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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:11:09 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:11:09 -0700 |
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diff --git a/38787-h/38787-h.htm b/38787-h/38787-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..64a53d8 --- /dev/null +++ b/38787-h/38787-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,20467 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<!-- $Id: header.txt 236 2009-12-07 18:57:00Z vlsimpson $ --> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 4, June 1851, by Various. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} +h1,h2,h3,h4 {text-align: center; clear: both;} +p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + +hr {width: 33%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} +table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} +.pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} + +.center {text-align: center;} +.right {text-align: right;} +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} +.figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} +.figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} +.fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + +.tnotes {border: dashed 1px;} +.tnote {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} +.poem br {display: none;} +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} +.poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} +.poem span.i1 {display: block; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + +div.background {background-repeat: no-repeat; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; position: relative;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Harper's Magazine, Vol III, June 1851, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Harper's Magazine, Vol III, June 1851 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: February 8, 2012 [EBook #38787] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S MAGAZINE, VOL III *** + + + + +Produced by Judith Wirawan, David Kline, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1>HARPER'S</h1> + +<h1>NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE</h1> + +<h3>VOLUME III.</h3> + +<h2>JUNE TO NOVEMBER, 1851.</h2> + +<hr /> + +<h4>NEW YORK:<br /> + +HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,<br /> + +NOS. 329 AND 331 PEARL STREET,<br /> + +(FRANKLIN SQUARE.)<br /> + +1852.</h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ADVERTISEMENT.</h2> + + +<p>This Number closes the Third Volume of <span class="smcap">Harper's New Monthly Magazine</span>. In closing +the Second Volume the Publishers referred to the distinguished success which had attended +its establishment, as an incentive to further efforts to make it worthy the immense patronage +it had received:—they refer with confidence to the Contents of the present Volume, for +proof that their promise has been abundantly fulfilled.</p> + +<p>The Magazine has reached its present enormous circulation, simply because it gives <i>a +greater amount of reading matter, of a higher quality, in better style, and at a cheaper price</i> than +any other periodical ever published. Knowing this to be the fact, the Publishers have spared, +and will hereafter spare, no labor or expense which will increase the value and interest of the +Magazine in all these respects. The outlay upon the present volume has been from five to +ten thousand dollars more than that upon either of its predecessors. The best talent of the +country has been engaged in writing and illustrating original articles for its pages:—its selections +have been made from a wider field and with increased care; its typographical appearance +has been rendered still more elegant; and several new departments have been added to +its original plan.</p> + +<p>The Magazine now contains, regularly:</p> + +<p><i>First.</i> One or more original articles upon some topic of historical or national interest, written +by some able and popular writer, and illustrated by from fifteen to thirty wood engravings, +executed in the highest style of art.</p> + +<p><i>Second.</i> Copious selections from the current periodical literature of the day, with tales of +the most distinguished authors, such as <span class="smcap">Dickens, Bulwer, Lever</span>, and others—chosen +always for their literary merit, popular interest, and general utility.</p> + +<p><i>Third.</i> A Monthly Record of the events of the day, foreign and domestic, prepared with +care and with the most perfect freedom from prejudice and partiality of every kind.</p> + +<p><i>Fourth.</i> Critical Notices of the Books of the Day, written with ability, candor, and spirit, +and designed to give the public a clear and reliable estimate of the important works constantly +issuing from the press.</p> + +<p><i>Fifth.</i> A Monthly Summary of European Intelligence, concerning books, authors, and whatever +else has interest and importance for the cultivated reader.</p> + +<p><i>Sixth.</i> An Editor's Table, in which some of the leading topics of the day will be discussed +with ability and independence.</p> + +<p><i>Seventh.</i> An Editor's Easy Chair or Drawer, which will be devoted to literary and general +gossip, memoranda of the topics talked about in social circles, graphic sketches of the +most interesting minor matters of the day, anecdotes of literary men, sentences of interest +from papers not worth reprinting at length, and generally an agreeable and entertaining collection +of literary miscellany.</p> + +<p>The object of the Publishers is to combine the greatest possible <span class="smcap">Variety</span> and <span class="smcap">Interest</span>, +with the greatest possible <span class="smcap">Utility</span>. Special care will always be exercised in admitting nothing +into the Magazine in the slightest degree offensive to the most sensitive delicacy; and +there will be a steady aim to exert a healthy moral and intellectual influence, by the most +attractive means.</p> + +<p>For the very liberal patronage the Magazine has already received, and especially for the +universally flattering commendations of the Press, the Publishers desire to express their cordial +thanks, and to renew their assurances, that no effort shall be spared to render the work +still more acceptable and useful, and still more worthy of the encouragement it has received.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS OF VOLUME III.</h2> + + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="90%" summary="Contents of Volume III"> +<tr><td align="left">Adventure with a Grizzly Bear</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Ally Somers</td><td align="right">610</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">American Notabilities</td><td align="right">834</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Anecdotes of Curran</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Anecdotes of Paganini</td><td align="right"><a href="#Paganini">39</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Application of Electro-Magnetism to Railway Transit</td><td align="right">786</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Autobiography of a Sensitive Spirit</td><td align="right">479</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Bear-Steak</td><td align="right">484</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Blind Lovers of Chamouny</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Bookworms</td><td align="right">628</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Bored Wells in Mississippi</td><td align="right">539</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Breton Wedding</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Brush with a Bison</td><td align="right">218</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Captain's Self-Devotion</td><td align="right">689</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Chapter on Giraffes</td><td align="right">202</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Coffee-Planting in Ceylon</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Conversation in a Stage Coach</td><td align="right"><a href="#Conversation">105</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Cricket</td><td align="right">718</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Convict's Tale</td><td align="right">209</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Daughter of Blood</td><td align="right"><a href="#Daughter">74</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Deserted House</td><td align="right">241</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Eagle and Swan</td><td align="right">691</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Eclipse in July, 1851</td><td align="right">239</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Editor's Drawer.</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>Preliminary; Word-painting; Grandiloquence; +Memories of Childhood; Good-nature, 282. Englishman's +independence; Parodies; Done twice; +Punctuation; Epitaph; Personification, 284. Small +courtesies; Home California; Grumblers; Rachel +Baker, 421. Take physic, doctor; Moralizing; +Curiosity, 422. Sabbath morning; Pictures of +Napoleon; Libraries; Booing; Childlike temper; +Pretty spry, 423. The sea; Old Eben; Harvest +time; Long Island ghosts, 571. Alleged lunatic; +Musical elephant, 572. The Bible; New use of a +note of hand; The Ship of Death; Taste in tombstones; +Tennyson's Word-painting, 573. Western +eloquence; John Bull of old; Interrupting +conversation, 575. Ollapod on October; The Virtues +too cheap, 704. Charms of the incomprehensible; +Harriet Martineau on love; The fire annihilator, +705. Originality; Eccentricities of Swift; +The Iron Duke in Rhyme; On reminiscences, 706. +Taking an interest; Determination of the Will, +707. In France without French; Mrs. Ramsbottom; +The Disbanded Volunteer, 851. Baron Vondullbrainz; +Domestic Remedies; Dr. Johnson on +Scotland, 852. Hopeful Pupils; Lord Timothy +Dexter; Adjutant-birds, 853. Dinner-giving; Keep +cool; Peter Funk; Titles of songs; John Bull as +a beat-ee, 854.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Editor's Easy Chair.</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>Ex cathedrâ; The commercial and romantic way +of telling a thing, 707. The winning loser, 708. +Equestrianism as a beautifyer, 709. Advent of +autumn; Retrospective and prospective; Hard +times; The Arctic expedition, 849. Catherine +Hayes; Madame Thillon; Mrs. Warner; Healy's +Webster; The Art Union; Leutze's Washington +Crossing the Delaware; American clippers, 850. +French gossip; Borrel and his wife, 851. Albert +Smith, 852.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Editor's Table.</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>The indestructibleness of the religious principle +in the human soul, 701. Night as represented by +the Poets: Homer, Apollonius Rhodius, Virgil, +Byron, Job, 702. Pedantic fallacies on education, +703. Progression of Ancestry and Posterity, 704. +Westward course of empire, 851. Marriage: the +nuptial torch, woman's rights, divorces, 846. True +Charity: St. Augustine thereupon, 848.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Episode in the Life of John Rayner</td><td align="right">510</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Escape from a Mexican Quicksand</td><td align="right">481</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Execution of Fieschi, Pepin, and Morey</td><td align="right"><a href="#Execution">76</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Fairy's Choice</td><td align="right">800</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Faquir's Curse</td><td align="right">375</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Fashions for June</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Fashions for July</td><td align="right">287</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Fashions for August</td><td align="right">431</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Fashions for September</td><td align="right">575</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Fashions for October</td><td align="right">719</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Fashions for November</td><td align="right">863</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Feet-Washing in Munich</td><td align="right">349</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Floating Island</td><td align="right">781</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Fortunes of the Reverend Caleb Ellison</td><td align="right">680</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Francis's Life Boats and Life Cars. By <span class="smcap">Jacob Abbott</span></td><td align="right">161</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">French Cottage Cookery</td><td align="right">369</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Frenchman in London</td><td align="right">236</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Gallop for Life</td><td align="right">802</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Hartley Coleridge</td><td align="right">334</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Highest House in Wathendale</td><td align="right">521</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Household of Sir Thomas More</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_42">42</a>, 183, 310, 498, 623, 757</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Hunter's Wife</td><td align="right">388</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Ice-Hill Party in Russia</td><td align="right"><a href="#Ice-Hill">66</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Incident during the Mutiny of 1797</td><td align="right">652</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Incidents of Dueling</td><td align="right">630</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Incident of Indian Life</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Infirmities of Genius</td><td align="right">327</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Joanna Baillie</td><td align="right"><a href="#Joanna">88</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Jeweled Watch</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Joe Smith and the Mormons</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Josephine at Malmaison</td><td align="right">222</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Joys and Sorrows of Lumbering</td><td align="right">517</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Lamartine on the Restoration</td><td align="right">685</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Last days of the Emperor Alexander</td><td align="right">565</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Last Priestess of Pele</td><td align="right">354</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Leaves From Punch.</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>Tired of the World; Pleasure Trip of Messrs. +Robinson and Jones; A Perfect Wretch, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>. +Facts and Comments by Mr. Punch; Comparative +Love; Taking the Census; Mysterious Machine, +285. Experimental Philosophy; The Interesting +Story; Elegant and Rational Costume for Hot +Weather; A Wet Day at a Country Inn; Scene +at the Sea-Side; Affecting rather; Real Enjoyment; +A Taste for the Beautiful; Singular Optical +Delusion; A most alarming Swelling; Sunbeams +from Cucumbers; Much Ado about Nothing; Little Lessons for Little Ladies, 425. +Holding the Mirror up to Nature; A Bite; Much +too considerate; A Lesson on Patience; Development +of Taste, 717. Brother Jonathan's First +Lesson in Shipbuilding; Not a difficult thing to +foretell; Curiosities of Medical Experience; Retirement, +861.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + + +<tr><td align="left">Lima and the Limanians</td><td align="right">598</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Literary Notices</span>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>Philosophy of Mathematics; Life of Algernon +Sidney; Journal and Letters of Henry Martyn; +Cooper's Water Witch, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>. Mayhew's London +Labor, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, 281, 856. Barry's Fruit Garden; Female +Jesuit; The Wife's Sister; Poems by Mrs. +E.H. Evans; Dealings with the Inquisition; Opdyke's +Political Economy; Harper's New York +and Erie Railroad Guide, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>. Tuckerman's +Characteristics of Literature; The Gold-Worshipers; +Mrs. Sigourney's Letters to my Pupils; Maurice +Tiernay; Willis's Hurry-Graphs; Eastbury; +Episodes of Insect Life, 280, 568, 855. Arthur's +Works, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>. Memoirs of Wordsworth; Hitchcock's +Religion of Geology; The Glens; Abbott's Cleopatra; +Mrs. Browning's Poems, 280. Cosmos; Martin's +Ortheopist; The Heir of West-Wayland; A +Grandmother's Recollections; Ida; Colton's Land +and Sea; De Felice's Protestants in France; Warren's +Para; Herbert's Life and Writings, 281. Caleb +Field; Dr. Spring's First Things; Yeast; Taylor's +Angel's Song; Stuart of Dunleath; Shakspeare's +Heroines; The Solitary of Juan Fernandez; +Bulwer's Not so Bad as We Seem, 282. The +Parthenon; Lady Wortley's Travels in America; +Hudson's Shakspeare; Abbott's Josephine; Fresh +Gleanings; Lossing's Field-Book; The Daughter +of Night, 419. James's Fate; Inventor's Manual, +568; Memoirs of Bickersteth; Lamartine's Stone-Mason +of Saint Point; True Remedy for the +Wrongs of Woman; The Literature and Literary +Men of Great Britain and Ireland, 569. Arthur +Conway; Odd-Fellows' Offering; Loomis's Algebra; +the Christian Retrospect and Register; Anthon's +Roman Antiquities; Hildreth's History of +the United States; Carpenter's Travels and Adventures +in Mexico, 570. Sprague's Phi Beta +Kappa Oration; Farmer's Every-Day Book; The +Nile Boat; The Iris; The Dew-Drop; Willow-Lane +Stories; Drayton; Lord's Epoch of Creation, +710. Theory of Human Progression; Forest +Life and Forest Trees; Semme's Service Afloat +and Ashore; The Lady and the Priest; The Attaché +in Spain, 711. Scenes and Legends of the +North of Scotland; Miss Benger's Mary Queen +of Scots; Motherwell's Poems; Memoirs of the +Buckminsters; Plymouth and the Pilgrims; St. +John's Geology; Ware's Sketches of European +Capitals; Lamartine's Restoration; Rule and Misrule +of the English in America; Poore's Life of +Napoleon, 712. Bayard Taylor's Romances, Lyrics, +and Songs; Margaret; Abbott's Young Christian; +Spooner's Dictionary of Artists; Memoirs +of Chalmers; The Bible in the Family; The Scalp +Hunters, 855. The Human Body in its Connection +with Man; Ladies of the Covenant; Alban; +Fifteen Decisive Battles; Queens of Scotland; +The Lily and the Bee; London Labor; Malmiztic +the Toltec; The Mind and the Heart, 856.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">London Sparrows</td><td align="right">258</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Lord Brougham as a Judge</td><td align="right">622</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Love and Smuggling</td><td align="right">378</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Madames De Genlis and De Staël</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Mary Kingsford</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Maurice Tiernay, the Soldier of Fortune. By <span class="smcap">Charles Lever</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_28">28</a>, 171, 360, 471, 635, 767</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Memories of Mexico</td><td align="right">461</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Mems for Musical Misses</td><td align="right">488</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Misers</td><td align="right">614</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Monthly Record of Current Events</span>.</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>UNITED STATES.</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Political and General News</span>.—Rumored +descent upon Cuba; President's Proclamation; +arrests, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>. Legislature of New York; the Canal +Enlargement bill; close of the session; addresses +to the political parties, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>. Quick passages across +the Atlantic, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, 275, 564. Emigrants from abroad, +<a href="#Page_128">128</a>, 275, 561. May Anniversaries in New York, +<a href="#Page_128">128</a>. Opening of the Erie Railroad, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>. Mr. +Webster and Faneuil Hall, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>. Storm in New +England, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>. Secret Ballot in Massachusetts, +<a href="#Page_129">129</a>. Message of the Governor of Connecticut, +<a href="#Page_129">129</a>. Southern Rights Convention at Charleston; +Messrs. Cheves and Rhett, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>. Constitutional +Convention in Virginia, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, 277, 414, 558. Miscellaneous +Intelligence from the Northwest, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>. +Texas, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, 277. New Mexico, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>. From California: +Extra-judicial executions; death for larceny; +tax on miners: Indian hostilities; population; +gold; Japanese; thermal springs, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>. Abstract +of the census, 273. Dispersion of Cuban +expedition, 273. Speeches of Mr. Webster at Buffalo +and Albany, 274. Methodist Book Concern +suit, 274. Presbyterian General Assembly at Utica, +275. At St. Louis, 275. Ocean steamers, 275. +Extra session of the New York Legislature, passage +of the Canal Enlargement bill, 275. Address +of framers of the Constitution against the bill, 275. +Riot at Hoboken, 275. Legislature of Massachusetts, +principal bills passed, 276. Mr. Sumner's +letter of acceptance, 276. Maine and Massachusetts, +276. Liquor-law in Maine, 276. Northern +Eldorado, 276. Message of Governor Dinsmoore +of New Hampshire, 276. New Constitution in +Maryland, 276. Politics in Georgia, 276. In +South Carolina, 276. In Mississippi, 276. Indian +hostilities in Texas, 277. From California, +277. From Oregon, 277. Whig and Democratic +Conventions in Vermont, 411. Democratic State +Convention in New Hampshire, 411. Whig and +Democratic Conventions in Pennsylvania, 412. +Whig Convention in Ohio, 412. State Rights +Convention in Mississippi, 412. Whig Convention +in California, 413. Mr. Webster's Fourth of +July speech at Washington, 413. Legislature of +New York; Canal bill; apportionment of representatives, +413. Position of Mr. Fish, 413. Legislature of Rhode Island, 413. Acceptance of new +Constitution in Ohio, 413. Widows in Kentucky +to vote, 413. Celebration of the battle of Fort +Moultrie at Charleston, 414. Senators Clemens +and King of Alabama, 414. Compromise resolutions in Connecticut, 414. Legislature of Michigan, +414. Mormon trials, 414. Mr. Webster at +Capon Springs, 414. From California: fire at San +Francisco; quartz mining; Lynch law; Chinamen; +abortive expedition against Lower California, +415. Indian treaty in Oregon, 415. Miscellanies +from the Northwest, 415. Trial of General +Talcott, 415. American traveler imprisoned +in Hungary, 415. College commencements, 415, +560. August elections, 557. State of parties, 557. +Cuban expedition sets out, 557. Progress of crime, +557. Prospects of the harvest, 557. Indian hostilities +along our frontiers, 557. Meeting for co-operative +resistance in Charleston, 557. Southern +Rights meeting, 558. New Constitution of Virginia, +558. Democratic Convention in Ohio, 558. +From California: new route; another conflagration; +T.B. McManus; vigilance committee, 559. +Joint call for a Whig Convention in New York, +559. Judge Bronson on the Canal Enlargement +bill, 560. Dinner to Archbishop Hughes, 560. Return +of the steamer Atlantic, 561. Western Railroad +Convention, 561. Colored Convention in Indiana, +562. Sioux treaty, 562. Steam to Ireland, +562. Letter from Kossuth, 562. Fourth of July +at Turks Island, 562. Emancipation of slaves by +Mr. Ragland, 562. Soundings in Gulf of Mexico, +562. Fugitive slaves in Mexico, 562. Expedition +to Cuba fails, 692. Excitement in the United +States, 693. Whig and Democratic Conventions +in Massachusetts, 693. Whig and Democratic +Conventions in New York, 693. Severe storm, +694. From Texas: crops; trade; Indian affray; +Boundary Commission, 694. Fugitive slave cases, +694. Union victory in Mississippi, 694. Slaves +liberated by Mr. Caldwell, 694. From California: +subsidence of Lynch law; mining; Indians; politics, +695; more executions; conflict of authorities; +miscellaneous, 841. Meeting of the New York +State Agricultural Society, 840. Railroad celebration +at Boston, 840. Return of the Arctic Expedition, +840. Legislature of Vermont, 840. Accidents +and Shipwrecks, 840. Duels, 841. Michigan +conspiracy trials, 841. Bishop in New York, +841. From New Mexico: Indians; Col. Sumner's +command; Catholic Church, 841.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Elections</span>.—Mr. Sumner in Massachusetts, +<a href="#Page_129">129</a>. State officers in Connecticut, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>. Congressional +representatives in Massachusetts, 276. +State officers in New Hampshire, 276. August +elections for members of Congress and State officers +in several States, 557. Of delegates to State +Convention in Mississippi, 694. Of Governor and +Members of Congress in Georgia, 840.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>SOUTHERN AMERICA.</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>Mexico: The revenue; Indian hostilities; meditated +revolution, <a href="#Mexico">130</a>. Brazil and the Argentine +Republic, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, 277, 416, 697, 842. Excitement in +Cuba, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>. Hayti, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>. From Mexico; financial difficulties; +Indian hostilities; claims upon the United +States, 277. From Peru: Election of President; +disturbances, 277. Disturbances in Chili, 277. +Central America, 278. Financial projects in Mexico, +416. Tehuantepec survey prohibited, 416. +Chili and Peru, 416. General Rosas, 416. Uruguay, +416. New Constitution in Bolivia, 416. +New Granada, 417. Plot in Venezuela, 417. +Proposed confederation in Central America, 417. +Cholera in Jamaica, 417. Cuba, 417. Santa Cruz, +417. Hostilities in Hayti, 417. Gloomy state of +affairs in Mexico, 562. Statement of the Tehuantepec +question, 563. Insurrectionary movements +in New Granada, 563, 697. Scarcity of labor in +Jamaica; colored emigrants solicited, 563. Riot +at Kingston, 563. Abortive insurrection in Cuba, +564. Failure of the expedition and execution of +Lopez, 692. Disturbances in Guayaquil, 696. +Affairs in Chili: Election of Montt as President; +revenues; railroads; storm, 696. Peru, 697. Mexican +affairs: Financial schemes; Church property; +Tehuantepec difficulties; proposed South American +confederacy; disturbances; Payno's mission +to England, 697. Decline of the slave-trade in +Brazil, 697. Peace in Hayti, 697. Volcanic Eruption +in Martinique, 697. Continued troubles in +Mexico, 842. Revolution in the Northern departments, +842. Disturbances in Central America, +842. War between Brazil and Rosas, 842. Chili +and Peru, 843.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>GREAT BRITAIN.</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>Opening of the Exhibition, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>. Duke of Wellington +and the statuette of Napoleon, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>. Proceedings +in Parliament: Sundry motions; Jews' +bill; model lodging houses, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>. Speech of Sir +William Molesworth on the Colonies, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>. Lord +Torrington as Governor of Ceylon, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>. Aylesbury +election vacated, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>. Dinner to Lord Stanley, +<a href="#Page_132">132</a>. Troubles in the Established Church, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>. +The Kaffir war, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, 417. Manifesto of the Chartists, +<a href="#Page_132">132</a>. Emigration, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, 843. Legal nicety, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>. +Progress of the Exhibition. 278, 417, 565, 698, 843. +American contributions, 278. Parliamentary proceedings, +278. Copyright decision in favor of foreigners, +278. Protectionist meeting at Tamworth, +278. Thackeray's lectures, 278. Mr. Cobden's +peace motion, 417. Census of Great Britain, 417. +Steam between Ireland and United States, 417. +Prince Albert on the American revolution, 418. +Balloon accident, 418. Passage of ecclesiastical +titles bill, 564. Jewish disabilities bill, 564. Mr. +Salomons denied a seat in Parliament, 564. Chancery +reform, 565. Secret ballot, 565. Bishops' +revenues, 565. Decline of the slave trade, 565. +Depopulation of Ireland, 565. Opposition to copyright +decision, 565. The queen and the corporation +of London, 565. Mr. Peabody's entertainment, 565. +The Crystal Palace as a winter garden, 566. Prerogation +of Parliament, 597. The yacht races, 698. +Catholic meeting in Dublin, 698. Condition of +laboring classes, 698. Artistic defects, 698. Persistance +of Mr. Salomons, 698. Speeches of Lord +Palmerston, Bulwer, Mr. Hunt, and Mr. Disraeli, +843. Return of the Arctic Expedition, 843. Tour +of the American minister in Ireland, 843. Submarine +Telegraph, 843.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>FRANCE.</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>Difficulties in the way of revision, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>. New +Provisional Ministry formed, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>. Newspaper +politics, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>. Troubles at Lyons, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>. Disturbances +in the University, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>. Prosecutions against +the press, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, 279. Bread society, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>. Refugee +dinner, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>. Holy week, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>. Hostilities in Algeria, +<a href="#Page_133">133</a>. The President and Abd-el-Kader, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>. +Question of revision, 279, 418. Defeat of the Kabyles, +279. Appointment of committee on revision, +418. The President at Dijon, 418. Report of the +committee on revision, sketch of debate, and rejection +of proposition, 566. Censure upon and proffered +resignation of ministers, 567. Free-trade +motion lost, 567. Fête to Exhibition commissioners, +567, 699. Adjournment of Assembly, 699. +Preparations for presidential election, 699. Plots +at Lyons, 699. Casualty at funeral of Marshal +Sebastiani, 699. Government and the press, 843. +Progress toward despotism, 843. Speech of the +President, 844.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>GERMANY.</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>Resuscitation of the Frankfort Diet, <a href="#Germany">133</a>. Position +of the Powers, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>. Refugee loan, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>. +Close of the Dresden Conference, 279. Meeting +of sovereigns, 279. Speech of the King of Prussia, +279. The Diet, 418. Affray at Hamburg, 418. +English and French protests against Austrian projects, +567. Press ordinance in Austria, 567. Amnesty +granted in Hesse Cassel, 567. Absolutism +predominant, 699. Political persecutions of musicians, +699. Repression in Hungary, 700. Confiscation +of the Allgemeine Zeitung, 715. Extension +of the Zollverein, 844. Progress of Despotism +in Austria, 844. Austrian loan, 844.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>SOUTHERN EUROPE.</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>Insurrection in Portugal, and overthrow of the +Thomar Ministry, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, 279. Dissolution of the +Spanish Cortes, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>. Railroad commissioners +appointed, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>. From Italy: Death of <i>Il Passatore;</i> +books prohibited; Emperor of Austria at +Venice; anniversary of the battle of Novara, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>. +Elections in Spain, 279. Concordat with Rome, +279. Disturbances in Madrid, 279. Opposition +to tobacco in Italy, 279, 418. The French at +Rome, 279. Austrians in Italy, 418, 567. Banishment +of Count Guicciardini, 418. Mr. Gladstone on +political prisoners at Naples, 567. Portugal, 567. +Arrests and Espionage in Italy, 699. Foreign +publications examined, 700. Inundations in Switzerland, +700. Catastrophe at Moscow, 700. Reply +of the Neapolitan Government to Mr. Gladstone, +844. Affairs at Rome, 844. Excitement in Spain +on the Cuban question, 844. Spanish Tariff, 844.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>THE EAST.</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>Insurrections in Turkey, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>. Hungarian exiles, +<a href="#Page_134">134</a>. Earthquake in Anatolia, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>. Railroad +across the Isthmus of Suez, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>. Revolt in Egypt, +<a href="#Page_134">134</a>. Affairs in India, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>. Plot against the Nepaulese +embassador, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>. Insurrection in China, +<a href="#Page_134">134</a>, 567, 700. Russian losses in Circassia, 567. +Hurricane in India, 567. The Governor-general, +567. Anti-mission movement among the Hindoos, +567. Cholera in the Canary Islands, 567. Kossuth +to be liberated, 700. Annexation in India, +700. Affairs in Siam, 700. Massacre in Formosa, +700. Release of Kossuth, 844. Difficulties +between Turkey and Austria, 844. Unsettled +condition of Turkey, 845. Difficulties between +Persia and Russia, 845. From India, 845. Discoveries +of gold in Australia, 845.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>LITERARY, SCIENTIFIC, AND PERSONAL.</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p><span class="smcap">United States</span>.—Visit of the President and +Cabinet to the North, <a href="#Literary">135</a>. St. George's Society, +speeches of Mr. Bulwer, and Celtic wrath, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>. +W.L. Mackenzie, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>. American meeting for +the Advancement of Science, at Cincinnati, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>. +Prussian medal to Professor Morse, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>. Return +of Jenny Lind, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>. Art-Union, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>. Leutze's +Washington Crossing the Delaware, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>. Woodville's +Game of Chess, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>. Power's La Dorado, +<a href="#Page_136">136</a>. Mr. Whitney, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>. Golden newspaper, +<a href="#Page_136">136</a>. Philadelphia Art Union, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>. Chilly McIntosh, +<a href="#Page_136">136</a>. Mr. Brace arrested in Hungary, 415. +Talvi, 415. Mr. B.A. Gould, 415. Commencements +of colleges, 415, 560. Dinner to Archbishop +Hughes, 560. The Art Union, 561. Thorwaldssen's +models, 561. Statue to De Witt Clinton, 561. +Huntington, Gray, Page, 561. Greenough's Pioneer, +561. Release of Mr. Brace, 562. Indian chiefs, 562. +First book printed in New York, 562. Education +Association at Cleveland, 694. Anticipated trial +of Mr. Brace, 700. Kossuth to be liberated, 700. +Small lions at Soirées, 713. Literary strategy, +713. New work of Jonathan Edwards, 716. Catherine +Hayes, 716. Father Mathew, 841. Monument +to Cooper, 841. Methodist Book Concern, +860. W.G. Simms, 860. Works of Andrews +Norton, 860. Stockhardt's Agricultural Chemistry, +860.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Foreign</span>.—Sir Charles Lyell on rain-drop impressions, +<a href="#Page_136">136</a>. Chapman on cotton in India, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>. +Artificial gems, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>. Pensions to J.S. Buckingham, +Col. Torrens, and Mrs. Jameson, 698. Mr. +Jerdan, 698. Haynau at home, 698. Notices of +Tuckerman and Ungewitter, 713. Present state +of copyright question, 713. Railroad literature, +714. Estimation of Andrews' Latin Lexicon, 714. +The Bateman children, 715. De Soto's Conquest +of Florida, 715. Gavelkind, 715. Lingard's library, +715. Latham's Ethnology, 715. Complete +Works of Frederick the Great, 716. Eugene Sue, +716. Gasparis, 716. Reboul, the baker poet, 716. +Shakspeare abroad, 716. Cayley's Dante, 857. +Tupper's Hymn, 857. Thomas Cooper, 857. +Thackeray's forthcoming novel, 857. English +Records, 857. Parkman's Pontiac, 857, 860. +Carlyle's Life of Stirling, 858. Comte's Philosophy, +858. Layard's Investigations, 858. Monument +to Wordsworth, 858. Achilli, Mazzini, 858. +Thier's Consulate, 858. De Cassagnac, 858. +Cheap publications, 858. St. Just, 858. Proudhon, +858. Spinoza, 859. Dumas, 859. Eugene +Sue, Jules Janin, 859. De Maistre, 859. Unacknowledged +translations, 859. Brentano, Metternich, +859. Monument to Muller, 859.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>OBITUARIES.</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><blockquote><p>Philip Hone, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>. Hon. David Daggett, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>. +Hon. William Steele, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>. Gen. Hugh Brady, +<a href="#Page_137">137</a>. Stephen, Olin, D.D., 695. Hon. Levi Woodbury, +695. James Fenimore Cooper, 695. Thomas +H. Gallaudet, 696. Sylvester Graham, 696. Prof. +Beverley Tucker, 696. Dr. Paulus, 700. Mr. +Gibbon, 713. Harriet Lee, 713. Lady Louisa +Stuart, 713. Daniel O'Sullivan, 715. Dr. Lorenz +Oken, 715. John Godfrey Gruber, 716. M. Dupaty, +716. James Richardson, 860. William Nicol, +860. B.P. Gibbon, 860. John Kidd, 860.</p></blockquote></td></tr> + + +<tr><td align="left">Morbid Impulses</td><td align="right">181</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">My Novel; or, Varieties in English Life. By <span class="smcap">Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_111">111</a>, 256, 394, 541, 665, 816</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Napoleon Bonaparte. By <span class="smcap">John S.C. Abbott</span></td><td align="right">289, 433, 577, 721</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Never Despair</td><td align="right">651</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">New Proofs of the Earth's Rotation</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Our National Anniversary. By <span class="smcap">Benson J. Lossing</span></td><td align="right">145</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Oriental Saloons in Madrid</td><td align="right">335</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Pearl Divers</td><td align="right"><a href="#Pearl">46</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Pedestrian in Holland</td><td align="right">351</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Peep at the Peraharra</td><td align="right">322</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Personal Habits of the Walpoles</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_79">79</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Phantoms and Realities</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_49">49</a>, 187, 337</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Pie Shops of London</td><td align="right">392</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Pools of Ellendeen</td><td align="right">466</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Postal Reform—Cheap Postage</td><td align="right">837</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Poulailler the Robber</td><td align="right">489</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Race Horses and Horse Races</td><td align="right">329</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Recollections of the Author of Lacon</td><td align="right">648</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Reminiscences of An Attorney</td><td align="right">314</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Scene from Irish Life</td><td align="right">832</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Scientific Fantasies</td><td align="right">496</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Seals and Whales</td><td align="right">764</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Scottish Revenge</td><td align="right">836</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Shots in the Jungle</td><td align="right">527</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Shadow of Ben Jonson's Mother</td><td align="right">810</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Siberia as a Land of Exile</td><td align="right">782</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Sight of An Angel</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Sketches of Oriental Life</td><td align="right">805</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Solar System</td><td align="right">207</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Somnambule</td><td align="right">304</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Somnambulism</td><td align="right">196</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Spanish Bull Fight</td><td align="right">359</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Stories of Shipwreck</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Story of an Organ</td><td align="right">754</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Story of Reynard the Fox</td><td align="right">742</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Student Life in Paris</td><td align="right">373</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Summer. By <span class="smcap">James Thomson</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Syrian Superstitions</td><td align="right">839</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Flying Artist</td><td align="right">761</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Right One</td><td align="right">619</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Stolen Rose</td><td align="right">787</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Town-Ho's Story. By <span class="smcap">Herman Melville</span></td><td align="right">658</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Treason of Benedict Arnold. By <span class="smcap">Benson J. Lossing</span></td><td align="right">451</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Two Roads</td><td align="right"><a href="#Two">61</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Usurer's Gift</td><td align="right">232</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Thomas Moore</td><td align="right">791</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Tobacco Factory in Spain</td><td align="right">326</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Village Life in Germany</td><td align="right">320</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Visit at Mr. Webster's. By Lady <span class="smcap">Emmeline Stuart Wortley</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Visit to Laplanders</td><td align="right">248</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Visit to Robinson Crusoe</td><td align="right">530</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Visit to The North Cape</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Warnings of The Past</td><td align="right">391</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Waterspout in Indian Ocean</td><td align="right">469</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Weovil Biscuit Manufactory</td><td align="right">487</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">White Silk Bonnet</td><td align="right">533</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Widow of Cologne</td><td align="right">815</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Woman's Emancipation.—A letter from a strong-minded American Woman</td><td align="right">424</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Woman's Offices and Influence</td><td align="right">654</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Wordsworth, Byron, Scott, Shelley</td><td align="right">502</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Work Away</td><td align="right">231</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Worship of Gold</td><td align="right">252</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2> + + + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="90%" summary="List of Illustration"> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"> </td><td align="right">PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">1.</td><td align="left">Refulgent Summer comes</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">2.</td><td align="left">The meek-eyed dawn appears</td><td align="right"><a href="#Illo2">2</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">3.</td><td align="left">From some promontory's top</td><td align="right"><a href="#Illo3">3</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">4.</td><td align="left">Approach of evening</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_4">4</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">5.</td><td align="left">Reclined beneath the shade</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">6.</td><td align="left">Infancy, youth, and age</td><td align="right"><a href="#Illo6">6</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">7.</td><td align="left">Hay-making</td><td align="right"><a href="#Illo6">6</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">8.</td><td align="left">Sheep-washing</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">9.</td><td align="left">Slumbers the monarch swain</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_8">8</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">10.</td><td align="left">A various group the flocks and herds</td><td align="right"><a href="#Illo9">8</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">11.</td><td align="left">A thousand shapes majestic stalk</td><td align="right"><a href="#Illo10">9</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">12.</td><td align="left">An ample chair, moss-lined</td><td align="right"><a href="#Illo11">10</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">13.</td><td align="left">Birth of the Nile</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">14.</td><td align="left">From steep to steep he pours his urn</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">15.</td><td align="left">Sad on the jutting eminence he sits</td><td align="right"><a href="#Illo13">13</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">16.</td><td align="left">The mother strains her infant</td><td align="right"><a href="#Illo13">13</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">17.</td><td align="left">Pouring forth pestilence</td><td align="right"><a href="#Illo14">15</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">18.</td><td align="left">Stricken with plague</td><td align="right"><a href="#Illo14">15</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">19.</td><td align="left">Thunder-storm</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">20.</td><td align="left">Young Celadon and his Amelia</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">21.</td><td align="left">A blackened corpse was struck the maid</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">22.</td><td align="left">The soft hour of walking</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">23.</td><td align="left">View on the Thames</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">24.</td><td align="left">The sailor's farewell</td><td align="right"><a href="#Illo18">20</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">25.</td><td align="left">Shepherd and milkmaid</td><td align="right"><a href="#Illo19">22</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">26.</td><td align="left">At eve the fairy people throng</td><td align="right"><a href="#Illo19">22</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">27.</td><td align="left">Evening yields the world to night</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">28.</td><td align="left">Philosophy directs the helm</td><td align="right"><a href="#Illo21">24</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">29.</td><td align="left">Rotation of the earth—Diagram 1</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">30.</td><td align="left">Rotation of the earth—Diagram 2</td><td align="right"><a href="#Illo23">100</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">31.</td><td align="left">Tired of the world</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">32.</td><td align="left">Robinson and Jones pleasuring</td><td align="right"><a href="#Illo25">141</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">33.</td><td align="left">Robinson and Jones on Deck</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">34.</td><td align="left">Robinson before and after a Voyage</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">35.</td><td align="left">A perfect Wretch</td><td align="right"><a href="#Illo27">142</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">36.</td><td align="left">Costumes for early Summer</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">37.</td><td align="left">Evening dress</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">38.</td><td align="left">Head-dress</td><td align="right"><a href="#Illo30">144</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">39.</td><td align="left">Bonnet</td><td align="right"><a href="#Illo30">144</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">40.</td><td align="left">Portraits of Adams, Sherman, Livingston, Jefferson, and Franklin</td><td align="right">145</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">41.</td><td align="left">Portrait of Earl of Bute</td><td align="right">146</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">42.</td><td align="left">Portrait of James Otis</td><td align="right">147</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">43.</td><td align="left">Portrait of Patrick Henry</td><td align="right">148</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">44.</td><td align="left">Independence Hall, Philadelphia</td><td align="right">151</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">45.</td><td align="left">Portrait of John Hancock</td><td align="right">152</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">46.</td><td align="left">Portrait of Robert Morris</td><td align="right">152</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">47.</td><td align="left">Portrait of Richard Henry Lee</td><td align="right">153</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">48.</td><td align="left">Portrait of John Dickinson</td><td align="right">153</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">49.</td><td align="left">Portrait of Edward Rutledge</td><td align="right">154</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">50.</td><td align="left">Portrait of Samuel Adams</td><td align="right">154</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">51.</td><td align="left">Portrait of John Witherspoon</td><td align="right">155</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">52.</td><td align="left">The Liberty Bell</td><td align="right">157</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">53.</td><td align="left">Fac-simile of the Signatures to the Declaration of Independence</td><td align="right">158</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">54.</td><td align="left">Hauling the Life-car</td><td align="right">161</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">55.</td><td align="left">The Life-car—Diagram 1</td><td align="right">162</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">56.</td><td align="left">The Life-car—Diagram 2</td><td align="right">162</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">57.</td><td align="left">The Life-car—Diagram 3</td><td align="right">162</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">58.</td><td align="left">The Life-car—Diagram 4</td><td align="right">162</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">59.</td><td align="left">Seizing the Cask</td><td align="right">163</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">60.</td><td align="left">Firing the Shot</td><td align="right">164</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">61.</td><td align="left">The Hydraulic Press</td><td align="right">165</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">62.</td><td align="left">The Surf-boat</td><td align="right">168</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">63.</td><td align="left">Climbing the Rope</td><td align="right">169</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">64.</td><td align="left">The Tent</td><td align="right">170</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">65.</td><td align="left">The Eclipse of 1851—Diagram 1</td><td align="right">239</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">66.</td><td align="left">The Eclipse of 1851—Diagram 2</td><td align="right">239</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">67.</td><td align="left">The Eclipse of 1851—Diagram 3</td><td align="right">239</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">68.</td><td align="left">The Eclipse of 1851—Diagram 4</td><td align="right">240</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">69.</td><td align="left">The Eclipse of 1851—Map</td><td align="right">240</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">70.</td><td align="left">The Eclipse of 1851—enlarged Map</td><td align="right">241</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">71.</td><td align="left">The Eclipse of 1851—Digits</td><td align="right">241</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">72.</td><td align="left">Comparative Love</td><td align="right">285</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">73.</td><td align="left">Taking the Census</td><td align="right">286</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">74.</td><td align="left">A strange Machine</td><td align="right">286</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">75.</td><td align="left">Costumes for Summer</td><td align="right">287</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">76.</td><td align="left">Bonnets</td><td align="right">288</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">77.</td><td align="left">Turkish Costume</td><td align="right">288</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">78.</td><td align="left">The Birth-house of Napoleon</td><td align="right">290</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">79.</td><td align="left">The Home of Napoleon's Childhood</td><td align="right">292</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">80.</td><td align="left">Napoleon at Brienne</td><td align="right">293</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">81.</td><td align="left">The Snow Fort</td><td align="right">295</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">82.</td><td align="left">Lieutenant Bonaparte</td><td align="right">299</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">83.</td><td align="left">The Water-excursion</td><td align="right">303</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">84.</td><td align="left">Varieties of Bloomers</td><td align="right">424</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">85.</td><td align="left">Experimental Philosophy</td><td align="right">425</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">86.</td><td align="left">The interesting Story</td><td align="right">425</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">87.</td><td align="left">Costumes for the Dog-days</td><td align="right">425</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">88.</td><td align="left">A wet day at a Country Inn</td><td align="right">426</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">89.</td><td align="left">Scene at the sea side</td><td align="right">426</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">90.</td><td align="left">Affecting—rather</td><td align="right">427</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">91.</td><td align="left">Real Enjoyment</td><td align="right">427</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">92.</td><td align="left">A Taste for the Beautiful</td><td align="right">428</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">93.</td><td align="left">Singular optical Delusion</td><td align="right">428</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">94.</td><td align="left">A most alarming Swelling</td><td align="right">429</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">95.</td><td align="left">Sunbeams from Cucumbers</td><td align="right">429</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">96.</td><td align="left">Much Ado about Nothing</td><td align="right">430</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">97.</td><td align="left">Little Lessons for Little Ladies</td><td align="right">430</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">98.</td><td align="left">Costumes for August</td><td align="right">431</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">99.</td><td align="left">Jackets</td><td align="right">432</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">100.</td><td align="left">Boy's Dress</td><td align="right">432</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">101.</td><td align="left">The Attack upon the Tuileries</td><td align="right">435</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">102.</td><td align="left">The Emigrants</td><td align="right">436</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">103.</td><td align="left">The Volunteer Gunners</td><td align="right">440</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">104.</td><td align="left">Night Studies</td><td align="right">443</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">105.</td><td align="left">Napoleon before the Convention</td><td align="right">448</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">106.</td><td align="left">The Amazon discomfited</td><td align="right">450</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">107.</td><td align="left">Portrait of Benedict Arnold</td><td align="right">451</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">108.</td><td align="left">Portrait of Major Andrè</td><td align="right">453</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">109.</td><td align="left">Portrait of Sir Henry Clinton</td><td align="right">453</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">110.</td><td align="left">Portrait of Beverley Robinson</td><td align="right">453</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">111.</td><td align="left">Robinson's House</td><td align="right">454</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">112.</td><td align="left">Smith's House</td><td align="right">455</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">113.</td><td align="left">Arnold's Pass to Andrè</td><td align="right">456</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">114.</td><td align="left">Map of Andrè's Route</td><td align="right">457</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">115.</td><td align="left">Place of Andrè's Capture</td><td align="right">457</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">116.</td><td align="left">Breakfast Room at Robinson's House</td><td align="right">458</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">117.</td><td align="left">View at Robinson's Dock</td><td align="right">458</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">118.</td><td align="left">Washington's Head Quarters at Tappan</td><td align="right">459</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">119.</td><td align="left">Andrè's Pen-and-Ink sketch of himself</td><td align="right">459</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">120.</td><td align="left">Andrè's Monument</td><td align="right">460</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">121.</td><td align="left">Paulding's Monument</td><td align="right">460</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">122.</td><td align="left">Van Wart's Monument</td><td align="right">460</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">123.</td><td align="left">Artesian Wells in Mississippi</td><td align="right">539</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">124.</td><td align="left">The Auger for boring</td><td align="right">539</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">125.</td><td align="left">Auger rods</td><td align="right">539</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">126.</td><td align="left">The Pump</td><td align="right">540</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">127.</td><td align="left">Bits for boring through Rock</td><td align="right">540</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">128.</td><td align="left">Boring Apparatus complete</td><td align="right">540</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">129.</td><td align="left">The Couter</td><td align="right">540</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">130.</td><td align="left">Pump-logs</td><td align="right">541</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">131.</td><td align="left">Section of Logs</td><td align="right">541</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">132.</td><td align="left">Fashions for September</td><td align="right">575</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">133.</td><td align="left">Bonnet and Head-dress</td><td align="right">576</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">134.</td><td align="left">Chemisette</td><td align="right">576</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">135.</td><td align="left">Napoleon and Eugene Beauharnais</td><td align="right">578</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">136.</td><td align="left">Napoleon and his Generals</td><td align="right">583</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">137.</td><td align="left">Napoleon on Mount Zemolo</td><td align="right">585</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">138.</td><td align="left">Passage of the Bridge of Lodi</td><td align="right">590</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">139.</td><td align="left">Napoleon and the Courier</td><td align="right">593</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">140.</td><td align="left">The Burning of Banasco</td><td align="right">595</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">141.</td><td align="left">Peruvian Cavalier</td><td align="right">600</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">142.</td><td align="left">Limeña at Home</td><td align="right">602</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">143.</td><td align="left">Cholitas or Indian Women of Peru</td><td align="right">603</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">144.</td><td align="left">Coming from Mass</td><td align="right">604</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">145.</td><td align="left">Holding the Mirror up to Nature</td><td align="right">717</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">146.</td><td align="left">A Bite</td><td align="right">717</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">147.</td><td align="left">Much too considerate</td><td align="right">717</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">148.</td><td align="left">A Lesson on Patience</td><td align="right">718</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">149.</td><td align="left">Development of Taste</td><td align="right">718</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">150.</td><td align="left">Costumes for October</td><td align="right">719</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">151.</td><td align="left">Carriage Costume</td><td align="right">720</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">152.</td><td align="left">Caps and Under-sleeve</td><td align="right">720</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">153.</td><td align="left">The Encampment before Mantua</td><td align="right">721</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">154.</td><td align="left">The Little Corporal and the Sentinel</td><td align="right">725</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">155.</td><td align="left">The Solitary Bivouac</td><td align="right">726</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">156.</td><td align="left">The Dead Soldier and his Dog</td><td align="right">728</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">157.</td><td align="left">The Marshes of Arcola</td><td align="right">733</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">158.</td><td align="left">The Exhausted Sentinel</td><td align="right">739</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">159.</td><td align="left">Reynard at Home</td><td align="right">743</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">160.</td><td align="left">Reynard as a Hermit</td><td align="right">744</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">161.</td><td align="left">Sir Tibert delivering the King's Message</td><td align="right">745</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">162.</td><td align="left">Reynard brings forward the Hare</td><td align="right">746</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">163.</td><td align="left">Reynard on his Pilgrimage to Rome</td><td align="right">747</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">164.</td><td align="left">Reynard attacks the Rabbit</td><td align="right">748</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">165.</td><td align="left">Brother Jonathan's First Lesson in Shipbuilding</td><td align="right">861</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">166.</td><td align="left">Not a difficult thing to foretell</td><td align="right">861</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">167.</td><td align="left">Curiosities of Medical Experience</td><td align="right">862</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">168.</td><td align="left">Retirement</td><td align="right">862</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">169.</td><td align="left">Costumes for November</td><td align="right">863</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">170.</td><td align="left">Opera Dress</td><td align="right">864</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">171.</td><td align="left">Head-Dresses and Caps</td><td align="right">864</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h1><small>HARPER'S</small><br /> + +NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.</h1> + +<hr /> +<h4><span class="smcap">No.</span> XIII.—JUNE, 1851.—<span class="smcap">Vol.</span> III.</h4> +<hr /> + + +<h2>SUMMER.</h2> + +<h3>BY JAMES THOMSON</h3> + + +<div class="background" style="background-image: url(images/ill-1851-june-illo_01.jpg); width: 800px; height: 1198px"> +<p style="position: absolute; top: 599px; left: 275px; width: 800px"> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rom brightening fields of ether fair-disclos'd,</span><br /> +Child of the sun, refulgent <span class="smcap">Summer</span> comes,<br /> +In pride of youth, and felt through nature's depth:<br /> +He comes attended by the sultry hours,<br /> +And ever-fanning breezes, on his way;<br /> +While, from his ardent look, the turning Spring<br /> +Averts her blushful face; and earth, and skies,<br /> +All-smiling, to his hot dominion leaves.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hence, let me haste into the mid wood shade,<br /></span> +Where scarce a sunbeam wanders through the gloom<br /> +And on the dark-green grass, beside the brink<br /> +Of haunted stream, that by the roots of oak<br /> +Rolls o'er the rocky channel, lie at large,<br /> +And sing the glories of the circling year.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Come, Inspiration! from thy hermit-seat,<br /></span> +By mortal seldom found: may fancy dare,<br /> +From thy fix'd serious eye, and raptur'd glance<br /> +Shot on surrounding heaven, to steal one look<br /> +Creative of the poet, every power<br /> +Exalting to an ecstasy of soul.</p></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> +<span class="i1">And thou, my youthful muse's early friend,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In whom the human graces all unite;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pure light of mind, and tenderness of heart;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Genius and wisdom; the gay social sense,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By decency chastis'd; goodness and wit,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In seldom-meeting harmony combin'd;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unblemish'd honor, and an active zeal<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For Britain's glory, liberty, and man:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O Dodington! attend my rural song,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stoop to my theme, inspirit every line,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And teach me to deserve thy just applause.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">With what an awful world-revolving power<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Were first the unwieldy planets launch'd along<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The illimitable void! thus to remain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Amid the flux of many thousand years,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That oft has swept the toiling race of men<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all their labor'd monuments away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Firm, unremitting, matchless, in their course,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the kind-temper'd change of night and day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And of the Seasons ever stealing round,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Minutely faithful: such the All-perfect Hand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That pois'd, impels, and rules the steady whole.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">When now no more the alternate Twins are fir'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Cancer reddens with the solar blaze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Short is the doubtful empire of the night;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And soon, observant of approaching day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The meek-ey'd morn appears, mother of dews,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At first faint-gleaming in the dappled east—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till far o'er ether spreads the widening glow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, from before the lustre of her face,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">White break the clouds away. With quicken'd step,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Brown night retires. Young day pours in apace,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And opens all the lawny prospect wide.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The dripping rock, the mountain's misty top,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Swell on the sight, and brighten with the dawn.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Blue, through the dusk, the smoking currents shine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And from the bladed field the fearful hare<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Limps, awkward; while along the forest glade<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The wild deer trip, and often turning gaze<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At early passenger. Music awakes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The native voice of undissembled joy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thick around the woodland hymns arise.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rous'd by the cock, the soon-clad shepherd leaves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His mossy cottage, where with peace he dwells;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And from the crowded fold, in order, drives<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His flock, to taste the verdure of the morn.</span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Illo2" id="Illo2"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/ill-1851-june-illo_02.jpg" width="600" height="490" alt="The meek-eyed dawn appears +" title="" /></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">Falsely luxurious, will not man awake;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, springing from the bed of sloth, enjoy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The cool, the fragrant, and the silent hour,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To meditation due and sacred song?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For is there aught in sleep can charm the wise?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To lie in dead oblivion, losing half<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The fleeting moments of too short a life;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Total extinction of the enlighten'd soul!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or else to feverish vanity alive,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wilder'd, and tossing through distemper'd dreams<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who would in such a gloomy state remain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Longer than nature craves; when every muse<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And every blooming pleasure wait without,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To bless the wildly devious morning-walk?<br /></span> +<span class="i1">But yonder comes the powerful king of day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rejoicing in the east. The lessening cloud,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The kindling azure, and the mountain's brow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Illum'd with fluid gold, his near approach<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Betoken glad. Lo! now apparent all,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Aslant the dew-bright earth, and color'd air,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He looks in boundless majesty abroad;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sheds the shining day, that burnish'd plays<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On rocks, and hills, and towers, and wandering streams,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">High-gleaming from afar. Prime cheerer, light!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of all material beings first, and best!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Efflux divine! Nature's resplendent robe!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Without whose vesting beauty all were wrapp'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In unessential gloom; and thou, O sun!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Soul of surrounding worlds! in whom best seen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shines out thy Maker! may I sing of thee?<br /></span> +<span class="i1">'Tis by thy secret, strong, attractive force,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As with a chain indissoluble bound,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy system rolls entire; from the far bourn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of utmost Saturn, wheeling wide his round<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of thirty years, to Mercury, whose disk</span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span><br /> +<span class="i0">Can scarce be caught by philosophic eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lost in the near effulgence of thy blaze.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Informer of the planetary train!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Without whose quickening glance their cumbrous orbs<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Were brute unlovely mass, inert and dead,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And not, as now, the green abodes of life—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How many forms of being wait on thee!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Inhaling spirit; from the unfetter'd mind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By thee sublim'd, down to the daily race,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The mixing myriads of thy setting beam.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The vegetable world is also thine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Parent of Seasons! who the pomp precede<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That waits thy throne, as through thy vast domain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Annual, along the bright ecliptic-road,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In world-rejoicing state, it moves sublime.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Meantime the expecting nations, circled gay<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With all the various tribes of foodful earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Implore thy bounty, or send grateful up<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A common hymn; while, round thy beaming car,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">High-seen, the Seasons lead, in sprightly dance<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Harmonious knit, the rosy-finger'd hours,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The zephyrs floating loose, the timely rains,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of bloom ethereal the light-footed dews,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And soften'd into joy the surly storms.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">These, in successive turn, with lavish hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shower every beauty, every fragrance shower,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Herbs, flowers, and fruits; till, kindling at thy touch,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From land to land is flush'd the vernal year.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Nor to the surface of enliven'd earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Graceful with hills and dales, and leafy woods,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her liberal tresses, is thy force confin'd—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, to the bowel'd cavern darting deep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The mineral kinds confess thy mighty power.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Effulgent, hence the veiny marble shines;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hence labor draws his tools; hence burnish'd war<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gleams on the day; the nobler works of peace<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hence bless mankind; and generous commerce binds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The round of nations in a golden chain.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The unfruitful rock itself, impregn'd by thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In dark retirement forms the lucid stone.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The lively diamond drinks thy purest rays,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Collected light, compact; that, polish'd bright.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all its native lustre let abroad,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dares, as it sparkles on the fair one's breast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With vain ambition emulate her eyes.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At thee the ruby lights its deepening glow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And with a waving radiance inward flames.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From thee the sapphire, solid ether, takes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its hue cerulean; and, of evening tinct,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The purple streaming amethyst is thine.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With thy own smile the yellow topaz burns;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor deeper verdure dyes the robe of Spring,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When first she gives it to the southern gale,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than the green emerald shows. But, all combin'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thick through the whitening opal play thy beams;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or, flying several from its surface, form<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A trembling variance of revolving hues,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As the site varies in the gazer's hand.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The very dead creation, from thy touch,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Assumes a mimic life. By thee refin'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In brighter mazes the relucent stream<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Plays o'er the mead. The precipice abrupt,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Projecting horror on the blacken'd flood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Softens at thy return. The desert joys<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wildly, through all his melancholy bounds.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rude ruins glitter; and the briny deep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seen from some pointed promontory's top,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Far to the blue horizon's utmost verge,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Restless, reflects a floating gleam. But this,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all the much-transported muse can sing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are to thy beauty, dignity, and use,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unequal far; great delegated source<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of light, and life, and grace, and joy below!</span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Illo3" id="Illo3"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/ill-1851-june-illo_03.jpg" width="600" height="348" alt="From some promontory's top +" title="" /></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">How shall I then attempt to sing of him,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who, Light himself! in uncreated light<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Invested deep, dwells awfully retired<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From mortal eye, or angel's purer ken,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose single smile has, from the first of time,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fill'd, overflowing, all those lamps of heaven,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That beam forever through the boundless sky;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, should he hide his face, the astonish'd sun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all the extinguish'd stars, would loosening reel<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wide from their spheres, and chaos come again.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And yet was every faltering tongue of man,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Almighty Father! silent in thy praise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy works themselves would raise a general voice<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Even in the depth of solitary woods,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By human foot untrod, proclaim thy power;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And to the quire celestial thee resound,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The eternal cause, support, and end of all!<br /></span> +<span class="i1">To me be Nature's volume broad-display'd;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And to peruse its all-instructing page,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or, haply catching inspiration thence,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some easy passage, raptur'd, to translate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My sole delight; as through the falling glooms<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pensive I stray, or with the rising dawn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On fancy's eagle-wing excursive soar.</span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></div></div> + +<div class="background" style="background-image: url(images/ill-1851-june-illo_04.jpg); width: 800px; height: 900px"> +<p style="position: absolute; top: 475px; left: 75px; width: 800px"> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now, flaming up the heavens, the potent sun<br /></span> +Melts into limpid air the high-rais'd clouds,<br /> +And morning fogs, that hover'd round the hills<br /> +In party-color'd bands; till wide unveil'd<br /> +The face of nature shines, from where earth seems<br /> +Far stretch'd around, to meet the bending sphere.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Half in a blush of clustering roses lost,<br /></span> +Dew-dropping coolness to the shade retires,<br /> +There, on the verdant turf, or flowery bed,<br /> +By gelid founts and careless rills to muse;<br /> +While tyrant heat, dispreading through the sky,<br /> +With rapid sway, his burning influence darts<br /> +On man, and beast, and herb, and tepid stream.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who can, unpitying, see the flowery race,<br /></span> +Shed by the morn, their new-flush'd bloom resign,<br /> +Before the parching beam? So fade the fair,<br /> +When fevers revel through their azure veins.<br /> +But one, the lofty follower of the sun,<br /> +Sad when he sets, shuts up her yellow leaves,<br /> +Drooping all night; and, when he warm returns,<br /> +Points her enamor'd bosom to his ray.</p></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">Home, from the morning task, the swain retreats;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His flock before him stepping to the fold:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While the full-udder'd mother lows around<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The cheerful cottage, then expecting food,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The food of innocence and health! The daw,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rook, and magpie, to the gray-grown oaks<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(That the calm village in their verdant arms,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sheltering, embrace) direct their lazy flight;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where on the mingling boughs they sit embower'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All the hot noon, till cooler hours arise.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Faint, underneath, the household fowls convene;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, in a corner of the buzzing shade,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The housedog, with the vacant grayhound, lies<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Outstretched and sleepy. In his slumbers one<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Attacks the nightly thief, and one exults<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er hill and dale; till, waken'd by the wasp,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They, starting, snap. Nor shall the muse disdain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To let the little noisy summer race<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Live in her lay, and flutter through her song,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not mean, though simple: to the sun allied,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From him they draw their animating fire.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Wak'd by his warmer ray, the reptile young<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come wing'd abroad; by the light air upborne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lighter, and full of soul. From every chink,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And secret corner, where they slept away<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The wintry storms—or, rising from their tombs<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To higher life—by myriads, forth at once,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Swarming they pour; of all the varied hues<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their beauty-beaming parent can disclose.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ten thousand forms! ten thousand different tribes!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">People the blaze. To sunny waters some<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By fatal instinct fly; where, on the pool,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They, sportive, wheel; or, sailing down the stream<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are snatch'd immediate by the quick-ey'd trout,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or darting salmon. Through the greenwood glade<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some love to stray; there lodg'd, amus'd, and fed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the fresh leaf. Luxurious, others make<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The meads their choice, and visit every flower,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And every latent herb: for the sweet task,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To propagate their kinds, and where to wrap,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In what soft beds, their young, yet undisclos'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Employs their tender care. Some to the house,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The fold, and dairy, hungry, bend their flight;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sip round the pail, or taste the curdling cheese:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oft, inadvertent, from the milky stream<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They meet their fate; or, weltering in the bowl,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With powerless wings around them wrapp'd, expire.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">But chief to heedless flies the window proves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A constant death; where, gloomily retir'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The villain spider lives, cunning and fierce,</span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span><br /></div></div> + +<div class="background" style="background-image: url(images/ill-1851-june-illo_05.jpg); width: 800px; height: 1168px"> +<p style="position: absolute; top: 260px; left: 200px; width: 800px"> +Mixture abhorr'd! Amid a mangled heap<br /> +Of carcasses, in eager watch he sits,<br /> +O'erlooking all his waving snares around.<br /> +Near the dire cell the dreadless wanderer oft<br /> +Passes, as oft the ruffian shows his front.<br /> +The prey at last ensnar'd, he dreadful darts,<br /> +With rapid glide, along the leaning line;<br /> +And, fixing in the wretch his cruel fangs,<br /> +Strikes backward, grimly pleas'd: the fluttering wing,<br /> +And shriller sound, declare extreme distress<br /> +And ask the helping hospitable hand.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Resounds the living surface of the ground.<br /></span> +Nor undelightful is the ceaseless hum,<br /> +To him who muses through the woods at noon;<br /> +Or drowsy shepherd, as he lies reclin'd,<br /> +With half shut eyes, beneath the floating shade<br /> +Of willows gray, close-crowding o'er the brook.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gradual, from these what numerous kinds descend,<br /></span> +Evading even the microscopic eye!<br /> +Full nature swarms with life; one wondrous mass<br /> +Of animals, or atoms organiz'd,<br /> +Waiting the vital breath, when Parent-Heaven<br /> +Shall bid his spirit blow. The hoary fen,<br /> +In putrid streams, emits the living cloud<br /> +Of pestilence. Through the subterranean cells.</p></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Where searching sunbeams scarce can find a way,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Earth animated heaves. The flowery leaf<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wants not its soft inhabitants. Secure,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Within its winding citadel, the stone<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Holds multitudes. But chief the forest boughs,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That dance unnumber'd to the playful breeze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The downy orchard, and the melting pulp<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of mellow fruit, the nameless nations feed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of evanescent insects. Where the pool<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stands mantled o'er with green, invisible<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Amid the floating verdure millions stray.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each liquid, too, whether it pierces, soothes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Inflames, refreshes, or exalts the taste,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With various forms abounds. Nor is the stream<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of purest crystal, nor the lucid air,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though one transparent vacancy it seems,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Void of their unseen people. These, conceal'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By the kind art of forming Heaven, escape<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The grosser eye of man: for, if the worlds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In worlds inclos'd should on his senses burst,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From cates ambrosial, and the nectar'd bowl,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He would abhorrent turn; and in dead night.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When silence sleeps o'er all, be stunn'd with noise.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Let no presuming impious railer tax<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Creative Wisdom, as if aught was form'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In vain, or not for admirable ends.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall little haughty ignorance pronounce<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His works unwise, of which the smallest part<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Exceeds the narrow vision of her mind?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As if upon a full-proportion'd dome,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On swelling columns heav'd, the pride of art!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A critic fly, whose feeble ray scarce spreads</span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span><br /> +<span class="i0">An inch around, with blind presumption bold,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Should dare to tax the structure of the whole.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And lives the man whose universal eye<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has swept at once the unbounded scheme of things,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mark'd their dependence so, and firm accord,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As with unfaltering accent to conclude<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That <i>this</i> availeth naught? Has any seen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The mighty chain of beings, lessening down<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From Infinite Perfection to the brink<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of dreary nothing, desolate abyss!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From which astonish'd thought, recoiling, turns?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till then, alone let zealous praise ascend,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And hymns of holy wonder, to that Power,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose wisdom shines as lovely on our minds,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As on our smiling eyes his servant-sun.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Thick in yon stream of light, a thousand ways,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upward and downward, thwarting and convolv'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The quivering nations sport; till, tempest-wing'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fierce Winter sweeps them from the face of day<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Even so, luxurious men, unheeding pass,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">An idle summer-life in fortune's shine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A season's glitter! thus they flutter on<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From toy to toy, from vanity to vice;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till, blown away by death, oblivion comes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Behind, and strikes them from the book of life.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Now swarms the village o'er the jovial mead<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rustic youth, brown with meridian toil,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Healthful and strong; full as the summer rose<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Blown by prevailing suns, the ruddy maid,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Half-naked, swelling on the sight, and all</span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Illo6" id="Illo6"></a></p> +<div class="background" style="background-image: url(images/ill-1851-june-illo_06.jpg); width: 800px; height: 1185px"> +<p style="position: absolute; top: 275px; left: 275px; width: 800px"> +Her kindled graces burning o'er her cheek.<br /> +Even stooping age is here; and infant hands<br /> +Trail the long rake, or, with the fragrant load<br /> +O'ercharg'd, amid the kind oppression roll.<br /> +Wide flies the tedded grain; all in a row<br /> +Advancing broad, or wheeling round the field,<br /> +They spread the breathing harvest to the sun,<br /> +That throws refreshful round a rural smell;<br /> +Or, as they rake the green-appearing ground,<br /> +And drive the dusky wave along the mead,<br /> +The russet haycock rises thick behind,<br /> +In order gay: while heard from dale to dale,<br /> +Waking the breeze, resounds the blended voice<br /> +Of happy labor, love, and social glee.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or rushing thence, in one diffusive band,<br /></span> +They drive the troubled flocks, by many a dog<br /> +Compell'd, to where the mazy-running brook<br /> +Forms a deep pool; this bank abrupt and high,<br /> +And that, fair-spreading in a pebbled shore.<br /> +Urg'd to the giddy brink, much is the toil,</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> + +<div class="background" style="background-image: url(images/ill-1851-june-illo_07.jpg); width: 800px; height: 1080px"> +<p style="position: absolute; top: 475px; left: 75px; width: 800px"> +The clamor much, of men, and boys, and dogs,<br /> +Ere the soft fearful people to the flood<br /> +Commit their woolly sides. And oft the swain,<br /> +On some impatient seizing, hurls them in:<br /> +Embolden'd, then, nor hesitating more,<br /> +Fast, fast they plunge amid the flashing wave,<br /> +And panting labor to the farther shore.<br /> +Repeated this, till deep the well-wash'd fleece<br /> +Has drank the flood, and from his lively haunt<br /> +The trout is banish'd by the sordid stream,<br /> +Heavy and dripping, to the breezy brow<br /> +Slow move the harmless race; where, as they spread<br /> +Their swelling treasures to the sunny ray,<br /> +Inly disturb'd, and wondering what this wild<br /> +Outrageous tumult means, their loud complaints<br /> +The country fill—and, toss'd from rock to rock,<br /> +Incessant bleatings run around the hills.<br /> +At last, of snowy white, the gather'd flocks<br /> +Are in the wattled pen innumerous press'd,<br /> +Head above head; and rang'd in lusty rows<br /> +The shepherds sit, and whet the sounding shears.<br /> +The housewife waits to roll her fleecy stores,<br /> +With all her gay-dress'd maids attending round.<br /> +One, chief, in gracious dignity enthron'd,<br /> +Shines o'er the rest, the pastoral queen, and rays<br /> +Her smiles, sweet-beaming, on her shepherd-king,<br /> +While the glad circle round them yield their souls<br /> +To festive mirth, and wit that knows no gall.<br /> +Meantime, their joyous task goes on apace:<br /> +Some, mingling, stir the melted tar, and some,</p></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Deep on the new-shorn vagrant's heaving side<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To stamp his master's cipher ready stand;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Others the unwilling wether drag along;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, glorying in his might, the sturdy boy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Holds by the twisted horns the indignant ram.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Behold where bound, and of its robe bereft,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By needy man, that all-depending lord,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How meek, how patient, the mild creature lies!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What softness in its melancholy face,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What dumb, complaining innocence appears!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fear not, ye gentle tribes, 'tis not the knife<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of horrid slaughter that is o'er you wav'd;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No, 'tis the tender swain's well-guided shears,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who having now, to pay his annual care,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Borrow'd your fleece, to you a cumbrous load,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will send you bounding to your hills again.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">A simple scene! yet hence Britannia sees<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her solid grandeur rise: hence she commands<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The exalted stores of every brighter clime,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The treasures of the sun without his rage;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hence, fervent all, with culture, toil, and arts,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wide glows her land; her dreadful thunder hence<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rides o'er the waves sublime, and now, even now,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Impending hangs o'er Gallia's humbled coast;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hence rules the circling deep, and awes the world.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">'Tis raging noon; and, vertical, the sun<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Darts on the head direct his forceful rays.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er heaven and earth, far as the ranging eye<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Can sweep, a dazzling deluge reigns; and all,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From pole to pole, is undistinguish'd blaze.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In vain the sight, dejected to the ground,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stoops for relief; thence hot ascending streams<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And keen reflection pain. Deep to the root<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of vegetation parch'd, the cleaving fields<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And slippery lawn an arid hue disclose,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Blast fancy's blooms, and wither even the soul.</span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></div></div> + +<div class="background" style="background-image: url(images/ill-1851-june-illo_08.jpg); width: 800px; height: 474px"> +<p style="position: absolute; top: 299px; left: 75px; width: 800px"> +Echo no more returns the cheerful sound<br /> +Of sharpening scythe; the mower, sinking, heaps<br /> +O'er him the humid hay, with flowers perfum'd;<br /> +And scarce a chirping grasshopper is heard<br /> +Through the dumb mead. Distressful nature pants.<br /> +The very streams look languid from afar;<br /> +Or, through the unshelter'd glade, impatient, seem<br /> +To hurl into the covert of the grove.</p></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">All conquering heat, oh, intermit thy wrath!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And on my throbbing temples potent thus<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beam not so fierce! Incessant still you flow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And still another fervent flood succeeds,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pour'd on the head profuse. In vain I sigh,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And restless turn, and look around for night:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Night is far off; and hotter hours approach.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thrice-happy be! who on the sunless side<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of a romantic mountain, forest-crown'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath the whole-collected shade reclines,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or in the gelid caverns, woodbine-wrought,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And fresh bedew'd with ever-spouting streams,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sits coolly calm, while all the world without,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unsatisfied and sick, tosses in noon.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Emblem instructive of the virtuous man,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who keeps his temper'd mind serene, and pure,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And every passion aptly harmoniz'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Amid a jarring world with vice inflam'd.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Welcome, ye shades! ye bowery thickets, hail!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ye lofty pines! ye venerable oaks!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ye ashes wild, responding o'er the steep!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Delicious is your shelter to the soul,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As to the hunted hart the sallying spring,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or stream full-flowing, that his swelling sides<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Laves, as he floats along the herbag'd brink.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cool, through the nerves, your pleasing comfort glides;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The heart beats glad; the fresh-expanded eye<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And ear resume their watch; the sinews knit;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And life shoots swift through all the lighten'd limbs.</span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Illo9" id="Illo9"></a></p> +<div class="background" style="background-image: url(images/ill-1851-june-illo_09.jpg); width: 800px; height: 734px"> +<p style="position: absolute; top: 5px; left: 75px; width: 800px"> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Around the adjoining brook that purls along<br /></span> +The vocal grove, now fretting o'er a rock,<br /> +Now scarcely moving through a reedy pool,<br /> +Now starting to a sudden stream, and now<br /> +Gently diffus'd into a limpid plain,<br /> +A various group the herds and flocks compose<br /> +Rural confusion! On the grassy bank<br /> +Some ruminating lie; while others stand<br /> +Half in the flood, and often bending sip<br /> +The circling surface. In the middle droops<br /> +The strong laborious ox, of honest front,<br /> +Which incompos'd he shakes; and from his sides<br /> +The troublous insects lashes with his tail,<br /> +Returning still. Amid his subjects safe,<br /> +Slumbers the monarch swain: his careless arm</p></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Thrown round his head, on downy moss sustain'd:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here laid his scrip, with wholesome viands fill'd;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There, listening every noise, his watchful dog.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Light fly his slumbers, if perchance a flight<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of angry gadflies fasten on the herd;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That startling scatters from the shallow brook,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In search of lavish stream. Tossing the foam,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They scorn the keeper's voice, and scour the plain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through all the bright severity of noon;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While, from their laboring breasts, a hollow moan<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Proceeding, runs low-bellowing round the hills.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Oft in this season too the horse, provok'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While his big sinews full of spirits swell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Trembling with vigor, in the heat of blood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Springs the high fence; and, o'er the field effus'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Darts on the gloomy flood, with steadfast eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And heart estrang'd to fear: his nervous chest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Luxuriant and erect, the seat of strength!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bears down the opposing stream; quenchless his thirst,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He takes the river at redoubled draughts:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And with wide nostrils, snorting, skims the wave.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Still let me pierce into the midnight depth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of yonder grove, of wildest, largest growth;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That, forming high in air a woodland quire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nods o'er the mount beneath. At every step,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Solemn and slow, the shadows blacker fall,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all is awful listening gloom around.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">These are the haunts of meditation, these<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The scenes where ancient bards the inspiring breath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ecstatic, felt: and, from this world retir'd.</span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Illo10" id="Illo10"></a></p> +<div class="background" style="background-image: url(images/ill-1851-june-illo_10.jpg); width: 800px; height: 1165px"> +<p style="position: absolute; top: 111px; left: 75px; width: 800px"> +Convers'd with angels, and immortal forms,<br /> +On gracious errands bent: to save the fall<br /> +Of virtue struggling on the brink of vice;<br /> +In waking whispers, and repeated dreams,<br /> +To hint pure thought, and warn the favor'd soul<br /> +For future trials fated to prepare;<br /> +To prompt the poet, who devoted gives<br /> +His muse to better themes; to soothe the pangs<br /> +Of dying worth, and from the patriot's breast<br /> +(Backward to mingle in detested war,<br /> +But foremost when engag'd) to turn the death:<br /> +And numberless such offices of love,<br /> +Daily and nightly, zealous to perform.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shook sudden from the bosom of the sky,<br /></span> +A thousand shapes or glide athwart the dusk,<br /> +Or stalk majestic on. Deep-rous'd, I feel<br /> +A sacred terror, a severe delight,<br /> +Creep through my mortal frame; and thus, methinks.<br /> +A voice, than human more, the abstracted ear<br /> +Of fancy strikes, "Be not of us afraid,<br /> +Poor kindred man! thy fellow-creatures, we<br /> +From the same Parent-Power our beings drew—<br /> +The same our Lord, and laws, and great pursuit.<br /> +Once some of us, like thee, through stormy life<br /> +Toil'd tempest-beaten, ere we could attain<br /> +This holy calm, this harmony of mind,<br /> +Where purity and peace immingle charms:<br /> +Then fear not us; but with responsive song,<br /> +Amid those dim recesses, undisturb'd<br /> +By noisy folly and discordant vice,<br /> +Of nature sing with us, and nature's God.<br /> +Here frequent, at the visionary hour,<br /> +When musing midnight reigns or silent noon,</p></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Angelic harps are in full concert heard,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And voices chanting from the wood-crown'd hill,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The deepening dale, or inmost sylvan glade;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A privilege bestow'd by us, alone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On contemplation, or the hallow'd ear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of poet, swelling to seraphic strain."<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And art thou, Stanley, of that sacred band?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alas, for us too soon! Though rais'd above<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The reach of human pain, above the flight<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of human joy, yet, with a mingled ray<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of sadly pleas'd remembrance, must thou feel<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A mother's love, a mother's tender woe;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who seeks thee still in many a former scene,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seeks thy fair form, thy lovely beaming eyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy pleasing converse, by gay lively sense<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Inspir'd—where moral wisdom mildly shone<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Without the toil of art, and virtue glow'd.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In all her smiles, without forbidding pride.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, O thou best of parents! wipe thy tears;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or rather to parental Nature pay<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The tears of grateful joy—who for a while<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lent thee this younger self, this opening bloom<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of thy enlighten'd mind and gentle worth.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Believe the muse: the wintry blast of death<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Kills not the buds of virtue; no, they spread.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath the heavenly beam of brighter suns,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through endless ages, into higher powers.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Thus up the mount, in airy vision rapt,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I stray, regardless whither; till the sound<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of a near fall of water every sense<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wakes from the charm of thought: swift-shrinking back,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I check my steps, and view the broken scene.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Smooth to the shelving brink a copious flood<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rolls fair and placid; where collected all,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In one impetuous torrent, down the steep<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It thundering shoots, and shakes the country round.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At first, an azure sheet, it rushes broad;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then whitening by degrees as prone it falls,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And from the loud-resounding rocks below<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dash'd in a cloud of foam, it sends aloft<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A hoary mist, and forms a ceaseless shower<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor can the tortur'd wave here find repose:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, raging still amid the shaggy rocks,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now flashes o'er the scattered fragments, now<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Aslant the hollow'd channel rapid darts;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And falling fast from gradual slope to slope,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With wild infracted course, and lessen'd roar,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It gains a safer bed, and steals at last,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Along the mazes of the quiet vale.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Invited from the cliff, to whose dark brow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He clings, the steep-ascending eagle soars,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With upward pinions, through the flood of day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, giving full his bosom to the blaze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gains on the sun; while all the tuneful race,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Smit by afflictive noon, disorder'd droop,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Deep in the thicket; or, from bower to bower<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Responsive, force an interrupted strain.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The stockdove only through the forest coos,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mournfully hoarse; oft ceasing from his plaint,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Short interval of weary woe! again<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sad idea of his murder'd mate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Struck from his side by savage fowler's guile<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Across his fancy comes; and then resounds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A louder song of sorrow through the grove.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Beside the dewy border let me sit,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All in the freshness of the humid air:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There on that hollow'd rock, grotesque and wild,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">An ample chair moss-lin'd, and overhead<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By flowing umbrage shaded; where the bee<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Strays diligent, and with the extracted balm<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of fragrant woodbine loads his little thigh.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Now, while I taste the sweetness of the shade,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While nature lies around deep-lull'd in noon,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now come, bold fancy, spread a daring flight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And view the wonders of the torrid zone<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Climes unrelenting! with whose rage compar'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yon blaze is feeble, and yon skies are cool.</span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Illo11" id="Illo11"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 477px;"> +<img src="images/ill-1851-june-illo_11.jpg" width="477" height="600" alt="An ample chair, moss-lined +" title="" /></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">See, how at once the bright-effulgent sun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rising direct, swift chases from the sky<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The short-liv'd twilight; and with ardent blaze<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Looks gayly fierce o'er all the dazzling air:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He mounts his throne; but kind before him sends,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Issuing from out the portals of the morn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The general breeze to mitigate his fire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And breathe refreshment on a fainting world.</span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span><br /> +<span class="i0">Great are the scenes, with dreadful beauty crown'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And barbarous wealth, that see, each circling year,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Returning suns and double seasons pass:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rocks rich in gems, and mountains big with mines,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That on the high equator ridgy rise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whence many a bursting stream auriferous plays;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Majestic woods, of every vigorous green,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stage above stage, high waving o'er the hills,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or to the far horizon wide-diffus'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A boundless deep immensity of shade.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here lofty trees, to ancient song unknown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The noble sons of potent heat and floods<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Prone-rushing from the clouds, rear high to heaven<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their thorny stems, and broad around them throw<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Meridian gloom. Here, in eternal prime,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unnumber'd fruits, of keen, delicious taste<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And vital spirit, drink amid the cliffs,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And burning sands that bank the shrubby vales,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Redoubled day; yet in their rugged coats<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A friendly juice to cool its rage contain.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Bear me, Pomona! to thy citron groves;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To where the lemon and the piercing lime,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the deep orange, glowing through the green,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their lighter glories blend. Lay me reclin'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath the spreading tamarind, that shakes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fann'd by the breeze, its fever-cooling fruit.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Deep in the night the massy locust sheds,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Quench my hot limbs; or lead me through the maze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Embowering, endless, of the Indian fig;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or thrown at gayer ease, on some fair brow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let me behold, by breezy murmurs cool'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Broad o'er my head the verdant cedar wave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And high palmettos lift their graceful shade.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh! stretch'd amid these orchards of the sun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Give me to drain the cocoa's milky bowl,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And from the palm to draw its freshening wine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">More bounteous far than all the frantic juice<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which Bacchus pours. Nor, on its slender twigs<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Low-bending, be the full pomegranate scorn'd;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor, creeping through the woods, the gelid race<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of berries. Oft in humble station dwells<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unboastful worth, above fastidious pomp.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Witness, thou best ananas, thou the pride<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of vegetable life, beyond whate'er<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The poets imag'd in the golden age:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Quick let me strip thee of thy tufty coat,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spread thy ambrosial stores, and feast with Jove!<br /></span> +<span class="i1">From these the prospect varies. Plains immense<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lie stretch'd below, interminable meads,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And vast savannas, where the wandering eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unfix'd, is in a verdant ocean lost.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Another Flora there, of bolder hues<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And richer sweets, beyond our garden's pride,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Plays o'er the fields, and showers with sudden hand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Exuberant Spring; for oft these valleys shift<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their green-embroidered robe to fiery brown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And swift to green again, as scorching suns,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or streaming dews and torrent rains, prevail.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Along these lonely regions, where, retir'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From little scenes of art, great Nature dwells<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In awful solitude, and naught is seen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But the wild herds that own no master's stall,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Prodigious rivers roll their fattening seas;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On whose luxuriant herbage, half-conceal'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like a fall'n cedar, far diffus'd his train,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cas'd in green scales, the crocodile extends.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The flood disparts: behold! in plaited mail,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Behemoth rears his head. Glanc'd from his side,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The darted steel in idle shivers flies:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He fearless walks the plain, or seeks the hills;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where, as he crops his varied fare, the herds,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In widening circle round, forget their food,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And at the harmless stranger wondering gaze.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Peaceful, beneath primeval trees that cast<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their ample shade o'er Niger's yellow stream.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And where the Ganges rolls his sacred wave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or 'mid the central depth of blackening woods<br /></span> +<span class="i0">High-rais'd in solemn theater around,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Leans the huge elephant; wisest of brutes!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh, truly wise! with gentle might endow'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though powerful, not destructive. Here he sees<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Revolving ages sweep the changeful earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And empires rise and fall; regardless he<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of what the never-resting race of men<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Project: thrice happy! could he 'scape their guile,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who mine, from cruel avarice, his steps,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or with his towery grandeur swell their state,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The pride of kings! or else his strength pervert,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bid him rage amid the mortal fray,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Astonish'd at the madness of mankind.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wide o'er the winding umbrage of the floods,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like vivid blossoms glowing from afar,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thick-swarm the brighter birds. For Nature's hand.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That with a sportive vanity has deck'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The plumy nations, there her gayest hues<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Profusely pours. But, if she bids them shine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Array'd in all the beauteous beams of day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet frugal still, she humbles them in song.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor envy we the gaudy robes they lent<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Proud Montezuma's realm, whose legions cast<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A boundless radiance waving on the sun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While philomel is ours; while in our shades,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through the soft silence of the listening night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sober-suited songstress trills her lay.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">But come, my muse, the desert-barrier burst,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A wild expanse of lifeless sand and sky,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, swifter than the toiling caravan,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shoot o'er the vale of Sennaar, ardent climb<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Nubian mountains, and the secret bounds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of jealous Abyssinia boldly pierce.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou art no ruffian, who beneath the mask<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of social commerce com'st to rob their wealth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No holy fury thou, blaspheming Heaven.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With consecrated steel to stab their peace,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And through the land, yet red from civil wounds,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To spread the purple tyranny of Rome.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou, like the harmless bee, may'st freely range,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From mead to mead bright with exalted flowers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From jasmine grove to grove; may'st wander gay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through palmy shades and aromatic woods,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That grace the plains, invest the peopled hills,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And up the more than Alpine mountains wave.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There on the breezy summit, spreading fair<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For many a league; or on stupendous rocks.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That from the sun-redoubling valley lift,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cool to the middle air their lawny tops;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where palaces, and fanes, and villas rise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And gardens smile around, and cultur'd fields;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And fountains gush; and careless herds and flocks<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Securely stray; a world within itself,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Disdaining all assault: there let me draw<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ethereal soul, there drink reviving gales.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Profusely breathing from the spicy groves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And vales of fragrance; there at distance hear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The roaring floods, and cataracts, that sweep<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From disembowel'd earth the virgin gold;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And o'er the varied landscape, restless, rove,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fervent with life of every fairer kind.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A land of wonders! which the sun still eyes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With ray direct, as of the lovely realm<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Enamor'd, and delighting there to dwell.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">How chang'd the scene! In blazing height of noon.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sun, oppress'd, is plung'd in thickest gloom.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still horror reigns, a dreary twilight round,</span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> + +<div class="background" style="background-image: url(images/ill-1851-june-illo_12.jpg); width: 800px; height: 1180px"> +<p style="position: absolute; top: 388px; left: 175px; width: 800px"> +Of struggling night and day malignant mix'd.<br /> +For to the hot equator crowding fast,<br /> +Where, highly rarefied, the yielding air<br /> +Admits their stream, incessant vapors roll,<br /> +Amazing clouds on clouds continual heap'd;<br /> +Or whirl'd tempestuous by the gusty wind,<br /> +Or silent borne along, heavy and slow,<br /> +With the big stores of steaming oceans charg'd.<br /> +Meantime, amid these upper seas, condens'd<br /> +Around the cold aerial mountain's brow,<br /> +And by conflicting winds together dash'd,<br /> +The thunder holds his black tremendous throne;<br /> +From cloud to cloud the rending lightnings rage;<br /> +Till, in the furious elemental war<br /> +Dissolv'd, the whole precipitated mass<br /> +Unbroken floods and solid torrents pours.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The treasures these, hid from the bounded search<br /></span> +Of ancient knowledge; whence, with annual pomp,<br /> +Rich king of floods! o'erflows the swelling Nile.<br /> +From his two springs, in Gojam's sunny realm,<br /> +Pure-welling out, he through the lucid lake<br /> +Of fair Dembia rolls his infant stream.<br /> +There, by the naiads nurs'd, he sports away<br /> +His playful youth, amid the fragrant isles<br /> +That with unfading verdure smile around.<br /></p></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ambitious, thence the manly river breaks;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And gathering many a flood, and copious fed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With all the mellow'd treasures of the sky,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Winds in progressive majesty along:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through splendid kingdoms now devolves his maze;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now wanders wild o'er solitary tracts<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of life-deserted sand: till glad to quit<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The joyless desert, down the Nubian rocks,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From thundering steep to steep, he pours his urn.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Egypt joys beneath the spreading wave.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">His brother Niger too, and all the floods<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In which the full-form'd maids of Afric lave<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their jetty limbs; and all that from the tract<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of woody mountains stretch'd through gorgeous Ind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fall on Cormandel's coast, or Malabar;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From Menam's orient stream, that nightly shines<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With insect lamps, to where aurora sheds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On Indus' smiling banks the rosy shower;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All, at this bounteous season, ope their urns,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And pour untoiling harvest o'er the land.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Nor less thy world, Columbus, drinks, refresh'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The lavish moisture of the melting year.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wide e'er his isles, the branching Orinoque<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rolls a brown deluge; and the native drives<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To dwell aloft on life-sufficing trees—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At once his dome, his robe, his food, and arms.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Swell'd by a thousand streams, impetuous hurl'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From all the roaring Andes, huge descends<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The mighty Orellana. Scarce the muse<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dares stretch her wing o'er this enormous mass</span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of rushing water; scarces she dares attempt<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sea-like Plata; to whose dread expanse,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Continuous depth, and wondrous length of course,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our floods are rills. With unabated force,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In silent dignity they sweep along;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And traverse realms unknown, and blooming wilds,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And fruitful deserts—worlds of solitude,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the sun smiles and Seasons teem in vain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unseen and unenjoyed. Forsaking these,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er peopled plains they fair-diffusive flow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And many a nation feed, and circle safe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In their soft bosom, many a happy isle;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The seat of blameless Pan, yet undisturbed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By Christian crimes and Europe's cruel sons.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thus pouring on they proudly seek the deep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose vanquish'd tide, recoiling from the shock,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yields to this liquid weight of half the globe;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And ocean trembles for his green domain.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">But what avails this wondrous waste of wealth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This gay profusion of luxurious bliss,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This pomp of Nature? what their balmy meads.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their powerful herbs, and Ceres void of pain?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By vagrant birds dispers'd, and wafting winds.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What their unplanted fruits? what the cool draughts,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The ambrosial food, rich gums, and spicy health,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their forests yield? their toiling insects what,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their silky pride, and vegetable robes?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah! what avail their fatal treasures, hid<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Deep in the bowels of the pitying earth,</span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Illo13" id="Illo13"></a></p> +<div class="background" style="background-image: url(images/ill-1851-june-illo_13.jpg); width: 800px; height: 1199px"> +<p style="position: absolute; top: 175px; left: 75px; width: 800px"> +Golconda's gems, and sad Potosi's mines?<br /> +Where dwelt the gentlest children of the sun!<br /> +What all that Afric's golden rivers roll,<br /> +Her odorous woods, and shining ivory stores?<br /> +Ill-fated race! the softening arts of peace,<br /> +Whate'er the humanizing muses teach;<br /> +The godlike wisdom of the tempered breast;<br /> +Progressive truth, the patient force of thought;<br /> +Investigation calm, whose silent powers<br /> +Command the world; the light that leads to Heaven;<br /> +Kind equal rule, the government of laws,<br /> +And all-protecting freedom, which alone<br /> +Sustains the name and dignity of man:<br /> +These are not theirs. The parent sun himself<br /> +Seems o'er this world of slaves to tyrannize;<br /> +And, with oppressive ray, the roseate bloom<br /> +Of beauty blasting, gives the gloomy hue,<br /> +And feature gross; or worse, to ruthless deeds,<br /> +Mad jealousy, blind rage, and fell revenge,<br /> +Their fervid spirit fires. Love dwells not there,<br /> +The soft regards, the tenderness of life,<br /> +The heart-shed tear, the ineffable delight<br /> +Of sweet humanity: these court the beam<br /> +Of milder climes; in selfish fierce desire,</p></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +<span class="i0">And the wild fury of voluptuous sense,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There lost. The very brute creation there<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This rage partakes, and burns with horrid fire.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Lo! the green serpent, from his dark abode,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which even imagination fears to tread,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At noon forth-issuing, gathers up his train<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In orbs immense, then, darting out anew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seeks the refreshing fount, by which diffus'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He throws his folds; and while, with threatening tongue<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And dreadful jaws erect, the monster curls<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His flaming crest, all other thirst appall'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or shivering flies, or check'd at distance stands,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor dares approach. But still more direful he,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The small close-lurking minister of fate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose high concocted venom through the veins<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A rapid lightning darts, arresting swift<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The vital current. Form'd to humble man,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This child of vengeful Nature! There, sublim'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To fearless lust of blood, the savage race<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Roam, licens'd by the shading hour of guilt,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And foul misdeed, when the pure day has shut<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His sacred eye. The tiger, darting fierce,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Impetuous on the prey his glance has doom'd;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The lively-shining leopard, speckled o'er<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With many a spot, the beauty of the waste;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, scorning all the taming arts of man,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The keen hyena, fellest of the fell:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">These, rushing from the inhospitable woods<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Mauritania, or the tufted isles<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That verdant rise amid the Libyan wild,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Innumerous glare around their shaggy king,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Majestic, stalking o'er the printed sand;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, with imperious and repeated roars,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Demand their fated food. The fearful flocks<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Crowd near the guardian swain; the nobler herds,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where round their lordly bull, in rural ease,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They ruminating lie, with horror hear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The coming rage. The awaken'd village starts;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And to her fluttering breast the mother strains<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her thoughtless infant. From the pirate's den,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or stern Morocco's tyrant fang, escap'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The wretch half-wishes for his bonds again;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While, uproar all, the wilderness resounds,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From Atlas eastward to the frighted Nile.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Unhappy he! who from the first of joys,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Society, cut off, is left alone<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Amid this world of death. Day after day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sad on the jutting eminence he sits,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And views the main that ever toils below;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still fondly forming in the farthest verge,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the round ether mixes with the wave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ships, dim-discovered, dropping from the clouds.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At evening, to the setting sun he turns<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A mournful eye, and down his dying heart<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sinks helpless; while the wonted roar is up,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And hiss continual through the tedious night.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet here, even here, into these black abodes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of monsters, unappall'd, from stooping Rome,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And guilty Cæsar, Liberty retired,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her Cato following through Numidian wilds;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Disdainful of Campania's gentle plains<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all the green delights Ausonia pours—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When for them she must bend the servile knee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And fawning take the splendid robber's boon.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Nor stop the terrors of these regions here.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Commission'd demons oft, angels of wrath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let loose the raging elements. Breath'd hot<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From all the boundless furnace of the sky,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the wide glittering waste of burning sand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A suffocating wind the pilgrim smites<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With instant death. Patient of thirst and toil,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Son of the desert! even the camel feels,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shot through his wither'd heart, the fiery blast.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or from the black-red ether, bursting broad,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sallies the sudden whirlwind. Straight the sands,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Commov'd around, in gathering eddies play;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nearer and nearer still they darkening come,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till, with the general all-involving storm<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Swept up, the whole continuous wilds arise;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And by their noonday fount dejected thrown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or sunk at night in sad disastrous sleep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath descending hills, the caravan<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is buried deep. In Cairo's crowded streets<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The impatient merchant, wondering, waits in vain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Mecca saddens at the long delay.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">But chief at sea, whose every flexile wave<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Obeys the blast, the aerial tumult swells.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the dread ocean, undulating wide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath the radiant line that girts the globe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The circling Typhon, whirl'd from point to point,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Exhausting all the rage of all the sky,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And dire Ecnephia reign. Amid the heavens,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Falsely serene, deep in a cloudy speck<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Compress'd, the mighty tempest brooding dwells<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of no regard save to the skillful eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fiery and foul, the small prognostic hangs<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Aloft, or on the promontory's brow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Musters its force. A faint deceitful calm,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A fluttering gale, the demon sends before,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To tempt the spreading sail. Then down at once,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Precipitant, descends a mingled mass<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of roaring winds, and flame, and rushing floods.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In wild amazement fix'd the sailor stands.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Art is too slow. By rapid fate oppress'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His broad-wing'd vessel drinks the whelming tide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hid in the bosom of the black abyss.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With such mad seas the daring Gama fought,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For many a day, and many a dreadful night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Incessant, laboring round the <i>stormy cape</i>;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By bold ambition led, and bolder thirst<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of gold. For then, from ancient gloom, emerg'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rising world of trade: the genius, then,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of navigation, that in hopeless sloth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Had slumber'd on the vast Atlantic deep<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For idle ages, starting, heard at last<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Lusitanian prince; who, heaven-inspired,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To love of useful glory rous'd mankind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And in unbounded commerce mixed the world.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Increasing still the terrors of these storms,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His jaws horrific arm'd with threefold fate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here dwells the direful shark. Lur'd by the scent<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of steaming crowds, of rank disease, and death,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Behold! he rushing cuts the briny flood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Swift as the gale can bear the ship along;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And from the partners of that cruel trade<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which spoils unhappy Guinea of her sons,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Demands his share of prey—demands themselves.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The stormy fates descend: one death involves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tyrants and slaves; when straight their mangled limbs<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Crashing at once, he dyes the purple seas<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With gore, and riots in the vengeful meal.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">When o'er this world, by equinoctial rains<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Flooded immense, looks out the joyless sun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And draws the copious steam; from swampy fens,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where putrefaction into life ferments,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And breathes destructive myriads; or from woods,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Impenetrable shades, recesses foul,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In vapors rank and blue corruption wrapp'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose gloomy horrors yet no desperate foot<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has ever dar'd to pierce—then, wasteful, forth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Walks the dire power of pestilent disease.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A thousand hideous fiends her course attend,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sick nature blasting, and a heartless woe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And feeble desolation, casting down</span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span><br /> +<span class="i0">The towering hopes and all the pride of man.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such as, of late, at Carthagena quench'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The British fire. You, gallant Vernon, saw<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The miserable scene; you, pitying, saw<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To infant weakness sunk the warrior's arm;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Saw the deep-racking pang, the ghastly form,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The lip pale-quivering, and the beamless eye<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No more with ardor bright; you heard the groans<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of agonizing ships, from shore to shore;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heard, nightly plung'd amid the sullen waves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The frequent corse—while on each other fix'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In sad presage, the blank assistants seemed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Silent, to ask, whom fate would next demand.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">What need I mention those inclement skies<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where, frequent o'er the sickening city, plague,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The fiercest child of Nemesis divine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Descends? From Ethiopia's poison'd woods,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From stifled Cairo's filth, and fetid fields<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With locust-armies putrefying heap'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This great destroyer sprung. Her awful rage<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The brutes escape. Man is her destin'd prey,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Intemperate man! and o'er his guilty domes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She draws a close incumbent cloud of death;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Uninterrupted by the living winds,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forbid to blow a wholesome breeze; and stain'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With many a mixture by the sun, suffus'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of angry aspect. Princely wisdom, then,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dejects his watchful eye; and from the hand</span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Illo14" id="Illo14"></a></p> +<div class="background" style="background-image: url(images/ill-1851-june-illo_14.jpg); width: 800px; height: 1181px"> +<p style="position: absolute; top: 355px; left: 275px; width: 800px"> +Of feeble justice, ineffectual, drop<br /> +The sword and balance: mute the voice of joy,<br /> +And hush'd the clamor of the busy world.<br /> +Empty the streets, with uncouth verdure clad.<br /> +Into the worst of deserts sudden turn'd<br /> +The cheerful haunt of men—unless escap'd<br /> +From the doom'd house, where matchless horror reigns,<br /> +Shut up by barbarous fear, the smitten wretch,<br /> +With frenzy wild, breaks loose, and loud to Heaven<br /> +Screaming, the dreadful policy arraigns,<br /> +Inhuman and unwise. The sullen door,<br /> +Yet uninfected, on its cautious hinge<br /> +Fearing to turn, abhors society.<br /> +Dependents, friends, relations, Love himself,<br /> +Savag'd by woe, forget the tender tie,<br /> +The sweet engagement of the feeling heart.<br /> +But vain their selfish care: the circling sky,<br /> +The wide enlivening air is full of fate;<br /> +And, struck by turns, in solitary pangs<br /> +They fall, unblest, untended, and unmourn'd.<br /> +Thus o'er the prostrate city black despair<br /> +Extends her raven wing; while, to complete</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> + +<div class="background" style="background-image: url(images/ill-1851-june-illo_15.jpg); width: 800px; height: 870px"> +<p style="position: absolute; top: 399px; left: 275px; width: 800px"> +The scene of desolation, stretch'd around,<br /> +The grim guards stand, denying all retreat,<br /> +And give the flying wretch a better death.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Much yet remains unsung: the rage intense<br /></span> +Of brazen-vaulted skies, of iron fields,<br /> +Where drought and famine starve the blasted year;<br /> +Fir'd by the torch of noon to tenfold rage,<br /> +The infuriate hill that shoots the pillar'd flame;<br /> +And, rous'd within the subterranean world,<br /> +The expanding earthquake, that resistless shakes<br /> +Aspiring cities from their solid base,<br /> +And buries mountains in the flaming gulf.<br /> +But 'tis enough; return, my vagrant muse:<br /> +A nearer scene of horror calls thee home.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Behold, slow-settling o'er the lurid grove,<br /></span> +Unusual darkness broods; and growing gains<br /> +The full possession of the sky, surcharg'd<br /> +With wrathful vapor, from the secret beds,<br /> +Where sleep the mineral generations, drawn.<br /> +Thence nitre, sulphur, and the fiery spume<br /> +Of fat bitumen, steaming on the day,<br /> +With various-tinctur'd trains of latent flame,<br /> +Pollute the sky, and in yon baleful cloud,</p></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A reddening gloom, a magazine of fate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ferment; till, by the touch ethereal rous'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The dash of clouds, or irritating war<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of fighting winds, while all is calm below,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They furious spring. A boding silence reigns,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dread through the dun expanse; save the dull sound<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That from the mountain, previous to the storm,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rolls o'er the muttering earth, disturbs the flood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And shakes the forest leaf without a breath.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Prone, to the lowest vale, the aerial tribes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Descend: the tempest-loving raven scarce<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dares wing the dubious dusk. In rueful gaze<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The cattle stand, and on the scowling heavens<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cast a deploring eye; by man forsook,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who to the crowded cottage hies him fast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or seeks the shelter of the downward cave.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">'Tis listening fear, and dumb amazement all:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When to the startled eye the sudden glance<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Appears far south, eruptive through the cloud;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And following slower, in explosion vast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The thunder raises his tremendous voice.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At first, heard solemn o'er the verge of heaven,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The tempest growls; but as it nearer comes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And rolls its awful burden on the wind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The lightnings flash a larger curve, and more<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The noise astounds—till overhead a sheet<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of livid flame discloses wide, then shuts<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And opens wider, shuts and opens still<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Expansive, wrapping ether in a blaze.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Follows the loosen'd aggravated roar,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Enlarging, deepening, mingling, peal on peal<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Crush'd horrible, convulsing heaven and earth.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Down comes a deluge of sonorous hail,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or prone-descending rain. Wide-rent, the clouds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pour a whole flood; and yet, its flame unquench'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The unconquerable lightning struggles through,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ragged and fierce, or in red whirling balls,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And fires the mountains with redoubled rage.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Black from the stroke, above, the smouldering pine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stands a sad shatter'd trunk; and, stretch'd below,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A lifeless group the blasted cattle lie:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here the soft flocks, with that same harmless look<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They wore alive, and ruminating still<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In fancy's eye; and there the frowning bull,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And ox half-rais'd. Struck on the castled cliff,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The venerable tower and spiry fane<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Resign their aged pride. The gloomy woods<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Start at the flash, and from their deep recess,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wide-flaming out, their trembling inmates shade<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Amid Caernarvon's mountains rages loud<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The repercussive roar; with mighty crush,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Into the flashing deep, from the rude rocks<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Penmaenmawr heap'd hideous to the sky,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tumble the smitten cliffs; and Snowdon's peak,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dissolving, instant yields his wintry load.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Far-seen, the heights of heathy Cheviot blaze,</span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></div></div> + +<div class="background" style="background-image: url(images/ill-1851-june-illo_16.jpg); width: 800px; height: 1148px"> +<p style="position: absolute; top: 428px; left: 275px; width: 800px"> +And Thulè bellows through her utmost isles.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Guilt hears appall'd, with deeply troubled thought,<br /></span> +And yet not always on the guilty head<br /> +Descends the fated flash. Young Celadon<br /> +And his Amelia were a matchless pair;<br /> +With equal virtue form'd, and equal grace,<br /> +The same, distinguish'd by their sex alone:<br /> +Hers the mild lustre of the blooming morn,<br /> +And his the radiance of the risen day.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They lov'd: but such their guileless passion was,<br /></span> +As in the dawn of time inform'd the heart<br /> +Of innocence, and undissembling truth.<br /> +'Twas friendship heighten'd by the mutual wish,<br /> +The enchanting hope, and sympathetic glow,<br /> +Beam'd from the mutual eye. Devoting all<br /> +To love, each was to each a dearer self;<br /> +Supremely happy in the awaken'd power<br /> +Of giving joy. Alone, amid the shades,<br /> +Still in harmonious intercourse they liv'd<br /> +The rural day, and talk'd the flowing heart,<br /> +Or sigh'd and look'd unutterable things.</p></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">So pass'd their life, a clear united stream,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By care unruffled; till, in evil hour,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The tempest caught them on the tender walk,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heedless how far, and where its mazes stray'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While, with each other bless'd, creative love<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still bade eternal Eden smile around.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heavy with instant fate, her bosom heav'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unwonted sighs, and stealing oft a look<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the big gloom, on Celadon her eye<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fell tearful, wetting her disorder'd cheek.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In vain assuring love, and confidence<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In Heaven, repress'd her fear; it grew, and shook<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her frame near dissolution. He perceiv'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The unequal conflict; and, as angels look<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On dying saints, his eyes compassion shed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With love illumin'd high. "Fear not," he said,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Sweet innocence! thou stranger to offense,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And inward storm! He who yon skies involves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In frowns and darkness, ever smiles on thee<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With kind regard. O'er thee the secret shaft<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That wastes at midnight, or the undreaded hour<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of noon, flies harmless; and that very voice<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which thunders terror through the guilty heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With tongues of seraphs whispers peace to thine.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis safety to be near thee sure, and thus<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To clasp perfection!" From his void embrace,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mysterious Heaven! that moment, to the ground,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A blacken'd corse, was struck the beauteous maid,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But who can paint the lover, as he stood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pierc'd by severe amazement, hating life,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Speechless, and fix'd in all the death of woe!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So, faint resemblance, on the marble tomb</span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span><br /> +<span class="i0">The well-dissembled mourner stooping stands,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forever silent, and forever sad.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">As from the face of heaven the shatter'd clouds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tumultuous rove, the interminable sky<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sublimer swells, and o'er the world expands<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A purer azure. Nature, from the storm,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shines out afresh; and through the lighten'd air<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A higher lustre and a clearer calm,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Diffusive, tremble; while, as if in sign<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of danger past, a glittering robe of joy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Set off abundant by the yellow ray,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Invests the fields, yet dropping from distress.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">'Tis beauty all, and grateful song around,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Join'd to the low of kine, and numerous bleat<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of flocks thick-nibbling through the clover'd vale.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And shall the hymn be marr'd by thankless man,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Most-favor'd; who with voice articulate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Should lead the chorus of this lower world?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall he, so soon forgetful of the hand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That hush'd the thunder, and serenes the sky,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Extinguish'd feel that spark the tempest wak'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That sense of powers exceeding far his own,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere yet his feeble heart has lost its fears?<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Cheer'd by the milder beam, the sprightly youth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Speeds to the well-known pool, whose crystal depth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A sandy bottom shows. Awhile he stands<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gazing the inverted landscape, half-afraid<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To meditate the blue profound below;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then plunges headlong down the circling flood.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His ebon tresses and his rosy cheek<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Instant emerge; and through the obedient wave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At each short breathing by his lip repell'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With arms and legs according well, he makes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As humor leads, an easy-winding path;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While, from his polish'd sides, a dewy light<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Effuses on the pleas'd spectators round.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">This is the purest exercise of health,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The kind refresher of the summer heats,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor, when cold Winter keens the brightening flood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would I weak-shivering linger on the brink.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thus life redoubles; and is oft preserved,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By the bold swimmer, in the swift illapse<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of accident disastrous. Hence the limbs<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Knit into force; and the same Roman arm<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That rose victorious o'er the conquer'd earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">First learned, while tender, to subdue the wave.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Even, from the body's purity, the mind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Receives a secret sympathetic aid.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Close in the covert of an hazel copse,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where winded into pleasing solitudes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Runs out the rambling dale, young Damon sat;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pensive, and pierc'd with love's delightful pangs.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There to the stream that down the distant rocks<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hoarse-murmuring fell, and plaintive breeze that play'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Among the bending willows, falsely he<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Musidora's cruelty complain'd.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She felt his flame; but deep within her breast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In bashful coyness, or in maiden pride,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The soft return conceal'd—save when it stole<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In sidelong glances from her downcast eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or from her swelling soul in stifled sighs.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Touched by the scene, no stranger to his vows,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He fram'd a melting lay, to try her heart;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, if an infant passion struggled there,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To call that passion forth. Thrice-happy swain!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of mighty monarchs, then decided thine.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For, lo! conducted by the laughing Loves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This cool retreat his Musidora sought:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Warm in her cheek the sultry season glow'd;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, rob'd in loose array, she came to bathe<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her fervent limbs in the refreshing stream.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What shall he do? In sweet confusion lost,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And dubious flutterings, he awhile remain'd.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A pure ingenuous elegance of soul,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A delicate refinement known to few,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Perplex'd his breast, and urg'd him to retire;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But love forbade. Ye prudes in virtue, say,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Say, ye severest, what would you have done?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Meantime, this fairer nymph than ever bless'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Arcadian stream, with timid eye around<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The banks surveying, stripp'd her beauteous limbs<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To taste the lucid coolness of the flood.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah! then, not Paris on the piny top<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Ida panted stronger, when aside<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rival goddesses the vail divine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cast unconfin'd, and gave him all their charms,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than, Damon, thou; as from the snowy leg,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And slender foot, the inverted silk she drew;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As the soft touch dissolv'd the virgin zone;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, through the parting robe, the alternate breast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With youth wild-throbbing, on thy lawless gaze<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In full luxuriance rose. But, desperate youth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How durst thou risk the soul-distracting view,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As from her naked limbs, of glowing white,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Harmonious swell'd by Nature's finest hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In folds loose-floating fell the fainter lawn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And fair expos'd she stood—shrunk from herself,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With fancy blushing, at the doubtful breeze<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alarm'd, and starting like the fearful fawn?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then to the flood she rush'd: the parted flood<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its lovely guest with closing waves received,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And every beauty softening, every grace<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Flushing anew, a mellow lustre shed—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As shines the lily through the crystal mild,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or as the rose amid the morning dew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fresh from Aurora's hand, more sweetly glows.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While thus she wanton'd now beneath the wave<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But ill-concealed, and now with streaming locks,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That half-embrac'd her in a humid vail,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rising again, the latent Damon drew<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such maddening draughts of beauty to the soul,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As for a while o'erwhelm'd his raptur'd thought<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With luxury too daring. Check'd, at last.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By love's respectful modesty, he deem'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The theft profane, if aught profane to love<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Can e'er be deem'd, and, struggling from the shade,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With headlong hurry fled; but first these lines,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Trac'd by his ready pencil, on the bank<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With trembling hand he threw: "Bathe on, my fair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet unbeheld save by the sacred eye<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of faithful love: I go to guard thy haunt;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To keep from thy recess each vagrant foot,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And each licentious eye." With wild surprise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As if to marble struck, devoid of sense,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A stupid moment motionless she stood:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So stands the statue that enchants the world:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So bending tries to vail the matchless boast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The mingled beauties of exulting Greece.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Recovering, swift she flew to find those robes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which blissful Eden knew not; and, array'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In careless haste, the alarming paper snatch'd.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But when her Damon's well known hand she saw<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her terrors vanish'd, and a softer train<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of mix'd emotions, hard to be describ'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her sudden bosom seiz'd: shame void of guilt,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The charming blush of innocence, esteem<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And admiration of her lover's flame,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By modesty exalted. Even a sense<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of self-approving beauty stole across<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her busy thought. At length, a tender calm<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hushed by degrees the tumult of her soul,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And on the spreading beech, that o'er the stream<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Incumbent hung, she with the sylvan pen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of rural lovers this confession carv'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which soon her Damon kiss'd with weeping joy:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Dear youth! sole judge of what these verses mean,</span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></div></div> + +<div class="background" style="background-image: url(images/ill-1851-june-illo_17.jpg); width: 800px; height: 1194px"> +<p style="position: absolute; top: 533px; left: 75px; width: 800px"> +By fortune too much favor'd, but by love,<br /> +Alas! not favor'd less, be still as now<br /> +Discreet, the time may come you need not fly."<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The sun has lost his rage; his downward orb<br /></span> +Shoots nothing now but animating warmth,<br /> +And vital lustre; that, with various ray,<br /> +Lights up the clouds, those beauteous robes of heaven<br /> +Incessant roll'd into romantic shapes,<br /> +The dream of waking fancy! Broad below<br /> +Cover'd with ripening fruits, and swelling fast<br /> +Into the perfect year, the pregnant earth<br /> +And all her tribes rejoice. Now the soft hour<br /> +Of walking comes: for him who lonely loves<br /> +To seek the distant hills, and there converse<br /> +With Nature; there to harmonize his heart,<br /> +And in pathetic song to breathe around<br /> +The harmony to others. Social friends,<br /> +Attun'd to happy unison of soul—<br /> +To whose exalting eye a fairer world,</p></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Of which the vulgar never had a glimpse,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Displays its charms—whose minds are richly fraught<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With philosophic stores, superior light—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And in whose breast, enthusiastic, burns<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Virtue the sons of interest deem romance,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now call'd abroad enjoy the falling day:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now to the verdant <i>portico</i> of woods,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To Nature's vast <i>lyceum</i>, forth they walk;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By that kind <i>school</i> where no proud master reigns,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The full free converse of the friendly heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Improving and improv'd. Now from the world,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sacred to sweet retirement, lovers steal,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And pour their souls in transport, which the Sire<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of love approving hears, and <i>calls it good</i>.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which way, Amanda, shall we bend our course?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The choice perplexes. Wherefore should we choose?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All is the same with thee. Say shall we wind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Along the streams? or walk the smiling mead;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or court the forest glades? or wander wild<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Among the waving harvests? or ascend,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While radiant Summer opens all its pride,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy hill, delightful Sheen? Here let us sweep<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The boundless landscape; now the raptur'd eye<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Exulting swift, to huge Augusta send,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now to the sister-hills that skirt her plain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To lofty Harrow now, and now to where<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Majestic Windsor lifts his princely brow.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In lovely contrast to this glorious view,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Calmly magnificent, then will we turn</span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span><br /> +<span class="i0">To where the silver Thames first rural grows.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There let the feasted eye unwearied stray;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Luxurious, there, rove through the pendent woods<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That nodding hang o'er Harrington's retreat,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And stooping thence to Ham's embowering walks,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath whose shades, in spotless peace retir'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With her the pleasing partner of his heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The worthy Queensbury yet laments his Gay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And polish'd Cornbury woos the willing muse,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Slow let us trace the matchless vale of Thames—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fair-winding up to where the muses haunt<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In Twit'nam's bowers, and for their Pope implore<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The healing god, to royal Hampton's pile,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To Clermont's terrac'd height, and Esher's groves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where in the sweetest solitude, embrac'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By the soft windings of the silent Mole,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From courts and senates Pelham finds repose.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Enchanting vale! beyond whate'er the muse<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has of Achaia or Hesperia sung!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O vale of bliss! O softly swelling hills!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On which the power of cultivation lies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And joys to see the wonders of his toil.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Heavens! what a goodly prospect spreads around,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of hills, and dales, and woods, and lawns, and spires,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And glittering towns, and gilded streams, till all<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The stretching landscape into smoke decays!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Happy Britannia! where the queen of arts,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Inspiring vigor, liberty abroad<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Walks, unconfin'd, even to thy farthest cots,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And scatters plenty, with unsparing hand.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Rich is thy soil, and merciful thy clime:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy streams unfailing in the Summer's drought<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unmatch'd thy guardian oaks; thy valleys float<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With golden waves; and on thy mountains flocks<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bleat numberless—while, roving round their sides,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bellow the blackening herds in lusty droves.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath, thy meadows glow, and rise unquell'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Against the mower's scythe. On every hand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy villas shine. Thy country teems with wealth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And property assures it to the swain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pleas'd and unwearied in his guarded toil.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Full are thy cities with the sons of art;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And trade and joy, in every busy street,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mingling are heard: even drudgery himself.</span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Illo18" id="Illo18"></a></p> +<div class="background" style="background-image: url(images/ill-1851-june-illo_18.jpg); width: 800px; height: 1037px"> +<p style="position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 199px; width: 800px"> +As at the car he sweats, or dusty hews<br /> +The palace-stone, looks gay. Thy crowded ports,<br /> +Where rising masts an endless prospect yield,<br /> +With labor burn, and echo to the shouts<br /> +Of hurried sailor, as he hearty waves<br /> +His last adieu, and, loosening every sheet,<br /> +Resigns the spreading vessel to the wind.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bold, firm, and graceful, are thy generous youth<br /></span> +By hardship sinew'd, and by danger fir'd,<br /> +Scattering the nations where they go; and first,<br /> +Or in the listed plain, or stormy seas.<br /> +Mild are thy glories too, as o'er the plans<br /> +Of thriving peace thy thoughtful sires preside;<br /> +In genius, and substantial learning, high;<br /> +For every virtue, every worth, renown'd;<br /> +Sincere, plain-hearted, hospitable, kind;<br /> +Yet like the mustering thunder when provok'd,<br /> +The dread of tyrants, and the sole resource<br /> +Of those that under grim oppression groan.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy sons of glory many! Alfred thine,<br /></span> +In whom the splendor of heroic war<br /> +And more heroic peace, when govern'd well,</p></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Combine; whose hallow'd name the virtues saint,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And his own muses love—the best of kings.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With him thy Edwards and thy Henrys shine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Names dear to fame, the first who deep impress'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On haughty Gaul the terror of thy arms,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That awes her genius still. In statesmen thou,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And patriots, fertile. Thine a steady More,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who, with a generous though mistaken zeal,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Withstood a brutal tyrant's useful rage,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like Cato firm, like Aristides just,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like rigid Cincinnatus nobly poor—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A dauntless soul erect, who smil'd on death.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Frugal and wise, a Walsingham is thine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A Drake, who made thee mistress of the deep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bore thy name in thunder round the world.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then flam'd thy spirit high; but who can speak<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The numerous worthies of the maiden-reign?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In Raleigh mark their every glory mix'd;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Raleigh, the scourge of Spain; whose breast with all<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sage, the patriot, and the hero burn'd.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor sunk his vigor when a coward reign<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The warrior fetter'd, and at last resign'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To glut the vengeance of a vanquish'd foe.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then, active still and unrestrain'd, his mind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Explor'd the vast extent of ages past,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And with his prison-hours enrich'd the world;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet found no times, in all the long research,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So glorious, or so base, as those he prov'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In which he conquer'd, and in which he bled.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor can the muse the gallant Sidney pass,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The plume of war! with early laurels crown'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The lover's myrtle, and the poet's bay.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A Hampden too is thine, illustrious land,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wise, strenuous, firm, of unsubmitting soul,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who stemm'd the torrent of a downward age<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To slavery prone, and bade thee rise again,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In all thy native pomp of freedom bold.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bright, at his call, thy age of men effulg'd;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of men on whom late time a kindling eye<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall turn, and tyrants tremble while they read.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bring every sweetest flower, and let me strew<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The grave where Russell lies; whose temper'd blood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With calmest cheerfulness for thee resign'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stain'd the sad annals of a giddy reign—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Aiming at lawless power, though meanly sunk<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In loose inglorious luxury. With him<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His friend, the British Cassius, fearless bled;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of high determin'd spirit, roughly brave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By ancient learning to the enlighten'd love<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of ancient freedom warm'd. Fair thy renown<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In awful sages and in noble bards<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Soon as the light of dawning science spread<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her orient ray, and wak'd the muses' song.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thine is a Bacon, hapless in his choice;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unfit to stand the civil storm of state,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And through the smooth barbarity of courts,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With firm but pliant virtue, forward still<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To urge his course. Him for the studious shade<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Kind Nature form'd, deep, comprehensive, clear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Exact, and elegant; in one rich soul,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Plato, the Stagyrite, and Tully join'd.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The great deliverer he! who from the gloom<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of cloister'd monks, and jargon-teaching schools,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Led forth the true philosophy, there long<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Held in the magic chain of words and forms,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And definitions void: he led her forth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Daughter of heaven! that slow-ascending still,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Investigating sure the chain of things,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With radiant finger points to heaven again.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The generous Ashley thine, the friend of man;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who scann'd his nature with a brother's eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His weakness prompt to shade, to raise his aim,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To touch the finer movements of the mind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And with the <i>moral beauty</i> charm the heart<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why need I name thy Boyle, whose pious search,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Amid the dark recesses of his works,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The great Creator sought? And why thy Locke,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who made the whole internal world his own?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let Newton, pure intelligence, whom God<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To mortals lent, to trace his boundless works<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From laws sublimely simple, speak thy fame<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In all philosophy. For lofty sense,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Creative fancy, and inspection keen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through the deep windings of the human heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is not wild Shakspeare thine and Nature's boast?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is not each great, each amiable muse<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of classic ages, in thy Milton met?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A genius universal as his theme,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Astonishing as chaos, as the bloom<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of blowing Eden fair, as heaven sublime.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor shall my verse that elder bard forget,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The gentle Spenser, fancy's pleasing son,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who, like a copious river, pour'd his song<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er all the mazes of enchanted ground;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor thee, his ancient master, laughing sage,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Chaucer, whose native manners painting verse,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Well moraliz'd, shines through the Gothic cloud<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of time and language o'er thy genius thrown.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">May my song soften, as thy daughters I,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Britannia, hail! for beauty is their own,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The feeling heart, simplicity of life,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And elegance, and taste; the faultless form,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shap'd by the hand of harmony; the cheek,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the live crimson, through the native white<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Soft-shooting, o'er the face diffuses bloom,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And every nameless grace; the parted lip,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like the red rose-bud moist with morning dew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Breathing delight; and, under flowing jet,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or sunny ringlets, or of circling brown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The neck slight-shaded, and the swelling breast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The look resistless, piercing to the soul,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And by the soul informed, when dress'd in love<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She sits high-smiling in the conscious eye.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Island of bliss! amid the subject seas<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That thunder round thy rocky coasts, set up,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At once the wonder, terror, and delight<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of distant nations; whose remotest shore<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Can soon be shaken by thy naval arm;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not to be shook thyself, but all assaults<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Baffling, like thy hoar cliffs the loud sea-wave.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">O Thou by whose almighty nod the scale<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of empire rises, or alternate falls,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Send forth the saving virtues round the land,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In bright patrol: white peace, and social love;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The tender-looking charity, intent<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On gentle deeds, and shedding tears through smiles<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Undaunted truth, and dignity of mind;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Courage compos'd, and keen; sound temperance,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Healthful in heart and look; clear chastity,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With blushes reddening as she moves along,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Disorder'd at the deep regard she draws;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rough industry; activity untir'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With copious life inform'd, and all awake;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While in the radiant front, superior shines<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That first paternal virtue, public zeal—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who throws o'er all an equal wide survey,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, ever musing on the common weal,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still labors glorious with some great design.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Low walks the sun, and broadens by degrees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Just o'er the verge of day. The shifting clouds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Assembled gay, a richly gorgeous train,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In all their pomp attend his setting throne.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Air, earth, and ocean smile immense. And now<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As if his weary chariot sought the bowers<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Amphitritè and her tending nymphs,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(So Grecian fable sung) he dips his orb;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now half immers'd; and now a golden curve;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gives one bright glance, then total disappears</span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span><br /> +<span class="i1">Forever running an enchanted round,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Passes the day, deceitful, vain, and void;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As fleets the vision o'er the formful brain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This moment hurrying wild the impassion'd soul,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The next in nothing lost. 'Tis so to him,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The dreamer of this earth, an idle blank:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A sight of horror to the cruel wretch<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who, all day long in sordid pleasure roll'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Himself an useless load, has squander'd vile,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upon his scoundrel train, what might have cheer'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A drooping family of modest worth.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But to the generous still-improving mind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That gives the hopeless heart to sing for joy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Diffusing kind beneficence around,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Boastless, as now descends the silent dew—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To him the long review of order'd life<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is inward rapture, only to be felt.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Confess'd from yonder slow-extinguish'd clouds,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All ether softening, sober evening takes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her wonted station in the middle air;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A thousand shadows at her beck. First this<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She sends on earth; then that of deeper dye<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Steals soft behind, and then a deeper still,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In circle following circle, gathers round,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To close the face of things. A fresher gale<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Begins to wave the wood, and stir the stream,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sweeping with shadowy gust the fields of corn;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While the quail clamors for his running mate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wide o'er the thistly lawn, as swells the breeze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A whitening shower of vegetable down<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Amusive floats. The kind impartial care<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Nature naught disdains: thoughtful to feed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her lowest sons, and clothe the coming year,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From field to field the feather'd seeds she wings.</span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Illo19" id="Illo19"></a></p> +<div class="background" style="background-image: url(images/ill-1851-june-illo_19.jpg); width: 800px; height: 1128px"> +<p style="position: absolute; top: 433px; left: 275px; width: 800px"> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His folded flock secure, the shepherd home<br /></span> +Hies, merry-hearted; and by turns relieves<br /> +The ruddy milkmaid of her brimming pail;<br /> +The beauty whom perhaps his witless heart,<br /> +Unknowing what the joy-mix'd anguish means<br /> +Sincerely loves, by that best language shown<br /> +Of cordial glances and obliging deeds.<br /> +Onward they pass, o'er many a panting height,<br /> +And valley sunk, and unfrequented; where<br /> +At fall of eve the fairy people throng,</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> + +<div class="background" style="background-image: url(images/ill-1851-june-illo_20.jpg); width: 800px; height: 1090px"> +<p style="position: absolute; top: 499px; left: 175px; width: 800px"> +In various game and revelry to pass<br /> +The summer night, as village stories tell.<br /> +But far about they wander from the grave<br /> +Of him, whom his ungentle fortune urg'd<br /> +Against his own sad breast to lift the hand<br /> +Of impious violence. The lonely tower<br /> +Is also shunn'd; whose mournful chambers hold,<br /> +So night-struck fancy dreams, the yelling ghost.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Among the crooked lanes, on every hedge,<br /></span> +The glow-worm lights his gem; and, through the dark,<br /> +A moving radiance twinkles. Evening yields<br /> +The world to night; not in her winter robe<br /> +Of massy Stygian woof, but loose array'd<br /> +In mantle dun. A faint erroneous ray,<br /> +Glanc'd from the imperfect surfaces of things,<br /> +Flings half an image on the straining eye;<br /> +While wavering woods, and villages, and streams,<br /> +And rocks, and mountain tops, that long retain'd<br /> +The ascending gleam, are all one swimming scene,<br /> +Uncertain if beheld. Sudden to heaven<br /> +Thence weary vision turns; where, leading soft<br /> +The silent hours of love, with purest ray<br /> +Sweet Venus shines; and from her genial rise<br /> +When daylight sickens, till it springs afresh,<br /> +Unrival'd reigns, the fairest lamp of night.<br /> +As thus the effulgence tremulous I drink<br /> +With cherish'd gaze, the lambent lightnings shoot<br /> +Across the sky; or horizontal dart,<br /> +In wondrous shapes—by fearful murmuring crowds</p></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Portentous deem'd. Amid the radiant orbs<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That more than deck, that animate the sky,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The life-infusing suns of other worlds,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lo! from the dread immensity of space<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Returning, with accelerated course,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rushing cornet to the sun descends;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And as he sinks below the shading earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With awful train projected o'er the heavens,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The guilty nations tremble. But, above<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Those superstitious horrors that enslave<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The fond sequacious herd, to mystic faith<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And blind amazement prone, the enliven'd few,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose god-like minds philosophy exalts,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The glorious stranger hail. They feel a joy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Divinely great: they in their powers exult,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That wondrous force of thought which mounting spurns<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This dusky spot and measures all the sky,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While from his far excursion through the wilds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of barren ether, faithful to his time,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They see the blazing wonder rise anew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In seeming terror clad, but kindly bent<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To work the will of all sustaining Love;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From his huge vapory train perhaps to shake<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Reviving moisture on the numerous orbs<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through which his long ellipsis winds—perhaps<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To lend new fuel to declining suns,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To light up worlds, and feed eternal fire.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">With thee, serene philosophy, with thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thy bright garland, let me crown my song!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Effusive source of evidence, and truth!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A lustre shedding o'er the ennobled mind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stronger than summer noon; and pure as that<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose mild vibrations soothe the parted soul,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">New to the dawning of celestial day.</span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span><br /> +<span class="i0">Hence through her nourish'd powers, enlarg'd by thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She springs aloft, with elevated pride,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Above the tangling mass of low desires<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That bind the fluttering crowd; and, angel-wing'd.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The heights of science and of virtue gains,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where all is calm and clear; with nature round,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or in the starry regions, or the abyss,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To reason's and to fancy's eye display'd:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The first up-tracing, from the dreary void,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The chain of causes and effects to him,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The world-producing Essence, who alone<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Possesses being; while the last receives<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The whole magnificence of heaven and earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And every beauty, delicate or bold,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Obvious or more remote, with livelier sense,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Diffusive painted on the rapid mind.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Tutor'd by thee, hence poetry exalts<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her voice to ages; and informs the page<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With music, image, sentiment, and thought,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Never to die! the treasure of mankind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their highest honor, and their truest joy!<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Without thee, what were unenlighten'd man?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A savage roaming through the woods and wilds,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In quest of prey; and with the unfashion'd fur<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rough-clad; devoid of every finer art,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And elegance of life. Nor happiness<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Domestic, mix'd of tenderness and care,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor moral excellence, nor social bliss,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor guardian law, were his; nor various skill<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To turn the furrow, or to guide the tool<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mechanic; nor the heaven-conducted prow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of navigation bold, that fearless braves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The burning line or dares the wintry pole,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mother severe of infinite delights!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nothing, save rapine, indolence, and guile,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And woes on woes, a still revolving train!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose horrid circle had made human life<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than non-existence worse; but, taught by thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ours are the plans of policy and peace:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To live like brothers, and conjunctive all<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Embellish life. While thus laborious crowds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ply the tough oar, philosophy directs<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The ruling helm; or, like the liberal breath<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of potent heaven, invisible, the sail<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Swells out, and bears the inferior world along.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Nor to this evanescent speck of earth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Poorly confin'd—the radiant tracts on high<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are her exalted range; intent to gaze<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Creation through; and, from that full complex<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of never-ending wonders, to conceive<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the Sole Being right, who <i>spoke the word</i>,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And nature mov'd complete. With inward view<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thence on the ideal kingdom swift she turns<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her eye; and instant, at her powerful glance,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The obedient phantoms vanish or appear;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Compound, divide, and into order shift,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each to his rank, from plain perception up<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the fair forms of fancy's fleeting train;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To reason then, deducing truth from truth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And notion quite abstract; where first begins<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The world of spirits, action all, and life<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unfetter'd, and unmix'd. But here the cloud,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So wills Eternal Providence, sits deep.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Enough for us to know that this dark state,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In wayward passions lost, and vain pursuits,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This infancy of being, can not prove<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The final issue of the works of God,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By boundless Love and perfect Wisdom form'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And ever rising with the rising mind.</span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Illo21" id="Illo21"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 573px;"> +<img src="images/ill-1851-june-illo_21.jpg" width="573" height="600" alt="Philosophy directs the helm" title="" /> +</div> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE SIGHT OF AN ANGEL.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Tis to create, and in creating live<br /></span> +<span class="i1">A being more intense, that we endow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With form our fancy, gaining as we give<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The life we image.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The date of the year was—no matter what; +the day of the month was—no matter what; +when a great general undertook to perform a +great victory—a great statesman undertook to +pass a great political measure—a great diplomatist +undertook a most important mission—a +great admiral undertook the command of a great +fleet; all which great undertakings were commanded +by the very same great monarch of a very +great nation. At the same time did a great +nobleman give a great entertainment at a great +house, and a great beauty made a great many +great conquests. On the same day, in the same +year, in a very small room, in a very small +house, in a very small street, in a very small +town in Germany, did a very poor mason commence +a very rude carving on a very rough +stone. All the public journals of the day told +a thousand times over the names of the great +general, the great statesman, the great diplomatist, +the great admiral, and the great monarch; +all the fashionable papers of the day did the +same of the great nobleman, the great company, +and the great beauty: but none of them spoke +of poor Johan Schmit, of the little town of ——, +on the Rhine.</p> + +<p>Many years had passed away, and the date +of the year was—no matter what; but history +was telling of a great general who, with consummate +wisdom, courage, and skill, and at the +cost of numberless nameless lives, gained a +great victory, which determined the fate and +fortune of a great monarch and a great nation; +consequently affecting the fate and fortunes of +the world. It entered into minute detail of +how his forces were disposed; where lay the +right wing, where lay the left; where the cavalry +advanced, and how the infantry sustained +the attack; how the guns of the artillery played +upon the enemy's flank and rear; and how the +heavy dragoons rode down the routed forces, and +how, finally, the field was covered with the enemy's +dead and wounded, while so few of "our +own troops" were left for the kite and the carrion +crow. Then did history speak of the honors +that awaited and rewarded the triumphant +hero, of the clamorous homage of his grateful +country, and the approving smiles of his grateful +monarch; of the <i>fêtes</i>, the banquets, the +triumphal processions, all in his honor; of the +new titles, the lands, estates, and riches poured +upon him; of the state and luxury in which he +lived: until the tolling of every bell throughout +the kingdom, the eight-horse hearse, the mile-long +procession, the Dead March in "Saul," and +the volley over the grave, announced that a +public statue, on a column a hundred feet high, +in the largest square of the largest town, was +all that could now record the name of the +greatest general of the greatest nation in the +world.</p> + +<p>History then spoke of a great statesman who +on a certain day in a certain year, passed a certain +most important measure, affecting the interest +of a great nation, and consequently of +the whole world. It spoke of his wisdom and +foresight, the result of great intellect, energy +and labor, giving a biographic sketch of his +career from cradle to coffin; dismissing him +with a long eulogium on his talents, integrity, +and activity, and lamenting the loss such great +men were to their country. Then came the +name of the great diplomatist whose services +had been equally important, and who was dismissed +with a similar memoir and eulogium. +Then the great admiral, who lived through a +whole chapter all to himself, and had his name +brought in throughout the whole history of the +great monarch whose reign had been rendered +so brilliant by the great deeds of so many great +men. Of the great feast given by the great +nobleman, and the conquests of the great beauty, +there remains to this day a record, of the former +in the adulatory poems of his flatterers, though +the giver was gone—no matter where; of the +latter many fair portraits and many fond sonnets, +though the object had gone—no matter +where. But no scribe told the history, no +poet made a sonnet, no artist drew the portrait +of poor Johan Schmit, the mason, who made the +rude carving on the rough stone in the little +town of ——, on the Rhine. This task remains +for an historian as obscure as himself, who now +begins a rude carving on the rough stone of a +human life.</p> + +<p>After the example of the great historian already +alluded to, I shall touch but lightly on +the early history of my hero; merely stating +that thirty years before the present date, Johan +Schmit was born to Johan Schmit the elder, by +his wife Gretchen, after a similar presentation +of five others; that he got through the usual +maladies childhood is heir to, and was at the +age of fifteen apprenticed to Herman Schwartz, +a master-builder in the town of Bonn. There, +after some years of hod-carrying, mortar-spreading, +and stone-cutting—ascending steadily, both +literally and metaphorically, the ladder of his +profession—honest Johan took a prudent, diligent +woman to wife, who lost no time in making +him the father of three thriving heirs to his +house and his hod. Johan was in tolerably +good work, lived in the small house in the small +street already mentioned, and kept his family, +without much pinching on the part of the thrifty +Gertrude, in their beer, thick bread, and sauerkraut. +His work, his wife, his children, and his +two companions, Karl Vratz, and Caspar Katzheim, +with whom he drank very hoppy beer at +the "Gold Apfel," just round the corner of the +street, comprised the whole interests which +occupied the heart and brain of Johan Schmit, +of the little town of ——, on the Rhine. Johan +had no other idea in his head when he rose in +the morning than the day's work, the same as +it was yesterday, and would be to-morrow; no +other thought when he returned from it in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +evening than that Frudchen had his supper +ready for him, that little Wilhelm and Johan +would run to meet him, and that little Rosechen, +the baby, would crow out of her cradle at him, +if awake, and that after his supper he would +just walk down to the "Gold Apfel," and +smoke a pipe with Karl and Caspar as usual. +But Johan went to church occasionally with his +wife, going through his routine of crossings, +genuflexions, and sprinklings with holy water as +orderly as any man. He heard the priest speak +of doing his duty and obeying the church. +Johan believed he did both; his duty—hard +work—lay plainly before him; he was honest, +sober, and kind to his family, and had certainly +no idea or intention of disobeying the church. +Thus, in a monotonous task of hard labor for +daily bread and the support of an increasing +family, plodded contentedly away the life of +Johan Schmit of the little town of ——, on the +Rhine.</p> + +<p>But there is an era in the life of every one, +even the most plodding and homely; and so it +was with Johan Schmit. It happened one day +that he was sent for to repair a broken wall in +the château of the Count von Rosenheim, situated +not far from the town where Johan lived, on +the Rhine; and having completed his job, the +housekeeper (the count being absent) took the +poor mason through the splendid rooms as a +treat. Here he beheld what he had never seen +in his life before; velvet curtains, silken sofas, +crystal mirrors, gilded frames, paintings, and +sculpture; until his eyes were more dazzled +than they had been since the first time he +entered the cathedral of Bonn. But after gazing +his fill upon all this gorgeous spectacle, his +eyes happened to fall upon a small bronze +statuette of an angel, which the housekeeper +informed him was a copy of the Archangel +Michael, from some church, she knew not +where.</p> + +<p>Here was Johan arrested, and here would he +have stood forever; for, after looking upon this +angel, he saw nothing more: every thing vanished +from before him, and nothing remained +but the small bronze statuette. Johan had +seen plenty of angels before in the churches, +fresh-colored, chubby children, and he often +thought his own little Rosechen would look +just like them if she had wings; but this was +something far different. A youth under twenty, +and yet it gave no more idea of either age or +sex than of any other earthly condition. Clad +in what Johan supposed would represent luminous +scale-armor, something dazzling and transparent, +like what he had heard the priests call +the "armor of God"—the hands crossed upon +the bosom, the head slightly bowed, the attitude +so full of awe, obedience, and humility; and +yet what attitude of human pride or defiance +was half so lofty, so noble, so dignified? The +sword hung sheathed by the side, the long wings +folded; but the face—oh, how could he describe +that face, so full of high earnestness and holy +calm? so bright, so serious, so serene! He felt +awed, calmed, and elevated as he looked at +it.</p> + +<p>"You must go now," exclaimed Madame +Grossenberg; and Johan started from his reverie, +made his bow, replaced his paper cap, and went +home, with his head full of the angel instead of +his work. He saw it there instead of stout +Frudchen and the children, who climbed about, +and wondered at his abstraction. He went to +bed, and dreamed of the angel—glorified it +seemed to be—and, perhaps for the first time in +his life, recalled his dream, and saw the beautiful +vision before his waking eyes all the next +day at his work—even in the "Gold Apfel," +the most unlikely place for an angel; and again +when he closed his eyes to sleep. In short, the +angel became to him what his gold is to the +miser, his power is to the ambitious man, and +his mistress to the lover: he saw nothing else +in the whole world but the angel; and this now +filled the heart and brain of poor Johan Schmit, +of the little town of ——, on the Rhine.</p> + +<p>There are some things we desire to possess, +and other things we desire to produce; the +former is the feeling of the connoisseur and +collector: the latter, of the artist. The first +requires taste and money; the latter—we won't +say what it requires, or what it evinces, for +enough has been said on the subject already. +Johan Schmit had no money; taste he must +have had, or he could not have admired the +angel; he was no artist, certainly; he had +never drawn a line, or cut any thing but a +stone in his life; and yet he felt he must do +something about that angel. He saw it so +plainly and so constantly before him, that he +felt he could copy it, if he only knew how. +Now, as he could not draw, he could not copy +it in that manner; but as he could cut stone, +no matter how hard, he did not see why he +might not attempt to cut the angel upon a +large stone, which he procured, and brought +quietly up to a small garret at the top of his +house for that purpose.</p> + +<p>It was at this time that the general, the +statesman, the diplomatist, and the admiral, +all severally planned their great undertakings; +and it was at this time that a strange thought +passed through the brain of Johan Schmit, as +he sate looking at the great rough stone before +him. Johan was, as we have seen, quite an +uneducated man; he hardly knew enough of +writing to spell his own name; and as to reading, +he had never looked into a book since he +left school, at the age of twelve; he therefore +hardly knew the nature of his own ideas. His +thoughts, never arranged, were but like vague +sensations passing through his mind, which he +could not define; but if he could have defined +them they would have taken something like the +following expression:</p> + +<p>The angel seemed to have awakened a new +world within him; not that he thought of the +legend of the Archangel Michael, which he had +heard long ago, and forgotten; but of the first +idea of the artist who designed that particular<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +angel: what must have been his thoughts! +what image must he have had before him as he +made that form grow from the marble block +into living beauty! Whence could such an +idea have come? It must surely have been a +visitation from God—a spark of his own creative +power. And how must the artist have felt as, +day by day and hour by hour, he saw his work +developing and perfecting before him, until at +last it stood up, a sight to make men wonder +and almost worship—an embodiment of all that +was pure, lofty, and holy. Then came the contrast +of his own sordid work, so low, so slave-like, +so brute-like. What human idea could be +put into hod-carrying, mortar-spreading, and +stone-cutting? Could not an animal or a +machine do as much? For the first time, perhaps, +in his life, Johan felt that he had a soul +not to be bounded by the limits of his work or +the daily necessities of existence; and in his +rough way he asked himself: How can the +higher aspirations of that soul be reflected in +man's every-day life? and whether a human +mind should be bounded by the narrow routine +of plodding toil, for the supplying of common +wants? And all these thoughts, vague, unformed, +a dim and undefined sense of something, +passed through Johan's brain as he sate cutting +away at the stone, and trying to form the angel +in his little garret, in the little town of ——, +on the Rhine. Patiently he labored at it after +his day's work was over; patiently he bore all +his failures, when he saw in the indistinct outline +that the angel's arm was too short, its right +leg crooked, its wings shapeless, and its head, +instead of bending gracefully, stuck upon its +breast like an excrescence; patiently he bore +the scoldings of his wife for his dullness and +abstraction, and the tricks of his children to +arouse him; patiently he listened to the remonstrances +of Karl and Caspar, for his bad companionship +at the "Gold Apfel;" and patiently +he bore the still more serious remonstrances of +his master, at the careless and negligent manner +in which he often performed his work, when a +vision of the angel chanced to flit with more +than usual vividness before him. Time wore +on; and if Johan did not progress rapidly with +his angel, Gertrude was far more active and +diligent in presenting him with images in +another material, and urging loudly at the same +time the necessity of working hard for an increasing +family. Poor Gertrude: she was a +good woman, and loved her husband without +understanding him; but she had a quick temper, +and was what is commonly called a shrew. +She thought Johan wanted rousing; and to +rouse him she rated him: he bore it all patiently, +and thought of the angel—it was +strange how that angel soothed and consoled +him! Caspar, his fellow-workman, fell from a +scaffold, and broke his leg. Caspar, too, had a +wife and children: Johan undertook his work—he +worked double hours, and divided his wages +with Caspar.</p> + +<p>Karl revealed to him in confidence over his +pipe at the "Gold Apfel," that he was in debt, +and had been threatened with a jail: Johan +lent him the money unknown to Gertrude, and +worked hard to make it up; as he knew Karl +could never pay him.</p> + +<p>He had now no time to work at the angel; +and time was going on with him. By his little +broken looking-glass he could see his beard +growing gray; but strange to say, the angel, +though less distinct in form than when he saw +it, was still firmly fixed in his memory; and +though it seemed to be etherialized, he could +always call up its image before him; and still, +every moment he could spare, did he hasten to +his garret, and cut away at the rough stone. +But these hours were stolen from his natural +rest, and nature punished the theft; his strength +visibly declined. Yet he could not abandon his +work—and this not from any ambitious ideas +of its success, for he never dreamed of succeeding—he +felt his own inability too much to hope +for it;—but there was something in the exercise +of will, mind, and heart—something which +seemed to elevate him in spite of himself, while +at his employment, that balanced all other feelings +of disappointment and weariness, making +him a happier—no, that is not the word, but a +nobler—man. And now Johan Schmit had +contrived to apprentice his eldest son, send his +second to school, pay the doctor's long bill for +two children, and bury another; besides having +helped Caspar during his illness, and paid +Karl's debt. Thrifty Gertrude managed to +keep things together; and in her cleaning and +bustling had no time to observe the wan face +and wasted frame of her husband. The stone +had been gradually cut into a form which was +nearly as shapeless as before Johan touched it; +and yet, to his eyes, it did bear some rude resemblance +to the angel of his inspiration—which +appeared before his eyes so vividly as he +returned from an unusually-long and hard day's +work to his home, that he thought he could just +put one or two finishing strokes before going to +bed which would recall his dimly-remembered +model. Without touching supper or pipe, he +embraced his wife and children, and went to his +garret. He looked long on the rude block before +him, and then took up his hammer and +chisel to complete his work. After two or three +attempts, an unwonted languor stole over him; +the tools dropped from his hands, and he worked +no more; but the vision of the angel before his +eyes grew stronger and stronger, and of something +brighter and more glorious than the angel, +but he did not attempt to carve it.</p> + +<p>In the early morning Gertrude awoke, and +was surprised not to see her husband. Thinking +he might have risen to his work earlier than +usual, she arose and went down stairs; the +door was bolted, and there were no signs of +Johan. She called; no answer: then, becoming +alarmed, she roused the children to look for +him. The small house was soon searched, but +no Johan discovered; when Wilhelm, remembering +the garret he had seen his father steal away<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +into, ascended the ladder leading to it—and +there, on his knees, his head resting on the rude +block of stone, lay the lifeless body of Johan +Schmit. The last thing his eyes beheld on +earth was <i>that</i> angel;—but who can say on +what vision they opened.</p> + +<p>His wife and children removed to Bonn, to +her father; who had saved money, and promised +to take care of them. His body was laid in +the little cemetery of the little town: his widow +placed a wooden cross at the head of his grave, +which in time, rotted and fell down; so that the +place is now left unmarked by any thing. That +stone, on which a human heart had carved +itself out, was broken up to mend the town +wall. And thus, while a large marble slab, +with a long inscription, covers the remains of +the great general, the great statesman, the +great diplomatist, the great admiral, the great +nobleman, and the great beauty—not even a +piece of wood or a block of stone tells of the +mere existence of poor Johan Schmit, of the +little town of ——, on the Rhine.</p> + +<p>They could work out their idea of life, and +the objects for which it was given, by their successful +dedication of it to pride, ambition, vanity, +and coquetry. <i>He</i> could not; but who can +tell what effect that futile effort, that unknown +and profitless toil, may have had upon the fate +of his soul where it now is?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>MAURICE TIERNAY, THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h2> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXIX.</h3> + +<h4>"THE BREAKFAST AT LETTERKENNY."</h4> + +<p>Early the next morning, a messenger arrived +from the Cranagh, with a small packet +of my clothes and effects, and a farewell letter +from the two brothers. I had but time to +glance over its contents, when the tramp of +feet and the buzz of voices in the street attracted +me to the window, and on looking out +I saw a long line of men, two abreast, who +were marching along as prisoners, a party of +dismounted dragoons, keeping guard over them +on either side, followed by a strong detachment +of marines. The poor fellows looked sad and +crest-fallen enough. Many of them wore bandages +on their heads and limbs, the tokens of +the late struggle. Immediately in front of the +inn door stood a group of about thirty persons; +they were the staff of the English force and the +officers of our fleet, all mingled together, and +talking away with the greatest air of unconcern. +I was struck by remarking that all our +seamen, though prisoners, saluted the officers +as they passed, and in the glances interchanged +I thought I could read a world of sympathy and +encouragement. As for the officers, like true +Frenchmen, they bore themselves as though it +were one of the inevitable chances of war, and, +however vexatious for the moment, not to be +thought of as an event of much importance. +The greater number of them belonged to the +army, and I could see the uniforms of the staff, +artillery, and dragoons, as well as the less distinguished +costume of the line.</p> + +<p>Perhaps they carried the affectation of indifference +a little too far, and in the lounging ease +of their attitude, and the cool unconcern with +which they puffed their cigars, displayed an +over-anxiety to seem unconcerned. That the +English were piqued at their bearing was still +more plain to see; and indeed in the sullen +looks of the one and the careless gayety of the +other party, a stranger might readily have mistaken +the captor for the captive.</p> + +<p>My two friends of the evening before were in +the midst of the group. He who had questioned +me so sharply now wore a general officer's +uniform, and seemed to be the chief in command. +As I watched him, I heard him addressed +by an officer, and now saw that he was +no other than Lord Cavan himself, while the +other was a well-known magistrate and country +gentleman, Sir George Hill.</p> + +<p>The sad procession took almost half an hour +to defile; and then came a long string of country +cars and carts, with sea chests and other +stores belonging to our officers, and, last of all, +some eight or ten ammunition wagons and gun +carriages, over which an English union-jack +now floated in token of conquest.</p> + +<p>There was nothing like exultation or triumph +exhibited by the peasantry as this pageant +passed by. They gazed in silent wonderment +at the scene, looked like men that scarcely knew +whether the result boded more of good or evil +to their own fortunes. While keenly scrutinizing +the looks and bearing of the bystanders I +received a summons to meet the general and +his party at breakfast.</p> + +<p>Although the occurrence was one of the most +pleasurable incidents of my life, which brought +me once more into intercourse with my comrades +and my countrymen, I should perhaps +pass it over with slight mention, were it not +that it made me witness to a scene which has +since been recorded in various different ways, +but of whose exact details I profess to be an +accurate narrator.</p> + +<p>After making a tour of the room, saluting +my comrades, answering questions here, putting +others there, I took my place at the long table, +which, running the whole length of the apartment, +was indiscriminately occupied by French +and English, and found myself with my back +to the fire-place, and having directly in front of +me a man of about thirty-three or four years of +age, dressed in the uniform of a chef de brigade; +light-haired and blue-eyed, he bore no resemblance +whatever to those around him, whose +dark faces and black beards, proclaimed them of +a foreign origin. There was an air of mildness +in his manner, mingled with a certain impetuosity +that betrayed itself in the rapid glances of +his eye, and I could plainly mark that while the +rest were perfectly at their ease, he was constrained, +restless, watching eagerly every thing +that went forward about him, and showing +unmistakably a certain anxiety and distrust<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +widely differing from the gay and careless indifference +of his comrades. I was curious to +hear his name, and on asking, learned that he +was the Chef de Brigade Smith, an Irishman +by birth, but holding a command in the French +service.</p> + +<p>I had but asked the question, when pushing +back his chair from the table, he arose suddenly, +and stood stiff and erect, like a soldier +on the parade.</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, I hope you are satisfied with your +inspection of me," cried he, and sternly addressing +himself to some one behind my back. I +turned and perceived it was Sir George Hill, +who stood in front of the fire, leaning on his +stick. Whether he replied or not to this rude +speech I am unable to say, but the other walked +leisurely round the table, and came directly in +front of him. "You know me <i>now</i>, sir, I presume," +said he, in the same imperious voice, +"or else this uniform has made a greater +change in my appearance than I knew of."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Tone!" said Sir George, in a voice +scarcely above a whisper.</p> + +<p>"Ay, sir, Wolfe Tone; there is no need of +secrecy here; Wolfe Tone, your old college acquaintance +in former times, but now chef de +brigade in the service of France."</p> + +<p>"This is a very unexpected, a very unhappy +meeting, Mr. Tone," said Hill, feelingly; "I +sincerely wish you had not recalled the memory +of our past acquaintance. <i>My</i> duty gives me +no alternative."</p> + +<p>"Your duty, or I mistake much, can have no +concern with me, sir," cried Tone, in a more +excited voice.</p> + +<p>"I ask for nothing better than to be sure of +this, Mr. Tone," said Sir George, moving slowly +toward the door.</p> + +<p>"You would treat me like an emigré rentré," +cried Tone, passionately; "but I am a French +subject and a French officer."</p> + +<p>"I shall be well satisfied if others take the +same view of your case, I assure you," said Hill, +as he gained the door.</p> + +<p>"You'll not find me unprepared for either +event, sir," rejoined Tone, following him out of +the room, and banging the door angrily behind +him.</p> + +<p>For a moment or two the noise of voices was +heard from without, and several of the guests, +English and French, rose from the table, eagerly +inquiring what had occurred, and asking for an +explanation of the scene, when suddenly the +door was flung wide open, and Tone appeared +between two policemen, his coat off, and his +wrists inclosed in handcuffs.</p> + +<p>"Look here, comrades," he cried in French; +"this is another specimen of English politeness +and hospitality. After all," added he, with a +bitter laugh, "they have no designation in all +their heraldry as honorable as these fetters, +when worn for the cause of freedom! Good-by, +comrades; we may never meet again, but +don't forget how we parted!"</p> + +<p>These were the last words he uttered, when +the door was closed, and he was led forward +under charge of a strong force of police and +military. A post-chaise was soon seen to pass +the windows at speed, escorted by dragoons, and +we saw no more of our comrade.</p> + +<p>The incident passed even more rapidly than +I write it. The few words spoken, the hurried +gestures, the passionate exclamations, are yet +all deeply graven on my memory; and I can +recall every little incident of the scene, and +every feature of the locality wherein it occurred. +With true French levity many reseated themselves +at the breakfast-table; while others, with +perhaps as little feeling, but more of curiosity, +discussed the event, and sought for an explanation +of its meaning.</p> + +<p>"Then what's to become of Tiernay," cried +one, "if it be so hard to throw off this 'coil of +Englishman?' <i>His</i> position may be just as +precarious."</p> + +<p>"That is exactly what has occurred," said +Lord Cavan; "a warrant for his apprehension +has just been put into my hands, and I deeply +regret that the duty should violate that of hospitality, +and make my guest my prisoner."</p> + +<p>"May I see this warrant, my lord?" asked I.</p> + +<p>"Certainly, sir. Here it is; and here is the +information on oath through which it was +issued, sworn to before three justices of the +peace by a certain Joseph Dowall, late an +officer in the rebel forces, but now a pardoned +approver of the Crown; do you remember such +a man, sir?"</p> + +<p>I bowed, and he went on.</p> + +<p>"He would seem a precious rascal; but such +characters become indispensable in times like +these. After all, M. Tiernay, my orders are +only to transmit you to Dublin under safe escort, +and there is nothing either in <i>my</i> duty or in <i>your</i> +position to occasion any feeling, of unpleasantness +between <i>us</i>. Let us have a glass of wine +together."</p> + +<p>I responded to this civil proposition with +politeness, and after a slight interchange of +leave-takings with some of my newly-found +comrades, I set out for Derry on a jaunting-car, +accompanied by an officer and two policemen, +affecting to think very little of a circumstance +which, in reality, the more I reflected over the +more serious I deemed it.</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER XXX.</h3> + +<h4>A SCENE IN THE ROYAL BARRACKS.</h4> + +<p>It would afford me little pleasure to write, +and doubtless my readers less to read my lucubrations, +as I journeyed along toward Dublin. +My thoughts seldom turned from myself and +my own fortunes, nor were they cheered by the +scenes through which I traveled. The season +was a backward and wet one, and the fields, +partly from this cause, and partly from the +people being engaged in the late struggle, lay +untilled and neglected. Groups of idle, lounging +peasants stood in the villages, or loitered on +the high roads, as we passed, sad, ragged-looking,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +and wretched. They seemed as if they had +no heart to resume their wonted life of labor, +but were waiting for some calamity to close their +miserable existence. Strongly in contrast with +this were the air and bearing of the yeomanry +and militia detachments, with whom we occasionally +came up. Quite forgetting how little +creditable to some of them, at least, were the +events of the late campaign, they gave themselves +the most intolerable airs of heroism, and +in their drunken jollity, and reckless abandonment, +threatened, I know not what—utter ruin +to France and all Frenchmen. Bonaparte was +the great mark of all their sarcasms, and, from +some cause or other, seemed to enjoy a most disproportioned +share of their dislike and derision.</p> + +<p>At first it required some effort of constraint +on my part to listen to this ribaldry in silence; +but prudence, and a little sense, taught me the +safer lesson of "never minding," and so I +affected to understand nothing that was said +in a spirit of insult or offense.</p> + +<p>On the night of the 7th of November we +drew nigh to Dublin; but instead of entering +the capital, we halted at a small village outside +of it called Chapelizod. Here a house +had been fitted up for the reception of French +prisoners, and I found myself, if not in company, +at least under the same roof with my +countrymen.</p> + +<p>Nearer intercourse than this, however, I was +not destined to enjoy, for early on the following +morning I was ordered to set out for the Royal +Barracks, to be tried before a court-martial. It +was on a cold, raw morning, with a thin, drizzly +rain falling, that we drove into the barrack-yard, +and drew up at the mess-room, then used +for the purposes of a court. As yet none of +the members had assembled, and two or three +mess-waiters were engaged in removing the +signs of last night's debauch, and restoring a +semblance of decorum to a very rackety-looking +apartment. The walls were scrawled over +with absurd caricatures, in charcoal or ink, +of notorious characters of the capital, and a +very striking "battle-piece" commemorated the +"Races of Castlebar," as that memorable action +was called, in a spirit, I am bound to say, +of little flattery to the British arms. There +were to be sure little compensatory illustrations +here and there of French cavalry in Egypt, +mounted on donkeys, or revolutionary troops on +parade, ragged as scarecrows, and ill-looking as +highwaymen; but a most liberal justice characterized +all these frescoes, and they treated +both Trojan and Tyrian alike.</p> + +<p>I had abundant time given me to admire +them, for although summoned for seven o'clock, +it was nine before the first officer of the court-martial +made his appearance, and he having +popped in his head, and perceiving the room +empty; sauntered out again, and disappeared. +At last a very noisy jaunting-car rattled into +the square, and a short, red-faced man was assisted +down from it, and entered the mess-room. +This was Mr. Peters, the Deputy Judge Advocate, +whose presence was the immediate signal +for the others, who now came dropping in from +every side, the President, a Colonel Daly, arriving +the last.</p> + +<p>A few tradespeople, loungers, it seemed to me, +of the barrack, and some half-dozen non-commissioned +officers off duty, made up the public; +and I could not but feel a sense of my insignificance +in the utter absence of interest my fate +excited. The listless indolence and informality, +too, offended and insulted me; and when the +President politely told me to be seated, for they +were obliged to wait for some books or papers +left behind at his quarters, I actually was indignant +at his coolness.</p> + +<p>As we thus waited, the officers gathered +around the fire-place, chatting and laughing +pleasantly together, discussing the social events +of the capital, and the gossip of the day; every +thing, in fact, but the case of the individual on +whose future fate they were about to decide.</p> + +<p>At length the long-expected books made their +appearance, and a few well-thumbed volumes +were spread over the table, behind which the +Court took their places, Colonel Daly in the centre, +with the Judge upon his left.</p> + +<p>The members being sworn, the Judge Advocate +arose, and in a hurried, humdrum kind of +voice, read out what purported to be the commission +under which I was to be tried; the +charge being, whether I had or had not acted +treacherously and hostilely to his Majesty, whose +natural born subject I was, being born in that +kingdom, and, consequently, owing to him all +allegiance and fidelity. "Guilty or not guilty, +sir?"</p> + +<p>"The charge is a falsehood; I am a Frenchman," +was my answer.</p> + +<p>"Have respect for the Court, sir," said +Peters; "you mean that you are a French +officer, but by birth an Irishman."</p> + +<p>"I mean no such thing;—that I am French +by birth, as I am in feeling—that I never saw +Ireland till within a few months back, and +heartily wish I had never seen it."</p> + +<p>"So would General Humbert, too, perhaps," +said Daly, laughing; and the Court seemed to +relish the jest.</p> + +<p>"Where were you born, then, Tiernay?"</p> + +<p>"In Paris, I believe."</p> + +<p>"And your mother's name, what was it?"</p> + +<p>"I never knew; I was left an orphan when +a mere infant, and can tell little of my family."</p> + +<p>"Your father was Irish, then?"</p> + +<p>"Only by descent. I have heard that we +came from a family who bore the title of 'Timmahoo'—Lord +Tiernay of Timmahoo."</p> + +<p>"There was such a title," interposed Peters; +"it was one of King James's last creations after +his flight from the Boyne. Some, indeed, assert +that it was conferred before the battle. What +a strange coincidence, to find the descendant, if +he be such, laboring in something like the same +cause as his ancestor."</p> + +<p>"What's your rank, sir?" asked a sharp, +severe-looking man, called Major Flood.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> + +<p>"First Lieutenant of Hussars."</p> + +<p>"And is it usual for a boy of your years to +hold that rank; or was there any thing peculiar +in your case that obtained the promotion?"</p> + +<p>"I served in two campaigns, and gained my +grade regularly."</p> + +<p>"Your Irish blood, then, had no share in your +advancement?" asked he again.</p> + +<p>"I am a Frenchman, as I said before," was +my answer.</p> + +<p>"A Frenchman, who lays claim to an Irish +estate and an Irish title," replied Flood. "Let +us hear Dowall's statement."</p> + +<p>And now, to my utter confusion, a man made +his way to the table, and, taking the book from +the Judge Advocate, kissed it in token of an +oath.</p> + +<p>"Inform the Court of any thing you know in +connection with the prisoner," said the Judge.</p> + +<p>And the fellow, not daring even to look +toward me, began a long, rambling, unconnected +narrative of his first meeting with me at Killala, +affecting that a close intimacy had subsisted +between us, and that in the faith of a confidence, +I had told him how, being an Irishman by birth, +I had joined the expedition in the hope that +with the expulsion of the English I should be +able to re-establish my claim to my family rank +and fortune. There was little coherence in his +story, and more than one discrepant statement +occurred in it; but the fellow's natural stupidity +imparted a wonderful air of truth to the narrative, +and I was surprised how naturally it sounded +even to my own ears, little circumstances of +truth being interspersed through the recital, as +though to season the falsehood into a semblance +of fact.</p> + +<p>"What have you to reply to this, Tiernay?" +asked the Colonel.</p> + +<p>"Simply, sir, that such a witness, were his +assertions even more consistent and probable, is +utterly unworthy of credit. This fellow was +one of the greatest marauders of the rebel army: +and the last exercise of authority I ever witnessed +by General Humbert was an order to drive him +out of the town of Castlebar."</p> + +<p>"Is this the notorious Town-Major Dowall?" +asked an officer of artillery.</p> + +<p>"The same, sir."</p> + +<p>"I can answer, then, for his being one of the +greatest rascals unhanged," rejoined he.</p> + +<p>"This is all very irregular, gentlemen," interposed +the Judge Advocate; "the character of a +witness can not be impugned by what is mere +desultory conversation. Let Dowall withdraw."</p> + +<p>The man retired, and now a whispered conversation +was kept up at the table for about a +quarter of an hour, in which I could distinctly +separate those who befriended from those who +opposed me, the Major being the chief of the +latter party. One speech of his which I overheard +made a slight impression on me, and for +the first time suggested uneasiness regarding +the event.</p> + +<p>"Whatever you do with this lad must have +an immense influence on Tone's trial. Don't +forget that if you acquit him you'll be sorely +puzzled to convict the other."</p> + +<p>The Colonel promptly overruled this unjust +suggestion, and maintained that in my accent, +manner, and appearance, there was every evidence +of my French origin.</p> + +<p>"Let Wolfe Tone stand upon his own merits," +said he, "but let us not mix this case with his."</p> + +<p>"I'd have treated every man who landed to +a rope," exclaimed the Major, "Humbert himself +among the rest. It was pure 'brigandage,' +and nothing less."</p> + +<p>"I hope if I escape, sir, that it will never be +my fortune to see you a prisoner of France," +said I, forgetting all in my indignation.</p> + +<p>"If my voice have any influence, young man, +that opportunity is not likely to occur to you," +was the reply.</p> + +<p>This ungenerous speech found no sympathy +with the rest, and I soon saw that the Major +represented a small minority in the Court.</p> + +<p>The want of my commission, or of any document +suitable to my rank or position in the service, +was a great drawback; for I had given all +my papers to Humbert, and had nothing to substantiate +my account of myself. I saw how unfavorably +this acknowledgement was taken by +the Court; and when I was ordered to withdraw +that they might deliberate, I own that I felt +great misgivings as to the result.</p> + +<p>The deliberation was a long, and as I could +overhear, a strongly disputed one. Dowall was +twice called in for examination, and when he +retired on the last occasion, the discussion grew +almost stormy.</p> + +<p>As I stood thus awaiting my fate, the public, +now removed from the Court, pressed eagerly to +look at me; and while some thronged the door-way, +and even pressed against the sentry, others +crowded at the window to peep in. Among +these faces, over which my eye ranged in half +vacancy, one face struck me, for the expression +of sincere sympathy and interest it bore. It +was that of a middle-aged man of an humble +walk in life, whose dress bespoke him from the +country. There was nothing in his appearance +to have called for attention or notice, and at +any other time I should have passed him over +without remark, but now, as his features betokened +a feeling almost verging on anxiety, I +could not regard him without interest.</p> + +<p>Whichever way my eyes turned, however my +thoughts might take me off, whenever I looked +toward him, I was sure to find his gaze steadily +bent upon me, and with an expression quite distinct +from mere curiosity. At last came the +summons for me to reappear before the Court, +and the crowd opened to let me pass in.</p> + +<p>The noise, the anxiety of the moment, and +the movement of the people confused me at first, +and when I recovered self-possession, I found +that the Judge Advocate was reciting the charge +under which I was tried. There were three distinct +counts, on each of which the Court pronounced +me "<span class="smcap">Not Guilty</span>," but at the same +time qualifying the finding by the additional<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +words—"by a majority of two;" thus showing +me that my escape had been a narrow one.</p> + +<p>"As a prisoner of war," said the President, +"you will now receive the same treatment as +your comrades of the same rank. Some have +been already exchanged, and some have given +bail for their appearance to answer any future +charges against them."</p> + +<p>"I am quite ready, sir, to accept my freedom +on parole," said I; "of course, in a country +where I am an utter stranger, bail is out of the +question."</p> + +<p>"I'm willing to bail him, your worship; I'll +take it on me to be surety for him," cried a +coarse, husky voice from the body of the court; +and at the same time a man dressed in a great +coat of dark frieze pressed through the crowd +and approached the table.</p> + +<p>"And who are you, my good fellow, so ready +to impose yourself on the Court?" asked Peters.</p> + +<p>"I'm a farmer of eighty acres of land, from +the Black Pits, near Baldoyle, and the Adjutant +there, Mr. Moore, knows me well."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the Adjutant, "I have known +you some years, as supplying forage to the +cavalry, and always heard you spoken of as +honest and trust-worthy."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Mr. Moore; that's as much as +I want."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but it's not as much as <i>we</i> want, my +worthy man," said Peters; "we require to know +that you are a solvent and respectable person."</p> + +<p>"Come out and see my place then; ride over +the land and look at my stock; ask my neighbors +my character; find out if there's any thing +against me."</p> + +<p>"We prefer to leave all that trouble on <i>your</i> +shoulders," said Peters; "show us that we +may accept your surety and we'll entertain the +question at once."</p> + +<p>"How much is it?" asked he, eagerly.</p> + +<p>"We demanded five hundred pounds for a +Major on the staff; suppose we say two, Colonel, +is that sufficient?" asked Peters of the President.</p> + +<p>"I should say quite enough," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"There's eighty of it any way," said the +farmer, producing a dirty roll of bank notes, +and throwing them on the table; "I got them +from Mr. Murphy in Smithfield this morning, +and I'll get twice as much more from him for +asking; so if your honors will wait 'till I come +back, I'll not be twenty minutes away."</p> + +<p>"But we can't take your money, my man; +we have no right to touch it."</p> + +<p>"Then what are ye talking about two hundred +pounds for?" asked he, sternly.</p> + +<p>"We want your promise to pay in the event +of this bail being broken."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see, it's all the same thing in the end; +I'll do it either way."</p> + +<p>"We'll accept Mr. Murphy's guarantee for +your solvency," said Peters; "obtain that and +you can sign the bond at once."</p> + +<p>"Faith I'll get it sure enough, and be here +before you've the writing drawn out;" said he, +buttoning up his coat.</p> + +<p>"What name are we to insert in the bond?"</p> + +<p>"Tiernay, sir."</p> + +<p>"That's the prisoner's name, but we want +yours."</p> + +<p>"Mine's Tiernay too, sir, Pat Tiernay of the +Black Pits."</p> + +<p>Before I could recover from my surprise at +this announcement he had left the Court, which, +in a few minutes afterward, broke up, a clerk +alone remaining to fill up the necessary documents +and complete the bail-bond.</p> + +<p>The Colonel, as well as two others of his +officers, pressed me to join them at breakfast, +but I declined, resolving to wait for my name-sake's +return, and partake of no other hospitality +than his.</p> + +<p>It was near one o'clock when he returned, +almost worn out with fatigue, since he had +been in pursuit of Mr. Murphy for several hours, +and only came upon him by chance at last. +His business, however, he had fully accomplished; +the bail-bond was duly drawn out and +signed, and I left the barrack in a state of happiness +very different from the feeling with which +I had entered it that day.</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER XXXI.</h3> + +<h4>A BRIEF CHANGE OF LIFE AND COUNTRY.</h4> + +<p>My new acquaintance never ceased to congratulate +himself on what he called the lucky +accident that had led him to the barracks that +morning, and thus brought about our meeting. +"Little as you think of me, my dear," said he, +"I'm one of the Tiernays of Timmahoo myself; +faix, until I saw you, I thought I was the last +of them! There are eight generations of us in +the church-yard at Kells, and I was looking to +the time when they'd lay my bones there, as +the last of the race, but I see there's better fortune +before us."</p> + +<p>"But you have a family I hope?"</p> + +<p>"Sorrow one belonging to me. I might have +married when I was young, but there was a +pride in me to look for something higher than I +had any right, except from blood, I mean; for a +better stock than our own isn't to be found; +and that's the way years went over and I lost +the opportunity, and here I am now an old +bachelor, without one to stand to me, barrin' it +be yourself."</p> + +<p>The last words were uttered with a tremulous +emotion, and on turning toward him I saw his +eyes swimming with tears, and perceived that +some strong feeling was working within him.</p> + +<p>"You can't suppose I can ever forget what I +owe you, Mr. Tiernay."</p> + +<p>"Call me Pat, Pat Tiernay," interrupted he, +roughly.</p> + +<p>"I'll call you what you please," said I, "if +you let me add friend to it."</p> + +<p>"That's enough; we understand one another +now, no more need be said; you'll come home +and live with me. It's not long, maybe, you'll +have to do that same; but when I go you'll be +heir to what I have: 'tis more, perhaps, than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +many supposes, looking at the coat and the +gaiters I'm wearin'. Mind, Maurice, I don't +want you, nor I don't expect you to turn farmer +like myself. You need never turn a hand to +any thing. You'll have your horse to ride—two +if you like it. Your time will be all your own, +so that you spend a little of it, now and then, +with me, and as much divarsion as ever you +care for."</p> + +<p>I have condensed into a few words the substance +of a conversation which lasted till we +reached Baldoyle; and passing through that not +over-imposing village, gained the neighborhood +of the sea-shore, along which stretched the farm +of the "Black Pits," a name derived, I was +told, from certain black holes that were dug in +the sands by fishermen in former times, when +the salt tide washed over the pleasant fields +where corn was now growing. A long, low, +thatched cabin, with far more indications of +room and comfort than pretension to the picturesque, +stood facing the sea. There were neither +trees nor shrubs around it, and the aspect of +the spot was bleak and cheerless enough, a +coloring a dark November day did nothing to +dispel.</p> + +<p>It possessed one charm, however, and had it +been a hundred times inferior to what it was, +<i>that</i> one would have compensated for all else—hearty +welcome met me at the door, and the +words, "This is your home, Maurice," filled my +heart with happiness.</p> + +<p>Were I to suffer myself to dwell even in +thought on this period of my life, I feel how insensibly +I should be led away into an inexcusable +prolixity. The little meaningless incidents of +my daily life, all so engraven on my memory +still, occupied me pleasantly from day till night. +Not only the master of myself and my own +time, I was master of every thing around me. +Uncle Pat, as he loved to call himself, treated +me with a degree of respect that was almost +painful to me, and only when we were alone +together, did he relapse into the intimacy of +equality. Two first-rate hunters stood in my +stable; a stout-built half-deck boat lay at my +command beside the quay; I had my gun and +my grayhounds; books, journals; every thing, +in short, that a liberal purse and a kind spirit +could confer—all but acquaintance. Of these +I possessed absolutely none. Too proud to descend +to intimacy with the farmers and small +shopkeepers of the neighborhood, my position +excluded me from acquaintance with the gentry; +and thus I stood between both, unknown to +either.</p> + +<p>For a while my new career was too absorbing +to suffer me to dwell on this circumstance. +The excitement of field sports sufficed me when +abroad, and I came home usually so tired at +night that I could barely keep awake to amuse +Uncle Pat with those narratives of war and campaigning +he was so fond of hearing. To the +hunting-field succeeded the Bay of Dublin, and +I passed days, even weeks, exploring every creek +and inlet of the coast; now cruising under the +dark cliffs of the Welsh shore, or, while my boat +lay at anchor, wandering among the solitary +valleys of Lambay; my life, like a dream full +of its own imaginings, and unbroken by the +thoughts or feelings of others! I will not go +the length of saying that I was self-free from +all reproach on the inglorious indolence in which +my days were passed, or that my thoughts +never strayed away to that land where my first +dreams of ambition were felt. But a strange +fatuous kind of languor had grown upon me, +and the more I retired within myself, the less did +I wish for a return to that struggle with the +world which every active life engenders. Perhaps—I +can not now say if it were so—perhaps +I resented the disdainful distance with which +the gentry treated me, as we met in the hunting-field +or the coursing-ground. Some of the isolation +I preferred may have had this origin, but +choice had the greater share in it, until at last +my greatest pleasure was to absent myself for +weeks on a cruise, fancying that I was exploring +tracts never visited by man, and landing on +spots where no human foot had ever been known +to tread.</p> + +<p>If Uncle Pat would occasionally remonstrate +on the score of these long absences, he never +ceased to supply means for them, and my sea +store and a well-filled purse were never wanting, +when the blue Peter floated from "La +Hoche," as in my ardor I had named my cutter. +Perhaps at heart he was not sorry to see me +avoid the capital and its society. The bitterness +which had succeeded the struggle for independence +was now at its highest point, and there +was what, to my thinking at least, appeared +something like the cruelty of revenge in the +sentences which followed the state trials. I +will not suffer myself to stray into the debatable +ground of politics, nor dare I give an opinion on +matters, where, with all the experience of fifty +years superadded, the wisest heads are puzzled +how to decide; but my impression at the time +was, that lenity would have been a safer and a +better policy than severity, and that in the momentary +prostration of the country lay the precise +conjuncture for those measures of grace +and favor, which were afterward rather wrung +from than conceded by the English government. +Be this as it may, Dublin offered a +strange spectacle at that period. The triumphant +joy of one party—the discomfiture and depression +of the other. All the exuberant delight +of success here; all the bitterness of failure +there. On one side festivities, rejoicings, +and public demonstrations; on the other, confinement, +banishment, or the scaffold.</p> + +<p>The excitement was almost madness. The +passion for pleasure, restrained by the terrible +contingencies of the time, now broke forth with +redoubled force, and the capital was thronged +with all its rank, riches, and fashion, when its +jails were crowded, and the heaviest sentences +of the law were in daily execution. The state +trials were crowded by all the fashion of the +metropolis; and the heart-moving eloquence of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +Curran was succeeded by the strains of a merry +concert. It was just then, too, that the great +lyric poet of Ireland began to appear in society, +and those songs which were to be known afterwards +as "The Melodies," par excellence, were +first heard in all the witching enchantment +which his own taste and voice could lend +them. To such as were indifferent to or could +forget the past, it was a brilliant period. It +was the last flickering blaze of Irish nationality, +before the lamp was extinguished for ever.</p> + +<p>Of this society I myself saw nothing. But +even in the retirement of my humble life the +sounds of its mirth and pleasure penetrated, +and I often wished to witness the scenes which +even in vague description were fascinating. It +was then in a kind of discontent at my exclusion, +that I grew from day to day more disposed +to solitude, and fonder of those excursions which +led me out of all reach of companionship or +acquaintance. In this spirit I planned a long +cruise down channel, resolving to visit the Island +of Valencia, or, if the wind and weather favored, +to creep around the southwest coast as far +as Bantry or Kenmare. A man and his son, a +boy of about sixteen, formed all my crew, and +were quite sufficient for the light tackle and +easy rig of my craft. Uncle Pat was already +mounted on his pony, and ready to set out for +market, as we prepared to start. It was a +bright spring morning—such a one as now and +then the changeful climate of Ireland brings +forth, in a brilliancy of color and softness of atmosphere +that are rare in even more favored +lands.</p> + +<p>"You have a fine day of it, Maurice, and just +enough wind," said he, looking at the point +from whence it came. "I almost wish I was +going with you."</p> + +<p>"And why not come, then?" asked I. "You +never will give yourself a holiday. Do so for +once, now."</p> + +<p>"Not to-day, any how," said he, half sighing +at his self-denial. "I have a great deal of +business on my hands to-day; but the next +time—the very next you're up to a long cruise, +I'll go with you."</p> + +<p>"That's a bargain, then?"</p> + +<p>"A bargain. Here's my hand on it."</p> + +<p>We shook hands cordially on the compact. +Little knew I it was to be for the last time, and +that we were never to meet again.</p> + +<p>I was soon aboard, and with a free mainsail +skimming rapidly over the bright waters of the +bay. The wind freshened as the day wore on, +and we quickly passed the Kish light-ship, and +held our course boldly down channel. The +height of my enjoyment in these excursions +consisted in the unbroken quietude of mind I +felt, when removed from all chance of interruption, +and left free to follow out my own fancies, +and indulge my dreamy conceptions to my +heart's content. It was then I used to revel in +imaginings which sometimes soared into the +boldest realms of ambition, and at other +strayed contemplatively in the humblest walks +of obscure fortune. My crew never broke in +upon these musings; indeed old Tom Finnerty's +low crooning song rather aided than interrupted +them. He was not much given to talking, and +a chance allusion to some vessel afar off, or +some head-land we were passing, were about +the extent of his communicativeness, and even +these often fell on my ear unnoticed.</p> + +<p>It was thus, at night, we made the Hook +Tower; and on the next day passed, in a spanking +breeze, under the bold cliffs of Tramore, +just catching, as the sun was sinking, the sight +of Youghal Bay, and the tall headlands beyond +it.</p> + +<p>"The wind is drawing more to the nor'ard," +said old Tom, as night closed in, "and the +clouds look dirty."</p> + +<p>"Bear her up a point or two," said I, "and +let us stand in for Cork harbor, if it comes on to +blow."</p> + +<p>He muttered something in reply, but I did +not catch the words, nor, indeed, cared I to hear +them, for I had just wrapped myself in my +boat-cloak, and stretched at full length on the +shingle ballast of the yawl, was gazing in rapture +at the brilliancy of the starry sky above +me. Light skiffs of feathery cloud would now +and then flit past, and a peculiar hissing sound of +the sea told, at the same time, that the breeze +was freshening. But old Tom had done his +duty in mentioning this once; and thus having +disburdened his conscience, he closehauled his +mainsail, shifted the ballast a little to midships, +and, putting up the collar of his pilot-coat, +screwed himself tighter into the corner beside +the tiller, and chewed his quid in quietness. +The boy slept soundly in the bow, and I, lulled +by the motion and the plashing waves, fell into +a dreamy stupor, like a pleasant sleep. The +pitching of the boat continued to increase, and +twice or thrice, struck by a heavy sea, she lay +over, till the white waves came tumbling in +over her gunwale. I heard Tom call to his boy, +something about the head-sail, but for the life +of me I could not or would not arouse myself +from a train of thought that I was following.</p> + +<p>"She's a stout boat to stand this," said +Tom, as he rounded her off, at a coming wave, +which, even thus escaped, splashed over her like +a cataract. "I know many a bigger craft +wouldn't hold up her canvas under such a +gale."</p> + +<p>"Here it comes, father. Here's a squall," +cried the boy, and with a crash like thunder, +the wind struck the sail, and laid the boy half-under.</p> + +<p>"She'd float if she was full of water," said +the old man, as the craft "righted."</p> + +<p>"But maybe the spars wouldn't stand," said +the boy, anxiously.</p> + +<p>"'Tis what I'm thinking," rejoined the +father. "There's a shake in the mast, below +the caps."</p> + +<p>"Tell him it's better to bear up, and go before +it," whispered the lad, with a gesture toward +where I was lying.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Troth it's little he'd care," said the other; +"besides, he's never plazed to be woke up."</p> + +<p>"Here it comes again," cried the boy. But +this time the squall swept past ahead of us, and +the craft only reeled to the swollen waves, as +they tore by.</p> + +<p>"We'd better go about, sir," said Tom to +me; "there's a heavy sea outside, and it's +blowing hard now."</p> + +<p>"And there's a split in the mast as long as +my arm," cried the boy.</p> + +<p>"I thought she'd live through any sea, +Tom!" said I, laughing; for it was his constant +boast that no weather could harm her.</p> + +<p>"There goes the spar," shouted he, while +with a loud snap the mast gave way, and fell +with a crash over the side. The boat immediately +came head to wind, and sea after sea +broke upon her bow, and fell in great floods over +us.</p> + +<p>"Cut away the stays—clear the wreck," +cried Tom, "before the squall catches her."</p> + +<p>And although we now labored like men whose +lives depended on the exertion, the trailing sail +and heavy rigging, shifting the ballast as they +fell, laid her completely over; and when the +first sea struck her, over she went. The violence +of the gale sent me a considerable distance out, +and for several seconds I felt as though I should +never reach the surface again. Wave after +wave rolled over me, and seemed bearing me +downward with their weight. At last I +grasped something; it was a rope—a broken +halyard—but by its means I gained the mast, +which floated alongside of the yawl as she now +lay keel uppermost. With what energy did I +struggle to reach her. The space was scarcely +a dozen feet, and yet it cost me what seemed +an age to traverse. Through all the roaring of +the breakers, and the crashing sounds of storm, +I thought I could hear my comrades' voices +shouting and screaming, but this was in all +likelihood a mere deception, for I never saw +them more.</p> + +<p>Grasping with a death-grip the slippery keel, +I hung on the boat through all the night. The +gale continued to increase, and by day-break it +blew a perfect hurricane. With an aching anxiety +I watched for the light to see if I were near +the land, or if any ship were in sight, but when +the sun rose nothing met my eyes but a vast +expanse of waves tumbling and tossing in mad +confusion, while overhead some streaked and +mottled clouds were hurried along with the +wind. Happily for me, I have no correct memory +of that long day of suffering. The continual +noise, but more still, the incessant motion of +the sea and sky around brought on a vertigo, +that seemed like madness; and although the +instinct of self-preservation remained, the wildest +and most incoherent fancies filled my brain. +Some of these were powerful enough to impress +themselves upon my memory for years after, +and one I have never yet been able to dispel. It +clings to me in every season of unusual depression +or dejection; it recurs in the half nightmare +sleep of over fatigue, and even invades +me when, restless and feverish, I lie for hours +incapable of repose. This is the notion that +my state was one of after-life punishment; that +I had died, and was now expiating a sinful life +by the everlasting misery of a castaway. The +fever brought on by thirst and exhaustion and +the burning sun which beamed down upon my +uncovered head, soon completed the measure of +this infatuation, and all sense and guidance left +me.</p> + +<p>By what instinctive impulse I still held on +my grasp I can not explain, but there I clung +during the whole of that long dreadful day, +and the still more dreadful night, when the +piercing cold cramped my limbs, and seemed as +if freezing the very blood within me. It was +no wish for life; it was no anxiety to save myself +that now filled me. It seemed like a vague +impulse of necessity that compelled me to hang +on. It was, as it were, part of that terrible +sentence which made this my doom forever!</p> + +<p>An utter unconsciousness must have followed +this state, and a dreary blank, with flitting +shapes of suffering, is all that remains to my +recollection....</p> + +<p>Probably within the whole range of human +sensations, there is not one so perfect in its calm +and soothing influence as the first burst of gratitude +we feel when recovering from a long and +severe illness! There is not an object, however +humble and insignificant, that is not for the +time invested with a new interest. The air is +balmier, flowers are sweeter, the voices of friends, +the smiles and kind looks, are dearer and fonder +than we have ever known them. The whole +world has put on a new aspect for us, and we +have not a thought that is not teeming with +forgiveness and affection. Such, in all their +completeness, were my feelings as I lay on the +poop-deck of a large three-masted ship, which, +with studding and top-gallant sails all set, +proudly held her course up the Gulf of St. +Lawrence.</p> + +<p>She was a Dantzig barque, the "Hoffnung," +bound for Quebec, her only passengers being a +Moravian minister and his wife, on their way to +join a small German colony established near +Lake Champlain. To Gottfried Kröller and his +dear little wife I owe not life alone, but nearly +all that has made it valuable. With means +barely removed from absolute poverty, I found +that they had spared nothing to assist in my +recovery; for, when discovered, emaciation and +wasting had so far reduced me that nothing but +the most unremitting care and kindness could +have succeeded in restoring me. To this end +they bestowed not only their whole time and attention, +but every little delicacy of their humble +sea-store. All the little cordials and restoratives +meant for a season of sickness or debility +were lavished unsparingly on me, and every instinct +of national thrift and carefulness gave +way before the more powerful influence of +Christian benevolence.</p> + +<p>I can think of nothing but that bright morning,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +as I lay on a mattress on the deck, with the +"Pfarrer" on one side of me, and his good little +wife, Lyschen, on the other; he, with his volume +of "Wieland," and she working away with her +long knitting-needles, and never raising her +head save to bestow a glance at the poor sick +boy, whose bloodless lips were trying to mutter +her name in thankfulness. It is like the most +delicious dream as I think over those hours, +when, rocked by the surging motion of the +large ship, hearing in half distinctness the words +of the "Pfarrer's" reading, I followed out little +fancies—now self-originating, now rising from +the theme of the poet's musings.</p> + +<p>How softly the cloud shadows moved over the +white sails and swept along the bright deck! +How pleasantly the water rippled against the +vessel's side! With what a glad sound the +great ensign flapped and fluttered in the breeze! +There was light, and life, and motion on every +side, and I felt all the intoxication of enjoyment.</p> + +<p>And like a dream was the portion of my life +which followed. I accompanied the Pfarrer to +a small settlement near "Crown Point," where +he was to take up his residence as minister. +Here we lived amid a population of about four +or five hundred Germans, principally from Pomerania, +on the shores of the Baltic, a peaceful, +thrifty, quiet set of beings, who, content with +the little interests revolving around themselves, +never troubled their heads about the great events +of war or politics; and here in all likelihood +should I have been content to pass my days, +when an accidental journey I made to Albany, +to receive some letters for the Pfarrer, once more +turned the fortune of my life.</p> + +<p>It was a great incident in the quiet monotony +of my life, when I set out one morning, arrayed +in a full suit of coarse glossy black, with +buttons like small saucers, and a hat whose +brim almost protected my shoulders. I was, +indeed, an object of very considerable envy to +some, and I hope, also, not denied the admiring +approval of some others. Had the respectable +city I was about to visit been the chief metropolis +of a certain destination which I must not +name, the warnings I received about its dangers, +dissipations, and seductions, could scarcely have +been more earnest or impressive. I was neither +to speak with, nor even to look at, those I met +in the streets. I was carefully to avoid taking +my meals at any of the public eating-houses, +rigidly guarding myself from the contamination +of even a chance acquaintance. It was deemed +as needless to caution me against theatres or +places of amusement, as to hint to me that I +should not commit a highway robbery or a +murder, and so, in sooth, I should myself have +felt it. The patriarchal simplicity in which I +had lived for above a year, had not been without +its effect in subduing exaggerated feeling, or +controlling that passion for excitement so common +to youth. I felt a kind of drowsy, dreamy +languor over me, which I sincerely believed represented +a pious and well-regulated temperament. +Perhaps in time it might have become +such. Perhaps with others, more happily constituted, +the impression would have been confirmed +and fixed; but in <i>my</i> case it was a mere lacker +that the first rubbing in the world was sure to +brush off.</p> + +<p>I arrived safely at Albany, and having presented +myself at the bank of Gabriel Shultze, +was desired to call the following morning, when +all the letters and papers of Gottfried Kröller +should be delivered to me. A very cold invitation +to supper was the only hospitality extended +to me. This I declined on pretext of weariness, +and set out to explore the town, to which +my long residence in rural life imparted a high +degree of interest.</p> + +<p>I don't know what it may now be: doubtless +a great capital, like one of the European cities; +but at the time I speak of, Albany was a strange, +incongruous assemblage of stores and wooden +houses, great buildings like granaries, with +whole streets of low sheds around them, where +open to the passer-by, men worked at various +trades, and people followed out the various +duties of domestic life in sight of the public; the +daughters knitted and sewed; mothers cooked +and nursed their children; men ate, and worked, +and smoked, and sang, as if in all the +privacy of closed dwellings, while a thick current +of population poured by, apparently too +much immersed in their own cares, or too +much accustomed to the scene, to give it more +than passing notice.</p> + +<p>It was curious how one bred and born in the +great city of Paris, with all its sights and +sounds, and scenes of excitement and display, +could have been so rusticated by time, as to +feel a lively interest in surveying the motley +aspect of this quaint town. There were, it is +true, features in the picture very unlike the +figures in "Old World" landscape. A group +of red men, seated around a fire in the open +street, or a squaw carrying on her back a baby, +firmly tied to a piece of curved bark; a Southern-stater, +with a spanking wagon-team, and +two grinning negroes behind, were new and +strange elements in the life of a city. Still, +the mere movement, the actual busy stir and +occupation of the inhabitants, attracted me as +much as any thing else; and the shops and +stalls where trades were carried on were a +seduction I could not resist.</p> + +<p>The strict puritanism in which I had lately +lived taught me to regard all these things with +a certain degree of distrust. They were the +impulses of that gold-seeking passion of which +Gottfried had spoken so frequently; they were +the great vice of that civilization, whose luxurious +tendency he often deplored; and here, now, +more than one-half around me were arts that +only ministered to voluptuous tastes. Brilliant +articles of jewelry; gay cloaks, worked with +wampum, in Indian taste; ornamental turning, +and costly weapons, inlaid with gold and silver, +succeeded each other, street after street; and +the very sight of them, however pleasurable to +the eye, set me a-moralizing, in a strain that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +would have done credit to a son of Geneva. It +might have been, that in my enthusiasm I +uttered half aloud what I intended for soliloquy: +or perhaps some gesture, or peculiarity +of manner, had the effect; but so it was: I +found myself an object of notice; and my queer-cut +coat and wide hat, contrasting so strangely +with my youthful appearance and slender make, +drew many a criticism on me.</p> + +<p>"He ain't a Quaker, that's a fact," cried +one, "for they don't wear black."</p> + +<p>"He's a down-Easter—a horse jockey chap, +I'll be bound," cried another. "They put on +all manner of disguises and 'masqueroonings.' +I know 'em!"</p> + +<p>"He's a calf preacher—a young bottle-nosed +Gospeller," broke in a thick, short fellow, like +the skipper of a merchant ship. "Let's have +him out for a preachment."</p> + +<p>"Ay, you're right," chimed in another. "I'll +get you a sugar hogshead in no time;" and +away he ran on the mission.</p> + +<p>Between twenty and thirty persons had now +collected; and I saw myself, to my unspeakable +shame and mortification, the centre of all +their looks and speculations. A little more +<i>aplomb</i> or knowledge of life would have taught +me coolness enough in a few words to undeceive +them: but such a task was far above me now; +and I saw nothing for it but flight. Could I +only have known which way to take, I need not +have feared any pursuer, for I was a capital +runner, and in high condition; but of the +locality I was utterly ignorant, and should only +surrender myself to mere chance. With a bold +rush, then, I dashed right through the crowd, +and set off down the street, the whole crew +after me. The dusk of the closing evening was +in my favor; and although volunteers were +enlisted in the chase at every corner and turning, +I distanced them, and held on my way in +advance. My great object being not to turn +on my course, lest I should come back to my +starting point, I directed my steps nearly +straight onward, clearing apple-stalls and fruit +tables at a bound; and more than once taking +a flying leap over an Indian's fire, when the +mad shout of the red man would swell the +chorus that followed me. At last I reached a +network of narrow lanes and alleys, by turning +and winding through which, I speedily found +myself in a quiet secluded spot, with here and +there a flickering candle-light from the windows, +but no other sign of habitation. I looked anxiously +about for an open door; but they were +all safe barred and fastened; and it was only +on turning a corner I spied what seemed to me +a little shop, with a solitary lamp over the entrance. +A narrow canal, crossed by a rickety +old bridge, led to this; and the moment I had +crossed over, I seized the single plank which +formed the footway, and shoved it into the +stream. My retreat being thus secured, I +opened the door, and entered. It was a barber's +shop; at least, so a great chair before a +cracked old looking glass, with some well-worn +combs and brushes, bespoke it; but the place +seemed untenanted, and although I called aloud +several times, none came or responded to my +summons.</p> + +<p>I now took a survey of the spot which seemed +of the poorest imaginable. A few empty +pomatum pots, a case of razors that might have +defied the most determined suicide, and a half-finished +wig, on a block painted like a red man, +were the entire stock in trade. On the walls, +however, were some colored prints of the battles +of the French army in Germany and Italy. +Execrably done things they were, but full of +meaning and interest to my eyes in spite of +that. With all the faults of drawing and all +the travesties of costume, I could recognize +different corps of the service, and my heart +bounded as I gazed on the tall shakos swarming +to a breach, or the loose jacket as it floated +from the hussar in a charge. All the wild +pleasures of soldiering rose once more to my +mind, and I thought over old comrades who +doubtless were now earning the high rewards of +their bravery in the great career of glory. And +as I did so, my own image confronted me in the +glass, as with long, lank hair, and a great +bolster of a white cravat, I stood before it. +What a contrast!—how unlike the smart hussar, +with curling locks and fierce mustache! +Was I as much changed in heart as in looks. +Had my spirit died out within me. Would the +proud notes of the bugle or the trumpet fall +meaningless on my ears, or the hoarse cry of +"Charge!" send no bursting fullness to my +temples? Ay, even these coarse representations +stirred the blood in my veins, and my +step grew firmer as I walked the room.</p> + +<p>In a passionate burst of enthusiasm I tore off +my slouched hat and hurled it from me. It +felt like the badge of some ignoble slavery, and +I determined to endure it no longer. The noise +of the act called up a voice from the inner room, +and a man, to all appearance suddenly roused +from sleep, stood at the door. He was evidently +young, but poverty, dissipation, and raggedness +made the question of his age a difficult one to +solve. A light-colored mustache and beard +covered all the lower part of his face, and his +long blonde hair fell heavily over his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Well," cried he, half angrily, "what's the +matter; are you so impatient that you must +smash the furniture?"</p> + +<p>Although the words were spoken as correctly +as I have written them, they were uttered with +a foreign accent; and, hazarding the stroke, I +answered him in French by apologizing for the +noise.</p> + +<p>"What! a Frenchman," exclaimed he, "and +in that dress; what can that mean?"</p> + +<p>"If you'll shut your door, and cut off pursuit +of me, I'll tell you every thing," said I, "for I +hear the voices of people coming down that +street in front."</p> + +<p>"I'll do better," said he, quickly, "I'll upset +the bridge, and they can not come over."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That's done already," replied I; "I shoved +it into the stream as I passed."</p> + +<p>He looked at me steadily for a moment without +speaking, and then approaching close to me, +said, "Parbleu! the act was very unlike your +costume!" At the same time he shut the +door, and drew a strong bar across it. This +done, he turned to me once more—"Now for +it: who are you, and what has happened to +you?"</p> + +<p>"As to what I am," replied I, imitating his +own abruptness, "my dress will almost save +the trouble of explaining; these Albany folk, +however, would make a field-preacher of me, +and to escape them I took to flight."</p> + +<p>"Well, if a fellow will wear his hair that +fashion, he must take the consequence," said +he, drawing out my long lank locks as they +hung over my shoulders. "And so you wouldn't +hold forth for them; not even give them a stave +of a conventical chant." He kept his eyes riveted +on me as he spoke, and then seizing two +pieces of stick for the firewood, he beat on the +table the ran-tan-plan of the French drum. +"That's the music you know best, lad, eh?—that's +the air, which, if it has not led heavenward, +has conducted many a brave fellow out +of this world at least: do you forget it?"</p> + +<p>"Forget it! no," cried I; "but who are +you; and how comes it that—that—" I stopped +in confusion at the rudeness of the question +I had begun.</p> + +<p>"That I stand here, half-fed, and all but +naked; a barber in a land where men don't +shave once a month. Parbleu! they'd come +even seldomer to my shop if they knew how +tempted I feel to draw the razor sharp and +quick across the gullet of a fellow with a well-stocked +pouch."</p> + +<p>As he continued to speak, his voice assumed +a tone and cadence that sounded familiarly to +my ears as I stared at him in amazement.</p> + +<p>"Not know me yet," exclaimed he, laughing; +"and yet all this poverty and squalor +isn't as great a disguise as your own, Tiernay. +Come, lad, rub your eyes a bit, and try if you +can't recognize an old comrade."</p> + +<p>"I know you, yet can not remember how or +where we met," said I, in bewilderment.</p> + +<p>"I'll refresh your memory," said he, crossing +his arms, and drawing himself proudly up. +"If you can trace back in your mind to a certain +hot and dusty day, on the Metz road, when +you, a private in the seventh Hussars, were eating +an onion and a slice of black bread for your +dinner, a young officer, well-looking and well-mounted, +cantered up, and threw you his brandy +flask. Your acknowledgment of the civility +showed you to be a gentleman; and the acquaintance +thus opened, soon ripened into intimacy."</p> + +<p>"But he was the young Marquis de Saint +Trone," said I, perfectly remembering the incident.</p> + +<p>"Or Eugene Santron, of the republican army, +or the barber at Albany, without any name at +all," said he, laughing. "What, Maurice, don't +you know me yet?"</p> + +<p>"What, the lieutenant of my regiment! +The dashing officer of Hussars!"</p> + +<p>"Just so, and as ready to resume the old +skin as ever," cried he, "and brandish a weapon +somewhat longer, and perhaps somewhat +sharper, too, than a razor."</p> + +<p>We shook hands with all the cordiality of +old comrades, meeting far away from home, +and in a land of strangers; and although each +was full of curiosity to learn the other's history, +a kind of reserve held back the inquiry, +till Santron said, "My confession is soon made, +Maurice; I left the service in the Meuse, to +escape being shot. One day, on returning from a +field manœuvre, I discovered that my portmanteau +had been opened, and a number of letters +and papers taken out. They were part of a +correspondence I held with old General Lamarre, +about the restoration of the Bourbons, a +subject, I'm certain, that half the officers in the +army were interested in, and, even to Bonaparte +himself, deeply implicated in too. No matter, +<i>my</i> treason, as they called it, was too flagrant, +and I had just twenty minutes' start of the +order which was issued for my arrest, to make +my escape into Holland. There I managed to +pass several months in various disguises, part +of the time being employed as a Dutch spy, +and actually charged with an order to discover +tidings of myself, until I finally got away in an +Antwerp schooner, to New York. From that +time my life has been nothing but a struggle, +a hard one, too, with actual want, for in this +land of enterprise and activity, mere intelligence, +without some craft or calling, will do +nothing.</p> + +<p>"I tried fifty things—to teach riding, and +when I mounted into the saddle, I forgot everything +but my own enjoyment, and caracolled, +and plunged, and passaged, till the poor beast +hadn't a leg to stand on; fencing, and I got +into a duel with a rival teacher, and ran him +through the neck, and was obliged to fly from +Halifax; French, I made love to my pupil, a +pretty looking Dutch fraulein, whose father +didn't smile on our affection; and so on I descended +from a dancing-master to a waiter, a +<i>laquais de place</i>, and at last settled down as a +barber, which brilliant speculation I had just +determined to abandon this very night; for to-morrow +morning, Maurice, I start for New York +and France again; ay, boy, and you'll go with +me. This is no land for either of us."</p> + +<p>"But I have found happiness, at least contentment, +here," said I, gravely.</p> + +<p>"What! play the hypocrite with an old comrade! +shame on you, Maurice," cried he. "It +is these confounded locks have perverted the +boy," added he, jumping up; and before I +knew what he was about, he had shorn my +hair, in two quick cuts of the scissors, close to +the head. "There," said he, throwing the cut-off +hair toward me, "there lies all your saintship; +depend upon it, boy, they'd hunt you out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +of the settlement if you came back to them +cropped in this fashion."</p> + +<p>"But you return to certain death, Santron," +said I; "your crime is too recent to be forgiven +or forgotten."</p> + +<p>"Not a bit of it; Fouche, Cassaubon, and a +dozen others now in office, were deeper than I +was. There's not a public man in France +could stand an exposure, or hazard recrimination. +It's a thieves' amnesty at this moment, +and I must not lose the opportunity. I'll show +you letters that will prove it, Maurice; for, +poor and ill-fed as I am, I like life just as well +as ever I did. I mean to be a general of division +one of these days, and so will you too, lad, +if there's any spirit left in you."</p> + +<p>Thus did Santron rattle on, sometimes of +himself and his own future; sometimes discussing +mine; for while talking, he had contrived +to learn all the chief particulars of my history, +from the time of my sailing from La Rochelle +for Ireland.</p> + +<p>The unlucky expedition afforded him great +amusement, and he was never weary of laughing +at all our adventures and mischances in +Ireland. Of Humbert, he spoke as a fourth or +fifth-rate man, and actually shocked me by all +the heresies he uttered against our generals, +and the plan of campaign; but, perhaps, I +could have borne even these better than the +sarcasms and sneers at the little life of "the +settlement." He treated all my efforts at defense +as mere hypocrisy, and affected to regard +me as a mere knave, that had traded on the +confiding kindness of these simple villagers. I +could not undeceive him on this head; nor +what was more, could I satisfy my own conscience +that he was altogether in the wrong; +for, with a diabolical ingenuity, he had contrived +to hit on some of the most vexatious doubts +which disturbed my mind, and instinctively to +detect the secret cares and difficulties that beset +me. The lesson should never be lost on us, +that the devil was depicted as a sneerer! I +verily believe the powers of temptation have no +such advocacy as sarcasm. Many can resist +the softest seductions of vice: many are proof +against all the blandishments of mere enjoyment, +come in what shape it will; but how +few can stand firm against the assaults of clever +irony, or hold fast to their convictions when +assailed by the sharp shafts of witty depreciation.</p> + +<p>I'm ashamed to own how little I could oppose +to all his impertinences about our village, +and its habits; or how impossible I found it +not to laugh at his absurd descriptions of a life +which, without having ever witnessed, he depicted +with a rare accuracy. He was shrewd +enough not to push this ridicule offensively, and +long before I knew it I found myself regarding, +with his eyes, a picture in which, but a few +months back, I stood as a fore-ground figure. I +ought to confess, that no artificial aid was derived +from either good cheer, or the graces of +hospitality; we sat by a miserable lamp, in a +wretchedly cold chamber, our sole solace some +bad cigars, and a can of flat, stale cider.</p> + +<p>"I have not a morsel to offer you to eat, +Maurice, but to-morrow we'll breakfast on my +razors, dine on that old looking-glass, and sup +on two hard brushes and the wig!"</p> + +<p>Such were the brilliant pledges, and we closed +a talk which the flickering lamp at last put an +end to.</p> + +<p>A broken, unconnected conversation followed +for a little time, but at length, worn out and +wearied, each dropped off to sleep—Eugene on +the straw settle, and I in the old chair—never +to awake till the bright sun was streaming in +between the shutters, and dancing merrily on +the tiled floor.</p> + +<p>An hour before I awoke he had completed +the sale of all his little stock in trade, and, with +a last look round the spot where he had passed +some months of struggling poverty, out we sallied +into the town.</p> + +<p>"We'll breakfast at Jonathan Hone's," said +Santron. "It's the first place here. I'll treat +you to rump steaks, pumpkin pie, and a gin +twister that will astonish you. Then, while +I'm arranging for our passage down the Hudson, +you'll see the hospitable banker, and tell +him how to forward all his papers, and so forth, +to the settlement, with your respectful compliments +and regrets, and the rest of it."</p> + +<p>"But am I to take leave of them in this +fashion?" asked I.</p> + +<p>"Without you want <i>me</i> to accompany you +there, I think it's by far the best way," said +he, laughingly. "If, however, you think that +my presence and companionship will add any +lustre to your position, say the word and I'm +ready. I know enough of the barber's craft +now to make up a head 'en Puritan,' and, if +you wish, I'll pledge myself to impose upon the +whole colony."</p> + +<p>Here was a threat there was no mistaking; +and any imputation of ingratitude on my part +were far preferable to the thought of such an +indignity. He saw his advantage at once, and +boldly declared that nothing should separate +us.</p> + +<p>"The greatest favor, my dear Maurice, you +can ever expect at my hands is, never to speak +of this freak of yours; or, if I do, to say that +you performed the part to perfection."</p> + +<p>My mind was in one of those moods of change +when the slightest impulse is enough to sway +it, and more from this cause than all his persuasion, +I yielded; and the same evening saw +me gliding down the Hudson, and admiring the +bold Kaatskills, on our way to New York.</p> + +<h4>(TO BE CONTINUED.)</h4> + + +<p><a name="Paganini" id="Paganini"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ANECDOTES OF PAGANINI.</h2> + + +<p>Paganini was in all respects a very singular +being, and an interesting subject to study. +His talents were by no means confined to his +wonderful powers as a musician. On other +subjects he was well-informed, acute, and conversible, +of bland and gentle manners, and in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +society, perfectly well-bred. All this contrasted +strangely with the dark, mysterious stories +which were bruited abroad, touching some passages +in his early life. But outward semblance +and external deportment are treacherous as +quicksands, when taken as guides by which to +sound the real depths of human character. +Lord Byron remarks, that his pocket was once +picked by the civilest gentleman he ever conversed +with, and that by far the mildest individual +of his acquaintance was the remorseless +Ali Pacha of Yanina. The expressive lineaments +of Paganini told a powerful tale of +passions which had been fearfully excited, which +might be roused again from temporary slumber, +or were exhausted by indulgence and premature +decay, leaving deep furrows to mark their +intensity. Like the generality of his countrymen, +he looked much older than he was. With +them, the elastic vigor of youth and manhood +rapidly subsides into an interminable and joyless +old age, numbering as many years, but with far +less both of physical and mental faculty to +render them endurable, than the more equally +poised gradations of our northern clime. It is +by no means unusual to encounter a well developed +Italian, whiskered to the eye-brows, +and "bearded like the pard," who tells you, to +your utter astonishment, that he is scarcely +seventeen, when you have set him down from +his appearance as, at least, five-and-thirty.</p> + +<p>The following extract from Colonel Montgomery +Maxwell's book of Military Reminiscences, +entitled "My Adventures," dated Genoa, +February 22d, 1815, supplies the earliest record +which has been given to the public respecting +Paganini, and affords authentic evidence that +some of the mysterious tales which heralded his +coming were not without foundation. He could +scarcely have been at this time thirty years old. +"Talking of music, I have become acquainted +with the most <i>outré</i>, most extravagant, and +strangest character I ever beheld, or heard, in +the musical line. He has just been emancipated +from durance vile, where he has been for +a long time incarcerated on suspicion of murder. +His long figure, long neck, long face, and long +forehead; his hollow and deadly pale cheek, +large black eye, hooked nose, and jet black hair, +which is long, and more than half hiding his +expressive Jewish face; all these rendered him +the most extraordinary person I ever beheld. +There is something scriptural in the <i>tout ensemble</i> +of the strange physiognomy of this uncouth +and unearthly figure. Not that, as in +times of old, he plays, as Holy Writ tells us, on +a ten-stringed instrument; on the contrary, he +brings the most powerful, the most wonderful, +and the most heart-rending tones from one +string. His name is Paganini; he is very +improvident and very poor. The D——s, and +the Impressario of the theatre got up a concert +for him the other night, which was well attended, +and on which occasion he electrified the +audience. He is a native of Genoa, and if I +were a judge of violin playing, I would pronounce +him the most surprising performer in the +world!"</p> + +<p>That Paganini was either innocent of the +charge for which he suffered the incarceration +Colonel Maxwell mentions, or that it could not +be proved against him, may be reasonably inferred +from the fact that he escaped the galleys +or the executioner. In Italy, there was then, +<i>par excellence</i> (whatever there may be now), a +law for the rich, and another for the poor. As +he was without money, and unable to buy immunity, +it is charitable to suppose he was entitled +to it from innocence. A nobleman, with +a few <i>zecchini</i>, was in little danger of the law, +which confined its practice entirely to the lower +orders. I knew a Sicilian prince, who most +wantonly blew a vassal's brains out, merely +because he put him in a passion. The case +was not even inquired into. He sent half a +dollar to the widow of the defunct (which, by +the way, he borrowed from me, and never repaid), +and there the matter ended. Lord Nelson +once suggested to Ferdinand IV. of Naples, to +try and check the daily increase of assassination, +by a few salutary executions. "No, no," replied +old Nasone, who was far from being as +great a fool as he looked, "that is impossible. +If I once began that system, my kingdom would +soon be depopulated. One half my subjects +would be continually employed in hanging the +remainder."</p> + +<p>Among other peculiarities, Paganini was an +incarnation of avarice and parsimony, with a +most contradictory passion for gambling. He +would haggle with you for sixpence, and stake +a rouleau on a single turn at <i>rouge et noir</i>. He +screwed you down in a bargain as tightly as if +you were compressed in a vice; yet he had +intervals of liberality, and sometimes did a +generous action. In this he bore some resemblance +to the celebrated John Elwes, of miserly +notoriety, who deprived himself of the common +necessaries of life, and lived on a potato skin, +but sometimes gave a check for £100 to a +public charity, and contributed largely to private +subscriptions. I never heard that Paganini +actually did this, but once or twice he played +for nothing, and sent a donation to the Mendicity, +when he was in Dublin.</p> + +<p>When he made his engagement with me, we +mutually agreed to write no orders, expecting +the house to be quite full every night, and both +being aware that the "sons of freedom," while +they add nothing to the exchequer, seldom assist +the effect of the performance. They are not +given to applaud vehemently; or, as Richelieu +observes, "in the right places." What we can +get for nothing we are inclined to think much +less of than that which we must purchase. He +who invests a shilling will not do it rashly, or +without feeling convinced that value received +will accrue from the risk. The man who pays +is the real enthusiast; he comes with a predetermination +to be amused, and his spirit is +exalted accordingly. Paganini's valet surprised +me one morning, by walking into my room, and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +with many "<i>eccellenzas</i>" and gesticulations of +respect, asking me to give him an order. I +said, "Why do you come to me? Apply to +your master—won't he give you one?" "Oh, +yes; but I don't like to ask him." "Why +not?" "Because he'll stop the amount out of +my wages!" My heart relented; I gave him +the order, and paid Paganini the dividend. I +told him what it was, thinking, as a matter of +course, he would return it. He seemed uncertain +for a moment, paused, smiled sardonically, +looked at the three and sixpence, and with a +spasmodic twitch, deposited it in his own waistcoat +pocket instead of mine. Voltaire says, +"no man is a hero to his valet de chambre," +meaning, thereby, as I suppose, that being behind +the scenes of every-day life, he finds out +that Marshal Saxe, or Frederick the Great, is as +subject to the common infirmities of our nature, +as John Nokes or Peter Styles. Whether +Paganini's squire of the body looked on his +master as a hero, in the vulgar acceptation of +the word, I can not say, but in spite of his +stinginess, which he writhed under, he regarded +him with mingled reverence and terror. "A +strange person, your master," observed I. +"<i>Signor</i>," replied the faithful Sancho Panza, +"<i>e veramente grand uomo, ma da non potersi +comprendere</i>." "He is truly a great man, but +quite incomprehensible." It was edifying to observe +the awful importance with which Antonio +bore the instrument nightly intrusted to his +charge to carry to and from the theatre. He +considered it an animated something, whether +dæmon or angel he was unable to determine, +but this he firmly believed, that it could speak +in actual dialogue when his master pleased, or +become a dumb familiar by the same controlling +volition. This especial violin was Paganini's +inseparable companion. It lay on his table +before him as he sat meditating in his solitary +chamber; it was placed by his side at dinner, +and on a chair within his reach when in bed. If +he woke, as he constantly did, in the dead of +night, and the sudden <i>estro</i> of inspiration seized +him, he grasped his instrument, started up, and +on the instant perpetuated the conception which +otherwise he would have lost forever. This +marvelous Cremona, valued at four hundred +guineas, Paganini, on his death-bed, gave to De +Kontski, his nephew and only pupil, himself an +eminent performer, and in his possession it now +remains.</p> + +<p>When Paganini was in Dublin at the musical +festival of 1830, the Marquis of Anglesea, then +Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, came every night +to the concerts at the theatre, and was greatly +pleased with his performance. On the first evening, +between the acts, his Excellency desired +that he might be brought round to his box to +be introduced, and paid him many compliments. +Lord Anglesea was at that time residing in perfect +privacy with his family, at Sir Harcourt +Lees' country house, near Blackrock, and expressed +a wish to get an evening from the great +violinist, to gratify his domestic circle. The +negotiation was rather a difficult one, as Paganini +was, of all others, the man who did nothing, +in the way of business, without an explicit +understanding, and a clearly-defined con-sid-e-ra-ti-on. +He was alive to the advantage +of honor, but he loved money with a paramount +affection. I knew that he had received enormous +terms, such as £150 and £200 for fiddling +at private parties in London, and I trembled +for the viceregal purse; but I undertook to +manage the affair, and went to work accordingly. +The aid-de-camp in waiting called with +me on Paganini, was introduced in due form, +and handed him a card of invitation to dinner, +which, of course, he received and accepted with +ceremonious politeness. Soon after the officer +had departed, he said, suddenly, "This is a great +honor, but am I expected to bring my instrument?" +"Oh, yes," I replied, "as a matter +of course—the Lord Lieutenant's family wish +to hear you in private." "<i>Caro amico</i>," rejoined +he, with petrifying composure, "<i>Paganini +con violino é Paganini senza violino,—ecco due +animali distinti</i>." "Paganini with his fiddle, +and Paganini without it, are two very different +persons." I knew perfectly what he meant, +and said, "The Lord Lieutenant is a nobleman +of exalted rank and character, liberal in the extreme, +but he is not Crœsus; nor do I think +you could, with any consistency, receive such +an honor as dining at his table, and afterward +send in a bill for playing two or three tunes in +the evening." He was staggered; and asked, +"What do you advise?" I said, "Don't you +think a present, in the shape of a ring, or a +snuff-box, or something of that sort, with a +short inscription, would be a more agreeable +mode of settlement?" He seemed tickled by +this suggestion, and closed with it at once. I +dispatched the intelligence through the proper +channel, that the violin and the <i>gran maestro</i> +would both be in attendance. He went in his +very choicest mood, made himself extremely +agreeable, played away, unsolicited, throughout +the evening, to the delight of the whole party; +and on the following morning, a gold snuff-box +was duly presented to him, with a few complimentary +words engraved on the lid.</p> + +<p>A year or two after this, when Paganini was +again in England, I thought another engagement +might be productive, as his extraordinary +attraction appeared still to increase. I wrote +to him on the subject, and soon received a very +courteous communication, to the effect, that, +although he had not contemplated including +Ireland in his tour, yet he had been so impressed +by the urbanity of the Dublin public, and +had, moreover, conceived such a personal esteem +for my individual character, that he might be +induced to alter his plans, at some inconvenience, +provided always I could make him a +more enticing proposal than the former one. I +was here completely puzzled, as, on that occasion, +I gave him a clear two-thirds of each receipt, +with a bonus of £25 per night, in addition, +for two useless coadjutors. I replied, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +having duly deliberated on his suggestion, and +considered the terms of our last compact, I saw +no possible means of placing the new one in a +more alluring shape, except by offering him the +entire produce of the engagement. After I had +dispatched my letter, I repented bitterly, and +was terrified lest he should think me serious, +and hold me to the bargain; but he deigned no +answer, and this time I escaped for the fright +I had given myself. When in London, I called +to see him, and met with a cordial reception; +but he soon alluded to the late correspondence, +and half seriously said, "That was a curious +letter you wrote to me, and the joke with which +you concluded it, by no means a good one." +"Oh," said I, laughing, "it would have been +much worse if you had taken me at my word." +He then laughed, too, and we parted excellent +friends. I never saw him again. He returned +to the Continent, and died, having purchased +the title of Baron, with a patent of nobility, +from some foreign potentate, which, with his +accumulated earnings, somewhat dilapidated by +gambling, he bequeathed to his only son. Paganini +was the founder of his school, and the original +inventor of those extraordinary <i>tours de +force</i> with which all his successors and imitators +are accustomed to astonish the uninitiated. +But he still stands at the head of the list, although +eminent names are included in it, and +is not likely to be pushed from his pedestal.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE HOUSEHOLD OF SIR THO<sup>S</sup> MORE.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></h2> + +<h4>LIBELLUS A MARGARETA MORE,<br /> +QUINDECIM ANNOS NATA, CHELSEIÆ INCEPTVS.</h4> + +<h4>"Nulla dies sine linea."</h4> + + +<p>Hearde mother say to Barbara, "Be sure +the sirloin is well basted for y<sup>e</sup> king's physician:" +which avised me that Dr. Linacre was +expected. In truth, he returned with father in +y<sup>e</sup> barge; and they tooke a turn on y<sup>e</sup> river +bank before sitting down to table; I noted them +from my lattice; and anon, father, beckoning +me, cries, "Child, bring out my favorite Treatyse +on Fisshynge, printed by Wynkyn de Worde; +I must give the doctor my loved passage."</p> + +<p>Joyning 'em with y<sup>e</sup> book, I found father telling +him of y<sup>e</sup> roach, dace, chub, barbel, etc., we +oft catch opposite y<sup>e</sup> church; and hastilie turning +over y<sup>e</sup> leaves, he beginneth with unction +to read y<sup>e</sup> passage ensuing, which I love to y<sup>e</sup> +full as much as he:—</p> + +<p>He observeth, if the angler's sport shoulde +fail him, "he at y<sup>e</sup> best hathe his holsom walk +and mery at his ease, a swete ayre of the swete +savour of y<sup>e</sup> meade of flowers, that maketh him +hungry; he heareth the melodious harmonie of +fowles, he seeth y<sup>e</sup> young swans herons, ducks, +cotes, and manie other fowles, with theire +broods, which me seemeth better than alle y<sup>e</sup> +noise of hounds, faukenors, and fowlers can +make. And if the angler take fysshe, then there +is noe man merrier than he is in his spryte." +And, "Ye shall not use this forsaid crafty disporte +for no covetysnesse in the encreasing and +sparing of your money onlie, but pryncipallie for +your solace, and to cause the health of your +bodie, and speciallie of your soule, for when ye +purpose to goe on your disportes of fysshynge, +ye will not desire greatlie manie persons with +you, which woulde lett you of your game. And +thenne ye may serve God devoutlie, in saying +affectuouslie your customable prayer; and +thus doing, ye shall eschew and voyd manie +vices."</p> + +<p>"Angling is itselfe a vice," cries Erasmus +from y<sup>e</sup> thresholde; "for my part I will fish +none, save and except for pickled oysters."</p> + +<p>"In the regions below," answers father; and +then laughinglie tells Linacre of his firste dialogue +with Erasmus, who had beene feasting in +my Lord Mayor's cellar:—"'Whence come you?' +'From below.' 'What were they about there?' +'Eating live oysters, and drinking out of leather +jacks.' 'Either you are Erasmus,' etc. +'Either you are More or nothing.'"</p> + +<p>"'Neither more nor less,' you should have +rejoyned," sayth the doctor.</p> + +<p>"How I wish I had," says father; "don't +torment me with a jest I might have made and +did not make; 'speciallie to put downe Erasmus."</p> + +<p>"Concedo nulli," sayth Erasmus.</p> + +<p>"Why are you so lazy?" asks Linacre; "I +am sure you can speak English if you will."</p> + +<p>"Soe far from it," sayth Erasmus, "that I +made my incapacitie an excuse for declining an +English rectory. Albeit, you know how Wareham +requited me; saying, in his kind, generous +way, I served the Church more by my pen than +I coulde by preaching sermons in a countrie +village."</p> + +<p>Sayth Linacre, "The archbishop hath made +another remark, as much to y<sup>e</sup> purpose: to wit, +that he has received from you the immortalitie +which emperors and kings cannot bestow."</p> + +<p>"They cannot even bid a smoking sirloin retain +its heat an hour after it hath left the fire," +sayth father. "Tilly-vally! as my good Alice +says,—let us remember the universal doom, +'fruges consumere nati,' and philosophize over +our ale and bracket."</p> + +<p>"Not Cambridge ale, neither," sayth Erasmus.</p> + +<p>"Will you never forget that unlucky beverage?" +sayth father. "Why, man, think how +manie poore scholars there be, that content themselves, +as I have hearde one of St. John's declare, +with a penny piece of beef amongst four, +stewed into pottage with a little salt and oatmeal; +and that after fasting from four o'clock +in the morning! Say grace for us this daye, +Erasmus, with goode heart."</p> + +<p>At table, discourse flowed soe thicke and faste +that I mighte aim in vayn to chronicle it—and +why should I? dwelling as I doe at y<sup>e</sup> fountayn +head? Onlie that I find pleasure, alreadie, in +glancing over the foregoing pages whensoever +they concern father and Erasmus, and wish they +were more faithfullie recalled and better writ. +One thing sticks by me,—a funny reply of father's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +to a man who owed him money and who +put him off with "Memento Morieris." "I bid +you," retorted father, "Memento Mori Æris, +and I wish you woulde take as goode care to +provide for y<sup>e</sup> one as I do for the other."</p> + +<p>Linacre laughed much at this, and sayd,—"That +was real wit; a spark struck at the +moment; and with noe ill-nature in it, for I am +sure your debtor coulde not help laughing."</p> + +<p>"Not he," quoth Erasmus. "More's drollerie +is like that of a young gentlewoman of his +name, which shines without burning." ... +and, oddlie enow, he looked acrosse at <i>me</i>. I +am sure he meant Bess.</p> + +<p>Father broughte home a strange gueste to-daye,—a +converted Jew, with grizzlie beard, +furred gown, and eyes that shone like lamps lit +in dark cavernes. He had beene to Benmarine +and Tremeçen, to y<sup>e</sup> Holie Citie and to Damascus, +to Urmia and Assyria, and I think alle over +y<sup>e</sup> knowne world; and tolde us manie strange +tales, one hardlie knew how to believe; as, for +example, of a sea-coast tribe, called y<sup>e</sup> Balouches, +who live on fish and build theire dwellings +of the bones. Alsoe, of a race of his countrie-men +beyond Euphrates who believe in Christ, +but know nothing of y<sup>e</sup> Pope; and of whom +were y<sup>e</sup> Magians y<sup>t</sup> followed y<sup>e</sup> Star. This +agreeth not with our legend. He averred that, +though soe far apart from theire brethren, theire +speech was y<sup>e</sup> same, and even theire songs; and +he sang or chaunted one which he sayd was +common among y<sup>e</sup> Jews alle over y<sup>e</sup> world, and +had beene so ever since theire citie was ruinated +and y<sup>e</sup> people captivated, and yet it was +never sett down by note. Erasmus, who knows +little or nought of Hebrew, listened to y<sup>e</sup> words +with curiositie, and made him repeate them +twice or thrice: and though I know not y<sup>e</sup> character, +it seemed to me they sounded thus:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Adir Hu yivne bethcha beccaro,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">El, b'ne; El, b'ne; El, b'ne;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bethcha beccaro.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Though Christianish, he woulde not eat pig's +face; and sayd swine's flesh was forbidden by +y<sup>e</sup> Hebrew law for its unwholesomenesse in hot +countries and hot weather, rather than by way +of arbitrarie prohibition. Daisy took a great dislike +to this man, and woulde not sit next him.</p> + +<p>In the hay-field alle y<sup>e</sup> evening. Swathed +father in a hay-rope, and made him pay y<sup>e</sup> fine, +which he pretended to resist. Cecy was just +about to cast one round Erasmus, when her +heart failed and she ran away, colouring to y<sup>e</sup> +eyes. He sayd, he never saw such pretty shame. +Father reclining on y<sup>e</sup> hay, with head on my +lap and his eyes shut, Bess asked if he were +asleep. He made answer, "Yes, and dreaming." +I askt, "Of what?" "Of a far-off future +daye, Meg; when thou and I shall looke +back on this hour, and this hay-field, and my +head on thy lap."</p> + +<p>"Nay, but what a stupid dream, Mr. More," +says mother. "Why, what woulde <i>you</i> dreame +of, Mrs. Alice?" "Forsooth, if I dreamed at +alle, when I was wide awake, it shoulde be of +being Lord Chancellor at y<sup>e</sup> leaste." "Well, +wife, I forgive thee for not saying at the <i>most</i>. +Lord Chancellor quotha! And you woulde be +Dame Alice, I trow, and ride in a whirlecote, +and keep a Spanish jennet, and a couple of grey +hounds, and wear a train before and behind, +and carry a jerfalcon on your fist." "On my +wrist." "No, that's not such a pretty word as +t'other! Go to, go!"</p> + +<p>Straying from y<sup>e</sup> others, to a remote corner +of the meadow, or ever I was aware, I came +close upon Gammer Gurney, holding somewhat +with much care. "Give ye good den, Mistress +Meg," quoth she, "I cannot abear to rob y<sup>e</sup> +birds of theire nests; but I knows you and +yours be kind to dumb creatures, soe here's a +nest o' young owzels for ye—and I can't call +'em dumb nowther, for they'll sing bravelie +some o' these days." "How hast fared, of late, +Gammer?" quoth I. "Why, well enow for +such as I," she made answer; "since I lost y<sup>e</sup> +use o' my right hand, I can nowther spin, nor +nurse sick folk, but I pulls rushes, and that +brings me a few pence, and I be a good herbalist; +and, because I says one or two English +prayers and hates y<sup>e</sup> priests, some folks thinks +me a witch." "But why dost hate y<sup>e</sup> priests?" +quoth I. "Never you mind," she gave answer, +"I've reasons manie; and for my English prayers, +they were taught me by a gentleman I +nursed, that's now a saint in heaven, along +with poor Joan."</p> + +<p>And soe she hobbled off, and I felt kindlie +towards her, I scarce knew why—perhaps because +she spake soe lovingly of her dead sister, +and because of that sister's name. <i>My</i> mother's +name was Joan.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Erasmus is gone. His last saying to father +was, "They will have you at court yet;" and +father's answer, "When Plato's year comes +round."</p> + +<p>To me he gave a copy, how precious! of his +Testament. "You are an elegant Latinist, +Margaret," he was pleased to say, "but, if you +woulde drink deeplie of y<sup>e</sup> well-springs of wisdom, +applie to Greek. The Latins have onlie +shallow rivulets; the Greeks, copious rivers, +running over sands of gold. Read Plato; he +wrote on marble, with a diamond; but above +alle, read y<sup>e</sup> New Testament. 'Tis the key to +the kingdom of heaven."</p> + +<p>To Mr. Gunnel, he said, smiling, "Have a +care of thyself, dear Gonellus, and take a little +wine for thy stomach's sake. The wages of +most scholars nowadays, are weak eyes, ill-health, +an empty purse, and shorte commons. +I neede only bid thee beware of the two first."</p> + +<p>To Bess, "Farewell, Bessy; thank you for +mending my bad Latin. When I write to you, +I will be sure to signe myselfe 'Roterodamius.' +Farewell, sweete, Cecil; let me always continue +your 'desired amiable.' And you, Jacky,—love +your book a little more."</p> + +<p>"Jack's deare mother, not content with her +girls," sayth father, "was alwaies wishing for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +a boy, and at last she had one that means to +remain a boy alle his life."</p> + +<p>"The Dutch schoolmasters thoughte <i>me</i> dulle +and heavie," sayth Erasmus, "soe there is +some hope of Jacky yet." And soe, stepped +into y<sup>e</sup> barge, which we watched to Chelsea +Reach. How dulle the house has beene ever +since! Rupert and William have had me into +y<sup>e</sup> pavillion to hear y<sup>e</sup> plot of a miracle-play +they have alreadie begunne to talk over for +Christmasse, but it seemed to me downrighte +rubbish. Father sleeps in towne to-nighte, soe +we shall be stupid enow. Bessy hath undertaken +to work father a slipper for his tender +foot; and is happie, tracing for y<sup>e</sup> pattern our +three moor-cocks and colts; but I am idle and +tiresome.</p> + +<p>If I had paper, I woulde beginne my projected +<i>opus</i>; but I dare not ask Gunnel for anie +more just yet; nor have anie money to buy +some. I wish I had a couple of angels. I think +I shall write to father for them to-morrow; he +alwaies likes to heare from us if he is twenty-four +hours absent, providing we conclude not +with "I have nothing more to say."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>I have writ my letter to father. I almoste +wish, now, that I had not sent it.</p> + +<p>Rupert and Will still full of theire moralitie, +which reallie has some fun in it. To ridicule +y<sup>e</sup> extravagance of those who, as the saying is, +carry theire farms and fields on theire backs, +William proposes to come in, all verdant, with +a reall model of a farm on his back and a windmill +on his head.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>How sweete, how gracious an answer from +father! John Harris has broughte me with it +y<sup>e</sup> two angels; less prized than this epistle.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="right">July 10.</p> + +<p>Sixteenth birthdaye. Father away, which +made it sadde. Mother gave me a payr of blue +hosen with silk clocks; Mr. Gunnel, an ivorie +handled stylus; Bess, a bodkin for my hair; +Daisy, a book-mark; Mercy, a saffron cake; +Jack, a basket; and Cecil, a nosegay. William's +present was fayrest of alle, but I am hurte +with him and myselfe: for he offered it soe +queerlie and tagged it with such.... I refused +it, and there's an end. 'Twas unmannerlie and +unkinde of me, and I've cried aboute it since.</p> + +<p>Father alwaies gives us a birthdaye treat; +soe, contrived that mother shoulde take us to +see my Lord Cardinal of York goe to Westminster +in state. We had a merrie water-party; +got goode places and saw the show; crosse-bearers, +pillar-bearers, ushers and alle. Himselfe +in crimson engrayned sattin, and tippet of +sables, with an orange in his hand helde to 's +nose, as though y<sup>e</sup> common ayr were too vile to +breathe. What a pompous priest it is! The +archbishop mighte well say, "That man is +drunk with too much prosperitie."</p> + +<p>Between dinner and supper, we had a fine +skirmish in y<sup>e</sup> straits of Thermopylæ. Mr. Gunnel +headed the Persians, and Will was Leonidas, +with a swashing buckler, and a helmet a +yard high; but Mr. Gunnel gave him such a +rap on the crest that it went over y<sup>e</sup> wall; soe +then William thought there was nothing left for +him but to die. Howbeit, as he had beene layd +low sooner than he had reckoned on, he prolonged +his last agonies a goode deal, and gave +one of y<sup>e</sup> Persians a tremendous kick just as +they were aboute to rifle his pouch. They therefore +thoughte there must be somewhat in it they +shoulde like to see; soe, helde him down in +spite of his hitting righte and lefte, and pulled +therefrom, among sundrie lesser matters, a carnation +knot of mine. Poor varlet, I wish he +would not be so stupid....</p> + +<p>After supper, mother proposed a concert; and +we were alle singing a rounde, when, looking +up, I saw father standing in y<sup>e</sup> door-way, with +such a happy smile on his face! He was close +behind Rupert and Daisy, who were singing +from y<sup>e</sup> same book, and advertised them of his +coming by gentlie knocking theire heads together; +but I had the firste kiss, even before +mother, because of my birthdaye.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>It turns out that father's lateness yester-even +was caused by press of businesse; a forayn +mission having beene proposed to him, which +he resisted as long as he could, but was at +lengthe reluctantlie induced to accept. Length +of his stay uncertayn, which casts a gloom on +alle; but there is soe much to doe as to leave +little time to think, and father is busiest of alle; +yet hath founde leisure to concert with mother +for us a journey into y<sup>e</sup> country, which will +occupy some of y<sup>e</sup> weeks of his absence. I am +full of carefulle thoughts and forebodings, being +naturallie of too anxious a disposition. Oh, let +me caste alle my cares on another! Fecisti +nos ad te, Domine; et inquietum est cor nostrum, +donec requiescat in te.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>'Tis soe manie months agone since that I +made an entry in my libellus, as that my +motto—"nulla dies sine linea—," hath somewhat +of sarcasm in it. How manie things doe +I beginne and leave unfinisht! and yet, less from +caprice than lack of strength; like him of whom +y<sup>e</sup> scripture was writ—"this man beganne to +build and was not able to finish." My <i>opus</i>, +for instance; the which my father's prolonged +absence in y<sup>e</sup> autumn and my winter visitt to +aunt Nan and aunt Fan gave me such leisure to +carrie forward. But alack! leisure was less to +seeke than learninge; and when I came back to +mine olde taskes, leisure was awanting too; +and then, by reason of my sleeping in a separate +chamber, I was enabled to steale hours from y<sup>e</sup> +earlie morn and hours from y<sup>e</sup> night, and, like +unto Solomon's virtuous woman, my candle +went not out. But 'twas not to purpose y<sup>t</sup> I +worked, like y<sup>e</sup> virtuous woman, for I was following +a Jack-o-lantern; having forsooke y<sup>e</sup> +straight path laid downe by Erasmus for a +foolish path of mine owne; and soe I toyled,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +and blundered, and puzzled, and was mazed; +and then came on that payn in my head. +Father sayd, "What makes Meg soe pale!" +and I sayd not: and, at y<sup>e</sup> last, I tolde mother +there was somewhat throbbing and twisting in +y<sup>e</sup> back of mine head like unto a little worm +that woulde not die; and she made answer, +"Ah, a maggot," and soe by her scoff I was +shamed. Then I gave over mine opus, but y<sup>e</sup> +payn did not yet goe; soe then I was longing +for y<sup>e</sup> deare pleasure, and fondlie turning over y<sup>e</sup> +leaves, and wondering woulde father be surprised +and pleased with it some daye, when father +himself came in or ever I was aware. He +sayth, "What hast thou, Meg?" I faltered and +would sett it aside. He sayth, "Nay, let me +see;" and soe takes it from me; and after y<sup>e</sup> +firste glance throws himself into a seat, his back +to me, and firste runs it hastilie through, then +beginnes with methode and such silence and +gravitie as that I trembled at his side, and felt +what it must be to stand a prisoner at the bar, +and he y<sup>e</sup> judge. Sometimes I thought he must +be pleased, at others not: at lengthe, alle my +fond hopes were ended by his crying, "This will +never doe. Poor wretch, hath this then beene +thy toyl? How couldst find time for soe much +labor? for here hath been trouble enow and to +spare. Thou must have stolen it, sweet Meg, +from the night, and prevented y<sup>e</sup> morning watch. +Most dear'st! thy father's owne loved child;" +and soe, caressing me till I gave over my shame +and disappointment.</p> + +<p>"I neede not to tell thee, Meg," father sayth, +"of y<sup>e</sup> unprofitable labour of Sisyphus, nor of +drawing water in a sieve. There are some +things, most deare one, that a woman, if she +trieth, may doe as well as a man; and some +she can not, and some she had better not. +Now, I tell thee firmlie, since y<sup>e</sup> first payn is y<sup>e</sup> +leaste sharpe, that, despite y<sup>e</sup> spiritt and genius +herein shewn, I am avised 'tis work thou canst +not and work thou hadst better not doe. But +judge for thyselfe; if thou wilt persist, thou +shalt have leisure and quiet, and a chamber in +my new building, and alle y<sup>e</sup> help my gallery of +books may afford. But thy father says, forbear."</p> + +<p>Soe, what could I say, but "My father shall +never speak to me in vayn!"</p> + +<p>Then he gathered y<sup>e</sup> papers up and sayd, +"Then I shall take temptation out of your +way;" and pressing 'em to his heart as he did +soe, sayth, "They are as deare to me as they +can be to you;" and soe left me, looking out as +though I noted (but I noted not), the clear-shining +Thames. 'Twas twilighte, and I stoode +there I know not how long, alone and lonely; +with tears coming, I knew not why, into mine +eyes. There was a weight in y<sup>e</sup> ayr, as of +coming thunder; the screaming, ever and anon, +of Juno and Argus, inclined me to mellancholie, +as it alwaies does: and at length I beganne to +note y<sup>e</sup> moon rising, and y<sup>e</sup> deepening clearnesse +of y<sup>e</sup> water, and y<sup>e</sup> lazy motion of y<sup>e</sup> barges, +and y<sup>e</sup> flashes of light whene'er y<sup>e</sup> rowers dipt +theire oars. And then I beganne to attend to +y<sup>e</sup> cries and different sounds from acrosse y<sup>e</sup> +water, and y<sup>e</sup> tolling of a distant bell; and I +felle back on mine olde heart-sighinge, "Fecisti +nos ad te, Domine; et inquietum est cor nostrum, +donec requiescat in te."</p> + +<p>Or ever the week was gone, my father had +contrived for me another journey to New Hall, +to abide with the lay nuns, as he calleth them, +aunt Nan and aunt Fan, whom my step-mother +loveth not, but whom I love and whom father +loveth. Indeede, 'tis sayd in Essex that at +first he inclined to aunt Nan rather than to my +mother; but that, perceiving my mother affected +his companie and aunt Nan affected it not, he +diverted his hesitating affections unto her and +took her to wife. Albeit, aunt Nan loveth him +dearlie as a sister ought: indeed, she loveth +alle, except, methinketh, herself, to whom, +alone, she is rigid and severe. How holie are +my aunts' lives! Cloistered nuns could not be +more pure, and could scarce be as usefulle. +Though wise, they can be gay; though noe +longer young, they love the young. And theire +reward is, the young love them; and I am fulle +sure, in this world they seeke noe better.</p> + +<p>Returned to Chelsea, I spake much in prayse +of mine aunts, and of single life. On a certayn +evening, we maids were sett at our needles and +samplers on y<sup>e</sup> pavillion steps; and, as follie +will out, 'gan talk of what we would fayn have +to our lots, shoulde a good fairie starte up and +grant eache a wish. Daisy was for a countess's +degree, with hawks and hounds. Bess was for +founding a college, Mercy a hospital, and she +spake soe experimentallie of its conditions that +I was fayn to goe partners with her in the same. +Cecy commenced "Supposing I were married; +if once that I were married"—on which, father, +who had come up unperceived, burst out laughing +and sayth, "Well, dame Cecily, and what +state would you keep?" Howbeit as he and I +afterwards paced together, juxta fluvium, he did +say, "Mercy hath well propounded the conditions +of an hospital or alms-house for aged and sick +folk, and 'tis a fantasie of mine to sett even +such an one afoot, and give you the conduct of +the same."</p> + +<p>From this careless speech, dropped, as 'twere, +by y<sup>e</sup> way, hath sprung mine house of refuge! +and oh, what pleasure have I derived from it! +How good is my father! how the poor bless +him! and how kind is he, through them, to me! +Laying his hand kindly on my shoulder, this +morning, he sayd, "Meg, how fares it with thee +now? Have I cured the payn in thy head?" +Then, putting the house-key into mine hand, he +laughingly added, "'Tis now yours, my joy, by +Livery and Seisin."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="right">Aug. 6.</p> + +<p>I wish William w<sup>d</sup> give me back my Testament. +Tis one thing to steal a knot or a posie, +and another to borrow y<sup>e</sup> most valuable book in +y<sup>e</sup> house and keep it week after week. He +soughte it with a kind of mysterie, soe as that +I forbeare to ask it of him in companie, lest I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +s<sup>d</sup> doe him an ill turn; and yet I have none +other occasion.</p> + +<p>The emperor, the King of France, and Cardinal +Ximenes are alle striving which shall have +Erasmus, and alle in vayn. He hath refused a +professor's chayr at Louvain, and a Sicilian +bishoprick. E'en thus it was with him when +he was here this spring—the Queen w<sup>d</sup> have +had him for her preceptor, the King and Cardinal +prest on him a royall apartment and salarie, +Oxford and Cambridge contended for him, but +his saying was, "Alle these I value less than +my libertie, my studdies, and my literarie toyls." +How much greater is he than those who woulde +confer on him greatness! Noe man of letters +hath equall reputation or is soe much courted.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Yestereven, after overlooking the men playing +at loggats, father and I strayed away along +Thermopylæ into y<sup>e</sup> home-field; and as we +sauntered together under the elms, he sayth +with a sigh, "Jack, is Jack, and no More ... +he will never be any thing. An' 'twere not for +my beloved wenches, I should be an unhappy +father. But what though!—My Meg is better +unto me than ten sons; and it maketh no difference +at harvest time whether our corn were put +into the ground by a man or a woman."</p> + +<p>While I was turning in my mind what excuse +I might make for John, father taketh me at unawares +by a sudden change of subject; saying, +"Come, tell me, Meg, why canst not affect +Will Roper?"</p> + +<p>I was a good while silent, at length made +answer, "He is so unlike alle I esteem and admire ... so +unlike alle I have been taught to +esteem and admire by you."—</p> + +<p>"Have at you," he returned laughing, "I +knew not I had been sharpening weapons +agaynst myself. True he is neither Achilles nor +Hector, nor even Paris, but yet well enough, +meseems, as times go—smarter and comelier +than either Heron or Dancey."</p> + +<p>I, faltering, made answer, "Good looks affect +me but little—'tis in his better part I feel the +want. He can not ... discourse, for instance, +to one's mind and soul, like unto you, dear +father, or Erasmus."</p> + +<p>"I should marvel if he could," returned father +gravelie, "thou art mad, my daughter, to look, +in a youth of Will's years, for the mind of a +man of forty or fifty. What were Erasmus and +I, dost thou suppose, at Will's age? Alas, +Meg, I should not like you to know what I was! +Men called me the boy-sage, and I know not +what, but in my heart and head was a world of +sin and folly. Thou mightst as well expect +Will to have my hair, eyes, and teeth, alle +getting y<sup>e</sup> worse for wear, as to have the fruits +of my life-long experience, in some cases full +dearly bought. Take him for what he is, match +him by the young minds of his owne standing: +consider how long and closelie we have known +him. His parts are, surelie, not amiss: he hath +more book-lore than Dancey, more mother wit +than Allington."</p> + +<p>"But why need I to concern myself about +him?" I exclaymed, "Will is very well in his +way: why s<sup>d</sup> we cross each other's paths? I +am young, I have much to learn, I love my +studdies—why interrupt them with other and +lesse wise thoughts?"</p> + +<p>"Because nothing can be wise that is not +practical," returned father, "and I teach my +children philosophie to fitt them for living in y<sup>e</sup> +world, not above it. One may spend a life in +dreaming over Plato, and yet goe out of it without +leaving y<sup>e</sup> world a whit y<sup>e</sup> better for our +having made part of it. 'Tis to little purpose +we studdy, if it onlie makes us look for perfections +in others which they may in vayn seek for +in ourselves. It is not even necessary or goode +for us to live entirelie with congeniall spiritts. +The vigourous tempers the inert, the passionate +is evened by the cool-tempered, the prosaic +balances the visionarie. Woulde thy mother +suit me better, dost thou suppose, if she coulde +discuss polemicks like Luther or Melancthon? +E'en thine owne sweet mother, Meg, was less +affected to study than thou art—she learnt to +love it for my sake, but I made her what she +was."</p> + +<p>And, with a suddain burste of fond recollection, +he hid his eyes on my shoulder, and for a +moment or soe, cried bitterlie. As for me, I +shed, oh! such salt teares!...</p> + + +<p><a name="Pearl" id="Pearl"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE PEARL-DIVERS.</h2> + + +<p>At the commencement of the last year's fishery, +there was a man whom, go wherever +I would, I was always certain to meet. Like +myself, he was a diver, and like myself moreover, +he pretended to have no surname, but went +simply by the name of Rafael. At the cleansing-trough, +beneath the surface of the sea, no +matter where it was, we were always thrown +together, so that we quickly became intimate; +and his remarkable skill as a diver had inspired +me with considerable esteem for him. Alike +courageous as skillful, he snapped his fingers at +the sharks, declaring his power to intimidate +them by a particular expression of the eye. In +fine, he was a fearless diver, an industrious +workman, and, above all, a most jovial comrade.</p> + +<p>Matters went smoothly enough between us, +till the day when a girl and her mother took up +their abode at the island Espiritu Sante.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> +Some business that I had to transact with the +dealers in this island afforded me an opportunity +of seeing her. I fell desperately in love; and +as I enjoyed a certain amount of reputation, +neither she nor her mother looked with an unfavorable +eye on my suit or my presents. When +the day's work was over, and every body supposed +me asleep in my hut, I swam across to +the island, whence I returned about an hour +after midnight without my absence being at all +surmised.</p> + +<p>Some days had elapsed since my first nocturnal +visit to Espiritu Sante, when, as I was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +one morning going to the fishery just before +daybreak, I met one of those old crones who +pretend to be able to charm the sharks by their +spells. She was seated near my hut, and appeared +to be watching my arrival. As she perceived +me, she exclaimed, "How fares it with +my son, José Juan?"</p> + +<p>"Good morning, mother!" I replied, and was +passing on, when she approached me, and said, +"Listen to me, José Juan; I have to speak to +you of that which nearly concerns you."</p> + +<p>"Nearly concerns me!" I repeated, in great +surprise.</p> + +<p>"Yes. Do you deny that your heart is in +the island of Espiritu Sante, or that you cross +the strait every night to see and converse with +her on whom you have bestowed your love?"</p> + +<p>"How know you that?"</p> + +<p>"No matter; I know it well. José Juan, +for you this voyage is fraught with a twofold +peril. The foes whom my charms can hold +harmless during the day only lie in wait for you +each night beneath the waves; on the shore, +foes more dangerous still, and over whom my +arts are powerless, dog your steps. I come to +offer you my aid to combat these double dangers."</p> + +<p>My only answer was by a loud laugh of contempt. +The old Indian's eyes sparkled with +fiendish fury as she exclaimed, "And because +you are without faith, you deem me without +power? Be it so; there are those who believe +in the influence you but scoff at."</p> + +<p>As she spoke, she drew from her pocket a little +case of printed cloth, and producing amid pearls +of inferior value one of a large size and brilliant +water, she replied, "Know you aught of this?" +It was one I had given to Jesusita; for such +was the girl's name.</p> + +<p>"How came you by it?" cried I.</p> + +<p>The witch gave me a look of hatred.</p> + +<p>"How came I by it? Why, 'twas given me +by a damsel the fairest that ever set foot on +these shores; a damsel who would be the glory +and happiness of a young man, and who came +to crave my protection—that protection you +hold so cheap—for one she fondly loves."</p> + +<p>"His name!" I exclaimed, with a fearful +sinking at my heart.</p> + +<p>"What matters it," jeeringly returned the +hag, "since <i>his</i> name is not the one you bear?"</p> + +<p>I hardly know how I resisted the impulse to +crush the cursed witch beneath my feet; but +after a moment's reflection, I turned my back +to her that she might not read in my face the +anguish of my soul, and coolly saying, "You are +a lying old dotard," I walked on to the fishery.</p> + +<p>On the evening of that day, which seemed as +if it would never close, I went as usual to +Jesusita, and the welcome she gave me soon +dispelled all lurking suspicions. I felt no doubt +but that the old woman, in resentment of my +contemptuous treatment, had purposely deceived +me as to the name of him for whom Jesusita had +craved that protection which I had despised.</p> + +<p>I had utterly forgotten my scene with the +witch, when, one night, I was as usual crossing +the strait on my return home. The sky was +dark and lowering, yet not so cloudy but that I +could distinguish amid the waves something +which, from its manner of swimming, I could +make out to be a man. The object was alongside +of me. The old crone's words rushed upon +my memory, and I felt a thrill of agony convulse +my frame. For an enemy I cared but little; the +idea that I had a rival unnerved me at once.</p> + +<p>I determined to ascertain who the unknown +might be; and not wishing to be seen, I swam +under water in his direction. When, according +to my calculation, we must have crossed each +other, he above and I below the surface, I rose +above water. The blood had rushed to my head +with such violence as to render me unable for +some time to distinguish aught amidst the darkness +beyond the phosphorescent light that played +upon the crest of the waves; unerring signs +of a coming storm. Nevertheless, I held on my +course in the direction of Espiritu Sante. Some +few minutes elapsed ere I again beheld the +swimmer's head. He clove the waves with such +rapidity that I could scarce keep pace with him. +But one alone among all I knew could vie with +me in swiftness; I redoubled my efforts, and +soon gained so much on him as obliged me to +strike out less quickly. In short, I saw him land +upon a rock and ascend it; and as a flash of +lightning played upon sea and shore, I recognized +the face of Rafael. Here, as elsewhere, were +we doomed to cross each other's path. A feeling +of hatred, deadly and intense, was busy at +my heart, and methought it were well we met +but once again. However, we were destined to +meet on one more occasion than I had reckoned +upon.</p> + +<p>At first I determined upon calling him by +name and discovering my presence; but there +are moments in one's life when our actions refuse +to second the will. Spite of myself, I suffered +him to pursue his way, while I gained the eminence +he had just quitted. Thence was it easy +for me to watch his course. I observed him +take the same direction I was so wont to take, +then knock at the door of that hut I knew so +well. He entered, and disappeared.</p> + +<p>I fancied for one moment I heard, borne along +the howling of the gale, the old witch's scoffing +laugh as she croaked out, "What matters it to +you, since <i>his</i> name is not the one you bear?" +and, looming amid the darkness, methought I +saw her shriveled and withered arm stretched +out in the direction of Jesusita's dwelling; and +I rushed forward, knife in hand. A few strides, +and I stood before the door, and stooped down +to listen; but I heard naught beyond indistinct +murmurings. I had now partially recovered my +<i>sang-froid</i>, and bent my whole thoughts upon +revenge.</p> + +<p>I drew my knife, and passed it along a stone +to assure its edge; but I did so with such carelessness +or agitation that it shivered to the hilt. +Thus deprived of the sole weapon that I could +rely upon for my revenge, I felt that I had not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +an instant to lose. I ran in all haste to the +beach, and unmoored a boat that lay alongside. +My rage renewed my energies: I crossed the +strait, rushed to my hut, procured another knife, +and again set out to Espiritu Sante. The gale +increased in violence. The sea gleamed like a +fiery lake. The gavista's<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> wailing cry re-echoed +along the rocks; the sea-wolf's howl was heard +amid the darkness. All at once sounds of +another kind broke upon my ear: they seemed +to proceed from the very bosom of the ocean. I +listened; but a sudden squall overpowered the +confused murmurings of the waves, and I fancied +my senses had deceived me, when, some seconds +afterward, the cry was repeated. This time I +was not mistaken: the cry I heard was that of +a human being in the very extremity of anguish +and despair. As the voice proceeded from the +direction of the island, I at once conjectured it +was Rafael who was calling for help. I looked +out, but looked in vain; the obscurity was too +thick, and I could distinguish nothing. Suddenly, +I again heard the voice exclaim, "Boat +ahoy, for God's blessed sake!"</p> + +<p>It was Rafael's voice. 'Tis all very well to +have sworn to do your enemy to death, to wreak +your just revenge on him who has so bitterly +aggrieved you; yet when, on a night murky and +dark as that his tones arise from forth a sea +swarming with monsters, and when those tones +are uttered by a fearless man, and, albeit, +wrestling in mortal peril, there is in that cry of +last anguish somewhat that strikes awe to the +very soul. I could not repress a shudder.</p> + +<p>But my emotion was of short duration. I +heard the sounds of a strong arm buffeting the +waves, and I rowed in that direction. Amidst +a luminous shower of spray and foam I discovered +Rafael. Singular enough, instead of availing +himself of his strength to gain the boat, he remained +stationary. I quickly perceived the +cause. At some distance from him, a little +below the surface of the water, there was a +strong phosphoric light; this light was slowly +making way toward Rafael. Right well I knew +what that light portended; it streamed from a +<i>tintorera</i><a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> of the largest size. One stroke of +the oar, and I was close to Rafael: he uttered a +cry as he perceived me, but was too much exhausted +to speak. He seized the gunwale of +the boat by an effort of despair, but his arms +were too wearied to enable him to raise his body. +His eyes, though glazed with fear, yet bore so +expressive a glance as they encountered mine, +that I seized his hands in my own, and pressed +them forcibly against the sides of the boat. The +<i>tintorera</i> still gradually advanced. For a moment, +but one brief moment, Rafael's legs hung +motionless; he uttered a piercing shriek, his +eyes closed, his hands let loose their hold, and +the upper part of his body fell back into the sea. +The shark had bitten him in two.</p> + +<p>Ay! I might, perchance, have grasped his +limbs too firmly in mine, possibly I prevented +him from getting into the boat, but my knife +was innocent of his blood; besides, was he not +my rival—perchance my successful rival? However, +scarcely had he disappeared than I plunged +after him; for although the <i>tintorera</i> had ridded +me of a hated foe, still I bore it a grudge for its +brutal proceedings in thus summarily disposing +of poor Rafael. Besides, the honor of the corporation +of divers was at stake. Having once +tasted human flesh, the shark would doubtless +attack us in turn. Well, nothing so much excites +the ferocity of the <i>tintorera</i> as such tempestuous +nights as the one that bore its silent +testimony to my rival's fate. A viscous substance +that oozes from porous holes around the +monster's mouth diffuses itself over the surface +of the skin, rendering them as luminous as fire-flies, +and this particularly during a thunderstorm. +This luminous appearance is the more +visible in proportion to the darkness of the night. +By a merciful dispensation of nature, they are +almost unable to see; so that the silent swimmer +has at least one advantage over them. Moreover, +they can not seize their prey without turning +on their backs; so that it is not difficult to +imagine that a courageous man and a skillful +swimmer has some chances in his favor.</p> + +<p>I dived to no great depth, in order to husband +my wind, and also to cast a hasty glance above, +beneath, and around me. The waves roared +above my head, loud as a crash of thunder; +fiery flakes of water drove around like dust before +the winds of March; but in my immediate +vicinity all was calm. A black and shapeless +mass struck against me as I lay suspended in +my billowy recess; 'twas all that was left of +Rafael. Surely it was written in the book of +doom that I should always find that man in +my path.</p> + +<p>I surmised that the brute I was in quest of +would be at no great distance, for the fiery +streak I had perceived waxed larger and larger. +The <i>tintorera</i> and myself must, I inferred, be at +equal depths; but the shark was preparing to +rise. My breath began to fail, and I was unwilling +to allow the monster to get above me, +as then he could have made me share Rafael's +fate without troubling himself to turn on his +back. My hopes of obtaining the victory over +it depended upon the time it required to execute +this manœuvre. The <i>tintorera</i> swam diagonally +toward me with such rapidity that at one time +I was near enough to distinguish the membrane +that half-covered its eyes, and to feel its dusky +fins graze my body. Gobbets of human flesh +still clung around the lower jaw. The monster +gazed on me with its dim, glassy eye. My +head had that moment attained the level of +its own. I drank in the air with a gurgle I +could not suppress, and struck out a lusty +stroke in a parallel direction and turned round: +well for me I did so. The moon lighted up for +a single instant the whitish-gray colored belly +of the <i>tintorera</i>—that instant was enough for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +as it opened its enormous mouth, bristling with +its double row of long pointed teeth, I plunged +the dagger I had reserved for Rafael into its +body, and drew it lengthwise forth. The <i>tintorera</i>, +mortally wounded, sprung several feet out +of the water, and fell striking out furiously with +its tail, which fortunately did not reach me. +For a space I struggled, half blinded by the +crimson foam that beat against my face; but +as I beheld the huge carcass of the enemy floating +a lifeless mass upon the surface, I gave vent +to a triumphant shout, which, spite of the storm, +might be heard on either coast.</p> + +<p>Day-light began to dawn as I gained the +shore, in a state of utter exhaustion from the +exertion I had undergone. The fishermen were +raising their nets, and, as I arrived, the tide +washed upon the coast the <i>tintorera</i> and Rafael's +ghastly remains. It was soon spread abroad +that I had endeavored to rescue my friend from +his horrible fate, and my heroic conduct was +lauded to the echo. But one person, and one +alone, suspected the truth—that person is now +my wife.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>PHANTOMS AND REALITIES.—AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></h2> + +<h3>PART THE SECOND—NOON.</h3> + + +<h4>IX.</h4> + +<p>Things happen in the world every day which +appear incredible on paper. Individuals +may secretly acknowledge to themselves the +likelihood of such things, but the bulk of mankind +feel it necessary to treat them openly with +skepticism and ridicule. The real is sometimes +too real for the line and plummet of the established +criticism. It is the province of art to +avoid these exceptional incidents, or to modify +and adapt them so that they shall appear to +harmonize with universal humanity. Hence it +is that fiction is often more truthful than biography; +and it is obvious enough that it ought +to be so, if it deal only with materials that are +reconcilable with the general experience.</p> + +<p>But I am not amenable to the canons of art. +I am not writing fiction. I am relating facts; +and if they should appear unreasonable or improbable, +I appeal, for their vindication, to the +candor of the reader. Every man, if he looks +back into the vicissitudes of his life, will find +passages which would be pronounced pure exaggeration +and extravagance in a novel.</p> + +<p>When I met Astræa the next morning, I could +perceive those traces of deep anxiety which +recent circumstances had naturally left behind, +and which the flush and excitement of the preceding +evening had concealed. She was very +pale and nervous. She felt that the moment +had come when all disguises between us must +end forever, and she trembled on the verge of +disclosures that visibly shook her fortitude.</p> + +<p>The day was calm and breathless. Scarcely +a leaf stirred in the trees, and the long shadows +slept without a ruffle on the turf. The stillness +of the place contrasted strangely with the tempest +of emotions that was raging in my heart. +I longed to get into the air. I felt the house +stifling, and thought that I should breathe more +freely among the branches of the little wood +that looked so green and cool down by the +margin of the stream. There was a rustic seat +there under a canopy of drooping boughs, close +upon the water and the bridge, where we could +enjoy the luxury of perfect solitude. Requesting +her to follow me, I went alone into the wood.</p> + +<p>The interval seemed to me long before she +came; and when she did come, she was paler +and more agitated than before. I tried to give +her confidence by repeated protestations of my +devotion; and as she seemed to gather courage +from the earnestness of my language, I again +and again renewed the pledges which bound me +to her, at any risk our position might demand.</p> + +<p>"It is that," she exclaimed, "which gives +me hope and comfort. You have had time to +reflect on these pledges, and weigh the consequences +they involve, and you now repeat them +to me with an ardor which I should do you a +great wrong to doubt. I entirely trust to you. +If I am deceived, I will try still to be just, and +hardly blame you so much as the world, which +few men can relinquish for love."</p> + +<p>There was a pause, during which she gradually +recovered her self-composure. I felt that +these expressions gave me a nobler motive for +surrendering every thing for her sake. She +seemed to make me a hero by the penalties my +devotion enforced upon me; and I was eager to +prove myself capable of the most heroic sacrifices. +In the abyss of an overwhelming passion, +where reason is imprisoned by the senses, every +man is willing to be a martyr.</p> + +<p>"You have required of me, Astræa," said I, +"no, not required; but you have placed before +me the possibility of sufferings and trials resulting +from our union—loss of friends, the surrender +of many things that enter into the ordinary +scheme of married life, and that are considered +by the world indispensable to its happiness. +I am ready to relinquish them all. I +have looked for this end. I know not why it +should be so, nor does it give me a moment's +concern. I only know that I love you passionately, +and that life is desolation to me without +you. Let us therefore have no further delay. +All impediments are now out of our path. We +have our destinies in our own hands. Let us +knit them into one, and disappoint the scandal +and malignity which, from that hour, can exercise +no further influence over us."</p> + +<p>"You spoke," returned Astræa, looking with +a calm, clear gaze into my face, as if she penetrated +my soul, "you spoke of married life."</p> + +<p>The question surprised me. It was her look +more than her words that conveyed a meaning, +indistinct, but full of terrible suggestions. It +was a key to a thousand painful conjectures, +which flashed upon me in an instant, leaving +confusion and giddiness behind, and nothing +certain but the fear of what was to follow. I +could not answer her; or, rather, did not know<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +how to answer her, and merely tried to reassure +her with a smile, which I felt was hollow and +unnatural.</p> + +<p>"One word," she proceeded, in the same +tone, "must dispel that dream forever. It is +not for us that serene life you speak of. It is +not for me. Our destinies, if they be knit together, +must be cemented by our own hands, not +at the altar in the church, but in the sight of +heaven—a bond more solemn, and imposing a +more sacred obligation."</p> + +<p>I will not attempt to describe the effect of +these expressions. A cold dew crept over my +body, and I felt as if a paralysis had struck my +senses. Yet at the same moment, and while +she was speaking so quietly and deliberately, +and uttering words, under the heavy weight of +which the fabric I had reared in my imagination +crumbled down, and fell with a crash that smote +my brain—a crowd of memories came upon me—isolated +words and gestures, the dark allusions +of the dwarf, and the warnings of Astræa +herself—a crowd of things that were all dark +before were now lighted up. As the stream of +electricity flies along the chain, traversing link +after link and mile after mile, with a rapidity +that baffles calculation, so my thoughts flashed +over every incident of the past. I now understood +it all—the mystery that lay buried in +Astræa's words and abstractions—the vacant +heart—the hope that looked out from her eyes, +and then fled back to be quenched in silent +despair—her yearnings for solitude and repose—the +devotional spirit that, blighted in the world, +and condemned to be shut out from seeking +happiness in social conventions, had fallen back +upon its own lonely strength, and made to +itself a faith of passion! It was all plain to +me now. But there were explanations yet to +come.</p> + +<p>"Astræa!" I cried, hoarsely, and I felt the +echoes of the name moaning through the trees. +"Astræa! What is the meaning of these +dreadful words? Have you not pledged your +faith to me?"</p> + +<p>"Irrevocably!" she returned.</p> + +<p>"Then what new impediment has arisen to +our union?"</p> + +<p>"None that has not existed all along. Have +you not seen it darkening every hour of our intercourse? +Have you not understood it in the +fear that has given such intensity to feelings +which, had all been open before us, would have +been calm and unperturbed?—that has imparted +to love, otherwise sweet and tranquil, the +wild ardor of obstructed passion? Your instincts +must have told you, had you allowed +yourself a moment of reflection, that the woman +who consents to immolate her pride, her delicacy, +her fame, for the man she loves, must be +fettered by ties which leave her no alternative between +him and the world. Why am I here +alone with you?"</p> + +<p>This was not said in a tone of reproach, but +it sounded like reproach, and wounded me. It +was all true. I ought to have understood that +suffering of her soul which, now that the clouds +were rolling back from before my eyes, had become +all at once intelligible. But to be surprised +into such a discovery, to have misunderstood +her unspoken agonies and sacrifices, jarred +upon me, and made me feel as if my nature +were not lofty enough to comprehend, by its +own unassisted sympathies, the grandeur of her +character. I imagined myself humiliated in her +presence, and this consideration was paramount, +for the moment, over all others. It stripped my +devotion of all claim to a heroism kindred to +her own, and deprived me of the only merit +that could render me worthy of her love. Yet +in the midst of this conflict, other thoughts +came flooding upon me; and voices from the +world I was about to relinquish for her rung +like a knell upon my ears. There were still +explanations to come that might afford me some +refuge from these tortures.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Astræa, I was conscious of some obstruction; +but how could I divine what it was? +Even now I must confess myself bewildered. +But as all necessity for further reserve is at an +end, you will be candid and explicit with me. +What is the impediment that stands in the way +of our union?"</p> + +<p>I did not intend it, but I was aware, while I +was speaking, that there was ice in my voice, +and that the words issued from my lips as if +they were frozen.</p> + +<p>"You mean," she replied, coldly, but in a +tone that conveyed a feeling of rising scorn, +"you mean our marriage?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly."</p> + +<p>"I never can be your wife."</p> + +<p>As I had anticipated some such statement, I +ought not to have betrayed the amazement +with which I looked at her; but it was involuntary. +I did not ask her to go on; seeing, however, +that I expected it, she added,</p> + +<p>"I am the wife of another!"</p> + +<p>I started from my seat, and, in a paroxysm +of frenzy, paced up and down before her. I did +not exclaim aloud, "You have deceived me!" +but my flashing eyes and flushed brow expressed +it more eloquently than language. She bore +this in silence for a few minutes, and then addressed +me again,</p> + +<p>"I said I would try not to blame you. I +blame only myself. Like all men, you are +strong in protestations, and feeble, timid, and +vacillating in action. You are thinking now of +the world, which only last night you so courageously +despised. A few hours ago, you believed +yourself so superior to the common weaknesses +of your sex, that you were ready to make +the most heroic sacrifices. What has become +of that vehement resolution, that brave self-reliance? +Vanished on the instant you are +put to the proof. Believe me, you have miscalculated +your own nature—all men do in such +cases. A woman whose heart is her life, and +who shrinks in terror from all other conflicts, is +alone equal to such a struggle as this. The +world is your proper sphere; do not deceive<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +yourself. You could not sustain isolation; you +would be forever looking back, as you are at +this moment, for the consolations and support +you had abandoned."</p> + +<p>"No, Astræa!" I exclaimed; "you wrong +me. My resolution is unchanged; but you must +allow something for the suddenness—the +shock—"</p> + +<p>"I give you credit," she resumed, "for the +best intentions. It is not your fault that habit +and a constitutional acquiescence in it have left +you no power over your will in great emergencies. +You are what the world has made you; +and you should be thankful that you have found +it out in time. For me, what does it matter? +By coming here, I have violated obligations for +which society will hold me accountable, though +they pressed like prison-bars upon me, lacerating +and corroding my soul. It will admit no excuse +for their abandonment in the unutterable +misery they entailed. I am as guilty by this +one step as if I had plunged into the depths of +crime. The world does not recognize the doctrine +that the real crime is in the admission of +the first disloyal thought; it only looks to appearances +which I have outraged. I have compromised +myself beyond redemption. I can not +retrieve my disgrace, though I am as pure in +act as if we had never met. But I have +done it upon my own responsibility, and upon +me alone let the penalty fall. From this hour +I release you."</p> + +<p>Her language, and the dignity of her manner, +stung me. She seemed to tower above me in +the strength of her will, and the firmness with +which she went through a scene that shattered +my nerves fearfully, and made me equally +irresolute of speech and purpose. While I was +harrowed by an agony that fluttered in every +pulse, she was perfectly calm and collected, +and, rising quietly from her seat, turned away +to leave me.</p> + +<p>This action roused me from the stupor of indecision. +The situation in which she was placed—making +so new a demand upon my feelings—gave +me a sort of advantage which I thought +might enable me to recover the ground I had +lost. By the exercise of magnanimity in such +circumstances, I should vindicate myself in her +estimation, and prove myself once more worthy +of the opinion she had originally formed of me. +It was something nobler, I thought, to embrace +ruin at this moment for her sake, than if I had +known it all along, and had come to that conclusion +by a deliberate process of reasoning. +This train of subtle sophistry, which has taken +up some space to detail, struck me like a flash +of light on the instant I thought I was about +to lose her. I could bear all things but that, +and could suffer all things to avert it. And so +again I became her suitor, in a kind of proud +generosity, that flattered itself by stooping to +gain its own ends. How mean and selfish the +human heart is when our desires are set in +opposition to our duties!</p> + +<p>I sprang forward, and clasped her eagerly by +the hands. I flung myself on my knees before +her. Tears leaped into my eyes. I told her +that I had wronged her—that we had wronged +each other—that I had never wavered in my +faith—that we were bound to each other—and +that we could commit no crime now except that +of doubting, at either side, the truth of the love +which had brought us there, and for which I, +like her, had relinquished the world forever.</p> + +<p>She had a woman's heart, full of tenderness +and pity; and it is the tendency of woman's +nature to forgive and believe where the affections +are interested, without exacting much +proof or penalty. She bent over me, and raised +me in her arms. The storm had passed +away, and she trusted in me implicitly again.</p> + +<p>Her history? What was it? We shall come +to it presently.</p> + + +<h4>X.</h4> + +<p>The storm had passed away; but it left +traces of disorder behind, such as a tempest +leaves in a garden over which it has recently +swept. The collision had set us both thinking. +We felt as if a mist had suddenly melted down, +and enabled us, for the first time, to see clearly +before us. We felt this differently, but we were +equally conscious of the change.</p> + +<p>"I am the wife of another!"</p> + +<p>The words still throbbed in my brain. I +could not escape from the images they conjured +up. I could not rid myself of the doubts and +distrusts, shapeless, but oppressive, thus forced +upon me. I could not recall a single incident +out of which, until these words were uttered, +I could have extracted the remotest suspicion +of her situation. To me, and to every person +around her, Astræa had always appeared a free +agent. She bore no man's name. She acted +with perfect independence, so far as outward +action was concerned; and the only restraint +that ever seemed to hang upon her was some +dark memory, or heavy sorrow, that clouded her +spirit. Here was the mystery solved. She was +a bond-woman, and had hidden her fetters from +the world. In our English society, where usages +are strict, and shadows upon a woman's reputation, +even where there is not a solitary stain, +blot it out forever, this was strange and painful. +It looked like a deception, and, in the +estimate of all others, it was a deception. This +was the way in which it first presented itself to +me. I had not emancipated myself from the +influence of opinion, or habit, or prejudice, or +whatever that feeling may be called which instinctively +refers such questions to the social +standard. The recoil was sudden and violent. +Yet, nevertheless, I felt rebuked by the superiority +of Astræa in the strength of purpose and moral +courage she displayed under circumstances +which would have overwhelmed most other women. +Her steadfastness had a kind of grandeur +in it, that seemed to look down upon my misgivings +as failings or weaknesses of character. +And she sat silently in this pomp of a clear +and unfaltering resolution, while I, fretted and +chafed, exhibited too plainly my double sense<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +alike of the injury she had inflicted on me, and +of the ascendency which, even in the hour of injury, +she exercised over me. It was the stronger +mind, made stronger by the force of love, overawing +the weaker, made weaker by the prostration +of the affections.</p> + +<p>And she, too, had something to reflect upon +in this moment of mutual revolt.</p> + +<p>She loved me passionately. She loved me +with a devotion capable of confronting all risks +and perils. The profound unselfishness and +truthfulness of her love made her serene at +heart, and inspired her with a calmness which +enabled her to endure the worst without flinching. +There was not a single doubt of herself +in her own mind. Her faith gave her the fortitude +needful for the martyr. When a woman +trusts every thing to this faith, and feels her +reliance on it sufficient for the last sacrifice, she +is prepared for an issue which no man contemplates, +and which no man is able to encounter +with an equal degree of courage or confidence in +his own constancy. With her it is otherwise. +By one step, the ground is closed up behind her +forever; no remorse can help her, no suffering +can make atonement, or propitiate reconciliation; +she can not retract, she can not retreat, +she can not return! No man is ever placed in +this extremity, though his sin be of a ten-fold +deeper dye. Such is the moral justice of society. +He has always a space to fall back upon—he +has always room to retrieve, to recover, to +reinstate himself. But she is lost! The foreknowledge +of her doom, which shuts out hope, +makes her strong in endurance; the magnitude +of her sacrifice enhances and deepens the idolatry +from which it proceeded; she clings to it, +and lives in it evermore, as the air which she +must breathe, or die. But he? He has ever +the backward hope, the consciousness of the +power of retracing his steps. The world is +there behind him, as he left it, its eager tumult +still floating into his ears from afar off, its reckless +gayeties, its panting ambition, its occupations, +and its pleasures; and he knows he can +re-enter it when he lists. He, then, if he consent +to commit the great treason against a confiding +devotion, can afford to be bold; that boldness +which has always an escape and safeguard +in reserve! But it is this consideration which +makes him irresolute and infirm—it is this +which dashes his resolves with hesitation, and +makes him temporize and play fast and loose in +his thoughts, while his lips overflow with the +fervid declamation of passion. He may believe +himself to be sincere; but no man understands +himself who believes that he has renounced the +world. The world has arranged it otherwise +for him.</p> + +<p>The whole conditions of her position were +clear to Astræa. She had not now considered +them for the first time; but the mistrust, not of +my love for her, but of my character, was now +first awakened; and if she trembled for the consequences, +it was not for her own sake, but for +mine. Men can not comprehend this abnegation +of self in women, and, not being able to +comprehend it, they do not believe in it. It +requires an elevation and generosity rare in the +crisis of temptation, and, perhaps, also, an entire +change of surrounding circumstances and +responsibilities, to enable them to estimate it +justly; the power of bestowing happiness through +a life-long sacrifice, instead of the privilege of +receiving it at a trifling risk.</p> + +<p>When we had become a little more at our +ease, and I had endeavored by a variety of commonplaces +to revive her faith in me, Astræa, +with the most perfect frankness, entered upon +her history. I will not break up the narrative +by the occasional interruptions to which it was +subjected by my curiosity and impatience, but +preserve it as nearly entire as I can.</p> + +<p>"There is a period," said Astræa, "in all our +lives when we pass through delusions which an +enlarged experience dispels. We too often begin +by making deities, and end by total skepticism. +I suppose, like every body else, I had +my season of self-deception, although it has +not made me an absolute infidel."</p> + +<p>And as she said this, she looked at me with +a smile so full of sweetness, that I yielded myself +up implicitly to the enchantment.</p> + +<p>"I was devotedly attached to my father," +she continued; "he educated me, and was so +proud of the faculties which his own careful +tending drew into activity, that it was the +greatest happiness of my life to deserve the +kindness which anticipated their development. +There was no task my father set to me I did +not feel myself able to conquer by the mere +energy of the love I bore him. The education +he bestowed upon me was not the cultivation +of the intellect alone—I owe him a deeper +debt, fatally as I have discharged it—for it +was his higher aim to educate my affections. +He succeeded so well, that I would at any moment +have cheerfully surrendered my own fondest +desires, or have sacrificed life itself, to comply +with any wish of his. You shall judge whether +I have a right to say that I loved him better +than I loved myself.</p> + +<p>"My mother was a beauty. A woman of +whom one can say nothing more than that she +was a beauty, is misplaced in the home of a +man of intellect. One can never cease wondering +how it is that such men marry such +women; but I believe there are no men so +easily ensnared by their own imaginations, or +who trouble themselves so little about calculating +consequences. They make an ideal, and +worship it; and, as your true believers contrive +to refresh their motionless saints by new draperies +and tinsel, so they go on perpetually investing +their idols with fictitious attributes, to +encourage and sustain their devotions. But +that sort of self-imposition can not last very +long; and the best possible recipe for stripping +the idol of its false glitter is to marry it! My +father made this discovery in due time. He +found that beauty without enthusiasm or intellect +is even less satisfying than a picture,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +which is, at least, suggestive, and leaves something +to the imagination. There was no sympathy +between them. She existed only in company, +which, from the languor of her nature, +she hardly seemed to enjoy. Change, and +variety, and the flutter of new faces were as +necessary to her as they were wearisome to +him; and so gradually and imperceptibly the +distance widened between them, and his whole +affections were concentrated on me. This may +in some measure account for the formation of +my character. I was neither weakened nor +benefited by maternal tenderness; and my studies +and habits, shaped and regulated by my +father, imparted to me a strength and earnestness +which—now that they avail me nothing—may +speak of as existing in the past.</p> + +<p>"It is nearly ten years since my mother +died; she went out as a flower dies, drooping +slowly, and retaining something of its sweetness +to the end. My father outlived her several +years. That was the happiest period of my +life. There was not a break in the love that +bound us together. But there came a struggle +at last between us—a struggle in which that +love was bitterly tried and tested on both +sides.</p> + +<p>"I made a deity to myself, as most young +people do, especially when they are flattered +into the belief that they are more <i>spirituelle</i> +and capable of judging for themselves, than +the rest of the world. It was a girlish fancy; +all girls have such fancies, and look back upon +them afterward as they look back upon their +dreams, trying to collect and put together forms +and colors that fade rapidly in the daylight of +experience.</p> + +<p>"One of our visitors made an impression upon +me; perhaps that is the best way to describe +it. He had a sombre and poetical air—that +was the first thing that touched me—an oval +face, very pale and thoughtful, and chiseled to +an excess of refinement; a sensitive mouth; +dark, melancholy eyes; and black, lustrous +hair. I remember he had quite a Spanish or +Italian cast of features; and that was dangerous +to a young girl steeped in the lore of history +and chivalry. You think it strange, perhaps, +I should make this sort of confession to +<i>you</i>; you expect that I should rather suffer you +to believe that, until we met, I had never been +disturbed by the sentiment of love; yet you +may entirely believe it. This was a mere +phantasy—the prescience of what was to come—the +awakening of the consciousness of a +capacity of loving which, until now, was never +stirred in its depths. It merely showed me +what was in my nature, but did not draw it +out.</p> + +<p>"The fascination was on the surface; but, +while it lasted, I thought it intense; and such +is the contradiction in the constitution of youth, +that a little opposition from my father only +helped to strengthen it. In the presence of that +sad face, into which was condensed an irresistible +influence, I was silent and timid, frightened +at the touch of his white hands, and so confused +that I could neither speak to him, nor +look at him: but in my father's presence, when +we talked of him, and my father hinted distrusts +and antipathies, I was bold in his defense, +and soared into an enthusiasm that often +surprised us both. It was evident that I was +in love—to speak by the card—and that the +admonitions of experience were thrown away +upon me.</p> + +<p>"My father was grieved at this discovery, +when it really came to take a serious shape of +resistance to his advice. As yet, we had only +flirted round the confines of the subject, and +neither of us had openly recognized it as a +reality. The action of the drama was in my +own brain. The hero of my fantastic reveries +regarded me only as a precocious child: was +amused, or, at the utmost, interested by my +admiration of him, which he could not fail to +detect; and it was not until he imagined he +had traced a deeper sentiment in my shy and +embarrassed looks, that he began to feel any +emotion himself. But the emotions which +spring out of vanity or compassion, which +come only as a sort of generous or pitying acknowledgment +of an unsought devotion, have +no stability in them. It is more natural, and +more likely to insure duration of love that they +should originate at the other side. Woman +was formed to be sued and won; it is the law +of our organization. Men value our affection +in proportion to the efforts it has cost to gain +them. The rights of a difficult conquest are +worn with pride and exultation, while the fruits +of an easy victory are held in indifference. +These things, however, were mysteries to me +then.</p> + +<p>"There was a kind of love-scene between us. +I can hardly recall any thing of it, except that +I thought him more grand and noble than ever, +and full of a magnificent patronage of my +nerves and my ignorance. He was several +years older than I was, which made a great +distance between us, and made me look up to +him with a superstitious homage. I remember +nothing more about it, only that when I left +him, I felt as if I had suddenly grown up into +a woman.</p> + +<p>"And now came the beginning of the struggle.</p> + +<p>"We had other visitors who were better liked +by my father. I could not then understand his +objections to my Orlando. I have understood +them since, and know that he was right in that, +if he erred in the rest.</p> + +<p>"Among our visitors was one whom I can +not speak of without a shudder. There was in +him a combination of qualities calculated to inspire +me with aversion, which grew from day to +day into loathing. I do not believe my father +really liked that man. Circumstances, however, +had given him an influence in our house, against +which it was vain for me to contend. His family +was closely connected with my mother; +and my father had acquired an estate through +his marriage, with which these people were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +mixed up as trustees; they had, in fact, a lien +upon us, which it was impossible to shake off; +and by this means maintained a position with +us which was at once so familiar and harassing +to me, that nothing but my devotion to my +father restrained me from an open mutiny +against them.</p> + +<p>"This man, who was not much my senior in +years, but who seemed to have been born old, +and to have lived centuries for every year of my +life, entertained the most violent passion for me. +I had no suspicion of it at first; and as the +closeness of our relations threw us constantly +together, I was feeding it unknowingly for a +long time before I discovered it. I will spare +you what I felt when I made that discovery—the +horror! the despair!</p> + +<p>"When I compared this man, loathsome and +hideous to me, with him who was the Orlando, +the Bayard, the Crichton of my foolish dreams, +it made me sick at heart. So deep was the detestation +he inspired, that, young as I was, I +would have gladly renounced my own choice to +have escaped from him. But there was one +consideration paramount even to that; it was +my father's desire that I should marry him.</p> + +<p>"By some such sorcery as wicked demons in +the wise allegories of fable obtain a control over +good spirits, the demon who had thus risen up +in my path obtained an ascendency over my +father. It was impossible that he could have +persuaded my father, who was clear-sighted and +sagacious, into the belief that he possessed a +single attribute of goodness; it must have been +by the force of a fascination, such as serpents +are said to exercise over children, that he wrought +his ends. And the comparison was never applied +with greater justice, for my father was as +guileless as a child in mere worldly affairs, while +the other was a subtle compound of cunning and +venom, glazed over with a most hypocritical exterior.</p> + +<p>"He worked at his purpose for months and +months in the dark, by artifices which assisted +his progress without betraying his aim. He +adroitly avoided an abrupt disclosure of his design, +for he knew, or feared, that if it came too +suddenly, it would have shocked even my father. +He saw that my fancy was taken up elsewhere, +and the first part of his plot was, to prejudice +and poison my father's mind against his rival. +In this he effectually succeeded. But it was a +more difficult matter to bring round his own +object, and he never could have achieved it, +with all his skill, had he not been so mixed up +with our affairs as to have it in his power to +involve my father in a net-work of embarrassments. +The meshes were woven round him +with consummate ingenuity, and every effort at +extrication only drew them tighter and tighter.</p> + +<p>"Had I known as much of the world then as +I do now I might have acted differently. But +I was a girl; my sensibility was easily moved; +my terrors were easily alarmed; and I loved +my father too passionately to be able to exercise +a calm judgment where his safety was concerned. +It was this devotion—impetuous and +unreflecting—that gave an advantage to the +fiend, of which he availed himself unrelentingly, +and which threw me, bound and fettered, at his +feet.</p> + +<p>"I will not dwell on these memories. My +heart was harrowed by a terrible conflict. I +know not how it might have been, had I not +gathered a little strength from wounded pride. +A circumstance came to my relief which crushed +my enthusiasm, and from that instant determined +my fate.</p> + +<p>"My father had often thrown out doubts of +the sincerity of him to whom I looked up with +so much admiration; and at last he spoke more +explicitly and urgently. He told me that the +hero of my dreams was merely trifling with my +feelings, and amusing himself at the expense of +my credulity—in short, that he was no better +than a libertine. I revolted against these cruel +accusations, and repelled them by asserting that +he was the noblest and truest of human beings. +But my father knew more of him than I did. +Even while these painful discussions were going +on between us, news arrived that he had been +detected in a heartless conspiracy to entrap and +carry off a ward in chancery—a discovery which +compelled him to fly the country.</p> + +<p>"I was stunned and humiliated. The dream +was over. The idol was broken, and the shrine +degraded forever. What resource should women +have in such cases if pride did not come +to their help—that pride which smiles while the +heart is bleeding, and makes the world think +that we do not suffer! They know not what +we suffer—what we hide! Our education trains +us up in a mask, which is often worn to the +end, when the secret that has fed upon our +hearts, and consumed our lives, day by day, +descends into the dark grave with us! My +sufferings at the time were very great—I thought +they would kill me. What mattered it to me +then how they disposed of me. Poor fool! I +looked in on my desolated fancy, and gave myself +up for lost.</p> + +<p>"It was in this mood the machinations of +that man whom I abhorred triumphed over me. +My father's affairs had become hopelessly entangled +in his, and a proposal to avert chancery +suits and settle disputed titles by a union between +the families of the litigants presented the +only means of adjustment. My father listened +to this insidious proposal at first reluctantly; +then, day by day, as difficulties thickened, he +became more reconciled to it; and, at length, +he broke it to me, with a deprecating gentleness +that never sued in vain to the heart that idolized +him. I had nothing left in the world but +my father to love. Under any circumstances +my love for him would have made me waver. +As it was, wounded and hopeless, galled, deceived, +and cast off—for I felt as all girls do, +and was thoroughly in earnest in my sentimental +misery—my love for him lightened the sacrifice +he prayed, rather than demanded at my +hands.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Girl as I was. I could see the change that +had passed over my father. The strong man +was subdued and broken down. His clear understanding +had given way; even his heart was +no longer as generous and impulsive as it used +to be. I could not bear to witness these alterations; +and when I was told that it was in my +power to relieve him from the weight that +pressed upon him, what could I do?</p> + +<p>"There were many violent struggles—many +fits of tears and solitary remorse; but they all +yielded to that imperative necessity, to that +claim upon my feelings, which was paramount +to every thing else. The first step was a contract +of marriage, which I was simply required +to sign. I was too young then to marry! +This consideration was thrown in as a sort of +tender forbearance to me, which, it was hoped, +would propitiate my reluctant spirit. And from +that hour, the demon, claiming me for his own, +was incessant in his attendance upon me. I +had hoped by that act to shake him off my +father; but he was the Old Man of the Waters +to his drowning victim, and at every moment +only clutched and clung to him more closely.</p> + +<p>"At last my father fell ill. First, he moped +about the house, with a low, wearing cough. +None of his old resources availed him. He +couldn't read; the pleasant things he used to +talk of—books, character, philosophy—no longer +interested him. The placid mind was growing +carped and restless. He was absorbed in his +ailments. Trifles vexed him, and instead of the +large and genial subjects which formerly engrossed +him, he was taken up with petty annoyances. +Oh, with what agony I watched +that change from day to day! Then from the +drawing-room to the bed, from whence he never +rose again.</p> + +<p>"It was in his last sickness—toward the +close—when the wings of the Angel of Death +were darkening his lids, and his utterance was +thickening, and his vision becoming dimmer and +dimmer, that he called me to his side. He knew +the horror that was in my thoughts; but I was +already pledged, and it was not a time for me +to shrink, when he, in whom my affections were +garnered up, besought me to make his death-bed +happy by completing the sacrifice. There +were those around us who said that it was +merely to ease <i>his</i> mind, that he might feel he +did not leave me behind him alone and without +a protector; that the marriage would be performed +in his presence; that we should then +separate, and that my husband—oh, how I +have hated that word! what images of wrong +and cruelty are condensed into it!—would regard +that ghastly ceremony only as a guarantee +that when my grief had abated, and the signs +of mourning were put off, I should consent to +become his wife before the world. I believed in +that and trusted to it. It was all written down +and witnessed, that he would not enforce this +marriage till time had soothed and reconciled +me to it; and as the realization of it was to +depend upon myself, I thought I was secure +against the worst. Upon these conditions I was +married beside the death-bed of my father.</p> + +<p>"The plot was deeply laid. The snare was +covered with flowers. I was nominally free. I +was the wife, and not the wife, of him who, +when a little time had passed away, and my +father was in the grave, and I was at his mercy, +assumed the right of asserting over me the +authority of a husband. I did not then know +the full extent of my dependence. Upon the +failure of my consent, the whole property was +to devolve upon him. Of that I thought little; +it was a cheap escape from a bondage I abhorred, +if, by surrendering all I possessed, I <i>could</i> +escape. There was nothing left in my own +hands, but the power of withholding my consent, +and I did withhold it; and my aversion +increased with the base, unmanly, and vindictive +means he used to wring it from me.</p> + +<p>"Years passed away; he was ever in my +path, blighting me with threats and scoffs. +My life was one continued mental slavery. He +had the right, or he usurped it, of holding me +in perpetual bondage—hovering about me, +watching my actions, and subjecting me to a +persecution which, invisible to every body else, +was felt by me in the minutest trifles. And all +this time my heart, shut up and stifled, felt a +longing, such as prisoners feel, to breathe the +free air, to find its wings and escape. I was +conscious of a capacity for happiness; I felt +that my existence was wasting under a hideous +influence—that my situation was cruel and +anomalous—that it was equally guilty to stay +and feed the rebellion of my blood, that might +at last drive me mad, or to fly from the evil +thoughts that fascinated and beset me;—and +long contemplation of this corroding misery convinced +me that the greater guilt was the hourly +falsehood—the constant mutiny of my soul—the +sin I was committing against nature by +continuing to tolerate the semblance of an obligation +that made me almost doubt the justice +of heaven!</p> + +<p>"Again and again he renewed the subject, +only to be again and again repulsed with increased +bitterness and scorn. The sternness +of my resolution gradually obtained a victory +over his perseverance. No man, be his devotion +as intense as it may, can persist in this +way, when he is thoroughly assured that a +woman hates or despises him; and <i>he</i> had ample +reason to know that I did both. Threats +failed—hints of scandal and defamation failed—prayers +and entreaties failed—he tried them +all; and he saw at last that my determination +was irrevocable. I would not redeem my +pledge. I took all the consequence of the +perfidy. I submitted to the ignominy of his +taunts and reproaches, and even admitted their +justice, rather than stain my soul with a blacker +crime. What was left to him? His arts +were baffled—his pride turned to dust—his love +rejected? What was left to him out of this +ruin of his long cherished scheme? <span class="smcap">Revenge</span>!</p> + +<p>"Although he could not force me to fulfill<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +the contract, he could blast my life in its bloom—wither +the tree to the core—make a desert +round it—poison the very atmosphere that gave +it nourishment and strength—and wait patient—to +see it die, leaf by leaf, and branch by branch, +This was his devilish project. Love—if ever +so sacred a passion had found its way into his +soul—was transformed into hate, deadly and +unrelenting; the red current had become gall; +and the same slow, insatiable energy, with +which he had before urged and forced his suit, +was now applied to torture and distract me. I +wonder it did not drive me to some act of desperation!</p> + +<p>"And all this time I moved through society +like others. Nobody suspected the vulture that +was at my heart; and I had to endure the +wretched necessity of acting a daily lie to the +world. It gave a false severity to my manner—it +made me seem austere and lofty, where I +only meant to avert approaches which it would +have been criminal to have admitted and deceived. +And I had need of all that repellant +armor; and it served me, and saved me—till I +met you!</p> + +<p>"Shall I proceed any farther? Shall I tell +you how a new state of existence seemed insensibly +opening before me?—how the want in +my heart became unconsciously filled?—and +that which had been a dream to me all my +life long, vague, flitting, and undefined, was +now a reality, clear, fixed, and distinct? What +that sympathy was it is needless to ask, which +made me feel that your history was something +like my own—that you, too, had some discontent +with the world, that made you yearn for +peace and solitude, and the refuge of love, like +me. I fought bravely at first. You know +not how earnestly I questioned myself—how I +probed my wounded spirit, and battled with the +temptation. All that was hidden from you; +but it was not the less fierce and agonizing. +The blessed thought and hope of freedom, of a +happiness which I had never trusted myself to +contemplate, was a strong and blinding fascination. +I saw my wretchedness, and close at +hand its perilous remedy. Doomed either way, +which was I to choose? The world?—my +soul? All was darkness and terror to me. +Calamity had made me desperate; yet I was +outwardly calm and self-sustained. But I was +goaded too far at last; <i>he</i> goaded me; and my +resolution was taken; it was one plunge—and +all was over. I fled from the misery I could +no longer endure, and live; and I know the +cost—I know the penalty—I see before me the +retribution. Let it come—my fate is sealed!"</p> + + +<p>XI.</p> + +<p>This narrative occupied a longer time in the +relation than in the shape to which I have +reduced it, for it was frequently interrupted by +questions and exclamations, which I have not +thought it necessary to insert here. When she +concluded, the day was already waning, and +the long shadows from the woods were stretching +down the stream, and the setting sun was, +here and there, blazing through the trees, like +focal rays caught on the surface of a burning-glass. +The haze of evening was gathering +round us, and settling over the little bridge which +was now slowly fading into the distance.</p> + +<p>Astræa had confided her whole life to me +with the utmost candor. The strong emotions +she exhibited throughout afforded the best proof, +if any were wanted, of her perfect sincerity. +There was nothing kept back—no <i>arrière-pensée</i>—no +false coloring; her real character came +out forcibly in this painful confession. Few +women would have had the requisite fortitude +to submit to such an ordeal, and take their +final stand upon a position which marked them +out as Pariahs in the eyes of the world. I felt +how great the misery must have been from +which she sought this terrible escape; and how +much greater was the strength of will that sustained +her in the resolution to embrace it. +Her wild sense of natural justice had risen in +resistance against laws which it appeared to +her more criminal to obey than to violate. It +was not a paroxysm of the passions—it was +not the sophistry that seeks for its own convenience +to arraign the dispensations of society; +it was a strong mind, contending in its own +right against obligations founded on force, and +violence, and wrong—asserting its claim to +liberate itself from trammels to which it had +never given a voluntary assent—recoiling from +a life of skepticism and hypocrisy, and the +frightful conflicts it entails between duty and +the instincts of reason and the heart—and prepared, +since no other alternative was left, to +suffer in itself alone, and in the consequences of +its own act, all obloquy, all vengeance the +world could inflict. That there lay beneath +this a grave error, undermining the foundations +upon which the whole social superstructure +rested, was, in a certain large and general +sense, sufficiently obvious to me. But who +could argue such questions against convictions +based upon individual and exceptional injuries? +Who could require, in the very moment and +agony of sacrifice, that she who had been thus +wronged and tortured, and who had never, of +her own free action, incurred the responsibility +from which she revolted, should offer herself up +a victim to laws that afforded her no protection, +and condemned her to eternal strife, and the +sins of a rebellious conscience? I would have +saved her if I could. It was my first impulse—my +most earnest desire. But of what avail +was the attempt? Where was she to find +refuge? Only one of two courses lay before +her—to return and fulfil her contract, or to +renounce the world: the first was doubtful, +perhaps impossible; the second, she had resolved +upon. Even if I were to hold back on +the brink of the precipice, it would not shake +her determination.</p> + +<p>In this extremity and in the last resort, I felt +myself bound to her by every consideration of +love and honor. Honor! When that element +enters into our casuistry, the peril is at its height!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Have you never endeavored to release yourself +from this contract?" I inquired.</p> + +<p>"He would not release me."</p> + +<p>"Have you explicitly demanded it of him, so +that you should have the satisfaction of feeling +that you had tried all other means before you +broke the bond yourself?"</p> + +<p>"I have demanded and besought it of him—prayed +to him—appealed to him, by his soul's +hopes here and hereafter, to release me. I +have laid my own perdition on his refusal—and +he still refused. I gave up all; offered to leave +England forever; to give him security that, be +my fate what it might, neither he nor his should +be troubled with me. To no purpose—he was +iron. He could have procured a separation, +which I could not. I gave him the means, +and would have borne any humiliation to obtain +my freedom. He would not release me; he +held me bound, that he might gloat his vengeance +upon my sufferings."</p> + +<p>"And this man—this fiend—you have not +told me, Astræa, who he is."</p> + +<p>While I was speaking, I observed her looking +keenly through the mist that was collecting +about us. Some object had attracted her attention. +My eyes followed the direction hers +had taken, and I discerned a figure, apparently +wrapped up in a cloak, about the centre of the +bridge, on the near side. We watched it in +silence for a space of two or three minutes, +when it moved slowly from its position, and +winding down among the trees, took the path +that led directly to the spot where we were +seated. She grasped my arm, and cried in a +whisper—</p> + +<p>"Stand firm. Speak not. It is my deed, +not yours. The hour I have looked for through +long years of anguish is come at last. Fear +nothing for me!"</p> + +<p>The figure approached, still enveloped in a +cloak, and stood exactly opposite to us. For +a moment—the most intense I ever remember—not +a word was uttered. At last, the stranger +spoke.</p> + +<p>"It is, then, as I expected. I have tracked +you to your hiding-place, and I find you with +your paramour."</p> + +<p>It was the voice of the dwarf! The blood +leaped in my veins, and, hardly conscious of +what I was doing, or meant to do, I sprang +from my seat. Astræa rose at the same moment, +and interposed.</p> + +<p>"If you have the least regard or respect for +me," she said, "do not interfere. For my sake, +control yourself."</p> + +<p>"For <i>your</i> sake!" echoed the dwarf. "Do +you glory in <i>his</i> shame, as well as your own?"</p> + +<p>"Shame!" cried Astræa. "Take back the +foul word, and begone. You have no authority, +no rights here. The shame is yours, not mine—yours, +unmanly, pitiful, and mean, who have +taken advantage of a contract wrung from a +girl to doom the life of a woman to misery."</p> + +<p>"Have I no authority?" quoth the dwarf. +"Listen to me—you must—you shall—if it kill +you in your heroics. I am your husband—my +authority is law. I can command you to my +foot, and you must obey me. You think you +are secure; but I will show you that you have +committed an egregious mistake. Believe me," +he added, in a tone of supercilious mockery, for +which I could have inflicted summary chastisement—"believe +me, you only deceive yourself, +as you have tried to deceive me."</p> + +<p>"In what have I tried to deceive you?" she +demanded. "I have been so explicit with you, +that none but the most contemptible of your +sex would have persisted at such a sacrifice of +pride and feeling. Pride? You have none. +Where you proffered love—oh! such love!—you +found aversion;—where you sought, sued, +and threatened, you received nothing in return +but loathing and scorn. And now, henceforth +and forever, I break all bonds between us. +Since you will not do it, I will—I <i>have</i> done it! +Obey you? I owe you no obedience. Be wise; +take my answer, and leave me."</p> + +<p>"Not at your bidding, madam. I did not +come here to visit you in your retirement, and +be turned away so unceremoniously. It is not +my intention to leave you. Where you are, +there must I be too."</p> + +<p>The insolent coolness with which this was +spoken, rendered it very difficult for me to submit +to the injunction Astræa had imposed upon +me. I began to feel that <i>I</i>, too, had rights, +and that the course this husband-in-law was +pursuing, was not the best calculated to induce +me to surrender them.</p> + +<p>"Where I am you shall never come again!" +returned Astræa. "That is over. A gulf +yawns between us. Do not tempt it any +further."</p> + +<p>"I will not be critical about words with you," +said the dwarf. "If I am not to come where +you are, you shall come to me. It is the same +thing. You are only wasting your fine speeches. +I have come here to take you back to +London."</p> + +<p>"To take me back?" she echoed. "Are +you mad? Do you believe such a thing credible? +I have chosen my own course; and no +power, authority, or force can turn me from it. +Take me back! Even were I willing to go—suppose +I were weak enough to repent the step +I have taken—can you not see—have you not +eyes and understanding to see and comprehend, +that it would be to your own eternal dishonor—that +it would only bring upon you the contempt +and derision of the world?"</p> + +<p>"It is for me to judge of that. Come—we +are losing time, and it is growing dark already."</p> + +<p>"Then why do you stay? Why do you not +go as you came. I have given you my answer; +and if you were to stand here forever, you will +get none other. Have you no particle of self-respect +left?"</p> + +<p>"Whatever self-respect or pride I had," returned +the dwarf, in a low and bitter tone, +"you have trampled upon, and raised up a demoniac +spirit in this place. It might have been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +otherwise once. I loved you—ay! writhe under +the word—I loved you; but I was ill-favored, +misshapen, stunted, and loathsome to look upon. +You thought that love and ambition and high +thoughts could not take up with such a frame +as this—that they all went with straight limbs +and milky faces. Nature could not condescend +to endow the dwarf with the attributes of humanity. +But I was a man as well as they—had +the passions and hopes of a man, the capabilities +of good and evil. You never sought +the good; you never felt it to be your duty to +seek and cultivate the better qualities which +my own consciousness of my outward defects +made irresolute and wayward in development. +You only looked upon the surface: and in the +selfishness of your heart you spurned me from +you. You never thought of asking yourself +whether it was in your power to redeem and +elevate, for noble ends, the human soul that was +pent up in this weak and distorted body. You +never stopped to reflect whether, by your contumely +and pride of beauty, you were not destroying +the germs of all self-respect, perverting +the virtuous instincts into poisonous fangs, and +shattering to the core the best resolves of a +human being who might be better than yourself. +A word of kindness in season—a generous +construction of my character—an effort to +call my moral strength into action, might have +raised me to the dignity of the manhood it was +your pleasure to disdain and degrade—might +have given me the fortitude and the compensating +motive to resign you—might have saved +us both! But that word was never on your +lips—that effort you were not generous enough +to try. What I am, then, you have made me—bitter +to the dregs, engrossed by one thought, +living but for one object. Life is a curse to +me. Every new day that rises upon me, +humiliation and despair are before me. Do +you believe I will suffer this tamely? What +have I to lose? You hate me—I return you +hate for hate, loaded with the recollections of +years of scorn and defiance. Defiance? Ha! +ha! It is my turn now, and no remorse shall +step in between us to mitigate my vengeance!"</p> + +<p>His voice rose almost into a shriek at the +close, he had worked himself up to such a height +of fanatic excitement; yet, notwithstanding the +denunciation with which he ended, it was impossible +not to be touched with pity for the real +suffering that had reduced him to this condition. +A great sorrow had converted this wretched +man into a human fiend; and I never before +believed that there were the elements of tenderness +in him which these references to the past +seemed dimly to light up. Astræa heard it all +very calmly.</p> + +<p>"We are not answerable for our likings or +antipathies," she replied; "and I am no more +accountable for my feeling than you are for your +shape. Had you possessed the instincts you +speak of—the manhood you claim for yourself, +you might have long since secured, at least, my +gratitude, and spared us both the ignominy of +this night. But it is useless to look back. I +have nothing more to say. Let us part—in +hate, if you will. I am indifferent alike to your +opinions and your vengeance. Avail yourself +of whatever power the law gives you; but here +we now part, never to meet again!"</p> + +<p>As she said this, she moved away, and I still +lingered behind to protect her retreat, if it should +be necessary.</p> + +<p>"No, madam; not so easily. We do not part. +I command you to leave this place, and go with +me. It is my pleasure. Do not compel me to +enforce it."</p> + +<p>Seeing him rush forward to follow her, I placed +myself between them.</p> + +<p>"I charge you," cried the dwarf, "to stand +out of my path. It will be dangerous."</p> + +<p>"You have threatened me before," I exclaimed; +"and it is full time that you and I should +understand each other. I have an advantage +over you which I do not desire to use, except in +extremity; be careful, therefore, how you provoke +it. Advance no further, or I will not answer +for the consequences!"</p> + +<p>"So, then, you champion her in her guilt," +he cried.</p> + +<p>"I know of no guilt," I replied. "I have +not interfered hitherto; I had no right to do so. +But I will not suffer any violence to be committed +toward her; she must be free to act as she +pleases!"</p> + +<p>"And what right have you to interfere now?"</p> + +<p>"The right which every man has to protect +a woman against outrage."</p> + +<p>"I warn you for the last time!" exclaimed +the dwarf, his eyeballs flashing fire. "It is you +who have done this; you who have tempted +and destroyed her—destroyed us both. Do not +urge me to the retribution I thirst for. Put +your hand upon me; there is my outstretched +arm—only touch it with your fingers, and put +me on my defense!"</p> + +<p>Astræa was standing at my side.</p> + +<p>"I charge you," she said, "to leave him, +and go into the house. He will not dare to +follow me!"</p> + +<p>"I will dare the depths of perdition, and follow +you wherever you go. See how he shrinks +from me!—this champion and bully, for whom +you stand condemned and branded before the +world!"</p> + +<p>"Bully!" I cried, "if you were not the feeble, +wretched thing you are, I would strike you +to the earth. It is you, not I, that have worked +out this shame for your own fiendish ends. Did +you not tell me that you helped and encouraged +our intercourse—that you saw feelings growing +up, and used all your arts to heighten them into +an attachment which you knew would bring +misery upon us all? For what purpose, devil +as you are, did you do this?"</p> + +<p>"To break her heart—for she had broken +mine!"</p> + +<p>"Be content, then, with what you have done, +and leave us. You have placed me in a position +which no fear of consequences can induce<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +me to abandon. I will protect her to the last. +Look upon us henceforth as inseparable, and rid us +of your presence, lest I lose all self-command."</p> + +<p>Grasping Astræa's hand, and controlling myself +by a violent effort, I turned from him to +lead her toward the house.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it was this action which suddenly infuriated +the demon, who now looked more horrible +in the contortions of his unbridled rage +than ever; and as I turned I felt, rather than +saw, that he had coiled himself up to spring +upon me. Relieving myself from her, I instantly +faced him. His motions were as quick as +light. One hand was upon my chest, and the +other was fumbling under his cloak. Suspecting +his intention, I seized his right arm and +dragged it out. There was a pistol in his hand. +It was not a time to exercise much forbearance +in consideration of his physical inferiority, and +by desperate force I wrenched the pistol from +his grasp, and, tossing it over his head, flung +it into the river. In the struggle, however, it +had gone off, and, by the cry of pain he uttered, +I concluded that he was wounded. But I +was too much heated to think of that; and, +in the fierceness of the conflict between us, I +lifted him up by main strength, and flung him +upon the ground.</p> + +<p>Leaving him there, I hastened to Astræa, +and we both went into the house, taking care +to lock and bar the door, so that he could not +follow us. The windows of the sitting-room +went down close to the gravel-walk outside, +upon which they opened. These were already +secured, and we were safe.</p> + +<p>As we sat there, half an hour afterward, a +low, piteous voice came wailing through the +shutters, uttering one word, which it repeated +at intervals, in a tone that pierced me to the +soul. "Astræa! Astræa! Astræa!" It was a +voice so freighted with sorrow, that, had not +evil passions intervened to shut our hearts to +its petition, we must have relented and shown +mercy to him out of whose despair it issued. +But we held our breaths, hardly daring to look +in each other's faces, and moved not!</p> + +<p>God! all the long night that wailing voice +seemed repeating, in fainter tones, "Astræa! +Astræa! Astræa!" and she to whom it was addressed, +and to whom it appealed in vain—let +me not recall the memory! Many years have +since trampled out other recollections, but that +voice still seems to vibrate on my heart, and +the name still surges up as I heard it then, +sobbing through tears of mortal agony!</p> + +<h4>(TO BE CONTINUED.)</h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>MADAME DE GENLIS AND MADAME DE STAËL.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></h2> + + +<p>Before the Revolution, I was but very +slightly acquainted with Madame de Genlis, +her conduct during that disastrous period having +not a little contributed to sink her in my estimation; +and the publication of her novel, "The +Knights of the Swan" (the <i>first</i> edition), completed +my dislike to a person who had so cruelly +aspersed the character of the queen, my sister +in-law.</p> + +<p>On my return to France, I received a letter +full of the most passionate expressions of loyalty +from beginning to end; the missive being signed +Comtesse de Genlis: but imagining this could +be but a <i>plaisanterie</i> of some intimate friend of +my own, I paid no attention whatever to it. +However, in two or three days it was followed +by a second epistle, complaining of my silence, +and appealing to the great sacrifices the writer +had made in the interest of my cause, as giving +her a <i>right</i> to my favorable attention. Talleyrand +being present, I asked him if he could +explain this enigma.</p> + +<p>"Nothing is easier," replied he; "Madame +de Genlis is unique. She has lost her own +memory, and fancies others have experienced a +similar bereavement."</p> + +<p>"She speaks," pursued I, "of her virtues, +her misfortunes, and Napoleon's persecutions."</p> + +<p>"Hem! In 1789 her husband was quite +ruined, so the events of that period took nothing +from <i>him</i>; and as to the tyranny of Bonaparte, +it consisted, in the first place, of giving her a +magnificent suite of apartments in the Arsenal; +and in the second place, granting her a pension +of six thousand francs a year, upon the sole +condition of her keeping him every month <i>au +courant</i> of the literature of the day."</p> + +<p>"What shocking ferocity!" replied I, laughing; +"a case of infamous despotism indeed. +And this martyr to our cause asks to see me!"</p> + +<p>"Yes; and pray let your royal highness grant +her an audience, were it only for once: I assure +you she is most amusing."</p> + +<p>I followed the advice of M. de Talleyrand, +and accorded to the lady the permission she so +pathetically demanded. The evening before she +was to present herself, however, came a third +missive, recommending a certain Casimir, the +<i>phénix</i> of the <i>époque</i>, and several other persons +besides; all, according to Madame de Genlis, +particularly celebrated people; and the postscript +to this effusion prepared me also beforehand for +the request she intended to make, of being +appointed governess to the children of my son +the Duc de Berry, who was at that time not even +married.</p> + +<p>Just at this period it so happened that I was +besieged by more than a dozen persons of every +rank in regard to Madame de Staël, formerly +exiled by Bonaparte, and who had rushed to +Paris without taking breath, fully persuaded +every one there, and throughout all France, was +impatient to see her again. Madame de Staël +had a double view in thus introducing herself to +me; namely, to direct my proceedings entirely, +and to obtain payment of the two million francs +deposited in the treasury by her father during +his ministry. I confess I was not prepossessed +in favor of Madame de Staël, for she also, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +1789, had manifested so much hatred toward +the Bourbons, that I thought all she could +possibly look to from us, was the liberty of +living in Paris unmolested: but I little knew +her. She, on her side, imagined that we ought +to be grateful to her for having quarreled with +Bonaparte—her own pride being, in fact, the +sole cause of the rupture.</p> + +<p>M. de Fontanes and M. de Châteaubriand +were the first who mentioned her to me; and to +the importance with which they treated the +matter, I answered, laughing, "So Madame la +Baronne de Staël is then a supreme power?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed she is, and it might have very unfavorable +effects did your royal highness overlook +her: for what she asserts, every one believes, +and then—she has suffered <i>so</i> much!"</p> + +<p>"Very likely; but what did she make my +poor sister-in-law the queen suffer? Do you +think I can forget the abominable things she +said, the falsehoods she told? and was it not +in consequence of them, and the public's belief +of them, that she owed the possibility of the +embassadress of Sweden's being able to dare +insult that unfortunate princess in her very +palace?"</p> + +<p>Madame de Staël's envoys, who manifested +some confusion at the fidelity of my memory, +implored me to forget the past, think only of the +future, and remember that the genius of Madame +de Staël, whose reputation was European, might +be of the utmost advantage, or the reverse. +Tired of disputing I yielded; consented to receive +this <i>femme célèbre</i>, as they all called her, +and fixed for her reception the same day I had +notified to Madame de Genlis.</p> + +<p>My brother has said, "Punctuality is the +politeness of kings"—words as true and just as +they are happily expressed; and the princes of +my family have never been found wanting in +good manners; so I was in my study waiting +when Madame de Genlis was announced. I +was astonished at the sight of a long, dry +woman, with a swarthy complexion, dressed in +a printed cotton gown, any thing but clean, and +a shawl covered with dust, her habit-shirt, her +hair even, bearing marks of great negligence. +I had read her works, and remembering all she +said about neatness, and cleanliness, and proper +attention to one's dress, I thought she added +another to the many who fail to add example to +their precepts. While making these reflections, +Madame de Genlis was firing off a volley of +courtesies; and upon finishing what she deemed +the requisite number, she pulled out of a great +huge bag four manuscripts of enormous dimensions.</p> + +<p>"I bring," commenced the lady, "to your +royal highness what will amply repay any kindness +you may show to me—No. 1 is a plan of +conduct, and the project of a constitution; No. +2 contains a collection of speeches in answer to +those likely to be addressed to Monsieur; No. 3, +addresses and letters proper to send to foreign +powers, the provinces, &c.; and in No. 4 Monsieur +will find a plan of education, the only one +proper to be pursued by royalty, in reading +which, your royal highness will feel as convinced +of the extent of my acquirements as of the purity +of my loyalty."</p> + +<p>Many in my place might have been angry; +but, on the contrary, I thanked her with an air +of polite sincerity for the treasures she was so +obliging as to confide to me, and then condoled +with her upon the misfortunes she had endured +under the tyranny of Bonaparte.</p> + +<p>"Alas! Monsieur, this abominable despot +dared to make a mere plaything of <i>me</i>! and yet I +strove, by wise advice, to guide him right, and +teach him to regulate his conduct properly: but +he would not be led. I even offered to mediate +between him and the Pope, but he did not so +much as answer me upon this subject; although +(being a most profound theologian) I could have +smoothed almost all difficulties when the Concordat +was in question."</p> + +<p>This last piece of pretension was almost too +much for my gravity. However, I applauded +the zeal of this new mother of the church, and +was going to put an end to the interview, when +it came into my head to ask her if she was well +acquainted with Madame de Staël.</p> + +<p>"God forbid!" cried she, making a sign of +the cross: "I have no acquaintance with <i>such +people</i>; and I but do my duty in warning those +who have not perused the works of that lady, +to bear in mind that they are written in the +worst possible taste, and are also extremely +immoral. Let your royal highness turn your +thoughts from such books; you will find in +<i>mine</i> all that is necessary to know. I suppose +monsieur has not yet seen <i>Little Necker</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Madame la Baronne de Staël Holstein has +asked for an audience, and I even suspect she +may be already arrived at the Tuileries."</p> + +<p>"Let your royal highness beware of this +woman! See in her the implacable enemy of +the Bourbons, and in me their most devoted +slave!"</p> + +<p>This new proof of the want of memory in +Madame de Genlis amused me as much as the +other absurdities she had favored me with; and +I was in the act of making her the ordinary +salutations of adieu, when I observed her blush +purple, and her proud rival entered.</p> + +<p>The two ladies exchanged a haughty bow, and +the comedy, which had just finished with the +departure of Madame de Genlis, recommenced +under a different form when Madame de Staël +appeared on the stage. The baroness was +dressed, not certainly dirtily, like the countess, +but quite as absurdly. She wore a red satin +gown, embroidered with flowers of gold and +silk; a profusion of diamonds; rings enough to +stock a pawnbroker's shop; and, I must add, +that I never before saw so low a cut corsage +display less inviting charms. Upon her head +was a huge turban, constructed on the pattern +of that worn by the Cumean sibyl, which put a +finishing stroke to a costume so little in harmony +with her style of face. I scarcely understand +how a woman of genius <i>can</i> have such a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +false, vulgar taste. Madame de Staël began +by apologizing for occupying a few moments +which she doubted not I should have preferred +giving to Madame de Genlis. "She is one of +the illustrations of the day," observed she with +a sneering smile—"a colossus of religious faith, +and represents in her person, she fancies, all the +literature of the age. Ah, ah, monsieur, in the +hands of <i>such people</i> the world would soon retrograde; +while it should, on the contrary, be +impelled forward, and your royal highness be +the first to put yourself at the head of this +great movement. To you should belong the +glory of giving the impulse, guided by <i>my +experience</i>."</p> + +<p>"Come," thought I, "here is another going +to plague me with plans of conduct, and constitutions, +and reforms, which I am to persuade +the king my brother to adopt. It seems to be +an insanity in France this composing of new +constitutions." While I was making these reflections, +madame had time to give utterance +to a thousand fine phrases, every one more +sublime than the preceding. However, to put +an end to them, I asked her if there was any +thing she wished to demand.</p> + +<p>"Ah, dear!—oh yes, prince!" replied the +lady in an indifferent tone. "A mere trifle—less +than nothing—two millions, without counting +the interest at five per cent.; but these are +matters I leave entirely to my men of business, +being for my own part much more absorbed in +politics and the science of government."</p> + +<p>"Alas! madame, the king has arrived in +France with his mind made up upon most subjects, +the fruit of twenty-five years' meditation; +and I fear he is not likely to profit by your good +intentions!"</p> + +<p>"Then so much the worse for him and for +France! All the world knows what it cost +Bonaparte his refusing to follow my advice, +and pay me my two millions. I have studied +the Revolution profoundly, followed it through +all its phases, and I flatter myself I am the +only pilot who can hold with one hand the rudder +of the state, if at least I have Benjamin for +steersman."</p> + +<p>"Benjamin! Benjamin—who?" asked I, in +surprise.</p> + +<p>"It would give me the deepest distress," +replied she, "to think that the name of M. le +Baron de Rebecque Benjamin de Constant has +never reached the ears of your royal highness. +One of his ancestors saved the life of Henri +Quatre. Devoted to the descendants of this +good king, he is ready to serve them; and +among several <i>constitutions</i> he has in his portfolio, +you will probably find one with annotations +and reflections by myself, which will suit +you. Adopt it, and choose Benjamin Constant +to carry out the idea."</p> + +<p>It seemed like a thing resolved—an event +decided upon—this proposal of inventing a constitution +for us. I kept as long as I could upon +the defensive; but Madame de Staël, carried +away by her zeal and enthusiasm, instead of +speaking of what personally concerned herself, +knocked me about with arguments, and crushed +me under threats and menaces; so, tired to +death of entertaining, instead of a clever, humble +woman, a roaring politician in petticoats, I +finished the audience, leaving her as little satisfied +as myself with the interview. Madame de +Genlis was ten times less disagreeable, and +twenty times more amusing.</p> + +<p>That same evening I had M. le Prince de +Talleyrand with me, and I was confounded by +hearing him say, "So your royal highness has +made Madame de Staël completely quarrel with +me now?"</p> + +<p>"Me! I never so much as pronounced your +name."</p> + +<p>"Notwithstanding that, she is convinced that +I am the person who prevents your royal highness +from employing her in your political relations, +and that I am jealous of Benjamin Constant. +She is resolved on revenge."</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha—and what can she do?"</p> + +<p>"A very great deal of mischief, monseigneur. +She has numerous partisans; and if she declares +herself Bonapartiste, we must look to +ourselves."</p> + +<p>"That <i>would</i> be curious."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I shall take upon myself to prevent her +going so far; but she will be Royalist no longer, +and we shall suffer from that."</p> + +<p>At this time I had not the remotest idea +what a mere man, still less a mere woman, +could do in France; but now I understand it +perfectly, and if Madame de Staël was living—Heaven +pardon me!—I would strike up a +flirtation with her.</p> + + +<p><a name="Two" id="Two"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE TWO ROADS.</h2> + + +<p>It was New-Year's night. An aged man was +standing at a window. He raised his mournful +eyes toward the deep-blue sky, where the +stars were floating, like white lilies, on the surface +of a clear, calm lake. Then he cast them +on the earth, where few more hopeless beings +than himself now moved toward their certain +goal—the tomb. Already he had passed sixty +of the stages which lead to it, and he had +brought from his journey nothing but errors and +remorse. His health was destroyed, his mind +vacant, his heart sorrowful, and his old age devoid +of comfort. The days of his youth rose +up in a vision before him, and he recalled the +solemn moment, when his father had placed +him at the entrance of two roads, one leading +into a peaceful, sunny land, covered with a fertile +harvest, and resounding with soft, sweet +songs; while the other conducted the wanderer +into a deep, dark cave, whence there was no +issue, where poison flowed instead of water, and +where serpents hissed and crawled.</p> + +<p>He looked toward the sky, and cried out in +his agony, "O youth, return! O my father, +place me once more at the entrance to life, that +I may choose the better way!"</p> + +<p>But the days of his youth and his father had +both passed away. He saw wandering lights<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +floating far away over dark marshes, and then +disappear—these were the days of his wasted +life. He saw a star fall from heaven, and vanish +in darkness. This was an emblem of himself; +and the sharp arrows of unavailing remorse +struck home to his heart. Then he remembered +his early companions, who entered +on life with him, but who, having trod the +paths of virtue and of labor, were now happy +and honored on this New-Year's night. The +clock in the high church tower struck, and the +sound, falling on his ear, recalled his parents' +early love for him, their erring son; the lessons +they had taught him; the prayers they had +offered up on his behalf. Overwhelmed with +shame and grief, he dared no longer look toward +that heaven where his father dwelt; his darkened +eyes dropped tears, and, with one despairing +effort, he cried aloud, "Come back, my early +days! come back!"</p> + +<p>And his youth <i>did</i> return; for all this was +but a dream which visited his slumbers on New-Year's +night. He was still young; his faults +alone were real. He thanked God, fervently, +that time was still his own, that he had not +yet entered the deep, dark cavern, but that he +was free to tread the road leading to the peaceful +land, where sunny harvests wave.</p> + +<p>Ye who still linger on the threshold of life, +doubting which path to choose, remember that, +when years are passed, and your feet stumble +on the dark mountain, you will cry bitterly, but +cry in vain: "O youth, return! O give me back +my early days!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>STORIES OF SHIPWRECK.</h2> + + +<p>The Magpie, commanded by Lieutenant Edward +Smith, was lost during a hurricane in +the West Indies, in 1826. At the moment of +the vessel going down, a gunner's mate of the +name of Meldrum struck out and succeeded in +reaching a pair of oars that were floating in the +water; to these he clung, and, having divested +himself of a part of his clothing, he awaited, in +dreadful anxiety, the fate of his companions. +Not a sound met his ear; in vain his anxious +gaze endeavored to pierce the gloom, but the +darkness was too intense. Minutes appeared +like hours, and still the awful silence remained +unbroken: he felt, and the thought was agony, +that, out of the twenty-four human beings who +had so lately trod the deck of the schooner, he +alone was left. This terrible suspense became +almost beyond the power of endurance; and he +already began to envy the fate of his companions, +when he heard a voice at no great distance +inquiring if there was any one near. He answered +in the affirmative; and, pushing out in +the direction from whence the sound proceeded, +he reached a boat to which seven persons were +clinging; among whom was Lieutenant Smith, +the commander of the sloop. So far, this was +a subject of congratulation; he was no longer +alone; but yet the chances of his ultimate preservation +were as distant as ever. The boat, +which had been placed on the booms of the +schooner, had, fortunately, escaped clear of the +sinking vessel, and, if the men had waited patiently, +was large enough to have saved them +all; but the suddenness of the calamity had +deprived them of both thought and prudence. +Several men had attempted to climb in on one +side; the consequence was, the boat heeled over, +became half filled with water, and then turned +keel uppermost; and, when Meldrum reached +her, he found some stretched across the keel, +and others hanging on by the sides.</p> + +<p>Matters could not last long in this way; and +Mr. Smith, seeing the impossibility of any of +the party being saved if they continued in their +present position, endeavored to bring them to +reason, by pointing out the absurdity of their +conduct. To the honor of the men, they listened +with the same respect to their commander as +if they had been on board the schooner; those +on the keel immediately relinquished their hold, +and succeeded, with the assistance of their comrades, +in righting the boat. Two of their number +got into her, and commenced baling with +their hats, while the others remained in the +water, supporting themselves by the gunwales.</p> + +<p>Order being restored, their spirits began to +revive, and they entertained hopes of escaping +from their present peril: but this was of short +duration; and the sufferings which they had as +yet endured were nothing in comparison with +what they had now to undergo. The two men +had scarcely commenced baling, when a cry was +heard of "A shark! a shark!" No words can +describe the consternation which ensued; it is +well known the horror sailors have of these voracious +animals, who seem apprised, by instinct, +when their prey is at hand. All order was at +an end; the boat again capsized, and the men +were left struggling in the waters. The general +safety was neglected, and it was every man for +himself; no sooner had one got hold of the boat +than he was pushed away by another, and in +this fruitless contest more than one life was +nearly sacrificed. Even in this terrible hour, +their commander remained cool and collected; +his voice was still raised in words of encouragement, +and, as the dreaded enemy did not make +its appearance, he again succeeded in persuading +them to renew their efforts to clear the boat. +The night had passed away—It was about ten +o'clock on the morning of the 28th: the baling +had progressed without interruption; a little +more exertion, and the boat would have been +cleared, when again was heard the cry of "The +sharks! the sharks!" But this was no false +alarm; the boat a second time capsized, and the +unhappy men were literally cast among a shoal +of these terrible monsters. The men, for a few +minutes, remained uninjured, but not untouched, +for the sharks actually rubbed against their +victims, and, to use the exact words of one of +the survivors, "frequently passed over the boat +and between us while resting on the gunwale." +This, however, did not last long; a shriek soon +told the fate of one of the men: a shark had +seized him by the leg, dyeing the water with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +his blood; another shriek followed, and another +man disappeared.</p> + +<p>But these facts are almost too horrible to +dwell upon; human nature revolts from so terrible +a picture; we will, therefore, hurry over +this part of our tale.</p> + +<p>Smith had witnessed the sufferings of his followers +with the deepest distress; and, although +aware that, in all probability, he must soon +share the same fate, he never for a moment +appeared to think of himself. There were but +six men left; and these he endeavored to sustain +by his example, cheering them on to further +exertions. They had, once more, recommenced +their labors to clear out the boat, when +one of his legs was seized by a shark. Even +while suffering the most horrible torture, he restrained +the expression of his feelings, for fear +of increasing the alarm of the men; but the +powers of his endurance were doomed to be +tried to the utmost; another limb was scrunched +from his body, and, uttering a deep groan, +he was about to let go his hold, when he was +seized by two of his men, and placed in the +stern-sheets.</p> + +<p>Yet, when his whole frame was convulsed +with agony, the energies of his mind remained +as strong as ever; his own pain was disregarded; +he thought only of the preservation of his crew. +Calling to his side a lad of the name of Wilson, +who appeared the strongest of the remaining +few, he exhorted him, in the event of his surviving, +to inform the admiral that he was going +to Cape Ontario, in search of the pirate, +when the unfortunate accident occurred. "Tell +him," he continued, "that my men have done +their duty, and that no blame is attached to +them. I have but one favor to ask, and that +is, that he will promote Meldrum to be a gunner."</p> + +<p>He then shook each man by the hand, and +bade them farewell. By degrees his strength +began to fail, and at last became so exhausted +that he was unable to speak. He remained in +this state until the sun set, when another panic +seized the men from a re-appearance of the +sharks; the boat gave a lurch, and the gallant +commander found an end to his sufferings in a +watery grave.</p> + +<p>The Anson was lost, in 1807, off the coast +of France. The ship was no longer an object +of consideration; Captain Lydiard felt that he +had done his utmost to save her, but in vain, +and that now every energy must be put forth for +the preservation of human life. The tempest +raged with such fury, that no boat could possibly +come to their aid, nor could the strongest +swimmer hope to gain the shore. It appeared +to Captain Lydiard, that the only chance of +escape for any of the crew was in running the +ship as near the coast as possible. He gave the +necessary orders, and the master ran the vessel +on the sand which forms the bar between the +Loe Pool and the sea, about three miles from +Helstone. The tide had been ebbing nearly an +hour when she took the ground, and she broached +to, leaving her broadside heeling over, and +facing the beach.</p> + +<p>The scene of horror and confusion which ensued, +on the Anson striking against the ground, +was one which baffles all description. Many +of the men were washed away by the tremendous +sea which swept over the deck; many +others were killed by the falling of the spars, +the crashing sound of which, as they fell from +aloft, mingled with the shrieks of the women +on board, was heard even amidst the roar of +the waters and the howling of the winds. The +coast was lined with crowds of spectators, who +watched with an intense and painful interest +the gradual approach of the ill-fated vessel toward +the shore, and witnessed the subsequent +melancholy catastrophe.</p> + +<p>Calm and undaunted amidst the terrors of +the scene, Captain Lydiard is described as displaying, +in a remarkable degree, that self-possession +and passive heroism which has been so +often the proud characteristic of the commander +of a British ship-of-war under similar harassing +circumstances. Notwithstanding the confusion +of the scene, his voice was heard, and his orders +were obeyed with that habitual deference which, +even in danger and in death, an English seaman +rarely fails to accord to his commanding +officer. He was the first to restore order, to +assist the wounded, to encourage the timid, and +to revive expiring hope. Most providentially, +when the vessel struck, the mainmast, in falling +overboard, served to form a communication +between the ship and the shore, and Captain +Lydiard was the first to point out this circumstance +to the crew. Clinging with his arm to +the wheel of the rudder, in order to prevent his +being washed overboard by the waves, he continued +to encourage one after another as they +made the perilous attempt to reach the shore. +It was fated that this gallant officer should not +enjoy in this world the reward of his humanity +and his heroism. After watching with thankfulness +the escape of many of his men, and +having seen, with horror, many others washed +off the mast, in their attempts to reach the +land, he was about to undertake the dangerous +passage himself, when he was attracted by the +cries of a person seemingly in an agony of terror. +The brave man did not hesitate for a moment, +but turned and made his way to the +place whence the cries proceeded. There he +found a boy, a protégé of his own, whom he +had entered on board the Anson only a few +months before, clinging, in despair to a part of +the wreck, and without either strength or courage +to make the least effort for his own preservation. +Captain Lydiard's resolution was instantly +taken: he would save the lad if possible, +though he might himself perish in the attempt. +He threw one arm round the boy, while +he cheered him by words of kind encouragement; +with the other arm, he clung to the spars and +mast to support himself and his burden. But +the struggle did not last long; nature was exhausted +by the mental and physical sufferings<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +he had endured; he lost his hold, not of the +boy, but of the mast, the wild waves swept +over them, and they perished together.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>JOE SMITH AND THE MORMONS.</h2> + +<h3>BY PROF. JAMES F.W. JOHNSTON.</h3> + + +<p>In the future history of mankind, if present +appearances are to be trusted, the counties +of Wayne and Ontario, N.Y., are likely to derive +an interest and importance, in the eyes of a +numerous body of people, from a circumstance +wholly unconnected either with their social progress, +or with their natural productions or capabilities. +In these counties lie the scenes of the +early passages in the life of Joe Smith, the +founder of the sect of the Mormons.</p> + +<p>Born in December, 1805, in Sharon, Windsor +County, State of Vermont, he removed with his +father, about 1815, to a small farm in Palmyra, +Wayne County, New York, and assisted him on +the farm till 1826. He received little education, +read indifferently, wrote and spelt badly, +knew little of arithmetic, and, in all other +branches of learning he was, to the day of his +death, exceedingly ignorant.</p> + +<p>His own account of his religious progress is, +that as early as fifteen years of age he began to +have serious ideas regarding the future state, +that he got into occasional ecstasies, and that +in 1823, during one of these ecstasies, he was +visited by an angel, who told him that his sins +were forgiven—that the time was at hand when +the gospel in its fullness was to be preached to +all nations—that the American Indians were a +remnant of Israel, who, when they first emigrated +to America, were an enlightened people, +possessing a knowledge of the true God, and enjoying +his favor—that the prophets and inspired +writers among them had kept a history or record +of their proceedings—that these records were +safely deposited—and that, if faithful, he was +to be the favored instrument for bringing them +to light.</p> + +<p>On the following day, according to instructions +from the angel, he went to a hill which he calls +Cumorah, in Palmyra township, Wayne County, +and there, in a stone chest, after a little digging, +he saw the records; but it was not till four +years after, in September 1827, that "the +angel of the Lord delivered the records into his +hands."</p> + +<p>"These records were engraved on plates +which had the appearance of gold, were seven +by eight inches in size, and thinner than common +tin, and were covered on both sides with +Egyptian characters, small and beautifully engraved. +They were bound together in a volume +like the leaves of a book, and were fastened at +one edge with three rings running through the +whole. The volume was about six inches in +thickness, bore many marks of antiquity, and +part of it was sealed. With the records was +found a curious instrument, called by the +ancients Urim and Thummim, which consisted +of two transparent stones, clear as crystal, and +set in two rims of a bow"—a pair of pebble +spectacles, in other words, or "helps to read" +unknown tongues.</p> + +<p>The report of his discovery having got abroad, +his house was beset, he was mobbed, and his +life was endangered by persons who wished to +possess themselves of the plates. He therefore +packed up his goods, concealed the plates <i>in a +barrel of beans</i>, and proceeded across the country +to the northern part of Pennsylvania, near the +Susquehannah river, where his father-in-law resided. +Here, "by the gift and power of God, +through the means of the Urim and Thummim, +he began to translate the record, and, being a +poor writer, he employed a scribe to write the +translation as it came from his mouth." In +1830 a large edition of the <i>Book of Mormon</i> +was published. It professes to be an abridgment +of the records made by the prophet Mormon, of +the people of the Nephites, and left to his son +Moroni to finish. It is regarded by the Latter-day +Saints with the same veneration as the +New Testament is among Christians.</p> + +<p>The Church of the Latter-day Saints was +organized on the 6th of April, 1830, at Manchester, +in Ontario County, New York. Its +numbers at first were few, but they rapidly increased, +and in 1833 removed to the State of +Missouri, and purchased a large tract of land in +Jackson County. Here their neighbors tarred +and feathered some, killed others, and compelled +the whole to remove. They then established +themselves in Clay County, in the same State, +but on the opposite side of the river. From this +place again, in 1835, they removed eastward to +the State of Ohio, settled at Kirtland, in Geauga +County, about twenty miles from Cleveland, +and began to build a temple, upon which sixty-thousand +dollars were expended. At Kirtland +a bank was incorporated by Joe and his friends, +property was bought with its notes, and settled +upon the Saints, after which the bank failed—as +many others did about the same time—and +Ohio became too hot for the Mormons. Again, +therefore, the Prophet, his apostles, and a great +body of the Saints, left their home and temple, +went westward a second time to the State of +Missouri, purchased a large tract of land in +Caldwell County, in Missouri, and built the city +of the "Far West." Here difficulties soon beset +them, and in August, 1838, became so serious +that the military were called in; and the Mormons +were finally driven, unjustly, harshly, and +oppressively, by force of arms, from the State of +Missouri, and sought protection in the State of +Illinois, on the eastern bank of the Mississippi. +They were well received in this State, and after +wandering for some time—while their leader, +Joe Smith, was in jail—they bought a beautiful +tract of land in Hancock County, and, in the +spring of 1840, began to build the city and +temple of Nauvoo. The Legislature of Illinois +at first passed an act giving great, and, probably, +injudicious privileges to this city, which, in +1844, was already the largest in the State, and +contained a population of about twenty thousand +souls. The temple, too, was of great size and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +magnificence—being 128 feet long and 77 feet +high, and stood on an elevated situation, from +which it was visible to a distance of 25 or 30 +miles. In the interior was an immense baptismal +font, in imitation of the brazen sea of +Solomon—"a stone reservoir, resting upon the +backs of twelve oxen, also cut out of stone, and +as large as life."</p> + +<p>But persecution followed them to Illinois, +provoked in some degree, no doubt, by their own +behavior, especially in making and carrying into +effect city ordinances, which were contrary to +the laws of the State. The people of the adjoining +townships rose in arms, and were joined +by numbers of the old enemies of the Mormons +from Missouri. The militia were called out; +and, to prevent further evils, Joe Smith and +one of his brothers, with several other influential +Saints, on an assurance of safety and protection +from the Governor of the State, were induced to +surrender themselves for trial in respect of the +charges brought against them, and were conducted +to prison. Here they were inconsiderately +left by the Governor, on the following day, +under a guard of seven or eight men. These +were overpowered the same afternoon by an +armed mob, who killed Joe Smith and his +brother, and then made their escape. After +this, the Mormons remained a short time longer +in the Holy City; but the wound was too deep +seated to admit of permanent quiet on either +part, and they were at last driven out by force, +and compelled to abandon or sacrifice their +property. Such as escaped this last persecution, +after traversing the boundless prairies, the +deserts of the Far West, and the Rocky Mountains, +appear at last to have found a resting-place +near the Great Salt Lake in Oregon. +They are increasing faster since this last catastrophe +than ever; and are daily receiving large +accessions of new members from Europe, especially +from Great Britain. They form the +nucleus of the new State of Utah, this year +erected into a Territory of the United States, +and likely, in the next session of Congress, to be +elevated to the dignity of an independent State. +So rapidly has persecution helped on this offspring +of ignorance, and tended to give a permanent +establishment, and a bright future, to a system, +not simply of pure invention, but of blasphemous +impiety, and folly the most insane.</p> + +<p>The <i>Book of Mormon</i>, which is the written +guide of this new sect, consists of a series of +professedly historical books—a desultory and +feeble imitation of the Jewish chronicles and +prophetical books—in which, for the poetry and +warnings of the ancient prophets, are substituted +a succession of unconnected rhapsodies and +repetitions such as might form the perorations +of ranting addresses by a field preacher, to a +very ignorant audience.</p> + +<p>The book, in the edition I possess, consists +in all of 634 pages, of which the first 580 contain +the history of a fictitious personage called +Lehi and that of his descendants for the space +of a thousand years.</p> + +<p>This Lehi, a descendant of Joseph the son +of Jacob, with his family left Jerusalem in the +beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, six hundred +years before Christ, and, passing the Red Sea, +journeyed eastward for eight years till they +reached the shore of a wide sea. There they +built a ship, and, embarking, were carried at +length to the promised land, where they settled +and multiplied. Among the sons of Lehi one +was called Laman and another Nephi. The +former was wicked, and a disbeliever in the law +of Moses and the prophets; the latter, obedient +and faithful, and a believer in the coming of +Christ. Under the leadership of these two opposing +brothers, the rest of the family and their +descendants arranged themselves, forming the +Lamanites and the Nephites, between whom +wars and perpetual hostilities arose. The +Lamanites were idle hunters, living in tents, +eating raw flesh, and having only a girdle round +their loins. The skin of Laman and his followers +became black; while that of Nephi and his +people, who tilled the land, retained its original +whiteness. As with the Jews, the Nephites +were successful when they were obedient to the +law; and, when they fell away to disobedience +and wickedness, the Lamanites had the better, +and put many to death. At the end of about +four hundred years, a portion of the righteous +Nephites under Mosiah, having left their land, +traveled far across the wilderness, and discovered +the city of Zarahemla, which was peopled by +the descendants of a colony of Jews who had +wandered from Jerusalem when King Zedekiah +was carried away captive to Babylon, twelve +years after the emigration of Lehi. But they +were heathens, possessed no copy of the law, +and had corrupted their language. They received +the Nephites warmly, however, learned +their language, and gladly accepted the law of +Moses.</p> + +<p>This occupies 158 pages. The history of the +next two hundred years follows this new people, +and that of occasional converts from the Lamanites—called +still by the general name of Nephites +in their struggles with the Lamanites, and +the alternations of defeat and success which +accompany disobedience or the contrary. This +occupies several books, and brings us to the +486th page, and the period of the birth of +Christ. This event is signified to the people of +Zarahemla by a great light, which made the +night as light as mid-day. And thirty-three +years after there was darkness for three days, +and thunderings and earthquakes, and the destruction +of cities and people. This was a sign +of the crucifixion. Soon after this, Christ himself +appears to this people of Zarahemla in +America, repeats to them in long addresses the +substance of his numerous sayings and discourses, +as recorded by the apostles; chooses twelve to +go forth and preach and baptize; and then disappears. +On occasion of a great baptizing by +the apostles, however, he appears again; imparts +the Holy Spirit to all, makes long discourses, +and disappears. And, finally, to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +apostles themselves he appears a third time; +and addresses them in ill-assorted extracts and +paraphrases of his New Testament sayings.</p> + +<p>The account of these visits of our Saviour to +the American Nephites, and of his sayings, occupies +about 48 pages. For about 400 years, +the Christian doctrine and church thus planted +among the Nephites had various fortune; increasing +at first, and prospering, but, as corruptions +came in, encountering adversity. The +Lamanites were still their fierce enemies; and +as wickedness and corrupt doctrine began to +prevail among the Christians, the Lamanites +gained more advantages. It would appear, from +Joe Smith's descriptions, that he means the +war to have begun at the Isthmus of Darien—where +the Nephites were settled, and occupied +the country to the north, while the Lamanites +lived south of the isthmus. From the isthmus +the Nephites were gradually driven toward the +east, till finally, at the hill of Cumorah, near +Palmyra, in Wayne County, western New York, +the last battle was fought, in which, with the +loss of 230,000 fighting men, the Nephites were +exterminated! Among the very few survivors +was Moroni the last of the scribes, who deposited +in this hill the metal plates which the +virtuous Joe Smith was selected to receive from +the hands of the angel. This occupies to the +580th page.</p> + +<p>But now, in the Book of Ether, which follows, +Joe becomes more bold, and goes back to the +tower of Babel for another tribe of fair people, +whom he brings over and settles in America. +At the confusion of the languages, Ether and +his brethren journeyed to the great sea, and, +after a sojourn of four years on the shore, built +boats under the Divine direction, water-tight, +and covered over like walnuts, with a bright +stone in each end to give light! And when +they had embarked in their tight boats, a strong +wind arose, blowing toward the promised land, +and for 344 days it blew them along the water, +till they arrived safe at the shore. Here, like +the sons of Lehi, they increased and prospered, +and had kings and prophets and wars, and were +split into parties, who fought with each other. +Finally, Shiz rose in rebellion against Coriantumr, +the last king, and they fought with alternate +success, till two millions of mighty men, with +their wives and children, had been slain! And, +after this, all the people were gathered either +on the one side or the other, and fought for +many days, till only Coriantumr alone remained +alive!</p> + +<p>This foolish history is written with the professedly +religious purpose of showing the punishment +from the hand of God which wicked behavior +certainly entails; and, with some trifling +moralities of Moroni, completes the <i>Book of +Mormon</i>.</p> + +<p>Joseph Smith does not affect in this gospel +of his to bring in any new doctrine, or to supersede +the Bible, but to restore "many plain and +precious things which have been taken away +from the first book by the abominable church, the +Mother of Harlots." It is full of sillinesses, +follies, and anachronisms; but I have not discovered, +in my cursory review, any of the +immoralities or positive licentiousness which +he himself practiced, directly inculcated. He +teaches faith in Christ, human depravity, the +power of the Holy Ghost, the doctrine of the +Trinity, of the atonement, and of salvation only +through Christ. He recommends the sacraments +of baptism and the Lord's Supper; and, whatever +his own conduct and that of his people +may be, certainly in his book prohibits polygamy +and priestcraft.</p> + +<p>The wickedness of his book consists in its +being a lie from beginning to end, and of himself +in being throughout an impostor. Pretending +to be a "seer"—which, he says, is greater +than a prophet—he puts into the hands of his +followers a work of pure invention as a religious +guide inspired by God, and which, among his +followers, is to take the place of the Bible. +Though an ignorant man, he was possessed of +much shrewdness. He courted persecution, +though he hoped to profit, not to die by it. +Unfortunately, his enemies, by their inconsiderate +persecution, have made him a martyr +for his opinions, and have given a stability to +his sect which nothing may now be able to +shake. It was urged by Smith himself that the +New World was as deserving of a direct revelation +as the Old; and his disciples press upon +their hearers that, as an <i>American revelation</i>, +this system has peculiar claims upon their regard +and acceptance. The feeling of nationality +being thus connected with the new sect, weak-minded +native-born Americans might be swayed +by patriotic motives in connecting themselves +with it. But it is mortifying to learn that most +numerous accessions are being made to the body +in their new home by converts proceeding from +England.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> Under the name of the "Latter-day +Saints," professing the doctrines of the +gospel, the delusions of the system are hidden +from the masses by the emissaries who have +been dispatched into various countries to recruit +their numbers among the ignorant and devoutly-inclined +lovers of novelty. Who can tell what +two centuries may do in the way of giving a +historical position to this rising heresy?</p> + + +<p><a name="Ice-Hill" id="Ice-Hill"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>AN ICE-HILL PARTY IN RUSSIA.</h2> + + +<p>The reader, I hope, will have no objection to +quit his comfortable fire-side, put on his furs, +and accompany me to a sledge, or ice-hill party.</p> + +<p>An army of about ten or fifteen sledges start +from a house where all the party assemble, the +gentlemen driving themselves, and each family +taking some provisions with them. After about +an hour and three-quarters' drive, the whole<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +caravan arrives at the house of a <i>starosto</i> (president) +of the work-people employed by the foreign +commercial houses in Russia. The <i>starosto</i> +is usually a wealthy man, and mostly looked up +to by his neighbors, as he has by some most extraordinary +means acquired some few townish +manners, which suit <i>his</i> country appearance as +much as glazed boots, and a polka tie would +suit the true English country farmer.</p> + +<p>After having warmed themselves before a +good hot Russian stove, the party begin operations +by getting the sledges ready, and ascending +the ice-hills. The hills are made of a wooden +scaffold, covered with huge bits of ice, all of +an equal size, placed side-by-side, so as to fit +closely together. By being constantly watered, +they gradually become one solid mass, as smooth +as a mirror. The hill, which usually is of a considerable +height, and rather sloping, ends in a +long, narrow plain of ice called the run, which +is just broad enough for three narrow sledges to +pass each other, and long enough to carry you +to the foot of a second hill.</p> + +<p>The sledges are usually of iron, long and +narrow, and covered by cushions, often embroidered +by the fair hand of a lady. They are +low, and so constructed that they can hold one +or two persons, as the case may be. Both the +run and the hill are bordered by fir trees on +each side, and on such evening parties are illuminated +with Chinese lamps placed between +the branches of the trees. Fancy yourself on +the top of the hill looking down this illuminated +avenue of firs, which is reflected in the mirror +of the ice, as if determining to outshine the +lights in the clear sky, and the gay laughing +crowds moving up and down the hills, and you +have before you the finest and most perfect picture +of sorrowless enjoyment, as a striking contrast +to the lifeless nature surrounding it. The +briskness of the movement, and the many accidents +happening to the clumsy members of the +party, keep up the excitement, while the contest +of young men to obtain this or the other lady +for their partner on their down-hill journey (not +in life), never allows the conversation or the +laugh to flag for one moment. I remember once +getting into what school-boys would call an +awful scrape with one of the ice-hill heroes. +We both started together from the second hill +on a race, and I, having a faster sledge, overtook +him by the length of my conveyance, and +arrived at the top of the hill before him. Seeing +that the <i>belle</i> of the evening was disengaged, +I approached her with all the formality with +which the newly-admitted youth requests the +queen of a ball-room for the pleasure and honor +to dance a polka with her, and asked her to go +down. Forgetting a previous appointment with +my former antagonist, she accepted my offer, +and the latter just arrived in time to see us +start from the hill. In his rage he determined +to do me some mischief by upsetting my sledge, +as soon as he had an opportunity of doing so +without any damage to another party. He soon +had an occasion, but, unfortunately I had a +sledge with a lady before me; passing me, he +hit me, and I, hitting against the sledge before +me, without being able to avoid it, at the same +time getting hold of his legs, upset all three. +Luckily, no injury was done, as the whole lot +were upset into the snow, to the great enjoyment +of all spectators.</p> + +<p>Gradually the time to retire approaches. The +lamps begin to go out, and the hills, divested +of their beauty, appear like the ruins of a magnificent +city of olden times. Here and there +you see a single lamp peeping out from the +branches of the trees, wistfully looking round in +search of its brothers, as if it wanted to assure +itself of the absence of any other enlightening +object.</p> + +<p>The party go in to refresh themselves with +tea and other warm beverages. The gentlemen +wait on the ladies, and a new contest begins, +as each tries to surpass the other in politeness +and quickness. If it is a supper, you see these +youthful and useful members of society running +about with plates of sandwiches, or steering +along with a cup of <i>bouillon</i> in one and a glass +of wine in the other hand, through the intricate +passages formed by the numberless tables occupied +by members of the fair sex. And then +having, after a great deal of danger, at last +arrived at their destination, they find the lady +they wanted to serve already provided with +every necessary comfort; and, perchance, she +is so much engaged in conversation with their +more fortunate rival, that she can not even give +them a grateful smile for their trouble. Now +the ladies adjourn, and the field of action is left +to the gentlemen. All restraint seems to have +gone. The clatter of knives, the jingling of +glasses, the hubbub of voices, all this makes +such a chaos of strange and mysterious noises, +that it has quite a deafening effect. At last a +cry of order is heard from the top of the table. +One of the directors of the party, after having +requested the audience to fill their glasses, in +flowery language proposes the health of the ladies, +which, of course, is drunk with tremendous +applause, manifested by acts, such as beating +with the handles of knives and forks on the +table, and clapping hands.</p> + +<p>After several other toasts, the party adjourn +to join the ladies. Merry-making now begins, +and an hour or so is passed in social games, +such as hunting the slipper, cross-questions, +crooked answers, and others. At last, the parties +wrap themselves up again in their furs, and +prepare to go home. On their homeward tour, +one of the finest phenomena in nature may, +perchance, appear to them. A streak of light, +suddenly appearing on the horizon, shoots like +lightning up to the sky. One moment longer, +and the whole sky is covered by such streaks, +all of different colors amalgamating together, +and constantly changing and lighting up the +objects as bright as daylight. This is the Aurora +Borealis, one of the numerous spectacles of +nature, which the common people regard with +astonishment, while the cultivated mind finds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +sermon on the glory of our Maker in every object +he meets on his journey through life; looks +at it with admiration and reverence.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE BLIND LOVERS OF CHAMOUNY.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></h2> + + +<p>It was during a second visit to the beautiful +and melancholy valley of Chamouny that I +became acquainted with the following touching +and interesting story. A complete change of +ideas had become absolutely necessary for me; +I sought, therefore, to kindle those emotions +which must ever be awakened by the sublime +scenes of Nature; my wearied heart required +fresh excitement to divert it from the grief +which was devouring it; and the melancholy +grandeur of Chamouny seemed to present a +singular charm to my then peculiar frame of +mind.</p> + +<p>Again I wandered through the graceful forest +of fir-trees, which surrounds the Village des Bois, +and, this time, with a new kind of pleasure; +once more I beheld that little plain upon which +the glaciers every now and then make an in-road, +above which the peaks of the Alps rise so +majestically, and which slopes so gently down +to the picturesque source of the Arveyron. How +I enjoyed gazing upon its portico of azure crystal, +which every year wears a new aspect. On +one occasion, when I reached this spot, I had +not proceeded very far, when I perceived that +Puck, my favorite dog, was not by my side. +How could this have happened, for he would +not have been induced to leave his master, even +for the most dainty morsel? He did not answer +to my call, and I began to feel uneasy, when, +suddenly, the pretty fellow made his appearance, +looking rather shy and uncomfortable, and +yet with caressing confidence in my affection; +his body was slightly curved, his eyes were humid +and beseeching, he carried his head very +low—so low, that his ears trailed upon the +ground, like those of Zadig's dog; Puck, too, +was a spaniel. If you had but seen Puck, in +that posture, you would have found it impossible +to be angry with him. I did not attempt +to scold him, but, nevertheless, he continued to +leave me, and return to me again; he repeated +this amusement several times; while I followed +in his track till I gradually came toward +the point of his attraction; it appeared as if a +similar kind of sympathy drew me to the same +spot.</p> + +<p>Upon a projection of a rock sat a young man, +with a most touching and pleasing countenance; +he was dressed in a sort of blue blouse, in the +form of a tunic, and had a long stick of Cytisus +in his hand; his whole appearance reminded +me strongly of Poussin's antique shepherds. +His light hair clustered in thick curls round his +uncovered throat, and fell over his shoulders, +his features wore an expression of gravity, but +not of austerity, and he seemed sad, though not +desponding. There was a singular character +about his eyes, the effect of which I could +scarcely define; they were large and liquid, but +their light was quenched, and they were fixed +and unfathomable. The murmur of the wind +had disguised the sound of my footsteps, and I +soon became aware that I was not perceived. +At length, I felt sure that the young man was +blind. Puck had closely studied the emotions +which became visible in my face; but as soon +as he discovered that I was kindly disposed toward +his new friend, he jumped up to him. +The young man stroked Puck's silky coat, and +smiled good-naturedly at him.</p> + +<p>"How is it that you appear to know me," +said he, "for you do not belong to the valley? +I once had a dog as full of play as you, and, +perhaps, as pretty; but he was a French water-spaniel, +with a coat of curly wool; he has left +me, like many others—my last friend, my poor +Puck."</p> + +<p>"How curious! was your dog called Puck, +too?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, pardon me, sir!" exclaimed the young +man, rising, and supporting himself on his +stick. "My infirmity must excuse me."</p> + +<p>"Pray sit down, my good friend; you are +blind, I fear?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, blind since my infancy."</p> + +<p>"Have you never been able to see?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes, but for so very short a time! yet, +I have some recollection of the sun, and when I +lift up my eyes toward the point in the heavens +where it should be, I can almost fancy I see a +globe, which reminds me of its color. I have, +too, a faint remembrance of the whiteness of +the snow, and the hue of our mountains."</p> + +<p>"Was it an accident which deprived you of +your sight?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, an accident which was the least of +my misfortunes. I was scarcely more than two +years old, when an avalanche fell down from +the heights of La Flégère, and crushed our little +dwelling. My father, who was the guide +among these mountains, had spent the evening +at the Priory; you can easily picture to yourself +his despair when he found his family swallowed +up by this horrible scourge. By the aid +of his comrades, he succeeded in making a hole +in the snow, and was thus able to get into our +cottage, the roof which was still supported on +its frail props. The first thing which met his +eyes was my cradle, he placed this at once in +safety, for the danger was rapidly increasing; +the work of the miners caused fresh masses of +ice to crumble, and served rather to hasten the +overthrow of our fragile abode; he pushed forward +to save my mother, who had fainted, and +he was afterward seen for a moment carrying +her in his arms, by the light of the torches +which burnt outside; and then all gave way. +I was an orphan, and the next day it was discovered +that my sight had been destroyed."</p> + +<p>"Poor child! so you were left alone in the +world, quite alone!"</p> + +<p>"In our valley, a person visited by misfortune +is never quite alone, all our good Chamouniers +united in endeavoring to relieve my +wretchedness; Balmat give me shelter, Simon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +Coutet afforded me food, Gabriel Payot clothed +me; and a good widow who had lost her children, +undertook the care of me. She still performs +a mother's part to me, and guides me to +this spot every day in summer."</p> + +<p>"And are these all the friends you have?"</p> + +<p>"I have had more," said the young man, +while he placed his finger on his lip in a mysterious +manner; "but they are gone."</p> + +<p>"Will they never come back again?"</p> + +<p>"I should think not, from appearances; yet +a few days ago I imagined that Puck would +return, that he had only strayed, but nobody +strays among our glaciers with impunity. I +shall never feel him bound again at my side, +or hear him bark at the approach of travelers," +and he brushed away a tear.</p> + +<p>"What is your name?"</p> + +<p>"Gervais."</p> + +<p>"Listen, Gervais; you must tell me about +these friends whom you have lost;" at the +same time I prepared to seat myself by his +side, but he sprang up eagerly, and took possession +of the vacant place.</p> + +<p>"Not here, not here, sir; this is Eulalie's +seat, and since her departure nobody has occupied +it."</p> + +<p>"Eulalie," replied I, seating myself in the +place from which he had just risen; "tell me +about Eulalie, and yourself; your story interests +me."</p> + +<p>Gervais proceeded:</p> + +<p>"I explained to you that my life had not +been devoid of happiness, for Heaven compensates +bountifully to those in misfortune, by inspiring +good people with pity for their wretchedness. +I lived in happy ignorance of the extent +of my deprivation; suddenly, however, a +stranger came to reside in the village des Bois, +and formed the topic of conversation in our valley. +He was only known by the name of M. +Robert, but the general opinion was, that he +was a person of distinction, who had met with +great losses, and much sorrow, and consequently +had resolved to pass his latter years in perfect +solitude. He was said to have lost a wife, to +whom he was tenderly attached; the result of +their union, a little girl, had occasioned him +much grief, for she was born blind. While the +father was held up as a model for his virtues, +the goodness and charms of his daughter were +equally extolled. My want of sight prevented +me from judging of her beauty, but could I have +beheld her she could not have left a more lovely +impression on my mind. I picture her to myself +sometimes as even more interesting than +my mother."</p> + +<p>"She is dead, then?" inquired I.</p> + +<p>"Dead!" replied he, in an accent in which +there was a strange mixture of terror and wild +joy! "dead! who told you so?"</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, Gervais, I did not know her; I +was only endeavoring to find out the reason of +your separation."</p> + +<p>"She is alive," said he, smiling bitterly, and +he remained silent for a moment. "I do not +know whether I told you that she was called +Eulalie. Yes, her name was Eulalie, and this +was her place;" he broke off abruptly. "Eulalie," +repeated he, while he stretched out his +hand as if to find her by his side. Puck licked +his fingers, and looked pityingly at him: I would +not have parted from Puck for a million.</p> + +<p>"Calm yourself, Gervais, and forgive me +for opening a wound which is scarcely yet +healed. I can guess the rest of your story. +The strange similarity of Eulalie's and your +misfortune awakened her father's interest in +you, and you became another child to him."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I became another child to him, and +Eulalie was a sister to me; my kind adopted +mother and I went to take up our abode in the +new house, which is called the Chateau. Eulalie's +masters were mine; together we learned +those divine strains of harmony which raise the +soul to heaven, and together, by means of pages +printed in relief, we read with our fingers the +sublime thoughts of the philosophers, and the +beautiful creations of the poets. I endeavored +to imitate some of their graceful images, and +to paint what I had not seen. Eulalie admired +my verses, and this was all I desired. +Ah! if you had heard her sing, you would have +thought that an angel had descended to entrance +the valley. Every day in the fine season +we were conducted to this rock, which is +called by the inhabitants of this part 'le Rocher +des Aveugles;' here too the kindest of fathers +guided our steps, and bestowed on us numberless +fond attentions. Around us were tufts of +rhododendrons, beneath us was a carpet of violets +and daisies, and when our touch had recognized, +by its short stalk and its velvety disk, +the last-named flower, we amused ourselves in +stripping it of its petals, and repeated a hundred +times this innocent diversion, which served +as a kind of interpretation to our first avowal +of love."</p> + +<p>As Gervais proceeded, his face acquired a +mournful expression, a cloud passed over his +brow, and he became suddenly sad and silent; +in his emotion he trod unthinkingly upon an +Alpine rose, which was, however, already withered +on its stalk; I gathered it without his +being aware of it, for I wished to preserve it in +remembrance of him. Some minutes elapsed +before Gervais seemed inclined to proceed with +his narrative, and I did not like to speak to +him; suddenly he passed his hand over his +eyes, as if to drive away a disagreeable dream, +and then turning toward me with an ingenuous +smile, he continued.</p> + +<p>"Be charitable to my weakness, for I am +young, and have not yet learned to control the +emotions of my heart; some day, perhaps, I +shall be wiser."</p> + +<p>"I fear, my good friend," said I, "that this +conversation is too fatiguing for you; do not +recall to your mind circumstances which appear +so painful. I shall never forgive myself +for occasioning you such an hour of grief."</p> + +<p>"It is not you," replied Gervais, "who bring<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +back these recollections, for these thoughts are +never absent from my mind, and I would rather +that it was annihilated than that they should +ever cease to occupy it; my very existence is +mixed up with my sorrow." I had retained +Gervais's hand; he understood, therefore, that +I was listening to him.</p> + +<p>"After all, my reminiscences are not entirely +made up of bitterness; sometimes I imagine +that my present affliction is only a dream—that +my real life is full of the happiness which I have +lost. I fancy that she is still near me, only, +perhaps, a little further off than usual—that +she is silent because she is plunged in deep +meditation, of which our mutual love forms a +principal part. One day we were seated as +usual on this rock, and were enjoying the +sweetness and serenity of the air, the perfume +of our violets, and the song of the birds; upon +this occasion we listened with a curious kind of +pleasure to the masses of ice which, being +loosened by the sun, shot hissingly down from +the peaks of the mountain. We could distinguish +the rushing of the waters of the Arveyron. +I do not know how it was, but we were both +suddenly impressed with a vague sensation of +the uncertainty of happiness, and at the same +time with a feeling of terror and uneasiness; +we threw ourselves into each other's arms, and +held each other tightly, as if somebody had +wished to separate us, and both of us exclaimed +eagerly, 'Ah, yes! let it be always thus, always +thus.' I felt that Eulalie scarcely breathed, +and that her overwrought state of mind required +to be soothed. 'Yes, Eulalie, let us ever +be thus to one another; the world believes that +our misfortune renders us objects only of pity, +but how can it possibly judge of the happiness +that I enjoy in your tenderness, or that you find +in mine? How little does the turmoil and +excitement of society affect us; we may be +regarded by many as imperfect beings, and this +is quite natural, for they have not yet discovered +that the perfection of happiness consists in +loving and in being loved. It is not your beauty +which has captivated me, it is something which +can not be described when felt, nor forgotten +when once experienced; it is a charm which +belongs to you alone—which I can discover in +your voice, in your mind, in every one of your +actions. Oh! if ever I enjoyed sight, I would +entreat God to extinguish the light of my eyes +in order that I might not gaze at other women—that +my thoughts might only dwell upon you. +It is you who have rendered study pleasing to +me—who have inspired me with taste for art; +if the beauties of Rossini and Weber impressed +me strongly, it was because you sang their glorious +ideas. I can well afford to dispense with +the superfluous luxuries of art, I who possess the +treasure from which it would derive its highest +price; for surely thy heart is mine, if not thou +couldst not be happy.'</p> + +<p>"'I am happy,' replied Eulalie, 'the happiest +of girls.'</p> + +<p>"'My dear children,' said M. Robert, while +he joined our trembling hands, 'I hope you will +always be equally happy, for it is my desire that +you should never be separated.'</p> + +<p>"M. Robert was never long absent from us, +he was ever bestowing upon us marks of his +tenderness. Upon this occasion he had reached +the spot where we were seated without our having +been aware of his presence, and he had +heard us without intentionally listening. I did +not feel that I was in fault, and yet I was overwhelmed, +embarrassed. Eulalie trembled. M. +Robert placed himself between us, for we had +withdrawn a little from each other.</p> + +<p>"'Why should it not be as you wish?' said +he, as he threw his arms around us, and pressed +us close together, and embraced us with more +than usual warmth. 'Why not? Am I not +sufficiently rich to procure you servants and +friends? You will have children who will replace +your poor old father; your infirmity is not +hereditary. Receive my blessing, Gervais, and +you, my Eulalie. Thank God, and dream of +to-morrow, for the day which will shine upon us +to-morrow will be beautiful even to the blind.'</p> + +<p>"Eulalie embraced her father, and then +threw her arms round me; for the first time my +lips touched hers. This happiness was too great +to be called happiness. I thought that my +heart would burst; I wished to die at that moment, +but, alas! I did not die. I do not know +how happiness affects others, but mine was imperfect, +for it was without hope or calmness. I +could not sleep, or rather I did not attempt to +sleep, for it seemed to me a waste of time, and +that eternity would not be sufficiently long to +enjoy the felicity which was in store for me; I +almost regretted the past, which, though it +lacked the delicious intoxication of the present +moment, was yet free from doubts and fears. +At length I heard the household stirring; I got +up, dressed myself, performed my morning devotions, +and then went to my window, which +looked out upon the Arve. I opened it, stretched +forth my head in the morning mists to cool my +burning brow. Suddenly my door opened, and +I recognized a man's footstep; it was not M. +Robert; a hand took hold of mine—'M. Maunoir!' +exclaimed I.</p> + +<p>"It was a great many years since he had +been to the Valley; but the sound of his footstep, +the touch of his hand, and something +frank and affectionate in his manner, brought +him back to my remembrance.</p> + +<p>"'It is indeed he,' observed M. Maunoir, in +a faltering voice, to some one near him, 'It is +indeed my poor Gervais. You remember what +I said to you about it at that time.' He then +placed his fingers on my eyelids, and kept them +up for a few seconds. 'Ah,' said he, 'God's +will be done! You are happy at any rate, are +you not Gervais?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes, very happy,' replied I. 'M. Robert +considers that I have profited by all his kindness; +I assure you I can read as well as a person +who is gifted with sight; above all, Eulalie +loves me.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'She will love you, if possible, still more if +she should one day be able to see you.'</p> + +<p>"'If she sees me, did you say?'</p> + +<p>"I thought he alluded to that eternal home +where the eyes of the blind are opened, and +darkness visits them no more.</p> + +<p>"My mother, as was her custom, brought +me here, but Eulalie had not arrived; she was +later than usual. I began to wonder how this +could have happened. My poor little Puck +went to meet her, but he returned to me again +without her. At length he began to bark violently, +and to jump so impatiently up and down +on the bench, that I felt sure she must be near +me, though I could not hear her myself. I +stretched myself forward in the direction she +would come, and presently my arms were clasped +in hers. M. Robert had not accompanied her +as usual, and then I began at once to feel sure +that his absence, and Eulalie's delay in reaching +our accustomed place of rendezvous, was to +be attributed to the presence of strangers at the +Chateau. You will think it very extraordinary +when I tell you that Eulalie's arrival, for which +I had so ardently longed, filled me with a restless +sensation, which had hitherto been unknown +to me. I was not at ease with Eulalie +as I had been the day before. Now that we +belonged to each other, I did not dare to make +any claim on her kindness; it seemed to me +that her father, in bestowing her on me had +imposed a thousand restrictions; I felt as if I +might not indulge in a word or caress; I was +conscious that she was more than ever mine, +and yet I did not venture to embrace her. Perhaps +she experienced the same feelings, for our +conversation was at first restrained, like that +of persons who are not much acquainted with +each other; however, this state of things could +not last long, the delicious happiness of the +past day was still fresh in our minds. I drew +near to Eulalie, and sought her eyes with my +lips, but they met a bandage.</p> + +<p>"'You are hurt, Eulalie?'</p> + +<p>"'A little hurt,' replied she, 'but very +slightly, since I am going to spend the day +with you, as I am in the habit of doing; and +that the only difference is, that there is a green +ribbon between your mouth and my eyes.'</p> + +<p>"'Green! green! Oh, God! what does that +mean? What is a green ribbon?'</p> + +<p>"'I have seen,' said she, 'I can see,' and +her hand trembled in mine, as if she had apprised +me of some fault or misfortune.</p> + +<p>"'You have seen,' exclaimed I, 'you will +see! Oh! unfortunate creature that I am! +Yes, you will see, and the glass which has +hitherto been to you a cold and polished surface, +will reflect your living image; its language, +though mute, will be animated; it will +tell you each day that you are beautiful! and +when you return to me it will make you entertain +only one feeling toward me, that of pity +for my misfortunes. Yet what do I say? you +will not return to me; for who is the beautiful +girl who would bestow her affection on a blind +lover? Oh! unfortunate creature that I am +to be blind;' in my despair I fell to the earth; +she wound her arms round me, twined her fingers +in my hair, and covered me with kisses, +while she sobbed like a child.</p> + +<p>"'No, no! I will never love any one but +Gervais. You were happy yesterday, in thinking +we were blind, because our love would +never be likely to change. I will be blind again, +if my recovery of sight makes you unhappy. +Shall I remove this bandage, and cause the +light of my eyes to be for ever extinguished? +Horrible idea, I had actually thought of it.'</p> + +<p>"'Stop, stop,' cried I, 'our language is that +of madness, because we are both unnerved and +ill—you from excess of happiness, and I from +despair. Listen,' and I placed myself beside +her, but my heart felt ready to break. 'Listen,' +continued I, 'it is a great blessing that +you are permitted to see, for now you are perfect; +it matters not, if I do not see, or if I die; +I shall be abandoned, for this is the destiny +which God has reserved for me; but promise +me that you will never see me, that you will +never attempt to see me; if you see me, you +will, in spite of yourself, compare me to others—to +those whose soul, whose thoughts may be +read in their eyes, to those who set a woman +fondly dreaming with a single glance of fire. +I would not let it be in your power to compare +me; I would be to you what I was in the mind +of a little blind girl, as if you saw me in a +dream. I want you to promise me that you +will never come here without your green bandage; +that you will visit me every week, or +every month, or at least once every year;—ah! +promise me to come back once more, without +seeing me.'</p> + +<p>"'I promise to love you always,' said Eulalie, +and she wept.</p> + +<p>"I was so overcome that my senses left me, +and I fell at her feet. M. Robert lifted me +from the ground, bestowed many kind words +and embraces upon me, and placed me under +the care of my adopted mother. Eulalie was +no longer there; she came the next day, and +the day after, and several days following, and +each day my lips touched the green bandage +which kept up my delusion; I fancied I should +continue to be the same to her as long as she +did not see me. I said to myself with an insane +kind of rapture, 'my Eulalie still visits +me without seeing me; she will never see me, +and therefore I shall be always loved by her.' +One day, a little while after this, when she +came to visit me, and my lips sought her eyes +as usual, they, in wandering about, encountered +some long, silky eye-lashes beneath her green +bandage.</p> + +<p>"'Ah!' exclaimed I, 'if you were likely to +see me.'</p> + +<p>"'I have seen you,' said she, laughingly; +'what would have been the good of sight to +me, if I had not looked upon you? Ah! vain +fellow, who dares set limits to a woman's curiosity, +whose eyes are suddenly opened to the light?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'But it is impossible, Eulalie, for you promised +me.'</p> + +<p>"'I did not promise you any thing, dearest, +for when you asked me to make you this promise, +I had already seen you.'</p> + +<p>"'You had seen me, and yet you continued +to come to me; that is well; but whom did +you see first?'</p> + +<p>"'M. Maunoir, my father, Julie, then this +great world, with its trees and mountains, the +sky and the sun.'</p> + +<p>"'And whom have you seen since?'</p> + +<p>"'Gabriel Payot, old Balmat, the good Terraz, +the giant Cachat, and Marguerite.'</p> + +<p>"'And nobody else?'</p> + +<p>"'Nobody.'</p> + +<p>"'How balmy the air is this evening! take off +your bandage, or you may become blind again?'</p> + +<p>"'Would that grieve me so much? I tell +you again and again, that the chief happiness +I have in seeing, is to be able to look at you, +and to love you through the medium of another +sense. You were pictured in my soul as you +now are in my eyes. This faculty, which has +been restored to me, serves but as another link +to bring me closer to your heart; and this is +why I value the gift of sight.'</p> + +<p>"These words I shall never forget. My days +now flowed on calmly and happily, for hope +so easily seduces; our mode of life was considerably +changed, and Eulalie endeavored to +make me prefer excitement and variety of amusement, +instead of the tranquil enjoyment which +had formerly charmed us. After some little +time I thought I observed that the books which +she selected for reading to me were of a different +character to those she used to like; she +seemed now to be more pleased with those +writers who painted the busy scenes of the +world, she unconsciously showed great interest +in the description of a fête, in the numerous +details of a woman's toilet, and in the preparations +for, and the pomps of a ceremony. At first +I did not imagine that she had forgotten that I +was blind, so that though this change chilled, it +did not break my heart. I attributed the alteration +in her taste, in some measure, to the new +aspect things had assumed at the Chateau; for +since M. Maunoir had performed one of the miracles +of his art upon Eulalie, M. Robert was +naturally much more inclined to enjoy society +and the luxuries which fortune had bestowed +upon him; and as soon as his daughter was restored +to him in all the perfection of her organization, +and the height of her beauty, he sought +to assemble, at the Chateau, the numerous +travelers that the short summer season brought +to the neighborhood.</p> + +<p>"The winter came at length, and M. Robert +told me, after slightly preparing me, that he +was going to leave me for a few days—for a +few days at the most—he assured me that he +only required time to procure and get settled in +a house at Geneva, before he would send for me +to join them; he told me that Eulalie was to +accompany him; and at length, that he intended +to pass the winter at Geneva; the winter +which would so soon be over, which had already +begun. I remained mute with grief. Eulalie +wound her arms affectionately round my neck. +I felt they were cold and hung heavily on me; +if my memory still serves me she bestowed on +me all kinds of endearing and touching appellations; +but all this was like a dream. After +some hours I was restored to my senses, and +then my mother said, 'Gervais, they are gone, +but we shall remain at the Chateau.' From +that time I have little or nothing to relate.</p> + +<p>"In the month of October she sent me a +ribbon with some words printed in relief, they +were these: 'This ribbon is the green ribbon +which I wore over my eyes—it has never left +me; I send it you.' In the month of November, +which was very beautiful, some servants of +the house brought me several presents from her +father, but I did not inquire about them. The +snow sets in in December, and, oh! heavens, +how long that winter was! January, February, +March, April, were centuries of calamities and +tempests. In the month of May the avalanches +fell every where except on me. When the sun +peeped forth a little, I was guided, by my wish, +to the road which led to Bossons, for this was +the way the muleteers came; at length, one +arrived, but with no news for me; and then +another, and after the third I gave up all hope +of hearing from my absent friends; I felt that +the crisis of my fate was over. Eight days +after, however, a letter from Eulalie was read +to me; she had spent the winter at Geneva, and +was going to pass the summer at Milan. My +poor mother trembled for me, but I smiled; it +was exactly what I expected. And now, sir, +you know my story, it is simply this, that I believed +myself loved by a woman, and I have +been loved by a dog. Poor Puck!" Puck +jumped on the blind man.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said he, "You are not my Puck, but +I love you because you love me."</p> + +<p>"Poor fellow," cried I, "you will be loved +by another, though not by her, and you will +love in return; but listen, Gervais, I must leave +Chamouny, and I shall go to Milan. I will see +her. I will speak to Eulalie, I swear to you, +and then I will return to you. I, too, have +some sorrows which are not assuaged; some +wounds which are not yet healed." Gervais +sought for my hand, and pressed it fervently. +Sympathy in misfortune is so quickly felt. +"You will, at least, be comfortably provided +for; thanks to the care of your protector, your +little portion of land has become very fruitful, +and the good Chamouniers rejoice in your prosperity. +Your prepossessing appearance will +soon gain you a mistress, and will enable you +to find a friend."</p> + +<p>"And a dog?" replied Gervais.</p> + +<p>"Ah! I would not give mine for your valley +or mountains if he had not loved you, but now +I give him to you."</p> + +<p>"Your dog!" exclaimed he. "Your dog +ah! he can not be given away."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Adieu, Gervais!"</p> + +<p>I did not speak to Puck, or he would have +followed me; as I was moving on I saw Puck +looked uneasy and ashamed; he drew back a +step, stretched out his paws, and bent down his +head to the ground. I stroked his long silky +coat, and with a slight pang at my heart, in +which there was no feeling of anger, I said, so. +He flew back to Gervais like an arrow. Gervais +will not be alone at any rate, thought I.</p> + +<p>A few days afterward I found myself at +Milan. I was not in spirits for enjoying society, +yet I did not altogether avoid mixing in it; a +crowded room is, in its way, a vast solitude, +unless you are so unfortunate a person as to +stumble upon one of those never-tiring tourists +whom you are in the habit of meeting occasionally +on the Boulevards, at Tortoni's, or with +whom you have gaped away an hour at Favert's, +one of those dressed-up puppies with fashionable +cravat and perfumed hair, who stare through +an eye-glass, with the most perfect assurance +imaginable, and talk at the highest pitch of +their voice.</p> + +<p>"What! are you here?" cried Roberville.</p> + +<p>"Is it you?" replied I. He continued to +chatter, but his words were unheeded by me, +for my eyes suddenly fixed upon a young girl +of extraordinary beauty; she was sitting alone, +and leaning against a pillar in a kind of melancholy +reverie.</p> + +<p>"Ah! ah!" said Roberville, "I understand; +your taste lies in that direction. Well, well, +really in my opinion you show considerable +judgment. I once thought of her myself, but +now I have higher views."</p> + +<p>"Indeed," replied I, as I gazed at him from +head to foot, "you do not say so."</p> + +<p>"Come, come," said Roberville, "I perceive +your heart is already touched, you are occupied +only with her; confess that it would have been +a sad pity if those glorious black eyes had never +been opened to the light."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"What do I mean? why, that she was born +blind. She is the daughter of a rich merchant +of Anvers, and his only child; he lost his wife +very young, and was plunged in consequence in +the profoundest grief."</p> + +<p>"Do you believe it?"</p> + +<p>"I should think so, for he quitted Anvers, +gave up his mercantile pursuits, which had never +been more profitable to him than at that time, +and, after making magnificent presents to those +persons employed in his service, and pensions to +his servants, left his house and occupation."</p> + +<p>"And what became of him afterward?" said +I, somewhat impatiently, for my curiosity was +gradually increasing.</p> + +<p>"Oh! it's a romance, a perfect romance. +This good man retired to Chamouny, where we +have all been once in our life, for the sake of +saying that we have been, though, for my part, +I can never understand the charms of its melancholy +grandeur, and there he remained several +years. Have you never heard him mentioned? +let me see, it's a plebeian name—M. Robert, +that's it."</p> + +<p>"Well?" said I.</p> + +<p>"Well," continued he, "an occulist succeeded +in restoring his daughter's sight. Her +father took her to Geneva, and at Geneva she +fell in love with an adventurer, who carried her +off because her father would not have him for a +son-in-law."</p> + +<p>"Her father felt that he was unworthy of +her," said I.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and he had formed a correct opinion +of him, for no sooner had they reached Milan +than the adventurer disappeared, with all the +gold and diamonds of which he had been able +to possess himself; it was asserted that this +gallant gentleman was already married, and +that he had incurred capital punishment at +Padua, so that the law punished him."</p> + +<p>"And M. Robert?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, M. Robert died of grief; but this affair +did not create a great sensation, for he was a +very singular man, who had some extraordinary +ideas; one of the absurd plans he had formed +was, to marry his daughter to a blind youth."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the poor girl!"</p> + +<p>"She is not so much to be pitied either, but +look at her instead of talking of her, and confess +that she has many advantages, with two +hundred thousand francs a year, and such a +pair of eyes!"</p> + +<p>"Eyes, eyes, curses rest upon her eyes, for +they have been her ruin!" There is a leaven +of cruelty in my composition, and I like to make +those, who have caused others suffering, suffer +in their turn. I fixed one of those piercing +looks upon Eulalie, which, when they do not +flatter a woman, make her heart sink within +her; she raised herself from the pillar, against +which she was leaning, and stood motionless +and tremblingly before me. I went up to her +slowly, and whispered Gervais.</p> + +<p>"Who?"</p> + +<p>"Gervais."</p> + +<p>"Ah, Gervais," replied she, while she placed +her hand before her eyes.</p> + +<p>The scene was so singular that it would have +shaken the nerves of the most composed person, +for my appearance there was altogether so sudden, +my acquaintance with her history so extraordinary.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Gervais," exclaimed I, vehemently +seizing her at the same time by the arm, "what +have you done to him?" She sank to the ground +in a swoon. I never heard any more of her +from that memorable night.</p> + +<p>I entered Savoy by Mount St. Bernard, and +again found myself once more in the valley of +Chamouny. Again I sought the rock where +Gervais was accustomed to sit, but though it +was his usual hour for sitting there, he was not +to be seen. I came up to the old spot, and +discovered his stick of Cytisus, and perceiving +that it was ornamented with a piece of green +ribbon, on which were some words printed in +relief, the circumstance of his leaving this behind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +him made me feel very uneasy. I called +Gervais, loudly; a voice repeated Gervais; it +seemed to me like an echo; I turned round; and +beheld Marguerite, leading a dog by a chain. +They stopped, and I recognized Puck, though +he did not know me, for he seemed occupied by +some idea; he sniffed his nose in the air, raised +his ears, and stretched forth his paws, as if he +was going to start off.</p> + +<p>"Alas, sir," said Marguerite, "have you met +with Gervais?"</p> + +<p>"Gervais," replied I, "where is he?" Puck +looked at me as if he had understood what I +had said, he stretched himself toward me, as +far as his chain would permit; I stroked him +with my hand, the poor thing licked my fingers +and then remained still.</p> + +<p>"I remember now, sir, that it was you who +gave him this dog to console him for one which +he had lost, a little while before you came +here; this poor animal had not been eight days +in the valley before he lost his sight like his +master."</p> + +<p>"I lifted up Puck's silky head, and discovered +that he was indeed blind. Puck licked my hand, +and then howled.</p> + +<p>"It was because he was blind," said Marguerite, +"that Gervais would not take him with +him yesterday."</p> + +<p>"Yesterday, Marguerite! what, has he not +been home since yesterday?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, sir, that is exactly what astonishes us +all so much. Only think on Sunday, in the +midst of a tremendous storm, a gentleman came +to the Valley; I could have declared he was an +English milord; he wore a straw hat, covered +with ribbons."</p> + +<p>"Well, but what has all this to do with Gervais?"</p> + +<p>"While I was running to fetch some fagots +to make a fire for drying M. Roberville's clothes, +he remained with Gervais. M. de Roberville! +yes, that was his name. I do not know what +he said, but yesterday Gervais was so melancholy; +he, however, seemed more anxious than +ever to go to the rock; indeed he was in such a +hurry that I had scarcely time to throw his blue +cloak over his shoulders; and I think I told you +that the evening before was very cold and +damp. 'Mother,' said he, as we went along, +'be so kind as to prevent Puck from following +me, and take charge of him; his restlessness +inconveniences me sometimes, and if he should +pull his chain out of my hand, we should not be +able to find each other again perhaps.'"</p> + +<p>"Alas, Gervais!" cried I, "my poor Gervais!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Gervais! Gervais, my son! my little +Gervais!" sobbed the poor woman.</p> + +<p>Puck gnawed his chain, and jumped impatiently +about us.</p> + +<p>"If you were to set Puck at liberty, perhaps +he might find Gervais," said I.</p> + +<p>The chain was unfastened, and before I had +time to see that Puck was free, he had darted +off, and the next moment I heard the sound of +a body falling into the depths of the Arveyron. +"Puck! Puck!" shouted I; but when I reached +the spot, the little dog had disappeared, and all +that could be seen was a blue mantle floating +on the surface of the waters.</p> + + +<p><a name="Daughter" id="Daughter"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE DAUGHTER OF BLOOD—A TALE OF SPANISH LIFE.</h2> + + +<p>At Aranjuez, some twenty years ago, there +lived a youth of the poorer class, whose +good nature and industry were the proverb of +the village. His name was Julio. His disposition +was naturally indolent, morally I mean +rather than physically; and although he was +by no means deficient in understanding, he +allowed himself to be guided by any person +who, for any purpose, thought fit to undertake +the task. Julio delighted in doing a kindness +and, as his good-nature equalled his ductility, he +granted every request, whether it lay in his +power or not. No one was more ready to play +at the village dance than Julio; and though he +loved to dance himself, he never thought of indulging +in this predilection until his companions, +knowing his weakness, insisted on his allowing +some one else to take the guitar. It was to +him always that damsels resorted who had +quarreled with their sweethearts, or youths who +had fallen under the displeasure of their Chloe; +for, on behalf of the first, he was best able to +soften jealousy and extort promises of future +amendment, and for the latter, he would smooth +matters by appropriate words, nay, often by a +small gift purchased by a sacrifice of part of his +own scanty store, and presented as though from +the culprit. Great were this charming young +man's accomplishments; and not only were his +companions, but the higher class of inhabitants, +grieved when his facile disposition brought him +into any scrape. It had always been supposed +that Julio was attached to a young girl, with +whom he had been brought up. His patrimonial +cottage adjoined to that of her parents, +and he had ever seemed to court her society +more than that of his other fair acquaintances. +As for her, she adored him. She was much of +the same disposition as himself, and undecided; +but in her love for him, she had come out of +herself; she would have followed him to the +scaffold, and would infinitely have preferred a +disagreeable death in his society, than the most +agreeable life without him. As yet he had +scarcely sufficiently reciprocated her attachment; +he liked her society; he perhaps did not object +to her devotion! nay, he wished to marry her; +but she had not inspired him with the same +absorbing love she herself felt; she had not +sufficient command over him to draw forth his +passion in its full tide; and while that passion +was accumulating, pent up for some event, she +was content with his simmering affection. Her +name was Faustina.</p> + +<p>But his love was soon to be proved, and poor +Faustina's heart was to be sorely tried. While +she confidingly looked up to him who was +virtually her betrothed, she little thought how<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +slight was the bond that attached him to her. +She knew his love did not reach one tithe of +that she would have wished, but she thought it +infinitely more than what it eventually appeared.</p> + +<p>An Italian family from Madrid came to reside +during the spring months at Aranjuez. In +their retinue came Ursula, an Italian <i>femme-de-chambre</i>, +a woman whose name is never uttered +in the <i>pueblo</i> but with a curse.</p> + +<p>She was older than Julio, who became acquainted +with her while employed in the house +in his trade as carpenter; but as she saw his +pliable disposition, and perhaps his nascent +passion, her experience and acuteness taught +her to turn them to account; and in a short +time she obtained such an ascendency over him, +that he became a perfect plaything in her +hands. He ruined himself in purchasing presents +for the artful woman; he furnished her +with all she required; he gave her money; in +fact, had she requested his life, it would not +have been considered an exorbitant demand. +Ursula was handsome, tall, dark, and fierce-looking +flashing eyes she had, with heavy +arched brows; and considering these advantages, +folks wondered that she would condescend +to turn her ideas so humbly; but after +inquiries showed that in her own land, and in +Madrid, her conduct had been so very profligate, +that all was now fish that came to her net, and +that, to obtain the consummation of the wishes +of every woman, a husband and independence, +she must stoop far below what must have been +her original expectations.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile poor Faustina wept and prayed, +now scorned by Julio, but pitied by the little +world in which she had lived. She wept and +prayed, but tears seemed to afford no relief to +the maiden in her anguish, and prayers appeared +to have lost their efficacy: they brought +no success, nay, worse, no comfort. Still Julio +pursued his headlong career, heedless of the +past, the present, or the future. It was dreadful +to see the change in him: he seemed as one +possessed. The reckless passion that had been +roused by the wily Italian, burst all bounds, +knew no restraint, no path; it was like a torrent +that has been for some time dammed up, which, +when set free, acknowledges no demarkation, no +rule of banks or bed, but tears forward, involving +in its impetuous rage the verdure and bloom +that are around it.</p> + +<p>Such was the state of affairs that occupied +the attention of all the Aranjovites, when one +morning Ursula the Italian disappeared. Julio +was at work when the fact was communicated +to him, which being done, he fell to the ground, +as though the intelligence had struck him dead; +and when he recovered from the swoon, he +raved, frantic. He wandered to Madrid, but +could discover no intelligence of her; he visited +all the neighboring towns, he inquired of the +police, but no trace of the woman could be +found, till at last the reaction of his spirits, +after the tense excitement, the grief, the balked +passion, seemed to have prostrated his senses; +he walked as a spectre, taking heed of no +passer-by, callous to all changes, careless of remark +and of appearance, a noonday ghoul preying +on his own misery. But now the prayers +of the poor girl who loved him so fondly seemed +to her to have been granted. She had not besought +a return of his former lukewarm regard, +only an opportunity of proving her own devotion; +and in his dull apathy she indeed proved +herself a loving woman. She followed him in +his walks, she arranged his cottage, sang to +him the songs she thought he best loved; nay, +to cheer him, would endeavor to repeat the airs +she had at times heard from the lips of her +Italian rival, though the attempt was but a +self-inflicted wound; and in the heat of the +day, she would take him often her own share of +the domestic meal, or placing his unconscious +head on her bosom, would tend him like a child, +as he lay half sleeping, half senseless.</p> + +<p>Her constancy received a qualified reward—Count ——, +an officer having the chief authority +in the royal demesnes, hearing the story, offered +to Julio a good appointment in the gardens, +with the proviso that he should espouse Faustina. +To this Julio yielded without a sigh; +poverty was beginning to make itself felt, and +having resigned all hope of happiness he did not +anticipate increased misery. His marriage did +not alter his late mode of life. Listless and +stupid he wandered about the gardens, inspecting, +with an uninterested eye, the workmen +over whom he had been placed, and he would +soon have lost his appointment had it not been +for his wife, who, "tender and true," in addition +to her household duties, executed those +which had been committed to his charge, slaving +night and day for him she loved, careless of +suffering and of labor, her only object to win +his approbation, and some, however slight, +token of returned affection: but she labored in +vain; Julio did not see, or affected not to see, +these exertions; he would enter the house or +leave it, without uttering a syllable, while his +wife continued her thankless office, rewarded +only by her conscience. And how disheartening +a task it is to practice self-denial unappreciated, +to resign all for one who deigns not even +to bestow a word of kind approval. But thus +Faustina lived her life—one uninterrupted self-sacrifice. +Alas! how often are such lives passed +by women in every rank of life! How little +can a stranger tell the heroism that occurs beneath +the roofs of the noble or on the cold hearth +of the beggar; at odd times, at sudden epochs, +the world may hear of deeds practiced, that, of +old, would have deified the performer; but often, +how often, will noble acts, such as these, receive +a thankless return; years passed as this, +acknowledged only when too late; their premium +in life, perchance, may be harsh words or +curses, or transitory tears may moisten the +grave when the gentle spirit passes from its +earthly frame. These observations may be just, +but they are somewhat trite.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p> + +<p>Thus they lived for five years, one pretty +little girl being the only fruit of this union; a +child who, in her earliest days, was taught to +suffer, and who partook her mother's disposition, +nay, even her mother's character, as it +appeared, tempered by the grief of womanhood; +when one day, to the horror and disgust of the +township, Ursula, the <i>teterrima causa</i>, reappeared +at Aranjuez. She was grown much older in +appearance—years and evident care had worn +furrows in her cheeks; but the flashing eye of +sin was not yet dimmed, her head not bent, nor +the determination that had of old gained such +a baneful influence on the mind of Julio. One +morning Faustina, leaving her house, beheld her +husband in conversation with her rival. That day +had sealed her doom. Morning, noon, and night, +Julio was at the side of Ursula, as before, obeying +her slightest command, groveling at her feet, +like a slave; his ancient energy of passion had +returned, but only to brutalize his nature; instead +of cold looks to his wife, he now treated +her with blows at the rare interviews he held +with her; the cold apathy was changed into +deep hate, and though no direct act of violence +caused her death, the shock, the harshness, +added to neglect, soon broke her heart. Poor +Faustina died, blessing with her latest breath, +the being who had by his cruelty killed her, and +deprecating even remorse to visit him, she left +the world, in which she had loved in vain.</p> + +<p>At her death, Julio found himself comparatively +wealthy—wealthy by her exertion; and +ere another moon shone over his roof, his bride, +the dark Italian, beat his child on the spot +where the mother had so lately died.</p> + +<p>Dark rumors soon spread over the village, a +scowling Italian, given out by Ursula as her +brother, came and took up his abode in her +newly-acquired house; curious neighbors whispered +tales how, peeping in at night, they had +beheld the three deal heavy blows to poor Faustina's +daughter; screams often were heard +from the desecrated habitation, and the child +was never seen to leave the house. Julio had +recovered, to a certain extent, the use of his +faculties, and was enabled now himself to attend +to his affairs, but his subordinates soon +felt the loss of Faustina's mild rule, and with +the discrimination of the Spanish peasantry, +attributed their sufferings, not to the miserable +tool, but to the fiend-hearted woman.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Julio was walking in the garden alone, during +the time usually devoted to the mid-day +sleep; his underlings were reclining beneath +the shade of the trees; and, at last, overcome +by the heat, he himself gave way to slumber; +his dreams were troubled, but were not of long +duration; for he had not long laid himself on the +sward, when he felt himself rudely shaken, and, +awaking, discovered an officer of justice standing +near him, who desired his society. The alguazil +led him to his own abode, and, on reaching +it, what did he behold? His wife, who was +then with child, pinioned, between two villagers +acting for the nonce as constables, one of whom +held in his hand a bloody <i>navaja</i>; the brother(!), +also pinioned, standing near her; and on +the ground, surrounded by a knot of peasants, +glad at the vengeance that was to overtake the +guilty pair, he saw the child of Faustina, decapitated, +dismembered, discovered thus on the +floor of the cottage, ere the murderous couple +had been enabled to conceal the mangled remains. +A workman, a near relation of Julio's +first wife, who had, by chance, heard a suppressed +scream in passing, hastily summoning +assistance, had arrived in time only to apprehend +the assassins, the shedders of innocent +blood. There was no flaw in the evidence, and, +ere long, Ursula and her paramour, for such was +the true relative position in which she stood +with the stranger, were sentenced to the doom +they so richly deserved. I have not, however, +ended, my narrative, but I will endeavor to curtail +the rest of my history, to me the strangest +part of it. Julio was not disenchanted; by extraordinary +exertions to save the mother of a +child, shrewdly suspected not to be his own, he +prevailed on his patron, Count ——, to procure +the commutation of his wife's sentence to a +term of imprisonment; and though the murderer +forfeited his life, the murderess escaped after +some years' incarceration, having given birth +to a child shortly after her trial, who, innocent, +bore on her brow the mark of the instrument of +her mother's crime; and, can it be credited!—Julio +took the woman to his home, his love +unabated, his subserviency undiminished!</p> + +<p>They now live in Aranjuez, and the child is +left to wander about unnoticed, except with +punishment; my kind-hearted landlady alone +feeds the poor creature, whom all others shun: +and even she feels uncomfortable in the presence +of one born under such auspices. Her fellow-townsfolk, +as they pass the scene of virtue +and of crime, bless the memory of Faustina, +and curse the life of Ursula, praying for the +peace of the first one and of her child; and, +while execrating the latter, refuse shelter or +relief to her innocent offspring, who, in the +universal spirit of poetry that reigns in Spain, is +known far and near, and pointed to the stranger +as <i>La Hija de Sangre</i>, the Daughter of Blood.</p> + + +<p><a name="Execution" id="Execution"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE EXECUTION OF FIESCHI, MOREY, AND PEPIN.</h2> + + +<p>About one o'clock on a cold winter night in +1835, a party of four persons were seated +in the coffee-room of the Hôtel Meurice, at Paris. +It was chilly, sloppy, miserable weather; half-melted +snow, mixed with the Paris mud, and a +driving, sleety rain hissed against the ill-fitting +windows.</p> + +<p>Our four convives were drinking—not the +wines of sunny France, but something much +more appropriate and homely—a curiously-fine +sample of gin, artfully compounded into toddy, +by Achille, the waiter.</p> + +<p>When the clock struck one, three of the party +made a show of retiring; but the fourth, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +punchy gentleman from Wolverhampton, entreated +that the rest would not all desert him +while he discussed one glass more—nay, perhaps, +would join him! But here Achille was +inexorable: the master was in bed, and had +taken the keys.</p> + +<p>Our four friends have taken their candles, and +are moving from the room, when a cab drives +rapidly to the door—there is a smart ring at +the bell, and a gentleman in full evening dress, +and enveloped in a Spanish cloak, hastily enters +the room.</p> + +<p>"Who is inclined to see Fieschi's head chopped +off?" said the stranger, unfolding himself +from the cloak. "The execution is to take +place at daylight—I had it from a peer of +France, and the guillotine has been sent off an +hour ago."</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>Our informant could not tell. It was known +only to the police—there was an apprehension +of some attempt at a rescue, and ten thousand +troops were to be on the ground. It will be +either the Place St. Jaques, or the Barrière du +Trône—the first, most likely; let us try that to +begin with, and there will be plenty of time to +go on to the other afterward: but we must be +early, to get a good place.</p> + +<p>We are not of those who make a practice of +attending executions with a morbid appetite for +such horrors. Under any circumstances, the +deliberate cutting off a life is a melancholy spectacle. +The mortal agony, unrelieved by excitement, +is painful in the extreme to witness, but +worse still is reckless bravado. Rarest of all +is it to see the inevitable fate met with calm +dignity. Here, however, was a miscreant, +who, to gratify a political feeling—dignified, +in his opinion, with the name of patriotism—deliberately +fired the contents of a battery +of gun-barrels into a mass of innocent persons, +many of whom, it was quite certain, would be +killed, for the chance of striking down one man, +and, probably, some of his family. That this +family, with their illustrious father, should have +escaped altogether, is an instance of good fortune +as remarkable as the attempt was flagitious. +But the magnitude of the crime invested +the perpetrators with a terrible interest, which +overcame any lingering scruples, and the whole +party decided upon setting out forthwith. We +made for the nearest coach-stand, which was +that upon the quay, near the Pont Neuf.</p> + +<p>In something more than half an hour, we +jingled into the Place St. Jaques, and, pausing +at the corner, had the satisfaction to hear the +sounds of hammers busily plied upon a dark +mass rising in the centre of the square—it was +the platform upon which to erect the guillotine. +On all sides of this, workmen were busily engaged, +their labor quickened by the exhortations +of one who walked about, lantern in hand, upon +the top. This was the executioner, who, seen +by the light he carried, bore a remarkable resemblance +to the great English comedian, the +late Mr. Liston. There was the same square +form of the countenance, the small nose, the +long upper lip, the mirth-provoking gravity, and +the same rich, husky chuckle. This curious +likeness was at once acknowledged by all present, +and an Englishman took the liberty of interrupting +the grave functionary with the information +that he was the very image of <i>le plus +grand farceur que nous avons en Angleterre</i>, a +piece of information which the French scion of +the House of Ketch received, after the manner +of Frenchmen, as a high compliment, being +moved to bow and chuckle much thereat.</p> + +<p>By this time, the hammering had roused the +dwellers in the place, and lights were seen +rapidly moving about the windows. A café-keeper +had opened his saloon, arranged his little +tables, and was bustling about with his +waiters attending to the wants of the guests +already assembled. An execution is a godsend +to the Place St. Jaques at any time, but the +execution of three great state criminals, such +as these, would go far to pay the year's rent of +the houses. As cabs and <i>fiacres</i> began to arrive, +we thought it necessary to make arrangement +for securing a room from whence to see +the execution, and chance conducted us to the +corner house, one side of which looked upon the +square, directly opposite the guillotine, from +which it was scarcely fifty yards distance; and +the other side fronted the road by which the +prisoners were to be conveyed from their prison +to the scaffold.</p> + +<p>We found the situation well adapted for our +purpose, though only one window looked into +the square, the two others were easily made to +command a view of the scaffold, which was +nearly in a line with that side of the house. +Our host had also with much propriety made +the bed, set the furniture to rights, raked up the +ashes of the wood-fire, and put on another block +or two; and the fact of meeting with an open +fire-place instead of the eternal stove, made us +feel at home at once. The Wolverhampton +man declared that it was dangerous to British +lungs to be out in these raw mornings in a +foreign country without something warm to +qualify the air; so a bottle of brandy was sent +for to the neighboring <i>café</i>, and our hostess had +busied herself in producing hot water and tumblers, +as if, through the frequenters of executions, +she had arrived at considerable knowledge of +the national tastes. Our ancient host, being +accommodated with a cigar, narrated the particulars +of the many beheadings which had +fallen under his observation since his occupancy +of the house. One may be mentioned as exhibiting +a rare instance of irresistible curiosity. +The man had been guilty of an atrocious murder, +either of a wife or some near relative, and +when his neck was placed under the ax, he +contrived to slue himself partly round to see its +descent, and had a part of his chin taken off in +consequence.</p> + +<p>About two hours before day-light a body of +mounted municipal guards arrived, and formed +round the scaffold. The object of this appeared<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +to be to hide the proceedings as much as possible +from those on foot, who could only hope for +a very imperfect view between the bodies and +the bear-skins of these troops. Soon after the +municipal guard the infantry of the line began +to arrive, and were formed in a circle four deep +outside the municipals, and nearly as far back +as the houses of the Place. A considerable +crowd had also collected, though extremely +orderly and good-humored; in fact, to see the +general hilarity, and listen to the bursts of loud +laughter, it would seem to be regarded in the +light of <i>fête</i>. There was certainly no appearance +of sympathy with the criminals. Finding +the municipals so materially interfered with the +show, the people soon began to occupy the trees +and lamp-posts, the adjacent walls, and the +roofs of the neighboring houses; while the infantry, +having piled arms, waltzed and danced +to keep themselves warm.</p> + +<p>Soon after daylight the hammering ceased, +and the preparations appeared to be completed; +and shortly afterward strong bodies of cavalry +began to take up their positions in all the streets +leading into the Place. The first care of the +officer commanding these was to clear the square +entirely of all the people who had collected in +rear of the infantry, and to drive them out along +the adjacent streets; an order was also given +to dislodge the people out of the trees, and from +the walls and lamp-posts, and this caused much +grumbling and swearing of all concerned. Some +merriment, however, was excited by the discovery +of some women in the trees, and their +descent, superintended by the dragoons below, +gave occasion for the exercise of much not over +decent wit among the troopers. It struck me +that in their manner of dealing with the crowd +there was much unnecessary harshness on the +part of the troops, an irritability and fretfulness +often exhibited by persons doubtful of their own +authority, and very unlike the calm, good-humored +superiority with which our own men +are wont to handle the masses.</p> + +<p>Presently came two general officers with their +staff, and each followed by a mounted "jockey," +lads dressed as English grooms, of whom one, +as well by his fair complexion and honest round +face, the whiteness of his tops and leathers, and +the general superiority of his turn-out, as by his +firm and easy seat on horseback, was evidently +a native of our own country.</p> + +<p>About an hour after sun-rise three caleches +came rapidly down the road, passing our windows, +each carriage containing three persons, +the condemned, and two police officers. The +troops opened out, and the men were landed at +the foot of the platform. It may be well to describe +the general appearance of the scaffold.</p> + +<p>On a platform about twelve feet square, and +seven feet above the ground, are erected the +two upright posts, between which is suspended +the ax. They somewhat resemble a narrow +gallows, scarcely more than a foot between the +posts. The ax, which is not unlike a hay-knife, +though much heavier and broader, is +drawn up to the top of the posts, between which +it runs in grooves, and is held suspended by a +loop in the halyards, passed over a button at the +bottom. The edge of the ax, as it hangs suspended, +is not horizontal, or at a right angle +with the post, but diagonal, giving the instrument +a fearful power, in conjunction with its +weight and long fall, of shearing through a resisting +substance of many times more opposing +force than a human neck. On the centre of the +platform stands a frame, or large box, much resembling +a soldier's arm-chest, about six feet +long by two and a half wide, and probably as +much high. One end of this abuts upon the +upright posts, at the other end is a small frame +like a truck, connected about its centre with the +chest by hinges, and with a strap and buckle, +to make it fast to the man's body.</p> + +<p>The prisoners having dismounted, were placed +in a line on the ground facing the guillotine, +their arms pinioned. They were very different +in appearance. Fieschi had a most sinister and +ferocious expression of face, rendered more so +by the scars, scarcely healed apparently, inflicted +by the bursting of his gun-barrels. He was +plainly dressed, and appeared like a workman +of the better class; his age about thirty-five. +Morey was a man advanced in life, perhaps +seventy; his bald head was partly covered with +a black cap revealing the white hairs behind, +and at the sides: he was a corpulent large +figure, dressed completely in black, with a mild +intelligent face, and altogether a very gentlemanly +air and manner. Pepin was a small, +thin-faced, insignificant man.</p> + +<p>Pepin was chosen first for execution. Having +been deprived of his coat and neck-handkerchief, +and the collar of his shirt turned down, he was +led by the executioner up the steps of the platform. +He ascended with an air of considerable +bravado, shook himself, and looked round with +much confidence, and spoke some words which +we could not catch, and which the executioner +appeared disposed to cut short. Having advanced +with his breast against the truck, to +which his body was rapidly strapped, he was +then tilted down, truck and all, upon his face; +and the truck moving upon small wheels or +castors in grooves upon the chest, he was moved +rapidly forward, till his neck came directly under +the chopper, when the rope being unhooked from +the button, the ax fell with a loud and awful +"chop!" the head rolling down upon the bare +platform. After the separation of the head, the +body moved with much convulsive energy, and +had it not been made fast to what I have called +the truck, and that also connected with the +raised platform, would probably have rolled +down on the lower stage. The executioner then +held up the head to view for a moment, and I +suspect, from some laughter among the troops, +made a facetious remark. The lid of a large +basket alongside the chest was then raised, and +the body rolled into it.</p> + +<p>Morey was the next victim. He ascended +the steps feebly, and requiring much assistance;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +he was also supported during the process of +strapping him. His bald head and venerable +appearance made a favorable impression upon +the spectators, and elicited the only expressions +of sympathy observable throughout the +executions.</p> + +<p>Fieschi came last, and was the most unnerved +of the three. He appeared throughout in a +fainting condition, and hung his head in a +pitiable state of prostration. Very little consideration +was shown him, or rather he was +pushed and thrust about in a way which was +indecent, if not disgusting, whatever might +have been his crimes. Some little difficulty occurred +in placing his head conveniently under +the ax, from a recoiling motion of the prisoner. +He was certainly the least brave of the three. +The executioner having rolled his body into the +larger basket with the others, took up that containing +the three heads, which having emptied +upon the bodies, he gave the bottom of the +basket a jocular tap, which, being accompanied +with a lifting of his foot behind, and probably +some funny and seasonable observation, created +a good deal of merriment among the spectators.</p> + +<p>The guillotine is apparently the most merciful, +but certainly the most terrible to witness, of +any form of execution in civilized Europe. The +fatal chop, the raw neck, the spouting blood, +are very shocking to the feelings, and demoralizing; +as such exhibitions can not fail to generate +a spirit of ferocity and a love of bloodshed +among those who witness them. It was not +uncommon at this period in Paris to execute +sheep and calves with the guillotine; and +fathers of families would pay a small sum to +obtain such a gratifying show for their children. +In such a taste may we not trace the old leaven +of the first Revolution, and the germ of future +ones?</p> + +<p>The fate of poor Dr. Guillotin was a singular +one. He lived to see the machine which he +had invented, from feelings of pure philanthropy, +made the instrument of the most horrible +butcheries, the aptness of the invention notoriously +increasing the number of the victims who +fell by it; and he died in extreme old age, with +the bitter reflection that his name would be +handed down to posterity, in connection with +the most detestable ferocities which have ever +stained the annals of mankind.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>PERSONAL HABITS AND CHARACTER OF THE WALPOLES.</h2> + +<h3>BY ELIOT WARBURTON.</h3> + + +<p>We are not disposed to consider the elder +Horace Walpole a great statesman, or +claim for him the consideration accorded to his +mere celebrated brother; but he was superior +in talent to many of his contemporaries who +attained a much higher eminence; and his +honesty and zeal would have rendered creditable +a much less amount of political accomplishments +than he could boast of. Measured +with the diplomatists of a more modern period, +Lord Walpole will probably fall below par; but +he had no genius for that fine subtlety which +is now expected to pervade every important +negotiation, and knew nothing of that scientific +game of words, in which diplomatists of the +new school are so eager to distinguish themselves.</p> + +<p>In appearance he was more fitted to appear +as a republican representative, than as an embassador +from a powerful sovereign to the most +polished court in Europe; his manners were so +unpolished, his form so inelegant, and his address +so unrefined. He rendered valuable support +to the English monarchy, and won the +confidence of the shrewd and calculating Queen +Caroline, as well as the esteem of the sagacious +and prudent States-general. A trustworthy +authority has styled him "a great master of +the commercial and political interests of this +country," and accorded him the merits of unwearied +zeal, industry, and capacity. With +such advantages, he might well confess, without +much regret, that he had never learned to +dance, and could not pride himself on making +a bow.</p> + +<p>Though blunt and unpolished, he was extremely +agreeable in conversation; abounding +in pleasant anecdote, and entertaining reminiscences; +fond of society, affable to every one, +sumptuous in his hospitality, and not less estimable +in his domestic than in his social relations. +Though he wrote, and printed, and spoke lessons +of political wisdom, that met with the +fate of entire disregard, it is impossible not to +admire the unselfish zeal that would almost immediately +afterward induce him to write, print, +and speak similar instructive lessons, to the +same set of negligent scholars.</p> + +<p>There is a statement which having found its +way into such an authority as "Chandler's +Debates," has been incorporated in works pretending +to historical accuracy. On a debate +arising out of the Bill for the Encouragement +and increase of Seamen, in 1740, Pitt is represented +as attacking Mr. Horace Walpole for +having ventured on a reference to his youth. +The fact is, that these debates were imaginary +or constructed on a very slight foundation. Dr. +Johnson, as is well known, before he had obtained +his colossal reputation, drew up fictitious +reports of what took place in the House of +Commons.</p> + +<p>Mr. Walpole having in a discussion been +severely handled by Pitt, Lyttleton, and the +Granvilles, all of whom were much his juniors, +lamented that though he had been so long in +business, young men should be found so much +better informed in political matters than himself. +He added that he had at least one consolation +in remembering that his own son being +twenty years of age, must be as much the superior +of Pitt, Lyttleton, and the Granvilles, as +they were wiser than himself. Pitt having his +youth thus mercilessly flung in his face, got up +in a rage, commencing—"With the greatest +reverence to the gray hairs of the gentleman," +but was stopped by Mr. Walpole pulling off<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +his wig, and disclosing a grizzled poll beneath. +This excited very general laughter, in which +Pitt joined with such heartiness, as quite to +forget his anger.</p> + +<p>The younger Walpole always preserved a delicacy +of figure, approaching effeminacy: his +dress was simple: his manners studiously courteous: +but his features, though agreeable, were +not handsome; the most expressive portion +being his eyes, which, when animated in conversation, +flashed with intelligence. A close +observer has stated, that "his laugh was forced +and uncouth, and even his smile not the most +pleasing." This may, perhaps, be attributed +to the pain he habitually suffered, since the +age of twenty-five, from the gout, which in the +latter part of his life attacked his hands and +feet with great severity. During the last half +of his existence he was not only extremely +abstemious, but his habits indicated a constitution +that could brave alterations of temperature, +from which much stronger men would +shrink.</p> + +<p>His hour of rising was usually nine, and then, +preceded by his favorite little dog, which was +sure to be as plump as idleness and good feeding +could render it, he entered the breakfast-room. +The dog took his place beside him on +the sofa. From the silver tea-kettle, kept at +an even temperature by the lamp beneath, he +poured into a cup of the rarest Japan porcelain, +the beverage "that cheers, but not inebriates." +This was replenished two or three times, while +he broke his fast on the finest bread, and the +sweetest butter that could be obtained. He, at +the same time, fed his four-footed favorite, and +then, mixing a basin of bread and milk, he +opened the window, and threw it out to the +squirrels, who instantly sprang from bough to +bough in the neighboring trees, and then bounded +along the ground to their meal.</p> + +<p>At dinner, which was usually about four +o'clock, he ate moderately of the lightest food, +quenching his thirst from a decanter of water +that stood in an ice-pail under the table. Coffee +was served almost immediately, to which he +proceeded up stairs, as he dined in the small +parlor or large dining-room, according to the +number of his guests. He would take his seat +on the sofa, and amuse the company with a +current of lively gossip and scandal, relieved +with observations on books and art, in illustration +of objects brought from the library or any +other portion of the house—for the whole might +be regarded as a museum. His snuff-box, filled +from a canister of <i>tabac d'etrennes</i> from Fribourg's, +placed in a marble urn at one of the +windows to keep it moist, was handed round, +and he frequently enjoyed its pungent fragrance +till his guests had departed—this was rarely +till about two o'clock. If earlier, Walpole was +sure to be found with pen in hand, continuing +whatever work he might have in progress, or +communicating to some of his numerous friends +the news and gossip of the day.</p> + +<p>The whole of the forenoon, till dinner-time, +was often employed by him in attending upon +visitors, rambling about the grounds, or taking +excursions upon the river. He rarely wore a +hat, his throat was generally exposed, and he +was quite regardless of the dew, replying, to +the earnest solicitude of his friends, "My back +is the same with my face, and my neck is like +my nose."</p> + +<p>Sometimes of an evening he would go out to +pay a visit to his neighbor, Kitty Clive, and +then the hours passed by in a rivalry of anecdote +and pleasantry; for Kitty, like himself +had seen a great deal of the world, and was +full of its recollections.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>AN INCIDENT OF INDIAN LIFE.</h2> + + +<p>In the year 1848 I found myself traveling +through the Mysorean country of Seringapatam, +so familiar to every reader of Indian history, +for the rapid rise of that crafty but talented +Asiatic Hyder Ali.</p> + +<p>I had been reflecting as I passed through the +country on the warlike exploits and barbarous +cruelties by which it has been disfigured, and +on the short space of time in which, from the +first settlement by a few enterprising merchants +at Surat, in the year 1612, the English had, +either by force or diplomacy, possessed themselves +of the entire territory from Cape Comorin +to the Himalaya mountains; and, by an anomaly +of which history furnishes no parallel, +holding and enforcing their authority in great +measure by means of the very natives and +troops they have conquered, and who now lend +themselves to enslave their own country, and +rivet the shackles of bondage on their fatherland. +I asked myself the question—was the +time approaching when their fame, colonies, +and possessions would be among the things +that were? would they in process of development +be swept away before some nation not yet +cradled, or only in its infancy; or—proving an +exception to the whole experience of ages—would +they remain imperishably great and renowned +till the final dissolution of nature?</p> + +<p>Bewildered at last with these reflections, I +left my palanquin; and, walking forward, with +a Manton across my shoulder, accompanied by +a Coolie carrying a double-barreled rifle, was +soon busily engaged peering into the thick +grass and underwood that lay on each side of +the path, intent only on scattering destruction +among some innocent and tender little bipeds, +with the laudable design of furnishing some +trifling addition to natural history, and a distant +hope of perhaps securing a shot among a +herd of deer faintly discernible in the outline.</p> + +<p>In the incautious pursuit of a wild boar that +had crossed my path, I at length found myself +in the midst of a dense jungle—not the most +secure position in the world, with only a single +ebony gentleman at your side—for on the least +indication of danger, this representative of Lucifer +judiciously prefers present safety to future +reputation, and performs a retrograde movement +with undignified rapidity, leaving you alone to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> +apologize for your intrusion to a brute that can +not be persuaded to adopt polite manners, but +evinces an unmistakable desire to exhibit his +gratitude for your visit by a passionate and unceremonious +embrace. The tendency of long +ages of lost liberty and slavish superstition to produce +national degradation is forcibly exemplified +in the lower castes of the natives, who may +truthfully be said to have acquired all the vices +of their various conquerors, without any of their +redeeming qualities.</p> + +<p>To return:—tired at last with my exertions +and the intensity of the heat, I dispatched my +sable attendant in quest of that peculiar Indian +luxury, the palanquin; and looking round for +some sheltered spot to await its coming up, +perceived a wide-spreading banyan tree. Trusting +to its friendly shelter, I was soon stretched +beneath a canopy of densely-clustered foliage, +sufficient to exclude all direct rays of the solar +star; and, lighting one of my best Indian pipes, +resigned myself to what brother Jonathan terms +a "tarnation smoke."</p> + +<p>The scene before me was such as that which +Johnson in one of his rich and genial moods +would delight to portray—the image of beauty +reposing in the lap of sublimity was never more +aptly applied. The sun had attained its culminating +point, and was showering down its fervid +rays with a scorching influence; not a +breath stirred the forest air: all was hushed in +repose, and silent as the last breathings of the +departing soul—while a foreboding sensation +o'ershadowed the whole, as that beautiful couplet +in Campbell's "Lochiel" ominously crowded +on my memory,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Tis the sunset of life gives me mystical lore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And coming events cast their shadows before.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I could not account for the oppressive silence, +for often before I had reclined at the foot of +some forest giant, and experienced widely different +feelings; all here seemed indescribably grand +and ennobling. The various tribes of baboons, +monkeys, and apes, screeching, chattering and +grinning overhead, anon leaping from tree to +tree, luxuriating in all the enjoyment of freedom +and revelry; while the jay, the parrot, +the peacock, with minor and sweeter minstrels +in every splendid variety of tropical plumage, +might be seen soaring or darting amidst the +foliage of forest verdure, combined with the +beauty and number of parasitical plants and +wild flowers. Such a scene of loveliness and +life had often enraptured me, till a second Eden +seemed realized; when, as if its aspect were +too beautiful for sinful earth, the illusion was +dissipated on observing the slender and graceful +form of a snake gliding swiftly in mazy folds +through the long grass—by that curious association +of ideas, suggesting at once the primal +fall, and the probable vicinity of a cobra couched +on the branch of a tree overhead, whose +color so closely approximates its tinge, that it +is almost impossible, without careful scrutiny, +to detect its presence, and if unconsciously disturbed +in its leafy cradle, the oscillation is resented +by darting its poisoned fang in the invader's +face. These insidious foes, and the +probability of a struggle with some carnivorous +denizen of the glen, suggest strong doubts as to +the security of your woodland abode, and damp +the pleasure the scene otherwise might afford. +And thus surely do we find that, in nature as +in life, under the most lovely and entrancing +aspects often lurk the most seductive and deadly +influences. The prospect loses nothing at +night, when effulgent with the pensive moonbeams, +and the myriads of fire-flies like living +stars broke loose from the dominion of old +night, delighted with their new-found liberty, +and dancing in a perfect jubilee of joyous light +through the embowering arcades, illuminating +every note of forest life; and on the one side is +heard the amorous roar of the antelope's midnight +suitor, as pending to the crashing march +of the gregarious elephant; and on the other +the nightly concert of a pack of jackalls, resembling +so closely the music of those "delightful" +babies, that it is only by continuous rehearsals +the ear can receive them with indifference—render +the whole indescribably magnificent, though +rather trying to delicate nerves.</p> + +<p>All such sublimity and active life, however, +were now absent; not a living creature was to +be seen, and actuated by some indefinable impulse, +I involuntarily clutched my rifle. Scarcely +had I done so, when an agonizing shriek re-echoed +through the forest; rushing in the direction, +I encountered a sight that struck me +with horror and dismay—for a moment I stood +paralyzed!</p> + +<p>A Brahmin, with his wife and only daughter, +were making a pilgrimage to the banks +of the sacred Ganges. With the characteristic +indifference of their caste, they had incautiously +halted in the midst of the jungle to +cook some rice. The little girl, while the +mother was occupied in preparing the frugal +meal, had thoughtlessly wandered into the long +grass in quest of some gaudy insect flitting +past: on a sudden the father, who had thrown +himself on the ground to snatch a few moments' +repose, was aroused by the screams of his child, +and, regaining his feet, perceived a full-grown +cheetah in the act of springing on his tender +girl. To see, and rush to her rescue, armed +only with a knife, was the work of an instant; +he arrived too late to arrest the tiger as he +made his rarely missing, and in this case fatal +spring on the beautiful and dark-bosomed maid. +A terrible struggle now ensued, the infuriated +animal relaxed its grasp of the child, and fastened +on the father. The tender and loving +wife, only now fully awakened to the extent of +the danger, forgetting her sex, insensible to +aught but her husband's peril, recklessly rushed +forward; but ere she could reach the spot to +become a third victim to the insatiate monster, +the providential flight of a bullet from a stranger's +rifle, penetrating the animal's brain, stretched +him dead at her feet. The brave husband, on +approaching the spot, lay extended on the grass<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> +in the last agonies of death, dreadfully mangled, +the brute having torn away the greater part of +his brain and face. The little girl had already +expired.</p> + +<p>Never can I forget the calmness and apparently +stoical indifference of this Indian woman +while her husband lay extended before her, +gasping his last. She supported his head, gently +wiping the blood from his face and lips; no sign +of her feelings could be detected in her features. +I gazed upon her with astonishment; but no +sooner was it evident that death had effectually +terminated the loved one's sufferings, than she +gave way to the most frantic and heart-rending +expressions of grief. The anguish of that woman +death alone can obliterate from my memory—words +can not picture it. I see her before +me as I write, alternately embracing the lifeless +and bloody bodies of her husband and child, +lavishing over them the most tender, endearing +invocations of affection, then as suddenly turning +round and seizing the crimson knife of her +heroic husband, plunged it again and again into +the body of the insensible animal, uttering all +the time the most fearful and violent imprecations +of despair and anguish.</p> + +<p>It was with the greatest difficulty she could +at length be removed from the tragic scene, +and confided to the care of some neighboring +villagers. I had occasion to revisit the same +scenes some few months after, and found the +bereaved wife, but, indeed, how changed! I +could hardly recognize her. Day and night, I +was informed, she wandered about, calling on +her husband and child. A deep, settled gloom, +beyond any thing I ever witnessed, was upon +her features; her eyes had a wandering, restless +expression. She knew me immediately, and +talked in the most pathetic strain of her hapless +child and husband. Poor creature! I +tried to console her, but in vain. She said, her +only wish was, as soon as the monsoon, or +rainy season abated, to prosecute her journey to +the Ganges, and die by its sacred stream. I +remonstrated with her on this folly, and, explained +to her the divine truths of Christianity. +All in vain! She was fixed in her resolution; +and when I pointed to the heavens, and spoke +of the mercies of God and His power, she replied, +"that were He powerful, He could not be +merciful, or He would not have taken her husband +and child away without taking her also." +All I could say made no impression, nor seemed +to abate her determination, and time would not +permit my stay, nor did I ever chance again to +traverse the same scenes; but I have no doubt, +from my knowledge of Indian character, she +subsequently carried her resolution into effect.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>COFFEE PLANTING IN CEYLON.</h2> + + +<h3>IN TWO CHAPTERS.—CHAPTER THE FIRST.</h3> + +<p>In the month of September, 1840, I started +from Kandy, the ancient capital of Ceylon, +to visit a friend who was in charge of one of +the many new coffee clearings then in progress. +I was accompanied by a young planter well acquainted +with the country and the natives, and +who had offered to act as my guide. The +clearing was distant about twenty-five miles. +The route we took has since become famous. +Rebellion and martial law have stalked over it; +and concerning it, the largest blue books of last +session have been concocted.</p> + +<p>We mounted our horses a good hour before +day-break, so as to insure getting over the most +exposed part of our journey before the sun +should have risen very high, an important matter +for man and beast in tropical countries. +Toward noon, we pulled up at a little bazaar, +or native shop, and called for "<i>Hoppers and +Coffee</i>." I felt that I could have eaten almost +any thing, and, truly, one needs such an appetite +to get down the dreadful black-draught +which the Cingalese remorselessly administer to +travelers, under the name of coffee.</p> + +<p>The sun was high in the horizon when we +found ourselves suddenly, at a turn of the road, +in the midst of a "clearing." This was quite +a novelty to me; so unlike any thing one meets +with in the low country, or about the vicinity +of Kandy. The present clearing lay at an elevation +of fully three thousand feet above the +sea-level, while the altitude of Kandy is not +more than sixteen hundred feet. I had never +been on a Hill Estate, and the only notions +formed by me respecting a plantation of coffee, +were of continuous, undulating fields, and gentle +slopes. Here it was not difficult to imagine +myself among the recesses of the Black Forest. +Pile on pile of heavy, dark jungle, rose before +my astonished sight, looking like grim fortresses +defending some hidden city of giants. The +spot we had opened upon was at the entrance +of a long valley of great width, on one side of +which lay the young estate we were bound to. +Before us were, as near as I could judge, fifty +acres of felled jungle in thickest disorder; just +as the monsters of the forest had fallen, so they +lay, heap on heap, crushed and splintered into +ten thousand fragments. Fine brawny old fellows +some of them; trees that had stood many +a storm and thunder-peal; trees that had sheltered +the wild elephant, the deer, and the buffalo, +lay there prostrated by a few inches of +sharp steel. The "fall" had taken place a +good week before, and the trees would be left in +this state until the end of October, by which +time they would be sufficiently dry for a good +"burn." Struggling from trunk to trunk, and +leading our horses slowly over the huge rocks +that lay thickly around, we at last got through +the "fall," and came to a part of the forest +where the heavy, quick click of many axes told +us there was a working-party busily employed. +Before us, a short distance in the jungle, were +the swarthy, compact figures of some score or +two of low country Cingalese, plying their small +axes with a rapidity and precision that was +truly marvelous. It made my eyes wink again, +to see how quickly their sharp tools flew about, +and how near some of them went to their +neighbors' heads.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the midst of these busy people I found +my planting friend, superintending operations, +in full jungle costume. A sort of wicker helmet +was on his head, covered with a long padded +white cloth, which hung far down his back, like +a baby's quilt. A shooting-jacket and trowsers +of checked country cloth; immense leech-gaiters +fitting close inside the roomy canvas boots; +and a Chinese-paper umbrella, made up his +curious outfit.</p> + +<p>To me it was a pretty, as well as a novel +sight, to watch the felling work in progress. +Two ax-men to small trees; three, and sometimes +four, to larger ones; their little bright +tools flung far back over their shoulders with a +proud flourish, and then, with a "whirr," dug +deep in the heart of the tree, with such exactitude +and in such excellent time, that the scores +of axes flying about me seemed impelled by +some mechanical contrivance, and sounding but +as one or two instruments. I observed that in +no instance were the trees cut through, but +each one was left with just sufficient of the +heart to keep it upright; on looking around, I +saw that there were hundreds of them similarly +treated. The ground on which we were +standing was extremely steep and full of rocks, +between which lay embedded rich veins of alluvial +soil. Where this is the case, the masses +of stone are not an objection; on the contrary, +they serve to keep the roots of the young coffee +plants cool during the long dry season, and, in +the like manner, prevent the light soil from +being washed down the hill-side by heavy rains. +My planter-friend assured me that, if the trees +were to be at once cut down, a few at a time, +they would so encumber the place as to render +it impossible for the workmen to get access to +the adjoining trees, so thickly do they stand together, +and so cumbersome are their heavy +branches. In reply to my inquiry as to the +method of bringing all these cut trees to the +ground, I was desired to wait until the cutting +on the hill-side was completed, and then I should +see the operation finished.</p> + +<p>The little axes rang out a merry chime—merrily +to the planter's ear, but the death-knell +of many a fine old forest tree. In half an hour +the signal was made to halt, by blowing a +conch shell; obeying the signal of the superintendent, +I hastened up the hill as fast as my +legs would carry me, over rocks and streams, +halting at the top, as I saw the whole party do. +Then they were ranged in order, axes in hand, +on the upper side of the topmost row of cut +trees. I got out of their way, watching anxiously +every movement. All being ready, the +manager sounded the conch sharply: two score +voices raised a shout that made me start again; +forty bright axes gleamed high in air, then sank +deeply into as many trees, which at once yielded +to the sharp steel, groaned heavily, waved +their huge branches to and fro, like drowning +giants, then toppled over, and fell with a stunning +crash upon the trees below them. These +having been cut through previously, offered no +resistance, but followed the example of their +upper neighbors, and fell booming on those beneath. +In this way the work of destruction +went rapidly on from row to row. Nothing was +heard but groaning, crackling, crashing, and +splintering; it was some little time before I got +the sounds well out of my ears. At the time +it appeared as though the whole of the forest-world +about me was tumbling to pieces; only +those fell, however, which had been cut, and of +such not one was left standing. There they +would lie until sufficiently dry for the torch that +would blacken their massive trunks, and calcine +their many branches into dusty heaps of alkali. +By the time this was completed, and the +men put on to a fresh "cut," we were ready +for our mid-day meal, the planter's breakfast. +Away we toiled toward the <i>bungalow</i>. Passing +through a few acres of standing forest, and +over a stream, we came to a small cleared space +well sheltered from wind, and quite snug in +every respect. It was thickly sown with what +I imagined to be young lettuces, or, perhaps, +very juvenile cabbage-plants, but I was told +this was the "Nursery," and those tiny green +things were intended to form the future Soolookande +Estate. On learning that we had reached +the "Bungalow," I looked about me to discover +its locality, but in vain; there was no +building to be seen; but presently my host +pointed out to me what I had not noticed before—a +small, low-roofed, thatched place, close +under a projecting rock, and half hid by thorny +creepers. I imagined this to be his fowl-house, +or, perhaps, a receptacle for tools; but was not +a little astonished when I saw my friend beckon +me on, and enter at the low, dark door. +This miserable little cavern could not have +been more than twelve feet long by about six +feet wide, and as high at the walls. This +small space was lessened by heaps of tools, coils +of string, for "lining" the ground before planting, +sundry boxes and baskets, an old rickety +table, and one chair. At the farther end—if +any thing could be far in that hole—was a jungle +bedstead, formed by driving green stakes in +the floor and walls, and stretching rope across +them. I could not help expressing astonishment +at the miserable quarters provided for one +who had so important a charge, and such costly +outlay to make. My host, however, treated the +matter very philosophically. Every thing, he +observed, is good or bad by comparison; and +wretched as the accommodation appeared to +me, who had been accustomed to the large, +airy houses of Colombo, he seemed to be quite +satisfied; indeed, he told me, that when he had +finished putting up this little crib, had moved +in his one table and chair, and was seated, +cigar in mouth, inside the still damp mud walls, +he thought himself the happiest of mortals. I +felt somewhat curious to know where he had +dwelt previous to the erection of this unique +building—whether he had perched up in the +forest trees, or in holes in the rocks, like the +wild Veddahs of Bintenne.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> + +<p>I was told that his first habitation, when +commencing work up there, was then suspended +over my head. I looked up to the dark, +dusty roof, and perceived a bundle of what I +conceived to be old dirty, brown paper, or +parchment-skin. Perceiving my utter ignorance +of the arrangement, he took down the roll, and +spread it open outside the door. It turned out +to be a huge <i>talipot-leaf</i>, which he assured me +was the only shelter he had possessed for nearly +two months, and that, too, during the rainy +season. It might have measured ten feet in +length, and possibly six in width; pretty well +for a leaf; it was used by fastening a stout +pole lengthways to two stakes driven in the +ground; the leaf was hung across this ridgepole, +midway, and the corners of it made fast +by cords: common mats being hung at each +end, and under the leaf.</p> + +<p>The "Lines," a long row of mud huts for +the coolies, appeared to be much more comfortable +than their master's dwelling. But this is +necessarily the case, for, unless they be well-cared +for, they will not remain on a remote +estate, such as this one was then considered. +The first thing a good planter sees to is a roomy +and dry set of "Lines" for the people: then +the "Nursery" of coffee plants; and, thirdly, a +hut for himself.</p> + +<p>The superintendent assured me that none +but those who had opened an estate in a remote +district, could form any idea of the difficulties +and privations encountered by the planter. +"Folks may grumble as they like, down in Colombo, +or in England," said my friend, "about +the high salaries paid to managers, but if some +of them had only a month of it up here, in the +rains, I suspect they'd change their notions."</p> + +<p>He had had the greatest difficulty at first in +keeping but a dozen men on the place to clear +ground for lines and nurseries: so strong is the +objection felt by Malabars to new and distant +plantations. On one occasion he had been quite +deserted: even his old cook ran away, and he +found himself with only a little Cingalese boy, +and his rice, biscuit, and dried fish, all but exhausted. +As for meat, he had not tasted any +for many days. There was no help for it, he +saw, but to send off the little boy to the nearest +village, with a rupee, to buy some food, and try +to persuade some of the village people to come +up and assist him. When evening came on, +there was no boy back, and the lonely planter +had no fire to boil his rice. Night came on and +still he was alone: hungry, cold, and desolate. +It was a Sabbath evening, and he pointed out +to me the large stone on which he had sat +down to think of his friends in the old country; +the recollection of his distance from them, and +of his then desolate, Crusoe-like, position, came +so sadly upon him that he wept like a child. +I almost fancied I saw a tear start to his large +eye as he related the circumstance.</p> + +<p>Ceylon planters are proverbially hospitable: +the utmost stranger is at all times sure of a +hearty welcome for himself and his horse. On +this occasion, my jungle friend turned out the +best cheer his small store afforded. It is true +we had but one chair among us, but that only +served to give us amusement in making seats +of baskets, boxes, and old books. A dish of +rice, and curry, made of dry salt fish, two red +herrings, and the only fowl on the estate, formed +our meal; and, poor as the repast may appear +to those who have never done a good day's +journey in the jungles of Ceylon, I can vouch for +the keen relish with which we all partook of it.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon we strolled out to inspect +the first piece of planting on the Soolookande +estate. It was in extent about sixty acres, divided +into fields of ten acres by narrow belts +of tall trees. This precaution was adopted, I +learnt, with a view to protect the young plants +from the violence of the wind, which at times +rushes over the mountains with terrific fury. +Unless thus sheltered by belts or "staking," the +young plants get loosened, or are whirled round +until the outer bark becomes worn away, and +then they sicken and die, or if they live, yield +no fruit. "Staking" is simply driving a stout +peg in the ground, and fastening the plant +steadily to it; but it is an expensive process. +The young trees in these fields had been put out +during the previous rains of July, and though +still very small, looked fresh and healthy. I +had always imagined planting out to be a very +easy and rough operation; but I now learnt +that exceeding care and skill are required in the +operation. The holes to receive the young coffee-plant +must be wide and deep—they can +scarcely be too large; the earth must be kept +well about the roots of the seedling in removing +it; and care must be taken that the <i>tap-root</i> be +neither bent, nor planted over any stone or +other hard substance; neglect of these important +points is fatal to the prosperity of the +estate. The yellow drooping leaves, and stunted +growth, soon tell the proprietor that his superintendent +has done his work carelessly; but, alas! +it is then too late to apply any remedy, save +that of re-planting the ground.</p> + +<p>I left this estate impressed with very different +notions concerning the life and trials of a +planter in the far jungle, from those I had contracted +below from mere Colombo gossip; and +I felt that superintendents were not so much +overpaid for their skill, patience, privations, and +hard work.</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER THE SECOND.</h3> + +<p>Having seen almost the commencement of +the Soolookande Coffee Estate, I felt a strong +desire toward the end of the year 1846, to pay +it a second visit, while in its full vigor. I wished +to satisfy myself as to the correctness of the +many reports I had heard of its heavy crops, of +its fine condition, its excellent works, and, not +least, of the good management during crop-time. +My old acquaintance was no longer in +charge; he had been supplanted by a stranger. +However, I went armed with a letter from the +Colombo agents, which would insure more attention +than a bed and a meal.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> + +<p>I journeyed this time by another and rather +shorter route. Instead of taking the Matelle +road, I struck off to the right, past Davy's Tree, +celebrated as the scene of the massacre of a +large body of British officers and troops by the +treacherous Kandians, and crossing the Mahavilla +Ganga, at Davy's Ferry, made the best of +my way across the beautiful vale of Dombera, +and thence toward the long range of mountains +forming one flank of the Kallibokke Valley. At +the period of my former excursion this long tract +of fertile country was one unbroken mass of +heavy jungle; now a dozen large estates, with +bungalows and extensive works, were to be seen, +enlivening the journey, and affording a much +readier passage for the horseman; for wherever +plantations are formed, good jungle paths are +sure to be made. The ride was a most interesting +one; mile upon mile of coffee lay before +and around me, in various stages of growth, +from the young seedling just put out, to the +full-bearing bush, as heavily laden with red, +ripe coffee berries as any currant-bush in England +with its fruit.</p> + +<p>It was then the middle of November, and the +very height of the planter's harvest. All appeared +busy as I rode along, gathering on the +old properties; weeding and "supplying," or +filling up failures on the young estates. I halted +but once for a cup of good, wholesome coffee, +and gladly pushed on, so as to reach my destination +in good time for breakfast.</p> + +<p>The many lovely prospects opening before me +caused some little delay in admiration; and, by +the time I had ridden through the last piece of +jungle, and pulled up at the upper boundary of +"Soolookande," it was not far from mid-day. +The sun was blazing high above me, but its +rays were tempered by a cool breeze that swept +over from the neighboring mountain-tops. The +prospect from that lofty eminence was lovely +in the extreme: steep ridges of coffee extended +in all directions, bounded by piles of mossy forest; +white spots, here and there, told of bungalows +and stores; a tiny cataract rushed down +some cleft rock, on one side; on the other, a +rippling stream ran gently along, thickly studded +with water-cresses. Before me, in the far +distance, lay outstretched, like a picture-scroll, +the Matelle district, with its paddy fields, its +villages, and its Vihares, skirted by a ridge of +mountains and terminated by the Cave Rocks +of Dambool. At my feet, far below, lay the +estate, bungalow, and works, and to them I +bent my way by a narrow and very steep bridle-path. +So precipitous was the land just here, +that I felt rather nervous on looking down at +the white buildings. The pathway, for a great +length, was bordered by rose-bushes, or trees, in +fullest blossom, perfuming the air most fragrantly: +as I approached the bungalow, other flowering +shrubs and plants were mingled with them, +and in such excellent order was every thing +there that the place appeared to me more like a +magnified garden than an estate. How changed +since my former visit! I could scarcely recognize +it as the same property. The bungalow +was an imposing-looking building, the very picture +of neatness and comfort. How different to +the old talipot-leaf, and the dirty little mud hut! +The box of a place I had slept in six years before +would have stood, easily, on the dining-table +in this bungalow. A wide verandah surrounded +the building, the white pillars of which +were polished like marble. The windows were +more like doors; and, as for the doors, one may +speak of them as lawyers do of Acts of Parliament, +it would be easy to drive a coach-and-six +through them.</p> + +<p>The superintendent was a most gentlemanly +person, and so was his Bengalee servant. The +curry was delightfully hot; the water was deliciously +cool. The chairs were like sofas; and +so exquisitely comfortable, after my long ride, +that, when my host rose and suggested a walk +down to the works, I regretted that I had said +any thing about them, and had half a mind to +pretend to be poorly.</p> + +<p>The store was a zinc-roofed building, one +hundred feet in length, by twenty-five wide; it +was boarded below, but the sides upward were +merely stout rails, for insuring a thorough circulation +of air through the interior. It presented +a most busy appearance. Long strings of +Malabar coolies were flocking in, along narrow +paths, from all sides, carrying bags and baskets +on their heads, filled with the ripe coffee. These +had to pass in at one particular door of the +store, into the receiving-floor, in the upper part +of the building. A Canghany was stationed +there to see each man's gathering fairly measured; +and to give a little tin ticket for every +bushel, on the production of which the coolies +were paid, at the end of the month. Many +coolies, who had their wives and children to assist +them in the field, brought home very heavy +parcels of coffee.</p> + +<p>Passing on to the floor where the measuring +was in progress, I saw immense heaps of ripe, +cherry-looking fruit, waiting to be passed below +to the pulpers. All this enormous pile must be +disposed of before the morning, or it will not be +fit for operating on, and might be damaged. I +saw quantities of it already gliding downward, +through little openings in the floor, under which +I could hear the noise of some machinery in +rapid motion, but giving out sounds like sausage-machines +in full "chop." Following my guide, +I descended a ladder, between some ugly-looking +wheels and shafting, and landed safely on +the floor of the pulping-room. "Pulping" is +the operation of removing the outer husk, or +"cherry," which incloses the parchment-looking +husk containing the pair of coffee beans. +This is performed by a machine called a "pulper." +It is a stout wooden or iron frame, supporting +a fly-wheel and barrel of wood, covered +with sheet copper, perforated coarsely outward, +very like a huge nutmeg-grater. This barrel is +made to revolve rapidly, nearly in contact with +two chocks of wood. The coffee in the cherry +being fed on to this by a hopper, is forced between<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> +the perforated barrel and the chocks; the +projecting copper points tear off the soft cherry, +while the coffee beans, in their parchment case, +fall through the chocks into a large box. These +pulpers (four in number) were worked by a +water-wheel of great power, and turned out in +six hours as much coffee as was gathered by +three hundred men during the whole day.</p> + +<p>From the pulper-box the parchment coffee is +shoveled to the "cisterns"—enormous square +wooden vats. In these the new coffee is placed, +just covered with water, in which state it is +left for periods varying from twelve to eighteen +hours, according to the judgment of the manager. +The object of this soaking is to produce +a slight fermentation of the mucilaginous matter +adhering to "the parchment," in order to +facilitate its removal, as otherwise it would +harden the skin, and render the coffee very difficult +to peel or clean. When I inspected the +works on Soolookande, several cisterns of fermented +coffee were being turned out, to admit +other parcels from the pulper, and also to enable +the soaked coffee to be washed. Coolies were +busily employed shoveling the berries from one +cistern to another; others were letting on clean +water. Some were busy stirring the contents +of the cisterns briskly about; while some, again, +were letting off the foul water; and a few were +engaged in raking the thoroughly-washed coffee +from the washing platforms to the barbecues.</p> + +<p>The barbecues on this property were very +extensive: about twenty thousand square feet, +all gently sloped away from their centres, and +smooth as glass. They were of stone, coated +over with lime well polished, and so white, that +it was with difficulty I could look at them with +the sun shining full upon their bright surfaces. +Over these drying grounds the coffee, when +quite clean and white, is spread, at first thickly, +but gradually more thinly, until, on the last +day, it is placed only one bean thick. Four +days' sunning are usually required, though occasionally +many more are necessary before the +coffee can be heaped away in the store without +risk of spoiling. All that is required is to dry +it sufficiently for transport to Kandy, and thence +to Colombo, where it undergoes a final curing +previous to having its parchment skin removed, +and the faulty and broken berries picked out. +Scarcely any estates are enabled to effectually +dry their crops, owing to the long continuance +of wet weather on the hills.</p> + +<p>The "dry floor" of this store resembled very +much the inside of a malting-house. It was +nicely boarded, and nearly half full of coffee, +white and in various stages of dryness. Some +of it, at one end, was being measured into two +bushel bags, tied up, marked and entered in the +"packed" book, ready for dispatch to Kandy. +Every thing was done on a system; the bags +were piled up in tens; and the loose coffee was +kept in heaps of fixed quantities as a check on +the measuring. Bags, rakes, measures, twine, +had all their proper places allotted them. Each +day's work must be finished off-hand at once; +no putting off until to-morrow can be allowed, +or confusion and loss will be the consequence. +Any heaps of half dried coffee, permitted to remain +unturned in the store, or not exposed on +the "barbecue," will heat, and become discolored, +and in that condition is known among +commercial men as "Country Damaged."</p> + +<p>The constant ventilation of a coffee store is +of primary importance in checking any tendency +to fermentation in the uncured beans; +an ingenious planter has recently availed himself +of this fact, and invented an apparatus +which forces an unbroken current of dry, warm +air, through the piles of damp coffee, thus continuing +the curing process in the midst of the +most rainy weather.</p> + +<p>When a considerable portion of the gathering +is completed, the manager has to see to his +means of transport before his store is too crowded. +A well conducted plantation will have its +own cattle to assist in conveying the crop to +Kandy; it will have roomy and dry cattle-pens, +fields of guinea-grass, and pasture grounds +attached, as well as a manure-pit, into which all +refuse and the husks of the coffee are thrown, +to be afterward turned to valuable account.</p> + +<p>The carriage of coffee into Kandy is performed +by pack-bullocks, and sometimes by the +coolies, who carry it on their heads, but these +latter can seldom be employed away from picking +during the crop time. By either means, +however, transport forms a serious item in the +expenses of a good many estates. From some +of the distant hill-estates possessing no cattle, +and with indifferent jungle-paths, the conveyance +of their crops to Kandy will often cost +fully six shillings the hundred weight of clean +coffee, equal to about three pence per mile. +From Kandy to Colombo, by the common bullock-cart +of the country, the cost will amount +to about two or three shillings the clean hundred +weight, in all, eight or nine shillings the hundred +weight from the plantation to the port of shipment, +being twice as much for conveying it +less than a hundred miles, as it costs for freight +to England, about sixteen thousand miles. One +would imagine that it would not require much +sagacity to discern that, in such a country as +this, a railroad would be an incalculable benefit +to the whole community. To make this apparent +even to the meanest Cingalese capacity, +we may mention that, even at the present +time, transit is required from the interior of the +island to its seaports, for enough coffee for shipment +to Great Britain alone, to cause a railroad to +be remunerative. The quantity of coffee imported +from British possessions abroad in 1850, was +upward of forty millions of pounds avoirdupois; +and a very large proportion of this came from +Ceylon. What additional quantities are required +for the especially coffee-bibbing nations +which lie between Ceylon and this country, surpass +all present calculation; enough, we should +think, sails away from this island in the course of +every year, the transit of which to its sea-board, +would pay for a regular net-work of railways.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A BRETON WEDDING.</h2> + + +<p>The customs and habits of the Bretons bear +a close and striking resemblance to those of +their kindred race<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> in the principality of Wales.</p> + +<p>When a marriage in Lower Brittany has +been definitely resolved upon, the bride makes +choice of a bridesmaid, and the bridegroom of a +groomsman. These, accompanied by an inviter, +or "bidder," as the personage is called in Wales, +bearing a long white wand, invite the members +of their respective families to the wedding. On +so important and solemn an occasion, no one is +forgotten, however humble his condition in life +may happen to be; and in no country in the +world are the ties of kindred so strong as in +Lower Brittany.</p> + +<p>These consequently include a very large circle; +and it happens that the task of "bidding" very +frequently occupies many days. A thousand +persons have been known to assist at the +wedding of a prosperous farmer.</p> + +<p>On the Sunday preceding the wedding-day, +every one who has accepted the invitation must +send some present to the youthful pair, by one +of their farm servants, who has been very carefully +dressed, in order to produce a high idea of +their consequence. These gifts are sometimes +of considerable value, but for the most part +confined to some article of domestic use, or of +consumption on the wedding-day, which is +usually fixed for the following Tuesday.</p> + +<p>At an early hour of that day the young men +assemble in a village near to the residence of +the bride, where the bridegroom meets them. +As soon as they are collected in sufficiently +imposing numbers, they depart in procession, +preceded by the <i>basvalan</i> (embassador of love), +with a band of music, of which the bagpipe is a +conspicuous instrument, to take possession of +the bride. On arriving at the farm, every thing, +save the savage wolf-dogs, is in the most profound +silence. The doors are closed, and not a +soul is to be seen; but on closely surveying the +environs of the homestead, there is sufficient +indication of an approaching festivity, chimneys +and caldrons are smoking, and long tables +ranged in every available space.</p> + +<p>The <i>basvalan</i> knocks loudly and repeatedly at +the door, which at length brings to the threshold +the <i>brotaër</i> (envoy of the bride's family), who, +with a branch of broom in his hand, replies in +rhyme, and points out to some neighboring +chateau, where he assures the <i>basvalan</i> such a +glorious train as his is sure to find welcome on +account of its unparalleled splendor and magnificence. +This excuse having been foreseen, the +<i>basvalan</i> answers his rival, verse for verse, compliment +for compliment, that they are in search +of a jewel more brilliant than the stars, and +that it is hidden in that "palace."</p> + +<p>The <i>brotaër</i> withdraws into the interior; but +presently leads forth an aged matron, and presents +her as the only jewel which they possess.</p> + +<p>"Of a verity," retorts the <i>basvalan</i>, "a most +respectable person; but it appears to us that +she is past her festal time; we do not deny the +merit of gray hair, especially when it is silvered +by age and virtue; but we seek something far +more precious. The maiden we demand is at +least three times younger—try again—you can +not fail to discover her from the splendor which +her unequaled beauty sheds around her."</p> + +<p>The <i>brotaër</i> then brings forth, in succession, +an infant in arms, a widow, a married woman, +and the bridesmaid; but the embassador always +rejects the candidates, though without wounding +their feelings. At last the dark-eyed blushing +bride makes her appearance in her bridal attire.</p> + +<p>The party then enters the house, and the +<i>brotaër</i>, falling on his knees, slowly utters a +<i>Pater</i> for the living, and a <i>De Profundis</i> for the +dead, and demands the blessing of the family +upon the young maiden. Then the scene, recently +so joyous, assumes a more affecting character, +and the <i>brotaër</i> is interrupted by sobs and +tears. There is always some sad episode in +connection with all these rustic but poetic +festivals in Brittany. How many sympathies +has not the following custom excited? At the +moment of proceeding to church, the mother +severs the end of the bride's sash, and addresses +her: "The tie which has so long united us, +my child, is henceforward rent asunder, and I +am compelled to yield to another the authority +which God gave me over thee. If thou art +happy—and may God ever grant it—this will +be no longer thy home; but should misfortune +visit thee, a mother is still a mother, and her +arms ever open for her children. Like thee, I +quitted my mother's side to follow a husband. +Thy children will leave thee in their turn. +When the birds are grown, the maternal nest +can not hold them. May God bless thee, my +child, and grant thee as much consolation as +he has granted me!" The procession is then +formed, and the cavalcade proceeds to the parish +church; but every moment it is interrupted in +its progress by groups of mendicants, who climb +up the slopes bordering the roads—which are +extremely deep and narrow—to bar the passage +by means of long briars, well armed with prickly +thorns, which they hold up before the faces of +the wedding party. The groomsman is the +individual appointed to lower these importunate +barriers; which he does by casting among the +mendicants small pieces of money. He executes +his commission with good temper, and very frequently +with liberality; but when the distance +is great, these fetters become so numerous that +his duties grow exceedingly wearisome and expensive.</p> + +<p>After the religious ceremony, comes the feast; +which is one of the most incredible things +imaginable. Nothing can give an idea of the +multitude of guests, of all ages, and of each +sex; they form a lively, variegated, and confused<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +picture. The tables having been laid out +the previous day, at the coppers, which are +erected in the open air, all the neighbors, and +the invited, who have any pretension to the +culinary art, are ready with advice and assistance. +It is curious to see them, in the blazing +atmosphere of the huge fires, watching enormous +joints of meat and other comestibles cooking in +the numerous and vast utensils; nevertheless, +however zealous they may be, there are few +who do not desert their post when the firing of +guns and the distant sound of the bagpipes announce +the return of the wedding procession.</p> + +<p>The newly married couple are at the head of +the train, preceded by pipers, and fiddlers, and +single-stick players, who triumphantly lead the +way; the nearest relatives of the young pair +next follow; then the rest of the guests without +order, rushing on helter-skelter, each in the +varied and picturesque costume of his district; +some on foot, some on horseback, most frequently +two individuals on the same beast, the man +seated upon a stuffed pad which serves as a +saddle, and the wife, with arm around his waist, +seated upon the crupper;—an every-day sight, +not many years ago, in the rural districts of +England, when roads were bad, and the gig and +taxed-cart uninvented. The mendicants follow +at their heels by hundreds, to share the remnants +of the feast.</p> + +<p>As soon as the confusion occasioned by the +arrival of such a multitude has subsided, the +guests place themselves at the tables. These +are formed of rough and narrow planks, supported +by stakes driven into the ground, the +benches constructed after the same fashion; +and they are raised in proportion to the height +of the tables, so that you may have your knees +between your plate and yourself; if, in a real +Breton wedding, you happen to be supplied with +such an article—for a luxury of this description +has not yet reached very far into Brittany: the +soup is eaten out of a wooden bowl, and the +meat cut up and eaten in the hand, or, as the +phrase goes, "upon the thumb." Every individual, +as a matter of course, carries his own +case or pocket knife; the liquids are served in +rude earthenware, and each drinks out of a cup +apportioned to five or six individuals. It is the +height of civility to hand one's cup to a neighbor, +so that he may assist in emptying it; and +a refusal would be considered extremely rude +and insolent.</p> + +<p>The husband and his immediate relatives +are in waiting, and anticipate every one's wants +and wishes—pressing each to take care of himself: +they themselves share in no part of the +entertainment, save the compliments which +are showered, and the cups of cider and wine +which civility obliges them to accept. After +each course music strikes up, and the whole +assembly rise from the tables. One party gets +up a wrestling-match; the Bretons are as famous +as their cousins in Cornwall at this athletic +game—or a match at single-stick; another a +foot-race, or a dance; while the dishes are collected +together, and handed to the hungry +groups of mendicants who are seated in adjoining +paddocks. From the tables to rustic games, +reels, gavottes, and jabadoos; then to the tables +again; and they continue in this manner till +midnight announces to the guests that it is time +to retire.</p> + +<p>The company having diminished by degrees, +at length leave the groomsman and the bridesmaid +the only strangers remaining, who are +bound to disappear the last, and put the bride and +bridegroom, with due and proper solemnity, to +rest: they then retire singing "Veni Creator." +In some districts they are compelled, by custom, +to watch during the whole night in the bridal +chamber; in others, they hold at the foot of the +bed a lighted candle, between the fingers, and +do not withdraw until the flame has descended +to the palm of the hand. In another locality +the groom's-man is bound during the whole long +night to throw nuts at the husband, who cracks +them, and gives the kernel to his bride to eat. +The festivity which a marriage occasions generally +lasts three days, and, on Friday, the +youthful wife embraces the companions of her +childhood and bids them farewell, as if she never +meant to return. Indeed, from the period of +marriage, a new life commences for the Breton, +whose days of single blessedness have been days +of festivity and freedom; and it would seem +that when once the wedding-ring has been +placed upon the finger, her only business is the +care of her household—her only delight, the +peace of her domestic hearth.</p> + + +<p><a name="Joanna" id="Joanna"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>[From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.]</h3> + +<h2>JOANNA BAILLIE.</h2> + + +<p>Joanna Baillie was born in the year +1762, at the manse of Bothwell, in Lanarkshire. +Her father had just been translated from +the parish of Shotts to that of Bothwell; and +on the very first day of the family's removal +into the new manse, while the furniture still lay +tied up in bundles on the floors, Mrs. Baillie +was taken ill, probably from over-fatigue, and +was prematurely brought to bed of twin-daughters, +one of whom died in the birth, and +the other, named Joanna—after her maternal +uncle, the celebrated John Hunter—lived for +eighty-nine years, and became the most celebrated +of her race, and one of the most celebrated +women of her time.</p> + +<p>Those who like to trace the descent of fine +qualities, will be interested to know that +Joanna's mother—herself a beautiful and agreeable +woman—was the only sister of those remarkable +men, William and John Hunter; and +that her father, a clergyman of respectable abilities, +was of the same descent with that Baillie +of Jarviswood who nobly suffered for the religion +and independence of his country.</p> + +<p>Although Mrs. Baillie was forty years of age +when she married, she gave birth to five children. +Of these, three grew up: the eldest, Agnes +who still survives; the celebrated Matthew +physician to George III.; and Joanna.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p> + +<p>When Joanna was seven years old, her father +removed to Hamilton. There he was colleague +to the Rev. Mr. Miller, father to the well-known +professor of law at Glasgow of that name, whose +daughters were throughout life among Joanna's +most intimate and cherished friends. All that +is known of her before she quitted Bothwell +seems to be, that she was an active, sprightly +child, fond of play, and very unfond of lessons—the +difficulty of fixing her attention long +enough to enable her to learn the alphabet +having been in her case rather greater than it is +with ordinary children. At twelve years of age, +though still no scholar, she was a clever, lively, +shrewd girl, and even then showed something +of the creative power for which she was afterward +so remarkable. Miss Miller well recollects +being closeted with her and other young companions +for the purpose of hearing her narrate +little stories of her own invention, which she +did in a graphic and amusing manner.</p> + +<p>After being seven years at Hamilton, Mr. +Baillie was promoted to the chair of divinity in +the University of Glasgow. There Joanna attended +Miss M'Intosh's boarding-school, and +made some proficiency in the accomplishments +of music and drawing; for both of which she +had a fine taste, though it was never fully cultivated. +A constant residence in the crowded +and smoky town of Glasgow would have proved +very irksome to those accustomed, like the +Baillies, to the sweet, healthful seclusion of a +country manse; but they were never condemned +to it. William Hunter, then accoucheur to +Queen Charlotte, and in good general practice +as a physician, was in possession of the little +family property of Long Calderwood in Lanarkshire; +and being himself confined to London by +his professional duties, he invited his sister and +her family to reside at his house there during +the summer months. Nothing could have been +more agreeable or beneficial to Joanna than this +manner of life, had it continued. Her father +had now a sufficiently large income to enable +him to give his children the full advantage of +the best teaching, and he was most anxious +that they should enjoy it. Unfortunately, he +only survived his removal to Glasgow two +years; and by his premature death, his widow +and family were left not only entirely unprovided +for, but in very involved circumstances. The +living at Hamilton had been too small to admit +of any thing being saved from it; and the expense +of removing, the purchase of furniture +suitable to their new position, the repairing and +furnishing of the house at Long Calderwood, +besides the increased cost of living in a town, +had in combination brought their family into +an expenditure which two years of an enlarged +income were by no means sufficient to meet. +Dr. William Hunter came immediately to their +assistance. He was at that time fast acquiring +the large fortune which enabled him to leave +behind him so noble a monument as the Hunterian +Museum in Glasgow. He generously settled +an adequate income on his sister and her +family, and offered to relieve her mind by entirely +discharging her husband's liabilities. Here the +widow and her high-spirited young people had +the opportunity of manifesting the true delicacy +and respectable pride which have ever distinguished +the family. They carefully avoided +disclosing to their generous relative any thing +more than was unavoidable of these obligations, +preferring, with noble self-denial, and at the +expense of being looked down upon as niggardly +and poor-spirited by neighbors who knew nothing +of their motives, to pay the remainder out of +their moderate income. Such a trait as this is +surely well worth being recorded.</p> + +<p>Even after they were clear with the world, +Mrs. Baillie and her daughters continued to live +in the strictest seclusion at Long Calderwood. +Soon after his father's death, young Matthew +obtained a Glasgow exhibition to Oxford; and +having studied successfully there for some years, +joined his uncle William in London, for the purpose +of assisting him in his lectures. John +Hunter, who had been originally intended for a +humbler occupation, had long before this time +been called to London by the successful William—had +been brought forward by him in the +medical profession—and had, in a few months, +acquired such a knowledge of anatomy, as to be +capable of demonstrating to the pupils in the +dissecting-room. His health having been impaired +by intense study, he had gone abroad for +a year or two as staff-surgeon, and served in +Portugal. On his return to London, he had devoted +his powerful energies to the study of comparative +anatomy, and before Matthew Baillie +came to London, had erected a menagerie at +Brompton for carrying on that useful branch of +science. By his extraordinary genius, he subsequently +rose to be inspector-general of hospitals +and surgeon-general, and became one of +the most famous men of his age.</p> + +<p>Agnes, the elder sister—Joanna's faithful and +beloved companion through a long life; and to +whom, on entering her seventieth year, she addressed +the exquisite poem of the "Birthday"—which +no one will ever read unmoved—was +very early an accomplished girl. Unlike Joanna, +she had always been a diligent, attentive +scholar; and unlike her also, was possessed of +a remarkably retentive memory. In her companionship, +and in the entire leisure of her six +years' seclusion among the picturesque scenery +of Long Calderwood, it may be supposed that +Joanna's powerful intellect would have been +awakened, and her wonderfully fertile imagination +begun to assume some of those varied forms +of truth and beauty which have since impressed +themselves so vividly on the hearts and minds +of her contemporaries. But like the graceful +forms which the eye of the young sculptor has +only yet seen in vision, those divine creations +of her genius, before which the world was afterward +to bow, still slumbered in the marble. +Her genius partook of the slow growth, as well +as the hardy vigor, of the pine-tree of her native +rocks; but it had inherent power to shoot its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> +roots deep down in the human heart, and to +spread its branches toward the heavens in green +and enduring beauty. In these years (from her +sixteenth to her twenty-second), the only tendency +she showed toward what afterward became +the master-current of her mind, was in +being a fervent worshiper of Shakspeare. She +carefully studied select passages; delighted in +getting her two favorite young friends—Miss +Miller, and the lively Miss Graham of Gairbraid—to +take different parts with her, and would +so spout through a whole play with infinite +satisfaction. Still she was no general student; +and we are doubtful if at any time of her life she +can be considered to have been a <i>great</i> reader.</p> + +<p>About a dozen years previous to his death, +which took place in 1783, Dr. William Hunter +had completed his house in Great Windmill-street. +He had attached to it an anatomical +theatre, apartments for lectures and dissections, +and a magnificent room as a museum. At his +death, the use of this valuable museum, which +was destined ultimately to enrich the city of +Glasgow, was bequeathed for the term of twenty +years to his nephew Matthew, who had for some +time past assisted him ably in his anatomical +lectures. Besides this valuable bequest, the +small family property of Long Calderwood was +also left to Matthew Baillie, instead of his uncle, +John Hunter, who was the heir-at-law. William +had taken offense at his brother's marriage—not +finding fault with his bride, who was an +estimable woman, the sister of Dr., afterward +Sir Everard Home—but, as it was whimsically +said—disapproving of a philosopher marrying +at all! But, however this may have been, +young Matthew, with characteristic generosity, +disliking to be enriched at the expense of those +among his kindred who seemed to him to have +a nearer claim, absolutely refused to take advantage +of the bequest. The rejected little +property thus, after all, fell legally to John; +and only on the death of his son and daughter, +a few years ago (without children), descended +to William, the only son of Dr. Matthew Baillie, +as their heir.</p> + +<p>Soon after his uncle's death, Matthew, who +had succeeded him as lecturer on anatomy, and +was rising fast in the esteem of his professional +brethren, prevailed on his mother and sisters to +join him in London. Their uncle had left them +all a small independence, and there they lived +most happily with their brother in the house adjoining +the museum, from about the year 1784 +to 1791, when he married Miss Denman, daughter +of Dr. Denman, and sister of Lord Denman, +the late admirable lord chief-justice. This marriage +was productive of great happiness to Joanna, +as well as to her brother and the rest of the +family.</p> + +<p>Throughout their lives the most tender affection +subsisted among them all. Mrs. Baillie and +her daughters now retired to the country—at +first a little way up the Thames, then to Hythe, +near Dover; but they did not settle any where +permanently till they located themselves in a +pretty cottage at Hampstead—that flowery, +airy, charming retreat with which Joanna's +name has now been so long and so intimately +associated. How long she there courted the +muses in secret is not known. Her reserved +nature and Scottish prudence at all events secured +her from making any display of their crude +favors. Toward the end of the century she first +appears to have been quietly feeling her way toward +the light. In sending some books to Scotland, +to her ever-dear friend Miss Graham, she +slipped into the parcel a small volume of poems, +but without a hint as to the authorship. The +poems were chiefly of a light, unassuming, and +merry cast. They were read by Miss Graham, +and others of her early associates—freely discussed +and criticised among them, and certainly +not much admired. Though light mirth and +humor seem to have been more the characteristics +of her mind then than they were afterward, +and though Miss Graham remarked that +there was a something in the little poems that +brought Joanna to her remembrance, still so +improbable did it seem, that no suspicion of +their true origin suggested itself to any of their +thoughts. The authorship of this little volume +was never claimed by her; but some of the best +poems and songs it contained, which were +afterward published in one of her works, at last +disclosed the secret.</p> + +<p>In 1799, her thirty-eighth year, she gave to +the world her first volume of plays on the Passions. +It contained her two great tragedies on +love and on hatred—"Basil" and "De Montfort;" +and one comedy, also on love—the +"Tryal." They were prefaced by a long, plausible +introductory discourse, in which she explained +that these formed but a small portion of an +extensive plan she had in view, hitherto unattempted +in any language, and for the accomplishment +of which a lifetime would be limited +enough. Her project we must very shortly describe +as a design to write a series of plays, the +chief object of which should be the delineation +of all the higher passions of the human breast—each +play exhibiting in the principal character +some one great passion in all the stages +of its development, from its origin to its final +catastrophe; and in which, in order to produce +the strongest moral effect, the aim should be +the expression and delineation of just sentiments +and characteristic truth, rather than of +marvelous incident, novel situation, or beautiful +and sublime thought.</p> + +<p>Although published anonymously, this volume +excited an immediate sensation. In spite +of theoretical limitations, it was found to be +as full of original power, and delicate poetical +beauty, as of truth and moral sentiment. Of +course the authorship was keenly inquired into. +As the publication had been negotiated by the +accomplished Mrs. John Hunter—herself a follower +of the muses, and the author of several +lyrical poems of great sweetness and beauty, +which were set to music by Haydn—the credit +was at first naturally given to her. But Joanna's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +incognito could not be long preserved; and +the impression already made was deepened by +the discovery, that this skillful anatomist of +the heart of man, who had bodied forth creations +bearing the stamp of lofty intellect and +most original power, was a woman still young, +unlearned, and so inexperienced in the world +that it must have been chiefly to her own imagination +and feeling she owed the materials +which, by the force of her genius, she had thus +so wonderfully combined into striking and lifelike +portraits.</p> + +<p>The band of distinguished persons—poets, +wits, and philosophers—with which the beginning +of the century was enriched, now crowded +eagerly to welcome to their ranks this new and +highly-gifted sister, and were received by her +with simple but dignified frankness. The gay +and fashionable also would fain have wooed her +to lionize in their fevering circles; but her well-balanced +mind, and intuitive sense of what is +really best and most favorable to human happiness +and progress, seem from the first to have +secured her youthful female heart from being inflated +by the incense offered to her on all sides. +Though touched, and deeply gratified by the +warmly-expressed approbation of those among +her great contemporaries whose applause was +fame, she could not be won from the quiet +healthful privacy of her life to join frequently +even in the brilliant society which now so gladly +claimed her as one of its brightest ornaments. +Equally unspoiled and undistracted, she kept +the even tenor of her way. The tragedies contained +in her first volume—among the greatest +efforts of her genius—were undoubtedly written +by her in the fond hope of their being acted. +"To receive the approbation of an audience of +her countrymen," she confesses in the preface, +"would be more grateful to her than any other +praise." Believing that it is in the nature of +man to delight in representations of passion and +character, she regarded the stage, when properly +managed, as an admirable organ for the instruction +of the multitude; and that the poetical +teacher of morality and virtue could not better +employ his high powers than in supplying it +with pieces the tendency of which would be, +while pleasing and amusing, to refine and elevate +the mind. Mrs. Siddons was then in the +very zenith of her power; and it was a glimpse +of that splendid presence—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"So queenly, so commanding, and so noble"—<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>as it accidentally flashed upon her in turning +the corner of a street, to which Miss Baillie has +always fondly ascribed her first conception of +the character of the pure, elevated, and noble +Jane de Montfort. In 1800, the tragedy of +"De Montfort" was adapted to the stage by +John Kemble, and brought out at Drury-lane +theatre; and the gratification may well be +imagined with which the high-hearted poetess +must have listened to</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Thoughts by the soul brought forth in silent joy—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Words often muttered by the timid voice,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tried by the nice ear delicate of choice;"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>as with their loftiest meanings heightened and +spiritualized, she now heard them poured forth +in the deep eloquent tones of that incomparable +brother and sister!</p> + +<p>Her second volume of plays on the Passions +appeared in 1802, and with her name. It contained +four plays: "The Election," a comedy +upon hatred; and two tragedies and a comedy +on ambition—"Ethwald," in two parts, and the +"Second Marriage." Hitherto the fair authoress +had received almost unqualified praise. She +was now to undergo the other ordeal of almost +unqualified censure. Since the publication of +her first volume, the "Edinburgh Review" had +been established, and its brilliant young editor +had been suddenly, and almost by universal +consent, promoted to the chair, as the first of +critics. Jeffrey's real gentleness of heart, and +lively sensibility to every form of literary beauty +and excellence, are now too generally admitted +to require vindication here; but the lamblike +heart and kindly-indulgent feelings which in his +middle and declining years seemed to warm and +brighten the very atmosphere in which he lived, +were at the beginning of his literary censorship +carefully, and only too successfully, concealed +under the formidable beak and claws, as well as +the keen eye of the eagle.</p> + +<p>Starting with the idea that, above all things, +it was his duty to guard against false principles, +the hymn of a seraph would probably have +jarred upon his ear if composed upon what he +supposed to be mistaken rules of art. He regarded +Miss Baillie's project of confining the +interest of every piece to the development of a +single passion as a vicious system, by which her +young and promising genius was likely to be +cabined and confined; and that if such fallacy +in one so well calculated to adorn the field of +literature were met with indulgence, the result +might be to narrow and degrade it. It seemed +to him little better than a return to that barbarism +which could unscrupulously extinguish +the eyesight, that the hearing might be more +acute. His faith was too catholic to brook the +sectarian limitations which were involved in the +theory she had so boldly propounded. He therefore +waged war against the formidable heresy, +cruelly, unsparingly; and if with something of +the heat and petulance of a boy, yet with an +unerring dexterity of aim, and a subtle poignancy +of weapon, that could not fail to inflict +both pain and injury. Gentler practice would +probably have been followed by a better result. +It is certain that Miss Baillie was hurt and +offended by the uncourteous castigation inflicted +on her by her countryman, rather than convinced +by it that her notions were wrong. But the +time happily came when—with that clairvoyance +which, though it may be denied for a +season, time and experience of life seldom fail +to bestow in full measure upon true genius—these +two fine spirits were able to read each +other more clearly.</p> + +<p>A single volume of miscellaneous plays containing +two tragedies and a comedy by Miss<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +Baillie's pen, appeared in 1804. These dramas—"Rayner," +"The Country Inn," and "Constantine +Paleologus"—had been offered singly +to the theatres for representation, and been rejected. +Though full of eloquence, knowledge +of human nature, and tragic power, they were +found, like all her plays, deficient in the lifelike +movement and activity indispensable to that +perfectly successful theatrical effect which, without +an experimental acquaintance with the +whole nature and artifices of the stage has never +been attained to even by the most gifted of +pens.</p> + +<p>The first time Miss Baillie revisited her native +country after her name had become known to +fame was in 1808. After exploring with a full +heart the often-recalled scenery of the Clyde, and +the still dearer haunts of the sweet Calder +Water, she passed a couple of months in Edinburgh, +dividing her time between her old friends +Miss Maxwell and Mrs. John Thomson. She +was somewhat changed since these friends had +seen her last. Her manner had become more +silent and reserved. Mere acquaintances, or +strangers who had not the art of drawing forth +the rich stream—ever ready to flow if the rock +were rightly struck—found her cold and formidable. +In external appearance the change was +for the better. Her early youth had neither +bloomed with physical nor intellectual beauty; +but now, in her fine, healthy middle life, to the +exquisite neatness of form and limb, the powerful +gray eye, and well-defined, noticeable features +she had always possessed, were added a +graceful propriety of movement, and a fine elevated, +spiritual expression, which are far beyond +mere beauty.</p> + +<p>She had now the happiness of being personally +made known to Sir Walter Scott, who had +always been an enthusiastic admirer of her +genius, as she of his. They had been too long +congenial spirits not to become immediately dear, +personal friends. His noble poem of "Marmion," +which appeared during her stay, was +read aloud by her for the first time to her two +friends Miss Miller and Miss Maxwell. In the +introduction to the third canto occurs that splendid +tribute to her genius which, well-known as it +is, we can not resist quoting once more. The +bard describes himself as advised by a friend, +since he will lend his hours to thriftless rhyme, +to</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Restore the ancient tragic line,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And emulate the notes that rung<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the wild harp, which silent hung<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By silver Avon's holy shore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till twice an hundred years rolled o'er;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When she, the bold enchantress, came,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With fearless hand and heart on flame!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the pale willow snatch'd the treasure,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And swept it with a kinder measure,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till Avon's swans, while rung the grove<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With Montfort's hate and Basil's love,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Awakening at the inspired strain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Deem'd their own Shakspeare lived again."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Deeply gratified and touched as she must have +been, the strong-minded poetess was able to read +these exquisite lines unfalteringly to the end, +and only lost her self-possession when one of her +affectionate friends rising, and throwing her +arms round her, burst into tears of delight.</p> + +<p>As she did not refuse to go into company, +she could not be long in Edinburgh without +encountering Francis Jeffrey, the foremost man +in the bright train of <i>beaux-esprits</i> which then +adorned the society of the Scottish capital. He +would gladly have been presented to her; and +if she had permitted it, there is little doubt that +in the eloquent flow of his delightful and genial +conversation, enough of the admiration he really +felt for her poetry must have been expressed, +to have softened her into listening at least with +patience to his suggestions for her improvement. +But in vain did the friendly Mrs. Betty Hamilton +(authoress of "The Cottagers of Glenburnie") +beg for leave to present him to her +when they met in her hospitable drawing-room; +and equally in vain were the efforts made by +the good-natured Duchess of Gordon to bring +about an introduction which she knew was +desired at least by one of the parties. It was +civilly but coldly declined by the poetess; and +though the dignified reason assigned was the +propriety of leaving the critic more entirely at +liberty in his future strictures than an <i>acquaintance</i> +might perhaps feel himself, there seems +little reason to doubt that soreness and natural +resentment had something to do with the refusal.</p> + +<p>In 1809 her Highland play, the "Family +Legend"—a tragedy founded on a story of one +of the M'Leans of Appin—was successfully produced +in the Edinburgh theatre. Sir Walter +Scott, who took a lively interest in its success, +contributed the prologue, and Henry Mackenzie +(the "Man of Feeling") the epilogue. It was +acted with great applause for fourteen successive +nights, and gave occasion for the passage of +many pleasant letters between Sir Walter and +the authoress, afterward published by Mr. Lockhart. +In 1812 followed the third and last +volume of her plays illustrative of the higher +passions of the mind. It contained four plays—one +in verse and one in prose on fear ("Orra" +and the "Dream"); the "Siege," a comedy on +the same passion; and "The Beacon," a serious +musical drama—perhaps the most faultless of +Miss Baillie's productions, and generally allowed +to be one of the most exquisite dramatic +poems in the English language. This fresh +attempt, at the end of nine years, to follow out, +against all warning and advice, her narrow and +objectionable system of dramatic art, was certainly +ill-judged. Of course it brought upon +the pertinacious theorist another tremendous +broadside from the provoked reviewer. But +though we can sympathize in a considerable +degree with him in denouncing her whole scheme—and +more bitterly than ever—as perverse, +fantastic, and utterly impracticable—it is not +easy to forgive the accusation so liberally added +as to the execution—of poverty of incident and +diction, want of individual reality of character, +and the total absence of wit, humor, or any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> +species of brilliancy. That Miss Baillie's plays +are better suited to the sober perusal of the +closet than the bustle and animation of the +theatre must at once be admitted; but we think +nobody can read even a single volume of these +remarkable works, without finding in it, besides +the good sense, good feeling, and intelligent morality +to which her formidable critic is fretted +into limiting her claims, abundant proof of that +deep and intuitive knowledge of the mystery of +man's nature, which can alone fit its possessor +for the successful delineation of either wayward +passion or noble sacrifice—of skillful and original +creative power—of delicate discrimination +of character—and of a command of simple, +forcible, and eloquent language, that has not +often been equaled, and, perhaps, never surpassed.</p> + +<p>But our limits forbid us to linger, and a mere +enumeration of her remaining productions is all +they will permit. This is the less to be regretted, +that our object is rather to give a sketch, +however slight and imperfect, of her long and +honored life, than to attempt a studied analysis +of works to which the world has long ago done +justice. In 1821 were published her "Metrical +Legends of Exalted Character," the subjects of +which were—"Wallace, the Scottish Chief," +"Columbus," and "Lady Griseld Baillie." +They are written in irregular verse, avowedly +after the manner of Scott, and are among the +noblest of her productions. Some fine ballads +complete the volume. In 1823 appeared a volume +of "Poetical Miscellanies," which had been +much talked of beforehand. It included, besides +some slight pieces by Mrs. Hemans and +Miss Catherine Fanshaw, Scott's fine dramatic +sketch of "Macduff's Cross." "The Martyr," +a tragedy on religion, appeared in 1826. It +was immediately translated into the Cingalese +language; and, flattered by the appropriation, +Miss Baillie, in 1828, published another tragedy—"The +Bride," a story of Ceylon, and dedicated +in particular to the Cingalese. Of the +three volumes of dramas written many years +before, but not published till 1836—though +they were eagerly welcomed by the public, and +greatly admired as dramatic poems—only two, +the tragedies of "Henriquez" and "The Separation," +have ever been acted. These, besides +many charming songs, sung by our greatest +minstrels, and always listened to with delight +by the public, and a small volume of "Fugitive +Verses," complete the long catalogue of her +successful labors. They were collected by +herself, and published, with many additions +and corrections, in the popular form of one +monster volume, only a few weeks before her +death.</p> + +<p>To return, for a brief space, to the course of +her life. It was in the autumn of 1820 that +Miss Baillie paid her last visit to Scotland, and +passed those delightful days with Sir Walter +Scott at Abbotsford, the second of which is so +pleasantly given in Mr. Lockhart's life of the +bard. Her friends again perceived a change in +her manners. They had become blander, and +much more cordial. She had probably been +now too long admired and reverently looked up +to, not to understand her own position, and the +encouragement which, essentially unassuming +as she was, would be necessary from her to reassure +the timid and satisfy the proud. She +had magnanimously forgiven and lived down +the unjust severity of her Edinburgh critic, and +now no longer refused to be made personally +known to him. He was presented to her by +their mutual friend, the amiable Dr. Morehead. +They had much earnest and interesting talk +together, and from that hour to the end of their +lives entertained for each other a mutual and +cordial esteem. After this Jeffrey seldom visited +London without indulging himself in a +friendly pilgrimage to the shrine of the secluded +poetess; and it is pleasing to find him writing +of her in the following cordial way in later +years: "<i>London, April</i> 28, 1840.—I forgot to +tell you that we have been twice out to Hampstead +to hunt out Joanna Baillie, and found her +the other day as fresh, natural, and amiable as +ever—and as little like a Tragic Muse. Since +old Mrs. Brougham's death, I do not know so +nice an old woman." And again, in January +7, 1842—"We went to Hampstead, and paid +a very pleasant visit to Joanna Baillie, who is +marvelous in health and spirits, and youthful +freshness and simplicity of feeling, and not a +bit deaf, blind, or torpid."</p> + +<p>About two years after her last visit to Scotland, +Miss Baillie had the grief of losing her +brother and beloved friend, Dr. Matthew Baillie, +who, after a life of remarkable activity and +usefulness, died full of honors in 1823. He +left, besides a widow, who long survived him, +a son and daughter, who with their families +have been the source of much delightful and +affectionate interest to the declining years of +the retired sisters. In the composition and +careful revisal of her numerous and varied +works—in receiving at her modest home the +friends she most loved and respected, a list of +whom would include many of the best-known +names of her time for talent and genius—in the +active exercise of friendship, benevolence, and +charity—ever contented with the lot assigned +to her, and as grateful for the enjoyment of +God's blessings as she was submissive to his +painful trials—her unusually complete life glided +calmly on, and was peacefully closed on the 23d +of February last.</p> + +<p>It will be easily believed, that in spite of all +the natural modesty and reserve of Miss Baillie's +character, the impression made by the appearance +of one so highly gifted on those who had +the happiness of being admitted to her intimacy, +was neither slight nor evanescent. "Dear, +venerable Joanna!" writes one of those, "I wish +I could, for my own or others' benefit, recall, +and in any way fix, the features of your countenance +and mind! The ever-thoughtful brow—the +eye that in old age still dilated with expression, +or was suffused with a tear. I never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> +felt afraid of her. How could I, having experienced +nothing but the most constant kindness +and indulgence? I had heard of the +'awful stillness of the Hampstead drawing-room;' +and when I first saw her in her own +quiet home (she must have been then bordering +on seventy, and I on twenty), I remember likening +myself to the devil in Milton. I felt 'how +awful goodness is—and virtue in her shape, +how lovely!' One could not help feeling a +constant reverence for her worth, even more +than an admiration of her intellectual gifts. +There was something, indeed, in her appearance +that quite contrasted with one's ideas of authorship, +which made one forget her works in her +presence—nay, almost wonder if the neat, precise +old maid before one could really be the +same person who had painted the warm passion +of a Basil, or soared to and sympathized with +the ambition of a Mohammed or a Paleologus."</p> + +<p>In a little tract, published about twenty +years before her death, she indicates her religious +creed. After studying the Scriptures carefully—examining +the gospels and epistles, and +comparing them with one another, which she +thinks is all the unlearned can do—she faithfully +sets down every passage relating to the +divinity and mission of Christ; and, looking to +the bearing of the whole, is able to rest her +mind upon the Arian doctrine, which supposes +Him to be "a most highly-gifted Being, who +was with God before the creation of the world, +and by whose agency it probably was created, +by power derived from Almighty God." That +she was no bigoted sectarian in religion, whatever +she may once have been in poetry, is +pleasingly shown by the following sentences. +They occur in a letter to her ever esteemed and +admired friend Mrs. Siddons, to whom she had +sent a copy of this tract. They do honor to +both the ladies:—"You have treated my little +book very handsomely, and done all that I +wish people to do in regard to it; for you have +read the passages from Scripture, I am sure, +with attention, and have considered them with +candor. That after doing so, your opinions, on +the main point, should be different from mine, +is no presumption that either of us is in the +wrong, or that our humble, sincere faith, though +different, will not be equally accepted by the +great father and master of us all. Indeed, this +tract was less intended for Christians, whose +faith is already fixed, than for those who, supposing +certain doctrines to be taught in Scripture +(which do not, when taken in one general +view, appear to be taught there), and which +they can not bring their minds to agree to, +throw off revealed religion altogether. No +part of your note, my dear madam, has pleased +me more than that short parenthesis ('for I +still hold fast my own faith without wavering'), +and long may this be the case! The fruits +of that faith, in the course of your much-tried +and honorable life, are too good to allow any +one to find fault with it."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A VISIT AT MR. WEBSTER'S.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></h2> + + +<p>We have been much charmed with our visit +to Green Harbor, Marshfield, the beautiful +domain of Mr. Webster. It is a charming and +particularly enjoyable place, almost close to the +sea. The beach here is something marvelous, +eight miles in breadth, and of splendid, hard, +floor-like sand, and when this is covered by the +rolling Atlantic, the waves all but come up to +the neighboring green, grassy fields. Very high +tides cover them.</p> + +<p>This house is very prettily fitted up. It +strikes me as being partly in the English and +partly in the French style, exceedingly comfortable, +and with a number of remarkably pretty +drawing-rooms opening into one another, which +always is a judicious arrangement I think; it +makes a party agreeable and unformal. There +are a variety of pictures and busts by American +artists, and some of them are exceedingly good. +There is a picture in the chief drawing-room of +Mr. Webster's gallant son, who was killed in the +Mexican war. The two greatest of America's +statesmen each lost a son in that war, Mr. Clay +and Mr. Webster. There is also a fine picture +of Mr. Webster himself, which, however, though +a masterly painting, does not do justice to the +distinguished original. It was executed some +years ago; but I really think it is not so handsome +as the great statesman is now, with his +Olympus-like brow, on which are throned such +divinities of thought, and with that wonderful +countenance of might and majesty.</p> + +<p>The dining-room here is a charming apartment, +with all its windows opening to the +ground, looking on the garden; and it is deliciously +cool, protected from the sun by the +overshadowing masses of foliage of the most +magnificent weeping (American) elms. These +colossal trees stand just before the house, and +are pre-eminently beautiful: they seem to unite +in their own gigantic persons the exquisite and +exceeding grace of the weeping willow, with the +strength and grandeur of the towering elm. I +was told a curious fact last night. Every where, +through the length and breadth of the States, the +sycamore trees this year are blighted and dying.</p> + +<p>The walls of the dining-room are adorned +chiefly with English engravings, among which +there is one of my father. My bed-room is profusely +decorated with prints of different English +country houses and castles. The utmost good +taste and refinement are perceptible in the arrangements +of the house, and a most enchanting +place of residence it is. All the domestics +of the house are colored persons, which is very +seldom indeed the case in this part of the United +States. Mr. Webster tells me he considers +them the best possible servants, much attached, +contented, and grateful, and he added, he would +"fearlessly trust them with <i>untold gold</i>." They +certainly must be good ones, to judge by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +exquisite neatness and order of every thing in +the establishment.</p> + +<p>Mr. Webster's farm here consists of one thousand +five hundred acres: he has a hundred head +of cattle.</p> + +<p>Mr. F. Webster has been a good deal in India, +and he was mentioning the other evening that +he was struck, in several of the English schools +in that country, by the tone of some political +lessons that were taught there. For instance, +with regard to freedom and representation of +the people, &c.; the natives were forcibly reminded +of their own unrepresented state, by +questions bearing on the subject—the United +States being instanced as an example of almost +universal suffrage; Great Britain itself of a less +extensive elective franchise; France, of whatever +France was then; and Hindostan <i>especially</i> +pointed out as having nothing of the kind, as +if they really wished to make the poor Hindoos +discontented with their present state. To be +sure they might as well go to Persia and Turkey +for their examples. Mr. F. Webster seemed to +think the Hindoos were beginning a little to +turn their thoughts to such political subjects.</p> + +<p>While we were at dinner a day or two ago, +a new guest, who had arrived rather late from +New York, walked in, being announced as a +general. He was a very military-looking man, +indeed, with a formidable pair of mustaches. +Some turn in the conversation reminding me of +the Mexican war, I asked if General —— had +served in Mexico. Mr. —— laughed, and told +me he was in the militia, and had never smelt +powder in his life.</p> + +<p>What enterprising travelers American ladies +sometimes are! My Atlantic-crossing performances +seem very little in comparison with some +of their expeditions. It would not surprise me +that any who have ever gone to settle in the +far-off portions of the country, and been doomed +to undergo such rugged experiences as those described +in the American work (by a lady) called +"A New Home, Who'll Follow?" should laugh +at hardships and discomforts which might reasonably +deter less seasoned and experienced +travelers; but it must be a very different case +with those habituated only to refinements and +luxuries. Mr. Webster had told me he had expected +for some little time past the arrival of a +lady, a relative of his, who had lately left China +for the United States; she was to leave her +husband in the Celestial flowery land, her intention +being, I believe, to see her relatives and +friends at home, and then to rejoin him in the +course of some months in China.</p> + +<p>Like the gallant chieftain spoken of before, +he arrived late, and during dinner the doors +were thrown open and "Mrs. P——, from +China," was announced. She came in, and +met her relatives and friends, as quietly as if +she had merely made a "petite promenade de +quinze jours" (as the French boasted they should +do when they went to besiege Antwerp). She +seated herself at table, when a few questions +were asked relative to her voyage.</p> + +<p>"Had you a good passage?"</p> + +<p>"Very—altogether."</p> + +<p>"How long?"</p> + +<p>"About one hundred and three days" (I think +this is correct, but I can not answer to a day).</p> + +<p>"Pleasant companions?"</p> + +<p>"Very much so, and with books the time +passed very agreeably."</p> + +<p>All this was as quietly discussed as if the +passage had been from Dover to Boulogne, and +the length of the time of absence a fortnight.</p> + +<p>Mr. Webster was good enough to drive me +out yesterday, and a most splendid drive we +had. At one part, from a rather high eminence, +we had a glorious panoramic view: it was really +sublime: ocean, forest, hill, valley, promontory, +river, field, glade, and hollow, were spread before +us; altogether they formed a truly magnificent +prospect. One almost seemed to be looking into +boundless space. We paused at this spot a little +while to admire the beautiful scene. How +meet a companion the giant Atlantic seemed for +that mighty mind, to some of whose noble sentiments +I had just been listening with delight +and veneration, and yet how far beyond the +widest sweep of ocean, is the endless expanse +of the immortal intellect—time-overcoming—creation-compelling!</p> + +<p>However, while I was thus up in the clouds, +they (condescendingly determining, I suppose, +to return my call) suddenly came down upon +us, and unmercifully. St. Swithin! what a rain +it was! The Atlantic is a beautiful object to +look at, but when either he, or some cousin-german +above, takes it into his head to act the +part of shower-bath-extraordinary to you, it is +not so pleasant. My thoughts immediately fled +away from ocean (except the <i>descending</i> one), +forest, hill, dale, and all the circumjacent scenery, +to centre ignominiously on my bonnet, to +say nothing of the tip of my nose, which was +drenched and drowned completely in a half +second. My vail—humble defense against the +fury of the elements!—accommodated its dripping +self to the features of my face, like the +black mask of some desperate burglar, driven +against it, also, by the wind, that blew a "few," +I can assure the reader.</p> + +<p>How Mr. Webster contrived to drive, I know +not, but drive he did, at a good pace too, for +"after us," indeed, was "the deluge;" I could +scarcely see him; a wall of water separated us, +but ever and anon I heard faintly, through the +hissing, and splashing, and lashing, and pattering +of the big rain, his deep, sonorous voice, +recommending me to keep my cloak well about +me, which no mortal cloak of any spirit will +ever allow you to do at such needful moments—not +it! "My kingdom for a pin."</p> + +<p>When we arrived at Green Harbour, we found +Mrs. Webster very anxious for the poor rain-beaten +wayfarers. She took every kind care of +me, and, except a very slight <i>soupçon</i> of a cold, +the next morning, I did not suffer any inconvenience. +Mr. Webster had complained of not +being very well before (I think a slight attack<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +of hay-asthma), but I was glad to meet him +soon afterward at dinner, not at all the worse +for the tempestuous drive; and for my part, I +could most cordially thank him for the glorious +panorama he had shown me, and the splendid +drive through what seemed almost interminable +woods: and (since we had got safely through +it), I was not sorry to have witnessed the very +excellent imitation of the Flood which had been +presented before (and some of it into) my astonished +eyes. Mr. Webster told me the drive +through the woods would have been extended, +but for the rain, ten miles!</p> + +<p>I can not describe to you the almost adoration +with which Mr. Webster is regarded in +New England. The newspapers chronicle his +every movement, and constantly contain anecdotes +respecting him, and he invariably is treated +with the greatest respect by everybody, and, +in fact, his intellectual greatness seems all but +worshiped. Massachusetts boasts, with a commendable +pride and exultation, that he is one +of her children. A rather curious anecdote has +been going the round of the papers lately. It +appears Mr. Webster was at Martha's Vineyard +a short time ago, and he drove up to the door +of the principal hotel, at Edgartown, the capital, +accompanied by some of his family, and +attended, as usual, by his colored servants. +Now, it must be observed that Mr. Webster has +a swarthy, almost South-Spanish complexion, +and when he put his head out of the window +and inquired for apartments, the keeper of the +hotel, casting dismayed glances, first at the +domestics of different shades of sable and mahogany, +and then at the fine dark face of Mr. +Webster, excused himself from providing them +with accommodation, declaring he made it a +rule never to receive any <i>colored persons</i>. (This +in New England, if the tale be true!). The +great statesman and his family were about to +seek for accommodation elsewhere—thinking +the hotel-keeper alluded to his servants—when +the magical name of "glorious Dan" becoming +known, mine host, penitent and abashed, after +profuse apologies, intreated him to honor his +house with his presence. "All's well that ends +well."</p> + +<p>One can not wonder at the Americans' extreme +admiration of the genius and the statesman-like +qualities of their distinguished countryman, +his glorious and electrifying eloquence, +his great powers of ratiocination, his solid judgment, +his stores of knowledge, and his large and +comprehensive mind—a mind of that real expansion +and breadth which, heaven knows, too +few public men can boast of.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE JEWELED WATCH.</h2> + + +<p>Among the many officers who, at the close +of the Peninsular war, retired on half-pay, +was Captain Dutton of the —th regiment. He +had lately married the pretty, portionless daughter +of a deceased brother officer; and filled with +romantic visions of rural bliss and "love in a +cottage," the pair, who were equally unskilled +in the practical details of housekeeping, fancied +they could live in affluence, and enjoy all the +luxuries of life, on the half-pay which formed +their sole income.</p> + +<p>They took up their abode near a pleasant +town in the south of England, and for a time +got on pretty well; but when at the end of the +first year a sweet little boy made his appearance, +and at the end of the second an equally +sweet little girl, they found that nursemaids, +baby-linen, doctors, and all the etceteras appertaining +to the introduction and support of these +baby-visitors, formed a serious item in their +yearly expenditure.</p> + +<p>For a while they struggled on without falling +into debt; but at length their giddy feet slipped +into that vortex which has engulfed so many, +and their affairs began to assume a very gloomy +aspect. About this time an adventurer named +Smith, with whom Captain Dutton became +casually acquainted, and whose plausible manners +and appearance completely imposed on the +frank, unsuspecting soldier, proposed to him a +plan for insuring, as he represented it, a large and +rapid fortune. This was to be effected by embarking +considerable capital in the manufacture +of some new kind of spirit-lamps, which Smith +assured the captain would, when once known, +supersede the use of candles and oil-lamps +throughout the kingdom.</p> + +<p>To hear him descant on the marvelous virtues +and money-making qualities of his lamp, +one would be inclined to take him for the lineal +descendant of Aladdin, and inheritor of that +scampish individual's precious heirloom. Our +modern magician, however, candidly confessed +that he still wanted the "slave of the lamp," +or, in other words, ready money, to set the invention +a-going; and he at length succeeded in +persuading the unlucky captain to sell out of +the army, and invest the price of his commission +in this luminous venture. If Captain Dutton +had refused to pay the money until he should +be able to pronounce correctly the name of the +invention, he would have saved his cash, at the +expense probably of a semi-dislocation of his +jaws; for the lamp rejoiced in an eight syllabled +title, of which each vocable belonged to a +different tongue—the first being Greek, the +fourth Syriac, and the last taken from the +aboriginal language of New Zealand; the intervening +sounds believed to be respectively akin +to Latin, German, Sanscrit, and Malay. Notwithstanding, +however, this <i>prestige</i> of a name, +the lamp was a decided failure: its light was +brilliant enough; but the odor it exhaled in +burning was so overpowering, so suggestive of +an evil origin, so every way abominable, that +those adventurous purchasers who tried it once, +seldom submitted their olfactory nerves to a +second ordeal. The sale and manufacture of +the lamp and its accompanying spirit were carried +on by Mr. Smith alone in one of the chief +commercial cities of England, he having kindly +arranged to take all the trouble off his partner's +hands, and only requiring him to furnish the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +necessary funds. For some time the accounts +of the business transmitted to Captain Dutton +were most flourishing, and he and his gentle +wife fondly thought they were about to realize +a splendid fortune for their little ones; but at +length they began to feel anxious for the arrival +of the cent.-per-cent. profits which had been +promised, but which never came; and Mr. +Smith's letters suddenly ceasing, his partner +one morning set off to inspect the scene of +operations.</p> + +<p>Arrived at L——, he repaired to the street +where the manufactory was situated, and found +it shut up! Mr. Smith had gone off to America, +considerably in debt to those who had been +foolish enough to trust him; and leaving more +rent due on the premises than the remaining +stock in trade of the unpronounceable lamp +would pay. As to the poor ex-captain, he returned +to his family a ruined man.</p> + +<p>But strength is often found in the depths of +adversity, courage in despair; and both our +hero and his wife set resolutely to work to support +themselves and their children. Happily +they owed no debts. On selling out, Captain +Dutton had honorably paid every farthing he +owed in the world before intrusting the remainder +of his capital to the unprincipled Smith; +and now this upright conduct was its own reward.</p> + +<p>He wrote a beautiful hand, and while seeking +some permanent employment, earned a +trifle occasionally by copying manuscripts, and +engrossing in an attorney's office. His wife +worked diligently with her needle; but the care +of a young family, and the necessity of dispensing +with a servant, hindered her from adding +much to their resources. Notwithstanding their +extreme poverty, they managed to preserve a +decent appearance, and to prevent even their +neighbors from knowing the straits to which +they were often reduced. Their little cottage +was always exquisitely clean and neat; and +the children, despite of scanty clothing, and +often insufficient food, looked as they were, +the sons and daughters of a gentleman.</p> + +<p>It was Mrs. Dutton's pride to preserve the +respectable appearance of her husband's wardrobe; +and often did she work till midnight at +turning his coat and darning his linen, that he +might appear as usual among his equals. She +often urged him to visit his former acquaintances, +who had power to befriend him, and +solicit their interest in obtaining some permanent +employment; but the soldier, who was as +brave as a lion when facing the enemy, shrank +with the timidity of a girl from exposing himself +to the humiliation of a refusal, and could +not bear to confess his urgent need. He had +too much delicacy to press his claims; he was +too proud to be importunate; and so others +succeeded where he failed.</p> + +<p>It happened that the general under whom he +had served, and who had lost sight of him since +his retirement from the service, came to spend +a few months at the watering-place near which +the Duttons resided, and hired for the season a +handsome furnished house. Walking one morning +on the sands, in a disconsolate mood, our +hero saw, with surprise, his former commander +approaching; and with a sudden feeling of +false shame, he tried to avoid a recognition. +But the quick eye of General Vernon was not +to be eluded, and intercepting him with an +outstretched hand, he exclaimed—"What, Dutton! +is that you? It seems an age since we +met. Living in this neighborhood, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, general; I have been living here since +I retired from the service."</p> + +<p>"And you sold out, I think—to please the +mistress, I suppose, Dutton? Ah! these ladies +have a great deal to answer for. Tell Mrs. +Dutton I shall call on her some morning, and +read her a lecture for taking you from us."</p> + +<p>Poor Dutton's look of confusion, as he pictured +the general's visit surprising his wife in +the performance of her menial labors, rather +surprised the veteran; but its true cause did +not occur to him. He had had a great regard +for Dutton, considering him one of the best and +bravest officers under his command, and was +sincerely pleased at meeting him again; so, +after a ten minutes' colloquy, during the progress +of which the ex-soldier, like a war-horse +who pricks up his ears at the sound of the +trumpet, became gay and animated, as old +associations of the camp and field came back +on him, the general shook him heartily by the +hand, and said—"You'll dine with me to-morrow, +Dutton, and meet a few of your old friends? +Come, I'll take no excuse; you must not turn +hermit on our hands."</p> + +<p>At first Dutton was going to refuse, but on +second thoughts accepted the invitation, not +having, indeed, any good reason to offer for +declining it. Having taken leave of the general, +therefore, he proceeded toward home, and +announced their rencontre to his wife. She, +poor woman, immediately took out his well-saved +suit, and occupied herself in repairing, as +best she might, the cruel ravages of time; as +well as in starching and ironing an already +snowy shirt to the highest degree of perfection.</p> + +<p>Next day, in due time, he arrived at General +Vernon's handsome temporary dwelling, and received +a cordial welcome. A dozen guests, civilians +as well as soldiers, sat down to a splendid +banquet. After dinner, the conversation happened +to turn on the recent improvements in arts +and manufactures; and comparisons were drawn +between the relative talent for invention displayed +by artists of different countries. Watch-making +happening to be mentioned as one of +the arts which had during late years been wonderfully +improved, the host desired his valet to +fetch a most beautiful little watch, a perfect +<i>chef-d'œuvre</i> of workmanship, which he had +lately purchased in Paris; and which was less +valuable for its richly jeweled case, than for the +exquisite perfection of the mechanism it enshrined. +The trinket passed from hand to +hand, and was greatly admired by the guests;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +then the conversation turned on other topics, +and many subjects were discussed, until they +adjourned to the drawing-room to take coffee.</p> + +<p>After sitting there a while, the general suddenly +recollected his watch, and ringing for his +valet, desired him to take it from the dining-room +table, where it had been left, and restore +it to its proper place. In a few moments the +servant returned, looking somewhat frightened: +he could not find the watch. General Vernon, +surprised, went himself to search, but was not +more fortunate.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps, sir, you or one of the company +may have carried it by mistake into the drawing-room?"</p> + +<p>"I think not; but we will try."</p> + +<p>Another search, in which all the guests joined, +but without avail.</p> + +<p>"What I fear," said the general, "is that +some one by chance may tread upon and break +it."</p> + +<p>General Vernon was a widower, and this +costly trinket was intended as a present to his +only child, a daughter, who had lately married +a wealthy baronet.</p> + +<p>"We will none of us leave this room until it +is found!" exclaimed one of the gentlemen +with ominous emphasis.</p> + +<p>"That decision," said a young man, who +was engaged that night to a ball, "might quarter +us on our host for an indefinite time. I +propose a much more speedy and satisfactory +expedient: let us all be searched."</p> + +<p>This suggestion was received with laughter +and acclamations; and the young man, presenting +himself as the first victim, was searched +by the valet, who, for the nonce, enacted the +part of custom-house officer. The general, who +at first opposed this piece of practical pleasantry, +ended by laughing at it; and each new inspection +of pockets produced fresh bursts of mirth. +Captain Dutton alone took no share in what +was going on: his hand trembled, his brow +darkened, and he stood as much apart as possible. +At length his turn came; the other +guests had all displayed the contents of their +pockets, so with one accord, and amid renewed +laughter, they surrounded him, exclaiming that +he must be the guilty one, as he was the last. +The captain, pale and agitated, muttered some +excuses, unheard amid the uproar.</p> + +<p>"Now for it, Johnson!" cried one to the +valet.</p> + +<p>"Johnson, we're watching you!" said another; +"produce the culprit."</p> + +<p>The servant advanced; but Dutton crossing +his arms on his breast, declared in an agitated +voice, that, except by violence, no one should +lay a hand on him. A very awkward silence +ensued, which the general broke by saying: +"Captain Dutton is right; this child's play has +lasted long enough. I claim exemption for him +and for myself."</p> + +<p>Dutton, trembling and unable to speak, thanked +his kind host by a grateful look, and then +took an early opportunity of withdrawing; +General Vernon did not make the slightest remark +on his departure, and the remaining guests, +through politeness, imitated his reserve; but +the mirth of the evening was gone, every face +looked anxious, and the host himself seemed +grave and thoughtful.</p> + +<p>Captain Dutton spent some time in wandering +restlessly on the sands before he returned +home. It was late when he entered the cottage, +and his wife could not repress an exclamation +of affright when she saw his pale and troubled +countenance.</p> + +<p>"What has happened?" cried she.</p> + +<p>"Nothing," replied her husband, throwing +himself on a chair, and laying a small packet +on the table. "You have cost me very dear," +he said, addressing it. In vain did his wife try +to soothe him, and obtain an explanation. +"Not now, Jane," he said; "to-morrow we +shall see. To-morrow I will tell you all."</p> + +<p>Early next morning he went to General +Vernon's house. Although he walked resolutely, +his mind was sadly troubled. How could he +present himself? In what way would he be +received? How could he speak to the general +without risking the reception of some look or +word which he could never pardon? The very +meeting with Johnson was to be dreaded.</p> + +<p>He knocked; another servant opened the +door, and instantly gave him admission. "<i>This</i> +man, at all events," he thought, "knows nothing +of what has passed." Will the general receive +him? Yes; he is ushered into his dressing-room. +Without daring to raise his eyes, the +poor man began to speak in a low hurried voice.</p> + +<p>"General Vernon, you thought my conduct +strange last night; and painful and humiliating +as its explanation will be, I feel it due to you +and to myself to make it—"</p> + +<p>His auditor tried to speak, but Dutton went +on, without heeding the interruption. "My +misery is at its height: that is my only excuse. +My wife and our four little ones are actually +starving!"</p> + +<p>"My friend!" cried the general with emotion. +But Dutton proceeded.</p> + +<p>"I can not describe my feelings yesterday +while seated at your luxurious table. I thought +of my poor Jane, depriving herself of a morsel +of bread to give it to her baby; of my little +pale thin Annie, whose delicate appetite rejects +the coarse food which is all we can give her; +and in an evil hour I transferred two <i>patés</i> from +my plate to my pocket, thinking they would +tempt my little darling to eat. I should have +died of shame had these things been produced +from my pocket, and your guests and servant +made witnesses of my cruel poverty. Now, +general, you know all; and but for the fear of +being suspected by you of a crime, my distress +should never have been known!"</p> + +<p>"A life of unblemished honor," replied his +friend, "has placed you above the reach of +suspicion; besides, look here!" And he showed +the missing watch. "It is I," continued he, +"who must ask pardon of you all. In a fit of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> +absence I had dropped it into my waistcoat +pocket, where, in Johnson's presence, I discovered +it while undressing."</p> + +<p>"If I had only known!" murmured poor +Dutton.</p> + +<p>"Don't regret what has occurred," said the +general, pressing his hand kindly. "It has been +the means of acquainting me with what you +should never have concealed from an old friend, +who, please God, will find some means to serve +you."</p> + +<p>In a few days Captain Dutton received another +invitation to dine with the general. All +the former guests were assembled, and their +host, with ready tact, took occasion to apologize +for his strange forgetfulness about the watch. +Captain Dutton found a paper within the folds +of his napkin: it was his nomination to an +honorable and lucrative post, which insured +competence and comfort to himself and his +family.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>NEW PROOF OF THE EARTH'S ROTATION.</h2> + + +<p>"The earth does move notwithstanding," +whispered Galileo, leaving the dungeon +of the Inquisition: by which he meant his +friends to understand, that if the earth did +move, the fact would remain so in spite of his +punishment. But a less orthodox assembly +than the conclave of Cardinals might have been +staggered by the novelty of the new philosophy. +According to Laplace, the apparent diurnal +phenomena of the heavens would be the same +either from the revolution of the sun or the +earth; and more than one reason made strongly +in favor of the prevalent opinion that the earth, +not the sun, was stationary. First, it was most +agreeable to the impression of the senses; and +next, to disbelieve in the fixity of the solid globe, +was not only to eject from its pride of place our +little planet, but to disturb the long-cherished +sentiment that we ourselves are the centre—the +be-all and end-all of the universe. However, +the truth will out; and this is its great distinction +from error, that while every new discovery +adds to its strength, falsehood is weakened and +at last driven from the field.</p> + +<p>That the earth revolves round the sun, and +rotates on its polar axis, have long been the +settled canons of our system. But the rotation +of the earth has been rendered <i>visible</i> by a practical +demonstration, which has drawn much attention +in Paris, and is beginning to excite interest +in this country. The inventor is M. Foucault; +and the following description has +been given of the mode of proof:</p> + +<p>"At the centre of the dome of the Panthéon +a fine wire is attached, from which a sphere of +metal, four or five inches in diameter, is suspended +so as to hang near the floor of the building. +This apparatus is put in vibration after +the manner of a pendulum. Under and concentrical +with it, is placed a circular table, some +twenty feet in diameter, the circumference of +which is divided into degrees, minutes, &c., and +the divisions numbered. Now, supposing the +earth to have the diurnal motion imputed to it, +and which explains the phenomena of day and +night, the plane in which this pendulum vibrates +will not be affected by this motion, but the table +over which the pendulum is suspended will continually +change its position in virtue of the diurnal +motion, so as to make a complete revolution +round its centre. Since, then, the table thus +revolves, and the pendulum which vibrates over +it does not revolve, the consequence is, that a +line traced upon the table by a point projecting +from the bottom of the ball will change its direction +relatively to the table from minute to +minute and from hour to hour, so that if such +point were a pencil, and that paper were spread +upon the table, the course formed by this pencil +would form a system of lines radiating from the +centre of the table. The practiced eye of a correct +observer, especially if aided by a proper +optical instrument, may actually see the motion +which the table has in common with the earth +under the pendulum between two successive vibrations. +It is, in fact, apparent that the ball, +or rather the point attached to the bottom of +the ball, does not return precisely to the same +point of the circumference of the table after two +successive vibrations. Thus is rendered visible +the motion which the table has in common with +the earth."</p> + +<p>Crowds are said to flock daily to the Panthéon +to witness this interesting experiment. It has +been successfully repeated at the Russell Institution, +and preparations are being made in some +private houses for the purpose. A lofty staircase +or room twelve or fourteen feet high would +suffice; but the dome of St. Paul's, or, as suggested +by Mr. Sylvestre in the <i>Times</i>, the transept +of the Crystal Palace, offers the most eligible +site. The table would make its revolution +at the rate of 15° per hour. Explanations, +however, will be necessary from lecturers and +others who give imitations of M. Foucault's +ingenuity, to render it intelligible to those unacquainted +with mathematics, or with the laws +of gravity and spherical motion. For instance, +it will not be readily understood by every one +why the pendulum should vibrate in the same +plane, and not partake of the earth's rotation +in common with the table; but this could be +<i>shown</i> with a bullet suspended by a silk-worm's +thread. Next, the apparent horizontal revolution +of the table round its centre will be incomprehensible +to many, as representative of its +own and the earth's motion round its axis. +Perhaps Mr. Wyld's colossal globe will afford +opportunities for simplifying these perplexities +to the unlearned.</p> + +<p>The pendulum is indeed an extraordinary instrument, +and has been a useful handmaid to +science. We are familiar with it as the time-regulator +of our clocks, and the ease with which +they may be made to go faster or slower by adjusting +its length. But neither this nor the +Panthéon elucidation constitutes its sole application. +By it the latitude maybe approximately +ascertained, the density of the earth's strata in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +different places, and its elliptical eccentricity of +figure. The noble Florentine already quoted was +its inventor; and it is related of Galileo, while +a boy, that he was the first to observe how the +height of the vaulted roof of a church might be +measured by the times of the vibration of the +chandeliers suspended at different altitudes. +Were the earth perforated from London to our +antipodes, and the air exhausted, a ball dropped +through would at the centre acquire a velocity +sufficient to carry it to the opposite side, whence +it would again descend, and so oscillate forward +and backward from one side of the globe's surface +to the other in the manner of a pendulum. +Very likely the Cardinals of the Vatican would +deem this heresy, or "flat blasphemy."</p> + +<p>To clearly appreciate the following popular +explanation, it will be necessary for the reader to +convince himself of one property of the pendulum, +viz., that of constantly vibrating in the +same plane. Let it be imagined that a pendulum +is suspended over a common table, <i>the parts +bearing the pendulum being also attached to the +table</i>. Suppose, also, that the table can move +freely on its centre like a music-stool: the pendulum +being put in motion will continue to +move in the same plane between the eye and +any object on the walls of the room, although +the table is made to revolve, and during one +revolution will have <i>radiated</i> through the whole +circumference. A few moments' reflection are +only necessary to prove this.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ill-1851-june-illo_22.jpg" width="400" height="322" alt="FIGURE 1. Rotation of the earth—Diagram 1" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIGURE 1.</span> +</div> + +<p>The above figure represents a plane or table +on the top of a globe, or at the north pole of +the earth. To this table are fixed two rods, +from which is suspended a pendulum, moving +freely in any direction. The pendulum is made +to vibrate in the path <i>a b</i>; it will continue to +vibrate in this line, and have no apparent circular +or angular motion until the globe revolves, +when it will appear to have vibrated through +the entire circle, <i>to an object fixed on the table +and moving with it</i>. It is scarcely necessary to +say the circular motion of the pendulum is only +apparent, since it is the table that revolves—the +apparent motion of the pendulum in a circle +being the same as the apparent motion of +the land to a person on board ship, or the recession +of the earth to a person in a balloon. +The pendulum vibrates always in the same +plane at the pole, and in planes parallel to each +other at any intermediate point.</p> + +<p><a name="Illo23" id="Illo23"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ill-1851-june-illo_23.jpg" width="400" height="400" alt="FIG. 2. Rotation of the earth—Diagram 2" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Fig. 2 represents the earth or a globe revolving +once in twenty-four hours on its axis (<span class="smcap">s n</span>). +It is divided, on its upper half, by lines parallel +to each other, representing the latitudes 60 degrees, +30 degrees, and the equator, where the +latitude is nothing. The lines <i>a b</i>, at 90, 60, +30, and 0 represent the planes of those latitudes; +or, in more familiar terms, tables, over which a +pendulum is supposed to vibrate, and moving +with them in their revolutions round the axis +(<span class="smcap">s n</span>). This being clearly understood, the next +object is to show how the pendulum moves +round the tables, for each of the latitudes; also +to show the gradual diminution of its circular motion +as it approaches the equator (<span class="smcap">e e</span>), where, +as was before observed, the latitude is nothing.</p> + +<p>A pendulum vibrating over the plane, or table +(<i>a b</i>), on the top of the globe, has been already +shown (by Fig. 1) to go round the entire +circle in twenty-four hours; or to have an angular +velocity of 90, or quarter of a circle, in six +hours. The plane (<i>a b</i>), at 60, has an inclination +to the axis (<span class="smcap">s n</span>), which will cause a pendulum +vibrating over it to move through its +circumference at a diminished rate. This will +be shown by reference to the figure. The globe +is revolving in the direction from left to right; +the pendulum is vibrating over the line <i>a b</i>, +which, at all times during its course, is parallel +with the first path of vibration. The plane may +now be supposed to have moved during six hours, +or to have gone through a quarter of an entire revolution, +equal to 90; but the pendulum has only +moved from <i>c</i> to <i>a</i>, considerably less than 90. +Again, if the plane is carried another six hours, +making together 180, the Figure shows the pendulum +to have moved only from <i>c</i> to <i>a</i>, considerably +less than 180. The same remarks apply to +the lower latitude of 30, where, it will be seen, the +circular, or angular motion of the pendulum, is +considerably slower than in the latitude of 60, continuing +to diminish, until it becomes nothing at +the equator, where it is clearly shown by the Figure +to be always parallel to itself, and constant +over its path of vibration through the entire circle.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ADVENTURE WITH A GRIZZLY BEAR.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></h2> + + +<p>I now took a long farewell of the horses, and +turned northward, selecting a line close in +by the base of the hills, going along at an improved +pace, with a view of reaching the trading-post +the same night; but stopping in a +gully to look for water, I found a little pool, +evidently scratched out by a bear, as there +were foot-prints and claw-marks about it; and +I was aware instinct prompts that brute where +water is nearest the surface, when he scratches +until he comes to it. This was one of very +large size, the foot-mark behind the toes being +full nine inches; and although I had my misgivings +about the prudence of a <i>tête-à-tête</i> with +a great grizzly bear, still the "better part of +valor" was overcome, as it often is, by the anticipated +honor and glory of a single combat, +and conquest of such a ferocious beast. I was +well armed, too, with my favorite rifle, a Colt's +revolver, that never disappointed me, and a non-descript +weapon, a sort of cross betwixt a claymore +and a bowie-knife; so, after capping afresh, +hanging the bridle on the horn of the saddle, +and, staking my mule, I followed the trail up a +gully, and much sooner than I expected came +within view and good shooting distance of +Bruin, who was seated erect, with his side toward +me, in front of a manzanita bush, making +a repast on his favorite berry.</p> + +<p>The sharp click of the cock causing him to +turn quickly round, left little time for deliberation; +so, taking a ready good aim at the region +of the heart, I let drive, the ball (as I subsequently +found) glancing along the ribs, entering +the armpit, and shattering smartly some of the +shoulder bones. I exulted as I saw him stagger +and come to his side; the next glance, +however, revealed him, to my dismay, on all +fours, in direct pursuit, but going lame; so I +bolted for the mule, sadly encumbered with a +huge pair of Mexican spurs, the nervous noise +of the crushing brush close in my rear convincing +me he was fast gaining on me; I therefore +dropped my rifle, putting on fresh steam, and +reaching the rope, pulled up the picket-pin, and +springing into the saddle with merely a hold of +the lariat, plunged the spurs into the mule, +which, much to my affright produced a kick and +a retrograde movement; but in the exertion +having got a glimpse of my pursuer, uttering; +snort of terror, he went off at a pace I did not +think him capable of, soon widening the distance +betwixt us and the bear; but having no +means of guiding his motions, he brought me +violently in contact with the arm of a tree, +which unhorsed and stunned me exceedingly. +Scrambling to my feet as well as I could, I saw +my relentless enemy close at hand, leaving me +the only alternative of ascending a tree; but, +in my hurried and nervous efforts, I had scarcely +my feet above his reach, when he was right under, +evidently enfeebled by the loss of blood, as +the exertion made it well out copiously. After +a moment's pause, and a fierce glare upward +from his blood-shot eyes, he clasped the trunk; +but I saw his endeavors to climb were crippled +by the wounded shoulder. However, by the aid +of his jaws, he just succeeded in reaching the +first branch with his sound arm, and was working +convulsively to bring up the body, when, +with a well-directed blow from my cutlass, I +completely severed the tendons of the foot, and +he instantly fell with a dreadful souse and horrific +growl, the blood spouting up as if impelled +from a jet; he rose again somewhat tardily, +and limping round the tree with upturned eyes, +kept tearing off the bark with his tusks. However, +watching my opportunity, and leaning +downward, I sent a ball from my revolver with +such good effect immediately behind the head, +that he dropped; and my nerves being now +rather more composed, I leisurely distributed +the remaining five balls in the most vulnerable +parts of his carcase.</p> + +<p>By this time I saw the muscular system totally +relaxed, so I descended with confidence, +and found him quite dead, and myself not a +little enervated with the excitement and the +effects of my wound, which bled profusely from +the temple; so much so, that I thought an artery +was ruptured. I bound up my head as +well as I could, loaded my revolver anew, and +returned for my rifle; but as evening was approaching, +and my mule gone, I had little time +to survey the dimensions of my fallen foe, and +no means of packing much of his flesh. I therefore +hastily hacked off a few steaks from his +thigh, and hewing off one of his hind feet as a +sure trophy of victory, I set out toward the trading-post, +which I reached about midnight, my +friend and my truant mule being there before +me, but no horses.</p> + +<p>I exhibited the foot of my fallen foe in great +triumph, and described the conflict with due +emphasis and effect to the company, who arose +to listen; after which I made a transfer of the +flesh to the traders, on condition that there was +not to be any charge for the hotel or the use of +the mule. There was an old experienced French +trapper of the party, who, judging from the size +of the foot, set down the weight of the bear at +1500 lbs., which, he said they frequently over-run, +he himself, as well as Colonel Frémont's +exploring party, having killed several that came +to 2000 lbs. He advised me, should I again +be pursued by a bear, and have no other means +of escape, to ascend a small-girthed tree, which +they can not get up, for, not having any central +joint in the fore-legs, they can not climb any +with a branchless stem that does not fully fill +their embrace; and in the event of not being +able to accomplish the ascent before my pursuer +overtook me, to place my back against it, when, +if it and I did not constitute a bulk capable of +filling his hug, I might have time to rip out his +entrails before he could kill me, being in a most +favorable posture for the operation. They do +not generally use their mouth in the destruction +of their victims, but, hugging them closely, lift<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +one of the hind-feet, which are armed with tremendous +claws, and tear out the bowels. The +Frenchman's advice reads rationally enough, +and is a feasible theory on the art of evading +unbearable compression; but, unfortunately, in +the haunts of that animal those slim juvenile +saplings are rarely met with, and a person +closely confronted with such a grizzly <i>vis-à-vis</i> +is not exactly in a tone of nerve for surgical +operations.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A VISIT TO THE NORTH CAPE.</h2> + + +<p>Having hired an open boat and a crew of +three hands, I left Hammerfest at nine <span class="smcap">p.m.</span>, +July 2, 1850, to visit the celebrated Nordkap. +The boat was one of the peculiar Nordland build—very +long, narrow, sharp, but strongly built, +with both ends shaped alike, and excellently +adapted either for rowing or sailing. We had +a strong head-wind from northeast at starting, +and rowed across the harbor to the spot +where the house of the British consul, Mr. Robertson, +a Scotchman, is situated, near to the little +battery (<i>fæstning</i>) which was erected to defend +the approach to Hammerfest, subsequently to +the atrocious seizure of the place by two English +ships during the last war. Mr. Robertson +kindly lent me a number of reindeer skins to lie +on at the bottom of the boat; and spreading +them on the rough stones we carried for ballast, +I was thus provided with an excellent bed. I +have slept for a fortnight at a time on reindeer +skins, and prefer them to any feather bed. Mr. +Robertson warned me that I should find it bitterly +cold at sea, and expressed surprise at my +light clothing; but I smiled, and assured him +that my hardy wandering life had habituated +me to bear exposure of every kind with perfect +impunity. By an ingenious contrivance of a +very long tiller, the pilot steered with one hand +and rowed with the other, and we speedily +cleared the harbor, and crept round the coast of +Qual Oe (Whale-Island), on which Hammerfest +is situated. About midnight, when the sun was +shining a considerable way above the horizon, +the view of a solitary little rock, in the ocean +ahead, bathed in a flood of crimson glory, was +most impressive. We proceeded with a tolerable +wind until six in the morning, when heavy +squalls of wind and torrents of rain began to +beat upon us, forcing us to run, about two hours +afterward, into Havösund; a very narrow strait +between the island of Havöe and the mainland +of Finmark. As it was impossible to proceed +in such a tempest, we ran the boat to a landing-place +in front of the summer residence of +Herr Ulich, a great magnate in Finmark. This +is undoubtedly the most northern gentleman's +house in the world. It is a large, handsome, +wooden building, painted white, and quite equal +in appearance to the better class of villas in the +North. The family only reside there during +the three summer months; and extensive warehouses +for the trade in dried cod or stockfish, +&c. are attached. My crew obtained shelter in +an outbuilding, and I unhesitatingly sought the +hospitality of the mansion. Herr Ulich himself +was absent, being at his house at Hammerfest, +but his amiable lady, and her son and two +daughters, received me with a frank cordiality +as great as though I were an old friend; and +in a few minutes I was thoroughly at home. +Here I found a highly accomplished family, surrounded +with the luxuries and refinements of +civilization, dwelling amid the wildest solitudes, +and so near the North Cape, that it can be distinctly +seen from their house in clear weather. +Madame Ulich and her daughters spoke nothing +but Norwegian; but the son, a very intelligent +young man of about nineteen, spoke English +very well. He had recently returned from a +two years' residence at Archangel, where the +merchants of Finmark send their sons to learn +the Russian language, as it is of vital importance +for their trading interests—the greater portion +of the trade of Finmark being with the White-Sea +districts, which supply them with meal and +other necessaries in exchange for stockfish, &c. +Near as they were to the North Cape, it was a +singular fact that Herr Ulich and his son had +only once visited it; and the former had resided +ten years at Havösund—not more than twenty-five +miles distant—ere that visit took place! +They said that very few travelers visited the +Cape; and, strange to say, the majority are +French and Italians.</p> + +<p>I declined to avail myself of the pressing +offer of a bed, and spent the morning in conversation +with this very interesting family. They +had a handsome drawing-room, containing a +grand colossal bust in bronze of Louis-Philippe, +King of the French. The ex-king, about fifty-five +years ago, when a wandering exile (under +the assumed name of Müller) visited the North +Cape. He experienced hospitality from many +residents in Finmark, and he had slept in this +very room; but the house itself then stood on +Maas Island, a few miles further north. Many +years ago, the present proprietor removed the +entire structure to Havöe; and his son assured +me the room itself was preserved almost exactly +as it was when Louis Philippe used it, though +considerable additions and improvements have +been made to other parts of the house. About +sixteen years ago, Paul Garnard, the president +of the commission shortly afterward sent by the +French government to explore Greenland and +Iceland, called on Herr Ulich, and said he was +instructed by the king to ask what present he +would prefer from his majesty as a memorial of +his visit to the North. A year afterward, the +corvette of war, <i>La Recherche</i>, on its way to +Iceland, &c. put into Havösund, and left the +bust in question, as the express gift of the king. +It is a grand work of art, executed in the finest +style, and is intrinsically very valuable, although +of course the circumstances under which it became +Herr Ulich's property add inestimably to +its worth in his eyes. The latter gentleman is +himself a remarkable specimen of the highly-educated +Norwegian. He has traveled over all +Europe, and speaks, more or less, most civilized<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> +languages. On my return to Hammerfest I +enjoyed the pleasure of his society, and his eager +hospitality; and he favored me with an introduction +for the Norwegian states minister at +Stockholm. I merely mention these things to +show the warm-hearted kindness which even an +unintroduced, unknown traveler may experience +in the far North. Herr Ulich has resided twenty-five +years at Havösund; and he says he thinks +that not more than six English travelers have +visited the North Cape within twenty years—that +is to say, by way of Hammerfest; but +parties of English gentlemen occasionally proceed +direct in their yachts.</p> + +<p>Fain would my new friends have delayed my +departure; but, wind and tide serving, I resumed +my voyage at noon, promising to call on +my return. In sailing through the sound, I +noticed a neat little wooden church, the most +northern in Finmark. A minister preaches in +it to the Fins and Laps at intervals, which +depend much on the state of the weather; but +I believe once a month in summer. The congregation +come from a circle of immense extent. +If I do not err, Mr. Robert Chambers mentions +in his tour having met with the clergyman of +this wild parish.</p> + +<p>Passing Maas Oe, we sailed across an open +arm of the sea, and reached the coast of Mager +Oe, the island on which the North Cape is +situated. Mager Oe is perhaps twenty miles +long by a dozen broad, and is separated from +the extreme northern mainland of Finmark by +Magerösund. Although a favorable wind blew, +my crew persisted in running into a harbor here, +where there is a very extensive fish-curing +establishment, called Gjesvohr, belonging to +Messrs Agaard of Hammerfest. There are +several houses, sheds, &c. and immense tiers of +the split stockfish drying across horizontal poles. +At this time about two hundred people were +employed, and one or two of the singular three-masted +White-Sea ships were in the harbor, +with many Finmark fishing-boats. The water +was literally black with droves of young cod, +which might have been killed by dozens as they +basked near the surface. My men loitered hour +after hour; but as I was most anxious to visit +the North Cape when the midnight sun illumined +it, I induced them to proceed.</p> + +<p>On resuming our voyage, we coasted along +the shore, which was one mass of savage, precipitous +rock, until the black massive Cape +loomed very distinctly in the horizon. I landed +at a bluff headland called Tunoes, and collected +a few flowers growing in crevices in the rock. +A little beyond that, in Sandbugt, a fragment +of wreck was discernible, and I ordered the boat +to be pulled toward it. It proved to be a +portion of the keel of a large ship, about fifty +feet long, and much worn. It had evidently +been hauled on the reefs by some fishermen, and +the fortunate salvors had placed their rude +marks upon it. I mused over this fragment of +wreck, which was mutely eloquent with melancholy +suggestiveness. How many prayers had +gone forth with the unknown ship! how many +fathers, brothers, sisters, lovers, and unconscious +widows and orphans, might at that moment be +hoping against hope for her return! To what +port did she belong? In what remote ocean +had she met her doom? Perchance this keel +had been borne by wind and tide from some +region of thick-ribbed ice, and was the only +relic to tell of the dark fate of a gallant bark +and brave crew! Alas, what a thrilling history +might that weed-tangled piece of wood be +linked with, and what food did it supply for the +wanderer's imagination!</p> + +<p>Resuming the voyage, we came to a long +promontory of solid rock, stretching far into the +sea, where it tapers down to the level of the +water. It is called Kniuskjœrodden; and I +particularly draw attention to it for the following +reason: at Hammerfest the consul favored +me with an inspection of the charts recently +published by the Norwegian government, from +express surveys by scientific officers of their +navy. The instant I cast my eye over the one +containing Mager Oe, I perceived that Kniuskjœrodden +was set down <i>further north than the +North Cape itself</i>! The consul said that such +was the actual fact, though he will not consent +to its disputing the legitimacy of the ancient +fame which the Cape worthily enjoys; since it +is merely a low, narrow projection, of altogether +insignificant character. I walked to its extremity, +and narrowly escaped being washed by the +roaring breakers into the deep transparent sea.</p> + +<p>Rounding Kniuskjœrodden, the North Cape +burst in all its sunlit grandeur on my delighted +view. It was now a dead calm, and my vikings +pulled very slowly across the grand bay of +Kniusvœrig, to afford me an opportunity of +sketching the object, which is one enormous +mass of solid rock, upward of a thousand feet +in elevation. I can compare it to nothing more +fitly than the keep of a castle of a tremendous +size; for it very gently tapers upward from the +base, and presents a surface marvelously resembling +time-worn masonry. The front approaches +the perpendicular, and so does much +of the western side also. The color of this +mighty rock is a dark, shining, speckled gray, +relieved by dazzling masses of snow lying in +the gigantic fissures, which seem to have been +riven by some dread convulsion. The impression +I felt as the boat glided beneath its shadow +was one of thrilling awe; for its magnificent +stern proportions—its colossal magnitude—its +position as the lonely, unchanging sentinel of +nature, which for countless ages has stood forth +as the termination of the European continent, +frowning defiance to the maddening fury of the +mystic Arctic Queen—all combine to invest it +with associations and attributes of overpowering +majesty. My ideas of its sublimity were +more than realized; and as I landed on its +base, in the blaze of the midnight sun, I felt +an emotion of proud joy, that my long-feasted +hope of gazing upon it at such an hour, and under +such circumstances, was literally fulfilled.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> + +<p>The only place where a landing can be effected +is on the western side, about a mile and a half +from the head of the Cape; and it is usual for +those who ascend it to go many miles round +from this starting-place to gain the summit, +because a direct upward ascent is considered +impracticable. But having much confidence in +my climbing capabilities, I resolved to adventure +the latter feat; and although burdened +with my sea-cloak and other things, I instantly +commenced the task, leaving the crew to slumber +in the boat until my return. I found the +whole of the western side, opposite the landing-place, +clothed with the most luxuriant vegetation +to the height of about a hundred yards. +There were myriads of flowers, including exquisite +white violets with hairy stems; purple, +red, and white star-flowers; the beautiful large +yellow cup-flower, growing on stems two feet +high, and called by the Norwegians <i>knap-sul-len-öie-blomster</i> +(literally, button-sun-eye-flower); +and many other varieties of species unknown to +me. There were also several kinds of dwarf +shrubs, including the juniper, then in green +berry. Butterflies and insects flitted gayly +from flower to flower. After resting on a ledge +of rock to take breath, and look down on the +glassy waters and the boat at my feet—now +dwindled to a speck—I resumed my clambering; +but to my extreme mortification, when I +had ascended two-thirds of the way, at no +small risk to my bones, I was mastered by +overhanging masses of rock, all trickling with +slimy moisture from the congealed snow above. +Here I had a narrow escape from being killed +by a fragment of loose rock giving way beneath +me, and drawing down other pieces after +it; but I clung tenaciously to a firm part, and +the heavy stones bounded harmlessly over my +head. I descended with difficulty; and after +carefully surveying the face of the rocks, tried +at a more favorable place, and even then I was +above an hour in gaining the summit. I understand +that I am the first adventurer who +has scaled the Cape at that place; and I certainly +was thankful when I could throw my +weary frame down, and eat some frugal fare, +slaking my thirst with a handful of snow from +the solid patch by my side. Though I had +been more than forty-eight hours without rest, +bodily fatigue was little felt. I could behold +from my airy elevation many miles of the surface +of the island. The higher peaks and the +sheltered hollows were clothed with snow, glittering +in the midnight sun, and several dark +lakes nestled amid the frowning rocks.</p> + +<p>Resuming my progress, I passed over the surface +of the Cape. It is covered with slaty <i>débris</i>, +and, what struck me as very remarkable, +quantities of a substance resembling coarse white +marble, totally different from the Cape itself. +The only vegetation on the summit is a species +of moss, which bears most beautiful flowers, +generally of a purple hue, blooming in hundreds +and thousands together. These dumb witnesses +of nature's benevolent handiwork filled +my soul with pleasing, grateful thoughts, and +uplifted it to the Divine Being who maketh +flowers to bloom and waters to gush in the +most desolate regions of the earth. In the bed +of a ravine, crossed in my way toward the +end of the Cape, I found a rapid stream of the +purest water, which proved deliciously refreshing. +I wandered along; and, after skirting +much of the western precipice, drew nigh the +bourne of my pilgrimage. The Cape terminates +in a shape approaching a semicircle, but the +most northern part swells out in a clear appreciable +point. About a hundred yards from the +latter I came upon a circle of stones, piled +nearly breast high, inclosing a space some dozen +feet in diameter. This had evidently been +erected by a party of visitors as a shelter from +the winds. Not far distant, a block of black +rock rises above the level, which is otherwise +smooth as a bowling-green, and covered with +minute fragments of rock. Within two or three +yards of the extreme point is a small pole, sustained +in the centre of a pile of stones. I found +several initials and dates cut on this very +perishable register, and added my own. I believe +it was set up by the government expedition +three or four years ago as a signal-post for +their trigonometrical survey.</p> + +<p>I can not adequately describe the tide of +emotion which filled my soul as I walked up +to the dizzy verge. I only know that, after +standing a moment with folded arms, beating +heart, and tear-dimmed eye, I knelt, and with +lowly-bowed head, returned thanks to God for +permitting me to thus realize one darling dream +of my boyhood!</p> + +<p>Despite the wind, which here blew violently, +I sat down by the side of the pole, and wrapping +my cloak around me, long contemplated +the grand spectacle of nature in one of her +sublimest aspects. I was truly alone. Not a +living being was in sight: far beneath was the +boundless expanse of ocean, with a sail or two +on its bosom, at an immense distance; above +was the canopy of heaven, flecked with snowy +cloudlets; the sun was gleaming through a +broad belt of blood-red horizon; the only sounds +were the whistling of the wind, and the occasional +plaintive scream of hovering sea-fowl. +My pervading feeling was a calm though deep +sense of intellectual enjoyment and triumph—very +natural to an enthusiastic young wanderer +upon achieving one of the long-cherished enterprises +of his life.</p> + +<p>With reluctant and wildly-devious steps, I +bade what is probably an eternal adieu to the +wondrous Cape, and effected a comparatively +easy descent to the place whence I had started. +My men had dropped grapnel a considerable +distance from the rock; and being unwilling to +disturb their slumber, I spent some further time +in exploring the western base. There is a very +curious cavernous range of rock washed out by +the terrific beating of wintry storms, so as to +form a species of arcade. The sides are of immense +thickness, but the sea has worn them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +open at the top. The water here, as along the +whole coast of Norway and Finmark, is marvelously +transparent. Weeds and fish may be seen +at a prodigious depth clearly as in a mirror.</p> + +<p>On the return voyage, we ran into a creek +near Sandbugt, and the crew went ashore to a +Lap <i>gamme</i> (hut) to sleep; but as I had no desire +to furnish a dainty fresh meal to the vermin +with which every gamme swarms, I slept +soundly on my reindeer skins in the boat, although +it was now rainy and intensely cold. +After the lapse of a few hours I joined them at +the gamme, and bought a fine <i>pœsk</i> or tunic of +reindeer skin from an old Lap; and learning +that his herd of reins was in the vicinity, I had +a long ramble in search of them, but without +avail; for they had wandered far away, influenced +by that remarkable instinct which impels +reindeer to invariably run <i>against</i> the +wind. I gathered some fine specimens of sponge +in marshy hollows. In the course of our subsequent +voyage, I made another pause of a few +hours at Giesvohr, where I examined the works +for curing the fish and extracting the oil, but +declined taking any repose. Next morning, +being favored with a powerful wind, our little +craft fairly leaped over the waves; and I noted +her dextrous management with the eye of an +amateur receiving a valuable lesson. The old +pilot kept the sheet of the lug-sail constantly +ready to slip, and another hand stood by the +greased halyard to let all go by the run; for +there are frequent eddies and squalls of wind +along this very dangerous coast, which would upset +a boat in an instant, were not great tact and +unremitting vigilance exercised. The sea ran +exceedingly high, and we shipped water from +stem to stern every time we settled in its +trough, in such a way that the baling never +ceased. Safely, however, did we run into +Havösund once more at about eight o'clock.</p> + +<p>Young Ulich welcomed my unexpectedly early +return at the landing-place, and I was delighted +to again become the eagerly-welcomed guest of +his house. Happily, and only too quickly, did +the time speed. I chatted in my sadly-broken +Norwegian—the first to laugh at my own +comical blunders; and the eldest young lady +sweetly sang to me several of the most ancient +and popular of her native ballads, accompanying +them on her guitar—the fashionable instrument +of music in the North, where many things +which have fallen into desuetude with us universally +flourish. As she could understand no +other language, I in return did my best to chant +the celebrated national Danish song, <i>Den tappre +Landsoldat</i>, the fame of which has penetrated +to the far North. So popular is this song in +Denmark, that its author and composer have +both recently received an order of knighthood +for it. In the library were translations of Marryat, +and other English novelists; and they +showed me a copy of—Cruikshank's <i>Bottle</i>! I +thought that if that gifted artist could have +thus beheld how his fame and a genuine copy +of his greatest work has penetrated, and is +highly appreciated in the vicinity of the North +Cape, he would have experienced a glow of enviable, +and not undeserved satisfaction. The +only teetotaller, by the way, whom I ever met +with in Scandinavia, was one of the crew of +the boat with me. He invariably declined the +<i>brændiviin</i>, as I passed it round from time to +time, and assured me he drank only water and +milk.</p> + +<p>The young ladies had about a score of pretty +tame pigeons; and to my extreme regret a couple +were killed, to give me an additional treat +at a dinner served in a style which I should +rather have expected to meet with in an English +hotel than at a solitary house on an arctic +island. They afterward conducted me to their—garden! +Yes, a veritable garden, the fame +of which has extended far and wide in Finmark; +for there is nothing to compare to it for +at least four hundred miles southward. It is +of considerable size, inclosed by high wooden +walls, painted black to attract the sun's rays, +which are very fervid in the latter end of summer. +Potatoes, peas, and other table vegetables, +were in a thriving state, but only come to +maturity in favorable seasons. I had some +radishes at dinner, and excellent they were. +Glazed frames protected cucumber and other +plants, and many very beautiful and delicate +flowers bloomed in the open air. The young +ladies gathered some of the finest specimens of +these, including large blue forget-me-nots, and +placed them within the leaves of my Bible. +Highly do I treasure them, for they will ever +vividly recall a host of pleasant and romantic +associations.</p> + +<p>Most pressing were they all to induce me to +stay some days with them, and gladly indeed +would I have complied had circumstances permitted; +but I felt compelled to hasten back to +Hammerfest. In the afternoon, therefore, I bade +adieu to a family which had shown me a degree +of engaging kindness greater than any I +had experienced since I left my warmly-attached +Danish friends.</p> + +<p>The remainder of our return voyage was wet +and tempestuous. We sailed and rowed all +night, and reached Hammerfest at eight <span class="smcap">a.m.</span> +on July 5, much to the astonishment of the good +folks there, who had not anticipated seeing us +again in less than a week or ten days. The +consul and many others assured me that my +voyage had been performed with unprecedented +speed, the whole time occupied being not quite +three and a half days.</p> + + +<p><a name="Conversation" id="Conversation"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A CONVERSATION IN A KENTUCKY STAGE COACH.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></h2> + + +<p>I can not refrain from giving a conversation +which I heard as we came by the coach to +Louisville. One of the speakers was a very +agreeable and apparently well-informed gentleman, +who seemed to have seen a great deal of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> +the world. When he first entered the "stage," +it would seem it was with the benignant intention +of giving a sort of <i>converzatione</i> in the +coach, in which, after a few preliminary interrogatories +to the various passengers (as if to take +the size and measure of their capacities), he +sustained all the active part, not calling upon +them for the slightest exercise of their conversational +powers. He varied the entertainment +occasionally, by soliloquizing and monopolyguizing; +and ever and anon it appeared as if he +addressed the human race generally, or was +speaking for posterity in a very elevated tone +indeed, and seemingly oblivious of that fraction +of the contemporaneous generation who were +then largely benefiting by his really most animated +and amusing discourse—for he was +thoroughly original and very shrewd and entertaining.</p> + +<p>Where had he not been? What had he not +seen? what not met, tried, suffered, sought, +found, dared, done, won, lost, said? The last +we could give the most implicit credence to, no +matter how large the demand. Now he told +us, or the ceiling of the coach, how he had been +eighteen months in the prairies (which keep very +open house for all visitors), shooting herds of +buffaloes, and with his cloak for his only castle, +and all his household furniture, and how he had +been all this time without bed or bread: and he +described the longing for the last, much in the +way Mr. Ruxton does in his account of prairie +excursions; and now—but I will not attempt +to follow him in all his wondrous adventures.</p> + +<p>Suffice it to say, Robinson Crusoe, placed in +juxtaposition with him, was a mere fire-side +stay-at-home sort of personage, one who had +never left his own comfortable arm-chair, in +comparison. In short, the adventures were +marvelous and manifold, and all told in the +same agreeable, lively, Scheherezade-like sort +of a manner—so agreeable, indeed, that I am +sure had Judge Lynch himself had any little +account to settle with him, he would have postponed—<i>à +la</i> Sultan of the Indies—any trifling +beheading or strangling, or unpleasant little +operation of the sort, to hear the end of the +tale.</p> + +<p>After these narratives and amusing lectures +had been poured forth continuously for a length +of time, it chanced that a quiet countryman-like +person got into the coach, bundle and stick in +hand. After a few questions to this rustic wayfarer, +our eloquent orator left off his historic and +other tales, and devoted himself to drawing out, +and "squeezing the orange of the brains" of +this apparently simple-minded and unlettered +man. The discourse that ensued was a singular +one—to take place, too, in the United States +between Americans.</p> + +<p>The new-comer was a Kentuckian by birth, +who had not very long ago gone to settle in Indiana. +He called himself a mechanic—these +facts came out in answer to the queries put to +him by our unwearied talker—but he had, as I +have said, much more the appearance of a respectable +country farming man—and, indeed, +I believe, mechanic means here, in a general +sense, a laborer. He seemed a fine, honest-hearted, +straight-forward, noble-spirited son of +the plow; and his lofty, earnest, generous sentiments +were spoken in somewhat unpolished +but energetic and good language; and what +particularly struck me was a really beautiful +and almost child-like simplicity of mind and +manner, that was combined with the most uncompromising +firmness and unflinching adherence +in argument, to what he conceived to be right.</p> + +<p>His features were decidedly plain, but the +countenance was very fine, chiefly characterized +by great ingenuousness, commingled with gentleness +and benevolence; and yet bearing evident +traces of strength, determination, and energetic +resolution. It was rather a complicated countenance, +so to say, notwithstanding its great openness +and expression of downright truth and goodness.</p> + +<p>After opening the conversation with him, as +you would an oyster, by the introduction of a +pretty keen knife of inquisitorial questions, the +chief speaker began to hold forth, capriciously +enough, on the essentials and distinguishing +attributes of a gentleman. He declared, emphatically, +that one qualification alone was +necessary, and that money only made a gentleman, +according to the world, and, above all, in +the United States (quite a mistake is this, I +fully believe). "Let a man," said he, "be +dressed here in every thing of the best, with +splendid rings on his fingers, and plenty of money +to spend at the ends of them, and he may go +where he will, and be received as a gentleman; +ay, though he may be a gambler, a rogue, or a +swindler, and you, now, <i>you</i> may be a good +honest mechanic; but <i>he</i> will at once get into +the best society in these parts, which you +would never dream even of attempting to accomplish—"</p> + +<p>"But he would not be a gentleman," broke +in the Kentuckian, indignantly. "No, sir; nor +will I ever allow that money only makes the +gentleman: it is the principle, sir, and the inner +feeling, and the mind—and no fine clothes +can ever make it; and no rough ones unmake +it, that's a fact. And, sir, there's many a better +gentleman following the plow in these parts +than there is among the richer classes: I mean +those poor men who're contented with their lot, +and work hard and try no mean shifts and +methods to get on an' up in the world; for +there's little some 'ill stick at to get at money; +and such means a true gentleman (what <i>I</i> call +a gentleman) will avoid like poison, and scorn +utterly."</p> + +<p>"Now, that's all very well for you to talk so +here just now; but you know yourself, I don't +doubt, that <i>your own</i> object, as well as all the +world's around you, is to make money. It is +with that object that you work hard and save +up: you do not work only to live, or make yourself +more comfortable, but to get money: and +money is the be-all and end-all of all and every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +body; and that only commands consideration +and respect."</p> + +<p>"That <i>only</i>, sir, would never command <i>mine</i>, +and—"</p> + +<p>"Why, how you talk now! if you meet a fine +dressed-out gentleman in one of these stages, you +look on him as one directly—you don't ask him +did he <i>make</i> or <i>take</i> his money—what's that to +you?—there he is, and it is not for you to busy +or bother yourself to find out all the private +particulars of his history; and if you find him, +as I say, well dressed in superfine, and he acts +the gentleman to you, he may be the greatest +rogue in existence, but he will be treated by +you like a gentleman—yes, even by you."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, that maybe while I know nothing +of him—while, as you say, he acts the gentleman +to me; but let me <i>once find out</i> what he is, +and I would never show him respect more—no! +though he had all the gold of California."</p> + +<p>"Ah, California! just look at <i>that</i> now—look +at people by scores and thousands, leaving their +families, and friends, and homes—and what for +but for gold? people with a comfortable competence +already; but it's fine talking. Why, +what are <i>you</i> taking this very journey for?—why, +I can answer for you—for gold, I doubt +not; and every other action of your life is for +that object: confess the real truth now."</p> + +<p>"I will, sir—I am come here from Indiana, +for though I'm a Kentucky man, I live in the +Hoosier State. I'm come here to see a dear +brother; and instead of <i>gaining</i> money I'm +<i>spending</i> it in these stages to get to see him +and 'old Kentuck' agin. So you see, Sir, I love +my brother—I do, more than money, poor man +as I am; ay, and that I do, too."</p> + +<p>"Well, I dare say you do; but come now, +just tell me—haven't you a little bit of a +<i>speculation</i>, now, here, that you're come after, +as well as your brother—some trifle of a speculation +afoot? You know you have now. You +<i>must</i> have. Some horse, perhaps—"</p> + +<p>It was quite delightful to see and hear the indignant +burst of eager denial which this elicited +from the ingenuous Kentuckian.</p> + +<p>"No, sir! <i>no</i>, I have <i>not</i>—none whatever, +indeed I have not:" his voice quivered with +emotion; the earnest expression of his countenance +was more than eloquent. If his interrogator +had accused him of a serious crime he +could hardly more anxiously and more earnestly +have disclaimed it. To him, I thought the bare +suspicion seemed like a coarse desecration of his +real motives, a kind of undervaluing even of his +"dear brother," to suppose he must have had a +"little speculation on hand" to make it worth +his while to go to see <i>him</i>.</p> + +<p>He went on in an agitated, eager tone:</p> + +<p>"And look ye here; I am <i>leaving off</i> my +work and money-making for some days on purpose—only +for that, and spending money at it, +too!"</p> + +<p>His somewhat case-hardened antagonist looked +the least in the world discomfited; for that angry +denial was a magnificent burst, and uttered in a +tone that actually seemed to give an additional +jolt to the rough coach; and I might say it +had really a splendid theatrical effect, but that +I should hesitate to use that expression with +reference to one of the most beautiful natural +exhibitions of deep feeling and generous sentiment +I ever witnessed.</p> + +<p>"Where are you going to?" at last inquired +the other, apparently about to commence a little +cross-examination.</p> + +<p>"About twenty miles beyond Munsfordville," +replied Kentucky, in his simple direct manner, +"to"—I forget the name.</p> + +<p>"Why, you're come by the wrong stage, +then," exclaimed the other, "you should have +waited till to-morrow, and then taken the stage +to ——, and then you would have gone +direct."</p> + +<p>"Well, yes, sir; it's true enough, sir; but +you see—in short, I couldn't <i>wait</i>—no, that I +couldn't. I was so anxious, and I felt so like +seeing my brother; and I was in such a mortal +hurry to get to him."</p> + +<p>"Hurry, man! why how will you see him +any sooner by this? Why, you might as well +have walked up and down Main-street till to-morrow; +it would have advanced you just as +much on your journey."</p> + +<p>"You're right, sir, I know that; but I really +<i>couldn't</i> wait: I wanted to feel I was going +ahead, and getting <i>nearer</i> my brother at any +rate; I got so impatient-like. No, sir; I +couldn't have staid till the morning any how +you could fix it."</p> + +<p>"You'll have to walk for your folly, for you'll +get no conveyance this way, I tell you."</p> + +<p>"I'll have to walk the twenty miles to-night, +I suppose," said Kentucky, with the most imperturbable +smiling composure; "but never mind +that! I shall be getting near my brother, then. +Ha," he said, after a pause, "you see I <i>do</i> love +my brother, sir, and I don't regard trouble for +him. I'll have to walk the twenty miles to-night +with my bundle, I dare say, and spending +money at that, too, perhaps, for a bit of food; +but I couldn't have <i>waited</i>—no! not another +hour at Louisville—I felt so like getting <i>nearer</i> +to my brother."</p> + +<p>At the end of the argument about money-making +being the all in all, one or two of us +signified briefly that we thought Kentucky was +right. You never saw any body so surprised. +He had evidently entertained a deep conviction +that all in the stage-coach were opposed to his +opinions, and that he stood alone in his view +on the matter. He replied he was glad any +body thought as he did, and reiterated with +strong emphasis to his opponent:</p> + +<p>"I'm sure, sir, I'm right; it is the principle, +and the manners, and the mind, and <i>not</i> money +that makes a gentleman. No, no; money can +never make half a one."</p> + +<p>I shall feel a respect for "old Kentucky" forever +after for his sake.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ANECDOTES OF JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></h2> + + +<h3>CURRAN'S START IN LIFE.</h3> + +<p>After toiling for a very inadequate recompense +at the sessions of Cork, and wearing, +as he said himself, his teeth almost to their +stumps, Curran proceeded to the metropolis, +taking for his wife and young children a miserable +lodging upon <i>Hay Hill</i>. Term after term, +without either profit or professional reputation, +he paced the hall of the Four Courts. Among +those who had the discrimination to appreciate, +and the heart to feel for him, luckily for Curran, +was Mr. Arthur Wolfe, afterward the unfortunate +but respected Lord Kilwarden. The first +fee of any consequence which he received was +through his recommendation; and his recital of +the incident can not be without its interest to +the young professional aspirant whom a temporary +neglect may have sunk into dejection. +"I then lived," said he, "upon Hay Hill; my +wife and children were the chief furniture of my +apartments; and as to my rent, it stood pretty +much the same chance of liquidation with the +national debt. Mrs. Curran, however, was a +barrister's lady, and what she wanted in wealth +she was well determined should be supplied by +dignity. The landlady, on the other hand, had +no idea of any gradation except that of pounds, +shillings, and pence. I walked out one morning +to avoid the perpetual altercations on the subject, +with my mind, you may imagine, in no +very enviable temperament. I fell into the +gloom to which, from my infancy, I had been +occasionally subject. I had a family for whom +I had no dinner, and a landlady for whom I +had no rent. I had gone abroad in despondence—I +returned home almost in desperation. When +I opened the door of my study, where <i>Lavater</i> +alone could have found a library, the first object +which presented itself was an immense +folio of a brief, twenty golden guineas wrapped +up beside it, and the name of <i>Old Bob Lyons</i> +marked upon the back of it. I paid my landlady—bought +a good dinner—gave Bob Lyons +a share of it—and that dinner was the date of +my prosperity." Such was his own exact account +of his professional advancement.</p> + + +<h3>SINGULAR ATTEMPT UPON CURRAN'S LIFE.</h3> + +<p>In one of Curran's professional excursions, a +very singular circumstance had almost rendered +this the termination of his biography. He was +on a temporary visit to the neighboring town +of Sligo, and was one morning standing at his +bedroom window, which overlooked the street, +occupied, as he told me, in arranging his portmanteau, +when he was stunned by the report +of a blunderbuss in the very chamber with him, +and the panes above his head were all shivered +into atoms. He looked suddenly around in the +greatest consternation. The room was full of +smoke, the blunderbuss on the floor just discharged, +the door closed, and no human being +but himself discoverable in the apartment! If +this had happened in his rural retreat, it could +readily have been reconciled through the medium +of some offended spirit of the village mythology; +but, as it was, he was in a populous town, in +a civilized family, among Christian doctrines, +where the fairies had no power, and their gambols +no currency; and, to crown all, a poor +cobbler, into whose stall on the opposite side +of the street the slugs had penetrated, hinted in +no very equivocal terms that the whole affair +was a conspiracy against his life. It was by no +means a pleasant addition to the chances of assassination +to be loudly declaimed against by a +crazed mechanic as an assassin himself. Day +after day passed away without any solution of +the mystery; when one evening, as the servants +of the family were conversing round the fire on +so miraculous an escape, a little urchin, not ten +years old, was heard so to wonder how <i>such an +aim</i> was missed, that a universal suspicion was +immediately excited. He was alternately flogged +and coaxed into a confession, which disclosed +as much precocious and malignant premeditation +as perhaps ever marked the annals +of juvenile depravity. This little miscreant had +received a box on the ear from Mr. Curran for +some alleged misconduct a few days before; the +Moor's blow did not sink into a mind more +furious for revenge, or more predisposed by +nature for such deadly impressions. He was in +the bedroom by mere chance when Mr. Curran +entered; he immediately hid himself in the curtains +till he observed him too busy with his portmanteau +for observation; he then leveled at him +the old blunderbuss, which lay charged in the +corner, the stiffness of whose trigger, too strong +for his infant fingers, alone prevented the aim +which he confessed he had taken, and which +had so nearly terminated the occupations of the +cobbler. The door was ajar, and, mid the +smoke and terror, he easily slipped out without +discovery. I had the story verbatim a few +months ago from Mr. Curran's lips, whose impressions +on the subject it was no wonder that +forty years had not obliterated.</p> + + +<h3>CURRAN AS A CROSS-EXAMINER.</h3> + +<p>At cross-examination, the most difficult and +by far the most hazardous part of a barrister's +profession, Curran was quite inimitable. There +was no plan which he did not detect, no web +which he did not disentangle; and the unfortunate +wretch, who commenced with all the +confidence of preconcerted perjury, never failed +to retreat before him in all the confusion of +exposure. Indeed, it was almost impossible for +the guilty to offer a successful resistance. He +argued, he cajoled, he ridiculed, he mimicked, +he played off the various artillery of his talent +upon the witness; he would affect earnestness +upon trifles, and levity upon subjects of the +most serious import, until at length he succeeded +in creating a security that was fatal, or a sullenness +that produced all the consequences of prevarication. +No matter how unfair the topic, he +never failed to avail himself of it; acting upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +the principle that, in law as well as in war, +every stratagem was admissible. If he was +hard pressed, there was no peculiarity of person, +no singularity of name, no eccentricity of profession +at which he would not grasp, trying to +confound the self-possession of the witness by +the, no matter how excited, ridicule of the +audience. To a witness of the name of <i>Halfpenny</i> +he once began: "Halfpenny, I see you're +a <i>rap</i>, and for that reason you shall be nailed to +the counter." "Halfpenny is <i>sterling</i>," exclaimed +the opposite counsel. "No, no," said +he, "he's exactly like his own conscience—only +<i>copper washed</i>." This phrase alluded to an +expression previously used on the trial.</p> + +<p>To <i>Lundy Foot</i>, the celebrated tobacconist, +once hesitating on the table: "Lundy, Lundy—that's +a poser—<i>a devil of a pinch</i>." This +gentleman applied to Curran for a motto when +he first established his carriage. "Give me +one, my dear Curran," said he, "of a serious +cast, because I am afraid the people will laugh +at a tobacconist setting up a carriage, and, <i>for +the scholarship's sake</i>, let it be in Latin." "I +have just hit on it," said Curran; "it is only +two words, and it will at once explain your +profession, your elevation, and your contempt +for their ridicule, and it has the advantage of +being in two languages, Latin or English, just +as the reader chooses. Put up '<i>Quid rides</i>' +upon your carriage."</p> + +<p>Inquiring his master's age from a horse-jockey's +servant, he found it almost impossible +to extract an answer. "Come, come, friend, +has he not lost his teeth?" "Do you think," +retorted the fellow, "that I know his age, as he +does his horse's, by <i>the mark of mouth</i>?" The +laugh was against Curran, but he instantly +recovered: "You were very right not to try, +friend, for you know your master's a <i>great bite</i>."</p> + +<p>Having one day a violent argument with a +country schoolmaster on some classical subject, +the pedagogue, who had the worst of it, said, +in a towering passion, that he would lose no +more time, and must go back to his scholars. +"Do, my dear doctor," said Curran, "but <i>don't +indorse my sins upon their backs</i>."</p> + +<p>Curran was told that a very stingy and +slovenly barrister had started for the Continent +with a shirt and a guinea: "He'll not change +either till he comes back," said he.</p> + +<p>It was well known that Curran entertained +a dislike and a contempt for Downes. "Bushe," +said he, "came up to me one day with a very +knowing look, and said, 'Do you know, Curran, +I have just left the pleasantest fellow I ever +met?' 'Indeed! who is he?' 'The chief +justice,' was the answer. My reply was compendious +and witty. I looked into his eye, and +said '<i>hum</i>.' It required all his oil to keep his +countenance smooth."</p> + +<p>A very stupid foreman once asked a judge +how they were to ignore a bill. "Why, sir," +said Curran, "when you mean to find a <i>true</i> +one, just write <i>Ignoramus</i> for self and fellows +on the back of it."</p> + +<p>A gentleman just called to the bar took up a +pauper case. It was remarked upon. "The +man's right," said Curran; "a barber begins +on a beggar, that when he arrives at the dignity +he may know how to shave a duchess."</p> + +<p>He was just rising to cross-examine a witness +before a judge who could not comprehend any +jest that was not written in <i>black letter</i>. Before +he said a single word, the witness began to +laugh. "What are you laughing at, friend—what +are you laughing at? Let me tell you +that a laugh without a joke is like—is like—" "Like +what, Mr. Curran?" asked the judge, +imagining he was nonplused. "Just exactly, +my lord, like a <i>contingent remainder</i> without +any particular <i>estate</i> to support it." I am +afraid that none but my legal readers will understand +the admirable felicity of the similitude, +but it was quite to his lordship's fancy, and +rivaled with him all "the wit that Rabelais +ever scattered."</p> + +<p>Examining a country squire who disputed +a collier's bill: "Did he not give you the +<i>coals</i>, friend?" "He did, sir, but—" "But +what? On your oath, wasn't your payments +<i>slack</i>?"</p> + +<p>It was thus that, in some way or other, he +contrived to throw the witnesses off their centre, +and he took care they seldom should recover it. +"My lard, my lard!" vociferated a peasant +witness, writhing under this mental excruciation, +"I can't answer yon little gentleman, +<i>he's putting me in such a doldrum</i>." "A doldrum! +Mr. Curran, what does he mean by a +doldrum!" exclaimed Lord Avonmore. "Oh! +my lord, it's a very common complaint with +persons of this description: it's merely a <i>confusion +of the head arising from the corruption +of the heart</i>."</p> + +<p>To the bench he was at times quite as unceremonious; +and if he thought himself reflected +on or interfered with, had instant recourse either +to ridicule or invective. There is a celebrated +reply in circulation of Mr. Dunning to a remark +of Lord Mansfield, who curtly exclaimed at one +of his legal positions, "O! if that be law, Mr. +Dunning, I may <i>burn</i> my law-books!" "Better +<i>read</i> them, my lord," was the sarcastic and +appropriate rejoinder. In a different spirit, but +with similar effect, was Mr. Curran's retort +upon an Irish judge, quite as remarkable for +his good-humor and raillery as for his legal +researches. He was addressing a jury on one +of the state trials in 1803, with his usual animation. +The judge, whose political bias, if any +judge can have one, was certainly supposed not +to be favorable to the prisoner, <i>shook his head</i> +in doubt or denial of one of the advocate's arguments. +"I see, gentlemen," said Mr. Curran, +"I see the motion of his lordship's head; common +observers might imagine that implied a +difference of opinion, but they would be mistaken: +it is merely accidental. Believe me, +gentlemen, if you remain here many days, you +will, yourselves perceive that, when his lordship +<i>shakes his head</i>, there's <i>nothing in it</i>!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p> + + +<h3>PERSONAL APPEARANCE AND HABITS OF GRATTAN.</h3> + +<p>Grattan was short in stature, and unprepossessing +in appearance. His arms were disproportionably +long. His walk was a stride. +With a person swaying like a pendulum, and +an abstracted air, he seemed always in thought, +and each thought provoked an attendant gesticulation. +Such was the outward and visible +form of one whom the passenger would stop to +stare at as a droll, and the philosopher to contemplate +as a study. How strange it seems +that a mind so replete with grace and symmetry, +and power and splendor, should have been +allotted such a dwelling for its residence. Yet +so it was; and so also was it one of his highest +attributes, that his genius, by its "excessive +light," blinded the hearer to his physical imperfections. +It was the victory of mind over matter. +The man was forgotten in the orator. +Mr. Grattan, whose father represented the city +of Dublin in Parliament, and was also its +recorder, was born in the year 1746. He +entered the Middle Temple in 1767 and was +called to the Irish bar in 1772. In the University +of Dublin he was eminently distinguished, +sharing its honors, in <i>then</i> amicable contention, +with Fitzgibbon—not merely the antagonist, +but the enemy, and the bitter one of an after +day. We have a record, more authentic than +usual, of his pursuits while at the Temple. +The study of the law occupied but little of his +attention. He never relished it, and soon +abandoned the profession altogether. Of the +theatre he was very fond—little wonder in the +zenith of Garrick—and it was a taste he indulged +in to the last. I well remember, somewhere +about the year 1813, being in Crow-street +when he entered with Catalani leaning +on his arm. The house was crowded, and he +was hailed with acclamations. In vain he +modestly consigned them to the lovely siren +his companion. His name rang wildly through +the theatre. I think I still hear the shouts +when his person was recognized, and still behold +his venerable figure bowing its awkward +gratitude. No one knew better the true value +of that bubble tribute. Another of his amusements, +if indeed it was not something more, when +he was at the Temple, seems to have been a frequent +attendance in both houses of Parliament. +He sketched the debates and the speakers by +whom he was most attracted.</p> + + +<h3>O'CONNELL'S DUEL.</h3> + +<p>Living, as he did, in constant turmoil, and +careless, as he was, to whom he gave offense, +O'Connell of course had a multitude of enemies. +Of this, himself the cause, he had no right to +complain; but he had a right to complain of +the calumnies they circulated. Most rife of +these was a charge of want of courage—in Ireland +a rare and very detrimental accusation. +O'Connell, during his latter years, declined +dueling, and publicly avowed his determination. +The reason given, and given in the House of +Commons, was, that having "blood upon his +hands, he had registered a vow in heaven." +To this there could have been no possible objection +had he included in the registry a vow +not to offend. The real charge to which he +made himself amenable was his perseverance at +once in insult and irresponsibility. The truth +is, O'Connell's want of courage consisted in his +fighting the duel in which the vow originated. +The facts of the case are few and simple. In +one of his many mob speeches he called the corporation +of Dublin a "beggarly corporation." +A gentleman named D'Esterre affected to feel +this as a personal affront, he being one of that +very numerous body, and accordingly fastened +a quarrel on the offender. It is quite true that +O'Connell endeavored to avoid the encounter. +He did not do enough. He should have summoned +D'Esterre before the tribunals of the +country, after failing to appease him by a repeated +declaration that he meant him no personal +offense, and could not, he being a total stranger +to him. However, in an evil hour, he countenanced +a savage and anti-Christian custom—the +unfortunate D'Esterre paid for his perverseness +with his life, and the still more unfortunate +O'Connell expiated his moral timidity with +much mental anguish to the day of his death. +The perpetration of a duel appears to me no +proof whatever of personal courage; the refusal, +in the then state of society, would have shown +much more. However, on the occasion in question +he showed a total absence of what is vulgarly +called fear; indeed, his frigid determination +was remarkable. Let those who read the +following anecdote remember that he most reluctantly +engaged in the combat; that he was +then the father of seven children; and that it +was an alternative of life or death with him, +D'Esterre being reputed an unerring marksman. +Being one of those who accompanied O'Connell, +he beckoned me aside to a distant portion of the +very large field, which had a slight covering of +snow. "Phillips," said he, "this seems to me +not a personal, but a political affair. I am obnoxious +to a party, and they adopt a false pretense +to cut me off. I shall not submit to it. +They have reckoned without their host, I promise +you. I am one of the best shots in Ireland +at a mark, having, as a public man, considered +it a duty to prepare, for my own protection, +against such unprovoked aggression as the present. +Now, remember what I say to you. I +may be struck myself, and then skill is out of +the question; but if I am not, my antagonist +may have cause to regret his having forced me +into this conflict." The parties were then very +soon, placed on the ground, at, I think, twelve +paces distance, <i>each</i> having a case of pistols, +with directions to fire when they chose after a +given signal. D'Esterre rather agitated himself +by making a short speech, disclaiming all +hostility to his Roman Catholic countrymen, and +took his ground, somewhat theatrically crossing +his pistols upon his bosom. They fired almost +together, and instantly on the signal. D'Esterre +fell, mortally wounded. There was the greatest +self-possession displayed by both. It seemed to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +me a duty to narrate these details in O'Connell's +lifetime wherever I heard his courage +questioned, and justice to his memory now +prompts me to record them here.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>MY NOVEL; OR, VARIETIES IN ENGLISH LIFE.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></h2> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Book V.</span>—INITIAL CHAPTER.</h3> + +<p>"I hope, Pisistratus," said my father, "that +you do not intend to be dull!"</p> + +<p>"Heaven forbid, sir! what could make you +ask such a question? <i>Intend!</i> No! if I am +dull it is from innocence."</p> + +<p>"A very long Discourse upon Knowledge!" +said my father; "very long. I should cut it +out!"</p> + +<p>I looked upon my father as a Byzantian sage +might have looked on a Vandal. "Cut it out!"</p> + +<p>"Stops the action, sir!" said my father, dogmatically.</p> + +<p>"Action! But a novel is not a drama."</p> + +<p>"No, it is a great deal longer—twenty times +as long, I dare say," replied Mr. Caxton, with +a sigh.</p> + +<p>"Well, sir—well! I think my Discourse upon +Knowledge has much to do with the subject—is +vitally essential to the subject; does not stop the +action—only explains and elucidates the action. +And I am astonished, sir, that you, a scholar, and +a cultivator of knowledge—"</p> + +<p>"There—there!" cried my father, deprecatingly. +"I yield—I yield. What better could I +expect when I set up for a critic! What author +ever lived that did not fly into a passion—even +with his own father, if his father presumed to +say—'Cut out!' <i>Pacem imploro</i>—"</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mrs. Caxton.</span>—"My dear Austin, I am sure +Pisistratus did not mean to offend you, and I have +no doubt he will take your—"</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pisistratus</span> (hastily).—"Advice <i>for the future</i>, +certainly. I will quicken the action, +and—"</p> + +<p>"Go on with the Novel," whispered Roland, +looking up from his eternal account-book. "We +have lost £200 by our barley!"</p> + +<p>Therewith I plunged my pen into the ink, and +my thoughts into the "Fair Shadowland."</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3> + +<p>"Halt!" cried a voice; and not a little surprised +was Leonard when the stranger who had +accosted him the preceding evening got into the +chaise.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Richard, "I am not the sort of +man you expected, eh? Take time to recover +yourself." And with these words Richard drew +forth a book from his pocket, threw himself back, +and began to read. Leonard stole many a glance +at the acute, hardy, handsome face of his companion, +and gradually recognized a family likeness +to poor John, in whom, despite age and infirmity, +the traces of no common share of physical +beauty were still evident. And with that quick +link in ideas which mathematical aptitude bestows, +the young student at once conjectured +that he saw before him his uncle Richard. He +had the discretion, however, to leave that gentleman +free to choose his own time for introducing +himself, and silently revolved the new thoughts +produced by the novelty of his situation. Mr. +Richard read with notable quickness—sometimes +cutting the leaves of the book with his penknife, +sometimes tearing them open with his forefinger, +sometimes skipping whole pages altogether. +Thus he galloped to the end of the volume—flung +it aside—lighted his cigar, and began to +talk.</p> + +<p>He put many questions to Leonard relative to +his rearing, and especially to the mode by which +he had acquired his education; and Leonard, +confirmed in the idea that he was replying to a +kinsman, answered frankly.</p> + +<p>Richard did not think it strange that Leonard +should have acquired so much instruction with +so little direct tuition. Richard Avenel himself +had been tutor to himself. He had lived too +long with our go-ahead brethren, who stride the +world on the other side the Atlantic with the +seven-leagued boots of the Giant-killer, not to +have caught their glorious fever for reading. +But it was for a reading wholly different from +that which was familiar to Leonard. The books +he read must be new; to read old books would +have seemed to him going back in the world. +He fancied that new books necessarily contained +new ideas—a common mistake—and our lucky +adventurer was the man of his day.</p> + +<p>Tired with talking, he at length chucked the +book he had run through to Leonard, and, taking +out a pocket-book and pencil, amused himself +with calculations on some detail of his business, +after which he fell into an absorbed train of +thought—part pecuniary, part ambitious.</p> + +<p>Leonard found the book interesting; it was +one of the numerous works, half-statistic, half-declamatory, +relating to the condition of the +working classes, which peculiarly distinguish +our century, and ought to bind together rich +and poor, by proving the grave attention which +modern society bestows upon all that can affect +the welfare of the last.</p> + +<p>"Dull stuff—theory—claptrap," said Richard, +rousing himself from his reverie at last: "it can't +interest you."</p> + +<p>"All books interest me, I think," said Leonard, +"and this especially; for it relates to the working +class, and I am one of them."</p> + +<p>"You were yesterday, but you mayn't be to-morrow," +answered Richard, good-humoredly, +and patting him on the shoulder. "You see, +my lad, that it is the middle class which ought +to govern the country. What the book says +about the ignorance of country magistrates is +very good; but the man writes pretty considerable +trash when he wants to regulate the number +of hours a free-born boy should work at a factory—only +ten hours a day—pooh! and so lose two +to the nation! Labor is wealth: and if we could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +get men to work twenty-four hours a day, we +should be just twice as rich. If the march of +civilization is to proceed," continued Richard, +loftily, "men, and boys, too, must not lie a-bed +doing nothing <i>all night</i>, sir." Then with a +complacent tone—"We shall get to the twenty-four +hours at last; and, by gad, we must, or we +shan't flog the Europeans as we do now."</p> + +<p>On arriving at the inn at which Richard had +first made acquaintance with Mr. Dale, the coach +by which he had intended to perform the rest of +the journey was found to be full. Richard continued +to perform the journey in post-chaises, +not without some grumbling at the expense, and +incessant orders to the post-boys to make the +best of the way. "Slow country this, in spite +of all its brag," said he—"very slow. Time is +money—they know that in the States; for why, +they are all men of business there. Always +slow in a country where a parcel of lazy, idle +lords, and dukes, and baronets, seem to think +'time is pleasure.'"</p> + +<p>Toward evening the chaise approached the +confines of a very large town, and Richard began +to grow fidgety. His easy cavalier air was +abandoned. He withdrew his legs from the +window, out of which they had been luxuriously +dangling; pulled down his waistcoat; buckled +more tightly his stock: it was clear that he was +resuming the decorous dignity that belongs to +state. He was like a monarch who, after traveling +happy and incognito, returns to his capital. +Leonard divined at once that they were nearing +their journey's end.</p> + +<p>Humble foot-passengers now looked at the +chaise, and touched their hats. Richard returned +the salutation with a nod—a nod less gracious +than condescending. The chaise turned rapidly +to the left, and stopped before a smart lodge, +very new, very white, adorned with two Doric +columns in stucco, and flanked by a large pair +of gates. "Hollo!" cried the post-boy, and +cracked his whip.</p> + +<p>Two children were playing before the lodge, +and some clothes were hanging out to dry on the +shrubs and pales round the neat little building.</p> + +<p>"Hang those brats! they are actually playing," +growled Dick. "As I live, the jade has +been washing again! Stop, boy." During this +soliloquy, a good-looking young woman had +rushed from the door—slapped the children as, +catching sight of the chaise, they ran toward +the house—opened the gates, and, dropping a +courtesy to the ground, seemed to wish that she +could drop into it altogether, so frightened and +so trembling seemed she to shrink from the +wrathful face which the master now put out of +the window.</p> + +<p>"Did I tell you, or did I not," said Dick, +"that I would not have these horrid disreputable +cubs of yours playing just before my lodge +gates?"</p> + +<p>"Please, sir—"</p> + +<p>"Don't answer me. And did I tell you, or +did I not, that the next time I saw you making +a drying-ground of my lilacs, you should go out, +neck and crop—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, please, sir—"</p> + +<p>"You leave my lodge next Saturday: drive +on, boy. The ingratitude and insolence of those +common people are disgraceful to human nature," +muttered Richard, with an accent of the +bitterest misanthropy.</p> + +<p>The chaise wheeled along the smoothest and +freshest of gravel roads, and through fields of +the finest land, in the highest state of cultivation. +Rapid as was Leonard's survey, his rural +eye detected the signs of a master in the art +agranomial. Hitherto he had considered the +Squire's model farm as the nearest approach to +good husbandry he had seen: for Jackeymo's +finer skill was developed rather on the minute +scale of market-gardening than what can fairly +be called husbandry. But the Squire's farm +was degraded by many old-fashioned notions, +and concessions to the whim of the eye, which +would not be found in model farms nowadays—large +tangled hedgerows, which, though they +constitute one of the beauties most picturesque +in old England, make sad deductions from produce; +great trees, overshadowing the corn, and +harboring the birds; little patches of rough +sward left to waste; and angles of woodland +running into fields, exposing them to rabbits, +and blocking out the sun. These and suchlike +blots on a gentleman farmer's agriculture, common-sense +and Giacomo had made clear to the +acute comprehension of Leonard. No such faults +were perceptible in Richard Avenel's domain. +The fields lay in broad divisions, the hedges +were clipped and narrowed into their proper +destination of mere boundaries. Not a blade of +wheat withered under the cold shade of a tree: +not a yard of land lay waste; not a weed was +to be seen, not a thistle to waft its baleful seed +through the air: some young plantations were +placed, not where the artist would put them, but +just where the farmer wanted a fence from the +wind. Was there no beauty in this? Yes, there +was beauty of its kind—beauty at once recognizable +to the initiated—beauty of use and profit—beauty +that could bear a monstrous high rent. +And Leonard uttered a cry of admiration which +thrilled through the heart of Richard Avenel.</p> + +<p>"This <i>is</i> farming!" said the villager.</p> + +<p>"Well, I guess it is," answered Richard, all +his ill-humor vanishing. "You should have +seen the land when I bought it. But we new +men, as they call us—(damn their impertinence)—are +the new blood of this country."</p> + +<p>Richard Avenel never said any thing more +true. Long may the new blood circulate through +the veins of the mighty giantess; but let the +grand heart be the same as it has beat for proud +ages.</p> + +<p>The chaise, now passed through a pretty +shrubbery, and the house came into gradual +view—a house with a portico—all the offices +carefully thrust out of sight.</p> + +<p>The post-boy dismounted and rang the bell.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I almost think they are going to keep me +waiting," said Mr. Richard, well-nigh in the +very words of Louis XIV.</p> + +<p>But that fear was not realized—the door opened; +a well-fed servant out of livery presented +himself. There was no hearty welcoming smile +on his face, but he opened the chaise-door with +demure and taciturn respect.</p> + +<p>"Where's George? why does not he come to +the door?" asked Richard, descending from the +chaise slowly, and leaning on the servant's outstretched +arm with as much precaution as if he +had had the gout.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, George here came into sight, +settling himself hastily into his livery coat.</p> + +<p>"See to the things, both of you," said Richard, +as he paid the post-boy.</p> + +<p>Leonard stood on the gravel sweep, gazing at +the square white house.</p> + +<p>"Handsome elevation—classical, I take it—eh?" +said Richard, joining him. "But you +should see the offices."</p> + +<p>He then, with familiar kindness, took Leonard +by the arm, and drew him within. He showed +him the hall, with a carved mahogany stand for +hats; he showed him the drawing-room, and +pointed out its beauties—though it was summer +the drawing-room looked cold, as will look rooms +newly furnished, with walls newly papered, in +houses newly built. The furniture was handsome, +and suited to the rank of a rich trader. +There was no pretense about it, and therefore +no vulgarity, which is more than can be said for +the houses of many an honorable Mrs. Somebody +in Mayfair, with rooms twelve feet square, chokeful +of buhl, that would have had its proper place +in the Tuileries. Then Richard showed him the +library, with mahogany book-cases and plate +glass, and the fashionable authors handsomely +bound. Your new men are much better friends +to living authors than your old families who live +in the country, and at most subscribe to a book-club. +Then Richard took him up-stairs, and led +him through the bedrooms—all very clean and +comfortable, and with every modern convenience; +and, pausing in a very pretty single gentleman's +chamber, said, "This is your den. +And now, can you guess who I am?"</p> + +<p>"No one but my Uncle Richard could be so +kind," answered Leonard.</p> + +<p>But the compliment did not flatter Richard. +He was extremely disconcerted and disappointed. +He had hoped that he should be taken for +a lord at least, forgetful of all that he had said +in disparagement of lords.</p> + +<p>"Pish!" said he at last, biting his lip—"so +you don't think that I look like a gentleman! +Come, now, speak honestly."</p> + +<p>Leonard wonderingly saw he had given pain, +and with the good breeding which comes instinctively +from good-nature, replied—"I judged +you by your heart, sir, and your likeness to my +grandfather—otherwise I should never have presumed +to fancy we could be relations."</p> + +<p>"Hum!" answered Richard. "You can just +wash your hands, and then come down to dinner; +you will hear the gong in ten minutes. +There's the bell; ring for what you want."</p> + +<p>With that, he turned on his heel; and descending +the stairs, gave a look into the dining-room, +and admired the plated salver on the sideboard, +and the king's pattern spoons and forks on the +table. Then he walked to the looking-glass +over the mantle-piece; and wishing to survey +the whole effect of his form, mounted a chair. +He was just getting into an attitude which he +thought imposing, when the butler entered, and +being London bred, had the discretion to try to +escape unseen; but Richard caught sight of him +in the looking-glass, and colored up to the temples.</p> + +<p>"Jarvis," said he mildly, "Jarvis, put me in +mind to have these inexpressibles altered."</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3> + +<p>Apropos of the inexpressibles, Mr. Richard +did not forget to provide his nephew with a much +larger wardrobe than could have been thrust +into Dr. Riccabocca's knapsack. There was a +very good tailor in the town, and the clothes were +very well made. And, but for an air more ingenuous, +and a cheek that, despite study and +night vigils, retained much of the sunburnt bloom +of the rustic, Leonard Fairfield might now have +almost passed, without disparaging comment, +by the bow-window at White's. Richard burst +into an immoderate fit of laughter when he first +saw the watch which the poor Italian had bestowed +upon Leonard; but, to atone for the +laughter, he made him a present of a very pretty +substitute, and bade him "lock up his turnip." +Leonard was more hurt by the jeer at his old +patron's gift than pleased by his uncle's. But +Richard Avenel had no conception of sentiment. +It was not for many days that Leonard could +reconcile himself to his uncle's manner. Not +that the peasant could pretend to judge of its +mere conventional defects; but there is an ill +breeding to which, whatever our rank and nurture, +we are almost equally sensitive—the ill +breeding that comes from want of consideration +for others. Now, the Squire was as homely in +his way as Richard Avenel, but the Squire's +bluntness rarely hurt the feelings: and when it +did so, the Squire perceived and hastened to repair +his blunder. But Mr. Richard, whether +kind or cross, was always wounding you in some +little delicate fibre—not from malice, but from +the absence of any little delicate fibres of his +own. He was really, in many respects, a most +excellent man and certainly a very valuable, +citizen. But his merits wanted the fine tints and +fluent curves that constitute beauty of character. +He was honest, but sharp in his practice, and +with a keen eye to his interests. He was just, +but as a matter of business. He made no allowances, +and did not leave to his justice the +large margin of tenderness and mercy. He was +generous, but rather from an idea of what was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +due to himself than with much thought of the +pleasure he gave to others; and he even regarded +generosity as capital put out to interest. He +expected a great deal of gratitude in return, and, +when he obliged a man, considered that he had +bought a slave. Every needy voter knew where +to come, if he wanted relief or a loan; but woe +to him if he had ventured to express hesitation +when Mr. Avenel told him how he must vote.</p> + +<p>In this town Richard had settled after his return +from America, in which country he had +enriched himself—first, by spirit and industry—lastly, +by bold speculation and good luck. He +invested his fortune in business—became a partner +in a large brewery—soon bought out his +associates—and then took a principal share in a +flourishing corn-mill. He prospered rapidly—bought +a property of some two or three hundred +acres, built a house, and resolved to enjoy himself, +and make a figure. He had now become +the leading man of the town, and the boast to +Audley Egerton that he could return one of the +members, perhaps both, was by no means an +exaggerated estimate of his power. Nor was +his proposition, according to his own views, so +unprincipled as it appeared to the statesman. +He had taken a great dislike to both the sitting +members—a dislike natural to a sensible man of +modern politics, who had something to lose. For +Mr. Slappe, the active member—who was head-over-ears +in debt—was one of the furious democrats +rare before the Reform Bill—and whose +opinions were held dangerous even by the mass +of a Liberal constituency; while Mr. Sleekie, +the gentleman member, who laid by £5000 +every year from his dividends in the Funds, was +one of those men whom Richard justly pronounced +to be "humbugs"—men who curry +favor with the extreme party by voting for +measures sure not to be carried; while, if there +were the least probability of coming to a decision +that would lower the money-market, Mr. +Sleekie was seized with a well-timed influenza. +Those politicians are common enough now. Propose +to march to the Millennium, and they are +your men. Ask them to march a quarter of a +mile, and they fall to feeling their pockets, and +trembling for fear of the foot-pads. They are +never so joyful as when there is no chance of a +victory. Did they beat the Minister, they would +be carried out of the house in a fit.</p> + +<p>Richard Avenel—despising both these gentlemen, +and not taking kindly to the Whigs since +the great Whig leaders were Lords—looked +with a friendly eye to the Government as it then +existed, and especially to Audley Egerton, the +enlightened representative of commerce. But +in giving Audley and his colleagues the benefit +of his influence, through conscience, he thought +it all fair and right to have a <i>quid pro quo</i>, and, +as he had so frankly confessed, it was his whim +to rise up "Sir Richard." For this worthy citizen +abused the aristocracy much on the same +principle as the fair Olivia depreciated Squire +Thornhill—he had a sneaking affection for what +he abused. The society of Screwstown was +like most provincial capitals, composed of two +classes—the commercial and the exclusive. +These last dwelt chiefly apart, around the ruins +of an old abbey; they affected its antiquity in +their pedigrees, and had much of its ruin in their +finances. Widows of rural thanes in the neighborhood—genteel +spinsters—officers retired on +half-pay—younger sons of rich squires, who had +now become old bachelors—in short, a very respectable, +proud, aristocratic set—who thought +more of themselves than do all the Gowers and +Howards, Courtenays and Seymours, put together. +It had early been the ambition of Richard +Avenel to be admitted into this sublime coterie, +and, strange to say, he had partially succeeded. +He was never more happy than when +he was asked to their card-parties, and never +more unhappy than when he was actually there. +Various circumstances combined to raise Mr. +Avenel into this elevated society. First, he +was unmarried, still very handsome, and in that +society there was a large proportion of unwedded +females. Secondly, he was the only rich +trader in Screwstown who kept a good cook, +and professed to give dinners, and the half-pay +captains and colonels swallowed the host for the +sake of the venison. Thirdly, and principally, +all these exclusives abhorred the two sitting +members, and "idem nolle idem velle de republica, +ea firma amicitia est;" that is, congeniality +in politics pieces porcelain and crockery together +better than the best diamond cement. The +sturdy Richard Avenel—who valued himself on +American independence—held these ladies and +gentlemen in an awe that was truly Brahminical. +Whether it was that in England, all notions, even +of liberty, are mixed up historically, traditionally, +socially, with that fine and subtle element of +aristocracy which, like the press, is the air we +breathe; or whether Richard imagined that he +really became magnetically imbued with the +virtues of these silver pennies and gold seven-shilling +pieces, distinct from the vulgar coinage +in popular use, it is hard to say. But the truth +must be told—Richard Avenel was a notable +tuft-hunter. He had a great longing to marry +out of this society; but he had not yet seen any +one sufficiently high-born and high-bred to satisfy +his aspirations. In the mean while, he had +convinced himself that his way would be smooth +could he offer to make his ultimate choice "My +Lady;" and he felt that it would be a proud +hour in his life when he could walk before stiff +Colonel Pompley to the sound of "Sir Richard." +Still, however disappointed at the ill-success of +his bluff diplomacy with Mr. Egerton, and however +yet cherishing the most vindictive resentment +against that individual—he did not, as +many would have done, throw up his political +convictions out of personal spite. He resolved +still to favor the ungrateful and undeserving +Administration; and as Audley Egerton had +acted on the representations of the mayor and +deputies, and shaped his bill to meet their views,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +so Avenel and the Government rose together in +the popular estimation of the citizens of Screwstown.</p> + +<p>But duly to appreciate the value of Richard +Avenel, and in just counterpoise to all his foibles, +one ought to have seen what he had effected for +the town. Well might he boast of "new blood;" +he had done as much for the town as he had for +his fields. His energy, his quick comprehension +of public utility, backed by his wealth, and bold, +bullying, imperious character, had sped the work +of civilization as if with the celerity and force of +a steam-engine.</p> + +<p>If the town were so well paved and so well +lighted—if half-a-dozen squalid lanes had been +transformed into a stately street—if half the +town no longer depended on tanks for their water—if +the poor-rates were reduced one-third—praise +to the brisk new blood which Richard +Avenel had infused into vestry and corporation. +And his example itself was so contagious! +"There was not a plate-glass window in the +town when I came into it," said Richard Avenel; +"and now look down the High-street!" He took +the credit to himself, and justly; for, though his +own business did not require windows of plate-glass, +he had awakened the spirit of enterprise +which adorns a whole city.</p> + +<p>Mr. Avenel did not present Leonard to his +friends for more than a fortnight. He allowed +him to wear off his rust. He then gave a grand +dinner, at which his nephew was formally introduced, +and, to his great wrath and disappointment, +never opened his lips. How could he, +poor youth, when Miss Clarina Mowbray only +talked upon high life, till proud Colonel Pompley +went in state through the history of the siege +of Seringapatam.</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER IV</h3> + +<p>While Leonard accustoms himself gradually +to the splendors that surround him, and often +turns with a sigh to the remembrance of his +mother's cottage and the sparkling fount in the +Italian's flowery garden, we will make with +thee, O reader, a rapid flight to the metropolis, +and drop ourselves amidst the gay groups that +loiter along the dusty ground, or loll over the +roadside palings of Hyde Park. The season is +still at its height; but the short day of fashionable +London life, which commences two hours +after noon, is in its decline. The crowd in Rotten-row +begins to thin. Near the statue of +Achilles, and apart from all other loungers, a +gentleman, with one hand thrust into his waistcoat, +and the other resting on his cane, gazed +listlessly on the horsemen and carriages in the +brilliant ring. He was still in the prime of life, +at the age when man is usually the most social—when +the acquaintances of youth have ripened +into friendship, and a personage of some rank +and fortune has become a well-known feature in +the mobile face of society. But though, when +his contemporaries were boys scarce at college, +this gentleman had blazed foremost among the +princes of fashion, and though he had all the +qualities of nature and circumstance which +either retain fashion to the last, or exchange its +false celebrity for a graver repute, he stood as +a stranger in that throng of his countrymen. +Beauties whirled by to the toilet—statesmen +passed on to the senate—dandies took flight to +the clubs; and neither nods, nor becks, nor +wreathed smiles, said to the solitary spectator, +"Follow us—thou art one of our set." Now +and then, some middle-aged beau, nearing the +post of the loiterer, turned round to look again; +but the second glance seemed to dissipate the +recognition of the first, and the beau silently +continued his way.</p> + +<p>"By the tombs of my fathers!" said the solitary +to himself, "I know now what a dead man +might feel if he came to life again, and took a +peep at the living."</p> + +<p>Time passed on—the evening shades descended +fast. Our stranger in London had well-nigh +the Park to himself. He seemed to breathe +more freely as he saw that the space was so +clear.</p> + +<p>"There's oxygen in the atmosphere now," +said he, half aloud; "and I can walk without +breathing in the gaseous fumes of the multitude. +O those chemists—what dolts they are! They +tell us crowds taint the air, but they never guess +why! Pah! it is not the lungs that poison the +element—it is the reek of bad hearts. When a +periwig-pated fellow breathes on me, I swallow +a mouthful of care. <i>Allons!</i> my friend Nero; +now for a stroll." He touched with his cane a +large Newfoundland dog, who lay stretched +near his feet; a dog and man went slow through +the growing twilight, and over the brown dry +turf. At length our solitary paused, and threw +himself on a bench under a tree. "Half-past +eight!" said he, looking at his watch—"one +may smoke one's cigar without shocking the +world."</p> + +<p>He took out his cigar-case, struck a light, and +in another moment, reclined at length on the +bench, seemed absorbed in regarding the smoke, +that scarce colored ere it vanished into air.</p> + +<p>"It is the most barefaced lie in the world, my +Nero," said he, addressing his dog—"this boasted +liberty of man! Now, here am I, a freeborn +Englishman, a citizen of the world, caring—I +often say to myself—caring not a jot for Kaisar +or Mob; and yet I no more dare smoke this +cigar in the Park at half-past six, when all the +world is abroad, than I dare pick my Lord +Chancellor's pocket, or hit the Archbishop of +Canterbury a thump on the nose. Yet no law +in England forbids me my cigar, Nero! What +is law at half-past eight, was not crime at six +and a half! Britannia says, "Man, thou art +free," and she lies like a commonplace woman. +O Nero, Nero! you enviable dog!—you serve +but from liking. No thought of the world costs +you one wag of the tail. Your big heart and +true instinct suffice you for reason and law.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> +You would want nothing to your felicity, if in +these moments of ennui you would but smoke a +cigar. Try it, Nero!—try it!" And, rising +from his incumbent posture, he sought to force +the end of the weed between the teeth of the +dog.</p> + +<p>While thus gravely engaged, two figures had +approached the place. The one was a man +who seemed weak and sickly. His threadbare +coat was buttoned to the chin, but hung large +on his shrunken breast. The other was a girl +of about fourteen, on whose arm he leant heavily. +Her cheek was wan, and there was a patient +sad look on her face, which seemed so settled +that you would think she could never have +known the mirthfulness of childhood.</p> + +<p>"Pray rest here, papa," said the child softly; +and she pointed to the bench, without taking +heed of its pre-occupant, who now, indeed, confined +to one corner of the seat, was almost hidden +by the shadow of a tree.</p> + +<p>The man sate down, with a feeble sigh; and +then, observing the stranger, raised his hat, and +said, in that tone of voice which betrays the +usages of polished society, "Forgive me, if I intrude +on you, sir."</p> + +<p>The stranger looked up from his dog, and +seeing that the girl was standing, rose at once +as if to make room for her on the bench.</p> + +<p>But still the girl did not heed him. She hung +over her father, and wiped his brow tenderly +with a little kerchief which she took from her +own neck for the purpose.</p> + +<p>Nero, delighted to escape the cigar, had taken +to some unwieldy curvets and gambols, to vent +the excitement into which he had been thrown; +and now returning, approached the bench with +a low look of surprise, and sniffed at the intruders +on his master's privacy.</p> + +<p>"Come here, sir," said the master. "You +need not fear him," he added, addressing himself +to the girl.</p> + +<p>But the girl, without turning round to him, +cried in a voice rather of anguish than alarm, +"He has fainted! Father! father!"</p> + +<p>The stranger kicked aside his dog, which +was in the way, and loosened the poor man's +stiff military stock. While thus charitably engaged, +the moon broke out, and the light fell +full on the pale care-worn face of the unconscious +sufferer.</p> + +<p>"This face seems not unfamiliar to me, +though sadly changed," said the stranger to +himself; and bending toward the girl, who had +sunk on her knees and was chafing her father's +hands, he asked, "My child, what is your father's +name?"</p> + +<p>The child continued her task, too absorbed to +answer.</p> + +<p>The stranger put his hand on her shoulder, +and repeated the question.</p> + +<p>"Digby," answered the child, almost unconsciously; +and as she spoke the man's senses +began to return. In a few minutes more he +had sufficiently recovered to falter forth his +thanks to the stranger. But the last took his +hand, and said, in a voice at once tremulous and +soothing, "Is it possible that I see once more an +old brother in arms? Algernon Digby, I do not +forget you; but it seems England has forgotten?"</p> + +<p>A hectic flush spread over the soldier's face, +and he looked away from the speaker as he +answered—</p> + +<p>"My name is Digby, it is true, sir; but I do +not think we have met before. Come, Helen, I +am well now—we will go home."</p> + +<p>"Try and play with that great dog, my +child," said the stranger—"I want to talk with +your father."</p> + +<p>The child bowed her submissive head, and +moved away; but she did not play with the +dog.</p> + +<p>"I must re-introduce myself, formally, I see," +quoth the stranger. "You were in the same +regiment with myself, and my name is L'Estrange."</p> + +<p>"My lord," said the soldier, rising, "forgive +me that—"</p> + +<p>"I don't think that it was the fashion to call +me 'my lord' at the mess-table. Come, what +has happened to you?—on half-pay?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Digby shook his head mournfully.</p> + +<p>"Digby, old fellow, can you lend me £100?" +said Lord L'Estrange, clapping his <i>ci-devant</i> +brother officer on the shoulder, and in a tone of +voice that seemed like a boy's—so impudent +was it, and devil-me-carish. "No! Well, that's +lucky, for I can lend it to you."</p> + +<p>Mr. Digby burst into tears.</p> + +<p>Lord L'Estrange did not seem to observe the +emotion. "We were both sad extravagant fellows +in our day," said he, "and I dare say I +borrowed of you pretty freely."</p> + +<p>"Me! Oh, Lord L'Estrange?"</p> + +<p>"You have married since then, and reformed, +I suppose. Tell me, old friend, all about it."</p> + +<p>Mr. Digby, who by this time had succeeded +in restoring some calm to his shattered nerves, +now rose, and said in brief sentences, but clear +firm tones,</p> + +<p>"My Lord, it is idle to talk of me—useless to +help me. I am fast dying. But, my child there, +my only child (he paused an instant, and went +on rapidly). I have relations in a distant country, +if I could but get to them—I think they +would at least provide for her. This has been +for weeks my hope, my dream, my prayer. I +can not afford the journey except by your help. +I have begged without shame for myself; shall +I be ashamed, then, to beg for her?"</p> + +<p>"Digby," said L'Estrange, with some grave +alteration of manner, "talk neither of dying, nor +begging. You were nearer death when the balls +whistled round you at Waterloo. If soldier meets +soldier and says, 'Friend, thy purse,' it is not +begging, but brotherhood. Ashamed! By the +soul of Belisarius! if I needed money, I would +stand at a crossing with my Waterloo medal +over my breast, and say to each sleek citizen I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> +had helped to save from the sword of the Frenchman, +'It is your shame if I starve.' Now, lean +upon me; I see you should be at home—which +way?"</p> + +<p>The poor soldier pointed his hand toward Oxford-street, +and reluctantly accepted the proffered +arm.</p> + +<p>"And when you return from your relations, +you will call on me? What!—hesitate? Come, +promise."</p> + +<p>"I will."</p> + +<p>"On your honor."</p> + +<p>"If I live, on my honor."</p> + +<p>"I am staying at present at Knightsbridge, +with my father; but you will always hear of +my address at No. — Grosvenor-square, Mr. +Egerton's. So you have a long journey before +you?"</p> + +<p>"Very long."</p> + +<p>"Do not fatigue yourself—travel slowly. Ho, +you foolish child!—I see you are jealous of me. +Your father has another arm to spare you."</p> + +<p>Thus talking, and getting but short answers, +Lord L'Estrange continued to exhibit those +whimsical peculiarities of character, which had +obtained for him the repute of heartlessness in +the world. Perhaps the reader may think the +world was not in the right. But if ever the +world does judge rightly of the character of a +man who does not live for the world, nor talk +for the world, nor feel with the world, it will be +centuries after the soul of Harley L'Estrange +has done with this planet.</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER V.</h3> + +<p>Lord L'Estrange parted company with Mr. +Digby at the entrance of Oxford-street. The +father and child there took a cabriolet. Mr. +Digby directed the driver to go down the +Edgeware-road. He refused to tell L'Estrange +his address, and this with such evident pain, +from the sores of pride, that L'Estrange could +not press the point. Reminding the soldier of +his promise to call, Harley thrust a pocket-book +into his hand, and walked off hastily toward +Grosvenor-square.</p> + +<p>He reached Audley Egerton's door just as +that gentleman was getting out of his carriage; +and the two friends entered the house together.</p> + +<p>"Does the nation take a nap to-night?" asked +L'Estrange. "Poor old lady! She hears so +much of her affairs, that she may well boast of +her constitution: it must be of iron."</p> + +<p>"The House is still sitting," answered Audley +seriously, and with small heed of his friend's +witticism. "But it is not a Government motion, +and the division will be late, so I came home; +and if I had not found you here, I should have +gone into the Park to look for you."</p> + +<p>"Yes—one always knows where to find me +at this hour. 9 o'clock <span class="smcap">p.m.</span>—cigar—Hyde Park. +There is not a man in England so regular in his +habits."</p> + +<p>Here the friends reached a drawing-room in +which the Member of Parliament seldom sat, +for his private apartments were all on the +ground floor.</p> + +<p>"But it is the strangest whim of yours, Harley," +said he.</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"To affect detestation of ground-floors."</p> + +<p>"Affect! O sophisticated man, of the earth, +earthy! Affect!—nothing less natural to the +human soul than a ground-floor. We are quite +far enough from heaven, mount as many stairs +as we will, without groveling by preference."</p> + +<p>"According to that symbolical view of the +case," said Audley, "you should lodge in an +attic."</p> + +<p>"So I would, but that I abhor new slippers. +As for hair-brushes, I am indifferent!"</p> + +<p>"What have slippers and hair-brushes to do +with attics?"</p> + +<p>"Try! Make your bed in an attic, and the +next morning you will have neither slippers nor +hair-brushes!"</p> + +<p>"What shall I have done with them?"</p> + +<p>"Shied them at the cats!"</p> + +<p>"What odd things you do say, Harley!"</p> + +<p>"Odd! By Apollo and his nine spinsters! +there is no human being who has so little imagination +as a distinguished Member of Parliament. +Answer me this, thou solemn right +honorable—Hast thou climbed to the heights +of august contemplation? Hast thou gazed on +the stars with the rapt eye of song? Hast thou +dreamed of a love known to the angels, or +sought to seize in the Infinite the mystery of +life?"</p> + +<p>"Not I indeed, my poor Harley."</p> + +<p>"Then no wonder, poor Audley, that you can +not conjecture why he who makes his bed in an +attic, disturbed by base catterwauls, shies his +slippers at cats. Bring a chair into the balcony. +Nero spoiled my cigar to-night. I am going to +smoke now. You never smoke. You can look +on the shrubs in the square."</p> + +<p>Audley slightly shrugged his shoulders, but +he followed his friend's counsel and example, +and brought his chair into the balcony. Nero +came too, but at sight and smell of the cigar +prudently retreated, and took refuge under the +table.</p> + +<p>"Audley Egerton, I want something from +Government."</p> + +<p>"I am delighted to hear it."</p> + +<p>"There was a cornet in my regiment, who +would have done better not to have come into it. +We were, for the most part of us, puppies and +fops."</p> + +<p>"You all fought well, however."</p> + +<p>"Puppies and fops do fight well. Vanity +and valor generally go together. Cæsar, who +scratched his head with due care of his scanty +curls, and, even in dying, thought of the folds in +his toga; Walter Raleigh, who could not walk +twenty yards, because of the gems in his shoes; +Alcibiades, who lounged into the Agora with +doves in his bosom, and an apple in his hand;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> +Murat, bedizened in gold-lace and furs; and +Demetrius, the City-Taker, who made himself +up like a French <i>Marquise</i>—were all pretty +good fellows at fighting. A slovenly hero like +Cromwell is a paradox in nature, and a marvel +in history. But to return to my cornet. We +were rich; he was poor. When the pot of clay +swims down the stream with the brass-pots, it +is sure of a smash. Men said Digby was stingy; +I saw he was extravagant. But every one, I +fear, would be rather thought stingy than poor. +<i>Bref.</i>—I left the army, and saw him no more +till to-night. There was never shabby poor +gentleman on the stage more awfully shabby, +more pathetically gentleman. But, look ye, +this man has fought for England. It was no +child's play at Waterloo, let me tell you, Mr. +Egerton; and, but for such men, you would be +at best a <i>sous-prefet</i>, and your Parliament a +Provincial Assembly. You must do something +for Digby. What shall it be?"</p> + +<p>"Why, really, my dear Harley, this man was +no great friend of yours—eh?"</p> + +<p>"If he were, he would not want the Government +to help him—he would not be ashamed of +taking money from me."</p> + +<p>"That is all very fine, Harley; but there are +so many poor officers, and so little to give. It +is the most difficult thing in the world that which +you ask me. Indeed, I know nothing can be +done; he has his half-pay."</p> + +<p>"I think not; or, if he has it, no doubt it all +goes on his debts. That's nothing to us: the +man and his child are starving."</p> + +<p>"But if it is his own fault—if he has been +imprudent?"</p> + +<p>"Ah—well, well; where the devil is Nero?"</p> + +<p>"I am so sorry I can't oblige you. If it were +any thing else—"</p> + +<p>"There is something else. My valet—I can't +turn him adrift—excellent fellow, but gets drunk +now and then. Will you find him a place in the +Stamp Office?"</p> + +<p>"With pleasure."</p> + +<p>"No, now I think of it—the man knows my +ways: I must keep him. But my old wine-merchant—civil +man, never dunned—is a bankrupt. +I am under great obligations to him, and +he has a very pretty daughter. Do you think +you could thrust him into some small place in +the colonies, or make him a king's messenger, +or something of the sort?"</p> + +<p>"If you very much wish it, no doubt I +can."</p> + +<p>"My dear Audley, I am but feeling my way: +the fact is, I want something for myself."</p> + +<p>"Ah, that indeed gives me pleasure!" cried +Egerton, with animation.</p> + +<p>"The mission to Florence will soon be vacant—I +know it privately. The place would quite +suit me. Pleasant city; the best figs in Italy—very +little to do. You could sound Lord —— on +the subject."</p> + +<p>"I will answer beforehand. Lord —— would +be enchanted to secure to the public service a +man so accomplished as yourself, and the son of +a peer like Lord Lansmere."</p> + +<p>Harley L'Estrange sprang to his feet, and +flung his cigar in the face of a stately policeman, +who was looking up at the balcony.</p> + +<p>"Infamous and bloodless official!" cried Harley +L'Estrange; "so you could provide for a +pimpled-nosed lackey—for a wine-merchant who +has been poisoning the king's subjects with white +lead or sloe-juice—for an idle sybarite, who +would complain of a crumpled rose-leaf; and +nothing in all the vast patronage of England for +a broken down soldier, whose dauntless breast +was her rampart."</p> + +<p>"Harley," said the Member of Parliament, +with his calm, sensible smile, "this would be +very good clap-trap at a small theatre; but there +is nothing in which Parliament demands such +rigid economy as the military branch of the +public service; and no man for whom it is so +hard to effect what we must plainly call a job, +as a subaltern officer, who has done nothing +more than his duty—and all military men do +that. Still, as you take it so earnestly, I will +use what interest I can at the War Office, and +get him, perhaps, the mastership of a barrack."</p> + +<p>"You had better; for, if you do not, I swear +I will turn radical, and come down to your own +city to oppose you, with Hunt and Cobbett to +canvass for me."</p> + +<p>"I should be very glad to see you come into +parliament, even as a radical, and at my expense," +said Audley, with great kindness. "But +the air is growing cold, and you are not accustomed +to our climate. Nay, if you are too +poetic for catarrhs and rheums, I'm not—come +in."</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER VI.</h3> + +<p>Lord L'Estrange threw himself on a sofa, +and leaned his cheek on his hand thoughtfully. +Audley Egerton sat near him, with his arms +folded, and gazed on his friend's face with a +soft expression of aspect, which was very unusual +to the firm outline of his handsome features. +The two men were as dissimilar in person +as the reader will have divined that they +were in character. All about Egerton was so +rigid, all about L'Estrange so easy. In every +posture of Harley's there was the unconscious +grace of a child. The very fashion of his garments +showed his abhorrence of restraint. His +clothes were wide and loose; his neckcloth, tied +carelessly, left his throat half bare. You could +see that he had lived much in warm and southern +lands, and contracted a contempt for conventionalities; +there was as little in his dress as in +his talk of the formal precision of the north. He +was three or four years younger then Audley, +but he looked at least twelve years younger. In +fact, he was one of those men to whom old age +seems impossible—voice, look, figure, had all +the charm of youth; and, perhaps it was from +this gracious youthfulness—at all events, it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> +characteristic of the kind of love he inspired—that +neither his parents, nor the few friends admitted +into his intimacy, ever called him, in their +habitual intercourse, by the name of his title. +He was not L'Estrange with them, he was Harley; +and by that familiar baptismal I will usually +designate him. He was not one of those men +whom author or reader wish to view at a distance, +and remember as "my Lord"—it was so rarely +that he remembered it himself. For the rest, it +had been said of him by a shrewd wit—"He is +so natural that every one calls him affected." +Harley L'Estrange was not so critically handsome +as Audley Egerton; to a commonplace +observer he was, at best, rather good-looking +than otherwise. But women said that he had +"a beautiful countenance," and they were not +wrong. He wore his hair, which was of a fair +chestnut, long, and in loose curls; and instead +of the Englishman's whiskers, indulged in the +foreigner's mustache. His complexion was delicate, +though not effeminate; it was rather the +delicacy of a student, than of a woman. But in +his clear gray eye there was wonderful vigor +of life. A skillful physiologist, looking only into +that eye, would have recognized rare stamina +of constitution—a nature so rich that, while +easily disturbed, it would require all the effects +of time, or all the fell combinations of passion +and grief, to exhaust it. Even now, though so +thoughtful, and even so sad, the rays of that eye +were as concentred and steadfast as the light of +the diamond.</p> + +<p>"You were only, then, in jest," said Audley, +after a long silence, "when you spoke of this +mission to Florence. You have still no idea of +entering into public life."</p> + +<p>"None."</p> + +<p>"I had hoped better things when I got your +promise to pass one season in London. But, indeed, +you have kept your promise to the ear to +break it to the spirit. I could not presuppose +that you would shun all society, and be as much +of a hermit here as under the vines of Como."</p> + +<p>"I have sate in the Strangers' Gallery, and +heard your great speakers; I have been in the +pit of the Opera, and seen your fine ladies; I +have walked your streets, I have lounged in your +parks, and I say that I can't fall in love with a +faded dowager, because she fills up her wrinkless +with rouge."</p> + +<p>"Of what dowager do you speak?" asked the +matter-of-fact Audley.</p> + +<p>"She has a great many titles. Some people +call her fashion, you busy men, politics: it is all +one—tricked out and artificial. I mean London +life. No, I can't fall in love with her, fawning +old harridan!"</p> + +<p>"I wish you could fall in love with something."</p> + +<p>"I wish I could, with all my heart."</p> + +<p>"But you are so <i>blasé</i>."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, I am so fresh. Look out +of the window—what do you see?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing!"</p> + +<p>"Nothing—"</p> + +<p>"Nothing but houses and dusty lilacs, my +coachman dozing on his box, and two women in +pattens crossing the kennel."</p> + +<p>"I see none of that where I lie on the sofa. +I see but the stars. And I feel for them as I +did when I was a schoolboy at Eton. It is you +who are <i>blasé</i>, not I—enough of this. You do +not forget my commission, with respect to +the exile who has married into your brother's +family?"</p> + +<p>"No; but here you set me a task more difficult +than that of saddling your cornet on the +War Office."</p> + +<p>"I know it is difficult, for the counter influence +is vigilant and strong; but on the other +hand, the enemy is so damnable a traitor that +one must have the Fates and the household gods +on one's side."</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless," said the practical Audley, +bending over a book on the table, "I think that +the best plan would be to attempt a compromise +with the traitor."</p> + +<p>"To judge of others by myself," answered +Harley with spirit, "it were less bitter to put +up with wrong than to palter with it for compensation. +And such wrong! Compromise with +the open foe—that may be done with honor; but +with the perjured friend—that were to forgive +the perjury!"</p> + +<p>"You are too vindictive," said Egerton; +"there may be excuses for the friend, which +palliate even—"</p> + +<p>"Hush! Audley, hush! or I shall think the +world has indeed corrupted you. Excuse for +the friend who deceives, who betrays! No, such +is the true outlaw of Humanity; and the Furies +surround him even while he sleeps in the temple."</p> + +<p>The man of the world lifted his eye slowly on +the animated face of one still natural enough for +the passions. He then once more returned to +his book, and said, after a pause, "It is time you +should marry, Harley."</p> + +<p>"No," answered L'Estrange, with a smile at +this sudden turn in the conversation—"not time +yet; for my chief objection to that change in life +is, that all the women nowadays are too old +for me, or I am too young for them; a few, indeed, +are so infantine that one is ashamed to be +their toy; but most are so knowing that one is +a fool to be their dupe. The first, if they condescend +to love you, love you as the biggest doll +they have yet dandled, and for a doll's good qualities—your +pretty blue eyes, and your exquisite +millinery. The last, if they prudently accept +you, do so on algebraical principles; you are +but the X or the Y that represents a certain aggregate +of goods matrimonial—pedigree, title, +rent-roll, diamonds, pin-money, opera-box. They +cast you up with the help of mamma, and you +wake some morning to find that <i>plus</i> wife <i>minus</i> +affection equals—the Devil!"</p> + +<p>"Nonsense," said Audley, with his quiet grave +laugh. "I grant that it is often the misfortune +of a man in your station to be married rather<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> +for what he has, than for what he is; but you +are tolerably penetrating, and not likely to be +deceived in the character of the woman you +court."</p> + +<p>"Of the woman I <i>court</i>?—No! But of the +woman I <i>marry</i>, very likely indeed. Woman is +a changeable thing, as our Virgil informed us at +school; but her change <i>par excellence</i> is from the +fairy you woo to the brownie you wed. It is not +that she has been a hypocrite, it is that she is +a transmigration. You marry a girl for her accomplishments. +She paints charmingly, or plays +like St. Cecilia. Clap a ring on her finger, and +she never draws again—except perhaps your +caricature on the back of a letter, and never +opens a piano after the honeymoon. You marry +her for her sweet temper; and next year, her +nerves are so shattered that you can't contradict +her but you are whirled into a storm of hysterics. +You marry her because she declares she hates +balls and likes quiet; and ten to one but what +she becomes a patroness at Almacks, or a lady +in waiting."</p> + +<p>"Yet most men marry, and most men survive +the operation."</p> + +<p>"If it were only necessary to live, that would +be a consolatory and encouraging reflection. +But to live with peace, to live with dignity, to +live with freedom, to live in harmony with your +thoughts, your habits, your aspirations—and this +in the perpetual companionship of a person to +whom you have given the power to wound your +peace, to assail your dignity, to cripple your +freedom, to jar on each thought and each habit, +and bring you down to the meanest details of +earth, when you invite her, poor soul, to soar to +the spheres—that makes the to be, or not to be, +which is the question."</p> + +<p>"If I were you, Harley, I would do as I have +heard the author of <i>Sandford and Merton</i> did—choose +out a child and educate her yourself +after your own heart."</p> + +<p>"You have hit it," answered Harley, seriously. +"That has long been my idea—a very +vague one, I confess. But I fear I shall be an +old man before I find even the child."</p> + +<p>"Ah," he continued, yet more earnestly, +while the whole character of his varying countenance +changed again—"ah! if indeed I could +discover what I seek—one who with the heart +of a child has the mind of a woman; one who +beholds in nature the variety, the charm, the +never feverish, ever healthful excitement that +others vainly seek in the bastard sentimentalities +of a life false with artificial forms; one who +can comprehend, as by intuition, the rich poetry +with which creation is clothed—poetry so clear +to the child when enraptured with the flower, +or when wondering at the star! If on me such +exquisite companionship were bestowed—why, +then"—he paused, sighed deeply, and, covering +his face with his hand, resumed in faltering accents,</p> + +<p>"But once—but once only, did such visions +of the Beautiful made human rise before me—amidst +'golden exhalations of the dawn.' It +beggared my life in vanishing. You know only—you only—how—how—"</p> + +<p>He bowed his head, and the tears forced +themselves through his clenched fingers.</p> + +<p>"So long ago!" said Audley, sharing his +friend's emotion. "Years so long and so weary, +yet still thus tenacious of a mere boyish memory."</p> + +<p>"Away with it, then!" cried Harley, springing +to his feet, and with a laugh of strange merriment. +"Your carriage still waits; set me +home before you go to the House."</p> + +<p>Then laying his hand lightly on his friend's +shoulder, he said, "Is it for you, Audley Egerton, +to speak sneeringly of boyish memories? +What else is it that binds us together? What +else warms my heart when I meet you? What +else draws your thoughts from blue-books and +beer-bills, to waste them on a vagrant like me? +Shake hands. Oh, friend of my boyhood! recollect +the oars that we plied and the bats that +we wielded in the old time, or the murmured +talk on the moss-grown bank, as we sate together, +building in the summer air castles +mightier than Windsor. Ah! they are strong +ties, those boyish memories, believe me! I remember +as if it were yesterday my translation +of that lovely passage in Persius, beginning—let +me see—ah!—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Quum primum pavido custos mihi purpura cessit,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>that passage on friendship which gushes out so +livingly from the stern heart of the satirist. +And when old —— complimented me on my +verses, my eye sought yours. Verily, I now +say as then,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Nescio quod, certe est quod me tibi temperet astrum."<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Audley turned away his head as he returned +the grasp of his friend's hand; and while Harley, +with his light elastic footstep, descended +the stairs, Egerton lingered behind, and there +was no trace of the worldly man upon his countenance +when he took his place in the carriage +by his companion's side.</p> + +<p>Two hours afterward, weary cries of "Question, +question!" "Divide, divide!" sank into +reluctant silence as Audley Egerton rose to +conclude the debate—the man of men to speak +late at night, and to impatient benches: a man +who would be heard; whom a Bedlam broke +loose would not have roared down; with a voice +clear and sound as a bell, and a form as firmly +set on the ground as a church-tower. And +while, on the dullest of dull questions, Audley +Egerton thus, not too lively himself, enforced attention, +where was Harley L'Estrange? Standing +alone by the river at Richmond, and murmuring +low fantastic thoughts as he gazed on +the moonlit tide.</p> + +<p>When Audley left him at home, he had joined +his parents, made them gay with his careless +gayety, seen the old-fashioned folks retire to +rest, and then—while they, perhaps, deemed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +him once more the hero of ball-rooms and the +cynosure of clubs—he drove slowly through +the soft summer night, amidst the perfumes of +many a garden and many a gleaming chestnut +grove, with no other aim before him than to +reach the loveliest margin of England's loveliest +river, at the hour the moon was fullest and +the song of the nightingale most sweet. And +so eccentric a humorist was this man, that I +believe, as be there loitered—no one near to +cry "How affected!" or "How romantic!"—he +enjoyed himself more than if he had been exchanging +the politest "how-d'ye-do's" in the +hottest of London drawing-rooms, or betting his +hundreds on the odd trick with Lord De R—— for +his partner.</p> + +<h4>(TO BE CONTINUED.)</h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>MARY KINGSFORD.</h2> + +<h3>RECOLLECTIONS OF A POLICE-OFFICER.</h3> + + +<p>Toward the close of the year 1836, I was +hurriedly dispatched to Liverpool for the purpose +of securing the person of one Charles James +Marshall, a collecting clerk, who, it was suddenly +discovered, had absconded with a considerable +sum of money belonging to his employers. I +was too late—Charles James Marshall having +sailed in one of the American liners the day before +my arrival in the northern commercial capital. +This fact well ascertained, I immediately set out +on my return to London. Winter had come upon +us unusually early; the weather was bitterly +cold; and a piercing wind caused the snow, +which had been falling heavily for several hours, +to gyrate in fierce, blinding eddies, and heaped +it up here and there into large and dangerous +drifts. The obstruction offered by the rapidly-congealing +snow greatly delayed our progress +between Liverpool and Birmingham; and at a +few miles only distant from the latter city, the +leading engine ran off the line. Fortunately, the +rate at which we were traveling was a very slow +one, and no accident of moment occurred. Having +no luggage to care for, I walked on to Birmingham, +where I found the parliamentary train +just on the point of starting, and with some hesitation, +on account of the severity of the weather, +I took my seat in one of the then very much exposed +and uncomfortable carriages. We traveled +steadily and safely, though slowly along, and +reached Rugby Station in the afternoon, where +we were to remain, the guard told us, till a fast +down-train had passed. All of us hurried as quickly +as we could to the large room at this station, +where blazing fires and other appliances soon +thawed the half-frozen bodies, and loosened the +tongues of the numerous and motley passengers. +After recovering the use of my benumbed limbs +and faculties, I had leisure to look around and +survey the miscellaneous assemblage about me.</p> + +<p>Two persons had traveled in the same compartment +with me from Birmingham, whose exterior, +as disclosed by the dim light of the railway +carriage, created some surprise that such finely-attired, +fashionable gentlemen should stoop to +journey by the plebeian penny-a-mile train. I +could now observe them in a clearer light, and +surprise at their apparent condescension vanished +at once. To an eye less experienced than mine +in the artifices and expedients familiar to a certain +class of "swells," they might perhaps have +passed muster for what they assumed to be, especially +amidst the varied crowd of a "parliamentary;" +but their copper finery could not for +a moment impose upon me. The watch-chains +were, I saw, mosaic; the watches, so frequently +displayed, gilt; eye-glasses the same; the coats, +fur-collared and cuffed, were ill-fitting and second-hand; +ditto of the varnished boots and renovated +velvet waistcoats; while the luxuriant mustaches +and whiskers, and flowing wigs, were unmistakably +mere <i>pièces d'occasion</i>—assumed and diversified +at pleasure. They were both apparently +about fifty years of age; one of them perhaps one +or two years less than that. I watched them +narrowly, the more so from their making themselves +ostentatiously attentive to a young woman—girl +rather she seemed—of a remarkably graceful +figure, but whose face I had not yet obtained +a glimpse of. They made boisterous way for her +to the fire, and were profuse and noisy in their +offers of refreshment—all of which, I observed, +were peremptorily declined. She was dressed in +deep, unexpensive mourning; and from her timid +gestures and averted head, whenever either of the +fellows addressed her, was, it was evident, terrified +as well as annoyed by their rude and insolent +notice. I quietly drew near to the side of the +fire-place at which she stood, and with some difficulty +obtained a sight of her features. I was +struck with extreme surprise—not so much at +her singular beauty, as from an instantaneous +conviction that she was known to me, or at least +that I had seen her frequently before, but where +or when I could not at all call to mind. Again +I looked, and my first impression was confirmed. +At this moment the elder of the two men I have +partially described placed his hand, with a rude +familiarity, upon the girl's shoulder, proffering at +the same time a glass of hot brandy-and-water for +her acceptance. She turned sharply and indignantly +away from the fellow; and looking round +as if for protection, caught my eagerly-fixed gaze.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Waters!" she impulsively ejaculated. +"Oh, I am so glad!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," I answered, "that is certainly my +name; but I scarcely remember—Stand back, +fellow!" I angrily continued, as her tormentor, +emboldened by the spirits he had drunk, pressed +with a jeering grin upon his face, toward her, +still tendering the brandy and water. "Stand +back!" He replied by a curse and a threat. +The next moment his flowing wig was whirling +across the room, and he standing with his bullet-head +bare but for a few locks of iron-gray, in an +attitude of speechless rage and confusion, increased +by the peals of laughter which greeted +his ludicrous, unwigged aspect. He quickly put +himself in a fighting attitude, and, backed by +his companion, challenged me to battle. This +was quite out of the question; and I was somewhat +at a loss how to proceed, when the bell +announcing the instant departure of the train +rang out, my furious antagonist gathered up and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> +adjusted his wig, and we all sallied forth to take +our places—the young woman holding fast by +my arm, and in a low, nervous voice, begging +me not to leave her. I watched the two fellows +take their seats, and then led her to the hind-most +carriage, which we had to ourselves as far +as the next station.</p> + +<p>"Are Mrs. Waters and Emily quite well?" +said the young woman, coloring, and lowering +her eyes beneath my earnest gaze, which she +seemed for a moment to misinterpret.</p> + +<p>"Quite—entirely so," I almost stammered. +"You know us then?"</p> + +<p>"Surely I do," she replied, reassured by my +manner. "But you, it seems," she presently +added, with a winning smile, "have quite forgotten +little Mary Kingsford."</p> + +<p>"Mary Kingsford!" I exclaimed, almost with +a shout. "Why, so it is! But what a transformation +a few years have effected!"</p> + +<p>"Do you think so? Not <i>pretty</i> Mary Kingsford +now, then, I suppose?" she added, with a +light, pleasant laugh.</p> + +<p>"You know what I mean, you vain puss you!" +I replied, quite gleefully, for I was overjoyed at +meeting with the gentle, well remembered playmate +of my own eldest girl. We were old familiar +friends—almost father and daughter—in +an instant.</p> + +<p>Little Mary Kingsford, I should state, was, +when I left Yorkshire, one of the prettiest, most +engaging children I had ever seen; and a petted +favorite not only with us, but of every other family +in the neighborhood. She was the only child +of Philip and Mary Kingsford—a humble, worthy, +and much respected couple. The father was +gardener to Sir Pyott Dalzell, and her mother +eked out his wages to a respectable maintenance +by keeping a cheap children's school. The change +which a few years had wrought in the beautiful +child was quite sufficient to account for my imperfect +recognition of her; but the instant her +name was mentioned, I at once recognized the +rare comeliness which had charmed us all in her +childhood. The soft brown eyes were the same, +though now revealing profounder depths, and +emitting a more pensive expression; the hair, +though deepened in color, was still golden; her +complexion, lit up as it now was by a sweet +blush, was brilliant as ever; while her child-person +had become matured and developed into +womanly symmetry and grace. The brilliancy +of color vanished from her cheek as I glanced +meaningly at her mourning dress.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she murmured, in a sad, quivering +voice—"yes, father is gone! It will be six +months come next Thursday that he died! +Mother is well," she continued more cheerfully, +after a pause, "in health, but poorly off; and +I—and I," she added, with a faint effort at a +smile, "am going to London to seek my fortune!"</p> + +<p>"To seek your fortune!"</p> + +<p>"Yes; you know my cousin, Sophy Clarke? +In one of her letters, she said she often saw you."</p> + +<p>I nodded without speaking. I knew little of +Sophia Clarke, except that she was the somewhat +gay, coquettish shopwoman of a highly +respectable confectioner in the Strand, whom I +shall call by the name of Morris.</p> + +<p>"I am to be Sophy's fellow shop-assistant," +continued Mary Kingsford; "not, of course, at +first at such good wages as she gets. So lucky +for me, is it not, since I must go to service? +And so kind, too, of Sophy, to interest herself +for me!"</p> + +<p>"Well, it may be so. But surely I have +heard—my wife at least has—that you and +Richard Westlake were engaged?—Excuse me, +Mary, I was not aware the subject was a painful +or unpleasant one."</p> + +<p>"Richard's father," she replied with some +spirit, "has higher views for his son. It is all +off between us now," she added; "and perhaps +it is for the best that it should be so."</p> + +<p>I could have rightly interpreted these words +without the aid of the partially-expressed sigh +which followed them. The perilous position of +so attractive, so inexperienced, so guileless a +young creature, amidst the temptations and vanities +of London, so painfully impressed and preoccupied +me, that I scarcely uttered another +word till the rapidly-diminishing rate of the train +announced that we neared a station, after which +it was probable we should have no further opportunity +for private converse.</p> + +<p>"Those men—those fellows at Rugby—where +did you meet with them?" I inquired.</p> + +<p>"About thirty or forty miles below Birmingham, +where they entered the carriage in which +I was seated. At Birmingham I managed to +avoid them."</p> + +<p>Little more passed between us till we reached +London. Sophia Clarke received her cousin at +the Euston station, and was profuse of felicitations +and compliments upon her arrival and personal +appearance. After receiving a promise +from Mary Kingsford to call and take tea with +my wife and her old playmate on the following +Sunday, I handed the two young women into a +cab in waiting, and they drove off. I had not +moved away from the spot when a voice a few +paces behind me, which I thought I recognized, +called out, "Quick, coachee, or you'll lose sight +of them!" As I turned quickly round, another +cab drove smartly off, which I followed at a run. +I found, on reaching Lower Seymour-street, that +I was not mistaken as to the owner of the voice, +nor of his purpose. The fellow I had unwigged +at Rugby thrust his body half out of the cab +window, and, pointing to the vehicle which contained +the two girls, called out to the driver "to +mind and make no mistake." The man nodded +intelligence, and lashed his horse into a faster +pace. Nothing that I might do could prevent +the fellows from ascertaining Mary Kingsford's +place of abode; and as that was all that, for the +present at least, need be apprehended, I desisted +from pursuit, and bent my steps homeward.</p> + +<p>Mary Kingsford kept her appointment on the +Sunday, and in reply to our questioning, said she +liked her situation very well. Mr. and Mrs. Morris +were exceedingly kind to her; so was Sophia. +"Her cousin," she added in reply to a look which +I could not repress, "was perhaps a little gay and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> +free of manner, but the best-hearted creature in +the world." The two fellows who had followed +them had, I found, already twice visited the shop; +but their attentions appeared now to be exclusively +directed toward Sophia Clarke, whose vanity +they not a little gratified. The names they gave +were Hartley and Simpson. So entirely guileless +and unsophisticated was the gentle country +maiden, that I saw she scarcely comprehended +the hints and warnings which I threw out. At +parting, however, she made me a serious promise +that she would instantly apply to me should +any difficulty or perplexity overtake her.</p> + +<p>I often called in at the confectioner's, and was +gratified to find that Mary's modest propriety of +behavior, in a somewhat difficult position, had +gained her the goodwill of her employers, who invariably +spoke of her with kindness and respect. +Nevertheless, the cark and care of a London life, +with its incessant employment and late hours, +soon, I perceived, began to tell upon her health +and spirits; and it was consequently with a strong +emotion of pleasure I heard from my wife that +she had seen a passage in a letter from Mary's +mother, to the effect that the elder Westlake was +betraying symptoms of yielding to the angry and +passionate expostulations of his only son, relative +to the enforced breaking off of his engagement +with Mary Kingsford. The blush with which she +presented the letter was, I was told, very eloquent.</p> + +<p>One evening, on passing Morris's shop, I observed +Hartley and Simpson there. They were +swallowing custards and other confectionary with +much gusto; and, from their new and costly habiliments, +seemed to be in surprisingly good case. +They were smirking and smiling at the cousins +with rude confidence; and Sophia Clarke, I was +grieved to see, repaid their insulting impertinence +by her most elaborate smiles and graces. I passed +on; and presently meeting with a brother-detective, +who, it struck me, might know something +of the two gentlemen, I turned back with him, +and pointed them out. A glance sufficed him.</p> + +<p>"Hartley and Simpson you say?" he remarked +after we had walked away to some distance: +"those are only two of their numerous <i>aliases</i>. +I can not, however, say that I am as yet on very +familiar terms with them; but as I am especially +directed to cultivate their acquaintance, there is +no doubt we shall be more intimate with each +other before long. Gamblers, blacklegs, swindlers +I already know them to be; and I would +take odds they are not unfrequently something +more, especially when fortune and the bones run +cross with them." "They appear to be in high +feather just now," I remarked.</p> + +<p>"Yes: they are connected, I suspect, with the +gang who cleaned out young Garslade last week +in Jermyn-street. I'd lay a trifle," added my +friend, as I turned to leave him, "that one or +both of them will wear the Queen's livery, gray +turned up with yellow, before many weeks are +past. Good-by."</p> + +<p>About a fortnight after this conversation, I +and my wife paid a visit to Astley's, for the +gratification of our youngsters, who had long +been promised a sight of the equestrian marvels +exhibited at that celebrated amphitheatre. It +was the latter end of February; and when we +came out of the theatre, we found the weather +had changed to dark and sleety, with a sharp, +nipping wind. I had to call at Scotland-yard; +my wife and children consequently proceeded +home in a cab without me; and after assisting +to quell a slight disturbance originating in a gin-palace +close by, I went on my way over Westminster +Bridge. The inclement weather had +cleared the streets and thoroughfares in a surprisingly +short time; so that, excepting myself, +no foot-passenger was visible on the bridge till I +had about half-crossed it, when a female figure, +closely muffled up about the head, and sobbing +bitterly, passed rapidly by on the opposite side. +I turned and gazed after the retreating figure: +it was a youthful, symmetrical one; and after a +few moments' hesitation, I determined to follow +at a distance, and as unobservedly as I could. +On the woman sped, without pause or hesitation, +till she reached Astley's, where I observed her +stop suddenly, and toss her arms in the air with +a gesture of desperation. I quickened my steps, +which she observing, uttered a slight scream, and +darted swiftly off again, moaning and sobbing as +she ran. The slight momentary glimpse I had +obtained of her features beneath the gas-lamp +opposite Astley's, suggested a frightful apprehension, +and I followed at my utmost speed. She +turned at the first cross-street, and I should soon +have overtaken her, but that in darting round +the corner where she disappeared, I ran full butt +against a stout, elderly gentleman, who was hurrying +smartly along out of the weather. What +with the suddenness of the shock and the slipperiness +of the pavement, down we both reeled; +and by the time we had regained our feet, and +growled savagely at each other, the young woman, +whoever she was, had disappeared, and +more than half an hour's eager search after her +proved fruitless. At last I bethought me of +hiding at one corner of Westminster Bridge. I +had watched impatiently for about twenty minutes, +when I observed the object of my pursuit +stealing timidly and furtively toward the bridge +on the opposite side of the way. As she came +nearly abreast of where I stood, I darted forward; +she saw, without recognizing me, and uttering an +exclamation of terror, flew down toward the river, +where a number of pieces of balk and other timber +were fastened together, forming a kind of loose raft. +I followed with desperate haste, for I saw that it +was indeed Mary Kingsford, and loudly called to +her by name to stop. She did not appear to hear +me, and in a few moments the unhappy girl had +gained the end of the timber-raft. One instant she +paused with clasped hands upon the brink, and +in another had thrown herself into the dark and +moaning river. On reaching the spot where she +had disappeared, I could not at first see her, in +consequence of the dark mourning dress she had +on. Presently I caught sight of her, still upborne +by her spread clothes, but already carried +by the swift current beyond my reach. The +only chance was to crawl along a piece of round +timber which projected farther into the river<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> +and by the end of which she must pass. This +I effected with some difficulty; and laying myself +out at full length, vainly endeavored, with +outstretched, straining arms, to grasp her dress. +There was nothing left for it but to plunge in +after her. I will confess that I hesitated to do +so. I was encumbered with a heavy dress, +which there was no time to put off, and moreover, +like most inland men, I was but an indifferent +swimmer. My indecision quickly vanished. +The wretched girl, though gradually sinking, +had not yet uttered a cry, or appeared to +struggle; but when the chilling waters reached +her lips, she seemed to suddenly revive to a consciousness +of the horror of her fate: she fought +wildly with the engulphing tide, and shrieked +piteously for help. Before one could count ten, +I had grasped her by the arm, and lifted her head +above the surface of the river. As I did so, I +felt as if suddenly encased and weighed down by +leaden garments, so quickly had my thick clothing +and high boots sucked in the water. Vainly, +thus burdened and impeded, did I endeavor to +regain the raft; the strong tide bore us outward, +and I glared round, in inexpressible dismay, for +some means of extrication from the frightful peril +in which I found myself involved. Happily, right +in the direction the tide was drifting us, a large +barge lay moored by a chain-cable. Eagerly I +seized and twined one arm firmly round it, and +thus partially secure, hallooed with renewed +power for assistance. It soon came: a passer-by +had witnessed the flight of the girl and my +pursuit, and was already hastening with others +to our assistance. A wherry was unmoored: +guided by my voice, they soon reached us; and +but a brief interval elapsed before we were safely +housed in an adjoining tavern.</p> + +<p>A change of dress, with which the landlord +kindly supplied me, a blazing fire, and a couple +of glasses of hot brandy and water, soon restored +warmth and vigor to my chilled and +partially-benumbed limbs; but more than two +hours elapsed before Mary, who had swallowed +a good deal of water, was in a condition to be +removed. I had just sent for a cab, when two +police-officers, well known to me, entered the +room with official briskness. Mary screamed, +staggered toward me, and clinging to my arm, +besought me with frantic earnestness to save her.</p> + +<p>"What <i>is</i> the meaning of this?" I exclaimed, +addressing one of the police-officers.</p> + +<p>"Merely," said he, "that the young woman +that's clinging so tight to you has been committing +an audacious robbery—"</p> + +<p>"No—no—no!" broke in the terrified girl.</p> + +<p>"Oh! of course you'll say so," continued the +officer. "All I know is, that the diamond brooch +was found snugly hid away in her own box. +But come, we have been after you for the last three +hours; so you had better come along at once."</p> + +<p>"Save me! save me!" sobbed poor Mary, as +she tightened her grasp upon my arm and looked +with beseeching agony in my face.</p> + +<p>"Be comforted," I whispered; "you shall go +home with me. Calm yourself, Miss Kingsford," +I added in a louder tone: "I no more believe +you have stolen a diamond brooch than that I +have." "Bless you! bless you!" she gasped +in the intervals of her convulsive sobs.</p> + +<p>"There is some wretched misapprehension in +this business, I am quite sure," I continued; +"but at all events I shall bail her—for this +night at least."</p> + +<p>"Bail her! That is hardly regular."</p> + +<p>"No; but you will tell the superintendent +that Mary Kingsford is in my custody, and that +I answer for her appearance to-morrow."</p> + +<p>The men hesitated, but I stood too well at +head-quarters for them to do more than hesitate; +and the cab I had ordered being just then announced, +I passed with Mary out of the room as +quickly as I could, for I feared her senses were +again leaving her. The air revived her somewhat, +and I lifted her into the cab, placing myself +beside her. She appeared to listen in fearful +doubt whether I should be allowed to take +her with me; and it was not till the wheels had +made a score of revolutions that her fears vanished; +then throwing herself upon my neck in +an ecstasy of gratitude, she burst into a flood of +tears, and continued till we reached home sobbing +on my bosom like a broken-hearted child. +She had, I found, been there about ten o'clock +to seek me, and being told that I was gone to +Astley's, had started off to find me there.</p> + +<p>Mary still slept, or at least she had not risen, +when I left home the following morning to endeavor +to get at the bottom of the strange accusation +preferred against her. I first saw the +superintendent, who, after hearing what I had +to say, quite approved of all that I had done, +and intrusted the case entirely to my care. I +next saw Mr. and Mrs. Morris and Sophia Clarke, +and then waited upon the prosecutor, a youngish +gentleman of the name of Saville, lodging in Essex +Street, Strand. One or two things I heard necessitated +a visit to other officers of police, incidentally, +as I found, mixed up with the affair. +By the time all this was done, and an effectual +watch had been placed upon Mr. Augustus Saville's +movements, evening had fallen, and I +wended my way homeward, both to obtain a +little rest, and hear Mary Kingsford's version of +the strange story.</p> + +<p>The result of my inquiries may be thus briefly +summed up. Ten days before, Sophia Clarke +told her cousin that she had orders for Covent-Garden +Theatre; and as it was not one of their +busy nights, she thought they might obtain leave +to go. Mary expressed her doubt of this, as both +Mr. and Mrs. Morris, who were strict, and somewhat +fanatical Dissenters, disapproved of play-going, +especially for young women. Nevertheless +Sophia asked, informed Mary that the required +permission had been readily accorded, and off they +went in high spirits; Mary especially, who had +never been to a theatre in her life before. When +there, they were joined by Hartley and Simpson, +much to Mary's annoyance and vexation, especially +as she saw that her cousin expected them. +She had, in fact, accepted the orders from them. +At the conclusion of the entertainments, they +all four came out together when suddenly there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +arose a hustling and confusion, accompanied with +loud outcries, and a violent swaying to and fro of +the crowd. The disturbance was, however, soon +quelled; and Mary and her cousin had reached the +outer-door, when two police-officers seized Hartley +and his friend, and insisted upon their going +with them. A scuffle ensued; but other officers +being at hand, the two men were secured, and +carried off. The cousins, terribly frightened, called +a coach, and were very glad to find themselves +safe at home again. And now it came out that +Mr. and Mrs. Morris had been told that they were +going to spend the evening at <i>my</i> house, and had +no idea they were going to the play! Vexed as +Mary was at the deception, she was too kindly-tempered +to refuse to keep her cousin's secret; +especially knowing as she did that the discovery +of the deceit Sophia had practiced would in all +probability be followed by her immediate discharge. +Hartley and his friend swaggered on the +following afternoon into the shop, and whispered to +Sophia that their arrest by the police had arisen +from a strange mistake, for which the most +ample apologies had been offered and accepted. +After this, matters went on as usual, except that +Mary perceived a growing insolence and familiarity +in Hartley's manner toward her. His language +was frequently quite unintelligible, and +once he asked her plainly "if she did not mean +that he should go <i>shares</i> in the prize she had +lately found?" Upon Mary replying that she did +not comprehend him, his look became absolutely +ferocious, and he exclaimed, "Oh, that's your +game, is it? But don't try it on with me, my +good girl, I advise you!" So violent did he become, +that Mr. Morris was attracted by the noise, +and ultimately bundled him, neck and heels, out +of the shop. She had not seen either him or his +companion since.</p> + +<p>On the evening of the previous day, a gentleman +whom she never remembered to have seen +before, entered the shop, took a seat, and helped +himself to a tart. She observed that after awhile +he looked at her very earnestly, and, at length, +approaching quite close, said, "You were at Covent-Garden +Theatre last Tuesday evening week." +Mary was struck, as she said, all of a heap, for +both Mr. and Mrs. Morris were in the shop, and +heard the question.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, no! you mistake," she said, hurriedly, +and feeling at the same time her cheeks +kindle into flame.</p> + +<p>"Nay, but you were, though," rejoined the +gentleman. And then, lowering his voice to a +whisper, he said, "And let me advise you, if +you would avoid exposure and condign punishment, +to restore me the diamond brooch you +robbed me of on that evening."</p> + +<p>Mary screamed with terror, and a regular scene +ensued. She was obliged to confess she had told +a falsehood in denying she was at the theatre on +the night in question, and Mr. Morris after that +seemed inclined to believe any thing of her. The +gentleman persisted in his charge; but at the +same time vehemently iterating his assurance +that all he wanted was his property; and it was +ultimately decided that Mary's boxes, as well as +her person, should be searched. This was done; +and, to her utter consternation, the brooch was +found concealed, they said, in a black-silk reticule. +Denials, asseverations, were vain. Mr. +Saville identified the brooch, but once more offered +to be content with its restoration. This Mr. +Morris, a just, stern man, would not consent to, +and he went out to summon a police-officer. +Before he returned, Mary, by the advice of both +her cousin and Mrs. Morris, had fled the house, +and hurried, in a state of distraction, to find me, +with what result the reader already knows.</p> + +<p>"It is a wretched business," I observed to +my wife, as soon as Mary Kingsford had retired +to rest, at about nine o'clock in the evening. +"Like you, I have no doubt of the poor girl's +perfect innocence; but how to establish it by +satisfactory evidence is another matter. I must +take her to Bow-street the day after to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Good God, how dreadful! Can nothing be +done? What does the prosecutor say the brooch +is worth?"</p> + +<p>"His uncle," he says, "gave a hundred and +twenty guineas for it. But that signifies little; +for were its worth only a hundred and twenty +farthings, compromise is out of the question."</p> + +<p>"I did not mean that. Can you show it me? +I am a pretty good judge of the value of jewels."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you can see it." I took it out of the +desk in which I had locked it up, and placed it +before her. It was a splendid emerald, encircled +by large brilliants.</p> + +<p>My wife twisted and turned it about, holding +it in all sorts of lights, and at last said—"I do +not believe that either the emerald or the brilliants +are real—that the brooch is, in fact, worth +twenty shillings intrinsically."</p> + +<p>"Do you say so?" I exclaimed as I jumped +up from my chair, for my wife's words gave +color and consistence to a dim and faint suspicion +which had crossed my mind. "Then this +Saville is a manifest liar; and perhaps confederate +with—But give me my hat; I will +ascertain this point at once."</p> + +<p>I hurried to a jeweler's shop, and found that +my wife's opinion was correct; apart from the +workmanship, which was very fine, the brooch +was valueless. Conjectures, suspicions, hopes, +fears, chased each other with bewildering rapidity +through my brain; and in order to collect +and arrange my thoughts, I stepped out of the +whirl of the streets into Dolly's Chop-house, and +decided, over a quiet glass of negus, upon my +plan of operations.</p> + +<p>The next morning there appeared at the top +of the second column of the 'Times' an earnest +appeal, worded with careful obscurity, so that +only the person to whom it was addressed should +easily understand it, to the individual who had +lost or been robbed of a false stone and brilliants +at the theatre, to communicate with a certain +person—whose address I gave—without delay, +in order to save the reputation, perhaps the life, +of an innocent person.</p> + +<p>I was at the address I had given by nine o'clock. +Several hours passed without bringing +any one, and I was beginning to despair, when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> +a gentleman of the name of Bagshawe was announced: +I fairly leaped for joy, for this was +beyond my hopes.</p> + +<p>A gentleman presently entered, of about thirty +years of age, of a distinguished, though somewhat +dissipated aspect.</p> + +<p>"This brooch is yours?" said I, exhibiting +it without delay or preface.</p> + +<p>"It is; and I am here to know what your +singular advertisement means?"</p> + +<p>I briefly explained the situation of affairs.</p> + +<p>"The rascals!" he broke in almost before I +had finished; "I will briefly explain it all. A +fellow of the name of Hartley, at least that was +the name he gave, robbed me, I was pretty sure, +of this brooch. I pointed him out to the police, +and he was taken into custody; but nothing +being found upon him, he was discharged."</p> + +<p>"Not entirely, Mr. Bagshawe, on that account. +You refused, when arrived at the station-house, +to state what you had been robbed of; and you, +moreover, said, in presence of the culprit, that +you were to embark with your regiment for India +the next day. That regiment, I have ascertained, +did embark, as you said it would."</p> + +<p>"True; but I had leave of absence, and shall +take the Overland route. The truth is, that +during the walk to the station-house, I had +leisure to reflect that if I made a formal charge, +it would lead to awkward disclosures. This +brooch is an imitation of one presented to me +by a valued relative. Losses at play—since, +for this unfortunate young woman's sake, I <i>must</i> +out with it—obliged me to part with the original; +and I wore this, in order to conceal the +fact from my relative's knowledge."</p> + +<p>"This will, sir," I replied, "prove, with a +little management, quite sufficient for all purposes. +You have no objection to accompany +me to the superintendent?"</p> + +<p>"Not in the least: only I wish the devil had +the brooch as well as the fellow that stole it."</p> + +<p>About half-past five o'clock on the same evening, +the street door was quietly opened by the +landlord of the house in which Mr. Saville lodged, +and I walked into the front-room on the first +floor, where I found the gentleman I sought +languidly reclining on a sofa. He gathered himself +smartly up at my appearance, and looked +keenly in my face. He did not appear to like +what he read there.</p> + +<p>"I did not expect to see you to-day," he said +at last.</p> + +<p>"No, perhaps not: but I have news for you. +Mr. Bagshawe, the owner of the hundred-and-twenty +guinea brooch your deceased uncle gave +you, did <i>not</i> sail for India, and—"</p> + +<p>The wretched cur, before I could conclude, was +on his knees begging for mercy with disgusting +abjectness. I could have spurned the scoundrel +where he crawled.</p> + +<p>"Come, sir!" I cried, "let us have no sniveling +or humbug: mercy is not in my power, as +you ought to know. Strive to deserve it. We +want Hartley and Simpson, and can not find +them: you must aid us."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; to be sure I will!" eagerly rejoined +the rascal. "I will go for them at once," he +added, with a kind of hesitating assurance.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! <i>Send</i> for them, you mean. Do +so, and I will wait their arrival."</p> + +<p>His note was dispatched by a sure hand; and +meanwhile I arranged the details of the expected +meeting. I, and a friend, whom I momently expected, +would ensconce ourselves behind a large +screen in the room, while Mr. Augustus Saville +would run playfully over the charming plot with +his two friends, so that we might be able to fully +appreciate its merits. Mr. Saville agreed. I rang +the bell, an officer appeared, and we took our +posts in readiness. We had scarcely done so, +when the street-bell rang, and Saville announced +the arrival of his confederates. There was a +twinkle in the fellow's green eyes which I thought +I understood. "Do not try that on, Mr. Augustus +Saville," I quietly remarked; "we are but +two here certainly, but there are half-a-dozen in +waiting below."</p> + +<p>No more was said, and in another minute the +friends met. It was a boisterously-jolly meeting, +as far as shaking hands and mutual felicitations +on each other's good looks and health went. Saville +was, I thought, the most obstreperously gay +of all three.</p> + +<p>"And yet now I look at you, Saville, closely," +said Hartley, "you don't look quite the thing. +Have you seen a ghost?"</p> + +<p>"No; but this cursed brooch affair worries me."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!—humbug!—it's all right; we are +all embarked in the same boat. It's a regular +three handed game. I prigged it; Simmy here +whipped it into pretty Mary's reticule, which she, +I suppose, never looked into till the row came; +and <i>you</i> claimed it—a regular merry-go-round, +ain't it, eh? Ha! ha! ha!—ha!"</p> + +<p>"Quite so, Mr. Hartley," said I, suddenly facing +him, and at the same time stamping on the floor; +"as you say, a delightful merry-go-round; and +here, you perceive," I added, as the officers entered +the room, "are more gentlemen to join in it."</p> + +<p>I must not stain the paper with the curses, +imprecations, blasphemies, which for a brief +space resounded through the apartment. The +rascals were safely and separately locked up a +quarter of an hour afterward; and before a +month had passed away, all three were transported. +It is scarcely necessary to remark, +that they believed the brooch to be genuine, +and of great value.</p> + +<p>Mary Kingsford did not need to return to her +employ. Westlake the elder withdrew his veto +upon his son's choice, and the wedding was +celebrated in the following May with great rejoicing; +Mary's old playmate officiating as bride-maid, +and I as bride's-father. The still young +couple have now a rather numerous family, and +a home blessed with affection, peace, and competence. +It was some time, however, before +Mary recovered from the shock of her London adventure; +and I am pretty sure that the disagreeable +reminiscences inseparably connected in her +mind with the metropolis will prevent at least +<i>one</i> person from being present at the World's +Great Fair.—<i>Chambers's Journal.</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>Monthly Record of Current Events.</h2> + + +<h3>POLITICAL AND GENERAL NEWS.</h3> + +<h4>UNITED STATES.</h4> + +<p>Reports of the same general tendency, although +somewhat vague and contradictory in +details, indicate that plans are on foot to organize +another expedition for a descent upon Cuba. New +Orleans, Savannah, and various places on the coast +of Florida, would appear to be the centres to which +the parties tend. It is supposed that funds to a +large amount have been furnished from Cuba. +The design seems to be to proceed in separate parties +to some point beyond the jurisdiction of the +United States before effecting any formal organization. +The President, under date of April 25, issued +his proclamation, attributing the project mainly to +foreigners, "who have dared to make our shores +the scenes of guilty and hostile preparations against +a friendly power." These expeditions, he says, +can only be regarded as adventures for plunder +and robbery, undertaken in violation alike of the +law of nations and of this country; by the latter of +which they are punishable by fine and imprisonment. +He warns all citizens of the United States +who connect themselves with such expeditions, +that they thereby "forfeit all claims to the protection +of this Government, or any interference on +their behalf, no matter to what extremities they +may be reduced in consequence of their illegal conduct;" +and calls upon every civil and military officer +of the Government to use his efforts for the +arrest of all who thus offend against the laws of +their country.</p> + +<p>In New York, information was given to the United +States Marshal that a vessel had been chartered by +persons concerned in the proposed expedition, and +was anchored in the Bay, provided with munitions +of war, and waiting for the arrival of a large number +of men. On searching the harbor, no vessel +answering this description was found, but a steamboat +lying at a pier on the North River fell under +suspicion, and was seized by the United States +authorities. This was the Cleopatra, a large boat, +formerly employed on Long Island Sound, and now +in such a decayed condition as to be nearly unfit +for service, having been built upward of fourteen +years. Nothing was found on board to indicate the +purpose for which she was destined. The forward +hold and boiler room were filled with coal, of which +a large quantity also covered the forward deck. +She had on board a great number of empty water +casks, but no firearms or gunpowder were discovered. +She was placed in charge of a guard of marines +from the Navy Yard, and no communication +was permitted with persons on shore. The final +disposition of the steamer has not yet been determined, +but orders have been given by the Government +to deliver her cargo to any claimant who +could show evidence of proprietorship.</p> + +<p>Soon after the seizure of the Cleopatra, the collector +of this port received notice that a vessel engaged +for the transportation of emigrants from South +Amboy to Sandy Hook, was lying at her wharf, in +the former place, under suspicious circumstances. +Officers were immediately dispatched to the spot; +the vessel was seized and ordered to anchor at +Perth Amboy; and intelligence was obtained which +resulted in the arrest of five persons, who were +held to bail in the sum of $3000 each to appear for +examination. These were John L. O'Sullivan, formerly +editor of the <i>Democratic Review</i>, Captain +Lewis, formerly of the steamer Creole, Pedro Sanches, +a Spanish resident of New York, Dr. D.H. +Burnett, and Major Louis Schlesinger of the Hungarian +patriots. The offense with which they were +charged was the violation of the Neutrality Act of +April 20, 1818, in preparing the means for a military +expedition against Cuba.</p> + +<p>In consequence of various rumors which prevailed +in the City of Savannah, concerning the invasion +of Cuba, the United States Marshal chartered a +steamboat for an exploring trip to the South. He +proceeded as far as Jacksonville, Florida, and returned +after a cruise of three or four days. Throughout +the whole line of his route, he was met with +accounts of encampments of armed men, but they +proved to be without foundation, and no discoveries, +pointing to any overt acts, were made. It was the +general belief, among all with whom he conversed, +that a movement of importance had been projected +against the island of Cuba, but that from causes +which have not transpired, the organization had +been broken up, and the men connected with it +had entirely dispersed. Between Savannah and +Jacksonville, public opinion was found to be decidedly +favorable to the expedition, the great majority +of the people sympathizing with the Cubans, +and ready to aid them in a struggle for independence.</p> + +<p>The session of the Legislature of New York +came to a sudden and unexpected close on the +17th of April, two days after the conclusion of our +last Monthly Record. It being apparent that the +bill for the enlargement of the Erie Canal, which +had already passed the House by a large majority, +would likewise pass the Senate, twelve of the fifteen +Democratic Senators resigned their seats. One +other Senator announced his intention to resign if +the proposed measure were pressed; in which +case there would be only nineteen members remaining; +the Constitution requiring three-fifths of +the whole, or twenty Senators, to form a quorum. +When the bill came up for a third reading, there +were 17 votes in its favor, and 2 against it. No +quorum being present, the bill was laid upon the +table. The Senate thereupon voted to adjourn <i>sine +die</i>; in which resolution the House concurred. On +the same day the Democratic members of the Legislature, +comprising fifteen Senators and forty +Representatives, issued an address to the Democratic +Republican Electors of the State, in justification +of their procedure. They bring severe charges +against their opponents of mal-administration of the +financial affairs of the State; and denounce the +proposed measure as a palpable violation of the +express provisions of the Constitution, and as an +expedient to secure to their opponents the political +supremacy in the State. The Whig members also +issued a long address to the People of the State of +New York, in which they denounce the conduct of +the resigning Senators as a willful violation of the +Constitution which they had sworn to support<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> +and as an outrage upon the fundamental principle +of a republican government—the right of the majority +to rule. They defend the course of adjournment +adopted by the majority, on the ground that two-fifths +of the State was unrepresented in the Senate; +that for various important purposes for which the +assent of two-thirds of the members elected is requisite, +there was virtually no Senate at all; that +it was in the power of a single member of that +body, by a threat of resignation, to dictate upon +any legislative question; and that one member had +threatened, unless the order of business fixed by +the Senate should be laid aside, that he would +vacate his seat, and thus render any legislation impossible. +They proceed to argue at great length +the constitutionality and expediency of the bill. +The Governor has issued his proclamation, convoking +an extra session of the Legislature on the +10th June, and appointing an election to be held +on the 27th of May, to fill the vacancies occasioned +by the resignations of the Senators. Contrary +opinions as to the constitutionality of the bill in +question have been furnished by the ablest counsel. +Among others Mr. <span class="smcap">Chatfield</span>, the Attorney +General of the State, pronounces it to be unconstitutional; +while Mr. <span class="smcap">Webster</span> argues in favor +of the opposite opinion.</p> + +<p>The steamer Pacific, which sailed from Liverpool +April 10, accomplished the passage to New +York in 9 days and 20 hours, being the shortest +westerly passage ever made. The greatest distance +run in a single day was 328, the least 302 +miles. The shortest westerly passage previously +made was by the same vessel, which was 10 days +4 hours. The shortest similar passage by a Cunarder +was by the Asia, 10 days and 22 hours.</p> + +<p>The number of passengers from foreign countries +who arrived at the port of New York within the +four months ending May 1, was above 60,000, being +an increase of more than 30,000 over the arrivals +of last year. During the month of April the arrivals +were 27,779, of which 15,968 were from Ireland, +6372 from Germany, and 2679 from England.</p> + +<p>The anniversaries of the principal religious and +benevolent societies were celebrated as usual in +New York in the early part of May. The occasion +drew together a large attendance of persons from +every section of the country. <i>The Seaman's +Friend's Society</i> maintains chaplains in the Sandwich +Islands, South America, California, the West +Indies, France, and Sweden. At the Sailor's Home +in New York, there have been, during the year, +2525 sailor boarders. A single bank has upon deposit, +bearing interest, more than a million of dollars +belonging to seamen. The receipts of the Society +for the year were $20,399 21; the expenditures +$20,446 27.—<i>The American and Foreign Christian +Union</i> has for its object opposition to Romanism, +by acting upon both Catholics and Protestants +at home and abroad. It has during the past year +employed at home, for greater or less portions of +time, 78 missionaries, of whom the greater number +are foreigners, preaching in seven different languages, +and belonging to almost all the branches +of the Protestant Church. It also employs 30 missionaries +in foreign countries. The Society received +during the year $56,265 20, and expended +$55,169 12.—<i>The American Tract Society</i> has +issued during the year 886,692 volumes, 7,837,692 +publications; of its Almanacs have been circulated +310,000 copies; of the <i>American Messenger</i> 186,000, +and of the <i>German Messenger</i> 18,000 copies are +published monthly. It has employed 569 colporteurs, +of whom 135 are students in colleges and +seminaries. The receipts of the Society exceed +those of any other kindred institution in the country. +For the past year they were $310,728 32, of +which $200,720 33 were the proceeds of the sales of +publications, the remainder being donations. The +expenditures were, for publishing, $179,984 48; for +colportage, $73,278 23; donations to foreign countries, +$20,000; miscellaneous expenses, $37,356 59, +in all, $310,616 30.—<i>The American Home Missionary +Society</i> has had in its service during the +year 1065 ministers, who have performed an amount +of labor equal to 853 years; these have been employed +in twenty-six States and Territories: in New +England, 311; in the Middle States, 224; in the +Western States and Territories, 515; in the Southern +States, 15. The resources of the Society for the +year were $166,493 94; the liabilities, $163,457 18.—<i>The +American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society</i> +presented at its anniversary no statistics of its +operations.—<i>The American Anti-Slavery Society</i> +(known as the Garrison Society), whose meetings +last year were violently interrupted, was unable +to procure a place of meeting in this city. Its anniversary +was accordingly held in Syracuse.—<i>The +American Board of Commissioners for Foreign +Missions</i> have received for nine months of the +current year $186,500, being an increase above the +receipts of last year, of $17,384.—<i>The</i> ("Old +School") <i>Presbyterian Board of Missions</i> have sent +out during the past year 25 laborers. The operations +of this Board are carried on mainly among the +Indians and Jews of our country, in Western Africa, +Northern India, Siam, China, and Catholic +Europe. The Board has received and expended a +trifle more than $140,000 during the year.—<i>The +American Bible Society</i> has issued during the year +592,432 Bibles and Testaments, making a total, +since the formation of the Society, of 7,572,967 +copies. In addition to new editions of the English +Scriptures, they have issued the Testament in +Swedish and English in parallel columns, and have +in preparation a similar Testament in French and +English. They have also prepared a Spanish Bible, +conformed to the Hebrew and Greek originals. A +translation executed by Rev. Mr. Payne, a missionary +to Western Africa, of the books of Genesis +and Acts into the Grebo language, has been published +at the Society's house. The receipts of the +Society for the year past have been $276,882 52, +which is somewhat less than those of the preceding +year, when they were swelled by unusually large +amounts given by way of legacy.—The anniversaries +of those noble charities the <i>Institution for +the Deaf and Dumb</i> and the <i>New York Institution +for the Blind</i> were, as usual, of the utmost interest, +and attracted large and delighted audiences. +In the former of these are 247 pupils, of whom 163 +are supported by the State, 30 by their friends or +by other States, and 16 are maintained by the Institution. +The Institution for the Blind contains +105 pupils, of whom 52 are males and 53 females; +there are besides connected with it 39 other blind +persons, in various capacities.—The meetings of +several of the minor associations presented some +interesting features. Among these we specify that +of the New York Colonization Society, at which a +letter was read from Hon. <span class="smcap">Edward Everett</span>, describing +the great benefits conferred by the colonization +of Africa, in introducing civilization, and suppressing +the slave-trade.—The total receipts of +eleven of the principal religious societies of the +country for the past year were $1,237,875 17, exceeding +those of the preceding year by about $15,000.</p> + +<p>The Erie Railroad is now completed, from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> +Hudson River to Dunkirk, 470 miles from New +York. A train having on board the Directors of the +road, went over the whole distance on the 28th and +29th of April. At the commencement of the enterprise, +the State loaned to the road its bonds to the +amount of three millions of dollars. Subsequently, +an act was passed relieving the Company from the +lien imposed by these bonds, on condition that a +single track was completed, and engines passed +over it, from the Hudson to Lake Erie, before the +middle of May. On the day, therefore, in which the +first train passed over the road, the earnings of the +Company were three millions of dollars. The formal +celebration of the opening of the Road took place +on the 14th of May, and was attended by the President +of the United States and a portion of the Cabinet, +as will be seen by a somewhat detailed account +in another page of our Magazine.</p> + +<p>In Massachusetts, the Hon. <span class="smcap">Charles Sumner</span> +has at length been elected to the United States +Senate, for the full term of six years. He has taken +no prominent part in politics, but is widely known +as a scholar and philanthropist.—Soon after the +decision of an exciting Fugitive Slave case in Boston, +a number of citizens who had invited Mr. Webster +to address them on the political condition of the +country, petitioned the Board of Aldermen for the +use of Faneuil Hall on that occasion. A similar +petition having been previously denied to the opponents +of the Fugitive Slave Law, that of the friends +of Mr. Webster was not granted. The Board subsequently +reconsidered their action, and passed a +vote concurring with the Common Council in raising +a joint committee to invite an address from Mr. +Webster, and tendering the use of the Hall for the +purpose. The invitation was not accepted.—A +violent storm commenced on the 15th of April, and +raged for more than a week along the whole extent +of the Atlantic coast. During the night of the +17th, the light-house on Minot's Ledge, near Cohasset, +was swept away; two assistant keepers who +were in the structure were lost.—The secret-ballot +law has passed both branches of the Legislature. +It provides that the ballots of voters shall be inclosed +in envelopes previously to being deposited in the +ballot boxes.</p> + +<p>In Connecticut there was no choice by the people +of State officers at the late election. Hon. <span class="smcap">Thomas +H. Seymour</span>, the Democratic candidate, has been +re-elected as Governor by the Legislature. The +Democratic candidates for Secretary and Comptroller, +and the Whig candidates for Lieutenant-Governor +and Treasurer, were elected by the Legislature. +In his Message the Governor represents the +finances of the State to be in a prosperous condition; +recommends the passage of general corporation +and banking laws; and of a law limiting the +hours of labor, to contain a provision making it a +misdemeanor to work children under fourteen years +of age more than eight hours a day. He speaks in +favor of the Compromise measures, which he says +must be supported in good faith, or we can not hope +to see this form of Government continue. "Whatever +action then," he adds, "the Legislature may +feel called upon to take, upon any of the questions +to which reference has been made, I feel at liberty +to indulge the hope that its course will be such as +to place the State of Connecticut on patriotic and +dignified ground in the presence of sister States +and the nation, and the world."</p> + +<p>A Convention of the Southern Rights Association +assembled at Charleston, May 5. There were between +three and four hundred members in attendance. +Ex-Governor <span class="smcap">J.P. Richardson</span> acted as +President. In his address upon taking the chair, +he said that the question was simply as to the time +and manner of resistance. He spoke strongly of +the want of affinity between the two sections of the +country, and declared that no one should join together +those whom God and nature have put asunder. +A letter from Hon. <span class="smcap">Langdon Cheves</span> was +read, deprecating separate action on the part of +South Carolina, which ought to wait awhile longer +for the action of other States. An address and resolutions +advocating the right and expediency of secession, +were adopted. Mr. <span class="smcap">Rhett</span>, one of the +United States Senators from this State, has developed +what he supposes to be the results of the policy +of secession. Free trade would be proclaimed +with all States south and west of the Potomac, and +a duty of ten per cent. levied upon goods from the +other States and from foreign countries. The result +would be that goods would be twenty per cent. +cheaper in Charleston than in New York. The +trade of Georgia and North Carolina would be carried +on with South Carolina; and it would not be +in the power of the General Government to prevent +it, by a line of custom-houses along the frontier. +He declared the idea of a blockade of the ports +of South Carolina to be ridiculous. Blockade was +war, and Congress alone could declare war; and +Congress must either let them go peaceably out of +the Union or fight; and fight they would in defense +of their rights, liberties, and institutions; and even +if South Carolina should be subdued, the Union was +not preserved; other Southern States would join in +the contest. Should that State secede and remain +for five years an independent State, a Southern +Confederacy must be the result, or the South would +have enforced the guarantees to which she is entitled. +"I have been battling," he says, "in this +cause for twenty-five years, and have now but a +few more years to give to your service. As a citizen +of South Carolina, I demand that she make me +free. My counsel is, secede from the union of these +United States. At every hazard, and to the last +extremity secede. If I was about to draw my last +breath, with that breath I would exhort you to +secede."</p> + +<p>In the Virginia Constitutional Convention some +votes have been taken, which afford indications +that the mixed basis proposition in a somewhat +modified form, will prevail. The motion to strike +out the proposition apportioning representation on +the basis of the white population was carried by a +vote of 65 to 56. Four Eastern men, among whom +was Hon. <span class="smcap">Henry A. Wise</span>, voted with the West. +One of the mixed basis propositions failed by a single +vote.</p> + +<p>From the mining region of Lake Superior, the +latest intelligence is highly favorable; large quantities +of copper are preparing for market.—The +President has directed that the lands occupied by +the Hungarian Exiles in Iowa shall not be offered +for sale previous to the meeting of Congress, when +a petition will be presented for the grant of them +to the exiles.—A riot occurred lately at Milwaukie +upon occasion of a lecture upon Catholicism by Mr. +Leahy, who claims to have once been a Trappist +monk. More than a score of persons were seriously +injured, and considerable damage was done to +the Methodist church in which the lecture was +given. The principal Catholic laity and the clergy +published a card in which they express their unqualified +condemnation of the conduct of the rioters, +and engage to make good the pecuniary injury inflicted.—The +Central Railroad of Michigan has +for some time been annoyed by a gang, which has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> +at length been brought to light. Their detection +was effected by an agent of the Railroad, who in +order to secure their confidence undertook to set +fire to the dépôt; after, however, taking precautions +to prevent any serious injury. Nearly fifty persons +have been arrested and indicted; among whom are +a judge, justices of the peace, constables, and professional +men. The trial will come on in June.—The +Legislature of Wisconsin have passed a bill +for the protection of Seventh Day Baptists. It +provides that any civil process issued against a +person who habitually observes the seventh day as +a day of rest, which is made returnable on that day, +may be laid over until the Monday following, as +though that were the return-day of the writ.—The +small pox is raging with fearful violence among +the Sioux Indians upon the Upper Missouri. It is +also extending down the river, among the Sacs and +Foxes. Several hundred are reported to have already +died.</p> + +<p>The Governor of Texas has issued an order for +the arrest of the members of the Boundary Commission +who took part in the recent summary executions +of the desperadoes at Socorro. They are +probably beyond the jurisdiction of Texas. Severe +charges are in circulation against the officers at +the head of the Commission; public opinion will, +however, remain undecided until both sides are +heard.—The population of New Mexico, according +to the recent census, is 61,574, of whom 850 are +Americans. Of the Mexican population above the +age of twenty, only one in 103 is able to read.—A +treaty has been concluded with the Apache Chief +Chacon, who binds himself to keep the peace, under +penalty of forfeiting his life.—An attempt is to be +made to diminish the enormous expense of the military +occupation of New Mexico. Colonel Sumner, +the new commander, will take out with him seed, +grains, stock, and farming utensils, and every effort +will be made to develop the agricultural resources +of the Territory. The head-quarters of the army +will probably be removed from Santa Fé to Los +Vegos.</p> + +<p>From California the most striking feature of intelligence +is the unexampled frequency of extra-judicial +punishment for crime. The newspapers +are filled with accounts of summary executions, not +only for murder but for robbery and theft. Under +the peculiar state of things occasioned by the great +temptations to crime, and the utter want of all the +ordinary apparatus of justice, during the earlier +periods of the settlement of California, this was +unavoidable. But instances of this sort, instead of +becoming more unfrequent, seem to be rapidly increasing. +A bill has passed the Legislature, and +become a law, inflicting the punishment of death, +at the discretion of the jury, upon the crime of +grand larceny. This measure was insisted upon +by the mining counties on the ground that, owing +to the unexampled influx of desperadoes and criminals +from all parts of the world, thefts and robberies +had become so frequent, while prisons and places +of detention were so few, that the only possible +punishment was death; and the people had become +so exasperated that the punishment would and +must be inflicted, either by or against the law. +The law imposing a tax upon foreign miners has +been repealed, having been found to work most +disastrously. It drove out of the country many +thousands of the most industrious miners, especially +Mexicans and Chilians, whose labors the State +could ill spare. Indian hostilities have nearly +ceased. A number of the tribes have signified +a willingness to accept of fixed localities, and to +enter into a treaty. The Legislature having granted +to the Governor authority to call out 500 men to +repress Indian hostilities in the Mariposa region, +he made a tour of inspection, and came to the conclusion +that the force was unnecessary. The population +of the State is estimated at 314,000, of +whom about 100,000 are supposed to be engaged in +mining; and the whole amount of gold produced in +the course of last year is estimated at about one +hundred millions of dollars, giving about three and +one-third dollars a day to each individual. It is +anticipated that the amount produced the ensuing +year will not fall short of one hundred and fifty +millions. The recent accounts of the lately discovered +gold bluffs are encouraging, and promise a +large amount of gold from that source. A mine of +quicksilver, stated to be the richest in the world, +has been discovered about twelve miles from San +José. In the case of a slave brought into the State +by his master, it has been decided that he can not +be removed against his will. A vessel has arrived +at San Francisco having on board seventeen Japanese, +who were picked up at sea from a wreck. It +is supposed that they will be conveyed to their native +country in a government vessel. They are +thought to be the first Japanese who have ever set +foot upon the American continent. A rich coal mine +is stated to have been discovered about eight miles +from Benicia. The quantity of land under cultivation +has greatly increased. Professor <span class="smcap">Forrest +Shepard</span>, of New Haven, has made some remarkable +discoveries of thermal action. In one place, +where there was nothing on the surface to excite +attention, on digging down the heat increased so +rapidly that at the depth of two feet he could not +bear his hand in the earth, and the thermometer +indicated a temperature of 130 degrees. At another +place, after wandering for four days through dense +thickets, he came upon a chasm a thousand feet +deep, through which followed a stream, the banks +of which, on the 8th of February, were covered +with vegetation. Following up the stream, the +earth grew so hot as to burn the feet through the +boots. There was no appearance of lava, and the +rocks were being dissolved by a powerful <i>catalytic</i> +action. From innumerable orifices steam was forced +to the height of two hundred feet. The number of +spouting geysers and boiling springs, on a half mile +square, exceeded two hundred. The Professor, in +the course of a lecture on the mineral resources of +California, delivered in the Senate Chamber at San +José, said that he did not doubt that silver, +lead, and iron abounded in California.</p> + +<h4><a name="Mexico" id="Mexico"></a>SOUTHERN AMERICA.</h4> + +<p>In <span class="smcap">Mexico</span> the finances are in a most deplorable +condition. The revenue had fallen to about eight +and a half millions of dollars, while the expenses +exceed twelve millions. The indemnity paid by +our government can afford only temporary relief in +the face of so alarming a deficiency. The Minister +of Finance has resigned his post, and has prepared +a memoir on the condition of the department. The +Government has made a formal complaint against +that of the United States for failure in carrying out +the provisions of the treaty in relation to the suppression +of Indian depredations on the frontier; +and assigns this failure as a ground for refusing to +ratify the Tehuantepec treaty. The Commissioners +of Public Works have been directed to ascertain +the names, employment, and places of nativity of +foreigners residing in the city. Several projects +for a change of government are entertained. One +party are desirous of returning to the dominion of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> +Spain; another is in favor of annexation to the +United States; the return of Santa Anna is desired +by another. The Northern States are still harassed +by Indian depredations. The hostilities in Yucatan +are supposed to be nearly at an end. The municipality +of the capital have petitioned for the suppression +of bull-fights throughout the state.</p> + +<p>Hostilities are brooding between Brazil and the +Argentine Republic; but it is hoped that war may +be averted. The dissentions in the latter state are +favorable to the recognition of the claims of Brazil. +Government is endeavoring to suppress the slave-trade, +and its efforts meet with some success.</p> + +<p>In Peru the eligibility of Echenique for the Presidency +is disputed, on the ground that he is not a +native of that republic. An especial congress has +been summoned to decide the question, but so violent +is party spirit between his partisans and those +of Vivanco, that apprehensions of a civil war are +entertained.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cuba</span> is in a state of intense excitement in regard +to the anticipated invasion. The flower of +the Spanish army, to the number, as it is said, of +40,000 men, are concentrated on the island, which +is encircled by the entire disposable naval forces +of Spain. The steamer Georgia, on her late trip, +had the misfortune to run aground at the mouth of +the Mississippi, by which she suffered a considerable +detention. It was reported and believed at +Havana that she was lying off for the purpose of +taking on board the marauding expedition. On the +day of her arrival, a man was executed for having +endeavored to procure pilots for Lopez. He had +been previously subjected to torture, in order to extort +a confession. This is the first public execution +that has taken place for political offenses.</p> + +<p>From <span class="smcap">Hayti</span> we have the particulars of a conspiracy +against the Emperor Soulouque, in which +a number of officers of the Government were implicated. +Many arrests and some executions have +taken place in consequence. The attempt of the +American Commissioner and the French and English +Consuls to settle the controversy between the +Haytians and Dominicans, is supposed to have been +unsuccessful. The Government has declined to pay +the claims of certain American merchants to which +our Government has repeatedly called its attention.</p> + + +<h4>GREAT BRITAIN.</h4> + +<p>The event of the month has been the opening of +the Great Exhibition. As if to concentrate attention +upon it, all other affairs of interest have been +withdrawn from the stage. No little surprise and +indignation were aroused by the announcement +made on the 15th of April, that the Queen would +open the Exhibition in person, but that the holders +of tickets and exhibitors would be excluded from +the ceremony. Those who had purchased tickets +for the express purpose of being present at the opening, +were naturally indignant at losing the most +interesting part of the show. The press was unanimous +in condemnation of the contemplated exclusion. +It was denounced as an unworthy insinuation +that the person of the Queen would not be secure +in public; and as giving countenance to certain +absurd rumors of a projected insurrection. The opposition +was so general that the offensive announcement +was withdrawn, and a new programme substituted, +in accordance with which holders of season +tickets were allowed to be present. The rush for +these was so great, that the Commissioners immediately +raised the price another guinea. The Queen +proved a greater attraction than Jenny Lind had +ever been. We can only glance at the opening +ceremonies. Early in the morning the exhibitors +took their places at their stands; and the spectators +came trooping in. At half-past eleven the +Commissioners, foreign and domestic, stationed +themselves in front of a platform of state, under +the arch of the transept. Upon the platform were +the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Ministers and +great Officers of State, the Embassadors and Ministers +from foreign Powers, in full dress. At high +noon, the royal cortège entered the Crystal Palace, +the choir upraising the national anthem of "God +save the Queen." Then came addresses to the +Queen from the Commissioners and the foreign +Embassadors, to which the Queen read answers +handed to her by the Secretary of State; then followed +a prayer pronounced by the Archbishop of +Canterbury, and an anthem; a marching in procession +along the nave; a return to the platform, and +the announcement by the Queen that the Exhibition +was opened, proclaimed to the thousands without +by a flourish of trumpets and a royal salute +from the park.</p> + +<p>Among the visitors to the Crystal Palace during +the preparations, was the Duke of Wellington. +Once as he entered the French department, the +workmen uncovered two small silver statuettes of +the duke himself and his great rival Napoleon. The +bearded foreigners raised their hats to the conqueror +of Waterloo, who, returning a military salute, passed +on.</p> + +<p>The proceedings of Parliament are not wholly +destitute of interest. A motion was offered by Mr. +Disraeli to the effect, that in the re-adjustment of +taxation, due regard should be had to the distressed +condition of the agricultural classes. This was +looked upon as a covert attack upon the principle +of free-trade and upon the Ministers. The Ministers +had a majority of only 13 in a house of 513.—The +income-tax has been renewed for the third +time, by a vote of 278 to 230.—Mr. Locke King's +bill for extending the franchise, upon the first reading +of which, in February, the Ministers suffered +the defeat which led to their resignation, came up +for a second reading, April 2. It was lost by an +overwhelming majority—299 to 83.—Lord John +Russell introduced a motion that the House should +resolve itself into a committee to consider the mode +of administering the oath of abjuration to persons +professing the Jewish religion. It was a simple +question whether religious belief should disqualify +men for the exercise of civil rights and political +power. The proposed alteration consists merely +in omitting from the oath, when tendered to Jews, +the words, "on the true faith of a Christian." The +motion was vehemently opposed by one or two +ultra members. Sir Robert Inglis took occasion to +remind the House that "the Jews regarded him +whom we regarded as our Redeemer, as a crucified +impostor." Mr. Newdegate thought that the +Pope might well think it safe to adopt the course +he had recently pursued, when he saw the British +Government and one branch of the Legislature +ready to put an end to the last remnant which distinguished +it as a Christian assembly. The motion +prevailed by a vote of 166 to 98. It will pass the +Commons, but be lost in the House of Peers; and +Baron Rothschild be as far as ever from his seat in +Parliament.—Lord Ashley proposed a bill to encourage +the establishment of lodging-houses for the +laboring classes. It empowers the authorities of +cities and towns to erect buildings for this purpose +and to levy a small tax to defray the cost. When +the sum expended shall have been met by the proceeds +of the rents, the surplus rental, after defraying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +expenses and the cost of repairs, is to be applied in +aid of the poor rates of the place. Startling statistics +are presented, setting forth the condition of the +laboring classes in this respect, and the consequent +disease and immorality.—The subject of the management +of the colonies excites no small interest. +A most elaborate speech has been made on this +subject in the House of Commons by Sir William +Molesworth. He proposes that all the colonies, +with the exception of those which possess a peculiar +value as military stations, such as Gibraltar and +St. Helena, and the penal colonies, should be made +to pay the expense of their own government and +protection; and that ample powers of self-government +should be given them. The speech, which +discussed all the details of the subject, was listened +to with great attention. Lord John Russell, +in reply, contended that difference in race would +of itself prevent the colonies from profiting by free +constitutions; and if the national troops were withdrawn, +the colonies would fall into hands hostile to +the mother country.</p> + +<p>Lord Torrington, whose course as Governor of +Ceylon, had been brought into question in the +Commons, defended himself in the House of Peers +in a labored speech. His conduct in declaring and +enforcing rigid martial law, during a native insurrection, +was defended by Earl Grey, who referred +to the Duke of Wellington as having been obliged, +under similar circumstances, to adopt measures of +great severity. The "Iron Duke" sharply protested +against being brought into comparison, and +denied that he had ever been placed in similar circumstances; +as he had never been suspected of +acting as Lord Torrington was charged with having +done. To govern by martial law was to do so by +the sole authority of the military commander; but +in such circumstances he had always acted on the +principle, that the government should be conducted +in accordance with the laws of the country itself.</p> + +<p>The election of Member from Aylesbury, to fill +the vacancy occasioned by the death of the late +Lord Nugent, the biographer of Hampden, has been +declared void, on account of bribery by Mr. Calvert, +the successful candidate. A new election was +ordered.</p> + +<p>A dinner has been given to Lord Stanley by a +large number of Members of Parliament, in the +course of which he made a speech which derives +some importance from the great probability that +he will in a few months be placed at the head of +the Government. The gist of the speech was the +assertion of the principle of "moderate duties on +foreign imports, at once to afford a certain check to +the unlimited importation of foreign articles, and +at the same time to obtain from foreigners, in imitation +of all other nations, a contribution toward the +revenue of the State, and enable us to take off +other taxes." This points to a renewal of the corn-laws. +He also criticised the conduct of Government +in relation to the "Papal Aggression," ridiculing +the bill proposed as a "little microscopic measure."</p> + +<p>There is rather more trouble than usual in the +Established Church. More secessions to Rome +are announced, some of them being men of rank. +One clergyman falls into an unseemly dispute at +the font with the nurse and parents of an infant +brought for baptism, as to whether the child's cap +shall be removed. Neither will yield, and the +ceremony is left unfinished. Another is suspended +for addressing Cardinal Wiseman as "Your Eminence." +Another will not read the burial service +over the corpse of a dissenter. The vigilant Bishop +of Exeter in a Pastoral Letter charges the Archbishop +of York with a multiplicity of heretical +statements; and summons the clergy of his diocese +to express or refuse their concurrence with him in +a declaration of adherence to the article of the +creed respecting baptism, which, he says, was virtually +denied in the decision of the Gorham case, +and more than hints at secession from the Established +Church. The Archbishops and twenty two +of the Bishops have issued a letter to their clergy, +exhorting them to peace and unity on the subject +of ritual observances, deprecating all innovations, +and recommending them in case of doubt to have +resort to the decision of their bishop.</p> + +<p>The general opinion is that the Kaffir war will +be protracted and costly. The savages have committed +the most frightful ravages in the colony. The +Governor has issued a second proclamation, demanding +a levy <i>en masse</i>. He declares that unless +the well-affected and able-bodied men between the +ages of 18 and 25, turn out as before called upon, +the rebellion can not be checked, and if allowed to +extend itself, will be the means of occasioning the +most serious evils. Whenever an action can be +brought about the Kaffirs are invariably worsted; +but these actions are so little decisive, that the +policy pursued by the United States in the case of +the Seminoles in Florida, of ravaging their country, +and destroying the crops, seems likely to be adopted. +The colonists are debating the question whether +they must defray the expenses of the war; they +deny that they are liable, as they had no voice in +the policy which occasioned the outbreak.</p> + +<p>The Chartists have issued a new manifesto setting +forth their doctrines and principles. They affirm +that the soil is the inalienable inheritance of all +mankind, and the monopoly of it repugnant to the +laws of God and nature, and its nationalization the +true source of national prosperity. They propose a +scheme by which the state shall gradually assume +possession of the soil, for the purpose of locating upon +it the surplus population. Of taxation and the national +debt they say: "Taxation on industry represses +the production of wealth; on luxuries, encourages +Government in fostering excess; on necessary +commodities, acts injuriously on the people's health +and comfort. All taxes, therefore, ought to be levied +on land and accumulated property." "The National +Debt having been incurred by a class government, +for class purposes, can not be considered as legally +contracted by the people. It is, moreover, absurd +that future generations should be mortgaged to +eternity for the follies or misfortunes of their ancestors, +and the debt be thus repaid several times +over. The National Debt, therefore, ought to be +liquidated by the money now annually paid as interest, +applied as repayment of the capital, until +such payment is completed."</p> + +<p>The papers are filled with notices of the great increase +of emigration, especially to America. The +emigrants are uniformly of a better class than those +who have hitherto decided to leave their country. +From Ireland especially, emigration is almost an +epidemic, in the case of those who have any thing +to lose.</p> + +<p>A singular instance of legal nicety occurred in a +recent trial of a man charged with threatening to +burn the house and ricks of a neighbor. He wrote, +"Perhaps you may have read of Samson and the +Philistines. If no foxes are to be bought there may +be something instead." In defence it was urged +that in the passage from the Book of Judges referred +to, it is said that Samson "burnt up the shocks +and also the standing corn;" but no allusion was +made to houses or stacks. The prisoner could only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> +have intended to do what Samson did. Now it was +no offense under the statute to set fire to standing +corn; and so an acquittal was demanded. The +judge decided that the plea was valid, and directed +the jury to bring in a verdict of acquittal. They +being less perspicacious than the judge, hesitated +for a while, but finally complied.</p> + + +<h4>FRANCE.</h4> + +<p>Affairs continue to present a critical aspect. It is +difficult to see how Bonaparte can be removed from +the Presidency; and still more difficult to see how +he can be continued. The Constitution forbids his +re-election until after an interval of four years from +the expiration of his term. A revisal of the Constitution +can be legally effected only by a Constituant +Assembly called by three-fourths of the +present Legislative Assembly; and a bill summoning +a Constituant Assembly can only pass after +three readings, with three months intervening between +the readings; and then does not go into +effect until two months after the last reading. +Eleven months is therefore the shortest period in +which the alteration can be effected, supposing not +a day were lost in deliberation. In eleven months +the election must take place. Meanwhile a new +Ministry has been formed to take the place of the +avowedly provisional one which has carried on the +government for some months. It is composed as +follows: Foreign Affairs, M. Baroche; Justice, M. +Rouher; Finances, M. Fould; Interior, M. Léon +Faucher; Commerce and Agriculture, M. Buffet; +Marine, M. Chasseloup-Laubat; Public Instruction, +M. de Crousseillies; War, General Randon; Public +Works, M. Magne. The last two were members +of the Transition Ministry just displaced. MM. +Baroche, Rouher, Fould, and Buffet, belonged to +the Ministry which was broken up by the Assembly +during the Changarnier difficulties. M. Léon +Faucher was Minister of the Interior for a short +time, in 1849, but resigned in consequence of a vote +of censure from the Assembly. The other two are +new men. What measures this Ministry proposes +nobody is able to say. M. Léon Faucher, who has +the reputation of firmness and ability and who +seems to be the master spirit of the Ministry, +presented the official programme to the Assembly. +It only stated that the new cabinet would +defend order, would endeavor to unite the fractions +of the majority, and hoped to be able to calm the +public mind, restore confidence, and promote commerce +and manufactures. M. de Saint Beauve, +proposed a vote of want of confidence in the Ministry, +which was lost by 327 to 275, showing a ministerial +majority of 52. A reconciliation between +the President and General Changarnier is thought +to be probable.</p> + +<p>Leading political men are endeavoring to secure +the control of a newspaper to advocate their views. +M. Guizot assumes the direction of the <i>Assemblée +Nationale</i>, in which he advocates the cause of +Bourbon and Orleans; the fusion of whose interests +is by no means abandoned. Lamartine has added +to his multifarious avocations the editorship in chief +of <i>La Pays</i>, in which he urges a strict adherence +to the Constitution. Cavaignac has attached himself +to <i>La Siècle</i>, to uphold Republicanism. The +<i>Constitutionnel</i>, the acknowledged organ of the +Bonapartists, suggests that lists should be opened in +the several departments for consulting the wishes of +the citizens as to an immediate revision of the Constitution; +each citizen to attach to his signature a +simple <i>yes</i> or <i>no</i>; and the lists to be verified by the +municipal authorities.</p> + +<p>The five departments of which Lyons is the centre, +are the most unquiet of any in the country. +The malcontents are organized into secret societies, +and take occasion of the funerals of any of their confederates +to parade in great numbers. On some +occasions from 10,000 to 20,000 have been present. +The military commandant has forbidden the assemblage +of more than 300 persons at any funeral. +This has called forth a general expression of indignation +from the Republican press.</p> + +<p>The students of the University of Paris have made +some demonstrations of sympathy in favor of M. +Michelet. One of their meetings was dispersed by +the police, and a number of the students were arrested +and thrown into prison. The printer and +publisher of the report of a banquet of the French +refugees in London have been sentenced to a fine +of 1000 francs each, and imprisonment for three and +six months. The editor of the <i>Courrier de la Somme</i> +has been tried for publishing an article, expressing +a wish that France, by a signal act of her sovereign +will, "should efface from her brow the lowest stigma, +the name of Republic;" and predicting that +the time would come when the inhabitants would +offer up thanks to God upon the grave of the +Republic. He was acquitted.—A Society has +been formed in Paris, under the patronage of the +Archbishop, for the purpose of supplying the poor +with bread below the cost price.—A public dinner +has been given by the Polish refugees to +Dembinski and Chryzanowski, who have recently +arrived, the former from Turkey, the latter from +Italy. Toasts were drank to the Sclavic fraternity +and to the memory of Bem. Warm gratitude was +expressed to the Sultan Abdul Medjid, to whose +firmness it was owing that Dembinski was not +then immured in a dungeon.—At the celebration +of Holy Week various sacred relics were exposed +to view in the Cathedral of Nôtre Dame; among +them, if tradition is to be believed, are several +fragments of the true cross, portions of the crown +of thorns, and portions of the nails used at the +crucifixion.—An engagement took place on the +10th of April at Oued-Sahel, in Algeria, between +the French troops and a body of natives; a number +of the latter were killed, and the remainder put to +flight. The victors set fire to and destroyed the +village of Selloum. The French had eleven men +killed, and thirty-seven wounded.—The Marquis +of Londonderry, who once made a similar attempt +in favor of Louis Napoleon when a prisoner at Ham, +has addressed a letter to the President to induce +him to use his influence for the liberation of Abd-el-Kader, +or at least to grant him a personal audience. +The ex-prisoner of Ham replies that the captivity +of the Arab chief weighs upon his heart, and that he +is studying the means to effect his liberation. He +would be most happy to see the Emir, but could +only do so to announce good news; and can not +therefore accede to the request for an interview +until that period arrives.</p> + + +<h4><a name="Germany" id="Germany"></a>GERMANY.</h4> + +<p>It seems to be settled, if we may speak with +confidence of any thing in the present state of German +politics, that the old Frankfort Diet is to be +resuscitated. All that has been attempted during +the last three years, is to be set aside. The Frankfort +Parliaments, Erfurt Congresses, and Dresden +Conferences have shown that people and princes are +alike incapable of accomplishing anything; and so +they fall back upon the system formed five-and-thirty +years ago by the Holy Alliance. Prussia, who +not six months ago brought half a million soldiers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> +into the field rather than concede to the recognition +of the Diet, is now the first to demand its restoration. +Austria, who was in arms to enforce the decrees +of the Diet, at first coyly hesitated; but by the +latest intelligence, does not seem inclined to oppose +it. It still remains doubtful whether she will persist +in the claim for the incorporation of her Sclavic +and Italian possessions into the German Confederation, +in spite of the remonstrances of England and +France, who maintain that as the German Confederation +was established, and its limits defined by +the Powers of Europe, for the express purpose of +settling the balance of power, the extending of the +limits of the Confederation is properly a European +question. Austria, that seemed two years ago on +the point of dissolution, has gained new vigor, and +presents a front apparently stronger than ever. The +Democratic journals of Europe, however, maintain +that all the appearance of prosperity is unreal; that +discontent is growing deeper and deeper throughout +her vast and heterogeneous population; that +her immense armies are maintained at a cost far +beyond the means of the Empire to defray; and +that national and individual bankruptcy is impending +over her. The minor German States have no +choice but to follow the lead of the two great +powers, and from them we have accounts of petty +quarrels between princes and people, but they are +hardly worth the trouble of chronicling. The German +refugees, in imitation of Mazzini and the Italians, +have issued notes by way of raising a loan; +the name of Kinkel heads the committee.</p> + + +<h4>SOUTHERN EUROPE.</h4> + +<p>In <span class="smcap">Portugal</span> an insurrection has broken out, the +result of which is still undecided. The Marquis of +Saldanha took up arms for the overthrow of the +ministry of the Count of Thomar. His attempt met +at first with so little success, that the marquis was +on the point of abandoning it, and taking refuge in +England. Subsequently, however, the garrison of +Oporto declared in his favor, and he was recalled. +The inhabitants of Oporto likewise declared for the +insurgents.</p> + +<p>From <span class="smcap">Spain</span> we hear of Ministerial crises and +changes, dissolution of Cortes, and political movements +of various kinds, all growing out of the impossibility +of making the revenues of the Kingdom +meet the expenditures. A royal decree has been +issued appointing commissioners to examine and +report on the railroads of France, Germany, Belgium, +and England, with a view to the introduction +of similar works in the Peninsula.</p> + +<p>In <span class="smcap">Italy</span> the States of the Church have been +relieved from one great annoyance by the death of +<i>Il Passatore</i>, the leader of a band half brigands half +revolutionists, who was surprised and shot by the +soldiery. The list of prohibited books has received +a few recent additions, among which are D'Harmonville's +Dictionary of Dates, Whately's Logic, +and Seymour's Pilgrimage to Rome. On the 29th +of March, the young Emperor of Austria reached +Venice, on a tour through his dominions, when he +immediately gave orders, at the instance of Radetsky, +it is said, for the restoration of the freedom +of the port of that city. The 23d of March, the +anniversary of the battle of Novara, so fatal to the +dreams of Italian Unity, has been solemnized in +various parts of Italy under the very eyes of the +Austrians, by chanting the <i>De Profundis</i> and other +funeral ceremonies. Some students have suffered +punishment for taking part in the solemnities.</p> + + +<h4>THE EAST.</h4> + +<p>In <span class="smcap">Turkey</span> a series of insurrectionary movements +has taken place in the wild districts along +the Russian and Austrian frontiers. The latest +intelligence indicates the subjection of the insurgents. +Austria is suspected of complicity in the +outbreak, which has no tendency to render the +Porte more contented with the task of acting as +jailer to the remainder of the Hungarian exiles. +Austria and Russia seem determined to push their +imperial justice to the utmost, and insist that the +refugees shall be detained two years longer; within +which time it is supposed that death must intervene, +to spare any further discussion. The Sultan +is inclined to refuse their demand, and throw himself +upon the protection of France and England. +Severe shocks of an earthquake occurred in various +parts of the empire, from April 28, to March 7. At +Macri, in Anatolia, the upper part of the castle was +thrown down, overwhelming the offices of the Austrian +Lloyd Steam Navigation Company. The +fortifications and houses likewise suffered great +damage. Fissures were opened in the streets +from which poured forth bituminous gases; springs +were stopped up, and new ones opened. A number +of towns are mentioned as having been destroyed. +Livessy, containing some 1500 houses, +was utterly overthrown, not a dwelling being left +standing, and 600 of the inhabitants were buried +under the ruins.</p> + +<p>From <span class="smcap">Egypt</span> we learn that a railroad across the +Isthmus of Suez is to be commenced forthwith, apparently +to be constructed mainly by English capital +and engineers. A revolt had broken out in +the district of Senaar. Troops were to be dispatched +from Cairo to the scene of insurrection; but +the efforts of the Pacha were seriously shackled by +the exhausted condition of the country, and the apprehended +difficulties with the Porte.</p> + +<p>In <span class="smcap">India</span>, the frontiers of the Company's possessions +are infested with the incursions of the hill robbers, +who commit their depredations almost within +gun-shot of the British camps. It is difficult to devise +effectual means of dealing with these plunderers. +Regular military operations are altogether +useless, for the robbers will not risk a contest, except +in rare cases. It has been proposed to make +the head man of each village responsible for all outrages +committed within its limits. A number of +railroads are in course of construction in different +parts of the country. A plot has been frustrated in +Nepaul for the destruction of Jung Bahadoor, the +Nepaulese Embassador, who excited so much attention +in England a few months ago; he acted +with most un-Asiatic decision and promptitude in +the suppression of the conspiracy. The Embassador +has refused admittance into Nepaul of a scientific +expedition, having discovered that the entrance +of English travelers and explorers is often followed +in India by the appearance of troops.</p> + +<p>Disturbances have recommenced in <span class="smcap">China</span>. The +insurgents were assembled at late dates at a distance +of about sixty miles from Canton, with the +avowed object of overthrowing the present dynasty. +The <i>Friend of China</i> says, "His Imperial Majesty's +continued possession of the throne, is quite a +matter of uncertainty."</p> + + +<h3>LITERATURE, SCIENCE, ART, PERSONAL MOVEMENTS, ETC.</h3> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">President</span> of the United States accompanied +by Secretaries <span class="smcap">Webster</span>, and <span class="smcap">Graham</span>, Attorney-General +<span class="smcap">Crittenden</span>, and Postmaster-General +<span class="smcap">Hall</span>, are at the time when we are obliged +to close our Record for the month, upon a tour to +the North. The main reason of this journey is to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> +take part in the ceremonies which celebrated the +successful completion of the New York and Erie +Railroad—the second of those great links which +bind the interior with the seaboard, the great +Lakes and the West with the Atlantic and the +East. They left Washington on the morning of +May 12; the affairs of Government being temporarily +committed to the charge of the Secretaries +of the Interior, of the Treasury, and of War. At +various places on the route they were welcomed +with appropriate ceremonies, and reached Philadelphia +in the afternoon of the same day. Here +Mr. Fillmore briefly addressed the crowd from the +piazza of his hotel; and Mr. Webster, yielding to +repeated calls, made a speech in which he spoke of +the influences that surrounded him in the State where +the Declaration of Independence was pronounced, +and the Constitution framed. The Union which +was then formed, he said, would last until it had +spread from the Pole to the Equator; and notwithstanding +the dangers through which it had passed, +it was now safe. On the morning of the 13th, the +President and Cabinet set out for New York. At +Amboy, they were received by the President and +Directors of the Erie Railroad Company, in whose +name <span class="smcap">Charles M. Leupp</span>, Esq., delivered an appropriate +address welcoming the Chief Magistrate +of the nation, to an examination of the great work +which would so largely develop the resources of the +country, and continue to bind still more closely distant +portions of the Union. Mr. Fillmore, in reply, +spoke of the work on the completion of which he +hoped soon to congratulate his native State, as one +of the most important enterprises in the world. +Passing up the magnificent harbor, the President +and suite were received at Castle Garden as the +guests of the City, by the authorities of New York; +the Mayor in his address alluding to the fact that +this was the first moment that the President had +trod the soil of his native State as the Chief +Magistrate of the nation. From Castle Garden +a procession was formed, passing up Broadway +and down the Bowery to the City Hall, amid the +warmest demonstrations of welcome. The nature +of the occasion deprived the celebration of all partisan +character; the General Committees of the two +great political parties occupied prominent parts of +the procession. At one time there were not less +than a hundred thousand spectators between the +Battery and the Park. On the 14th, in company +with 480 invited guests, among whom were Senator +Fish, Ex-Governor Marcy, and a large number +of the members of the Legislature, the President +and suite left the City by a special train. All along +the route, the utmost enthusiasm was displayed. +At Elmira, where the train arrived at 7 <span class="smcap">p.m.</span>, the +night was spent; and the following day they proceeded +to Dunkirk, the terminus of the road, where +extraordinary preparations had been made to celebrate +the event which must result in building a +large and flourishing town upon that spot.</p> + +<p>At the annual meeting of the <i>St. George's Society</i>, +the British Embassador, Mr. <span class="smcap">Bulwer</span> was the principal +speaker. In the course of one of his speeches +he alluded to a forgery published in the <i>American +Celt</i>, a paper published at Boston, purporting to be +a copy of an intercepted dispatch from him to his +Government. He used certain expressions which a +portion of the residents of this City, of Celtic origin, +construed into an insult to themselves and their race; +whereupon they held a public meeting, and prepared +a request to be transmitted to the President, asking +him to procure the recall of the offending minister.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Wm. L. Mackenzie</span>, who took a very prominent +part in the Canadian rebellion of 1837, and subsequently +resided for some years as an exile in this +city, has been elected a member of the Canadian +Parliament, beating the candidate supported by +Government.</p> + +<p>The American Association for the Advancement +of Science held during the past month a very interesting +meeting at Cincinnati. Among the papers +read was one upon the "Azoic System of Lake +Superior," by Messrs. <span class="smcap">Foster</span> and <span class="smcap">Whitney</span>, +United States Geologists. This system derives its +name from the entire absence in its structure of organic +remains, and comprises the most ancient of +the strata constituting the crust of the globe. Professor +<span class="smcap">Agassiz</span> characterized these investigations +as conclusive evidence that we had reached the +commencement of animal life, and had a starting-point +from which to proceed. The only event of +higher interest would be the discovery of the skeleton +of the first man. Col. <span class="smcap">Whittlesey</span> presented +two skulls found in a bed of marl in Ohio. They +are characterized by great deficiency in the development +of the intellectual organs. The age of the +skulls is calculated, from indications surrounding +them, at two thousand years; thus establishing the +fact of the peopling of America at a period much +earlier than that usually assigned. Professor +<span class="smcap">Pierce</span> read a paper on "the Constitution of Saturn's +Rings," in which he argued that these were +not solid but liquid; and that no irregularities, or +combination of irregularities, consistent with an +actual ring, would permit a solid ring to be permanently +maintained by the primary planet; and that +a fluid ring could not be retained by the direct action +of its primary. Saturn's rings are maintained +by the constant disturbing force of its satellites; +and no planet can have a ring unless, like Saturn, +it have a sufficient number of properly arranged +satellites. One of the most interesting papers read +was the report of the committee upon Professor <span class="smcap">Mitchel's</span> +system of observing Declinations and Right +Ascensions. The statements of the distinguished +Western Astronomer, made last year at New Haven, +were received with considerable doubt by the +members of the Association. Among the foremost +of the doubters was Professor Pierce, who, at the +solicitation of Mr. Mitchel, was appointed Chairman +of the Investigating Committee. This Committee, +composed of the leading names in astronomical +science, after examining his methods and apparatus, +made a partial report, in which the highest +and most unqualified approbation is bestowed upon +the entire system adopted by Professor Mitchel. +This triumph was honorable alike to the Professor +and his late opponents; and the victor bore his honors +with the modesty appropriate to a lover of science +for its own sake. Professor <span class="smcap">Agassiz</span> read a +paper upon the coral reefs of Florida, embodying +the results of recent investigations made by him, under +the auspices of the United States Coast Survey.</p> + +<p>Professor <span class="smcap">Morse</span> has received from the Prussian +Government the "Prussian Gold Medal of Scientific +Merit," as a testimonial for his improvements in +the Magnetic Telegraph. According to the report +of the Prussian commissioner charged with the construction +of telegraphic lines, Morse's telegraph has +been found most efficient for great distances.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jenny Lind</span> has returned to New York after a +Southern and Western tour of unexampled success. +So meekly has she borne her honors, that even Envy +would not wish them less. Castle Garden, the scene +of her earliest Transatlantic triumphs, is thronged at +each successive concert by appreciative audiences.</p> + +<p>The Gallery of the <span class="smcap">Art-Union</span> is now open. Subscribers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +for the ensuing year will receive a large +engraving from <span class="smcap">Woodville's</span> picture of <i>Mexican +News</i>, and the second part of the <i>Gallery of +American Art</i>, comprising engravings after <span class="smcap">Cropsey's</span> +<i>Harvesting</i>, <span class="smcap">Kensett's</span> <i>Mount Washington</i>, +<span class="smcap">Woodville's</span> <i>Old Seventy-six and Young Forty-eight</i>, +<span class="smcap">Ranney's</span> <i>Marion Crossing the Pedee</i>, and +<span class="smcap">Mount's</span> <i>Bargaining for a Horse</i>. The <i>Bulletin</i> +of the Union, to which members are also entitled, +in addition to much valuable information on matters +relating to art, will contain original etchings and +wood-cuts. The number for April is embellished +with a cut from Cropsey's <i>Temple of the Sibyl</i>, +drawn on wood by C.E. <span class="smcap">Döpler</span>, to whom we are +indebted for the drawings illustrative of the Novelty +Works in our last Number. It also contains one of +Darley's spirited outlines, illustrative of a scene from +Cooper's Prairie.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Leutze</span> has nearly completed his second picture +of <i>Washington Crossing the Delaware</i>, the original +of which was destroyed by fire last January. It +has been purchased by Goupil and Vibert, of Paris, +for about $6000. It will be exhibited in Europe +and the United States, and will also be engraved by +François, who has so admirably rendered some of +the works of Delaroche. The picture in its unfinished +state has been warmly praised by German +critics.</p> + +<p>We transfer from the Art-Union <i>Bulletin</i> a notice +of the <i>Game of Chess</i>, a picture of great merit, recently +painted by Woodville in Paris. It has been +purchased by the Union, and is now in its Gallery. +"This is an exquisitely finished cabinet-piece, +which in technical qualities is probably superior to +any thing he has done excepting the <i>Old Captain</i>. +It represents the interior of the sitting-room of a +noble mansion in the days of the Tudors. On the +right rises the immense fire-place, with its frontispiece +of variegated marbles, supported by statues +and richly carved in the style of the Rennaissance. +On the right of this, in the immediate fore-ground, +is a lecturn, upon which rests a book and a lady's +'kerchief. Standing with his back to the fire, before +the chimney, is a portly gentleman—probably the +father of the family about going forth for a ride, as +he has his cap on his head, wears high boots of buff +leather, with spurs, and an outer-coat of velvet +trimmed with fur. He stands with his hands behind +him in an easy attitude, overlooking a game +of chess which a visitor is playing with the daughter +of the house. The visitor is on the left of the +picture, and sits with his back to the spectator; and +in front is a table which supports the chess-board. +On the other side is the young lady, whose eyes +are fixed upon the game, while the cavalier is lifting +a piece with his hand and looking toward the +father as if for approbation of his move. The mother, +and a page, complete the group. This is a tranquil, +pleasant picture, in which the characters of +the personages are very nicely indicated. It places +the spectator in the very midst of the domestic life +of the times it portrays. It is, however, in the distribution +of light and shadow, and the wonderful fidelity +of its imitations, that the work is most remarkable. +The effect of the light upon the carved +marble is done with wonderful skill, and the representation +of violet, fur, satin, and metals, worthy of +a Micris or a Metzu."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Powers</span>, writing from Florence, thus describes +the statue of California, upon which he is engaged: +"I am now making a statue of 'La Dorado,' or +California, an Indian figure surrounded with pearls +and precious stones. A kirtle surrounds her waist, +and falls with a feather fringe down to just above +the knees. The kirtle is ornamented with Indian +embroidery, with tracings of gold, and her sandals +are tied with golden strings. At her side stands +an inverted cornucopia, from which is issuing at her +feet lumps and grains of native gold, to which she +points with her left hand, which holds the divining +rod. With her right hand she conceals behind her +a cluster of thorns. She stands in an undecided +posture—making it doubtful whether she intends to +advance or retire—while her expression is mystical. +The gold about her figure must be represented, of +course, by the color as well as the form. She is to +be the Genius of California."</p> + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Whitney</span>, the projector of the railroad to the +Pacific is now in London to urge upon Government +to undertake the construction of the road through +the British possessions.</p> + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Gilbert</span>, Member of Congress from California, +himself a printer, has presented to the +Typographical Society of New York a double number +of the <i>Alta California</i> newspaper, printed +upon white satin in letters of gold.</p> + +<p>The <i>Philadelphia Art Union</i> has contracted for +an original painting by Rothermel, which is to be +engraved for distribution to its subscribers the +present year. It has likewise provided a portfolio +of sketches from which subjects for commissions +may be selected. The plan of this Association +differs from that of the Art Union of this city, in +that it distributes prizes, not pictures, allowing +those who draw the prizes to select their own +subjects.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Chilly McIntosh</span>, head war-chief of the Choctaw +nation, has been ordained as a clergyman, and +is now preaching in connection with the Baptist +Board.</p> + +<p>Sir <span class="smcap">Charles Lyell</span> has delivered a Lecture before +the Royal Institution on Impressions of Rain +drops in Ancient and Modern Strata. These impressions +were first observed in 1828, by Dr. Buckland. +A close analogy was discovered between +the impressions on the rocks, and those made by +showers of rain upon soft mud. In conclusion, the +lecturer remarked on the important inferences deducible +from the discovery of rain-prints in rocks +of remote antiquity. They confirm the ideas entertained +of the humid climate of the carboniferous +period, the forests of which we know were continuous +over areas several miles in diameter. The +average dimensions of the drops indicate showers +of ordinary force, and show that the atmosphere +corresponded in density, as well as in the varying +temperature of its different currents, with that +which now invests the globe. The triassic hail +(indicated by indentations deeper than those made +by rain-drops) implies that some regions of the atmosphere +were at this period intensely cold; and, +coupled with footprints, worm-tracks, and casts of +cracks formed by the drying of mud, which were +often found upon the same slabs, these impressions +of rain clearly point to the existence of sea-beaches +where tides rose and fell, and therefore lead us to +presume the joint influence of the moon and the +sun. Hence we are lead on to infer that at this +ancient era, the earth with its attendant satellite +was revolving as now around the sun, as the centre +of our system, which probably belonged then as +now to one of those countless clusters of stars with +which space is filled.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">John Chapman</span>, Manager of the Peninsular Railway +Company in India, has published a pamphlet +on the supply of cotton which India may be made +to furnish, in which he undertakes to show, that +cotton of a quality which can be used for three<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> +fourths of the manufactures of England, such as is +worth there from three to five pence a pound, can +be produced in any required quantity for from one +and one-fourth to one and three-fourths of a penny +per pound. He says it is the difficulty of transportation +which prevents the extensive culture of +cotton in India.</p> + +<p>M. <span class="smcap">Eoelmen</span>, the director of the National Porcelain +Manufactory of Sèvres, has succeeded in +producing crystalized minerals, resembling very +closely those produced by nature—chiefly precious +and rare stones employed by jewelers. To obtain +this result, he has dissolved, in boric acid, alum, +zinc, magnesia, oxydes of iron, and chrome, and +then subjecting the solution to evaporation during +three days, has obtained crystals of a mineral substance, +equaling in hardness, and in beauty, and +clearness of color, the natural stones. With chrome +M. Eoelmen has made most brilliant rubies, from +two to three millimetres in length, and about as +thick as a grain of corn. If rubies can be artificially +made, secrets which the old alchymists pursued +can not be far off.</p> + + +<h4>OBITUARIES.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Philip Hone</span> for many years an eminent merchant +and prominent citizen of New York, died +May 8, in the 71st year of his age. Having at an +unusually early period accumulated what he regarded +as a competent fortune, he withdrew from +the distinguished mercantile house of which he was +one of the founders, and devoted his time and means +to intellectual pursuits, dignified and generous hospitality, +and the promotion of all enterprises designed +to benefit and honor the city, of which he +was proud to be a citizen. Possessed of a warm +and social disposition, a ready wit, great intelligence, +and no ordinary acquirements he gathered +around him a fine library and beautiful works of +art, without ever withdrawing his interest from +public affairs. In 1825-6 he was chosen mayor of +New York, and discharged the duties of that post +with a decision, energy, and promptitude which +have rarely been equaled. But his most useful +services to the community were in connection with +various associations formed for the public good. He +was president of the first Bank for Savings, and +one of the original Board of Trustees, of which +there are now only three surviving members; and +one of the earliest and most efficient friends of the +Mercantile Library Association. A marble bust of +him, which adorns the library of that noble institution, +sculptured at the request of the members, testifies +to their appreciation of his character and services. +Some few years since his fortune was considerably +impaired by pecuniary reverses, which +befell a near relative; and, although Mr. Hone was +not legally responsible for his obligations, his high +sense of mercantile honor impelled him to discharge +them in full. At the accession of General Taylor, +Mr. Hone was appointed Naval Officer of the port +of New York, which office he held at the time +when, beloved, prized, and honored by all who +knew him, having honorably maintained through +life the character of an high-minded American merchant, +he sank to rest calmly and in full possession +of his faculties.</p> + +<p>Commodore <span class="smcap">James Barron</span>, Senior Officer in the +United States Navy, died at Norfolk, Virginia, +April 21, at the age of 83 years. He commenced +his naval career under the auspices of his father, +who commanded the naval forces of the Commonwealth +of Virginia during the Revolutionary War. +In 1798 young Barron entered the navy of the +United States, with the rank of lieutenant, and +served in the brief war with France. In the year +following he received his commission of captain, +and was ordered to the Mediterranean. In 1807, +going out as commander of the Mediterranean +squadron, he was on board the frigate Chesapeake, +when she was treacherously attacked, in a time of +profound peace, in our own waters, by a British +vessel of superior force. He was acquitted by a +court martial, from all blame in the affair. His +subsequent services were rendered on shore, mostly +at Philadelphia and Norfolk. He early acquired +the reputation of one of the most accomplished and +efficient officers in the service. He originated the +first code of signals introduced into the American +navy.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">David Daggett</span>, LL.D., late Chief Justice of +Connecticut, died April 12, aged 86 years. He +was born in Attleboro, Mass., on the last day of the +year, 1764. After graduating at Yale College, he +studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1786. +In 1791 he was elected to the House of Representatives +of the State, of which he was chosen Speaker +in 1794, at the early age of 29. He continued a +member of one of the Legislative Houses almost +constantly till 1813, when he was elected to the +Senate of the United States. In 1824 he was chosen +Kent Professor of Law in Yale College, which +post he continued to occupy until the infirmities of +age compelled him to resign. In 1826 he was appointed +Associate Judge of the Superior Court of +the State by a Legislature, a majority of whom +were opposed to him in politics. Six years after +he was made Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. +This office he held until December, 1834, when, +having reached the age of 70 years, he vacated it +in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. +Thus for forty years, from the close of his +26th to the completion of his 70th year, was Mr. +Daggett almost continually engaged in public service.</p> + +<p>Hon. <span class="smcap">William Steele</span> died at Big Flats, Steuben +County, N.Y., on the 4th of April. He was +born at New York in 1762, and was actively engaged +during the closing years of the Revolution. +In 1780 he was on board the gun-ship Aurora, which +was captured by the British brig Iris, bearing the +news of the surrender of Charleston to the British. +On this occasion he was severely wounded, and +detained a prisoner of war for some months. In +1785 he was appointed clerk in the Treasury Board. +In 1794 he commanded a troop of horse which took +part in the suppression of the Pennsylvania Insurrection. +He resided in New Jersey till 1819, when +he removed to the western part of the State of +New York.</p> + +<p>Gen. <span class="smcap">Hugh Brady</span>, one of the oldest officers in +the army of the United States, was killed at Detroit +by a fall from his carriage, at the age of 80 years. +He was born in Northumberland County, Penn., and +entered the army in 1792, as an ensign. In 1812 +he was appointed Colonel of the 22d Infantry. At +battle of Chippewa his regiment was almost annihilated +and he himself severely wounded. He received +the rank of brevet Brigadier-General in +1822. During the disturbances in Canada he did much +to preserve the peace of the frontier. A few years +ago his native State presented him with a +splendid sword, as an acknowledgment of his character +and services.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p> + + +<p><a name="Literary" id="Literary"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>LITERARY NOTICES</h2> + + +<p><i>The Philosophy of Mathematics</i> (published by +Harper and Brothers), is a translation by Professor +W.H. <span class="smcap">Gillespie</span>, of Union College, of that portion +of <span class="smcap">Comte's</span> "Course of Positive Philosophy" which +treats of the theory of the higher Mathematics. +The treatise, in the original, forms about two-thirds +of the first volume of his great work, the whole of +which extends to six large octavo volumes, of six or +seven hundred pages each. The magnitude of this +work is alone sufficient to account for the slow progress +which it has made among American mathematical +students, to many of whom it is probably known +only by name. In the present form, it is made accessible +to every reader. Its publication will constitute +a new epoch in the mathematical culture of +this country, as the original has done in the development +of European science. The opinion of its merits, +expressed by the translator, is by no means +extravagant. "Clearness and depth, comprehensiveness +and precision have never, perhaps, been +so remarkably united as in Auguste Comte. He +views his subject from an elevation which gives to +each part of the complex whole its true position +and value, while his telescopic glance loses none +of the needful details, and not only itself pierces to +the heart of the matter, but converts its opaqueness +into such transparent crystal, that other eyes +are enabled to see as deeply into it as his own." +The opinion of the translator is supported by the +emphatic testimonials of several competent English +authorities. Mill, in his "Logic," calls the +work of M. Comte, "by far the greatest yet produced +on the Philosophy of the Sciences," and adds, "of +this admirable work, one of the most admirable +portions is that in which he may truly be said to +have created the Philosophy of the higher Mathematics." +Moreil, in his "Speculative Philosophy +of Europe," remarks that, "the classification given +of the sciences at large, and their regular order of +development is unquestionably a master-piece of +scientific thinking, as simple as it is comprehensive." +Lewes, in his "Biographical History of +Philosophy," speaks of Comte as "the Bacon of +the Nineteenth Century," and adds, "I unhesitatingly +record my conviction that this is the greatest +work of our age."</p> + +<p>With his remarkable profoundness and lucidity +of thought, M. Comte does not combine a mastery +of language in equal proportion. His style is never +flowing, and often harsh and complicated. It is +difficult to render his peculiar phraseology in an +adequate translation. Prof. Gillespie has evidently +performed his task with conscientious diligence, +and has succeeded as well as the nature of the case +permits, in doing justice to his author. He has +conferred an important benefit on the cause of science +by the reproduction of this great master-piece +of philosophical discussion, and will, no doubt, receive +a grateful appreciation from his scientific +countrymen.</p> + +<p>Charles Scribner has published an original <i>Life +of Algernon Sidney</i>, by G. <span class="smcap">Van Santvoord</span>, including +copious sketches of several of the distinguished +republicans who were his fellow-laborers in the +cause of political freedom. Among the biographical +portraits introduced by the author, are those of +Cromwell, Milton, Sir Henry Vane, Bradshaw, +Marten, Scot, and others. They are drawn with +considerable spirit, and evident historical fidelity. +The character of Sidney is described in terms of +warm appreciation, though the partialities of the +author have not clouded the fairness of his judgment. +Devoted with enthusiastic admiration to +the memory of the English martyrs for freedom, in +the investigation of their history, he has not neglected +the sound principles of critical research. +His volume hears internal marks of authenticity; +its opinions are expressed with discretion and +gravity; its tone partakes of the dignity of its subject; +and its style, though not sparkling with the +adornments of rhetoric, is sincere and forcible, and +presents occasional specimens of chaste beauty.</p> + +<p>The first American edition of <i>The Journal and +Letters of the Rev. Henry Martyn</i>, edited by Rev. +S. <span class="smcap">Wilberforce</span>, has been published by M.W. +Dodd, containing a variety of interesting matter, +which now appears for the first time in this country. +The original English edition is reduced by +the omission of certain portions, which seemed to +be of less value to the general reader, but no change +has been made in the passages retained, which are +a faithful transcript of the language which fell from +the pen of the author. They were written in moments +of intimate self-communion, or in the freedom +of familiar correspondence, revealing the hidden +experience of the heart, with the most child-like +simplicity; while every expression betrays +the intensity of humiliation and the yearnings after +holiness, which were so deeply inwrought into the +character of the distinguished missionary. With +an acute and cultivated intellect, which enabled +him to bear away the highest University honors, +Henry Martyn combined a fervor of devotion, an +unworldly forgetfulness of self, and a passion for the +spiritual welfare of his fellow-men, which in another +age would not have failed to win him the canonization +of a saint. The transparent confessions of such +a man, describing the struggles and triumphs of the +interior life, must be welcomed by every religious +reader. Nor are they less valuable as an illustration +of the workings of human nature, when under +the influence of the strong emotions engendered by +the austere and sublime faith with which the subject +identified his conceptions of Christianity. The +American editor appropriately commends the work +to young men in our colleges and seminaries of +learning, with the remark that "Martyn was a +scholar of varied and profound attainments, but he +counted it his highest honor to lay his laurels at his +Saviour's feet, and could all the young men in our +colleges go forth in his spirit, the strongholds of +error and sin would be speedily shaken."</p> + +<p><i>The Water Witch</i> forms the last volume of J. +<span class="smcap">Fenimore Cooper's</span> Collective Works, in Geo. P. +Putnam's tasteful and convenient edition. The +opinion of the author on the comparative merits of +this novel is briefly stated in the Preface. "The +book has proved a comparative failure. The facts +of this country are all so recent and so familiar, that +every innovation on them, by means of the imagination +is coldly received, if it be not absolutely +frowned upon. Nevertheless this is probably the +most imaginative book ever written by the author. +Its fault is in blending too much of the +real with the purely ideal. Halfway measures +will not do in matters of this sort; and it is always<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> +safer to preserve the identity of a book by a fixed +and determinate character, than to make the effort +to steer between the true and the false." In another +passage, Mr. Cooper gives utterance to the +fears which haunt his imagination, in regard to the +innovating tendencies of the present day. "As for +the Patroons of Kinderbook, the genus seems about +to expire among us. Not only are we to have no +more patroons, but the decree has gone forth from +the virtuous and infallible voters that there are to +be no more estates.</p> + +<blockquote><p>'All the realm shall be in common, and in Cheapside +shall my palfrey go to grass.'</p></blockquote> + +<p>The collected wisdom of the State has decided that +it is true policy to prevent the affluent from converting +their money into land. The curse of mediocrity +weighs upon us, and its blunders can be repaired +only through the hard lessons of experience." +Mr. Cooper alludes to the great number of typographical +errors which are found in the former +editions of this work. It was written in Italy and +first printed in Germany. The American compositor, +conceiving that he had a right to correct the +blunders of a foreigner, took the law into his own +hands, and exercised a sovereign power over the +author's orthography. He has endeavored to do +himself justice in this particular, and accordingly +claims a greater degree of improvement for the +Water Witch in the present edition, than for any +other work which has passed through his hands.</p> + +<p>The serial publication of <i>London Labor</i>, by <span class="smcap">Henry +Mayhew</span>, from the press of Harper and Brothers, +has reached its fifth number, and thus far, we discover +no diminution of interest in its contents. Mr. +Mayhew has plunged into the thick of what he appropriately +styles the nomadic life of London, and +brings up its startling revelations to the light of +day, without the slightest disguise or embellishment. +His work contains the stuff for many novels +of real life, which, in the hands of a master, would +rival the creations of Dickens or Thackeray. Some +of the most interesting scenes, which he describes, +are related in the words of the parties concerned, +with whom the author appears to have had a perfectly +good understanding. As a contribution to +the history of social development in the nineteenth +century, we regard this work as one of the most +important of the day.</p> + +<p><i>The Fruit Garden</i>, by <span class="smcap">P. Barry</span> (published by +Charles Scribner), is a practical treatise on the cultivation +of fruit-trees, with over one hundred and +fifty illustrations, representing the different parts +of trees, all practical operations, designs for plantations, +and other important points in this branch of +arboriculture. The extent and variety of information +which it presents, with the clearness of its +practical directions, and its adaptation to American +cultivation, will make it a standard work of reference +with intelligent fruit growers.</p> + +<p><i>The Female Jesuit</i> (published by M.W. Dodd), +is the title of a narrative, purporting to be the history +of a religious impostor, who, after a complicated +career of intrigue and duplicity in England, was +at length detected in her plots, although no light is +thrown on their origin and purposes. The work is +issued with the conviction on the part of the English +editors, that she was the agent of some great +system in the Catholic interest, that may have been +brought into action far more widely than Protestants +are aware. In the absence of positive proof, +they hesitate to charge her deception on the Jesuits, +but they are evidently of opinion that the suspicion +is warranted by the facts in the case. The volume, +it must be confessed has too much the air of a romance +to command implicit reliance. We should +have greater confidence in it as a history, if it did +not show such a studious concealment of responsible +names, with the omission of other circumstances +that are essential to authentic investigation.</p> + +<p><i>The Wife's Sister; or, The Forbidden Marriage</i> +is the title of a novel by Mrs. <span class="smcap">Hubback</span>, +niece of Miss Austen (published by Harper and +Brothers), written with more than common graphic +power, and unfolding a plot of great intensity of +passion. It was written previously to the great +agitation on the question of the Law of Marriage +in England, and was published without reference +to that much debated subject, although it presents +a vivid illustration of the possible effects of the +enactment alluded to, both in its social and personal +bearings. Apart from these considerations, however, +it is a story of remarkable interest, and is +well worth perusal by all who have an appetite +for a good novel.</p> + +<p>A new volume of <i>Poems</i>, by Mrs. <span class="smcap">E.H. Evans</span>, +has been published by Lippincott, Grambo, and Co., +with an Introduction by her brother, the distinguished +pulpit orator, Rev. T.H. Stockton. The +volume consists principally of effusions marked by +a strong religious spirit, and a vein of modest and +tender domestic sentiment. Many of them indicate +a true poetic imagination, but without sufficient +affluence or aptness of diction to do it justice in +expression.</p> + +<p><i>Dealings with the Inquisition</i>, by Dr. <span class="smcap">Giacinto +Achilli</span> (published by Harper and Brothers), is a +work that has attracted great attention in England, +on account of its relation to the Roman Catholic +controversy, and for the same reason, will find +many readers in this country. Falling under the +suspicion of heresy, the author was subjected to +the power of the Inquisition, which, though kept +in the back-ground, appears, from his statements, to +have lost none of its vitality with the lapse of ages. +His book is full of curious disclosures, which are +apparently sustained by competent authority.</p> + +<p>Geo. P. Putnam has issued <i>A Treatise on Political +Economy</i>, by <span class="smcap">George Opdyke</span>, in which the +author undertakes to present a system in perfect +harmony with the other portions of our political +edifice—a system grounded on the broad principles +of justice and equality, and in all its doctrines and +legislative applications solely designed to illustrate +and enforce those principles. Maintaining the policy +of freedom in its broadest sense—freedom of +industry, freedom of trade, and freedom of political +institutions, the volume has been especially prompted +by the desire of the author to disseminate his +peculiar views on the subject of Money. He claims +to have discovered a plan for furnishing a paper +currency, which, although irredeemable, and therefore +free from the cost of production, he believes +will perform the offices of money much better than +either bank-notes or coin. He sustains his theories +with considerable force of argument, and in a lucid +and compact style; but he has not succeeded in +freeing them from difficulties, which must embarrass +their reception by cautious thinkers on the +complicated science to which his work is devoted.</p> + +<p><i>Harper's New York and Erie Railroad Guide</i>, +by <span class="smcap">William Macleod</span>, is a seasonable publication, +which will form an indispensable appendage +to the preparations of the pleasure-hunter, who is +about to view, for the first time, the magnificent +scenery on this great public avenue. It contains +nearly a hundred and fifty engravings, from original +sketches made expressly for the work, and executed +in the usual admirable style of Lossing and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +Barritt. The letter-press descriptions are written +in a lively and pleasing style, and furnish a great +amount of geographical and local information, with +regard to the interior of the Empire State. Every +traveler on this route, which is destined to be the +favorite choice of the lover of the grand and imposing +in American scenery, no less than of the hurried +business-man with whom time is money, will find +the enjoyment of his tour greatly enhanced by the +cheerful and instructive companionship of this agreeable +volume.</p> + +<p>Lindsay and Blakiston have published a second +series of <i>Characteristics of Literature</i>, by <span class="smcap">Henry +T. Tuckerman</span>, containing essays on Manzoni, +Steele, Humboldt, Madame de Sévigné, Horne +Tooke, Wilson, Talfourd, Beckford, Hazlitt, Everett, +and Godwin. They are written in the style +of polished elegance and graceful facility which has +given the author such a high reputation with most +cultivated readers. Free from extravagance of +conception or diction, pervaded with a tone of natural +and manly feeling, and thoroughly imbued with +the spirit of the best literary productions, they +claim a favorable reception from the public on the +ground of their purity of taste, their refinement of +expression, and their genial and appreciative principles +of criticism. The essays on Humboldt and +Horne Tooke, in particular, are, in a high degree, +original and suggestive, and present a very favorable +specimen of a kind of discussion in which the +author excels.</p> + +<p><i>The Gold-Worshipers</i> (published by Harper and +Brothers), is the title of a brilliant satirical novel +illustrating the mania for speculation, and the extravagance +of fashionable life, which have recently +exhibited such remarkable developments in the +highest English society. The characters are drawn +with amusing life-likeness, and must have been +copied from well-known originals. A more spirited +and sparkling commentary on the times has not +been issued by the London press.</p> + +<p>Robert Carter and Brothers have issued a new +volume by Mrs. <span class="smcap">L.H. Sigourney</span>, entitled <i>Letters to +my Pupils</i>, comprising a selection from her correspondence +with the young ladies of her different +classes, during their course of instruction at her +private seminary in Connecticut. They are filled +with valuable counsels, marked with the good +sense, affectionate feeling, and practical tendency +which are conspicuous features of the author's +mind. In addition to the letters, the volume contains +some pleasing reminiscences of Mrs. Sigourney's +experience as a teacher, with sketches of the +character and personal history of several of her +more distinguished pupils, now deceased. The +work will be found to offer a variety of attractive +and useful matter for family reading.</p> + +<p><i>Maurice Tiernay</i>, by <span class="smcap">Charles Lever</span>, has been +issued by Harper and Brothers in their Library of +Select Novels. The readers of this Magazine will +no doubt welcome in a permanent shape this favorite +story, which has formed such an agreeable feature +in our pages.</p> + +<p>Charles Scribner has published a new volume +by <span class="smcap">N.P. Willis</span>, with the characteristic title of +<i>Hurry-Graphs</i>, containing sketches of scenery, +celebrities, and society, taken from life. It is +marked with the nice, microscopic observation of +character and manners which, in the department +of natural science, would make the fortune of an +entomologist, and which, as employed by the author, +has given him an unrivaled reputation as the +delineator of the minutest phases of society. The +verbal felicity of his expositions is no less remarkable +than the subtlety of his insight, and so gracefully +does he trample on the received usages of +language, that the most obstinate adherent to the +dictionary can not grudge him the words, which he +combines in such bright and fanciful forms in his +unlicensed kaleidoscope. In the present volume, +which is filled with all sorts of enticements, we +prefer the descriptions of nature to the sketches +of character. Even the dusty road-side grows delightful +under the touches of Willis's blossom-dropping +pen, and when we come to the mountain and +lake, it is like reveling in all the fragrant odors of +Paradise. Here the author feels genially at home, +and abandons himself to the natural, joyous, unreflective +impulses of the scene; while, in his portraitures +of character, which are usually more elaborate, +he betrays the consciousness of an obligation +to say something, which, if not original, shall at +least astonish the reader with its appearance of +novelty. His judgments, however, are often strikingly +acute, and show his ready perception of individual +life, no less than of the motley aspects of +society. In this work they are singularly free +from any tincture of bitterness, the result of a +catholic appreciation of character, rather than of +any milky sweetness of temperament.</p> + +<p><i>Eastbury</i> is the title of a recent English novel +(published by Harper and Brothers), which even +the opponents of fictitious literature must commend +for its elevated moral tendency, and its pure religious +spirit. It is free from the exaggerated views +of life, and the morbid, inflated sentiment which +form the staple of so many fashionable novels. +With its reserved and quiet tone, it may at first +disappoint the reader accustomed to a higher stimulus, +but its cool domestic pictures, its fine illustrations +of character, and its truthfulness and beauty +of feeling will win the admiration of the most intelligent +judges.</p> + +<p>One of the most beautiful books of the season +has been issued by J.S. Redfield, entitled <i>Episodes +of Insect Life</i>, with copious engravings illustrative +of the department of natural history to which it is +devoted. The anonymous author is a passionate +lover of nature, and describes the results of personal +observation in glowing and picturesque language. +Since the elaborate work of Kirby and Spence, +nothing has proceeded from the English press more +eminently adapted to inspire a taste for entomological +researches, or treating the curious phenomena +of insect economy with more animation and beauty +of style. The fruits of accurate investigation are +embellished with the charm of a lively fancy, making +a volume no less delightful than instructive.</p> + +<p>Lippincott, Grambo, and Co. have commenced a +new serial publication, entitled <i>Arthur's Library +for the Household</i>, consisting of original tales and +sketches by <span class="smcap">T.S. Arthur</span>. The two volumes already +published contain <i>Woman's Trials</i> and <i>Married +Life</i>. They will speedily be followed by other +volumes, to the number of twelve, printed in uniform +style, and with great typographical neatness. +The chaste and elevated tone of Mr. Arthur's writings, +with his uncommon skill in describing the +scenes of real life, has deservedly made him a favorite +with a large class of readers, and will, we +have no doubt, guarantee a wide success to the +present publication.</p> + +<p>A cheap edition of <span class="smcap">Arthur's</span> <i>Works</i> is now passing +through the press of T.B. Peterson, Phil., and +commands an extensive circulation. The last volume +issued is <i>The Banker's Wife</i>, a tale illustrative +of American society, and conveying an admirable +moral.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A Leaf from Punch.</h2> + +<h4>TIRED OF THE WORLD.</h4> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 517px;"> +<img src="images/ill-1851-june-illo_24.jpg" width="517" height="600" alt="TIRED OF THE WORLD." title="" /> +</div> + +<blockquote><p><i>Grandmamma.</i>—"<span class="smcap">Why what's the matter with my Pet</span>?"</p> + +<p><i>Child.</i>—"<span class="smcap">Why, Grandma, after giving the subject every consideration, I have +come to the conclusion that—the World is Hollow, and my Doll is stuffed +with Sawdust, so—I—should—like—if you please, to be a Nun</span>?"</p></blockquote> + +<p><a name="Illo25" id="Illo25"></a></p> +<hr /> +<h4>PLEASURE TRIP OF <span class="smcap">Messrs.</span> ROBINSON AND JONES.</h4> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/ill-1851-june-illo_25.jpg" width="600" height="326" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">It is cold on deck, and they think it would be better to lie down below. Robinson and Jones +are here represented at the moment of entering the cabin. It is inconveniently full already, +and every body is snoring.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/ill-1851-june-illo_26a.jpg" width="300" height="336" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Robinson returns to the deck, and, in despair, seats himself upon what he considers a pile of cable, +coats, canvas, luggage, &c. How is he to know that it is a lady and gentleman?</span></p></blockquote> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ill-1851-june-illo_26b.jpg" width="400" height="256" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Robinson before and after a sea voyage.</span></p> + +<p><a name="Illo27" id="Illo27"></a></p> +<hr /> +<h4>A PERFECT WRETCH.</h4> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 485px;"> +<img src="images/ill-1851-june-illo_27.jpg" width="485" height="600" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<blockquote><p><i>Wife.</i>—<span class="smcap">"Why, dear me, William; how Time flies! I declare we have been married +Ten Years to-day."</span></p> + +<p><i>Wretch.</i>—<span class="smcap">"Have we, love? I am sure I thought it had been a great deal longer."</span></p></blockquote> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>Fashions for Early Summer.</h2> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 448px;"> +<img src="images/ill-1851-june-illo_28.jpg" width="448" height="600" alt="Fig. 1.—Visiting and Carriage Costumes." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 1.—Visiting and Carriage Costumes.</span> +</div> + +<p>The early days of June often exhibit the coyness +of her sister, May; and while the leaves are +broadly expanding, and the buds are every where +bursting into blossom, in full exuberance, cool +breezes from the North, or chilling vapors from the +East, sometimes remind those who are riding or +walking, of the breath of Winter. It is not safe +permanently to employ the thin dress fabrics of +flowing summer before the middle of the month. +Silks form the most suitable material for out-of-door +costume, and mantelets are more in vogue than the +gossamer-like shawls of July.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mantelets.</span>—Those composed of <i>glacé</i> silks are +greatly in favor, being of moderate size, loose, and +rather short; they have, nevertheless, a novel appearance, +the variety in their style depending greatly +upon their trimmings. The waist and shoulders +are gracefully marked. The principal trimmings +consist of frillings, or flounces, cut <i>falbalas</i> and +<i>passamenteries arachneés</i>. These decorations are +intended principally for morning or demi-toilets, +those of a more full-dress description being trimmed +with a very deep fall of black lace, or two or +three frillings equally deep and ample.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dresses.</span>—Plain bodies, slightly stiffened, are +much in fashion. Those intended for pelisses are +of the waistcoat form, cut in the Amazonian shape, +somewhat like that seen in Figure 2 of our first +illustration. Among other elegant styles, is a <i>robe +à la myon</i> of gray taffeta, having the corsage +formed of narrow plaits, in style resembling that in +Figure 1 of the above illustration. It forms a kind +of fan back; in front, the folds are made deep upon +the top, and descend in a straight line toward the +lower part of the waist.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Figure</span> 1 in our first illustration represents an +elegant style of <span class="smcap">Visiting Dress</span>. It is of light +blue silk; the skirt trimmed with three rather narrow +flounces, waved at the edge, and caught up in +a point up the centre of the front, where they are +each confined with a small <i>nœud</i> of ribbon, the same +color of the dress. The high, close-fitting corsage +is entirely formed of narrow folds placed close together; +the opening up the front being concealed +by a fluting of ribbon, gradually narrowing toward +the lower part of the waist. Long plain sleeves, +ornamented round the top with a puffing of silk, +forming an epaulette. The sleeves are open up +the front of the arm as far as the bend, and caught +across at regular intervals, so as to admit of the +under full white sleeves showing through and forming +puffings. Bonnet of white silk or satin: the +exterior decorated with two white ostrich feathers, +and the interior with a wreath of white rose-buds.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Figure</span> 2 in our first picture, represents a beautiful +<span class="smcap">Carriage Costume</span>. Plain high dress of +violet silk; the body fitting tight has a small jacket +trimmed round with a narrow <i>rûche</i>. The body +opens in the front and has a fulling of white lace to +give the appearance of the frill of the habit shirt. +The sleeves are not very wide, and are three-quarters +length. They have cuffs cut in points, +turned back, and edges with a narrow <i>rûche</i>. The +skirt is long and fall, trimmed with rosettes of ribbon, +from which hang two small tassels. <i>Mantilla</i> +of rich silk, trimmed with broad black lace, lined +with white silk. Bonnet of <i>paille de riz</i>, decorated +with splendid drooping flowers on the right, of a +primrose color.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 387px;"> +<img src="images/ill-1851-june-illo_29.jpg" width="387" height="600" alt="Fig. 2.—Evening Dress." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 2.—Evening Dress.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Figure</span> 2 represents an <span class="smcap">Evening Costume</span>. +Dress of pink <i>crèpe</i>: the corsage low; the waist +pointed, and of a moderate length. The cape +pointed in the front, falls deep on the shoulders, +entirely covering the plain short sleeves. The cape +and the front of the skirt, are trimmed with white +<i>tûlle</i> and roses. The skirt is long and full, the +trimming, <i>en tabliére</i>, corresponds with the cape. +Jupe of rich white silk is worn underneath. Shoes +of pink satin.</p> + +<p><a name="Illo30" id="Illo30"></a></p> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/ill-1851-june-illo_30.jpg" width="200" height="282" alt="Fig. 3.—Head-Dress." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 3.—Head-Dress.</span> +</div> +<p><span class="smcap">Figure</span> 3 shows a neat +style of head-dress for a +<span class="smcap">Morning Costume</span>, which +is composed of folds of ribbon, +partly covering a braid +of hair on one side. The +dress is high, edged with a +lace collar, with a ribbon +hanging in loops in front. +The sleeves in morning costumes +are generally very +wide from the elbow, three-quarters +length, and trimmed +to correspond. The +skirt is long and full, bias on +each side, the front breadth turned back; trimmed +with <i>guimpe</i>.</p> +<div class="figright" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/ill-1851-june-illo_31.jpg" width="200" height="309" alt="Fig. 4.—Bonnet." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 4.—Bonnet.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bonnets</span> are generally of +white silk, formed in various +designs, decorated with different +sorts of violets and +lilacs of the most opposite +shades. They are very gay, +yet very simple. They are +generally somewhat small, +having the front rather open +at the sides, allowing the +hair to be arranged in full +bands, with becoming and +fanciful ears in the interior. +Figure 4 represents a bonnet +of white satin, covered +with two rows of white lace, +divided with a double row of fancy light green ribbon, +and decorated with white daisies in the interior. +Bonnets composed of <i>crèpe</i> and <i>paille</i>, are decorated +with bunches of flowers composed of the wild violet, +with grass and delicate herbs. A very elegant +style of bonnet is composed partly of blonde and +fillings of light green <i>velours épinglé</i>, ornamented +in a fanciful manner with marabouts.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Caps</span> are extremely pretty and light in appearance. +Some formed of inlet, relieved with drawings, +through which is passed a narrow satin ribbon, +and decorated with <i>coques</i>, placed sidewise, +are very pretty. A very charming style of morning +caps are those formed of muslin, surmounted with +four small <i>torsades</i> of lilac silk drooping over the +forehead, and encircling the ears. Upon each side +is placed a very large <i>nœud</i> of silk, and at the back +two <i>rachons</i> of embroidered muslin, headed with +<i>torsades</i> of ribbon. Another style forms upon the +summit of the head, advancing a little in front, "à +la Marie Stuart," having three papillons of Brussels +point lace, divided with pink ribbons. On the sides +tufts of lace, and black and pink ribbons in corkscrews, +hanging low.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Continued from Vol. II. p. 747.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Continued from the May Number.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Island in the Gulf of California, famous for the quantity +of oyster-beds and the quality of the pearls.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Seamew.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Species of shark most especially dreaded by divers for +pearls, whose intrepidity is such that they fearlessly attack +all other species.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Continued from Vol. II. p. 762.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> This curious piece has recently appeared in the +"Gazette de France," and has excited much remark. It +is given out to be the production of Charles X. when +Monsieur, and was communicated to M. Neychens by +the Marquis de la Roche Jaqueline.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> It has been recently stated that the Mormon emigration +from Liverpool alone, up to the present year, has +been 13,500, and that they have, on the whole, been +superior to and better provided than the other classes of +emigrants. Of course, many more of his sect must have +emigrated from other ports, and many even from the port +of Liverpool, whose faith and ultimate destination was +not known.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> From the French of Charles Nodier.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Pitre-Chevalier says, in his "Brittany," ("<i>La Brètagne</i>,") +"We Celts of Lower Brittany require nothing +more to recognize as brothers the primitive inhabitants of +Wales, than the ability to salute them in their maternal +tongue, after a separation of more than a thousand years."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> From Lady Emeline Stuart Wortley's "Travels in +the United States in 1849-50," in the press of Harper and +Brothers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> From Kelly's "Excursion to California."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> From Lady Emeline Stuart Wortley's "Travels in +the United States in 1849-50," in the press of Harper and +Brothers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> From "Curran and his Contemporaries" by <span class="smcap">Charles +Phillips</span>, just published by Harper and Brothers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Continued from the May Number.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> "What was the star I know not, but certainly some +star it was that attuned me unto thee."</p></div> + +</div> +<p> </p> + +<div class="tnotes"><h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3> + +<div class="tnote"><p>Obvious punctuation errors have been repaired, other punctuations have +been left as printed in the paper book.</p></div> + +<div class="tnote"><p>Titles added to Table of Content and List of Illustrations.</p></div> + +<div class="tnote"><p>Erroneous page numbers in Table of Content corrected.</p></div> + +<div class="tnote"><p>Obvious printer's errors have been repaired, other inconsistent +spellings have been kept, including:<br /> +- use of hyphen (e.g. "clap-trap" and "claptrap");<br /> +- accents (e.g. "chateau" and "château");<br /> +- any other inconsistent spellings (e.g. "diversion" and "divarsion").</p></div> + +<div class="tnote"><p>Following proper names have been corrected:<br /> +- In the Table of Content: "Novarra" corrected to be "Novara" (battle of Novara), +"Paginini" corrected to be "Paganini" (Anecdotes of Paganini), +"Waterwitch" corrected to be "Water Witch" (Cooper's "Water Witch");<br /> +- Pg 16, "Penmaen Mawr" corrected to be "Penmaenmawr" (Of Penmaenmawr);<br /> +- Pg 43, "Gunnell" corrected to be "Gunnel" (To Mr. Gunnel);<br /> +- Pg 129, "Fanueil" corrected to be "Faneuil" (Faneuil Hall).<br /></p></div> + +<div class="tnote"><p>Pg 4, word "the" removed (Attacks the {the} nightly thief).</p></div> + +<div class="tnote"><p>Pg 5, word "a" removed (As if {a} upon).</p></div> + +<div class="tnote"><p>Pg 66, word "him" removed (have made him {him} a martyr).</p></div> + +<div class="tnote"><p>Pg 125, word "to" added (whispered to Sophia).</p></div> + +<div class="tnote"><p>Pg 134, word "April" corrected to "February" (from February 28).</p></div> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Magazine, Vol III, June 1851, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S MAGAZINE, VOL III *** + +***** This file should be named 38787-h.htm or 38787-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/7/8/38787/ + +Produced by Judith Wirawan, David Kline, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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