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diff --git a/39132.txt b/39132.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eea6ebd --- /dev/null +++ b/39132.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6749 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Mathieu Ropars: et cetera, by William Young + + +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: Mathieu Ropars: et cetera + + +Author: William Young + + + +Release Date: March 13, 2012 [eBook #39132] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MATHIEU ROPARS: ET CETERA*** + + +E-text prepared by Charlene Taylor, Katie Hernandez, Marilynda +Fraser-Cunliffe, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team +(http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by the +Wright American Fiction Project +(http://www.letrs.indiana.edu/web/w/wright2/) + + + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through the + Wright American Fiction Project. See + http://www.letrs.indiana.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?idno=Wright2-2831<;view=toc;sid=075f68e4235f00ec8548d9f9e813ee33;c=wright2 + + + + + +MATHIEU ROPARS: ET CETERA. + +by + +AN EX-EDITOR. + + + + + + + +New York: +G. P. Putnam & Son, 661 Broadway. +1868. + +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by +William Young, +In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the +Southern District of New York. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + Page. + I.--MATHIEU ROPARS 7 + II.--THRICE ONLY 76 + III.--TOSSING UP FOR A HUSBAND 97 + IV.--MISSING MARINERS 117 + V.--MANDRAGORA--BY THE DOZEN 140 + VI.--DR. PABLO'S PREDICTION 157 + VII.--THE NEW HAMPSHIRE ALPS 163 + VIII.--SLIDING SCALE OF THE INCONSOLABLES 173 + IX.--RAMBLING RECORDS: + The Gentle Arlesians 179 + At Nuremburg 183 + Roman Nomenclature 189 + Brigands, Beggars, and Souvenirs 192 + Livres des Voyageurs 197 + X.--A SINGULAR ANAGRAM 199 + XI.--A WELL KNOWN DOCUMENT 201 + XII.--BEL PIEDE 208 + XIII.--WHO IS HE? 210 + XIV.--TO NINON 212 + XV.--THE LAST OF THE ROMAN GLADIATORS 215 + XVI.--THE PRUDENT BRIDE 218 + XVII.--THE TRAMPER'S BED AND THE KING'S 220 + XVIII.--OCCASION 221 + XIX.--THE MOURNFUL BALLAD OF THE ALABAMA 222 + XX.--LINES FOR THE GUITAR 224 + XXI.--THREE MEN AND A WOMAN 225 + XXII.--ANOTHER MARBLE FAUN 227 + XXIII.--CHARADES 232 + + + These literary chips from the workshop of an arduous profession + were, with few exceptions, contributed to the "_Albion_" newspaper, + between the years 1848 and 1866. + + New York, May 25, 1868. + + + + + + + MATHIEU ROPARS. + + _From the French of Emile Souvestre._ + + I. + + +At the extremity of the roadstead of Brest, in the open space that lies +stretched out between the Ile Longue and Point Kelerne, may be seen two +rocks crowned with massive granite buildings, and standing boldly up. On +the former, the lazaretto of Treberon has been established; the latter, +which in other days was used as a burial-ground and thence took its name +of the Ile des Morts, now contains the principal powder-magazine of the +naval arsenal. The two rocks separated by an arm of the sea, are about +six miles distant from Brest. In appearance these little islands are not +unlike. Beyond the ground occupied by the buildings upon them, they +offer nothing to the eye save a succession of stony slopes, dotted here +and there with coarse moss and prickly thorn-broom. Vainly there might +you look for any other shelter than that afforded by the fissures of the +rocks, for any other shade than that of the walls, for any other walk +than the short terrace contrived in front of the buildings. Naked and +sterile, the two isles remind you of a couple of immense sentry-boxes +in stone, placed there for the purpose of keeping guard over the sea, +which is roaring beneath them. But if the foot that treads them remains +imprisoned within a narrow circle, the view from their summit extends +over an infinite space. Here, you have the bay of Lanvoc, bordered by a +dull-looking and stunted vegetation; there, Roscanvel with its shadows +crossed by the graceful spire of its church; there, Spanish Point +bristling with batteries; and lastly, close upon the horizon lies Brest, +with its dock-yards, its forts, and the hundred masts of its ships, +visible through a veil of mist. Midway opens out the Goulet, the harbour +of this marvellous lake, through which arrive and depart unceasingly +those wandering sails, that issue forth to flaunt the ensign of France +upon the waters, or to bring it home again from far-away lands. + +A cannon-shot, the echo of which was still booming along the shores, had +just announced one of these arrivals, and a frigate, with a light +breeze, was doubling the Point under a cloud of canvas. From the +esplanade of Treberon a man, wrapped in a pilot-cloth cape and wearing a +narrow-brimmed glazed hat, under which it might be seen that his locks +were turning grey, was looking at the noble vessel as she glided along +in the distance, between the azure of the sea and of the sky. It was +obvious that the keeper of the lazaretto (for he it was) gave but casual +attention to the sight, with which his long residence at Treberon had +familiarized him. His look, for a moment resting carelessly upon the +frigate which had begun to brail up her upper sails, soon reverted to +his more immediate neighbourhood, and settled itself at the foot of the +pathway, that led from the esplanade to the sea, upon a group which +appeared more decidedly to interest him. And in truth the object of this +rivetted gaze was of that sort which might have attracted the least +attentive eye. A pupil of Phidias would have traced in it the germ of +one of those antique bas-reliefs, of which the marble has become more +precious than gold. + +Two little girls and a goat were coming up the winding path together. +The elder of the two, who might be eleven years old, was holding the +freakish animal by one of those long pieces of sea-weed that resemble +strips of Spanish leather. Her black hair fell down upon a neck +embrowned like a raven's wing, and threw something of a wild hardihood +into her expression, tempered however by the velvety softness of her +eye. The younger, seated on the goat as though it were her customary +place, was of such rosy-white complexion as you see in the flower of the +eglantine. A tuft of broom, mingling with her golden hair, fell down +upon her shoulder, and gave her an indescribably coquettish grace. The +two sisters compelled the goat, which submitted most unwillingly, to +moderate its pace; but still, as they proceeded, they were obliged to +double the slender reins by which they kept it within bounds, and anon +to catch hold of the wreath of sea-flowers twisted about its horns. +Then what joyous shouts and peals of laughter were there without end, +broken in upon by the gentle bleatings of _Brunette_ as she pawed the +ground with her foot, and shook her saucy little head! Any other hands +but those of Josephe and Francine would have tried in vain to make her +even so far submissive; but for the latter the goat had been a +foster-mother, a circumstance evidently not forgotten. + +Mathieu Ropars had been watching for some time this pleasant little +contest between the fantastic _Brunette_ and his daughters, when he felt +a hand laid upon his arm; he turned round and encountered, so to say, +close against his shoulder the bronzed and smiling face of their mother. + +--"Just look at those children," said he, nodding his head in the +direction of the merry group. + +--"Heavens! Francine will fall," exclaimed the mother, stepping towards +the path. He drew her back. + +--"Let them be," said he; "don't you know that there is nothing to fear +when Josephe has her eye upon them? Besides, _Brunette_ loves them +better than her own kids; nor are they behind-hand in returning it. +Heaven forgive me, if that creature isn't what they think most of--after +us!" + +--"And after Monsieur Gabriel," chimed in their mother--"at least so far +as Josephe is concerned; for although he scarcely stayed more than a +week in the lazaretto, and that's three years ago, the child never lets +a day pass by without speaking of him." + +--"To tell the truth, the Lieutenant is a sort of man not easily to be +forgotten," replied Ropars, "especially by the little one yonder, to +whom he was so kind and made so many promises. Why, wasn't he to bring +her all manner of wonderful things from the East? And by the bye, if +nothing has happened to him, I believe that we shall pretty soon see him +again, as well as the _Thetis_." + +--"In the meantime I must tell the children of another visit, which will +also be no small treat for them." + +--"Whose?" + +--"Cousin's, and little Michael's." + +--"Dorot's coming?" inquired Mathieu, looking towards the platform of +the Ile des Morts. "How do you know?" + +--"Can't we talk by signal just as well as his Majesty's ships?" said +Genevieve laughing. "Look, he has hung out of his window three small red +handkerchiefs; that's to tell us that he's coming over. Besides, I saw +Michael going down to the Superintendent's." + +--"Bravo!" cried Ropars, his face lighting up; "your cousin and the boy +must sup with us--that is to say, if your pantry is not quite so empty +as your hospital." + +Genevieve protested, and then enumerated with an air of complacency all +her culinary resources, which had fortunately been replenished, two +days before, by the Superintendent, who supplied at the same time the +powder-magazine and the lazaretto. Mathieu promised to complete the +feast by broaching for the artillery-man an old bottle of Rousillon +wine, stowed away for a long time under the sand of his cellar. + +The two little girls at this moment came up on to the terrace. + +--"Quick, here!" cried Genevieve, "quick; there's somebody coming." + +--"Monsieur Gabriel?" asked Josephe, springing forward with this +exclamation. + +--"No, no, goose-cap--cousin Dorot and little Michael." + +An involuntary gesture of disappointment escaped from the child; but +Francine clapped her hands and broke out into shouts of joy. The goat, +left to herself, bounded along the precipitous slopes of the rocks, +where she set to work browsing on the tufts of brackish herbage; the +sisters took each other's hand to go down towards the little +landing-place; whilst their mother went into the house with a view of +getting everything in readiness. + +As had been remarked by the last-named, the special affection of Josephe +for Monsieur Gabriel was already of several years standing. It dated +from a quarantine performed at Treberon by the Lieutenant, who, charmed +by her grace, bordering though it was upon the savage, had exhibited +towards her a marked regard, to which the child had responded with what +amounted almost to a passion. Having entered the navy against his +inclination, Monsieur Gabriel had adopted little of it but its uniform. +In the midst of a life of change, hardship, and adventure, he dreamed +unceasingly of the unchangeableness of the domestic hearth, and of +peaceful family enjoyments. He was one of those lovers of solitude, who +are born to live amongst labourers, and women, and children. Confined to +the lazaretto of Treberon, he had brought thither a few favourite books, +and his violin, on which he played for hours at a time, with no other +end than the listening to its melodious vibrations. When he went out, +Josephe ran to meet him, acted as his guide along the rocks, and +escorted him to their most secluded recesses, in which, day by day, he +discovered some unknown plant, or moss that was new to him. In the +evening, be paid a visit to the old quarter-master whose quiet enjoyment +of life had attracted his notice. Genevieve talked to him of her +children; Josephe begged of him a story or a song; and when it was time +for him to retire for the night, he went back to his cell, light hearted +and with tranquil mind. A fortnight thus slipped away as if it had been +an hour; so that when his quarantine was at length performed, and it was +necessary for him to leave Treberon, his deliverance did but awaken in +him a feeling of regret. He came back several times to pass whole days +upon the lonely islet; and when finally he was embarking for a distant +voyage of discovery, he promised the solitary family that he would +occasionally write to them. Ropars had in fact received some letters +from him; and, as we have seen, was expecting his speedy return. For the +moment, the visit announced by Genevieve exclusively occupied the keeper +of the lazaretto. He remained alone upon the esplanade, whence he +continued to look towards the Ile des Morts. The distance rendered +visible everything done there; it was easy to recognize persons and to +distinguish their movements. He could therefore see Dorot take his way +towards the skiff, set up the mast, and hoist the sail; and the little +Michael catching hold, with some difficulty, of the tiller. + +Previously to the two families becoming allied by marriage, the keepers +of the powder-magazine and of the lazaretto had known each other in the +navy, wherein one was a quarter-master and the other a sergeant of +artillery. Appointed to Treberon, Mathieu Ropars had rejoiced at the +idea of meeting his old ship-mate Dorot, already several years +established at the Ile des Morts, with his wife, his son, and a female +orphan relative. The lazaretto being almost always deserted, he was left +with ample leisure for frequent visits to the powder-magazine, and for +becoming well known there and thoroughly appreciated. Genevieve, Dorot's +cousin, was particularly taken with such a character, so +straight-forward and yet so gentle. She had been tried, until she was +sixteen, by all the pains and penalties of misery. Taken then, from +charitable motives, into the house of her cousin whose wife occasionally +made her pay dearly enough for his hospitality, the poor orphan had +accustomed herself to expecting nothing at any one's hands, and to +receiving as a favour whatever was accorded her. Thus the frank +cordiality of Mathieu was more touching in her eyes than it would have +been in those of another. She welcomed it with a gratitude half filial, +to which insensibly became added that shade of a more tender feeling, +always blended into the attachments of a woman whose heart is +disengaged. An intimacy between herself and Ropars went on, +strengthening from day to day, whilst neither of them took account of +their predilections. As he marked the young girl in the bloom of her +expanding beauty, Mathieu, who already felt the weight of years upon +him, would never have dreamed of asking her to share his existence; +whilst Genevieve, happy in seeing him daily and in the consciousness of +his immediate neighbourhood, thought not of desiring anything further. +It needed the offer of a situation for her at Brest, and the consequent +prospect of a separation, to enlighten them as to their mutual +dependence on each other. Perceiving that Genevieve shed tears, Ropars, +who could not shut his eyes to his own distress of mind, took courage +and brought matters to a point. He told her that she might dispense with +this separation, if the isle of Treberon were no more irksome to her +than the Ile des Morts, and if his society were as agreeable to her as +that of her cousin. The poor girl, weeping, blushing and overjoyed, +could only reply by letting herself fall into his arms. The old +quarter-master forthwith opened his mind to Dorot. The marriage took +place; and he carried off Genevieve to his islet, of which henceforth +he mistrusted not the solitude. + +The difference in their respective ages did not seem to mar the +happiness of the keeper and the orphan girl. Both were possessed of that +which renders marriage a blessing--the simple mind and the heart of +kindly impulse. Children came, to draw still closer these ties, and to +enliven their hearth. The younger was just born, when Dorot lost his +wife, and was left alone with his son Michael, thirteen years of age. +This premature widowerhood had revived the friendship of the two old +shipmates. Their intercourse became more frequent. The skiff that served +both establishments was stationed at the little haven of the Ile des +Morts, and was thus at the disposition of the artillery-man, who missed +no opportunity of coming to pass a few hours with his neighbours. But +notwithstanding their proximity, and the ease with which the passage was +made, these visits could not be of daily occurrence. Dorot was obliged +to be constantly on the watch; his official orders were equally sudden +and unforeseen; nor could he expose himself to the risk of too frequent +absence. His appearance therefore at the lazaretto had not ceased to be +a happy exception to the rule. Father, mother, and children alike found +in it a festal occasion; and it was never without great rejoicing that +the signal was observed announcing the agreeable visit, and the boat +seen putting out from the little landing-place and stretching over +towards Treberon. + +This time, so soon as Ropars saw her on the way, he went down to meet +her. Scarcely had she touched the ground, when Michael jumped ashore, +threw his arms about the keeper, then about the two little girls, and +then ran off with the latter towards the house. Dorot stepping out in +turn, shook hands heartily with Mathieu; and the pair, chatting, slowly +began the ascent. Having reached the summit of the cliff, they faced +about by force of habit, to take a look out to sea. The artillery-man +remarked that the frigate had just clewed up her lower sails. + +--"God help us! she's going to anchor," said he; "did you ever see, +Mathieu, a homeward-bound ship let go so far from land?" + +--"That depends," replied the old quarter-master; "we hold off when we +mistrust a fort, or are afraid of reefs." + +--"But there's nothing of that sort here," remarked Dorot; "the frigate +has no need to fear the guns of the Castle which are her very good +friends, or the roadstead which is as safe an anchorage as if she were +fast in the dry-dock. There must be something extraordinary." + +--"Perhaps the ship has to perform quarantine," suggested Ropars; "the +_Thetis_ is expected." + +--"That's it; you've named her," cried the artillery-man, winking his +eye and shading his forehead with one hand so as to look more fixedly at +the distant vessel; "it is the _Thetis_, or I'm a heathen. I had her +down yonder for a week, when she took her powder on board; I know her +by the set of her masts and by her bearing on the water." + +--"The _Thetis_!" echoed Mathieu; "then we shall soon see Monsieur +Gabriel. What delight for Josephe! Quick; let's tell her." + +He was hurrying off, but Dorot kept him back. "No hurry," said he; +"never reckon too surely on what a ship brings home. Pick people out, +and they're just those that are missing when the roll's called. Better +wait till the Lieutenant brings his own news." + +--"You're right," replied the quarter-master; "the more so since the +frigate comes, if I don't mistake, from the Havannah." + +--"Who knows whether she won't bring you some lodgers for your +lazaretto?" + +--"So be it; they'll be welcome. With Genevieve and the children, one +can't be dull; but once in a while there's no harm in a little company. +You fellows at the Ile des Morts, you have the artillery +despatch-carrier, who keeps you up to all that goes on, to say nothing +of inspections and your convoys of powder; whilst here--never a thing! +Not one visitor in a twelvemonth! At least, if you have to put people +sometimes into quarantine, you hear what's done on land there, and that +leaves you some thing to talk about for months." + +The artillery-man shrugged his shoulders--"That's all very well, when +they don't bring disease with them; but the old coasters still talk of a +quarantine in which the lazaretto ran short of both earth and rock for +burying the dead, and when the bodies were of necessity thrown into the +sea with a shot attached to their necks, as in vessels out on a voyage." + +--"Now may Christ spare us such a trial!" exclaimed Ropars, respectfully +touching his hat, as he was used to do whenever he pronounced the +Saviour's name. "But you're speaking of a long time ago, Dorot; please +Heaven, we won't see such again. There are no heathen here now; and I +believe that God's good will will take care of us." + +Dorot nodded his acquiescence. In fact this confidence, springing from a +simple faith, had up to that time been justified by experience. During +the thirteen years that the keeper had spent at Treberon, he had only +received healthy persons into quarantine, who were complying with a +formal regulation, and were obliged to make proof of their good health +by undergoing this preventive sequestration. There were indeed rare +exceptions. Like all lazarettos, that of Treberon remained generally +unoccupied; and the keeper kept watch there alone, like an ever-living +sentinel posted in advance of the continent, for the purpose of warding +off contagion. + +As they chatted, Dorot and he had reached the house. Genevieve was +waiting for them at the doorway, surrounded by the three children who +laid hold of and talked to her all at once. After an exchange of their +accustomed friendly greetings, she went in, with the two keepers, whilst +Michael drew off Francine and Josephe towards _Brunette_, who was +waiting for them on a pinnacle of rock, eyeing them and bleating at +them. The youngster, accustomed to chase his father's sheep upon the +declivities of the Ile des Morts, endeavored to get at her; but the +capricious creature sprung from point to point along the precipices, +letting herself at every moment almost be caught, and at every moment +bounding away from the hand that just could touch her. + +Whilst the children kept up this chase, with a thousand calls to one +another and a thousand peals of laughter, Ropars and Dorot entered the +eating-room in which Genevieve was already laying the cloth. It was a +room of middling size, furnished by the keeper himself at the period of +his marriage, and ornamented with a few marine engravings. Amongst these +was particularly distinguished a portrait of Jean Bart, that nautical +Hercules on whom, as all the world knows, his traditional celebrity has +fastened all manner of superhuman exploits and impossible adventures. + +Having made his guest sit down, Mathieu went off to disinter his bottle +of Rousillon wine; and brought it back all whitened with the sand, and +capped with a green-waxed cork that bespoke its noble birth-place. Dorot +good-temperedly complained of such extravagance, and hinted that he +could not make his visit a long one, inasmuch as the officer commanding +the post of the Ile des Morts had charged him to bring the skiff back +before sunset. Genevieve therefore hurried herself to serve up the +dinner, and called the children to take their places at table. + +With persons whose entire life was contracted within the narrow limits +of two small islands, the conversation could not be much varied. Mathieu +talked of his still-lines set between the headlands of Treberon, and +Dorot of his small cherry-tree. The latter might be regarded as the one +stumbling block of pride, over which the habitual modesty of the worthy +sergeant was sure to trip. No other keeper before his time had succeeded +in securing what he planted, from the sea wind; this was the only tree +that had ever been seen in the two islands; and Lucullus might well have +been less proud of the first cherry-tree that he brought from Persia, +for the purpose of gracing his triumph. Humble as regards everything +else, Dorot drew himself up proudly when there was any question of his +poor wild-stock; he only let it be seen by his friends and his +superiors, and then at their urgent solicitation. Objects resemble human +kind, and very often assume the importance that is given them, in place +of that to which they are entitled. Thus overcharged and carefully +tended, the fame of the cherry-tree of the Ile des Morts went abroad +from Plougastel to Camaret; it was everywhere talked of as a prodigy. +The pride of Dorot had increased in a corresponding degree, and was just +now swollen to the highest pitch by an event no less extraordinary than +unforseen. He brought the news of it to Treberon, but would not make it +known too abruptly. All supposable things were first to be run over, as +in the famous letter of Madame de Sevigne on the marriage of +Mademoiselle. Finally, when every one had given it up, he determined to +enlighten them, and announced ... that the cherry-tree was in blossom! + +Unanimous was the cry of astonishment and delight. Prisoners in their +island, it was several years since Ropars and Genevieve had seen a tree +in blossom; and the two little girls could not recall to mind that they +had ever seen one. Loudly and both at once, they beset Michael with +questions. Was the cherry-tree flowering in gold-colour like the +thorn-broom, or in the colour of blood like the sea-furze? How could the +blossoms ever become fruit? Must they wait a long time? Would the tree +bear the red cherries of the coast, or the black-hearts of the upper +country? Dorot cut all these inquiries short, by declaring that he would +come over next day, for the whole of the family, that they might see the +wondrous tree and dine at the Ile des Morts. The ecstacies of the +sisters may be imagined. Their mother could not check their laughing and +their clapping of hands. They continued their cry of "to-morrow, +to-morrow!" just as Aeneas' look-out men kept up their cry of "Italy, +Italy!" when they saw through the empurpled vapours that goal of so many +efforts and such longings. + +Remarking their impatience, the sergeant proposed to carry them over, +that very evening, with Michael. There would be still day-light enough +on their arrival, for them to see the cherry-tree covered with its coat +of summer-snow, and their parents could fetch them, next day. The +children backed this offer with their entreaties; Ropars smiled, +without replying; but Genevieve entered her protest against it. What +would she do, if Francine and Josephe were away? Many a time ere this, +on waking in the middle of the night, she had fretted herself at not +hearing their gentle breathings; she had jumped up in agony, and had +crept on tip-toe to their bed, to touch them and to listen to them; how +would it be then, if they were not there; how could she herself sleep +quietly without fancying some danger? She would dream that the +powder-magazine was on fire, or that the Ile des Morts was going down +like a vessel foundering--and all this was said betwixt a laugh and a +tear. The little maidens, bent at first on setting off, were soon +hanging on their mother's shoulders, touched by her contagious +tenderness, and declaring that they preferred to remain. The +artillery-man insisted no longer. He took with Mathieu the path that led +down to the sandy shore, and was followed by Genevieve and the children, +all silent for the moment. + +The sun declining to the horizon lit up the promontory of Kelerne, and +painted in the passage of Goulet a stream of purple and gold. A breeze +began to play over the bay, and chequered it with undulating ripples. +The perfume exhaled from the saps was wafted in puffs of wind from the +main land, as were the tinklings of the Angelus, and the lowing of the +cattle driven home. A consciousness of strength in repose was +perceivable, together with an indescribable air of serenity, that stole +from surrounding objects upon the senses, and found its way to the very +depths of the soul. The sky, the earth, and the water seemed by mutual +consent to have subdued their voices, in order to mingle them in one +harmonious murmur. Without analyzing the soft but not enervating +influence that surrounded them, the two keepers with their families were +alive to its effects. Silently they went down the foot-path, pausing +upon their steps, as though to lengthen out the sense of enjoyment, or +to taste of it drop by drop. Having, however, reached the boat, it +became necessary to part. Josephe made the sergeant promise to come for +them early in the morning. The sail at last was hoisted; and the skiff, +launched out upon the yielding waves, sped her way towards the +powder-magazine. + +At the moment when she reached the middle of the channel that separates +the two islands, a ship's long-boat, unobserved hitherto in the +excitement of leave-taking, appeared to leeward of Treberon. Her +peculiar build, her black color traversed only by a single white ribbon +at the water-line, and the perfect condition of her spars and sails, +would have sufficed to show what she was, even if the costume of the +double row of sailors ranged along the thwarts had not betrayed the +man-of-war's men. On crossing the skiff steered by the sergeant, she was +sheered suddenly off; and by the last glimpse of day-light might be +discerned the yellow flag of the Health Office. + +At this sight, Genevieve and the children uttered an involuntary cry. +All three at once comprehended that these were occupants coming to the +lazaretto; that they would put the island into quarantine, and prevent +all external intercourse. The next day's visit must be indefinitely +postponed, and the cherry-tree would have finished blossoming before +they could have regained their liberty. This dashing down of a +newly-raised anticipation had in it something so abrupt and so +unexpected, that Francine and Josephe could by no means resign +themselves to it. Desolate was the look that they exchanged, and +silently did they begin to weep, as their mother took one of them in +either hand, and sorrowfully remounted the path. Genevieve herself felt +her heart oppressed; on reaching the platform, she could not but pause +for a moment. The skiff with rose-coloured sail, that bore away the +promise of another meeting and of a festival, had disappeared; the black +long-boat was there at her feet--and with it had come to shore, +seclusion, melancholy, and disease. Genevieve kissed her children; but +scarcely could she keep back a tear that had gathered beneath her +eyelids, as without the inclination to prolong her look she hastily +entered the house. + +Mathieu in the meantime had gone to receive the persons placed in +quarantine, and to open the lazaretto for them. On returning, he looked +somewhat pale, and his face wore an expression with which Genevieve was +struck; but at the first question she asked him, he abruptly interrupted +her, to inquire where Francine and Josephe were. + +--"Don't you see them?" she replied, pointing to the two little girls +sitting down in a dark corner, still sobbing, and with eyes still moist; +"did you think that they had gone with their cousin?" + +"Would to God, they had!" murmured Mathieu in an agonized voice, but not +overheard by the children. + +Genevieve looked at him, stupefied. "Why so?" she asked; "what has +happened? Tell me, Mathieu, in the name of the Holy Trinity! what is the +matter?" + +--"Well, then," answered the keeper, "there is ... there is ... death +upon the island." + +--"How do you mean?" + +--"I mean, my poor wife, just what I have seen! The _Thetis's_ long-boat +has landed her hospital-mates and doctors, with eight sick men; not one +of whom will ever touch the main-land again." + +--"Holy Virgin! what is it?" + +--"The yellow fever!" + + + II. + + +For him who dwells in-land, the yellow fever is but a disease similar to +a thousand others, of which he knows nothing save the name. Family +tradition and personal experience can attach to it, for him, neither +terror or regret. But amongst our maritime population, the word sounds +like a knell; not only bringing to mind a risk to be encountered, but +reviving affliction, of recent or of ancient date. There, where every +family has one at least of its loved members absent in foreign +countries, the terrible scourge is all too well identified with the +number of widows and orphans that it has made. It ranks with the storm +and the reef of rocks, as a deadly foe. Its name, let fall, produces the +same effect as the wind that whistles, or the surf that roars. Looks are +interchanged on hearing it; and thought recurs to the absent, if not to +the dead. + +Ropars, on this occasion, dwelt mainly on those about him; and in truth, +no one could have better right than he to be ill at ease. Thrown in +former days upon a station where the yellow fever was epidemic, he had +seen the seamen of the fleet decimated around him, and had himself +barely escaped, as if by miracle. The remembrance of that butchery, as +he termed it, was too vivid, and he had too often described it to +Genevieve, for their firmness not now to be shaken. They troubled not +themselves on their own account, but on account of those whose existence +was so dear to them. Mathieu's first thought was of his wife and of his +children; the first impulse of Genevieve was to fold them in her arms, +and to declare that they must all go away. Some trouble had the old +sailor in making her comprehend that, even if retreating were not +dishonorable for him, it had become impossible. The long-boat had made +sail for the frigate, and the yellow flag was hoisted at the lazaretto. +Quarantine had begun for all who happened to be at Treberon. Not a soul +could henceforth pass beyond its limits: and Ropars pointed out to +Genevieve the gun-boat sent by the health officer, which had been +brought to bear at half cable's-length distance from the island, and cut +off from it all intercourse by boats. They were in fact definitively +penned in with the epidemic, and condemned to run its risk to the end. + +But the agitation of Mathieu, in which surprise had worked its part, did +not last long. The quarter-master soon regained his original strength of +mind, which had been slightly unhinged in the tendernesses of his +domestic life; and, regardless of his own previous words, he set himself +seriously to soothing the terror of Genevieve by underrating the danger +that they incurred. After all, they were not here in a state of things +that favoured the disease; they had not to contend against the +enervating sun of the Havannah or Brazil; this was not one of those +awful contagions that spread from house to house like a fire, leaving +behind it the dead alone--it was a disorder partly spent, and from +which, with certain precautions, escape was easy. The chief and the most +indispensable of these precautions was to avoid going near the +apartments occupied by those who had been brought into quarantine, and +never to stay to leeward of the lazaretto. Josephe and Francine were at +once informed of this. Genevieve explained to them every thing that they +were to do, with a minuteness of detail, that savoured alternately of +threatening and of endearment. At first, as the punishment for any +failure of obedience, she pointed out to them the disease, or even death +itself; then seeing them turn pale with fear, she drew them within her +caressing arms and re-assured them by her kisses. Mathieu added to her +exhortations something more definite and more secure. Next morning, he +marked out a space enclosed with stakes joined together by a cord, as +the children's permitted bounds. By way of increased precaution, the +goat herself was brought within this enclosure, picketted to a stake, +and fed upon winter fodder. The keeper, on his part, held aloof from +habitual intercourse with the infirmary-men and the doctors of the +lazaretto. He would even have been ignorant of the fate of those who +were in quarantine if, every evening, the descent of a few men towards +the sandy shore of the little isle, and the tinkling of a bell that +warned him to stand out of their way, had not made it obvious that their +errand was to dig a grave. The vacancies, besides, were rapidly filled +by fresh invalids brought on shore by the frigate's long-boat, for the +epidemic did not seem as yet to decrease or to relax its severity. No +convalescent inmate had yet appeared upon the terrace of the lazaretto. +The skiff belonging to the gun-boat, that enforced the sanitary +regulations, came near the landing place every morning; but no one +landed. Provisions and medicines were put ashore by means of a +travelling pass-rope, set up in the creek; the Surgeon's report was +received at the end of a boat-hook; and then the skiff sailed away in an +apparent hurry, that bespoke the fear of contagion. + +However, after the first few days were past, Ropars and Genevieve felt +somewhat re-assured. The blows that death dealt around them were mute +and hidden; the edge of inquietude became insensibly blunted. Seeing +that it was possible to live in contact with the formidable malady, they +half forgot, both of them, that is was also possible to die. It was with +them as with the inhabitants of a besieged city, who no longer tremble +at the roar of cannon. In vain did the bell tinkle every evening, and +the long-boat bring ashore every morning a fresh batch of the +death-stricken; the continuance of the danger made it seem to be a +matter of course, and this feeling soon merged into a sense of security. +Once in a while even, Genevieve forgot every thing and recommenced her +singing; but abruptly it was suspended at sight of the yellow flag, or +as a sudden recollection crossed her mind. Then the song was stifled +into a sigh. + +Ropars had made inquiries for Monsieur Gabriel, on the first arrival of +the sick. The epidemic had not then attacked him; but his own breaking +off from all intercourse with the hospital-mates, and with the crew, had +prevented his seeking further information. Several boat-loads had been +brought ashore, without any opportunity for his hearing of the +Lieutenant, when he received a note, cut through with scissors and +steeped in vinegar. It contained only these few words, written in +pencil: + + "I am come here.... If I live, we shall meet.... If I die ... + present this letter to the captain of the _Thetis_ ... and claim + for Josephe ... my large mahogany chest. + GABRIEL." + +The writing, scarcely legible, betrayed a hand that shook with fever. +Mathieu, grievously taken by surprise, forgot this time all his +precautions, and ran to the lazaretto. But the Surgeon would not let him +see the Lieutenant, whose condition seemed to give him grave concern. In +the evening it was still worse, and left little room for hope; on the +following day there was none at all. + +Josephe, from whom they had concealed the name of the frigate that was +ravaged by the epidemic, had no suspicion of the danger of her friend; +still, her sister and herself had none the less lost all their gaiety. +Prisoners within the narrow bounds marked out by their father, they were +both moodily seated near the stake to which the goat was picketted; and +she, lying down at their feet, seemed to disdain the fodder that was +scattered before her. Josephe, holding Francine propped against her, +proposed to her, one after another, all the little games to which they +were accustomed; but the child shook her head, her eyes fixed upon the +sea. + +--"What will you do, then, Zine?" asked she, saddened by her sister's +sadness. + +There was no reply. The elder had one hand upon the younger's head, and +played for an instant with the ringlets of her golden hair. + +--"You're longing to go across there to see Michael? isn't that it?" she +resumed, bending down over the little one; "but it's too late; the +cherry-tree has shed its blossoms." + +--"Then you believe that the cherries are already ripe?" interrupted +Francine, turning up to Josephe her face that listlessness had robbed of +a portion of its roses, but with her large eyes full of curiosity. + +--"I don't know," said the elder "mother will tell us. But let's think +about something else; you know that we cannot go to the +powder-magazine." + +--"No, nor to the end of the island, nor any where," added Francine, +letting herself sink down again upon Josephe's knees. + +The latter, bent at all events on amusing the child, then called her +attention to the goat, that had just got up. Starting suddenly from her +doze, _Brunette_ was describing round her stake a series of such droll +evolutions, that the child's sadness could not hold out against them, +and she soon broke out into a laugh. Josephe, who at first had chimed in +with her merriment, was afraid that the mutinous creature's gambols +would end by her breaking the cord; she put her hand out to prevent it. + +--"Let her be, let her be!" cried Francine in high glee; "look how she +rears up! see how she dances! Well done, _Brunette_; higher, little one, +higher!" + +The child, kneeling down upon the sand, clapped her hands, with shouts +of delight; and the goat, that seemed excited by her voice and by the +noise, redoubled its capricious boundings. All at once, the stake, +loosened by such continued tuggings, was drawn out of the ground: the +animal jumped to one side; and finding itself no longer held back, +started off for the further extremity of the island. + +The two sisters gave utterance to a cry, and then, from an irresistable +impulse, sprang away together in pursuit. The corded limits were passed, +and they were soon led off along the declivities, calling to _Brunette_, +who according to her old tricks would wait, bleating, for them, and then +caper away at their approach. In the eagerness of their chase they thus +reached the summit of the island, followed the slopes that went down to +the sea, and finally arrived at the foot of the ravine that was farthest +removed from their dwelling. It was there only that Josephe bethought +her of their disobedience. She stopped, out of breath, and held back her +sister with her arms. + +--"Not a step further, Zine!" cried she; "we ought not to have come so +far; mother forbid it." + +The little one looked round about her, and remarked in turn the spot in +which they were. It was a large fissure hollowed out in the stony soil +of the island, and, at the bottom of which broad ferns and flowering +brooms had sprung up in tufts. Right and left, through the +partition-walls of rock, peeped up the stone-break, and the sea turf +with its purple cats-tails, and the fox glove that thrust its long stalk +from the crevices, loaded with rose-coloured bell flowers. + +At such a sight, Francine could not restrain a cry of admiration. Here +was the first verdure, here were the first flowers she had seen, since +strict orders had confined her to the barren platform occupied by the +keeper's house. Neither could she resist the temptation; slipping away +from the hands of her sister, and unwilling to hear a word, she +disappeared in the thickest of the flowering tufts. + +Having vainly called to her, Josephe followed to bring her back; but the +child went on from shrub to shrub, without any inclination to stop. At +every fresh handful of gathered flowers, uselessly did Josephe cry, +"enough!" "More, more!" was Francine's answer, as she piled up within +her apron, upheld by the two corners, all on which she could lay her +hands. Want of place alone could make her consent to suspend her +harvesting. Loaded with herbs and wild flowers, falling in garlands down +to her very feet, she at length was disposed to take hold again of +Josephe's hand, who set to work to find their way back, and cautiously +removed the prickly-broom from their path. + +The children were on the point of reaching a ridge made up of heath and +broom, when the warning bell was heard above their heads. They stopped, +and raised their eyes. Four of the infirmary-men were coming down +towards the ravine, bearing their funereal burden. They were following +the only foot-path practicable on the slope, and the little girls could +not proceed on their way, without meeting them. Terrified, they drew +back amongst the bushes that still concealed them, and paused, leaning +one against the other. The bell tinkled by fits and starts, drawing +nearer at every sound. At length they could distinguish the heavy +footstep of the bearers ringing upon the rock, and could see their +darkening outlines marked out in the twilight. They were advancing +precisely to the little oasis wherein the children had taken refuge. +Arrived at the entrance, they seemed to consult together for an instant; +then resumed their way through the thorny tufts, rounded the mass of +rock behind which the sisters had crouched, and stopped, with the words, +"Here it is." + +Francine, in dire alarm, had hidden her head upon Josephe's knees; she, +less timid, gently put aside the branches, and could then see a grave +already dug in a gravelly portion of the soil. The infirmary-men had +laid down the corpse upon the ground, wrapped-up in a coarse linen +cloth. Then they took a sack, hidden under a projecting bit of rock, and +emptied its contents into the grave. The white dust, that rose up from +it as a cloud, was wafted to the children in a sour odour of lime. This +was carefully spread over the bottom of the hole, so as to form a bed +for the dead body, and was then sprinkled with water drawn from the sea. +These preparatory measures had all been taken in gloomy silence. Nought +was heard but the scraping of the spade upon the rocky soil, and the +monotonous bubbling of the tiny waves that rippled with the evening +breeze upon the shore. Josephe, her neck out-stretched, her large eyes +dilated, and with a painful sense of tightening at her heart-strings, +continued on the watch. + +At this moment, two of the bearers took up the body, and brought it +close to the hole dug for its reception. They were separated from the +children only by a tuft of bushes. As they lightly grazed it with their +burden, a gust of wind unrolled one of the corners of the covering +cloth; a livid head was visible by the last glimmering of light; and +Josephe uttered a stifled cry. The fall of the body into the pit +prevented her being heard; but the moment's glance had sufficed--the +child thought she recognized the face of Monsieur Gabriel. She threw +herself back, in inexpressible horror. It was the first time that death +had come before her eyes, and it appeared to her in a guise that filled +her with grief and terror. Clinging to Francine, she began to tremble in +every limb. The noise of the earth and flint-stones, that were shovelled +into the grave, held her as one petrified. It was only when the four +grave-diggers had left the ravine and disappeared in the pathway, that +her agony found vent. Francine raised her head and asked what had +happened; but receiving no reply, threw herself into Josephe's arms, and +began in turn to sob. + +The distress of her little sister seemed to counteract that of Josephe, +who forced herself to stifle her own anguish, and began embracing and +consoling Francine. + +--"Don't cry" stammered she, choking in spite of herself; "you mustn't +be afraid, ... you mustn't cry...." + +--"What is the matter with you, Josey; what is it?" inquired the little +one again, holding her sister's head between her own two hands, and +kissing her moistened cheeks. + +--"It's ... nothing, ..." returned Josephe, her accent belying her +words, ... "I was taken by surprise...." + +--"Have the men gone?" asked Francine, looking with frightened glance +towards the grave. + +--"You see they have," answered Josephe shuddering. + +--"What did they come here to do? They were carrying something. It was a +dead body, wasn't it?" + +Her sister put her hand upon her lips. + +--"Don't talk of that, Zine!" murmured she, her sobs again overpowering +her. + +--"You saw it?" asked the child, frightened, yet curious. + +--"Yes, O God!" faltered forth her sister in reply; "... and ... I knew +it again ... it was Monsieur Gabriel!" + +--"Your good friend, Josey?" cried Francine; "are you sure? And he's +there ... there, under the ground? ... Oh! let's go, let's go; I'm +afraid ... I'm afraid!" + +And again she threw herself into her sister's arms, who exerted herself +to the utmost to re-assure her, and at the same time to control her own +tears. + +--"There, stop, Zine!" said she, with broken voice; "... we must be calm +... we must dry up our eyes ... or mother will be uneasy." Then raising +herself suddenly, "Hark," she added, "I fancied I heard some one calling +us; quick, quick, let's go up!" + +With these words the two little maidens rose from the ground; quitting +the ravine, they hastily regained the platform, trembling and out of +breath when they reached it. + +Genevieve was waiting there for them; but it was already dark, and this +prevented her noticing their trouble. She took them by the hand, to lead +them in, and made them repeat their joint prayers; both went to bed, +without speaking of the adventure at the ravine. + + + III + + +Josephe slept badly; and the next morning, when she got up, was pale and +drooping. Genevieve, who did not fail to notice it, questioned her with +nervous solicitude; but the child answered that nothing was the matter. +Only, at every inquiry, her eyes filled with tears, and her voice +trembled. Thus languidly for her did the day wear away. In the evening +she was still more depressed, but still not suffering pain. She passed a +restless night; and on the following morning Ropars went for the Surgeon +of the lazaretto. He examined the child, and put several questions that +darkened the brow of Mathieu. Genevieve, whose looks went direct from +the Surgeon to her husband, perceived this; and she felt a blow stricken +upon her heart. At the moment when the two crossed the thresh-hold, she +followed, shut the door abruptly, and stopped them. + +--"It is the ... disease, ... is it not?" she asked in anguish. She had +not dared to name the yellow fever; the Surgeon seemed to hesitate in +his reply. + +--"Ah! I'm certain of it," she exclaimed, confirmed by this very +hesitation; "so, our precautions have all been useless! The blow has +come, and all is over!" + +She could not avoid sinking down upon the stone bench, placed beside the +door; and she covered her face with her apron. The Surgeon taxed himself +to console her with vague assurances; but it was evident that he himself +had no longer confidence in his efforts. Overcome by the implacable +power of the contagion, he persevered in struggling against it, without +hope and from a sense of duty, as soldiers, for the honour of their +flag, defend silently a post that has been abandoned. So, perceiving +that his words, far from soothing the grief of Genevieve, did but +redouble it, he turned towards the keeper, and, having briefly repeated +to him some directions already given for the child, he went his way. + +Ropars remained some moments on one spot, with his arms crossed and his +head upon his breast; but a still deeper groan from Genevieve caused him +to raise his eyes. He took her hand. + +--"It isn't time for despair yet," said he, with gentle firmness; "when +God shall have decided against us, your whole life-time will be left for +grief. At present, let us devote ourselves to our duty, and follow +strictly the injunctions of the doctor." + +--"And he has told us nothing at all!" said the mother, who at heart +felt half-incensed against the Surgeon, for not having more vigorously +combatted her fears; "he has not given us any hope!" + +--"God is the master," replied Mathieu, in all simplicity, "and so long +as he has not declared his pleasure, we may believe that all will work +well; but if the darling creature must be taken from our hands, let us +at least to the last moment show him, how keen is our desire to keep +her." + +Hereupon the feverish voice of the child reached their ears. + +--"Hark, she's calling me!" cried Genevieve, rising in urgent haste to +go in. Ropars stopped her. + +--"Dry your eyes first," said he, passing his own hand with fond +compassion over the poor mother's moistened eyelids; "Josephe mustn't +think that you are anxious. Don't you know that her life may depend on +this?" + +--"Yes, yes," she answered, "fear not, Mathieu, I will not cry any +more;" and she forcibly restrained the tears that were filling her eyes +afresh... "Look, no one would notice it now... And the doctors, besides, +may be mistaken, mayn't they?... And after all, God will have pity on +us." + +--"We must hope so," replied the keeper, much moved; "but if it is his +part to have pity, it is ours to show resignation. Bear up, then, good +heart; go to the child with a smile; it will do her good; and first of +all ... kiss me ... that we may keep up each other's resolution." + +Josephe's mother threw her arms around her husband's neck, and gave way +to a new flood of tears. But she checked them at the sound of the sick +one's voice calling her for the second time, and, by a supreme effort +thrusting down her despair into the very depths of her heart, she rushed +into the house with calm brow and a smile upon her lips. + +Josephe, nevertheless, grew rapidly worse. In the evening the fever was +doubly hot upon her. One after another, she spoke of sister Francine, of +Michael, of the cherry-tree in blossom, and of her good friend Monsieur +Gabriel. At one moment she fancied that she heard the last-named; she +called him; she wished to know if he had brought her the promised +presents. At another time, the scene in the ravine appeared to be +vividly in her recollection; she cried out that Monsieur Gabriel was +dead; and she heard the earth grating over him in the pit. The Surgeon +came to see her repeatedly, and multiplied his prescriptions, without +power to arrest the onward march of the disease. That night was an awful +one for the hapless mother; she kept her child clasped in her arms, the +little one's mind wandering more and more. At sunrise the turbulent +delirium was over, to give place to the torpor that precedes death. At +length, towards the middle of the day, Josephe opened her eyes, and +uttered one sigh--it was the last. + +The blow had been so decidedly expected, that the despair of Ropars and +of Genevieve could scarcely be violent. The bitterness of their loss +had, so to say, preceded it; both had tasted it, drop by drop, during +the protracted agony. And yet the mother's calmness had in it a +something haggard, that would have startled a looker-on less troubled +than Mathieu himself. Bent upon rendering the last offices to her +daughter, she was long occupied in combing out her beautiful black hair; +she dressed the body in her best clothes, and laid it out with the hands +crossed over the breast, as Josephe had been used to carry them when +asleep. All this was done slowly, tranquilly, with a sort of complacency +even, and often intermingled with kisses. It was but at intervals that a +tear trickled over her cheeks, that were marbled with glowing spots; it +was but a slight trembling that shook the hand, as it performed its +sorrowful duty. At length, when she who had brought this child into the +world, and who had nourished it with her milk and with her affection, +had herself sewed it up in its shroud, she went to the window, broke the +stalk of a gilly-flower--the only one that the sea-winds had +spared--pulled off its leaves, and scattered them over the winding +sheet. + +In the meantime, night had fallen. Deposited at the head of the darkened +alcove, the dead form might indistinctly be traced through its covering +of linen, as though it were sketched in marble. Higher up hung a Christ, +in ivory, the head bent forward, and the arms extended. Genevieve knelt +down near the bed, and remained there for a long time, with her head +leaning upon her joined hands. Half-aloud she murmured a prayer; but +whilst her lips repeated faithfully every word, their meaning was not +taken in by her mind. When she had finished it, she raised herself up +mechanically, and looked about her; her brain was a gloomy chaos. +Putting up both hands to her forehead, she pressed it, with a stifled +cry, as though she sought to stay that whirlwind of confused and +lacerating thoughts. There was, for some few moments, a struggle between +her will and her despair; finally the former gained the ascendant; she +stepped towards the door and opened it. + +Her husband had taken refuge on the platform with Francine, to remove +her from the harrowing sight of placing the body in its shroud. +Genevieve could see him standing near the parapet; the little girl was +at his feet, with her head resting on his knees. Since the death of her +sister, she had not spoken a word. Fixed in one place, with eyes dilated +and lips compressed, she seemed to be endeavouring to comprehend what +had occurred. Her two small hands hung down inactive, and her naked feet +appeared to be glued to the ground. Seeing her thus, under the early +rays of the moon that were playing in her light-coloured tresses, +Genevieve was, as it were, brought back to herself. A flash passed +across the blankness of her expression; her nostrils dilated; a flood of +tears gushed from her eyes. Springing towards the child, she seized it +in her arms with a sort of doleful passionateness, to which Francine at +once and amply responded, by an outburst of sobs and caresses. For a +long time there was nothing but an interchange of broken appeals and +unfinished phrases. The little girl would go on asking for her sister, +while the mother, whose despair was revived by such demands, compelled +herself to smother them beneath her kisses. At last, her strength +exhausted, she let her arms, that upheld Francine, drop down, and felt +that she was gently withdrawn from her. It was Mathieu, who placed the +child upon the ground. He then led the mother a little further apart, +and obliged her to sit down upon the stone-bench, leaning her back +against the parapet. She tried to raise herself up, as she stretched out +her hands. + +--"My child!" she stammered through her sobbings; "I want my child!" + +--"In good time thou shalt see her," said Ropars, who according to the +custom of the Bretagne peasantry only _thee'd_ and _thou'd_ Genevieve, +when under the influence of strong emotion; "but first thou must listen +with all attention, for what I have to tell thee is of the deepest +consequence." + +--"Ah! I would, I would!" was her reply, putting both hands up to her +head; "but don't be hurt, Mathieu, if it be impossible. I hear yonder, +look you, something that hushes up all the rest; it is her death-rattle, +my good man!... And ... do you know?... I like the anguish that it +causes me, to hear it; I can fancy that there still is breath in her. +Oh! Jesus! who would have told me, that I should yearn after the dying +breath of my child?" Ropars laid a hand upon the head of the miserable +woman, whose sobbings had recommenced. + +--"Be soothed at heart," he said to her with touching firmness; "the +good God wills that we should submit, and not thus give way. The dead +one is now in her Paradise, where she has no more need of us; but she +leaves behind her a sister, whose life is in our charge." + +--"How do you mean?" asked Genevieve, raising towards him her eyes, in +which alarm had arrested the tears. + +--"Don't you understand?" returned the keeper, lowering his voice; "the +breath of the disease is like the sea-wind; it spares no one; and it may +send, at any instant, the living to rejoin the dead." + +--"Heavenly Saviour! is this a warning?" demanded Genevieve, clasping +her hands. "Must this child too, be struck down?... Have you remarked +any thing?... Ah! tell the truth, Mathieu, tell it at once; I would +rather be killed at one blow." + +--"So far, the child suffers from nothing but her distress," rejoined +Ropars; "but if she remains in this deadly air, who can guarantee us +that she will escape?" + +--"Evil upon us!" cried Genevieve, raising her joined hands over her +head; "why did you remind me of it, Mathieu? I did not wish to think of +it; and now I shall see her dying, every hour. God forgive you for thus +turning the blade that is within my heart!" + +--"If I touch it, it is but to withdraw it," was the quarter-master's +answer. "It won't do now to shut one's eyes and let the squall overtake +us; we must work ship with all our might for the little one's safety.... +If she remains on the island, you have too many chances of sewing up her +winding-sheet, Genevieve; she must leave it forthwith." + +--"But how?" + +Ropars threw his eyes around him, to satisfy himself that he was not +overheard. + +--"There is a way," he replied cautiously. + +--"The powder-magazine skiff?" + +--"No!" + +--"The gun-boat?" + +--"She's there, you know, to keep guard over the island." + +--"But who then can help us?" + +--"The tide." + +Genevieve looked at her husband, but without understanding what he +meant. + +--"It is now high-water," continued Mathieu; "in less than an hour the +sea will have gone down enough to leave only four feet of water upon the +line of reefs that runs from Treberon to the Ile des Morts. With +courage, and by the help of God, the passage may be tried. I am going to +carry the child over to Dorot." + +And as the mother could not restrain a cry of terror;--"Speak lower, +unhappy one!" he added vehemently; "are you desirous of betraying me? +Except the Superintendent of the powder-magazine and myself, no one +knows the way. We have often passed along it when we were fishing +together, and always passed it safely." + +--"But not at night," interrupted Genevieve; "not burdened with a +child." + +--"The child weighs scarcely anything, and the moon is full," replied +Ropars somewhat impatiently. "Besides, I have been thinking of it all +the evening; and there is no other means. My mind is made up, and I +shall do what must be done, happen what may. Your remarks may lessen my +confidence, but cannot hold me back. Try rather, then, to brace up my +nerves, as is the duty of a brave wife, and to prepare the child to go. +When the outer point of the high rock is bare, it will be time for me to +make the attempt, and for you to pray God that he may open us a way of +safety in the sea." + +The quarter-master's tone was so determined, that Genevieve saw at once +the uselessness of resistance. With little will of his own in the +ordinary transactions of life, Mathieu rarely formed a resolution; but, +once decided on, he maintained it immovably. Moreover, when the first +shock was passed, his explanations and assurances somewhat tranquillized +Francine's mother, and indeed half convinced her. There remained the +child, whose opposition or fright was apprehended by Ropars. Genevieve +went and raised her up from the ground, and the father and the mother +seated her upon their knees, which they purposely placed close +together. + +--"You want to see the cherry-tree in blossom, don't you?" said the +former, embracing her. + +--"Not any more, now," was the low-toned reply. + +--"Nay, nay, it is just the time," added the poor mother with an effort; +"over there, you will be more at liberty ... happier ... you'll have +Michael for a play-fellow." + +--"No," said the child with changing voice, "I would rather stay with +Josephe." + +Genevieve clasped her hands and closed her eyes; speech failed her. It +was Ropars' turn. Drawing Francine close up to his breast, and +whispering in her ear, + +--"Listen," said he; "we are in trouble. You would not wish to make it +worse, would you? You love us too well for that." + +In place of answer, the child threw both her arms about her father's +neck, and pressed her little rosy cheek against the wrinkled cheek of +the mariner. + +--"Yes, yes, I was certain of it," continued Mathieu; "and you will do +whatever we ask you?" + +Francine made an affirmative sign. + +--"Well, then," Ropars went on, "you must go and pass a few days with +Uncle Dorot; and as we have no boat, I am going to carry you over the +passage. Won't you be quiet in the middle of the sea, when you have +papa's shoulders for a skiff?" + +The child shuddered.--"I would rather stay," said she, in hurried +accents. + +--"But that's impossible," rejoined the father; "I want to carry you to +the powder-magazine. It must be so, and we are to set out directly. But +if you are not brave, if you think of calling out, the way will be +harder, and perhaps something serious may happen to me. Do you +understand?" + +--"Yes ... yes ... I won't go," replied the little girl, beginning to +tremble. + +Genevieve drew her once more into her arms. "Hush, hush!" said she, +laying her lips upon Francine's hair, and rocking her upon her breast, +"children ought to obey.... God has ordained it ... do what you are +bidden ... for your papa, ... for me ... for Josephe.... If she could +speak she would tell you to be good and obedient.... Would you make her +sorrowful in Heaven?" + +--"Oh! no," cried the child, throwing herself again into Mathieu's arms. + +--"Then you will come?" asked he. + +--"Yes," murmured the little girl. + +--"And you won't be afraid; you won't say a word?" + +--"No." + +--"Let's be going then!" exclaimed the keeper, who had got up and was +looking over the parapet. "The high rock is out of water; we mustn't +wait any longer." + +He took Francine in his arms and went rapidly down one of the foot-paths +leading to the shore of the islet. Genevieve followed, in inexpressible +anguish. All three reached a rocky point that stretched far out into +the waters. It was the extremity of the line of reefs that connected the +powder-magazine with Treberon. Ropars placed the child on the ground, in +order to take note of his direction. The passage, under the rays of the +moon, was tinged with pale green, varied by small lines of white that +were made by the light fringe of foam upon the waves. So gentle were +their undulations, that one might have fancied a field of green wheat +chequered with white camomile flowers. Beyond, the Ile des Morts in all +its breadth was illumined by the moonlight, with its yellowish +buildings, its long slated roofs, and its lightning-rods, standing out +against the sky. So calm was the night that the sentry's step was heard, +as he paced up and down before the watch-box of granite, built at the +corner of the esplanade. At the forked head of the two islands, and +partially in shadow, lay the silent gun-boat, balancing at anchor. + +Ropars examined every thing with scrupulous attention. He pointed out to +Genevieve the direction of the submarine causeway, indicated by a faint +shadow on the surface of the water, as he threw aside his waistcoat and +hat; then taking both of his wife's hands, who looked at him with +haggard eyes,--"the time is come, Genevieve," said he; "kiss me, and +pray the good God to be with us." + +The poor woman responded at first to his embrace, without power to utter +a word; but when she felt that he had disengaged himself and was +returning towards the child, a cry escaped her; she was not mistress of +herself. She forgot all that Mathieu had said to her, all that she +herself had promised, and encircled him with her arms in all the +desperation of terror. + +--"You shall not go," she stammered out, "you shall not go!... It is +rushing on to death ... in the name of your marriage-vow, remain to be +my succour, my companion!... Would you then leave me here alone with +Josephe?... Look, how broad the sea is, and how deep! You and Francine, +you will be lost in it!... Ah! if it be God's will, let us all die here; +but at least let us die together! Mathieu, I will not have you quit me; +you shall not carry off my child; you shall not go!" + +Ropars endeavoured to calm her, and struggled to release himself from +her hold; but she clung to him, and refused to hear a word. And as he +recalled to her that she had, a minute before, induced Francine's +consent, + +--"I was wrong," she wildly interrupted him; "I will no longer have it +so. If you leave me, I will follow; and you will be responsible before +God for what may happen. Mathieu, do not tempt me! Mathieu, have pity on +me!... What have I done to you, that you should thus go voluntarily to +destruction? Do you no longer care for life with me?... Ah! if I have +failed in my duty, be not angry with me, dear soul! If my too great +anguish has offended you, forgive me! I will not cry any more; I will be +every thing that you desire. Hold; look on me rather; forgive me; but +say that you will stay." + +She had sunk down upon her knees, and held Ropars' hands pressed firmly +against her lips. He exerted himself to raise her up. + +--"Enough, Genevieve," said he, in a tone wherein commiseration disputed +with impatience; "I thought that you were braver.... This is not what +you promised me. Think, think, unhappy woman, that the time is passing +away!" + +Genevieve groaned, and recommenced the same entreaties. He cast an +anxious look towards the sea, and saw that the farthest jags of the high +rock were dry. Longer delay would increase the danger, and might render +the passage impossible. Mathieu seized Genevieve sharply by the elbows, +and raised her upon her feet, with her face opposite his own. + +--"On your salvation, listen!" said he, in accent so decided that she +trembled at it; "this is the first time that I have reminded you that I +am your master, and, if you be not wiser, it will perhaps be the last; +but by the God who saved us, you shall obey, and that without further +discussion! The child's life is to be preserved; nothing can stay me +now. Remain there, I solemnly command you, and make not one step, nor +utter one single cry, or, so surely as I am my mother's son, I will +never forgive you, even until the day of Judgment!" + +At these words, he seated Genevieve, petrified by the shock, ran to his +little daughter, whom he took upon his shoulders, and dashed with her +into the waves. + +When Genevieve turned round, at the noise made by his plunge into the +water, Ropars was on the causeway of the submerged reefs, and the waves +were rolling against his breast. She tried to get up; but her strength +failed her, and she could but utter a feeble cry. Mathieu heard it and +looked back. He could see through the moonlight the indistinct form of +Genevieve who, half-lying down upon the rock, was wringing her joined +hands as though towards him. He found his heart, which he had steeled by +an effort of will, sinking within him in pity for her. Taking note of +the waters, green and deep, whose abysses were opening around him, +hearing over his head the breathings of the child who panted with +terror, and thinking that the hapless creature from whom they had just +parted violently might perchance never see them more, there came across +him a feeling of commiseration so tender, that tears almost filled his +eyes; he paused, in spite of himself, in the midst of the murmuring +waves, turned his head backwards towards the shore, and called to her in +a voice, restrained but full of gentleness--"Don't cry Genevieve; and +God bless you! all will go well." + +Then, without waiting for an answer, which he feared might unman him, he +went on his way, his eyes fixed upon the line along the water that +marked the direction of the reef. Soon, however, he ceased to +distinguish that particular appearance of the waves which rendered it +easy to trace this line from the shore. Immersed in the sea, he no +longer saw anything beyond him, but a surface uniform and agitated, +without any distinctive movement or colour. He was therefore compelled +to shape his course direct for the rock on the Ile des Morts whereon the +causeway abutted, and which with its pointed ridges was visible, +far-away in the obscurity. + +Armed with a broken boat-hook, Mathieu sounded at each step that he +took; but notwithstanding all his care, the difficulty of his course +increased at every moment. The unevenness of the rocks exposed him to +incessant stumbling. Lifted off his feet by the waves, half-stunned by +the deep rumbling noise that was around him, groping along a path +irregular and strange to him and bounded on either side by an abyss, he +advanced with the greatest deliberation, his strong will controlling his +impatience, and his whole soul rivetted upon his every movement. His +fixed gaze sought to pierce the liquid veil of the waters; his hands +glued to the boat-hook seemed to long to solder it to the reef; his +feet, in an agony of search, seemed to force themselves to guess at +their path, before they would select it. Thus he reached the middle of +the passage, where he came into the neighbourhood of the gun-boat. All +there was silent; nothing stirred. The cries of "Watch, Watch!" uttered +at intervals by the look-out at each cat-head, had for some time ceased +to be heard; their two shadows even were not perceptible, for they had +long been immovable at their post. Certain that their look-out was +altogether needless, the sailors on watch were without doubt asleep. + +Mathieu, who was afraid that they might awake, was anxious to avoid this +danger by hurrying on; but at the very moment when he came within the +shadow thrown, abaft the gun-boat, over the glittering waters, his +footing of rock failed him by suddenly shelving downwards. Francine felt +him sinking, as a vessel that founders, and the waves washed up over her +hair. She could not restrain a piercing shriek. + +Her father, in extreme alarm, lowered her down against his breast, and +pressed one hand upon her lips. But it was too late; the cry had +undoubtedly been overheard, for a shadow immediately rose up, forward, +and the noise of footsteps echoed along the deck. Ropars had but time to +throw himself under the taffrail of the stationary vessel, and to grasp +a boom, whereto he remained suspended. + +One of the sailors on watch came aft, and was immediately joined by his +comrade. + +--"The devil take me, if I didn't hear a cry," said the former. + +--"Pardieu! it half-woke me up," added the second. + +--"But I've looked about, and it's no use; I don't see any thing." + +--"Nor I." + +The couple were leaning over the sea, which kept up its gentle +murmurings, and on which only light undulations were visible, fringed +with half-phosphorescent foam. The second man of the watch seemed all at +once to be seized with inquietude, that caused his voice to tremble. + +--"I say, Morvan," he cautiously began, "those Roscanvel and Lanvoc +barks haven't passed by, without leaving some christian soul under water +here--don't you think so?" + +--"Why so?" asked Morvan. + +--"Why so?" returned the sailor, who seemed half-afraid and +half-ashamed; "why, parbleu! ... you know what they say ... I didn't +invent it ... there are some people who tell you that shipwrecked men, +dying in mortal sin, leave their souls upon the waves that drowned them: +and that every year, on the day and at the exact time of the accident, +they utter a cry of anguish, just by way of asking prayers for +themselves." + +--"And you believe that, you, Lascar?" said Morvan with a laugh more +blustering than assured. + +--"It isn't I," rejoined the sailor, "it's our mess-mates.... But, none +the less, the voice wasn't like any body else's; it was sharp and thin, +as one might say that of a child." + +--"Get out, nonsense!" interrupted the first seaman, evidently +disquieted by his comrade's explanation; "you see there's nothing more +to be heard, and there is nothing afloat but the moonlight, and the +night-chill that will make us sneeze. It's well that we both kept our +allowance of wine. Come on, let's go and drink it; that'll put your +morality into trim again." + +The two sailors went off. After waiting a moment, Mathieu replaced the +child on his shoulders, enjoined strict silence, at the same time +cheering her up, and let go the boom for the purpose of regaining the +causeway; but he had lost the direction, and his feet encountered only +empty space. Forced to swim with his precious burden, he hoped that a +few fathoms' distance would bring him back to his pathway on the reefs; +he had already gone beyond it. Fresh attempts were not more successful; +and twenty times did he renew his search, finding only, at each, deep +water. + +Frightened and panting for breath, he swam about without aim, +endeavouring to touch ground, and no longer able to distinguish the Ile +des Morts from Treberon. After having long shifted his course, struggled +against the tide in which every moment he plunged still deeper, been a +thousand times brought back from despair to hope, and run the full +length of his endurance and his courage, he felt at last that he was +overcome. His respiration grew painful, his eyes were covered with a +film; all things were to him but as a revolving chaos; his mind +wandered. A moment more, and he and Francine had disappeared beneath the +waters. The gun-boat, which he had wished to avoid, but which he could +no longer perceive, was his sole means of safety. He summoned all his +remaining strength to utter a cry for help; a surge, more powerful, +stifled it on his lips. Half-fainting and having nothing left him but +that instinctive self-defence which survives the will, he struggled +still an instant, buffeted from wave to wave; then felt that he was +going down. But all at once, he was arrested; his feet had fallen on to +the reef; they were fastened on it, and steadied themselves thereon; +his body straightened up; the water that blinded him seemed to lower +itself. He took breath and looked before him, and could see at the +distance of a hundred steps the cleft rock of the Ile des Morts. A few +minutes sufficed for reaching it. Touching the shore he fell down upon +it, and called Francine with expiring voice. The child, terrified, could +only reply by throwing herself upon his breast, where he held her for +some time in his embrace. His first thought had been for her; his second +carried him back to Genevieve who was expecting his return, to know that +they were safe. Still tottering, he raised himself up, took his little +daughter by the hand, and set himself to climbing the steep slope that +led to the terrace. + +It was necessary to make the tour of the powder magazine, to avoid the +sentinel placed at the angle which commanded the main roadside; and +also, on reaching the magazine keeper's door, to knock gently, for fear +of being heard from without. Dorot fortunately had the light sleep of +old soldiers; he awoke at the first knocking, and appeared at the +window. + +--"Open the door!" said Mathieu to him in a low voice. + +--"Ropars!" cried the sergeant, thunderstruck. + +--"Lower! and be quick!" returned the seaman "our lives' safety is at +stake." + +Dorot went down rapidly, drew back the bolt, and made them enter the +house. Mathieu paused, when across the thresh-hold, with the child +pressed against his knees. + +--"Heaven protect us! whence come you, Ropars?" inquired the sergeant. + +--"You see," replied the sailor, "we have come out of the sea, and we +have crossed over it, to come hither." + +Dorot drew back, exclaiming, "Can it be? in God's name, what has +happened, that you should thus expose your life?" + +--"It has happened," rejoined Mathieu, "that Josephe died this morning +of the contagion! ... that"-- + +--"What's that you say?" + +--"'Tis just so, Dorot; and as Genevieve and I were anxious to save the +other one, I have brought her to you." + +--"And Heaven reward you for the thought!" said the sergeant; "the child +is dearly welcome." + +He had offered his hand to Mathieu; but the latter did not take it. + +--"Think well what it is I am asking you," said he; "perhaps the child +may be bringing here disease and desolation upon you!" + +"I hope there will be nothing of the kind," returned Dorot; "but God's +will be done!" + +--"Bear in mind also," continued the quarter-master, insisting, "that if +the thing gets wind, you run a risk of punishment for having violated +the quarantine." + +--"Then the will of man be done!" was the sergeant's simple observation. + +--"But still think." + +--"Of nothing further, Ropars," interrupted the sergeant; "there! enough +said--too much. No words about the matter; you have brought me the +little one; I accept her." + +He had stooped down to Francine, whom he then took up in his arms, and +with her remounted to the small chamber formerly occupied by Genevieve. +He, himself, stripped off from the child her dripping clothes, and put +her to sleep in an old cot of Michael's. + +The father, who had followed them, remained at the door with his arms +hanging down at his side, the very picture of gratitude deeply felt, but +unable to vent itself in words. Only, when Dorot turned round towards +him, he seized one of his hands and held it silently grasped. Dorot, who +desired to avoid a scene, began at once to talk of the means of +concealing the little girl's change of abode. It was sufficient that her +absence from Treberon would not be remarked; as for her being at the Ile +des Morts, it could not give rise to any suspicion, since the guard of +artillery that did duty at the magazine, and that might have been +surprised at this increase in the keeper's family, was to be changed on +the following day. Ropars arranged certain signals for transmitting +mutually the news between the neighbour islands. These were to be +renewed several times a day, and thus relieve them at least from the +anguish of uncertainty. At length, when all had been agreed upon, +Mathieu drew near the window and looked out. The breeze had freshened, +the sky appeared less starry, and a transparent vapour was beginning to +creep over the sea. + +--"It is time to start," said he, returning towards the sergeant; "may +God pay you for what you do, Dorot! As for Genevieve and myself, we +shall remain your debtors to all eternity." + +--"We'll talk of that, by and by," replied the keeper; "just now, the +main thing, and that which troubles me, is the passage over." + +--"Don't be uneasy about that," answered Ropars; "now that the child is +in safety, I shall cross the channel just as easily as one goes to +church. The limbs are firm when the heart doesn't tremble. But I wish I +were already on the other side; I've stayed here too long for Genevieve, +who is looking for me." + +--"Away, then! if it must be," cried the sergeant; "but for God's sake, +Ropars, be careful, and don't forget that you have two lives to save +with your own." + +--"I'll do all that a man can do," returned the quarter-master; "and +believe me, cousin, I've no desire to die this night!... But too much +talk; the time is slipping away; I mustn't wait for the change of tide." + +He went up to Francine's cot, to take leave of her; but the child, +wearied out by so many emotions, had dropped off to sleep. One of her +arms was doubled beneath her head, and lost in the loosened tresses of +her golden hair; the other, folded on her breast, pressed to it a little +relic formerly given to Genevieve who, in her superstitious motherly +devotedness, had deprived herself of it that it might be a safe-guard +for her child. Although her breathing was equal and easy, still was it +broken at intervals by a long drawn sigh; whilst her cheeks, that in her +sleep were beginning to re-assume their rosy tint, still showed some +traces of tears. Mathieu looked at her for some moments in touching +silence; then bending himself slowly down, imprinted a light kiss upon +Francine's tiny hand, then one upon her hair, then one upon her cheek. +Without opening her eyes, the child made a gesture of annoyance; he +stood up. + +--"Yes, yes, there, sleep, poor creature of a merciful God!" he +half-muttered; "I will not wake you." + +Once more he seemed to enwrap her in a look overflowing with tenderness; +then returned to Dorot, and took his hand. + +--"I bequeath her to you, cousin," said he, moved in the extreme; "no +one knows what may happen. Only ... I can trust in your kindly heart, +and if ever the child should become an orphan...." + +--"Now God preserve her from it!" the sergeant took him up; "but if such +misfortune should occur to her, Mathieu, you know well that she would +become Michael's sister." + +--"Thanks!" abruptly broke in the seaman; "that's exactly what I was +longing to hear.... And now I set out calmly. I am prepared for every +thing." + +--"But you shan't set out thus, shivering and pulled down," objected the +sergeant; "you must take something to cheer up your spirits." + +--"Nothing," said Ropars, eagerly; "you have given me all that can give +me strength, in giving me the assurance that the child will not remain +unaided. Providence will do the rest. Your hand! and good-bye till we +meet--here, or elsewhere!" + +They heartily embraced; then Mathieu went down to the shore, and +committed himself again to the waters. Although the tide had begun to +rise, the passage was effected without overmuch danger. He reached, +unharmed, the high rock of Treberon which the floodtide had already +encroached upon, and he ran to the place where he had left Genevieve. +She was there no longer. + +Astonished that she should not have awaited his return, he rapidly +mounted the foot-path, reached his door, and called aloud. There was no +reply. The darkness did not allow him to distinguish any thing. He +groped his way to the hearth, and threw around him the trembling light +of a lamp hurriedly lighted. Attracted to the alcove, his glance soon +made out, beside the white form of the dead sewed up in its shroud, the +outline of another and a larger form, extended without moving. Mathieu +approached in agony. It was Genevieve in a swoon. + + + IV. + + +Thanks to the Surgeon's skill, Ropars' wife at length regained her +senses; but it was to fall into convulsive spasms, followed by the +annihilation of all her faculties. The whole day passed without her +shaking off the torpor that belonged at once to sleep and to death. One +might have said that so many shocks had snapped asunder her existence, +and that the quiverings of life, still flitting across her state of +languor, were but the movements of a machine on the point of stopping. +However, towards evening, the fever declared itself. The patient passed +insensibly from lethargy to delirious agitation; she did but recognize +Mathieu at intervals; and falling back, with her senses, upon her +sorrows, she soon fell again into wandering. + +None of these symptoms seemed to belong to the malady that ravaged the +lazaretto; and the Surgeon, disconcerted, let Mathieu divine his +inability to make it out. Accustomed to the coarse medicines required by +the robust patients of our ships, he was perforce a stranger, as are all +like him, to the ailments of more delicate natures. Thus did he stand +baffled before this woman, dying of a disorder such as he vainly sought +to trace in his experiences. He could not conceal his doubts, and his +need of more enlightened advice. Science, to which these mysterious and +redoubtable symptoms were familiarized, might find there an index, where +he perceived only confusion, and point out a remedy, which he dared but +essay at hap-hazard. + +This avowal, wrung from his loyal truth, was for Mathieu a new source of +torture. Shut up within prescribed limits which forbid strangers to +approach Treberon, he could not invoke that experience to which +Genevieve might perchance owe her safety. In vain did he see, at his +feet, boats for transporting him across the sea, and on the horizon a +town whence aid might be brought to him; an obstacle invincible and +insurmountable linked him to his source of trouble. + +Two whole days passed away for him, as one long agony, in alternations +of mute dejection and of furious despair. After sitting for several +hours at the bedside of the dying woman, when he saw the fever that had +been lulled for an instant now returning with increased force, he ran +down to the edge of the reefs, gazed upon the waters in the midst of +which he found himself imprisoned, upon the armed vessel that guarded +the passage, upon the ravines of the island dotted with graves recently +dug, and pressing his closed fists against his forehead he cursed the +day on which he had accepted this voluntary imprisonment. Angrily did he +call God to account for the blows with which he was stricken; then, +restored to his religious faith, he joined his hands, and with tears +besought the Almighty to spare Genevieve. + +Towards the morning of the third day, he had cause for believing that +his prayers had been heard. The fever abated, and the patient recovered +all her clearness of mind. But this change did not induce her to share +the delight or the hopes of Mathieu. + +--"Never believe that this is a cure, dear soul," said she in tones +scarcely audible, and alternating every phrase with periods of silence; +"the disease is going ... but it carries all with it.... That evening, +when you went across the channel ... when I heard the child's cry from +out of the sea itself ... I thought it was all over with you both ... +and then ... I can't say what took place ... but it seemed to me ... +that within me ... the main string of life was snapped.... So I feel +now, that it's all over." + +Ropars combatted these fears, repeating that the Surgeon was encouraged, +and that all would go well. Genevieve, whose eyes were closed, raised +the lids with difficulty and threw a glance upon him that was full of +melancholy sweetness. + +--"God is the master, Mathieu," said she; "he knows whether I am happy +in living with you.... Only, ... believe me, poor husband, and don't +rejoice too much ... it were wiser to expect the worst." + +--"It were wiser," interrupted the quarter-master, "to take rest, and +have confidence. I, too, trust in what I feel. This very night, I had a +weight of lead upon my heart; it is light now; I can breathe in one +single breath. In God's name, let your health be restored to you, and be +anxious for a continuance of life, if it were but for my sake." + +Genevieve made an effort to lay her cold and moistened hand upon that of +Ropars. + +--"You are good, Mathieu," said she, letting fall two little tears, the +last that emotion could drain from eyes already exhausted with weeping. +"Ah me! my chief regret now is at not having always thought of this ... +at not having shown myself sufficiently grateful.... Heavens! how much +worthier we should be of those we love, if we did but remember that some +day we must leave them.... Since my mind has returned, this idea has +haunted me; I now perceive all my faults; ... I feel remorse for +them.... Oh! tell me in mercy, Mathieu, do you forgive me now ... for +never having been what I ought to have been?" + +--"Talk not so, Genevieve," said the seaman quickly, and with deep +feeling; "you know well that I could not have asked from God a better +wife. Since you have been mine, I have wanted for nothing; it is I who +should be grateful to you." + +--"No, no," replied the sick woman with increasing animation; "many a +time have I lacked courage and patience.... Not with you alone ... but +with Francine ... with Josephe! ... poor child of my heart, who had so +few years to live!... And to think, Mathieu, that I have often made her +cry! ... her, who is now beneath the ground!... Ah! it is the tears of +the dead that weigh heavily here.... And other persons, whom I may have +injured ... and God against whom I have sinned!... Cannot I then hope +for mercy?" + +Then, as if this idea had awakened in her a sort of terror: + +--"Ah! it is impossible!" added she, sitting up; "Mathieu, Mathieu, I +must see a confessor!" + +--"But how to get him here?" said the quarter-master sorrowfully; "have +you forgotten that the island is in quarantine?" + +--"What! not to be able to save even one's soul?" returned Genevieve, +clasping her hands. "Alas! am I then doomed to die without +reconciliation? My God! what is to be done? The most miserable sinner is +allowed to confess his sins, and to ask absolution for them; my God! +must I alone remain without help?" + +She stopped abruptly, putting up both hands to her forehead. + +--"Ah! I remember now," she resumed; "have you not told me that on board +your ships, when at the moment of death no priest was to be had, any +Christian might take his place? ... that God looked to the intention?" + +--"I have said so," replied Ropars, "and all the seamen hereabouts will +tell you the same thing, upon the assurance of their pastors." + +--"Then," replied the dying woman, turning towards the seaman her eye +lustrous with the fever, "I desire to confess myself to you!" + +She raised herself upon her elbow, and crossed herself. Mathieu seemed +overwhelmed, but could make no objection to her will. As we have +remarked, he belonged to that race almost extinct, even in Brittany, in +whom still existed the earnest and the simple faith of other days. +Often, on occasion of shipwreck, men such as he might have been seen, +after exhausting all means of saving themselves, to kneel down in the +expectation of death, and confess themselves one to another, as did the +ancient cavaliers on the eve of combat. Therefore was he more troubled +than surprised at the request of Genevieve; and when he heard her murmur +the prayer that precedes confession, he took off his hat and made the +sign of the cross, ready to fulfill the holy office that necessity had +entrusted to him. + +And something mournful and touching was it. The early dawn of day light +doubtfully illumined the alcove; the dishevelled head of Genevieve was +bent towards the grizzled head of Mathieu; and one might have heard the +murmur of that supremest confidence carried on in lowered voice, often +interrupted by the failure of the dying woman's strength, or by the +seaman's entreaties that she would curtail it. But she persisted in +resuming it, with the determination peculiar to those severe consciences +which are never satisfied with their self-accusations. At length, when +she had concluded, Ropars detached the ivory crucifix from the head of +the bed; he approached it to the lips of Genevieve, and placing his hand +upon her brow with mournful solemnity, + +--"May God pardon thee as I do to the utmost of my power," said he; "and +if it be not his will that thou shouldst live for my happiness, may he +provide for thee a place in his Paradise!" + +Her face assumed an expression of ineffable serenity. + +--"Thanks," murmured she; "your absolution shall prevail before the +Trinity, Mathieu; now I feel at peace." + +A ray of sunlight creeping in through the window-curtain reached her +bed; she turned round. + +--"It is day," continued she; "I did not hope to see another.... God has +given me a respite!... He is willing that I should taste of the latest +joy that I looked for upon earth ... nor will you refuse it to me, +Mathieu?" + +--"Ask it, Genevieve," said the mariner; "what man can do, I will do." + +She took his hand and looked at him. + +--"You have told me, haven't you, that cousin could see and make out +your signals?" + +--"Yes, and it is true." + +--"Then by all the affection you bear me, Mathieu, I beseech you to +signalize him at once to bring Francine out upon his terrace; when she +is there, you will take me in your arms, you will carry me to the high +rock, and if God grant me grace, I shall reach it with still life enough +left to see my child once more, and to embrace her in spirit." + +--"It shall be done so as you desire, Genevieve," said the +quarter-master, who, impressed by the presentiments of the dying one, +had abandoned hope, and had not strength to refuse her anything. + +--"Quickly, then, very quickly!... for I feel that God is calling me." + +Ropars rushed out, as though he feared there would scarcely be time; but +he came in again almost in a moment, exclaiming that Francine was +already on the terrace of the magazine with Dorot. Stretching out her +hands to him, the dying woman uttered a feeble cry of joy. He wrapped +her up in his winter-cape, and carried her gently in his arms as far as +the parapet of their platform. + +--"Where is she?" inquired Genevieve, her eyes blinded by the light of +day, and trying in vain to look steadily; "I can't make out anything, +Mathieu! where is the child: show me the child!" + +--"Look down there at our feet," replied the seaman; "can you see the +high rock?" + +--"Yes." + +--"Can you follow the bubbling of the sea along the reef?" + +--"Yes, yes." + +--"And away, yonder, over the reefs, can you distinguish the stone-work +of the terrace?" + +--"Down there? ... no ... there's only a cloud! I can see nothing.... +Oh! if it be too late!... if she be there under my very eyes, and I can +no longer see her!... My God, my God, once more, only once, let me see +my child!" + +These words, or rather these mother's cries, had been so full of +sadness, that Ropars could not restrain his tears. He seated his sinking +wife upon the parapet, and himself kneeled down to support her. + +--"Courage, Genevieve!" he stammered out; "look well to this side ... +between the line of the sea and the sky." + +--"I am looking," said Genevieve, appearing in the effort to rally all +the life left in her ".... Raise my head, Mathieu ... screen me from the +sun...." + +She checked herself with a stifled exclamation. + +--"Ah! there she is! there she is!... She sees me ... she is lifting up +her arms.... Francine ... my daughter ... my child!" + +So impulsively did she lean forward, that but for Ropars, she would +have thrown herself upon the rocks that sloped down to the sea. A +flitting ray of life had lighted up her features; she sent kisses on her +fingers to the child, and talked to it as though it could hear her; she +raised her hands to Heaven, with rapid and broken ejaculations; she +smiled and wept at once. Finally, her strength failed to endure so great +emotion, and her head fell upon the quarter-master's shoulder. In alarm, +he took her again in his arms, to carry her back into the house; but she +made signs to him that she wished to remain out of-doors. He laid her +down upon the bench, whereon the family had been used to sit together in +the evening, in front of the sea, which was now lighted up by the rising +sun. After a swoon that lasted some time, she opened her eyes, and asked +for her daughter. Mathieu looked towards the powder magazine and said +that Dorot had taken her away. She bowed her head with sorrowing +resignation. + +--"He has done right," she went on, in feeble accents; ... "besides, I +feel ... that my sight grows thick.... I couldn't see her any more ... +and ... I still have something to say to you.... Come closer, Mathieu +... closer ... my voice is failing.... Give me your hand.... I want to +be sure that you hear me." + +Ropars knelt upon the sand, with one hand in that of his dying wife, and +the other placed behind her, to support her. + +--"You are going to stay alone," she continued. "Elsewhere, you could +perhaps endure it; but here, in the midst of the ocean, it is not the +life of a man, or of a Christian.... You are used to having some one +keep you company ... some one to love you.... When I am gone ... another +one must take my place." + +--"Never!" broke in Ropars. + +With her hand she silenced him. + +--"Hush!" said she gently; "you must needs think this, so long as I am +before your eyes ... but when I am laid in the grave, you will then feel +your want.... Believe not that I would reproach you, my poor husband.... +I do not wish to carry away your happiness with me in my winding +sheet.... No ... no ... wherever I may be, I shall need to know that you +are well cared for." + +--"Enough, Genevieve!" murmured the seaman, choking with emotion. + +--"Let me go on to the end," she resumed; "I have still one plea to +urge.... When you take off the crape from your arm, Mathieu ... promise +me to think of the dear creature who is our child ... the child of both +... and who will remain with you, to remind you of me ... choose a wife +who may fill my place towards her." + +--"What is it that you are asking me, and whom could I give her for a +mother, after yourself?" rejoined Ropars. + +--"Some one" ... Genevieve went on ... "who would not grudge me the +having been chosen first ... some honest heart that would take kindly to +an orphan ... who would talk to her of me ... who would teach her to +love God ... and to obey you!... If you promise me that this shall be +so, Mathieu ... if you promise it on your honour ... and on your +salvation, I shall fall asleep, at peace, and blessing you." + +Ropars made the promise, amidst sighs and groans; but this was the dying +woman's last effort. After having thanked him by an embrace, she let +herself sink into her husband's arms. It almost seemed as though the +power of her will had slackened the steps of Death, for the sake of this +final compact. Scarcely was it completed, when her sufferings +recommenced. Carried back to the alcove, she died there towards the +close of the day. Her last words were a prayer, in which her husband's +and her daughter's names were intermingled. + +On the ensuing day, the grave in which Josephe already reposed was +re-opened to receive Genevieve, for, during the past month, Death had +reaped so abundantly that the barren island lacked space for his doleful +harvest. Informed of what had happened, by means of the signals agreed +upon, the keeper of the powder-magazine brought Francine to the edge of +his rock, and the child, on her knees, uttered a prayer for her mother's +spirit, at the moment the funeral ceremony was ended, across the water. + +This death was the last. Like those expiatory victims who, in +sacrificing themselves, were wont to appease the anger of the Gods, +Genevieve seemed, in going down to the tomb, as though she closed its +doors behind her. A fortnight later, and the yellow flag slid down the +flag staff that over-topped the lazaretto, and those who had been +quarantined, now cured, went away in the frigate's long-boat. They only +left behind them, on the dreary island, a man whose hair had become +perfectly white, and a child in mourning clothes. + + + + + THRICE ONLY. + + I + + +Do not imagine that this is to be a love-story. Very few experiences +furnish material for such. Rarer still is the ability to use the +material, when it falls in one's way. At any rate, I make no pretension +thereto. + +But it sometimes happens during the earlier and more tumultuous period +of a man's life, that casual occurrences take place, which do not indeed +at the time immediately influence his actions or his fortunes, but which +in later days may be recalled with interest. Of this sort--if I mistake +not, or if I do not mar them in the telling--were my three meetings with +Mary Verner. I only met her thrice. + +The first time--many a year has sped away since; but it seems, if I shut +my mental eye to events and feelings with which the interval has been +crowded, and my bodily eye to the library table before me, as if the +little scene were being enacted here, now, to-day. + +Whence this power of summoning up the ghosts of long ago? Why should the +comparatively recent refuse to be stamped upon the memory, and the old +impressions refuse to fade? Let philosophers answer; I have no more +inclination to write an essay than to tell a love-tale. My purpose I +have already stated; though I omitted to mention that I write my own +veritable experience--with a change of names, a studied obscurity of +dates, and a very slight change otherwise. + +The precise year I do not remember, nor, consequently, my own exact age; +but I must have been about fourteen. George Verner, Mary's brother--poor +fellow! I saw his death registered, the other day, in that odious corner +of the _Times_--was my class-mate and play-mate at a school some few +miles from London. He was a good-looking and good-tempered fellow, if +not remarkable for his abilities. It chanced that I was--in the choice +language of the time and place--"a dab at Latin verses." I helped George +once in a while with his exercises; and once in a while with the +mince-pies, that his mother's a cook used to send him on the sly. The +first time that I saw her--Mary Verner I mean, not the cook--was on a +whole holiday; George, who lived in the neighbourhood, had invited me to +pass it with him. The old family coach came for us at ten o'clock, with +the fat old horses and the fat old family coachman, just for all the +world as you may often meet them in the story-books that are called +"exceedingly natural," and as you now-a-days rarely find them in real +life. Pony-phaetons, britzkas, coupes, "Croydon-baskets," and +nondescript vehicles that, being neither close carriages nor open, are +palmed off as both--these have superseded the full-bodied of my early +recollections. + +I fancy that I see her now.... You perceive that though I note the +modern change in the carriage department, I recognize none such in the +phraseology of our tongue. I fancy I see her now. You may, if you +please, alter the wording; but that's the plain English of it. + +As we drove up the sweep that led from the lodge to the front entrance +of a very beautiful suburban villa, I leaned out of the window, with the +curiosity natural to a boy of fourteen, on strange ground. + +Mary Verner--I knew, by the family likeness, that she was George's elder +sister, the moment my eye lighted on her--was trimming or watering her +geraniums, in one of the recesses on either side of the porch. + +"Here, Mary, here's Cuthbert _tertius_," said George, running up the +steps, and pushing me before him. + +"I know him; how d'ye do? I'm glad to see you," was the frank reception, +spoken in a clear, round-toned, springy voice, that seemed to drop +without effort out of a rose-lipped mouth well-filled with well-knit +teeth. And as she spoke smilingly, she opened a pair of large brown eyes +that I have since thought--for boys don't know much about the law of +colours--were designed to harmonize with what we call a clear brunette +complexion. Certainly, if the ballad of "The Nut Brown Mayde" be a model +imitation of the antique, Mary Verner might have sat for the portrait. + +But it was not so much her eyes that took hold of me, open though they +did by degrees, wider and wider, until I wondered when they would cease +opening; nor her coal-black hair, dressed as you may see it in the +likenesses by Sir Thomas Lawrence; nor her rosy mouth; nor her even +teeth; nor her figure full of grace, _svelte_ as the French call it, for +which we have no answering word. It was not these, or any of them. It +was the carolling of her few words, so free and unconcerned in tone. If +I had not met her subsequently, I might have forgotten her looks; I +doubt whether her voice could have passed from me. + +I need not tax my memory or my invention about the trifling though happy +events of that day. It was pretty evident who was mistress of the house, +though the fond and proud mother of Mary Verner had the air of a +dignified and well-bred woman. Silent or talking, it was Mary who +dispensed the honours, at least so far as the stranger was concerned. +Probably it was the same with all comers; but this is only a surmise. + +Well; the whole holiday came to an end, and we were driven back to the +old school by the old coachman, our pockets full of chestnuts, and our +boyish hearts full of a sense of supreme enjoyment, such we believe as, +in later life, women feel after the best ball of the season, and men +after a splendid whitebait dinner at Blackwall. I recollect telling the +fellows in the dormitory what a jolly time we had been having, and how +capitally George's pony leaped the fence on the common, round the +corner, out of sight of the house. By the way, it was partly owing to +that pony having engrossed so much of our time, that I had not regularly +fallen in love with Mary Verner. Partly, I say, because I was further +saved from this predicament by a standing devotion to my pretty cousin +Rose, which the temptation had been strong enough, but not long enough +to disturb. I never went to George's house again; and ere long the image +of his sister was stowed away on one of the upper shelves of my memory. +There it might have been smothered in dust, or even converted into it, +if chance had not taken it down and given it an airing. + + + II + + +Twenty-one--what a change from fourteen! How the pulse of life beats and +bounds! I was running a tilt at the pastimes, and doffing aside the +cares of early manhood, when for the second time, I came across Mary +Verner. Plump upon her, I would say, if I thought you would pardon the +coarseness of the expression. At any rate--and to be genteel--it was +unexpectedly. Twenty-one gives very few thoughts to fourteen. It may be +a much longer distance thither, when one starts at seventy to go back; +but it is surprising how much more quickly you get over the intermediate +ground. Let that be; only I don't believe I had given a thought to Mary +Verner, since the week or two that followed my first interview with her. + +"Do come and dine with us on Monday," said my friend Mrs. F.; "there +will be a very charming girl here, whom you would like to see." + +"Positively?" + +"_Sans faute!_" + +"Then keep a place for me; I'll come." + +I went. It was a formal dinner-party. In the drawing-room, before going +to table, Mrs. F. came across to me. + +"Now I'll introduce you to our belle of the evening. You may escort her +down to dinner. There she is, half-hidden behind that drapery. You can't +have noticed her." + +"Miss Verner, let me present Mr. Cuthbert." + +I should have recognized Mary Verner, as she looked up, with those +widely-opening brown eyes of hers, if her name had not been mentioned. +As it was, it was quite natural for me to remark that I believed I had +had the pleasure of seeing Miss Verner before. + +And so in a few moments we were gossipping cosily about "old times," as +we, not very old people, called them. + +The beautiful child had expanded into a very lovely woman, preserving +still the same characteristics of person and expression. The charm of +her voice was the same. You may be sure that when seated by her side, +with the becoming glow of lamp-light overhead heightening, if possible, +those attractions which I rather hint than attempt to describe--you may +be sure, I say, that I found her very captivating. + +We talked of her brother George; of the pleasant house wherein I first +met her, and which was still her home; of her amiable and lady-like +mother who was still living; of the old pony now gathered to his sires; +of the old chestnut-trees even--in short, of all those unimportant +associations, out of which, under such circumstances, one endeavours to +establish a trivial and flitting but very pleasant little bond of +sympathy. + +I declare I was half ready to fall head over ears in love with her. And +she took it all with a simple unaffected grace, that seemed to be her +very nature. + +But we did not have all the talk to ourselves. I had not the presumption +to engross her entirely. Nor would it have been possible. She was--there +is no need to go over it all again--she was Mary Verner. + +Nearly opposite to us at table sat a Mr. Easton, a young +barrister--young, that is professionally, for he was apparently a man of +thirty or thereabouts. He would not have been singled out as a +lady-killer, for he was none of your regular Adonises, such as hang by +dozens, in portraiture, upon the walls of our Royal Academy Exhibitions, +and lounge complacently in our Fop's Alley at the Opera. When, however, +the excitement of conversation--in which he took an active and most +intelligent part--developed the fine play of his features, you would +have pronounced him a man who added, to a cultivated and superior mind, +a look that bespoke such gift. In fact there was a manly air about him, +that claimed respect, if it did not challenge attention. + +About the time when I made this notable discovery, I recollected that at +the moment of my introduction to Miss Verner, Mr. Easton was gossipping +with her in the secluded corner half-hidden by the drapery, though he +moved away, with perfect good breeding, to give place to the new-comer. + +About this time, too, there began--at which end of the table, I +forget--an occasional play of badinage, whereof Mr. Easton was the +subject. For a grave and earnest man, he seemed to receive it all in +exceedingly good part. To my surprise also--to say nothing of +annoyance--my fair neighbour was brought, after a while, within its +scope. Neither did she--I was forced to acknowledge within +myself--evince either _mauvaise honte_ or sensitiveness. The truth was +plain. They were engaged. + +As a child's card-built house tumbles down when the table is shaken, so +down went one of the prettiest little castles-in-the-air, that ever +simpleton built out of cards of his own shaping. + +Down it went; though I flatter myself I was too much a man of the world, +to let a glimpse of its dislocated plan be apparent. Indeed, in a few +seconds, I had rallied myself on my own absurdity; gulped down my +disappointment; and resigned myself again to the charm that Mary Verner +still shed around her, if its tint was somewhat changed. Besides, I +availed myself of the sudden opportunity thus afforded, for testing the +practical value of one of my favourite theories, when I was a young +fellow and affected to bask in the sunshine of human nature: to wit, +that, apart from serious love-making, when a woman in either married or +betrothed, she has therefrom an additional feather in her social cap. So +have I found it through life--always provided that the attractive and +companionable qualities were otherwise in abundance. And this theory has +at least given heartiness to my good wishes for my fairer acquaintances +and friends. Is it not better to come to such a philosophical +conclusion, than to be always envying other people's good fortune? + +Shifting, therefore, my ground, I was rapidly possessed by a strong +interest in Miss Verner's future welfare--much of which was undoubtedly +genuine. + +Delicately, and by gently leading her on, I gathered something of the +story of her courtship, though I must needs confess that I cannot now +call to mind a word of it. It may be of more interest to state that she +was to make Mr. Easton the happiest of men, within six weeks or so of +that time; and that the honey-moon was to be spent in a ramble on the +Continent. Very emphatically and very sincerely did I wish her a +pleasant time of it. + +But the most agreeable evenings will come to a close. This one--with its +revival of a boy's casual acquaintance, with its momentary +castle-building, and its subsequent benevolence of feeling--this one, +like all others, passed away. It did not die out, as the fag-end of a +dinner-party sometimes will; it was cut short to me by the "good night!" +of Mary Verner, as she took her departure, leaning on Mr. Easton's arm, +in the train of an elderly female relative. + +When the drawing-room door closed upon her graceful figure, I felt for a +moment as though the gas had been suddenly turned off. I recollect, +however, the hostess's observation, dropped to the accompaniment of a +playfully malicious smile: + +"Didn't I tell you, you would like my friend Mary Verner?" + +"Yes," was the reply, "and I have passed a most delightful evening; but +I don't think it quite fair, Mrs. F."--here there was a terrible smash +of the theory--"to open the gates of Paradise, and then slam them in a +poor fellow's face?" + +I was to have gone, that night, to a ball in Devonshire Place, expressly +to meet--Never mind; I was not in the humour for dancing or flirting. I +went straight home, and to bed. I tossed about a good deal, and finally +dreamed about George and the pony, and that I was climbing the old +chestnut-trees. As for Mary Verner, I couldn't in my sleep conjure up +her image. When I thought I had it--as is the way in dreams, you know, +if you ever studied them--I couldn't get nearer to her than the plaguy +old family coachman. It was only when broad awake, the next morning, +that I found myself strongly impressed by this, my second meeting. But +again--such is life and such is youth--the impression was soon stowed +away on an upper shelf in memory's garret. + + + III. + + +Two years later; two years and two months. + +Did you ever notice the marked difference between youth and old +age--aye, and middle age, too--in the matter of reading newspapers? +We--I speak of myself now as the writer--who are in the vanguard of the +march through life, must have our _Times_ or our _Chronicle_, as +regularly as our morning meal. Is it, as some spitefully assert, that we +grow more self-complacent as we pore over the misfortunes or the errors +of our fellows; or is it, that we seek refuge from the cares and +disappointments of our own lot, in a close scrutiny of that of all the +world beside, with the minutiae of which the diligent, prying, gossipping +press so unceasingly plies our curiosity? It is folly, perhaps, to raise +the question, since this is not the place to discuss it; though it were +not far from the truth to attribute much of the pettiness of our race, +in these days, to this habit of abandoning our thoughts and impulses to +the guidance of journalists who trade in them. + +I only mean to say that being still youthful at twenty-three, I "cared +for none of these things," As for heeding who was born, or buried, or +married, beyond the circle of one's own intimate connections--I should +as soon have set to work to trace the pedigree of a New Zealander. +Probably, I heard in due time that Mary Verner had become Mrs. Easton. +Certainly I did not learn it from the usual printed record. In short, I +then very seldom read newspapers at all; and this I beg you to bear in +mind. What a shocking ignoramus I should be voted, if I were to say so +of this present time. + +That, too, was the season of darkness, ere Albert Smith was the Lecturer +_par excellence_; ere Oxford and Cambridge men, returning from their +"long-vacation" rambles, disputed in the daily papers their respective +prowess in scaling the precipices of Monte Rosa, or discovering new +pathways up Mont Blanc. How changed are we to-day! Save for the +voluminous records of the Crimean war, what Mamelons and Malakoffs would +the pedestrians, Smith and Jones, be now fighting over, in the _Times_! + +Nevertheless, though they made less fuss about it, Englishmen were then, +as now, prone to scurrying off to Switzerland in the Autumn--some in the +true cockney spirit--some because they found there the most sublime of +all spectacles, together with the most exhilarating exercise for the +body, and relaxation of mind in its fullest sense. With myself it +amounted to a passion; "Cuthbert's hobby" it was dubbed by +acquaintances, who could eke out delight from Leamington and Cheltenham. + +Profiting by the leisure afforded me during successive seasons, I had +become tolerably familiar with the Alps; with what exquisite and +inexhaustible enjoyment I am not going here to trouble you. But August +had come round again. The knapsack was stitched, where it wanted +mending. The Alpenstock was dragged to light, from the lumber-room. The +thick-soled gaiter-boots were freshly studded with hobnails. The +well-worn Swiss map was conned over once more, and a new route, leading +over yet untrodden passes, was set down in the Autumnal programme. + +Suddenly I changed my mind--under the influence of an hour's talk with +an enthusiastic mountaineer--who had, during the previous season, +explored the Pyrenees. "You may not find," said he, "quite so much +grandeur; but the valleys are decidedly more picturesque, the foliage +more varied, the very tints of the mountains glowing with warmer +colours." Thereupon, a change of plan and passport. Behold me at +Cauterets in France, instead of at Grindelwald in Switzerland! + +Were my object merely to fill a certain number of pages, I might here +descant at length upon the comparative beauties of the Alps and the +Pyrenees--the latter having, at present, the advantage of not being done +to death by tourists. But I will abstain. I will speak only of one day's +adventure; the day whereon, for the third and last time, I found myself +associated with Mary Verner. + +Cauterets may be a pleasant place enough to those who bathe in, or +imbibe for medicinal purposes, the mineral waters that have made its +fame. It is finely placed too, pitched in, as it were, into a nook, with +lofty peaks and fringes of fir forests over-topping its somewhat formal +streets. It does not, however, offer much attraction to the connoisseur +in fine scenery. One excursion alone is to be made. Its objects are the +Pont d'Espagne and the Lac de Gaube. The former is a group of pine +trunks bridging a cascade. The latter is a tarn at the foot of the +glaciers of the Vignemale, which, you know, is one of the +mountain-monarchs hereabouts. + +Before proceeding further, I may mention that I am enabled to set down +my reminiscences of this particular time and place, by reference to my +rough notes penned on the spot, journal-wise. The little memorandum book +lies under my hand, with its pages written in ink of various tints, as +hotel, or cabaret, or hut furnished the material at the moment. I like +to preserve these records. Such _souvenirs_ are the _bonnes fortunes_ of +those whose travels are ended. You see that I incline to be sentimental +as I draw towards the _denouement_ of my story. + +Heavens and earth, how it rains in the Pyrenees! What a young deluge +swept down the steep stone-guttered pavements, on the morning of the +29th of August! Still, I did not choose to devote more than one day to +the neighbourhood of Cauterets; and so, having made, from my window, a +few such profound observations as the one just set down, I ordered a +horse and guide. The polite waiter was astonished, and protested, to the +extent of two or three "_Mais Monsieur!_" The guide thought the storm +would expend itself in twenty-four hours; but on my hinting that the +path would not be difficult to find, without his aid, nor +impracticable, on foot, he subsided, with an air of conviction, into +the accustomed "_Bien, Monsieur!_" + +And so we started. I had borrowed one of the long, thick, hooded Spanish +cloaks, commonly used in that region which borders on Spain; and a very +effectual protection it was against the steady down-pouring of the rain. +But what is perfect in this world? A German counterpane, on a summer's +night, is not more oppressive than was this excellent protection from +the wet. + +Handing, then, the heavy encumbrance to the guide, I was drenched to the +skin in about two minutes. This was a comfort. It settled the point. I +dislike uncertainty. I could be at my ease, and look about. Remember it +was yet August. + +And the Val de Jeret, up which I was riding, was so grandly gloomy; the +state of the weather excluding all but close views! My note-book thus +speaks of it, the writer never dreaming that his impressions would be +told to the readers of a newspaper, with many of whom Niagara and +Montmorenci are familiar sights: "The valley presents a succession of +splendid waterfalls; and, singularly enough, as your route lies upwards, +they increase in size and beauty, from the Mahourat, the first, to the +Pont d'Espagne, the last and most celebrated. The three intervening, +that are dignified with names, are the Cerizet, the Bousse, and the Pas +de l'Ours. Besides these, there are an infinity of smaller falls, the +whole course of the Gave (or torrent) de Marcadaou--along which the path +lies--boiling over broken masses of rock. The eye is charmed by endless +variety, amid perpetual repetition. The deluge of rain, which covered +the lofty rocks on each side of the defile with clouds, had gloriously +swollen the turbulent waters. I know of nothing in natural scenery--thus +the manuscript rather enthusiastically proceeds--that impresses one so +forcibly as a cascade of large dimensions. By large I mean broad, not +lofty. The effect is apt to diminish, with vast height. These, in the +Val de Jeret, I found absolutely bewitching; for is it not a sort of +infatuation, by which we are beguiled into drawing nearer and nearer, +until you almost touch the foaming sheets as they flurry past, and are +yourself driven back, for your pains, half blind and breathless? One +fine waterfall would be enough to digest in a day. During these two or +three hours, I had a very feast of them." + +If I extract this somewhat rhapsodical passage, it is to show that my +inward man was not dampened, by the dampening process externally +applied. On the contrary, I am disposed to be jubilant, almost defiant, +in proportion to the fury of the storm; that is to say when no serious +personal inconvenience is caused by stress of weather. In a mountain +region too, above all others, clouds play so great a part in the +combination of fine effects, that I have many times fairly welcomed a +tempestuous spell. + +Thus from the Pont d'Espagne I continued my ride an hour or so further, +in order to reach the Lac de Gaube, knowing perfectly well that the +chances were a hundred to one against my getting a glimpse of the +glaciers of the Vignemale, at whose feet this small sheet of water is +imbedded. Small it may well be termed, for it is not quite three miles +in circumference, though the largest lake in the Pyrenees. + +On the rocky shore where the rough pathway terminates, stands, or stood +at the period of which I write, a solitary hut. There, during the short +summer season, might be found a family who earned a scanty subsistence, +by catching the lake trout and serving them up to chance travellers; by +rowing, in the solitary punt, any one who cared to paddle about the dark +waters; or by escorting any still more adventurous stranger desirous of +exploring the glaciers above-named, or ascending the lower heights of +the Vignemale. + +Stepping up to the door of this cabin, I entered into conversation with +its chief occupant, who probably combined in his own person the various +offices of restaurateur, fisherman, muleteer, guide, and smuggler. +Possibly I libel him in the last respect; but along that frontier of +France and Spain, it is rare to find a mountaineer guiltless of the +contraband trade. + +A visitor on such a day was a welcome sight to the poor fellow, who was +eloquent in regrets that _his_ mountain and _his_ glaciers and _his_ +other local points of interest were all wrapped in the impenetrable +mist. He seemed, I remember now, to care more about it than I did; for I +had revelled in the exhibition of cascades, and was rather tickled at +the notion of having come up to this lone and savage spot, where nothing +whatever was to be seen. + +If a spirit had whispered me, that the moment of my third _rencontre_ +was close at hand, I should have smiled incredulously. + +The fog lifted. I could see to a distance of half a dozen yards. + +"What's that?" + +"If Monsieur will give himself the trouble of walking up to it, he will +see." + +It was on a jutting promontory of rock, close at hand. A small enclosure +was railed in. It held what was obviously a monumental tablet, in white +marble, but discoloured by exposure. + +"A favourite poodle, perhaps, of the Duchesse de Berri--or one of our +eccentric Englishmen doing honour to a Pyrenean bear!" Such I thought it +might be, as I carelessly lounged up to it, and stooped to read the +inscription. + +It was in French and English. I took no copy of the words. But it was +placed there in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Easton, drowned in the lake, +within one month of their marriage, on the 20th of September, 18--! The +facts were simply stated. I wish the record of them had been placed a +little further off from the rendezvous of the thoughtless and +light-hearted. + +This was the last of my associations with her. But it would not interest +the reader, to be told with what feelings of surprise and sorrow I thus +learned the close of a career, which bid so fair for happiness and +usefulness. Poor Mary Verner! + +Before setting-off on my return to Cauterets, I heard, from the lips of +the man with whom I had been conversing, the sad particulars of this +harrowing event. Never could the common phrase, that speaks of "painful +curiosity," have been more applicable than it was in my case, as I stood +and listened to him. Poor fellow; he had been an eye-witness. He saw my +emotion. "Monsieur knew the young couple?"--thus did he break the thread +of his little narrative, more than once. + +I cannot pretend to set down his words. This is the substance of what he +told me. + +The season was nearly over. The weather was splendidly fine, but very +cold. Travellers were scarcely expected; when on that brilliant +September morning, up rode the bride and bridegroom. After resting +awhile, they took the single skiff that was there, Mr. Easton offering +to row his wife across the lake, to which she very reluctantly assented. +I recollect the narrator dwelling on this fact. + +The shore shelves off very rapidly. The water, in some parts, reaches to +the depth of three or four hundred feet. At all times it is of +marvellous clearness--as I observed myself--and, except during the heats +of summer, so piercingly cold, as to be altogether unbearable to the +swimmer. + +My informant helped them into the boat. Mr. Easton was evidently used to +the handling of oars. The tragedy was immediately--perhaps one should +say, ostensibly--caused by those two qualities of the water of the Lac +de Gaube, to which I have just alluded--its clearness and its coldness. + +The boat was at some considerable distance from the shore. The boatman +was watching them. Suddenly, Mr. Easton paused in his rowing. He and his +wife looked over the side, as though guessing at the depth. Mr. Easton +then stood up, and plunged one oar downwards into the water, with the +confident action of a man who is certain that he shall touch the bottom. +The transparency had deceived him. His oar met no resistance; and he +himself plunged heavily overboard. Such at least was the impression of +the boatman on land; and he could scarcely be mistaken. + +So far as he could see, Mr. Easton did not rise to the surface. The cold +numbed him, and he sunk, not to rise again. The bereaved wife stood +upright for a moment in the boat, gazing on the water that had swallowed +up her husband before her eyes. Then she too was seen to be in it; but +not one of the two or three, who witnessed the fearful sight, could tell +whether she threw herself in, or whether she fell in, senseless. That +secret will never be solved; and what matters it to us, though the +manner of the widowed wife's death was so remarkable, that I cannot +refrain from mentioning it? In talking it over, they agreed that she did +not sink at all. As she fell, the water inflated her dress, and she was +buoyed-up, floating; though there was no sign of life or movement on her +part, observable to the agonized spectators. After a time--I forget +whether it was half an hour, or half a day--the remains of what once was +loved as Mary Verner were wafted tranquilly to the shore. Assistance +also having been procured, Mr. Easton's body was dragged-up from the +bottom of the lake. One grave in a church-yard in Essex now holds the +coffins of the ill-fated pair. + +And was there no effort at rescue? Could nothing be done? This idea will +have crossed the reader's mind. It suggested many questions to me, with +which I plied the boatman, who seemed to feel keenly in them the +bitterness of unintended reproach. But his explanation--grievous as it +was--was satisfactory. There was no boat, no raft, no means of reaching +the spot. "Two of us," said he, "plunged up to our necks into the water, +in the irrepressible desire to swim out to them; though we knew that it +was certain death to go beyond our depth. Besides, Monsieur," he added +with touching simplicity, "I can't help fancying that the poor lady was +dead before she fell out of the boat. Monsieur knew her; doesn't he +think that her heart was already broken?" + +"God help her, and all of us, my brave friend; I have not the smallest +doubt of it!" + + + + + TOSSING UP FOR A HUSBAND. + + _From the French of Vicomte Ponson de Terrail._ + + I. + + +The Marchioness was at her toilet. Florine and Aspasia, her two +ladies'-maids, were busy powdering, as it were with hoar-frost, the +bewitching widow. + +She was a widow, this Marchioness, a widow of twenty-three; and wealthy, +as very few persons were any longer at the court of Louis XV., her +godfather. + +Three-and-twenty years earlier, his Majesty had held her at the +baptismal font of the chapel at Marly, and had settled upon her an +income of a hundred thousand livres, by way of proving to her father, +the Baron Fontevrault, who had saved his life in the battle of Fontenoy, +that kings can be grateful, whatever people choose to say to the +contrary. + +The Marchioness then was a widow. She resided during the summer, in a +charming little chateau, situated half-way up the slope overhanging the +water, on the road from Bougival to Saint Germain. Madame Dubarry's +estate adjoined hers; and on opening her eyes she could see, without +rising, the white gableends and the white-spreading chestnut-trees of +Luciennes, perched upon the heights. On this particular day--it was +noon--the Marchioness, whilst her attendants dressed her hair and +arranged her head-dress with the most exquisite taste, gravely employed +herself in tossing up, alternately, a couple of fine oranges, which +crossed each other in the air, and then dropped into the white and +delicate hand that caught them in their fall. + +This sleight-of-hand--which the Marchioness interrupted at times whilst +she adjusted a beauty-spot on her lip, or cast an impatient glance on +the crystal clock that told how time was running away with the fair +widow's precious moments--had lasted for ten minutes, when the +folding-doors were thrown open, and a valet, such as one sees now only +on the stage announced with pompous voice--"The King!" + +Apparently, the Marchioness was accustomed to such visits, for she but +half rose from her seat, as she saluted with her most gracious smile the +personage who entered. + +It was indeed Louis XV. himself--Louis XV. at sixty-five; but robust, +upright, with smiling lip and beaming eye, and jauntily clad in a +close-fitting, pearl-grey hunting-suit, that became him to perfection. +He carried under his arm a handsome fowling-piece, inlaid with +mother-of-pearl; a small pouch, intended for ammunition alone, hung over +his shoulder. + +The King had come from Luciennes, almost alone, that is but with a +Captain of the Guard, the old Marshal de Richelieu, and a single +Equerry on foot. He had been amusing himself with quail-shooting, +loading his own gun, as was the fashion with his ancestors, the later +Valois and the earlier Bourbons. His grandsire, Henry IV., could not +have been less ceremonious. + +But a shower of hail had surprised him; and his Majesty had no relish +for it. He pretended that the fire of an enemy's battery was less +disagreeable than those drops of water, so small and so hard, that wet +him through, and reminded him of his twinges of rheumatism. + +Fortunately, he was but a few steps from the gateway of the chateau, +when the shower commenced. He had come therefore to take shelter with +his god-daughter, having dismissed his suite, and only keeping with him +a magnificent pointer, whose genealogy was fully established by the Duc +de Richelieu, and traced back, with a few slips in orthography, directly +to Nisus, that celebrated greyhound, given by Charles IX. to his friend +Ronsard, the poet. + +"Good morning, Marchioness," said the King, as he entered, putting down +his fowling-piece in a corner. "I have come to ask your hospitality. We +were caught in a shower at your gate--Richelieu and I. I have packed off +Richelieu." + +"Ah, Sire, that wasn't very kind of you." + +"Hush!" replied the King, in a good-humored tone. "It's only mid-day; +and if the Marshal had forced his way in here at so early an hour, he +would have bragged of it every where, this very evening. He is very apt +to compromise one, and he is a great coxcomb too, the old Duke. But +don't put yourself out of the way, Marchioness. Let Aspasia finish this +becoming pile of your head-dress, and Florine spread out with her silver +knife the scented powder that blends so well with the lilies and the +roses of your bewitching face.... Why, Marchioness, you are so pretty, +one could eat you up!" + +"You think me so, Sire?" + +"I tell you so every day. Oh, what fine oranges!" + +And the King seated himself upon the roomy sofa, by the side of the +Marchioness, whose rosy finger-tips he kissed with an infinity of grace. +Then taking up one of the oranges that he had admired, he proceeded +leisurely to examine it. + +"But," said he at length, "what are oranges doing by the side of your +Chinese powder-box and your scent bottles? Is there any connection +between this fruit and the maintenance--easy as it is, Marchioness--of +your charms?" + +"These oranges," replied the lady, gravely, "fulfilled just now, Sire, +the functions of destiny." + +The King opened wide his eyes, and stroked the long ears of his dog, by +way of giving the Marchioness time to explain her meaning. + +"It was the Countess who gave them to me," she continued. + +"Madame Dubarry?" + +"Exactly so, Sire." + +"A trumpery gift, it seems to me, Marchioness." + +"I hold it, on the contrary, to be an important one; since I repeat to +your Majesty, that these oranges decide my fate." + +"I give it up," said the King. + +"Imagine, Sire; yesterday I found the Countess occupied in tossing her +oranges up and down, in this way." And the Marchioness recommenced her +game with a skill that cannot be described. + +"I see," said the King; "she accompanied this singular amusement with +the words, 'Up, Choiseul! up, Praslin!' and, on my word, I can fancy how +the pair jumped." + +"Precisely so, Sire." + +"And do you dabble in politics, Marchioness? Have you a fancy for +uniting with the Countess, just to mortify my poor ministers?" + +"By no means, Sire; for, in place of Monsieur de Choiseul and the Duc de +Praslin, I was saying to myself, just now, 'Up, Menneval! up, +Beaugency!'" + +"Ay, ay," returned the King; "and why the deuce would you have them +jumping, those two good-looking gentlemen--Monsieur de Menneval, who is +a Croesus, and Monsieur de Beaugency, who is a statesman, and dances the +minuet to perfection?" + +"I'll tell you," said the dame. "You know, Sire, that Monsieur de +Menneval is an accomplished gentleman, a handsome man, a gallant +cavalier, an indefatigable dancer, witty as Monsieur Arouet, and longing +for nothing so much as to live in the country, on his estate in +Touraine, on the banks of the Loire, with the woman whom he loves or +will love, far from the court, from grandeur, and from turmoil." + +"And, on my life, he's in the right of it," quoth the King. "One does +become so wearied at court." + +"Aye, and no," rejoined the widow as she put on her last beauty-spot.... +"Nor are you unaware, Sire, that Monsieur de Beaugency is one of the +most brilliant courtiers of Marly and Versailles; ambitious, burning +with zeal for the service of your Majesty; as brave as Monsieur de +Menneval, and capable of going to the end of the earth ... with the +title of Ambassador of the King of France." + +"I know that," chimed in Louis XV., with a laugh. "But, alas, I have +more ambassadors than embassies. My ante-chambers overflow every +morning." + +"Now," continued the Marchioness, "I have been a widow ... these two +years past." + +"A long time, there's no denying." + +"Ah," sighed she, "there's no need to tell me so, Sire. But Monsieur de +Menneval loves me ... at least he says so, and I am easily persuaded." + +"Very well; then marry Monsieur de Menneval." + +"I have thought of it, Sire; and, in truth, I might do much worse. I +should like well enough to live in the country, under the willow-trees, +on the borders of the river, with a husband, fond, yielding, loving, who +would detest the philosophers and set some little value on the poets. +When no external noises disturb the honey-moon, that month, Sire, may be +indefinitely prolonged. In the country, you know, one never hears a +noise." + +"Unless it be the north-wind moaning in the corridor, and the rain +pattering on the window-panes." And the King shivered slightly on his +sofa. + +"But," added the dame, "Monsieur de Beaugency loves me equally well." + +"Ah, ah! the ambitious man!" + +"Ambition does not shut out love, Sire. Monsieur de Beaugency is a +Marquis; he is twenty-five; he is ambitious--I should like a husband +vastly who was longing to reach high offices of state. Greatness has its +own particular merit." + +"Then marry Monsieur de Beaugency." + +"I have thought of that, also; but this poor Monsieur de Menneval."... + +"Very good," exclaimed the King, laughing: "now I see to what purpose +the oranges are destined. Monsieur de Menneval pleases you; Monsieur de +Beaugency would suit you just as well; and since one can't have more +than one husband, you make them each jump in turn." + +"Just so, Sire. But observe what happens." + +"Ah, what does happen?" + +"That, unwilling and unable to play unfairly, I take equal pains to +catch the two oranges as they come down; and that I catch them both, +each time." + +"Well, are you willing that I should take part in your game?" + +"You, Sire? Ah, what a joke that would be!" + +"I am very clumsy, Marchioness. To a certainty, in less than three +minutes Beaugency and Menneval, will be rolling on the floor." + +"Ah!" exclaimed the lady; "and if you have any preference for one or the +other?" + +"No; we'll do better. Look, I take the two oranges ... you mark them +carefully--or, better still, you stick into one of them one of these +toilet pins, making up your own mind which of the two is to represent +Monsieur de Beaugency, and leaving me, on that point, entirely in the +dark. If Monsieur de Beaugency touches the floor, you shall marry his +rival; if it happen just otherwise, you shall resign yourself to become +an ambassadress." + +"Excellent! Now, Sire, let's see the result." + +The King took the two oranges and plied shuttle with them above his +head. But at the third pass, the two rolled down upon the embroidered +carpet, and the Marchioness broke out into a merry fit of laughter. + +"I foresaw as much," exclaimed his Majesty. "What a clumsy fellow I am!" + +"And we more puzzled than ever, Sire?" + +"So we are, Marchioness; but the best thing we can do, is to slice the +oranges, sugar them well, and season them with a dash of West India rum. +Then you can beg me to taste them, and offer me some of those preserved +cherries and peaches that you put up just as nicely as my daughter +Adelaide." + +"And Monsieur de Menneval? and Monsieur de Beaugency?" said the +Marchioness, in piteous accents. "How is the question to be settled?" + +Louis XV. began to cogitate. + +"Are you quite sure," said he, "that both of them are in love with you?" + +"Probably so," returned she, with a little coquettish smile, sent back +to her from the mirror opposite. + +"And their love is equally strong?" + +"I trust so, Sire." + +"And I don't believe a word of it." + +"Ah!" said the Marchioness, "but that is, in truth, a most terrible +supposition. Besides, Sire, they are on their way hither." + +"Both of them?" + +"One after the other: the Marquis at one o'clock precisely; the Baron at +two. I promised them my decision to-morrow, on condition that they would +pay me a final visit to-day." + +As the Marchioness finished, the valet, who had announced the King, came +to inform his mistress, that Monsieur de Beaugency was in the +drawing-room, and solicited the favour of admission to pay his respects. + +"Capital!" said Louis XV., smiling as though he were eighteen; "show +Monsieur de Beaugency in. Marchioness, you will receive him, and tell +him the price that you set upon your hand." + +"And what is the price, Sire?" + +"You must give him the choice--either to renounce you, or to consent to +send in to me his resignation of his appointments, in order that he may +go and bury himself with his wife on his estate of Courlac, in Poitou, +there to live the life of a country gentleman." + +"And then, Sire?" + +"You will allow him a couple of hours for reflection, and so dismiss +him." + +"And in the end?" + +"The rest is my concern." And the King got up, taking his dog and his +gun, and concealed himself behind a screen, drawing also a curtain, that +he might be completely hidden. + +"What is your intention, Sire?" asked the Marchioness. + +"I conceal myself like the kings of Persia, from the eyes of my +subjects," replied Louis XV. "Hush, Marchioness." + +A few moments later, and Monsieur de Beaugency entered the room. + + + II. + + +The Marquis was a charming cavalier; tall, slight, with a moustache +black and curling upwards, an eye sparkling and intelligent, a Roman +nose, an Austrian lip, a firm step, a noble and imposing presence. + +The Marchioness blushed slightly, at sight of him, but offered him her +hand to kiss; and as she begged him by a gesture to be seated, thus +inwardly took counsel with herself. + +"Decidedly, I believe that the test is useless; it is Monsieur de +Beaugency whom I love. How proud shall I be to lean upon his arm at the +court-fetes! With what delight shall I keep long watches in the cabinet +of his Excellency the Ambassador, whilst he is busy with his Majesty's +affairs!" + +But after this "aside," the Marchioness resumed her gracious and +coquettish air; as though the woman comprehended the mission of refined +gallantry which was reserved for her seductive and delicate epoch by an +indulgent Providence, that laid by its anger and its evil days for the +subsequent reign. + +"Marchioness," said Monsieur de Beaugency, as he held in his hands the +rosy fingers of the lovely widow, "it is fully a week since you received +me!" + +"A week? why, you were here yesterday!" + +"Then I must have counted the hours for ages." + +"A compliment which may be found in one of the younger Crebillon's +books!" + +"You are hard upon me, Marchioness." + +"Perhaps so, ... it comes naturally ... I am tired." + +"Ah, Marchioness! Heaven knows that I would make of your existence one +never-ending fete!" + +"That would, at least, be wearisome." + +"Say a word, Madam, one single word, and my fortune, my future +prospects, my ambition!"-- + +"You are still then as ambitious as ever?" + +"More than ever, since I have been in love with you." + +"Is that necessary?" + +"Beyond a doubt. Ambition--what is it but honours, wealth, the envious +looks of impotent rivals, the admiration of the crowd, the favour of +monarchs?... And is not one's love unanswerably and most triumphantly +proved, in laying all this at the feet of the woman whom one adores?" + +"You may be right." + +"I may be right, Marchioness! Listen to me, my fair lady-love." + +"I am all attention, sir." + +"Between us, who are well-born, and consort not with plebeians, that +vulgar and sentimental sort of love, which is painted by those who write +books for your mantuamakers and chambermaids, would be in exceedingly +bad taste. It would be but slighting love and making no account of its +enjoyments, were we to go and bury it in some obscure corner of the +Provinces, or of Paris--we, who belong to Versailles--living away there +with it, in monotonous solitude and unchanging contemplation!" + +"Ah!" said the Marchioness, "you think so?" + +"Tell me, rather, of fetes that dazzle one with lights, with noise, with +smiles, with wit, through which one glides intoxicated, with the fair +conquest in triumph on one's arm ... why hide one's happiness, in place +of parading it? The jealousy of the world does but increase, and cannot +diminish it. My uncle, the Cardinal, stands well at court. He has the +King's ear, and better still, the Countess's. He will, ere long, procure +me one of the Northern embassies. Cannot you fancy yourself Madame the +Ambassadress, treading the platform of a drawing-room, as royalty with +royalty, with the highest nobility of a kingdom--having the men at your +feet, and the women on lower seats around you, whilst you yourself are +occupant of a throne, and wield a sceptre?" + +And as Monsieur de Beaugency warmed with his own eloquence, he gently +slid from his seat to the knees of the Marchioness, whose hand he +covered with kisses. + +She listened to him, with a smile on her lips, and then abruptly said to +him: + +"Rise, sir, and hear me in turn. Are you in truth sincerely attached to +me?" + +"With my whole soul, Marchioness!" + +"Are you prepared to make every sacrifice?" + +"Every one, Madam." + +"That is fortunate indeed; for to be prepared for all, is to accomplish +one, without the slightest difficulty; and it is but a single one that I +require." + +"Oh, speak! Must a throne be conquered?" + +"By no means, sir. You must only call to mind that you own a fine +chateau in Poitou." + +"Pooh!" said Monsieur de Beaugency, "a shed." + +"Every man's house is his castle," replied the widow. "And having called +it to mind, you need only order post-horses." + +"For what purpose?" + +"To carry me off to Courlac. It is there that your almoner shall unite +us, in the chapel, in presence of your domestics and your vassals, our +only witnesses." + +"A singular whim, Marchioness; but I submit to it." + +"Very well. We will set out this evening.... Ah! I forgot." + +"What, further?" + +"Before starting, you will send in your resignation to the King." + +Monsieur de Beaugency almost bounded from his seat. + +"Do you dream of that, Marchioness?" + +"Assuredly. You will not, at Courlac, be able to perform your duties at +court." + +"And on returning?" + +"We will not return." + +"We will--not--return!" slowly ejaculated Monsieur de Beaugency. "Where +then shall we proceed?" + +"Nowhere. We will remain at Courlac." + +"All the winter?" + +"And all the summer. I count upon settling myself there, after our +marriage. I have a horror of the court. I do not like the turmoil. +Grandeur wearies me.... I look forward only to a simple and charming +country life, to the tranquil and happy existence of the forgotten lady +of the castle.... What matters it to you? You were ambitious for my +love's sake. I care but little for ambition; you ought to care for it +still less, since you are in love with me." + +"But, Marchioness--" + +"Hush! it's a bargain.... Still, for form's sake, I give you one hour to +reflect. There, pass out that way; go into the winter drawing-room that +you will find at the end of the gallery, and send me your answer upon a +leaf of your tablets. I am about to complete my toilet, which I left +unfinished, to receive you." + +And the Marchioness opened a door, bowed Monsieur de Beaugency into the +corridor, and closed the door upon him. + +"Marchioness," cried the King, from his hiding place and through the +screen, "you will offer Monsieur de Menneval the embassy to Prussia, +which I promise you for him." + +"And you will not emerge from your retreat?" + +"Certainly not, Madame; it is far more amusing to remain behind the +scenes. One hears all, laughs at one's ease, and is not troubled with +saying any thing." + +It struck two. Monsieur de Menneval was announced. His Majesty remained +snug, and shammed dead. + + + III. + + +Monsieur de Menneval was, at all points, a cavalier who yielded nothing +to his rival, Monsieur de Beaugency. He was fair. He had a blue eye, a +broad forehead, a mouth that wore a dreamy expression, and that somewhat +pensive air which became so well the Troubadours of France in the olden +time. + +We cannot say whether Monsieur de Menneval had perpetrated verse; but he +loved the poets, the arts, the quiet of the fields, the sunsets, the +rosy dawn, the breeze sighing through the foliage, the low and +mysterious tones of a harp, sounding at eve from the light bark +shooting over the blue waters of the Loire--all things in short that +harmonize with that melodious concert of the heart, which passes by the +name of love. + +He was timid, but he passionately loved the beautiful widow; and his +dearest dream was of passing his whole life at her feet, in well chosen +retirement, far from those envious lookers-on who are ever ready to +fling their sarcasms on quiet happiness, and who dissemble their envy +under cloak of a philosophic scepticism. + +He trembled, as he entered the Marchioness's boudoir. He remained +standing before her, and blushed as he kissed her hand. At length, +encouraged by a smile, emboldened by the solemnity of this coveted +interview, he spoke to her of his love, with a poetic simplicity and an +unpremeditated warmth of heart--the genuine enthusiasm of a priest, who +has faith in the object of his adoration. + +And as he spoke, the Marchioness sighed, and said within herself: + +"He is right. Love is happiness. Love is to be two indeed, but one at +the same time; and to be free from those importunate intermeddlers, the +indifference or the mocking attention of the world." + +She remembered, however, the advice of the King, and thus addressed the +Baron: + +"What will you indeed do, in order to convince me of your affection?" + +"All that man can do." + +The Baron was less bold than Monsieur de Beaugency, who had talked of +conquering a throne. He was probably more sincere. + +"I am ambitious," said the widow. + +"Ah!" replied Monsieur de Menneval, sorrowfully. + +"And I would that the man, whom I marry, should aspire to every thing, +and achieve every thing." + +"I will try so to do, if you wish it." + +"Listen; I give you an hour to reflect. I am, you know, the King's +god-daughter. I have begged of him an embassy for you." + +"Ah!" said Monsieur de Menneval, with indifference. + +"He has granted my request. If you love me, you will accept the offer. +We will be married this evening, and your Excellency the Ambassador to +Prussia will set off for Berlin immediately after the nuptials. Reflect; +I grant you an hour." + +"It is useless," answered Monsieur de Menneval; "I have no need of +reflection, for I love you. Your wishes are my orders: to obey you is my +only desire. I accept the embassy." + +"Never mind!" said she, trembling with joy and blushing deeply. "Pass +into the room, wherein you were just now waiting. I must complete my +toilet, and I shall then be at your service. I will summon you." + +The Marchioness handed out the Baron by the right-hand door, as she had +handed out the Marquis by the left; and then said to herself: + +"I shall be prettily embarrassed, if Monsieur de Beaugency should +consent to end his days at Courlac!" + +Thereupon, the King removed the screen and reappeared. + +His Majesty stepped quietly to the round table, whereupon he had +replaced the oranges, and took up one of them. + +"Ah!" exclaimed the Marchioness, "I perceive, Sire, that you foresee the +difficulty that is about to spring up, and go back accordingly to the +oranges, in order to settle it." + +As his sole reply, Louis XV. took a small ivory handled pen-knife from +his waistcoat pocket, made an incision in the rind of the orange, peeled +it off very neatly, divided the fruit into two parts, and offered one to +the astonished Marchioness. + +"But, Sire, what are you doing?" was her eager inquiry. + +"You see that I am eating the orange." + +"But--" + +"It was of no manner of use to us." + +"You have decided then?" + +"Unquestionably. Monsieur de Menneval loves you better than Monsieur de +Beaugency." + +"That is not quite certain yet; let us wait." + +"Look," said the King, pointing to the valet, who entered with a note +from the Marquis, "You'll soon see." + +The widow opened the note, and read: + +"Madam, I love you--Heaven is my witness; and to give you up is the +most cruel of sacrifices. But I am a gentleman. A gentleman belongs to +the King. My life, my blood are his. I cannot, without forfeit of my +loyalty, abandon his service----." + +"Et cetera," chimed in the King, "as was observed by the Abbe Fleury, my +tutor. Marchioness, call in Monsieur de Menneval." + +Monsieur de Menneval entered, and was greatly troubled to see the King +in the widow's boudoir. + +"Baron," said his Majesty, "Monsieur de Beaugency was deeply in love +with the Marchioness; but he was more deeply still in love--since he +would not renounce it, to please her--with the embassy to Prussia. And +you, you love the Marchioness so much better than you love me, that you +would only enter my service for her sake. This leads me to believe that +you would be but a lukewarm public servant, and that Monsieur de +Beaugency will make an excellent ambassador. He will start for Berlin +this evening; and you shall marry the Marchioness. I will be present at +the ceremony." + +"Marchioness," whispered Louis XV. in the ear of his god-daughter, "true +love is that which does not shrink from a sacrifice." + +And the King peeled the second orange and eat it, as he placed the hand +of the widow in that of the Baron. + +"I have been making three persons happy: the Marchioness, whose +indecision I have relieved; the Baron, who shall marry her; and Monsieur +do Beaugency, who will perchance prove a sorry ambassador. In all this, +I have only neglected my own interests, for I have been eating the +oranges without sugar.... And yet they pretend to say that I am a +selfish Monarch?" + + + + + THE MISSING MARINERS, + + A DREAM OF THE ARCTIC SEAS. + + This fanciful sketch was written and published, before the fate of + Sir John Franklin and his Discovery Ships was known. + + +There was not a curtain of any kind over the window. + +Now, there are few things that I dislike more than this total want of +privacy in a bed-room. Opposite to a dead wall at a foot's distance, so +that none but bogies could peer within, or looking out through a +port-hole over the lonely sea, I confess to an almost old-maidenish +particularity in this respect. Failing, therefore, in sundry efforts to +substitute a great coat for a curtain, or even to delude myself into a +sense of seclusion, by planting an open umbrella upon a chair before the +window, I finally abandoned my efforts, determined to brazen it out, +blew out my light, and tumbled into bed, not in the best of humours. + +You remember, perhaps, the bitter cold night and the flurry of a snow +storm, that came abruptly upon us, a few weeks since. That was the time +of which I write--the place was a country village. And what a freezing +night it was! The east wind blew gustily and drearily. It was +moonlight, but dull and grey; and as I lay in bed, without raising my +head from the starveling bolster vainly eked out by a meagre carpet bag, +I could see a single pine tree, on a steep bank right opposite my +window, nodding, and bowing at me by fits and by starts, as though the +capricious spirit of the night wind had bid it mock me. How I longed for +the sight of a chimney-pot! + +There was no snow yet; but I listened to the rush of each driving blast, +and shrunk, huddling under the clothes, from the chill it sent through +me, as its keen edges forced their way through the crevices of the roof +over my head. At length, and after much tumbling and tossing, I fell +asleep--or believed that I did so; and presently I awoke again--or so it +seemed to me. What was sleeping, and what was waking, I scarcely knew, +that night. + +Suddenly, there, between us--between myself, I mean, and the white, +shining hill-side--came an object, undefined in form but palpable in +substance, waving gently to and fro, passing and repassing before the +window, and at last appearing almost to touch it. Finally it became +stationary there, yet still undulating with that soft tremulous motion +which you may have noticed in the humming-bird, when, poised upon his +delicate wings, he darts his slender tongue into the petals of a +favourite flower. "What in the world is it?" I exclaimed; and had just +fancied that I could see a few slight cords reaching from it upwards, +above the upper edge of the window, when I distinctly heard a rap upon +the pane, and sprung from my bed, in wonderment, but not in fear. The +glass melted away--frame-work to the casement there was none--I passed +outwards, unconscious how or wherefore. I was seated, warmly and +comfortably seated, springing aloft into the moonlit and starry sky. + +Then I knew that it was a balloon. It rose at the instant, and sped +rapidly through the air. The wind was strong, but blowing a steady gale; +not in gusts now, as it had been. And I felt that it was from the south, +for it was soft and balmy; and I knew that I was driving towards the +Polar star, for I saw it; and saw it growing larger and more luminous. + +Then my spirit yearned after the missing Mariners; and I prayed Heaven +that I might be on my way to find them. + +On we sped; but I was conscious, though the southerly gales were wafting +me to the frozen regions of the North, that there was a spirit beneath +or behind me, guiding the tiny car in which I was borne. I felt that he +was there, though I strove in vain to detect his presence. Slily did I +glance over my shoulder, abruptly did I turn my head, cautiously did I +crane over the edge--I could not see him. I felt him directing my looks +to what I beheld, shaping my thoughts whitherward they went; but it +pleased him to remain invisible. + +It was yet night. Many rivers did we cross in our progress, some looking +inky-black as they flowed between snowy banks, others dimly made out, +and lost in the one unvaried tone. Lakes were there, too, and cities +sparcely scattered. The latter were mostly slumbering in the same quiet +as the former; but ascending from one I heard the alarm of a bell, and +glanced downwards at a herd of figures who seemed to be fussing and +fuming around a fire. + +And now, for a moment, I knew that I was dreaming; and oh, grievous +disappointment, I half awoke to a consciousness that the vision was +slipping away from me. How I clutched at it! how I hugged it, and +refused to have a word to say to my senses! Did you never try this plan +and succeed in it? If not, I would not give a fig for your dreams. + +But I caught up the thread of mine. Bravo! It was a narrow escape, +though. They told me, next day, that there had been a false alarm of +fire in the village, during the night. I would have been roasted alive, +rather than not have dreamed out my dream. + + * * * * * + +Day-light, and early summer, and we were hovering over the icy land and +icy sea, scarcely now distinguishable, one from other. Nor can I, +indeed, describe much of what I saw; for methought, that we were driving +hither and thither, not only in the dreary realm of the Frost-king, but +up, and down, and athwart the ordinary current of times and seasons. So +was there much confusion. Anon it was that awful Winter, whose cold will +eat, like red-hot iron, into the unguarded flesh, or more fatal still, +will palm off Death upon his victim under the alluring disguise of +Slumber--Winter, with his terrible silence, more fearful than the roar +of his fiercest hurricanes--Winter, with his blinding mantle of unbroken +white, and his snowdrifts wherein cities might be engulphed--Winter, +with his one redeeming beauty, one attendant goddess, one Aurora, the +Borealis, whose coruscations were so marvellous to behold, so changeful, +so grand, so brilliant, that I smiled in looking on them, to think that +ever human skill had fabricated fire-works, and that their display could +throw spectators into ecstacies. + +And anon it was the Arctic summer--and the blue waters peeped at +intervals between giant pyramids of ice--pyramids, and pinnacles, and +turrets, and all shapely and all shapeless masses. And these were +floating in the sunlight--some majestically sailing through the ever +opening spaces, coming never in contact with their fellows--others +jarring, and crashing, and splintering into a thousand fragments, as the +upheaving waves compelled them perilously to embrace each other; and +their greeting was as the roar of thunder-storms. And uncouth walrusses +were playing their clumsy antics on detached fragments of the ice, and +the seal was basking in the sun, and the huge whale was spouting, and +the seagull was skimming the surface of the loosened deep, dipping +therein the tips of his wings, as though to assure himself that it was +indeed liquid. Landward, too--for there was land, also, beneath us--I +seemed to see the scanty blades of a dwarfish vegetation thrusting +themselves pertinaciously through the snow; and anon the garb of the +earth seemed changing from one universal white, to varied hues of brown +and green. + +Those things and other such, rare and beautiful, were visible to the +bodily eye; but the eye of my mind was not therewith content. It +strained its utmost, but saw not what it longed for; and my voice broke +out in bitterness, "Oh, the ships and the men, the men and the ships, +the good Sir John and his daring crews!" + +Then I was conscious that my attendant spirit impelled the balloon in a +direction hitherto unexplored, and lo! there beneath us was a ship--a +ship, one of the objects of my search! + +A ship! and my heart bounded within me at the first glimpse I caught of +it. But ah! how the blood curdled in my veins, when, at the next moment, +I saw that the ship had not, and could not have occupants. Poor, +ill-fated, ill-treated vessel; never surely did typhoon or whirlwind so +displace thee from thy proper bearings. The troubled waters of the +Atlantic or the Caribbean Sea might indeed have reared thee upwards, and +plunged thee downwards, and made thee reel to and fro, like a drunkard; +but it was alone the frozen waters of the Arctic, that could have forced +thee into this unnatural position, and then cruelly nailed thee there, +to rot into decay. + +Ay, stout ship _Erebus_ or _Terror_--I wot not which--there wert thou +lying, or rather there didst thou stand upright, thy bows grovelling in +the ice, thy stern uplifted high in air, thy keel propped up against a +sheer precipice of ice, thy bowsprit shivered into splinters, thy masts +and yards, and tackle, fallen all, and tangled in most inextricable +confusion. One stick alone remained set out horizontally from the deck. +From it drooped the tattered remnant of a flag; it was the blood-red +standard of England! + +As the balloon glided downwards towards the wreck, I could have peered +into the after-cabin windows; but a single glance had already satisfied +me that no living being would be found on board. I have said that my +blood curdled in my veins. Turning hastily with a sudden movement of +indignation, I obtained a moment's glance at my guide--his form was +shadowy; but by his hideous features I recognized him as Despair, and +felt that he and I were one. + +But ho, a pleasant change! Down we floated, till my tiny car was almost +on a level with the vessel's bows; and there--oh, joy of joys--were +signs, palpable and undoubted, that the crew had fared better than their +ship--that they had escaped, and were gone, and had carried what they +pleased away with them. At one view I comprehended this--I read it in +the aperture sawn through the doubled planking, and in the fragments of +casks and cases with which the ice was bestrewn around. There was a +board, too, with writing upon it, nailed up conspicuously; but I tried +in vain to decipher it. Under the impulse of strong excitement, I again +turned abruptly toward my guide; this time, I could not obtain a glimpse +of him. Methought, however, that I heard a rustle like the sound of +wings, and that the inflated silk over my head became suddenly tinted +with the hues of the rainbow. And so I knew that I was under the +guidance of Hope; and that Despair would trouble me no more. Whither my +countrymen were gone I could not conjecture; but, at least, I deemed +them safe. + + * * * * * + +Away, and away, we soared upwards and sped onwards; how far, and how +long, I marked not. And lo, another object! not a ship--it is a house, +this time; yes, a house in the lonely wilderness of that frozen ocean, a +hut upon the waves of that boundless _mer de glace_. And it was +fashioned in rude form; and the material was rough blocks of ice; and +snow seemed to have been used as their cement. The roof was formed by +poles and spars; and across them yet hung a sailcloth covering. +Roundabout the hut was a lofty wall, built apparently to shelter it from +storms, and snowdrifts; and the wall was built with the same material as +the house, for Nature's plentiful quarry fails not in those Polar +regions, if man's hand and man's axe be brought there, to hew and shape. +But for whom the shelter, and whither had they gone, who tenanted it? I +knew well that the long lost had been here. None but they--no miserable, +wandering tribe of Esquimaux--could have left such unmistakable marks of +forethought, and skill, and energy. Near by, too, was plainly visible +the icy cradle wherein a vessel had been lying, and on an even keel. But +ships and men were gone--gone, but how gone, and whither? Earnestly did +I gaze for some solution of this mystery; and at length I solved it, ay, +plain enough; a line along the surface of the ice became distinctly +visible, rugged and indented indeed, but straight, and stretching far +away to the Westward. Then was I assured that Sir John and his brave +comrades had been here, that they had cut out a channel for their +barque, and that the ice had closed in behind them, so soon as they had +passed on their way. Yes, I was on their track. And again I heard the +soft rustling of the wings of Hope; and the rainbow-tinted hues of the +balloon were three-fold more brilliant than before. + +One other circumstance only could I note, ere we sped away again upon +the search--all who came hither had not departed hence. Side by side, in +a sheltered nook, beneath a towering pinnacle of ice, two wooden +crosses, peering above the snow, told plainly that beneath it two of the +Mariners were sleeping in death. And their names were rudely carved upon +the crosses; but again my sight, though in some respects preternaturally +sharpened, refused to satisfy my curiosity. Never mind, thought I, 'tis +a small proportion in so large a company. We must all die once; and +those who rest here, rest as well as though they were laid beneath the +"long-drawn aisle;" and their bodies are more enduringly embalmed by the +servants of the great Frost-King, than in olden days they could have +been by the hand of the cunning men of Egypt. + + * * * * * + +Upwards, and onwards, and steering ever a Westwardly course. And lo, at +length--oh, God be praised--yes I found the men I sought! Yes--no more +doubt--there I saw them below me, although, with the caprice incident to +dreams, I was prevented from dropping down in the midst of them, or +rendering myself either visible or audible. + +A strange scene it was, independent of its surpassing interest. Rocky +islands--vast packs and floes of ice--a lone ship beset, impeded, +entangled--a hundred pairs of lusty arms at work with ice-saws and axes, +striving to extricate her, by cutting a channel in the direction where +open water was visible. A little apart from the busy groups stood one +whom I instantly recognised as the Chief. Care had furrowed his brow, +and somewhat whitened his locks, and bowed his vigorous form; but manly +resolution was stamped upon his features, and command was in every +gesture. Bethink you how I strove to shout--how I struggled even to +throw myself down into their arms; but the dream-spell was on me; I was +invisible, perforce, and my tongue refused to give utterance. + +How I watched them! and look, the burly seaman who is a few steps ahead +of his comrades, tracking out the pathway to be dug--look, he starts as +though a rattlesnake were issuing from the snow under his feet. What is +it? He stoops, and I see his big brown hand tremble, as it assuredly +would not have done, if picking up a burning grenade. What is it, bold +tar, that moves thee thus? Ay, I see now, and know the cause, 'tis +yonder little slip of gay coloured silk on which are printed a few short +words. Jack could not read, it was evident enough; but he held up his +prize, and called out something which I could not hear, and his +mess-mates bounded to the spot. Foremost in the race was an athletic +young man, in the threadbare uniform of a Midshipman, who had left his +father's halls, five years ago, a beardless boy. Nor was the Chieftain +himself the last. How did it pass rapidly from hand to hand, that little +silken slip! How did its fall amongst them seem to change the whole +spirit of the scene! But look again, a gesture from the Chief, not as +one of authority this time, but rather as one of suggestion. It is +obeyed, however, and a hundred heads are bared; and by the movements of +their lips, I could see that every living man amongst them ejaculated a +hearty "amen" to the Chieftain's short but earnest thanksgiving to +Heaven, for the assistance now known to be at hand. Then I remembered +that the brave Sir John was a pious and a God-fearing man; and that the +veriest infidel sneers not at religion in the mouth of him, whose heart +is fearless and true. + +Visible to me, if not audible, what extravagant demonstrations of joy +ensued! I felt my little car vibrating to their force, as cheers, peal +upon peal, came rolling up into the welkin. Singular was it, too, that +though in my dream my ears were stopped, I could read in the expressive +features of those rejoicing Mariners their varied emotions, as they +vociferated their glee. I could see in their honest countenances, which +cheer was for Old England--which for their Queen--which for their +homes--which for their wives and little ones. Then they burst forth into +grotesque dancing, and slapping of each others' hands, and jumping on to +each others' backs, and a thousand merry antics, as though they were +children just let loose from school. And anon, in their mirth, running +races hither and thither, one, an officer amongst them, picked up +another printed silken slip, in general aspect like the former, but +addressed, it seemed, to the Chieftain by name. A second look would have +been sufficient to master its contents, but the young man looked not the +second time, he hurried with it straightway to Sir John. Rare instance +this, methought, of the working of a high sense of honour! + +And the veteran, what did it convey to him? I saw not; but I saw a tear +course down his furrowed cheek; and for the moment my ears were opened +to hear his half-smothered ejaculation, "Jane, Jane, God bless +thee--true wife, noble woman--we shall meet, thank God, we shall meet!" + +So I watched the merry throng, and strove in vain to catch portions of +their earnest talk. Suddenly, all eyes were turned upon the Captain; he +was speaking, and pointing to the West. A few words only seemed to come +from his lips; but those surely were words of command. In a moment, +every man, though half delirious with delight, seized upon his axe or +his saw. Work recommenced; labour was distributed in gangs. Every arm +was vigorously plied. The watch, descended from the mast-head to hear +the wondrous tidings, mounted lustily again to his look-out station. +Each man was busy at his post; and though there was perchance some +display of increased energy and activity, you would not have surmised +that these patient labourers had just exchanged the gathering gloom of +Despair for the radiant smiles of Hope. O gallant hearts of oak, thought +I--resolute, unflinching, enduring, in the prospect of the dreariest of +fates--orderly, obedient, loyal, in the thrill of unexpected +deliverance. + + * * * * * + +The remainder of my dream came upon me in snatches. + +Midway in a narrow strait, between lofty and sterile banks, a battered +and crippled barque was steering South. I knew the place to be Behring's +Straits, the vessel the Discovery Ship that I had just left amidst the +ice. So bruised, however, was she, so rent, and strained, and +maltreated, that but for the friendly aid of a consort's tow-rope, she +could scarcely have adventured even on this comparatively easy +navigation. At her peak floated the standard of England; but I strove in +vain to make out the colours of her welcome escort. Once, I thought I +saw plainly the Stars and Stripes of America; but these either faded +away, or assumed the appearance of the double-headed eagle of Russia. Be +that as it may, my sense of hearing was restored; and I could both hear +and see signs of continuous rejoicing and festivity. Sounds of mirth, +and song, and music, came upwards to me from those pleasant waters. +Many a canoe, too, filled with outlandish people, visited the ships; all +was wonder, and delight, and congratulation. + + * * * * * + +Hitherto there had been some consistency in my dream; for if my mode of +seeing were dream-like and fantastical, what I saw had the +verisimilitude of reality. But this was over, or at least was changed. +In place of being seated in the car of a balloon, I was now in the +maintop of Sir John's battered and leaky ship, a witness to what could +only have existence in the wild imaginings of a vision. For, methought +we were still steering to the South, when on our larboard hand uprose a +range of lofty hills, upon which it seemed to me that I could almost +have jumped. Down their sides rolled hundreds of little streams; and in +the waters, waist-deep, were myriads of human beings, delving, and +scraping, and washing, and picking up what seemed to me to be gold. But +they paused in their busy occupations, when they saw the approach of the +ships; and, holding up shining masses of the golden ore, shouted to the +long missing mariners to come to the mines, and gather a plentiful +harvest after their toils. Yardarm were we to the glittering hill-sides, +and the miners wore the air of men who rarely tempted in vain; but the +crew of the worn-out ship gaily shook their heads, laughed a pleasant +little laugh of defiance, and the words, "home, home," came floating up +to me from her deck. + + * * * * * + +Another trial. The men had theirs, and were staunch. It was the master's +turn. Heading still to the southwards, but almost becalmed, I saw a +swift steamer ranging fast up with us from astern. This time the Stars +and Stripes were plainly evident. She came alongside. Her captain was on +our deck in a moment, and engaged in earnest conversation with the good +Sir John. By the wave of his hand and a word caught here and there, I +knew that the kindly American was pressing the veteran to take passage +in his steamer. He drew a little almanac from his pocket, and there +seemed to be some comparison as to dates; but Sir John finally, with a +moistened eye, touched the other on the shoulder, pointed upwards to the +British ensign, and firmly shook his head. Away rushed the friendly +steamer, and the crowding passengers on her deck took leave of us with +reiterated cheers. + + * * * * * + +My dream was drawing to a close; but I yet was housed snugly in my new +position, when the look-out at the mast-head announced a sail. It might +have been the same day, or the next, or a week later. But he announced a +sail--then another--and another--and lastly a steamer under canvas. The +squadron bore down upon us. It consisted of two line-of-battle-ships, a +frigate, and a screw-propeller, under command of the British Admiral in +the Pacific. The greetings and salutes were over, and official etiquette +was somewhat relaxed under the intense excitement of the moment, when I +heard in my dream, on the quarter-deck of the flag ship, the Admiral +thus addressed the carpenter, with a certain meaning twinkle in his eye. +"That leaky old tub can never swim round Cape Horn, Carpenter." "I think +not, your Honour," discreetly replied Mr. Chips. "Youngster," continued +the Admiral turning quickly to a little middy, "go to Captain B. with my +compliments, and tell him to call an immediate survey on the Discovery +Ship." The little middy touched his cap respectfully, and off he jumped +with his message. "Mr. C.," cried the Admiral to the other midshipman +who stood by the signal-locker, "signalize the propeller to light her +fires, and get up all steam." In thirty seconds four bits of bunting +flew out from the mizen royal-mast head. + + * * * * * + +The last object that I saw in my vision was the figure of a woman, +walking the ramparts of an old Spanish city on the Pacific coast of +Central America. Matronly, and dignified in her air and bearing, her +featured bore the impress of past anxiety, but across them flitted at +times the consciousness of approaching joy. She gazed wistfully ever and +anon seaward; and my heart yearned to tell her all that I had so lately +seen. The herd of vulgar gold-hunters, who thronged the battlements, +respected her, for her long-continued sorrows, her abiding faith, her +matchless perseverance. They pressed not on her steps. + +I, too, who knew more than they did, how I longed to see the +meeting--but no, no, 'twere better that it should be sacred. + +I had not the choice; at this moment, forced upon my unwilling ears, +through the key-hole came a tiny voice, "Please, Sir, mother says won't +you get up; the stage will be here in ten minutes." + + + + + WOMAN NEVER AT A LOSS. + + _An Eastern Apologue--From the French._ + + +----I read her my manuscript; I had been abusing woman I must confess. +Not a single good word could I say for the sex; and long did my +companion and I battle the point. Many truisms, much that was strictly +veritable had I brought forward, and she had been obliged to yield to +the justice of almost all my remarks, though disclaiming against my +slander at the same time. Finally--"You intend to marry, yourself?" she +asked. + +"Certainly," I replied; "to find a woman bold enough to take me, after +having convinced her that I knew all the duplicity of the sex, will +henceforward be the dearest of my hopes." + +"Is this resignation or fatuity?" + +"That is my secret." + +"Well, then," she said, "most learned doctor of conjugal arts and +sciences, permit me to relate to you a little Eastern apologue, that I +read long ago in a small volume that was offered to us every year in the +shape of an almanac." I bowed my delighted attention. The pretty +creature threw herself back in her _chaise longue_, rested her little +feet upon the fender, and fixed her arch dark eyes upon me. + +"At the commencement of the Empire," she began, "the ladies brought into +fashion a game which consisted in accepting nothing from the person with +whom one agreed to play, without saying the word 'Iadeste.' An affair of +this kind lasted, as you may suppose, whole weeks, and the height of +cleverness was to surprise one another into receiving a trifle without +uttering the magic word." + +"Even a kiss?" + +"Oh! I have twenty times gained 'Iadeste' in that way," said she, +laughing. "It was, I believe, about this time, apropos of this game of +which the origin is either Arabian or Chinese, that my apologue obtained +the honours of print." + +"But if I tell it to you," she interrupted, looking doubtfully at me, +and passing her taper finger slowly across her lips, with a charmingly +coquettish gesture, "promise me to insert it at the end of your book!" + +"Will you not be bestowing a treasure? I owe you already so many +obligations, I do not hesitate to add this; therefore, I accept it at +once." She smiled maliciously, and went on in these words. + +"A philosopher had compiled a very large collection of all the tricks +our sex can play; and so, to guard himself against our wiles, he carried +this constantly about him. One day, in travelling, he found himself near +an Arabian encampment. A young woman, sitting under the shade of a +palm-tree, got up suddenly, on the approach of the stranger, and invited +him so obligingly to repose under her tent that he could not resist +accepting. The husband of this lady was then absent. The philosopher had +scarcely established himself upon the soft carpets, when his graceful +hostess presented him with fresh dates and a vessel full of milk; he +could not help seeing the rare perfection of the hands which offered the +beverage and the fruit. But to recover from the confusion into which the +charms of the young Arabian had thrown him, and whose snares he began to +dread, the wise man drew out his book and read! The enchanting creature, +piqued at this disdain, said to him in the sweetest voice, 'That book +must be very interesting, since it seems to be the only thing you +consider worthy of notice. Would it be an indiscretion to ask the name +of the science of which it treats!' The philosopher replied without +raising his eyes, 'The subject of this book is beyond the comprehension +of woman.' This refusal excited more and more the curiosity of the young +Arabian. She put forward the prettiest little foot that ever left its +transient trace upon the fleeting sands of the desert. The sage began to +waver; his truant looks would wander toward those dainty feet till his +eyes, too powerfully tempted, finally mingled the flame of their +admiration with the fire that darted from the ardent and black orbs of +the young Asiatic. Again, then, she asked in her soft low tones, 'what +is the book?' and the charmed philosopher replied, 'I am the author of +this work. It contains a record of all the tricks that woman ever +invented!' + +"'What! all--absolutely all?' inquired the daughter of the desert. + +"'Yes--all! And it is only in studying woman constantly, that I have +been able to overcome my fear of them.' + +"'Ah!' said the Arabian, dropping the long lashes of her snowy eyelids; +and then throwing suddenly upon the pretended sage the full lustre of +her Eastern eyes she made him forget in one instant his valuable book +and its invaluable contents. Behold my philosopher the most impassioned +of men! + +"Thinking that he perceived in the manner of his young hostess a slight +touch of coquetry, the stranger hazarded an avowal of his adoration. How +could he have resisted? The sky was so blue, the sand shone in the +distance like a blade of gold; the wind brought love upon its wings, and +the wife of the absent Arab seemed to reflect all the brilliancy with +which she was surrounded. Her bright eyes, too, became liquid; and she +seemed, by a slight movement of her graceful head, to consent to listen +to the honeyed words of the quondam philosopher. + +"The wise man was in a full tide of eloquence when the distant gallop of +a horse was heard rapidly approaching. + +"'We are lost!' cried the alarmed Fatima; 'my husband is coming. He is +jealous as a tiger, and still more fierce. In the name of the Prophet, +and if you love your life, hide yourself in this chest!' The frightened +author, seeing nothing else to do, rushed into the chest; his hostess +shut it down, locked it, and took the key. She went to meet her spouse, +and after several caresses, which put him into the best of humour, 'I +must tell you,' said she, 'a very singular adventure.' + +"'I listen, my gazelle,' said the Arabian, seating himself upon a +cushion and crossing big legs after the Oriental fashion. + +"'There came here to-day a kind of philosopher; he pretended to have +collected in a book all the treacheries of which my sex is capable; and +this false sage--spoke--to--me of love!' + +"'Well?' + +"'I listened to him!' At these words the Arab bounded like a lion, and +drew his kangiar. The philosopher, from the bottom of the chest, heard +all, and sent to the devil his book, woman, and all the men of Arabia +Petrea. + +"'Fatima!' cried the husband, if you wish to live, answer! 'Where is the +traitor?' + +"Horrified at the storm she had raised, Fatima threw herself at the feet +of her lord, and trembling under the menacing steel of the poniard, she +pointed out the coffer, with a single look, as prompt as it was timid. +Then rising, ashamed, she drew the key from her girdle and gave it to +her jealous lord. But--as he turned furiously from her, the malicious +beauty burst into a shout of laughter, and laying her white hand upon +his shoulder, 'Iadeste!' she exclaimed; 'at last, I shall have my +beautiful gold chain! Give it to me; you have lost. Another time, Fazom, +have a little better memory!' The husband stupefied, let fall the key, +and presenting the golden chain, on his knees, offered his dear Fatima +to bring her all the jewels of all the caravans that passed that year, +if she would only give up such cruel methods of gaining the 'Iadeste.' +Then, as he was an Arabian and did not like to lose his gold chain, +though it was to his wife, he remounted his steed and went off, +grumbling at his ease in the desert--for he loved Fatima too much to +show her his regrets. + +"At last, the young woman released the philosopher more dead than alive +from his prison, and said to him, gravely, + +"'Mr. Philosopher, don't forgot to insert this trick in your +collection.'" + + + + + MANDRAGORA--BY THE DOZEN. + + +And so you cannot coax yourself off to sleep? Why? Were you beguiled by +their exquisite flavour into rashly smoking three or four of those +potent Regalias, with which your friend, the rich stock-broker, +professes to aid the digestion of his guests, after a lengthened sitting +at his luxurious table? Or did the rounded arm and taper fingers of his +fair wife, presiding over the mysteries of the silver urn, tempt you to +indulgence in too frequent cups of Souchong? Perhaps you are +endeavouring, in spite of yourself, to solve some knotty problem in +politics, or love, or chess, or mathematics. Perhaps you have a +considerable bill to take up to-morrow, with a very slim balance at your +banker's. Perhaps you have a heart-ache; perhaps a head-ache. At any +rate, your nerves and senses are painfully strained; and you feel as +though you would give the world and all, for a lullaby that would serve +its purpose. My good Sir, compose your mind. If you can't sleep and +dream, as you desire--dream and sleep. Reverse, I say, the common order. +And do not sneer at the suggestion, unless you prefer tossing about all +night in vain. The process is not only not impossible; it is not half +so difficult as you might suppose, presuming--as I have a right to +presume, in regard to my reader--that your imagination is not hopelessly +inert. + +Some persons recommend to the restless and wide-awake the repetition of +scraps from books, in prose or verse, just as though every one had a +plenteous store of "elegant extracts" garnered up in his memory, and as +though authors specially aimed at being somniferous. There are indeed +not a few among them, who unavoidably achieve this distinction; and the +advice might not really be bad, if you could con over--once would be +sufficient--Mr. A.'s last pamphlet on political economy, or the Rev. Mr. +B.'s last sermon. On the whole however, inasmuch as your favourite +passages--should you know any of them by heart--may be the very opposite +of soothing in their tendencies, this mode of wooing slumber can +scarcely be pronounced successful. + +You must commence, I say, by dreaming, if you would compel yourself +gently to sleep; but before I proceed to introduce to you my list of +available prescriptions in this line, I note one with which my readers +may possibly be familiar, having learned it in their school-boy days. +You will not now be told for the first time, that a drowsy sensation may +be induced by musing upon--or dreaming of, which is the same thing--a +field of tall and ripe barley, swept by fresh autumnal gales. The rise +and fall of each bowed head, with its feathery and graceful spikes, +combines well with the undulating motion of the whole and the varied +play of light and shade. The idea is otherwise expressed by the British +Laureate in "The Poet's Song," one of his minor pieces; "and waves of +shadow," says he, "went over the wheat." Nevertheless it is clear that +he missed the proper application of the thought, for, in place of +lulling the beholder to forgetful repose, the sight seems to have made +him break out into a song so loud that wild swans paused to listen in +their flight, larks fluttered down to earth, swallows gave up hunting +bees, snakes slipped under sprays, wild hawks stared over sparrows +stricken under their claws, and the very nightingales were set +a-thinking. Truly a sad perversion this of a golden opportunity! But +your rhymsters were ever a crazy race. When they deal with their fellows +generally, we all know how they botch poor human nature. What, then, can +be expected, when poets undertake to figure out one of themselves? +Still, let us improve the occasion. Barley-fields or wheat-fields are +well enough in their way; only, if you conjure up this image, I would +advise you to season it with an abundance of red poppies intermingled +with the legitimate crop, and a very careful attempt on your part to +number these interlopers one by one, preparatory, if so it please you, +to flipping off their heads. With due allowance, therefore, for its lack +of novelty, this dream may be admitted into our collection. + +And it may be proper to remark at the outset that, though the dreams +whereof I propose to treat are sufficiently distinct in their kind, it +is desirable, in the practical use of them, to run them one into +another--to fuse them unconsciously as it were, without being over-nice +as to the point at which one ends and another begins. It is not +requisite, however, for this reason, that they should all be packed into +one paragraph, like a daily paper's report of one of Mr. Morrill's +speeches on the Tariff, or a Secretary of the Treasury's Report. You +shall have each dainty conceit served up in its own dish, so that, +furthermore by the way, you can take them in such order as suits your +own good pleasure. This view of the matter relieves me also from the +necessity of formal arrangement. It is altogether unimportant which +fancy comes uppermost. The main thing is to shut off all thought +concerning the actualities of life, eschewing reference to your loves, +your hates, your wrestlings with circumstance, your mental cares, your +bodily ailments. I repeat it: you must dream, if you would sleep. +Counting the breezy barley-field above mentioned as one, I believe I can +supply you with a dozen subjects. + +Your physical eye is closed, of course--your mind's eye being, on that +account, all the more keenly alive to impression, and the better able to +compass an unembarrassed range. Set it, then, upon a spiral stairway +endless so far as I can imagine it, though you may perchance by looking +earnestly upward discover whereto it leads, or by peering intently +downward find out its base. But did I say a stairway? That was not what +I meant; and dreamers, of all men, are at liberty to change or modify +their views. I should have said an inclined plane. Let it be steep, +smooth, slippery, broad enough to admit the passage of several figures +simultaneously, and guarded by bannisters on either side. When, fatigued +with the vain attempt to satisfy your doubts as to the safety of this +strange structure, your curiosity craves enlightenment as to its uses, I +pray you to observe how I would have it peopled. Sliding tumultuously +adown the balustrades, lo and behold an innumerable throng of Cherubs in +unbroken succession, coming whence and going whither you know not, but +each the counterpart of his predecessors, and each flapping his little +wings to maintain his balance, rendered precarious as it is by his +inability to sit a-straddle. As for the inclined plane itself thus +fantastically flanked, you soon perceive that it is the _via sacra_ of +many an Ethardo, whom you have known in the flesh or in the +spirit--Ethardo, the marvellous gymnast, who mounted and descended steep +slopes at the Sydenham Crystal Palace, by trundling inflated balls +beneath his feet. Up and down, down and up, some painfully and some +skilfully pediculating, your Ethardi pass and repass each other, +disorderly yet in order. Name them and salute them as they go by. You +have probably more acquaintances among them than I; but I recognise +Robinson Crusoe and Count Bismarck, Tarquinius Priscus and Horace +Greeley, John Ruskin and Lucrezia Borgia, Mrs. Fry and Edgar Poe, Mr. +Gladstone and Dion Boucicault, John Bright and Mrs. Grundy, Ben. Wade +and Victor Hugo, Pio Nono and the Great Mogul. Note, too, the various +material moulded into circular form, and blown up by way of ambulant +footstool; now it is a crown, now a crozier, now a bag of gold, now a +wind-bag, now a woman's heart, now a man's fame done up in a newspaper +and properly puffed. Ring the changes upon these Ethardi and the motive +power that each applies, O my wakeful friend; and at least you may lose +sight of your own individuality. Or, take a slide down the banisters +with the young Cherubs, and perchance you may touch bottom--in Lethe. + +Not so? Let us proceed. There's a man at our Club, whose reputation is +so solidly built up, though on an ethereal basis, that I never knew any +one presume to question it. He is an absolute master of one +accomplishment; unrivalled, and--to the best of my belief, though I +can't vouch for the fact--unenvied. Admiring spectators gather round him +and applaud; but, if he have ambitious imitators, they rehearse in +secret. So far, he does well--ay, with consummate tact and unfailing +certainty--what few men can do at all, unless once in a while at dreary +intervals, and then by accident. Not to keep you in suspense, which is +antagonistic to repose and slumber, this young paragon contrives to +throw off his cigar-smoke from his lips, at will, in an unerring series +of the most lovely rings or wreaths, which, as they float and rise in +tremulous succession, strangely fascinate the looker-on. It may be that +this feat is not much of an achievement, morally or physically or +intellectually considered. It may be also that the Club does not do +itself much honour, in setting so high a value on this performance. But +what will you? In the palmy days of Greece, a man acquired a certain +celebrity by his precision and address in throwing peas through a +needle's eye--the peas being, I presume, much smaller or the needles +much larger, than any with which we sow or make soup in these degenerate +days. Still, so highly do I appreciate perseverance in the acquirement +of any difficult art, that I purpose doing much more for my proficient +in smoke, than was done for his man of peas by Philip of Macedon. That +bushel of ammunition was a scurvy reward. I confer immortality, by thus +registering a fact and hinting a name. And I do this from a sense of +gratitude, wherein I trust that you will participate, so soon as you +perceive the connection that may surely be traced, between the smoke +thus artistically and gracefully jetted into air, and the drowsiness by +which you would fain be possessed. Do but imagine a score of your +acquaintances round a table, each an adept in this way, and each filling +the atmosphere with coronet after coronet of vapour thrown up from +meerschaum or cheroot. Whose are the most frequent, whose the most +perfect, whose retain their form the longest? Watch the little circlets +as they wave and tremble; and award the palm of merit fairly. Nay, even +if you tell me that you are innocent of the weed and nauseated by its +odour, none the less shall this fantasy be available. I saw once a +ship-of-war firing a salute; and lo, from one of the guns went up to the +pure sky, in magnified proportions, just such a wreath as those I have +described, as delicate yet as clearly defined, and touched withal with a +suspicion of prismatic colours as it caught the rays of the sun. An +enthusiastic painter might have deemed it an invisible Fairy's aureole; +a sentimental milliner would have set it down as the flounce of her +unseen robe. Whether the gunner of this occasion had taken a lesson from +my friend at the Club, I cannot pretend to decide; I only assure you +that I witnessed the phenomenon. You have, therefore, but to multiply as +well as magnify. Think of a squadron, a fleet, all the navies of the +world, sailing slowly and majestically in unending circuit, as the +custom is when they bombard some hapless fort. The saluting is +continuous; the movement never ceases; but the big cannon are noiseless +now and harmless. Space is joyous with the innumerable wreaths of bluish +vapour; but the red slaughter and the accursed tumult of the sea-fight +are not heard or seen. Ponder long and lazily, I counsel you, over the +evolutions of the ships and the convolutions of the smoke. Those may +lure you, possibly, into the Waters of Oblivion; these may spirit you +away to the land of the Lotos-Eaters. + +Another dream invites you; but it must be sketched with more reticence, +and this for two reasons. In the first place, the subject has become +identified with that portion of theatrical entertainments usually found +to be the least soporific. In the second place, if your imagination were +encouraged to free range hereupon, you might be foolish enough to +connect its poetic motion and its charm with certain souvenirs of a +certain fair friend of yours, whom it were wiser to forget if you desire +to profit by this Mandragorean system. Briefly, then, I commend a +Ballet, as not altogether unworthy of trial--but not, be it observed, +that thing of gas lamps, and pink tights, and leers, and _poses +plastiques_, over which young America goes into raptures. By no means. +Picture to yourself a smooth sward beneath clustered pines, a tender +moonlight, and Nymphs--not semi-nude as is the fashion of our day, +neither affecting the contortions of the gymnast as in our modern +caricature of dancing--but robed in swansdown, with nodding plumes and +tasseled fuschias pendent, tripping it, if you will, on "light fantastic +toe," yet through stately and solemn measures. You remember Giulio +Romano's dance of Apollo and the Muses in the Pitti at Florence? Take +that for your model; then place the figures to your liking. Nor forget +to add an orchestra of Aeolian harps. Let them hang among the +pine-branches, and sigh forth Weber's Last Waltz, just to set the groups +in motion. Then fail not in your breathings, O soft night-wind; foot it +daintily, ye wildwood Nymphs--so may sleep steal gently upon the +restless one, while yet his ear and eye are unsated! + +Another dream: blue water again, though, this time, with a golden beach. +It is calm; but the surf rolls in languidly, with low murmurous sound, +as it will roll, be the sea's surface never so smooth, beyond the +involuntary breakers. What graceful bends and curves are marked, for an +instant, with frothy pencil, upon the shining sands! How they sparkle +with evanescent light! How soon the tiny bubbles disappear! But you have +watched all this, many and many a time; and stale indeed hereon were +description and moralizing! Why, then, this present allusion? What is +there in it, tending to lull the acuter sensibilities? What offers it of +gently-soothing exercise to the overwrought and throbbing brain? This is +the reply. Popular belief gives to every ninth or tenth wave, tumbling +in upon the shore, supremacy over its fellows. It swells up into fuller +volume. It sweeps landward with a more majestic force. This is the +story; but I would have you test its correctness. Is it the ninth, or +the tenth? So, lie down yonder upon the mass of dry sea-weed piled +against the rocks, and count patiently a dozen, a score, a hundred, a +thousand waves as they come in. You shall tell me, to-morrow morning, +whether the ninth have it, or the tenth--whether there be any regularity +at all. + +Again: if we do not, like the Roman Augurs, watch and interpret the +flight of birds as of good or evil omen, some of them--I mean some of +the birds, not of the Augurs--may help us to become, for a while, +independent of fate and fortune. Did you ever, for instance, sit at a +window on a summer's evening, and take note how a flight of swallows +skims the air? They are not very numerous, perhaps; but as they dart to +and fro, and cross and recross before you, their number appears +indefinite, and the zigzag peculiarity of their movements can only be +verified by the closest possible scrutiny. I have satisfied myself that +the motion is regular, and that it describes an elongated figure of 8, +traced as I am sure you have often traced it upon ice with the outer +edge of your skates. Now, though I tell you this on the faith of my own +personal observation, you are not bound to accept my word for it. Dream +therefore that, while you are blending two ovals into one figure upon +the frozen pond, swallows overhead are keeping time to your gyrations. +The winter sport and the summer bird may be made to harmonize, as it is +only in a dream; and close watching will enable you hereafter to support +or disavow my theory. + +Again: return, if you please, from air to water, for you have by no +means exhausted the resources of this latter element, in the way of +material for dreams. Are you an angler? Did you never drowse and doze +over your rod, when "sitting in a pleasant shade," on a sultry +afternoon, not a nibble disturbed the equanimity of your float? The mere +thought were suggestive of a nap--suggestive, that is, to the indolently +disposed, with whom however you may not be classed, seeing that your +mind is in a state of unwholesome excitement, the which it is my +business to allay. And so, I pray you, look deeper into this matter; pry +down into the blue transparent depths, and mark the fish that swarm +about your hook. Is it paste thereon, or a wriggling worm? Never mind; +the bait is singularly attractive. To say nothing of the float gently +bobbing ever and anon, and of the tell-tale ripples rising to the +surface, you can see with your own eyes how victims dally with +temptation; how they course to and fro, and round and round; how one +eyes the bait, and another smells it, and another mumbles it; how one +swims away, and presently returns, and with him his mate in size and +colour. Are they over-fed or over-cautious, that they thus play round, +but will not gorge? Does one egg on his brother to try the suspicious +morsel, hoping himself to profit by his brother's experience? Is there +so much resemblance to human foibles discernible down there, among these +poor little inhabitants of the waters under the Earth? The question is +worth studying out--especially by a sleepless man, who, while +contemplating the forms, the motions, the manners, and the minds of +fish, may unconsciously swallow the bait that is thus dropped before +him. + +It was my intention to devote a long and distinct paragraph to each of +four other subjects, that appear to me no less adapted for the +consideration of waking dreamers. These are, respectively, Ghosts, +Labyrinths, Regattas, and the Eleven Thousand Virgins of Cologne. But it +is well to leave something to the reader's perspicacity and inventive +powers. Indeed, why should he not fancy--dream is the more appropriate +term--that he himself has undertaken to complete these special +paragraphs? Let his imaginary pen glide, swift and effortless, over his +imaginary foolscap. Ten to one, he will fill in and elaborate my +outlines, far better than I could work them out myself. For instance, I +do but mention Ghosts; he might summon to his presence, and bid troop +before him, hosts upon hosts of his friends or relatives, or of his +chosen heroes and heroines in romance and history. He might clothe them +in white or in grey; he might attire them in their ordinary habiliments; +in short, he might parade them according to his own taste, without +reference to mine, which whould be a clear point in his favour. +Accidentally, I might call up some spirit that had vexed and thwarted +him through life, for no man whose experience is worth remembering hath +not had his enemies, hidden or revealed, and very few are the men, fewer +the women, who have never disposed of a rival. My reader of the moment, +invested with my functions, will of course evoke none but his familiars, +the well-bred and well-behaved. Let me be grateful accordingly that, by +transferring the responsibility to him, I escape the chance of bringing +forward, innocently and inopportunely, some social Banquo. And so I pass +on, with one single word of caution to my substitute in completing this +paragraph: let him not convert his pen into a Pre-Raphaelitish +paint-brush. Airy beings must be rather hinted than described. The +realism of anatomical plates, applied to them, would spoil the reader's +dream _in toto_, and wake him up perhaps more hopelessly than ever.--As +to Labyrinths, the course is obvious. Take a dozen of these quaint +contrivances, and place them side by side, as Paulsen or Paul Morphy may +place the sundry chess-boards whereat he is to play, simultaneously and +blindfolded, an equivalent number of games. Pop, over the hedges and +into the very core of each one, any personage against whom you have a +grudge, or any one of the Ghosts just convened that may have been +troublesome; and then challenge the incarcerated individuals to find +their way out of limbo, by the gravelled pathways. Should one of the +whole number emerge, through extraordinary good luck, quietly tip him +back again over the hedge, or defy him to retrace his steps and regain +the centre. You may enlarge this suggestion, I think, into a paragraph +reasonably long.--The same with Regattas. I am almost sorry that I gave +up to you so felicitous a topic; for all ages and all waters may be laid +under contribution. From Noah's Ark shall float the commodore's broad +pendant. The ocean shall be covered, so far as eye can range, with +countless craft of every build and rig. And all shall glide about in +quiet, inasmuch as oars shall be muffled, and steamers, having learned +to consume their own smoke, shall be taught equally to swallow their +hideous noises. The marshalling of the competitors and the order of the +racing are left to your discretion; but there need be no lack of +interest. Caiques from Stamboul and gondolas from Venice shall be +frequent; and pirogues from the Malayan peninsula shall over-haul the +three trim yacht-schooners that raced across the Atlantic from New-York. +Here Cleopatra's barge shall be matched against an Esquimaux kayak; +there a catamaran from Coringa shall bump the Yale College eight. If +you cannot make something out of all this picturesque confusion, and if +you cannot contrive to lose therein both yourself and the reader of your +paragraph, the fault will be yours, not mine.--There remain the Eleven +Thousand Virgins of Cologne. What are you to do with them? Simply this. +Endow each one of them with personal attributes; let each have form and +features, distinct from the others of her sisterhood. Is the task +difficult? So much the better. After a cool thousand or so of these +individual portraitures, you may begin to fumble in vain for separate +identities. In fact, who knows whether you may not be compelled to take +refuge hopelessly in sleep, the very mark at which both of us are +aiming? + +And now, the foregoing long and subdivided paragraph being brought at +last to an end, it were disingenuous to shirk an admission, that the +"who's who" is not so plainly discernible therein as it might be. You +and I, and the reader and the writer, and the giver and recipient of +advice, will be accused by the critic of being somewhat queerly mixed +up. What, then? Are not vagueness and uncertainty of style specially +appropriate to the circumstances? Who would thank us for precision? No, +no; carry clearness, if you like, into your mathematical definitions; +but leave us our mistiness when we treat of the mysterious. Nor, on the +whole, am I otherwise than content with my suggested assumption of +temporary and imaginary authorship, as one of the methods for quieting +a fevered brain. How pleasant to dream that rival Publishers are +contending for your manuscript poems; that rival Managers are waylaying +you for a sight of your unwritten comedy! Besides, by adding authorship +to the list that closed with the damsels of Cologne, the number is +brought up to eleven, so that, when I wind up with my trump card, the +promised dozen of dreams will be complete, and I shall be enabled to +dispense with the "waves of shadow" on the wheat-field, which I +acknowledged were not my original conception. + +But am I too late in bringing forward my last and happiest idea?--though +for that matter, when the tale of Mazeppa was concluded, "the King had +been an hour asleep," and yet Mazeppa's story was told out ne'ertheless. +For your immediate purpose therefore, or for use on your next sleepless +night, I entrust you with the crowning opiate. Recollect that you are +dreaming; and dream that all your intimates and relatives, all of whom +you have ever heard or read with interest, men and women and children, +people of every age and clime--imagine them, I say, all seated before +you at a round table. How any table is to accommodate so vast a +multitude, is their affair, and yours; the dreamer is never baulked by +technical impediments. Have your eye upon them all at once--another +little difficulty, to be overcome only by mortals in the incipient stage +of somnolency. Or, if your mind's eye obstinately refuses to enlarge its +orbit in this direction, so as to embrace such a vast and heterogeneous +assemblage, gather, I beseech you, into one focus any such crowd as you +habitually see. The Sunday audience of the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher +will answer the purpose; or you may fancy yourself at one of the old +Tammany Hall Meetings; or at the Opera, on a fashionable night; or in +the Senate at Washington during the impeachment of Mr. Johnson. It +matters not when and where; but the proceedings strike you as +insufferably dull, and you give vent to your feelings in a yawn that may +neither be suppressed nor concealed. Suddenly, moved by the same impulse +and unable also to control or hide its effect, the jaw of every soul +present is dropped to the lowermost, and all mouths are open in a +universal yawn. It is not catching; it is caught. Beecher gapes, and the +elect are gaping round him. Isaiah Rynders the same, and the same with +his "unterrified" hearers. Parepa-Rosa stands open-mouthed in dumb show +of singing, while humming-birds perched on chignons vibrate, as they +vainly try to resist the irresistible. Gape the Republicans, and gape +the Democrats, in response to the gaping Butler on his legs. There is, +in Shakespeare's words--though his ignorant editors have transformed it +into a "gap"--there is, I say, "a gape in Nature." Will you alone hold +out: I can't believe it. You have yawned in concert, I am morally +certain. Indeed, if, as these long-drawn prescriptions come to an end, +you be not far on the road to forgetfulness, I can give you but one +parting counsel. Nothing else can serve and save you--you must +incontinently take morphine. + + + + + DOCTOR PABLO'S PREDICTION. + + Doctor Pablo went back a lonely man, to his old mother, in France, + after having passed twenty years in the Philippines.-- + + +He did so. We can vouch thus much for the correctness of _Household +Words_ of the 6th inst., whence the above-named quotation is copied. And +as the subject of it is a remarkable personage, and this unexpected +meeting with him in print has revived in us not a few pleasant +recollections, we will take the liberty of informing our readers how we +came to have personal knowledge of Don Pablo--for this, and not Doctor +Pablo, was his cognomen, at least amongst his friends. + +Embarking at Bombay, many a long year since, in the East India Company's +steamer _Atalanta_, for passage up the Red Sea, we soon fell into +acquaintance with a party of foreigners, partially isolated as they were +from the crowd of Anglo-Indians--men, women, and children--returning by +the over-land route to their native country. They (the foreigners) were +five in number, two Frenchmen, two Dutchmen, and a Spaniard. Of the +three last-mentioned we have small recollection. Of the Frenchmen, one +was Don Pablo. + +The other, who headed the whole party, was Monsieur Adolphe Barrot, a +brother of Odilon and Ferdinand Barrot, whose names are familiar to +those conversant with recent French history. He was at the time bound to +Paris, on leave, from his post of Consul-General at Manilla. At an early +period of his career he had been attached to the French Legation at +Washington, or at least had travelled through this country. +Subsequently, when Consul at Carthagena, he distinguished himself by his +resolute and humane interposition on occasion of a certain revolutionary +outbreak. After his return from the East, he served as French Minister +to Naples and to Lisbon, and now, we believe, holds the same appointment +at Brussels. Between this man of cultivated mind, polished manners, and +companionable qualities, and Don Pablo, whose exterior smacked but +little of intercourse with "the world," there was evidently a bond of no +common sort. Blunt, earnest, truthful, with quick perceptions and +impulses of the kindest nature, there was something very fresh and +irresistibly attractive in the character of Don Pablo. We did not wonder +at the intimacy. Opposites are drawn together. In friendly and social +intercourse the time sped away. + +At that period, the steamers bound from Bombay to Suez touched at +Cosseir, a port two days' sail South of Suez, and about 150 miles East +of Thebes on the Nile. The object was to land passengers who cared to +cross the intervening Desert, as the quickest mode of gaining Upper +Egypt. To Cosseir we were ourselves destined; our new friends being on +their way direct to France, _via_ Suez, Cairo, and the Mediterranean, +and having made none of the ordinary provision for the less-frequented +route. But we plied them strongly with argument and entreaty, to divert +them from their intended limited course; not forgetting the threat of +ridicule in a Parisian drawing-room, where a man who had missed such a +chance would never be able to hold up his head. Finally, they consented. +After a voyage of sixteen days, the coaling process at Aden included, +three groups of travellers landed at Cosseir. We had dealings with two +of them. + +For although we had persuaded Mr. Barrot, Don Pablo and their +associates, to take our route, we could not precisely undertake to +accompany them. We were to travel over the same ground, but not +together; for we had engaged, ere we left Bombay, to join fortunes with +a small party of veterans and valetudinarians who had made elaborate +preparations for the journey, and were not sorry to have the aid of one +who did not belong to either class, but who was perhaps for that very +reason more competent than they themselves to take charge of their +caravan. And then there was a lady, and a lady's maid, and a valet, and +the thousand and one encumbrances that are incidental to such +appendages. What scenes we had with the camel-drivers! What tons of +baggage to be loaded! what irritations! what drollery! what delay! +Landing early in the morning, the preparations for a start occupied us +till a late hour in the afternoon; nor had we ever a more laboursome +time of it. Lightly cumbered, and with only a twentieth part of the +fuss, Don Pablo and the others had preceded us; but as the same +camping-places in this five days' journey are generally frequented, we +hoped to see them from time to time. Fortune kindly ordained that we +should join them permanently. + +It was on a Saturday afternoon that we started from Cosseir, with a +train "too numerous to mention." Night had fallen, ere we pitched our +tents--the writer sharing that of Sir C. M. At day-light on the +following morning, we strolled off to the French encampment; were again +pressed to join its occupants; were again compelled reluctantly to +refuse. Away they went. We returned to our own quarters, where to our +horror, in place of hearing "boot and saddle" sounded, the edict was +issued from my lady's tent, that there was to be no marching that day. +Bah! how provoking! we could not ask for an honourable discharge; but +how we longed to desert! Matters fell out, however, more pleasantly then +we had a right to expect. Breakfast was served, with the elaborateness +of a _fete champetre_, at eleven o'clock; and as the hostess gracefully +poured out the coffee, the talk turned upon those who had sped onward. +Presently, by a lucky chance, it occured to her, or to the nominal head +of the party, that dawdling away a Sunday on a barren speck of +Mahommedan sand was not in itself the essential duty of a plain +Christian, nor specially agreeable to a man whose thoughts were keenly +set upon the marvels of Luxor and Karnac. In short, it was mildly +suggested to us that, as the organization and first move of the +caravan--the real and only difficulties--were accomplished, there would +be nothing ungallant in leaving the party to its more orthodox or more +leisurely progress. Our coyness may be imagined; but we consented at +length to take this view of the matter, and at noon called up our +camels. Soon were our trunks and slender stock of kettles and sauce-pans +slung upon one; ourselves astride of a second; and on a third, the Arab +driver, with whom there was no communicating but by signs. A twelve +hours' ride brought us at midnight to the tent of our friends--they +having luckily found one available at Cosseir. We raised the canvas from +the pegs, and saluted Don Pablo with a "Here I am!" Many years have +elapsed since that night, but we can fancy now that we hear his genial +rejoinder, "I knew you'd come!" In less time than it takes to tell it, +we had edged in our bedding upon the sand, and were one of the +Seven--no, six--Sleepers. + +Had not a _Howadji_ of this Western hemisphere made the Desert and the +Nile so peculiarly his own, that it is presumption for a common pen to +follow in his track, we might be tempted still further to ransack our +memory for pleasant recollections of Don Pablo. Let it suffice to say, +that with these pleasant companions we roughed it across the +camel-track, in a style of discomfort and good humour rarely surpassed; +explored the wonders of Thebes and the Tombs of the Kings; floated down +to Cairo; clambered the Great Pyramid; smoked pipes with Pashas; and +finally embarked at Alexandria, on the blue waters of the +Mediterranean. The farewell was said at Syra, one of the islands of the +Aegean. The "five we supped with yesternight" were bound to Malta and +Marseilles--we to Athens and Constantinople. As we shook hands at +parting with Don Pablo, he quietly remarked, with that cheerful gravity +that so well became him, and in allusion to a young lady who had been +our three days' acquaintance on board the steamer--"_Adieu, mon cher; +vous epouserez Mademoiselle._" + +We never saw Don Pablo, but once afterwards. Several months had elapsed. +His prophecy had been fulfilled. The lady in question was on our arm, as +in sauntering under the arcades of the Palais Royale in Paris, we met +our old associate. There was a hearty greeting; but when we reminded him +of his prediction and formally introduced him, we remember that he cut +the colloquy abruptly short (as it then seemed to us), and turned away +with an expression of face for which we were at a loss to account, being +ignorant of all the details of his history. Did the memory of the +Peninsula of Iala-Iala, and of the loving wife whom he had buried there, +fall too suddenly and too sadly upon his sensitive and affectionate +spirit?--We cannot say; but this was the beginning and the ending of our +knowledge of Doctor Pablo, until we unexpectedly met him in print. + + + + + THE NEW HAMPSHIRE ALPS. + + +It is not very much of a walk from the Glen House up the Eastern face of +Mount Washington--less than three hours at a leisurely pace will +accomplish it; and on a fine day it would be next to impossible to lose +one's-self, if alone. Half the distance or thereabouts, your track lies +through a wood, acceptable enough as offering shelter from a July sun, +but curtailing your views annoyingly. However, all things end; and if +your range of sight be somewhat "cabined, cribbed, confined," at the +start, you have no cause for complaint on that score after once emerging +from covert, for the rocks, bleak, bare, and irregular, that are +scattered all around, though large enough to compel a careful picking of +the way between them by no means limit the vision. But the approach has +been a hundred times described, and I will only say of it, at the risk +of repetition, that he who comes up from the Glen House, and fails to +turn his eye continually over his right shoulder, to dwell lovingly upon +the near and noble outlines of Mounts Jefferson, Adams, and Madison, has +no appreciation of this sort of scenery. + +The morning had been superlatively fine, and troops of mounted dames +and damsels and cavaliers made the various pathways lively with their +glee. But caprice is the rule of these high regions; and when I was +within ten minutes of the summit, clouds of misty vapour came suddenly +scudding up, whence I knew not, but shutting out a peep here and a vista +there, as they caracolled in fantastic evolutions. Presently, to these +kaleidoscopic effects succeeded a slight hailstorm--it was rain visibly +beneath us, attended with thunder and lightning--but anon all was +comparatively clear again, and from the congregated spectators went up +many a genuine burst of enthusiastic admiration, as point after point +opened out or was shut in by the scud. + +The two rough stone buildings upon the small plateau that crowns the +mountain, built for the accommodation of travellers, are called +respectively the "Summit" and the "Tip-top" House. Once rivals, they now +form a single establishment--one being used as a restaurant, the other +as a dormitory. On this particular day, nearly a hundred persons must +have refreshed themselves in the former--a dozen or fifteen in the +latter; and I must own, it was not without a sense of relief that I saw +the last of the descending parties set forth about 2 P. M., being myself +of the select few about to take the chance of sunset and sunrise. + +For the afternoon, then--for the interval of time was to be occupied--a +guide was summoned, to show half-a-dozen of us the wonders of +Tuckerman's Ravine, a _cul-de-sac_ between two great buttresses of +Mount Washington, that prop it up towards the South and West. The sides +of this ravine are very precipitous the head of it being formed of +layers of rock, at an angle of about ninety-five degrees, over which a +cascade precipitates itself, fed by the springs and melted snows above. +In the bed of this hollow, to which the descent is sufficiently sharp to +gratify the keenest amateur pedestrian, the accumulated snow of the +winter, blown over from the impending heights, lies packed in such +enormous masses that it seldom entirely disappears until the latter part +of August. At the period of my visit, on Friday, the 29th of July, a +huge portion thereof remained, and the famous "Snow-Arch" was not only +visible but practicable. This natural curiosity is a cave channelled out +from the vast snow bank as a passage for the descending waters, the roof +of which, gradually melting away, leaves height and space for walking +along this gallery as it were in the very bed of the torrent. You enter +perforce, be it observed, where the stream emerges. The length was +certainly not less than two hundred feet, the breadth of the tunnel +perhaps forty or fifty. Of the thickness of the roof I cannot speak, not +having essayed it; but the little knot of adventurers trusted that it +would not cave-in whilst they were groping their difficult way, one +after the other, wet-footed and in semi-obscurity, up-stream, from end +to end of the arched way. The object of the exploration it would be +difficult to define. It certainly was not scientific; it offered no +rare beauties; it might have been very well imagined, without the +trouble and subsequent risk--but it was an adventure, and it had its +charm. Day-light appeared as we neared the waterfall--luckily not very +full--which, as I have already said, comes down the head of the ravine +and is the origin of the "Arch" itself. What next? The snow had +separated bodily from the face of the rocks to the width of two or three +feet, as you see ice fields in a thaw detach themselves from the land +whereto they have been joined. We could therefore emerge, and clamber up +the abrupt face of the rocks, though the first start was not inviting, +inasmuch as we had to hoist ourselves up by unequal pressure upon soft +snow on one side and hard rock on the other. The alternative was a +return. This would have been inglorious; up we went. It was a rough +business. The guide had been over the ground once before, this +season--so he said, at least--but he "harked back" occasionally, as +though not quite certain of his way. It seemed impossible to diverge +either to the right or left, and so gain the comparatively easier slope. +We were doomed to mount, in the hope of finding successive steps, +inasmuch as a retracing of those taken was not for a moment to be +thought of; descent in such cases is always far more dangerous and +troublesome. It was fortunate that in crossing twice or thrice the +waterfall itself, we were not pumped on to any serious extent. I was +moistened only, being garnished with a Macintosh; and I have only two +scars now left on my shins, the result of scraping too close an +acquaintance with sundry rocks. The whole affair lasted between three +and four hours. I cannot recommend it, save to very enthusiastic +mountaineers, or to _ci-devant jeunes hommes_ anxious to test the +effects of Time upon their powers of walking and of endurance. + +Regaining the hurricane-deck of the Tip-top House--for the roof is the +principal promenade, and often times assuredly deserves the name I give +it, how gratefully, as the sun went down, stole the sense of ineffable +grandeur over the somewhat wearied frame! It was a superb evening; and +though it would not suit me to cull a leaf from the Guide-book, and tell +all that is therein narrated, I must mention one particular wherein this +locality is notable, if not quite unique. I think I remember something +of the kind, but not so marked, at sunrise as seen from the summit of +Etna; but not thus, on the Righi and Faulhorn in Switzerland, on the Pic +du Midi de Bigorre in the Pyrenees, or on other peaks that I have +climbed in the days of long ago, to salute the coming or speed the +parting day. The nearest approach to it that I have seen, was at the +Great Pyramid of Ghizeh. I allude to the wonderful distinctness and +regularity with which the shadow of the great cone itself is traced, at +sunset, striding over heights and lowlands, mound and lake--all the +intervening surface, in fact, between the spectator and the far distant +horizon--until it contracts almost to a point where earth and sky merge +into one. The sharpness of these converging parallel lines of shadow in +that luminous atmosphere absolutely astounded me. They were as crisp, as +clearly defined, as those that you may see in antique pictures of +Jacob's Dream, leading ladder-wise from Heaven to the head of the +slumbering Patriarch. Sunrise, next morning--for I was again favoured +with clear weather and only sufficient frost to render the roof of the +restaurant slightly slippery--sunrise, I say, reserved all this. The +narrow lines, now on the Western horizon, broadened out and came upwards +and forwards, as in the evening they had elongated and gone down. It was +in truth a rare spectacle, not to be forgotten, and individualizes this +natural observatory. + +As for the view itself, it has been described _ad nauseam_, and I have +only a few words to say about it. It happened, as it often does happen, +that I fell in with an untravelled admirer of the prospect spread out +before us, not charmed however with it more than I was myself. But he +would persist in drawing from me an answer to the common question--"how +does this compare with some of the famous points of view in the Swiss +Alps?" Such tests I hold to be absurd, thanking my stars that I can +unreservedly enjoy all fair things that are good of their kind. And so I +told the inquirer this simple fact. If, in a mountainous country, +varied, broken, studded with lakes, and rife with all the elements of +the picturesque, you ascend some such superior elevation as this, you +have, _looking down__wards_, a striking panoramic scene, like this in +its general features--more striking perhaps than beautiful, though this +is all matter of taste. The difference lies herein. Here, you plunge +your look downward, or sweep it over surrounding objects--and that's the +end of it. In those other Alps, you add to the four or five or six +thousand feet, below you, as much above--and it is that _upward_ glance +which takes in the marvels of glacier and snow-field and inaccessible +peaks. My new acquaintance asked for no more comparisons, but let me +enjoy myself in my own quiet way. + +The walk down Mount Washington to Crawford's at the Great Notch, as I +believe it is called, is rather a long affair. It must be ten miles, and +parts of it are of the roughest. It took me four hours, in company with +two intelligent and companionable young students of Harvard College, +travelling (in the true way) a-foot, with knapsacks on their backs. But +we hurried it too much, especially as the ridge over and along Mount +Pleasant, and some of its fellows bearing Presidential names, abound in +points of view worth dwelling on. Moreover I was foot-galled; and this +reminds me that, inasmuch as I cannot to-day conclude my rambling +reminiscences, I may as well wind up with a touch of information and of +advice. The one is intended for the benefit of pedestrians who make +excursions of this sort; the other for stay-at-homes in flat countries, +who have no definite notion whatever of the ups and downs of hilly +regions. + +In the first place, then, you who walk are painfully aware that a sore +foot is almost a calamity, if it befall you whilst _en route_. Remedy +there is none; be thankful that there is an infallible preventive, of +whose unfailing excellence I can speak with unreserved commendation. On +its simple merits I once averaged in Switzerland twenty-five miles a +day, for thirty successive days; and this without gall or blister. Fool +that I was, to neglect it, two or three weeks ago. Nothing is easier. +Ere you start in the morning, soap or grease the naked foot thoroughly, +and then draw the stocking over it. Wash off, with a dash of brandy in +the water, on finishing your day's work. The play of the foot is the +preservative against abrasion--a certain one, I assure you. + +In the second place, if--passing your life amid prairies or +savannahs--you are sometimes puzzled to comprehend allusions to +buttresses, shoulders, ridges, peaks, cones, ravines, and the various +terms in use among enthusiastic mountaineers, I think I can put you on a +very simple explanatory track. Next time you lie in bed, with a few +spare moments for reflection upon this grave topic, just turn on to your +back and elevate one knee or both knees. The coverlid or sheet will +immediately assume--I am serious in saying--a curiously correct +semblance, I might almost term it a model in relief, of the face of any +mountainous country. Laugh not, but try it. A slight movement on your +part varies the form and outline and relative bearing of hill and vale, +raises a pinnacle here, or there sinks a gorge precipitously steep. If I +had the misfortune to be confined to bed by sickness--excluding gout, +which might render the process impossible--I could thus, with the aid of +a map and some tables of distances, design a passable fac-simile of the +leading White Mountains themselves. Why Yankee ingenuity should not long +ago have manufactured _papier-mache_ plans thereof, in relief, +altogether passes my comprehension. They would sell well as souvenirs of +travel. + + + + + SLIDING SCALE OF THE INCONSOLABLES. + + _From the French._ + + +How rapid is the progress of oblivion, with respect to those who are no +more! How many a quadrille shall we see, this winter, exclusively made +up from the ranks of inconsolable widows! Widows of this order exist +only in the literature of the tombstone. In the world, and after the +lapse of a certain period, there is but one sort of widows +inconsolable--those who refuse to be comforted, because they can't get +married again! + +One of our most distinguished sculptors was summoned, a short time +since, to the house of a young lady, connected by birth with a family of +the highest grade in the aristocracy of wealth, and united in marriage +to the heir of a title illustrious in the military annals of the Empire. + +The union, formed under the happiest auspices, had been, alas! of short +duration. Death, unpitying death, had ruptured it, by prematurely +carrying off the young husband. The sculptor was summoned by the widow. + +He traversed apartments silent and deserted, until he was introduced +into a bed-room, and found himself in presence of a lady, young and +beautiful, but habited in the deepest mourning, and with a face furrowed +by tears. + +"You are aware," said she, with a painful effort and a voice half choked +by sobs, "You are aware of the blow which I have received?" + +The artist bowed, with an air of respectful condolence. + +"Sir," continued the widow, "I am anxious to have a funeral monument +erected, in honour of the husband whom I have lost." + +The artist bowed again. + +"I wish that the monument should be superb, worthy of the man whose loss +I weep, proportioned to the unending grief into which his loss has +plunged me. I care not what it costs. I am rich, and I will willingly +sacrifice all my fortune to do honour to the memory of an adored +husband. I must have a temple--with columns--in marble--and in the +middle--on a pedestal--his statue." + +"I will do my best to fulfill your wishes, Madam," replied the artist; +"but I had not the honour of acquaintance with the deceased, and a +likeness of him is indispensable for the due execution of my work. +Without doubt, you have his portrait?" + +The widow raised her arm, and pointed despairingly to a splendid +likeness by Amaury Duval. + +"A most admirable picture!" observed the artist; "and the painter's +name is sufficient guarantee for its striking resemblance to the +original." + +"Those are his very features, Sir; it is himself. It wants but life. Ah! +Would that I could restore it to him at the cost of all my blood!" + +"I will have this portrait carried to my studio, Madam, and I promise +you that the marble shall reproduce it exactly." + +The widow, at these words, sprung up, and at a single bound throwing +herself towards the picture, with arms stretched out as though to defend +it, exclaimed: + +"Take away this portrait! carry off my only consolation! my sole +remaining comfort! never! never!" + +"But Madam, you will only be deprived of it for a short time, and--" + +"Not an hour! not a minute! could I exist without his beloved image! +Look you, Sir, I have had it placed here, in my own room, that my eyes +might be fastened upon it, without ceasing, and through my tears. His +portrait shall never leave this spot one single instant, and in +contemplating that will I pass the remainder of a miserable and +sorrowful existence." + +"In that case, Madam, you will be compelled to permit me to take a copy +of it. But do not be uneasy--I shall not have occasion to trouble your +solitude for any length of time; one sketch--one sitting will suffice." + +The widow agreed to this arrangement; she only insisted that the artist +should come back the following day. She wanted him to set to work on the +instant, so great was her longing to see the mausoleum erected. The +sculptor, however, remarked that he had another work to finish first. +This difficulty she sought to overcome by means of money. + +"Impossible," replied the artist, "I have given my word; but do not +distress yourself; I will apply to it so diligently, that the monument +shall be finished in as short a time as any other sculptor would +require, who could apply himself to it forthwith." + +"You see my distress," said the widow; "you can make allowance for my +impatience. Be speedy, then, and above all, be lavish of magnificence. +Spare no expense; only let me have a masterpiece." + +Several letters echoed these injunctions, during the few days +immediately following the interview. + +At the expiration of three months the artist called again. He found the +widow still in weeds, but a little less pallid, and a little more +coquettishly dressed in her mourning garb. + +"Madam," said he, "I am entirely at your service." + +"Ah! at last; this is fortunate," replied the widow, with a gracious +smile. + +"I have made my design, but I still want one sitting, for the likeness. +Will you permit me to go into your bed-room?" + +"Into my bed-room? For what?" + +"To look at the portrait again." + +"Oh! yes; have the goodness to walk into the drawing-room; you will find +it there now." + +"Ah!" + +"Yes; it hangs better there; it is better lighted in the drawing-room, +than in my own room." + +"Would you like, Madam, to look at the design for the monument?" + +"With pleasure. Oh! what a size! What profusion of decorations! Why, it +is a palace, Sir, this tomb!" + +"Did you not tell me, Madam, that nothing could be too magnificent? I +have not considered the expense; and by the way, here is a memorandum of +what the monument will cost you." + +"Oh, Heavens!" exclaimed the widow, after having cast an eye over the +total adding-up. "Why, this is enormous!" + +"You begged me to spare no expense." + +"Yes, no doubt, I desire to do things properly, but not exactly to make +a fool of myself." + +"This, at present, you see, is only a design; and there is time yet to +cut it down." + +"Well, then, suppose we were to leave out the temple, and the columns, +and all the architectural part, and content ourselves with the statue? +It seems to me that would be very appropriate." + +"Certainly it would." + +"So let it be, then--just the statue alone." + +Shortly after this second visit, the sculptor fell desperately ill. He +was compelled to give up work; but, on returning from a tour in Italy, +prescribed by his physician, he presented himself once more before the +widow, who was then in the tenth month of her mourning. He found, this +time, a few roses among the cypress, and some smiling colours playing +over half-shaded grounds. + +The artist brought with him a little model of his statue, done in +plaster, and offering in miniature the idea of what his work was to be. + +"What do you think of the likeness?" he inquired of the widow. + +"It seems to me a little flattered; my husband was all very well, no +doubt; but you are making him an Apollo!" + +"Really? well, then, I can correct my work by the portrait." + +"Don't take the trouble--a little more, or less like, what does it +matter?" + +"Excuse me, but I am particular about likenesses." + +"If you absolutely must--" + +"It is in the drawing-room, yonder, is it not? I'll go in there." + +"It is not there any longer," replied the widow, ringing the bell. + +"Baptiste," said she to the servant who came in, "bring down the +portrait of your master." + +"The portrait that you sent up to the garret, last week, Madam?" + +"Yes." + +At this moment the door opened, and a young man of distinguished air +entered; his manners were easy and familiar, he kissed the fair widow's +hand, and tenderly inquired after her health. + +"Who in the world is this good man in plaster?" asked he, pointing with +his finger to the statuette, which the artist had placed upon the +mantel-piece. + +"It is the model of a statue for my husband's tomb." + +"You are having a statue of him made? The devil! it's very majestic!" + +"Do you think so?" + +"It is only great men who are thus cut out of marble, and at full +length; it seems to me, too, that the deceased was a very ordinary +personage." + +"In fact, his bust would be sufficient." + +"Just as you please, Madam," said the sculptor. + +"Well, let it be a bust, that's--determined!" + +Two months later, the artist, carrying the bust, encountered on the +stairs a merry party. The widow, giving her hand to the elegant dandy +who had caused the statue of the deceased to be cut down, was on his way +to the Mayor's office, where she was about to take a second oath of +conjugal fidelity. + +If the bust had not been completed, it would willingly have been +dispensed with. When, some time later, the artist called for his money, +there was an outcry about the price; and it required very little less +than a threat of legal proceedings, before the widow, consoled and +remarried, concluded by resigning herself to pay for this funeral +homage, reduced as it was, to the memory of her departed husband. + + + + + RAMBLING RECORDS. + + THE GENTLE ARLESIANS. + + +**With one exception, however, I gleaned nothing of information that is +not already chronicled in the guide-books; and that one piece of +information I only set down, because I think it contains a hint that may +be made practically useful in certain enterprising circles of New York. + +We were in the Arena at Arles. It was a splendid day--barring the +Mistral, that windy nuisance, which, as it eddied through the antique +and ample Roman corridors, brought to my recollection certain +North-Westers experienced on a fine March day in Union Square. In fact, +it was far too cold for sentimentalizing or tracing measurements. But +the guardian, it seemed, had not latterly had much chance of exercising +his vocation, and his tongue was too nimble to be frozen. And so at it +he went. Only, being himself more interested in certain proceedings that +had lately taken place within a boarded fence that now encloses the +arena, than in historical or legendary lore, his subject was by many +centuries more fresh than the ruins whereon we stood, sunning ourselves +and crouching out of the wind's way. Arles, it appeared, had been +favoured with a bull fight, real Spanish matadors doing the beastly +honours; but to the credit of the city, be it said, the spectacle was +received with intense disapprobation. The gentle Provencals, whose +tastes are more Italian than Spanish, could not brook the sport dear to +their fair Empress who sets fashions in Paris. Indeed, the beauteous +Eugenie, I fear, will hold them to be the merest milk-sops, for when the +grand climax of a disembowelled horse was exhibited before them, the +Arlesians, male and female--in place of shouts of triumphant +approval--gave vent to loud cries of shame and execration, and in short +hissed the Spanish heroes incontinently from the scene of their +performance. + +But what has all this to do with the future of New York, it may be asked +by any reader of these rambling reminiscences. Stay, a moment; I am only +at the commencement. I, too inquired if this were all. "By no means, +Sir," was the reply. "We had then the real _courses aux taureaux_, and +excellent they were." Now I must own that my notions of this branch of +the tauromachia were somewhat indistinct. I knew it was not precisely +the same thing as buffalo-hunting on the prairies, or as a steeple-chase +in Warwickshire or Yorkshire; but I could not have defined it to save my +life. "Perhaps, Monsieur, has never seen one" was the next appropriate +suggestion, and it led very naturally to my enlightenment. Briefly, +then, after the torture of the quadrupeds, and the indignant dismissal +of the Spanish matadors, the young gentlemen of the town took the place +of the latter, and began a diversion, which must have been infinitely +amusing, and which, I humbly submit, might be adopted on a different +soil. A lively young bull was turned into the arena, and was followed by +a number of lively youths, armed only with light staves whereon +fluttered blood-red pennons. The fun consists in provoking the excitable +animal by the red flags thrust before his face, and eluding the +consequences by a run, a dodge, or a jump. The fence, which was a +barrier for the bull, could easily be vaulted by a nimble-footed +youth--and none but such would venture upon the field. There was just +enough danger to make the game piquant; scarcely enough to make it +objectionable. One indiscreet young fellow did indeed narrowly escape a +catastrophe on the occasion described to me; but the fault was entirely +his own. He had been breakfasting at some Arlesian Delmonico's, and had +partially lost his wits before coming to the encounter, while retaining +all his courage. Therefore it happened--and I only tell the story as it +was told me--that the youth, when pursued by the bull, tripped and fell, +and the horns of the brute were immediately thrust into the fullest part +of his peg-top trousers. A great sensation among the spectators! The +bull succeeded in raising and throwing over his head the object of his +attack, but by no means in disentangling himself therefrom. His frantic +efforts to bring about a summary toss were for some minutes +unsuccessful; and the reader may conceive the mingled sense of the +ludicrous and the fearful, that pervaded the assembly. Finally--for even +French cassimere will give way in the end--he, the bull that is, +achieved his aim, and threw his unconscious tormentor a summerset, being +diverted from ulterior measures of vengeance by fresh attacks made upon +him, while the crest-fallen hero of the adventure was promptly bundled +over the paling. To sum up this sketch of the sport, in the humane and +pithy words of the guardian of the Amphitheatre--"it does no harm +whatever to the bull, and very little to the young gentleman." + +Now then, Mr. Niblo; why should you not establish a Tauro-drome in the +centre of civilization? The leaning of the day is toward athletic +exercise. In England, at present, there is a run upon rifle-corps; and +the boldest riders are all bent upon becoming the crackest shots. In New +York, I have read since my absence in Europe, that the great English +Eleven have begotten a very rage for cricket. An excellent move this; +but then the climate is against it, and the summer is short, and the +game is utterly incomprehensible to the gentler sex, who are always +prompt to encourage the manly prowess of their admirers. Besides, for +lack of a permanent Bude light of adequate strength, we have not yet +achieved the desideratum of playing cricket during those special hours +when the youth of a commercial community finds itself prone to +relaxation. The _courses aux taureaux_ might just as well take place by +gas-light and in a New York circus, as amid Roman ruins and under the +blaze of sunshine. The dandies of Broadway have the two main requisites +for brilliant success in this suggested entertainment. Their pluck may +not be doubted; and who that has seen them, agile and unwearied in the +German or the _valse a deux temps_, could question their ability to +outfoot the fleetest bull that Andalusia itself could supply? I commend +the matter then to the serious consideration of Managers in search of +novelties, and to belles who would discover what stuff their beaux are +made of. + + + AT NUREMBURG. + + +For these thirty-eight years past, the _Albion_ hath been protesting +once a week, in the Latin tongue, that they who skip over the water +change only their sky, not their mental existence. Nor did I ever +doubt--indeed I ought to have faith therein--the truth of this motto, +until I found myself yesterday in one of the streets of this old city of +Nuremburg, with no promenaders at the moment save myself. There was not +a man in sight, tiled with a black beaver chimney-pot; nor a woman +redolent of the Rue de la Paix or Regent Street. Then it was that I +incontinently asked myself if I were truly a Briton by birth and an +Anglo-American by local ties; or whether I were not in fact a German +burgher of the middle ages. I should scarcely have been surprised at +sight of grave Albert Durer himself coming round the corner, or at +hearing Hans Sachs, the cobbler poet, trolling one of his six thousand +ditties. + +To say this, is simply to add the testimony of another witness to that +which has set down Nuremburg as the city of all Europe least changed +with changing times. The very little that has been done of late years in +the way of repairing and rebuilding, within the walls, has been done in +strict accordance with the prevalent mediaeval style. The result is +that--whereas elsewhere, when you stumble upon a private dwelling of +moderate proportions showing plainly that it was built some two or three +or four or five centuries ago, you congratulate yourself upon having +discovered a curiosity (as such a one really would be in Paris, for +instance)--here the difficult search would be for a house, modern and +spruce. Not that a rectangularly-ornamented gable-end is the +quintessence of architectural beauty, or that a basement front of low +iron-barred windows suggests an agreeable or hospitable interior. By no +means. If this were all, there would be considerable quaintness, and +nought beyond. But it is otherwise. Some of the decorative bits that +catch the eye right and left, are absolute gems in their way--whether +oriel windows, or fantastic turrets, or figures and devices embossed and +sculptured. Taste, generally for the Gothic, but diverging at a later +date into the Renaissance style, seems to have run riot here in wilful +playfulness. + +Of the regular sights set down in the hand-books, and explored by +conscientious Englishmen with their Murrays under their arms, it would +not be appropriate to speak at length. I may however indulge in an +allusion to the different material, whereof are constructed two of the +most highly-laboured marvels, here exhibited. Now the city itself is +divided into two nearly equal parts by the small river Pegnitz, these +parts bearing the names respectively of the principal church that stands +in either. The one is dedicated to St. Sebald, the other to St. +Lawrence. The former, as its chief curiosity, contains the shrine of its +patron Saint, an elaborate and most exquisitely wrought fretwork canopy, +about fifteen feet in height, beneath which repose his remains. The +design is in a measure architectural, and Gothic of course; but the +ornamentation is its great glory, though one is staggered somewhat at +the irreverent juxtaposition of the twelve Apostles with Cupids and +Mermaids, and at sundry Fathers of the Church disporting themselves amid +clusters of fruit and bouquets of flowers. This monument of artistic +skill was the work of Peter Vischer, one of the worthies of Nuremburg, +and has been completed three hundred and forty years. The able worker, +having dispensed with consistency in the admixture of Christian and +Pagan accessories, as I have mentioned, was at least justified in +introducing a figure of himself as one of the human animals; and a very +fine statuette he makes, with chisel in hand and his working apron about +him. Now mark, if you please, O attentive reader, this shrine of St. +Sebald is entirely cast in bronze. To say that the effect is beautiful, +is too limited praise. It is harmonious; thoroughly satisfying to the +eye; perfect. + +Cross with me now, if you be not weary, one of the dozen picturesque +bridges over the Pegnitz, and let us see what Adam Krafft, another great +Nuremburger of that same age, has done in the same line of Gothic +decoration for the Church of St. Lawrence. His work is a shrine, or I +should rather say a repository for the sacramental wafer of the Roman +Catholic rite. It is an open-work spire, tapering to the height of sixty +feet, with an infinity of graceful detail, and rare sculptures in high +and low relief. One fantasy is, I think, unique of its kind. The roof is +a little too low to admit the crowning summit fairly; and the top, +therefore, has been made to bend over. The effect--purposely designed, I +cannot doubt--is odd; nor can I agree with the fantastic remark of +Murray's Handbook, that it "has the air of a plant which is chocked in +its further growth." Spires and plants are not endowed with equal +pliability, and the idea of one of the former waving about, or nodding +gracefully, suggests an immediate "stand from under." And this all the +more in this instance, because--which brings me thus round-aboutedly to +my main point--the material hereon employed is stone, a clean and +white-toned stone, that looks as though its excellent carvings and +mouldings had been completed only for the last Crystal Palace +Exhibition. The apparent newness is downright provoking; and if Adam +Krafft could peep at it from his honoured grave, he would never dream +that he has lain therein three centuries and a half. Let me say +further--having thus stumbled upon personalities--that he too made +himself as durable as his work. And with more modesty than Master Peter +Vischer above named, who moulded for himself a niche in his monument +corresponding, in size and position, to the one assigned to the patron +Saint, though being at the opposite end of the shrine, the glorifier and +the glorified could not be taken into one glance and a comparison +forced. There was more modesty, I say, in Adam Krafft's mode of +travelling down the stream of Time as showman of his show, though he was +not methinks without a dash of _craft_, as befits the bearer of his +name. Down upon their marrow-bones (as the school boys have it) with +rounded backs grope Adam and his two apprentices, the three backs +forming a base of operations, or in plainer words upholding the +sixty-feet structure, and doing for it that which is done beneath his +rival's shrine by a snail at each of the four corners. Perhaps, after +all, the sculptor-architect was wiser than the bronze-caster, in his +mode of identifying himself with his work. Amid a multitude of figures +and emblems, Peter Vischer, as well as St. Sebald, may be overlooked, +for they are small in size; but you can scarcely avoid asking "who are +these three?" when you note how lofty is the edifice that the large +quasi-Atlases bear. + +Enough, touching these minor differences. The essential one, whereof I +intended to speak, is the material in which the pair wrought +respectively. I have said that the bronze entirely satisfied my +critical eye, which is tantamount to saying that it charmed me. Not so +with the stone. It is obviously ill-adapted for detached ornamentation, +needing the solid adjunct of buttress, window, wall, or pillar, just as +ivy needs the oak, or (may I utter such a term?) lace the woman. Indeed, +with all my admiration for sundry mediaeval specimens of Gothic +architecture, wherein I scarcely yield to John Ruskin himself, I confess +that the famous Eleanor's Crosses in England never quite pleased me, +because therein the tracery and dainty delicacies of the design are not +backed by anything massive. The greater part of my readers will not +agree with me. I am sorry, but can't help it. Only, I don't want to see +any more open-work baskets in stone. Give me the most fantastical of +Gothic devices, as many as you please, so long as they have something to +cling to. + +Finally, I have fallen quite in love with this quaint, irregular old +place. Nor do I know how long I might have loitered, had not the +inevitable disillusion come, as come it will over so many promising +things and fair. Otherwise I might have gone back--in imagination--to +those honest old times of Durer, Vischer, Krafft, and Company, and +imagined myself a free burgher of a free city. But the spell was doubly +broken. At the old castle--whereof some small apartments are +unpretendingly fitted up for the King and Queen of Bavaria--there comes +upon one, in another part thereof, a vision of certain instruments of +torture, used undoubtedly in those good old times to keep the burghers +submissive to their oligarchy of merchant princes. And again at the +Rath-haus, or Hotel de Ville; the maidenly show-woman lighted us by +lanthorn-light through a set of subterranean dungeons, too numerous to +have been destined for offenders only against the criminal laws, too +horrible to be sanctioned under our creed of comparative gentleness. And +so, on the whole, I returned back to actual existence, and to all the +boredom of Parliamentary conflicts and Presidential elections, with a +certain sense of relief. + + + ROMAN NOMENCLATURE. + + +By dint of many rambles I am become fairly versed in the topography of +Rome; but its history, as elucidated by monuments or relics, is a +perpetual riddle to the beholder. The Republic, the Empire, the +Barbarian Invasions, Free Lances, Barons, Kings, and Popes--all are +suggested; all come before you in confused array; not unfrequently, +three or four at once. You shall go into a church to hear mass amid +modern tawdriness, entering through a mediaeval porch, taking your place +between walls that were put up long before the Christian era, and under +a roof supported by pillars whereon the sun of Phrygia has shone. Pagan +and Christian--all is jumbled; until finally, unless you have the +patience of Job and the zeal of an antiquarian, you begin to doubt all +legendary and historic lore, and to measure what you see by its +external attractiveness alone. One thing, however, is clearly marked. +You are groping about, in a state of vexed uncertainty; suddenly you +come upon an inscription, conspicuous, in large legible letters, often +gilded. Now you are grateful. You stride up; and lo, there stands, +emblazoned before you the interesting fact that such or such a Pontifex +Maximus, some Benedict, or Clemens, or Pius, or Leo, or Gregory, +restored, excavated, ornamented, or built, as the case may have been, +the object upon which you have been pondering. Neither, in the dearth of +desirable information, are you compensated by the opportunity of picking +up chronological knowledge in regard to the Papacy. These fulsome +records omit, not only all description that might be useful; they fail +to mention the year of the World, or the year of Grace, altogether. In +place thereof, you learn that the digging or decoration in question took +place in a certain year of the reign of a certain Pope; but as the chair +of St. Peter has had one hundred and sixteen occupants, between A.D. +1000 and A.D. 1860, "Anno VI. of Innocent VI." or "Anno II. of Julius +II." does not materially aid the memory as to dates. This petty craving +after chiselled or painted immortality is nowhere more contemptibly +exhibited than in Raphael's famous Loggie at the Vatican, where, over +each separate window, one reads in staring type, "Leo X., Pontifex +Maximus." Surely there is something strangely inconsistent, in a power +that boasts its remote origin and its endowment in perpetuity, thus +taking infinite pains to isolate its historical fragments. + +A smile only--not a grunt of indignation--is elicited by another +peculiarity of Rome, which comes under the lounger's notice. Something +of the same sort is perhaps also observable in all large cities; but it +never struck me so strongly. I allude to the names of the streets and +squares and public places, which names by the way are carefully and +prominently labelled. The jumble is curious, though one starts a little +at times from what to Protestant eyes seems irreverent. Take a sample, +dispensing with the titles in Italian. You may stroll through the street +of the Three Virgins, of the Three Robbers, of Jesus, of the Tarpeian +Rock, of the Two Butchers' Shops, of the Baboon, of Divine Love, of the +New Benches, of the Prefects, of the House-tops, of Jesus and Mary, of +the Greeks, of the Tower of Blood, of the Triton, of the Guardian Angel, +of the Strumpet, of the Soul, of the Scrofula, of the Eagle, of the +Lion's Mouth, of the Five Moons, of Minerva, of the Incurables, of the +Wind, of the Wolf, of St. John Beheaded. You may halt in the square of +the Mouth of Truth, in that of the Field of Flowers, in that of the +Satyrs, in that of Consolation, in that of the Goose. It is evident that +no ruling mind or principle has regulated this public nomenclature. _Tot +homines, quot sententiae._ + +And is it not the same thing in private affairs? What variety of tastes! +Here is a specimen. Two young men of my acquaintance, who have been +campaigning in India, arrived here, the other day, on their first +visit. One of them had a relative here, of a scholastic turn of mind, +who was bringing a protracted sojourn to a close; and to him the cavalry +officers were in a measure consigned. "Can you tell me what's to be seen +at Ostia and Veii?" said one of them to me, forty-eight hours after +their arrival. "Our friend, B., is going to take us a day's excursion to +each place, to-morrow and the following day." I could scarcely keep my +countenance. The poor innocents were sold to an antiquarian. Ostia is +destitute of any objects that would repay a half-hour's walk. As for +Veii, the learned have only agreed of late whereabouts that ancient city +stood. + + + BRIGANDS, BEGGARS, AND SOUVENIRS. + + +My last communication was from Rome. It was piquant, on the day of +departure thence from Naples, to dine at Terracina with a Prussian +family, who had been stopped and robbed by brigands, at eight o'clock +the previous morning, at a spot between Velletri and Cisterna. There was +however no _Fra Diavolo_ in the case. The respectable _pere de famille_, +who with his sons and daughters had been laid under contribution, +informed us that the fellows were evidently peasants unused to the +trade; that they presented guns, in exacting their demand for money; but +that they were nervous in their brief operation, and that they did not +ransack the trunks, nor even carry off the watches and rings of the +party. The chief sufferer was the vetturino, whom fright and the loss of +thirty-six dollars had thrown into a fever, causing the detention which +brought us into contact with the narrators. We passed on our way, +without adventure; the safest period, there as elsewhere, being that +which immediately follows one. I incline to think that extreme +destitution induced this recourse to a practice almost obsolete, as it +probably gave rise to the personal robberies, unattended with violence, +which have been recently rife in Rome itself. + +And in connection with this point, I may swell the laments of late +travellers as to the chronic prevalence, throughout Southern Italy, of +those other unceasing robberies of extortion and mendicancy, which are +so much more difficult of toleration. I declare that of all the mythical +personages of classic lore brought back to one's memory by local +association, whether in the Elysian Fields or on the borders of Lake +Avernus, the Harpies are those who alone survive, and who obtrude +themselves always and everywhere, in season and out of season. The foul +brood have assumed human semblance, and haunt you in all varieties. The +unbidden cicerone, or the sturdy beggar--it is hard to say which is the +worse. + +How I anathematized them both at Sorrento, where there are certain +souvenirs of Tasso, not so direct and tangible as those preserved in the +Convent of San Onofrio at Rome, but which are worth the tracing. You +will remember that the hapless poet found a resting place here in the +house of his sister, after he escaped from his seven years' imprisonment +at Ferrara. To be adjured, for charity, in the name of the Virgin and +every Saint in the calendar--to have a jackass and a guide, or a jackass +of a guide, thrust upon you, _nolens volens_ for an excursion that you +have no mind to take, or to be importuned to "put out, put out, put out +to sea," when you know that March winds and waves make the azure grotto +of Capri totally inaccessible--these diversions, I say, do not assist +one in gathering up one's reminiscences of Tasso, however much they may +chasten and so improve the temper. + +And here I may observe also upon a peculiarity that marks the research +of certain travellers, somewhat akin perhaps to the taste which induces +certain readers to trace history through personal memoirs, in place of +studying broader narrations. If truth were told, there are a hundred who +commune with Pepys and Horace Walpole, to ten who find delight in Hume. +So is it--though by no means in the same proportion--with sight-seers on +ground that is rich in historical associations. All their sympathies, or +the larger portion of them at least, are with individuals, as though +there were no grappling with a race, a nation, an age that is past. +Stories, wholly or in part fictitious, are their hand-books. To them the +Capitol of Rome is the scene of Rienzi's rise and fall, as interpreted +by Bulwer Lytton. At Pompeii their chief care is to find out the abode +of Glaucus and Ione. Nor can it be denied that there is an additional +charm in this mode of viewing localities that are new to us, if it be +not the most philosophical. In my own case, without needless parading of +the degree in which I share this gentle weakness or disapprove it, I +must own that its exercise gives at times an unexpected zest to a +ramble. Whilst in Rome, for instance, I do not think that one's serious +views of history or art are in any manner jarred upon, because here and +there one stumbles upon relics that savour of individuality. At any rate +I should not like to have missed the old mansion of the Anviti family, +near the bridge of St. Angelo, mentioned by that old gossip, Benvenuto +Cellini, as the frequent rendezvous of Michael Angelo, Raffaele, +Cardinal Bembo, and other choice spirits of his day. I should have been +sorry to have omitted a visit to the boudoir of Lucrezia Borgia, in the +Convent close beside the church of St. Pietro in Vincolo, once the +residence of Pope Alexander VI., and now mainly converted into a barrack +for the troops of "the elder son of the Church." The part however in +which is placed this small apartment, decorated with frescoes of the +period, is still applied to conventual purposes. There is no legend +about the matter, at least so far as regards the possession of the +Borgia family; and the room being small in size, and unique in situation +and style of ornament within and without, it is not difficult to believe +that it was the chosen resort of a young lady in days when there was +less gadding about than now. Still, to be candid, I must own that in +musing here, as in looking at the lock of the same amiable woman's hair +preserved in the Ambrosian Library of Milan, one is apt to have one's +recollections of mediaeval depravity not slightly tinctured by visions of +Giulia Grisi in the prime of her voice and beauty, to say nothing of +Victor Hugo's grand drama, and old Mademoiselle Georges' unrivalled +performance therein. + +Again, and lastly--lest the reader imagine that when once I get back to +Rome, I am spell-bound and cannot leave it--what traveller has not cast +a pleased eye upwards towards the window whence the baker's daughter, A. +D. 1515, or thereabouts, ogled the young prince of painters as he passed +by on his way to, or from his work, at the Farnesina Palace? You know +the precise spot, O Viator, in a small piazza very near the Ponte Sisto? +The house is white-washed or yellow-washed now; but there is the old +Ionic pilaster, yet embedded in the wall, and the ornamental +architectural mouldings yet shut in the Fornarina's window. And here it +occurs to me to make one more digression, for the purpose of suggesting +a theory of my own touching one of the many portraits of La Fornarina +that have come down to us, and that vary so much in expression though +all evidently intended for the same person. Between the fine one in the +Tribune at Florence, and the filthy one in the Sciarra Palace at Rome, +there is the widest possible difference. The former is evidently enough +a woman unrefined, though beautiful; but there is neither coarseness nor +indelicacy in the portraiture. The latter has both these +characteristics, pushed to an extreme that is repulsive. It is said to +be a copy from Raffaele by Giulio Romano. Now my belief is, that it was +painted as a quiz upon his master's grace and delicacy, by the +scapegrace pupil who ran counter to those special attributes. +Meretricious, ugly, and vulgar, this wretched creature bears emblasoned +in large letters on the bracelet upon her arm the name of Raffaele +Sanzio d'Urbino. This piece of impudence seems to me the crowning touch. +I can't credit that such a Fornarina ever came from Raffaele's easel. I +do think that a coarse-minded and coarse-handed young artist may have +made fun of his superior in oil--as modern literary wags have sometimes +done in ink--and that Raffaele therefore is in no way answerable for +that caricature in the Sciarra, which affects to be a reproduction from +himself. + + + LIVRES DES VOYAGEURS. + + +Verily there is no lack of the plainer symbols of humanity, to remind +the wanderer that Childe Harold was bitterly truthful, when he appended +to his inimitable descriptions of the Alps the assertion that they + + "serve to show, +How Earth may pierce to Heaven, yet leave vain man below." + +The impertinences and follies that are penned by men and women in the +various Livres des Voyageurs, wherein they record their names, were +alone sufficient proof of this. It is true that enthusiasm and fine +feeling cannot endure for an indefinite period; and that he would be a +sorry companion who always brought his stilts to the dinner-table. +Still, one must regret that a certain craving for notoriety seems to +impel so many a tourist to write himself down an ass, whilst no sense of +fairness restrains others from commenting, appropriately or +inappropriately, upon the names or remarks of predecessors. There is a +cowardice and cruelty herein which has, I confess, sometimes made me +angry, when the identity, characters, and conduct of the individuals +concerned were alike unknown or indifferent to me. In place, however, of +prolonging this digression, and without the least notion of proving +anything whatever by the citation, I beg to offer the reader a brace of +extracts from the visitors' record book at the Montanvert. + +The first tickled me exceedingly, as a genuine specimen of the so-called +Irish Bull. Mr. Somebody had entered his name, and added thereto this +valuable bit of information: "Walked up from Chamouni in four hours and +a-half, _having lost the greater part of his way_?" The italics are +mine, of course; but is not the _mot_ worth its space in print? + +My other extract concerns some of my young countrywomen, and I trust +that their countrywomen who may read it will forgive me for putting it +into circulation. They are very poor laughers, who never laugh when the +joke tells against themselves; in this instance it is we who pay the +piper. A party of English school girls had been lately at Montanvert +with their governess, and had set down their names one after another in +the big book, as is the custom there. A waggish Frenchman, waiting of +course until their backs were turned, had bracketted the list, and +written against the conclave this pithy and caustic criticism: "_Teint +rouge; appetit geant; langage embarrasse._" What an ungallant scamp! Yet +it must be owned that the same absurd album is rich in provocatives. A +running fire of sarcasm, exchanged between English and French tourists, +marks almost every page. + + + A SINGULAR ANAGRAM. + + +Among the curiosities--not of literature--but of letters, the Anagram +was wont to be a favourite in the days of a by-gone generation. Who, for +instance, has not smiled blandly over that famous transposition, which +aptly converts "Horatio Nelson" into _Honor est a Nilo_? + +The taste, however, for this sort of laborious trifling has almost +passed away; nor do we propose to re-open the subject of cabalistic +lettering. Our only purport is to offer a new specimen of its +eccentricities, which came upon us recently during a vain attempt to +solve certain mysteries, that occupy just now many serious minds. It is +commended alike to snappers-up of unconsidered trifles, and to readers +who chance to be imbued with a little tinge of superstitious +sensitiveness. We strive to hope that, though almost as curious, it is +not so unimpeachably appropriate as the one quoted above. The name, so +much in men's mouths, "Louis Napoleon Bonaparte," may by this method be +converted into, _An open plot--arouse, Albion_! + + + + + A WELL KNOWN DOCUMENT, + + _Very Slightly Paraphrased_. + + A comparison of the following lines, with the original American + Declaration of Independence, will show that the earnest and + impassioned language of real life is sometimes closely assimilated + to blank verse. + + +When, in their course, human events compel +One people to dissolve the social bands +That linked them with another, and to take +Among the powers of the Earth that station, +Equal and separate, to which the laws +Of Nature and of Nature's God, by right, +Entitle them--respect to the opinions +Of fellow men calls on them to declare +The causes, which have rendered necessary +Such separation. + We, then, hold these truths +To be self-evident: That all mankind +Are equal, and endowed by their Creator +With certain unalienable rights: +That amongst these are Life, and Liberty, +And the Pursuit of Happiness: That men, +To make these rights available and safe, +Have instituted Governments, deriving +Their lawful power from the free consent + +Of those they govern: That when any form +Of Government is proved to be destructive +Of these their ends, it is the People's right +To alter, or abolish it, and found +A Government anew, with principles +So laid for its foundation, and with powers +In such form organized, as shall to them +Seem most conducive to their happiness +And safety. + Prudence will, indeed, dictate +That long-established Governments should not +Be changed for any light or transient cause: +And all experience, accordingly, +Hath shown that men are more disposed to suffer, +So long as evils are endurable, +Than to assert their rights, and throw aside +Their customary forms. But when abuses +And usurpations, in a lengthened train, +Pursue an object steadfastly, evincing +A firm design to bow them down beneath +Absolute despotism, it is their right, +It is their bounden duty, to throw off +Such Government, and to provide new guards +For their security in future. + Such +Has been the patient sufferance of these +Our Colonies, and such is now the need, +That forces them to change their present systems +Of Government. Great Britain's present King +Hath made his history the history +Of usurpation, and of injuries +Often repeated, and directly tending +To the establishment of Tyranny + +Over these States: to prove this, let the World +In candour listen to undoubted facts. + He has refused to give assent to laws, +Wholesome, and needful for the public good. +He has denied his Governors the power +To sanction laws of pressing urgency, +Unless suspended in their operation, +Till his assent should be obtained; and when +Suspended thus, he has failed wilfully +To give them further thought. He has refused +To sanction other laws, deemed advantageous +To districts thickly peopled, unless they, +Who dwelt therein, would basely throw away +Their right to representatives--a right +Inestimable, to themselves and only +To Tyrants formidable. In the hope +To weary them into a weak compliance +With his obnoxious measures, he has summoned +The Legislative Bodies to assemble +At places inconvenient, and unusual, +And whence their public records were remote. +He has repeatedly dissolved the Houses +Of Representatives for interfering +With manly firmness, when he has invaded +The People's rights. Long time he has refused, +After such dissolutions, to convene +Others in lieu of them; whereby, the powers +Of Legislation, since they might not be +Annihilated, have for exercise +Been forced upon the body of the people; +Leaving, meanwhile, the unprotected State +To dangers of invasion from without, +And inward anarchy. He has endeavoured + +To check the population of these States, +Thwarting the laws for naturalization +Of foreigners, withholding his assent +From other laws, that might encourage them +In immigrating hither, and enhancing +The price of new allotments of the soil. + He has obstructed the administration +Of Justice, by his veto on the laws +Establishing judiciary powers +He has made Judges on his will alone +Dependent, for the tenure of their office, +For the amount, and for the proper payment +Of their emoluments. He has erected +New offices in multitudes, and sent +Swarms of his officers to harass us, +And to eat out our substance. He has kept, +In times of peace, among us, standing armies, +Without the sanction of our Legislatures. +His aim has been to place the military +Above the civil power, and beyond +Its just control. He has combined with others +To make us subject to a jurisdiction, +In spirit foreign to our Constitution, +And unacknowledged by our laws; assenting +To acts, that they have passed with semblance only +Of legislation: Acts for quartering +Among us bodies of armed troops: For shielding, +By a mock trial, those their instruments +From punishment for any murders done +On our inhabitants: For cutting off +Our trade with every quarter of the world-- +For laying on us taxes not approved +By our consent: For oft-times robbing us + +Of any benefit that might attend +Trial by jury: For transporting us +Beyond the seas, to answer for offences, +Imputed to us: For abolishing, +Within a neighbouring province, the free system +Of English laws; establishing therein +An arbitrary power; and enlarging +Its boundaries, to render it at once +The fit example, and the instrument +For bringing into these our Colonies +The same despotic rule: For taking from us +Our Charters; and abolishing our laws +Most valued; changing thus, in principle, +Our forms of Government: And for suspending +Our Legislatures, with the declaration +That they, themselves, in each and every case, +Were vested with supreme authority +To legislate for us. + He has laid down +His sway, by holding us without the pale +Of his protection, and by waging war +Against us. He has plundered on our seas; +Ravaged our coasts; our cities burnt; and taken +Our people's lives. He is transporting hither +Armies composed of foreign mercenaries, +To end the works of death, and desolation, +And tyranny, begun with circumstances +Of cruelty and perfidy unequalled +In the most barbarous ages, and unworthy +The Ruler of a nation civilized. +He has constrained our fellow-citizens, +On the high seas made captive, to bear arms +Against their country, and of friends and brothers + +To be the executioners, or fall +Beneath his creatures' hands. He has excited +Amongst ourselves domestic insurrection; +And sought to bring on the inhabitants +Of our frontier the savage Indian, +Whose code of warfare, merciless and sure, +Spares not, in undistinguished massacre, +Age, sex, condition. + We, in every stage +Of these oppressions, have in humblest terms +Petitioned for redress. To our petitions, +Though oft repeated, there has been _one_ answer-- +Repeated injury. + A prince, whose life +And conduct thus are marked by every act +That may define a Tyrant, is unfit +To rule o'er Freemen. + Neither have we failed +In due attention to our British brethren. +From time to time, we have admonished them +Of efforts, by their Legislature made, +Unwarrantably to extend to us +Their jurisdiction. How we emigrated, +And settled here, we have reminded them. +We to their native justice have appealed +And magnanimity; and have conjured them, +By common kindred ties, to disavow +These usurpations, which, inevitably, +Would mar our intercourse and friendship. They +Have also turned a deaf ear to the voice +Of Justice and of Consanguinity. +So must we yield to the necessity +Which forces us to separate, and hold them-- + +As we do hold the rest of human kind-- +Our enemies in War, in Peace our friends. + We, therefore, who are here to represent +The States United of America, +In General Congress met, for rectitude +Of our intentions to the Judge Supreme +Of all things here in confidence appealing, +Do, in the name, and by authority +Of the good people of these Colonies, +Solemnly publish and declare, that these +United Colonies are, and of right +Ought to be, Free and Independent States: +That from allegiance to the British Crown +They are absolved: That all connecting ties +Of policy between them and Great Britain +Are, as they should be, totally dissolved: +And that, as Free and Independent States, +They have full power to levy war, conclude +Peace, and contract alliances, establish +Commerce, and do all other acts and things +Which Independent States of right may do. + This is our Declaration: to support it, +With firm reliance on Divine protection, +We to each other mutually pledge +Our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour. + + + + + BEL PIEDE. + + +Browning, whose household gods were planted + Beside the banks of classic Arno, +Once, in a dainty ballad, chanted + The lady of the _bella mano_. + +Pass from the Arno to the Tiber, + From Tuscan to a Roman lady; +And let a humbler bard describe her-- + This fair one of the _bel piede_. + +To Roman dame, as I and you know, + Is rarely given a foot symmetrical; +No Cinderellas--many a Juno-- + Upon the Pincian we can yet recall. + +Those were the days when bonnets did not + Expose the face to every starer; +When skirts, worn short and airy, hid not + The foot and ankle of the wearer. + +With high arched instep, narrow, tapering, + Divinely booted--none could beat hers-- +The foot, that set my young heart capering, + Came down the broad steps of St. Peter's. + +Her long black veil, the crowd around me, + Her swift landau, my swift emotion-- +She came: her fairy foot spell-bound me; + She went: which way, I had no notion. + +Haunting all public haunts was fruitless, + Mid solemn pomps, on festal hey-day; +Search for those glorious boots was bootless: + Rome showed no more my _bel piede_. + +In Paris next enchained it held me, + Through redowa, waltz, all sorts of dances; +But mask and domino repelled me-- + She moved, but I made no advances. + +Again she passed--no trace behind her-- + I sought, enquired, left nothing undone; +But all was vain: I could not find her, + And, in despair, set off for London. + +The sea between Boulogne and Dover + Was, as it always is, terrific; +Against that awful passage over, + Why not invent some smooth specific? + +Cloaked, muffled, shawled, a form was leaning + Across the gunwale, keeping shady; +I recked not what might be its meaning-- + I thought not, then, of _bel piede_. + +Sudden, a lurch, a shriek, a splashing! + I knew the shriek was from a lady; +But horror through my brain went crashing-- + I saw, heels up, my _bel piede_! + +She sank. No more! But O ye mermaids, + Of whose long tails we've had a surfeit, +If ye were worthy to be her maids, + You'd cut your tails, and copy her feet! + + + + + WHO IS HE? + + _A Reply to Quevedo_. + + These lines were suggested by some sprightly verses, entitled "Who + is She?" that had recently appeared in _Fraser's Magazine_. + + +A Spanish writer once decided, + In flippant song, +That woman's lip, or tongue, or eye did + All that went wrong. +Nay, that the true mode of unmasking + Her wiles would be, +On all occasions simply asking-- + Pray, who is she? + +Now, why must woman's petticoats + Aye be the blamables? +How is't Quevedo never quotes + Mankind's unnamables? +He rates the sex, and certes for it he + Makes a good plea; +But can't I, on as good authority, + Ask, who is he? + +Quevedo swears that Eve and Helen + Wrought dire mishaps: +That Adam and the Trojans fell in + Their deep-laid traps. +Eve?--why Diabolus beguiled her; + You know't, Quevedo! +Helen?--that rascal Paris wiled her: + That's Homer's _credo_! + +Trust me, man causes woman's failing; + And, on my life, +He's always wantonly assailing + Maid, widow, wife. +Beneath the surface let the gazer + Look deep--he'll see +Some stronger vessel that betrays her: + Just ask--who's he? + +Is it a milk-maid drops her pailful?-- + Lubin's love-making: +Is her fate scandalous or baleful?-- + Lubin's been raking! +The school-girl loaths her bread and butter, + Pouts o'er her tea, +Mumbles her lessons in a flutter-- + Ask, who is he? + +Despite experience, what can set + The widow hoping? +Why are wives sometimes gadding met, + And sometimes moping? +Don't talk of widows' amorous bump, + Of wives too free; +But pop the question to them, plump-- + Pray, who is he? + +We're mighty prompt to throw the blame on + The weaker fair sex; +When justice ought to fix the shame on + Ours--not on their sex. +Ours the seduction and the fooling, + If such there be: +Come; your exception to this ruling-- + Pray, who is he? + +The old and hump-backed ply their battery + Of gold and jewels; +Well-knit young fellows deal in flattery, + Dance, song, oaths, duels. +So, to conclude, I'll take my oath, sir, + Upon the Bible, +That to blame one--in place of both, sir,-- + Is a gross libel! + + + + + TO NINON. + + _From the French of Alfred de Musset._ + + +Were I to tell thee, ne'ertheless, that, troth, I love thee well, +Blue-eyed brunette, blue-eyed brunette, thine answer who could tell? +Love is the cause of many a pang--their source thou well can'st guess; +No pity in him dwells, as thou must needs thyself confess: +And yet, ah! me, thou would'st perchance chastise me ne'ertheless! + +Were I to tell thee that, beneath six months of silence crushed, +Long-hidden torments I have borne, and vows insensate hushed; +Ninon, despite thy careless air, thou hast a searching eye, +That, like a Fairy's, ere it come, what's coming can espy: +"I know it all, I know it all," thou would'st perchance reply. + +Were I to tell thee that I roam in sweet, delirious dream, +Haunting thy footsteps so that I thy very shadow seem; +A tinge of sadness on thy cheek, a quick, mistrustful glance,-- +Ninon, thou knowest well that these thy loveliness enhance: +And thus, that thou believest not, thou would'st reply perchance. + +Were I to tell thee that my soul hoards up the lightest word, +That falling from thy lips at eve in our discourse I've heard; +Lady, thou know'st that, when aroused to anger or disdain, +Eyes, though of azure they may be, can still their lightnings rain: +And thine perchance would flashing say, "We must not meet again!" + +Were I to tell thee that by night I wake and think of thee, +And that by day for thee I pray, and weep on bended knee, +Ah! Ninon, when thou laugh'st, the bee, as well thou art aware, +In hovering round thy rosy mouth, that 'twas a flower might swear: +Were I to tell thee all, perchance the laugh would still be there + +But nothing shalt thou know of this. I venture, all untold, +Calmly to sit beneath thy lamp, and converse with thee hold. +I hear the murmur of thy voice, thy balmy breath inhale; +And thou may'st doubt me, or surmise, or laugh, I shall not quail; +Thine eyes shall see no cause in me, their kindly look to veil. + +By stealth at times, in secret joy, mysterious flowers I glean, +When o'er thy harpsichord at eve enraptured I can lean, +And list from thy harmonious hands what fairy accents flow; +Or in voluptuous waltz, as round with flying feet we go, +I feel thee in mine arms, a reed, that's waving to and fro. + +When from thy side I have been kept by thronged saloons at night, +And in my chamber draw my bolt that shuts the world from sight, +A thousand reminiscences I seize upon, and hold +In jealous grasp; and there, alone, like miser o'er his gold, +To Heaven my heart, all full of thee, with greedy joy unfold. + +I love; and I have learned to speak in cool and careless tone. +I love; nought tells of it. I love; who knows it?--I alone! +Dear is my secret, dear the pain with which I am oppressed; +And I have sworn to love, without a hope on which to rest; +But not without a taste of joy--I see thee, and am blest. + +No! not for me! I was not born such bliss supreme to meet: +To die within thy arms, or live contented at thy feet. +Alas! all proves it--e'en the grief that fain I would dispel. +Were I to tell thee, ne'ertheless, that, troth, I love thee well: +Blue-eyed brunette, blue-eyed brunette, thine answer who could tell? + + + + + THE LAST OF THE ROMAN GLADIATORS. + + The incident, which the following stanzas attempt to describe, is + historical. It is related by Gibbon in his "Decline and Fall of the + Roman Empire." + + +Ye, who have the ruins seen + Of the Coliseum's walls, +Think ye, what the sight hath been + Of Rome's highest festivals! +If your fancy can restore +Crumbled arch and corridor, + Call forth the dead; +Bid them fill again the seats, +Where now Echo only greets + The stranger's tread. + +Fourteen hundred years are past, + Rome hath fallen in her pride, +Since the gladiator last + In the Coliseum died. +Fourteen hundred years ago, +Tens of thousands thronged the show, + In joyous guise, +On the struggle and the strife, +And the pangs of parting life, + Feasting their eyes. + +Then ye might have heard the roar + Of the noble beasts of prey, +As they fought and bled, before + Men less noble far than they. +Strength is useless, courage vain, +Beauty saves not--they are slain, + The forest race; +Whilst the still unsated crowd +For new victims shout aloud, + To fill their place. + +Hark! the Praetor's stern command + Costlier sacrifice proclaims; +Lo! the gladiatorial band, + Glory of the Roman Games! +As they enter, man by man, +Shape and size the people scan + With eager glance; +And of each ill-fated pair, +That await the signal there, + Foretell the chance. + +Hark! the trumpet's sudden sound; + Lo! the work of death begun: +Seas of blood shall drench the ground, + Ere that deadly work be done. +Ha! a moment of delay? +What the lifted hand can stay? + Is there a fear +Of Pompeii's fiery shower? +Or, doth Earthquake's giant power + Make havoc here? + +No--for Nature with a smile + Looks upon her outraged laws, +Man's indignant voice the while + Bidding man in pity pause. +See!--a monk, obscure, unknown, +Christ's disciple, treads alone + The arena's sand, +Foe from foe intent to part, +Striving with a zealous heart, + But feeble hand. + +Would ye seek to know his fate? + Listen to that savage yell! +Scorn, derision, fury, hate, + Doomed his death--the martyr fell. +Record there is none to show, +Whose the hand that dealt the blow + That laid him there; +Men who gazed, and men who fought, +All alike to madness wrought, + The guilt must share. + +Whether stoned to death, or slain + By the sword, or by the spear, +Little recks it--it were vain + Through the mists of time to peer. +This we know--the martyr died; +Nor without success had plied + His work of peace, +Since, to expiate that deed, +Rome's Imperial Lord decreed, + The Games should cease. + +Rome obeyed her Lord's commands; + Never were those Games renewed: +Now the priest of Jesus stands + Where the gladiator stood. +Thanks, Telemachus, to thee, +Sainted martyr, now we see + Altars around; +And the spot, where thou of yore +Did'st thy life-blood nobly pour, + Is hallowed ground. + + + + + THE PRUDENT BRIDE. + + +At Salem Meeting-House, one summer day, +Two lovers, Abby Purkis and John Cole, +Were joined in holy wedlock. Off they started +To spend the honey-moon, gregarious, +At Trenton, Saratoga, and the Falls. + Reaching this last-named wonder of the world, +They went the usual round; mounted the tower +That overlooks the cataract; stood and watched +The eddying Rapids, and the whirling Pool; +Nor on thy deck, O daring "_Maid of the Mist_," +Failed they to buffet the tumultuous roar, +The drenching spray, the seeming perilous plunge +Beneath the Horse-Shoe. Every where, throughout, +Abby was brave; nay, on John's stalwart arm +Leaning, was confident. + At last they reached +The Cavern of the Winds. Then changed her bearing. +Trembling, she paused. In truth, the howling blasts, +And gusty moans as of imprisoned spirits, +Struck the bride's soul with terror. All aghast, +She stood before the entrance, and refused, +Firmly refused to trust herself within. +John urged--she would not; coaxed--'twas all in vain; +Laughed at, and called her "little fool"--she would not. +Nay more, she prayed him by the love he bore her +Not to set foot himself within a place +So fraught with peril. John was ungallant, +And only laughed the more. Not he the man +To flinch from fisticuffs with Aeolus! +Had he not harpooned whales in Arctic seas? +Were not typhoon, white squall, and hurricane +His some time playmates? It was her turn now +To coax, and urge, and crave--and be denied. + Chafed that her will was not a law to John, +Abby was woman still, and sorely grieved +That he should run such risks. She kissed him fondly, +And bade him tread with care, and hasten back. +Her voice was choked with sobs. Her latest words +Were scarcely audible, though through them breathed +Salem's sound training. "John," she faltered forth, +"We know not what may happen: dear, dear John, +"Were it not well that you--should--leave--with--me-- +"Your--watch--and--pocket-book?" + + + + + THE TRAMPER'S BED--AND THE KING'S. + + +Down by the side of a sweet clover-stack, +On a summer night, I lie on my back. +Clear space is above me; and there, as I lie, +I look straight up to the stars in the sky. + Once, when the King was dethroned by the mob, +They swarmed to his palace, to stare or to rob, +And the frightened lackies flung open the doors, +And clouted shoes scraped along polished floors. +Then it was I caught sight of his Majesty's bed, +With its canopy, gilded and carved, overhead;-- +If his Majesty wishes the stars to behold, +And looks up, he can see but the carving and gold! + Some night, should my soul be unbound as I sleep, +And downward an Angel in search of it sweep, +No bar, no obstruction, would hinder his flight;-- +With a wave of his wings, by my corpse he would light. + But what, if the soul to be loosed were the King's? +Could an Angel reach that by the poise of his wings? +Could he easily cleave through a palace his way? +Through ceilings bedizened, through floors in decay-- +Through gorgeous apartments and bare attic rooms, +For lords and for ladies, for valets and grooms-- +Through a quaint peaked roof rising high o'er the whole-- +Could he enter, and tenderly waft off the soul? + Better, then, is the bed by the sweet clover-stack, +With the stars full in view, and the clear Angel's track! +And though much be not mine of this world's pleasant things, +I should care not to barter my couch for the King's! + + + + + OCCASION. + + _From the Italian of Ternare_ + + +"Say, who art thou, with more than mortal air, +Endowed by Heaven with gifts and graces rare, +Whom restless, winged feet for ever onward bear?"-- + +"I am Occasion--known to few, at best; +And since one foot upon a wheel I rest, +Constant my movements are--they cannot be repressed. + +"Not the swift eagle in his swiftest flight +Can equal me in speed. My wings are bright; +And man, who sees them waved, is dazzled by the sight. + +"My thick and flowing locks, before me thrown, +Conceal my form--nor face, nor breast is shown, +That thus, as I approach, my coming be not known. + +"Behind my head, no single lock of hair +Invites the hand, that fain would it grasp there; +But he, who lets me pass, to seize me may despair." + +"Whom, then, so close behind thee do I see?"-- +"Her name is Penitence; and Heaven's decree +Hath made all those her prey, who profit not by me. + +"And thou, O mortal, who dost vainly ply +These curious questions, thou dost not descry, +That now thy time is lost--for I am passing by." + + + + +THE MOURNFUL BALLAD OF THE "ALABAMA." + + +Captain Semmes is on a cruise +O'er the track that skippers use; +From the Western Isles, to those +Near Nantucket shoals, he goes. + Woe is me, Alabama! + +Letters to the merchants tell +Who into his clutches fell; +'Tis the talk of all the town; +News-boys call it up and down + Woe is me, Alabama! + +Straight the sons of Commerce came +To their Chamber, crying shame +For the tidings they had learned, +For their ships and cargoes burned. + Woe is me, Alabama! + +Up and spake a merchant prince: +"Friends, our city well may wince, +For you have, alas! to know +Of a most disastrous blow! + Woe is me, Alabama! + +"All is sunk beneath the waves, +Breadstuffs, lard, tobacco, staves; +Chained have been our Captains bold +In the 'Alabama's' hold! + Woe is me, Alabama! + +"Lawless, too, is Captain Semmes; +Neutral shipments he condemns. +Useless is it to appeal +To Consul's signature and seal. + Woe is me, Alabama! + +"But there's worse than this behind; +Treacherous friends this blow designed. +Great as is the corsair's guilt, +Greater theirs his ship who built! + Woe is me, Alabama! + +"Neutral money, neutral skill, +Wrought us this outrageous ill; +Neutral engines, neutral guns, +Aid him as he fights or runs. + Woe is me, Alabama! + +"Sons of Commerce, men of worth, +Let these words of mine go forth! +Let the British monarch know +That to her all this we owe!" + Woe is me, Alabama! + +So the warning words went forth +To England, from the angered North, +Passed along from mouth to mouth, +"No more dealings with the South!" + Woe is me, Alabama! + +"You may sell to this our land +All we want of contraband; +But have a care that nothing goes, +From you, a neutral, to our foes!" + Woe is me, Alabama! + +Now Heaven preserve us all in peace, +And let these ugly squabbles cease! +So fighters all, and standers-by, +Shall nevermore have cause to cry, + "Woe is me, Alabama!" + +November, 1862. + + + + + LINES FOR THE GUITAR. + +_From the French of Victor Hugo._ + + + Man was saying: "How can we, + In our little boats at sea, + Pass the guarda-costas by?"-- +"Row!" said Woman in reply. + + Man was saying: "How forget + Perils that our lives beset, + Strife, and Poverty's low cry?"-- +"Sleep!" said Woman in reply. + + Man was saying: "How be sure + Beauty's favour to secure, + Nor the subtle philtre try?"-- +"Love!" said Woman in reply. + + + + + THREE MEN AND A WOMAN. + + +A Summer's dawn and a tranquil sea; + But lurid all with smoke: +For a bark was burning furiously, + What time the morning broke. + +Terrible? ay, but risk there was none, + For stern the Captain's sway; +And when he spoke, each mother's son + Could not but choose obey. + +"Man the boats!"--the boats were manned, + In order, one by one; +To pull a hundred miles to land, + All under the Summer's sun. + +Four stalwart rowers bend to their oars: + Four sitters at the stern-- +Three men and a woman--silent sit, + Watching the vessel burn. + +They were no tremblers: each had known + Perils by land and deep; +But the woman alone would gently moan, + And at times, perforce, would weep. + +Yet soon the sun was high in heaven, + And the sea was a-glow: and then +The temper of those men peered out-- + Of those three fearless men. + +One thought his white hand by the sun would be tanned; + One felt they were wrong to risk it, +In sweltering heat, with nothing to eat + But a bit of dry ship-biscuit. + +The third brooded over his handful of freight + Going down, uninsured, to the deep: +But the woman alone would gently moan, + And at times, perforce, would weep; + +Till a sense of shame the three o'ercame, + And a curious wish to know +Why, still unfearing, she gave way + To her uncomplaining woe. + +"Ah, Sirs!"--she faltered in reply-- + "The danger is easily braved: +But my husband may hear that the ship is burnt-- + And not that we are saved!" + + + + + ANOTHER MARBLE FAUN. + + _A Translation of La Statue, by Victor Hugo._ + + + He seemed to shiver, for the wind was keen. +'Twas a poor statue underneath a mass +Of leafless branches, with a blackened back +And green foot--an old isolated Faun +In old deserted park, who, bending forward, +Half merged himself in the entangled boughs, +Half in his marble settings. He was there, +Pensive, and bound to the earth; and, as all things, +Devoid of movement, he was there--forgotten. + + Trees were around him, whipped by the icy blasts-- +Gigantic chestnuts, without leaf or bird, +And, like himself, grown old in that same place. +Through the dark network of their undergrowth, +Pallid his aspect; and the earth was brown. +Starless and moonless, a rough winter's night +Was letting down her lappets o'er the mist. +Trees more remote, with sombre shafts upreared, +Each other crossed; and trees remoter still, +By distance blurred, threw up to the grey sky +Their thousand twigs sharp-pointed, intricate; +And posed themselves around; and through the fog +Took, on the horizon's verge, the shadowy form +Of mighty porcupines in countless herd. + + This--nothing more: old Faun, dull sky, dark wood. + +Piercing the mist, perchance there might be seen +A distant terrace--its long layers of stone +Tinted with slimy green; or group of Nymphs, +Dimly defined beside a wide-spread basin, +And shrinking--fitly in this desolate park-- +As once from gazers, from neglect to-day. +The old Faun was laughing. In their dubious haze +Leaving the shamed Nymphs and their dreary basin-- +The old Faun was laughing--'twas to him I came +Moved to compassion, for these sculptors all +Are pitiless ever, and, content with praise, +Doom Nymphs to shame, condemn the Fauns to laughter. + + Poor helpless marble, how I've pitied it +Less often man--the harder of the two. + So then, without a word that might offend +His ear difformed--for well the marble hears +The voice of thought--I said to him: "You hail +From the gay amorous age; O Faun, what saw you, +When you were happy? Were you of the Court? +Did you take part in fetes?--For your diversion +These Nymphs were fashioned. In this wood, for you, +Capable hands mingled the gods of Greece +With Roman Caesars; made rare vases peer +Into clear waters; and this garden vext +With tortuous labyrinths. When you were happy, +O Faun, what saw you? All the secrets tell +Of that too vain yet captivating past, +Thick set with prudent love-makers, a past +In which great poets jostled mighty Kings. +How fresh your memory--you are laughing still! + + Speak to me, comely Faun, as you would speak +To tree, or zephyr, or untrodden grass. +From end to end of this well-shaded alley, +When near you, with the handsome Lautrec, passed +The soft-eyed Marguerite, the Bearnaise Queen, +Have you, O Greek, O mocker of old days, +Have you not sometimes with that oblique eye +Winked at the Farnese Hercules?--Alone, +In cave as it were of foliage green and moist, +Have you, O Faun, considerately turned +From side to side when counsel-seekers came, +And now advised as shepherd; now as satyr? +Have you sometimes upon this very bench +Seen at mid-day, Vincent de Paul instilling +Grace into Gondi?--Have you ever thrown +That searching glance on Louis with Fontange, +On Anne with Buckingham; and did they not +Start, with flushed cheeks, to hear your laugh ring forth +From corner of the wood?--Was your advice +As to the thyrsis or the ivy asked, +When, the grand ballet of fantastic form, +God Phoebus, or god Pan, and all his court +Turned the fair head of the fair Montespan, +Calling her Amaryllis?--La Fontaine, +Flying the courtiers' ears of stone, came he, +Tears in his eyelids, to reveal to you +The sorrows of his Nymphs of Vaux?--What said +Boileau to you, to you, O lettered Faun, +Who once with Virgil, in the Eclogue, held +That charming dialogue, and deftly made-- +Couched on the turf--the heavy spondee dance +To the light dactyl's step?--Say, have you seen +Young beauties sporting on the sward: Chevreuse +Of the swimming eyes, Thiange of airs superb? +Have they sometimes, in rosy-tinted group, +Girt you so fondly round, that all at once +A straggling sunbeam on a fluttering bosom +Marked your lascivious profile?--Has your tree +Received beneath the quiet of its shade +Pale Mazarin's scarlet winding sheet?--Have you +Been honoured with a sight of Moliere +In dreamy mood? Has he perchance at times, +Dropping at random a melodious verse, +In tone familiar--as is the wont +'Twixt demi-gods--addressed you?--When at eve +Homeward hereby the thinker went, has he +Who--seeing souls all naked--could not fear +Your nudity, in his enquiring mind +Confronted you with Man? And did he deem +You, spectral cynic, the less sad, less cold, +Less wicked, less ironical--comparing +Your laugh in marble with our human laugh?" + + Under the thickly tangled branches, thus +Did I speak to him; he no answer gave-- +Not even a murmur. On the pedestal +Leaning, I listened; but the past stirred not. +Dumb to my words and to my pity deaf, +The Satyr, motionless, was vaguely blanched +By the wan glimmer of the dying day. +To see him there, sinister, half drawn out +From his dark framing, and by damp discoloured, +Brought to one's mind the handle of a sword +In torso chiselled--an old rusty sword, +Left for long years neglected in its sheath. + + I shook my head, and moved myself away. +Then, from the copses, from the dried up boughs +Pendent above him, from secret caves +Hid in the wood, methought a ghostly voice +Came forth and woke an echo in my soul, +As in the hollow of an amphora. + + "Imprudent poet," thus it seemed to say, +"What dost thou here? Leave the forsaken Fauns +In peace beneath their trees! Dost thou not know, +Poet, that ever it is impious deemed, +In desert spots where drowsy shades repose-- +Though love itself might prompt thee--to shake down +The moss that hangs from ruined centuries, +And, with the vain noise of thine ill-timed words, +To mar the recollections of the dead?" + + Then to the gardens all enwrapped in mist +I hurried, dreaming of the vanished days. +And still the tree-tops were with mystery rife; +And still, behind me--hieroglyph obscure +Of antique alphabet--the lonely Faun +Held to his laughter, through the falling night. + + I went my way; but yet--in saddened spirit +Pondering on all that had my vision crossed, +Floating in air or scattered under foot, +Confused and blent, beauty and spring and morn, +Leaves of old summers, fair ones of old time-- +Through all, at distance would my fancy see, +In the woods, statues; shadows in the past! + + + + + CHARADES. + + I. + + +Look from the prow of thine anchored bark-- +Anchored by classic shore--and mark, +Down fathoms-deep in the purple sea, +How Time and the waters have dealt on me + +Art lost in the moonless and starless night? +Far-away looming, a light! a light! +Fearlessly steer, for on me 'tis placed, +To guide thy bark o'er the trackless waste + +Earth knows me, too; and will heave and quake +Where my subterranean course I take: +And none so aghast at my ravages then, +As they whose type was the Sire of men. + +But not ever thus; at times I'm seen +On the cheek or the neck of Beauty's queen; +Or (to favoured mortal alone confest) +Tinging the snow upon Beauty's breast. + +So, whether above the waves, or below, +Or beneath the Earth, or on breast of snow, +Linked with the past, or alive to-day, +Tell who I am--if tell ye may. + + + II. + + +My lady calls; my First obeys-- + Nor less his lord's behest: +In bower and hall, in olden days, + My First was in request. + +Yet 'tis my First that tells us now + What then my First was doing; +How he went forth to war, and how + He prospered in his wooing. + +A wise King bade the lazy fool + Observe my Second's ways, +And notice--as it were in school-- + The wisdom she displays. + +Yet hers is a devouring race, + And might--though strange it be-- +Eat up, in given time and place, + My First, or you, or me. + +As for my whole--in every age + Mankind must have its show; +In actual life, on mimic stage, + In peace, war, joy, or woe. + +Now 'tis a wedding, now a death, + A gathering, or a play; +It comes, but, like a passing breath, + Full soon 'tis swept away. + + + III. + + +When Richard of the Lion Heart + In arms the Paynim sought, +I of his panoply was part, + And, wielding me, he fought. + +When ladies on a different field + With men their skill essay, +I am the weapon that they wield + If they would gain the day. + +When cooks in certain dishes show + Their culinary art, +I am on hand--the masters know + What flavour I impart. + + + IV. + + +I'm a word of one syllable. Look you for me +Mid Niagara's roar; in the turbulent sea; +Where the winds and the waters are wildest at play, +And fling off their laughter in volumes of spray. + +I'm a noun of five letters; but throw one aside-- +I'm a verb; with the noun I'm no longer allied. +I'm a grave, solemn verb; nay, I truly might say, +Those who follow my precept do nothing but pray. + +But again; let two letters be dropped--there's a change; +As a noun--and by no means a grave one--I range. +Now I'm here; now I'm there; seen by night and by day, +For in short, I'm a beam, or a flash, or a ray. + +Thus a verb and two nouns packed together you see, +In a word of one syllable.--What can it be? + + + V. + + +There are some words, that in a double sense +Must be interpreted; of these am I. +Your housemaid, thus, wilt know me literally +Better than you do; but, with all respect +For Betty's carefulness, she scarce can catch +My finer meaning. I'm, with her, a thing +For brush and duster; in me, you behold +A symbol. So much for me as I stand. +Now cut my head off--I'm another word +Of narrow and of wide significance, +Handful of dust, the very world itself. +Cut off my tail--the effect is still the same; +I'm yet another of those duplex words: +Mental and bodily, an essential part +Of all mankind, without which no one lives, +Nay, not an animal, though you may swear, +And truly too, that I have no existence, +And never had, in certain men and women. + Enough: it is not difficult to find +Three words, six meanings, in one syllable. + + + VI. + + +Well may I call myself cosmopolite, +Being of all lands and times. Barbaric tribes +Know me, and honour. In the gentler world, +Scholars have studied me, and poets sung, +And painters painted, and musicians hymned. +Nor from Religion have I held myself +Apart. In Pagan and in savage rites +Largely I mingle; and some Saints at least, +Worshipped among us, owe me much. In short, +Theme, inspiration, puzzle--I am all. +As to my form, it may not be defined; +Yet this is certain: were I rent in twain +And of one half bereft, I should not have +A leg to stand on--of the other half +Equally mulcted, I should endless be. + + + VII. + + +In me, as the scholar saith, +Is exhaustion, wasting, death. +But--so close do grave and gay +Touch, in this our world--you may, +By a change of accent made, +Change the meaning I conveyed; +Change me so that I proclaim +Victory won, and spoils, and fame! + + + VIII. + + +My first's a French noun; and, without it, stands not +Church, palace, or hospital, villa, or cot. +My Second no feature distinctive can claim; +It but echoes my First--'t is precisely the same. + Yet my Whole to French parentage makes no pretence; +It is plain Anglo-Saxon, in sound as in sense; +Nor more widely asunder does pole lie from pole, +Than my Gallican parts and my Anglican whole. +Impalpable, it--solid, tangible, they; +They may last, for long ages--it passes away! +Now a sign of approval, a token of scorn; +Sometimes of the wind or the waves it is born; +Though its presence at intervals surely you'll trace +Where my First and my Second have stablished their place; +Where King hath his dwelling or Trade hath her marts-- +A whole evanescent, material parts! + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +The words "irresistible" and "irresistable" were left as they +were printed in the original. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MATHIEU ROPARS: ET CETERA*** + + +******* This file should be named 39132.txt or 39132.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/9/1/3/39132 + + + +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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