell us of a +<i>coup de main</i>—on the Monte Faccio, is it not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied I, promptly, "so I understand the name."</p> + +<p>"Well, have you ever seen the place?"</p> + +<p>"Never."</p> + +<p>"Well, there it is yonder," and he handed me his glass as he spoke; "you +see that large beetling cliff, with the olives at the foot. There, on +the summit stands the Monte Faccio. The road—the pathway rather, and a +steep one it is—leads up where you see those goats feeding, and crosses +in front of the crag, directly beneath the fire of the batteries. +There's not a spot on +<!--138.png--><span class="pagenum">361</span> +the whole ascent where three men could march +abreast, and wherever there is any shelter from fire, the guns of the +'Sprona,' that small fort to the right, take the whole position. What do +you think of your counsel now?"</p> + +<p>"You forget, sir, it is not my counsel. I merely repeat what I +overheard."</p> + +<p>"And do you mean to say, that the men who gave that advice were serious, +or capable of adopting it themselves?"</p> + +<p>"Most assuredly; they would never recommend to others what they felt +unequal to themselves. I know these English well, and so much will I say +of them."</p> + +<p>"Bah!" cried he, with an insolent gesture of his hand, and turned away; +and I could plainly see that my praises of the enemy were very +ill-taken. In fact, my unlucky burst of generosity had done more to +damage my credit, than all the dangerous or impracticable features of my +scheme. Every eye was turned to the bold precipice, and the stern +fortress that crowned it, and all agreed that an attack must be +hopeless.</p> + +<p>I saw, too late, the great fault I had committed, and that nothing could +be more wanting in tact than to suggest to Frenchmen an enterprise which +Englishmen deemed practicable, and which yet, to the former, seemed +beyond all reach of success. The insult was too palpable and too direct, +but to retract was impossible, and I had now to sustain a proposition +which gave offense on every side.</p> + +<p>It was very mortifying to me to see how soon all my personal credit was +merged in this unhappy theory. No one thought more of my hazardous +escape, the perils I encountered, or the sufferings I had undergone. All +that was remembered of me was the affront I had offered to the national +courage, and the preference I had implied to English bravery.</p> + +<p>Never did I pass a more tormenting day; new arrivals continually +refreshed the discussion, and always with the same results; and although +some were satisfied to convey their opinions by a shake of the head or a +dubious smile, others, more candid than civil, plainly intimated that if +I had nothing of more consequence to tell, I might as well have staid +where I was, and not added one more to a garrison so closely pressed by +hunger. Very little more of such reasoning would have persuaded myself +of its truth, and I almost began to wish that I was once more back in +"the sick bay" of the frigate.</p> + +<p>Toward evening I was left alone; my host went down to the town on duty; +and after the visit of a tailor, who came to try on me a staff +uniform—a distinction, I afterward learned, owing to the abundance of +this class of costume, and not to any claims I could prefer to the +rank—I was perfectly free to stroll about where I pleased unmolested, +and, no small blessing, unquestioned.</p> + +<p>On following along the walls for some distance, I came to a part where a +succession of deep ravines opened at the foot of the bastions,<!--139.png--> +conducting by many a tortuous and rocky glen to the Apennines. The sides +of these gorges were dotted here and there with wild hollies and fig +trees; stunted and ill-thriven as the nature of the soil might imply. +Still, for the sake of the few berries, or the sapless fruit they bore, +the soldiers of the garrison were accustomed to creep from the +embrasures, and descend the steep cliffs, a peril great enough in +itself, but terribly increased by the risk of exposure to the enemy's +"Tirailleurs," as well as the consequences such indiscipline would bring +down on them.</p> + +<p>So frequent, however, had been these infractions, that little footpaths +were worn bare along the face of the cliff, traversing in many a zigzag +a surface that seemed like a wall. It was almost incredible that men +would brave such peril for so little; but famine had rendered them +indifferent to death; and although debility exhibited itself in every +motion and gesture, the men would stand unshrinking and undismayed +beneath the fire of a battery. At one spot, near the angle of a bastion, +and where some shelter from the north winds protected the place, a +little clump of orange trees stood, and toward these, though fully a +mile off, many a foot-track led, showing how strong had been the +temptation in that quarter. To reach it, the precipice should be +traversed, the gorge beneath and a considerable ascent of the opposite +mountain accomplished, and yet all these dangers had been successfully +encountered, merely instigated by hunger!</p> + +<p>High above this very spot, at a distance of perhaps eight hundred feet, +stood the Monte Faccio—the large black and yellow banner of Austria +floating from its walls, as if amid the clouds. I could see the muzzles +of the great guns protruding from the embrasures; and I could even catch +glances of a tall bearskin, as some soldier passed, or repassed behind +the parapet, and I thought how terrible would be the attempt to storm +such a position. It was, indeed, true, that if I had the least +conception of the strength of the fort, I never should have dared to +talk of a <i>coup de main</i>. Still I was in a manner pledged to the +suggestion. I had periled my life for it, and few men do as much for an +opinion; for this reason I resolved, come what would, to maintain my +ground, and hold fast to my conviction. I never could be called upon to +plan the expedition, nor could it by any possibility be confided to my +guidance; responsibility could not, therefore, attach to me. All these +were strong arguments, at least quite strong enough to decide a wavering +judgment.</p> + +<p>Meditating on these things, I strolled back to my quarters. As I entered +the garden, I found that several officers were assembled, among whom was +Colonel de Barre, the brother of the general of that name, who afterward +fell at the Borodino. He was <i>Chef d'Etat Major</i> to Massena, and a most +distinguished, and brave soldier. Unlike the fashion of the day, which +made the military man affect the rough coarseness of a savage, seasoning +his talk with oaths, and curses, +<!--140.png--><span class="pagenum">362</span> +and low expressions, De Barre had +something of the <i>petit maître</i> in his address, which nothing short of +his well-proved courage would have saved from ridicule. His voice was +low and soft, his smile perpetual; and although well-bred enough to have +been dignified and easy, a certain fidgety impulse to be pleasing made +him always appear affected and unnatural. Never was there such a +contrast to his chief; but indeed it was said, that to this very +disparity of temperament he owed all the influence he possessed over +Massena's mind.</p> + +<p>I might have been a General of Division at the very least, to judge from +the courteous deference of the salute with which he approached me—a +politeness the more striking, as all the others immediately fell back, +to leave us to converse together. I was actually overcome with the +flattering terms in which he addressed me on the subject of my escape.</p> + +<p>"I could scarcely at first credit the story," said he, "but when they +told me that you were a 'Ninth man,' one of the old Tapageurs, I never +doubted it more. You see what a bad character is, Monsieur de Tiernay!" +It was the first time I had ever heard the prefix to my name, and I own +the sound was pleasurable. "I served a few months with your corps +myself, but I soon saw there was no chance of promotion among fellows +all more eager than myself for distinction. Well, sir, it is precisely +to this reputation I have yielded my credit, and to which General +Massena is kind enough to concede his own confidence. Your advice is +about to be acted on, Mons. de Tiernay."</p> + +<p>"The <i>coup de main</i>—"</p> + +<p>"A little lower, if you please, my dear sir. The expedition is to be +conducted with every secrecy, even from the officers of every rank below +a command. Have the goodness to walk along with me this way. If I +understand General Massena aright, your information conveys no details, +nor any particular suggestions as to the attack."</p> + +<p>"None whatever, sir. It was the mere talk of a gun-room—the popular +opinion among a set of young officers."</p> + +<p>"I understand," said he, with a bow and a smile; "the suggestion of a +number of high-minded and daring soldiers, as to what they deemed +practicable."</p> + +<p>"Precisely, sir."</p> + +<p>"Neither could you collect from their conversation any thing which bore +upon the number of the Austrian advance guard, or their state of +preparation?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, sir. The opinion of the English was, I suspect, mainly founded +on the great superiority of our forces to the enemy's in all attacks of +this kind."</p> + +<p>"Our 'esprit Tapageur,' eh?" said he, laughing, and pinching my arm +familiarly, and I joined in the laugh with pleasure. "Well, Monsieur de +Tiernay, let us endeavor to sustain this good impression. The attempt is +to be made to-night."</p> + +<p>"To-night!" exclaimed I, in amazement: for<!--141.png--> every thing within the city +seemed tranquil and still.</p> + +<p>"To-night, sir; and, by the kind favor of General Massena, I am to lead +the attack; the reserve, if we are ever to want it, being under his own +command. It is to be at your own option on which staff you will serve."</p> + +<p>"On yours, of course, sir," cried I, hastily. "A man who stands unknown +and unvouched for among his comrades, as I do, has but one way to +vindicate his claim to credit, by partaking the peril he counsels."</p> + +<p>"There could be no doubt either of your judgment, or the sound reasons +for it," replied the colonel; "the only question was, whether you might +be unequal to the fatigue."</p> + +<p>"Trust me, sir, you'll not have to send me to the rear," said I, +laughing.</p> + +<p>"Then you are extra on my staff, Mons. de Tiernay."</p> + +<p>As we walked along, he proceeded to give me the details of our +expedition, which was to be on a far stronger scale than I anticipated. +Three battalions of infantry, with four light batteries, and as many +squadrons of dragoons, were to form the advance.</p> + +<p>"We shall neither want the artillery, nor cavalry, except to cover a +retreat," said he; "I trust, if it came to <i>that</i>, there will not be +many of us to protect; but such are the general's orders, and we have +but to obey them."</p> + +<p>With the great events of that night on my memory, it is strange that I +should retain so accurately in my mind, the trivial and slight +circumstances, which are as fresh before me as if they had occurred but +yesterday.</p> + +<p>It was about eleven o'clock, of a dark but starry night, not a breath of +wind blowing, that passing through a number of gloomy, narrow streets, I +suddenly found myself in the court yard of the Balbé Palace. A large +marble fountain was playing in the centre, around which several lamps +were lighted; by these I could see that the place was crowded with +officers, some seated at tables drinking, some smoking, and others +lounging up and down in conversation. Huge loaves of black bread, and +wicker-covered flasks of country wine formed the entertainment; but even +these, to judge from the zest of the guests, were no common delicacies. +At the foot of a little marble group, and before a small table, with a +map on it, sat General Massena himself, in his gray over-coat, cutting +his bread with a case knife, while he talked away to his staff.</p> + +<p>"These maps are good for nothing, Bressi," cried he. "To look at them, +you'd say that every road was practicable for artillery, and every river +passable, and you find afterward that all these fine chaussees are +by-paths, and the rivulets downright torrents. Who knows the Chiavari +road?"</p> + +<p>"Giorgio knows it well, sir," said the officer addressed, and who was a +young Piedmontese from Massena's own village.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Birbante!" cried the general, "are you +<!--142.png--><span class="pagenum">363</span> +here again?" and he turned +laughingly toward a little bandy-legged monster, of less than three feet +high, who, with a cap stuck jauntily on one side of his head, and a +wooden sword at his side, stepped forward with all the confidence of an +equal.</p> + +<p>"Ay, here I am," said he, raising his hand to his cap, soldier fashion; +"there was nothing else for it but this trade," and he placed his hand +on the hilt of his wooden weapon; "you cut down all the mulberries, and +left us no silkworms; you burned all the olives, and left us no oil; +you trampled down our maize-crops and our vines. Per Baccho! the only +thing left was to turn brigand like yourself, and see what would come of +it."</p> + +<p>"Is he not cool to talk thus to a general at the head of his staff?" +said Massena, with an assumed gravity.</p> + +<p>"I knew you when you wore a different-looking epaulet than that there," +said Giorgio, "and when you carried one of your father's meal-sacks on +your shoulder, instead of all that bravery."</p> + +<p>"Parbleu! so he did," cried Massena, laughing heartily. "That scoundrel +was always about our mill, and, I believe, lived by thieving!" added he, +pointing to the dwarf.</p> + +<p>"Every one did a little that way in our village," said the dwarf; "but +none ever profited by his education like yourself."</p> + +<p>If the general and some of the younger officers seemed highly amused at +the fellow's impudence and effrontery, some of the others looked angry +and indignant. A few were really well-born, and could afford to smile at +these recognitions; but many who sprung from an origin even more humble +than the general's, could not conceal their angry indignation at the +scene.</p> + +<p>"I see that these gentlemen are impatient of our vulgar recollections," +said Massena, with a sardonic grin; "so now to business, Giorgio. You +know the Chiavari road—what is't like?"</p> + +<p>"Good enough to look at, but mined in four places."</p> + +<p>The general gave a significant glance at the staff, and bade him go on.</p> + +<p>"The white coats are strong in that quarter, and have eight guns to bear +upon the road, where it passes beneath Monte Rattè."</p> + +<p>"Why, I was told that the pass was undefended!" cried Massena, angrily; +"that a few skirmishers were all that could be seen near it."</p> + +<p>"All that could be seen!—so they are; but there are eight +twelve-pounder guns in the brushwood, with shot and shell enough to be +seen, and felt too."</p> + +<p>Massena now turned to the officers near him, and conversed with them +eagerly for some time. The debated point, I subsequently heard, was how +to make a feint attack on the Chiavari road, to mask the <i>coup de main</i> +intended for the Monte Faccio. To give the false attack any color of +reality required a larger force and greater preparation than they could +afford, and this was now the great difficulty. At last it was resolved +that<!--143.png--> this should be a mere demonstration, not to push far beyond the +walls, but, by all the semblance of a serious advance, to attract as +much attention as possible from the enemy.</p> + +<p>Another and a greater embarrassment lay in the fact, that the troops +intended for the <i>coup de main</i> had no other exit than the gate which +led to Chiavari; so that the two lines of march would intersect and +interfere with each other. Could we even have passed out our Tirailleurs +in advance, the support could easily follow; but the enemy would, of +course, notice the direction our advance would take, and our object be +immediately detected.</p> + +<p>"Why not pass the skirmishers out by the embrasures, to the left +yonder?" said I; "I see many a track where men have gone already."</p> + +<p>"It is steep as a wall," cried one.</p> + +<p>"And there's a breast of rock in front that no foot could scale."</p> + +<p>"You have at least a thousand feet of precipice above you, when you +reach the glen, if ever you do reach it alive."</p> + +<p>"And this to be done in the darkness of a night!"</p> + +<p>Such were the discouraging comments which rattled, quick as musketry, +around me.</p> + +<p>"The lieutenant's right, nevertheless," said Giorgio. "Half the +voltigeurs of the garrison know the path well already; and as to +darkness—if there were a moon you dared not attempt it."</p> + +<p>"There's some truth in that," observed an old major.</p> + +<p>"Could you promise to guide them, Giorgio," said Massena.</p> + +<p>"Yes, every step of the way; up to the very wall of the fort."</p> + +<p>"There, then," cried the general, "one great difficulty is got over +already."</p> + +<p>"Not so fast, general mio," said the dwarf; "I said I could, but I never +said that I would."</p> + +<p>"Not for a liberal present, Giorgio: not if I filled that leather pouch +of yours with five-franc pieces, man?"</p> + +<p>"I might not live to spend it, and I care little for my next of kin," +said the dwarf, dryly.</p> + +<p>"I don't think that we need his services, general," said I: "I saw the +place this evening, and however steep it seems from the walls, the +descent is practicable enough—at least I am certain that our +Tirailleurs, in the Black Forest, would never have hesitated about it."</p> + +<p>I little knew that when I uttered this speech I had sent a shot into the +very heart of the magazine, the ruling passion of Massena's mind being +an almost insane jealousy of Moreau's military fame; his famous campaign +of Southern Germany, and his wonderful retreat upon the Rhine, being +regarded as achievements of the highest order.</p> + +<p>"I've got some of those regiments you speak of in my brigade here, sir," +said he, addressing himself directly to me, "and I must own that their +discipline reflects but little credit upon the skill of so great an +officer as General Moreau; and as to light-troops, I fancy Colonel de +Vallence +<!--144.png--><span class="pagenum">364</span> +yonder would scarcely feel it a flattery, were you to tell him +to take a lesson from them."</p> + +<p>"I have just been speaking to Colonel de Vallence, general," said +Colonel de Barre. "He confirms every thing Mons. de Tiernay tells us of +the practicable nature of these paths; his fellows have tracked them at +all hours, and neither want guidance nor direction to go."</p> + +<p>"In that case I may as well offer my services," said Giorgio, tightening +his belt; "but I must tell you that it is too late to begin to-night—we +must start immediately after nightfall. It will take from forty to fifty +minutes to descend the cliff, a good two hours to climb the ascent, so +that you'll not have much time to spare before daybreak."</p> + +<p>Giorgio's opinion was backed by several others, and it was finally +resolved upon that the attempt should be made on the following evening. +Meanwhile, the dwarf was committed to the safe custody of a sergeant, +affectedly to look to his proper care and treatment, but really to guard +against any imprudent revelations that he might make respecting the +intended attack.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXXVI.<br /> + +GENOA DURING THE SIEGE.</h3> + +<p>If the natural perils of the expedition were sufficient to suggest grave +thoughts, the sight of the troops that were to form it was even a +stronger incentive to fear. I could not believe my eyes, as I watched +the battalions which now deployed before me. Always accustomed, whatever +the hardships they were opposed to, to see French soldiers +light-hearted, gay, and agile, performing their duties in a spirit of +sportive pleasure, as if soldiering were but fun, what was the shock I +received at sight of these care-worn, downcast, hollow-cheeked fellows, +dragging their legs wearily along, and scarcely seeming to hear the +words of command; their clothes patched and mended, sometimes too big, +sometimes too little, showing that they had changed wearers without +being altered; their tattered shoes, tied on with strings round their +ankles; their very weapons dirty and uncared for; they resembled rather +a horde of bandits than the troops of the first army of Europe. There +was, besides, an expression of stealthy, treacherous ferocity in their +faces, such as I never saw before. To this pitiable condition had they +been brought by starvation. Not alone the horses had been eaten, but +dogs and cats; even the vermin of the cellars and sewers was consumed as +food. Leather and skins were all eagerly devoured; and there is but too +terrible reason to believe that human flesh itself was used to prolong +for a few hours this existence of misery.</p> + +<p>As they defiled into the "Piazza," there seemed a kind of effort to +assume the port and bearing of their craft; and although many stumbled, +and some actually fell, from weakness, there was an evident attempt to +put on a military appearance. The manner of the adjutant, as he passed +down the line, revealed at once the exact position of<!--145.png--> affairs. No +longer inspecting every little detail of equipment, criticising this, or +remarking on that, his whole attention was given to the condition of the +musket, whose lock he closely scrutinized, and then turned to the +cartouch-box. The ragged uniforms, the uncouth shakos, the belts dirty +and awry, never called forth a word of rebuke. Too glad, as it seemed, +to recognize even the remnants of discipline, he came back from his +inspection apparently well satisfied and content.</p> + +<p>"These fellows turn out well," said Colonel de Barre, as he looked along +the line; and I started to see if the speech were an unfeeling jest. Far +from it; he spoke in all seriousness! The terrible scenes he had for +months been witnessing; the men dropping from hunger at their posts; the +sentries fainting as they carried arms, and borne away to the hospital +to die; the bursts of madness that would now and then break forth from +men whose agony became unendurable, had so steeled him to horrors, that +even this poor shadow of military display seemed orderly and imposing.</p> + +<p>"They are the 22d, colonel," replied the adjutant, proudly, "a corps +that always have maintained their character, whether on parade or under +fire!"</p> + +<p>"Ah! the 22d, are they? They have come up from Ronco, then?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir; they were all that General Soult could spare us."</p> + +<p>"Fine-looking fellows they are," said De Barre, scanning them through +his glass. "The third company is a little, a very little to the +rear—don't you perceive it?—and the flank is a thought or so restless +and unsteady."</p> + +<p>"A sergeant has just been carried to the rear ill, sir," said a young +officer, in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"The heat, I have no doubt; a '<i>colpo di sole</i>,' as they tell us +everything is," said De Barre. "By the way, is not this the regiment +that boasts the pretty vivandiere? What's this her name is?"</p> + +<p>"Lela, sir."</p> + +<p>"Yes, to be sure, Lela. I'm sure I've heard her toasted often enough at +cafés and restaurants."</p> + +<p>"There she is, sir, yonder, sitting on the steps of the fountain;" and +the officer made a sign with his sword for the girl to come over. She +made an effort to arise at the order; but tottered back, and would have +fallen if a soldier had not caught her. Then suddenly collecting her +strength, she arranged the folds of her short scarlet jupe, and +smoothing down the braids of her fair hair, came forward, at that +sliding, half-skipping pace that is the wont of her craft.</p> + +<p>The exertion, and possibly the excitement had flushed her cheek; so that +as she came forward her look was brilliantly handsome; but as the color +died away, and a livid pallor spread over her jaws, lank and drawn in by +famine, her expression was dreadful. The large eyes, lustrous and +wild-looking, gleamed with the fire of fever, while her thin nostrils +quivered at each respiration. +<!--146.png--><span class="pagenum">365</span> +</p> + +<p>Poor girl, even then, with famine and fever eating within her, the +traits of womanly vanity still survived, and as she carried her hand to +her cap in salute, she made a faint attempt at a smile.</p> + +<p>"The 22d may indeed be proud of their vivandiere," said De Barre, +gallantly.</p> + +<p>"What hast in the 'tonnelet,' Lela?" continued he, tapping the little +silver-hooped barrel she carried at her back.</p> + +<p>"Ah, <i>que voulez vous</i>?" cried she, laughing, with a low, husky sound, +the laugh of famine.</p> + +<p>"I must have a glass of it to your health, ma belle Lela, if it cost me +a crown piece," and he drew forth the coin as he spoke.</p> + +<p>"For such a toast, the liquor is quite good enough," said Lela, drawing +back at the offer of money; while slinging the little cask in front, she +unhooked a small silver cup, and filled it with water.</p> + +<p>"No brandy, Lela?"</p> + +<p>"None, colonel," said she, shaking her head, "and if I had, those poor +fellows yonder would not like it so well."</p> + +<p>"I understand," said he, significantly, "theirs is the thirst of fever."</p> + +<p>A short, dry cough, and a barely perceptible nod of the head, was all +her reply; but their eyes met, and any so sad an expression as they +interchanged I never beheld! It was a confession in full of all each had +seen of sorrow, of suffering, and of death. The terrible events three +months of famine had revealed, and all the agonies of pestilence and +madness.</p> + +<p>"That is delicious water, Tiernay," said the colonel, as he passed me +the cup, and thus trying to get away from the sad theme of his thoughts.</p> + +<p>"I fetch it from a well outside the walls every morning," said Lela, +"ay, and within gun-shot of the Austrian sentries too."</p> + +<p>"There's coolness for you, Tiernay," said the colonel; "think what the +22d are made of when their vivandiere dares to do this."</p> + +<p>"They'll not astonish <i>him</i>," said Lela, looking steadily at me.</p> + +<p>"And why not, ma belle?" cried De Barre.</p> + +<p>"He was a Tapageur, one of the 'Naughty Ninth,' as they called them."</p> + +<p>"How do you know that, Lela? Have we ever met before?" cried I eagerly.</p> + +<p>"I've seen <i>you</i>, sir," said she, slily. "They used to call you the +corporal that won the battle of Kehl. I know my father always said so."</p> + +<p>I would have given worlds to have interrogated her further; so +fascinating is selfishness, that already at least a hundred questions +were presenting themselves to my mind. Who could Lela be? and who was +her father? and what were these reports about me? Had I really won fame +without knowing it? and did my comrades indeed speak of me with honor? +All these, and many more inquiries, were pressing for utterance, as +General Massena walked up with his staff. The general fully corroborated +De Barre's opinion of the "22d." They were, as he expressed,<!--147.png--> a +"magnificent body." "It was a perfect pleasure to see such troops under +arms." "Those fellows certainly exhibited few traces of a starved-out +garrison." Such and such like were the jesting observations bandied from +one to the other, in all the earnest seriousness of truth! What more +terrible evidence of the scenes they had passed through, than these +convictions! What more stunning proof of the condition to which long +suffering had reduced them!</p> + +<p>"Where is our pleasant friend, who talked to us of the Black Forest last +night?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, there he is; well, Monsieur Tiernay, do you think General Moreau's +people turned out better than that after the retreat from +Donaueschingen?"</p> + +<p>There was no need for any reply, since the scornful burst of laughter of +the staff already gave the answer he wanted; and now he walked forward +to the centre of the piazza, while the troops proceeded to march past.</p> + +<p>The band, a miserable group, reduced from fifty to thirteen in number, +struck up a quick step, and the troops, animated by the sounds, and more +still, perhaps, by Massena's presence, made an effort to step out in +quick time; but the rocking, wavering motion, the clinking muskets, and +uncertain gait, were indescribably painful to a soldier's eye. Their +colonel, De Vallence, however, evidently did not regard them thus, for +as he joined the staff, he received the general's compliments with all +the good faith and composure in the world.</p> + +<p>The battalions were marched off to barracks, and the group of officers +broke up to repair to their several quarters. It was the hour of dinner, +but it was many a day since that meal had been heard of among them. A +stray café here and there was open in the city, but a cup of coffee, +without milk, and a small roll of black bread, a horrid compound of rye +and cocoa, was all the refreshment obtainable; and yet, I am bold to +say, that a murmur or a complaint was unheard against the general or the +government. The heaviest reverses, the gloomiest hours of ill-fortune +never extinguished the hope that Genoa was to be relieved at last, and +that all we had to do was to hold out for the arrival of Bonaparte. To +the extent of this conviction is to be attributed the wide disparity +between the feeling displayed by the military and the townsfolk.</p> + +<p>The latter, unsustained by hope, without one spark of speculation to +cheer their gloomy destiny, starved, and sickened, and died in masses. +The very requirements of discipline were useful in averting the +despondent vacuity which comes of hunger. Of the sanguine confidence of +the soldiery in the coming of their comrades, I was to witness a strong +illustration on the very day of which I have been speaking.</p> + +<p>It was about four o'clock in the afternoon, the weather had been heavy +and overcast, and the heat excessive, so that all who were free from +duty had either lain down to sleep, or were quietly resting within +doors, when a certain stir and movement in the streets, a rare event +during +<!--148.png--><span class="pagenum">366</span> +the hours of the siesta, drew many a head to the windows. The +report ran, and like wildfire it spread through the city, that the +advanced guard of Bonaparte had reached Ronco that morning, and were +already in march on Genoa! Although nobody could trace this story to any +direct source, each believed and repeated it; the tale growing more +consistent and fuller at every repetition. I need not weary my reader +with all the additions and corrections the narrative received, nor +recount how now it was Moreau with the right wing of the army of the +Rhine; now it was Kellermann's brigade; now it was Macdonald, who had +passed the Ticino, and last of all Bonaparte. The controversy was often +even an angry one, when, finally, all speculation was met by the +official report, that all that was known lay in the simple fact, that +heavy guns had been heard that morning, near Ronco, and as the Austrians +held no position with artillery there, the firing must needs be French.</p> + +<p>This very bare announcement was, of course, a great "come down" for all +the circumstantial detail with which we had been amusing ourselves and +each other, but yet it nourished hope, and the hope that was nearest to +all our hearts, too! The streets were soon filled; officers and soldiers +hastily dressed, and with many a fault of costume, were all commingled, +exchanging opinions, resolving doubts, and even bandying +congratulations. The starved and hungry faces were lighted up with an +expression of savage glee. It was like the last flickering gleam of +passion in men, whose whole vitality was the energy of fever! The heavy +debt they owed their enemy was at last to be paid, and all the insulting +injury of a besieged and famine-stricken garrison to be avenged. A +surging movement in the crowd told that some event had occurred; it was +Massena and his staff, who were proceeding to a watch-tower in the +bastion, from whence a wide range of country could be seen. This was +reassuring. The general himself entertained the story, and here was +proof that there was "something in it." All the population now made for +the walls; every spot from which the view toward Ronco could be obtained +was speedily crowded, every window filled, and all the house-tops +crammed. A dark mass of inky cloud covered the tops of the Apennines, +and even descended to some distance down the sides. With what shapes and +forms of military splendor did our imaginations people the space behind +that sombre curtain! What columns of stern warriors, what prancing +squadrons, what earth-shaking masses of heavy artillery! How longingly +each eye grew weary watching—waiting for the vail to be rent, and the +glancing steel to be seen glistening bright in the sun-rays!</p> + +<p>As if to torture our anxieties, the lowering mass grew darker and +heavier, and rolling lazily down the mountain, it filled up the valley, +wrapping earth and sky in one murky mantle.</p> + +<p>"There, did you hear that?" cried one, "that was artillery."</p> + +<p>A pause followed, each ear was bent to listen,<!--149.png--> and not a word was +uttered, for full a minute or more; the immense host, as if swayed by +the one impulse, strained to catch the sounds, when suddenly, from the +direction of the mountain top, there came a rattling, crashing noise, +followed by the dull, deep booming that every soldier's heart responds +to. What a cheer then burst forth! never did I hear—never may I hear +such a cry as that was—it was like the wild yell of a shipwrecked crew, +as some distant sail hove in sight; and yet, through its cadence, there +rang the mad lust for vengeance! Yes, in all the agonies of sinking +strength, with fever in their hearts, and the death sweat on their +cheeks, their cry was, Blood! The puny shout, for such it seemed now, +was drowned in the deafening crash that now was heard; peal after peal +shook the air, the same rattling, peppering noise of musketry continuing +through all.</p> + +<p>That the French were in strong force, as well as the enemy, there could +now be no doubt. Nothing but a serious affair and a stubborn resistance +could warrant such a fire. It had every semblance of an attack with all +arms. The roar of the heavy guns made the air vibrate, and the clatter +of small arms was incessant. How each of us filled up the picture from +the impulses of his own fancy! Some said that the French were still +behind the mountain, and storming the heights of the Borghetto; others +thought that they had gained the summit, but not "en force," and were +only contesting their position there; and a few more sanguine, of whom I +was one myself, imagined that they were driving the Austrians down the +Apennines, cleaving their ranks as they went, with their artillery.</p> + +<p>Each new crash, every momentary change of direction of the sounds, +favored this opinion or that, and the excitement of partisanship rose to +an immense height. What added indescribably to the interest of the +scene, was a group of Austrian officers on horseback, who, in their +eagerness to obtain tidings, had ridden beyond their lines, and were now +standing almost within musket range of us. We could see that their +telescopes were turned to the eventful spot, and we gloried to think of +the effect the scene must be producing on them.</p> + +<p>"They've seen enough!" cried one of our fellows, laughing, while he +pointed to the horsemen, who suddenly wheeling about, galloped back to +their camp at full speed.</p> + +<p>"You'll have the drums beat to arms now; there's little time to lose. +Our cuirassiers will soon be upon them," cried another, in ecstasy.</p> + +<p>"No, but the rain will, and upon us, too," said Giorgio, who had now +come up; "don't you see that it's not a battle yonder, it's a 'borasco.' +There it comes." And as if the outstretched finger of the dwarf had been +the wand of a magician, the great cloud was suddenly torn open with a +crash, and the rain descended like a deluge, swept along by a hurricane +wind, and came in vast sheets of water, while high over our heads, and +moving onward toward the sea +<!--150.png--><span class="pagenum">367</span> +growled the distant thunder. The great +mountain was now visible from base to summit, but not a soldier, not a +gun to be seen! Swollen and yellow, the gushing torrents leaped madly +from crag to crag, and crashing trees, and falling rocks, added their +wild sounds to the tumult.</p> + +<p>There we stood, mute and sorrowstruck, regardless of the seething rain, +unconscious of any thing save our disappointment. The hope we built upon +had left us, and the dreary scene of storm around seemed but a type of +our own future! And yet we could not turn away, but with eyes strained +and aching, gazed at the spot from where our succor should have come.</p> + +<p>I looked up at the watch-tower, and there was Massena still, his arms +folded on a battlement; he seemed to be deep in thought. At last he +arose, and drawing his cloak across his face, descended the +winding-stair outside the tower. His step was slow, and more than once +he halted, as if to think. When he reached the walls, he walked rapidly +on, his suite following him.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Mons. Tiernay," said he, as he passed me, "you know what an +Apennine storm is now; but it will cool the air, and give us delicious +weather;" and so he passed on with an easy smile.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXXVII.<br /> + +MONTE DI FACCIO.</h3> + +<p>The disappointment we had suffered was not the only circumstance adverse +to our expedition. The rain had now swollen the smallest rivulets to the +size of torrents; in many places the paths would be torn away and +obliterated, and every where the difficulty of a night march enormously +increased. Giorgio, however, who was, perhaps, afraid of forfeiting his +reward, assured the general that these mountain streams subside even +more rapidly than they rise; that such was the dryness of the soil, no +trace of rain would be seen by sunset, and that we should have a calm, +starry night; the very thing we wanted for our enterprise.</p> + +<p>We did not need persuasion to believe all he said, the opinion chimed in +with our own wishes, and better still, was verified to the very letter +by a glorious afternoon. Landward, the spectacle was perfectly +enchanting; the varied foliage of the Apennines, refreshed by the rain, +glittered and shone in the sun's rays, while in the bay, the fleet, with +sails hung out to dry, presented a grand and an imposing sight. Better +than all, Monte Faccio now appeared quite near us; we could, even with +the naked eye, perceive all the defenses, and were able to detect a +party of soldiers at work outside the walls, clearing, as it seemed, +some water-course that had been impeded by the storm. Unimportant as the +labor was, we watched it anxiously, for we thought that perhaps before +another sunset many a brave fellow's blood might dye that earth. During +the whole of that day, from some cause or other, not a shot had been +fired either from the land-batteries or the fleet, and as though a truce +had been agreed to, we sat watching each other's movements peacefully +and calmly.<!--151.png--></p> + +<p>"The Austrians would seem to have been as much deceived as ourselves, +sir," said an old artillery sergeant to me, as I strolled along the +walls at nightfall. "The pickets last night were close to the glacis, +but see now they have fallen back a gun-shot or more."</p> + +<p>"But they had time enough since to have resumed their old position," +said I, half-doubting the accuracy of the surmise.</p> + +<p>"Time enough, parbleu; I should think so, too! but when the whitecoats +manœuvre, they write to Vienna to ask, 'What's to be done next?'"</p> + +<p>This passing remark, in which, with all its exaggeration, there lay a +germ of truth, was the universal judgment of our soldiers on those of +the Imperial army; and to the prevalence of the notion may be ascribed +much of that fearless indifference with which small divisions of ours +attacked whole army corps of the enemy. Bonaparte was the first to point +out this slowness, and to turn it to the best advantage.</p> + +<p>"If our general ever intended a sortie, this would be the night for it, +sir," resumed he; "the noise of those mountain streams would mask the +sounds of a march, and even cavalry, if led with caution, might be in +upon them before they were aware."</p> + +<p>This speech pleased me, not only for the judgment it conveyed, but as an +assurance that our expedition was still a secret in the garrison.</p> + +<p>On questioning the sergeant further, I was struck to find that he had +abandoned utterly all hope of ever seeing France again; such he told me +was the universal feeling of the soldiery. "We know well, sir, that +Massena is not the man to capitulate, and we can not expect to be +relieved." And yet with this stern, comfortless conviction on their +minds—with hunger, and famine, and pestilence on every side—they never +uttered one word of complaint, not even a murmur of remonstrance. What +would Moreau's fellows say of us? What would the Army of the Meuse +think? These were the ever present arguments against surrender; and the +judgment of their comrades was far more terrible to them than the +grape-shot of the enemy.</p> + +<p>"But do you not think when Bonaparte crosses the Alps he will hasten to +our relief?"</p> + +<p>"Not he, sir! I know him well. I was in the same troop with him, a +bombardier at the same gun. Bonaparte will never go after small game +where there's a nobler prey before him. If he does cross the Alps he'll +be for a great battle under Milan; or, mayhap, march on Venice. <i>He's</i> +not thinking of our starved battalions here: he's planning some great +campaign, depend on it. He never faced the Alps to succor Genoa."</p> + +<p>How true was this appreciation of the great general's ambition, I need +scarcely repeat; but so it was at the time; many were able to guess the +bold aspirings of one who, to the nation, seemed merely one among the +numerous candidates for fame and honors.</p> + +<p>It was about an hour after my conversation +<!--152.png--><span class="pagenum">368</span> +with the sergeant, that an +orderly came to summon me to Colonel de Barre's quarters; and with all +my haste to obey, I only arrived as the column was formed. The plan of +attack was simple enough. Three Voltigeur companies were to attempt the +assault of the Monte Faccio, under De Barre; while to engage attention, +and draw off the enemy's force, a strong body of infantry and cavalry +was to debouch on the Chiavari road, as though to force a passage in +that direction. In all that regarded secrecy and dispatch our expedition +was perfect: and as we moved silently through the streets, the sleeping +citizens never knew of our march. Arrived at the gate, the column +halted, to give us time to pass along the walls and descend the glen, an +operation which, it was estimated, would take forty-five minutes; at the +expiration of this they were to issue forth to the feint attack.</p> + +<p>At a quick step we now pressed forward toward the angle of the bastion, +whence many a path led down the cliff in all directions. Half-a-dozen of +our men well-acquainted with the spot, volunteered as guides, and the +muskets being slung on the back, the word was given to "move on," the +rallying-place being the plateau of the orange trees I have already +mentioned.</p> + +<p>"Steep enough, this," said De Barre to me, as, holding on by briars and +brambles, we slowly descended the gorge; "but few of us will ever climb +it again."</p> + +<p>"You think so?" asked I, in some surprise.</p> + +<p>"Of course, I know it;" said he. "Vallence, who commands the battalions +below, always condemned the scheme; rely on it, he's not the man to make +himself out a false prophet. I don't pretend to tell you that in our +days of monarchy there were neither jealousies nor party grudges, and +that men were above all small and ungenerous rivalry; but, assuredly, we +had less of them than now. If the field of competition is more open to +every one, so are the arts by which success is won; a pre-eminence in a +republic means always the rain of a rival. If we fail, as fail we must, +he'll be a general."</p> + +<p>"But why must we fail?"</p> + +<p>"For every reason; we are not in force: we know nothing of what we are +about to attack; and, if repulsed, have no retreat behind us."</p> + +<p>"Then, why—?" I stopped, for already I saw the impropriety of my +question.</p> + +<p>"Why did I advise the attack?" said he, mildly, taking up my +half-uttered question. "Simply because death outside these walls is +quicker and more glorious than within them. There's scarcely a man who +follows us has not the same sentiment in his heart. The terrible scenes +of the last five weeks have driven our fellows to all but mutiny. +Nothing, indeed, maintained discipline but a kind of tigerish thirst for +vengeance—a hope that the day of reckoning would come round, and in one +fearful lesson teach these same whitecoats how dangerous it is to drive +a brave enemy to despair."</p> + +<p>De Barre continued to talk in this strain as we descended, every remark +he made being uttered<!--153.png--> with all the coolness of one who talked of a +matter indifferent to him. At length the way became too steep for much +converse, and slipping and scrambling, we now only interchanged a chance +word as we went. Although two hundred and fifty men were around and +about us, not a voice was heard; and, except the occasional breaking of +a branch, or the occasional fall of some heavy stone into the valley, +not a sound was heard. At length a long, shrill whistle announced that +the first man had reached the bottom, which, to judge from the faintness +of the sound, appeared yet a considerable distance off. The excessive +darkness increased the difficulty of the way, and De Barre continued to +repeat, "that we had certainly been misinformed, and that even in +daylight the descent would take an hour."</p> + +<p>It was full half an hour after this when we came to a small rivulet, the +little boundary line between the two steep cliffs. Here our men were all +assembled, refreshing themselves with the water, still muddy from recent +rain, and endeavoring to arrange equipments and arms, damaged and +displaced by many a fall.</p> + +<p>"We've taken an hour and twenty-eight minutes," said De Barre, as he +placed a fire-fly on the glass of his watch to see the hour. "Now, men, +let us make up for lost time. <i>En avant!</i>"</p> + +<p>"En avant!" was quickly passed from mouth to mouth, and never was a word +more spirit-stirring to Frenchmen! With all the alacrity of men fresh +and "eager for the fray," they began the ascent, and, such was the +emulous ardor to be first, that it assumed all the features of a race.</p> + +<p>A close pine wood greatly aided us now, and in less time than we could +believe it possible, we reached the plateau appointed for our +rendezvous. This being the last spot of meeting before our attack on the +fort, the final dispositions were here settled on, and the orders for +the assault arranged. With daylight the view from this terrace, for such +it was in reality, would have been magnificent, for even now, in the +darkness, we could track out the great thoroughfares of the city, follow +the windings of the bay and harbor, and, by the lights on board, detect +the fleet as it lay at anchor. To the left, and for many a mile, as it +seemed, were seen twinkling the bivouac fires of the Austrian army; +while, directly above our heads, glittering like a red star, shone the +solitary gleam that marked out the "Monte Faccio."</p> + +<p>I was standing silently at De Barre's side, looking on this sombre +scene, so full of terrible interest, when he clutched my arm violently, +and whispered—</p> + +<p>"Look yonder; see, the attack has begun."</p> + +<p>The fire of the artillery had flashed as he spoke, and now, with his +very words, the deafening roar of the guns was heard from below.</p> + +<p>"I told you he'd not wait for us, Tiernay. I told you how it would +happen!" cried he; then, suddenly recovering his habitual composure of +voice and manner, he said, "now for our part, men, forward." +<!--154.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">369</a></span> +</p> + +<p>And away went the brave fellows, tearing up the steep mountain side, +like an assault party at a breach. Though hidden from our view by the +darkness and the dense wood, we could hear the incessant din of large +and small arms; the roll of the drums summoning men to their quarters, +and what we thought were the cheers of charging squadrons.</p> + +<p>Such was the mad feeling of excitement these sounds produced, that I can +not guess what time elapsed before we found ourselves on the crest of +the mountain, and not above three hundred paces from the outworks of the +fort. The trees had been cut away on either side, so as to offer a +species of "glacis," and this must be crossed under the fire of the +batteries, before an attack could be commenced. Fortunately for us, +however, the garrison was too confident of its security to dread a <i>coup +de main</i> from the side of the town, and had placed all their guns along +the bastion, toward Borghetto, and this De Barre immediately detected. A +certain "alert" on the walls, however, and a quick movement of lights +here and there, showed that they had become aware of the sortie from the +town, and gradually we could see figure after figure ascending the +walls, as if to peer down into the valley beneath.</p> + +<p>"You see what Vallance has done for us," said De Barre, bitterly; "but +for <i>him</i> we should have taken these fellows, <i>en flagrant delit</i>, and +carried their walls before they could turn out a captain's guard."</p> + +<p>As he spoke, a heavy, crashing sound was heard, and a wild cheer. +Already our pioneers had gained the gate, and were battering away at it; +another party had reached the walls, and thrown up their rope ladders, +and the attack was opened! In fact, Giorgio had led one division by a +path somewhat shorter than ours, and they had begun the assault before +we issued from the pine wood.</p> + +<p>We now came up at a run, but under a smart fire from the walls, already +fast crowding with men. Defiling close beneath the wall, we gained the +gate, just as it had fallen beneath the assaults of our men; a steep +covered way led up from it, and along this our fellows rushed madly, but +suddenly from the gloom a red glare flashed out, and a terrible +discharge of grape swept all before it. "Lie down!" was now shouted from +front to rear, but even before the order could be obeyed, another and +more fatal volley followed.</p> + +<p>Twice we attempted to storm the ascent; but, wearied by the labor of the +mountain pass—worn out by fatigue—and, worse still, weak from actual +starvation, our men faltered! It was not fear, nor was there any thing +akin to it; for even as they fell under the thick fire, their shrill +cheers breathed stern defiance. They were utterly exhausted, and failing +strength could do no more! De Barre took the lead, sword in hand, and +with one of those wild appeals, that soldiers never hear in vain, +addressed them; but the next moment his shattered corpse was carried to +the rear. The scaling party, alike repulsed, had<!--155.png--> now defiled to our +support; but the death-dealing artillery swept through us without +ceasing. Never was there a spectacle so terrible, as to see men, +animated by courageous devotion, burning with glorious zeal, and yet +powerless from very debility—actually dropping from the weakness of +famine! The staggering step—the faint shout—the powerless charge—all +showing the ravages of pestilence and want!</p> + +<p>Some sentiment of compassion must have engaged our enemies' sympathy, +for twice they relaxed their fire, and only resumed it as we returned to +the attack. One fearful discharge of grape, at pistol range, now seemed +to have closed the struggle; and as the smoke cleared away, the earth +was seen crowded with dead and dying. The broken ranks no longer showed +discipline—men gathered in groups around their wounded comrades, and, +to all seeming, indifferent to the death that menaced them. Scarcely an +officer survived, and, among the dead beside me, I recognized Giorgio, +who still knelt in the attitude in which he had received his +death-wound.</p> + +<p>I was like one in some terrible dream, powerless and terror-stricken, as +I stood thus amid the slaughtered and the wounded.</p> + +<p>"You are my prisoner," said a gruff-looking old Croat grenadier, as he +snatched my sword from my hand, by a smart blow on the wrist, and I +yielded without a word.</p> + +<p>"Is it over?" said I; "is it over?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, parbleu, I think it is," said a comrade, whose cheek was hanging +down from a bayonet wound. "There are not twenty of us remaining, and +<i>they</i> will do very little for the service of the 'Great Republic.'"</p> + +<p style="text-align: center">(TO BE CONTINUED.)</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="FRENCH_COTTAGE_COOKERY" id="FRENCH_COTTAGE_COOKERY"></a>FRENCH COTTAGE COOKERY.</h2> + +<p>I had frequently remarked a neat little old woman, in a clean, +stiff-starched, quilted cap, going to and from a neighboring chapel, +without however its ever coming into my head to ask who she was; until +one day a drove of oxen alarmed her so visibly, that I opened the gate +of my little garden, and begged her to remain there in safety till the +cattle had passed by.</p> + +<p>"Madame is very polite; she has no doubt been in France?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered I in her native language, "I resided there many years, +and perceive I have the pleasure of addressing a Frenchwoman."</p> + +<p>"I was born in England, madame; but at eight years of age went with my +father to Honfleur, where I married, and continued to reside until four +years ago, when my poor husband followed the remains of his last +remaining child to the grave, and in less than a fortnight after died of +the <i>grippe</i> himself. I had no means of living then, being too old to go +out as a <i>femme de journée</i>, my only means of gaining a livelihood; so I +returned to the place where I was born, and my mother's youngest brother +allows me thirty-five pounds a year, upon condition that I am never more +than a month out of England again." +<!--156.png--><span class="pagenum">370</span> +</p> + +<p>We soon became great friends, and by degrees I learned her history. This +uncle of hers was a year younger than herself—a thorough John Bull, who +hated the French, and ridiculed every thing that was foreign. His heart, +however, was kind and generous, and he no sooner heard of the destitute +condition in which his aunt was left, than he hastened across the +channel for her, bought in her clothes and furniture, which she was +forced to sell to enable her to satisfy her creditors, and then made her +a present of them all again, offering to convey her to her native +country, and settle upon her enough to enable her to live there +decently; which allowance, however, was to cease if she was ever known +to be more than a month out of England. "Time enough for her to pray +over her French friends' graves, poor benighted Catholic that she be! +but I won't have more of my money spent among them foreign frog-eaters +nor I can help." The poor woman had no other choice; but it was several +years before she reconciled herself to habits so different from those to +which she had been so long accustomed; and to the last she preserved the +French mode in dressing, eating, and manner. At the topmost story of a +high house she took two unfurnished rooms; the largest contained her +bed, <i>secrétaire</i>, <i>commode</i>, <i>pendule</i>, <i>prie-dieu</i>, and whatever was +best and gayest of her possessions. The room behind was <i>consacrée</i>, as +she called it, to pots and pans, basins and baskets, her night-quilt and +pillow, and whatever else was not "convenable" to display to "le monde;" +but the front apartment was where she lived, slept, cooked, ate, and +prayed; and a nice, clean, cheerful, well-furnished room it was, and +many a pleasant hour have I spent in it with the old lady, conversing +upon cookery and politeness—two requisites she found the English quite +deficient in, she said. I confess I am somewhat inclined to agree with +her, especially as to the former; and those who agree with me in opinion +will perhaps be glad to have her recipes for the inexpensive French +dishes which fine cooks despise too much to print in cookery-books.</p> + +<p>We shall begin with the pot au feu, in Madame Miau's own words:—"Get +from the butcher a nice, smooth, pretty piece of beef, with as little +skin, fat, strings, and bones, as possible: one pound does for me, but +for a family we shall say three pounds. Put this into—not an iron pot, +not a brass pot, not a tin pot—but an earthen pan with a close-fitting +lid, and three quarts of filtered water, and some salt. This you must +put, not on the fire, but on the top of the oven, which is heated from +the fire, and which will do just the same as a hot hearth: let it boil +up; skim and deprive it of all grease. When this is accomplished, take +three large carrots, cut in three pieces—three, remember!—one large +parsnip cut in two, two turnips, as many leeks as possible—you can't +have too many; two cloves ground, and the least little idea of pepper, +and onions if you like—I only put a burnt one to color. Now cover up, +and let it stay, going tic-tic-tic!<!--157.png--> for seven hours; not to <i>boil</i>, +pray. When I hear my bouillon bubble, the tears are in my eyes, for I +know it is a <i>plat manqué</i>. When ready, put the beef—what we country +people call bouillie—which word, they say, is vulgar—never mind!—put +it on a dish, and with tasteful elegance dispose around the carrots, +parsnip, and turnip. Then on slices of bread at the bottom of a bowl +pour your soup, and thank God for your good dinner.</p> + +<p>"I sometimes tie the white part of my leeks in bundles, like asparagus, +and serve on roasted (she never would say toasted) bread. Next day I +warm the soup again, introducing rue, vermicelli, or fresh carrots cut +in shapes, as my fancy may lead me, and eat the beef cold with tarragon +vinegar. Madame Fouache, my sister-in-law, puts in celery, parsley, and +a hundred other things; but that is modern—mine is the old, respectable +pot au feu; and I never have nonplus, what all the Fouaches are so fond +of, which is properly a Spanish, not a French dish, called <i>olla +podrida</i>—very extravagant. Not only have they beef, but a fowl, a ham, +or piece of one; a Bologna or Spanish sausage; all the vegetables named +above; <i>pois chiches</i> (large hard peas), which must be soaked a night; a +cabbage, a hard pear, and whatever they can gather, in the usual +proportion of a small quart to a large pound of meat; and not liking +oil, as the Spaniards do, Madame Fouache adds butter and flour to some +of the soup, to make sauce. The fowl is browned before the fire, and +served with pear, peas, celery, and the ham with the cabbage, the beef +with the carrots, leeks, and parsnips, the sausage by itself; and the +soup in a tureen over a <i>croûton</i>. This takes nine hours of slow +cooking; but mine, the veritable pot au feu Français, is much better, as +well as simpler and cheaper."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Madame Miau," said I; "here it is all written down. Is that +batter-pudding you have arranged for frying?"</p> + +<p>"No, madame; it is <i>sarrasin</i>. It was my dinner yesterday, <i>en +bouillie</i>; to-day I fry it, and with a gurnet besides, am well dined."</p> + +<p>"How do you cook it?"</p> + +<p>"In France I take half a pint of water and a pint and a half of milk; +but here the milkman saves me the trouble: so I take two pints of his +milk, and by degrees mix in a good half pint of buckwheat flour, salt, +an egg if you have it, but if not, half an hour's additional boiling +will do as well. This mess must boil long, till it is quite, quite +thick: you eat some warm with milk, and put the remainder into a deep +plate, where, when cold, it has the appearance you see, and is very nice +fried."</p> + +<p>"And the gurnet?"</p> + +<p>"I boil it, skin it, and bone it, and pour over it the following sauce: +A dessert-spoonful of flour rubbed smooth into a half tumbler of water; +this you boil till it is thick, and looks clear; then take it off the +fire, and pray don't put it on again, to spoil the taste, and pop in a +good lump of Dutch butter, if you can't afford fresh, which is +<!--158.png--><span class="pagenum">371</span> +much +better, and a small tea-spoonful of vinegar; pour this over your fish: +an egg is a great improvement. I can't afford that, but I sometimes add +a little drop of milk, if I have it."</p> + +<p>"I am sure it must be very good: and, by-the-by, can you tell me what to +do with a miserable, half-starved chicken that the dogs killed, to make +it eatable?"</p> + +<p>"Truss it neatly, stuff it with sausage and bread-crumbs; mix some flour +and butter, taking care it does not color in the pan, for it must be a +white rout; plump your chicken in this, and add a little water, or soup +if you have it; take four little onions, two small carrots cut in half; +tie in a bundle the tops of celery, some chives, a bay-leaf, and some +parsley; salt to taste, with a bit of mace—will be all you require +more; cover close, so that the air is excluded, and keep it simmering +two hours and a quarter: it will turn out white and plump; place the +vegetables round it; stir in an egg to thicken the sauce, off the fire, +and your dish will not make you blush." I did as she directed, and found +it very good.</p> + +<p>I went very often to Madame Miau's, and invariably found her reading her +prayer-book, and she as invariably put it down unaffectedly without +remark, and entered at once into conversation upon the subject I +introduced, never alluding to her occupation.</p> + +<p>"I fear," said I, one day, "I interrupt your devotions."</p> + +<p>"<i>Du tout</i>, madame, they are finished; I am so far from chapel I can +only get there upon Sundays, or on the very great saints' days; but I +have my <i>good corner</i> here," pointing to the <i>prie-dieu</i>, which stood +before what I had always imagined shelves, protected from the dust by a +green baize curtain; "and you see I have my little remembrances behind +this," added she, pulling the curtain aside, and displaying a crucifix, +"the Virgin mild and sweet St. John" standing by, her string of beads, +the crowns of everlastings from her parents', husband's, and children's +graves, several prints of sacred subjects, and a shell containing holy +water.</p> + +<p>Her simple piety was so sincere that I felt no desire to cavil at the +little harmless superstitions mixed with it, but said, "You must have +many sad and solitary hours; but you know where to look for consolation, +I find."</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, madame. Without religion how could I have lived through my +many sorrows! but God sustains me, and I am not unhappy, although +wearing out my age in poverty and in a strange land, without one of +those I loved left to comfort me; for if the longest life be short, the +few years I have before <i>me</i> are shorter still, and I thank Him daily +for the comfort I derive from my Christian education."</p> + +<p>She was too delicate-minded to say Catholic, which I knew she meant, and +I changed the subject, lest our ideas might not agree so well if we +pursued it much further. "Pray, Madame Miau, what is the use of that +odd-looking iron stand?"<!--159.png--></p> + +<p>"It is for stewing or boiling: the baker sells me the burnt wood out of +his oven (we call it <i>braise</i> in France), which I mix with a little +charcoal; this makes a capital fire, and in summer I dress my dinner. +You see there are three pots, one above the other; this saves me the +heat, and dirt, and expense of a fire in the grate, for it stands in the +passage quite well, and stewed beefsteak is never so good as when +dressed by it."</p> + +<p>"How do you manage?"</p> + +<p>"I make a rout, and put to it a quantity of onions minced small, and a +bit of garlic, when they are quite soft; I add salt, a little pepper, +and some flour and water, if I have no gravy or soup. Into this I put +slices of beef, and let it stew slowly till quite done, and then thicken +the sauce with polder starch. The neighbors down stairs like this so +much, that we often go halves in both the food and firing, which greatly +reduces the cost to both; and it keeps <i>so</i> well, and heats up <i>so</i> +nicely! They eat it with boiled rice, which I never before saw done, and +like very much; but I boil my rice more than they do, and beat it into a +paste, with salt and an egg, and either brown it before the fire or fry +it, which I think an improvement; but neighbor Green likes it all +natural."</p> + +<p>"Oh, do tell me about <i>soupe à la graisse</i>; it sounds very uninviting."</p> + +<p>"I seldom take it in this country, where vegetables are so dear, and you +must prepare your <i>graisse</i> yourself."</p> + +<p>"How do you prepare it?"</p> + +<p>"By boiling dripping with onions, garlic, and spices; a good +table-spoonful of this gives a nice taste to water, and you add every +kind of vegetable you can obtain, and eat it with brown bread steeped in +it. The very poor abroad almost live on it, and those who are better off +take a sou from those who have no fire, <i>pour tremper leur soupe</i>; and +surely on a cold day this hot mess is more acceptable to the stomach +than cold bread and cheese."</p> + +<p>"You seem very fond of onions with every thing."</p> + +<p>"Yes; they make every thing taste well: now <i>crevettes</i>, what you call +shrimps, how good they are with onions!"</p> + +<p>"How! onions with shrimps!—what an odd combination! Tell me how to +dress this curious dish."</p> + +<p>"When the shrimps are boiled, shell them, take a pint or a quart, +according to your family; make a rout, adding pepper; jump (<i>sautez</i>) +them in it, adding, as they warm, minced parsley; when quite hot, take +them off the fire, and stir round among them a good spoonful of sour +cream. <i>Pois de prud'homme</i> and <i>pois mange-tout</i> are dressed the same, +leaving out the flour and pepper."</p> + +<p>"I don't know what <i>pois</i> you mean."</p> + +<p>"The <i>prud'hommes</i>, when they first come in, are like lupin-pods, and +contain little square white beans. You do not shell them till they are +quite old, and then they are good also, but +<!--160.png--><span class="pagenum">372</span> +not nearly so good or so +wholesome as in the green pods. The <i>pois tirer</i> or <i>mange-touts</i> are +just like every other pea—only as you can eat the pods, you have them +full three weeks before the others are ready, and a few handfuls make a +good dish: you must take the string off both, as you do with +kidney-beans, unless when young."</p> + +<p>"I suppose you eat the white dry beans which are to be bought at the +French shop here."</p> + +<p>"No, never: they don't agree with me, nor indeed are they very +digestible for any but strong workers."</p> + +<p>"How should they be dressed?"</p> + +<p>"Steeped from five to twelve hours; boiled till tender; then jumped with +butter and parsley in a pan after draining well; and milk and an egg +stirred in them off the fire, or what is much better, a little sour +cream or thick buttermilk. They eat well with roast mutton, and are much +more delicate than the red beans, which, however, I have never seen sold +in this country."</p> + +<p>"Do you drink tea?"</p> + +<p>"I would do so were I confined to the wishy-washy stuff people of my +rank in England call coffee—bad in itself, and worse prepared."</p> + +<p>"How do <i>you</i> manage?"</p> + +<p>"I buy coffee-beans, ready roasted or not: a coffee-mill costs me 1<i>s.</i> +6<i>d.</i>, and I grind it every now and then myself; but I always freshen my +beans by jumping them in a clean frying-pan, with a little new butter, +till quite dry and crisp—very easy to do, and the way to have good +coffee. I do a little at a time, and use that small coffee-biggen, which +is now common even in this country: two well-heaped tea-spoonfuls serve +me; but were I richer, I should put three. Upon these two spoonfuls I +pour a cup of boiling water, and while it is draining through, heat the +same quantity of milk, which I mix with the clear coffee, and I have my +two cups. Chiccory I don't like, spite of the doctor, who says it is +wholesome. All French doctors preach against coffee; but I, who have +drunk it all my life, am of opinion they talk nonsense. You may take it +stronger or weaker; but I advise you always to make it this way, and +never try the foolish English practices of boiling, simmering, clearing, +and such like absurdities and fussings. I generally, however, breakfast +upon <i>soupe à la citronille</i>, which is very nice."</p> + +<p>"Tell me how to make it."</p> + +<p>"You cut your citronille (pumpkin, I believe you call it) in slices, +which you boil in water till soft enough to press through a cullender +into hot milk; add salt and pepper, stir smooth, and give one boil, and +it is ready to pour upon your bread as a <i>purée</i>. A little white wine +improves it, or you may make it <i>au gras</i>, mixing a little white meat +gravy; but to my mind the simple soup is the best, although I like a bit +of butter in it, I confess. Turnips and even carrots eat very well +prepared this way, many think; but I prefer the latter prepared <i>à la +Crécy</i>, which you do very well in England."</p> + +<p>"You use a great deal of butter, which at one time of the year is very +dear in England."<!--161.png--></p> + +<p>"And in France, also; therefore I buy it at the cheap seasons, put it on +the fire, and give it a boil, skimming it well; then I let it settle, +and pour off all that is clear into bottles and pots, and it keeps until +the dear time is past, quite well for cooking."</p> + +<p>"And eggs."</p> + +<p>"Nothing so simple, when quite new laid; butter them well with fresh +butter; remember if a pin's point is passed over, the egg spoils—rub it +well into them, and place in jars, shaking over them bran or dry sand; +wash when about to use them, and you would say they had been laid two +days back only."</p> + +<p>"Do you eat your prepared butter upon bread?"</p> + +<p>"I never do any thing so extravagant as to eat butter upon bread: I +prefer to use it in my cookery; but I don't think boiled butter would +taste well so, though it fries beautifully on maigre days; and on others +I use lard to my potato."</p> + +<p>"Does one satisfy you?" asked I, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, if it is of a tolerable size. I cut it in pieces the size of a +hazel-nut, dry, and put them into a common saucepan, with the least bit +of butter, shaking them about every few minutes; less than half an hour +does them; they are eaten hot, with some salt sifted over."</p> + +<p>"I suppose you often have an omelet?"</p> + +<p>"Not often; but let me offer you one now."</p> + +<p>I had scarcely assented, when the frying-pan was on the fire to heat +three eggs broken, some chives and parsley minced, and mixed with a +little pepper and salt all together—Madame Miau throwing in a drop of +milk, because she happened to have it, in order to increase the size of +the omelet, although in general she seldom used it—and flour <i>never</i>. +It was thrown upon the boiling fat, and as it hardened, lifted up with +two wooden forks round and round, and then rolled over, <i>never</i> +turned—the upper part, which was still slightly liquid, serving for +sauce, as it were. This was all, and very good I found it. Another time +she put in grated cheese, which was also excellent.</p> + +<p>"I can't comprehend how you contrive to make every thing so good at so +little expense," said I.</p> + +<p>"There is no merit in making good things if you are extravagant: any one +can do that."</p> + +<p>"No, indeed, not every one."</p> + +<p>"Cookery, in a little way," continued Madame Miau, "appears to me <i>so</i> +simple. To fry well, the fat must <i>boil</i> before putting what you wish +fried into it; and this you ascertain by throwing in a piece of bread, +which should gild immediately: the color should be yellow or +light-brown—never darker. To <i>stew</i>, the only rule is to let your meat +simmer gently for a long time, and keep in the steam, and all sorts +should be previously sautéd in a rout, which keeps in the juice: the +look, also, is important, and a burnt onion helps the color."</p> + +<p>Madame Miau, however, could cook more elaborate dishes than those she +treated herself to, and I shall subjoin some of her recipes, all +<!--162.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">373</a></span> +of +which I have tried myself; and if the preceding very economical but +thoroughly French dishes please as a foundation, I may give in a future +number <i>plats</i> of a rather higher description.</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="STUDENT_LIFE_IN_PARIS" id="STUDENT_LIFE_IN_PARIS"></a>STUDENT LIFE IN PARIS.</h2> + +<p>The first impression of the Student of Students in Paris is one of +curiosity. "When do the students find time to study?" is the natural +inquiry. The next impression solves the mystery, by leading to the +satisfactory conclusion, that the students do <i>not</i> find time to study. +To be sure, eminent physicians, great painters, and acute lawyers, do +occasionally throw sufficient light upon society to render its +intellectual darkness visible. And the probabilities are that these +physicians are not born with diplomas, as children are, occasionally, +with cauls; nor the painters sent into the world with their pencils at +their fingers' ends; nor the lawyers launched into existence sitting +upon innate woolsacks. The inference, then, is, that education has done +something toward their advancement, and that they, necessarily, have +done something toward their education.</p> + +<p>But the lives of great men are the lives of individuals, not of masses. +And with these I have nothing now to do. It is possible that the +Quartier Latin contains at the present moment more than one "mute +inglorious" Moliere, or Paul de Kock, guiltless, as yet, of his readers' +demoralization. Many a young man who now astonishes the Hôtel Corneille, +less by his brains than his billiards, may one day work hard at a +barricade, and harder still, subsequently, at the galleys! But how are +we to know that these young fellows, with their long legs, short coats, +and faces patched over with undecided beards, are geniuses, unless, as +our excellent friend, the English plebeian has it, they "behave as +such?" Let us hope, at any rate, that, like glow-worms, they appear mean +and contemptible in the glare of society, only to exhibit their shining +qualities in the gloom of their working hours.</p> + +<p>It is only, then, with the outward life of the students that I have to +deal. With this, one may become acquainted without a very long residence +in the Quartier Latin—that happy quarter where every thing is +subservient to the student's taste, and accommodated to the student's +pocket—where amusement is even cheaper than knowledge—where braces are +unrespected, and blushes unknown—where gloves are not enforced, and +respectability has no representative.</p> + +<p>If the student be opulent—that is to say, if he have two hundred francs +a month (a magnificent sum in the quarter) he lives where he +pleases—probably in the Hôtel Corneille; if he be poor, and is +compelled to vegetate, as many are, upon little more than a quarter of +that amount, he lives where he can—no one knows where, and very few +know how. It is principally from among this class, who are generally the +sons of peasants or <i>ouvriers</i>, that France derives her great painters, +lawyers, and physicians. They study more than their richer comrades;<!--163.png--> +not only because they have no money to spend upon amusement, but because +they have, commonly, greater energy and higher talents. Indeed, without +these qualities they would not have been able to emancipate themselves +from the ignoble occupations to which they were probably born; unlike +the other class of students, with whom the choice of a profession is +guided by very different considerations.</p> + +<p>It is a curious sight to a man fresh from Oxford or Cambridge to observe +these poor students sunning themselves, at mid-day, in the gardens of +the Luxembourg—with their sallow, bearded faces, bright eyes, and long +hooded cloaks, which, notwithstanding the heat of the weather, +"circumstances" have not yet enabled them to discard. Without stopping +to inquire whether there really be any thing "new under the sun," it may +be certainly assumed that the garments in question could not be included +in the category. If, however, they are heavy, their owners' hearts are +light, and their laughter merry enough—even to their last pipe of +tobacco. After the last pipe of tobacco, but not till then, comes +despair.</p> + +<p>The more opulent students resemble their poorer brethren in one respect: +they are early risers. Some breakfast as early as seven o'clock; others +betake themselves by six to their <i>ateliers</i>, or lectures—or pretend to +do so—returning, in two or three hours, to a later meal. This is of a +substantial character, consisting of two or three courses, with the +eternal <i>vin ordinaire</i>. When living in a hôtel, the student breakfasts +in the midst of those congenial delights; the buzz of conversation, the +fumes of tobacco, and the click of the billiard-balls. By means of these +amusements, and sundry <i>semi tasses</i> and <i>petits verres</i>, he contrives +to kill the first two or three hours after breakfast. Cards and dominoes +are also in great request from an early hour, and present to an +Englishman a curious contrast with his own national customs. In England, +he is accustomed to find card-playing in the morning patronized only by +the most reckless; in France it is the commonest thing in the world to +see a pair of gentlemen with gray hairs and every attribute of +respectability, employed, at nine o'clock, upon a game of <i>écarte</i>, +enlivened by little glasses of brandy and the never-failing pipe. If a +young Englishman in London, instead of an old Frenchman in Paris, was to +addict himself to such untimely recreations, he would probably be cut +off with a shilling.</p> + +<p>When the heat and smoke of the <i>café</i> become too much even for French +students, they drop off by twos and threes, and seek the fresh air. The +Luxembourg Gardens are close by, and here they principally congregate. +Amusing figures they look, too, in their present style of costume, which +is a burlesque upon that of the Champs Elysées, which is a burlesque +upon that of Hyde Park. The favorite covering for the head is a very +large white hat, with very long nap; which I believe it is proper to +brush the wrong way. The coat, is of the paletôt description, perfectly +straight, without shape or make, +<!--164.png--><span class="pagenum">374</span> +and reaching as little below the hips +as the wearer can persuade himself is not utterly absurd. The remainder +of the costume is of various shades of eccentricity, according to the +degree of madness employed upon its manufacture. As for the beard and +mustaches, their arrangement is quite a matter of fancy: there are not +two persons alike in this respect in the whole quarter: it may be +remarked, however, that shaving is decidedly on the increase.</p> + +<p>The Luxembourg Garden is principally remarkable for its statues without +fingers, almond trees without almonds, and <i>grisettes</i> without number. +Its groves of horse-chestnuts would be very beautiful if, in their +cropped condition, they did not remind the unprejudiced observer—who is +of course English—of the poodle dogs, who in their turn are cropped, it +would seem, to imitate the trees. The queens of France, too, who look +down upon you from pedestals at every turn, were evidently the work of +some secret republican; and the lions that flank the terraces on either +side, are apparently intended as a satire upon Britain. However, if one +could wish these animals somewhat less sweet and smiling, one could +scarcely wish the surrounding scene more so than it is, with its +blooming shrubs and scarcely less blooming damsels, gayly decorated +parterres, and gayly attired loungers, the occasional crash of a +military band, and the continual recurrence of military manœuvres.</p> + +<p>Just outside the gates, near the groves of tall trees leading to the +Barrière d'Enfer, there is always something "going on"—more soldiers, +of course, whom it is impossible to avoid in Paris, besides various +public exhibitions, all cheap, and some gratuitous. On one side, you are +attracted by that most irresistible of attractions—a crowd. Edging your +way through it, as a late arrival always does, you find yourself, with +the body of students whom you followed from the hôtel, "assisting" at +the exhibition of a wonderful dog, who is doing nothing, under the +direction of his master, in general a most repulsive-looking rascal, +bearded and bloused as if hot for a barricade. The dog, by doing +nothing, is not obeying orders; on the contrary, he is proving himself a +most sagacious animal by having his own way in defiance of all +authority. This the master attributes, not to the stupidity of the dog, +but to the absence of contributions from the spectators. A few sous are +showered down upon this hint; which proceeding, perhaps, brings out the +dog's talents to a slight extent; that is to say, he is induced to lie +down and pretend to be asleep; but it is doubtful, at the same time, +whether his compliance is attributable to the coppers of his audience, +or the kicks of his spirited proprietor. This is probably the only +performance of the wonderful animal; for it is remarkable that whatever +the sum thrown into the circle, it is never sufficient, according to the +exhibitor, to induce him to show off his grand tricks, so high a value +does he place upon his own talents.</p> + +<p>Who, among a different class of the animal<!--165.png--> creation, does not know what +is called a "genius," who sets even a higher value upon his talents, who +is equally capricious, and who certainly has never yet been persuaded to +show off his "grand trick?"</p> + +<p>You are probably next attracted by a crowd at a short distance, +surrounding an exhibition, dear to every English heart—that of "Punch." +The same familiar sentry-box, hung with the same green baize, hides the +same mysteries which are known to every body. But the part of +"Hamlet"—that is to say, "Punch"—though not exactly omitted, is +certainly not "first business." His hunch has lost its fullness; his +nose, its rubicundity; and his profligacy, its point. He is a feeble wag +when translated into French, and has a successful rival in the person of +one Nicolet—who, by the way, gives its name to the theatre—and who is +chiefly remarkable for a wonderful white hat, and a head wooden enough, +even for a low comedian.</p> + +<p>Nicolet is supposed to be a fast man. His enemies are not policemen and +magistrates, as in the case of "Punch," but husbands—for the reason +that his friends are among the wives. This seems to be the "leading +idea" of the drama of Nicolet, in common, indeed, with that of every +other French piece on record. If it were not considered impertinent in +the present day to draw morals, I might suggest that something more than +amusement is to be gained by contemplating the young children among the +crowd, who enjoy the delinquencies of this <i>Faublas</i> for the million, +with most precocious sagacity. It is delightful, in fact, to see the +gusto with which they anticipate innuendoes, and meet improprieties half +way, with all the well-bred composure of the most fashionable audience.</p> + +<p>It is not customary among the students to wait for the end of Nicolet's +performances. The fashionable hour for departure varies; but it is +generally about the period when the manager's wife begins to take round +the hat.</p> + +<p>Any one who accompanies a party of students in their morning rambles, +will most probably find himself, before long, in the "Closerie des +Lilacs," which is close by the same spot. The "Closerie" is associated +in name with lilacs, probably from the fact that it contains fewer +flowers of that description than any other place in the neighborhood. It +is a garden somewhat resembling Vauxhall; and at dusk there is an +attempt made at lighting it up, especially on certain evenings in the +week which are devoted to balls. These balls do not vary materially from +any other twopenny dances, either in London or Paris; but as a morning +lounge, the place is not without attractions. One of them, is the fact +that there is no charge for admission, the proprietor merely expecting +his guests to <i>convenue</i> something—a regulation which is generally +obeyed without much objection.</p> + +<p>Throughout the whole day may here be seen numerous specimens of the two +great clashes of the quarter—students and grisettes, some smoking, and +drinking beer and brandy in pretty little +<!--166.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">375</a></span> +bosquets, others disporting +themselves on a very high swing, which would seem to have been expressly +constructed for the purpose of breaking somebody's neck, and to have +failed in its object, somehow, like many other great inventions. +<i>Ecarte</i> is also very popular; but the fact that its practice requires +some little exertion of the intelligence, so very inconvenient to some +persons, will always prevent it from attaining entire supremacy in a +place so polite as Paris. To meet this objection, however, some +ingenious person has invented an entirely different style of game; an +alteration for which the Parisians appear deeply grateful. A small toad, +constructed of bronze, is placed upon a stand, and into its open mouth +the player throws little leaden dumps, with the privilege of scoring +some high number if he succeeds, and of hitting the legs of the +spectators if he fails. At this exciting game a party of embryo doctors +and lawyers will amuse themselves at the "Closerie" for hours, and +moreover exhibit indications of a most lively interest. The great +recommendation of the amusement, I believe, is, that the players <i>might</i> +be doing something worse; a philosophical system of reasoning which will +apply to most diversions—from pitch-and-toss to manslaughter.</p> + +<p>A few hours of this amusement is scarcely necessary to give the student +that sometimes inconvenient instinct—an appetite. Accordingly, at about +five, he begins to think about dining; or rather, he begins to perform +that operation, for he has been thinking about it for some time.</p> + +<p>Dining, in the weak imagination of conventional persons, usually induces +visions of Vefour, and is suggestive of Provençal fraternity. But the +student of the Quartier Latin, if he indulges in any such visions, or is +visited by any such suggestions, finds their end about as substantial as +their beginning. His dreamy dinners have, alas! no possibility of +realization. Truffles to him are tasteless, and his "trifles" are +literally "light as air." Provence provides him, unfortunately, with +more songs than suppers, and the fraternal associations with which he is +best acquainted are those of the Cuisiniers in the Rue Racine or Rue des +Mathurins.</p> + +<p>It is, very probably, with one of these "Fraternal Associations of +Cooks" that the student proceeds to dine. These societies, which are +fast multiplying in every quarter of Paris, are patronized principally +by Republicans who are red, and by Monarchists who are poor. The former +are attracted by sympathy, the latter are driven by necessity. Indeed, a +<i>plat</i> at six sous, which is the usual price at these establishments, is +a very appropriate reward for the one, or refuge for the other. At these +establishments—which had no existence before the last revolution—every +body is equal; there are no masters, and there are no servants. The +<i>garçons</i> who wait upon the guests are the proprietors, and the guests +themselves are not recognized as having any superior social position. +The guest who addresses the waiter as "<i>garçon</i>" is very probably +insulted, and the <i>garçon</i> who addresses<!--167.png--> a guest as "<i>monsieur</i>" is +liable to be expelled from the society. In each case, "<i>citoyen</i>" is the +current form of courtesy, and any person who objects to the term is free +to dine elsewhere. Even the dishes have a republican savor. "<i>Macaroni à +la République</i>," "<i>Fricandeau à la Robespierre</i>," or "<i>Filet à la +Charrier</i>," are as dear to republican hearts as they are cheap to +republican pockets.</p> + +<p>A dinner of this kind costs the student little more than a franc. If he +is more ostentatious, or epicurean, he dines at Risbec's, in the Place +de l'Odeon. Here, for one franc, sixty centimes, he has an entertainment +consisting of four courses and a dessert, inclusive of half a bottle of +<i>vin ordinaire</i>. If he is a sensible man, he prefers this to the +Associated Cooks, who, it must be confessed, even by republicans of +taste, are not quite what might be expected, considering the advancing +principles they profess.</p> + +<p>After dinner, the student, if the Prado or some equally congenial +establishment is not open, usually addicts himself to the theatre. His +favorite resort is, not the Odeon, as might be supposed, from its +superior importance and equal cheapness, but the "Théatre du +Luxembourg," familiarly called by its frequenters—why, is a +mystery—"Bobineau's." Here the student is in his element. He talks to +his acquaintance across the house; indulges in comic demonstrations of +ecstasy whenever Mademoiselle Hermance appears on the scene, and, in +short, makes himself as ridiculous and contented as can be. Mademoiselle +Hermance, it is necessary to add, is the goddess of the quarter, and has +nightly no end of worshipers. The theatre itself is every thing that +could be desired by any gentleman of advanced principles, who spurns +propriety, and inclines himself toward oranges.</p> + +<p>After the theatre the student probably goes home, and there I will leave +him safely. My object has been merely to indicate the general +characteristics of his ordinary life, from which he seldom deviates, +unless tempted by an unexpected remittance to indulge in more costly +recreations, afforded by the Bal Mobile or the Château Rouge.</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="A_FAQUIRS_CURSE" id="A_FAQUIRS_CURSE"></a>A FAQUIR'S CURSE.</h2> + +<p>Among the many strange objects which an Englishman meets with in India, +there are few which tend so much to upset his equanimity as a visit from +a wandering faquir.</p> + +<p>The advent of one of these gentry in an English settlement is regarded +with much the same sort of feeling as a vagrant cockroach, when he makes +his appearance unannounced in a modern drawing-room. If we could imagine +the aforesaid cockroach brandishing his horns in the face of the +horrified inmates, exulting in the disgust which his presence creates, +and intimating, with a conceited swagger, that, in virtue of his +ugliness, he considered himself entitled to some cake and wine, perhaps +the analogy would be more complete.</p> + +<p>The faquir is the mendicant friar of India. He owns no superior; wears +no clothing; performs +<!--168.png--><span class="pagenum">376</span> +no work; despises every body and every thing; +sometimes pretends to perpetual fasting; and lives on the fat of the +land.</p> + +<p>There is this much, however, to be said for him, that when he does +mortify himself for the good of the community, he does it to some +purpose. A lenten fast, or a penance of parched peas in his shoes, would +be a mere bagatelle to him. We have seen a faquir who was never "known" +to eat at all. He carried a small black stone about with him, which had +been presented to his mother by a holy man. He pretended that by sucking +this stone, and without the aid of any sort of nutriment, he had arrived +at the mature age of forty; yet he had a nest of supplementary chins, +and a protuberant paunch, which certainly did great credit to the +fattening powers of the black stone. Oddly enough, his business was to +collect eatables and drinkables; but, like the Scottish gentleman who +was continually begging brimstone, they were "no for hissel, but for a +neebor." When I saw him he was soliciting offerings of rice, milk, fish, +and ghee, for the benefit of his patron Devi. These offerings were +nightly laid upon the altar before the Devi, who was supposed to +<i>absorb</i> them during the night, considerately leaving the fragments to +be distributed among the poor of the parish. His godship was very +discriminating in the goodness and freshness of these offerings; for he +rejected such as were stale, to be returned next morning, with his +maledictions, to the fraudulent donors.</p> + +<p>Sometimes a faquir will take it into his head that the community will be +benefited by his trundling himself along, like a cart-wheel, for a +couple of hundred miles or so. He ties his wrists to his ankles, gets a +<i>tire</i>, composed of chopped straw, mud, and cow-dung, laid along the +ridge of his backbone; a bamboo-staff passed through the angle formed by +his knees and his elbows, by way of an axle, and off he goes; a brazen +cup, with a bag, and a <i>hubble-bubble</i>, hang like tassels at the two +extremities of the axle. Thus accoutred, he often starts on a journey +which will occupy him for several years, like Milton's fiend,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"O'er bog, or steep, through straight, rough, dense, or rare,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With head, hands, feet, or wings, pursues his way."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>On arriving in the vicinity of a village, the whole population turn out +to meet and escort him with due honors to the public well or tank; the +men beating drums, and the women singing through their noses. Here his +holiness unbends, washes off the dust and dirt acquired by perambulating +several miles of dusty road; and, after partaking of a slight +refreshment, enters into conversation with the assembled villagers just +as if he were an ordinary mortal; making very particular inquiries +concerning the state of their larders, and slight investigations as to +their morals. Of course every one is anxious to have the honor of +entertaining a man so holy as to roll to their presence doubled up into +a hoop; and disputes get warm as to who is to have the preference. +Whereupon the faquir makes a speech, in which<!--169.png--> he returns thanks for the +attentions shown him and intimates that he intends taking up his +quarters with the man who is most capable of testifying his appreciation +of the honor. After some higgling, he knocks himself down, a decided +bargain, to be the guest of the highest bidder, in whose house he +remains, giving good advice to the community, and diffusing an odor of +sanctity throughout the whole village. When the supplies begin to fail, +he ties his hands to his heels again, gets a fresh tire put on, and is +escorted out of the village with the same formalities as accompanied his +entrance.</p> + +<p>Like other vermin of his class, he is most apt to attach himself to the +"weaker vessels" of humanity, with whom he is generally a prodigious +favorite. He is not, certainly, indebted to his personal advantages for +this favor, for a more hideously ugly race of men is seldom met with. As +if nature had not made him sufficiently repulsive, he heightens his +hideousness by encircling his eyes with bands of white paint; daubing +his cheeks a rich mustard yellow: a white streak runs along the ridge of +his nose, and another forms a circle round his mouth: his ribs are +indicated by corresponding bars of white paint, which give a highly +venerable cross-bones effect to his breast. When I add, that he wears no +clothes, and that the use of soap is no part of his religion, some idea +may be gained of the effect the first view of him occasions in the mind +of a European.</p> + +<p>On the afternoon of a very sultry day in June, I had got a table out in +the veranda of my bungalow, and was amusing myself with a galvanic +apparatus, giving such of my servants as had the courage, a taste of +what they called <i>Wulatee boiujee</i> (English lightning), when a long +gaunt figure, with his hair hanging in disordered masses over his face, +was observed to cross the lawn. On arriving within a few paces of where +I stood, he drew himself up in an imposing attitude—one of his arms +akimbo, while the other held out toward me what appeared to be a pair of +tongs, with a brass dish at the extremity of it.</p> + +<p>"Who are you?" I called out.</p> + +<p>"Faquir," was the guttural response.</p> + +<p>"What do you want?"</p> + +<p>"Bheek" (alms).</p> + +<p>"Bheek!" I exclaimed, "surely you are joking—a great stout fellow like +you can't be wanting bheek?"</p> + +<p>The faquir paid not the slightest attention, but continued holding out +his tongs with the dish at the end of it.</p> + +<p>"You had better be off," I said; "I never give bheek to people who are +able to work."</p> + +<p>"We do Khooda's work," replied the faquir, with a swagger.</p> + +<p>"Oh! you do—then," I answered, "you had better ask Khooda for bheek." +So saying, I turned to the table, and began arranging the apparatus for +making some experiments. Happening to look up about five minutes after, +I observed that the faquir was standing upon one leg, and struggling to +assume as much majesty as was +<!--170.png--><span class="pagenum">377</span> +consistent with his equilibrium. The +tongs and dish were still extended—while his left hand sustained his +right foot across his abdomen. I turned to the table, and tried to go on +with my work; but I blundered awfully, broke a glass jar, cut my +fingers, and made a mess on the table. I had a consciousness of the +faquir's staring at me with his extended dish, and could not get the +fellow out of my head. I looked up at him again. There he was as grand +as ever, on his one leg, and with his eyes riveted on mine. He continued +this performance for nearly an hour, yet there did not seem to be the +faintest indication of his unfolding himself—rather a picturesque +ornament to the lawn, if he should take it into his head—as these +fellows sometimes do—to remain in the same position for a twelvemonth. +"If," I said, "you stand there much longer, I'll give you such a taste +of boinjee (lightning) as will soon make you glad to go."</p> + +<p>The only answer to this threat was a smile of derision that sent his +mustache bristling up against his nose.</p> + +<p>"Lightning!" he sneered—"your lightning can't touch a faquir—the gods +take care of him."</p> + +<p>Without more ado, I charged the battery and connected it with a coil +machine, which, as those who have tried it are aware, is capable of +racking the nerves in such a way as few people care to try, and which +none are capable of voluntarily enduring beyond a few seconds.</p> + +<p>The faquir seemed rather amused at the queer-looking implements on the +table, but otherwise maintained a look of lofty stoicism; nor did he +seem in any way alarmed when I approached with the conductors.</p> + +<p>Some of my servants who had already experienced the process, now came +clustering about with looks of ill-suppressed merriment, to witness the +faquir's ordeal. I fastened one wire to his still extended tongs, and +the other to the foot on the ground.</p> + +<p>As the coil machine was not yet in action, beyond disconcerting him a +little, the attachment of the wires did not otherwise affect him. But +when I pushed the magnet into the coil, and gave him the full strength +of the battery, he howled like a demon; the tongs—to which his hand was +now fastened by a force beyond his will—quivered in his unwilling grasp +as if it were burning the flesh from his bones. He threw himself on the +ground, yelling and gnashing his teeth, the tongs clanging an irregular +accompaniment. Never was human pride so abruptly cast down. He was +rolling about in such a frantic way that I began to fear he would do +himself mischief; and, thinking he had now had as much as was good for +him, I stopped the machine and released him.</p> + +<p>For some minutes he lay quivering on the ground, as if not quite sure +that the horrible spell was broken; then gathering himself up, he flung +the tongs from him, bounded across the lawn, and over the fence like an +antelope. When he had got to what he reckoned cursing distance,<!--171.png--> he +turned round, shook his fists at me, and fell to work—pouring out a +torrent of imprecations—shouting, screeching, and tossing his arms +about in a manner fearful to behold.</p> + +<p>There is this peculiarity in the abuse of an Oriental, that, beyond +wishing the object of it a liberal endowment of blisters, boils, and +ulcers (no inefficient curses in a hot country), he does not otherwise +allude to him personally; but directs the main burden of his wrath +against his female relatives—from his grandmother to his +grand-daughter—wives, daughters, sisters, aunts, and grand-aunts +inclusive. These he imprecates individually and collectively through +every clause of a prescribed formulary, which has been handed down by +his ancestors, and which, in searchingness of detail, and +comprehensiveness of malediction, leaves small scope to additions or +improvements.</p> + +<p>Leaving me, then, to rot and wither from the face of the earth, and +consigning all my female kindred to utter and inevitable death and +destruction, he walked off to a neighboring village to give vent to his +feelings and compose his ruffled dignity.</p> + +<p>It so happened, that a short time after the faquir had gone, I +incautiously held my head, while watching the result of some +experiments, over a dish of fuming acid, and consequently became so ill +as to be obliged to retire to my bedroom and lie down. In about an hour, +I called to my bearer to fetch me a glass of water; but, although I +heard him and some of the other servants whispering together behind the +purda, or door-curtain, no attention was paid to my summons. After +repeating the call two or three times with the same result, I got up to +see what was the matter. On drawing aside the purda, I beheld the whole +establishment seated in full conclave on their haunches round the door. +On seeing me, they all got up and took to their heels, like a covey of +frightened partridges. The old kidmudgar was too fat to run far; so I +seized him just as he was making his exit by a gap in the garden fence. +He was, at first, quite incapable of giving any account of himself; so I +made him sit a minute among the long grass to recover his wind, when he +broke out with, "Oh! <i>re-bab-re-bab</i>!" and began to blubber, as only a +fat kidmudgar can, imploring me to send instantly for the faquir, and +make him a present; if I did not, I would certainly be a dead man before +to-morrow's sun; "For," said he, "a faquir's curse is good as +<i>kismut-ke-bat</i>" (a matter of fate). Some of his fellows now seeing that +the murder was out, ventured to come back, and joined in requesting me +to save my life while there was yet time.</p> + +<p>A laugh was the only answer I could make. This somewhat reassured them, +but it was easy to see that I was regarded by all as a doomed man. It +was to no purpose that I told them I was now quite well, and endeavored +to explain the cause of my sickness. They would have it that I was in a +dying state, and that my only salvation lay in sending off a messenger +with a +<!--172.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">378</a></span> +kid and a bag of rupees to the faquir. The durdzee (tailor), who +had just come from the village where the faquir had taken refuge, told +me, that as soon as the faquir heard that I was ill, he performed a <i>pas +seul</i> of a most impressive character, shouting and threatening to curse +every body in the village as he had cursed me and mine. The consequence +was that pice, cowries, rice, and ghee were showered upon him with +overwhelming liberality.</p> + +<p>Without saying a word, I armed myself with a horsewhip, set out for the +village, and found the faquir surrounded by a dense crowd of men and +women; to whom he was jabbering with tremendous volubility; telling them +how he had withered me up root and branch, and expressing a hope that I +would serve as a lesson to the other children of Sheitan who ventured to +take liberties with a faquir. The crowd hid me from him till I broke in +upon his dreams with a slight taste of my whip across his shoulders. His +eyes nearly leaped out of their sockets when he turned round and saw me. +Another intimation from my thong sent him off with a yell, leaving the +rich spoil he had collected from the simple villagers behind. What +became of him I can not tell. I heard no more of him.</p> + +<p>A few such adventures as these would tend to lessen the gross, and, to +them, expensive superstitions under which the natives of India at +present labor.</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="LOVE_AND_SMUGGLING_A_STORY_OF_THE_ENGLISH_COAST" id="LOVE_AND_SMUGGLING_A_STORY_OF_THE_ENGLISH_COAST"></a>LOVE AND SMUGGLING.—A STORY OF THE ENGLISH COAST.</h2> + +<p>My name is Warneford—at least it is not very unlike that—and I was +born at Itchen, a village distant in those days about a mile and a half, +by land and ferry, from Southampton. How much nearer the, as I hear and +read, rapidly-increasing town has since approached I can not say, as it +will be twenty-nine years next July since I finally quitted the +neighborhood. The village, at that time, chiefly inhabited by ferry and +fishermen, crept in a straggling sort of way up a declivity from the +margin of the Itchen river, which there reaches and joins the +Southampton estuary, till it arrives at Pear-Tree Green, an eminence +commanding one of the finest and most varied land-and-water views the +eye of man has, I think, ever rested upon. My father, a retired +lieutenant of the royal navy, was not a native of the place, as his name +alone would sufficiently indicate to a person acquainted with the then +Itchen people—almost every one of whom was either a Dible or a +Diaper—but he had been many years settled there, and Pear-Tree +church-yard contained the dust of his wife and five children—I and my +sister Jane, who was a year older than myself, being all of his numerous +family who survived their childhood. We were in fair circumstances, as +my father, in addition to his half-pay, possessed an income of something +above a hundred pounds a year. Jane and I were carefully, though of +course not highly or expensively educated; and as soon as I had attained +the warrior-age of fifteen, I was dispatched<!--173.png--> to sea to fight my +country's battles—Sir Joseph Yorke having, at my father's request, +kindly obtained a midshipman's warrant for me; and not many weeks after +joining the ship to which I was appointed, I found myself, to my great +astonishment, doubling the French line at the Nile—an exploit which I +have since read of with far more satisfaction than I remember to have +experienced during its performance.</p> + +<p>Four years passed before I had an opportunity of revisiting home; and it +was with a beating as well as joyful heart, and light, elastic step, +that I set off to walk the distance from Gosport to Itchen. I need +hardly say that I was welcomed by Jane with tears of love and happiness. +It was not long, however, before certain circumstances occurred which +induced my worthy but peremptory father to cut my leave of absence +suddenly and unmercifully short. I have before noticed that the +aborigines of my native place were for the most part Dibles or Diapers. +Well, it happened that among the former was one Ellen Dible, the +daughter of a fisherman somewhat more prosperous than many of his +fellows. This young lady was a slim, active, blue-eyed, bright-haired +gipsy, about two years younger than myself, but somewhat tall and +womanly for her age, of a light, charming figure, and rather genteel +manners; which latter quality, by-the-by, must have come by nature, for +but little education of any kind had fallen to her share. She was, it +may be supposed, the <i>belle</i> of the place, and very numerous were her +rustic admirers; but they all vanished in a twinkling, awestruck by my +uniform, and especially by the dangling dirk which I occasionally +handled in a very alarming manner; and I, sentimental moon-calf that I +was, fell, as it is termed, deeply and earnestly in love with the +village beauty! It must have been her personal graces alone—her +conversation it could not be—which thus entangled me; for she seldom +spoke, and then in reply only, and in monosyllables; but she listened +divinely, and as we strolled in the evening through the fields and woods +between Itchen and Netley Abbey, gazed with such enchanting eloquence in +my face, as I poured forth the popular love and nonsense poetry of the +time, that it is very possible I might have been sooner or later +entrapped into a ruinous marriage—not by her, poor girl! she was, I am +sure, as guileless as infancy, but by her parents, who were scheming, +artful people—had not my father discovered what was going on, and in +his rough way dispelled my silly day-dreams at once and forever.</p> + +<p>The church-yard at the summit of Pear-Tree Green, it used to be commonly +said, was that in which Gray composed his famous "Elegy," or at all +events which partially inspired it. I know not if this be correct; but I +remember thinking, as I sat one fine September evening by the side of +Ellen Dible upon the flat wooden railing which then inclosed it, that +the tradition had great likelihood. The broad and tranquil waters of the +Southampton and Itchen rivers—bounded in the far distance by the New +Forest, with its wavy masses +<!--174.png--><span class="pagenum">379</span> +of varying light and shade, and on the +left by the leafy woods, from out of which I often think the gray ruins +of the old abbey must in these days look grimly and spectre-like forth +upon the teeming, restless life which mocks its hoary solitude—were at +the full of a spring tide. It was just, too, the hour of "parting day;" +and as the sun-tipped spires of the Southampton churches faded gradually +into indistinctness, and the earlier stars looked out, the curfew, +mellowed by distance into music, came to us upon the light air which +gently stirred fair Ellen's glossy ringlets, as she, with her bonnet in +her hand—for our walk had tired her—looked with her dove-innocent, +transparent eyes in mine, while I repeated Gray's melodious lines. The +Elegy was concluded, and I was rapturizing even more vehemently than was +my wont, when, whack! I received a blow on my shoulder, which sent us +both off the rail; for Ellen held me by the arm, and it was quite as +much as I could do to keep my feet when I reached them. I turned +fiercely round, only to encounter the angry and sardonic countenance of +my father. "I'll have no more of this nonsense, Bob," he gruffly +exclaimed. "Be off home with you, and to-morrow I'll see you safe on +board your ship, depend upon it. As for this pretty minx," he continued, +addressing Ellen, who so trembled with confusion and dismay that she +could scarcely tie her bonnet-strings, "I should think she would be +better employed in mending her father's shirts, or darning her brother's +stockings, than in gossiping her time away with a brainless young lubber +like you." I was, of course, awfully incensed, but present resistance, I +knew, was useless; and after contriving to exchange a mute gesture with +Ellen of eternal love, constancy, and despair, we took our several ways +homeward. Before twelve o'clock the next day I was posting to Gosport, +accompanied by my father, but not till after I had obtained, through the +agency of my soft-hearted sister, a farewell interview with Ellen, when +we of course made fervent vows of mutual fidelity—affirmed and +consecrated, at Ellen's suggestion, by the mystical ceremony of breaking +a crooked sixpence in halves—a moiety to be worn by each of us about +our necks, as an eternal memorial and pendant protest against the flinty +hearts of fathers.</p> + +<p>This boyish fancy faded but slowly and lingeringly away with the busy +and tumultuous years which passed over my head, till the peace of 1815 +cast me an almost useless sea-waif upon the land, to take root and +vegetate there as I best might upon a lieutenant's half-pay. My father +had died about two years before, and the hundred a year he left us was +scarcely more than sufficient for the support of my sister, whose +chances of an eligible marriage had vanished with her comeliness, which +a virulent attack of small-pox had utterly destroyed, though it had in +nothing changed the patient sweetness of her disposition, and the gentle +loving spirit that shone through all its disfiguring scars and seams. I +had never heard directly from Ellen Dible, although,<!--175.png--> during the first +months of separation, I had written to her many times; the reason of +which was partially explained by a few lines in one of Jane's letters, +announcing Ellen Dible's marriage—it seemed under some kind of moral +compulsion—to a person of their own grade, and their removal from +Itchen. This happened about six months after my last interview with her. +I made no further inquiries, and, Jane thinking the subject might be a +painful one, it happened that, by a kind of tacit understanding, it was +never afterward alluded to between us.</p> + +<p>The utter weariness of an idle shore life soon became insupportable, and +I determined to solicit the good offices of Sir Joseph Yorke with the +Admiralty. The gallant admiral had now taken up his permanent residence +near Hamble, a village on the river of that name, which issues into the +Southampton water not very far from opposite Calshot Castle. Sir Joseph +was drowned there about eight or nine years after I left the station. A +more perfect gentleman, let me pause a moment to say, or a better +seaman, than Sir Joseph, never, I believe, existed; and of a handsome, +commanding presence too—"half-way up a hatchway" at least, to use his +own humorous self-description, his legs scarcely corresponding in +vigorous outline to the rest of his person. He received me with his +usual frank urbanity, and I left him provided with a letter to the +secretary of the admiralty—the ultimate and not long-delayed result of +which was my appointment to the command of the <i>Rose</i> revenue-cutter, +the duties attached to which consisted in carefully watching, in the +interest of His Majesty's customs, the shores of the Southampton river, +the Solent sea, the Wight, and other contiguous portions of the seaboard +of Hants and Dorset.</p> + +<p>The ways of smugglers were of course new to me; but we had several +experienced hands on board, and as I zealously applied myself to the +study of the art of contraband, I was not long in acquiring a competent +knowledge of the traditional contrivances employed to defraud the +revenue. Little of interest occurred during the first three or four +weeks of my novel command, except that by the sharpened vigilance of our +look-out, certain circumstances came to light, strongly indicating that +Barnaby Diaper, the owner of a cutter-rigged fishing-vessel of rather +large burden, living near Hamble Creek, was extensively engaged in the +then profitable practice of running moonshine, demurely and +industriously as, when ashore, he appeared to be ever-lastingly mending +his nets, or cobbling the bottom of the smack's boat. He was a hale, +wiry fellow this Barnaby—Old Barnaby, as he was familiarly called, +surnames in those localities being seldom used—with a wooden stolidity +of countenance which utterly defied scrutiny, if it did not silence +suspicion. His son, who was a partner in the cutter, lived at Weston, a +beautifully-situated hamlet between Itchen and Netley. A vigilant watch +was consequently kept upon the movements of the Barnabys, father, son, +and +<!--176.png--><span class="pagenum">380</span> +grandson—this last a smart, precocious youngster, I understood, of +about sixteen years of age, by which family trio the suspicious +<i>Blue-eyed Maid</i> was, with occasional assistance, manned, sailed, and +worked. Very rarely, indeed, was the <i>Blue-eyed Maid</i> observed to be +engaged in her ostensible occupation. She would suddenly disappear, and +as suddenly return, and always, we soon came to notice, on the nights +when the <i>Rose</i> happened to be absent from the Southampton waters.</p> + +<p>We had missed her for upward of a week, when information reached us that +a large lugger we had chased without success a few nights previously +would attempt to run a cargo at a spot not far from Lymington, soon +after midnight. I accordingly, as soon as darkness had fallen, ran down, +and stood off and on, within signal-distance of the shore-men with whom +I had communicated, till dawn, in vain expectation of the promised +prize. I strongly suspected that we had been deceived; and on rounding +Calshot Castle on our return, I had no doubt of it, for there, sure +enough, was the <i>Blue-eyed Maid</i> riding lightly at anchor off Hamble +Creek, and from her slight draught of water it was quite evident that +her cargo, whatever it might have consisted of, had been landed, or +otherwise disposed of. They had been smart with their work, for the +summer night and our absence had lasted but a few hours only. I boarded +her, and found Old Barnaby, whom I knew by sight, and his two +descendants, whom I had not before seen, busily engaged swabbing the +cutter's deck, and getting matters generally into order and ship-shape. +The son a good deal resembled the old man, except that his features wore +a much more intelligent and good-humored expression; and the boy was an +active, bold-eyed, curly-headed youngster, whose countenance, but for a +provoking sauciness of expression apparently habitual to him, would have +been quite handsome. I thought I had seen his face somewhere before, and +he, I noticed, suddenly stopped from his work on hearing my name, and +looked at me with a smiling but earnest curiosity. The morning's work +had, I saw, been thoroughly performed, and as I was in no humor for a +profitless game of cross questions and crooked answers, I, after +exchanging one or two colloquial courtesies, in which I had by no means +the advantage, returned to the <i>Rose</i> more than ever satisfied that the +interesting family I had left required and would probably repay the +closest watchfulness and care.</p> + +<p>On the evening of the same day the <i>Blue-eyed Maid</i> again vanished: a +fortnight slipped by, and she had not re-appeared; when the <i>Rose</i>, +having slightly grazed her bottom in going over the shifting shingle at +the northwest of the Wight, went into Portsmouth harbor to be examined. +Some of her copper was found to be stripped off; there were other +trifling damages; and two or three days would elapse before she could be +got ready for service. This interval I spent with my sister. The evening +after I arrived<!--177.png--> at Itchen, Jane and I visited Southampton, and +accompanied an ancient female acquaintance residing in Bugle-street—a +dull, grass-grown place in those days, whatever it may be now—to the +theatre in, I believe, the same street. The performances were not over +till near twelve o'clock, and after escorting the ladies home, I wended +my way toward the Sun Inn on the quay, where I was to sleep—my sister +remaining for the night with our friend. The weather, which had been +dark and squally an hour or two before, was now remarkably fine and +calm; and the porter of the inn telling me they should not close the +house for some time longer, I strolled toward the Platform Battery, +mounted by a single piece of brass ordnance overlooking the river, and +pointing menacingly toward the village of Hythe. The tide was at the +full, and a faint breeze slightly rippled the magnificent expanse of +water which glanced and sparkled in the bright moon and starlight of a +cloudless autumn sky. My attention was not long absorbed by the beauty +of the scene, peerless as I deemed it; for unless my eyes strangely +deceived me, the <i>Blue-eyed Maid</i> had returned, and quietly anchored off +Weston. She appeared to have but just brought up; for the mainsail, +three new patches in which chiefly enabled me to recognize her, was +still flapping in the wind, and it appeared to me—though from the +distance, and the shadow of the dark back-ground of woods in which she +lay, it was difficult to speak with certainty—that she was deeply +laden. There was not a moment to be lost; and fortunately, just in the +nick of time, a boat with two watermen approached the platform steps. I +tendered them a guinea to put me on board the smack off Weston—an offer +which they eagerly accepted; and I was soon speeding over the waters to +her. My uniform must have apprised the Barnabys of the nature of the +visit about to be paid them; for when we were within about a quarter of +a mile of their vessel, two figures, which I easily recognized to be Old +Barnaby and his grandson, jumped into a boat that had been loading +alongside, and rowed desperately for the shore, but at a point +considerably further up the river, toward Itchen. There appeared to be +no one left on board the <i>Blue-eyed Maid</i>, and the shore-confederates of +the smugglers did not show themselves, conjecturing, doubtless, as I had +calculated they would, upon my having plenty of help within signal call. +I therefore determined to capture the boat first, and return with her to +the cutter. The watermen, excited by the chase, pulled with a will; and +in about ten minutes we ran alongside the Barnaby's boat, jumped in, and +found her loaded to the gunwale with brandy kegs.</p> + +<p>"Fairly caught at last, old fellow!" I exclaimed exultingly, in reply to +the maledictions he showered on us. "And now pull the boat's head round, +and make for the <i>Blue-eyed Maid</i>, or I'll run you through the body."</p> + +<p>"Pull her head round yourself," he sullenly rejoined, as he rose from +the thwart and unshipped his oar. "It's bad enough to be robbed +<!--178.png--><span class="pagenum">381</span> +of +one's hard arnings athout helping the thieves to do it."</p> + +<p>His refusal was of no consequence: the watermen's light skiff was made +fast astern, and in a few minutes we were pulling steadily toward the +still motionless cutter. Old Barnaby was fumbling among the tubs in +search, as he growled out, of his pea-jacket; his hopeful grandson was +seated at the stern whistling the then popular air of the "Woodpecker" +with great energy and perfect coolness; and I was standing with my back +toward them in the bow of the boat, when the stroke-oarsman suddenly +exclaimed: "What are you at with the boat's painter, you young devil's +cub?" The quick mocking laugh of the boy, and the words, "Now, grandfer, +now!" replied to him. Old Barnaby sprang into the boat which the lad had +brought close up to the stern, pushing her off as he did so with all his +strength; and then the boy, holding the painter or boat-rope, which he +had detached from the ring it had been fastened to, in his hand, jumped +over the side; in another instant he was hauled out of the water by Old +Barnaby, and both were seated and pulling lustily, and with exulting +shouts, round in the direction of the <i>Blue-eyed Maid</i>, before we had +recovered from the surprise which the suddenness and completeness of the +trick we had been played excited. We were, however, very speedily in +vigorous chase; and as the wind, though favorable, and evidently rising, +was still light, we had little doubt of success, especially as some +precious minutes must be lost to the smuggler in getting under weigh, +neither jib nor foresail being as yet set. The watermen bent fiercely to +their oars; and heavily laden as the boat was, we were beginning to slip +freely through the water, when an exclamation from one of the men +announced another and more perilous trick that the Barnabys had played +us. Old Barnaby, in pretending to fumble about for his jacket, had +contrived to unship a large plug expressly contrived for the purpose of +sinking the boat whenever the exigences of their vocation might render +such an operation advisable; and the water was coming in like a sluice. +There was no help for it, and the boat's head was immediately turned +toward the shore. Another vociferous shout rang in our ears as the full +success of their scheme was observed by the Barnabys, replied to of +course by the furious but impotent execrations of the watermen. The boat +sank rapidly; and we were still about a hundred yards from the shore +when we found ourselves splashing about in the water, which fortunately +was not more than up to the armpits of the shortest of us, but so full +of strong and tangled seaweed, that swimming was out of the question; +and we had to wade slowly and painfully through it, a step on a spot of +more than usually soft mud plumping us down every now and then over head +and ears. After reaching the shore and shaking ourselves, we found +leisure to look in the direction of the <i>Blue-eyed Maid</i>, and had the +exquisite pleasure of seeing her glide gracefully through the water as +she stood<!--179.png--> down the river, impelled by the fast-freshening breeze, and +towing the watermen's boat securely at her stern.</p> + +<p>There were no means of pursuit; and after indulging in sundry energetic +vocables hardly worth repeating, we retreated in savage discomfiture +toward Weston, plentifully sprinkling the grass and gravel as we slowly +passed along; knocked up the landlord of a public house, and turning in +as soon as possible, happily exchanged our dripping attire for warm +blankets and clean sheets, beneath the soothing influence of which I, +for one, was soon sound asleep.</p> + +<p>Day had hardly dawned when we were all three up, and overhauling the mud +and weeds—the tide was quite gone out—for the captured boat and tubs. +They had vanished utterly: the fairies about Weston had spirited them +away while we slept, leaving no vestige whatever of the spoil to which +we had naturally looked as some trifling compensation for the night's +mishap, and the loss of the watermen's boat, to say nothing of the +sousing we had got. It was a bad business certainly, and my promise to +provide my helpmates with another boat, should their own not be +recovered, soothed but very slightly their sadly-ruffled tempers. But +lamentations were useless, and, after the lugubrious expression of a +dismal hope for better luck next time, we separated.</p> + +<p>This pleasant incident did not in the least abate my anxiety to get once +more within hailing distance of the Barnabys; but for a long time my +efforts were entirely fruitless, and I had begun to think that the +<i>Blue-eyed Maid</i> had been permanently transferred to another and less +vigilantly watched station, when a slight inkling of intelligence +dispelled that fear. My plan was soon formed. I caused it to be +carelessly given out on shore that the <i>Rose</i> had sprung her bowsprit in +the gale a day or two before, and was going the next afternoon into +Portsmouth to get another. In pursuance of this intention, the <i>Rose</i> +soon after noon slipped her moorings, and sailed for that port; remained +quietly there till about nine o'clock in the evening, and then came out +under close-reefed storm canvas, for it was blowing great guns from the +northward, and steered for the Southampton river. The night was as black +as pitch; and but for the continuous and vivid flashes of lightning, no +object more than a hundred yards distant from the vessel could have been +discerned. We ran up abeam of Hythe without perceiving the object of our +search, then tacked, stood across to the other side, and then retraced +our course. We were within a short distance of Hamble River, when a +prolonged flash threw a ghastly light upon the raging waters, and +plainly revealed the <i>Blue-eyed Maid</i>, lying-to under the lee of the +north shore, and it may be about half a mile ahead of us. Unfortunately +she saw us at the same moment, and as soon as way could be got upon her +she luffed sharply up, and a minute afterward was flying through the +water in the hope of yet escaping her unexpected enemy. By edging away +to leeward +<!--180.png--><span class="pagenum">382</span> +I contrived to cut her off effectually from running into the +channel by the Needles passage; but nothing daunted, she held boldly on +without attempting to reduce an inch of canvas, although, from the press +she carried, fairly buried in the sea. Right in the course she was +steering, the <i>Donegal</i>, a huge eighty-gun ship, was riding at anchor +off Spithead. Old Barnaby, who, I could discern by his streaming white +hairs, was at the helm, in his anxiety to keep as well to windward of us +as possible, determined, I suppose, to pass as closely as he prudently +could under the stern of the line-of-battle ship. Unfortunately, just as +the little cutter was in the act of doing so, a furious blast of wind +tore away her jib as if it had been cobweb; and, pressed by her large +mainsail, the slight vessel flew up into the wind, meeting the <i>Donegal</i> +as the huge ship drove back from a strain which had brought her half way +to her anchors. The crash was decisive, and caused the instant +disappearance of the unfortunate smuggler. The cry of the drowning men, +if they had time to utter one, was lost amid the raging of the tempest; +and although we threw overboard every loose spar we could lay hands on, +it was with scarcely the slightest hope that such aid could avail them +in that wild sea. I tacked as speedily as possible, and repassed the +spot; but the white foam of the waves, as they leaped and dashed about +the leviathan bulk of the <i>Donegal</i>, was all that could be perceived, +eagerly as we peered over the surface of the angry waters. The <i>Rose</i> +then stood on, and a little more than an hour afterward was safely +anchored off Hythe.</p> + +<p>The boy Barnaby, I was glad to hear a day or two afterward, had not +accompanied his father and grandfather in the last trip made by the +<i>Blue-eyed Maid</i>, and had consequently escaped the fate which had so +suddenly overtaken them, and for which it appeared that the smuggling +community held me morally accountable. This was to be expected; but I +had too often and too lately been familiar with death at sea in every +shape, by the rage of man as well as that of the elements, to be more +than slightly and temporarily affected by such an incident; so that all +remembrance of it would probably have soon passed away but for an +occurrence which took place about a month subsequently. One of the +officers of the shore-force received information that two large luggers, +laden with brandy and tobacco from Guernsey, were expected the following +night on some point of the coast between Hamble and Weston; and that as +the cargoes were very valuable, a desperate resistance to the +coast-guard, in the event of detection, had been organized. Our plan was +soon arranged. The <i>Rose</i> was sent away with barely enough men to handle +her, and with the remainder of the crew, I, as soon as night fell, took +up a position a little above Netley Abbey. Two other detachments of the +coast-guard were posted along the shore at intervals of about a mile, +all of course connected by signal-men not more than a hundred yards +apart. There was a faint starlight, but the moon would not rise till +near midnight; and<!--181.png--> from this circumstance, as well as from the state of +the tides, we could pretty well calculate when to expect our friends, +should they come at all. It was not long before we were quite satisfied, +from the stealthy movements of a number of persons about the spot, that +the information we had received was correct. Just after eleven o'clock a +low, peculiar whistle, taken up from distance to distance, was heard; +and by placing our ears to the ground, the quick jerk of oars in the +rullocks was quite apparent. After about five minutes of eager +restlessness, I gave the impatiently-expected order; we all emerged from +our places of concealment, and with cautious but rapid steps advanced +upon the by this time busy smugglers. The two luggers were beached upon +the soft sand or mud, and between forty and fifty men were each +receiving two three-gallon kegs, with which they speeded off to the +carts in waiting at a little distance. There were also about twenty +fellows ranged as a guard, all armed as efficiently as ourselves. I gave +the word; but before we could close with the astonished desperadoes, +they fired a pistol volley, by which one seaman, John Batley, a fine, +athletic young man, was killed, and two others seriously wounded. This +done, the scoundrels fled in all directions, hotly pursued, of course. I +was getting near one of them, when a lad, who was running by his side, +suddenly turned, and raising a pistol, discharged it at my head. He +fortunately missed his mark, though the whistle of the bullet was +unpleasantly close. I closed with and caught the young rascal, who +struggled desperately, and to my extreme surprise, I had almost written +dismay, discovered that he was young Barnaby! It was not a time for +words, and hastily consigning the boy to the custody of the nearest +seaman, with a brief order to take care of him, I resumed the pursuit. A +bootless one it proved. Favored by their numbers, their perfect +acquaintance with the hedge-and-ditch neighborhood, the contrabandists +all contrived to escape. The carts also got off, and our only captures +were the boy, the luggers, which there had been no time to get off, and +their cargoes, with the exception of the few kegs that had reached the +carts.</p> + +<p>The hunt after the dispersed smugglers was continued by the different +parties who came in subsequently to our brush with them, so that after +the two wounded seamen had been carried off on litters, and a sufficient +guard left in the captured boats, only two men remained with me. The +body of John Batley was deposited for the present in one of the luggers, +and then the two sailors and myself moved forward to Itchen with the +prisoner, where I intended to place him in custody for the night.</p> + +<p>The face of the lad was deadly pale, and I noticed that he had been +painfully affected by the sight of the corpse; but when I addressed him, +his expressive features assumed a scornful, defying expression. First +ordering the two men to drop astern out of hearing, I said: "You will be +hanged for your share in this night's work, young man, depend upon it." +<!--182.png--><span class="pagenum">383</span> +</p> + +<p>"Hanged!" he exclaimed in a quick, nervous tone; "hanged! You say that +to frighten me! It was not I who shot the man! You know that; or +perhaps," he added with a kind of hysterical cry, "perhaps you want to +kill me as you did father."</p> + +<p>"I have no more inclination, my poor boy," I answered, "to injure you +than I had to harm your father. Why, indeed, should I have borne him any +ill-will?"</p> + +<p>"Why should you? Oh, I know very well!"</p> + +<p>"You know more than I do then; but enough of this folly. I wish, I +hardly know why, to save you. It was not you, I am quite aware, that +fired the fatal shot, but that makes no difference as to your legal +guilt. But I think if you could put us on the track of your associates, +you might yourself escape."</p> + +<p>The lad's fine eyes perfectly lightened with scorn and indignation: +"Turn informer!" he exclaimed. "Betray them that loved and trusted me! +Never—if they could hang me a thousand times over!"</p> + +<p>I made no answer, and nothing more was said till we had reached and were +passing the Abbey ruins. The boy then abruptly stopped, and with +quivering voice, while his eyes filled with tears, said: "I should like +to see my mother."</p> + +<p>"See your mother! There can be no particular objection to that; but she +lives further on at Weston, does she not?"</p> + +<p>"No, we have sold off, and moved to Aunt Diaper's, at Netley, up yonder. +In a day or two we should have started for Hull, where mother's father's +brother lives, and I was to have been 'prenticed to the captain of a +Greenlander; but now," he continued with an irrepressible outburst of +grief and terror, "Jack Ketch will, you say, be my master, and I shall +be only 'prenticed to the gallows."</p> + +<p>"Why, if this be so, did your mother permit you to join the lawless +desperadoes to whom you owe your present unhappy and degraded position?"</p> + +<p>"Mother did not know of it; she thinks I am gone to Southampton to +inquire about the day the vessel sails for Hull. Mother will die if I am +hanged!" exclaimed the lad with a renewed burst of passionate grief; +"and surely you would not kill <i>her</i>?"</p> + +<p>"It is not very likely I should wish to do so, considering that I have +never seen her."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes—yes, you have!" he sharply rejoined. "Then perhaps you do not +know! Untie or cut these cords," he added, approaching close to me and +speaking in a low, quick whisper; "give me a chance: mother's girl's +name was Ellen Dible!"</p> + +<p>Had the lad's fettered arm been free, and he had suddenly dealt me a +blow with a knife or dagger, the stroke could not have been more sharp +or terrible than these words conveyed.</p> + +<p>"God of mercy!" I exclaimed, as the momently-arrested blood again shot +through my heart with reactive violence, "can this be true?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes—true, quite true!" continued the<!--183.png--> boy, with the same earnest +look and low, hurried speech. "I saw, when your waistcoat flew open in +the struggle just now, what was at the end of the black ribbon. You will +give me a chance for mother's sake, won't you?"</p> + +<p>A storm of grief, regret, remorse, was sweeping through my brain, and I +could not for a while make any answer, though the lad's burning eyes +continued fixed with fevered anxiety upon my face.</p> + +<p>At last I said—gasped rather: "I can not release you—it is impossible; +but all that can be done—all that can—can legally be done, shall be—" +The boy's countenance fell, and he was again deadly pale. "You shall see +your mother," I added. "Tell Johnson where to seek her; he is acquainted +with Netley." This was done, and the man walked briskly off upon his +errand.</p> + +<p>"Come this way," I said, after a few minutes' reflection, and directing +my steps toward the old ruined fort by the shore, built, I suppose, as a +defense to the abbey against pirates. There was but one flight of steps +to the summit, and no mode of egress save by the entrance from whence +they led. "I will relieve you of these cords while your mother is with +you. Go up to the top of the fort. You will be unobserved, and we can +watch here against any foolish attempt at escape."</p> + +<p>Ten minutes had not elapsed when the mother, accompanied by Johnson, and +sobbing convulsively, appeared. Roberts hailed her, and after a brief +explanation, she ascended the steps with tottering but hasty feet, to +embrace her son. A quarter of an hour, she had been told, would be +allowed for the interview.</p> + +<p>The allotted time had passed, and I was getting impatient, when a cry +from the summit of the fort or tower, as if for help to some one at a +distance, roused and startled us. As we stepped out of the gateway, and +looked upward to ascertain the meaning of the sudden cry, the lad darted +out and sped off with surprising speed. One of the men instantly +snatched a pistol from his waist-belt, but at a gesture from me put it +back. "He can not escape," I said. "Follow me, but use no unnecessary +violence." Finding that we gained rapidly upon him, the lad darted +through a low, narrow gateway, into the interior of the abbey ruins, +trusting, I imagined, to baffle us in the darkness and intricacy of the +place. I just caught sight of him as he disappeared up a long flight of +crumbling, winding steps, from which he issued through a narrow aperture +upon a lofty wall, some five or six feet wide, and overgrown with grass +and weeds. I followed in terrible anxiety, for I feared that in his +desperation he would spring off and destroy himself. I shouted loudly to +him for God's sake to stop. He did so within a few feet of the end of +the wall. I ran quickly toward him, and as I neared him he fell on his +knees, threw away his hat, and revealed the face of—Ellen Dible!</p> + +<p>I stopped, bewildered, dizzy, paralyzed. Doubtless the mellowing +radiance of the night softened or concealed the ravages which time must +have +<!--184.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">384</a></span> +imprinted on her features; for as I gazed upon the spirit-beauty +of her upturned, beseeching countenance, the old time came back upon me +with a power and intensity which an hour before I could not have +believed possible. The men hailed repeatedly from below, but I was too +bewildered, too excited, to answer: their shouts, and the young mother's +supplicating sobs—she seemed scarcely older than when I parted from +her—sounded in my ears like the far-off cries and murmurs of a +bewildering, chaotic dream. She must have gathered hope and confidence +from the emotion I doubtless exhibited, for as soon as the confusion and +ringing in my brain had partially subsided, I could hear her say: "You +will save my boy—my only son: for my sake, you will save him?"</p> + +<p>Another shout from the men below demanded if I had got the prisoner. +"Ay, ay," I mechanically replied, and they immediately hastened to join +us.</p> + +<p>"Which way—which way is he gone?" I asked as the seamen approached.</p> + +<p>She instinctively caught my meaning: "By the shore to Weston," she +hurriedly answered; "he will find a boat there."</p> + +<p>The men now came up: "The chase has led us astray," I said: "look +there."</p> + +<p>"His mother, by jingo!" cried Johnson. "They must have changed clothes!"</p> + +<p>"Yes: the boy is off—to—to Hamble, I have no doubt. You both follow in +that direction: I'll pursue by the Weston and Itchen road."</p> + +<p>The men started off to obey this order, and as they did so, I heard her +broken murmur of "Bless you, Robert—bless you!" I turned away, faint, +reeling with excitement, muttered a hasty farewell, and with disordered +steps and flaming pulse hurried homeward. The mother I never saw again: +the son at whose escape from justice I thus weakly, it may be +criminally, connived, I met a few years ago in London. He is the captain +of a first-class ship in the Australian trade, and a smarter sailor I +think I never beheld. His mother is still alive, and lives with her +daughter-in-law at Chelsea.</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="AMERICAN_NOTABILITIESA" id="AMERICAN_NOTABILITIESA"></a>AMERICAN +NOTABILITIES.<a name="FNanchor_A_11" id="FNanchor_A_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></h2> + +<h3>PROFESSOR AGASSIZ.</h3> + +<p>This very distinguished man—one of the great contributors to the +world's stores of science and knowledge—is an extremely agreeable +member of society, and a very popular one. His manners are particularly +frank, pleasing, cordial, and simple; and though deeply absorbed, and +intensely interested in his laborious scientific researches, and a most +thorough enthusiast in his study of natural philosophy, yet he rattled +merrily away on many of the various light topics of the day with the +utmost gayety, good-humor, and spirit.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_11" id="Footnote_A_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> +From Travels in the United States, etc. By Lady Emmeline +Stuart Wortley. Just published by Harper and Brothers.</p></div> + +<p>He has succeeded, after great trouble and persevering<!--185.png--> indefatigable +care, in preserving alive some coral insects, the first that have ever +been so preserved, and he kindly promised me an introduction to these +distinguished architects. We accordingly went, accompanied by Mr. +Everett, the following day. M. Agassiz was up-stairs very much occupied +by some scientific investigation of importance, and he could not come +down, but he allowed us to enter the all but hallowed precincts devoted +to the much-cherished coral insects.</p> + +<p>M. Agassiz had been away a little while previously, and left these +treasures of his heart under the charge and superintendence of his +assistant. This poor care-worn attendant, we were told, almost lost his +own life in preserving the valuable existence of these little moving +threads, so much did he feel the weighty responsibility that devolved +upon him, and with such intense anxiety did he watch the complexions, +the contortions, all the twistings and twirlings, and twitchings, and +flingings and writhings of the wondrous little creatures, most +assiduously marking any indications of <i>petite santé</i> among them. They +were kept in water carefully and frequently changed, and various +precautions were indispensably necessary to be taken in order to guard +their exquisitely delicate demi-semi existences.</p> + +<p>Glad enough was the temporary gentleman-in-waiting, and +squire-of-the-body to these interesting zoophytes to see M. Agassiz +return, and to resign his charge into his hands. With him this exceeding +care and watchfulness was indeed nothing but a labor of love, and +probably no nurse or mother ever fondled a weakly infant with more +devoted tenderness and anxious attention than M. Agassiz displayed +toward his dearly-beloved coral insects.</p> + +<p>As to me, I hardly dared breathe while looking at them for fear I should +blow their precious lives away, or some catastrophe should happen while +we were there, and we should be suspected of <i>coralicide</i>! However, the +sight was most interesting. We watched them as they flung about what +seemed their fire-like white arms, like microscopic opera dancers or +windmills; but these apparent arms are, I believe, all they possess of +bodies. How wonderful to think of the mighty works that have been +performed by the fellow-insects of these little restless laborers. What +are the builders of the Pyramids to them? What did the writers of the +"Arabian Nights" imagine equal to their more magical achievements?</p> + +<p>Will men ever keep coral insects by them to lay the foundations of a few +islands and continents when the population grows too large for the +earthy portion of earth? People keep silkworms to spin that beautiful +fabric for them; and M. Agassiz has shown there is no impracticability. +I looked at the large bowl containing the weird workers with unflagging +interest, till I could almost fancy minute reefs of rocks were rising up +in the basin.</p> + +<p>What a world of marvels we live in, and alas +<!--186.png--><span class="pagenum">385</span> +that the splendid wonders +of science should be shut out from so many myriads of mankind; for that +the marvelous is inalienably dear to human nature, witness all the fairy +tales, ghost stories, and superstitions of all kinds that have abounded +and been popular from age to age. Penny Magazines and such works have +done much, but much there remains to be done to bring the subjects not +only within reach, but to make them more universally popular and +attractive, and less technical.</p> + +<p>At last we took leave of those marine curiosities, and wended our way +back, sorry not to have seen M. Agassiz (who was still absorbed in +dissecting or pickling for immortality some extraordinary fish that he +had discovered), but delighted to have had the opportunity of seeing his +<i>protégés</i>.</p> + +<p>"M. Agassiz ought indeed to have an extensive museum," said ——, "for I +believe every body in the States makes a point of sending off to him, +post haste, every imaginable reptile, and monster, and nondescript that +they happen to find." I should assuredly not like to have the opening of +his letters and parcels if that is the case.</p> + +<h3>MR. AND MRS. PRESCOTT AT NAHANT.</h3> + +<p>To-day we went and dined early with Mr. and Mrs. Prescott at Nahant, +where they are staying for the summer. They have a charming country +villa on the beautiful peninsula of Nahant. The town of Nahant is a very +pleasant watering-place, about twelve miles from Boston by water, and +sixteen by land. Near Mr. Prescott's house is a magnificent-looking +hotel with numerous piazzas; the sea-coast view from his villa is +boundless, and the perpetually high and dashing waves fling their +fantastic foam, without ceasing, against the wild jagged rocks, which +abound in every direction.</p> + +<p>We started by railroad to go there, and very near us in the car was a +respectable looking negro. Mr. C. S——, who was in the same car with us +(also going to dine at Mr. Prescott's), pointed this man out to me, at +the same time saying, that this could not by possibility have happened +two years ago in this State, so strong then were the prejudices against +any approach to, or appearance of amalgamation with the black race. No +one could certainly appear more humble and quiet, less presuming or +forward in his new position, than did this colored individual.</p> + +<p>On our way to Mr. Prescott's, we stopped to pay a visit to Mrs. Page, +the sister of Mrs. F. Webster. She has a very pretty little country +house at Nahant: she made many inquiries, with much kind feeling, after +those friends whom she remembers at Belvoir Castle, where she was +staying with Mr. and Mrs. Webster.</p> + +<p>I have already mentioned that Mr. Prescott is one of the most agreeable +people I ever met with—as delightful as his own most delightful books: +he talks of going to Europe next year. He tells me he has never visited +either Mexico or Peru. I am surprised that the interest he must have +felt in his own matchless works did not impel<!--187.png--> him to go to both. Mrs. +Prescott is very delicate, with most gentle and pleasing manners. One of +the guests was a niece of Lord Lyndhurst, her mother being Lord +Lyndhurst's sister.</p> + +<p>After a most interesting and agreeable visit, we returned by water to +Boston. The sea was blue as a plain of sparkling sapphire—quite +Mediterraneanic! Nahant is certainly a delightful place of summer +residence, though it wants shade; trees in general most positively +refuse to grow there, and there are but a few, which are taken as much +care of as if they were the most precious exotics; but Nahant and they +do not agree. They have quite a pouting sulky look; and it is almost as +sad to look at them as it is to see the <i>girdled</i> trees, which look like +skeletons of malefactors bleaching in the wind. At dessert, at Mr. +Prescott's, there was a huge magnificent water-melon, that almost might +have taken the place of the Cochituate Pond, and supplied Boston with +the crystal element for a day.</p> + +<p>In returning through the harbor of Boston from Nahant, we were full of +admiration of its scenery: the many lovely islands with which it is +beautifully studded, and the superb view of Boston itself, so nobly +surmounted by its crown-like State House, enchanted us.</p> + +<h3>MR. AND MRS. J. GRINNELL.—NEW BEDFORD AND NAUSHON.</h3> + +<p>Since I wrote this, we have had a very agreeable little tour. We have +received, through Mrs. W——, a kind invitation from Mr. and Mrs. J. +Grinnell to visit them at New Bedford. That town is called "the City of +Palaces," from the beautiful buildings it contains: it is also the great +whaling metropolis of the North. It is about fifty-six miles from hence.</p> + +<p>The Americans give their cities most poetical and significant +designations, and sometimes one town will have a variety of these. For +instance, this, I believe, is not only called the Granite City, but the +Trimountain City. Philadelphia is the city of Brotherly Love, or the +Iron City. Buffalo, the Queen City of the Lakes; New Haven, the City of +Elms, &c. I think the American imagination is more florid than ours. I +am afraid matter-of-fact John Bull, if he attempted such a fanciful +classification, would make sad work of it. Perhaps we should have +Birmingham, the City of Buttons or Warming-pans; Nottingham, the City of +Stockings; Sheffield, the City of Knives and Forks, and so forth.</p> + +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Willis, and Mr. Willis's musical brother, were at Mr. and +Mrs. J. Grinnell's beautiful mansion. We paid a visit to an immense +whale-ship that is in the course of busy preparation for her voyage—to +the South Seas, I believe. The whale-fishery is very extensively carried +on at New Bedford. The population is about fifteen thousand, almost all +engaged directly or indirectly in this trade. There are about two +hundred and twenty-nine vessels engaged in the fishery, which is said to +be continually increasing.</p> + +<p>The system on which they conduct their whaling operations, seems to be a +very judicious one. +<!--188.png--><span class="pagenum">386</span> +Every one of the crew has a share in the profits or +losses of the expedition; it becomes, therefore, his interest to do all +he possibly can to render the voyage a prosperous one. All are eager, +all on the look-out, all are quite sure to exert their energies to the +utmost, and perhaps this is one secret of the success that attends the +American whaling-ships.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Grinnell had a little <i>conversazione</i> the other evening, and among +the visitors was a beautiful young Quaker lady, a descendant of William +Penn. She was an extremely pleasing person, and her conversation was +very animated and interesting. Imagining that perhaps I had never been +in the society of Quakers before, she cleverly contrived to converse in +the most pleasant and delightful manner, without once bringing in either +"thee," or "thou," or "you," though she was talking to me almost all the +evening.</p> + +<p>I remarked this omission, and was afterward certain of it when Mrs. +Willis told me the lady informed her of the fact before going away, and +gave her that reason for her delicate, scrupulous abstinence. She would +not say "<i>you</i>," in short; and "thee" and "thou" she thought would +appear strange to me. I was told her family are in possession of a +splendid silver tea-service which belonged to their celebrated ancestor, +William Penn.</p> + +<p>We went from New Bedford to Martha's Vineyard, an island in the Atlantic +not far from New Bedford. There we staid a few days at an unpretending, +neat hotel, of small dimensions—not the chief hotel, where the +mistress, we found, was unaccommodating and disobliging—<i>a very rare +thing</i> in America. On taking refuge at the other hotel, we found we had +reason to congratulate ourselves, for a more kind-hearted, attentive +person I never found than our new hostess. She, poor soul, was in +affliction at the time; for her son was about to go off to +California—indeed his departure took place for that distant region the +morning after our arrival.</p> + +<p>What misery has this Californian emigration brought on thousands of +families—unknown, incalculable wretchedness! There was, as may be +supposed, a melancholy chorus of wailing and sobs when the dreaded +moment actually arrived; but her domestic sorrows did not make the +excellent mother of the family neglect her guests. Nothing was omitted +that could conduce to our comfort; and her daughter's attention and her +own were unremitting.</p> + +<p>Her daughter was a smart intelligent lassie. One day, when she was in +the room, her mother hurried in to ask some question relative to dinner, +or something of the kind. She had previously been baking, and her hands, +and arms too, I believe, were white with flour. This very much annoyed +her neat, particular, and precise daughter, who kept dusting her +daintily, and trying to wipe it off, and drawing her mother's attention +to it with great pertinacity. At last the mother said she hadn't had +time to get rid of it—hoped the lady would excuse it, with other +apologies, and the daughter was a little pacified. One<!--189.png--> should hardly +have expected so much susceptibility in such matters in a little +out-of-the-way town on an island like Martha's Vineyard.</p> + +<p>When we came away I felt it was quite a friend I was taking leave of, +though we had been there so short a time, so good and kind did we find +her. On the table in her little parlor, instead of the horrid novels so +commonly to be seen in America, were the "Penny Magazine," and other +works of that species.</p> + +<p>From Martha's Vineyard we went to Woodsville, a quiet little village by +the sea. I had promised to pay a visit to Mrs. J. Grinnell, at the +residence of a friend of hers, situated on an island very near this +place (to which Mr. and Mrs. J. Grinnell had lately gone from New +Bedford). We were at a very nice little hotel, indeed, at Woodsville, +the master of which was a Mr. Webster, who had called one of his sons +Daniel, after the famous statesman, the pride of old Massachusetts.</p> + +<p>At this hotel there was an admirable specimen of an American female +waiter and housemaid: in short, a domestic factotum. She was excessively +civil, obliging, active, and attentive, not in the slightest degree +forward or intrusive, always willing to do whatever one required of her. +Altogether a very prepossessing personage is Mademoiselle Caroline—not +the famous female equestrian of Paris, but the excellent and +accomplished waitress and chambermaid at Woodsville, whom I beg to +introduce to the reader, and to immortality. The mistress of the hotel +cooked for us herself, and she was quite a <i>cordon-bleu</i>, I assure you. +Her chicken pies and her puddings were of the sublimest description.</p> + +<p>The morning was lovely, the sea sparkling with a myriad lustres, the air +of Ausonian clearness and purity, when we went to Naushon, an exquisite +little island (one of a cluster of the islands called the Elizabeth +Group). We started in a small boat manned by the two sons of our host, +and before very long we entered a little creek, and soon landed on the +beautiful shore of fairy-like Naushon. (This is of course its old Indian +name, and long may it retain it).</p> + +<p>We found Mr. Grinnell kindly waiting to receive us and drive us to the +island palace of the proprietor of Naushon, for to Mr. S——, the whole +beauteous island belongs.—What an enviable possession! Though not given +to pilfering propensities, I should like to pick Mr. S——'s pocket of +this gem! We started in a somewhat sledge-like vehicle <i>à la flêche</i> (as +our old Belgian courier Marcotte used to say), for the house, and soon +found ourselves seated in a large cool apartment with Mrs. Grinnell, and +the kindly, cordial Lord and Lady of the Isle, whose welcome had much of +unworldly heartiness about it. I longed to explore the beautiful island, +and when I did so, my anticipations were not disappointed.</p> + +<p>Naushon is a little America in itself. There are miniatures of her wild, +illimitable, awful old forests—a beautiful little diamond edition of +her wonderful lakes, a fairy representation of her variety of scenery, a +page torn from her ancient +<!--190.png--><span class="pagenum">387</span> +Indian associations and remains. There too +are her customs, her manners, her spirit, and character; in short, it is +a little pocket America (and enough to make the chief superintendent of +any police himself a pick-pocket), a Liliputian Western World, a +compressed Columbia. But its trees are not Liliputian, they are +magnificent.</p> + +<p>We drove under a varied shade for a long time, and saw lovely views +through openings in the woods. At last after tearing and crackling along +through a thick growth of timber and underwood, we emerged upon a truly +magnificent prospect. We were on a height, and on either side were +lovely woods, valleys, and gentle eminences; and in front the glorious +Atlantic. After enjoying this beauteous view for some time, the Lord of +Naushon took us to see a still, secluded part of the forest, where in +the midst of a sunny clearing, surrounded by partly overshadowing trees +in the heart of a sequestered island, embosomed in the mighty ocean, was +a single grave, that of the only and adored son of our amiable hosts; +indeed, their only child. Almost close to this simple grave was a +semi-circular seat. "There often," said Mr. S——, "we come in the +summer time and spend the evening, and frequently bring our friends, +too, with us, and it is a melancholy happiness to feel <i>he</i> is +near—almost, as it were, with us."</p> + +<p>Here we all remained for some time: the birds were singing, the sea so +calm you could scarcely just then at that distance hear its everlasting +resounding voice. You might look through the opening in the woods, up +and up, and the clear cloudless sky would seem almost receding from your +gaze (like the horizon when you are advancing toward it), yet bluer and +bluer, brighter and brighter. All was beauty and enchantment! and there +lay the lonely dead—who could dare to say in unconsecrated ground? +where Nature was so wild and beautiful, and Nature's Creator seemed so +nigh—and where that grand untrodden ground with nothing to desecrate +it, was ever bathed by the tears of hallowed parental affection? How +blessed and sacred it appeared! To think, in contrast with this grave, +of our dead in crowded city church-yards! But I trust that unutterably +detestable system will soon be done away with.</p> + +<p>If what I have related seems strange to you, you must recollect that in +America it is often the case; at least, I have frequently heard so +before I came here. In the quiet garden, or in the wood near the house, +often sleep in their last slumber the beloved members of the family, not +banished from the every-day associations of the survivors, and almost +seeming to have still some participation in their feelings, in their +woes, and their pleasures. I could almost fancy, after seeing that Eden +for the dead, Mount Auburn, and remembering this affectionate custom, +that is one reason why death does not seem a thing to be dreaded or +deplored in America, as with us. If I recollect correctly, the only +words on the modest head-stone were, "To our beloved Son."</p> + +<p>After willingly remaining some time here, beside<!--191.png--> this simple Christian +tomb, we went to see an ancient place of Indian sepulture. The corpses, +I believe, had mostly been dug up—poor Indians; hardly allowed to rest +in their graves! Mrs. S—— told me that the first time Naushon had +passed into white men's hands from those of the red chief's, this +exquisite island, with all its lovely and splendid woods, its herds of +wild deer, and all its fair lands, it had been sold for an old coat. (I +think a little fire-water must have entered into the bargain). After +hearing this, I began to think <i>feu</i> squire and squaw Naushon of the +olden time and their clan hardly deserved to rest in their graves.</p> + +<p>Our excellent hosts most kindly pressed us to stay at Naushon, but my +plans did not admit of this; so, enchanted with their delectable island, +and full of gratitude for all their cordial friendliness and truly +American hospitality toward us, we took leave of them and Mrs. Grinnell, +in the evening, and returned to the main land. The weather became very +unpropitious, and it blew and rained heavily. However, we arrived in +damp safety at our hotel.</p> + +<h3>GENERAL TAYLOR.</h3> + +<p>General Taylor received us most kindly. He had had two councils to +preside over that morning, and when we first arrived at the White House, +he was actually engaged in an extra Session of Council—in short, +overwhelmed with business, which rendered it doubly kind and amiable of +him to receive us. Mrs. Bliss, the charming daughter of the President, +was in the drawing-room when we first went in. Mrs. Taylor has delicate +health, and does not do the honors of the Presidential mansion. Mrs. +Bliss received us most cordially and courteously, saying her father +would come as soon as his presence could be dispensed with. Presently +after the President made his appearance: his manners are winningly +frank, simple, and kind, and though characteristically distinguished by +much straight-forwardness, there is not the slightest roughness in his +address. There was a quick, keen, eagle-like expression in the eye which +reminded me a little of the Duke of Wellington's.</p> + +<p>He commenced an animated conversation with Madame C. de la B—— and us: +among other things, speaking of the routes, he recommended me to follow, +steam navigation, Mexico, and the Rio Grande, &c.</p> + +<p>He was so exceedingly good-natured as to talk a great deal to my little +girl about roses and lilies, as if he had been quite a botanist all his +life. This species of light, daffydown-dilly talk was so particularly +and amiably considerate and kind to her, that it overcame her shyness at +once, and the dread she had entertained of not understanding what he +might say to her.</p> + +<p>I was quite sorry when the time came for us to leave the White House. +General Taylor strongly advised me not to leave America without seeing +St. Louis: he said he considered it altogether perhaps the most +interesting town in the United States: he said he recollected the +greater part of it a deep dense forest. He spoke +<!--192.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">388</a></span> +very kindly of +England, and adverting to the approaching acceleration and extension of +steam communication between her and America (the contemplated +competition about to be established by "Collins's line") he exclaimed, +"The voyage will be made shorter and shorter, and I expect England and +America will soon be quite alongside of each other, ma'am."</p> + +<p>"The sooner the better, sir," I most heartily responded, at which he +bowed and smiled.</p> + +<p>"We are the same people," he continued, "and it is good for both to see +more of each other."</p> + +<p>"Yes," I replied, "and thus all detestable old prejudices will die +away."</p> + +<p>"I hope so," he said, "it will be for the advantage of both."</p> + +<p>He continued in this strain, and spoke so nobly of England, that it made +one's heart bound to hear him. And he evidently felt what he said; +indeed, I am sure that honest, high-hearted, true-as-steel, old hero +could not say any thing he did not feel or think.</p> + +<p>A little while before we took leave he said, "I hope you will visit my +farm near Natchez: Cypress Grove is the name—a sad name," he said, with +a smile, "but I think you will find it interesting." I thanked him, and +promised so to do. A short time previously, after talking about the +beauties of Nature in the South, General Taylor had said to V——, that +he longed to return to that farm, and to his quiet home near the banks +of the Mississippi, and added, that he was sorely tired of public life, +and the harassing responsibilities of his high office. The President +insisted most courteously on conducting us to our carriage, and +bareheaded he handed us in, standing on the steps till we drove off, and +cordially reiterating many kind and friendly wishes for our prosperous +journey, and health, and safety.</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="THE_HUNTERS_WIFE" id="THE_HUNTERS_WIFE"></a>THE HUNTER'S WIFE.</h2> + +<p>Tom Cooper was a fine specimen of the North American trapper. Slightly +but powerfully made, with a hardy, weather-beaten, yet handsome face, +strong, indefatigable, and a crack shot, he was admirably adapted for a +hunter's life. For many years he knew not what it was to have a home, +but lived like the beasts he hunted—wandering from one part of the +country to another in pursuit of game. All who knew Tom were much +surprised when he came, with a pretty young wife, to settle within three +miles of a planter's farm. Many pitied the poor young creature, who +would have to lead such a solitary life; while others said: "If she was +fool enough to marry him, it was her own look out." For nearly four +months Tom remained at home, and employed his time in making the old hut +he had fixed on for their residence more comfortable. He cleared and +tilled a small spot of land around it, and Susan began to hope that for +her sake he would settle down quietly as a squatter. But these visions +of happiness were soon dispelled, for as soon as this work was finished +he recommenced his old erratic mode of life, and was<!--193.png--> often absent for +weeks together, leaving his wife alone, yet not unprotected, for since +his marriage old Nero, a favorite hound, was always left at home as her +guardian. He was a noble dog—a cross between the old Scottish deerhound +and the bloodhound, and would hunt an Indian as well as a deer or bear, +which Tom said, "was a proof they Ingins was a sort o' warmint, or why +should the brute beast take to hunt 'em, nat'ral like—him that took no +notice o' white men?"</p> + +<p>One clear, cold morning, about two years after their marriage, Susan was +awakened by a loud crash, immediately succeeded by Nero's deep baying. +She recollected that she had shut him in the house as usual the night +before. Supposing he had winded some solitary wolf or bear prowling +around the hut, and effected his escape, she took little notice of the +circumstance; but a few moments after came a shrill wild cry, which made +her blood run cold. To spring from her bed, throw on her clothes, and +rush from the hut, was the work of a minute. She no longer doubted what +the hound was in pursuit of. Fearful thoughts shot through her brain: +she called wildly on Nero, and to her joy he came dashing through the +thick underwood. As the dog drew nearer she saw that he galloped +heavily, and carried in his mouth some large dark creature. Her brain +reeled; she felt a cold and sickly shudder dart through her limbs. But +Susan was a hunter's daughter, and all her life had been accustomed to +witness scenes of danger and of horror, and in this school had learned +to subdue the natural timidity of her character. With a powerful effort +she recovered herself, just as Nero dropped at her feet a little Indian +child, apparently between three and four years old. She bent down over +him, but there was no sound or motion; she placed her hand on his little +naked chest; the heart within had ceased to beat—he was dead! The deep +marks of the dog's fangs were visible on the neck, but the body was +untorn. Old Nero stood with his large bright eyes fixed on the face of +his mistress, fawning on her, as if he expected to be praised for what +he had done, and seemed to wonder why she looked so terrified. But Susan +spurned him from her; and the fierce animal, who would have pulled down +an Indian as he would a deer, crouched humbly at the young woman's feet. +Susan carried the little body gently in her arms to the hut, and laid it +on her own bed. Her first impulse was to seize a loaded rifle that hung +over the fireplace, and shoot the hound; and yet she felt she could not +do it, for in the lone life she led the faithful animal seemed like a +dear and valued friend, who loved and watched over her, as if aware of +the precious charge intrusted to him. She thought also of what her +husband would say, when on his return he should find his old companion +dead. Susan had never seen Tom roused. To her he had ever shown nothing +but kindness; yet she feared as well as loved him, for there was a fire +in those dark eyes which told of deep, wild passions hidden in his +breast, and she knew that the lives of a whole tribe of Indians would +be +<!--194.png--><span class="pagenum">389</span> +light in the balance against that of his favorite hound.</p> + +<p>Having securely fastened up Nero, Susan, with a heavy heart, proceeded +to examine the ground around the hut. In several places she observed the +impression of a small moccasined foot, but not a child's. The tracks +were deeply marked, unlike the usual light, elastic tread of an Indian. +From this circumstance Susan easily inferred that the woman had been +carrying her child when attacked by the dog. There was nothing to show +why she had come so near the hut: most probably the hopes of some petty +plunder had been the inducement. Susan did not dare to wander far from +home, fearing a band of Indians might be in the neighborhood. She +returned sorrowfully to the hut, and employed herself in blocking up the +window, or rather the hole where the window had been, for the powerful +hound had in his leap dashed out the entire frame, and shattered it to +pieces. When this was finished, Susan dug a grave, and in it laid the +little Indian boy. She made it close to the hut, for she could not bear +that wolves should devour those delicate limbs, and she knew that there +it would be safe. The next day Tom returned. He had been very +unsuccessful, and intended setting out again in a few days in a +different direction.</p> + +<p>"Susan," he said, when he had heard her sad story, "I wish you'd lef' +the child where the dog killed him. The squaw's high sartain to come +back a-seekin' for the body, and 'tis a pity the poor crittur should be +disapinted. Besides, the Ingins will be high sartain to put it down to +us; whereas if so be as they'd found the body 'pon the spot, maybe +they'd understand as 'twas an accident like, for they're unkimmon +cunning warmint, though they an't got sense like Christians."</p> + +<p>"Why do you think the poor woman came here?" said Susan. "I never knew +an Indian squaw so near the hut before."</p> + +<p>She fancied a dark shadow flitted across her husband's brow. He made no +reply; and on her repeating the question, said angrily—how should he +know? 'Twas as well to ask for a bear's reasons as an Ingin's.</p> + +<p>Tom only staid at home long enough to mend the broken window, and plant +a small spot of Indian corn, and then again set out, telling Susan not +to expect him home in less than a month. "If that squaw comes this way +agin," he said, "as maybe she will, jist put out any broken victuals +you've a-got for the poor crittur; though maybe she won't come, for they +Ingins be onkimmon skeary." Susan wondered at his taking an interest in +the woman, and often thought of that dark look she had noticed, and of +Tom's unwillingness to speak on the subject. She never knew that on his +last hunting expedition, when hiding some skins which he intended to +fetch on his return, he had observed an Indian watching him, and had +shot him with as little mercy as he would have shown a wolf. On Tom's +return to the spot the body was gone;<!--195.png--> and in the soft damp soil was the +mark of an Indian squaw's foot, and by its side a little child's. He was +sorry then for the deed he had done: he thought of the grief of the poor +widow, and how it would be possible for her to live until she could +reach her tribe, who were far, far distant at the foot of the Rocky +Mountains; and now to feel that through his means, too, she had lost her +child, put thoughts into his mind that had never before found a place +there. He thought that one God had formed the Red Man as well as the +White—of the souls of the many Indians hurried into eternity by his +unerring rifle; and they perhaps were more fitted for their "happy +hunting-grounds" than he for the white man's Heaven. In this state of +mind, every word his wife had said to him seemed a reproach, and he was +glad again to be alone in the forest with his rifle and his hounds.</p> + +<p>The afternoon of the third day after Tom's departure, as Susan was +sitting at work, she heard something scratching and whining at the door. +Nero, who was by her side, evinced no signs of anger, but ran to the +door, showing his white teeth, as was his custom when pleased. Susan +unbarred it, when to her astonishment the two deerhounds her husband had +taken with him walked into the hut, looking weary and soiled. At first +she thought Tom might have killed a deer not far from home, and had +brought her a fresh supply of venison; but no one was there. She rushed +from the hut, and soon, breathless and terrified, reached the squatter's +cabin. John Wilton and his three sons were just returned from the +clearings, when Susan ran into their comfortable kitchen; her long black +hair streaming on her shoulders, and her wild and bloodshot eyes, gave +her the appearance of a maniac. In a few unconnected words she explained +to them the cause of her terror, and implored them to set off +immediately in search of her husband. It was in vain they told her of +the uselessness of going at that time—of the impossibility of following +a trail in the dark. She said she would go herself; she felt sure of +finding him; and at last they were obliged to use force to prevent her +leaving the house.</p> + +<p>The next morning at daybreak Wilton and his two sons were mounted, and +ready to set out, intending to take Nero with them; but nothing could +induce him to leave his mistress: he resisted passively for some time, +until one of the young men attempted to pass a rope round his neck, to +drag him away: then his forbearance vanished; he sprung on his +tormentor, threw him down, and would have strangled him if Susan had not +been present. Finding it impossible to make Nero accompany them, they +left without him, but had not proceeded many miles before he and his +mistress were at their side. They begged Susan to return, told her of +the hardships she must endure, and of the inconvenience she would be to +them. It was of no avail; she had but one answer: "I am a hunter's +daughter, and a hunter's wife." She told them that knowing how useful +Nero would be to +<!--196.png--><span class="pagenum">390</span> +them in their search, she had secretly taken a horse +and followed them.</p> + +<p>The party rode first to Tom Cooper's hut, and there having dismounted, +leading their horses through the forest, followed the trail, as only men +long accustomed to a savage life can do. At night they lay on the +ground, covered with their thick bear-skin cloaks: for Susan only they +heaped up a bed of dried leaves; but she refused to occupy it, saying it +was her duty to bear the same hardships they did. Ever since their +departure she had shown no sign of sorrow. Although slight and +delicately formed, she never appeared fatigued: her whole soul was +absorbed in one longing desire—to find her husband's body; for from the +first she had abandoned the hope of ever again seeing him in life. This +desire supported her through every thing. Early the next morning they +were again on the trail. About noon, as they were crossing a small +brook, the hound suddenly dashed away from them, and was lost in the +thicket. At first they fancied they might have crossed the track of a +deer or wolf; but a long mournful howl soon told the sad truth, for not +far from the brook lay the faithful dog on the dead body of his master, +which was pierced to the heart by an Indian arrow.</p> + +<p>The murderer had apparently been afraid to approach on account of the +dogs, for the body was left as it had fallen—not even the rifle was +gone. No sign of Indians could be discovered save one small footprint, +which was instantly pronounced to be that of a squaw. Susan showed no +grief at the sight of the body; she maintained the same forced calmness, +and seemed comforted that it was found. Old Wilton staid with her to +remove all that now remained of her darling husband, and his two sons +again set out on the trail, which soon led them into the open prairie, +where it was easily traced through the tall thick grass. They continued +riding all that afternoon, and the next morning by daybreak were again +on the track, which they followed to the banks of a wide but shallow +stream. There they saw the remains of a fire. One of the brothers thrust +his hand among the ashes, which were still warm. They crossed the river, +and in the soft sand on the opposite bank saw again the print of small +moccasined footsteps. Here they were at a loss; for the rank prairie +grass had been consumed by one of those fearful fires so common in the +prairies, and in its stead grew short sweet herbage, where even an +Indian's eye could observe no trace. They were on the point of +abandoning the pursuit, when Richard, the younger of the two, called his +brother's attention to Nero, who had of his own accord left his mistress +to accompany them, as if he now understood what they were about. The +hound was trotting to and fro, with his nose to the ground, as if +endeavoring to pick out a cold scent. Edward laughed at his brother, and +pointed to the track of a deer that had come to drink at the river. At +last he agreed to follow Nero, who was now cantering slowly across the +prairie. The pace gradually increased, until, on a spot<!--197.png--> where the grass +had grown more luxuriantly than elsewhere, Nero threw up his nose, gave +a deep bay, and started off at so furious a pace, that although well +mounted, they had great difficulty in keeping up with him. He soon +brought them to the borders of another forest, where, finding it +impossible to take their horses further, they tethered them to a tree, +and set off again on foot. They lost sight of the hound, but still from +time to time heard his loud baying far away. At last they fancied it +sounded nearer instead of becoming less distinct; and of this they were +soon convinced. They still went on in the direction whence the sound +proceeded, until they saw Nero sitting with his fore-paws against the +trunk of a tree, no longer mouthing like a well-trained hound, but +yelling like a fury. They looked up in the tree, but could see nothing; +until at last Edward espied a large hollow about half way up the trunk. +"I was right, you see," he said. "After all, it's nothing but a bear; +but we may as well shoot the brute that has given us so much trouble."</p> + +<p>They set to work immediately with their axes to fell the tree. It began +to totter, when a dark object, they could not tell what in the dim +twilight, crawled from its place of concealment to the extremity of a +branch, and from thence sprung into the next tree. Snatching up their +rifles, they both fired together; when, to their astonishment, instead +of a bear, a young Indian squaw, with a wild yell, fell to the ground. +They ran to the spot where she lay motionless, and carried her to the +borders of the wood where they had that morning dismounted. Richard +lifted her on his horse, and springing himself into the saddle, carried +the almost lifeless body before him. The poor creature never spoke. +Several times they stopped, thinking she was dead: her pulse only told +the spirit had not flown from its earthly tenement. When they reached +the river which had been crossed by them before, they washed the wounds, +and sprinkled water on her face. This appeared to revive her: and when +Richard again lifted her in his arms to place her on his horse, he +fancied he heard her mutter in Iroquois one word—"revenged!" It was a +strange sight, these two powerful men tending so carefully the being +they had a few hours before sought to slay, and endeavoring to stanch +the blood that flowed from wounds which they had made! Yet so it was. It +would have appeared to them a sin to leave the Indian woman to die; yet +they felt no remorse at having inflicted the wound, and doubtless would +have been better pleased had it been mortal; but they would not have +murdered a wounded enemy, even an Indian warrior, still less a squaw. +The party continued their journey until midnight, when they stopped to +rest their jaded horses. Having wrapped the squaw in their bear-skins, +they lay down themselves with no covering save the clothes they wore. +They were in no want of provisions, as not knowing when they might +return, they had taken a good supply of bread and dried venison, not +<!--198.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">391</a></span> + +wishing to lose any precious time in seeking food while on the trail. +The brandy still remaining in their flasks they preserved for the use of +their captive. The evening of the following day they reached the +trapper's hut, where they were not a little surprised to find Susan. She +told them that although John Wilton had begged her to live with them, +she could not bear to leave the spot where every thing reminded her of +one to think of whom was now her only consolation, and that while she +had Nero, she feared nothing. They needed not to tell their mournful +tale—Susan already understood it but too clearly. She begged them to +leave the Indian woman with her. "You have no one," she said, "to tend +and watch her as I can do; besides, it is not right that I should lay +such a burden on you." Although unwilling to impose on her the painful +task of nursing her husband's murderess, they could not but allow that +she was right; and seeing how earnestly she desired it, at last +consented to leave the Indian woman with her.</p> + +<p>For many long weeks Susan nursed her charge as tenderly as if she had +been her sister. At first she lay almost motionless, and rarely spoke; +then she grew delirious, and raved wildly. Susan fortunately could not +understand what she said, but often turned shudderingly away when the +Indian woman would strive to rise from her bed, and move her arms as if +drawing a bow; or yell wildly, and cower in terror beneath the clothes, +reacting in her delirium the fearful scenes through which she had +passed. By degrees reason returned; she gradually got better, but seemed +restless and unhappy, and could not bear the sight of Nero. The first +proof of returning reason she had shown was to shriek in terror when he +once accidentally followed his mistress into the room where she lay. One +morning Susan missed her; she searched around the hut, but she was gone, +without having taken farewell of her kind benefactress.</p> + +<p>A few years after Susan Cooper (no longer "pretty Susan," for time and +grief had done their work) heard late one night a hurried knock, which +was repeated several times before she could unfasten the door, each time +more loudly than before. She called to ask who it was at that hour of +the night. A few hurried words in Iroquois were the reply, and Susan +congratulated herself on having spoken before unbarring the door. But on +listening again, she distinctly heard the same voice say, +"Quick—quick!" and recognized it as the Indian woman's whom she had +nursed. The door was instantly opened, when the squaw rushed into the +hut, seized Susan by the arm, and made signs to her to come away. She +was too much excited to remember then the few words of English she had +picked up when living with the white woman. Expressing her meaning by +gestures with a clearness peculiar to the Indians she dragged rather +than led Susan from the hut. They had just reached the edge of the +forest when the wild yells of the Indians sounded in their ears.<!--199.png--> Having +gone with Susan a little way into the forest her guide left her. For +nearly four hours she lay there half-dead with cold and terror, not +daring to move from her place of concealment. She saw the flames of the +dwelling where so many lonely hours had been passed rising above the +trees, and heard the shrill "whoops" of the retiring Indians. Nero, who +was lying by her side, suddenly rose and gave a low growl. Silently a +dark figure came gliding among the trees directly to the spot where she +lay. She gave herself up for lost; but it was the Indian woman who came +to her, and dropped at her feet a bag of money, the remains of her late +husband's savings. The grateful creature knew where it was kept; and +while the Indians were busied examining the rifles and other objects +more interesting to them, had carried it off unobserved. Waving her arm +around to show that all was now quiet, she pointed in the direction of +Wilton's house, and was again lost among the trees.</p> + +<p>Day was just breaking when Susan reached the squatter's cabin. Having +heard the sad story, Wilton and two of his sons started immediately for +the spot. Nothing was to be seen save a heap of ashes. The party had +apparently consisted of only three or four Indians; but a powerful tribe +being in the neighborhood, they saw it would be too hazardous to follow +them. From this time Susan lived with the Wiltons. She was as a daughter +to the old man, and a sister to his sons, who often said: "That as far +as they were concerned, the Indians had never done a kindlier action +than in burning down Susan Cooper's hut."</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="THE_WARNINGS_OF_THE_PAST" id="THE_WARNINGS_OF_THE_PAST"></a>THE WARNINGS OF THE PAST.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Faint dream-like voices of the spectral Past<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Whisper the lessons of departed ages;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each gathering treasured wisdom from the last,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A long succession of experienced sages<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They steal upon the statesman as he sleeps,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And chant in Fancy's ear their warning numbers;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When restless Thought unceasing vigil keeps,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Trimming her taper while the body slumbers.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They bid him listen to the tales they tell<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of nations perish'd and embalm'd in story;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How inly rotting they were sapp'd and fell,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Like some proud oak whilome the forest's glory.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sepulchral ruins crumble where a maze<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of busy streets once rang with life's commotion;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where sculptured palaces in bygone days<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Were gorged with spoils of conquer'd earth and ocean.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For Faction rent the seamless robe of Peace,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And, parting children of a common mother,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bade fealty and loving concord cease<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To link the hearts he sever'd from each other.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Such is the burden of those solemn notes<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That issue from the haunted graves of nations;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where, spread by Time, a vailing shadow floats<br /></span> +<span class="i2">O'er spirits preaching from their ruin'd stations.<br /></span> +<!--200.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">392</a></span> +</div></div> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="THE_PIE_SHOPS_OF_LONDON" id="THE_PIE_SHOPS_OF_LONDON"></a>THE PIE SHOPS OF LONDON.</h2> + +<p>From time immemorial the wandering pieman was a prominent character in +the highways and byways of London. He was generally a merry dog, and was +always found where merriment was going on. Furnished with a tray about a +yard square, either carried upon his head or suspended by a strap in +front of his breast, he scrupled not to force his way through the +thickest crowd, knowing that the very centre of action was the best +market for his wares. He was a gambler, both from inclination and +principle, and would toss with his customers, either by the dallying +shilli-shally process of "best five in nine," the tricksy manœuvre of +"best two in three," or the desperate dash of "sudden death!" in which +latter case the first toss was destiny—a pie for a halfpenny, or your +halfpenny gone for nothing; but he invariably declined the mysterious +process of "the odd man;" not being altogether free from suspicion on +the subject of collusion between a couple of hungry customers. We meet +with him frequently in old prints; and in Hogarth's "March to Finchley," +there he stands in the very centre of the crowd, grinning with delight +at the adroitness of one robbery, while he is himself the victim of +another. We learn from this admirable figure by the greatest painter of +English life, that the pieman of the last century perambulated the +streets in professional costume; and we gather further, from the burly +dimensions of his wares, that he kept his trade alive by the laudable +practice of giving "a good pennyworth for a penny." Justice compels us +to observe, that his successors of a later generation have not been very +conscientious observers of this maxim. The varying price of flour, +alternating with a sliding-scale, probably drove some of them to their +wit's end; and perhaps this cause more than any other operated in +imparting that complexion to their productions which made them resemble +the dead body of a penny pie, and which in due time lost them favor with +the discerning portion of their customers. Certain it is that the +perambulating pie business in London fell very much into disrepute and +contempt for several years before the abolition of the corn-laws and the +advent of free trade. Opprobrious epithets were hurled at the wandering +merchant as he paraded the streets and alleys—epithets which were in no +small degree justified by the clammy and clay-like appearance of his +goods. By degrees the profession got into disfavor, and the pieman +either altogether disappeared, or merged in a dealer in foreign nuts, +fruits, and other edibles which barred the suspicion of sophistication.</p> + +<p>Still the relish for pies survived in the public taste, and the willing +penny was as ready as ever to guerdon the man who, on fair grounds, +would meet the general desire. No sooner, therefore, was the +sliding-scale gone to the dogs, and a fair prospect of permanence +offered to the speculator, in the guarantee of something like a<!--201.png--> fixed +cost in the chief ingredient used, than up sprung almost simultaneously +in every district of the metropolis a new description of pie-shops, +which rushed at once into popularity and prosperity. Capital had +recognized the leading want of the age, and brought the appliances of +wealth and energy to supply it. Avoiding, on the one hand, the glitter +and pretension of the confectioner, and on the other the employment of +adulterated or inferior materials, they produced an article which the +populace devoured with universal commendation, to the gradual but +certain profit of the projectors. The peripatetic merchant was pretty +generally driven out of the field by the superiority of the article with +which he had to compete. He could not manufacture on a small scale in a +style to rival his new antagonists, and he could not purchase of them to +sell again, because they would not allow him a living margin—boasting, +as it would appear with perfect truth, that they sold at a small and +infinitesimal profit, which would not bear division.</p> + +<p>These penny-pie shops now form one of the characteristic features of the +London trade in comestibles. That they are an immense convenience as +well as a luxury to a very large section of the population, there can be +no doubt. It might be imagined, at first view, that they would naturally +seek a cheap locality and a low rental. This, however, is by no means +the universal practice. In some of the chief lines of route they are to +be found in full operation; and it is rare indeed, unless at seasons +when the weather is very unfavorable, that they are not seen well filled +with customers. They abound especially in the immediate neighborhood of +omnibus and cab stations, and very much in the thoroughfares and +short-cuts most frequented by the middle and lower classes. But though +the window may be of plate-glass, behind which piles of the finest +fruit, joints and quarters of the best meat, a large dish of silver +eels, and a portly china bowl charged with a liberal heap of +minced-meat, with here and there a few pies, lie temptingly arranged +upon napkins of snowy whiteness, yet there is not a chair, stool, or +seat of any kind to be found within. No dallying is looked for, nor +would it probably be allowed. "Pay for your pie, and go," seems the +order of the day. True, you may eat it there, as thousands do; but you +must eat it standing, and clear of the counter. We have more than once +witnessed this interesting operation with mingled mirth and +satisfaction; nay, what do we care?—take the confession for what it is +worth—<i>pars ipsi fuimus</i>—we have eaten our pies (and paid for them +too, no credit being given)—<i>in loco</i>, and are therefore in a condition +to guarantee the truth of what we record. With few exceptions (we +include ourselves among the number), there are no theoretical +philosophers among the frequenters of the penny-pie shop. The philosophy +of bun-eating may be very profound, and may present, as we think it +does, some difficult points; but the philosophy of penny-pie eating is +absolutely +<!--202.png--><span class="pagenum">393</span> +next to <i>nil</i>. The customer of the pie-shop is a man (if he +is not a boy) with whom a penny is a penny, and a pie is a pie, who, +when he has the former to spend or the latter to eat, goes through the +ceremony like one impressed with the settled conviction that he has +business in hand which it behoves him to attend to. Look at him as he +stands in the centre of the floor, erect as a grenadier, turning his +busy mouth full upon the living tide that rushes along Holborn! Of shame +or confusion of face in connection with the enviable position in which +he stands he has not the remotest conception, and could as soon be +brought to comprehend the <i>differential calculus</i> as to entertain a +thought of it. What, we ask, would philosophy do for him? Still every +customer is not so happily organized, and so blissfully insensible to +the attacks of false shame; and for such as are unprepared for the +public gaze, or constitutionally averse from it, a benevolent provision +is made by a score of old play-bills stuck against the adverse wall, or +swathing the sacks of flour which stand ready for use, and which they +may peruse, or affect to peruse, in silence, munching their pennyworths +the while. The main body of the pie-eaters are, however, perfectly at +their ease, and pass the very few minutes necessary for the discussion +of their purchases in bandying compliments with three or four +good-looking lasses, the very incarnations of good-temper and cleanly +tidiness, who from morn to night are as busy as bees in extricating the +pies from their metallic moulds, as they are demanded by the customers. +These assistants lead no lazy life, but they are without exception plump +and healthy-looking, and would seem (if we are to believe the report of +an employer) to have an astonishing tendency to the parish church of the +district in which they officiate, our informant having been bereaved of +three by marriage in the short space of six months. Relays are necessary +in most establishments on the main routes, as the shops are open all +night long, seldom closing much before three in the morning when +situated in the neighborhood of a theatre or a cab-stand. Of the amount +of business done in the course of a year it is not easy to form an +estimate. Some pie-houses are known to consume as much flour as a +neighboring baker standing in the same track. The baker makes ninety +quartern loaves from the sack of flour, and could hardly make a living +upon less than a dozen sacks a week; but as the proportion borne by the +crust of a penny-pie to a quartern loaf is a mystery which we have not +yet succeeded in penetrating, we are wanting in the elements of an exact +calculation.</p> + +<p>The establishment of these shops has by degrees prodigiously increased +the number of pie-eaters and the consumption of pies. Thousands and tens +of thousands who would decline the handling of a scalding hot morsel in +the public street, will yet steal to the corner of a shop, and in front +of an old play-bill, delicately dandling the tit-bit on their +finger-tips till it cools to the precise temperature at which it is so +delicious to<!--203.png--> swallow—"snatch a fearful joy." The trades man, too, in +the immediate vicinity, soon learns to appreciate the propinquity of the +pie-shop, in the addition it furnishes to a cold dinner, and for half +the sum it would have cost him if prepared in his own kitchen. Many a +time and oft have we dropped in, upon the strength of a general +invitation, at the dinner-table of an indulgent bibliopole, and +recognized the undeniable <i>patés</i> of "over the way" following upon the +heels of the cold sirloin. With artisans out of work, and with +town-travelers of small trade, the pie-shop is a halting-place, its +productions presenting a cheap substitute for a dinner. Few purchases +are made before twelve o'clock in the day; in fact the shutters are +rarely pulled down much before eleven; yet even then business is carried +on for nearly twenty hours out of the twenty-four. About noon the +current of custom sets in, and all hands are busy till four or five +o'clock; after which there is a pause, or rather a relaxation, until +evening, when the various bands of operatives, as they are successively +released from work, again renew the tide. As these disappear, the +numberless nightly exhibitions, lecture-rooms, mechanics' institutes, +concerts, theatres, and casinos, pour forth their motley hordes, of whom +a large and hungry section find their way to the pie-house as the only +available resource—the public-houses being shut up for the night, and +the lobster-rooms, oyster saloons, "shades," "coal-holes," and +"cider-cellars," too expensive for the multitude. After these come the +cab-drivers who, having conveyed to their homes the more moneyed classes +of sight-seers and play-goers, return to their stands in the vicinity of +the shop, and now consider that they may conscientiously indulge in a +refreshment of eel-pies, winding up with a couple of "fruiters," to the +amount at least of the sum of which they may have been able to cheat +their fares.</p> + +<p>Throughout the summer months the pie trade flourishes with unabated +vigor. Each successive fruit, as it ripens and comes to market, adds a +fresh impetus to the traffic. As autumn waxes every week supplies a new +attraction and a delicious variety; as it wanes into winter, a good +store of apples are laid up for future use; and so soon as Jack Frost +sets his cold toes upon the pavement, the delicate odor of mince-meat +assails the passer-by, and reminds him that Christmas is coming, and +that the pieman is ready for him. It is only in the early spring that +the pie-shop is under a temporary cloud. The apples of the past year are +well-nigh gone, and the few that remain have lost their succulence, and +are dry and flavorless. This is the precise season when, as the pieman +in "Pickwick" too candidly observed, "fruits is out, and cats is in." +Now there is an unaccountable prejudice against cats among the +pie-devouring population of the metropolis: we are superior to it +ourselves, and can therefore afford to mention it dispassionately, and +to express our regret that any species of commerce, much more one so +grateful to the palate, and so convenient to the purse, should +<!--204.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">394</a></span> + +periodically suffer declension through the prevalence of an unfounded +prejudice. Certain it is that penny-pie eating does materially decline +about the early spring season; and it is certain too, that of late +years, about the same season, a succession of fine Tabbies of our own +have mysteriously disappeared. Attempts are made with rhubarb to combat +the depression of business; but success in this matter is very +partial—the generality of consumers being impressed with the popular +notion that rhubarb is physic, and that physic is not fruit. But relief +is at hand; the showers and sunshine of May bring the gooseberry to +market; pies resume their importance; and the pieman backed by an +inexhaustible store of a fruit grateful to every English palate, +commences the campaign with renewed energy, and bids defiance for the +rest of the year to the mutations of fortune.</p> + +<p>We shall close this sketch with a legend of the day, for the truth of +which, however, we do not personally vouch. It was related and received +with much gusto at an annual supper lately given by a large pie +proprietor to his assembled hands.</p> + +<p>Some time since, so runs the current narrative, the owner of a thriving +mutton-pie concern, which, after much difficulty, he had succeeded in +establishing with borrowed capital, died before he had well extricated +himself from the responsibilities of debt. The widow carried on the +business after his decease, and throve so well, that a speculating baker +on the opposite side of the way made her the offer of his hand. The lady +refused, and the enraged suitor, determined on revenge, immediately +converted his baking into an opposition pie-shop; and acting on the +principle universal among London bakers, of doing business for the first +month or two at a loss, made his pies twice as big as he could honestly +afford to make them. The consequence was that the widow lost her custom, +and was hastening fast to ruin, when a friend of her late husband, who +was also a small creditor, paid her a visit. She detailed her grievance +to him, and lamented her lost trade and fearful prospects. "Ho, ho!" +said her friend, "that 'ere's the move, is it? Never you mind, my dear. +If I don't git your trade agin, there aint no snakes, mark me—that's +all!" So saying, he took his leave.</p> + +<p>About eight o'clock the same evening, when the baker's new pie-shop was +crammed to overflowing, and the principal was below superintending the +production of a new batch, in walks the widow's friend in the costume of +a kennel-raker, and elbowing his way to the counter dabs down upon it a +brace of huge dead cats, vociferating at the same time to the astonished +damsel in attendance, "Tell your master, my dear, as how them two makes +six-and-thirty this week, and say I'll bring t'other four to-morrer +arternoon!" With that he swaggered out and went his way. So powerful was +the prejudice against cat-mutton among the population of that +neighborhood, that the shop was clear in an instant, and the floor was +seen covered with hastily-abandoned specimens<!--205.png--> of every variety of +segments of a circle. The spirit-shop at the corner of the street +experienced an unusually large demand for "gees" of brandy, and +interjectional ejaculations not purely grammatical were not merely +audible, but visible, too, in the district. It is averred that the +ingenious expedient of the widow's friend, founded as it was upon a +profound knowledge of human prejudices, had the desired effect of +restoring "the balance of trade." The widow recovered her commerce; the +resentful baker was done as brown as if he had been shut up in his own +oven; and the friend who brought about this measure of justice received +the hand of the lady as a reward for his interference.</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="MY_NOVEL_OR_VARIETIES_IN_ENGLISH_LIFEA" id="MY_NOVEL_OR_VARIETIES_IN_ENGLISH_LIFEA"></a>MY NOVEL; OR, VARIETIES IN ENGLISH +LIFE.<a name="FNanchor_A_12" id="FNanchor_A_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Book</span> VI.—INITIAL CHAPTER.</h3> + +<p>"Life," said my father, in his most dogmatical tone, "is a certain +quantity in time, which may be regarded in two ways—1st, as life +<i>Integral</i>; 2d, as life <i>Fractional</i>. Life integral is that complete +whole, expressive of a certain value, large or small, which each man +possesses in himself. Life fractional is that same whole seized upon and +invaded by other people, and subdivided among them. They who get a large +slice of it say, 'a very valuable life this!' those who get but a small +handful say, 'so, so, nothing very great!' those who get none of it in +the scramble exclaim, 'Good for nothing!'"</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_12" id="Footnote_A_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> +Continued from the July Number.</p></div> + +<p>"I don't understand a word you are saying," growled Captain Roland.</p> + +<p>My father surveyed his brother with compassion—"I will make it all +clear even to your understanding. When I sit down by myself in my study, +having carefully locked the door on all of you, alone with my books and +thoughts, I am in full possession of my integral life. I am <i>totus, +teres, atque rotundus</i>—a whole human being—equivalent in value we will +say, for the sake of illustration, to a fixed round sum—£100, for +example. But when I come forth into the common apartment, each of those +to whom I am of any worth whatsoever, puts his fingers into the bag that +contains me, and takes out of me what he wants. Kitty requires me to pay +a bill; Pisistratus to save him the time and trouble of looking into a +score or two of books; the children to tell them stories, or play at +hide and seek; the carp for bread-crumbs; and so on throughout the +circle to which I have incautiously given myself up for plunder and +subdivision. The £100 which I represented in my study is now parceled +out; I am worth £40 or £50 to Kitty, £20 to Pisistratus, and perhaps +30<i>s.</i> to the carp. This is life fractional. And I cease to be an +integral till once more returning to my study, and again closing the +door on all existence but my own. Meanwhile, it is perfectly clear that, +to those who, whether I am in the study, or whether I am in the common +<!--206.png--><span class="pagenum">395</span> + +sitting-room, get nothing at all out of me, I am not worth a farthing. +It must be wholly indifferent to a native of Kamtschatka whether Austin +Caxton be or be not rased out of the great account-book of human beings.</p> + +<p>"Hence," continued my father—"hence, it follows that the more +fractional a life be—<i>id est</i>, the greater the number of persons among +whom it can be subdivided—why, the more there are to say, 'a very +valuable life that!' Thus, the leader of a political party, a conqueror, +a king, an author who is amusing hundreds or thousands, or millions, has +a greater number of persons whom his worth interests and affects than a +Saint Simon Stylites could have when he perched himself at the top of a +column; although, regarded each in himself, Saint Simon, in his grand +mortification of flesh, in the idea that he thereby pleased his Divine +Benefactor, might represent a larger sum of moral value <i>per se</i> than +Bonaparte or Voltaire."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pisistratus</span>.—"Perfectly clear, sir, but I don't see what it has to do +with My Novel."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Caxton</span>.—"Every thing. Your novel, if it is to be a full and +comprehensive survey of the '<i>quicquid agunt homines</i>' (which it ought +to be, considering the length and breadth to which I foresee, from the +slow development of your story, you meditate extending and expanding +it), will embrace the two views of existence, the integral and the +fractional. You have shown us the former in Leonard, when he is sitting +in his mother's cottage, or resting from his work by the little fount in +Riccabocca's garden. And in harmony with that view of his life, you have +surrounded him with comparative integrals, only subdivided by the tender +hands of their immediate families and neighbors—your Squires and +Parsons, your Italian Exile and his Jemima. With all these, life is more +or less the life Natural, and this is always more or less the life +integral. Then comes the life Artificial, which is always more or less +the life fractional. In the life Natural wherein we are swayed but by +our own native impulses and desires, subservient only to the great +silent law of virtue (which has pervaded the universe since it swung out +of chaos), a man is of worth from what he is in himself—Newton was as +worthy before the apple fell from the tree as when all Europe applauded +the discoverer of the Principle of Gravity. But in the life Artificial +we are only of worth inasmuch as we affect others. And, relative to that +life, Newton rose in value, more than a million per cent. when down fell +the apple from which ultimately sprang up his discovery. In order to +keep civilization going, and spread over the world the light of human +intellect, we have certain desires within us, ever swelling beyond the +ease and independence which belong to us as integrals. Cold man as +Newton might be (he once took a lady's hand in his own, Kitty, and used +her fore-finger for his tobacco-stopper; great philosopher!)—cold as he +might be, he was yet moved into giving<!--207.png--> his discoveries to the world, +and that from motives very little differing in their quality from the +motives that make Dr. Squills communicate articles to the Phrenological +Journal upon the skulls of Bushmen and wombats. For it is the <i>property +of light to travel</i>. When a man has light in him, forth it must go. But +the first passage of Genius from its integral state (in which it has +been reposing on its own wealth) into the fractional, is usually through +a hard and vulgar pathway. It leaves behind it the reveries of solitude, +that self-contemplating rest which may be called the Visionary, and +enters suddenly into the state that may be called the Positive and +Actual. There, it sees the operations of money on the outer life—sees +all the ruder and commoner springs of action—sees ambition without +nobleness—love without romance—is bustled about, and ordered, and +trampled, and cowed—in short, it passes an apprenticeship with some +Richard Avenel, and does not yet detect what good and what grandeur, +what addition even to the true poetry of the social universe, fractional +existences like Richard Avenel's bestow; for the pillars that support +society are like those of the Court of the Hebrew Tabernacle—they are +of brass it is true, but they are filleted with silver. From such +intermediate state Genius is expelled and driven on in its way, and +would have been so in this ease had Mrs. Fairfield (who is but the +representative of the homely natural affections, strongest ever in true +genius—for light is warm) never crushed Mr. Avenel's moss-rose on her +sisterly bosom. Now, forth from this passage and defile of transition +into the larger world, must Genius go on, working out its natural +destiny amidst things and forms the most artificial. Passions that move +and influence the world are at work around it. Often lost sight of +itself, its very absence is a silent contrast to the agencies present. +Merged and vanished for a while amidst the Practical World, yet we +ourselves feel all the while that it is <i>there</i>; is at work amidst the +workings around it. This practical world that effaces it, rose out of +some genius that has gone before; and so each man of genius, though we +never come across him, as his operations proceed in places remote from +our thoroughfares, is yet influencing the practical world that ignores +him, forever and ever. That is <span class="smcap">genius</span>! We can't describe it in books—we +can only hint and suggest it, by the accessaries which we artfully heap +about it. The entrance of a true Probationer into the terrible ordeal of +Practical Life is like that into the miraculous cavern by which, legend +informs us, St. Patrick converted Ireland."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Blanche</span>.—"What is that legend? I never heard of it."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Caxton</span>.—"My dear, you will find it in a thin folio at the right on +entering my study, written by Thomas Messingham, and called 'Florilegium +Insulæ Sanctorum,' &c. The account therein is confirmed by the relation +of an +<!--208.png--><span class="pagenum">396</span> +honest soldier, one Louis Ennius, who had actually entered the +cavern. In short, the truth of the legend is undeniable, unless you mean +to say, which I can't for a moment suppose, that Louis Ennius was a +liar. Thus it runs: 'St. Patrick, finding that the Irish pagans were +incredulous as to his pathetic assurances of the pains and torments +destined to those who did not expiate their sins in this world, prayed +for a miracle to convince them. His prayer was heard; and a certain +cavern, so small that a man could not stand up therein at his ease, was +suddenly converted into a Purgatory, comprehending tortures sufficient +to convince the most incredulous. One unacquainted with human nature +might conjecture that few would be disposed to venture voluntarily into +such a place;—on the contrary, pilgrims came in crowds. Now, all who +entered from vain curiosity, or with souls unprepared, perished +miserably; but those who entered with deep and earnest faith, conscious +of their faults, and if bold, yet humble, not only came out safe and +sound, but purified, as if from the waters of a second baptism.' See +Savage and Johnson, at night in Fleet-street;—and who shall doubt the +truth of St. Patrick's Purgatory!" Therewith my father sighed—closed +his Lucian, which had lain open on the table, and would read nothing but +"good books" for the rest of the evening.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3> + +<p>On their escape from the prison to which Mr. Avenel had condemned them, +Leonard and his mother found their way to a small public-house that lay +at a little distance from the town, and on the outskirts of the +high-road. With his arm round his mother's waist, Leonard supported her +steps, and soothed her excitement. In fact, the poor woman's nerves were +greatly shaken, and she felt an uneasy remorse at the injury her +intrusion had inflicted on the young man's worldly prospects. As the +shrewd reader has guessed already, that infamous Tinker was the prime +agent of evil in this critical turn in the affairs of his quondam +customer. For, on his return to his haunts around Hazeldean and the +Casino, the Tinker had hastened to apprise Mrs. Fairfield of his +interview with Leonard, and on finding that she was not aware that the +boy was under the roof of his uncle, the pestilent vagabond (perhaps +from spite against Mr. Avenel, or perhaps from that pure love of +mischief by which metaphysical critics explain the character of Iago, +and which certainly formed a main element in the idiosyncrasy of Mr. +Sprott) had so impressed on the widow's mind the haughty demeanor of the +uncle and the refined costume of the nephew, that Mrs. Fairfield had +been seized with a bitter and insupportable jealousy. There was an +intention to rob her of her boy!—he was to be made too fine for her. +His silence was now accounted for. This sort of jealousy, always more or +less a feminine quality, is often very strong among the poor; and it was +the<!--209.png--> more strong in Mrs. Fairfield, because, lone woman that she was, +the boy was all in all to her. And though she was reconciled to the loss +of his presence, nothing could reconcile her to the thought that his +affections should be weaned from her. Moreover, there were in her mind +certain impressions, of the justice of which the reader may better judge +hereafter, as to the gratitude—more than ordinarily filial—which +Leonard owed to her. In short, she did not like, as she phrased it, "to +be shaken off;" and after a sleepless night she resolved to judge for +herself, much moved thereto by the malicious suggestions to that effect +made by Mr. Sprott, who mightily enjoyed the idea of mortifying the +gentleman by whom he had been so disrespectfully threatened with the +treadmill. The widow felt angry with Parson Dale, and with the +Riccaboccas: she thought they were in the plot against her; she +communicated, therefore, her intention to none—and off she set, +performing the journey partly on the top of the coach, partly on foot. +No wonder that she was dusty, poor woman.</p> + +<p>"And, oh! boy!" said she, half-sobbing; "when I got through the +lodge-gates, came on the lawn, and saw all that power o' fine folk—I +said to myself, says I—(for I felt fritted)—I'll just have a look at +him and go back. But, ah, Lenny, when I saw thee, looking so +handsome—and when thee turned and cried 'Mother,' my heart was just +ready to leap out o' my mouth—and so I could not help hugging thee, if +I had died for it. And thou wert so kind, that I forgot all Mr. Sprott +had said about Dick's pride, or thought he had just told a fib about +that, as he had wanted me to believe a fib about thee. Then Dick came +up—and I had not seen him for so many years—and we come o' the same +father and mother; and so—and so—" The widow's sobs here fairly choked +her. "Ah," she said, after giving vent to her passion, and throwing her +arms round Leonard's neck, as they sate in the little sanded parlor of +the public-house—"ah, and I've brought thee to this. Go back, go back, +boy, and never mind me."</p> + +<p>With some difficulty Leonard pacified poor Mrs. Fairfield, and got her +to retire to bed; for she was, indeed, thoroughly exhausted. He then +stepped forth into the road, musingly. All the stars were out; and +Youth, in its troubles, instinctively looks up to the stars. Folding his +arms, Leonard gazed on the heavens, and his lips murmured.</p> + +<p>From this trance, for so it might be called, he was awakened by a voice +in a decidedly London accent; and, turning hastily round, saw Mr. +Avenel's very gentlemanlike butler. Leonard's first idea was that his +uncle had repented, and sent in search of him. But the butler seemed as +much surprised at the rencounter as himself: that personage, indeed, the +fatigues of the day being over, was accompanying one of Mr. Gunter's +waiters to the public-house (at which the latter had secured his +lodging), having discovered an old friend in the waiter, and proposing +to regale +<!--210.png--><span class="pagenum">397</span> +himself with a cheerful glass, and—(<i>that</i> of course)—abuse +of his present situation.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Fairfield!" exclaimed the butler, while the waiter walked +discreetly on.</p> + +<p>Leonard looked, and said nothing. The butler began to think that some +apology was due for leaving his plate and his pantry, and that he might +as well secure Leonard's propitiatory influence with his master—</p> + +<p>"Please, sir," said he, touching his hat, "I was just a-showing Mr. +Giles the way to the Blue Bells, where he puts up for the night. I hope +my master will not be offended. If you are a-going back, sir, would you +kindly mention it?"</p> + +<p>"I am not going back, Jarvis," answered Leonard, after a pause; "I am +leaving Mr. Avenel's house, to accompany my mother; rather suddenly. I +should be very much obliged to you if you would bring some things of +mine to me at the Blue Bells. I will give you the list, if you will step +back with me to the inn."</p> + +<p>Without waiting for a reply, Leonard then turned toward the inn, and +made his humble inventory; item, the clothes he had brought with him +from the Casino; item, the knapsack that had contained them; item, a few +books ditto; item, Dr. Riccabocca's watch; item, sundry MSS., on which +the young student now built all his hopes of fame and fortune. This list +he put into Mr. Jarvis's hand.</p> + +<p>"Sir," said the butler, twirling the paper between his finger and thumb, +"you are not a-going for long, I hope;" and as he thought of the scene +on the lawn, the report of which had vaguely reached his ears, he looked +on the face of the young man, who had always been "civil spoken to him," +with as much curiosity and as much compassion as so apathetic and +princely a personage could experience in matters affecting a family less +aristocratic than he had hitherto condescended to serve.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Leonard, simply and briefly; "and your master will no doubt +excuse you for rendering me this service."</p> + +<p>Mr. Jarvis postponed for the present his glass and chat with the waiter, +and went back at once to Mr. Avenel. That gentleman, still seated in his +library, had not been aware of the butler's absence; and when Mr. Jarvis +entered and told him that he had met Mr. Fairfield, and, communicating +the commission with which he was intrusted, asked leave to execute it, +Mr. Avenel felt the man's inquisitive eye was on him, and conceived new +wrath against Leonard for a new humiliation to his pride. It was awkward +to give no explanation of his nephew's departure, still more awkward to +explain.</p> + +<p>After a short pause, Mr. Avenel said sullenly, "My nephew is going away +on business for some time—do what he tells you;" and then turned his +back, and lighted his cigar.</p> + +<p>"That beast of a boy," said he, soliloquizing, "either means this as an +affront, or an overture;<!--211.png--> if an affront, he is, indeed, well got rid of; +if an overture, he will soon make a more respectful and proper one. +After all, I can't have too little of relations till I have fairly +secured Mrs. M'Catchly. An Honorable! I wonder if that makes me an +Honorable too? This cursed Debrett contains no practical information on +these points."</p> + +<p>The next morning, the clothes and the watch with which Mr. Avenel had +presented Leonard were returned, with a note meant to express gratitude, +but certainly written with very little knowledge of the world, and so +full of that somewhat over-resentful pride which had in earlier life +made Leonard fly from Hazeldean, and refuse all apology to Randal, that +it is not to be wondered at that Mr. Avenel's last remorseful feelings +evaporated in ire. "I hope he will starve!" said the uncle, +vindictively.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3> + +<p>"Listen to me, my dear mother," said Leonard the next morning, as with +his knapsack on his shoulder and Mrs. Fairfield on his arm, he walked +along the high road; "I do assure you, from my heart, that I do not +regret the loss of favors which I see plainly would have crushed out of +me the very sense of independence. But do not fear for me; I have +education and energy—I shall do well for myself, trust me. No; I can +not, it is true, go back to our cottage—I can not be a gardener again. +Don't ask me—I should be discontented, miserable. But I will go up to +London! That's the place to make a fortune and a name: I will make both. +O yes, trust me, I will. You shall soon be proud of your Leonard; and +then we will always live together—always! Don't cry."</p> + +<p>"But what can you do in Lunnon—such a big place, Lenny?"</p> + +<p>"What! Every year does not some lad leave our village, and go and seek +his fortune, taking with him but health and strong hands? I have these, +and I have more: I have brains, and thoughts, and hopes, that—again I +say, No, no—never fear for me!"</p> + +<p>The boy threw back his head proudly; there was something sublime in his +young trust in the future.</p> + +<p>"Well—But you will write to Mr. Dale, or to me? I will get Mr. Dale, or +the good Mounseer (now I know they were not agin me) to read your +letters."</p> + +<p>"I will, indeed!"</p> + +<p>"And, boy, you have nothing in your pockets. We have paid Dick; these, +at least, are my own, after paying the coach fare." And she would thrust +a sovereign and some shillings into Leonard's waistcoat pocket.</p> + +<p>After some resistance, he was forced to consent.</p> + +<p>"And there's a sixpence with a hole in it. Don't part with that, Lenny; +it will bring thee good luck."</p> + +<p>Thus talking, they gained the inn where the +<!--212.png--><span class="pagenum">398</span> +three roads met, and from +which a coach went direct to the Casino. And here, without entering the +inn, they sate on the green sward by the hedge-row, waiting the arrival +of the coach. Mrs. Fairfield was much subdued in spirits, and there was +evidently on her mind something uneasy—some struggle with her +conscience. She not only upbraided herself for her rash visit; but she +kept talking of her dead Mark. And what would he say of her, if he could +see her in heaven?</p> + +<p>"It was so selfish in me, Lenny."</p> + +<p>"Pooh, pooh! Has not a mother a right to her child?"</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay, ay!" cried Mrs. Fairfield. "I do love you as a child—my own +child. But if I was not your mother after all, Lenny, and cost you all +this—oh, what would you say of me then?"</p> + +<p>"Not my own mother!" said Leonard, laughing, as he kissed her. "Well, I +don't know what I should say then differently from what I say now—that +you who brought me up, and nursed and cherished me, had a right to my +home and my heart, wherever I was."</p> + +<p>"Bless thee!" cried Mrs. Fairfield, as she pressed him to her heart. +"But it weighs here—it weighs"—she said, starting up.</p> + +<p>At that instant the coach appeared, and Leonard ran forward to inquire +if there was an outside place. Then there was a short bustle while the +horses were being changed; and Mrs. Fairfield was lifted up to the roof +of the vehicle. So all further private conversation between her and +Leonard ceased. But as the coach whirled away, and she waved her hand to +the boy, who stood on the road-side gazing after her, she still +murmured—"It weighs here—it weighs—!"</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3> + +<p>Leonard walked sturdily on in the high-road to the Great City. The day +was calm and sunlit, but with a gentle breeze from gray hills at the +distance; and with each mile that he passed, his step seemed to grow +more firm, and his front more elate. Oh! it is such joy in youth to be +alone with one's day-dreams. And youth feels so glorious a vigor in the +sense of its own strength, though the world be before and—against it! +Removed from that chilling counting-house—from the imperious will of a +patron and master—all friendless, but all independent—the young +adventurer felt a new being—felt his grand nature as Man. And on the +Man rushed the genius long interdicted—and thrust aside—rushing back, +with the first breath of adversity to console—no! the Man needed not +consolation—to kindle, to animate, to rejoice! If there is a being in +the world worthy of our envy, after we have grown wise philosophers of +the fireside, it is not the palled voluptuary, nor the care-worn +statesman, nor even the great prince of arts and letters, already +crowned with the laurel, whose leaves are as fit for poison as for +garlands; it is the young child of adventure<!--213.png--> and hope. Ay, and the +emptier his purse, ten to one but the richer his heart, and the wider +the domains which his fancy enjoys as he goes on with kingly step to the +Future.</p> + +<p>Not till toward the evening did our adventurer slacken his pace, and +think of rest and refreshment. There, then, lay before him, on either +side the road, those wide patches of uninclosed land, which in England +often denote the entrance to a village. Presently one or two neat +cottages came in sight—then a small farm-house, with its yard and +barns. And some way further yet, he saw the sign swinging before an inn +of some pretensions—the sort of inn often found on a long stage between +two great towns, commonly called "The Half-way House." But the inn stood +back from the road, having its own separate sward in front, whereon were +a great beech tree (from which the sign extended) and a rustic arbor—so +that, to gain the inn, the coaches that stopped there took a sweep from +the main thoroughfare. Between our pedestrian and the inn there stood +naked and alone, on the common land, a church; our ancestors never would +have chosen that site for it; therefore it was a modern church—modern +Gothic—handsome to an eye not versed in the attributes of +ecclesiastical architecture—very barbarous to an eye that was. Somehow +or other the church looked cold, and raw, and uninviting. It looked a +church for show—much too big for the scattered hamlet—and void of all +the venerable associations which give their peculiar and unspeakable +atmosphere of piety to the churches in which succeeding generations have +knelt and worshiped. Leonard paused and surveyed the edifice with an +unlearned but poetical gaze—it dissatisfied him. And he was yet +pondering why, when a young girl passed slowly before him, her eyes +fixed on the ground, opened the little gate that led into the +church-yard, and vanished. He did not see the child's face; but there +was something in her movements so utterly listless, forlorn, and sad, +that his heart was touched. What did she there? He approached the low +wall with a noiseless step, and looked over it wistfully.</p> + +<p>There by a grave evidently quite recent, with no wooden tomb nor +tombstone like the rest, the little girl had thrown herself, and she was +sobbing loud and passionately. Leonard opened the gate, and approached +her with a soft step. Mingled with her sobs, he heard broken sentences, +wild and vain, as all human sorrowings over graves must be.</p> + +<p>"Father! oh, father! do you not really hear me? I am so lone—so lone! +Take me to you—take me!" And she buried her face in the deep grass.</p> + +<p>"Poor child!" said Leonard, in a half whisper—"he is not there. Look +above!"</p> + +<p>The girl did not heed him—he put his arm round her waist gently—she +made a gesture of impatience and anger, but she would not turn her +face—and she clung to the grave with her hands. +<!--214.png--><span class="pagenum">399</span> +</p> + +<p>After clear sunny days the dews fall more heavily; and now, as the sun +set, the herbage was bathed in a vaporous haze—a dim mist rose around. +The young man seated himself beside her, and tried to draw the child to +his breast. Then she turned eagerly, indignantly, and pushed him aside +with jealous arms. He profaned the grave! He understood her with his +deep poet-heart, and rose. There was a pause.</p> + +<p>Leonard was the first to break it.</p> + +<p>"Come to your home with me, my child, and we will talk of <i>him</i> by the +way."</p> + +<p>"Him! Who are you? You did not know him!" said the girl, still with +anger. "Go away—why do you disturb me? I do no one harm. Go—go!"</p> + +<p>"You do yourself harm, and that will grieve him if he sees you yonder! +Come!"</p> + +<p>The child looked at him through her blinding tears, and his face +softened and soothed her.</p> + +<p>"Go!" she said very plaintively, and in subdued accents. "I will but +stay a minute more. I—I have so much to say yet."</p> + +<p>Leonard left the church-yard, and waited without; and in a short time +the child came forth, waved him aside as he approached her, and hurried +away. He followed her at a distance, and saw her disappear within the +inn.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER V.</h3> + +<p>"Hip—hip—hurrah!" Such was the sound that greeted our young traveler +as he reached the inn-door—a sound joyous in itself, but sadly out of +harmony with the feelings which the child sobbing on the tombless grave +had left at his heart. The sound came from within, and was followed by +thumps and stamps, and the jingle of glasses. A strong odor of tobacco +was wafted to his olfactory sense. He hesitated a moment at the +threshold. Before him on benches under the beech-tree and within the +arbor, were grouped sundry athletic forms with "pipes in the liberal +air." The landlady, as she passed across the passage to the tap-room, +caught sight of his form at the doorway, and came forward. Leonard still +stood irresolute. He would have gone on his way, but for the child; she +had interested him strongly.</p> + +<p>"You seem full, ma'am," said he. "Can I have accommodation for the +night?"</p> + +<p>"Why, indeed, sir," said the landlady, civilly, "I can give you a +bed-room, but I don't know where to put you meanwhile. The two parlors +and the tap-room and the kitchen are all choke-ful. There has been a +great cattle-fair in the neighborhood, and I suppose we have as many as +fifty farmers and drovers stopping here."</p> + +<p>"As to that, ma'am, I can sit in the bed-room you are kind enough to +give me; and if it does not cause you much trouble to let me have some +tea there, I should be glad; but I can wait your leisure. Do not put +yourself out of the way for me."</p> + +<p>The landlady was touched by a consideration<!--215.png--> she was not much habituated +to receive from her bluff customers.</p> + +<p>"You speak very handsome, sir, and we will do our best to serve you, if +you will excuse all faults. This way, sir." Leonard lowered his +knapsack, stepped into the passage, with some difficulty forced his way +through a knot of sturdy giants in top-boots or leathern gaiters, who +were swarming in and out the tap-room, and followed his hostess +up-stairs to a little bed-room at the top of the house.</p> + +<p>"It is small, sir, and high," said the hostess, apologetically. "But +there be four gentlemen-farmers that have come a great distance, and all +the first floor is engaged; you will be more out of the noise here."</p> + +<p>"Nothing can suit me better. But, stay—pardon me;" and Leonard, +glancing at the garb of the hostess, observed she was not in mourning. +"A little girl whom I saw in the church-yard yonder, weeping very +bitterly—is she a relation of yours? Poor child, she seems to have +deeper feelings than are common at her age."</p> + +<p>"Ah, sir," said the landlady, putting the corner of her apron to her +eyes, "it is a very sad story—I don't know what to do. Her father was +taken ill on his way to Lunnun, and stopped here, and has been buried +four days. And the poor little girl seems to have no relations—and +where is she to go? Laryer Jones says we must pass her to Marybone +parish, where her father lived last; and what's to become of her then? +My heart bleeds to think on it." Here then rose such an uproar from +below, that it was evident some quarrel had broken out; and the hostess, +recalled to her duties, hastened to carry thither her propitiatory +influences.</p> + +<p>Leonard seated himself pensively by the little lattice. Here was some +one more alone in the world than he. And she, poor orphan, had no stout +man's heart to grapple with fate, and no golden manuscripts that were to +be as the "Open Sesame" to the treasures of Aladdin. By-and-by, the +hostess brought him up a tray with tea and other refreshments, and +Leonard resumed his inquiries. "No relatives?" said he; "surely the +child must have some kinsfolk in London? Did her father leave no +directions, or was he in possession of his faculties?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir; he was quite reasonablelike to the last. And I asked him if +he had not any thing on his mind, and he said, 'I have.' And I said, +'your little girl, sir?' And he answered me, 'Yes, ma'am;' and laying +his head on his pillow, he wept very quietly. I could not say more +myself, for it set me off to see him cry so meekly; but my husband is +harder than I, and he said, 'Cheer up, Mr. Digby; had not you better +write to your friends?'"</p> + +<p>"'Friends!' said the gentleman, in such a voice! 'Friends, I have but +one, and I am going to Him! I can not take her there!' Then he seemed +suddenly to recollect hisself, and called for his clothes, and rummaged +in the pockets as if looking for some address, and +<!--216.png--><span class="pagenum">400</span> +could not find it. +He seemed a forgetful kind of gentleman, and his hands were what I call +<i>helpless</i> hands, sir! And then he gasped out, 'Stop—stop! I never had +the address. Write to Lord Les—' something like Lord Lester—but we +could not make out the name. Indeed, he did not finish it, for there was +a rush of blood to his lips; and though he seemed sensible when he +recovered (and knew us and his little girl too, till he went off +smiling), he never spoke word more."</p> + +<p>"Poor man," said Leonard, wiping his eyes. "But his little girl surely +remembers the name that he did not finish?"</p> + +<p>"No. She says, he must have meant a gentleman whom they had met in the +Park not long ago, who was very kind to her father, and was Lord +something; but she don't remember the name, for she never saw him before +or since, and her father talked very little about any one lately, but +thought he should find some kind friends at Screwstown, and traveled +down there with her from Lunnon. But she supposes he was disappointed, +for he went out, came back, and merely told her to put up the things, as +they must go back to Lunnon. And on his way there he—died. Hush, what's +that? I hope she did not overhear us. No, we were talking low. She has +the next room to your'n, sir. I thought I heard her sobbing. Hush!"</p> + +<p>"In the next room? I hear nothing. Well, with your leave, I will speak +to her before I quit you. And had her father no money with him?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, a few sovereigns, sir; they paid for his funeral, and there is a +little left still, enough to take her to town; for my husband said, says +he, 'Hannah, the widow <i>gave</i> her mite, and we must not <i>take</i> the +orphan's,' and my husband is a hard man, too, sir. Bless him?"</p> + +<p>"Let me take your hand, ma'am. God reward you both."</p> + +<p>"La, sir!—why, even Dr. Dosewell said, rather grumpily though, 'Never +mind my bill; but don't call me up at six o'clock in the morning again, +without knowing a little more about people.' And I never afore knew Dr. +Dosewell go without his bill being paid. He said it was a trick o' the +other Doctor to spite him."</p> + +<p>"What other Doctor?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, a very good gentleman, who got out with Mr. Digby when he was taken +ill, and staid till the next morning; and our Doctor says his name is +Morgan, and he lives in—Lunnon, and is a homy—something."</p> + +<p>"Homicide," suggested Leonard ignorantly.</p> + +<p>"Ah—homicide; something like that, only a deal longer and worse. But he +left some of the tiniest little balls you ever see, sir, to give the +child; but, bless you, they did her no good—how should they?"</p> + +<p>"Tiny balls, oh—homeopathist—I understand. And the Doctor was kind to +her; perhaps he may help her. Have you written to him?"<!--217.png--></p> + +<p>"But we don't know his address, and Lunnon is a vast place, sir."</p> + +<p>"I am going to London, and will find it out."</p> + +<p>"Ah, sir, you seem very kind; and sin' she must go to Lunnon (for what +can we do with her here?—she's too genteel for service), I wish she was +going with you."</p> + +<p>"With me!" said Leonard, startled; "with me! Well, why not?"</p> + +<p>"I am sure she comes of good blood, sir. You would have known her father +was quite the gentleman, only to see him die, sir. He went off so kind +and civil like, as if he was ashamed to give so much trouble—quite a +gentleman, if ever there was one. And so are you, sir, I'm sure," said +the landlady, courtesying; "I know what gentlefolk be. I've been a +housekeeper in the first of families in this very shire, sir, though I +can't say I've served in Lunnon; and so, as gentlefolks know each other, +I've no doubt you could find out her relations. Dear—dear! Coming, +coming!"</p> + +<p>Here there were loud cries for the hostess, and she hurried away. The +farmers and drovers were beginning to depart, and their bills were to be +made out and paid. Leonard saw his hostess no more that night. The last +hip—hip—hurrah, was heard; some toast, perhaps, to the health of the +county members;—and the chamber of woe, beside Leonard's, rattled with +the shout. By-and-by silence gradually succeeded the various dissonant +sounds below. The carts and gigs rolled away; the clatter of hoofs on +the road ceased; there was then a dumb dull sound as of locking-up, and +low humming of voices below, and footsteps mounting the stairs to bed, +with now and then a drunken hiccup or maudlin laugh, as some conquered +votary of Bacchus was fairly carried up to his domicile.</p> + +<p>All, then, at last, was silent, just as the clock from the church +sounded the stroke of eleven.</p> + +<p>Leonard, meanwhile, had been looking over his MSS. There was first a +project for an improvement on the steam-engine—a project that had long +lain in his mind, begun with the first knowledge of mechanics that he +had gleaned from his purchases of the Tinker. He put that aside now—it +required too great an effort of the reasoning faculty to re-examine. He +glanced less hastily over a collection of essays on various subjects, +some that he thought indifferent, some that he thought good. He then +lingered over a collection of verses, written in his best hand with +loving care—verses first inspired by his perusal of Nora's melancholy +memorials. These verses were as a diary of his heart and his +fancy—those deep unwitnessed struggles which the boyhood of all more +thoughtful natures has passed in its bright yet murky storm of the cloud +and the lightning flash; though but few boys paused to record the crisis +from which slowly emerges Man. And these first desultory grapplings with +the fugitive airy images that flit through the dim chambers of the +<!--218.png--><span class="pagenum">401</span> + +brain, had become with each effort more sustained and vigorous, till the +phantoms were spelled, the flying ones arrested, the Immaterial seized, +and clothed with Form. Gazing on his last effort, Leonard felt that +there at length spoke forth the Poet. It was a work which, though as yet +but half completed, came from a strong hand; not that shadow trembling +on unsteady waters, which is but the pale reflex and imitation of some +bright mind, sphered out of reach and afar; but an original substance—a +life—a thing of the <i>Creative</i> Faculty—breathing back already the +breath it had received. This work had paused during Leonard's residence +with Mr. Avenel, or had only now and then, in stealth, and at night, +received a rare touch. Now, as with a fresh eye, he re-perused it; and +with that strange, innocent admiration, not of self—(for a man's work +is not, alas! himself—it is the beatified and idealized essence, +extracted he knows not how from his own human elements of +clay)—admiration known but to poets—their purest delight, often their +sole reward. And then, with a warmer and more earthly beat of his full +heart, he rushed in fancy to the Great City, where all rivers of Fame +meet, but not to be merged and lost—sallying forth again, +individualized and separate, to flow through that one vast Thought of +God which we call <span class="smcap">The World</span>.</p> + +<p>He put up his papers; and opened his window, as was his ordinary custom, +before he retired to rest—for he had many odd habits; and he loved to +look out into the night when he prayed. His soul seemed to escape from +the body—to mount on the air—to gain more rapid access to the far +Throne in the Infinite—when his breath went forth among the winds, and +his eyes rested fixed on the stars of Heaven.</p> + +<p>So the boy prayed silently; and after his prayer he was about +lingeringly to close the lattice, when he heard distinctly sobs close at +hand. He paused, and held his breath; then looked gently out; the +casement next his own was also open. Some one was also at watch by that +casement—perhaps also praying. He listened yet more intently, and +caught, soft and low, the words, "Father—father—do you hear me <i>now</i>?"</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER VI.</h3> + +<p>Leonard opened his door and stole toward that of the room adjoining; for +his first natural impulse had been to enter and console. But when his +touch was on the handle, he drew back. Child though the mourner was, her +sorrows were rendered yet more sacred from intrusion by her sex. +Something, he knew not what, in his young ignorance, withheld him from +the threshold. To have crossed it then would have seemed to him +profanation. So he returned, and for hours yet he occasionally heard the +sobs, till they died away, and childhood wept itself to sleep.</p> + +<p>But the next morning, when he heard his neighbor astir, he knocked +gently at her door;<!--219.png--> there was no answer. He entered softly, and saw her +seated very listlessly in the centre of the room—as if it had no +familiar nook or corner as the rooms of home have—her hands drooping on +her lap, and her eyes gazing desolately on the floor. Then he approached +and spoke to her.</p> + +<p>Helen was very subdued, and very silent. Her tears seemed dried up: and +it was long before she gave sign or token that she heeded him. At +length, however, he gradually succeeded in rousing her interest; and the +first symptom of his success was in the quiver of her lip, and the +overflow of the downcast eyes.</p> + +<p>By little and little he wormed himself into her confidence; and she told +him, in broken whispers, her simple story. But what moved him the most +was, that, beyond her sense of loneliness, she did not seem to feel her +own unprotected state. She mourned the object she had nursed, and +heeded, and cherished; for she had been rather the protectress than the +protected to the helpless dead. He could not gain from her any more +satisfactory information than the landlady had already imparted, as to +her friends and prospects; but she permitted him passively to look among +the effects her father had left—save only that if his hand touched +something that seemed to her associations especially holy, she waved him +back, or drew it quickly away. There were many bills receipted in the +name of Captain Digby—old yellow faded music-scores for the +flute—extracts of Parts from Prompt Books—gay parts of lively +comedies, in which heroes have so noble a contempt for money—fit heroes +for a Sheridan and a Farquhar; close by these were several pawnbroker's +tickets; and, not arranged smoothly, but crumpled up, as if with an +indignant nervous clutch of the old helpless hands, some two or three +letters. He asked Helen's permission to glance at these, for they might +give a clew to friends. Helen gave the permission by a silent bend of +the head. The letters, however, were but short and freezing answers from +what appeared to be distant connections or former friends, or persons to +whom the deceased had applied for some situation. They were all very +disheartening in their tone. Leonard next endeavored to refresh Helen's +memory as to the name of the nobleman which had been last on her +father's lips; but there he failed wholly. For it may be remembered that +Lord L'Estrange, when he pressed his loan on Mr. Digby, and subsequently +told that gentleman to address to him at Mr. Egerton's, had, from a +natural delicacy, sent the child on, that she might not hear the charity +bestowed on the father; and Helen said truly, that Mr. Digby had sunk +into a habitual silence on all his affairs latterly. She might have +heard her father mention the name, but she had not treasured it up; all +she could say was, that she should know the stranger again if she met +him, and his dog too. Seeing that the child had grown calm, Leonard was +then going to leave the room, in order to confer with the hostess: when +she rose +<!--220.png--><span class="pagenum">402</span> +suddenly, though noiselessly, and put her little hand in his, +as if to detain him. She did not say a word—the action said all—said +"Do not desert me." And Leonardo heart rushed to his lips, and he +answered to the action, as he bent down and kissed her cheek, "Orphan, +will you go with me? We have one Father yet to both of us, and He will +guide us on earth. I am fatherless like you." She raised her eyes to +his—looked at him long—and then leant her head confidingly on his +strong young shoulder.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER VII.</h3> + +<p>At noon that same day, the young man and the child were on their road to +London. The host had at first a little demurred at trusting Helen to so +young a companion; but Leonard, in his happy ignorance, had talked so +sanguinely of finding out this lord, or some adequate protection for the +child; and in so grand a strain, though with all sincerity—had spoken +of his own great prospects in the metropolis (he did not say what they +were!)—that had it been the craftiest impostor he could not more have +taken in the rustic host. And while the landlady still cherished the +illusive fancy, that all gentlefolks must know each other in London, as +they did in a county, the landlord believed, at least, that a young man +so respectably dressed, although but a foot-traveler—who talked in so +confident a tone, and who was so willing to undertake what might be +rather a burdensome charge, unless he saw how to rid himself of +it—would be sure to have friends, older and wiser than himself, who +would judge what could best be done for the orphan.</p> + +<p>And what was the host to do with her? Better this volunteered escort, at +least, than vaguely passing her on from parish to parish, and leaving +her friendless at last in the streets of London. Helen, too, smiled for +the first time on being asked her wishes, and again put her hand in +Leonard's. In short, so it was settled.</p> + +<p>The little girl made up a bundle of the things she most prized or +needed. Leonard did not feel the additional load, as he slung it to his +knapsack: the rest of the luggage was to be sent to London as soon as +Leonard wrote (which he promised to do soon), and gave an address.</p> + +<p>Helen paid her last visit to the church-yard; and she joined her +companion as he stood on the road, without the solemn precincts. And now +they had gone on some hours; and when he asked if she were tired, she +still answered, "No." But Leonard was merciful, and made their day's +journey short; and it took them some days to reach London. By the long +lonely way, they grew so intimate; at the end of the second day, they +called each other brother and sister; and Leonard, to his delight, found +that as her grief, with the bodily movement and the change of scene, +subsided from its first intenseness and its insensibility to other +impressions, she developed a quickness of comprehension far beyond her +years. Poor child! <i>that</i> had been forced upon her by Necessity. And she +understood<!--221.png--> him in his spiritual consolations—half-poetical, +half-religious; and she listened to his own tale, and the story of his +self-education and solitary struggles—those, too, she understood. But +when he burst out with his enthusiasm, his glorious hopes, his +confidence in the fate before them, then she would shake her head very +quietly and very sadly. Did she comprehend <i>them</i>? Alas! perhaps too +well. She knew more as to real life than he did. Leonard was at first +their joint treasurer; but before the second day was over, Helen seemed +to discover that he was too lavish; and she told him so, with a prudent, +grave look, putting her hand on his arm as he was about to enter an inn +to dine; and the gravity would have been comic, but that the eyes +through their moisture were so meek and grateful. She felt he was about +to incur that ruinous extravagance on her account. Somehow or other, the +purse found its way into her keeping, and then she looked proud and in +her natural element.</p> + +<p>Ah! what happy meals under her care were provided: so much more +enjoyable than in dull, sanded inn-parlors, swarming with flies and +reeking with stale tobacco. She would leave him at the entrance of a +village, bound forward, and cater, and return with a little basket and a +pretty blue jug—which she had bought on the road—the last filled with +new milk; the first with new bread and some special dainty in radishes +or water-cresses. And she had such a talent for finding out the +prettiest spot whereon to halt and dine: sometimes in the heart of a +wood—so still, it was like a forest in fairy tales, the hare stealing +through the alleys, or the squirrel peeping at them from the boughs; +sometimes by a little brawling stream, with the fishes seen under the +clear wave, and shooting round the crumbs thrown to them. They made an +Arcadia of the dull road up to their dread Thermopylæ—the war against +the million that waited them on the other side of their pass through +Tempe.</p> + +<p>"Shall we be as happy when we are <i>great</i>?" said Leonard, in his grand +simplicity.</p> + +<p>Helen sighed, and the wise little head was shaken.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER VIII.</h3> + +<p>At last they came within easy reach of London; but Leonard had resolved +not to enter the metropolis fatigued and exhausted, as a wanderer +needing refuge, but fresh and elate, as a conqueror coming in triumph to +take possession of the capital. Therefore they halted early in the +evening of the day preceding this imperial entry, about six miles from +the metropolis, in the neighborhood of Ealing (for by that route lay +their way). They were not tired on arriving at their inn. The weather +was singularly lovely, with that combination of softness and brilliancy +which is only known to the rare true summer days of England: all below +so green, above so blue—days of which we have about six +<!--222.png--><span class="pagenum">403</span> +in the year, +and recall vaguely when we read of Robin Hood and Maid Marian, of Damsel +and Knight, in Spenser's golden Summer Song, or of Jacques, dropped +under the oak tree, watching the deer amidst the dells of Ardennes. So, +after a little pause in their inn, they strolled forth, not for travel, +but pleasure, toward the cool of sunset, passing by the grounds that +once belonged to the Duke of Kent, and catching a glimpse of the shrubs +and lawns of that beautiful domain through the lodge-gates; then they +crossed into some fields, and came to a little rivulet called the Brent. +Helen had been more sad that day than on any during their journey. +Perhaps, because, on approaching London, the memory of her father became +more vivid; perhaps from her precocious knowledge of life, and her +foreboding of what was to befall them, children that they both were. But +Leonard was selfish that day; he could not be influenced by his +companion's sorrow, he was so full of his own sense of being, and he +already caught from the atmosphere the fever that belongs to anxious +Capitals.</p> + +<p>"Sit here, sister," said he imperiously throwing himself under the shade +of a pollard tree that overhung the winding brook, "sit here and talk."</p> + +<p>He flung off his hat, tossed back his rich curls, and sprinkled his brow +from the stream that eddied round the roots of the tree that bulged out, +bald and gnarled, from the bank, and delved into the waves below. Helen +quietly obeyed him, and nestled close to his side.</p> + +<p>"And so this London is really very vast?—<span class="smcap">very</span>?" he repeated +inquisitively.</p> + +<p>"Very," answered Helen, as abstractedly she plucked the cowslips near +her, and let them fall into the running waters. "See how the flowers are +carried down the stream! They are lost now. London is to us what the +river is to the flowers—very vast—very strong;" and she added, after a +pause, "very cruel?"</p> + +<p>"Cruel! Ah, it <i>has</i> been so to you; but <i>now</i>!—now I will take care of +you!" he smiled triumphantly; and his smile was beautiful both in its +pride and its kindness. It is astonishing how Leonard had altered since +he had left his uncle's. He was both younger and older; for the sense of +genius, when it snaps its shackles, makes us both older and wiser as to +the world it soars to—younger and blinder as to the world it springs +from.</p> + +<p>"And it is not a very handsome city either, you say?"</p> + +<p>"Very ugly, indeed," said Helen, with some fervor; "at least all I have +seen of it."</p> + +<p>"But there must be parts that are prettier than others? You say there +are parks; why should not we lodge near them, and look upon the green +trees?"</p> + +<p>"That would be nice," said Helen, almost joyously; "but—" and here the +head was shaken—"there are no lodgings for us except in courts and +alleys."</p> + +<p>"Why?"<!--223.png--></p> + +<p>"Why?" echoed Helen, with a smile, and she held up the purse.</p> + +<p>"Pooh! always that horrid purse; as if, too, we were not going to fill +it. Did I not tell you the story of Fortunio? Well, at all events, we +will go first to the neighborhood where you last lived, and learn there +all we can; and then the day after to-morrow, I will see this Dr. +Morgan, and find out the Lord—"</p> + +<p>The tears started to Helen's soft eyes. "You want to get rid of me soon, +brother."</p> + +<p>"I! ah, I feel so happy to have you with me, it seems to me as if I had +pined for you all my life, and you had come at last; for I never had +brother, nor sister, nor any one to love, that was not older than +myself, except—"</p> + +<p>"Except the young lady you told me of," said Helen, turning away her +face; for children are very jealous.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I loved her, love her still. But that was different," said +Leonard, with a heightened color. "I could never have talked to her as +to you; to you I open my whole heart; you are my little Muse, Helen. I +confess to you my wild whims and fancies as frankly as if I were writing +poetry." As he said this, a step was heard, and a shadow fell over the +stream. A belated angler appeared on the margin, drawing his line +impatiently across the water, as if to worry some dozing fish into a +bite before it finally settled itself for the night. Absorbed in his +occupation, the angler did not observe the young persons on the sward +under the tree, and he halted there, close upon them.</p> + +<p>"Curse that perch!" said he aloud.</p> + +<p>"Take care, sir," cried Leonard; for the man in stepping back, nearly +trod upon Helen.</p> + +<p>The angler turned. "What's the matter? Hist! you have frightened my +perch. Keep still, can't you?"</p> + +<p>Helen drew herself out of the way, and Leonard remained motionless. He +remembered Jackeymo, and felt a sympathy for the angler.</p> + +<p>"It is the most extraordinary perch, that!" muttered the stranger, +soliloquizing. "It has the devil's own luck. It must have been born with +a silver spoon in its mouth, that damned perch! I shall never catch +it—never! Ha!—no—only a weed. I give it up." With this, he +indignantly jerked his rod from the water, and began to disjoint it. +While leisurely engaged in this occupation, he turned to Leonard.</p> + +<p>"Humph! are you intimately acquainted with this stream, sir?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered Leonard. "I never saw it before."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Angler</span> (solemnly).—"Then, young man, take my advice, and do not give +way to its fascinations. Sir, I am a martyr to this stream; it has been +the Dalilah of my existence."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Leonard</span> (interested, the last sentence seemed to him poetical).—"The +Dalilah! Sir—the Dalilah!"</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Angler</span>.—"The Dalilah. Young man, listen, and be warned by example. When +I was about +<!--224.png--><span class="pagenum">404</span> +your age, I first came to this stream to fish. Sir, on that +fatal day, about 3, <span class="smcap">p.m.</span>, I hooked up a fish—such a big one, it must +have weighed a pound and a half. Sir, it was that length;" and the +angler put finger to wrist. "And just when I had got it nearly ashore, +by the very place where you are sitting, on that shelving bank, young +man, the line broke, and the perch twisted himself among those roots, +and—caco-dæmon that he was—ran off, hook and all. Well, that fish +haunted me; never before had I seen such a fish. Minnows I had caught in +the Thames and elsewhere, also gudgeons, and occasionally a dace. But a +fish like that—a PERCH—all his fins up like the sails of a +man-of-war—a monster perch—a whale of a perch!—No, never till then +had I known what leviathans lie hid within the deeps. I could not sleep +till I had returned; and again, sir—I caught that perch. And this time +I pulled him fairly out of the water. He escaped; and how did he escape? +Sir, he left his eye behind him on the hook. Years, long years, have +passed since then; but never shall I forget the agony of that moment."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Leonard</span>.—"To the perch, sir?"</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Angler</span>.—"Perch! agony to him! He enjoyed it:—agony to me. I gazed on +that eye, and the eye looked as sly and as wicked as if it was laughing +in my face. Well, sir, I had heard that there is no better bait for a +perch than a perch's eye. I adjusted that eye on the hook, and dropped +in the line gently. The water was unusually clear; in two minutes I saw +that perch return. He approached the hook; he recognized his +eye—frisked his tail—made a plunge—and, as I live, carried off the +eye, safe and sound; and I saw him digesting it by the side of that +water lily. The mocking fiend! Seven times since that day, in the course +of a varied and eventful life, have I caught that perch, and seven times +has that perch escaped."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Leonard</span> (astonished):—"It can't be the same perch; perches are very +tender fish—a hook inside of it, and an eye hooked out of it—no perch +could withstand such havoc in its constitution."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Angler</span> (with an appearance of awe).—"It does seem supernatural. But it +<i>is</i> that perch; for harkye, sir, there is <span class="smcap">only one</span> perch in the whole +brook! All the years I have fished here, I have never caught another +perch here; and this solitary inmate of the watery element I know by +sight better than I know my own lost father. For each time that I have +raised it out of the water, its profile has been turned to me, and I +have seen, with a shudder, that it has had only—One Eye! It is a most +mysterious and a most diabolical phenomenon, that perch! It has been the +ruin of my prospects in life. I was offered a situation in Jamaica; I +could not go, with that perch left here in triumph. I might afterward +have had an appointment in India, but I could not put the ocean between +myself and that perch: thus have I frittered away my existence in the +fatal metropolis of my native land. And once a-week, from February to +December,<!--225.png--> I come hither—Good Heavens! if I should catch the perch at +last, the occupation of my existence will be gone."</p> + +<p>Leonard gazed curiously at the angler, as the last thus mournfully +concluded. The ornate turn of his periods did not suit with his costume. +He looked woefully threadbare and shabby—a genteel sort of shabbiness +too—shabbiness in black. There was humor in the corners of his lip; and +his hands, though they did not seem very clean—indeed his occupation +was not friendly to such niceties—were those of a man who had not known +manual labor. His face was pale and puffed, but the tip of his nose was +red. He did not seem as if the watery element was as familiar to himself +as to his Dalilah—the perch.</p> + +<p>"Such is Life!" recommenced the angler in a moralizing tone, as he slid +his rod into its canvas case. "If a man knew what it was to fish all +one's life in a stream that has only one perch!—to catch that one perch +nine times in all, and nine times to see it fall back into the water, +plump;—if a man knew what it was—why, then"—Here the angler looked +over his shoulder full at Leonard—"why then, young sir, he would know +what human life is to vain ambition. Good evening."</p> + +<p>Away he went, treading over the daisies and king cups. Helen's eyes +followed him wistfully.</p> + +<p>"What a strange person!" said Leonard, laughing.</p> + +<p>"I think he is a very wise one," murmured Helen; and she came close up +to Leonard, and took his hand in both hers, as if she felt already that +he was in need of the Comforter—the line broke, and the perch lost!</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER IX.</h3> + +<p>At noon the next day, London stole upon them, through a gloomy, thick, +oppressive atmosphere. For where is it that we can say London <i>bursts</i> +on the sight? It stole on them through one of its fairest and most +gracious avenues of approach—by the stately gardens of +Kensington—along the side of Hyde Park, and so on toward Cumberland +Gate.</p> + +<p>Leonard was not the least struck. And yet, with a very little money, and +a very little taste, it would be easy to render this entrance to London +as grand and imposing as that to Paris from the <i>Champs Elysées</i>. As +they came near the Edgeware Road, Helen took her new brother by the hand +and guided him. For she knew all that neighborhood, and she was +acquainted with a lodging near that occupied by her father (to <i>that</i> +lodging itself she could not have gone for the world), where they might +be housed cheaply.</p> + +<p>But just then the sky, so dull and overcast since morning, seemed one +mass of black cloud. There suddenly came on a violent storm of rain. The +boy and girl took refuge in a covered mews, in a street running out of +the Edgeware Road. This shelter soon became crowded; the two young +pilgrims crept close to the wall, apart +<!--226.png--><span class="pagenum">405</span> +from the rest; Leonard's arm +round Helen's waist, sheltering her from the rain that the strong wind +contending with it beat in through the passage. Presently a young +gentleman, of better mien and dress than the other refugees, entered, +not hastily, but rather with a slow and proud step, as if, though he +deigned to take shelter, he scorned to run to it. He glanced somewhat +haughtily at the assembled group—passed on through the midst of +it—came near Leonard—took off his hat, and shook the rain from its +brim. His head thus uncovered, left all his features exposed; and the +village youth recognized, at the first glance, his old victorious +assailant on the green at Hazeldean.</p> + +<p>Yet Randal Leslie was altered. His dark cheek was as thin as in boyhood, +and even yet more wasted by intense study and night vigils; but the +expression of his face was at once more refined and manly, and there was +a steady concentrated light in his large eye, like that of one who has +been in the habit of bringing all his thoughts to one point. He looked +older than he was. He was dressed simply in black, a color which became +him; and altogether his aspect and figure were not showy indeed, but +distinguished. He looked, to the common eye, a gentleman; and to the +more observant, a scholar.</p> + +<p>Helter-skelter!—pell-mell! the group in the passage—now pressed each +on each—now scattered on all sides—making way—rushing down the +mews—against the walls—as a fiery horse darted under shelter; the +rider, a young man, with a very handsome face, and dressed with that +peculiar care which we commonly call dandyism, cried out, +good-humoredly, "Don't be afraid; the horse shan't hurt any of you—a +thousand pardons—so ho! so ho!" He patted the horse, and it stood as +still as a statue, filling up the centre of the passage. The groups +resettled—Randal approached the rider.</p> + +<p>"Frank Hazeldean!"</p> + +<p>"Ah—is it indeed Randal Leslie!"</p> + +<p>Frank was off his horse in a moment, and the bridle was consigned to the +care of a slim prentice-boy holding a bundle.</p> + +<p>"My dear fellow, how glad I am to see you. How lucky it was that I +should turn in here. Not like me either, for I don't much care for a +ducking. Staying in town, Randal?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, at your uncle's, Mr. Egerton. I have left Oxford."</p> + +<p>"For good?"</p> + +<p>"For good."</p> + +<p>"But you have not taken your degree, I think? We Etonians all considered +you booked for a double first. Oh! we have been so proud of your +fame—you carried off all the prizes."</p> + +<p>"Not all; but some, certainly. Mr. Egerton offered me my choice—to stay +for my degree, or to enter at once into the Foreign Office. I preferred +the end to the means. For, after all, what good are academical honors +but as the entrance to life? To enter now, is to save a step in a long +way, Frank."<!--227.png--></p> + +<p>"Ah! you were always ambitious, and you will make a great figure, I am +sure."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps so—if I work for it. Knowledge is power!"</p> + +<p>Leonard started.</p> + +<p>"And you," resumed Randal, looking with some curious attention at his +old school-fellow. "You never came to Oxford. I did hear you were going +into the army."</p> + +<p>"I am in the Guards," said Frank, trying hard not to look too conceited +as he made that acknowledgment. "The Governor pished a little, and would +rather I had come to live with him in the old Hall, and take to farming. +Time enough for that—eh? By Jove, Randal, how pleasant a thing is life +in London? Do you go to Almack's to-night?"</p> + +<p>"No; Wednesday is a holiday in the House! There is a great parliamentary +dinner at Mr. Egerton's. He is in the Cabinet now, you know; but you +don't see much of your uncle, I think."</p> + +<p>"Our sets are different," said the young gentleman, in a tone of voice +worthy of Brummel. "All those parliamentary fellows are devilish dull. +The rain's over. I don't know whether the Governor would like me to call +at Grosvenor-square; but pray come and see me; here's my card to remind +you; you must dine at our mess. Such nice fellows. What day will you +fix?"</p> + +<p>"I will call and let you know. Don't you find it rather expensive in the +Guards? I remember that you thought the Governor, as you call him, used +to chafe a little when you wrote for more pocket-money; and the only +time I ever remember to have seen you with tears in your eyes, was when +Mr. Hazeldean, in sending you £5, reminded you that his estates were not +entailed—were at his own disposal, and they should never go to an +extravagant spendthrift. It was not a pleasant threat, that, Frank."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried the young man coloring deeply, "It was not the threat that +pained me, it was that my father could think so meanly of me as to fancy +that—well—well, but those were school-boy days. And my father was +always more generous than I deserved. We must see a good deal of each +other, Randal. How good-natured you were at Eton, making my longs and +shorts for me; I shall never forget it. Do call soon."</p> + +<p>Frank swung himself into his saddle, and rewarded the slim youth with +half-a-crown; a largess four times more ample than his father would have +deemed sufficient. A jerk of the rein and a touch of the heel—off +bounded the fiery horse and the gay young rider. Randal mused; and as +the rain had now ceased, the passengers under shelter dispersed and went +their way. Only Randal, Leonard, and Helen remained behind. Then, as +Randal, still musing, lifted his eyes, they fell full upon Leonard's +face. He started, passed his hand quickly over his brow—looked again, +hard and piercingly; and the change in his pale cheek to a shade still +paler—a quick compression and nervous gnawing of his lip—showed that +he too recognized +<!--228.png--><span class="pagenum">406</span> +an old foe. Then his glance ran over Leonard's dress, +which was somewhat dust-stained, but far above the class among which the +peasant was born. Randal raised his brows in surprise, and with a smile +slightly supercilious—the smile stung Leonard; and with a slow step +Randal left the passage, and took his way toward Grosvenor-square. The +Entrance of Ambition was clear to <i>him</i>.</p> + +<p>Then the little girl once more took Leonard by the hand, and led him +through rows of humble, obscure, dreary streets. It seemed almost like +an allegory personified, as the sad, silent child led on the penniless +and low-born adventurer of genius by the squalid shops, and through the +winding lanes, which grew meaner and meaner, till both their forms +vanished from the view.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER X.</h3> + +<p>"But do come; change your dress, return and dine with me; you will have +just time, Harley. You will meet the most eminent men of our party; +surely they are worth your study, philosopher that you affect to be."</p> + +<p>Thus said Audley Egerton to Lord L'Estrange, with whom he had been +riding (after the toils of his office). The two gentlemen were in +Audley's library. Mr. Egerton, as usual, buttoned up, seated in his +chair, in the erect posture of a man who scorns "inglorious ease." +Harley, as usual, thrown at length on a sofa, his long hair in careless +curls, his neckcloth loose, his habiliments flowing—<i>simplex +munditiis</i>, indeed—his grace all his own; seemingly negligent, never +slovenly; at ease every where and with every one, even with Mr. Audley +Egerton, who chilled or awed the ease out of most people.</p> + +<p>"Nay, my dear Audley, forgive me. But your eminent men are all men of +one idea, and that not a diverting one—politics! politics! politics! +The storm in the saucer."</p> + +<p>"But, what is your life, Harley?—the saucer without the storm?"</p> + +<p>"Do you know, that's very well said, Audley; I did not think you had so +much liveliness of repartee. Life—life! it is insipid, it is shallow. +No launching argosies in the saucer. Audley, I have the oddest fancy—"</p> + +<p>"<i>That</i> of course," said Audley drily; "you never have any other. What +is the new one?"</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Harley</span> (with great gravity).—"Do you believe in Mesmerism?"</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Audley</span>.—"Certainly not."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Harley</span>.—"If it were in the power of an animal magnetizer to get me out +of my own skin into somebody else's! <i>That's</i> my fancy! I am so tired of +myself—so tired! I have run through all my ideas—know every one of +them by heart; when some pretentious impostor of an idea perks itself up +and says, 'Look at me, I'm a new acquaintance'—I just give it a nod, +and say, 'Not at all, you have only got a new coat on; you are the same +old wretch that has bored me these last twenty years; get away.'<!--229.png--> But if +one could be in a new skin! if I could be for half-an-hour your tall +porter, or one of your eminent matter-of-fact men, I should then really +travel into a new +world.<a name="FNanchor_A_13" id="FNanchor_A_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> +Every man's brain must be a world in itself, +eh? If I could but make a parochial settlement even in yours, +Audley—run over all your thoughts and sensations. Upon my life, I'll go +and talk to that French mesmerizer about it."</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_13" id="Footnote_A_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> +If, at the date in which Lord L'Estrange held this +conversation with Mr. Egerton, Alfred de Musset had written his +comedies, we should suspect that his lordship had plagiarized from one +of them the whimsical idea that he here vents upon Audley. In repeating +it, the author at least can not escape from the charge of obligation to +a writer whose humor, at least, is sufficiently opulent to justify the +loan.</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Audley</span> (who does not seem to like the notion of having his thoughts and +sensations rummaged, even by his friend, and even in fancy).—"Pooh, +pooh, pooh! Do talk like a man of sense."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Harley</span>—"Man of sense! Where shall I find a model? I don't know a man of +sense!—never met such a creature. Don't believe it ever existed. At one +time I thought Socrates must have been a man of sense;—a delusion; he +would stand gazing into the air, and talking to his Genius from sunrise +to sunset. Is that like a man of sense? Poor Audley, how puzzled he +looks! Well, I'll try and talk sense to oblige you. And first—(here +Harley raised himself on his elbow)—first, is it true, as I have heard +vaguely, that you are paying court to the sister of that infamous +Italian traitor?"</p> + +<p>"Madame di Negra? No; I am not paying <i>court</i> to her," answered Audley +with a cold smile. "But she is very handsome; she is very clever; she is +useful to me—I need not say how nor why; that belongs to my <i>métier</i> as +politician. But, I think, if you will take my advice, or get your friend +to take it, I could obtain from her brother, through my influence with +her, some liberal concessions to your exile. She is very anxious to know +where he is."</p> + +<p>"You have not told her?"</p> + +<p>"No; I promised you I would keep that secret."</p> + +<p>"Be sure you do; it is only for some mischief, some snare, that she +could desire such information. Concessions! pooh! This is no question of +concessions, but of rights."</p> + +<p>"I think you should leave your friend to judge of that."</p> + +<p>"Well, I will write to him. Meanwhile, beware of this woman, I have +heard much of her abroad, and she has the character of her brother for +duplicity and—"</p> + +<p>"Beauty," interrupted Audley, turning the conversation with practiced +adroitness. "I am told that the Count is one of the handsomest men in +Europe, much handsomer than his sister still, though nearly twice her +age. Tut—tut—Harley! fear not for me. I am proof against all feminine +attractions. This heart is dead."</p> + +<p>"Nay, nay; it is not for you to speak thus—leave that to me. But even +<i>I</i> will not say it. +<!--230.png--><span class="pagenum">407</span> +The heart never dies. And you; what have you +lost?—a wife; true: an excellent noble-hearted woman. But was it love +that you felt for her? Enviable man, have you ever loved?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not, Harley," said Audley, with a sombre aspect, and in +dejected accents; "very few men ever have loved, at least as you mean by +the word. But there are other passions than love that kill the heart, +and reduce us to mechanism."</p> + +<p>While Egerton spoke, Harley turned side, and his breast heaved. There +was a short silence; Audley was the first to break it.</p> + +<p>"Speaking of my lost wife, I am sorry that you do not approve what I +have done for her young kinsman, Randal Leslie."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Harley</span> (recovering himself with an effort).—"Is it true kindness to bid +him exchange manly independence, for the protection of an official +patron?"</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Audley</span>.—"I did not bid him. I gave him his choice. At his age I should +have chosen as he has done."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Harley</span>.—"I trust not; I think better of you. But answer me one question +frankly, and then I will ask another. Do you mean to make this young man +your heir?"</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Audley</span> (with a slight embarrassment).—"Heir, pooh! I am young still. I +may live as long as he—time enough to think of that."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Harley</span>.—"Then now to my second question. Have you told this youth +plainly that he may look to you for influence, but not for wealth?"</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Audley</span> (firmly).—"I think I have; but I shall repeat it more +emphatically."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Harley</span>.—"Then I am satisfied as to your conduct, but not as to his. For +he has too acute an intellect not to know what it is to forfeit +independence; and, depend upon it, he has made his calculations, and +would throw you into the bargain in any balance that he could strike in +his favor. You go by your experience in judging men; I by my instincts. +Nature warns us as it does the inferior animals—only we are too +conceited, we bipeds, to heed her. My instincts of soldier and gentleman +recoil from that old young man. He has the soul of the Jesuit. I see it +in his eye—I hear it in the tread of his foot; <i>volto sciolto</i>, he has +not; <i>i pensieri stretti</i> he has. Hist! I hear now his step in the hall. +I should know it from a thousand. That's his very touch on the handle of +the door."</p> + +<p>Randal Leslie entered. Harley—who, despite his disregard for forms, and +his dislike to Randal, was too high-bred not to be polite to his junior +in age or inferior in rank—rose and bowed. But his bright piercing eyes +did not soften as they caught and bore down the deeper and more latent +fire in Randal's. Harley then did not resume his seat, but moved to the +mantlepiece, and leant against it.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Randal</span>.—"I have fulfilled, your commissions, Mr. Egerton. I went first +to Maida-Hill, and saw Mr. Burley. I gave him the check, but<!--231.png--> he said +'it was too much, and he should return half to the banker;' he will +write the article as you suggested. I then—"</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Audley</span>.—"Enough, Randal! we will not fatigue Lord L'Estrange with these +little details of a life that displeases him—the life political."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Harley</span>.—"But <i>these</i> details do not displease me; they reconcile me to +my own life. Go on, pray, Mr. Leslie."</p> + +<p>Randal had too much tact to need the cautioning glance of Mr. Egerton. +He did not continue, but said, with a soft voice, "Do you think, Lord +L'Estrange, that the contemplation of the mode of life pursued by others +<i>can</i> reconcile a man to his own, if he had before thought it needed a +reconciler?"</p> + +<p>Harley looked pleased, for the question was ironical; and, if there was +a thing in the world he abhorred, it was flattery.</p> + +<p>"Recollect your Lucretius, Mr. Leslie, <i>Suave mare</i>, &c., 'pleasant from +the cliff to see the mariners tossed on the ocean.' Faith, I think that +sight reconciles one to the cliff—though, before, one might have been +teased by the splash from the spray, and deafened by the scream of the +sea-gulls. But I leave you, Audley. Strange that I have heard no more of +my soldier. Remember I have your promise when I come to claim it. +Good-by, Mr. Leslie, I hope that Mr. Burley's article will be worth +the—check."</p> + +<p>Lord L'Estrange mounted his horse, which was still at the door, and rode +through the Park. But he was no longer now unknown by sight. Bows and +nods saluted him on every side.</p> + +<p>"Alas, I am found out then," said he to himself. "That terrible Duchess +of Knaresborough, too—I must fly my country." He pushed his horse into +a canter, and was soon out of the Park. As he dismounted at his father's +sequestered house, you would have hardly supposed him the same +whimsical, fantastic, but deep and subtle humorist that delighted in +perplexing the material Audley. For his expressive face was unutterably +serious. But the moment he came into the presence of his parents the +countenance was again lighted and cheerful. It brightened the whole room +like sunshine.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XI.</h3> + +<p>"Mr. Leslie," said Egerton, when Harley had left the library, "you did +not act with your usual discretion in touching upon matters connected +with politics in the presence of a third party."</p> + +<p>"I feel that already, sir; my excuse is that I held Lord L'Estrange to +be your most intimate friend."</p> + +<p>"A public man, Mr. Leslie, would ill serve his country if he were not +especially reserved toward his private friends—when they do not belong +to his party."</p> + +<p>"But, pardon me my ignorance, Lord Lansmere is so well known to be one +of your supporters, that I fancied his son must share his sentiments, +and be in your confidence." +<!--232.png--><span class="pagenum">408</span> +</p> + +<p>Egerton's brows slightly contracted, and gave a stern expression to a +countenance always firm and decided. He, however, answered in a mild +tone.</p> + +<p>"At the entrance into political life, Mr. Leslie, there is nothing in +which a young man of your talents should be more on his guard than +thinking for himself; he will nearly always think wrong. And I believe +that is one reason why young men of talent disappoint their friends, +and—remain so long out of office."</p> + +<p>A haughty flush passed over Randal's brow, and faded away quickly; he +bowed in silence.</p> + +<p>Egerton resumed, as if in explanation, and even in kindly apology—</p> + +<p>"Look at Lord L'Estrange himself. What young man could come into life +with brighter auspices? Rank, wealth, high animal spirits (a great +advantage those same spirits, Mr. Leslie), courage, self-possession, +scholarship as brilliant perhaps as your own; and now see how his life +is wasted! Why? He always thought fit to think for himself. He could +never be broken in to harness, and never will be. The State coach, Mr. +Leslie, requires that all the horses should pull together."</p> + +<p>"With submission, sir," answered Randal, "I should think that there were +other reasons why Lord L'Estrange, whatever be his talents—and indeed +of these you must be an adequate judge—would never do any thing in +public life."</p> + +<p>"Ay, and what?" said Egerton, quickly.</p> + +<p>"First," said Randal, shrewdly, "private life has done too much for him. +What could public life give to one who needs nothing? Born at the top of +the social ladder, why should he put himself voluntarily at the last +step, for the sake of climbing up again? And secondly, Lord L'Estrange +seems to me a man in whose organization <i>sentiment</i> usurps too large a +share for practical existence."</p> + +<p>"You have a keen eye," said Audley, with some admiration; "keen for one +so young.—Poor Harley!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Egerton's last words were said to himself. He resumed quickly—</p> + +<p>"There is something on my mind, my young friend. Let us be frank with +each other. I placed before you fairly the advantages and disadvantages +of the choice I gave you. To take your degree with such honors as no +doubt you would have won, to obtain your fellowship, to go to the bar, +with those credentials in favor of your talents;—this was one career. +To come at once into public life, to profit by my experience, avail +yourself of my interest, to take the chances of rise or fall with a +party: this was another. You chose the last. But in so doing, there was +a consideration which might weigh with you; and on which, in stating +your reasons for your option, you were silent."</p> + +<p>"What's that, sir?"</p> + +<p>"You might have counted on my fortune should the chances of party fail +you;—speak—and without shame if so; it would be natural in a young<!--233.png--> +man, who comes from the elder branch of the house whose heiress was my +wife."</p> + +<p>"You wound me, Mr. Egerton," said Randal, turning away.</p> + +<p>Mr. Egerton's cold glance followed Randal's movement; the face was hid +from the glance—it rested on the figure, which is often as +self-betraying as the countenance itself. Randal baffled Mr. Egerton's +penetration—the young man's emotion might be honest pride, and pained +and generous feeling; or it might be something else. Egerton continued +slowly.</p> + +<p>"Once for all then, distinctly and emphatically, I say—never count upon +that; count upon all else that I can do for you, and forgive me, when I +advise harshly or censure coldly; ascribe this to my interest in your +career. Moreover, before decision becomes irrevocable, I wish you to +know practically all that is disagreeable or even humiliating in the +first subordinate steps of him who, without wealth or station, would +rise in public life. I will not consider your choice settled, till the +end of a year at least—your name will be kept on the college books till +then; if, on experience, you should prefer to return to Oxford, and +pursue the slower but surer path to independence and distinction, you +can. And now give me your hand, Mr. Leslie, in sign that you forgive my +bluntness;—it is time to dress."</p> + +<p>Randal, with his face still averted, extended his hand. Mr. Egerton held +it a moment, then dropping it left the room. Randal turned as the door +closed. And there was in his dark face a power of sinister passion, that +justified all Harley's warnings. His lips moved, but not audibly; then, +as if struck by a sudden thought, he followed Egerton into the hall.</p> + +<p>"Sir," said he, "I forgot to say that on returning from Maida-Hill, I +took shelter from the rain under a covered passage, and there I met +unexpectedly with your nephew, Frank Hazeldean."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Egerton indifferently, "a fine young man; in the Guards. It +is a pity that my brother has such antiquated political notions; he +should put his son into parliament, and under my guidance; I could push +him. Well, and what said Frank?"</p> + +<p>"He invited me to call on him. I remember that you once rather cautioned +me against too intimate an acquaintance with those who have not got +their fortune to make."</p> + +<p>"Because they are idle, and idleness is contagious. Right—better not be +intimate with a young Guardsman."</p> + +<p>"Then you would not have me call on him, sir? We were rather friends at +Eton; and if I wholly reject his overtures, might he not think that +you—"</p> + +<p>"I!" interrupted Egerton. "Ah, true: my brother might think I bore him a +grudge; absurd; call then, and ask the young man here. Yet still, I do +not advise intimacy."</p> + +<p>Egerton turned into his dressing, room. "Sir," said his valet, who was +in waiting, "Mr. Levy +<!--234.png--><span class="pagenum">409</span> +is here—he says, by appointment; and Mr. +Grinders is also just come from the country."</p> + +<p>"Tell Mr. Grinders to come in first," said Egerton, seating himself. +"You need not wait; I can dress without you. Tell Mr. Levy I will see +him in five minutes."</p> + +<p>Mr. Grinders was steward to Audley Egerton.</p> + +<p>Mr. Levy was a handsome man, who wore a camelia in his +button-hole—drove, in his cabriolet, a high-stepping horse that had +cost £200: was well known to young men of fashion, and considered by +their fathers a very dangerous acquaintance.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XII.</h3> + +<p>As the company assembled in the drawing-rooms, Mr. Egerton introduced +Randal Leslie to his eminent friends in a way that greatly contrasted +the distant and admonitory manner which he had exhibited to him in +private. The presentation was made with that cordiality, and that +gracious respect by which those who are in station command notice for +those who have their station yet to win.</p> + +<p>"My dear lord, let me introduce to you a kinsman of my late wife's (in a +whisper)—the heir to the elder branch of her family. Stranmore, this is +Mr. Leslie of whom I spoke to you. You, who were so distinguished at +Oxford, will not like him the worse for the prizes he gained there. +Duke, let me present to you Mr. Leslie. The duchess is angry with me for +deserting her balls; I shall hope to make my peace, by providing myself +with a younger and livelier substitute. Ah, Mr. Howard, here is a young +gentleman just fresh from Oxford, who will tell us all about the new +sect springing up there. He has not wasted his time on billiards and +horses."</p> + +<p>Leslie was received with all that charming courtesy which is the <i>To +Kalon</i> of an aristocracy.</p> + +<p>After dinner, conversation settled on politics. Randal listened with +attention, and in silence, till Egerton drew him gently out; just +enough, and no more—just enough to make his intelligence evident, +without subjecting him to the charge of laying down the law. Egerton +knew how to draw out young men—a difficult art. It was one reason why +he was so peculiarly popular with the more rising members of his party.</p> + +<p>The party broke up early.</p> + +<p>"We are in time for Almack's," said Egerton, glancing at the clock, "and +I have a voucher for you; come."</p> + +<p>Randal followed his patron into the carriage. By the way, Egerton thus +addressed him—</p> + +<p>"I shall introduce you to the principal leaders of society; know them +and study them; I do not advise you to attempt to do more—that is, to +attempt to become the fashion. It is a very expensive ambition; some men +it helps, most men it ruins. On the whole, you have better cards in your +hands. Dance or not as it pleases you—don't flirt. If you flirt, people +will inquire into your fortune—an inquiry that will do you little good; +and flirting entangles a young man<!--235.png--> into marrying. That would never do. +Here we are."</p> + +<p>In two minutes more they were in the great ball-room, and Randal's eyes +were dazzled with the lights, the diamonds, the blaze of beauty. Audley +presented him in quick succession to some dozen ladies, and then +disappeared amidst the crowd. Randal was not at a loss; he was without +shyness; or if he had that disabling infirmity, he concealed it. He +answered the languid questions put to him, with a certain spirit that +kept up talk, and left a favorable impression of his agreeable +qualities. But the lady with whom he got on the best, was one who had no +daughters out, a handsome and witty woman of the world—Lady Frederick +Coniers.</p> + +<p>"It is your first ball at Almack's, then, Mr. Leslie?"</p> + +<p>"My first."</p> + +<p>"And you have not secured a partner? Shall I find you one? What do you +think of that pretty girl in pink?"</p> + +<p>"I see her—but I can not <i>think</i> of her."</p> + +<p>"You are rather, perhaps, like a diplomatist in a new court, and your +first object is to know who is who."</p> + +<p>"I confess that on beginning to study the history of my own day, I +should like to distinguish the portraits that illustrate the memoir."</p> + +<p>"Give me your arm then, and we will come into the next room. We shall +see the different <i>notabilités</i> enter one by one, and observe without +being observed. This is the least I can do for a friend of Mr. +Egerton's."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Egerton, then," said Randal—(as they threaded their way through +the space without the rope that protected the dancers)—"Mr. Egerton has +had the good fortune to win your esteem, even for his friends, however +obscure?"</p> + +<p>"Why, to say truth, I think no one whom Mr. Egerton calls his friend +need long remain obscure, if he has the ambition to be otherwise. For +Mr. Egerton holds it a maxim never to forget a friend, nor a service."</p> + +<p>"Ah, indeed!" said Randal, surprised.</p> + +<p>"And, therefore," continued Lady Frederick, "as he passes through life, +friends gather round him. He will rise even higher yet. Gratitude, Mr. +Leslie, is a very good policy."</p> + +<p>"Hem," muttered Mr. Leslie.</p> + +<p>They had now gained the room where tea and bread-and-butter were the +homely refreshments to the <i>habitués</i> of what at that day was the most +exclusive assembly in London. They ensconced themselves in a corner by a +window, and Lady Frederick performed her task of cicerone with lively +ease, accompanying each notice of the various persons who passed +panoramically before them with sketch and anecdote, sometimes +good-natured, generally satirical, always graphic and amusing.</p> + +<p>By-and-by, Frank Hazeldean, having on his arm a young lady of haughty +air, and with high though delicate features, came to the tea-table. +<!--236.png--><span class="pagenum">410</span> +</p> + +<p>"The last new Guardsman," said Lady Frederick; "very handsome, and not +yet quite spoiled. But he has got into a dangerous set."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Randal</span>.—"The young lady with him is handsome enough to be dangerous."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lady Frederick</span> (laughing).—"No danger for him there—as yet at least. +Lady Mary (the Duke of Knaresborough's daughter) is only in her second +year. The first year, nothing under an earl; the second, nothing under a +baron. It will be full four years before she comes down to a commoner. +Mr. Hazeldean's danger is of another kind. He lives much with men who +are not exactly <i>mauvais ton</i>, but certainly not of the best taste. Yet +he is very young; he may extricate himself—leaving half his fortune +behind him. What, he nods to you! You know him?"</p> + +<p>"Very well; he is nephew to Mr. Egerton."</p> + +<p>"Indeed. I did not know that. Hazeldean is a new name in London. I heard +his father was a plain country gentleman, of good fortune, but not that +he was related to Mr. Egerton."</p> + +<p>"Half-brother."</p> + +<p>"Will Mr. Egerton pay the young gentleman's debts? He has no sons +himself."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Randal</span>.—"Mr. Egerton's fortune comes from his wife, from my +family—from a Leslie, not from a Hazeldean."</p> + +<p>Lady Frederick turned sharply, looked at Randal's countenance with more +attention than she had yet vouchsafed to it, and tried to talk of the +Leslies. Randal was very short there.</p> + +<p>An hour afterward, Randal, who had not danced, was still in the +refreshment room, but Lady Frederick had long quitted him. He was +talking with some old Etonians who had recognized him, when there +entered a lady of very remarkable appearance, and a murmur passed +through the room as she appeared.</p> + +<p>She might be three or four-and-twenty. She was dressed in black velvet, +which contrasted with the alabaster whiteness of her throat and the +clear paleness of her complexion, while it set off the diamonds with +which she was profusely covered. Her hair was of the deepest jet, and +worn simply braided. Her eyes, too, were dark and brilliant, her +features regular and striking; but their expression, when in repose, was +not prepossessing to such as love modesty and softness in the looks of +woman. But when she spoke and smiled, there was so much spirit and +vivacity in the countenance, so much fascination in the smile, that all +which might before have marred the effect of her beauty, strangely and +suddenly disappeared.</p> + +<p>"Who is that very handsome woman?" asked Randal.</p> + +<p>"An Italian—a Marchesa something," said one of the Etonians.</p> + +<p>"Di Negra," suggested another who had been abroad; "she is a widow; her +husband was of the Genoese family of Negra—a younger branch of it."</p> + +<p>Several men now gathered thickly around<!--237.png--> the fair Italian. A few ladies +of the highest rank spoke to her, but with a more distant courtesy than +ladies of high rank usually show to foreigners of such quality as Madame +di Negra. Ladies of a rank less elevated seemed rather shy of her;—that +might be from jealousy. As Randal gazed at the Marchesa with more +admiration than any woman, perhaps, had before excited in him, he heard +a voice near him say—</p> + +<p>"Oh, Madame di Negra is resolved to settle among us, and marry an +Englishman."</p> + +<p>"If she can find one sufficiently courageous," returned a female voice.</p> + +<p>"Well, she is trying hard for Egerton, and he has courage enough for any +thing."</p> + +<p>The female voice replied with a laugh, "Mr. Egerton knows the world too +well, and has resisted too many temptations, to be—"</p> + +<p>"Hush!—there he is."</p> + +<p>Egerton came into the room with his usual firm step and erect mien. +Randal observed that a quick glance was exchanged between him and the +Marchesa; but the Minister passed her by with a bow.</p> + +<p>Still Randal watched, and ten minutes afterward, Egerton and the +Marchesa were seated apart in the very same convenient nook that Randal +and Lady Frederick had occupied an hour or so before.</p> + +<p>"Is this the reason why Mr. Egerton so insultingly warns me against +counting on his fortune?" muttered Randal. "Does he mean to marry +again?"</p> + +<p>Unjust suspicion!—for at that moment these were the words that Audley +Egerton was dropping forth from his lips of bronze—</p> + +<p>"Nay, dear Madam, do not ascribe to my frank admiration more gallantry +than it merits. Your conversation charms me, your beauty delights me; +your society is as a holiday that I look forward to in the fatigues of +my life. But I have done with love, and I shall never marry again."</p> + +<p>"You almost pique me into trying to win, in order to reject you," said +the Italian, with a flash from her bright eyes.</p> + +<p>"I defy even you," answered Audley, with his cold, hard smile. "But to +return to the point: You have more influence at least over this subtle +Embassador; and the secret we speak of I rely on you to obtain me. Ah, +Madam, let us rest as friends. You see I have conquered the unjust +prejudices against you; you are received and <i>fetée</i> every where, as +becomes your birth and your attractions. Rely on me ever, as I on you. +But I shall excite too much envy if I stay here longer, and am vain +enough to think that I may injure you if I provoke the gossip of the +ill-natured. As the avowed friend I can serve you—as the supposed +lover, No——" Audley rose as he said this, and, standing by the chair, +added carelessly, "Apropos, the sum you do me the honor to borrow will +be paid to your bankers to-morrow." +<!--238.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">411</a></span> +</p> + +<p>"A thousand thanks!—my brother will hasten to repay you."</p> + +<p>Audley bowed. "Your brother, I hope, will repay me in person, not +before. When does he come?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he has again postponed his visit to London; he is so much needed in +Vienna. But while we are talking of him, allow me to ask if your friend, +Lord L'Estrange, is indeed still so bitter against that poor brother of +mine?"</p> + +<p>"Still the same."</p> + +<p>"It is shameful," cried the Italian, with warmth; "what has my brother +done to him, that he should actually intrigue against the Count in his +own court?"</p> + +<p>"Intrigue! I think you wrong Lord L'Estrange; he but represented what he +believed to be the truth, in defense of a ruined exile."</p> + +<p>"And you will not tell me where that exile is, or if his daughter still +lives?"</p> + +<p>"My dear Marchesa, I have called you friend, therefore, I will not aid +L'Estrange to injure you or yours. But I call L'Estrange a friend also; +and I can not violate the trust that—" Audley stopped short, and bit +his lip. "You understand me," he resumed, with a more genial smile than +usual; and he took his leave.</p> + +<p>The Italian's brows met as her eye followed him; then, as she too rose, +that eye encountered Randal's. Each surveyed the other—each felt a +certain strange fascination—a sympathy—not of affection, but of +intellect.</p> + +<p>"That young man has the eye of an Italian," said the Marchesa to +herself; and as she passed by him into the ball-room, she turned and +smiled.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center">(TO BE CONTINUED.)</p> +<!--239.png--> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="Monthly_Record_of_Current_Events" id="Monthly_Record_of_Current_Events"></a>Monthly Record of Current Events.</h2> + +<h3>UNITED STATES.</h3> + +<p>The political intelligence for the last few weeks is of remote and +secondary, rather than of immediate and primary interest. The political +parties have begun to hold State Conventions, the proceedings and +resolutions of which are of some importance, as indicating the temper +and policy which may be expected to characterize the ensuing elections.</p> + +<p>In <i>Vermont</i> the Whig State Convention convened at Bellows Falls, June +25th. Resolutions were passed expressive of continued adherence to the +principles by which the party has been heretofore guided, among which +are specified a tariff of specific duties—so levied as to afford +protection to American industry; appropriations by the Federal +Government for the improvement of harbors and rivers, and a liberal +policy toward actual settlers in the disposition of the public lands. +Slavery is represented as a "moral and political evil," for the +existence of which in the Slaveholding States, the people of Vermont are +nowise responsible, but to the extension or continuation of which under +the authority of the Federal Government, they are opposed. The Fugitive +Slave law is declared to be "a matter of ordinary legislation, open at +all times and on all occasions for discussion, and liable to be modified +or repealed at the pleasure of the people as expressed through their +representatives;" that it is "objectionable in some of its provisions, +and while they cheerfully admit their obligations to obey it as a law of +the land designed to fulfill a requirement of the Constitution," they +insist upon the right of making modifications of it, as time and +experience shall show to be proper. Other resolutions were passed +expressive of attachment to the Union, and of hostility to all doctrines +of secession or disunion, in whatever quarter manifested; and of +concurrence in the "moderate, and discreet, and practicable measures +recommended to Congress in the present National Administration." Hon. +<span class="smcap">Charles K. Williams</span> was nominated for re-election as Governor. The Free +Soil State Convention was held at Burlington, May 29th. Resolutions were +passed denying the power of the General Government to make +appropriations for purposes of Internal Improvement, unless of a +strictly national character; in opposition to a National Bank; +recommending an equality of protection to all interests; in favor of +free grants to actual settlers of the public lands; denying the power of +Congress over the subject of slavery in the States, which, it is +affirmed, can not claim to be legalized beyond the limits of State +lines; in favor of the Wilmot Proviso, and adverse to the admission of +any new Slave States into the Union; declaring the unconstitutionality +of the Fugitive Slave law; approving of the law of the State, enacted at +the late session of the Legislature, granting the privilege of <i>habeas +corpus</i> to alleged fugitives from labor; and, finally, professing +devotion to the Union, until perverted to an engine of oppression to the +States. A speech, arguing strenuously against the constitutionality of +the Fugitive Slave law, was made by <span class="smcap">John Van Buren</span>, Esq. Hon. <span class="smcap">Lucius B. +Peck</span> was nominated for Governor; he has declined to accept the +nomination on the ground that he can not assent to the resolutions +passed by the Convention, inasmuch as he believes the Fugitive Slave law +to be constitutional, and does not consider the act passed by the late +Legislature, authorizing the State courts to take, by <i>habeas corpus</i>, a +slave out of the hands of the United States officers, to be a just +exercise of the power of the State. The Democratic State Convention, +held in May, passed resolutions decidedly approving of the Compromise +measures, which were declared to be a pledge of the fidelity of the +States to each other, and recommending the observance of them with the +utmost fidelity and good faith. Hon. <span class="smcap">John S. Robinson</span> was nominated for +Governor.</p> + +<p>In <i>New Hampshire</i> the Democratic State Convention met at Concord on the +9th of June. Resolutions were passed expressive of firm attachment to +the Union; of acquiescence in the Compromise measures; and affirming the +duty, on the part of all citizens, of unconditional submission to the +laws. Hon. <span class="smcap">Levi Woodbury</span> was unanimously presented as a candidate for +the Presidency, subject to the decision of the National Convention to be +held at Baltimore.</p> + +<p>In <i>Pennsylvania</i> the State Convention for the nomination of Executive +officers was held at Reading, June 4th. Resolutions were adopted in +favor of a strict construction of the Constitution; affirming the +obligation of Congress to refrain from all exercise of doubtful powers; +declaring that the rights of the individual States ought to be +scrupulously regarded, +<!--240.png--><span class="pagenum">412</span> +and that the citizens of one State ought not to +interfere with the domestic institutions of any other; that all +appropriations made by the General Government should be strictly +confined to national objects. Resolutions were passed, fully endorsing +the Compromise measures of the last session; and condemning the State +law of March 3, 1847, withholding the use of the State jails for the +detention of alleged fugitives from service, as interposing obstacles on +the part of the State to the execution of a provision of the +Constitution, and as an infringement of the principles of the +Compromise. It was likewise declared that the Convention was in favor +"in levying duties upon foreign imports, of a reciprocal interchange of +our products with other nations," while "recognizing clearly the +practice of the Government to maintain and preserve in full vigor and +safety all the great industrial pursuits of the country." Hon. <span class="smcap">William +Bigler</span> was nominated for Governor. No candidate was formally presented +for nomination as President at the ensuing election, although it was +universally understood that the preferences of the Convention were +almost unanimously in favor of Mr. <span class="smcap">Buchanan</span>. The Convention for the +nomination of Judicial officers met at Harrisburg on the 11th of June. +On the 28th of that month a ratification meeting was held at Lancaster, +at which Mr. <span class="smcap">Buchanan</span> made a speech, forcibly advocating the principles +of the resolutions proposed. They embraced a recommendation of a tariff +based upon the <i>ad valorem</i> system, and expressed a cordial adherence to +the principles adopted at the Democratic Convention held at Baltimore in +1848. A strict adherence to the Compromise measures was recommended; the +constitutionality of the Fugitive Slave law, and the duty of its +enforcement on the part of the North, were affirmed. The course of +Governor Johnston in neglecting to sign the bill for the repeal of the +law of March 3, 1847, was declared to be in violation of the wishes of a +large majority of the people of the State. The Whig State Convention met +at Lancaster on the 24th of June. The series of resolutions presented +and adopted, advocate the principle of protection to American industry, +and declare the tariff of 1846 to be unequal in its tendencies, and +ruinous to the interests of Pennsylvania. The attachment of the citizens +of that State to the Constitution is warmly insisted upon; and a +faithful adherence to the Compromise measures is promised. The general +policy of the State and National administrations is fully endorsed. A +special resolution, offered by way of amendment, in favor of the +Fugitive Slave law, was cut off by the previous question, and the series +of resolutions, as presented, was adopted. A resolution was carried, +"That General <span class="smcap">Winfield Scott</span> is beyond question the choice of the Whigs +of Pennsylvania as their candidate for the Presidency of 1852, and that +we earnestly recommend him to the Whigs of the Union as the most +deserving and available man for that high office." Gov. <span class="smcap">Johnston</span> was +re-nominated.</p> + +<p>In <i>Ohio</i> the Whig State Convention assembled at Columbus, on the 3d of +July. The resolutions passed affirm that the Conventions of 1848 and +1850 "declare the position of the Whigs of Ohio on State and national +policy: That protection to American Industry, a sound currency, the +improvement of our rivers and harbors, an unyielding opposition to all +encroachment by the Executive Power, and a paramount regard to the +Constitution and the Union," are the cardinal principles of the policy +of the party. All the provisions of the Constitution are declared to be +equally binding. The course of the present National<!--241.png--> Administration is +unqualifiedly sanctioned. In respect to the Compromise measures, and the +next Presidency, the following resolutions were adopted: "That as the +Compromise measures were not recommended by a Whig Administration, and +were not passed as party measures by Congress, perfect toleration of +opinion respecting those measures should be accorded to Whigs +everywhere." "That it is the desire of the Whigs of Ohio that <span class="smcap">Gen. +Winfield Scott</span> should be the candidate of the Whig party for President +of the United States at the election of A. D. 1852: and we cordially +recommend him to the Whigs of the Union as the most deserving and +suitable candidate for that office." Hon. <span class="smcap">Samuel F. Vinton</span> was nominated +as candidate for Governor.</p> + +<p>In <i>Mississippi</i> the State Rights Convention was held June 16th, at +Jackson. Resolutions were passed reaffirming the policy indicated by the +Convention of October, 1849, which was in the main as follows: A devoted +and cherished attachment to the Constitution, "as it was formed and not +as an engine of oppression," was expressed. The institution of slavery +was declared to be exclusively under the control of the States in which +it exists; and "all attempts on the part of Congress or others to +interfere with this subject, either directly or indirectly, are in +violation of the Constitution, dangerous to the rights and safety of the +South, and ought to be promptly resisted." The right of Congress to +abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, to prohibit the slave-trade +between the several States, or to prohibit the introduction of slavery +into the Territories of the United States is denied. The Wilmot Proviso +is declared to be "an unjust and insulting discrimination, to which +these States can not without degradation submit." The Legislature is +requested to pass laws to encourage emigration of citizens of the +slave-holding States into the new Territories. The resolutions of the +Nashville Convention of 1850 are sanctioned and approved. The Convention +declare the admission of California into the Union to be the "enactment +of the Wilmot Proviso in another form," as set forth in a letter from +the Congressional delegation of the State, under date of June 21, 1850. +The Compromise measures are disavowed, particularly the admission of +California, the division of Texas, the action on the subject of the +slave-trade in the District of Columbia; and the course of the southern +members of Congress who voted for those measures is most warmly +condemned. While the "right of a State peaceably to withdraw from the +Union, without denial or obstruction," is affirmed, the Convention +"consider it the last remedy, the final alternative, and also declare +that the exercise of it by the State of Mississippi, under existing +circumstances, would be inexpedient, and is a proposition which does not +meet the approbation of this Convention." The platform of the Union +party, as adopted by common consent, declares "The American Union +secondary in importance only to the rights and principles it was +designed to perpetuate." It is represented that in the spirit of +compromise which enabled the original thirteen States to found the +Union, and which the present thirty-one must exercise to perpetuate it, +they have considered the whole series of the Compromise measures, "and +while they do not wholly approve, they will abide by it as a permanent +adjustment of this sectional controversy." It is declared that, as a +last resort, Mississippi ought to resist to the disruption of the Union +any action by Congress upon the subject of slavery in the District of +Columbia or in +<!--242.png--><span class="pagenum">413</span> +places subject to the jurisdiction of Congress which +should be inconsistent with the safety or honor of the Slaveholding +States; or the prohibition of the inter-state slave-trade; or the +refusal to admit a new State on account of the existence of slavery; or +the prohibition of the introduction of slavery into Utah or New Mexico; +or any act repealing or materially modifying the Fugitive Slave law; +upon the faithful execution of which depends the preservation of the +Union.</p> + +<p>In <i>California</i> the Whig State Convention recommend the extension of the +pre-emption laws over all except the mineral lands of the State; the +donation to each head of a family actually settled upon it, of 160 +acres; liberal grants for educational purposes; appropriations for +public improvements; the adoption of measures to construct a railroad to +connect that State with the valley of the Mississippi; the establishment +of steam communication with the Sandwich Islands and with China. The +Compromise measures are also cordially commended.</p> + +<p>The Fourth of July was celebrated with more than usual enthusiasm in +almost every section of the country. In Washington, upon the occasion of +laying, by the President, the corner stone of the extension of the +Capitol, <span class="smcap">Mr. Webster</span> delivered an oration which will rank with his most +eloquent speeches. He gave a rapid sketch of the growth and progress of +the Republic, from the time when Berkeley prophesied that the star of +empire was about to take its westward way. He then portrayed the +distinctive nature of American liberty, as distinguished from that of +Greece and Rome, or of modern Europe, and altogether peculiar in its +character. Its prominent and distinguishing characteristic he stated to +consist in the capacity for self-government, developing itself in the +establishment of popular governments by an equal representation; and in +giving to the will of the majority, fairly expressed through its +representatives, the binding force of law; and in the formation of +written constitutions, founded upon the will of the people, regulating +and restraining the powers of Government; added to the strong and +deep-settled conviction of all intelligent persons among us that in +order to support a useful and wise government upon these popular +principles, the general education of the people, and the wide diffusion +of pure morality and true virtue are indispensable. Mr. Webster then +proceeded to deposit under the corner stone a document written by his +own hand, which, after reciting the circumstances of the ceremony, thus +concludes: "If, therefore, it shall be hereafter the will of God, that +this structure shall fall from its base, that its foundations be +upturned, and the deposit beneath this stone brought to the eyes of men, +be it then known that, on this day, the Union of the United States of +America stands firm—that their Constitution still exists unimpaired, +and with all its original usefulness and glory, growing every day +stronger and stronger in the affections of the great body of the +American people, and attracting more and more the admiration of the +world. And all here assembled, whether belonging to public life or to +private life, with hearts devoutly thankful to Almighty God for the +preservation of the liberty and happiness of the country, unite in +sincere and fervent prayers that this deposit, and the walls and arches, +the domes and towers, the columns and entablatures, now to be erected +over it, may endure forever.—God save the United States of America." +After which he presented some statements setting forth in several +aspects the comparative state of the country upon that day, and upon the +same day, fifty-eight years<!--243.png--> before, when the corner stone of the +original Capitol was laid by the hand of Washington.</p> + +<p>The Legislature of <i>New York</i> closed its extra session on the 11th of +July. The skirmishing upon the passage of the Canal Enlargement Bill was +sharp and protracted; but the large majority in its favor in both Houses +pressed it steadily on. Previous to the final passage, a protest was +presented, signed by 32 representatives. In the House the vote stood 81 +for and 36 against the Bill. In the Senate the numbers are 22 to 8. The +majority in the Senate was augmented by awarding the seat in the +district in which a tie was returned, to Mr. Gilbert, the candidate in +favor of enlargement, on the ground of illegal votes cast for his +opponent; and by the death of Hon. William H. Brown, Senator from the +first district, who died a few days before the close of the session. As +under the next appropriation New York loses a representative in +Congress, it became necessary to make a new division of the State into +Congressional districts. Of the 33 members to which the State will be +entitled, taking the vote for Governor at the late election as a +criterion, the Whigs will elect 20, the Democrats 13. The Whig majority +for Governor was but 262. In the present Congress the members are +equally divided between the parties. The gain to the Whigs has been +effected by classing together, in several cases, into one district, +counties in which the Democratic majority is large. At the annual +meeting of the Society of the Cincinnati, on the 4th of July, a speech +was made by Hon. <span class="smcap">Hamilton Fish</span>, Senator-elect, in which he defined his +position with respect to the leading political question of the day. It +will be borne in mind that his refusal to do so while he was a candidate +for the United States Senate, was the ground of the determined +opposition made to his election. He said that while the Compromise +measures were under consideration, they did not meet his approval; one +in particular he thought open to exception as well on the ground of +omission as enactment. But they had been enacted, as he believed, +constitutionally; and from the moment that they became laws, he had +avowed his acquiescence in them; and though he hoped for a modification +of some of their provisions, he thought that the present was not the +time for wise and prudent action. In a word, while he did not approve, +he fully and unreservedly acquiesced. He offered, as a toast, these +fundamental principles: "An incessant attention to preserve inviolate +those exalted rights and liberties of human nature for which they have +fought and bled, and without which the high rank of a rational being is +a curse instead of a blessing."—"An unalterable determination to +promote and cherish, between the respective States, that union and +national honor so essentially necessary to their happiness, and the +future dignity of the American Empire."</p> + +<p>The Legislature of <i>Rhode Island</i> adjourned on the 21st of June, after a +session of four and a half days. Among the acts passed was one for +re-organizing the Common School system of the State; and one providing +for secret ballots at elections.</p> + +<p>In <i>Ohio</i> the new Constitution, a synopsis of which we gave in our +Number for May, has been accepted by the popular vote, by a decided +majority. The article prohibiting licenses for the sale of ardent +spirits, which was separately submitted to the people, was also adopted, +though by a majority less than that in favor of the other articles.</p> + +<p>By a recent law of <i>Kentucky</i>, widows having children of an age suitable +for attending common schools, are entitled to vote in the election of +school trustees. +<!--244.png--><span class="pagenum">414</span> +</p> + +<p>The Governor of <i>South Carolina</i> has issued his proclamation for the +election of representatives to the Southern Congress. He recommends the +choice of two delegates from each Congressional district. The +anniversary of the battle of Fort Moultrie was celebrated at and near +Charleston, on the 28th of June. An address to the Moultrie Guards was +delivered by <span class="smcap">Thomas M. Hanckel</span>, Esq., in the course of which he declared +that the only remedy for the grievances of the South "was to be found in +an inflexible determination to dissolve this Union—a determination +which would accept of no indemnity for the past, listen to no +concessions for the present, and rely on no guarantee for the future; +but which would ask and accept nothing but the sovereign right of +self-government and Southern Independence." Among the toasts given were +the following: "The Compromise—A breach of faith, and a violation of +the Constitution. Resistance is all that is left to freemen."—"Separate +State Action—the test of patriotism."—"Our sister State, Georgia—We +will take all the corn she can raise, but beg of her to keep the Cobb at +home."—"Federal threats and Federal guns—The first none of us fear, +the last, if pointed at us, we will take."</p> + +<p>In <i>Alabama</i> Senator <span class="smcap">Clemens</span> is vigorously canvassing the State in +support of the Union party and in defense of the Compromise measures. On +the 2d of June, he made a speech at Florence, in which he commended the +entire series of measures, and defended his own course in relation to +them from attacks made by members of his party. Senator <span class="smcap">King</span> has +published a letter in which he announces his decided hostility to the +Compromise measures. He pronounces the admission of California into the +Union an act of injustice. Under no contingency could he have sanctioned +the bill abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia under certain +circumstances; and he should feel himself bound to vote for the repeal +of the emancipation clause, whenever proposed. He would vote again, as +he did at the last Congress, for the repeal of the Mexican law +prohibiting slavery in Utah and New Mexico.</p> + +<p>The Legislature of <i>Connecticut</i> adjourned on the 2d of July, without +having made any choice of United States Senator. In the House, a series +of resolutions was passed by a vote of 113 to 35, declaring the duty of +a cheerful submission to law, endorsing the Compromise measures as +constituting a fair and equitable adjustment of the whole vexed +questions at issue, and meeting the full approbation of the Assembly; +pronouncing the Fugitive Slave law to be in accordance with the +Constitution, containing merely enactments to carry into effect the +provisions of that instrument, and calling upon all good citizens to +sustain the requirements of the law. The resolutions were sent to the +Senate at a late period of the session, where various motions of +amendment were made, all of which were lost. Before they could be +finally acted upon, the hour fixed upon for adjournment arrived, when a +motion was made and carried for their indefinite postponement. The +resolutions were returned to the House, and entered upon the journal.</p> + +<p>The Legislature of <i>Michigan</i>, at its late session, divided the State +into four Congressional districts, as rendered necessary by the results +of the late census. These districts are so arranged that it is supposed +the Democrats will secure the entire delegation in Congress. A number of +Mormons, who had settled on Beaver Island, in Lake Michigan, have been +arrested on charge of various crimes. Among the number was James J. +Strang, who claims<!--245.png--> and is believed by his followers to be endowed with +special divine inspiration. They have been tried on an indictment for +obstructing the United States mail, and acquitted by the jury after a +very brief consultation.</p> + +<p>In <i>Virginia</i> the Convention is laboriously engaged in framing the new +Constitution. In our last Record, by a clerical error, we reversed the +terms of the compromise on the suffrage question. In the House the West +are to have 82 members and the East 68. In the Senate 30 members are to +be chosen from the East and 20 from the West, giving the West a majority +of four on joint ballot. This settlement has been adopted by the +Convention, who have stricken out the clause reported by the committee +prohibiting the Legislature from passing laws for the emancipation of +slaves, and inserted a provision that an emancipated slave remaining in +the State more than twelve months shall be sold. A public dinner was +given to Mr. <span class="smcap">Webster</span> on the 28th of June, at Capon Springs, in Western +Virginia, at which he made a speech, which was most enthusiastically +received. In the course of it he said: "I make no argument against +resolutions, conventions, secession speeches, or proclamations. Let +these things go on. The whole matter, it is to be hoped, will blow over, +and men will return to a sounder mode of thinking. But one thing, +gentlemen, be assured of—the first step taken in the programme of +secession, which shall be an actual infringement of the Constitution or +the laws, will be promptly met. And I would not remain an hour in any +administration that should not immediately meet any such violation of +the Constitution and the law effectually and at once; and I can assure +you, gentlemen, that all with whom I am at present associated in the +government, entertain the same decided purpose." He concluded with the +following sentiment: "The Union of the States—May those ancient +friends, Virginia and Massachusetts, continue to uphold it as long as +the waves of the Atlantic shall beat on the shores of the one, or the +Alleghanies remain firm on their basis in the territories of the other." +The British Embassador, Sir <span class="smcap">Henry Lytton Bulwer</span>, made an eloquent +speech, which was received with warm cheers, and elicited the following +toast: "England and the United States—One language—one creed—one +mission."</p> + +<p>From <i>California</i> our dates are to May 31. On the night of the 3d of +May, the anniversary of a great fire of last year, a destructive +conflagration took place in San Francisco, by which a large portion of +the business part of the city was destroyed. The number of buildings +burned is set down at 1500; the loss was at first stated at from ten to +twelve millions, which is probably three or four times the actual +amount. A number of lives were also lost. In one case six persons +undertook the care of a store supposed to be fire-proof; the iron doors +and window-shutters became expanded by the heat to such a degree that it +was impossible to open them, and the inmates were all burned to death. +The work of rebuilding was commenced and carried forward with such +characteristic rapidity, that within ten days after the fire 357 +buildings were in process of erection, of which the greater part were +already occupied. At the close of the month it is stated on reliable +authority, that the number of buildings actually tenantable was greater +than before the conflagration. The city of Stockton suffered severely by +a fire on the 12th of May. The amount of gold produced continues to be +very great. The gold bluffs of the Trinity River, the reported discovery +of which caused such an excitement a few months since, prove to be +<!--246.png--><span class="pagenum">415</span> +of +little or no value; but the extraction of gold from the auriferous +quartz is rapidly developing itself as experience points out new and +improved methods of procedure. This promises to become the most +productive of all the mining operations in California. It is evident +that the market is altogether overglutted with goods, the large amount +destroyed at the fires, apparently producing no effect upon prices in +general. Political excitement runs high: party lines beginning to be +strictly drawn. The nominations for State officers of both parties have +been made. The depredations and outrages of the Indians have not +altogether ceased. The severe code of Lynch law still continues in +practical force, though instances of its execution are somewhat less +frequently given. Large numbers of emigrants from China are arriving; a +British vessel from Hong Kong lately brought 381 Celestials to San +Francisco. They promise to out-number the emigrants from any other +foreign people, and manifest a most unexpected facility in acquiring the +language, manners, and modes of thought and life of their new homes. An +expedition raised in the southern part of the State, for the purpose of +invading the Mexican province of Lower California, appears to have +miscarried.</p> + +<p>In <i>Oregon</i> a treaty has recently been concluded with portions of the +Callapooya and Twallaty tribes of Indians, who cede to the United States +a large tract of the most valuable lands in the valley of the +Willamette. These Indians refuse to leave that portion of the country, +and will probably continue to reside within the limits of the +reservations. Unlike the tribes to the east of the Rocky Mountains, they +are desirous of adopting the habits of civilized life, many of them +being now in the service of the whites as laborers.</p> + +<p>In Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and along the whole course of the Upper +Mississippi, great damage has been done by an unusual and long-continued +flood of that river. Many towns of considerable size have been quite +overflowed. At St. Louis, during the greater part of the month of June, +the levee was entirely submerged, and all the stores upon Front-street +filled with water to the depth of several feet. For a vast extent along +the Mississippi, Missouri, and their tributaries the bottom lands have +been submerged for so long a time as to destroy the growing crops. It is +the most disastrous inundation which has occurred for several years. +Three distinct shocks of an earthquake were felt at St. Louis on the 2d +of July. The morning was somewhat cool and cloudy, followed not long +after by a slight rain, with thunder. In the afternoon the weather +cleared up, and so remained for the remainder of the day. The cholera +has appeared at several places in the West, more especially on the line +of the Mississippi. It does not appear, however, to have assumed a +decidedly epidemic character. The troops under the command of Col. +Sumner, on their way to New Mexico, have suffered severely; as well as +the trains of traders. The small pox has committed terrible ravages +among the Sioux and other Indian tribes on the plains of the Northwest. +In January the weather was extremely cold, and some 40 or 50 of the +Indians in exposed situations were frozen to death. Affrays have taken +place among various tribes of Indians in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. +A steamer has recently set out from St. Louis, with about 100 voyagers +bound for the Rocky Mountains. The steamer is destined for the mouth of +the Yellowstone, about two thousand miles up the Missouri, the head of +steamboat navigation. From this point the passengers will proceed in +Mackinaw boats to the falls of the Missouri. Most<!--247.png--> of the passengers are +employees of the American Fur Company. Dr. Evans, U. S. Geologist, is of +the number; and two Jesuit missionaries, Fathers De Smedt and Hæken, +take the opportunity to visit the wild tribes of Indians near the +Mountains, among whom they intend to remain for two or three years.</p> + +<p>Brevet General <span class="smcap">George Talcott</span>, of the Ordnance Department has been tried +by a Court Martial for violation of the regulations of the Department, +for disobedience of orders and instructions; and for conduct unbecoming +a gentleman. He was found guilty of all the charges, and upon all the +specifications with two exceptions, and by sentence of the court, with +the approval of the President of the United States, has been dismissed +from the service.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Charles L. Brace</span>, the "Pedestrian Correspondent" of the +<i>Independent</i> newspaper has been arrested at Grosswardein, in +Transylvania, upon a charge of complicity in some democratic plots. The +only evidence against him seems to be his having letters of introduction +which were thought suspicious, and being in possession of a copy of +Pulzky's "Rights of Hungary." Mr. Brace is a young man of decided +literary talent, who has been for many months performing a pedestrian +tour through Europe for the purpose of learning by personal inspection +the condition of the people. His letters from Europe are among the most +valuable that have been published in this country. He is the writer of +an appreciative and thoughtful critique upon Emerson which appeared some +months since in the <i>Knickerbocker</i> Magazine.</p> + +<p>The London <i>Economist</i>, in noticing the translation of the "History of +the Colonization of America" by <i>Talvi</i> (Mrs. Robinson), gives some +information in respect to the author which will be new upon this side of +the Atlantic. It says that "Mr. Talvi gives a succinct and carefully +compiled history of the event, which will be acceptable to many readers. +He is a German, probably settled in the States, and his book displays +the pains-taking character of his countrymen."</p> + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">B. A. Gould</span>, of Cambridge, Mass., has received a tender of the +appointment of Professor of Astronomy at the University of Göttingen, +vacated by the recent death of Dr. Goldschmidt.</p> + +<p>During the past month have been celebrated the Annual Commencements of a +number of the colleges of the country. Apart from the exercises of the +candidates for collegiate honors, much of the best talent of the country +is usually enlisted in the service of the literary societies connected +with the institutions. First in order of time, this year, we believe, +stands the one hundred and fourth anniversary of <i>Nassau Hall College</i>, +in New Jersey. The address before the Literary Societies by Hon. <span class="smcap">A. W. +Venable</span>, of North Carolina, on "The claims of our common country on the +citizen scholar," is characterized as an able and eloquent performance. +The graduating class numbered fifty-four. <i>The University of New York</i> +held its commencement on Wednesday, July 2. On the Monday evening +previous, a characteristically brilliant oration was delivered before +the Literary Societies by Rev. Dr. <span class="smcap">Bethune</span>, of Brooklyn. <span class="smcap">John G. Saxe</span>, +Esq., of Vermont, pronounced a poem, which elicited great admiration. +The annual oration before the Alumni was delivered by <span class="smcap">Howard Crosby</span>, +Esq. The number of graduates was twenty-two. The commencement of +<i>Dickinson College</i>, at Carlisle, Penn., was held June 25th. Rev. Dr. +<span class="smcap">Peck</span>, the President, tendered his resignation, to take effect at the +close of the next academic year. Rev. <span class="smcap">O. H. Tiffany</span>, of Baltimore, was +elected Professor of Mathematics. The graduates numbered sixteen. +<!--248.png--><span class="pagenum">416</span> +<i>Miami University</i>, at Oxford, Ohio, held its commencement June 28th, +when eleven students graduated. The different Societies were addressed +by Rev. <span class="smcap">W. B. Spence</span>, of Sidney; Rev. Dr. <span class="smcap">Rice</span>, of Cincinnati, on the +topic of "Revelation the source of all true philosophy;" and by Rev. <span class="smcap">S. +W. Fisher</span>, of Cincinnati, in a very able manner. The oration before the +Alumni was delivered by <span class="smcap">Wm. Dennison</span>, Esq., of Columbus. The +eighty-third annual commencement of <i>Brown University</i>, at Providence, +R. I., took place on the 9th of July. The graduating class numbered +thirty-two. <span class="smcap">N. W. Greene</span>, Esq., of Cincinnati, delivered before the Phi +Beta Kappa Society an oration of great power and vigor, discussing in an +earnest and vigorous manner some of the great social and political +problems of the day. The address before the Literary Societies was by +<span class="smcap">Abraham Payne</span>, Esq., of Providence. His subject was "Common Sense." A +very interesting discourse was delivered before the Society for +Missionary Inquiry, by Rev. <span class="smcap">R. Turnbull</span>, of Hartford, upon the subject +of the "Unity of the human race." The unity advocated was not so much +that arising from a common origin as the deeper unity of a common +nature, capacities, requirements, and destiny. The newly-founded +<i>University of Rochester</i> held its first commencement exercises on the +9th of July. The graduating class numbered thirteen. Rev. <span class="smcap">Henry Ward +Beecher</span>, of Brooklyn, delivered before the Literary Societies his +often-repeated and brilliant discourse on "Character." <span class="smcap">Park Benjamin</span>, +Esq., recited a sparkling poem, keenly satirizing the all-prevailing +passion of the love of money. On the 10th the anniversary of the +Theological Department of the University was held. The graduating class +was addressed by Prof. <span class="smcap">J. S. Maginnis</span>; and Rev. <span class="smcap">T. J. Conant</span>, D.D., +delivered an inaugural address as Professor of Hebrew, Biblical +Criticism, and Interpretation. The subject of his address was "The +claims of sacred learning." It was amply worthy of the subject and of +the reputation of the distinguished Professor.</p> + +<h3>SOUTHERN AMERICA.</h3> + +<p>In <i>Mexico</i> the extra session of Congress was opened on the 1st of June. +Señor Lacunza was chosen President of the Senate, and Señor Alcosta of +the Chamber. On the second day, several financial projects were +broached. Among the means proposed for the support of Government, was +the application to immediate use of the remainder of the indemnity, if +there should be any; a general duty on consumption; a tax upon cotton +manufactures; an increase of the duty on the circulation and export of +coin. The Chambers have agreed to allow the Government to use the +$1,600,000, said to remain of the American indemnity, at the rate of +$250,000 a month, although this money had been specially appropriated to +the interior creditors. An order has been issued for the discharge of +any official who shall speak against the Government. The number of +police in the capital has been augmented, and they are allowed to arm +themselves with pistols. Brigandage does not appear to be diminished. +One of the engineers of the Tehuantepec survey states that a line for a +railroad from the Coatzocoalcos River to the Pacific has been examined, +in no part of which will there be an ascent of more than sixty feet to +the mile. The prosecution of the survey has been prohibited by the +Government, and all Americans engaged in it ordered to leave the +country. Some disturbances have arisen in consequence of this order, +which it is said the Company intend to disregard. Subsequently to the +issuing of the order they advertised at New Orleans for 500 additional +laborers, and two steamboats which they<!--249.png--> wished to dispatch immediately. +The Mexican consul at New Orleans refused a clearance to a steamer which +the Company wished to send.</p> + +<p>The disturbances in <i>Chili</i> and <i>Peru</i> seem to have been effectually +suppressed, though in the latter Republic some uneasiness yet prevails, +owing to the attitude assumed by the partisans of Vivanca.</p> + +<p>In the Argentine Republic, and the small States in its neighborhood, the +same singular state of affairs prevails that has existed for some years. +Rosas, though nominally only Governor of Buenos Ayres, is in reality +supreme dictator of the whole Argentine Republic. The elements of +discontent against his administration have, however, so far increased +that there is a probability that his overthrow may be effected. General +Urquiza, Governor of the province of Entrerios, has taken up arms +against Rosas, and calls upon the other provinces for aid. He, however, +does not ask for military assistance, affirming that his own troops are +amply sufficient to overthrow the "fictitious power" of Rosas, which he +affirms to be based solely upon "terror," although he acknowledges that +it has been maintained with "execrable ability." It is quite probable +that Lopez, the successor of Francia, in Paraguay, may be induced to +join Urquiza; for Rosas has always avowed that Paraguay was an integral +portion of the Argentine Republic, and has ever cherished the design of +its invasion, although more urgent occupations have never allowed him +the opportunity to catty the purpose into execution. It has long been +the wish of Lopez to secure the recognition by other nations of the +independence of Paraguay, and it is said that he has lately addressed a +communication to the President of France, designed to effect this +object. Brazil has also a pretext for engaging against Rosas, owing to +his having assumed the responsibility of certain aggressions upon the +Brazilian provinces, committed by General Oribe. If all these separate +interests can be combined at the same moment against Rosas, it is +difficult to see how he can maintain himself, notwithstanding his +undoubted ability.</p> + +<p><i>Uruguay</i> still maintains its singular position. The nominal government +is without power beyond the walls of Montevideo, the capital, which, as +for the last dozen years, is held in a state of siege by General Oribe, +supported by aid from Buenos Ayres.</p> + +<p>In <i>Bolivia</i> Government has issued the programme of a new Constitution, +based upon the following articles: "1st. The Government will defend and +uphold the sovereignty and independence of the republic abroad, and +peace and tranquillity at home. 2d. The Catholic religion shall be that +of the State. 3d. The best relations shall be maintained with other +American and European States, and all treaties strictly observed, as +well as neutrality in discussions arising between them. 4th. The civil +liberty of citizens, and the rights of all shall be respected in +conformity with the laws. 5th. The crimes of conspiracy and sedition +shall be judged by verbal courts martial. 6th. The liberty of the press +shall be guaranteed. 7th. Foreigners shall be respected and protected in +the exercise of their trade and commercial pursuits. 8th. A National +Convention shall be convoked. 9th. The independence of the judicial +authority shall be respected. 10th. Official appointments are +conferments. 11th. The political opinions of all citizens shall be +respected. 12th. The Ministers of State shall be responsible for the +acts of their administration." A convention, consisting of fifty-three +delegates, is summoned to meet on the 16th of July.</p> + +<p>In the Republics to the North there are discontents. +<!--250.png--><span class="pagenum">417</span> +In <i>New Granada</i> +there has been an insurrection in the southern provinces, aided by +forces from Equador. The insurgents were defeated in two battles, but in +a third gained some success. A law has been passed for the abolition of +slavery, to take effect on the 1st of January, 1852.</p> + +<p>A plot has been brought to light in <i>Venezuela</i>, the design of which was +to make way with the President and chief officers of government. A +portion of the conspirators belong to the principal families in +Caraccas. Some have been arrested; others have fled. The President has +been clothed with extraordinary powers to meet the crisis.</p> + +<p>In Central America there is reason to hope that a federal confederacy is +about to be established between several States upon a model not unlike +our own government, and under auspices which give hope of its +maintaining a permanent existence. The basis of a confederation between +Nicaragua, San Salvador, and Honduras was formed in November, 1849, and +agreed to by representatives from those states, in December, 1850. A +General Congress, called to meet in December next, is to complete the +details of the Confederacy. These three States embrace a territory of +145,000 square miles, with a population of a little more than a million. +Guatemala and Costa Rica, who have hitherto stood aloof, are invited to +become members of the Confederacy. These States have a territory of +68,000 square miles, and a population of somewhat more than a million. +If all these States can be united, they will possess an area of +territory somewhat greater than that of France. If the town of San Juan +de Nicaragua be given up by Great Britain to the State of Nicaragua, as +there is reason to anticipate, the new State will have the control of +the most important commercial port in the world. And even if surrendered +with the guarantee of its being a free port, according to the Bulwer and +Clayton treaty, the State must derive great advantage from it.</p> + +<p>In <i>Jamaica</i> the cholera has broken out with a fresh access of violence. +A vessel from Sierra Leone has recently brought 208 Africans, who had +been captured from a French slaver; they were distributed among the +planters of the interior.</p> + +<p>In <i>Cuba</i> the alarm excited by the proposed invasion has passed away. +The number of negroes brought to the island from Africa within the last +fourteen months, is stated to be 14,500. Count Villanueva, for +twenty-five years the able Intendant, or chief fiscal officer of the +island, has resigned his post, much to the regret of the Spanish +Government. The reasons assigned are his own advanced age, and the +delicate state of the health of his wife. But the real cause is supposed +to be the absolute impossibility of making the revenue of the island +adequate to meet the constantly increasing demands of the mother +country. He is said to have opposed the sending out the last +re-enforcement of troops, on the ground that if the people were loyal no +more were needed; if they were not loyal, five times as many would be of +no avail. The expense arising from this last addition of troops is +stated at $2,500,000, which has totally exhausted the treasury.</p> + +<p>In <i>Santa Cruz</i> the new Danish Governor was daily expected from +Copenhagen. It was supposed that upon his arrival some important changes +would be made in the laws relating to the colored population. A partial +emancipation of the blacks, after the 1st of October has been provided +for by law.</p> + +<p>In <i>Hayti</i> hostilities between the Haytians and Dominicans have taken +place. The former advanced beyond the advanced posts of the latter on +the 29th<!--251.png--> of May, but were repulsed with some loss; the Dominicans not +losing a man, if we are to believe the bulletin of the President, Baez.</p> + +<h3>GREAT BRITAIN.</h3> + +<p>Beyond the continued and triumphant success of the Great Exhibition, +there is little of interest to record. The daily number of visitors upon +the shilling days fluctuates from 50,000 to 70,000, depending much upon +the state of the weather. In very warm days, when the building is +crowded, the heat is almost insupportable. The Queen continues her +almost daily visits, and the absurd apprehension of violence to the +royal person has passed away. The Russian department, the opening of +which was delayed by the detention by ice of the contributions, is now +opened, and astonishes every one by its splendor, giving an idea of the +state of art and manufactures in that empire much higher than had before +been entertained. There is now no talk of removing the Crystal Palace at +the close of the Exhibition; the disposition most likely to be made of +it being to convert it into a winter garden and conservatory.</p> + +<p>The Kaffir war proves even more serious than was anticipated. A number +of chiefs, upon whose fidelity to the English reliance had been placed, +and whose followers are at least partially supplied with fire-arms, have +joined their countrymen.</p> + +<p>In Parliament nothing of more than local interest has transpired, except +a motion made by Mr. <span class="smcap">Cobden</span>, praying the Queen "to enter into +communication with the Government of France to endeavor to prevent in +future the rivalry of warlike preparations, in time of peace, which has +hitherto been the policy of the two Governments, and to promote, if +possible, a mutual reduction of armaments." Lord <span class="smcap">Palmerston</span>, in behalf +of the Ministers, expressed a general concurrence in the object aimed at +by the motion; but wished Mr. Cobden would not press it to a division, +as those who might vote against it would be liable to be misunderstood +to be opposed to the object of the motion, rather than to the means +proposed to accomplish it. The mover withdrew the motion, at the request +of his friends.</p> + +<p>An abstract of the census has been published, showing that the +population of Great Britain, including the islands in the British seas, +not including Ireland, is 20,919,531, being an increase in ten years of +2,263,550, or 12.13 per cent. The rate of increase has regularly +diminished, with a single exception, during each successive decennial +period within the century. The returns from Ireland have not been made +up; but there is no doubt that they will indicate a marked decrease of +population. London has increased from 1,948,369 to 2,363,141, or 21.33 +per cent, almost double the rate of the country generally. It is worthy +of notice that the number of houses has not increased in a ratio equal +to the population, showing that the population is continually crowding +into closer quarters.</p> + +<p>Great exertions have been put forth in Ireland to have some port in that +island selected as one of the places of departure for the transatlantic +steamers. The steamer North America, which had been announced to sail +from New York to Galway, was expected with great anxiety, under the +impression that her passage would prove the precursor of a regular +communication between the two ports. Every effort was made to complete +the railway, so that the passengers might be forwarded without loss of +time. The steamer, it will be recollected, did not sail as advertised, +having been sold at the very moment when her departure was announced. +The Commissioners to whom was referred the question of the selection +<!--252.png--><span class="pagenum">418</span> +of +an Irish port for a transatlantic packet station, presented a report +strongly adverse to the project.</p> + +<p>At the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Society for the +Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, Prince <span class="smcap">Albert</span> made a speech +which must have sounded somewhat strangely, coming from such an +individual, in the ears of High-Churchmen and ultra-monarchists. He +characterized William III. as the "greatest sovereign the country had to +boast of;" and said that "by his sagacity and energy were secured the +inestimable advantages of the Constitution and the Protestant faith." +The American colonies, he said, were "originally peopled chiefly by +British subjects, who had left their homes to escape the yoke of +religious intolerance and oppression, and who threw off their allegiance +to the mother country in defense of civil and religious rights." An +opinion which hardly accords with the views of Judge <span class="smcap">Haliburton</span> ("Sam +Slick"), in his forthcoming work, "The English in America." Lord <span class="smcap">John +Russell</span> and Earl <span class="smcap">Grey</span> were also speakers at the anniversary of this +society.</p> + +<p>A disastrous balloon ascent has been made from London by a Mr. and Mrs. +Graham. Owing to a violent wind the balloon became unmanageable, and +narrowly escaped being dashed against the Crystal Palace. It finally +struck against a chimney; the aeronauts were flung out insensible, and +the balloon destroyed.</p> + +<h3>FRANCE.</h3> + +<p>The question of the revision of the Constitution overshadows every +other. Apart from its mere partisan aspects, it is of grave and vital +moment to the cause of tranquillity and public order. By what would seem +almost an oversight, the functions of the executive and legislative +branches of the Government expire so nearly at the same time, that at +the period of the election there is practically an interregnum. The +election of the new Assembly must take place between the 45th and the +30th day preceding the expiration of the term of the present legislative +body. The term of the present Assembly expires on the 28th of May, 1852, +so that the new election must occur between the 13th and the 29th of +April. The term of the President ceases on the second Sunday in May, so +that within a month at furthest, possibly within a fortnight, both +branches of the Government have to be renewed. It is this which renders +the coming election so critical. The peculiar state of the suffrage +question furnishes another element of discord. The present Government +was elected by universal suffrage, every Frenchmen, of the age of 21 +years, being entitled to vote at the place of his residence. But last +year, by the law of May 31, it was enacted that a legal residence could +only be obtained by a continuous habitation of three years. By this law +the number of voters was reduced from 9,936,004 to 6,809,281, +disfranchising 3,126,723 electors who had the right of voting for the +present Government. The validity of this law is warmly contested; and in +particular it is affirmed that at most it can only apply to the election +of representatives, which, in certain aspects, is a local affair; but +can not refer to the choice of President. It is said that at the +election these 3,000,000 disfranchised voters will present themselves, +and the responsibility of deciding as to the admissibility of their +votes will fall upon the officials of a Government whose term of office +is about to expire; and the duty of enforcing the law will devolve upon +an executive who is supposed to be hostile to it. Add to these the +different<!--253.png--> factions among the people, each seeking to carry out its own +plans, and it will be seen how pressing is the necessity of some strong +and permanent authority in the Government. This is the ground upon which +the Bonapartists press the absolute necessity of prolonging the tenure +of the President; and with this view they have urged to the utmost the +presentation of petitions for a revision of the Constitution, desiring +simply that the article which renders him ineligible for immediate +re-election should be annulled. These petitions have not been as +numerously signed as was anticipated; from present appearances, the +number of signatures will not exceed a million, of which not more than +one half are in favor of the re-eligibility of the President. These have +all been referred to a committee of fifteen, of whom nine are for and +six against a revision. Of this committee M. de <span class="smcap">Tocqueville</span> has been +appointed to draw up the report. He has announced himself in favor of a +revision accomplished in the manner pointed out by the Constitution; +provided that the law of May 31 be repealed, and the elections be by +universal suffrage. This, however, from the constitution of the +Assembly, is manifestly impossible.</p> + +<p>At Dijon, on occasion of the opening of a section of the Paris and Lyons +Railway, the President made a speech reflecting severely upon the +Assembly which he charged with a failure to support him in carrying out +the popular improvements which he desired to effect. Though considerably +moderated as published, the speech caused great excitement in the +Assembly. General Changarnier evidently assumed it to be a declaration +on the part of the President of an intention to disregard the +prerogatives of the Assembly, should that body prove adverse to his +plans. He assured the members that in any case they might rely upon the +army, who would implicitly obey their officers. The debates in the +Assembly continue to be very bitter and acrimonious, sometimes hardly +stopping short of personal violence.</p> + +<h3>GERMANY, <span class="smcap">Etc.</span></h3> + +<p>From the remaining portion of Europe there is little of special +interest. The Frankfort Diet has resumed its regular sittings, but +nothing of importance has been proposed. At Hamburg, an affray occurred +between the populace and a party of Austrian troops, in which lives were +lost.</p> + +<p>In Portugal, the Ministry of the Marquis of Saldanha seems likely to +maintain its place.</p> + +<p>In Italy there is the same hostility to the Austrian rulers, manifesting +itself as it best may. In Milan, not only is tobacco proscribed by the +people, as a government monopoly, but the purchase of tickets in the +state lotteries is looked upon as an act of treason to the popular +cause. At Pavia, the Count Gyulay, the Military Governor of Lombardy, +appearing in the theatre, almost all the audience rose and left the +house; and the few who remained were received with hisses by the crowd +when they finally came out. At Florence, the Count Guicciardini, and +five others have been sentenced to six months' banishment for being +found, to quote the words of the <i>procès verbal</i>, "sitting round a small +table," upon which "occasion Count Piero Guicciardini read and commented +upon a chapter in the Gospel of St. John," in the Italian translation of +Diodati, under circumstances that "offer valid and sufficient proof that +this reading and comment had no other purpose than mutually to insinuate +into the parties religious sentiments and principles contrary to those +prescribed by the Roman Catholic Apostolic Religion." +<!--254.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">419</a></span> +</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="Literary_Notices" id="Literary_Notices"></a>Literary Notices.</h2> + +<p><i>The Parthenon</i> is the title of a serial work on a new plan, published +by Loomis, Griswold, and Co., the first number of which has just been +issued in a style of uncommon typographical elegance, and containing +original articles from several distinguished American writers. It is +intended to present, in this publication, a collection of specimens of +the literary talent and cultivation of the United States, as exhibited +in the productions of our most eminent living authors. Among the +contributors, whose pens are enlisted in the proposed enterprise, we +find the most celebrated names in the field of American letters, +together with a host of lesser lights, who have yet distinction to +achieve. The contents of this number are of a high order, and give a +rich promise of the future excellence of the work. It opens with an +Indian Legend, by Cooper, called "The Lake Gun," which is followed by +poetical contributions from Mrs. Sigourney, Miss Gould, Duganne, and +Ross Wallace.</p> + +<p><i>Narrative of Travels in America</i>, by Lady <span class="smcap">Emmeline Stuart Wortley</span> +(published by Harper and Brothers), is a perpetual effusion of +astonishment and admiration at the natural resources and the social +developments of the Western Continent. Lady Wortley is not a traveler of +the regular English stamp, judging every thing American by the standard +of the Old World, and giving vent to the disappointment of absurd +anticipations by ridiculous comparisons. She has no doubt gone to the +contrary extreme, and presented a too rose-colored picture of her +impressions of America. With the quickness of observation, and gayety of +temperament with which she mingled in all classes of American society, +she could not fail to catch its most important features; but we think +she often mistakes the courtesy and deference which her own frankness +and intelligence called forth for a more decidedly national +characteristic than is warranted by facts. On questions at issue between +her own country and the United States, she uniformly takes sides with +the latter. She shows a warm American heart every where, without the +slightest disposition to flatter English prejudices. Evidently her +nature is strongly magnetic; she wears her foreign habits like a glove, +and throws them off at pleasure; adapting herself with cordial facility +to the domestic life of New England, or the brilliant <i>far niente</i> of +Mexico. This disposition gives her book a highly personal and often +gossiping character. She talks of the acquaintances she forms with the +delight of a joyous child, who has found a new amusement, and generally +with as little reserve. No one can complain of her fastidiousness, or of +her unwillingness to be pleased. Indeed, the whole volume gives you the +idea of a frank, impulsive, high-hearted Englishwoman, rejoicing to +escape for a while from the restraints of conventional etiquette, and +expressing herself with the careless ease of a perfectly natural +character, among scenes of constant novelty and excitement. So +completely does she throw herself into the mood of the passing moment, +that she adopts all sorts of American colloquialisms, with as much +readiness as if she had been to "the manner born," embroidering her +pages with a profusion of familiar expressions, caught from the +rebellious volubility of Brother Jonathan, and which most shock the +"ears polite" in every drawing-room in England. It will be seen that her +work belongs to the amusing order of travels, and makes no pretensions +to intense gravity or profound wisdom. You read it as you would listen +to the rattling talk of the author, pleased<!--255.png--> with its vivacity and +unstarched grace, with its off-hand descriptions of comical adventures, +and its glowing pictures of natural scenes, while you forgive a good +deal of superfluous loquacity to her irrepressible good-humor and +evident kindness of heart.</p> + +<p>James Munroe and Co. have issued the first volume of a new edition of +<i>The Works of Shakspeare</i>, edited by Rev. <span class="smcap">H. N. Hudson</span>. In its external +appearance, this edition is intended, as nearly as possible, to be a +fac-simile of the celebrated Chiswick edition, while the numerous errors +and corruptions, with which that edition abounds, have been removed by +the diligence and sagacity of the present editor. Every line, every +word, every letter, and every point has been thoroughly revised, with +the determination to present nothing but the genuine text of Shakspeare. +This volume contains The Tempest, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Two +Gentlemen of Verona, and The Twelfth Night, with introductions by the +Editor, written with his usual acuteness, and more than his usual +modesty. His Shakspearian learning, and enthusiastic reverence of the +author, admirably qualify him to superintend an edition of his works, +and we shall look with confidence to these successive volumes as an +important aid to the enlightened appreciation of the immortal Poet.</p> + +<p><i>The History of Josephine</i>, by <span class="smcap">John S. C. Abbott</span> (published by Harper +and Brothers), is a lively and beautiful portraiture of the romantic +career of the fascinating and unfortunate Empress. Without presenting +any new incidents in her extraordinary life, Mr. Abbott has related her +well-known history with such dramatic effect, that his work has all the +charm of novelty. It will be read with great interest, even by those who +are familiar with the subject.</p> + +<p>A new edition of <i>Fresh Gleanings</i>, by <span class="smcap">Ik. Marvel</span>, has been issued by +Charles Scribner. It will be read with a new zest of delight by those +whose hearts have vibrated to the rich touches of feeling in the +<i>Reveries of a Bachelor</i>, or who have rejoiced in the refined, delicious +humor of the <i>Lorgnette</i>, now acknowledged as the production of the same +versatile pen. The author, <span class="smcap">Donald Mitchell</span>, under all his amusing +disguises, can not quite conceal the exquisite refinement of his +imagination, nor his manly sympathy with the many-colored phases of +life, which will make his name a "household word" among the lovers of a +chaste and elevated literature. This edition is introduced with a dainty +preface.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lossing's</span> <i>Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution</i>, now publishing by +Harper and Brothers, has reached the fifteenth number, and fully +sustains the character which has won for it such a welcome reception in +all parts of the Union. The historical narrative is agreeably +diversified by a copious and well-authenticated collection of anecdotes, +and the illustrations taken from drawings on the spot, give a vivid +impression of many of the most important localities which have now +become classical by their association with the Revolution.</p> + +<p><i>The Daughter of Night</i>, by S. W. Fullom (published by Harper and +Brothers), is a recent English novel, which in spite of a good deal of +exaggeration, leaves a deep impression on the mind of the reader. The +scene is laid in the present day, and the principal materials are drawn +from the state of the population in the mining districts of England. +Among other incidents, the ravages of the cholera among the laboring +classes are described with frightful effect, showing a rare power of +tragic representation. +<!--256.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">420</a></span> +</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="Editors_Drawer" id="Editors_Drawer"></a>Editor's Drawer.</h2> + +<p>We have forgotten (or never knew) who it is that speaks of the "small +sweet courtesies of life," but the term is as true as it is felicitous. +There <i>are</i> such courtesies, and the habitual employment of them is the +surest evidence of a good heart as well as refined manners. "I never +look," said a benevolent lady to a friend walking down Broadway one +morning, "at a deformed person in the street, except directly in the +face. How many a pang has been caused to the physically unfortunate by a +lingering glance at a deformed limb, a "marked" face, or other physical +defect, to a scrutiny of which the afflicted are so painfully +sensitive!" There was a tenderness, a humanity in this remark, and +therefore it was recorded at the time, as being worthy, not only of +remembrance, but of heedful regard and emulation. Yes; and that woman +would leave the arm of her husband in the street, and push from off the +side-walk with her little foot a piece of orange-peel, a peach-skin, or +other the like slippery obstruction, lest <i>somebody</i> should step upon +it, slide, fall, and break or dislocate a limb. "These are little things +to speak of," the reader may say, and they are; but still, they are +"close devotements, working <i>from the heart</i>" that with such an one, a +too common selfishness, or indifference to the good of others, "does not +<i>rule</i>."</p> + +<hr class="ThoughtBreak" /> + +<p>One of our "bold peasantry, a nations pride," disdaining California and +its temptations, thus signifies his contentment with his little +mountain-farm in "dear old New England:"</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Let others, dazzled by the shining ore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Delve in the soil to gather golden store;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let, others, patient of the menial toil,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And daily suffering, seek the precious spoil;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I'll work instead, exempt from fear or harm,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The fruitful "placers" of my mountain farm;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the bright plow-share opens richest veins,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From whence shall issue countless golden grains,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which in the fullness of the year shall come,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In bounteous sheaves to bless my harvest-home."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<hr class="ThoughtBreak" /> + +<p>It was well said by an eminent man, that, during the prevalence, or +expected prevalence, of any unusual epidemic, "cheerful-minded persons +and cheerful looks, are more to be valued than all the drugs of the +city." His further remarks are worthy of heed just now, in an +anticipated or predicted "cholera-time:" "A great portion of mankind +have a wonderful proclivity to groan, repine, whine, snarl, and find +fault with every body and every thing, making other people miserable, +and rendering themselves intolerable nuisances. At a time when all +excitement, alarm, and panic are to be studiously avoided, as promotive +or incitive of diseases, these groaners, these incessant predicters of +more trouble, more sickness, and more deaths; these persons with rueful +countenances, should be shut up, kept out of sight. They fret, annoy, +and disgust all healthy, sensible people, and are 'sure death' to +persons of diseased body and mind; while on the other hand, the +cheerful-minded man or woman, with pleasant aspect, rejuvenates and +fortifies the minds of all; filling the soul of the sick and desponding +with hope, confidence, and courage. A cheerful-minded physician, who can +inspire his patients with a firm faith and hope of recovery, is to be +preferred, in nine cases out of ten, to the physician of gloomy +misgivings and lugubrious countenance." This is good advice. We know an +old weather-croaker who<!--257.png--> at all times "never expects any more really +pleasant weather." If it happens to <i>be</i> pleasant, he says: "Ah! my +young friend, we shall <i>pay for this</i>—a mere weather-breeder—a +weather-breeder, sir." If it is <i>not</i> pleasant, he reverses his +grumbling. "Ah, sir, just as I told you—just as I expected!"</p> + +<hr class="ThoughtBreak" /> + +<p>When the development of what are termed "Spiritual Rappings" was first +made in this city, we were of a party who visited the exhibitors of the +phenomena, or whatever else it may be called. Surprised, amazed, yet not +satisfied, we returned home. In the evening, at a friend's house, the +conversation turned upon the scene we had witnessed. Some importing +deception, collusion, &c.; while others avowed, almost with "fear and +trembling" their full belief in the operation of a spiritual agency in +producing the sounds. "I know nothing whatever," said a gentleman who +chanced to be present, and who had remained entirely silent during the +discussion, which however he seemed to be regarding very attentively, "I +know nothing whatever about these 'Spiritual Rappings,' for I have not +heard them, nor had an opportunity of testing the various ways in which +it is alleged they may be produced; but if you will permit me, and I +shall not be considered as inflicting a story upon your company, I will +tell you what I <i>have</i> seen, and which I think partook somewhat of the +nature of those mysterious spiritual communications of which you have +been speaking.</p> + +<p>"I presume that many of you remember the case of <span class="smcap">Rachel Baker</span>, the +Somnambulist-preacher, who, some twenty-eight or thirty years ago, in +one of the interior counties of this State, attracted so much the wonder +and curiosity of the public. She was an ignorant, unlettered girl, of +some nineteen or twenty years of age. Her parents were poor, and were +unable to give her any education. She could read the <span class="smcap">Bible</span> only with +great difficulty, and even that little with apparently but small +understanding of the force and extent of its moral and religious +teachings. Although indigent and ignorant, her character, however humble +and undeveloped, was unblemished. She was of a religious turn of mind, +and was a regular attendant of the Methodist meetings, which were only +occasionally held in the sparsely-populated neighborhood where she +resided.</p> + +<p>"Such was the young girl who subsequently became the theme of almost +every journal in the United States, and whose fame, or perhaps more +properly notoriety, extended to England and France; awakening in each +country elaborate psychological and physiological discussions concerning +the nature of the peculiar case of '<span class="smcap">Rachel Baker</span>, <i>the American +Somnambulist</i>.' But I am getting a little before my story.</p> + +<p>"One hot evening, about midsummer, somewhat earlier than was usual with +her, <span class="smcap">Rachel</span> took a candle and ascended the ladder which served as stairs +to lead to the open chamber or garret which contained her humble bed. A +short time after midnight, her mother, being accidentally awake, and +talking with her father, heard her, as she expressed, 'gabbling to +herself in a dream.' She called aloud to her daughter, but received no +answer; but her talk, in a low tone of voice, continued as before. The +mother now awoke her husband, and lighting a candle, they ascended +together to <span class="smcap">Rachel's</span> apartment.</p> + +<p>"She lay upon her bed on her back, her face turned to the rafters and +shingled roof of the rude dwelling. +<!--258.png--><span class="pagenum">421</span> +Her eyes were wide open; her hands +clasped convulsively over her bosom; and she was pronouncing a prayer. +After finishing her prayer, she lay silent for a few moments, and then +awakening with a start, and gazing wildly around her, she demanded to +know of her wonder-stricken and agitated parents, why they were there, +and 'what that <i>light</i> was for?'</p> + +<p>"'You waked your father and me, by talking in your sleep, Rachel; when +we called to you, you did not answer, and we came up to see what was the +matter. You've been dreaming, haven't you, Rachel?'</p> + +<p>"'No, mother, I've had no dream; you have wakened me from a sound and +sweet sleep.'</p> + +<p>"The parents retired, went down the ladder to their own apartment, and +Rachel fell into a sound sleep, and slept until morning. All the +following day, however, she was indisposed; her eyes were heavy, her +step faltering, and her whole manner indolent and <i>ennuyée</i>. The same +somnambulism occurred every night for a week; until at length the rumor +of the phenomena was noised about the country, and excited a wide and +general curiosity. And when inquiry was made of the mother as to the +character of Rachel's 'talk in her sleep,' she said, 'It was first-rate +preaching—as good as any minister's; and her prayers,' she added, +'<i>was</i> beautiful to hear.'</p> + +<p>"About this time Mr. W—— G——, a man of rare self-attainments in +practical science and philosophy, and of the highest reputation for +general intelligence—(an ornament, moreover, to the agriculturists of +New York, toward whose interests no man in the State subsequently more +efficiently contributed)—invited Rachel to pass a short time at the +house of his father, an opulent farmer in the little town of O——, in +the county of Onondaga.</p> + +<p>"She came after some considerable persuasion; and here it was, being at +that time on a tour in the western part of the State, that I first saw +the remarkable spiritual development of which I spoke a while ago. +Rachel had already spoken three nights, utterly unconscious to herself, +although surrounded by gradually-increasing numbers, who had been +attracted by a natural curiosity to hear her. Up to this time she had +not herself been made aware of the continuance of her 'sleep-talking.' +During the day she would assist the family in various domestic matters; +and she was given to understand by Mr. G——, that it was intended to +assist her to attain such proficiency in a common education as would +enable her to read the Bible freely, to understand its plainest +precepts, to write and to speak with grammatical correctness. She seemed +anxious to avail herself of such an opportunity, and was thus entirely +deceived as to the real purpose of the visit which she was induced to +make.</p> + +<p>"The house of Mr. G—— contained upon the ground-floor four apartments; +an 'east' and 'west room,' the first of which contained the library of +the younger Mr. G——, an organ, &c.; and the second was the 'spare +room,' <i>par excellence</i>, in other words, the best parlor: these were +connected by an 'entry' or passage-way; and opening into this parlor was +another large room, where the family took their meals, held family +worship, &c. Adjoining this room was a large kitchen. But let me +describe the scene on the first night in which I saw Rachel Baker.</p> + +<p>"It was on the evening of a hot day in summer. I had been permitted to +come into the dining-room with the family, and was seated accidentally +near the unconscious somnambulist. Conversation turned upon various +matters, as it was intended purposely to prevent the least suspicion of +there being any curiosity<!--259.png--> concerning her. The 'men-folks' talked of +harvesting and other agricultural matters, and the 'women-kind' of their +domestic affairs. Meanwhile twilight was deepening; the 'east room' was +filling with the neighbors, who approached in a direction whence they +could not be seen by any of us who were in the sitting-room. I was +saying something to Rachel of an indifferent nature, when I thought I +saw a slight twitching about the eyelids, and an unwonted heaviness in +the expression of her eyes. The conversation was now vigorously renewed, +but she seemed to be gradually losing all interest in it; and presently +she observed, 'I am tired and sleepy, and I guess I'll go to bed.' +'Certainly, Rachel, if you wish,' said Mrs. G——; 'take a candle with +you.'</p> + +<p>"She left the chair in which she had been sitting by my side, took up a +candle, bade us 'good-night,' left the room, and closed the door behind +her.</p> + +<p>"All was now expectation. We heard the subdued rustling of the crowd in +the 'east room,' while we in the sitting-room were awaiting the +involuntary signal which would render it proper to enter the parlor +where the bed of the somnambulist was placed. Presently a subdued groan +was heard. We seized the candles which had been lighted after she had +retired, and entered her apartment, into which also was pouring a crowd +of persons from the 'east room.'</p> + +<p>"I shall never forget the scene that was now presented. The face of the +somnambulist, which, without being handsome, was extremely interesting, +was turned toward the ceiling; her large blue eyes were wide open, and +their pupils seemed to fill the entire eye-balls, giving her what the +Germans call an "interior" or soul-look. Her hands were crossed upon her +bosom over the bed-clothes; nor did she once move them, or her eyes, so +much even as to wink, during the whole evening. And so tightly did she +press them, that the blood settled for the time under her nails, and at +length grew black like the fingers of a corpse. She lay for the space of +a few minutes motionless and silent. She then began a short prayer in a +voice calm and solemn, which, although, not at all loud, could be heard +plainly in all the apartments, while the hushed attention of the hearers +kept the house as still as the grave. I remember that the prayer was +fervent, brief, and beautiful, and in language simple and pure.</p> + +<p>"After the prayer, she lay for some time silent and motionless; +affording space, as some supposed, for the singing of a hymn, as in the +regular exercises of the sanctuary. Then she began her discourse, which +usually continued about half an hour. It was not a discourse from any +particular text, although it was connected, regular, and nobly +illustrated by the most apposite quotations from the Bible. If +interrupted by any questions, she would pause, make answer, and +immediately resume the broken chain of her remarks. The evening I was +present, a distinguished clergyman of this city, who had come expressly +to visit her, interrupted her with:</p> + +<p>"'Rachel, why do you consider yourself called upon to address your +fellow-sinners, and by what authority do you speak.'</p> + +<p>"'I even I,' she answered, 'a woman of the dust, am moved by the <span class="smcap">Spirit</span> +which liveth and moveth all things. Necessity is laid upon me; for I +speak through <span class="smcap">Him</span> who hath said, "Upon my young men and maidens will I +pour out my Spirit, and the young men shall see visions and the young +maidens dream dreams."' The passage quoted was to this purport. Although +the somnambulist was utterly ignorant of correct language, never +speaking, when awake, +<!--260.png--><span class="pagenum">422</span> +without the grossest blunders in grammar, yet in +all passages and discourses which she delivered in her somnambulent +state, in all the answers to questions which were propounded to her she +never committed the slightest error. I wish I could remember a passage +of her discourse the second night I heard her. It was replete with the +most admirable imagery, and its pathos was infinitely touching. She was +visited at the house of Mr. G—— by some of the most eminent clergymen +and <i>savans</i> of New York, and other cities; among others, if I remember +rightly, by the celebrated Dr. <span class="smcap">Samuel L. Mitchell</span>. After her discourse +was finished, she would be silent and motionless, as before she began +it, then pronounce a prayer; and at last relapse into a disturbed +slumber, from which she would gradually arouse, groaning as if in pain, +her hands relaxing and falling by her side, and her frame trembling as +if 'rent with mortal agony.'</p> + +<p>"Her somnambulism continued for some two or three months afterward; all +physical remedies were tried, but without avail. She died in about a +year afterward, her case baffling to the last all attempts at +explanation of the mysterious agency by which it was produced."</p> + +<hr class="ThoughtBreak" /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes</span> tells us how the members of the medical +profession feel when the "poison-chalice" of their prescriptions is +commended to their own lips; in other words, when the visitor becomes +the visitee:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Just change the time, the person, and the place<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And be yourself the 'interesting case;'<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You'll gain some knowledge which it's well to learn;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In future practice it may serve your turn.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Leeches, for instance—pleasing creatures quite;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Try them, and, bless you! don't you think they bite?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You raise a blister for the smallest cause,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And be yourself the great sublime it draws;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, trust my statement, you will not deny<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The worst of draughtsmen is your Spanish Fly.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It's mighty easy ordering when you please,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'<i>Infusi Sennæ, capiat uncias tres</i>';<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It's mighty different when you quackle down<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your own three ounces of the liquid brown.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'<i>Pilula Pulvis</i>'—pleasant words enough,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When <i>other</i> jaws receive the shocking stuff;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But oh! what flattery can disguise the groan,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That meets the gulp which sends it through your own!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<hr class="ThoughtBreak" /> + +<p>"Ah! they are very busy and bustling here <i>now</i>, but they will all be +still enough by-and-by," said a clergyman from the country, as he passed +with his friend, for the first time, through Cortlandt-street into +crowded Broadway, at its most peopled hour. "And," said our informant +(the friend alluded to, who had lived in the Great Metropolis all his +life), "I never before felt so forcibly, so sudden was the observation, +and so fervent the expression of the speaker, the truth of his remark. +To <i>me</i>, the scene before us was an every-day one; to <i>him</i>, spending +his days in the calm retirement of the country, the crowd, the roaring +of the wheels, the sumptuous vehicles of Wealth, and the bedizened +trappings of Pride, presented a contrast so strong, that the exclamation +which he made was forced from him by the overpowering thought: "Ye busy, +hurrying throng, ye rich men, ye vain and proud men, where will all +these things be, where will <i>you</i> be seventy years from now?" "After +all," says <span class="smcap">Sydney Smith</span>, "take some thoughtful moment of life, and add +together two ideas of pride and of man: behold him, creature of a span +high, stalking through infinite space, in all the grandeur of +littleness. Perched on a speck of the universe, every wind of heaven<!--261.png--> +strikes into his blood the coldness of death; his soul floats from his +body like melody from the string. Day and night, as dust on the wheel, +he is rolled along the heavens, through a labyrinth of worlds, and all +the creations of <span class="smcap">God</span> are flaming above and beneath. Is <i>this</i> a creature +to make himself a crown of glory? to mock at his fellows, sprung from +the dust to which they must alike return? Does the proud man not err? +does he not suffer? does he not die? When he reasons, is he never +stopped by difficulties? When he acts, is he never tempted by pleasures? +When he lives, is he free from pain? when he dies can he escape the +common grave? Pride is not the heritage of man. Humility should dwell +with Frailty, and atone for ignorance, error, and imperfection."</p> + +<hr class="ThoughtBreak" /> + +<p>That sort of curiosity which invests murderers and their secret motives +with so much interest, instances of which may be seen any week almost in +our very midst, was finely satirized many years ago by a writer in one +of the English or Scottish periodicals. The criminal was arrested for +the murder of an old woman, who had no money to tempt his avarice, and +he resisted all inquiries touching the motives which induced him to +commit the horrid deed. He "couldn't tell," he said; "it was a sudden +impulse—a sort of a whisper; <span class="smcap">Satan</span> put it into his head." He had no +reason for doing it; didn't know <i>why</i> he did it. Ladies brought tracts +and cakes to his prison, and begged him to "make a clean breast of it." +Why did he do it? "<span class="smcap">Lord</span> knows," said he, "<i>I</i> don't." At his trial the +jury brought him in guilty, but recommended him to mercy, provided he +gave his reasons. He said he "hadn't any; he killed the old 'oman +off-hand; it was a sudden start—the same as a frisk: he couldn't +account for it; it was done in a dream, like." Finally the day appointed +for his execution arrived; and the sheriff, under-sheriffs, clergy, +reporters, etc., all implored him to make a full confession, now that +his time had come. A phrenologist, knowing that although "Murder had no +tongue, it could speak with most miraculous <i>organ</i>," felt the devoted +head, but was none the wiser. The interest in the murderer was now +increased tenfold; and such was the demand for locks of the culprit's +hair, that when he was led forth to the scaffold, there remained upon +his head but a few carroty clippings; "and all this while," says the +writer in parenthesis, "there was poor old <span class="smcap">Honesty</span> toiling for a +shilling a day, wet or shine, and not one Christian man or woman to ask +him for so much as one white hair of his head!" Well, the murderer, +unyielding to the end, stands at last upon the scaffold, the focus of +the gaze of ten thousand sons and daughters of curiosity, in the street, +at the windows, on the house-tops. The hangman is adjusting the rope; +the clergyman is reading the death-service; the fatal bolt is about to +be withdrawn; when a desperate individual, in a straw-hat, a light blue +jacket, striped trowsers, and Hessian boots, with an umbrella under his +arm, dashes in before the clergyman, and in hurried accents puts the old +question, "Why did you do it?" "Why, then," said the convict, with an +impatient motion of his cropped head, "I did it—<i>to get my hair cut!</i>" +And he had not miscalculated the sympathy with crime which was to denude +his guilty head for "keep sakes!"</p> + +<hr class="ThoughtBreak" /> + +<p>Those who have risen early on a Sabbath morning in the country, and +experienced the solemn stillness and holy calm of the hour, will read +the following +<!--262.png--><span class="pagenum">423</span> +lines with something of the religious fervor with which +they came warm from the heart of the author:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"How calm comes on this holy day!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Morning unfolds the eastern sky,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And upward takes his lofty way<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Triumphant to her throne on high.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Earth glorious wakes as o'er her breast<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The morning flings her rosy ray,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And blushing from her dreamless rest<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Unvails her to the gaze of day:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So still the scene each wakeful sound<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seems hallowed music breathing round.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The night-winds to their mountain caves,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The morning mist to heaven's blue steep<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And to their ocean depths the waves<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Are gone, their holy rest to keep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis tranquil all, around, above,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The forests far which bound the scene<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are peaceful as their Maker's love,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Like hills of everlasting green.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And clouds like earthly barriers stand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or bulwarks of some viewless land."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Now those lines came to our recollection on one occasion many months +since, simply by way of direct contrast, which is one of the curious, if +not unexplainable operations of the human mind. We had been reading a +long description, in a letter from a traveler, of life in the English +coal-mines and of the "Sabbath privileges" of the thirty-five thousand +men and boys who labor in the vast coal-fields of Durham and +Northumberland, in England. There they are, and there they spend their +long nights of labor, for day is not for them, hundreds of fathoms down +in subterranean depths; never breathing pure air, but often stagnant and +exhausted, when the stream of ventilation does not permeate the +ever-lengthening gallery, and are almost always inhaling noxious gases. +Not only is the atmospheric medium rarefied by a perpetual summer heat, +without one glimpse of summer day, but every now and then occur terrific +explosions of the "fire-damp," instantaneously thundering through a +Vulcanian region, with more certain death to all within its range than +there was ever dealt by artillery on the surface of the earth: or a gush +of poisonous vapor in one moment extinguishes the candles and the lives +of the workmen, and changes the scene of unceasing toil into a catacomb +inconceivably more awful than any of the great receptacles of death that +bear that name: or the ill-propped vault gives way, and bodies, never to +be seen until the resurrection, are buried under the ruins of a +pestilential cavern: often, too, life is sacrificed to carelessness or +parsimony, and a few "indulgences" are perhaps given to the widow and +orphans, to hush up the "casualty" within the neighborhood of the pit. +Seldom does a visitor venture to plunge into the Hades-like profound. No +attraction in the scenery of the miserable villages above ground brings +a stranger to meddle with a population that never come to the surface +except to eat or sleep. Yes, there is one exception. On that thrice +happy day of rest, when even the burden of the beast is unloosed, the +sober, humbly-clad colliers, as clean as they can make themselves, +emerge from darkness into light, and hear from the lips of some brother +"pitman," in their own familiar <i>patois</i>, the "glad tidings of +salvation."</p> + +<hr class="ThoughtBreak" /> + +<p>There are numerous pictures of <span class="smcap">Napoleon</span>: Napoleon in scenes of triumph +in peace, and of sublime grandeur in war. He has been depicted crossing +the Alps; at Marengo, at Austerlitz, at the bridge of Lodi, at Jena, at +Moscow, by the Nile; gazing at the everlasting pyramids; entering sacked +cities, bivouacked<!--263.png--> at night, and the like. But of all the pictures that +we have ever seen of the Great Captain, one which has pleased us most, +and which seems to represent him in the most gratifying light, is a +picture which depicts him sitting upon a sofa in his library, a book in +his hand, which he is perusing attentively; while his little son, +reclining on one end of the sofa, lies asleep with his head resting on +his father's lap—pillowed on those adipose limbs, that look as if they +had been melted and run into the close-fitting breeches which they +inhabit. This is a picture which, unlike the others, represents the +great original as "one of us"—a man and a father, and not as a +successful warrior or a triumphant victor.</p> + +<hr class="ThoughtBreak" /> + +<p>Speaking nearly a century ago, an old English worthy laments the "good +old times" when a book was bequeathed as an invaluable legacy, and if +given to a religious house, was offered on the altar, and deemed a gift +worthy of salvation; and when a prelate borrowed a Bible, his cathedral +gave a bond for its return. Libraries then consisted of a few tracts, +chained or kept in chests. The famous Library of Oxford, celebrated by +Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, contained only six hundred volumes! What +would <i>then</i> have been thought of the "making of many books," of which +"there is no end" in these our days?</p> + +<hr class="ThoughtBreak" /> + +<p>There is a striking example of the style of "Sir <span class="smcap">Pertinax Mac +Sycophant</span>," in a character of <span class="smcap">Marston's</span> "<i>What you Will</i>." Here is a +slight specimen of his "booing and booing:"</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Sir, I protest I not only take distinct notice of your dear +rarities of exterior presence, but also I protest I am most +vehemently enamored, and very passionately dote on your inward +adornments and habilities of spirit. I protest I shall be proud to +do you most obsequious vassalage."</p></div> + +<hr class="ThoughtBreak" /> + +<p>We find upon a scrap in the "drawer" these two stanzas taken from a +German hymn, entitled, "<i>Kindliches Gemüthe</i>," or Childlike Temper:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"His mother's arms his chief enjoyment;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To be there is his loved employment;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Early and late to see her face,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And tenderly her neck embrace.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"O Innocence! sweet child's existence!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">This have I learnt, through God's assistance,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He who possesses thee is wise,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And valued in the <span class="smcap">Almighty's</span> eyes."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Valued" is doubtless a stronger word in the original German, but it may +have been difficult to render into our vernacular.</p> + +<hr class="ThoughtBreak" /> + +<p>It would be a curious question whether, supposing the sun could be +inhabited, its citizens would be as large, in proportion to the size of +that luminary as we mundanes are in proportion to the earth. This, it +strikes us, is one of those questions which it would be difficult to +answer to general satisfaction. We remember some old philosopher who +once complained that a flea had a good deal more proportional force +than, from his size, he was entitled to. Although weighing only a single +grain, it is endowed with the ability to jump an inch and a half at a +spring. Now a man weighing an hundred and fifty pounds, ought, "by the +same rule," to be able to make a spring over a space of twelve thousand +eight hundred miles, which would be equivalent to jumping from Gotham to +Cochin China, or round the world in two jumps. A man capable of doing +that, might be set down "pretty spry." +<!--264.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">424</a></span> +</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="WOMANS_EMANCIPATION" id="WOMANS_EMANCIPATION"></a>WOMAN'S EMANCIPATION.</h2> + +<div class="c3">(BEING A LETTER ADDRESSED TO MR. PUNCH, WITH A DRAWING, BY A +STRONG-MINDED AMERICAN WOMAN.)</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_07.jpg" width="600" height="443" +alt="Woman in quasi-pants outfit, with bulldog, smoking and socializing in public." title="" /> +</div> + +<p>It is quite easy to realize the considerable difficulty that the natives +of this old country are like to have in estimating the rapid progress of +ideas on all subjects among us, the Anglo-Saxons of the Western World. +Mind travels with us on a rail-car, or a high-pressure river-boat. The +snags and sawyers of prejudice, which render so dangerous the navigation +of Time's almighty river, whose water-power has toppled over these +giant-growths of the world, without being able to detach them from the +congenial mud from which they draw their nutriment, are dashed aside or +run down in the headlong career of the United States mind.</p> + +<p>We laugh to scorn the dangers of popular effervescence. Our +almighty-browed and cavernous-eyed statesmen sit, heroically, on the +safety-valve, and the mighty ark of our vast Empire of the West moves on +at a pressure on the square inch which would rend into shivers the +rotten boiler-plates of your outworn states of the Old World.</p> + +<p>To use a phrase which the refined manners of our ladies have banished +from the drawing-room, and the saloon of the boarding-house, <i>we</i> go +ahead. And our progress is the progress of all—not of high and low, for +we have abolished the odious distinction—but of man, woman, and child, +each in his or her several sphere.</p> + +<p>Our babies are preternaturally sharp, and highly independent from the +cradle. The high-souled American boy will not submit to be whipped at +school. That punishment is confined to the lower animals.</p> + +<p>But it is among <i>our</i> sex—among women (for I am a woman, and my name is +<span class="smcap">Theodosia Eudoxia Bang</span>, of Boston, U.S., Principal of the Homeopathic +and Collegiate Thomsonian Institute for developing the female mind in +that intellectual city) that the stranger may realize, in the most +convincing manner, the progressional influences of the democratic +institutions it is our privilege to live under.</p> + +<p>An American female—for I do not like the term Lady, which suggests the +outworn distinctions of feudalism—can travel alone from one end of the +States to the other; from the majestic waters of Niagara to the mystic +banks of the Yellowstone, or the rolling prairies of Texas. The American +female delivers lectures, edits newspapers, and similar organs of +opinion, which exert so mighty a leverage on the national mind of our +great people, is privileged to become a martyr to her principles, and to +utter her soul from the platform, by the side of the gifted <span class="smcap">Poe</span> or the +immortal <span class="smcap">Peabody</span>. All this in these old countries is the peculiar +privilege of man, as opposed to woman. The female is consigned to the +slavish duties of the house. In America the degrading cares of the +household are comparatively unknown to our sex. The American wife +resides in a boarding-house, and, consigning the petty cares of daily +life to the helps of the establishment, enjoys leisure for higher +pursuits, and can follow her vast aspirations upward, or in any other +direction.</p> + +<p>We are emancipating ourselves, among other badges of the slavery of +feudalism, from the inconvenient dress of the European female. With +man's functions, we have asserted our right to his garb, and especially +to that part of it which invests the lower extremities. With this great +symbol, we have adopted others—the hat, the cigar, the paletot or round +jacket. And it is generally calculated that the dress of the Emancipated +American female is quite pretty—as becoming in all points as it is +manly and independent. I inclose a drawing made by my gifted +fellow-citizen, <span class="smcap">Increasen Tarbox</span>, of Boston, U.S., for the <i>Free Woman's +Banner</i>, a periodical under my conduct, aided by several gifted women of +acknowledged progressive opinions.</p> + +<p>I appeal to my sisters of the Old World, with confidence, for their +sympathy and their countenance in the struggle in which <i>we</i> are +engaged, and which will soon be found among them also. For I feel that I +have a mission across the broad Atlantic, and the steamers are now +running at reduced fares. I hope to rear the standard of Female +Emancipation on the roof of the Crystal Palace, in London Hyde Park. +Empty wit may sneer at its form, which is bifurcate. And why not? +<span class="smcap">Mohammed</span> warred under the Petticoat of his wife <span class="smcap">Kadiga</span>. The American +female Emancipist marches on her holy war under the distinguishing +garment of her husband. In the compartment devoted to the United States +in your Exposition, my sisters of the old country may see this banner by +the side of a uniform of female freedom—such as my drawing +represents—the garb of martyrdom for a month; the trappings of triumph +for all ages of the future!</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Theodosia E. Bang</span>, M.A.,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">M.C.P., ΦΔΚ, K.L.M., &c., &c. (of Boston, U.S.)</span><br /> +<!--265.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">425</a></span> +</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="Three_Leaves_from_Punch" id="Three_Leaves_from_Punch"></a>Three Leaves from Punch.</h2> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 363px; padding: 2em;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_08a.jpg" width="363" height="432" +alt="Cigar demo." title="" /> +<span class="caption">"<span class="smcap">There, now;—that's a Cigar I can confidently +recommend!</span>" + +"<span class="smcap">Well; put me up a Dozen to try!</span>"</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 299px; padding: 2em;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_08b.jpg" width="299" height="347" +alt="Waiting for customers." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><br />THE INTERESTING STORY.<br /> +<i>First Ticket-Porter.</i>—"<span class="smcap">And so, you know, that's all I knows about it.</span>" +<i>Second Ticket-Porter.</i>—"<span class="smcap">Well! I don't know as ever I knowed a Man as +knows as MUCH as you knows!</span>"</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 662px; padding: 2em;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_08c.jpg" width="662" height="528" +alt="Heavily-dressed crowd at dinner party." title="" /> +<span class="caption">ELEGANT AND RATIONAL DINNER COSTUME FOR THIS CLOSE +WEATHER.</span> +</div> + +<p> +<!--266.png--><span class="pagenum">426</span> +</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 412px; padding: 2em;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_10.jpg" width="412" height="482" +alt="Waiter presents paper; rain visible outside. Headline: Cholera Returns." title="" /> +<span class="caption">A WET DAY AT A COUNTRY INN.<br /> +<i>Guest</i>—"<span class="smcap">Is that your notion of Something Amusing?</span>"</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 632px; padding: 2em;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_11.jpg" width="632" height="484" +alt="Political commentary." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><i>Bathing-Woman</i>—"<span class="smcap">Master Franky wouldn't cry! No! Not +he!—He'll come to his Martha, and bathe like a Man!</span>"</span> +</div> + +<p> +<!--267.png--><span class="pagenum">427</span> +</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 484px; padding: 2em;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_12.jpg" width="484" height="479" +alt="Young man ready to travel and distraught woman." /> +<span class="caption">AFFECTING—RATHER! + +<i>Alfred.</i>—"<span class="smcap">Tell me, my own one. Is there any thing else you have to +say, before I go?</span>" + +<i>Emma.</i>—"<span class="smcap">Yes, dearest—Do not—oh do not forget to bring +the—th—th—Brunswick sausage from F-F-F-Fort—num and Mason's.</span>"</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 595px; padding: 2em;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_13.jpg" width="595" height="425" +alt="Two young ladies saying goodbye." title="" /> +<span class="caption">REAL ENJOYMENT. + +<i>Annie.</i>—"<span class="smcap">Good-by, Dear. You must come again soon, and spend a good +long day, and then I can show you all my New Things.</span>" + +<i>Clara.</i>—"<span class="smcap">Oh! that will be nice! Good-by, Dear.</span>" (<i>Kiss and exit.</i>)</span> +</div> + +<p> +<!--268.png--><span class="pagenum">428</span> +</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 356px; padding: 2em;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_14.jpg" width="356" height="303" +alt="One girl shows another her doll, a likeness to some prominent man." title="" /> +<span class="caption">"<span class="smcap">See, Dear, What a Sweet Doll Ma-a has made for me.</span>"</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; padding: 2em;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_15.jpg" width="600" height="533" +alt="A couple at water's edge. Man points out ship. Woman views two water fowl." title="" /> +<span class="caption">SINGULAR OPTICAL DELUSION. + +<i>Gentleman.</i>—"<span class="smcap">There, Love; Do you see that Steamer?</span>" + +<i>Lady.</i>—"<span class="smcap">Oh, distinctly! There are two!</span>"</span> +</div> + +<p> +<!--269.png--><span class="pagenum">429</span> +</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 583px; padding: 2em;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_16.jpg" width="583" height="449" +alt="Four men during promenade, arm in arm." title="" /> +<span class="caption">A MOST ALARMING SWELLING!</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 625px; padding: 2em;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_17.jpg" width="625" height="396" +alt="Professorial man in his study interviewing a mother and runty boy." title="" /> +<span class="caption">SUNBEAMS FROM CUCUMBERS; OR, GEMS FROM ADVERTISEMENTS +SCHOLASTIC!<br /> + +<i>Mother.</i>—"<span class="smcap">And—pray, Doctor, what are your terms for heducating little +Boys?</span>" + +<i>The Principal.</i>—"<span class="smcap">Why, my dear Madam, my usual terms are seventy +Guineas <i>PER ANNUM</i> (to use the Language of the ancient Romans), but to +effect my Object (?) quickly, I would take a few for what I could get; +provided they be GENTLEMEN, like your dear little boy there; but (again +to use the Latin Tongue), it is a <i>SINE QUA NON</i> that they should be +GENTLEMEN!!!</span>"</span> +</div> + +<p> +<!--270.png--><span class="pagenum">430</span> +</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 526px; padding: 2em;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_18.jpg" width="526" height="359" +alt="Two businessmen sharing table at inn." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><i>First Old Foozle.</i>—"<span class="smcap">Would you like to see the Paper, +Sir? There's Nothing in it.</span>" + +<i>Second Old Foozle.</i>—"<span class="smcap">Then what the Deuce did you keep it so long +for?</span>"</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 592px; padding: 2em;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_19.jpg" width="592" height="462" +alt="Wife relaxed, sprawled on sofa, reading in unkempt house as husband goes out door." title="" /> + +<span class="caption">LITTLE LESSONS FOR LITTLE LADIES. + +<span class="smcap">Fan-ny Fal-lal</span>, al-though she was not rich, nor a per-son of rank, was a +ve-ry fine La-dy. She would pass all her time read-ing nov-els and +work-ing cro-chet, but would neg-lect her house-hold du-ties; so her +hus-band, who was a ve-ry nice man, and fond of a nice din-ner, be-came +a mem-ber of a Club, and used to stop out ve-ry late at night, which led +to ma-ny quar-rels. How fool-ish it was of <span class="smcap">Fan-ny</span> to neg-lect her +house-hold du-ties, and not to make her <span class="smcap">Al-bert</span> hap-py at home!</span> +</div> + +<p> +<!--271.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">431</a></span> +</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<h2><a name="FASHIONS_FOR_AUGUST" id="FASHIONS_FOR_AUGUST"></a>FASHIONS FOR AUGUST.</h2> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 535px;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_20.jpg" width="535" height="700" +alt="Fig. 1.—Promenade and Young Lady's Morning Costume." title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">Fig. 1.—Promenade and Young Lady's Morning Costume.</span> +</div> + +<p>We have very little change to note in the forms of dress, since our +last; and while "the dog-star rages," materials suitable for the heat of +July will be appropriate. For out-of-door costume, silks of light +texture, and hues accordant with those of surrounding nature, such as +peach, lilac, violet, buff, green, pink, &c., are in vogue. Mantelets +are much worn, and are of two different forms—the scarf mantelet, and +the little round shawl mantelet. These, particularly the shawl mantelet, +are beautifully embroidered and deeply fringed, giving them an +exceedingly rich appearance. They have mostly a double collar attached.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Promenade Costume.</span>—The figure on the right, in our first illustration, +represents a beautiful style of walking costume. The dress is of +light-textured silk. Body high, open in front, and having at the edge, +as a lapel, two vandyked and goffered trimmings, with very little +fullness. The under one meets the upper about two-thirds down the front. +The body has a rounded point in front, and the trimming goes to the +bottom. The sleeves are almost tight for about two-thirds of the arm, +and end in a frill, on which are set two smaller frills, vandyked and +goffered at the edges. The skirt has three flounces; the first, six +inches below the waist, is ten inches deep; the second is twelve, and +the third fourteen inches. Each of these flounces, already a little +<!--272.png--><span class="pagenum">432</span> +drawn, is trimmed at bottom with two vandyked frills of two inches in +width. They are held in, when sewed on, so as to be full on the large +ones. The habit shirt is composed of two valenciennes at the collar, and +of muslin puffs; the under-sleeve, trimmed with a narrow valenciennes, +is formed of muslin <i>bouillonnés</i>, diminishing toward the bottom.</p> + +<p>The bonnet is an elegant style. It is drawn, of net, blond, and silk; +the edge of the poke has a roll of silk; above and below there is a +transparent width of net, about two inches deep, and two blond frills +drawn shell-shape. All the inside of the poke and crown is composed of a +kind of <i>carapace</i> made of silk, with small folds lapping over each +other. On one side there are two large moss-roses with buds and leaves. +A blond, about an inch and a half wide, goes over the roses, and is +continued in waves all along the piping. On the other side there are no +flowers, but instead of them are a net <i>bouillonné</i> and three blond +frills. The curtain is of puffed net, with blonds and no frills.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Young Lady's Morning Costume.</span>—The figure on the left represents an +elegant morning costume for a young lady. Hair in bandeaux, forming a +puff which spreads well at the bottom. The points are carried back to +meet under the knot. The back hair is done up in a torsade with black +velvet ribbons, the two ends of which float behind. Frock of plaid silk, +skirt very full. <i>Canezou</i>, or jacket, of embroidered muslin, trimmed +with embroidered and festooned bands. It is open and square in front, +with five bands for trimming. The sleeves are demi-length, and trimmed +in a similar manner. The under-chemisette is of plaited net, with a +narrow lace at the edge.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 428px;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_21.jpg" width="428" height="398" +alt="Jackets." title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">Fig. 2.—Jackets.</span> +</div> + +<p>Jackets are now much worn, not only as a part of a morning costume, but +as an elegant addition to a visiting dress. Figure 2 represents two of +these. The first, held in the hand, is of light blue silk, and intended +as an accompaniment to a visiting dress of the same material. It is +trimmed round the lower part, as well as the sleeves and lapels or +facings, with a narrow frilling of the same, fastened down the front +with three large rosettes of silk, the corsage being sufficiently open +to show the habit-shirt, decorated with a frilling of white lace. The +large white under-sleeves are decorated with a double fall of white +lace. On the half-length figure is represented the jacket of a morning +costume. It is of white jaconet muslin, trimmed with lace and rows of +pink ribbon of different widths. Long sleeves made rather loose, and +encircled with lace and ribbon, finished<!--273.png--> with a nœud of the latter, +on the top of the wrist. Under close sleeve trimmed with rows of lace +placed close together. This figure also shows a pretty style of cap, +made of white lace, trimmed round the back part with four rows of narrow +white lace, finished on each side with a bow and ends of pink ribbon, +with loops on each side of the face.</p> + +<p>A beautiful style of <span class="smcap">Evening Dress</span> is a robe of white cachmere, trimmed +with very deep flounces, each finished with stripes of silk woven in the +material. The body open, square in the front; made very high and open, +across the chest, terminating below the waist with basquines, which give +it some what the appearance of a little vest, or jacket.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 236px;"> +<img src="images/ill_1851_august_illo_22.jpg" width="236" height="515" +alt="Boy's Dress." title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">Fig. 3.—Boy's Dress.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Figure</span> 3 represents a pleasing style of dress for a little boy. A +Charles-the-Ninth cap of black velvet, with a well-rolled feather on one +side, and proceeding from a cabbage-rose of black satin ribbon. Coat of +black velvet, without any seam at the waist. It is hollowed out at the +side and back seams, like a lady's paletot, tight over the breast, and +fastened with little jet buttons. Sleeves half short, also with buttons. +Under the coat is a tunic of plaid poplin, black and red. This tunic is +full of gathers like a Scotch kilt. Plaid stockings, stripes sloping; +small black gaiters with jet buttons. Collar sewed on to a band; the +trimmings of the under-sleeves and trowsers are of the older style of +English embroidery.</p> + +<p>The taste for flowers, those gems which give exquisite beauty to +nature's pictures, is becoming more and more prevalent. Nearly every +bonnet is decorated with flowers, particularly those of rice straw. +Heaths, lilies, violets, roses, &c., with straw, oats, asparagus, +butter-cups, and fancy trifles are used in giving grace and beauty to +bonnets.</p> + +<div class="c3">END</div> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + +<div class="center"><a name="Changes" id="Changes">Changes Made To The Text</a></div> + +<pre> +Transcriber's note: A table of contents has been added. Blank pages have +been deleted. The publisher's inadvertent omissions of important +punctuation have been corrected. Other detected publisher's errors were +corrected as follows: + + p. 385: on which they conduc[conduct] their whaling + p. 289: with an ancient piece of tapesty[tapestry] + p. 291: thousand little conveniencies[conveniences] + p. 299: rancorous recollection of the occurence[occurrence], + p. 301: By the brillance[brilliance] of her conversational + p. 304: when folks spok[spoke] of Andrč and his wife + p. 310: revelations of the sybil[sibyl] concerned + p. 334: how can this [be] part of myself? + p. 335: to literary socities[societies] + p. 337: country disstricts[districts] + p. 352: and gay boddice[bodice] + p. 365: The general fully corrobarated[corroborated] + p. 366: and rolling lazily adown[down] the + p. 368: round, and [in] one fearful lesson teach these same whitecoats + p. 368: drive a brave enemy to depair[despair] + p. 370: two unfurnished rooms; the lagest[largest] contained her + p. 374: they anticipate inuendoes[innuendoes], and meet + p. 384: accordingly went, accompaniod[accompanied] by + p. 399: but my husband is harder nor[than] I, and he said + p. 408: why should be[he] put himself +</pre> + +<p><a href="#Start">Back to the top</a>.</p> + +<hr class="ChapterTopRule" /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3, +No. 15, August, 1851, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY *** + +***** This file should be named 38409-h.htm or 38409-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/4/0/38409/ + +Produced by David Kline, Henry Gardiner 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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