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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/39278-0.txt b/39278-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..604b9ab --- /dev/null +++ b/39278-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8836 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Portland Sketch Book, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Portland Sketch Book + +Author: Various + +Editor: Ann S. Stephens + +Release Date: March 27, 2012 [EBook #39278] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PORTLAND SKETCH BOOK *** + + + + +Produced by Roberta Staehlin, JoAnn Greenwood, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + +In "Descriptions of the Divine Being", P. 96, the block quote inside ~ +(tilde) marks is a transliteration of the Hebrew. The transliteration +was not present in the original and has been added by the transcriber; +[h.] is used for Het, to distinguish it from h for Hey. The UTF8 and +HTML versions also have the Hebrew script shown in the original. + +Remaining transcriber's notes are at the end of the text. + + + + + THE + + PORTLAND SKETCH BOOK. + + EDITED BY + MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS. + + PORTLAND: + COLMAN & CHISHOLM. + + Arthur Shirley, Printer. + 1836. + + + + + Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1836, by + EDWARD STEPHENS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court + of Maine. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The object of the Portland Sketch-Book, is to collect in a small +compass, literary specimens from such authors as have a just claim to be +styled Portland writers. The list might have been extended to a much +greater length, had all been included who have made our city a place of +transient residence; but no writer has a place in this volume who is +not, or has not been, a citizen of Portland, either by birth or a long +residence. Therefore, all the names contained in these pages are +emphatically those of Portland authors. Among those who were actually +born here and either wholly, or in part educated here, will be found the +following names, most of which are already known to the world of +literature. + +S. B. Beckett--James Brooks--William Cutter--Charles S. +Daveis--Nathaniel Deering--P. H. Greenleaf--Charles P. Ilsley--Joseph +Ingraham--Geo. W. Light--Henry W. Longfellow--Grenville +Mellen--Frederick Mellen--Isaac McLellan, Jr.--John Neal--Elizabeth +Smith--William Willis--N. P. Willis. + +Considering the population of our city--hardly fifteen thousand at this +time--the list itself we apprehend will be considered as not the least +remarkable part of the book. + +It was the design of the Publishers to furnish a book composed of +original articles from all our living authors, and to select only from +those who have been lost to us; but though great exertions were made, +the editor found much difficulty in collecting original materials, even +after they had been promised by almost every individual to whom she +applied. According to the original design, each living author was to +have contributed a limited number of pages; but after frequent +disappointments, all restrictions were taken off; each writer furnished +as many original pages as suited his pleasure, and the deficiency was +supplied by selected articles. In her selections, the editor has +endeavored to do impartial justice to our authors, and, in almost every +instance, she has been guided by them in her choice. If in any case she +has been obliged to exercise her own judgment, in contradiction to +theirs, it was because the publishers had restricted her to a certain +number of pages, and the articles proposed would have swelled the volume +beyond the prescribed limits. _Original_ papers are inserted exactly as +they were supplied by their separate authors. A general invitation was +extended; therefore it should give no offence, if those who have +contributed largely fill the greater portion of the Book, to the +exclusion of much excellent matter, which might have been selected. +Several writers who did not forward their contributions as expected, +have been omitted altogether, as the editor could find nothing of theirs +extant which was adapted to a work strictly literary. + +In order to avoid all appearance of partiality, it has been thought +advisable to make an alphabetical arrangement of names, and to let +chance decide the position of each author in the Book. + +The compiler has a word of apology to offer, before she consigns her +little book to the public. Reasons which will be easily understood would +have prevented her appropriating any considerable portion to herself; +but she had contracted with the publishers to furnish a volume, which +should be at least two thirds original, and when the pages forwarded to +her were found insufficient for her object, she was obliged, however +unwillingly, to supply the deficiency. + +The Editor now submits her Portland Book to the public, with much +solicitude that it may meet with approbation--feeling certain that +indulgence would be extended to her, could it be known how much labor +and difficulty have attended her slender exertions, in the literature of +a city she has never ceased to love. + +P. S. Among the papers omitted from necessity, is one by the Rev. Dr. +Nichols, which, owing to accident, did not arrive till the arrangements +for the work were entirely completed. In the absence of the Editor, +whose own leading article arrived _almost_ too late for insertion, we +have taken the liberty to state the facts, that our readers may +understand the cause of an omission so extraordinary. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + Preface iii + + Diamond Cove--By S. B. Beckett 9 + + Our Own Country--By James Brooks 13 + + The Cruise of The Dart--By S. B. Beckett 21 + + + To M--, on her Birth-Day,--By William Cutter 59 + + Religious Obligation in Rulers--By John W. Chickering 60 + + A New-England Winter Scene--By William Cutter 74 + + Loch Katrine--By N. H. Carter 78 + + Worship--By Asa Cummings 82 + + The Valley of Silence--By William Cutter 86 + + Descriptions of The Divine Being--By Gershom F. Cox 88 + + + The French Revolution--By Charles S. Daveis 98 + + Mrs. Sykes--From the papers of Dr. Tonic, recently + brought to light--By Nathaniel Deering 102 + + + Old and Young--By James Furbish 115 + + + Autumnal Days--By P. H. Greenleaf 119 + + + The Plague--By Charles P. Ilsley 123 + + 'Oh, This is not My Home'--By Charles P. Ilsley 125 + + The Village Prize--By Joseph Ingraham 126 + + + Indifference to Study--By George W. Light 134 + + The Village of Auteuil--By Henry W. Longfellow 138 + + + The Past and The New Year--By Prentiss Mellen 145 + + The Ruin of a Night--By Grenville Mellen 150 + + Courtship--By William L. McClintock 152 + + Venetian Moonlight--By Frederick Mellen 158 + + Ballooning--By I. McLellan, Jr. 160 + + Ode--By Grenville Mellen 166 + + The Boy's Mountain Song--By I. McLellan, Jr. 167 + + + The Unchangeable Jew--By John Neal 168 + + A War-Song of The Revolution--By John Neal 183 + + + Musings on Music--By James F. Otis 185 + + + Sin estimated by the Light of Heaven--By Edward Payson 194 + + The Way of the Soul--By L. S. P. 200 + + Fragments of An Address on Music--By Edward Payson 206 + + + The Blush--By Mrs. Elizabeth Smith 212 + + The Widowed Bride--By Mrs. Ann S. Stephens 216 + + Jack Downing's Visit to Portland--By Seba Smith 227 + + The Deserted Wife--By Mrs. Ann S. Stephens 272 + + + Portland as it Was--By William Willis 231 + + The Cherokee's Threat--By N. P. Willis 239 + + Grecian and Roman Eloquence--By Ashur Ware 256 + + Religion--By Jason Whitman 269 + + + + +THE PORTLAND SKETCH BOOK. + + + + +DIAMOND COVE. + + + A beauteous Cove, amid the isles + That sprinkle Casco's winding bay, + Where, like an Eden, nature smiles + In all her wild and rich array. + 'Tis sheltered from the ocean's roar + By beetling crags and foam-girt rifts, + And mossy trees, that ages hoar + Have braved the sea-gales on its cliffs! + The broad-armed oak, the beech and pine, + And elm, their branches intertwine + Above its tranquil, glassy face, + So that the sun finds scarcely space + At mid-day, for his fervid beam + To shimmer on the limpid stream; + And in its rugged, sparry caves, + Worn by the winter's tempest waves, + Gleams many a crystal wildly bright + Like _diamonds_, flashing radiant light, + And hence the fairy spot is 'hight.' + + The forests far extending round, + Ne'er to the spoiler's axe resound; + Nor is man's toil or traces there; + But resteth all as lone and fair-- + The sunny slopes, the rocks and trees, + As desert isles in Indian seas, + That sometimes rise upon the view + Of some far-wandering, wind-bound crew, + Sleeping alone mid ocean's blue. + + The lonely ospray rears her brood + Deep in the forest-solitude; + And through the long, bright summer day, + When ocean, calm as mountain lake, + Bears not a breath its hush to break, + The snow-winged sea-gull tilts away + Upon the long, smooth swell, that sweeps, + In curving, wide, unbroken reach, + Into the cove from outer deeps, + Unwinding up the pebbly beach. + + Oft blithly ring the wide old woods, + Within their loneliest solitudes, + To youthful shout, and song, and glee, + And viol's merry minstrelsy, + When summer's stirless, sultry air + Pervades the city's thoroughfare, + And drives the throng to seek the shades + Of these green, zephyr-breathing glades! + The dance goes round; the trunks so tall-- + Rough columns of the festal hall-- + Sustain a broad and lofty roof + Of nature's greenest, loveliest woof! + The maiden weaves, in lieu of wreath, + The bending fern-plumes in her hair, + And the wild flowers with scented breath, + That spring to blossom every where + Around; the forest's dream-like rest + Drives care and sorrow from each breast, + And makes the worn and weary blest! + + And when the broad, dim waters blush + Beneath the tints of ebbing day, + When comes the moon out in the hush + Of eve, with mellow, timid ray, + And twilight lingers far away + On the blue waste, the fisher's skiff + Comes dancing in, and 'neath the cliff + Is moored to rest, till morning's train + Beams with fresh beauty o'er the main, + And wakes him to his toil again! + + O, lovely there is sunset-hour! + When twilight falls with soothing power + Along the forest-windings dim, + And from the thicket, sweet and low, + The red-breast tunes a farewell hymn + To daylight's latest, lingering glow-- + When slope, and rock, and wood around, + In all their dreamy, hushed repose, + Are glassed adown the bright profound-- + And passing fair is evening's close! + When from the bright, cerulean dome, + The sea-fowl, that have all the day + Wheeled o'er the far, lone billows' spray, + Come thronging to their eyries home; + When over rock and wave, remote, + From yon dim fort, the bugle's note + Along the listening air doth creep, + Seeming to steal down from the sky, + Or with out-bursting, martial sweep + Rings through the forests, clanging high, + While echo waked bears on the strain, + Till faint, beyond the trackless main, + In realms of space it seems to die. + But lovelier still is night's calm noon! + When like a sea-nymph's fairy bark, + The mirrored crescent of the moon + Swings on the waters weltering dark; + And in her solitary beam, + Upon each bald, storm-beaten height, + The quartz and mica wildly gleam, + Spangling the rocks with magic light; + And when a silvery minstrelsy + Is swelling o'er the dim-lit sea, + As of some wandering fairy throng, + Passing on viewless wing along, + Tuning their spirit-lyres to song; + And when the night's soft breeze comes out, + And for a moment breathes about, + Shaking a burst of fresh perfume + From every honied bell and bloom, + Startling the tall pine from its rest, + And sleeping wood-bird in her nest, + Or kissing the bright water's breast; + Then stealing off into the shade, + As if it were a thing afraid! + + The Indian prized this beauteous spot + Of old; beneath the embowering shade + He reared his rude and simple cot; + And round these wild shores where they played + In youth, still--pilgrims from the bourn + Of far Penobscot's sinuous stream, + Aged and bowed, and weary worn-- + Lingering they love to stray, and dream + O'er the proud hopes possessed of yore, + When forest, isle and mainland shore, + For many a league, owned but their sway; + When, on the labyrinthine bay, + Now checkered o'er with many a sail, + Alone his lightsome birch canoe + Fast, by the bright, green islets flew, + Nor bark spread canvas to the gale. + + Matchless retreat! mayst aye remain + As wild, as natural and free + As now thou art; nor hope of gain, + Nor enterprize a motive be + To lay thy hoary forests low; + Gold ne'er can make thy beauties glow, + Nor enterprize restore thy pride, + When once the monarchs round thy tide, + Have felt the exterminating blow. + + + + +OUR OWN COUNTRY. + +By James Brooks. + + +What nation presents such a spectacle as ours, of a confederated +government, so complicated, so full of checks and balances, over such a +vast extent of territory, with so many varied interests, and yet moving +so harmoniously! I go within the walls of the capitol at Washington, and +there, under the star-spangled banners that wave amid its domes, I find +the representatives of three territories, and of twenty-four nations, +nations in many senses they may be called, that have within them all the +germ and sinew to raise a greater people than many of the proud +principalities of Europe, all speaking one language--all acting with one +heart, and all burning with the same enthusiasm--the love and glory of +our common country,--even if parties do exist, and bitter domestic +quarrels now and then arise. I take my map, and I mark from whence they +come. What a breadth of latitude, and of longitude, too,--in the fairest +portion of North-America! What a variety of climate,--and then what a +variety of production! What a stretch of sea-coast, on two oceans--with +harbors enough for all the commerce of the world! What an immense +national domain, surveyed, and unsurveyed, of extinguished, and +unextinguished Indian titles within the States and Territories, and +without, estimated, in the aggregate, to be 1,090,871,753 acres, and to +be worth the immense sum of $1,363,589,69,--750,000,000 acres of which +are without the bounds of the States and the territories, and are yet to +make new States and to be admitted into the Union! Our annual revenue, +now, from the sales, is over three millions of dollars. Our national +debt, too, is already more than extinguished,--and yet within fifty-eight +years, starting with a population of about three millions, we have fought +the War of Independence, again not ingloriously struggled with the +greatest naval power in the world, fresh with laurels won on sea and +land,--and now we have a population of over thirteen millions of souls. +One cannot feel the grandeur of our Republic, unless he surveys it in +detail. For example, a Senator in Congress, from Louisiana, has just +arrived in Washington. Twenty days of his journey he passed in a +steam-boat on inland waters,--moving not so rapidly, perhaps, as other +steam-boats sometimes move, in deeper waters,--but constantly moving, at +a quick pace too, day and night. I never shall forget the rapture of a +traveller, who left the green parks of New Orleans early in March,--that +land of the orange and the olive, then teeming with verdure, freshness +and life, and, as it were, mocking him with the mid-summer of his own +northern home. He journeyed leisurely toward the region of ice and snow, +to watch the budding of the young flowers, and to catch the breeze of the +Spring. He crossed the Lakes Pontchartrain and Borgne; he ascended the +big Tombeckbee in a comfortable steam-boat. From Tuscaloosa, he shot +athwart the wilds of Alabama, over Indian grounds, that bloody battles +have rendered ever memorable. He traversed Georgia, the Carolinas, ranged +along the base of the mountains of Virginia,--and for three months and +more, he enjoyed one perpetual, one unvarying, ever-coming Spring,--that +most delicious season of the year,--till, by the middle of June, he found +himself in the fogs of the Passamaquoddy, where tardy summer was even +then hesitating whether it was time to come. And yet he had not been off +the soil of his own country! The flag that he saw on the summit of the +fortress, on the lakes near New Orleans, was the like of that which +floated from the staff on the hills of Fort Sullivan, in the easternmost +extremity of Maine;--and the morning gun that startled his slumbers, +among the rocky battlements that defy the wild tides of the Bay of Fundy, +was not answered till many minutes after, on the shores of the Gulf of +Mexico. The swamps, the embankments, the cane-brakes of the Father of +Waters, on whose muddy banks the croaking alligator displayed his +ponderous jaws,--the cotton-fields, the rice-grounds of the low southern +country,--and the vast fields of wheat and corn in the regions of the +mountains, were far, far behind him:--and he was now, in a Hyperborean +land--where nature wore a rough and surly aspect, and a cold soil and a +cold clime, drove man to launch his bark upon the ocean, to dare wind and +wave, and to seek from the deep, in fisheries, and from freights, the +treasures his own home will not give him. Indeed, such a journey as this, +in one's own country, to an inquisitive mind, is worth all 'the tours of +Europe.' If a young American, then, wishes to feel the full importance of +an American Congress, let him make such a journey. Let him stand on the +levee at New Orleans and count the number and the tiers of American +vessels that there lie, four, five and six thick, on its long embankment. +Let him hear the puff, puff, puff, of the high-pressure steam-boats, that +come sweeping in almost every hour, perhaps from a port two thousand +miles off,--from the then frozen winter of the North, to the full burning +summer of the South,--all inland navigation,--fleets of them under his +eye,--splendid boats, too, many of them, as the world can show,--with +elegant rooms, neat berths, spacious saloons, and a costly piano, it may +be,--so that travellers of both sexes can dance or sing their way to +Louisville, as if they were on a party of pleasure. Let him survey all +these, as they come in with products from the Red River, twelve hundred +miles in one direction, or from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, two thousand +miles in another direction, from the western tributaries of the vast +Mississippi, the thickets of the Arkansas, or White River,--from the +muddy, far-reaching Missouri, and its hundreds of branches:--and then in +the east, from the Illinois, the Ohio, and its numerous tributaries--such +as the Tennessee, the Cumberland, or the meanest of which, such as the +Sandy River, on the borders of Kentucky--that will in a freshet fret and +roar, and dash, as if it were the Father of Floods, till it sinks into +nothing, when embosomed in the greater stream, and there acknowledges its +own insignificance. Let him see 'the Broad Horns,' the adventurous +flatboats of western waters, on which--frail bark!--the daring +backwoodsman sallies forth from the Wabash, or rivers hundreds of miles +above, on a voyage of atlantic distance, with hogs--horses--oxen and +cattle of all kinds on board--corn, flour, wheat, all the products of +rich western lands--and let him see them, too, as he stems the strong +current of the Mississippi, as if the wood on which he floated was +realizing the fable of the Nymphs of Ida--goddesses, instead of pines. +Take the young traveller where the clear, silvery waters of the Ohio +become tinged with the mud from the Missouri, and where the currents of +the mighty rivers run apart for miles, as if indignant at the strange +embrace. Ascend with him farther, to St. Louis, where, if he looks upon +the map he will find that he is about as near the east as the west, and +that soon, the emigrant, who is borne on the wave of population that now +beats at the base of the Rocky Mountains, and anon will overleap its +summits--will speak of him as he now speaks of New-England, as far in the +east. And then tell him that far west as he is, he is but at the +beginning of steam navigation--that the Mississippi itself is navigable +six or seven hundred miles upward--and that steam-boats have actually +gone on the Missouri two thousand one hundred miles above its mouth, and +that they _can go_ five hundred miles farther still! Take him, then, from +this land where the woodsman is leveling the forest every hour, across +the rich prairies of Illinois, where civilization is throwing up towns +and villages, pointed with the spire of the church, and adorned with the +college and the school,--then athwart the flourishing fields of Indiana, +to Cincinnati,--well called 'the Queen of the West,'--a city of thirty +thousand inhabitants, with paved streets, numerous churches, flourishing +manufactories, and an intelligent society too,--and this in a State with a +million of souls in it now, that has undertaken gigantic public +works,--where the fierce savages, even within the memory of the young +men, made the hearts of their parents quake with fear,--roaming over the +forests, as they did, in unbridled triumph,--wielding the tomahawk in +terror, and ringing the war-hoop like demons of vengeance let loose from +below! Show him our immense inland seas, from Green Bay to Lake +Ontario,--not inconsiderable oceans,--encompassed with fertile fields. +Show him the public works of the Empire State, as well as those of +Pennsylvania,--works the wonder of the world,--such as no people in +modern times have ever equalled. And then introduce him to the busy, +humming, thriving population of New-England, from the Green Mountains of +Vermont, the Switzerland of America, to the northern lakes and wide +sea-coast of Maine. Show him the industry, energy, skill and ingenuity of +these hardy people, who let not a rivulet run, nor a puff of wind blow, +without turning it to some account,--who mingle in every thing, speculate +in every thing, and dare every thing wherever a cent of money is to be +earned--whose lumbermen are found not only in the deepest woods of the +snowy and fearful wilds of Maine, throwing up sawmills on the lone +waterfalls, and making the woods ring with their hissing music--but +found, too, on the banks of the St. Lawrence, and coming also on mighty +rafts of deal from every eastern tributary of the wild St. John, +Meduxnekeag and Aroostook, streams whose names geographers hardly know. +And then too, as if this were not enough, they turn their enterprize and +form companies 'to log and lumber,' even on the Ocmulgee and Oconee of +the State of Georgia--and on this day they are actually found in the +Floridas, there planning similar schemes, and as there are no waterfalls, +making steam impel their saws. Show him the banks of the Penobscot, now +studded with superb villages--jewels of places, that have sprung up like +magic--the magnificent military road that leads to the United States' +garrison at Houlton, a fairy spot in the wilderness, but approached by +as excellent a road as the United States can boast of. + +Show him the hundreds and hundreds of coasters that run up every creek +and inlet of tide-water there, at times left high and dry, as if the +ocean would never float them more: and then lift him above +considerations of a mercenary character, and show him how New-England +men are perpetuating their high character and holy love of liberty,--and +how, by neat and elegant churches, that adorn every village,--by +comfortable school-houses, that appear every two miles, or oftener, upon +almost every road, free for every body,--high-born, and low-born,--by +academies and colleges, that thicken even to an inconvenience; by +asylums and institutions, munificently endowed, for the benefit of the +poor:--and see, too, with what generous pride their bosoms swell when +they go within the consecrated walls of Faneuil Hall, or point out the +heights of Bunker Hill, or speak of Concord, or Lexington. + +Give any young man such a tour as this--the best he can make--and I am +sure his heart will beat quick, when he sees the proud spectacle of the +assemblage of the representatives of all these people, and all these +interests, within a single hall. He will more and more revere the +residue of those revolutionary patriots, who not only left us such a +heritage, won by their sufferings and their blood, but such a +constitution--such a government here in Washington, regulating all our +national concerns--but who have also, in effect, left us twenty-four +other governments, with territory enough to double them by-and-by--that +regulate all the minor concerns of the people, acting within their own +sphere; now, in the winter, assembling within their various capitols, +from Jefferson city, on Missouri, to Augusta, on the Kennebec;--from +the capitol on the Hudson, to the government house on the Mississippi. +Show me a spectacle more glorious, more encouraging, than this, even in +the pages of all history; such a constellation of free States, with no +public force, but public opinion--moving by well regulated law--each in +its own proper orbit, around the brighter star in Washington,--thus +realizing, as it were, on earth, almost practically, the beautiful +display of infinite wisdom, that fixed the sun in the centre, and sent +the revolving planets on their errands. God grant it may end as with +them! + + + + +THE CRUISE OF THE DART. + +By S. B. Beckett. + + "There was an old and quiet man, + And by the fire sat he; + And now, said he, to you I'll tell + Things passing strange that once befell + A ship upon the sea."--_Mary Howitt._ + + +"There she is, Ricardo," said I to my friend, as we reached the end of +the pier, in Havana, while the Dart lay about half a mile off the +shore,--"what think you of her?" + +"Beautiful!--a more symmetrical craft never passed the Moro!" + +So thought I, and my heart responded with a thrill of pride to the +sentiment. How saucy she looked, with her gay streamers abroad upon the +winds, and the red-striped flag of the Union floating jauntily at the +main peak--with her lofty masts tapering away, till, relieved against +the blue abyss, they were apparently diminished to the size of willow +wands, while the slight ropes that supported the upper spars seemed, +from the pier, like the fairy tracery of the spider. Although surrounded +by ships, xebecs, brigantines, polacres, galleys and galliots from +almost every clime in christendom, she stood up conspicuously among them +all, an apt representative of the land whence she came! But let us take +a nearer view of the beauty. The hull was long, low, and at the bows +almost as sharp as the missile after which she was named. From the waist +to the stern she tapered away in the most graceful proportions, and she +had as lovely a run as ever slid over the dancing billows. Light and +graceful as a sea-bird, she rocked on the undulating water. But her +rig!--herein, to my thinking, was her chiefest beauty--every thing +pertaining to it was so exact, so even and so _tanto_. Besides the sail +usually carried by man-of-war schooners, she had the requisite +appertenances for a royal and flying kite, or sky-sail, which, now that +she was in port, were all rigged up. Not another vessel of her class in +the navy could spread so much canvas to the influence of old Boreas as +the Dart. + +Her armament consisted of one long brass twenty-four pounder, mounted on +a revolving carriage midships, and six twelve-pound carronades. Add to +this a picked crew of ninety men, with the redoubtable Jonathan West as +our captain, Mr. Dacre Dacres as first, and your humble servant, +Ahasuerus Hackinsack, as second lieutenant, besides a posse of minor +officers and middies,--and you may form a faint idea of the Dart. + +Bidding adieu to my friend, I jumped into the pinnace waiting, and in a +few minutes stood on her quarter deck. + +But it will be necessary for me to explain for what purpose the Dart was +here. She had been dispatched by government to cruise among the Leeward +Islands, and about Cape St. Antonio, in quest of a daring band of +pirates, who, trusting to their superior prowess and the fleetness of +their vessel, a schooner called the Sea-Sprite, had long scourged the +merchantmen of the Indian seas with impunity. Cruiser after cruiser had +been sent out to attack them in vain. She had invariably escaped, until +at length, in reality, they were left for awhile, the undisputed +'rulers of the waves,' as they vauntingly styled themselves. It was said +of the Sea-Sprite, that she was as fleet as the winds, and as mysterious +in her movements; and her master spirit, the fierce Juan Piesta, was as +wily and fierce a robber, as ever prowled upon the western waters. +Indeed, so wonderful and various had been his escapes, that many of the +Spaniards, and the lower orders of seamen in general, believed him to be +leagued with the Powers of Darkness! + +But the Dart had been fitted up for the present cruise expressly on +account of her matchless speed, and our captain, generally known in the +service by the significant appellation of Old Satan West, was, in +situations where fighting or peril formed any part of the story, a full +match for his namesake. + + * * * * * + +After cruising about the western extremity of Cuba, for nearly a month, +to no purpose, we bore away for the southern coast of St. Domingo, and +at the time my story opens, were off Jacquemel. The morning was heralded +onward by troops of clouds, of the most brilliant and burning hues--deep +crimson ridges--fire-fringed volumes of purple, hanging far in the +depths of the mild and beautiful heaven--long, rose-tinted and golden +plumes, stretching up from the horizon to the zenith,--forming +altogether a most gorgeous and magnificent spectacle, while, to complete +the pageant, the sun, just rising from his ocean lair, shed a flood of +glaring light far over the restless expanse toward us, and every rope +and spar of our vessel, begemmed with bright dew-drops, flashed and +twinkled in his beams, like the jeweled robes of a princely bride. + +"Fore top there! what's that away in the wake o' the sun?" called out +Mr. Dacres. + +"A drifting spar, I believe, Sir--but the sun throws such a glare on the +water I cannot see plainly." + +I looked in the direction pointed out, and saw a dark object tumbling +about on the fiery swell, like an evil spirit in torment. We altered our +course and stood away toward it. It turned out to be a boat, apparently +empty, but on a nearer inspection we perceived a man lying under its +thwarts, whose pale, lank features and sunken eye bespoke him as +suffering the last pangs of starvation. My surprise can better be +imagined than described, on discovering in the unfortunate man a highly +loved companion of my boyhood, Frederick Percy! He was transferred from +his miserable quarters to a snug berth on board of the Dart, and in a +few hours, by the judicious management of our surgeon, was resuscitated, +so as to be able to come on deck. + +His story may be told in a few words. He had been travelling in +England--while there had married a beautiful, but friendless orphan. +Soon after this occurrence he embarked in one of his father's ships for +Philadelphia, intending to touch at St. Domingo city, and take in a +freight. But, three days before, when within a few hours' sail of their +destined port, they had fallen in with a piratical schooner, which, +after a short struggle, succeeded in capturing them. While protecting +his wife from the insults of the bucaneers, he received a blow in the +temple, which deprived him of his senses; and when he awoke to +consciousness it was night, wild and dark, and he was tossing on the +lone sea, without provisions, sail or oars, as we had found him. For +three days he had not tasted food. Poor fellow! his anxiety as to the +fate of his wife almost drove him to distraction. + +This circumstance assured us that we were on the right trail of the +marauder whom we sought. We continued beating up the coast till noon, +when the breeze died away into a stark calm, and we lay rolling on the +long glassy swell, about ten leagues from the St. Domingo shore. The sun +was intensely powerful, glowing through the hazy atmosphere, directly +over our heads, like a red-hot cannon ball; and the far-stretching main +was as sultry and _arid_ as the sands of an African desert. To the +north, the cloud-topped mountains of St. Domingo obstructed our view, +looming through the blue haze to an immense height--presenting to as the +aspect of huge, flat, shadowy walls; and one need have taxed his +imagination but lightly, to fancy them the boundaries dividing us from a +brighter and a better clime. The depths of the ocean were as translucent +as an unobscured summer sky, and far beneath us we could distinguish the +dolphins and king-fish, roaming leisurely about, or darting hither and +thither as some object attracted their pursuit; while nearer its surface +the blue element was alive with myriads of minor nondescripts, riggling, +flouncing and lazily moving up and down,--probably attracted by the +shade of our dark hull. + +The men having little else to do, obtained from the captain permission +to fish. Directly they had hauled in a dozen or more of the most +ill-favored, shapeless, unchristian-looking articles I ever clapped eyes +on, which, when I came from aft, were dancing their death jigs on the +forecastle-deck, much to the diversion of the captain's black waiter, +Essequibo. + +"Halloo!--this way, blackey!" shouted an old tar to the merry African, +who, by the way, was a kind of reference table for the whole +crew--"Egad! Billy, look here,--what do you call this comical looking +devil that has helped himself to my hook? Why! his body is as long as +the articles of discipline, and his mouth almost as long as his +body!--your own main-hatch-way is not a circumstance to it!" + +"Him be one gar fish--ocium gar!--he no good for eat," answered the +black with a grin that drew the corners of his mouth almost back to his +ears, so that, to appearance, small was the hinge that kept brain and +body together. + +At the sight the querist dropped the fish, exclaiming with feigned +wonder, "By all that's crooked, an even bet!--ar'n't your mouth made ov +injy rubber, Billy!" + +"Good ting to hab de larsh mout, Misser Mongo,--eat de more--lib de +longer," said Billy. + +"Screw your blinkers this way, Jack Simpson, there's a prize for you," +said another, as he dragged a huge lump-headed, bull-eyed, tail-less +mass out of the water, with fins protruding, like thorns, from every +part of his body!--"Guess he's one of the fighting cocks down below, +seeing his spurs!--any how, he's well armed,--I'll be keel-hauled, if he +don't look like the beauty that we saw carved out on the Frencher's +stern, with the Neptune bestride it, in Havana, barin' he wants a tail! +Han't he a queer un?--but how in natur do you suppose he makes out to +steer without a rudder?" + +"Steer wid he head turn behin' him!" answered Seignor Essequibo, +bursting into a chuckling laugh--mightily tickled with the struggles of +the ungainly monster,--"Che, che, che!--him sea-dragum--catch um plenty +on de cos ob Barbado. Take care ob him horn!" + +"Yo, heave, ho! Shaint Pathrick, an' it's me what's caught a whale!" +drawled out a brawny Patlander, while he tugged and sweated to heave in +his prize. + +"My gorra! you hook one barracouter!" cried Billy, as his eye caught a +glimpse of the big fish curveting in the water at the end of Paddy's +line,--"Bes' fish in de worl'!--good for make um chowder--good for +fry--for ebery ting,--me help you pull him in, Massa Coulan," and +without further ado, he laid hold of the line. The beautiful fish was +hauled in, and consigned to the custody of the cook. + +"Stave in my bulwarks, if this 'ere dragon-fish ha'n't stuck one of his +horns into my foot an inch deep!" roared an old marine,--"Hand me that +sarving mallet, snow ball, I'll see if I can't give him a hint to behave +better!" + +"Hurrah!--here comes an owl-fish, I reckon;" shouted a merry wight of a +tar, from the land of wooden nutmegs,--"specimen of the salt-water owl! +Lord, look at his teeth--how he grins!--What are you laughing at, my +beauty?" + +"Le diable! une chouette dans la mer?" exclaimed a little wizen-pated +Frenchman, who had seated himself astraddle of the cathead.--"Vel, +Monsieur Vagastafsh, comment nommez vous dish petit poisson?" + +"Poison! No, Monsheer, I rather guess there han't the least bit o' +poison in natur about that ere _young shark_!" replied Wagstaff, "though +for that matter a shark's worse'n poison." + +"I not mean poison--I say poisson--_fish_." + +"O, poison fish--yes, I know--you'll find plenty of them on the Bahamy +copper banks. I always gets the cook to put a piece of silver in the +boilers, when we grub on fish in them ere parts." + +"O, mon dieu! le rashcalle hash bitez mon vum almos' off! Sacré, vous +ingrat, to treatez me so like, when I am feed you wis de bon dîner!" + +My attention was called away from this scene of hilarity, by the voice +of the watch in the fore-top, announcing a sail in sight. + +A faint indefinable speck could be seen in the quarter designated, +fluttering on the bosom of the blue sea like a drift of foam. With the +aid of the glass we made it out to be the topsail of a schooner, so +distant that her hull and lower sails were below the brim of the +horizon. Her canvas had probably just been unloosed to the breeze, which +was directly after seen roughening the face of the broad, smooth expanse +as it swept down toward us. + +"That glass, Mr. Waters--she is standing toward us, and by the gods of +war! the cut of her narrow flying royal, looks marvellously like that of +our friend, the Sea-Sprite!" said the captain, while the blood flashed +over his bald forehead, like 'heat lightning' over a summer cloud; "Mr. +Hackinsack, see that every thing is ready for a chase." + +The broad sails were unloosed and sheeted close home. Directly the wind +was with us, and we were bowling along under a press of canvas. + +"Now, quartermaster, look to your sails as closely, as you would watch +one seeking your life." Another squint through the glass. "Ha! they have +suspected us, and are standing in toward the land, jam on the +wind;--let them look to it sharply; it must be a fleet pair of heels +that can keep pace with the Dart,--though to say the least of yonder +cruiser, she is no laggard!" + +After pacing the deck some ten minutes, he again hove short and lifted +the glass to his eye. + +"By heavens! the little witch still holds her way with us!--Have the +skysail set, and rig out the top-gallant-studd'n'sail!" + +Every one on board was now eager in the chase. The orders were obeyed +almost as soon as given. Our proud vessel, under the press of sail, +absolutely flew over the water, haughtily tossing the rampant surges +from her sides, while her bows were buried in a roaring and swirling +sheet of foam, and a broad band of snow stretched far over the dark blue +waste astern, showing a wake as strait as an arrow. She was careened +down to the breeze, so that her lower studd'n'sail-boom every moment +dashed a cloud of spray from the romping billows, and her lee rail was +at times under water. Her masts curved and whiffled beneath the immense +piles of canvas, like a stringed bow. + +"She walks the waters bravely," said the captain, casting a glance of +exultation at the distended sails and bending spars, and then at our +arrowy wake.--"But, by Jupiter, the chase still almost holds her way +with us. We need more sail aft. Bear a hand, my men, and run up the +ringtail." + +"That will answer,--a dolphin would have a sweat to beat us in this +trim!" + +"Well, Mr Percy, is yonder dasher the craft that pillaged your ship, and +sent you cruising about the ocean in that bit of a cockle-shell, think +you?" + +"That is the pirate schooner--I cannot mistake her," replied Percy, who +stood with his flashing eyes rivetted on the vessel, and his fingers +impatiently working about the hilt of his cutlass, while his brow was +darkened with an intense desire of revenge. + +Three hours passed, and we had gained within a league of the noble +looking craft. She was heeled down to the breeze, so that owing to the +'bagging' of her lower sails, her hull was almost hidden from sight. +Like a snowy cloud, she darted along the revelling waters, the sunbeams +basking on her wide-spread wings, and the sprightly billows flashing and +surging around her bows. Never saw I an object more beautiful. + +The land was now fully in sight--a stern and rock-bound coast, against +which the breakers dashed with maddening violence, and for half a mile +from the shore, the water was one conflicting waste of snowy surf and +billow. No signs of inhabitants, on either hand, as far as the eye could +view, were discernible. The long range of stern, solitary mountains +arose from the waves, and towered away till lost in the clouds. Their +sides, save where some splintered cliff lifted its gray peaks in the +day, were clothed with thick forests, among which the tufted palm and +wild cinnamon stood up conspicuously, like sentinels looking afar over +the wide waste of blue. Here and there a torrent could be traced, +leaping from crag to cliff, seeming, as it blazed in the fierce +sun-light, to run liquid fire; and gorgeous masses of wild creepers and +tangled undergrowth hung down over the embattled heights, swaying and +flaunting in the gale, like the banners and streamers of an encamped +army. + +Not the slightest chance for harbor or anchorage could be discovered +along the whole iron-bound coast, yet the gallant little Sea-sprite +held steadily on her course, steering broad for the base of the +mountains. + +"Why, in the name of madness, is the fellow driving in among the +breakers?" muttered our captain;--"Thinks he to escape by running into +danger? By Mars, and if I mistake not, he shall have peril to his +heart's content, ere nightfall!" + +But fate willed that we should be disappointed; for just as every thing +had been arranged to treat the bucaneer with a fist full of grape and +canister, one of those sudden tempests, so common to the West Indies in +the autumn months, was upon us. A vast, black, conglomerated volume of +vapor swung against the mountain summits, and curled heavily down over +the cliffs. Brilliant scintillations were darting from its shadowy +borders, and the zigzag lightnings were playing about it, and licking +its ragged folds like the tongues of an evil spirit! Suddenly it burst +asunder, and a burning gleam--a wide conflagration, as if the very earth +had exploded--flashed over the hills, accompanied with a peal of thunder +that made the broad ocean tremble, and our deck quiver under us, like a +harpooned grampus in his death gasp! The electric fluid upheaved and +hurled to fragments an immense peak near the summit of the mountains, +and huge masses of rock, with thunderous din, and amid clouds of dust, +smoke and fire, came bounding and racing down from crag to crag, +uprooting the tall cedars, and dashing to splinters the firm iron-wood +trees, as though they had been but reeds--sweeping a wide path of ruin +through the thick forests, and shivering to atoms and dust the loose +rocks that obstructed their career, till, with a whirring bound, they +plunged from a beetling cliff into the sea, causing the tortured water +to send up a cloud of mist and spray. All on board were struck aghast at +the blinding brilliancy of the flash and its terrible effects. + +We were aroused to a sense of our situation, by the clear, sonorous +voice of Satan West, whom nothing pertaining to earth could daunt, +calling all hands to take in sail. + +Instantly the trade-wind ceased, and a fearful, death-like silence +ensued. This was of short duration; hardly were our sails stowed close, +when we saw the trees on shore drawn upwards, twisted off and rent to +pieces, while a dense mass of leaves and broken branches whirled over +the land; and a wild, deep, wailing sound, as of rushing wings, filled +the air, foretelling the onset of the whirlwind. + +"The hurricane is upon us!--helm hard aweather!" thundered the captain. + +But the Dart was already lying on her beam-ends, heaving, groaning and +quivering throughout every timber, in the fierce embrace of the +tremendous blast! After its first overpowering shock, however, the +gallant craft slowly recovered, and by dint of the strenuous exertions +of our men, she was got before the gale. Away she sprang, like a +frighted thing, over the tormented and whitening surges, completely +shrouded in foam and spray. A dense cloud, murky as midnight, spread +over the face of the heavens, where a moment before, naught met the +gazer's eye, save the fleecy mackerel-clouds, drifting afar through its +cerulean halls. The blue lightnings gleamed, the thunder boomed and +rattled, the black billows shook their flashing manes, the whole +firmament was in an uproar; and amid the wild rout, our little Dart, as +a dry leaf in the autumn winds, was borne about, a very plaything in +the eddying whirls of the frantic elements. + +The tempest was as short lived as it was sudden, and, as the schooner +had sustained no material injury, directly after it had abated she was +under sail again. When the rain cleared up in shore, every eye sought +eagerly for the pirate craft. + +She had vanished! + +Nothing met our view but the tossing and tumbling surges, and the +breaker-beaten coast. If ever old Satan West was taken aback, it was +then. His brow darkened, and a shadow of unutterable disappointment +passed over his countenance. + +"Gone!--By all that is mysterious and wonderful--gone!" he muttered to +himself,--"escaped from my very grasp! Can there be truth in the wild +tales told of her? No, no!--idiot to harbor the thought for a +moment--she has foundered!" + +But this was hardly probable, as not the slightest vestige of her +remained about the spot. + +Poor Percy, too, was the picture of despair. His hat had been blown away +by the hurricane; and his hair tossed rudely in the wind, as he stood in +the main-chains, gazing with the wildness of a maniac over the uproarous +waters. + +"The lovers of the marvelous would here find enough to fatten upon, I +ween," said Dacres, composedly helping himself to a quid of tobacco. +"What think you is to come next? for I hardly think the play ends with +actors and all being spirited away in a thunder gust!" + +I was interrupted in my reply by the energetic exclamations of the +captain, who had been gazing seaward, over the quarter-rail. + +"Yes, by all the imps in purgatory, it is that devil-leagued pirate," +burst from his lips; and at the same moment the cry of _Sail O!_ was +heard from the forward watch. + +A long-sparred vessel could be seen, relieved against the black bank of +clouds, that were crowding down the horizon. Surprise was imaged on +every countenance, and when the order was passed to crowd on all sail in +pursuit, a murmur of disapprobation ran through the whole crew. However, +such was their respect for the regulations of the service, and so great +their dread of old Satan West, that no one dared demur openly. Again the +Dart was bounding over the waves in pursuit of the stranger, which had +confirmed our suspicions as to her character, by hoisting all sail and +endeavoring to escape us. + +But here likewise we were disappointed. She proved to be a Baltimore +clipper, and had endeavored to run away from us, taking us for the same +craft we had supposed her to be. + +After parting from the Baltimorean, we ran in; and as the evening fell, +anchored under the land, sheltered from the waves by a little rocky +promontory. It was my turn to take the evening watch. Our wearied crew +were soon lost in sleep, and all was hushed into repose, if I except the +shrill, rasping voices of the green lizards, the buzzing and humming of +the numerous insects on shore, and the occasional, long-drawn creak, +creak of the cable, as the schooner swung at her anchor. The evening was +mild and beautiful. The moon, attended by one bright, beautiful planet, +was on her wonted round through the heavens, and the far expanse of +ocean, reflecting her effulgence, seemed to roll in billows of molten +silver beneath the gentle night-wind, which swept from the land, +fragrant with the breath of wild-flowers and spicy shrubs. + +Little Ponto, the royal reefer, lay on a gun carriage near me. This boy, +whom, when on a former cruise, I had rescued from a Turkish Trader, was +a favorite with all on board. Although, in person, effeminate and +beautiful as a girl, and possessing the strong affections of the weaker +sex, he still was not wanting in that high courage and energy which +constitutes the pride of manhood. He was an orphan, and with the +exception of a sister and aunt, who were living together in England, +there was not, in the wide world, one being with whom he could claim +relationship. When very young, he had been entrusted to the charge of +the friendly captain of a merchant ship, bound to Smyrna, for the +purpose of improving his health. But the vessel never reached her +destined port. She was captured by an Algerine rover, and the boy made +prisoner. It was from the worst of slavery that I had rescued him, and +ever after the occurrence his gratitude toward me knew no bounds. He +appeared to be contented and happy in his present situation, save when +his thoughts reverted to his lone sister. Then the tears would spring +into his eyes, and he would talk to me of her beauty and goodness, till +I was almost in love with the pure being which his glowing descriptions +had conjured to my mind. I loved that boy as a brother, and he returned +my affection with a fervor, equalling that of a trusting woman. + +As I leaned against the companion-way, absorbed in pleasant dreams of my +far home, a touch on the shoulder aroused me. I turned and Percy stood +by my side. The beauty of the evening had soothed his wild and agitated +feelings. He spoke of his wife with touching regret, as if certain that +she was lost to him forever. For nearly an hour he stood gazing on the +moon's bright attendant, as if he fancied it her home. + +At length he disappeared below, and again Ponto, who seemed to be +wrapped in a deep revery, was my only companion. We had remained several +minutes in silence, when suddenly, as if it had dropped from the clouds, +a female form appeared far above us, on a precipitous bluff that leaned +out over the deep, on which the solitary moonlight slept in unobstructed +brightness. The form advanced so near the brink of the fearful crag, +that we could even distinguish the color of her drapery as it fluttered +in the wind. By the motion of her arms she seemed beckoning us on shore; +then, as if despairing to attract our attention, she looked fearfully +about, and the next moment a strain of exquisite melody came floating +down to us, like a voice from heaven. We remained breathless, and could +almost distinguish the words. + +The strain terminated in a startling cry, and with a frantic gesture the +figure tore a crimson scarf from her neck, and shook it wildly on the +winds; at the same moment the dark form of a man leaped out on the +cliff. There was a short struggle, with reiterated shrieks of 'help! +help! help!' in a voice of agony, and all disappeared in the deep shadow +of another rock. + +Ponto, who at the first burst of the song, had started up and grasped my +arm with a degree of wild energy I had never witnessed in him before, +now suddenly released his hold, and with a single bound plunged into the +sea. So lost was I in amazement at the whole scene, that for a moment I +remained undecided what course to pursue; then, not wishing to alarm the +ship, I ordered Waters, the midshipman of the watch, to jump into the +boat with a few of the men, and pull after him. + +The head of my little favorite soon became visible in the moonlight. +With a vigorous arm he struck out for the shore, and was immediately hid +in the deep shadow of its mural cliffs. A moment, and I again saw him on +the beetling rocks, whence the female had just disappeared; then he, +too, was lost in the darkness. + +Waters, after being absent in the boat about half an hour, returned +without having discovered the least sign of the fugitive. Hour after +hour I awaited the return of my adventurous boy, filled with painful +anxiety. + +As the night deepened, the clouds, which during the day had slumbered on +the mountain battlements, as if held in awe by the majesty of the +burning sun, rolled slowly down the steeps and gradually spread out on +the sea, enveloping us in their humid embrace. A denser mist I never +saw; my thin clothing was soon wet through and clinging to me like steel +to a magnet, and we were completely lost in darkness. As I paced the +deck, not willing to go below while my young favorite was in peril, +Waters tapped me on the shoulder. + +"Did you notice any thing then, Mr. Hackinsack? I thought I heard a +splash in the water, like the dip of an oar." + +"Some fish, I suppose, Waters." + +"I think not, Sir; besides, just now I saw a dark object gliding slowly +across our bow in the mist, which I then took for a drifting log." + +I walked round the deck and peered into the fog on every side, but could +discover nothing. I listened; all was silent save the tweet, tweet, of +the lizards and the roar of the surf, as it beat on the rocks astern. +Presently old Benjamin Ramrod, the gunner, came aft. + +"I wish this infernal fog would clear up!" said he, "for the last half +hour, I have heard strange noises about us! I am much mistaken, or we +are surrounded by enemies of some sort or other. When that shining +apparition arose from the bluff there, and began to beckon to us, I said +to myself, some accident is going to happen before many hours, and you +see if my pro'nostics ar'n't true. Minded you how, by her sweet voice, +she lured that poor boy, Ponto, overboard?--and even I, who may say I've +had some experience in such matters, began to feel a queerish sensation, +as I harkened to her witchery. Many a poor sailor has lost his life by +listening to their lonesome-like songs. I remember once when I was on +the coast of Africa, in a gold-dust and ivory trader, we heard the +water-wraiths and mermaids singing to each other all night long, and the +very next day our ship was driven upon the rocks in a white squall, and +wrecked, and only myself and a Congo nigger escaped alive, out of a crew +of twenty-three!--It strikes me, too," he continued, after listening a +moment, "that we shall have a storm before morning; the fog seems to be +brushing by us, and the noise of the breakers on shore grows terribly +loud. I would give all the prize-money I ever gained to be out of the +place, with good sea-room, a flowing sheet, and our bows turned toward +home--no good ever came of fighting these pirate imps.--Heaven help us! +what is that?" he exclaimed with a start, as a tall, white form shot +up, a few rods under our stern, seen but dimly through the fog. + +The fact flashed upon me at once; our cable had been cut; it was the +spray of the breakers rebounding from the shore. The best bower anchor +was instantly let go, which brought us up; not however till we had +drifted within a cable's length of the breakers, which ramped and roared +all the night with maddening violence, as if eager to engulf us. The +alarm was given, and in a few minutes every thing was prepared for any +emergency that might occur. + +I ordered Ramrod to clap a charge of grape into one of the bow-chasers +and let drive at the first object that came in sight. As I gave the +order the dip of oars could be plainly distinguished, receding from our +bows. Benjamin did not wait to see the marauders, but fired in the +direction of the sound. The fog was swept away before the mouth of the +gun, to some distance, and I caught a glimpse of a boat filled with men. +A deep groan told that the gun had been rightly directed. + +There was now no doubt that we were surrounded by enemies. It was only +by the foreboding watchfulness of the gunner that we were prevented from +going ashore, where, doubtless, the pirates expected to have obtained an +easy victory over us. + +About ten minutes after this incident I was startled by the faint voice +of Ponto, hailing me from under the schooner's side. I joyfully lowered +the man-ropes, and immediately had the adventurous boy beside me, on the +quarter-deck. He grasped my hand, and I felt him tremble all over with +eagerness. + +"You heard that song; the voice was that of my own sister! That shriek, +too, was hers; do you wonder that I leaped overboard? I scarcely know +how I reached the rock from which she was dragged. I climbed up and up, +in the direction I supposed they must have taken, until I gained the +very summit of one of the hills. I looked down, and as it were floating +in the haze, many feet below me, saw the face of a rock reddened by the +blaze of a fire opposite. I clambered from cliff to cliff, clinging to +the branches of the trees, and letting myself down by the mountain +creepers that hung like thick drapery over the descent, till all at once +I dropped over the very mouth of a deep cavern. A massy vine fell in +heavy festoons down over the rugged pillars that formed its portal. +Securing a foothold among its tendrils, concealed by its luxuriant +foliage, I bent over and looked in. A large party of fierce-looking men, +with pistols in their belts and cutlasses lying by them, were seated +round a rude table, feasting and making merry over their wine beakers. I +paid little attention to them, for against the rough wall was an old +woman, and leaning upon her--as I live, it is true--was my own, my +beautiful sister, she whom I had left in England! I thought my heart +would have choked me, as I looked upon her pale, sorrowful face, and +heard her low sobs. In my tremor the vine shook; some loose stones were +started, and went clattering down into the very mouth of the cavern. Two +of the pirates sprang up, and seizing a flaming brand, rushed out. The +red blaze flashed over her face as they passed, and I heard them +threaten her with a terrible fate, if they were discovered through her +means. At the first start of the rocks I drew back into the vines, where +I remained breathless and still, while they scanned the recesses of the +crag. 'We were mistaken, Jacopo,' at length said one of them, 'it was +probably a guana, drawn hither by the fire.' Satisfied that no one was +near, they returned to their comrades, who ridiculed them for their +temerity. + +"Again I listened, and heard them plan to cut the cable of the Dart, and +run her into the breakers. If they failed in this attempt, they were to +haul the Sea-Sprite out of her hiding place and leave the coast, +trusting, with the aid of the fresh land-breeze, to get beyond pursuit +before day-break.--The mist had come on, and knowing it impossible to +reach the Dart over the rough precipices in time to give you warning, I +remained in my concealment, undecided what course to pursue, when I saw +a party of the pirates leave the cavern to go to their boats. Perceiving +beneath me, on the bough of a wild tamarind, sundry articles of +clothing, similar to those worn by the bucaneers, a bold thought +occurred to me. When they had gone beyond the light from the cave, I +cautiously lowered myself down, and drawing on a jacket and one of the +caps, jumped with them into the boat, no one in the darkness suspecting +me. + +"To appearance we were in the very heart of the mountains. I am certain +that rocks and foliage were piled up all around us.--After a short row +we passed through what seemed to be a deep chasm, between two crags, +which must have been very high, as the darkness between them was almost +palpable, and in a few moments we were riding over the long swell of the +open sea. We groped about in the mist for some time, till the position +of the Dart was ascertained by the chafing noise of one of her booms, +when, gliding softly up, with their sharp knives they cut her cable, and +she began to drift astern. The strictest silence was enjoined upon us +all, so that had I moved or made the least noise, as I had intended, my +life had been the forfeit. However, I had just made up my mind to run +all hazards, when the flame of the gun gleamed through the fog. One of +the pirates fell dead in the bottom of the boat, and in the hurried stir +which this produced, I contrived to slip into the water. + +"Now let me conjure you to take measures for the rescue of my poor +sister. How she came into their power is a mystery. But my heart will +break if she is not soon freed from these lawless men." + +I informed the captain of Ponto's discovery, but he saw at once that it +would be madness to attempt any thing in our present situation, with +sunken rocks around us, the breakers astern, and a thick mist wrapping +all in obscurity. + +At last, after a night of the most wearisome watching, the day dawned, +and the mists returned to their mountain fastnesses. Burning for a brush +with the desperadoes, we towed the Dart out of her critical situation +and got her under sail. The launch and cutter were ordered out, but here +we were at fault. The morning sunlight slept calmly on the forest clad +ridges and gray cliffs, and every irregularity and indentation of the +shore were strongly shadowed forth; but not the least sign of harbor or +anchorage could be seen, except under the rocky promontory we had just +left, and every thing looked as forsaken and solitary as a creation's +birth. However, not doubting that we should be able to sift the mystery, +the boats put off, with full and well-armed crews, and on nearing the +shore discovered a narrow inlet, that wound in between the two lofty +cliffs, the one projecting out with a magnificent curve, so as entirely +to conceal the channel until we approached within a few rods of the +shore. + +"We've got on the right scent of the old fox now, I think," said Waters. + +"Speak low, gentlemen; if discovered we may meet with a reception here +not altogether so agreeable--I don't like the appearance of those grave +looking fellows, yonder," said Dacres, pointing to four cannon mounted +on a low parapet, with their muzzles bearing directly toward us. + +"Why, the place is as silent as a grave-yard," muttered the old +cockswain of the cutter. + +We advanced softly up the inlet, and found it to branch out into a broad +basin. Here was explained the mystery of the Sea-Sprite's sudden +disappearance; this was the _Pirate's Retreat_, and from their escaping +hither and into similar resorts known only to themselves, arose the many +wild stories that were abroad respecting their supernatural prowess. +Fifty well armed men might have defended the place against five hundred +assailants, as there was only one point, the inlet, susceptible of an +attack. The entrance was not more than thirty feet in width--only +sufficient for one vessel to enter at a time; but the water was bold and +deep, with a sandy bottom. An enormous cavern yawned at the farther +extremity of the basin, which Ponto immediately recognized as that where +the pirates held their revel the previous night. But now the place was +evidently deserted; the Sea-Sprite had made her escape. + +The crew of the barge were despatched on shore to explore the premises, +while we, as a _corps-de-reserve_, lay on our oars, with fire-arms +loaded, ready for any emergency. While waiting I had an opportunity of +surveying the magnificent scene around me. We lay in the deep shadow of +a beetling precipice of such immense altitude, that the snow-white +morning clouds, as they floated onward, like messengers from heaven, +swept its summit. Thousands of gray sea-birds were sailing around their +eyries, along its dark craggy sides far above us, while its hollow +recesses reverberated their shrill cries, till to our ears they sounded +like one continued scream. The cliffs all around were tumbled about in +the most chaotic confusion, as if they had been upheaved by some +tremendous throe of nature. Stinted forest trees and brush wood, with +here and there a wild locust or banana, had gained a footing in the +seams and fissures of the crags, and thick masses of the lusty mountain +creepers, intertwined with wild flowering jessamin and grenadilla, fell +in gorgeous festoons down the embattled heights, draping their rough +projections in robes of the most magnificent woof. Nearly opposite was a +yawning ravine, filled with myriads of huge, shattered trees, ragged +stumps, loose stones and gravel, which probably had been swept from the +mountains, by the foaming torrents that rush down to the sea in the +rainy months. The desolation of this scene was in a measure relieved by +the quick springing vegetation that had found sustenance among the +decayed trunks, and in the black earth that still adhered to the matted +roots; so that green foliage, and wild flowers of the most brilliant +dies in sumptuous profusion, were waving and nodding over prostrate +trees, which perchance a year before, had stood up in the pride of +primeval lustihood, on the mountain ridges. Further back, beyond this +gorge, the sloping steeps were clothed with dark waving forests, +stretching up their sides, till they faded into the blue haze resting on +the mountain summits. The freshness of early day had not yet been +dissipated. Among the undergrowth and brakes, on the tips of the tall, +sweeping guinea grass, and in the cups of the wild flowers, the pure +dews hung in glittering globules, sparkling with brilliant prismatic +tints, as they flashed back the glances of the rising sun. Calmness and +repose reigned over the unequalled sublimities of the place; and +although the billows were madly beating and roaring against the outer +base of the crescent-like promontory, within, the water was silent and +unruffled by a breath, reflecting in its depths the wild and gorgeous +array of rock and verdure around, almost as unwavering as reality +itself; and had it not been for the tiny wavelets that rippled up a +small sandy beach, adorning the water's edge with a narrow frill of +foam, its likeness to a broad sheet of glass had been perfect. + +At length, after the premises had been thoroughly reconnoitered, the +crew of the cutter were permitted to go on shore. They were soon +revelling amidst the costly merchandize and the luxuries, with which the +cavern was gorged. + +"Holloa, Price!" said Waters to a fellow mid, as he came out of the +cave, dragging an old hag of a woman after him, apparently much against +her will; "I've found the presiding goddess of the place. Isn't she a +Venus?" + +"Wenus indeed!" echoed the old beldame, "take that, young madcap, and +larn better how to treat a lady!" administering a thwack on his ear +that sent him staggering a rod from her. + +Waters gathered himself together, and a general laugh took place at his +expense. + +"A fair representative of the amorous goddess--quite liberal with her +love pats!" said Price in a tantalizing tone. + +"Confound the old hag," muttered the discomfited mid, "if it were not a +waste of good powder and ball, I'd make a riddle of her in the twinkling +of a grog-can!" + +This female and one man, found wounded and languishing on his pallet, +were the only denizens of the place. + +"Croesus! what hav'nt we here?" exclaimed Price, glancing over the +medley of rich merchandize heaped together in one of the apartments of +the huge cavern; "boxes of silks and satins, sashes, ribbons, lace, +tortoise shell!--whew!--I say, Waters, what heathen are these pirates to +let such a profusion of pretty gewgaws lay here, which ought to be +setting off the fairy forms of the Spanish lasses! Now there's as +handsome a piece of trumpery as one often sees," tying a delicate +crimson silk _manta_ about him--"as I'm a sinner I'll carry that home to +Nell Gray!--Ha! Burgundy wine? + + Inspiring--divine + Is the gush of bright wine; + 'Tis the life, 'tis the breath of the soul, + 'Tis the--the-- + +"Odds! but I must quicken my memory, and clear my pipes with a can of +the critter to get into the spirit of song!" + +He drew a beaker from the cask and took a deep draught. + +"Capital, by Bacchus!" he exclaimed, smacking his lips,--"Try it, +Waters, these fellows fare like princes." + +"Bear a hand, Mr. Price, and don't set the men a bad example," thundered +the first lieutenant, who had stationed himself as a sentinel outside. + +In the meantime the men had not been idle. The sight of such a profusion +of riches, all at their own mercy, had turned their brains, and the +confusion that prevailed among the silks and finery would have rivalled +that of a London milliner's shop on a gala day. + +But the voice of the lieutenant, as if by magic, restored them to order, +and Waters ordered the most costly of the goods to be carried to the +boats. + +"An 'ai'nt it Roary McGran 'as found a nest o 'the shiners," exclaimed a +son of Erin, as he emerged, covered with dirt, from a small, deep cavity +at the inmost extremity of the cavern, dragging after him a large bag of +doubloons,--"'Ai'nt them the beauties, Misther Waters?--its what they're +as plenty there as paraites in a parson's cellar." + +Half a dozen similar bags were brought to light; besides which more than +a score of boxes containing rix dollars, and a great many parcels of +coin of different nations, silver and gold, tied up in old pieces of +canvas, were discovered. + +"Some sport in sacking such a fortress as this," observed Price,--"no +blood and plenty of booty! By Jove, though, what a confounded pity it is +we hav'nt a ship of some size, that we might load her with these silken +goods? Our share of the prize money would be a fortune to us." + +While the men were ransacking the cavern, I had climbed by a narrow +foot-path to the top of a lofty bluff. A small telescope, found in a +hollow that had been worked in the rock, assured me that this served as +a look-out station. It commanded a wide view of the surrounding ocean, +now tenanted only by the sun-beam and solitude, if I except the presence +of the Dart, which sat _lilting_ on the glittering swell, with her white +wings outspread, like a huge sea-bird stretching his pinions for flight. + + * * * * * + +The boats shoved off, loaded gunwale deep with gold and silver, ivory, +tortoise-shell and the most choice of the merchandise found in the +cavern, and in fifteen minutes all was safely secured on board the +schooner. After a short consultation it was agreed to run the Dart into +the Pirates' Retreat, and there await the return of the Sea-Sprite, +deeming that the bucaneers would scarcely be long absent from the chief +depository of their treasures. She was soon safely anchored in the +basin. A lookout was stationed at the mouth of the inlet, while Ponto +and Percy undertook, with the consent of the captain, the task of +watching from the cliff. Waters was then sent with a party of the men to +explore the cavern more thoroughly, and before noon there was not a +chink nor cranny of the place which had not been thrice overhauled. +Immense treasures, in gold, silver and jewelry, were brought to light. + +Toward the latter part of the afternoon, Percy gave the signal agreed +upon for an approaching vessel, and directly after made his appearance +on the beach, informing us that they had examined her carefully, and +that there could be no mistaking her--it was the Sea-Sprite. + +"Strange!" said the captain; "I knew that they were brave--fearless to +desperation, but I did not expect to see them show such fool-hardiness. +However, they shall meet with a welcome reception. Mr. Dacres, see that +all the men are on board, and have things put to rights for a brush. If +I mistake not, there will be desperate work ere the rascal receives his +deserts." + +In a few minutes every thing was ready; the boats were got out forward, +and the Dart was towed to the mouth of the inlet, remaining concealed. + +The Sea-Sprite, which could be seen from the outer edge of the rocks, +stood gallantly in, driving a drift of snow before her, till within +about a mile of the shore; when, as if she had discovered some signs of +our presence, she wore round, hoisted her studd'n'sails, and stood away +in a south-westerly direction. + +"Pull away cheerily," said the captain to the men in the boats, who had +lain on their oars in readiness. + +Slowly the Dart emerged from her hiding place--the sails were squared +round so as to present their broad surfaces to the wind, and away she +darted in swift pursuit, like an eagle in quest of his prey. A stern +chase is proverbially a long one; so it proved in this instance. The +wind was light, and although we hung out every rag of sail, the sun was +sinking beyond the sea when we approached within gun-shot of the rover. +Not a soul could be seen on her decks,--she was worked as if by magic. + +"Mr. Ramrod," said the captain, "clap a round shot into the long-tom, +and let us see if we cannot make them show some signs of life." + +Benjamin loaded the gun, and having got it poised to his fancy, applied +the match. Away whizzed the iron messenger. The chips flew from the +stern of the rover, and a swarm of grizzly heads, belonging to _bona +fide_ bodies, popped up above the bulwarks, and then settled down again, +like so many wild sea-fowl disturbed in their nests. + +"Well done, Benjamin!--I see you have not lost any of your skill for +lack of practice." + +The pirate, at length finding it impossible to escape us, shortened +sail. + +"Now my men," said the captain, "to your duty!--let every gun be +double-shotted--a round shot and grape!" + +By a well-timed manoeuvre, we ranged up under her stern. Our men stood +with their arms extended, ready to apply their lighted matches. + +"Fire!" thundered Satan West. + +A storm of flame burst from our side, and the Dart reeled half out of +water under the recoil of the overloaded guns. The iron shower raked the +pirate fore and aft, hurling those deadly missiles, the splinters, in +every direction, and doing terrible execution on their decks. Two more +such broad-sides would have sent her to the bottom. + +"Helm aweather--jam hard!" roared the captain. + +"Ay, ay, sir!"--and we wore round so as to present our other broad-side +to the enemy. + +While this manoeuvre was going on, the bows of the Sea-Sprite had fallen +off in the wind, so as to bring us side by side, within half pistol +shot. She returned the fire with a vengeance, and several of our brave +tars fell wounded or slain to the deck. + +"Ready! blaze away!"--but the sound of our captain's voice was lost in +the thunder of the heavy ordnance. + +The battle now commenced in real earnest. The cannon bellowed, small +arms rattled, the combatants yelled, the dying groaned, the iron +thunder-bolt crashed, riving the vessel's oaken timbers, and a dense +sulphur-cloud overspread the scene of furious commotion, so that we +fought with an invisible enemy. We could see nothing save the streaming +lightning of the cannon, or the fiend-like figures that worked our +aftermost guns, begrimmed with powder and blood, stripped nearly naked, +and sweltering in their eager toil. As the smoke occasionally lifted, +however, the battered bulwarks of the enemy, and the glimmering streaks +along her black waist, showed that our fire had been rightly directed; +and the irregularity with which it was returned, told the confusion that +prevailed on her decks. Several times we attempted to run her aboard, +but they discovered our intentions in time to avoid us. + +At length a discharge from the well-directed gun of old Benjamin, took +effect in her fore-top. The topmast came thundering down with all its +rigging, over the foresail. Having thus lost the benefit of her head +sail, she rounded to, and her jib-boom came in contact with our fore +rigging. + +"Now is our time!--into her, boarders!" roared Dacres, leaping upon the +pirate's forecastle deck. + +But the order was useless--they were already hard on his track. A close +and desperate struggle now took place. Pistols cracked, sabres gleamed, +and deadly blows were dealt on either side, till a rampart of the slain +and wounded was raised high between the furious combatants. Gloomy and +dark as an arch-fiend, the pirate leader raged among his men, urging +them on with threats and curses, in a voice of thunder, and sweeping +down all opposition before his dripping blade. But Dacres, backed by his +well-trained boarders, received them on the points of their pikes, with +a coolness and bravery that made them recoil upon each other, like +surges from a rock-ribbed coast. Thus the fight continued with various +success, till the attention of the bucaneers was arrested by an +unearthly shout in the rear, and the tall figure of Percy was seen, +laying about him with whirlwind impetuosity, his long, untrimmed hair +flying wildly in the commotion of the atmosphere, his features working +with the madness that controlled him, and his dilated eyes flashing with +a fierce, unnatural fire upon his opponents. All quailed before him. +Wherever his merciless arm fell there was an instant vacancy. Although a +score of cutlasses were glancing, meteor-like, around his person, as if +by a spell, he remained uninjured. At length his eye detected the pirate +leader. Dashing aside all before him, with one bound he was at his side. +The fierce chief started in amazement at the sight of him whom he +supposed many a league from the spot, if not dead, but quickly recovered +his stern and gloomy bearing. + +"Monster! where is she?" shouted Percy. + +"Ask the sharks!" replied the captain, lunging at him with his sabre. + +These were his last words. Percy, quick as thought, drew a pistol from +his belt and fired into his face! He fell heavily to the deck, and the +combatants closed around him, as tempest-waves close over a foundering +ship! + +The pirates, now that their leader was slain, fought with less spirit, +and the victory was soon decided in our favor. Sooth to say, it was +dearly earned; and many who sought the battle with a quickened pulse, +and eager for the strife, were that evening consigned to the waves. Of +all the pirate's crew, consisting of nearly a hundred men, but thirteen +remained unharmed. Heavens!--what a ghastly spectacle her decks +presented! Fifty stalwart forms lay there, stiffened in death, or +writhing in the agony of their deep wounds, severed and mangled in every +way imaginable; and so slippery was the main deck that we could hardly +cross it, while the sea all around was died with the red waters of life, +that gushed in a continuous stream from her scuppers. + +On the forecastle deck, where the last desperate struggle had taken +place, I recognized many of our own crew among the lifeless heaps. Poor +old Ramrod, the gunner, lay there, with the black blood trickling over +his swarthy brow, from a bullet hole in his temple. He had died while +the might of battle was yet upon him--and the fierce scowl which he +darted at his foes, still remained on his rigid features. His hand, even +in the agonies of death, had not relinquished its firm grasp on his +cutlass, and the gigantic form of a swart pirate, with his skull cloven +down, close at hand, showed that it had been swayed to some purpose. +Poor Benjamin! I could have wept over him. He had been in the service +from his earliest days, and the scars of many a sanguinary fight were +visible upon his muscular arms, and on his bronzed and powerful chest. +My brave boy, Ponto, was there also, hanging pale and wounded over the +britch of the bow gun. He had followed me when we boarded, like a young +tiger robbed of his mate. Although faint and helpless with the loss of +blood, which belched at every heave of his bosom, from a deep sabre +wound in his shoulder, and which had completely saturated his checked +shirt and his duck pantaloons, yet his firmness was unshaken. I ordered +one of our men to take charge of him, until he could be looked to by the +surgeon. "Not yet," faintly exclaimed the generous child, pointing to +Mengs, the boatswain, who lay wounded over a coil of the cable, with +three or four grim looking bucaneers stretched dead across his chest, +the blood from their wounds streaming into his face and neck,--"look to +him first, he may be suffocated." + +"No, no, youngster," murmured the hardy Briton, "I'd do very well till +my turn comes, if I had this ugly looking craft cast off from my +gun-deck, and a can of water stowed away in my cable tier!" + +After the prisoners were secured, I sought the cabin, where I had +ordered Ponto to be carried. It was a richly garnished room, with berth +hangings of crimson damask and amber colored silk, a gorgeous carpet +from the looms of Brussels, and furniture in keeping. Opposite the +companion-way hung a superb picture of the virgin mother and her infant, +and over it a golden crucifix, while beneath, on a rose wood table, lay +a guitar, implements for sketching, and various articles for female +employ and amusement. Indeed, one might have supposed himself entering +the boudoir of a delicate Spanish belle, rather than the domicil of a +lawless rover. This I remember but from the glance of a moment. My +attention was drawn to the occupants of the place. There lay my wounded +boy, by the side of a silken sofa-couch, his face buried in the garments +of a female stretched lifeless upon it, and over them bent the tall form +of Percy, gazing upon the group with a fixed, vacant stare, which told +that suffering could wring his soul no longer--desolation and madness +had come upon him. His attitude, the expression of his features, and the +low, convulsive sobs and broken murmurs of the boy, at once explained +the scene. The one had found a wife, the other a sister, in that +inanimate form. I advanced nearer, in hopes that life might not be +altogether extinct. The sight was appalling, but beautiful. The pale, +dead face, upon which the mellow radiance of sunset streamed through the +sky-light, was lovely as a seraph's. Her eyes were closed as if in +sleep; the long braids of her bright hair lay undisturbed upon her +marble forehead, and there was no appearance of violence, save where the +dress of sea-green silk had been torn back from her bosom, as if in her +dying agonies, displaying a dark puncture, as of a grape-shot, just +below the snowy swell of the throat, from which the crimson blood oozed, +slowly trickling down over her white and rounded shoulder. She had +probably been killed by our first raking broad-side. + +"Fire! fire!" shouted a dozen voices on deck. I sprang up the +companion-way. The fore-hatch had been removed, and a dense volume of +smoke was rolling up from below. A glance was sufficient to show that no +effort of ours could save the vessel, and preparations were speedily +made to rescue the wounded, and abandon her to her fate. It being +impossible for me to leave my duty on deck, I sent a trusty Hibernian to +rescue my helpless boy and to inform Percy of our situation. He returned +with a rueful countenance. + +"Ochone! Mr. Hackinsack," said the tender hearted fellow, "it almost +made the salt wather come intil my een, to see the poor man and the +beautiful kilt leddy,--an' whin I tould 'em as how the schooner was +burnin' and would be blown to Jerico in a twinklin' all he said was to +give me a terrible, ferocious-like scowl and point with a loaded pistol +to the companion; so I took his mainin' an' left 'em." + +Two other messengers, sent to take him away by force, met with no better +success. + +The flames were ready to burst out on every side, and from each chink +and crevice around the hatches--which had been replaced and barred +down--the smoke was darting up with the force of vapour from a steam +engine. The deck had become so heated that it was painful to stand upon +it--the fire was fast progressing towards the run, where the magazine +was situated. Thrice had the order been given to quit the burning +vessel, but I could not forsake my friend without one more effort to +rescue him from the terrible fate that awaited him, if left behind. He +still held the loaded pistol in his hand and sternly forbade my +approach. Poor Ponto had fainted from grief and loss of blood, and lay +across his sister's body. I sprang forward and raised him in my arms, +regardless of the maniac's threats. The pistol banged in my ear, but +fortunately the ball passed over me as I stooped, and I regained the +companion-way without injury. By this time, he had drawn another from +his belt. + +"Put away the pistol, and come with me," I urged,--"the vessel is on +fire and will soon be blown to atoms." + +He looked at me with a grim stare for a moment, then burst into an +idiotic laugh. That wild laugh is still ringing in my brain. "Ha! ha! +ha!--Fire? fire? here it is, wreathing and coiling!--here! here!" +dashing his hand against his forehead. + +Perceiving that it was vain to reason with his madness, and fearing for +the life of the wounded boy in my arms, I reluctantly left the hapless +man to his fate. + +The boat had already put off for the last time, but I succeeded in +prevailing upon them to return, and leaping in, soon reached the Dart in +safety. + +The night set in wild and black as Death. Disparted and ragged masses of +cloud were rushing over the face of the heavens, where once and again, +the soaring moon, and that same bright, solitary star, would show their +calm faces through the reeling rack, apparently flying from this scene +of turmoil and death. The increasing wind howled mournfully through the +rigging, and our battered hull staggered along the inky main writhing +and shuddering on the heave of the surge like a weary, wounded thing. + +We followed in the track of the burning vessel as she fled along before +the gale, awaiting in breathless suspense the consummation of her wild +career. The black smoke, interfulgent with tortuous tongues of lurid +fire, rolled in immense volumes over her!--the red flames darted up her +masts, along the spars and rigging, and gushed in swirling sheets from +her ports and bulwarks, while in their fierce gleams, the billows that +ramped and raved about her, glowed like a huge seething cauldron of +molten iron, and the gloomy clouds that lowered above were tinged in +their ragged borders, as with blood. Occasionally the jarring thunder of +her cannon, as they became heated to explosion, announced to us the +progress of the insidious destroyer. + +But a still more thrilling spectacle awaited us. In the height of the +conflagration, the hapless Percy, bearing his dead wife in his arms, +emerged as it were from the very midst of the flames, and took a stand +on the companion-way. So strongly was the tall, dark-figure relieved +against the glowing element, that his slightest gesture could not escape +our scrutiny. While with one arm he spanned the waist of the supple +corse, which apparently struggled to escape from his grasp, he waved the +other on high as if exulting in the whirl and commotion around him. He +seemed like the minister of some dark rite of heathenism, preparing to +offer up a victim to the Moloch of his superstition. + +At length arrived the dreadful moment! The black hull seemed to be +lifted bodily out of the water. A volume of smoke burst over her like +the first eruption of a volcano! A spire of flame shot up to the +heavens, filling the firmament with burning fragments, while the clouds +that overhung the sea, were torn and scattered by the tremendous +concussion. A crash followed--a deep, bellowing boom, as if the solid +globe had split asunder!--then all was darkness--dreary, void, silent as +death! + + + + +TO M***, ON HER BIRTH-DAY. + +By William Cutter. + + + What though the skies of winter + Look cold and cheerless now! + What though earth wears no mantle + But that of ice and snow! + Though trees, all bare and leafless, + Stretch up their naked arms, + In sad and mournful silence, + To brave the wintry storms! + There is enough of sunshine, + Fond memory will say, + Around this morning clustered-- + _This is thy natal day!_ + + What though the birds of summer, + Flown far and long away, + In gentler climes are warbling, + Their loved and grateful lay! + What though, in field and garden, + No fragrant incense pours + From nature's thousand altars-- + Her blossoms and her flowers! + There's music sweet as angels', + And fragrance sweet as May, + In the thoughts that breathe and blossom + Around _thy natal day_! + + To me, the skies above us + Are bright as summer's noon! + And trees, in crystal blossoms, + More brilliant than in June! + There's music in the wintry blast-- + There's fragrance in the snow-- + And a garb of glorious beauty + On every thing below! + For oh! affection, wakened + With morning's earliest ray, + Has never ceased to whisper-- + _This is thy natal day!_ + + + + +RELIGIOUS OBLIGATION IN RULERS. + +By John W. Chickering. + + +It is a great truth, and worthy of a place among the few grand +principles which lie at the foundation of all wise and just government, +that 'the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men.' This may be +understood _de jure_, or _de facto_; and in either sense must be +believed, not only by those who admit, on the authority of the prophet, +that it was spoken by a divine voice, but by all who do not deny the +whole theory of an overruling Providence. + +That the almighty Ruler retains both a right and an agency in the +management of terrestrial governments, is undisputed by all who +recognize his right and his agency in any thing. It is the atheist alone +who would insulate the kingdoms of the earth from the kingdom of heaven. +None would banish Jehovah from the smaller empires his providence has +organized and sustained, but those who banish him from the universe his +power has created. + +Thus atheism in philosophy is sole progenitor of atheism in politics; +and it should not excite our surprise, that he who 'sees' _not_ 'God in +clouds nor hears him in the wind,'--who beholds in the great things of +the earth, the air and the sea, no footsteps of divine power, and no +finger-prints of divine wisdom, should be equally blind concerning the +progress of civil affairs, and should so have perverted his mind, and so +tortured the moral sense which God gave him, as to believe, and to +rejoice, that without God, kingdoms rise and fall, and that it is _not_ +'by him' that 'kings reign, and princes decree justice.' + +But with the atheist, that moral monster,'---- horrendum, informe, +ingens, cui lumen ademptum,' we are not now concerned. We leave him to +the darkness he has brought upon himself through his 'philosophy and +vain deceit,' and to the enjoyment, if enjoyment it be, of his dreary +cavern, more dreary than that of Polyphemus,--a godless world. + +We come to inquire, by way of preparation for the more direct +prosecution of the object of this article, concerning the views +entertained by the great mass of mankind who believe in the existence +and providence of Jehovah, as to his particular connection with the +subordinate governments on earth, and the station which it is his holy +pleasure to occupy in their control and management. And here we find at +once, wide and hurtful mistakes; occupying relatively, such is man's +tendency to extremes, the position of antipodes. Some, overlooking the +twofold agency, partly civil, partly ecclesiastical, by which the Most +High promotes his own ends and the well being of his creatures, have +resolved each into the other, making religion an affair of the state, +and civil government a matter for ecclesiastical influence; producing in +practice the unseemly compound, commonly called "church and state," but +which might be more accurately characterized as the ruin of both. + +As the fruits of this mistake, the world has seen profane monarchs +invested with titles of religion and piety. In some countries, aided by +ambition and intrigue, it has brought kings to kiss the feet of the +professed ambassadors of Jesus Christ; and gained for them honors and +power, which their divine but humble master declined for himself. This +mistake has been confirmed, if it was not originated, by the +organization of the great Jewish theocracy. This was, indeed, church and +state. But it was under a divine administration.--And although the fact +that the Deity not only attested and ratified the alliance, but +condescended to be legislator, judge, and executive, might at once have +prevented the inference; yet men _have_ inferred that the civil and +ecclesiastical powers ought always to be thus commingled. The +consequences might have been anticipated. The history both of +Christianity and of the world, is darkened by their melancholy shade. +Religion, unguarded by the miraculous intervention of Him who, under a +former dispensation, smote the offerers of strange fire, has been +corrupted by those who would do her honor, and crushed by the embraces +of false friends;--and her splendid sojourn in the halls of power, has +been met by reverses not less striking, and far more disastrous, than +Moses met after being the _protege_ of royalty; while the civil rights +of men, invaded by ambition and avarice, under the name of religion, and +with the sanction of God's name, have been yielded up without a +struggle, under the impression, that resistance would be "fighting +against God." What would not have been demanded in the name of man, has +been freely given in the name of God;--men who in defence of their +rights, would have ventured cheerfully upon treason, have shrunk with +horror from sacrilege. + +Thus religion and liberty have well-nigh perished together, and their +present resting-place on earth resembles rather the one found by Noah's +dove on her second flight, than the broad home, illimitable but by the +world's circumference, which as philanthropists we hope, and as +Christians we pray, they may soon enjoy. + +Others again, warned, perhaps, by the disasters consequent upon the +policy last described, have gone to the extreme, not less hurtful, and +far more presumptuous, of excluding religious motives and religious +principles from all influence in the affairs of the commonwealth. They +have thus become _quoad hoc_, practical atheists. Content indeed, that +the Deity should keep our planet in motion, and regulate its seasons and +its tides; and surround and cover it with the blessings of Providence, +nor careful to forbid him a participation even in the _internal_ +concerns of Jupiter, or Herschell,--perhaps even willing to admit in +theory, the truth of the statement from the inspired record with which +this article commenced,--they yet deem it best for man, considered +either as a governing or as a governed being, that the notion of a +presiding Deity should be as much as possible excluded from his mind. +The mere juxtaposition of the words "religion" and "politics," or any of +their correlates, is sufficient to excite the fears of these scrupulous +alarmists; and if they do not imitate the example of the French, who +were seen near the close of the last century, rushing madly with the +pendulum-like oscillation of human nature, from the bonds of religious +despotism, into the very wilderness of atheism, and denounce Jehovah as +a usurper, and his adherents as rebels against "the powers that be," +they strive to separate all questions and acts of government from God +and his laws, as if there _were_ no God; thus making, if not an +atheistic people, an atheistic government. Far otherwise, we cannot but +pause here to remark, acted the noble men, the sifted wheat of three +kingdoms, who were thrown by God's providence through ecclesiastical +tyranny, upon these shores. If they for a time, with a strange tenacity +of old habits, which showed that principle, not passion, led them, clung +to the very usages respecting toleration, which had exiled them, they at +least preserved the nation which they founded, from the character and +the curse of a nation which despises God. Heaven grant, that the +pendulum may not even now be swinging to the other extreme! + +While we would have the affairs of the nation managed as if there were +no _church_ in the world, we would not have them managed as if there +were no GOD in the world. Could our voices reach the millions of our +countrymen, as Joshua's voice reached the thousands of Israel, we would +say as he said, 'IF THE LORD BE GOD, SERVE HIM.' In a word, while we +believe that the civil and ecclesiastical departments ought to be +distinct, and that their union is a departure from the intention of Him +who formed both, and that it is fraught with the most disastrous +consequences to both, we do _not_ believe that the almighty Ruler has +excluded himself from the control of either, or given the least +permission that either should be managed on any other principles than +the eternal principles of right, which are embodied in his character, +and laid down in his word. + +When we speak of a sense of religious obligation, we mean more than a +general undefined belief that such an obligation exists. Such a belief +is withheld, we trust, by comparatively few who hold important places in +our national and State governments. But can it be doubted by any man who +has accustomed himself to contemplate the distinction between mere +intellectual assent, and the warm, practical conviction which reaches +the heart, and controls the conduct, that this belief may coexist with +as total an insensibility to the claims of Jehovah, as if it were +William IV., or Nicholas of Russia, who performed them, instead of the +Most High God? + +Is it too much to desire, nay to infer, as a _duty_, from what has +already been said, that our rulers in the executive, legislative, and +judicial departments, both in the general and State governments, should +have _an abiding consciousness of accountability_--should live under _a +felt pressure of obligation_--to the Sovereign of the universe, which +should assume, as it must where it exists at all, a practical, binding +force? Is it too much to ask, that they should remember that they are +the servants of God for good to this great people, and that to their own +Master they stand or fall? That they rule by God's permission, and for +his ends; and that a higher tribunal than any on earth awaits the +termination of their responsibility to man? That they should remember +their obligation, in common with those who elevated them to office, +"whatever they do, to do all to the glory of God;" and the solemn truth, +that a sin against God or man, whether of omission or of commission, +whether committed in private, in the family circle, or in the high +places of authority, is no less a sin, when committed by a judge, or a +legislator, or a chief magistrate of a State or nation, than by the +humblest of his constituents? In a word, do we claim too prominent a +place for religious principle in the administration of public affairs, +when we avow our desire that the rulers of a people, who are the +nominal, and in a free government the _real_, representatives of the +people, should be daily and practically aware, that they are accountable +to a higher Power, thus realizing, if not in the highest and most +Christian sense, yet in the literal signification, the picture of a good +ruler drawn by the prophet, who, in the name of the almighty Ruler, +declares, "He that ruleth over men, must be just--_ruling in the fear of +God_!" + +We cannot reflect without occasion for the deepest gratitude, that in +contemplating the advantages of such a state of mind and of heart, as +possessed by men in authority, we are not confined to _a priori_ +reasoning. England has had her Alfred, her Edward VI., and her Matthew +Hale; Sweden her Gustavus Adolphus; our own most cherished and beloved +country, a Washington, and a Wirt, with many others among the dead, and +not a few among the living, to whom our readers may recur as we proceed, +both for illustration of our meaning, and proof of our assertions. + +Among the effects of this sense of obligation, which go to show its +importance to every man in public life, we mention first, _its influence +in checking the love and pride of power_. It will not be said by any +man, who has acquired even a smattering of the science of human nature, +that the simplicity of our republican institutions excludes all danger +from this source. It is the great weakness of man, to desire power; and, +having it, to be proud of it; and, in his pride, to abuse it. It +matters not whether it be the power of a monarch on his throne, or of +the humblest village functionary. If it be _power_, or even the +semblance of power, it charms the eye of the expectant, and, too often, +turns the head of the possessor. + +True, in this land, power walks in humble guise. She rides in no gilded +chariot--is clothed with no robes of state--is preceded by no heralds +with announcement of noble titles--is decorated with no ribbons and +stars. Nor is there an office worth seeking, as a matter of gain, except +in some special cases, growing rather out of individual character and +circumstances, than from design on the part of legislators. But who will +deny, that RANK, here, as elsewhere throughout the wide world, has its +attractions? And who, that has thought upon the subject carefully, +doubts that they are as strong, as if it were hereditary? As far as +pride of heart in the possessor is concerned, undoubtedly the temptation +is even greater. That rank is _not_ hereditary, and is therefore +attainable by individual effort, opens a fountain of ambition in a +thousand hearts, which, under another constitution of society, would +never have known ambition, but as _a strange word_, while the fact that +it is ordinarily the prize of talent, attaches to it an additional power +to tempt and seduce the mind. It need not be said, that so far as this +love and pride of power exists, it tends to subvert all the true ends of +government. + +That the influence of a sense of subordination and accountableness to +the Supreme Being, will be direct and strong in checking these +tendencies of human nature, is so plain as to command assent without +argument. Who can be proud in the perceived presence of infinite +splendor and worth? How can ambition thrive under the overshadowing +greatness of almighty Power? + +It is recorded of Gustavus Adolphus, that being surprised one day by his +officers in secret prayer in his tent, he said: "Persons of my rank are +answerable to God alone for their actions; this gives the enemy of +mankind a peculiar advantage over us; an advantage which can be resisted +only by prayer and reading the Scriptures." This remark, though it does +not specify the moral dangers to which the royal worshipper was exposed, +has reference, undoubtedly, in part, if not mainly, to that pride and +loftiness of heart, which are the unrestrained denizens of those high +regions in the social atmosphere, which lie above the common walks of +life. Let a man in one of the high places of the earth, be accustomed +only _to look down_, and he is ready like Herod of old, to fancy the +flattery, truth, which tells him he is a god;--let him _look up_;--there +Jehovah sitteth above the water floods and remaineth king forever! + +Another important effect of such views of religious obligation, will be +seen _in restraining the blind and ruinous excess of party feeling_. He +is a short-sighted politician indeed, who utters a sweeping denunciation +of party distinctions. And if they may be harmless, and even in some +cases form the very safety of the nation, then party _feeling_, without +which _parties_ could not exist, is, in some of its degrees and +developements right and desirable. But like the lightning of heaven, +while it purifies the political atmosphere, how easily and how quickly +may it desolate and destroy! In its healthful action, it is like the +gentle breeze, which refreshes man and fertilizes the earth; in its +excess, like the tornado, which sweeps away every green thing, and even +upturns the foundations of many generations. + +When it is a modification of true-hearted patriotism, seeking the public +good by party organizations, it is right and safe; but when it is the +offspring of the wicked selfishness, already described, it is restrained +by no bounds, and directed to no good end. When a public officer, of +whatever rank, becomes the servant of a party, instead of being a +servant of God, for good to the _people_, it is not difficult to foresee +the consequences. + +No argument is necessary to show that he who feels himself accountable +to God, will be but slightly constrained by the bonds of party +influence. So far as he regards the ends of a party as accordant with +the true ends of government, which in some cases may be nothing more +than the truth, and in others nothing _less_--his sense of religious +obligation will of course not interfere with his diligent prosecution of +those ends. But at that critical point, where ends zeal for party, for +the sake of the common weal, and begins zeal for party, for the party's +sake, and for ambition's sake, there a sense of paramount obligation, +like the magnetic power, will still the whispers of selfishness, and +counteract the tendencies of party commitment. The Christian politician +knows no party but the party of patriots, or, if that party be divided, +he seeks not the building up of either fragment for its own sake--but +the building up on the best and most hopeful, or if need be, on the +ruins of both, the great fabric of public welfare. Who does not desire +to see a deep sense of allegiance to one who is our Master, pervading +the leaders and the adherents of the great political parties, into which +it is so common and perhaps necessary, for nations to be divided?--under +such an influence, how might excesses be restrained, needless +repellances be neutralized, and how soon, instead of fierce bands of +brethren gathered in distinct and opposing array, like the dark clouds +of summer, meeting over our heads, might we see the beauty and the +strength of party organization, without its wide severance and its +deadly hate, like the rainbow, which is not more beautiful in the +variety of its colors, than in the grace with which the divine Painter +has blended them. + +It will be denied by none, of whatever religious or political faith, +that public morals are, under a government like ours, the life-blood of +national strength and safety. The day that shall behold us a nation of +gamblers, or duelists, or profane swearers or drunkards, or +Sabbath-breakers--will be the day of our political death. Armies, and +navies, and enterprise, and numbers, with a sound hereditary government, +may for a time give prosperity to a dissolute immoral people. But in a +government like ours, where the laws and the administration of law, are +as quickly and as certainly affected by the popular sentiment, owing to +frequent elections, as the sunbeams are reflected from the summer +clouds, prosperity cannot survive morality a single day. And who can +tell how important, in this view, it is, that our public men should be +public models of private virtue! + +Oh, when, our hearts exclaim, when shall the _evil_ example be unknown +in the high places of power; and purity, truth, high-toned Christian +morality, beam like another sun, from the seats of influence? The true +answer to this question would afford another argument for the importance +of that sense of religious obligation which has now been considered. The +command of God is the only mandate in the universe which can effectually +restrain human passions and desires. The voice which comes attended by +the sanction, "Thus saith the Lord," is the only voice which can +successfully say, "peace! be still," to the winds and the waves of wrong +inclination. When our rulers shall "all be taught of God,"--and yield +themselves to a constraining sense of his dominion, and their own +accountableness--then, and not till then, will they as a body, be such +models of private correctness and virtue, as many of them, both among +the dead and among the living, have been, for the imitation of the young +men, the hope and glory of our land. + +Again, and it is the last consideration we shall present, how powerful a +tendency would such views on the part of our rulers, possess, to awaken +the utmost vigilance in the guardianship of their sacred trust, and to +elevate the mind and heart to the purest feelings, and the noblest +efforts. + +A sense of accountability, in some manner and to some tribunal, is +essential to ensure fidelity under all temptations to indolence or +perversion, in every case in which men are the recipients of any trust. +Apply this principle to the case of him who holds some political station +of high importance. He feels himself responsible, not only to men, but +to God. He knows and remembers that he is the _servant of God_ for good, +to the people. This remembrance and impression is the sheet anchor of +his steadfastness. Other principles _might_ hold him amidst the storms +and commotions of the popular sea, and of his own heart; this _must_. +With what care will he watch the precious trust, which comes to him +under the seal of heaven! How sedulously will he guard the doors of the +temple of liberty, when he perceives within it the altar of God, and +finds his sentinel's commission countersigned with the handwriting of +Jehovah! His heart, too, will be filled with the purest and most exalted +sentiments. + +The fountain from which such a man daily drinks, sparkles with the +elements of all that is grateful and refreshing. + +The purest patriotism, the sweetest charities of domestic life, the most +expansive and wise benevolence, all spring up in the heart together, the +consentaneous and harmonious fruits of the love and fear of God. It was +in the same school that Wilberforce learned to love the slave--Howard to +love the prisoner--Wirt to love his country--and all to love the world. +They _feared and obeyed God_--and all noble and generous emotions grow +spontaneously in the soil of the heart thus prepared and enriched. + +Nor is the effort less marked or less salutary upon the _mind_. Its +thoughts are loftier, and its purposes deeper and more steadfast, for +being conversant with the great subject of divine obligation. No man can +think much of the Deity, and realize strongly His constant presence and +inspection, without an elevation of views, and a growing consciousness +of that mental power, for the right use of which he is accountable to +Him who bestowed it. We were not made to inhabit a godless world, and we +cannot make it so, in speculation and in practice, without a +deterioration analogous to the dwarfish tendency of emigration to a +region colder than our native clime. "God is a sun," to the mental as +well as to the moral powers; and in the frozen zone of practical +atheism, both degenerate and die. The noble motto, "_Bene orasse est +bene studisse_," applies with hardly less force to secular, than to +sacred studies. + +With what energy must it arm the soul of the patriot statesman +struggling against wrong counsels, and discredited dangers, to know that +the God of truth and of right, sees and approves his course! With what +new power does his mind grasp a difficult and embarrassed subject, when +he feels that the Former of that mind, now demands from him an exertion +of its highest powers! What exciting power, to call forth the most +thrilling eloquence, can be found in the crowded senate-chamber, +compared with the consciousness that for every word he must give account +to Him, whose applause, if he fulfils his high behest, will surpass in +value the shouts of an enraptured universe besides! + + + + +A NEW-ENGLAND WINTER-SCENE. + +EXTRACT FROM A LETTER TO A FRIEND IN ONE OF THE WEST INDIA ISLANDS. + +By William Cutter. + + +I have sometimes almost envied you the perpetual summer you enjoy. You +have none of the bleak, dark wastes of Winter around you, and have never +to look, with aching heart, upon all fair, bright, beautiful things, +withering before your eyes, in the severe frown of frosty Autumn. It is +always green, and fresh, and fragrant, in your Islands of eternal June. +Your gardens are always gardens, gay and redolent with sweet blossoms, +and rich with ripe fruits, mingling like youth and manhood vying with +each other, "from laughing morning up to sober prime," pursuing, without +blight or dimness, the same gay round--blooming and ripening--ripening +and blooming, but never falling, through all generations. Through all +seasons, you have only to reach forth your hands, and there are bright +bouquets, and mellow, delicious fruits, ready to fill them. Your trees +have always a shade to spread over you; and they cast off their gorgeous +blossoms, and their luxuriant load, as if they were conscious of +immortal youth and energy--as if they knew they should never fade, +become fruitless, or die. There is no frail, bending, withering age, in +any thing of nature you look upon--no blasting of the unripened bud by +untimely frosts--no falling prematurely of all that is beautiful and +rare, to remind you daily that time is on his flight, and that you will +not always be young. I wonder you do not think yourselves immortal in +those everlasting gardens! Oh! that perpetual youth and maturity of +every thing lovely!--how I have sometimes envied you the possession! + +But I shall never envy you again. No--delightful as summer is, soft as +its breezes, and sweet as its music, I would not lose the unutterable +glory of this scene, that is now before me, for all the riches of your +Island,--its unfading summer, and everlasting sweets. I wish I could +describe it to you--could give you some faint idea of its celestial +splendor. But, to do it any justice, I should have travelled through the +fields of those glittering constellations above me, to borrow images +from the host of heaven. The attempt will be vain--presumptuous--but I +will try to tell you as much of it as I can. + +The day has been dark, cold, and stormy. The snow has been falling +lightly, mingled with rain, which, freezing as it fell, has formed a +perfect covering of ice upon every object. The trees and shrubbery, even +to their minutest branches, are all perfectly encased in this +transparent drapery. Nothing could look more bleak and melancholy while +the storm continued. But, just as evening closed in, the storm ceased, +and the clouds rolled swiftly away. Never was a clearer, a more spotless +sky. The moon is in the zenith of her march, with her multitude of +bright attendants, pouring their mild radiance, like living light, upon +the sea of glass that is all around us. Oh! how it kindles me to look at +it! how it maddens me that I have no language to tell it to you! Do but +imagine--The fields blazing out, like oceans of molten silver!--every +tree and shrub, as far as the eye can reach, of pure transparent +glass--a perfect garden of moving, waving breathing chrystals, lighted +into unearthly splendor by a full, unclouded moon, and scattering +undimmed, in every direction, the beams that are poured upon them. The +air, all around, seems alive with illuminated gems. Every tree is a +diamond chandelier, with a whole constellation of stars clustering to +every socket--and, as they wave and tremble in the light breeze that is +passing, I think of the dance of the morning stars, while they sang +together on the birth-day of creation. Earth is a mirror of heaven. I +can almost imagine myself borne up among the spheres, and looking +through their vast theatre of lights. There are stars of every +magnitude--from the humble twig, that glows and sparkles on the very +bosom of the glassy earth, and the delicate thorn that points its +glittering needle to the light, to the gorgeous, stately tree, that +lifts loftily its crowned head and stretches its gemmed and almost +overborne arms, proudly and gloriously to the heavens--all +glowing--glittering--flashing--blazing--like--but why do I attempt it? +As well might I begin to paint the noon-day sun. Give a loose to your +imagination. Think of gardens and forests, hung with myriads of +diamonds--nay, every tree, every branch, every stem and twig, a perfect, +polished crystal, and the full, glorious moon, and all the host of +evening, down in the very midst of them--and you will know what I am +looking at. I am all eye and thought, but have no voice, no words to +convey to you an impression of what I see and feel--No, I'll not envy +you again! What a picture for mortal eyes to look on undimmed! The +eagle, that goes up at noon-day to the sun, would be amazed in its +effulgence. It is the coronation-eve of winter--and nature has opened +her casket, and poured out every dazzling gem, and brilliant in her +keeping, and hung out all her rain-bow drops, and lighted up every lamp, +and they are all glowing, twinkling, sparkling, flashing together, like +legions of spiritual eyes, glancing from world to world, in such +unearthly rivalry, that the eye, even of the mind, turns away from it, +pained and weary with beholding. There--look--but I can say no more, my +words are consumed, drunk up in this unutterable glory, like morning +mist when the sun looks on it! + + + + +LOCH KATRINE. + +By N. H. Carter. + + +An eminence in the road afforded us the first view of Loch Katrine, a +blue and bright expanse of water, cradled among lofty hills, though +moderate both in point of altitude and boldness, when contrasted with +those which had already been seen. The first feature that arrested +attention, was the peculiar complexion of the water, which is cerulean, +and differs several shades from that of the other Scottish lakes. Its +hue is probably modified by the verdure upon the shores, as well as by +the geological structure of its bed, in which there is little or no mud. +Like some of our own pellucid waters, it is a Naiad of the purest kind, +sleeping on coral and crystal couches. Its blue tinge was doubtless in +some degree heightened by the distance whence it was first descried, as +well as by the deep azure of the skies after the late storm. + +Hastening to the shore, we waited some time for the oarsmen, who +accompanied us from Loch Lomond, to bring out their boat from behind a +little promontory, which for aught I know, was the very place where Rob +Roy and Ellen Douglas used to hide their canoes. There is no house +within several miles of the landing. The only building of any kind is a +small temporary hut, of rude construction, serving as a poor shelter in +case of rain. As this lake has become a fashionable resort, one would +suppose the number of travellers would justify the expense of a +boatman's house, which would relieve the oarsmen from the trouble of +walking half a dozen miles, and the tourist from the vexation of paying +for it. + +At two o'clock in the afternoon, seven of us, including the boat's crew, +embarked, and commenced a voyage to the foot of the lake, a distance of +nine miles in a south-eastern direction. Winds and waves both conspired +to accelerate our progress, and no Highland bark probably ever bounded +more merrily over the blue billows. The cone of Ben-Lomond rapidly +receded, and Ben-venue and Ben-an, on opposite sides of the outlet, came +more fully in view. At the head, Glengyle opens prettily from the +north-west, with serrated hills forming the lofty ramparts of the pass, +in the entrance of which is a seat belonging to one of the descendants +of Rob Roy M'Gregor. The width of the lake is about two miles, with +deeply indented shores, which are generally bold and romantic, +exhibiting occasionally scattered houses and patches of cultivation, +particularly on the north-eastern borders. Our course was nearest the +south-western side, touching at one little desolate promontory, to +exchange boats, and often approaching so close, as to enable us to +examine the scanty growth upon the margin. + +In about two hours from the time of embarkation, we reached Ellen's +Island, near the outlet; and half encircling the green eminence, rising +beautifully from the bosom of the lake, our Highland mariners made a +port in the identical little bay, where the far-famed heroine was wont +to moor her skiff, fastening it to an oak, which still hangs its aged +arms over the flood. This miniature harbor is also signalized, as the +place where Helen Stuart cut off the head of one of Cromwell's +soldiers. As the story goes, all the women and children fled hither for +refuge. After a decisive victory, one of the veterans of the Protector +attempted to swim to the island for a boat, with an intention of +pillaging and laying waste the asylum; but as he approached the shore +the above mentioned heroine, stepped from her ambuscade, and with one +stroke of her dirk decapitated the marauder, thus rescuing her narrow +dominion with its tenants from destruction. + +The Island is small and rises perhaps fifty feet above the water. It +rests on a basis of granite, covered with a thin coat of earth, through +which the rocks occasionally appear, and which affords scanty nutriment +to a growth of oak, birch, and mountain ash. The red berries of the +latter hung gracefully over the cliffs, in many places shaded with brown +heath. A winding pathway leads to the summit, which is beautifully +tufted, and affords a charming view of the surrounding hills and waters. + +In a little secluded copse near the top stands Ellen's Bower, fashioned +exactly according to the description of the same object in the Lady of +the Lake. Those who are curious to form a minute and accurate image of +it, have only to turn to that picture. The exterior is composed of +unhewn logs or sticks of fir, fantastically arranged, with a thatched, +moss-covered roof, and skins of beasts converted into semi-transparent +parchment for windows. Every thing within is in rustic style. A living +aspen grows in the centre, and supports the ceiling. Upon its branches +hangs a great variety of ancient armor, with trophies of the chase. Here +may be seen the Lochaber axe, Rob Roy's dirk, and sundry other +curiosities. A table strewed with leaves extends nearly the whole +length of the bower. The walls are hung with shields, and the skins of +various animals. Chairs and sofas woven of osiers fill the apartment. +The chimney is formed of sticks, and the head of a stag with his +branching horns decorates the mantlepiece. Half an hour was passed in +lolling upon Ellen's sofas, and in examining her domestic arrangements. + +Bidding a lingering farewell to the sweet little island, we again +embarked and soon completed the residue of our voyage. The foot of Loch +Katrine is very romantic and beautiful. Innumerable hills of moderate +elevation raise their grey, pointed peaks around and above a deeply +wooded glen, opening towards the south-east and forming the outlet of +the lake. The highest of these are Ben-venue and Ben-an, rising on each +side of the pass. Both are fine mountains, something like two thousand +feet in height, with naked masses of granite overhanging wild and woody +bases. From the great number of peaks or _pikes_ which are crowded into +this narrow district, it has been called the Trosachs, or _bristled +region_. The lake is here reduced to less than half a mile in width, +sheltered on all sides from the winds by high promontories, jutting so +far into the water, as to appear like a group of islands. + +Towards the north-west, the eye looks up the glen of Strathgartney, in +which tradition says that the grey charger of Fitz-James fell. The +boatman gravely informed us, that _his bones are to be seen to this +day_! Such stories, and the sketches of certain topographers, have +afforded us an infinite fund of amusement. + +We landed at the foot of Loch Katrine, and after walking a mile and a +half reached our hotel. + + + + +WORSHIP. + +By Asa Cummings. + + +That heart must be desolate indeed, which is a stranger to devotion. +Were it possible to remain undevout, and at the same time not be +criminal, it were still a state of mind most earnestly to be deprecated. +It is a joyless condition, to live without God in the world; to be +unsusceptible to the attractions of his moral excellence; to pass the +time of our sojourning in a world of trial, without ever communing with +the Father of our spirits, or voluntarily casting ourselves on an +Almighty arm for support, and breathing forth to the Author of our +being, the language of supplication and praise. + +And how is the effect of devotion heightened by the junction of numbers +in the same service--even of the "multitude who keep holy day!" A scene, +so honorable to Him "who inhabiteth the praises of Israel," so fit in +itself, so congruous to man's social nature and dependant condition, so +impressive on the actors and spectators, and so salutary in its +influence,--awakened in the "sweet singer of Israel," the most ardent +longings for the courts of the Lord, and constituted the glowing theme +of more than one of his unrivalled songs. Nay, under the influence of +that inspiration which prompted his thoughts and guided his pen, he does +not hesitate to affirm:--"_The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than +all the dwellings of Jacob._"[1] + +Far from us be the thought of casting upon the Psalmist the imputation +of undervaluing himself, or of designing to lead his fellow-men to +undervalue domestic or private worship. Every contrite heart is an abode +where God delights to dwell--a temple where he abides and operates--a +chosen habitation, where he reveals his love and displays his grace. It +is a complacent sight to the Father of spirits, to behold one prodigal +returning, to see an individual prostrate before him, and lifting up his +cry for pardon and spiritual strength. It is pleasing in his eyes to see +a family at their morning and evening devotions, pouring out their souls +with all the workings of pious affection, and the various pleadings of +faith. No sweeter incense than this, ever ascends to heaven. When, +therefore, God expresses his preference for the worship of the +sanctuary, it is not the _quality_ which he regards, but the _degree_; +not the _kind_ of influence exerted, but the _amount_. In the sanctuary +is the concentrated devotion of many hearts. Here are more minds to be +wrought upon; here is a wider scope for the operation of truth; here a +light is raised which is seen from afar, and attracts the gaze of +distant beholders, as the temple on the summit of Moriah, "fretted with +golden fires," arrested the eye of the distant traveller. Here is a +public, practical declaration to all the world, that there is a God, and +that adoration and service are his due. + +In the sanctuary the Creator and the creature are brought near to each +other. The character and perfections of God, his law and government, the +wonders of his providence, the riches of his grace, the duty and destiny +of man, are brought directly before the mind by the "lively oracles." +"Beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, we are changed into +the same image." Truth, enforced by the energies of the life-giving +Spirit, "is quick and powerful." God "pours water on them that are +thirsty;" and in fulfilment of the prophetic word, "young men and +maidens, old men and children," awakened to "newness of life," spring up +"as willows by the water-courses," and flock to the Refuge of souls, "as +doves to their windows." A spectacle this, well pleasing to God, and +cheering to the hearts of his friends on earth--none more so this side +heaven. None produces such a commingling of wonder, love, humility, and +gratitude; none calls forth such adoring thankfulness; none makes the +songs of the temple below so like that new song of Moses and the Lamb, +which is perpetually sung before the throne above. Heaven is brought +down to earth--eternity takes hold on time; this world yields its +usurped throne in the hearts of men, and Jehovah reigns triumphant, the +Lord of their affections. "The power and glory of God are seen in the +sanctuary." + +Here, too, are ample provisions to meet all future wants--moral means to +restore the wandering, to recover the spiritually faint, to refresh and +fortify their souls to sustain the conflict with temptation, to inspire +the heart with religious joy, to nourish that spiritual life which has +dawned in their souls. Here is the "sincere milk of the word," on which +they may "grow;" the significant ordinances, so quickening to the +affections, so invigorating to man's spiritual nature. The Baptismal +water affects the heart through the medium of the eye, and enforces the +worshipper's obligation to abjure the world, and to be pure as Christ is +pure. The Emblematic Feast, exhibiting "Jesus Christ set forth +crucified before his eyes,"--while it affectingly reminds him of his +lost condition as a sinner, contains an impressive demonstration of the +power and grace of his Deliverer, "in whom we have redemption through +his blood." His faith fastens itself on this sacrifice. He is loosed +from the bondage of sin; his "soul is satisfied as with marrow and +fatness." His fellowship is with the Father, and with the Son. He has +communion with the saints. He derives new support to his fainting faith, +and goes on his pilgrimage rejoicing. + +The entire exercises and scenes of the house of worship--the reading of +the scriptures, the confessions, prayers, and praises, the songs of the +temple--for "as well the singers as the players on instruments" are +there[2]--the preaching of the gospel, the celebration of the +sacraments,--all combine their aid to strengthen pious principle, holy +purpose, virtuous habit, and to render the children of God "perfect, +thoroughly furnished to every good work." The place, the day, the +multitude, the power of sympathy, all conspire to give effect to truth, +and to rouse them up to labor for God, for their species, for eternity: +all combine to render the house of God "the gate of heaven," the image +of heaven, and a precious antepast of the enjoyments of heaven! + + "My willing soul would stay + In such a frame as this, + And sit, and sing herself away + To everlasting bliss." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Psalm lxxxvii, 2. + +[2] Psalm lxxxvii, 7. + + + + +THE VALLEY OF SILENCE. + +By William Cutter. + + It was a perfect Eden for beauty. The scent of flowers came + up on the gale, the swift stream sparkled like a flow of + diamonds in the sun, and a smile of soft light glistened on + every leaf and blade, as they drank in the life-giving ray. + Its significant loveliness was eloquent to the eye and the + heart--but a strange deep silence reigned over it all. So + perfect was the unearthly stillness, you could almost hear + yourself think.--_Katahdin._ + + + Has thy foot ever trod that silent dell? + 'Tis a place for the voiceless thought to swell + And the eloquent song to go up unspoken, + Like the incense of flowers whose urns are broken; + And the unveiled heart may look in, and see, + In that deep strange silence, its motions free, + And learn how the pure in spirit feel + That unseen Presence to which they kneel. + + No sound goes up from the quivering trees, + When they spread their arms to the welcome breeze; + They wave in the Zephyr--they bow to the blast-- + But they breathe not a word of the power that passed; + And their leaves come down on the turf and the stream, + With as noiseless a fall as the step of a dream; + And the breath that is bending the grass and the flowers, + Moves o'er them as lightly as evening hours. + + The merry bird lights down on that dell, + And, hushing his breath, lest the song should swell, + Sits with folded wing in the balmy shade, + Like a musical thought in the soul unsaid. + And they of strong pinion and loftier flight, + Pass over that valley, like clouds in the night-- + They move not a wing in that solemn sky, + But sail in a reverent silence by. + + The deer, in his flight, has passed that way, + And felt the deep spell's mysterious sway-- + He hears not the rush of the path he cleaves, + Nor his bounding step on the trampled leaves. + The hare goes up on that sunny hill, + And the footsteps of morning are not more still, + And the wild, and the fierce, and the mighty are there, + Unheard in the hush of that slumbering air. + + The stream rolls down in that valley serene, + Content in its beautiful flow to be seen, + And its fresh flowery banks, and its pebbly bed + Were never yet told of its fountain head; + And it still rushes on--but they ask not why, + With its smile of light, it is hurrying by; + Still, gliding, or leaping, unwhispered, unsung, + Like the flow of bright fancies, it flashes along. + + The wind sweeps by, and the leaves are stirred, + But never a whisper or sigh is heard; + And when its strong rush laid low the oak, + Not a murmur the eloquent stillness broke. + And the gay young echoes--those mockers that lie + In the dark mountain-sides--make no reply, + But, hushed in their caves, they are listening still + For the songs of that valley to burst o'er the hill. + + I love society;--I am o'erblest to hear + The mingling voices of a world; mine ear + Drinks in their music with a spiritual taste; + I love companionship on life's dark waste, + And could not live unheard;--yet that still vale-- + It had no fearful mystery in its tale;-- + Its hush was grand, not awful, as if there + The voice of nature were a breathing prayer. + 'Twas like a holy temple, where the pure + Might blend in their heart-worship, and be sure + No sound of earth could come--a soul kept still, + In faith's unanswering meekness, for heaven's will, + Its eloquent thoughts sent upward and abroad, + But all its deep hushed voices kept for God! + + + + +DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DIVINE BEING. + +By Gershom F. Cox. + + +It is a difficult task to shadow forth spirit. The best emblems of the +earth can give but faint and distant views of its incomprehensible +nature. Our own consciousness, too, must fail to give us adequate +notions of the mysterious traits of its character. Aided by the +brightest images of earth, or the most subtle principles of philosophy, +who can bring to view any tolerably good picture of a HUMAN SOUL!--who +can draw the outlines of thought!--thought that is as immeasurable as +the universe!--thought that _could encompass_, with more than the +quickness of the lightning's flash, all that God has made!--thought that +gives to us, at once, the gravity of the merest atom, the beauties and +properties of the petal of a single flower, or the structure, density, +size and weight of the worlds that border on the outskirts of our own +universe; and when it has done its noble work, as if plumed for fresh +conquests, stretches itself far beyond the material universe, into the +deep solitudes of eternity, in quest of something more! Who, we ask +again, can give the outlines of thought? Who can tell us of its yet +hidden resources; or of a mind like that of Newton, or of Bacon, which, +after they had taken from the arcana of nature some of her most hidden +principles, "entered the secret place of the Most High, and lodged +beneath the shadow of the Almighty?" How much less, then, can we give +just descriptions of the DEITY! How can we describe Him "who covereth +himself with LIGHT as with a garment,"--whom no man hath seen, nor can +see. + +We are aware that every thing speaks of _a_ God. All nature has its +language; and however dark the alphabet, it still speaks, and speaks +every where; for there is no place where he has not "left a witness." We +acknowledge, too, that the only reason why the deep tones of nature are +not more audible, may be found in the imbecilities or transgressions of +man. But, while the babbling brook hath its story to tell of its Maker, +and the willow that bends and sighs by its side, and the pebble o'er +which the streamlet rolls;--while the glorious dew-drop has its power of +speech--the soft south breeze, and "the hoar-frost of heaven;" while the +deep vale may offer its chorus to the waving corn, or to the lofty +summit by its side; while often may be heard the full notes of the angry +tempest, and of the tornado as it sweeps by us, carrying fearful +desolation in its path; although these may all speak forcibly of the +power, of the goodness, of the wisdom, of the terrible justice of God; +yet, without divine revelation, like the inscription at Athens, they +only point to a God UNKNOWN. The awful precipice, where + + "Leaps the live thunder," + +in the hour of the tempest, doth but stun the intellect of man with its +overhanging and dizzy heights. And "the sound of many waters," or "the +deep, lifting up his hands on high,"--although they may arouse every +passion of the spirit, and address it as with the voice of God; yet, to +man, these all want an interpreter. Lo! these are but "_parts_ of his +ways." But what a mere "_whisper_ of the matter is heard in it, and the +thunder of his power who can understand!" + +Nature speaks--we repeat it--but her language, to us, is often +indefinite; like the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, it may arouse the spirit +to inquiry--agitate every passion to consternation; but without a Daniel +to interpret her admonitions, "the thing is passed from us." Else why +this gross ignorance of the character of God among even the enlightened, +or rather civilized, nations of antiquity? Why did not Egypt, when all +the "wisdom of the east" was concentrated in her sons, have _some_ +notions of the Deity that would have raised their minds above the +serpent or crocodile, or some insignificant article of the vegetable +creation? Why did not the savage, roaming in the freedom of his +interminable forests, have some correct views of God? He had talked with +the sun, and heard the roar of the tempest; the evening sky in its +grandeur was an everlasting map spread out before him, and the broad +lake mirrored back to him its glories. But how confused--how degraded +were the loftiest notions of the Deity, among the most powerful of +Indian minds! + +But I have already strayed from my purpose. I intended only to give a +specimen or two, of attempted descriptions of the Deity, for the purpose +of showing the infinite superiority of those contained in the bible, +above every other in the world. + +It ought, however, to be recollected, that the descriptions we find +among heathen authors, are doubtless more or less indebted to sentiments +borrowed from the Jewish scriptures; although we believe the contrast +will show that they have passed through heathen hands. One of the most +sublime to be met with in the world, out of the bible, was engraved in +hieroglyphics upon the temple of Neith, the Egyptian Minerva. It is as +follows: + +"I am that which is, was, and shall be: no mortal hath lifted up my +veil: the offspring of my power is the sun." + +A similar inscription still remains at Capua, on the temple of Isis: + +"Thou art one, and from thee all things proceed." + +In the above, evident traces are to be seen of the Hebrew term JEHOVAH. +Some of Homer's descriptions have their excellencies; but they all +suffer from the fact, that he clothes the deities he describes, not only +with human passions, but with human appetites of the most degrading +character. And he never seems more satisfied with himself than when he +represents them heated for war! "Warring gods," when placed at the foot +of Calvary, or contrasted with any just description of the true God, is +certainly a revolting idea; and it is still worse to introduce them as +does Homer, with the shuddering thought that, + + "Gods on gods exert _eternal rage_!" + +And our impressions are scarcely more favorable when he presents us with +an _un_incarnate, and yet "bleeding god," retiring from the field of +battle, "pierced with Grecian darts," "though fatal, not to die." The +following from this author is singular indeed: + + "Of lawless force shall _lawless_ MARS complain? + Of all the _most unjust_, most odious in our eyes! + In human discord is thy dire delight, + The waste of slaughter, and the rage of fight. + No bound, no law thy fiery temper quells, + And all _thy mother_ in thy soul rebels!"--_Illiad, Book 5._ + +The following is far less exceptionable: + + "And know, the Almighty is the God of gods. + League all your forces then, ye powers above, + Join all, and try the omnipotence of Jove; + Let down our golden everlasting chain, + Whose strong embrace holds heaven, and earth and main: + Strive all, of mortal or immortal birth, + To draw, by this, the thunderer down to earth: + Ye strive in vain! If I but stretch this hand, + I heave the gods, the ocean, and the land; + I fix the chain to great Olympus' height, + And the vast world hangs trembling in my sight! + For such I reign unbounded and above; + And such are men, and gods, compared to Jove."--Ill. b. vi. + +Some of the above ideas are certainly sublime, and considering the age +that produced them, they have no superior but the bible. + +As the KORAN has attained considerable celebrity, we should hardly be +pardoned should we not notice it. The passage on which the Mohammedan +rests his whole faith, for sublimity, and which is confessedly +unapproached by any thing else in the koran, is the following: + +"God! There is no God but he; the living, the self-subsisting; neither +slumber nor sleep seizeth him; to him belongeth whatsoever is in heaven, +and on earth. Who is he that can intercede with him but through his good +pleasure? He knoweth that which is past, and that which is to come. His +throne is extended over heaven and earth, and the preservation of both +is to him no burden. He is the High, the Mighty." + +If the above passage contained a single _original_ thought, it might +entitle it to higher praise than it can now receive. But as there is no +thought expressed, but may be found in the book of Job, or among the +inimitable Psalms of David, written from sixteen hundred to two thousand +years before Mohammed, and which this pretended prophet had before +him--and as we can hardly allow their originality of expression--the +only praise that can be bestowed upon its author is, that of having +studied the Jewish scriptures pretty closely, a fact that is exhibited +throughout his famous production. But while we acknowledge that this is +a brilliant passage, it evidently does not surpass, nor even equal, +either of the following, selected from our own times. + + "Eternal Spirit! God of truth! to whom + All things seem as they are. Thou who of old + The prophet's eye unsealed, that nightly saw + While heavy sleep fell down on other men, + In holy vision tranced, the future pass + Before him, and to Judah's harp attuned + Burdens which make the pagan mountains shake, + And Zion's cedars bow,--inspire my song; + My eye unscale; me what is substance teach, + And shadow what, while I of things to come, + As past rehearsing, sing the course of time. + --Hold my right hand, Almighty! and me teach + To strike the lyre----to notes + Which wake the echoes of Eternity."--_Pollok._ + +In the above extracts there is this remarkable difference: Mohammed, in +his description of Deity, has _no thought_ that refers to a _moral +perfection_ of God! And indeed gross sensuality, and a destitution of +high and spiritual views, characterize his whole work. + +But with Pollok, the first thought is SPIRIT--a second, TRUTH. And aside +from this peculiarity, although you turn over every leaf of the koran, +we affirm that you cannot find so sublime a conception as the following: + + "Hold my right hand, Almighty! and me teach + To strike the lyre,----to notes + That wake the echoes of eternity." + +But how infinitely, both in grandeur and simplicity, do all these fall +short of the inimitable _original_ of most of these, penned by David of +the Old, or Paul of the New Testament. + +"O, my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: THY years are +throughout all generations. Of old hast THOU laid the foundations of the +earth, and the heavens are the work of thine hands. They shall perish, +but THOU shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as +a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. BUT THOU +ART THE SAME, AND THY YEARS SHALL HAVE NO END." + +"Who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and the Lord +of lords; who only hath IMMORTALITY, dwelling in Light which no man can +approach unto,--whom no man hath seen, nor can see!" + +Or as in another place, "The King eternal, immortal, invisible,--the +only wise God." + +In the above specimens, there is a grandeur and simplicity not to be +found in any merely human composition. + +The following is very fine, from Habakkuk: + + "God came from Teman, + The Holy One from Mount Paran. + His glory covered the heavens, + And his praise filled the earth. + His brightness was like the sun, + Out of his hand [or side] came flashes of lightning, + And there was only the veil of his might. + Before him walked the pestilence, + And burning coals went forth at his feet. + He stood, and the earth was moved; + He looked, and caused the nations to quake. + And the everlasting mountains were broken in pieces, + And the perpetual hills did bow. + His goings are from everlasting." + +We scarcely know which to admire most, the above or the following from +the same author: + + "The mountains saw THEE and trembled, + The overflowing waters passed away. + The deep uttered his voice, + And lifted up his hands on high. + The sun and moon stood still in their habitations. + At the shining of thine arrows, (i. e. the lightnings,) they + disappeared-- + At the brightness of thy glittering spear!" + +The following paraphrastic reference may be regarded as barren in some +respects, compared with others that might be selected from the same +living fountain. + +The EYE of the Supreme Being is regarded as so piercing as to pervade +heaven, earth and hell, and the awful depths of eternity. His +COUNTENANCE is as the sun shining in his strength. The wind, in its +endless whirl, is but his breath or breathing. His HAND is represented +so immense, that even its "hollow" will "contain the waters of the great +deep,"--and, when "spanned," he "measures with it the whole heavens." +While "_sitting_ in the circle of the heavens," the earth is represented +as the place where his feet rest. So rapid in his motion, that "He +_walks_ upon the wings of the wind." Of such awful strength, "that the +earth," with its countless inhabitants, are "less than the dust" that +accumulates "upon the balance." At one time "He covereth himself with +_light_ as with a garment,"--and at another, "He maketh _darkness_ his +pavilion, and the thick clouds of the skies." + +These however are images all borrowed from sensible objects, and, +magnificent as they may be, they fail of throwing upon the mind a full +image of Him who hath "no likeness in the heavens above, nor in the +earth beneath." And, besides, these glowing pictures present to the mind +none of his moral attributes. For a description of these, we must look +either to the events of his providence, or a more particular disclosure +in the bible. And it may well astonish us, that, after the lapse of more +than three thousand years, we may look in vain for a fuller or more +perfect description of the Divine Being, in words, than is given by +MOSES in that memorable moment upon Mount Sinai-- + + "Whose grey tops did tremble, when God ordained their laws." + +A description that is like the sun rising upon the chaos that surrounded +him in the Egyptian mythology, which at that time was so gross that no +object in nature was too mean for a deity. But "in the midst of this +darkness that might be felt," God was pleased to reveal himself in the +following language, at once sufficiently grave and impressive to afford +irrefragable proof of its high origin. + + רחום אל יהוה יהוה ויקרא על־פניו יהוה ויעבור + חסד נצר ואמת׃ ורב־חסד אפים ארך וחנון + ינקה לא ונקה וחטאה ופשע עון נשא לאלפים + על־שלשים בנים ועל־בני על־בנים אבות עון פקד + ועל־רבעים׃ + + ~Vay'avor Adonai 'al panav vaykra Adonai Adonai El ra[h.]um + ve[h.]anun erekh apayim verav [h.]esed veemeth. Notzer + [h.]esed laalafim nose 'avon vafesha ve [h.]atah venakeh lo + yinakeh poked 'avon avoth 'al banim ve'al bnei vanim 'al + shileshim ve'al ribe'im.~ + +"And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord +God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and +truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression +and sin, and that will by no means clear _the guilty_; visiting the +iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's +children, unto the third and to the fourth generation." + +Or, as these striking appellatives of the Divine Being might be +translated, without offering any violation to the Hebrew,--the JEHOVAH, +the STRONG and MIGHTY GOD, the _merciful_ ONE, the GRACIOUS ONE, the +long-suffering ONE, the GREAT and MIGHTY ONE, the BOUNTIFUL BEING, the +TRUE ONE, or TRUTH, the Preserver of BOUNTIFULNESS, the REDEEMER, or +Pardoner, the Righteous JUDGE, and He who VISITS INIQUITY. + +This is a remarkable description indeed to come from one educated in +the midst of Egyptian mythology; and the awful names by which the +Supreme Being is designated, can only be accounted for, under such +circumstances, on the supposition that Moses received them directly from +the Almighty himself. + +But to close our article. The Divine Being is nowhere so perfectly, so +interestingly described as in the CHARACTER OF CHRIST. Here LOVE is +unbosomed as it could not be by language. Here heaven drops down to +earth; and the otherwise invisible beauties of the invisible God, are +made tangible even to the eye. The _arm_ of mercy, outstretched to the +sinner--the eye of justice softened by the tear of mercy--the heart of +love beating intensely with benignity, as well as every perfection of +the divine nature; are all laid open to the view of sinful, helpless +man, and we become "eye witness of his glorious majesty." Here the tears +of mercy may be seen dropping upon its wretched objects of +commiseration; and the most secret emotions of the divine mind, we may +behold, heaving in the bosom of the immaculate Jesus. Here indeed "God +tabernacles and walks with man." And as a confirmation of the glorious +truth, at beholding Him, "the sun stood still in his habitation." "The +sea saw him, and was afraid." The earth trembled at his presence, and +gave back the dead at his voice. Well indeed might one exclaim, to +behold such a personage, "MY LORD AND MY GOD." + + + + +THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. + +By Charles S. Daveis. + + +Never--since the period that Cæsar conquered Gaul, when the inhabitants +enjoyed a barbarian license under their native chiefs and druids, had +the voice of liberty been heard in France, till the 14th of July, 1789. +Never before did such a note of exultation spread over the vine-covered +hills,--and echo among the beautiful valleys, of that fair country. +Never perhaps before was there such a burden lifted from the minds of +men. In the unwonted consciousness of power, they seemed to tread a new +earth. In the intoxication of triumph they burst from the bonds of +morality and humanity. So very singular, and strange, indeed, was the +position in which the people of France were placed by the revolution, +that their vernacular language was found deficient in the appropriate +phraseology of freedom; and they were obliged to resort to a foreign +idiom, and to the customs of other climes, and the usages of other +nations, and to ransack the regions of fancy and invention, for the +vocabulary, as well as the drapery, of their new republic. + +It is remarkable, that the revolution in France, beginning in fact, with +the destruction of the Bastile, should end in the re-establishment of +despotism. It was a revolution indeed not more remarkable for the +original character of its cause, than its catastrophe; for the +astonishing contrast it exhibits between the splendor of its talents and +the atrocity of its crimes: for the reverence which it professed for +antiquity, and the mischief it produced to posterity; for adopting the +most enormous maxims, and enforcing them by the most audacious means; +for the use which it made of its own freedom to enslave other nations to +its law, for erecting the empire of Rome upon the democracy of Athens, +for the adoption of a model of colossal grandeur, and establishing the +most tremendous system of policy, that ever convulsed human kind:--a +revolution, conspicuous also for the sudden appearance of a race of men +springing up from the earth, as though it had been sown with dragons' +teeth, and its monstrous fruits produced with hydras' heads and tigers' +hearts;--resounding, together, with the tribune, and the +guillotine;--not merely remarkable for tearing the priest from the +altar, but for rasing the altar likewise to the ground; and +distinguished for the successive destruction of some of the most ancient +thrones and crowns in Europe;--for the ignominious death of the last in +a royal line of seventy sovereigns, who, at any former period of the +monarchy, would have been blessed as the father of his people, and +canonized as the true descendant of St. Louis,--and the most affecting +example on record of an anointed queen, not more famed for her charms +than for her sorrows,--her errors more than atoned by her sufferings, +perishing without a tear, in a land of ancient renown for chivalry, upon +the scaffold! The revolution in France was a scene at which sensibility +sinks. It seemed to extinguish the hopes of its friends in the blood of +its martyrs; and it was hardly relieved by the virtues of its purest +patriot, educated in the schools of America, banished from the air of +France, and doomed to breathe the dungeons of despotism. + +To what are we indebted again for our escape from that wild turmoil, +which involved the elements of society and government in Europe with an +overwhelming violence? Why was it, that while the storm, that shook the +continent abroad, beat against our iron-bound shore, its fury was +expended at our feet; and we heard it howl along our agitated coast and +die away at a distance? Why did we enjoy a light, like the children of +Israel, in our dwellings, while Egyptian darkness brooded around? Why, +in this universal chaos, had we such reason to congratulate ourselves on +the good providence of God, in ordaining us to be a world by +ourselves?--It was certainly not, that we did not enter into the cause +of liberty in France with enthusiasm; for our hearts were in it as +warmly as they were in our own. Our sympathy was with it as long as it +could be sustained; our regret pursued it in dishonor,--and our +affection followed it into misfortune. We lamented to see, that all the +results of that amazing movement of the human mind, contemplating the +happiness of millions, and looking to the improvement of ages, should +follow the fortune of foreign war; and that they should centre in a +single individual, carried away into captivity, and doomed to end his +days upon a solitary rock. We grieved to behold the beautiful and +brilliant star of the French Revolution sink at last into mid-ocean, the +mere meteor of military glory.--Feeling all the disappointment of its +friends, we cannot but contrast it with the deep repose, which our own +illustrious and honored patriots enjoy, in the land which gave them +birth, beneath the mighty shadows of our happy political revolution. + +Although, as Americans, we cease to cling to the cause of revolutionary +liberty in France with the lingering fondness of early affection, we +continue to follow its dying light, as though we could not believe it +had entirely sunk in darkness and despair. If it be not possible to +regard it uninfluenced by its unfortunate termination, if we can borrow +nothing from its origin to relieve its mournful catastrophe, it behoves +us still to embalm the wounds of liberty with its healing spirit, and it +concerns us also, that all its sacrifices and services for the sake of +man should not have perished with its victims. The vices of the ancient +government rendered it unfit for the happiness of France, without +essential alterations; and while we reflect with pain upon the results +of the revolution, we must bear in mind that they were the excesses of +men like ourselves, transported by hopes excited by our example, and +exalted by a more ardent temper, untrained by the same favorable habits +and beneficial institutions;--and although its transient violence may +shock and repel our sympathy, it ought not to disgust us with its +principles, or to alienate our attachment from its rational objects. Let +us not fail to perceive, as we shall, if we are attentive to the facts, +that what was good was in the cause; and what was evil was the effect of +that long oppression by which it was corrupted. In this wonderful +dispensation to mankind we may not perhaps pretend to scan the ways of +providence; yet in common with the christian world we cannot fail to +behold the dealing of a divine and overruling hand. Where the seed of +liberty has been sown, and watered with the blood, as well as tears, of +patriots, that seed is yet _in_ the earth; and whether it spring up +before our eyes or not, it may be the will of Him, to whom no eye is +raised in vain, that nothing shall be lost! + + + + +MRS. SYKES. + +By Nathaniel Deering. + + +One dark, stormy night in the summer of ---- finding my system had lost +much of its _humidum radicale_, or radical moisture, in truth a very +alarming premonitory, I directed Mrs. Tonic in preparing my warm _aqua +fontana_ to infuse a _quantum sufficit_ of Hollands; of which having +taken a somewhat copious draught, I sought my cubiculum. Let no one +imagine however, that I give the least countenance to the free use of +alcoholic mixtures. They are undoubtedly poisonous, and like other +poisons, which hold a high rank in our pharmacopeia, it is only when +taken under the direction of those deemed cunning in our art, that they +exert a healing power, and as one Shakspeare happily expresses it, +"ascend me to the brain." Now as the radical moisture is essential to +vitality and as this moisture is promoted in a wonderful degree by +potations of Hollands, we of the Faculty hold with Horatius Flaccus +"_omnes eodem cogimur_"--we may all _cogue_ it. But to return to my +_narratio_ or story as it may be called. I had hardly "steep'd my senses +in forgetfulness" as some one quaintly says, when I was effectually +aroused by a loud knocking at the window. The blows were so heavy and +frequent that Mrs. Tonic though somewhat unadorned, it being her hour +for retiring, yet fearful of fractured glass, hurried to the door. I +might here mention, in order to show the reason of Mrs. Tonic's fears, +that my parlor front-window had been lately beautified with an enlarged +sash containing not seven by nine, the size generally used, but eight by +ten--panes certainly of a rare and costly size and which Mrs. Tonic had +the honor of introducing. The cause of this unseasonable disturbance +proved to be a messenger from Deacon Sykes stating that good Mrs. Sykes +was alarmingly ill and desiring my immediate attendance. Now in the +whole range of my practice there was no one whose call was sooner heeded +than Mrs. Sykes's; for besides being an ailing woman and of course a +profitable patient, she had much influence in our village as the wife of +Deacon Sykes. But I must confess that on this occasion I did feel an +unwillingness to resume my habiliments, that night as I before remarked, +being uncommonly stormy and myself feeling sensibly the effects of the +sudorific I had just taken. Still I should willingly have exposed myself +had not Mrs. Tonic gathered from the messenger that it was only a return +of Mrs. Sykes's old complaint, that excruciating pain, the colic; for +Mrs. Sykes was flatulent. As the medicine I had hitherto prescribed for +her in such aliments had been wonderfully blessed, I directed Mrs. Tonic +to bring my saddle-bags, from which having prepared a somewhat smart +dose of _tinct. rhei._ with _carb. soda_, I gave it to the messenger +bidding him return with all speed. In the belief that this would prove +efficacious, I again turned to woo the not reluctant Somnus, but +scarcely had an hour elapsed when I was again alarmed by repeated blows +first at the door and then at the window. In a moment I sat bolt +upright, in which attitude I was soon imitated by Mrs. Tonic, on hearing +the crash of one of her eight by tens. Through the aperture I now +distinctly recognized the voice of Sam Saunders, who had hired with the +Deacon, stating that good Mrs. Sykes was absolutely _in extremis_, or as +Sam himself expressed it, "at her last gasp." On hearing this, you may +be assured I was not long _in naturalibus_; but drawing on my nether +integuments, I departed despite the remonstrances of Mrs. Tonic, without +my wrapper and without any thing in fact except a renewed draught of my +_philo humidum radicale_. My journey to the Deacon's was made with such +an accelerated movement that it was accomplished as it were _per +saltum_. This was owing to my great anxiety about Mrs. Sykes, though +possibly in a small degree I might have dreaded an obstruction of the +pores in my own person. Howbeit, on arriving at the Deacon's, I saw at +once that she was beyond the healing art. There lay all that remained of +Mrs. Sykes--the _disjecta membra_, the _fragmenta_--the casket! But the +gem, the _mens divinior_ was gone and forever. There she lay, regardless +of the elongated visage of Deacon Sykes on the one side, and of the no +less elongated visage of the widow Dobble on the other side, who had +been some time visiting there, and who now hung over her departed friend +in an agony of woe. "Doctor," cried the Deacon, "is there no hope?" "Is +there no hope?" echoed the widow Dobble. I grasped the wrist of Mrs. +Sykes, but pulsation had ceased; the eye was glazed and the countenance +livid. "_A caput mortuum_, Deacon! _defuncta!_ the wick of vitality is +snuffed out." The bereaved husband groaned deeply; the widow Dobble +groaned an octave higher. + +On my way home my mind was much exercised with this sudden and +mysterious dispensation. Had Sam Saunders blundered in his statement of +her complaint? Had I myself--good Heavens! it could'nt be possible! I +opened my bags--_horresco referens!_ it was but too palpable! Owing +either to the agitation of the moment when so suddenly awakened, or to +the deep solicitude of Mrs. Tonic, who, in preparing my _philo humidum +radicale_, had infused an undue portion of the Hollands--to one of these +the lamented Mrs. Sykes might charge her untimely exit; for there was +the vial of _tinct. rhei._ full to the stopple, while the vial marked +"laudanum," was as dry as a throat in fever. I hesitate not to record +that at this discovery, I lost some of that self-possession which has +ever been characteristic of the Tonics. I was not only standing on the +brow of a precipice, but my centre of gravity seemed a little beyond it. +There were rivals in the vicinity jealous of my rising reputation. The +sudden death might cause a _post mortem_ examination, and the result +would be as fatal to me as was the laudanum to Mrs. Sykes. A thought, +occurring, doubtless through a special Providence, suddenly relieved my +mind. At break of day I retraced my footsteps to the chamber of the +deceased. Accompanied by the Deacon I approached to gaze upon the +corpse; when, suddenly starting back, I placed one hand upon my +olfactories and grasping with the other the alarmed mourner, I hurried +towards the door. "In the name of heaven!" cried the Deacon, "what is +the matter?" "The matter!" I replied, "the matter! Deacon, listen. In +all cases of mortality where the radical moisture has not been lessened +by long disease, putrefaction commences on the cessation of the organic +functions and a _miasma_ fatal to the living is in a moment generated. +This is the case even in cold weather, and it being now July, I cannot +answer for your own life if the burial be deferred; the last sad offices +must be at once attended to." Deacon Sykes consented. Not, he remarked, +on his own account, for, as to himself, life had lost its charms, but +there were others near on whom many were dependent, and he could not +think of gratifying his own feelings at their expense--sufficient, says +he, for the day is the evil thereof. I hardly need add, that, when my +advice to the Deacon got wind, the neighbors with one accord rallied to +assist in preparing Mrs. Sykes for her last home; and their labors were +not a little quickened by the fumes of tar and vinegar which I directed +to be burnt on this melancholy occasion. Much as I cherished Mrs. Sykes, +still I confess that my feelings were much akin to those called +pleasurable, when I heard the rattle of those terrene particles which +covered at the same time my lamented friend and my professional lapsus. + +But after all, as I sat meditating on the ups and downs of life during +the evening of the funeral, the question arose in my mind, is all safe? +May not some unfledged Galens remove the body for the purpose of +dissection?--Worse than all, may not some malignant rival have already +meditated a similar expedition? The more I reflected on this matter and +its probable consequences, the more my fears increased, till at last +they became too great for my frail tenement. There was at this period a +boarder in my family, one Job Sparrow, who having spent about thirty +years of his pilgrimage in the "singing of anthems," concluded at length +to devote the residue thereof to the study of the human frame, to which +he was the more inclined, probably, as he could have the benefit of my +deep investigations. His outward man, though somewhat ungainly, was +exceedingly muscular, and he had a firmness of nerve which would make +him willingly engage in any enterprise that would aid him in his +calling. Conducting him to my sanctum or study, a retired chamber in my +domicil, "Job," I remarked, "I have long noticed your engagedness in the +healing art, and I have lamented my inability of late to further your +progress in the study of anatomy from the difficulty of procuring +subjects. An opportunity, however, is at length afforded, and I shall +not fail to embrace it though at the sacrifice of my best feelings. The +subject I mean, is the lamented Mrs. Sykes. Bring her remains at night +to this chamber, and I with my venerable friend Dr. Grizzle will exhibit +what, though often described, are seldom visible, those wonderful +absorbents, the _lacteals_.--It is only in very recent subjects, my dear +Job, that it is possible to point them out." My pupil grinned +complacently at this manifestation of kindly feelings towards him in one +so much his superior, and hastened to prepare himself for the +expedition. It was about nine of the clock when the venerable Dr. +Grizzle, whom I had notified of my intended operations through Job, came +stealthily in. Dr. Grizzle, though from his appearance one would +conclude that he was about to "shuffle off this mortal coil," was a +_rara avis_ as to his knowledge of the corporeal functions. There were +certain gainsayers, indeed, who asserted that his intellectual candle +was just glimmering in its socket; but it will show to a demonstration +how little such statements are to be regarded when I assert that the +like slanders had been thrown out touching my own person. The profound +Grizzle, above such malignant feelings, always coincided with my own +opinion, both as to the nature of the disease we were called to +counteract, and as to the mode of treatment; and so highly did I value +him, that he was the only one whom I called to a consultation when that +course was deemed expedient. We had prepared our instruments and were +refreshing our minds with the pages of Chesselden, a luminous writer, +when to my great satisfaction the signal of my pupil was heard below. +Hitherto our labors seemed to have been blest; but a difficulty occurred +in this stage of our progress which threatened not only to render these +labors useless, but to retard, if I may so say, the advance of +anatomical science. It was this; the stairway was uncommonly narrow, and +the lamented Mrs. Sykes was uncommonly large. As it was impossible, +then, for Job to pass up at the same time with the defunct, it was +settled after mature deliberation, that he and myself, should occupy a +post at each extreme, while Grizzle assisted near the _lumbar_ region. +"Now," cried Job, "heave together;" but the words were hardly uttered, +when a shreak from Grizzle, paralized our exertions. Our muscular +efforts had wedged my venerable friend so completely between Mrs. Sykes +and the wall, that his lungs wheezed like a pair of decayed bellows; and +had it not been for the Herculean strength of Job, who rushed as it were +_in medias res_, the number of the dead would have equalled that of the +living. At length, after repeated trials, we effected, as I facetiously +remarked, our "passage of the Alps;" an historical allusion which tended +much to the divertisement of Grizzle and obliterated in no small +measure, the memory of his recent peril. And now, having directed Job to +go down and secure the door, Grizzle and myself advanced to remove the +bandages that confined her arms, previous to dissection. But scarcely +was the work accomplished when a sepulchral groan burst from the +defunct, the eyes glared, and the loosened arm was slowly lifted from +the body. That I am not of that class who can be charged with any thing +like timidity, is, I think well proved by my consenting to act for +several years as regimental surgeon in our militia, a post undoubtedly +of danger. But I must concede that at this unexpected movement, both +Grizzle and myself were somewhat agitated. From the table to the +stair-way, we leaped, as it were by instinct, and with a velocity at +which even now I greatly marvel. This sudden evidence of vitality in my +lamented friend, or I might say rather an unwillingness to be found +alone with her in such a peculiar situation, also induced me to prevent +if possible the retreat of Grizzle, and I fastened with some degree of +violence upon his projecting queue. It was fortunate, in so far as +regarded Grizzle, that art in this instance had supplanted nature. His +wig, of which the queue formed no inconsiderable portion, was all that +my hand retained. Had it been otherwise, such was the tenacity of my +grasp on the one hand, and such his momentum on the other, that Grizzle +must have left the natural ornament of his cerebrum, while I, though +unjustly, must have been charged with imitating our heathenish +Aborigines. As it was, his bald pate shot out from beneath it with the +velocity of a discharged ball; nor was the similitude to that engine of +carnage at all lessened when I heard its rebounds upon the stairs. How +long I remained overwhelmed by the wonderful scenes which I had just +witnessed, I cannot tell; but on recovering, I found that Mrs. Sykes +had been removed to my best chamber, and Job and Mrs. Tonic both busily +engaged about her person. They had, as I afterwards ascertained, by +bathing her feet and rubbing her with hot flannels, wrought a change +almost miraculous; and the effects of the laudanum having happily +subsided she appeared, when I entered, as in her pristine state. At that +moment they were about administering a composing draught, which +undoubtedly she needed, having received several severe contusions on the +stairway in our endeavors to extricate Grizzle. But rushing forward, I +exclaimed, "thanks to Heaven that I again see that cherished face! +thanks that I have been the instrument under Providence of restoring to +society its brightest ornament! Be composed, my dear Mrs. Sykes, ask no +questions to night, unless you would frustrate all my labors." Then +presenting to her lips an opiate, in a short time I had the satisfaction +of seeing her sink into a tranquil slumber. + +As I considered it all important that the matter should be kept a +profound secret till I had arranged my plans; and as Mrs. Tonic had in a +remarkable degree that propensity which distinguishes woman--I was under +the necessity of making her privy to the whole transaction; trusting +that the probable ruin to my reputation consequent on an exposure would +effectually bridle her unruly member. My venerable friend too, I invited +for a few days to my own mansion lest the bruises he received during his +_exodus_ from the dissecting room might have deprived him of his +customary caution. The last and most difficult step was to prepare the +mind of Mrs. Sykes, who was yet _in nubibus_ as to her new location. +With great caution I gradually unfolded the strange event that had just +transpired,--her sudden apparent death, the alarm of the village +touching the _miasma_, and the consequent sudden interment. 'Your exit, +my dear Mrs. Sykes,' I continued, 'seemed like a dream--I could not +realize it. Such an irreparable loss! I thought of all the remedies that +had been applied in such cases. Had any thing been omitted that had a +tendency to increase the circulation of the radical fluid! There was the +Galvanic battery,--it had been entirely overlooked, and yet what wonders +it had performed! No sooner had this occurred to my mind than I was +impressed with the conviction that you were to revisit this mundane +sphere, and that I was the chosen instrument to enkindle the vital +spark. No time was lost in obeying this mysterious impulse. The grave +was opened, the battery was applied _secundem artem_--and the result is +the restoration to society of our beloved Mrs. Sykes.' In proportion to +her horror at the idea, that she must have rested from her labors but +for my skill, was her gratitude for this timely rescue. She fell on my +neck and clung like one demented, till a gathering frown on the face of +my spouse warned me of the necessity of repelling her embraces. Mrs. +Sykes was now desirous of returning immediately home, to restore as it +were to life her bereaved consort, who was no doubt mourning at his +desolation, and refusing to be comforted. But here I felt it my duty to +interpose. 'My dear Mrs. Sykes,' said I, 'your return at this moment +would overwhelm him. The sudden change from the lowest depths of woe to +a state of ecstacy, would consign him to the tenement you have just +quitted. No! this extraordinary Providence must be gradually unfolded.' +She yielded at last to my sage councils and consented to wait till the +violence of his grief had somewhat abated, and his mind had become +sufficiently tranquil to hear that tale which I was cautiously to +relate. On the following day however, her anxiety to return had risen to +a high pitch, and truly by evening it was beyond my control. She was +firm in the belief that I could make the disclosure without essential +injury to the Deacon; 'besides,' as she remarked, 'there was no knowing +how much waste there had been in the kitchen.' It was settled at last +that I should immediately walk over to the Deacon's, and by a judicious +train of reflection, for which I was admirably fitted, prepare the way +for this joyous meeting. When I arrived at the house of mourning, though +perhaps the last person in the world entitled to the name of +evesdropper, yet as my eye was somewhat askance as I passed the window, +I observed a spectacle that for a time arrested my footsteps. There sat +the Deacon, recounting probably the virtues of the deceased partner, and +there, not far apart, sat the widow Dobble sympathizing in his sorrows. +It struck me that Deacon Sykes was not ungrateful for her consolatory +efforts; for he took her hand with a gentle pressure and held it to his +bosom. Perhaps it was the unusual mode of dress now exhibited by the +widow Dobble, that led him to this act; for she was decked out in Mrs. +Sykes's best frilled cap, and such is the waywardness of fancy, he might +for the moment have imagined that his help-mate was beside him. Be that +as it may, while I was thus complacently regarding this interchange of +friendly feelings, the cry of '_you vile hussy_' suddenly rang in my +very ear, and the next instant, the door having been burst open, who +should stand before the astonished couple but the veritable Mrs. Sykes. +The Deacon leaped as if touched in the _pericardium_, and essayed to +gain the door; but in his transit his knees denied their office, and he +sank gibbering as his hand was upon the latch. As to the terrified widow +Dobble, I might say with Virgilius, _steteruntque comae_, her _combs_ +stood up; for the frilled cap was displaced with no little violence, and +with an agonizing shriek she fell, apparently _in articulo mortis_, on +the body of the Deacon. What a lamentable scene! and all in consequence +of the rashness and imprudence of Mrs. Sykes. No sooner had I left my +own domicil than Mrs. Sykes, regardless of my admonitions, resolved on +following my steps, and was actually peeping over my shoulder at the +moment the Deacon's hand came in contact with the widow Dobble's. It was +truly fortunate for all concerned that a distinguished member of the +faculty was near at this dreadful crisis. In ordinary hands nothing +could have prevented a quietus. Their spirits were taking wing, and it +was only by extraordinary skill that I effected what lawyer Snoodles +said was a complete 'stoppage _in transitu_.' I regret to state that +this was my last visit to Deacon Sykes's. Unmindful of my services in +resuscitating Mrs. Sykes, he remarked that my neglect to prepare him for +the exceeding joy that was in store, had so far shattered his nervous +system that his usefulness was over; and in fine, had built up between +us a wall of separation not to be broken down. I always opined, however, +and of this opinion was Mrs. Tonic, that the Deacon's coldness arose in +part from an incipient warmth for Mrs. Dobble, which was thus checked in +its first stages. It was even hinted that on her departure, which took +place immediately, he manifested less of resignation than at the burial +of Mrs. Sykes. The coldness of the widow Dobble towards me, certainly +unmerited, was also no less apparent, till I brought about what I had +much at heart, viz: a match between her and Major Popkin. He was a +discreet, forehanded man, a Representative to our General Court, and +kept the Variety Store in that part of our town that was named in honor +of him, 'Popkins's Corner.'[3] + +FOOTNOTE: + +[3] From the papers of Dr. Tonic, recently brought to light. + + + + +OLD AND YOUNG. + +By James Furbish. + + Give me ripe fruit with the green-- + Fresh leaves mingling with the sear; + As in tropic climes are seen + Blending through the deathless year. + + +I am alarmed at the changes which are taking place in society. While +many are lauding the _spirit of the age_ and holding up to my gaze the +picture of forth-coming improvements--opening broad and charming vistas +into the almost _present future_ of mental and moral perfection, I +cannot help casting a lingering look upon the past. Time was when old +age and infancy, manhood and youth, walked the path of life together; +when the strength of young limbs aided the feebleness of the old, and +the joyousness of youth enlivened the gravity of age. But the son has +now left the father to totter on alone, and the daughter has outstripped +the mother in the race. Beauty and strength have separated from +decrepitude and weakness. The vine has uncoiled from its natural +support, and the ivy has ceased to entwine the oak. + +There is an increasing disposition on the part of the young and the old +to classify their pleasures according to their age. Those pastimes which +used to be enjoyed by both together, are now separated. This is an evil +of too serious a character to pass unfelt, unlamented or unrebuked. It +is easy to refer back to days when parents were more happy with their +children, and children more honorable and useful to parents than at +present. It is not long since the old and the young were to be seen +together in the blithesome dance and the merry play. And why this +change? Why do we find that, within a few years, the old have abandoned +amusements to the young? Is it that they think their children can profit +more by their amusements than if they were present? If this be the +impression it is to be regretted. No course could they possibly adopt so +injurious to the character of their children. For youth need the +direction and the advice of age, and age requires the exhilaration and +cheerfulness of youth. How many lonely evenings would be enlivened--how +many dark visions of the future would be dissipated, and how many hours +of gloom and despondency would be put to flight, if fathers would keep +pace with their sons, and mothers with their daughters, in the innocent +pleasures of life. Here, as it appears to me, is the grand secret of +happiness for the young and the old. For the old, who are too apt to +dwell on the glories of the past and to see nothing that is lovely in +the present; and for the young, who throw too strong and gaudy a light +upon the present and the future. Nature did not so intend it. So long as +there is life, she intended we should innocently enjoy it. And the +barrier which has, by some unaccountable mishap, been thrown between the +young and the old is, therefore, greatly to be lamented. But how shall +it be removed? How shall we get back again to the good old times of the +merry husking, the joyous dance, the happy commingling in the same +company, of the priest and his deacon, the father and his child, the +husband and his wife? + +It would not be difficult to trace directly to the discontinuance of +the practice of joining with the young in their amusements, the great +increase of youthful dissipation of every description. By being removed +from the advice, restraint and example of the old and experienced, they +have, by degrees, fallen into usages which were almost unknown in years +gone by. When accompanied by parents, the hours of pleasure were +seasonable. Daughters were under the inspection of mothers, and sons +were guided by the wisdom of fathers. Homes were happier, the community +more virtuous, and the world at large a gainer by such judicious +customs. We now hear the complaint that sons have gone astray, that +daughters have behaved indiscreetly, and that families have been +disgraced. But can there be a doubt, if the practice were general of +accompanying our children in those pastimes in which they ought to be +reasonably indulged, that many of these evils would be prevented? Here +then must begin the reform. Complain not that your son is out late, if +you might have been with him to bring him to your fire-side at a +seasonable hour. Complain not that your daughter has formed an +unsuitable or untimely connexion, if a mother's care might have avoided +the evil. Youth _will_ go astray without the protection of age. And it +is a crying sin that these old-fashioned moral restraints have been +removed. What, I ask, can be your object in thus leaving your children +to their own direction? Do they love you the better for it? Are their +manners more agreeable--their conduct more respectful while at home? Is +not rather the reverse of this the case? Do they not give you more +trouble at home? Are they not every day incurring new and useless +expenses in consequence of allowing them to legislate and plan for +themselves? Rashness is the characteristic of youth. But allowing them +to be capable of governing themselves, you are a great loser by drawing +this strong division line between their pleasures and your own. Your own +years are less in number and in happiness. Your children are dead to +you, though alive to themselves. Your sympathies are not linked with +theirs step by step in life; and thus, although surrounded by children, +you go childless, unhappy and gloomy to the grave. Reform then, I say, +reform at once. Annihilate this classification of junior and senior +pleasures. Join with your children in the dance, the song and the play. +Enjoy with them every harmless pleasure and sport of life. Encompass +yourself as often as possible with the gay faces of the young. Teach +them by example, to be happy like rational beings, and to enjoy life +without abusing it. Let the ripe fruit be seen with the green--the +blossom with the bud--the green with the fading leaf and the vine with +its natural support: + + Show the ripe fruit with the green-- + Fresh leaves twining with the sear; + As in tropic climes are seen + Harmonizing through the year. + + + + +AUTUMNAL DAYS. + +By P. H. Greenleaf. + + "The melancholy days are come--the saddest of the year, + Of wailing winds and naked woods, and meadows brown and sear; + Heap'd in the hollows of the grove, the summer leaves lie dead; + They rustle to the eddying wind, and to the rabbit's tread: + The robin and the wren are flown, and from the shrubs the jay, + And from the wood-top calls the crow, thro' all the gloomy day." + + +Stern and forbidding as are the general features of our northern +climate--cold and chilling as the gay Southron may deem, even the very +air we breathe,--we have still some characteristics of climate peculiar +to ourselves, and none the less pleasing to us from this fact. Our +hearts must indeed be as hard and as cold as the very granite of our +craggy shores, did they not glow with delight in the possession of that, +(be it what it may) which is peculiar to and markedly characteristic of +our native home. And of all these peculiarities not one is so +delightful--not one finds us so rich in New England feeling, as that +beautiful season called the Indian Summer. It occurs in October, and is +characterized by a soft, hazy atmosphere--by those quiet, and balmy +days, which seem so like the last whisperings of a Spring morning. The +appearance of the landscape is like any thing, but the fresh and lively +scenery of Spring; and yet the delicious softness of the atmosphere is +so like it, that it brings back fresh to the mind all the beautiful +associations connected with a vernal day. Our forests too, at this +season are, for a brief space, clothed in the most gorgeous and +magnificent array; their brilliant and changing hues, and the +magnificence of their whole appearance, almost give their rich and +mellow tint to the atmosphere itself; and render this period unrivalled +in beauty, and unequalled in the more equable climes of our western +neighbors. The calm sobriety of the scenery--the splendid variety of the +forest coloring, from deep scarlet to russet gray, and the quiet and +dreamy expression of the autumnal atmosphere make a deeper impression on +the mind than all the verdant promises of spring, or the luxuriant +possession of summer. The aspen birch in its pallid white--the walnut in +its deep yellow--the brilliant maple in its scarlet drapery--and the +magical colors of the whole vegetable world, from the aster by the brook +to the vine on the trellis, combine to render the autumnal scenery of +New-England the most splendid and magnificent in the world. + +But we cannot forget, if we would, that this beautiful magnificence of +the forests is but the livery of death; and the changing hues of the +leaves, beautiful though they are, still are but indications of the +sure, but gradual progress of decay. + + 'Lightly falls the foot of death + Whene'er he treads on flowers:' + +and though he has breathed beauty on the clustered trees of the +forest--it is to them the breath of the Sirocco. + +We have in the wasting consumption a parallel to this splendid decay of +the leaves and flowers of Summer. Day by day we see its victim with the +seal of death upon him--failing and decaying in strength--increasing in +beauty. While the brilliant and intellectual glances of the eye speak, +in language too plain for the sceptic's denial, the immortality of the +soul. The changing and brilliant hues of the forest trees give to us the +most lively type of the frailty of beauty and the brevity of human +existence, while their death and burial during the winter and their +resurrection in the springtime, are almost an assured pledge of our own +immortality and resurrection to an eternity. + +Truly 'the melancholy days are come'--Death annually lifts up his solemn +hymn, and the rustling of the dying leaves and the certainty of their +speedy death afford to us all 'eloquent teachings.' The gay and +exhilarating spring has long since passed away--the genial and joyous +warmth of summer is no more; and the grateful abundance and varied +scenes of Autumn are about yielding to the inclemency of hoary winter. +The gay variety of nature has at length departed--the countless throng +of the gaudy flowerets of summer are all returned to their native +dust--the light of the sun himself is often veiled; and the bright +livery of earth is hidden from our sight by the gray mantle of the +iron-bound surface, or the unbroken whiteness of a snowy covering. +Reading thus the language of decay written by the finger of God upon all +the works of nature--reminded too of the rapid flight of time by the +ceaseless revolution of seasons, we naturally turn our thoughts from the +contemplation of external objects to that of the soul, and of unseen +worlds. The appearances of other seasons lead our thoughts to the world +we inhabit, and by the variety of objects presented to our view rather +confine them to sensible things, and matters immediately connected with +them. But the buried flowers and the eddying leaves of this season teach +us nobler lessons; and the mind expands, while it loses itself in the +infinity of being; and the gloom of the natural world shows us the +splendors of other worlds, and other states of being; + + 'As darkness shows us worlds of light + We never saw by day.' + +They tell us, that in the magnificent system of the government of God +there exists no evil; and the mighty resurrections annually accomplished +in the multitude of by gone years assure us, that the gloom of the night +is but the prelude to the brightness of the day--that the funeral pall +of autumnal and wintry days is the harbinger of a glorious, joyous and +life-giving spring; and to that man the gates of the dark valley of the +shadow of death are designed as the crystal portals of an eternity of +bliss. + +'Of the innumerable eyes, that open upon nature, none but those of man, +see its author and its end.' This solemn privilege is the birth-right of +the beings of immortality--of those, who perish not in time, but were +formed, in some greater hour, to be companions in eternity. The mighty +Being, who watches the revolutions of the material world, opens in this +manner to our eyes the laws of his government; and tells us, that it is +not the momentary state, but the final issue, which is to disclose its +eternal design. Indeed the whole volume of nature is a natural +revelation to man, often overlooked--often misused--seldom +understood--but plain and solemn in its language, and full of the +wisdom, justice and mercy of its author. + +While, then, all inferior nature shrinks instinctively from the winds of +Autumn and the storms of winter, to the high intellect of man they teach +ennobling lessons. To him the inclemency of winter is no less eloquent +than the abundance of Autumn, or the joyous promise of Spring. He knows, +that the fair and beautiful of nature now buried in an icy covering, +have still a principle of life within them; and that the gay tendrils of +the vine and the blushing buds of the rose will soon be put forth in the +breath of summer. The stiffened earth, he knows, will soon send forth +her children in renewed beauty, and he believes, that he himself, +leaving the chrysalis form of earthly clay will wing his flight in the +regions of eternity. + + + + +THE PLAGUE. + +By Charles P. Ilsley. + + "And they that took the disease died suddenly; and + immediately their bodies became covered with spots; and they + were hurried away to the grave without delay: And the men who + bore the corpse, as they went their way, cried with a loud + voice, "_Room for the dead!_" and whosoever heard the cry, + fled from the sound thereof with great fear and trembling." + + _Anon._ + + + "Room for the dead!"--a cry went forth-- + "A grave--a grave prepare!" + The solemn words rose fearfully + Up through the stilly air: + "Room for the dead!"--and a corse was borne + And laid within the pit; + But a mother's voice was sadly heard-- + And a breaking heart was in each word-- + "Oh, bury him not yet!" + + The mother knelt beside the grave, + And prayed to see her son; + 'Twas death to stop--but by her prayers + The wretched boon was won, + And they raised the coffin from the pit, + And then afar they fled-- + For the once fair face was spotted now-- + But the mother pressed her dead child's brow, + And in a faint voice said-- + + "Nor plague nor spots shall hinder me + From kissing thee, lost one! + For what, alas! is life or death + Since thou art gone, my son!" + And she bent and kissed the livid brow, + While tearless was her eye; + Then her voice rang wildly in the air-- + "Widow and childless!--God, is there + Aught left me but--to die!" + + The words were said, and there uprose + A low and stifled moan-- + Then all was still--The spirit of + That stricken one had flown! + + * * * * * + + They widened the pit, and side by side + Mother and son were laid; + No mourning train to the grave went forth, + Nor prayer was said as they heaped the earth + Above the plague-struck dead! + + + + +"OH, THIS IS NOT MY HOME!" + +By Charles P. Ilsley. + + + Oh, this is not my home-- + I miss the glorious sea, + Its white and sparkling foam, + And lofty melody. + + All things seem strange to me-- + I miss the rocky shore, + Where broke so sullenly + The waves with deaf'ning roar: + + The sands that shone like gold + Beneath the blazing sun, + O'er which the waters roll'd, + Soft chanting as they run: + + And oh, the glorious sight! + Ships moving to and fro, + Like birds upon their flight, + So silently they go! + + I climb the mountain's height, + And sadly gaze around, + No waters meet my sight, + I hear no rushing sound. + + Oh, would I were at home, + Beside the glorious sea, + To bathe within its foam + And list its melody! + + + + +THE VILLAGE PRIZE. + +By Joseph Ingraham. + + +In one of the loveliest villages of old Virginia there lived, in the +year 175- and odd, an old man, whose daughter was declared, by +universal consent, to be the loveliest maiden in all the country round. +The veteran, in his youth, had been athletic and muscular above all his +fellows; and his breast, where he always wore them, could show the +adornment of three medals, received for his victories in gymnastic feats +when a young man. His daughter was now eighteen, and had been sought in +marriage by many suitors. One brought wealth--another, a fine +person--another, industry--another, military talents--another this, and +another that. But they were all refused by the old man, who became at +last a by-word for his obstinacy among the young men of the village and +neighborhood. At length, the nineteenth birthday of Annette, his +charming daughter, who was as amiable and modest as she was beautiful, +arrived. The morning of that day, her father invited all the youth of +the country to a hay-making frolic. Seventeen handsome and industrious +young men assembled. They came not only to make hay, but also to make +love to the fair Annette. In three hours they had filled the father's +barns with the newly dried grass, and their own hearts with love. +Annette, by her father's command, had brought them malt liquor of her +own brewing, which she presented to each enamored swain with her own +fair hands. + +"Now my boys," said the old keeper of the jewel they all coveted, as +leaning on their pitch-forks they assembled around his door in the cool +of the evening--"Now my lads, you have nearly all of you made proposals +for my Annette. Now you see, I don't care any thing about money nor +talents, book larning nor soldier larning--I can do as well by my gal as +any man in the county. But I want her to marry a man of my own grit. +Now, you know, or ought to know, when I was a youngster, I could beat +any thing in all Virginny in the way o' leaping. I got my old woman by +beating the smartest man on the Eastern Shore, and I have took the oath +and sworn it, that no man shall marry my daughter without jumping for +it. You understand me boys. There's the green, and here's Annette," he +added, taking his daughter, who stood timidly behind him, by the hand, +"Now the one that jumps the furthest on a 'dead level,' shall marry +Annette this very night." + +This unique address was received by the young men with applause. And +many a youth as he bounded gaily forward to the arena of trial, cast a +glance of anticipated victory back upon the lovely object of village +chivalry. The maidens left their looms and quilting frames, the children +their noisy sports, the slaves their labors, and the old men their +arm-chairs and long pipes, to witness and triumph in the success of the +victor. All prophesied and many wished that it would be young Carroll. +He was the handsomest and best-humored youth in the county, and all knew +that a strong and mutual attachment existed between him and the fair +Annette. Carroll had won the reputation of being the "best leaper," and +in a country where such athletic achievements were the _sine qua non_ +of a man's cleverness, this was no ordinary honor. In a contest like the +present, he had therefore every advantage over his fellow _athletæ_. + +The arena allotted for this hymeneal contest, was a level space in front +of the village-inn, and near the centre of a grass-plat, reserved in the +midst of the village denominated "the green." The verdure was quite worn +off at this place by previous exercises of a similar kind, and a hard +surface of sand more befittingly for the purpose to which it was to be +used, supplied its place. + +The father of the lovely, blushing, and withal _happy_ prize, (for she +well knew who would win,) with three other patriarchal villagers were +the judges appointed to decide upon the claims of the several +competitors. The last time Carroll tried his skill in this exercise, he +"cleared"--to use the leaper's phraseology--twenty-one feet and one +inch. + +The signal was given, and by lot the young men stepped into the arena. + +"Edward Grayson, seventeen feet," cried one of the judges. The youth had +done his utmost. He was a pale, intellectual student. But what had +intellect to do in such an arena? Without looking at the maiden he +slowly left the ground. + +"Dick Boulden, nineteen feet." Dick with a laugh turned away, and +replaced his coat. + +"Harry Preston, nineteen feet and three inches." "Well done Harry +Preston," shouted the spectators, "you have tried hard for the acres and +homestead." + +Harry also laughed and swore he only "jumped for the fun of the thing." +Harry was a rattle-brained fellow, but never thought of matrimony. He +loved to walk and talk, and laugh and romp with Annette, but sober +marriage never came into his head. He only jumped "for the fun of the +thing." He would not have said so, if sure of winning. + +"Charley Simms, fifteen feet and a half." "Hurrah for Charley! +Charley'll win!" cried the crowd good-humoredly. Charley Simms was the +cleverest fellow in the world. His mother had advised him to stay at +home, and told him if he ever won a wife, she would fall in love with +his good temper, rather than his legs. Charley however made the trial of +the latter's capabilities and lost. Many refused to enter the lists +altogether. Others made the trial, and only one of the leapers had yet +cleared twenty feet. + +"Now," cried the villagers, "let's see Henry Carroll. He ought to beat +this," and every one appeared, as they called to mind the mutual love of +the last competitor and the sweet Annette, as if they heartily wished +his success. + +Henry stepped to his post with a firm tread. His eye glanced with +confidence around upon the villagers and rested, before he bounded +forward, upon the face of Annette, as if to catch therefrom that spirit +and assurance which the occasion called for. Returning the encouraging +glance with which she met his own, with a proud smile upon his lip, he +bounded forward. + +"Twenty-one feet and a half!" shouted the multitude, repeating the +announcement of one of the judges, "twenty-one feet and a half. Harry +Carroll forever. Annette and Harry." Hands, caps, and kerchiefs waved +over the heads of the spectators, and the eyes of the delighted Annette +sparkled with joy. + +When Harry Carroll moved to his station to strive for the prize, a tall, +gentlemanly young man in a military undress frock-coat, who had rode up +to the inn, dismounted and joined the spectators, unperceived, while the +contest was going on, stepped suddenly forward, and with a "knowing +eye," measured deliberately the space accomplished by the last leaper. +He was a stranger in the village. His handsome face and easy address +attracted the eyes of the village maidens, and his manly and sinewy +frame, in which symmetry and strength were happily united, called forth +the admiration of the young men. + +"Mayhap, sir stranger, you think you can beat that," said one of the +by-standers, remarking the manner in which the eye of the stranger +scanned the area. "If you can leap beyond Harry Carroll, you'll beat the +best man in the colonies." The truth of this observation was assented to +by a general murmur. + +"Is it for mere amusement you are pursuing this pastime?" inquired the +youthful stranger, "or is there a prize for the winner?" + +"Annette, the loveliest and wealthiest of our village-maidens, is to be +the reward of the victor," cried one of the judges. + +"Are the lists open to all?" + +"All, young sir!" replied the father of Annette, with interest,--his +youthful ardour rising as he surveyed the proportions of the +straight-limbed young stranger. "She is the bride of him who out-leaps +Henry Carroll. If you will try, you are free to do so. But let me tell +you, Harry Carroll has no rival in Virginny. Here is my daughter, sir, +look at her and make your trial." + +The young officer glanced upon the trembling maiden about to be offered +on the altar of her father's unconquerable monomania, with an admiring +eye. The poor girl looked at Harry, who stood near with a troubled brow +and angry eye, and then cast upon the new competitor an imploring +glance. + +Placing his coat in the hands of one of the judges, he drew a sash he +wore beneath it tighter around his waist, and taking the appointed +stand, made, apparently without effort, the bound that was to decide the +happiness or misery of Henry and Annette. + +"Twenty two feet one inch!" shouted the judge. The announcement was +repeated with surprise by the spectators, who crowded around the victor, +filling the air with congratulations, not unmingled, however, with loud +murmurs from those who were more nearly interested in the happiness of +the lovers. + +The old man approached, and grasping his hand exultingly, called him his +son, and said he felt prouder of him than if he were a prince. Physical +activity and strength were the old leaper's true patents of nobility. + +Resuming his coat, the victor sought with his eye the fair prize he had, +although nameless and unknown, so fairly won. She leaned upon her +father's arm, pale and distressed. + +Her lover stood aloof, gloomy and mortified, admiring the superiority of +the stranger in an exercise in which he prided himself as unrivalled, +while he hated him for his success. + +"Annette, my pretty prize," said the victor, taking her passive hand--"I +have won you fairly." Annette's cheek became paler than marble; she +trembled like an aspen-leaf, and clung closer to her father, while her +drooping eye sought the form of her lover. His brow grew dark at the +stranger's language. + +"I have won you, my pretty flower, to make you a bride!--tremble not so +violently--I mean not for myself, however proud I might be," he added +with gallantry, "to wear so fair a gem next my heart. Perhaps," and he +cast his eyes around inquiringly, while the current of life leaped +joyfully to her brow, and a murmur of surprise run through the +crowd--"perhaps there is some favored youth among the competitors, who +has a higher claim to this jewel. Young Sir," he continued, turning to +the surprised Henry, "methinks you were victor in the lists before +me,--I strove not for the maiden, though one could not well strive for a +fairer--but from love for the manly sport in which I saw you engaged. +You are the victor, and as such, with the permission of this worthy +assembly, receive from my hands the prize you have so well and honorably +won." + +The youth sprung forward and grasped his hand with gratitude; and the +next moment, Annette was weeping from pure joy upon his shoulders. The +welkin rung with the acclamations of the delighted villagers, and amid +the temporary excitement produced by this act, the stranger withdrew +from the crowd, mounted his horse, and spurred at a brisk trot through +the village. + +That night, Henry and Annette were married, and the health of the +mysterious and noble-hearted stranger, was drunk in over-flowing bumpers +of rustic beverage. + +In process of time, there were born unto the married pair, sons and +daughters, and Harry Carroll had become Colonel Henry Carroll, of the +Revolutionary army. + +One evening, having just returned home after a hard campaign, he was +sitting with his family on the gallery of his handsome country-house, +when an advance courier rode up and announced the approach of General +Washington and suite, informing him that he should crave his hospitality +for the night. The necessary directions were given in reference to the +household preparations, and Col. Carroll, ordering his horse, rode +forward to meet and escort to his house the distinguished guest, whom he +had never yet seen, although serving in the same widely-extended army. + +That evening at the table, Annette, now become the dignified, matronly +and still handsome Mrs. Carroll, could not keep her eyes from the face +of her illustrious visitor. Every moment or two she would steal a glance +at his commanding features, and half-doubtingly, half-assumedly, shake +her head and look again and again, to be still more puzzled. Her absence +of mind and embarrassment at length became evident to her husband who, +inquired affectionately if she were ill? + +"I suspect, Colonel," said the General, who had been some time, with a +quiet, meaning smile, observing the lady's curious and puzzled survey of +his features--"that Mrs. Carroll thinks she recognizes in me an old +acquaintance." And he smiled with a mysterious air, as he gazed upon +both alternately. + +The Colonel stared, and a faint memory of the past seemed to be revived, +as he gazed, while the lady rose impulsively from her chair, and bending +eagerly forward over the tea-urn, with clasped hands and an eye of +intense, eager inquiry, fixed full upon him, stood for a moment with her +lips parted as if she would speak. + +"Pardon me, my dear madam--pardon me, Colonel, I must put an end to this +scene. I have become, by dint of camp-fare and hard usage, too unwieldy +to leap again twenty-two feet one inch, even for so fair a bride as one +I wot of." + +The recognition, with the surprise, delight and happiness that followed, +are left to the imagination of the reader. + +General Washington was indeed the handsome young "leaper," whose +mysterious appearance and disappearance in the native village of the +lovers, is still traditionary, and whose claim to a substantial body of +_bona fide_ flesh and blood, was stoutly contested by the village +story-tellers, until the happy _denouement_ which took place at the +hospitable mansion of Col. Carroll. + + + + +INDIFFERENCE TO STUDY. + +By George W. Light. + + We only find out what we have a sincere desire to know. All + men have in themselves nearly the same fund of primitive + ideas; they have especially the same moral fund; the + difference which there is in men, comes from the fact, that + some improve this fund, while others neglect it. + + _Degerando._ + + +No argument ought to be required at the present day, to prove that all +men, however their capacities may differ in kind or degree, possess the +natural ability to make considerable progress in some useful study. The +principles of our government proceed upon this ground, and place every +man under strong moral obligation to make the most of himself, that he +may be able to bear the responsibility that rests upon him. The +protestant principle, that all men have the right to judge for +themselves in matters relating to religion, is founded on the same +basis. Even the principles of trade--which every body is supposed to be +able to know--call for the exercise of no small amount of intellect, to +understand and apply them to their full extent. The intimate connection +between the arts and sciences proves conclusively, that those who are +engaged in the one, ought to be acquainted with the other. We are aware +of the common belief, that the study of the sciences is not necessary +with the mass of the community who are engaged in the various active +pursuits. But this narrow view is fast going out of date. The progress +of _steam_, if nothing else, will ere long convince the most +incredulous, by its abridgment of human labor, that the great body of +mankind were intended for something besides mere machines. The sciences +of law and medicine are no more closely connected with the practice of +the lawyer and physician, than mechanical and agricultural science with +the business of the mechanic and farmer. The same may be said of other +sciences, as, for instance, of Political Economy, in its application to +mercantile affairs. In accordance with the spirit of these views, +opportunities for instruction are provided, and means of self-education +are multiplied, to an unparalleled degree. + +Notwithstanding, however, the general admission of the truth under +consideration, not a few persons who think the improvement of their +minds a matter of little importance, undertake to excuse themselves, by +modestly confessing that they have no natural taste for study--that +they cannot study. But it is difficult to understand how they can be so +blinded to the resources they have within them, under the light which +this day of civilization is pouring upon them. Where do they suppose +themselves to be? Are they in some dark domain, shut out from all the +soul-stirring influences of a boundless universe, dragging out an +existence as hopeless as it is degraded?--or do they dwell in the midst +of a glorious creation, with no understanding to unravel its divine +mysteries, and no heart to be moved by the eloquence of its inspiration? +One of these things must be true, if we may reason from their own +language. If they do possess the high faculties of the soul, and can do +nothing for their cultivation, it cannot be that they have their +dwelling-place upon a world belonging to the magnificent empire of God. +There can be no sun blazing down upon them, flooding the earth with his +glory, and giving fresh life and beauty to every living thing. The +evening can reveal to them no myriads of stars, burning with holy lustre +beyond the clouds of heaven. They can see no mountains towering to the +skies; no green valleys, spangled with the flowers of the earth, smiling +around them. They can hear no anthem sounding from the depths of the +ocean. They can see no lightnings flashing in the broad expanse,--nor +hear the artillery of heaven thundering over the firmament, as if it +would shake the very pillars of the universe. If they could see and hear +this, with minds awake to the most noble objects of contemplation, and +hearts susceptible of the loftiest impulses, they would inquire about +the earth they tread upon, the beautiful things scattered in such +profusion around them, and the sun and the ever-burning stars above +them. And they would not stop here. They would search into the mysteries +of their own nature. They would look into the wonders of that upper +life, where the sun of an eternal kingdom burns in its lofty arches, +where the rivers of life flow from the everlasting mountains, and where +the pure spirits of the earth shall shine like the stars forever. + +But, however paradoxical it may seem, these men do dwell in the grand +universe of God--and they do possess inexhaustible minds: and they have +been compelled to quench the brightest flames and to prevent the +swelling of the purest fountains of their existence, in order to descend +to the condition of which they complain. The Creator doomed them to no +such degradation. The truth is, they know nothing of themselves. They do +not understand their relations to the creation that surrounds them. They +do not comprehend the great purpose to which all their labors should +tend. They waste those hours which might be devoted to the elevation of +their being, in practices that render them insensible to the glories of +the universe in which they dwell, and to the sublime destiny for which +they were created. They deny themselves to be the workmanship of God. + + + + +THE VILLAGE OF AUTEUIL. + +By Henry W. Longfellow. + + +The sultry heat of summer always brings with it, to the idler and the +man of leisure, a longing for the leafy shade and the green luxuriance +of the country. It is pleasant to interchange the din of the city, the +movement of the crowd, and the gossip of society, with the silence of +the hamlet, the quiet seclusion of the grove, and the gossip of a +woodland brook. + +It was a feeling of this kind that prompted me, during my residence in +the north of France, to pass one of the summer months at Auteuil--the +pleasantest of the many little villages that lie in the immediate +vicinity of the metropolis. It is situated on the outskirts of the _Bois +de Boulogne_--a wood of some extent, in whose green alleys the dusty cit +enjoys the luxury of an evening drive, and gentlemen meet in the morning +to give each other satisfaction in the usual way. A cross-road, skirted +with green hedge-rows, and over-shadowed by tall poplars, leads you from +the noisy highway of St. Cloud and Versailles to the still retirement of +this suburban hamlet. On either side the eye discovers old chateaux amid +the trees, and green parks, whose pleasant shades recall a thousand +images of La Fontaine, Racine, and Moliere; and on an eminence, +overlooking the windings of the Seine, and giving a beautiful though +distant view of the domes and gardens of Paris, rises the village of +Passy, long the residence of our countrymen Franklin and Count Rumford. + +I took up my abode at a _Maison de Sante_; not that I was a +valetudinarian,--but because I there found some one to whom I could +whisper, "How sweet is solitude!" Behind the house was a garden filled +with fruit-trees of various kinds, and adorned with gravel-walks and +green arbours, furnished with tables and rustic seats, for the repose of +the invalid and the sleep of the indolent. Here the inmates of the rural +hospital met on common ground, to breathe the invigorating air of +morning, and while away the lazy noon or vacant evening with tales of +the sick chamber. + +The establishment was kept by Dr. Dent-de-lion, a dried up little +fellow, with red hair, a sandy complexion, and the physiognomy and +gestures of a monkey. His character corresponded to his outward +lineaments; for he had all a monkey's busy and curious impertinence. +Nevertheless, such as he was, the village Æsculapius strutted forth the +little great man of Auteuil. The peasants looked up to him as to an +oracle,--he contrived to be at the head of every thing, and laid claim +to the credit of all public improvements in the village: in fine, he was +a great man on a small scale. + +It was within the dingy walls of this little potentate's imperial palace +that I chose my country residence. I had a chamber in the second story, +with a solitary window, which looked upon the street, and gave me a peep +into a neighbor's garden. This I esteemed a great privilege; for, as a +stranger, I desired to see all that was passing out of doors; and the +sight of green trees, though growing on another man's ground, is always +a blessing. Within doors--had I been disposed to quarrel with my +household gods--I might have taken some objection to my neighborhood; +for, on one side of me was a consumptive patient, whose graveyard cough +drove me from my chamber by day; and on the other, an English colonel, +whose incoherent ravings, in the delirium of a high and obstinate fever, +often broke my slumbers by night: but I found ample amends for these +inconveniences in the society of those who were so little indisposed as +hardly to know what ailed them, and those who, in health themselves, had +accompanied a friend or relative to the shades of the country in pursuit +of it. To these I am indebted for much courtesy; and particularly to one +who, if these pages should ever meet her eye, will not, I hope, be +unwilling to accept this slight memorial of a former friendship. + +It was, however, to the _Bois de Boulogne_ that I looked for my +principal recreation. There I took my solitary walk, morning and +evening; or, mounted on a little mouse-colored donkey, paced demurely +along the woodland pathway. I had a favorite seat beneath the shadow of +a venerable oak, one of the few hoary patriarchs of the wood which had +survived the bivouacs of the allied armies. It stood upon the brink of a +little glassy pool, whose tranquil bosom was the image of a quiet and +secluded life, and stretched its parental arms over a rustic bench, that +had been constructed beneath it for the accommodation of the +foot-traveller, or, perchance, some idle dreamer like myself. It seemed +to look round with a lordly air upon its old hereditary domain, whose +stillness was no longer broken by the tap of the martial drum, nor the +discordant clang of arms; and, as the breeze whispered among its +branches, it seemed to be holding friendly colloquies with a few of its +venerable contemporaries, who stooped from the opposite bank of the +pool, nodding gravely now and then, and ogling themselves with a sigh +in the mirror below. + +In this quiet haunt of rural repose I used to sit at noon, hear the +birds sing, and "possess myself in much quietness." Just at my feet lay +the little silver pool, with the sky and the woods painted in its mimic +vault, and occasionally the image of a bird, or the soft watery outline +of a cloud, floating silently through its sunny hollows. The water-lily +spread its broad green leaves on the surface, and rocked to sleep a +little world of insect life in its golden cradle. Sometimes a wandering +leaf came floating and wavering downward, and settled on the water; then +a vagabond insect would break the smooth surface into a thousand +ripples, or a green-coated frog slide from the bank, and plump! dive +headlong to the bottom. + +I entered, too, with some enthusiasm, into all the rural sports and +merrimakes of the village. The holy-days were so many little eras of +mirth and good feeling; for the French have that happy and sunshine +temperament--that merry-go-mad character--which makes all their social +meetings scenes of enjoyment and hilarity. I made it a point never to +miss any of the _Fetes Champetres_, or rural dances, at the wood of +Boulogne; though I confess it sometimes gave me a momentary uneasiness +to see my rustic throne beneath the oak usurped by a noisy group of +girls, the silence and decorum of my imaginary realm broken by music and +laughter, and, in a word, my whole kingdom turned topsyturvy, with +romping, fiddling, and dancing. But I am naturally, and from principle, +too, a lover of all those innocent amusements which cheer the laborers' +toil, and, as it were, put their shoulders to the wheel of life, and +help the poor man along with his load of cares. Hence I saw with no +small delight the rustic swain astride the wooden horse of the +_carrousal_, and the village maiden whirling round and round in its +dizzy car; or took my stand on a rising ground that overlooked the +dance, an idle spectator in a busy throng. It was just where the village +touched the outward border of the wood. There a little area had been +levelled beneath the trees, surrounded by a painted rail, with a row of +benches inside. The music was placed in a slight balcony, built around +the trunk of a large tree in the centre, and the lamps, hanging from the +branches above, gave a gay, fantastic, and fairy look to the scene. How +often in such moments did I recall the lines of Goldsmith, describing +those "kinder skies," beneath which "France displays her bright domain," +and feel how true and masterly the sketch,-- + + Alike all ages; dames of ancient days + Have led their children through the mirthful maze, + And the gay grandsire, skilled in gestic lore, + Has frisked beneath the burden of threescore. + + * * * * * + +I was one morning called to my window by the sound of rustic music. I +looked out, and beheld a procession of villagers advancing along the +road, attired in gay dresses, and marching merrily on in the direction +of the church. I soon perceived that it was a marriage festival. The +procession was led by a long orangoutang of a man, in a straw hat and +white dimity bob-coat, playing on an asthmatic clarionet, from which he +contrived to blow unearthly sounds, ever and anon squeaking off at right +angles from his tune, and winding up with a grand flourish on the +guttural notes. Behind him, led by his little boy, came the blind +fiddler, his honest features glowing with all the hilarity of a rustic +bridal, and, as he stumbled along, sawing away upon his fiddle till he +made all crack again. Then came the happy bridegroom, dressed in his +Sunday suit of blue, with a large nosegay in his button-hole, and close +beside him his blushing bride, with downcast eyes, clad in a white robe +and slippers, and wearing a wreath of white roses in her hair. The +friends and relatives brought up the procession; and a troop of village +urchins came shouting along in the rear, scrambling among themselves for +the largess of sous and sugar-plums that now and then issued in large +handfuls from the pockets of a lean man in black, who seemed to +officiate as master of ceremonies on the occasion. I gazed on the +procession till it was out of sight; and when the last wheeze of the +clarionet died upon my ear, I could not help thinking how happy were +they who were thus to dwell together in the peaceful bosom of their +native village, far from the gilded misery and the pestilential vices of +the town. + +On the evening of the same day, I was sitting by the window, enjoying +the freshness of the air and the beauty and stillness of the hour, when +I heard the distant and solemn hymn of the Catholic burial-service, at +first so faint and indistinct that it seemed an illusion. It rose +mournfully on the hush of evening--died gradually away--then ceased. +Then it rose again, nearer and more distinct, and soon after a funeral +procession appeared, and passed directly beneath my window. It was led +by a priest, bearing the banner of the church, and followed by two boys, +holding long flambeaux in their hands. Next came a double file of +priests in white surplices, with a missal in one hand and a lighted wax +taper in the other, chanting the funeral dirge at intervals,--now +pausing, and then again taking up the mournful burden of their +lamentation, accompanied by others, who played upon a rude kind of horn, +with a dismal and wailing sound. Then followed various symbols of the +church, and the bier borne on the shoulders of four men. The coffin was +covered with a black velvet pall, and a chaplet of white flowers lay +upon it, indicating that the deceased was unmarried. A few of the +villagers came behind, clad in mourning robes, and bearing lighted +tapers. The procession passed slowly along the same street that in the +morning had been thronged by the gay bridal company. A melancholy train +of thought forced itself home upon my mind. The joys and sorrows of this +world are so strikingly mingled! Our mirth and grief are brought so +mournfully in contact! We laugh while others weep, and others rejoice +when we are sad! The light heart and the heavy walk side by side, and go +about together! Beneath the same roof are spread the wedding feast and +the funeral pall! The bridal song mingles with the burial hymn! One goes +to the marriage bed, another to the grave; and all is mutable, +uncertain, and transitory. + + + + +THE PAST AND THE NEW YEAR. + +By Prentiss Mellen. + + +The close of the year, whose last knell has just been heard, amid the +chills and gloom of winter, when all around reminds us of our departed +friends and the loss we have sustained, is peculiarly adapted to arouse +us from our inattention to the lapse of time, and impress on our hearts +the solemn truth that life itself is but a vapor. Many, it is true, when +they look into the grave of the year, may experience a rush of bitter +feeling, as they fondly recollect how many cherished hopes they have +been called upon to bury in the tomb, during the lapse of the year: how +many friends have proved false or ungrateful--how many of their suns +have gone down in the gloom of solitude, or amidst scenes of sickness +and poverty, or of sighing and sorrow. All this is true, and such ever +has been and ever will be the complexion of human life. But though +thousands are thus educated in a school where such is the salutary +discipline, yet millions have been spending the year in peace and +joy--in health and abundance. Their journey has been gladdened with +sunshine, and their course has been through fields of beauty and beside +"the still waters of comfort." It is useful--it is a species of +_gratitude_ thus to look back and trace the course we have been +pursuing. If it has been delightful or smooth and peaceful, our hearts +should melt in tenderness while we look to the _fountain_ of all our +blessings. If our course has been wearisome through fields of +sterility, or melancholy and companionless, we should remember that +Wisdom and Goodness preside over our destinies, whether we are breasting +the storm, or calmly beholding the rainbow of promise. The year that has +bidden us adieu, was pleasant in its course, and its decline gradual and +beautiful. An unusual degree of softness distinguished its autumn, +resembling the last years of the life of man, when the agitation of the +passions has in a great measure subsided; when his feelings have become +tranquilized, and all around him peaceful and serene, if he has been +careful to regulate his conduct, on life's journey, by the principles of +justice and the commands of duty--if in his social intercourse his +passions have been preserved in due subjection to the gentle influences +of a benevolent heart, displaying itself in acts of mercy like the good +Samaritan. + + "Sure the last end + Of the good man is peace. How calm his exit! + Night dews fall not more gently on the ground + Nor weary, worn-out winds expire so soft." + +The new year to which we have just been introduced is, in one sense, a +perfect stranger, though we have long been intimate with the _family_ to +which it belongs, and of course have some general acquaintance with +certain features of its character, leading us to anticipate its promises +and its failure to perform them in many instances,--its smiles and its +tears--its flatteries and its frowns--its gaieties and hopes--its +gradual decline--decay and dissolution:--but we have abundant reason too +for indulging the belief that we may enjoy thousands of blessings, if we +are disposed to cherish proper feelings--to be kind and courteous and +obliging, and ever on our guard to avoid unnecessarily wounding the +feelings of others; ever ready to acknowledge the favors we receive, and +render a suitable return. How easily all this may be done! How often is +it grossly neglected! He who consults _his own_ ease and comfort cannot +in any manner attain the desired result so readily and certainly, as by +habitually consulting the ease and comfort of others, with whom he is in +the habit of associating: and this is true politeness also. A man who is +dissatisfied with himself and those around him, and laboring under the +darkening influence of disturbed or morose feelings "may travel from Dan +to Beersheba and say it is all barren;"--to him it will appear so; and +the effect would be the same if his journey lay amidst the most +delightful scenes of rural beauty. The seasons of the year all give +their annual _lessons_ for instruction: It is our wisdom to regard them +carefully. _Spring_ summons us all to cheerful activity, with assurances +that our labor will not be in vain. _Summer_ performs what _Spring_ had +promised, and shews us the advantage of listening to early instruction +and wisely improving it. Ten thousand songsters are filling the branches +with their animating strains of music and gratitude, and teaching us to +enjoy, as they do, the countless blessings and bounties of nature; +_their_ music is never failing--nor do we see it ending in _discords_. +Let us all, as we journey onward together through the year, learn to +tune our _hearts_ as they do their _voices_, and pass the fleeting +period in harmony, and in that _cheerfulness_ which the excellent +Addison has honored with the name of a _continual expression of +gratitude to Heaven_. In Germany the _study_ and _practice_ of music are +general among the people. Besides other advantages resulting from +making music a part of common education, it is not romantic or utopian +to observe that it teaches how easily music--pure and surpassing +music--may be made on the _same_ instrument, which under an ignorant or +purposed touch will send forth discords in prodigious varieties. He who +has become _acquainted_ with the instrument, though not a _master_ of +it, well knows how to _avoid_ those combinations of sound which are +painful to the ear, and often tend to disturb feelings and passions. +What tones are sweeter than those produced by the gentle breeze of +heaven in passing over the strings of the Æolian Harp? The reason is, +those strings are so attuned as that their vibrations will not respond +except in notes of harmony: but only disorder the strings, by increasing +the tension of some and decreasing that of others, and the sweetest +zephyr will produce nothing but the vilest discords, resembling angry +passions. Let us then, in our journey through the year on which we have +entered, acquire as much as possible a knowledge of the _science_ and +the _art_ of social and domestic _moral music_. Let us learn to measure +our _time_ with care, to cultivate our _voices_, that they may lose all +harshness: let each attend to _his own part_, and strive to excel in +that. Let us consider our _feelings_, _passions_ and _dispositions_, as +the _strings of the Harp_; and the _ordinary events of life_ as the +_breezes_ which give vibration to the strings: if these strings--our +feelings, passions and dispositions--are in proper tune--under due +regulation, and preserving a just relation, each to all the others, we +have then all the elements of moral music, domestic and social, and in a +few weeks, by due regard to all the principles and arrangement above +mentioned, we shall soon be good scholars, _giving_ and _receiving_ all +that pleasure which harmony can afford; and as the sober _autumn_ +advances, our _tastes_ for this kind of music will be more and more +ripened towards perfection; and when the cold _decemberly_ evenings +shall arrive, we can listen to the _angry music_ of the elements abroad, +full of discordant strains, sweeping by our peaceful homes, while +_within_ them all may be the music of the heart, in its gentlest +movements. + +It is a melancholy truth that we ourselves manufacture seven eighths of +what we are disposed to term our _misfortunes_ in this world. Want of +precaution mars our arrangements: want of prudence exposes us to dangers +which we might easily have avoided--want of patience often hurries us +into difficulties, and disqualifies us to bear them with calmness or +decency. Indulgence in follies and fashions often plants the seeds of +wasting disease. Intemperance in our passions always is followed by +unwelcome sensations, and sometimes with a sense of shame. Stimulants +are succeeded by debility, and when they are used to excess, we know and +daily witness the dreadful results--if death is not one of them--either +the death of the offender, or of some other destroyed by his hand in the +tempest of infuriated passions--we are too often compelled to mourn over +the desolation they occasion--presenting in one view, + + "Hate--grief--despair--the family of pain." + + + + +THE RUIN OF A NIGHT. + +STANZAS SUGGESTED ON VIEWING THE GROUND OF THE GREAT FIRE IN NEW-YORK. + +By Grenville Mellen. + + + It was still noon--and Sabbath. The pale air + Hung over the great city like a shroud-- + And echo answer'd to a footstep there, + Where late went up the thunder of a crowd! + I wander'd like a pilgrim round the piles + That Ruin heap'd about the wildering way-- + And as I pass'd, I saw the withering smiles + That did on faces of dull gazers play, + As they stood round the ashes of that grave + Of all that yesterday rose there, so broad and brave! + + I mus'd as I went thro' the shadowy path + Of broken, blacken'd walls, and pillars high, + Which had surviv'd that visiting of wrath, + And now lean'd dim against the lurid sky-- + I heard the rude laugh break from ruder hearts, + Those ruffian exclamations of lost souls, + At which a better spirit wakes and starts-- + The revelry of demons o'er their bowls-- + Until I felt how faint rebuke may fall + Over a people, tho' it come in sword and pall! + + There was no lesson in that mighty pyre-- + Or, if it rose, it faded with the flame; + And crime, relentless, from that smouldering fire + Would lift, at night, its stealthy arm the same + On the lone wanderer, as, amid the crowd, + It glided oft before, to filch its gold, + When the great voice of rivalry was loud, + And onward the deep tide of commerce roll'd! + I thought how idle was the darkest ban, + Fate, in her fiercest eloquence, can pour on man! + + I thought how quick the seal of nothingness + Is set on man's best glory--and how deep! + How soon the Greatest grovels with the Less, + And they who shouted bravest, bow to weep! + How quick the veriest triumph of our years, + Fulfill'd by a dim life of toil and pain, + Is chang'd to one sad festival of tears-- + When Time is but a storm--and visions wane! + How quick Destruction can make classical + The crowded, golden ground, where her fell footsteps fall! + + The ground that yesterday was consecrate + To the wild spirit-power of Gold and Gain-- + Where riches, like some thing of worship sate, + And Worth of Wealth ask'd precedence in vain! + Where the hard hand was busy with the dust + With which it soon must mingle--though it gleam + Often with jewels--splendid, but accurst, + That make the trappings of this Life's poor dream! + And where, too, Bounty, like a fountain, sprung, + In streams, though not unfelt, in shadow, and unsung! + + Alas! that pillar'd pile! how, as I gaz'd + Upon the blacken'd shafts, did I recall + The sculptur'd marble there, whose brow was rais'd + So like a god's, within that shadowy hall! + Immortal HAMILTON!--though crumbled deep + In the red chaos of that billowy night, + It needs no chisel's memory to keep + Thy spirit's nobler outline vast and bright! + No Time--no element can mar the fame, + Gather'd, like fadeless sunlight, round thy spotless name! + + + + +COURTSHIP. + +By Wm. L. McClintock. + + +After my sleighride, last winter, and the slippery trick I was served by +Patty Bean, nobody would suspect me of hankering after the women again +in a hurry. To hear me curse and swear and rail out against the whole +feminine gender, you would have taken it for granted that I should never +so much as look at one again, to all eternity--O, but I was wicked. +"Darn and blast their eyes"--says I.--"Blame their skins--torment their +hearts and darn them to darnation." Finally I took an oath and swore +that if I ever meddled or had any dealings with them again (in the +sparking line I mean) I wish I might be hung and choked. + +But swearing off from women, and then going into a meeting house chock +full of gals, all shining and glistening in their Sunday clothes and +clean faces, is like swearing off from liquor and going into a grog +shop. It's all smoke. + +I held out and kept firm to my oath for three whole Sundays. Forenoons, +a'ternoons and intermissions complete. On the fourth, there were strong +symptoms of a change of weather. A chap, about my size was seen on the +way to the meeting house, with a new patent hat on; his head hung by the +ears upon a shirt collar; his cravat had a pudding in it and branched +out in front, into a double bow knot. He carried a straight back and a +stiff neck, as a man ought to, when he has his best clothes on; and +every time he spit, he sprung his body forward, like a jack-knife, in +order to shoot clear of the ruffles. + +Squire Jones' pew is next but two to mine; and when I stand up to +prayers and take my coat tail under my arm, and turn my back to the +minister, I naturally look right straight at Sally Jones. Now Sally has +got a face not to be grinned at, in a fog. Indeed, as regards beauty, +some folks think she can pull an even yoke with Patty Bean. For my part, +I think there is not much boot between them. Any how, they are so nigh +matched that they have hated and despised each other, like rank poison, +ever since they were school-girls. + +Squire Jones had got his evening fire on, and set himself down to +reading the great bible, when he heard a rap at his door. "Walk +in.--Well, John, how der do? Git out, Pompey."--"Pretty well, I thank ye, +Squire, and how do _you_ do?"--"Why, so as to be crawling--ye ugly beast, +will ye hold yer yop--haul up a chair and set down, John." + +"How do _you_ do, Mrs. Jones?" "O, middlin', how's yer marm? Don't forget +the mat, there, Mr. Beedle." This put me in mind that I had been off +soundings several times, in the long muddy lane; and my boots were in a +sweet pickle. + +It was now old Captain Jones' turn, the grandfather. Being roused from a +doze, by the bustle and racket, he opened both his eyes, at first with +wonder and astonishment. At last he began to halloo so loud that you +might hear him a mile; for he takes it for granted that every body is +just exactly as deaf as he is. + +"Who is it? I say, who in the world is it?" Mrs. Jones going close to +his ear, screamed out, "it's Johnny Beedle."--"Ho--Johnny Beedle. I +remember, he was one summer at the siege of Boston."--"No, no, father, +bless your heart, that was his grandfather, that's been dead and gone +this twenty year."--"Ho,--But where does he come from?"--"Daown +taown."--"Ho.--And what does he follow for a livin'?"--And he did not +stop asking questions, after this sort, till all the particulars of the +Beedle family were published and proclaimed in Mrs. Jones' last screech. +He then sunk back into his doze again. + +The dog stretched himself before one andiron; the cat squat down before +the other. Silence came on by degrees, like a calm snow storm, till +nothing was heard but a cricket under the hearth, keeping tune with a +sappy yellow birch forestick. Sally sat up prim, as if she were pinned +to the chair-back; her hands crossed genteelly upon her lap, and her +eyes looking straight into the fire. Mammy Jones tried to straighten +herself too, and laid her hands across in her lap. But they would not +lay still. It was full twenty-four hours since they had done any work, +and they were out of all patience with keeping Sunday.--Do what she +would to keep them quiet, they would bounce up, now and then, and go +through the motions, in spite of the fourth commandment. For my part _I_ +sat looking very much like a fool. The more I tried to say something the +more my tongue stuck fast. I put my right leg over the left and said +"hem." Then I changed, and put the left leg over the right. It was no +use; the silence kept coming on thicker and thicker. The drops of sweat +began to crawl all over me. I got my eye upon my hat, hanging on a peg, +on the road to the door; and then I eyed the door. At this moment, the +old Captain, all at once sung out "Johnny Beedle!" It sounded like a +clap of thunder, and I started right up an eend. + +"Johnny Beedle, you'll never handle sich a drumstick as your father did, +if yer live to the age of Methusaler. He would toss up his drumstick, +and while it was whirlin' in the air, take off a gill er rum, and then +ketch it as it come down, without losin' a stroke in the tune. What d'ye +think of that, ha? But scull your chair round, close along side er me, +so yer can hear.--Now, what have you come a'ter?"--"I--a'ter? O, jest +takin' a walk. Pleasant walkin' I guess. I mean jest to see how ye all +do." "Ho.--That's another lie. You've come a courtin', Johnny Beedle; +you're a'ter our Sal. Say now, d'ye want to marry, or only to court?" + +This is what I call a choker. Poor Sally made but one jump and landed in +the middle of the kitchen; and then she skulked in the dark corner, till +the old man, after laughing himself into a whooping cough, was put to +bed. + +Then came apples and cider; and, the ice being broke, plenty chat with +mammy Jones about the minister and the 'sarmon.' I agreed with her to a +nicety, upon all the points of doctrine; but I had forgot the text and +all the heads of the discourse, but six. Then she teazed and tormented +me to tell who I accounted the best singer in the gallery, that day. +But, mum--there was no getting that out of me. "Praise to the face is +often disgrace"--says I, throwing a sly squint at Sally. + +At last, Mrs. Jones lighted t'other candle; and after charging Sally to +look well to the fire, she led the way to bed, and the Squire gathered +up his shoes and stockings and followed. + +Sally and I were left sitting a good yard apart, honest measure. For +fear of getting tongue-tied again, I set right in, with a steady stream +of talk. I told her all the particulars about the weather that was past, +and also made some pretty cute guesses at what it was like to be in +future. At first, I gave a hitch up with my chair at every full stop. +Then growing saucy, I repeated it at every comma, and semicolon; and at +last, it was hitch, hitch, hitch, and I planted myself fast by the side +of her. + +"I swow, Sally, you looked so plaguy handsome to day, that I wanted to +eat you up."--"Pshaw, get along you," says she. My hand had crept along, +somehow, upon its fingers, and begun to scrape acquaintance with hers. +She sent it home again, with a desperate jerk. "Try it agin"--no better +luck. "Why, Miss Jones you're gettin' upstropulous, a little old madish, +I guess." "Hands off is fair play, Mr. Beedle." + +It is a good sign to find a girl sulkey. I knew where the shoe pinched. +It was that are Patty Bean business. So I went to work to persuade her +that I had never had any notion after Patty, and to prove it I fell to +running her down at a great rate. Sally could not help chiming in with +me, and I rather guess Miss Patty suffered a few. I, now, not only got +hold of her hand without opposition, but managed to slip an arm round +her waist. But there was no satisfying me; so I must go to poking out my +lips after a buss. I guess I rued it. She fetched me a slap in the face +that made me see stars, and my ears rung like a brass kettle for a +quarter of an hour. I was forced to laugh at the joke, tho' out of the +wrong side of my mouth, which gave my face something the look of a +gridiron. The battle now began in the regular way. "Ah, Sally, give me a +kiss, and ha' done with it, now."--"I won't, so there, nor tech to."--"I'll +take it, whether or no."--"Do it, if you dare."--And at it we went, rough +and tumble. An odd destruction of starch now commenced. The bow of my +cravat was squat up in half a shake. At the next bout, smash went shirt +collar, and, at the same time, some of the head fastenings gave way, and +down came Sally's hair in a flood, like a mill dam broke +loose,--carrying away half a dozen combs. One dig of Sally's elbow, and +my blooming ruffles wilted down to a dish-cloth. But she had no time to +boast. Soon her neck tackling began to shiver. It parted at the throat, +and, whorah, came a whole school of blue and white beads, scampering and +running races every which way, about the floor. + +By the Hokey; if Sally Jones is'nt real grit, there's no snakes. She +fought fair, however, I must own, and neither tried to bite nor scratch; +and when she could fight no longer, for want of breath, she yielded +handsomely. Her arms fell down by her sides, her head back over her +chair, her eyes closed and there lay her little plump mouth, all in the +air. Lord! did ye ever see a hawk pounce upon a young robin? Or a +bumblebee upon a clover-top?--I say nothing. + +Consarn it, how a buss will crack, of a still frosty night. Mrs. Jones +was about half way between asleep and awake. "There goes my yeast +bottle," says she to herself--"burst into twenty hundred pieces, and my +bread is all dough agin." + +The upshot of the matter is, I fell in love with Sally Jones, head over +ears. Every Sunday night, rain or shine, finds me rapping at 'Squire +Jones' door, and twenty times have I been within a hair's breadth of +popping the question. But now I have made a final resolve; and if I live +till next Sunday night, and I don't get choked in the trial, Sally Jones +will hear thunder. + + + + +VENETIAN MOONLIGHT. + +By Frederick Mellen. + + + The midnight chime had tolled from Marco's towers; + O'er Adria's wave the trembling echo swept; + The gondolieri paused upon their oars, + Mutt'ring their prayers as through the still night crept. + + Far on the wave the knell of time sped on, + Till the sound died upon its tranquil breast; + The sea-boy startled as the peal rolled on; + Gazed at his star, and turned himself to rest. + + The throbbing heart, that late had said farewell, + Still lingering on the wave that bore it home, + At that bright hour sigh'd o'er the dying swell, + And thought on years of absence yet to come. + + 'T was moonlight on Venetia's sea, + And every fragrant bower and tree + Smiled in the golden light; + The thousand eyes that clustered there + Ne'er in their life looked half so fair + As on that happy night. + + A thousand sparkling lights were set + On every dome and minaret; + While through the marble halls, + The gush of cooling fountains came, + And crystal lamps sent far their flame + Upon the high-arched walls. + + But sweeter far on Adria's sea, + The gondolier's wild minstrelsy + In accents low began; + While sounding harp and martial zel + Their music joined, until the swell + Seemed heaven's broad arch to span. + + Then faintly ceasing--one by one, + That plaintive voice sung on alone + Its wild, heart-soothing lay; + And then again that moonlight band + Started, as if by magic wand, + In one bold burst away. + + The joyous laugh came on the breeze, + And, 'mid the bright o'erhanging trees, + The mazy dance went round; + And as in joyous ring they flew, + The smiling nymphs the wild flowers threw + That clustered on the ground. + + Soft as a summer evening's sigh, + From each o'erhanging balcony + Low fervent whisperings fell; + And many a heart upon that night + On fancy's pinion sped its flight, + Where holier beings dwell. + + Each lovely form the eye might see, + The dark-browed maid of Italy + With love's own sparkling eyes; + The fairy Swiss--all, all that night, + Smiled in the moonbeam's silvery light, + Fair as their native skies. + + The moon went down, and o'er that glowing sea, + With darkness, Silence spread abroad her wing, + Nor dash of oars, nor harp's wild minstrelsy + Came o'er the waters in that mighty ring. + All nature slept--and, save the far-off moan + Of ocean surges, Silence reigned alone. + + + + +BALLOONING. + +By I. McLellan, Jr. + + +The clear sun of a fine September day, was glittering on roof and +steeple, and the cheerful breeze of early autumn breathing its harp-like +melody over woods and waters. A vast multitude stood around me, +attentively watching the expanding folds of my balloon, as it swayed to +and fro in the unsteady air. As I prepared to take my place in its car, +I noticed an involuntary shudder run through the assemblage, and anxious +glances pass from face to face. At length, the process of inflation was +completed, the music sounded, the gun was discharged, the ropes were +loosened, and the beautiful machine arose in the air, amid the +resounding cheers of thousands. As it ascended, I cast a hasty look on +the sea of upturned heads, and thought I read one general expression of +anxiety, in the faces of the multitudinous throng, and my heart warmed +with the consciousness, that many kind wishes and secret hopes were +wafted with me on my heavenward flight. But very soon, mine eye ceased +to distinguish features and forms, and the collected throng became +blended in one confused mass, and the green common itself had dwindled +into a mere garden-plat, and the magnificent old Elm in its centre to a +stunted bush, waving on the hill-side. + +Upward, upward! my flying car mounted and mounted, into the yet +untraversed highways of the air, swifter than pinion-borne bird, or +canvas-borne vessel, yet all without sound of revolving wheel, or +clatter of thundering hoof or straining of bellying sail, or rustle of +flapping wing. I felt that I was indeed alone, in the upper wastes of +the liquid element, a solitary voyager of the sky, careering onward like +the spectral "Ship of the Sea," with no murmur of bubbling billow under +the prow, and no gush of whirling ripple beneath the keel. But how can +my pen describe the sublimity of the scene above, below and around! At +one moment, my car would plunge into silvery seas of vapor and rolling +billows of mist, through which the dim-seen sun did but feebly glimmer, +like the struggling flame of the torch cast in the dungeon's gloom. But +soon that shadowy veil dissolved away, and again I would emerge into the +blaze of the golden sun, and the effulgence of the blue heavens. How +then did I covet the painter's art, to be able to imprint on the eternal +canvas, those gorgeous clouds piled up around me, like hills and +mountains, from whose sides hoary cataracts seemed to be falling, and +foamy streams leaping into the vallies, that rested in lovely repose at +their base. Never did the dull world below present on its diversified +bosom, such grand or such enchanting objects, as those beautiful and +evanescent creatures of the air, shining and shifting in the levelled +sunbeams around. At times, my whole horizon would be bounded by those +mountainous regions of cloud-land, cliff lifting over cliff, pinnacle +above pinnacle, Alps above Alps. On their sides and tops, the reflected +light painted all the hues of the rainbow, in commingled azure and +crimson, purple and gold. In those stupendous masses of vapor, mine eye, +with little aid of fancy, could trace out resemblances of wild and +desolate forests, of sombre fir and yew, the lordly oak and the +melancholy pine, whispering in the breeze. Anon, a green, happy valley, +would smile out from some hollow of the hills, and the white +church-spire would peep from the embosoming grove, and the rustic +parsonage, the rural farm-house, and the village-inn, with its swinging +sign, and the chestnut waiving its twinkling foliage at the door would +appear. Anon, the shifting vapor would assume the shape of an old +baronial fortress, green with the mosses of centuries, and overspread +with the flexile creeper, the gadding vine, and the glossy ivy, and +wearing many a dull-weather stain, imprinted by wintry gale and autumnal +rain. On its grey towers would seem to float the broad standard, around +which the knights and vassals had mustered so often, when the armies +thundered beneath the leagured walls, or its brave folds were displayed +in distant lands, on the tented fields of war. + +Onward, onward! I looked forth, and saw that I was again wafted along +the lower currents of air, and could easily distinguish the sights and +sounds of earth. I passed over green pastures, where the brindled cattle +and snowy sheep were feeding, and, under a spreading oak, that towered +aloft like a verdant hill, reclined a young girl, watching her father's +flocks, attended by a pet lamb, cropping the fair flowers at her feet. +As I gazed, I thought of "the fair Una with her milk-white lamb," and of +all the happiness of the shepherd's life, who, sitting upon the grassy +hill-side beneath the sacred locust, and piping entrancing melodies in +praise of his love, on the mellow oaten reed, is all unmindful of the +cankering care and the poisonous hatred, that embitter human life. Great +was the surprise that agitated that lonesome spot, as mine air-borne +pageant fluttered over it, with its silken fold and colored streamer. +The cattle cast upward their wondering eyes, and galloped away to the +forests, and I could long hear the tinkling bell on the horn of the bull +and heifer, sounding in the inner sanctuary of the wood, where, on a +twisted root or a moss-covered stone, by the brink of the gushing brook, +reclined that grey-beard recluse, Solitude, and his nun-like sister, +Silence, revolving their lonely meditations. + +Onward, still onward! Beneath me I beheld a solemn spot, where the +linden, the ash, the sycamore, the cypress, the cedar, the beech, the +church-yard yew and hemlock, were clustered together in one mournful +company. I knew by the stone altars, by the sculptured urn, the graceful +obelisk, the foam-white pyramid, the funereal cenotaph, the marble +mausoleum, which glimmered amid the groves and bowers, that I looked +upon a sanctuary, consecrated by the living to the repose of the dead. A +sweet sabbath-like calm seemed to hover about the place, and even the +very birds that were flitting from branch to branch, and the breeze that +was sighing its hollow dirge along the wood-tops, appeared to know that +the spot was holy. As I looked, I beheld a slow procession winding along +this highway of the departed, and bearing a new tenant to the narrow +house. Some sweet infant, perhaps, was there cut down in the dewy bloom +of its innocence,--some beautiful bud of beauty severed from its stem, +and torn away from its blossoming mates, in the garden of youth,--or, +haply, some silver-haired sire, gathered like the shock of corn, fully +ripe, into the vast granary of death. + +As I passed from this interesting spot, I was attracted by a merry train +of riders, whose loud and cheerful voices resounded along the road, +seeming to mock the sacred silence of the place I had so lately left. As +the gay array of youth and beauty dashed away from my sight, with foamy +bridle and gory spur, I could not but be reminded of the close +juxta-position on earth, of joy and sorrow, life and death. + +Onward, onward! over winding streams, that glittered like twisting +serpents on the green surface of the earth, over the broad bay, that +rested in smooth and glassy repose in the arms of the far-extending +shore, and over the dashing billows of the ocean, my route continued. +Birds of the briny sea, whose strong wings had borne them safely and +surely from the frosty atmosphere that sparkles around the pole, or the +ice-cold waters of some far-away lagoon, now darted around me with +discordant cry and affrighted pinion. In those hovering flocks I +discerned the duck, the goose, the coot, the loon, the curlew, the +green-winged teal, the dusky duck, the sooty tern, the yellow-winged +gadwale, the golden eye, and the gaudy mallard, proudly vain of that +lovely plumage, whose intense hues rival the glory of the breaking dawn, +the autumnal sunset, or the intermingled dyes which tinge the stripes of +the showery bow. On an iron-bound promontory, whose jutting crags waved +an eternal strife with the rolling billows, I saw the thick-scattered +cottages of wealth and taste, seeming no bigger than the nest, which the +tropical bird constructs in the sands of the desert, while around, on +the tumbling expanse of waters, were glancing a thousand receding and +approaching sails, bearing the riches of the orient or the occident, +from shore to shore. + +Downward, downward! A thrill of horror shot through my veins, as I felt +that the rough ocean breeze had shivered my silken vessel to shreds and +tatters, and that I was falling with the speed of lightning, through the +hollow abyss of the air, into the sea. The jaws of the fretting ocean, +gnashing their white teeth in anger, seemed to gape open to devour me, +and the black rocks uplifted their jagged spears, to impale my devoted +body! But my time had not yet come. A gentle tap on the shoulder aroused +me from the profound reverie in which I had been plunged, and I was very +glad to recognize, in the visitor who had broken the spell, my good +friend Durant, who called to invite me to attend his grand ascension, +the following day. + + + + +ODE, + +ON OCCASION OF JUDGE STORY'S EULOGY ON CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL AT THE +ODEON. + +By Grenville Mellen. + + + Again--the voice of God! + How breaks it round! + O'er consecrated sod, + With locks unbound, + Grief in her marble brow appears + And bows amid her veil--in tears! + + That mandate from on high-- + The clarion call, + That rung through earth and sky + His rayless fall, + In accents, "thou shalt die," again + Proclaims man's dream of years--how vain! + + We veil not in its grave + Ambition's brow-- + It is not o'er the brave + We gather now! + But one who reach'd man's loftier fate. + _Good_ without fault--and nobly _great_. + + A sceptre was his own, + Drawn from the sky-- + He fill'd a holier throne + Than royalty: + He sat with deathless Justice crown'd, + While Truth, like sunlight, flash'd around! + + His _life_ to all the earth + Proud record bore, + Man yet might spring to birth, + With angel power! + His _death_, that as the "grass," to-day + Robes him in glory--and decay! + + Oh! well, with spirit bow'd, + Above his bier + May a broad empire crowd, + With prayer and tear! + --His be its requiem--deep and far-- + A nation's heart his sepulchre! + + + + +THE BOY'S MOUNTAIN SONG. + +FROM THE GERMAN. + +By I. McLellan, Jr. + + + I am the mountain boy! + Forth o'er an hundred halls I gaze. + Here morn his earliest light displays, + Here linger his declining rays,-- + I am the mountain boy! + + Here is the mountain-source, + Of the cold water-course-- + And at sultry noon I dip, + In its wave my glowing lip. + I am the mountain boy! + + When the awful lightnings glare, + Flashes on the midnight air, + On the rocking cliff I kneel, + Answering back each thunder-peal. + I am the mountain boy! + + When the quickly-pealing bell, + Calls to arms in every dell, + In the mustered ranks I stand, + Swinging wide my mountain-brand + And sing my mountain-song! + + + + +THE UNCHANGEABLE JEW. + +By John Neal. + + '_Who_ views with equal eye as God of all, + A hero perish, or a sparrow fall? + Atoms and systems into ruin hurled, + And now a bubble burst, and now a world?' + + +A great multitude were gathered together: on the right a huge fortress +thundering to the sky--on the left a scaffold--a white fog--the open +sea--and a mighty ship tumbling to the swell. The flat roofs and +gorgeous balconies were covered with scarlet cloth, and thronged with +women of all ages--their lips writhing and their eyes flashing. +Underneath were a mute soldiery, with banners that moved not, and spears +that glimmered not--a vast, rich and motionless pageant. Not a leaf +stirred--not a finger was lifted--all eyes were fixed upon something +afar off. The Grave alone had a voice, and the footstep of approaching +Death grew audible, with the everlasting beat of the Ocean. The stagnant +atmosphere burned with a lustreless, unchangeable and smouldering +warmth. As the impatient and sluggish breathing of the Destroyer drew +near, with a sound as of Earthquake and Pestilence laboring afar off, +there appeared upon the outermost verge of the scaffold, near the +fortress, a man of a simple and majestic presence, wearing no symbol of +power, no badge of authority, before whom the multitude gave way with +headlong precipitation, as though but to touch the hem of his garment +were death itself, or something yet worse than death. + +After communicating with those about him in a low whisper, too low to be +understood by others almost within his reach, one of the soldiers lifted +a spear, at the point of which fluttered a blood-red banner, tufted and +fringed with snow-white feathers, and pointed in silence toward a large +opening, which appeared to command a view of the whole interior. The +stranger drew near, and grasping one of the bars with a powerful hand, +lifted himself up, and after looking awhile, turned away with a sick +impatient shudder, and wiped his eyes; and then lifting himself up +again, he made a signal to somebody within, and straightway a large +tent-like awning was quietly withdrawn, so as to reveal the interior of +a court-yard, with cells opening into it--in the nearest of which sat a +princely-looking middle-aged man, half-buried and apparently half asleep +or lost in thought, in a large, heavy, old-fashioned chair, with a +curiously carved table before him, on which there lay, side by side with +writing materials, a lamp and a letter evidently unfinished, two or +three illuminated manuscripts, a dagger and a map; a massive goblet +richly chased, the rough gold tinged and sweltering with the hot blood +of the southern grape, a variety of strange mathematical instruments--a +copy of Zoroaster--and a Hebrew Bible, with clasps of the costliest +workmanship, and a cover of black velvet frosted with seed pearls--a +crushed and trampled coronet--and a lighted pipe, ornamented with +precious stones, the shaft a twisted serpent and the bowl a burning +carbuncle--a live coal--from the core of which, as out of the midst of a +perpetual, unextinguishable fire, issued a delicate perfume, filling the +whole neighborhood, as with the smoke of a censer; and leaving the eye +to make out--by little and little--through the fragrant vapor, first a +pair of embroidered Persian slippers, then a magnificent robe, flowered +all over as with the sunshine of the sea, and weltering in the +changeable light of the open window, then a prodigious quantity of +lustrous black hair flowing down over the shoulders, from underneath a +crimson velvet cap with a diamond buckle and clasp, and a tassel of spun +gold, strung with sapphire, ruby, amethyst and pearl--and a pomp of +black feathers overshadowing an ample forehead of surpassing power, and +eyes of untroubled splendor; and then, after a long while, a heap of +black shadow lying coiled up underneath the table, from the midst of +which an occasional flash, as of a serpent's tongue, or an angry +sparkle--as of a serpent's eye, would appear--and at last the whole +proportions of a superb-looking personage, who had been trying, hour +after hour, with a compressed lip and a thoughtful determined eye--to +snap what appeared to be a handful of seed pearl, one by one, through +the grated window before him, without touching the bars--hour after +hour--and always in vain! The passage way was too narrow--the bars too +near together. + +Behold! murmured he at last, while the shadow of another--and yet +another stranger, shot along the lighted floor, as he stole about the +room a-tiptoe, and gathering up the pearls, if pearls they were, that +lay in heaps underneath the window, and flinging aside the magnificent +robe he wore, prepared himself anew and with more determination than +ever, for the work he had evidently set his heart upon, if not his life, +by measuring the elevation with a steadier eye, and poising every pearl +with a more delicate touch, before he projected it toward the window. +Behold! how the Ancient of Days delighteth in counteracting the purposes +of Man? + +The other started back and threw up his arms with a look of horror and +amazement, and all who were about him began whispering together and +shaking their heads. + +At this moment the slow jarring vibration of a great bell was heard from +the topmost tower--the cannon of the fortress thundered forth, and were +answered, peal after peal, from the lighted mountains--a volume of white +smoke rolled heavily toward the earth and covered the people--the +sea-fog trembled--parted--and slowly drifted away in patches and +fragments, through which the blue sky appeared, and the hot sunshine +flashed with an arrowy brightness, while the mighty ship swung round +with her broadside to the shore, and lighted matches were seen moving +about hither and thither, like wandering meteors, through the damp hazy +atmosphere; and instantly there went up a slow half-smothered wail from +the multitude, with a weight and volume like the unutterable and growing +earnestness of the Great Deep, when it begins to heave with a +pre-appointed and irresistible change; and all eyes were upturned, and +all arms outstretched with a troubled expression toward the stranger, +who walked forward a few steps to the verge of the scaffold--and looking +about him, on every side, called out with a loud voice,--Of such are the +Gods of the Unconverted! and of such their followers! + +The answering roar of the multitude reached the prisoner, who lifting +his head and listening for a moment with a placid smile, asked what more +they would have?--and whether they were not yet satisfied?--and then +straightway began balancing another of the glittering seeds and eyeing +the window-- + +Most pitiable! cried the other, covering his face with his hands, moving +afar off, and appearing to be entirely overcome by what he saw. + +And why _pitiable_, I pray thee! shouted the former, with a voice like a +trumpet, lifting his calm forehead to the sky and gathering his +magnificent robe about him as he spoke. + +Art thou of a truth Adonijah the Jew--the unconverted Jew? + +Of a truth am I--the unconverted, the _unconvertable_ Jew; and thou! art +thou not he that was my brother according to the flesh--even Zorobabel, +the _converted_ Jew and the preacher of a new faith? + +Yea; of a new faith to such as thou; but a faith older than the Hebrew +prophets to them that believe, Adonijah. + +But why _pitiable_ I pray thee? + +How are the mighty fallen! For three whole months have I journied afoot +and alone, by night and by day, through the deep of the wilderness, and +along by the sea-shore--afoot and alone, my brother!--after hearing of +thy great overthrow--the wreck of thy vast possessions about me +whithersoever I went--thy magnificent household scattered, thy princes +banished from their high places, and wandering over all the earth and +hiding themselves in the holes of the rocks--with no city of refuge in +their path--even thy youngest and fairest a bondwoman, toiling for that +which sustaineth not; and thy own fast-approaching death, a theme with +every people and kindred and tongue--and not a theme of sorrow! And all +this, O my brother and my prince! only that I might be near thee in thy +unutterable bereavement and humiliation, only that I might look upon +thee once more alive, and see thee unchangeable as ever, though stripped +of power and trampled under the hoofs of the multitude--only that I +might reason with thee, face to face, before a great people, who, after +watching and worshipping thee for many years, have come up together as +with one heart, to see thee--_thee!_ their idol and their +benefactor--perish upon a scaffold, as only the fool or the scoffer +perisheth!--to cry out upon thee as the unconquerable Jew, that having +once abjured the faith of his fathers and gone back to it anew, cannot +be reached but by the law, nor purified but with fire! + +Say on. + +Alas, my brother! Alas that it should fall upon me to afflict thy proud +spirit with reproaches at a time like this! But there is no other hope. +Awake, therefore! awake! and gird up thy loins like a man. I will demand +of thee, saith the Lord of Hosts, and thou shalt answer me, even as my +servant Job answered me of yore. Awake, therefore, and stand up, that I +may reason with thee for the last time touching the faith of our mighty +fathers, the consolations of philosophy, and the splendor and power of +earthly Wisdom--of Death and Judgment--while thou art on thy way to the +grave in the fulness of thy strength and majesty; and _not_ with the +clangor of trumpets, the neigh of steeds, the flow of drapery, and the +uproar of battle!--No!--not as the High Priest, or the champion of a +lofty and venerable faith, standing up like a pillar of fire in a cloudy +sky, and pointing to Jerusalem as to the great gathering place of buried +nations, about to reappear, with all eyes fixed upon thee and all hearts +heaving with exultation! To thy grave, my brother! and not as a martyr! +but as a wretch abandoned of all the earth--a twofold apostate!--a +rebel and a traitor! Hark! hearest thou not a faint stirring afar off, +along the shore of that multitude--a living wilderness of threatening +eyes and parched lips--and ah! another moan from that huge, heavy, +disheartening bell, which never stops till the sacrifice of a fiery +death is over, and the object of its boding prophecy gone to the world +of spirits. + +But the prisoner heeded not his adjuration--he never lifted his eyes, +and the same quiet smile rested forever upon his countenance; and he +still gathered up the pearls and continued aiming them at the window. + +Awake, Adonijah! awake, I say! Thy pearls are counted to thee. Thy +pulses are about to stand still forever--thy proud heart to stop +forever! A moment, and the headsman will be here--already do I see him +afar off, stealing with a noiseless movement along the skirts of the +affrighted people, like smouldering fire through the blackness of a +thunder-cloud. Awake, thou MAN of sorrow and acquainted with grief, +awake that I may pray with thee! + +With me! + +Yea, my brother--even with thee. + +And wherefore shouldst thou pray with me? and wherefore should I pray? + +Wherefore! Have I not heard thee, purified by that old peculiar faith, +charge even thy Creator, the Ancient of Days, the Lord God of Heaven and +Earth, _Jehovah!_ with diverting thy pearls from their appointed path! + +True, and therefore why should I pray? Of what avail these prayers with +the _unchangeable_ God? Can aught that we do, or fail to do, disturb the +everlasting tranquillity of our Creator--change his purpose--or in any +way move to pleasure or displeasure the Lord God of Heaven and Earth? +With him before whom all things are alike, with whom there is neither +great nor small--what he hath determined to do, that will he not do? +whether we importune him or not with prayer? Go to, my poor brother! go +to! will not the Judge of all the Earth do right? and if he will +not--how are we to help ourselves? + +Unhappy man! Though he _were_ unchangeable; and though supplications +were of no avail, why should the children of men, the creatures of his +bounty withhold their _thanksgiving_? + +That would I never withhold, for that I could offer up any where--at all +times and under all circumstances, without dishonoring him, our CREATOR +and our Father, or his image, and without contradicting our ancient +faith. But why wrestle in prayer with him, for that which, if it be +proper for us, we shall be sure to have, as we have the dew and the +sunshine, the seed-time and the harvest.--The very hairs of our head, +are they not numbered? Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and +not one of them is forgotten before God! + +Yea my brother! But what saith the same scripture? Ye are of more value +than many sparrows. + +True--true--I had forgotten a part of my lesson. + +Believest thou, O my brother, _canst_ thou believe then, that in His +eyes, all the cherubim and seraphim are equal and alike? that He is, of +a truth, no respecter of persons among the Hierarchy of heaven? + +But wherefore pray to Him that knoweth all our wants, before they are +uttered or felt? to Him that feedeth the young raven--laying his hand +reverentially upon the Great Book before him, and lifting his forehead +to the sky, as if he could see through it. + +_Wherefore?_ Because we have been urged to pray--entreated to +pray--commanded to pray. Because every thing desirable hath been +promised to prayer. + +Not in the Hebrew scriptures, however it may be with the Greek. To +thanksgiving and submission, there may be vouchsafed a continual to +favor; but to importunity, as urged upon you in your scripture, my poor +brother, _nothing_. + +Lo! the headsman touches the foot of the scaffold! Wilt thou not pray +with me, oh Adonijah! my brother and my prince! + +No! my brother that _was_--no! The Lion of Judah hath not yet learned to +lick the uplifted hand of mortal man. Get thee behind me Zorobabel, _my +brother_! Go thy way, and leave me to my trust in the God of our +fathers. Why should I pray with thee--with thee! an apostate from the +sepulchre of kings and prophets--I that never have prayed but with the +princes, and the Judges and the High-Priest of our people? Get thee +gone, my brother! It is not for such as I to tempt the Lord of Hosts, or +to persuade the Ancient of Days. Do not thou tempt me. + +Stay, brother--stay! Did not Jacob wrestle in prayer with the angel of +the Lord, all the night long? + +With the angel of the Lord?--yea--But never with the Lord himself, as +thou wouldst have me. And saying this, he gathered up his robe and shook +it, and turned away from his brother sorrowing. + +Man! thou art beside thyself--much learning hath made thee mad--cried +his brother, reaching forth his arms to Adonijah. The whole Hebrew +scriptures are against thee--what are they all but a Book of prayer and +supplication? Prophets and Bards and Kings and Judges, yea, even the +High Priesthood, are against thee! Why shouldst thou pray, thou +unconquerable Hebrew?--why!--that thy proud heart may be made +human--that thy understanding may be enlightened--that thou mayst be +made to know and believe that there is another and a better Scripture. +Pray to thy Father, which is in Heaven, as thou wouldst that thy +children should pray to thee, even for that which thou hast already +determined to grant them--oh, pray to Him! that He may see the +disposition of thy heart, as thou wouldst see theirs. What though thou +art mindful of their wants, and well acquainted with their hearts and +purposes, and always ready to gratify them, is it not a condition with +thee--even with _thee_, Adonijah, that they should acknowledge their +dependence upon thee, and their utter helplessness of themselves? And +why should it not be so with our Heavenly Father? with Him whose angels +are about thee and above thee, a perpetual atmosphere of warmth and +light. Ha! the multitude are breaking up!--they are coming this way! I +hear the tramp of horsemen--a moment more and we are apart forever. A +flash!--The Philistines are upon thee, O my brother! + +That brother looked up and smiled. + +Wilt thou not pray with me? + +No--once for all--no! Never with a converted Jew--never with a +christian!--never with thee, thou but half a christian! + +Farewell then!--farewell forever. + +Another flash! attended with a loud burst of thunder among the hills. + +Nay, let us part in peace, my brother, although I cannot pray with thee, +I can for thee! The God of our Fathers! of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, +have thee in his holy keeping! + +The stranger threw up his arms in a transport of joy. The unconverted, +the _unconvertable_ Jew had prayed for him with the temper of a +christian; and straightway he fell upon his knees and called upon the +God of the Hebrews, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, to spare +the Jew and change his heart. + +The huge gate swung open. The drawbridge fell--a fierce angry light +broke forth suddenly from underneath the scaffold--a black banner +floated all at once from the battlements over the passage-way--a troop +of horsemen, with flashing spears and iron helmets, wheeled slowly into +the court-yard, and drew up in dead silence along the outer barrier. The +headsman appeared. A signal was made from a far window, and lo! the +coronet and the robe, with all the glittering insignia of departed power +and extinguished glory, were torn away, and trampled under foot by the +hoofs of the multitude. A white smoke rolled forth from below, and when +it cleared away, the Jew appeared standing bareheaded between two +gigantic mutes, one of whom bore a naked cimetar, while the other stood +watching his countenance. It continued unaltered--unalterable--nor would +he vouchsafe the slightest token of submission or terror, though the +flames roared, and the white smoke rolled thitherward like the white +sea-fog before a coming storm; but haughtily, steadfastly, and with a +majestic mildness which awed the very soldiery more than all the pomp +they were accustomed to, he pointed to the multitude, lowering about him +with a tempestuous blackness--to the pyre with its covering of +blood-red cloth dripping with recent moisture--to the flames roaring far +below among the dry faggots, and signified a wish to proceed. + +Once more shouted a voice from the barrier--My brother! oh my brother! +wilt thou not be prevailed upon, if not for thine own sake, for the sake +of thy beloved wife and thy youngest born--about to perish with +thee--even with thee, my brother, in their marvellous beauty and most +abundant strength. + +Away!--and let me die in peace! + +Another step thou unconquerable man! But another step--thou apostate +Jew!--and thou art in the world of spirits! Wilt thou not say? _canst_ +thou not, with lowliness and fervor, Our Father which art in Heaven! thy +will and not mine be done! + +Yea, brother--if that will comfort thee in thy desolation. Yea! Yea! +with all the hoarded and concentrated fervor of a long life accustomed +to no other language, even while I took upon me the outer garb of a +christian--Yea!--and saying this, he fell upon his knees, and cried out +with a loud voice, while a triumphant brightness overspread his uplifted +countenance with a visible exaltation, Our Father and our Judge! I do +not pray to thee as the God of the christians did, that this cup may be +spared to me; for I have put my whole hope and trust in thee, and am +satisfied with whatsoever I may receive at thy hands! But I would bless +thee, I would praise thee, I would magnify thy great name, oh God of my +Fathers, for all that I have enjoyed or suffered, for all that I have +had or wanted in this life; yea, for all the afflictions and sorrows and +terrors that have beset my path, and that of my beloved wife and my +dear children--children of the tribe of Judah and of the house of +Jacob!--Yea, for the overthrow of all my proud hopes and prouder wishes, +when I forsook thee and almost abjured the faith of my Fathers for +dominion sake. Forgive my apostate brother, I beseech thee, O Lord! as +thou hast forgiven me: and bless the heritage of thy people, and +encourage them as the followers of the new faith are encouraged by their +Jesus of Nazareth, to forgive their enemies, even though their enemies +take the shape of a beloved friend or brother--to betray them--giving up +their birth-right, like Esau for a mess of pottage. + +A great commotion appeared on the house-tops, extending itself slowly +far and wide. + +Nevertheless, continued the Jew--nevertheless! oh Father and Judge, God +of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! thy will and not mine be done! + +The multitude began to surge this way and that, with exceeding violence. +A cry of indignation arose from every side. A tumult followed--a general +rush--the house-tops were suddenly deserted--the sea shore--and some +began shouting, Away with him! away with him! and others, Let the +blaspheming Jew perish without hope! and others, Crucify him! crucify +him! + +But in the midst of the uproar, one clear solitary cry was heard afar +off, repeating a prayer to the God of the Hebrews--another cloud of +white smoke rolled over the battlements--the flames appeared half way up +the sky--a trumpet sounded underneath the very scaffold--the ancient +war-cry of the Jews, _To your tents, O Israel!_ rung far and wide along +the outer barrier--up sprang a multitude of small white banners, like +affrighted birds, from the midst of the people--and the next moment, +before they had recovered from their unspeakable consternation, the +heavy horsemen charged upon them in a body, the great ship swung round +with all her voices thundering together, and swept their pathway as with +a whirlwind of fire, while they hurried hither and thither, crying To +arms! to arms! The Jews! the Jews! and pointing toward the bridge, only +to find the bridge itself destroyed and the opposite shore in possession +of that other converted Jew--the stranger!--all in glittering steel +arrayed, and carrying a banner on which the Lion of Judah was ramping in +a field of carnage! + + * * * * * + +And when the Jew Adonijah, now more a Jew than ever, and more fully +satisfied than ever, with the sublime, and awful, and unchangeable faith +of his old Hebrew Fathers, came fully to himself, and the tumult was all +over, he found three out of his four children of the house of Jacob, +standing near him in their robes of state--another, and a stranger, +harnessed for the war, his black eyes yet gleaming with the +half-extinguished fire of battle, standing at the door of the chamber. + +And why wouldst thou not pray for us, father? said one of the two that +were standing by the bed-side. + +Because ye were sick unto death; and I held it sinful to ask for that +which had been refused to King David himself--I, that had forsaken the +Lord God of my fathers--How could I hope that he would not forsake me! + +But the christian prayed for us, Father, and the prayers of the +christian were heard! + +With what face could they, _being christians_, pray for the children of +men that put their Savior to death? How could they, _being christians_, +forget their scripture, which saith--_suffer little children to come +unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of heaven!_ + +And as he spoke, the great doors were thrown open, and the armed man +flung down his helmet, and walked forward with a solemn and haughty step +leading a beautiful woman captive, and a young child. + +A shriek!--a tumult!--and straightway all were kneeling together! And +not one of that family of Jacob--that remnant of the tribe of Judah--not +one was missing. They were determined to live and die in their old +august unchangeable faith, even as all their progenitors had lived and +died--enduring all things--suffering all things--trials and sorrows and +temptations--age after age--and never betraying their faith, never! + +But the unconquerable Jew acknowledged to himself, and to his brother, +even there, as they fell upon his neck and wept, the _possibility_ of +prayer being heard, the _possibility_ that the unchangeable God might be +reached by supplication--and the _possibility_ that even a philosopher +and a Jew might be mistaken. + +But---- + + + + +A WAR-SONG OF THE REVOLUTION. + +By John Neal. + + + Men of the North! look up! + There's a tumult in your sky; + A troubled glory surging out; + Great shadows hurrying by: + + Your strength--Where is it now? + Your quivers--Are they spent? + Your arrows in the rust of death, + Your fathers' bows unbent? + + Men of the North! Awake! + Ye're called to from the Deep; + Trumpets in every breeze-- + Yet there ye lie asleep: + + A stir in every tree; + A shout from every wave; + A challenging on every side; + A moan from every grave: + + A battle in the sky; + Ships thundering through the air-- + Jehovah on the march-- + Men of the North, to prayer! + + Now, now--in all your strength; + There's that before your way, + Above, about you, and below, + Like armies in array: + + Lift up your eyes, and see + The changes overhead; + Now hold your breath! and hear + The mustering of the dead. + + See how the midnight air + With bright commotion burns, + Thronging with giant shape, + Banner and spear by turns-- + + The sea-fog driving in, + Solemnly and swift; + The Moon afraid--stars dropping out-- + The very skies adrift: + + The Everlasting GOD: + Our Father--Lord of Love-- + With cherubim and seraphim + All gathering above-- + + Their stormy plumage lighted up + As forth to war they go; + The shadow of the Universe, + Upon our haughty foe! + + + + +MUSINGS ON MUSIC. + +By James F. Otis. + + And while I was musing, the fire burned.--_Holy Writ._ + + +THE ORIGIN OF MUSIC. + +Music is the wondrous breathing of God's spirit in our souls. As we view +the "floor of heaven, thickly inlaid with patines of pure gold," we feel +that + + There's not the smallest orb which we behold, + But, in its motion, like an angel sings, + Still quiring to the young eyed cherubim. + +We feel it in the constitution of the air, which causes vibration--in +the formation of man, possessed of the wonderful faculties enabling him +to sing, to distinguish musical sounds, and to feel within his whole +frame the effects of music. Man, indeed, is himself a wonderful musical +instrument, made by the hand of God. He hears all nature hymning +adoration and praises to its Maker--he feels the constant vibration of +universal harmony around him--he is conscious that the emotions of +gratitude he feels toward the Creator should be expressed, and that in +the highest strains which the human mind can conceive, and the human +voice can reach. Thus he calls in to his aid all those auxiliaries which +nature and art afford, to supply him with associations tending to +elevate the standard of his grateful expressions. Music is a sacred, a +religious, a _holy_ thing. Applied to common purposes, it is pleasing +and worthy of cultivation--but still it has a higher character when +used for its original and more worthy purpose. The effect it produces in +the former instance is to raise our _mirth_:--when used in its higher +character, its effect is to produce _rapture_. It soothes when thus +employed, as of old it did when David banished the evil spirit from the +soul of Saul by the vibrations of his sweet-toned harp; it improves--as +all good influences and pure associations ever must, when permitted +their due action upon the mind; and it elevates the spirit toward the +eternal source whence all its harmony flows. As it peals upon the ear, +and sinks inly upon the heart of him whose mind is bent upon the +thoughts of holy things--upon his creation, his present blessings and +future hopes, he seems to hear + + That undisturbed song of pure content, + Aye sung around the sapphire-colored throne, + To him that sits thereon-- + Where the bright seraphim, in burning row, + Their loud, uplifted angel trumpets blow; + And the cherubic hosts, in thousand choirs, + Touch their celestial harps of golden wires. + + * * * * * + + +HANDEL AND HAYDN. THE MESSIAH AND THE CREATION, A PARABLE. + +Handel, with all his comparative simplicity, is my favorite. I cannot +but look up to him with astonishment and veneration; his "Messiah," I +behold as the purest specimen of sublimity ever displayed in the arts: +and I can conceive of nothing in poetry with any pretension to be +considered its parallel, but the "Paradise Lost" of Milton. The +"Hallelujah Chorus" may be esteemed the loftiest work of the +imagination. The leading conception is entirely inimitable. The full +chorus of other masters is often bold and elevated; but it is only +Handel who has the sublime of devotion. Haydn is triumphant and +inspiring; but the effect of his chorus is only that of martial music. +In listening to Haydn, you seem to hear the shouts of conquerors, +proudly entering a vanquished city: in listening to Handel, the shouts +seem to break from the clouds; from the triumphant host admitted to the +presence of God; and the object of praise gives a character of holiness +and purity to the harmony. With Haydn, we exult, we reason not why. With +Handel, we can never for a moment forget that we are praising God. The +rapid movements and quick transitions of Haydn draw the fullest +admiration to the orchestra, and the subject is forgotten. The lighter +passages in Handel are only the varied note of praise, expanding only in +proportion to the inspiration which the object kindles. In one +word,--every thing in Haydn is seen to be accomplished; and every +delineation, if I may thus employ the word, is felt to be a resemblance. +But in Handel, let what will be described or exhibited,--a battle,--a +victory,--the trembling of the earth,--the tottering of a wall,--the +moan of sympathy,--the insults and crucifixion of a Savior,--the awful +stillness of death,--or, on the other hand, the triumph of the +resurrection,--the birth of the Prince of Peace,--or hosannas to the +King of Kings, and Lord of Lords,--every thing seems to be done at the +command of God himself. + +But I conceive it is not difficult to reconcile an admiration of both +these great masters, in as much as their music presents such a variety +only as every art admits. Claude Loraine was no rival of Raphael--yet +we stand with one before a landscape, and with the other at the foot of +the cross, with like, if not equal astonishment and admiration. The +recitatives of Haydn are, with scarcely a single exception, less bold, +but better finished,--less abrupt, and better calculated for the scope +of the voice, than those of Handel; and are supported by a harmony more +graceful, though not more striking and natural. Haydn, at all times, +threw the fascination of melody over his richest modulations, and the +whole effect of his harmony resulted from conspiring airs, each of which +was melodious by itself. While, on the other hand, the separate parts in +Handel were like single pillars from a temple, or single stones from a +pyramid. If, in Handel, appear the beauty of consistency,--in Haydn we +admire the consistency of beauty. If Handel's choruses and harmony might +be compared, both in their formation and beauty, to mountains of ice, +illuminated by the sun,--Haydn's harmony would seem to resemble the most +splendid crystalizations--under the same illumination, in which one form +of beauty has gradually encircled another, until the shape and beauty of +the minutest part has become imparted to the larger proportions, and +more commanding figure of the whole mass. It is impossible indeed, to +find any thing in music,--placing his choruses out of view,--which can +rival the sublime recitative of Handel,--"For behold darkness shall +cover the earth,--but the Lord shall arise!"--Yet the opening of Haydn's +"Creation," may deserve to be ranked second only to this, and as +surpassing every other attempt of its author, in sublimity, and deep, +solemn grandeur. The fall of the angels, in the first part of the same +noble oratorio, is a wonderful effort, and presents the most remarkable +instance in all Haydn's compositions, of the characteristic excellence +which has just been ascribed to him, namely, his uniform regard to his +melody, even where he designed to produce the boldest effect in his +harmony. It is the most graphic musical description ever attempted; and +it must have been produced in one of those moments of lofty enthusiasm +in which a conception of surpassing grandeur flashes upon the mind, is +grasped and embodied in an instant, and a man pauses in exultation and +astonishment at what he has himself accomplished. This passage, +however,--if it had no other excellence,--could never be forgotten, as +it gives the most striking effect to the inimitable contrast which +succeeds,--where the first impression of the beauty of the world at the +moment of the creation is described with such tenderness and grace, that +the most vulgar minds, as well as those whose taste has been in some +degree refined, have felt every note, as it came from the forms of +living things, exulting in their existence--or as if the author had +borrowed the lyre of the morning stars, that sang the glories of the +"new created world."--The celebrated chorus, "The Heavens are telling +the glory of God," is unquestionably the boldest conception of Haydn. +Its harmony has the most astonishing richness and variety, and the +leading air is almost unexceptionably beautiful. Yet it may be called a +chorus in theory only; for it requires the fullest choir of the finest +voices and most refined tastes,--and no community of any country can +furnish a hundred and fifty singers, capable of performing it, even with +a tolerable degree of spirit, judgment and correctness. By this remark +I mean merely, that the original conception of the author, and that with +which every one who feels its true beauty and force is filled, upon +studying, or hearing it,--can never be fully realized and carried out, +and filled up, by the finest combination of human powers. + +There have not been wanting writers upon the beautiful in music, who +have denounced what they are pleased to call attempts at picturesque, in +the "Creation" of Haydn. Their arguments proceed upon the trifling +nature of the results produced by imitations, as unworthy the dignity of +an art so refined. The feelings awakened by the gradual developement of +the work of creation in this immortal work are certainly far superior in +their nature to those imputed by such writers to the admirers of what +they call depictive music;--and I cannot believe that these objectors +can have listened to the oratorio they criticise, either with the +physical or rational ear. Had they, we should have heard nothing like an +imputation of an unsuccessful imitation of trifling originals. They +would have seen no other use of the musical picturesque than perfectly +consists with true descriptiveness of the subject celebrated. The +Creation is a grand panorama; its object was to impress the hearer with +the realities it commemorates. Its author was engaged two whole years +upon it, and gave as a reason for his absorption in the task, that he +meant it to last a great while. He has composed a work which addresses +itself to the mind in such a manner, as to call up to the eye the +landscape, as well as to the ear the sounds, and to the conception the +animation and motion of the scenes described. Surely a beautiful +thought, a fine description, an impassioned sentiment, impressed upon +the mind and memory by a strong association with almost all the senses +at once, are more likely to become inseparably entwined among the very +fibres of the heart, than a cold, abstract description of the same +subject, without the intervention of such associations. I should pity +the man who could utter such a criticism, while listening to the +performance, or even reading the score of this most splendid oratorio. +From the commencement,--conveying the idea of primeval chaos,--through +the gradual gathering of the earth and sea, and the things which each +contains, into their several places,--the budding and blooming of the +thousand flowers,--the cooing of the tender doves,--the trampling of the +heavy beasts,--the flowing of the gentle rills,--the rolling of the +mountain waves,--the bursting of light at the Creator's word,--angels +praising God,--the noble work of man's creation,--the achievement of the +whole,--up to the last grand and glorious chorus,--all is sublimity--all +is divine! and the whole soul of the auditor is wrapt in sacred awe, as +he follows the beneficent hand of his Maker in its wonderful work, and +is lost in rapture and adoration, amid the blaze of glory by which he +finds himself surrounded at the close. + + * * * * * + + +SOME THOUGHTS ON OPERATIVE MUSIC. + +There are those who institute a comparison between music and poetry, and +much to the prejudice of the former. They argue that the intellect has +nothing to do with music, and that it is ridiculous and absurd in those +who speak no Italian, to pretend to derive any satisfaction from +listening, for two hours, to music in a language they cannot +understand--affecting, at the same time, to comprehend the sense to be +conveyed, by the sounds they drink in with such assumed rapture. I +conceive this to be far from just reasoning. Doubtless there is a great +deal of affectation in the fashionable world upon the subject of music +in general, and of the opera in particular; but we have no right to +judge our neighbor's taste by our own--perhaps, after all, it may turn +out that our own is defective or false. I am inclined to argue that the +intellect has as much to do with music as with poetry. + +In judging of pieces adapted to music, we should be lenient on the +subject of the thoughts, if the design and story have variety enough to +afford a basis for a corresponding variety of musical ideas. The most +common expression of any passion may be tolerated, when the music, _not_ +the poetry, is to form the embellishment. Who cares for the story--the +plot--in listening to the Italian opera? Nay, more--are not the finest +and most beautiful pieces of that class of music, vulgar and weak as +poetical compositions? Is not the musical composer the genius of the +piece? While the poet utters some such trash as 'I shall support myself +by feasting on your beautiful eyes,' the composer so varies the +expression of his music, that, in truth, the thought becomes refined, +just as it would if the poet had undertaken to present it in a variety +of views. To say, therefore, that the repetitions in music are nonsense, +is just to profess a deplorable ignorance of the science. The words +convey a sentiment which the musician undertakes to increase--to +soften--to embellish, through a series of fine ideas, of which those +who have neither musical taste nor ear have not the least conception. + +Nor should it be supposed that, in the opera--in the fine pieces of +Metastasio, for instance--the poetry is disgraced by being but the +handmaid of music, and that the former is therefore reduced unduly in +the scale of comparative merit. This is not the case with him who is an +equal admirer of the two arts. Such as these will admit that it is but +in a very small degree that music is designed to please a sense. They +will insist that its design is to excite emotions that poetry, to the +same extent, cannot awaken. What speech in the whole Iliad rouses more +exulting courage than the 'Marsellois Hymn?' The music of 'Pleyel's +German Hymn' not only of itself produces an effect to awaken a feeling +of grief, but no words that I have ever read are capable of producing +that feeling in an equal degree. Take for example, the lamentation of +David for the loss of Absalom--and if that passage, and others like it, +are enough to melt or break the heart, there is a kind of music, of +which 'Pleyel's Hymn' is an example, that will affect it more deeply +yet. + +Words, considered as auxiliary to music, merely show the subject on +which the emotion rests, but have nothing to do with the emotion itself; +_that_ is produced by music alone--and long before any words are known +to an air, the emotion will have been produced. We shall have imagined +the subject--and when we come to know the words, we shall discover one +of three things: first, that the subject is what we imagined--secondly, +that it is something analogous to our perception--or, thirdly, if +neither of the two former, that the words and air are ill-adapted to +each other. Indeed, what do we mean by saying, 'these words are adapted +to the air,' if the air have no character of its own? And what is its +character but its peculiar power of awakening certain emotions? +Admitting that it is better that fine poetry and fine harmony should be +united, when possible--and that this union, of course, produces +additional delight to a refined mind,--it still seems to me very absurd +to condemn the pieces which are constructed upon ideas conveyed in +poetry of an inferior class, _merely because such is the character of +the poetry_. Music is the governor of the heart, and all she asks of +Poetry is a subject,--and then, delightful magician! it is her province +to call up, by her sweet spell, the corresponding emotions! + + + + +SIN ESTIMATED BY THE LIGHT OF HEAVEN. + +By Edward Payson. + + _Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in + the light of thy countenance._ + + +It is a well known fact that the appearance of objects, and the ideas +which we form of them, are very much affected by the situation in which +they are placed with respect to us, and by the light in which they are +seen. Objects seen at a distance, for example, appear much smaller than +they really are. The same object, viewed through different mediums, will +often exhibit very different appearances. A lighted candle, or a star, +appears bright during the absence of the sun; but when that luminary +returns, their brightness is eclipsed. Since the appearance of objects, +and the ideas which we form of them, are thus affected by extraneous +circumstances, it follows, that no two persons will form precisely the +same ideas of any object, unless they view it in the same light, or are +placed with respect to it in the same situation. + +These remarks have a direct and important bearing upon our subject. No +person can read the scriptures candidly and attentively, without +perceiving that God and men differ, very widely, in the opinion which +they entertain respecting almost every object. And in nothing do they +differ more widely, than in the estimate they form of man's moral +character, and of the malignity and desert of sin. Nothing can be more +evident than the fact, that, in the sight of God, our sins are +incomparably more numerous, aggravated and criminal, than they appear to +us. He regards us as deserving of an endless punishment, while we +scarcely perceive that we deserve any punishment at all. Now whence +arises this difference? The remarks which have just been made will +inform us. God and men view objects through a very different medium, and +are placed, with respect to them, in a very different situation. God is +present with every object; he views it as near and therefore sees its +real magnitude. But many objects, especially those of a religious +nature, are seen by us at a distance, and, of course, appear to us +smaller than they really are. God sees every object in a perfectly clear +light; but we see most objects dimly and indistinctly. In fine, God sees +all objects just as they are; but we see them through a deceitful +medium, which ignorance, prejudice and self-love place between them and +us. + +The Psalmist, addressing God, says, thou hast set our iniquities before +thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance, that is, our +iniquities or open transgressions, and our secret sins, the sins of our +hearts, are placed, as it were, full before God's face, immediately +under his eye; and he sees them in the pure, clear, all-disclosing light +of his own holiness and glory. Now if we would see our sins as they +appear to him, that is, as they really are; if we would see their +number, blackness and criminality, and the malignity and desert of every +sin, we must place ourselves, as nearly as is possible, in his +situation, and look at sin, as it were, through his eyes. We must place +ourselves and our sins in the centre of that circle, which is irradiated +by the light of his countenance; where all his infinite perfections are +clearly displayed, where his awful majesty is seen, where his +concentrated glories blaze, and burn, and dazzle, with insufferable +brightness; and in order to this, we must, in thought, leave our dark +and sinful world, where God is unseen and almost forgotten, and where, +consequently, the evil of sinning against him cannot be fully +perceived--and mount up to heaven, the peculiar habitation of his +holiness and glory. + +Let us, then, attempt this adventurous flight. Let us follow the path by +which our blessed Savior ascended to heaven, and soar upward to the +great capital of the universe; to the palace and the throne of its +greater King. As we rise, the earth fades away from our view; now we +leave worlds, and suns, and systems behind us. Now we reach the utmost +limits of creation; now the last star disappears, and no ray of created +light is seen. But a new light begins to dawn and brighten upon us. It +is the light of heaven, which pours a flood of glory from its wide-open +gates, spreading continual, meridian day, far and wide through the +regions of ethereal space. Passing swiftly onward through this flood of +day, the songs of heaven begin to burst upon your ears, and voices of +celestial sweetness, yet loud as the sound of many waters and of mighty +thunderings, are heard exclaiming, Hallelujah! for the Lord God +omnipotent reigneth! Blessing, and glory, and honor, and power, be unto +Him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever. A moment more, +and you have passed the gates--you are in the midst of the city--you are +before the eternal throne--you are in the immediate presence of God, and +all his glories are blazing around you like a consuming fire. Flesh and +blood cannot support it; your bodies dissolve into their original dust; +but your immortal souls remain, and stand naked spirits before the great +Father of spirits. Nor, in losing their tenements of clay, have they +lost their powers of perception. No; they are now all eye, all ear; nor +can you close the eyelids of the soul, to shut out, for a moment, the +dazzling, overpowering splendors which surround you, and which appear +like light condensed; like glory which may be felt. You see indeed no +form or shape; and yet your whole souls perceive with intuitive +clearness and certainty, the immediate, awe-inspiring presence of +Jehovah. You see no countenance; and yet you feel as if a countenance of +awful majesty, in which all the perfections of divinity are shown forth, +were beaming upon you wherever you turn. You see no eye; and yet a +piercing, heart-searching eye, an eye of omniscient purity, every glance +of which goes through your souls like a flash of lightning, seems to +look upon you from every point of surrounding space. You feel as if +enveloped in an atmosphere, or plunged in an ocean of existence, +intelligence, perfection and glory; an ocean of which your laboring +minds can take in only a drop; an ocean, the depth of which you cannot +fathom, and the breadth of which you can never fully explore. But while +you feel utterly unable to comprehend this infinite Being, your views of +him, so far as they extend, are perfectly clear and distinct. You have +the most vivid perceptions, the most deeply graven impressions, of an +infinite, eternal, spotless mind; in which the image of all things, +past, present and to come, are most harmoniously seen, arranged in the +most perfect order, and defined with the nicest accuracy; of a mind, +which wills with infinite ease, but whose volitions are attended by a +power omnipotent and irresistible, and which sows worlds, suns and +systems through the fields of space with far more facility, than the +husbandman scatters his seed upon the earth; of a mind, whence have +flowed all the streams, which ever watered any part of the universe with +life, intelligence, holiness, or happiness, and which is still fully +overflowing and inexhaustible. You perceive also, with equal clearness +and certainty, that this infinite, eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, +all-wise, all-creating mind is perfectly and essentially holy, a pure +flame of holiness; and that, as such, he regards sin with unutterable, +irreconcilable detestation and abhorrence. With a voice, which +reverberates through the wide expanse of his dominions, you hear him +saying, as the Sovereign and Legislator of the universe, Be ye holy; for +I, the Lord your God, am holy. And you see his throne surrounded, you +see heaven filled by those only, who perfectly obey this command. You +see thousands of thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand of +angels and archangels, pure, exalted, glorious intelligences, who +reflect his perfect image, burn like flames of fire with zeal for his +glory, and seem to be so many concentrations of wisdom, knowledge, +holiness and love; a fit retinue for the thrice holy Lord of hosts, +whose holiness and all-filling glory they unceasingly proclaim. + +And now, if you are willing to see your sins in their true colors; if +you would rightly estimate their number, magnitude and criminality, +bring them into this hallowed place, where nothing is seen but the +whiteness of unsullied purity, and the splendors of uncreated glory; +where the sun itself would appear a dark spot, and there, in the midst +of this circle of seraphic intelligences, with the infinite God pouring +all the light of his countenance around you, review your lives, +contemplate your offences, and see how they appear. + + + + +THE WAY OF THE SOUL. + +By L. S. P. + + +There is a homely proverb which tells us that "the longest way round is +the shortest way home." Whether the mathematical demonstration of so +paradoxical an assertion would be easy or difficult I shall not +undertake to decide. My concern is with its application to the +spiritual; and with such a reference, are there not many in these +hurrying days who would be benefited by a serious attention to it? + +Do you doubt its truth? Reflect, and you will be convinced. Have you +never groped darkly after a principle, of which you had some dim +revelation, and which you strove with mightiest working to make your +own? Still as you seemed about to seize it, it eluded your grasp; you +were sure that it was there; but to lay hold of it was beyond your +strength. You gave up the effort, turned your thoughts to a new channel, +and busied yourself with other investigations--when lo! a revelation; +and the truth you sought, burst upon you as a ray from the eternal +splendor. + +Or, perchance, you have been all the day perplexed and wearied with +doubts, relating, it may be, to some point of practical moment to you, +and seeming to demand a solution, which yet you are unable to give. You +would fain come to an end, but you cannot even see an opening; only here +and there an uncertain glimmer, which vanishes when you approach it more +nearly. Your soul is faint and harassed; you go forth at sunset to +commune with nature, and in her communion to forget your perplexities. +You gaze on the calm glories of the departing sun, and the calm enters +into your soul; the cooling breath of heaven comes to you, and you +listen to the many voices, "the melodies of woods and winds and waters," +that go up in one harmony to heaven. You behold, and listen, and +love;--and with love comes light. Yes, a light, so pure, so soft, so +mild, that it seems not of earth rests upon your soul, and your +darkness, and doubts, and perplexity are gone. + +Oh, never let it be forgotten that the road to truth is a winding road; +it lies through the heart as well as through the intellect; for, says +the wise man, "Into a malicious soul, wisdom shall not enter." Thou must +learn to love, before thou canst learn to know; and never shalt thou +behold the serene and beautiful countenance of Truth, until thy aim be +honest, and thy soul in harmony with nature. + +And are not _Nature's_ paths circuitous? It is man who has constructed +the broad high road, and made for himself a straight way through forests +and streams, levelling the mountains, and filling up the valleys--but it +is not thus in nature. Her paths are wild, and devious, and rambling; +following "the river's course, the valley's playful windings," and ever +and anon turning aside to some sunny nook, or steep ravine. The rain +which falls upon the earth travels not by a plain high road to the +springs and fountains whither it is bound; but gently, slowly wins its +way, drop by drop, till a little stream is formed, and the stream winds +its noiseless and hidden track to the fountain. + +In her _processes_ too, Nature is patient and long-waiting. She doth +not say to the seed just planted in the earth, spring up and bear fruit +forthwith, or you shall be cast out, but she waiteth for the unfolding +of the tender germ, and the striking of the new-shooting roots; and hath +long patience, and with slowliest care, and a mother's enduring love, +she bringeth forth to light the first green leaf. Then she calleth for +the sun to shine, and the dews to descend upon the young plant, and many +days doth she wait for the ripe fruit. + +But man, impatient man would be wise in a day. He waits not for the holy +and mysterious processes of nature, he leaves not the wonderful powers +within him to unfold in silence and secrecy, but must ever disturb them +with his foolish meddling and impertinent haste, like some silly child, +who digs up the seed he has planted an hour ago, to see if it have yet +sprouted. And are there not some who deal in like fashion with other +minds than their own? _Educators_ let them not be called, for never do +they bring out what is within. The young mind is not to them a germ to +be unfolded, an infant to be nursed into manhood, but rather a +receptacle to be filled, and stuffed, and crammed as expeditiously as +possible; and this, thanks to the numerous machines lately invented for +the purpose, is very quick indeed. + +There have been times when you seemed to make no progress in your +favorite pursuit. You struggled without advancing as we sometimes do in +dreams, or though you stepped up and down, it was as in a treadmill. So +it seemed to you. But was it so? Nay, the process was going on within, +though its visible manifestations may have ceased. If no addition was +made to the superstructure, yet the foundations were deepening and +widening; if the branches and leaves did not grow, yet the root +strengthened itself in the earth. + +But not only so--you seemed to be going backward. Even the ground +slipped from under your feet, and where you had heretofore a firm +standing-place, you found but a swamp. And have you never considered +that Nature too sometimes works backwards? See that withered leaf which +flutters in the breeze, maintaining yet an uncertain hold upon the +branch which nurtured its younger growth. A fresh gust of wind loosens +its hold, and it is blown in circling eddies to the earth. There it +rests till the elements of decay in its bosom have finished their work, +and it mixes with the dust. "What is this? Can a mother forget her +child? Does Nature destroy her own productions?" Ah, look again. In that +fresh-blooming flower, dyed with tints of infinite softness, behold the +withered leaf. Nature was as really working to the production of that +flower when she decomposed the elements of the leaf, as when she +unfolded the germ, and elaborated the juices, and blended the tints of +the flower itself. It was but a glorified resurrection. And your +spiritual growth is going on as truly and steadily, if not as visibly +and delightfully, when you cast aside the slough of some old prejudice, +or painfully tear yourself from a cherished delusion as when the dawning +of a new truth flashes light and joy upon your soul. + +For what Coleridge has said of nations, is equally true of individuals. +"The progress of the species neither is nor can be, like that of a Roman +road, in a right line. It may be more justly compared to that of a +river, which, both in its smaller reaches and larger turnings, is +frequently forced back towards its fountains, by objects which cannot +otherwise be eluded or overcome; yet with an accompanying impulse that +will ensure its advancement hereafter, it is either gaining strength +every hour or conquering in secret some difficulty, by a labor that +contributes as effectually to further its course, as when it moves +forward in an uninterrupted line." + +I might go on to illustrate the application of this truth to +self-knowledge, but it is one easily made, by each for himself. Its +bearing upon our moral growth must not be so lightly passed over. + +You have learned that you have a spirit which _may_ be, _must_ be +trained for immortality and heaven. You have found too that there are +difficulties in the way of this training. There is a constant +under-current of selfishness ready to insinuate itself into all you do; +there is contempt for your inferiors in birth or cultivation, ever +offering to start up, and there is a spirit of resentment against those +who have injured you ready to take fire on the least provocation. What +is to be done with these? You do not forget that to Him, whose "still, +small voice" can speak with authority to the spirits He has made, must +be your first appeal; but neither do you forget that his help is +vouchsafed to those only who help themselves. And how will you help +yourself? Will you in the plenitude of your might, and the resoluteness +of kindled energy, _will_ the extinction of those unruly passions? Try +it; exert the volition; _will_ to stop the flowing tide of revenge in +your breast, and to cause love and forgiveness to spring up in its +place. Well, have you done it? But what means that glowing cheek--that +flashing eye--that compressed brow? Is such the expression of _love_? +Nay brother, you have mistaken the way. Not the straight path of direct +volition will ever lead you to your object. + +But come forth with me into the field. Here are "sweet, strange +flowers," to glad thy heart with their innocent beauty, and delight thee +with their fragrance; here is the broad and blessed "sky bending over" +thee, and the quiet lake at thy feet. + + "The air is spread with beauty; and the sky + Is musical with sounds that rise and die, + Till scarce the ear can catch them; then they swell, + Then send from far a low, sweet, sad farewell." + +And who art thou that bringest discord and rough, angry passions into a +scene like this? Ah, thou bringest not discord, it has stolen from thy +heart; thou art at peace. For it is not a poetic fiction when we are +told that a wayward spirit, is subdued by nature's loveliness and +_lovingness_. + + "Till he can no more endure + To be a jarring and a dissonant thing, + Amidst this general dance and minstrelsy; + But, bursting into tears, wins back his way, + His angry spirit healed and harmonized, + By the benignant touch of love and beauty." + +We asked, perchance, that our hearts might be lifted above the earth, +and taught to repose with a surer love, and a more child-like +trustfulness on the Father of Spirits. And did we know that our prayer +was answered when the light of our eyes was torn from us; when our souls +were rent with bitter agony, and lay crushed and bowed beneath the +stroke of _His_ hand? Yes, it was answered; we know it now, though we +knew it not then. The weary bird never reposes so sweetly in its nest, +as when it hath been battered by the tempest and chased by the vulture; +never doth the little child rest so lovingly and rejoicingly on its +mother's breast, as when it hath there found a shelter from the injuries +and taunts of its rude play-fellows; and the christian never knows the +full sweetness of the words, "My Father in Heaven," till he can also +add, "there is none that I desire beside Thee." + + + + +FRAGMENTS OF AN ADDRESS ON MUSIC. + +By Edward Payson. + + +Without resorting to the hyperbolical expressions of poetry, or to the +dreams and fables of pagan mythology, to the wonders said to be +performed by the lyre of Amphion and the harp of Orpheus,--I might place +before you the prophet of Jehovah, composing his ruffled spirits by the +soothing influence of music, that he might be suitably prepared to +receive a message from the Lord of Hosts. I might present to your view +the evil spirit, by which jealous and melancholy Saul was afflicted, +flying, baffled and defeated, from the animating and harmonious tones of +David's harp. I might show you the same David, the defender and avenger +of his flock, the champion and bulwark of his country, the conqueror of +Goliah, the greatest warrior and monarch of his age, laying down the +sword and the sceptre to take up his harp, and exchanging the titles of +victor and king for the more honorable title of the sweet Psalmist of +Israel.--But I appear not before you as her advocate; for in that +character my exertions would be superfluous. She is present to speak for +herself, and assert her own claims to our notice and approbation. You +have heard her voice in the performances of this evening; and those of +you, whom the God of nature has favored with a capacity of feeling and +understanding her eloquent language, will, I trust, acknowledge that she +has pleaded her own cause with triumphant success; has given sensible +demonstration, that she can speak, not only to the ear, but to the +heart; and that she possesses irresistible power to soothe, delight, and +fascinate the soul. Nor was it to the senses alone that she spake; but +while, in harmonious sounds, she maintained her claims, and asserted her +powers; in a still and small but convincing voice, she addressed herself +directly to reason and conscience, proclaiming the most solemn and +important truths; truths which perhaps some of you did not hear or +regard, but which deserve and demand our most serious attention.--With +the same irresistible evidence as if an angel had spoken from heaven, +she said, There is a God--and that God is good and benevolent. For, my +friends, who but God could have tuned the human voice, and given harmony +to sounds? Who, but a good and benevolent God, would have given us +senses capable of perceiving and enjoying this harmony? Who, but such a +being, would have opened a way through the ear, for its passage to the +soul? Could blind chance have produced these wonders of wisdom? or a +malignant being these miracles of goodness? Could they have caused this +admirable fitness between harmony of sounds, and the organs of sense by +which it is perceived? No. They would have either given us no senses, or +left them imperfect, or rendered every sound discordant and harsh. With +the utmost propriety, therefore may Jehovah ask, Who hath made man's +mouth, and planted the ear? Have not I, the Lord? With the utmost +justice, also, may he demand of us, that all our musical powers and +faculties should be consecrated to his service, and employed in +celebrating his praises. To urge you diligently and cheerfully to +perform this pleasing, reasonable, and indispensable duty, is the +principal object of the speaker. Not, then, as the advocate of music, +but as the ambassador of that God, whose being and benevolence, music +proclaims, do I now address this assembly, entreating every individual, +without delay, to adopt and practise the resolution of the royal +Psalmist--_I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live; I will sing +praise to my God while I have my being._ Psa. civ. 33. + +In your imagination go back to the origin of the world, when, every +thing was very good, and all creation harmonized together. All its +parts, animate and inanimate, like the voices and instruments of a well +regulated concert, helped to compose a perfect and beautiful whole; and +so exquisite was the harmony thus produced, that in the whole compass of +creation, not one jarring or discordant note was heard, even by the +perfect ear of God himself.--The blessed angels of light began the +universal chorus, "when the morning stars sang together, and all the +sons of God shouted for joy." + + * * * * * + +Of this universal concert, man was appointed the terrestrial leader, and +was furnished with natural and moral powers, admirably fitted for this +blessed and glorious employment. His body, exempt from dissolution, +disease, and decay, was like a perfect and well-strung instrument, which +never gave forth a false or uncertain sound, but always answered, with +exact precision, the wishes of his nobler part, the soul. His heart did +not then belie his tongue, when he sung the praises of his Creator; but +all the emotions felt by the one were expressed by the other, from the +high notes of ecstatic admiration, thankfulness, and joy, down to the +deep tones of the most profound veneration and humility. In a word, his +heart was the throne of celestial love and harmony, and his tongue at +once the organ of their will, and the sceptre of their power. + +We are told, in ancient story, of a statue, formed with such wonderful +art, that, whenever it was visited by the rays of the rising sun, it +gave forth, in honor of that luminary, the most melodious and ravishing +sounds. In like manner, man was originally so constituted, by skill +divine, that, whenever he contemplated the rays of wisdom, power, and +goodness, emanating from the great Sun of the moral system, the ardent +emotions of his soul spontaneously burst forth in the most pure and +exalted strains of adoration and praise. Such was the world, such was +man, at the creation. Even in the eye of the Creator, all was good; for, +wherever he turned, he saw only his own image, and heard nothing but his +own praises. Love beamed from every countenance; harmony reigned in +every breast, and flowed mellifluous from every tongue; and the grand +chorus of praise, begun by raptured seraphs round the throne, and heard +from heaven to earth, was reechoed back from earth to heaven; and this +blissful sound, loud as the archangel's trump, and sweet as the melody +of his golden harp, rapidly spread, and was received from world to +world, and floated, in gently-undulating waves, even to the farthest +bounds of creation. + +To this primeval harmony, a lamentable contrast followed, when sin +untuned the tongues of angels, and changed their blissful songs of +praise into the groans of wretchedness, the execrations of malignity, +the blasphemies of impiety, and the ravings of despair. Storms and +tempests, earthquakes and convulsions, fire from above, and deluges from +beneath, which destroyed the order of the natural world, proved that its +baleful influence had reached our earth, and afforded a faint emblem of +the jars and disorders which sin had introduced into the moral system. +Man's corporeal part, that lyre of a thousand strings, tuned by the +finger of God himself, destined to last as long as the soul, and to be +her instrument in offering up eternal praise, was, at one blow, +shattered, unstrung, and almost irreparably ruined. His soul, all whose +powers and faculties, like the chords of an Æolian harp, once +harmoniously vibrated to every breath of the divine Spirit, and ever +returned a sympathizing sound to the tones of kindness and love from a +fellow-being, now became silent, and insensible to melody, or produced +only the jarring and discordant notes of envy, malice, hatred, and +revenge. The mouth, filled with cursing and bitterness, was set against +the heavens; the tongue was inflamed with the fire of hell. Every voice, +instead of uniting in the song of "Glory to God in the highest," was now +at variance with the voices around it, and, in barbarous and dissonant +strains, sung praise to itself, or was employed in muttering sullen +murmurs against the Most High--in venting slanders against +fellow-creatures--in celebrating and deifying some worthless idol, or in +singing the triumphs of intemperance, dissipation, and excess. The noise +of violence and cruelty was heard mingled with the boasting of the +oppressor, and the cry of the oppressed, and the complaints of the +wretched; while the shouts of embattled hosts, the crash of arms, the +brazen clangor of trumpets, the shrieks of the wounded, the groans of +the dying, and all the horrid din of war, together with the wailings of +those whom it had rendered widows and orphans, overwhelmed and drowned +every sound of benevolence, praise and love. Such is the jargon which +sin has introduced--such the discord which, from every quarter of our +globe, has long ascended up into the ears of the Lord of hosts. + + + + +THE BLUSH. + +By Mrs. Elizabeth Smith. + + +The soft warm air scarcely stirred the leaves of the vine, that +clustered about the bower of Eve, as she lay with pale cheek and languid +limbs, her first born daughter resting upon her breast. Adam had led his +sons to the field, that their sports might not disturb the repose of our +first mother, and the low murmur of the tiny cascade, the monotonous hum +of insects, and happy twitter of unfledged birds, all wooed her to +slumber; yet she slept not. She looked with a mother's deep unutterable +love upon the face of her babe, yet tears were in her eye, and anxiety +upon her brow. Herself the last, the perfection of the Creator's +workmanship, she still marvelled at the surprising beauty of her +daughter. She looked into its dark liquid eye, and drank deep from the +fountain of maternal love. She pressed its small foot and hand to her +lips, hugged it to her full heart, and felt again the bitterness of +transgression. She thought of Paradise, whence she had expelled her +children. She thought of generations to come, who might curse her for +their misery. She thought of the sweet beauty of her child on whom she +had entailed sorrow, suffering and temptation. She felt it murmuring at +the fountain of life while it stretched its little hand to her lips. She +turned aside the thick leaves of the grape vine, and looked out upon the +still blue sky, over which, scarcely moved the white thin clouds. "My +daughter," she faintly articulated, "thou knowest not the evil I have +done thee. Let these bitter tears attest my penitence. Let me teach thee +so to live, that thou mayst hereafter obtain in another world the +Paradise thou hast lost in this--lost by thy mother's guilt. O, my +daughter, would that I alone might suffer, that the whole wrath of my +offended Creator might fall on my head and thou, and such as thou, might +escape." The tears, the penitence of Eve prevailed; a Heavenly messenger +was despatched to console her, to lift her thoughts to better hopes and +less gloomy anticipations.--Since the sin of our first parents, and +their banishment from Paradise, these angel visits had been "few and far +between," and our first mother hailed his approach with awe and +pleasure. "Eve," kindly spake the divine visitant, "thy sorrow and thy +penitence are all known to thy Creator, and though thy fault was great, +he yet careth for thee. I am sent to comfort thee. As thou didst disobey +the commands of God, death has been brought, indeed, upon thy posterity, +but thy children may not curse thee. Thy daughters shall imitate thy +penitence, and so secure the favor of Heaven. To each one shall be given +a spirit, capable of resisting temptation, and assimilating to that +holiness from which thou hast departed. Though sin and death have +entered the world by thy means, thy children will still have only their +own sins to answer for, and may not justly reproach thee for their +errors." "True, Lord," responded Eve, "but the altered sky, the hard +earth that scarcely yields its treasures to the labor of Adam, and the +changed natures of the animals that once meekly and kindly sported +together, all tell of my disobedience, and my daughter will turn her +eyes upon me when suffering and trial come, and that look will reproach +me as the cause. I am told that our children shall equal in number the +leaves of the green wood, and the earth shall hereafter be peopled with +beings like ourselves. I shrink to think on the mass of sorrow I have +brought upon my daughters." + +She looked fondly on her babe, and timidly raised it towards the +beneficent being who paused at her bower. "When men shall become +numerous, and there shall be many beings like these, fair and frail, may +not their beauty--" She paused and looked anxiously up. "Speak, Eve," +said the messenger, "thy request shall be granted. I am sent to bestow +upon thee whatever thou shalt ask, for this thy first born daughter." "I +scarcely know," resumed Eve, thus encouraged, "but I would ask for this +first daughter of an erring mother, _something_, to warn her of even the +approach of sin, something, that will whisper caution, and speak of +innocence and purity. Something, Lord, that will remind us of Paradise." +"Hast thou not all that, Eve, in the voice within, the voice of +conscience?" Eve dropped her head upon her bosom. "But that monitor may +be disregarded, my daughters may, like their unhappy parent, stifle its +voice and heedlessly neglect its warnings. I would have something, that +when flattery would mislead, beauty bewilder, or passion lead astray, +would outwardly as it were bid them take heed, warn them to shrink from +the very trail of the serpent whose insidious poison may corrupt and +destroy. Hast thou nothing that will be to the innocent, the virtuous, +like a second conscience, to cause them to shrink even from the +_appearance_ of evil?" The angel smiled, and answered our mother with +kindness, and a look of heavenly satisfaction. "Most wisely hast thou +petitioned, O Eve. Thou hast asked blessings for thy posterity, not for +thyself. Thy daughters shall bless thee for the gift thy prayer has +obtained." The spirit departed. The gift he bestowed may be seen on the +face of the maiden when she shrinks from the too admiring gaze, when her +ear is listening to the tale of love, or flattery, when in the solitude +of her own thoughts she starts at her own imaginings, when she shrinks +even from her own reflected loveliness in the secrecy of home; or +abroad, trembles at the intrusive touch, or familiar language, of him +who _should be_ her guide, her protector from evil. That gift was the +_blush_. + + + + +THE WIDOWED BRIDE. + +By Mrs. Ann S. Stephens. + + + The Morn awoke in Hindostan, + And blushing, left the couch of Night, + While soon her rosy smiles began, + To flood the dewy earth with light. + While yet the sultry day was young, + Came forth a happy bridal band, + With sunny smiles and English tongue, + Which spoke them of a distant land; + They gathered round an altar-stone, + Erected to the one Most High, + Standing in solitude alone, + Mid signs of dark idolatry. + Then two came slowly from the crowd; + _He_ with a bearing bold and proud, + A haughty smile and flashing eye, + Darkling with love's intensity; + While she, the high-born English bride, + Drew closer to that one dear side; + Her eyelids drooped, her cheek grew pale + As snow, beneath the bridal veil, + As if the weight of her own bliss + Were all too much of happiness, + To thrill her heart and light her eye + Beneath another's scrutiny. + On crimson cushions dropped with gold + The youthful pair together bow; + Before that priest in surplice-fold + They clasp their trembling fingers now; + A prayer is heard--the oath is said-- + That gentle creature lifts her head-- + A voice has thrilled into her heart, + Like music breathed to it apart,-- + To lie there an abiding spell, + To haunt forever memory's cell-- + To mingle with her latest breath + And light the very wing of death. + Her vow was uttered timidly-- + With half a murmur, half a sigh; + Yet the low faltering sound confessed + The love that brooded in her breast. + + The golden ring is on her hand-- + She is pronounced a wedded bride; + Oh say, why does she lingering stand + So long that altar-stone beside? + And whence the misty tears that dim + The sunny azure of her eye? + Why leans her slender form on him? + Why does she sob so bitterly? + Well may she weep, that fair young bride; + For up the Ganges' golden tide, + Mid jungles deep, where beasts of prey + With pestilence hold deadly sway, + Where the wild waters fiercest sweep, + And serpents in their venom sleep, + Beneath each dewy leaf and flower, + That gentle bride must build her bower. + + In the cool shadow of the shore, + With snowy streamers floating wide, + To the light dipping of the oar, + The budgerow swept o'er the tide; + The soft breeze ling'ring at her prow, + Where many a garland graceful hung, + In hues of purple, gold and snow, + And on the rippling waters flung + An odor sweet and delicate, + As that which all imprisoned lies, + Unknown to man as his own fate, + Within the flowers of Paradise. + + Beneath an awning's silken shade, + Where the light breeze its music made, + With woven fringe and silken cord, + Sat the young bride with her brave lord. + Her hand in his was ling'ring still, + And every throb of his full heart + Met her young pulses with a thrill, + And sent the blood up with a start, + To that round cheek but late so pale + And blanched beneath the bridal veil. + A tear still trembled in her eye, + Like dews that in the violet lie; + But breaking through its lovely sheen, + The brightness of her soul was seen, + Like light within the amethyst, + Which told how truly she was blest; + Though as she met his ardent gaze, + Like the veined petal of a flower + Her eyelids drooped, as from the blaze + Of some loved, high, but dreaded power. + As bound by some subduing spell, + In beauty at his side she bowed. + The bridal robe around her fell, + Like fragments of a summer cloud; + The loosened veil had backward swept, + And deeply in her glossy hair, + Like light, the orange blossoms slept, + As if they sought new beauty there; + And pearls lay softly on her neck, + Like hailstones melting over snow, + Save when the blood, that dyed her cheek. + Diffused abroad its rosy glow, + And playing on her bosom-swell, + With every heart-pulse rose or fell. + + Up went the sun; his burning rays + Broke o'er the stream like sparkling fire, + Till the broad Ganges seemed a-blaze, + With gorgeous light, save where the spire + Of some lone slender minaret, + Threw its clear shadow on the stream, + Or grove-like banian firmly set, + Broke with its boughs the fiery gleam; + Or where a white pagoda shone + Like snow-drift through the shadowy trees; + Or ancient mosque stood out alone, + Where the wild creeper sought the breeze; + Or where some dark and gloomy rock + Shot o'er the deep its ragged cliffs, + Inhabited by many a flock + Of vultures, and its yawning rifts + Alive with lizards, glowing, bright, + As if a prism's changing light + Within the gloomy depths were flung, + Where like rich jewels newly strung, + The sleeping serpent stretched its length, + And nursed its venom into strength. + + Where the broad stream in shadow lay, + The bridal barque kept on her way, + While every breeze that swept them o'er, + Brought loads of incense from the shore; + Where each luxuriant jungle lay + A wilderness of tangled flowers, + And budding vines in wanton play + Fell from the trees in leafy showers, + Flinging their graceful garlands o'er + The rippling stream and reedy shore; + The lily bared its snowy breast, + Swayed its full anthers like a crest, + And softly from its pearly swell, + A shower of golden powder fell + Among the humbler flowers that lay + And blushed their fragrant lives away; + There oleanders lightly wreathed + Their blossoms in a coronal, + And the rich baubool softly breathed + A perfume from its golden bell; + There flower and shrub and spicy tree + Seemed struggling for sweet mastery; + And many a bird with gorgeous plume, + Fluttered along the flowery gloom, + Or on the spicy branches lay, + Uttering a sleepy roundelay; + While insects rushing out like gems, + Or showery sparks at random flung, + Through ripening fruit and slender stems + There to the breathing blossoms clung, + Studded the glowing boughs and threw + O'er the broad bank a brilliant hue. + + On--on they went; a fanning breeze + Came sighing through the balmy trees, + And undulating o'er the stream + Rose tiny wavelets, like the gleam + Of molten gold, and crested all + With a bright trembling coronal, + Like that which Brahmins in their dream + Lavish upon the sacred stream. + Then all grew still. The sultry air + Lay stagnant in the jungles there-- + The sun poured down his fervent heat; + The river lay a burnished sheet; + The floweret closed its withered bell; + From the parched leaf the insect fell; + The panting birds all tuneless clung + To the still boughs, where late they sung; + The dying blossoms felt the calm, + And the still air was thick with balm. + All things grew faint in that hot noon, + As Nature's self lay in a swoon. + + And she, that gentle, loving fair, + How brooks her form the sultry air? + Most patiently--but see her now! + What fear convulses her pale brow? + And why that half-averted eye, + Watching his look so anxiously? + The scarlet burning in his cheek-- + Those lips all parched and motionless? + Oh! do they fell disease bespeak? + Or only simple weariness? + One look! the dreadful certainty + Wrings from her heart a stifled cry; + And now half phrensied with despair, + She rends the blossoms from her hair, + And leaping to the vessel's side + She drenched them in the sluggish tide; + Then to the cushions where he lay, + Senseless and fevered with disease, + Panting his very life away, + She rushed, and sinking to her knees, + Raised softly up his throbbing head, + And pillowed it upon her breast-- + Then on his burning forehead laid + The dripping flowers, and wildly pressed + Her pallid mouth upon his brow, + And drew him closer to her heart, + As if she thought each trembling throe + Could unto his, new life impart. + Wildly to his she laid her cheek, + And backward threw her loosened hair, + That not a glossy curl might break + From off his face the sluggish air. + The noon swept by, and there was she + Counting his pulses as they rose, + Striving with broken melody + To hush him to a short repose, + Bathing his brow and twining still + Her fingers in his burning hand, + Her heart's blood stopping with a chill + Whene'er he could not understand, + Nor answer to her gentle clasp; + But dashed that little hand away, + Or crushed it with delirious grasp, + Entreating tenderly her stay. + Father of heaven! and must he die? + She breathed in her heart's agony, + As up with every painful breath, + Came to his lips the foam of death, + And o'er his swollen forehead played, + Like serpents by the sun betrayed, + The corded veins whose purple swell, + With his hot pulses rose and fell. + + Those drops upon his temple there, + The rolling eye, the gloomy hair, + The livid lip, the drooping chin, + And the death-rattle deep within, + That speechless one, so late thy pride-- + There lies thy answer, widowed bride! + + Half conscious of her misery, + Like something chiselled o'er a grave, + She placed her small hand anxiously + Upon the lifeless heart, and gave + One cry--but one--of such despair, + The jackall startled from his lair, + And answered back that fearful knell, + With a long, sharp and hungry yell. + + A slow and solemn hour swept by, + And there, all still and motionless, + With rigid limb and stony eye, + The widow knelt in her distress. + With pitying looks the swarthy crew + Around the tearless mourner drew, + And trembling strove to force away + From her chill arms the senseless clay. + Slowly she raised her awful head; + A slight convulsion stirr'd her face; + Close to her heart she snatched the dead, + And held him in a strong embrace; + Then drawing o'er his brow her veil, + She turned her face as strangely wild, + As if a fiend had mocked her wail, + Parted her marble lips and smiled. + Twice she essayed to speak, and then + Her face drooped o'er the corpse again, + While forth from the disshevelled hair + A husky whisper stirred the air. + 'Nay, bury him not here,' it said, + 'I would have prayers above my dead;' + Then, one by one, the timid crew, + From the infected barge withdrew: + Helmsmen and servants, all were gone; + The wife was with her dead alone. + + With no propelling arm to guide, + The barque turned slowly with the tide, + And on the heavy current swept + Its slow, funereal pathway back, + Where the expiring sunbeams slept, + Like gold along its morning track. + The day threw out its dying gleam, + Imbuing with its tints the stream, + As if the mighty river rolled + O'er beds of ruby--sands of gold. + + As if some seraph just had hung + In the blue west his coronet, + The timid moon came out and flung + Her pearly smiles about--then set, + As if she feared the stars would dim + The silvery brightness of her rim; + Then in the blue and deepening skies + The stars sprang out, like glowing eyes, + And on the stream reflected lay, + Like ingots down the watery way; + And softly streamed the starry light + Down to the wet and gloomy trees, + Where fiery flies were flashing bright, + Afloat upon the evening breeze, + Or like some fairy, tiny lamp, + Glow'd out among the stirring leaves, + And down among the rushes damp, + Where Pestilence her vapor weaves, + Till shrub and reed, and slender stems, + Seemed drooping with a shower of gems. + + The Widow raised her head once more, + Turned her still look upon the sky, + The lighted stream and broken shore; + Oh, God! it was a mockery, + --The bridegroom--Death--upon her breast + For aye possessing and possessed! + With the deep calmness of despair, + The mourner raised his marble head, + And on the silken cushions there, + With icy hands, composed the dead; + Then tore her veil off for a shroud, + And in her voiceless mourning bowed. + + That holy sorrow might have awed + The very wind--but mockingly + It flung his matted hair abroad, + As trifling with her agony, + And with a low and moaning wail + Bore on its wings the bridal veil; + Then came a cold and starry ray, + And on his marble forehead lay. + Father of heaven! she could not brook + That floating hair, that rigid look. + With one quick gasp she forward sprung, + And to the helm in frenzy clung, + Until the barque shot on its way + Where a dense shadow darkest lay; + And there, as shrouded with a pall, + The barge swept to the very shore; + The fell hyena's fiendish call + Rang wildly to her ear once more, + And from the deep dark solitude + She saw the hungry jackall creep, + And whimper for his nightly food, + Where many a monster lay asleep + Just in the margin of the flood, + As resting from a feast of blood. + Around the corpse the widow flung + Her snowy arms, and madly clung + To that cold bosom, whence a chill + Shot through her heart, and frantic still + Her eyes in horror turned to seek + That prowling beast, whose hungry jaws + Worked fiercely and began to reek + With eager foam, as with his paws + He tore the turf impatiently, + And howling snuffed the passing clay. + It was not that she feared to die; + In the deep stillness of her heart, + Her spirit prayed most fervently + There with the dead to hold its part. + The only boon she cared to crave, + Was for them both a christian grave; + But oh! the agonizing thought! + That in her madness she had brought + That loved and lost one, for a feast, + To vulture and to prowling beast, + Where all things fierce and wild had come + To howl a horrid requiem. + + But soon a stronger current bore + The freight of death from off the shore; + Again the trembling starlight broke + Above the still and changing clay, + And with its pearly kisses woke + The widow from her trance, who lay + Convulsed and shivering with dread, + Her white arms clinging to the dead; + For yet the stilly night wind bore + The wild beasts' disappointed roar. + Within the far o'erhanging wood, + A bulbul listening to her heart, + Poured forth upon the air a flood + Of gushing love;--with lips apart + The widow clasped her trembling hands, + And bent her ear to catch the strain, + As if a seraph's low commands + Were breathed into her soul;--again, + That heavenly sound came gushing out, + Like waters in their leaping shout; + Over her heart's deep frozen spring + The gentle strain went lingering, + And touched each icy tear that slept + With sudden life, until she wept. + + * * * * * + + Again the lovely morn awoke + Upon that temple still and lone; + Its rosy bloom in gladness broke, + And to the holy altar-stone + Came down subduedly and dim, + Through painted glass, o'er sculptured limb: + Outstretched within that gorgeous gloom, + Shaded by pall and sable plume, + As chisseled from the very stone, + The Bridegroom lay. A broken moan + Rose up from where the Widow bowed, + Her forehead buried in the pall, + Her fingers grasping still the shroud, + And every limb betraying all + The agony that wrung her heart. + It was a sad and fearful sight, + That lifted head, those lips apart, + When through the dim and purplish light + Those who obeyed the bridal call + Now gathered for the funeral; + A soft and solemn strain awoke + The silence of that lofty dome, + And through the fretted arches broke + The music surging to its home; + Then with a firm and heavy tread + The bearers slowly raised the dead; + She followed close, her trembling hand + Still clenched upon the gloomy pall, + In snowy robes and pearly band, + As at her wedding festival; + And in her bright disshevelled hair + A broken orange-blossom lay, + Withered and all entangled there; + Fit relic of her bridal day; + Thus onward to the tomb she passed, + Her white robe swaying to the blast, + And mingling at each stirring breath + There with the drapery of death. + + + + +JACK DOWNING'S VISIT TO PORTLAND. + +By Seba Smith. + + +In the fall of the year 1829 I took it into my head I'd go to Portland. +I had heard a good deal about Portland, what a fine place it was, and +how the folks got rich there proper fast; and that fall there was a +couple of new papers come up to Downingville from there, called the +Portland Courier and Family Reader; and they told a good many queer kind +of things about Portland and one thing another; and all at once it +popped into my head, and I up and told father, and says I, I'm going to +Portland whether or no; and I'll see what this world is made of yet. +Father stared a little at first, and said he was afraid I should get +lost; but when he see I was bent upon it, he give it up; and he stepped +to his chist and opened the till, and took out a dollar and gave to me, +and says he, Jack, this is all I can do for you; but go, and lead an +honest life, and I believe I shall hear good of you yet. He turned and +walked across the room, but I could see the tears start into his eyes, +and mother sot down and had a hearty crying spell. This made me feel +rather bad for a minute or two, and I almost had a mind to give it up; +and then again father's dream came into my mind, and I mustered up +courage, and declared I'd go. So I tackled up the old horse and packed +in a load of ax handles and a few notions, and mother fried me some +dough-nuts and put 'em into a box along with some cheese and sassages, +and ropped me up another shirt, for I told her I did n't know how long I +should be gone; and after I got all rigged out, I went round and bid all +the neighbors good bye, and jumped in and drove off for Portland. + +Ant Sally had been married two or three years before and moved to +Portland, and I inquired round till I found out where she lived, and +went there and put the old horse up and eat some supper and went to bed. +And the next morning I got up and straightened right off to see the +Editor of the Portland Courier, for I knew by what I had seen in his +paper that he was just the man to tell me which way to steer. And when I +come to see him I knew I was right; for soon as I told him my name and +what I wanted, he took me by the hand as kind as if he had been a +brother; and says he, Mr. Downing, I'll do any thing I can to assist +you. You have come to a good town; Portland is a healthy thriving place, +and any man with a proper degree of enterprise may do well here. But +says he, Mr. Downing, and he looked mighty kind of knowing, says he, if +you want to make out to your mind, you must do as the steamboats do. +Well, says I, how do they do? for I did n't know what a steam boat was, +any more than the man in the moon. Why, says he, they _go ahead_. And +you must drive about among the folks here jest as though you were at +home on the farm among the cattle. Dont be afraid of any of 'em, but +figure away, and I dare say you will get into good business in a very +little while. But, says he, there's one thing you must be careful of, +and that is not to get into the hands of them are folks that trades up +round Huckler's Row: for there's some sharpers up there, if they get +hold of you, would twist your eye teeth out in five minutes. Well after +he had gin me all the good advice he could I went back to Ant Sally's +again and got some breakfast, and then I walked all over the town to see +what chance I could find to sell my ax handles and things, and to get +into business. + +After I had walked about three or four hours I come along towards the +upper end of the town where I found there were stores and shops of all +sorts and sizes. And I met a feller, and says I, what place is this? Why +this says he, is Huckler's Row. What, says I, are these the stores where +the traders in Huckler's Row keep? And says he, yes. Well then, thinks I +to myself, I have a pesky good mind to go in and have a try with one of +these chaps, and see if they can twist my eye teeth out. If they can get +the best end of a bargain out of me, they can do what there aint a man +in Downingville can do, and I should jest like to know what sort of +stuff these ere Portland chaps are made of. So in I goes into the best +looking store among 'em. And I see some biscuit lying on the shelf, and +says I, Mister, how much do you ax apiece for them are biscuit? A cent +apiece, says he. Well, says I, I shant give you that, but if you 've a +mind to, I'll give you two cents for three of 'em, for I begin to feel a +little as though I should like to take a bite. Well, says he, I would n't +sell 'em to any body else so, but seeing it 's you I dont care if you +take 'em. I knew he lied, for he never see me before in his life. Well +he handed down the biscuits and I took 'em, and walked round the store +awhile to see what else he had to sell. At last, says I, Mister, have +you got any good new cider? Says he, yes, as good as ever you see. Well, +says I, what do you ax a glass for it? Two cents, says he. Well, says I, +seems to me I feel more dry than I do hungry now. Aint you a mind to +take these ere biscuit again and give me a glass of cider? And says he, +I dont care if I do; so he took and laid 'em on the shelf again, and +poured out a glass of cider. I took the cider and drinkt it down, and to +tell the truth it was capital good cider. Then, says I, I guess it 's +time for me to be a going, and I stept along towards the door. But, says +he, stop Mister. I believe you have 'nt paid me for the cider. Not paid +you for the cider, says I, what do you mean by that? Did n't the biscuit +that I give you jest come to the cider? Oh, ah, right, says he. So I +started to go again; and says he, but stop, Mister, you did n't pay me +for the biscuit. What, says I, do you mean to impose upon me? do you +think I am going to pay you for the biscuit and let you keep 'em tu? +Aint they there now on your shelf, what more do you want? I guess sir, +you dont whittle me in that way. So I turned about and marched off, and +left the feller staring and thinking and scratching his head, as though +he was struck with a dunderment. Howsomever, I did n't want to cheat him, +only jest to show 'em it want so easy a matter to pull my eye teeth out, +so I called in next day and paid him his two cents. Well I staid at Ant +Sally's a week or two, and I went about town every day to see what +chance I could find to trade off my ax handles, or hire out, or find +some way or other to begin to seek my fortune. + +And I must confess the editor of the Courier was about right in calling +Portland a pretty good thriving sort of a place; every body seemed to be +as busy as so many bees; and the masts of the vessels stuck up round the +wharves as thick as pine trees in uncle Joshua's pasture; and the stores +and the shops were so thick, it seemed as if there was no end to 'em. +In short, although I have been round the world considerable, from that +time to this, all the way from Madawaska to Washington, I 've never seen +any place yet that I think has any business to grin at Portland. + + + + +PORTLAND AS IT WAS. + +By William Willis. + + +The advantages which in early days our new country held out for +employment, encouraged immigration, and the population was almost wholly +made up by accessions from the more thickly peopled parts of +Massachusetts. To the county of Essex particularly, in the early as well +as more recent period of our history, the town is indebted for large +portions of its population. Middlesex, Suffolk and the Old Colony, were +not without their contributions. But the people did not come from such +widely different sources as to produce any difficulty of amalgamation, +or any striking diversity of manners. They formed one people and brought +with them the steady habits and good principles of those from whom they +had separated. There were some accessions before the revolution made to +our population from the other side of the Atlantic; the emigrants +readily incorporated themselves with our people and form a substantial +part of the population. Within twenty years, the numbers by immigration +have increased more rapidly, especially from Ireland, but not +sufficiently to destroy the uniformity which characterises our +population, nor to disturb the harmony of our community. + +It cannot have escaped observation that one of the principal sources of +our wealth has been the lumber trade. We have seen on the revival of the +town in the early part of the last century, how intimately the progress +of the town was connected with operations in timber. Before the +revolution our commerce was sustained almost wholly by the large ships +from England which loaded here with masts, spars, and boards for the +mother country, and by ship building. The West India business was then +comparatively small, employing but few vessels of inferior size. After +the revolution our trade had to form new channels, and the employment of +our own navigation was to give new activity to all the springs of +industry and wealth. We find therefore that the enterprise of the people +arose to the emergency, and in a few years our ships were floating on +every ocean, becoming the carriers of southern as well as northern +produce, and bringing back the money and commodities of other countries. +The trade to the West Indies, supported by our lumber, increased vastly, +and direct voyages were made in larger vessels than had before been +employed, which received in exchange for the growth of our forests and +our seas, sugar, molasses and rum, the triple products of the cane. This +trade has contributed mainly to the advancement and prosperity of the +town, has nourished a hardy race of seamen, and formed a people among +the most active and enterprising of any in the United States. + +The great changes which have taken place in the customs and manners of +society since the revolution, must deeply impress the mind of a +reflecting observer. These have extended not only to the outward forms +of things, but to the habits of thought and to the very principles of +character. The moral revolution has been as signal and striking as the +political one; it upturned the old land marks of antiquated and +hereditary customs and the obedience to mere authority, and established +in their stead a more simple and just rule of action; it set up reason +and common sense, and a true equality in the place of a factitious and +conventional state of society which unrelentingly required a submission +to its stern dictates; which made an unnatural distinction in moral +power, and elevated the rich knave or fool to the station that humble +and despised merit would have better graced. + +These peculiarities have been destroyed by the silent and gradual +operation of public opinion; the spirit which arose in the new world is +spreading with the same effect over the old. Freedom of opinion is +asserting a just sway, and it is only now to be feared that the +principle will be carried too far, that authority will lose all its +influence and that reason and a just estimate of human rights will not +be sufficient restraints upon the passions of men. The experiment is +going on, and unless education, an early and sound moral education go on +with it, which will enlighten and strengthen the public mind, it will +fail of success. The feelings and passions must be placed under the +charge of moral principle, or we may expect an age of licentiousness to +succeed one of authority and rigid discipline. We may be said now to be +in the transition state of society. + +Distinctions of rank among different classes of the community, a part +of the old system, prevailed very much before the revolution and were +preserved in the dress as well as in the forms of society. But the +deference attached to robes of office and the formality of official +station have all fled before the genius of our republican institutions; +we look now upon the man and not upon his garments nor upon the post to +which chance may have elevated him. In the circle of our little town, +the lines were drawn with much strictness. The higher classes were +called the _quality_, and were composed of persons not engaged in +mechanic employments. We now occasionally find some old persons whose +memory recurs with longing delight to the days in which these formal +distinctions held uncontrolled sway. + +The fashionable color of clothes among this class was drab; the coats +were made with large cuffs reaching to the elbows, and low collars. All +classes wore breeches which had not the advantage of being kept up as in +modern times by suspenders; the dandies of that day wore embroidered +silk vests with long pocket flaps and ruffles over their hands. Most of +those above mentioned were engaged in trade, and the means of none were +sufficiently ample to enable them to live without engaging in some +employment. Still the pride of their cast was maintained, and although +the cloak and perhaps the wig may have been laid aside in the dust and +hurry of business, they were scrupulously retained when abroad. + +There were many other expensive customs in that day to which the spirit +of the age required implicit obedience; these demanded costly presents +to be made and large expenses to be incurred at the three most important +events in the history of man, his birth, marriage and death. In the +latter it became particularly onerous and extended the influence of its +example to the poorest classes of people, who in their show of grief, +imitated, though at an immeasurable distance, the customs of the rich. + +The leaders of the people in the early part of the revolution, with a +view to check importations from Britain, aimed a blow at these expensive +customs, from which they never recovered. The example commenced in the +highest places, of an entire abandonment of all the outward trappings of +grief which had been wont to be displayed, and of all luxury in dress, +which extended over the whole community. In the later stages of the +revolution however, an extravagant and luxurious style of living and +dress was revived, encouraged by the large amount both of specie and +paper money in circulation, and the great quantity of foreign articles +of luxury brought into the country by numerous captures. + +The evils here noticed did not exist in this part of the country in any +considerable degree, especially after the revolution; the people were +too poor to indulge in an expensive style of living. They were literally +a working people, property had not descended upon them from a rich +ancestry, but whatever they had accumulated had been the result of their +own industry and economy. Our ladies too at that period had not +forgotten the use of the distaff, and occasionally employed that +antiquated instrument of domestic labor for the benefit of others as +well as of themselves. The following notice of a _spinning bee_ at Mrs. +Deane's on the first of May 1788, is a flattering memorial of the +industry and skill of the females of our town at that period. + +"On the first instant, assembled at the house of the Rev. Samuel Deane +of this town, more than one hundred of the fair sex, married and single +ladies, most of whom were skilled in the important art of spinning. An +emulous industry was never more apparent than in this beautiful +assembly. The majority of fair hands gave motion to not less than sixty +wheels. Many were occupied in preparing the materials, besides those who +attended to the entertainment of the rest, provision for which was +mostly presented by the guests themselves, or sent in by other generous +promoters of the exhibition, as were also the materials for the work. +Near the close of the day, Mrs. Deane was presented by the company with +_two hundred and thirty-six_ seven knotted skeins of excellent cotton +and linen yarn, the work of the day, excepting about a dozen skeins +which some of the company brought in ready spun. Some had spun six, and +many not less than five skeins apiece. To conclude and crown the day, a +numerous band of the best singers attended in the evening, and performed +an agreeable variety of excellent pieces in psalmody." + +Some of the ante-revolutionary customs "more honored in the breach than +in the observance"--have been continued quite to our day, although not +precisely in the same manner, nor in equal degree. One was the practise +of helping forward every undertaking by a deluge of ardent spirit in +some of its multifarious mistifications. Nothing could be done from the +burial of a friend or the quiet sessions of a town committee; to the +raising of the frame of a barn or a meeting-house, but the men must be +goaded on by the stimulus of rum. Flip and punch were then the +indispensable accompaniments of every social meeting and of every +enterprise. + +It is not a great while since similar customs have extensively prevailed +not perhaps in precisely the instances or degree above mentioned, but in +junkettings, and other meetings which have substituted whiskey punch, +toddy, &c. for the soothing but pernicious compounds of our fathers. +Thanks however to the genius of temperance, a redeeming spirit is +abroad, which it is hoped will save the country from the destruction +that seemed to threaten it from this source. + +The amusements of our people in early days had nothing particular to +distinguish them. The winter was generally a merry season, and the snow +was always improved for sleighing parties out of town. In summer the +badness of the roads prevented all riding for pleasure; in that season +the inhabitants indulged themselves in water parties, fishing and +visiting the islands, a recreation that has lost none of its relish at +this day. + +Dancing does not seem to have met with much favor, for we find upon +record in 1766, that Theophilus Bradbury and wife, Nathaniel Deering and +wife, John Waite and wife, and several other of the most respectable +people in town were indicted for dancing at Joshua Freeman's tavern in +December 1765. Mr. Bradbury brought himself and friends off by pleading +that the room in which the dance took place, having been hired by +private individuals for the season, was no longer to be considered as a +public place of resort, but a private apartment, and that the persons +there assembled had a right to meet in their own room and to dance +there. The court sustained the plea. David Wyer was king's attorney at +this time. + +It was common for clubs and social parties to meet at the tavern in +those days, and Mrs. Greele's in Backstreet was a place of most +fashionable resort both for old and young wags, before as well as after +the revolution. It was the _Eastcheap_ of Portland, and was as famous +for _baked beans_ as the "Boar's head" was for sack, although we would +by no means compare honest Dame Greele, with the more celebrated, though +less deserving hostess of Falstaff and Poins. Many persons are now +living on whose heads the frosts of age have extinguished the fires of +youth, who love to recur to the amusing scenes and incidents associated +with that house. + +When we look back a space of just two hundred years and compare our +present situation, surrounded by all the beauty of civilization and +intelligence, with the cheerless prospect which awaited the European +settler, whose voice first startled the stillness of the forest; or if +we look back but one hundred years to the humble beginnings of the +second race of settlers, who undertook the task of reviving the waste +places of this wilderness, and suffered all the privations and hardships +which the pioneers in the march of civilization are called upon to +endure; or if we take a nearer point for comparison, and view the +blackened ruin of our village at the close of the revolutionary war, and +estimate the proud pre-eminence over all those periods which we now +enjoy, in our civil relations and in the means of social happiness, our +hearts should swell with gratitude to the Author of all good that these +high privileges are granted to us; and we should resolve that we will +individually and as a community sustain the purity and moral tone of our +institutions, and leave them unimpaired to posterity. + + + + +THE CHEROKEE'S THREAT. + +By N. P. Willis. + + +At the extremity of a green lane in the outer skirt of the fashionable +suburb of New-Haven, stood a rambling old Dutch house, built, probably, +when the cattle of Mynheer grazed over the present site of the town. It +was a wilderness of irregular rooms, of no describable shape in its +exterior, and from its southern balcony, to use an expressive gallicism, +_gave_ upon the bay. Long Island Sound, the great highway from the +northern Atlantic to New York, weltered in alternate lead and silver +(oftener like the brighter metal, for the climate is divine) between the +curving lip of the bay, and the interminable and sandy shore of the +island some six leagues distant, the procession of ships and steamers +stole past with an imperceptible progress, the ceaseless bells of the +college chapel came deadened through the trees from behind, and (the day +being one of golden Autumn, and myself and St. John waiting while black +Agatha answered the door-bell) the sun-steeped precipice of East Rock +with its tiara of blood-red maples flushing like a Turk's banner in the +light, drew from us both a truant wish for a ramble and a holiday. + +In a few minutes from this time were assembled in Mrs. Ilfrington's +drawing-room the six or seven young ladies of my more particular +acquaintance among her pupils--of whom one was a new-comer, and the +object of my mingled curiosity and admiration. It was the one day of +the week when morning visiters were admitted, and I was there in +compliance with an unexpected request from my friend, to present him to +the agreeable circle of Mrs. Ilfrington. As an _habitue_ in her family, +this excellent lady had taken occasion to introduce to me a week or two +before, the new-comer of whom I have spoken above--a departure from the +ordinary rule of the establishment, which I felt to be a compliment, and +which gave me, I presumed, a tacit claim to mix myself up in that young +lady's destiny as deeply as I should find agreeable. The new-comer was +the daughter of an Indian chief, and her name was Nunu. + +The transmission of the daughter of a Cherokee chief to New-Haven, to be +educated at the expense of the government, and of several young men of +the same high birth to different colleges, will be recorded among the +evidences in history that we did not plough the bones of their fathers +into our fields without some feelings of compunction. Nunu had come to +the seaboard under the charge of a female missionary, whose pupil she +had been in one of the native schools of the west, and was destined, +though a chief's daughter, to return as a teacher to her tribe, when she +should have mastered some of the higher accomplishments of her sex. She +was an apt scholar, but her settled melancholy when away from her books, +had determined Mrs. Ilfrington to try the effect of a little society +upon her, and hence my privilege to ask for her appearance in the +drawing-room. + +As we strolled down in the alternate shade and sunshine of the road, I +had been a little piqued at the want of interest and the manner of +course with which St. John had received my animated descriptions of the +personal beauty of the Cherokee. + +"I have hunted with the tribe," was his only answer, "and know their +features." + +"But she is not like them," I replied with a tone of some impatience; +"she is the _beau-ideal_ of a red skin, but it is with the softened +features of an Arab or an Egyptian. She is more willowy than erect, and +has no higher cheek-bones than the plaster Venus in your chambers. If it +were not for the lambent fire in her eye, you might take her in the +sculptured grace of her attitudes, for an immortal bronze of Cleopatra. +I tell you she is divine!" + +St. John called to his dog and we turned along the green bank above the +beach, with Mrs. Ilfrington's house in view, and so opens a new chapter +of my story. + + * * * * * + +I have seen in many years wandering over the world, lived to gaze upon, +and live to remember and adore--a constellation, I almost believe, that +has absorbed all the intensest light of the beauty of a hemisphere--yet +with your pictures coloured to life in my memory, and the pride of rank +and state thrown over them like an elevating charm--I go back to the +school of Mrs. Ilfrington, and (smile if you will!) they were as lovely +and stately, and as worthy of the worship of the world. + +I introduced St. John to the young ladies as they came in. Having never +seen him except in the presence of men, I was a little curious to know +whether his singular _aplomb_ would serve him as well with the other +sex, of which I was aware he had had a very slender experience. My +attention was distracted at the moment of mentioning his name to a +lovely little Georgian, (with eyes full of the liquid sunshine of the +south,) by a sudden bark of joy from the dog who had been left in the +hall; and as the door opened, and the slight and graceful Indian girl +entered the room, the usually unsocial animal sprung bounding in, +lavishing caresses on her, and seemingly wild with the delight of +recognition. + +In the confusion of taking the dog from the room, I had again lost the +moment of remarking St. John's manner, and on the entrance of Mrs. +Ilfrington, Nunu was sitting calmly by the piano, and my friend was +talking in a quiet undertone with the passionate Georgian. + +"I must apologise for my dog," said St. John, bowing gracefully to the +mistress of the house; "he was bred by Indians, and the sight of a +Cherokee reminded him of happier days--as it did his master." + +Nunu turned her eyes quickly upon him, but immediately resumed her +apparently deep study of the abstruse figures in the Kidderminster +carpet. + +"You are well arrived, young gentlemen," said Mrs. Ilfrington; "we press +you into our service for a botanical ramble, Mr. Slingsby is at leisure, +and will be delighted I am sure. Shall I say as much for you, Mr. St. +John?" St. John bowed, and the ladies left the room for their bonnets, +Mrs. Ilfrington last. + +The door was scarcely closed when Nunu re-appeared, and checking herself +with a sudden feeling at the first step over the threshold, stood gazing +at St. John, evidently under very powerful emotion. + +"Nunu!" he said, smiling slowly and unwillingly, and holding out his +hands with the air of one who forgives an offence. + +She sprang upon his bosom with the bound of a leveret, and, between her +fast kisses broke the endearing epithets of her native tongue--in words +that I only understood by their passionate and thrilling accent. The +language of the heart is universal. + +The fair scholars came in one after another, and we were soon on our way +through the green fields to the flowery mountain side of East Rock, Mrs. +Ilfrington's arm and conversation having fallen to my share, and St. +John rambling at large with the rest of the party, but more particularly +beset by Miss Temple, whose Christian name was Isabella, and whose +Christian charity had no bowels for broken hearts. + +The most sociable individuals of the party for a while were Nunu and +Last, the dog's recollections of the past seeming, like those of wiser +animals, more agreeable than the present. The Cherokee astonished Mrs. +Ilfrington by an abandonment of joy and frolic which she had never +displayed before, sometimes fairly outrunning the dog at full speed, and +sometimes sitting down breathless upon a green bank, while the rude +creature overpowered her with his caresses. The scene gave rise to a +grave discussion between that well-instructed lady and myself upon the +singular force of childish association--the extraordinary intimacy +between the Indian and the trapper's dog being explained satisfactorily, +to her at least, on that attractive principle. Had she but seen Nunu +spring into the bosom of my friend half an hour before, she might have +added a material corollary to her proposition. If the dog and the +chief's daughter were not old friends, the chief's daughter and St. John +certainly _were_! + +As well as I could judge by the motions of two people walking before me, +St. John was advancing fast in the favor and acquaintance of the +graceful Georgian. Her southern indolence was probably an apology in +Mrs. Ilfrington's eyes for leaning heavily on her companion's arm, but, +in a momentary halt, the capricious beauty disembarrassed herself of the +light scarf that had floated over her shoulders, and bound it playfully +around his waist. This was rather strange on a first acquaintance, and +Mrs. Ilfrington was of that opinion. + +"Miss Temple!" said she, advancing to whisper a reproof in the beauty's +ear. + +Before she had taken a second step, Nunu bounded over the low hedge, +followed by the dog with whom she had been chasing a butterfly, and +springing upon St. John, with eyes that flashed fire, she tore the scarf +into shreds, and stood trembling and pale, with her feet on the silken +fragments. + +"Madam!" said St. John, advancing to Mrs. Ilfrington, after casting on +the Cherokee a look of surprise and displeasure, "I should have told you +before, that your pupil and myself are not new acquaintances. Her father +is my friend. I have hunted with the tribe, and have hitherto looked +upon Nunu as a child. You will believe me, I trust, when I say, her +conduct surprises me, and I beg to assure you, that any influence I may +have over her, will be in accordance with your own wishes exclusively." + +His tone was cold, and Nunu listened with fixed lips and frowning eyes. + +"Have you seen her before since her arrival?" asked Mrs. Ilfrington. + +"My dog brought me yesterday the first intelligence that she was here. +He returned from his morning ramble with a string of wampum about his +neck, which had the mark of the tribe. He was her gift," he added, +patting the head of the dog and looking with a softened expression at +Nunu, who drooped her head upon her bosom and walked on in tears. + + * * * * * + +The chain of the Green Mountains, after a gallop of some five hundred +miles from Canada to Connecticut, suddenly pulls up on the shore of Long +Island Sound, and stands rearing with a bristling mane of pine-trees, +three hundred feet in air, as if checked in midcareer by the sea. +Standing on the brink of this bold precipice, you have the bald face of +the rock in a sheer perpendicular below you; and, spreading away from +the broken masses at its foot, lies an emerald meadow inlaid with a +crystal and rambling river, across which, at a distance of a mile or +two, rise the spires of the university from what else were a thick +serried wilderness of elms. Back from the edge of the precipice extends +a wild forest of hemlock and fir, ploughed on its northern side by a +mountain torrent, whose bed of marl, dry and overhung with trees in the +summer, serves as a path and guide from the plain to the summit. It were +a toilsome ascent but for that smooth and hard pavement, and the +impervious and green thatch of pine-tassels overhung. + +The kind mistress ascended with the assistance of my arm, and St. John +drew stoutly between Miss Temple and a fat young lady with an incipient +asthma. Nunu had not been seen since the first cluster of hanging +flowers had hidden her from our sight as she bounded upward. + +The hour or two of slanting sunshine, poured in upon the summit of the +precipice from the west, had been sufficient to induce a fine and silken +moss to show its fibres and small blossoms above the carpet of +pine-tassels, and, emerging from the brown shadow of the wood, you stood +on a verdant platform, the foliage of sighing trees overhead, a fairies' +velvet beneath you, and a view below, that you may as well (if you would +not die in your ignorance) make a voyage to see. + +We found Nunu lying thoughtfully near the brink of the precipice and +gazing off over the waters of the sound, as if she watched the coming or +going of a friend under the white sails that glanced upon its bosom. We +recovered our breath in silence, I alone perhaps of that considerable +company gazing with admiration at the lithe and unconscious figure of +grace lying in the attitude of the Grecian hermaphrodite on the brow of +the rock before us. Her eyes were moist, and motionless with +abstraction, her lips just perceptibly curved in an expression of +mingled pride and sorrow, her small hand buried and clenched in the +moss, and her left foot and ankle, models of spirited symmetry, escaped +carelessly from her dress, the high instep strained back, as if +recovering from a leap with the tense control of emotion. + +The game of the coquettish Georgian was well played. With a true woman's +pique, she had redoubled her attentions to my friend from the moment +that she found it gave pain to another of her sex; and St. John, like +most men, seemed not unwilling to see a new altar kindled to his vanity, +though a heart he had already won, was stifling with the incense. Miss +Temple was very lovely: her skin of that teint of opaque and patrician +white, which is found oftenest in Asian latitudes, was just perceptibly +warmed toward the centre of the cheek with a glow like sunshine through +the thick white petal of a magnolia: her eyes were hazel with those +inky lashes which enhance the expression a thousand fold either of +passion, or melancholy; her teeth were like strips from the lily's +heart; and she was clever, captivating, graceful, and a thorough +coquette. St. John was mysterious, romantic-looking, superior, and just +now the only victim in the way. He admired, as all men do, those +qualities, which to her own sex, rendered the fair Isabella unamiable, +and yielded himself, as all men will, a satisfied prey to enchantments +of which he knew the springs were the pique and vanity of the +enchantress. How singular it is that the highest and best qualities of +the female heart are those with which men are the least captivated! + +A rib of the mountain formed a natural seat a little back from the pitch +of the precipice, and here sat Miss Temple, triumphant in drawing all +eyes upon herself and her tamed lion, her lap full of flowers which he +had found time to gather on the way, and her fair hands employed in +arranging a bouquet, of which the destiny was yet a secret. Next to +their own loves, ladies like nothing on earth like mending or marring +the loves of others; and, while the violets and already drooping wild +flowers were coquettishly chosen or rejected by those slender fingers, +the sun might have swung back to the east like a pendulum, and those +seven-and-twenty misses would have watched their lovely schoolfellow the +same. Nunu turned her head slowly around at last, and silently looked +on. St. John lay at the feet of the Georgian, glancing from the flowers +to her face, and from her face to the flowers, with an admiration not at +all equivocal. Mrs. Ilfrington sat apart, absorbed in finishing a sketch +of New-Haven; and I, interested painfully in watching the emotions of +the Cherokee, sat with my back to the trunk of a hemlock, the only +spectator who comprehended the whole extent of the drama. + +A wild rose was set in the heart of the bouquet at last, a spear of +riband-grass added to give it grace and point, and nothing was wanting +but a string. + +Reticules were searched, pockets turned inside out, and never a bit of +riband to be found. The beauty was in despair. + +"Stay!" said St. John, springing to his feet. "Last! Last!" + +The dog came coursing in from the wood, and crouched to his master's +hand. + +"Will a string of wampum do?" he asked, feeling under the long hair on +the dog's neck, and untying a fine and variegated thread of many-colored +beads, worked exquisitely. + +The dog growled, and Nunu sprang into the middle of the circle with the +fling of an adder, and seizing the wampum as he handed it to her rival, +called the dog and fastened it once more around his neck. + +The ladies rose in alarm; the belle turned pale and clung to St. John's +arm; the dog, with his hair bristling on his back, stood close to her +feet in an attitude of defiance, and the superb Indian, the peculiar +genius of her beauty developed by her indignation, her nostrils expanded +and her eyes almost showering fire in their flashes, stood before them, +like a young Pythoness, ready to strike them dead with a regard. + +St. John recovered from his astonishment after a moment, and leaving the +arm of Miss Temple, advanced a step and called to his dog. + +The Cherokee patted the animal on the back, and spoke to him in her own +language; and, as St. John still advanced, Nunu drew herself to her +fullest height, placed herself before the dog, who slunk growling from +his master, and said to him as she folded her arms, "the wampum is +mine!" + +St. John colored to the temples with shame. + +"Last!" he cried, stamping with his foot, and endeavoring to frighten +him from his shelter. + +The dog howled and crept away, half crouching with fear toward the +precipice; and St. John shooting suddenly past Nunu, seized him on the +brink, and held him down by the throat. + +The next instant a scream of horror from Mrs. Ilfrington, followed by a +terrific echo from every female present, started the rude Kentuckian to +his feet. + +Clear over the abyss, hanging with one hand by an aspen sapling, the +point of her tiny foot just poising on a projecting ledge of rock, swung +the desperate Cherokee, sustaining herself with perfect ease, but with +all the determination of her iron race collected in calm concentration +on her lips. + +"Restore the wampum to his neck!" she cried, with a voice that thrilled +the very marrow with its subdued fierceness, "or my blood rest on your +soul!" + +St. John flung it toward the dog, and clasped his hands in silent +horror. + +The Cherokee bore down the sapling till its slender stem cracked with +the tension, and rising lightly with the rebound, alit like a feather +upon the rock. The subdued Kentuckian sprang to her side; but, with +scorn on her lip and the flush of exertion already vanished from her +cheek, she called to the dog, and with rapid strides took her way alone +down the mountain. + + * * * * * + +Five years had elapsed. I had put to sea from the sheltered river of +boyhood; had encountered the storms of a first entrance into life; had +trimmed my boat, shortened sail, and with a sharp eye to windward, was +laying fairly on my course. Among others from whom I had parted company, +was Paul St. John, who had shaken hands with me at the university-gate, +leaving me, after four years' intimacy, as much in doubt as to his real +character and history as the first day we met. I had never heard him +speak of either father or mother; nor had he, to my knowledge, received +a letter from the day of his matriculation. He passed his vacation at +the university. He had studied well, yet refused one of the highest +college-honors offered him with his degree. He had shown many good +qualities, yet some unaccountable faults; and, all in all, was an enigma +to myself and the class. I knew him clever, accomplished, and conscious +of superiority, and my knowledge went no farther. + +It was five years from this time, I say, and in the bitter struggles of +first manhood, I had almost forgotten there was such a being in the +world. Late in the month of October, in 1829, I was on my way westward, +giving myself a vacation from the law. I embarked on a clear and +delicious day in the small steamer which plies up and down the Cayuga +Lake, looking forward to a calm feast of scenery, and caring little who +were to be my fellow passengers. As we got out of the little harbor of +Cayuga, I walked astern for the first time, and saw the not very +unusual sight of a group of Indians standing motionless by the wheel. +They were chiefs returning from a diplomatic visit to Washington. + +I sat down by the companion-ladder, and opened soul and eye to the +glorious scenery we were gliding through. The first severe frost had +come, and the miraculous change had passed upon the leaves, which is +known only in America. The blood-red sugar-maple, with a leaf brighter +and more delicate than a Circassian's lip, stood here and there in the +forest like the sultan's standard in a host, the solitary and far-seen +aristocrat of the wilderness; the birch, with its spirit-like and amber +leaves, ghosts of the departed summer, turned out along the edges of the +woods like a lining of the palest gold; the broad sycamore and the +fan-like catalpa, flaunted their saffron foliage in the sun, spotted +with gold like the wings of a lady-bird; the kingly oak, with its summit +shaken bare, still hid its majestic trunk in a drapery of sumptuous dies +like a stricken monarch, gathering his robes of state about him to die +royally in his purple; the tall poplar, with its minaret of silver +leaves, stood blanched like a coward in the dying forest, burdening +every breeze with its complainings; the hickory, paled through its +enduring green; the bright berries of the mountain-ash flushed with a +sanguine glory in the unobstructed sun; the gaudy tulip-tree, the +sybarite of vegetation, stripped of its golden cups, still drank the +intoxicating light of noonday in leaves than which the lip of Indian +shell was never more delicately teinted; the still deeper-died vines of +the lavish wilderness, perishing with the nobler things whose summer +they had shared, outshone them in their decline, as woman in her death +is heavenlier than the being on whom in life she leaned; and alone and +unsympathizing in this universal decay, outlaws from nature, stood the +fir and the hemlock, their frowning and sombre heads, darker and less +lovely than ever in contrast with the death-struck glory of their +companions. + +The dull colors of English autumnal foliage, give you no conception of +this marvellous phenomenon. The change here, too, is gradual. In America +it is the work of a night--of a single frost! Ah, to have seen the sun +set on hills, bright in the still green and lingering summer, and to +wake in the morning to a spectacle like this! It is as if a myriad of +rainbows were laced through the tree-tops--as if the sunsets of a +summer--gold, purple and crimson--had been fused in the alembic of the +west, and poured back in a new deluge of light and color over the +wilderness. It is as if every leaf in those countless trees had been +painted to outflush the tulip--as if, by some electric miracle, the dies +of the earth's heart had struck upward, and her crystals and ore, her +sapphires, hyacinths and rubies, had let forth their imprisoned dies to +mount through the roots of the forest, and like the angels that in olden +time entered the bodies of the dying, reanimate the perishing leaves, +and revel an hour in their bravery. + +I was sitting by the companion-ladder, thinking to what on earth these +masses of foliage could be resembled, when a dog sprang upon my knees, +and, the moment after, a hand was laid on my shoulder. + +"St. John? Impossible!" + +"Bodily!" answered my quondam classmate. + +I looked at him with astonishment. The _soigne_ man of fashion I had +once known, was enveloped in a kind of hunter's frock, loose and large, +and girded to his waist by a belt; his hat was exchanged for a cap of +rich otter-skin; his pantaloons spread with a slovenly carelessness over +his feet, and altogether there was that in his air which told me at a +glance that he had renounced the world. Last had recovered his leanness, +and after wagging out his joy, he couched between my feet, and lay +looking into my face as if he was brooding over the more idle days in +which we had been acquainted. + +"And where are _you_ bound?" I asked, having answered the same question +for myself. + +"Westward with the chiefs!" + +"For how long?" + +"The remainder of my life." + +I could not forbear an exclamation of surprise. + +"You would wonder less," said he, with an impatient gesture, "if you +knew more of me. And by the way," he added, with a smile, "I think I +never told you the first half of the story--my life up to the time I met +you." + +"It was not for the want of a catechist," I answered, setting myself in +an attitude of attention. + +"No! and I was often tempted to gratify your curiosity; but from the +little intercourse I had with the world I had adopted some precocious +principles, and one was, that a man's influence over others was +vulgarism, and diminished by a knowledge of his history." + +I smiled, and as the boat sped on her way over the calm waters of the +Cayuga, St. John went on leisurely with a story which is scarce +remarkable enough to merit a repetition. He believed himself the natural +son of a western hunter, but only knew that he had passed his early +youth on the borders of civilization, between whites and Indians, and +that he had been more particularly indebted for protection to the father +of Nunu. Mingled ambition and curiosity had led him eastward while still +a lad, and a year or two of the most vagabond life in the different +cities, had taught him the caution and bitterness for which he was so +remarkable. A fortunate experiment in lotteries supplied him with the +means of education, and with singular application in a youth of such +wandering habits, he had applied himself to study under a private +master, fitted himself for the university in half the usual time, and +cultivated in addition the literary taste which I have remarked upon. + +"This," he said, smiling at my look of astonishment, "brings me up to +the time when we met. I came to college at the age of eighteen, with a +few hundred dollars in my pocket, some pregnant experience of the rough +side of the world, great confidence in myself and distrust of others, +and, I believe, a kind of instinct of good manners, which made me +ambitious of shining in society. You were a witness of my _debut_. Miss +Temple was the first highly educated woman I had ever known, and you saw +the effect on me!" + +"And since we parted?" + +"Oh, since we parted, my life has been vulgar enough. I have ransacked +civilized life to the bottom, and found it a heap of unredeemed +falsehoods. I do not say it from common disappointment, for I may say I +succeeded in every thing I undertook." + +"Except Miss Temple," I said, interrupting, at the hazard of wounding +him. + +"No. She was a coquette, and I pursued her till I had my turn. You see +me in my new character now. But a month ago, I was the Apollo of +Saratoga, playing my own game with Miss Temple. I left her for a woman +worth ten thousand of her--but here she is." + +As Nunu came up the companionway from the cabin, I thought I had never +seen a breathing creature so exquisitely lovely. With the exception of a +pair of brilliant moccasins on her feet, she was dressed in the usual +manner, but with the most absolute simplicity. She had changed in those +five years from the child to the woman, and, with a round and +well-developed figure, additional height, and manners at once gracious +and dignified, she walked and looked the chieftan's daughter. St. John +took her hand, and gazed on her with moisture in his eyes. + +"That I could ever put a creature like this," he said, "into comparison +with the dolls of civilization!" + +We parted at Buffalo--St. John with his wife and the chiefs to pursue +their way westward by Lake Erie, and I to go moralizing on my way to +Niagara. + + + + +GRECIAN AND ROMAN ELOQUENCE. + +By Ashur Ware. + + +In the flourishing periods of the Grecian and Roman commonwealths, the +forms of their governments, the state of society, and the passions and +manners of the times, were more favorable to the developement of great +talents, than have existed in any other age, or among any other people. +In Athens and Rome, every citizen was a public man. The great powers of +government were exercised by the people themselves in their primary +assemblies. The practice of delegating the higher attributes of +sovereignty to a small number of persons periodically elected is one of +the greatest improvements, which the lights of modern experience have +introduced into the constitutions of free governments. The advantages +which are gained by this system in favor of internal tranquillity, the +steadiness and permanency of political institutions and the security of +private rights, can scarcely be estimated too highly, or purchased at +too great a price. But nearly in the same proportion as this improvement +contributes to the general tranquillity and the personal security of the +citizen, does it narrow the field for the operation of great talents. +The individual power of each man is hardly felt in the harmonious +working of the great machine of government, and its character soon comes +to depend much more on the system than on the genius of those by whom it +is conducted. Precedents, fixed opinions, long established policy and +constitutional maxims, throw an invisible net work over those, who are +at the head of affairs, which a giant's strength cannot break through. +An ordinary share of talent, enlightened by experience, is found to be +about as useful in the regular movement of the system, as the highest +gifts of genius. + +But it was otherwise in the republics of Athens and Rome. There the +power of the system was nothing, and the genius of the individual every +thing. In the agitations of these popular commonwealths, the great +actors on the stage were driven to a life of unremitted exertion. The +revolutions of popular favor were sudden and appalling, and always +liable to be carried to great extremes. A decisive moment lost might be +fatal to the hopes of a whole life. Their powers were, therefore, +constantly wound up to the utmost intensity of action. Second rate men, +who are abundantly able to go through with the regular and quiet routine +of official duty in our modern bureaus, would be quickly blown down by +the storms which shook the tribunes of those turbulent democracies. The +very imperfections in their political systems contributed to develope +the genius of their statesmen, and necessarily called into action every +faculty of the mind. + +In all free and popular governments, eloquence is one of the principal +instruments of power, and the fairest field is presented for its +operations where the general powers of government are put in motion by +the immediate agency of the mass of the people. In all the nations of +modern Europe, where the semblance of deliberative assemblies is +preserved, these are composed of a small and select number of persons; +and in these small bodies, when a reasonable space is allowed for the +coercive power of party training, for the operation of the subtle and +diffusive poison of executive influence, and in some cases, for the +gross and palpable application of direct corruption, the province of +eloquence will be found to be greatly narrowed. Her most persuasive +accents fall on ears that are spellbound by a mightier power, and on the +most important questions, the votes are often counted, before +deliberation commences. But this complicated machinery cannot be brought +to bear with the same effect on the whole body of the citizens. If their +movements are more irregular, and liable to greater excesses, they have +their origin in the purer and more noble impulses of the heart. The +natural love of equity, the instinctive principles of disinterestedness +and generosity, originally implanted in the heart of man by the author +of our being, cannot easily be extinguished in a whole people. After the +tools of faction, and the minions of power, have exhausted the arts of +corruption, these holier elements of our nature will kindle into +spontaneous enthusiasm, when lofty and generous sentiments are brought +home to the bosom in the accents of a manly and pathetic eloquence. The +great and unsophisticated springs of human action are always touched +with most effect in large assemblies. In these the prevailing tone of +feeling, when highly exalted, spreads through the whole by a secret +sympathy, with the rapidity of the electric fluid. + +It was before such an audience that eloquence uttered her voice in +ancient times. The orators of Greece and Rome brought their genius to +bear directly on the popular mind. The public assemblies which were then +held were for actual deliberation. It was not a mockery of consultation +on matters upon which all opinions were definitely made up. They came +together to be instructed, and were open to the seductive arts of their +orators even to a fault. The objects of deliberation also were of the +greatest moment, the fortunes of a province or a kingdom, the safety of +the republic, the honor, or perhaps the life of the orator himself or +his nearest friends. Every motive which hope or fear or pride or party +could suggest, to animate the passions, was brought to act on the +speaker's mind, and all depended on a doubtful decision, which was to be +made on the spot, and before the separation of the assembly. These +contests were not of rare occurrence. They were coming up continually. +They were upon the most magnificent theatre in the world, and before +judges who united a most refined and discriminating taste with an +extraordinary degree of susceptibility to all the charms of a passionate +and harmonious eloquence. The orators, therefore, were kept in constant +training. Their faculties had no time to cool. + +They had no intervals for luxurious repose. The dignities to which they +had risen were watched by powerful and jealous rivals, always ready to +wrest from them their honors, and they could be retained only by the +same efforts by which they were won. + +In these ancient republics eloquence was substantial and effective power +and led to the highest dignities, which the most aspiring genius could +hope to attain. It was cultivated with an assiduity bearing a just +proportion to the honors with which it was crowned. The education of the +orator commenced in his cradle, and did not terminate until he had +reached the full maturity of manhood; or, to speak more correctly, it +comprised the whole business of his life. All his studies were made +subservient to the art of speaking, and the course of instruction +descended into the most minute details which could improve him in his +action or elocution. It was this entire devotion to a favorite and +honored art, which raised it to a height of perfection, which it has +never since been able to reach, and which produced those prodigies in +the oratorical art, which have been the admiration and the despair of +succeeding ages. + +In the most brilliant period of antiquity there were two styles of +eloquence cultivated by the different orators. One, calm, subtle and +elegant, addressed almost exclusively to the understanding. In the time +of Cicero this was called the Attic style, and those who belonged to +this school assumed no little credit on the supposed purity of their +Attic taste. The other affected a style of greater warmth and +brilliancy, and intermingled with the scrupulous dialectics of the +former, frequent appeals to the passions, and adorned their discourses +with all the beauties which could captivate the imagination. What was +then denominated the Attic style, forms the prevailing characteristic of +modern oratory. It is cool and didactic. It relies almost wholly on the +powers of a cultivated logic and seldom attempts to reach the +understanding through the medium of the heart. It requires little +reflection to determine which of these styles would bear away the palm +before a popular audience. The former leaves one half the faculties of +the hearer dormant, while the latter addresses itself to all the powers +of man, the moral as well as the intellectual, instructs the reason +while it agitates the passions, and gives at the same time one powerful +and impetuous movement to the whole man. But if any one doubts upon +this matter let him go to the pages of Demosthenes and especially to +that most perfect of all his orations, in which he was contending with +his great rival for the glory of a whole life in the presence of all +that was most illustrious in Greece,--his oration for the crown. He will +find from the beginning to the end, a clear and exact logic. But it is +logic raised into enthusiasm by the dignity and elevation of sentiment +by which it is surrounded. He will not find a metaphor or an observation +introduced merely for the purposes of ornament. It is a continued stream +of clear, rapid and convincing argument. But it is argument enveloped in +a torrent of earnestness and exaggeration, environed with a blaze of +anger and disdain and passion--it is argument clothed in thunder, which +could no more be listened to with a composed and tranquil mind than the +flashes of lightning could be viewed with an unblinking eye. Strip +Demosthenes of these accompaniments, of these accessories, if you please +to call them so, and you will leave enough perhaps to satisfy our modern +Attics, but this residue will be no more like the living Demosthenes who +"fulmined over Greece," than the unformed block of marble is like the +Belvidere Apollo, or a naked skeleton like a living man. + +It is said that the state of manners in modern society would not bear +those bold appeals to the passions which abound in the ancient orators. +We are ingenious in taking to ourselves credit even for our inferiority, +and it is contended that our understandings are more cultivated and our +passions more under the dominion of reason. If there be any foundation +for this opinion it must be received with many qualifications. It has +become a fashion of late to decry the manners and morals of the +republics of antiquity. That their manners differed in many respects +from the modes of fashion established in what is called good society in +modern times is admitted, but it does not follow that the advantage is +on our side. There is still less foundation for the opinion that in +their intellectual powers the Greeks and Romans were less cultivated +than the most polished nations of our times. There never existed a +nation in which the intellectual education of the whole body of the +people was carried to so high a pitch as in Athens. However extravagant +the assertion may be thought, it is indisputably true that the "mob of +Athens," as the people of that renowned commonwealth are affectedly +called, were of a more refined, severe and critical taste in every thing +that pertains to the beauties of eloquence than the members of the +British House of Commons have been, at any period of its existence, from +the first meeting of the Wittenagemote to the present day. They would +allow, says Cicero, in their orators no violation of purity or elegance +of language. _Eorum religioni cum serviret orator, nullum verbum +insolens, nullum odiosum ponere audebat._ Many a speech has been cheered +by the "_hear hims_" of the Treasury Bench in that house, which would +have shocked the discriminating and critical ears, _aures teretes ac +religiosas_, of that extraordinary people. The whole testimony of +antiquity concurs in proving their extreme delicacy and fastidiousness +in every thing which belongs to taste in letters and the arts. + +There was another peculiarity in the circumstances of these ancient +republics which favored the cultivation of eloquence. The press, that +great engine by which public opinion is moved in modern times, was then +unknown. Addresses in the assemblies of the people were not only the +ordinary but almost the sole mode by which public men could influence or +enlighten public opinion. All political discussion assumed this form and +these popular harangues composed a very large portion of the literature +of the times. The language of oral communication naturally assumes a +tone of greater vivacity and passion than that of the closet. The +predominance of this species of composition must have had a powerful +influence in forming the national taste and would naturally impart its +prevailing tone to every other species. Such seems to have been the +fact. The philosophers and historians caught something of the animated +and rhetorical manner of their public speakers, and in that species of +eloquence which is suited to the nature of their subjects, surpass the +moderns nearly as much as their orators do. Plato stands as far above +all rivals in this particular, as his countryman and disciple +Demosthenes. The easy and graceful movement of his dialogue, the +splendid amplification and harmonious numbers of his declamation and the +warm and animated glow of moral enthusiasm, which he has thrown over his +mystical speculations, render his works the most perfect specimen of +philosophical eloquence ever yet produced. His example will also show +what importance was attached to style alone by the teachers of ancient +wisdom. The last labors of a long life, which had been devoted to the +most sublime philosophy of the age, were employed in retouching and +remodelling the inimitable graces of his rich and flowing periods; +_musæo contingens cuncta lepore_. + +A superiority scarcely less imposing in this respect will be found in +their historians. Their genius was also kindled by a coal from the altar +of the orators. I am ready to acknowledge the great merit of the classic +historians of modern times. I am not insensible to the calm and +sustained dignity of Roberston, to the melody of his full and flowing +style, though it sometimes fills the ear without filling the mind. He +must be a much more morose critic who is not delighted with the simple +and unaffected elegance of Hume, and with that admirable facility with +which he intermingles the most profound reflections in a narration +always easy, copious and graceful. Nor can the historian of the Decline +and Fall of the Roman Empire be forgotten in an enumeration of those who +have done honor to this branch of literature. After all that has been +said and written against him, he has left a work which the world will +not willingly suffer to die. The Randolphs and Taylors and Chelsums by +whom he was assailed, have passed into an easy oblivion, but the great +work of the historian will always find a place in every library and a +reader in every well educated man. The pomp and stateliness of his style +sometimes bordering on the turgid may provoke a sneer from those who +look only to the surface, but he had a mind enriched by various and +extensive learning, which he has exuberantly and tastefully displayed in +every page of his work. It may also be admitted that in modern times +history has in its general character received something more of a +philosophical tone. But what it has gained on the side of philosophy it +has more than lost on that of eloquence. + +Compare the triumvirate of English historians in this respect with the +inestimable remains of antiquity, and there is a disparity as striking +as it is difficult to be accounted for. In this, as in every other +department of literature, the Romans were the imitators of the Greeks; +but in history while they imitated they surpassed their masters. The two +great historians of Rome stand above all that preceded as well as all +that followed them. The history of the rise of the Roman republic, from +a small band of outlaws to the uncontrolled mastery of the world, is the +most extraordinary chapter in the history of the human race. The annals +of mankind present nothing that resembles it. A splendid or an affecting +story may be degraded or belittled by being told in an unworthy style. +But the style of Livy never falls below the dignity of his subject. His +eloquence is as magnificent as the fortunes of the eternal city. In +splendor of language, in glowing and picturesque description, in warmth +and brilliancy and boldness of coloring, and in the dignified and +majestic movement of his whole narrative, there is nothing in the +literature of any country which will bear a comparison with the Decads +of Livy. He is always on the borders of oratory and poetry, without ever +passing the soberness of history. _Mille habet ornatus, mille decenter +habet._ + +The golden age of letters in Rome was as short as it was brilliant. It +scarcely surpassed in duration the ordinary term of human life. +Commencing with Cicero, it closed with the generation who were his +cotemporaries, the last who breathed the free air of the republic. But +in the universal corruption of taste and morals that followed the +extinction of liberty, there arose one man, Tacitus, whose genius +belonged to a happier age. In his own, it has been remarked with as +much truth as beauty, he stands like a column in the midst of ruins. It +has been said that the secret of his style belongs to the circumstances +of his life, as well as to the peculiar temperament of the man. He wrote +the history of his own times, and they presented but few bright spots on +which the eye could repose with pleasure. But he paints the features of +that dark and fearful peace, of that awful and portentous silence of +despotism, convulsed as it was by internal dissensions and agitated by +all the vices of a profligate populace and an abandoned nobility, in +words of enchantment. While they seem to express every thing that is +terrible in tragedy, they suggest to the imagination more than meets the +ear. No man could have described those scenes as he has done but one who +had seen and felt them. His vivid and graphic pictures speak at once to +the eye, to the imagination, and to the heart; and without any of the +parade or ostentation of eloquence, he impresses on the mind of the +reader all the feelings which seem to prevail in his own. + +The current of fashion has for some time been setting strongly against +classical learning. In an age of so much intellectual activity as the +present, all sorts of new opinions are received with favor. The most +extravagant have their hour of triumph until they are chased from the +stage by some new absurdity, or until the restless love of change is +drawn off to some more startling paradox. This insatiable thirst for +novelty is carried into literature as well as other things. But the +principles of good taste are unchangeable. They have their foundations +deeply laid in nature and truth, and the tide of time which sweeps into +oblivion the sickly illusions of distempered imaginations, passes over +these unhurt. The Bavii and Maevii of former ages, who like those of +later times enjoyed for their hour the sunshine of fashionable +celebrity, have been long ago gathered to their long home, but the +beauties of Homer and Virgil are as fresh now as they were at the +beginning. Independent of the arguments commonly used in favor of +classical learning, there are two considerations which recommend these +studies to peculiar favor in this country. I advert to them the more +willingly, because they have not been usually urged in proportion to +their importance. + +The first is addressed to our literary ambition. If there be any +department of elegant literature in which we may hope to surpass our +European ancestors and cotemporaries, it is in eloquence. It is the +fairest and most hopeful field which now remains for literary +distinction. In every other the moderns, if they have not equalled, are +not far behind the ancients. Their poetry can scarcely claim an +advantage over that of the moderns, except what it owes directly to the +superiority of the ancient languages. But if we except some of the +finest productions of the French pulpit in the reign of Louis XIV. there +is nothing in modern literature which approaches the eloquence of +antiquity. The most accomplished of our forensic and parliamentary +speakers are at an immeasurable distance from the perfection of the +ancient orators. If there be any modern nation, which may hope to +emulate them with some prospect of success, it is our own. In our free +institutions and in the free genius of our countrymen we have all that +is necessary. The soil is prepared and we are already a nation of +debaters. But if we would add to the faculty of fluent speaking the +gifts of eloquence, these must be sought where the ancients found them, +in a patient and persevering devotion to the art. We must be made +sensible both of its dignity and its difficulty, and nothing can so +effectually give us this knowledge as a familiar acquaintance with the +inimitable remains of the orators of Greece and Rome. + +The second consideration is of a political character. The feudal +governments of Europe may have an interest in discouraging a taste for +these studies. The literature of antiquity, in its prevailing tone and +character, is deeply impregnated with the free spirit of the age in +which it was produced. Nothing can be more repugnant to that temper of +patient servility which it is the policy of such governments to foster. +Nothing can more powerfully invigorate those generous feelings which are +inspired by the consciousness of freedom, than a familiarity with the +historians and orators of Greece and Rome. There is an uncompromising +spirit of liberty breathing its divine inspirations over every page, +wholly irreconcilable with that courtly suppleness which is adapted to +the genius of these governments. These proud republicans had no +superstitious veneration for anointed heads. They were accustomed to +behold suppliant royalty trembling in the antichambers of their Senate, +or its haughty spirit still more humbled in swelling the triumphal pomp +of their generals and consuls. These sights served to nourish a profound +feeling of the dignity, which is attached to the person of a freeman, a +feeling more deeply engraved on the spirit of antiquity than any other +sentiment of the heart. It seems to have constituted the very soul of +their genius, and it breathes its sacred fires through every +ramification of their literature. So intimately was it incorporated with +the very elements of their intellectual nature, that nothing could +extinguish it short of those calamities which spread their deadly +mildews over the fires of genius itself. After the constitutional +liberty of the country sunk under the weight of military despotism, its +scattered flames still broke out at intervals in the few great men who +arose to throw a gleam of brightness over the surrounding gloom. It +shewed itself in the pathetic and affecting complaints of Tacitus, and +burst forth in the bitter and indignant sarcasms of Juvenal. The +venerable father of song declared in prophetic numbers that the first +day of servitude robbed man of half his virtue, and Longinus, the last +of the ancient race of great men, holds up the lights of fifteen +centuries experience to verify the words of the poet. It is democracy, +says he, that is the propitious nurse of great talents, and it is only +in democracy that they flourish. Let the minions of legitimacy then +extinguish if they can the emulation of ancient eloquence; it is their +most dangerous enemy; but let us, who inherit the liberties of the +ancient republics, cherish it with a sacred devotion. It is at once the +child and the champion of freedom. + + + + +RELIGION. + +By Jason Whitman. + + +Religion, as introduced to us by our Saviour, attracts our attention and +enlists our affections, not by any solemn pomp or formal parade, but by +her beautiful and interesting simplicity, her real and intrinsic worth. +Nor has she been introduced to us, merely that she may dwell in our +temples to be gazed at from a distance and occasionally adored. No. She +has been introduced to us, that we might take her familiarly by the +hand, conduct her into our houses and seat her by our firesides,--not as +an occasional visitor there, but as an intimate friend--perfectly free +and unreserved, ever ready to lend her aid in making home the abode of +happiness, or to go forth with us and assist in elevating and purifying +the pleasures and the intercourse of social life; ever ready to assist +in the various labors of life--to guide and cheer the conversation--to +bend over the bed of sickness, or to mingle her sympathies with those +who are mourning. It is her office to elevate and improve mankind, not +by looking down upon them from above, but by dwelling familiarly and +habitually among them, restraining, by the respect which her presence +inspires, every thing impure and unholy, until she has awakened +aspirations after the pure, the holy, the spiritual, the infinite and +eternal. Such was the Christian Religion as introduced to us by our +Saviour. Would that she might ever remain such, an inmate of our houses, +a member of our family circles, whose form and features are familiar to +our children, and for whom their attachment grows with their growth and +strengthens with their strength. But such have not, it would seem, been +the feelings of mankind in regard to her. They, filled with admiration, +perhaps, for her excellence, and fearing, lest she might be treated with +rude familiarity, have thought to add to her dignity and to increase the +respect entertained for her, by enveloping her in the folds of +unintelligible mysteries, and by suffering her to be approached only in +a formal manner, upon the set days when and the appointed places where +she holds her levees. The consequences of this have been such as might +have been expected. While there are multitudes of admirers of Religion, +as one of a higher order of beings altogether above and beyond +themselves, there are few who make her the companion of their daily +walk--few who take her to themselves and, in the firm conviction that +they were made for each other, leave all things else, cleave unto and +become one with her. + +Would that we might all embrace Christianity as she is in herself--as +she was introduced to us by our Saviour, in all her simplicity--in all +her purity--that we might make her the companion of our lives--the +friend of our hearts. She is one, who will with readiness accompany us +wherever we go--pointing out to us the way of our duty and the sources +of our happiness. Are we children she will teach us the duties of +children. Are we parents she will instruct us in our duties as parents. +In prosperity she will increase our happiness--in adversity she will +sweeten our cup--in sickness she will alleviate our pains, and, when +called away by the stern summons of death, she will accompany us and +introduce us into the society of heaven with which she is intimate--the +society of our God--of Jesus our Saviour--and of the spirits of the just +made perfect, concerning whom she has often conversed with us, making us +acquainted with their principles, feelings and characters, and exerting +within us a desire to be with them. + + + + +THE DESERTED WIFE. + +By Mrs. Ann S. Stephens. + + 'Like ivy, woman's love will cling + Too often round a worthless thing.' + + +Immediately after the horrid murder of young Darnley, Mary of Scotland +removed from the scene of his death to Sterling, ostensibly on a visit +to her infant son. Thither she was followed by all the gay members of +her court, among whom were the Earl of Bothwell and Balfour, the +suspected murderers. A short time previous to this journey Mary had +received a letter from one of her subjects in the north, strenuously +recommending a young and interesting female to her protection, who, as +the letter stated, had especial reasons for sojourning awhile in the +neighborhood of the court. Mary with her usual benevolence kindly +received the lovely stranger, and was so won by her grace and melancholy +beauty, that with the thoughtlessness of her impulsive character, she +installed her in the royal household and admitted her to the closest +intimacy of mistress and servant. Her affections daily increased for one +of whom she knew nothing, except that she was reported to have sprung +from a noble but impoverished family, and had been drawn to court by her +interest in a dear relation, or perhaps lover. The queen did not trouble +herself to inquire into particulars, at a time when her own affairs not +only engrossed her thoughts, but the attention of all Europe. Certain it +was, that whatever had drawn Ellen Craigh to the Scottish court, it was +no desire to partake of its pleasures. Though she occasionally mingled +with the ladies of Mary's household, and even listened with silent +interest to the scandal which recent events had given rise to, she +sedulously secluded herself from the gallants of the court, and on no +occasion had been known to leave the immediate apartment of the queen, +except for a short space each day, when the relative who had drawn her +from home might be supposed to occupy her attention. + +On the day our story commences, Throgmorton, the English ambassador, had +arrived at Sterling with despatches, which had been forwarded from +London after the first news of young Darnley's death reached the court +of St. James. Mary, eager to conciliate the imperious Elizabeth, had +ordered an entertainment to be made in honor of her ambassador, and +yielding to his first request, or rather demand for an audience, had +been more than an hour closetted with him, in the little oratory which +communicated alike with her audience-room and sleeping chamber. + +The hour for robing had long passed, and Ellen Craigh was alone in the +royal bed-chamber, waiting the appearance of her mistress. She might +have been taken for a sorrowing angel, as she sat in the embrasure of a +window, with the mellow-tinted light streaming through the stained glass +over her tresses of waving gold, and flooding her small and exquisite +figure with a brilliancy almost too gorgeous to harmonize with the +delicate cheek and sorrowful blue eyes, which, at the moment, wore an +expression of suffering which nothing on earth can represent, so patient +and holy was it. She continued in one position, listlessly swaying the +cord of twisted gold, which looped back the curtain falling in +magnificent volumes over the upper part of the window, or pulling the +threads from a massive tassel and scattering them one by one at her +feet, till the carpet around looked as if embroidered over and over with +the glittering fragments. The indistinct voices which came from the +oratory, where the queen and the ambassador were seated, fell unheeded +upon her senses, till a tone was mingled with theirs which started her +to sudden life. She leaped up with an energy that sent the mutilated +tassel with a crash against the window, and flinging back the tapestry +which concealed the door of the oratory, bent her eye to a crevice in +the ill-fitted pannel. The beating of her heart was almost audible, and +the thin slender hand which held back the tapestry quivered like a newly +prisoned bird, as she gazed with intense eagerness into the apartment. +The queen sat directly opposite the door. At her right hand was placed a +dark handsome man, of about thirty, with a haughty and almost fierce +array of countenance, dressed in a style of careless magnificence, which +bespoke a love of display rather than true elegance in his choice of +attire. A subdued smile lurked about his lips, and he seemed intently +occupied in counting the links of a massive gold chain, which fell over +his doublet of three-piled velvet, studded and gorgeously wrought with +jewels and embroidery. Now and then he would drop his hand carelessly +over the queen's chair-arm, and fix his black eyes with a bold and +admiring gaze on her features, with a freedom which bespoke more of +audacious love, than of respect for the royal beauty. She not only +submitted to his free glance, but more than once returned it with one of +those looks which had scattered sorrow through many a Scottish bosom. + +Throgmorton sat little apart. He had been speaking in a strain of calm +expostulation; but marking the interchange of glances between the queen +and her haughty favorite, he became indignant, and addressed Bothwell +with a degree of cutting contempt, which turned the lurking smile on the +nobleman's lip to a curl of bitter defiance. Heedless of the royal +presence, he stood up, and rudely pushing the council-table from before +him, half drew his sword, as if to punish the offender upon the spot. +Throgmorton endured the blaze of his large fierce eyes with calm +composure, and deliberately measuring his person from head to foot with +a contemptuous glance, was about to resume his discourse; but the queen +rose from her seat, and placing her white and jewelled hand persuasively +on Bothwell's arm, she fixed her beautiful eyes full on his, and uttered +a few low words of entreaty; then turning to the envoy, her exquisite +face flushed with anger and her eyes flashing like diamonds, she +exclaimed, + +"Leave our presence, sir ambassador, and thank our moderation that thou +art permitted to depart in safety, after this insult to our most trusty +and faithful follower! Nay, my lord of Bothwell, put thy hand from that +sword-hilt--this matter rests with us--doubt not, thy honor as well as +that of thy mistress shall be duly righted." + +The frowning nobleman pushed back his blade with a clang, and turned +moodily away. + +The queen looked on him gravely for a moment, and then turning to the +Englishman proceeded with less of vehemence than had accompanied her +last command. + +"The message of our loving cousin has given us a surfeit of advice. +To-morrow we will resume the subject," she said, forcing one of the +resistless smiles, which she could call up at will, to brighten her +lips; and with a graceful wave of the hand, she motioned him to +withdraw. + +The envoy bowed low and left the room without further speech. But the +door was scarcely closed, when, with sudden self-abandonment, the queen +threw herself into her chair, and burst into a passion of tears. +Bothwell, who was angrily pacing the room, approached, and sinking to +one knee took her hand tenderly in his. She looked at him a moment +through her tears, murmured a few broken words, and dropping her face to +his shoulder, wept bitterly. + +Poor Ellen Craigh witnessed the whole scene. She heard Bothwell's +expressions of soothing endearment, and saw the beautiful head, with its +garniture of brown tresses, fall with such helpless dependence on his +shoulder. A moment, and the queen drew the snowy hand, sparkling with +tears and jewels, from her eyes, and sat upright. With a choking +sensation the poor girl gazed on that face, in its transcendent +loveliness, till a mist gathered before her eyes, and the words of +Bothwell came broken and confusedly to her ear. When they left the +oratory a few moments after, her hand fell nerveless to her side, the +tapestry swept over the door with a rustling sound, and staggering a few +paces into the chamber, she fell her whole length upon the carpet, her +golden hair sweeping back from her bloodless forehead, her pale lips +trembling and her slight limbs as strengthless as an infant's. Thus she +lay for a time, and then tears gushed profusely from her shut eyes. +After which she arose to a sitting posture, with her feeble hands +twisted the scattered ringlets round her head, and arose; but so pale, +so wo-begone, her very heart seemed crushed forever. Dragging herself +to her favorite seat in the embrasure of a window, she leaned her temple +against the stained glass, and murmured-- + +"Enough!--oh, enough!--I must go home now." But while the words of +misery trembled on her lips, the door was flung open, and Mary Stewart +entered the apartment. The room was misty with the purple glow of +sunset, and the queen passed her shrinking attendant without observing +her. Hastily advancing to a table, she took up a golden bird-call, and +blew a peremptory summons; then throwing herself into a chair which +stood opposite a small table, on which glittered the splendid +paraphernalia of a French toilette, she waited the appearance of her +attendants. Ellen Craigh made a strong effort and arose. + +"Ha, art thou there, my mountain-daisy?" said the queen, looking kindly +upon her,--"order lights, and send back the flock of tire-women my silly +whistle has brought trooping hitherward--no hands but thine shall robe +me to night." + +Ellen obeyed, and after a few moments the light from two large candles +of perfumed wax broke over the little mirror, with its framework of +filigree silver, and flashed upon the golden essence-bottles and +scattered jewels which covered the dressing-table. The poor waiting-maid +drew back from the brilliant glare with the shudder of a sick heart. The +queen looked on her earnestly for a moment, and then putting the golden +locks back from her temple, as she would have caressed a child, she +said-- + +"What!--cheeks like new-fallen snow!--lips trembling like the +aspen!--and eye-lashes heavy with tears!--how is this, child?--but we +bethink us;--was it not some untoward affair of the heart which brought +thee to our court? We have been too negligent;--tell us thy grief, and +on the honor of a queen, if there be wrong we will have thee bravely +righted--so speak freely." + +"Oh, no, no!--not here!--_never to you_." + +Here poor Ellen broke off and stood before the queen, her hands clasped, +her lips trembling and her large supplicating eyes fixed imploringly on +her face. + +"Well, well," said the queen soothingly, "at some other time be it--but +remember that in Mary Stewart her attendant may find a safe friend as +well as an indulgent mistress," and shaking her magnificent tresses over +her shoulders, the royal beauty composed herself for the operations of +the toilette. + +Ellen gathered up the glossy volumes of hair and commenced her task. Her +limbs shook, a cold moisture crept over her forehead, and her quivering +hands wandered with melancholy listlessness, through the mass of shining +ringlets it was her duty to arrange. As she stooped forward in her task, +one of her own fair curls fell down and mingled, like a flash of spun +gold, with those of her mistress. As if there had been contagion in the +touch, she flung it back with a smile of strange, cold bitterness, the +first and last that ever wreathed her pure lips; for hers was a heart to +suffer and endure, but never to hate; it might break, but no wrong could +harden it. + +While her toilette was in progress, Mary became nervous and restless, +now pushing the velvet cushions from her feet, and then moving the +lights about the dressing-table, as if dissatisfied with the arrangement +of every thing about her. At length she fell back in her chair, buried +her face in her hands, and fairly burst into tears. Ellen grasped the +back of her chair, and bending her pale face to the queen's ear, +murmured-- + +"Tears are for the deserted--why does the queen weep?" + +Mary was too deeply engrossed with her own feelings to mark the exact +words, or the tremulous voice of her attendant. She threw the damp hair +back from her face, and dashing the tears from her eyes exclaimed-- + +"No, no! it is nothing--proceed--there! let that ringlet fall thus upon +the neck--now our robe, quickly--we shall be waited for at the banquet." + +Ellen brought forth the usual mourning robe of black velvet, laden with +bugles; but a flush of anger, or perhaps of shame, overspread the +queen's face, and with an impatient gesture she exclaimed-- + +"Not that, girl--not that--I will mock my heart no longer!--away with +it, and bring a more seemly garment!--the proud Englishman shall not +scoff at our widow's weeds again." + +Ellen obeyed, and the queen was soon robed as she had desired. Few +objects could have been more beautiful than this dangerous woman, when +she arose from her toilette--the perfect, yet almost voluptuous +proportion of her form betrayed by the snowy robe, her tapering arms +banded with jewels, and her superb waist bound with a string of immense +pearls, clasped in front by a single diamond, and terminating where the +broidery of her robe commenced, in tassels of threaded pearls. A tiara +of small Scotish thistles, crowded amethysts and rough emeralds, burned +with a purple light among her curls, and the face beneath seemed +scarcely human, so radiant was its expression, and so beautiful the +perfect harmony of its features. Throwing a careless glance at the +mirror--for Mary was too confident of her attraction to be +fastidious--she took up her perfumed handkerchief and left the room. + +Ellen Craigh gazed after her sovereign till the last graceful wave of +her drapery disappeared; then drawing a deep breath, as if her heart had +thrown off an oppression quite insupportable, she cast a glance almost +of loathing around the sumptuous apartment, and entered the oratory. +Dropping on her knees by the chair which Bothwell had occupied, she laid +her cheek on the cushion and wept long and freely, as if the contact +with something _he_ had touched had a softening influence on her heart. +As she arose, the gleam of a handkerchief lying on the floor attracted +her attention. She snatched it up with a faint cry of joy, for on one +corner she found embroidered an earl's coronet and the crest of +Bothwell. Eagerly thrusting the prize into her bosom, she left the +oratory and passed into the open street. + +It was midnight when Mary Stewart returned to her chamber. The lights +were burning dimly on the table, and an air of gloomy grandeur filled +the apartment. The queen was evidently much distressed; a deep glow was +burning on her cheek, and her usually smiling eyes were full of a +strange excitement. She snatched up the little golden call as if to give +a summons, and then flung it down again, exclaiming-- + +"No, no--I could not brook their searching eyes," and with a still more +disturbed air she paced the chamber, now and then stopping to divest +herself of the ornaments she had worn at the ambassador's festival. + +Perhaps for the first time in her life the agitated woman unrobed +herself, and flinging back the crimson drapery which fell in heavy +masses from the large square bedstead, threw herself upon the gorgeous +counterpane and buried herself in the folds, as if they could shut out +the evil thoughts that burned in her heart; but it was in vain that she +strove for rest--that she gathered the rich drapery over her head and +pressed her burning cheek to the pillow; her thoughts were all alive and +astray. + +It was a mournful sight--that beautiful and brilliant woman yielding +herself to the thraldom of a wicked man, and rushing heedlessly to that +which was to throw a stain upon her memory, enduring as history itself. +Sin is hideous in every form--but when it darkens the bright and +beautiful of earth, like a cloud over the sun, we reproach it for its +own blackness, and doubly for the brightness it conceals. + +As the misguided woman lay, with a hand pressed over her eyes, and one +arm, but half divested of its jewels, flung out with a kind of desperate +carelessness upon the counterpane, the murmur of an infant voice reached +her from a neighboring apartment. She started up and tears gathered in +her eyes. + +"Woe is me!" she exclaimed, "this mad passion makes me forgetful alike +of prayer and child." + +Folding a dressing-gown about her, she entered the room whence the sound +had come, and reappeared with an infant boy pressed to her bosom. After +kissing him again and again with a sort of despairing fondness, she bore +him to a recess where a small lamp of chased silver burned before a +crucifix of the same metal, and an embroidered hassock was placed as if +for devotion. Had she been left alone in the holy stillness of the +night, with her lovely babe upon her bosom, and the touching symbol of +our Saviour's death before her, the evil influence which was hurrying +her on to ruin might have been counterbalanced; but as she knelt with +the smiling babe lying on the hassock, her eyes fixed on the crucifix, +and the guilty glow ebbing from her cheeks, the door softly opened, and +the Earl of Bothwell stole into the chamber. Mary sprang to her feet as +if to reprove the insolent intruder, but a sense of modesty, which in +all her follies seemed never to have left her, succeeded to her +indignation, if indeed she felt any. She glanced at her dishabille with +a painful flush, and hastily seating herself, drew her uncovered feet, +which had been hastily thrust into a pair of furred slippers, under the +folds of her dressing gown, and then requested him to withdraw, in a +voice which betrayed as much of encouragement as of reproof. + +Without even noticing her request, Bothwell lifted the boy from the +hassock, and seating himself, addressed her in a low and gentle tone, +which he knew well how to assume. The erring woman listened to the +witchery of his voice, till the unnatural glow again died from her +cheek, and she sat with her eyes fixed on his, as a beautiful bird +yielding to the fascination of a serpent. + +"But thy wife," she said in a low irresolute tone, when Bothwell pressed +for a reply to what he had been urging, "much as Mary may love--much as +she may sacrifice, she cannot thrust a young and loving woman from a +heart she loves and puts her faith in." + +"Young and loving!" repeated Bothwell, with a sneer curling his haughty +lip, "young and loving!--truly your grace must have been strangely +misinformed;--she who styles herself Countess of Bothwell nearly doubles +the age of her unfortunate husband; and as for love, if she knows any, +it is for the broad acres which own him as their master." + +A scarcely perceptible smile dimpled the queen's mouth, as she heard +this account of her rival, but she made no reply, and Bothwell resumed +his tone of earnest entreaty. As he proceeded, his voice and manner +became more energetic. + +"Say that you consent," he said, "say but a word, and the breath of evil +shall never reach you;--say but your hand is mine as a token of assent, +and Bothwell will worship you like a very slave." + +The queen raised her hand, and though it trembled like an aspen, she +placed it in his. + +"It is thy queen who is the slave," she murmured in a broken voice, as +Bothwell raised the beautiful hand to his lips, and covered it with +rapturous kisses. + +As he relinquished her hand, it came in contact with that of the child. +As if an adder had stung her, she drew it back, and then with a sudden +gush of feeling snatched the boy to her bosom and covered it with tears +and kisses. Bothwell dreaded the influence of the pure maternal feeling +thus expressed. Gently forcing the young prince from her embrace, he +whispered-- + +"Trust him to me, dearest--trust him to one who would spill his heart's +blood, rather than give pain to mother or child," and pressing her hand +again to his lips, the arch-hypocrite left the room with the same +cautious tread he had entered it with. + +In a few moments after, he placed the young prince in charge with a +creature in his confidence, saying-- + +"See to it, that none of the Darnley faction get possession of the +brat,--keep him safe, or strangle him at once." + +On the next day the Earl of Bothwell left Sterling, and it was whispered +that he had been banished from court through the influence of the +English ambassador; but conjecture was lost in astonishment, and when, +two days after, the court at Sterling was broken up, and the queen, +while on her way to Edinburgh, was met by Bothwell, with a force of +eight hundred men, and conveyed to Dunbar by seeming violence, men stood +aghast at the news; but those who had marked their queen closely during +the few preceding days, concurred in the belief that she privately +sanctioned the disgraceful outrage. + + * * * * * + +It was a gloomy and ancient pile--that in which Bothwell had left his +deserted wife. In one of its apartments, beside a huge fire-place, in +which a few embers smouldered in a sea of ashes, sat an old and wrinkled +woman, spreading her withered palms for warmth, and occasionally turning +a wistful look to the narrow windows, against which the rain and sleet +were beating with real violence. As she listened, the tramp of +approaching horses was heard in the court below, and before she had time +to reach the door, it was flung open, and the Countess of Bothwell, +dripping with wet and tottering with fatigue, flung herself into the +arms of her old nurse. + +"Sorrow on me," exclaimed the good woman, striving to speak cheerful, +"how the child clings to my neck!--look up, lady-bird, and do not sob +so--I know but too well how thy journey has speeded--may the curses of +an old woman rest----" + +"Oh, Mabel, Mabel, do not curse him--do not--we cannot love as we will," +exclaimed the poor countess, clinging to the bosom of the old woman, as +if to bribe her from finishing the anathema. + +"Hush, darling, hush," replied old Mabel, pressing her withered lips +fondly to the pure forehead of her foster-child--"he who could help +loving thee----but hist, what is all this tramping in the court?--sit +down, and I will soon learn." + +The old woman divested the trembling young creature of her wet cloak and +proceeded to the hall. After a few minutes absence she returned +dreadfully agitated; her sunken eyes glowed like live coals, and her +bony fingers were clenched together as a bird clutches her prey. + +"My own darling," she said in a voice which she vainly strove to render +steady, "I had thought not to have given his cruel message, but----" + +"Speak on," said the poor young creature, raising her large eyes with +the expression of a scared antelope, "I can bear any thing now." + +But she broke off with a sudden and joyful cry, for the door had been +cautiously opened, and her long absent husband stood before her. +Forgetful of his estrangement--of his unkindness--of every thing but his +early love--she sprang eagerly to his bosom and kissed him again and +again, with the abandonment of a joyful child. It must have been a heart +of stone which could have resisted such unbounded tenderness. For one +moment, and but for one, she was pressed to her husband's heart, and +then he put her coldly away. + +"How is it that I find your lady here, after my express command to the +contrary?" he said, sternly addressing the old nurse, while he forced +the clinging arms of the countess from his neck. + +The poor young creature shrunk from his look, like a flower touched by a +sudden frost. Mabel threw her arm around her, and forced her to confront +her angry husband. + +"Why is she here!" shouted the old woman fiercely, "why is she here, in +her own home!--because I could not, would not kill her with her base +lord's message!--What! break her heart, and then thrust her forth to +die?--Villain!--double-dyed and cowardly villain!--may the curses of +a----" + +Before the old woman could finish her anathema, the enraged Earl had +stricken her grey head to the floor. The frightened countess fell on her +knees beside her; but, with a terrible imprecation, Bothwell commanded +his attendants to bear his victim from the room, and sternly ordered his +trembling wife to remain. + +"As you are here," he said, "it is not essential that we meet again; +your signature is necessary to this paper; please to affix it without +useless delay." + +The countess took the paper, which was a petition to the +Commissariot-Court for a divorce from her husband. Before she had read +the first line, every drop of blood ebbed from her face. She did not +faint, but with a degree of energy foreign to her character, she grasped +the paper in her hands, as if about to tear it. The Earl seized her +wrist, and fiercely demanded her signature. + +"Never--_never_!" exclaimed the poor wife, struggling in his grasp--"Oh, +Bothwell, you cannot wish it--you that so loved me--you that promised to +love me forever and ever--no, no! you do not mean it--you cannot put +your poor wife away thus!--I know that the little beauty you once prized +is gone, but tears and sorrow have dimmed it;--bear with me but a little +longer--say that you love me yet, and my bloom will come again;--look at +me, Bothwell, husband, _dear_ husband! and say that you did not mean +it--that you gave me that horrid paper to frighten me--say but that, and +your poor Ellen will worship you forever!" + +This energetic appeal had its effect, even in the hard hearted Earl. He +endured, and even partially returned the passionate caress with which +she had accompanied her words; and when she fell back exhausted in his +arms, he bore her to a seat and placed himself beside her. + +"Ellen," he said, "I will deal candidly with you--I _do_ love you, and +have, even while in pursuit of another; but you have yet to learn that +there is a stronger passion than love--_ambition_!" + +"You do love me--bless you, bless you! Bothwell, for saying so much," +she eagerly exclaimed, the affectionate young creature snatching his +hand between both hers, and covering it with joyful kisses. + +But her joy was of short duration. As the serpent uncoils its glittering +folds, so did Bothwell lay bare the depravity and ambition of his heart. +Artifice, persuasion and threats were used, and at length he prevailed. +The petition for a divorce was signed; but the heart of the poor +countess was broken by the effort. + +It is almost useless to tell the reader, that the queen of Scots had +consented to accompany Bothwell to his castle, but with the appearance +of compulsion, on the night of his intrusion into her chamber. It was to +prepare for the disgraceful visit, that he had sent orders for the +expulsion of his unfortunate wife--orders which old Mabel had never +delivered; and now that he had gained his object, in obtaining her +signature to the petition, he proceeded to give directions for the +castle to be put in order, for the reception of the royal guest. These +arrangements occupied him during most of the night. At length, weary +with exertion, he fell asleep in his chair. It was morning when he +awoke. The light came softly through a neighboring window, and there, at +his feet, with her head resting on his knees, and her thin, pale face +turned toward him, lay his wife, asleep. Rest had quieted his ambitious +thoughts. He was alone, in the stillness of a new day, with the gentle +victim of his aspiring passions lying at his feet, grieved and +heart-broken, her eyelids heavy with weeping, and every limb betraying +the sorrow which preyed upon her. For a moment his heart relented, and a +hot tear fell among her golden curls. Gently, as a mother would remove a +sleeping infant, he raised her head, laid it on the cushion of his +chair, and left her to her loneliness. + +On the next day the Countess of Bothwell left the castle with her nurse, +and not three hours after, Mary Stewart entered it in company with its +wicked lord. + +On the fourth day of Mary's sojourn at Dunbar, she, with the ladies of +her train, joined in a stag hunt, which the Earl had ordered for their +entertainment. The excitement of the chase had drawn Bothwell, for a +moment, from her bridal rein, when an old woman came from a neighboring +hut, and in a few ungracious words, invited the queen to rest a while. +Mary gracefully accepted the offered courtesy, and some of her +attendants would have followed her to the hut; but the old woman +motioned them back with a haughty wave of her hand, and conducted the +queen alone. There was no vestige of furniture in the room, except two +small stools and a narrow bed, on which the outlines of a human form +were visible. Grasping the queen's hand firmly in her own, the old woman +drew her to the bed, and throwing back a sheet, pointed with her long +fleshless finger to the form of a shrouded female. + +"Look!" she sternly exclaimed, fixing her keen eyes on the face of the +queen. + +Mary looked with painful interest on the thin face, as white and cold as +alabaster, with the golden hair parted from the pure forehead, and a +holy quiet settled on every beautiful feature. White roses were +scattered over the pillow, and the repose of the dead was heavenly. Mary +bent over the corpse, and her tears fell fast and thick among the fresh +flowers. + +"Alas, my poor Ellen!" she said, turning to the woman, who stood like a +statue pointing sternly to the body, "of what did she die?" + +"Of a broken heart!" replied the nurse coldly, and with the same icy +composure which had marked her conduct, she led her royal visitor to the +door, without speaking another word. + +Had she explained that Ellen Craigh and the Countess of Bothwell were +the same person, regret for the evil she had wrought might have checked +Mary in her career of folly. But the death of the deserted wife was kept +a secret among the few faithful followers who had accompanied her in her +wild expedition to Mary's court, and the nurse, on whose bosom she had +yielded up her life. While the courts of Scotland were agitated with the +divorce of Bothwell, the haughty man little knew that his gentle wife +had ceased to feel his cruelty. + + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Unusual spellings retained, but obvious spelling and punctuation errors +were fixed. + +Contraction variants retained, notably in "Jack Downing's Visit to +Portland," as features of narrator dialect. + +In several stories, notably "Courtship" and "Descriptions of the Divine +Being," the use of quotation marks was inconsistent, and has been +standardized. This required the addition of quotation marks in several +places. Where the non-use of quotation marks was consistent within a +story, no changes were made. + +Contents: Preface is on P. iii, not "7"(original); both "M--" in +Contents and "M***" on poem heading retained; "Deserted Wife" P. 272 is +correct--retained original placement above "Portland as it Was" in +Contents (author name starts with "S"). + +P. 13, "sum of $1,363,589,69,--" Number appears incomplete, but is +consistent with a separate publication of this article ["A Modest +Estimate of Our Own Country," in "The Americans at home; or Byeways, +backwoods, and prairies, ed. by the author of 'Sam Slick'," London: +Hurse and Blackett Publishers, 1854] which reads (on P. 125) "sum of +1,363,589,69 dollars,--" + +P. 34, "disapprobation run" changed to "disapprobation ran." + +P. 41, "guana" retained. Less-used alternate spelling for "iguana." + +P. 91, "Illiad" retained. Consistent with quote reference that follows. + +P. 115, "fourth-coming" changed to "forth-coming." + +P. 259, "full muturity" changed to "full maturity." + +P. 282, "died her cheek" changed to "died from her cheek." + +Hyphen variants retained when consistent within story. Otherwise +corrected to majority use in story. Variants retained due to different +stories or lack of majority in same story: birth-day and birthday, +broad-side and broadside, companion-way and companionway, grave-yard and +graveyard, juxta-position and juxtaposition, look-out and lookout, +noon-day and noonday, over-flowing and overflowing, rain-bow and +rainbow, re-appeared and reappeared, sky-sail and skysail, stair-way and +stairway, steam-boats and steamboats, sun-light and sunlight. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Portland Sketch Book, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PORTLAND SKETCH BOOK *** + +***** This file should be named 39278-0.txt or 39278-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/2/7/39278/ + +Produced by Roberta Staehlin, JoAnn Greenwood, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +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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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/39278-0.zip b/39278-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f5afc8e --- /dev/null +++ b/39278-0.zip diff --git a/39278-8.txt b/39278-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..56f0b90 --- /dev/null +++ b/39278-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8830 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Portland Sketch Book, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Portland Sketch Book + +Author: Various + +Editor: Ann S. Stephens + +Release Date: March 27, 2012 [EBook #39278] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PORTLAND SKETCH BOOK *** + + + + +Produced by Roberta Staehlin, JoAnn Greenwood, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + +In "Descriptions of the Divine Being," P. 96, the block quote inside ~ +(tilde) marks is a transliteration of the Hebrew. The transliteration +was not present in the original and has been added by the transcriber; +[h.] is used for Het, to distinguish it from h for Hey. The UTF8 and +HTML versions also have the Hebrew script shown in the original. + +Remaining transcriber's notes are at the end of the text. + + + + + THE + + PORTLAND SKETCH BOOK. + + EDITED BY + MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS. + + PORTLAND: + COLMAN & CHISHOLM. + + Arthur Shirley, Printer. + 1836. + + + + + Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1836, by + EDWARD STEPHENS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court + of Maine. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The object of the Portland Sketch-Book, is to collect in a small +compass, literary specimens from such authors as have a just claim to be +styled Portland writers. The list might have been extended to a much +greater length, had all been included who have made our city a place of +transient residence; but no writer has a place in this volume who is +not, or has not been, a citizen of Portland, either by birth or a long +residence. Therefore, all the names contained in these pages are +emphatically those of Portland authors. Among those who were actually +born here and either wholly, or in part educated here, will be found the +following names, most of which are already known to the world of +literature. + +S. B. Beckett--James Brooks--William Cutter--Charles S. +Daveis--Nathaniel Deering--P. H. Greenleaf--Charles P. Ilsley--Joseph +Ingraham--Geo. W. Light--Henry W. Longfellow--Grenville +Mellen--Frederick Mellen--Isaac McLellan, Jr.--John Neal--Elizabeth +Smith--William Willis--N. P. Willis. + +Considering the population of our city--hardly fifteen thousand at this +time--the list itself we apprehend will be considered as not the least +remarkable part of the book. + +It was the design of the Publishers to furnish a book composed of +original articles from all our living authors, and to select only from +those who have been lost to us; but though great exertions were made, +the editor found much difficulty in collecting original materials, even +after they had been promised by almost every individual to whom she +applied. According to the original design, each living author was to +have contributed a limited number of pages; but after frequent +disappointments, all restrictions were taken off; each writer furnished +as many original pages as suited his pleasure, and the deficiency was +supplied by selected articles. In her selections, the editor has +endeavored to do impartial justice to our authors, and, in almost every +instance, she has been guided by them in her choice. If in any case she +has been obliged to exercise her own judgment, in contradiction to +theirs, it was because the publishers had restricted her to a certain +number of pages, and the articles proposed would have swelled the volume +beyond the prescribed limits. _Original_ papers are inserted exactly as +they were supplied by their separate authors. A general invitation was +extended; therefore it should give no offence, if those who have +contributed largely fill the greater portion of the Book, to the +exclusion of much excellent matter, which might have been selected. +Several writers who did not forward their contributions as expected, +have been omitted altogether, as the editor could find nothing of theirs +extant which was adapted to a work strictly literary. + +In order to avoid all appearance of partiality, it has been thought +advisable to make an alphabetical arrangement of names, and to let +chance decide the position of each author in the Book. + +The compiler has a word of apology to offer, before she consigns her +little book to the public. Reasons which will be easily understood would +have prevented her appropriating any considerable portion to herself; +but she had contracted with the publishers to furnish a volume, which +should be at least two thirds original, and when the pages forwarded to +her were found insufficient for her object, she was obliged, however +unwillingly, to supply the deficiency. + +The Editor now submits her Portland Book to the public, with much +solicitude that it may meet with approbation--feeling certain that +indulgence would be extended to her, could it be known how much labor +and difficulty have attended her slender exertions, in the literature of +a city she has never ceased to love. + +P. S. Among the papers omitted from necessity, is one by the Rev. Dr. +Nichols, which, owing to accident, did not arrive till the arrangements +for the work were entirely completed. In the absence of the Editor, +whose own leading article arrived _almost_ too late for insertion, we +have taken the liberty to state the facts, that our readers may +understand the cause of an omission so extraordinary. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + Preface iii + + Diamond Cove--By S. B. Beckett 9 + + Our Own Country--By James Brooks 13 + + The Cruise of The Dart--By S. B. Beckett 21 + + + To M--, on her Birth-Day,--By William Cutter 59 + + Religious Obligation in Rulers--By John W. Chickering 60 + + A New-England Winter Scene--By William Cutter 74 + + Loch Katrine--By N. H. Carter 78 + + Worship--By Asa Cummings 82 + + The Valley of Silence--By William Cutter 86 + + Descriptions of The Divine Being--By Gershom F. Cox 88 + + + The French Revolution--By Charles S. Daveis 98 + + Mrs. Sykes--From the papers of Dr. Tonic, recently + brought to light--By Nathaniel Deering 102 + + + Old and Young--By James Furbish 115 + + + Autumnal Days--By P. H. Greenleaf 119 + + + The Plague--By Charles P. Ilsley 123 + + 'Oh, This is not My Home'--By Charles P. Ilsley 125 + + The Village Prize--By Joseph Ingraham 126 + + + Indifference to Study--By George W. Light 134 + + The Village of Auteuil--By Henry W. Longfellow 138 + + + The Past and The New Year--By Prentiss Mellen 145 + + The Ruin of a Night--By Grenville Mellen 150 + + Courtship--By William L. McClintock 152 + + Venetian Moonlight--By Frederick Mellen 158 + + Ballooning--By I. McLellan, Jr. 160 + + Ode--By Grenville Mellen 166 + + The Boy's Mountain Song--By I. McLellan, Jr. 167 + + + The Unchangeable Jew--By John Neal 168 + + A War-Song of The Revolution--By John Neal 183 + + + Musings on Music--By James F. Otis 185 + + + Sin estimated by the Light of Heaven--By Edward Payson 194 + + The Way of the Soul--By L. S. P. 200 + + Fragments of An Address on Music--By Edward Payson 206 + + + The Blush--By Mrs. Elizabeth Smith 212 + + The Widowed Bride--By Mrs. Ann S. Stephens 216 + + Jack Downing's Visit to Portland--By Seba Smith 227 + + The Deserted Wife--By Mrs. Ann S. Stephens 272 + + + Portland as it Was--By William Willis 231 + + The Cherokee's Threat--By N. P. Willis 239 + + Grecian and Roman Eloquence--By Ashur Ware 256 + + Religion--By Jason Whitman 269 + + + + +THE PORTLAND SKETCH BOOK. + + + + +DIAMOND COVE. + + + A beauteous Cove, amid the isles + That sprinkle Casco's winding bay, + Where, like an Eden, nature smiles + In all her wild and rich array. + 'Tis sheltered from the ocean's roar + By beetling crags and foam-girt rifts, + And mossy trees, that ages hoar + Have braved the sea-gales on its cliffs! + The broad-armed oak, the beech and pine, + And elm, their branches intertwine + Above its tranquil, glassy face, + So that the sun finds scarcely space + At mid-day, for his fervid beam + To shimmer on the limpid stream; + And in its rugged, sparry caves, + Worn by the winter's tempest waves, + Gleams many a crystal wildly bright + Like _diamonds_, flashing radiant light, + And hence the fairy spot is 'hight.' + + The forests far extending round, + Ne'er to the spoiler's axe resound; + Nor is man's toil or traces there; + But resteth all as lone and fair-- + The sunny slopes, the rocks and trees, + As desert isles in Indian seas, + That sometimes rise upon the view + Of some far-wandering, wind-bound crew, + Sleeping alone mid ocean's blue. + + The lonely ospray rears her brood + Deep in the forest-solitude; + And through the long, bright summer day, + When ocean, calm as mountain lake, + Bears not a breath its hush to break, + The snow-winged sea-gull tilts away + Upon the long, smooth swell, that sweeps, + In curving, wide, unbroken reach, + Into the cove from outer deeps, + Unwinding up the pebbly beach. + + Oft blithly ring the wide old woods, + Within their loneliest solitudes, + To youthful shout, and song, and glee, + And viol's merry minstrelsy, + When summer's stirless, sultry air + Pervades the city's thoroughfare, + And drives the throng to seek the shades + Of these green, zephyr-breathing glades! + The dance goes round; the trunks so tall-- + Rough columns of the festal hall-- + Sustain a broad and lofty roof + Of nature's greenest, loveliest woof! + The maiden weaves, in lieu of wreath, + The bending fern-plumes in her hair, + And the wild flowers with scented breath, + That spring to blossom every where + Around; the forest's dream-like rest + Drives care and sorrow from each breast, + And makes the worn and weary blest! + + And when the broad, dim waters blush + Beneath the tints of ebbing day, + When comes the moon out in the hush + Of eve, with mellow, timid ray, + And twilight lingers far away + On the blue waste, the fisher's skiff + Comes dancing in, and 'neath the cliff + Is moored to rest, till morning's train + Beams with fresh beauty o'er the main, + And wakes him to his toil again! + + O, lovely there is sunset-hour! + When twilight falls with soothing power + Along the forest-windings dim, + And from the thicket, sweet and low, + The red-breast tunes a farewell hymn + To daylight's latest, lingering glow-- + When slope, and rock, and wood around, + In all their dreamy, hushed repose, + Are glassed adown the bright profound-- + And passing fair is evening's close! + When from the bright, cerulean dome, + The sea-fowl, that have all the day + Wheeled o'er the far, lone billows' spray, + Come thronging to their eyries home; + When over rock and wave, remote, + From yon dim fort, the bugle's note + Along the listening air doth creep, + Seeming to steal down from the sky, + Or with out-bursting, martial sweep + Rings through the forests, clanging high, + While echo waked bears on the strain, + Till faint, beyond the trackless main, + In realms of space it seems to die. + But lovelier still is night's calm noon! + When like a sea-nymph's fairy bark, + The mirrored crescent of the moon + Swings on the waters weltering dark; + And in her solitary beam, + Upon each bald, storm-beaten height, + The quartz and mica wildly gleam, + Spangling the rocks with magic light; + And when a silvery minstrelsy + Is swelling o'er the dim-lit sea, + As of some wandering fairy throng, + Passing on viewless wing along, + Tuning their spirit-lyres to song; + And when the night's soft breeze comes out, + And for a moment breathes about, + Shaking a burst of fresh perfume + From every honied bell and bloom, + Startling the tall pine from its rest, + And sleeping wood-bird in her nest, + Or kissing the bright water's breast; + Then stealing off into the shade, + As if it were a thing afraid! + + The Indian prized this beauteous spot + Of old; beneath the embowering shade + He reared his rude and simple cot; + And round these wild shores where they played + In youth, still--pilgrims from the bourn + Of far Penobscot's sinuous stream, + Aged and bowed, and weary worn-- + Lingering they love to stray, and dream + O'er the proud hopes possessed of yore, + When forest, isle and mainland shore, + For many a league, owned but their sway; + When, on the labyrinthine bay, + Now checkered o'er with many a sail, + Alone his lightsome birch canoe + Fast, by the bright, green islets flew, + Nor bark spread canvas to the gale. + + Matchless retreat! mayst aye remain + As wild, as natural and free + As now thou art; nor hope of gain, + Nor enterprize a motive be + To lay thy hoary forests low; + Gold ne'er can make thy beauties glow, + Nor enterprize restore thy pride, + When once the monarchs round thy tide, + Have felt the exterminating blow. + + + + +OUR OWN COUNTRY. + +By James Brooks. + + +What nation presents such a spectacle as ours, of a confederated +government, so complicated, so full of checks and balances, over such a +vast extent of territory, with so many varied interests, and yet moving +so harmoniously! I go within the walls of the capitol at Washington, and +there, under the star-spangled banners that wave amid its domes, I find +the representatives of three territories, and of twenty-four nations, +nations in many senses they may be called, that have within them all the +germ and sinew to raise a greater people than many of the proud +principalities of Europe, all speaking one language--all acting with one +heart, and all burning with the same enthusiasm--the love and glory of +our common country,--even if parties do exist, and bitter domestic +quarrels now and then arise. I take my map, and I mark from whence they +come. What a breadth of latitude, and of longitude, too,--in the fairest +portion of North-America! What a variety of climate,--and then what a +variety of production! What a stretch of sea-coast, on two oceans--with +harbors enough for all the commerce of the world! What an immense +national domain, surveyed, and unsurveyed, of extinguished, and +unextinguished Indian titles within the States and Territories, and +without, estimated, in the aggregate, to be 1,090,871,753 acres, and to +be worth the immense sum of $1,363,589,69,--750,000,000 acres of which +are without the bounds of the States and the territories, and are yet to +make new States and to be admitted into the Union! Our annual revenue, +now, from the sales, is over three millions of dollars. Our national +debt, too, is already more than extinguished,--and yet within fifty-eight +years, starting with a population of about three millions, we have fought +the War of Independence, again not ingloriously struggled with the +greatest naval power in the world, fresh with laurels won on sea and +land,--and now we have a population of over thirteen millions of souls. +One cannot feel the grandeur of our Republic, unless he surveys it in +detail. For example, a Senator in Congress, from Louisiana, has just +arrived in Washington. Twenty days of his journey he passed in a +steam-boat on inland waters,--moving not so rapidly, perhaps, as other +steam-boats sometimes move, in deeper waters,--but constantly moving, at +a quick pace too, day and night. I never shall forget the rapture of a +traveller, who left the green parks of New Orleans early in March,--that +land of the orange and the olive, then teeming with verdure, freshness +and life, and, as it were, mocking him with the mid-summer of his own +northern home. He journeyed leisurely toward the region of ice and snow, +to watch the budding of the young flowers, and to catch the breeze of the +Spring. He crossed the Lakes Pontchartrain and Borgne; he ascended the +big Tombeckbee in a comfortable steam-boat. From Tuscaloosa, he shot +athwart the wilds of Alabama, over Indian grounds, that bloody battles +have rendered ever memorable. He traversed Georgia, the Carolinas, ranged +along the base of the mountains of Virginia,--and for three months and +more, he enjoyed one perpetual, one unvarying, ever-coming Spring,--that +most delicious season of the year,--till, by the middle of June, he found +himself in the fogs of the Passamaquoddy, where tardy summer was even +then hesitating whether it was time to come. And yet he had not been off +the soil of his own country! The flag that he saw on the summit of the +fortress, on the lakes near New Orleans, was the like of that which +floated from the staff on the hills of Fort Sullivan, in the easternmost +extremity of Maine;--and the morning gun that startled his slumbers, +among the rocky battlements that defy the wild tides of the Bay of Fundy, +was not answered till many minutes after, on the shores of the Gulf of +Mexico. The swamps, the embankments, the cane-brakes of the Father of +Waters, on whose muddy banks the croaking alligator displayed his +ponderous jaws,--the cotton-fields, the rice-grounds of the low southern +country,--and the vast fields of wheat and corn in the regions of the +mountains, were far, far behind him:--and he was now, in a Hyperborean +land--where nature wore a rough and surly aspect, and a cold soil and a +cold clime, drove man to launch his bark upon the ocean, to dare wind and +wave, and to seek from the deep, in fisheries, and from freights, the +treasures his own home will not give him. Indeed, such a journey as this, +in one's own country, to an inquisitive mind, is worth all 'the tours of +Europe.' If a young American, then, wishes to feel the full importance of +an American Congress, let him make such a journey. Let him stand on the +levee at New Orleans and count the number and the tiers of American +vessels that there lie, four, five and six thick, on its long embankment. +Let him hear the puff, puff, puff, of the high-pressure steam-boats, that +come sweeping in almost every hour, perhaps from a port two thousand +miles off,--from the then frozen winter of the North, to the full burning +summer of the South,--all inland navigation,--fleets of them under his +eye,--splendid boats, too, many of them, as the world can show,--with +elegant rooms, neat berths, spacious saloons, and a costly piano, it may +be,--so that travellers of both sexes can dance or sing their way to +Louisville, as if they were on a party of pleasure. Let him survey all +these, as they come in with products from the Red River, twelve hundred +miles in one direction, or from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, two thousand +miles in another direction, from the western tributaries of the vast +Mississippi, the thickets of the Arkansas, or White River,--from the +muddy, far-reaching Missouri, and its hundreds of branches:--and then in +the east, from the Illinois, the Ohio, and its numerous tributaries--such +as the Tennessee, the Cumberland, or the meanest of which, such as the +Sandy River, on the borders of Kentucky--that will in a freshet fret and +roar, and dash, as if it were the Father of Floods, till it sinks into +nothing, when embosomed in the greater stream, and there acknowledges its +own insignificance. Let him see 'the Broad Horns,' the adventurous +flatboats of western waters, on which--frail bark!--the daring +backwoodsman sallies forth from the Wabash, or rivers hundreds of miles +above, on a voyage of atlantic distance, with hogs--horses--oxen and +cattle of all kinds on board--corn, flour, wheat, all the products of +rich western lands--and let him see them, too, as he stems the strong +current of the Mississippi, as if the wood on which he floated was +realizing the fable of the Nymphs of Ida--goddesses, instead of pines. +Take the young traveller where the clear, silvery waters of the Ohio +become tinged with the mud from the Missouri, and where the currents of +the mighty rivers run apart for miles, as if indignant at the strange +embrace. Ascend with him farther, to St. Louis, where, if he looks upon +the map he will find that he is about as near the east as the west, and +that soon, the emigrant, who is borne on the wave of population that now +beats at the base of the Rocky Mountains, and anon will overleap its +summits--will speak of him as he now speaks of New-England, as far in the +east. And then tell him that far west as he is, he is but at the +beginning of steam navigation--that the Mississippi itself is navigable +six or seven hundred miles upward--and that steam-boats have actually +gone on the Missouri two thousand one hundred miles above its mouth, and +that they _can go_ five hundred miles farther still! Take him, then, from +this land where the woodsman is leveling the forest every hour, across +the rich prairies of Illinois, where civilization is throwing up towns +and villages, pointed with the spire of the church, and adorned with the +college and the school,--then athwart the flourishing fields of Indiana, +to Cincinnati,--well called 'the Queen of the West,'--a city of thirty +thousand inhabitants, with paved streets, numerous churches, flourishing +manufactories, and an intelligent society too,--and this in a State with a +million of souls in it now, that has undertaken gigantic public +works,--where the fierce savages, even within the memory of the young +men, made the hearts of their parents quake with fear,--roaming over the +forests, as they did, in unbridled triumph,--wielding the tomahawk in +terror, and ringing the war-hoop like demons of vengeance let loose from +below! Show him our immense inland seas, from Green Bay to Lake +Ontario,--not inconsiderable oceans,--encompassed with fertile fields. +Show him the public works of the Empire State, as well as those of +Pennsylvania,--works the wonder of the world,--such as no people in +modern times have ever equalled. And then introduce him to the busy, +humming, thriving population of New-England, from the Green Mountains of +Vermont, the Switzerland of America, to the northern lakes and wide +sea-coast of Maine. Show him the industry, energy, skill and ingenuity of +these hardy people, who let not a rivulet run, nor a puff of wind blow, +without turning it to some account,--who mingle in every thing, speculate +in every thing, and dare every thing wherever a cent of money is to be +earned--whose lumbermen are found not only in the deepest woods of the +snowy and fearful wilds of Maine, throwing up sawmills on the lone +waterfalls, and making the woods ring with their hissing music--but +found, too, on the banks of the St. Lawrence, and coming also on mighty +rafts of deal from every eastern tributary of the wild St. John, +Meduxnekeag and Aroostook, streams whose names geographers hardly know. +And then too, as if this were not enough, they turn their enterprize and +form companies 'to log and lumber,' even on the Ocmulgee and Oconee of +the State of Georgia--and on this day they are actually found in the +Floridas, there planning similar schemes, and as there are no waterfalls, +making steam impel their saws. Show him the banks of the Penobscot, now +studded with superb villages--jewels of places, that have sprung up like +magic--the magnificent military road that leads to the United States' +garrison at Houlton, a fairy spot in the wilderness, but approached by +as excellent a road as the United States can boast of. + +Show him the hundreds and hundreds of coasters that run up every creek +and inlet of tide-water there, at times left high and dry, as if the +ocean would never float them more: and then lift him above +considerations of a mercenary character, and show him how New-England +men are perpetuating their high character and holy love of liberty,--and +how, by neat and elegant churches, that adorn every village,--by +comfortable school-houses, that appear every two miles, or oftener, upon +almost every road, free for every body,--high-born, and low-born,--by +academies and colleges, that thicken even to an inconvenience; by +asylums and institutions, munificently endowed, for the benefit of the +poor:--and see, too, with what generous pride their bosoms swell when +they go within the consecrated walls of Faneuil Hall, or point out the +heights of Bunker Hill, or speak of Concord, or Lexington. + +Give any young man such a tour as this--the best he can make--and I am +sure his heart will beat quick, when he sees the proud spectacle of the +assemblage of the representatives of all these people, and all these +interests, within a single hall. He will more and more revere the +residue of those revolutionary patriots, who not only left us such a +heritage, won by their sufferings and their blood, but such a +constitution--such a government here in Washington, regulating all our +national concerns--but who have also, in effect, left us twenty-four +other governments, with territory enough to double them by-and-by--that +regulate all the minor concerns of the people, acting within their own +sphere; now, in the winter, assembling within their various capitols, +from Jefferson city, on Missouri, to Augusta, on the Kennebec;--from +the capitol on the Hudson, to the government house on the Mississippi. +Show me a spectacle more glorious, more encouraging, than this, even in +the pages of all history; such a constellation of free States, with no +public force, but public opinion--moving by well regulated law--each in +its own proper orbit, around the brighter star in Washington,--thus +realizing, as it were, on earth, almost practically, the beautiful +display of infinite wisdom, that fixed the sun in the centre, and sent +the revolving planets on their errands. God grant it may end as with +them! + + + + +THE CRUISE OF THE DART. + +By S. B. Beckett. + + "There was an old and quiet man, + And by the fire sat he; + And now, said he, to you I'll tell + Things passing strange that once befell + A ship upon the sea."--_Mary Howitt._ + + +"There she is, Ricardo," said I to my friend, as we reached the end of +the pier, in Havana, while the Dart lay about half a mile off the +shore,--"what think you of her?" + +"Beautiful!--a more symmetrical craft never passed the Moro!" + +So thought I, and my heart responded with a thrill of pride to the +sentiment. How saucy she looked, with her gay streamers abroad upon the +winds, and the red-striped flag of the Union floating jauntily at the +main peak--with her lofty masts tapering away, till, relieved against +the blue abyss, they were apparently diminished to the size of willow +wands, while the slight ropes that supported the upper spars seemed, +from the pier, like the fairy tracery of the spider. Although surrounded +by ships, xebecs, brigantines, polacres, galleys and galliots from +almost every clime in christendom, she stood up conspicuously among them +all, an apt representative of the land whence she came! But let us take +a nearer view of the beauty. The hull was long, low, and at the bows +almost as sharp as the missile after which she was named. From the waist +to the stern she tapered away in the most graceful proportions, and she +had as lovely a run as ever slid over the dancing billows. Light and +graceful as a sea-bird, she rocked on the undulating water. But her +rig!--herein, to my thinking, was her chiefest beauty--every thing +pertaining to it was so exact, so even and so _tanto_. Besides the sail +usually carried by man-of-war schooners, she had the requisite +appertenances for a royal and flying kite, or sky-sail, which, now that +she was in port, were all rigged up. Not another vessel of her class in +the navy could spread so much canvas to the influence of old Boreas as +the Dart. + +Her armament consisted of one long brass twenty-four pounder, mounted on +a revolving carriage midships, and six twelve-pound carronades. Add to +this a picked crew of ninety men, with the redoubtable Jonathan West as +our captain, Mr. Dacre Dacres as first, and your humble servant, +Ahasuerus Hackinsack, as second lieutenant, besides a posse of minor +officers and middies,--and you may form a faint idea of the Dart. + +Bidding adieu to my friend, I jumped into the pinnace waiting, and in a +few minutes stood on her quarter deck. + +But it will be necessary for me to explain for what purpose the Dart was +here. She had been dispatched by government to cruise among the Leeward +Islands, and about Cape St. Antonio, in quest of a daring band of +pirates, who, trusting to their superior prowess and the fleetness of +their vessel, a schooner called the Sea-Sprite, had long scourged the +merchantmen of the Indian seas with impunity. Cruiser after cruiser had +been sent out to attack them in vain. She had invariably escaped, until +at length, in reality, they were left for awhile, the undisputed +'rulers of the waves,' as they vauntingly styled themselves. It was said +of the Sea-Sprite, that she was as fleet as the winds, and as mysterious +in her movements; and her master spirit, the fierce Juan Piesta, was as +wily and fierce a robber, as ever prowled upon the western waters. +Indeed, so wonderful and various had been his escapes, that many of the +Spaniards, and the lower orders of seamen in general, believed him to be +leagued with the Powers of Darkness! + +But the Dart had been fitted up for the present cruise expressly on +account of her matchless speed, and our captain, generally known in the +service by the significant appellation of Old Satan West, was, in +situations where fighting or peril formed any part of the story, a full +match for his namesake. + + * * * * * + +After cruising about the western extremity of Cuba, for nearly a month, +to no purpose, we bore away for the southern coast of St. Domingo, and +at the time my story opens, were off Jacquemel. The morning was heralded +onward by troops of clouds, of the most brilliant and burning hues--deep +crimson ridges--fire-fringed volumes of purple, hanging far in the +depths of the mild and beautiful heaven--long, rose-tinted and golden +plumes, stretching up from the horizon to the zenith,--forming +altogether a most gorgeous and magnificent spectacle, while, to complete +the pageant, the sun, just rising from his ocean lair, shed a flood of +glaring light far over the restless expanse toward us, and every rope +and spar of our vessel, begemmed with bright dew-drops, flashed and +twinkled in his beams, like the jeweled robes of a princely bride. + +"Fore top there! what's that away in the wake o' the sun?" called out +Mr. Dacres. + +"A drifting spar, I believe, Sir--but the sun throws such a glare on the +water I cannot see plainly." + +I looked in the direction pointed out, and saw a dark object tumbling +about on the fiery swell, like an evil spirit in torment. We altered our +course and stood away toward it. It turned out to be a boat, apparently +empty, but on a nearer inspection we perceived a man lying under its +thwarts, whose pale, lank features and sunken eye bespoke him as +suffering the last pangs of starvation. My surprise can better be +imagined than described, on discovering in the unfortunate man a highly +loved companion of my boyhood, Frederick Percy! He was transferred from +his miserable quarters to a snug berth on board of the Dart, and in a +few hours, by the judicious management of our surgeon, was resuscitated, +so as to be able to come on deck. + +His story may be told in a few words. He had been travelling in +England--while there had married a beautiful, but friendless orphan. +Soon after this occurrence he embarked in one of his father's ships for +Philadelphia, intending to touch at St. Domingo city, and take in a +freight. But, three days before, when within a few hours' sail of their +destined port, they had fallen in with a piratical schooner, which, +after a short struggle, succeeded in capturing them. While protecting +his wife from the insults of the bucaneers, he received a blow in the +temple, which deprived him of his senses; and when he awoke to +consciousness it was night, wild and dark, and he was tossing on the +lone sea, without provisions, sail or oars, as we had found him. For +three days he had not tasted food. Poor fellow! his anxiety as to the +fate of his wife almost drove him to distraction. + +This circumstance assured us that we were on the right trail of the +marauder whom we sought. We continued beating up the coast till noon, +when the breeze died away into a stark calm, and we lay rolling on the +long glassy swell, about ten leagues from the St. Domingo shore. The sun +was intensely powerful, glowing through the hazy atmosphere, directly +over our heads, like a red-hot cannon ball; and the far-stretching main +was as sultry and _arid_ as the sands of an African desert. To the +north, the cloud-topped mountains of St. Domingo obstructed our view, +looming through the blue haze to an immense height--presenting to as the +aspect of huge, flat, shadowy walls; and one need have taxed his +imagination but lightly, to fancy them the boundaries dividing us from a +brighter and a better clime. The depths of the ocean were as translucent +as an unobscured summer sky, and far beneath us we could distinguish the +dolphins and king-fish, roaming leisurely about, or darting hither and +thither as some object attracted their pursuit; while nearer its surface +the blue element was alive with myriads of minor nondescripts, riggling, +flouncing and lazily moving up and down,--probably attracted by the +shade of our dark hull. + +The men having little else to do, obtained from the captain permission +to fish. Directly they had hauled in a dozen or more of the most +ill-favored, shapeless, unchristian-looking articles I ever clapped eyes +on, which, when I came from aft, were dancing their death jigs on the +forecastle-deck, much to the diversion of the captain's black waiter, +Essequibo. + +"Halloo!--this way, blackey!" shouted an old tar to the merry African, +who, by the way, was a kind of reference table for the whole +crew--"Egad! Billy, look here,--what do you call this comical looking +devil that has helped himself to my hook? Why! his body is as long as +the articles of discipline, and his mouth almost as long as his +body!--your own main-hatch-way is not a circumstance to it!" + +"Him be one gar fish--ocium gar!--he no good for eat," answered the +black with a grin that drew the corners of his mouth almost back to his +ears, so that, to appearance, small was the hinge that kept brain and +body together. + +At the sight the querist dropped the fish, exclaiming with feigned +wonder, "By all that's crooked, an even bet!--ar'n't your mouth made ov +injy rubber, Billy!" + +"Good ting to hab de larsh mout, Misser Mongo,--eat de more--lib de +longer," said Billy. + +"Screw your blinkers this way, Jack Simpson, there's a prize for you," +said another, as he dragged a huge lump-headed, bull-eyed, tail-less +mass out of the water, with fins protruding, like thorns, from every +part of his body!--"Guess he's one of the fighting cocks down below, +seeing his spurs!--any how, he's well armed,--I'll be keel-hauled, if he +don't look like the beauty that we saw carved out on the Frencher's +stern, with the Neptune bestride it, in Havana, barin' he wants a tail! +Han't he a queer un?--but how in natur do you suppose he makes out to +steer without a rudder?" + +"Steer wid he head turn behin' him!" answered Seignor Essequibo, +bursting into a chuckling laugh--mightily tickled with the struggles of +the ungainly monster,--"Che, che, che!--him sea-dragum--catch um plenty +on de cos ob Barbado. Take care ob him horn!" + +"Yo, heave, ho! Shaint Pathrick, an' it's me what's caught a whale!" +drawled out a brawny Patlander, while he tugged and sweated to heave in +his prize. + +"My gorra! you hook one barracouter!" cried Billy, as his eye caught a +glimpse of the big fish curveting in the water at the end of Paddy's +line,--"Bes' fish in de worl'!--good for make um chowder--good for +fry--for ebery ting,--me help you pull him in, Massa Coulan," and +without further ado, he laid hold of the line. The beautiful fish was +hauled in, and consigned to the custody of the cook. + +"Stave in my bulwarks, if this 'ere dragon-fish ha'n't stuck one of his +horns into my foot an inch deep!" roared an old marine,--"Hand me that +sarving mallet, snow ball, I'll see if I can't give him a hint to behave +better!" + +"Hurrah!--here comes an owl-fish, I reckon;" shouted a merry wight of a +tar, from the land of wooden nutmegs,--"specimen of the salt-water owl! +Lord, look at his teeth--how he grins!--What are you laughing at, my +beauty?" + +"Le diable! une chouette dans la mer?" exclaimed a little wizen-pated +Frenchman, who had seated himself astraddle of the cathead.--"Vel, +Monsieur Vagastafsh, comment nommez vous dish petit poisson?" + +"Poison! No, Monsheer, I rather guess there han't the least bit o' +poison in natur about that ere _young shark_!" replied Wagstaff, "though +for that matter a shark's worse'n poison." + +"I not mean poison--I say poisson--_fish_." + +"O, poison fish--yes, I know--you'll find plenty of them on the Bahamy +copper banks. I always gets the cook to put a piece of silver in the +boilers, when we grub on fish in them ere parts." + +"O, mon dieu! le rashcalle hash bitez mon vum almos' off! Sacr, vous +ingrat, to treatez me so like, when I am feed you wis de bon dner!" + +My attention was called away from this scene of hilarity, by the voice +of the watch in the fore-top, announcing a sail in sight. + +A faint indefinable speck could be seen in the quarter designated, +fluttering on the bosom of the blue sea like a drift of foam. With the +aid of the glass we made it out to be the topsail of a schooner, so +distant that her hull and lower sails were below the brim of the +horizon. Her canvas had probably just been unloosed to the breeze, which +was directly after seen roughening the face of the broad, smooth expanse +as it swept down toward us. + +"That glass, Mr. Waters--she is standing toward us, and by the gods of +war! the cut of her narrow flying royal, looks marvellously like that of +our friend, the Sea-Sprite!" said the captain, while the blood flashed +over his bald forehead, like 'heat lightning' over a summer cloud; "Mr. +Hackinsack, see that every thing is ready for a chase." + +The broad sails were unloosed and sheeted close home. Directly the wind +was with us, and we were bowling along under a press of canvas. + +"Now, quartermaster, look to your sails as closely, as you would watch +one seeking your life." Another squint through the glass. "Ha! they have +suspected us, and are standing in toward the land, jam on the +wind;--let them look to it sharply; it must be a fleet pair of heels +that can keep pace with the Dart,--though to say the least of yonder +cruiser, she is no laggard!" + +After pacing the deck some ten minutes, he again hove short and lifted +the glass to his eye. + +"By heavens! the little witch still holds her way with us!--Have the +skysail set, and rig out the top-gallant-studd'n'sail!" + +Every one on board was now eager in the chase. The orders were obeyed +almost as soon as given. Our proud vessel, under the press of sail, +absolutely flew over the water, haughtily tossing the rampant surges +from her sides, while her bows were buried in a roaring and swirling +sheet of foam, and a broad band of snow stretched far over the dark blue +waste astern, showing a wake as strait as an arrow. She was careened +down to the breeze, so that her lower studd'n'sail-boom every moment +dashed a cloud of spray from the romping billows, and her lee rail was +at times under water. Her masts curved and whiffled beneath the immense +piles of canvas, like a stringed bow. + +"She walks the waters bravely," said the captain, casting a glance of +exultation at the distended sails and bending spars, and then at our +arrowy wake.--"But, by Jupiter, the chase still almost holds her way +with us. We need more sail aft. Bear a hand, my men, and run up the +ringtail." + +"That will answer,--a dolphin would have a sweat to beat us in this +trim!" + +"Well, Mr Percy, is yonder dasher the craft that pillaged your ship, and +sent you cruising about the ocean in that bit of a cockle-shell, think +you?" + +"That is the pirate schooner--I cannot mistake her," replied Percy, who +stood with his flashing eyes rivetted on the vessel, and his fingers +impatiently working about the hilt of his cutlass, while his brow was +darkened with an intense desire of revenge. + +Three hours passed, and we had gained within a league of the noble +looking craft. She was heeled down to the breeze, so that owing to the +'bagging' of her lower sails, her hull was almost hidden from sight. +Like a snowy cloud, she darted along the revelling waters, the sunbeams +basking on her wide-spread wings, and the sprightly billows flashing and +surging around her bows. Never saw I an object more beautiful. + +The land was now fully in sight--a stern and rock-bound coast, against +which the breakers dashed with maddening violence, and for half a mile +from the shore, the water was one conflicting waste of snowy surf and +billow. No signs of inhabitants, on either hand, as far as the eye could +view, were discernible. The long range of stern, solitary mountains +arose from the waves, and towered away till lost in the clouds. Their +sides, save where some splintered cliff lifted its gray peaks in the +day, were clothed with thick forests, among which the tufted palm and +wild cinnamon stood up conspicuously, like sentinels looking afar over +the wide waste of blue. Here and there a torrent could be traced, +leaping from crag to cliff, seeming, as it blazed in the fierce +sun-light, to run liquid fire; and gorgeous masses of wild creepers and +tangled undergrowth hung down over the embattled heights, swaying and +flaunting in the gale, like the banners and streamers of an encamped +army. + +Not the slightest chance for harbor or anchorage could be discovered +along the whole iron-bound coast, yet the gallant little Sea-sprite +held steadily on her course, steering broad for the base of the +mountains. + +"Why, in the name of madness, is the fellow driving in among the +breakers?" muttered our captain;--"Thinks he to escape by running into +danger? By Mars, and if I mistake not, he shall have peril to his +heart's content, ere nightfall!" + +But fate willed that we should be disappointed; for just as every thing +had been arranged to treat the bucaneer with a fist full of grape and +canister, one of those sudden tempests, so common to the West Indies in +the autumn months, was upon us. A vast, black, conglomerated volume of +vapor swung against the mountain summits, and curled heavily down over +the cliffs. Brilliant scintillations were darting from its shadowy +borders, and the zigzag lightnings were playing about it, and licking +its ragged folds like the tongues of an evil spirit! Suddenly it burst +asunder, and a burning gleam--a wide conflagration, as if the very earth +had exploded--flashed over the hills, accompanied with a peal of thunder +that made the broad ocean tremble, and our deck quiver under us, like a +harpooned grampus in his death gasp! The electric fluid upheaved and +hurled to fragments an immense peak near the summit of the mountains, +and huge masses of rock, with thunderous din, and amid clouds of dust, +smoke and fire, came bounding and racing down from crag to crag, +uprooting the tall cedars, and dashing to splinters the firm iron-wood +trees, as though they had been but reeds--sweeping a wide path of ruin +through the thick forests, and shivering to atoms and dust the loose +rocks that obstructed their career, till, with a whirring bound, they +plunged from a beetling cliff into the sea, causing the tortured water +to send up a cloud of mist and spray. All on board were struck aghast at +the blinding brilliancy of the flash and its terrible effects. + +We were aroused to a sense of our situation, by the clear, sonorous +voice of Satan West, whom nothing pertaining to earth could daunt, +calling all hands to take in sail. + +Instantly the trade-wind ceased, and a fearful, death-like silence +ensued. This was of short duration; hardly were our sails stowed close, +when we saw the trees on shore drawn upwards, twisted off and rent to +pieces, while a dense mass of leaves and broken branches whirled over +the land; and a wild, deep, wailing sound, as of rushing wings, filled +the air, foretelling the onset of the whirlwind. + +"The hurricane is upon us!--helm hard aweather!" thundered the captain. + +But the Dart was already lying on her beam-ends, heaving, groaning and +quivering throughout every timber, in the fierce embrace of the +tremendous blast! After its first overpowering shock, however, the +gallant craft slowly recovered, and by dint of the strenuous exertions +of our men, she was got before the gale. Away she sprang, like a +frighted thing, over the tormented and whitening surges, completely +shrouded in foam and spray. A dense cloud, murky as midnight, spread +over the face of the heavens, where a moment before, naught met the +gazer's eye, save the fleecy mackerel-clouds, drifting afar through its +cerulean halls. The blue lightnings gleamed, the thunder boomed and +rattled, the black billows shook their flashing manes, the whole +firmament was in an uproar; and amid the wild rout, our little Dart, as +a dry leaf in the autumn winds, was borne about, a very plaything in +the eddying whirls of the frantic elements. + +The tempest was as short lived as it was sudden, and, as the schooner +had sustained no material injury, directly after it had abated she was +under sail again. When the rain cleared up in shore, every eye sought +eagerly for the pirate craft. + +She had vanished! + +Nothing met our view but the tossing and tumbling surges, and the +breaker-beaten coast. If ever old Satan West was taken aback, it was +then. His brow darkened, and a shadow of unutterable disappointment +passed over his countenance. + +"Gone!--By all that is mysterious and wonderful--gone!" he muttered to +himself,--"escaped from my very grasp! Can there be truth in the wild +tales told of her? No, no!--idiot to harbor the thought for a +moment--she has foundered!" + +But this was hardly probable, as not the slightest vestige of her +remained about the spot. + +Poor Percy, too, was the picture of despair. His hat had been blown away +by the hurricane; and his hair tossed rudely in the wind, as he stood in +the main-chains, gazing with the wildness of a maniac over the uproarous +waters. + +"The lovers of the marvelous would here find enough to fatten upon, I +ween," said Dacres, composedly helping himself to a quid of tobacco. +"What think you is to come next? for I hardly think the play ends with +actors and all being spirited away in a thunder gust!" + +I was interrupted in my reply by the energetic exclamations of the +captain, who had been gazing seaward, over the quarter-rail. + +"Yes, by all the imps in purgatory, it is that devil-leagued pirate," +burst from his lips; and at the same moment the cry of _Sail O!_ was +heard from the forward watch. + +A long-sparred vessel could be seen, relieved against the black bank of +clouds, that were crowding down the horizon. Surprise was imaged on +every countenance, and when the order was passed to crowd on all sail in +pursuit, a murmur of disapprobation ran through the whole crew. However, +such was their respect for the regulations of the service, and so great +their dread of old Satan West, that no one dared demur openly. Again the +Dart was bounding over the waves in pursuit of the stranger, which had +confirmed our suspicions as to her character, by hoisting all sail and +endeavoring to escape us. + +But here likewise we were disappointed. She proved to be a Baltimore +clipper, and had endeavored to run away from us, taking us for the same +craft we had supposed her to be. + +After parting from the Baltimorean, we ran in; and as the evening fell, +anchored under the land, sheltered from the waves by a little rocky +promontory. It was my turn to take the evening watch. Our wearied crew +were soon lost in sleep, and all was hushed into repose, if I except the +shrill, rasping voices of the green lizards, the buzzing and humming of +the numerous insects on shore, and the occasional, long-drawn creak, +creak of the cable, as the schooner swung at her anchor. The evening was +mild and beautiful. The moon, attended by one bright, beautiful planet, +was on her wonted round through the heavens, and the far expanse of +ocean, reflecting her effulgence, seemed to roll in billows of molten +silver beneath the gentle night-wind, which swept from the land, +fragrant with the breath of wild-flowers and spicy shrubs. + +Little Ponto, the royal reefer, lay on a gun carriage near me. This boy, +whom, when on a former cruise, I had rescued from a Turkish Trader, was +a favorite with all on board. Although, in person, effeminate and +beautiful as a girl, and possessing the strong affections of the weaker +sex, he still was not wanting in that high courage and energy which +constitutes the pride of manhood. He was an orphan, and with the +exception of a sister and aunt, who were living together in England, +there was not, in the wide world, one being with whom he could claim +relationship. When very young, he had been entrusted to the charge of +the friendly captain of a merchant ship, bound to Smyrna, for the +purpose of improving his health. But the vessel never reached her +destined port. She was captured by an Algerine rover, and the boy made +prisoner. It was from the worst of slavery that I had rescued him, and +ever after the occurrence his gratitude toward me knew no bounds. He +appeared to be contented and happy in his present situation, save when +his thoughts reverted to his lone sister. Then the tears would spring +into his eyes, and he would talk to me of her beauty and goodness, till +I was almost in love with the pure being which his glowing descriptions +had conjured to my mind. I loved that boy as a brother, and he returned +my affection with a fervor, equalling that of a trusting woman. + +As I leaned against the companion-way, absorbed in pleasant dreams of my +far home, a touch on the shoulder aroused me. I turned and Percy stood +by my side. The beauty of the evening had soothed his wild and agitated +feelings. He spoke of his wife with touching regret, as if certain that +she was lost to him forever. For nearly an hour he stood gazing on the +moon's bright attendant, as if he fancied it her home. + +At length he disappeared below, and again Ponto, who seemed to be +wrapped in a deep revery, was my only companion. We had remained several +minutes in silence, when suddenly, as if it had dropped from the clouds, +a female form appeared far above us, on a precipitous bluff that leaned +out over the deep, on which the solitary moonlight slept in unobstructed +brightness. The form advanced so near the brink of the fearful crag, +that we could even distinguish the color of her drapery as it fluttered +in the wind. By the motion of her arms she seemed beckoning us on shore; +then, as if despairing to attract our attention, she looked fearfully +about, and the next moment a strain of exquisite melody came floating +down to us, like a voice from heaven. We remained breathless, and could +almost distinguish the words. + +The strain terminated in a startling cry, and with a frantic gesture the +figure tore a crimson scarf from her neck, and shook it wildly on the +winds; at the same moment the dark form of a man leaped out on the +cliff. There was a short struggle, with reiterated shrieks of 'help! +help! help!' in a voice of agony, and all disappeared in the deep shadow +of another rock. + +Ponto, who at the first burst of the song, had started up and grasped my +arm with a degree of wild energy I had never witnessed in him before, +now suddenly released his hold, and with a single bound plunged into the +sea. So lost was I in amazement at the whole scene, that for a moment I +remained undecided what course to pursue; then, not wishing to alarm the +ship, I ordered Waters, the midshipman of the watch, to jump into the +boat with a few of the men, and pull after him. + +The head of my little favorite soon became visible in the moonlight. +With a vigorous arm he struck out for the shore, and was immediately hid +in the deep shadow of its mural cliffs. A moment, and I again saw him on +the beetling rocks, whence the female had just disappeared; then he, +too, was lost in the darkness. + +Waters, after being absent in the boat about half an hour, returned +without having discovered the least sign of the fugitive. Hour after +hour I awaited the return of my adventurous boy, filled with painful +anxiety. + +As the night deepened, the clouds, which during the day had slumbered on +the mountain battlements, as if held in awe by the majesty of the +burning sun, rolled slowly down the steeps and gradually spread out on +the sea, enveloping us in their humid embrace. A denser mist I never +saw; my thin clothing was soon wet through and clinging to me like steel +to a magnet, and we were completely lost in darkness. As I paced the +deck, not willing to go below while my young favorite was in peril, +Waters tapped me on the shoulder. + +"Did you notice any thing then, Mr. Hackinsack? I thought I heard a +splash in the water, like the dip of an oar." + +"Some fish, I suppose, Waters." + +"I think not, Sir; besides, just now I saw a dark object gliding slowly +across our bow in the mist, which I then took for a drifting log." + +I walked round the deck and peered into the fog on every side, but could +discover nothing. I listened; all was silent save the tweet, tweet, of +the lizards and the roar of the surf, as it beat on the rocks astern. +Presently old Benjamin Ramrod, the gunner, came aft. + +"I wish this infernal fog would clear up!" said he, "for the last half +hour, I have heard strange noises about us! I am much mistaken, or we +are surrounded by enemies of some sort or other. When that shining +apparition arose from the bluff there, and began to beckon to us, I said +to myself, some accident is going to happen before many hours, and you +see if my pro'nostics ar'n't true. Minded you how, by her sweet voice, +she lured that poor boy, Ponto, overboard?--and even I, who may say I've +had some experience in such matters, began to feel a queerish sensation, +as I harkened to her witchery. Many a poor sailor has lost his life by +listening to their lonesome-like songs. I remember once when I was on +the coast of Africa, in a gold-dust and ivory trader, we heard the +water-wraiths and mermaids singing to each other all night long, and the +very next day our ship was driven upon the rocks in a white squall, and +wrecked, and only myself and a Congo nigger escaped alive, out of a crew +of twenty-three!--It strikes me, too," he continued, after listening a +moment, "that we shall have a storm before morning; the fog seems to be +brushing by us, and the noise of the breakers on shore grows terribly +loud. I would give all the prize-money I ever gained to be out of the +place, with good sea-room, a flowing sheet, and our bows turned toward +home--no good ever came of fighting these pirate imps.--Heaven help us! +what is that?" he exclaimed with a start, as a tall, white form shot +up, a few rods under our stern, seen but dimly through the fog. + +The fact flashed upon me at once; our cable had been cut; it was the +spray of the breakers rebounding from the shore. The best bower anchor +was instantly let go, which brought us up; not however till we had +drifted within a cable's length of the breakers, which ramped and roared +all the night with maddening violence, as if eager to engulf us. The +alarm was given, and in a few minutes every thing was prepared for any +emergency that might occur. + +I ordered Ramrod to clap a charge of grape into one of the bow-chasers +and let drive at the first object that came in sight. As I gave the +order the dip of oars could be plainly distinguished, receding from our +bows. Benjamin did not wait to see the marauders, but fired in the +direction of the sound. The fog was swept away before the mouth of the +gun, to some distance, and I caught a glimpse of a boat filled with men. +A deep groan told that the gun had been rightly directed. + +There was now no doubt that we were surrounded by enemies. It was only +by the foreboding watchfulness of the gunner that we were prevented from +going ashore, where, doubtless, the pirates expected to have obtained an +easy victory over us. + +About ten minutes after this incident I was startled by the faint voice +of Ponto, hailing me from under the schooner's side. I joyfully lowered +the man-ropes, and immediately had the adventurous boy beside me, on the +quarter-deck. He grasped my hand, and I felt him tremble all over with +eagerness. + +"You heard that song; the voice was that of my own sister! That shriek, +too, was hers; do you wonder that I leaped overboard? I scarcely know +how I reached the rock from which she was dragged. I climbed up and up, +in the direction I supposed they must have taken, until I gained the +very summit of one of the hills. I looked down, and as it were floating +in the haze, many feet below me, saw the face of a rock reddened by the +blaze of a fire opposite. I clambered from cliff to cliff, clinging to +the branches of the trees, and letting myself down by the mountain +creepers that hung like thick drapery over the descent, till all at once +I dropped over the very mouth of a deep cavern. A massy vine fell in +heavy festoons down over the rugged pillars that formed its portal. +Securing a foothold among its tendrils, concealed by its luxuriant +foliage, I bent over and looked in. A large party of fierce-looking men, +with pistols in their belts and cutlasses lying by them, were seated +round a rude table, feasting and making merry over their wine beakers. I +paid little attention to them, for against the rough wall was an old +woman, and leaning upon her--as I live, it is true--was my own, my +beautiful sister, she whom I had left in England! I thought my heart +would have choked me, as I looked upon her pale, sorrowful face, and +heard her low sobs. In my tremor the vine shook; some loose stones were +started, and went clattering down into the very mouth of the cavern. Two +of the pirates sprang up, and seizing a flaming brand, rushed out. The +red blaze flashed over her face as they passed, and I heard them +threaten her with a terrible fate, if they were discovered through her +means. At the first start of the rocks I drew back into the vines, where +I remained breathless and still, while they scanned the recesses of the +crag. 'We were mistaken, Jacopo,' at length said one of them, 'it was +probably a guana, drawn hither by the fire.' Satisfied that no one was +near, they returned to their comrades, who ridiculed them for their +temerity. + +"Again I listened, and heard them plan to cut the cable of the Dart, and +run her into the breakers. If they failed in this attempt, they were to +haul the Sea-Sprite out of her hiding place and leave the coast, +trusting, with the aid of the fresh land-breeze, to get beyond pursuit +before day-break.--The mist had come on, and knowing it impossible to +reach the Dart over the rough precipices in time to give you warning, I +remained in my concealment, undecided what course to pursue, when I saw +a party of the pirates leave the cavern to go to their boats. Perceiving +beneath me, on the bough of a wild tamarind, sundry articles of +clothing, similar to those worn by the bucaneers, a bold thought +occurred to me. When they had gone beyond the light from the cave, I +cautiously lowered myself down, and drawing on a jacket and one of the +caps, jumped with them into the boat, no one in the darkness suspecting +me. + +"To appearance we were in the very heart of the mountains. I am certain +that rocks and foliage were piled up all around us.--After a short row +we passed through what seemed to be a deep chasm, between two crags, +which must have been very high, as the darkness between them was almost +palpable, and in a few moments we were riding over the long swell of the +open sea. We groped about in the mist for some time, till the position +of the Dart was ascertained by the chafing noise of one of her booms, +when, gliding softly up, with their sharp knives they cut her cable, and +she began to drift astern. The strictest silence was enjoined upon us +all, so that had I moved or made the least noise, as I had intended, my +life had been the forfeit. However, I had just made up my mind to run +all hazards, when the flame of the gun gleamed through the fog. One of +the pirates fell dead in the bottom of the boat, and in the hurried stir +which this produced, I contrived to slip into the water. + +"Now let me conjure you to take measures for the rescue of my poor +sister. How she came into their power is a mystery. But my heart will +break if she is not soon freed from these lawless men." + +I informed the captain of Ponto's discovery, but he saw at once that it +would be madness to attempt any thing in our present situation, with +sunken rocks around us, the breakers astern, and a thick mist wrapping +all in obscurity. + +At last, after a night of the most wearisome watching, the day dawned, +and the mists returned to their mountain fastnesses. Burning for a brush +with the desperadoes, we towed the Dart out of her critical situation +and got her under sail. The launch and cutter were ordered out, but here +we were at fault. The morning sunlight slept calmly on the forest clad +ridges and gray cliffs, and every irregularity and indentation of the +shore were strongly shadowed forth; but not the least sign of harbor or +anchorage could be seen, except under the rocky promontory we had just +left, and every thing looked as forsaken and solitary as a creation's +birth. However, not doubting that we should be able to sift the mystery, +the boats put off, with full and well-armed crews, and on nearing the +shore discovered a narrow inlet, that wound in between the two lofty +cliffs, the one projecting out with a magnificent curve, so as entirely +to conceal the channel until we approached within a few rods of the +shore. + +"We've got on the right scent of the old fox now, I think," said Waters. + +"Speak low, gentlemen; if discovered we may meet with a reception here +not altogether so agreeable--I don't like the appearance of those grave +looking fellows, yonder," said Dacres, pointing to four cannon mounted +on a low parapet, with their muzzles bearing directly toward us. + +"Why, the place is as silent as a grave-yard," muttered the old +cockswain of the cutter. + +We advanced softly up the inlet, and found it to branch out into a broad +basin. Here was explained the mystery of the Sea-Sprite's sudden +disappearance; this was the _Pirate's Retreat_, and from their escaping +hither and into similar resorts known only to themselves, arose the many +wild stories that were abroad respecting their supernatural prowess. +Fifty well armed men might have defended the place against five hundred +assailants, as there was only one point, the inlet, susceptible of an +attack. The entrance was not more than thirty feet in width--only +sufficient for one vessel to enter at a time; but the water was bold and +deep, with a sandy bottom. An enormous cavern yawned at the farther +extremity of the basin, which Ponto immediately recognized as that where +the pirates held their revel the previous night. But now the place was +evidently deserted; the Sea-Sprite had made her escape. + +The crew of the barge were despatched on shore to explore the premises, +while we, as a _corps-de-reserve_, lay on our oars, with fire-arms +loaded, ready for any emergency. While waiting I had an opportunity of +surveying the magnificent scene around me. We lay in the deep shadow of +a beetling precipice of such immense altitude, that the snow-white +morning clouds, as they floated onward, like messengers from heaven, +swept its summit. Thousands of gray sea-birds were sailing around their +eyries, along its dark craggy sides far above us, while its hollow +recesses reverberated their shrill cries, till to our ears they sounded +like one continued scream. The cliffs all around were tumbled about in +the most chaotic confusion, as if they had been upheaved by some +tremendous throe of nature. Stinted forest trees and brush wood, with +here and there a wild locust or banana, had gained a footing in the +seams and fissures of the crags, and thick masses of the lusty mountain +creepers, intertwined with wild flowering jessamin and grenadilla, fell +in gorgeous festoons down the embattled heights, draping their rough +projections in robes of the most magnificent woof. Nearly opposite was a +yawning ravine, filled with myriads of huge, shattered trees, ragged +stumps, loose stones and gravel, which probably had been swept from the +mountains, by the foaming torrents that rush down to the sea in the +rainy months. The desolation of this scene was in a measure relieved by +the quick springing vegetation that had found sustenance among the +decayed trunks, and in the black earth that still adhered to the matted +roots; so that green foliage, and wild flowers of the most brilliant +dies in sumptuous profusion, were waving and nodding over prostrate +trees, which perchance a year before, had stood up in the pride of +primeval lustihood, on the mountain ridges. Further back, beyond this +gorge, the sloping steeps were clothed with dark waving forests, +stretching up their sides, till they faded into the blue haze resting on +the mountain summits. The freshness of early day had not yet been +dissipated. Among the undergrowth and brakes, on the tips of the tall, +sweeping guinea grass, and in the cups of the wild flowers, the pure +dews hung in glittering globules, sparkling with brilliant prismatic +tints, as they flashed back the glances of the rising sun. Calmness and +repose reigned over the unequalled sublimities of the place; and +although the billows were madly beating and roaring against the outer +base of the crescent-like promontory, within, the water was silent and +unruffled by a breath, reflecting in its depths the wild and gorgeous +array of rock and verdure around, almost as unwavering as reality +itself; and had it not been for the tiny wavelets that rippled up a +small sandy beach, adorning the water's edge with a narrow frill of +foam, its likeness to a broad sheet of glass had been perfect. + +At length, after the premises had been thoroughly reconnoitered, the +crew of the cutter were permitted to go on shore. They were soon +revelling amidst the costly merchandize and the luxuries, with which the +cavern was gorged. + +"Holloa, Price!" said Waters to a fellow mid, as he came out of the +cave, dragging an old hag of a woman after him, apparently much against +her will; "I've found the presiding goddess of the place. Isn't she a +Venus?" + +"Wenus indeed!" echoed the old beldame, "take that, young madcap, and +larn better how to treat a lady!" administering a thwack on his ear +that sent him staggering a rod from her. + +Waters gathered himself together, and a general laugh took place at his +expense. + +"A fair representative of the amorous goddess--quite liberal with her +love pats!" said Price in a tantalizing tone. + +"Confound the old hag," muttered the discomfited mid, "if it were not a +waste of good powder and ball, I'd make a riddle of her in the twinkling +of a grog-can!" + +This female and one man, found wounded and languishing on his pallet, +were the only denizens of the place. + +"Croesus! what hav'nt we here?" exclaimed Price, glancing over the +medley of rich merchandize heaped together in one of the apartments of +the huge cavern; "boxes of silks and satins, sashes, ribbons, lace, +tortoise shell!--whew!--I say, Waters, what heathen are these pirates to +let such a profusion of pretty gewgaws lay here, which ought to be +setting off the fairy forms of the Spanish lasses! Now there's as +handsome a piece of trumpery as one often sees," tying a delicate +crimson silk _manta_ about him--"as I'm a sinner I'll carry that home to +Nell Gray!--Ha! Burgundy wine? + + Inspiring--divine + Is the gush of bright wine; + 'Tis the life, 'tis the breath of the soul, + 'Tis the--the-- + +"Odds! but I must quicken my memory, and clear my pipes with a can of +the critter to get into the spirit of song!" + +He drew a beaker from the cask and took a deep draught. + +"Capital, by Bacchus!" he exclaimed, smacking his lips,--"Try it, +Waters, these fellows fare like princes." + +"Bear a hand, Mr. Price, and don't set the men a bad example," thundered +the first lieutenant, who had stationed himself as a sentinel outside. + +In the meantime the men had not been idle. The sight of such a profusion +of riches, all at their own mercy, had turned their brains, and the +confusion that prevailed among the silks and finery would have rivalled +that of a London milliner's shop on a gala day. + +But the voice of the lieutenant, as if by magic, restored them to order, +and Waters ordered the most costly of the goods to be carried to the +boats. + +"An 'ai'nt it Roary McGran 'as found a nest o 'the shiners," exclaimed a +son of Erin, as he emerged, covered with dirt, from a small, deep cavity +at the inmost extremity of the cavern, dragging after him a large bag of +doubloons,--"'Ai'nt them the beauties, Misther Waters?--its what they're +as plenty there as paraites in a parson's cellar." + +Half a dozen similar bags were brought to light; besides which more than +a score of boxes containing rix dollars, and a great many parcels of +coin of different nations, silver and gold, tied up in old pieces of +canvas, were discovered. + +"Some sport in sacking such a fortress as this," observed Price,--"no +blood and plenty of booty! By Jove, though, what a confounded pity it is +we hav'nt a ship of some size, that we might load her with these silken +goods? Our share of the prize money would be a fortune to us." + +While the men were ransacking the cavern, I had climbed by a narrow +foot-path to the top of a lofty bluff. A small telescope, found in a +hollow that had been worked in the rock, assured me that this served as +a look-out station. It commanded a wide view of the surrounding ocean, +now tenanted only by the sun-beam and solitude, if I except the presence +of the Dart, which sat _lilting_ on the glittering swell, with her white +wings outspread, like a huge sea-bird stretching his pinions for flight. + + * * * * * + +The boats shoved off, loaded gunwale deep with gold and silver, ivory, +tortoise-shell and the most choice of the merchandise found in the +cavern, and in fifteen minutes all was safely secured on board the +schooner. After a short consultation it was agreed to run the Dart into +the Pirates' Retreat, and there await the return of the Sea-Sprite, +deeming that the bucaneers would scarcely be long absent from the chief +depository of their treasures. She was soon safely anchored in the +basin. A lookout was stationed at the mouth of the inlet, while Ponto +and Percy undertook, with the consent of the captain, the task of +watching from the cliff. Waters was then sent with a party of the men to +explore the cavern more thoroughly, and before noon there was not a +chink nor cranny of the place which had not been thrice overhauled. +Immense treasures, in gold, silver and jewelry, were brought to light. + +Toward the latter part of the afternoon, Percy gave the signal agreed +upon for an approaching vessel, and directly after made his appearance +on the beach, informing us that they had examined her carefully, and +that there could be no mistaking her--it was the Sea-Sprite. + +"Strange!" said the captain; "I knew that they were brave--fearless to +desperation, but I did not expect to see them show such fool-hardiness. +However, they shall meet with a welcome reception. Mr. Dacres, see that +all the men are on board, and have things put to rights for a brush. If +I mistake not, there will be desperate work ere the rascal receives his +deserts." + +In a few minutes every thing was ready; the boats were got out forward, +and the Dart was towed to the mouth of the inlet, remaining concealed. + +The Sea-Sprite, which could be seen from the outer edge of the rocks, +stood gallantly in, driving a drift of snow before her, till within +about a mile of the shore; when, as if she had discovered some signs of +our presence, she wore round, hoisted her studd'n'sails, and stood away +in a south-westerly direction. + +"Pull away cheerily," said the captain to the men in the boats, who had +lain on their oars in readiness. + +Slowly the Dart emerged from her hiding place--the sails were squared +round so as to present their broad surfaces to the wind, and away she +darted in swift pursuit, like an eagle in quest of his prey. A stern +chase is proverbially a long one; so it proved in this instance. The +wind was light, and although we hung out every rag of sail, the sun was +sinking beyond the sea when we approached within gun-shot of the rover. +Not a soul could be seen on her decks,--she was worked as if by magic. + +"Mr. Ramrod," said the captain, "clap a round shot into the long-tom, +and let us see if we cannot make them show some signs of life." + +Benjamin loaded the gun, and having got it poised to his fancy, applied +the match. Away whizzed the iron messenger. The chips flew from the +stern of the rover, and a swarm of grizzly heads, belonging to _bona +fide_ bodies, popped up above the bulwarks, and then settled down again, +like so many wild sea-fowl disturbed in their nests. + +"Well done, Benjamin!--I see you have not lost any of your skill for +lack of practice." + +The pirate, at length finding it impossible to escape us, shortened +sail. + +"Now my men," said the captain, "to your duty!--let every gun be +double-shotted--a round shot and grape!" + +By a well-timed manoeuvre, we ranged up under her stern. Our men stood +with their arms extended, ready to apply their lighted matches. + +"Fire!" thundered Satan West. + +A storm of flame burst from our side, and the Dart reeled half out of +water under the recoil of the overloaded guns. The iron shower raked the +pirate fore and aft, hurling those deadly missiles, the splinters, in +every direction, and doing terrible execution on their decks. Two more +such broad-sides would have sent her to the bottom. + +"Helm aweather--jam hard!" roared the captain. + +"Ay, ay, sir!"--and we wore round so as to present our other broad-side +to the enemy. + +While this manoeuvre was going on, the bows of the Sea-Sprite had fallen +off in the wind, so as to bring us side by side, within half pistol +shot. She returned the fire with a vengeance, and several of our brave +tars fell wounded or slain to the deck. + +"Ready! blaze away!"--but the sound of our captain's voice was lost in +the thunder of the heavy ordnance. + +The battle now commenced in real earnest. The cannon bellowed, small +arms rattled, the combatants yelled, the dying groaned, the iron +thunder-bolt crashed, riving the vessel's oaken timbers, and a dense +sulphur-cloud overspread the scene of furious commotion, so that we +fought with an invisible enemy. We could see nothing save the streaming +lightning of the cannon, or the fiend-like figures that worked our +aftermost guns, begrimmed with powder and blood, stripped nearly naked, +and sweltering in their eager toil. As the smoke occasionally lifted, +however, the battered bulwarks of the enemy, and the glimmering streaks +along her black waist, showed that our fire had been rightly directed; +and the irregularity with which it was returned, told the confusion that +prevailed on her decks. Several times we attempted to run her aboard, +but they discovered our intentions in time to avoid us. + +At length a discharge from the well-directed gun of old Benjamin, took +effect in her fore-top. The topmast came thundering down with all its +rigging, over the foresail. Having thus lost the benefit of her head +sail, she rounded to, and her jib-boom came in contact with our fore +rigging. + +"Now is our time!--into her, boarders!" roared Dacres, leaping upon the +pirate's forecastle deck. + +But the order was useless--they were already hard on his track. A close +and desperate struggle now took place. Pistols cracked, sabres gleamed, +and deadly blows were dealt on either side, till a rampart of the slain +and wounded was raised high between the furious combatants. Gloomy and +dark as an arch-fiend, the pirate leader raged among his men, urging +them on with threats and curses, in a voice of thunder, and sweeping +down all opposition before his dripping blade. But Dacres, backed by his +well-trained boarders, received them on the points of their pikes, with +a coolness and bravery that made them recoil upon each other, like +surges from a rock-ribbed coast. Thus the fight continued with various +success, till the attention of the bucaneers was arrested by an +unearthly shout in the rear, and the tall figure of Percy was seen, +laying about him with whirlwind impetuosity, his long, untrimmed hair +flying wildly in the commotion of the atmosphere, his features working +with the madness that controlled him, and his dilated eyes flashing with +a fierce, unnatural fire upon his opponents. All quailed before him. +Wherever his merciless arm fell there was an instant vacancy. Although a +score of cutlasses were glancing, meteor-like, around his person, as if +by a spell, he remained uninjured. At length his eye detected the pirate +leader. Dashing aside all before him, with one bound he was at his side. +The fierce chief started in amazement at the sight of him whom he +supposed many a league from the spot, if not dead, but quickly recovered +his stern and gloomy bearing. + +"Monster! where is she?" shouted Percy. + +"Ask the sharks!" replied the captain, lunging at him with his sabre. + +These were his last words. Percy, quick as thought, drew a pistol from +his belt and fired into his face! He fell heavily to the deck, and the +combatants closed around him, as tempest-waves close over a foundering +ship! + +The pirates, now that their leader was slain, fought with less spirit, +and the victory was soon decided in our favor. Sooth to say, it was +dearly earned; and many who sought the battle with a quickened pulse, +and eager for the strife, were that evening consigned to the waves. Of +all the pirate's crew, consisting of nearly a hundred men, but thirteen +remained unharmed. Heavens!--what a ghastly spectacle her decks +presented! Fifty stalwart forms lay there, stiffened in death, or +writhing in the agony of their deep wounds, severed and mangled in every +way imaginable; and so slippery was the main deck that we could hardly +cross it, while the sea all around was died with the red waters of life, +that gushed in a continuous stream from her scuppers. + +On the forecastle deck, where the last desperate struggle had taken +place, I recognized many of our own crew among the lifeless heaps. Poor +old Ramrod, the gunner, lay there, with the black blood trickling over +his swarthy brow, from a bullet hole in his temple. He had died while +the might of battle was yet upon him--and the fierce scowl which he +darted at his foes, still remained on his rigid features. His hand, even +in the agonies of death, had not relinquished its firm grasp on his +cutlass, and the gigantic form of a swart pirate, with his skull cloven +down, close at hand, showed that it had been swayed to some purpose. +Poor Benjamin! I could have wept over him. He had been in the service +from his earliest days, and the scars of many a sanguinary fight were +visible upon his muscular arms, and on his bronzed and powerful chest. +My brave boy, Ponto, was there also, hanging pale and wounded over the +britch of the bow gun. He had followed me when we boarded, like a young +tiger robbed of his mate. Although faint and helpless with the loss of +blood, which belched at every heave of his bosom, from a deep sabre +wound in his shoulder, and which had completely saturated his checked +shirt and his duck pantaloons, yet his firmness was unshaken. I ordered +one of our men to take charge of him, until he could be looked to by the +surgeon. "Not yet," faintly exclaimed the generous child, pointing to +Mengs, the boatswain, who lay wounded over a coil of the cable, with +three or four grim looking bucaneers stretched dead across his chest, +the blood from their wounds streaming into his face and neck,--"look to +him first, he may be suffocated." + +"No, no, youngster," murmured the hardy Briton, "I'd do very well till +my turn comes, if I had this ugly looking craft cast off from my +gun-deck, and a can of water stowed away in my cable tier!" + +After the prisoners were secured, I sought the cabin, where I had +ordered Ponto to be carried. It was a richly garnished room, with berth +hangings of crimson damask and amber colored silk, a gorgeous carpet +from the looms of Brussels, and furniture in keeping. Opposite the +companion-way hung a superb picture of the virgin mother and her infant, +and over it a golden crucifix, while beneath, on a rose wood table, lay +a guitar, implements for sketching, and various articles for female +employ and amusement. Indeed, one might have supposed himself entering +the boudoir of a delicate Spanish belle, rather than the domicil of a +lawless rover. This I remember but from the glance of a moment. My +attention was drawn to the occupants of the place. There lay my wounded +boy, by the side of a silken sofa-couch, his face buried in the garments +of a female stretched lifeless upon it, and over them bent the tall form +of Percy, gazing upon the group with a fixed, vacant stare, which told +that suffering could wring his soul no longer--desolation and madness +had come upon him. His attitude, the expression of his features, and the +low, convulsive sobs and broken murmurs of the boy, at once explained +the scene. The one had found a wife, the other a sister, in that +inanimate form. I advanced nearer, in hopes that life might not be +altogether extinct. The sight was appalling, but beautiful. The pale, +dead face, upon which the mellow radiance of sunset streamed through the +sky-light, was lovely as a seraph's. Her eyes were closed as if in +sleep; the long braids of her bright hair lay undisturbed upon her +marble forehead, and there was no appearance of violence, save where the +dress of sea-green silk had been torn back from her bosom, as if in her +dying agonies, displaying a dark puncture, as of a grape-shot, just +below the snowy swell of the throat, from which the crimson blood oozed, +slowly trickling down over her white and rounded shoulder. She had +probably been killed by our first raking broad-side. + +"Fire! fire!" shouted a dozen voices on deck. I sprang up the +companion-way. The fore-hatch had been removed, and a dense volume of +smoke was rolling up from below. A glance was sufficient to show that no +effort of ours could save the vessel, and preparations were speedily +made to rescue the wounded, and abandon her to her fate. It being +impossible for me to leave my duty on deck, I sent a trusty Hibernian to +rescue my helpless boy and to inform Percy of our situation. He returned +with a rueful countenance. + +"Ochone! Mr. Hackinsack," said the tender hearted fellow, "it almost +made the salt wather come intil my een, to see the poor man and the +beautiful kilt leddy,--an' whin I tould 'em as how the schooner was +burnin' and would be blown to Jerico in a twinklin' all he said was to +give me a terrible, ferocious-like scowl and point with a loaded pistol +to the companion; so I took his mainin' an' left 'em." + +Two other messengers, sent to take him away by force, met with no better +success. + +The flames were ready to burst out on every side, and from each chink +and crevice around the hatches--which had been replaced and barred +down--the smoke was darting up with the force of vapour from a steam +engine. The deck had become so heated that it was painful to stand upon +it--the fire was fast progressing towards the run, where the magazine +was situated. Thrice had the order been given to quit the burning +vessel, but I could not forsake my friend without one more effort to +rescue him from the terrible fate that awaited him, if left behind. He +still held the loaded pistol in his hand and sternly forbade my +approach. Poor Ponto had fainted from grief and loss of blood, and lay +across his sister's body. I sprang forward and raised him in my arms, +regardless of the maniac's threats. The pistol banged in my ear, but +fortunately the ball passed over me as I stooped, and I regained the +companion-way without injury. By this time, he had drawn another from +his belt. + +"Put away the pistol, and come with me," I urged,--"the vessel is on +fire and will soon be blown to atoms." + +He looked at me with a grim stare for a moment, then burst into an +idiotic laugh. That wild laugh is still ringing in my brain. "Ha! ha! +ha!--Fire? fire? here it is, wreathing and coiling!--here! here!" +dashing his hand against his forehead. + +Perceiving that it was vain to reason with his madness, and fearing for +the life of the wounded boy in my arms, I reluctantly left the hapless +man to his fate. + +The boat had already put off for the last time, but I succeeded in +prevailing upon them to return, and leaping in, soon reached the Dart in +safety. + +The night set in wild and black as Death. Disparted and ragged masses of +cloud were rushing over the face of the heavens, where once and again, +the soaring moon, and that same bright, solitary star, would show their +calm faces through the reeling rack, apparently flying from this scene +of turmoil and death. The increasing wind howled mournfully through the +rigging, and our battered hull staggered along the inky main writhing +and shuddering on the heave of the surge like a weary, wounded thing. + +We followed in the track of the burning vessel as she fled along before +the gale, awaiting in breathless suspense the consummation of her wild +career. The black smoke, interfulgent with tortuous tongues of lurid +fire, rolled in immense volumes over her!--the red flames darted up her +masts, along the spars and rigging, and gushed in swirling sheets from +her ports and bulwarks, while in their fierce gleams, the billows that +ramped and raved about her, glowed like a huge seething cauldron of +molten iron, and the gloomy clouds that lowered above were tinged in +their ragged borders, as with blood. Occasionally the jarring thunder of +her cannon, as they became heated to explosion, announced to us the +progress of the insidious destroyer. + +But a still more thrilling spectacle awaited us. In the height of the +conflagration, the hapless Percy, bearing his dead wife in his arms, +emerged as it were from the very midst of the flames, and took a stand +on the companion-way. So strongly was the tall, dark-figure relieved +against the glowing element, that his slightest gesture could not escape +our scrutiny. While with one arm he spanned the waist of the supple +corse, which apparently struggled to escape from his grasp, he waved the +other on high as if exulting in the whirl and commotion around him. He +seemed like the minister of some dark rite of heathenism, preparing to +offer up a victim to the Moloch of his superstition. + +At length arrived the dreadful moment! The black hull seemed to be +lifted bodily out of the water. A volume of smoke burst over her like +the first eruption of a volcano! A spire of flame shot up to the +heavens, filling the firmament with burning fragments, while the clouds +that overhung the sea, were torn and scattered by the tremendous +concussion. A crash followed--a deep, bellowing boom, as if the solid +globe had split asunder!--then all was darkness--dreary, void, silent as +death! + + + + +TO M***, ON HER BIRTH-DAY. + +By William Cutter. + + + What though the skies of winter + Look cold and cheerless now! + What though earth wears no mantle + But that of ice and snow! + Though trees, all bare and leafless, + Stretch up their naked arms, + In sad and mournful silence, + To brave the wintry storms! + There is enough of sunshine, + Fond memory will say, + Around this morning clustered-- + _This is thy natal day!_ + + What though the birds of summer, + Flown far and long away, + In gentler climes are warbling, + Their loved and grateful lay! + What though, in field and garden, + No fragrant incense pours + From nature's thousand altars-- + Her blossoms and her flowers! + There's music sweet as angels', + And fragrance sweet as May, + In the thoughts that breathe and blossom + Around _thy natal day_! + + To me, the skies above us + Are bright as summer's noon! + And trees, in crystal blossoms, + More brilliant than in June! + There's music in the wintry blast-- + There's fragrance in the snow-- + And a garb of glorious beauty + On every thing below! + For oh! affection, wakened + With morning's earliest ray, + Has never ceased to whisper-- + _This is thy natal day!_ + + + + +RELIGIOUS OBLIGATION IN RULERS. + +By John W. Chickering. + + +It is a great truth, and worthy of a place among the few grand +principles which lie at the foundation of all wise and just government, +that 'the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men.' This may be +understood _de jure_, or _de facto_; and in either sense must be +believed, not only by those who admit, on the authority of the prophet, +that it was spoken by a divine voice, but by all who do not deny the +whole theory of an overruling Providence. + +That the almighty Ruler retains both a right and an agency in the +management of terrestrial governments, is undisputed by all who +recognize his right and his agency in any thing. It is the atheist alone +who would insulate the kingdoms of the earth from the kingdom of heaven. +None would banish Jehovah from the smaller empires his providence has +organized and sustained, but those who banish him from the universe his +power has created. + +Thus atheism in philosophy is sole progenitor of atheism in politics; +and it should not excite our surprise, that he who 'sees' _not_ 'God in +clouds nor hears him in the wind,'--who beholds in the great things of +the earth, the air and the sea, no footsteps of divine power, and no +finger-prints of divine wisdom, should be equally blind concerning the +progress of civil affairs, and should so have perverted his mind, and so +tortured the moral sense which God gave him, as to believe, and to +rejoice, that without God, kingdoms rise and fall, and that it is _not_ +'by him' that 'kings reign, and princes decree justice.' + +But with the atheist, that moral monster,'---- horrendum, informe, +ingens, cui lumen ademptum,' we are not now concerned. We leave him to +the darkness he has brought upon himself through his 'philosophy and +vain deceit,' and to the enjoyment, if enjoyment it be, of his dreary +cavern, more dreary than that of Polyphemus,--a godless world. + +We come to inquire, by way of preparation for the more direct +prosecution of the object of this article, concerning the views +entertained by the great mass of mankind who believe in the existence +and providence of Jehovah, as to his particular connection with the +subordinate governments on earth, and the station which it is his holy +pleasure to occupy in their control and management. And here we find at +once, wide and hurtful mistakes; occupying relatively, such is man's +tendency to extremes, the position of antipodes. Some, overlooking the +twofold agency, partly civil, partly ecclesiastical, by which the Most +High promotes his own ends and the well being of his creatures, have +resolved each into the other, making religion an affair of the state, +and civil government a matter for ecclesiastical influence; producing in +practice the unseemly compound, commonly called "church and state," but +which might be more accurately characterized as the ruin of both. + +As the fruits of this mistake, the world has seen profane monarchs +invested with titles of religion and piety. In some countries, aided by +ambition and intrigue, it has brought kings to kiss the feet of the +professed ambassadors of Jesus Christ; and gained for them honors and +power, which their divine but humble master declined for himself. This +mistake has been confirmed, if it was not originated, by the +organization of the great Jewish theocracy. This was, indeed, church and +state. But it was under a divine administration.--And although the fact +that the Deity not only attested and ratified the alliance, but +condescended to be legislator, judge, and executive, might at once have +prevented the inference; yet men _have_ inferred that the civil and +ecclesiastical powers ought always to be thus commingled. The +consequences might have been anticipated. The history both of +Christianity and of the world, is darkened by their melancholy shade. +Religion, unguarded by the miraculous intervention of Him who, under a +former dispensation, smote the offerers of strange fire, has been +corrupted by those who would do her honor, and crushed by the embraces +of false friends;--and her splendid sojourn in the halls of power, has +been met by reverses not less striking, and far more disastrous, than +Moses met after being the _protege_ of royalty; while the civil rights +of men, invaded by ambition and avarice, under the name of religion, and +with the sanction of God's name, have been yielded up without a +struggle, under the impression, that resistance would be "fighting +against God." What would not have been demanded in the name of man, has +been freely given in the name of God;--men who in defence of their +rights, would have ventured cheerfully upon treason, have shrunk with +horror from sacrilege. + +Thus religion and liberty have well-nigh perished together, and their +present resting-place on earth resembles rather the one found by Noah's +dove on her second flight, than the broad home, illimitable but by the +world's circumference, which as philanthropists we hope, and as +Christians we pray, they may soon enjoy. + +Others again, warned, perhaps, by the disasters consequent upon the +policy last described, have gone to the extreme, not less hurtful, and +far more presumptuous, of excluding religious motives and religious +principles from all influence in the affairs of the commonwealth. They +have thus become _quoad hoc_, practical atheists. Content indeed, that +the Deity should keep our planet in motion, and regulate its seasons and +its tides; and surround and cover it with the blessings of Providence, +nor careful to forbid him a participation even in the _internal_ +concerns of Jupiter, or Herschell,--perhaps even willing to admit in +theory, the truth of the statement from the inspired record with which +this article commenced,--they yet deem it best for man, considered +either as a governing or as a governed being, that the notion of a +presiding Deity should be as much as possible excluded from his mind. +The mere juxtaposition of the words "religion" and "politics," or any of +their correlates, is sufficient to excite the fears of these scrupulous +alarmists; and if they do not imitate the example of the French, who +were seen near the close of the last century, rushing madly with the +pendulum-like oscillation of human nature, from the bonds of religious +despotism, into the very wilderness of atheism, and denounce Jehovah as +a usurper, and his adherents as rebels against "the powers that be," +they strive to separate all questions and acts of government from God +and his laws, as if there _were_ no God; thus making, if not an +atheistic people, an atheistic government. Far otherwise, we cannot but +pause here to remark, acted the noble men, the sifted wheat of three +kingdoms, who were thrown by God's providence through ecclesiastical +tyranny, upon these shores. If they for a time, with a strange tenacity +of old habits, which showed that principle, not passion, led them, clung +to the very usages respecting toleration, which had exiled them, they at +least preserved the nation which they founded, from the character and +the curse of a nation which despises God. Heaven grant, that the +pendulum may not even now be swinging to the other extreme! + +While we would have the affairs of the nation managed as if there were +no _church_ in the world, we would not have them managed as if there +were no GOD in the world. Could our voices reach the millions of our +countrymen, as Joshua's voice reached the thousands of Israel, we would +say as he said, 'IF THE LORD BE GOD, SERVE HIM.' In a word, while we +believe that the civil and ecclesiastical departments ought to be +distinct, and that their union is a departure from the intention of Him +who formed both, and that it is fraught with the most disastrous +consequences to both, we do _not_ believe that the almighty Ruler has +excluded himself from the control of either, or given the least +permission that either should be managed on any other principles than +the eternal principles of right, which are embodied in his character, +and laid down in his word. + +When we speak of a sense of religious obligation, we mean more than a +general undefined belief that such an obligation exists. Such a belief +is withheld, we trust, by comparatively few who hold important places in +our national and State governments. But can it be doubted by any man who +has accustomed himself to contemplate the distinction between mere +intellectual assent, and the warm, practical conviction which reaches +the heart, and controls the conduct, that this belief may coexist with +as total an insensibility to the claims of Jehovah, as if it were +William IV., or Nicholas of Russia, who performed them, instead of the +Most High God? + +Is it too much to desire, nay to infer, as a _duty_, from what has +already been said, that our rulers in the executive, legislative, and +judicial departments, both in the general and State governments, should +have _an abiding consciousness of accountability_--should live under _a +felt pressure of obligation_--to the Sovereign of the universe, which +should assume, as it must where it exists at all, a practical, binding +force? Is it too much to ask, that they should remember that they are +the servants of God for good to this great people, and that to their own +Master they stand or fall? That they rule by God's permission, and for +his ends; and that a higher tribunal than any on earth awaits the +termination of their responsibility to man? That they should remember +their obligation, in common with those who elevated them to office, +"whatever they do, to do all to the glory of God;" and the solemn truth, +that a sin against God or man, whether of omission or of commission, +whether committed in private, in the family circle, or in the high +places of authority, is no less a sin, when committed by a judge, or a +legislator, or a chief magistrate of a State or nation, than by the +humblest of his constituents? In a word, do we claim too prominent a +place for religious principle in the administration of public affairs, +when we avow our desire that the rulers of a people, who are the +nominal, and in a free government the _real_, representatives of the +people, should be daily and practically aware, that they are accountable +to a higher Power, thus realizing, if not in the highest and most +Christian sense, yet in the literal signification, the picture of a good +ruler drawn by the prophet, who, in the name of the almighty Ruler, +declares, "He that ruleth over men, must be just--_ruling in the fear of +God_!" + +We cannot reflect without occasion for the deepest gratitude, that in +contemplating the advantages of such a state of mind and of heart, as +possessed by men in authority, we are not confined to _a priori_ +reasoning. England has had her Alfred, her Edward VI., and her Matthew +Hale; Sweden her Gustavus Adolphus; our own most cherished and beloved +country, a Washington, and a Wirt, with many others among the dead, and +not a few among the living, to whom our readers may recur as we proceed, +both for illustration of our meaning, and proof of our assertions. + +Among the effects of this sense of obligation, which go to show its +importance to every man in public life, we mention first, _its influence +in checking the love and pride of power_. It will not be said by any +man, who has acquired even a smattering of the science of human nature, +that the simplicity of our republican institutions excludes all danger +from this source. It is the great weakness of man, to desire power; and, +having it, to be proud of it; and, in his pride, to abuse it. It +matters not whether it be the power of a monarch on his throne, or of +the humblest village functionary. If it be _power_, or even the +semblance of power, it charms the eye of the expectant, and, too often, +turns the head of the possessor. + +True, in this land, power walks in humble guise. She rides in no gilded +chariot--is clothed with no robes of state--is preceded by no heralds +with announcement of noble titles--is decorated with no ribbons and +stars. Nor is there an office worth seeking, as a matter of gain, except +in some special cases, growing rather out of individual character and +circumstances, than from design on the part of legislators. But who will +deny, that RANK, here, as elsewhere throughout the wide world, has its +attractions? And who, that has thought upon the subject carefully, +doubts that they are as strong, as if it were hereditary? As far as +pride of heart in the possessor is concerned, undoubtedly the temptation +is even greater. That rank is _not_ hereditary, and is therefore +attainable by individual effort, opens a fountain of ambition in a +thousand hearts, which, under another constitution of society, would +never have known ambition, but as _a strange word_, while the fact that +it is ordinarily the prize of talent, attaches to it an additional power +to tempt and seduce the mind. It need not be said, that so far as this +love and pride of power exists, it tends to subvert all the true ends of +government. + +That the influence of a sense of subordination and accountableness to +the Supreme Being, will be direct and strong in checking these +tendencies of human nature, is so plain as to command assent without +argument. Who can be proud in the perceived presence of infinite +splendor and worth? How can ambition thrive under the overshadowing +greatness of almighty Power? + +It is recorded of Gustavus Adolphus, that being surprised one day by his +officers in secret prayer in his tent, he said: "Persons of my rank are +answerable to God alone for their actions; this gives the enemy of +mankind a peculiar advantage over us; an advantage which can be resisted +only by prayer and reading the Scriptures." This remark, though it does +not specify the moral dangers to which the royal worshipper was exposed, +has reference, undoubtedly, in part, if not mainly, to that pride and +loftiness of heart, which are the unrestrained denizens of those high +regions in the social atmosphere, which lie above the common walks of +life. Let a man in one of the high places of the earth, be accustomed +only _to look down_, and he is ready like Herod of old, to fancy the +flattery, truth, which tells him he is a god;--let him _look up_;--there +Jehovah sitteth above the water floods and remaineth king forever! + +Another important effect of such views of religious obligation, will be +seen _in restraining the blind and ruinous excess of party feeling_. He +is a short-sighted politician indeed, who utters a sweeping denunciation +of party distinctions. And if they may be harmless, and even in some +cases form the very safety of the nation, then party _feeling_, without +which _parties_ could not exist, is, in some of its degrees and +developements right and desirable. But like the lightning of heaven, +while it purifies the political atmosphere, how easily and how quickly +may it desolate and destroy! In its healthful action, it is like the +gentle breeze, which refreshes man and fertilizes the earth; in its +excess, like the tornado, which sweeps away every green thing, and even +upturns the foundations of many generations. + +When it is a modification of true-hearted patriotism, seeking the public +good by party organizations, it is right and safe; but when it is the +offspring of the wicked selfishness, already described, it is restrained +by no bounds, and directed to no good end. When a public officer, of +whatever rank, becomes the servant of a party, instead of being a +servant of God, for good to the _people_, it is not difficult to foresee +the consequences. + +No argument is necessary to show that he who feels himself accountable +to God, will be but slightly constrained by the bonds of party +influence. So far as he regards the ends of a party as accordant with +the true ends of government, which in some cases may be nothing more +than the truth, and in others nothing _less_--his sense of religious +obligation will of course not interfere with his diligent prosecution of +those ends. But at that critical point, where ends zeal for party, for +the sake of the common weal, and begins zeal for party, for the party's +sake, and for ambition's sake, there a sense of paramount obligation, +like the magnetic power, will still the whispers of selfishness, and +counteract the tendencies of party commitment. The Christian politician +knows no party but the party of patriots, or, if that party be divided, +he seeks not the building up of either fragment for its own sake--but +the building up on the best and most hopeful, or if need be, on the +ruins of both, the great fabric of public welfare. Who does not desire +to see a deep sense of allegiance to one who is our Master, pervading +the leaders and the adherents of the great political parties, into which +it is so common and perhaps necessary, for nations to be divided?--under +such an influence, how might excesses be restrained, needless +repellances be neutralized, and how soon, instead of fierce bands of +brethren gathered in distinct and opposing array, like the dark clouds +of summer, meeting over our heads, might we see the beauty and the +strength of party organization, without its wide severance and its +deadly hate, like the rainbow, which is not more beautiful in the +variety of its colors, than in the grace with which the divine Painter +has blended them. + +It will be denied by none, of whatever religious or political faith, +that public morals are, under a government like ours, the life-blood of +national strength and safety. The day that shall behold us a nation of +gamblers, or duelists, or profane swearers or drunkards, or +Sabbath-breakers--will be the day of our political death. Armies, and +navies, and enterprise, and numbers, with a sound hereditary government, +may for a time give prosperity to a dissolute immoral people. But in a +government like ours, where the laws and the administration of law, are +as quickly and as certainly affected by the popular sentiment, owing to +frequent elections, as the sunbeams are reflected from the summer +clouds, prosperity cannot survive morality a single day. And who can +tell how important, in this view, it is, that our public men should be +public models of private virtue! + +Oh, when, our hearts exclaim, when shall the _evil_ example be unknown +in the high places of power; and purity, truth, high-toned Christian +morality, beam like another sun, from the seats of influence? The true +answer to this question would afford another argument for the importance +of that sense of religious obligation which has now been considered. The +command of God is the only mandate in the universe which can effectually +restrain human passions and desires. The voice which comes attended by +the sanction, "Thus saith the Lord," is the only voice which can +successfully say, "peace! be still," to the winds and the waves of wrong +inclination. When our rulers shall "all be taught of God,"--and yield +themselves to a constraining sense of his dominion, and their own +accountableness--then, and not till then, will they as a body, be such +models of private correctness and virtue, as many of them, both among +the dead and among the living, have been, for the imitation of the young +men, the hope and glory of our land. + +Again, and it is the last consideration we shall present, how powerful a +tendency would such views on the part of our rulers, possess, to awaken +the utmost vigilance in the guardianship of their sacred trust, and to +elevate the mind and heart to the purest feelings, and the noblest +efforts. + +A sense of accountability, in some manner and to some tribunal, is +essential to ensure fidelity under all temptations to indolence or +perversion, in every case in which men are the recipients of any trust. +Apply this principle to the case of him who holds some political station +of high importance. He feels himself responsible, not only to men, but +to God. He knows and remembers that he is the _servant of God_ for good, +to the people. This remembrance and impression is the sheet anchor of +his steadfastness. Other principles _might_ hold him amidst the storms +and commotions of the popular sea, and of his own heart; this _must_. +With what care will he watch the precious trust, which comes to him +under the seal of heaven! How sedulously will he guard the doors of the +temple of liberty, when he perceives within it the altar of God, and +finds his sentinel's commission countersigned with the handwriting of +Jehovah! His heart, too, will be filled with the purest and most exalted +sentiments. + +The fountain from which such a man daily drinks, sparkles with the +elements of all that is grateful and refreshing. + +The purest patriotism, the sweetest charities of domestic life, the most +expansive and wise benevolence, all spring up in the heart together, the +consentaneous and harmonious fruits of the love and fear of God. It was +in the same school that Wilberforce learned to love the slave--Howard to +love the prisoner--Wirt to love his country--and all to love the world. +They _feared and obeyed God_--and all noble and generous emotions grow +spontaneously in the soil of the heart thus prepared and enriched. + +Nor is the effort less marked or less salutary upon the _mind_. Its +thoughts are loftier, and its purposes deeper and more steadfast, for +being conversant with the great subject of divine obligation. No man can +think much of the Deity, and realize strongly His constant presence and +inspection, without an elevation of views, and a growing consciousness +of that mental power, for the right use of which he is accountable to +Him who bestowed it. We were not made to inhabit a godless world, and we +cannot make it so, in speculation and in practice, without a +deterioration analogous to the dwarfish tendency of emigration to a +region colder than our native clime. "God is a sun," to the mental as +well as to the moral powers; and in the frozen zone of practical +atheism, both degenerate and die. The noble motto, "_Bene orasse est +bene studisse_," applies with hardly less force to secular, than to +sacred studies. + +With what energy must it arm the soul of the patriot statesman +struggling against wrong counsels, and discredited dangers, to know that +the God of truth and of right, sees and approves his course! With what +new power does his mind grasp a difficult and embarrassed subject, when +he feels that the Former of that mind, now demands from him an exertion +of its highest powers! What exciting power, to call forth the most +thrilling eloquence, can be found in the crowded senate-chamber, +compared with the consciousness that for every word he must give account +to Him, whose applause, if he fulfils his high behest, will surpass in +value the shouts of an enraptured universe besides! + + + + +A NEW-ENGLAND WINTER-SCENE. + +EXTRACT FROM A LETTER TO A FRIEND IN ONE OF THE WEST INDIA ISLANDS. + +By William Cutter. + + +I have sometimes almost envied you the perpetual summer you enjoy. You +have none of the bleak, dark wastes of Winter around you, and have never +to look, with aching heart, upon all fair, bright, beautiful things, +withering before your eyes, in the severe frown of frosty Autumn. It is +always green, and fresh, and fragrant, in your Islands of eternal June. +Your gardens are always gardens, gay and redolent with sweet blossoms, +and rich with ripe fruits, mingling like youth and manhood vying with +each other, "from laughing morning up to sober prime," pursuing, without +blight or dimness, the same gay round--blooming and ripening--ripening +and blooming, but never falling, through all generations. Through all +seasons, you have only to reach forth your hands, and there are bright +bouquets, and mellow, delicious fruits, ready to fill them. Your trees +have always a shade to spread over you; and they cast off their gorgeous +blossoms, and their luxuriant load, as if they were conscious of +immortal youth and energy--as if they knew they should never fade, +become fruitless, or die. There is no frail, bending, withering age, in +any thing of nature you look upon--no blasting of the unripened bud by +untimely frosts--no falling prematurely of all that is beautiful and +rare, to remind you daily that time is on his flight, and that you will +not always be young. I wonder you do not think yourselves immortal in +those everlasting gardens! Oh! that perpetual youth and maturity of +every thing lovely!--how I have sometimes envied you the possession! + +But I shall never envy you again. No--delightful as summer is, soft as +its breezes, and sweet as its music, I would not lose the unutterable +glory of this scene, that is now before me, for all the riches of your +Island,--its unfading summer, and everlasting sweets. I wish I could +describe it to you--could give you some faint idea of its celestial +splendor. But, to do it any justice, I should have travelled through the +fields of those glittering constellations above me, to borrow images +from the host of heaven. The attempt will be vain--presumptuous--but I +will try to tell you as much of it as I can. + +The day has been dark, cold, and stormy. The snow has been falling +lightly, mingled with rain, which, freezing as it fell, has formed a +perfect covering of ice upon every object. The trees and shrubbery, even +to their minutest branches, are all perfectly encased in this +transparent drapery. Nothing could look more bleak and melancholy while +the storm continued. But, just as evening closed in, the storm ceased, +and the clouds rolled swiftly away. Never was a clearer, a more spotless +sky. The moon is in the zenith of her march, with her multitude of +bright attendants, pouring their mild radiance, like living light, upon +the sea of glass that is all around us. Oh! how it kindles me to look at +it! how it maddens me that I have no language to tell it to you! Do but +imagine--The fields blazing out, like oceans of molten silver!--every +tree and shrub, as far as the eye can reach, of pure transparent +glass--a perfect garden of moving, waving breathing chrystals, lighted +into unearthly splendor by a full, unclouded moon, and scattering +undimmed, in every direction, the beams that are poured upon them. The +air, all around, seems alive with illuminated gems. Every tree is a +diamond chandelier, with a whole constellation of stars clustering to +every socket--and, as they wave and tremble in the light breeze that is +passing, I think of the dance of the morning stars, while they sang +together on the birth-day of creation. Earth is a mirror of heaven. I +can almost imagine myself borne up among the spheres, and looking +through their vast theatre of lights. There are stars of every +magnitude--from the humble twig, that glows and sparkles on the very +bosom of the glassy earth, and the delicate thorn that points its +glittering needle to the light, to the gorgeous, stately tree, that +lifts loftily its crowned head and stretches its gemmed and almost +overborne arms, proudly and gloriously to the heavens--all +glowing--glittering--flashing--blazing--like--but why do I attempt it? +As well might I begin to paint the noon-day sun. Give a loose to your +imagination. Think of gardens and forests, hung with myriads of +diamonds--nay, every tree, every branch, every stem and twig, a perfect, +polished crystal, and the full, glorious moon, and all the host of +evening, down in the very midst of them--and you will know what I am +looking at. I am all eye and thought, but have no voice, no words to +convey to you an impression of what I see and feel--No, I'll not envy +you again! What a picture for mortal eyes to look on undimmed! The +eagle, that goes up at noon-day to the sun, would be amazed in its +effulgence. It is the coronation-eve of winter--and nature has opened +her casket, and poured out every dazzling gem, and brilliant in her +keeping, and hung out all her rain-bow drops, and lighted up every lamp, +and they are all glowing, twinkling, sparkling, flashing together, like +legions of spiritual eyes, glancing from world to world, in such +unearthly rivalry, that the eye, even of the mind, turns away from it, +pained and weary with beholding. There--look--but I can say no more, my +words are consumed, drunk up in this unutterable glory, like morning +mist when the sun looks on it! + + + + +LOCH KATRINE. + +By N. H. Carter. + + +An eminence in the road afforded us the first view of Loch Katrine, a +blue and bright expanse of water, cradled among lofty hills, though +moderate both in point of altitude and boldness, when contrasted with +those which had already been seen. The first feature that arrested +attention, was the peculiar complexion of the water, which is cerulean, +and differs several shades from that of the other Scottish lakes. Its +hue is probably modified by the verdure upon the shores, as well as by +the geological structure of its bed, in which there is little or no mud. +Like some of our own pellucid waters, it is a Naiad of the purest kind, +sleeping on coral and crystal couches. Its blue tinge was doubtless in +some degree heightened by the distance whence it was first descried, as +well as by the deep azure of the skies after the late storm. + +Hastening to the shore, we waited some time for the oarsmen, who +accompanied us from Loch Lomond, to bring out their boat from behind a +little promontory, which for aught I know, was the very place where Rob +Roy and Ellen Douglas used to hide their canoes. There is no house +within several miles of the landing. The only building of any kind is a +small temporary hut, of rude construction, serving as a poor shelter in +case of rain. As this lake has become a fashionable resort, one would +suppose the number of travellers would justify the expense of a +boatman's house, which would relieve the oarsmen from the trouble of +walking half a dozen miles, and the tourist from the vexation of paying +for it. + +At two o'clock in the afternoon, seven of us, including the boat's crew, +embarked, and commenced a voyage to the foot of the lake, a distance of +nine miles in a south-eastern direction. Winds and waves both conspired +to accelerate our progress, and no Highland bark probably ever bounded +more merrily over the blue billows. The cone of Ben-Lomond rapidly +receded, and Ben-venue and Ben-an, on opposite sides of the outlet, came +more fully in view. At the head, Glengyle opens prettily from the +north-west, with serrated hills forming the lofty ramparts of the pass, +in the entrance of which is a seat belonging to one of the descendants +of Rob Roy M'Gregor. The width of the lake is about two miles, with +deeply indented shores, which are generally bold and romantic, +exhibiting occasionally scattered houses and patches of cultivation, +particularly on the north-eastern borders. Our course was nearest the +south-western side, touching at one little desolate promontory, to +exchange boats, and often approaching so close, as to enable us to +examine the scanty growth upon the margin. + +In about two hours from the time of embarkation, we reached Ellen's +Island, near the outlet; and half encircling the green eminence, rising +beautifully from the bosom of the lake, our Highland mariners made a +port in the identical little bay, where the far-famed heroine was wont +to moor her skiff, fastening it to an oak, which still hangs its aged +arms over the flood. This miniature harbor is also signalized, as the +place where Helen Stuart cut off the head of one of Cromwell's +soldiers. As the story goes, all the women and children fled hither for +refuge. After a decisive victory, one of the veterans of the Protector +attempted to swim to the island for a boat, with an intention of +pillaging and laying waste the asylum; but as he approached the shore +the above mentioned heroine, stepped from her ambuscade, and with one +stroke of her dirk decapitated the marauder, thus rescuing her narrow +dominion with its tenants from destruction. + +The Island is small and rises perhaps fifty feet above the water. It +rests on a basis of granite, covered with a thin coat of earth, through +which the rocks occasionally appear, and which affords scanty nutriment +to a growth of oak, birch, and mountain ash. The red berries of the +latter hung gracefully over the cliffs, in many places shaded with brown +heath. A winding pathway leads to the summit, which is beautifully +tufted, and affords a charming view of the surrounding hills and waters. + +In a little secluded copse near the top stands Ellen's Bower, fashioned +exactly according to the description of the same object in the Lady of +the Lake. Those who are curious to form a minute and accurate image of +it, have only to turn to that picture. The exterior is composed of +unhewn logs or sticks of fir, fantastically arranged, with a thatched, +moss-covered roof, and skins of beasts converted into semi-transparent +parchment for windows. Every thing within is in rustic style. A living +aspen grows in the centre, and supports the ceiling. Upon its branches +hangs a great variety of ancient armor, with trophies of the chase. Here +may be seen the Lochaber axe, Rob Roy's dirk, and sundry other +curiosities. A table strewed with leaves extends nearly the whole +length of the bower. The walls are hung with shields, and the skins of +various animals. Chairs and sofas woven of osiers fill the apartment. +The chimney is formed of sticks, and the head of a stag with his +branching horns decorates the mantlepiece. Half an hour was passed in +lolling upon Ellen's sofas, and in examining her domestic arrangements. + +Bidding a lingering farewell to the sweet little island, we again +embarked and soon completed the residue of our voyage. The foot of Loch +Katrine is very romantic and beautiful. Innumerable hills of moderate +elevation raise their grey, pointed peaks around and above a deeply +wooded glen, opening towards the south-east and forming the outlet of +the lake. The highest of these are Ben-venue and Ben-an, rising on each +side of the pass. Both are fine mountains, something like two thousand +feet in height, with naked masses of granite overhanging wild and woody +bases. From the great number of peaks or _pikes_ which are crowded into +this narrow district, it has been called the Trosachs, or _bristled +region_. The lake is here reduced to less than half a mile in width, +sheltered on all sides from the winds by high promontories, jutting so +far into the water, as to appear like a group of islands. + +Towards the north-west, the eye looks up the glen of Strathgartney, in +which tradition says that the grey charger of Fitz-James fell. The +boatman gravely informed us, that _his bones are to be seen to this +day_! Such stories, and the sketches of certain topographers, have +afforded us an infinite fund of amusement. + +We landed at the foot of Loch Katrine, and after walking a mile and a +half reached our hotel. + + + + +WORSHIP. + +By Asa Cummings. + + +That heart must be desolate indeed, which is a stranger to devotion. +Were it possible to remain undevout, and at the same time not be +criminal, it were still a state of mind most earnestly to be deprecated. +It is a joyless condition, to live without God in the world; to be +unsusceptible to the attractions of his moral excellence; to pass the +time of our sojourning in a world of trial, without ever communing with +the Father of our spirits, or voluntarily casting ourselves on an +Almighty arm for support, and breathing forth to the Author of our +being, the language of supplication and praise. + +And how is the effect of devotion heightened by the junction of numbers +in the same service--even of the "multitude who keep holy day!" A scene, +so honorable to Him "who inhabiteth the praises of Israel," so fit in +itself, so congruous to man's social nature and dependant condition, so +impressive on the actors and spectators, and so salutary in its +influence,--awakened in the "sweet singer of Israel," the most ardent +longings for the courts of the Lord, and constituted the glowing theme +of more than one of his unrivalled songs. Nay, under the influence of +that inspiration which prompted his thoughts and guided his pen, he does +not hesitate to affirm:--"_The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than +all the dwellings of Jacob._"[1] + +Far from us be the thought of casting upon the Psalmist the imputation +of undervaluing himself, or of designing to lead his fellow-men to +undervalue domestic or private worship. Every contrite heart is an abode +where God delights to dwell--a temple where he abides and operates--a +chosen habitation, where he reveals his love and displays his grace. It +is a complacent sight to the Father of spirits, to behold one prodigal +returning, to see an individual prostrate before him, and lifting up his +cry for pardon and spiritual strength. It is pleasing in his eyes to see +a family at their morning and evening devotions, pouring out their souls +with all the workings of pious affection, and the various pleadings of +faith. No sweeter incense than this, ever ascends to heaven. When, +therefore, God expresses his preference for the worship of the +sanctuary, it is not the _quality_ which he regards, but the _degree_; +not the _kind_ of influence exerted, but the _amount_. In the sanctuary +is the concentrated devotion of many hearts. Here are more minds to be +wrought upon; here is a wider scope for the operation of truth; here a +light is raised which is seen from afar, and attracts the gaze of +distant beholders, as the temple on the summit of Moriah, "fretted with +golden fires," arrested the eye of the distant traveller. Here is a +public, practical declaration to all the world, that there is a God, and +that adoration and service are his due. + +In the sanctuary the Creator and the creature are brought near to each +other. The character and perfections of God, his law and government, the +wonders of his providence, the riches of his grace, the duty and destiny +of man, are brought directly before the mind by the "lively oracles." +"Beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, we are changed into +the same image." Truth, enforced by the energies of the life-giving +Spirit, "is quick and powerful." God "pours water on them that are +thirsty;" and in fulfilment of the prophetic word, "young men and +maidens, old men and children," awakened to "newness of life," spring up +"as willows by the water-courses," and flock to the Refuge of souls, "as +doves to their windows." A spectacle this, well pleasing to God, and +cheering to the hearts of his friends on earth--none more so this side +heaven. None produces such a commingling of wonder, love, humility, and +gratitude; none calls forth such adoring thankfulness; none makes the +songs of the temple below so like that new song of Moses and the Lamb, +which is perpetually sung before the throne above. Heaven is brought +down to earth--eternity takes hold on time; this world yields its +usurped throne in the hearts of men, and Jehovah reigns triumphant, the +Lord of their affections. "The power and glory of God are seen in the +sanctuary." + +Here, too, are ample provisions to meet all future wants--moral means to +restore the wandering, to recover the spiritually faint, to refresh and +fortify their souls to sustain the conflict with temptation, to inspire +the heart with religious joy, to nourish that spiritual life which has +dawned in their souls. Here is the "sincere milk of the word," on which +they may "grow;" the significant ordinances, so quickening to the +affections, so invigorating to man's spiritual nature. The Baptismal +water affects the heart through the medium of the eye, and enforces the +worshipper's obligation to abjure the world, and to be pure as Christ is +pure. The Emblematic Feast, exhibiting "Jesus Christ set forth +crucified before his eyes,"--while it affectingly reminds him of his +lost condition as a sinner, contains an impressive demonstration of the +power and grace of his Deliverer, "in whom we have redemption through +his blood." His faith fastens itself on this sacrifice. He is loosed +from the bondage of sin; his "soul is satisfied as with marrow and +fatness." His fellowship is with the Father, and with the Son. He has +communion with the saints. He derives new support to his fainting faith, +and goes on his pilgrimage rejoicing. + +The entire exercises and scenes of the house of worship--the reading of +the scriptures, the confessions, prayers, and praises, the songs of the +temple--for "as well the singers as the players on instruments" are +there[2]--the preaching of the gospel, the celebration of the +sacraments,--all combine their aid to strengthen pious principle, holy +purpose, virtuous habit, and to render the children of God "perfect, +thoroughly furnished to every good work." The place, the day, the +multitude, the power of sympathy, all conspire to give effect to truth, +and to rouse them up to labor for God, for their species, for eternity: +all combine to render the house of God "the gate of heaven," the image +of heaven, and a precious antepast of the enjoyments of heaven! + + "My willing soul would stay + In such a frame as this, + And sit, and sing herself away + To everlasting bliss." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Psalm lxxxvii, 2. + +[2] Psalm lxxxvii, 7. + + + + +THE VALLEY OF SILENCE. + +By William Cutter. + + It was a perfect Eden for beauty. The scent of flowers came + up on the gale, the swift stream sparkled like a flow of + diamonds in the sun, and a smile of soft light glistened on + every leaf and blade, as they drank in the life-giving ray. + Its significant loveliness was eloquent to the eye and the + heart--but a strange deep silence reigned over it all. So + perfect was the unearthly stillness, you could almost hear + yourself think.--_Katahdin._ + + + Has thy foot ever trod that silent dell? + 'Tis a place for the voiceless thought to swell + And the eloquent song to go up unspoken, + Like the incense of flowers whose urns are broken; + And the unveiled heart may look in, and see, + In that deep strange silence, its motions free, + And learn how the pure in spirit feel + That unseen Presence to which they kneel. + + No sound goes up from the quivering trees, + When they spread their arms to the welcome breeze; + They wave in the Zephyr--they bow to the blast-- + But they breathe not a word of the power that passed; + And their leaves come down on the turf and the stream, + With as noiseless a fall as the step of a dream; + And the breath that is bending the grass and the flowers, + Moves o'er them as lightly as evening hours. + + The merry bird lights down on that dell, + And, hushing his breath, lest the song should swell, + Sits with folded wing in the balmy shade, + Like a musical thought in the soul unsaid. + And they of strong pinion and loftier flight, + Pass over that valley, like clouds in the night-- + They move not a wing in that solemn sky, + But sail in a reverent silence by. + + The deer, in his flight, has passed that way, + And felt the deep spell's mysterious sway-- + He hears not the rush of the path he cleaves, + Nor his bounding step on the trampled leaves. + The hare goes up on that sunny hill, + And the footsteps of morning are not more still, + And the wild, and the fierce, and the mighty are there, + Unheard in the hush of that slumbering air. + + The stream rolls down in that valley serene, + Content in its beautiful flow to be seen, + And its fresh flowery banks, and its pebbly bed + Were never yet told of its fountain head; + And it still rushes on--but they ask not why, + With its smile of light, it is hurrying by; + Still, gliding, or leaping, unwhispered, unsung, + Like the flow of bright fancies, it flashes along. + + The wind sweeps by, and the leaves are stirred, + But never a whisper or sigh is heard; + And when its strong rush laid low the oak, + Not a murmur the eloquent stillness broke. + And the gay young echoes--those mockers that lie + In the dark mountain-sides--make no reply, + But, hushed in their caves, they are listening still + For the songs of that valley to burst o'er the hill. + + I love society;--I am o'erblest to hear + The mingling voices of a world; mine ear + Drinks in their music with a spiritual taste; + I love companionship on life's dark waste, + And could not live unheard;--yet that still vale-- + It had no fearful mystery in its tale;-- + Its hush was grand, not awful, as if there + The voice of nature were a breathing prayer. + 'Twas like a holy temple, where the pure + Might blend in their heart-worship, and be sure + No sound of earth could come--a soul kept still, + In faith's unanswering meekness, for heaven's will, + Its eloquent thoughts sent upward and abroad, + But all its deep hushed voices kept for God! + + + + +DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DIVINE BEING. + +By Gershom F. Cox. + + +It is a difficult task to shadow forth spirit. The best emblems of the +earth can give but faint and distant views of its incomprehensible +nature. Our own consciousness, too, must fail to give us adequate +notions of the mysterious traits of its character. Aided by the +brightest images of earth, or the most subtle principles of philosophy, +who can bring to view any tolerably good picture of a HUMAN SOUL!--who +can draw the outlines of thought!--thought that is as immeasurable as +the universe!--thought that _could encompass_, with more than the +quickness of the lightning's flash, all that God has made!--thought that +gives to us, at once, the gravity of the merest atom, the beauties and +properties of the petal of a single flower, or the structure, density, +size and weight of the worlds that border on the outskirts of our own +universe; and when it has done its noble work, as if plumed for fresh +conquests, stretches itself far beyond the material universe, into the +deep solitudes of eternity, in quest of something more! Who, we ask +again, can give the outlines of thought? Who can tell us of its yet +hidden resources; or of a mind like that of Newton, or of Bacon, which, +after they had taken from the arcana of nature some of her most hidden +principles, "entered the secret place of the Most High, and lodged +beneath the shadow of the Almighty?" How much less, then, can we give +just descriptions of the DEITY! How can we describe Him "who covereth +himself with LIGHT as with a garment,"--whom no man hath seen, nor can +see. + +We are aware that every thing speaks of _a_ God. All nature has its +language; and however dark the alphabet, it still speaks, and speaks +every where; for there is no place where he has not "left a witness." We +acknowledge, too, that the only reason why the deep tones of nature are +not more audible, may be found in the imbecilities or transgressions of +man. But, while the babbling brook hath its story to tell of its Maker, +and the willow that bends and sighs by its side, and the pebble o'er +which the streamlet rolls;--while the glorious dew-drop has its power of +speech--the soft south breeze, and "the hoar-frost of heaven;" while the +deep vale may offer its chorus to the waving corn, or to the lofty +summit by its side; while often may be heard the full notes of the angry +tempest, and of the tornado as it sweeps by us, carrying fearful +desolation in its path; although these may all speak forcibly of the +power, of the goodness, of the wisdom, of the terrible justice of God; +yet, without divine revelation, like the inscription at Athens, they +only point to a God UNKNOWN. The awful precipice, where + + "Leaps the live thunder," + +in the hour of the tempest, doth but stun the intellect of man with its +overhanging and dizzy heights. And "the sound of many waters," or "the +deep, lifting up his hands on high,"--although they may arouse every +passion of the spirit, and address it as with the voice of God; yet, to +man, these all want an interpreter. Lo! these are but "_parts_ of his +ways." But what a mere "_whisper_ of the matter is heard in it, and the +thunder of his power who can understand!" + +Nature speaks--we repeat it--but her language, to us, is often +indefinite; like the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, it may arouse the spirit +to inquiry--agitate every passion to consternation; but without a Daniel +to interpret her admonitions, "the thing is passed from us." Else why +this gross ignorance of the character of God among even the enlightened, +or rather civilized, nations of antiquity? Why did not Egypt, when all +the "wisdom of the east" was concentrated in her sons, have _some_ +notions of the Deity that would have raised their minds above the +serpent or crocodile, or some insignificant article of the vegetable +creation? Why did not the savage, roaming in the freedom of his +interminable forests, have some correct views of God? He had talked with +the sun, and heard the roar of the tempest; the evening sky in its +grandeur was an everlasting map spread out before him, and the broad +lake mirrored back to him its glories. But how confused--how degraded +were the loftiest notions of the Deity, among the most powerful of +Indian minds! + +But I have already strayed from my purpose. I intended only to give a +specimen or two, of attempted descriptions of the Deity, for the purpose +of showing the infinite superiority of those contained in the bible, +above every other in the world. + +It ought, however, to be recollected, that the descriptions we find +among heathen authors, are doubtless more or less indebted to sentiments +borrowed from the Jewish scriptures; although we believe the contrast +will show that they have passed through heathen hands. One of the most +sublime to be met with in the world, out of the bible, was engraved in +hieroglyphics upon the temple of Neith, the Egyptian Minerva. It is as +follows: + +"I am that which is, was, and shall be: no mortal hath lifted up my +veil: the offspring of my power is the sun." + +A similar inscription still remains at Capua, on the temple of Isis: + +"Thou art one, and from thee all things proceed." + +In the above, evident traces are to be seen of the Hebrew term JEHOVAH. +Some of Homer's descriptions have their excellencies; but they all +suffer from the fact, that he clothes the deities he describes, not only +with human passions, but with human appetites of the most degrading +character. And he never seems more satisfied with himself than when he +represents them heated for war! "Warring gods," when placed at the foot +of Calvary, or contrasted with any just description of the true God, is +certainly a revolting idea; and it is still worse to introduce them as +does Homer, with the shuddering thought that, + + "Gods on gods exert _eternal rage_!" + +And our impressions are scarcely more favorable when he presents us with +an _un_incarnate, and yet "bleeding god," retiring from the field of +battle, "pierced with Grecian darts," "though fatal, not to die." The +following from this author is singular indeed: + + "Of lawless force shall _lawless_ MARS complain? + Of all the _most unjust_, most odious in our eyes! + In human discord is thy dire delight, + The waste of slaughter, and the rage of fight. + No bound, no law thy fiery temper quells, + And all _thy mother_ in thy soul rebels!"--_Illiad, Book 5._ + +The following is far less exceptionable: + + "And know, the Almighty is the God of gods. + League all your forces then, ye powers above, + Join all, and try the omnipotence of Jove; + Let down our golden everlasting chain, + Whose strong embrace holds heaven, and earth and main: + Strive all, of mortal or immortal birth, + To draw, by this, the thunderer down to earth: + Ye strive in vain! If I but stretch this hand, + I heave the gods, the ocean, and the land; + I fix the chain to great Olympus' height, + And the vast world hangs trembling in my sight! + For such I reign unbounded and above; + And such are men, and gods, compared to Jove."--Ill. b. vi. + +Some of the above ideas are certainly sublime, and considering the age +that produced them, they have no superior but the bible. + +As the KORAN has attained considerable celebrity, we should hardly be +pardoned should we not notice it. The passage on which the Mohammedan +rests his whole faith, for sublimity, and which is confessedly +unapproached by any thing else in the koran, is the following: + +"God! There is no God but he; the living, the self-subsisting; neither +slumber nor sleep seizeth him; to him belongeth whatsoever is in heaven, +and on earth. Who is he that can intercede with him but through his good +pleasure? He knoweth that which is past, and that which is to come. His +throne is extended over heaven and earth, and the preservation of both +is to him no burden. He is the High, the Mighty." + +If the above passage contained a single _original_ thought, it might +entitle it to higher praise than it can now receive. But as there is no +thought expressed, but may be found in the book of Job, or among the +inimitable Psalms of David, written from sixteen hundred to two thousand +years before Mohammed, and which this pretended prophet had before +him--and as we can hardly allow their originality of expression--the +only praise that can be bestowed upon its author is, that of having +studied the Jewish scriptures pretty closely, a fact that is exhibited +throughout his famous production. But while we acknowledge that this is +a brilliant passage, it evidently does not surpass, nor even equal, +either of the following, selected from our own times. + + "Eternal Spirit! God of truth! to whom + All things seem as they are. Thou who of old + The prophet's eye unsealed, that nightly saw + While heavy sleep fell down on other men, + In holy vision tranced, the future pass + Before him, and to Judah's harp attuned + Burdens which make the pagan mountains shake, + And Zion's cedars bow,--inspire my song; + My eye unscale; me what is substance teach, + And shadow what, while I of things to come, + As past rehearsing, sing the course of time. + --Hold my right hand, Almighty! and me teach + To strike the lyre----to notes + Which wake the echoes of Eternity."--_Pollok._ + +In the above extracts there is this remarkable difference: Mohammed, in +his description of Deity, has _no thought_ that refers to a _moral +perfection_ of God! And indeed gross sensuality, and a destitution of +high and spiritual views, characterize his whole work. + +But with Pollok, the first thought is SPIRIT--a second, TRUTH. And aside +from this peculiarity, although you turn over every leaf of the koran, +we affirm that you cannot find so sublime a conception as the following: + + "Hold my right hand, Almighty! and me teach + To strike the lyre,----to notes + That wake the echoes of eternity." + +But how infinitely, both in grandeur and simplicity, do all these fall +short of the inimitable _original_ of most of these, penned by David of +the Old, or Paul of the New Testament. + +"O, my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: THY years are +throughout all generations. Of old hast THOU laid the foundations of the +earth, and the heavens are the work of thine hands. They shall perish, +but THOU shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as +a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. BUT THOU +ART THE SAME, AND THY YEARS SHALL HAVE NO END." + +"Who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and the Lord +of lords; who only hath IMMORTALITY, dwelling in Light which no man can +approach unto,--whom no man hath seen, nor can see!" + +Or as in another place, "The King eternal, immortal, invisible,--the +only wise God." + +In the above specimens, there is a grandeur and simplicity not to be +found in any merely human composition. + +The following is very fine, from Habakkuk: + + "God came from Teman, + The Holy One from Mount Paran. + His glory covered the heavens, + And his praise filled the earth. + His brightness was like the sun, + Out of his hand [or side] came flashes of lightning, + And there was only the veil of his might. + Before him walked the pestilence, + And burning coals went forth at his feet. + He stood, and the earth was moved; + He looked, and caused the nations to quake. + And the everlasting mountains were broken in pieces, + And the perpetual hills did bow. + His goings are from everlasting." + +We scarcely know which to admire most, the above or the following from +the same author: + + "The mountains saw THEE and trembled, + The overflowing waters passed away. + The deep uttered his voice, + And lifted up his hands on high. + The sun and moon stood still in their habitations. + At the shining of thine arrows, (i. e. the lightnings,) they + disappeared-- + At the brightness of thy glittering spear!" + +The following paraphrastic reference may be regarded as barren in some +respects, compared with others that might be selected from the same +living fountain. + +The EYE of the Supreme Being is regarded as so piercing as to pervade +heaven, earth and hell, and the awful depths of eternity. His +COUNTENANCE is as the sun shining in his strength. The wind, in its +endless whirl, is but his breath or breathing. His HAND is represented +so immense, that even its "hollow" will "contain the waters of the great +deep,"--and, when "spanned," he "measures with it the whole heavens." +While "_sitting_ in the circle of the heavens," the earth is represented +as the place where his feet rest. So rapid in his motion, that "He +_walks_ upon the wings of the wind." Of such awful strength, "that the +earth," with its countless inhabitants, are "less than the dust" that +accumulates "upon the balance." At one time "He covereth himself with +_light_ as with a garment,"--and at another, "He maketh _darkness_ his +pavilion, and the thick clouds of the skies." + +These however are images all borrowed from sensible objects, and, +magnificent as they may be, they fail of throwing upon the mind a full +image of Him who hath "no likeness in the heavens above, nor in the +earth beneath." And, besides, these glowing pictures present to the mind +none of his moral attributes. For a description of these, we must look +either to the events of his providence, or a more particular disclosure +in the bible. And it may well astonish us, that, after the lapse of more +than three thousand years, we may look in vain for a fuller or more +perfect description of the Divine Being, in words, than is given by +MOSES in that memorable moment upon Mount Sinai-- + + "Whose grey tops did tremble, when God ordained their laws." + +A description that is like the sun rising upon the chaos that surrounded +him in the Egyptian mythology, which at that time was so gross that no +object in nature was too mean for a deity. But "in the midst of this +darkness that might be felt," God was pleased to reveal himself in the +following language, at once sufficiently grave and impressive to afford +irrefragable proof of its high origin. + + ~Vay'avor Adonai 'al panav vaykra Adonai Adonai El ra[h.]um + ve[h.]anun erekh apayim verav [h.]esed veemeth. Notzer + [h.]esed laalafim nose 'avon vafesha ve [h.]atah venakeh lo + yinakeh poked 'avon avoth 'al banim ve'al bnei vanim 'al + shileshim ve'al ribe'im.~ + +"And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord +God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and +truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression +and sin, and that will by no means clear _the guilty_; visiting the +iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's +children, unto the third and to the fourth generation." + +Or, as these striking appellatives of the Divine Being might be +translated, without offering any violation to the Hebrew,--the JEHOVAH, +the STRONG and MIGHTY GOD, the _merciful_ ONE, the GRACIOUS ONE, the +long-suffering ONE, the GREAT and MIGHTY ONE, the BOUNTIFUL BEING, the +TRUE ONE, or TRUTH, the Preserver of BOUNTIFULNESS, the REDEEMER, or +Pardoner, the Righteous JUDGE, and He who VISITS INIQUITY. + +This is a remarkable description indeed to come from one educated in +the midst of Egyptian mythology; and the awful names by which the +Supreme Being is designated, can only be accounted for, under such +circumstances, on the supposition that Moses received them directly from +the Almighty himself. + +But to close our article. The Divine Being is nowhere so perfectly, so +interestingly described as in the CHARACTER OF CHRIST. Here LOVE is +unbosomed as it could not be by language. Here heaven drops down to +earth; and the otherwise invisible beauties of the invisible God, are +made tangible even to the eye. The _arm_ of mercy, outstretched to the +sinner--the eye of justice softened by the tear of mercy--the heart of +love beating intensely with benignity, as well as every perfection of +the divine nature; are all laid open to the view of sinful, helpless +man, and we become "eye witness of his glorious majesty." Here the tears +of mercy may be seen dropping upon its wretched objects of +commiseration; and the most secret emotions of the divine mind, we may +behold, heaving in the bosom of the immaculate Jesus. Here indeed "God +tabernacles and walks with man." And as a confirmation of the glorious +truth, at beholding Him, "the sun stood still in his habitation." "The +sea saw him, and was afraid." The earth trembled at his presence, and +gave back the dead at his voice. Well indeed might one exclaim, to +behold such a personage, "MY LORD AND MY GOD." + + + + +THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. + +By Charles S. Daveis. + + +Never--since the period that Csar conquered Gaul, when the inhabitants +enjoyed a barbarian license under their native chiefs and druids, had +the voice of liberty been heard in France, till the 14th of July, 1789. +Never before did such a note of exultation spread over the vine-covered +hills,--and echo among the beautiful valleys, of that fair country. +Never perhaps before was there such a burden lifted from the minds of +men. In the unwonted consciousness of power, they seemed to tread a new +earth. In the intoxication of triumph they burst from the bonds of +morality and humanity. So very singular, and strange, indeed, was the +position in which the people of France were placed by the revolution, +that their vernacular language was found deficient in the appropriate +phraseology of freedom; and they were obliged to resort to a foreign +idiom, and to the customs of other climes, and the usages of other +nations, and to ransack the regions of fancy and invention, for the +vocabulary, as well as the drapery, of their new republic. + +It is remarkable, that the revolution in France, beginning in fact, with +the destruction of the Bastile, should end in the re-establishment of +despotism. It was a revolution indeed not more remarkable for the +original character of its cause, than its catastrophe; for the +astonishing contrast it exhibits between the splendor of its talents and +the atrocity of its crimes: for the reverence which it professed for +antiquity, and the mischief it produced to posterity; for adopting the +most enormous maxims, and enforcing them by the most audacious means; +for the use which it made of its own freedom to enslave other nations to +its law, for erecting the empire of Rome upon the democracy of Athens, +for the adoption of a model of colossal grandeur, and establishing the +most tremendous system of policy, that ever convulsed human kind:--a +revolution, conspicuous also for the sudden appearance of a race of men +springing up from the earth, as though it had been sown with dragons' +teeth, and its monstrous fruits produced with hydras' heads and tigers' +hearts;--resounding, together, with the tribune, and the +guillotine;--not merely remarkable for tearing the priest from the +altar, but for rasing the altar likewise to the ground; and +distinguished for the successive destruction of some of the most ancient +thrones and crowns in Europe;--for the ignominious death of the last in +a royal line of seventy sovereigns, who, at any former period of the +monarchy, would have been blessed as the father of his people, and +canonized as the true descendant of St. Louis,--and the most affecting +example on record of an anointed queen, not more famed for her charms +than for her sorrows,--her errors more than atoned by her sufferings, +perishing without a tear, in a land of ancient renown for chivalry, upon +the scaffold! The revolution in France was a scene at which sensibility +sinks. It seemed to extinguish the hopes of its friends in the blood of +its martyrs; and it was hardly relieved by the virtues of its purest +patriot, educated in the schools of America, banished from the air of +France, and doomed to breathe the dungeons of despotism. + +To what are we indebted again for our escape from that wild turmoil, +which involved the elements of society and government in Europe with an +overwhelming violence? Why was it, that while the storm, that shook the +continent abroad, beat against our iron-bound shore, its fury was +expended at our feet; and we heard it howl along our agitated coast and +die away at a distance? Why did we enjoy a light, like the children of +Israel, in our dwellings, while Egyptian darkness brooded around? Why, +in this universal chaos, had we such reason to congratulate ourselves on +the good providence of God, in ordaining us to be a world by +ourselves?--It was certainly not, that we did not enter into the cause +of liberty in France with enthusiasm; for our hearts were in it as +warmly as they were in our own. Our sympathy was with it as long as it +could be sustained; our regret pursued it in dishonor,--and our +affection followed it into misfortune. We lamented to see, that all the +results of that amazing movement of the human mind, contemplating the +happiness of millions, and looking to the improvement of ages, should +follow the fortune of foreign war; and that they should centre in a +single individual, carried away into captivity, and doomed to end his +days upon a solitary rock. We grieved to behold the beautiful and +brilliant star of the French Revolution sink at last into mid-ocean, the +mere meteor of military glory.--Feeling all the disappointment of its +friends, we cannot but contrast it with the deep repose, which our own +illustrious and honored patriots enjoy, in the land which gave them +birth, beneath the mighty shadows of our happy political revolution. + +Although, as Americans, we cease to cling to the cause of revolutionary +liberty in France with the lingering fondness of early affection, we +continue to follow its dying light, as though we could not believe it +had entirely sunk in darkness and despair. If it be not possible to +regard it uninfluenced by its unfortunate termination, if we can borrow +nothing from its origin to relieve its mournful catastrophe, it behoves +us still to embalm the wounds of liberty with its healing spirit, and it +concerns us also, that all its sacrifices and services for the sake of +man should not have perished with its victims. The vices of the ancient +government rendered it unfit for the happiness of France, without +essential alterations; and while we reflect with pain upon the results +of the revolution, we must bear in mind that they were the excesses of +men like ourselves, transported by hopes excited by our example, and +exalted by a more ardent temper, untrained by the same favorable habits +and beneficial institutions;--and although its transient violence may +shock and repel our sympathy, it ought not to disgust us with its +principles, or to alienate our attachment from its rational objects. Let +us not fail to perceive, as we shall, if we are attentive to the facts, +that what was good was in the cause; and what was evil was the effect of +that long oppression by which it was corrupted. In this wonderful +dispensation to mankind we may not perhaps pretend to scan the ways of +providence; yet in common with the christian world we cannot fail to +behold the dealing of a divine and overruling hand. Where the seed of +liberty has been sown, and watered with the blood, as well as tears, of +patriots, that seed is yet _in_ the earth; and whether it spring up +before our eyes or not, it may be the will of Him, to whom no eye is +raised in vain, that nothing shall be lost! + + + + +MRS. SYKES. + +By Nathaniel Deering. + + +One dark, stormy night in the summer of ---- finding my system had lost +much of its _humidum radicale_, or radical moisture, in truth a very +alarming premonitory, I directed Mrs. Tonic in preparing my warm _aqua +fontana_ to infuse a _quantum sufficit_ of Hollands; of which having +taken a somewhat copious draught, I sought my cubiculum. Let no one +imagine however, that I give the least countenance to the free use of +alcoholic mixtures. They are undoubtedly poisonous, and like other +poisons, which hold a high rank in our pharmacopeia, it is only when +taken under the direction of those deemed cunning in our art, that they +exert a healing power, and as one Shakspeare happily expresses it, +"ascend me to the brain." Now as the radical moisture is essential to +vitality and as this moisture is promoted in a wonderful degree by +potations of Hollands, we of the Faculty hold with Horatius Flaccus +"_omnes eodem cogimur_"--we may all _cogue_ it. But to return to my +_narratio_ or story as it may be called. I had hardly "steep'd my senses +in forgetfulness" as some one quaintly says, when I was effectually +aroused by a loud knocking at the window. The blows were so heavy and +frequent that Mrs. Tonic though somewhat unadorned, it being her hour +for retiring, yet fearful of fractured glass, hurried to the door. I +might here mention, in order to show the reason of Mrs. Tonic's fears, +that my parlor front-window had been lately beautified with an enlarged +sash containing not seven by nine, the size generally used, but eight by +ten--panes certainly of a rare and costly size and which Mrs. Tonic had +the honor of introducing. The cause of this unseasonable disturbance +proved to be a messenger from Deacon Sykes stating that good Mrs. Sykes +was alarmingly ill and desiring my immediate attendance. Now in the +whole range of my practice there was no one whose call was sooner heeded +than Mrs. Sykes's; for besides being an ailing woman and of course a +profitable patient, she had much influence in our village as the wife of +Deacon Sykes. But I must confess that on this occasion I did feel an +unwillingness to resume my habiliments, that night as I before remarked, +being uncommonly stormy and myself feeling sensibly the effects of the +sudorific I had just taken. Still I should willingly have exposed myself +had not Mrs. Tonic gathered from the messenger that it was only a return +of Mrs. Sykes's old complaint, that excruciating pain, the colic; for +Mrs. Sykes was flatulent. As the medicine I had hitherto prescribed for +her in such aliments had been wonderfully blessed, I directed Mrs. Tonic +to bring my saddle-bags, from which having prepared a somewhat smart +dose of _tinct. rhei._ with _carb. soda_, I gave it to the messenger +bidding him return with all speed. In the belief that this would prove +efficacious, I again turned to woo the not reluctant Somnus, but +scarcely had an hour elapsed when I was again alarmed by repeated blows +first at the door and then at the window. In a moment I sat bolt +upright, in which attitude I was soon imitated by Mrs. Tonic, on hearing +the crash of one of her eight by tens. Through the aperture I now +distinctly recognized the voice of Sam Saunders, who had hired with the +Deacon, stating that good Mrs. Sykes was absolutely _in extremis_, or as +Sam himself expressed it, "at her last gasp." On hearing this, you may +be assured I was not long _in naturalibus_; but drawing on my nether +integuments, I departed despite the remonstrances of Mrs. Tonic, without +my wrapper and without any thing in fact except a renewed draught of my +_philo humidum radicale_. My journey to the Deacon's was made with such +an accelerated movement that it was accomplished as it were _per +saltum_. This was owing to my great anxiety about Mrs. Sykes, though +possibly in a small degree I might have dreaded an obstruction of the +pores in my own person. Howbeit, on arriving at the Deacon's, I saw at +once that she was beyond the healing art. There lay all that remained of +Mrs. Sykes--the _disjecta membra_, the _fragmenta_--the casket! But the +gem, the _mens divinior_ was gone and forever. There she lay, regardless +of the elongated visage of Deacon Sykes on the one side, and of the no +less elongated visage of the widow Dobble on the other side, who had +been some time visiting there, and who now hung over her departed friend +in an agony of woe. "Doctor," cried the Deacon, "is there no hope?" "Is +there no hope?" echoed the widow Dobble. I grasped the wrist of Mrs. +Sykes, but pulsation had ceased; the eye was glazed and the countenance +livid. "_A caput mortuum_, Deacon! _defuncta!_ the wick of vitality is +snuffed out." The bereaved husband groaned deeply; the widow Dobble +groaned an octave higher. + +On my way home my mind was much exercised with this sudden and +mysterious dispensation. Had Sam Saunders blundered in his statement of +her complaint? Had I myself--good Heavens! it could'nt be possible! I +opened my bags--_horresco referens!_ it was but too palpable! Owing +either to the agitation of the moment when so suddenly awakened, or to +the deep solicitude of Mrs. Tonic, who, in preparing my _philo humidum +radicale_, had infused an undue portion of the Hollands--to one of these +the lamented Mrs. Sykes might charge her untimely exit; for there was +the vial of _tinct. rhei._ full to the stopple, while the vial marked +"laudanum," was as dry as a throat in fever. I hesitate not to record +that at this discovery, I lost some of that self-possession which has +ever been characteristic of the Tonics. I was not only standing on the +brow of a precipice, but my centre of gravity seemed a little beyond it. +There were rivals in the vicinity jealous of my rising reputation. The +sudden death might cause a _post mortem_ examination, and the result +would be as fatal to me as was the laudanum to Mrs. Sykes. A thought, +occurring, doubtless through a special Providence, suddenly relieved my +mind. At break of day I retraced my footsteps to the chamber of the +deceased. Accompanied by the Deacon I approached to gaze upon the +corpse; when, suddenly starting back, I placed one hand upon my +olfactories and grasping with the other the alarmed mourner, I hurried +towards the door. "In the name of heaven!" cried the Deacon, "what is +the matter?" "The matter!" I replied, "the matter! Deacon, listen. In +all cases of mortality where the radical moisture has not been lessened +by long disease, putrefaction commences on the cessation of the organic +functions and a _miasma_ fatal to the living is in a moment generated. +This is the case even in cold weather, and it being now July, I cannot +answer for your own life if the burial be deferred; the last sad offices +must be at once attended to." Deacon Sykes consented. Not, he remarked, +on his own account, for, as to himself, life had lost its charms, but +there were others near on whom many were dependent, and he could not +think of gratifying his own feelings at their expense--sufficient, says +he, for the day is the evil thereof. I hardly need add, that, when my +advice to the Deacon got wind, the neighbors with one accord rallied to +assist in preparing Mrs. Sykes for her last home; and their labors were +not a little quickened by the fumes of tar and vinegar which I directed +to be burnt on this melancholy occasion. Much as I cherished Mrs. Sykes, +still I confess that my feelings were much akin to those called +pleasurable, when I heard the rattle of those terrene particles which +covered at the same time my lamented friend and my professional lapsus. + +But after all, as I sat meditating on the ups and downs of life during +the evening of the funeral, the question arose in my mind, is all safe? +May not some unfledged Galens remove the body for the purpose of +dissection?--Worse than all, may not some malignant rival have already +meditated a similar expedition? The more I reflected on this matter and +its probable consequences, the more my fears increased, till at last +they became too great for my frail tenement. There was at this period a +boarder in my family, one Job Sparrow, who having spent about thirty +years of his pilgrimage in the "singing of anthems," concluded at length +to devote the residue thereof to the study of the human frame, to which +he was the more inclined, probably, as he could have the benefit of my +deep investigations. His outward man, though somewhat ungainly, was +exceedingly muscular, and he had a firmness of nerve which would make +him willingly engage in any enterprise that would aid him in his +calling. Conducting him to my sanctum or study, a retired chamber in my +domicil, "Job," I remarked, "I have long noticed your engagedness in the +healing art, and I have lamented my inability of late to further your +progress in the study of anatomy from the difficulty of procuring +subjects. An opportunity, however, is at length afforded, and I shall +not fail to embrace it though at the sacrifice of my best feelings. The +subject I mean, is the lamented Mrs. Sykes. Bring her remains at night +to this chamber, and I with my venerable friend Dr. Grizzle will exhibit +what, though often described, are seldom visible, those wonderful +absorbents, the _lacteals_.--It is only in very recent subjects, my dear +Job, that it is possible to point them out." My pupil grinned +complacently at this manifestation of kindly feelings towards him in one +so much his superior, and hastened to prepare himself for the +expedition. It was about nine of the clock when the venerable Dr. +Grizzle, whom I had notified of my intended operations through Job, came +stealthily in. Dr. Grizzle, though from his appearance one would +conclude that he was about to "shuffle off this mortal coil," was a +_rara avis_ as to his knowledge of the corporeal functions. There were +certain gainsayers, indeed, who asserted that his intellectual candle +was just glimmering in its socket; but it will show to a demonstration +how little such statements are to be regarded when I assert that the +like slanders had been thrown out touching my own person. The profound +Grizzle, above such malignant feelings, always coincided with my own +opinion, both as to the nature of the disease we were called to +counteract, and as to the mode of treatment; and so highly did I value +him, that he was the only one whom I called to a consultation when that +course was deemed expedient. We had prepared our instruments and were +refreshing our minds with the pages of Chesselden, a luminous writer, +when to my great satisfaction the signal of my pupil was heard below. +Hitherto our labors seemed to have been blest; but a difficulty occurred +in this stage of our progress which threatened not only to render these +labors useless, but to retard, if I may so say, the advance of +anatomical science. It was this; the stairway was uncommonly narrow, and +the lamented Mrs. Sykes was uncommonly large. As it was impossible, +then, for Job to pass up at the same time with the defunct, it was +settled after mature deliberation, that he and myself, should occupy a +post at each extreme, while Grizzle assisted near the _lumbar_ region. +"Now," cried Job, "heave together;" but the words were hardly uttered, +when a shreak from Grizzle, paralized our exertions. Our muscular +efforts had wedged my venerable friend so completely between Mrs. Sykes +and the wall, that his lungs wheezed like a pair of decayed bellows; and +had it not been for the Herculean strength of Job, who rushed as it were +_in medias res_, the number of the dead would have equalled that of the +living. At length, after repeated trials, we effected, as I facetiously +remarked, our "passage of the Alps;" an historical allusion which tended +much to the divertisement of Grizzle and obliterated in no small +measure, the memory of his recent peril. And now, having directed Job to +go down and secure the door, Grizzle and myself advanced to remove the +bandages that confined her arms, previous to dissection. But scarcely +was the work accomplished when a sepulchral groan burst from the +defunct, the eyes glared, and the loosened arm was slowly lifted from +the body. That I am not of that class who can be charged with any thing +like timidity, is, I think well proved by my consenting to act for +several years as regimental surgeon in our militia, a post undoubtedly +of danger. But I must concede that at this unexpected movement, both +Grizzle and myself were somewhat agitated. From the table to the +stair-way, we leaped, as it were by instinct, and with a velocity at +which even now I greatly marvel. This sudden evidence of vitality in my +lamented friend, or I might say rather an unwillingness to be found +alone with her in such a peculiar situation, also induced me to prevent +if possible the retreat of Grizzle, and I fastened with some degree of +violence upon his projecting queue. It was fortunate, in so far as +regarded Grizzle, that art in this instance had supplanted nature. His +wig, of which the queue formed no inconsiderable portion, was all that +my hand retained. Had it been otherwise, such was the tenacity of my +grasp on the one hand, and such his momentum on the other, that Grizzle +must have left the natural ornament of his cerebrum, while I, though +unjustly, must have been charged with imitating our heathenish +Aborigines. As it was, his bald pate shot out from beneath it with the +velocity of a discharged ball; nor was the similitude to that engine of +carnage at all lessened when I heard its rebounds upon the stairs. How +long I remained overwhelmed by the wonderful scenes which I had just +witnessed, I cannot tell; but on recovering, I found that Mrs. Sykes +had been removed to my best chamber, and Job and Mrs. Tonic both busily +engaged about her person. They had, as I afterwards ascertained, by +bathing her feet and rubbing her with hot flannels, wrought a change +almost miraculous; and the effects of the laudanum having happily +subsided she appeared, when I entered, as in her pristine state. At that +moment they were about administering a composing draught, which +undoubtedly she needed, having received several severe contusions on the +stairway in our endeavors to extricate Grizzle. But rushing forward, I +exclaimed, "thanks to Heaven that I again see that cherished face! +thanks that I have been the instrument under Providence of restoring to +society its brightest ornament! Be composed, my dear Mrs. Sykes, ask no +questions to night, unless you would frustrate all my labors." Then +presenting to her lips an opiate, in a short time I had the satisfaction +of seeing her sink into a tranquil slumber. + +As I considered it all important that the matter should be kept a +profound secret till I had arranged my plans; and as Mrs. Tonic had in a +remarkable degree that propensity which distinguishes woman--I was under +the necessity of making her privy to the whole transaction; trusting +that the probable ruin to my reputation consequent on an exposure would +effectually bridle her unruly member. My venerable friend too, I invited +for a few days to my own mansion lest the bruises he received during his +_exodus_ from the dissecting room might have deprived him of his +customary caution. The last and most difficult step was to prepare the +mind of Mrs. Sykes, who was yet _in nubibus_ as to her new location. +With great caution I gradually unfolded the strange event that had just +transpired,--her sudden apparent death, the alarm of the village +touching the _miasma_, and the consequent sudden interment. 'Your exit, +my dear Mrs. Sykes,' I continued, 'seemed like a dream--I could not +realize it. Such an irreparable loss! I thought of all the remedies that +had been applied in such cases. Had any thing been omitted that had a +tendency to increase the circulation of the radical fluid! There was the +Galvanic battery,--it had been entirely overlooked, and yet what wonders +it had performed! No sooner had this occurred to my mind than I was +impressed with the conviction that you were to revisit this mundane +sphere, and that I was the chosen instrument to enkindle the vital +spark. No time was lost in obeying this mysterious impulse. The grave +was opened, the battery was applied _secundem artem_--and the result is +the restoration to society of our beloved Mrs. Sykes.' In proportion to +her horror at the idea, that she must have rested from her labors but +for my skill, was her gratitude for this timely rescue. She fell on my +neck and clung like one demented, till a gathering frown on the face of +my spouse warned me of the necessity of repelling her embraces. Mrs. +Sykes was now desirous of returning immediately home, to restore as it +were to life her bereaved consort, who was no doubt mourning at his +desolation, and refusing to be comforted. But here I felt it my duty to +interpose. 'My dear Mrs. Sykes,' said I, 'your return at this moment +would overwhelm him. The sudden change from the lowest depths of woe to +a state of ecstacy, would consign him to the tenement you have just +quitted. No! this extraordinary Providence must be gradually unfolded.' +She yielded at last to my sage councils and consented to wait till the +violence of his grief had somewhat abated, and his mind had become +sufficiently tranquil to hear that tale which I was cautiously to +relate. On the following day however, her anxiety to return had risen to +a high pitch, and truly by evening it was beyond my control. She was +firm in the belief that I could make the disclosure without essential +injury to the Deacon; 'besides,' as she remarked, 'there was no knowing +how much waste there had been in the kitchen.' It was settled at last +that I should immediately walk over to the Deacon's, and by a judicious +train of reflection, for which I was admirably fitted, prepare the way +for this joyous meeting. When I arrived at the house of mourning, though +perhaps the last person in the world entitled to the name of +evesdropper, yet as my eye was somewhat askance as I passed the window, +I observed a spectacle that for a time arrested my footsteps. There sat +the Deacon, recounting probably the virtues of the deceased partner, and +there, not far apart, sat the widow Dobble sympathizing in his sorrows. +It struck me that Deacon Sykes was not ungrateful for her consolatory +efforts; for he took her hand with a gentle pressure and held it to his +bosom. Perhaps it was the unusual mode of dress now exhibited by the +widow Dobble, that led him to this act; for she was decked out in Mrs. +Sykes's best frilled cap, and such is the waywardness of fancy, he might +for the moment have imagined that his help-mate was beside him. Be that +as it may, while I was thus complacently regarding this interchange of +friendly feelings, the cry of '_you vile hussy_' suddenly rang in my +very ear, and the next instant, the door having been burst open, who +should stand before the astonished couple but the veritable Mrs. Sykes. +The Deacon leaped as if touched in the _pericardium_, and essayed to +gain the door; but in his transit his knees denied their office, and he +sank gibbering as his hand was upon the latch. As to the terrified widow +Dobble, I might say with Virgilius, _steteruntque comae_, her _combs_ +stood up; for the frilled cap was displaced with no little violence, and +with an agonizing shriek she fell, apparently _in articulo mortis_, on +the body of the Deacon. What a lamentable scene! and all in consequence +of the rashness and imprudence of Mrs. Sykes. No sooner had I left my +own domicil than Mrs. Sykes, regardless of my admonitions, resolved on +following my steps, and was actually peeping over my shoulder at the +moment the Deacon's hand came in contact with the widow Dobble's. It was +truly fortunate for all concerned that a distinguished member of the +faculty was near at this dreadful crisis. In ordinary hands nothing +could have prevented a quietus. Their spirits were taking wing, and it +was only by extraordinary skill that I effected what lawyer Snoodles +said was a complete 'stoppage _in transitu_.' I regret to state that +this was my last visit to Deacon Sykes's. Unmindful of my services in +resuscitating Mrs. Sykes, he remarked that my neglect to prepare him for +the exceeding joy that was in store, had so far shattered his nervous +system that his usefulness was over; and in fine, had built up between +us a wall of separation not to be broken down. I always opined, however, +and of this opinion was Mrs. Tonic, that the Deacon's coldness arose in +part from an incipient warmth for Mrs. Dobble, which was thus checked in +its first stages. It was even hinted that on her departure, which took +place immediately, he manifested less of resignation than at the burial +of Mrs. Sykes. The coldness of the widow Dobble towards me, certainly +unmerited, was also no less apparent, till I brought about what I had +much at heart, viz: a match between her and Major Popkin. He was a +discreet, forehanded man, a Representative to our General Court, and +kept the Variety Store in that part of our town that was named in honor +of him, 'Popkins's Corner.'[3] + +FOOTNOTE: + +[3] From the papers of Dr. Tonic, recently brought to light. + + + + +OLD AND YOUNG. + +By James Furbish. + + Give me ripe fruit with the green-- + Fresh leaves mingling with the sear; + As in tropic climes are seen + Blending through the deathless year. + + +I am alarmed at the changes which are taking place in society. While +many are lauding the _spirit of the age_ and holding up to my gaze the +picture of forth-coming improvements--opening broad and charming vistas +into the almost _present future_ of mental and moral perfection, I +cannot help casting a lingering look upon the past. Time was when old +age and infancy, manhood and youth, walked the path of life together; +when the strength of young limbs aided the feebleness of the old, and +the joyousness of youth enlivened the gravity of age. But the son has +now left the father to totter on alone, and the daughter has outstripped +the mother in the race. Beauty and strength have separated from +decrepitude and weakness. The vine has uncoiled from its natural +support, and the ivy has ceased to entwine the oak. + +There is an increasing disposition on the part of the young and the old +to classify their pleasures according to their age. Those pastimes which +used to be enjoyed by both together, are now separated. This is an evil +of too serious a character to pass unfelt, unlamented or unrebuked. It +is easy to refer back to days when parents were more happy with their +children, and children more honorable and useful to parents than at +present. It is not long since the old and the young were to be seen +together in the blithesome dance and the merry play. And why this +change? Why do we find that, within a few years, the old have abandoned +amusements to the young? Is it that they think their children can profit +more by their amusements than if they were present? If this be the +impression it is to be regretted. No course could they possibly adopt so +injurious to the character of their children. For youth need the +direction and the advice of age, and age requires the exhilaration and +cheerfulness of youth. How many lonely evenings would be enlivened--how +many dark visions of the future would be dissipated, and how many hours +of gloom and despondency would be put to flight, if fathers would keep +pace with their sons, and mothers with their daughters, in the innocent +pleasures of life. Here, as it appears to me, is the grand secret of +happiness for the young and the old. For the old, who are too apt to +dwell on the glories of the past and to see nothing that is lovely in +the present; and for the young, who throw too strong and gaudy a light +upon the present and the future. Nature did not so intend it. So long as +there is life, she intended we should innocently enjoy it. And the +barrier which has, by some unaccountable mishap, been thrown between the +young and the old is, therefore, greatly to be lamented. But how shall +it be removed? How shall we get back again to the good old times of the +merry husking, the joyous dance, the happy commingling in the same +company, of the priest and his deacon, the father and his child, the +husband and his wife? + +It would not be difficult to trace directly to the discontinuance of +the practice of joining with the young in their amusements, the great +increase of youthful dissipation of every description. By being removed +from the advice, restraint and example of the old and experienced, they +have, by degrees, fallen into usages which were almost unknown in years +gone by. When accompanied by parents, the hours of pleasure were +seasonable. Daughters were under the inspection of mothers, and sons +were guided by the wisdom of fathers. Homes were happier, the community +more virtuous, and the world at large a gainer by such judicious +customs. We now hear the complaint that sons have gone astray, that +daughters have behaved indiscreetly, and that families have been +disgraced. But can there be a doubt, if the practice were general of +accompanying our children in those pastimes in which they ought to be +reasonably indulged, that many of these evils would be prevented? Here +then must begin the reform. Complain not that your son is out late, if +you might have been with him to bring him to your fire-side at a +seasonable hour. Complain not that your daughter has formed an +unsuitable or untimely connexion, if a mother's care might have avoided +the evil. Youth _will_ go astray without the protection of age. And it +is a crying sin that these old-fashioned moral restraints have been +removed. What, I ask, can be your object in thus leaving your children +to their own direction? Do they love you the better for it? Are their +manners more agreeable--their conduct more respectful while at home? Is +not rather the reverse of this the case? Do they not give you more +trouble at home? Are they not every day incurring new and useless +expenses in consequence of allowing them to legislate and plan for +themselves? Rashness is the characteristic of youth. But allowing them +to be capable of governing themselves, you are a great loser by drawing +this strong division line between their pleasures and your own. Your own +years are less in number and in happiness. Your children are dead to +you, though alive to themselves. Your sympathies are not linked with +theirs step by step in life; and thus, although surrounded by children, +you go childless, unhappy and gloomy to the grave. Reform then, I say, +reform at once. Annihilate this classification of junior and senior +pleasures. Join with your children in the dance, the song and the play. +Enjoy with them every harmless pleasure and sport of life. Encompass +yourself as often as possible with the gay faces of the young. Teach +them by example, to be happy like rational beings, and to enjoy life +without abusing it. Let the ripe fruit be seen with the green--the +blossom with the bud--the green with the fading leaf and the vine with +its natural support: + + Show the ripe fruit with the green-- + Fresh leaves twining with the sear; + As in tropic climes are seen + Harmonizing through the year. + + + + +AUTUMNAL DAYS. + +By P. H. Greenleaf. + + "The melancholy days are come--the saddest of the year, + Of wailing winds and naked woods, and meadows brown and sear; + Heap'd in the hollows of the grove, the summer leaves lie dead; + They rustle to the eddying wind, and to the rabbit's tread: + The robin and the wren are flown, and from the shrubs the jay, + And from the wood-top calls the crow, thro' all the gloomy day." + + +Stern and forbidding as are the general features of our northern +climate--cold and chilling as the gay Southron may deem, even the very +air we breathe,--we have still some characteristics of climate peculiar +to ourselves, and none the less pleasing to us from this fact. Our +hearts must indeed be as hard and as cold as the very granite of our +craggy shores, did they not glow with delight in the possession of that, +(be it what it may) which is peculiar to and markedly characteristic of +our native home. And of all these peculiarities not one is so +delightful--not one finds us so rich in New England feeling, as that +beautiful season called the Indian Summer. It occurs in October, and is +characterized by a soft, hazy atmosphere--by those quiet, and balmy +days, which seem so like the last whisperings of a Spring morning. The +appearance of the landscape is like any thing, but the fresh and lively +scenery of Spring; and yet the delicious softness of the atmosphere is +so like it, that it brings back fresh to the mind all the beautiful +associations connected with a vernal day. Our forests too, at this +season are, for a brief space, clothed in the most gorgeous and +magnificent array; their brilliant and changing hues, and the +magnificence of their whole appearance, almost give their rich and +mellow tint to the atmosphere itself; and render this period unrivalled +in beauty, and unequalled in the more equable climes of our western +neighbors. The calm sobriety of the scenery--the splendid variety of the +forest coloring, from deep scarlet to russet gray, and the quiet and +dreamy expression of the autumnal atmosphere make a deeper impression on +the mind than all the verdant promises of spring, or the luxuriant +possession of summer. The aspen birch in its pallid white--the walnut in +its deep yellow--the brilliant maple in its scarlet drapery--and the +magical colors of the whole vegetable world, from the aster by the brook +to the vine on the trellis, combine to render the autumnal scenery of +New-England the most splendid and magnificent in the world. + +But we cannot forget, if we would, that this beautiful magnificence of +the forests is but the livery of death; and the changing hues of the +leaves, beautiful though they are, still are but indications of the +sure, but gradual progress of decay. + + 'Lightly falls the foot of death + Whene'er he treads on flowers:' + +and though he has breathed beauty on the clustered trees of the +forest--it is to them the breath of the Sirocco. + +We have in the wasting consumption a parallel to this splendid decay of +the leaves and flowers of Summer. Day by day we see its victim with the +seal of death upon him--failing and decaying in strength--increasing in +beauty. While the brilliant and intellectual glances of the eye speak, +in language too plain for the sceptic's denial, the immortality of the +soul. The changing and brilliant hues of the forest trees give to us the +most lively type of the frailty of beauty and the brevity of human +existence, while their death and burial during the winter and their +resurrection in the springtime, are almost an assured pledge of our own +immortality and resurrection to an eternity. + +Truly 'the melancholy days are come'--Death annually lifts up his solemn +hymn, and the rustling of the dying leaves and the certainty of their +speedy death afford to us all 'eloquent teachings.' The gay and +exhilarating spring has long since passed away--the genial and joyous +warmth of summer is no more; and the grateful abundance and varied +scenes of Autumn are about yielding to the inclemency of hoary winter. +The gay variety of nature has at length departed--the countless throng +of the gaudy flowerets of summer are all returned to their native +dust--the light of the sun himself is often veiled; and the bright +livery of earth is hidden from our sight by the gray mantle of the +iron-bound surface, or the unbroken whiteness of a snowy covering. +Reading thus the language of decay written by the finger of God upon all +the works of nature--reminded too of the rapid flight of time by the +ceaseless revolution of seasons, we naturally turn our thoughts from the +contemplation of external objects to that of the soul, and of unseen +worlds. The appearances of other seasons lead our thoughts to the world +we inhabit, and by the variety of objects presented to our view rather +confine them to sensible things, and matters immediately connected with +them. But the buried flowers and the eddying leaves of this season teach +us nobler lessons; and the mind expands, while it loses itself in the +infinity of being; and the gloom of the natural world shows us the +splendors of other worlds, and other states of being; + + 'As darkness shows us worlds of light + We never saw by day.' + +They tell us, that in the magnificent system of the government of God +there exists no evil; and the mighty resurrections annually accomplished +in the multitude of by gone years assure us, that the gloom of the night +is but the prelude to the brightness of the day--that the funeral pall +of autumnal and wintry days is the harbinger of a glorious, joyous and +life-giving spring; and to that man the gates of the dark valley of the +shadow of death are designed as the crystal portals of an eternity of +bliss. + +'Of the innumerable eyes, that open upon nature, none but those of man, +see its author and its end.' This solemn privilege is the birth-right of +the beings of immortality--of those, who perish not in time, but were +formed, in some greater hour, to be companions in eternity. The mighty +Being, who watches the revolutions of the material world, opens in this +manner to our eyes the laws of his government; and tells us, that it is +not the momentary state, but the final issue, which is to disclose its +eternal design. Indeed the whole volume of nature is a natural +revelation to man, often overlooked--often misused--seldom +understood--but plain and solemn in its language, and full of the +wisdom, justice and mercy of its author. + +While, then, all inferior nature shrinks instinctively from the winds of +Autumn and the storms of winter, to the high intellect of man they teach +ennobling lessons. To him the inclemency of winter is no less eloquent +than the abundance of Autumn, or the joyous promise of Spring. He knows, +that the fair and beautiful of nature now buried in an icy covering, +have still a principle of life within them; and that the gay tendrils of +the vine and the blushing buds of the rose will soon be put forth in the +breath of summer. The stiffened earth, he knows, will soon send forth +her children in renewed beauty, and he believes, that he himself, +leaving the chrysalis form of earthly clay will wing his flight in the +regions of eternity. + + + + +THE PLAGUE. + +By Charles P. Ilsley. + + "And they that took the disease died suddenly; and + immediately their bodies became covered with spots; and they + were hurried away to the grave without delay: And the men who + bore the corpse, as they went their way, cried with a loud + voice, "_Room for the dead!_" and whosoever heard the cry, + fled from the sound thereof with great fear and trembling." + + _Anon._ + + + "Room for the dead!"--a cry went forth-- + "A grave--a grave prepare!" + The solemn words rose fearfully + Up through the stilly air: + "Room for the dead!"--and a corse was borne + And laid within the pit; + But a mother's voice was sadly heard-- + And a breaking heart was in each word-- + "Oh, bury him not yet!" + + The mother knelt beside the grave, + And prayed to see her son; + 'Twas death to stop--but by her prayers + The wretched boon was won, + And they raised the coffin from the pit, + And then afar they fled-- + For the once fair face was spotted now-- + But the mother pressed her dead child's brow, + And in a faint voice said-- + + "Nor plague nor spots shall hinder me + From kissing thee, lost one! + For what, alas! is life or death + Since thou art gone, my son!" + And she bent and kissed the livid brow, + While tearless was her eye; + Then her voice rang wildly in the air-- + "Widow and childless!--God, is there + Aught left me but--to die!" + + The words were said, and there uprose + A low and stifled moan-- + Then all was still--The spirit of + That stricken one had flown! + + * * * * * + + They widened the pit, and side by side + Mother and son were laid; + No mourning train to the grave went forth, + Nor prayer was said as they heaped the earth + Above the plague-struck dead! + + + + +"OH, THIS IS NOT MY HOME!" + +By Charles P. Ilsley. + + + Oh, this is not my home-- + I miss the glorious sea, + Its white and sparkling foam, + And lofty melody. + + All things seem strange to me-- + I miss the rocky shore, + Where broke so sullenly + The waves with deaf'ning roar: + + The sands that shone like gold + Beneath the blazing sun, + O'er which the waters roll'd, + Soft chanting as they run: + + And oh, the glorious sight! + Ships moving to and fro, + Like birds upon their flight, + So silently they go! + + I climb the mountain's height, + And sadly gaze around, + No waters meet my sight, + I hear no rushing sound. + + Oh, would I were at home, + Beside the glorious sea, + To bathe within its foam + And list its melody! + + + + +THE VILLAGE PRIZE. + +By Joseph Ingraham. + + +In one of the loveliest villages of old Virginia there lived, in the +year 175- and odd, an old man, whose daughter was declared, by +universal consent, to be the loveliest maiden in all the country round. +The veteran, in his youth, had been athletic and muscular above all his +fellows; and his breast, where he always wore them, could show the +adornment of three medals, received for his victories in gymnastic feats +when a young man. His daughter was now eighteen, and had been sought in +marriage by many suitors. One brought wealth--another, a fine +person--another, industry--another, military talents--another this, and +another that. But they were all refused by the old man, who became at +last a by-word for his obstinacy among the young men of the village and +neighborhood. At length, the nineteenth birthday of Annette, his +charming daughter, who was as amiable and modest as she was beautiful, +arrived. The morning of that day, her father invited all the youth of +the country to a hay-making frolic. Seventeen handsome and industrious +young men assembled. They came not only to make hay, but also to make +love to the fair Annette. In three hours they had filled the father's +barns with the newly dried grass, and their own hearts with love. +Annette, by her father's command, had brought them malt liquor of her +own brewing, which she presented to each enamored swain with her own +fair hands. + +"Now my boys," said the old keeper of the jewel they all coveted, as +leaning on their pitch-forks they assembled around his door in the cool +of the evening--"Now my lads, you have nearly all of you made proposals +for my Annette. Now you see, I don't care any thing about money nor +talents, book larning nor soldier larning--I can do as well by my gal as +any man in the county. But I want her to marry a man of my own grit. +Now, you know, or ought to know, when I was a youngster, I could beat +any thing in all Virginny in the way o' leaping. I got my old woman by +beating the smartest man on the Eastern Shore, and I have took the oath +and sworn it, that no man shall marry my daughter without jumping for +it. You understand me boys. There's the green, and here's Annette," he +added, taking his daughter, who stood timidly behind him, by the hand, +"Now the one that jumps the furthest on a 'dead level,' shall marry +Annette this very night." + +This unique address was received by the young men with applause. And +many a youth as he bounded gaily forward to the arena of trial, cast a +glance of anticipated victory back upon the lovely object of village +chivalry. The maidens left their looms and quilting frames, the children +their noisy sports, the slaves their labors, and the old men their +arm-chairs and long pipes, to witness and triumph in the success of the +victor. All prophesied and many wished that it would be young Carroll. +He was the handsomest and best-humored youth in the county, and all knew +that a strong and mutual attachment existed between him and the fair +Annette. Carroll had won the reputation of being the "best leaper," and +in a country where such athletic achievements were the _sine qua non_ +of a man's cleverness, this was no ordinary honor. In a contest like the +present, he had therefore every advantage over his fellow _athlet_. + +The arena allotted for this hymeneal contest, was a level space in front +of the village-inn, and near the centre of a grass-plat, reserved in the +midst of the village denominated "the green." The verdure was quite worn +off at this place by previous exercises of a similar kind, and a hard +surface of sand more befittingly for the purpose to which it was to be +used, supplied its place. + +The father of the lovely, blushing, and withal _happy_ prize, (for she +well knew who would win,) with three other patriarchal villagers were +the judges appointed to decide upon the claims of the several +competitors. The last time Carroll tried his skill in this exercise, he +"cleared"--to use the leaper's phraseology--twenty-one feet and one +inch. + +The signal was given, and by lot the young men stepped into the arena. + +"Edward Grayson, seventeen feet," cried one of the judges. The youth had +done his utmost. He was a pale, intellectual student. But what had +intellect to do in such an arena? Without looking at the maiden he +slowly left the ground. + +"Dick Boulden, nineteen feet." Dick with a laugh turned away, and +replaced his coat. + +"Harry Preston, nineteen feet and three inches." "Well done Harry +Preston," shouted the spectators, "you have tried hard for the acres and +homestead." + +Harry also laughed and swore he only "jumped for the fun of the thing." +Harry was a rattle-brained fellow, but never thought of matrimony. He +loved to walk and talk, and laugh and romp with Annette, but sober +marriage never came into his head. He only jumped "for the fun of the +thing." He would not have said so, if sure of winning. + +"Charley Simms, fifteen feet and a half." "Hurrah for Charley! +Charley'll win!" cried the crowd good-humoredly. Charley Simms was the +cleverest fellow in the world. His mother had advised him to stay at +home, and told him if he ever won a wife, she would fall in love with +his good temper, rather than his legs. Charley however made the trial of +the latter's capabilities and lost. Many refused to enter the lists +altogether. Others made the trial, and only one of the leapers had yet +cleared twenty feet. + +"Now," cried the villagers, "let's see Henry Carroll. He ought to beat +this," and every one appeared, as they called to mind the mutual love of +the last competitor and the sweet Annette, as if they heartily wished +his success. + +Henry stepped to his post with a firm tread. His eye glanced with +confidence around upon the villagers and rested, before he bounded +forward, upon the face of Annette, as if to catch therefrom that spirit +and assurance which the occasion called for. Returning the encouraging +glance with which she met his own, with a proud smile upon his lip, he +bounded forward. + +"Twenty-one feet and a half!" shouted the multitude, repeating the +announcement of one of the judges, "twenty-one feet and a half. Harry +Carroll forever. Annette and Harry." Hands, caps, and kerchiefs waved +over the heads of the spectators, and the eyes of the delighted Annette +sparkled with joy. + +When Harry Carroll moved to his station to strive for the prize, a tall, +gentlemanly young man in a military undress frock-coat, who had rode up +to the inn, dismounted and joined the spectators, unperceived, while the +contest was going on, stepped suddenly forward, and with a "knowing +eye," measured deliberately the space accomplished by the last leaper. +He was a stranger in the village. His handsome face and easy address +attracted the eyes of the village maidens, and his manly and sinewy +frame, in which symmetry and strength were happily united, called forth +the admiration of the young men. + +"Mayhap, sir stranger, you think you can beat that," said one of the +by-standers, remarking the manner in which the eye of the stranger +scanned the area. "If you can leap beyond Harry Carroll, you'll beat the +best man in the colonies." The truth of this observation was assented to +by a general murmur. + +"Is it for mere amusement you are pursuing this pastime?" inquired the +youthful stranger, "or is there a prize for the winner?" + +"Annette, the loveliest and wealthiest of our village-maidens, is to be +the reward of the victor," cried one of the judges. + +"Are the lists open to all?" + +"All, young sir!" replied the father of Annette, with interest,--his +youthful ardour rising as he surveyed the proportions of the +straight-limbed young stranger. "She is the bride of him who out-leaps +Henry Carroll. If you will try, you are free to do so. But let me tell +you, Harry Carroll has no rival in Virginny. Here is my daughter, sir, +look at her and make your trial." + +The young officer glanced upon the trembling maiden about to be offered +on the altar of her father's unconquerable monomania, with an admiring +eye. The poor girl looked at Harry, who stood near with a troubled brow +and angry eye, and then cast upon the new competitor an imploring +glance. + +Placing his coat in the hands of one of the judges, he drew a sash he +wore beneath it tighter around his waist, and taking the appointed +stand, made, apparently without effort, the bound that was to decide the +happiness or misery of Henry and Annette. + +"Twenty two feet one inch!" shouted the judge. The announcement was +repeated with surprise by the spectators, who crowded around the victor, +filling the air with congratulations, not unmingled, however, with loud +murmurs from those who were more nearly interested in the happiness of +the lovers. + +The old man approached, and grasping his hand exultingly, called him his +son, and said he felt prouder of him than if he were a prince. Physical +activity and strength were the old leaper's true patents of nobility. + +Resuming his coat, the victor sought with his eye the fair prize he had, +although nameless and unknown, so fairly won. She leaned upon her +father's arm, pale and distressed. + +Her lover stood aloof, gloomy and mortified, admiring the superiority of +the stranger in an exercise in which he prided himself as unrivalled, +while he hated him for his success. + +"Annette, my pretty prize," said the victor, taking her passive hand--"I +have won you fairly." Annette's cheek became paler than marble; she +trembled like an aspen-leaf, and clung closer to her father, while her +drooping eye sought the form of her lover. His brow grew dark at the +stranger's language. + +"I have won you, my pretty flower, to make you a bride!--tremble not so +violently--I mean not for myself, however proud I might be," he added +with gallantry, "to wear so fair a gem next my heart. Perhaps," and he +cast his eyes around inquiringly, while the current of life leaped +joyfully to her brow, and a murmur of surprise run through the +crowd--"perhaps there is some favored youth among the competitors, who +has a higher claim to this jewel. Young Sir," he continued, turning to +the surprised Henry, "methinks you were victor in the lists before +me,--I strove not for the maiden, though one could not well strive for a +fairer--but from love for the manly sport in which I saw you engaged. +You are the victor, and as such, with the permission of this worthy +assembly, receive from my hands the prize you have so well and honorably +won." + +The youth sprung forward and grasped his hand with gratitude; and the +next moment, Annette was weeping from pure joy upon his shoulders. The +welkin rung with the acclamations of the delighted villagers, and amid +the temporary excitement produced by this act, the stranger withdrew +from the crowd, mounted his horse, and spurred at a brisk trot through +the village. + +That night, Henry and Annette were married, and the health of the +mysterious and noble-hearted stranger, was drunk in over-flowing bumpers +of rustic beverage. + +In process of time, there were born unto the married pair, sons and +daughters, and Harry Carroll had become Colonel Henry Carroll, of the +Revolutionary army. + +One evening, having just returned home after a hard campaign, he was +sitting with his family on the gallery of his handsome country-house, +when an advance courier rode up and announced the approach of General +Washington and suite, informing him that he should crave his hospitality +for the night. The necessary directions were given in reference to the +household preparations, and Col. Carroll, ordering his horse, rode +forward to meet and escort to his house the distinguished guest, whom he +had never yet seen, although serving in the same widely-extended army. + +That evening at the table, Annette, now become the dignified, matronly +and still handsome Mrs. Carroll, could not keep her eyes from the face +of her illustrious visitor. Every moment or two she would steal a glance +at his commanding features, and half-doubtingly, half-assumedly, shake +her head and look again and again, to be still more puzzled. Her absence +of mind and embarrassment at length became evident to her husband who, +inquired affectionately if she were ill? + +"I suspect, Colonel," said the General, who had been some time, with a +quiet, meaning smile, observing the lady's curious and puzzled survey of +his features--"that Mrs. Carroll thinks she recognizes in me an old +acquaintance." And he smiled with a mysterious air, as he gazed upon +both alternately. + +The Colonel stared, and a faint memory of the past seemed to be revived, +as he gazed, while the lady rose impulsively from her chair, and bending +eagerly forward over the tea-urn, with clasped hands and an eye of +intense, eager inquiry, fixed full upon him, stood for a moment with her +lips parted as if she would speak. + +"Pardon me, my dear madam--pardon me, Colonel, I must put an end to this +scene. I have become, by dint of camp-fare and hard usage, too unwieldy +to leap again twenty-two feet one inch, even for so fair a bride as one +I wot of." + +The recognition, with the surprise, delight and happiness that followed, +are left to the imagination of the reader. + +General Washington was indeed the handsome young "leaper," whose +mysterious appearance and disappearance in the native village of the +lovers, is still traditionary, and whose claim to a substantial body of +_bona fide_ flesh and blood, was stoutly contested by the village +story-tellers, until the happy _denouement_ which took place at the +hospitable mansion of Col. Carroll. + + + + +INDIFFERENCE TO STUDY. + +By George W. Light. + + We only find out what we have a sincere desire to know. All + men have in themselves nearly the same fund of primitive + ideas; they have especially the same moral fund; the + difference which there is in men, comes from the fact, that + some improve this fund, while others neglect it. + + _Degerando._ + + +No argument ought to be required at the present day, to prove that all +men, however their capacities may differ in kind or degree, possess the +natural ability to make considerable progress in some useful study. The +principles of our government proceed upon this ground, and place every +man under strong moral obligation to make the most of himself, that he +may be able to bear the responsibility that rests upon him. The +protestant principle, that all men have the right to judge for +themselves in matters relating to religion, is founded on the same +basis. Even the principles of trade--which every body is supposed to be +able to know--call for the exercise of no small amount of intellect, to +understand and apply them to their full extent. The intimate connection +between the arts and sciences proves conclusively, that those who are +engaged in the one, ought to be acquainted with the other. We are aware +of the common belief, that the study of the sciences is not necessary +with the mass of the community who are engaged in the various active +pursuits. But this narrow view is fast going out of date. The progress +of _steam_, if nothing else, will ere long convince the most +incredulous, by its abridgment of human labor, that the great body of +mankind were intended for something besides mere machines. The sciences +of law and medicine are no more closely connected with the practice of +the lawyer and physician, than mechanical and agricultural science with +the business of the mechanic and farmer. The same may be said of other +sciences, as, for instance, of Political Economy, in its application to +mercantile affairs. In accordance with the spirit of these views, +opportunities for instruction are provided, and means of self-education +are multiplied, to an unparalleled degree. + +Notwithstanding, however, the general admission of the truth under +consideration, not a few persons who think the improvement of their +minds a matter of little importance, undertake to excuse themselves, by +modestly confessing that they have no natural taste for study--that +they cannot study. But it is difficult to understand how they can be so +blinded to the resources they have within them, under the light which +this day of civilization is pouring upon them. Where do they suppose +themselves to be? Are they in some dark domain, shut out from all the +soul-stirring influences of a boundless universe, dragging out an +existence as hopeless as it is degraded?--or do they dwell in the midst +of a glorious creation, with no understanding to unravel its divine +mysteries, and no heart to be moved by the eloquence of its inspiration? +One of these things must be true, if we may reason from their own +language. If they do possess the high faculties of the soul, and can do +nothing for their cultivation, it cannot be that they have their +dwelling-place upon a world belonging to the magnificent empire of God. +There can be no sun blazing down upon them, flooding the earth with his +glory, and giving fresh life and beauty to every living thing. The +evening can reveal to them no myriads of stars, burning with holy lustre +beyond the clouds of heaven. They can see no mountains towering to the +skies; no green valleys, spangled with the flowers of the earth, smiling +around them. They can hear no anthem sounding from the depths of the +ocean. They can see no lightnings flashing in the broad expanse,--nor +hear the artillery of heaven thundering over the firmament, as if it +would shake the very pillars of the universe. If they could see and hear +this, with minds awake to the most noble objects of contemplation, and +hearts susceptible of the loftiest impulses, they would inquire about +the earth they tread upon, the beautiful things scattered in such +profusion around them, and the sun and the ever-burning stars above +them. And they would not stop here. They would search into the mysteries +of their own nature. They would look into the wonders of that upper +life, where the sun of an eternal kingdom burns in its lofty arches, +where the rivers of life flow from the everlasting mountains, and where +the pure spirits of the earth shall shine like the stars forever. + +But, however paradoxical it may seem, these men do dwell in the grand +universe of God--and they do possess inexhaustible minds: and they have +been compelled to quench the brightest flames and to prevent the +swelling of the purest fountains of their existence, in order to descend +to the condition of which they complain. The Creator doomed them to no +such degradation. The truth is, they know nothing of themselves. They do +not understand their relations to the creation that surrounds them. They +do not comprehend the great purpose to which all their labors should +tend. They waste those hours which might be devoted to the elevation of +their being, in practices that render them insensible to the glories of +the universe in which they dwell, and to the sublime destiny for which +they were created. They deny themselves to be the workmanship of God. + + + + +THE VILLAGE OF AUTEUIL. + +By Henry W. Longfellow. + + +The sultry heat of summer always brings with it, to the idler and the +man of leisure, a longing for the leafy shade and the green luxuriance +of the country. It is pleasant to interchange the din of the city, the +movement of the crowd, and the gossip of society, with the silence of +the hamlet, the quiet seclusion of the grove, and the gossip of a +woodland brook. + +It was a feeling of this kind that prompted me, during my residence in +the north of France, to pass one of the summer months at Auteuil--the +pleasantest of the many little villages that lie in the immediate +vicinity of the metropolis. It is situated on the outskirts of the _Bois +de Boulogne_--a wood of some extent, in whose green alleys the dusty cit +enjoys the luxury of an evening drive, and gentlemen meet in the morning +to give each other satisfaction in the usual way. A cross-road, skirted +with green hedge-rows, and over-shadowed by tall poplars, leads you from +the noisy highway of St. Cloud and Versailles to the still retirement of +this suburban hamlet. On either side the eye discovers old chateaux amid +the trees, and green parks, whose pleasant shades recall a thousand +images of La Fontaine, Racine, and Moliere; and on an eminence, +overlooking the windings of the Seine, and giving a beautiful though +distant view of the domes and gardens of Paris, rises the village of +Passy, long the residence of our countrymen Franklin and Count Rumford. + +I took up my abode at a _Maison de Sante_; not that I was a +valetudinarian,--but because I there found some one to whom I could +whisper, "How sweet is solitude!" Behind the house was a garden filled +with fruit-trees of various kinds, and adorned with gravel-walks and +green arbours, furnished with tables and rustic seats, for the repose of +the invalid and the sleep of the indolent. Here the inmates of the rural +hospital met on common ground, to breathe the invigorating air of +morning, and while away the lazy noon or vacant evening with tales of +the sick chamber. + +The establishment was kept by Dr. Dent-de-lion, a dried up little +fellow, with red hair, a sandy complexion, and the physiognomy and +gestures of a monkey. His character corresponded to his outward +lineaments; for he had all a monkey's busy and curious impertinence. +Nevertheless, such as he was, the village sculapius strutted forth the +little great man of Auteuil. The peasants looked up to him as to an +oracle,--he contrived to be at the head of every thing, and laid claim +to the credit of all public improvements in the village: in fine, he was +a great man on a small scale. + +It was within the dingy walls of this little potentate's imperial palace +that I chose my country residence. I had a chamber in the second story, +with a solitary window, which looked upon the street, and gave me a peep +into a neighbor's garden. This I esteemed a great privilege; for, as a +stranger, I desired to see all that was passing out of doors; and the +sight of green trees, though growing on another man's ground, is always +a blessing. Within doors--had I been disposed to quarrel with my +household gods--I might have taken some objection to my neighborhood; +for, on one side of me was a consumptive patient, whose graveyard cough +drove me from my chamber by day; and on the other, an English colonel, +whose incoherent ravings, in the delirium of a high and obstinate fever, +often broke my slumbers by night: but I found ample amends for these +inconveniences in the society of those who were so little indisposed as +hardly to know what ailed them, and those who, in health themselves, had +accompanied a friend or relative to the shades of the country in pursuit +of it. To these I am indebted for much courtesy; and particularly to one +who, if these pages should ever meet her eye, will not, I hope, be +unwilling to accept this slight memorial of a former friendship. + +It was, however, to the _Bois de Boulogne_ that I looked for my +principal recreation. There I took my solitary walk, morning and +evening; or, mounted on a little mouse-colored donkey, paced demurely +along the woodland pathway. I had a favorite seat beneath the shadow of +a venerable oak, one of the few hoary patriarchs of the wood which had +survived the bivouacs of the allied armies. It stood upon the brink of a +little glassy pool, whose tranquil bosom was the image of a quiet and +secluded life, and stretched its parental arms over a rustic bench, that +had been constructed beneath it for the accommodation of the +foot-traveller, or, perchance, some idle dreamer like myself. It seemed +to look round with a lordly air upon its old hereditary domain, whose +stillness was no longer broken by the tap of the martial drum, nor the +discordant clang of arms; and, as the breeze whispered among its +branches, it seemed to be holding friendly colloquies with a few of its +venerable contemporaries, who stooped from the opposite bank of the +pool, nodding gravely now and then, and ogling themselves with a sigh +in the mirror below. + +In this quiet haunt of rural repose I used to sit at noon, hear the +birds sing, and "possess myself in much quietness." Just at my feet lay +the little silver pool, with the sky and the woods painted in its mimic +vault, and occasionally the image of a bird, or the soft watery outline +of a cloud, floating silently through its sunny hollows. The water-lily +spread its broad green leaves on the surface, and rocked to sleep a +little world of insect life in its golden cradle. Sometimes a wandering +leaf came floating and wavering downward, and settled on the water; then +a vagabond insect would break the smooth surface into a thousand +ripples, or a green-coated frog slide from the bank, and plump! dive +headlong to the bottom. + +I entered, too, with some enthusiasm, into all the rural sports and +merrimakes of the village. The holy-days were so many little eras of +mirth and good feeling; for the French have that happy and sunshine +temperament--that merry-go-mad character--which makes all their social +meetings scenes of enjoyment and hilarity. I made it a point never to +miss any of the _Fetes Champetres_, or rural dances, at the wood of +Boulogne; though I confess it sometimes gave me a momentary uneasiness +to see my rustic throne beneath the oak usurped by a noisy group of +girls, the silence and decorum of my imaginary realm broken by music and +laughter, and, in a word, my whole kingdom turned topsyturvy, with +romping, fiddling, and dancing. But I am naturally, and from principle, +too, a lover of all those innocent amusements which cheer the laborers' +toil, and, as it were, put their shoulders to the wheel of life, and +help the poor man along with his load of cares. Hence I saw with no +small delight the rustic swain astride the wooden horse of the +_carrousal_, and the village maiden whirling round and round in its +dizzy car; or took my stand on a rising ground that overlooked the +dance, an idle spectator in a busy throng. It was just where the village +touched the outward border of the wood. There a little area had been +levelled beneath the trees, surrounded by a painted rail, with a row of +benches inside. The music was placed in a slight balcony, built around +the trunk of a large tree in the centre, and the lamps, hanging from the +branches above, gave a gay, fantastic, and fairy look to the scene. How +often in such moments did I recall the lines of Goldsmith, describing +those "kinder skies," beneath which "France displays her bright domain," +and feel how true and masterly the sketch,-- + + Alike all ages; dames of ancient days + Have led their children through the mirthful maze, + And the gay grandsire, skilled in gestic lore, + Has frisked beneath the burden of threescore. + + * * * * * + +I was one morning called to my window by the sound of rustic music. I +looked out, and beheld a procession of villagers advancing along the +road, attired in gay dresses, and marching merrily on in the direction +of the church. I soon perceived that it was a marriage festival. The +procession was led by a long orangoutang of a man, in a straw hat and +white dimity bob-coat, playing on an asthmatic clarionet, from which he +contrived to blow unearthly sounds, ever and anon squeaking off at right +angles from his tune, and winding up with a grand flourish on the +guttural notes. Behind him, led by his little boy, came the blind +fiddler, his honest features glowing with all the hilarity of a rustic +bridal, and, as he stumbled along, sawing away upon his fiddle till he +made all crack again. Then came the happy bridegroom, dressed in his +Sunday suit of blue, with a large nosegay in his button-hole, and close +beside him his blushing bride, with downcast eyes, clad in a white robe +and slippers, and wearing a wreath of white roses in her hair. The +friends and relatives brought up the procession; and a troop of village +urchins came shouting along in the rear, scrambling among themselves for +the largess of sous and sugar-plums that now and then issued in large +handfuls from the pockets of a lean man in black, who seemed to +officiate as master of ceremonies on the occasion. I gazed on the +procession till it was out of sight; and when the last wheeze of the +clarionet died upon my ear, I could not help thinking how happy were +they who were thus to dwell together in the peaceful bosom of their +native village, far from the gilded misery and the pestilential vices of +the town. + +On the evening of the same day, I was sitting by the window, enjoying +the freshness of the air and the beauty and stillness of the hour, when +I heard the distant and solemn hymn of the Catholic burial-service, at +first so faint and indistinct that it seemed an illusion. It rose +mournfully on the hush of evening--died gradually away--then ceased. +Then it rose again, nearer and more distinct, and soon after a funeral +procession appeared, and passed directly beneath my window. It was led +by a priest, bearing the banner of the church, and followed by two boys, +holding long flambeaux in their hands. Next came a double file of +priests in white surplices, with a missal in one hand and a lighted wax +taper in the other, chanting the funeral dirge at intervals,--now +pausing, and then again taking up the mournful burden of their +lamentation, accompanied by others, who played upon a rude kind of horn, +with a dismal and wailing sound. Then followed various symbols of the +church, and the bier borne on the shoulders of four men. The coffin was +covered with a black velvet pall, and a chaplet of white flowers lay +upon it, indicating that the deceased was unmarried. A few of the +villagers came behind, clad in mourning robes, and bearing lighted +tapers. The procession passed slowly along the same street that in the +morning had been thronged by the gay bridal company. A melancholy train +of thought forced itself home upon my mind. The joys and sorrows of this +world are so strikingly mingled! Our mirth and grief are brought so +mournfully in contact! We laugh while others weep, and others rejoice +when we are sad! The light heart and the heavy walk side by side, and go +about together! Beneath the same roof are spread the wedding feast and +the funeral pall! The bridal song mingles with the burial hymn! One goes +to the marriage bed, another to the grave; and all is mutable, +uncertain, and transitory. + + + + +THE PAST AND THE NEW YEAR. + +By Prentiss Mellen. + + +The close of the year, whose last knell has just been heard, amid the +chills and gloom of winter, when all around reminds us of our departed +friends and the loss we have sustained, is peculiarly adapted to arouse +us from our inattention to the lapse of time, and impress on our hearts +the solemn truth that life itself is but a vapor. Many, it is true, when +they look into the grave of the year, may experience a rush of bitter +feeling, as they fondly recollect how many cherished hopes they have +been called upon to bury in the tomb, during the lapse of the year: how +many friends have proved false or ungrateful--how many of their suns +have gone down in the gloom of solitude, or amidst scenes of sickness +and poverty, or of sighing and sorrow. All this is true, and such ever +has been and ever will be the complexion of human life. But though +thousands are thus educated in a school where such is the salutary +discipline, yet millions have been spending the year in peace and +joy--in health and abundance. Their journey has been gladdened with +sunshine, and their course has been through fields of beauty and beside +"the still waters of comfort." It is useful--it is a species of +_gratitude_ thus to look back and trace the course we have been +pursuing. If it has been delightful or smooth and peaceful, our hearts +should melt in tenderness while we look to the _fountain_ of all our +blessings. If our course has been wearisome through fields of +sterility, or melancholy and companionless, we should remember that +Wisdom and Goodness preside over our destinies, whether we are breasting +the storm, or calmly beholding the rainbow of promise. The year that has +bidden us adieu, was pleasant in its course, and its decline gradual and +beautiful. An unusual degree of softness distinguished its autumn, +resembling the last years of the life of man, when the agitation of the +passions has in a great measure subsided; when his feelings have become +tranquilized, and all around him peaceful and serene, if he has been +careful to regulate his conduct, on life's journey, by the principles of +justice and the commands of duty--if in his social intercourse his +passions have been preserved in due subjection to the gentle influences +of a benevolent heart, displaying itself in acts of mercy like the good +Samaritan. + + "Sure the last end + Of the good man is peace. How calm his exit! + Night dews fall not more gently on the ground + Nor weary, worn-out winds expire so soft." + +The new year to which we have just been introduced is, in one sense, a +perfect stranger, though we have long been intimate with the _family_ to +which it belongs, and of course have some general acquaintance with +certain features of its character, leading us to anticipate its promises +and its failure to perform them in many instances,--its smiles and its +tears--its flatteries and its frowns--its gaieties and hopes--its +gradual decline--decay and dissolution:--but we have abundant reason too +for indulging the belief that we may enjoy thousands of blessings, if we +are disposed to cherish proper feelings--to be kind and courteous and +obliging, and ever on our guard to avoid unnecessarily wounding the +feelings of others; ever ready to acknowledge the favors we receive, and +render a suitable return. How easily all this may be done! How often is +it grossly neglected! He who consults _his own_ ease and comfort cannot +in any manner attain the desired result so readily and certainly, as by +habitually consulting the ease and comfort of others, with whom he is in +the habit of associating: and this is true politeness also. A man who is +dissatisfied with himself and those around him, and laboring under the +darkening influence of disturbed or morose feelings "may travel from Dan +to Beersheba and say it is all barren;"--to him it will appear so; and +the effect would be the same if his journey lay amidst the most +delightful scenes of rural beauty. The seasons of the year all give +their annual _lessons_ for instruction: It is our wisdom to regard them +carefully. _Spring_ summons us all to cheerful activity, with assurances +that our labor will not be in vain. _Summer_ performs what _Spring_ had +promised, and shews us the advantage of listening to early instruction +and wisely improving it. Ten thousand songsters are filling the branches +with their animating strains of music and gratitude, and teaching us to +enjoy, as they do, the countless blessings and bounties of nature; +_their_ music is never failing--nor do we see it ending in _discords_. +Let us all, as we journey onward together through the year, learn to +tune our _hearts_ as they do their _voices_, and pass the fleeting +period in harmony, and in that _cheerfulness_ which the excellent +Addison has honored with the name of a _continual expression of +gratitude to Heaven_. In Germany the _study_ and _practice_ of music are +general among the people. Besides other advantages resulting from +making music a part of common education, it is not romantic or utopian +to observe that it teaches how easily music--pure and surpassing +music--may be made on the _same_ instrument, which under an ignorant or +purposed touch will send forth discords in prodigious varieties. He who +has become _acquainted_ with the instrument, though not a _master_ of +it, well knows how to _avoid_ those combinations of sound which are +painful to the ear, and often tend to disturb feelings and passions. +What tones are sweeter than those produced by the gentle breeze of +heaven in passing over the strings of the olian Harp? The reason is, +those strings are so attuned as that their vibrations will not respond +except in notes of harmony: but only disorder the strings, by increasing +the tension of some and decreasing that of others, and the sweetest +zephyr will produce nothing but the vilest discords, resembling angry +passions. Let us then, in our journey through the year on which we have +entered, acquire as much as possible a knowledge of the _science_ and +the _art_ of social and domestic _moral music_. Let us learn to measure +our _time_ with care, to cultivate our _voices_, that they may lose all +harshness: let each attend to _his own part_, and strive to excel in +that. Let us consider our _feelings_, _passions_ and _dispositions_, as +the _strings of the Harp_; and the _ordinary events of life_ as the +_breezes_ which give vibration to the strings: if these strings--our +feelings, passions and dispositions--are in proper tune--under due +regulation, and preserving a just relation, each to all the others, we +have then all the elements of moral music, domestic and social, and in a +few weeks, by due regard to all the principles and arrangement above +mentioned, we shall soon be good scholars, _giving_ and _receiving_ all +that pleasure which harmony can afford; and as the sober _autumn_ +advances, our _tastes_ for this kind of music will be more and more +ripened towards perfection; and when the cold _decemberly_ evenings +shall arrive, we can listen to the _angry music_ of the elements abroad, +full of discordant strains, sweeping by our peaceful homes, while +_within_ them all may be the music of the heart, in its gentlest +movements. + +It is a melancholy truth that we ourselves manufacture seven eighths of +what we are disposed to term our _misfortunes_ in this world. Want of +precaution mars our arrangements: want of prudence exposes us to dangers +which we might easily have avoided--want of patience often hurries us +into difficulties, and disqualifies us to bear them with calmness or +decency. Indulgence in follies and fashions often plants the seeds of +wasting disease. Intemperance in our passions always is followed by +unwelcome sensations, and sometimes with a sense of shame. Stimulants +are succeeded by debility, and when they are used to excess, we know and +daily witness the dreadful results--if death is not one of them--either +the death of the offender, or of some other destroyed by his hand in the +tempest of infuriated passions--we are too often compelled to mourn over +the desolation they occasion--presenting in one view, + + "Hate--grief--despair--the family of pain." + + + + +THE RUIN OF A NIGHT. + +STANZAS SUGGESTED ON VIEWING THE GROUND OF THE GREAT FIRE IN NEW-YORK. + +By Grenville Mellen. + + + It was still noon--and Sabbath. The pale air + Hung over the great city like a shroud-- + And echo answer'd to a footstep there, + Where late went up the thunder of a crowd! + I wander'd like a pilgrim round the piles + That Ruin heap'd about the wildering way-- + And as I pass'd, I saw the withering smiles + That did on faces of dull gazers play, + As they stood round the ashes of that grave + Of all that yesterday rose there, so broad and brave! + + I mus'd as I went thro' the shadowy path + Of broken, blacken'd walls, and pillars high, + Which had surviv'd that visiting of wrath, + And now lean'd dim against the lurid sky-- + I heard the rude laugh break from ruder hearts, + Those ruffian exclamations of lost souls, + At which a better spirit wakes and starts-- + The revelry of demons o'er their bowls-- + Until I felt how faint rebuke may fall + Over a people, tho' it come in sword and pall! + + There was no lesson in that mighty pyre-- + Or, if it rose, it faded with the flame; + And crime, relentless, from that smouldering fire + Would lift, at night, its stealthy arm the same + On the lone wanderer, as, amid the crowd, + It glided oft before, to filch its gold, + When the great voice of rivalry was loud, + And onward the deep tide of commerce roll'd! + I thought how idle was the darkest ban, + Fate, in her fiercest eloquence, can pour on man! + + I thought how quick the seal of nothingness + Is set on man's best glory--and how deep! + How soon the Greatest grovels with the Less, + And they who shouted bravest, bow to weep! + How quick the veriest triumph of our years, + Fulfill'd by a dim life of toil and pain, + Is chang'd to one sad festival of tears-- + When Time is but a storm--and visions wane! + How quick Destruction can make classical + The crowded, golden ground, where her fell footsteps fall! + + The ground that yesterday was consecrate + To the wild spirit-power of Gold and Gain-- + Where riches, like some thing of worship sate, + And Worth of Wealth ask'd precedence in vain! + Where the hard hand was busy with the dust + With which it soon must mingle--though it gleam + Often with jewels--splendid, but accurst, + That make the trappings of this Life's poor dream! + And where, too, Bounty, like a fountain, sprung, + In streams, though not unfelt, in shadow, and unsung! + + Alas! that pillar'd pile! how, as I gaz'd + Upon the blacken'd shafts, did I recall + The sculptur'd marble there, whose brow was rais'd + So like a god's, within that shadowy hall! + Immortal HAMILTON!--though crumbled deep + In the red chaos of that billowy night, + It needs no chisel's memory to keep + Thy spirit's nobler outline vast and bright! + No Time--no element can mar the fame, + Gather'd, like fadeless sunlight, round thy spotless name! + + + + +COURTSHIP. + +By Wm. L. McClintock. + + +After my sleighride, last winter, and the slippery trick I was served by +Patty Bean, nobody would suspect me of hankering after the women again +in a hurry. To hear me curse and swear and rail out against the whole +feminine gender, you would have taken it for granted that I should never +so much as look at one again, to all eternity--O, but I was wicked. +"Darn and blast their eyes"--says I.--"Blame their skins--torment their +hearts and darn them to darnation." Finally I took an oath and swore +that if I ever meddled or had any dealings with them again (in the +sparking line I mean) I wish I might be hung and choked. + +But swearing off from women, and then going into a meeting house chock +full of gals, all shining and glistening in their Sunday clothes and +clean faces, is like swearing off from liquor and going into a grog +shop. It's all smoke. + +I held out and kept firm to my oath for three whole Sundays. Forenoons, +a'ternoons and intermissions complete. On the fourth, there were strong +symptoms of a change of weather. A chap, about my size was seen on the +way to the meeting house, with a new patent hat on; his head hung by the +ears upon a shirt collar; his cravat had a pudding in it and branched +out in front, into a double bow knot. He carried a straight back and a +stiff neck, as a man ought to, when he has his best clothes on; and +every time he spit, he sprung his body forward, like a jack-knife, in +order to shoot clear of the ruffles. + +Squire Jones' pew is next but two to mine; and when I stand up to +prayers and take my coat tail under my arm, and turn my back to the +minister, I naturally look right straight at Sally Jones. Now Sally has +got a face not to be grinned at, in a fog. Indeed, as regards beauty, +some folks think she can pull an even yoke with Patty Bean. For my part, +I think there is not much boot between them. Any how, they are so nigh +matched that they have hated and despised each other, like rank poison, +ever since they were school-girls. + +Squire Jones had got his evening fire on, and set himself down to +reading the great bible, when he heard a rap at his door. "Walk +in.--Well, John, how der do? Git out, Pompey."--"Pretty well, I thank ye, +Squire, and how do _you_ do?"--"Why, so as to be crawling--ye ugly beast, +will ye hold yer yop--haul up a chair and set down, John." + +"How do _you_ do, Mrs. Jones?" "O, middlin', how's yer marm? Don't forget +the mat, there, Mr. Beedle." This put me in mind that I had been off +soundings several times, in the long muddy lane; and my boots were in a +sweet pickle. + +It was now old Captain Jones' turn, the grandfather. Being roused from a +doze, by the bustle and racket, he opened both his eyes, at first with +wonder and astonishment. At last he began to halloo so loud that you +might hear him a mile; for he takes it for granted that every body is +just exactly as deaf as he is. + +"Who is it? I say, who in the world is it?" Mrs. Jones going close to +his ear, screamed out, "it's Johnny Beedle."--"Ho--Johnny Beedle. I +remember, he was one summer at the siege of Boston."--"No, no, father, +bless your heart, that was his grandfather, that's been dead and gone +this twenty year."--"Ho,--But where does he come from?"--"Daown +taown."--"Ho.--And what does he follow for a livin'?"--And he did not +stop asking questions, after this sort, till all the particulars of the +Beedle family were published and proclaimed in Mrs. Jones' last screech. +He then sunk back into his doze again. + +The dog stretched himself before one andiron; the cat squat down before +the other. Silence came on by degrees, like a calm snow storm, till +nothing was heard but a cricket under the hearth, keeping tune with a +sappy yellow birch forestick. Sally sat up prim, as if she were pinned +to the chair-back; her hands crossed genteelly upon her lap, and her +eyes looking straight into the fire. Mammy Jones tried to straighten +herself too, and laid her hands across in her lap. But they would not +lay still. It was full twenty-four hours since they had done any work, +and they were out of all patience with keeping Sunday.--Do what she +would to keep them quiet, they would bounce up, now and then, and go +through the motions, in spite of the fourth commandment. For my part _I_ +sat looking very much like a fool. The more I tried to say something the +more my tongue stuck fast. I put my right leg over the left and said +"hem." Then I changed, and put the left leg over the right. It was no +use; the silence kept coming on thicker and thicker. The drops of sweat +began to crawl all over me. I got my eye upon my hat, hanging on a peg, +on the road to the door; and then I eyed the door. At this moment, the +old Captain, all at once sung out "Johnny Beedle!" It sounded like a +clap of thunder, and I started right up an eend. + +"Johnny Beedle, you'll never handle sich a drumstick as your father did, +if yer live to the age of Methusaler. He would toss up his drumstick, +and while it was whirlin' in the air, take off a gill er rum, and then +ketch it as it come down, without losin' a stroke in the tune. What d'ye +think of that, ha? But scull your chair round, close along side er me, +so yer can hear.--Now, what have you come a'ter?"--"I--a'ter? O, jest +takin' a walk. Pleasant walkin' I guess. I mean jest to see how ye all +do." "Ho.--That's another lie. You've come a courtin', Johnny Beedle; +you're a'ter our Sal. Say now, d'ye want to marry, or only to court?" + +This is what I call a choker. Poor Sally made but one jump and landed in +the middle of the kitchen; and then she skulked in the dark corner, till +the old man, after laughing himself into a whooping cough, was put to +bed. + +Then came apples and cider; and, the ice being broke, plenty chat with +mammy Jones about the minister and the 'sarmon.' I agreed with her to a +nicety, upon all the points of doctrine; but I had forgot the text and +all the heads of the discourse, but six. Then she teazed and tormented +me to tell who I accounted the best singer in the gallery, that day. +But, mum--there was no getting that out of me. "Praise to the face is +often disgrace"--says I, throwing a sly squint at Sally. + +At last, Mrs. Jones lighted t'other candle; and after charging Sally to +look well to the fire, she led the way to bed, and the Squire gathered +up his shoes and stockings and followed. + +Sally and I were left sitting a good yard apart, honest measure. For +fear of getting tongue-tied again, I set right in, with a steady stream +of talk. I told her all the particulars about the weather that was past, +and also made some pretty cute guesses at what it was like to be in +future. At first, I gave a hitch up with my chair at every full stop. +Then growing saucy, I repeated it at every comma, and semicolon; and at +last, it was hitch, hitch, hitch, and I planted myself fast by the side +of her. + +"I swow, Sally, you looked so plaguy handsome to day, that I wanted to +eat you up."--"Pshaw, get along you," says she. My hand had crept along, +somehow, upon its fingers, and begun to scrape acquaintance with hers. +She sent it home again, with a desperate jerk. "Try it agin"--no better +luck. "Why, Miss Jones you're gettin' upstropulous, a little old madish, +I guess." "Hands off is fair play, Mr. Beedle." + +It is a good sign to find a girl sulkey. I knew where the shoe pinched. +It was that are Patty Bean business. So I went to work to persuade her +that I had never had any notion after Patty, and to prove it I fell to +running her down at a great rate. Sally could not help chiming in with +me, and I rather guess Miss Patty suffered a few. I, now, not only got +hold of her hand without opposition, but managed to slip an arm round +her waist. But there was no satisfying me; so I must go to poking out my +lips after a buss. I guess I rued it. She fetched me a slap in the face +that made me see stars, and my ears rung like a brass kettle for a +quarter of an hour. I was forced to laugh at the joke, tho' out of the +wrong side of my mouth, which gave my face something the look of a +gridiron. The battle now began in the regular way. "Ah, Sally, give me a +kiss, and ha' done with it, now."--"I won't, so there, nor tech to."--"I'll +take it, whether or no."--"Do it, if you dare."--And at it we went, rough +and tumble. An odd destruction of starch now commenced. The bow of my +cravat was squat up in half a shake. At the next bout, smash went shirt +collar, and, at the same time, some of the head fastenings gave way, and +down came Sally's hair in a flood, like a mill dam broke +loose,--carrying away half a dozen combs. One dig of Sally's elbow, and +my blooming ruffles wilted down to a dish-cloth. But she had no time to +boast. Soon her neck tackling began to shiver. It parted at the throat, +and, whorah, came a whole school of blue and white beads, scampering and +running races every which way, about the floor. + +By the Hokey; if Sally Jones is'nt real grit, there's no snakes. She +fought fair, however, I must own, and neither tried to bite nor scratch; +and when she could fight no longer, for want of breath, she yielded +handsomely. Her arms fell down by her sides, her head back over her +chair, her eyes closed and there lay her little plump mouth, all in the +air. Lord! did ye ever see a hawk pounce upon a young robin? Or a +bumblebee upon a clover-top?--I say nothing. + +Consarn it, how a buss will crack, of a still frosty night. Mrs. Jones +was about half way between asleep and awake. "There goes my yeast +bottle," says she to herself--"burst into twenty hundred pieces, and my +bread is all dough agin." + +The upshot of the matter is, I fell in love with Sally Jones, head over +ears. Every Sunday night, rain or shine, finds me rapping at 'Squire +Jones' door, and twenty times have I been within a hair's breadth of +popping the question. But now I have made a final resolve; and if I live +till next Sunday night, and I don't get choked in the trial, Sally Jones +will hear thunder. + + + + +VENETIAN MOONLIGHT. + +By Frederick Mellen. + + + The midnight chime had tolled from Marco's towers; + O'er Adria's wave the trembling echo swept; + The gondolieri paused upon their oars, + Mutt'ring their prayers as through the still night crept. + + Far on the wave the knell of time sped on, + Till the sound died upon its tranquil breast; + The sea-boy startled as the peal rolled on; + Gazed at his star, and turned himself to rest. + + The throbbing heart, that late had said farewell, + Still lingering on the wave that bore it home, + At that bright hour sigh'd o'er the dying swell, + And thought on years of absence yet to come. + + 'T was moonlight on Venetia's sea, + And every fragrant bower and tree + Smiled in the golden light; + The thousand eyes that clustered there + Ne'er in their life looked half so fair + As on that happy night. + + A thousand sparkling lights were set + On every dome and minaret; + While through the marble halls, + The gush of cooling fountains came, + And crystal lamps sent far their flame + Upon the high-arched walls. + + But sweeter far on Adria's sea, + The gondolier's wild minstrelsy + In accents low began; + While sounding harp and martial zel + Their music joined, until the swell + Seemed heaven's broad arch to span. + + Then faintly ceasing--one by one, + That plaintive voice sung on alone + Its wild, heart-soothing lay; + And then again that moonlight band + Started, as if by magic wand, + In one bold burst away. + + The joyous laugh came on the breeze, + And, 'mid the bright o'erhanging trees, + The mazy dance went round; + And as in joyous ring they flew, + The smiling nymphs the wild flowers threw + That clustered on the ground. + + Soft as a summer evening's sigh, + From each o'erhanging balcony + Low fervent whisperings fell; + And many a heart upon that night + On fancy's pinion sped its flight, + Where holier beings dwell. + + Each lovely form the eye might see, + The dark-browed maid of Italy + With love's own sparkling eyes; + The fairy Swiss--all, all that night, + Smiled in the moonbeam's silvery light, + Fair as their native skies. + + The moon went down, and o'er that glowing sea, + With darkness, Silence spread abroad her wing, + Nor dash of oars, nor harp's wild minstrelsy + Came o'er the waters in that mighty ring. + All nature slept--and, save the far-off moan + Of ocean surges, Silence reigned alone. + + + + +BALLOONING. + +By I. McLellan, Jr. + + +The clear sun of a fine September day, was glittering on roof and +steeple, and the cheerful breeze of early autumn breathing its harp-like +melody over woods and waters. A vast multitude stood around me, +attentively watching the expanding folds of my balloon, as it swayed to +and fro in the unsteady air. As I prepared to take my place in its car, +I noticed an involuntary shudder run through the assemblage, and anxious +glances pass from face to face. At length, the process of inflation was +completed, the music sounded, the gun was discharged, the ropes were +loosened, and the beautiful machine arose in the air, amid the +resounding cheers of thousands. As it ascended, I cast a hasty look on +the sea of upturned heads, and thought I read one general expression of +anxiety, in the faces of the multitudinous throng, and my heart warmed +with the consciousness, that many kind wishes and secret hopes were +wafted with me on my heavenward flight. But very soon, mine eye ceased +to distinguish features and forms, and the collected throng became +blended in one confused mass, and the green common itself had dwindled +into a mere garden-plat, and the magnificent old Elm in its centre to a +stunted bush, waving on the hill-side. + +Upward, upward! my flying car mounted and mounted, into the yet +untraversed highways of the air, swifter than pinion-borne bird, or +canvas-borne vessel, yet all without sound of revolving wheel, or +clatter of thundering hoof or straining of bellying sail, or rustle of +flapping wing. I felt that I was indeed alone, in the upper wastes of +the liquid element, a solitary voyager of the sky, careering onward like +the spectral "Ship of the Sea," with no murmur of bubbling billow under +the prow, and no gush of whirling ripple beneath the keel. But how can +my pen describe the sublimity of the scene above, below and around! At +one moment, my car would plunge into silvery seas of vapor and rolling +billows of mist, through which the dim-seen sun did but feebly glimmer, +like the struggling flame of the torch cast in the dungeon's gloom. But +soon that shadowy veil dissolved away, and again I would emerge into the +blaze of the golden sun, and the effulgence of the blue heavens. How +then did I covet the painter's art, to be able to imprint on the eternal +canvas, those gorgeous clouds piled up around me, like hills and +mountains, from whose sides hoary cataracts seemed to be falling, and +foamy streams leaping into the vallies, that rested in lovely repose at +their base. Never did the dull world below present on its diversified +bosom, such grand or such enchanting objects, as those beautiful and +evanescent creatures of the air, shining and shifting in the levelled +sunbeams around. At times, my whole horizon would be bounded by those +mountainous regions of cloud-land, cliff lifting over cliff, pinnacle +above pinnacle, Alps above Alps. On their sides and tops, the reflected +light painted all the hues of the rainbow, in commingled azure and +crimson, purple and gold. In those stupendous masses of vapor, mine eye, +with little aid of fancy, could trace out resemblances of wild and +desolate forests, of sombre fir and yew, the lordly oak and the +melancholy pine, whispering in the breeze. Anon, a green, happy valley, +would smile out from some hollow of the hills, and the white +church-spire would peep from the embosoming grove, and the rustic +parsonage, the rural farm-house, and the village-inn, with its swinging +sign, and the chestnut waiving its twinkling foliage at the door would +appear. Anon, the shifting vapor would assume the shape of an old +baronial fortress, green with the mosses of centuries, and overspread +with the flexile creeper, the gadding vine, and the glossy ivy, and +wearing many a dull-weather stain, imprinted by wintry gale and autumnal +rain. On its grey towers would seem to float the broad standard, around +which the knights and vassals had mustered so often, when the armies +thundered beneath the leagured walls, or its brave folds were displayed +in distant lands, on the tented fields of war. + +Onward, onward! I looked forth, and saw that I was again wafted along +the lower currents of air, and could easily distinguish the sights and +sounds of earth. I passed over green pastures, where the brindled cattle +and snowy sheep were feeding, and, under a spreading oak, that towered +aloft like a verdant hill, reclined a young girl, watching her father's +flocks, attended by a pet lamb, cropping the fair flowers at her feet. +As I gazed, I thought of "the fair Una with her milk-white lamb," and of +all the happiness of the shepherd's life, who, sitting upon the grassy +hill-side beneath the sacred locust, and piping entrancing melodies in +praise of his love, on the mellow oaten reed, is all unmindful of the +cankering care and the poisonous hatred, that embitter human life. Great +was the surprise that agitated that lonesome spot, as mine air-borne +pageant fluttered over it, with its silken fold and colored streamer. +The cattle cast upward their wondering eyes, and galloped away to the +forests, and I could long hear the tinkling bell on the horn of the bull +and heifer, sounding in the inner sanctuary of the wood, where, on a +twisted root or a moss-covered stone, by the brink of the gushing brook, +reclined that grey-beard recluse, Solitude, and his nun-like sister, +Silence, revolving their lonely meditations. + +Onward, still onward! Beneath me I beheld a solemn spot, where the +linden, the ash, the sycamore, the cypress, the cedar, the beech, the +church-yard yew and hemlock, were clustered together in one mournful +company. I knew by the stone altars, by the sculptured urn, the graceful +obelisk, the foam-white pyramid, the funereal cenotaph, the marble +mausoleum, which glimmered amid the groves and bowers, that I looked +upon a sanctuary, consecrated by the living to the repose of the dead. A +sweet sabbath-like calm seemed to hover about the place, and even the +very birds that were flitting from branch to branch, and the breeze that +was sighing its hollow dirge along the wood-tops, appeared to know that +the spot was holy. As I looked, I beheld a slow procession winding along +this highway of the departed, and bearing a new tenant to the narrow +house. Some sweet infant, perhaps, was there cut down in the dewy bloom +of its innocence,--some beautiful bud of beauty severed from its stem, +and torn away from its blossoming mates, in the garden of youth,--or, +haply, some silver-haired sire, gathered like the shock of corn, fully +ripe, into the vast granary of death. + +As I passed from this interesting spot, I was attracted by a merry train +of riders, whose loud and cheerful voices resounded along the road, +seeming to mock the sacred silence of the place I had so lately left. As +the gay array of youth and beauty dashed away from my sight, with foamy +bridle and gory spur, I could not but be reminded of the close +juxta-position on earth, of joy and sorrow, life and death. + +Onward, onward! over winding streams, that glittered like twisting +serpents on the green surface of the earth, over the broad bay, that +rested in smooth and glassy repose in the arms of the far-extending +shore, and over the dashing billows of the ocean, my route continued. +Birds of the briny sea, whose strong wings had borne them safely and +surely from the frosty atmosphere that sparkles around the pole, or the +ice-cold waters of some far-away lagoon, now darted around me with +discordant cry and affrighted pinion. In those hovering flocks I +discerned the duck, the goose, the coot, the loon, the curlew, the +green-winged teal, the dusky duck, the sooty tern, the yellow-winged +gadwale, the golden eye, and the gaudy mallard, proudly vain of that +lovely plumage, whose intense hues rival the glory of the breaking dawn, +the autumnal sunset, or the intermingled dyes which tinge the stripes of +the showery bow. On an iron-bound promontory, whose jutting crags waved +an eternal strife with the rolling billows, I saw the thick-scattered +cottages of wealth and taste, seeming no bigger than the nest, which the +tropical bird constructs in the sands of the desert, while around, on +the tumbling expanse of waters, were glancing a thousand receding and +approaching sails, bearing the riches of the orient or the occident, +from shore to shore. + +Downward, downward! A thrill of horror shot through my veins, as I felt +that the rough ocean breeze had shivered my silken vessel to shreds and +tatters, and that I was falling with the speed of lightning, through the +hollow abyss of the air, into the sea. The jaws of the fretting ocean, +gnashing their white teeth in anger, seemed to gape open to devour me, +and the black rocks uplifted their jagged spears, to impale my devoted +body! But my time had not yet come. A gentle tap on the shoulder aroused +me from the profound reverie in which I had been plunged, and I was very +glad to recognize, in the visitor who had broken the spell, my good +friend Durant, who called to invite me to attend his grand ascension, +the following day. + + + + +ODE, + +ON OCCASION OF JUDGE STORY'S EULOGY ON CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL AT THE +ODEON. + +By Grenville Mellen. + + + Again--the voice of God! + How breaks it round! + O'er consecrated sod, + With locks unbound, + Grief in her marble brow appears + And bows amid her veil--in tears! + + That mandate from on high-- + The clarion call, + That rung through earth and sky + His rayless fall, + In accents, "thou shalt die," again + Proclaims man's dream of years--how vain! + + We veil not in its grave + Ambition's brow-- + It is not o'er the brave + We gather now! + But one who reach'd man's loftier fate. + _Good_ without fault--and nobly _great_. + + A sceptre was his own, + Drawn from the sky-- + He fill'd a holier throne + Than royalty: + He sat with deathless Justice crown'd, + While Truth, like sunlight, flash'd around! + + His _life_ to all the earth + Proud record bore, + Man yet might spring to birth, + With angel power! + His _death_, that as the "grass," to-day + Robes him in glory--and decay! + + Oh! well, with spirit bow'd, + Above his bier + May a broad empire crowd, + With prayer and tear! + --His be its requiem--deep and far-- + A nation's heart his sepulchre! + + + + +THE BOY'S MOUNTAIN SONG. + +FROM THE GERMAN. + +By I. McLellan, Jr. + + + I am the mountain boy! + Forth o'er an hundred halls I gaze. + Here morn his earliest light displays, + Here linger his declining rays,-- + I am the mountain boy! + + Here is the mountain-source, + Of the cold water-course-- + And at sultry noon I dip, + In its wave my glowing lip. + I am the mountain boy! + + When the awful lightnings glare, + Flashes on the midnight air, + On the rocking cliff I kneel, + Answering back each thunder-peal. + I am the mountain boy! + + When the quickly-pealing bell, + Calls to arms in every dell, + In the mustered ranks I stand, + Swinging wide my mountain-brand + And sing my mountain-song! + + + + +THE UNCHANGEABLE JEW. + +By John Neal. + + '_Who_ views with equal eye as God of all, + A hero perish, or a sparrow fall? + Atoms and systems into ruin hurled, + And now a bubble burst, and now a world?' + + +A great multitude were gathered together: on the right a huge fortress +thundering to the sky--on the left a scaffold--a white fog--the open +sea--and a mighty ship tumbling to the swell. The flat roofs and +gorgeous balconies were covered with scarlet cloth, and thronged with +women of all ages--their lips writhing and their eyes flashing. +Underneath were a mute soldiery, with banners that moved not, and spears +that glimmered not--a vast, rich and motionless pageant. Not a leaf +stirred--not a finger was lifted--all eyes were fixed upon something +afar off. The Grave alone had a voice, and the footstep of approaching +Death grew audible, with the everlasting beat of the Ocean. The stagnant +atmosphere burned with a lustreless, unchangeable and smouldering +warmth. As the impatient and sluggish breathing of the Destroyer drew +near, with a sound as of Earthquake and Pestilence laboring afar off, +there appeared upon the outermost verge of the scaffold, near the +fortress, a man of a simple and majestic presence, wearing no symbol of +power, no badge of authority, before whom the multitude gave way with +headlong precipitation, as though but to touch the hem of his garment +were death itself, or something yet worse than death. + +After communicating with those about him in a low whisper, too low to be +understood by others almost within his reach, one of the soldiers lifted +a spear, at the point of which fluttered a blood-red banner, tufted and +fringed with snow-white feathers, and pointed in silence toward a large +opening, which appeared to command a view of the whole interior. The +stranger drew near, and grasping one of the bars with a powerful hand, +lifted himself up, and after looking awhile, turned away with a sick +impatient shudder, and wiped his eyes; and then lifting himself up +again, he made a signal to somebody within, and straightway a large +tent-like awning was quietly withdrawn, so as to reveal the interior of +a court-yard, with cells opening into it--in the nearest of which sat a +princely-looking middle-aged man, half-buried and apparently half asleep +or lost in thought, in a large, heavy, old-fashioned chair, with a +curiously carved table before him, on which there lay, side by side with +writing materials, a lamp and a letter evidently unfinished, two or +three illuminated manuscripts, a dagger and a map; a massive goblet +richly chased, the rough gold tinged and sweltering with the hot blood +of the southern grape, a variety of strange mathematical instruments--a +copy of Zoroaster--and a Hebrew Bible, with clasps of the costliest +workmanship, and a cover of black velvet frosted with seed pearls--a +crushed and trampled coronet--and a lighted pipe, ornamented with +precious stones, the shaft a twisted serpent and the bowl a burning +carbuncle--a live coal--from the core of which, as out of the midst of a +perpetual, unextinguishable fire, issued a delicate perfume, filling the +whole neighborhood, as with the smoke of a censer; and leaving the eye +to make out--by little and little--through the fragrant vapor, first a +pair of embroidered Persian slippers, then a magnificent robe, flowered +all over as with the sunshine of the sea, and weltering in the +changeable light of the open window, then a prodigious quantity of +lustrous black hair flowing down over the shoulders, from underneath a +crimson velvet cap with a diamond buckle and clasp, and a tassel of spun +gold, strung with sapphire, ruby, amethyst and pearl--and a pomp of +black feathers overshadowing an ample forehead of surpassing power, and +eyes of untroubled splendor; and then, after a long while, a heap of +black shadow lying coiled up underneath the table, from the midst of +which an occasional flash, as of a serpent's tongue, or an angry +sparkle--as of a serpent's eye, would appear--and at last the whole +proportions of a superb-looking personage, who had been trying, hour +after hour, with a compressed lip and a thoughtful determined eye--to +snap what appeared to be a handful of seed pearl, one by one, through +the grated window before him, without touching the bars--hour after +hour--and always in vain! The passage way was too narrow--the bars too +near together. + +Behold! murmured he at last, while the shadow of another--and yet +another stranger, shot along the lighted floor, as he stole about the +room a-tiptoe, and gathering up the pearls, if pearls they were, that +lay in heaps underneath the window, and flinging aside the magnificent +robe he wore, prepared himself anew and with more determination than +ever, for the work he had evidently set his heart upon, if not his life, +by measuring the elevation with a steadier eye, and poising every pearl +with a more delicate touch, before he projected it toward the window. +Behold! how the Ancient of Days delighteth in counteracting the purposes +of Man? + +The other started back and threw up his arms with a look of horror and +amazement, and all who were about him began whispering together and +shaking their heads. + +At this moment the slow jarring vibration of a great bell was heard from +the topmost tower--the cannon of the fortress thundered forth, and were +answered, peal after peal, from the lighted mountains--a volume of white +smoke rolled heavily toward the earth and covered the people--the +sea-fog trembled--parted--and slowly drifted away in patches and +fragments, through which the blue sky appeared, and the hot sunshine +flashed with an arrowy brightness, while the mighty ship swung round +with her broadside to the shore, and lighted matches were seen moving +about hither and thither, like wandering meteors, through the damp hazy +atmosphere; and instantly there went up a slow half-smothered wail from +the multitude, with a weight and volume like the unutterable and growing +earnestness of the Great Deep, when it begins to heave with a +pre-appointed and irresistible change; and all eyes were upturned, and +all arms outstretched with a troubled expression toward the stranger, +who walked forward a few steps to the verge of the scaffold--and looking +about him, on every side, called out with a loud voice,--Of such are the +Gods of the Unconverted! and of such their followers! + +The answering roar of the multitude reached the prisoner, who lifting +his head and listening for a moment with a placid smile, asked what more +they would have?--and whether they were not yet satisfied?--and then +straightway began balancing another of the glittering seeds and eyeing +the window-- + +Most pitiable! cried the other, covering his face with his hands, moving +afar off, and appearing to be entirely overcome by what he saw. + +And why _pitiable_, I pray thee! shouted the former, with a voice like a +trumpet, lifting his calm forehead to the sky and gathering his +magnificent robe about him as he spoke. + +Art thou of a truth Adonijah the Jew--the unconverted Jew? + +Of a truth am I--the unconverted, the _unconvertable_ Jew; and thou! art +thou not he that was my brother according to the flesh--even Zorobabel, +the _converted_ Jew and the preacher of a new faith? + +Yea; of a new faith to such as thou; but a faith older than the Hebrew +prophets to them that believe, Adonijah. + +But why _pitiable_ I pray thee? + +How are the mighty fallen! For three whole months have I journied afoot +and alone, by night and by day, through the deep of the wilderness, and +along by the sea-shore--afoot and alone, my brother!--after hearing of +thy great overthrow--the wreck of thy vast possessions about me +whithersoever I went--thy magnificent household scattered, thy princes +banished from their high places, and wandering over all the earth and +hiding themselves in the holes of the rocks--with no city of refuge in +their path--even thy youngest and fairest a bondwoman, toiling for that +which sustaineth not; and thy own fast-approaching death, a theme with +every people and kindred and tongue--and not a theme of sorrow! And all +this, O my brother and my prince! only that I might be near thee in thy +unutterable bereavement and humiliation, only that I might look upon +thee once more alive, and see thee unchangeable as ever, though stripped +of power and trampled under the hoofs of the multitude--only that I +might reason with thee, face to face, before a great people, who, after +watching and worshipping thee for many years, have come up together as +with one heart, to see thee--_thee!_ their idol and their +benefactor--perish upon a scaffold, as only the fool or the scoffer +perisheth!--to cry out upon thee as the unconquerable Jew, that having +once abjured the faith of his fathers and gone back to it anew, cannot +be reached but by the law, nor purified but with fire! + +Say on. + +Alas, my brother! Alas that it should fall upon me to afflict thy proud +spirit with reproaches at a time like this! But there is no other hope. +Awake, therefore! awake! and gird up thy loins like a man. I will demand +of thee, saith the Lord of Hosts, and thou shalt answer me, even as my +servant Job answered me of yore. Awake, therefore, and stand up, that I +may reason with thee for the last time touching the faith of our mighty +fathers, the consolations of philosophy, and the splendor and power of +earthly Wisdom--of Death and Judgment--while thou art on thy way to the +grave in the fulness of thy strength and majesty; and _not_ with the +clangor of trumpets, the neigh of steeds, the flow of drapery, and the +uproar of battle!--No!--not as the High Priest, or the champion of a +lofty and venerable faith, standing up like a pillar of fire in a cloudy +sky, and pointing to Jerusalem as to the great gathering place of buried +nations, about to reappear, with all eyes fixed upon thee and all hearts +heaving with exultation! To thy grave, my brother! and not as a martyr! +but as a wretch abandoned of all the earth--a twofold apostate!--a +rebel and a traitor! Hark! hearest thou not a faint stirring afar off, +along the shore of that multitude--a living wilderness of threatening +eyes and parched lips--and ah! another moan from that huge, heavy, +disheartening bell, which never stops till the sacrifice of a fiery +death is over, and the object of its boding prophecy gone to the world +of spirits. + +But the prisoner heeded not his adjuration--he never lifted his eyes, +and the same quiet smile rested forever upon his countenance; and he +still gathered up the pearls and continued aiming them at the window. + +Awake, Adonijah! awake, I say! Thy pearls are counted to thee. Thy +pulses are about to stand still forever--thy proud heart to stop +forever! A moment, and the headsman will be here--already do I see him +afar off, stealing with a noiseless movement along the skirts of the +affrighted people, like smouldering fire through the blackness of a +thunder-cloud. Awake, thou MAN of sorrow and acquainted with grief, +awake that I may pray with thee! + +With me! + +Yea, my brother--even with thee. + +And wherefore shouldst thou pray with me? and wherefore should I pray? + +Wherefore! Have I not heard thee, purified by that old peculiar faith, +charge even thy Creator, the Ancient of Days, the Lord God of Heaven and +Earth, _Jehovah!_ with diverting thy pearls from their appointed path! + +True, and therefore why should I pray? Of what avail these prayers with +the _unchangeable_ God? Can aught that we do, or fail to do, disturb the +everlasting tranquillity of our Creator--change his purpose--or in any +way move to pleasure or displeasure the Lord God of Heaven and Earth? +With him before whom all things are alike, with whom there is neither +great nor small--what he hath determined to do, that will he not do? +whether we importune him or not with prayer? Go to, my poor brother! go +to! will not the Judge of all the Earth do right? and if he will +not--how are we to help ourselves? + +Unhappy man! Though he _were_ unchangeable; and though supplications +were of no avail, why should the children of men, the creatures of his +bounty withhold their _thanksgiving_? + +That would I never withhold, for that I could offer up any where--at all +times and under all circumstances, without dishonoring him, our CREATOR +and our Father, or his image, and without contradicting our ancient +faith. But why wrestle in prayer with him, for that which, if it be +proper for us, we shall be sure to have, as we have the dew and the +sunshine, the seed-time and the harvest.--The very hairs of our head, +are they not numbered? Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and +not one of them is forgotten before God! + +Yea my brother! But what saith the same scripture? Ye are of more value +than many sparrows. + +True--true--I had forgotten a part of my lesson. + +Believest thou, O my brother, _canst_ thou believe then, that in His +eyes, all the cherubim and seraphim are equal and alike? that He is, of +a truth, no respecter of persons among the Hierarchy of heaven? + +But wherefore pray to Him that knoweth all our wants, before they are +uttered or felt? to Him that feedeth the young raven--laying his hand +reverentially upon the Great Book before him, and lifting his forehead +to the sky, as if he could see through it. + +_Wherefore?_ Because we have been urged to pray--entreated to +pray--commanded to pray. Because every thing desirable hath been +promised to prayer. + +Not in the Hebrew scriptures, however it may be with the Greek. To +thanksgiving and submission, there may be vouchsafed a continual to +favor; but to importunity, as urged upon you in your scripture, my poor +brother, _nothing_. + +Lo! the headsman touches the foot of the scaffold! Wilt thou not pray +with me, oh Adonijah! my brother and my prince! + +No! my brother that _was_--no! The Lion of Judah hath not yet learned to +lick the uplifted hand of mortal man. Get thee behind me Zorobabel, _my +brother_! Go thy way, and leave me to my trust in the God of our +fathers. Why should I pray with thee--with thee! an apostate from the +sepulchre of kings and prophets--I that never have prayed but with the +princes, and the Judges and the High-Priest of our people? Get thee +gone, my brother! It is not for such as I to tempt the Lord of Hosts, or +to persuade the Ancient of Days. Do not thou tempt me. + +Stay, brother--stay! Did not Jacob wrestle in prayer with the angel of +the Lord, all the night long? + +With the angel of the Lord?--yea--But never with the Lord himself, as +thou wouldst have me. And saying this, he gathered up his robe and shook +it, and turned away from his brother sorrowing. + +Man! thou art beside thyself--much learning hath made thee mad--cried +his brother, reaching forth his arms to Adonijah. The whole Hebrew +scriptures are against thee--what are they all but a Book of prayer and +supplication? Prophets and Bards and Kings and Judges, yea, even the +High Priesthood, are against thee! Why shouldst thou pray, thou +unconquerable Hebrew?--why!--that thy proud heart may be made +human--that thy understanding may be enlightened--that thou mayst be +made to know and believe that there is another and a better Scripture. +Pray to thy Father, which is in Heaven, as thou wouldst that thy +children should pray to thee, even for that which thou hast already +determined to grant them--oh, pray to Him! that He may see the +disposition of thy heart, as thou wouldst see theirs. What though thou +art mindful of their wants, and well acquainted with their hearts and +purposes, and always ready to gratify them, is it not a condition with +thee--even with _thee_, Adonijah, that they should acknowledge their +dependence upon thee, and their utter helplessness of themselves? And +why should it not be so with our Heavenly Father? with Him whose angels +are about thee and above thee, a perpetual atmosphere of warmth and +light. Ha! the multitude are breaking up!--they are coming this way! I +hear the tramp of horsemen--a moment more and we are apart forever. A +flash!--The Philistines are upon thee, O my brother! + +That brother looked up and smiled. + +Wilt thou not pray with me? + +No--once for all--no! Never with a converted Jew--never with a +christian!--never with thee, thou but half a christian! + +Farewell then!--farewell forever. + +Another flash! attended with a loud burst of thunder among the hills. + +Nay, let us part in peace, my brother, although I cannot pray with thee, +I can for thee! The God of our Fathers! of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, +have thee in his holy keeping! + +The stranger threw up his arms in a transport of joy. The unconverted, +the _unconvertable_ Jew had prayed for him with the temper of a +christian; and straightway he fell upon his knees and called upon the +God of the Hebrews, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, to spare +the Jew and change his heart. + +The huge gate swung open. The drawbridge fell--a fierce angry light +broke forth suddenly from underneath the scaffold--a black banner +floated all at once from the battlements over the passage-way--a troop +of horsemen, with flashing spears and iron helmets, wheeled slowly into +the court-yard, and drew up in dead silence along the outer barrier. The +headsman appeared. A signal was made from a far window, and lo! the +coronet and the robe, with all the glittering insignia of departed power +and extinguished glory, were torn away, and trampled under foot by the +hoofs of the multitude. A white smoke rolled forth from below, and when +it cleared away, the Jew appeared standing bareheaded between two +gigantic mutes, one of whom bore a naked cimetar, while the other stood +watching his countenance. It continued unaltered--unalterable--nor would +he vouchsafe the slightest token of submission or terror, though the +flames roared, and the white smoke rolled thitherward like the white +sea-fog before a coming storm; but haughtily, steadfastly, and with a +majestic mildness which awed the very soldiery more than all the pomp +they were accustomed to, he pointed to the multitude, lowering about him +with a tempestuous blackness--to the pyre with its covering of +blood-red cloth dripping with recent moisture--to the flames roaring far +below among the dry faggots, and signified a wish to proceed. + +Once more shouted a voice from the barrier--My brother! oh my brother! +wilt thou not be prevailed upon, if not for thine own sake, for the sake +of thy beloved wife and thy youngest born--about to perish with +thee--even with thee, my brother, in their marvellous beauty and most +abundant strength. + +Away!--and let me die in peace! + +Another step thou unconquerable man! But another step--thou apostate +Jew!--and thou art in the world of spirits! Wilt thou not say? _canst_ +thou not, with lowliness and fervor, Our Father which art in Heaven! thy +will and not mine be done! + +Yea, brother--if that will comfort thee in thy desolation. Yea! Yea! +with all the hoarded and concentrated fervor of a long life accustomed +to no other language, even while I took upon me the outer garb of a +christian--Yea!--and saying this, he fell upon his knees, and cried out +with a loud voice, while a triumphant brightness overspread his uplifted +countenance with a visible exaltation, Our Father and our Judge! I do +not pray to thee as the God of the christians did, that this cup may be +spared to me; for I have put my whole hope and trust in thee, and am +satisfied with whatsoever I may receive at thy hands! But I would bless +thee, I would praise thee, I would magnify thy great name, oh God of my +Fathers, for all that I have enjoyed or suffered, for all that I have +had or wanted in this life; yea, for all the afflictions and sorrows and +terrors that have beset my path, and that of my beloved wife and my +dear children--children of the tribe of Judah and of the house of +Jacob!--Yea, for the overthrow of all my proud hopes and prouder wishes, +when I forsook thee and almost abjured the faith of my Fathers for +dominion sake. Forgive my apostate brother, I beseech thee, O Lord! as +thou hast forgiven me: and bless the heritage of thy people, and +encourage them as the followers of the new faith are encouraged by their +Jesus of Nazareth, to forgive their enemies, even though their enemies +take the shape of a beloved friend or brother--to betray them--giving up +their birth-right, like Esau for a mess of pottage. + +A great commotion appeared on the house-tops, extending itself slowly +far and wide. + +Nevertheless, continued the Jew--nevertheless! oh Father and Judge, God +of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! thy will and not mine be done! + +The multitude began to surge this way and that, with exceeding violence. +A cry of indignation arose from every side. A tumult followed--a general +rush--the house-tops were suddenly deserted--the sea shore--and some +began shouting, Away with him! away with him! and others, Let the +blaspheming Jew perish without hope! and others, Crucify him! crucify +him! + +But in the midst of the uproar, one clear solitary cry was heard afar +off, repeating a prayer to the God of the Hebrews--another cloud of +white smoke rolled over the battlements--the flames appeared half way up +the sky--a trumpet sounded underneath the very scaffold--the ancient +war-cry of the Jews, _To your tents, O Israel!_ rung far and wide along +the outer barrier--up sprang a multitude of small white banners, like +affrighted birds, from the midst of the people--and the next moment, +before they had recovered from their unspeakable consternation, the +heavy horsemen charged upon them in a body, the great ship swung round +with all her voices thundering together, and swept their pathway as with +a whirlwind of fire, while they hurried hither and thither, crying To +arms! to arms! The Jews! the Jews! and pointing toward the bridge, only +to find the bridge itself destroyed and the opposite shore in possession +of that other converted Jew--the stranger!--all in glittering steel +arrayed, and carrying a banner on which the Lion of Judah was ramping in +a field of carnage! + + * * * * * + +And when the Jew Adonijah, now more a Jew than ever, and more fully +satisfied than ever, with the sublime, and awful, and unchangeable faith +of his old Hebrew Fathers, came fully to himself, and the tumult was all +over, he found three out of his four children of the house of Jacob, +standing near him in their robes of state--another, and a stranger, +harnessed for the war, his black eyes yet gleaming with the +half-extinguished fire of battle, standing at the door of the chamber. + +And why wouldst thou not pray for us, father? said one of the two that +were standing by the bed-side. + +Because ye were sick unto death; and I held it sinful to ask for that +which had been refused to King David himself--I, that had forsaken the +Lord God of my fathers--How could I hope that he would not forsake me! + +But the christian prayed for us, Father, and the prayers of the +christian were heard! + +With what face could they, _being christians_, pray for the children of +men that put their Savior to death? How could they, _being christians_, +forget their scripture, which saith--_suffer little children to come +unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of heaven!_ + +And as he spoke, the great doors were thrown open, and the armed man +flung down his helmet, and walked forward with a solemn and haughty step +leading a beautiful woman captive, and a young child. + +A shriek!--a tumult!--and straightway all were kneeling together! And +not one of that family of Jacob--that remnant of the tribe of Judah--not +one was missing. They were determined to live and die in their old +august unchangeable faith, even as all their progenitors had lived and +died--enduring all things--suffering all things--trials and sorrows and +temptations--age after age--and never betraying their faith, never! + +But the unconquerable Jew acknowledged to himself, and to his brother, +even there, as they fell upon his neck and wept, the _possibility_ of +prayer being heard, the _possibility_ that the unchangeable God might be +reached by supplication--and the _possibility_ that even a philosopher +and a Jew might be mistaken. + +But---- + + + + +A WAR-SONG OF THE REVOLUTION. + +By John Neal. + + + Men of the North! look up! + There's a tumult in your sky; + A troubled glory surging out; + Great shadows hurrying by: + + Your strength--Where is it now? + Your quivers--Are they spent? + Your arrows in the rust of death, + Your fathers' bows unbent? + + Men of the North! Awake! + Ye're called to from the Deep; + Trumpets in every breeze-- + Yet there ye lie asleep: + + A stir in every tree; + A shout from every wave; + A challenging on every side; + A moan from every grave: + + A battle in the sky; + Ships thundering through the air-- + Jehovah on the march-- + Men of the North, to prayer! + + Now, now--in all your strength; + There's that before your way, + Above, about you, and below, + Like armies in array: + + Lift up your eyes, and see + The changes overhead; + Now hold your breath! and hear + The mustering of the dead. + + See how the midnight air + With bright commotion burns, + Thronging with giant shape, + Banner and spear by turns-- + + The sea-fog driving in, + Solemnly and swift; + The Moon afraid--stars dropping out-- + The very skies adrift: + + The Everlasting GOD: + Our Father--Lord of Love-- + With cherubim and seraphim + All gathering above-- + + Their stormy plumage lighted up + As forth to war they go; + The shadow of the Universe, + Upon our haughty foe! + + + + +MUSINGS ON MUSIC. + +By James F. Otis. + + And while I was musing, the fire burned.--_Holy Writ._ + + +THE ORIGIN OF MUSIC. + +Music is the wondrous breathing of God's spirit in our souls. As we view +the "floor of heaven, thickly inlaid with patines of pure gold," we feel +that + + There's not the smallest orb which we behold, + But, in its motion, like an angel sings, + Still quiring to the young eyed cherubim. + +We feel it in the constitution of the air, which causes vibration--in +the formation of man, possessed of the wonderful faculties enabling him +to sing, to distinguish musical sounds, and to feel within his whole +frame the effects of music. Man, indeed, is himself a wonderful musical +instrument, made by the hand of God. He hears all nature hymning +adoration and praises to its Maker--he feels the constant vibration of +universal harmony around him--he is conscious that the emotions of +gratitude he feels toward the Creator should be expressed, and that in +the highest strains which the human mind can conceive, and the human +voice can reach. Thus he calls in to his aid all those auxiliaries which +nature and art afford, to supply him with associations tending to +elevate the standard of his grateful expressions. Music is a sacred, a +religious, a _holy_ thing. Applied to common purposes, it is pleasing +and worthy of cultivation--but still it has a higher character when +used for its original and more worthy purpose. The effect it produces in +the former instance is to raise our _mirth_:--when used in its higher +character, its effect is to produce _rapture_. It soothes when thus +employed, as of old it did when David banished the evil spirit from the +soul of Saul by the vibrations of his sweet-toned harp; it improves--as +all good influences and pure associations ever must, when permitted +their due action upon the mind; and it elevates the spirit toward the +eternal source whence all its harmony flows. As it peals upon the ear, +and sinks inly upon the heart of him whose mind is bent upon the +thoughts of holy things--upon his creation, his present blessings and +future hopes, he seems to hear + + That undisturbed song of pure content, + Aye sung around the sapphire-colored throne, + To him that sits thereon-- + Where the bright seraphim, in burning row, + Their loud, uplifted angel trumpets blow; + And the cherubic hosts, in thousand choirs, + Touch their celestial harps of golden wires. + + * * * * * + + +HANDEL AND HAYDN. THE MESSIAH AND THE CREATION, A PARABLE. + +Handel, with all his comparative simplicity, is my favorite. I cannot +but look up to him with astonishment and veneration; his "Messiah," I +behold as the purest specimen of sublimity ever displayed in the arts: +and I can conceive of nothing in poetry with any pretension to be +considered its parallel, but the "Paradise Lost" of Milton. The +"Hallelujah Chorus" may be esteemed the loftiest work of the +imagination. The leading conception is entirely inimitable. The full +chorus of other masters is often bold and elevated; but it is only +Handel who has the sublime of devotion. Haydn is triumphant and +inspiring; but the effect of his chorus is only that of martial music. +In listening to Haydn, you seem to hear the shouts of conquerors, +proudly entering a vanquished city: in listening to Handel, the shouts +seem to break from the clouds; from the triumphant host admitted to the +presence of God; and the object of praise gives a character of holiness +and purity to the harmony. With Haydn, we exult, we reason not why. With +Handel, we can never for a moment forget that we are praising God. The +rapid movements and quick transitions of Haydn draw the fullest +admiration to the orchestra, and the subject is forgotten. The lighter +passages in Handel are only the varied note of praise, expanding only in +proportion to the inspiration which the object kindles. In one +word,--every thing in Haydn is seen to be accomplished; and every +delineation, if I may thus employ the word, is felt to be a resemblance. +But in Handel, let what will be described or exhibited,--a battle,--a +victory,--the trembling of the earth,--the tottering of a wall,--the +moan of sympathy,--the insults and crucifixion of a Savior,--the awful +stillness of death,--or, on the other hand, the triumph of the +resurrection,--the birth of the Prince of Peace,--or hosannas to the +King of Kings, and Lord of Lords,--every thing seems to be done at the +command of God himself. + +But I conceive it is not difficult to reconcile an admiration of both +these great masters, in as much as their music presents such a variety +only as every art admits. Claude Loraine was no rival of Raphael--yet +we stand with one before a landscape, and with the other at the foot of +the cross, with like, if not equal astonishment and admiration. The +recitatives of Haydn are, with scarcely a single exception, less bold, +but better finished,--less abrupt, and better calculated for the scope +of the voice, than those of Handel; and are supported by a harmony more +graceful, though not more striking and natural. Haydn, at all times, +threw the fascination of melody over his richest modulations, and the +whole effect of his harmony resulted from conspiring airs, each of which +was melodious by itself. While, on the other hand, the separate parts in +Handel were like single pillars from a temple, or single stones from a +pyramid. If, in Handel, appear the beauty of consistency,--in Haydn we +admire the consistency of beauty. If Handel's choruses and harmony might +be compared, both in their formation and beauty, to mountains of ice, +illuminated by the sun,--Haydn's harmony would seem to resemble the most +splendid crystalizations--under the same illumination, in which one form +of beauty has gradually encircled another, until the shape and beauty of +the minutest part has become imparted to the larger proportions, and +more commanding figure of the whole mass. It is impossible indeed, to +find any thing in music,--placing his choruses out of view,--which can +rival the sublime recitative of Handel,--"For behold darkness shall +cover the earth,--but the Lord shall arise!"--Yet the opening of Haydn's +"Creation," may deserve to be ranked second only to this, and as +surpassing every other attempt of its author, in sublimity, and deep, +solemn grandeur. The fall of the angels, in the first part of the same +noble oratorio, is a wonderful effort, and presents the most remarkable +instance in all Haydn's compositions, of the characteristic excellence +which has just been ascribed to him, namely, his uniform regard to his +melody, even where he designed to produce the boldest effect in his +harmony. It is the most graphic musical description ever attempted; and +it must have been produced in one of those moments of lofty enthusiasm +in which a conception of surpassing grandeur flashes upon the mind, is +grasped and embodied in an instant, and a man pauses in exultation and +astonishment at what he has himself accomplished. This passage, +however,--if it had no other excellence,--could never be forgotten, as +it gives the most striking effect to the inimitable contrast which +succeeds,--where the first impression of the beauty of the world at the +moment of the creation is described with such tenderness and grace, that +the most vulgar minds, as well as those whose taste has been in some +degree refined, have felt every note, as it came from the forms of +living things, exulting in their existence--or as if the author had +borrowed the lyre of the morning stars, that sang the glories of the +"new created world."--The celebrated chorus, "The Heavens are telling +the glory of God," is unquestionably the boldest conception of Haydn. +Its harmony has the most astonishing richness and variety, and the +leading air is almost unexceptionably beautiful. Yet it may be called a +chorus in theory only; for it requires the fullest choir of the finest +voices and most refined tastes,--and no community of any country can +furnish a hundred and fifty singers, capable of performing it, even with +a tolerable degree of spirit, judgment and correctness. By this remark +I mean merely, that the original conception of the author, and that with +which every one who feels its true beauty and force is filled, upon +studying, or hearing it,--can never be fully realized and carried out, +and filled up, by the finest combination of human powers. + +There have not been wanting writers upon the beautiful in music, who +have denounced what they are pleased to call attempts at picturesque, in +the "Creation" of Haydn. Their arguments proceed upon the trifling +nature of the results produced by imitations, as unworthy the dignity of +an art so refined. The feelings awakened by the gradual developement of +the work of creation in this immortal work are certainly far superior in +their nature to those imputed by such writers to the admirers of what +they call depictive music;--and I cannot believe that these objectors +can have listened to the oratorio they criticise, either with the +physical or rational ear. Had they, we should have heard nothing like an +imputation of an unsuccessful imitation of trifling originals. They +would have seen no other use of the musical picturesque than perfectly +consists with true descriptiveness of the subject celebrated. The +Creation is a grand panorama; its object was to impress the hearer with +the realities it commemorates. Its author was engaged two whole years +upon it, and gave as a reason for his absorption in the task, that he +meant it to last a great while. He has composed a work which addresses +itself to the mind in such a manner, as to call up to the eye the +landscape, as well as to the ear the sounds, and to the conception the +animation and motion of the scenes described. Surely a beautiful +thought, a fine description, an impassioned sentiment, impressed upon +the mind and memory by a strong association with almost all the senses +at once, are more likely to become inseparably entwined among the very +fibres of the heart, than a cold, abstract description of the same +subject, without the intervention of such associations. I should pity +the man who could utter such a criticism, while listening to the +performance, or even reading the score of this most splendid oratorio. +From the commencement,--conveying the idea of primeval chaos,--through +the gradual gathering of the earth and sea, and the things which each +contains, into their several places,--the budding and blooming of the +thousand flowers,--the cooing of the tender doves,--the trampling of the +heavy beasts,--the flowing of the gentle rills,--the rolling of the +mountain waves,--the bursting of light at the Creator's word,--angels +praising God,--the noble work of man's creation,--the achievement of the +whole,--up to the last grand and glorious chorus,--all is sublimity--all +is divine! and the whole soul of the auditor is wrapt in sacred awe, as +he follows the beneficent hand of his Maker in its wonderful work, and +is lost in rapture and adoration, amid the blaze of glory by which he +finds himself surrounded at the close. + + * * * * * + + +SOME THOUGHTS ON OPERATIVE MUSIC. + +There are those who institute a comparison between music and poetry, and +much to the prejudice of the former. They argue that the intellect has +nothing to do with music, and that it is ridiculous and absurd in those +who speak no Italian, to pretend to derive any satisfaction from +listening, for two hours, to music in a language they cannot +understand--affecting, at the same time, to comprehend the sense to be +conveyed, by the sounds they drink in with such assumed rapture. I +conceive this to be far from just reasoning. Doubtless there is a great +deal of affectation in the fashionable world upon the subject of music +in general, and of the opera in particular; but we have no right to +judge our neighbor's taste by our own--perhaps, after all, it may turn +out that our own is defective or false. I am inclined to argue that the +intellect has as much to do with music as with poetry. + +In judging of pieces adapted to music, we should be lenient on the +subject of the thoughts, if the design and story have variety enough to +afford a basis for a corresponding variety of musical ideas. The most +common expression of any passion may be tolerated, when the music, _not_ +the poetry, is to form the embellishment. Who cares for the story--the +plot--in listening to the Italian opera? Nay, more--are not the finest +and most beautiful pieces of that class of music, vulgar and weak as +poetical compositions? Is not the musical composer the genius of the +piece? While the poet utters some such trash as 'I shall support myself +by feasting on your beautiful eyes,' the composer so varies the +expression of his music, that, in truth, the thought becomes refined, +just as it would if the poet had undertaken to present it in a variety +of views. To say, therefore, that the repetitions in music are nonsense, +is just to profess a deplorable ignorance of the science. The words +convey a sentiment which the musician undertakes to increase--to +soften--to embellish, through a series of fine ideas, of which those +who have neither musical taste nor ear have not the least conception. + +Nor should it be supposed that, in the opera--in the fine pieces of +Metastasio, for instance--the poetry is disgraced by being but the +handmaid of music, and that the former is therefore reduced unduly in +the scale of comparative merit. This is not the case with him who is an +equal admirer of the two arts. Such as these will admit that it is but +in a very small degree that music is designed to please a sense. They +will insist that its design is to excite emotions that poetry, to the +same extent, cannot awaken. What speech in the whole Iliad rouses more +exulting courage than the 'Marsellois Hymn?' The music of 'Pleyel's +German Hymn' not only of itself produces an effect to awaken a feeling +of grief, but no words that I have ever read are capable of producing +that feeling in an equal degree. Take for example, the lamentation of +David for the loss of Absalom--and if that passage, and others like it, +are enough to melt or break the heart, there is a kind of music, of +which 'Pleyel's Hymn' is an example, that will affect it more deeply +yet. + +Words, considered as auxiliary to music, merely show the subject on +which the emotion rests, but have nothing to do with the emotion itself; +_that_ is produced by music alone--and long before any words are known +to an air, the emotion will have been produced. We shall have imagined +the subject--and when we come to know the words, we shall discover one +of three things: first, that the subject is what we imagined--secondly, +that it is something analogous to our perception--or, thirdly, if +neither of the two former, that the words and air are ill-adapted to +each other. Indeed, what do we mean by saying, 'these words are adapted +to the air,' if the air have no character of its own? And what is its +character but its peculiar power of awakening certain emotions? +Admitting that it is better that fine poetry and fine harmony should be +united, when possible--and that this union, of course, produces +additional delight to a refined mind,--it still seems to me very absurd +to condemn the pieces which are constructed upon ideas conveyed in +poetry of an inferior class, _merely because such is the character of +the poetry_. Music is the governor of the heart, and all she asks of +Poetry is a subject,--and then, delightful magician! it is her province +to call up, by her sweet spell, the corresponding emotions! + + + + +SIN ESTIMATED BY THE LIGHT OF HEAVEN. + +By Edward Payson. + + _Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in + the light of thy countenance._ + + +It is a well known fact that the appearance of objects, and the ideas +which we form of them, are very much affected by the situation in which +they are placed with respect to us, and by the light in which they are +seen. Objects seen at a distance, for example, appear much smaller than +they really are. The same object, viewed through different mediums, will +often exhibit very different appearances. A lighted candle, or a star, +appears bright during the absence of the sun; but when that luminary +returns, their brightness is eclipsed. Since the appearance of objects, +and the ideas which we form of them, are thus affected by extraneous +circumstances, it follows, that no two persons will form precisely the +same ideas of any object, unless they view it in the same light, or are +placed with respect to it in the same situation. + +These remarks have a direct and important bearing upon our subject. No +person can read the scriptures candidly and attentively, without +perceiving that God and men differ, very widely, in the opinion which +they entertain respecting almost every object. And in nothing do they +differ more widely, than in the estimate they form of man's moral +character, and of the malignity and desert of sin. Nothing can be more +evident than the fact, that, in the sight of God, our sins are +incomparably more numerous, aggravated and criminal, than they appear to +us. He regards us as deserving of an endless punishment, while we +scarcely perceive that we deserve any punishment at all. Now whence +arises this difference? The remarks which have just been made will +inform us. God and men view objects through a very different medium, and +are placed, with respect to them, in a very different situation. God is +present with every object; he views it as near and therefore sees its +real magnitude. But many objects, especially those of a religious +nature, are seen by us at a distance, and, of course, appear to us +smaller than they really are. God sees every object in a perfectly clear +light; but we see most objects dimly and indistinctly. In fine, God sees +all objects just as they are; but we see them through a deceitful +medium, which ignorance, prejudice and self-love place between them and +us. + +The Psalmist, addressing God, says, thou hast set our iniquities before +thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance, that is, our +iniquities or open transgressions, and our secret sins, the sins of our +hearts, are placed, as it were, full before God's face, immediately +under his eye; and he sees them in the pure, clear, all-disclosing light +of his own holiness and glory. Now if we would see our sins as they +appear to him, that is, as they really are; if we would see their +number, blackness and criminality, and the malignity and desert of every +sin, we must place ourselves, as nearly as is possible, in his +situation, and look at sin, as it were, through his eyes. We must place +ourselves and our sins in the centre of that circle, which is irradiated +by the light of his countenance; where all his infinite perfections are +clearly displayed, where his awful majesty is seen, where his +concentrated glories blaze, and burn, and dazzle, with insufferable +brightness; and in order to this, we must, in thought, leave our dark +and sinful world, where God is unseen and almost forgotten, and where, +consequently, the evil of sinning against him cannot be fully +perceived--and mount up to heaven, the peculiar habitation of his +holiness and glory. + +Let us, then, attempt this adventurous flight. Let us follow the path by +which our blessed Savior ascended to heaven, and soar upward to the +great capital of the universe; to the palace and the throne of its +greater King. As we rise, the earth fades away from our view; now we +leave worlds, and suns, and systems behind us. Now we reach the utmost +limits of creation; now the last star disappears, and no ray of created +light is seen. But a new light begins to dawn and brighten upon us. It +is the light of heaven, which pours a flood of glory from its wide-open +gates, spreading continual, meridian day, far and wide through the +regions of ethereal space. Passing swiftly onward through this flood of +day, the songs of heaven begin to burst upon your ears, and voices of +celestial sweetness, yet loud as the sound of many waters and of mighty +thunderings, are heard exclaiming, Hallelujah! for the Lord God +omnipotent reigneth! Blessing, and glory, and honor, and power, be unto +Him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever. A moment more, +and you have passed the gates--you are in the midst of the city--you are +before the eternal throne--you are in the immediate presence of God, and +all his glories are blazing around you like a consuming fire. Flesh and +blood cannot support it; your bodies dissolve into their original dust; +but your immortal souls remain, and stand naked spirits before the great +Father of spirits. Nor, in losing their tenements of clay, have they +lost their powers of perception. No; they are now all eye, all ear; nor +can you close the eyelids of the soul, to shut out, for a moment, the +dazzling, overpowering splendors which surround you, and which appear +like light condensed; like glory which may be felt. You see indeed no +form or shape; and yet your whole souls perceive with intuitive +clearness and certainty, the immediate, awe-inspiring presence of +Jehovah. You see no countenance; and yet you feel as if a countenance of +awful majesty, in which all the perfections of divinity are shown forth, +were beaming upon you wherever you turn. You see no eye; and yet a +piercing, heart-searching eye, an eye of omniscient purity, every glance +of which goes through your souls like a flash of lightning, seems to +look upon you from every point of surrounding space. You feel as if +enveloped in an atmosphere, or plunged in an ocean of existence, +intelligence, perfection and glory; an ocean of which your laboring +minds can take in only a drop; an ocean, the depth of which you cannot +fathom, and the breadth of which you can never fully explore. But while +you feel utterly unable to comprehend this infinite Being, your views of +him, so far as they extend, are perfectly clear and distinct. You have +the most vivid perceptions, the most deeply graven impressions, of an +infinite, eternal, spotless mind; in which the image of all things, +past, present and to come, are most harmoniously seen, arranged in the +most perfect order, and defined with the nicest accuracy; of a mind, +which wills with infinite ease, but whose volitions are attended by a +power omnipotent and irresistible, and which sows worlds, suns and +systems through the fields of space with far more facility, than the +husbandman scatters his seed upon the earth; of a mind, whence have +flowed all the streams, which ever watered any part of the universe with +life, intelligence, holiness, or happiness, and which is still fully +overflowing and inexhaustible. You perceive also, with equal clearness +and certainty, that this infinite, eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, +all-wise, all-creating mind is perfectly and essentially holy, a pure +flame of holiness; and that, as such, he regards sin with unutterable, +irreconcilable detestation and abhorrence. With a voice, which +reverberates through the wide expanse of his dominions, you hear him +saying, as the Sovereign and Legislator of the universe, Be ye holy; for +I, the Lord your God, am holy. And you see his throne surrounded, you +see heaven filled by those only, who perfectly obey this command. You +see thousands of thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand of +angels and archangels, pure, exalted, glorious intelligences, who +reflect his perfect image, burn like flames of fire with zeal for his +glory, and seem to be so many concentrations of wisdom, knowledge, +holiness and love; a fit retinue for the thrice holy Lord of hosts, +whose holiness and all-filling glory they unceasingly proclaim. + +And now, if you are willing to see your sins in their true colors; if +you would rightly estimate their number, magnitude and criminality, +bring them into this hallowed place, where nothing is seen but the +whiteness of unsullied purity, and the splendors of uncreated glory; +where the sun itself would appear a dark spot, and there, in the midst +of this circle of seraphic intelligences, with the infinite God pouring +all the light of his countenance around you, review your lives, +contemplate your offences, and see how they appear. + + + + +THE WAY OF THE SOUL. + +By L. S. P. + + +There is a homely proverb which tells us that "the longest way round is +the shortest way home." Whether the mathematical demonstration of so +paradoxical an assertion would be easy or difficult I shall not +undertake to decide. My concern is with its application to the +spiritual; and with such a reference, are there not many in these +hurrying days who would be benefited by a serious attention to it? + +Do you doubt its truth? Reflect, and you will be convinced. Have you +never groped darkly after a principle, of which you had some dim +revelation, and which you strove with mightiest working to make your +own? Still as you seemed about to seize it, it eluded your grasp; you +were sure that it was there; but to lay hold of it was beyond your +strength. You gave up the effort, turned your thoughts to a new channel, +and busied yourself with other investigations--when lo! a revelation; +and the truth you sought, burst upon you as a ray from the eternal +splendor. + +Or, perchance, you have been all the day perplexed and wearied with +doubts, relating, it may be, to some point of practical moment to you, +and seeming to demand a solution, which yet you are unable to give. You +would fain come to an end, but you cannot even see an opening; only here +and there an uncertain glimmer, which vanishes when you approach it more +nearly. Your soul is faint and harassed; you go forth at sunset to +commune with nature, and in her communion to forget your perplexities. +You gaze on the calm glories of the departing sun, and the calm enters +into your soul; the cooling breath of heaven comes to you, and you +listen to the many voices, "the melodies of woods and winds and waters," +that go up in one harmony to heaven. You behold, and listen, and +love;--and with love comes light. Yes, a light, so pure, so soft, so +mild, that it seems not of earth rests upon your soul, and your +darkness, and doubts, and perplexity are gone. + +Oh, never let it be forgotten that the road to truth is a winding road; +it lies through the heart as well as through the intellect; for, says +the wise man, "Into a malicious soul, wisdom shall not enter." Thou must +learn to love, before thou canst learn to know; and never shalt thou +behold the serene and beautiful countenance of Truth, until thy aim be +honest, and thy soul in harmony with nature. + +And are not _Nature's_ paths circuitous? It is man who has constructed +the broad high road, and made for himself a straight way through forests +and streams, levelling the mountains, and filling up the valleys--but it +is not thus in nature. Her paths are wild, and devious, and rambling; +following "the river's course, the valley's playful windings," and ever +and anon turning aside to some sunny nook, or steep ravine. The rain +which falls upon the earth travels not by a plain high road to the +springs and fountains whither it is bound; but gently, slowly wins its +way, drop by drop, till a little stream is formed, and the stream winds +its noiseless and hidden track to the fountain. + +In her _processes_ too, Nature is patient and long-waiting. She doth +not say to the seed just planted in the earth, spring up and bear fruit +forthwith, or you shall be cast out, but she waiteth for the unfolding +of the tender germ, and the striking of the new-shooting roots; and hath +long patience, and with slowliest care, and a mother's enduring love, +she bringeth forth to light the first green leaf. Then she calleth for +the sun to shine, and the dews to descend upon the young plant, and many +days doth she wait for the ripe fruit. + +But man, impatient man would be wise in a day. He waits not for the holy +and mysterious processes of nature, he leaves not the wonderful powers +within him to unfold in silence and secrecy, but must ever disturb them +with his foolish meddling and impertinent haste, like some silly child, +who digs up the seed he has planted an hour ago, to see if it have yet +sprouted. And are there not some who deal in like fashion with other +minds than their own? _Educators_ let them not be called, for never do +they bring out what is within. The young mind is not to them a germ to +be unfolded, an infant to be nursed into manhood, but rather a +receptacle to be filled, and stuffed, and crammed as expeditiously as +possible; and this, thanks to the numerous machines lately invented for +the purpose, is very quick indeed. + +There have been times when you seemed to make no progress in your +favorite pursuit. You struggled without advancing as we sometimes do in +dreams, or though you stepped up and down, it was as in a treadmill. So +it seemed to you. But was it so? Nay, the process was going on within, +though its visible manifestations may have ceased. If no addition was +made to the superstructure, yet the foundations were deepening and +widening; if the branches and leaves did not grow, yet the root +strengthened itself in the earth. + +But not only so--you seemed to be going backward. Even the ground +slipped from under your feet, and where you had heretofore a firm +standing-place, you found but a swamp. And have you never considered +that Nature too sometimes works backwards? See that withered leaf which +flutters in the breeze, maintaining yet an uncertain hold upon the +branch which nurtured its younger growth. A fresh gust of wind loosens +its hold, and it is blown in circling eddies to the earth. There it +rests till the elements of decay in its bosom have finished their work, +and it mixes with the dust. "What is this? Can a mother forget her +child? Does Nature destroy her own productions?" Ah, look again. In that +fresh-blooming flower, dyed with tints of infinite softness, behold the +withered leaf. Nature was as really working to the production of that +flower when she decomposed the elements of the leaf, as when she +unfolded the germ, and elaborated the juices, and blended the tints of +the flower itself. It was but a glorified resurrection. And your +spiritual growth is going on as truly and steadily, if not as visibly +and delightfully, when you cast aside the slough of some old prejudice, +or painfully tear yourself from a cherished delusion as when the dawning +of a new truth flashes light and joy upon your soul. + +For what Coleridge has said of nations, is equally true of individuals. +"The progress of the species neither is nor can be, like that of a Roman +road, in a right line. It may be more justly compared to that of a +river, which, both in its smaller reaches and larger turnings, is +frequently forced back towards its fountains, by objects which cannot +otherwise be eluded or overcome; yet with an accompanying impulse that +will ensure its advancement hereafter, it is either gaining strength +every hour or conquering in secret some difficulty, by a labor that +contributes as effectually to further its course, as when it moves +forward in an uninterrupted line." + +I might go on to illustrate the application of this truth to +self-knowledge, but it is one easily made, by each for himself. Its +bearing upon our moral growth must not be so lightly passed over. + +You have learned that you have a spirit which _may_ be, _must_ be +trained for immortality and heaven. You have found too that there are +difficulties in the way of this training. There is a constant +under-current of selfishness ready to insinuate itself into all you do; +there is contempt for your inferiors in birth or cultivation, ever +offering to start up, and there is a spirit of resentment against those +who have injured you ready to take fire on the least provocation. What +is to be done with these? You do not forget that to Him, whose "still, +small voice" can speak with authority to the spirits He has made, must +be your first appeal; but neither do you forget that his help is +vouchsafed to those only who help themselves. And how will you help +yourself? Will you in the plenitude of your might, and the resoluteness +of kindled energy, _will_ the extinction of those unruly passions? Try +it; exert the volition; _will_ to stop the flowing tide of revenge in +your breast, and to cause love and forgiveness to spring up in its +place. Well, have you done it? But what means that glowing cheek--that +flashing eye--that compressed brow? Is such the expression of _love_? +Nay brother, you have mistaken the way. Not the straight path of direct +volition will ever lead you to your object. + +But come forth with me into the field. Here are "sweet, strange +flowers," to glad thy heart with their innocent beauty, and delight thee +with their fragrance; here is the broad and blessed "sky bending over" +thee, and the quiet lake at thy feet. + + "The air is spread with beauty; and the sky + Is musical with sounds that rise and die, + Till scarce the ear can catch them; then they swell, + Then send from far a low, sweet, sad farewell." + +And who art thou that bringest discord and rough, angry passions into a +scene like this? Ah, thou bringest not discord, it has stolen from thy +heart; thou art at peace. For it is not a poetic fiction when we are +told that a wayward spirit, is subdued by nature's loveliness and +_lovingness_. + + "Till he can no more endure + To be a jarring and a dissonant thing, + Amidst this general dance and minstrelsy; + But, bursting into tears, wins back his way, + His angry spirit healed and harmonized, + By the benignant touch of love and beauty." + +We asked, perchance, that our hearts might be lifted above the earth, +and taught to repose with a surer love, and a more child-like +trustfulness on the Father of Spirits. And did we know that our prayer +was answered when the light of our eyes was torn from us; when our souls +were rent with bitter agony, and lay crushed and bowed beneath the +stroke of _His_ hand? Yes, it was answered; we know it now, though we +knew it not then. The weary bird never reposes so sweetly in its nest, +as when it hath been battered by the tempest and chased by the vulture; +never doth the little child rest so lovingly and rejoicingly on its +mother's breast, as when it hath there found a shelter from the injuries +and taunts of its rude play-fellows; and the christian never knows the +full sweetness of the words, "My Father in Heaven," till he can also +add, "there is none that I desire beside Thee." + + + + +FRAGMENTS OF AN ADDRESS ON MUSIC. + +By Edward Payson. + + +Without resorting to the hyperbolical expressions of poetry, or to the +dreams and fables of pagan mythology, to the wonders said to be +performed by the lyre of Amphion and the harp of Orpheus,--I might place +before you the prophet of Jehovah, composing his ruffled spirits by the +soothing influence of music, that he might be suitably prepared to +receive a message from the Lord of Hosts. I might present to your view +the evil spirit, by which jealous and melancholy Saul was afflicted, +flying, baffled and defeated, from the animating and harmonious tones of +David's harp. I might show you the same David, the defender and avenger +of his flock, the champion and bulwark of his country, the conqueror of +Goliah, the greatest warrior and monarch of his age, laying down the +sword and the sceptre to take up his harp, and exchanging the titles of +victor and king for the more honorable title of the sweet Psalmist of +Israel.--But I appear not before you as her advocate; for in that +character my exertions would be superfluous. She is present to speak for +herself, and assert her own claims to our notice and approbation. You +have heard her voice in the performances of this evening; and those of +you, whom the God of nature has favored with a capacity of feeling and +understanding her eloquent language, will, I trust, acknowledge that she +has pleaded her own cause with triumphant success; has given sensible +demonstration, that she can speak, not only to the ear, but to the +heart; and that she possesses irresistible power to soothe, delight, and +fascinate the soul. Nor was it to the senses alone that she spake; but +while, in harmonious sounds, she maintained her claims, and asserted her +powers; in a still and small but convincing voice, she addressed herself +directly to reason and conscience, proclaiming the most solemn and +important truths; truths which perhaps some of you did not hear or +regard, but which deserve and demand our most serious attention.--With +the same irresistible evidence as if an angel had spoken from heaven, +she said, There is a God--and that God is good and benevolent. For, my +friends, who but God could have tuned the human voice, and given harmony +to sounds? Who, but a good and benevolent God, would have given us +senses capable of perceiving and enjoying this harmony? Who, but such a +being, would have opened a way through the ear, for its passage to the +soul? Could blind chance have produced these wonders of wisdom? or a +malignant being these miracles of goodness? Could they have caused this +admirable fitness between harmony of sounds, and the organs of sense by +which it is perceived? No. They would have either given us no senses, or +left them imperfect, or rendered every sound discordant and harsh. With +the utmost propriety, therefore may Jehovah ask, Who hath made man's +mouth, and planted the ear? Have not I, the Lord? With the utmost +justice, also, may he demand of us, that all our musical powers and +faculties should be consecrated to his service, and employed in +celebrating his praises. To urge you diligently and cheerfully to +perform this pleasing, reasonable, and indispensable duty, is the +principal object of the speaker. Not, then, as the advocate of music, +but as the ambassador of that God, whose being and benevolence, music +proclaims, do I now address this assembly, entreating every individual, +without delay, to adopt and practise the resolution of the royal +Psalmist--_I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live; I will sing +praise to my God while I have my being._ Psa. civ. 33. + +In your imagination go back to the origin of the world, when, every +thing was very good, and all creation harmonized together. All its +parts, animate and inanimate, like the voices and instruments of a well +regulated concert, helped to compose a perfect and beautiful whole; and +so exquisite was the harmony thus produced, that in the whole compass of +creation, not one jarring or discordant note was heard, even by the +perfect ear of God himself.--The blessed angels of light began the +universal chorus, "when the morning stars sang together, and all the +sons of God shouted for joy." + + * * * * * + +Of this universal concert, man was appointed the terrestrial leader, and +was furnished with natural and moral powers, admirably fitted for this +blessed and glorious employment. His body, exempt from dissolution, +disease, and decay, was like a perfect and well-strung instrument, which +never gave forth a false or uncertain sound, but always answered, with +exact precision, the wishes of his nobler part, the soul. His heart did +not then belie his tongue, when he sung the praises of his Creator; but +all the emotions felt by the one were expressed by the other, from the +high notes of ecstatic admiration, thankfulness, and joy, down to the +deep tones of the most profound veneration and humility. In a word, his +heart was the throne of celestial love and harmony, and his tongue at +once the organ of their will, and the sceptre of their power. + +We are told, in ancient story, of a statue, formed with such wonderful +art, that, whenever it was visited by the rays of the rising sun, it +gave forth, in honor of that luminary, the most melodious and ravishing +sounds. In like manner, man was originally so constituted, by skill +divine, that, whenever he contemplated the rays of wisdom, power, and +goodness, emanating from the great Sun of the moral system, the ardent +emotions of his soul spontaneously burst forth in the most pure and +exalted strains of adoration and praise. Such was the world, such was +man, at the creation. Even in the eye of the Creator, all was good; for, +wherever he turned, he saw only his own image, and heard nothing but his +own praises. Love beamed from every countenance; harmony reigned in +every breast, and flowed mellifluous from every tongue; and the grand +chorus of praise, begun by raptured seraphs round the throne, and heard +from heaven to earth, was reechoed back from earth to heaven; and this +blissful sound, loud as the archangel's trump, and sweet as the melody +of his golden harp, rapidly spread, and was received from world to +world, and floated, in gently-undulating waves, even to the farthest +bounds of creation. + +To this primeval harmony, a lamentable contrast followed, when sin +untuned the tongues of angels, and changed their blissful songs of +praise into the groans of wretchedness, the execrations of malignity, +the blasphemies of impiety, and the ravings of despair. Storms and +tempests, earthquakes and convulsions, fire from above, and deluges from +beneath, which destroyed the order of the natural world, proved that its +baleful influence had reached our earth, and afforded a faint emblem of +the jars and disorders which sin had introduced into the moral system. +Man's corporeal part, that lyre of a thousand strings, tuned by the +finger of God himself, destined to last as long as the soul, and to be +her instrument in offering up eternal praise, was, at one blow, +shattered, unstrung, and almost irreparably ruined. His soul, all whose +powers and faculties, like the chords of an olian harp, once +harmoniously vibrated to every breath of the divine Spirit, and ever +returned a sympathizing sound to the tones of kindness and love from a +fellow-being, now became silent, and insensible to melody, or produced +only the jarring and discordant notes of envy, malice, hatred, and +revenge. The mouth, filled with cursing and bitterness, was set against +the heavens; the tongue was inflamed with the fire of hell. Every voice, +instead of uniting in the song of "Glory to God in the highest," was now +at variance with the voices around it, and, in barbarous and dissonant +strains, sung praise to itself, or was employed in muttering sullen +murmurs against the Most High--in venting slanders against +fellow-creatures--in celebrating and deifying some worthless idol, or in +singing the triumphs of intemperance, dissipation, and excess. The noise +of violence and cruelty was heard mingled with the boasting of the +oppressor, and the cry of the oppressed, and the complaints of the +wretched; while the shouts of embattled hosts, the crash of arms, the +brazen clangor of trumpets, the shrieks of the wounded, the groans of +the dying, and all the horrid din of war, together with the wailings of +those whom it had rendered widows and orphans, overwhelmed and drowned +every sound of benevolence, praise and love. Such is the jargon which +sin has introduced--such the discord which, from every quarter of our +globe, has long ascended up into the ears of the Lord of hosts. + + + + +THE BLUSH. + +By Mrs. Elizabeth Smith. + + +The soft warm air scarcely stirred the leaves of the vine, that +clustered about the bower of Eve, as she lay with pale cheek and languid +limbs, her first born daughter resting upon her breast. Adam had led his +sons to the field, that their sports might not disturb the repose of our +first mother, and the low murmur of the tiny cascade, the monotonous hum +of insects, and happy twitter of unfledged birds, all wooed her to +slumber; yet she slept not. She looked with a mother's deep unutterable +love upon the face of her babe, yet tears were in her eye, and anxiety +upon her brow. Herself the last, the perfection of the Creator's +workmanship, she still marvelled at the surprising beauty of her +daughter. She looked into its dark liquid eye, and drank deep from the +fountain of maternal love. She pressed its small foot and hand to her +lips, hugged it to her full heart, and felt again the bitterness of +transgression. She thought of Paradise, whence she had expelled her +children. She thought of generations to come, who might curse her for +their misery. She thought of the sweet beauty of her child on whom she +had entailed sorrow, suffering and temptation. She felt it murmuring at +the fountain of life while it stretched its little hand to her lips. She +turned aside the thick leaves of the grape vine, and looked out upon the +still blue sky, over which, scarcely moved the white thin clouds. "My +daughter," she faintly articulated, "thou knowest not the evil I have +done thee. Let these bitter tears attest my penitence. Let me teach thee +so to live, that thou mayst hereafter obtain in another world the +Paradise thou hast lost in this--lost by thy mother's guilt. O, my +daughter, would that I alone might suffer, that the whole wrath of my +offended Creator might fall on my head and thou, and such as thou, might +escape." The tears, the penitence of Eve prevailed; a Heavenly messenger +was despatched to console her, to lift her thoughts to better hopes and +less gloomy anticipations.--Since the sin of our first parents, and +their banishment from Paradise, these angel visits had been "few and far +between," and our first mother hailed his approach with awe and +pleasure. "Eve," kindly spake the divine visitant, "thy sorrow and thy +penitence are all known to thy Creator, and though thy fault was great, +he yet careth for thee. I am sent to comfort thee. As thou didst disobey +the commands of God, death has been brought, indeed, upon thy posterity, +but thy children may not curse thee. Thy daughters shall imitate thy +penitence, and so secure the favor of Heaven. To each one shall be given +a spirit, capable of resisting temptation, and assimilating to that +holiness from which thou hast departed. Though sin and death have +entered the world by thy means, thy children will still have only their +own sins to answer for, and may not justly reproach thee for their +errors." "True, Lord," responded Eve, "but the altered sky, the hard +earth that scarcely yields its treasures to the labor of Adam, and the +changed natures of the animals that once meekly and kindly sported +together, all tell of my disobedience, and my daughter will turn her +eyes upon me when suffering and trial come, and that look will reproach +me as the cause. I am told that our children shall equal in number the +leaves of the green wood, and the earth shall hereafter be peopled with +beings like ourselves. I shrink to think on the mass of sorrow I have +brought upon my daughters." + +She looked fondly on her babe, and timidly raised it towards the +beneficent being who paused at her bower. "When men shall become +numerous, and there shall be many beings like these, fair and frail, may +not their beauty--" She paused and looked anxiously up. "Speak, Eve," +said the messenger, "thy request shall be granted. I am sent to bestow +upon thee whatever thou shalt ask, for this thy first born daughter." "I +scarcely know," resumed Eve, thus encouraged, "but I would ask for this +first daughter of an erring mother, _something_, to warn her of even the +approach of sin, something, that will whisper caution, and speak of +innocence and purity. Something, Lord, that will remind us of Paradise." +"Hast thou not all that, Eve, in the voice within, the voice of +conscience?" Eve dropped her head upon her bosom. "But that monitor may +be disregarded, my daughters may, like their unhappy parent, stifle its +voice and heedlessly neglect its warnings. I would have something, that +when flattery would mislead, beauty bewilder, or passion lead astray, +would outwardly as it were bid them take heed, warn them to shrink from +the very trail of the serpent whose insidious poison may corrupt and +destroy. Hast thou nothing that will be to the innocent, the virtuous, +like a second conscience, to cause them to shrink even from the +_appearance_ of evil?" The angel smiled, and answered our mother with +kindness, and a look of heavenly satisfaction. "Most wisely hast thou +petitioned, O Eve. Thou hast asked blessings for thy posterity, not for +thyself. Thy daughters shall bless thee for the gift thy prayer has +obtained." The spirit departed. The gift he bestowed may be seen on the +face of the maiden when she shrinks from the too admiring gaze, when her +ear is listening to the tale of love, or flattery, when in the solitude +of her own thoughts she starts at her own imaginings, when she shrinks +even from her own reflected loveliness in the secrecy of home; or +abroad, trembles at the intrusive touch, or familiar language, of him +who _should be_ her guide, her protector from evil. That gift was the +_blush_. + + + + +THE WIDOWED BRIDE. + +By Mrs. Ann S. Stephens. + + + The Morn awoke in Hindostan, + And blushing, left the couch of Night, + While soon her rosy smiles began, + To flood the dewy earth with light. + While yet the sultry day was young, + Came forth a happy bridal band, + With sunny smiles and English tongue, + Which spoke them of a distant land; + They gathered round an altar-stone, + Erected to the one Most High, + Standing in solitude alone, + Mid signs of dark idolatry. + Then two came slowly from the crowd; + _He_ with a bearing bold and proud, + A haughty smile and flashing eye, + Darkling with love's intensity; + While she, the high-born English bride, + Drew closer to that one dear side; + Her eyelids drooped, her cheek grew pale + As snow, beneath the bridal veil, + As if the weight of her own bliss + Were all too much of happiness, + To thrill her heart and light her eye + Beneath another's scrutiny. + On crimson cushions dropped with gold + The youthful pair together bow; + Before that priest in surplice-fold + They clasp their trembling fingers now; + A prayer is heard--the oath is said-- + That gentle creature lifts her head-- + A voice has thrilled into her heart, + Like music breathed to it apart,-- + To lie there an abiding spell, + To haunt forever memory's cell-- + To mingle with her latest breath + And light the very wing of death. + Her vow was uttered timidly-- + With half a murmur, half a sigh; + Yet the low faltering sound confessed + The love that brooded in her breast. + + The golden ring is on her hand-- + She is pronounced a wedded bride; + Oh say, why does she lingering stand + So long that altar-stone beside? + And whence the misty tears that dim + The sunny azure of her eye? + Why leans her slender form on him? + Why does she sob so bitterly? + Well may she weep, that fair young bride; + For up the Ganges' golden tide, + Mid jungles deep, where beasts of prey + With pestilence hold deadly sway, + Where the wild waters fiercest sweep, + And serpents in their venom sleep, + Beneath each dewy leaf and flower, + That gentle bride must build her bower. + + In the cool shadow of the shore, + With snowy streamers floating wide, + To the light dipping of the oar, + The budgerow swept o'er the tide; + The soft breeze ling'ring at her prow, + Where many a garland graceful hung, + In hues of purple, gold and snow, + And on the rippling waters flung + An odor sweet and delicate, + As that which all imprisoned lies, + Unknown to man as his own fate, + Within the flowers of Paradise. + + Beneath an awning's silken shade, + Where the light breeze its music made, + With woven fringe and silken cord, + Sat the young bride with her brave lord. + Her hand in his was ling'ring still, + And every throb of his full heart + Met her young pulses with a thrill, + And sent the blood up with a start, + To that round cheek but late so pale + And blanched beneath the bridal veil. + A tear still trembled in her eye, + Like dews that in the violet lie; + But breaking through its lovely sheen, + The brightness of her soul was seen, + Like light within the amethyst, + Which told how truly she was blest; + Though as she met his ardent gaze, + Like the veined petal of a flower + Her eyelids drooped, as from the blaze + Of some loved, high, but dreaded power. + As bound by some subduing spell, + In beauty at his side she bowed. + The bridal robe around her fell, + Like fragments of a summer cloud; + The loosened veil had backward swept, + And deeply in her glossy hair, + Like light, the orange blossoms slept, + As if they sought new beauty there; + And pearls lay softly on her neck, + Like hailstones melting over snow, + Save when the blood, that dyed her cheek. + Diffused abroad its rosy glow, + And playing on her bosom-swell, + With every heart-pulse rose or fell. + + Up went the sun; his burning rays + Broke o'er the stream like sparkling fire, + Till the broad Ganges seemed a-blaze, + With gorgeous light, save where the spire + Of some lone slender minaret, + Threw its clear shadow on the stream, + Or grove-like banian firmly set, + Broke with its boughs the fiery gleam; + Or where a white pagoda shone + Like snow-drift through the shadowy trees; + Or ancient mosque stood out alone, + Where the wild creeper sought the breeze; + Or where some dark and gloomy rock + Shot o'er the deep its ragged cliffs, + Inhabited by many a flock + Of vultures, and its yawning rifts + Alive with lizards, glowing, bright, + As if a prism's changing light + Within the gloomy depths were flung, + Where like rich jewels newly strung, + The sleeping serpent stretched its length, + And nursed its venom into strength. + + Where the broad stream in shadow lay, + The bridal barque kept on her way, + While every breeze that swept them o'er, + Brought loads of incense from the shore; + Where each luxuriant jungle lay + A wilderness of tangled flowers, + And budding vines in wanton play + Fell from the trees in leafy showers, + Flinging their graceful garlands o'er + The rippling stream and reedy shore; + The lily bared its snowy breast, + Swayed its full anthers like a crest, + And softly from its pearly swell, + A shower of golden powder fell + Among the humbler flowers that lay + And blushed their fragrant lives away; + There oleanders lightly wreathed + Their blossoms in a coronal, + And the rich baubool softly breathed + A perfume from its golden bell; + There flower and shrub and spicy tree + Seemed struggling for sweet mastery; + And many a bird with gorgeous plume, + Fluttered along the flowery gloom, + Or on the spicy branches lay, + Uttering a sleepy roundelay; + While insects rushing out like gems, + Or showery sparks at random flung, + Through ripening fruit and slender stems + There to the breathing blossoms clung, + Studded the glowing boughs and threw + O'er the broad bank a brilliant hue. + + On--on they went; a fanning breeze + Came sighing through the balmy trees, + And undulating o'er the stream + Rose tiny wavelets, like the gleam + Of molten gold, and crested all + With a bright trembling coronal, + Like that which Brahmins in their dream + Lavish upon the sacred stream. + Then all grew still. The sultry air + Lay stagnant in the jungles there-- + The sun poured down his fervent heat; + The river lay a burnished sheet; + The floweret closed its withered bell; + From the parched leaf the insect fell; + The panting birds all tuneless clung + To the still boughs, where late they sung; + The dying blossoms felt the calm, + And the still air was thick with balm. + All things grew faint in that hot noon, + As Nature's self lay in a swoon. + + And she, that gentle, loving fair, + How brooks her form the sultry air? + Most patiently--but see her now! + What fear convulses her pale brow? + And why that half-averted eye, + Watching his look so anxiously? + The scarlet burning in his cheek-- + Those lips all parched and motionless? + Oh! do they fell disease bespeak? + Or only simple weariness? + One look! the dreadful certainty + Wrings from her heart a stifled cry; + And now half phrensied with despair, + She rends the blossoms from her hair, + And leaping to the vessel's side + She drenched them in the sluggish tide; + Then to the cushions where he lay, + Senseless and fevered with disease, + Panting his very life away, + She rushed, and sinking to her knees, + Raised softly up his throbbing head, + And pillowed it upon her breast-- + Then on his burning forehead laid + The dripping flowers, and wildly pressed + Her pallid mouth upon his brow, + And drew him closer to her heart, + As if she thought each trembling throe + Could unto his, new life impart. + Wildly to his she laid her cheek, + And backward threw her loosened hair, + That not a glossy curl might break + From off his face the sluggish air. + The noon swept by, and there was she + Counting his pulses as they rose, + Striving with broken melody + To hush him to a short repose, + Bathing his brow and twining still + Her fingers in his burning hand, + Her heart's blood stopping with a chill + Whene'er he could not understand, + Nor answer to her gentle clasp; + But dashed that little hand away, + Or crushed it with delirious grasp, + Entreating tenderly her stay. + Father of heaven! and must he die? + She breathed in her heart's agony, + As up with every painful breath, + Came to his lips the foam of death, + And o'er his swollen forehead played, + Like serpents by the sun betrayed, + The corded veins whose purple swell, + With his hot pulses rose and fell. + + Those drops upon his temple there, + The rolling eye, the gloomy hair, + The livid lip, the drooping chin, + And the death-rattle deep within, + That speechless one, so late thy pride-- + There lies thy answer, widowed bride! + + Half conscious of her misery, + Like something chiselled o'er a grave, + She placed her small hand anxiously + Upon the lifeless heart, and gave + One cry--but one--of such despair, + The jackall startled from his lair, + And answered back that fearful knell, + With a long, sharp and hungry yell. + + A slow and solemn hour swept by, + And there, all still and motionless, + With rigid limb and stony eye, + The widow knelt in her distress. + With pitying looks the swarthy crew + Around the tearless mourner drew, + And trembling strove to force away + From her chill arms the senseless clay. + Slowly she raised her awful head; + A slight convulsion stirr'd her face; + Close to her heart she snatched the dead, + And held him in a strong embrace; + Then drawing o'er his brow her veil, + She turned her face as strangely wild, + As if a fiend had mocked her wail, + Parted her marble lips and smiled. + Twice she essayed to speak, and then + Her face drooped o'er the corpse again, + While forth from the disshevelled hair + A husky whisper stirred the air. + 'Nay, bury him not here,' it said, + 'I would have prayers above my dead;' + Then, one by one, the timid crew, + From the infected barge withdrew: + Helmsmen and servants, all were gone; + The wife was with her dead alone. + + With no propelling arm to guide, + The barque turned slowly with the tide, + And on the heavy current swept + Its slow, funereal pathway back, + Where the expiring sunbeams slept, + Like gold along its morning track. + The day threw out its dying gleam, + Imbuing with its tints the stream, + As if the mighty river rolled + O'er beds of ruby--sands of gold. + + As if some seraph just had hung + In the blue west his coronet, + The timid moon came out and flung + Her pearly smiles about--then set, + As if she feared the stars would dim + The silvery brightness of her rim; + Then in the blue and deepening skies + The stars sprang out, like glowing eyes, + And on the stream reflected lay, + Like ingots down the watery way; + And softly streamed the starry light + Down to the wet and gloomy trees, + Where fiery flies were flashing bright, + Afloat upon the evening breeze, + Or like some fairy, tiny lamp, + Glow'd out among the stirring leaves, + And down among the rushes damp, + Where Pestilence her vapor weaves, + Till shrub and reed, and slender stems, + Seemed drooping with a shower of gems. + + The Widow raised her head once more, + Turned her still look upon the sky, + The lighted stream and broken shore; + Oh, God! it was a mockery, + --The bridegroom--Death--upon her breast + For aye possessing and possessed! + With the deep calmness of despair, + The mourner raised his marble head, + And on the silken cushions there, + With icy hands, composed the dead; + Then tore her veil off for a shroud, + And in her voiceless mourning bowed. + + That holy sorrow might have awed + The very wind--but mockingly + It flung his matted hair abroad, + As trifling with her agony, + And with a low and moaning wail + Bore on its wings the bridal veil; + Then came a cold and starry ray, + And on his marble forehead lay. + Father of heaven! she could not brook + That floating hair, that rigid look. + With one quick gasp she forward sprung, + And to the helm in frenzy clung, + Until the barque shot on its way + Where a dense shadow darkest lay; + And there, as shrouded with a pall, + The barge swept to the very shore; + The fell hyena's fiendish call + Rang wildly to her ear once more, + And from the deep dark solitude + She saw the hungry jackall creep, + And whimper for his nightly food, + Where many a monster lay asleep + Just in the margin of the flood, + As resting from a feast of blood. + Around the corpse the widow flung + Her snowy arms, and madly clung + To that cold bosom, whence a chill + Shot through her heart, and frantic still + Her eyes in horror turned to seek + That prowling beast, whose hungry jaws + Worked fiercely and began to reek + With eager foam, as with his paws + He tore the turf impatiently, + And howling snuffed the passing clay. + It was not that she feared to die; + In the deep stillness of her heart, + Her spirit prayed most fervently + There with the dead to hold its part. + The only boon she cared to crave, + Was for them both a christian grave; + But oh! the agonizing thought! + That in her madness she had brought + That loved and lost one, for a feast, + To vulture and to prowling beast, + Where all things fierce and wild had come + To howl a horrid requiem. + + But soon a stronger current bore + The freight of death from off the shore; + Again the trembling starlight broke + Above the still and changing clay, + And with its pearly kisses woke + The widow from her trance, who lay + Convulsed and shivering with dread, + Her white arms clinging to the dead; + For yet the stilly night wind bore + The wild beasts' disappointed roar. + Within the far o'erhanging wood, + A bulbul listening to her heart, + Poured forth upon the air a flood + Of gushing love;--with lips apart + The widow clasped her trembling hands, + And bent her ear to catch the strain, + As if a seraph's low commands + Were breathed into her soul;--again, + That heavenly sound came gushing out, + Like waters in their leaping shout; + Over her heart's deep frozen spring + The gentle strain went lingering, + And touched each icy tear that slept + With sudden life, until she wept. + + * * * * * + + Again the lovely morn awoke + Upon that temple still and lone; + Its rosy bloom in gladness broke, + And to the holy altar-stone + Came down subduedly and dim, + Through painted glass, o'er sculptured limb: + Outstretched within that gorgeous gloom, + Shaded by pall and sable plume, + As chisseled from the very stone, + The Bridegroom lay. A broken moan + Rose up from where the Widow bowed, + Her forehead buried in the pall, + Her fingers grasping still the shroud, + And every limb betraying all + The agony that wrung her heart. + It was a sad and fearful sight, + That lifted head, those lips apart, + When through the dim and purplish light + Those who obeyed the bridal call + Now gathered for the funeral; + A soft and solemn strain awoke + The silence of that lofty dome, + And through the fretted arches broke + The music surging to its home; + Then with a firm and heavy tread + The bearers slowly raised the dead; + She followed close, her trembling hand + Still clenched upon the gloomy pall, + In snowy robes and pearly band, + As at her wedding festival; + And in her bright disshevelled hair + A broken orange-blossom lay, + Withered and all entangled there; + Fit relic of her bridal day; + Thus onward to the tomb she passed, + Her white robe swaying to the blast, + And mingling at each stirring breath + There with the drapery of death. + + + + +JACK DOWNING'S VISIT TO PORTLAND. + +By Seba Smith. + + +In the fall of the year 1829 I took it into my head I'd go to Portland. +I had heard a good deal about Portland, what a fine place it was, and +how the folks got rich there proper fast; and that fall there was a +couple of new papers come up to Downingville from there, called the +Portland Courier and Family Reader; and they told a good many queer kind +of things about Portland and one thing another; and all at once it +popped into my head, and I up and told father, and says I, I'm going to +Portland whether or no; and I'll see what this world is made of yet. +Father stared a little at first, and said he was afraid I should get +lost; but when he see I was bent upon it, he give it up; and he stepped +to his chist and opened the till, and took out a dollar and gave to me, +and says he, Jack, this is all I can do for you; but go, and lead an +honest life, and I believe I shall hear good of you yet. He turned and +walked across the room, but I could see the tears start into his eyes, +and mother sot down and had a hearty crying spell. This made me feel +rather bad for a minute or two, and I almost had a mind to give it up; +and then again father's dream came into my mind, and I mustered up +courage, and declared I'd go. So I tackled up the old horse and packed +in a load of ax handles and a few notions, and mother fried me some +dough-nuts and put 'em into a box along with some cheese and sassages, +and ropped me up another shirt, for I told her I did n't know how long I +should be gone; and after I got all rigged out, I went round and bid all +the neighbors good bye, and jumped in and drove off for Portland. + +Ant Sally had been married two or three years before and moved to +Portland, and I inquired round till I found out where she lived, and +went there and put the old horse up and eat some supper and went to bed. +And the next morning I got up and straightened right off to see the +Editor of the Portland Courier, for I knew by what I had seen in his +paper that he was just the man to tell me which way to steer. And when I +come to see him I knew I was right; for soon as I told him my name and +what I wanted, he took me by the hand as kind as if he had been a +brother; and says he, Mr. Downing, I'll do any thing I can to assist +you. You have come to a good town; Portland is a healthy thriving place, +and any man with a proper degree of enterprise may do well here. But +says he, Mr. Downing, and he looked mighty kind of knowing, says he, if +you want to make out to your mind, you must do as the steamboats do. +Well, says I, how do they do? for I did n't know what a steam boat was, +any more than the man in the moon. Why, says he, they _go ahead_. And +you must drive about among the folks here jest as though you were at +home on the farm among the cattle. Dont be afraid of any of 'em, but +figure away, and I dare say you will get into good business in a very +little while. But, says he, there's one thing you must be careful of, +and that is not to get into the hands of them are folks that trades up +round Huckler's Row: for there's some sharpers up there, if they get +hold of you, would twist your eye teeth out in five minutes. Well after +he had gin me all the good advice he could I went back to Ant Sally's +again and got some breakfast, and then I walked all over the town to see +what chance I could find to sell my ax handles and things, and to get +into business. + +After I had walked about three or four hours I come along towards the +upper end of the town where I found there were stores and shops of all +sorts and sizes. And I met a feller, and says I, what place is this? Why +this says he, is Huckler's Row. What, says I, are these the stores where +the traders in Huckler's Row keep? And says he, yes. Well then, thinks I +to myself, I have a pesky good mind to go in and have a try with one of +these chaps, and see if they can twist my eye teeth out. If they can get +the best end of a bargain out of me, they can do what there aint a man +in Downingville can do, and I should jest like to know what sort of +stuff these ere Portland chaps are made of. So in I goes into the best +looking store among 'em. And I see some biscuit lying on the shelf, and +says I, Mister, how much do you ax apiece for them are biscuit? A cent +apiece, says he. Well, says I, I shant give you that, but if you 've a +mind to, I'll give you two cents for three of 'em, for I begin to feel a +little as though I should like to take a bite. Well, says he, I would n't +sell 'em to any body else so, but seeing it 's you I dont care if you +take 'em. I knew he lied, for he never see me before in his life. Well +he handed down the biscuits and I took 'em, and walked round the store +awhile to see what else he had to sell. At last, says I, Mister, have +you got any good new cider? Says he, yes, as good as ever you see. Well, +says I, what do you ax a glass for it? Two cents, says he. Well, says I, +seems to me I feel more dry than I do hungry now. Aint you a mind to +take these ere biscuit again and give me a glass of cider? And says he, +I dont care if I do; so he took and laid 'em on the shelf again, and +poured out a glass of cider. I took the cider and drinkt it down, and to +tell the truth it was capital good cider. Then, says I, I guess it 's +time for me to be a going, and I stept along towards the door. But, says +he, stop Mister. I believe you have 'nt paid me for the cider. Not paid +you for the cider, says I, what do you mean by that? Did n't the biscuit +that I give you jest come to the cider? Oh, ah, right, says he. So I +started to go again; and says he, but stop, Mister, you did n't pay me +for the biscuit. What, says I, do you mean to impose upon me? do you +think I am going to pay you for the biscuit and let you keep 'em tu? +Aint they there now on your shelf, what more do you want? I guess sir, +you dont whittle me in that way. So I turned about and marched off, and +left the feller staring and thinking and scratching his head, as though +he was struck with a dunderment. Howsomever, I did n't want to cheat him, +only jest to show 'em it want so easy a matter to pull my eye teeth out, +so I called in next day and paid him his two cents. Well I staid at Ant +Sally's a week or two, and I went about town every day to see what +chance I could find to trade off my ax handles, or hire out, or find +some way or other to begin to seek my fortune. + +And I must confess the editor of the Courier was about right in calling +Portland a pretty good thriving sort of a place; every body seemed to be +as busy as so many bees; and the masts of the vessels stuck up round the +wharves as thick as pine trees in uncle Joshua's pasture; and the stores +and the shops were so thick, it seemed as if there was no end to 'em. +In short, although I have been round the world considerable, from that +time to this, all the way from Madawaska to Washington, I 've never seen +any place yet that I think has any business to grin at Portland. + + + + +PORTLAND AS IT WAS. + +By William Willis. + + +The advantages which in early days our new country held out for +employment, encouraged immigration, and the population was almost wholly +made up by accessions from the more thickly peopled parts of +Massachusetts. To the county of Essex particularly, in the early as well +as more recent period of our history, the town is indebted for large +portions of its population. Middlesex, Suffolk and the Old Colony, were +not without their contributions. But the people did not come from such +widely different sources as to produce any difficulty of amalgamation, +or any striking diversity of manners. They formed one people and brought +with them the steady habits and good principles of those from whom they +had separated. There were some accessions before the revolution made to +our population from the other side of the Atlantic; the emigrants +readily incorporated themselves with our people and form a substantial +part of the population. Within twenty years, the numbers by immigration +have increased more rapidly, especially from Ireland, but not +sufficiently to destroy the uniformity which characterises our +population, nor to disturb the harmony of our community. + +It cannot have escaped observation that one of the principal sources of +our wealth has been the lumber trade. We have seen on the revival of the +town in the early part of the last century, how intimately the progress +of the town was connected with operations in timber. Before the +revolution our commerce was sustained almost wholly by the large ships +from England which loaded here with masts, spars, and boards for the +mother country, and by ship building. The West India business was then +comparatively small, employing but few vessels of inferior size. After +the revolution our trade had to form new channels, and the employment of +our own navigation was to give new activity to all the springs of +industry and wealth. We find therefore that the enterprise of the people +arose to the emergency, and in a few years our ships were floating on +every ocean, becoming the carriers of southern as well as northern +produce, and bringing back the money and commodities of other countries. +The trade to the West Indies, supported by our lumber, increased vastly, +and direct voyages were made in larger vessels than had before been +employed, which received in exchange for the growth of our forests and +our seas, sugar, molasses and rum, the triple products of the cane. This +trade has contributed mainly to the advancement and prosperity of the +town, has nourished a hardy race of seamen, and formed a people among +the most active and enterprising of any in the United States. + +The great changes which have taken place in the customs and manners of +society since the revolution, must deeply impress the mind of a +reflecting observer. These have extended not only to the outward forms +of things, but to the habits of thought and to the very principles of +character. The moral revolution has been as signal and striking as the +political one; it upturned the old land marks of antiquated and +hereditary customs and the obedience to mere authority, and established +in their stead a more simple and just rule of action; it set up reason +and common sense, and a true equality in the place of a factitious and +conventional state of society which unrelentingly required a submission +to its stern dictates; which made an unnatural distinction in moral +power, and elevated the rich knave or fool to the station that humble +and despised merit would have better graced. + +These peculiarities have been destroyed by the silent and gradual +operation of public opinion; the spirit which arose in the new world is +spreading with the same effect over the old. Freedom of opinion is +asserting a just sway, and it is only now to be feared that the +principle will be carried too far, that authority will lose all its +influence and that reason and a just estimate of human rights will not +be sufficient restraints upon the passions of men. The experiment is +going on, and unless education, an early and sound moral education go on +with it, which will enlighten and strengthen the public mind, it will +fail of success. The feelings and passions must be placed under the +charge of moral principle, or we may expect an age of licentiousness to +succeed one of authority and rigid discipline. We may be said now to be +in the transition state of society. + +Distinctions of rank among different classes of the community, a part +of the old system, prevailed very much before the revolution and were +preserved in the dress as well as in the forms of society. But the +deference attached to robes of office and the formality of official +station have all fled before the genius of our republican institutions; +we look now upon the man and not upon his garments nor upon the post to +which chance may have elevated him. In the circle of our little town, +the lines were drawn with much strictness. The higher classes were +called the _quality_, and were composed of persons not engaged in +mechanic employments. We now occasionally find some old persons whose +memory recurs with longing delight to the days in which these formal +distinctions held uncontrolled sway. + +The fashionable color of clothes among this class was drab; the coats +were made with large cuffs reaching to the elbows, and low collars. All +classes wore breeches which had not the advantage of being kept up as in +modern times by suspenders; the dandies of that day wore embroidered +silk vests with long pocket flaps and ruffles over their hands. Most of +those above mentioned were engaged in trade, and the means of none were +sufficiently ample to enable them to live without engaging in some +employment. Still the pride of their cast was maintained, and although +the cloak and perhaps the wig may have been laid aside in the dust and +hurry of business, they were scrupulously retained when abroad. + +There were many other expensive customs in that day to which the spirit +of the age required implicit obedience; these demanded costly presents +to be made and large expenses to be incurred at the three most important +events in the history of man, his birth, marriage and death. In the +latter it became particularly onerous and extended the influence of its +example to the poorest classes of people, who in their show of grief, +imitated, though at an immeasurable distance, the customs of the rich. + +The leaders of the people in the early part of the revolution, with a +view to check importations from Britain, aimed a blow at these expensive +customs, from which they never recovered. The example commenced in the +highest places, of an entire abandonment of all the outward trappings of +grief which had been wont to be displayed, and of all luxury in dress, +which extended over the whole community. In the later stages of the +revolution however, an extravagant and luxurious style of living and +dress was revived, encouraged by the large amount both of specie and +paper money in circulation, and the great quantity of foreign articles +of luxury brought into the country by numerous captures. + +The evils here noticed did not exist in this part of the country in any +considerable degree, especially after the revolution; the people were +too poor to indulge in an expensive style of living. They were literally +a working people, property had not descended upon them from a rich +ancestry, but whatever they had accumulated had been the result of their +own industry and economy. Our ladies too at that period had not +forgotten the use of the distaff, and occasionally employed that +antiquated instrument of domestic labor for the benefit of others as +well as of themselves. The following notice of a _spinning bee_ at Mrs. +Deane's on the first of May 1788, is a flattering memorial of the +industry and skill of the females of our town at that period. + +"On the first instant, assembled at the house of the Rev. Samuel Deane +of this town, more than one hundred of the fair sex, married and single +ladies, most of whom were skilled in the important art of spinning. An +emulous industry was never more apparent than in this beautiful +assembly. The majority of fair hands gave motion to not less than sixty +wheels. Many were occupied in preparing the materials, besides those who +attended to the entertainment of the rest, provision for which was +mostly presented by the guests themselves, or sent in by other generous +promoters of the exhibition, as were also the materials for the work. +Near the close of the day, Mrs. Deane was presented by the company with +_two hundred and thirty-six_ seven knotted skeins of excellent cotton +and linen yarn, the work of the day, excepting about a dozen skeins +which some of the company brought in ready spun. Some had spun six, and +many not less than five skeins apiece. To conclude and crown the day, a +numerous band of the best singers attended in the evening, and performed +an agreeable variety of excellent pieces in psalmody." + +Some of the ante-revolutionary customs "more honored in the breach than +in the observance"--have been continued quite to our day, although not +precisely in the same manner, nor in equal degree. One was the practise +of helping forward every undertaking by a deluge of ardent spirit in +some of its multifarious mistifications. Nothing could be done from the +burial of a friend or the quiet sessions of a town committee; to the +raising of the frame of a barn or a meeting-house, but the men must be +goaded on by the stimulus of rum. Flip and punch were then the +indispensable accompaniments of every social meeting and of every +enterprise. + +It is not a great while since similar customs have extensively prevailed +not perhaps in precisely the instances or degree above mentioned, but in +junkettings, and other meetings which have substituted whiskey punch, +toddy, &c. for the soothing but pernicious compounds of our fathers. +Thanks however to the genius of temperance, a redeeming spirit is +abroad, which it is hoped will save the country from the destruction +that seemed to threaten it from this source. + +The amusements of our people in early days had nothing particular to +distinguish them. The winter was generally a merry season, and the snow +was always improved for sleighing parties out of town. In summer the +badness of the roads prevented all riding for pleasure; in that season +the inhabitants indulged themselves in water parties, fishing and +visiting the islands, a recreation that has lost none of its relish at +this day. + +Dancing does not seem to have met with much favor, for we find upon +record in 1766, that Theophilus Bradbury and wife, Nathaniel Deering and +wife, John Waite and wife, and several other of the most respectable +people in town were indicted for dancing at Joshua Freeman's tavern in +December 1765. Mr. Bradbury brought himself and friends off by pleading +that the room in which the dance took place, having been hired by +private individuals for the season, was no longer to be considered as a +public place of resort, but a private apartment, and that the persons +there assembled had a right to meet in their own room and to dance +there. The court sustained the plea. David Wyer was king's attorney at +this time. + +It was common for clubs and social parties to meet at the tavern in +those days, and Mrs. Greele's in Backstreet was a place of most +fashionable resort both for old and young wags, before as well as after +the revolution. It was the _Eastcheap_ of Portland, and was as famous +for _baked beans_ as the "Boar's head" was for sack, although we would +by no means compare honest Dame Greele, with the more celebrated, though +less deserving hostess of Falstaff and Poins. Many persons are now +living on whose heads the frosts of age have extinguished the fires of +youth, who love to recur to the amusing scenes and incidents associated +with that house. + +When we look back a space of just two hundred years and compare our +present situation, surrounded by all the beauty of civilization and +intelligence, with the cheerless prospect which awaited the European +settler, whose voice first startled the stillness of the forest; or if +we look back but one hundred years to the humble beginnings of the +second race of settlers, who undertook the task of reviving the waste +places of this wilderness, and suffered all the privations and hardships +which the pioneers in the march of civilization are called upon to +endure; or if we take a nearer point for comparison, and view the +blackened ruin of our village at the close of the revolutionary war, and +estimate the proud pre-eminence over all those periods which we now +enjoy, in our civil relations and in the means of social happiness, our +hearts should swell with gratitude to the Author of all good that these +high privileges are granted to us; and we should resolve that we will +individually and as a community sustain the purity and moral tone of our +institutions, and leave them unimpaired to posterity. + + + + +THE CHEROKEE'S THREAT. + +By N. P. Willis. + + +At the extremity of a green lane in the outer skirt of the fashionable +suburb of New-Haven, stood a rambling old Dutch house, built, probably, +when the cattle of Mynheer grazed over the present site of the town. It +was a wilderness of irregular rooms, of no describable shape in its +exterior, and from its southern balcony, to use an expressive gallicism, +_gave_ upon the bay. Long Island Sound, the great highway from the +northern Atlantic to New York, weltered in alternate lead and silver +(oftener like the brighter metal, for the climate is divine) between the +curving lip of the bay, and the interminable and sandy shore of the +island some six leagues distant, the procession of ships and steamers +stole past with an imperceptible progress, the ceaseless bells of the +college chapel came deadened through the trees from behind, and (the day +being one of golden Autumn, and myself and St. John waiting while black +Agatha answered the door-bell) the sun-steeped precipice of East Rock +with its tiara of blood-red maples flushing like a Turk's banner in the +light, drew from us both a truant wish for a ramble and a holiday. + +In a few minutes from this time were assembled in Mrs. Ilfrington's +drawing-room the six or seven young ladies of my more particular +acquaintance among her pupils--of whom one was a new-comer, and the +object of my mingled curiosity and admiration. It was the one day of +the week when morning visiters were admitted, and I was there in +compliance with an unexpected request from my friend, to present him to +the agreeable circle of Mrs. Ilfrington. As an _habitue_ in her family, +this excellent lady had taken occasion to introduce to me a week or two +before, the new-comer of whom I have spoken above--a departure from the +ordinary rule of the establishment, which I felt to be a compliment, and +which gave me, I presumed, a tacit claim to mix myself up in that young +lady's destiny as deeply as I should find agreeable. The new-comer was +the daughter of an Indian chief, and her name was Nunu. + +The transmission of the daughter of a Cherokee chief to New-Haven, to be +educated at the expense of the government, and of several young men of +the same high birth to different colleges, will be recorded among the +evidences in history that we did not plough the bones of their fathers +into our fields without some feelings of compunction. Nunu had come to +the seaboard under the charge of a female missionary, whose pupil she +had been in one of the native schools of the west, and was destined, +though a chief's daughter, to return as a teacher to her tribe, when she +should have mastered some of the higher accomplishments of her sex. She +was an apt scholar, but her settled melancholy when away from her books, +had determined Mrs. Ilfrington to try the effect of a little society +upon her, and hence my privilege to ask for her appearance in the +drawing-room. + +As we strolled down in the alternate shade and sunshine of the road, I +had been a little piqued at the want of interest and the manner of +course with which St. John had received my animated descriptions of the +personal beauty of the Cherokee. + +"I have hunted with the tribe," was his only answer, "and know their +features." + +"But she is not like them," I replied with a tone of some impatience; +"she is the _beau-ideal_ of a red skin, but it is with the softened +features of an Arab or an Egyptian. She is more willowy than erect, and +has no higher cheek-bones than the plaster Venus in your chambers. If it +were not for the lambent fire in her eye, you might take her in the +sculptured grace of her attitudes, for an immortal bronze of Cleopatra. +I tell you she is divine!" + +St. John called to his dog and we turned along the green bank above the +beach, with Mrs. Ilfrington's house in view, and so opens a new chapter +of my story. + + * * * * * + +I have seen in many years wandering over the world, lived to gaze upon, +and live to remember and adore--a constellation, I almost believe, that +has absorbed all the intensest light of the beauty of a hemisphere--yet +with your pictures coloured to life in my memory, and the pride of rank +and state thrown over them like an elevating charm--I go back to the +school of Mrs. Ilfrington, and (smile if you will!) they were as lovely +and stately, and as worthy of the worship of the world. + +I introduced St. John to the young ladies as they came in. Having never +seen him except in the presence of men, I was a little curious to know +whether his singular _aplomb_ would serve him as well with the other +sex, of which I was aware he had had a very slender experience. My +attention was distracted at the moment of mentioning his name to a +lovely little Georgian, (with eyes full of the liquid sunshine of the +south,) by a sudden bark of joy from the dog who had been left in the +hall; and as the door opened, and the slight and graceful Indian girl +entered the room, the usually unsocial animal sprung bounding in, +lavishing caresses on her, and seemingly wild with the delight of +recognition. + +In the confusion of taking the dog from the room, I had again lost the +moment of remarking St. John's manner, and on the entrance of Mrs. +Ilfrington, Nunu was sitting calmly by the piano, and my friend was +talking in a quiet undertone with the passionate Georgian. + +"I must apologise for my dog," said St. John, bowing gracefully to the +mistress of the house; "he was bred by Indians, and the sight of a +Cherokee reminded him of happier days--as it did his master." + +Nunu turned her eyes quickly upon him, but immediately resumed her +apparently deep study of the abstruse figures in the Kidderminster +carpet. + +"You are well arrived, young gentlemen," said Mrs. Ilfrington; "we press +you into our service for a botanical ramble, Mr. Slingsby is at leisure, +and will be delighted I am sure. Shall I say as much for you, Mr. St. +John?" St. John bowed, and the ladies left the room for their bonnets, +Mrs. Ilfrington last. + +The door was scarcely closed when Nunu re-appeared, and checking herself +with a sudden feeling at the first step over the threshold, stood gazing +at St. John, evidently under very powerful emotion. + +"Nunu!" he said, smiling slowly and unwillingly, and holding out his +hands with the air of one who forgives an offence. + +She sprang upon his bosom with the bound of a leveret, and, between her +fast kisses broke the endearing epithets of her native tongue--in words +that I only understood by their passionate and thrilling accent. The +language of the heart is universal. + +The fair scholars came in one after another, and we were soon on our way +through the green fields to the flowery mountain side of East Rock, Mrs. +Ilfrington's arm and conversation having fallen to my share, and St. +John rambling at large with the rest of the party, but more particularly +beset by Miss Temple, whose Christian name was Isabella, and whose +Christian charity had no bowels for broken hearts. + +The most sociable individuals of the party for a while were Nunu and +Last, the dog's recollections of the past seeming, like those of wiser +animals, more agreeable than the present. The Cherokee astonished Mrs. +Ilfrington by an abandonment of joy and frolic which she had never +displayed before, sometimes fairly outrunning the dog at full speed, and +sometimes sitting down breathless upon a green bank, while the rude +creature overpowered her with his caresses. The scene gave rise to a +grave discussion between that well-instructed lady and myself upon the +singular force of childish association--the extraordinary intimacy +between the Indian and the trapper's dog being explained satisfactorily, +to her at least, on that attractive principle. Had she but seen Nunu +spring into the bosom of my friend half an hour before, she might have +added a material corollary to her proposition. If the dog and the +chief's daughter were not old friends, the chief's daughter and St. John +certainly _were_! + +As well as I could judge by the motions of two people walking before me, +St. John was advancing fast in the favor and acquaintance of the +graceful Georgian. Her southern indolence was probably an apology in +Mrs. Ilfrington's eyes for leaning heavily on her companion's arm, but, +in a momentary halt, the capricious beauty disembarrassed herself of the +light scarf that had floated over her shoulders, and bound it playfully +around his waist. This was rather strange on a first acquaintance, and +Mrs. Ilfrington was of that opinion. + +"Miss Temple!" said she, advancing to whisper a reproof in the beauty's +ear. + +Before she had taken a second step, Nunu bounded over the low hedge, +followed by the dog with whom she had been chasing a butterfly, and +springing upon St. John, with eyes that flashed fire, she tore the scarf +into shreds, and stood trembling and pale, with her feet on the silken +fragments. + +"Madam!" said St. John, advancing to Mrs. Ilfrington, after casting on +the Cherokee a look of surprise and displeasure, "I should have told you +before, that your pupil and myself are not new acquaintances. Her father +is my friend. I have hunted with the tribe, and have hitherto looked +upon Nunu as a child. You will believe me, I trust, when I say, her +conduct surprises me, and I beg to assure you, that any influence I may +have over her, will be in accordance with your own wishes exclusively." + +His tone was cold, and Nunu listened with fixed lips and frowning eyes. + +"Have you seen her before since her arrival?" asked Mrs. Ilfrington. + +"My dog brought me yesterday the first intelligence that she was here. +He returned from his morning ramble with a string of wampum about his +neck, which had the mark of the tribe. He was her gift," he added, +patting the head of the dog and looking with a softened expression at +Nunu, who drooped her head upon her bosom and walked on in tears. + + * * * * * + +The chain of the Green Mountains, after a gallop of some five hundred +miles from Canada to Connecticut, suddenly pulls up on the shore of Long +Island Sound, and stands rearing with a bristling mane of pine-trees, +three hundred feet in air, as if checked in midcareer by the sea. +Standing on the brink of this bold precipice, you have the bald face of +the rock in a sheer perpendicular below you; and, spreading away from +the broken masses at its foot, lies an emerald meadow inlaid with a +crystal and rambling river, across which, at a distance of a mile or +two, rise the spires of the university from what else were a thick +serried wilderness of elms. Back from the edge of the precipice extends +a wild forest of hemlock and fir, ploughed on its northern side by a +mountain torrent, whose bed of marl, dry and overhung with trees in the +summer, serves as a path and guide from the plain to the summit. It were +a toilsome ascent but for that smooth and hard pavement, and the +impervious and green thatch of pine-tassels overhung. + +The kind mistress ascended with the assistance of my arm, and St. John +drew stoutly between Miss Temple and a fat young lady with an incipient +asthma. Nunu had not been seen since the first cluster of hanging +flowers had hidden her from our sight as she bounded upward. + +The hour or two of slanting sunshine, poured in upon the summit of the +precipice from the west, had been sufficient to induce a fine and silken +moss to show its fibres and small blossoms above the carpet of +pine-tassels, and, emerging from the brown shadow of the wood, you stood +on a verdant platform, the foliage of sighing trees overhead, a fairies' +velvet beneath you, and a view below, that you may as well (if you would +not die in your ignorance) make a voyage to see. + +We found Nunu lying thoughtfully near the brink of the precipice and +gazing off over the waters of the sound, as if she watched the coming or +going of a friend under the white sails that glanced upon its bosom. We +recovered our breath in silence, I alone perhaps of that considerable +company gazing with admiration at the lithe and unconscious figure of +grace lying in the attitude of the Grecian hermaphrodite on the brow of +the rock before us. Her eyes were moist, and motionless with +abstraction, her lips just perceptibly curved in an expression of +mingled pride and sorrow, her small hand buried and clenched in the +moss, and her left foot and ankle, models of spirited symmetry, escaped +carelessly from her dress, the high instep strained back, as if +recovering from a leap with the tense control of emotion. + +The game of the coquettish Georgian was well played. With a true woman's +pique, she had redoubled her attentions to my friend from the moment +that she found it gave pain to another of her sex; and St. John, like +most men, seemed not unwilling to see a new altar kindled to his vanity, +though a heart he had already won, was stifling with the incense. Miss +Temple was very lovely: her skin of that teint of opaque and patrician +white, which is found oftenest in Asian latitudes, was just perceptibly +warmed toward the centre of the cheek with a glow like sunshine through +the thick white petal of a magnolia: her eyes were hazel with those +inky lashes which enhance the expression a thousand fold either of +passion, or melancholy; her teeth were like strips from the lily's +heart; and she was clever, captivating, graceful, and a thorough +coquette. St. John was mysterious, romantic-looking, superior, and just +now the only victim in the way. He admired, as all men do, those +qualities, which to her own sex, rendered the fair Isabella unamiable, +and yielded himself, as all men will, a satisfied prey to enchantments +of which he knew the springs were the pique and vanity of the +enchantress. How singular it is that the highest and best qualities of +the female heart are those with which men are the least captivated! + +A rib of the mountain formed a natural seat a little back from the pitch +of the precipice, and here sat Miss Temple, triumphant in drawing all +eyes upon herself and her tamed lion, her lap full of flowers which he +had found time to gather on the way, and her fair hands employed in +arranging a bouquet, of which the destiny was yet a secret. Next to +their own loves, ladies like nothing on earth like mending or marring +the loves of others; and, while the violets and already drooping wild +flowers were coquettishly chosen or rejected by those slender fingers, +the sun might have swung back to the east like a pendulum, and those +seven-and-twenty misses would have watched their lovely schoolfellow the +same. Nunu turned her head slowly around at last, and silently looked +on. St. John lay at the feet of the Georgian, glancing from the flowers +to her face, and from her face to the flowers, with an admiration not at +all equivocal. Mrs. Ilfrington sat apart, absorbed in finishing a sketch +of New-Haven; and I, interested painfully in watching the emotions of +the Cherokee, sat with my back to the trunk of a hemlock, the only +spectator who comprehended the whole extent of the drama. + +A wild rose was set in the heart of the bouquet at last, a spear of +riband-grass added to give it grace and point, and nothing was wanting +but a string. + +Reticules were searched, pockets turned inside out, and never a bit of +riband to be found. The beauty was in despair. + +"Stay!" said St. John, springing to his feet. "Last! Last!" + +The dog came coursing in from the wood, and crouched to his master's +hand. + +"Will a string of wampum do?" he asked, feeling under the long hair on +the dog's neck, and untying a fine and variegated thread of many-colored +beads, worked exquisitely. + +The dog growled, and Nunu sprang into the middle of the circle with the +fling of an adder, and seizing the wampum as he handed it to her rival, +called the dog and fastened it once more around his neck. + +The ladies rose in alarm; the belle turned pale and clung to St. John's +arm; the dog, with his hair bristling on his back, stood close to her +feet in an attitude of defiance, and the superb Indian, the peculiar +genius of her beauty developed by her indignation, her nostrils expanded +and her eyes almost showering fire in their flashes, stood before them, +like a young Pythoness, ready to strike them dead with a regard. + +St. John recovered from his astonishment after a moment, and leaving the +arm of Miss Temple, advanced a step and called to his dog. + +The Cherokee patted the animal on the back, and spoke to him in her own +language; and, as St. John still advanced, Nunu drew herself to her +fullest height, placed herself before the dog, who slunk growling from +his master, and said to him as she folded her arms, "the wampum is +mine!" + +St. John colored to the temples with shame. + +"Last!" he cried, stamping with his foot, and endeavoring to frighten +him from his shelter. + +The dog howled and crept away, half crouching with fear toward the +precipice; and St. John shooting suddenly past Nunu, seized him on the +brink, and held him down by the throat. + +The next instant a scream of horror from Mrs. Ilfrington, followed by a +terrific echo from every female present, started the rude Kentuckian to +his feet. + +Clear over the abyss, hanging with one hand by an aspen sapling, the +point of her tiny foot just poising on a projecting ledge of rock, swung +the desperate Cherokee, sustaining herself with perfect ease, but with +all the determination of her iron race collected in calm concentration +on her lips. + +"Restore the wampum to his neck!" she cried, with a voice that thrilled +the very marrow with its subdued fierceness, "or my blood rest on your +soul!" + +St. John flung it toward the dog, and clasped his hands in silent +horror. + +The Cherokee bore down the sapling till its slender stem cracked with +the tension, and rising lightly with the rebound, alit like a feather +upon the rock. The subdued Kentuckian sprang to her side; but, with +scorn on her lip and the flush of exertion already vanished from her +cheek, she called to the dog, and with rapid strides took her way alone +down the mountain. + + * * * * * + +Five years had elapsed. I had put to sea from the sheltered river of +boyhood; had encountered the storms of a first entrance into life; had +trimmed my boat, shortened sail, and with a sharp eye to windward, was +laying fairly on my course. Among others from whom I had parted company, +was Paul St. John, who had shaken hands with me at the university-gate, +leaving me, after four years' intimacy, as much in doubt as to his real +character and history as the first day we met. I had never heard him +speak of either father or mother; nor had he, to my knowledge, received +a letter from the day of his matriculation. He passed his vacation at +the university. He had studied well, yet refused one of the highest +college-honors offered him with his degree. He had shown many good +qualities, yet some unaccountable faults; and, all in all, was an enigma +to myself and the class. I knew him clever, accomplished, and conscious +of superiority, and my knowledge went no farther. + +It was five years from this time, I say, and in the bitter struggles of +first manhood, I had almost forgotten there was such a being in the +world. Late in the month of October, in 1829, I was on my way westward, +giving myself a vacation from the law. I embarked on a clear and +delicious day in the small steamer which plies up and down the Cayuga +Lake, looking forward to a calm feast of scenery, and caring little who +were to be my fellow passengers. As we got out of the little harbor of +Cayuga, I walked astern for the first time, and saw the not very +unusual sight of a group of Indians standing motionless by the wheel. +They were chiefs returning from a diplomatic visit to Washington. + +I sat down by the companion-ladder, and opened soul and eye to the +glorious scenery we were gliding through. The first severe frost had +come, and the miraculous change had passed upon the leaves, which is +known only in America. The blood-red sugar-maple, with a leaf brighter +and more delicate than a Circassian's lip, stood here and there in the +forest like the sultan's standard in a host, the solitary and far-seen +aristocrat of the wilderness; the birch, with its spirit-like and amber +leaves, ghosts of the departed summer, turned out along the edges of the +woods like a lining of the palest gold; the broad sycamore and the +fan-like catalpa, flaunted their saffron foliage in the sun, spotted +with gold like the wings of a lady-bird; the kingly oak, with its summit +shaken bare, still hid its majestic trunk in a drapery of sumptuous dies +like a stricken monarch, gathering his robes of state about him to die +royally in his purple; the tall poplar, with its minaret of silver +leaves, stood blanched like a coward in the dying forest, burdening +every breeze with its complainings; the hickory, paled through its +enduring green; the bright berries of the mountain-ash flushed with a +sanguine glory in the unobstructed sun; the gaudy tulip-tree, the +sybarite of vegetation, stripped of its golden cups, still drank the +intoxicating light of noonday in leaves than which the lip of Indian +shell was never more delicately teinted; the still deeper-died vines of +the lavish wilderness, perishing with the nobler things whose summer +they had shared, outshone them in their decline, as woman in her death +is heavenlier than the being on whom in life she leaned; and alone and +unsympathizing in this universal decay, outlaws from nature, stood the +fir and the hemlock, their frowning and sombre heads, darker and less +lovely than ever in contrast with the death-struck glory of their +companions. + +The dull colors of English autumnal foliage, give you no conception of +this marvellous phenomenon. The change here, too, is gradual. In America +it is the work of a night--of a single frost! Ah, to have seen the sun +set on hills, bright in the still green and lingering summer, and to +wake in the morning to a spectacle like this! It is as if a myriad of +rainbows were laced through the tree-tops--as if the sunsets of a +summer--gold, purple and crimson--had been fused in the alembic of the +west, and poured back in a new deluge of light and color over the +wilderness. It is as if every leaf in those countless trees had been +painted to outflush the tulip--as if, by some electric miracle, the dies +of the earth's heart had struck upward, and her crystals and ore, her +sapphires, hyacinths and rubies, had let forth their imprisoned dies to +mount through the roots of the forest, and like the angels that in olden +time entered the bodies of the dying, reanimate the perishing leaves, +and revel an hour in their bravery. + +I was sitting by the companion-ladder, thinking to what on earth these +masses of foliage could be resembled, when a dog sprang upon my knees, +and, the moment after, a hand was laid on my shoulder. + +"St. John? Impossible!" + +"Bodily!" answered my quondam classmate. + +I looked at him with astonishment. The _soigne_ man of fashion I had +once known, was enveloped in a kind of hunter's frock, loose and large, +and girded to his waist by a belt; his hat was exchanged for a cap of +rich otter-skin; his pantaloons spread with a slovenly carelessness over +his feet, and altogether there was that in his air which told me at a +glance that he had renounced the world. Last had recovered his leanness, +and after wagging out his joy, he couched between my feet, and lay +looking into my face as if he was brooding over the more idle days in +which we had been acquainted. + +"And where are _you_ bound?" I asked, having answered the same question +for myself. + +"Westward with the chiefs!" + +"For how long?" + +"The remainder of my life." + +I could not forbear an exclamation of surprise. + +"You would wonder less," said he, with an impatient gesture, "if you +knew more of me. And by the way," he added, with a smile, "I think I +never told you the first half of the story--my life up to the time I met +you." + +"It was not for the want of a catechist," I answered, setting myself in +an attitude of attention. + +"No! and I was often tempted to gratify your curiosity; but from the +little intercourse I had with the world I had adopted some precocious +principles, and one was, that a man's influence over others was +vulgarism, and diminished by a knowledge of his history." + +I smiled, and as the boat sped on her way over the calm waters of the +Cayuga, St. John went on leisurely with a story which is scarce +remarkable enough to merit a repetition. He believed himself the natural +son of a western hunter, but only knew that he had passed his early +youth on the borders of civilization, between whites and Indians, and +that he had been more particularly indebted for protection to the father +of Nunu. Mingled ambition and curiosity had led him eastward while still +a lad, and a year or two of the most vagabond life in the different +cities, had taught him the caution and bitterness for which he was so +remarkable. A fortunate experiment in lotteries supplied him with the +means of education, and with singular application in a youth of such +wandering habits, he had applied himself to study under a private +master, fitted himself for the university in half the usual time, and +cultivated in addition the literary taste which I have remarked upon. + +"This," he said, smiling at my look of astonishment, "brings me up to +the time when we met. I came to college at the age of eighteen, with a +few hundred dollars in my pocket, some pregnant experience of the rough +side of the world, great confidence in myself and distrust of others, +and, I believe, a kind of instinct of good manners, which made me +ambitious of shining in society. You were a witness of my _debut_. Miss +Temple was the first highly educated woman I had ever known, and you saw +the effect on me!" + +"And since we parted?" + +"Oh, since we parted, my life has been vulgar enough. I have ransacked +civilized life to the bottom, and found it a heap of unredeemed +falsehoods. I do not say it from common disappointment, for I may say I +succeeded in every thing I undertook." + +"Except Miss Temple," I said, interrupting, at the hazard of wounding +him. + +"No. She was a coquette, and I pursued her till I had my turn. You see +me in my new character now. But a month ago, I was the Apollo of +Saratoga, playing my own game with Miss Temple. I left her for a woman +worth ten thousand of her--but here she is." + +As Nunu came up the companionway from the cabin, I thought I had never +seen a breathing creature so exquisitely lovely. With the exception of a +pair of brilliant moccasins on her feet, she was dressed in the usual +manner, but with the most absolute simplicity. She had changed in those +five years from the child to the woman, and, with a round and +well-developed figure, additional height, and manners at once gracious +and dignified, she walked and looked the chieftan's daughter. St. John +took her hand, and gazed on her with moisture in his eyes. + +"That I could ever put a creature like this," he said, "into comparison +with the dolls of civilization!" + +We parted at Buffalo--St. John with his wife and the chiefs to pursue +their way westward by Lake Erie, and I to go moralizing on my way to +Niagara. + + + + +GRECIAN AND ROMAN ELOQUENCE. + +By Ashur Ware. + + +In the flourishing periods of the Grecian and Roman commonwealths, the +forms of their governments, the state of society, and the passions and +manners of the times, were more favorable to the developement of great +talents, than have existed in any other age, or among any other people. +In Athens and Rome, every citizen was a public man. The great powers of +government were exercised by the people themselves in their primary +assemblies. The practice of delegating the higher attributes of +sovereignty to a small number of persons periodically elected is one of +the greatest improvements, which the lights of modern experience have +introduced into the constitutions of free governments. The advantages +which are gained by this system in favor of internal tranquillity, the +steadiness and permanency of political institutions and the security of +private rights, can scarcely be estimated too highly, or purchased at +too great a price. But nearly in the same proportion as this improvement +contributes to the general tranquillity and the personal security of the +citizen, does it narrow the field for the operation of great talents. +The individual power of each man is hardly felt in the harmonious +working of the great machine of government, and its character soon comes +to depend much more on the system than on the genius of those by whom it +is conducted. Precedents, fixed opinions, long established policy and +constitutional maxims, throw an invisible net work over those, who are +at the head of affairs, which a giant's strength cannot break through. +An ordinary share of talent, enlightened by experience, is found to be +about as useful in the regular movement of the system, as the highest +gifts of genius. + +But it was otherwise in the republics of Athens and Rome. There the +power of the system was nothing, and the genius of the individual every +thing. In the agitations of these popular commonwealths, the great +actors on the stage were driven to a life of unremitted exertion. The +revolutions of popular favor were sudden and appalling, and always +liable to be carried to great extremes. A decisive moment lost might be +fatal to the hopes of a whole life. Their powers were, therefore, +constantly wound up to the utmost intensity of action. Second rate men, +who are abundantly able to go through with the regular and quiet routine +of official duty in our modern bureaus, would be quickly blown down by +the storms which shook the tribunes of those turbulent democracies. The +very imperfections in their political systems contributed to develope +the genius of their statesmen, and necessarily called into action every +faculty of the mind. + +In all free and popular governments, eloquence is one of the principal +instruments of power, and the fairest field is presented for its +operations where the general powers of government are put in motion by +the immediate agency of the mass of the people. In all the nations of +modern Europe, where the semblance of deliberative assemblies is +preserved, these are composed of a small and select number of persons; +and in these small bodies, when a reasonable space is allowed for the +coercive power of party training, for the operation of the subtle and +diffusive poison of executive influence, and in some cases, for the +gross and palpable application of direct corruption, the province of +eloquence will be found to be greatly narrowed. Her most persuasive +accents fall on ears that are spellbound by a mightier power, and on the +most important questions, the votes are often counted, before +deliberation commences. But this complicated machinery cannot be brought +to bear with the same effect on the whole body of the citizens. If their +movements are more irregular, and liable to greater excesses, they have +their origin in the purer and more noble impulses of the heart. The +natural love of equity, the instinctive principles of disinterestedness +and generosity, originally implanted in the heart of man by the author +of our being, cannot easily be extinguished in a whole people. After the +tools of faction, and the minions of power, have exhausted the arts of +corruption, these holier elements of our nature will kindle into +spontaneous enthusiasm, when lofty and generous sentiments are brought +home to the bosom in the accents of a manly and pathetic eloquence. The +great and unsophisticated springs of human action are always touched +with most effect in large assemblies. In these the prevailing tone of +feeling, when highly exalted, spreads through the whole by a secret +sympathy, with the rapidity of the electric fluid. + +It was before such an audience that eloquence uttered her voice in +ancient times. The orators of Greece and Rome brought their genius to +bear directly on the popular mind. The public assemblies which were then +held were for actual deliberation. It was not a mockery of consultation +on matters upon which all opinions were definitely made up. They came +together to be instructed, and were open to the seductive arts of their +orators even to a fault. The objects of deliberation also were of the +greatest moment, the fortunes of a province or a kingdom, the safety of +the republic, the honor, or perhaps the life of the orator himself or +his nearest friends. Every motive which hope or fear or pride or party +could suggest, to animate the passions, was brought to act on the +speaker's mind, and all depended on a doubtful decision, which was to be +made on the spot, and before the separation of the assembly. These +contests were not of rare occurrence. They were coming up continually. +They were upon the most magnificent theatre in the world, and before +judges who united a most refined and discriminating taste with an +extraordinary degree of susceptibility to all the charms of a passionate +and harmonious eloquence. The orators, therefore, were kept in constant +training. Their faculties had no time to cool. + +They had no intervals for luxurious repose. The dignities to which they +had risen were watched by powerful and jealous rivals, always ready to +wrest from them their honors, and they could be retained only by the +same efforts by which they were won. + +In these ancient republics eloquence was substantial and effective power +and led to the highest dignities, which the most aspiring genius could +hope to attain. It was cultivated with an assiduity bearing a just +proportion to the honors with which it was crowned. The education of the +orator commenced in his cradle, and did not terminate until he had +reached the full maturity of manhood; or, to speak more correctly, it +comprised the whole business of his life. All his studies were made +subservient to the art of speaking, and the course of instruction +descended into the most minute details which could improve him in his +action or elocution. It was this entire devotion to a favorite and +honored art, which raised it to a height of perfection, which it has +never since been able to reach, and which produced those prodigies in +the oratorical art, which have been the admiration and the despair of +succeeding ages. + +In the most brilliant period of antiquity there were two styles of +eloquence cultivated by the different orators. One, calm, subtle and +elegant, addressed almost exclusively to the understanding. In the time +of Cicero this was called the Attic style, and those who belonged to +this school assumed no little credit on the supposed purity of their +Attic taste. The other affected a style of greater warmth and +brilliancy, and intermingled with the scrupulous dialectics of the +former, frequent appeals to the passions, and adorned their discourses +with all the beauties which could captivate the imagination. What was +then denominated the Attic style, forms the prevailing characteristic of +modern oratory. It is cool and didactic. It relies almost wholly on the +powers of a cultivated logic and seldom attempts to reach the +understanding through the medium of the heart. It requires little +reflection to determine which of these styles would bear away the palm +before a popular audience. The former leaves one half the faculties of +the hearer dormant, while the latter addresses itself to all the powers +of man, the moral as well as the intellectual, instructs the reason +while it agitates the passions, and gives at the same time one powerful +and impetuous movement to the whole man. But if any one doubts upon +this matter let him go to the pages of Demosthenes and especially to +that most perfect of all his orations, in which he was contending with +his great rival for the glory of a whole life in the presence of all +that was most illustrious in Greece,--his oration for the crown. He will +find from the beginning to the end, a clear and exact logic. But it is +logic raised into enthusiasm by the dignity and elevation of sentiment +by which it is surrounded. He will not find a metaphor or an observation +introduced merely for the purposes of ornament. It is a continued stream +of clear, rapid and convincing argument. But it is argument enveloped in +a torrent of earnestness and exaggeration, environed with a blaze of +anger and disdain and passion--it is argument clothed in thunder, which +could no more be listened to with a composed and tranquil mind than the +flashes of lightning could be viewed with an unblinking eye. Strip +Demosthenes of these accompaniments, of these accessories, if you please +to call them so, and you will leave enough perhaps to satisfy our modern +Attics, but this residue will be no more like the living Demosthenes who +"fulmined over Greece," than the unformed block of marble is like the +Belvidere Apollo, or a naked skeleton like a living man. + +It is said that the state of manners in modern society would not bear +those bold appeals to the passions which abound in the ancient orators. +We are ingenious in taking to ourselves credit even for our inferiority, +and it is contended that our understandings are more cultivated and our +passions more under the dominion of reason. If there be any foundation +for this opinion it must be received with many qualifications. It has +become a fashion of late to decry the manners and morals of the +republics of antiquity. That their manners differed in many respects +from the modes of fashion established in what is called good society in +modern times is admitted, but it does not follow that the advantage is +on our side. There is still less foundation for the opinion that in +their intellectual powers the Greeks and Romans were less cultivated +than the most polished nations of our times. There never existed a +nation in which the intellectual education of the whole body of the +people was carried to so high a pitch as in Athens. However extravagant +the assertion may be thought, it is indisputably true that the "mob of +Athens," as the people of that renowned commonwealth are affectedly +called, were of a more refined, severe and critical taste in every thing +that pertains to the beauties of eloquence than the members of the +British House of Commons have been, at any period of its existence, from +the first meeting of the Wittenagemote to the present day. They would +allow, says Cicero, in their orators no violation of purity or elegance +of language. _Eorum religioni cum serviret orator, nullum verbum +insolens, nullum odiosum ponere audebat._ Many a speech has been cheered +by the "_hear hims_" of the Treasury Bench in that house, which would +have shocked the discriminating and critical ears, _aures teretes ac +religiosas_, of that extraordinary people. The whole testimony of +antiquity concurs in proving their extreme delicacy and fastidiousness +in every thing which belongs to taste in letters and the arts. + +There was another peculiarity in the circumstances of these ancient +republics which favored the cultivation of eloquence. The press, that +great engine by which public opinion is moved in modern times, was then +unknown. Addresses in the assemblies of the people were not only the +ordinary but almost the sole mode by which public men could influence or +enlighten public opinion. All political discussion assumed this form and +these popular harangues composed a very large portion of the literature +of the times. The language of oral communication naturally assumes a +tone of greater vivacity and passion than that of the closet. The +predominance of this species of composition must have had a powerful +influence in forming the national taste and would naturally impart its +prevailing tone to every other species. Such seems to have been the +fact. The philosophers and historians caught something of the animated +and rhetorical manner of their public speakers, and in that species of +eloquence which is suited to the nature of their subjects, surpass the +moderns nearly as much as their orators do. Plato stands as far above +all rivals in this particular, as his countryman and disciple +Demosthenes. The easy and graceful movement of his dialogue, the +splendid amplification and harmonious numbers of his declamation and the +warm and animated glow of moral enthusiasm, which he has thrown over his +mystical speculations, render his works the most perfect specimen of +philosophical eloquence ever yet produced. His example will also show +what importance was attached to style alone by the teachers of ancient +wisdom. The last labors of a long life, which had been devoted to the +most sublime philosophy of the age, were employed in retouching and +remodelling the inimitable graces of his rich and flowing periods; +_muso contingens cuncta lepore_. + +A superiority scarcely less imposing in this respect will be found in +their historians. Their genius was also kindled by a coal from the altar +of the orators. I am ready to acknowledge the great merit of the classic +historians of modern times. I am not insensible to the calm and +sustained dignity of Roberston, to the melody of his full and flowing +style, though it sometimes fills the ear without filling the mind. He +must be a much more morose critic who is not delighted with the simple +and unaffected elegance of Hume, and with that admirable facility with +which he intermingles the most profound reflections in a narration +always easy, copious and graceful. Nor can the historian of the Decline +and Fall of the Roman Empire be forgotten in an enumeration of those who +have done honor to this branch of literature. After all that has been +said and written against him, he has left a work which the world will +not willingly suffer to die. The Randolphs and Taylors and Chelsums by +whom he was assailed, have passed into an easy oblivion, but the great +work of the historian will always find a place in every library and a +reader in every well educated man. The pomp and stateliness of his style +sometimes bordering on the turgid may provoke a sneer from those who +look only to the surface, but he had a mind enriched by various and +extensive learning, which he has exuberantly and tastefully displayed in +every page of his work. It may also be admitted that in modern times +history has in its general character received something more of a +philosophical tone. But what it has gained on the side of philosophy it +has more than lost on that of eloquence. + +Compare the triumvirate of English historians in this respect with the +inestimable remains of antiquity, and there is a disparity as striking +as it is difficult to be accounted for. In this, as in every other +department of literature, the Romans were the imitators of the Greeks; +but in history while they imitated they surpassed their masters. The two +great historians of Rome stand above all that preceded as well as all +that followed them. The history of the rise of the Roman republic, from +a small band of outlaws to the uncontrolled mastery of the world, is the +most extraordinary chapter in the history of the human race. The annals +of mankind present nothing that resembles it. A splendid or an affecting +story may be degraded or belittled by being told in an unworthy style. +But the style of Livy never falls below the dignity of his subject. His +eloquence is as magnificent as the fortunes of the eternal city. In +splendor of language, in glowing and picturesque description, in warmth +and brilliancy and boldness of coloring, and in the dignified and +majestic movement of his whole narrative, there is nothing in the +literature of any country which will bear a comparison with the Decads +of Livy. He is always on the borders of oratory and poetry, without ever +passing the soberness of history. _Mille habet ornatus, mille decenter +habet._ + +The golden age of letters in Rome was as short as it was brilliant. It +scarcely surpassed in duration the ordinary term of human life. +Commencing with Cicero, it closed with the generation who were his +cotemporaries, the last who breathed the free air of the republic. But +in the universal corruption of taste and morals that followed the +extinction of liberty, there arose one man, Tacitus, whose genius +belonged to a happier age. In his own, it has been remarked with as +much truth as beauty, he stands like a column in the midst of ruins. It +has been said that the secret of his style belongs to the circumstances +of his life, as well as to the peculiar temperament of the man. He wrote +the history of his own times, and they presented but few bright spots on +which the eye could repose with pleasure. But he paints the features of +that dark and fearful peace, of that awful and portentous silence of +despotism, convulsed as it was by internal dissensions and agitated by +all the vices of a profligate populace and an abandoned nobility, in +words of enchantment. While they seem to express every thing that is +terrible in tragedy, they suggest to the imagination more than meets the +ear. No man could have described those scenes as he has done but one who +had seen and felt them. His vivid and graphic pictures speak at once to +the eye, to the imagination, and to the heart; and without any of the +parade or ostentation of eloquence, he impresses on the mind of the +reader all the feelings which seem to prevail in his own. + +The current of fashion has for some time been setting strongly against +classical learning. In an age of so much intellectual activity as the +present, all sorts of new opinions are received with favor. The most +extravagant have their hour of triumph until they are chased from the +stage by some new absurdity, or until the restless love of change is +drawn off to some more startling paradox. This insatiable thirst for +novelty is carried into literature as well as other things. But the +principles of good taste are unchangeable. They have their foundations +deeply laid in nature and truth, and the tide of time which sweeps into +oblivion the sickly illusions of distempered imaginations, passes over +these unhurt. The Bavii and Maevii of former ages, who like those of +later times enjoyed for their hour the sunshine of fashionable +celebrity, have been long ago gathered to their long home, but the +beauties of Homer and Virgil are as fresh now as they were at the +beginning. Independent of the arguments commonly used in favor of +classical learning, there are two considerations which recommend these +studies to peculiar favor in this country. I advert to them the more +willingly, because they have not been usually urged in proportion to +their importance. + +The first is addressed to our literary ambition. If there be any +department of elegant literature in which we may hope to surpass our +European ancestors and cotemporaries, it is in eloquence. It is the +fairest and most hopeful field which now remains for literary +distinction. In every other the moderns, if they have not equalled, are +not far behind the ancients. Their poetry can scarcely claim an +advantage over that of the moderns, except what it owes directly to the +superiority of the ancient languages. But if we except some of the +finest productions of the French pulpit in the reign of Louis XIV. there +is nothing in modern literature which approaches the eloquence of +antiquity. The most accomplished of our forensic and parliamentary +speakers are at an immeasurable distance from the perfection of the +ancient orators. If there be any modern nation, which may hope to +emulate them with some prospect of success, it is our own. In our free +institutions and in the free genius of our countrymen we have all that +is necessary. The soil is prepared and we are already a nation of +debaters. But if we would add to the faculty of fluent speaking the +gifts of eloquence, these must be sought where the ancients found them, +in a patient and persevering devotion to the art. We must be made +sensible both of its dignity and its difficulty, and nothing can so +effectually give us this knowledge as a familiar acquaintance with the +inimitable remains of the orators of Greece and Rome. + +The second consideration is of a political character. The feudal +governments of Europe may have an interest in discouraging a taste for +these studies. The literature of antiquity, in its prevailing tone and +character, is deeply impregnated with the free spirit of the age in +which it was produced. Nothing can be more repugnant to that temper of +patient servility which it is the policy of such governments to foster. +Nothing can more powerfully invigorate those generous feelings which are +inspired by the consciousness of freedom, than a familiarity with the +historians and orators of Greece and Rome. There is an uncompromising +spirit of liberty breathing its divine inspirations over every page, +wholly irreconcilable with that courtly suppleness which is adapted to +the genius of these governments. These proud republicans had no +superstitious veneration for anointed heads. They were accustomed to +behold suppliant royalty trembling in the antichambers of their Senate, +or its haughty spirit still more humbled in swelling the triumphal pomp +of their generals and consuls. These sights served to nourish a profound +feeling of the dignity, which is attached to the person of a freeman, a +feeling more deeply engraved on the spirit of antiquity than any other +sentiment of the heart. It seems to have constituted the very soul of +their genius, and it breathes its sacred fires through every +ramification of their literature. So intimately was it incorporated with +the very elements of their intellectual nature, that nothing could +extinguish it short of those calamities which spread their deadly +mildews over the fires of genius itself. After the constitutional +liberty of the country sunk under the weight of military despotism, its +scattered flames still broke out at intervals in the few great men who +arose to throw a gleam of brightness over the surrounding gloom. It +shewed itself in the pathetic and affecting complaints of Tacitus, and +burst forth in the bitter and indignant sarcasms of Juvenal. The +venerable father of song declared in prophetic numbers that the first +day of servitude robbed man of half his virtue, and Longinus, the last +of the ancient race of great men, holds up the lights of fifteen +centuries experience to verify the words of the poet. It is democracy, +says he, that is the propitious nurse of great talents, and it is only +in democracy that they flourish. Let the minions of legitimacy then +extinguish if they can the emulation of ancient eloquence; it is their +most dangerous enemy; but let us, who inherit the liberties of the +ancient republics, cherish it with a sacred devotion. It is at once the +child and the champion of freedom. + + + + +RELIGION. + +By Jason Whitman. + + +Religion, as introduced to us by our Saviour, attracts our attention and +enlists our affections, not by any solemn pomp or formal parade, but by +her beautiful and interesting simplicity, her real and intrinsic worth. +Nor has she been introduced to us, merely that she may dwell in our +temples to be gazed at from a distance and occasionally adored. No. She +has been introduced to us, that we might take her familiarly by the +hand, conduct her into our houses and seat her by our firesides,--not as +an occasional visitor there, but as an intimate friend--perfectly free +and unreserved, ever ready to lend her aid in making home the abode of +happiness, or to go forth with us and assist in elevating and purifying +the pleasures and the intercourse of social life; ever ready to assist +in the various labors of life--to guide and cheer the conversation--to +bend over the bed of sickness, or to mingle her sympathies with those +who are mourning. It is her office to elevate and improve mankind, not +by looking down upon them from above, but by dwelling familiarly and +habitually among them, restraining, by the respect which her presence +inspires, every thing impure and unholy, until she has awakened +aspirations after the pure, the holy, the spiritual, the infinite and +eternal. Such was the Christian Religion as introduced to us by our +Saviour. Would that she might ever remain such, an inmate of our houses, +a member of our family circles, whose form and features are familiar to +our children, and for whom their attachment grows with their growth and +strengthens with their strength. But such have not, it would seem, been +the feelings of mankind in regard to her. They, filled with admiration, +perhaps, for her excellence, and fearing, lest she might be treated with +rude familiarity, have thought to add to her dignity and to increase the +respect entertained for her, by enveloping her in the folds of +unintelligible mysteries, and by suffering her to be approached only in +a formal manner, upon the set days when and the appointed places where +she holds her levees. The consequences of this have been such as might +have been expected. While there are multitudes of admirers of Religion, +as one of a higher order of beings altogether above and beyond +themselves, there are few who make her the companion of their daily +walk--few who take her to themselves and, in the firm conviction that +they were made for each other, leave all things else, cleave unto and +become one with her. + +Would that we might all embrace Christianity as she is in herself--as +she was introduced to us by our Saviour, in all her simplicity--in all +her purity--that we might make her the companion of our lives--the +friend of our hearts. She is one, who will with readiness accompany us +wherever we go--pointing out to us the way of our duty and the sources +of our happiness. Are we children she will teach us the duties of +children. Are we parents she will instruct us in our duties as parents. +In prosperity she will increase our happiness--in adversity she will +sweeten our cup--in sickness she will alleviate our pains, and, when +called away by the stern summons of death, she will accompany us and +introduce us into the society of heaven with which she is intimate--the +society of our God--of Jesus our Saviour--and of the spirits of the just +made perfect, concerning whom she has often conversed with us, making us +acquainted with their principles, feelings and characters, and exerting +within us a desire to be with them. + + + + +THE DESERTED WIFE. + +By Mrs. Ann S. Stephens. + + 'Like ivy, woman's love will cling + Too often round a worthless thing.' + + +Immediately after the horrid murder of young Darnley, Mary of Scotland +removed from the scene of his death to Sterling, ostensibly on a visit +to her infant son. Thither she was followed by all the gay members of +her court, among whom were the Earl of Bothwell and Balfour, the +suspected murderers. A short time previous to this journey Mary had +received a letter from one of her subjects in the north, strenuously +recommending a young and interesting female to her protection, who, as +the letter stated, had especial reasons for sojourning awhile in the +neighborhood of the court. Mary with her usual benevolence kindly +received the lovely stranger, and was so won by her grace and melancholy +beauty, that with the thoughtlessness of her impulsive character, she +installed her in the royal household and admitted her to the closest +intimacy of mistress and servant. Her affections daily increased for one +of whom she knew nothing, except that she was reported to have sprung +from a noble but impoverished family, and had been drawn to court by her +interest in a dear relation, or perhaps lover. The queen did not trouble +herself to inquire into particulars, at a time when her own affairs not +only engrossed her thoughts, but the attention of all Europe. Certain it +was, that whatever had drawn Ellen Craigh to the Scottish court, it was +no desire to partake of its pleasures. Though she occasionally mingled +with the ladies of Mary's household, and even listened with silent +interest to the scandal which recent events had given rise to, she +sedulously secluded herself from the gallants of the court, and on no +occasion had been known to leave the immediate apartment of the queen, +except for a short space each day, when the relative who had drawn her +from home might be supposed to occupy her attention. + +On the day our story commences, Throgmorton, the English ambassador, had +arrived at Sterling with despatches, which had been forwarded from +London after the first news of young Darnley's death reached the court +of St. James. Mary, eager to conciliate the imperious Elizabeth, had +ordered an entertainment to be made in honor of her ambassador, and +yielding to his first request, or rather demand for an audience, had +been more than an hour closetted with him, in the little oratory which +communicated alike with her audience-room and sleeping chamber. + +The hour for robing had long passed, and Ellen Craigh was alone in the +royal bed-chamber, waiting the appearance of her mistress. She might +have been taken for a sorrowing angel, as she sat in the embrasure of a +window, with the mellow-tinted light streaming through the stained glass +over her tresses of waving gold, and flooding her small and exquisite +figure with a brilliancy almost too gorgeous to harmonize with the +delicate cheek and sorrowful blue eyes, which, at the moment, wore an +expression of suffering which nothing on earth can represent, so patient +and holy was it. She continued in one position, listlessly swaying the +cord of twisted gold, which looped back the curtain falling in +magnificent volumes over the upper part of the window, or pulling the +threads from a massive tassel and scattering them one by one at her +feet, till the carpet around looked as if embroidered over and over with +the glittering fragments. The indistinct voices which came from the +oratory, where the queen and the ambassador were seated, fell unheeded +upon her senses, till a tone was mingled with theirs which started her +to sudden life. She leaped up with an energy that sent the mutilated +tassel with a crash against the window, and flinging back the tapestry +which concealed the door of the oratory, bent her eye to a crevice in +the ill-fitted pannel. The beating of her heart was almost audible, and +the thin slender hand which held back the tapestry quivered like a newly +prisoned bird, as she gazed with intense eagerness into the apartment. +The queen sat directly opposite the door. At her right hand was placed a +dark handsome man, of about thirty, with a haughty and almost fierce +array of countenance, dressed in a style of careless magnificence, which +bespoke a love of display rather than true elegance in his choice of +attire. A subdued smile lurked about his lips, and he seemed intently +occupied in counting the links of a massive gold chain, which fell over +his doublet of three-piled velvet, studded and gorgeously wrought with +jewels and embroidery. Now and then he would drop his hand carelessly +over the queen's chair-arm, and fix his black eyes with a bold and +admiring gaze on her features, with a freedom which bespoke more of +audacious love, than of respect for the royal beauty. She not only +submitted to his free glance, but more than once returned it with one of +those looks which had scattered sorrow through many a Scottish bosom. + +Throgmorton sat little apart. He had been speaking in a strain of calm +expostulation; but marking the interchange of glances between the queen +and her haughty favorite, he became indignant, and addressed Bothwell +with a degree of cutting contempt, which turned the lurking smile on the +nobleman's lip to a curl of bitter defiance. Heedless of the royal +presence, he stood up, and rudely pushing the council-table from before +him, half drew his sword, as if to punish the offender upon the spot. +Throgmorton endured the blaze of his large fierce eyes with calm +composure, and deliberately measuring his person from head to foot with +a contemptuous glance, was about to resume his discourse; but the queen +rose from her seat, and placing her white and jewelled hand persuasively +on Bothwell's arm, she fixed her beautiful eyes full on his, and uttered +a few low words of entreaty; then turning to the envoy, her exquisite +face flushed with anger and her eyes flashing like diamonds, she +exclaimed, + +"Leave our presence, sir ambassador, and thank our moderation that thou +art permitted to depart in safety, after this insult to our most trusty +and faithful follower! Nay, my lord of Bothwell, put thy hand from that +sword-hilt--this matter rests with us--doubt not, thy honor as well as +that of thy mistress shall be duly righted." + +The frowning nobleman pushed back his blade with a clang, and turned +moodily away. + +The queen looked on him gravely for a moment, and then turning to the +Englishman proceeded with less of vehemence than had accompanied her +last command. + +"The message of our loving cousin has given us a surfeit of advice. +To-morrow we will resume the subject," she said, forcing one of the +resistless smiles, which she could call up at will, to brighten her +lips; and with a graceful wave of the hand, she motioned him to +withdraw. + +The envoy bowed low and left the room without further speech. But the +door was scarcely closed, when, with sudden self-abandonment, the queen +threw herself into her chair, and burst into a passion of tears. +Bothwell, who was angrily pacing the room, approached, and sinking to +one knee took her hand tenderly in his. She looked at him a moment +through her tears, murmured a few broken words, and dropping her face to +his shoulder, wept bitterly. + +Poor Ellen Craigh witnessed the whole scene. She heard Bothwell's +expressions of soothing endearment, and saw the beautiful head, with its +garniture of brown tresses, fall with such helpless dependence on his +shoulder. A moment, and the queen drew the snowy hand, sparkling with +tears and jewels, from her eyes, and sat upright. With a choking +sensation the poor girl gazed on that face, in its transcendent +loveliness, till a mist gathered before her eyes, and the words of +Bothwell came broken and confusedly to her ear. When they left the +oratory a few moments after, her hand fell nerveless to her side, the +tapestry swept over the door with a rustling sound, and staggering a few +paces into the chamber, she fell her whole length upon the carpet, her +golden hair sweeping back from her bloodless forehead, her pale lips +trembling and her slight limbs as strengthless as an infant's. Thus she +lay for a time, and then tears gushed profusely from her shut eyes. +After which she arose to a sitting posture, with her feeble hands +twisted the scattered ringlets round her head, and arose; but so pale, +so wo-begone, her very heart seemed crushed forever. Dragging herself +to her favorite seat in the embrasure of a window, she leaned her temple +against the stained glass, and murmured-- + +"Enough!--oh, enough!--I must go home now." But while the words of +misery trembled on her lips, the door was flung open, and Mary Stewart +entered the apartment. The room was misty with the purple glow of +sunset, and the queen passed her shrinking attendant without observing +her. Hastily advancing to a table, she took up a golden bird-call, and +blew a peremptory summons; then throwing herself into a chair which +stood opposite a small table, on which glittered the splendid +paraphernalia of a French toilette, she waited the appearance of her +attendants. Ellen Craigh made a strong effort and arose. + +"Ha, art thou there, my mountain-daisy?" said the queen, looking kindly +upon her,--"order lights, and send back the flock of tire-women my silly +whistle has brought trooping hitherward--no hands but thine shall robe +me to night." + +Ellen obeyed, and after a few moments the light from two large candles +of perfumed wax broke over the little mirror, with its framework of +filigree silver, and flashed upon the golden essence-bottles and +scattered jewels which covered the dressing-table. The poor waiting-maid +drew back from the brilliant glare with the shudder of a sick heart. The +queen looked on her earnestly for a moment, and then putting the golden +locks back from her temple, as she would have caressed a child, she +said-- + +"What!--cheeks like new-fallen snow!--lips trembling like the +aspen!--and eye-lashes heavy with tears!--how is this, child?--but we +bethink us;--was it not some untoward affair of the heart which brought +thee to our court? We have been too negligent;--tell us thy grief, and +on the honor of a queen, if there be wrong we will have thee bravely +righted--so speak freely." + +"Oh, no, no!--not here!--_never to you_." + +Here poor Ellen broke off and stood before the queen, her hands clasped, +her lips trembling and her large supplicating eyes fixed imploringly on +her face. + +"Well, well," said the queen soothingly, "at some other time be it--but +remember that in Mary Stewart her attendant may find a safe friend as +well as an indulgent mistress," and shaking her magnificent tresses over +her shoulders, the royal beauty composed herself for the operations of +the toilette. + +Ellen gathered up the glossy volumes of hair and commenced her task. Her +limbs shook, a cold moisture crept over her forehead, and her quivering +hands wandered with melancholy listlessness, through the mass of shining +ringlets it was her duty to arrange. As she stooped forward in her task, +one of her own fair curls fell down and mingled, like a flash of spun +gold, with those of her mistress. As if there had been contagion in the +touch, she flung it back with a smile of strange, cold bitterness, the +first and last that ever wreathed her pure lips; for hers was a heart to +suffer and endure, but never to hate; it might break, but no wrong could +harden it. + +While her toilette was in progress, Mary became nervous and restless, +now pushing the velvet cushions from her feet, and then moving the +lights about the dressing-table, as if dissatisfied with the arrangement +of every thing about her. At length she fell back in her chair, buried +her face in her hands, and fairly burst into tears. Ellen grasped the +back of her chair, and bending her pale face to the queen's ear, +murmured-- + +"Tears are for the deserted--why does the queen weep?" + +Mary was too deeply engrossed with her own feelings to mark the exact +words, or the tremulous voice of her attendant. She threw the damp hair +back from her face, and dashing the tears from her eyes exclaimed-- + +"No, no! it is nothing--proceed--there! let that ringlet fall thus upon +the neck--now our robe, quickly--we shall be waited for at the banquet." + +Ellen brought forth the usual mourning robe of black velvet, laden with +bugles; but a flush of anger, or perhaps of shame, overspread the +queen's face, and with an impatient gesture she exclaimed-- + +"Not that, girl--not that--I will mock my heart no longer!--away with +it, and bring a more seemly garment!--the proud Englishman shall not +scoff at our widow's weeds again." + +Ellen obeyed, and the queen was soon robed as she had desired. Few +objects could have been more beautiful than this dangerous woman, when +she arose from her toilette--the perfect, yet almost voluptuous +proportion of her form betrayed by the snowy robe, her tapering arms +banded with jewels, and her superb waist bound with a string of immense +pearls, clasped in front by a single diamond, and terminating where the +broidery of her robe commenced, in tassels of threaded pearls. A tiara +of small Scotish thistles, crowded amethysts and rough emeralds, burned +with a purple light among her curls, and the face beneath seemed +scarcely human, so radiant was its expression, and so beautiful the +perfect harmony of its features. Throwing a careless glance at the +mirror--for Mary was too confident of her attraction to be +fastidious--she took up her perfumed handkerchief and left the room. + +Ellen Craigh gazed after her sovereign till the last graceful wave of +her drapery disappeared; then drawing a deep breath, as if her heart had +thrown off an oppression quite insupportable, she cast a glance almost +of loathing around the sumptuous apartment, and entered the oratory. +Dropping on her knees by the chair which Bothwell had occupied, she laid +her cheek on the cushion and wept long and freely, as if the contact +with something _he_ had touched had a softening influence on her heart. +As she arose, the gleam of a handkerchief lying on the floor attracted +her attention. She snatched it up with a faint cry of joy, for on one +corner she found embroidered an earl's coronet and the crest of +Bothwell. Eagerly thrusting the prize into her bosom, she left the +oratory and passed into the open street. + +It was midnight when Mary Stewart returned to her chamber. The lights +were burning dimly on the table, and an air of gloomy grandeur filled +the apartment. The queen was evidently much distressed; a deep glow was +burning on her cheek, and her usually smiling eyes were full of a +strange excitement. She snatched up the little golden call as if to give +a summons, and then flung it down again, exclaiming-- + +"No, no--I could not brook their searching eyes," and with a still more +disturbed air she paced the chamber, now and then stopping to divest +herself of the ornaments she had worn at the ambassador's festival. + +Perhaps for the first time in her life the agitated woman unrobed +herself, and flinging back the crimson drapery which fell in heavy +masses from the large square bedstead, threw herself upon the gorgeous +counterpane and buried herself in the folds, as if they could shut out +the evil thoughts that burned in her heart; but it was in vain that she +strove for rest--that she gathered the rich drapery over her head and +pressed her burning cheek to the pillow; her thoughts were all alive and +astray. + +It was a mournful sight--that beautiful and brilliant woman yielding +herself to the thraldom of a wicked man, and rushing heedlessly to that +which was to throw a stain upon her memory, enduring as history itself. +Sin is hideous in every form--but when it darkens the bright and +beautiful of earth, like a cloud over the sun, we reproach it for its +own blackness, and doubly for the brightness it conceals. + +As the misguided woman lay, with a hand pressed over her eyes, and one +arm, but half divested of its jewels, flung out with a kind of desperate +carelessness upon the counterpane, the murmur of an infant voice reached +her from a neighboring apartment. She started up and tears gathered in +her eyes. + +"Woe is me!" she exclaimed, "this mad passion makes me forgetful alike +of prayer and child." + +Folding a dressing-gown about her, she entered the room whence the sound +had come, and reappeared with an infant boy pressed to her bosom. After +kissing him again and again with a sort of despairing fondness, she bore +him to a recess where a small lamp of chased silver burned before a +crucifix of the same metal, and an embroidered hassock was placed as if +for devotion. Had she been left alone in the holy stillness of the +night, with her lovely babe upon her bosom, and the touching symbol of +our Saviour's death before her, the evil influence which was hurrying +her on to ruin might have been counterbalanced; but as she knelt with +the smiling babe lying on the hassock, her eyes fixed on the crucifix, +and the guilty glow ebbing from her cheeks, the door softly opened, and +the Earl of Bothwell stole into the chamber. Mary sprang to her feet as +if to reprove the insolent intruder, but a sense of modesty, which in +all her follies seemed never to have left her, succeeded to her +indignation, if indeed she felt any. She glanced at her dishabille with +a painful flush, and hastily seating herself, drew her uncovered feet, +which had been hastily thrust into a pair of furred slippers, under the +folds of her dressing gown, and then requested him to withdraw, in a +voice which betrayed as much of encouragement as of reproof. + +Without even noticing her request, Bothwell lifted the boy from the +hassock, and seating himself, addressed her in a low and gentle tone, +which he knew well how to assume. The erring woman listened to the +witchery of his voice, till the unnatural glow again died from her +cheek, and she sat with her eyes fixed on his, as a beautiful bird +yielding to the fascination of a serpent. + +"But thy wife," she said in a low irresolute tone, when Bothwell pressed +for a reply to what he had been urging, "much as Mary may love--much as +she may sacrifice, she cannot thrust a young and loving woman from a +heart she loves and puts her faith in." + +"Young and loving!" repeated Bothwell, with a sneer curling his haughty +lip, "young and loving!--truly your grace must have been strangely +misinformed;--she who styles herself Countess of Bothwell nearly doubles +the age of her unfortunate husband; and as for love, if she knows any, +it is for the broad acres which own him as their master." + +A scarcely perceptible smile dimpled the queen's mouth, as she heard +this account of her rival, but she made no reply, and Bothwell resumed +his tone of earnest entreaty. As he proceeded, his voice and manner +became more energetic. + +"Say that you consent," he said, "say but a word, and the breath of evil +shall never reach you;--say but your hand is mine as a token of assent, +and Bothwell will worship you like a very slave." + +The queen raised her hand, and though it trembled like an aspen, she +placed it in his. + +"It is thy queen who is the slave," she murmured in a broken voice, as +Bothwell raised the beautiful hand to his lips, and covered it with +rapturous kisses. + +As he relinquished her hand, it came in contact with that of the child. +As if an adder had stung her, she drew it back, and then with a sudden +gush of feeling snatched the boy to her bosom and covered it with tears +and kisses. Bothwell dreaded the influence of the pure maternal feeling +thus expressed. Gently forcing the young prince from her embrace, he +whispered-- + +"Trust him to me, dearest--trust him to one who would spill his heart's +blood, rather than give pain to mother or child," and pressing her hand +again to his lips, the arch-hypocrite left the room with the same +cautious tread he had entered it with. + +In a few moments after, he placed the young prince in charge with a +creature in his confidence, saying-- + +"See to it, that none of the Darnley faction get possession of the +brat,--keep him safe, or strangle him at once." + +On the next day the Earl of Bothwell left Sterling, and it was whispered +that he had been banished from court through the influence of the +English ambassador; but conjecture was lost in astonishment, and when, +two days after, the court at Sterling was broken up, and the queen, +while on her way to Edinburgh, was met by Bothwell, with a force of +eight hundred men, and conveyed to Dunbar by seeming violence, men stood +aghast at the news; but those who had marked their queen closely during +the few preceding days, concurred in the belief that she privately +sanctioned the disgraceful outrage. + + * * * * * + +It was a gloomy and ancient pile--that in which Bothwell had left his +deserted wife. In one of its apartments, beside a huge fire-place, in +which a few embers smouldered in a sea of ashes, sat an old and wrinkled +woman, spreading her withered palms for warmth, and occasionally turning +a wistful look to the narrow windows, against which the rain and sleet +were beating with real violence. As she listened, the tramp of +approaching horses was heard in the court below, and before she had time +to reach the door, it was flung open, and the Countess of Bothwell, +dripping with wet and tottering with fatigue, flung herself into the +arms of her old nurse. + +"Sorrow on me," exclaimed the good woman, striving to speak cheerful, +"how the child clings to my neck!--look up, lady-bird, and do not sob +so--I know but too well how thy journey has speeded--may the curses of +an old woman rest----" + +"Oh, Mabel, Mabel, do not curse him--do not--we cannot love as we will," +exclaimed the poor countess, clinging to the bosom of the old woman, as +if to bribe her from finishing the anathema. + +"Hush, darling, hush," replied old Mabel, pressing her withered lips +fondly to the pure forehead of her foster-child--"he who could help +loving thee----but hist, what is all this tramping in the court?--sit +down, and I will soon learn." + +The old woman divested the trembling young creature of her wet cloak and +proceeded to the hall. After a few minutes absence she returned +dreadfully agitated; her sunken eyes glowed like live coals, and her +bony fingers were clenched together as a bird clutches her prey. + +"My own darling," she said in a voice which she vainly strove to render +steady, "I had thought not to have given his cruel message, but----" + +"Speak on," said the poor young creature, raising her large eyes with +the expression of a scared antelope, "I can bear any thing now." + +But she broke off with a sudden and joyful cry, for the door had been +cautiously opened, and her long absent husband stood before her. +Forgetful of his estrangement--of his unkindness--of every thing but his +early love--she sprang eagerly to his bosom and kissed him again and +again, with the abandonment of a joyful child. It must have been a heart +of stone which could have resisted such unbounded tenderness. For one +moment, and but for one, she was pressed to her husband's heart, and +then he put her coldly away. + +"How is it that I find your lady here, after my express command to the +contrary?" he said, sternly addressing the old nurse, while he forced +the clinging arms of the countess from his neck. + +The poor young creature shrunk from his look, like a flower touched by a +sudden frost. Mabel threw her arm around her, and forced her to confront +her angry husband. + +"Why is she here!" shouted the old woman fiercely, "why is she here, in +her own home!--because I could not, would not kill her with her base +lord's message!--What! break her heart, and then thrust her forth to +die?--Villain!--double-dyed and cowardly villain!--may the curses of +a----" + +Before the old woman could finish her anathema, the enraged Earl had +stricken her grey head to the floor. The frightened countess fell on her +knees beside her; but, with a terrible imprecation, Bothwell commanded +his attendants to bear his victim from the room, and sternly ordered his +trembling wife to remain. + +"As you are here," he said, "it is not essential that we meet again; +your signature is necessary to this paper; please to affix it without +useless delay." + +The countess took the paper, which was a petition to the +Commissariot-Court for a divorce from her husband. Before she had read +the first line, every drop of blood ebbed from her face. She did not +faint, but with a degree of energy foreign to her character, she grasped +the paper in her hands, as if about to tear it. The Earl seized her +wrist, and fiercely demanded her signature. + +"Never--_never_!" exclaimed the poor wife, struggling in his grasp--"Oh, +Bothwell, you cannot wish it--you that so loved me--you that promised to +love me forever and ever--no, no! you do not mean it--you cannot put +your poor wife away thus!--I know that the little beauty you once prized +is gone, but tears and sorrow have dimmed it;--bear with me but a little +longer--say that you love me yet, and my bloom will come again;--look at +me, Bothwell, husband, _dear_ husband! and say that you did not mean +it--that you gave me that horrid paper to frighten me--say but that, and +your poor Ellen will worship you forever!" + +This energetic appeal had its effect, even in the hard hearted Earl. He +endured, and even partially returned the passionate caress with which +she had accompanied her words; and when she fell back exhausted in his +arms, he bore her to a seat and placed himself beside her. + +"Ellen," he said, "I will deal candidly with you--I _do_ love you, and +have, even while in pursuit of another; but you have yet to learn that +there is a stronger passion than love--_ambition_!" + +"You do love me--bless you, bless you! Bothwell, for saying so much," +she eagerly exclaimed, the affectionate young creature snatching his +hand between both hers, and covering it with joyful kisses. + +But her joy was of short duration. As the serpent uncoils its glittering +folds, so did Bothwell lay bare the depravity and ambition of his heart. +Artifice, persuasion and threats were used, and at length he prevailed. +The petition for a divorce was signed; but the heart of the poor +countess was broken by the effort. + +It is almost useless to tell the reader, that the queen of Scots had +consented to accompany Bothwell to his castle, but with the appearance +of compulsion, on the night of his intrusion into her chamber. It was to +prepare for the disgraceful visit, that he had sent orders for the +expulsion of his unfortunate wife--orders which old Mabel had never +delivered; and now that he had gained his object, in obtaining her +signature to the petition, he proceeded to give directions for the +castle to be put in order, for the reception of the royal guest. These +arrangements occupied him during most of the night. At length, weary +with exertion, he fell asleep in his chair. It was morning when he +awoke. The light came softly through a neighboring window, and there, at +his feet, with her head resting on his knees, and her thin, pale face +turned toward him, lay his wife, asleep. Rest had quieted his ambitious +thoughts. He was alone, in the stillness of a new day, with the gentle +victim of his aspiring passions lying at his feet, grieved and +heart-broken, her eyelids heavy with weeping, and every limb betraying +the sorrow which preyed upon her. For a moment his heart relented, and a +hot tear fell among her golden curls. Gently, as a mother would remove a +sleeping infant, he raised her head, laid it on the cushion of his +chair, and left her to her loneliness. + +On the next day the Countess of Bothwell left the castle with her nurse, +and not three hours after, Mary Stewart entered it in company with its +wicked lord. + +On the fourth day of Mary's sojourn at Dunbar, she, with the ladies of +her train, joined in a stag hunt, which the Earl had ordered for their +entertainment. The excitement of the chase had drawn Bothwell, for a +moment, from her bridal rein, when an old woman came from a neighboring +hut, and in a few ungracious words, invited the queen to rest a while. +Mary gracefully accepted the offered courtesy, and some of her +attendants would have followed her to the hut; but the old woman +motioned them back with a haughty wave of her hand, and conducted the +queen alone. There was no vestige of furniture in the room, except two +small stools and a narrow bed, on which the outlines of a human form +were visible. Grasping the queen's hand firmly in her own, the old woman +drew her to the bed, and throwing back a sheet, pointed with her long +fleshless finger to the form of a shrouded female. + +"Look!" she sternly exclaimed, fixing her keen eyes on the face of the +queen. + +Mary looked with painful interest on the thin face, as white and cold as +alabaster, with the golden hair parted from the pure forehead, and a +holy quiet settled on every beautiful feature. White roses were +scattered over the pillow, and the repose of the dead was heavenly. Mary +bent over the corpse, and her tears fell fast and thick among the fresh +flowers. + +"Alas, my poor Ellen!" she said, turning to the woman, who stood like a +statue pointing sternly to the body, "of what did she die?" + +"Of a broken heart!" replied the nurse coldly, and with the same icy +composure which had marked her conduct, she led her royal visitor to the +door, without speaking another word. + +Had she explained that Ellen Craigh and the Countess of Bothwell were +the same person, regret for the evil she had wrought might have checked +Mary in her career of folly. But the death of the deserted wife was kept +a secret among the few faithful followers who had accompanied her in her +wild expedition to Mary's court, and the nurse, on whose bosom she had +yielded up her life. While the courts of Scotland were agitated with the +divorce of Bothwell, the haughty man little knew that his gentle wife +had ceased to feel his cruelty. + + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Unusual spellings retained, but obvious spelling and punctuation errors +were fixed. + +Contraction variants retained, notably in "Jack Downing's Visit to +Portland," as features of narrator dialect. + +In several stories, notably "Courtship" and "Descriptions of the Divine +Being," the use of quotation marks was inconsistent, and has been +standardized. This required the addition of quotation marks in several +places. Where the non-use of quotation marks was consistent within a +story, no changes were made. + +Contents: Preface is on P. iii, not "7"(original); both "M--" in +Contents and "M***" on poem heading retained; "Deserted Wife" P. 272 is +correct--retained original placement above "Portland as it Was" in +Contents (author name starts with "S"). + +P. 13, "sum of $1,363,589,69,--" Number appears incomplete, but is +consistent with a separate publication of this article ["A Modest +Estimate of Our Own Country," in "The Americans at home; or Byeways, +backwoods, and prairies, ed. by the author of 'Sam Slick'," London: +Hurse and Blackett Publishers, 1854] which reads (on P. 125) "sum of +1,363,589,69 dollars,--" + +P. 34, "disapprobation run" changed to "disapprobation ran." + +P. 41, "guana" retained. Less-used alternate spelling for "iguana." + +P. 91, "Illiad" retained. Consistent with quote reference that follows. + +P. 115, "fourth-coming" changed to "forth-coming." + +P. 259, "full muturity" changed to "full maturity." + +P. 282, "died her cheek" changed to "died from her cheek." + +Hyphen variants retained when consistent within story. Otherwise +corrected to majority use in story. Variants retained due to different +stories or lack of majority in same story: birth-day and birthday, +broad-side and broadside, companion-way and companionway, grave-yard and +graveyard, juxta-position and juxtaposition, look-out and lookout, +noon-day and noonday, over-flowing and overflowing, rain-bow and +rainbow, re-appeared and reappeared, sky-sail and skysail, stair-way and +stairway, steam-boats and steamboats, sun-light and sunlight. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Portland Sketch Book, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PORTLAND SKETCH BOOK *** + +***** This file should be named 39278-8.txt or 39278-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/2/7/39278/ + +Produced by Roberta Staehlin, JoAnn Greenwood, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +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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Stephens (editor). + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} +ins {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} +.tnote {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; +margin-right: 10%;padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; +padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + +.hebrew { + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 150%; + text-align: right; + margin-bottom: .75em; + margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 20%; +} + +.translit { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: left; + margin-bottom: .75em; + margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 20%; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +/* Vertical Spacing */ + +.medskip { +padding-top: 1em; +} + +.bigskip { +padding-top: 1.25em; +} + +.hugeskip { +padding-top: 3em; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} +.author { + margin-right: 15%; + text-align: right;} + + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ + +.cpoem1 {width: 40%; margin: 0 auto;} +.cpoem1 .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} +.cpoem1 span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em;} +.cpoem1 span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 1em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em;} +.cpoem1 span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em;} +.cpoem1 span.i6 { + display: block; + margin-left: 3em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em;} + + +.cpoem2 {width: 60%; margin: 0 auto;} +.cpoem2 .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} +.cpoem2 span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em;} +.cpoem2 span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 1em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em;} +.cpoem2 span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em;} +.cpoem2 span.i10 { + display: block; + margin-left: 5em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em;} +.cpoem2 span.i22 { + display: block; + margin-left: 11em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em;} + +.transnote {background-color:#EEE; color: inherit; margin: 2em 10% 1em 10%; +font-size: 80%; padding: 0.5em 1em 0.5em 1em; text-align: left;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Portland Sketch Book, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Portland Sketch Book + +Author: Various + +Editor: Ann S. Stephens + +Release Date: March 27, 2012 [EBook #39278] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PORTLAND SKETCH BOOK *** + + + + +Produced by Roberta Staehlin, JoAnn Greenwood, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="transnote"><h3>Transcriber's Note:</h3> + +<p>In "Descriptions of the Divine Being," P. 96, the block quote inside ~ +(tilde) marks is a transliteration of the Hebrew. The transliteration +was not present in the original and has been added by the transcriber; +[h.] is used for Het, to distinguish it from h for Hey. The UTF8 and +HTML versions also have the Hebrew script shown in the original.</p> + +<p>Remaining transcriber's notes are at the end of the text.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[i]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/halftitle_grey.jpg" width="500" height="600" alt="half-title image" title="" /> +</div> + +<h2> +THE</h2> +<div class="medskip"></div> +<h1>PORTLAND SKETCH BOOK.</h1> +<div class="bigskip"></div> +<h3>EDITED BY</h3> + +<h2>MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS.</h2> +<div class="hugeskip"></div> +<h4>PORTLAND:<br /> +COLMAN & CHISHOLM.</h4> + +<h5>Arthur Shirley, Printer.</h5> +<h4>1836.</h4> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[ii]</a></span></p> + + +<blockquote><p>Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1836, by +<span class="smcap">Edward Stephens</span>, in the Clerk's Office of the District +Court of Maine.</p></blockquote> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p>The object of the Portland Sketch-Book, is to collect +in a small compass, literary specimens from such authors +as have a just claim to be styled Portland writers. +The list might have been extended to a much +greater length, had all been included who have made +our city a place of transient residence; but no writer +has a place in this volume who is not, or has not been, +a citizen of Portland, either by birth or a long residence. +Therefore, all the names contained in these +pages are emphatically those of Portland authors. +Among those who were actually born here and either +wholly, or in part educated here, will be found the following +names, most of which are already known to the +world of literature.</p> + +<p>S. B. Beckett—James Brooks—William Cutter—Charles +S. Daveis—Nathaniel Deering—P. H. Greenleaf—Charles +P. Ilsley—Joseph Ingraham—Geo. W. +Light—Henry W. Longfellow—Grenville Mellen—Frederick +Mellen—Isaac McLellan, Jr.—John Neal—Elizabeth +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a></span>Smith—William Willis—N. P. Willis.</p> + +<p>Considering the population of our city—hardly fifteen +thousand at this time—the list itself we apprehend will +be considered as not the least remarkable part of the +book.</p> + +<p>It was the design of the Publishers to furnish a book +composed of original articles from all our living authors, +and to select only from those who have been lost +to us; but though great exertions were made, the editor +found much difficulty in collecting original materials, +even after they had been promised by almost every +individual to whom she applied. According to the +original design, each living author was to have contributed +a limited number of pages; but after frequent disappointments, +all restrictions were taken off; each +writer furnished as many original pages as suited his +pleasure, and the deficiency was supplied by selected +articles. In her selections, the editor has endeavored +to do impartial justice to our authors, and, in almost +every instance, she has been guided by them in her +choice. If in any case she has been obliged to exercise +her own judgment, in contradiction to theirs, it +was because the publishers had restricted her to a certain +number of pages, and the articles proposed would +have swelled the volume beyond the prescribed limits. +<i>Original</i> papers are inserted exactly as they were +supplied by their separate authors. A general invitation +was extended; therefore it should give no offence, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span>if those who have contributed largely fill the greater +portion of the Book, to the exclusion of much excellent +matter, which might have been selected. Several +writers who did not forward their contributions as expected, +have been omitted altogether, as the editor +could find nothing of theirs extant which was adapted +to a work strictly literary.</p> + +<p>In order to avoid all appearance of partiality, it has +been thought advisable to make an alphabetical arrangement +of names, and to let chance decide the position +of each author in the Book.</p> + +<p>The compiler has a word of apology to offer, before +she consigns her little book to the public. Reasons +which will be easily understood would have prevented +her appropriating any considerable portion to herself; +but she had contracted with the publishers to furnish a +volume, which should be at least two thirds original, +and when the pages forwarded to her were found insufficient +for her object, she was obliged, however unwillingly, +to supply the deficiency.</p> + +<p>The Editor now submits her Portland Book to the +public, with much solicitude that it may meet with +approbation—feeling +certain that indulgence would be +extended to her, could it be known how much labor +and difficulty have attended her slender exertions, in +the literature of a city she has never ceased to love.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span></p> + +<p>P. S. Among the papers omitted from necessity, is +one by the Rev. Dr. Nichols, which, owing to accident, +did not arrive till the arrangements for the work were +entirely completed. In the absence of the Editor, +whose own leading article arrived <i>almost</i> too late for +insertion, we have taken the liberty to state the facts, +that our readers may understand the cause of an omission +so extraordinary.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> + + + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#PREFACE">Preface</a></td><td align="right">iii</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#DIAMOND_COVE">Diamond Cove—By S. B. Beckett</a></td><td align="right">9</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#OUR_OWN_COUNTRY">Our Own Country—By James Brooks</a></td><td align="right">13</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_CRUISE_OF_THE_DART">The Cruise of The Dart—By S. B. Beckett</a></td><td align="right">21</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#TO_M_ON_HER_BIRTH-DAY">To M—, on her Birth-Day,—By William Cutter</a></td><td align="right">59</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#RELIGIOUS_OBLIGATION_IN_RULERS">Religious Obligation in Rulers—By John W. Chickering</a></td><td align="right">60</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#A_NEW-ENGLAND_WINTER-SCENE">A New-England Winter Scene—By William Cutter</a></td><td align="right">74</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#LOCH_KATRINE">Loch Katrine—By N. H. Carter</a></td><td align="right">78</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#WORSHIP">Worship—By Asa Cummings</a></td><td align="right">82</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_VALLEY_OF_SILENCE">The Valley of Silence—By William Cutter</a></td><td align="right">86</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#DESCRIPTIONS_OF_THE_DIVINE_BEING">Descriptions of The Divine Being—By Gershom F. Cox</a></td><td align="right">88</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_FRENCH_REVOLUTION">The French Revolution—By Charles S. Daveis</a></td><td align="right">98</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#MRS_SYKES">Mrs. Sykes—From the papers of Dr. Tonic, recently brought to light—By Nathaniel Deering</a></td><td align="right">102</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#OLD_AND_YOUNG">Old and Young—By James Furbish</a></td><td align="right">115</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#AUTUMNAL_DAYS">Autumnal Days—By P. H. Greenleaf</a></td><td align="right">119</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_PLAGUE">The Plague—By Charles P. Ilsley</a></td><td align="right">123</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#OH_THIS_IS_NOT_MY_HOME">'Oh, This is not My Home'—By Charles P. Ilsley</a></td><td align="right">125</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_VILLAGE_PRIZE">The Village Prize—By Joseph Ingraham</a></td><td align="right">126</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#INDIFFERENCE_TO_STUDY">Indifference to Study—By George W. Light</a></td><td align="right">134</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span> +<a href="#THE_VILLAGE_OF_AUTEUIL">The Village of Auteuil—By Henry W. Longfellow</a></td><td align="right">138</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_PAST_AND_THE_NEW_YEAR">The Past and The New Year—By Prentiss Mellen</a></td><td align="right">145</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_RUIN_OF_A_NIGHT">The Ruin of a Night—By Grenville Mellen</a></td><td align="right">150</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#COURTSHIP">Courtship—By William L. McClintock</a></td><td align="right">152</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#VENETIAN_MOONLIGHT">Venetian Moonlight—By Frederick Mellen</a></td><td align="right">158</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#BALLOONING">Ballooning—By I. McLellan, Jr.</a></td><td align="right">160</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#ODE">Ode—By Grenville Mellen</a></td><td align="right">166</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_BOYS_MOUNTAIN_SONG">The Boy's Mountain Song—By I. McLellan, Jr.</a></td><td align="right">167</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_UNCHANGEABLE_JEW">The Unchangeable Jew—By John Neal</a></td><td align="right">168</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#A_WAR-SONG_OF_THE_REVOLUTION">A War-Song of The Revolution—By John Neal</a></td><td align="right">183</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#MUSINGS_ON_MUSIC">Musings on Music—By James F. Otis</a></td><td align="right">185</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#SIN_ESTIMATED_BY_THE_LIGHT_OF_HEAVEN">Sin estimated by the Light of Heaven—By Edward Payson</a></td><td align="right">194</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_WAY_OF_THE_SOUL">The Way of the Soul—By L. S. P.</a></td><td align="right">200</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#FRAGMENTS_OF_AN_ADDRESS_ON_MUSIC">Fragments of An Address on Music—By Edward Payson</a></td><td align="right">206</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_BLUSH">The Blush—By Mrs. Elizabeth Smith</a></td><td align="right">212</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_WIDOWED_BRIDE">The Widowed Bride—By Mrs. Ann S. Stephens</a></td><td align="right">216</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#JACK_DOWNINGS_VISIT_TO_PORTLAND">Jack Downing's Visit to Portland—By Seba Smith</a></td><td align="right">227</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_DESERTED_WIFE">The Deserted Wife—By Mrs. Ann S. Stephens</a></td><td align="right">272</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#PORTLAND_AS_IT_WAS">Portland as it Was—By William Willis</a></td><td align="right">231</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_CHEROKEES_THREAT">The Cherokee's Threat—By N. P. Willis</a></td><td align="right">239</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#GRECIAN_AND_ROMAN_ELOQUENCE">Grecian and Roman Eloquence—By Ashur Ware</a></td><td align="right">256</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#RELIGION">Religion—By Jason Whitman</a></td><td align="right">269</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +</p> + +<h2>THE<br /> +PORTLAND SKETCH BOOK.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="DIAMOND_COVE" id="DIAMOND_COVE"></a>DIAMOND COVE.</h2> + + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A beauteous Cove, amid the isles<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That sprinkle Casco's winding bay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where, like an Eden, nature smiles<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In all her wild and rich array.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis sheltered from the ocean's roar<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By beetling crags and foam-girt rifts,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And mossy trees, that ages hoar<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have braved the sea-gales on its cliffs!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The broad-armed oak, the beech and pine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And elm, their branches intertwine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Above its tranquil, glassy face,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So that the sun finds scarcely space<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At mid-day, for his fervid beam<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To shimmer on the limpid stream;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And in its rugged, sparry caves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Worn by the winter's tempest waves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gleams many a crystal wildly bright<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like <i>diamonds</i>, flashing radiant light,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And hence the fairy spot is 'hight.'<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">The forests far extending round,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ne'er to the spoiler's axe resound;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor is man's toil or traces there;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">But resteth all as lone and fair—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sunny slopes, the rocks and trees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As desert isles in Indian seas,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That sometimes rise upon the view<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of some far-wandering, wind-bound crew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sleeping alone mid ocean's blue.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">The lonely ospray rears her brood<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Deep in the forest-solitude;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And through the long, bright summer day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When ocean, calm as mountain lake,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bears not a breath its hush to break,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The snow-winged sea-gull tilts away<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upon the long, smooth swell, that sweeps,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In curving, wide, unbroken reach,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Into the cove from outer deeps,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unwinding up the pebbly beach.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Oft blithly ring the wide old woods,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Within their loneliest solitudes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To youthful shout, and song, and glee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And viol's merry minstrelsy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When summer's stirless, sultry air<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pervades the city's thoroughfare,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And drives the throng to seek the shades<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of these green, zephyr-breathing glades!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The dance goes round; the trunks so tall—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rough columns of the festal hall—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sustain a broad and lofty roof<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of nature's greenest, loveliest woof!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The maiden weaves, in lieu of wreath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The bending fern-plumes in her hair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the wild flowers with scented breath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That spring to blossom every where<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Around; the forest's dream-like rest<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drives care and sorrow from each breast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And makes the worn and weary blest!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">And when the broad, dim waters blush<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath the tints of ebbing day,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">When comes the moon out in the hush<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of eve, with mellow, timid ray,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And twilight lingers far away<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On the blue waste, the fisher's skiff<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Comes dancing in, and 'neath the cliff<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is moored to rest, till morning's train<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beams with fresh beauty o'er the main,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And wakes him to his toil again!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">O, lovely there is sunset-hour!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When twilight falls with soothing power<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Along the forest-windings dim,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And from the thicket, sweet and low,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The red-breast tunes a farewell hymn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To daylight's latest, lingering glow—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When slope, and rock, and wood around,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In all their dreamy, hushed repose,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are glassed adown the bright profound—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And passing fair is evening's close!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When from the bright, cerulean dome,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sea-fowl, that have all the day<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wheeled o'er the far, lone billows' spray,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come thronging to their eyries home;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When over rock and wave, remote,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From yon dim fort, the bugle's note<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Along the listening air doth creep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seeming to steal down from the sky,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or with out-bursting, martial sweep<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rings through the forests, clanging high,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While echo waked bears on the strain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till faint, beyond the trackless main,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In realms of space it seems to die.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But lovelier still is night's calm noon!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When like a sea-nymph's fairy bark,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The mirrored crescent of the moon<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Swings on the waters weltering dark;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And in her solitary beam,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upon each bald, storm-beaten height,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The quartz and mica wildly gleam,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spangling the rocks with magic light;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And when a silvery minstrelsy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is swelling o'er the dim-lit sea,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As of some wandering fairy throng,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Passing on viewless wing along,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tuning their spirit-lyres to song;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And when the night's soft breeze comes out,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And for a moment breathes about,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shaking a burst of fresh perfume<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From every honied bell and bloom,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Startling the tall pine from its rest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sleeping wood-bird in her nest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or kissing the bright water's breast;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then stealing off into the shade,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As if it were a thing afraid!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">The Indian prized this beauteous spot<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of old; beneath the embowering shade<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He reared his rude and simple cot;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And round these wild shores where they played<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In youth, still—pilgrims from the bourn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of far Penobscot's sinuous stream,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Aged and bowed, and weary worn—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lingering they love to stray, and dream<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er the proud hopes possessed of yore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When forest, isle and mainland shore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For many a league, owned but their sway;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When, on the labyrinthine bay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now checkered o'er with many a sail,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alone his lightsome birch canoe<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fast, by the bright, green islets flew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor bark spread canvas to the gale.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Matchless retreat! mayst aye remain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As wild, as natural and free<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As now thou art; nor hope of gain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor enterprize a motive be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To lay thy hoary forests low;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gold ne'er can make thy beauties glow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor enterprize restore thy pride,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When once the monarchs round thy tide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have felt the exterminating blow.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="OUR_OWN_COUNTRY" id="OUR_OWN_COUNTRY"></a>OUR OWN COUNTRY.</h2> + +<h3>By James Brooks.</h3> + + +<p>What nation presents such a spectacle as ours, of a +confederated government, so complicated, so full of +checks and balances, over such a vast extent of territory, +with so many varied interests, and yet moving so +harmoniously! I go within the walls of the capitol at +Washington, and there, under the star-spangled banners +that wave amid its domes, I find the representatives of +three territories, and of twenty-four nations, nations in +many senses they may be called, that have within them +all the germ and sinew to raise a greater people than +many of the proud principalities of Europe, all speaking +one language—all acting with one heart, and all +burning with the same enthusiasm—the love and glory +of our common country,—even if parties do exist, and +bitter domestic quarrels now and then arise. I take my +map, and I mark from whence they come. What a +breadth of latitude, and of longitude, too,—in the fairest +portion of North-America! What a variety of climate,—and +then what a variety of production! What +a stretch of sea-coast, on two oceans—with harbors +enough for all the commerce of the world! What an +immense national domain, surveyed, and unsurveyed, +of extinguished, and unextinguished Indian titles within +the States and Territories, and without, estimated, in +the aggregate, to be 1,090,871,753 acres, and to be +worth the immense sum of <ins title="Transcriber's Note: +alternatively '1,363,589,69 dollars,--' see full note at end">$1,363,589,69,—</ins>750,000,000 +acres of which are without the bounds of the States<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +and the territories, and are yet to make new States +and to be admitted into the Union! Our annual revenue, +now, from the sales, is over three millions of dollars. +Our national debt, too, is already more than extinguished,—and +yet within fifty-eight years, starting with +a population of about three millions, we have fought +the War of Independence, again not ingloriously struggled +with the greatest naval power in the world, fresh +with laurels won on sea and land,—and now we have +a population of over thirteen millions of souls. One +cannot feel the grandeur of our Republic, unless he +surveys it in detail. For example, a Senator in Congress, +from Louisiana, has just arrived in Washington. +Twenty days of his journey he passed in a steam-boat +on inland waters,—moving not so rapidly, perhaps, as +other steam-boats sometimes move, in deeper waters,—but +constantly moving, at a quick pace too, day and +night. I never shall forget the rapture of a traveller, +who left the green parks of New Orleans early in +March,—that land of the orange and the olive, then +teeming with verdure, freshness and life, and, as it +were, mocking him with the mid-summer of his own +northern home. He journeyed leisurely toward the +region of ice and snow, to watch the budding of the +young flowers, and to catch the breeze of the Spring. +He crossed the Lakes Pontchartrain and Borgne; he +ascended the big Tombeckbee in a comfortable steam-boat. +From Tuscaloosa, he shot athwart the wilds of +Alabama, over Indian grounds, that bloody battles have +rendered ever memorable. He traversed Georgia, the +Carolinas, ranged along the base of the mountains of +Virginia,—and for three months and more, he enjoyed +one perpetual, one unvarying, ever-coming Spring,—that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +most delicious season of the year,—till, by the +middle of June, he found himself in the fogs of the +Passamaquoddy, where tardy summer was even then +hesitating whether it was time to come. And yet he +had not been off the soil of his own country! The flag +that he saw on the summit of the fortress, on the lakes +near New Orleans, was the like of that which floated +from the staff on the hills of Fort Sullivan, in the easternmost +extremity of Maine;—and the morning gun +that startled his slumbers, among the rocky battlements +that defy the wild tides of the Bay of Fundy, was not +answered till many minutes after, on the shores of the +Gulf of Mexico. The swamps, the embankments, the +cane-brakes of the Father of Waters, on whose muddy +banks the croaking alligator displayed his ponderous +jaws,—the cotton-fields, the rice-grounds of the low +southern country,—and the vast fields of wheat and +corn in the regions of the mountains, were far, far behind +him:—and he was now, in a Hyperborean land—where +nature wore a rough and surly aspect, and a +cold soil and a cold clime, drove man to launch his +bark upon the ocean, to dare wind and wave, and to +seek from the deep, in fisheries, and from freights, the +treasures his own home will not give him. Indeed, +such a journey as this, in one's own country, to an inquisitive +mind, is worth all 'the tours of Europe.' If +a young American, then, wishes to feel the full importance +of an American Congress, let him make such a +journey. Let him stand on the levee at New Orleans +and count the number and the tiers of American vessels +that there lie, four, five and six thick, on its long embankment. +Let him hear the puff, puff, puff, of the +high-pressure steam-boats, that come sweeping in almost<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +every hour, perhaps from a port two thousand miles +off,—from the then frozen winter of the North, to the +full burning summer of the South,—all inland navigation,—fleets +of them under his eye,—splendid boats, +too, many of them, as the world can show,—with elegant +rooms, neat berths, spacious saloons, and a costly +piano, it may be,—so that travellers of both sexes can +dance or sing their way to Louisville, as if they were on +a party of pleasure. Let him survey all these, as they +come in with products from the Red River, twelve +hundred miles in one direction, or from Pittsburg, +Pennsylvania, two thousand miles in another direction, +from the western tributaries of the vast Mississippi, the +thickets of the Arkansas, or White River,—from the +muddy, far-reaching Missouri, and its hundreds of +branches:—and then in the east, from the Illinois, the +Ohio, and its numerous tributaries—such as the Tennessee, +the Cumberland, or the meanest of which, such +as the Sandy River, on the borders of Kentucky—that +will in a freshet fret and roar, and dash, as if it were +the Father of Floods, till it sinks into nothing, when +embosomed in the greater stream, and there acknowledges +its own insignificance. Let him see 'the Broad +Horns,' the adventurous flatboats of western waters, on +which—frail bark!—the daring backwoodsman sallies +forth from the Wabash, or rivers hundreds of miles +above, on a voyage of atlantic distance, with hogs—horses—oxen +and cattle of all kinds on board—corn, +flour, wheat, all the products of rich western lands—and +let him see them, too, as he stems the strong current +of the Mississippi, as if the wood on which he floated +was realizing the fable of the Nymphs of Ida—goddesses, +instead of pines. Take the young traveller<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +where the clear, silvery waters of the Ohio become +tinged with the mud from the Missouri, and where the +currents of the mighty rivers run apart for miles, as if +indignant at the strange embrace. Ascend with him +farther, to St. Louis, where, if he looks upon the map +he will find that he is about as near the east as the west, +and that soon, the emigrant, who is borne on the wave +of population that now beats at the base of the Rocky +Mountains, and anon will overleap its summits—will +speak of him as he now speaks of New-England, as far +in the east. And then tell him that far west as he is, +he is but at the beginning of steam navigation—that the +Mississippi itself is navigable six or seven hundred +miles upward—and that steam-boats have actually gone +on the Missouri two thousand one hundred miles above +its mouth, and that they <i>can go</i> five hundred miles farther +still! Take him, then, from this land where the +woodsman is leveling the forest every hour, across +the rich prairies of Illinois, where civilization is throwing +up towns and villages, pointed with the spire of the +church, and adorned with the college and the school,—then +athwart the flourishing fields of Indiana, to Cincinnati,—well +called 'the Queen of the West,'—a city of +thirty thousand inhabitants, with paved streets, numerous +churches, flourishing manufactories, and an intelligent +society too,—and this in a State with a million +of souls in it now, that has undertaken gigantic public +works,—where the fierce savages, even within the +memory of the young men, made the hearts of their +parents quake with fear,—roaming over the forests, as +they did, in unbridled triumph,—wielding the tomahawk +in terror, and ringing the war-hoop like demons of vengeance +let loose from below! Show him our immense<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +inland seas, from Green Bay to Lake Ontario,—not +inconsiderable oceans,—encompassed with fertile fields. +Show him the public works of the Empire State, as +well as those of Pennsylvania,—works the wonder of +the world,—such as no people in modern times have +ever equalled. And then introduce him to the busy, +humming, thriving population of New-England, from +the Green Mountains of Vermont, the Switzerland of +America, to the northern lakes and wide sea-coast of +Maine. Show him the industry, energy, skill and ingenuity +of these hardy people, who let not a rivulet +run, nor a puff of wind blow, without turning it to some +account,—who mingle in every thing, speculate in +every thing, and dare every thing wherever a cent of +money is to be earned—whose lumbermen are found +not only in the deepest woods of the snowy and fearful +wilds of Maine, throwing up sawmills on the lone waterfalls, +and making the woods ring with their hissing +music—but found, too, on the banks of the St. Lawrence, +and coming also on mighty rafts of deal from +every eastern tributary of the wild St. John, Meduxnekeag +and Aroostook, streams whose names geographers +hardly know. And then too, as if this were not enough, +they turn their enterprize and form companies 'to log +and lumber,' even on the Ocmulgee and Oconee of the +State of Georgia—and on this day they are actually +found in the Floridas, there planning similar schemes, +and as there are no waterfalls, making steam impel +their saws. Show him the banks of the Penobscot, +now studded with superb villages—jewels of places, +that have sprung up like magic—the magnificent military +road that leads to the United States' garrison at +Houlton, a fairy spot in the wilderness, but approached<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +by as excellent a road as the United States can +boast of.</p> + +<p>Show him the hundreds and hundreds of coasters that +run up every creek and inlet of tide-water there, at +times left high and dry, as if the ocean would never +float them more: and then lift him above considerations +of a mercenary character, and show him how +New-England men are perpetuating their high character +and holy love of liberty,—and how, by neat and +elegant churches, that adorn every village,—by comfortable +school-houses, that appear every two miles, or +oftener, upon almost every road, free for every body,—high-born, +and low-born,—by academies and colleges, +that thicken even to an inconvenience; by asylums +and institutions, munificently endowed, for the benefit +of the poor:—and see, too, with what generous pride +their bosoms swell when they go within the consecrated +walls of Faneuil Hall, or point out the heights of Bunker +Hill, or speak of Concord, or Lexington.</p> + +<p>Give any young man such a tour as this—the best +he can make—and I am sure his heart will beat quick, +when he sees the proud spectacle of the assemblage of +the representatives of all these people, and all these +interests, within a single hall. He will more and more +revere the residue of those revolutionary patriots, who +not only left us such a heritage, won by their sufferings +and their blood, but such a constitution—such a government +here in Washington, regulating all our national +concerns—but who have also, in effect, left us twenty-four +other governments, with territory enough to double +them by-and-by—that regulate all the minor concerns +of the people, acting within their own sphere; now, in +the winter, assembling within their various capitols, from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +Jefferson city, on Missouri, to Augusta, on the Kennebec;—from +the capitol on the Hudson, to the government +house on the Mississippi. Show me a spectacle +more glorious, more encouraging, than this, even in +the pages of all history; such a constellation of free +States, with no public force, but public opinion—moving +by well regulated law—each in its own proper orbit, +around the brighter star in Washington,—thus realizing, +as it were, on earth, almost practically, the beautiful +display of infinite wisdom, that fixed the sun in the +centre, and sent the revolving planets on their errands. +God grant it may end as with them!</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="THE_CRUISE_OF_THE_DART" id="THE_CRUISE_OF_THE_DART"></a>THE CRUISE OF THE DART.</h2> + +<h3>By S. B. Beckett.</h3> + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"There was an old and quiet man,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And by the fire sat he;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And now, said he, to you I'll tell<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Things passing strange that once befell<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A ship upon the sea."—<i>Mary Howitt.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>"There she is, Ricardo," said I to my friend, as we +reached the end of the pier, in Havana, while the Dart +lay about half a mile off the shore,—"what think you +of her?"</p> + +<p>"Beautiful!—a more symmetrical craft never passed +the Moro!"</p> + +<p>So thought I, and my heart responded with a thrill +of pride to the sentiment. How saucy she looked, +with her gay streamers abroad upon the winds, and the +red-striped flag of the Union floating jauntily at the +main peak—with her lofty masts tapering away, till, +relieved against the blue abyss, they were apparently +diminished to the size of willow wands, while the slight +ropes that supported the upper spars seemed, from the +pier, like the fairy tracery of the spider. Although surrounded +by ships, xebecs, brigantines, polacres, galleys +and galliots from almost every clime in christendom, +she stood up conspicuously among them all, an +apt representative of the land whence she came! But +let us take a nearer view of the beauty. The hull was +long, low, and at the bows almost as sharp as the missile +after which she was named. From the waist to +the stern she tapered away in the most graceful proportions,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +and she had as lovely a run as ever slid over +the dancing billows. Light and graceful as a sea-bird, +she rocked on the undulating water. But her rig!—herein, +to my thinking, was her chiefest beauty—every +thing pertaining to it was so exact, so even and so +<i>tanto</i>. Besides the sail usually carried by man-of-war +schooners, she had the requisite appertenances for a +royal and flying kite, or sky-sail, which, now that she +was in port, were all rigged up. Not another vessel of +her class in the navy could spread so much canvas to +the influence of old Boreas as the Dart.</p> + +<p>Her armament consisted of one long brass twenty-four +pounder, mounted on a revolving carriage midships, +and six twelve-pound carronades. Add to this +a picked crew of ninety men, with the redoubtable +Jonathan West as our captain, Mr. Dacre Dacres as first, +and your humble servant, Ahasuerus Hackinsack, as +second lieutenant, besides a posse of minor officers +and middies,—and you may form a faint idea of the +Dart.</p> + +<p>Bidding adieu to my friend, I jumped into the pinnace +waiting, and in a few minutes stood on her quarter +deck.</p> + +<p>But it will be necessary for me to explain for what +purpose the Dart was here. She had been dispatched +by government to cruise among the Leeward Islands, +and about Cape St. Antonio, in quest of a daring band +of pirates, who, trusting to their superior prowess and +the fleetness of their vessel, a schooner called the Sea-Sprite, +had long scourged the merchantmen of the Indian +seas with impunity. Cruiser after cruiser had +been sent out to attack them in vain. She had invariably +escaped, until at length, in reality, they were left<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +for awhile, the undisputed 'rulers of the waves,' as +they vauntingly styled themselves. It was said of the +Sea-Sprite, that she was as fleet as the winds, and as +mysterious in her movements; and her master spirit, +the fierce Juan Piesta, was as wily and fierce a robber, +as ever prowled upon the western waters. Indeed, +so wonderful and various had been his escapes, that +many of the Spaniards, and the lower orders of seamen +in general, believed him to be leagued with the Powers +of Darkness!</p> + +<p>But the Dart had been fitted up for the present +cruise expressly on account of her matchless speed, +and our captain, generally known in the service by the +significant appellation of Old Satan West, was, in situations +where fighting or peril formed any part of the +story, a full match for his namesake.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>After cruising about the western extremity of Cuba, +for nearly a month, to no purpose, we bore away for +the southern coast of St. Domingo, and at the time my +story opens, were off Jacquemel. The morning was +heralded onward by troops of clouds, of the most +brilliant and burning hues—deep crimson ridges—fire-fringed +volumes of purple, hanging far in the depths of +the mild and beautiful heaven—long, rose-tinted and +golden plumes, stretching up from the horizon to the +zenith,—forming altogether a most gorgeous and magnificent +spectacle, while, to complete the pageant, the +sun, just rising from his ocean lair, shed a flood of +glaring light far over the restless expanse toward us, +and every rope and spar of our vessel, begemmed with +bright dew-drops, flashed and twinkled in his beams, +like the jeweled robes of a princely bride.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Fore top there! what's that away in the wake o' +the sun?" called out Mr. Dacres.</p> + +<p>"A drifting spar, I believe, Sir—but the sun throws +such a glare on the water I cannot see plainly."</p> + +<p>I looked in the direction pointed out, and saw a +dark object tumbling about on the fiery swell, like an +evil spirit in torment. We altered our course and stood +away toward it. It turned out to be a boat, apparently +empty, but on a nearer inspection we perceived a man +lying under its thwarts, whose pale, lank features and +sunken eye bespoke him as suffering the last pangs of +starvation. My surprise can better be imagined than +described, on discovering in the unfortunate man a +highly loved companion of my boyhood, Frederick +Percy! He was transferred from his miserable quarters +to a snug berth on board of the Dart, and in a few +hours, by the judicious management of our surgeon, +was resuscitated, so as to be able to come on deck.</p> + +<p>His story may be told in a few words. He had been +travelling in England—while there had married a beautiful, +but friendless orphan. Soon after this occurrence +he embarked in one of his father's ships for Philadelphia, +intending to touch at St. Domingo city, and take +in a freight. But, three days before, when within a +few hours' sail of their destined port, they had fallen in +with a piratical schooner, which, after a short struggle, +succeeded in capturing them. While protecting his +wife from the insults of the bucaneers, he received a +blow in the temple, which deprived him of his senses; +and when he awoke to consciousness it was night, wild +and dark, and he was tossing on the lone sea, without +provisions, sail or oars, as we had found him. For three +days he had not tasted food. Poor fellow! his anxiety<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +as to the fate of his wife almost drove him to distraction.</p> + +<p>This circumstance assured us that we were on the +right trail of the marauder whom we sought. We continued +beating up the coast till noon, when the breeze +died away into a stark calm, and we lay rolling on the +long glassy swell, about ten leagues from the St. Domingo +shore. The sun was intensely powerful, glowing +through the hazy atmosphere, directly over our +heads, like a red-hot cannon ball; and the far-stretching +main was as sultry and <i>arid</i> as the sands of an +African desert. To the north, the cloud-topped mountains +of St. Domingo obstructed our view, looming +through the blue haze to an immense height—presenting +to as the aspect of huge, flat, shadowy walls; and +one need have taxed his imagination but lightly, to +fancy them the boundaries dividing us from a brighter +and a better clime. The depths of the ocean were +as translucent as an unobscured summer sky, and far +beneath us we could distinguish the dolphins and king-fish, +roaming leisurely about, or darting hither and thither +as some object attracted their pursuit; while nearer +its surface the blue element was alive with myriads +of minor nondescripts, riggling, flouncing and lazily +moving up and down,—probably attracted by the shade +of our dark hull.</p> + +<p>The men having little else to do, obtained from the +captain permission to fish. Directly they had hauled +in a dozen or more of the most ill-favored, shapeless, +unchristian-looking articles I ever clapped eyes on, +which, when I came from aft, were dancing their +death jigs on the forecastle-deck, much to the diversion +of the captain's black waiter, Essequibo.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Halloo!—this way, blackey!" shouted an old tar +to the merry African, who, by the way, was a kind of +reference table for the whole crew—"Egad! Billy, +look here,—what do you call this comical looking +devil that has helped himself to my hook? Why! his +body is as long as the articles of discipline, and his +mouth almost as long as his body!—your own main-hatch-way +is not a circumstance to it!"</p> + +<p>"Him be one gar fish—ocium gar!—he no good +for eat," answered the black with a grin that drew the +corners of his mouth almost back to his ears, so that, +to appearance, small was the hinge that kept brain and +body together.</p> + +<p>At the sight the querist dropped the fish, exclaiming +with feigned wonder, "By all that's crooked, an even +bet!—ar'n't your mouth made ov injy rubber, Billy!"</p> + +<p>"Good ting to hab de larsh mout, Misser Mongo,—eat +de more—lib de longer," said Billy.</p> + +<p>"Screw your blinkers this way, Jack Simpson, there's +a prize for you," said another, as he dragged a huge +lump-headed, bull-eyed, tail-less mass out of the water, +with fins protruding, like thorns, from every part of his +body!—"Guess he's one of the fighting cocks down +below, seeing his spurs!—any how, he's well armed,—I'll +be keel-hauled, if he don't look like the beauty that +we saw carved out on the Frencher's stern, with the +Neptune bestride it, in Havana, barin' he wants a tail! +Han't he a queer un?—but how in natur do you suppose +he makes out to steer without a rudder?"</p> + +<p>"Steer wid he head turn behin' him!" answered +Seignor Essequibo, bursting into a chuckling laugh—mightily +tickled with the struggles of the ungainly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +monster,—"Che, che, che!—him sea-dragum—catch +um plenty on de cos ob Barbado. Take care ob him +horn!"</p> + +<p>"Yo, heave, ho! Shaint Pathrick, an' it's me what's +caught a whale!" drawled out a brawny Patlander, +while he tugged and sweated to heave in his prize.</p> + +<p>"My gorra! you hook one barracouter!" cried +Billy, as his eye caught a glimpse of the big fish curveting +in the water at the end of Paddy's line,—"Bes' +fish in de worl'!—good for make um chowder—good +for fry—for ebery ting,—me help you pull him in, +Massa Coulan," and without further ado, he laid hold +of the line. The beautiful fish was hauled in, and +consigned to the custody of the cook.</p> + +<p>"Stave in my bulwarks, if this 'ere dragon-fish ha'n't +stuck one of his horns into my foot an inch deep!" +roared an old marine,—"Hand me that sarving mallet, +snow ball, I'll see if I can't give him a hint to +behave better!"</p> + +<p>"Hurrah!—here comes an owl-fish, I reckon;" +shouted a merry wight of a tar, from the land of wooden +nutmegs,—"specimen of the salt-water owl! Lord, +look at his teeth—how he grins!—What are you +laughing at, my beauty?"</p> + +<p>"Le diable! une chouette dans la mer?" exclaimed +a little wizen-pated Frenchman, who had seated himself +astraddle of the cathead.—"Vel, Monsieur Vagastafsh, +comment nommez vous dish petit poisson?"</p> + +<p>"Poison! No, Monsheer, I rather guess there han't +the least bit o' poison in natur about that ere <i>young +shark</i>!" replied Wagstaff, "though for that matter +a shark's worse'n poison."</p> + +<p>"I not mean poison—I say poisson—<i>fish</i>."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> + +<p>"O, poison fish—yes, I know—you'll find plenty of +them on the Bahamy copper banks. I always gets the +cook to put a piece of silver in the boilers, when we +grub on fish in them ere parts."</p> + +<p>"O, mon dieu! le rashcalle hash bitez mon vum +almos' off! Sacré, vous ingrat, to treatez me so like, +when I am feed you wis de bon dîner!"</p> + +<p>My attention was called away from this scene of +hilarity, by the voice of the watch in the fore-top, announcing +a sail in sight.</p> + +<p>A faint indefinable speck could be seen in the quarter +designated, fluttering on the bosom of the blue sea +like a drift of foam. With the aid of the glass we made +it out to be the topsail of a schooner, so distant that her +hull and lower sails were below the brim of the horizon. +Her canvas had probably just been unloosed to the +breeze, which was directly after seen roughening the +face of the broad, smooth expanse as it swept down toward +us.</p> + +<p>"That glass, Mr. Waters—she is standing toward +us, and by the gods of war! the cut of her narrow flying +royal, looks marvellously like that of our friend, +the Sea-Sprite!" said the captain, while the blood +flashed over his bald forehead, like 'heat lightning' over +a summer cloud; "Mr. Hackinsack, see that every +thing is ready for a chase."</p> + +<p>The broad sails were unloosed and sheeted close +home. Directly the wind was with us, and we were +bowling along under a press of canvas.</p> + +<p>"Now, quartermaster, look to your sails as closely, +as you would watch one seeking your life." Another +squint through the glass. "Ha! they have suspected +us, and are standing in toward the land, jam on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +wind;—let them look to it sharply; it must be a fleet +pair of heels that can keep pace with the Dart,—though +to say the least of yonder cruiser, she is no laggard!"</p> + +<p>After pacing the deck some ten minutes, he again +hove short and lifted the glass to his eye.</p> + +<p>"By heavens! the little witch still holds her way +with us!—Have the skysail set, and rig out the top-gallant-studd'n'sail!"</p> + +<p>Every one on board was now eager in the chase. The +orders were obeyed almost as soon as given. Our +proud vessel, under the press of sail, absolutely flew +over the water, haughtily tossing the rampant surges +from her sides, while her bows were buried in a roaring +and swirling sheet of foam, and a broad band of snow +stretched far over the dark blue waste astern, showing +a wake as strait as an arrow. She was careened down +to the breeze, so that her lower studd'n'sail-boom every +moment dashed a cloud of spray from the romping +billows, and her lee rail was at times under water. Her +masts curved and whiffled beneath the immense piles of +canvas, like a stringed bow.</p> + +<p>"She walks the waters bravely," said the captain, +casting a glance of exultation at the distended sails and +bending spars, and then at our arrowy wake.—"But, +by Jupiter, the chase still almost holds her way with us. +We need more sail aft. Bear a hand, my men, and +run up the ringtail."</p> + +<p>"That will answer,—a dolphin would have a sweat +to beat us in this trim!"</p> + +<p>"Well, Mr Percy, is yonder dasher the craft that +pillaged your ship, and sent you cruising about the +ocean in that bit of a cockle-shell, think you?"</p> + +<p>"That is the pirate schooner—I cannot mistake her,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +replied Percy, who stood with his flashing eyes rivetted +on the vessel, and his fingers impatiently working about +the hilt of his cutlass, while his brow was darkened +with an intense desire of revenge.</p> + +<p>Three hours passed, and we had gained within a +league of the noble looking craft. She was heeled +down to the breeze, so that owing to the 'bagging' of +her lower sails, her hull was almost hidden from sight. +Like a snowy cloud, she darted along the revelling waters, +the sunbeams basking on her wide-spread wings, +and the sprightly billows flashing and surging around +her bows. Never saw I an object more beautiful.</p> + +<p>The land was now fully in sight—a stern and rock-bound +coast, against which the breakers dashed with +maddening violence, and for half a mile from the shore, +the water was one conflicting waste of snowy surf and +billow. No signs of inhabitants, on either hand, as far +as the eye could view, were discernible. The long +range of stern, solitary mountains arose from the waves, +and towered away till lost in the clouds. Their sides, +save where some splintered cliff lifted its gray peaks in +the day, were clothed with thick forests, among which +the tufted palm and wild cinnamon stood up conspicuously, +like sentinels looking afar over the wide waste +of blue. Here and there a torrent could be traced, +leaping from crag to cliff, seeming, as it blazed in the +fierce sun-light, to run liquid fire; and gorgeous masses +of wild creepers and tangled undergrowth hung down +over the embattled heights, swaying and flaunting in +the gale, like the banners and streamers of an encamped +army.</p> + +<p>Not the slightest chance for harbor or anchorage +could be discovered along the whole iron-bound coast,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +yet the gallant little Sea-sprite held steadily on her +course, steering broad for the base of the mountains.</p> + +<p>"Why, in the name of madness, is the fellow driving +in among the breakers?" muttered our captain;—"Thinks +he to escape by running into danger? By +Mars, and if I mistake not, he shall have peril to his +heart's content, ere nightfall!"</p> + +<p>But fate willed that we should be disappointed; for +just as every thing had been arranged to treat the bucaneer +with a fist full of grape and canister, one of those +sudden tempests, so common to the West Indies in the +autumn months, was upon us. A vast, black, conglomerated +volume of vapor swung against the mountain +summits, and curled heavily down over the cliffs. Brilliant +scintillations were darting from its shadowy borders, +and the zigzag lightnings were playing about it, and +licking its ragged folds like the tongues of an evil +spirit! Suddenly it burst asunder, and a burning +gleam—a wide conflagration, as if the very earth had +exploded—flashed over the hills, accompanied with a +peal of thunder that made the broad ocean tremble, +and our deck quiver under us, like a harpooned grampus +in his death gasp! The electric fluid upheaved +and hurled to fragments an immense peak near the +summit of the mountains, and huge masses of rock, +with thunderous din, and amid clouds of dust, smoke +and fire, came bounding and racing down from crag to +crag, uprooting the tall cedars, and dashing to splinters +the firm iron-wood trees, as though they had been but +reeds—sweeping a wide path of ruin through the thick +forests, and shivering to atoms and dust the loose rocks +that obstructed their career, till, with a whirring bound, +they plunged from a beetling cliff into the sea, causing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +the tortured water to send up a cloud of mist and spray. +All on board were struck aghast at the blinding brilliancy +of the flash and its terrible effects.</p> + +<p>We were aroused to a sense of our situation, by the +clear, sonorous voice of Satan West, whom nothing +pertaining to earth could daunt, calling all hands to +take in sail.</p> + +<p>Instantly the trade-wind ceased, and a fearful, death-like +silence ensued. This was of short duration; hardly +were our sails stowed close, when we saw the trees on +shore drawn upwards, twisted off and rent to pieces, +while a dense mass of leaves and broken branches +whirled over the land; and a wild, deep, wailing sound, +as of rushing wings, filled the air, foretelling the onset +of the whirlwind.</p> + +<p>"The hurricane is upon us!—helm hard aweather!" +thundered the captain.</p> + +<p>But the Dart was already lying on her beam-ends, +heaving, groaning and quivering throughout every +timber, in the fierce embrace of the tremendous blast! +After its first overpowering shock, however, the gallant +craft slowly recovered, and by dint of the strenuous +exertions of our men, she was got before the gale. +Away she sprang, like a frighted thing, over the tormented +and whitening surges, completely shrouded in +foam and spray. A dense cloud, murky as midnight, +spread over the face of the heavens, where a moment +before, naught met the gazer's eye, save the fleecy +mackerel-clouds, drifting afar through its cerulean halls. +The blue lightnings gleamed, the thunder boomed and +rattled, the black billows shook their flashing manes, the +whole firmament was in an uproar; and amid the wild +rout, our little Dart, as a dry leaf in the autumn winds,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +was borne about, a very plaything in the eddying whirls +of the frantic elements.</p> + +<p>The tempest was as short lived as it was sudden, +and, as the schooner had sustained no material injury, +directly after it had abated she was under sail again. +When the rain cleared up in shore, every eye sought +eagerly for the pirate craft.</p> + +<p>She had vanished!</p> + +<p>Nothing met our view but the tossing and tumbling +surges, and the breaker-beaten coast. If ever old Satan +West was taken aback, it was then. His brow +darkened, and a shadow of unutterable disappointment +passed over his countenance.</p> + +<p>"Gone!—By all that is mysterious and wonderful—gone!" +he muttered to himself,—"escaped from my +very grasp! Can there be truth in the wild tales told +of her? No, no!—idiot to harbor the thought for a +moment—she has foundered!"</p> + +<p>But this was hardly probable, as not the slightest +vestige of her remained about the spot.</p> + +<p>Poor Percy, too, was the picture of despair. His +hat had been blown away by the hurricane; and his +hair tossed rudely in the wind, as he stood in the main-chains, +gazing with the wildness of a maniac over the +uproarous waters.</p> + +<p>"The lovers of the marvelous would here find +enough to fatten upon, I ween," said Dacres, composedly +helping himself to a quid of tobacco. "What think you +is to come next? for I hardly think the play ends with +actors and all being spirited away in a thunder gust!"</p> + +<p>I was interrupted in my reply by the energetic exclamations +of the captain, who had been gazing seaward, +over the quarter-rail.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, by all the imps in purgatory, it is that devil-leagued +pirate," burst from his lips; and at the same +moment the cry of <i>Sail O!</i> was heard from the forward +watch.</p> + +<p>A long-sparred vessel could be seen, relieved against +the black bank of clouds, that were crowding down the +horizon. Surprise was imaged on every countenance, +and when the order was passed to crowd on all sail in +pursuit, a murmur of disapprobation +<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'run'">ran</ins> through the +whole crew. However, such was their respect for the +regulations of the service, and so great their dread of +old Satan West, that no one dared demur openly. +Again the Dart was bounding over the waves in pursuit +of the stranger, which had confirmed our suspicions as +to her character, by hoisting all sail and endeavoring to +escape us.</p> + +<p>But here likewise we were disappointed. She proved +to be a Baltimore clipper, and had endeavored to +run away from us, taking us for the same craft we had +supposed her to be.</p> + +<p>After parting from the Baltimorean, we ran in; and +as the evening fell, anchored under the land, sheltered +from the waves by a little rocky promontory. It was my +turn to take the evening watch. Our wearied crew were +soon lost in sleep, and all was hushed into repose, if I +except the shrill, rasping voices of the green lizards, +the buzzing and humming of the numerous insects on +shore, and the occasional, long-drawn creak, creak of +the cable, as the schooner swung at her anchor. The +evening was mild and beautiful. The moon, attended +by one bright, beautiful planet, was on her wonted +round through the heavens, and the far expanse of +ocean, reflecting her effulgence, seemed to roll in billows<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +of molten silver beneath the gentle night-wind, +which swept from the land, fragrant with the breath of +wild-flowers and spicy shrubs.</p> + +<p>Little Ponto, the royal reefer, lay on a gun carriage +near me. This boy, whom, when on a former cruise, +I had rescued from a Turkish Trader, was a favorite +with all on board. Although, in person, effeminate and +beautiful as a girl, and possessing the strong affections +of the weaker sex, he still was not wanting in that high +courage and energy which constitutes the pride of +manhood. He was an orphan, and with the exception +of a sister and aunt, who were living together in England, +there was not, in the wide world, one being with +whom he could claim relationship. When very young, +he had been entrusted to the charge of the friendly +captain of a merchant ship, bound to Smyrna, for the +purpose of improving his health. But the vessel never +reached her destined port. She was captured by an +Algerine rover, and the boy made prisoner. It was +from the worst of slavery that I had rescued him, and +ever after the occurrence his gratitude toward me knew +no bounds. He appeared to be contented and happy +in his present situation, save when his thoughts reverted +to his lone sister. Then the tears would spring into +his eyes, and he would talk to me of her beauty and +goodness, till I was almost in love with the pure being +which his glowing descriptions had conjured to my +mind. I loved that boy as a brother, and he returned +my affection with a fervor, equalling that of a trusting +woman.</p> + +<p>As I leaned against the companion-way, absorbed in +pleasant dreams of my far home, a touch on the shoulder +aroused me. I turned and Percy stood by my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +side. The beauty of the evening had soothed his wild +and agitated feelings. He spoke of his wife with touching +regret, as if certain that she was lost to him forever. +For nearly an hour he stood gazing on the moon's +bright attendant, as if he fancied it her home.</p> + +<p>At length he disappeared below, and again Ponto, +who seemed to be wrapped in a deep revery, was my +only companion. We had remained several minutes +in silence, when suddenly, as if it had dropped from +the clouds, a female form appeared far above us, on a +precipitous bluff that leaned out over the deep, on which +the solitary moonlight slept in unobstructed brightness. +The form advanced so near the brink of the fearful +crag, that we could even distinguish the color of her +drapery as it fluttered in the wind. By the motion of +her arms she seemed beckoning us on shore; then, as +if despairing to attract our attention, she looked fearfully +about, and the next moment a strain of exquisite +melody came floating down to us, like a voice from +heaven. We remained breathless, and could almost +distinguish the words.</p> + +<p>The strain terminated in a startling cry, and with a +frantic gesture the figure tore a crimson scarf from her +neck, and shook it wildly on the winds; at the same +moment the dark form of a man leaped out on the +cliff. There was a short struggle, with reiterated +shrieks of 'help! help! help!' in a voice of agony, +and all disappeared in the deep shadow of another rock.</p> + +<p>Ponto, who at the first burst of the song, had started +up and grasped my arm with a degree of wild energy +I had never witnessed in him before, now suddenly +released his hold, and with a single bound plunged into +the sea. So lost was I in amazement at the whole<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +scene, that for a moment I remained undecided what +course to pursue; then, not wishing to alarm the ship, +I ordered Waters, the midshipman of the watch, to +jump into the boat with a few of the men, and pull +after him.</p> + +<p>The head of my little favorite soon became visible +in the moonlight. With a vigorous arm he struck out +for the shore, and was immediately hid in the deep +shadow of its mural cliffs. A moment, and I again +saw him on the beetling rocks, whence the female had +just disappeared; then he, too, was lost in the darkness.</p> + +<p>Waters, after being absent in the boat about half an +hour, returned without having discovered the least sign +of the fugitive. Hour after hour I awaited the return +of my adventurous boy, filled with painful anxiety.</p> + +<p>As the night deepened, the clouds, which during the +day had slumbered on the mountain battlements, as if +held in awe by the majesty of the burning sun, rolled +slowly down the steeps and gradually spread out on the +sea, enveloping us in their humid embrace. A denser +mist I never saw; my thin clothing was soon wet +through and clinging to me like steel to a magnet, and +we were completely lost in darkness. As I paced the +deck, not willing to go below while my young favorite +was in peril, Waters tapped me on the shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Did you notice any thing then, Mr. Hackinsack? +I thought I heard a splash in the water, like the dip of +an oar."</p> + +<p>"Some fish, I suppose, Waters."</p> + +<p>"I think not, Sir; besides, just now I saw a dark +object gliding slowly across our bow in the mist, which +I then took for a drifting log."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p> + +<p>I walked round the deck and peered into the fog on +every side, but could discover nothing. I listened; all +was silent save the tweet, tweet, of the lizards and the +roar of the surf, as it beat on the rocks astern. Presently +old Benjamin Ramrod, the gunner, came aft.</p> + +<p>"I wish this infernal fog would clear up!" said he, +"for the last half hour, I have heard strange noises +about us! I am much mistaken, or we are surrounded +by enemies of some sort or other. When that shining +apparition arose from the bluff there, and began to +beckon to us, I said to myself, some accident is going +to happen before many hours, and you see if my pro'nostics +ar'n't true. Minded you how, by her sweet +voice, she lured that poor boy, Ponto, overboard?—and +even I, who may say I've had some experience in such +matters, began to feel a queerish sensation, as I harkened +to her witchery. Many a poor sailor has lost his +life by listening to their lonesome-like songs. I remember +once when I was on the coast of Africa, in a +gold-dust and ivory trader, we heard the water-wraiths +and mermaids singing to each other all night long, +and the very next day our ship was driven upon the +rocks in a white squall, and wrecked, and only myself +and a Congo nigger escaped alive, out of a crew of +twenty-three!—It strikes me, too," he continued, after +listening a moment, "that we shall have a storm before +morning; the fog seems to be brushing by us, and the +noise of the breakers on shore grows terribly loud. I +would give all the prize-money I ever gained to be out +of the place, with good sea-room, a flowing sheet, and +our bows turned toward home—no good ever came of +fighting these pirate imps.—Heaven help us! what is +that?" he exclaimed with a start, as a tall, white form<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +shot up, a few rods under our stern, seen but dimly +through the fog.</p> + +<p>The fact flashed upon me at once; our cable had +been cut; it was the spray of the breakers rebounding +from the shore. The best bower anchor was instantly +let go, which brought us up; not however till we had +drifted within a cable's length of the breakers, which +ramped and roared all the night with maddening violence, +as if eager to engulf us. The alarm was given, +and in a few minutes every thing was prepared for +any emergency that might occur.</p> + +<p>I ordered Ramrod to clap a charge of grape into one +of the bow-chasers and let drive at the first object that +came in sight. As I gave the order the dip of oars +could be plainly distinguished, receding from our bows. +Benjamin did not wait to see the marauders, but fired +in the direction of the sound. The fog was swept +away before the mouth of the gun, to some distance, +and I caught a glimpse of a boat filled with men. A +deep groan told that the gun had been rightly directed.</p> + +<p>There was now no doubt that we were surrounded +by enemies. It was only by the foreboding watchfulness +of the gunner that we were prevented from going +ashore, where, doubtless, the pirates expected to have +obtained an easy victory over us.</p> + +<p>About ten minutes after this incident I was startled +by the faint voice of Ponto, hailing me from under the +schooner's side. I joyfully lowered the man-ropes, and +immediately had the adventurous boy beside me, on the +quarter-deck. He grasped my hand, and I felt him +tremble all over with eagerness.</p> + +<p>"You heard that song; the voice was that of my +own sister! That shriek, too, was hers; do you wonder<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +that I leaped overboard? I scarcely know how I +reached the rock from which she was dragged. I +climbed up and up, in the direction I supposed they +must have taken, until I gained the very summit of one +of the hills. I looked down, and as it were floating in +the haze, many feet below me, saw the face of a rock +reddened by the blaze of a fire opposite. I clambered +from cliff to cliff, clinging to the branches of the trees, +and letting myself down by the mountain creepers that +hung like thick drapery over the descent, till all at +once I dropped over the very mouth of a deep cavern. +A massy vine fell in heavy festoons down over the +rugged pillars that formed its portal. Securing a foothold +among its tendrils, concealed by its luxuriant foliage, +I bent over and looked in. A large party of +fierce-looking men, with pistols in their belts and cutlasses +lying by them, were seated round a rude table, +feasting and making merry over their wine beakers. I +paid little attention to them, for against the rough wall +was an old woman, and leaning upon her—as I live, it +is true—was my own, my beautiful sister, she whom I +had left in England! I thought my heart would have +choked me, as I looked upon her pale, sorrowful face, +and heard her low sobs. In my tremor the vine shook; +some loose stones were started, and went clattering +down into the very mouth of the cavern. Two of the +pirates sprang up, and seizing a flaming brand, rushed +out. The red blaze flashed over her face as they +passed, and I heard them threaten her with a terrible +fate, if they were discovered through her means. At +the first start of the rocks I drew back into the vines, +where I remained breathless and still, while they scanned +the recesses of the crag. 'We were mistaken,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +Jacopo,' at length said one of them, 'it was probably a +<ins title="Transcriber's Note: less-used spelling for 'iguana'">guana</ins>, +drawn hither by the fire.' Satisfied that no one +was near, they returned to their comrades, who ridiculed +them for their temerity.</p> + +<p>"Again I listened, and heard them plan to cut the +cable of the Dart, and run her into the breakers. If +they failed in this attempt, they were to haul the Sea-Sprite +out of her hiding place and leave the coast, +trusting, with the aid of the fresh land-breeze, to get +beyond pursuit before day-break.—The mist had come +on, and knowing it impossible to reach the Dart over +the rough precipices in time to give you warning, I remained +in my concealment, undecided what course to +pursue, when I saw a party of the pirates leave the +cavern to go to their boats. Perceiving beneath me, +on the bough of a wild tamarind, sundry articles of +clothing, similar to those worn by the bucaneers, a bold +thought occurred to me. When they had gone beyond +the light from the cave, I cautiously lowered myself +down, and drawing on a jacket and one of the caps, +jumped with them into the boat, no one in the darkness +suspecting me.</p> + +<p>"To appearance we were in the very heart of the +mountains. I am certain that rocks and foliage were +piled up all around us.—After a short row we passed +through what seemed to be a deep chasm, between +two crags, which must have been very high, as the +darkness between them was almost palpable, and in a +few moments we were riding over the long swell of the +open sea. We groped about in the mist for some time, +till the position of the Dart was ascertained by the +chafing noise of one of her booms, when, gliding softly +up, with their sharp knives they cut her cable, and she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +began to drift astern. The strictest silence was enjoined +upon us all, so that had I moved or made the +least noise, as I had intended, my life had been the +forfeit. However, I had just made up my mind to run +all hazards, when the flame of the gun gleamed through +the fog. One of the pirates fell dead in the bottom of +the boat, and in the hurried stir which this produced, I +contrived to slip into the water.</p> + +<p>"Now let me conjure you to take measures for the +rescue of my poor sister. How she came into their +power is a mystery. But my heart will break if she is +not soon freed from these lawless men."</p> + +<p>I informed the captain of Ponto's discovery, but he +saw at once that it would be madness to attempt any +thing in our present situation, with sunken rocks around +us, the breakers astern, and a thick mist wrapping all +in obscurity.</p> + +<p>At last, after a night of the most wearisome watching, +the day dawned, and the mists returned to their +mountain fastnesses. Burning for a brush with the +desperadoes, we towed the Dart out of her critical +situation and got her under sail. The launch and cutter +were ordered out, but here we were at fault. The +morning sunlight slept calmly on the forest clad ridges +and gray cliffs, and every irregularity and indentation +of the shore were strongly shadowed forth; but not the +least sign of harbor or anchorage could be seen, except +under the rocky promontory we had just left, and every +thing looked as forsaken and solitary as a creation's +birth. However, not doubting that we should be able +to sift the mystery, the boats put off, with full and well-armed +crews, and on nearing the shore discovered a +narrow inlet, that wound in between the two lofty cliffs,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +the one projecting out with a magnificent curve, so as +entirely to conceal the channel until we approached +within a few rods of the shore.</p> + +<p>"We've got on the right scent of the old fox now, +I think," said Waters.</p> + +<p>"Speak low, gentlemen; if discovered we may meet +with a reception here not altogether so agreeable—I +don't like the appearance of those grave looking fellows, +yonder," said Dacres, pointing to four cannon +mounted on a low parapet, with their muzzles bearing +directly toward us.</p> + +<p>"Why, the place is as silent as a grave-yard," muttered +the old cockswain of the cutter.</p> + +<p>We advanced softly up the inlet, and found it to +branch out into a broad basin. Here was explained +the mystery of the Sea-Sprite's sudden disappearance; +this was the <i>Pirate's Retreat</i>, and from their escaping +hither and into similar resorts known only to themselves, +arose the many wild stories that were abroad +respecting their supernatural prowess. Fifty well armed +men might have defended the place against five +hundred assailants, as there was only one point, the +inlet, susceptible of an attack. The entrance was not +more than thirty feet in width—only sufficient for one +vessel to enter at a time; but the water was bold and +deep, with a sandy bottom. An enormous cavern +yawned at the farther extremity of the basin, which +Ponto immediately recognized as that where the pirates +held their revel the previous night. But now the place +was evidently deserted; the Sea-Sprite had made her +escape.</p> + +<p>The crew of the barge were despatched on shore to +explore the premises, while we, as a <i>corps-de-reserve</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +lay on our oars, with fire-arms loaded, ready for any +emergency. While waiting I had an opportunity of +surveying the magnificent scene around me. We lay +in the deep shadow of a beetling precipice of such immense +altitude, that the snow-white morning clouds, as +they floated onward, like messengers from heaven, +swept its summit. Thousands of gray sea-birds were +sailing around their eyries, along its dark craggy sides +far above us, while its hollow recesses reverberated +their shrill cries, till to our ears they sounded like one +continued scream. The cliffs all around were tumbled +about in the most chaotic confusion, as if they had been +upheaved by some tremendous throe of nature. Stinted +forest trees and brush wood, with here and there a +wild locust or banana, had gained a footing in the +seams and fissures of the crags, and thick masses of +the lusty mountain creepers, intertwined with wild +flowering jessamin and grenadilla, fell in gorgeous +festoons down the embattled heights, draping their +rough projections in robes of the most magnificent +woof. Nearly opposite was a yawning ravine, filled +with myriads of huge, shattered trees, ragged stumps, +loose stones and gravel, which probably had been +swept from the mountains, by the foaming torrents that +rush down to the sea in the rainy months. The desolation +of this scene was in a measure relieved by the +quick springing vegetation that had found sustenance +among the decayed trunks, and in the black earth that +still adhered to the matted roots; so that green foliage, +and wild flowers of the most brilliant dies in sumptuous +profusion, were waving and nodding over prostrate +trees, which perchance a year before, had stood up in +the pride of primeval lustihood, on the mountain ridges.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +Further back, beyond this gorge, the sloping steeps +were clothed with dark waving forests, stretching up +their sides, till they faded into the blue haze resting on +the mountain summits. The freshness of early day +had not yet been dissipated. Among the undergrowth +and brakes, on the tips of the tall, sweeping guinea +grass, and in the cups of the wild flowers, the pure +dews hung in glittering globules, sparkling with brilliant +prismatic tints, as they flashed back the glances +of the rising sun. Calmness and repose reigned over +the unequalled sublimities of the place; and although +the billows were madly beating and roaring against the +outer base of the crescent-like promontory, within, the +water was silent and unruffled by a breath, reflecting +in its depths the wild and gorgeous array of rock and +verdure around, almost as unwavering as reality itself; +and had it not been for the tiny wavelets that rippled +up a small sandy beach, adorning the water's edge +with a narrow frill of foam, its likeness to a broad sheet +of glass had been perfect.</p> + +<p>At length, after the premises had been thoroughly +reconnoitered, the crew of the cutter were permitted to +go on shore. They were soon revelling amidst the +costly merchandize and the luxuries, with which the +cavern was gorged.</p> + +<p>"Holloa, Price!" said Waters to a fellow mid, as he +came out of the cave, dragging an old hag of a woman +after him, apparently much against her will; "I've +found the presiding goddess of the place. Isn't she a +Venus?"</p> + +<p>"Wenus indeed!" echoed the old beldame, "take +that, young madcap, and larn better how to treat a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +lady!" administering a thwack on his ear that sent +him staggering a rod from her.</p> + +<p>Waters gathered himself together, and a general +laugh took place at his expense.</p> + +<p>"A fair representative of the amorous goddess—quite +liberal with her love pats!" said Price in a tantalizing +tone.</p> + +<p>"Confound the old hag," muttered the discomfited +mid, "if it were not a waste of good powder and ball, +I'd make a riddle of her in the twinkling of a grog-can!"</p> + +<p>This female and one man, found wounded and languishing +on his pallet, were the only denizens of the +place.</p> + +<p>"Croesus! what hav'nt we here?" exclaimed Price, +glancing over the medley of rich merchandize heaped +together in one of the apartments of the huge cavern; +"boxes of silks and satins, sashes, ribbons, lace, tortoise +shell!—whew!—I say, Waters, what heathen are +these pirates to let such a profusion of pretty gewgaws +lay here, which ought to be setting off the fairy forms +of the Spanish lasses! Now there's as handsome a piece +of trumpery as one often sees," tying a delicate crimson +silk <i>manta</i> about him—"as I'm a sinner I'll carry +that home to Nell Gray!—Ha! Burgundy wine?</p> + +<div class="cpoem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">Inspiring—divine<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Is the gush of bright wine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis the life, 'tis the breath of the soul,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">'Tis the—the—<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Odds! but I must quicken my memory, and clear +my pipes with a can of the critter to get into the spirit +of song!"</p> + +<p>He drew a beaker from the cask and took a deep +draught.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Capital, by Bacchus!" he exclaimed, smacking his +lips,—"Try it, Waters, these fellows fare like princes."</p> + +<p>"Bear a hand, Mr. Price, and don't set the men a +bad example," thundered the first lieutenant, who had +stationed himself as a sentinel outside.</p> + +<p>In the meantime the men had not been idle. The +sight of such a profusion of riches, all at their own +mercy, had turned their brains, and the confusion that +prevailed among the silks and finery would have rivalled +that of a London milliner's shop on a gala day.</p> + +<p>But the voice of the lieutenant, as if by magic, restored +them to order, and Waters ordered the most +costly of the goods to be carried to the boats.</p> + +<p>"An 'ai'nt it Roary McGran 'as found a nest o 'the +shiners," exclaimed a son of Erin, as he emerged, covered +with dirt, from a small, deep cavity at the inmost +extremity of the cavern, dragging after him a large +bag of doubloons,—"'Ai'nt them the beauties, Misther +Waters?—its what they're as plenty there as paraites +in a parson's cellar."</p> + +<p>Half a dozen similar bags were brought to light; +besides which more than a score of boxes containing +rix dollars, and a great many parcels of coin of different +nations, silver and gold, tied up in old pieces of canvas, +were discovered.</p> + +<p>"Some sport in sacking such a fortress as this," +observed Price,—"no blood and plenty of booty! By +Jove, though, what a confounded pity it is we hav'nt a +ship of some size, that we might load her with these +silken goods? Our share of the prize money would +be a fortune to us."</p> + +<p>While the men were ransacking the cavern, I had +climbed by a narrow foot-path to the top of a lofty bluff.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> +A small telescope, found in a hollow that had been +worked in the rock, assured me that this served as a +look-out station. It commanded a wide view of the +surrounding ocean, now tenanted only by the sun-beam +and solitude, if I except the presence of the Dart, +which sat <i>lilting</i> on the glittering swell, with her white +wings outspread, like a huge sea-bird stretching his +pinions for flight.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The boats shoved off, loaded gunwale deep with gold +and silver, ivory, tortoise-shell and the most choice of +the merchandise found in the cavern, and in fifteen +minutes all was safely secured on board the schooner. +After a short consultation it was agreed to run the +Dart into the Pirates' Retreat, and there await the return +of the Sea-Sprite, deeming that the bucaneers +would scarcely be long absent from the chief depository +of their treasures. She was soon safely anchored +in the basin. A lookout was stationed at the mouth of +the inlet, while Ponto and Percy undertook, with the +consent of the captain, the task of watching from the +cliff. Waters was then sent with a party of the men +to explore the cavern more thoroughly, and before noon +there was not a chink nor cranny of the place which +had not been thrice overhauled. Immense treasures, +in gold, silver and jewelry, were brought to light.</p> + +<p>Toward the latter part of the afternoon, Percy gave +the signal agreed upon for an approaching vessel, and +directly after made his appearance on the beach, informing +us that they had examined her carefully, and +that there could be no mistaking her—it was the Sea-Sprite.</p> + +<p>"Strange!" said the captain; "I knew that they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +were brave—fearless to desperation, but I did not expect +to see them show such fool-hardiness. However, +they shall meet with a welcome reception. Mr. Dacres, +see that all the men are on board, and have things put +to rights for a brush. If I mistake not, there will be +desperate work ere the rascal receives his deserts."</p> + +<p>In a few minutes every thing was ready; the boats +were got out forward, and the Dart was towed to the +mouth of the inlet, remaining concealed.</p> + +<p>The Sea-Sprite, which could be seen from the outer +edge of the rocks, stood gallantly in, driving a drift of +snow before her, till within about a mile of the shore; +when, as if she had discovered some signs of our presence, +she wore round, hoisted her studd'n'sails, and +stood away in a south-westerly direction.</p> + +<p>"Pull away cheerily," said the captain to the men in +the boats, who had lain on their oars in readiness.</p> + +<p>Slowly the Dart emerged from her hiding place—the +sails were squared round so as to present their broad +surfaces to the wind, and away she darted in swift +pursuit, like an eagle in quest of his prey. A stern +chase is proverbially a long one; so it proved in this +instance. The wind was light, and although we hung +out every rag of sail, the sun was sinking beyond the +sea when we approached within gun-shot of the rover. +Not a soul could be seen on her decks,—she was worked +as if by magic.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Ramrod," said the captain, "clap a round shot +into the long-tom, and let us see if we cannot make +them show some signs of life."</p> + +<p>Benjamin loaded the gun, and having got it poised +to his fancy, applied the match. Away whizzed the +iron messenger. The chips flew from the stern of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +rover, and a swarm of grizzly heads, belonging to +<i>bona fide</i> bodies, popped up above the bulwarks, and +then settled down again, like so many wild sea-fowl +disturbed in their nests.</p> + +<p>"Well done, Benjamin!—I see you have not lost +any of your skill for lack of practice."</p> + +<p>The pirate, at length finding it impossible to escape +us, shortened sail.</p> + +<p>"Now my men," said the captain, "to your duty!—let +every gun be double-shotted—a round shot and +grape!"</p> + +<p>By a well-timed manoeuvre, we ranged up under +her stern. Our men stood with their arms extended, +ready to apply their lighted matches.</p> + +<p>"Fire!" thundered Satan West.</p> + +<p>A storm of flame burst from our side, and the Dart +reeled half out of water under the recoil of the overloaded +guns. The iron shower raked the pirate fore +and aft, hurling those deadly missiles, the splinters, in +every direction, and doing terrible execution on their +decks. Two more such broad-sides would have sent +her to the bottom.</p> + +<p>"Helm aweather—jam hard!" roared the captain.</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay, sir!"—and we wore round so as to present +our other broad-side to the enemy.</p> + +<p>While this manoeuvre was going on, the bows of +the Sea-Sprite had fallen off in the wind, so as to bring +us side by side, within half pistol shot. She returned +the fire with a vengeance, and several of our brave +tars fell wounded or slain to the deck.</p> + +<p>"Ready! blaze away!"—but the sound of our captain's +voice was lost in the thunder of the heavy ordnance.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> + +<p>The battle now commenced in real earnest. The +cannon bellowed, small arms rattled, the combatants +yelled, the dying groaned, the iron thunder-bolt crashed, +riving the vessel's oaken timbers, and a dense sulphur-cloud +overspread the scene of furious commotion, +so that we fought with an invisible enemy. We could +see nothing save the streaming lightning of the cannon, +or the fiend-like figures that worked our aftermost +guns, begrimmed with powder and blood, stripped +nearly naked, and sweltering in their eager toil. As +the smoke occasionally lifted, however, the battered +bulwarks of the enemy, and the glimmering streaks +along her black waist, showed that our fire had been +rightly directed; and the irregularity with which it was +returned, told the confusion that prevailed on her decks. +Several times we attempted to run her aboard, but they +discovered our intentions in time to avoid us.</p> + +<p>At length a discharge from the well-directed gun of +old Benjamin, took effect in her fore-top. The topmast +came thundering down with all its rigging, over +the foresail. Having thus lost the benefit of her head +sail, she rounded to, and her jib-boom came in contact +with our fore rigging.</p> + +<p>"Now is our time!—into her, boarders!" roared +Dacres, leaping upon the pirate's forecastle deck.</p> + +<p>But the order was useless—they were already hard +on his track. A close and desperate struggle now took +place. Pistols cracked, sabres gleamed, and deadly +blows were dealt on either side, till a rampart of the +slain and wounded was raised high between the furious +combatants. Gloomy and dark as an arch-fiend, the +pirate leader raged among his men, urging them on +with threats and curses, in a voice of thunder, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +sweeping down all opposition before his dripping blade. +But Dacres, backed by his well-trained boarders, received +them on the points of their pikes, with a coolness +and bravery that made them recoil upon each +other, like surges from a rock-ribbed coast. Thus the +fight continued with various success, till the attention +of the bucaneers was arrested by an unearthly shout +in the rear, and the tall figure of Percy was seen, laying +about him with whirlwind impetuosity, his long, +untrimmed hair flying wildly in the commotion of the +atmosphere, his features working with the madness +that controlled him, and his dilated eyes flashing with +a fierce, unnatural fire upon his opponents. All quailed +before him. Wherever his merciless arm fell there +was an instant vacancy. Although a score of cutlasses +were glancing, meteor-like, around his person, as if +by a spell, he remained uninjured. At length his eye +detected the pirate leader. Dashing aside all before +him, with one bound he was at his side. The fierce +chief started in amazement at the sight of him whom +he supposed many a league from the spot, if not dead, +but quickly recovered his stern and gloomy bearing.</p> + +<p>"Monster! where is she?" shouted Percy.</p> + +<p>"Ask the sharks!" replied the captain, lunging at +him with his sabre.</p> + +<p>These were his last words. Percy, quick as thought, +drew a pistol from his belt and fired into his face! He +fell heavily to the deck, and the combatants closed +around him, as tempest-waves close over a foundering +ship!</p> + +<p>The pirates, now that their leader was slain, fought +with less spirit, and the victory was soon decided in our +favor. Sooth to say, it was dearly earned; and many<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +who sought the battle with a quickened pulse, and +eager for the strife, were that evening consigned to the +waves. Of all the pirate's crew, consisting of nearly a +hundred men, but thirteen remained unharmed. Heavens!—what +a ghastly spectacle her decks presented! +Fifty stalwart forms lay there, stiffened in death, or +writhing in the agony of their deep wounds, severed +and mangled in every way imaginable; and so slippery +was the main deck that we could hardly cross it, while +the sea all around was died with the red waters of life, +that gushed in a continuous stream from her scuppers.</p> + +<p>On the forecastle deck, where the last desperate +struggle had taken place, I recognized many of our +own crew among the lifeless heaps. Poor old Ramrod, +the gunner, lay there, with the black blood trickling +over his swarthy brow, from a bullet hole in his +temple. He had died while the might of battle was +yet upon him—and the fierce scowl which he darted +at his foes, still remained on his rigid features. +His hand, even in the agonies of death, had not relinquished +its firm grasp on his cutlass, and the gigantic +form of a swart pirate, with his skull cloven down, +close at hand, showed that it had been swayed to some +purpose. Poor Benjamin! I could have wept over +him. He had been in the service from his earliest +days, and the scars of many a sanguinary fight were +visible upon his muscular arms, and on his bronzed +and powerful chest. My brave boy, Ponto, was there +also, hanging pale and wounded over the britch of the +bow gun. He had followed me when we boarded, +like a young tiger robbed of his mate. Although faint +and helpless with the loss of blood, which belched at +every heave of his bosom, from a deep sabre wound in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +his shoulder, and which had completely saturated his +checked shirt and his duck pantaloons, yet his firmness +was unshaken. I ordered one of our men to take +charge of him, until he could be looked to by the surgeon. +"Not yet," faintly exclaimed the generous +child, pointing to Mengs, the boatswain, who lay wounded +over a coil of the cable, with three or four grim +looking bucaneers stretched dead across his chest, the +blood from their wounds streaming into his face and +neck,—"look to him first, he may be suffocated."</p> + +<p>"No, no, youngster," murmured the hardy Briton, +"I'd do very well till my turn comes, if I had this +ugly looking craft cast off from my gun-deck, and a can +of water stowed away in my cable tier!"</p> + +<p>After the prisoners were secured, I sought the cabin, +where I had ordered Ponto to be carried. It was a +richly garnished room, with berth hangings of crimson +damask and amber colored silk, a gorgeous carpet +from the looms of Brussels, and furniture in keeping. +Opposite the companion-way hung a superb picture of +the virgin mother and her infant, and over it a golden +crucifix, while beneath, on a rose wood table, lay a +guitar, implements for sketching, and various articles +for female employ and amusement. Indeed, one +might have supposed himself entering the boudoir of +a delicate Spanish belle, rather than the domicil of a +lawless rover. This I remember but from the glance +of a moment. My attention was drawn to the occupants +of the place. There lay my wounded boy, by +the side of a silken sofa-couch, his face buried in the +garments of a female stretched lifeless upon it, and +over them bent the tall form of Percy, gazing upon the +group with a fixed, vacant stare, which told that suffering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +could wring his soul no longer—desolation and +madness had come upon him. His attitude, the expression +of his features, and the low, convulsive sobs +and broken murmurs of the boy, at once explained the +scene. The one had found a wife, the other a sister, +in that inanimate form. I advanced nearer, in hopes +that life might not be altogether extinct. The sight +was appalling, but beautiful. The pale, dead face, upon +which the mellow radiance of sunset streamed +through the sky-light, was lovely as a seraph's. Her +eyes were closed as if in sleep; the long braids of her +bright hair lay undisturbed upon her marble forehead, +and there was no appearance of violence, save where +the dress of sea-green silk had been torn back from her +bosom, as if in her dying agonies, displaying a dark +puncture, as of a grape-shot, just below the snowy +swell of the throat, from which the crimson blood oozed, +slowly trickling down over her white and rounded +shoulder. She had probably been killed by our first +raking broad-side.</p> + +<p>"Fire! fire!" shouted a dozen voices on deck. I +sprang up the companion-way. The fore-hatch had +been removed, and a dense volume of smoke was rolling +up from below. A glance was sufficient to show +that no effort of ours could save the vessel, and preparations +were speedily made to rescue the wounded, +and abandon her to her fate. It being impossible for +me to leave my duty on deck, I sent a trusty Hibernian +to rescue my helpless boy and to inform Percy of +our situation. He returned with a rueful countenance.</p> + +<p>"Ochone! Mr. Hackinsack," said the tender hearted +fellow, "it almost made the salt wather come intil +my een, to see the poor man and the beautiful kilt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +leddy,—an' whin I tould 'em as how the schooner was +burnin' and would be blown to Jerico in a twinklin' all +he said was to give me a terrible, ferocious-like scowl +and point with a loaded pistol to the companion; so I +took his mainin' an' left 'em."</p> + +<p>Two other messengers, sent to take him away by +force, met with no better success.</p> + +<p>The flames were ready to burst out on every side, +and from each chink and crevice around the hatches—which +had been replaced and barred down—the smoke +was darting up with the force of vapour from a steam +engine. The deck had become so heated that it was +painful to stand upon it—the fire was fast progressing +towards the run, where the magazine was situated. +Thrice had the order been given to quit the burning +vessel, but I could not forsake my friend without one +more effort to rescue him from the terrible fate that +awaited him, if left behind. He still held the loaded +pistol in his hand and sternly forbade my approach. +Poor Ponto had fainted from grief and loss of blood, +and lay across his sister's body. I sprang forward and +raised him in my arms, regardless of the maniac's +threats. The pistol banged in my ear, but fortunately +the ball passed over me as I stooped, and I regained +the companion-way without injury. By this time, he +had drawn another from his belt.</p> + +<p>"Put away the pistol, and come with me," I urged,—"the +vessel is on fire and will soon be blown to atoms."</p> + +<p>He looked at me with a grim stare for a moment, +then burst into an idiotic laugh. That wild laugh is +still ringing in my brain. "Ha! ha! ha!—Fire?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +fire? here it is, wreathing and coiling!—here! here!" +dashing his hand against his forehead.</p> + +<p>Perceiving that it was vain to reason with his madness, +and fearing for the life of the wounded boy in +my arms, I reluctantly left the hapless man to his fate.</p> + +<p>The boat had already put off for the last time, but +I succeeded in prevailing upon them to return, and +leaping in, soon reached the Dart in safety.</p> + +<p>The night set in wild and black as Death. Disparted +and ragged masses of cloud were rushing over the +face of the heavens, where once and again, the soaring +moon, and that same bright, solitary star, would show +their calm faces through the reeling rack, apparently +flying from this scene of turmoil and death. The increasing +wind howled mournfully through the rigging, +and our battered hull staggered along the inky main +writhing and shuddering on the heave of the surge like +a weary, wounded thing.</p> + +<p>We followed in the track of the burning vessel as +she fled along before the gale, awaiting in breathless +suspense the consummation of her wild career. The +black smoke, interfulgent with tortuous tongues of lurid +fire, rolled in immense volumes over her!—the red +flames darted up her masts, along the spars and rigging, +and gushed in swirling sheets from her ports and +bulwarks, while in their fierce gleams, the billows +that ramped and raved about her, glowed like a huge +seething cauldron of molten iron, and the gloomy clouds +that lowered above were tinged in their ragged borders, +as with blood. Occasionally the jarring thunder +of her cannon, as they became heated to explosion, +announced to us the progress of the insidious destroyer.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p> + +<p>But a still more thrilling spectacle awaited us. In +the height of the conflagration, the hapless Percy, +bearing his dead wife in his arms, emerged as it were +from the very midst of the flames, and took a stand on +the companion-way. So strongly was the tall, dark-figure +relieved against the glowing element, that his +slightest gesture could not escape our scrutiny. While +with one arm he spanned the waist of the supple corse, +which apparently struggled to escape from his grasp, +he waved the other on high as if exulting in the whirl +and commotion around him. He seemed like the minister +of some dark rite of heathenism, preparing to offer +up a victim to the Moloch of his superstition.</p> + +<p>At length arrived the dreadful moment! The black +hull seemed to be lifted bodily out of the water. A +volume of smoke burst over her like the first eruption +of a volcano! A spire of flame shot up to the heavens, +filling the firmament with burning fragments, while +the clouds that overhung the sea, were torn and scattered +by the tremendous concussion. A crash followed—a +deep, bellowing boom, as if the solid globe had +split asunder!—then all was darkness—dreary, void, +silent as death!</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="TO_M_ON_HER_BIRTH-DAY" id="TO_M_ON_HER_BIRTH-DAY"></a>TO M***, ON HER BIRTH-DAY.</h2> + +<h3>By William Cutter.</h3> + + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What though the skies of winter<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Look cold and cheerless now!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What though earth wears no mantle<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But that of ice and snow!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though trees, all bare and leafless,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Stretch up their naked arms,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In sad and mournful silence,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To brave the wintry storms!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There is enough of sunshine,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Fond memory will say,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Around this morning clustered—<br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>This is thy natal day!</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What though the birds of summer,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Flown far and long away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In gentler climes are warbling,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Their loved and grateful lay!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What though, in field and garden,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">No fragrant incense pours<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From nature's thousand altars—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Her blossoms and her flowers!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There's music sweet as angels',<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And fragrance sweet as May,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the thoughts that breathe and blossom<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Around <i>thy natal day</i>!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To me, the skies above us<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Are bright as summer's noon!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And trees, in crystal blossoms,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">More brilliant than in June!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There's music in the wintry blast—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">There's fragrance in the snow—<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And a garb of glorious beauty<br /></span> +<span class="i2">On every thing below!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For oh! affection, wakened<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With morning's earliest ray,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has never ceased to whisper—<br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>This is thy natal day!</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="RELIGIOUS_OBLIGATION_IN_RULERS" id="RELIGIOUS_OBLIGATION_IN_RULERS"></a>RELIGIOUS OBLIGATION IN RULERS.</h2> + +<h3>By John W. Chickering.</h3> + + +<p>It is a great truth, and worthy of a place among the +few grand principles which lie at the foundation of all +wise and just government, that 'the Most High ruleth +in the kingdom of men.' This may be understood <i>de +jure</i>, or <i>de facto</i>; and in either sense must be believed, +not only by those who admit, on the authority of the +prophet, that it was spoken by a divine voice, but by +all who do not deny the whole theory of an overruling +Providence.</p> + +<p>That the almighty Ruler retains both a right and an +agency in the management of terrestrial governments, +is undisputed by all who recognize his right and his +agency in any thing. It is the atheist alone who would +insulate the kingdoms of the earth from the kingdom +of heaven. None would banish Jehovah from the +smaller empires his providence has organized and sustained, +but those who banish him from the universe his +power has created.</p> + +<p>Thus atheism in philosophy is sole progenitor of +atheism in politics; and it should not excite our surprise,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +that he who 'sees' <i>not</i> 'God in clouds nor hears +him in the wind,'—who beholds in the great things of +the earth, the air and the sea, no footsteps of divine +power, and no finger-prints of divine wisdom, should be +equally blind concerning the progress of civil affairs, +and should so have perverted his mind, and so tortured +the moral sense which God gave him, as to believe, +and to rejoice, that without God, kingdoms rise and +fall, and that it is <i>not</i> 'by him' that 'kings reign, and +princes decree justice.'</p> + +<p>But with the atheist, that moral monster,'—— horrendum, +informe, ingens, cui lumen ademptum,' we +are not now concerned. We leave him to the darkness +he has brought upon himself through his 'philosophy +and vain deceit,' and to the enjoyment, if enjoyment +it be, of his dreary cavern, more dreary than that +of Polyphemus,—a godless world.</p> + +<p>We come to inquire, by way of preparation for +the more direct prosecution of the object of this article, +concerning the views entertained by the great mass of +mankind who believe in the existence and providence +of Jehovah, as to his particular connection with the +subordinate governments on earth, and the station +which it is his holy pleasure to occupy in their control +and management. And here we find at once, wide +and hurtful mistakes; occupying relatively, such is +man's tendency to extremes, the position of antipodes. +Some, overlooking the twofold agency, partly civil, +partly ecclesiastical, by which the Most High promotes +his own ends and the well being of his creatures, have +resolved each into the other, making religion an affair +of the state, and civil government a matter for ecclesiastical +influence; producing in practice the unseemly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +compound, commonly called "church and state," but +which might be more accurately characterized as the +ruin of both.</p> + +<p>As the fruits of this mistake, the world has seen profane +monarchs invested with titles of religion and piety. +In some countries, aided by ambition and intrigue, it +has brought kings to kiss the feet of the professed ambassadors +of Jesus Christ; and gained for them honors +and power, which their divine but humble master declined +for himself. This mistake has been confirmed, +if it was not originated, by the organization of the great +Jewish theocracy. This was, indeed, church and +state. But it was under a divine administration.—And +although the fact that the Deity not only attested and +ratified the alliance, but condescended to be legislator, +judge, and executive, might at once have prevented +the inference; yet men <i>have</i> inferred that the civil and +ecclesiastical powers ought always to be thus commingled. +The consequences might have been anticipated. +The history both of Christianity and of the world, is +darkened by their melancholy shade. Religion, unguarded +by the miraculous intervention of Him who, +under a former dispensation, smote the offerers of +strange fire, has been corrupted by those who would +do her honor, and crushed by the embraces of false +friends;—and her splendid sojourn in the halls of power, +has been met by reverses not less striking, and far +more disastrous, than Moses met after being the <i>protege</i> +of royalty; while the civil rights of men, invaded +by ambition and avarice, under the name of religion, +and with the sanction of God's name, have been yielded +up without a struggle, under the impression, that +resistance would be "fighting against God." What<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +would not have been demanded in the name of man, has +been freely given in the name of God;—men who in +defence of their rights, would have ventured cheerfully +upon treason, have shrunk with horror from sacrilege.</p> + +<p>Thus religion and liberty have well-nigh perished +together, and their present resting-place on earth resembles +rather the one found by Noah's dove on her +second flight, than the broad home, illimitable but by +the world's circumference, which as philanthropists we +hope, and as Christians we pray, they may soon enjoy.</p> + +<p>Others again, warned, perhaps, by the disasters consequent +upon the policy last described, have gone to +the extreme, not less hurtful, and far more presumptuous, +of excluding religious motives and religious principles +from all influence in the affairs of the commonwealth. +They have thus become <i>quoad hoc</i>, practical +atheists. Content indeed, that the Deity should keep +our planet in motion, and regulate its seasons and its +tides; and surround and cover it with the blessings of +Providence, nor careful to forbid him a participation +even in the <i>internal</i> concerns of Jupiter, or Herschell,—perhaps +even willing to admit in theory, the truth of +the statement from the inspired record with which this +article commenced,—they yet deem it best for man, +considered either as a governing or as a governed being, +that the notion of a presiding Deity should be as +much as possible excluded from his mind. The mere +juxtaposition of the words "religion" and "politics," +or any of their correlates, is sufficient to excite the +fears of these scrupulous alarmists; and if they do not +imitate the example of the French, who were seen +near the close of the last century, rushing madly with +the pendulum-like oscillation of human nature, from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +the bonds of religious despotism, into the very wilderness +of atheism, and denounce Jehovah as a usurper, +and his adherents as rebels against "the powers that +be," they strive to separate all questions and acts of +government from God and his laws, as if there <i>were</i> +no God; thus making, if not an atheistic people, an +atheistic government. Far otherwise, we cannot but +pause here to remark, acted the noble men, the sifted +wheat of three kingdoms, who were thrown by God's +providence through ecclesiastical tyranny, upon these +shores. If they for a time, with a strange tenacity of +old habits, which showed that principle, not passion, +led them, clung to the very usages respecting toleration, +which had exiled them, they at least preserved +the nation which they founded, from the character and +the curse of a nation which despises God. Heaven +grant, that the pendulum may not even now be swinging +to the other extreme!</p> + +<p>While we would have the affairs of the nation managed +as if there were no <i>church</i> in the world, we would +not have them managed as if there were no <span class="smcap">God</span> in the +world. Could our voices reach the millions of our +countrymen, as Joshua's voice reached the thousands +of Israel, we would say as he said, '<span class="smcap">If the Lord be +God, serve him</span>.' In a word, while we believe that +the civil and ecclesiastical departments ought to be +distinct, and that their union is a departure from the +intention of Him who formed both, and that it is +fraught with the most disastrous consequences to both, +we do <i>not</i> believe that the almighty Ruler has excluded +himself from the control of either, or given the least +permission that either should be managed on any other +principles than the eternal principles of right, which are +embodied in his character, and laid down in his word.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p> + +<p>When we speak of a sense of religious obligation, +we mean more than a general undefined belief that +such an obligation exists. Such a belief is withheld, +we trust, by comparatively few who hold important +places in our national and State governments. But can +it be doubted by any man who has accustomed himself +to contemplate the distinction between mere intellectual +assent, and the warm, practical conviction which reaches +the heart, and controls the conduct, that this belief +may coexist with as total an insensibility to the claims +of Jehovah, as if it were William IV., or Nicholas of +Russia, who performed them, instead of the Most High +God?</p> + +<p>Is it too much to desire, nay to infer, as a <i>duty</i>, from +what has already been said, that our rulers in the executive, +legislative, and judicial departments, both in +the general and State governments, should have <i>an +abiding consciousness of accountability</i>—should live +under <i>a felt pressure of obligation</i>—to the Sovereign +of the universe, which should assume, as it must where +it exists at all, a practical, binding force? Is it too +much to ask, that they should remember that they are +the servants of God for good to this great people, and +that to their own Master they stand or fall? That they +rule by God's permission, and for his ends; and that a +higher tribunal than any on earth awaits the termination +of their responsibility to man? That they should +remember their obligation, in common with those who +elevated them to office, "whatever they do, to do all to +the glory of God;" and the solemn truth, that a sin +against God or man, whether of omission or of commission, +whether committed in private, in the family +circle, or in the high places of authority, is no less a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +sin, when committed by a judge, or a legislator, or a +chief magistrate of a State or nation, than by the +humblest of his constituents? In a word, do we claim +too prominent a place for religious principle in the administration +of public affairs, when we avow our desire +that the rulers of a people, who are the nominal, and +in a free government the <i>real</i>, representatives of the +people, should be daily and practically aware, that they +are accountable to a higher Power, thus realizing, if +not in the highest and most Christian sense, yet in the +literal signification, the picture of a good ruler drawn +by the prophet, who, in the name of the almighty +Ruler, declares, "He that ruleth over men, must be +just—<i>ruling in the fear of God</i>!"</p> + +<p>We cannot reflect without occasion for the deepest +gratitude, that in contemplating the advantages of such +a state of mind and of heart, as possessed by men in +authority, we are not confined to <i>a priori</i> reasoning. +England has had her Alfred, her Edward VI., and her +Matthew Hale; Sweden her Gustavus Adolphus; our +own most cherished and beloved country, a Washington, +and a Wirt, with many others among the dead, +and not a few among the living, to whom our readers +may recur as we proceed, both for illustration of our +meaning, and proof of our assertions.</p> + +<p>Among the effects of this sense of obligation, which +go to show its importance to every man in public life, +we mention first, <i>its influence in checking the love and +pride of power</i>. It will not be said by any man, who +has acquired even a smattering of the science of human +nature, that the simplicity of our republican institutions +excludes all danger from this source. It is the +great weakness of man, to desire power; and, having<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +it, to be proud of it; and, in his pride, to abuse it. It +matters not whether it be the power of a monarch on +his throne, or of the humblest village functionary. If +it be <i>power</i>, or even the semblance of power, it charms +the eye of the expectant, and, too often, turns the head +of the possessor.</p> + +<p>True, in this land, power walks in humble guise. +She rides in no gilded chariot—is clothed with no robes +of state—is preceded by no heralds with announcement +of noble titles—is decorated with no ribbons and +stars. Nor is there an office worth seeking, as a matter +of gain, except in some special cases, growing +rather out of individual character and circumstances, +than from design on the part of legislators. But who +will deny, that <span class="smcap">rank</span>, here, as elsewhere throughout the +wide world, has its attractions? And who, that has +thought upon the subject carefully, doubts that they are +as strong, as if it were hereditary? As far as pride of +heart in the possessor is concerned, undoubtedly the +temptation is even greater. That rank is <i>not</i> hereditary, +and is therefore attainable by individual effort, opens a +fountain of ambition in a thousand hearts, which, under +another constitution of society, would never have known +ambition, but as <i>a strange word</i>, while the fact that it +is ordinarily the prize of talent, attaches to it an additional +power to tempt and seduce the mind. It need +not be said, that so far as this love and pride of power +exists, it tends to subvert all the true ends of government.</p> + +<p>That the influence of a sense of subordination and +accountableness to the Supreme Being, will be direct +and strong in checking these tendencies of human nature, +is so plain as to command assent without argument.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +Who can be proud in the perceived presence +of infinite splendor and worth? How can ambition +thrive under the overshadowing greatness of almighty +Power?</p> + +<p>It is recorded of Gustavus Adolphus, that being surprised +one day by his officers in secret prayer in his +tent, he said: "Persons of my rank are answerable to +God alone for their actions; this gives the enemy of +mankind a peculiar advantage over us; an advantage +which can be resisted only by prayer and reading the +Scriptures." This remark, though it does not specify +the moral dangers to which the royal worshipper was +exposed, has reference, undoubtedly, in part, if not +mainly, to that pride and loftiness of heart, which are +the unrestrained denizens of those high regions in the +social atmosphere, which lie above the common walks +of life. Let a man in one of the high places of the +earth, be accustomed only <i>to look down</i>, and he is +ready like Herod of old, to fancy the flattery, truth, +which tells him he is a god;—let him <i>look up</i>;—there +Jehovah sitteth above the water floods and remaineth +king forever!</p> + +<p>Another important effect of such views of religious +obligation, will be seen <i>in restraining the blind and +ruinous excess of party feeling</i>. He is a short-sighted +politician indeed, who utters a sweeping denunciation +of party distinctions. And if they may be harmless, +and even in some cases form the very safety of the nation, +then party <i>feeling</i>, without which <i>parties</i> could +not exist, is, in some of its degrees and developements +right and desirable. But like the lightning of heaven, +while it purifies the political atmosphere, how easily +and how quickly may it desolate and destroy! In its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +healthful action, it is like the gentle breeze, which refreshes +man and fertilizes the earth; in its excess, like +the tornado, which sweeps away every green thing, and +even upturns the foundations of many generations.</p> + +<p>When it is a modification of true-hearted patriotism, +seeking the public good by party organizations, it is +right and safe; but when it is the offspring of the +wicked selfishness, already described, it is restrained +by no bounds, and directed to no good end. When a +public officer, of whatever rank, becomes the servant +of a party, instead of being a servant of God, for good +to the <i>people</i>, it is not difficult to foresee the consequences.</p> + +<p>No argument is necessary to show that he who feels +himself accountable to God, will be but slightly constrained +by the bonds of party influence. So far as he +regards the ends of a party as accordant with the true +ends of government, which in some cases may be +nothing more than the truth, and in others nothing <i>less</i>—his +sense of religious obligation will of course not interfere +with his diligent prosecution of those ends. +But at that critical point, where ends zeal for party, +for the sake of the common weal, and begins zeal for +party, for the party's sake, and for ambition's sake, +there a sense of paramount obligation, like the magnetic +power, will still the whispers of selfishness, and +counteract the tendencies of party commitment. The +Christian politician knows no party but the party of +patriots, or, if that party be divided, he seeks not the +building up of either fragment for its own sake—but +the building up on the best and most hopeful, or if +need be, on the ruins of both, the great fabric of public +welfare. Who does not desire to see a deep sense<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +of allegiance to one who is our Master, pervading the +leaders and the adherents of the great political parties, +into which it is so common and perhaps necessary, for +nations to be divided?—under such an influence, how +might excesses be restrained, needless repellances be +neutralized, and how soon, instead of fierce bands of +brethren gathered in distinct and opposing array, like +the dark clouds of summer, meeting over our heads, +might we see the beauty and the strength of party organization, +without its wide severance and its deadly +hate, like the rainbow, which is not more beautiful in +the variety of its colors, than in the grace with which +the divine Painter has blended them.</p> + +<p>It will be denied by none, of whatever religious or +political faith, that public morals are, under a government +like ours, the life-blood of national strength and +safety. The day that shall behold us a nation of gamblers, +or duelists, or profane swearers or drunkards, or +Sabbath-breakers—will be the day of our political +death. Armies, and navies, and enterprise, and numbers, +with a sound hereditary government, may for a +time give prosperity to a dissolute immoral people. +But in a government like ours, where the laws and the +administration of law, are as quickly and as certainly +affected by the popular sentiment, owing to frequent +elections, as the sunbeams are reflected from the summer +clouds, prosperity cannot survive morality a single +day. And who can tell how important, in this +view, it is, that our public men should be public models +of private virtue!</p> + +<p>Oh, when, our hearts exclaim, when shall the <i>evil</i> +example be unknown in the high places of power; and +purity, truth, high-toned Christian morality, beam like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +another sun, from the seats of influence? The true +answer to this question would afford another argument +for the importance of that sense of religious obligation +which has now been considered. The command of +God is the only mandate in the universe which can effectually +restrain human passions and desires. The +voice which comes attended by the sanction, "Thus +saith the Lord," is the only voice which can successfully +say, "peace! be still," to the winds and the +waves of wrong inclination. When our rulers shall +"all be taught of God,"—and yield themselves to a +constraining sense of his dominion, and their own accountableness—then, +and not till then, will they as a +body, be such models of private correctness and virtue, +as many of them, both among the dead and among the +living, have been, for the imitation of the young men, +the hope and glory of our land.</p> + +<p>Again, and it is the last consideration we shall present, +how powerful a tendency would such views on +the part of our rulers, possess, to awaken the utmost +vigilance in the guardianship of their sacred trust, and +to elevate the mind and heart to the purest feelings, +and the noblest efforts.</p> + +<p>A sense of accountability, in some manner and to +some tribunal, is essential to ensure fidelity under all +temptations to indolence or perversion, in every case +in which men are the recipients of any trust. Apply +this principle to the case of him who holds some political +station of high importance. He feels himself responsible, +not only to men, but to God. He knows +and remembers that he is the <i>servant of God</i> for good, +to the people. This remembrance and impression is +the sheet anchor of his steadfastness. Other principles<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +<i>might</i> hold him amidst the storms and commotions of +the popular sea, and of his own heart; this <i>must</i>. +With what care will he watch the precious trust, which +comes to him under the seal of heaven! How sedulously +will he guard the doors of the temple of liberty, +when he perceives within it the altar of God, and finds +his sentinel's commission countersigned with the handwriting +of Jehovah! His heart, too, will be filled with +the purest and most exalted sentiments.</p> + +<p>The fountain from which such a man daily drinks, +sparkles with the elements of all that is grateful and +refreshing.</p> + +<p>The purest patriotism, the sweetest charities of domestic +life, the most expansive and wise benevolence, +all spring up in the heart together, the consentaneous +and harmonious fruits of the love and fear of God. It +was in the same school that Wilberforce learned to +love the slave—Howard to love the prisoner—Wirt to +love his country—and all to love the world. They +<i>feared and obeyed God</i>—and all noble and generous +emotions grow spontaneously in the soil of the heart +thus prepared and enriched.</p> + +<p>Nor is the effort less marked or less salutary upon +the <i>mind</i>. Its thoughts are loftier, and its purposes +deeper and more steadfast, for being conversant with +the great subject of divine obligation. No man can +think much of the Deity, and realize strongly His constant +presence and inspection, without an elevation of +views, and a growing consciousness of that mental +power, for the right use of which he is accountable to +Him who bestowed it. We were not made to inhabit +a godless world, and we cannot make it so, in speculation +and in practice, without a deterioration analogous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +to the dwarfish tendency of emigration to a region +colder than our native clime. "God is a sun," to the +mental as well as to the moral powers; and in the frozen +zone of practical atheism, both degenerate and die. +The noble motto, "<i>Bene orasse est bene studisse</i>," applies +with hardly less force to secular, than to sacred +studies.</p> + +<p>With what energy must it arm the soul of the patriot +statesman struggling against wrong counsels, and +discredited dangers, to know that the God of truth and +of right, sees and approves his course! With what +new power does his mind grasp a difficult and embarrassed +subject, when he feels that the Former of that +mind, now demands from him an exertion of its highest +powers! What exciting power, to call forth the +most thrilling eloquence, can be found in the crowded +senate-chamber, compared with the consciousness that +for every word he must give account to Him, whose +applause, if he fulfils his high behest, will surpass in +value the shouts of an enraptured universe besides!</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="A_NEW-ENGLAND_WINTER-SCENE" id="A_NEW-ENGLAND_WINTER-SCENE"></a>A NEW-ENGLAND WINTER-SCENE.</h2> + +<h3>EXTRACT FROM A LETTER TO A FRIEND IN ONE OF THE +WEST INDIA ISLANDS.</h3> + +<h3>By William Cutter.</h3> + + +<p>I have sometimes almost envied you the perpetual +summer you enjoy. You have none of the bleak, dark +wastes of Winter around you, and have never to look, +with aching heart, upon all fair, bright, beautiful things, +withering before your eyes, in the severe frown of frosty +Autumn. It is always green, and fresh, and fragrant, +in your Islands of eternal June. Your gardens +are always gardens, gay and redolent with sweet blossoms, +and rich with ripe fruits, mingling like youth +and manhood vying with each other, "from laughing +morning up to sober prime," pursuing, without blight +or dimness, the same gay round—blooming and ripening—ripening +and blooming, but never falling, through +all generations. Through all seasons, you have only +to reach forth your hands, and there are bright bouquets, +and mellow, delicious fruits, ready to fill them. +Your trees have always a shade to spread over you; +and they cast off their gorgeous blossoms, and their +luxuriant load, as if they were conscious of immortal +youth and energy—as if they knew they should never +fade, become fruitless, or die. There is no frail, +bending, withering age, in any thing of nature you look +upon—no blasting of the unripened bud by untimely +frosts—no falling prematurely of all that is beautiful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +and rare, to remind you daily that time is on his flight, +and that you will not always be young. I wonder you +do not think yourselves immortal in those everlasting +gardens! Oh! that perpetual youth and maturity of +every thing lovely!—how I have sometimes envied you +the possession!</p> + +<p>But I shall never envy you again. No—delightful +as summer is, soft as its breezes, and sweet as its music, +I would not lose the unutterable glory of this scene, +that is now before me, for all the riches of your Island,—its +unfading summer, and everlasting sweets. I +wish I could describe it to you—could give you some +faint idea of its celestial splendor. But, to do it any +justice, I should have travelled through the fields of +those glittering constellations above me, to borrow images +from the host of heaven. The attempt will be +vain—presumptuous—but I will try to tell you as much +of it as I can.</p> + +<p>The day has been dark, cold, and stormy. The +snow has been falling lightly, mingled with rain, which, +freezing as it fell, has formed a perfect covering of +ice upon every object. The trees and shrubbery, even +to their minutest branches, are all perfectly encased in +this transparent drapery. Nothing could look more +bleak and melancholy while the storm continued. But, +just as evening closed in, the storm ceased, and the +clouds rolled swiftly away. Never was a clearer, a +more spotless sky. The moon is in the zenith of her +march, with her multitude of bright attendants, pouring +their mild radiance, like living light, upon the +sea of glass that is all around us. Oh! how it kindles +me to look at it! how it maddens me that I have no +language to tell it to you! Do but imagine—The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +fields blazing out, like oceans of molten silver!—every +tree and shrub, as far as the eye can reach, of pure +transparent glass—a perfect garden of moving, waving +breathing chrystals, lighted into unearthly splendor by a +full, unclouded moon, and scattering undimmed, in every +direction, the beams that are poured upon them. The +air, all around, seems alive with illuminated gems. Every +tree is a diamond chandelier, with a whole constellation +of stars clustering to every socket—and, as they +wave and tremble in the light breeze that is passing, I +think of the dance of the morning stars, while they +sang together on the birth-day of creation. Earth is a +mirror of heaven. I can almost imagine myself borne +up among the spheres, and looking through their vast +theatre of lights. There are stars of every magnitude—from +the humble twig, that glows and sparkles on +the very bosom of the glassy earth, and the delicate +thorn that points its glittering needle to the light, to the +gorgeous, stately tree, that lifts loftily its crowned head +and stretches its gemmed and almost overborne arms, +proudly and gloriously to the heavens—all glowing—glittering—flashing—blazing—like—but +why do I attempt +it? As well might I begin to paint the noon-day +sun. Give a loose to your imagination. Think of +gardens and forests, hung with myriads of diamonds—nay, +every tree, every branch, every stem and twig, a +perfect, polished crystal, and the full, glorious moon, +and all the host of evening, down in the very midst of +them—and you will know what I am looking at. I am +all eye and thought, but have no voice, no words to +convey to you an impression of what I see and feel—No, +I'll not envy you again! What a picture for +mortal eyes to look on undimmed! The eagle, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +goes up at noon-day to the sun, would be amazed in its +effulgence. It is the coronation-eve of winter—and +nature has opened her casket, and poured out every +dazzling gem, and brilliant in her keeping, and hung out +all her rain-bow drops, and lighted up every lamp, and +they are all glowing, twinkling, sparkling, flashing together, +like legions of spiritual eyes, glancing from +world to world, in such unearthly rivalry, that the eye, +even of the mind, turns away from it, pained and weary +with beholding. There—look—but I can say no +more, my words are consumed, drunk up in this unutterable +glory, like morning mist when the sun looks +on it!</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="LOCH_KATRINE" id="LOCH_KATRINE"></a>LOCH KATRINE.</h2> + +<h3>By N. H. Carter.</h3> + + +<p>An eminence in the road afforded us the first view of +Loch Katrine, a blue and bright expanse of water, cradled +among lofty hills, though moderate both in point +of altitude and boldness, when contrasted with those +which had already been seen. The first feature that +arrested attention, was the peculiar complexion of the +water, which is cerulean, and differs several shades +from that of the other Scotish lakes. Its hue is probably +modified by the verdure upon the shores, as well +as by the geological structure of its bed, in which there +is little or no mud. Like some of our own pellucid +waters, it is a Naiad of the purest kind, sleeping on +coral and crystal couches. Its blue tinge was doubtless +in some degree heightened by the distance whence +it was first descried, as well as by the deep azure of +the skies after the late storm.</p> + +<p>Hastening to the shore, we waited some time for the +oarsmen, who accompanied us from Loch Lomond, to +bring out their boat from behind a little promontory, +which for aught I know, was the very place where +Rob Roy and Ellen Douglas used to hide their canoes. +There is no house within several miles of the landing. +The only building of any kind is a small temporary +hut, of rude construction, serving as a poor shelter in +case of rain. As this lake has become a fashionable +resort, one would suppose the number of travellers +would justify the expense of a boatman's house, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +would relieve the oarsmen from the trouble of walking +half a dozen miles, and the tourist from the vexation of +paying for it.</p> + +<p>At two o'clock in the afternoon, seven of us, including +the boat's crew, embarked, and commenced a +voyage to the foot of the lake, a distance of nine miles +in a south-eastern direction. Winds and waves both +conspired to accelerate our progress, and no Highland +bark probably ever bounded more merrily over the blue +billows. The cone of Ben-Lomond rapidly receded, +and Ben-venue and Ben-an, on opposite sides of the +outlet, came more fully in view. At the head, Glengyle +opens prettily from the north-west, with serrated +hills forming the lofty ramparts of the pass, in the entrance +of which is a seat belonging to one of the descendants +of Rob Roy M'Gregor. The width of the +lake is about two miles, with deeply indented shores, +which are generally bold and romantic, exhibiting occasionally +scattered houses and patches of cultivation, +particularly on the north-eastern borders. Our course +was nearest the south-western side, touching at one +little desolate promontory, to exchange boats, and often +approaching so close, as to enable us to examine the +scanty growth upon the margin.</p> + +<p>In about two hours from the time of embarkation, +we reached Ellen's Island, near the outlet; and half +encircling the green eminence, rising beautifully from +the bosom of the lake, our Highland mariners made a +port in the identical little bay, where the far-famed +heroine was wont to moor her skiff, fastening it to an +oak, which still hangs its aged arms over the flood. +This miniature harbor is also signalized, as the place +where Helen Stuart cut off the head of one of Cromwell's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +soldiers. As the story goes, all the women and +children fled hither for refuge. After a decisive victory, +one of the veterans of the Protector attempted to +swim to the island for a boat, with an intention of pillaging +and laying waste the asylum; but as he approached +the shore the above mentioned heroine, stepped +from her ambuscade, and with one stroke of her +dirk decapitated the marauder, thus rescuing her narrow +dominion with its tenants from destruction.</p> + +<p>The Island is small and rises perhaps fifty feet above +the water. It rests on a basis of granite, covered with +a thin coat of earth, through which the rocks occasionally +appear, and which affords scanty nutriment to a +growth of oak, birch, and mountain ash. The red berries +of the latter hung gracefully over the cliffs, in many +places shaded with brown heath. A winding pathway +leads to the summit, which is beautifully tufted, +and affords a charming view of the surrounding hills +and waters.</p> + +<p>In a little secluded copse near the top stands Ellen's +Bower, fashioned exactly according to the description +of the same object in the Lady of the Lake. Those +who are curious to form a minute and accurate image +of it, have only to turn to that picture. The exterior +is composed of unhewn logs or sticks of fir, fantastically +arranged, with a thatched, moss-covered roof, and +skins of beasts converted into semi-transparent parchment +for windows. Every thing within is in rustic +style. A living aspen grows in the centre, and supports +the ceiling. Upon its branches hangs a great +variety of ancient armor, with trophies of the chase. +Here may be seen the Lochaber axe, Rob Roy's dirk, +and sundry other curiosities. A table strewed with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +leaves extends nearly the whole length of the bower. +The walls are hung with shields, and the skins of various +animals. Chairs and sofas woven of osiers fill the +apartment. The chimney is formed of sticks, and the +head of a stag with his branching horns decorates the +mantlepiece. Half an hour was passed in lolling upon +Ellen's sofas, and in examining her domestic arrangements.</p> + +<p>Bidding a lingering farewell to the sweet little island, +we again embarked and soon completed the residue of +our voyage. The foot of Loch Katrine is very romantic +and beautiful. Innumerable hills of moderate elevation +raise their grey, pointed peaks around and above +a deeply wooded glen, opening towards the south-east +and forming the outlet of the lake. The highest of +these are Ben-venue and Ben-an, rising on each side of +the pass. Both are fine mountains, something like two +thousand feet in height, with naked masses of granite +overhanging wild and woody bases. From the great +number of peaks or <i>pikes</i> which are crowded into this +narrow district, it has been called the Trosachs, or +<i>bristled region</i>. The lake is here reduced to less than +half a mile in width, sheltered on all sides from the +winds by high promontories, jutting so far into the water, +as to appear like a group of islands.</p> + +<p>Towards the north-west, the eye looks up the glen +of Strathgartney, in which tradition says that the grey +charger of Fitz-James fell. The boatman gravely informed +us, that <i>his bones are to be seen to this day</i>! +Such stories, and the sketches of certain topographers, +have afforded us an infinite fund of amusement.</p> + +<p>We landed at the foot of Loch Katrine, and after +walking a mile and a half reached our hotel.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="WORSHIP" id="WORSHIP"></a>WORSHIP.</h2> + +<h3>By Asa Cummings.</h3> + + +<p>That heart must be desolate indeed, which is a stranger +to devotion. Were it possible to remain undevout, +and at the same time not be criminal, it were still a +state of mind most earnestly to be deprecated. It is a +joyless condition, to live without God in the world; to +be unsusceptible to the attractions of his moral excellence; +to pass the time of our sojourning in a world of +trial, without ever communing with the Father of our +spirits, or voluntarily casting ourselves on an Almighty +arm for support, and breathing forth to the Author of +our being, the language of supplication and praise.</p> + +<p>And how is the effect of devotion heightened by the +junction of numbers in the same service—even of the +"multitude who keep holy day!" A scene, so honorable +to Him "who inhabiteth the praises of Israel," +so fit in itself, so congruous to man's social nature and +dependant condition, so impressive on the actors and +spectators, and so salutary in its influence,—awakened +in the "sweet singer of Israel," the most ardent longings +for the courts of the Lord, and constituted the +glowing theme of more than one of his unrivalled songs. +Nay, under the influence of that inspiration which +prompted his thoughts and guided his pen, he does not +hesitate to affirm:—"<i>The Lord loveth the gates of Zion +more than all the dwellings of Jacob.</i>"<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p> +<p>Far from us be the thought of casting upon the +Psalmist the imputation of undervaluing himself, or of +designing to lead his fellow-men to undervalue domestic +or private worship. Every contrite heart is an +abode where God delights to dwell—a temple where +he abides and operates—a chosen habitation, where he +reveals his love and displays his grace. It is a complacent +sight to the Father of spirits, to behold one +prodigal returning, to see an individual prostrate before +him, and lifting up his cry for pardon and spiritual +strength. It is pleasing in his eyes to see a family +at their morning and evening devotions, pouring out +their souls with all the workings of pious affection, and +the various pleadings of faith. No sweeter incense +than this, ever ascends to heaven. When, therefore, +God expresses his preference for the worship of the +sanctuary, it is not the <i>quality</i> which he regards, but +the <i>degree</i>; not the <i>kind</i> of influence exerted, but the +<i>amount</i>. In the sanctuary is the concentrated devotion +of many hearts. Here are more minds to be wrought +upon; here is a wider scope for the operation of truth; +here a light is raised which is seen from afar, and attracts +the gaze of distant beholders, as the temple on +the summit of Moriah, "fretted with golden fires," +arrested the eye of the distant traveller. Here is a +public, practical declaration to all the world, that there +is a God, and that adoration and service are his due.</p> + +<p>In the sanctuary the Creator and the creature are +brought near to each other. The character and perfections +of God, his law and government, the wonders +of his providence, the riches of his grace, the duty and +destiny of man, are brought directly before the mind +by the "lively oracles." "Beholding, as in a glass,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same +image." Truth, enforced by the energies of the life-giving +Spirit, "is quick and powerful." God "pours +water on them that are thirsty;" and in fulfilment of +the prophetic word, "young men and maidens, old +men and children," awakened to "newness of life," +spring up "as willows by the water-courses," and +flock to the Refuge of souls, "as doves to their windows." +A spectacle this, well pleasing to God, and +cheering to the hearts of his friends on earth—none +more so this side heaven. None produces such a commingling +of wonder, love, humility, and gratitude; none +calls forth such adoring thankfulness; none makes the +songs of the temple below so like that new song of +Moses and the Lamb, which is perpetually sung before +the throne above. Heaven is brought down to earth—eternity +takes hold on time; this world yields its usurped +throne in the hearts of men, and Jehovah reigns triumphant, +the Lord of their affections. "The power +and glory of God are seen in the sanctuary."</p> + +<p>Here, too, are ample provisions to meet all future +wants—moral means to restore the wandering, to recover +the spiritually faint, to refresh and fortify their +souls to sustain the conflict with temptation, to inspire +the heart with religious joy, to nourish that spiritual +life which has dawned in their souls. Here is the +"sincere milk of the word," on which they may +"grow;" the significant ordinances, so quickening to +the affections, so invigorating to man's spiritual nature. +The Baptismal water affects the heart through the medium +of the eye, and enforces the worshipper's obligation +to abjure the world, and to be pure as Christ +is pure. The Emblematic Feast, exhibiting "Jesus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +Christ set forth crucified before his eyes,"—while it +affectingly reminds him of his lost condition as a sinner, +contains an impressive demonstration of the power +and grace of his Deliverer, "in whom we have redemption +through his blood." His faith fastens itself +on this sacrifice. He is loosed from the bondage of +sin; his "soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness." +His fellowship is with the Father, and with the Son. +He has communion with the saints. He derives new +support to his fainting faith, and goes on his pilgrimage +rejoicing.</p> + +<p>The entire exercises and scenes of the house of worship—the +reading of the scriptures, the confessions, +prayers, and praises, the songs of the temple—for "as +well the singers as the players on instruments" are +there<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>—the preaching of the gospel, the celebration of +the sacraments,—all combine their aid to strengthen +pious principle, holy purpose, virtuous habit, and to +render the children of God "perfect, thoroughly furnished +to every good work." The place, the day, the +multitude, the power of sympathy, all conspire to give +effect to truth, and to rouse them up to labor for God, +for their species, for eternity: all combine to render +the house of God "the gate of heaven," the image of +heaven, and a precious antepast of the enjoyments of +heaven!</p> + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"My willing soul would stay<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In such a frame as this,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sit, and sing herself away<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To everlasting bliss."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="THE_VALLEY_OF_SILENCE" id="THE_VALLEY_OF_SILENCE"></a>THE VALLEY OF SILENCE.</h2> + +<h3>By William Cutter.</h3> + +<blockquote><p>It was a perfect Eden for beauty. The scent of flowers came up on the gale, the swift stream +sparkled like a flow of diamonds in the sun, and a smile of soft light glistened on every leaf +and blade, as they drank in the life-giving ray. Its significant loveliness was eloquent to the +eye and the heart—but a strange deep silence reigned over it all. So perfect was the unearthly +stillness, you could almost hear yourself think.—<i>Katahdin.</i></p></blockquote> + + +<div class="cpoem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Has thy foot ever trod that silent dell?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis a place for the voiceless thought to swell<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the eloquent song to go up unspoken,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like the incense of flowers whose urns are broken;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the unveiled heart may look in, and see,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In that deep strange silence, its motions free,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And learn how the pure in spirit feel<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That unseen Presence to which they kneel.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">No sound goes up from the quivering trees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When they spread their arms to the welcome breeze;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They wave in the Zephyr—they bow to the blast—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But they breathe not a word of the power that passed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And their leaves come down on the turf and the stream,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With as noiseless a fall as the step of a dream;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the breath that is bending the grass and the flowers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Moves o'er them as lightly as evening hours.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The merry bird lights down on that dell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, hushing his breath, lest the song should swell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sits with folded wing in the balmy shade,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like a musical thought in the soul unsaid.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And they of strong pinion and loftier flight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pass over that valley, like clouds in the night—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They move not a wing in that solemn sky,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But sail in a reverent silence by.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The deer, in his flight, has passed that way,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And felt the deep spell's mysterious sway—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He hears not the rush of the path he cleaves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor his bounding step on the trampled leaves.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The hare goes up on that sunny hill,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the footsteps of morning are not more still,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the wild, and the fierce, and the mighty are there,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unheard in the hush of that slumbering air.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The stream rolls down in that valley serene,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Content in its beautiful flow to be seen,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And its fresh flowery banks, and its pebbly bed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Were never yet told of its fountain head;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And it still rushes on—but they ask not why,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With its smile of light, it is hurrying by;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still, gliding, or leaping, unwhispered, unsung,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like the flow of bright fancies, it flashes along.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The wind sweeps by, and the leaves are stirred,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But never a whisper or sigh is heard;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And when its strong rush laid low the oak,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not a murmur the eloquent stillness broke.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the gay young echoes—those mockers that lie<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the dark mountain-sides—make no reply,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, hushed in their caves, they are listening still<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For the songs of that valley to burst o'er the hill.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I love society;—I am o'erblest to hear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The mingling voices of a world; mine ear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drinks in their music with a spiritual taste;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I love companionship on life's dark waste,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And could not live unheard;—yet that still vale—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It had no fearful mystery in its tale;—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its hush was grand, not awful, as if there<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The voice of nature were a breathing prayer.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Twas like a holy temple, where the pure<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Might blend in their heart-worship, and be sure<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No sound of earth could come—a soul kept still,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In faith's unanswering meekness, for heaven's will,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its eloquent thoughts sent upward and abroad,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But all its deep hushed voices kept for God!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="DESCRIPTIONS_OF_THE_DIVINE_BEING" id="DESCRIPTIONS_OF_THE_DIVINE_BEING"></a>DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DIVINE BEING.</h2> + +<h3>By Gershom F. Cox.</h3> + + +<p>It is a difficult task to shadow forth spirit. The best +emblems of the earth can give but faint and distant +views of its incomprehensible nature. Our own consciousness, +too, must fail to give us adequate notions +of the mysterious traits of its character. Aided by the +brightest images of earth, or the most subtle principles +of philosophy, who can bring to view any tolerably +good picture of a <span class="smcap">human soul</span>!—who can draw the +outlines of thought!—thought that is as immeasurable +as the universe!—thought that <i>could encompass</i>, with +more than the quickness of the lightning's flash, all that +God has made!—thought that gives to us, at once, the +gravity of the merest atom, the beauties and properties +of the petal of a single flower, or the structure, density, +size and weight of the worlds that border on the outskirts +of our own universe; and when it has done its +noble work, as if plumed for fresh conquests, stretches +itself far beyond the material universe, into the deep +solitudes of eternity, in quest of something more! +Who, we ask again, can give the outlines of thought? +Who can tell us of its yet hidden resources; or of a +mind like that of Newton, or of Bacon, which, after +they had taken from the arcana of nature some of her +most hidden principles, "entered the secret place of +the Most High, and lodged beneath the shadow of the +Almighty?" How much less, then, can we give just +descriptions of the <span class="smcap">Deity</span>! How can we describe Him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +"who covereth himself with <span class="smcap">light</span> as with a garment,"—whom +no man hath seen, nor can see.</p> + +<p>We are aware that every thing speaks of <i>a</i> God. +All nature has its language; and however dark the +alphabet, it still speaks, and speaks every where; for +there is no place where he has not "left a witness." +We acknowledge, too, that the only reason why the +deep tones of nature are not more audible, may be +found in the imbecilities or transgressions of man. +But, while the babbling brook hath its story to tell of its +Maker, and the willow that bends and sighs by its side, +and the pebble o'er which the streamlet rolls;—while +the glorious dew-drop has its power of speech—the +soft south breeze, and "the hoar-frost of heaven;" +while the deep vale may offer its chorus to the waving +corn, or to the lofty summit by its side; while often +may be heard the full notes of the angry tempest, and +of the tornado as it sweeps by us, carrying fearful desolation +in its path; although these may all speak forcibly +of the power, of the goodness, of the wisdom, of +the terrible justice of God; yet, without divine revelation, +like the inscription at Athens, they only point to +a God <span class="smcap">unknown</span>. The awful precipice, where</p> + +<div class="center"> +"Leaps the live thunder,"</div> + + +<p>in the hour of the tempest, doth but stun the intellect +of man with its overhanging and dizzy heights. And +"the sound of many waters," or "the deep, lifting up +his hands on high,"—although they may arouse every +passion of the spirit, and address it as with the voice of +God; yet, to man, these all want an interpreter. Lo! +these are but "<i>parts</i> of his ways." But what a mere +"<i>whisper</i> of the matter is heard in it, and the thunder +of his power who can understand!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span></p> + +<p>Nature speaks—we repeat it—but her language, to +us, is often indefinite; like the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, +it may arouse the spirit to inquiry—agitate +every passion to consternation; but without a Daniel to +interpret her admonitions, "the thing is passed from +us." Else why this gross ignorance of the character +of God among even the enlightened, or rather civilized, +nations of antiquity? Why did not Egypt, when all +the "wisdom of the east" was concentrated in her +sons, have <i>some</i> notions of the Deity that would have +raised their minds above the serpent or crocodile, or +some insignificant article of the vegetable creation? +Why did not the savage, roaming in the freedom of his +interminable forests, have some correct views of God? +He had talked with the sun, and heard the roar of the +tempest; the evening sky in its grandeur was an everlasting +map spread out before him, and the broad lake +mirrored back to him its glories. But how confused—how +degraded were the loftiest notions of the Deity, +among the most powerful of Indian minds!</p> + +<p>But I have already strayed from my purpose. I intended +only to give a specimen or two, of attempted +descriptions of the Deity, for the purpose of showing +the infinite superiority of those contained in the bible, +above every other in the world.</p> + +<p>It ought, however, to be recollected, that the descriptions +we find among heathen authors, are doubtless +more or less indebted to sentiments borrowed from the +Jewish scriptures; although we believe the contrast +will show that they have passed through heathen hands. +One of the most sublime to be met with in the world, +out of the bible, was engraved in hieroglyphics upon +the temple of Neith, the Egyptian Minerva. It is as +follows:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I am that which is, was, and shall be: no mortal +hath lifted up my veil: the offspring of my power is +the sun."</p> + +<p>A similar inscription still remains at Capua, on the +temple of Isis:</p> + +<p>"Thou art one, and from thee all things proceed."</p> + +<p>In the above, evident traces are to be seen of the +Hebrew term <span class="smcap">Jehovah</span>. Some of Homer's descriptions +have their excellencies; but they all suffer from +the fact, that he clothes the deities he describes, not +only with human passions, but with human appetites +of the most degrading character. And he never seems +more satisfied with himself than when he represents +them heated for war! "Warring gods," when placed +at the foot of Calvary, or contrasted with any just description +of the true God, is certainly a revolting idea; +and it is still worse to introduce them as does Homer, +with the shuddering thought that,</p> + +<div class="center"> +"Gods on gods exert <i>eternal rage</i>!"</div> + +<p>And our impressions are scarcely more favorable +when he presents us with an <i>un</i>incarnate, and yet +"bleeding god," retiring from the field of battle, +"pierced with Grecian darts," "though fatal, not to +die." The following from this author is singular indeed:</p> + +<div class="cpoem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Of lawless force shall <i>lawless</i> MARS complain?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of all the <i>most unjust</i>, most odious in our eyes!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In human discord is thy dire delight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The waste of slaughter, and the rage of fight.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No bound, no law thy fiery temper quells,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all <i>thy mother</i> in thy soul rebels!"—<i>Illiad, Book 5.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The following is far less exceptionable:</p> + +<div class="cpoem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And know, the Almighty is the God of gods.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">League all your forces then, ye powers above,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Join all, and try the omnipotence of Jove;<br /></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Let down our golden everlasting chain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose strong embrace holds heaven, and earth and main:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Strive all, of mortal or immortal birth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To draw, by this, the thunderer down to earth:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ye strive in vain! If I but stretch this hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I heave the gods, the ocean, and the land;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I fix the chain to great Olympus' height,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the vast world hangs trembling in my sight!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For such I reign unbounded and above;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And such are men, and gods, compared to Jove."—Ill. b. vi.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Some of the above ideas are certainly sublime, and +considering the age that produced them, they have no +superior but the bible.</p> + +<p>As the <span class="smcap">koran</span> has attained considerable celebrity, +we should hardly be pardoned should we not notice it. +The passage on which the Mohammedan rests his +whole faith, for sublimity, and which is confessedly +unapproached by any thing else in the koran, is the +following:</p> + +<p>"God! There is no God but he; the living, the +self-subsisting; neither slumber nor sleep seizeth him; +to him belongeth whatsoever is in heaven, and on earth. +Who is he that can intercede with him but through his +good pleasure? He knoweth that which is past, and +that which is to come. His throne is extended over +heaven and earth, and the preservation of both is to +him no burden. He is the High, the Mighty."</p> + +<p>If the above passage contained a single <i>original</i> +thought, it might entitle it to higher praise than it can +now receive. But as there is no thought expressed, but +may be found in the book of Job, or among the inimitable +Psalms of David, written from sixteen hundred to +two thousand years before Mohammed, and which this +pretended prophet had before him—and as we can +hardly allow their originality of expression—the only +praise that can be bestowed upon its author is, that of +having studied the Jewish scriptures pretty closely, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +fact that is exhibited throughout his famous production. +But while we acknowledge that this is a brilliant passage, +it evidently does not surpass, nor even equal, either +of the following, selected from our own times.</p> + +<div class="cpoem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Eternal Spirit! God of truth! to whom<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All things seem as they are. Thou who of old<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The prophet's eye unsealed, that nightly saw<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While heavy sleep fell down on other men,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In holy vision tranced, the future pass<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Before him, and to Judah's harp attuned<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Burdens which make the pagan mountains shake,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Zion's cedars bow,—inspire my song;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My eye unscale; me what is substance teach,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And shadow what, while I of things to come,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As past rehearsing, sing the course of time.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">—Hold my right hand, Almighty! and me teach<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To strike the lyre——to notes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which wake the echoes of Eternity."—<i>Pollok.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In the above extracts there is this remarkable difference: +Mohammed, in his description of Deity, has <i>no +thought</i> that refers to a <i>moral perfection</i> of God! And +indeed gross sensuality, and a destitution of high and +spiritual views, characterize his whole work.</p> + +<p>But with Pollok, the first thought is <span class="smcap">spirit</span>—a second, +<span class="smcap">truth</span>. And aside from this peculiarity, although you +turn over every leaf of the koran, we affirm that you +cannot find so sublime a conception as the following:</p> + +<div class="cpoem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Hold my right hand, Almighty! and me teach<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To strike the lyre,——to notes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That wake the echoes of eternity."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>But how infinitely, both in grandeur and simplicity, +do all these fall short of the inimitable <i>original</i> of most +of these, penned by David of the Old, or Paul of the +New Testament.</p> + +<p>"O, my God, take me not away in the midst of my +days: <span class="smcap">thy</span> years are throughout all generations. Of +old hast <span class="smcap">thou</span> laid the foundations of the earth, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +heavens are the work of thine hands. They shall +perish, but <span class="smcap">thou</span> shalt endure; yea, all of them shall +wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change +them, and they shall be changed. <span class="smcap">But thou art the +same, and thy years shall have no end.</span>"</p> + +<p>"Who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King +of kings, and the Lord of lords; who only hath <span class="smcap">immortality</span>, +dwelling in Light which no man can approach +unto,—whom no man hath seen, nor can see!"</p> + +<p>Or as in another place, "The King eternal, immortal, +invisible,—the only wise God."</p> + +<p>In the above specimens, there is a grandeur and +simplicity not to be found in any merely human composition.</p> + +<p>The following is very fine, from Habakkuk:</p> + +<div class="cpoem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"God came from Teman,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Holy One from Mount Paran.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His glory covered the heavens,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And his praise filled the earth.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His brightness was like the sun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Out of his hand [or side] came flashes of lightning,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And there was only the veil of his might.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Before him walked the pestilence,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And burning coals went forth at his feet.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He stood, and the earth was moved;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He looked, and caused the nations to quake.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the everlasting mountains were broken in pieces,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the perpetual hills did bow.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His goings are from everlasting."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>We scarcely know which to admire most, the above +or the following from the same author:</p> + +<div class="cpoem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The mountains saw THEE and trembled,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The overflowing waters passed away.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The deep uttered his voice,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And lifted up his hands on high.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sun and moon stood still in their habitations.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At the shining of thine arrows, (i. e. the lightnings,) they disappeared—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At the brightness of thy glittering spear!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The following paraphrastic reference may be regarded +as barren in some respects, compared with others<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +that might be selected from the same living fountain.</p> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Eye</span> of the Supreme Being is regarded as so +piercing as to pervade heaven, earth and hell, and the +awful depths of eternity. His <span class="smcap">countenance</span> is as the +sun shining in his strength. The wind, in its endless +whirl, is but his breath or breathing. His <span class="smcap">hand</span> is represented +so immense, that even its "hollow" will +"contain the waters of the great deep,"—and, when +"spanned," he "measures with it the whole heavens." +While "<i>sitting</i> in the circle of the heavens," the earth +is represented as the place where his feet rest. So +rapid in his motion, that "He <i>walks</i> upon the wings of +the wind." Of such awful strength, "that the earth," +with its countless inhabitants, are "less than the dust" +that accumulates "upon the balance." At one time +"He covereth himself with <i>light</i> as with a garment,"—and +at another, "He maketh <i>darkness</i> his pavilion, and +the thick clouds of the skies."</p> + +<p>These however are images all borrowed from sensible +objects, and, magnificent as they may be, they +fail of throwing upon the mind a full image of Him +who hath "no likeness in the heavens above, nor in the +earth beneath." And, besides, these glowing pictures +present to the mind none of his moral attributes. For +a description of these, we must look either to the +events of his providence, or a more particular disclosure +in the bible. And it may well astonish us, that, +after the lapse of more than three thousand years, we +may look in vain for a fuller or more perfect description +of the Divine Being, in words, than is given by <span class="smcap">Moses</span> +in that memorable moment upon Mount Sinai—</p> + +<div class="center"> +"Whose grey tops did tremble, when God ordained their laws."</div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p> + +<p>A description that is like the sun rising upon the +chaos that surrounded him in the Egyptian mythology, +which at that time was so gross that no object in nature +was too mean for a deity. But "in the midst of +this darkness that might be felt," God was pleased to +reveal himself in the following language, at once sufficiently +grave and impressive to afford irrefragable proof +of its high origin.</p> + +<div class="hebrew"><p dir="rtl" lang="he" xml:lang="he"> +ויעבור יהוה על־פניו ויקרא יהוה יהוה אל רחום +וחנון ארך אפים ורב־חסד ואמת׃ נצר חסד +לאלפים נשא עון ופשע וחטאה ונקה לא ינקה +פקד עון אבות על־בנים ועל־בני +בנים על־שלשים ועל־רבעים׃ +</p></div> + +<div class="translit"><ins title="Transcriber's Note: transliteration added, not present in original">~Vay'avor Adonai 'al panav vaykra Adonai Adonai El ra[h.]um ve[h.]anun erekh +apayim verav [h.]esed veemeth. Notzer [h.]esed laalafim nose 'avon vafesha ve +[h.]atah venakeh lo yinakeh poked 'avon avoth 'al banim ve'al bnei vanim 'al +shileshim ve'al ribe'im.~</ins></div> + +<p>"And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, +The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, +long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, +keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and +transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear +<i>the guilty</i>; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the +children, and upon the children's children, unto the +third and to the fourth generation."</p> + +<p>Or, as these striking appellatives of the Divine Being +might be translated, without offering any violation +to the Hebrew,—the <span class="smcap">Jehovah</span>, the <span class="smcap">strong</span> and <span class="smcap">mighty +God</span>, the <i>merciful</i> <span class="smcap">One</span>, the <span class="smcap">gracious One</span>, the long-suffering +<span class="smcap">One</span>, the <span class="smcap">great</span> and <span class="smcap">mighty One</span>, the <span class="smcap">Bountiful +Being</span>, the <span class="smcap">True One</span>, or <span class="smcap">Truth</span>, the Preserver +of <span class="smcap">Bountifulness</span>, the <span class="smcap">Redeemer</span>, or Pardoner, the +Righteous <span class="smcap">Judge</span>, and He who <span class="smcap">visits iniquity</span>.</p> + +<p>This is a remarkable description indeed to come<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +from one educated in the midst of Egyptian mythology; +and the awful names by which the Supreme Being +is designated, can only be accounted for, under +such circumstances, on the supposition that Moses received +them directly from the Almighty himself.</p> + +<p>But to close our article. The Divine Being is nowhere +so perfectly, so interestingly described as in the +<span class="smcap">character of Christ</span>. Here <span class="smcap">love</span> is unbosomed as +it could not be by language. Here heaven drops down +to earth; and the otherwise invisible beauties of the +invisible God, are made tangible even to the eye. The +<i>arm</i> of mercy, outstretched to the sinner—the eye of +justice softened by the tear of mercy—the heart of love +beating intensely with benignity, as well as every perfection +of the divine nature; are all laid open to the +view of sinful, helpless man, and we become "eye +witness of his glorious majesty." Here the tears of +mercy may be seen dropping upon its wretched objects +of commiseration; and the most secret emotions of the +divine mind, we may behold, heaving in the bosom of +the immaculate Jesus. Here indeed "God tabernacles +and walks with man." And as a confirmation of the +glorious truth, at beholding Him, "the sun stood still in +his habitation." "The sea saw him, and was afraid." +The earth trembled at his presence, and gave back the +dead at his voice. Well indeed might one exclaim, to +behold such a personage, "<span class="smcap">My Lord and my God.</span>"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="THE_FRENCH_REVOLUTION" id="THE_FRENCH_REVOLUTION"></a>THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.</h2> + +<h3>By Charles S. Daveis.</h3> + + +<p>Never—since the period that Cæsar conquered Gaul, +when the inhabitants enjoyed a barbarian license under +their native chiefs and druids, had the voice of liberty +been heard in France, till the 14th of July, 1789. Never +before did such a note of exultation spread over the +vine-covered hills,—and echo among the beautiful valleys, +of that fair country. Never perhaps before was +there such a burden lifted from the minds of men. In +the unwonted consciousness of power, they seemed to +tread a new earth. In the intoxication of triumph they +burst from the bonds of morality and humanity. So +very singular, and strange, indeed, was the position in +which the people of France were placed by the revolution, +that their vernacular language was found deficient +in the appropriate phraseology of freedom; and they +were obliged to resort to a foreign idiom, and to the +customs of other climes, and the usages of other nations, +and to ransack the regions of fancy and invention, +for the vocabulary, as well as the drapery, of their +new republic.</p> + +<p>It is remarkable, that the revolution in France, beginning +in fact, with the destruction of the Bastile, +should end in the re-establishment of despotism. It +was a revolution indeed not more remarkable for the +original character of its cause, than its catastrophe; +for the astonishing contrast it exhibits between the +splendor of its talents and the atrocity of its crimes:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +for the reverence which it professed for antiquity, and +the mischief it produced to posterity; for adopting the +most enormous maxims, and enforcing them by the +most audacious means; for the use which it made of +its own freedom to enslave other nations to its law, for +erecting the empire of Rome upon the democracy of +Athens, for the adoption of a model of colossal grandeur, +and establishing the most tremendous system of +policy, that ever convulsed human kind:—a revolution, +conspicuous also for the sudden appearance of a race +of men springing up from the earth, as though it had +been sown with dragons' teeth, and its monstrous fruits +produced with hydras' heads and tigers' hearts;—resounding, +together, with the tribune, and the guillotine;—not +merely remarkable for tearing the priest from +the altar, but for rasing the altar likewise to the ground; +and distinguished for the successive destruction of some +of the most ancient thrones and crowns in Europe;—for +the ignominious death of the last in a royal line of +seventy sovereigns, who, at any former period of the +monarchy, would have been blessed as the father of +his people, and canonized as the true descendant of St. +Louis,—and the most affecting example on record of +an anointed queen, not more famed for her charms +than for her sorrows,—her errors more than atoned by +her sufferings, perishing without a tear, in a land of +ancient renown for chivalry, upon the scaffold! The +revolution in France was a scene at which sensibility +sinks. It seemed to extinguish the hopes of its friends +in the blood of its martyrs; and it was hardly relieved +by the virtues of its purest patriot, educated in the +schools of America, banished from the air of France, +and doomed to breathe the dungeons of despotism.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span></p> + +<p>To what are we indebted again for our escape from +that wild turmoil, which involved the elements of society +and government in Europe with an overwhelming +violence? Why was it, that while the storm, that +shook the continent abroad, beat against our iron-bound +shore, its fury was expended at our feet; and we heard +it howl along our agitated coast and die away at a distance? +Why did we enjoy a light, like the children +of Israel, in our dwellings, while Egyptian darkness +brooded around? Why, in this universal chaos, had +we such reason to congratulate ourselves on the good +providence of God, in ordaining us to be a world by +ourselves?—It was certainly not, that we did not enter +into the cause of liberty in France with enthusiasm; +for our hearts were in it as warmly as they were in our +own. Our sympathy was with it as long as it could +be sustained; our regret pursued it in dishonor,—and +our affection followed it into misfortune. We lamented +to see, that all the results of that amazing movement +of the human mind, contemplating the happiness of +millions, and looking to the improvement of ages, should +follow the fortune of foreign war; and that they should +centre in a single individual, carried away into captivity, +and doomed to end his days upon a solitary rock. +We grieved to behold the beautiful and brilliant star of +the French Revolution sink at last into mid-ocean, the +mere meteor of military glory.—Feeling all the disappointment +of its friends, we cannot but contrast it with +the deep repose, which our own illustrious and honored +patriots enjoy, in the land which gave them birth, beneath +the mighty shadows of our happy political revolution.</p> + +<p>Although, as Americans, we cease to cling to the +cause of revolutionary liberty in France with the lingering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +fondness of early affection, we continue to follow +its dying light, as though we could not believe it +had entirely sunk in darkness and despair. If it be not +possible to regard it uninfluenced by its unfortunate +termination, if we can borrow nothing from its origin to +relieve its mournful catastrophe, it behoves us still to +embalm the wounds of liberty with its healing spirit, +and it concerns us also, that all its sacrifices and services +for the sake of man should not have perished with +its victims. The vices of the ancient government rendered +it unfit for the happiness of France, without essential +alterations; and while we reflect with pain upon +the results of the revolution, we must bear in mind that +they were the excesses of men like ourselves, transported +by hopes excited by our example, and exalted by a +more ardent temper, untrained by the same favorable +habits and beneficial institutions;—and although its +transient violence may shock and repel our sympathy, +it ought not to disgust us with its principles, or to alienate +our attachment from its rational objects. Let us +not fail to perceive, as we shall, if we are attentive to +the facts, that what was good was in the cause; and +what was evil was the effect of that long oppression by +which it was corrupted. In this wonderful dispensation +to mankind we may not perhaps pretend to scan the +ways of providence; yet in common with the christian +world we cannot fail to behold the dealing of a divine +and overruling hand. Where the seed of liberty has +been sown, and watered with the blood, as well as +tears, of patriots, that seed is yet <i>in</i> the earth; and +whether it spring up before our eyes or not, it may be +the will of Him, to whom no eye is raised in vain, that +nothing shall be lost!</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="MRS_SYKES" id="MRS_SYKES"></a>MRS. SYKES.</h2> + +<h3>By Nathaniel Deering.</h3> + + +<p>One dark, stormy night in the summer of —— finding +my system had lost much of its <i>humidum radicale</i>, +or radical moisture, in truth a very alarming premonitory, +I directed Mrs. Tonic in preparing my warm +<i>aqua fontana</i> to infuse a <i>quantum sufficit</i> of Hollands; +of which having taken a somewhat copious draught, I +sought my cubiculum. Let no one imagine however, +that I give the least countenance to the free use of alcoholic +mixtures. They are undoubtedly poisonous, and +like other poisons, which hold a high rank in our pharmacopeia, +it is only when taken under the direction of +those deemed cunning in our art, that they exert a healing +power, and as one Shakspeare happily expresses it, +"ascend me to the brain." Now as the radical moisture +is essential to vitality and as this moisture is promoted +in a wonderful degree by potations of Hollands, we +of the Faculty hold with Horatius Flaccus "<i>omnes eodem +cogimur</i>"—we may all <i>cogue</i> it. But to return to +my <i>narratio</i> or story as it may be called. I had hardly +"steep'd my senses in forgetfulness" as some one +quaintly says, when I was effectually aroused by a loud +knocking at the window. The blows were so heavy +and frequent that Mrs. Tonic though somewhat unadorned, +it being her hour for retiring, yet fearful of +fractured glass, hurried to the door. I might here mention, +in order to show the reason of Mrs. Tonic's fears, +that my parlor front-window had been lately beautified<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +with an enlarged sash containing not seven by nine, the +size generally used, but eight by ten—panes certainly +of a rare and costly size and which Mrs. Tonic had the +honor of introducing. The cause of this unseasonable +disturbance proved to be a messenger from Deacon +Sykes stating that good Mrs. Sykes was alarmingly ill +and desiring my immediate attendance. Now in the +whole range of my practice there was no one whose +call was sooner heeded than Mrs. Sykes's; for besides +being an ailing woman and of course a profitable patient, +she had much influence in our village as the +wife of Deacon Sykes. But I must confess that on +this occasion I did feel an unwillingness to resume my +habiliments, that night as I before remarked, being uncommonly +stormy and myself feeling sensibly the effects +of the sudorific I had just taken. Still I should +willingly have exposed myself had not Mrs. Tonic +gathered from the messenger that it was only a return +of Mrs. Sykes's old complaint, that excruciating pain, +the colic; for Mrs. Sykes was flatulent. As the medicine +I had hitherto prescribed for her in such aliments +had been wonderfully blessed, I directed Mrs. Tonic to +bring my saddle-bags, from which having prepared a +somewhat smart dose of <i>tinct. rhei.</i> with <i>carb. soda</i>, I +gave it to the messenger bidding him return with all +speed. In the belief that this would prove efficacious, +I again turned to woo the not reluctant Somnus, but +scarcely had an hour elapsed when I was again alarmed +by repeated blows first at the door and then at the +window. In a moment I sat bolt upright, in which attitude +I was soon imitated by Mrs. Tonic, on hearing +the crash of one of her eight by tens. Through the +aperture I now distinctly recognized the voice of Sam<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +Saunders, who had hired with the Deacon, stating that +good Mrs. Sykes was absolutely <i>in extremis</i>, or as Sam +himself expressed it, "at her last gasp." On hearing +this, you may be assured I was not long <i>in naturalibus</i>; +but drawing on my nether integuments, I departed despite +the remonstrances of Mrs. Tonic, without my +wrapper and without any thing in fact except a renewed +draught of my <i>philo humidum radicale</i>. My journey +to the Deacon's was made with such an accelerated +movement that it was accomplished as it were <i>per +saltum</i>. This was owing to my great anxiety about +Mrs. Sykes, though possibly in a small degree I might +have dreaded an obstruction of the pores in my own +person. Howbeit, on arriving at the Deacon's, I saw +at once that she was beyond the healing art. There +lay all that remained of Mrs. Sykes—the <i>disjecta membra</i>, +the <i>fragmenta</i>—the casket! But the gem, the +<i>mens divinior</i> was gone and forever. There she lay, +regardless of the elongated visage of Deacon Sykes on +the one side, and of the no less elongated visage of the +widow Dobble on the other side, who had been some +time visiting there, and who now hung over her departed +friend in an agony of woe. "Doctor," cried the +Deacon, "is there no hope?" "Is there no hope?" +echoed the widow Dobble. I grasped the wrist of Mrs. +Sykes, but pulsation had ceased; the eye was glazed +and the countenance livid. "<i>A caput mortuum</i>, Deacon! +<i>defuncta!</i> the wick of vitality is snuffed out." +The bereaved husband groaned deeply; the widow +Dobble groaned an octave higher.</p> + +<p>On my way home my mind was much exercised +with this sudden and mysterious dispensation. Had +Sam Saunders blundered in his statement of her complaint?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +Had I myself—good Heavens! it could'nt be +possible! I opened my bags—<i>horresco referens!</i> it +was but too palpable! Owing either to the agitation +of the moment when so suddenly awakened, or to the +deep solicitude of Mrs. Tonic, who, in preparing my +<i>philo humidum radicale</i>, had infused an undue portion +of the Hollands—to one of these the lamented Mrs. +Sykes might charge her untimely exit; for there was +the vial of <i>tinct. rhei.</i> full to the stopple, while the vial +marked "laudanum," was as dry as a throat in fever. +I hesitate not to record that at this discovery, I lost +some of that self-possession which has ever been characteristic +of the Tonics. I was not only standing on +the brow of a precipice, but my centre of gravity +seemed a little beyond it. There were rivals in the +vicinity jealous of my rising reputation. The sudden +death might cause a <i>post mortem</i> examination, and the +result would be as fatal to me as was the laudanum to +Mrs. Sykes. A thought, occurring, doubtless through +a special Providence, suddenly relieved my mind. At +break of day I retraced my footsteps to the chamber +of the deceased. Accompanied by the Deacon I approached +to gaze upon the corpse; when, suddenly +starting back, I placed one hand upon my olfactories +and grasping with the other the alarmed mourner, I +hurried towards the door. "In the name of heaven!" +cried the Deacon, "what is the matter?" "The matter!" +I replied, "the matter! Deacon, listen. In all +cases of mortality where the radical moisture has not +been lessened by long disease, putrefaction commences +on the cessation of the organic functions and a <i>miasma</i> +fatal to the living is in a moment generated. +This is the case even in cold weather, and it being now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +July, I cannot answer for your own life if the burial be +deferred; the last sad offices must be at once attended +to." Deacon Sykes consented. Not, he remarked, on +his own account, for, as to himself, life had lost its +charms, but there were others near on whom many +were dependent, and he could not think of gratifying +his own feelings at their expense—sufficient, says he, +for the day is the evil thereof. I hardly need add, +that, when my advice to the Deacon got wind, the +neighbors with one accord rallied to assist in preparing +Mrs. Sykes for her last home; and their labors +were not a little quickened by the fumes of tar and +vinegar which I directed to be burnt on this melancholy +occasion. Much as I cherished Mrs. Sykes, still I +confess that my feelings were much akin to those +called pleasurable, when I heard the rattle of those terrene +particles which covered at the same time my lamented +friend and my professional lapsus.</p> + +<p>But after all, as I sat meditating on the ups and +downs of life during the evening of the funeral, the +question arose in my mind, is all safe? May not +some unfledged Galens remove the body for the purpose +of dissection?—Worse than all, may not some +malignant rival have already meditated a similar expedition? +The more I reflected on this matter and its +probable consequences, the more my fears increased, +till at last they became too great for my frail tenement. +There was at this period a boarder in my family, one +Job Sparrow, who having spent about thirty years of his +pilgrimage in the "singing of anthems," concluded at +length to devote the residue thereof to the study of the +human frame, to which he was the more inclined, probably, +as he could have the benefit of my deep investigations.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +His outward man, though somewhat ungainly, +was exceedingly muscular, and he had a firmness +of nerve which would make him willingly engage in +any enterprise that would aid him in his calling. Conducting +him to my sanctum or study, a retired chamber +in my domicil, "Job," I remarked, "I have long +noticed your engagedness in the healing art, and I have +lamented my inability of late to further your progress +in the study of anatomy from the difficulty of procuring +subjects. An opportunity, however, is at length +afforded, and I shall not fail to embrace it though at +the sacrifice of my best feelings. The subject I mean, +is the lamented Mrs. Sykes. Bring her remains at +night to this chamber, and I with my venerable friend +Dr. Grizzle will exhibit what, though often described, +are seldom visible, those wonderful absorbents, the <i>lacteals</i>.—It +is only in very recent subjects, my dear +Job, that it is possible to point them out." My pupil +grinned complacently at this manifestation of kindly +feelings towards him in one so much his superior, and +hastened to prepare himself for the expedition. It was +about nine of the clock when the venerable Dr. Grizzle, +whom I had notified of my intended operations +through Job, came stealthily in. Dr. Grizzle, though +from his appearance one would conclude that he was +about to "shuffle off this mortal coil," was a <i>rara avis</i> +as to his knowledge of the corporeal functions. There +were certain gainsayers, indeed, who asserted that his +intellectual candle was just glimmering in its socket; +but it will show to a demonstration how little such statements +are to be regarded when I assert that the like +slanders had been thrown out touching my own person. +The profound Grizzle, above such malignant feelings,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +always coincided with my own opinion, both as to the +nature of the disease we were called to counteract, +and as to the mode of treatment; and so highly did I +value him, that he was the only one whom I called to +a consultation when that course was deemed expedient. +We had prepared our instruments and were refreshing +our minds with the pages of Chesselden, a luminous +writer, when to my great satisfaction the signal of my +pupil was heard below. Hitherto our labors seemed +to have been blest; but a difficulty occurred in this +stage of our progress which threatened not only to render +these labors useless, but to retard, if I may so say, +the advance of anatomical science. It was this; the +stairway was uncommonly narrow, and the lamented +Mrs. Sykes was uncommonly large. As it was impossible, +then, for Job to pass up at the same time with +the defunct, it was settled after mature deliberation, +that he and myself, should occupy a post at each extreme, +while Grizzle assisted near the <i>lumbar</i> region. +"Now," cried Job, "heave together;" but the words +were hardly uttered, when a shreak from Grizzle, paralized +our exertions. Our muscular efforts had wedged +my venerable friend so completely between Mrs. +Sykes and the wall, that his lungs wheezed like a pair +of decayed bellows; and had it not been for the Herculean +strength of Job, who rushed as it were <i>in medias +res</i>, the number of the dead would have equalled +that of the living. At length, after repeated trials, we +effected, as I facetiously remarked, our "passage of +the Alps;" an historical allusion which tended much +to the divertisement of Grizzle and obliterated in no +small measure, the memory of his recent peril. And +now, having directed Job to go down and secure the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +door, Grizzle and myself advanced to remove the bandages +that confined her arms, previous to dissection. +But scarcely was the work accomplished when a sepulchral +groan burst from the defunct, the eyes glared, +and the loosened arm was slowly lifted from the body. +That I am not of that class who can be charged with +any thing like timidity, is, I think well proved by my +consenting to act for several years as regimental surgeon +in our militia, a post undoubtedly of danger. But +I must concede that at this unexpected movement, both +Grizzle and myself were somewhat agitated. From +the table to the stair-way, we leaped, as it were by instinct, +and with a velocity at which even now I greatly +marvel. This sudden evidence of vitality in my lamented +friend, or I might say rather an unwillingness +to be found alone with her in such a peculiar situation, +also induced me to prevent if possible the retreat of +Grizzle, and I fastened with some degree of violence +upon his projecting queue. It was fortunate, in so far +as regarded Grizzle, that art in this instance had supplanted +nature. His wig, of which the queue formed +no inconsiderable portion, was all that my hand retained. +Had it been otherwise, such was the tenacity of +my grasp on the one hand, and such his momentum on +the other, that Grizzle must have left the natural ornament +of his cerebrum, while I, though unjustly, must +have been charged with imitating our heathenish Aborigines. +As it was, his bald pate shot out from beneath +it with the velocity of a discharged ball; nor was the +similitude to that engine of carnage at all lessened +when I heard its rebounds upon the stairs. How long +I remained overwhelmed by the wonderful scenes +which I had just witnessed, I cannot tell; but on recovering,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +I found that Mrs. Sykes had been removed +to my best chamber, and Job and Mrs. Tonic both busily +engaged about her person. They had, as I afterwards +ascertained, by bathing her feet and rubbing her +with hot flannels, wrought a change almost miraculous; +and the effects of the laudanum having happily subsided +she appeared, when I entered, as in her pristine +state. At that moment they were about administering +a composing draught, which undoubtedly she needed, +having received several severe contusions on the stairway +in our endeavors to extricate Grizzle. But rushing +forward, I exclaimed, "thanks to Heaven that I again +see that cherished face! thanks that I have been the instrument +under Providence of restoring to society its +brightest ornament! Be composed, my dear Mrs. +Sykes, ask no questions to night, unless you would +frustrate all my labors." Then presenting to her lips +an opiate, in a short time I had the satisfaction of seeing +her sink into a tranquil slumber.</p> + +<p>As I considered it all important that the matter +should be kept a profound secret till I had arranged +my plans; and as Mrs. Tonic had in a remarkable degree +that propensity which distinguishes woman—I was +under the necessity of making her privy to the whole +transaction; trusting that the probable ruin to my reputation +consequent on an exposure would effectually +bridle her unruly member. My venerable friend too, +I invited for a few days to my own mansion lest the +bruises he received during his <i>exodus</i> from the dissecting +room might have deprived him of his customary +caution. The last and most difficult step was to prepare +the mind of Mrs. Sykes, who was yet <i>in nubibus</i> +as to her new location. With great caution I gradually<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +unfolded the strange event that had just transpired,—her +sudden apparent death, the alarm of the village +touching the <i>miasma</i>, and the consequent sudden interment. +'Your exit, my dear Mrs. Sykes,' I continued, +'seemed like a dream—I could not realize it. Such +an irreparable loss! I thought of all the remedies that +had been applied in such cases. Had any thing been +omitted that had a tendency to increase the circulation +of the radical fluid! There was the Galvanic battery,—it +had been entirely overlooked, and yet what wonders +it had performed! No sooner had this occurred +to my mind than I was impressed with the conviction +that you were to revisit this mundane sphere, and that +I was the chosen instrument to enkindle the vital spark. +No time was lost in obeying this mysterious impulse. +The grave was opened, the battery was applied <i>secundem +artem</i>—and the result is the restoration to society +of our beloved Mrs. Sykes.' In proportion to her horror +at the idea, that she must have rested from her labors +but for my skill, was her gratitude for this timely +rescue. She fell on my neck and clung like one demented, +till a gathering frown on the face of my spouse +warned me of the necessity of repelling her embraces. +Mrs. Sykes was now desirous of returning immediately +home, to restore as it were to life her bereaved consort, +who was no doubt mourning at his desolation, and +refusing to be comforted. But here I felt it my duty +to interpose. 'My dear Mrs. Sykes,' said I, 'your return +at this moment would overwhelm him. The sudden +change from the lowest depths of woe to a state of +ecstacy, would consign him to the tenement you have +just quitted. No! this extraordinary Providence must be +gradually unfolded.' She yielded at last to my sage<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +councils and consented to wait till the violence of his +grief had somewhat abated, and his mind had become +sufficiently tranquil to hear that tale which I was cautiously +to relate. On the following day however, her +anxiety to return had risen to a high pitch, and truly +by evening it was beyond my control. She was firm +in the belief that I could make the disclosure without +essential injury to the Deacon; 'besides,' as she remarked, +'there was no knowing how much waste there +had been in the kitchen.' It was settled at last that I +should immediately walk over to the Deacon's, and by +a judicious train of reflection, for which I was admirably +fitted, prepare the way for this joyous meeting. +When I arrived at the house of mourning, though perhaps +the last person in the world entitled to the name +of evesdropper, yet as my eye was somewhat askance +as I passed the window, I observed a spectacle that for +a time arrested my footsteps. There sat the Deacon, +recounting probably the virtues of the deceased partner, +and there, not far apart, sat the widow Dobble +sympathizing in his sorrows. It struck me that Deacon +Sykes was not ungrateful for her consolatory efforts; +for he took her hand with a gentle pressure +and held it to his bosom. Perhaps it was the unusual +mode of dress now exhibited by the widow Dobble, +that led him to this act; for she was decked out in Mrs. +Sykes's best frilled cap, and such is the waywardness +of fancy, he might for the moment have imagined that +his help-mate was beside him. Be that as it may, +while I was thus complacently regarding this interchange +of friendly feelings, the cry of '<i>you vile hussy</i>' +suddenly rang in my very ear, and the next instant, +the door having been burst open, who should stand before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +the astonished couple but the veritable Mrs. Sykes. +The Deacon leaped as if touched in the <i>pericardium</i>, +and essayed to gain the door; but in his transit his +knees denied their office, and he sank gibbering as his +hand was upon the latch. As to the terrified widow +Dobble, I might say with Virgilius, <i>steteruntque comae</i>, +her <i>combs</i> stood up; for the frilled cap was displaced +with no little violence, and with an agonizing shriek +she fell, apparently <i>in articulo mortis</i>, on the body of +the Deacon. What a lamentable scene! and all in +consequence of the rashness and imprudence of Mrs. +Sykes. No sooner had I left my own domicil than +Mrs. Sykes, regardless of my admonitions, resolved on +following my steps, and was actually peeping over my +shoulder at the moment the Deacon's hand came in +contact with the widow Dobble's. It was truly fortunate +for all concerned that a distinguished member of +the faculty was near at this dreadful crisis. In ordinary +hands nothing could have prevented a quietus. +Their spirits were taking wing, and it was only by extraordinary +skill that I effected what lawyer Snoodles +said was a complete 'stoppage <i>in transitu</i>.' I regret +to state that this was my last visit to Deacon Sykes's. +Unmindful of my services in resuscitating Mrs. Sykes, +he remarked that my neglect to prepare him for the +exceeding joy that was in store, had so far shattered +his nervous system that his usefulness was over; and +in fine, had built up between us a wall of separation +not to be broken down. I always opined, however, +and of this opinion was Mrs. Tonic, that the Deacon's +coldness arose in part from an incipient warmth for +Mrs. Dobble, which was thus checked in its first stages. +It was even hinted that on her departure, which took<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +place immediately, he manifested less of resignation +than at the burial of Mrs. Sykes. The coldness of the +widow Dobble towards me, certainly unmerited, was +also no less apparent, till I brought about what I had +much at heart, viz: a match between her and Major +Popkin. He was a discreet, forehanded man, a Representative +to our General Court, and kept the Variety +Store in that part of our town that was named in honor +of him, 'Popkins's Corner.'<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="OLD_AND_YOUNG" id="OLD_AND_YOUNG"></a>OLD AND YOUNG.</h2> + +<h3>By James Furbish.</h3> + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Give me ripe fruit with the green—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fresh leaves mingling with the sear;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As in tropic climes are seen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Blending through the deathless year.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>I am alarmed at the changes which are taking place in +society. While many are lauding the <i>spirit of the age</i> +and holding up to my gaze the picture of <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'fourth-coming'">forth-coming</ins> +improvements—opening broad and charming vistas +into the almost <i>present future</i> of mental and moral +perfection, I cannot help casting a lingering look upon +the past. Time was when old age and infancy, manhood +and youth, walked the path of life together; +when the strength of young limbs aided the feebleness +of the old, and the joyousness of youth enlivened the +gravity of age. But the son has now left the father +to totter on alone, and the daughter has outstripped the +mother in the race. Beauty and strength have separated +from decrepitude and weakness. The vine has +uncoiled from its natural support, and the ivy has +ceased to entwine the oak.</p> + +<p>There is an increasing disposition on the part of the +young and the old to classify their pleasures according +to their age. Those pastimes which used to be enjoyed +by both together, are now separated. This is an +evil of too serious a character to pass unfelt, unlamented +or unrebuked. It is easy to refer back to days +when parents were more happy with their children, +and children more honorable and useful to parents<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +than at present. It is not long since the old and the +young were to be seen together in the blithesome dance +and the merry play. And why this change? Why +do we find that, within a few years, the old have abandoned +amusements to the young? Is it that they think +their children can profit more by their amusements +than if they were present? If this be the impression +it is to be regretted. No course could they possibly +adopt so injurious to the character of their children. +For youth need the direction and the advice of age, +and age requires the exhilaration and cheerfulness of +youth. How many lonely evenings would be enlivened—how +many dark visions of the future would be +dissipated, and how many hours of gloom and despondency +would be put to flight, if fathers would keep +pace with their sons, and mothers with their daughters, +in the innocent pleasures of life. Here, as it appears +to me, is the grand secret of happiness for the young +and the old. For the old, who are too apt to dwell on +the glories of the past and to see nothing that is lovely +in the present; and for the young, who throw too +strong and gaudy a light upon the present and the future. +Nature did not so intend it. So long as there is +life, she intended we should innocently enjoy it. And +the barrier which has, by some unaccountable mishap, +been thrown between the young and the old is, therefore, +greatly to be lamented. But how shall it be +removed? How shall we get back again to the good +old times of the merry husking, the joyous dance, the +happy commingling in the same company, of the priest +and his deacon, the father and his child, the husband +and his wife?</p> + +<p>It would not be difficult to trace directly to the discontinuance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +of the practice of joining with the young +in their amusements, the great increase of youthful +dissipation of every description. By being removed +from the advice, restraint and example of the old and +experienced, they have, by degrees, fallen into usages +which were almost unknown in years gone by. When +accompanied by parents, the hours of pleasure were +seasonable. Daughters were under the inspection of +mothers, and sons were guided by the wisdom of fathers. +Homes were happier, the community more virtuous, +and the world at large a gainer by such judicious +customs. We now hear the complaint that sons have +gone astray, that daughters have behaved indiscreetly, +and that families have been disgraced. But can there +be a doubt, if the practice were general of accompanying +our children in those pastimes in which they ought +to be reasonably indulged, that many of these evils +would be prevented? Here then must begin the reform. +Complain not that your son is out late, if you might +have been with him to bring him to your fire-side at a +seasonable hour. Complain not that your daughter +has formed an unsuitable or untimely connexion, if a +mother's care might have avoided the evil. Youth +<i>will</i> go astray without the protection of age. And it is +a crying sin that these old-fashioned moral restraints +have been removed. What, I ask, can be your object +in thus leaving your children to their own direction? +Do they love you the better for it? Are their manners +more agreeable—their conduct more respectful while +at home? Is not rather the reverse of this the case? +Do they not give you more trouble at home? Are +they not every day incurring new and useless expenses +in consequence of allowing them to legislate and plan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +for themselves? Rashness is the characteristic of +youth. But allowing them to be capable of governing +themselves, you are a great loser by drawing this +strong division line between their pleasures and your +own. Your own years are less in number and in happiness. +Your children are dead to you, though alive +to themselves. Your sympathies are not linked with +theirs step by step in life; and thus, although surrounded +by children, you go childless, unhappy and gloomy +to the grave. Reform then, I say, reform at once. +Annihilate this classification of junior and senior pleasures. +Join with your children in the dance, the song +and the play. Enjoy with them every harmless pleasure +and sport of life. Encompass yourself as often as +possible with the gay faces of the young. Teach them +by example, to be happy like rational beings, and to +enjoy life without abusing it. Let the ripe fruit be seen +with the green—the blossom with the bud—the green +with the fading leaf and the vine with its natural support:</p> + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Show the ripe fruit with the green—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fresh leaves twining with the sear;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As in tropic climes are seen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Harmonizing through the year.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="AUTUMNAL_DAYS" id="AUTUMNAL_DAYS"></a>AUTUMNAL DAYS.</h2> + +<h3>By P. H. Greenleaf.</h3> + +<div class="cpoem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The melancholy days are come—the saddest of the year,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of wailing winds and naked woods, and meadows brown and sear;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heap'd in the hollows of the grove, the summer leaves lie dead;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They rustle to the eddying wind, and to the rabbit's tread:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The robin and the wren are flown, and from the shrubs the jay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And from the wood-top calls the crow, thro' all the gloomy day."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Stern and forbidding as are the general features of +our northern climate—cold and chilling as the gay +Southron may deem, even the very air we breathe,—we +have still some characteristics of climate peculiar to +ourselves, and none the less pleasing to us from this +fact. Our hearts must indeed be as hard and as cold +as the very granite of our craggy shores, did they not +glow with delight in the possession of that, (be it what +it may) which is peculiar to and markedly characteristic +of our native home. And of all these peculiarities +not one is so delightful—not one finds us so rich +in New England feeling, as that beautiful season called +the Indian Summer. It occurs in October, and is +characterized by a soft, hazy atmosphere—by those +quiet, and balmy days, which seem so like the last +whisperings of a Spring morning. The appearance of +the landscape is like any thing, but the fresh and lively +scenery of Spring; and yet the delicious softness of +the atmosphere is so like it, that it brings back fresh to +the mind all the beautiful associations connected with +a vernal day. Our forests too, at this season are, for +a brief space, clothed in the most gorgeous and magnificent +array; their brilliant and changing hues, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +the magnificence of their whole appearance, almost +give their rich and mellow tint to the atmosphere itself; +and render this period unrivalled in beauty, and unequalled +in the more equable climes of our western +neighbors. The calm sobriety of the scenery—the +splendid variety of the forest coloring, from deep scarlet +to russet gray, and the quiet and dreamy expression of +the autumnal atmosphere make a deeper impression on +the mind than all the verdant promises of spring, or +the luxuriant possession of summer. The aspen birch +in its pallid white—the walnut in its deep yellow—the +brilliant maple in its scarlet drapery—and the magical +colors of the whole vegetable world, from the aster by +the brook to the vine on the trellis, combine to render +the autumnal scenery of New-England the most splendid +and magnificent in the world.</p> + +<p>But we cannot forget, if we would, that this beautiful +magnificence of the forests is but the livery of +death; and the changing hues of the leaves, beautiful +though they are, still are but indications of the sure, +but gradual progress of decay.</p> + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Lightly falls the foot of death<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whene'er he treads on flowers:'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>and though he has breathed beauty on the clustered +trees of the forest—it is to them the breath of the Sirocco.</p> + +<p>We have in the wasting consumption a parallel to +this splendid decay of the leaves and flowers of Summer. +Day by day we see its victim with the seal of death +upon him—failing and decaying in strength—increasing +in beauty. While the brilliant and intellectual +glances of the eye speak, in language too plain for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +sceptic's denial, the immortality of the soul. The +changing and brilliant hues of the forest trees give to +us the most lively type of the frailty of beauty and the +brevity of human existence, while their death and burial +during the winter and their resurrection in the springtime, +are almost an assured pledge of our own immortality +and resurrection to an eternity.</p> + +<p>Truly 'the melancholy days are come'—Death annually +lifts up his solemn hymn, and the rustling of the +dying leaves and the certainty of their speedy death +afford to us all 'eloquent teachings.' The gay and +exhilarating spring has long since passed away—the +genial and joyous warmth of summer is no more; and +the grateful abundance and varied scenes of Autumn +are about yielding to the inclemency of hoary winter. +The gay variety of nature has at length departed—the +countless throng of the gaudy flowerets of summer are +all returned to their native dust—the light of the sun +himself is often veiled; and the bright livery of earth +is hidden from our sight by the gray mantle of the +iron-bound surface, or the unbroken whiteness of a +snowy covering. Reading thus the language of decay +written by the finger of God upon all the works of nature—reminded +too of the rapid flight of time by the +ceaseless revolution of seasons, we naturally turn our +thoughts from the contemplation of external objects to +that of the soul, and of unseen worlds. The appearances +of other seasons lead our thoughts to the world we +inhabit, and by the variety of objects presented to our +view rather confine them to sensible things, and matters +immediately connected with them. But the buried +flowers and the eddying leaves of this season teach us +nobler lessons; and the mind expands, while it loses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +itself in the infinity of being; and the gloom of the +natural world shows us the splendors of other worlds, +and other states of being;</p> + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'As darkness shows us worlds of light<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We never saw by day.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>They tell us, that in the magnificent system of the +government of God there exists no evil; and the mighty +resurrections annually accomplished in the multitude +of by gone years assure us, that the gloom of the night +is but the prelude to the brightness of the day—that +the funeral pall of autumnal and wintry days is the +harbinger of a glorious, joyous and life-giving spring; +and to that man the gates of the dark valley of the +shadow of death are designed as the crystal portals of +an eternity of bliss.</p> + +<p>'Of the innumerable eyes, that open upon nature, +none but those of man, see its author and its end.' +This solemn privilege is the birth-right of the beings of +immortality—of those, who perish not in time, but were +formed, in some greater hour, to be companions in +eternity. The mighty Being, who watches the revolutions +of the material world, opens in this manner to our +eyes the laws of his government; and tells us, that it +is not the momentary state, but the final issue, which +is to disclose its eternal design. Indeed the whole volume +of nature is a natural revelation to man, often +overlooked—often misused—seldom understood—but +plain and solemn in its language, and full of the wisdom, +justice and mercy of its author.</p> + +<p>While, then, all inferior nature shrinks instinctively +from the winds of Autumn and the storms of winter, to +the high intellect of man they teach ennobling lessons. +To him the inclemency of winter is no less eloquent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +than the abundance of Autumn, or the joyous promise +of Spring. He knows, that the fair and beautiful of +nature now buried in an icy covering, have still a principle +of life within them; and that the gay tendrils of +the vine and the blushing buds of the rose will soon +be put forth in the breath of summer. The stiffened +earth, he knows, will soon send forth her children in +renewed beauty, and he believes, that he himself, leaving +the chrysalis form of earthly clay will wing his +flight in the regions of eternity.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_PLAGUE" id="THE_PLAGUE"></a>THE PLAGUE.</h2> + +<h3>By Charles P. Ilsley.</h3> + +<blockquote><p>"And they that took the disease died suddenly; and immediately their bodies became covered +with spots; and they were hurried away to the grave without delay: And the men +who bore the corpse, as they went their way, cried with a loud voice, "<i>Room for the dead!</i>" +and whosoever heard the cry, fled from the sound thereof with great fear and trembling."</p> + +<div class="author"> +<i>Anon.</i><br /> +</div></blockquote> + + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Room for the dead!"—a cry went forth—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"A grave—a grave prepare!"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The solemn words rose fearfully<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Up through the stilly air:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Room for the dead!"—and a corse was borne<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And laid within the pit;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But a mother's voice was sadly heard—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And a breaking heart was in each word—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"Oh, bury him not yet!"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The mother knelt beside the grave,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And prayed to see her son;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Twas death to stop—but by her prayers<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The wretched boon was won,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And they raised the coffin from the pit,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And then afar they fled—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For the once fair face was spotted now—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But the mother pressed her dead child's brow,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And in a faint voice said—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Nor plague nor spots shall hinder me<br /></span> +<span class="i2">From kissing thee, lost one!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For what, alas! is life or death<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Since thou art gone, my son!"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And she bent and kissed the livid brow,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">While tearless was her eye;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then her voice rang wildly in the air—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Widow and childless!—God, is there<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Aught left me but—to die!"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The words were said, and there uprose<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A low and stifled moan—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then all was still—The spirit of<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That stricken one had flown!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They widened the pit, and side by side<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Mother and son were laid;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No mourning train to the grave went forth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor prayer was said as they heaped the earth<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Above the plague-struck dead!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="OH_THIS_IS_NOT_MY_HOME" id="OH_THIS_IS_NOT_MY_HOME"></a>"OH, THIS IS NOT MY HOME!"</h2> + +<h3>By Charles P. Ilsley.</h3> + + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh, this is not my home—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I miss the glorious sea,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its white and sparkling foam,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And lofty melody.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">All things seem strange to me—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I miss the rocky shore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where broke so sullenly<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The waves with deaf'ning roar:<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The sands that shone like gold<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath the blazing sun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er which the waters roll'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Soft chanting as they run:<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And oh, the glorious sight!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ships moving to and fro,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like birds upon their flight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So silently they go!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I climb the mountain's height,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sadly gaze around,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No waters meet my sight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I hear no rushing sound.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh, would I were at home,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beside the glorious sea,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To bathe within its foam<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And list its melody!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="THE_VILLAGE_PRIZE" id="THE_VILLAGE_PRIZE"></a>THE VILLAGE PRIZE.</h2> + +<h3>By Joseph Ingraham.</h3> + + +<p>In one of the loveliest villages of old Virginia there +lived, in the year 175– and odd, an old man, whose +daughter was declared, by universal consent, to be the +loveliest maiden in all the country round. The veteran, +in his youth, had been athletic and muscular above +all his fellows; and his breast, where he always wore +them, could show the adornment of three medals, received +for his victories in gymnastic feats when a young +man. His daughter was now eighteen, and had been +sought in marriage by many suitors. One brought +wealth—another, a fine person—another, industry—another, +military talents—another this, and another +that. But they were all refused by the old man, who +became at last a by-word for his obstinacy among the +young men of the village and neighborhood. At length, +the nineteenth birthday of Annette, his charming daughter, +who was as amiable and modest as she was beautiful, +arrived. The morning of that day, her father invited +all the youth of the country to a hay-making frolic. +Seventeen handsome and industrious young men assembled. +They came not only to make hay, but also +to make love to the fair Annette. In three hours they +had filled the father's barns with the newly dried grass, +and their own hearts with love. Annette, by her father's +command, had brought them malt liquor of her +own brewing, which she presented to each enamored +swain with her own fair hands.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Now my boys," said the old keeper of the jewel +they all coveted, as leaning on their pitch-forks they +assembled around his door in the cool of the evening—"Now +my lads, you have nearly all of you made proposals +for my Annette. Now you see, I don't care +any thing about money nor talents, book larning nor +soldier larning—I can do as well by my gal as any +man in the county. But I want her to marry a man +of my own grit. Now, you know, or ought to know, +when I was a youngster, I could beat any thing in all +Virginny in the way o' leaping. I got my old woman +by beating the smartest man on the Eastern Shore, and +I have took the oath and sworn it, that no man shall +marry my daughter without jumping for it. You understand +me boys. There's the green, and here's +Annette," he added, taking his daughter, who stood +timidly behind him, by the hand, "Now the one that +jumps the furthest on a 'dead level,' shall marry Annette +this very night."</p> + +<p>This unique address was received by the young men +with applause. And many a youth as he bounded +gaily forward to the arena of trial, cast a glance of +anticipated victory back upon the lovely object of village +chivalry. The maidens left their looms and +quilting frames, the children their noisy sports, the +slaves their labors, and the old men their arm-chairs +and long pipes, to witness and triumph in the success +of the victor. All prophesied and many wished that it +would be young Carroll. He was the handsomest and +best-humored youth in the county, and all knew that +a strong and mutual attachment existed between him +and the fair Annette. Carroll had won the reputation +of being the "best leaper," and in a country where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +such athletic achievements were the <i>sine qua non</i> of a +man's cleverness, this was no ordinary honor. In a +contest like the present, he had therefore every advantage +over his fellow <i>athletæ</i>.</p> + +<p>The arena allotted for this hymeneal contest, was a +level space in front of the village-inn, and near the +centre of a grass-plat, reserved in the midst of the village +denominated "the green." The verdure was +quite worn off at this place by previous exercises of a +similar kind, and a hard surface of sand more befittingly +for the purpose to which it was to be used, supplied +its place.</p> + +<p>The father of the lovely, blushing, and withal <i>happy</i> +prize, (for she well knew who would win,) with three +other patriarchal villagers were the judges appointed +to decide upon the claims of the several competitors. +The last time Carroll tried his skill in this exercise, he +"cleared"—to use the leaper's phraseology—twenty-one +feet and one inch.</p> + +<p>The signal was given, and by lot the young men +stepped into the arena.</p> + +<p>"Edward Grayson, seventeen feet," cried one of +the judges. The youth had done his utmost. He +was a pale, intellectual student. But what had intellect +to do in such an arena? Without looking at the +maiden he slowly left the ground.</p> + +<p>"Dick Boulden, nineteen feet." Dick with a laugh +turned away, and replaced his coat.</p> + +<p>"Harry Preston, nineteen feet and three inches." +"Well done Harry Preston," shouted the spectators, +"you have tried hard for the acres and homestead."</p> + +<p>Harry also laughed and swore he only "jumped for +the fun of the thing." Harry was a rattle-brained fellow,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +but never thought of matrimony. He loved to +walk and talk, and laugh and romp with Annette, but +sober marriage never came into his head. He only +jumped "for the fun of the thing." He would not +have said so, if sure of winning.</p> + +<p>"Charley Simms, fifteen feet and a half." "Hurrah +for Charley! Charley'll win!" cried the crowd +good-humoredly. Charley Simms was the cleverest +fellow in the world. His mother had advised him to +stay at home, and told him if he ever won a wife, she +would fall in love with his good temper, rather than +his legs. Charley however made the trial of the latter's +capabilities and lost. Many refused to enter the +lists altogether. Others made the trial, and only one +of the leapers had yet cleared twenty feet.</p> + +<p>"Now," cried the villagers, "let's see Henry Carroll. +He ought to beat this," and every one appeared, +as they called to mind the mutual love of the last competitor +and the sweet Annette, as if they heartily wished +his success.</p> + +<p>Henry stepped to his post with a firm tread. His +eye glanced with confidence around upon the villagers +and rested, before he bounded forward, upon the +face of Annette, as if to catch therefrom that spirit and +assurance which the occasion called for. Returning +the encouraging glance with which she met his own, +with a proud smile upon his lip, he bounded forward.</p> + +<p>"Twenty-one feet and a half!" shouted the multitude, +repeating the announcement of one of the judges, +"twenty-one feet and a half. Harry Carroll forever. +Annette and Harry." Hands, caps, and kerchiefs +waved over the heads of the spectators, and the eyes +of the delighted Annette sparkled with joy.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p> + +<p>When Harry Carroll moved to his station to strive +for the prize, a tall, gentlemanly young man in a military +undress frock-coat, who had rode up to the inn, +dismounted and joined the spectators, unperceived, +while the contest was going on, stepped suddenly forward, +and with a "knowing eye," measured deliberately +the space accomplished by the last leaper. He +was a stranger in the village. His handsome face and +easy address attracted the eyes of the village maidens, +and his manly and sinewy frame, in which symmetry +and strength were happily united, called forth the admiration +of the young men.</p> + +<p>"Mayhap, sir stranger, you think you can beat that," +said one of the by-standers, remarking the manner in +which the eye of the stranger scanned the area. "If +you can leap beyond Harry Carroll, you'll beat the +best man in the colonies." The truth of this observation +was assented to by a general murmur.</p> + +<p>"Is it for mere amusement you are pursuing this +pastime?" inquired the youthful stranger, "or is +there a prize for the winner?"</p> + +<p>"Annette, the loveliest and wealthiest of our village-maidens, +is to be the reward of the victor," cried one +of the judges.</p> + +<p>"Are the lists open to all?"</p> + +<p>"All, young sir!" replied the father of Annette, +with interest,—his youthful ardour rising as he surveyed +the proportions of the straight-limbed young stranger. +"She is the bride of him who out-leaps Henry +Carroll. If you will try, you are free to do so. But +let me tell you, Harry Carroll has no rival in Virginny. +Here is my daughter, sir, look at her and make your +trial."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p> + +<p>The young officer glanced upon the trembling maiden +about to be offered on the altar of her father's unconquerable +monomania, with an admiring eye. The +poor girl looked at Harry, who stood near with a troubled +brow and angry eye, and then cast upon the new +competitor an imploring glance.</p> + +<p>Placing his coat in the hands of one of the judges, he +drew a sash he wore beneath it tighter around his waist, +and taking the appointed stand, made, apparently without +effort, the bound that was to decide the happiness +or misery of Henry and Annette.</p> + +<p>"Twenty two feet one inch!" shouted the judge. +The announcement was repeated with surprise by the +spectators, who crowded around the victor, filling the +air with congratulations, not unmingled, however, with +loud murmurs from those who were more nearly interested +in the happiness of the lovers.</p> + +<p>The old man approached, and grasping his hand exultingly, +called him his son, and said he felt prouder +of him than if he were a prince. Physical activity +and strength were the old leaper's true patents of nobility.</p> + +<p>Resuming his coat, the victor sought with his eye +the fair prize he had, although nameless and unknown, +so fairly won. She leaned upon her father's arm, pale +and distressed.</p> + +<p>Her lover stood aloof, gloomy and mortified, admiring +the superiority of the stranger in an exercise +in which he prided himself as unrivalled, while he hated +him for his success.</p> + +<p>"Annette, my pretty prize," said the victor, taking +her passive hand—"I have won you fairly." Annette's +cheek became paler than marble; she trembled like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +an aspen-leaf, and clung closer to her father, while +her drooping eye sought the form of her lover. His +brow grew dark at the stranger's language.</p> + +<p>"I have won you, my pretty flower, to make you a +bride!—tremble not so violently—I mean not for myself, +however proud I might be," he added with gallantry, +"to wear so fair a gem next my heart. Perhaps," +and he cast his eyes around inquiringly, while the current +of life leaped joyfully to her brow, and a murmur +of surprise run through the crowd—"perhaps there is +some favored youth among the competitors, who has a +higher claim to this jewel. Young Sir," he continued, +turning to the surprised Henry, "methinks you +were victor in the lists before me,—I strove not for the +maiden, though one could not well strive for a fairer—but +from love for the manly sport in which I saw you +engaged. You are the victor, and as such, with the +permission of this worthy assembly, receive from my +hands the prize you have so well and honorably won."</p> + +<p>The youth sprung forward and grasped his hand +with gratitude; and the next moment, Annette was +weeping from pure joy upon his shoulders. The welkin +rung with the acclamations of the delighted villagers, +and amid the temporary excitement produced by +this act, the stranger withdrew from the crowd, mounted +his horse, and spurred at a brisk trot through the +village.</p> + +<p>That night, Henry and Annette were married, and +the health of the mysterious and noble-hearted stranger, +was drunk in over-flowing bumpers of rustic beverage.</p> + +<p>In process of time, there were born unto the married +pair, sons and daughters, and Harry Carroll had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +become Colonel Henry Carroll, of the Revolutionary +army.</p> + +<p>One evening, having just returned home after a hard +campaign, he was sitting with his family on the gallery +of his handsome country-house, when an advance +courier rode up and announced the approach of General +Washington and suite, informing him that he should +crave his hospitality for the night. The necessary directions +were given in reference to the household preparations, +and Col. Carroll, ordering his horse, rode forward +to meet and escort to his house the distinguished +guest, whom he had never yet seen, although serving +in the same widely-extended army.</p> + +<p>That evening at the table, Annette, now become +the dignified, matronly and still handsome Mrs. Carroll, +could not keep her eyes from the face of her illustrious +visitor. Every moment or two she would steal a +glance at his commanding features, and half-doubtingly, +half-assumedly, shake her head and look again and +again, to be still more puzzled. Her absence of mind +and embarrassment at length became evident to her +husband who, inquired affectionately if she were ill?</p> + +<p>"I suspect, Colonel," said the General, who had +been some time, with a quiet, meaning smile, observing +the lady's curious and puzzled survey of his features—"that +Mrs. Carroll thinks she recognizes in me an old +acquaintance." And he smiled with a mysterious air, +as he gazed upon both alternately.</p> + +<p>The Colonel stared, and a faint memory of the past +seemed to be revived, as he gazed, while the lady rose +impulsively from her chair, and bending eagerly forward +over the tea-urn, with clasped hands and an eye<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +of intense, eager inquiry, fixed full upon him, stood for +a moment with her lips parted as if she would speak.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, my dear madam—pardon me, Colonel, +I must put an end to this scene. I have become, by +dint of camp-fare and hard usage, too unwieldy to leap +again twenty-two feet one inch, even for so fair a bride +as one I wot of."</p> + +<p>The recognition, with the surprise, delight and happiness +that followed, are left to the imagination of the +reader.</p> + +<p>General Washington was indeed the handsome young +"leaper," whose mysterious appearance and disappearance +in the native village of the lovers, is still traditionary, +and whose claim to a substantial body of <i>bona fide</i> +flesh and blood, was stoutly contested by the village +story-tellers, until the happy <i>denouement</i> which took +place at the hospitable mansion of Col. Carroll.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="INDIFFERENCE_TO_STUDY" id="INDIFFERENCE_TO_STUDY"></a>INDIFFERENCE TO STUDY.</h2> + +<h3>By George W. Light.</h3> + +<blockquote><p>We only find out what we have a sincere desire to know. All men have in themselves +nearly the same fund of primitive ideas; they have especially the same moral fund; the difference +which there is in men, comes from the fact, that some improve this fund, while others +neglect it.</p> + +<div class="author"> +<i>Degerando.</i><br /> +</div></blockquote> + + +<p>No argument ought to be required at the present day, +to prove that all men, however their capacities may +differ in kind or degree, possess the natural ability to +make considerable progress in some useful study. The +principles of our government proceed upon this ground, +and place every man under strong moral obligation to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +make the most of himself, that he may be able to bear +the responsibility that rests upon him. The protestant +principle, that all men have the right to judge for themselves +in matters relating to religion, is founded on the +same basis. Even the principles of trade—which every +body is supposed to be able to know—call for the +exercise of no small amount of intellect, to understand +and apply them to their full extent. The intimate connection +between the arts and sciences proves conclusively, +that those who are engaged in the one, ought to +be acquainted with the other. We are aware of the +common belief, that the study of the sciences is not +necessary with the mass of the community who are +engaged in the various active pursuits. But this narrow +view is fast going out of date. The progress of +<i>steam</i>, if nothing else, will ere long convince the most +incredulous, by its abridgment of human labor, that +the great body of mankind were intended for something +besides mere machines. The sciences of law and +medicine are no more closely connected with the practice +of the lawyer and physician, than mechanical and +agricultural science with the business of the mechanic +and farmer. The same may be said of other sciences, +as, for instance, of Political Economy, in its application +to mercantile affairs. In accordance with the spirit of +these views, opportunities for instruction are provided, +and means of self-education are multiplied, to an unparalleled +degree.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding, however, the general admission of +the truth under consideration, not a few persons who +think the improvement of their minds a matter of little +importance, undertake to excuse themselves, by modestly +confessing that they have no natural taste for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +study—that they cannot study. But it is difficult to +understand how they can be so blinded to the resources +they have within them, under the light which this day +of civilization is pouring upon them. Where do they +suppose themselves to be? Are they in some dark +domain, shut out from all the soul-stirring influences of +a boundless universe, dragging out an existence as +hopeless as it is degraded?—or do they dwell in the +midst of a glorious creation, with no understanding to +unravel its divine mysteries, and no heart to be moved +by the eloquence of its inspiration? One of these +things must be true, if we may reason from their own +language. If they do possess the high faculties of the +soul, and can do nothing for their cultivation, it cannot +be that they have their dwelling-place upon a world +belonging to the magnificent empire of God. There +can be no sun blazing down upon them, flooding the +earth with his glory, and giving fresh life and beauty +to every living thing. The evening can reveal to them +no myriads of stars, burning with holy lustre beyond +the clouds of heaven. They can see no mountains +towering to the skies; no green valleys, spangled with +the flowers of the earth, smiling around them. They +can hear no anthem sounding from the depths of the +ocean. They can see no lightnings flashing in the +broad expanse,—nor hear the artillery of heaven thundering +over the firmament, as if it would shake the +very pillars of the universe. If they could see and +hear this, with minds awake to the most noble objects +of contemplation, and hearts susceptible of the loftiest +impulses, they would inquire about the earth they tread +upon, the beautiful things scattered in such profusion +around them, and the sun and the ever-burning stars<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +above them. And they would not stop here. They +would search into the mysteries of their own nature. +They would look into the wonders of that upper life, +where the sun of an eternal kingdom burns in its lofty +arches, where the rivers of life flow from the everlasting +mountains, and where the pure spirits of the earth +shall shine like the stars forever.</p> + +<p>But, however paradoxical it may seem, these men do +dwell in the grand universe of God—and they do possess +inexhaustible minds: and they have been compelled +to quench the brightest flames and to prevent the +swelling of the purest fountains of their existence, in +order to descend to the condition of which they complain. +The Creator doomed them to no such degradation. +The truth is, they know nothing of themselves. +They do not understand their relations to the creation +that surrounds them. They do not comprehend the +great purpose to which all their labors should tend. +They waste those hours which might be devoted to the +elevation of their being, in practices that render them +insensible to the glories of the universe in which they +dwell, and to the sublime destiny for which they were +created. They deny themselves to be the workmanship +of God.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="THE_VILLAGE_OF_AUTEUIL" id="THE_VILLAGE_OF_AUTEUIL"></a>THE VILLAGE OF AUTEUIL.</h2> + +<h3>By Henry W. Longfellow.</h3> + + +<p>The sultry heat of summer always brings with it, to +the idler and the man of leisure, a longing for the leafy +shade and the green luxuriance of the country. It is +pleasant to interchange the din of the city, the movement +of the crowd, and the gossip of society, with the +silence of the hamlet, the quiet seclusion of the grove, +and the gossip of a woodland brook.</p> + +<p>It was a feeling of this kind that prompted me, during +my residence in the north of France, to pass one +of the summer months at Auteuil—the pleasantest of +the many little villages that lie in the immediate vicinity +of the metropolis. It is situated on the outskirts of +the <i>Bois de Boulogne</i>—a wood of some extent, in +whose green alleys the dusty cit enjoys the luxury of +an evening drive, and gentlemen meet in the morning +to give each other satisfaction in the usual way. A +cross-road, skirted with green hedge-rows, and over-shadowed +by tall poplars, leads you from the noisy +highway of St. Cloud and Versailles to the still retirement +of this suburban hamlet. On either side the eye +discovers old chateaux amid the trees, and green parks, +whose pleasant shades recall a thousand images of La +Fontaine, Racine, and Moliere; and on an eminence, +overlooking the windings of the Seine, and giving a +beautiful though distant view of the domes and gardens +of Paris, rises the village of Passy, long the residence +of our countrymen Franklin and Count Rumford.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span></p> + +<p>I took up my abode at a <i>Maison de Sante</i>; not that +I was a valetudinarian,—but because I there found +some one to whom I could whisper, "How sweet is +solitude!" Behind the house was a garden filled with +fruit-trees of various kinds, and adorned with gravel-walks +and green arbours, furnished with tables and +rustic seats, for the repose of the invalid and the sleep +of the indolent. Here the inmates of the rural hospital +met on common ground, to breathe the invigorating +air of morning, and while away the lazy noon or vacant +evening with tales of the sick chamber.</p> + +<p>The establishment was kept by Dr. Dent-de-lion, a +dried up little fellow, with red hair, a sandy complexion, +and the physiognomy and gestures of a monkey. +His character corresponded to his outward lineaments; +for he had all a monkey's busy and curious impertinence. +Nevertheless, such as he was, the village Æsculapius +strutted forth the little great man of Auteuil. +The peasants looked up to him as to an oracle,—he +contrived to be at the head of every thing, and laid +claim to the credit of all public improvements in the +village: in fine, he was a great man on a small scale.</p> + +<p>It was within the dingy walls of this little potentate's +imperial palace that I chose my country residence. I +had a chamber in the second story, with a solitary +window, which looked upon the street, and gave me a +peep into a neighbor's garden. This I esteemed a great +privilege; for, as a stranger, I desired to see all that +was passing out of doors; and the sight of green trees, +though growing on another man's ground, is always a +blessing. Within doors—had I been disposed to quarrel +with my household gods—I might have taken some +objection to my neighborhood; for, on one side of me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +was a consumptive patient, whose graveyard cough +drove me from my chamber by day; and on the other, +an English colonel, whose incoherent ravings, in the +delirium of a high and obstinate fever, often broke my +slumbers by night: but I found ample amends for these +inconveniences in the society of those who were so +little indisposed as hardly to know what ailed them, +and those who, in health themselves, had accompanied +a friend or relative to the shades of the country in pursuit +of it. To these I am indebted for much courtesy; +and particularly to one who, if these pages should ever +meet her eye, will not, I hope, be unwilling to accept +this slight memorial of a former friendship.</p> + +<p>It was, however, to the <i>Bois de Boulogne</i> that I +looked for my principal recreation. There I took my +solitary walk, morning and evening; or, mounted on a +little mouse-colored donkey, paced demurely along the +woodland pathway. I had a favorite seat beneath the +shadow of a venerable oak, one of the few hoary patriarchs +of the wood which had survived the bivouacs of +the allied armies. It stood upon the brink of a little +glassy pool, whose tranquil bosom was the image of a +quiet and secluded life, and stretched its parental arms +over a rustic bench, that had been constructed beneath +it for the accommodation of the foot-traveller, or, perchance, +some idle dreamer like myself. It seemed to +look round with a lordly air upon its old hereditary +domain, whose stillness was no longer broken by the +tap of the martial drum, nor the discordant clang of +arms; and, as the breeze whispered among its branches, +it seemed to be holding friendly colloquies with a +few of its venerable contemporaries, who stooped from +the opposite bank of the pool, nodding gravely now and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +then, and ogling themselves with a sigh in the mirror +below.</p> + +<p>In this quiet haunt of rural repose I used to sit at +noon, hear the birds sing, and "possess myself in much +quietness." Just at my feet lay the little silver pool, +with the sky and the woods painted in its mimic vault, +and occasionally the image of a bird, or the soft watery +outline of a cloud, floating silently through its sunny +hollows. The water-lily spread its broad green leaves +on the surface, and rocked to sleep a little world of +insect life in its golden cradle. Sometimes a wandering +leaf came floating and wavering downward, and +settled on the water; then a vagabond insect would +break the smooth surface into a thousand ripples, or a +green-coated frog slide from the bank, and plump! +dive headlong to the bottom.</p> + +<p>I entered, too, with some enthusiasm, into all the +rural sports and merrimakes of the village. The holy-days +were so many little eras of mirth and good feeling; +for the French have that happy and sunshine temperament—that +merry-go-mad character—which makes +all their social meetings scenes of enjoyment and hilarity. +I made it a point never to miss any of the <i>Fetes +Champetres</i>, or rural dances, at the wood of Boulogne; +though I confess it sometimes gave me a momentary +uneasiness to see my rustic throne beneath the oak +usurped by a noisy group of girls, the silence and decorum +of my imaginary realm broken by music and +laughter, and, in a word, my whole kingdom turned +topsyturvy, with romping, fiddling, and dancing. But +I am naturally, and from principle, too, a lover of all +those innocent amusements which cheer the laborers' +toil, and, as it were, put their shoulders to the wheel of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +life, and help the poor man along with his load of cares. +Hence I saw with no small delight the rustic swain +astride the wooden horse of the <i>carrousal</i>, and the village +maiden whirling round and round in its dizzy car; +or took my stand on a rising ground that overlooked +the dance, an idle spectator in a busy throng. It was +just where the village touched the outward border of +the wood. There a little area had been levelled beneath +the trees, surrounded by a painted rail, with a +row of benches inside. The music was placed in a +slight balcony, built around the trunk of a large tree in +the centre, and the lamps, hanging from the branches +above, gave a gay, fantastic, and fairy look to the +scene. How often in such moments did I recall the +lines of Goldsmith, describing those "kinder skies," +beneath which "France displays her bright domain," +and feel how true and masterly the sketch,—</p> + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Alike all ages; dames of ancient days<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have led their children through the mirthful maze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the gay grandsire, skilled in gestic lore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has frisked beneath the burden of threescore.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>I was one morning called to my window by the +sound of rustic music. I looked out, and beheld a procession +of villagers advancing along the road, attired in +gay dresses, and marching merrily on in the direction +of the church. I soon perceived that it was a marriage +festival. The procession was led by a long orangoutang +of a man, in a straw hat and white dimity bob-coat, +playing on an asthmatic clarionet, from which he +contrived to blow unearthly sounds, ever and anon +squeaking off at right angles from his tune, and winding +up with a grand flourish on the guttural notes.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +Behind him, led by his little boy, came the blind fiddler, +his honest features glowing with all the hilarity of +a rustic bridal, and, as he stumbled along, sawing away +upon his fiddle till he made all crack again. Then +came the happy bridegroom, dressed in his Sunday +suit of blue, with a large nosegay in his button-hole, +and close beside him his blushing bride, with downcast +eyes, clad in a white robe and slippers, and wearing a +wreath of white roses in her hair. The friends and +relatives brought up the procession; and a troop of village +urchins came shouting along in the rear, scrambling +among themselves for the largess of sous and +sugar-plums that now and then issued in large handfuls +from the pockets of a lean man in black, who seemed +to officiate as master of ceremonies on the occasion. +I gazed on the procession till it was out of sight; and +when the last wheeze of the clarionet died upon my +ear, I could not help thinking how happy were they +who were thus to dwell together in the peaceful bosom +of their native village, far from the gilded misery and +the pestilential vices of the town.</p> + +<p>On the evening of the same day, I was sitting by the +window, enjoying the freshness of the air and the beauty +and stillness of the hour, when I heard the distant +and solemn hymn of the Catholic burial-service, at first +so faint and indistinct that it seemed an illusion. It +rose mournfully on the hush of evening—died gradually +away—then ceased. Then it rose again, nearer +and more distinct, and soon after a funeral procession +appeared, and passed directly beneath my window. It +was led by a priest, bearing the banner of the church, +and followed by two boys, holding long flambeaux in +their hands. Next came a double file of priests in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +white surplices, with a missal in one hand and a lighted +wax taper in the other, chanting the funeral dirge +at intervals,—now pausing, and then again taking up +the mournful burden of their lamentation, accompanied +by others, who played upon a rude kind of horn, with +a dismal and wailing sound. Then followed various +symbols of the church, and the bier borne on the +shoulders of four men. The coffin was covered with a +black velvet pall, and a chaplet of white flowers lay +upon it, indicating that the deceased was unmarried. +A few of the villagers came behind, clad in mourning +robes, and bearing lighted tapers. The procession +passed slowly along the same street that in the morning +had been thronged by the gay bridal company. A +melancholy train of thought forced itself home upon +my mind. The joys and sorrows of this world are so +strikingly mingled! Our mirth and grief are brought so +mournfully in contact! We laugh while others weep, +and others rejoice when we are sad! The light heart +and the heavy walk side by side, and go about together! +Beneath the same roof are spread the wedding +feast and the funeral pall! The bridal song mingles +with the burial hymn! One goes to the marriage bed, +another to the grave; and all is mutable, uncertain, +and transitory.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="THE_PAST_AND_THE_NEW_YEAR" id="THE_PAST_AND_THE_NEW_YEAR"></a>THE PAST AND THE NEW YEAR.</h2> + +<h3>By Prentiss Mellen.</h3> + + +<p>The close of the year, whose last knell has just been +heard, amid the chills and gloom of winter, when all +around reminds us of our departed friends and the loss +we have sustained, is peculiarly adapted to arouse us +from our inattention to the lapse of time, and impress +on our hearts the solemn truth that life itself is but a +vapor. Many, it is true, when they look into the grave +of the year, may experience a rush of bitter feeling, +as they fondly recollect how many cherished hopes +they have been called upon to bury in the tomb, during +the lapse of the year: how many friends have proved +false or ungrateful—how many of their suns have gone +down in the gloom of solitude, or amidst scenes of +sickness and poverty, or of sighing and sorrow. All +this is true, and such ever has been and ever will be +the complexion of human life. But though thousands +are thus educated in a school where such is the salutary +discipline, yet millions have been spending the year in +peace and joy—in health and abundance. Their journey +has been gladdened with sunshine, and their course +has been through fields of beauty and beside "the still +waters of comfort." It is useful—it is a species of +<i>gratitude</i> thus to look back and trace the course we +have been pursuing. If it has been delightful or smooth +and peaceful, our hearts should melt in tenderness +while we look to the <i>fountain</i> of all our blessings. If +our course has been wearisome through fields of sterili<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>ty, +or melancholy and companionless, we should remember +that Wisdom and Goodness preside over our destinies, +whether we are breasting the storm, or calmly +beholding the rainbow of promise. The year that has +bidden us adieu, was pleasant in its course, and its decline +gradual and beautiful. An unusual degree of +softness distinguished its autumn, resembling the last +years of the life of man, when the agitation of the passions +has in a great measure subsided; when his feelings +have become tranquilized, and all around him +peaceful and serene, if he has been careful to regulate +his conduct, on life's journey, by the principles of justice +and the commands of duty—if in his social intercourse +his passions have been preserved in due subjection +to the gentle influences of a benevolent heart, +displaying itself in acts of mercy like the good Samaritan.</p> + +<div class="cpoem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i22">"Sure the last end<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the good man is peace. How calm his exit!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Night dews fall not more gently on the ground<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor weary, worn-out winds expire so soft."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The new year to which we have just been introduced +is, in one sense, a perfect stranger, though we have +long been intimate with the <i>family</i> to which it belongs, +and of course have some general acquaintance with +certain features of its character, leading us to anticipate +its promises and its failure to perform them in +many instances,—its smiles and its tears—its flatteries +and its frowns—its gaieties and hopes—its gradual decline—decay +and dissolution:—but we have abundant +reason too for indulging the belief that we may enjoy +thousands of blessings, if we are disposed to cherish +proper feelings—to be kind and courteous and obliging,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +and ever on our guard to avoid unnecessarily wounding +the feelings of others; ever ready to acknowledge the +favors we receive, and render a suitable return. How +easily all this may be done! How often is it grossly +neglected! He who consults <i>his own</i> ease and comfort +cannot in any manner attain the desired result so +readily and certainly, as by habitually consulting the +ease and comfort of others, with whom he is in the +habit of associating: and this is true politeness also. +A man who is dissatisfied with himself and those around +him, and laboring under the darkening influence of disturbed +or morose feelings "may travel from Dan to +Beersheba and say it is all barren;"—to him it will +appear so; and the effect would be the same if his +journey lay amidst the most delightful scenes of rural +beauty. The seasons of the year all give their annual +<i>lessons</i> for instruction: It is our wisdom to regard them +carefully. <i>Spring</i> summons us all to cheerful activity, +with assurances that our labor will not be in vain. +<i>Summer</i> performs what <i>Spring</i> had promised, and +shews us the advantage of listening to early instruction +and wisely improving it. Ten thousand songsters are +filling the branches with their animating strains of music +and gratitude, and teaching us to enjoy, as they do, +the countless blessings and bounties of nature; <i>their</i> +music is never failing—nor do we see it ending in <i>discords</i>. +Let us all, as we journey onward together +through the year, learn to tune our <i>hearts</i> as they do +their <i>voices</i>, and pass the fleeting period in harmony, +and in that <i>cheerfulness</i> which the excellent Addison +has honored with the name of a <i>continual expression of +gratitude to Heaven</i>. In Germany the <i>study</i> and <i>practice</i> +of music are general among the people. Besides<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +other advantages resulting from making music a part +of common education, it is not romantic or utopian to +observe that it teaches how easily music—pure and +surpassing music—may be made on the <i>same</i> instrument, +which under an ignorant or purposed touch will +send forth discords in prodigious varieties. He who +has become <i>acquainted</i> with the instrument, though +not a <i>master</i> of it, well knows how to <i>avoid</i> those combinations +of sound which are painful to the ear, and +often tend to disturb feelings and passions. What +tones are sweeter than those produced by the gentle +breeze of heaven in passing over the strings of the +Æolian Harp? The reason is, those strings are so +attuned as that their vibrations will not respond except +in notes of harmony: but only disorder the strings, by +increasing the tension of some and decreasing that of +others, and the sweetest zephyr will produce nothing +but the vilest discords, resembling angry passions. Let +us then, in our journey through the year on which we +have entered, acquire as much as possible a knowledge +of the <i>science</i> and the <i>art</i> of social and domestic <i>moral +music</i>. Let us learn to measure our <i>time</i> with care, to +cultivate our <i>voices</i>, that they may lose all harshness: +let each attend to <i>his own part</i>, and strive to excel in +that. Let us consider our <i>feelings</i>, <i>passions</i> and <i>dispositions</i>, +as the <i>strings of the Harp</i>; and the <i>ordinary +events of life</i> as the <i>breezes</i> which give vibration +to the strings: if these strings—our feelings, passions +and dispositions—are in proper tune—under due regulation, +and preserving a just relation, each to all the +others, we have then all the elements of moral music, +domestic and social, and in a few weeks, by due regard +to all the principles and arrangement above mentioned,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +we shall soon be good scholars, <i>giving</i> and <i>receiving</i> +all that pleasure which harmony can afford; and as +the sober <i>autumn</i> advances, our <i>tastes</i> for this kind of +music will be more and more ripened towards perfection; +and when the cold <i>decemberly</i> evenings shall arrive, +we can listen to the <i>angry music</i> of the elements +abroad, full of discordant strains, sweeping by our peaceful +homes, while <i>within</i> them all may be the music +of the heart, in its gentlest movements.</p> + +<p>It is a melancholy truth that we ourselves manufacture +seven eighths of what we are disposed to term our +<i>misfortunes</i> in this world. Want of precaution mars +our arrangements: want of prudence exposes us to +dangers which we might easily have avoided—want of +patience often hurries us into difficulties, and disqualifies +us to bear them with calmness or decency. Indulgence +in follies and fashions often plants the seeds +of wasting disease. Intemperance in our passions always +is followed by unwelcome sensations, and sometimes +with a sense of shame. Stimulants are succeeded +by debility, and when they are used to excess, we +know and daily witness the dreadful results—if death +is not one of them—either the death of the offender, or +of some other destroyed by his hand in the tempest of +infuriated passions—we are too often compelled to +mourn over the desolation they occasion—presenting +in one view,</p> + +<div class="center"> +"Hate—grief—despair—the family of pain."</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="THE_RUIN_OF_A_NIGHT" id="THE_RUIN_OF_A_NIGHT"></a>THE RUIN OF A NIGHT.</h2> + +<h3>STANZAS SUGGESTED ON VIEWING THE GROUND OF THE +GREAT FIRE IN NEW-YORK.</h3> + +<h3>By Grenville Mellen.</h3> + + +<div class="cpoem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">It was still noon—and Sabbath. The pale air<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Hung over the great city like a shroud—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And echo answer'd to a footstep there,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where late went up the thunder of a crowd!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I wander'd like a pilgrim round the piles<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That Ruin heap'd about the wildering way—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And as I pass'd, I saw the withering smiles<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That did on faces of dull gazers play,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As they stood round the ashes of that grave<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of all that yesterday rose there, so broad and brave!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">I mus'd as I went thro' the shadowy path<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of broken, blacken'd walls, and pillars high,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Which had surviv'd that visiting of wrath,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And now lean'd dim against the lurid sky—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I heard the rude laugh break from ruder hearts,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Those ruffian exclamations of lost souls,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">At which a better spirit wakes and starts—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The revelry of demons o'er their bowls—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Until I felt how faint rebuke may fall<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Over a people, tho' it come in sword and pall!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">There was no lesson in that mighty pyre—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, if it rose, it faded with the flame;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And crime, relentless, from that smouldering fire<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Would lift, at night, its stealthy arm the same<br /></span> +<span class="i2">On the lone wanderer, as, amid the crowd,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">It glided oft before, to filch its gold,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When the great voice of rivalry was loud,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i2">And onward the deep tide of commerce roll'd!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I thought how idle was the darkest ban,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fate, in her fiercest eloquence, can pour on man!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">I thought how quick the seal of nothingness<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Is set on man's best glory—and how deep!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">How soon the Greatest grovels with the Less,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And they who shouted bravest, bow to weep!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">How quick the veriest triumph of our years,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Fulfill'd by a dim life of toil and pain,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Is chang'd to one sad festival of tears—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When Time is but a storm—and visions wane!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">How quick Destruction can make classical<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The crowded, golden ground, where her fell footsteps fall!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">The ground that yesterday was consecrate<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To the wild spirit-power of Gold and Gain—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where riches, like some thing of worship sate,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And Worth of Wealth ask'd precedence in vain!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where the hard hand was busy with the dust<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With which it soon must mingle—though it gleam<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Often with jewels—splendid, but accurst,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That make the trappings of this Life's poor dream!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And where, too, Bounty, like a fountain, sprung,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In streams, though not unfelt, in shadow, and unsung!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Alas! that pillar'd pile! how, as I gaz'd<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Upon the blacken'd shafts, did I recall<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The sculptur'd marble there, whose brow was rais'd<br /></span> +<span class="i2">So like a god's, within that shadowy hall!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Immortal <span class="smcap">Hamilton</span>!—though crumbled deep<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In the red chaos of that billowy night,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">It needs no chisel's memory to keep<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thy spirit's nobler outline vast and bright!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">No Time—no element can mar the fame,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gather'd, like fadeless sunlight, round thy spotless name!</span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="COURTSHIP" id="COURTSHIP"></a>COURTSHIP.</h2> + +<h3>By Wm. L. McClintock.</h3> + + +<p>After my sleighride, last winter, and the slippery +trick I was served by Patty Bean, nobody would suspect +me of hankering after the women again in a hurry. +To hear me curse and swear and rail out against the +whole feminine gender, you would have taken it for +granted that I should never so much as look at one +again, to all eternity—O, but I was wicked. "Darn +and blast their eyes"—says I.—"Blame their skins—torment +their hearts and darn them to darnation." Finally +I took an oath and swore that if I ever meddled +or had any dealings with them again (in the sparking +line I mean) I wish I might be hung and choked.</p> + +<p>But swearing off from women, and then going into a +meeting house chock full of gals, all shining and glistening +in their Sunday clothes and clean faces, is like +swearing off from liquor and going into a grog shop. +It's all smoke.</p> + +<p>I held out and kept firm to my oath for three whole +Sundays. Forenoons, a'ternoons and intermissions complete. +On the fourth, there were strong symptoms of +a change of weather. A chap, about my size was +seen on the way to the meeting house, with a new patent +hat on; his head hung by the ears upon a shirt +collar; his cravat had a pudding in it and branched +out in front, into a double bow knot. He carried a +straight back and a stiff neck, as a man ought to, when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +he has his best clothes on; and every time he spit, he +sprung his body forward, like a jack-knife, in order to +shoot clear of the ruffles.</p> + +<p>Squire Jones' pew is next but two to mine; and +when I stand up to prayers and take my coat tail under +my arm, and turn my back to the minister, I naturally +look right straight at Sally Jones. Now Sally has got +a face not to be grinned at, in a fog. Indeed, as regards +beauty, some folks think she can pull an even +yoke with Patty Bean. For my part, I think there is +not much boot between them. Any how, they are so +nigh matched that they have hated and despised each +other, like rank poison, ever since they were school-girls.</p> + +<p>Squire Jones had got his evening fire on, and set +himself down to reading the great bible, when he heard +a rap at his door. "Walk in.—Well, John, how der +do? Git out, Pompey."—"Pretty well, I thank ye, Squire, +and how do <i>you</i> do?"—"Why, so as to be crawling—ye +ugly beast, will ye hold yer yop—haul up a chair and +set down, John."</p> + +<p>"How do <i>you</i> do, Mrs. Jones?" "O, middlin', how's +yer marm? Don't forget the mat, there, Mr. Beedle." +This put me in mind that I had been off soundings +several times, in the long muddy lane; and my boots +were in a sweet pickle.</p> + +<p>It was now old Captain Jones' turn, the grandfather. +Being roused from a doze, by the bustle and racket, he +opened both his eyes, at first with wonder and astonishment. +At last he began to halloo so loud that you +might hear him a mile; for he takes it for granted +that every body is just exactly as deaf as he is.</p> + +<p>"Who is it? I say, who in the world is it?" Mrs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +Jones going close to his ear, screamed out, "it's Johnny +Beedle."—"Ho—Johnny Beedle. I remember, he +was one summer at the siege of Boston."—"No, no, +father, bless your heart, that was his grandfather, that's +been dead and gone this twenty year."—"Ho,—But +where does he come from?"—"Daown taown."—"Ho.—And +what does he follow for a livin'?"—And he did +not stop asking questions, after this sort, till all the +particulars of the Beedle family were published and +proclaimed in Mrs. Jones' last screech. He then sunk +back into his doze again.</p> + +<p>The dog stretched himself before one andiron; the +cat squat down before the other. Silence came on by +degrees, like a calm snow storm, till nothing was heard +but a cricket under the hearth, keeping tune with a +sappy yellow birch forestick. Sally sat up prim, as if +she were pinned to the chair-back; her hands crossed +genteelly upon her lap, and her eyes looking straight +into the fire. Mammy Jones tried to straighten herself +too, and laid her hands across in her lap. But they +would not lay still. It was full twenty-four hours since +they had done any work, and they were out of all +patience with keeping Sunday.—Do what she would to +keep them quiet, they would bounce up, now and then, +and go through the motions, in spite of the fourth commandment. +For my part <i>I</i> sat looking very much +like a fool. The more I tried to say something the +more my tongue stuck fast. I put my right leg over +the left and said "hem." Then I changed, and put +the left leg over the right. It was no use; the silence +kept coming on thicker and thicker. The drops of +sweat began to crawl all over me. I got my eye upon +my hat, hanging on a peg, on the road to the door;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +and then I eyed the door. At this moment, the old +Captain, all at once sung out "Johnny Beedle!" It +sounded like a clap of thunder, and I started right up +an eend.</p> + +<p>"Johnny Beedle, you'll never handle sich a drumstick +as your father did, if yer live to the age of Methusaler. +He would toss up his drumstick, and while +it was whirlin' in the air, take off a gill er rum, and +then ketch it as it come down, without losin' a stroke +in the tune. What d'ye think of that, ha? But scull +your chair round, close along side er me, so yer can +hear.—Now, what have you come a'ter?"—"I—a'ter? +O, jest takin' a walk. Pleasant walkin' I guess. I +mean jest to see how ye all do." "Ho.—That's another +lie. You've come a courtin', Johnny Beedle; you're +a'ter our Sal. Say now, d'ye want to marry, or only +to court?"</p> + +<p>This is what I call a choker. Poor Sally made but +one jump and landed in the middle of the kitchen; and +then she skulked in the dark corner, till the old man, +after laughing himself into a whooping cough, was put +to bed.</p> + +<p>Then came apples and cider; and, the ice being +broke, plenty chat with mammy Jones about the minister +and the 'sarmon.' I agreed with her to a nicety, +upon all the points of doctrine; but I had forgot the +text and all the heads of the discourse, but six. Then +she teazed and tormented me to tell who I accounted +the best singer in the gallery, that day. But, mum—there +was no getting that out of me. "Praise to the +face is often disgrace" says I, throwing a sly squint +at Sally.</p> + +<p>At last, Mrs. Jones lighted t'other candle; and after +charging Sally to look well to the fire, she led the way<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +to bed, and the Squire gathered up his shoes and stockings +and followed.</p> + +<p>Sally and I were left sitting a good yard apart, honest +measure. For fear of getting tongue-tied again, I +set right in, with a steady stream of talk. I told her +all the particulars about the weather that was past, +and also made some pretty cute guesses at what it was +like to be in future. At first, I gave a hitch up with +my chair at every full stop. Then growing saucy, I +repeated it at every comma, and semicolon; and at +last, it was hitch, hitch, hitch, and I planted myself fast +by the side of her.</p> + +<p>"I swow, Sally, you looked so plaguy handsome to +day, that I wanted to eat you up."—"Pshaw, get along +you," says she. My hand had crept along, somehow, +upon its fingers, and begun to scrape acquaintance with +hers. She sent it home again, with a desperate jerk. +"Try it agin"—no better luck. "Why, Miss Jones +you're gettin' upstropulous, a little old madish, I guess." +"Hands off is fair play, Mr. Beedle."</p> + +<p>It is a good sign to find a girl sulkey. I knew +where the shoe pinched. It was that are Patty Bean +business. So I went to work to persuade her that I +had never had any notion after Patty, and to prove it I +fell to running her down at a great rate. Sally could +not help chiming in with me, and I rather guess Miss +Patty suffered a few. I, now, not only got hold of her +hand without opposition, but managed to slip an arm +round her waist. But there was no satisfying me; so +I must go to poking out my lips after a buss. I guess +I rued it. She fetched me a slap in the face that made +me see stars, and my ears rung like a brass kettle for +a quarter of an hour. I was forced to laugh at the +joke, tho' out of the wrong side of my mouth, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +gave my face something the look of a gridiron. The +battle now began in the regular way. "Ah, Sally, +give me a kiss, and ha' done with it, now."—"I won't, so +there, nor tech to."—"I'll take it, whether or no."—"Do it, +if you dare."—And at it we went, rough and tumble. +An odd destruction of starch now commenced. The +bow of my cravat was squat up in half a shake. At +the next bout, smash went shirt collar, and, at the same +time, some of the head fastenings gave way, and down +came Sally's hair in a flood, like a mill dam broke +loose,—carrying away half a dozen combs. One dig +of Sally's elbow, and my blooming ruffles wilted down +to a dish-cloth. But she had no time to boast. Soon +her neck tackling began to shiver. It parted at the +throat, and, whorah, came a whole school of blue and +white beads, scampering and running races every which +way, about the floor.</p> + +<p>By the Hokey; if Sally Jones is'nt real grit, there's +no snakes. She fought fair, however, I must own, and +neither tried to bite nor scratch; and when she could +fight no longer, for want of breath, she yielded handsomely. +Her arms fell down by her sides, her head +back over her chair, her eyes closed and there lay her +little plump mouth, all in the air. Lord! did ye ever +see a hawk pounce upon a young robin? Or a bumblebee +upon a clover-top?—I say nothing.</p> + +<p>Consarn it, how a buss will crack, of a still frosty +night. Mrs. Jones was about half way between asleep +and awake. "There goes my yeast bottle," says she to +herself—"burst into twenty hundred pieces, and my +bread is all dough agin."</p> + +<p>The upshot of the matter is, I fell in love with Sally +Jones, head over ears. Every Sunday night, rain or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +shine, finds me rapping at 'Squire Jones' door, and +twenty times have I been within a hair's breadth of +popping the question. But now I have made a final resolve; +and if I live till next Sunday night, and I don't +get choked in the trial, Sally Jones will hear thunder.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VENETIAN_MOONLIGHT" id="VENETIAN_MOONLIGHT"></a>VENETIAN MOONLIGHT.</h2> + +<h3>By Frederick Mellen.</h3> + + +<div class="cpoem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The midnight chime had tolled from Marco's towers;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">O'er Adria's wave the trembling echo swept;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The gondolieri paused upon their oars,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Mutt'ring their prayers as through the still night crept.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Far on the wave the knell of time sped on,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Till the sound died upon its tranquil breast;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sea-boy startled as the peal rolled on;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Gazed at his star, and turned himself to rest.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The throbbing heart, that late had said farewell,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Still lingering on the wave that bore it home,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At that bright hour sigh'd o'er the dying swell,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And thought on years of absence yet to come.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">'T was moonlight on Venetia's sea,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And every fragrant bower and tree<br /></span> +<span class="i10">Smiled in the golden light;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The thousand eyes that clustered there<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Ne'er in their life looked half so fair<br /></span> +<span class="i10">As on that happy night.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">A thousand sparkling lights were set<br /></span> +<span class="i4">On every dome and minaret;<br /></span> +<span class="i10">While through the marble halls,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The gush of cooling fountains came,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And crystal lamps sent far their flame<br /></span> +<span class="i10">Upon the high-arched walls.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">But sweeter far on Adria's sea,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The gondolier's wild minstrelsy<br /></span> +<span class="i10">In accents low began;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">While sounding harp and martial zel<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Their music joined, until the swell<br /></span> +<span class="i10">Seemed heaven's broad arch to span.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">Then faintly ceasing—one by one,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">That plaintive voice sung on alone<br /></span> +<span class="i10">Its wild, heart-soothing lay;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And then again that moonlight band<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Started, as if by magic wand,<br /></span> +<span class="i10">In one bold burst away.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">The joyous laugh came on the breeze,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And, 'mid the bright o'erhanging trees,<br /></span> +<span class="i10">The mazy dance went round;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And as in joyous ring they flew,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The smiling nymphs the wild flowers threw<br /></span> +<span class="i10">That clustered on the ground.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">Soft as a summer evening's sigh,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">From each o'erhanging balcony<br /></span> +<span class="i10">Low fervent whisperings fell;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And many a heart upon that night<br /></span> +<span class="i4">On fancy's pinion sped its flight,<br /></span> +<span class="i10">Where holier beings dwell.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">Each lovely form the eye might see,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The dark-browed maid of Italy<br /></span> +<span class="i10">With love's own sparkling eyes;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The fairy Swiss—all, all that night,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Smiled in the moonbeam's silvery light,<br /></span> +<span class="i10">Fair as their native skies.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The moon went down, and o'er that glowing sea,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With darkness, Silence spread abroad her wing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor dash of oars, nor harp's wild minstrelsy<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Came o'er the waters in that mighty ring.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All nature slept—and, save the far-off moan<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of ocean surges, Silence reigned alone.</span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="BALLOONING" id="BALLOONING"></a>BALLOONING.</h2> + +<h3>By I. McLellan, Jr.</h3> + + +<p>The clear sun of a fine September day, was glittering +on roof and steeple, and the cheerful breeze of early +autumn breathing its harp-like melody over woods and +waters. A vast multitude stood around me, attentively +watching the expanding folds of my balloon, as it +swayed to and fro in the unsteady air. As I prepared +to take my place in its car, I noticed an involuntary +shudder run through the assemblage, and anxious glances +pass from face to face. At length, the process of +inflation was completed, the music sounded, the gun +was discharged, the ropes were loosened, and the beautiful +machine arose in the air, amid the resounding +cheers of thousands. As it ascended, I cast a hasty +look on the sea of upturned heads, and thought I read +one general expression of anxiety, in the faces of the +multitudinous throng, and my heart warmed with the +consciousness, that many kind wishes and secret hopes +were wafted with me on my heavenward flight. But +very soon, mine eye ceased to distinguish features and +forms, and the collected throng became blended in one +confused mass, and the green common itself had dwindled +into a mere garden-plat, and the magnificent old +Elm in its centre to a stunted bush, waving on the +hill-side.</p> + +<p>Upward, upward! my flying car mounted and mounted, +into the yet untraversed highways of the air, swifter +than pinion-borne bird, or canvas-borne vessel, yet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +all without sound of revolving wheel, or clatter of thundering +hoof or straining of bellying sail, or rustle of +flapping wing. I felt that I was indeed alone, in the +upper wastes of the liquid element, a solitary voyager +of the sky, careering onward like the spectral "Ship +of the Sea," with no murmur of bubbling billow under +the prow, and no gush of whirling ripple beneath the +keel. But how can my pen describe the sublimity of +the scene above, below and around! At one moment, +my car would plunge into silvery seas of vapor and +rolling billows of mist, through which the dim-seen sun +did but feebly glimmer, like the struggling flame of the +torch cast in the dungeon's gloom. But soon that +shadowy veil dissolved away, and again I would emerge +into the blaze of the golden sun, and the effulgence of +the blue heavens. How then did I covet the painter's +art, to be able to imprint on the eternal canvas, those +gorgeous clouds piled up around me, like hills and +mountains, from whose sides hoary cataracts seemed +to be falling, and foamy streams leaping into the vallies, +that rested in lovely repose at their base. Never +did the dull world below present on its diversified +bosom, such grand or such enchanting objects, as those +beautiful and evanescent creatures of the air, shining +and shifting in the levelled sunbeams around. At +times, my whole horizon would be bounded by those +mountainous regions of cloud-land, cliff lifting over +cliff, pinnacle above pinnacle, Alps above Alps. On +their sides and tops, the reflected light painted all the +hues of the rainbow, in commingled azure and crimson, +purple and gold. In those stupendous masses of +vapor, mine eye, with little aid of fancy, could trace +out resemblances of wild and desolate forests, of sombre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +fir and yew, the lordly oak and the melancholy +pine, whispering in the breeze. Anon, a green, happy +valley, would smile out from some hollow of the +hills, and the white church-spire would peep from the +embosoming grove, and the rustic parsonage, the rural +farm-house, and the village-inn, with its swinging sign, +and the chestnut waiving its twinkling foliage at the +door would appear. Anon, the shifting vapor would +assume the shape of an old baronial fortress, green +with the mosses of centuries, and overspread with the +flexile creeper, the gadding vine, and the glossy ivy, +and wearing many a dull-weather stain, imprinted by +wintry gale and autumnal rain. On its grey towers +would seem to float the broad standard, around which +the knights and vassals had mustered so often, when +the armies thundered beneath the leagured walls, or +its brave folds were displayed in distant lands, on the +tented fields of war.</p> + +<p>Onward, onward! I looked forth, and saw that I +was again wafted along the lower currents of air, and +could easily distinguish the sights and sounds of earth. +I passed over green pastures, where the brindled cattle +and snowy sheep were feeding, and, under a spreading +oak, that towered aloft like a verdant hill, reclined +a young girl, watching her father's flocks, attended by +a pet lamb, cropping the fair flowers at her feet. As +I gazed, I thought of "the fair Una with her milk-white +lamb," and of all the happiness of the shepherd's +life, who, sitting upon the grassy hill-side beneath the +sacred locust, and piping entrancing melodies in praise +of his love, on the mellow oaten reed, is all unmindful +of the cankering care and the poisonous hatred, that +embitter human life. Great was the surprise that agitated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +that lonesome spot, as mine air-borne pageant +fluttered over it, with its silken fold and colored streamer. +The cattle cast upward their wondering eyes, and +galloped away to the forests, and I could long hear the +tinkling bell on the horn of the bull and heifer, sounding +in the inner sanctuary of the wood, where, on a +twisted root or a moss-covered stone, by the brink of +the gushing brook, reclined that grey-beard recluse, +Solitude, and his nun-like sister, Silence, revolving +their lonely meditations.</p> + +<p>Onward, still onward! Beneath me I beheld a solemn +spot, where the linden, the ash, the sycamore, the +cypress, the cedar, the beech, the church-yard yew +and hemlock, were clustered together in one mournful +company. I knew by the stone altars, by the sculptured +urn, the graceful obelisk, the foam-white pyramid, +the funereal cenotaph, the marble mausoleum, which +glimmered amid the groves and bowers, that I looked +upon a sanctuary, consecrated by the living to the repose +of the dead. A sweet sabbath-like calm seemed +to hover about the place, and even the very birds that +were flitting from branch to branch, and the breeze +that was sighing its hollow dirge along the wood-tops, +appeared to know that the spot was holy. As I looked, +I beheld a slow procession winding along this highway +of the departed, and bearing a new tenant to the narrow +house. Some sweet infant, perhaps, was there +cut down in the dewy bloom of its innocence,—some +beautiful bud of beauty severed from its stem, and +torn away from its blossoming mates, in the garden of +youth,—or, haply, some silver-haired sire, gathered +like the shock of corn, fully ripe, into the vast granary +of death.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span></p> + +<p>As I passed from this interesting spot, I was attracted +by a merry train of riders, whose loud and cheerful +voices resounded along the road, seeming to mock the +sacred silence of the place I had so lately left. As the +gay array of youth and beauty dashed away from my +sight, with foamy bridle and gory spur, I could not but +be reminded of the close juxta-position on earth, of joy +and sorrow, life and death.</p> + +<p>Onward, onward! over winding streams, that glittered +like twisting serpents on the green surface of the +earth, over the broad bay, that rested in smooth and +glassy repose in the arms of the far-extending shore, +and over the dashing billows of the ocean, my route +continued. Birds of the briny sea, whose strong wings +had borne them safely and surely from the frosty atmosphere +that sparkles around the pole, or the ice-cold +waters of some far-away lagoon, now darted around +me with discordant cry and affrighted pinion. In those +hovering flocks I discerned the duck, the goose, the +coot, the loon, the curlew, the green-winged teal, the +dusky duck, the sooty tern, the yellow-winged gadwale, +the golden eye, and the gaudy mallard, proudly vain of +that lovely plumage, whose intense hues rival the glory +of the breaking dawn, the autumnal sunset, or the intermingled +dyes which tinge the stripes of the showery +bow. On an iron-bound promontory, whose jutting +crags waved an eternal strife with the rolling billows, +I saw the thick-scattered cottages of wealth and taste, +seeming no bigger than the nest, which the tropical +bird constructs in the sands of the desert, while around, +on the tumbling expanse of waters, were glancing a +thousand receding and approaching sails, bearing the +riches of the orient or the occident, from shore to shore.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p> + +<p>Downward, downward! A thrill of horror shot +through my veins, as I felt that the rough ocean breeze +had shivered my silken vessel to shreds and tatters, and +that I was falling with the speed of lightning, through +the hollow abyss of the air, into the sea. The jaws of +the fretting ocean, gnashing their white teeth in anger, +seemed to gape open to devour me, and the black +rocks uplifted their jagged spears, to impale my devoted +body! But my time had not yet come. A gentle +tap on the shoulder aroused me from the profound +reverie in which I had been plunged, and I was very +glad to recognize, in the visitor who had broken the +spell, my good friend Durant, who called to invite me +to attend his grand ascension, the following day.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="ODE" id="ODE"></a>ODE,</h2> + +<h3>ON OCCASION OF JUDGE STORY'S EULOGY ON CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL +AT THE ODEON.</h3> + +<h3>By Grenville Mellen.</h3> + + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">Again—the voice of God!<br /></span> +<span class="i6">How breaks it round!<br /></span> +<span class="i4">O'er consecrated sod,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">With locks unbound,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Grief in her marble brow appears<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bows amid her veil—in tears!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">That mandate from on high—<br /></span> +<span class="i6">The clarion call,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">That rung through earth and sky<br /></span> +<span class="i6">His rayless fall,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In accents, "thou shalt die," again<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Proclaims man's dream of years—how vain!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">We veil not in its grave<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Ambition's brow—<br /></span> +<span class="i4">It is not o'er the brave<br /></span> +<span class="i6">We gather now!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But one who reach'd man's loftier fate.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Good</i> without fault—and nobly <i>great</i>.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">A sceptre was his own,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Drawn from the sky—<br /></span> +<span class="i4">He fill'd a holier throne<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Than royalty:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He sat with deathless Justice crown'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While Truth, like sunlight, flash'd around!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">His <i>life</i> to all the earth<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Proud record bore,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Man yet might spring to birth,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">With angel power!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">His <i>death</i>, that as the "grass," to-day<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Robes him in glory—and decay!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">Oh! well, with spirit bow'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Above his bier<br /></span> +<span class="i4">May a broad empire crowd,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">With prayer and tear!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">—His be its requiem—deep and far—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A nation's heart his sepulchre!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_BOYS_MOUNTAIN_SONG" id="THE_BOYS_MOUNTAIN_SONG"></a>THE BOY'S MOUNTAIN SONG.</h2> + +<h3>FROM THE GERMAN.</h3> + +<h3>By I. McLellan, Jr.</h3> + + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">I am the mountain boy!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forth o'er an hundred halls I gaze.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here morn his earliest light displays,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here linger his declining rays,—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I am the mountain boy!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Here is the mountain-source,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the cold water-course—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And at sultry noon I dip,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In its wave my glowing lip.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I am the mountain boy!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When the awful lightnings glare,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Flashes on the midnight air,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On the rocking cliff I kneel,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Answering back each thunder-peal.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I am the mountain boy!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When the quickly-pealing bell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Calls to arms in every dell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the mustered ranks I stand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Swinging wide my mountain-brand<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And sing my mountain-song!</span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="THE_UNCHANGEABLE_JEW" id="THE_UNCHANGEABLE_JEW"></a>THE UNCHANGEABLE JEW.</h2> + +<h3>By John Neal.</h3> + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'<i>Who</i> views with equal eye as God of all,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A hero perish, or a sparrow fall?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Atoms and systems into ruin hurled,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And now a bubble burst, and now a world?'<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>A great multitude were gathered together: on the +right a huge fortress thundering to the sky—on the left +a scaffold—a white fog—the open sea—and a mighty +ship tumbling to the swell. The flat roofs and gorgeous +balconies were covered with scarlet cloth, and +thronged with women of all ages—their lips writhing +and their eyes flashing. Underneath were a mute +soldiery, with banners that moved not, and spears that +glimmered not—a vast, rich and motionless pageant. +Not a leaf stirred—not a finger was lifted—all eyes +were fixed upon something afar off. The Grave alone +had a voice, and the footstep of approaching Death +grew audible, with the everlasting beat of the Ocean. +The stagnant atmosphere burned with a lustreless, unchangeable +and smouldering warmth. As the impatient +and sluggish breathing of the Destroyer drew near, +with a sound as of Earthquake and Pestilence laboring +afar off, there appeared upon the outermost verge of +the scaffold, near the fortress, a man of a simple and +majestic presence, wearing no symbol of power, no +badge of authority, before whom the multitude gave +way with headlong precipitation, as though but to touch +the hem of his garment were death itself, or something +yet worse than death.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p> + +<p>After communicating with those about him in a low +whisper, too low to be understood by others almost +within his reach, one of the soldiers lifted a spear, at +the point of which fluttered a blood-red banner, tufted and +fringed with snow-white feathers, and pointed in silence +toward a large opening, which appeared to command a +view of the whole interior. The stranger drew near, +and grasping one of the bars with a powerful hand, +lifted himself up, and after looking awhile, turned away +with a sick impatient shudder, and wiped his eyes; +and then lifting himself up again, he made a signal to +somebody within, and straightway a large tent-like +awning was quietly withdrawn, so as to reveal the interior +of a court-yard, with cells opening into it—in +the nearest of which sat a princely-looking middle-aged +man, half-buried and apparently half asleep +or lost in thought, in a large, heavy, old-fashioned +chair, with a curiously carved table before him, on +which there lay, side by side with writing materials, a +lamp and a letter evidently unfinished, two or three +illuminated manuscripts, a dagger and a map; a massive +goblet richly chased, the rough gold tinged and +sweltering with the hot blood of the southern grape, a +variety of strange mathematical instruments—a copy +of Zoroaster—and a Hebrew Bible, with clasps of the +costliest workmanship, and a cover of black velvet frosted +with seed pearls—a crushed and trampled coronet—and +a lighted pipe, ornamented with precious stones, +the shaft a twisted serpent and the bowl a burning carbuncle—a +live coal—from the core of which, as out of +the midst of a perpetual, unextinguishable fire, issued +a delicate perfume, filling the whole neighborhood, as +with the smoke of a censer; and leaving the eye to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +make out—by little and little—through the fragrant vapor, +first a pair of embroidered Persian slippers, then a +magnificent robe, flowered all over as with the sunshine +of the sea, and weltering in the changeable light of the +open window, then a prodigious quantity of lustrous +black hair flowing down over the shoulders, from underneath +a crimson velvet cap with a diamond buckle and +clasp, and a tassel of spun gold, strung with sapphire, +ruby, amethyst and pearl—and a pomp of black feathers +overshadowing an ample forehead of surpassing power, +and eyes of untroubled splendor; and then, after a long +while, a heap of black shadow lying coiled up underneath +the table, from the midst of which an occasional +flash, as of a serpent's tongue, or an angry sparkle—as +of a serpent's eye, would appear—and at last the whole +proportions of a superb-looking personage, who had been +trying, hour after hour, with a compressed lip and a +thoughtful determined eye—to snap what appeared to +be a handful of seed pearl, one by one, through the +grated window before him, without touching the bars—hour +after hour—and always in vain! The passage +way was too narrow—the bars too near together.</p> + +<p>Behold! murmured he at last, while the shadow of +another—and yet another stranger, shot along the lighted +floor, as he stole about the room a-tiptoe, and gathering +up the pearls, if pearls they were, that lay in heaps +underneath the window, and flinging aside the magnificent +robe he wore, prepared himself anew and with +more determination than ever, for the work he had +evidently set his heart upon, if not his life, by measuring +the elevation with a steadier eye, and poising every +pearl with a more delicate touch, before he projected it +toward the window. Behold! how the Ancient of Days +delighteth in counteracting the purposes of Man?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p> + +<p>The other started back and threw up his arms with +a look of horror and amazement, and all who were +about him began whispering together and shaking their +heads.</p> + +<p>At this moment the slow jarring vibration of a great +bell was heard from the topmost tower—the cannon of +the fortress thundered forth, and were answered, peal +after peal, from the lighted mountains—a volume of +white smoke rolled heavily toward the earth and covered +the people—the sea-fog trembled—parted—and +slowly drifted away in patches and fragments, through +which the blue sky appeared, and the hot sunshine flashed +with an arrowy brightness, while the mighty ship +swung round with her broadside to the shore, and lighted +matches were seen moving about hither and thither, +like wandering meteors, through the damp hazy atmosphere; +and instantly there went up a slow half-smothered +wail from the multitude, with a weight and volume +like the unutterable and growing earnestness of the +Great Deep, when it begins to heave with a pre-appointed +and irresistible change; and all eyes were upturned, +and all arms outstretched with a troubled expression +toward the stranger, who walked forward a few steps +to the verge of the scaffold—and looking about him, +on every side, called out with a loud voice,—Of such +are the Gods of the Unconverted! and of such their +followers!</p> + +<p>The answering roar of the multitude reached the +prisoner, who lifting his head and listening for a moment +with a placid smile, asked what more they would +have?—and whether they were not yet satisfied?—and +then straightway began balancing another of the glittering +seeds and eyeing the window<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>Most pitiable! cried the other, covering his face +with his hands, moving afar off, and appearing to be +entirely overcome by what he saw.</p> + +<p>And why <i>pitiable</i>, I pray thee! shouted the former, +with a voice like a trumpet, lifting his calm forehead +to the sky and gathering his magnificent robe about +him as he spoke.</p> + +<p>Art thou of a truth Adonijah the Jew—the unconverted +Jew?</p> + +<p>Of a truth am I—the unconverted, the <i>unconvertable</i> +Jew; and thou! art thou not he that was my brother +according to the flesh—even Zorobabel, the <i>converted</i> +Jew and the preacher of a new faith?</p> + +<p>Yea; of a new faith to such as thou; but a faith +older than the Hebrew prophets to them that believe, +Adonijah.</p> + +<p>But why <i>pitiable</i> I pray thee?</p> + +<p>How are the mighty fallen! For three whole months +have I journied afoot and alone, by night and by day, +through the deep of the wilderness, and along by the +sea-shore—afoot and alone, my brother!—after hearing +of thy great overthrow—the wreck of thy vast possessions +about me whithersoever I went—thy magnificent +household scattered, thy princes banished from +their high places, and wandering over all the earth and +hiding themselves in the holes of the rocks—with no +city of refuge in their path—even thy youngest and +fairest a bondwoman, toiling for that which sustaineth +not; and thy own fast-approaching death, a theme with +every people and kindred and tongue—and not a theme +of sorrow! And all this, O my brother and my prince! +only that I might be near thee in thy unutterable bereavement +and humiliation, only that I might look upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +thee once more alive, and see thee unchangeable as +ever, though stripped of power and trampled under the +hoofs of the multitude—only that I might reason with +thee, face to face, before a great people, who, after +watching and worshipping thee for many years, have +come up together as with one heart, to see thee—<i>thee!</i> +their idol and their benefactor—perish upon a scaffold, +as only the fool or the scoffer perisheth!—to cry out +upon thee as the unconquerable Jew, that having once +abjured the faith of his fathers and gone back to it anew, +cannot be reached but by the law, nor purified but +with fire!</p> + +<p>Say on.</p> + +<p>Alas, my brother! Alas that it should fall upon me to +afflict thy proud spirit with reproaches at a time like +this! But there is no other hope. Awake, therefore! +awake! and gird up thy loins like a man. I will demand +of thee, saith the Lord of Hosts, and thou shalt +answer me, even as my servant Job answered me of +yore. Awake, therefore, and stand up, that I may +reason with thee for the last time touching the faith of +our mighty fathers, the consolations of philosophy, and +the splendor and power of earthly Wisdom—of Death +and Judgment—while thou art on thy way to the grave +in the fulness of thy strength and majesty; and <i>not</i> +with the clangor of trumpets, the neigh of steeds, the +flow of drapery, and the uproar of battle!—No!—not +as the High Priest, or the champion of a lofty and venerable +faith, standing up like a pillar of fire in a cloudy +sky, and pointing to Jerusalem as to the great gathering +place of buried nations, about to reappear, with all eyes +fixed upon thee and all hearts heaving with exultation! +To thy grave, my brother! and not as a martyr! but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +as a wretch abandoned of all the earth—a twofold +apostate!—a rebel and a traitor! Hark! hearest thou +not a faint stirring afar off, along the shore of that multitude—a +living wilderness of threatening eyes and +parched lips—and ah! another moan from that huge, +heavy, disheartening bell, which never stops till the +sacrifice of a fiery death is over, and the object of its +boding prophecy gone to the world of spirits.</p> + +<p>But the prisoner heeded not his adjuration—he never +lifted his eyes, and the same quiet smile rested forever +upon his countenance; and he still gathered up the +pearls and continued aiming them at the window.</p> + +<p>Awake, Adonijah! awake, I say! Thy pearls are +counted to thee. Thy pulses are about to stand still +forever—thy proud heart to stop forever! A moment, +and the headsman will be here—already do I see him +afar off, stealing with a noiseless movement along the +skirts of the affrighted people, like smouldering fire +through the blackness of a thunder-cloud. Awake, +thou <span class="smcap">man</span> of sorrow and acquainted with grief, awake +that I may pray with thee!</p> + +<p>With me!</p> + +<p>Yea, my brother—even with thee.</p> + +<p>And wherefore shouldst thou pray with me? and +wherefore should I pray?</p> + +<p>Wherefore! Have I not heard thee, purified by that +old peculiar faith, charge even thy Creator, the Ancient +of Days, the Lord God of Heaven and Earth, <i>Jehovah!</i> +with diverting thy pearls from their appointed path!</p> + +<p>True, and therefore why should I pray? Of what +avail these prayers with the <i>unchangeable</i> God? Can +aught that we do, or fail to do, disturb the everlasting +tranquillity of our Creator—change his purpose—or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +in any way move to pleasure or displeasure the Lord +God of Heaven and Earth? With him before whom +all things are alike, with whom there is neither great +nor small—what he hath determined to do, that will +he not do? whether we importune him or not with +prayer? Go to, my poor brother! go to! will not the +Judge of all the Earth do right? and if he will not—how +are we to help ourselves?</p> + +<p>Unhappy man! Though he <i>were</i> unchangeable; +and though supplications were of no avail, why should +the children of men, the creatures of his bounty withhold +their <i>thanksgiving</i>?</p> + +<p>That would I never withhold, for that I could offer +up any where—at all times and under all circumstances, +without dishonoring him, our <span class="smcap">Creator</span> and our +Father, or his image, and without contradicting our +ancient faith. But why wrestle in prayer with him, +for that which, if it be proper for us, we shall be sure to +have, as we have the dew and the sunshine, the seed-time +and the harvest.—The very hairs of our head, are +they not numbered? Are not five sparrows sold for +two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before +God!</p> + +<p>Yea my brother! But what saith the same scripture? +Ye are of more value than many sparrows.</p> + +<p>True—true—I had forgotten a part of my lesson.</p> + +<p>Believest thou, O my brother, <i>canst</i> thou believe +then, that in His eyes, all the cherubim and seraphim +are equal and alike? that He is, of a truth, no respecter +of persons among the Hierarchy of heaven?</p> + +<p>But wherefore pray to Him that knoweth all our +wants, before they are uttered or felt? to Him that +feedeth the young raven—laying his hand reverentially<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +upon the Great Book before him, and lifting his forehead +to the sky, as if he could see through it.</p> + +<p><i>Wherefore?</i> Because we have been urged to pray—entreated +to pray—commanded to pray. Because +every thing desirable hath been promised to prayer.</p> + +<p>Not in the Hebrew scriptures, however it may be +with the Greek. To thanksgiving and submission, there +may be vouchsafed a continual to favor; but to importunity, +as urged upon you in your scripture, my poor +brother, <i>nothing</i>.</p> + +<p>Lo! the headsman touches the foot of the scaffold! +Wilt thou not pray with me, oh Adonijah! my brother +and my prince!</p> + +<p>No! my brother that <i>was</i>—no! The Lion of Judah +hath not yet learned to lick the uplifted hand of mortal +man. Get thee behind me Zorobabel, <i>my brother</i>! +Go thy way, and leave me to my trust in the God of +our fathers. Why should I pray with thee—with thee! +an apostate from the sepulchre of kings and prophets—I +that never have prayed but with the princes, and the +Judges and the High-Priest of our people? Get thee +gone, my brother! It is not for such as I to tempt the +Lord of Hosts, or to persuade the Ancient of Days. +Do not thou tempt me.</p> + +<p>Stay, brother—stay! Did not Jacob wrestle in +prayer with the angel of the Lord, all the night long?</p> + +<p>With the angel of the Lord?—yea—But never with +the Lord himself, as thou wouldst have me. And saying +this, he gathered up his robe and shook it, and +turned away from his brother sorrowing.</p> + +<p>Man! thou art beside thyself—much learning hath +made thee mad—cried his brother, reaching forth his +arms to Adonijah. The whole Hebrew scriptures are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +against thee—what are they all but a Book of prayer +and supplication? Prophets and Bards and Kings and +Judges, yea, even the High Priesthood, are against +thee! Why shouldst thou pray, thou unconquerable +Hebrew?—why!—that thy proud heart may be made +human—that thy understanding may be enlightened—that +thou mayst be made to know and believe that there +is another and a better Scripture. Pray to thy Father, +which is in Heaven, as thou wouldst that thy children +should pray to thee, even for that which thou hast already +determined to grant them—oh, pray to Him! that +He may see the disposition of thy heart, as thou wouldst +see theirs. What though thou art mindful of their +wants, and well acquainted with their hearts and purposes, +and always ready to gratify them, is it not a +condition with thee—even with <i>thee</i>, Adonijah, that +they should acknowledge their dependence upon thee, +and their utter helplessness of themselves? And why +should it not be so with our Heavenly Father? with +Him whose angels are about thee and above thee, a +perpetual atmosphere of warmth and light. Ha! the +multitude are breaking up!—they are coming this way! +I hear the tramp of horsemen—a moment more and +we are apart forever. A flash!—The Philistines are +upon thee, O my brother!</p> + +<p>That brother looked up and smiled.</p> + +<p>Wilt thou not pray with me?</p> + +<p>No—once for all—no! Never with a converted +Jew—never with a christian!—never with thee, thou +but half a christian!</p> + +<p>Farewell then!—farewell forever.</p> + +<p>Another flash! attended with a loud burst of thunder +among the hills.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p> + +<p>Nay, let us part in peace, my brother, although I +cannot pray with thee, I can for thee! The God of +our Fathers! of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, have thee +in his holy keeping!</p> + +<p>The stranger threw up his arms in a transport of joy. +The unconverted, the <i>unconvertable</i> Jew had prayed +for him with the temper of a christian; and straightway +he fell upon his knees and called upon the God of +the Hebrews, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, +to spare the Jew and change his heart.</p> + +<p>The huge gate swung open. The drawbridge fell—a +fierce angry light broke forth suddenly from underneath +the scaffold—a black banner floated all at once +from the battlements over the passage-way—a troop +of horsemen, with flashing spears and iron helmets, +wheeled slowly into the court-yard, and drew up in dead +silence along the outer barrier. The headsman appeared. +A signal was made from a far window, and +lo! the coronet and the robe, with all the glittering insignia +of departed power and extinguished glory, were +torn away, and trampled under foot by the hoofs of the +multitude. A white smoke rolled forth from below, +and when it cleared away, the Jew appeared standing +bareheaded between two gigantic mutes, one of whom +bore a naked cimetar, while the other stood watching +his countenance. It continued unaltered—unalterable—nor +would he vouchsafe the slightest token of +submission or terror, though the flames roared, and the +white smoke rolled thitherward like the white sea-fog +before a coming storm; but haughtily, steadfastly, and +with a majestic mildness which awed the very soldiery +more than all the pomp they were accustomed to, he +pointed to the multitude, lowering about him with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +tempestuous blackness—to the pyre with its covering +of blood-red cloth dripping with recent moisture—to +the flames roaring far below among the dry faggots, +and signified a wish to proceed.</p> + +<p>Once more shouted a voice from the barrier—My +brother! oh my brother! wilt thou not be prevailed +upon, if not for thine own sake, for the sake of thy beloved +wife and thy youngest born—about to perish with +thee—even with thee, my brother, in their marvellous +beauty and most abundant strength.</p> + +<p>Away!—and let me die in peace!</p> + +<p>Another step thou unconquerable man! But another +step—thou apostate Jew!—and thou art in the +world of spirits! Wilt thou not say? <i>canst</i> thou not, +with lowliness and fervor, Our Father which art in +Heaven! thy will and not mine be done!</p> + +<p>Yea, brother—if that will comfort thee in thy desolation. +Yea! Yea! with all the hoarded and concentrated +fervor of a long life accustomed to no other language, +even while I took upon me the outer garb of a +christian—Yea!—and saying this, he fell upon his +knees, and cried out with a loud voice, while a triumphant +brightness overspread his uplifted countenance +with a visible exaltation, Our Father and our Judge! +I do not pray to thee as the God of the christians +did, that this cup may be spared to me; for I have put +my whole hope and trust in thee, and am satisfied with +whatsoever I may receive at thy hands! But I would +bless thee, I would praise thee, I would magnify thy +great name, oh God of my Fathers, for all that I have +enjoyed or suffered, for all that I have had or wanted +in this life; yea, for all the afflictions and sorrows and +terrors that have beset my path, and that of my beloved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +wife and my dear children—children of the tribe of +Judah and of the house of Jacob!—Yea, for the overthrow +of all my proud hopes and prouder wishes, when +I forsook thee and almost abjured the faith of my Fathers +for dominion sake. Forgive my apostate brother, +I beseech thee, O Lord! as thou hast forgiven me: +and bless the heritage of thy people, and encourage +them as the followers of the new faith are encouraged +by their Jesus of Nazareth, to forgive their enemies, +even though their enemies take the shape of a beloved +friend or brother—to betray them—giving up their +birth-right, like Esau for a mess of pottage.</p> + +<p>A great commotion appeared on the house-tops, extending +itself slowly far and wide.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, continued the Jew—nevertheless! oh +Father and Judge, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! +thy will and not mine be done!</p> + +<p>The multitude began to surge this way and that, +with exceeding violence. A cry of indignation arose +from every side. A tumult followed—a general rush—the +house-tops were suddenly deserted—the sea shore—and +some began shouting, Away with him! away with +him! and others, Let the blaspheming Jew perish without +hope! and others, Crucify him! crucify him!</p> + +<p>But in the midst of the uproar, one clear solitary cry +was heard afar off, repeating a prayer to the God of +the Hebrews—another cloud of white smoke rolled +over the battlements—the flames appeared half way up +the sky—a trumpet sounded underneath the very scaffold—the +ancient war-cry of the Jews, <i>To your tents, +O Israel!</i> rung far and wide along the outer barrier—up +sprang a multitude of small white banners, like affrighted +birds, from the midst of the people—and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +next moment, before they had recovered from their unspeakable +consternation, the heavy horsemen charged +upon them in a body, the great ship swung round with +all her voices thundering together, and swept their pathway +as with a whirlwind of fire, while they hurried +hither and thither, crying To arms! to arms! The +Jews! the Jews! and pointing toward the bridge, only +to find the bridge itself destroyed and the opposite +shore in possession of that other converted Jew—the +stranger!—all in glittering steel arrayed, and carrying +a banner on which the Lion of Judah was ramping in a +field of carnage!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>And when the Jew Adonijah, now more a Jew than +ever, and more fully satisfied than ever, with the sublime, +and awful, and unchangeable faith of his old +Hebrew Fathers, came fully to himself, and the tumult +was all over, he found three out of his four children +of the house of Jacob, standing near him in their robes +of state—another, and a stranger, harnessed for the +war, his black eyes yet gleaming with the half-extinguished +fire of battle, standing at the door of the chamber.</p> + +<p>And why wouldst thou not pray for us, father? said +one of the two that were standing by the bed-side.</p> + +<p>Because ye were sick unto death; and I held it sinful +to ask for that which had been refused to King +David himself—I, that had forsaken the Lord God of +my fathers—How could I hope that he would not forsake +me!</p> + +<p>But the christian prayed for us, Father, and the +prayers of the christian were heard!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p> + +<p>With what face could they, <i>being christians</i>, pray +for the children of men that put their Savior to death? +How could they, <i>being christians</i>, forget their scripture, +which saith—<i>suffer little children to come unto me, and +forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of heaven!</i></p> + +<p>And as he spoke, the great doors were thrown open, +and the armed man flung down his helmet, and walked +forward with a solemn and haughty step leading a +beautiful woman captive, and a young child.</p> + +<p>A shriek!—a tumult!—and straightway all were +kneeling together! And not one of that family of Jacob—that +remnant of the tribe of Judah—not one was +missing. They were determined to live and die in their +old august unchangeable faith, even as all their progenitors +had lived and died—enduring all things—suffering +all things—trials and sorrows and temptations—age +after age—and never betraying their faith, never!</p> + +<p>But the unconquerable Jew acknowledged to himself, +and to his brother, even there, as they fell upon his +neck and wept, the <i>possibility</i> of prayer being heard, +the <i>possibility</i> that the unchangeable God might be +reached by supplication—and the <i>possibility</i> that even +a philosopher and a Jew might be mistaken.</p> + +<p>But—</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="A_WAR-SONG_OF_THE_REVOLUTION" id="A_WAR-SONG_OF_THE_REVOLUTION"></a>A WAR-SONG OF THE REVOLUTION.</h2> + +<h3>By John Neal.</h3> + + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Men of the North! look up!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">There's a tumult in your sky;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A troubled glory surging out;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Great shadows hurrying by:<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Your strength—Where is it now?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Your quivers—Are they spent?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your arrows in the rust of death,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Your fathers' bows unbent?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Men of the North! Awake!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ye're called to from the Deep;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Trumpets in every breeze—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Yet there ye lie asleep:<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A stir in every tree;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A shout from every wave;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A challenging on every side;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A moan from every grave:<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A battle in the sky;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ships thundering through the air—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Jehovah on the march—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Men of the North, to prayer!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now, now—in all your strength;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">There's that before your way,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Above, about you, and below,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Like armies in array:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Lift up your eyes, and see<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The changes overhead;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now hold your breath! and hear<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The mustering of the dead.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">See how the midnight air<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With bright commotion burns,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thronging with giant shape,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Banner and spear by turns—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The sea-fog driving in,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Solemnly and swift;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Moon afraid—stars dropping out—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The very skies adrift:<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Everlasting <span class="smcap">God</span>:<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Our Father—Lord of Love—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With cherubim and seraphim<br /></span> +<span class="i2">All gathering above—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Their stormy plumage lighted up<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As forth to war they go;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The shadow of the Universe,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Upon our haughty foe!</span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="MUSINGS_ON_MUSIC" id="MUSINGS_ON_MUSIC"></a>MUSINGS ON MUSIC.</h2> + +<h3>By James F. Otis.</h3> + +<div class="center">And while I was musing, the fire burned.—<i>Holy Writ.</i></div> +<div class="bigskip"></div> + +<div class="center">THE ORIGIN OF MUSIC.</div> + +<p>Music is the wondrous breathing of God's spirit in our +souls. As we view the "floor of heaven, thickly inlaid +with patines of pure gold," we feel that</p> + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There's not the smallest orb which we behold,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, in its motion, like an angel sings,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still quiring to the young eyed cherubim.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>We feel it in the constitution of the air, which causes +vibration—in the formation of man, possessed of the +wonderful faculties enabling him to sing, to distinguish +musical sounds, and to feel within his whole frame the +effects of music. Man, indeed, is himself a wonderful +musical instrument, made by the hand of God. He +hears all nature hymning adoration and praises to its +Maker—he feels the constant vibration of universal +harmony around him—he is conscious that the emotions +of gratitude he feels toward the Creator should be +expressed, and that in the highest strains which the +human mind can conceive, and the human voice can +reach. Thus he calls in to his aid all those auxiliaries +which nature and art afford, to supply him with associations +tending to elevate the standard of his grateful +expressions. Music is a sacred, a religious, a <i>holy</i> +thing. Applied to common purposes, it is pleasing and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +worthy of cultivation—but still it has a higher character +when used for its original and more worthy purpose. +The effect it produces in the former instance +is to raise our <i>mirth</i>:—when used in its higher character, +its effect is to produce <i>rapture</i>. It soothes when +thus employed, as of old it did when David banished +the evil spirit from the soul of Saul by the vibrations of +his sweet-toned harp; it improves—as all good influences +and pure associations ever must, when permitted +their due action upon the mind; and it elevates the +spirit toward the eternal source whence all its harmony +flows. As it peals upon the ear, and sinks inly upon +the heart of him whose mind is bent upon the +thoughts of holy things—upon his creation, his present +blessings and future hopes, he seems to hear</p> + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">That undisturbed song of pure content,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Aye sung around the sapphire-colored throne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To him that sits thereon—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the bright seraphim, in burning row,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their loud, uplifted angel trumpets blow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the cherubic hosts, in thousand choirs,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Touch their celestial harps of golden wires.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + +<div class="center">HANDEL AND HAYDN. THE MESSIAH AND THE CREATION, +A PARABLE.</div> + +<p>Handel, with all his comparative simplicity, is my favorite. +I cannot but look up to him with astonishment +and veneration; his "Messiah," I behold as the purest +specimen of sublimity ever displayed in the arts: and +I can conceive of nothing in poetry with any pretension +to be considered its parallel, but the "Paradise +Lost" of Milton. The "Hallelujah Chorus" may +be esteemed the loftiest work of the imagination. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +leading conception is entirely inimitable. The full +chorus of other masters is often bold and elevated; but +it is only Handel who has the sublime of devotion. +Haydn is triumphant and inspiring; but the effect of +his chorus is only that of martial music. In listening +to Haydn, you seem to hear the shouts of conquerors, +proudly entering a vanquished city: in listening to +Handel, the shouts seem to break from the clouds; +from the triumphant host admitted to the presence of +God; and the object of praise gives a character of holiness +and purity to the harmony. With Haydn, +we exult, we reason not why. With Handel, we +can never for a moment forget that we are praising +God. The rapid movements and quick transitions of +Haydn draw the fullest admiration to the orchestra, +and the subject is forgotten. The lighter passages in +Handel are only the varied note of praise, expanding +only in proportion to the inspiration which the object +kindles. In one word,—every thing in Haydn is seen +to be accomplished; and every delineation, if I may +thus employ the word, is felt to be a resemblance. +But in Handel, let what will be described or exhibited,—a +battle,—a victory,—the trembling of the earth,—the +tottering of a wall,—the moan of sympathy,—the +insults and crucifixion of a Savior,—the awful stillness +of death,—or, on the other hand, the triumph of the +resurrection,—the birth of the Prince of Peace,—or +hosannas to the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords,—every +thing seems to be done at the command of God +himself.</p> + +<p>But I conceive it is not difficult to reconcile an admiration +of both these great masters, in as much as +their music presents such a variety only as every art<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +admits. Claude Loraine was no rival of Raphael—yet +we stand with one before a landscape, and with +the other at the foot of the cross, with like, if not +equal astonishment and admiration. The recitatives +of Haydn are, with scarcely a single exception, less +bold, but better finished,—less abrupt, and better calculated +for the scope of the voice, than those of +Handel; and are supported by a harmony more graceful, +though not more striking and natural. Haydn, at +all times, threw the fascination of melody over his +richest modulations, and the whole effect of his harmony +resulted from conspiring airs, each of which was +melodious by itself. While, on the other hand, the +separate parts in Handel were like single pillars from +a temple, or single stones from a pyramid. If, in +Handel, appear the beauty of consistency,—in Haydn +we admire the consistency of beauty. If Handel's +choruses and harmony might be compared, both in +their formation and beauty, to mountains of ice, illuminated +by the sun,—Haydn's harmony would seem +to resemble the most splendid crystalizations—under +the same illumination, in which one form of beauty +has gradually encircled another, until the shape and +beauty of the minutest part has become imparted to +the larger proportions, and more commanding figure +of the whole mass. It is impossible indeed, to find +any thing in music,—placing his choruses out of view,—which +can rival the sublime recitative of Handel,—"For +behold darkness shall cover the earth,—but the +Lord shall arise!"—Yet the opening of Haydn's "Creation," +may deserve to be ranked second only to this, +and as surpassing every other attempt of its author, in +sublimity, and deep, solemn grandeur. The fall of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +the angels, in the first part of the same noble oratorio, +is a wonderful effort, and presents the most remarkable +instance in all Haydn's compositions, of the characteristic +excellence which has just been ascribed to him, +namely, his uniform regard to his melody, even where +he designed to produce the boldest effect in his harmony. +It is the most graphic musical description ever +attempted; and it must have been produced in one of +those moments of lofty enthusiasm in which a conception +of surpassing grandeur flashes upon the mind, is +grasped and embodied in an instant, and a man pauses +in exultation and astonishment at what he has himself +accomplished. This passage, however,—if it had no +other excellence,—could never be forgotten, as it +gives the most striking effect to the inimitable contrast +which succeeds,—where the first impression of the +beauty of the world at the moment of the creation is +described with such tenderness and grace, that the +most vulgar minds, as well as those whose taste has +been in some degree refined, have felt every note, as +it came from the forms of living things, exulting +in their existence—or as if the author had borrowed +the lyre of the morning stars, that sang the glories of +the "new created world."—The celebrated chorus, +"The Heavens are telling the glory of God," is unquestionably +the boldest conception of Haydn. Its +harmony has the most astonishing richness and variety, +and the leading air is almost unexceptionably beautiful. +Yet it may be called a chorus in theory only; for it +requires the fullest choir of the finest voices and most +refined tastes,—and no community of any country can +furnish a hundred and fifty singers, capable of performing +it, even with a tolerable degree of spirit, judgment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +and correctness. By this remark I mean merely, that +the original conception of the author, and that with +which every one who feels its true beauty and force is +filled, upon studying, or hearing it,—can never be fully +realized and carried out, and filled up, by the finest +combination of human powers.</p> + +<p>There have not been wanting writers upon the beautiful +in music, who have denounced what they are pleased +to call attempts at picturesque, in the "Creation" +of Haydn. Their arguments proceed upon the trifling +nature of the results produced by imitations, as unworthy +the dignity of an art so refined. The feelings +awakened by the gradual developement of the work of +creation in this immortal work are certainly far superior +in their nature to those imputed by such writers to +the admirers of what they call depictive music;—and +I cannot believe that these objectors can have listened +to the oratorio they criticise, either with the physical +or rational ear. Had they, we should have heard +nothing like an imputation of an unsuccessful imitation +of trifling originals. They would have seen no other +use of the musical picturesque than perfectly consists +with true descriptiveness of the subject celebrated. +The Creation is a grand panorama; its object was to +impress the hearer with the realities it commemorates. +Its author was engaged two whole years upon it, and +gave as a reason for his absorption in the task, that he +meant it to last a great while. He has composed a +work which addresses itself to the mind in such a manner, +as to call up to the eye the landscape, as well as +to the ear the sounds, and to the conception the animation +and motion of the scenes described. Surely a +beautiful thought, a fine description, an impassioned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +sentiment, impressed upon the mind and memory by a +strong association with almost all the senses at once, +are more likely to become inseparably entwined among +the very fibres of the heart, than a cold, abstract description +of the same subject, without the intervention +of such associations. I should pity the man who could +utter such a criticism, while listening to the performance, +or even reading the score of this most splendid +oratorio. From the commencement,—conveying the +idea of primeval chaos,—through the gradual gathering +of the earth and sea, and the things which each +contains, into their several places,—the budding and +blooming of the thousand flowers,—the cooing of the +tender doves,—the trampling of the heavy beasts,—the +flowing of the gentle rills,—the rolling of the +mountain waves,—the bursting of light at the Creator's +word,—angels praising God,—the noble work of man's +creation,—the achievement of the whole,—up to the +last grand and glorious chorus,—all is sublimity—all +is divine! and the whole soul of the auditor is wrapt in +sacred awe, as he follows the beneficent hand of his +Maker in its wonderful work, and is lost in rapture and +adoration, amid the blaze of glory by which he finds +himself surrounded at the close.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + +<div class="center">SOME THOUGHTS ON OPERATIVE MUSIC.</div> + +<p>There are those who institute a comparison between +music and poetry, and much to the prejudice of the +former. They argue that the intellect has nothing to +do with music, and that it is ridiculous and absurd in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +those who speak no Italian, to pretend to derive any +satisfaction from listening, for two hours, to music in a +language they cannot understand—affecting, at the +same time, to comprehend the sense to be conveyed, +by the sounds they drink in with such assumed rapture. +I conceive this to be far from just reasoning. Doubtless +there is a great deal of affectation in the fashionable +world upon the subject of music in general, and of +the opera in particular; but we have no right to judge +our neighbor's taste by our own—perhaps, after all, it +may turn out that our own is defective or false. I am +inclined to argue that the intellect has as much to do +with music as with poetry.</p> + +<p>In judging of pieces adapted to music, we should be +lenient on the subject of the thoughts, if the design and +story have variety enough to afford a basis for a corresponding +variety of musical ideas. The most common +expression of any passion may be tolerated, when +the music, <i>not</i> the poetry, is to form the embellishment. +Who cares for the story—the plot—in listening to the +Italian opera? Nay, more—are not the finest and +most beautiful pieces of that class of music, vulgar and +weak as poetical compositions? Is not the musical composer +the genius of the piece? While the poet utters +some such trash as 'I shall support myself by feasting +on your beautiful eyes,' the composer so varies the +expression of his music, that, in truth, the thought +becomes refined, just as it would if the poet had undertaken +to present it in a variety of views. To say, +therefore, that the repetitions in music are nonsense, is +just to profess a deplorable ignorance of the science. +The words convey a sentiment which the musician +undertakes to increase—to soften—to embellish, through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +a series of fine ideas, of which those who have neither +musical taste nor ear have not the least conception.</p> + +<p>Nor should it be supposed that, in the opera—in the +fine pieces of Metastasio, for instance—the poetry is +disgraced by being but the handmaid of music, and +that the former is therefore reduced unduly in the scale +of comparative merit. This is not the case with him +who is an equal admirer of the two arts. Such as +these will admit that it is but in a very small degree +that music is designed to please a sense. They will +insist that its design is to excite emotions that poetry, +to the same extent, cannot awaken. What speech in +the whole Iliad rouses more exulting courage than the +'Marsellois Hymn?' The music of 'Pleyel's German +Hymn' not only of itself produces an effect to awaken +a feeling of grief, but no words that I have ever read +are capable of producing that feeling in an equal degree. +Take for example, the lamentation of David for +the loss of Absalom—and if that passage, and others +like it, are enough to melt or break the heart, there is +a kind of music, of which 'Pleyel's Hymn' is an +example, that will affect it more deeply yet.</p> + +<p>Words, considered as auxiliary to music, merely +show the subject on which the emotion rests, but have +nothing to do with the emotion itself; <i>that</i> is produced +by music alone—and long before any words are known +to an air, the emotion will have been produced. We +shall have imagined the subject—and when we come +to know the words, we shall discover one of three +things: first, that the subject is what we imagined—secondly, +that it is something analogous to our perception—or, +thirdly, if neither of the two former, that the +words and air are ill-adapted to each other. Indeed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +what do we mean by saying, 'these words are adapted +to the air,' if the air have no character of its own? +And what is its character but its peculiar power of +awakening certain emotions? Admitting that it is +better that fine poetry and fine harmony should be +united, when possible—and that this union, of course, +produces additional delight to a refined mind,—it still +seems to me very absurd to condemn the pieces which +are constructed upon ideas conveyed in poetry of an +inferior class, <i>merely because such is the character of +the poetry</i>. Music is the governor of the heart, and all +she asks of Poetry is a subject,—and then, delightful +magician! it is her province to call up, by her sweet +spell, the corresponding emotions!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="SIN_ESTIMATED_BY_THE_LIGHT_OF_HEAVEN" id="SIN_ESTIMATED_BY_THE_LIGHT_OF_HEAVEN"></a>SIN ESTIMATED BY THE LIGHT OF HEAVEN.</h2> + +<h3>By Edward Payson.</h3> + +<div class="center"><i>Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.</i></div> + + +<p>It is a well known fact that the appearance of objects, +and the ideas which we form of them, are very much +affected by the situation in which they are placed with +respect to us, and by the light in which they are seen. +Objects seen at a distance, for example, appear much +smaller than they really are. The same object, viewed +through different mediums, will often exhibit very different +appearances. A lighted candle, or a star, appears +bright during the absence of the sun; but when +that luminary returns, their brightness is eclipsed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +Since the appearance of objects, and the ideas which +we form of them, are thus affected by extraneous circumstances, +it follows, that no two persons will form +precisely the same ideas of any object, unless they +view it in the same light, or are placed with respect to +it in the same situation.</p> + +<p>These remarks have a direct and important bearing +upon our subject. No person can read the scriptures +candidly and attentively, without perceiving that God +and men differ, very widely, in the opinion which they +entertain respecting almost every object. And in nothing +do they differ more widely, than in the estimate +they form of man's moral character, and of the malignity +and desert of sin. Nothing can be more evident +than the fact, that, in the sight of God, our sins are +incomparably more numerous, aggravated and criminal, +than they appear to us. He regards us as deserving +of an endless punishment, while we scarcely perceive +that we deserve any punishment at all. Now whence +arises this difference? The remarks which have just +been made will inform us. God and men view objects +through a very different medium, and are placed, with +respect to them, in a very different situation. God is +present with every object; he views it as near and +therefore sees its real magnitude. But many objects, +especially those of a religious nature, are seen by us +at a distance, and, of course, appear to us smaller than +they really are. God sees every object in a perfectly +clear light; but we see most objects dimly and indistinctly. +In fine, God sees all objects just as they are; +but we see them through a deceitful medium, which +ignorance, prejudice and self-love place between them +and us.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Psalmist, addressing God, says, thou hast set +our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of +thy countenance, that is, our iniquities or open transgressions, +and our secret sins, the sins of our hearts, +are placed, as it were, full before God's face, immediately +under his eye; and he sees them in the pure, +clear, all-disclosing light of his own holiness and glory. +Now if we would see our sins as they appear to him, +that is, as they really are; if we would see their number, +blackness and criminality, and the malignity and +desert of every sin, we must place ourselves, as nearly +as is possible, in his situation, and look at sin, as it +were, through his eyes. We must place ourselves and +our sins in the centre of that circle, which is irradiated +by the light of his countenance; where all his infinite +perfections are clearly displayed, where his awful +majesty is seen, where his concentrated glories blaze, +and burn, and dazzle, with insufferable brightness; and +in order to this, we must, in thought, leave our dark +and sinful world, where God is unseen and almost forgotten, +and where, consequently, the evil of sinning +against him cannot be fully perceived—and mount up +to heaven, the peculiar habitation of his holiness and +glory.</p> + +<p>Let us, then, attempt this adventurous flight. Let +us follow the path by which our blessed Savior ascended +to heaven, and soar upward to the great capital of +the universe; to the palace and the throne of its greater +King. As we rise, the earth fades away from our +view; now we leave worlds, and suns, and systems +behind us. Now we reach the utmost limits of creation; +now the last star disappears, and no ray of created +light is seen. But a new light begins to dawn and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> +brighten upon us. It is the light of heaven, which +pours a flood of glory from its wide-open gates, spreading +continual, meridian day, far and wide through the +regions of ethereal space. Passing swiftly onward +through this flood of day, the songs of heaven begin to +burst upon your ears, and voices of celestial sweetness, +yet loud as the sound of many waters and of mighty +thunderings, are heard exclaiming, Hallelujah! for the +Lord God omnipotent reigneth! Blessing, and glory, +and honor, and power, be unto Him that sitteth on the +throne, and to the Lamb, forever. A moment more, +and you have passed the gates—you are in the midst +of the city—you are before the eternal throne—you +are in the immediate presence of God, and all his glories +are blazing around you like a consuming fire. Flesh +and blood cannot support it; your bodies dissolve into +their original dust; but your immortal souls remain, +and stand naked spirits before the great Father of spirits. +Nor, in losing their tenements of clay, have they lost +their powers of perception. No; they are now all eye, +all ear; nor can you close the eyelids of the soul, to +shut out, for a moment, the dazzling, overpowering +splendors which surround you, and which appear like +light condensed; like glory which may be felt. You +see indeed no form or shape; and yet your whole souls +perceive with intuitive clearness and certainty, the immediate, +awe-inspiring presence of Jehovah. You see +no countenance; and yet you feel as if a countenance +of awful majesty, in which all the perfections of divinity +are shown forth, were beaming upon you wherever +you turn. You see no eye; and yet a piercing, heart-searching +eye, an eye of omniscient purity, every +glance of which goes through your souls like a flash of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +lightning, seems to look upon you from every point of +surrounding space. You feel as if enveloped in an +atmosphere, or plunged in an ocean of existence, intelligence, +perfection and glory; an ocean of which +your laboring minds can take in only a drop; an ocean, +the depth of which you cannot fathom, and the breadth +of which you can never fully explore. But while you +feel utterly unable to comprehend this infinite Being, +your views of him, so far as they extend, are perfectly +clear and distinct. You have the most vivid perceptions, +the most deeply graven impressions, of an infinite, +eternal, spotless mind; in which the image of all +things, past, present and to come, are most harmoniously +seen, arranged in the most perfect order, and +defined with the nicest accuracy; of a mind, which +wills with infinite ease, but whose volitions are attended +by a power omnipotent and irresistible, and which +sows worlds, suns and systems through the fields of +space with far more facility, than the husbandman +scatters his seed upon the earth; of a mind, whence +have flowed all the streams, which ever watered any +part of the universe with life, intelligence, holiness, or +happiness, and which is still fully overflowing and inexhaustible. +You perceive also, with equal clearness +and certainty, that this infinite, eternal, omnipotent, +omniscient, all-wise, all-creating mind is perfectly and +essentially holy, a pure flame of holiness; and that, as +such, he regards sin with unutterable, irreconcilable +detestation and abhorrence. With a voice, which reverberates +through the wide expanse of his dominions, +you hear him saying, as the Sovereign and Legislator +of the universe, Be ye holy; for I, the Lord your God, +am holy. And you see his throne surrounded, you see<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +heaven filled by those only, who perfectly obey this +command. You see thousands of thousands, and ten +thousand times ten thousand of angels and archangels, +pure, exalted, glorious intelligences, who reflect his perfect +image, burn like flames of fire with zeal for his +glory, and seem to be so many concentrations of wisdom, +knowledge, holiness and love; a fit retinue for +the thrice holy Lord of hosts, whose holiness and all-filling +glory they unceasingly proclaim.</p> + +<p>And now, if you are willing to see your sins in their +true colors; if you would rightly estimate their number, +magnitude and criminality, bring them into this +hallowed place, where nothing is seen but the whiteness +of unsullied purity, and the splendors of uncreated +glory; where the sun itself would appear a dark spot, +and there, in the midst of this circle of seraphic intelligences, +with the infinite God pouring all the light of +his countenance around you, review your lives, contemplate +your offences, and see how they appear.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="THE_WAY_OF_THE_SOUL" id="THE_WAY_OF_THE_SOUL"></a>THE WAY OF THE SOUL.</h2> + +<h3>By L. S. P.</h3> + + +<p>There is a homely proverb which tells us that "the +longest way round is the shortest way home." Whether +the mathematical demonstration of so paradoxical an +assertion would be easy or difficult I shall not undertake +to decide. My concern is with its application to +the spiritual; and with such a reference, are there not +many in these hurrying days who would be benefited +by a serious attention to it?</p> + +<p>Do you doubt its truth? Reflect, and you will be +convinced. Have you never groped darkly after a +principle, of which you had some dim revelation, and +which you strove with mightiest working to make your +own? Still as you seemed about to seize it, it eluded +your grasp; you were sure that it was there; but to +lay hold of it was beyond your strength. You gave up +the effort, turned your thoughts to a new channel, +and busied yourself with other investigations—when lo! +a revelation; and the truth you sought, burst upon +you as a ray from the eternal splendor.</p> + +<p>Or, perchance, you have been all the day perplexed +and wearied with doubts, relating, it may be, to some +point of practical moment to you, and seeming to demand +a solution, which yet you are unable to give. +You would fain come to an end, but you cannot even +see an opening; only here and there an uncertain +glimmer, which vanishes when you approach it more +nearly. Your soul is faint and harassed; you go forth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +at sunset to commune with nature, and in her communion +to forget your perplexities. You gaze on the calm +glories of the departing sun, and the calm enters into +your soul; the cooling breath of heaven comes to you, +and you listen to the many voices, "the melodies of +woods and winds and waters," that go up in one harmony +to heaven. You behold, and listen, and love;—and +with love comes light. Yes, a light, so pure, so +soft, so mild, that it seems not of earth rests upon your +soul, and your darkness, and doubts, and perplexity +are gone.</p> + +<p>Oh, never let it be forgotten that the road to truth is +a winding road; it lies through the heart as well as +through the intellect; for, says the wise man, "Into a +malicious soul, wisdom shall not enter." Thou must +learn to love, before thou canst learn to know; and +never shalt thou behold the serene and beautiful countenance +of Truth, until thy aim be honest, and thy soul +in harmony with nature.</p> + +<p>And are not <i>Nature's</i> paths circuitous? It is man +who has constructed the broad high road, and made +for himself a straight way through forests and streams, +levelling the mountains, and filling up the valleys—but +it is not thus in nature. Her paths are wild, and +devious, and rambling; following "the river's course, +the valley's playful windings," and ever and anon +turning aside to some sunny nook, or steep ravine. The +rain which falls upon the earth travels not by a plain +high road to the springs and fountains whither it is +bound; but gently, slowly wins its way, drop by drop, +till a little stream is formed, and the stream winds its +noiseless and hidden track to the fountain.</p> + +<p>In her <i>processes</i> too, Nature is patient and long-waiting.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +She doth not say to the seed just planted in the +earth, spring up and bear fruit forthwith, or you shall +be cast out, but she waiteth for the unfolding of the +tender germ, and the striking of the new-shooting roots; +and hath long patience, and with slowliest care, and a +mother's enduring love, she bringeth forth to light the +first green leaf. Then she calleth for the sun to shine, +and the dews to descend upon the young plant, and +many days doth she wait for the ripe fruit.</p> + +<p>But man, impatient man would be wise in a day. +He waits not for the holy and mysterious processes of nature, +he leaves not the wonderful powers within him to +unfold in silence and secrecy, but must ever disturb +them with his foolish meddling and impertinent haste, +like some silly child, who digs up the seed he has planted +an hour ago, to see if it have yet sprouted. And +are there not some who deal in like fashion with other +minds than their own? <i>Educators</i> let them not be +called, for never do they bring out what is within. The +young mind is not to them a germ to be unfolded, an +infant to be nursed into manhood, but rather a receptacle +to be filled, and stuffed, and crammed as expeditiously +as possible; and this, thanks to the numerous +machines lately invented for the purpose, is very quick +indeed.</p> + +<p>There have been times when you seemed to make +no progress in your favorite pursuit. You struggled +without advancing as we sometimes do in dreams, or +though you stepped up and down, it was as in a treadmill. +So it seemed to you. But was it so? Nay, +the process was going on within, though its visible +manifestations may have ceased. If no addition was +made to the superstructure, yet the foundations were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +deepening and widening; if the branches and leaves +did not grow, yet the root strengthened itself in the +earth.</p> + +<p>But not only so—you seemed to be going backward. +Even the ground slipped from under your feet, and +where you had heretofore a firm standing-place, you +found but a swamp. And have you never considered +that Nature too sometimes works backwards? See +that withered leaf which flutters in the breeze, maintaining +yet an uncertain hold upon the branch which +nurtured its younger growth. A fresh gust of wind +loosens its hold, and it is blown in circling eddies to the +earth. There it rests till the elements of decay in its +bosom have finished their work, and it mixes with the +dust. "What is this? Can a mother forget her child? +Does Nature destroy her own productions?" Ah, look +again. In that fresh-blooming flower, dyed with tints +of infinite softness, behold the withered leaf. Nature +was as really working to the production of that flower +when she decomposed the elements of the leaf, as +when she unfolded the germ, and elaborated the juices, +and blended the tints of the flower itself. It was but a +glorified resurrection. And your spiritual growth is +going on as truly and steadily, if not as visibly and +delightfully, when you cast aside the slough of some +old prejudice, or painfully tear yourself from a cherished +delusion as when the dawning of a new truth +flashes light and joy upon your soul.</p> + +<p>For what Coleridge has said of nations, is equally +true of individuals. "The progress of the species +neither is nor can be, like that of a Roman road, in a +right line. It may be more justly compared to that of +a river, which, both in its smaller reaches and larger<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> +turnings, is frequently forced back towards its fountains, +by objects which cannot otherwise be eluded or +overcome; yet with an accompanying impulse that +will ensure its advancement hereafter, it is either gaining +strength every hour or conquering in secret some +difficulty, by a labor that contributes as effectually to +further its course, as when it moves forward in an +uninterrupted line."</p> + +<p>I might go on to illustrate the application of this +truth to self-knowledge, but it is one easily made, by +each for himself. Its bearing upon our moral growth +must not be so lightly passed over.</p> + +<p>You have learned that you have a spirit which <i>may</i> +be, <i>must</i> be trained for immortality and heaven. You +have found too that there are difficulties in the way of +this training. There is a constant under-current of selfishness +ready to insinuate itself into all you do; there +is contempt for your inferiors in birth or cultivation, +ever offering to start up, and there is a spirit of resentment +against those who have injured you ready to take +fire on the least provocation. What is to be done with +these? You do not forget that to Him, whose "still, +small voice" can speak with authority to the spirits He +has made, must be your first appeal; but neither do +you forget that his help is vouchsafed to those only +who help themselves. And how will you help yourself? +Will you in the plenitude of your might, and the resoluteness +of kindled energy, <i>will</i> the extinction of those +unruly passions? Try it; exert the volition; <i>will</i> to +stop the flowing tide of revenge in your breast, and to +cause love and forgiveness to spring up in its place. +Well, have you done it? But what means that glowing +cheek—that flashing eye—that compressed brow? Is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +such the expression of <i>love</i>? Nay brother, you have +mistaken the way. Not the straight path of direct +volition will ever lead you to your object.</p> + +<p>But come forth with me into the field. Here are +"sweet, strange flowers," to glad thy heart with their +innocent beauty, and delight thee with their fragrance; +here is the broad and blessed "sky bending over" thee, +and the quiet lake at thy feet.</p> + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The air is spread with beauty; and the sky<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is musical with sounds that rise and die,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till scarce the ear can catch them; then they swell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then send from far a low, sweet, sad farewell."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And who art thou that bringest discord and rough, +angry passions into a scene like this? Ah, thou bringest +not discord, it has stolen from thy heart; thou art +at peace. For it is not a poetic fiction when we are +told that a wayward spirit, is subdued by nature's +loveliness and <i>lovingness</i>.</p> + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Till he can no more endure<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To be a jarring and a dissonant thing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Amidst this general dance and minstrelsy;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, bursting into tears, wins back his way,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His angry spirit healed and harmonized,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By the benignant touch of love and beauty."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>We asked, perchance, that our hearts might be lifted +above the earth, and taught to repose with a surer love, +and a more child-like trustfulness on the Father of +Spirits. And did we know that our prayer was answered +when the light of our eyes was torn from us; +when our souls were rent with bitter agony, and lay +crushed and bowed beneath the stroke of <i>His</i> hand? +Yes, it was answered; we know it now, though we +knew it not then. The weary bird never reposes so +sweetly in its nest, as when it hath been battered by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +the tempest and chased by the vulture; never doth the +little child rest so lovingly and rejoicingly on its mother's +breast, as when it hath there found a shelter from +the injuries and taunts of its rude play-fellows; and +the christian never knows the full sweetness of the +words, "My Father in Heaven," till he can also add, +"there is none that I desire beside Thee."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="FRAGMENTS_OF_AN_ADDRESS_ON_MUSIC" id="FRAGMENTS_OF_AN_ADDRESS_ON_MUSIC"></a>FRAGMENTS OF AN ADDRESS ON MUSIC.</h2> + +<h3>By Edward Payson.</h3> + + +<p>Without resorting to the hyperbolical expressions of +poetry, or to the dreams and fables of pagan mythology, +to the wonders said to be performed by the lyre of +Amphion and the harp of Orpheus,—I might place before +you the prophet of Jehovah, composing his ruffled +spirits by the soothing influence of music, that he might +be suitably prepared to receive a message from the +Lord of Hosts. I might present to your view the evil +spirit, by which jealous and melancholy Saul was afflicted, +flying, baffled and defeated, from the animating +and harmonious tones of David's harp. I might show +you the same David, the defender and avenger of his +flock, the champion and bulwark of his country, the +conqueror of Goliah, the greatest warrior and monarch<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +of his age, laying down the sword and the sceptre to +take up his harp, and exchanging the titles of victor +and king for the more honorable title of the sweet +Psalmist of Israel.—But I appear not before you as her +advocate; for in that character my exertions would be +superfluous. She is present to speak for herself, and +assert her own claims to our notice and approbation. +You have heard her voice in the performances of this +evening; and those of you, whom the God of nature +has favored with a capacity of feeling and understanding +her eloquent language, will, I trust, acknowledge +that she has pleaded her own cause with triumphant +success; has given sensible demonstration, that she +can speak, not only to the ear, but to the heart; and +that she possesses irresistible power to soothe, delight, +and fascinate the soul. Nor was it to the senses alone +that she spake; but while, in harmonious sounds, she +maintained her claims, and asserted her powers; in a +still and small but convincing voice, she addressed herself +directly to reason and conscience, proclaiming the +most solemn and important truths; truths which perhaps +some of you did not hear or regard, but which +deserve and demand our most serious attention.—With +the same irresistible evidence as if an angel had spoken +from heaven, she said, There is a God—and that +God is good and benevolent. For, my friends, who +but God could have tuned the human voice, and given +harmony to sounds? Who, but a good and benevolent +God, would have given us senses capable of perceiving +and enjoying this harmony? Who, but such a +being, would have opened a way through the ear, for +its passage to the soul? Could blind chance have +produced these wonders of wisdom? or a malignant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +being these miracles of goodness? Could they have +caused this admirable fitness between harmony of +sounds, and the organs of sense by which it is perceived? +No. They would have either given us no +senses, or left them imperfect, or rendered every sound +discordant and harsh. With the utmost propriety, therefore +may Jehovah ask, Who hath made man's mouth, +and planted the ear? Have not I, the Lord? With the +utmost justice, also, may he demand of us, that all our +musical powers and faculties should be consecrated to +his service, and employed in celebrating his praises. +To urge you diligently and cheerfully to perform this +pleasing, reasonable, and indispensable duty, is the +principal object of the speaker. Not, then, as the advocate +of music, but as the ambassador of that God, +whose being and benevolence, music proclaims, do I +now address this assembly, entreating every individual, +without delay, to adopt and practise the resolution of +the royal Psalmist—<i>I will sing unto the Lord as long +as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have +my being.</i> Psa. civ. 33.</p> + +<p>In your imagination go back to the origin of the +world, when, every thing was very good, and all creation +harmonized together. All its parts, animate and +inanimate, like the voices and instruments of a well +regulated concert, helped to compose a perfect and +beautiful whole; and so exquisite was the harmony +thus produced, that in the whole compass of creation, +not one jarring or discordant note was heard, even by +the perfect ear of God himself.—The blessed angels +of light began the universal chorus, "when the morning +stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted +for joy."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Of this universal concert, man was appointed the +terrestrial leader, and was furnished with natural and +moral powers, admirably fitted for this blessed and +glorious employment. His body, exempt from dissolution, +disease, and decay, was like a perfect and well-strung +instrument, which never gave forth a false or +uncertain sound, but always answered, with exact precision, +the wishes of his nobler part, the soul. His +heart did not then belie his tongue, when he sung the +praises of his Creator; but all the emotions felt by the +one were expressed by the other, from the high notes +of ecstatic admiration, thankfulness, and joy, down to +the deep tones of the most profound veneration and +humility. In a word, his heart was the throne of celestial +love and harmony, and his tongue at once the +organ of their will, and the sceptre of their power.</p> + +<p>We are told, in ancient story, of a statue, formed +with such wonderful art, that, whenever it was visited +by the rays of the rising sun, it gave forth, in honor of +that luminary, the most melodious and ravishing sounds. +In like manner, man was originally so constituted, by +skill divine, that, whenever he contemplated the rays +of wisdom, power, and goodness, emanating from the +great Sun of the moral system, the ardent emotions of +his soul spontaneously burst forth in the most pure and +exalted strains of adoration and praise. Such was the +world, such was man, at the creation. Even in the +eye of the Creator, all was good; for, wherever he +turned, he saw only his own image, and heard nothing +but his own praises. Love beamed from every countenance; +harmony reigned in every breast, and flowed +mellifluous from every tongue; and the grand chorus +of praise, begun by raptured seraphs round the throne,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +and heard from heaven to earth, was reechoed back +from earth to heaven; and this blissful sound, loud as +the archangel's trump, and sweet as the melody of his +golden harp, rapidly spread, and was received from +world to world, and floated, in gently-undulating waves, +even to the farthest bounds of creation.</p> + +<p>To this primeval harmony, a lamentable contrast +followed, when sin untuned the tongues of angels, and +changed their blissful songs of praise into the groans +of wretchedness, the execrations of malignity, the blasphemies +of impiety, and the ravings of despair. Storms +and tempests, earthquakes and convulsions, fire from +above, and deluges from beneath, which destroyed +the order of the natural world, proved that its baleful +influence had reached our earth, and afforded a faint +emblem of the jars and disorders which sin had introduced +into the moral system. Man's corporeal part, +that lyre of a thousand strings, tuned by the finger of +God himself, destined to last as long as the soul, and +to be her instrument in offering up eternal praise, was, +at one blow, shattered, unstrung, and almost irreparably +ruined. His soul, all whose powers and faculties, +like the chords of an Æolian harp, once harmoniously +vibrated to every breath of the divine Spirit, and ever +returned a sympathizing sound to the tones of kindness +and love from a fellow-being, now became silent, +and insensible to melody, or produced only the jarring +and discordant notes of envy, malice, hatred, and revenge. +The mouth, filled with cursing and bitterness, +was set against the heavens; the tongue was inflamed +with the fire of hell. Every voice, instead of uniting +in the song of "Glory to God in the highest," was +now at variance with the voices around it, and, in barbarous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +and dissonant strains, sung praise to itself, or +was employed in muttering sullen murmurs against the +Most High—in venting slanders against fellow-creatures—in +celebrating and deifying some worthless idol, +or in singing the triumphs of intemperance, dissipation, +and excess. The noise of violence and cruelty was +heard mingled with the boasting of the oppressor, and +the cry of the oppressed, and the complaints of the +wretched; while the shouts of embattled hosts, the +crash of arms, the brazen clangor of trumpets, the +shrieks of the wounded, the groans of the dying, and +all the horrid din of war, together with the wailings of +those whom it had rendered widows and orphans, overwhelmed +and drowned every sound of benevolence, +praise and love. Such is the jargon which sin has introduced—such +the discord which, from every quarter +of our globe, has long ascended up into the ears of the +Lord of hosts.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="THE_BLUSH" id="THE_BLUSH"></a>THE BLUSH.</h2> + +<h3>By Mrs. Elizabeth Smith.</h3> + + +<p>The soft warm air scarcely stirred the leaves of the +vine, that clustered about the bower of Eve, as she +lay with pale cheek and languid limbs, her first born +daughter resting upon her breast. Adam had led his +sons to the field, that their sports might not disturb the +repose of our first mother, and the low murmur of the +tiny cascade, the monotonous hum of insects, and +happy twitter of unfledged birds, all wooed her to slumber; +yet she slept not. She looked with a mother's +deep unutterable love upon the face of her babe, yet +tears were in her eye, and anxiety upon her brow. +Herself the last, the perfection of the Creator's workmanship, +she still marvelled at the surprising beauty of +her daughter. She looked into its dark liquid eye, and +drank deep from the fountain of maternal love. She +pressed its small foot and hand to her lips, hugged it +to her full heart, and felt again the bitterness of transgression. +She thought of Paradise, whence she had +expelled her children. She thought of generations to +come, who might curse her for their misery. She +thought of the sweet beauty of her child on whom she +had entailed sorrow, suffering and temptation. She +felt it murmuring at the fountain of life while it stretched +its little hand to her lips. She turned aside the +thick leaves of the grape vine, and looked out upon the +still blue sky, over which, scarcely moved the white +thin clouds. "My daughter," she faintly articulated,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +"thou knowest not the evil I have done thee. Let +these bitter tears attest my penitence. Let me teach +thee so to live, that thou mayst hereafter obtain in +another world the Paradise thou hast lost in this—lost +by thy mother's guilt. O, my daughter, would that I +alone might suffer, that the whole wrath of my offended +Creator might fall on my head and thou, and such +as thou, might escape." The tears, the penitence of +Eve prevailed; a Heavenly messenger was despatched +to console her, to lift her thoughts to better hopes and +less gloomy anticipations.—Since the sin of our first +parents, and their banishment from Paradise, these +angel visits had been "few and far between," and our +first mother hailed his approach with awe and pleasure. +"Eve," kindly spake the divine visitant, "thy sorrow +and thy penitence are all known to thy Creator, and +though thy fault was great, he yet careth for thee. I +am sent to comfort thee. As thou didst disobey the +commands of God, death has been brought, indeed, +upon thy posterity, but thy children may not curse +thee. Thy daughters shall imitate thy penitence, and +so secure the favor of Heaven. To each one shall +be given a spirit, capable of resisting temptation, and +assimilating to that holiness from which thou hast departed. +Though sin and death have entered the world +by thy means, thy children will still have only their +own sins to answer for, and may not justly reproach +thee for their errors." "True, Lord," responded Eve, +"but the altered sky, the hard earth that scarcely yields +its treasures to the labor of Adam, and the changed +natures of the animals that once meekly and kindly +sported together, all tell of my disobedience, and my +daughter will turn her eyes upon me when suffering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +and trial come, and that look will reproach me as the +cause. I am told that our children shall equal in number +the leaves of the green wood, and the earth shall +hereafter be peopled with beings like ourselves. I +shrink to think on the mass of sorrow I have brought +upon my daughters."</p> + +<p>She looked fondly on her babe, and timidly raised +it towards the beneficent being who paused at her +bower. "When men shall become numerous, and +there shall be many beings like these, fair and frail, +may not their beauty—" She paused and looked +anxiously up. "Speak, Eve," said the messenger, "thy +request shall be granted. I am sent to bestow upon +thee whatever thou shalt ask, for this thy first born +daughter." "I scarcely know," resumed Eve, thus encouraged, +"but I would ask for this first daughter of an +erring mother, <i>something</i>, to warn her of even the +approach of sin, something, that will whisper caution, +and speak of innocence and purity. Something, Lord, +that will remind us of Paradise." "Hast thou not all +that, Eve, in the voice within, the voice of conscience?" +Eve dropped her head upon her bosom. "But that +monitor may be disregarded, my daughters may, like +their unhappy parent, stifle its voice and heedlessly +neglect its warnings. I would have something, that +when flattery would mislead, beauty bewilder, or passion +lead astray, would outwardly as it were bid them +take heed, warn them to shrink from the very trail of +the serpent whose insidious poison may corrupt and +destroy. Hast thou nothing that will be to the innocent, +the virtuous, like a second conscience, to cause them +to shrink even from the <i>appearance</i> of evil?" The +angel smiled, and answered our mother with kindness,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +and a look of heavenly satisfaction. "Most wisely +hast thou petitioned, O Eve. Thou hast asked blessings +for thy posterity, not for thyself. Thy daughters shall +bless thee for the gift thy prayer has obtained." The +spirit departed. The gift he bestowed may be seen on +the face of the maiden when she shrinks from the too +admiring gaze, when her ear is listening to the tale of +love, or flattery, when in the solitude of her own +thoughts she starts at her own imaginings, when she +shrinks even from her own reflected loveliness in the +secrecy of home; or abroad, trembles at the intrusive +touch, or familiar language, of him who <i>should be</i> her +guide, her protector from evil. That gift was the +<i>blush</i>.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="THE_WIDOWED_BRIDE" id="THE_WIDOWED_BRIDE"></a>THE WIDOWED BRIDE.</h2> + +<h3>By Mrs. Ann S. Stephens.</h3> + + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Morn awoke in Hindostan,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And blushing, left the couch of Night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While soon her rosy smiles began,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To flood the dewy earth with light.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While yet the sultry day was young,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Came forth a happy bridal band,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With sunny smiles and English tongue,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Which spoke them of a distant land;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They gathered round an altar-stone,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Erected to the one Most High,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Standing in solitude alone,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Mid signs of dark idolatry.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then two came slowly from the crowd;<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>He</i> with a bearing bold and proud,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A haughty smile and flashing eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Darkling with love's intensity;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While she, the high-born English bride,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drew closer to that one dear side;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her eyelids drooped, her cheek grew pale<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As snow, beneath the bridal veil,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As if the weight of her own bliss<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Were all too much of happiness,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To thrill her heart and light her eye<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath another's scrutiny.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On crimson cushions dropped with gold<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The youthful pair together bow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Before that priest in surplice-fold<br /></span> +<span class="i2">They clasp their trembling fingers now;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A prayer is heard—the oath is said—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That gentle creature lifts her head—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A voice has thrilled into her heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like music breathed to it apart,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To lie there an abiding spell,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">To haunt forever memory's cell—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To mingle with her latest breath<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And light the very wing of death.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her vow was uttered timidly—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With half a murmur, half a sigh;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet the low faltering sound confessed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The love that brooded in her breast.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The golden ring is on her hand—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">She is pronounced a wedded bride;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh say, why does she lingering stand<br /></span> +<span class="i2">So long that altar-stone beside?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And whence the misty tears that dim<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The sunny azure of her eye?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why leans her slender form on him?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Why does she sob so bitterly?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Well may she weep, that fair young bride;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For up the Ganges' golden tide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mid jungles deep, where beasts of prey<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With pestilence hold deadly sway,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the wild waters fiercest sweep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And serpents in their venom sleep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath each dewy leaf and flower,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That gentle bride must build her bower.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In the cool shadow of the shore,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With snowy streamers floating wide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the light dipping of the oar,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The budgerow swept o'er the tide;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The soft breeze ling'ring at her prow,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where many a garland graceful hung,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In hues of purple, gold and snow,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And on the rippling waters flung<br /></span> +<span class="i0">An odor sweet and delicate,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As that which all imprisoned lies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unknown to man as his own fate,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Within the flowers of Paradise.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Beneath an awning's silken shade,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the light breeze its music made,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">With woven fringe and silken cord,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sat the young bride with her brave lord.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her hand in his was ling'ring still,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And every throb of his full heart<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Met her young pulses with a thrill,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And sent the blood up with a start,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To that round cheek but late so pale<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And blanched beneath the bridal veil.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A tear still trembled in her eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like dews that in the violet lie;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But breaking through its lovely sheen,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The brightness of her soul was seen,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like light within the amethyst,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which told how truly she was blest;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though as she met his ardent gaze,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Like the veined petal of a flower<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her eyelids drooped, as from the blaze<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of some loved, high, but dreaded power.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As bound by some subduing spell,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In beauty at his side she bowed.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The bridal robe around her fell,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Like fragments of a summer cloud;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The loosened veil had backward swept,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And deeply in her glossy hair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like light, the orange blossoms slept,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As if they sought new beauty there;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And pearls lay softly on her neck,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Like hailstones melting over snow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Save when the blood, that dyed her cheek.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Diffused abroad its rosy glow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And playing on her bosom-swell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With every heart-pulse rose or fell.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Up went the sun; his burning rays<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Broke o'er the stream like sparkling fire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till the broad Ganges seemed a-blaze,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With gorgeous light, save where the spire<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of some lone slender minaret,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Threw its clear shadow on the stream,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or grove-like banian firmly set,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Broke with its boughs the fiery gleam;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or where a white pagoda shone<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Like snow-drift through the shadowy trees;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or ancient mosque stood out alone,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where the wild creeper sought the breeze;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or where some dark and gloomy rock<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Shot o'er the deep its ragged cliffs,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Inhabited by many a flock<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of vultures, and its yawning rifts<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alive with lizards, glowing, bright,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As if a prism's changing light<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Within the gloomy depths were flung,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where like rich jewels newly strung,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sleeping serpent stretched its length,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And nursed its venom into strength.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Where the broad stream in shadow lay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The bridal barque kept on her way,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While every breeze that swept them o'er,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Brought loads of incense from the shore;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where each luxuriant jungle lay<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A wilderness of tangled flowers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And budding vines in wanton play<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Fell from the trees in leafy showers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Flinging their graceful garlands o'er<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rippling stream and reedy shore;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The lily bared its snowy breast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Swayed its full anthers like a crest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And softly from its pearly swell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A shower of golden powder fell<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Among the humbler flowers that lay<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And blushed their fragrant lives away;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There oleanders lightly wreathed<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Their blossoms in a coronal,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the rich baubool softly breathed<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A perfume from its golden bell;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There flower and shrub and spicy tree<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seemed struggling for sweet mastery;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And many a bird with gorgeous plume,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fluttered along the flowery gloom,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or on the spicy branches lay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Uttering a sleepy roundelay;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While insects rushing out like gems,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or showery sparks at random flung,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through ripening fruit and slender stems<br /></span> +<span class="i2">There to the breathing blossoms clung,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Studded the glowing boughs and threw<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er the broad bank a brilliant hue.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">On—on they went; a fanning breeze<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Came sighing through the balmy trees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And undulating o'er the stream<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rose tiny wavelets, like the gleam<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of molten gold, and crested all<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With a bright trembling coronal,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like that which Brahmins in their dream<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lavish upon the sacred stream.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then all grew still. The sultry air<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lay stagnant in the jungles there—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sun poured down his fervent heat;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The river lay a burnished sheet;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The floweret closed its withered bell;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the parched leaf the insect fell;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The panting birds all tuneless clung<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the still boughs, where late they sung;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The dying blossoms felt the calm,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the still air was thick with balm.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All things grew faint in that hot noon,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As Nature's self lay in a swoon.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">And she, that gentle, loving fair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How brooks her form the sultry air?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Most patiently—but see her now!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What fear convulses her pale brow?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And why that half-averted eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Watching his look so anxiously?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The scarlet burning in his cheek—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Those lips all parched and motionless?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh! do they fell disease bespeak?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or only simple weariness?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">One look! the dreadful certainty<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wrings from her heart a stifled cry;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And now half phrensied with despair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She rends the blossoms from her hair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And leaping to the vessel's side<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She drenched them in the sluggish tide;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then to the cushions where he lay,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Senseless and fevered with disease,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Panting his very life away,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">She rushed, and sinking to her knees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Raised softly up his throbbing head,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And pillowed it upon her breast—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then on his burning forehead laid<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The dripping flowers, and wildly pressed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her pallid mouth upon his brow,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And drew him closer to her heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As if she thought each trembling throe<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Could unto his, new life impart.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wildly to his she laid her cheek,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And backward threw her loosened hair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That not a glossy curl might break<br /></span> +<span class="i2">From off his face the sluggish air.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The noon swept by, and there was she<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Counting his pulses as they rose,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Striving with broken melody<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To hush him to a short repose,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bathing his brow and twining still<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Her fingers in his burning hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her heart's blood stopping with a chill<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Whene'er he could not understand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor answer to her gentle clasp;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But dashed that little hand away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or crushed it with delirious grasp,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Entreating tenderly her stay.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Father of heaven! and must he die?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She breathed in her heart's agony,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As up with every painful breath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Came to his lips the foam of death,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And o'er his swollen forehead played,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like serpents by the sun betrayed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The corded veins whose purple swell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With his hot pulses rose and fell.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Those drops upon his temple there,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rolling eye, the gloomy hair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The livid lip, the drooping chin,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the death-rattle deep within,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That speechless one, so late thy pride—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There lies thy answer, widowed bride!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Half conscious of her misery,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Like something chiselled o'er a grave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She placed her small hand anxiously<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Upon the lifeless heart, and gave<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One cry—but one—of such despair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The jackall startled from his lair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And answered back that fearful knell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With a long, sharp and hungry yell.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A slow and solemn hour swept by,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And there, all still and motionless,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With rigid limb and stony eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The widow knelt in her distress.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With pitying looks the swarthy crew<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Around the tearless mourner drew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And trembling strove to force away<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From her chill arms the senseless clay.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Slowly she raised her awful head;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A slight convulsion stirr'd her face;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Close to her heart she snatched the dead,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And held him in a strong embrace;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then drawing o'er his brow her veil,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">She turned her face as strangely wild,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As if a fiend had mocked her wail,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Parted her marble lips and smiled.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Twice she essayed to speak, and then<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her face drooped o'er the corpse again,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While forth from the disshevelled hair<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A husky whisper stirred the air.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Nay, bury him not here,' it said,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'I would have prayers above my dead;'<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then, one by one, the timid crew,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the infected barge withdrew:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Helmsmen and servants, all were gone;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The wife was with her dead alone.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">With no propelling arm to guide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The barque turned slowly with the tide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And on the heavy current swept<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Its slow, funereal pathway back,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the expiring sunbeams slept,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Like gold along its morning track.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The day threw out its dying gleam,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Imbuing with its tints the stream,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As if the mighty river rolled<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er beds of ruby—sands of gold.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">As if some seraph just had hung<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In the blue west his coronet,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The timid moon came out and flung<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Her pearly smiles about—then set,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As if she feared the stars would dim<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The silvery brightness of her rim;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then in the blue and deepening skies<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The stars sprang out, like glowing eyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And on the stream reflected lay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like ingots down the watery way;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And softly streamed the starry light<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Down to the wet and gloomy trees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where fiery flies were flashing bright,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Afloat upon the evening breeze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or like some fairy, tiny lamp,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Glow'd out among the stirring leaves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And down among the rushes damp,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where Pestilence her vapor weaves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till shrub and reed, and slender stems,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seemed drooping with a shower of gems.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Widow raised her head once more,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Turned her still look upon the sky,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The lighted stream and broken shore;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Oh, God! it was a mockery,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">—The bridegroom—Death—upon her breast<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For aye possessing and possessed!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the deep calmness of despair,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The mourner raised his marble head,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And on the silken cushions there,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With icy hands, composed the dead;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then tore her veil off for a shroud,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And in her voiceless mourning bowed.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">That holy sorrow might have awed<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The very wind—but mockingly<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It flung his matted hair abroad,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As trifling with her agony,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And with a low and moaning wail<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bore on its wings the bridal veil;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then came a cold and starry ray,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And on his marble forehead lay.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Father of heaven! she could not brook<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That floating hair, that rigid look.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With one quick gasp she forward sprung,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And to the helm in frenzy clung,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Until the barque shot on its way<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where a dense shadow darkest lay;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And there, as shrouded with a pall,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The barge swept to the very shore;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The fell hyena's fiendish call<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Rang wildly to her ear once more,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And from the deep dark solitude<br /></span> +<span class="i2">She saw the hungry jackall creep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And whimper for his nightly food,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where many a monster lay asleep<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Just in the margin of the flood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As resting from a feast of blood.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Around the corpse the widow flung<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her snowy arms, and madly clung<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To that cold bosom, whence a chill<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shot through her heart, and frantic still<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her eyes in horror turned to seek<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That prowling beast, whose hungry jaws<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Worked fiercely and began to reek<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With eager foam, as with his paws<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He tore the turf impatiently,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And howling snuffed the passing clay.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">It was not that she feared to die;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In the deep stillness of her heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her spirit prayed most fervently<br /></span> +<span class="i2">There with the dead to hold its part.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The only boon she cared to crave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Was for them both a christian grave;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But oh! the agonizing thought!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That in her madness she had brought<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That loved and lost one, for a feast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To vulture and to prowling beast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where all things fierce and wild had come<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To howl a horrid requiem.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">But soon a stronger current bore<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The freight of death from off the shore;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Again the trembling starlight broke<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Above the still and changing clay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And with its pearly kisses woke<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The widow from her trance, who lay<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Convulsed and shivering with dread,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her white arms clinging to the dead;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For yet the stilly night wind bore<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The wild beasts' disappointed roar.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Within the far o'erhanging wood,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A bulbul listening to her heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Poured forth upon the air a flood<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of gushing love;—with lips apart<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The widow clasped her trembling hands,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And bent her ear to catch the strain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As if a seraph's low commands<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Were breathed into her soul;—again,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That heavenly sound came gushing out,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like waters in their leaping shout;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Over her heart's deep frozen spring<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The gentle strain went lingering,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And touched each icy tear that slept<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With sudden life, until she wept.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span></p> + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Again the lovely morn awoke<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Upon that temple still and lone;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its rosy bloom in gladness broke,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And to the holy altar-stone<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Came down subduedly and dim,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through painted glass, o'er sculptured limb:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Outstretched within that gorgeous gloom,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shaded by pall and sable plume,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As chisseled from the very stone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Bridegroom lay. A broken moan<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rose up from where the Widow bowed,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Her forehead buried in the pall,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her fingers grasping still the shroud,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And every limb betraying all<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The agony that wrung her heart.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">It was a sad and fearful sight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That lifted head, those lips apart,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When through the dim and purplish light<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Those who obeyed the bridal call<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now gathered for the funeral;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A soft and solemn strain awoke<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The silence of that lofty dome,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And through the fretted arches broke<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The music surging to its home;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then with a firm and heavy tread<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The bearers slowly raised the dead;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She followed close, her trembling hand<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Still clenched upon the gloomy pall,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In snowy robes and pearly band,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As at her wedding festival;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And in her bright disshevelled hair<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A broken orange-blossom lay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Withered and all entangled there;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Fit relic of her bridal day;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thus onward to the tomb she passed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her white robe swaying to the blast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And mingling at each stirring breath<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There with the drapery of death.</span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="JACK_DOWNINGS_VISIT_TO_PORTLAND" id="JACK_DOWNINGS_VISIT_TO_PORTLAND"></a>JACK DOWNING'S VISIT TO PORTLAND.</h2> + +<h3>By Seba Smith.</h3> + + +<p>In the fall of the year 1829 I took it into my head I'd +go to Portland. I had heard a good deal about Portland, +what a fine place it was, and how the folks got +rich there proper fast; and that fall there was a couple +of new papers come up to Downingville from there, +called the Portland Courier and Family Reader; and +they told a good many queer kind of things about Portland +and one thing another; and all at once it popped +into my head, and I up and told father, and says I, I'm +going to Portland whether or no; and I'll see what +this world is made of yet. Father stared a little at +first, and said he was afraid I should get lost; but when +he see I was bent upon it, he give it up; and he stepped +to his chist and opened the till, and took out a dollar and +gave to me, and says he, Jack, this is all I can do for +you; but go, and lead an honest life, and I believe I shall +hear good of you yet. He turned and walked across +the room, but I could see the tears start into his eyes, +and mother sot down and had a hearty crying spell. +This made me feel rather bad for a minute or two, +and I almost had a mind to give it up; and then again +father's dream came into my mind, and I mustered up +courage, and declared I'd go. So I tackled up the old +horse and packed in a load of ax handles and a few +notions, and mother fried me some dough-nuts and put +'em into a box along with some cheese and sassages, +and ropped me up another shirt, for I told her I did n't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +know how long I should be gone; and after I got all +rigged out, I went round and bid all the neighbors good +bye, and jumped in and drove off for Portland.</p> + +<p>Ant Sally had been married two or three years before +and moved to Portland, and I inquired round till I +found out where she lived, and went there and put the +old horse up and eat some supper and went to bed. +And the next morning I got up and straightened right +off to see the Editor of the Portland Courier, for I knew +by what I had seen in his paper that he was just the +man to tell me which way to steer. And when I come +to see him I knew I was right; for soon as I told him +my name and what I wanted, he took me by the hand +as kind as if he had been a brother; and says he, Mr. +Downing, I'll do any thing I can to assist you. You +have come to a good town; Portland is a healthy thriving +place, and any man with a proper degree of enterprise +may do well here. But says he, Mr. Downing, +and he looked mighty kind of knowing, says he, if you +want to make out to your mind, you must do as the +steamboats do. Well, says I, how do they do? for I +did n't know what a steam boat was, any more than +the man in the moon. Why, says he, they <i>go ahead</i>. +And you must drive about among the folks here jest +as though you were at home on the farm among the +cattle. Dont be afraid of any of 'em, but figure away, +and I dare say you will get into good business in a very +little while. But, says he, there's one thing you must +be careful of, and that is not to get into the hands of +them are folks that trades up round Huckler's Row: +for there's some sharpers up there, if they get hold of +you, would twist your eye teeth out in five minutes. +Well after he had gin me all the good advice he could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> +I went back to Ant Sally's again and got some breakfast, +and then I walked all over the town to see what +chance I could find to sell my ax handles and things, +and to get into business.</p> + +<p>After I had walked about three or four hours I come +along towards the upper end of the town where I found +there were stores and shops of all sorts and sizes. And +I met a feller, and says I, what place is this? Why +this says he, is Huckler's Row. What, says I, are +these the stores where the traders in Huckler's Row +keep? And says he, yes. Well then, thinks I to myself, +I have a pesky good mind to go in and have a try +with one of these chaps, and see if they can twist my +eye teeth out. If they can get the best end of a bargain +out of me, they can do what there aint a man in +Downingville can do, and I should jest like to know +what sort of stuff these ere Portland chaps are made of. +So in I goes into the best looking store among 'em. +And I see some biscuit lying on the shelf, and says I, +Mister, how much do you ax apiece for them are biscuit? +A cent apiece, says he. Well, says I, I shant +give you that, but if you 've a mind to, I'll give you +two cents for three of 'em, for I begin to feel a little as +though I should like to take a bite. Well, says he, I +would n't sell 'em to any body else so, but seeing it 's +you I dont care if you take 'em. I knew he lied, for +he never see me before in his life. Well he handed +down the biscuits and I took 'em, and walked round the +store awhile to see what else he had to sell. At last, +says I, Mister, have you got any good new cider? +Says he, yes, as good as ever you see. Well, says I, +what do you ax a glass for it? Two cents, says he. +Well, says I, seems to me I feel more dry than I do<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +hungry now. Aint you a mind to take these ere biscuit +again and give me a glass of cider? And says he, I +dont care if I do; so he took and laid 'em on the shelf +again, and poured out a glass of cider. I took the +cider and drinkt it down, and to tell the truth it was +capital good cider. Then, says I, I guess it 's time for +me to be a going, and I stept along towards the door. +But, says he, stop Mister. I believe you have 'nt paid +me for the cider. Not paid you for the cider, says I, +what do you mean by that? Did n't the biscuit that I +give you jest come to the cider? Oh, ah, right, says +he. So I started to go again; and says he, but stop, +Mister, you did n't pay me for the biscuit. What, says +I, do you mean to impose upon me? do you think I am +going to pay you for the biscuit and let you keep 'em +tu? Aint they there now on your shelf, what more do +you want? I guess sir, you dont whittle me in that +way. So I turned about and marched off, and left the +feller staring and thinking and scratching his head, as +though he was struck with a dunderment. Howsomever, +I did n't want to cheat him, only jest to show 'em +it want so easy a matter to pull my eye teeth out, so I +called in next day and paid him his two cents. Well +I staid at Ant Sally's a week or two, and I went about +town every day to see what chance I could find to trade +off my ax handles, or hire out, or find some way or +other to begin to seek my fortune.</p> + +<p>And I must confess the editor of the Courier was +about right in calling Portland a pretty good thriving +sort of a place; every body seemed to be as busy as +so many bees; and the masts of the vessels stuck up +round the wharves as thick as pine trees in uncle +Joshua's pasture; and the stores and the shops were so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> +thick, it seemed as if there was no end to 'em. In +short, although I have been round the world considerable, +from that time to this, all the way from Madawaska +to Washington, I 've never seen any place yet that +I think has any business to grin at Portland.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PORTLAND_AS_IT_WAS" id="PORTLAND_AS_IT_WAS"></a>PORTLAND AS IT WAS.</h2> + +<h3>By William Willis.</h3> + + +<p>The advantages which in early days our new country +held out for employment, encouraged immigration, and +the population was almost wholly made up by accessions +from the more thickly peopled parts of Massachusetts. +To the county of Essex particularly, in the +early as well as more recent period of our history, the +town is indebted for large portions of its population. +Middlesex, Suffolk and the Old Colony, were not without +their contributions. But the people did not come +from such widely different sources as to produce any +difficulty of amalgamation, or any striking diversity of +manners. They formed one people and brought with +them the steady habits and good principles of those +from whom they had separated. There were some +accessions before the revolution made to our population +from the other side of the Atlantic; the emigrants +readily incorporated themselves with our people and +form a substantial part of the population. Within +twenty years, the numbers by immigration have increased +more rapidly, especially from Ireland, but not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +sufficiently to destroy the uniformity which characterises +our population, nor to disturb the harmony of our +community.</p> + +<p>It cannot have escaped observation that one of the +principal sources of our wealth has been the lumber +trade. We have seen on the revival of the town in the +early part of the last century, how intimately the progress +of the town was connected with operations in +timber. Before the revolution our commerce was +sustained almost wholly by the large ships from England +which loaded here with masts, spars, and boards +for the mother country, and by ship building. The +West India business was then comparatively small, +employing but few vessels of inferior size. After the +revolution our trade had to form new channels, and the +employment of our own navigation was to give new +activity to all the springs of industry and wealth. We +find therefore that the enterprise of the people arose to +the emergency, and in a few years our ships were +floating on every ocean, becoming the carriers of +southern as well as northern produce, and bringing +back the money and commodities of other countries. +The trade to the West Indies, supported by our lumber, +increased vastly, and direct voyages were made in +larger vessels than had before been employed, which +received in exchange for the growth of our forests and +our seas, sugar, molasses and rum, the triple products +of the cane. This trade has contributed mainly to the +advancement and prosperity of the town, has nourished +a hardy race of seamen, and formed a people among +the most active and enterprising of any in the United +States.</p> + +<p>The great changes which have taken place in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +customs and manners of society since the revolution, +must deeply impress the mind of a reflecting observer. +These have extended not only to the outward forms of +things, but to the habits of thought and to the very +principles of character. The moral revolution has +been as signal and striking as the political one; it upturned +the old land marks of antiquated and hereditary +customs and the obedience to mere authority, and +established in their stead a more simple and just rule +of action; it set up reason and common sense, and a +true equality in the place of a factitious and conventional +state of society which unrelentingly required a +submission to its stern dictates; which made an unnatural +distinction in moral power, and elevated the rich +knave or fool to the station that humble and despised +merit would have better graced.</p> + +<p>These peculiarities have been destroyed by the +silent and gradual operation of public opinion; the +spirit which arose in the new world is spreading with +the same effect over the old. Freedom of opinion is +asserting a just sway, and it is only now to be feared +that the principle will be carried too far, that authority +will lose all its influence and that reason and a just estimate +of human rights will not be sufficient restraints +upon the passions of men. The experiment is going +on, and unless education, an early and sound moral +education go on with it, which will enlighten and +strengthen the public mind, it will fail of success. The +feelings and passions must be placed under the charge +of moral principle, or we may expect an age of licentiousness +to succeed one of authority and rigid discipline. +We may be said now to be in the transition +state of society.</p> + +<p>Distinctions of rank among different classes of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +community, a part of the old system, prevailed very +much before the revolution and were preserved in the +dress as well as in the forms of society. But the deference +attached to robes of office and the formality of +official station have all fled before the genius of our +republican institutions; we look now upon the man and +not upon his garments nor upon the post to which +chance may have elevated him. In the circle of our +little town, the lines were drawn with much strictness. +The higher classes were called the <i>quality</i>, and were +composed of persons not engaged in mechanic employments. +We now occasionally find some old persons +whose memory recurs with longing delight to the days +in which these formal distinctions held uncontrolled +sway.</p> + +<p>The fashionable color of clothes among this class +was drab; the coats were made with large cuffs reaching +to the elbows, and low collars. All classes wore +breeches which had not the advantage of being kept +up as in modern times by suspenders; the dandies of +that day wore embroidered silk vests with long pocket +flaps and ruffles over their hands. Most of those above +mentioned were engaged in trade, and the means of +none were sufficiently ample to enable them to live +without engaging in some employment. Still the pride +of their cast was maintained, and although the cloak +and perhaps the wig may have been laid aside in the +dust and hurry of business, they were scrupulously +retained when abroad.</p> + +<p>There were many other expensive customs in that +day to which the spirit of the age required implicit +obedience; these demanded costly presents to be made +and large expenses to be incurred at the three most +important events in the history of man, his birth, marriage<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> +and death. In the latter it became particularly +onerous and extended the influence of its example to +the poorest classes of people, who in their show of +grief, imitated, though at an immeasurable distance, +the customs of the rich.</p> + +<p>The leaders of the people in the early part of the +revolution, with a view to check importations from +Britain, aimed a blow at these expensive customs, from +which they never recovered. The example commenced +in the highest places, of an entire abandonment of +all the outward trappings of grief which had been wont +to be displayed, and of all luxury in dress, which +extended over the whole community. In the later +stages of the revolution however, an extravagant and +luxurious style of living and dress was revived, encouraged +by the large amount both of specie and paper +money in circulation, and the great quantity of foreign +articles of luxury brought into the country by numerous +captures.</p> + +<p>The evils here noticed did not exist in this part of +the country in any considerable degree, especially +after the revolution; the people were too poor to indulge +in an expensive style of living. They were literally +a working people, property had not descended +upon them from a rich ancestry, but whatever they +had accumulated had been the result of their own industry +and economy. Our ladies too at that period +had not forgotten the use of the distaff, and occasionally +employed that antiquated instrument of domestic +labor for the benefit of others as well as of themselves. +The following notice of a <i>spinning bee</i> at Mrs. Deane's +on the first of May 1788, is a flattering memorial of +the industry and skill of the females of our town at +that period.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span></p> + +<p>"On the first instant, assembled at the house of the +Rev. Samuel Deane of this town, more than one hundred +of the fair sex, married and single ladies, most of +whom were skilled in the important art of spinning. +An emulous industry was never more apparent than +in this beautiful assembly. The majority of fair hands +gave motion to not less than sixty wheels. Many were +occupied in preparing the materials, besides those who +attended to the entertainment of the rest, provision for +which was mostly presented by the guests themselves, +or sent in by other generous promoters of the exhibition, +as were also the materials for the work. Near +the close of the day, Mrs. Deane was presented by the +company with <i>two hundred and thirty-six</i> seven knotted +skeins of excellent cotton and linen yarn, the work +of the day, excepting about a dozen skeins which +some of the company brought in ready spun. Some +had spun six, and many not less than five skeins apiece. +To conclude and crown the day, a numerous band of +the best singers attended in the evening, and performed +an agreeable variety of excellent pieces in psalmody."</p> + +<p>Some of the ante-revolutionary customs "more honored +in the breach than in the observance"—have +been continued quite to our day, although not precisely +in the same manner, nor in equal degree. One was +the practise of helping forward every undertaking by a +deluge of ardent spirit in some of its multifarious mistifications. +Nothing could be done from the burial of +a friend or the quiet sessions of a town committee; to +the raising of the frame of a barn or a meeting-house, +but the men must be goaded on by the stimulus of rum. +Flip and punch were then the indispensable accompaniments +of every social meeting and of every enterprise.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span></p> + +<p>It is not a great while since similar customs have +extensively prevailed not perhaps in precisely the instances +or degree above mentioned, but in junkettings, +and other meetings which have substituted whiskey +punch, toddy, &c. for the soothing but pernicious compounds +of our fathers. Thanks however to the genius +of temperance, a redeeming spirit is abroad, which it is +hoped will save the country from the destruction that +seemed to threaten it from this source.</p> + +<p>The amusements of our people in early days had +nothing particular to distinguish them. The winter +was generally a merry season, and the snow was always +improved for sleighing parties out of town. In +summer the badness of the roads prevented all riding +for pleasure; in that season the inhabitants indulged +themselves in water parties, fishing and visiting the +islands, a recreation that has lost none of its relish at +this day.</p> + +<p>Dancing does not seem to have met with much +favor, for we find upon record in 1766, that Theophilus +Bradbury and wife, Nathaniel Deering and wife, John +Waite and wife, and several other of the most respectable +people in town were indicted for dancing at Joshua +Freeman's tavern in December 1765. Mr. Bradbury +brought himself and friends off by pleading that +the room in which the dance took place, having been +hired by private individuals for the season, was no +longer to be considered as a public place of resort, but +a private apartment, and that the persons there assembled +had a right to meet in their own room and to +dance there. The court sustained the plea. David +Wyer was king's attorney at this time.</p> + +<p>It was common for clubs and social parties to meet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +at the tavern in those days, and Mrs. Greele's in Backstreet +was a place of most fashionable resort both for +old and young wags, before as well as after the revolution. +It was the <i>Eastcheap</i> of Portland, and was as +famous for <i>baked beans</i> as the "Boar's head" was for +sack, although we would by no means compare honest +Dame Greele, with the more celebrated, though less +deserving hostess of Falstaff and Poins. Many persons +are now living on whose heads the frosts of age have +extinguished the fires of youth, who love to recur to +the amusing scenes and incidents associated with that +house.</p> + +<p>When we look back a space of just two hundred +years and compare our present situation, surrounded +by all the beauty of civilization and intelligence, with +the cheerless prospect which awaited the European +settler, whose voice first startled the stillness of the +forest; or if we look back but one hundred years to +the humble beginnings of the second race of settlers, +who undertook the task of reviving the waste places of +this wilderness, and suffered all the privations and hardships +which the pioneers in the march of civilization +are called upon to endure; or if we take a nearer point +for comparison, and view the blackened ruin of our +village at the close of the revolutionary war, and estimate +the proud pre-eminence over all those periods +which we now enjoy, in our civil relations and in the +means of social happiness, our hearts should swell with +gratitude to the Author of all good that these high +privileges are granted to us; and we should resolve +that we will individually and as a community sustain +the purity and moral tone of our institutions, and leave +them unimpaired to posterity.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="THE_CHEROKEES_THREAT" id="THE_CHEROKEES_THREAT"></a>THE CHEROKEE'S THREAT.</h2> + +<h3>By N. P. Willis.</h3> + + +<p>At the extremity of a green lane in the outer skirt of +the fashionable suburb of New-Haven, stood a rambling +old Dutch house, built, probably, when the cattle +of Mynheer grazed over the present site of the town. +It was a wilderness of irregular rooms, of no describable +shape in its exterior, and from its southern balcony, +to use an expressive gallicism, <i>gave</i> upon the bay. +Long Island Sound, the great highway from the northern +Atlantic to New York, weltered in alternate lead +and silver (oftener like the brighter metal, for the climate +is divine) between the curving lip of the bay, +and the interminable and sandy shore of the island +some six leagues distant, the procession of ships and +steamers stole past with an imperceptible progress, the +ceaseless bells of the college chapel came deadened +through the trees from behind, and (the day being one +of golden Autumn, and myself and St. John waiting +while black Agatha answered the door-bell) the sun-steeped +precipice of East Rock with its tiara of blood-red +maples flushing like a Turk's banner in the light, +drew from us both a truant wish for a ramble and a +holiday.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes from this time were assembled in +Mrs. Ilfrington's drawing-room the six or seven young +ladies of my more particular acquaintance among her +pupils—of whom one was a new-comer, and the object +of my mingled curiosity and admiration. It was the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +one day of the week when morning visiters were admitted, +and I was there in compliance with an unexpected +request from my friend, to present him to the +agreeable circle of Mrs. Ilfrington. As an <i>habitue</i> in +her family, this excellent lady had taken occasion to +introduce to me a week or two before, the new-comer +of whom I have spoken above—a departure from the +ordinary rule of the establishment, which I felt to be a +compliment, and which gave me, I presumed, a tacit +claim to mix myself up in that young lady's destiny as +deeply as I should find agreeable. The new-comer +was the daughter of an Indian chief, and her name +was Nunu.</p> + +<p>The transmission of the daughter of a Cherokee +chief to New-Haven, to be educated at the expense of +the government, and of several young men of the same +high birth to different colleges, will be recorded among +the evidences in history that we did not plough the +bones of their fathers into our fields without some feelings +of compunction. Nunu had come to the seaboard +under the charge of a female missionary, whose pupil +she had been in one of the native schools of the west, +and was destined, though a chief's daughter, to return +as a teacher to her tribe, when she should have mastered +some of the higher accomplishments of her sex. +She was an apt scholar, but her settled melancholy +when away from her books, had determined Mrs. Ilfrington +to try the effect of a little society upon her, +and hence my privilege to ask for her appearance in +the drawing-room.</p> + +<p>As we strolled down in the alternate shade and sunshine +of the road, I had been a little piqued at the +want of interest and the manner of course with which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +St. John had received my animated descriptions of the +personal beauty of the Cherokee.</p> + +<p>"I have hunted with the tribe," was his only answer, +"and know their features."</p> + +<p>"But she is not like them," I replied with a tone of +some impatience; "she is the <i>beau-ideal</i> of a red skin, +but it is with the softened features of an Arab or an +Egyptian. She is more willowy than erect, and has +no higher cheek-bones than the plaster Venus in your +chambers. If it were not for the lambent fire in her +eye, you might take her in the sculptured grace of her +attitudes, for an immortal bronze of Cleopatra. I tell +you she is divine!"</p> + +<p>St. John called to his dog and we turned along the +green bank above the beach, with Mrs. Ilfrington's +house in view, and so opens a new chapter of my story.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>I have seen in many years wandering over the world, +lived to gaze upon, and live to remember and adore—a +constellation, I almost believe, that has absorbed all +the intensest light of the beauty of a hemisphere—yet +with your pictures coloured to life in my memory, and +the pride of rank and state thrown over them like an +elevating charm—I go back to the school of Mrs. Ilfrington, +and (smile if you will!) they were as lovely +and stately, and as worthy of the worship of the world.</p> + +<p>I introduced St. John to the young ladies as they +came in. Having never seen him except in the presence +of men, I was a little curious to know whether +his singular <i>aplomb</i> would serve him as well with the +other sex, of which I was aware he had had a very +slender experience. My attention was distracted at +the moment of mentioning his name to a lovely little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +Georgian, (with eyes full of the liquid sunshine of the +south,) by a sudden bark of joy from the dog who had +been left in the hall; and as the door opened, and the +slight and graceful Indian girl entered the room, the +usually unsocial animal sprung bounding in, lavishing +caresses on her, and seemingly wild with the delight +of recognition.</p> + +<p>In the confusion of taking the dog from the room, I +had again lost the moment of remarking St. John's +manner, and on the entrance of Mrs. Ilfrington, Nunu +was sitting calmly by the piano, and my friend was +talking in a quiet undertone with the passionate Georgian.</p> + +<p>"I must apologise for my dog," said St. John, bowing +gracefully to the mistress of the house; "he was +bred by Indians, and the sight of a Cherokee reminded +him of happier days—as it did his master."</p> + +<p>Nunu turned her eyes quickly upon him, but immediately +resumed her apparently deep study of the abstruse +figures in the Kidderminster carpet.</p> + +<p>"You are well arrived, young gentlemen," said +Mrs. Ilfrington; "we press you into our service for a +botanical ramble, Mr. Slingsby is at leisure, and will be +delighted I am sure. Shall I say as much for you, +Mr. St. John?" St. John bowed, and the ladies left +the room for their bonnets, Mrs. Ilfrington last.</p> + +<p>The door was scarcely closed when Nunu re-appeared, +and checking herself with a sudden feeling at the +first step over the threshold, stood gazing at St. John, +evidently under very powerful emotion.</p> + +<p>"Nunu!" he said, smiling slowly and unwillingly, +and holding out his hands with the air of one who forgives +an offence.</p> + +<p>She sprang upon his bosom with the bound of a leveret,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +and, between her fast kisses broke the endearing +epithets of her native tongue—in words that I only understood +by their passionate and thrilling accent. The +language of the heart is universal.</p> + +<p>The fair scholars came in one after another, and we +were soon on our way through the green fields to the +flowery mountain side of East Rock, Mrs. Ilfrington's +arm and conversation having fallen to my share, and +St. John rambling at large with the rest of the party, +but more particularly beset by Miss Temple, whose +Christian name was Isabella, and whose Christian charity +had no bowels for broken hearts.</p> + +<p>The most sociable individuals of the party for a +while were Nunu and Last, the dog's recollections of +the past seeming, like those of wiser animals, more +agreeable than the present. The Cherokee astonished +Mrs. Ilfrington by an abandonment of joy and frolic +which she had never displayed before, sometimes fairly +outrunning the dog at full speed, and sometimes sitting +down breathless upon a green bank, while the +rude creature overpowered her with his caresses. The +scene gave rise to a grave discussion between that well-instructed +lady and myself upon the singular force of +childish association—the extraordinary intimacy between +the Indian and the trapper's dog being explained +satisfactorily, to her at least, on that attractive principle. +Had she but seen Nunu spring into the bosom of +my friend half an hour before, she might have added a +material corollary to her proposition. If the dog and +the chief's daughter were not old friends, the chief's +daughter and St. John certainly <i>were</i>!</p> + +<p>As well as I could judge by the motions of two people +walking before me, St. John was advancing fast<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> +in the favor and acquaintance of the graceful Georgian. +Her southern indolence was probably an apology in +Mrs. Ilfrington's eyes for leaning heavily on her companion's +arm, but, in a momentary halt, the capricious +beauty disembarrassed herself of the light scarf that +had floated over her shoulders, and bound it playfully +around his waist. This was rather strange on a first +acquaintance, and Mrs. Ilfrington was of that opinion.</p> + +<p>"Miss Temple!" said she, advancing to whisper a +reproof in the beauty's ear.</p> + +<p>Before she had taken a second step, Nunu bounded +over the low hedge, followed by the dog with whom +she had been chasing a butterfly, and springing upon +St. John, with eyes that flashed fire, she tore the scarf +into shreds, and stood trembling and pale, with her feet +on the silken fragments.</p> + +<p>"Madam!" said St. John, advancing to Mrs. Ilfrington, +after casting on the Cherokee a look of surprise +and displeasure, "I should have told you before, that +your pupil and myself are not new acquaintances. +Her father is my friend. I have hunted with the tribe, +and have hitherto looked upon Nunu as a child. You +will believe me, I trust, when I say, her conduct surprises +me, and I beg to assure you, that any influence +I may have over her, will be in accordance with your +own wishes exclusively."</p> + +<p>His tone was cold, and Nunu listened with fixed lips +and frowning eyes.</p> + +<p>"Have you seen her before since her arrival?" +asked Mrs. Ilfrington.</p> + +<p>"My dog brought me yesterday the first intelligence +that she was here. He returned from his morning +ramble with a string of wampum about his neck, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> +had the mark of the tribe. He was her gift," he added, +patting the head of the dog and looking with a +softened expression at Nunu, who drooped her head +upon her bosom and walked on in tears.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The chain of the Green Mountains, after a gallop of +some five hundred miles from Canada to Connecticut, +suddenly pulls up on the shore of Long Island Sound, +and stands rearing with a bristling mane of pine-trees, +three hundred feet in air, as if checked in midcareer +by the sea. Standing on the brink of this bold precipice, +you have the bald face of the rock in a sheer +perpendicular below you; and, spreading away from +the broken masses at its foot, lies an emerald meadow +inlaid with a crystal and rambling river, across which, +at a distance of a mile or two, rise the spires of the +university from what else were a thick serried wilderness +of elms. Back from the edge of the precipice +extends a wild forest of hemlock and fir, ploughed on +its northern side by a mountain torrent, whose bed of +marl, dry and overhung with trees in the summer, +serves as a path and guide from the plain to the summit. +It were a toilsome ascent but for that smooth +and hard pavement, and the impervious and green +thatch of pine-tassels overhung.</p> + +<p>The kind mistress ascended with the assistance of +my arm, and St. John drew stoutly between Miss +Temple and a fat young lady with an incipient asthma. +Nunu had not been seen since the first cluster of hanging +flowers had hidden her from our sight as she bounded +upward.</p> + +<p>The hour or two of slanting sunshine, poured in upon +the summit of the precipice from the west, had been +sufficient to induce a fine and silken moss to show its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> +fibres and small blossoms above the carpet of pine-tassels, +and, emerging from the brown shadow of the +wood, you stood on a verdant platform, the foliage of +sighing trees overhead, a fairies' velvet beneath you, +and a view below, that you may as well (if you would +not die in your ignorance) make a voyage to see.</p> + +<p>We found Nunu lying thoughtfully near the brink +of the precipice and gazing off over the waters of the +sound, as if she watched the coming or going of a +friend under the white sails that glanced upon its bosom. +We recovered our breath in silence, I alone +perhaps of that considerable company gazing with admiration +at the lithe and unconscious figure of grace +lying in the attitude of the Grecian hermaphrodite on +the brow of the rock before us. Her eyes were moist, +and motionless with abstraction, her lips just perceptibly +curved in an expression of mingled pride and sorrow, +her small hand buried and clenched in the moss, and +her left foot and ankle, models of spirited symmetry, +escaped carelessly from her dress, the high instep +strained back, as if recovering from a leap with the +tense control of emotion.</p> + +<p>The game of the coquettish Georgian was well played. +With a true woman's pique, she had redoubled +her attentions to my friend from the moment that she +found it gave pain to another of her sex; and St. John, +like most men, seemed not unwilling to see a new altar +kindled to his vanity, though a heart he had already +won, was stifling with the incense. Miss Temple was +very lovely: her skin of that teint of opaque and patrician +white, which is found oftenest in Asian latitudes, +was just perceptibly warmed toward the centre of the +cheek with a glow like sunshine through the thick white<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> +petal of a magnolia: her eyes were hazel with those +inky lashes which enhance the expression a thousand +fold either of passion, or melancholy; her teeth were +like strips from the lily's heart; and she was clever, +captivating, graceful, and a thorough coquette. St. +John was mysterious, romantic-looking, superior, and +just now the only victim in the way. He admired, as +all men do, those qualities, which to her own sex, rendered +the fair Isabella unamiable, and yielded himself, +as all men will, a satisfied prey to enchantments of +which he knew the springs were the pique and vanity +of the enchantress. How singular it is that the highest +and best qualities of the female heart are those with +which men are the least captivated!</p> + +<p>A rib of the mountain formed a natural seat a little +back from the pitch of the precipice, and here sat Miss +Temple, triumphant in drawing all eyes upon herself +and her tamed lion, her lap full of flowers which he +had found time to gather on the way, and her fair +hands employed in arranging a bouquet, of which the +destiny was yet a secret. Next to their own loves, +ladies like nothing on earth like mending or marring +the loves of others; and, while the violets and already +drooping wild flowers were coquettishly chosen or rejected +by those slender fingers, the sun might have +swung back to the east like a pendulum, and those +seven-and-twenty misses would have watched their +lovely schoolfellow the same. Nunu turned her head +slowly around at last, and silently looked on. St. John +lay at the feet of the Georgian, glancing from the flowers +to her face, and from her face to the flowers, with +an admiration not at all equivocal. Mrs. Ilfrington sat +apart, absorbed in finishing a sketch of New-Haven;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> +and I, interested painfully in watching the emotions of +the Cherokee, sat with my back to the trunk of a hemlock, +the only spectator who comprehended the whole +extent of the drama.</p> + +<p>A wild rose was set in the heart of the bouquet at +last, a spear of riband-grass added to give it grace and +point, and nothing was wanting but a string.</p> + +<p>Reticules were searched, pockets turned inside out, +and never a bit of riband to be found. The beauty +was in despair.</p> + +<p>"Stay!" said St. John, springing to his feet. "Last! +Last!"</p> + +<p>The dog came coursing in from the wood, and +crouched to his master's hand.</p> + +<p>"Will a string of wampum do?" he asked, feeling +under the long hair on the dog's neck, and untying a +fine and variegated thread of many-colored beads, +worked exquisitely.</p> + +<p>The dog growled, and Nunu sprang into the middle +of the circle with the fling of an adder, and seizing the +wampum as he handed it to her rival, called the dog +and fastened it once more around his neck.</p> + +<p>The ladies rose in alarm; the belle turned pale and +clung to St. John's arm; the dog, with his hair bristling +on his back, stood close to her feet in an attitude of defiance, +and the superb Indian, the peculiar genius of +her beauty developed by her indignation, her nostrils +expanded and her eyes almost showering fire in their +flashes, stood before them, like a young Pythoness, +ready to strike them dead with a regard.</p> + +<p>St. John recovered from his astonishment after a +moment, and leaving the arm of Miss Temple, advanced +a step and called to his dog.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Cherokee patted the animal on the back, and +spoke to him in her own language; and, as St. John +still advanced, Nunu drew herself to her fullest height, +placed herself before the dog, who slunk growling from +his master, and said to him as she folded her arms, +"the wampum is mine!"</p> + +<p>St. John colored to the temples with shame.</p> + +<p>"Last!" he cried, stamping with his foot, and endeavoring +to frighten him from his shelter.</p> + +<p>The dog howled and crept away, half crouching +with fear toward the precipice; and St. John shooting +suddenly past Nunu, seized him on the brink, and held +him down by the throat.</p> + +<p>The next instant a scream of horror from Mrs. Ilfrington, +followed by a terrific echo from every female +present, started the rude Kentuckian to his feet.</p> + +<p>Clear over the abyss, hanging with one hand by an +aspen sapling, the point of her tiny foot just poising on +a projecting ledge of rock, swung the desperate Cherokee, +sustaining herself with perfect ease, but with all +the determination of her iron race collected in calm +concentration on her lips.</p> + +<p>"Restore the wampum to his neck!" she cried, +with a voice that thrilled the very marrow with its subdued +fierceness, "or my blood rest on your soul!"</p> + +<p>St. John flung it toward the dog, and clasped his +hands in silent horror.</p> + +<p>The Cherokee bore down the sapling till its slender +stem cracked with the tension, and rising lightly with +the rebound, alit like a feather upon the rock. The +subdued Kentuckian sprang to her side; but, with scorn +on her lip and the flush of exertion already vanished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +from her cheek, she called to the dog, and with rapid +strides took her way alone down the mountain.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Five years had elapsed. I had put to sea from the +sheltered river of boyhood; had encountered the storms +of a first entrance into life; had trimmed my boat, +shortened sail, and with a sharp eye to windward, was +laying fairly on my course. Among others from whom +I had parted company, was Paul St. John, who had +shaken hands with me at the university-gate, leaving +me, after four years' intimacy, as much in doubt as to +his real character and history as the first day we met. +I had never heard him speak of either father or mother; +nor had he, to my knowledge, received a letter +from the day of his matriculation. He passed his vacation +at the university. He had studied well, yet +refused one of the highest college-honors offered him +with his degree. He had shown many good qualities, +yet some unaccountable faults; and, all in all, was an +enigma to myself and the class. I knew him clever, +accomplished, and conscious of superiority, and my +knowledge went no farther.</p> + +<p>It was five years from this time, I say, and in the +bitter struggles of first manhood, I had almost forgotten +there was such a being in the world. Late in the +month of October, in 1829, I was on my way westward, +giving myself a vacation from the law. I embarked on +a clear and delicious day in the small steamer which +plies up and down the Cayuga Lake, looking forward +to a calm feast of scenery, and caring little who were +to be my fellow passengers. As we got out of the little +harbor of Cayuga, I walked astern for the first time,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> +and saw the not very unusual sight of a group of Indians +standing motionless by the wheel. They were +chiefs returning from a diplomatic visit to Washington.</p> + +<p>I sat down by the companion-ladder, and opened +soul and eye to the glorious scenery we were gliding +through. The first severe frost had come, and the +miraculous change had passed upon the leaves, which +is known only in America. The blood-red sugar-maple, +with a leaf brighter and more delicate than a +Circassian's lip, stood here and there in the forest like +the sultan's standard in a host, the solitary and far-seen +aristocrat of the wilderness; the birch, with its +spirit-like and amber leaves, ghosts of the departed +summer, turned out along the edges of the woods like +a lining of the palest gold; the broad sycamore and +the fan-like catalpa, flaunted their saffron foliage in the +sun, spotted with gold like the wings of a lady-bird; +the kingly oak, with its summit shaken bare, still hid +its majestic trunk in a drapery of sumptuous dies like +a stricken monarch, gathering his robes of state about +him to die royally in his purple; the tall poplar, with +its minaret of silver leaves, stood blanched like a coward +in the dying forest, burdening every breeze with +its complainings; the hickory, paled through its enduring +green; the bright berries of the mountain-ash +flushed with a sanguine glory in the unobstructed sun; +the gaudy tulip-tree, the sybarite of vegetation, stripped +of its golden cups, still drank the intoxicating light of +noonday in leaves than which the lip of Indian shell +was never more delicately teinted; the still deeper-died +vines of the lavish wilderness, perishing with the nobler +things whose summer they had shared, outshone them +in their decline, as woman in her death is heavenlier<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> +than the being on whom in life she leaned; and alone +and unsympathizing in this universal decay, outlaws +from nature, stood the fir and the hemlock, their frowning +and sombre heads, darker and less lovely than ever +in contrast with the death-struck glory of their companions.</p> + +<p>The dull colors of English autumnal foliage, give +you no conception of this marvellous phenomenon. +The change here, too, is gradual. In America it is +the work of a night—of a single frost! Ah, to have +seen the sun set on hills, bright in the still green and +lingering summer, and to wake in the morning to a +spectacle like this! It is as if a myriad of rainbows +were laced through the tree-tops—as if the sunsets of +a summer—gold, purple and crimson—had been fused +in the alembic of the west, and poured back in a new +deluge of light and color over the wilderness. It is as +if every leaf in those countless trees had been painted +to outflush the tulip—as if, by some electric miracle, +the dies of the earth's heart had struck upward, and +her crystals and ore, her sapphires, hyacinths and rubies, +had let forth their imprisoned dies to mount +through the roots of the forest, and like the angels that +in olden time entered the bodies of the dying, reanimate +the perishing leaves, and revel an hour in their bravery.</p> + +<p>I was sitting by the companion-ladder, thinking to +what on earth these masses of foliage could be resembled, +when a dog sprang upon my knees, and, the +moment after, a hand was laid on my shoulder.</p> + +<p>"St. John? Impossible!"</p> + +<p>"Bodily!" answered my quondam classmate.</p> + +<p>I looked at him with astonishment. The <i>soigne</i> man +of fashion I had once known, was enveloped in a kind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> +of hunter's frock, loose and large, and girded to his +waist by a belt; his hat was exchanged for a cap of +rich otter-skin; his pantaloons spread with a slovenly +carelessness over his feet, and altogether there was +that in his air which told me at a glance that he had +renounced the world. Last had recovered his leanness, +and after wagging out his joy, he couched between my +feet, and lay looking into my face as if he was brooding +over the more idle days in which we had been acquainted.</p> + +<p>"And where are <i>you</i> bound?" I asked, having answered +the same question for myself.</p> + +<p>"Westward with the chiefs!"</p> + +<p>"For how long?"</p> + +<p>"The remainder of my life."</p> + +<p>I could not forbear an exclamation of surprise.</p> + +<p>"You would wonder less," said he, with an impatient +gesture, "if you knew more of me. And by the +way," he added, with a smile, "I think I never told +you the first half of the story—my life up to the time +I met you."</p> + +<p>"It was not for the want of a catechist," I answered, +setting myself in an attitude of attention.</p> + +<p>"No! and I was often tempted to gratify your curiosity; +but from the little intercourse I had with the +world I had adopted some precocious principles, and +one was, that a man's influence over others was vulgarism, +and diminished by a knowledge of his history."</p> + +<p>I smiled, and as the boat sped on her way over the +calm waters of the Cayuga, St. John went on leisurely +with a story which is scarce remarkable enough to +merit a repetition. He believed himself the natural +son of a western hunter, but only knew that he had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> +passed his early youth on the borders of civilization, +between whites and Indians, and that he had been more +particularly indebted for protection to the father of +Nunu. Mingled ambition and curiosity had led him +eastward while still a lad, and a year or two of the +most vagabond life in the different cities, had taught +him the caution and bitterness for which he was so remarkable. +A fortunate experiment in lotteries supplied +him with the means of education, and with singular +application in a youth of such wandering habits, he had +applied himself to study under a private master, fitted +himself for the university in half the usual time, and +cultivated in addition the literary taste which I have +remarked upon.</p> + +<p>"This," he said, smiling at my look of astonishment, +"brings me up to the time when we met. I came to +college at the age of eighteen, with a few hundred +dollars in my pocket, some pregnant experience of the +rough side of the world, great confidence in myself and +distrust of others, and, I believe, a kind of instinct of +good manners, which made me ambitious of shining in +society. You were a witness of my <i>debut</i>. Miss +Temple was the first highly educated woman I had +ever known, and you saw the effect on me!"</p> + +<p>"And since we parted?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, since we parted, my life has been vulgar +enough. I have ransacked civilized life to the bottom, +and found it a heap of unredeemed falsehoods. I do +not say it from common disappointment, for I may say +I succeeded in every thing I undertook."</p> + +<p>"Except Miss Temple," I said, interrupting, at the +hazard of wounding him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No. She was a coquette, and I pursued her till +I had my turn. You see me in my new character now. +But a month ago, I was the Apollo of Saratoga, playing +my own game with Miss Temple. I left her for a +woman worth ten thousand of her—but here she is."</p> + +<p>As Nunu came up the companionway from the cabin, +I thought I had never seen a breathing creature so exquisitely +lovely. With the exception of a pair of brilliant +moccasins on her feet, she was dressed in the usual +manner, but with the most absolute simplicity. She +had changed in those five years from the child to the +woman, and, with a round and well-developed figure, +additional height, and manners at once gracious and +dignified, she walked and looked the chieftan's daughter. +St. John took her hand, and gazed on her with +moisture in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"That I could ever put a creature like this," he +said, "into comparison with the dolls of civilization!"</p> + +<p>We parted at Buffalo—St. John with his wife and +the chiefs to pursue their way westward by Lake Erie, +and I to go moralizing on my way to Niagara.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="GRECIAN_AND_ROMAN_ELOQUENCE" id="GRECIAN_AND_ROMAN_ELOQUENCE"></a>GRECIAN AND ROMAN ELOQUENCE.</h2> + +<h3>By Ashur Ware.</h3> + + +<p>In the flourishing periods of the Grecian and Roman +commonwealths, the forms of their governments, the +state of society, and the passions and manners of the +times, were more favorable to the developement of +great talents, than have existed in any other age, or +among any other people. In Athens and Rome, every +citizen was a public man. The great powers of government +were exercised by the people themselves in +their primary assemblies. The practice of delegating +the higher attributes of sovereignty to a small number +of persons periodically elected is one of the greatest +improvements, which the lights of modern experience +have introduced into the constitutions of free governments. +The advantages which are gained by this system +in favor of internal tranquillity, the steadiness and +permanency of political institutions and the security of +private rights, can scarcely be estimated too highly, or +purchased at too great a price. But nearly in the +same proportion as this improvement contributes to the +general tranquillity and the personal security of the +citizen, does it narrow the field for the operation of +great talents. The individual power of each man is +hardly felt in the harmonious working of the great +machine of government, and its character soon comes +to depend much more on the system than on the genius +of those by whom it is conducted. Precedents, +fixed opinions, long established policy and constitutional<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> +maxims, throw an invisible net work over those, who +are at the head of affairs, which a giant's strength +cannot break through. An ordinary share of talent, +enlightened by experience, is found to be about as +useful in the regular movement of the system, as the +highest gifts of genius.</p> + +<p>But it was otherwise in the republics of Athens and +Rome. There the power of the system was nothing, +and the genius of the individual every thing. In the +agitations of these popular commonwealths, the great +actors on the stage were driven to a life of unremitted +exertion. The revolutions of popular favor were sudden +and appalling, and always liable to be carried to +great extremes. A decisive moment lost might be +fatal to the hopes of a whole life. Their powers were, +therefore, constantly wound up to the utmost intensity +of action. Second rate men, who are abundantly able +to go through with the regular and quiet routine of +official duty in our modern bureaus, would be quickly +blown down by the storms which shook the tribunes of +those turbulent democracies. The very imperfections +in their political systems contributed to develope the +genius of their statesmen, and necessarily called into +action every faculty of the mind.</p> + +<p>In all free and popular governments, eloquence is +one of the principal instruments of power, and the +fairest field is presented for its operations where the +general powers of government are put in motion by +the immediate agency of the mass of the people. In +all the nations of modern Europe, where the semblance +of deliberative assemblies is preserved, these are composed +of a small and select number of persons; and +in these small bodies, when a reasonable space is allowed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> +for the coercive power of party training, for the +operation of the subtle and diffusive poison of executive +influence, and in some cases, for the gross and +palpable application of direct corruption, the province +of eloquence will be found to be greatly narrowed. +Her most persuasive accents fall on ears that are spellbound +by a mightier power, and on the most important +questions, the votes are often counted, before deliberation +commences. But this complicated machinery +cannot be brought to bear with the same effect on the +whole body of the citizens. If their movements are +more irregular, and liable to greater excesses, they +have their origin in the purer and more noble impulses +of the heart. The natural love of equity, the instinctive +principles of disinterestedness and generosity, originally +implanted in the heart of man by the author of +our being, cannot easily be extinguished in a whole people. +After the tools of faction, and the minions of +power, have exhausted the arts of corruption, these +holier elements of our nature will kindle into spontaneous +enthusiasm, when lofty and generous sentiments +are brought home to the bosom in the accents of a +manly and pathetic eloquence. The great and unsophisticated +springs of human action are always touched +with most effect in large assemblies. In these the prevailing +tone of feeling, when highly exalted, spreads +through the whole by a secret sympathy, with the +rapidity of the electric fluid.</p> + +<p>It was before such an audience that eloquence +uttered her voice in ancient times. The orators of +Greece and Rome brought their genius to bear directly +on the popular mind. The public assemblies which +were then held were for actual deliberation. It was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> +not a mockery of consultation on matters upon which +all opinions were definitely made up. They came +together to be instructed, and were open to the seductive +arts of their orators even to a fault. The objects +of deliberation also were of the greatest moment, the +fortunes of a province or a kingdom, the safety of the +republic, the honor, or perhaps the life of the orator +himself or his nearest friends. Every motive which +hope or fear or pride or party could suggest, to animate +the passions, was brought to act on the speaker's mind, +and all depended on a doubtful decision, which was to +be made on the spot, and before the separation of the +assembly. These contests were not of rare occurrence. +They were coming up continually. They +were upon the most magnificent theatre in the world, +and before judges who united a most refined and discriminating +taste with an extraordinary degree of susceptibility +to all the charms of a passionate and harmonious +eloquence. The orators, therefore, were kept in +constant training. Their faculties had no time to cool.</p> + +<p>They had no intervals for luxurious repose. The +dignities to which they had risen were watched by +powerful and jealous rivals, always ready to wrest from +them their honors, and they could be retained only by +the same efforts by which they were won.</p> + +<p>In these ancient republics eloquence was substantial +and effective power and led to the highest dignities, +which the most aspiring genius could hope to attain. +It was cultivated with an assiduity bearing a just proportion +to the honors with which it was crowned. The +education of the orator commenced in his cradle, and +did not terminate until he had reached the full <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'muturity'">maturity</ins> +of manhood; or, to speak more correctly, it comprised<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> +the whole business of his life. All his studies were +made subservient to the art of speaking, and the course +of instruction descended into the most minute details +which could improve him in his action or elocution. +It was this entire devotion to a favorite and honored +art, which raised it to a height of perfection, which it +has never since been able to reach, and which produced +those prodigies in the oratorical art, which have +been the admiration and the despair of succeeding ages.</p> + +<p>In the most brilliant period of antiquity there were +two styles of eloquence cultivated by the different orators. +One, calm, subtle and elegant, addressed almost +exclusively to the understanding. In the time of +Cicero this was called the Attic style, and those who +belonged to this school assumed no little credit on the +supposed purity of their Attic taste. The other affected +a style of greater warmth and brilliancy, and intermingled +with the scrupulous dialectics of the former, +frequent appeals to the passions, and adorned their discourses +with all the beauties which could captivate the +imagination. What was then denominated the Attic +style, forms the prevailing characteristic of modern +oratory. It is cool and didactic. It relies almost +wholly on the powers of a cultivated logic and seldom +attempts to reach the understanding through the medium +of the heart. It requires little reflection to determine +which of these styles would bear away the palm +before a popular audience. The former leaves one +half the faculties of the hearer dormant, while the latter +addresses itself to all the powers of man, the moral +as well as the intellectual, instructs the reason while it +agitates the passions, and gives at the same time one +powerful and impetuous movement to the whole man.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> +But if any one doubts upon this matter let him go to +the pages of Demosthenes and especially to that most +perfect of all his orations, in which he was contending +with his great rival for the glory of a whole life in the +presence of all that was most illustrious in Greece,—his +oration for the crown. He will find from the beginning +to the end, a clear and exact logic. But it is +logic raised into enthusiasm by the dignity and elevation +of sentiment by which it is surrounded. He will +not find a metaphor or an observation introduced merely +for the purposes of ornament. It is a continued +stream of clear, rapid and convincing argument. But +it is argument enveloped in a torrent of earnestness +and exaggeration, environed with a blaze of anger and +disdain and passion—it is argument clothed in thunder, +which could no more be listened to with a composed +and tranquil mind than the flashes of lightning could be +viewed with an unblinking eye. Strip Demosthenes of +these accompaniments, of these accessories, if you +please to call them so, and you will leave enough perhaps +to satisfy our modern Attics, but this residue will +be no more like the living Demosthenes who "fulmined +over Greece," than the unformed block of marble +is like the Belvidere Apollo, or a naked skeleton like +a living man.</p> + +<p>It is said that the state of manners in modern society +would not bear those bold appeals to the passions which +abound in the ancient orators. We are ingenious in +taking to ourselves credit even for our inferiority, and +it is contended that our understandings are more cultivated +and our passions more under the dominion of +reason. If there be any foundation for this opinion it +must be received with many qualifications. It has become<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +a fashion of late to decry the manners and morals +of the republics of antiquity. That their manners +differed in many respects from the modes of fashion +established in what is called good society in modern +times is admitted, but it does not follow that the advantage +is on our side. There is still less foundation for +the opinion that in their intellectual powers the Greeks +and Romans were less cultivated than the most polished +nations of our times. There never existed a nation +in which the intellectual education of the whole body +of the people was carried to so high a pitch as in Athens. +However extravagant the assertion may be +thought, it is indisputably true that the "mob of Athens," +as the people of that renowned commonwealth +are affectedly called, were of a more refined, severe +and critical taste in every thing that pertains to the beauties +of eloquence than the members of the British House +of Commons have been, at any period of its existence, +from the first meeting of the Wittenagemote to the +present day. They would allow, says Cicero, in their +orators no violation of purity or elegance of language. +<i>Eorum religioni cum serviret orator, nullum verbum +insolens, nullum odiosum ponere audebat.</i> Many a +speech has been cheered by the "<i>hear hims</i>" of the +Treasury Bench in that house, which would have shocked +the discriminating and critical ears, <i>aures teretes ac +religiosas</i>, of that extraordinary people. The whole +testimony of antiquity concurs in proving their extreme +delicacy and fastidiousness in every thing which belongs +to taste in letters and the arts.</p> + +<p>There was another peculiarity in the circumstances +of these ancient republics which favored the cultivation +of eloquence. The press, that great engine by which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> +public opinion is moved in modern times, was then unknown. +Addresses in the assemblies of the people +were not only the ordinary but almost the sole mode +by which public men could influence or enlighten public +opinion. All political discussion assumed this form +and these popular harangues composed a very large +portion of the literature of the times. The language +of oral communication naturally assumes a tone of +greater vivacity and passion than that of the closet. +The predominance of this species of composition must +have had a powerful influence in forming the national +taste and would naturally impart its prevailing tone to +every other species. Such seems to have been the +fact. The philosophers and historians caught something +of the animated and rhetorical manner of their +public speakers, and in that species of eloquence which +is suited to the nature of their subjects, surpass the +moderns nearly as much as their orators do. Plato +stands as far above all rivals in this particular, as his +countryman and disciple Demosthenes. The easy and +graceful movement of his dialogue, the splendid amplification +and harmonious numbers of his declamation +and the warm and animated glow of moral enthusiasm, +which he has thrown over his mystical speculations, +render his works the most perfect specimen of philosophical +eloquence ever yet produced. His example +will also show what importance was attached to style +alone by the teachers of ancient wisdom. The last labors +of a long life, which had been devoted to the most +sublime philosophy of the age, were employed in retouching +and remodelling the inimitable graces of his +rich and flowing periods; <i>musæo contingens cuncta lepore</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span></p> + +<p>A superiority scarcely less imposing in this respect +will be found in their historians. Their genius was +also kindled by a coal from the altar of the orators. I +am ready to acknowledge the great merit of the classic +historians of modern times. I am not insensible to the +calm and sustained dignity of Roberston, to the melody +of his full and flowing style, though it sometimes fills +the ear without filling the mind. He must be a much +more morose critic who is not delighted with the simple +and unaffected elegance of Hume, and with that admirable +facility with which he intermingles the most profound +reflections in a narration always easy, copious +and graceful. Nor can the historian of the Decline +and Fall of the Roman Empire be forgotten in an enumeration +of those who have done honor to this branch +of literature. After all that has been said and written +against him, he has left a work which the world will +not willingly suffer to die. The Randolphs and Taylors +and Chelsums by whom he was assailed, have +passed into an easy oblivion, but the great work of the +historian will always find a place in every library and +a reader in every well educated man. The pomp and +stateliness of his style sometimes bordering on the turgid +may provoke a sneer from those who look only to +the surface, but he had a mind enriched by various +and extensive learning, which he has exuberantly and +tastefully displayed in every page of his work. It may +also be admitted that in modern times history has in +its general character received something more of a philosophical +tone. But what it has gained on the side of +philosophy it has more than lost on that of eloquence.</p> + +<p>Compare the triumvirate of English historians in this +respect with the inestimable remains of antiquity, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> +there is a disparity as striking as it is difficult to be +accounted for. In this, as in every other department +of literature, the Romans were the imitators of the +Greeks; but in history while they imitated they surpassed +their masters. The two great historians of +Rome stand above all that preceded as well as all that +followed them. The history of the rise of the Roman +republic, from a small band of outlaws to the uncontrolled +mastery of the world, is the most extraordinary +chapter in the history of the human race. The annals +of mankind present nothing that resembles it. A +splendid or an affecting story may be degraded or belittled +by being told in an unworthy style. But the +style of Livy never falls below the dignity of his subject. +His eloquence is as magnificent as the fortunes +of the eternal city. In splendor of language, in glowing +and picturesque description, in warmth and brilliancy +and boldness of coloring, and in the dignified and majestic +movement of his whole narrative, there is nothing +in the literature of any country which will bear a comparison +with the Decads of Livy. He is always on +the borders of oratory and poetry, without ever passing +the soberness of history. <i>Mille habet ornatus, mille +decenter habet.</i></p> + +<p>The golden age of letters in Rome was as short as +it was brilliant. It scarcely surpassed in duration the +ordinary term of human life. Commencing with Cicero, +it closed with the generation who were his cotemporaries, +the last who breathed the free air of the +republic. But in the universal corruption of taste and +morals that followed the extinction of liberty, there +arose one man, Tacitus, whose genius belonged to a +happier age. In his own, it has been remarked with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> +as much truth as beauty, he stands like a column in +the midst of ruins. It has been said that the secret of +his style belongs to the circumstances of his life, as +well as to the peculiar temperament of the man. He +wrote the history of his own times, and they presented +but few bright spots on which the eye could repose +with pleasure. But he paints the features of that dark +and fearful peace, of that awful and portentous silence +of despotism, convulsed as it was by internal dissensions +and agitated by all the vices of a profligate populace +and an abandoned nobility, in words of enchantment. +While they seem to express every thing that is +terrible in tragedy, they suggest to the imagination +more than meets the ear. No man could have described +those scenes as he has done but one who had seen +and felt them. His vivid and graphic pictures speak +at once to the eye, to the imagination, and to the heart; +and without any of the parade or ostentation of eloquence, +he impresses on the mind of the reader all the +feelings which seem to prevail in his own.</p> + +<p>The current of fashion has for some time been setting +strongly against classical learning. In an age of +so much intellectual activity as the present, all sorts of +new opinions are received with favor. The most +extravagant have their hour of triumph until they are +chased from the stage by some new absurdity, or until +the restless love of change is drawn off to some more +startling paradox. This insatiable thirst for novelty is +carried into literature as well as other things. But the +principles of good taste are unchangeable. They have +their foundations deeply laid in nature and truth, and +the tide of time which sweeps into oblivion the sickly +illusions of distempered imaginations, passes over these +unhurt. The Bavii and Maevii of former ages, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> +like those of later times enjoyed for their hour the +sunshine of fashionable celebrity, have been long ago +gathered to their long home, but the beauties of Homer +and Virgil are as fresh now as they were at the beginning. +Independent of the arguments commonly used +in favor of classical learning, there are two considerations +which recommend these studies to peculiar favor +in this country. I advert to them the more willingly, +because they have not been usually urged in proportion +to their importance.</p> + +<p>The first is addressed to our literary ambition. If +there be any department of elegant literature in which +we may hope to surpass our European ancestors and +cotemporaries, it is in eloquence. It is the fairest and +most hopeful field which now remains for literary distinction. +In every other the moderns, if they have not +equalled, are not far behind the ancients. Their poetry +can scarcely claim an advantage over that of the +moderns, except what it owes directly to the superiority +of the ancient languages. But if we except some of +the finest productions of the French pulpit in the reign +of Louis XIV. there is nothing in modern literature +which approaches the eloquence of antiquity. The +most accomplished of our forensic and parliamentary +speakers are at an immeasurable distance from the +perfection of the ancient orators. If there be any +modern nation, which may hope to emulate them with +some prospect of success, it is our own. In our free +institutions and in the free genius of our countrymen +we have all that is necessary. The soil is prepared +and we are already a nation of debaters. But if we +would add to the faculty of fluent speaking the gifts of +eloquence, these must be sought where the ancients +found them, in a patient and persevering devotion to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> +the art. We must be made sensible both of its dignity +and its difficulty, and nothing can so effectually give +us this knowledge as a familiar acquaintance with the +inimitable remains of the orators of Greece and Rome.</p> + +<p>The second consideration is of a political character. +The feudal governments of Europe may have an interest +in discouraging a taste for these studies. The literature +of antiquity, in its prevailing tone and character, +is deeply impregnated with the free spirit of the age in +which it was produced. Nothing can be more repugnant +to that temper of patient servility which it is the +policy of such governments to foster. Nothing can +more powerfully invigorate those generous feelings +which are inspired by the consciousness of freedom, +than a familiarity with the historians and orators of +Greece and Rome. There is an uncompromising +spirit of liberty breathing its divine inspirations over +every page, wholly irreconcilable with that courtly +suppleness which is adapted to the genius of these governments. +These proud republicans had no superstitious +veneration for anointed heads. They were accustomed +to behold suppliant royalty trembling in the +antichambers of their Senate, or its haughty spirit still +more humbled in swelling the triumphal pomp of their +generals and consuls. These sights served to nourish +a profound feeling of the dignity, which is attached to +the person of a freeman, a feeling more deeply engraved +on the spirit of antiquity than any other sentiment +of the heart. It seems to have constituted the very +soul of their genius, and it breathes its sacred fires +through every ramification of their literature. So intimately +was it incorporated with the very elements of +their intellectual nature, that nothing could extinguish +it short of those calamities which spread their deadly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> +mildews over the fires of genius itself. After the constitutional +liberty of the country sunk under the weight +of military despotism, its scattered flames still broke +out at intervals in the few great men who arose to +throw a gleam of brightness over the surrounding +gloom. It shewed itself in the pathetic and affecting +complaints of Tacitus, and burst forth in the bitter and +indignant sarcasms of Juvenal. The venerable father +of song declared in prophetic numbers that the first +day of servitude robbed man of half his virtue, and +Longinus, the last of the ancient race of great men, +holds up the lights of fifteen centuries experience to +verify the words of the poet. It is democracy, says +he, that is the propitious nurse of great talents, and it +is only in democracy that they flourish. Let the minions +of legitimacy then extinguish if they can the emulation +of ancient eloquence; it is their most dangerous +enemy; but let us, who inherit the liberties of the ancient +republics, cherish it with a sacred devotion. It +is at once the child and the champion of freedom.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="RELIGION" id="RELIGION"></a>RELIGION.</h2> + +<h3>By Jason Whitman.</h3> + + +<p>Religion, as introduced to us by our Saviour, attracts +our attention and enlists our affections, not by any +solemn pomp or formal parade, but by her beautiful +and interesting simplicity, her real and intrinsic worth. +Nor has she been introduced to us, merely that she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> +may dwell in our temples to be gazed at from a distance +and occasionally adored. No. She has been +introduced to us, that we might take her familiarly by +the hand, conduct her into our houses and seat her by +our firesides,—not as an occasional visitor there, but as +an intimate friend—perfectly free and unreserved, ever +ready to lend her aid in making home the abode of +happiness, or to go forth with us and assist in elevating +and purifying the pleasures and the intercourse of social +life; ever ready to assist in the various labors of life—to +guide and cheer the conversation—to bend over the +bed of sickness, or to mingle her sympathies with those +who are mourning. It is her office to elevate and improve +mankind, not by looking down upon them from +above, but by dwelling familiarly and habitually among +them, restraining, by the respect which her presence +inspires, every thing impure and unholy, until she has +awakened aspirations after the pure, the holy, the spiritual, +the infinite and eternal. Such was the Christian +Religion as introduced to us by our Saviour. Would +that she might ever remain such, an inmate of our +houses, a member of our family circles, whose form +and features are familiar to our children, and for whom +their attachment grows with their growth and strengthens +with their strength. But such have not, it would +seem, been the feelings of mankind in regard to her. +They, filled with admiration, perhaps, for her excellence, +and fearing, lest she might be treated with rude +familiarity, have thought to add to her dignity and to +increase the respect entertained for her, by enveloping +her in the folds of unintelligible mysteries, and by suffering +her to be approached only in a formal manner, +upon the set days when and the appointed places where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> +she holds her levees. The consequences of this have +been such as might have been expected. While there +are multitudes of admirers of Religion, as one of a +higher order of beings altogether above and beyond +themselves, there are few who make her the companion +of their daily walk—few who take her to themselves +and, in the firm conviction that they were made for +each other, leave all things else, cleave unto and become +one with her.</p> + +<p>Would that we might all embrace Christianity as she +is in herself—as she was introduced to us by our Saviour, +in all her simplicity—in all her purity—that we +might make her the companion of our lives—the friend +of our hearts. She is one, who will with readiness +accompany us wherever we go—pointing out to us the +way of our duty and the sources of our happiness. +Are we children she will teach us the duties of children. +Are we parents she will instruct us in our duties +as parents. In prosperity she will increase our happiness—in +adversity she will sweeten our cup—in sickness +she will alleviate our pains, and, when called +away by the stern summons of death, she will accompany +us and introduce us into the society of heaven +with which she is intimate—the society of our God—of +Jesus our Saviour—and of the spirits of the just made +perfect, concerning whom she has often conversed with +us, making us acquainted with their principles, feelings +and characters, and exerting within us a desire to be +with them.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="THE_DESERTED_WIFE" id="THE_DESERTED_WIFE"></a>THE DESERTED WIFE.</h2> + +<h3>By Mrs. Ann S. Stephens.</h3> + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Like ivy, woman's love will cling<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Too often round a worthless thing.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Immediately after the horrid murder of young Darnley, +Mary of Scotland removed from the scene of his +death to Sterling, ostensibly on a visit to her infant son. +Thither she was followed by all the gay members of +her court, among whom were the Earl of Bothwell and +Balfour, the suspected murderers. A short time previous +to this journey Mary had received a letter from +one of her subjects in the north, strenuously recommending +a young and interesting female to her protection, +who, as the letter stated, had especial reasons for +sojourning awhile in the neighborhood of the court. +Mary with her usual benevolence kindly received the +lovely stranger, and was so won by her grace and +melancholy beauty, that with the thoughtlessness of her +impulsive character, she installed her in the royal +household and admitted her to the closest intimacy of +mistress and servant. Her affections daily increased +for one of whom she knew nothing, except that she +was reported to have sprung from a noble but impoverished +family, and had been drawn to court by her interest +in a dear relation, or perhaps lover. The queen +did not trouble herself to inquire into particulars, at a +time when her own affairs not only engrossed her +thoughts, but the attention of all Europe. Certain it +was, that whatever had drawn Ellen Craigh to the Scottish +court, it was no desire to partake of its pleasures.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> +Though she occasionally mingled with the ladies of +Mary's household, and even listened with silent interest +to the scandal which recent events had given rise to, she +sedulously secluded herself from the gallants of the +court, and on no occasion had been known to leave the +immediate apartment of the queen, except for a short +space each day, when the relative who had drawn her +from home might be supposed to occupy her attention.</p> + +<p>On the day our story commences, Throgmorton, the +English ambassador, had arrived at Sterling with despatches, +which had been forwarded from London after +the first news of young Darnley's death reached the +court of St. James. Mary, eager to conciliate the imperious +Elizabeth, had ordered an entertainment to be +made in honor of her ambassador, and yielding to his +first request, or rather demand for an audience, had +been more than an hour closetted with him, in the little +oratory which communicated alike with her audience-room +and sleeping chamber.</p> + +<p>The hour for robing had long passed, and Ellen +Craigh was alone in the royal bed-chamber, waiting +the appearance of her mistress. She might have been +taken for a sorrowing angel, as she sat in the embrasure +of a window, with the mellow-tinted light streaming +through the stained glass over her tresses of waving +gold, and flooding her small and exquisite figure with +a brilliancy almost too gorgeous to harmonize with the +delicate cheek and sorrowful blue eyes, which, at the +moment, wore an expression of suffering which nothing +on earth can represent, so patient and holy was it. +She continued in one position, listlessly swaying the +cord of twisted gold, which looped back the curtain +falling in magnificent volumes over the upper part of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> +the window, or pulling the threads from a massive +tassel and scattering them one by one at her feet, till +the carpet around looked as if embroidered over and +over with the glittering fragments. The indistinct +voices which came from the oratory, where the queen +and the ambassador were seated, fell unheeded upon +her senses, till a tone was mingled with theirs which +started her to sudden life. She leaped up with an +energy that sent the mutilated tassel with a crash +against the window, and flinging back the tapestry +which concealed the door of the oratory, bent her eye +to a crevice in the ill-fitted pannel. The beating of +her heart was almost audible, and the thin slender hand +which held back the tapestry quivered like a newly +prisoned bird, as she gazed with intense eagerness into +the apartment. The queen sat directly opposite the +door. At her right hand was placed a dark handsome +man, of about thirty, with a haughty and almost fierce +array of countenance, dressed in a style of careless +magnificence, which bespoke a love of display rather +than true elegance in his choice of attire. A subdued +smile lurked about his lips, and he seemed intently +occupied in counting the links of a massive gold +chain, which fell over his doublet of three-piled velvet, +studded and gorgeously wrought with jewels and embroidery. +Now and then he would drop his hand +carelessly over the queen's chair-arm, and fix his black +eyes with a bold and admiring gaze on her features, with +a freedom which bespoke more of audacious love, than +of respect for the royal beauty. She not only submitted +to his free glance, but more than once returned it +with one of those looks which had scattered sorrow +through many a Scottish bosom.</p> + +<p>Throgmorton sat little apart. He had been speaking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> +in a strain of calm expostulation; but marking the interchange +of glances between the queen and her haughty +favorite, he became indignant, and addressed Bothwell +with a degree of cutting contempt, which turned +the lurking smile on the nobleman's lip to a curl of +bitter defiance. Heedless of the royal presence, he +stood up, and rudely pushing the council-table from +before him, half drew his sword, as if to punish the +offender upon the spot. Throgmorton endured the +blaze of his large fierce eyes with calm composure, +and deliberately measuring his person from head to +foot with a contemptuous glance, was about to resume +his discourse; but the queen rose from her seat, and +placing her white and jewelled hand persuasively on +Bothwell's arm, she fixed her beautiful eyes full on +his, and uttered a few low words of entreaty; then +turning to the envoy, her exquisite face flushed with anger +and her eyes flashing like diamonds, she exclaimed,</p> + +<p>"Leave our presence, sir ambassador, and thank +our moderation that thou art permitted to depart in +safety, after this insult to our most trusty and faithful +follower! Nay, my lord of Bothwell, put thy hand +from that sword-hilt—this matter rests with us—doubt +not, thy honor as well as that of thy mistress shall be +duly righted."</p> + +<p>The frowning nobleman pushed back his blade with +a clang, and turned moodily away.</p> + +<p>The queen looked on him gravely for a moment, and +then turning to the Englishman proceeded with less of +vehemence than had accompanied her last command.</p> + +<p>"The message of our loving cousin has given us a +surfeit of advice. To-morrow we will resume the +subject," she said, forcing one of the resistless smiles,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> +which she could call up at will, to brighten her lips; +and with a graceful wave of the hand, she motioned +him to withdraw.</p> + +<p>The envoy bowed low and left the room without +further speech. But the door was scarcely closed, +when, with sudden self-abandonment, the queen threw +herself into her chair, and burst into a passion of tears. +Bothwell, who was angrily pacing the room, approached, +and sinking to one knee took her hand tenderly in his. +She looked at him a moment through her tears, murmured +a few broken words, and dropping her face to +his shoulder, wept bitterly.</p> + +<p>Poor Ellen Craigh witnessed the whole scene. She +heard Bothwell's expressions of soothing endearment, +and saw the beautiful head, with its garniture of brown +tresses, fall with such helpless dependence on his shoulder. +A moment, and the queen drew the snowy +hand, sparkling with tears and jewels, from her eyes, +and sat upright. With a choking sensation the poor +girl gazed on that face, in its transcendent loveliness, +till a mist gathered before her eyes, and the words of +Bothwell came broken and confusedly to her ear. +When they left the oratory a few moments after, her +hand fell nerveless to her side, the tapestry swept over +the door with a rustling sound, and staggering a few +paces into the chamber, she fell her whole length upon +the carpet, her golden hair sweeping back from her +bloodless forehead, her pale lips trembling and her +slight limbs as strengthless as an infant's. Thus she +lay for a time, and then tears gushed profusely from +her shut eyes. After which she arose to a sitting +posture, with her feeble hands twisted the scattered +ringlets round her head, and arose; but so pale, so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> +wo-begone, her very heart seemed crushed forever. +Dragging herself to her favorite seat in the embrasure +of a window, she leaned her temple against the stained +glass, and murmured—</p> + +<p>"Enough!—oh, enough!—I must go home now." +But while the words of misery trembled on her lips, the +door was flung open, and Mary Stewart entered the +apartment. The room was misty with the purple +glow of sunset, and the queen passed her shrinking +attendant without observing her. Hastily advancing to +a table, she took up a golden bird-call, and blew a peremptory +summons; then throwing herself into a chair +which stood opposite a small table, on which glittered the +splendid paraphernalia of a French toilette, she waited +the appearance of her attendants. Ellen Craigh made a +strong effort and arose.</p> + +<p>"Ha, art thou there, my mountain-daisy?" said the +queen, looking kindly upon her,—"order lights, and +send back the flock of tire-women my silly whistle +has brought trooping hitherward—no hands but thine +shall robe me to night."</p> + +<p>Ellen obeyed, and after a few moments the light +from two large candles of perfumed wax broke over +the little mirror, with its framework of filigree silver, +and flashed upon the golden essence-bottles and scattered +jewels which covered the dressing-table. The +poor waiting-maid drew back from the brilliant glare +with the shudder of a sick heart. The queen looked +on her earnestly for a moment, and then putting the +golden locks back from her temple, as she would have +caressed a child, she said—</p> + +<p>"What!—cheeks like new-fallen snow!—lips trembling +like the aspen!—and eye-lashes heavy with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span> +tears!—how is this, child?—but we bethink us;—was +it not some untoward affair of the heart which brought +thee to our court? We have been too negligent;—tell +us thy grief, and on the honor of a queen, if there +be wrong we will have thee bravely righted—so speak +freely."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, no!—not here!—<i>never to you</i>."</p> + +<p>Here poor Ellen broke off and stood before the +queen, her hands clasped, her lips trembling and her +large supplicating eyes fixed imploringly on her face.</p> + +<p>"Well, well," said the queen soothingly, "at some +other time be it—but remember that in Mary Stewart +her attendant may find a safe friend as well as an +indulgent mistress," and shaking her magnificent tresses +over her shoulders, the royal beauty composed herself +for the operations of the toilette.</p> + +<p>Ellen gathered up the glossy volumes of hair and +commenced her task. Her limbs shook, a cold moisture +crept over her forehead, and her quivering hands +wandered with melancholy listlessness, through the +mass of shining ringlets it was her duty to arrange. +As she stooped forward in her task, one of her own +fair curls fell down and mingled, like a flash of spun +gold, with those of her mistress. As if there had been +contagion in the touch, she flung it back with a smile +of strange, cold bitterness, the first and last that ever +wreathed her pure lips; for hers was a heart to suffer +and endure, but never to hate; it might break, but no +wrong could harden it.</p> + +<p>While her toilette was in progress, Mary became +nervous and restless, now pushing the velvet cushions +from her feet, and then moving the lights about the +dressing-table, as if dissatisfied with the arrangement of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> +every thing about her. At length she fell back in her +chair, buried her face in her hands, and fairly burst +into tears. Ellen grasped the back of her chair, and +bending her pale face to the queen's ear, murmured—</p> + +<p>"Tears are for the deserted—why does the queen +weep?"</p> + +<p>Mary was too deeply engrossed with her own feelings +to mark the exact words, or the tremulous voice +of her attendant. She threw the damp hair back from +her face, and dashing the tears from her eyes exclaimed—</p> + +<p>"No, no! it is nothing—proceed—there! let that +ringlet fall thus upon the neck—now our robe, quickly—we +shall be waited for at the banquet."</p> + +<p>Ellen brought forth the usual mourning robe of black +velvet, laden with bugles; but a flush of anger, or perhaps +of shame, overspread the queen's face, and with +an impatient gesture she exclaimed—</p> + +<p>"Not that, girl—not that—I will mock my heart no +longer!—away with it, and bring a more seemly garment!—the +proud Englishman shall not scoff at our +widow's weeds again."</p> + +<p>Ellen obeyed, and the queen was soon robed as she +had desired. Few objects could have been more beautiful +than this dangerous woman, when she arose from +her toilette—the perfect, yet almost voluptuous proportion +of her form betrayed by the snowy robe, her tapering +arms banded with jewels, and her superb waist +bound with a string of immense pearls, clasped in front +by a single diamond, and terminating where the broidery +of her robe commenced, in tassels of threaded +pearls. A tiara of small Scottish thistles, crowded amethysts +and rough emeralds, burned with a purple light<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> +among her curls, and the face beneath seemed scarcely +human, so radiant was its expression, and so beautiful +the perfect harmony of its features. Throwing a +careless glance at the mirror—for Mary was too confident +of her attraction to be fastidious—she took up +her perfumed handkerchief and left the room.</p> + +<p>Ellen Craigh gazed after her sovereign till the last +graceful wave of her drapery disappeared; then drawing +a deep breath, as if her heart had thrown off an +oppression quite insupportable, she cast a glance almost +of loathing around the sumptuous apartment, and +entered the oratory. Dropping on her knees by the +chair which Bothwell had occupied, she laid her cheek +on the cushion and wept long and freely, as if the contact +with something <i>he</i> had touched had a softening influence +on her heart. As she arose, the gleam of a +handkerchief lying on the floor attracted her attention. +She snatched it up with a faint cry of joy, for on one +corner she found embroidered an earl's coronet and +the crest of Bothwell. Eagerly thrusting the prize into +her bosom, she left the oratory and passed into the +open street.</p> + +<p>It was midnight when Mary Stewart returned to her +chamber. The lights were burning dimly on the table, +and an air of gloomy grandeur filled the apartment. +The queen was evidently much distressed; a +deep glow was burning on her cheek, and her usually +smiling eyes were full of a strange excitement. She +snatched up the little golden call as if to give a summons, +and then flung it down again, exclaiming—</p> + +<p>"No, no—I could not brook their searching eyes," +and with a still more disturbed air she paced the chamber, +now and then stopping to divest herself of the ornaments +she had worn at the ambassador's festival.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span></p> + +<p>Perhaps for the first time in her life the agitated +woman unrobed herself, and flinging back the crimson +drapery which fell in heavy masses from the large +square bedstead, threw herself upon the gorgeous +counterpane and buried herself in the folds, as if they +could shut out the evil thoughts that burned in her +heart; but it was in vain that she strove for rest—that +she gathered the rich drapery over her head and +pressed her burning cheek to the pillow; her thoughts +were all alive and astray.</p> + +<p>It was a mournful sight—that beautiful and brilliant +woman yielding herself to the thraldom of a wicked +man, and rushing heedlessly to that which was to +throw a stain upon her memory, enduring as history +itself. Sin is hideous in every form—but when it +darkens the bright and beautiful of earth, like a cloud +over the sun, we reproach it for its own blackness, and +doubly for the brightness it conceals.</p> + +<p>As the misguided woman lay, with a hand pressed +over her eyes, and one arm, but half divested of its +jewels, flung out with a kind of desperate carelessness +upon the counterpane, the murmur of an infant voice +reached her from a neighboring apartment. She started +up and tears gathered in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Woe is me!" she exclaimed, "this mad passion +makes me forgetful alike of prayer and child."</p> + +<p>Folding a dressing-gown about her, she entered the +room whence the sound had come, and reappeared +with an infant boy pressed to her bosom. After kissing +him again and again with a sort of despairing fondness, +she bore him to a recess where a small lamp of +chased silver burned before a crucifix of the same metal, +and an embroidered hassock was placed as if for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> +devotion. Had she been left alone in the holy stillness +of the night, with her lovely babe upon her bosom, +and the touching symbol of our Saviour's death +before her, the evil influence which was hurrying her +on to ruin might have been counterbalanced; but as +she knelt with the smiling babe lying on the hassock, +her eyes fixed on the crucifix, and the guilty glow ebbing +from her cheeks, the door softly opened, and +the Earl of Bothwell stole into the chamber. Mary +sprang to her feet as if to reprove the insolent intruder, +but a sense of modesty, which in all her follies seemed +never to have left her, succeeded to her indignation, if +indeed she felt any. She glanced at her dishabille +with a painful flush, and hastily seating herself, drew +her uncovered feet, which had been hastily thrust into +a pair of furred slippers, under the folds of her dressing +gown, and then requested him to withdraw, in a +voice which betrayed as much of encouragement as +of reproof.</p> + +<p>Without even noticing her request, Bothwell lifted +the boy from the hassock, and seating himself, addressed +her in a low and gentle tone, which he knew well +how to assume. The erring woman listened to the +witchery of his voice, till the unnatural glow again <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'died her cheek'">died from +her cheek</ins>, and she sat with her eyes fixed on his, as a +beautiful bird yielding to the fascination of a serpent.</p> + +<p>"But thy wife," she said in a low irresolute tone, +when Bothwell pressed for a reply to what he had been +urging, "much as Mary may love—much as she may +sacrifice, she cannot thrust a young and loving woman +from a heart she loves and puts her faith in."</p> + +<p>"Young and loving!" repeated Bothwell, with a +sneer curling his haughty lip, "young and loving!—truly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> +your grace must have been strangely misinformed;—she +who styles herself Countess of Bothwell +nearly doubles the age of her unfortunate husband; and +as for love, if she knows any, it is for the broad acres +which own him as their master."</p> + +<p>A scarcely perceptible smile dimpled the queen's +mouth, as she heard this account of her rival, but she +made no reply, and Bothwell resumed his tone of earnest +entreaty. As he proceeded, his voice and manner +became more energetic.</p> + +<p>"Say that you consent," he said, "say but a word, +and the breath of evil shall never reach you;—say but +your hand is mine as a token of assent, and Bothwell +will worship you like a very slave."</p> + +<p>The queen raised her hand, and though it trembled +like an aspen, she placed it in his.</p> + +<p>"It is thy queen who is the slave," she murmured +in a broken voice, as Bothwell raised the beautiful +hand to his lips, and covered it with rapturous kisses.</p> + +<p>As he relinquished her hand, it came in contact with +that of the child. As if an adder had stung her, she +drew it back, and then with a sudden gush of feeling +snatched the boy to her bosom and covered it with tears +and kisses. Bothwell dreaded the influence of the pure +maternal feeling thus expressed. Gently forcing the +young prince from her embrace, he whispered—</p> + +<p>"Trust him to me, dearest—trust him to one who +would spill his heart's blood, rather than give pain to +mother or child," and pressing her hand again to his +lips, the arch-hypocrite left the room with the same +cautious tread he had entered it with.</p> + +<p>In a few moments after, he placed the young prince +in charge with a creature in his confidence, saying—</p> + +<p>"See to it, that none of the Darnley faction get possession<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> +of the brat,—keep him safe, or strangle him at +once."</p> + +<p>On the next day the Earl of Bothwell left Sterling, +and it was whispered that he had been banished from +court through the influence of the English ambassador; +but conjecture was lost in astonishment, and when, two +days after, the court at Sterling was broken up, and +the queen, while on her way to Edinburgh, was met +by Bothwell, with a force of eight hundred men, and +conveyed to Dunbar by seeming violence, men stood +aghast at the news; but those who had marked their +queen closely during the few preceding days, concurred +in the belief that she privately sanctioned the disgraceful +outrage.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>It was a gloomy and ancient pile—that in which +Bothwell had left his deserted wife. In one of its +apartments, beside a huge fire-place, in which a few +embers smouldered in a sea of ashes, sat an old and +wrinkled woman, spreading her withered palms for +warmth, and occasionally turning a wistful look to the +narrow windows, against which the rain and sleet were +beating with real violence. As she listened, the tramp +of approaching horses was heard in the court below, +and before she had time to reach the door, it was flung +open, and the Countess of Bothwell, dripping with wet +and tottering with fatigue, flung herself into the arms +of her old nurse.</p> + +<p>"Sorrow on me," exclaimed the good woman, striving +to speak cheerful, "how the child clings to my +neck!—look up, lady-bird, and do not sob so—I know +but too well how thy journey has speeded—may the +curses of an old woman rest——"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, Mabel, Mabel, do not curse him—do not—we +cannot love as we will," exclaimed the poor countess, +clinging to the bosom of the old woman, as if to bribe +her from finishing the anathema.</p> + +<p>"Hush, darling, hush," replied old Mabel, pressing +her withered lips fondly to the pure forehead of her +foster-child—"he who could help loving thee——but +hist, what is all this tramping in the court?—sit down, +and I will soon learn."</p> + +<p>The old woman divested the trembling young creature +of her wet cloak and proceeded to the hall. After +a few minutes absence she returned dreadfully agitated; +her sunken eyes glowed like live coals, and her +bony fingers were clenched together as a bird clutches +her prey.</p> + +<p>"My own darling," she said in a voice which she +vainly strove to render steady, "I had thought not to +have given his cruel message, but——"</p> + +<p>"Speak on," said the poor young creature, raising +her large eyes with the expression of a scared antelope, +"I can bear any thing now."</p> + +<p>But she broke off with a sudden and joyful cry, for +the door had been cautiously opened, and her long +absent husband stood before her. Forgetful of his +estrangement—of his unkindness—of every thing but +his early love—she sprang eagerly to his bosom and +kissed him again and again, with the abandonment of +a joyful child. It must have been a heart of stone +which could have resisted such unbounded tenderness. +For one moment, and but for one, she was pressed to +her husband's heart, and then he put her coldly away.</p> + +<p>"How is it that I find your lady here, after my +express command to the contrary?" he said, sternly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> +addressing the old nurse, while he forced the clinging +arms of the countess from his neck.</p> + +<p>The poor young creature shrunk from his look, like +a flower touched by a sudden frost. Mabel threw her +arm around her, and forced her to confront her angry +husband.</p> + +<p>"Why is she here!" shouted the old woman fiercely, +"why is she here, in her own home!—because I +could not, would not kill her with her base lord's message!—What! +break her heart, and then thrust her +forth to die?—Villain!—double-dyed and cowardly +villain!—may the curses of a——"</p> + +<p>Before the old woman could finish her anathema, +the enraged Earl had stricken her grey head to the +floor. The frightened countess fell on her knees beside +her; but, with a terrible imprecation, Bothwell commanded +his attendants to bear his victim from the room, +and sternly ordered his trembling wife to remain.</p> + +<p>"As you are here," he said, "it is not essential that +we meet again; your signature is necessary to this +paper; please to affix it without useless delay."</p> + +<p>The countess took the paper, which was a petition +to the Commissariot-Court for a divorce from her husband. +Before she had read the first line, every drop +of blood ebbed from her face. She did not faint, but +with a degree of energy foreign to her character, +she grasped the paper in her hands, as if about to tear +it. The Earl seized her wrist, and fiercely demanded +her signature.</p> + +<p>"Never—<i>never</i>!" exclaimed the poor wife, struggling +in his grasp—"Oh, Bothwell, you cannot wish +it—you that so loved me—you that promised to love +me forever and ever—no, no! you do not mean it—you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> +cannot put your poor wife away thus!—I know +that the little beauty you once prized is gone, but tears +and sorrow have dimmed it;—bear with me but a little +longer—say that you love me yet, and my bloom will +come again;—look at me, Bothwell, husband, <i>dear</i> +husband! and say that you did not mean it—that you +gave me that horrid paper to frighten me—say but +that, and your poor Ellen will worship you forever!"</p> + +<p>This energetic appeal had its effect, even in the hard +hearted Earl. He endured, and even partially returned +the passionate caress with which she had accompanied +her words; and when she fell back exhausted +in his arms, he bore her to a seat and placed himself +beside her.</p> + +<p>"Ellen," he said, "I will deal candidly with you—I +<i>do</i> love you, and have, even while in pursuit of another; +but you have yet to learn that there is a stronger +passion than love—<i>ambition</i>!"</p> + +<p>"You do love me—bless you, bless you! Bothwell, +for saying so much," she eagerly exclaimed, the affectionate +young creature snatching his hand between both +hers, and covering it with joyful kisses.</p> + +<p>But her joy was of short duration. As the serpent +uncoils its glittering folds, so did Bothwell lay bare the +depravity and ambition of his heart. Artifice, persuasion +and threats were used, and at length he prevailed. +The petition for a divorce was signed; but the heart of +the poor countess was broken by the effort.</p> + +<p>It is almost useless to tell the reader, that the queen +of Scots had consented to accompany Bothwell to his +castle, but with the appearance of compulsion, on the +night of his intrusion into her chamber. It was to prepare +for the disgraceful visit, that he had sent orders +for the expulsion of his unfortunate wife—orders which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> +old Mabel had never delivered; and now that he had +gained his object, in obtaining her signature to the petition, +he proceeded to give directions for the castle to +be put in order, for the reception of the royal guest. +These arrangements occupied him during most of the +night. At length, weary with exertion, he fell asleep +in his chair. It was morning when he awoke. The +light came softly through a neighboring window, and +there, at his feet, with her head resting on his knees, +and her thin, pale face turned toward him, lay his wife, +asleep. Rest had quieted his ambitious thoughts. He +was alone, in the stillness of a new day, with the gentle +victim of his aspiring passions lying at his feet, +grieved and heart-broken, her eyelids heavy with weeping, +and every limb betraying the sorrow which preyed +upon her. For a moment his heart relented, and a hot +tear fell among her golden curls. Gently, as a mother +would remove a sleeping infant, he raised her head, +laid it on the cushion of his chair, and left her to her +loneliness.</p> + +<p>On the next day the Countess of Bothwell left the +castle with her nurse, and not three hours after, Mary +Stewart entered it in company with its wicked lord.</p> + +<p>On the fourth day of Mary's sojourn at Dunbar, she, +with the ladies of her train, joined in a stag hunt, which +the Earl had ordered for their entertainment. The +excitement of the chase had drawn Bothwell, for a +moment, from her bridal rein, when an old woman +came from a neighboring hut, and in a few ungracious +words, invited the queen to rest a while. Mary gracefully +accepted the offered courtesy, and some of her +attendants would have followed her to the hut; but the +old woman motioned them back with a haughty wave +of her hand, and conducted the queen alone. There<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> +was no vestige of furniture in the room, except two +small stools and a narrow bed, on which the outlines +of a human form were visible. Grasping the queen's +hand firmly in her own, the old woman drew her to the +bed, and throwing back a sheet, pointed with her long +fleshless finger to the form of a shrouded female.</p> + +<p>"Look!" she sternly exclaimed, fixing her keen eyes +on the face of the queen.</p> + +<p>Mary looked with painful interest on the thin face, +as white and cold as alabaster, with the golden hair +parted from the pure forehead, and a holy quiet settled +on every beautiful feature. White roses were scattered +over the pillow, and the repose of the dead was +heavenly. Mary bent over the corpse, and her tears +fell fast and thick among the fresh flowers.</p> + +<p>"Alas, my poor Ellen!" she said, turning to the +woman, who stood like a statue pointing sternly to the +body, "of what did she die?"</p> + +<p>"Of a broken heart!" replied the nurse coldly, and +with the same icy composure which had marked her +conduct, she led her royal visitor to the door, without +speaking another word.</p> + +<p>Had she explained that Ellen Craigh and the Countess +of Bothwell were the same person, regret for the +evil she had wrought might have checked Mary in her +career of folly. But the death of the deserted wife +was kept a secret among the few faithful followers who +had accompanied her in her wild expedition to Mary's +court, and the nurse, on whose bosom she had yielded +up her life. While the courts of Scotland were agitated +with the divorce of Bothwell, the haughty man +little knew that his gentle wife had ceased to feel his +cruelty.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Psalm lxxxvii, 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Psalm lxxxvii, 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> From the papers of Dr. Tonic, recently brought to light.</p></div> + +</div> + + +<div class="transnote"> +<h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3> +<p>Unusual spellings retained, but obvious spelling and punctuation errors +were fixed.</p> + +<p>Contraction variants retained, notably in "Jack Downing's Visit to +Portland," as features of narrator dialect.</p> + +<p>In several stories, notably "Courtship" and "Descriptions of the Divine +Being," the use of quotation marks was inconsistent, and has been +standardized. This required the addition of quotation marks in several +places. Where the non-use of quotation marks was consistent within a +story, no changes were made.</p> + +<p>Contents: Preface is on P. iii, not "7"(original); both "M--" in Contents +and "M***" on poem heading retained; "Deserted Wife" P. 272 is +correct--retained original placement above "Portland as it Was" in +Contents (author name starts with "S").</p> + +<p>P. 13, "sum of $1,363,589,69,--" Number appears incomplete, but is +consistent with a separate publication of this article ["A Modest +Estimate of Our Own Country," in "The Americans at home; or Byeways, +backwoods, and prairies, ed. by the author of 'Sam Slick'," London: +Hurse and Blackett Publishers, 1854] which reads (on P. 125) "sum of +1,363,589,69 dollars,--"</p> + +<p>P. 34, "disapprobation run" changed to "disapprobation ran."</p> +<p>P. 41, "guana" retained. Less-used alternate spelling for "iguana."</p> +<p>P. 91, "Illiad" retained. Consistent with quote reference that follows.</p> + +<p>P. 115, "fourth-coming" changed to "forth-coming."</p> +<p>P. 259, "full muturity" changed to "full maturity."</p> +<p>P. 282, "died her cheek" changed to "died from her cheek."</p> + +<p>Hyphen variants retained when consistent within story. Otherwise corrected to +majority use in story. Variants retained due to different stories or lack of +majority in same story: birth-day and birthday, broad-side and broadside, +companion-way and companionway, grave-yard and graveyard, juxta-position and +juxtaposition, look-out and lookout, noon-day and noonday, over-flowing and +overflowing, rain-bow and rainbow, re-appeared and reappeared, sky-sail and +skysail, stair-way and stairway, steam-boats and steamboats, sun-light and +sunlight.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Portland Sketch Book, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PORTLAND SKETCH BOOK *** + +***** This file should be named 39278-h.htm or 39278-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/2/7/39278/ + +Produced by Roberta Staehlin, JoAnn Greenwood, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Portland Sketch Book + +Author: Various + +Editor: Ann S. Stephens + +Release Date: March 27, 2012 [EBook #39278] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PORTLAND SKETCH BOOK *** + + + + +Produced by Roberta Staehlin, JoAnn Greenwood, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + +In "Descriptions of the Divine Being," P. 96, the block quote inside ~ +(tilde) marks is a transliteration of the Hebrew. The transliteration +was not present in the original and has been added by the transcriber; +[h.] is used for Het, to distinguish it from h for Hey. The UTF8 and +HTML versions also have the Hebrew script shown in the original. + +Remaining transcriber's notes are at the end of the text. + + + + + THE + + PORTLAND SKETCH BOOK. + + EDITED BY + MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS. + + PORTLAND: + COLMAN & CHISHOLM. + + Arthur Shirley, Printer. + 1836. + + + + + Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1836, by + EDWARD STEPHENS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court + of Maine. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The object of the Portland Sketch-Book, is to collect in a small +compass, literary specimens from such authors as have a just claim to be +styled Portland writers. The list might have been extended to a much +greater length, had all been included who have made our city a place of +transient residence; but no writer has a place in this volume who is +not, or has not been, a citizen of Portland, either by birth or a long +residence. Therefore, all the names contained in these pages are +emphatically those of Portland authors. Among those who were actually +born here and either wholly, or in part educated here, will be found the +following names, most of which are already known to the world of +literature. + +S. B. Beckett--James Brooks--William Cutter--Charles S. +Daveis--Nathaniel Deering--P. H. Greenleaf--Charles P. Ilsley--Joseph +Ingraham--Geo. W. Light--Henry W. Longfellow--Grenville +Mellen--Frederick Mellen--Isaac McLellan, Jr.--John Neal--Elizabeth +Smith--William Willis--N. P. Willis. + +Considering the population of our city--hardly fifteen thousand at this +time--the list itself we apprehend will be considered as not the least +remarkable part of the book. + +It was the design of the Publishers to furnish a book composed of +original articles from all our living authors, and to select only from +those who have been lost to us; but though great exertions were made, +the editor found much difficulty in collecting original materials, even +after they had been promised by almost every individual to whom she +applied. According to the original design, each living author was to +have contributed a limited number of pages; but after frequent +disappointments, all restrictions were taken off; each writer furnished +as many original pages as suited his pleasure, and the deficiency was +supplied by selected articles. In her selections, the editor has +endeavored to do impartial justice to our authors, and, in almost every +instance, she has been guided by them in her choice. If in any case she +has been obliged to exercise her own judgment, in contradiction to +theirs, it was because the publishers had restricted her to a certain +number of pages, and the articles proposed would have swelled the volume +beyond the prescribed limits. _Original_ papers are inserted exactly as +they were supplied by their separate authors. A general invitation was +extended; therefore it should give no offence, if those who have +contributed largely fill the greater portion of the Book, to the +exclusion of much excellent matter, which might have been selected. +Several writers who did not forward their contributions as expected, +have been omitted altogether, as the editor could find nothing of theirs +extant which was adapted to a work strictly literary. + +In order to avoid all appearance of partiality, it has been thought +advisable to make an alphabetical arrangement of names, and to let +chance decide the position of each author in the Book. + +The compiler has a word of apology to offer, before she consigns her +little book to the public. Reasons which will be easily understood would +have prevented her appropriating any considerable portion to herself; +but she had contracted with the publishers to furnish a volume, which +should be at least two thirds original, and when the pages forwarded to +her were found insufficient for her object, she was obliged, however +unwillingly, to supply the deficiency. + +The Editor now submits her Portland Book to the public, with much +solicitude that it may meet with approbation--feeling certain that +indulgence would be extended to her, could it be known how much labor +and difficulty have attended her slender exertions, in the literature of +a city she has never ceased to love. + +P. S. Among the papers omitted from necessity, is one by the Rev. Dr. +Nichols, which, owing to accident, did not arrive till the arrangements +for the work were entirely completed. In the absence of the Editor, +whose own leading article arrived _almost_ too late for insertion, we +have taken the liberty to state the facts, that our readers may +understand the cause of an omission so extraordinary. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + Preface iii + + Diamond Cove--By S. B. Beckett 9 + + Our Own Country--By James Brooks 13 + + The Cruise of The Dart--By S. B. Beckett 21 + + + To M--, on her Birth-Day,--By William Cutter 59 + + Religious Obligation in Rulers--By John W. Chickering 60 + + A New-England Winter Scene--By William Cutter 74 + + Loch Katrine--By N. H. Carter 78 + + Worship--By Asa Cummings 82 + + The Valley of Silence--By William Cutter 86 + + Descriptions of The Divine Being--By Gershom F. Cox 88 + + + The French Revolution--By Charles S. Daveis 98 + + Mrs. Sykes--From the papers of Dr. Tonic, recently + brought to light--By Nathaniel Deering 102 + + + Old and Young--By James Furbish 115 + + + Autumnal Days--By P. H. Greenleaf 119 + + + The Plague--By Charles P. Ilsley 123 + + 'Oh, This is not My Home'--By Charles P. Ilsley 125 + + The Village Prize--By Joseph Ingraham 126 + + + Indifference to Study--By George W. Light 134 + + The Village of Auteuil--By Henry W. Longfellow 138 + + + The Past and The New Year--By Prentiss Mellen 145 + + The Ruin of a Night--By Grenville Mellen 150 + + Courtship--By William L. McClintock 152 + + Venetian Moonlight--By Frederick Mellen 158 + + Ballooning--By I. McLellan, Jr. 160 + + Ode--By Grenville Mellen 166 + + The Boy's Mountain Song--By I. McLellan, Jr. 167 + + + The Unchangeable Jew--By John Neal 168 + + A War-Song of The Revolution--By John Neal 183 + + + Musings on Music--By James F. Otis 185 + + + Sin estimated by the Light of Heaven--By Edward Payson 194 + + The Way of the Soul--By L. S. P. 200 + + Fragments of An Address on Music--By Edward Payson 206 + + + The Blush--By Mrs. Elizabeth Smith 212 + + The Widowed Bride--By Mrs. Ann S. Stephens 216 + + Jack Downing's Visit to Portland--By Seba Smith 227 + + The Deserted Wife--By Mrs. Ann S. Stephens 272 + + + Portland as it Was--By William Willis 231 + + The Cherokee's Threat--By N. P. Willis 239 + + Grecian and Roman Eloquence--By Ashur Ware 256 + + Religion--By Jason Whitman 269 + + + + +THE PORTLAND SKETCH BOOK. + + + + +DIAMOND COVE. + + + A beauteous Cove, amid the isles + That sprinkle Casco's winding bay, + Where, like an Eden, nature smiles + In all her wild and rich array. + 'Tis sheltered from the ocean's roar + By beetling crags and foam-girt rifts, + And mossy trees, that ages hoar + Have braved the sea-gales on its cliffs! + The broad-armed oak, the beech and pine, + And elm, their branches intertwine + Above its tranquil, glassy face, + So that the sun finds scarcely space + At mid-day, for his fervid beam + To shimmer on the limpid stream; + And in its rugged, sparry caves, + Worn by the winter's tempest waves, + Gleams many a crystal wildly bright + Like _diamonds_, flashing radiant light, + And hence the fairy spot is 'hight.' + + The forests far extending round, + Ne'er to the spoiler's axe resound; + Nor is man's toil or traces there; + But resteth all as lone and fair-- + The sunny slopes, the rocks and trees, + As desert isles in Indian seas, + That sometimes rise upon the view + Of some far-wandering, wind-bound crew, + Sleeping alone mid ocean's blue. + + The lonely ospray rears her brood + Deep in the forest-solitude; + And through the long, bright summer day, + When ocean, calm as mountain lake, + Bears not a breath its hush to break, + The snow-winged sea-gull tilts away + Upon the long, smooth swell, that sweeps, + In curving, wide, unbroken reach, + Into the cove from outer deeps, + Unwinding up the pebbly beach. + + Oft blithly ring the wide old woods, + Within their loneliest solitudes, + To youthful shout, and song, and glee, + And viol's merry minstrelsy, + When summer's stirless, sultry air + Pervades the city's thoroughfare, + And drives the throng to seek the shades + Of these green, zephyr-breathing glades! + The dance goes round; the trunks so tall-- + Rough columns of the festal hall-- + Sustain a broad and lofty roof + Of nature's greenest, loveliest woof! + The maiden weaves, in lieu of wreath, + The bending fern-plumes in her hair, + And the wild flowers with scented breath, + That spring to blossom every where + Around; the forest's dream-like rest + Drives care and sorrow from each breast, + And makes the worn and weary blest! + + And when the broad, dim waters blush + Beneath the tints of ebbing day, + When comes the moon out in the hush + Of eve, with mellow, timid ray, + And twilight lingers far away + On the blue waste, the fisher's skiff + Comes dancing in, and 'neath the cliff + Is moored to rest, till morning's train + Beams with fresh beauty o'er the main, + And wakes him to his toil again! + + O, lovely there is sunset-hour! + When twilight falls with soothing power + Along the forest-windings dim, + And from the thicket, sweet and low, + The red-breast tunes a farewell hymn + To daylight's latest, lingering glow-- + When slope, and rock, and wood around, + In all their dreamy, hushed repose, + Are glassed adown the bright profound-- + And passing fair is evening's close! + When from the bright, cerulean dome, + The sea-fowl, that have all the day + Wheeled o'er the far, lone billows' spray, + Come thronging to their eyries home; + When over rock and wave, remote, + From yon dim fort, the bugle's note + Along the listening air doth creep, + Seeming to steal down from the sky, + Or with out-bursting, martial sweep + Rings through the forests, clanging high, + While echo waked bears on the strain, + Till faint, beyond the trackless main, + In realms of space it seems to die. + But lovelier still is night's calm noon! + When like a sea-nymph's fairy bark, + The mirrored crescent of the moon + Swings on the waters weltering dark; + And in her solitary beam, + Upon each bald, storm-beaten height, + The quartz and mica wildly gleam, + Spangling the rocks with magic light; + And when a silvery minstrelsy + Is swelling o'er the dim-lit sea, + As of some wandering fairy throng, + Passing on viewless wing along, + Tuning their spirit-lyres to song; + And when the night's soft breeze comes out, + And for a moment breathes about, + Shaking a burst of fresh perfume + From every honied bell and bloom, + Startling the tall pine from its rest, + And sleeping wood-bird in her nest, + Or kissing the bright water's breast; + Then stealing off into the shade, + As if it were a thing afraid! + + The Indian prized this beauteous spot + Of old; beneath the embowering shade + He reared his rude and simple cot; + And round these wild shores where they played + In youth, still--pilgrims from the bourn + Of far Penobscot's sinuous stream, + Aged and bowed, and weary worn-- + Lingering they love to stray, and dream + O'er the proud hopes possessed of yore, + When forest, isle and mainland shore, + For many a league, owned but their sway; + When, on the labyrinthine bay, + Now checkered o'er with many a sail, + Alone his lightsome birch canoe + Fast, by the bright, green islets flew, + Nor bark spread canvas to the gale. + + Matchless retreat! mayst aye remain + As wild, as natural and free + As now thou art; nor hope of gain, + Nor enterprize a motive be + To lay thy hoary forests low; + Gold ne'er can make thy beauties glow, + Nor enterprize restore thy pride, + When once the monarchs round thy tide, + Have felt the exterminating blow. + + + + +OUR OWN COUNTRY. + +By James Brooks. + + +What nation presents such a spectacle as ours, of a confederated +government, so complicated, so full of checks and balances, over such a +vast extent of territory, with so many varied interests, and yet moving +so harmoniously! I go within the walls of the capitol at Washington, and +there, under the star-spangled banners that wave amid its domes, I find +the representatives of three territories, and of twenty-four nations, +nations in many senses they may be called, that have within them all the +germ and sinew to raise a greater people than many of the proud +principalities of Europe, all speaking one language--all acting with one +heart, and all burning with the same enthusiasm--the love and glory of +our common country,--even if parties do exist, and bitter domestic +quarrels now and then arise. I take my map, and I mark from whence they +come. What a breadth of latitude, and of longitude, too,--in the fairest +portion of North-America! What a variety of climate,--and then what a +variety of production! What a stretch of sea-coast, on two oceans--with +harbors enough for all the commerce of the world! What an immense +national domain, surveyed, and unsurveyed, of extinguished, and +unextinguished Indian titles within the States and Territories, and +without, estimated, in the aggregate, to be 1,090,871,753 acres, and to +be worth the immense sum of $1,363,589,69,--750,000,000 acres of which +are without the bounds of the States and the territories, and are yet to +make new States and to be admitted into the Union! Our annual revenue, +now, from the sales, is over three millions of dollars. Our national +debt, too, is already more than extinguished,--and yet within fifty-eight +years, starting with a population of about three millions, we have fought +the War of Independence, again not ingloriously struggled with the +greatest naval power in the world, fresh with laurels won on sea and +land,--and now we have a population of over thirteen millions of souls. +One cannot feel the grandeur of our Republic, unless he surveys it in +detail. For example, a Senator in Congress, from Louisiana, has just +arrived in Washington. Twenty days of his journey he passed in a +steam-boat on inland waters,--moving not so rapidly, perhaps, as other +steam-boats sometimes move, in deeper waters,--but constantly moving, at +a quick pace too, day and night. I never shall forget the rapture of a +traveller, who left the green parks of New Orleans early in March,--that +land of the orange and the olive, then teeming with verdure, freshness +and life, and, as it were, mocking him with the mid-summer of his own +northern home. He journeyed leisurely toward the region of ice and snow, +to watch the budding of the young flowers, and to catch the breeze of the +Spring. He crossed the Lakes Pontchartrain and Borgne; he ascended the +big Tombeckbee in a comfortable steam-boat. From Tuscaloosa, he shot +athwart the wilds of Alabama, over Indian grounds, that bloody battles +have rendered ever memorable. He traversed Georgia, the Carolinas, ranged +along the base of the mountains of Virginia,--and for three months and +more, he enjoyed one perpetual, one unvarying, ever-coming Spring,--that +most delicious season of the year,--till, by the middle of June, he found +himself in the fogs of the Passamaquoddy, where tardy summer was even +then hesitating whether it was time to come. And yet he had not been off +the soil of his own country! The flag that he saw on the summit of the +fortress, on the lakes near New Orleans, was the like of that which +floated from the staff on the hills of Fort Sullivan, in the easternmost +extremity of Maine;--and the morning gun that startled his slumbers, +among the rocky battlements that defy the wild tides of the Bay of Fundy, +was not answered till many minutes after, on the shores of the Gulf of +Mexico. The swamps, the embankments, the cane-brakes of the Father of +Waters, on whose muddy banks the croaking alligator displayed his +ponderous jaws,--the cotton-fields, the rice-grounds of the low southern +country,--and the vast fields of wheat and corn in the regions of the +mountains, were far, far behind him:--and he was now, in a Hyperborean +land--where nature wore a rough and surly aspect, and a cold soil and a +cold clime, drove man to launch his bark upon the ocean, to dare wind and +wave, and to seek from the deep, in fisheries, and from freights, the +treasures his own home will not give him. Indeed, such a journey as this, +in one's own country, to an inquisitive mind, is worth all 'the tours of +Europe.' If a young American, then, wishes to feel the full importance of +an American Congress, let him make such a journey. Let him stand on the +levee at New Orleans and count the number and the tiers of American +vessels that there lie, four, five and six thick, on its long embankment. +Let him hear the puff, puff, puff, of the high-pressure steam-boats, that +come sweeping in almost every hour, perhaps from a port two thousand +miles off,--from the then frozen winter of the North, to the full burning +summer of the South,--all inland navigation,--fleets of them under his +eye,--splendid boats, too, many of them, as the world can show,--with +elegant rooms, neat berths, spacious saloons, and a costly piano, it may +be,--so that travellers of both sexes can dance or sing their way to +Louisville, as if they were on a party of pleasure. Let him survey all +these, as they come in with products from the Red River, twelve hundred +miles in one direction, or from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, two thousand +miles in another direction, from the western tributaries of the vast +Mississippi, the thickets of the Arkansas, or White River,--from the +muddy, far-reaching Missouri, and its hundreds of branches:--and then in +the east, from the Illinois, the Ohio, and its numerous tributaries--such +as the Tennessee, the Cumberland, or the meanest of which, such as the +Sandy River, on the borders of Kentucky--that will in a freshet fret and +roar, and dash, as if it were the Father of Floods, till it sinks into +nothing, when embosomed in the greater stream, and there acknowledges its +own insignificance. Let him see 'the Broad Horns,' the adventurous +flatboats of western waters, on which--frail bark!--the daring +backwoodsman sallies forth from the Wabash, or rivers hundreds of miles +above, on a voyage of atlantic distance, with hogs--horses--oxen and +cattle of all kinds on board--corn, flour, wheat, all the products of +rich western lands--and let him see them, too, as he stems the strong +current of the Mississippi, as if the wood on which he floated was +realizing the fable of the Nymphs of Ida--goddesses, instead of pines. +Take the young traveller where the clear, silvery waters of the Ohio +become tinged with the mud from the Missouri, and where the currents of +the mighty rivers run apart for miles, as if indignant at the strange +embrace. Ascend with him farther, to St. Louis, where, if he looks upon +the map he will find that he is about as near the east as the west, and +that soon, the emigrant, who is borne on the wave of population that now +beats at the base of the Rocky Mountains, and anon will overleap its +summits--will speak of him as he now speaks of New-England, as far in the +east. And then tell him that far west as he is, he is but at the +beginning of steam navigation--that the Mississippi itself is navigable +six or seven hundred miles upward--and that steam-boats have actually +gone on the Missouri two thousand one hundred miles above its mouth, and +that they _can go_ five hundred miles farther still! Take him, then, from +this land where the woodsman is leveling the forest every hour, across +the rich prairies of Illinois, where civilization is throwing up towns +and villages, pointed with the spire of the church, and adorned with the +college and the school,--then athwart the flourishing fields of Indiana, +to Cincinnati,--well called 'the Queen of the West,'--a city of thirty +thousand inhabitants, with paved streets, numerous churches, flourishing +manufactories, and an intelligent society too,--and this in a State with a +million of souls in it now, that has undertaken gigantic public +works,--where the fierce savages, even within the memory of the young +men, made the hearts of their parents quake with fear,--roaming over the +forests, as they did, in unbridled triumph,--wielding the tomahawk in +terror, and ringing the war-hoop like demons of vengeance let loose from +below! Show him our immense inland seas, from Green Bay to Lake +Ontario,--not inconsiderable oceans,--encompassed with fertile fields. +Show him the public works of the Empire State, as well as those of +Pennsylvania,--works the wonder of the world,--such as no people in +modern times have ever equalled. And then introduce him to the busy, +humming, thriving population of New-England, from the Green Mountains of +Vermont, the Switzerland of America, to the northern lakes and wide +sea-coast of Maine. Show him the industry, energy, skill and ingenuity of +these hardy people, who let not a rivulet run, nor a puff of wind blow, +without turning it to some account,--who mingle in every thing, speculate +in every thing, and dare every thing wherever a cent of money is to be +earned--whose lumbermen are found not only in the deepest woods of the +snowy and fearful wilds of Maine, throwing up sawmills on the lone +waterfalls, and making the woods ring with their hissing music--but +found, too, on the banks of the St. Lawrence, and coming also on mighty +rafts of deal from every eastern tributary of the wild St. John, +Meduxnekeag and Aroostook, streams whose names geographers hardly know. +And then too, as if this were not enough, they turn their enterprize and +form companies 'to log and lumber,' even on the Ocmulgee and Oconee of +the State of Georgia--and on this day they are actually found in the +Floridas, there planning similar schemes, and as there are no waterfalls, +making steam impel their saws. Show him the banks of the Penobscot, now +studded with superb villages--jewels of places, that have sprung up like +magic--the magnificent military road that leads to the United States' +garrison at Houlton, a fairy spot in the wilderness, but approached by +as excellent a road as the United States can boast of. + +Show him the hundreds and hundreds of coasters that run up every creek +and inlet of tide-water there, at times left high and dry, as if the +ocean would never float them more: and then lift him above +considerations of a mercenary character, and show him how New-England +men are perpetuating their high character and holy love of liberty,--and +how, by neat and elegant churches, that adorn every village,--by +comfortable school-houses, that appear every two miles, or oftener, upon +almost every road, free for every body,--high-born, and low-born,--by +academies and colleges, that thicken even to an inconvenience; by +asylums and institutions, munificently endowed, for the benefit of the +poor:--and see, too, with what generous pride their bosoms swell when +they go within the consecrated walls of Faneuil Hall, or point out the +heights of Bunker Hill, or speak of Concord, or Lexington. + +Give any young man such a tour as this--the best he can make--and I am +sure his heart will beat quick, when he sees the proud spectacle of the +assemblage of the representatives of all these people, and all these +interests, within a single hall. He will more and more revere the +residue of those revolutionary patriots, who not only left us such a +heritage, won by their sufferings and their blood, but such a +constitution--such a government here in Washington, regulating all our +national concerns--but who have also, in effect, left us twenty-four +other governments, with territory enough to double them by-and-by--that +regulate all the minor concerns of the people, acting within their own +sphere; now, in the winter, assembling within their various capitols, +from Jefferson city, on Missouri, to Augusta, on the Kennebec;--from +the capitol on the Hudson, to the government house on the Mississippi. +Show me a spectacle more glorious, more encouraging, than this, even in +the pages of all history; such a constellation of free States, with no +public force, but public opinion--moving by well regulated law--each in +its own proper orbit, around the brighter star in Washington,--thus +realizing, as it were, on earth, almost practically, the beautiful +display of infinite wisdom, that fixed the sun in the centre, and sent +the revolving planets on their errands. God grant it may end as with +them! + + + + +THE CRUISE OF THE DART. + +By S. B. Beckett. + + "There was an old and quiet man, + And by the fire sat he; + And now, said he, to you I'll tell + Things passing strange that once befell + A ship upon the sea."--_Mary Howitt._ + + +"There she is, Ricardo," said I to my friend, as we reached the end of +the pier, in Havana, while the Dart lay about half a mile off the +shore,--"what think you of her?" + +"Beautiful!--a more symmetrical craft never passed the Moro!" + +So thought I, and my heart responded with a thrill of pride to the +sentiment. How saucy she looked, with her gay streamers abroad upon the +winds, and the red-striped flag of the Union floating jauntily at the +main peak--with her lofty masts tapering away, till, relieved against +the blue abyss, they were apparently diminished to the size of willow +wands, while the slight ropes that supported the upper spars seemed, +from the pier, like the fairy tracery of the spider. Although surrounded +by ships, xebecs, brigantines, polacres, galleys and galliots from +almost every clime in christendom, she stood up conspicuously among them +all, an apt representative of the land whence she came! But let us take +a nearer view of the beauty. The hull was long, low, and at the bows +almost as sharp as the missile after which she was named. From the waist +to the stern she tapered away in the most graceful proportions, and she +had as lovely a run as ever slid over the dancing billows. Light and +graceful as a sea-bird, she rocked on the undulating water. But her +rig!--herein, to my thinking, was her chiefest beauty--every thing +pertaining to it was so exact, so even and so _tanto_. Besides the sail +usually carried by man-of-war schooners, she had the requisite +appertenances for a royal and flying kite, or sky-sail, which, now that +she was in port, were all rigged up. Not another vessel of her class in +the navy could spread so much canvas to the influence of old Boreas as +the Dart. + +Her armament consisted of one long brass twenty-four pounder, mounted on +a revolving carriage midships, and six twelve-pound carronades. Add to +this a picked crew of ninety men, with the redoubtable Jonathan West as +our captain, Mr. Dacre Dacres as first, and your humble servant, +Ahasuerus Hackinsack, as second lieutenant, besides a posse of minor +officers and middies,--and you may form a faint idea of the Dart. + +Bidding adieu to my friend, I jumped into the pinnace waiting, and in a +few minutes stood on her quarter deck. + +But it will be necessary for me to explain for what purpose the Dart was +here. She had been dispatched by government to cruise among the Leeward +Islands, and about Cape St. Antonio, in quest of a daring band of +pirates, who, trusting to their superior prowess and the fleetness of +their vessel, a schooner called the Sea-Sprite, had long scourged the +merchantmen of the Indian seas with impunity. Cruiser after cruiser had +been sent out to attack them in vain. She had invariably escaped, until +at length, in reality, they were left for awhile, the undisputed +'rulers of the waves,' as they vauntingly styled themselves. It was said +of the Sea-Sprite, that she was as fleet as the winds, and as mysterious +in her movements; and her master spirit, the fierce Juan Piesta, was as +wily and fierce a robber, as ever prowled upon the western waters. +Indeed, so wonderful and various had been his escapes, that many of the +Spaniards, and the lower orders of seamen in general, believed him to be +leagued with the Powers of Darkness! + +But the Dart had been fitted up for the present cruise expressly on +account of her matchless speed, and our captain, generally known in the +service by the significant appellation of Old Satan West, was, in +situations where fighting or peril formed any part of the story, a full +match for his namesake. + + * * * * * + +After cruising about the western extremity of Cuba, for nearly a month, +to no purpose, we bore away for the southern coast of St. Domingo, and +at the time my story opens, were off Jacquemel. The morning was heralded +onward by troops of clouds, of the most brilliant and burning hues--deep +crimson ridges--fire-fringed volumes of purple, hanging far in the +depths of the mild and beautiful heaven--long, rose-tinted and golden +plumes, stretching up from the horizon to the zenith,--forming +altogether a most gorgeous and magnificent spectacle, while, to complete +the pageant, the sun, just rising from his ocean lair, shed a flood of +glaring light far over the restless expanse toward us, and every rope +and spar of our vessel, begemmed with bright dew-drops, flashed and +twinkled in his beams, like the jeweled robes of a princely bride. + +"Fore top there! what's that away in the wake o' the sun?" called out +Mr. Dacres. + +"A drifting spar, I believe, Sir--but the sun throws such a glare on the +water I cannot see plainly." + +I looked in the direction pointed out, and saw a dark object tumbling +about on the fiery swell, like an evil spirit in torment. We altered our +course and stood away toward it. It turned out to be a boat, apparently +empty, but on a nearer inspection we perceived a man lying under its +thwarts, whose pale, lank features and sunken eye bespoke him as +suffering the last pangs of starvation. My surprise can better be +imagined than described, on discovering in the unfortunate man a highly +loved companion of my boyhood, Frederick Percy! He was transferred from +his miserable quarters to a snug berth on board of the Dart, and in a +few hours, by the judicious management of our surgeon, was resuscitated, +so as to be able to come on deck. + +His story may be told in a few words. He had been travelling in +England--while there had married a beautiful, but friendless orphan. +Soon after this occurrence he embarked in one of his father's ships for +Philadelphia, intending to touch at St. Domingo city, and take in a +freight. But, three days before, when within a few hours' sail of their +destined port, they had fallen in with a piratical schooner, which, +after a short struggle, succeeded in capturing them. While protecting +his wife from the insults of the bucaneers, he received a blow in the +temple, which deprived him of his senses; and when he awoke to +consciousness it was night, wild and dark, and he was tossing on the +lone sea, without provisions, sail or oars, as we had found him. For +three days he had not tasted food. Poor fellow! his anxiety as to the +fate of his wife almost drove him to distraction. + +This circumstance assured us that we were on the right trail of the +marauder whom we sought. We continued beating up the coast till noon, +when the breeze died away into a stark calm, and we lay rolling on the +long glassy swell, about ten leagues from the St. Domingo shore. The sun +was intensely powerful, glowing through the hazy atmosphere, directly +over our heads, like a red-hot cannon ball; and the far-stretching main +was as sultry and _arid_ as the sands of an African desert. To the +north, the cloud-topped mountains of St. Domingo obstructed our view, +looming through the blue haze to an immense height--presenting to as the +aspect of huge, flat, shadowy walls; and one need have taxed his +imagination but lightly, to fancy them the boundaries dividing us from a +brighter and a better clime. The depths of the ocean were as translucent +as an unobscured summer sky, and far beneath us we could distinguish the +dolphins and king-fish, roaming leisurely about, or darting hither and +thither as some object attracted their pursuit; while nearer its surface +the blue element was alive with myriads of minor nondescripts, riggling, +flouncing and lazily moving up and down,--probably attracted by the +shade of our dark hull. + +The men having little else to do, obtained from the captain permission +to fish. Directly they had hauled in a dozen or more of the most +ill-favored, shapeless, unchristian-looking articles I ever clapped eyes +on, which, when I came from aft, were dancing their death jigs on the +forecastle-deck, much to the diversion of the captain's black waiter, +Essequibo. + +"Halloo!--this way, blackey!" shouted an old tar to the merry African, +who, by the way, was a kind of reference table for the whole +crew--"Egad! Billy, look here,--what do you call this comical looking +devil that has helped himself to my hook? Why! his body is as long as +the articles of discipline, and his mouth almost as long as his +body!--your own main-hatch-way is not a circumstance to it!" + +"Him be one gar fish--ocium gar!--he no good for eat," answered the +black with a grin that drew the corners of his mouth almost back to his +ears, so that, to appearance, small was the hinge that kept brain and +body together. + +At the sight the querist dropped the fish, exclaiming with feigned +wonder, "By all that's crooked, an even bet!--ar'n't your mouth made ov +injy rubber, Billy!" + +"Good ting to hab de larsh mout, Misser Mongo,--eat de more--lib de +longer," said Billy. + +"Screw your blinkers this way, Jack Simpson, there's a prize for you," +said another, as he dragged a huge lump-headed, bull-eyed, tail-less +mass out of the water, with fins protruding, like thorns, from every +part of his body!--"Guess he's one of the fighting cocks down below, +seeing his spurs!--any how, he's well armed,--I'll be keel-hauled, if he +don't look like the beauty that we saw carved out on the Frencher's +stern, with the Neptune bestride it, in Havana, barin' he wants a tail! +Han't he a queer un?--but how in natur do you suppose he makes out to +steer without a rudder?" + +"Steer wid he head turn behin' him!" answered Seignor Essequibo, +bursting into a chuckling laugh--mightily tickled with the struggles of +the ungainly monster,--"Che, che, che!--him sea-dragum--catch um plenty +on de cos ob Barbado. Take care ob him horn!" + +"Yo, heave, ho! Shaint Pathrick, an' it's me what's caught a whale!" +drawled out a brawny Patlander, while he tugged and sweated to heave in +his prize. + +"My gorra! you hook one barracouter!" cried Billy, as his eye caught a +glimpse of the big fish curveting in the water at the end of Paddy's +line,--"Bes' fish in de worl'!--good for make um chowder--good for +fry--for ebery ting,--me help you pull him in, Massa Coulan," and +without further ado, he laid hold of the line. The beautiful fish was +hauled in, and consigned to the custody of the cook. + +"Stave in my bulwarks, if this 'ere dragon-fish ha'n't stuck one of his +horns into my foot an inch deep!" roared an old marine,--"Hand me that +sarving mallet, snow ball, I'll see if I can't give him a hint to behave +better!" + +"Hurrah!--here comes an owl-fish, I reckon;" shouted a merry wight of a +tar, from the land of wooden nutmegs,--"specimen of the salt-water owl! +Lord, look at his teeth--how he grins!--What are you laughing at, my +beauty?" + +"Le diable! une chouette dans la mer?" exclaimed a little wizen-pated +Frenchman, who had seated himself astraddle of the cathead.--"Vel, +Monsieur Vagastafsh, comment nommez vous dish petit poisson?" + +"Poison! No, Monsheer, I rather guess there han't the least bit o' +poison in natur about that ere _young shark_!" replied Wagstaff, "though +for that matter a shark's worse'n poison." + +"I not mean poison--I say poisson--_fish_." + +"O, poison fish--yes, I know--you'll find plenty of them on the Bahamy +copper banks. I always gets the cook to put a piece of silver in the +boilers, when we grub on fish in them ere parts." + +"O, mon dieu! le rashcalle hash bitez mon vum almos' off! Sacre, vous +ingrat, to treatez me so like, when I am feed you wis de bon diner!" + +My attention was called away from this scene of hilarity, by the voice +of the watch in the fore-top, announcing a sail in sight. + +A faint indefinable speck could be seen in the quarter designated, +fluttering on the bosom of the blue sea like a drift of foam. With the +aid of the glass we made it out to be the topsail of a schooner, so +distant that her hull and lower sails were below the brim of the +horizon. Her canvas had probably just been unloosed to the breeze, which +was directly after seen roughening the face of the broad, smooth expanse +as it swept down toward us. + +"That glass, Mr. Waters--she is standing toward us, and by the gods of +war! the cut of her narrow flying royal, looks marvellously like that of +our friend, the Sea-Sprite!" said the captain, while the blood flashed +over his bald forehead, like 'heat lightning' over a summer cloud; "Mr. +Hackinsack, see that every thing is ready for a chase." + +The broad sails were unloosed and sheeted close home. Directly the wind +was with us, and we were bowling along under a press of canvas. + +"Now, quartermaster, look to your sails as closely, as you would watch +one seeking your life." Another squint through the glass. "Ha! they have +suspected us, and are standing in toward the land, jam on the +wind;--let them look to it sharply; it must be a fleet pair of heels +that can keep pace with the Dart,--though to say the least of yonder +cruiser, she is no laggard!" + +After pacing the deck some ten minutes, he again hove short and lifted +the glass to his eye. + +"By heavens! the little witch still holds her way with us!--Have the +skysail set, and rig out the top-gallant-studd'n'sail!" + +Every one on board was now eager in the chase. The orders were obeyed +almost as soon as given. Our proud vessel, under the press of sail, +absolutely flew over the water, haughtily tossing the rampant surges +from her sides, while her bows were buried in a roaring and swirling +sheet of foam, and a broad band of snow stretched far over the dark blue +waste astern, showing a wake as strait as an arrow. She was careened +down to the breeze, so that her lower studd'n'sail-boom every moment +dashed a cloud of spray from the romping billows, and her lee rail was +at times under water. Her masts curved and whiffled beneath the immense +piles of canvas, like a stringed bow. + +"She walks the waters bravely," said the captain, casting a glance of +exultation at the distended sails and bending spars, and then at our +arrowy wake.--"But, by Jupiter, the chase still almost holds her way +with us. We need more sail aft. Bear a hand, my men, and run up the +ringtail." + +"That will answer,--a dolphin would have a sweat to beat us in this +trim!" + +"Well, Mr Percy, is yonder dasher the craft that pillaged your ship, and +sent you cruising about the ocean in that bit of a cockle-shell, think +you?" + +"That is the pirate schooner--I cannot mistake her," replied Percy, who +stood with his flashing eyes rivetted on the vessel, and his fingers +impatiently working about the hilt of his cutlass, while his brow was +darkened with an intense desire of revenge. + +Three hours passed, and we had gained within a league of the noble +looking craft. She was heeled down to the breeze, so that owing to the +'bagging' of her lower sails, her hull was almost hidden from sight. +Like a snowy cloud, she darted along the revelling waters, the sunbeams +basking on her wide-spread wings, and the sprightly billows flashing and +surging around her bows. Never saw I an object more beautiful. + +The land was now fully in sight--a stern and rock-bound coast, against +which the breakers dashed with maddening violence, and for half a mile +from the shore, the water was one conflicting waste of snowy surf and +billow. No signs of inhabitants, on either hand, as far as the eye could +view, were discernible. The long range of stern, solitary mountains +arose from the waves, and towered away till lost in the clouds. Their +sides, save where some splintered cliff lifted its gray peaks in the +day, were clothed with thick forests, among which the tufted palm and +wild cinnamon stood up conspicuously, like sentinels looking afar over +the wide waste of blue. Here and there a torrent could be traced, +leaping from crag to cliff, seeming, as it blazed in the fierce +sun-light, to run liquid fire; and gorgeous masses of wild creepers and +tangled undergrowth hung down over the embattled heights, swaying and +flaunting in the gale, like the banners and streamers of an encamped +army. + +Not the slightest chance for harbor or anchorage could be discovered +along the whole iron-bound coast, yet the gallant little Sea-sprite +held steadily on her course, steering broad for the base of the +mountains. + +"Why, in the name of madness, is the fellow driving in among the +breakers?" muttered our captain;--"Thinks he to escape by running into +danger? By Mars, and if I mistake not, he shall have peril to his +heart's content, ere nightfall!" + +But fate willed that we should be disappointed; for just as every thing +had been arranged to treat the bucaneer with a fist full of grape and +canister, one of those sudden tempests, so common to the West Indies in +the autumn months, was upon us. A vast, black, conglomerated volume of +vapor swung against the mountain summits, and curled heavily down over +the cliffs. Brilliant scintillations were darting from its shadowy +borders, and the zigzag lightnings were playing about it, and licking +its ragged folds like the tongues of an evil spirit! Suddenly it burst +asunder, and a burning gleam--a wide conflagration, as if the very earth +had exploded--flashed over the hills, accompanied with a peal of thunder +that made the broad ocean tremble, and our deck quiver under us, like a +harpooned grampus in his death gasp! The electric fluid upheaved and +hurled to fragments an immense peak near the summit of the mountains, +and huge masses of rock, with thunderous din, and amid clouds of dust, +smoke and fire, came bounding and racing down from crag to crag, +uprooting the tall cedars, and dashing to splinters the firm iron-wood +trees, as though they had been but reeds--sweeping a wide path of ruin +through the thick forests, and shivering to atoms and dust the loose +rocks that obstructed their career, till, with a whirring bound, they +plunged from a beetling cliff into the sea, causing the tortured water +to send up a cloud of mist and spray. All on board were struck aghast at +the blinding brilliancy of the flash and its terrible effects. + +We were aroused to a sense of our situation, by the clear, sonorous +voice of Satan West, whom nothing pertaining to earth could daunt, +calling all hands to take in sail. + +Instantly the trade-wind ceased, and a fearful, death-like silence +ensued. This was of short duration; hardly were our sails stowed close, +when we saw the trees on shore drawn upwards, twisted off and rent to +pieces, while a dense mass of leaves and broken branches whirled over +the land; and a wild, deep, wailing sound, as of rushing wings, filled +the air, foretelling the onset of the whirlwind. + +"The hurricane is upon us!--helm hard aweather!" thundered the captain. + +But the Dart was already lying on her beam-ends, heaving, groaning and +quivering throughout every timber, in the fierce embrace of the +tremendous blast! After its first overpowering shock, however, the +gallant craft slowly recovered, and by dint of the strenuous exertions +of our men, she was got before the gale. Away she sprang, like a +frighted thing, over the tormented and whitening surges, completely +shrouded in foam and spray. A dense cloud, murky as midnight, spread +over the face of the heavens, where a moment before, naught met the +gazer's eye, save the fleecy mackerel-clouds, drifting afar through its +cerulean halls. The blue lightnings gleamed, the thunder boomed and +rattled, the black billows shook their flashing manes, the whole +firmament was in an uproar; and amid the wild rout, our little Dart, as +a dry leaf in the autumn winds, was borne about, a very plaything in +the eddying whirls of the frantic elements. + +The tempest was as short lived as it was sudden, and, as the schooner +had sustained no material injury, directly after it had abated she was +under sail again. When the rain cleared up in shore, every eye sought +eagerly for the pirate craft. + +She had vanished! + +Nothing met our view but the tossing and tumbling surges, and the +breaker-beaten coast. If ever old Satan West was taken aback, it was +then. His brow darkened, and a shadow of unutterable disappointment +passed over his countenance. + +"Gone!--By all that is mysterious and wonderful--gone!" he muttered to +himself,--"escaped from my very grasp! Can there be truth in the wild +tales told of her? No, no!--idiot to harbor the thought for a +moment--she has foundered!" + +But this was hardly probable, as not the slightest vestige of her +remained about the spot. + +Poor Percy, too, was the picture of despair. His hat had been blown away +by the hurricane; and his hair tossed rudely in the wind, as he stood in +the main-chains, gazing with the wildness of a maniac over the uproarous +waters. + +"The lovers of the marvelous would here find enough to fatten upon, I +ween," said Dacres, composedly helping himself to a quid of tobacco. +"What think you is to come next? for I hardly think the play ends with +actors and all being spirited away in a thunder gust!" + +I was interrupted in my reply by the energetic exclamations of the +captain, who had been gazing seaward, over the quarter-rail. + +"Yes, by all the imps in purgatory, it is that devil-leagued pirate," +burst from his lips; and at the same moment the cry of _Sail O!_ was +heard from the forward watch. + +A long-sparred vessel could be seen, relieved against the black bank of +clouds, that were crowding down the horizon. Surprise was imaged on +every countenance, and when the order was passed to crowd on all sail in +pursuit, a murmur of disapprobation ran through the whole crew. However, +such was their respect for the regulations of the service, and so great +their dread of old Satan West, that no one dared demur openly. Again the +Dart was bounding over the waves in pursuit of the stranger, which had +confirmed our suspicions as to her character, by hoisting all sail and +endeavoring to escape us. + +But here likewise we were disappointed. She proved to be a Baltimore +clipper, and had endeavored to run away from us, taking us for the same +craft we had supposed her to be. + +After parting from the Baltimorean, we ran in; and as the evening fell, +anchored under the land, sheltered from the waves by a little rocky +promontory. It was my turn to take the evening watch. Our wearied crew +were soon lost in sleep, and all was hushed into repose, if I except the +shrill, rasping voices of the green lizards, the buzzing and humming of +the numerous insects on shore, and the occasional, long-drawn creak, +creak of the cable, as the schooner swung at her anchor. The evening was +mild and beautiful. The moon, attended by one bright, beautiful planet, +was on her wonted round through the heavens, and the far expanse of +ocean, reflecting her effulgence, seemed to roll in billows of molten +silver beneath the gentle night-wind, which swept from the land, +fragrant with the breath of wild-flowers and spicy shrubs. + +Little Ponto, the royal reefer, lay on a gun carriage near me. This boy, +whom, when on a former cruise, I had rescued from a Turkish Trader, was +a favorite with all on board. Although, in person, effeminate and +beautiful as a girl, and possessing the strong affections of the weaker +sex, he still was not wanting in that high courage and energy which +constitutes the pride of manhood. He was an orphan, and with the +exception of a sister and aunt, who were living together in England, +there was not, in the wide world, one being with whom he could claim +relationship. When very young, he had been entrusted to the charge of +the friendly captain of a merchant ship, bound to Smyrna, for the +purpose of improving his health. But the vessel never reached her +destined port. She was captured by an Algerine rover, and the boy made +prisoner. It was from the worst of slavery that I had rescued him, and +ever after the occurrence his gratitude toward me knew no bounds. He +appeared to be contented and happy in his present situation, save when +his thoughts reverted to his lone sister. Then the tears would spring +into his eyes, and he would talk to me of her beauty and goodness, till +I was almost in love with the pure being which his glowing descriptions +had conjured to my mind. I loved that boy as a brother, and he returned +my affection with a fervor, equalling that of a trusting woman. + +As I leaned against the companion-way, absorbed in pleasant dreams of my +far home, a touch on the shoulder aroused me. I turned and Percy stood +by my side. The beauty of the evening had soothed his wild and agitated +feelings. He spoke of his wife with touching regret, as if certain that +she was lost to him forever. For nearly an hour he stood gazing on the +moon's bright attendant, as if he fancied it her home. + +At length he disappeared below, and again Ponto, who seemed to be +wrapped in a deep revery, was my only companion. We had remained several +minutes in silence, when suddenly, as if it had dropped from the clouds, +a female form appeared far above us, on a precipitous bluff that leaned +out over the deep, on which the solitary moonlight slept in unobstructed +brightness. The form advanced so near the brink of the fearful crag, +that we could even distinguish the color of her drapery as it fluttered +in the wind. By the motion of her arms she seemed beckoning us on shore; +then, as if despairing to attract our attention, she looked fearfully +about, and the next moment a strain of exquisite melody came floating +down to us, like a voice from heaven. We remained breathless, and could +almost distinguish the words. + +The strain terminated in a startling cry, and with a frantic gesture the +figure tore a crimson scarf from her neck, and shook it wildly on the +winds; at the same moment the dark form of a man leaped out on the +cliff. There was a short struggle, with reiterated shrieks of 'help! +help! help!' in a voice of agony, and all disappeared in the deep shadow +of another rock. + +Ponto, who at the first burst of the song, had started up and grasped my +arm with a degree of wild energy I had never witnessed in him before, +now suddenly released his hold, and with a single bound plunged into the +sea. So lost was I in amazement at the whole scene, that for a moment I +remained undecided what course to pursue; then, not wishing to alarm the +ship, I ordered Waters, the midshipman of the watch, to jump into the +boat with a few of the men, and pull after him. + +The head of my little favorite soon became visible in the moonlight. +With a vigorous arm he struck out for the shore, and was immediately hid +in the deep shadow of its mural cliffs. A moment, and I again saw him on +the beetling rocks, whence the female had just disappeared; then he, +too, was lost in the darkness. + +Waters, after being absent in the boat about half an hour, returned +without having discovered the least sign of the fugitive. Hour after +hour I awaited the return of my adventurous boy, filled with painful +anxiety. + +As the night deepened, the clouds, which during the day had slumbered on +the mountain battlements, as if held in awe by the majesty of the +burning sun, rolled slowly down the steeps and gradually spread out on +the sea, enveloping us in their humid embrace. A denser mist I never +saw; my thin clothing was soon wet through and clinging to me like steel +to a magnet, and we were completely lost in darkness. As I paced the +deck, not willing to go below while my young favorite was in peril, +Waters tapped me on the shoulder. + +"Did you notice any thing then, Mr. Hackinsack? I thought I heard a +splash in the water, like the dip of an oar." + +"Some fish, I suppose, Waters." + +"I think not, Sir; besides, just now I saw a dark object gliding slowly +across our bow in the mist, which I then took for a drifting log." + +I walked round the deck and peered into the fog on every side, but could +discover nothing. I listened; all was silent save the tweet, tweet, of +the lizards and the roar of the surf, as it beat on the rocks astern. +Presently old Benjamin Ramrod, the gunner, came aft. + +"I wish this infernal fog would clear up!" said he, "for the last half +hour, I have heard strange noises about us! I am much mistaken, or we +are surrounded by enemies of some sort or other. When that shining +apparition arose from the bluff there, and began to beckon to us, I said +to myself, some accident is going to happen before many hours, and you +see if my pro'nostics ar'n't true. Minded you how, by her sweet voice, +she lured that poor boy, Ponto, overboard?--and even I, who may say I've +had some experience in such matters, began to feel a queerish sensation, +as I harkened to her witchery. Many a poor sailor has lost his life by +listening to their lonesome-like songs. I remember once when I was on +the coast of Africa, in a gold-dust and ivory trader, we heard the +water-wraiths and mermaids singing to each other all night long, and the +very next day our ship was driven upon the rocks in a white squall, and +wrecked, and only myself and a Congo nigger escaped alive, out of a crew +of twenty-three!--It strikes me, too," he continued, after listening a +moment, "that we shall have a storm before morning; the fog seems to be +brushing by us, and the noise of the breakers on shore grows terribly +loud. I would give all the prize-money I ever gained to be out of the +place, with good sea-room, a flowing sheet, and our bows turned toward +home--no good ever came of fighting these pirate imps.--Heaven help us! +what is that?" he exclaimed with a start, as a tall, white form shot +up, a few rods under our stern, seen but dimly through the fog. + +The fact flashed upon me at once; our cable had been cut; it was the +spray of the breakers rebounding from the shore. The best bower anchor +was instantly let go, which brought us up; not however till we had +drifted within a cable's length of the breakers, which ramped and roared +all the night with maddening violence, as if eager to engulf us. The +alarm was given, and in a few minutes every thing was prepared for any +emergency that might occur. + +I ordered Ramrod to clap a charge of grape into one of the bow-chasers +and let drive at the first object that came in sight. As I gave the +order the dip of oars could be plainly distinguished, receding from our +bows. Benjamin did not wait to see the marauders, but fired in the +direction of the sound. The fog was swept away before the mouth of the +gun, to some distance, and I caught a glimpse of a boat filled with men. +A deep groan told that the gun had been rightly directed. + +There was now no doubt that we were surrounded by enemies. It was only +by the foreboding watchfulness of the gunner that we were prevented from +going ashore, where, doubtless, the pirates expected to have obtained an +easy victory over us. + +About ten minutes after this incident I was startled by the faint voice +of Ponto, hailing me from under the schooner's side. I joyfully lowered +the man-ropes, and immediately had the adventurous boy beside me, on the +quarter-deck. He grasped my hand, and I felt him tremble all over with +eagerness. + +"You heard that song; the voice was that of my own sister! That shriek, +too, was hers; do you wonder that I leaped overboard? I scarcely know +how I reached the rock from which she was dragged. I climbed up and up, +in the direction I supposed they must have taken, until I gained the +very summit of one of the hills. I looked down, and as it were floating +in the haze, many feet below me, saw the face of a rock reddened by the +blaze of a fire opposite. I clambered from cliff to cliff, clinging to +the branches of the trees, and letting myself down by the mountain +creepers that hung like thick drapery over the descent, till all at once +I dropped over the very mouth of a deep cavern. A massy vine fell in +heavy festoons down over the rugged pillars that formed its portal. +Securing a foothold among its tendrils, concealed by its luxuriant +foliage, I bent over and looked in. A large party of fierce-looking men, +with pistols in their belts and cutlasses lying by them, were seated +round a rude table, feasting and making merry over their wine beakers. I +paid little attention to them, for against the rough wall was an old +woman, and leaning upon her--as I live, it is true--was my own, my +beautiful sister, she whom I had left in England! I thought my heart +would have choked me, as I looked upon her pale, sorrowful face, and +heard her low sobs. In my tremor the vine shook; some loose stones were +started, and went clattering down into the very mouth of the cavern. Two +of the pirates sprang up, and seizing a flaming brand, rushed out. The +red blaze flashed over her face as they passed, and I heard them +threaten her with a terrible fate, if they were discovered through her +means. At the first start of the rocks I drew back into the vines, where +I remained breathless and still, while they scanned the recesses of the +crag. 'We were mistaken, Jacopo,' at length said one of them, 'it was +probably a guana, drawn hither by the fire.' Satisfied that no one was +near, they returned to their comrades, who ridiculed them for their +temerity. + +"Again I listened, and heard them plan to cut the cable of the Dart, and +run her into the breakers. If they failed in this attempt, they were to +haul the Sea-Sprite out of her hiding place and leave the coast, +trusting, with the aid of the fresh land-breeze, to get beyond pursuit +before day-break.--The mist had come on, and knowing it impossible to +reach the Dart over the rough precipices in time to give you warning, I +remained in my concealment, undecided what course to pursue, when I saw +a party of the pirates leave the cavern to go to their boats. Perceiving +beneath me, on the bough of a wild tamarind, sundry articles of +clothing, similar to those worn by the bucaneers, a bold thought +occurred to me. When they had gone beyond the light from the cave, I +cautiously lowered myself down, and drawing on a jacket and one of the +caps, jumped with them into the boat, no one in the darkness suspecting +me. + +"To appearance we were in the very heart of the mountains. I am certain +that rocks and foliage were piled up all around us.--After a short row +we passed through what seemed to be a deep chasm, between two crags, +which must have been very high, as the darkness between them was almost +palpable, and in a few moments we were riding over the long swell of the +open sea. We groped about in the mist for some time, till the position +of the Dart was ascertained by the chafing noise of one of her booms, +when, gliding softly up, with their sharp knives they cut her cable, and +she began to drift astern. The strictest silence was enjoined upon us +all, so that had I moved or made the least noise, as I had intended, my +life had been the forfeit. However, I had just made up my mind to run +all hazards, when the flame of the gun gleamed through the fog. One of +the pirates fell dead in the bottom of the boat, and in the hurried stir +which this produced, I contrived to slip into the water. + +"Now let me conjure you to take measures for the rescue of my poor +sister. How she came into their power is a mystery. But my heart will +break if she is not soon freed from these lawless men." + +I informed the captain of Ponto's discovery, but he saw at once that it +would be madness to attempt any thing in our present situation, with +sunken rocks around us, the breakers astern, and a thick mist wrapping +all in obscurity. + +At last, after a night of the most wearisome watching, the day dawned, +and the mists returned to their mountain fastnesses. Burning for a brush +with the desperadoes, we towed the Dart out of her critical situation +and got her under sail. The launch and cutter were ordered out, but here +we were at fault. The morning sunlight slept calmly on the forest clad +ridges and gray cliffs, and every irregularity and indentation of the +shore were strongly shadowed forth; but not the least sign of harbor or +anchorage could be seen, except under the rocky promontory we had just +left, and every thing looked as forsaken and solitary as a creation's +birth. However, not doubting that we should be able to sift the mystery, +the boats put off, with full and well-armed crews, and on nearing the +shore discovered a narrow inlet, that wound in between the two lofty +cliffs, the one projecting out with a magnificent curve, so as entirely +to conceal the channel until we approached within a few rods of the +shore. + +"We've got on the right scent of the old fox now, I think," said Waters. + +"Speak low, gentlemen; if discovered we may meet with a reception here +not altogether so agreeable--I don't like the appearance of those grave +looking fellows, yonder," said Dacres, pointing to four cannon mounted +on a low parapet, with their muzzles bearing directly toward us. + +"Why, the place is as silent as a grave-yard," muttered the old +cockswain of the cutter. + +We advanced softly up the inlet, and found it to branch out into a broad +basin. Here was explained the mystery of the Sea-Sprite's sudden +disappearance; this was the _Pirate's Retreat_, and from their escaping +hither and into similar resorts known only to themselves, arose the many +wild stories that were abroad respecting their supernatural prowess. +Fifty well armed men might have defended the place against five hundred +assailants, as there was only one point, the inlet, susceptible of an +attack. The entrance was not more than thirty feet in width--only +sufficient for one vessel to enter at a time; but the water was bold and +deep, with a sandy bottom. An enormous cavern yawned at the farther +extremity of the basin, which Ponto immediately recognized as that where +the pirates held their revel the previous night. But now the place was +evidently deserted; the Sea-Sprite had made her escape. + +The crew of the barge were despatched on shore to explore the premises, +while we, as a _corps-de-reserve_, lay on our oars, with fire-arms +loaded, ready for any emergency. While waiting I had an opportunity of +surveying the magnificent scene around me. We lay in the deep shadow of +a beetling precipice of such immense altitude, that the snow-white +morning clouds, as they floated onward, like messengers from heaven, +swept its summit. Thousands of gray sea-birds were sailing around their +eyries, along its dark craggy sides far above us, while its hollow +recesses reverberated their shrill cries, till to our ears they sounded +like one continued scream. The cliffs all around were tumbled about in +the most chaotic confusion, as if they had been upheaved by some +tremendous throe of nature. Stinted forest trees and brush wood, with +here and there a wild locust or banana, had gained a footing in the +seams and fissures of the crags, and thick masses of the lusty mountain +creepers, intertwined with wild flowering jessamin and grenadilla, fell +in gorgeous festoons down the embattled heights, draping their rough +projections in robes of the most magnificent woof. Nearly opposite was a +yawning ravine, filled with myriads of huge, shattered trees, ragged +stumps, loose stones and gravel, which probably had been swept from the +mountains, by the foaming torrents that rush down to the sea in the +rainy months. The desolation of this scene was in a measure relieved by +the quick springing vegetation that had found sustenance among the +decayed trunks, and in the black earth that still adhered to the matted +roots; so that green foliage, and wild flowers of the most brilliant +dies in sumptuous profusion, were waving and nodding over prostrate +trees, which perchance a year before, had stood up in the pride of +primeval lustihood, on the mountain ridges. Further back, beyond this +gorge, the sloping steeps were clothed with dark waving forests, +stretching up their sides, till they faded into the blue haze resting on +the mountain summits. The freshness of early day had not yet been +dissipated. Among the undergrowth and brakes, on the tips of the tall, +sweeping guinea grass, and in the cups of the wild flowers, the pure +dews hung in glittering globules, sparkling with brilliant prismatic +tints, as they flashed back the glances of the rising sun. Calmness and +repose reigned over the unequalled sublimities of the place; and +although the billows were madly beating and roaring against the outer +base of the crescent-like promontory, within, the water was silent and +unruffled by a breath, reflecting in its depths the wild and gorgeous +array of rock and verdure around, almost as unwavering as reality +itself; and had it not been for the tiny wavelets that rippled up a +small sandy beach, adorning the water's edge with a narrow frill of +foam, its likeness to a broad sheet of glass had been perfect. + +At length, after the premises had been thoroughly reconnoitered, the +crew of the cutter were permitted to go on shore. They were soon +revelling amidst the costly merchandize and the luxuries, with which the +cavern was gorged. + +"Holloa, Price!" said Waters to a fellow mid, as he came out of the +cave, dragging an old hag of a woman after him, apparently much against +her will; "I've found the presiding goddess of the place. Isn't she a +Venus?" + +"Wenus indeed!" echoed the old beldame, "take that, young madcap, and +larn better how to treat a lady!" administering a thwack on his ear +that sent him staggering a rod from her. + +Waters gathered himself together, and a general laugh took place at his +expense. + +"A fair representative of the amorous goddess--quite liberal with her +love pats!" said Price in a tantalizing tone. + +"Confound the old hag," muttered the discomfited mid, "if it were not a +waste of good powder and ball, I'd make a riddle of her in the twinkling +of a grog-can!" + +This female and one man, found wounded and languishing on his pallet, +were the only denizens of the place. + +"Croesus! what hav'nt we here?" exclaimed Price, glancing over the +medley of rich merchandize heaped together in one of the apartments of +the huge cavern; "boxes of silks and satins, sashes, ribbons, lace, +tortoise shell!--whew!--I say, Waters, what heathen are these pirates to +let such a profusion of pretty gewgaws lay here, which ought to be +setting off the fairy forms of the Spanish lasses! Now there's as +handsome a piece of trumpery as one often sees," tying a delicate +crimson silk _manta_ about him--"as I'm a sinner I'll carry that home to +Nell Gray!--Ha! Burgundy wine? + + Inspiring--divine + Is the gush of bright wine; + 'Tis the life, 'tis the breath of the soul, + 'Tis the--the-- + +"Odds! but I must quicken my memory, and clear my pipes with a can of +the critter to get into the spirit of song!" + +He drew a beaker from the cask and took a deep draught. + +"Capital, by Bacchus!" he exclaimed, smacking his lips,--"Try it, +Waters, these fellows fare like princes." + +"Bear a hand, Mr. Price, and don't set the men a bad example," thundered +the first lieutenant, who had stationed himself as a sentinel outside. + +In the meantime the men had not been idle. The sight of such a profusion +of riches, all at their own mercy, had turned their brains, and the +confusion that prevailed among the silks and finery would have rivalled +that of a London milliner's shop on a gala day. + +But the voice of the lieutenant, as if by magic, restored them to order, +and Waters ordered the most costly of the goods to be carried to the +boats. + +"An 'ai'nt it Roary McGran 'as found a nest o 'the shiners," exclaimed a +son of Erin, as he emerged, covered with dirt, from a small, deep cavity +at the inmost extremity of the cavern, dragging after him a large bag of +doubloons,--"'Ai'nt them the beauties, Misther Waters?--its what they're +as plenty there as paraites in a parson's cellar." + +Half a dozen similar bags were brought to light; besides which more than +a score of boxes containing rix dollars, and a great many parcels of +coin of different nations, silver and gold, tied up in old pieces of +canvas, were discovered. + +"Some sport in sacking such a fortress as this," observed Price,--"no +blood and plenty of booty! By Jove, though, what a confounded pity it is +we hav'nt a ship of some size, that we might load her with these silken +goods? Our share of the prize money would be a fortune to us." + +While the men were ransacking the cavern, I had climbed by a narrow +foot-path to the top of a lofty bluff. A small telescope, found in a +hollow that had been worked in the rock, assured me that this served as +a look-out station. It commanded a wide view of the surrounding ocean, +now tenanted only by the sun-beam and solitude, if I except the presence +of the Dart, which sat _lilting_ on the glittering swell, with her white +wings outspread, like a huge sea-bird stretching his pinions for flight. + + * * * * * + +The boats shoved off, loaded gunwale deep with gold and silver, ivory, +tortoise-shell and the most choice of the merchandise found in the +cavern, and in fifteen minutes all was safely secured on board the +schooner. After a short consultation it was agreed to run the Dart into +the Pirates' Retreat, and there await the return of the Sea-Sprite, +deeming that the bucaneers would scarcely be long absent from the chief +depository of their treasures. She was soon safely anchored in the +basin. A lookout was stationed at the mouth of the inlet, while Ponto +and Percy undertook, with the consent of the captain, the task of +watching from the cliff. Waters was then sent with a party of the men to +explore the cavern more thoroughly, and before noon there was not a +chink nor cranny of the place which had not been thrice overhauled. +Immense treasures, in gold, silver and jewelry, were brought to light. + +Toward the latter part of the afternoon, Percy gave the signal agreed +upon for an approaching vessel, and directly after made his appearance +on the beach, informing us that they had examined her carefully, and +that there could be no mistaking her--it was the Sea-Sprite. + +"Strange!" said the captain; "I knew that they were brave--fearless to +desperation, but I did not expect to see them show such fool-hardiness. +However, they shall meet with a welcome reception. Mr. Dacres, see that +all the men are on board, and have things put to rights for a brush. If +I mistake not, there will be desperate work ere the rascal receives his +deserts." + +In a few minutes every thing was ready; the boats were got out forward, +and the Dart was towed to the mouth of the inlet, remaining concealed. + +The Sea-Sprite, which could be seen from the outer edge of the rocks, +stood gallantly in, driving a drift of snow before her, till within +about a mile of the shore; when, as if she had discovered some signs of +our presence, she wore round, hoisted her studd'n'sails, and stood away +in a south-westerly direction. + +"Pull away cheerily," said the captain to the men in the boats, who had +lain on their oars in readiness. + +Slowly the Dart emerged from her hiding place--the sails were squared +round so as to present their broad surfaces to the wind, and away she +darted in swift pursuit, like an eagle in quest of his prey. A stern +chase is proverbially a long one; so it proved in this instance. The +wind was light, and although we hung out every rag of sail, the sun was +sinking beyond the sea when we approached within gun-shot of the rover. +Not a soul could be seen on her decks,--she was worked as if by magic. + +"Mr. Ramrod," said the captain, "clap a round shot into the long-tom, +and let us see if we cannot make them show some signs of life." + +Benjamin loaded the gun, and having got it poised to his fancy, applied +the match. Away whizzed the iron messenger. The chips flew from the +stern of the rover, and a swarm of grizzly heads, belonging to _bona +fide_ bodies, popped up above the bulwarks, and then settled down again, +like so many wild sea-fowl disturbed in their nests. + +"Well done, Benjamin!--I see you have not lost any of your skill for +lack of practice." + +The pirate, at length finding it impossible to escape us, shortened +sail. + +"Now my men," said the captain, "to your duty!--let every gun be +double-shotted--a round shot and grape!" + +By a well-timed manoeuvre, we ranged up under her stern. Our men stood +with their arms extended, ready to apply their lighted matches. + +"Fire!" thundered Satan West. + +A storm of flame burst from our side, and the Dart reeled half out of +water under the recoil of the overloaded guns. The iron shower raked the +pirate fore and aft, hurling those deadly missiles, the splinters, in +every direction, and doing terrible execution on their decks. Two more +such broad-sides would have sent her to the bottom. + +"Helm aweather--jam hard!" roared the captain. + +"Ay, ay, sir!"--and we wore round so as to present our other broad-side +to the enemy. + +While this manoeuvre was going on, the bows of the Sea-Sprite had fallen +off in the wind, so as to bring us side by side, within half pistol +shot. She returned the fire with a vengeance, and several of our brave +tars fell wounded or slain to the deck. + +"Ready! blaze away!"--but the sound of our captain's voice was lost in +the thunder of the heavy ordnance. + +The battle now commenced in real earnest. The cannon bellowed, small +arms rattled, the combatants yelled, the dying groaned, the iron +thunder-bolt crashed, riving the vessel's oaken timbers, and a dense +sulphur-cloud overspread the scene of furious commotion, so that we +fought with an invisible enemy. We could see nothing save the streaming +lightning of the cannon, or the fiend-like figures that worked our +aftermost guns, begrimmed with powder and blood, stripped nearly naked, +and sweltering in their eager toil. As the smoke occasionally lifted, +however, the battered bulwarks of the enemy, and the glimmering streaks +along her black waist, showed that our fire had been rightly directed; +and the irregularity with which it was returned, told the confusion that +prevailed on her decks. Several times we attempted to run her aboard, +but they discovered our intentions in time to avoid us. + +At length a discharge from the well-directed gun of old Benjamin, took +effect in her fore-top. The topmast came thundering down with all its +rigging, over the foresail. Having thus lost the benefit of her head +sail, she rounded to, and her jib-boom came in contact with our fore +rigging. + +"Now is our time!--into her, boarders!" roared Dacres, leaping upon the +pirate's forecastle deck. + +But the order was useless--they were already hard on his track. A close +and desperate struggle now took place. Pistols cracked, sabres gleamed, +and deadly blows were dealt on either side, till a rampart of the slain +and wounded was raised high between the furious combatants. Gloomy and +dark as an arch-fiend, the pirate leader raged among his men, urging +them on with threats and curses, in a voice of thunder, and sweeping +down all opposition before his dripping blade. But Dacres, backed by his +well-trained boarders, received them on the points of their pikes, with +a coolness and bravery that made them recoil upon each other, like +surges from a rock-ribbed coast. Thus the fight continued with various +success, till the attention of the bucaneers was arrested by an +unearthly shout in the rear, and the tall figure of Percy was seen, +laying about him with whirlwind impetuosity, his long, untrimmed hair +flying wildly in the commotion of the atmosphere, his features working +with the madness that controlled him, and his dilated eyes flashing with +a fierce, unnatural fire upon his opponents. All quailed before him. +Wherever his merciless arm fell there was an instant vacancy. Although a +score of cutlasses were glancing, meteor-like, around his person, as if +by a spell, he remained uninjured. At length his eye detected the pirate +leader. Dashing aside all before him, with one bound he was at his side. +The fierce chief started in amazement at the sight of him whom he +supposed many a league from the spot, if not dead, but quickly recovered +his stern and gloomy bearing. + +"Monster! where is she?" shouted Percy. + +"Ask the sharks!" replied the captain, lunging at him with his sabre. + +These were his last words. Percy, quick as thought, drew a pistol from +his belt and fired into his face! He fell heavily to the deck, and the +combatants closed around him, as tempest-waves close over a foundering +ship! + +The pirates, now that their leader was slain, fought with less spirit, +and the victory was soon decided in our favor. Sooth to say, it was +dearly earned; and many who sought the battle with a quickened pulse, +and eager for the strife, were that evening consigned to the waves. Of +all the pirate's crew, consisting of nearly a hundred men, but thirteen +remained unharmed. Heavens!--what a ghastly spectacle her decks +presented! Fifty stalwart forms lay there, stiffened in death, or +writhing in the agony of their deep wounds, severed and mangled in every +way imaginable; and so slippery was the main deck that we could hardly +cross it, while the sea all around was died with the red waters of life, +that gushed in a continuous stream from her scuppers. + +On the forecastle deck, where the last desperate struggle had taken +place, I recognized many of our own crew among the lifeless heaps. Poor +old Ramrod, the gunner, lay there, with the black blood trickling over +his swarthy brow, from a bullet hole in his temple. He had died while +the might of battle was yet upon him--and the fierce scowl which he +darted at his foes, still remained on his rigid features. His hand, even +in the agonies of death, had not relinquished its firm grasp on his +cutlass, and the gigantic form of a swart pirate, with his skull cloven +down, close at hand, showed that it had been swayed to some purpose. +Poor Benjamin! I could have wept over him. He had been in the service +from his earliest days, and the scars of many a sanguinary fight were +visible upon his muscular arms, and on his bronzed and powerful chest. +My brave boy, Ponto, was there also, hanging pale and wounded over the +britch of the bow gun. He had followed me when we boarded, like a young +tiger robbed of his mate. Although faint and helpless with the loss of +blood, which belched at every heave of his bosom, from a deep sabre +wound in his shoulder, and which had completely saturated his checked +shirt and his duck pantaloons, yet his firmness was unshaken. I ordered +one of our men to take charge of him, until he could be looked to by the +surgeon. "Not yet," faintly exclaimed the generous child, pointing to +Mengs, the boatswain, who lay wounded over a coil of the cable, with +three or four grim looking bucaneers stretched dead across his chest, +the blood from their wounds streaming into his face and neck,--"look to +him first, he may be suffocated." + +"No, no, youngster," murmured the hardy Briton, "I'd do very well till +my turn comes, if I had this ugly looking craft cast off from my +gun-deck, and a can of water stowed away in my cable tier!" + +After the prisoners were secured, I sought the cabin, where I had +ordered Ponto to be carried. It was a richly garnished room, with berth +hangings of crimson damask and amber colored silk, a gorgeous carpet +from the looms of Brussels, and furniture in keeping. Opposite the +companion-way hung a superb picture of the virgin mother and her infant, +and over it a golden crucifix, while beneath, on a rose wood table, lay +a guitar, implements for sketching, and various articles for female +employ and amusement. Indeed, one might have supposed himself entering +the boudoir of a delicate Spanish belle, rather than the domicil of a +lawless rover. This I remember but from the glance of a moment. My +attention was drawn to the occupants of the place. There lay my wounded +boy, by the side of a silken sofa-couch, his face buried in the garments +of a female stretched lifeless upon it, and over them bent the tall form +of Percy, gazing upon the group with a fixed, vacant stare, which told +that suffering could wring his soul no longer--desolation and madness +had come upon him. His attitude, the expression of his features, and the +low, convulsive sobs and broken murmurs of the boy, at once explained +the scene. The one had found a wife, the other a sister, in that +inanimate form. I advanced nearer, in hopes that life might not be +altogether extinct. The sight was appalling, but beautiful. The pale, +dead face, upon which the mellow radiance of sunset streamed through the +sky-light, was lovely as a seraph's. Her eyes were closed as if in +sleep; the long braids of her bright hair lay undisturbed upon her +marble forehead, and there was no appearance of violence, save where the +dress of sea-green silk had been torn back from her bosom, as if in her +dying agonies, displaying a dark puncture, as of a grape-shot, just +below the snowy swell of the throat, from which the crimson blood oozed, +slowly trickling down over her white and rounded shoulder. She had +probably been killed by our first raking broad-side. + +"Fire! fire!" shouted a dozen voices on deck. I sprang up the +companion-way. The fore-hatch had been removed, and a dense volume of +smoke was rolling up from below. A glance was sufficient to show that no +effort of ours could save the vessel, and preparations were speedily +made to rescue the wounded, and abandon her to her fate. It being +impossible for me to leave my duty on deck, I sent a trusty Hibernian to +rescue my helpless boy and to inform Percy of our situation. He returned +with a rueful countenance. + +"Ochone! Mr. Hackinsack," said the tender hearted fellow, "it almost +made the salt wather come intil my een, to see the poor man and the +beautiful kilt leddy,--an' whin I tould 'em as how the schooner was +burnin' and would be blown to Jerico in a twinklin' all he said was to +give me a terrible, ferocious-like scowl and point with a loaded pistol +to the companion; so I took his mainin' an' left 'em." + +Two other messengers, sent to take him away by force, met with no better +success. + +The flames were ready to burst out on every side, and from each chink +and crevice around the hatches--which had been replaced and barred +down--the smoke was darting up with the force of vapour from a steam +engine. The deck had become so heated that it was painful to stand upon +it--the fire was fast progressing towards the run, where the magazine +was situated. Thrice had the order been given to quit the burning +vessel, but I could not forsake my friend without one more effort to +rescue him from the terrible fate that awaited him, if left behind. He +still held the loaded pistol in his hand and sternly forbade my +approach. Poor Ponto had fainted from grief and loss of blood, and lay +across his sister's body. I sprang forward and raised him in my arms, +regardless of the maniac's threats. The pistol banged in my ear, but +fortunately the ball passed over me as I stooped, and I regained the +companion-way without injury. By this time, he had drawn another from +his belt. + +"Put away the pistol, and come with me," I urged,--"the vessel is on +fire and will soon be blown to atoms." + +He looked at me with a grim stare for a moment, then burst into an +idiotic laugh. That wild laugh is still ringing in my brain. "Ha! ha! +ha!--Fire? fire? here it is, wreathing and coiling!--here! here!" +dashing his hand against his forehead. + +Perceiving that it was vain to reason with his madness, and fearing for +the life of the wounded boy in my arms, I reluctantly left the hapless +man to his fate. + +The boat had already put off for the last time, but I succeeded in +prevailing upon them to return, and leaping in, soon reached the Dart in +safety. + +The night set in wild and black as Death. Disparted and ragged masses of +cloud were rushing over the face of the heavens, where once and again, +the soaring moon, and that same bright, solitary star, would show their +calm faces through the reeling rack, apparently flying from this scene +of turmoil and death. The increasing wind howled mournfully through the +rigging, and our battered hull staggered along the inky main writhing +and shuddering on the heave of the surge like a weary, wounded thing. + +We followed in the track of the burning vessel as she fled along before +the gale, awaiting in breathless suspense the consummation of her wild +career. The black smoke, interfulgent with tortuous tongues of lurid +fire, rolled in immense volumes over her!--the red flames darted up her +masts, along the spars and rigging, and gushed in swirling sheets from +her ports and bulwarks, while in their fierce gleams, the billows that +ramped and raved about her, glowed like a huge seething cauldron of +molten iron, and the gloomy clouds that lowered above were tinged in +their ragged borders, as with blood. Occasionally the jarring thunder of +her cannon, as they became heated to explosion, announced to us the +progress of the insidious destroyer. + +But a still more thrilling spectacle awaited us. In the height of the +conflagration, the hapless Percy, bearing his dead wife in his arms, +emerged as it were from the very midst of the flames, and took a stand +on the companion-way. So strongly was the tall, dark-figure relieved +against the glowing element, that his slightest gesture could not escape +our scrutiny. While with one arm he spanned the waist of the supple +corse, which apparently struggled to escape from his grasp, he waved the +other on high as if exulting in the whirl and commotion around him. He +seemed like the minister of some dark rite of heathenism, preparing to +offer up a victim to the Moloch of his superstition. + +At length arrived the dreadful moment! The black hull seemed to be +lifted bodily out of the water. A volume of smoke burst over her like +the first eruption of a volcano! A spire of flame shot up to the +heavens, filling the firmament with burning fragments, while the clouds +that overhung the sea, were torn and scattered by the tremendous +concussion. A crash followed--a deep, bellowing boom, as if the solid +globe had split asunder!--then all was darkness--dreary, void, silent as +death! + + + + +TO M***, ON HER BIRTH-DAY. + +By William Cutter. + + + What though the skies of winter + Look cold and cheerless now! + What though earth wears no mantle + But that of ice and snow! + Though trees, all bare and leafless, + Stretch up their naked arms, + In sad and mournful silence, + To brave the wintry storms! + There is enough of sunshine, + Fond memory will say, + Around this morning clustered-- + _This is thy natal day!_ + + What though the birds of summer, + Flown far and long away, + In gentler climes are warbling, + Their loved and grateful lay! + What though, in field and garden, + No fragrant incense pours + From nature's thousand altars-- + Her blossoms and her flowers! + There's music sweet as angels', + And fragrance sweet as May, + In the thoughts that breathe and blossom + Around _thy natal day_! + + To me, the skies above us + Are bright as summer's noon! + And trees, in crystal blossoms, + More brilliant than in June! + There's music in the wintry blast-- + There's fragrance in the snow-- + And a garb of glorious beauty + On every thing below! + For oh! affection, wakened + With morning's earliest ray, + Has never ceased to whisper-- + _This is thy natal day!_ + + + + +RELIGIOUS OBLIGATION IN RULERS. + +By John W. Chickering. + + +It is a great truth, and worthy of a place among the few grand +principles which lie at the foundation of all wise and just government, +that 'the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men.' This may be +understood _de jure_, or _de facto_; and in either sense must be +believed, not only by those who admit, on the authority of the prophet, +that it was spoken by a divine voice, but by all who do not deny the +whole theory of an overruling Providence. + +That the almighty Ruler retains both a right and an agency in the +management of terrestrial governments, is undisputed by all who +recognize his right and his agency in any thing. It is the atheist alone +who would insulate the kingdoms of the earth from the kingdom of heaven. +None would banish Jehovah from the smaller empires his providence has +organized and sustained, but those who banish him from the universe his +power has created. + +Thus atheism in philosophy is sole progenitor of atheism in politics; +and it should not excite our surprise, that he who 'sees' _not_ 'God in +clouds nor hears him in the wind,'--who beholds in the great things of +the earth, the air and the sea, no footsteps of divine power, and no +finger-prints of divine wisdom, should be equally blind concerning the +progress of civil affairs, and should so have perverted his mind, and so +tortured the moral sense which God gave him, as to believe, and to +rejoice, that without God, kingdoms rise and fall, and that it is _not_ +'by him' that 'kings reign, and princes decree justice.' + +But with the atheist, that moral monster,'---- horrendum, informe, +ingens, cui lumen ademptum,' we are not now concerned. We leave him to +the darkness he has brought upon himself through his 'philosophy and +vain deceit,' and to the enjoyment, if enjoyment it be, of his dreary +cavern, more dreary than that of Polyphemus,--a godless world. + +We come to inquire, by way of preparation for the more direct +prosecution of the object of this article, concerning the views +entertained by the great mass of mankind who believe in the existence +and providence of Jehovah, as to his particular connection with the +subordinate governments on earth, and the station which it is his holy +pleasure to occupy in their control and management. And here we find at +once, wide and hurtful mistakes; occupying relatively, such is man's +tendency to extremes, the position of antipodes. Some, overlooking the +twofold agency, partly civil, partly ecclesiastical, by which the Most +High promotes his own ends and the well being of his creatures, have +resolved each into the other, making religion an affair of the state, +and civil government a matter for ecclesiastical influence; producing in +practice the unseemly compound, commonly called "church and state," but +which might be more accurately characterized as the ruin of both. + +As the fruits of this mistake, the world has seen profane monarchs +invested with titles of religion and piety. In some countries, aided by +ambition and intrigue, it has brought kings to kiss the feet of the +professed ambassadors of Jesus Christ; and gained for them honors and +power, which their divine but humble master declined for himself. This +mistake has been confirmed, if it was not originated, by the +organization of the great Jewish theocracy. This was, indeed, church and +state. But it was under a divine administration.--And although the fact +that the Deity not only attested and ratified the alliance, but +condescended to be legislator, judge, and executive, might at once have +prevented the inference; yet men _have_ inferred that the civil and +ecclesiastical powers ought always to be thus commingled. The +consequences might have been anticipated. The history both of +Christianity and of the world, is darkened by their melancholy shade. +Religion, unguarded by the miraculous intervention of Him who, under a +former dispensation, smote the offerers of strange fire, has been +corrupted by those who would do her honor, and crushed by the embraces +of false friends;--and her splendid sojourn in the halls of power, has +been met by reverses not less striking, and far more disastrous, than +Moses met after being the _protege_ of royalty; while the civil rights +of men, invaded by ambition and avarice, under the name of religion, and +with the sanction of God's name, have been yielded up without a +struggle, under the impression, that resistance would be "fighting +against God." What would not have been demanded in the name of man, has +been freely given in the name of God;--men who in defence of their +rights, would have ventured cheerfully upon treason, have shrunk with +horror from sacrilege. + +Thus religion and liberty have well-nigh perished together, and their +present resting-place on earth resembles rather the one found by Noah's +dove on her second flight, than the broad home, illimitable but by the +world's circumference, which as philanthropists we hope, and as +Christians we pray, they may soon enjoy. + +Others again, warned, perhaps, by the disasters consequent upon the +policy last described, have gone to the extreme, not less hurtful, and +far more presumptuous, of excluding religious motives and religious +principles from all influence in the affairs of the commonwealth. They +have thus become _quoad hoc_, practical atheists. Content indeed, that +the Deity should keep our planet in motion, and regulate its seasons and +its tides; and surround and cover it with the blessings of Providence, +nor careful to forbid him a participation even in the _internal_ +concerns of Jupiter, or Herschell,--perhaps even willing to admit in +theory, the truth of the statement from the inspired record with which +this article commenced,--they yet deem it best for man, considered +either as a governing or as a governed being, that the notion of a +presiding Deity should be as much as possible excluded from his mind. +The mere juxtaposition of the words "religion" and "politics," or any of +their correlates, is sufficient to excite the fears of these scrupulous +alarmists; and if they do not imitate the example of the French, who +were seen near the close of the last century, rushing madly with the +pendulum-like oscillation of human nature, from the bonds of religious +despotism, into the very wilderness of atheism, and denounce Jehovah as +a usurper, and his adherents as rebels against "the powers that be," +they strive to separate all questions and acts of government from God +and his laws, as if there _were_ no God; thus making, if not an +atheistic people, an atheistic government. Far otherwise, we cannot but +pause here to remark, acted the noble men, the sifted wheat of three +kingdoms, who were thrown by God's providence through ecclesiastical +tyranny, upon these shores. If they for a time, with a strange tenacity +of old habits, which showed that principle, not passion, led them, clung +to the very usages respecting toleration, which had exiled them, they at +least preserved the nation which they founded, from the character and +the curse of a nation which despises God. Heaven grant, that the +pendulum may not even now be swinging to the other extreme! + +While we would have the affairs of the nation managed as if there were +no _church_ in the world, we would not have them managed as if there +were no GOD in the world. Could our voices reach the millions of our +countrymen, as Joshua's voice reached the thousands of Israel, we would +say as he said, 'IF THE LORD BE GOD, SERVE HIM.' In a word, while we +believe that the civil and ecclesiastical departments ought to be +distinct, and that their union is a departure from the intention of Him +who formed both, and that it is fraught with the most disastrous +consequences to both, we do _not_ believe that the almighty Ruler has +excluded himself from the control of either, or given the least +permission that either should be managed on any other principles than +the eternal principles of right, which are embodied in his character, +and laid down in his word. + +When we speak of a sense of religious obligation, we mean more than a +general undefined belief that such an obligation exists. Such a belief +is withheld, we trust, by comparatively few who hold important places in +our national and State governments. But can it be doubted by any man who +has accustomed himself to contemplate the distinction between mere +intellectual assent, and the warm, practical conviction which reaches +the heart, and controls the conduct, that this belief may coexist with +as total an insensibility to the claims of Jehovah, as if it were +William IV., or Nicholas of Russia, who performed them, instead of the +Most High God? + +Is it too much to desire, nay to infer, as a _duty_, from what has +already been said, that our rulers in the executive, legislative, and +judicial departments, both in the general and State governments, should +have _an abiding consciousness of accountability_--should live under _a +felt pressure of obligation_--to the Sovereign of the universe, which +should assume, as it must where it exists at all, a practical, binding +force? Is it too much to ask, that they should remember that they are +the servants of God for good to this great people, and that to their own +Master they stand or fall? That they rule by God's permission, and for +his ends; and that a higher tribunal than any on earth awaits the +termination of their responsibility to man? That they should remember +their obligation, in common with those who elevated them to office, +"whatever they do, to do all to the glory of God;" and the solemn truth, +that a sin against God or man, whether of omission or of commission, +whether committed in private, in the family circle, or in the high +places of authority, is no less a sin, when committed by a judge, or a +legislator, or a chief magistrate of a State or nation, than by the +humblest of his constituents? In a word, do we claim too prominent a +place for religious principle in the administration of public affairs, +when we avow our desire that the rulers of a people, who are the +nominal, and in a free government the _real_, representatives of the +people, should be daily and practically aware, that they are accountable +to a higher Power, thus realizing, if not in the highest and most +Christian sense, yet in the literal signification, the picture of a good +ruler drawn by the prophet, who, in the name of the almighty Ruler, +declares, "He that ruleth over men, must be just--_ruling in the fear of +God_!" + +We cannot reflect without occasion for the deepest gratitude, that in +contemplating the advantages of such a state of mind and of heart, as +possessed by men in authority, we are not confined to _a priori_ +reasoning. England has had her Alfred, her Edward VI., and her Matthew +Hale; Sweden her Gustavus Adolphus; our own most cherished and beloved +country, a Washington, and a Wirt, with many others among the dead, and +not a few among the living, to whom our readers may recur as we proceed, +both for illustration of our meaning, and proof of our assertions. + +Among the effects of this sense of obligation, which go to show its +importance to every man in public life, we mention first, _its influence +in checking the love and pride of power_. It will not be said by any +man, who has acquired even a smattering of the science of human nature, +that the simplicity of our republican institutions excludes all danger +from this source. It is the great weakness of man, to desire power; and, +having it, to be proud of it; and, in his pride, to abuse it. It +matters not whether it be the power of a monarch on his throne, or of +the humblest village functionary. If it be _power_, or even the +semblance of power, it charms the eye of the expectant, and, too often, +turns the head of the possessor. + +True, in this land, power walks in humble guise. She rides in no gilded +chariot--is clothed with no robes of state--is preceded by no heralds +with announcement of noble titles--is decorated with no ribbons and +stars. Nor is there an office worth seeking, as a matter of gain, except +in some special cases, growing rather out of individual character and +circumstances, than from design on the part of legislators. But who will +deny, that RANK, here, as elsewhere throughout the wide world, has its +attractions? And who, that has thought upon the subject carefully, +doubts that they are as strong, as if it were hereditary? As far as +pride of heart in the possessor is concerned, undoubtedly the temptation +is even greater. That rank is _not_ hereditary, and is therefore +attainable by individual effort, opens a fountain of ambition in a +thousand hearts, which, under another constitution of society, would +never have known ambition, but as _a strange word_, while the fact that +it is ordinarily the prize of talent, attaches to it an additional power +to tempt and seduce the mind. It need not be said, that so far as this +love and pride of power exists, it tends to subvert all the true ends of +government. + +That the influence of a sense of subordination and accountableness to +the Supreme Being, will be direct and strong in checking these +tendencies of human nature, is so plain as to command assent without +argument. Who can be proud in the perceived presence of infinite +splendor and worth? How can ambition thrive under the overshadowing +greatness of almighty Power? + +It is recorded of Gustavus Adolphus, that being surprised one day by his +officers in secret prayer in his tent, he said: "Persons of my rank are +answerable to God alone for their actions; this gives the enemy of +mankind a peculiar advantage over us; an advantage which can be resisted +only by prayer and reading the Scriptures." This remark, though it does +not specify the moral dangers to which the royal worshipper was exposed, +has reference, undoubtedly, in part, if not mainly, to that pride and +loftiness of heart, which are the unrestrained denizens of those high +regions in the social atmosphere, which lie above the common walks of +life. Let a man in one of the high places of the earth, be accustomed +only _to look down_, and he is ready like Herod of old, to fancy the +flattery, truth, which tells him he is a god;--let him _look up_;--there +Jehovah sitteth above the water floods and remaineth king forever! + +Another important effect of such views of religious obligation, will be +seen _in restraining the blind and ruinous excess of party feeling_. He +is a short-sighted politician indeed, who utters a sweeping denunciation +of party distinctions. And if they may be harmless, and even in some +cases form the very safety of the nation, then party _feeling_, without +which _parties_ could not exist, is, in some of its degrees and +developements right and desirable. But like the lightning of heaven, +while it purifies the political atmosphere, how easily and how quickly +may it desolate and destroy! In its healthful action, it is like the +gentle breeze, which refreshes man and fertilizes the earth; in its +excess, like the tornado, which sweeps away every green thing, and even +upturns the foundations of many generations. + +When it is a modification of true-hearted patriotism, seeking the public +good by party organizations, it is right and safe; but when it is the +offspring of the wicked selfishness, already described, it is restrained +by no bounds, and directed to no good end. When a public officer, of +whatever rank, becomes the servant of a party, instead of being a +servant of God, for good to the _people_, it is not difficult to foresee +the consequences. + +No argument is necessary to show that he who feels himself accountable +to God, will be but slightly constrained by the bonds of party +influence. So far as he regards the ends of a party as accordant with +the true ends of government, which in some cases may be nothing more +than the truth, and in others nothing _less_--his sense of religious +obligation will of course not interfere with his diligent prosecution of +those ends. But at that critical point, where ends zeal for party, for +the sake of the common weal, and begins zeal for party, for the party's +sake, and for ambition's sake, there a sense of paramount obligation, +like the magnetic power, will still the whispers of selfishness, and +counteract the tendencies of party commitment. The Christian politician +knows no party but the party of patriots, or, if that party be divided, +he seeks not the building up of either fragment for its own sake--but +the building up on the best and most hopeful, or if need be, on the +ruins of both, the great fabric of public welfare. Who does not desire +to see a deep sense of allegiance to one who is our Master, pervading +the leaders and the adherents of the great political parties, into which +it is so common and perhaps necessary, for nations to be divided?--under +such an influence, how might excesses be restrained, needless +repellances be neutralized, and how soon, instead of fierce bands of +brethren gathered in distinct and opposing array, like the dark clouds +of summer, meeting over our heads, might we see the beauty and the +strength of party organization, without its wide severance and its +deadly hate, like the rainbow, which is not more beautiful in the +variety of its colors, than in the grace with which the divine Painter +has blended them. + +It will be denied by none, of whatever religious or political faith, +that public morals are, under a government like ours, the life-blood of +national strength and safety. The day that shall behold us a nation of +gamblers, or duelists, or profane swearers or drunkards, or +Sabbath-breakers--will be the day of our political death. Armies, and +navies, and enterprise, and numbers, with a sound hereditary government, +may for a time give prosperity to a dissolute immoral people. But in a +government like ours, where the laws and the administration of law, are +as quickly and as certainly affected by the popular sentiment, owing to +frequent elections, as the sunbeams are reflected from the summer +clouds, prosperity cannot survive morality a single day. And who can +tell how important, in this view, it is, that our public men should be +public models of private virtue! + +Oh, when, our hearts exclaim, when shall the _evil_ example be unknown +in the high places of power; and purity, truth, high-toned Christian +morality, beam like another sun, from the seats of influence? The true +answer to this question would afford another argument for the importance +of that sense of religious obligation which has now been considered. The +command of God is the only mandate in the universe which can effectually +restrain human passions and desires. The voice which comes attended by +the sanction, "Thus saith the Lord," is the only voice which can +successfully say, "peace! be still," to the winds and the waves of wrong +inclination. When our rulers shall "all be taught of God,"--and yield +themselves to a constraining sense of his dominion, and their own +accountableness--then, and not till then, will they as a body, be such +models of private correctness and virtue, as many of them, both among +the dead and among the living, have been, for the imitation of the young +men, the hope and glory of our land. + +Again, and it is the last consideration we shall present, how powerful a +tendency would such views on the part of our rulers, possess, to awaken +the utmost vigilance in the guardianship of their sacred trust, and to +elevate the mind and heart to the purest feelings, and the noblest +efforts. + +A sense of accountability, in some manner and to some tribunal, is +essential to ensure fidelity under all temptations to indolence or +perversion, in every case in which men are the recipients of any trust. +Apply this principle to the case of him who holds some political station +of high importance. He feels himself responsible, not only to men, but +to God. He knows and remembers that he is the _servant of God_ for good, +to the people. This remembrance and impression is the sheet anchor of +his steadfastness. Other principles _might_ hold him amidst the storms +and commotions of the popular sea, and of his own heart; this _must_. +With what care will he watch the precious trust, which comes to him +under the seal of heaven! How sedulously will he guard the doors of the +temple of liberty, when he perceives within it the altar of God, and +finds his sentinel's commission countersigned with the handwriting of +Jehovah! His heart, too, will be filled with the purest and most exalted +sentiments. + +The fountain from which such a man daily drinks, sparkles with the +elements of all that is grateful and refreshing. + +The purest patriotism, the sweetest charities of domestic life, the most +expansive and wise benevolence, all spring up in the heart together, the +consentaneous and harmonious fruits of the love and fear of God. It was +in the same school that Wilberforce learned to love the slave--Howard to +love the prisoner--Wirt to love his country--and all to love the world. +They _feared and obeyed God_--and all noble and generous emotions grow +spontaneously in the soil of the heart thus prepared and enriched. + +Nor is the effort less marked or less salutary upon the _mind_. Its +thoughts are loftier, and its purposes deeper and more steadfast, for +being conversant with the great subject of divine obligation. No man can +think much of the Deity, and realize strongly His constant presence and +inspection, without an elevation of views, and a growing consciousness +of that mental power, for the right use of which he is accountable to +Him who bestowed it. We were not made to inhabit a godless world, and we +cannot make it so, in speculation and in practice, without a +deterioration analogous to the dwarfish tendency of emigration to a +region colder than our native clime. "God is a sun," to the mental as +well as to the moral powers; and in the frozen zone of practical +atheism, both degenerate and die. The noble motto, "_Bene orasse est +bene studisse_," applies with hardly less force to secular, than to +sacred studies. + +With what energy must it arm the soul of the patriot statesman +struggling against wrong counsels, and discredited dangers, to know that +the God of truth and of right, sees and approves his course! With what +new power does his mind grasp a difficult and embarrassed subject, when +he feels that the Former of that mind, now demands from him an exertion +of its highest powers! What exciting power, to call forth the most +thrilling eloquence, can be found in the crowded senate-chamber, +compared with the consciousness that for every word he must give account +to Him, whose applause, if he fulfils his high behest, will surpass in +value the shouts of an enraptured universe besides! + + + + +A NEW-ENGLAND WINTER-SCENE. + +EXTRACT FROM A LETTER TO A FRIEND IN ONE OF THE WEST INDIA ISLANDS. + +By William Cutter. + + +I have sometimes almost envied you the perpetual summer you enjoy. You +have none of the bleak, dark wastes of Winter around you, and have never +to look, with aching heart, upon all fair, bright, beautiful things, +withering before your eyes, in the severe frown of frosty Autumn. It is +always green, and fresh, and fragrant, in your Islands of eternal June. +Your gardens are always gardens, gay and redolent with sweet blossoms, +and rich with ripe fruits, mingling like youth and manhood vying with +each other, "from laughing morning up to sober prime," pursuing, without +blight or dimness, the same gay round--blooming and ripening--ripening +and blooming, but never falling, through all generations. Through all +seasons, you have only to reach forth your hands, and there are bright +bouquets, and mellow, delicious fruits, ready to fill them. Your trees +have always a shade to spread over you; and they cast off their gorgeous +blossoms, and their luxuriant load, as if they were conscious of +immortal youth and energy--as if they knew they should never fade, +become fruitless, or die. There is no frail, bending, withering age, in +any thing of nature you look upon--no blasting of the unripened bud by +untimely frosts--no falling prematurely of all that is beautiful and +rare, to remind you daily that time is on his flight, and that you will +not always be young. I wonder you do not think yourselves immortal in +those everlasting gardens! Oh! that perpetual youth and maturity of +every thing lovely!--how I have sometimes envied you the possession! + +But I shall never envy you again. No--delightful as summer is, soft as +its breezes, and sweet as its music, I would not lose the unutterable +glory of this scene, that is now before me, for all the riches of your +Island,--its unfading summer, and everlasting sweets. I wish I could +describe it to you--could give you some faint idea of its celestial +splendor. But, to do it any justice, I should have travelled through the +fields of those glittering constellations above me, to borrow images +from the host of heaven. The attempt will be vain--presumptuous--but I +will try to tell you as much of it as I can. + +The day has been dark, cold, and stormy. The snow has been falling +lightly, mingled with rain, which, freezing as it fell, has formed a +perfect covering of ice upon every object. The trees and shrubbery, even +to their minutest branches, are all perfectly encased in this +transparent drapery. Nothing could look more bleak and melancholy while +the storm continued. But, just as evening closed in, the storm ceased, +and the clouds rolled swiftly away. Never was a clearer, a more spotless +sky. The moon is in the zenith of her march, with her multitude of +bright attendants, pouring their mild radiance, like living light, upon +the sea of glass that is all around us. Oh! how it kindles me to look at +it! how it maddens me that I have no language to tell it to you! Do but +imagine--The fields blazing out, like oceans of molten silver!--every +tree and shrub, as far as the eye can reach, of pure transparent +glass--a perfect garden of moving, waving breathing chrystals, lighted +into unearthly splendor by a full, unclouded moon, and scattering +undimmed, in every direction, the beams that are poured upon them. The +air, all around, seems alive with illuminated gems. Every tree is a +diamond chandelier, with a whole constellation of stars clustering to +every socket--and, as they wave and tremble in the light breeze that is +passing, I think of the dance of the morning stars, while they sang +together on the birth-day of creation. Earth is a mirror of heaven. I +can almost imagine myself borne up among the spheres, and looking +through their vast theatre of lights. There are stars of every +magnitude--from the humble twig, that glows and sparkles on the very +bosom of the glassy earth, and the delicate thorn that points its +glittering needle to the light, to the gorgeous, stately tree, that +lifts loftily its crowned head and stretches its gemmed and almost +overborne arms, proudly and gloriously to the heavens--all +glowing--glittering--flashing--blazing--like--but why do I attempt it? +As well might I begin to paint the noon-day sun. Give a loose to your +imagination. Think of gardens and forests, hung with myriads of +diamonds--nay, every tree, every branch, every stem and twig, a perfect, +polished crystal, and the full, glorious moon, and all the host of +evening, down in the very midst of them--and you will know what I am +looking at. I am all eye and thought, but have no voice, no words to +convey to you an impression of what I see and feel--No, I'll not envy +you again! What a picture for mortal eyes to look on undimmed! The +eagle, that goes up at noon-day to the sun, would be amazed in its +effulgence. It is the coronation-eve of winter--and nature has opened +her casket, and poured out every dazzling gem, and brilliant in her +keeping, and hung out all her rain-bow drops, and lighted up every lamp, +and they are all glowing, twinkling, sparkling, flashing together, like +legions of spiritual eyes, glancing from world to world, in such +unearthly rivalry, that the eye, even of the mind, turns away from it, +pained and weary with beholding. There--look--but I can say no more, my +words are consumed, drunk up in this unutterable glory, like morning +mist when the sun looks on it! + + + + +LOCH KATRINE. + +By N. H. Carter. + + +An eminence in the road afforded us the first view of Loch Katrine, a +blue and bright expanse of water, cradled among lofty hills, though +moderate both in point of altitude and boldness, when contrasted with +those which had already been seen. The first feature that arrested +attention, was the peculiar complexion of the water, which is cerulean, +and differs several shades from that of the other Scottish lakes. Its +hue is probably modified by the verdure upon the shores, as well as by +the geological structure of its bed, in which there is little or no mud. +Like some of our own pellucid waters, it is a Naiad of the purest kind, +sleeping on coral and crystal couches. Its blue tinge was doubtless in +some degree heightened by the distance whence it was first descried, as +well as by the deep azure of the skies after the late storm. + +Hastening to the shore, we waited some time for the oarsmen, who +accompanied us from Loch Lomond, to bring out their boat from behind a +little promontory, which for aught I know, was the very place where Rob +Roy and Ellen Douglas used to hide their canoes. There is no house +within several miles of the landing. The only building of any kind is a +small temporary hut, of rude construction, serving as a poor shelter in +case of rain. As this lake has become a fashionable resort, one would +suppose the number of travellers would justify the expense of a +boatman's house, which would relieve the oarsmen from the trouble of +walking half a dozen miles, and the tourist from the vexation of paying +for it. + +At two o'clock in the afternoon, seven of us, including the boat's crew, +embarked, and commenced a voyage to the foot of the lake, a distance of +nine miles in a south-eastern direction. Winds and waves both conspired +to accelerate our progress, and no Highland bark probably ever bounded +more merrily over the blue billows. The cone of Ben-Lomond rapidly +receded, and Ben-venue and Ben-an, on opposite sides of the outlet, came +more fully in view. At the head, Glengyle opens prettily from the +north-west, with serrated hills forming the lofty ramparts of the pass, +in the entrance of which is a seat belonging to one of the descendants +of Rob Roy M'Gregor. The width of the lake is about two miles, with +deeply indented shores, which are generally bold and romantic, +exhibiting occasionally scattered houses and patches of cultivation, +particularly on the north-eastern borders. Our course was nearest the +south-western side, touching at one little desolate promontory, to +exchange boats, and often approaching so close, as to enable us to +examine the scanty growth upon the margin. + +In about two hours from the time of embarkation, we reached Ellen's +Island, near the outlet; and half encircling the green eminence, rising +beautifully from the bosom of the lake, our Highland mariners made a +port in the identical little bay, where the far-famed heroine was wont +to moor her skiff, fastening it to an oak, which still hangs its aged +arms over the flood. This miniature harbor is also signalized, as the +place where Helen Stuart cut off the head of one of Cromwell's +soldiers. As the story goes, all the women and children fled hither for +refuge. After a decisive victory, one of the veterans of the Protector +attempted to swim to the island for a boat, with an intention of +pillaging and laying waste the asylum; but as he approached the shore +the above mentioned heroine, stepped from her ambuscade, and with one +stroke of her dirk decapitated the marauder, thus rescuing her narrow +dominion with its tenants from destruction. + +The Island is small and rises perhaps fifty feet above the water. It +rests on a basis of granite, covered with a thin coat of earth, through +which the rocks occasionally appear, and which affords scanty nutriment +to a growth of oak, birch, and mountain ash. The red berries of the +latter hung gracefully over the cliffs, in many places shaded with brown +heath. A winding pathway leads to the summit, which is beautifully +tufted, and affords a charming view of the surrounding hills and waters. + +In a little secluded copse near the top stands Ellen's Bower, fashioned +exactly according to the description of the same object in the Lady of +the Lake. Those who are curious to form a minute and accurate image of +it, have only to turn to that picture. The exterior is composed of +unhewn logs or sticks of fir, fantastically arranged, with a thatched, +moss-covered roof, and skins of beasts converted into semi-transparent +parchment for windows. Every thing within is in rustic style. A living +aspen grows in the centre, and supports the ceiling. Upon its branches +hangs a great variety of ancient armor, with trophies of the chase. Here +may be seen the Lochaber axe, Rob Roy's dirk, and sundry other +curiosities. A table strewed with leaves extends nearly the whole +length of the bower. The walls are hung with shields, and the skins of +various animals. Chairs and sofas woven of osiers fill the apartment. +The chimney is formed of sticks, and the head of a stag with his +branching horns decorates the mantlepiece. Half an hour was passed in +lolling upon Ellen's sofas, and in examining her domestic arrangements. + +Bidding a lingering farewell to the sweet little island, we again +embarked and soon completed the residue of our voyage. The foot of Loch +Katrine is very romantic and beautiful. Innumerable hills of moderate +elevation raise their grey, pointed peaks around and above a deeply +wooded glen, opening towards the south-east and forming the outlet of +the lake. The highest of these are Ben-venue and Ben-an, rising on each +side of the pass. Both are fine mountains, something like two thousand +feet in height, with naked masses of granite overhanging wild and woody +bases. From the great number of peaks or _pikes_ which are crowded into +this narrow district, it has been called the Trosachs, or _bristled +region_. The lake is here reduced to less than half a mile in width, +sheltered on all sides from the winds by high promontories, jutting so +far into the water, as to appear like a group of islands. + +Towards the north-west, the eye looks up the glen of Strathgartney, in +which tradition says that the grey charger of Fitz-James fell. The +boatman gravely informed us, that _his bones are to be seen to this +day_! Such stories, and the sketches of certain topographers, have +afforded us an infinite fund of amusement. + +We landed at the foot of Loch Katrine, and after walking a mile and a +half reached our hotel. + + + + +WORSHIP. + +By Asa Cummings. + + +That heart must be desolate indeed, which is a stranger to devotion. +Were it possible to remain undevout, and at the same time not be +criminal, it were still a state of mind most earnestly to be deprecated. +It is a joyless condition, to live without God in the world; to be +unsusceptible to the attractions of his moral excellence; to pass the +time of our sojourning in a world of trial, without ever communing with +the Father of our spirits, or voluntarily casting ourselves on an +Almighty arm for support, and breathing forth to the Author of our +being, the language of supplication and praise. + +And how is the effect of devotion heightened by the junction of numbers +in the same service--even of the "multitude who keep holy day!" A scene, +so honorable to Him "who inhabiteth the praises of Israel," so fit in +itself, so congruous to man's social nature and dependant condition, so +impressive on the actors and spectators, and so salutary in its +influence,--awakened in the "sweet singer of Israel," the most ardent +longings for the courts of the Lord, and constituted the glowing theme +of more than one of his unrivalled songs. Nay, under the influence of +that inspiration which prompted his thoughts and guided his pen, he does +not hesitate to affirm:--"_The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than +all the dwellings of Jacob._"[1] + +Far from us be the thought of casting upon the Psalmist the imputation +of undervaluing himself, or of designing to lead his fellow-men to +undervalue domestic or private worship. Every contrite heart is an abode +where God delights to dwell--a temple where he abides and operates--a +chosen habitation, where he reveals his love and displays his grace. It +is a complacent sight to the Father of spirits, to behold one prodigal +returning, to see an individual prostrate before him, and lifting up his +cry for pardon and spiritual strength. It is pleasing in his eyes to see +a family at their morning and evening devotions, pouring out their souls +with all the workings of pious affection, and the various pleadings of +faith. No sweeter incense than this, ever ascends to heaven. When, +therefore, God expresses his preference for the worship of the +sanctuary, it is not the _quality_ which he regards, but the _degree_; +not the _kind_ of influence exerted, but the _amount_. In the sanctuary +is the concentrated devotion of many hearts. Here are more minds to be +wrought upon; here is a wider scope for the operation of truth; here a +light is raised which is seen from afar, and attracts the gaze of +distant beholders, as the temple on the summit of Moriah, "fretted with +golden fires," arrested the eye of the distant traveller. Here is a +public, practical declaration to all the world, that there is a God, and +that adoration and service are his due. + +In the sanctuary the Creator and the creature are brought near to each +other. The character and perfections of God, his law and government, the +wonders of his providence, the riches of his grace, the duty and destiny +of man, are brought directly before the mind by the "lively oracles." +"Beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, we are changed into +the same image." Truth, enforced by the energies of the life-giving +Spirit, "is quick and powerful." God "pours water on them that are +thirsty;" and in fulfilment of the prophetic word, "young men and +maidens, old men and children," awakened to "newness of life," spring up +"as willows by the water-courses," and flock to the Refuge of souls, "as +doves to their windows." A spectacle this, well pleasing to God, and +cheering to the hearts of his friends on earth--none more so this side +heaven. None produces such a commingling of wonder, love, humility, and +gratitude; none calls forth such adoring thankfulness; none makes the +songs of the temple below so like that new song of Moses and the Lamb, +which is perpetually sung before the throne above. Heaven is brought +down to earth--eternity takes hold on time; this world yields its +usurped throne in the hearts of men, and Jehovah reigns triumphant, the +Lord of their affections. "The power and glory of God are seen in the +sanctuary." + +Here, too, are ample provisions to meet all future wants--moral means to +restore the wandering, to recover the spiritually faint, to refresh and +fortify their souls to sustain the conflict with temptation, to inspire +the heart with religious joy, to nourish that spiritual life which has +dawned in their souls. Here is the "sincere milk of the word," on which +they may "grow;" the significant ordinances, so quickening to the +affections, so invigorating to man's spiritual nature. The Baptismal +water affects the heart through the medium of the eye, and enforces the +worshipper's obligation to abjure the world, and to be pure as Christ is +pure. The Emblematic Feast, exhibiting "Jesus Christ set forth +crucified before his eyes,"--while it affectingly reminds him of his +lost condition as a sinner, contains an impressive demonstration of the +power and grace of his Deliverer, "in whom we have redemption through +his blood." His faith fastens itself on this sacrifice. He is loosed +from the bondage of sin; his "soul is satisfied as with marrow and +fatness." His fellowship is with the Father, and with the Son. He has +communion with the saints. He derives new support to his fainting faith, +and goes on his pilgrimage rejoicing. + +The entire exercises and scenes of the house of worship--the reading of +the scriptures, the confessions, prayers, and praises, the songs of the +temple--for "as well the singers as the players on instruments" are +there[2]--the preaching of the gospel, the celebration of the +sacraments,--all combine their aid to strengthen pious principle, holy +purpose, virtuous habit, and to render the children of God "perfect, +thoroughly furnished to every good work." The place, the day, the +multitude, the power of sympathy, all conspire to give effect to truth, +and to rouse them up to labor for God, for their species, for eternity: +all combine to render the house of God "the gate of heaven," the image +of heaven, and a precious antepast of the enjoyments of heaven! + + "My willing soul would stay + In such a frame as this, + And sit, and sing herself away + To everlasting bliss." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Psalm lxxxvii, 2. + +[2] Psalm lxxxvii, 7. + + + + +THE VALLEY OF SILENCE. + +By William Cutter. + + It was a perfect Eden for beauty. The scent of flowers came + up on the gale, the swift stream sparkled like a flow of + diamonds in the sun, and a smile of soft light glistened on + every leaf and blade, as they drank in the life-giving ray. + Its significant loveliness was eloquent to the eye and the + heart--but a strange deep silence reigned over it all. So + perfect was the unearthly stillness, you could almost hear + yourself think.--_Katahdin._ + + + Has thy foot ever trod that silent dell? + 'Tis a place for the voiceless thought to swell + And the eloquent song to go up unspoken, + Like the incense of flowers whose urns are broken; + And the unveiled heart may look in, and see, + In that deep strange silence, its motions free, + And learn how the pure in spirit feel + That unseen Presence to which they kneel. + + No sound goes up from the quivering trees, + When they spread their arms to the welcome breeze; + They wave in the Zephyr--they bow to the blast-- + But they breathe not a word of the power that passed; + And their leaves come down on the turf and the stream, + With as noiseless a fall as the step of a dream; + And the breath that is bending the grass and the flowers, + Moves o'er them as lightly as evening hours. + + The merry bird lights down on that dell, + And, hushing his breath, lest the song should swell, + Sits with folded wing in the balmy shade, + Like a musical thought in the soul unsaid. + And they of strong pinion and loftier flight, + Pass over that valley, like clouds in the night-- + They move not a wing in that solemn sky, + But sail in a reverent silence by. + + The deer, in his flight, has passed that way, + And felt the deep spell's mysterious sway-- + He hears not the rush of the path he cleaves, + Nor his bounding step on the trampled leaves. + The hare goes up on that sunny hill, + And the footsteps of morning are not more still, + And the wild, and the fierce, and the mighty are there, + Unheard in the hush of that slumbering air. + + The stream rolls down in that valley serene, + Content in its beautiful flow to be seen, + And its fresh flowery banks, and its pebbly bed + Were never yet told of its fountain head; + And it still rushes on--but they ask not why, + With its smile of light, it is hurrying by; + Still, gliding, or leaping, unwhispered, unsung, + Like the flow of bright fancies, it flashes along. + + The wind sweeps by, and the leaves are stirred, + But never a whisper or sigh is heard; + And when its strong rush laid low the oak, + Not a murmur the eloquent stillness broke. + And the gay young echoes--those mockers that lie + In the dark mountain-sides--make no reply, + But, hushed in their caves, they are listening still + For the songs of that valley to burst o'er the hill. + + I love society;--I am o'erblest to hear + The mingling voices of a world; mine ear + Drinks in their music with a spiritual taste; + I love companionship on life's dark waste, + And could not live unheard;--yet that still vale-- + It had no fearful mystery in its tale;-- + Its hush was grand, not awful, as if there + The voice of nature were a breathing prayer. + 'Twas like a holy temple, where the pure + Might blend in their heart-worship, and be sure + No sound of earth could come--a soul kept still, + In faith's unanswering meekness, for heaven's will, + Its eloquent thoughts sent upward and abroad, + But all its deep hushed voices kept for God! + + + + +DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DIVINE BEING. + +By Gershom F. Cox. + + +It is a difficult task to shadow forth spirit. The best emblems of the +earth can give but faint and distant views of its incomprehensible +nature. Our own consciousness, too, must fail to give us adequate +notions of the mysterious traits of its character. Aided by the +brightest images of earth, or the most subtle principles of philosophy, +who can bring to view any tolerably good picture of a HUMAN SOUL!--who +can draw the outlines of thought!--thought that is as immeasurable as +the universe!--thought that _could encompass_, with more than the +quickness of the lightning's flash, all that God has made!--thought that +gives to us, at once, the gravity of the merest atom, the beauties and +properties of the petal of a single flower, or the structure, density, +size and weight of the worlds that border on the outskirts of our own +universe; and when it has done its noble work, as if plumed for fresh +conquests, stretches itself far beyond the material universe, into the +deep solitudes of eternity, in quest of something more! Who, we ask +again, can give the outlines of thought? Who can tell us of its yet +hidden resources; or of a mind like that of Newton, or of Bacon, which, +after they had taken from the arcana of nature some of her most hidden +principles, "entered the secret place of the Most High, and lodged +beneath the shadow of the Almighty?" How much less, then, can we give +just descriptions of the DEITY! How can we describe Him "who covereth +himself with LIGHT as with a garment,"--whom no man hath seen, nor can +see. + +We are aware that every thing speaks of _a_ God. All nature has its +language; and however dark the alphabet, it still speaks, and speaks +every where; for there is no place where he has not "left a witness." We +acknowledge, too, that the only reason why the deep tones of nature are +not more audible, may be found in the imbecilities or transgressions of +man. But, while the babbling brook hath its story to tell of its Maker, +and the willow that bends and sighs by its side, and the pebble o'er +which the streamlet rolls;--while the glorious dew-drop has its power of +speech--the soft south breeze, and "the hoar-frost of heaven;" while the +deep vale may offer its chorus to the waving corn, or to the lofty +summit by its side; while often may be heard the full notes of the angry +tempest, and of the tornado as it sweeps by us, carrying fearful +desolation in its path; although these may all speak forcibly of the +power, of the goodness, of the wisdom, of the terrible justice of God; +yet, without divine revelation, like the inscription at Athens, they +only point to a God UNKNOWN. The awful precipice, where + + "Leaps the live thunder," + +in the hour of the tempest, doth but stun the intellect of man with its +overhanging and dizzy heights. And "the sound of many waters," or "the +deep, lifting up his hands on high,"--although they may arouse every +passion of the spirit, and address it as with the voice of God; yet, to +man, these all want an interpreter. Lo! these are but "_parts_ of his +ways." But what a mere "_whisper_ of the matter is heard in it, and the +thunder of his power who can understand!" + +Nature speaks--we repeat it--but her language, to us, is often +indefinite; like the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, it may arouse the spirit +to inquiry--agitate every passion to consternation; but without a Daniel +to interpret her admonitions, "the thing is passed from us." Else why +this gross ignorance of the character of God among even the enlightened, +or rather civilized, nations of antiquity? Why did not Egypt, when all +the "wisdom of the east" was concentrated in her sons, have _some_ +notions of the Deity that would have raised their minds above the +serpent or crocodile, or some insignificant article of the vegetable +creation? Why did not the savage, roaming in the freedom of his +interminable forests, have some correct views of God? He had talked with +the sun, and heard the roar of the tempest; the evening sky in its +grandeur was an everlasting map spread out before him, and the broad +lake mirrored back to him its glories. But how confused--how degraded +were the loftiest notions of the Deity, among the most powerful of +Indian minds! + +But I have already strayed from my purpose. I intended only to give a +specimen or two, of attempted descriptions of the Deity, for the purpose +of showing the infinite superiority of those contained in the bible, +above every other in the world. + +It ought, however, to be recollected, that the descriptions we find +among heathen authors, are doubtless more or less indebted to sentiments +borrowed from the Jewish scriptures; although we believe the contrast +will show that they have passed through heathen hands. One of the most +sublime to be met with in the world, out of the bible, was engraved in +hieroglyphics upon the temple of Neith, the Egyptian Minerva. It is as +follows: + +"I am that which is, was, and shall be: no mortal hath lifted up my +veil: the offspring of my power is the sun." + +A similar inscription still remains at Capua, on the temple of Isis: + +"Thou art one, and from thee all things proceed." + +In the above, evident traces are to be seen of the Hebrew term JEHOVAH. +Some of Homer's descriptions have their excellencies; but they all +suffer from the fact, that he clothes the deities he describes, not only +with human passions, but with human appetites of the most degrading +character. And he never seems more satisfied with himself than when he +represents them heated for war! "Warring gods," when placed at the foot +of Calvary, or contrasted with any just description of the true God, is +certainly a revolting idea; and it is still worse to introduce them as +does Homer, with the shuddering thought that, + + "Gods on gods exert _eternal rage_!" + +And our impressions are scarcely more favorable when he presents us with +an _un_incarnate, and yet "bleeding god," retiring from the field of +battle, "pierced with Grecian darts," "though fatal, not to die." The +following from this author is singular indeed: + + "Of lawless force shall _lawless_ MARS complain? + Of all the _most unjust_, most odious in our eyes! + In human discord is thy dire delight, + The waste of slaughter, and the rage of fight. + No bound, no law thy fiery temper quells, + And all _thy mother_ in thy soul rebels!"--_Illiad, Book 5._ + +The following is far less exceptionable: + + "And know, the Almighty is the God of gods. + League all your forces then, ye powers above, + Join all, and try the omnipotence of Jove; + Let down our golden everlasting chain, + Whose strong embrace holds heaven, and earth and main: + Strive all, of mortal or immortal birth, + To draw, by this, the thunderer down to earth: + Ye strive in vain! If I but stretch this hand, + I heave the gods, the ocean, and the land; + I fix the chain to great Olympus' height, + And the vast world hangs trembling in my sight! + For such I reign unbounded and above; + And such are men, and gods, compared to Jove."--Ill. b. vi. + +Some of the above ideas are certainly sublime, and considering the age +that produced them, they have no superior but the bible. + +As the KORAN has attained considerable celebrity, we should hardly be +pardoned should we not notice it. The passage on which the Mohammedan +rests his whole faith, for sublimity, and which is confessedly +unapproached by any thing else in the koran, is the following: + +"God! There is no God but he; the living, the self-subsisting; neither +slumber nor sleep seizeth him; to him belongeth whatsoever is in heaven, +and on earth. Who is he that can intercede with him but through his good +pleasure? He knoweth that which is past, and that which is to come. His +throne is extended over heaven and earth, and the preservation of both +is to him no burden. He is the High, the Mighty." + +If the above passage contained a single _original_ thought, it might +entitle it to higher praise than it can now receive. But as there is no +thought expressed, but may be found in the book of Job, or among the +inimitable Psalms of David, written from sixteen hundred to two thousand +years before Mohammed, and which this pretended prophet had before +him--and as we can hardly allow their originality of expression--the +only praise that can be bestowed upon its author is, that of having +studied the Jewish scriptures pretty closely, a fact that is exhibited +throughout his famous production. But while we acknowledge that this is +a brilliant passage, it evidently does not surpass, nor even equal, +either of the following, selected from our own times. + + "Eternal Spirit! God of truth! to whom + All things seem as they are. Thou who of old + The prophet's eye unsealed, that nightly saw + While heavy sleep fell down on other men, + In holy vision tranced, the future pass + Before him, and to Judah's harp attuned + Burdens which make the pagan mountains shake, + And Zion's cedars bow,--inspire my song; + My eye unscale; me what is substance teach, + And shadow what, while I of things to come, + As past rehearsing, sing the course of time. + --Hold my right hand, Almighty! and me teach + To strike the lyre----to notes + Which wake the echoes of Eternity."--_Pollok._ + +In the above extracts there is this remarkable difference: Mohammed, in +his description of Deity, has _no thought_ that refers to a _moral +perfection_ of God! And indeed gross sensuality, and a destitution of +high and spiritual views, characterize his whole work. + +But with Pollok, the first thought is SPIRIT--a second, TRUTH. And aside +from this peculiarity, although you turn over every leaf of the koran, +we affirm that you cannot find so sublime a conception as the following: + + "Hold my right hand, Almighty! and me teach + To strike the lyre,----to notes + That wake the echoes of eternity." + +But how infinitely, both in grandeur and simplicity, do all these fall +short of the inimitable _original_ of most of these, penned by David of +the Old, or Paul of the New Testament. + +"O, my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: THY years are +throughout all generations. Of old hast THOU laid the foundations of the +earth, and the heavens are the work of thine hands. They shall perish, +but THOU shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as +a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. BUT THOU +ART THE SAME, AND THY YEARS SHALL HAVE NO END." + +"Who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and the Lord +of lords; who only hath IMMORTALITY, dwelling in Light which no man can +approach unto,--whom no man hath seen, nor can see!" + +Or as in another place, "The King eternal, immortal, invisible,--the +only wise God." + +In the above specimens, there is a grandeur and simplicity not to be +found in any merely human composition. + +The following is very fine, from Habakkuk: + + "God came from Teman, + The Holy One from Mount Paran. + His glory covered the heavens, + And his praise filled the earth. + His brightness was like the sun, + Out of his hand [or side] came flashes of lightning, + And there was only the veil of his might. + Before him walked the pestilence, + And burning coals went forth at his feet. + He stood, and the earth was moved; + He looked, and caused the nations to quake. + And the everlasting mountains were broken in pieces, + And the perpetual hills did bow. + His goings are from everlasting." + +We scarcely know which to admire most, the above or the following from +the same author: + + "The mountains saw THEE and trembled, + The overflowing waters passed away. + The deep uttered his voice, + And lifted up his hands on high. + The sun and moon stood still in their habitations. + At the shining of thine arrows, (i. e. the lightnings,) they + disappeared-- + At the brightness of thy glittering spear!" + +The following paraphrastic reference may be regarded as barren in some +respects, compared with others that might be selected from the same +living fountain. + +The EYE of the Supreme Being is regarded as so piercing as to pervade +heaven, earth and hell, and the awful depths of eternity. His +COUNTENANCE is as the sun shining in his strength. The wind, in its +endless whirl, is but his breath or breathing. His HAND is represented +so immense, that even its "hollow" will "contain the waters of the great +deep,"--and, when "spanned," he "measures with it the whole heavens." +While "_sitting_ in the circle of the heavens," the earth is represented +as the place where his feet rest. So rapid in his motion, that "He +_walks_ upon the wings of the wind." Of such awful strength, "that the +earth," with its countless inhabitants, are "less than the dust" that +accumulates "upon the balance." At one time "He covereth himself with +_light_ as with a garment,"--and at another, "He maketh _darkness_ his +pavilion, and the thick clouds of the skies." + +These however are images all borrowed from sensible objects, and, +magnificent as they may be, they fail of throwing upon the mind a full +image of Him who hath "no likeness in the heavens above, nor in the +earth beneath." And, besides, these glowing pictures present to the mind +none of his moral attributes. For a description of these, we must look +either to the events of his providence, or a more particular disclosure +in the bible. And it may well astonish us, that, after the lapse of more +than three thousand years, we may look in vain for a fuller or more +perfect description of the Divine Being, in words, than is given by +MOSES in that memorable moment upon Mount Sinai-- + + "Whose grey tops did tremble, when God ordained their laws." + +A description that is like the sun rising upon the chaos that surrounded +him in the Egyptian mythology, which at that time was so gross that no +object in nature was too mean for a deity. But "in the midst of this +darkness that might be felt," God was pleased to reveal himself in the +following language, at once sufficiently grave and impressive to afford +irrefragable proof of its high origin. + + ~Vay'avor Adonai 'al panav vaykra Adonai Adonai El ra[h.]um + ve[h.]anun erekh apayim verav [h.]esed veemeth. Notzer + [h.]esed laalafim nose 'avon vafesha ve [h.]atah venakeh lo + yinakeh poked 'avon avoth 'al banim ve'al bnei vanim 'al + shileshim ve'al ribe'im.~ + +"And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord +God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and +truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression +and sin, and that will by no means clear _the guilty_; visiting the +iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's +children, unto the third and to the fourth generation." + +Or, as these striking appellatives of the Divine Being might be +translated, without offering any violation to the Hebrew,--the JEHOVAH, +the STRONG and MIGHTY GOD, the _merciful_ ONE, the GRACIOUS ONE, the +long-suffering ONE, the GREAT and MIGHTY ONE, the BOUNTIFUL BEING, the +TRUE ONE, or TRUTH, the Preserver of BOUNTIFULNESS, the REDEEMER, or +Pardoner, the Righteous JUDGE, and He who VISITS INIQUITY. + +This is a remarkable description indeed to come from one educated in +the midst of Egyptian mythology; and the awful names by which the +Supreme Being is designated, can only be accounted for, under such +circumstances, on the supposition that Moses received them directly from +the Almighty himself. + +But to close our article. The Divine Being is nowhere so perfectly, so +interestingly described as in the CHARACTER OF CHRIST. Here LOVE is +unbosomed as it could not be by language. Here heaven drops down to +earth; and the otherwise invisible beauties of the invisible God, are +made tangible even to the eye. The _arm_ of mercy, outstretched to the +sinner--the eye of justice softened by the tear of mercy--the heart of +love beating intensely with benignity, as well as every perfection of +the divine nature; are all laid open to the view of sinful, helpless +man, and we become "eye witness of his glorious majesty." Here the tears +of mercy may be seen dropping upon its wretched objects of +commiseration; and the most secret emotions of the divine mind, we may +behold, heaving in the bosom of the immaculate Jesus. Here indeed "God +tabernacles and walks with man." And as a confirmation of the glorious +truth, at beholding Him, "the sun stood still in his habitation." "The +sea saw him, and was afraid." The earth trembled at his presence, and +gave back the dead at his voice. Well indeed might one exclaim, to +behold such a personage, "MY LORD AND MY GOD." + + + + +THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. + +By Charles S. Daveis. + + +Never--since the period that Caesar conquered Gaul, when the inhabitants +enjoyed a barbarian license under their native chiefs and druids, had +the voice of liberty been heard in France, till the 14th of July, 1789. +Never before did such a note of exultation spread over the vine-covered +hills,--and echo among the beautiful valleys, of that fair country. +Never perhaps before was there such a burden lifted from the minds of +men. In the unwonted consciousness of power, they seemed to tread a new +earth. In the intoxication of triumph they burst from the bonds of +morality and humanity. So very singular, and strange, indeed, was the +position in which the people of France were placed by the revolution, +that their vernacular language was found deficient in the appropriate +phraseology of freedom; and they were obliged to resort to a foreign +idiom, and to the customs of other climes, and the usages of other +nations, and to ransack the regions of fancy and invention, for the +vocabulary, as well as the drapery, of their new republic. + +It is remarkable, that the revolution in France, beginning in fact, with +the destruction of the Bastile, should end in the re-establishment of +despotism. It was a revolution indeed not more remarkable for the +original character of its cause, than its catastrophe; for the +astonishing contrast it exhibits between the splendor of its talents and +the atrocity of its crimes: for the reverence which it professed for +antiquity, and the mischief it produced to posterity; for adopting the +most enormous maxims, and enforcing them by the most audacious means; +for the use which it made of its own freedom to enslave other nations to +its law, for erecting the empire of Rome upon the democracy of Athens, +for the adoption of a model of colossal grandeur, and establishing the +most tremendous system of policy, that ever convulsed human kind:--a +revolution, conspicuous also for the sudden appearance of a race of men +springing up from the earth, as though it had been sown with dragons' +teeth, and its monstrous fruits produced with hydras' heads and tigers' +hearts;--resounding, together, with the tribune, and the +guillotine;--not merely remarkable for tearing the priest from the +altar, but for rasing the altar likewise to the ground; and +distinguished for the successive destruction of some of the most ancient +thrones and crowns in Europe;--for the ignominious death of the last in +a royal line of seventy sovereigns, who, at any former period of the +monarchy, would have been blessed as the father of his people, and +canonized as the true descendant of St. Louis,--and the most affecting +example on record of an anointed queen, not more famed for her charms +than for her sorrows,--her errors more than atoned by her sufferings, +perishing without a tear, in a land of ancient renown for chivalry, upon +the scaffold! The revolution in France was a scene at which sensibility +sinks. It seemed to extinguish the hopes of its friends in the blood of +its martyrs; and it was hardly relieved by the virtues of its purest +patriot, educated in the schools of America, banished from the air of +France, and doomed to breathe the dungeons of despotism. + +To what are we indebted again for our escape from that wild turmoil, +which involved the elements of society and government in Europe with an +overwhelming violence? Why was it, that while the storm, that shook the +continent abroad, beat against our iron-bound shore, its fury was +expended at our feet; and we heard it howl along our agitated coast and +die away at a distance? Why did we enjoy a light, like the children of +Israel, in our dwellings, while Egyptian darkness brooded around? Why, +in this universal chaos, had we such reason to congratulate ourselves on +the good providence of God, in ordaining us to be a world by +ourselves?--It was certainly not, that we did not enter into the cause +of liberty in France with enthusiasm; for our hearts were in it as +warmly as they were in our own. Our sympathy was with it as long as it +could be sustained; our regret pursued it in dishonor,--and our +affection followed it into misfortune. We lamented to see, that all the +results of that amazing movement of the human mind, contemplating the +happiness of millions, and looking to the improvement of ages, should +follow the fortune of foreign war; and that they should centre in a +single individual, carried away into captivity, and doomed to end his +days upon a solitary rock. We grieved to behold the beautiful and +brilliant star of the French Revolution sink at last into mid-ocean, the +mere meteor of military glory.--Feeling all the disappointment of its +friends, we cannot but contrast it with the deep repose, which our own +illustrious and honored patriots enjoy, in the land which gave them +birth, beneath the mighty shadows of our happy political revolution. + +Although, as Americans, we cease to cling to the cause of revolutionary +liberty in France with the lingering fondness of early affection, we +continue to follow its dying light, as though we could not believe it +had entirely sunk in darkness and despair. If it be not possible to +regard it uninfluenced by its unfortunate termination, if we can borrow +nothing from its origin to relieve its mournful catastrophe, it behoves +us still to embalm the wounds of liberty with its healing spirit, and it +concerns us also, that all its sacrifices and services for the sake of +man should not have perished with its victims. The vices of the ancient +government rendered it unfit for the happiness of France, without +essential alterations; and while we reflect with pain upon the results +of the revolution, we must bear in mind that they were the excesses of +men like ourselves, transported by hopes excited by our example, and +exalted by a more ardent temper, untrained by the same favorable habits +and beneficial institutions;--and although its transient violence may +shock and repel our sympathy, it ought not to disgust us with its +principles, or to alienate our attachment from its rational objects. Let +us not fail to perceive, as we shall, if we are attentive to the facts, +that what was good was in the cause; and what was evil was the effect of +that long oppression by which it was corrupted. In this wonderful +dispensation to mankind we may not perhaps pretend to scan the ways of +providence; yet in common with the christian world we cannot fail to +behold the dealing of a divine and overruling hand. Where the seed of +liberty has been sown, and watered with the blood, as well as tears, of +patriots, that seed is yet _in_ the earth; and whether it spring up +before our eyes or not, it may be the will of Him, to whom no eye is +raised in vain, that nothing shall be lost! + + + + +MRS. SYKES. + +By Nathaniel Deering. + + +One dark, stormy night in the summer of ---- finding my system had lost +much of its _humidum radicale_, or radical moisture, in truth a very +alarming premonitory, I directed Mrs. Tonic in preparing my warm _aqua +fontana_ to infuse a _quantum sufficit_ of Hollands; of which having +taken a somewhat copious draught, I sought my cubiculum. Let no one +imagine however, that I give the least countenance to the free use of +alcoholic mixtures. They are undoubtedly poisonous, and like other +poisons, which hold a high rank in our pharmacopeia, it is only when +taken under the direction of those deemed cunning in our art, that they +exert a healing power, and as one Shakspeare happily expresses it, +"ascend me to the brain." Now as the radical moisture is essential to +vitality and as this moisture is promoted in a wonderful degree by +potations of Hollands, we of the Faculty hold with Horatius Flaccus +"_omnes eodem cogimur_"--we may all _cogue_ it. But to return to my +_narratio_ or story as it may be called. I had hardly "steep'd my senses +in forgetfulness" as some one quaintly says, when I was effectually +aroused by a loud knocking at the window. The blows were so heavy and +frequent that Mrs. Tonic though somewhat unadorned, it being her hour +for retiring, yet fearful of fractured glass, hurried to the door. I +might here mention, in order to show the reason of Mrs. Tonic's fears, +that my parlor front-window had been lately beautified with an enlarged +sash containing not seven by nine, the size generally used, but eight by +ten--panes certainly of a rare and costly size and which Mrs. Tonic had +the honor of introducing. The cause of this unseasonable disturbance +proved to be a messenger from Deacon Sykes stating that good Mrs. Sykes +was alarmingly ill and desiring my immediate attendance. Now in the +whole range of my practice there was no one whose call was sooner heeded +than Mrs. Sykes's; for besides being an ailing woman and of course a +profitable patient, she had much influence in our village as the wife of +Deacon Sykes. But I must confess that on this occasion I did feel an +unwillingness to resume my habiliments, that night as I before remarked, +being uncommonly stormy and myself feeling sensibly the effects of the +sudorific I had just taken. Still I should willingly have exposed myself +had not Mrs. Tonic gathered from the messenger that it was only a return +of Mrs. Sykes's old complaint, that excruciating pain, the colic; for +Mrs. Sykes was flatulent. As the medicine I had hitherto prescribed for +her in such aliments had been wonderfully blessed, I directed Mrs. Tonic +to bring my saddle-bags, from which having prepared a somewhat smart +dose of _tinct. rhei._ with _carb. soda_, I gave it to the messenger +bidding him return with all speed. In the belief that this would prove +efficacious, I again turned to woo the not reluctant Somnus, but +scarcely had an hour elapsed when I was again alarmed by repeated blows +first at the door and then at the window. In a moment I sat bolt +upright, in which attitude I was soon imitated by Mrs. Tonic, on hearing +the crash of one of her eight by tens. Through the aperture I now +distinctly recognized the voice of Sam Saunders, who had hired with the +Deacon, stating that good Mrs. Sykes was absolutely _in extremis_, or as +Sam himself expressed it, "at her last gasp." On hearing this, you may +be assured I was not long _in naturalibus_; but drawing on my nether +integuments, I departed despite the remonstrances of Mrs. Tonic, without +my wrapper and without any thing in fact except a renewed draught of my +_philo humidum radicale_. My journey to the Deacon's was made with such +an accelerated movement that it was accomplished as it were _per +saltum_. This was owing to my great anxiety about Mrs. Sykes, though +possibly in a small degree I might have dreaded an obstruction of the +pores in my own person. Howbeit, on arriving at the Deacon's, I saw at +once that she was beyond the healing art. There lay all that remained of +Mrs. Sykes--the _disjecta membra_, the _fragmenta_--the casket! But the +gem, the _mens divinior_ was gone and forever. There she lay, regardless +of the elongated visage of Deacon Sykes on the one side, and of the no +less elongated visage of the widow Dobble on the other side, who had +been some time visiting there, and who now hung over her departed friend +in an agony of woe. "Doctor," cried the Deacon, "is there no hope?" "Is +there no hope?" echoed the widow Dobble. I grasped the wrist of Mrs. +Sykes, but pulsation had ceased; the eye was glazed and the countenance +livid. "_A caput mortuum_, Deacon! _defuncta!_ the wick of vitality is +snuffed out." The bereaved husband groaned deeply; the widow Dobble +groaned an octave higher. + +On my way home my mind was much exercised with this sudden and +mysterious dispensation. Had Sam Saunders blundered in his statement of +her complaint? Had I myself--good Heavens! it could'nt be possible! I +opened my bags--_horresco referens!_ it was but too palpable! Owing +either to the agitation of the moment when so suddenly awakened, or to +the deep solicitude of Mrs. Tonic, who, in preparing my _philo humidum +radicale_, had infused an undue portion of the Hollands--to one of these +the lamented Mrs. Sykes might charge her untimely exit; for there was +the vial of _tinct. rhei._ full to the stopple, while the vial marked +"laudanum," was as dry as a throat in fever. I hesitate not to record +that at this discovery, I lost some of that self-possession which has +ever been characteristic of the Tonics. I was not only standing on the +brow of a precipice, but my centre of gravity seemed a little beyond it. +There were rivals in the vicinity jealous of my rising reputation. The +sudden death might cause a _post mortem_ examination, and the result +would be as fatal to me as was the laudanum to Mrs. Sykes. A thought, +occurring, doubtless through a special Providence, suddenly relieved my +mind. At break of day I retraced my footsteps to the chamber of the +deceased. Accompanied by the Deacon I approached to gaze upon the +corpse; when, suddenly starting back, I placed one hand upon my +olfactories and grasping with the other the alarmed mourner, I hurried +towards the door. "In the name of heaven!" cried the Deacon, "what is +the matter?" "The matter!" I replied, "the matter! Deacon, listen. In +all cases of mortality where the radical moisture has not been lessened +by long disease, putrefaction commences on the cessation of the organic +functions and a _miasma_ fatal to the living is in a moment generated. +This is the case even in cold weather, and it being now July, I cannot +answer for your own life if the burial be deferred; the last sad offices +must be at once attended to." Deacon Sykes consented. Not, he remarked, +on his own account, for, as to himself, life had lost its charms, but +there were others near on whom many were dependent, and he could not +think of gratifying his own feelings at their expense--sufficient, says +he, for the day is the evil thereof. I hardly need add, that, when my +advice to the Deacon got wind, the neighbors with one accord rallied to +assist in preparing Mrs. Sykes for her last home; and their labors were +not a little quickened by the fumes of tar and vinegar which I directed +to be burnt on this melancholy occasion. Much as I cherished Mrs. Sykes, +still I confess that my feelings were much akin to those called +pleasurable, when I heard the rattle of those terrene particles which +covered at the same time my lamented friend and my professional lapsus. + +But after all, as I sat meditating on the ups and downs of life during +the evening of the funeral, the question arose in my mind, is all safe? +May not some unfledged Galens remove the body for the purpose of +dissection?--Worse than all, may not some malignant rival have already +meditated a similar expedition? The more I reflected on this matter and +its probable consequences, the more my fears increased, till at last +they became too great for my frail tenement. There was at this period a +boarder in my family, one Job Sparrow, who having spent about thirty +years of his pilgrimage in the "singing of anthems," concluded at length +to devote the residue thereof to the study of the human frame, to which +he was the more inclined, probably, as he could have the benefit of my +deep investigations. His outward man, though somewhat ungainly, was +exceedingly muscular, and he had a firmness of nerve which would make +him willingly engage in any enterprise that would aid him in his +calling. Conducting him to my sanctum or study, a retired chamber in my +domicil, "Job," I remarked, "I have long noticed your engagedness in the +healing art, and I have lamented my inability of late to further your +progress in the study of anatomy from the difficulty of procuring +subjects. An opportunity, however, is at length afforded, and I shall +not fail to embrace it though at the sacrifice of my best feelings. The +subject I mean, is the lamented Mrs. Sykes. Bring her remains at night +to this chamber, and I with my venerable friend Dr. Grizzle will exhibit +what, though often described, are seldom visible, those wonderful +absorbents, the _lacteals_.--It is only in very recent subjects, my dear +Job, that it is possible to point them out." My pupil grinned +complacently at this manifestation of kindly feelings towards him in one +so much his superior, and hastened to prepare himself for the +expedition. It was about nine of the clock when the venerable Dr. +Grizzle, whom I had notified of my intended operations through Job, came +stealthily in. Dr. Grizzle, though from his appearance one would +conclude that he was about to "shuffle off this mortal coil," was a +_rara avis_ as to his knowledge of the corporeal functions. There were +certain gainsayers, indeed, who asserted that his intellectual candle +was just glimmering in its socket; but it will show to a demonstration +how little such statements are to be regarded when I assert that the +like slanders had been thrown out touching my own person. The profound +Grizzle, above such malignant feelings, always coincided with my own +opinion, both as to the nature of the disease we were called to +counteract, and as to the mode of treatment; and so highly did I value +him, that he was the only one whom I called to a consultation when that +course was deemed expedient. We had prepared our instruments and were +refreshing our minds with the pages of Chesselden, a luminous writer, +when to my great satisfaction the signal of my pupil was heard below. +Hitherto our labors seemed to have been blest; but a difficulty occurred +in this stage of our progress which threatened not only to render these +labors useless, but to retard, if I may so say, the advance of +anatomical science. It was this; the stairway was uncommonly narrow, and +the lamented Mrs. Sykes was uncommonly large. As it was impossible, +then, for Job to pass up at the same time with the defunct, it was +settled after mature deliberation, that he and myself, should occupy a +post at each extreme, while Grizzle assisted near the _lumbar_ region. +"Now," cried Job, "heave together;" but the words were hardly uttered, +when a shreak from Grizzle, paralized our exertions. Our muscular +efforts had wedged my venerable friend so completely between Mrs. Sykes +and the wall, that his lungs wheezed like a pair of decayed bellows; and +had it not been for the Herculean strength of Job, who rushed as it were +_in medias res_, the number of the dead would have equalled that of the +living. At length, after repeated trials, we effected, as I facetiously +remarked, our "passage of the Alps;" an historical allusion which tended +much to the divertisement of Grizzle and obliterated in no small +measure, the memory of his recent peril. And now, having directed Job to +go down and secure the door, Grizzle and myself advanced to remove the +bandages that confined her arms, previous to dissection. But scarcely +was the work accomplished when a sepulchral groan burst from the +defunct, the eyes glared, and the loosened arm was slowly lifted from +the body. That I am not of that class who can be charged with any thing +like timidity, is, I think well proved by my consenting to act for +several years as regimental surgeon in our militia, a post undoubtedly +of danger. But I must concede that at this unexpected movement, both +Grizzle and myself were somewhat agitated. From the table to the +stair-way, we leaped, as it were by instinct, and with a velocity at +which even now I greatly marvel. This sudden evidence of vitality in my +lamented friend, or I might say rather an unwillingness to be found +alone with her in such a peculiar situation, also induced me to prevent +if possible the retreat of Grizzle, and I fastened with some degree of +violence upon his projecting queue. It was fortunate, in so far as +regarded Grizzle, that art in this instance had supplanted nature. His +wig, of which the queue formed no inconsiderable portion, was all that +my hand retained. Had it been otherwise, such was the tenacity of my +grasp on the one hand, and such his momentum on the other, that Grizzle +must have left the natural ornament of his cerebrum, while I, though +unjustly, must have been charged with imitating our heathenish +Aborigines. As it was, his bald pate shot out from beneath it with the +velocity of a discharged ball; nor was the similitude to that engine of +carnage at all lessened when I heard its rebounds upon the stairs. How +long I remained overwhelmed by the wonderful scenes which I had just +witnessed, I cannot tell; but on recovering, I found that Mrs. Sykes +had been removed to my best chamber, and Job and Mrs. Tonic both busily +engaged about her person. They had, as I afterwards ascertained, by +bathing her feet and rubbing her with hot flannels, wrought a change +almost miraculous; and the effects of the laudanum having happily +subsided she appeared, when I entered, as in her pristine state. At that +moment they were about administering a composing draught, which +undoubtedly she needed, having received several severe contusions on the +stairway in our endeavors to extricate Grizzle. But rushing forward, I +exclaimed, "thanks to Heaven that I again see that cherished face! +thanks that I have been the instrument under Providence of restoring to +society its brightest ornament! Be composed, my dear Mrs. Sykes, ask no +questions to night, unless you would frustrate all my labors." Then +presenting to her lips an opiate, in a short time I had the satisfaction +of seeing her sink into a tranquil slumber. + +As I considered it all important that the matter should be kept a +profound secret till I had arranged my plans; and as Mrs. Tonic had in a +remarkable degree that propensity which distinguishes woman--I was under +the necessity of making her privy to the whole transaction; trusting +that the probable ruin to my reputation consequent on an exposure would +effectually bridle her unruly member. My venerable friend too, I invited +for a few days to my own mansion lest the bruises he received during his +_exodus_ from the dissecting room might have deprived him of his +customary caution. The last and most difficult step was to prepare the +mind of Mrs. Sykes, who was yet _in nubibus_ as to her new location. +With great caution I gradually unfolded the strange event that had just +transpired,--her sudden apparent death, the alarm of the village +touching the _miasma_, and the consequent sudden interment. 'Your exit, +my dear Mrs. Sykes,' I continued, 'seemed like a dream--I could not +realize it. Such an irreparable loss! I thought of all the remedies that +had been applied in such cases. Had any thing been omitted that had a +tendency to increase the circulation of the radical fluid! There was the +Galvanic battery,--it had been entirely overlooked, and yet what wonders +it had performed! No sooner had this occurred to my mind than I was +impressed with the conviction that you were to revisit this mundane +sphere, and that I was the chosen instrument to enkindle the vital +spark. No time was lost in obeying this mysterious impulse. The grave +was opened, the battery was applied _secundem artem_--and the result is +the restoration to society of our beloved Mrs. Sykes.' In proportion to +her horror at the idea, that she must have rested from her labors but +for my skill, was her gratitude for this timely rescue. She fell on my +neck and clung like one demented, till a gathering frown on the face of +my spouse warned me of the necessity of repelling her embraces. Mrs. +Sykes was now desirous of returning immediately home, to restore as it +were to life her bereaved consort, who was no doubt mourning at his +desolation, and refusing to be comforted. But here I felt it my duty to +interpose. 'My dear Mrs. Sykes,' said I, 'your return at this moment +would overwhelm him. The sudden change from the lowest depths of woe to +a state of ecstacy, would consign him to the tenement you have just +quitted. No! this extraordinary Providence must be gradually unfolded.' +She yielded at last to my sage councils and consented to wait till the +violence of his grief had somewhat abated, and his mind had become +sufficiently tranquil to hear that tale which I was cautiously to +relate. On the following day however, her anxiety to return had risen to +a high pitch, and truly by evening it was beyond my control. She was +firm in the belief that I could make the disclosure without essential +injury to the Deacon; 'besides,' as she remarked, 'there was no knowing +how much waste there had been in the kitchen.' It was settled at last +that I should immediately walk over to the Deacon's, and by a judicious +train of reflection, for which I was admirably fitted, prepare the way +for this joyous meeting. When I arrived at the house of mourning, though +perhaps the last person in the world entitled to the name of +evesdropper, yet as my eye was somewhat askance as I passed the window, +I observed a spectacle that for a time arrested my footsteps. There sat +the Deacon, recounting probably the virtues of the deceased partner, and +there, not far apart, sat the widow Dobble sympathizing in his sorrows. +It struck me that Deacon Sykes was not ungrateful for her consolatory +efforts; for he took her hand with a gentle pressure and held it to his +bosom. Perhaps it was the unusual mode of dress now exhibited by the +widow Dobble, that led him to this act; for she was decked out in Mrs. +Sykes's best frilled cap, and such is the waywardness of fancy, he might +for the moment have imagined that his help-mate was beside him. Be that +as it may, while I was thus complacently regarding this interchange of +friendly feelings, the cry of '_you vile hussy_' suddenly rang in my +very ear, and the next instant, the door having been burst open, who +should stand before the astonished couple but the veritable Mrs. Sykes. +The Deacon leaped as if touched in the _pericardium_, and essayed to +gain the door; but in his transit his knees denied their office, and he +sank gibbering as his hand was upon the latch. As to the terrified widow +Dobble, I might say with Virgilius, _steteruntque comae_, her _combs_ +stood up; for the frilled cap was displaced with no little violence, and +with an agonizing shriek she fell, apparently _in articulo mortis_, on +the body of the Deacon. What a lamentable scene! and all in consequence +of the rashness and imprudence of Mrs. Sykes. No sooner had I left my +own domicil than Mrs. Sykes, regardless of my admonitions, resolved on +following my steps, and was actually peeping over my shoulder at the +moment the Deacon's hand came in contact with the widow Dobble's. It was +truly fortunate for all concerned that a distinguished member of the +faculty was near at this dreadful crisis. In ordinary hands nothing +could have prevented a quietus. Their spirits were taking wing, and it +was only by extraordinary skill that I effected what lawyer Snoodles +said was a complete 'stoppage _in transitu_.' I regret to state that +this was my last visit to Deacon Sykes's. Unmindful of my services in +resuscitating Mrs. Sykes, he remarked that my neglect to prepare him for +the exceeding joy that was in store, had so far shattered his nervous +system that his usefulness was over; and in fine, had built up between +us a wall of separation not to be broken down. I always opined, however, +and of this opinion was Mrs. Tonic, that the Deacon's coldness arose in +part from an incipient warmth for Mrs. Dobble, which was thus checked in +its first stages. It was even hinted that on her departure, which took +place immediately, he manifested less of resignation than at the burial +of Mrs. Sykes. The coldness of the widow Dobble towards me, certainly +unmerited, was also no less apparent, till I brought about what I had +much at heart, viz: a match between her and Major Popkin. He was a +discreet, forehanded man, a Representative to our General Court, and +kept the Variety Store in that part of our town that was named in honor +of him, 'Popkins's Corner.'[3] + +FOOTNOTE: + +[3] From the papers of Dr. Tonic, recently brought to light. + + + + +OLD AND YOUNG. + +By James Furbish. + + Give me ripe fruit with the green-- + Fresh leaves mingling with the sear; + As in tropic climes are seen + Blending through the deathless year. + + +I am alarmed at the changes which are taking place in society. While +many are lauding the _spirit of the age_ and holding up to my gaze the +picture of forth-coming improvements--opening broad and charming vistas +into the almost _present future_ of mental and moral perfection, I +cannot help casting a lingering look upon the past. Time was when old +age and infancy, manhood and youth, walked the path of life together; +when the strength of young limbs aided the feebleness of the old, and +the joyousness of youth enlivened the gravity of age. But the son has +now left the father to totter on alone, and the daughter has outstripped +the mother in the race. Beauty and strength have separated from +decrepitude and weakness. The vine has uncoiled from its natural +support, and the ivy has ceased to entwine the oak. + +There is an increasing disposition on the part of the young and the old +to classify their pleasures according to their age. Those pastimes which +used to be enjoyed by both together, are now separated. This is an evil +of too serious a character to pass unfelt, unlamented or unrebuked. It +is easy to refer back to days when parents were more happy with their +children, and children more honorable and useful to parents than at +present. It is not long since the old and the young were to be seen +together in the blithesome dance and the merry play. And why this +change? Why do we find that, within a few years, the old have abandoned +amusements to the young? Is it that they think their children can profit +more by their amusements than if they were present? If this be the +impression it is to be regretted. No course could they possibly adopt so +injurious to the character of their children. For youth need the +direction and the advice of age, and age requires the exhilaration and +cheerfulness of youth. How many lonely evenings would be enlivened--how +many dark visions of the future would be dissipated, and how many hours +of gloom and despondency would be put to flight, if fathers would keep +pace with their sons, and mothers with their daughters, in the innocent +pleasures of life. Here, as it appears to me, is the grand secret of +happiness for the young and the old. For the old, who are too apt to +dwell on the glories of the past and to see nothing that is lovely in +the present; and for the young, who throw too strong and gaudy a light +upon the present and the future. Nature did not so intend it. So long as +there is life, she intended we should innocently enjoy it. And the +barrier which has, by some unaccountable mishap, been thrown between the +young and the old is, therefore, greatly to be lamented. But how shall +it be removed? How shall we get back again to the good old times of the +merry husking, the joyous dance, the happy commingling in the same +company, of the priest and his deacon, the father and his child, the +husband and his wife? + +It would not be difficult to trace directly to the discontinuance of +the practice of joining with the young in their amusements, the great +increase of youthful dissipation of every description. By being removed +from the advice, restraint and example of the old and experienced, they +have, by degrees, fallen into usages which were almost unknown in years +gone by. When accompanied by parents, the hours of pleasure were +seasonable. Daughters were under the inspection of mothers, and sons +were guided by the wisdom of fathers. Homes were happier, the community +more virtuous, and the world at large a gainer by such judicious +customs. We now hear the complaint that sons have gone astray, that +daughters have behaved indiscreetly, and that families have been +disgraced. But can there be a doubt, if the practice were general of +accompanying our children in those pastimes in which they ought to be +reasonably indulged, that many of these evils would be prevented? Here +then must begin the reform. Complain not that your son is out late, if +you might have been with him to bring him to your fire-side at a +seasonable hour. Complain not that your daughter has formed an +unsuitable or untimely connexion, if a mother's care might have avoided +the evil. Youth _will_ go astray without the protection of age. And it +is a crying sin that these old-fashioned moral restraints have been +removed. What, I ask, can be your object in thus leaving your children +to their own direction? Do they love you the better for it? Are their +manners more agreeable--their conduct more respectful while at home? Is +not rather the reverse of this the case? Do they not give you more +trouble at home? Are they not every day incurring new and useless +expenses in consequence of allowing them to legislate and plan for +themselves? Rashness is the characteristic of youth. But allowing them +to be capable of governing themselves, you are a great loser by drawing +this strong division line between their pleasures and your own. Your own +years are less in number and in happiness. Your children are dead to +you, though alive to themselves. Your sympathies are not linked with +theirs step by step in life; and thus, although surrounded by children, +you go childless, unhappy and gloomy to the grave. Reform then, I say, +reform at once. Annihilate this classification of junior and senior +pleasures. Join with your children in the dance, the song and the play. +Enjoy with them every harmless pleasure and sport of life. Encompass +yourself as often as possible with the gay faces of the young. Teach +them by example, to be happy like rational beings, and to enjoy life +without abusing it. Let the ripe fruit be seen with the green--the +blossom with the bud--the green with the fading leaf and the vine with +its natural support: + + Show the ripe fruit with the green-- + Fresh leaves twining with the sear; + As in tropic climes are seen + Harmonizing through the year. + + + + +AUTUMNAL DAYS. + +By P. H. Greenleaf. + + "The melancholy days are come--the saddest of the year, + Of wailing winds and naked woods, and meadows brown and sear; + Heap'd in the hollows of the grove, the summer leaves lie dead; + They rustle to the eddying wind, and to the rabbit's tread: + The robin and the wren are flown, and from the shrubs the jay, + And from the wood-top calls the crow, thro' all the gloomy day." + + +Stern and forbidding as are the general features of our northern +climate--cold and chilling as the gay Southron may deem, even the very +air we breathe,--we have still some characteristics of climate peculiar +to ourselves, and none the less pleasing to us from this fact. Our +hearts must indeed be as hard and as cold as the very granite of our +craggy shores, did they not glow with delight in the possession of that, +(be it what it may) which is peculiar to and markedly characteristic of +our native home. And of all these peculiarities not one is so +delightful--not one finds us so rich in New England feeling, as that +beautiful season called the Indian Summer. It occurs in October, and is +characterized by a soft, hazy atmosphere--by those quiet, and balmy +days, which seem so like the last whisperings of a Spring morning. The +appearance of the landscape is like any thing, but the fresh and lively +scenery of Spring; and yet the delicious softness of the atmosphere is +so like it, that it brings back fresh to the mind all the beautiful +associations connected with a vernal day. Our forests too, at this +season are, for a brief space, clothed in the most gorgeous and +magnificent array; their brilliant and changing hues, and the +magnificence of their whole appearance, almost give their rich and +mellow tint to the atmosphere itself; and render this period unrivalled +in beauty, and unequalled in the more equable climes of our western +neighbors. The calm sobriety of the scenery--the splendid variety of the +forest coloring, from deep scarlet to russet gray, and the quiet and +dreamy expression of the autumnal atmosphere make a deeper impression on +the mind than all the verdant promises of spring, or the luxuriant +possession of summer. The aspen birch in its pallid white--the walnut in +its deep yellow--the brilliant maple in its scarlet drapery--and the +magical colors of the whole vegetable world, from the aster by the brook +to the vine on the trellis, combine to render the autumnal scenery of +New-England the most splendid and magnificent in the world. + +But we cannot forget, if we would, that this beautiful magnificence of +the forests is but the livery of death; and the changing hues of the +leaves, beautiful though they are, still are but indications of the +sure, but gradual progress of decay. + + 'Lightly falls the foot of death + Whene'er he treads on flowers:' + +and though he has breathed beauty on the clustered trees of the +forest--it is to them the breath of the Sirocco. + +We have in the wasting consumption a parallel to this splendid decay of +the leaves and flowers of Summer. Day by day we see its victim with the +seal of death upon him--failing and decaying in strength--increasing in +beauty. While the brilliant and intellectual glances of the eye speak, +in language too plain for the sceptic's denial, the immortality of the +soul. The changing and brilliant hues of the forest trees give to us the +most lively type of the frailty of beauty and the brevity of human +existence, while their death and burial during the winter and their +resurrection in the springtime, are almost an assured pledge of our own +immortality and resurrection to an eternity. + +Truly 'the melancholy days are come'--Death annually lifts up his solemn +hymn, and the rustling of the dying leaves and the certainty of their +speedy death afford to us all 'eloquent teachings.' The gay and +exhilarating spring has long since passed away--the genial and joyous +warmth of summer is no more; and the grateful abundance and varied +scenes of Autumn are about yielding to the inclemency of hoary winter. +The gay variety of nature has at length departed--the countless throng +of the gaudy flowerets of summer are all returned to their native +dust--the light of the sun himself is often veiled; and the bright +livery of earth is hidden from our sight by the gray mantle of the +iron-bound surface, or the unbroken whiteness of a snowy covering. +Reading thus the language of decay written by the finger of God upon all +the works of nature--reminded too of the rapid flight of time by the +ceaseless revolution of seasons, we naturally turn our thoughts from the +contemplation of external objects to that of the soul, and of unseen +worlds. The appearances of other seasons lead our thoughts to the world +we inhabit, and by the variety of objects presented to our view rather +confine them to sensible things, and matters immediately connected with +them. But the buried flowers and the eddying leaves of this season teach +us nobler lessons; and the mind expands, while it loses itself in the +infinity of being; and the gloom of the natural world shows us the +splendors of other worlds, and other states of being; + + 'As darkness shows us worlds of light + We never saw by day.' + +They tell us, that in the magnificent system of the government of God +there exists no evil; and the mighty resurrections annually accomplished +in the multitude of by gone years assure us, that the gloom of the night +is but the prelude to the brightness of the day--that the funeral pall +of autumnal and wintry days is the harbinger of a glorious, joyous and +life-giving spring; and to that man the gates of the dark valley of the +shadow of death are designed as the crystal portals of an eternity of +bliss. + +'Of the innumerable eyes, that open upon nature, none but those of man, +see its author and its end.' This solemn privilege is the birth-right of +the beings of immortality--of those, who perish not in time, but were +formed, in some greater hour, to be companions in eternity. The mighty +Being, who watches the revolutions of the material world, opens in this +manner to our eyes the laws of his government; and tells us, that it is +not the momentary state, but the final issue, which is to disclose its +eternal design. Indeed the whole volume of nature is a natural +revelation to man, often overlooked--often misused--seldom +understood--but plain and solemn in its language, and full of the +wisdom, justice and mercy of its author. + +While, then, all inferior nature shrinks instinctively from the winds of +Autumn and the storms of winter, to the high intellect of man they teach +ennobling lessons. To him the inclemency of winter is no less eloquent +than the abundance of Autumn, or the joyous promise of Spring. He knows, +that the fair and beautiful of nature now buried in an icy covering, +have still a principle of life within them; and that the gay tendrils of +the vine and the blushing buds of the rose will soon be put forth in the +breath of summer. The stiffened earth, he knows, will soon send forth +her children in renewed beauty, and he believes, that he himself, +leaving the chrysalis form of earthly clay will wing his flight in the +regions of eternity. + + + + +THE PLAGUE. + +By Charles P. Ilsley. + + "And they that took the disease died suddenly; and + immediately their bodies became covered with spots; and they + were hurried away to the grave without delay: And the men who + bore the corpse, as they went their way, cried with a loud + voice, "_Room for the dead!_" and whosoever heard the cry, + fled from the sound thereof with great fear and trembling." + + _Anon._ + + + "Room for the dead!"--a cry went forth-- + "A grave--a grave prepare!" + The solemn words rose fearfully + Up through the stilly air: + "Room for the dead!"--and a corse was borne + And laid within the pit; + But a mother's voice was sadly heard-- + And a breaking heart was in each word-- + "Oh, bury him not yet!" + + The mother knelt beside the grave, + And prayed to see her son; + 'Twas death to stop--but by her prayers + The wretched boon was won, + And they raised the coffin from the pit, + And then afar they fled-- + For the once fair face was spotted now-- + But the mother pressed her dead child's brow, + And in a faint voice said-- + + "Nor plague nor spots shall hinder me + From kissing thee, lost one! + For what, alas! is life or death + Since thou art gone, my son!" + And she bent and kissed the livid brow, + While tearless was her eye; + Then her voice rang wildly in the air-- + "Widow and childless!--God, is there + Aught left me but--to die!" + + The words were said, and there uprose + A low and stifled moan-- + Then all was still--The spirit of + That stricken one had flown! + + * * * * * + + They widened the pit, and side by side + Mother and son were laid; + No mourning train to the grave went forth, + Nor prayer was said as they heaped the earth + Above the plague-struck dead! + + + + +"OH, THIS IS NOT MY HOME!" + +By Charles P. Ilsley. + + + Oh, this is not my home-- + I miss the glorious sea, + Its white and sparkling foam, + And lofty melody. + + All things seem strange to me-- + I miss the rocky shore, + Where broke so sullenly + The waves with deaf'ning roar: + + The sands that shone like gold + Beneath the blazing sun, + O'er which the waters roll'd, + Soft chanting as they run: + + And oh, the glorious sight! + Ships moving to and fro, + Like birds upon their flight, + So silently they go! + + I climb the mountain's height, + And sadly gaze around, + No waters meet my sight, + I hear no rushing sound. + + Oh, would I were at home, + Beside the glorious sea, + To bathe within its foam + And list its melody! + + + + +THE VILLAGE PRIZE. + +By Joseph Ingraham. + + +In one of the loveliest villages of old Virginia there lived, in the +year 175- and odd, an old man, whose daughter was declared, by +universal consent, to be the loveliest maiden in all the country round. +The veteran, in his youth, had been athletic and muscular above all his +fellows; and his breast, where he always wore them, could show the +adornment of three medals, received for his victories in gymnastic feats +when a young man. His daughter was now eighteen, and had been sought in +marriage by many suitors. One brought wealth--another, a fine +person--another, industry--another, military talents--another this, and +another that. But they were all refused by the old man, who became at +last a by-word for his obstinacy among the young men of the village and +neighborhood. At length, the nineteenth birthday of Annette, his +charming daughter, who was as amiable and modest as she was beautiful, +arrived. The morning of that day, her father invited all the youth of +the country to a hay-making frolic. Seventeen handsome and industrious +young men assembled. They came not only to make hay, but also to make +love to the fair Annette. In three hours they had filled the father's +barns with the newly dried grass, and their own hearts with love. +Annette, by her father's command, had brought them malt liquor of her +own brewing, which she presented to each enamored swain with her own +fair hands. + +"Now my boys," said the old keeper of the jewel they all coveted, as +leaning on their pitch-forks they assembled around his door in the cool +of the evening--"Now my lads, you have nearly all of you made proposals +for my Annette. Now you see, I don't care any thing about money nor +talents, book larning nor soldier larning--I can do as well by my gal as +any man in the county. But I want her to marry a man of my own grit. +Now, you know, or ought to know, when I was a youngster, I could beat +any thing in all Virginny in the way o' leaping. I got my old woman by +beating the smartest man on the Eastern Shore, and I have took the oath +and sworn it, that no man shall marry my daughter without jumping for +it. You understand me boys. There's the green, and here's Annette," he +added, taking his daughter, who stood timidly behind him, by the hand, +"Now the one that jumps the furthest on a 'dead level,' shall marry +Annette this very night." + +This unique address was received by the young men with applause. And +many a youth as he bounded gaily forward to the arena of trial, cast a +glance of anticipated victory back upon the lovely object of village +chivalry. The maidens left their looms and quilting frames, the children +their noisy sports, the slaves their labors, and the old men their +arm-chairs and long pipes, to witness and triumph in the success of the +victor. All prophesied and many wished that it would be young Carroll. +He was the handsomest and best-humored youth in the county, and all knew +that a strong and mutual attachment existed between him and the fair +Annette. Carroll had won the reputation of being the "best leaper," and +in a country where such athletic achievements were the _sine qua non_ +of a man's cleverness, this was no ordinary honor. In a contest like the +present, he had therefore every advantage over his fellow _athletae_. + +The arena allotted for this hymeneal contest, was a level space in front +of the village-inn, and near the centre of a grass-plat, reserved in the +midst of the village denominated "the green." The verdure was quite worn +off at this place by previous exercises of a similar kind, and a hard +surface of sand more befittingly for the purpose to which it was to be +used, supplied its place. + +The father of the lovely, blushing, and withal _happy_ prize, (for she +well knew who would win,) with three other patriarchal villagers were +the judges appointed to decide upon the claims of the several +competitors. The last time Carroll tried his skill in this exercise, he +"cleared"--to use the leaper's phraseology--twenty-one feet and one +inch. + +The signal was given, and by lot the young men stepped into the arena. + +"Edward Grayson, seventeen feet," cried one of the judges. The youth had +done his utmost. He was a pale, intellectual student. But what had +intellect to do in such an arena? Without looking at the maiden he +slowly left the ground. + +"Dick Boulden, nineteen feet." Dick with a laugh turned away, and +replaced his coat. + +"Harry Preston, nineteen feet and three inches." "Well done Harry +Preston," shouted the spectators, "you have tried hard for the acres and +homestead." + +Harry also laughed and swore he only "jumped for the fun of the thing." +Harry was a rattle-brained fellow, but never thought of matrimony. He +loved to walk and talk, and laugh and romp with Annette, but sober +marriage never came into his head. He only jumped "for the fun of the +thing." He would not have said so, if sure of winning. + +"Charley Simms, fifteen feet and a half." "Hurrah for Charley! +Charley'll win!" cried the crowd good-humoredly. Charley Simms was the +cleverest fellow in the world. His mother had advised him to stay at +home, and told him if he ever won a wife, she would fall in love with +his good temper, rather than his legs. Charley however made the trial of +the latter's capabilities and lost. Many refused to enter the lists +altogether. Others made the trial, and only one of the leapers had yet +cleared twenty feet. + +"Now," cried the villagers, "let's see Henry Carroll. He ought to beat +this," and every one appeared, as they called to mind the mutual love of +the last competitor and the sweet Annette, as if they heartily wished +his success. + +Henry stepped to his post with a firm tread. His eye glanced with +confidence around upon the villagers and rested, before he bounded +forward, upon the face of Annette, as if to catch therefrom that spirit +and assurance which the occasion called for. Returning the encouraging +glance with which she met his own, with a proud smile upon his lip, he +bounded forward. + +"Twenty-one feet and a half!" shouted the multitude, repeating the +announcement of one of the judges, "twenty-one feet and a half. Harry +Carroll forever. Annette and Harry." Hands, caps, and kerchiefs waved +over the heads of the spectators, and the eyes of the delighted Annette +sparkled with joy. + +When Harry Carroll moved to his station to strive for the prize, a tall, +gentlemanly young man in a military undress frock-coat, who had rode up +to the inn, dismounted and joined the spectators, unperceived, while the +contest was going on, stepped suddenly forward, and with a "knowing +eye," measured deliberately the space accomplished by the last leaper. +He was a stranger in the village. His handsome face and easy address +attracted the eyes of the village maidens, and his manly and sinewy +frame, in which symmetry and strength were happily united, called forth +the admiration of the young men. + +"Mayhap, sir stranger, you think you can beat that," said one of the +by-standers, remarking the manner in which the eye of the stranger +scanned the area. "If you can leap beyond Harry Carroll, you'll beat the +best man in the colonies." The truth of this observation was assented to +by a general murmur. + +"Is it for mere amusement you are pursuing this pastime?" inquired the +youthful stranger, "or is there a prize for the winner?" + +"Annette, the loveliest and wealthiest of our village-maidens, is to be +the reward of the victor," cried one of the judges. + +"Are the lists open to all?" + +"All, young sir!" replied the father of Annette, with interest,--his +youthful ardour rising as he surveyed the proportions of the +straight-limbed young stranger. "She is the bride of him who out-leaps +Henry Carroll. If you will try, you are free to do so. But let me tell +you, Harry Carroll has no rival in Virginny. Here is my daughter, sir, +look at her and make your trial." + +The young officer glanced upon the trembling maiden about to be offered +on the altar of her father's unconquerable monomania, with an admiring +eye. The poor girl looked at Harry, who stood near with a troubled brow +and angry eye, and then cast upon the new competitor an imploring +glance. + +Placing his coat in the hands of one of the judges, he drew a sash he +wore beneath it tighter around his waist, and taking the appointed +stand, made, apparently without effort, the bound that was to decide the +happiness or misery of Henry and Annette. + +"Twenty two feet one inch!" shouted the judge. The announcement was +repeated with surprise by the spectators, who crowded around the victor, +filling the air with congratulations, not unmingled, however, with loud +murmurs from those who were more nearly interested in the happiness of +the lovers. + +The old man approached, and grasping his hand exultingly, called him his +son, and said he felt prouder of him than if he were a prince. Physical +activity and strength were the old leaper's true patents of nobility. + +Resuming his coat, the victor sought with his eye the fair prize he had, +although nameless and unknown, so fairly won. She leaned upon her +father's arm, pale and distressed. + +Her lover stood aloof, gloomy and mortified, admiring the superiority of +the stranger in an exercise in which he prided himself as unrivalled, +while he hated him for his success. + +"Annette, my pretty prize," said the victor, taking her passive hand--"I +have won you fairly." Annette's cheek became paler than marble; she +trembled like an aspen-leaf, and clung closer to her father, while her +drooping eye sought the form of her lover. His brow grew dark at the +stranger's language. + +"I have won you, my pretty flower, to make you a bride!--tremble not so +violently--I mean not for myself, however proud I might be," he added +with gallantry, "to wear so fair a gem next my heart. Perhaps," and he +cast his eyes around inquiringly, while the current of life leaped +joyfully to her brow, and a murmur of surprise run through the +crowd--"perhaps there is some favored youth among the competitors, who +has a higher claim to this jewel. Young Sir," he continued, turning to +the surprised Henry, "methinks you were victor in the lists before +me,--I strove not for the maiden, though one could not well strive for a +fairer--but from love for the manly sport in which I saw you engaged. +You are the victor, and as such, with the permission of this worthy +assembly, receive from my hands the prize you have so well and honorably +won." + +The youth sprung forward and grasped his hand with gratitude; and the +next moment, Annette was weeping from pure joy upon his shoulders. The +welkin rung with the acclamations of the delighted villagers, and amid +the temporary excitement produced by this act, the stranger withdrew +from the crowd, mounted his horse, and spurred at a brisk trot through +the village. + +That night, Henry and Annette were married, and the health of the +mysterious and noble-hearted stranger, was drunk in over-flowing bumpers +of rustic beverage. + +In process of time, there were born unto the married pair, sons and +daughters, and Harry Carroll had become Colonel Henry Carroll, of the +Revolutionary army. + +One evening, having just returned home after a hard campaign, he was +sitting with his family on the gallery of his handsome country-house, +when an advance courier rode up and announced the approach of General +Washington and suite, informing him that he should crave his hospitality +for the night. The necessary directions were given in reference to the +household preparations, and Col. Carroll, ordering his horse, rode +forward to meet and escort to his house the distinguished guest, whom he +had never yet seen, although serving in the same widely-extended army. + +That evening at the table, Annette, now become the dignified, matronly +and still handsome Mrs. Carroll, could not keep her eyes from the face +of her illustrious visitor. Every moment or two she would steal a glance +at his commanding features, and half-doubtingly, half-assumedly, shake +her head and look again and again, to be still more puzzled. Her absence +of mind and embarrassment at length became evident to her husband who, +inquired affectionately if she were ill? + +"I suspect, Colonel," said the General, who had been some time, with a +quiet, meaning smile, observing the lady's curious and puzzled survey of +his features--"that Mrs. Carroll thinks she recognizes in me an old +acquaintance." And he smiled with a mysterious air, as he gazed upon +both alternately. + +The Colonel stared, and a faint memory of the past seemed to be revived, +as he gazed, while the lady rose impulsively from her chair, and bending +eagerly forward over the tea-urn, with clasped hands and an eye of +intense, eager inquiry, fixed full upon him, stood for a moment with her +lips parted as if she would speak. + +"Pardon me, my dear madam--pardon me, Colonel, I must put an end to this +scene. I have become, by dint of camp-fare and hard usage, too unwieldy +to leap again twenty-two feet one inch, even for so fair a bride as one +I wot of." + +The recognition, with the surprise, delight and happiness that followed, +are left to the imagination of the reader. + +General Washington was indeed the handsome young "leaper," whose +mysterious appearance and disappearance in the native village of the +lovers, is still traditionary, and whose claim to a substantial body of +_bona fide_ flesh and blood, was stoutly contested by the village +story-tellers, until the happy _denouement_ which took place at the +hospitable mansion of Col. Carroll. + + + + +INDIFFERENCE TO STUDY. + +By George W. Light. + + We only find out what we have a sincere desire to know. All + men have in themselves nearly the same fund of primitive + ideas; they have especially the same moral fund; the + difference which there is in men, comes from the fact, that + some improve this fund, while others neglect it. + + _Degerando._ + + +No argument ought to be required at the present day, to prove that all +men, however their capacities may differ in kind or degree, possess the +natural ability to make considerable progress in some useful study. The +principles of our government proceed upon this ground, and place every +man under strong moral obligation to make the most of himself, that he +may be able to bear the responsibility that rests upon him. The +protestant principle, that all men have the right to judge for +themselves in matters relating to religion, is founded on the same +basis. Even the principles of trade--which every body is supposed to be +able to know--call for the exercise of no small amount of intellect, to +understand and apply them to their full extent. The intimate connection +between the arts and sciences proves conclusively, that those who are +engaged in the one, ought to be acquainted with the other. We are aware +of the common belief, that the study of the sciences is not necessary +with the mass of the community who are engaged in the various active +pursuits. But this narrow view is fast going out of date. The progress +of _steam_, if nothing else, will ere long convince the most +incredulous, by its abridgment of human labor, that the great body of +mankind were intended for something besides mere machines. The sciences +of law and medicine are no more closely connected with the practice of +the lawyer and physician, than mechanical and agricultural science with +the business of the mechanic and farmer. The same may be said of other +sciences, as, for instance, of Political Economy, in its application to +mercantile affairs. In accordance with the spirit of these views, +opportunities for instruction are provided, and means of self-education +are multiplied, to an unparalleled degree. + +Notwithstanding, however, the general admission of the truth under +consideration, not a few persons who think the improvement of their +minds a matter of little importance, undertake to excuse themselves, by +modestly confessing that they have no natural taste for study--that +they cannot study. But it is difficult to understand how they can be so +blinded to the resources they have within them, under the light which +this day of civilization is pouring upon them. Where do they suppose +themselves to be? Are they in some dark domain, shut out from all the +soul-stirring influences of a boundless universe, dragging out an +existence as hopeless as it is degraded?--or do they dwell in the midst +of a glorious creation, with no understanding to unravel its divine +mysteries, and no heart to be moved by the eloquence of its inspiration? +One of these things must be true, if we may reason from their own +language. If they do possess the high faculties of the soul, and can do +nothing for their cultivation, it cannot be that they have their +dwelling-place upon a world belonging to the magnificent empire of God. +There can be no sun blazing down upon them, flooding the earth with his +glory, and giving fresh life and beauty to every living thing. The +evening can reveal to them no myriads of stars, burning with holy lustre +beyond the clouds of heaven. They can see no mountains towering to the +skies; no green valleys, spangled with the flowers of the earth, smiling +around them. They can hear no anthem sounding from the depths of the +ocean. They can see no lightnings flashing in the broad expanse,--nor +hear the artillery of heaven thundering over the firmament, as if it +would shake the very pillars of the universe. If they could see and hear +this, with minds awake to the most noble objects of contemplation, and +hearts susceptible of the loftiest impulses, they would inquire about +the earth they tread upon, the beautiful things scattered in such +profusion around them, and the sun and the ever-burning stars above +them. And they would not stop here. They would search into the mysteries +of their own nature. They would look into the wonders of that upper +life, where the sun of an eternal kingdom burns in its lofty arches, +where the rivers of life flow from the everlasting mountains, and where +the pure spirits of the earth shall shine like the stars forever. + +But, however paradoxical it may seem, these men do dwell in the grand +universe of God--and they do possess inexhaustible minds: and they have +been compelled to quench the brightest flames and to prevent the +swelling of the purest fountains of their existence, in order to descend +to the condition of which they complain. The Creator doomed them to no +such degradation. The truth is, they know nothing of themselves. They do +not understand their relations to the creation that surrounds them. They +do not comprehend the great purpose to which all their labors should +tend. They waste those hours which might be devoted to the elevation of +their being, in practices that render them insensible to the glories of +the universe in which they dwell, and to the sublime destiny for which +they were created. They deny themselves to be the workmanship of God. + + + + +THE VILLAGE OF AUTEUIL. + +By Henry W. Longfellow. + + +The sultry heat of summer always brings with it, to the idler and the +man of leisure, a longing for the leafy shade and the green luxuriance +of the country. It is pleasant to interchange the din of the city, the +movement of the crowd, and the gossip of society, with the silence of +the hamlet, the quiet seclusion of the grove, and the gossip of a +woodland brook. + +It was a feeling of this kind that prompted me, during my residence in +the north of France, to pass one of the summer months at Auteuil--the +pleasantest of the many little villages that lie in the immediate +vicinity of the metropolis. It is situated on the outskirts of the _Bois +de Boulogne_--a wood of some extent, in whose green alleys the dusty cit +enjoys the luxury of an evening drive, and gentlemen meet in the morning +to give each other satisfaction in the usual way. A cross-road, skirted +with green hedge-rows, and over-shadowed by tall poplars, leads you from +the noisy highway of St. Cloud and Versailles to the still retirement of +this suburban hamlet. On either side the eye discovers old chateaux amid +the trees, and green parks, whose pleasant shades recall a thousand +images of La Fontaine, Racine, and Moliere; and on an eminence, +overlooking the windings of the Seine, and giving a beautiful though +distant view of the domes and gardens of Paris, rises the village of +Passy, long the residence of our countrymen Franklin and Count Rumford. + +I took up my abode at a _Maison de Sante_; not that I was a +valetudinarian,--but because I there found some one to whom I could +whisper, "How sweet is solitude!" Behind the house was a garden filled +with fruit-trees of various kinds, and adorned with gravel-walks and +green arbours, furnished with tables and rustic seats, for the repose of +the invalid and the sleep of the indolent. Here the inmates of the rural +hospital met on common ground, to breathe the invigorating air of +morning, and while away the lazy noon or vacant evening with tales of +the sick chamber. + +The establishment was kept by Dr. Dent-de-lion, a dried up little +fellow, with red hair, a sandy complexion, and the physiognomy and +gestures of a monkey. His character corresponded to his outward +lineaments; for he had all a monkey's busy and curious impertinence. +Nevertheless, such as he was, the village AEsculapius strutted forth the +little great man of Auteuil. The peasants looked up to him as to an +oracle,--he contrived to be at the head of every thing, and laid claim +to the credit of all public improvements in the village: in fine, he was +a great man on a small scale. + +It was within the dingy walls of this little potentate's imperial palace +that I chose my country residence. I had a chamber in the second story, +with a solitary window, which looked upon the street, and gave me a peep +into a neighbor's garden. This I esteemed a great privilege; for, as a +stranger, I desired to see all that was passing out of doors; and the +sight of green trees, though growing on another man's ground, is always +a blessing. Within doors--had I been disposed to quarrel with my +household gods--I might have taken some objection to my neighborhood; +for, on one side of me was a consumptive patient, whose graveyard cough +drove me from my chamber by day; and on the other, an English colonel, +whose incoherent ravings, in the delirium of a high and obstinate fever, +often broke my slumbers by night: but I found ample amends for these +inconveniences in the society of those who were so little indisposed as +hardly to know what ailed them, and those who, in health themselves, had +accompanied a friend or relative to the shades of the country in pursuit +of it. To these I am indebted for much courtesy; and particularly to one +who, if these pages should ever meet her eye, will not, I hope, be +unwilling to accept this slight memorial of a former friendship. + +It was, however, to the _Bois de Boulogne_ that I looked for my +principal recreation. There I took my solitary walk, morning and +evening; or, mounted on a little mouse-colored donkey, paced demurely +along the woodland pathway. I had a favorite seat beneath the shadow of +a venerable oak, one of the few hoary patriarchs of the wood which had +survived the bivouacs of the allied armies. It stood upon the brink of a +little glassy pool, whose tranquil bosom was the image of a quiet and +secluded life, and stretched its parental arms over a rustic bench, that +had been constructed beneath it for the accommodation of the +foot-traveller, or, perchance, some idle dreamer like myself. It seemed +to look round with a lordly air upon its old hereditary domain, whose +stillness was no longer broken by the tap of the martial drum, nor the +discordant clang of arms; and, as the breeze whispered among its +branches, it seemed to be holding friendly colloquies with a few of its +venerable contemporaries, who stooped from the opposite bank of the +pool, nodding gravely now and then, and ogling themselves with a sigh +in the mirror below. + +In this quiet haunt of rural repose I used to sit at noon, hear the +birds sing, and "possess myself in much quietness." Just at my feet lay +the little silver pool, with the sky and the woods painted in its mimic +vault, and occasionally the image of a bird, or the soft watery outline +of a cloud, floating silently through its sunny hollows. The water-lily +spread its broad green leaves on the surface, and rocked to sleep a +little world of insect life in its golden cradle. Sometimes a wandering +leaf came floating and wavering downward, and settled on the water; then +a vagabond insect would break the smooth surface into a thousand +ripples, or a green-coated frog slide from the bank, and plump! dive +headlong to the bottom. + +I entered, too, with some enthusiasm, into all the rural sports and +merrimakes of the village. The holy-days were so many little eras of +mirth and good feeling; for the French have that happy and sunshine +temperament--that merry-go-mad character--which makes all their social +meetings scenes of enjoyment and hilarity. I made it a point never to +miss any of the _Fetes Champetres_, or rural dances, at the wood of +Boulogne; though I confess it sometimes gave me a momentary uneasiness +to see my rustic throne beneath the oak usurped by a noisy group of +girls, the silence and decorum of my imaginary realm broken by music and +laughter, and, in a word, my whole kingdom turned topsyturvy, with +romping, fiddling, and dancing. But I am naturally, and from principle, +too, a lover of all those innocent amusements which cheer the laborers' +toil, and, as it were, put their shoulders to the wheel of life, and +help the poor man along with his load of cares. Hence I saw with no +small delight the rustic swain astride the wooden horse of the +_carrousal_, and the village maiden whirling round and round in its +dizzy car; or took my stand on a rising ground that overlooked the +dance, an idle spectator in a busy throng. It was just where the village +touched the outward border of the wood. There a little area had been +levelled beneath the trees, surrounded by a painted rail, with a row of +benches inside. The music was placed in a slight balcony, built around +the trunk of a large tree in the centre, and the lamps, hanging from the +branches above, gave a gay, fantastic, and fairy look to the scene. How +often in such moments did I recall the lines of Goldsmith, describing +those "kinder skies," beneath which "France displays her bright domain," +and feel how true and masterly the sketch,-- + + Alike all ages; dames of ancient days + Have led their children through the mirthful maze, + And the gay grandsire, skilled in gestic lore, + Has frisked beneath the burden of threescore. + + * * * * * + +I was one morning called to my window by the sound of rustic music. I +looked out, and beheld a procession of villagers advancing along the +road, attired in gay dresses, and marching merrily on in the direction +of the church. I soon perceived that it was a marriage festival. The +procession was led by a long orangoutang of a man, in a straw hat and +white dimity bob-coat, playing on an asthmatic clarionet, from which he +contrived to blow unearthly sounds, ever and anon squeaking off at right +angles from his tune, and winding up with a grand flourish on the +guttural notes. Behind him, led by his little boy, came the blind +fiddler, his honest features glowing with all the hilarity of a rustic +bridal, and, as he stumbled along, sawing away upon his fiddle till he +made all crack again. Then came the happy bridegroom, dressed in his +Sunday suit of blue, with a large nosegay in his button-hole, and close +beside him his blushing bride, with downcast eyes, clad in a white robe +and slippers, and wearing a wreath of white roses in her hair. The +friends and relatives brought up the procession; and a troop of village +urchins came shouting along in the rear, scrambling among themselves for +the largess of sous and sugar-plums that now and then issued in large +handfuls from the pockets of a lean man in black, who seemed to +officiate as master of ceremonies on the occasion. I gazed on the +procession till it was out of sight; and when the last wheeze of the +clarionet died upon my ear, I could not help thinking how happy were +they who were thus to dwell together in the peaceful bosom of their +native village, far from the gilded misery and the pestilential vices of +the town. + +On the evening of the same day, I was sitting by the window, enjoying +the freshness of the air and the beauty and stillness of the hour, when +I heard the distant and solemn hymn of the Catholic burial-service, at +first so faint and indistinct that it seemed an illusion. It rose +mournfully on the hush of evening--died gradually away--then ceased. +Then it rose again, nearer and more distinct, and soon after a funeral +procession appeared, and passed directly beneath my window. It was led +by a priest, bearing the banner of the church, and followed by two boys, +holding long flambeaux in their hands. Next came a double file of +priests in white surplices, with a missal in one hand and a lighted wax +taper in the other, chanting the funeral dirge at intervals,--now +pausing, and then again taking up the mournful burden of their +lamentation, accompanied by others, who played upon a rude kind of horn, +with a dismal and wailing sound. Then followed various symbols of the +church, and the bier borne on the shoulders of four men. The coffin was +covered with a black velvet pall, and a chaplet of white flowers lay +upon it, indicating that the deceased was unmarried. A few of the +villagers came behind, clad in mourning robes, and bearing lighted +tapers. The procession passed slowly along the same street that in the +morning had been thronged by the gay bridal company. A melancholy train +of thought forced itself home upon my mind. The joys and sorrows of this +world are so strikingly mingled! Our mirth and grief are brought so +mournfully in contact! We laugh while others weep, and others rejoice +when we are sad! The light heart and the heavy walk side by side, and go +about together! Beneath the same roof are spread the wedding feast and +the funeral pall! The bridal song mingles with the burial hymn! One goes +to the marriage bed, another to the grave; and all is mutable, +uncertain, and transitory. + + + + +THE PAST AND THE NEW YEAR. + +By Prentiss Mellen. + + +The close of the year, whose last knell has just been heard, amid the +chills and gloom of winter, when all around reminds us of our departed +friends and the loss we have sustained, is peculiarly adapted to arouse +us from our inattention to the lapse of time, and impress on our hearts +the solemn truth that life itself is but a vapor. Many, it is true, when +they look into the grave of the year, may experience a rush of bitter +feeling, as they fondly recollect how many cherished hopes they have +been called upon to bury in the tomb, during the lapse of the year: how +many friends have proved false or ungrateful--how many of their suns +have gone down in the gloom of solitude, or amidst scenes of sickness +and poverty, or of sighing and sorrow. All this is true, and such ever +has been and ever will be the complexion of human life. But though +thousands are thus educated in a school where such is the salutary +discipline, yet millions have been spending the year in peace and +joy--in health and abundance. Their journey has been gladdened with +sunshine, and their course has been through fields of beauty and beside +"the still waters of comfort." It is useful--it is a species of +_gratitude_ thus to look back and trace the course we have been +pursuing. If it has been delightful or smooth and peaceful, our hearts +should melt in tenderness while we look to the _fountain_ of all our +blessings. If our course has been wearisome through fields of +sterility, or melancholy and companionless, we should remember that +Wisdom and Goodness preside over our destinies, whether we are breasting +the storm, or calmly beholding the rainbow of promise. The year that has +bidden us adieu, was pleasant in its course, and its decline gradual and +beautiful. An unusual degree of softness distinguished its autumn, +resembling the last years of the life of man, when the agitation of the +passions has in a great measure subsided; when his feelings have become +tranquilized, and all around him peaceful and serene, if he has been +careful to regulate his conduct, on life's journey, by the principles of +justice and the commands of duty--if in his social intercourse his +passions have been preserved in due subjection to the gentle influences +of a benevolent heart, displaying itself in acts of mercy like the good +Samaritan. + + "Sure the last end + Of the good man is peace. How calm his exit! + Night dews fall not more gently on the ground + Nor weary, worn-out winds expire so soft." + +The new year to which we have just been introduced is, in one sense, a +perfect stranger, though we have long been intimate with the _family_ to +which it belongs, and of course have some general acquaintance with +certain features of its character, leading us to anticipate its promises +and its failure to perform them in many instances,--its smiles and its +tears--its flatteries and its frowns--its gaieties and hopes--its +gradual decline--decay and dissolution:--but we have abundant reason too +for indulging the belief that we may enjoy thousands of blessings, if we +are disposed to cherish proper feelings--to be kind and courteous and +obliging, and ever on our guard to avoid unnecessarily wounding the +feelings of others; ever ready to acknowledge the favors we receive, and +render a suitable return. How easily all this may be done! How often is +it grossly neglected! He who consults _his own_ ease and comfort cannot +in any manner attain the desired result so readily and certainly, as by +habitually consulting the ease and comfort of others, with whom he is in +the habit of associating: and this is true politeness also. A man who is +dissatisfied with himself and those around him, and laboring under the +darkening influence of disturbed or morose feelings "may travel from Dan +to Beersheba and say it is all barren;"--to him it will appear so; and +the effect would be the same if his journey lay amidst the most +delightful scenes of rural beauty. The seasons of the year all give +their annual _lessons_ for instruction: It is our wisdom to regard them +carefully. _Spring_ summons us all to cheerful activity, with assurances +that our labor will not be in vain. _Summer_ performs what _Spring_ had +promised, and shews us the advantage of listening to early instruction +and wisely improving it. Ten thousand songsters are filling the branches +with their animating strains of music and gratitude, and teaching us to +enjoy, as they do, the countless blessings and bounties of nature; +_their_ music is never failing--nor do we see it ending in _discords_. +Let us all, as we journey onward together through the year, learn to +tune our _hearts_ as they do their _voices_, and pass the fleeting +period in harmony, and in that _cheerfulness_ which the excellent +Addison has honored with the name of a _continual expression of +gratitude to Heaven_. In Germany the _study_ and _practice_ of music are +general among the people. Besides other advantages resulting from +making music a part of common education, it is not romantic or utopian +to observe that it teaches how easily music--pure and surpassing +music--may be made on the _same_ instrument, which under an ignorant or +purposed touch will send forth discords in prodigious varieties. He who +has become _acquainted_ with the instrument, though not a _master_ of +it, well knows how to _avoid_ those combinations of sound which are +painful to the ear, and often tend to disturb feelings and passions. +What tones are sweeter than those produced by the gentle breeze of +heaven in passing over the strings of the AEolian Harp? The reason is, +those strings are so attuned as that their vibrations will not respond +except in notes of harmony: but only disorder the strings, by increasing +the tension of some and decreasing that of others, and the sweetest +zephyr will produce nothing but the vilest discords, resembling angry +passions. Let us then, in our journey through the year on which we have +entered, acquire as much as possible a knowledge of the _science_ and +the _art_ of social and domestic _moral music_. Let us learn to measure +our _time_ with care, to cultivate our _voices_, that they may lose all +harshness: let each attend to _his own part_, and strive to excel in +that. Let us consider our _feelings_, _passions_ and _dispositions_, as +the _strings of the Harp_; and the _ordinary events of life_ as the +_breezes_ which give vibration to the strings: if these strings--our +feelings, passions and dispositions--are in proper tune--under due +regulation, and preserving a just relation, each to all the others, we +have then all the elements of moral music, domestic and social, and in a +few weeks, by due regard to all the principles and arrangement above +mentioned, we shall soon be good scholars, _giving_ and _receiving_ all +that pleasure which harmony can afford; and as the sober _autumn_ +advances, our _tastes_ for this kind of music will be more and more +ripened towards perfection; and when the cold _decemberly_ evenings +shall arrive, we can listen to the _angry music_ of the elements abroad, +full of discordant strains, sweeping by our peaceful homes, while +_within_ them all may be the music of the heart, in its gentlest +movements. + +It is a melancholy truth that we ourselves manufacture seven eighths of +what we are disposed to term our _misfortunes_ in this world. Want of +precaution mars our arrangements: want of prudence exposes us to dangers +which we might easily have avoided--want of patience often hurries us +into difficulties, and disqualifies us to bear them with calmness or +decency. Indulgence in follies and fashions often plants the seeds of +wasting disease. Intemperance in our passions always is followed by +unwelcome sensations, and sometimes with a sense of shame. Stimulants +are succeeded by debility, and when they are used to excess, we know and +daily witness the dreadful results--if death is not one of them--either +the death of the offender, or of some other destroyed by his hand in the +tempest of infuriated passions--we are too often compelled to mourn over +the desolation they occasion--presenting in one view, + + "Hate--grief--despair--the family of pain." + + + + +THE RUIN OF A NIGHT. + +STANZAS SUGGESTED ON VIEWING THE GROUND OF THE GREAT FIRE IN NEW-YORK. + +By Grenville Mellen. + + + It was still noon--and Sabbath. The pale air + Hung over the great city like a shroud-- + And echo answer'd to a footstep there, + Where late went up the thunder of a crowd! + I wander'd like a pilgrim round the piles + That Ruin heap'd about the wildering way-- + And as I pass'd, I saw the withering smiles + That did on faces of dull gazers play, + As they stood round the ashes of that grave + Of all that yesterday rose there, so broad and brave! + + I mus'd as I went thro' the shadowy path + Of broken, blacken'd walls, and pillars high, + Which had surviv'd that visiting of wrath, + And now lean'd dim against the lurid sky-- + I heard the rude laugh break from ruder hearts, + Those ruffian exclamations of lost souls, + At which a better spirit wakes and starts-- + The revelry of demons o'er their bowls-- + Until I felt how faint rebuke may fall + Over a people, tho' it come in sword and pall! + + There was no lesson in that mighty pyre-- + Or, if it rose, it faded with the flame; + And crime, relentless, from that smouldering fire + Would lift, at night, its stealthy arm the same + On the lone wanderer, as, amid the crowd, + It glided oft before, to filch its gold, + When the great voice of rivalry was loud, + And onward the deep tide of commerce roll'd! + I thought how idle was the darkest ban, + Fate, in her fiercest eloquence, can pour on man! + + I thought how quick the seal of nothingness + Is set on man's best glory--and how deep! + How soon the Greatest grovels with the Less, + And they who shouted bravest, bow to weep! + How quick the veriest triumph of our years, + Fulfill'd by a dim life of toil and pain, + Is chang'd to one sad festival of tears-- + When Time is but a storm--and visions wane! + How quick Destruction can make classical + The crowded, golden ground, where her fell footsteps fall! + + The ground that yesterday was consecrate + To the wild spirit-power of Gold and Gain-- + Where riches, like some thing of worship sate, + And Worth of Wealth ask'd precedence in vain! + Where the hard hand was busy with the dust + With which it soon must mingle--though it gleam + Often with jewels--splendid, but accurst, + That make the trappings of this Life's poor dream! + And where, too, Bounty, like a fountain, sprung, + In streams, though not unfelt, in shadow, and unsung! + + Alas! that pillar'd pile! how, as I gaz'd + Upon the blacken'd shafts, did I recall + The sculptur'd marble there, whose brow was rais'd + So like a god's, within that shadowy hall! + Immortal HAMILTON!--though crumbled deep + In the red chaos of that billowy night, + It needs no chisel's memory to keep + Thy spirit's nobler outline vast and bright! + No Time--no element can mar the fame, + Gather'd, like fadeless sunlight, round thy spotless name! + + + + +COURTSHIP. + +By Wm. L. McClintock. + + +After my sleighride, last winter, and the slippery trick I was served by +Patty Bean, nobody would suspect me of hankering after the women again +in a hurry. To hear me curse and swear and rail out against the whole +feminine gender, you would have taken it for granted that I should never +so much as look at one again, to all eternity--O, but I was wicked. +"Darn and blast their eyes"--says I.--"Blame their skins--torment their +hearts and darn them to darnation." Finally I took an oath and swore +that if I ever meddled or had any dealings with them again (in the +sparking line I mean) I wish I might be hung and choked. + +But swearing off from women, and then going into a meeting house chock +full of gals, all shining and glistening in their Sunday clothes and +clean faces, is like swearing off from liquor and going into a grog +shop. It's all smoke. + +I held out and kept firm to my oath for three whole Sundays. Forenoons, +a'ternoons and intermissions complete. On the fourth, there were strong +symptoms of a change of weather. A chap, about my size was seen on the +way to the meeting house, with a new patent hat on; his head hung by the +ears upon a shirt collar; his cravat had a pudding in it and branched +out in front, into a double bow knot. He carried a straight back and a +stiff neck, as a man ought to, when he has his best clothes on; and +every time he spit, he sprung his body forward, like a jack-knife, in +order to shoot clear of the ruffles. + +Squire Jones' pew is next but two to mine; and when I stand up to +prayers and take my coat tail under my arm, and turn my back to the +minister, I naturally look right straight at Sally Jones. Now Sally has +got a face not to be grinned at, in a fog. Indeed, as regards beauty, +some folks think she can pull an even yoke with Patty Bean. For my part, +I think there is not much boot between them. Any how, they are so nigh +matched that they have hated and despised each other, like rank poison, +ever since they were school-girls. + +Squire Jones had got his evening fire on, and set himself down to +reading the great bible, when he heard a rap at his door. "Walk +in.--Well, John, how der do? Git out, Pompey."--"Pretty well, I thank ye, +Squire, and how do _you_ do?"--"Why, so as to be crawling--ye ugly beast, +will ye hold yer yop--haul up a chair and set down, John." + +"How do _you_ do, Mrs. Jones?" "O, middlin', how's yer marm? Don't forget +the mat, there, Mr. Beedle." This put me in mind that I had been off +soundings several times, in the long muddy lane; and my boots were in a +sweet pickle. + +It was now old Captain Jones' turn, the grandfather. Being roused from a +doze, by the bustle and racket, he opened both his eyes, at first with +wonder and astonishment. At last he began to halloo so loud that you +might hear him a mile; for he takes it for granted that every body is +just exactly as deaf as he is. + +"Who is it? I say, who in the world is it?" Mrs. Jones going close to +his ear, screamed out, "it's Johnny Beedle."--"Ho--Johnny Beedle. I +remember, he was one summer at the siege of Boston."--"No, no, father, +bless your heart, that was his grandfather, that's been dead and gone +this twenty year."--"Ho,--But where does he come from?"--"Daown +taown."--"Ho.--And what does he follow for a livin'?"--And he did not +stop asking questions, after this sort, till all the particulars of the +Beedle family were published and proclaimed in Mrs. Jones' last screech. +He then sunk back into his doze again. + +The dog stretched himself before one andiron; the cat squat down before +the other. Silence came on by degrees, like a calm snow storm, till +nothing was heard but a cricket under the hearth, keeping tune with a +sappy yellow birch forestick. Sally sat up prim, as if she were pinned +to the chair-back; her hands crossed genteelly upon her lap, and her +eyes looking straight into the fire. Mammy Jones tried to straighten +herself too, and laid her hands across in her lap. But they would not +lay still. It was full twenty-four hours since they had done any work, +and they were out of all patience with keeping Sunday.--Do what she +would to keep them quiet, they would bounce up, now and then, and go +through the motions, in spite of the fourth commandment. For my part _I_ +sat looking very much like a fool. The more I tried to say something the +more my tongue stuck fast. I put my right leg over the left and said +"hem." Then I changed, and put the left leg over the right. It was no +use; the silence kept coming on thicker and thicker. The drops of sweat +began to crawl all over me. I got my eye upon my hat, hanging on a peg, +on the road to the door; and then I eyed the door. At this moment, the +old Captain, all at once sung out "Johnny Beedle!" It sounded like a +clap of thunder, and I started right up an eend. + +"Johnny Beedle, you'll never handle sich a drumstick as your father did, +if yer live to the age of Methusaler. He would toss up his drumstick, +and while it was whirlin' in the air, take off a gill er rum, and then +ketch it as it come down, without losin' a stroke in the tune. What d'ye +think of that, ha? But scull your chair round, close along side er me, +so yer can hear.--Now, what have you come a'ter?"--"I--a'ter? O, jest +takin' a walk. Pleasant walkin' I guess. I mean jest to see how ye all +do." "Ho.--That's another lie. You've come a courtin', Johnny Beedle; +you're a'ter our Sal. Say now, d'ye want to marry, or only to court?" + +This is what I call a choker. Poor Sally made but one jump and landed in +the middle of the kitchen; and then she skulked in the dark corner, till +the old man, after laughing himself into a whooping cough, was put to +bed. + +Then came apples and cider; and, the ice being broke, plenty chat with +mammy Jones about the minister and the 'sarmon.' I agreed with her to a +nicety, upon all the points of doctrine; but I had forgot the text and +all the heads of the discourse, but six. Then she teazed and tormented +me to tell who I accounted the best singer in the gallery, that day. +But, mum--there was no getting that out of me. "Praise to the face is +often disgrace"--says I, throwing a sly squint at Sally. + +At last, Mrs. Jones lighted t'other candle; and after charging Sally to +look well to the fire, she led the way to bed, and the Squire gathered +up his shoes and stockings and followed. + +Sally and I were left sitting a good yard apart, honest measure. For +fear of getting tongue-tied again, I set right in, with a steady stream +of talk. I told her all the particulars about the weather that was past, +and also made some pretty cute guesses at what it was like to be in +future. At first, I gave a hitch up with my chair at every full stop. +Then growing saucy, I repeated it at every comma, and semicolon; and at +last, it was hitch, hitch, hitch, and I planted myself fast by the side +of her. + +"I swow, Sally, you looked so plaguy handsome to day, that I wanted to +eat you up."--"Pshaw, get along you," says she. My hand had crept along, +somehow, upon its fingers, and begun to scrape acquaintance with hers. +She sent it home again, with a desperate jerk. "Try it agin"--no better +luck. "Why, Miss Jones you're gettin' upstropulous, a little old madish, +I guess." "Hands off is fair play, Mr. Beedle." + +It is a good sign to find a girl sulkey. I knew where the shoe pinched. +It was that are Patty Bean business. So I went to work to persuade her +that I had never had any notion after Patty, and to prove it I fell to +running her down at a great rate. Sally could not help chiming in with +me, and I rather guess Miss Patty suffered a few. I, now, not only got +hold of her hand without opposition, but managed to slip an arm round +her waist. But there was no satisfying me; so I must go to poking out my +lips after a buss. I guess I rued it. She fetched me a slap in the face +that made me see stars, and my ears rung like a brass kettle for a +quarter of an hour. I was forced to laugh at the joke, tho' out of the +wrong side of my mouth, which gave my face something the look of a +gridiron. The battle now began in the regular way. "Ah, Sally, give me a +kiss, and ha' done with it, now."--"I won't, so there, nor tech to."--"I'll +take it, whether or no."--"Do it, if you dare."--And at it we went, rough +and tumble. An odd destruction of starch now commenced. The bow of my +cravat was squat up in half a shake. At the next bout, smash went shirt +collar, and, at the same time, some of the head fastenings gave way, and +down came Sally's hair in a flood, like a mill dam broke +loose,--carrying away half a dozen combs. One dig of Sally's elbow, and +my blooming ruffles wilted down to a dish-cloth. But she had no time to +boast. Soon her neck tackling began to shiver. It parted at the throat, +and, whorah, came a whole school of blue and white beads, scampering and +running races every which way, about the floor. + +By the Hokey; if Sally Jones is'nt real grit, there's no snakes. She +fought fair, however, I must own, and neither tried to bite nor scratch; +and when she could fight no longer, for want of breath, she yielded +handsomely. Her arms fell down by her sides, her head back over her +chair, her eyes closed and there lay her little plump mouth, all in the +air. Lord! did ye ever see a hawk pounce upon a young robin? Or a +bumblebee upon a clover-top?--I say nothing. + +Consarn it, how a buss will crack, of a still frosty night. Mrs. Jones +was about half way between asleep and awake. "There goes my yeast +bottle," says she to herself--"burst into twenty hundred pieces, and my +bread is all dough agin." + +The upshot of the matter is, I fell in love with Sally Jones, head over +ears. Every Sunday night, rain or shine, finds me rapping at 'Squire +Jones' door, and twenty times have I been within a hair's breadth of +popping the question. But now I have made a final resolve; and if I live +till next Sunday night, and I don't get choked in the trial, Sally Jones +will hear thunder. + + + + +VENETIAN MOONLIGHT. + +By Frederick Mellen. + + + The midnight chime had tolled from Marco's towers; + O'er Adria's wave the trembling echo swept; + The gondolieri paused upon their oars, + Mutt'ring their prayers as through the still night crept. + + Far on the wave the knell of time sped on, + Till the sound died upon its tranquil breast; + The sea-boy startled as the peal rolled on; + Gazed at his star, and turned himself to rest. + + The throbbing heart, that late had said farewell, + Still lingering on the wave that bore it home, + At that bright hour sigh'd o'er the dying swell, + And thought on years of absence yet to come. + + 'T was moonlight on Venetia's sea, + And every fragrant bower and tree + Smiled in the golden light; + The thousand eyes that clustered there + Ne'er in their life looked half so fair + As on that happy night. + + A thousand sparkling lights were set + On every dome and minaret; + While through the marble halls, + The gush of cooling fountains came, + And crystal lamps sent far their flame + Upon the high-arched walls. + + But sweeter far on Adria's sea, + The gondolier's wild minstrelsy + In accents low began; + While sounding harp and martial zel + Their music joined, until the swell + Seemed heaven's broad arch to span. + + Then faintly ceasing--one by one, + That plaintive voice sung on alone + Its wild, heart-soothing lay; + And then again that moonlight band + Started, as if by magic wand, + In one bold burst away. + + The joyous laugh came on the breeze, + And, 'mid the bright o'erhanging trees, + The mazy dance went round; + And as in joyous ring they flew, + The smiling nymphs the wild flowers threw + That clustered on the ground. + + Soft as a summer evening's sigh, + From each o'erhanging balcony + Low fervent whisperings fell; + And many a heart upon that night + On fancy's pinion sped its flight, + Where holier beings dwell. + + Each lovely form the eye might see, + The dark-browed maid of Italy + With love's own sparkling eyes; + The fairy Swiss--all, all that night, + Smiled in the moonbeam's silvery light, + Fair as their native skies. + + The moon went down, and o'er that glowing sea, + With darkness, Silence spread abroad her wing, + Nor dash of oars, nor harp's wild minstrelsy + Came o'er the waters in that mighty ring. + All nature slept--and, save the far-off moan + Of ocean surges, Silence reigned alone. + + + + +BALLOONING. + +By I. McLellan, Jr. + + +The clear sun of a fine September day, was glittering on roof and +steeple, and the cheerful breeze of early autumn breathing its harp-like +melody over woods and waters. A vast multitude stood around me, +attentively watching the expanding folds of my balloon, as it swayed to +and fro in the unsteady air. As I prepared to take my place in its car, +I noticed an involuntary shudder run through the assemblage, and anxious +glances pass from face to face. At length, the process of inflation was +completed, the music sounded, the gun was discharged, the ropes were +loosened, and the beautiful machine arose in the air, amid the +resounding cheers of thousands. As it ascended, I cast a hasty look on +the sea of upturned heads, and thought I read one general expression of +anxiety, in the faces of the multitudinous throng, and my heart warmed +with the consciousness, that many kind wishes and secret hopes were +wafted with me on my heavenward flight. But very soon, mine eye ceased +to distinguish features and forms, and the collected throng became +blended in one confused mass, and the green common itself had dwindled +into a mere garden-plat, and the magnificent old Elm in its centre to a +stunted bush, waving on the hill-side. + +Upward, upward! my flying car mounted and mounted, into the yet +untraversed highways of the air, swifter than pinion-borne bird, or +canvas-borne vessel, yet all without sound of revolving wheel, or +clatter of thundering hoof or straining of bellying sail, or rustle of +flapping wing. I felt that I was indeed alone, in the upper wastes of +the liquid element, a solitary voyager of the sky, careering onward like +the spectral "Ship of the Sea," with no murmur of bubbling billow under +the prow, and no gush of whirling ripple beneath the keel. But how can +my pen describe the sublimity of the scene above, below and around! At +one moment, my car would plunge into silvery seas of vapor and rolling +billows of mist, through which the dim-seen sun did but feebly glimmer, +like the struggling flame of the torch cast in the dungeon's gloom. But +soon that shadowy veil dissolved away, and again I would emerge into the +blaze of the golden sun, and the effulgence of the blue heavens. How +then did I covet the painter's art, to be able to imprint on the eternal +canvas, those gorgeous clouds piled up around me, like hills and +mountains, from whose sides hoary cataracts seemed to be falling, and +foamy streams leaping into the vallies, that rested in lovely repose at +their base. Never did the dull world below present on its diversified +bosom, such grand or such enchanting objects, as those beautiful and +evanescent creatures of the air, shining and shifting in the levelled +sunbeams around. At times, my whole horizon would be bounded by those +mountainous regions of cloud-land, cliff lifting over cliff, pinnacle +above pinnacle, Alps above Alps. On their sides and tops, the reflected +light painted all the hues of the rainbow, in commingled azure and +crimson, purple and gold. In those stupendous masses of vapor, mine eye, +with little aid of fancy, could trace out resemblances of wild and +desolate forests, of sombre fir and yew, the lordly oak and the +melancholy pine, whispering in the breeze. Anon, a green, happy valley, +would smile out from some hollow of the hills, and the white +church-spire would peep from the embosoming grove, and the rustic +parsonage, the rural farm-house, and the village-inn, with its swinging +sign, and the chestnut waiving its twinkling foliage at the door would +appear. Anon, the shifting vapor would assume the shape of an old +baronial fortress, green with the mosses of centuries, and overspread +with the flexile creeper, the gadding vine, and the glossy ivy, and +wearing many a dull-weather stain, imprinted by wintry gale and autumnal +rain. On its grey towers would seem to float the broad standard, around +which the knights and vassals had mustered so often, when the armies +thundered beneath the leagured walls, or its brave folds were displayed +in distant lands, on the tented fields of war. + +Onward, onward! I looked forth, and saw that I was again wafted along +the lower currents of air, and could easily distinguish the sights and +sounds of earth. I passed over green pastures, where the brindled cattle +and snowy sheep were feeding, and, under a spreading oak, that towered +aloft like a verdant hill, reclined a young girl, watching her father's +flocks, attended by a pet lamb, cropping the fair flowers at her feet. +As I gazed, I thought of "the fair Una with her milk-white lamb," and of +all the happiness of the shepherd's life, who, sitting upon the grassy +hill-side beneath the sacred locust, and piping entrancing melodies in +praise of his love, on the mellow oaten reed, is all unmindful of the +cankering care and the poisonous hatred, that embitter human life. Great +was the surprise that agitated that lonesome spot, as mine air-borne +pageant fluttered over it, with its silken fold and colored streamer. +The cattle cast upward their wondering eyes, and galloped away to the +forests, and I could long hear the tinkling bell on the horn of the bull +and heifer, sounding in the inner sanctuary of the wood, where, on a +twisted root or a moss-covered stone, by the brink of the gushing brook, +reclined that grey-beard recluse, Solitude, and his nun-like sister, +Silence, revolving their lonely meditations. + +Onward, still onward! Beneath me I beheld a solemn spot, where the +linden, the ash, the sycamore, the cypress, the cedar, the beech, the +church-yard yew and hemlock, were clustered together in one mournful +company. I knew by the stone altars, by the sculptured urn, the graceful +obelisk, the foam-white pyramid, the funereal cenotaph, the marble +mausoleum, which glimmered amid the groves and bowers, that I looked +upon a sanctuary, consecrated by the living to the repose of the dead. A +sweet sabbath-like calm seemed to hover about the place, and even the +very birds that were flitting from branch to branch, and the breeze that +was sighing its hollow dirge along the wood-tops, appeared to know that +the spot was holy. As I looked, I beheld a slow procession winding along +this highway of the departed, and bearing a new tenant to the narrow +house. Some sweet infant, perhaps, was there cut down in the dewy bloom +of its innocence,--some beautiful bud of beauty severed from its stem, +and torn away from its blossoming mates, in the garden of youth,--or, +haply, some silver-haired sire, gathered like the shock of corn, fully +ripe, into the vast granary of death. + +As I passed from this interesting spot, I was attracted by a merry train +of riders, whose loud and cheerful voices resounded along the road, +seeming to mock the sacred silence of the place I had so lately left. As +the gay array of youth and beauty dashed away from my sight, with foamy +bridle and gory spur, I could not but be reminded of the close +juxta-position on earth, of joy and sorrow, life and death. + +Onward, onward! over winding streams, that glittered like twisting +serpents on the green surface of the earth, over the broad bay, that +rested in smooth and glassy repose in the arms of the far-extending +shore, and over the dashing billows of the ocean, my route continued. +Birds of the briny sea, whose strong wings had borne them safely and +surely from the frosty atmosphere that sparkles around the pole, or the +ice-cold waters of some far-away lagoon, now darted around me with +discordant cry and affrighted pinion. In those hovering flocks I +discerned the duck, the goose, the coot, the loon, the curlew, the +green-winged teal, the dusky duck, the sooty tern, the yellow-winged +gadwale, the golden eye, and the gaudy mallard, proudly vain of that +lovely plumage, whose intense hues rival the glory of the breaking dawn, +the autumnal sunset, or the intermingled dyes which tinge the stripes of +the showery bow. On an iron-bound promontory, whose jutting crags waved +an eternal strife with the rolling billows, I saw the thick-scattered +cottages of wealth and taste, seeming no bigger than the nest, which the +tropical bird constructs in the sands of the desert, while around, on +the tumbling expanse of waters, were glancing a thousand receding and +approaching sails, bearing the riches of the orient or the occident, +from shore to shore. + +Downward, downward! A thrill of horror shot through my veins, as I felt +that the rough ocean breeze had shivered my silken vessel to shreds and +tatters, and that I was falling with the speed of lightning, through the +hollow abyss of the air, into the sea. The jaws of the fretting ocean, +gnashing their white teeth in anger, seemed to gape open to devour me, +and the black rocks uplifted their jagged spears, to impale my devoted +body! But my time had not yet come. A gentle tap on the shoulder aroused +me from the profound reverie in which I had been plunged, and I was very +glad to recognize, in the visitor who had broken the spell, my good +friend Durant, who called to invite me to attend his grand ascension, +the following day. + + + + +ODE, + +ON OCCASION OF JUDGE STORY'S EULOGY ON CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL AT THE +ODEON. + +By Grenville Mellen. + + + Again--the voice of God! + How breaks it round! + O'er consecrated sod, + With locks unbound, + Grief in her marble brow appears + And bows amid her veil--in tears! + + That mandate from on high-- + The clarion call, + That rung through earth and sky + His rayless fall, + In accents, "thou shalt die," again + Proclaims man's dream of years--how vain! + + We veil not in its grave + Ambition's brow-- + It is not o'er the brave + We gather now! + But one who reach'd man's loftier fate. + _Good_ without fault--and nobly _great_. + + A sceptre was his own, + Drawn from the sky-- + He fill'd a holier throne + Than royalty: + He sat with deathless Justice crown'd, + While Truth, like sunlight, flash'd around! + + His _life_ to all the earth + Proud record bore, + Man yet might spring to birth, + With angel power! + His _death_, that as the "grass," to-day + Robes him in glory--and decay! + + Oh! well, with spirit bow'd, + Above his bier + May a broad empire crowd, + With prayer and tear! + --His be its requiem--deep and far-- + A nation's heart his sepulchre! + + + + +THE BOY'S MOUNTAIN SONG. + +FROM THE GERMAN. + +By I. McLellan, Jr. + + + I am the mountain boy! + Forth o'er an hundred halls I gaze. + Here morn his earliest light displays, + Here linger his declining rays,-- + I am the mountain boy! + + Here is the mountain-source, + Of the cold water-course-- + And at sultry noon I dip, + In its wave my glowing lip. + I am the mountain boy! + + When the awful lightnings glare, + Flashes on the midnight air, + On the rocking cliff I kneel, + Answering back each thunder-peal. + I am the mountain boy! + + When the quickly-pealing bell, + Calls to arms in every dell, + In the mustered ranks I stand, + Swinging wide my mountain-brand + And sing my mountain-song! + + + + +THE UNCHANGEABLE JEW. + +By John Neal. + + '_Who_ views with equal eye as God of all, + A hero perish, or a sparrow fall? + Atoms and systems into ruin hurled, + And now a bubble burst, and now a world?' + + +A great multitude were gathered together: on the right a huge fortress +thundering to the sky--on the left a scaffold--a white fog--the open +sea--and a mighty ship tumbling to the swell. The flat roofs and +gorgeous balconies were covered with scarlet cloth, and thronged with +women of all ages--their lips writhing and their eyes flashing. +Underneath were a mute soldiery, with banners that moved not, and spears +that glimmered not--a vast, rich and motionless pageant. Not a leaf +stirred--not a finger was lifted--all eyes were fixed upon something +afar off. The Grave alone had a voice, and the footstep of approaching +Death grew audible, with the everlasting beat of the Ocean. The stagnant +atmosphere burned with a lustreless, unchangeable and smouldering +warmth. As the impatient and sluggish breathing of the Destroyer drew +near, with a sound as of Earthquake and Pestilence laboring afar off, +there appeared upon the outermost verge of the scaffold, near the +fortress, a man of a simple and majestic presence, wearing no symbol of +power, no badge of authority, before whom the multitude gave way with +headlong precipitation, as though but to touch the hem of his garment +were death itself, or something yet worse than death. + +After communicating with those about him in a low whisper, too low to be +understood by others almost within his reach, one of the soldiers lifted +a spear, at the point of which fluttered a blood-red banner, tufted and +fringed with snow-white feathers, and pointed in silence toward a large +opening, which appeared to command a view of the whole interior. The +stranger drew near, and grasping one of the bars with a powerful hand, +lifted himself up, and after looking awhile, turned away with a sick +impatient shudder, and wiped his eyes; and then lifting himself up +again, he made a signal to somebody within, and straightway a large +tent-like awning was quietly withdrawn, so as to reveal the interior of +a court-yard, with cells opening into it--in the nearest of which sat a +princely-looking middle-aged man, half-buried and apparently half asleep +or lost in thought, in a large, heavy, old-fashioned chair, with a +curiously carved table before him, on which there lay, side by side with +writing materials, a lamp and a letter evidently unfinished, two or +three illuminated manuscripts, a dagger and a map; a massive goblet +richly chased, the rough gold tinged and sweltering with the hot blood +of the southern grape, a variety of strange mathematical instruments--a +copy of Zoroaster--and a Hebrew Bible, with clasps of the costliest +workmanship, and a cover of black velvet frosted with seed pearls--a +crushed and trampled coronet--and a lighted pipe, ornamented with +precious stones, the shaft a twisted serpent and the bowl a burning +carbuncle--a live coal--from the core of which, as out of the midst of a +perpetual, unextinguishable fire, issued a delicate perfume, filling the +whole neighborhood, as with the smoke of a censer; and leaving the eye +to make out--by little and little--through the fragrant vapor, first a +pair of embroidered Persian slippers, then a magnificent robe, flowered +all over as with the sunshine of the sea, and weltering in the +changeable light of the open window, then a prodigious quantity of +lustrous black hair flowing down over the shoulders, from underneath a +crimson velvet cap with a diamond buckle and clasp, and a tassel of spun +gold, strung with sapphire, ruby, amethyst and pearl--and a pomp of +black feathers overshadowing an ample forehead of surpassing power, and +eyes of untroubled splendor; and then, after a long while, a heap of +black shadow lying coiled up underneath the table, from the midst of +which an occasional flash, as of a serpent's tongue, or an angry +sparkle--as of a serpent's eye, would appear--and at last the whole +proportions of a superb-looking personage, who had been trying, hour +after hour, with a compressed lip and a thoughtful determined eye--to +snap what appeared to be a handful of seed pearl, one by one, through +the grated window before him, without touching the bars--hour after +hour--and always in vain! The passage way was too narrow--the bars too +near together. + +Behold! murmured he at last, while the shadow of another--and yet +another stranger, shot along the lighted floor, as he stole about the +room a-tiptoe, and gathering up the pearls, if pearls they were, that +lay in heaps underneath the window, and flinging aside the magnificent +robe he wore, prepared himself anew and with more determination than +ever, for the work he had evidently set his heart upon, if not his life, +by measuring the elevation with a steadier eye, and poising every pearl +with a more delicate touch, before he projected it toward the window. +Behold! how the Ancient of Days delighteth in counteracting the purposes +of Man? + +The other started back and threw up his arms with a look of horror and +amazement, and all who were about him began whispering together and +shaking their heads. + +At this moment the slow jarring vibration of a great bell was heard from +the topmost tower--the cannon of the fortress thundered forth, and were +answered, peal after peal, from the lighted mountains--a volume of white +smoke rolled heavily toward the earth and covered the people--the +sea-fog trembled--parted--and slowly drifted away in patches and +fragments, through which the blue sky appeared, and the hot sunshine +flashed with an arrowy brightness, while the mighty ship swung round +with her broadside to the shore, and lighted matches were seen moving +about hither and thither, like wandering meteors, through the damp hazy +atmosphere; and instantly there went up a slow half-smothered wail from +the multitude, with a weight and volume like the unutterable and growing +earnestness of the Great Deep, when it begins to heave with a +pre-appointed and irresistible change; and all eyes were upturned, and +all arms outstretched with a troubled expression toward the stranger, +who walked forward a few steps to the verge of the scaffold--and looking +about him, on every side, called out with a loud voice,--Of such are the +Gods of the Unconverted! and of such their followers! + +The answering roar of the multitude reached the prisoner, who lifting +his head and listening for a moment with a placid smile, asked what more +they would have?--and whether they were not yet satisfied?--and then +straightway began balancing another of the glittering seeds and eyeing +the window-- + +Most pitiable! cried the other, covering his face with his hands, moving +afar off, and appearing to be entirely overcome by what he saw. + +And why _pitiable_, I pray thee! shouted the former, with a voice like a +trumpet, lifting his calm forehead to the sky and gathering his +magnificent robe about him as he spoke. + +Art thou of a truth Adonijah the Jew--the unconverted Jew? + +Of a truth am I--the unconverted, the _unconvertable_ Jew; and thou! art +thou not he that was my brother according to the flesh--even Zorobabel, +the _converted_ Jew and the preacher of a new faith? + +Yea; of a new faith to such as thou; but a faith older than the Hebrew +prophets to them that believe, Adonijah. + +But why _pitiable_ I pray thee? + +How are the mighty fallen! For three whole months have I journied afoot +and alone, by night and by day, through the deep of the wilderness, and +along by the sea-shore--afoot and alone, my brother!--after hearing of +thy great overthrow--the wreck of thy vast possessions about me +whithersoever I went--thy magnificent household scattered, thy princes +banished from their high places, and wandering over all the earth and +hiding themselves in the holes of the rocks--with no city of refuge in +their path--even thy youngest and fairest a bondwoman, toiling for that +which sustaineth not; and thy own fast-approaching death, a theme with +every people and kindred and tongue--and not a theme of sorrow! And all +this, O my brother and my prince! only that I might be near thee in thy +unutterable bereavement and humiliation, only that I might look upon +thee once more alive, and see thee unchangeable as ever, though stripped +of power and trampled under the hoofs of the multitude--only that I +might reason with thee, face to face, before a great people, who, after +watching and worshipping thee for many years, have come up together as +with one heart, to see thee--_thee!_ their idol and their +benefactor--perish upon a scaffold, as only the fool or the scoffer +perisheth!--to cry out upon thee as the unconquerable Jew, that having +once abjured the faith of his fathers and gone back to it anew, cannot +be reached but by the law, nor purified but with fire! + +Say on. + +Alas, my brother! Alas that it should fall upon me to afflict thy proud +spirit with reproaches at a time like this! But there is no other hope. +Awake, therefore! awake! and gird up thy loins like a man. I will demand +of thee, saith the Lord of Hosts, and thou shalt answer me, even as my +servant Job answered me of yore. Awake, therefore, and stand up, that I +may reason with thee for the last time touching the faith of our mighty +fathers, the consolations of philosophy, and the splendor and power of +earthly Wisdom--of Death and Judgment--while thou art on thy way to the +grave in the fulness of thy strength and majesty; and _not_ with the +clangor of trumpets, the neigh of steeds, the flow of drapery, and the +uproar of battle!--No!--not as the High Priest, or the champion of a +lofty and venerable faith, standing up like a pillar of fire in a cloudy +sky, and pointing to Jerusalem as to the great gathering place of buried +nations, about to reappear, with all eyes fixed upon thee and all hearts +heaving with exultation! To thy grave, my brother! and not as a martyr! +but as a wretch abandoned of all the earth--a twofold apostate!--a +rebel and a traitor! Hark! hearest thou not a faint stirring afar off, +along the shore of that multitude--a living wilderness of threatening +eyes and parched lips--and ah! another moan from that huge, heavy, +disheartening bell, which never stops till the sacrifice of a fiery +death is over, and the object of its boding prophecy gone to the world +of spirits. + +But the prisoner heeded not his adjuration--he never lifted his eyes, +and the same quiet smile rested forever upon his countenance; and he +still gathered up the pearls and continued aiming them at the window. + +Awake, Adonijah! awake, I say! Thy pearls are counted to thee. Thy +pulses are about to stand still forever--thy proud heart to stop +forever! A moment, and the headsman will be here--already do I see him +afar off, stealing with a noiseless movement along the skirts of the +affrighted people, like smouldering fire through the blackness of a +thunder-cloud. Awake, thou MAN of sorrow and acquainted with grief, +awake that I may pray with thee! + +With me! + +Yea, my brother--even with thee. + +And wherefore shouldst thou pray with me? and wherefore should I pray? + +Wherefore! Have I not heard thee, purified by that old peculiar faith, +charge even thy Creator, the Ancient of Days, the Lord God of Heaven and +Earth, _Jehovah!_ with diverting thy pearls from their appointed path! + +True, and therefore why should I pray? Of what avail these prayers with +the _unchangeable_ God? Can aught that we do, or fail to do, disturb the +everlasting tranquillity of our Creator--change his purpose--or in any +way move to pleasure or displeasure the Lord God of Heaven and Earth? +With him before whom all things are alike, with whom there is neither +great nor small--what he hath determined to do, that will he not do? +whether we importune him or not with prayer? Go to, my poor brother! go +to! will not the Judge of all the Earth do right? and if he will +not--how are we to help ourselves? + +Unhappy man! Though he _were_ unchangeable; and though supplications +were of no avail, why should the children of men, the creatures of his +bounty withhold their _thanksgiving_? + +That would I never withhold, for that I could offer up any where--at all +times and under all circumstances, without dishonoring him, our CREATOR +and our Father, or his image, and without contradicting our ancient +faith. But why wrestle in prayer with him, for that which, if it be +proper for us, we shall be sure to have, as we have the dew and the +sunshine, the seed-time and the harvest.--The very hairs of our head, +are they not numbered? Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and +not one of them is forgotten before God! + +Yea my brother! But what saith the same scripture? Ye are of more value +than many sparrows. + +True--true--I had forgotten a part of my lesson. + +Believest thou, O my brother, _canst_ thou believe then, that in His +eyes, all the cherubim and seraphim are equal and alike? that He is, of +a truth, no respecter of persons among the Hierarchy of heaven? + +But wherefore pray to Him that knoweth all our wants, before they are +uttered or felt? to Him that feedeth the young raven--laying his hand +reverentially upon the Great Book before him, and lifting his forehead +to the sky, as if he could see through it. + +_Wherefore?_ Because we have been urged to pray--entreated to +pray--commanded to pray. Because every thing desirable hath been +promised to prayer. + +Not in the Hebrew scriptures, however it may be with the Greek. To +thanksgiving and submission, there may be vouchsafed a continual to +favor; but to importunity, as urged upon you in your scripture, my poor +brother, _nothing_. + +Lo! the headsman touches the foot of the scaffold! Wilt thou not pray +with me, oh Adonijah! my brother and my prince! + +No! my brother that _was_--no! The Lion of Judah hath not yet learned to +lick the uplifted hand of mortal man. Get thee behind me Zorobabel, _my +brother_! Go thy way, and leave me to my trust in the God of our +fathers. Why should I pray with thee--with thee! an apostate from the +sepulchre of kings and prophets--I that never have prayed but with the +princes, and the Judges and the High-Priest of our people? Get thee +gone, my brother! It is not for such as I to tempt the Lord of Hosts, or +to persuade the Ancient of Days. Do not thou tempt me. + +Stay, brother--stay! Did not Jacob wrestle in prayer with the angel of +the Lord, all the night long? + +With the angel of the Lord?--yea--But never with the Lord himself, as +thou wouldst have me. And saying this, he gathered up his robe and shook +it, and turned away from his brother sorrowing. + +Man! thou art beside thyself--much learning hath made thee mad--cried +his brother, reaching forth his arms to Adonijah. The whole Hebrew +scriptures are against thee--what are they all but a Book of prayer and +supplication? Prophets and Bards and Kings and Judges, yea, even the +High Priesthood, are against thee! Why shouldst thou pray, thou +unconquerable Hebrew?--why!--that thy proud heart may be made +human--that thy understanding may be enlightened--that thou mayst be +made to know and believe that there is another and a better Scripture. +Pray to thy Father, which is in Heaven, as thou wouldst that thy +children should pray to thee, even for that which thou hast already +determined to grant them--oh, pray to Him! that He may see the +disposition of thy heart, as thou wouldst see theirs. What though thou +art mindful of their wants, and well acquainted with their hearts and +purposes, and always ready to gratify them, is it not a condition with +thee--even with _thee_, Adonijah, that they should acknowledge their +dependence upon thee, and their utter helplessness of themselves? And +why should it not be so with our Heavenly Father? with Him whose angels +are about thee and above thee, a perpetual atmosphere of warmth and +light. Ha! the multitude are breaking up!--they are coming this way! I +hear the tramp of horsemen--a moment more and we are apart forever. A +flash!--The Philistines are upon thee, O my brother! + +That brother looked up and smiled. + +Wilt thou not pray with me? + +No--once for all--no! Never with a converted Jew--never with a +christian!--never with thee, thou but half a christian! + +Farewell then!--farewell forever. + +Another flash! attended with a loud burst of thunder among the hills. + +Nay, let us part in peace, my brother, although I cannot pray with thee, +I can for thee! The God of our Fathers! of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, +have thee in his holy keeping! + +The stranger threw up his arms in a transport of joy. The unconverted, +the _unconvertable_ Jew had prayed for him with the temper of a +christian; and straightway he fell upon his knees and called upon the +God of the Hebrews, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, to spare +the Jew and change his heart. + +The huge gate swung open. The drawbridge fell--a fierce angry light +broke forth suddenly from underneath the scaffold--a black banner +floated all at once from the battlements over the passage-way--a troop +of horsemen, with flashing spears and iron helmets, wheeled slowly into +the court-yard, and drew up in dead silence along the outer barrier. The +headsman appeared. A signal was made from a far window, and lo! the +coronet and the robe, with all the glittering insignia of departed power +and extinguished glory, were torn away, and trampled under foot by the +hoofs of the multitude. A white smoke rolled forth from below, and when +it cleared away, the Jew appeared standing bareheaded between two +gigantic mutes, one of whom bore a naked cimetar, while the other stood +watching his countenance. It continued unaltered--unalterable--nor would +he vouchsafe the slightest token of submission or terror, though the +flames roared, and the white smoke rolled thitherward like the white +sea-fog before a coming storm; but haughtily, steadfastly, and with a +majestic mildness which awed the very soldiery more than all the pomp +they were accustomed to, he pointed to the multitude, lowering about him +with a tempestuous blackness--to the pyre with its covering of +blood-red cloth dripping with recent moisture--to the flames roaring far +below among the dry faggots, and signified a wish to proceed. + +Once more shouted a voice from the barrier--My brother! oh my brother! +wilt thou not be prevailed upon, if not for thine own sake, for the sake +of thy beloved wife and thy youngest born--about to perish with +thee--even with thee, my brother, in their marvellous beauty and most +abundant strength. + +Away!--and let me die in peace! + +Another step thou unconquerable man! But another step--thou apostate +Jew!--and thou art in the world of spirits! Wilt thou not say? _canst_ +thou not, with lowliness and fervor, Our Father which art in Heaven! thy +will and not mine be done! + +Yea, brother--if that will comfort thee in thy desolation. Yea! Yea! +with all the hoarded and concentrated fervor of a long life accustomed +to no other language, even while I took upon me the outer garb of a +christian--Yea!--and saying this, he fell upon his knees, and cried out +with a loud voice, while a triumphant brightness overspread his uplifted +countenance with a visible exaltation, Our Father and our Judge! I do +not pray to thee as the God of the christians did, that this cup may be +spared to me; for I have put my whole hope and trust in thee, and am +satisfied with whatsoever I may receive at thy hands! But I would bless +thee, I would praise thee, I would magnify thy great name, oh God of my +Fathers, for all that I have enjoyed or suffered, for all that I have +had or wanted in this life; yea, for all the afflictions and sorrows and +terrors that have beset my path, and that of my beloved wife and my +dear children--children of the tribe of Judah and of the house of +Jacob!--Yea, for the overthrow of all my proud hopes and prouder wishes, +when I forsook thee and almost abjured the faith of my Fathers for +dominion sake. Forgive my apostate brother, I beseech thee, O Lord! as +thou hast forgiven me: and bless the heritage of thy people, and +encourage them as the followers of the new faith are encouraged by their +Jesus of Nazareth, to forgive their enemies, even though their enemies +take the shape of a beloved friend or brother--to betray them--giving up +their birth-right, like Esau for a mess of pottage. + +A great commotion appeared on the house-tops, extending itself slowly +far and wide. + +Nevertheless, continued the Jew--nevertheless! oh Father and Judge, God +of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! thy will and not mine be done! + +The multitude began to surge this way and that, with exceeding violence. +A cry of indignation arose from every side. A tumult followed--a general +rush--the house-tops were suddenly deserted--the sea shore--and some +began shouting, Away with him! away with him! and others, Let the +blaspheming Jew perish without hope! and others, Crucify him! crucify +him! + +But in the midst of the uproar, one clear solitary cry was heard afar +off, repeating a prayer to the God of the Hebrews--another cloud of +white smoke rolled over the battlements--the flames appeared half way up +the sky--a trumpet sounded underneath the very scaffold--the ancient +war-cry of the Jews, _To your tents, O Israel!_ rung far and wide along +the outer barrier--up sprang a multitude of small white banners, like +affrighted birds, from the midst of the people--and the next moment, +before they had recovered from their unspeakable consternation, the +heavy horsemen charged upon them in a body, the great ship swung round +with all her voices thundering together, and swept their pathway as with +a whirlwind of fire, while they hurried hither and thither, crying To +arms! to arms! The Jews! the Jews! and pointing toward the bridge, only +to find the bridge itself destroyed and the opposite shore in possession +of that other converted Jew--the stranger!--all in glittering steel +arrayed, and carrying a banner on which the Lion of Judah was ramping in +a field of carnage! + + * * * * * + +And when the Jew Adonijah, now more a Jew than ever, and more fully +satisfied than ever, with the sublime, and awful, and unchangeable faith +of his old Hebrew Fathers, came fully to himself, and the tumult was all +over, he found three out of his four children of the house of Jacob, +standing near him in their robes of state--another, and a stranger, +harnessed for the war, his black eyes yet gleaming with the +half-extinguished fire of battle, standing at the door of the chamber. + +And why wouldst thou not pray for us, father? said one of the two that +were standing by the bed-side. + +Because ye were sick unto death; and I held it sinful to ask for that +which had been refused to King David himself--I, that had forsaken the +Lord God of my fathers--How could I hope that he would not forsake me! + +But the christian prayed for us, Father, and the prayers of the +christian were heard! + +With what face could they, _being christians_, pray for the children of +men that put their Savior to death? How could they, _being christians_, +forget their scripture, which saith--_suffer little children to come +unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of heaven!_ + +And as he spoke, the great doors were thrown open, and the armed man +flung down his helmet, and walked forward with a solemn and haughty step +leading a beautiful woman captive, and a young child. + +A shriek!--a tumult!--and straightway all were kneeling together! And +not one of that family of Jacob--that remnant of the tribe of Judah--not +one was missing. They were determined to live and die in their old +august unchangeable faith, even as all their progenitors had lived and +died--enduring all things--suffering all things--trials and sorrows and +temptations--age after age--and never betraying their faith, never! + +But the unconquerable Jew acknowledged to himself, and to his brother, +even there, as they fell upon his neck and wept, the _possibility_ of +prayer being heard, the _possibility_ that the unchangeable God might be +reached by supplication--and the _possibility_ that even a philosopher +and a Jew might be mistaken. + +But---- + + + + +A WAR-SONG OF THE REVOLUTION. + +By John Neal. + + + Men of the North! look up! + There's a tumult in your sky; + A troubled glory surging out; + Great shadows hurrying by: + + Your strength--Where is it now? + Your quivers--Are they spent? + Your arrows in the rust of death, + Your fathers' bows unbent? + + Men of the North! Awake! + Ye're called to from the Deep; + Trumpets in every breeze-- + Yet there ye lie asleep: + + A stir in every tree; + A shout from every wave; + A challenging on every side; + A moan from every grave: + + A battle in the sky; + Ships thundering through the air-- + Jehovah on the march-- + Men of the North, to prayer! + + Now, now--in all your strength; + There's that before your way, + Above, about you, and below, + Like armies in array: + + Lift up your eyes, and see + The changes overhead; + Now hold your breath! and hear + The mustering of the dead. + + See how the midnight air + With bright commotion burns, + Thronging with giant shape, + Banner and spear by turns-- + + The sea-fog driving in, + Solemnly and swift; + The Moon afraid--stars dropping out-- + The very skies adrift: + + The Everlasting GOD: + Our Father--Lord of Love-- + With cherubim and seraphim + All gathering above-- + + Their stormy plumage lighted up + As forth to war they go; + The shadow of the Universe, + Upon our haughty foe! + + + + +MUSINGS ON MUSIC. + +By James F. Otis. + + And while I was musing, the fire burned.--_Holy Writ._ + + +THE ORIGIN OF MUSIC. + +Music is the wondrous breathing of God's spirit in our souls. As we view +the "floor of heaven, thickly inlaid with patines of pure gold," we feel +that + + There's not the smallest orb which we behold, + But, in its motion, like an angel sings, + Still quiring to the young eyed cherubim. + +We feel it in the constitution of the air, which causes vibration--in +the formation of man, possessed of the wonderful faculties enabling him +to sing, to distinguish musical sounds, and to feel within his whole +frame the effects of music. Man, indeed, is himself a wonderful musical +instrument, made by the hand of God. He hears all nature hymning +adoration and praises to its Maker--he feels the constant vibration of +universal harmony around him--he is conscious that the emotions of +gratitude he feels toward the Creator should be expressed, and that in +the highest strains which the human mind can conceive, and the human +voice can reach. Thus he calls in to his aid all those auxiliaries which +nature and art afford, to supply him with associations tending to +elevate the standard of his grateful expressions. Music is a sacred, a +religious, a _holy_ thing. Applied to common purposes, it is pleasing +and worthy of cultivation--but still it has a higher character when +used for its original and more worthy purpose. The effect it produces in +the former instance is to raise our _mirth_:--when used in its higher +character, its effect is to produce _rapture_. It soothes when thus +employed, as of old it did when David banished the evil spirit from the +soul of Saul by the vibrations of his sweet-toned harp; it improves--as +all good influences and pure associations ever must, when permitted +their due action upon the mind; and it elevates the spirit toward the +eternal source whence all its harmony flows. As it peals upon the ear, +and sinks inly upon the heart of him whose mind is bent upon the +thoughts of holy things--upon his creation, his present blessings and +future hopes, he seems to hear + + That undisturbed song of pure content, + Aye sung around the sapphire-colored throne, + To him that sits thereon-- + Where the bright seraphim, in burning row, + Their loud, uplifted angel trumpets blow; + And the cherubic hosts, in thousand choirs, + Touch their celestial harps of golden wires. + + * * * * * + + +HANDEL AND HAYDN. THE MESSIAH AND THE CREATION, A PARABLE. + +Handel, with all his comparative simplicity, is my favorite. I cannot +but look up to him with astonishment and veneration; his "Messiah," I +behold as the purest specimen of sublimity ever displayed in the arts: +and I can conceive of nothing in poetry with any pretension to be +considered its parallel, but the "Paradise Lost" of Milton. The +"Hallelujah Chorus" may be esteemed the loftiest work of the +imagination. The leading conception is entirely inimitable. The full +chorus of other masters is often bold and elevated; but it is only +Handel who has the sublime of devotion. Haydn is triumphant and +inspiring; but the effect of his chorus is only that of martial music. +In listening to Haydn, you seem to hear the shouts of conquerors, +proudly entering a vanquished city: in listening to Handel, the shouts +seem to break from the clouds; from the triumphant host admitted to the +presence of God; and the object of praise gives a character of holiness +and purity to the harmony. With Haydn, we exult, we reason not why. With +Handel, we can never for a moment forget that we are praising God. The +rapid movements and quick transitions of Haydn draw the fullest +admiration to the orchestra, and the subject is forgotten. The lighter +passages in Handel are only the varied note of praise, expanding only in +proportion to the inspiration which the object kindles. In one +word,--every thing in Haydn is seen to be accomplished; and every +delineation, if I may thus employ the word, is felt to be a resemblance. +But in Handel, let what will be described or exhibited,--a battle,--a +victory,--the trembling of the earth,--the tottering of a wall,--the +moan of sympathy,--the insults and crucifixion of a Savior,--the awful +stillness of death,--or, on the other hand, the triumph of the +resurrection,--the birth of the Prince of Peace,--or hosannas to the +King of Kings, and Lord of Lords,--every thing seems to be done at the +command of God himself. + +But I conceive it is not difficult to reconcile an admiration of both +these great masters, in as much as their music presents such a variety +only as every art admits. Claude Loraine was no rival of Raphael--yet +we stand with one before a landscape, and with the other at the foot of +the cross, with like, if not equal astonishment and admiration. The +recitatives of Haydn are, with scarcely a single exception, less bold, +but better finished,--less abrupt, and better calculated for the scope +of the voice, than those of Handel; and are supported by a harmony more +graceful, though not more striking and natural. Haydn, at all times, +threw the fascination of melody over his richest modulations, and the +whole effect of his harmony resulted from conspiring airs, each of which +was melodious by itself. While, on the other hand, the separate parts in +Handel were like single pillars from a temple, or single stones from a +pyramid. If, in Handel, appear the beauty of consistency,--in Haydn we +admire the consistency of beauty. If Handel's choruses and harmony might +be compared, both in their formation and beauty, to mountains of ice, +illuminated by the sun,--Haydn's harmony would seem to resemble the most +splendid crystalizations--under the same illumination, in which one form +of beauty has gradually encircled another, until the shape and beauty of +the minutest part has become imparted to the larger proportions, and +more commanding figure of the whole mass. It is impossible indeed, to +find any thing in music,--placing his choruses out of view,--which can +rival the sublime recitative of Handel,--"For behold darkness shall +cover the earth,--but the Lord shall arise!"--Yet the opening of Haydn's +"Creation," may deserve to be ranked second only to this, and as +surpassing every other attempt of its author, in sublimity, and deep, +solemn grandeur. The fall of the angels, in the first part of the same +noble oratorio, is a wonderful effort, and presents the most remarkable +instance in all Haydn's compositions, of the characteristic excellence +which has just been ascribed to him, namely, his uniform regard to his +melody, even where he designed to produce the boldest effect in his +harmony. It is the most graphic musical description ever attempted; and +it must have been produced in one of those moments of lofty enthusiasm +in which a conception of surpassing grandeur flashes upon the mind, is +grasped and embodied in an instant, and a man pauses in exultation and +astonishment at what he has himself accomplished. This passage, +however,--if it had no other excellence,--could never be forgotten, as +it gives the most striking effect to the inimitable contrast which +succeeds,--where the first impression of the beauty of the world at the +moment of the creation is described with such tenderness and grace, that +the most vulgar minds, as well as those whose taste has been in some +degree refined, have felt every note, as it came from the forms of +living things, exulting in their existence--or as if the author had +borrowed the lyre of the morning stars, that sang the glories of the +"new created world."--The celebrated chorus, "The Heavens are telling +the glory of God," is unquestionably the boldest conception of Haydn. +Its harmony has the most astonishing richness and variety, and the +leading air is almost unexceptionably beautiful. Yet it may be called a +chorus in theory only; for it requires the fullest choir of the finest +voices and most refined tastes,--and no community of any country can +furnish a hundred and fifty singers, capable of performing it, even with +a tolerable degree of spirit, judgment and correctness. By this remark +I mean merely, that the original conception of the author, and that with +which every one who feels its true beauty and force is filled, upon +studying, or hearing it,--can never be fully realized and carried out, +and filled up, by the finest combination of human powers. + +There have not been wanting writers upon the beautiful in music, who +have denounced what they are pleased to call attempts at picturesque, in +the "Creation" of Haydn. Their arguments proceed upon the trifling +nature of the results produced by imitations, as unworthy the dignity of +an art so refined. The feelings awakened by the gradual developement of +the work of creation in this immortal work are certainly far superior in +their nature to those imputed by such writers to the admirers of what +they call depictive music;--and I cannot believe that these objectors +can have listened to the oratorio they criticise, either with the +physical or rational ear. Had they, we should have heard nothing like an +imputation of an unsuccessful imitation of trifling originals. They +would have seen no other use of the musical picturesque than perfectly +consists with true descriptiveness of the subject celebrated. The +Creation is a grand panorama; its object was to impress the hearer with +the realities it commemorates. Its author was engaged two whole years +upon it, and gave as a reason for his absorption in the task, that he +meant it to last a great while. He has composed a work which addresses +itself to the mind in such a manner, as to call up to the eye the +landscape, as well as to the ear the sounds, and to the conception the +animation and motion of the scenes described. Surely a beautiful +thought, a fine description, an impassioned sentiment, impressed upon +the mind and memory by a strong association with almost all the senses +at once, are more likely to become inseparably entwined among the very +fibres of the heart, than a cold, abstract description of the same +subject, without the intervention of such associations. I should pity +the man who could utter such a criticism, while listening to the +performance, or even reading the score of this most splendid oratorio. +From the commencement,--conveying the idea of primeval chaos,--through +the gradual gathering of the earth and sea, and the things which each +contains, into their several places,--the budding and blooming of the +thousand flowers,--the cooing of the tender doves,--the trampling of the +heavy beasts,--the flowing of the gentle rills,--the rolling of the +mountain waves,--the bursting of light at the Creator's word,--angels +praising God,--the noble work of man's creation,--the achievement of the +whole,--up to the last grand and glorious chorus,--all is sublimity--all +is divine! and the whole soul of the auditor is wrapt in sacred awe, as +he follows the beneficent hand of his Maker in its wonderful work, and +is lost in rapture and adoration, amid the blaze of glory by which he +finds himself surrounded at the close. + + * * * * * + + +SOME THOUGHTS ON OPERATIVE MUSIC. + +There are those who institute a comparison between music and poetry, and +much to the prejudice of the former. They argue that the intellect has +nothing to do with music, and that it is ridiculous and absurd in those +who speak no Italian, to pretend to derive any satisfaction from +listening, for two hours, to music in a language they cannot +understand--affecting, at the same time, to comprehend the sense to be +conveyed, by the sounds they drink in with such assumed rapture. I +conceive this to be far from just reasoning. Doubtless there is a great +deal of affectation in the fashionable world upon the subject of music +in general, and of the opera in particular; but we have no right to +judge our neighbor's taste by our own--perhaps, after all, it may turn +out that our own is defective or false. I am inclined to argue that the +intellect has as much to do with music as with poetry. + +In judging of pieces adapted to music, we should be lenient on the +subject of the thoughts, if the design and story have variety enough to +afford a basis for a corresponding variety of musical ideas. The most +common expression of any passion may be tolerated, when the music, _not_ +the poetry, is to form the embellishment. Who cares for the story--the +plot--in listening to the Italian opera? Nay, more--are not the finest +and most beautiful pieces of that class of music, vulgar and weak as +poetical compositions? Is not the musical composer the genius of the +piece? While the poet utters some such trash as 'I shall support myself +by feasting on your beautiful eyes,' the composer so varies the +expression of his music, that, in truth, the thought becomes refined, +just as it would if the poet had undertaken to present it in a variety +of views. To say, therefore, that the repetitions in music are nonsense, +is just to profess a deplorable ignorance of the science. The words +convey a sentiment which the musician undertakes to increase--to +soften--to embellish, through a series of fine ideas, of which those +who have neither musical taste nor ear have not the least conception. + +Nor should it be supposed that, in the opera--in the fine pieces of +Metastasio, for instance--the poetry is disgraced by being but the +handmaid of music, and that the former is therefore reduced unduly in +the scale of comparative merit. This is not the case with him who is an +equal admirer of the two arts. Such as these will admit that it is but +in a very small degree that music is designed to please a sense. They +will insist that its design is to excite emotions that poetry, to the +same extent, cannot awaken. What speech in the whole Iliad rouses more +exulting courage than the 'Marsellois Hymn?' The music of 'Pleyel's +German Hymn' not only of itself produces an effect to awaken a feeling +of grief, but no words that I have ever read are capable of producing +that feeling in an equal degree. Take for example, the lamentation of +David for the loss of Absalom--and if that passage, and others like it, +are enough to melt or break the heart, there is a kind of music, of +which 'Pleyel's Hymn' is an example, that will affect it more deeply +yet. + +Words, considered as auxiliary to music, merely show the subject on +which the emotion rests, but have nothing to do with the emotion itself; +_that_ is produced by music alone--and long before any words are known +to an air, the emotion will have been produced. We shall have imagined +the subject--and when we come to know the words, we shall discover one +of three things: first, that the subject is what we imagined--secondly, +that it is something analogous to our perception--or, thirdly, if +neither of the two former, that the words and air are ill-adapted to +each other. Indeed, what do we mean by saying, 'these words are adapted +to the air,' if the air have no character of its own? And what is its +character but its peculiar power of awakening certain emotions? +Admitting that it is better that fine poetry and fine harmony should be +united, when possible--and that this union, of course, produces +additional delight to a refined mind,--it still seems to me very absurd +to condemn the pieces which are constructed upon ideas conveyed in +poetry of an inferior class, _merely because such is the character of +the poetry_. Music is the governor of the heart, and all she asks of +Poetry is a subject,--and then, delightful magician! it is her province +to call up, by her sweet spell, the corresponding emotions! + + + + +SIN ESTIMATED BY THE LIGHT OF HEAVEN. + +By Edward Payson. + + _Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in + the light of thy countenance._ + + +It is a well known fact that the appearance of objects, and the ideas +which we form of them, are very much affected by the situation in which +they are placed with respect to us, and by the light in which they are +seen. Objects seen at a distance, for example, appear much smaller than +they really are. The same object, viewed through different mediums, will +often exhibit very different appearances. A lighted candle, or a star, +appears bright during the absence of the sun; but when that luminary +returns, their brightness is eclipsed. Since the appearance of objects, +and the ideas which we form of them, are thus affected by extraneous +circumstances, it follows, that no two persons will form precisely the +same ideas of any object, unless they view it in the same light, or are +placed with respect to it in the same situation. + +These remarks have a direct and important bearing upon our subject. No +person can read the scriptures candidly and attentively, without +perceiving that God and men differ, very widely, in the opinion which +they entertain respecting almost every object. And in nothing do they +differ more widely, than in the estimate they form of man's moral +character, and of the malignity and desert of sin. Nothing can be more +evident than the fact, that, in the sight of God, our sins are +incomparably more numerous, aggravated and criminal, than they appear to +us. He regards us as deserving of an endless punishment, while we +scarcely perceive that we deserve any punishment at all. Now whence +arises this difference? The remarks which have just been made will +inform us. God and men view objects through a very different medium, and +are placed, with respect to them, in a very different situation. God is +present with every object; he views it as near and therefore sees its +real magnitude. But many objects, especially those of a religious +nature, are seen by us at a distance, and, of course, appear to us +smaller than they really are. God sees every object in a perfectly clear +light; but we see most objects dimly and indistinctly. In fine, God sees +all objects just as they are; but we see them through a deceitful +medium, which ignorance, prejudice and self-love place between them and +us. + +The Psalmist, addressing God, says, thou hast set our iniquities before +thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance, that is, our +iniquities or open transgressions, and our secret sins, the sins of our +hearts, are placed, as it were, full before God's face, immediately +under his eye; and he sees them in the pure, clear, all-disclosing light +of his own holiness and glory. Now if we would see our sins as they +appear to him, that is, as they really are; if we would see their +number, blackness and criminality, and the malignity and desert of every +sin, we must place ourselves, as nearly as is possible, in his +situation, and look at sin, as it were, through his eyes. We must place +ourselves and our sins in the centre of that circle, which is irradiated +by the light of his countenance; where all his infinite perfections are +clearly displayed, where his awful majesty is seen, where his +concentrated glories blaze, and burn, and dazzle, with insufferable +brightness; and in order to this, we must, in thought, leave our dark +and sinful world, where God is unseen and almost forgotten, and where, +consequently, the evil of sinning against him cannot be fully +perceived--and mount up to heaven, the peculiar habitation of his +holiness and glory. + +Let us, then, attempt this adventurous flight. Let us follow the path by +which our blessed Savior ascended to heaven, and soar upward to the +great capital of the universe; to the palace and the throne of its +greater King. As we rise, the earth fades away from our view; now we +leave worlds, and suns, and systems behind us. Now we reach the utmost +limits of creation; now the last star disappears, and no ray of created +light is seen. But a new light begins to dawn and brighten upon us. It +is the light of heaven, which pours a flood of glory from its wide-open +gates, spreading continual, meridian day, far and wide through the +regions of ethereal space. Passing swiftly onward through this flood of +day, the songs of heaven begin to burst upon your ears, and voices of +celestial sweetness, yet loud as the sound of many waters and of mighty +thunderings, are heard exclaiming, Hallelujah! for the Lord God +omnipotent reigneth! Blessing, and glory, and honor, and power, be unto +Him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever. A moment more, +and you have passed the gates--you are in the midst of the city--you are +before the eternal throne--you are in the immediate presence of God, and +all his glories are blazing around you like a consuming fire. Flesh and +blood cannot support it; your bodies dissolve into their original dust; +but your immortal souls remain, and stand naked spirits before the great +Father of spirits. Nor, in losing their tenements of clay, have they +lost their powers of perception. No; they are now all eye, all ear; nor +can you close the eyelids of the soul, to shut out, for a moment, the +dazzling, overpowering splendors which surround you, and which appear +like light condensed; like glory which may be felt. You see indeed no +form or shape; and yet your whole souls perceive with intuitive +clearness and certainty, the immediate, awe-inspiring presence of +Jehovah. You see no countenance; and yet you feel as if a countenance of +awful majesty, in which all the perfections of divinity are shown forth, +were beaming upon you wherever you turn. You see no eye; and yet a +piercing, heart-searching eye, an eye of omniscient purity, every glance +of which goes through your souls like a flash of lightning, seems to +look upon you from every point of surrounding space. You feel as if +enveloped in an atmosphere, or plunged in an ocean of existence, +intelligence, perfection and glory; an ocean of which your laboring +minds can take in only a drop; an ocean, the depth of which you cannot +fathom, and the breadth of which you can never fully explore. But while +you feel utterly unable to comprehend this infinite Being, your views of +him, so far as they extend, are perfectly clear and distinct. You have +the most vivid perceptions, the most deeply graven impressions, of an +infinite, eternal, spotless mind; in which the image of all things, +past, present and to come, are most harmoniously seen, arranged in the +most perfect order, and defined with the nicest accuracy; of a mind, +which wills with infinite ease, but whose volitions are attended by a +power omnipotent and irresistible, and which sows worlds, suns and +systems through the fields of space with far more facility, than the +husbandman scatters his seed upon the earth; of a mind, whence have +flowed all the streams, which ever watered any part of the universe with +life, intelligence, holiness, or happiness, and which is still fully +overflowing and inexhaustible. You perceive also, with equal clearness +and certainty, that this infinite, eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, +all-wise, all-creating mind is perfectly and essentially holy, a pure +flame of holiness; and that, as such, he regards sin with unutterable, +irreconcilable detestation and abhorrence. With a voice, which +reverberates through the wide expanse of his dominions, you hear him +saying, as the Sovereign and Legislator of the universe, Be ye holy; for +I, the Lord your God, am holy. And you see his throne surrounded, you +see heaven filled by those only, who perfectly obey this command. You +see thousands of thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand of +angels and archangels, pure, exalted, glorious intelligences, who +reflect his perfect image, burn like flames of fire with zeal for his +glory, and seem to be so many concentrations of wisdom, knowledge, +holiness and love; a fit retinue for the thrice holy Lord of hosts, +whose holiness and all-filling glory they unceasingly proclaim. + +And now, if you are willing to see your sins in their true colors; if +you would rightly estimate their number, magnitude and criminality, +bring them into this hallowed place, where nothing is seen but the +whiteness of unsullied purity, and the splendors of uncreated glory; +where the sun itself would appear a dark spot, and there, in the midst +of this circle of seraphic intelligences, with the infinite God pouring +all the light of his countenance around you, review your lives, +contemplate your offences, and see how they appear. + + + + +THE WAY OF THE SOUL. + +By L. S. P. + + +There is a homely proverb which tells us that "the longest way round is +the shortest way home." Whether the mathematical demonstration of so +paradoxical an assertion would be easy or difficult I shall not +undertake to decide. My concern is with its application to the +spiritual; and with such a reference, are there not many in these +hurrying days who would be benefited by a serious attention to it? + +Do you doubt its truth? Reflect, and you will be convinced. Have you +never groped darkly after a principle, of which you had some dim +revelation, and which you strove with mightiest working to make your +own? Still as you seemed about to seize it, it eluded your grasp; you +were sure that it was there; but to lay hold of it was beyond your +strength. You gave up the effort, turned your thoughts to a new channel, +and busied yourself with other investigations--when lo! a revelation; +and the truth you sought, burst upon you as a ray from the eternal +splendor. + +Or, perchance, you have been all the day perplexed and wearied with +doubts, relating, it may be, to some point of practical moment to you, +and seeming to demand a solution, which yet you are unable to give. You +would fain come to an end, but you cannot even see an opening; only here +and there an uncertain glimmer, which vanishes when you approach it more +nearly. Your soul is faint and harassed; you go forth at sunset to +commune with nature, and in her communion to forget your perplexities. +You gaze on the calm glories of the departing sun, and the calm enters +into your soul; the cooling breath of heaven comes to you, and you +listen to the many voices, "the melodies of woods and winds and waters," +that go up in one harmony to heaven. You behold, and listen, and +love;--and with love comes light. Yes, a light, so pure, so soft, so +mild, that it seems not of earth rests upon your soul, and your +darkness, and doubts, and perplexity are gone. + +Oh, never let it be forgotten that the road to truth is a winding road; +it lies through the heart as well as through the intellect; for, says +the wise man, "Into a malicious soul, wisdom shall not enter." Thou must +learn to love, before thou canst learn to know; and never shalt thou +behold the serene and beautiful countenance of Truth, until thy aim be +honest, and thy soul in harmony with nature. + +And are not _Nature's_ paths circuitous? It is man who has constructed +the broad high road, and made for himself a straight way through forests +and streams, levelling the mountains, and filling up the valleys--but it +is not thus in nature. Her paths are wild, and devious, and rambling; +following "the river's course, the valley's playful windings," and ever +and anon turning aside to some sunny nook, or steep ravine. The rain +which falls upon the earth travels not by a plain high road to the +springs and fountains whither it is bound; but gently, slowly wins its +way, drop by drop, till a little stream is formed, and the stream winds +its noiseless and hidden track to the fountain. + +In her _processes_ too, Nature is patient and long-waiting. She doth +not say to the seed just planted in the earth, spring up and bear fruit +forthwith, or you shall be cast out, but she waiteth for the unfolding +of the tender germ, and the striking of the new-shooting roots; and hath +long patience, and with slowliest care, and a mother's enduring love, +she bringeth forth to light the first green leaf. Then she calleth for +the sun to shine, and the dews to descend upon the young plant, and many +days doth she wait for the ripe fruit. + +But man, impatient man would be wise in a day. He waits not for the holy +and mysterious processes of nature, he leaves not the wonderful powers +within him to unfold in silence and secrecy, but must ever disturb them +with his foolish meddling and impertinent haste, like some silly child, +who digs up the seed he has planted an hour ago, to see if it have yet +sprouted. And are there not some who deal in like fashion with other +minds than their own? _Educators_ let them not be called, for never do +they bring out what is within. The young mind is not to them a germ to +be unfolded, an infant to be nursed into manhood, but rather a +receptacle to be filled, and stuffed, and crammed as expeditiously as +possible; and this, thanks to the numerous machines lately invented for +the purpose, is very quick indeed. + +There have been times when you seemed to make no progress in your +favorite pursuit. You struggled without advancing as we sometimes do in +dreams, or though you stepped up and down, it was as in a treadmill. So +it seemed to you. But was it so? Nay, the process was going on within, +though its visible manifestations may have ceased. If no addition was +made to the superstructure, yet the foundations were deepening and +widening; if the branches and leaves did not grow, yet the root +strengthened itself in the earth. + +But not only so--you seemed to be going backward. Even the ground +slipped from under your feet, and where you had heretofore a firm +standing-place, you found but a swamp. And have you never considered +that Nature too sometimes works backwards? See that withered leaf which +flutters in the breeze, maintaining yet an uncertain hold upon the +branch which nurtured its younger growth. A fresh gust of wind loosens +its hold, and it is blown in circling eddies to the earth. There it +rests till the elements of decay in its bosom have finished their work, +and it mixes with the dust. "What is this? Can a mother forget her +child? Does Nature destroy her own productions?" Ah, look again. In that +fresh-blooming flower, dyed with tints of infinite softness, behold the +withered leaf. Nature was as really working to the production of that +flower when she decomposed the elements of the leaf, as when she +unfolded the germ, and elaborated the juices, and blended the tints of +the flower itself. It was but a glorified resurrection. And your +spiritual growth is going on as truly and steadily, if not as visibly +and delightfully, when you cast aside the slough of some old prejudice, +or painfully tear yourself from a cherished delusion as when the dawning +of a new truth flashes light and joy upon your soul. + +For what Coleridge has said of nations, is equally true of individuals. +"The progress of the species neither is nor can be, like that of a Roman +road, in a right line. It may be more justly compared to that of a +river, which, both in its smaller reaches and larger turnings, is +frequently forced back towards its fountains, by objects which cannot +otherwise be eluded or overcome; yet with an accompanying impulse that +will ensure its advancement hereafter, it is either gaining strength +every hour or conquering in secret some difficulty, by a labor that +contributes as effectually to further its course, as when it moves +forward in an uninterrupted line." + +I might go on to illustrate the application of this truth to +self-knowledge, but it is one easily made, by each for himself. Its +bearing upon our moral growth must not be so lightly passed over. + +You have learned that you have a spirit which _may_ be, _must_ be +trained for immortality and heaven. You have found too that there are +difficulties in the way of this training. There is a constant +under-current of selfishness ready to insinuate itself into all you do; +there is contempt for your inferiors in birth or cultivation, ever +offering to start up, and there is a spirit of resentment against those +who have injured you ready to take fire on the least provocation. What +is to be done with these? You do not forget that to Him, whose "still, +small voice" can speak with authority to the spirits He has made, must +be your first appeal; but neither do you forget that his help is +vouchsafed to those only who help themselves. And how will you help +yourself? Will you in the plenitude of your might, and the resoluteness +of kindled energy, _will_ the extinction of those unruly passions? Try +it; exert the volition; _will_ to stop the flowing tide of revenge in +your breast, and to cause love and forgiveness to spring up in its +place. Well, have you done it? But what means that glowing cheek--that +flashing eye--that compressed brow? Is such the expression of _love_? +Nay brother, you have mistaken the way. Not the straight path of direct +volition will ever lead you to your object. + +But come forth with me into the field. Here are "sweet, strange +flowers," to glad thy heart with their innocent beauty, and delight thee +with their fragrance; here is the broad and blessed "sky bending over" +thee, and the quiet lake at thy feet. + + "The air is spread with beauty; and the sky + Is musical with sounds that rise and die, + Till scarce the ear can catch them; then they swell, + Then send from far a low, sweet, sad farewell." + +And who art thou that bringest discord and rough, angry passions into a +scene like this? Ah, thou bringest not discord, it has stolen from thy +heart; thou art at peace. For it is not a poetic fiction when we are +told that a wayward spirit, is subdued by nature's loveliness and +_lovingness_. + + "Till he can no more endure + To be a jarring and a dissonant thing, + Amidst this general dance and minstrelsy; + But, bursting into tears, wins back his way, + His angry spirit healed and harmonized, + By the benignant touch of love and beauty." + +We asked, perchance, that our hearts might be lifted above the earth, +and taught to repose with a surer love, and a more child-like +trustfulness on the Father of Spirits. And did we know that our prayer +was answered when the light of our eyes was torn from us; when our souls +were rent with bitter agony, and lay crushed and bowed beneath the +stroke of _His_ hand? Yes, it was answered; we know it now, though we +knew it not then. The weary bird never reposes so sweetly in its nest, +as when it hath been battered by the tempest and chased by the vulture; +never doth the little child rest so lovingly and rejoicingly on its +mother's breast, as when it hath there found a shelter from the injuries +and taunts of its rude play-fellows; and the christian never knows the +full sweetness of the words, "My Father in Heaven," till he can also +add, "there is none that I desire beside Thee." + + + + +FRAGMENTS OF AN ADDRESS ON MUSIC. + +By Edward Payson. + + +Without resorting to the hyperbolical expressions of poetry, or to the +dreams and fables of pagan mythology, to the wonders said to be +performed by the lyre of Amphion and the harp of Orpheus,--I might place +before you the prophet of Jehovah, composing his ruffled spirits by the +soothing influence of music, that he might be suitably prepared to +receive a message from the Lord of Hosts. I might present to your view +the evil spirit, by which jealous and melancholy Saul was afflicted, +flying, baffled and defeated, from the animating and harmonious tones of +David's harp. I might show you the same David, the defender and avenger +of his flock, the champion and bulwark of his country, the conqueror of +Goliah, the greatest warrior and monarch of his age, laying down the +sword and the sceptre to take up his harp, and exchanging the titles of +victor and king for the more honorable title of the sweet Psalmist of +Israel.--But I appear not before you as her advocate; for in that +character my exertions would be superfluous. She is present to speak for +herself, and assert her own claims to our notice and approbation. You +have heard her voice in the performances of this evening; and those of +you, whom the God of nature has favored with a capacity of feeling and +understanding her eloquent language, will, I trust, acknowledge that she +has pleaded her own cause with triumphant success; has given sensible +demonstration, that she can speak, not only to the ear, but to the +heart; and that she possesses irresistible power to soothe, delight, and +fascinate the soul. Nor was it to the senses alone that she spake; but +while, in harmonious sounds, she maintained her claims, and asserted her +powers; in a still and small but convincing voice, she addressed herself +directly to reason and conscience, proclaiming the most solemn and +important truths; truths which perhaps some of you did not hear or +regard, but which deserve and demand our most serious attention.--With +the same irresistible evidence as if an angel had spoken from heaven, +she said, There is a God--and that God is good and benevolent. For, my +friends, who but God could have tuned the human voice, and given harmony +to sounds? Who, but a good and benevolent God, would have given us +senses capable of perceiving and enjoying this harmony? Who, but such a +being, would have opened a way through the ear, for its passage to the +soul? Could blind chance have produced these wonders of wisdom? or a +malignant being these miracles of goodness? Could they have caused this +admirable fitness between harmony of sounds, and the organs of sense by +which it is perceived? No. They would have either given us no senses, or +left them imperfect, or rendered every sound discordant and harsh. With +the utmost propriety, therefore may Jehovah ask, Who hath made man's +mouth, and planted the ear? Have not I, the Lord? With the utmost +justice, also, may he demand of us, that all our musical powers and +faculties should be consecrated to his service, and employed in +celebrating his praises. To urge you diligently and cheerfully to +perform this pleasing, reasonable, and indispensable duty, is the +principal object of the speaker. Not, then, as the advocate of music, +but as the ambassador of that God, whose being and benevolence, music +proclaims, do I now address this assembly, entreating every individual, +without delay, to adopt and practise the resolution of the royal +Psalmist--_I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live; I will sing +praise to my God while I have my being._ Psa. civ. 33. + +In your imagination go back to the origin of the world, when, every +thing was very good, and all creation harmonized together. All its +parts, animate and inanimate, like the voices and instruments of a well +regulated concert, helped to compose a perfect and beautiful whole; and +so exquisite was the harmony thus produced, that in the whole compass of +creation, not one jarring or discordant note was heard, even by the +perfect ear of God himself.--The blessed angels of light began the +universal chorus, "when the morning stars sang together, and all the +sons of God shouted for joy." + + * * * * * + +Of this universal concert, man was appointed the terrestrial leader, and +was furnished with natural and moral powers, admirably fitted for this +blessed and glorious employment. His body, exempt from dissolution, +disease, and decay, was like a perfect and well-strung instrument, which +never gave forth a false or uncertain sound, but always answered, with +exact precision, the wishes of his nobler part, the soul. His heart did +not then belie his tongue, when he sung the praises of his Creator; but +all the emotions felt by the one were expressed by the other, from the +high notes of ecstatic admiration, thankfulness, and joy, down to the +deep tones of the most profound veneration and humility. In a word, his +heart was the throne of celestial love and harmony, and his tongue at +once the organ of their will, and the sceptre of their power. + +We are told, in ancient story, of a statue, formed with such wonderful +art, that, whenever it was visited by the rays of the rising sun, it +gave forth, in honor of that luminary, the most melodious and ravishing +sounds. In like manner, man was originally so constituted, by skill +divine, that, whenever he contemplated the rays of wisdom, power, and +goodness, emanating from the great Sun of the moral system, the ardent +emotions of his soul spontaneously burst forth in the most pure and +exalted strains of adoration and praise. Such was the world, such was +man, at the creation. Even in the eye of the Creator, all was good; for, +wherever he turned, he saw only his own image, and heard nothing but his +own praises. Love beamed from every countenance; harmony reigned in +every breast, and flowed mellifluous from every tongue; and the grand +chorus of praise, begun by raptured seraphs round the throne, and heard +from heaven to earth, was reechoed back from earth to heaven; and this +blissful sound, loud as the archangel's trump, and sweet as the melody +of his golden harp, rapidly spread, and was received from world to +world, and floated, in gently-undulating waves, even to the farthest +bounds of creation. + +To this primeval harmony, a lamentable contrast followed, when sin +untuned the tongues of angels, and changed their blissful songs of +praise into the groans of wretchedness, the execrations of malignity, +the blasphemies of impiety, and the ravings of despair. Storms and +tempests, earthquakes and convulsions, fire from above, and deluges from +beneath, which destroyed the order of the natural world, proved that its +baleful influence had reached our earth, and afforded a faint emblem of +the jars and disorders which sin had introduced into the moral system. +Man's corporeal part, that lyre of a thousand strings, tuned by the +finger of God himself, destined to last as long as the soul, and to be +her instrument in offering up eternal praise, was, at one blow, +shattered, unstrung, and almost irreparably ruined. His soul, all whose +powers and faculties, like the chords of an AEolian harp, once +harmoniously vibrated to every breath of the divine Spirit, and ever +returned a sympathizing sound to the tones of kindness and love from a +fellow-being, now became silent, and insensible to melody, or produced +only the jarring and discordant notes of envy, malice, hatred, and +revenge. The mouth, filled with cursing and bitterness, was set against +the heavens; the tongue was inflamed with the fire of hell. Every voice, +instead of uniting in the song of "Glory to God in the highest," was now +at variance with the voices around it, and, in barbarous and dissonant +strains, sung praise to itself, or was employed in muttering sullen +murmurs against the Most High--in venting slanders against +fellow-creatures--in celebrating and deifying some worthless idol, or in +singing the triumphs of intemperance, dissipation, and excess. The noise +of violence and cruelty was heard mingled with the boasting of the +oppressor, and the cry of the oppressed, and the complaints of the +wretched; while the shouts of embattled hosts, the crash of arms, the +brazen clangor of trumpets, the shrieks of the wounded, the groans of +the dying, and all the horrid din of war, together with the wailings of +those whom it had rendered widows and orphans, overwhelmed and drowned +every sound of benevolence, praise and love. Such is the jargon which +sin has introduced--such the discord which, from every quarter of our +globe, has long ascended up into the ears of the Lord of hosts. + + + + +THE BLUSH. + +By Mrs. Elizabeth Smith. + + +The soft warm air scarcely stirred the leaves of the vine, that +clustered about the bower of Eve, as she lay with pale cheek and languid +limbs, her first born daughter resting upon her breast. Adam had led his +sons to the field, that their sports might not disturb the repose of our +first mother, and the low murmur of the tiny cascade, the monotonous hum +of insects, and happy twitter of unfledged birds, all wooed her to +slumber; yet she slept not. She looked with a mother's deep unutterable +love upon the face of her babe, yet tears were in her eye, and anxiety +upon her brow. Herself the last, the perfection of the Creator's +workmanship, she still marvelled at the surprising beauty of her +daughter. She looked into its dark liquid eye, and drank deep from the +fountain of maternal love. She pressed its small foot and hand to her +lips, hugged it to her full heart, and felt again the bitterness of +transgression. She thought of Paradise, whence she had expelled her +children. She thought of generations to come, who might curse her for +their misery. She thought of the sweet beauty of her child on whom she +had entailed sorrow, suffering and temptation. She felt it murmuring at +the fountain of life while it stretched its little hand to her lips. She +turned aside the thick leaves of the grape vine, and looked out upon the +still blue sky, over which, scarcely moved the white thin clouds. "My +daughter," she faintly articulated, "thou knowest not the evil I have +done thee. Let these bitter tears attest my penitence. Let me teach thee +so to live, that thou mayst hereafter obtain in another world the +Paradise thou hast lost in this--lost by thy mother's guilt. O, my +daughter, would that I alone might suffer, that the whole wrath of my +offended Creator might fall on my head and thou, and such as thou, might +escape." The tears, the penitence of Eve prevailed; a Heavenly messenger +was despatched to console her, to lift her thoughts to better hopes and +less gloomy anticipations.--Since the sin of our first parents, and +their banishment from Paradise, these angel visits had been "few and far +between," and our first mother hailed his approach with awe and +pleasure. "Eve," kindly spake the divine visitant, "thy sorrow and thy +penitence are all known to thy Creator, and though thy fault was great, +he yet careth for thee. I am sent to comfort thee. As thou didst disobey +the commands of God, death has been brought, indeed, upon thy posterity, +but thy children may not curse thee. Thy daughters shall imitate thy +penitence, and so secure the favor of Heaven. To each one shall be given +a spirit, capable of resisting temptation, and assimilating to that +holiness from which thou hast departed. Though sin and death have +entered the world by thy means, thy children will still have only their +own sins to answer for, and may not justly reproach thee for their +errors." "True, Lord," responded Eve, "but the altered sky, the hard +earth that scarcely yields its treasures to the labor of Adam, and the +changed natures of the animals that once meekly and kindly sported +together, all tell of my disobedience, and my daughter will turn her +eyes upon me when suffering and trial come, and that look will reproach +me as the cause. I am told that our children shall equal in number the +leaves of the green wood, and the earth shall hereafter be peopled with +beings like ourselves. I shrink to think on the mass of sorrow I have +brought upon my daughters." + +She looked fondly on her babe, and timidly raised it towards the +beneficent being who paused at her bower. "When men shall become +numerous, and there shall be many beings like these, fair and frail, may +not their beauty--" She paused and looked anxiously up. "Speak, Eve," +said the messenger, "thy request shall be granted. I am sent to bestow +upon thee whatever thou shalt ask, for this thy first born daughter." "I +scarcely know," resumed Eve, thus encouraged, "but I would ask for this +first daughter of an erring mother, _something_, to warn her of even the +approach of sin, something, that will whisper caution, and speak of +innocence and purity. Something, Lord, that will remind us of Paradise." +"Hast thou not all that, Eve, in the voice within, the voice of +conscience?" Eve dropped her head upon her bosom. "But that monitor may +be disregarded, my daughters may, like their unhappy parent, stifle its +voice and heedlessly neglect its warnings. I would have something, that +when flattery would mislead, beauty bewilder, or passion lead astray, +would outwardly as it were bid them take heed, warn them to shrink from +the very trail of the serpent whose insidious poison may corrupt and +destroy. Hast thou nothing that will be to the innocent, the virtuous, +like a second conscience, to cause them to shrink even from the +_appearance_ of evil?" The angel smiled, and answered our mother with +kindness, and a look of heavenly satisfaction. "Most wisely hast thou +petitioned, O Eve. Thou hast asked blessings for thy posterity, not for +thyself. Thy daughters shall bless thee for the gift thy prayer has +obtained." The spirit departed. The gift he bestowed may be seen on the +face of the maiden when she shrinks from the too admiring gaze, when her +ear is listening to the tale of love, or flattery, when in the solitude +of her own thoughts she starts at her own imaginings, when she shrinks +even from her own reflected loveliness in the secrecy of home; or +abroad, trembles at the intrusive touch, or familiar language, of him +who _should be_ her guide, her protector from evil. That gift was the +_blush_. + + + + +THE WIDOWED BRIDE. + +By Mrs. Ann S. Stephens. + + + The Morn awoke in Hindostan, + And blushing, left the couch of Night, + While soon her rosy smiles began, + To flood the dewy earth with light. + While yet the sultry day was young, + Came forth a happy bridal band, + With sunny smiles and English tongue, + Which spoke them of a distant land; + They gathered round an altar-stone, + Erected to the one Most High, + Standing in solitude alone, + Mid signs of dark idolatry. + Then two came slowly from the crowd; + _He_ with a bearing bold and proud, + A haughty smile and flashing eye, + Darkling with love's intensity; + While she, the high-born English bride, + Drew closer to that one dear side; + Her eyelids drooped, her cheek grew pale + As snow, beneath the bridal veil, + As if the weight of her own bliss + Were all too much of happiness, + To thrill her heart and light her eye + Beneath another's scrutiny. + On crimson cushions dropped with gold + The youthful pair together bow; + Before that priest in surplice-fold + They clasp their trembling fingers now; + A prayer is heard--the oath is said-- + That gentle creature lifts her head-- + A voice has thrilled into her heart, + Like music breathed to it apart,-- + To lie there an abiding spell, + To haunt forever memory's cell-- + To mingle with her latest breath + And light the very wing of death. + Her vow was uttered timidly-- + With half a murmur, half a sigh; + Yet the low faltering sound confessed + The love that brooded in her breast. + + The golden ring is on her hand-- + She is pronounced a wedded bride; + Oh say, why does she lingering stand + So long that altar-stone beside? + And whence the misty tears that dim + The sunny azure of her eye? + Why leans her slender form on him? + Why does she sob so bitterly? + Well may she weep, that fair young bride; + For up the Ganges' golden tide, + Mid jungles deep, where beasts of prey + With pestilence hold deadly sway, + Where the wild waters fiercest sweep, + And serpents in their venom sleep, + Beneath each dewy leaf and flower, + That gentle bride must build her bower. + + In the cool shadow of the shore, + With snowy streamers floating wide, + To the light dipping of the oar, + The budgerow swept o'er the tide; + The soft breeze ling'ring at her prow, + Where many a garland graceful hung, + In hues of purple, gold and snow, + And on the rippling waters flung + An odor sweet and delicate, + As that which all imprisoned lies, + Unknown to man as his own fate, + Within the flowers of Paradise. + + Beneath an awning's silken shade, + Where the light breeze its music made, + With woven fringe and silken cord, + Sat the young bride with her brave lord. + Her hand in his was ling'ring still, + And every throb of his full heart + Met her young pulses with a thrill, + And sent the blood up with a start, + To that round cheek but late so pale + And blanched beneath the bridal veil. + A tear still trembled in her eye, + Like dews that in the violet lie; + But breaking through its lovely sheen, + The brightness of her soul was seen, + Like light within the amethyst, + Which told how truly she was blest; + Though as she met his ardent gaze, + Like the veined petal of a flower + Her eyelids drooped, as from the blaze + Of some loved, high, but dreaded power. + As bound by some subduing spell, + In beauty at his side she bowed. + The bridal robe around her fell, + Like fragments of a summer cloud; + The loosened veil had backward swept, + And deeply in her glossy hair, + Like light, the orange blossoms slept, + As if they sought new beauty there; + And pearls lay softly on her neck, + Like hailstones melting over snow, + Save when the blood, that dyed her cheek. + Diffused abroad its rosy glow, + And playing on her bosom-swell, + With every heart-pulse rose or fell. + + Up went the sun; his burning rays + Broke o'er the stream like sparkling fire, + Till the broad Ganges seemed a-blaze, + With gorgeous light, save where the spire + Of some lone slender minaret, + Threw its clear shadow on the stream, + Or grove-like banian firmly set, + Broke with its boughs the fiery gleam; + Or where a white pagoda shone + Like snow-drift through the shadowy trees; + Or ancient mosque stood out alone, + Where the wild creeper sought the breeze; + Or where some dark and gloomy rock + Shot o'er the deep its ragged cliffs, + Inhabited by many a flock + Of vultures, and its yawning rifts + Alive with lizards, glowing, bright, + As if a prism's changing light + Within the gloomy depths were flung, + Where like rich jewels newly strung, + The sleeping serpent stretched its length, + And nursed its venom into strength. + + Where the broad stream in shadow lay, + The bridal barque kept on her way, + While every breeze that swept them o'er, + Brought loads of incense from the shore; + Where each luxuriant jungle lay + A wilderness of tangled flowers, + And budding vines in wanton play + Fell from the trees in leafy showers, + Flinging their graceful garlands o'er + The rippling stream and reedy shore; + The lily bared its snowy breast, + Swayed its full anthers like a crest, + And softly from its pearly swell, + A shower of golden powder fell + Among the humbler flowers that lay + And blushed their fragrant lives away; + There oleanders lightly wreathed + Their blossoms in a coronal, + And the rich baubool softly breathed + A perfume from its golden bell; + There flower and shrub and spicy tree + Seemed struggling for sweet mastery; + And many a bird with gorgeous plume, + Fluttered along the flowery gloom, + Or on the spicy branches lay, + Uttering a sleepy roundelay; + While insects rushing out like gems, + Or showery sparks at random flung, + Through ripening fruit and slender stems + There to the breathing blossoms clung, + Studded the glowing boughs and threw + O'er the broad bank a brilliant hue. + + On--on they went; a fanning breeze + Came sighing through the balmy trees, + And undulating o'er the stream + Rose tiny wavelets, like the gleam + Of molten gold, and crested all + With a bright trembling coronal, + Like that which Brahmins in their dream + Lavish upon the sacred stream. + Then all grew still. The sultry air + Lay stagnant in the jungles there-- + The sun poured down his fervent heat; + The river lay a burnished sheet; + The floweret closed its withered bell; + From the parched leaf the insect fell; + The panting birds all tuneless clung + To the still boughs, where late they sung; + The dying blossoms felt the calm, + And the still air was thick with balm. + All things grew faint in that hot noon, + As Nature's self lay in a swoon. + + And she, that gentle, loving fair, + How brooks her form the sultry air? + Most patiently--but see her now! + What fear convulses her pale brow? + And why that half-averted eye, + Watching his look so anxiously? + The scarlet burning in his cheek-- + Those lips all parched and motionless? + Oh! do they fell disease bespeak? + Or only simple weariness? + One look! the dreadful certainty + Wrings from her heart a stifled cry; + And now half phrensied with despair, + She rends the blossoms from her hair, + And leaping to the vessel's side + She drenched them in the sluggish tide; + Then to the cushions where he lay, + Senseless and fevered with disease, + Panting his very life away, + She rushed, and sinking to her knees, + Raised softly up his throbbing head, + And pillowed it upon her breast-- + Then on his burning forehead laid + The dripping flowers, and wildly pressed + Her pallid mouth upon his brow, + And drew him closer to her heart, + As if she thought each trembling throe + Could unto his, new life impart. + Wildly to his she laid her cheek, + And backward threw her loosened hair, + That not a glossy curl might break + From off his face the sluggish air. + The noon swept by, and there was she + Counting his pulses as they rose, + Striving with broken melody + To hush him to a short repose, + Bathing his brow and twining still + Her fingers in his burning hand, + Her heart's blood stopping with a chill + Whene'er he could not understand, + Nor answer to her gentle clasp; + But dashed that little hand away, + Or crushed it with delirious grasp, + Entreating tenderly her stay. + Father of heaven! and must he die? + She breathed in her heart's agony, + As up with every painful breath, + Came to his lips the foam of death, + And o'er his swollen forehead played, + Like serpents by the sun betrayed, + The corded veins whose purple swell, + With his hot pulses rose and fell. + + Those drops upon his temple there, + The rolling eye, the gloomy hair, + The livid lip, the drooping chin, + And the death-rattle deep within, + That speechless one, so late thy pride-- + There lies thy answer, widowed bride! + + Half conscious of her misery, + Like something chiselled o'er a grave, + She placed her small hand anxiously + Upon the lifeless heart, and gave + One cry--but one--of such despair, + The jackall startled from his lair, + And answered back that fearful knell, + With a long, sharp and hungry yell. + + A slow and solemn hour swept by, + And there, all still and motionless, + With rigid limb and stony eye, + The widow knelt in her distress. + With pitying looks the swarthy crew + Around the tearless mourner drew, + And trembling strove to force away + From her chill arms the senseless clay. + Slowly she raised her awful head; + A slight convulsion stirr'd her face; + Close to her heart she snatched the dead, + And held him in a strong embrace; + Then drawing o'er his brow her veil, + She turned her face as strangely wild, + As if a fiend had mocked her wail, + Parted her marble lips and smiled. + Twice she essayed to speak, and then + Her face drooped o'er the corpse again, + While forth from the disshevelled hair + A husky whisper stirred the air. + 'Nay, bury him not here,' it said, + 'I would have prayers above my dead;' + Then, one by one, the timid crew, + From the infected barge withdrew: + Helmsmen and servants, all were gone; + The wife was with her dead alone. + + With no propelling arm to guide, + The barque turned slowly with the tide, + And on the heavy current swept + Its slow, funereal pathway back, + Where the expiring sunbeams slept, + Like gold along its morning track. + The day threw out its dying gleam, + Imbuing with its tints the stream, + As if the mighty river rolled + O'er beds of ruby--sands of gold. + + As if some seraph just had hung + In the blue west his coronet, + The timid moon came out and flung + Her pearly smiles about--then set, + As if she feared the stars would dim + The silvery brightness of her rim; + Then in the blue and deepening skies + The stars sprang out, like glowing eyes, + And on the stream reflected lay, + Like ingots down the watery way; + And softly streamed the starry light + Down to the wet and gloomy trees, + Where fiery flies were flashing bright, + Afloat upon the evening breeze, + Or like some fairy, tiny lamp, + Glow'd out among the stirring leaves, + And down among the rushes damp, + Where Pestilence her vapor weaves, + Till shrub and reed, and slender stems, + Seemed drooping with a shower of gems. + + The Widow raised her head once more, + Turned her still look upon the sky, + The lighted stream and broken shore; + Oh, God! it was a mockery, + --The bridegroom--Death--upon her breast + For aye possessing and possessed! + With the deep calmness of despair, + The mourner raised his marble head, + And on the silken cushions there, + With icy hands, composed the dead; + Then tore her veil off for a shroud, + And in her voiceless mourning bowed. + + That holy sorrow might have awed + The very wind--but mockingly + It flung his matted hair abroad, + As trifling with her agony, + And with a low and moaning wail + Bore on its wings the bridal veil; + Then came a cold and starry ray, + And on his marble forehead lay. + Father of heaven! she could not brook + That floating hair, that rigid look. + With one quick gasp she forward sprung, + And to the helm in frenzy clung, + Until the barque shot on its way + Where a dense shadow darkest lay; + And there, as shrouded with a pall, + The barge swept to the very shore; + The fell hyena's fiendish call + Rang wildly to her ear once more, + And from the deep dark solitude + She saw the hungry jackall creep, + And whimper for his nightly food, + Where many a monster lay asleep + Just in the margin of the flood, + As resting from a feast of blood. + Around the corpse the widow flung + Her snowy arms, and madly clung + To that cold bosom, whence a chill + Shot through her heart, and frantic still + Her eyes in horror turned to seek + That prowling beast, whose hungry jaws + Worked fiercely and began to reek + With eager foam, as with his paws + He tore the turf impatiently, + And howling snuffed the passing clay. + It was not that she feared to die; + In the deep stillness of her heart, + Her spirit prayed most fervently + There with the dead to hold its part. + The only boon she cared to crave, + Was for them both a christian grave; + But oh! the agonizing thought! + That in her madness she had brought + That loved and lost one, for a feast, + To vulture and to prowling beast, + Where all things fierce and wild had come + To howl a horrid requiem. + + But soon a stronger current bore + The freight of death from off the shore; + Again the trembling starlight broke + Above the still and changing clay, + And with its pearly kisses woke + The widow from her trance, who lay + Convulsed and shivering with dread, + Her white arms clinging to the dead; + For yet the stilly night wind bore + The wild beasts' disappointed roar. + Within the far o'erhanging wood, + A bulbul listening to her heart, + Poured forth upon the air a flood + Of gushing love;--with lips apart + The widow clasped her trembling hands, + And bent her ear to catch the strain, + As if a seraph's low commands + Were breathed into her soul;--again, + That heavenly sound came gushing out, + Like waters in their leaping shout; + Over her heart's deep frozen spring + The gentle strain went lingering, + And touched each icy tear that slept + With sudden life, until she wept. + + * * * * * + + Again the lovely morn awoke + Upon that temple still and lone; + Its rosy bloom in gladness broke, + And to the holy altar-stone + Came down subduedly and dim, + Through painted glass, o'er sculptured limb: + Outstretched within that gorgeous gloom, + Shaded by pall and sable plume, + As chisseled from the very stone, + The Bridegroom lay. A broken moan + Rose up from where the Widow bowed, + Her forehead buried in the pall, + Her fingers grasping still the shroud, + And every limb betraying all + The agony that wrung her heart. + It was a sad and fearful sight, + That lifted head, those lips apart, + When through the dim and purplish light + Those who obeyed the bridal call + Now gathered for the funeral; + A soft and solemn strain awoke + The silence of that lofty dome, + And through the fretted arches broke + The music surging to its home; + Then with a firm and heavy tread + The bearers slowly raised the dead; + She followed close, her trembling hand + Still clenched upon the gloomy pall, + In snowy robes and pearly band, + As at her wedding festival; + And in her bright disshevelled hair + A broken orange-blossom lay, + Withered and all entangled there; + Fit relic of her bridal day; + Thus onward to the tomb she passed, + Her white robe swaying to the blast, + And mingling at each stirring breath + There with the drapery of death. + + + + +JACK DOWNING'S VISIT TO PORTLAND. + +By Seba Smith. + + +In the fall of the year 1829 I took it into my head I'd go to Portland. +I had heard a good deal about Portland, what a fine place it was, and +how the folks got rich there proper fast; and that fall there was a +couple of new papers come up to Downingville from there, called the +Portland Courier and Family Reader; and they told a good many queer kind +of things about Portland and one thing another; and all at once it +popped into my head, and I up and told father, and says I, I'm going to +Portland whether or no; and I'll see what this world is made of yet. +Father stared a little at first, and said he was afraid I should get +lost; but when he see I was bent upon it, he give it up; and he stepped +to his chist and opened the till, and took out a dollar and gave to me, +and says he, Jack, this is all I can do for you; but go, and lead an +honest life, and I believe I shall hear good of you yet. He turned and +walked across the room, but I could see the tears start into his eyes, +and mother sot down and had a hearty crying spell. This made me feel +rather bad for a minute or two, and I almost had a mind to give it up; +and then again father's dream came into my mind, and I mustered up +courage, and declared I'd go. So I tackled up the old horse and packed +in a load of ax handles and a few notions, and mother fried me some +dough-nuts and put 'em into a box along with some cheese and sassages, +and ropped me up another shirt, for I told her I did n't know how long I +should be gone; and after I got all rigged out, I went round and bid all +the neighbors good bye, and jumped in and drove off for Portland. + +Ant Sally had been married two or three years before and moved to +Portland, and I inquired round till I found out where she lived, and +went there and put the old horse up and eat some supper and went to bed. +And the next morning I got up and straightened right off to see the +Editor of the Portland Courier, for I knew by what I had seen in his +paper that he was just the man to tell me which way to steer. And when I +come to see him I knew I was right; for soon as I told him my name and +what I wanted, he took me by the hand as kind as if he had been a +brother; and says he, Mr. Downing, I'll do any thing I can to assist +you. You have come to a good town; Portland is a healthy thriving place, +and any man with a proper degree of enterprise may do well here. But +says he, Mr. Downing, and he looked mighty kind of knowing, says he, if +you want to make out to your mind, you must do as the steamboats do. +Well, says I, how do they do? for I did n't know what a steam boat was, +any more than the man in the moon. Why, says he, they _go ahead_. And +you must drive about among the folks here jest as though you were at +home on the farm among the cattle. Dont be afraid of any of 'em, but +figure away, and I dare say you will get into good business in a very +little while. But, says he, there's one thing you must be careful of, +and that is not to get into the hands of them are folks that trades up +round Huckler's Row: for there's some sharpers up there, if they get +hold of you, would twist your eye teeth out in five minutes. Well after +he had gin me all the good advice he could I went back to Ant Sally's +again and got some breakfast, and then I walked all over the town to see +what chance I could find to sell my ax handles and things, and to get +into business. + +After I had walked about three or four hours I come along towards the +upper end of the town where I found there were stores and shops of all +sorts and sizes. And I met a feller, and says I, what place is this? Why +this says he, is Huckler's Row. What, says I, are these the stores where +the traders in Huckler's Row keep? And says he, yes. Well then, thinks I +to myself, I have a pesky good mind to go in and have a try with one of +these chaps, and see if they can twist my eye teeth out. If they can get +the best end of a bargain out of me, they can do what there aint a man +in Downingville can do, and I should jest like to know what sort of +stuff these ere Portland chaps are made of. So in I goes into the best +looking store among 'em. And I see some biscuit lying on the shelf, and +says I, Mister, how much do you ax apiece for them are biscuit? A cent +apiece, says he. Well, says I, I shant give you that, but if you 've a +mind to, I'll give you two cents for three of 'em, for I begin to feel a +little as though I should like to take a bite. Well, says he, I would n't +sell 'em to any body else so, but seeing it 's you I dont care if you +take 'em. I knew he lied, for he never see me before in his life. Well +he handed down the biscuits and I took 'em, and walked round the store +awhile to see what else he had to sell. At last, says I, Mister, have +you got any good new cider? Says he, yes, as good as ever you see. Well, +says I, what do you ax a glass for it? Two cents, says he. Well, says I, +seems to me I feel more dry than I do hungry now. Aint you a mind to +take these ere biscuit again and give me a glass of cider? And says he, +I dont care if I do; so he took and laid 'em on the shelf again, and +poured out a glass of cider. I took the cider and drinkt it down, and to +tell the truth it was capital good cider. Then, says I, I guess it 's +time for me to be a going, and I stept along towards the door. But, says +he, stop Mister. I believe you have 'nt paid me for the cider. Not paid +you for the cider, says I, what do you mean by that? Did n't the biscuit +that I give you jest come to the cider? Oh, ah, right, says he. So I +started to go again; and says he, but stop, Mister, you did n't pay me +for the biscuit. What, says I, do you mean to impose upon me? do you +think I am going to pay you for the biscuit and let you keep 'em tu? +Aint they there now on your shelf, what more do you want? I guess sir, +you dont whittle me in that way. So I turned about and marched off, and +left the feller staring and thinking and scratching his head, as though +he was struck with a dunderment. Howsomever, I did n't want to cheat him, +only jest to show 'em it want so easy a matter to pull my eye teeth out, +so I called in next day and paid him his two cents. Well I staid at Ant +Sally's a week or two, and I went about town every day to see what +chance I could find to trade off my ax handles, or hire out, or find +some way or other to begin to seek my fortune. + +And I must confess the editor of the Courier was about right in calling +Portland a pretty good thriving sort of a place; every body seemed to be +as busy as so many bees; and the masts of the vessels stuck up round the +wharves as thick as pine trees in uncle Joshua's pasture; and the stores +and the shops were so thick, it seemed as if there was no end to 'em. +In short, although I have been round the world considerable, from that +time to this, all the way from Madawaska to Washington, I 've never seen +any place yet that I think has any business to grin at Portland. + + + + +PORTLAND AS IT WAS. + +By William Willis. + + +The advantages which in early days our new country held out for +employment, encouraged immigration, and the population was almost wholly +made up by accessions from the more thickly peopled parts of +Massachusetts. To the county of Essex particularly, in the early as well +as more recent period of our history, the town is indebted for large +portions of its population. Middlesex, Suffolk and the Old Colony, were +not without their contributions. But the people did not come from such +widely different sources as to produce any difficulty of amalgamation, +or any striking diversity of manners. They formed one people and brought +with them the steady habits and good principles of those from whom they +had separated. There were some accessions before the revolution made to +our population from the other side of the Atlantic; the emigrants +readily incorporated themselves with our people and form a substantial +part of the population. Within twenty years, the numbers by immigration +have increased more rapidly, especially from Ireland, but not +sufficiently to destroy the uniformity which characterises our +population, nor to disturb the harmony of our community. + +It cannot have escaped observation that one of the principal sources of +our wealth has been the lumber trade. We have seen on the revival of the +town in the early part of the last century, how intimately the progress +of the town was connected with operations in timber. Before the +revolution our commerce was sustained almost wholly by the large ships +from England which loaded here with masts, spars, and boards for the +mother country, and by ship building. The West India business was then +comparatively small, employing but few vessels of inferior size. After +the revolution our trade had to form new channels, and the employment of +our own navigation was to give new activity to all the springs of +industry and wealth. We find therefore that the enterprise of the people +arose to the emergency, and in a few years our ships were floating on +every ocean, becoming the carriers of southern as well as northern +produce, and bringing back the money and commodities of other countries. +The trade to the West Indies, supported by our lumber, increased vastly, +and direct voyages were made in larger vessels than had before been +employed, which received in exchange for the growth of our forests and +our seas, sugar, molasses and rum, the triple products of the cane. This +trade has contributed mainly to the advancement and prosperity of the +town, has nourished a hardy race of seamen, and formed a people among +the most active and enterprising of any in the United States. + +The great changes which have taken place in the customs and manners of +society since the revolution, must deeply impress the mind of a +reflecting observer. These have extended not only to the outward forms +of things, but to the habits of thought and to the very principles of +character. The moral revolution has been as signal and striking as the +political one; it upturned the old land marks of antiquated and +hereditary customs and the obedience to mere authority, and established +in their stead a more simple and just rule of action; it set up reason +and common sense, and a true equality in the place of a factitious and +conventional state of society which unrelentingly required a submission +to its stern dictates; which made an unnatural distinction in moral +power, and elevated the rich knave or fool to the station that humble +and despised merit would have better graced. + +These peculiarities have been destroyed by the silent and gradual +operation of public opinion; the spirit which arose in the new world is +spreading with the same effect over the old. Freedom of opinion is +asserting a just sway, and it is only now to be feared that the +principle will be carried too far, that authority will lose all its +influence and that reason and a just estimate of human rights will not +be sufficient restraints upon the passions of men. The experiment is +going on, and unless education, an early and sound moral education go on +with it, which will enlighten and strengthen the public mind, it will +fail of success. The feelings and passions must be placed under the +charge of moral principle, or we may expect an age of licentiousness to +succeed one of authority and rigid discipline. We may be said now to be +in the transition state of society. + +Distinctions of rank among different classes of the community, a part +of the old system, prevailed very much before the revolution and were +preserved in the dress as well as in the forms of society. But the +deference attached to robes of office and the formality of official +station have all fled before the genius of our republican institutions; +we look now upon the man and not upon his garments nor upon the post to +which chance may have elevated him. In the circle of our little town, +the lines were drawn with much strictness. The higher classes were +called the _quality_, and were composed of persons not engaged in +mechanic employments. We now occasionally find some old persons whose +memory recurs with longing delight to the days in which these formal +distinctions held uncontrolled sway. + +The fashionable color of clothes among this class was drab; the coats +were made with large cuffs reaching to the elbows, and low collars. All +classes wore breeches which had not the advantage of being kept up as in +modern times by suspenders; the dandies of that day wore embroidered +silk vests with long pocket flaps and ruffles over their hands. Most of +those above mentioned were engaged in trade, and the means of none were +sufficiently ample to enable them to live without engaging in some +employment. Still the pride of their cast was maintained, and although +the cloak and perhaps the wig may have been laid aside in the dust and +hurry of business, they were scrupulously retained when abroad. + +There were many other expensive customs in that day to which the spirit +of the age required implicit obedience; these demanded costly presents +to be made and large expenses to be incurred at the three most important +events in the history of man, his birth, marriage and death. In the +latter it became particularly onerous and extended the influence of its +example to the poorest classes of people, who in their show of grief, +imitated, though at an immeasurable distance, the customs of the rich. + +The leaders of the people in the early part of the revolution, with a +view to check importations from Britain, aimed a blow at these expensive +customs, from which they never recovered. The example commenced in the +highest places, of an entire abandonment of all the outward trappings of +grief which had been wont to be displayed, and of all luxury in dress, +which extended over the whole community. In the later stages of the +revolution however, an extravagant and luxurious style of living and +dress was revived, encouraged by the large amount both of specie and +paper money in circulation, and the great quantity of foreign articles +of luxury brought into the country by numerous captures. + +The evils here noticed did not exist in this part of the country in any +considerable degree, especially after the revolution; the people were +too poor to indulge in an expensive style of living. They were literally +a working people, property had not descended upon them from a rich +ancestry, but whatever they had accumulated had been the result of their +own industry and economy. Our ladies too at that period had not +forgotten the use of the distaff, and occasionally employed that +antiquated instrument of domestic labor for the benefit of others as +well as of themselves. The following notice of a _spinning bee_ at Mrs. +Deane's on the first of May 1788, is a flattering memorial of the +industry and skill of the females of our town at that period. + +"On the first instant, assembled at the house of the Rev. Samuel Deane +of this town, more than one hundred of the fair sex, married and single +ladies, most of whom were skilled in the important art of spinning. An +emulous industry was never more apparent than in this beautiful +assembly. The majority of fair hands gave motion to not less than sixty +wheels. Many were occupied in preparing the materials, besides those who +attended to the entertainment of the rest, provision for which was +mostly presented by the guests themselves, or sent in by other generous +promoters of the exhibition, as were also the materials for the work. +Near the close of the day, Mrs. Deane was presented by the company with +_two hundred and thirty-six_ seven knotted skeins of excellent cotton +and linen yarn, the work of the day, excepting about a dozen skeins +which some of the company brought in ready spun. Some had spun six, and +many not less than five skeins apiece. To conclude and crown the day, a +numerous band of the best singers attended in the evening, and performed +an agreeable variety of excellent pieces in psalmody." + +Some of the ante-revolutionary customs "more honored in the breach than +in the observance"--have been continued quite to our day, although not +precisely in the same manner, nor in equal degree. One was the practise +of helping forward every undertaking by a deluge of ardent spirit in +some of its multifarious mistifications. Nothing could be done from the +burial of a friend or the quiet sessions of a town committee; to the +raising of the frame of a barn or a meeting-house, but the men must be +goaded on by the stimulus of rum. Flip and punch were then the +indispensable accompaniments of every social meeting and of every +enterprise. + +It is not a great while since similar customs have extensively prevailed +not perhaps in precisely the instances or degree above mentioned, but in +junkettings, and other meetings which have substituted whiskey punch, +toddy, &c. for the soothing but pernicious compounds of our fathers. +Thanks however to the genius of temperance, a redeeming spirit is +abroad, which it is hoped will save the country from the destruction +that seemed to threaten it from this source. + +The amusements of our people in early days had nothing particular to +distinguish them. The winter was generally a merry season, and the snow +was always improved for sleighing parties out of town. In summer the +badness of the roads prevented all riding for pleasure; in that season +the inhabitants indulged themselves in water parties, fishing and +visiting the islands, a recreation that has lost none of its relish at +this day. + +Dancing does not seem to have met with much favor, for we find upon +record in 1766, that Theophilus Bradbury and wife, Nathaniel Deering and +wife, John Waite and wife, and several other of the most respectable +people in town were indicted for dancing at Joshua Freeman's tavern in +December 1765. Mr. Bradbury brought himself and friends off by pleading +that the room in which the dance took place, having been hired by +private individuals for the season, was no longer to be considered as a +public place of resort, but a private apartment, and that the persons +there assembled had a right to meet in their own room and to dance +there. The court sustained the plea. David Wyer was king's attorney at +this time. + +It was common for clubs and social parties to meet at the tavern in +those days, and Mrs. Greele's in Backstreet was a place of most +fashionable resort both for old and young wags, before as well as after +the revolution. It was the _Eastcheap_ of Portland, and was as famous +for _baked beans_ as the "Boar's head" was for sack, although we would +by no means compare honest Dame Greele, with the more celebrated, though +less deserving hostess of Falstaff and Poins. Many persons are now +living on whose heads the frosts of age have extinguished the fires of +youth, who love to recur to the amusing scenes and incidents associated +with that house. + +When we look back a space of just two hundred years and compare our +present situation, surrounded by all the beauty of civilization and +intelligence, with the cheerless prospect which awaited the European +settler, whose voice first startled the stillness of the forest; or if +we look back but one hundred years to the humble beginnings of the +second race of settlers, who undertook the task of reviving the waste +places of this wilderness, and suffered all the privations and hardships +which the pioneers in the march of civilization are called upon to +endure; or if we take a nearer point for comparison, and view the +blackened ruin of our village at the close of the revolutionary war, and +estimate the proud pre-eminence over all those periods which we now +enjoy, in our civil relations and in the means of social happiness, our +hearts should swell with gratitude to the Author of all good that these +high privileges are granted to us; and we should resolve that we will +individually and as a community sustain the purity and moral tone of our +institutions, and leave them unimpaired to posterity. + + + + +THE CHEROKEE'S THREAT. + +By N. P. Willis. + + +At the extremity of a green lane in the outer skirt of the fashionable +suburb of New-Haven, stood a rambling old Dutch house, built, probably, +when the cattle of Mynheer grazed over the present site of the town. It +was a wilderness of irregular rooms, of no describable shape in its +exterior, and from its southern balcony, to use an expressive gallicism, +_gave_ upon the bay. Long Island Sound, the great highway from the +northern Atlantic to New York, weltered in alternate lead and silver +(oftener like the brighter metal, for the climate is divine) between the +curving lip of the bay, and the interminable and sandy shore of the +island some six leagues distant, the procession of ships and steamers +stole past with an imperceptible progress, the ceaseless bells of the +college chapel came deadened through the trees from behind, and (the day +being one of golden Autumn, and myself and St. John waiting while black +Agatha answered the door-bell) the sun-steeped precipice of East Rock +with its tiara of blood-red maples flushing like a Turk's banner in the +light, drew from us both a truant wish for a ramble and a holiday. + +In a few minutes from this time were assembled in Mrs. Ilfrington's +drawing-room the six or seven young ladies of my more particular +acquaintance among her pupils--of whom one was a new-comer, and the +object of my mingled curiosity and admiration. It was the one day of +the week when morning visiters were admitted, and I was there in +compliance with an unexpected request from my friend, to present him to +the agreeable circle of Mrs. Ilfrington. As an _habitue_ in her family, +this excellent lady had taken occasion to introduce to me a week or two +before, the new-comer of whom I have spoken above--a departure from the +ordinary rule of the establishment, which I felt to be a compliment, and +which gave me, I presumed, a tacit claim to mix myself up in that young +lady's destiny as deeply as I should find agreeable. The new-comer was +the daughter of an Indian chief, and her name was Nunu. + +The transmission of the daughter of a Cherokee chief to New-Haven, to be +educated at the expense of the government, and of several young men of +the same high birth to different colleges, will be recorded among the +evidences in history that we did not plough the bones of their fathers +into our fields without some feelings of compunction. Nunu had come to +the seaboard under the charge of a female missionary, whose pupil she +had been in one of the native schools of the west, and was destined, +though a chief's daughter, to return as a teacher to her tribe, when she +should have mastered some of the higher accomplishments of her sex. She +was an apt scholar, but her settled melancholy when away from her books, +had determined Mrs. Ilfrington to try the effect of a little society +upon her, and hence my privilege to ask for her appearance in the +drawing-room. + +As we strolled down in the alternate shade and sunshine of the road, I +had been a little piqued at the want of interest and the manner of +course with which St. John had received my animated descriptions of the +personal beauty of the Cherokee. + +"I have hunted with the tribe," was his only answer, "and know their +features." + +"But she is not like them," I replied with a tone of some impatience; +"she is the _beau-ideal_ of a red skin, but it is with the softened +features of an Arab or an Egyptian. She is more willowy than erect, and +has no higher cheek-bones than the plaster Venus in your chambers. If it +were not for the lambent fire in her eye, you might take her in the +sculptured grace of her attitudes, for an immortal bronze of Cleopatra. +I tell you she is divine!" + +St. John called to his dog and we turned along the green bank above the +beach, with Mrs. Ilfrington's house in view, and so opens a new chapter +of my story. + + * * * * * + +I have seen in many years wandering over the world, lived to gaze upon, +and live to remember and adore--a constellation, I almost believe, that +has absorbed all the intensest light of the beauty of a hemisphere--yet +with your pictures coloured to life in my memory, and the pride of rank +and state thrown over them like an elevating charm--I go back to the +school of Mrs. Ilfrington, and (smile if you will!) they were as lovely +and stately, and as worthy of the worship of the world. + +I introduced St. John to the young ladies as they came in. Having never +seen him except in the presence of men, I was a little curious to know +whether his singular _aplomb_ would serve him as well with the other +sex, of which I was aware he had had a very slender experience. My +attention was distracted at the moment of mentioning his name to a +lovely little Georgian, (with eyes full of the liquid sunshine of the +south,) by a sudden bark of joy from the dog who had been left in the +hall; and as the door opened, and the slight and graceful Indian girl +entered the room, the usually unsocial animal sprung bounding in, +lavishing caresses on her, and seemingly wild with the delight of +recognition. + +In the confusion of taking the dog from the room, I had again lost the +moment of remarking St. John's manner, and on the entrance of Mrs. +Ilfrington, Nunu was sitting calmly by the piano, and my friend was +talking in a quiet undertone with the passionate Georgian. + +"I must apologise for my dog," said St. John, bowing gracefully to the +mistress of the house; "he was bred by Indians, and the sight of a +Cherokee reminded him of happier days--as it did his master." + +Nunu turned her eyes quickly upon him, but immediately resumed her +apparently deep study of the abstruse figures in the Kidderminster +carpet. + +"You are well arrived, young gentlemen," said Mrs. Ilfrington; "we press +you into our service for a botanical ramble, Mr. Slingsby is at leisure, +and will be delighted I am sure. Shall I say as much for you, Mr. St. +John?" St. John bowed, and the ladies left the room for their bonnets, +Mrs. Ilfrington last. + +The door was scarcely closed when Nunu re-appeared, and checking herself +with a sudden feeling at the first step over the threshold, stood gazing +at St. John, evidently under very powerful emotion. + +"Nunu!" he said, smiling slowly and unwillingly, and holding out his +hands with the air of one who forgives an offence. + +She sprang upon his bosom with the bound of a leveret, and, between her +fast kisses broke the endearing epithets of her native tongue--in words +that I only understood by their passionate and thrilling accent. The +language of the heart is universal. + +The fair scholars came in one after another, and we were soon on our way +through the green fields to the flowery mountain side of East Rock, Mrs. +Ilfrington's arm and conversation having fallen to my share, and St. +John rambling at large with the rest of the party, but more particularly +beset by Miss Temple, whose Christian name was Isabella, and whose +Christian charity had no bowels for broken hearts. + +The most sociable individuals of the party for a while were Nunu and +Last, the dog's recollections of the past seeming, like those of wiser +animals, more agreeable than the present. The Cherokee astonished Mrs. +Ilfrington by an abandonment of joy and frolic which she had never +displayed before, sometimes fairly outrunning the dog at full speed, and +sometimes sitting down breathless upon a green bank, while the rude +creature overpowered her with his caresses. The scene gave rise to a +grave discussion between that well-instructed lady and myself upon the +singular force of childish association--the extraordinary intimacy +between the Indian and the trapper's dog being explained satisfactorily, +to her at least, on that attractive principle. Had she but seen Nunu +spring into the bosom of my friend half an hour before, she might have +added a material corollary to her proposition. If the dog and the +chief's daughter were not old friends, the chief's daughter and St. John +certainly _were_! + +As well as I could judge by the motions of two people walking before me, +St. John was advancing fast in the favor and acquaintance of the +graceful Georgian. Her southern indolence was probably an apology in +Mrs. Ilfrington's eyes for leaning heavily on her companion's arm, but, +in a momentary halt, the capricious beauty disembarrassed herself of the +light scarf that had floated over her shoulders, and bound it playfully +around his waist. This was rather strange on a first acquaintance, and +Mrs. Ilfrington was of that opinion. + +"Miss Temple!" said she, advancing to whisper a reproof in the beauty's +ear. + +Before she had taken a second step, Nunu bounded over the low hedge, +followed by the dog with whom she had been chasing a butterfly, and +springing upon St. John, with eyes that flashed fire, she tore the scarf +into shreds, and stood trembling and pale, with her feet on the silken +fragments. + +"Madam!" said St. John, advancing to Mrs. Ilfrington, after casting on +the Cherokee a look of surprise and displeasure, "I should have told you +before, that your pupil and myself are not new acquaintances. Her father +is my friend. I have hunted with the tribe, and have hitherto looked +upon Nunu as a child. You will believe me, I trust, when I say, her +conduct surprises me, and I beg to assure you, that any influence I may +have over her, will be in accordance with your own wishes exclusively." + +His tone was cold, and Nunu listened with fixed lips and frowning eyes. + +"Have you seen her before since her arrival?" asked Mrs. Ilfrington. + +"My dog brought me yesterday the first intelligence that she was here. +He returned from his morning ramble with a string of wampum about his +neck, which had the mark of the tribe. He was her gift," he added, +patting the head of the dog and looking with a softened expression at +Nunu, who drooped her head upon her bosom and walked on in tears. + + * * * * * + +The chain of the Green Mountains, after a gallop of some five hundred +miles from Canada to Connecticut, suddenly pulls up on the shore of Long +Island Sound, and stands rearing with a bristling mane of pine-trees, +three hundred feet in air, as if checked in midcareer by the sea. +Standing on the brink of this bold precipice, you have the bald face of +the rock in a sheer perpendicular below you; and, spreading away from +the broken masses at its foot, lies an emerald meadow inlaid with a +crystal and rambling river, across which, at a distance of a mile or +two, rise the spires of the university from what else were a thick +serried wilderness of elms. Back from the edge of the precipice extends +a wild forest of hemlock and fir, ploughed on its northern side by a +mountain torrent, whose bed of marl, dry and overhung with trees in the +summer, serves as a path and guide from the plain to the summit. It were +a toilsome ascent but for that smooth and hard pavement, and the +impervious and green thatch of pine-tassels overhung. + +The kind mistress ascended with the assistance of my arm, and St. John +drew stoutly between Miss Temple and a fat young lady with an incipient +asthma. Nunu had not been seen since the first cluster of hanging +flowers had hidden her from our sight as she bounded upward. + +The hour or two of slanting sunshine, poured in upon the summit of the +precipice from the west, had been sufficient to induce a fine and silken +moss to show its fibres and small blossoms above the carpet of +pine-tassels, and, emerging from the brown shadow of the wood, you stood +on a verdant platform, the foliage of sighing trees overhead, a fairies' +velvet beneath you, and a view below, that you may as well (if you would +not die in your ignorance) make a voyage to see. + +We found Nunu lying thoughtfully near the brink of the precipice and +gazing off over the waters of the sound, as if she watched the coming or +going of a friend under the white sails that glanced upon its bosom. We +recovered our breath in silence, I alone perhaps of that considerable +company gazing with admiration at the lithe and unconscious figure of +grace lying in the attitude of the Grecian hermaphrodite on the brow of +the rock before us. Her eyes were moist, and motionless with +abstraction, her lips just perceptibly curved in an expression of +mingled pride and sorrow, her small hand buried and clenched in the +moss, and her left foot and ankle, models of spirited symmetry, escaped +carelessly from her dress, the high instep strained back, as if +recovering from a leap with the tense control of emotion. + +The game of the coquettish Georgian was well played. With a true woman's +pique, she had redoubled her attentions to my friend from the moment +that she found it gave pain to another of her sex; and St. John, like +most men, seemed not unwilling to see a new altar kindled to his vanity, +though a heart he had already won, was stifling with the incense. Miss +Temple was very lovely: her skin of that teint of opaque and patrician +white, which is found oftenest in Asian latitudes, was just perceptibly +warmed toward the centre of the cheek with a glow like sunshine through +the thick white petal of a magnolia: her eyes were hazel with those +inky lashes which enhance the expression a thousand fold either of +passion, or melancholy; her teeth were like strips from the lily's +heart; and she was clever, captivating, graceful, and a thorough +coquette. St. John was mysterious, romantic-looking, superior, and just +now the only victim in the way. He admired, as all men do, those +qualities, which to her own sex, rendered the fair Isabella unamiable, +and yielded himself, as all men will, a satisfied prey to enchantments +of which he knew the springs were the pique and vanity of the +enchantress. How singular it is that the highest and best qualities of +the female heart are those with which men are the least captivated! + +A rib of the mountain formed a natural seat a little back from the pitch +of the precipice, and here sat Miss Temple, triumphant in drawing all +eyes upon herself and her tamed lion, her lap full of flowers which he +had found time to gather on the way, and her fair hands employed in +arranging a bouquet, of which the destiny was yet a secret. Next to +their own loves, ladies like nothing on earth like mending or marring +the loves of others; and, while the violets and already drooping wild +flowers were coquettishly chosen or rejected by those slender fingers, +the sun might have swung back to the east like a pendulum, and those +seven-and-twenty misses would have watched their lovely schoolfellow the +same. Nunu turned her head slowly around at last, and silently looked +on. St. John lay at the feet of the Georgian, glancing from the flowers +to her face, and from her face to the flowers, with an admiration not at +all equivocal. Mrs. Ilfrington sat apart, absorbed in finishing a sketch +of New-Haven; and I, interested painfully in watching the emotions of +the Cherokee, sat with my back to the trunk of a hemlock, the only +spectator who comprehended the whole extent of the drama. + +A wild rose was set in the heart of the bouquet at last, a spear of +riband-grass added to give it grace and point, and nothing was wanting +but a string. + +Reticules were searched, pockets turned inside out, and never a bit of +riband to be found. The beauty was in despair. + +"Stay!" said St. John, springing to his feet. "Last! Last!" + +The dog came coursing in from the wood, and crouched to his master's +hand. + +"Will a string of wampum do?" he asked, feeling under the long hair on +the dog's neck, and untying a fine and variegated thread of many-colored +beads, worked exquisitely. + +The dog growled, and Nunu sprang into the middle of the circle with the +fling of an adder, and seizing the wampum as he handed it to her rival, +called the dog and fastened it once more around his neck. + +The ladies rose in alarm; the belle turned pale and clung to St. John's +arm; the dog, with his hair bristling on his back, stood close to her +feet in an attitude of defiance, and the superb Indian, the peculiar +genius of her beauty developed by her indignation, her nostrils expanded +and her eyes almost showering fire in their flashes, stood before them, +like a young Pythoness, ready to strike them dead with a regard. + +St. John recovered from his astonishment after a moment, and leaving the +arm of Miss Temple, advanced a step and called to his dog. + +The Cherokee patted the animal on the back, and spoke to him in her own +language; and, as St. John still advanced, Nunu drew herself to her +fullest height, placed herself before the dog, who slunk growling from +his master, and said to him as she folded her arms, "the wampum is +mine!" + +St. John colored to the temples with shame. + +"Last!" he cried, stamping with his foot, and endeavoring to frighten +him from his shelter. + +The dog howled and crept away, half crouching with fear toward the +precipice; and St. John shooting suddenly past Nunu, seized him on the +brink, and held him down by the throat. + +The next instant a scream of horror from Mrs. Ilfrington, followed by a +terrific echo from every female present, started the rude Kentuckian to +his feet. + +Clear over the abyss, hanging with one hand by an aspen sapling, the +point of her tiny foot just poising on a projecting ledge of rock, swung +the desperate Cherokee, sustaining herself with perfect ease, but with +all the determination of her iron race collected in calm concentration +on her lips. + +"Restore the wampum to his neck!" she cried, with a voice that thrilled +the very marrow with its subdued fierceness, "or my blood rest on your +soul!" + +St. John flung it toward the dog, and clasped his hands in silent +horror. + +The Cherokee bore down the sapling till its slender stem cracked with +the tension, and rising lightly with the rebound, alit like a feather +upon the rock. The subdued Kentuckian sprang to her side; but, with +scorn on her lip and the flush of exertion already vanished from her +cheek, she called to the dog, and with rapid strides took her way alone +down the mountain. + + * * * * * + +Five years had elapsed. I had put to sea from the sheltered river of +boyhood; had encountered the storms of a first entrance into life; had +trimmed my boat, shortened sail, and with a sharp eye to windward, was +laying fairly on my course. Among others from whom I had parted company, +was Paul St. John, who had shaken hands with me at the university-gate, +leaving me, after four years' intimacy, as much in doubt as to his real +character and history as the first day we met. I had never heard him +speak of either father or mother; nor had he, to my knowledge, received +a letter from the day of his matriculation. He passed his vacation at +the university. He had studied well, yet refused one of the highest +college-honors offered him with his degree. He had shown many good +qualities, yet some unaccountable faults; and, all in all, was an enigma +to myself and the class. I knew him clever, accomplished, and conscious +of superiority, and my knowledge went no farther. + +It was five years from this time, I say, and in the bitter struggles of +first manhood, I had almost forgotten there was such a being in the +world. Late in the month of October, in 1829, I was on my way westward, +giving myself a vacation from the law. I embarked on a clear and +delicious day in the small steamer which plies up and down the Cayuga +Lake, looking forward to a calm feast of scenery, and caring little who +were to be my fellow passengers. As we got out of the little harbor of +Cayuga, I walked astern for the first time, and saw the not very +unusual sight of a group of Indians standing motionless by the wheel. +They were chiefs returning from a diplomatic visit to Washington. + +I sat down by the companion-ladder, and opened soul and eye to the +glorious scenery we were gliding through. The first severe frost had +come, and the miraculous change had passed upon the leaves, which is +known only in America. The blood-red sugar-maple, with a leaf brighter +and more delicate than a Circassian's lip, stood here and there in the +forest like the sultan's standard in a host, the solitary and far-seen +aristocrat of the wilderness; the birch, with its spirit-like and amber +leaves, ghosts of the departed summer, turned out along the edges of the +woods like a lining of the palest gold; the broad sycamore and the +fan-like catalpa, flaunted their saffron foliage in the sun, spotted +with gold like the wings of a lady-bird; the kingly oak, with its summit +shaken bare, still hid its majestic trunk in a drapery of sumptuous dies +like a stricken monarch, gathering his robes of state about him to die +royally in his purple; the tall poplar, with its minaret of silver +leaves, stood blanched like a coward in the dying forest, burdening +every breeze with its complainings; the hickory, paled through its +enduring green; the bright berries of the mountain-ash flushed with a +sanguine glory in the unobstructed sun; the gaudy tulip-tree, the +sybarite of vegetation, stripped of its golden cups, still drank the +intoxicating light of noonday in leaves than which the lip of Indian +shell was never more delicately teinted; the still deeper-died vines of +the lavish wilderness, perishing with the nobler things whose summer +they had shared, outshone them in their decline, as woman in her death +is heavenlier than the being on whom in life she leaned; and alone and +unsympathizing in this universal decay, outlaws from nature, stood the +fir and the hemlock, their frowning and sombre heads, darker and less +lovely than ever in contrast with the death-struck glory of their +companions. + +The dull colors of English autumnal foliage, give you no conception of +this marvellous phenomenon. The change here, too, is gradual. In America +it is the work of a night--of a single frost! Ah, to have seen the sun +set on hills, bright in the still green and lingering summer, and to +wake in the morning to a spectacle like this! It is as if a myriad of +rainbows were laced through the tree-tops--as if the sunsets of a +summer--gold, purple and crimson--had been fused in the alembic of the +west, and poured back in a new deluge of light and color over the +wilderness. It is as if every leaf in those countless trees had been +painted to outflush the tulip--as if, by some electric miracle, the dies +of the earth's heart had struck upward, and her crystals and ore, her +sapphires, hyacinths and rubies, had let forth their imprisoned dies to +mount through the roots of the forest, and like the angels that in olden +time entered the bodies of the dying, reanimate the perishing leaves, +and revel an hour in their bravery. + +I was sitting by the companion-ladder, thinking to what on earth these +masses of foliage could be resembled, when a dog sprang upon my knees, +and, the moment after, a hand was laid on my shoulder. + +"St. John? Impossible!" + +"Bodily!" answered my quondam classmate. + +I looked at him with astonishment. The _soigne_ man of fashion I had +once known, was enveloped in a kind of hunter's frock, loose and large, +and girded to his waist by a belt; his hat was exchanged for a cap of +rich otter-skin; his pantaloons spread with a slovenly carelessness over +his feet, and altogether there was that in his air which told me at a +glance that he had renounced the world. Last had recovered his leanness, +and after wagging out his joy, he couched between my feet, and lay +looking into my face as if he was brooding over the more idle days in +which we had been acquainted. + +"And where are _you_ bound?" I asked, having answered the same question +for myself. + +"Westward with the chiefs!" + +"For how long?" + +"The remainder of my life." + +I could not forbear an exclamation of surprise. + +"You would wonder less," said he, with an impatient gesture, "if you +knew more of me. And by the way," he added, with a smile, "I think I +never told you the first half of the story--my life up to the time I met +you." + +"It was not for the want of a catechist," I answered, setting myself in +an attitude of attention. + +"No! and I was often tempted to gratify your curiosity; but from the +little intercourse I had with the world I had adopted some precocious +principles, and one was, that a man's influence over others was +vulgarism, and diminished by a knowledge of his history." + +I smiled, and as the boat sped on her way over the calm waters of the +Cayuga, St. John went on leisurely with a story which is scarce +remarkable enough to merit a repetition. He believed himself the natural +son of a western hunter, but only knew that he had passed his early +youth on the borders of civilization, between whites and Indians, and +that he had been more particularly indebted for protection to the father +of Nunu. Mingled ambition and curiosity had led him eastward while still +a lad, and a year or two of the most vagabond life in the different +cities, had taught him the caution and bitterness for which he was so +remarkable. A fortunate experiment in lotteries supplied him with the +means of education, and with singular application in a youth of such +wandering habits, he had applied himself to study under a private +master, fitted himself for the university in half the usual time, and +cultivated in addition the literary taste which I have remarked upon. + +"This," he said, smiling at my look of astonishment, "brings me up to +the time when we met. I came to college at the age of eighteen, with a +few hundred dollars in my pocket, some pregnant experience of the rough +side of the world, great confidence in myself and distrust of others, +and, I believe, a kind of instinct of good manners, which made me +ambitious of shining in society. You were a witness of my _debut_. Miss +Temple was the first highly educated woman I had ever known, and you saw +the effect on me!" + +"And since we parted?" + +"Oh, since we parted, my life has been vulgar enough. I have ransacked +civilized life to the bottom, and found it a heap of unredeemed +falsehoods. I do not say it from common disappointment, for I may say I +succeeded in every thing I undertook." + +"Except Miss Temple," I said, interrupting, at the hazard of wounding +him. + +"No. She was a coquette, and I pursued her till I had my turn. You see +me in my new character now. But a month ago, I was the Apollo of +Saratoga, playing my own game with Miss Temple. I left her for a woman +worth ten thousand of her--but here she is." + +As Nunu came up the companionway from the cabin, I thought I had never +seen a breathing creature so exquisitely lovely. With the exception of a +pair of brilliant moccasins on her feet, she was dressed in the usual +manner, but with the most absolute simplicity. She had changed in those +five years from the child to the woman, and, with a round and +well-developed figure, additional height, and manners at once gracious +and dignified, she walked and looked the chieftan's daughter. St. John +took her hand, and gazed on her with moisture in his eyes. + +"That I could ever put a creature like this," he said, "into comparison +with the dolls of civilization!" + +We parted at Buffalo--St. John with his wife and the chiefs to pursue +their way westward by Lake Erie, and I to go moralizing on my way to +Niagara. + + + + +GRECIAN AND ROMAN ELOQUENCE. + +By Ashur Ware. + + +In the flourishing periods of the Grecian and Roman commonwealths, the +forms of their governments, the state of society, and the passions and +manners of the times, were more favorable to the developement of great +talents, than have existed in any other age, or among any other people. +In Athens and Rome, every citizen was a public man. The great powers of +government were exercised by the people themselves in their primary +assemblies. The practice of delegating the higher attributes of +sovereignty to a small number of persons periodically elected is one of +the greatest improvements, which the lights of modern experience have +introduced into the constitutions of free governments. The advantages +which are gained by this system in favor of internal tranquillity, the +steadiness and permanency of political institutions and the security of +private rights, can scarcely be estimated too highly, or purchased at +too great a price. But nearly in the same proportion as this improvement +contributes to the general tranquillity and the personal security of the +citizen, does it narrow the field for the operation of great talents. +The individual power of each man is hardly felt in the harmonious +working of the great machine of government, and its character soon comes +to depend much more on the system than on the genius of those by whom it +is conducted. Precedents, fixed opinions, long established policy and +constitutional maxims, throw an invisible net work over those, who are +at the head of affairs, which a giant's strength cannot break through. +An ordinary share of talent, enlightened by experience, is found to be +about as useful in the regular movement of the system, as the highest +gifts of genius. + +But it was otherwise in the republics of Athens and Rome. There the +power of the system was nothing, and the genius of the individual every +thing. In the agitations of these popular commonwealths, the great +actors on the stage were driven to a life of unremitted exertion. The +revolutions of popular favor were sudden and appalling, and always +liable to be carried to great extremes. A decisive moment lost might be +fatal to the hopes of a whole life. Their powers were, therefore, +constantly wound up to the utmost intensity of action. Second rate men, +who are abundantly able to go through with the regular and quiet routine +of official duty in our modern bureaus, would be quickly blown down by +the storms which shook the tribunes of those turbulent democracies. The +very imperfections in their political systems contributed to develope +the genius of their statesmen, and necessarily called into action every +faculty of the mind. + +In all free and popular governments, eloquence is one of the principal +instruments of power, and the fairest field is presented for its +operations where the general powers of government are put in motion by +the immediate agency of the mass of the people. In all the nations of +modern Europe, where the semblance of deliberative assemblies is +preserved, these are composed of a small and select number of persons; +and in these small bodies, when a reasonable space is allowed for the +coercive power of party training, for the operation of the subtle and +diffusive poison of executive influence, and in some cases, for the +gross and palpable application of direct corruption, the province of +eloquence will be found to be greatly narrowed. Her most persuasive +accents fall on ears that are spellbound by a mightier power, and on the +most important questions, the votes are often counted, before +deliberation commences. But this complicated machinery cannot be brought +to bear with the same effect on the whole body of the citizens. If their +movements are more irregular, and liable to greater excesses, they have +their origin in the purer and more noble impulses of the heart. The +natural love of equity, the instinctive principles of disinterestedness +and generosity, originally implanted in the heart of man by the author +of our being, cannot easily be extinguished in a whole people. After the +tools of faction, and the minions of power, have exhausted the arts of +corruption, these holier elements of our nature will kindle into +spontaneous enthusiasm, when lofty and generous sentiments are brought +home to the bosom in the accents of a manly and pathetic eloquence. The +great and unsophisticated springs of human action are always touched +with most effect in large assemblies. In these the prevailing tone of +feeling, when highly exalted, spreads through the whole by a secret +sympathy, with the rapidity of the electric fluid. + +It was before such an audience that eloquence uttered her voice in +ancient times. The orators of Greece and Rome brought their genius to +bear directly on the popular mind. The public assemblies which were then +held were for actual deliberation. It was not a mockery of consultation +on matters upon which all opinions were definitely made up. They came +together to be instructed, and were open to the seductive arts of their +orators even to a fault. The objects of deliberation also were of the +greatest moment, the fortunes of a province or a kingdom, the safety of +the republic, the honor, or perhaps the life of the orator himself or +his nearest friends. Every motive which hope or fear or pride or party +could suggest, to animate the passions, was brought to act on the +speaker's mind, and all depended on a doubtful decision, which was to be +made on the spot, and before the separation of the assembly. These +contests were not of rare occurrence. They were coming up continually. +They were upon the most magnificent theatre in the world, and before +judges who united a most refined and discriminating taste with an +extraordinary degree of susceptibility to all the charms of a passionate +and harmonious eloquence. The orators, therefore, were kept in constant +training. Their faculties had no time to cool. + +They had no intervals for luxurious repose. The dignities to which they +had risen were watched by powerful and jealous rivals, always ready to +wrest from them their honors, and they could be retained only by the +same efforts by which they were won. + +In these ancient republics eloquence was substantial and effective power +and led to the highest dignities, which the most aspiring genius could +hope to attain. It was cultivated with an assiduity bearing a just +proportion to the honors with which it was crowned. The education of the +orator commenced in his cradle, and did not terminate until he had +reached the full maturity of manhood; or, to speak more correctly, it +comprised the whole business of his life. All his studies were made +subservient to the art of speaking, and the course of instruction +descended into the most minute details which could improve him in his +action or elocution. It was this entire devotion to a favorite and +honored art, which raised it to a height of perfection, which it has +never since been able to reach, and which produced those prodigies in +the oratorical art, which have been the admiration and the despair of +succeeding ages. + +In the most brilliant period of antiquity there were two styles of +eloquence cultivated by the different orators. One, calm, subtle and +elegant, addressed almost exclusively to the understanding. In the time +of Cicero this was called the Attic style, and those who belonged to +this school assumed no little credit on the supposed purity of their +Attic taste. The other affected a style of greater warmth and +brilliancy, and intermingled with the scrupulous dialectics of the +former, frequent appeals to the passions, and adorned their discourses +with all the beauties which could captivate the imagination. What was +then denominated the Attic style, forms the prevailing characteristic of +modern oratory. It is cool and didactic. It relies almost wholly on the +powers of a cultivated logic and seldom attempts to reach the +understanding through the medium of the heart. It requires little +reflection to determine which of these styles would bear away the palm +before a popular audience. The former leaves one half the faculties of +the hearer dormant, while the latter addresses itself to all the powers +of man, the moral as well as the intellectual, instructs the reason +while it agitates the passions, and gives at the same time one powerful +and impetuous movement to the whole man. But if any one doubts upon +this matter let him go to the pages of Demosthenes and especially to +that most perfect of all his orations, in which he was contending with +his great rival for the glory of a whole life in the presence of all +that was most illustrious in Greece,--his oration for the crown. He will +find from the beginning to the end, a clear and exact logic. But it is +logic raised into enthusiasm by the dignity and elevation of sentiment +by which it is surrounded. He will not find a metaphor or an observation +introduced merely for the purposes of ornament. It is a continued stream +of clear, rapid and convincing argument. But it is argument enveloped in +a torrent of earnestness and exaggeration, environed with a blaze of +anger and disdain and passion--it is argument clothed in thunder, which +could no more be listened to with a composed and tranquil mind than the +flashes of lightning could be viewed with an unblinking eye. Strip +Demosthenes of these accompaniments, of these accessories, if you please +to call them so, and you will leave enough perhaps to satisfy our modern +Attics, but this residue will be no more like the living Demosthenes who +"fulmined over Greece," than the unformed block of marble is like the +Belvidere Apollo, or a naked skeleton like a living man. + +It is said that the state of manners in modern society would not bear +those bold appeals to the passions which abound in the ancient orators. +We are ingenious in taking to ourselves credit even for our inferiority, +and it is contended that our understandings are more cultivated and our +passions more under the dominion of reason. If there be any foundation +for this opinion it must be received with many qualifications. It has +become a fashion of late to decry the manners and morals of the +republics of antiquity. That their manners differed in many respects +from the modes of fashion established in what is called good society in +modern times is admitted, but it does not follow that the advantage is +on our side. There is still less foundation for the opinion that in +their intellectual powers the Greeks and Romans were less cultivated +than the most polished nations of our times. There never existed a +nation in which the intellectual education of the whole body of the +people was carried to so high a pitch as in Athens. However extravagant +the assertion may be thought, it is indisputably true that the "mob of +Athens," as the people of that renowned commonwealth are affectedly +called, were of a more refined, severe and critical taste in every thing +that pertains to the beauties of eloquence than the members of the +British House of Commons have been, at any period of its existence, from +the first meeting of the Wittenagemote to the present day. They would +allow, says Cicero, in their orators no violation of purity or elegance +of language. _Eorum religioni cum serviret orator, nullum verbum +insolens, nullum odiosum ponere audebat._ Many a speech has been cheered +by the "_hear hims_" of the Treasury Bench in that house, which would +have shocked the discriminating and critical ears, _aures teretes ac +religiosas_, of that extraordinary people. The whole testimony of +antiquity concurs in proving their extreme delicacy and fastidiousness +in every thing which belongs to taste in letters and the arts. + +There was another peculiarity in the circumstances of these ancient +republics which favored the cultivation of eloquence. The press, that +great engine by which public opinion is moved in modern times, was then +unknown. Addresses in the assemblies of the people were not only the +ordinary but almost the sole mode by which public men could influence or +enlighten public opinion. All political discussion assumed this form and +these popular harangues composed a very large portion of the literature +of the times. The language of oral communication naturally assumes a +tone of greater vivacity and passion than that of the closet. The +predominance of this species of composition must have had a powerful +influence in forming the national taste and would naturally impart its +prevailing tone to every other species. Such seems to have been the +fact. The philosophers and historians caught something of the animated +and rhetorical manner of their public speakers, and in that species of +eloquence which is suited to the nature of their subjects, surpass the +moderns nearly as much as their orators do. Plato stands as far above +all rivals in this particular, as his countryman and disciple +Demosthenes. The easy and graceful movement of his dialogue, the +splendid amplification and harmonious numbers of his declamation and the +warm and animated glow of moral enthusiasm, which he has thrown over his +mystical speculations, render his works the most perfect specimen of +philosophical eloquence ever yet produced. His example will also show +what importance was attached to style alone by the teachers of ancient +wisdom. The last labors of a long life, which had been devoted to the +most sublime philosophy of the age, were employed in retouching and +remodelling the inimitable graces of his rich and flowing periods; +_musaeo contingens cuncta lepore_. + +A superiority scarcely less imposing in this respect will be found in +their historians. Their genius was also kindled by a coal from the altar +of the orators. I am ready to acknowledge the great merit of the classic +historians of modern times. I am not insensible to the calm and +sustained dignity of Roberston, to the melody of his full and flowing +style, though it sometimes fills the ear without filling the mind. He +must be a much more morose critic who is not delighted with the simple +and unaffected elegance of Hume, and with that admirable facility with +which he intermingles the most profound reflections in a narration +always easy, copious and graceful. Nor can the historian of the Decline +and Fall of the Roman Empire be forgotten in an enumeration of those who +have done honor to this branch of literature. After all that has been +said and written against him, he has left a work which the world will +not willingly suffer to die. The Randolphs and Taylors and Chelsums by +whom he was assailed, have passed into an easy oblivion, but the great +work of the historian will always find a place in every library and a +reader in every well educated man. The pomp and stateliness of his style +sometimes bordering on the turgid may provoke a sneer from those who +look only to the surface, but he had a mind enriched by various and +extensive learning, which he has exuberantly and tastefully displayed in +every page of his work. It may also be admitted that in modern times +history has in its general character received something more of a +philosophical tone. But what it has gained on the side of philosophy it +has more than lost on that of eloquence. + +Compare the triumvirate of English historians in this respect with the +inestimable remains of antiquity, and there is a disparity as striking +as it is difficult to be accounted for. In this, as in every other +department of literature, the Romans were the imitators of the Greeks; +but in history while they imitated they surpassed their masters. The two +great historians of Rome stand above all that preceded as well as all +that followed them. The history of the rise of the Roman republic, from +a small band of outlaws to the uncontrolled mastery of the world, is the +most extraordinary chapter in the history of the human race. The annals +of mankind present nothing that resembles it. A splendid or an affecting +story may be degraded or belittled by being told in an unworthy style. +But the style of Livy never falls below the dignity of his subject. His +eloquence is as magnificent as the fortunes of the eternal city. In +splendor of language, in glowing and picturesque description, in warmth +and brilliancy and boldness of coloring, and in the dignified and +majestic movement of his whole narrative, there is nothing in the +literature of any country which will bear a comparison with the Decads +of Livy. He is always on the borders of oratory and poetry, without ever +passing the soberness of history. _Mille habet ornatus, mille decenter +habet._ + +The golden age of letters in Rome was as short as it was brilliant. It +scarcely surpassed in duration the ordinary term of human life. +Commencing with Cicero, it closed with the generation who were his +cotemporaries, the last who breathed the free air of the republic. But +in the universal corruption of taste and morals that followed the +extinction of liberty, there arose one man, Tacitus, whose genius +belonged to a happier age. In his own, it has been remarked with as +much truth as beauty, he stands like a column in the midst of ruins. It +has been said that the secret of his style belongs to the circumstances +of his life, as well as to the peculiar temperament of the man. He wrote +the history of his own times, and they presented but few bright spots on +which the eye could repose with pleasure. But he paints the features of +that dark and fearful peace, of that awful and portentous silence of +despotism, convulsed as it was by internal dissensions and agitated by +all the vices of a profligate populace and an abandoned nobility, in +words of enchantment. While they seem to express every thing that is +terrible in tragedy, they suggest to the imagination more than meets the +ear. No man could have described those scenes as he has done but one who +had seen and felt them. His vivid and graphic pictures speak at once to +the eye, to the imagination, and to the heart; and without any of the +parade or ostentation of eloquence, he impresses on the mind of the +reader all the feelings which seem to prevail in his own. + +The current of fashion has for some time been setting strongly against +classical learning. In an age of so much intellectual activity as the +present, all sorts of new opinions are received with favor. The most +extravagant have their hour of triumph until they are chased from the +stage by some new absurdity, or until the restless love of change is +drawn off to some more startling paradox. This insatiable thirst for +novelty is carried into literature as well as other things. But the +principles of good taste are unchangeable. They have their foundations +deeply laid in nature and truth, and the tide of time which sweeps into +oblivion the sickly illusions of distempered imaginations, passes over +these unhurt. The Bavii and Maevii of former ages, who like those of +later times enjoyed for their hour the sunshine of fashionable +celebrity, have been long ago gathered to their long home, but the +beauties of Homer and Virgil are as fresh now as they were at the +beginning. Independent of the arguments commonly used in favor of +classical learning, there are two considerations which recommend these +studies to peculiar favor in this country. I advert to them the more +willingly, because they have not been usually urged in proportion to +their importance. + +The first is addressed to our literary ambition. If there be any +department of elegant literature in which we may hope to surpass our +European ancestors and cotemporaries, it is in eloquence. It is the +fairest and most hopeful field which now remains for literary +distinction. In every other the moderns, if they have not equalled, are +not far behind the ancients. Their poetry can scarcely claim an +advantage over that of the moderns, except what it owes directly to the +superiority of the ancient languages. But if we except some of the +finest productions of the French pulpit in the reign of Louis XIV. there +is nothing in modern literature which approaches the eloquence of +antiquity. The most accomplished of our forensic and parliamentary +speakers are at an immeasurable distance from the perfection of the +ancient orators. If there be any modern nation, which may hope to +emulate them with some prospect of success, it is our own. In our free +institutions and in the free genius of our countrymen we have all that +is necessary. The soil is prepared and we are already a nation of +debaters. But if we would add to the faculty of fluent speaking the +gifts of eloquence, these must be sought where the ancients found them, +in a patient and persevering devotion to the art. We must be made +sensible both of its dignity and its difficulty, and nothing can so +effectually give us this knowledge as a familiar acquaintance with the +inimitable remains of the orators of Greece and Rome. + +The second consideration is of a political character. The feudal +governments of Europe may have an interest in discouraging a taste for +these studies. The literature of antiquity, in its prevailing tone and +character, is deeply impregnated with the free spirit of the age in +which it was produced. Nothing can be more repugnant to that temper of +patient servility which it is the policy of such governments to foster. +Nothing can more powerfully invigorate those generous feelings which are +inspired by the consciousness of freedom, than a familiarity with the +historians and orators of Greece and Rome. There is an uncompromising +spirit of liberty breathing its divine inspirations over every page, +wholly irreconcilable with that courtly suppleness which is adapted to +the genius of these governments. These proud republicans had no +superstitious veneration for anointed heads. They were accustomed to +behold suppliant royalty trembling in the antichambers of their Senate, +or its haughty spirit still more humbled in swelling the triumphal pomp +of their generals and consuls. These sights served to nourish a profound +feeling of the dignity, which is attached to the person of a freeman, a +feeling more deeply engraved on the spirit of antiquity than any other +sentiment of the heart. It seems to have constituted the very soul of +their genius, and it breathes its sacred fires through every +ramification of their literature. So intimately was it incorporated with +the very elements of their intellectual nature, that nothing could +extinguish it short of those calamities which spread their deadly +mildews over the fires of genius itself. After the constitutional +liberty of the country sunk under the weight of military despotism, its +scattered flames still broke out at intervals in the few great men who +arose to throw a gleam of brightness over the surrounding gloom. It +shewed itself in the pathetic and affecting complaints of Tacitus, and +burst forth in the bitter and indignant sarcasms of Juvenal. The +venerable father of song declared in prophetic numbers that the first +day of servitude robbed man of half his virtue, and Longinus, the last +of the ancient race of great men, holds up the lights of fifteen +centuries experience to verify the words of the poet. It is democracy, +says he, that is the propitious nurse of great talents, and it is only +in democracy that they flourish. Let the minions of legitimacy then +extinguish if they can the emulation of ancient eloquence; it is their +most dangerous enemy; but let us, who inherit the liberties of the +ancient republics, cherish it with a sacred devotion. It is at once the +child and the champion of freedom. + + + + +RELIGION. + +By Jason Whitman. + + +Religion, as introduced to us by our Saviour, attracts our attention and +enlists our affections, not by any solemn pomp or formal parade, but by +her beautiful and interesting simplicity, her real and intrinsic worth. +Nor has she been introduced to us, merely that she may dwell in our +temples to be gazed at from a distance and occasionally adored. No. She +has been introduced to us, that we might take her familiarly by the +hand, conduct her into our houses and seat her by our firesides,--not as +an occasional visitor there, but as an intimate friend--perfectly free +and unreserved, ever ready to lend her aid in making home the abode of +happiness, or to go forth with us and assist in elevating and purifying +the pleasures and the intercourse of social life; ever ready to assist +in the various labors of life--to guide and cheer the conversation--to +bend over the bed of sickness, or to mingle her sympathies with those +who are mourning. It is her office to elevate and improve mankind, not +by looking down upon them from above, but by dwelling familiarly and +habitually among them, restraining, by the respect which her presence +inspires, every thing impure and unholy, until she has awakened +aspirations after the pure, the holy, the spiritual, the infinite and +eternal. Such was the Christian Religion as introduced to us by our +Saviour. Would that she might ever remain such, an inmate of our houses, +a member of our family circles, whose form and features are familiar to +our children, and for whom their attachment grows with their growth and +strengthens with their strength. But such have not, it would seem, been +the feelings of mankind in regard to her. They, filled with admiration, +perhaps, for her excellence, and fearing, lest she might be treated with +rude familiarity, have thought to add to her dignity and to increase the +respect entertained for her, by enveloping her in the folds of +unintelligible mysteries, and by suffering her to be approached only in +a formal manner, upon the set days when and the appointed places where +she holds her levees. The consequences of this have been such as might +have been expected. While there are multitudes of admirers of Religion, +as one of a higher order of beings altogether above and beyond +themselves, there are few who make her the companion of their daily +walk--few who take her to themselves and, in the firm conviction that +they were made for each other, leave all things else, cleave unto and +become one with her. + +Would that we might all embrace Christianity as she is in herself--as +she was introduced to us by our Saviour, in all her simplicity--in all +her purity--that we might make her the companion of our lives--the +friend of our hearts. She is one, who will with readiness accompany us +wherever we go--pointing out to us the way of our duty and the sources +of our happiness. Are we children she will teach us the duties of +children. Are we parents she will instruct us in our duties as parents. +In prosperity she will increase our happiness--in adversity she will +sweeten our cup--in sickness she will alleviate our pains, and, when +called away by the stern summons of death, she will accompany us and +introduce us into the society of heaven with which she is intimate--the +society of our God--of Jesus our Saviour--and of the spirits of the just +made perfect, concerning whom she has often conversed with us, making us +acquainted with their principles, feelings and characters, and exerting +within us a desire to be with them. + + + + +THE DESERTED WIFE. + +By Mrs. Ann S. Stephens. + + 'Like ivy, woman's love will cling + Too often round a worthless thing.' + + +Immediately after the horrid murder of young Darnley, Mary of Scotland +removed from the scene of his death to Sterling, ostensibly on a visit +to her infant son. Thither she was followed by all the gay members of +her court, among whom were the Earl of Bothwell and Balfour, the +suspected murderers. A short time previous to this journey Mary had +received a letter from one of her subjects in the north, strenuously +recommending a young and interesting female to her protection, who, as +the letter stated, had especial reasons for sojourning awhile in the +neighborhood of the court. Mary with her usual benevolence kindly +received the lovely stranger, and was so won by her grace and melancholy +beauty, that with the thoughtlessness of her impulsive character, she +installed her in the royal household and admitted her to the closest +intimacy of mistress and servant. Her affections daily increased for one +of whom she knew nothing, except that she was reported to have sprung +from a noble but impoverished family, and had been drawn to court by her +interest in a dear relation, or perhaps lover. The queen did not trouble +herself to inquire into particulars, at a time when her own affairs not +only engrossed her thoughts, but the attention of all Europe. Certain it +was, that whatever had drawn Ellen Craigh to the Scottish court, it was +no desire to partake of its pleasures. Though she occasionally mingled +with the ladies of Mary's household, and even listened with silent +interest to the scandal which recent events had given rise to, she +sedulously secluded herself from the gallants of the court, and on no +occasion had been known to leave the immediate apartment of the queen, +except for a short space each day, when the relative who had drawn her +from home might be supposed to occupy her attention. + +On the day our story commences, Throgmorton, the English ambassador, had +arrived at Sterling with despatches, which had been forwarded from +London after the first news of young Darnley's death reached the court +of St. James. Mary, eager to conciliate the imperious Elizabeth, had +ordered an entertainment to be made in honor of her ambassador, and +yielding to his first request, or rather demand for an audience, had +been more than an hour closetted with him, in the little oratory which +communicated alike with her audience-room and sleeping chamber. + +The hour for robing had long passed, and Ellen Craigh was alone in the +royal bed-chamber, waiting the appearance of her mistress. She might +have been taken for a sorrowing angel, as she sat in the embrasure of a +window, with the mellow-tinted light streaming through the stained glass +over her tresses of waving gold, and flooding her small and exquisite +figure with a brilliancy almost too gorgeous to harmonize with the +delicate cheek and sorrowful blue eyes, which, at the moment, wore an +expression of suffering which nothing on earth can represent, so patient +and holy was it. She continued in one position, listlessly swaying the +cord of twisted gold, which looped back the curtain falling in +magnificent volumes over the upper part of the window, or pulling the +threads from a massive tassel and scattering them one by one at her +feet, till the carpet around looked as if embroidered over and over with +the glittering fragments. The indistinct voices which came from the +oratory, where the queen and the ambassador were seated, fell unheeded +upon her senses, till a tone was mingled with theirs which started her +to sudden life. She leaped up with an energy that sent the mutilated +tassel with a crash against the window, and flinging back the tapestry +which concealed the door of the oratory, bent her eye to a crevice in +the ill-fitted pannel. The beating of her heart was almost audible, and +the thin slender hand which held back the tapestry quivered like a newly +prisoned bird, as she gazed with intense eagerness into the apartment. +The queen sat directly opposite the door. At her right hand was placed a +dark handsome man, of about thirty, with a haughty and almost fierce +array of countenance, dressed in a style of careless magnificence, which +bespoke a love of display rather than true elegance in his choice of +attire. A subdued smile lurked about his lips, and he seemed intently +occupied in counting the links of a massive gold chain, which fell over +his doublet of three-piled velvet, studded and gorgeously wrought with +jewels and embroidery. Now and then he would drop his hand carelessly +over the queen's chair-arm, and fix his black eyes with a bold and +admiring gaze on her features, with a freedom which bespoke more of +audacious love, than of respect for the royal beauty. She not only +submitted to his free glance, but more than once returned it with one of +those looks which had scattered sorrow through many a Scottish bosom. + +Throgmorton sat little apart. He had been speaking in a strain of calm +expostulation; but marking the interchange of glances between the queen +and her haughty favorite, he became indignant, and addressed Bothwell +with a degree of cutting contempt, which turned the lurking smile on the +nobleman's lip to a curl of bitter defiance. Heedless of the royal +presence, he stood up, and rudely pushing the council-table from before +him, half drew his sword, as if to punish the offender upon the spot. +Throgmorton endured the blaze of his large fierce eyes with calm +composure, and deliberately measuring his person from head to foot with +a contemptuous glance, was about to resume his discourse; but the queen +rose from her seat, and placing her white and jewelled hand persuasively +on Bothwell's arm, she fixed her beautiful eyes full on his, and uttered +a few low words of entreaty; then turning to the envoy, her exquisite +face flushed with anger and her eyes flashing like diamonds, she +exclaimed, + +"Leave our presence, sir ambassador, and thank our moderation that thou +art permitted to depart in safety, after this insult to our most trusty +and faithful follower! Nay, my lord of Bothwell, put thy hand from that +sword-hilt--this matter rests with us--doubt not, thy honor as well as +that of thy mistress shall be duly righted." + +The frowning nobleman pushed back his blade with a clang, and turned +moodily away. + +The queen looked on him gravely for a moment, and then turning to the +Englishman proceeded with less of vehemence than had accompanied her +last command. + +"The message of our loving cousin has given us a surfeit of advice. +To-morrow we will resume the subject," she said, forcing one of the +resistless smiles, which she could call up at will, to brighten her +lips; and with a graceful wave of the hand, she motioned him to +withdraw. + +The envoy bowed low and left the room without further speech. But the +door was scarcely closed, when, with sudden self-abandonment, the queen +threw herself into her chair, and burst into a passion of tears. +Bothwell, who was angrily pacing the room, approached, and sinking to +one knee took her hand tenderly in his. She looked at him a moment +through her tears, murmured a few broken words, and dropping her face to +his shoulder, wept bitterly. + +Poor Ellen Craigh witnessed the whole scene. She heard Bothwell's +expressions of soothing endearment, and saw the beautiful head, with its +garniture of brown tresses, fall with such helpless dependence on his +shoulder. A moment, and the queen drew the snowy hand, sparkling with +tears and jewels, from her eyes, and sat upright. With a choking +sensation the poor girl gazed on that face, in its transcendent +loveliness, till a mist gathered before her eyes, and the words of +Bothwell came broken and confusedly to her ear. When they left the +oratory a few moments after, her hand fell nerveless to her side, the +tapestry swept over the door with a rustling sound, and staggering a few +paces into the chamber, she fell her whole length upon the carpet, her +golden hair sweeping back from her bloodless forehead, her pale lips +trembling and her slight limbs as strengthless as an infant's. Thus she +lay for a time, and then tears gushed profusely from her shut eyes. +After which she arose to a sitting posture, with her feeble hands +twisted the scattered ringlets round her head, and arose; but so pale, +so wo-begone, her very heart seemed crushed forever. Dragging herself +to her favorite seat in the embrasure of a window, she leaned her temple +against the stained glass, and murmured-- + +"Enough!--oh, enough!--I must go home now." But while the words of +misery trembled on her lips, the door was flung open, and Mary Stewart +entered the apartment. The room was misty with the purple glow of +sunset, and the queen passed her shrinking attendant without observing +her. Hastily advancing to a table, she took up a golden bird-call, and +blew a peremptory summons; then throwing herself into a chair which +stood opposite a small table, on which glittered the splendid +paraphernalia of a French toilette, she waited the appearance of her +attendants. Ellen Craigh made a strong effort and arose. + +"Ha, art thou there, my mountain-daisy?" said the queen, looking kindly +upon her,--"order lights, and send back the flock of tire-women my silly +whistle has brought trooping hitherward--no hands but thine shall robe +me to night." + +Ellen obeyed, and after a few moments the light from two large candles +of perfumed wax broke over the little mirror, with its framework of +filigree silver, and flashed upon the golden essence-bottles and +scattered jewels which covered the dressing-table. The poor waiting-maid +drew back from the brilliant glare with the shudder of a sick heart. The +queen looked on her earnestly for a moment, and then putting the golden +locks back from her temple, as she would have caressed a child, she +said-- + +"What!--cheeks like new-fallen snow!--lips trembling like the +aspen!--and eye-lashes heavy with tears!--how is this, child?--but we +bethink us;--was it not some untoward affair of the heart which brought +thee to our court? We have been too negligent;--tell us thy grief, and +on the honor of a queen, if there be wrong we will have thee bravely +righted--so speak freely." + +"Oh, no, no!--not here!--_never to you_." + +Here poor Ellen broke off and stood before the queen, her hands clasped, +her lips trembling and her large supplicating eyes fixed imploringly on +her face. + +"Well, well," said the queen soothingly, "at some other time be it--but +remember that in Mary Stewart her attendant may find a safe friend as +well as an indulgent mistress," and shaking her magnificent tresses over +her shoulders, the royal beauty composed herself for the operations of +the toilette. + +Ellen gathered up the glossy volumes of hair and commenced her task. Her +limbs shook, a cold moisture crept over her forehead, and her quivering +hands wandered with melancholy listlessness, through the mass of shining +ringlets it was her duty to arrange. As she stooped forward in her task, +one of her own fair curls fell down and mingled, like a flash of spun +gold, with those of her mistress. As if there had been contagion in the +touch, she flung it back with a smile of strange, cold bitterness, the +first and last that ever wreathed her pure lips; for hers was a heart to +suffer and endure, but never to hate; it might break, but no wrong could +harden it. + +While her toilette was in progress, Mary became nervous and restless, +now pushing the velvet cushions from her feet, and then moving the +lights about the dressing-table, as if dissatisfied with the arrangement +of every thing about her. At length she fell back in her chair, buried +her face in her hands, and fairly burst into tears. Ellen grasped the +back of her chair, and bending her pale face to the queen's ear, +murmured-- + +"Tears are for the deserted--why does the queen weep?" + +Mary was too deeply engrossed with her own feelings to mark the exact +words, or the tremulous voice of her attendant. She threw the damp hair +back from her face, and dashing the tears from her eyes exclaimed-- + +"No, no! it is nothing--proceed--there! let that ringlet fall thus upon +the neck--now our robe, quickly--we shall be waited for at the banquet." + +Ellen brought forth the usual mourning robe of black velvet, laden with +bugles; but a flush of anger, or perhaps of shame, overspread the +queen's face, and with an impatient gesture she exclaimed-- + +"Not that, girl--not that--I will mock my heart no longer!--away with +it, and bring a more seemly garment!--the proud Englishman shall not +scoff at our widow's weeds again." + +Ellen obeyed, and the queen was soon robed as she had desired. Few +objects could have been more beautiful than this dangerous woman, when +she arose from her toilette--the perfect, yet almost voluptuous +proportion of her form betrayed by the snowy robe, her tapering arms +banded with jewels, and her superb waist bound with a string of immense +pearls, clasped in front by a single diamond, and terminating where the +broidery of her robe commenced, in tassels of threaded pearls. A tiara +of small Scotish thistles, crowded amethysts and rough emeralds, burned +with a purple light among her curls, and the face beneath seemed +scarcely human, so radiant was its expression, and so beautiful the +perfect harmony of its features. Throwing a careless glance at the +mirror--for Mary was too confident of her attraction to be +fastidious--she took up her perfumed handkerchief and left the room. + +Ellen Craigh gazed after her sovereign till the last graceful wave of +her drapery disappeared; then drawing a deep breath, as if her heart had +thrown off an oppression quite insupportable, she cast a glance almost +of loathing around the sumptuous apartment, and entered the oratory. +Dropping on her knees by the chair which Bothwell had occupied, she laid +her cheek on the cushion and wept long and freely, as if the contact +with something _he_ had touched had a softening influence on her heart. +As she arose, the gleam of a handkerchief lying on the floor attracted +her attention. She snatched it up with a faint cry of joy, for on one +corner she found embroidered an earl's coronet and the crest of +Bothwell. Eagerly thrusting the prize into her bosom, she left the +oratory and passed into the open street. + +It was midnight when Mary Stewart returned to her chamber. The lights +were burning dimly on the table, and an air of gloomy grandeur filled +the apartment. The queen was evidently much distressed; a deep glow was +burning on her cheek, and her usually smiling eyes were full of a +strange excitement. She snatched up the little golden call as if to give +a summons, and then flung it down again, exclaiming-- + +"No, no--I could not brook their searching eyes," and with a still more +disturbed air she paced the chamber, now and then stopping to divest +herself of the ornaments she had worn at the ambassador's festival. + +Perhaps for the first time in her life the agitated woman unrobed +herself, and flinging back the crimson drapery which fell in heavy +masses from the large square bedstead, threw herself upon the gorgeous +counterpane and buried herself in the folds, as if they could shut out +the evil thoughts that burned in her heart; but it was in vain that she +strove for rest--that she gathered the rich drapery over her head and +pressed her burning cheek to the pillow; her thoughts were all alive and +astray. + +It was a mournful sight--that beautiful and brilliant woman yielding +herself to the thraldom of a wicked man, and rushing heedlessly to that +which was to throw a stain upon her memory, enduring as history itself. +Sin is hideous in every form--but when it darkens the bright and +beautiful of earth, like a cloud over the sun, we reproach it for its +own blackness, and doubly for the brightness it conceals. + +As the misguided woman lay, with a hand pressed over her eyes, and one +arm, but half divested of its jewels, flung out with a kind of desperate +carelessness upon the counterpane, the murmur of an infant voice reached +her from a neighboring apartment. She started up and tears gathered in +her eyes. + +"Woe is me!" she exclaimed, "this mad passion makes me forgetful alike +of prayer and child." + +Folding a dressing-gown about her, she entered the room whence the sound +had come, and reappeared with an infant boy pressed to her bosom. After +kissing him again and again with a sort of despairing fondness, she bore +him to a recess where a small lamp of chased silver burned before a +crucifix of the same metal, and an embroidered hassock was placed as if +for devotion. Had she been left alone in the holy stillness of the +night, with her lovely babe upon her bosom, and the touching symbol of +our Saviour's death before her, the evil influence which was hurrying +her on to ruin might have been counterbalanced; but as she knelt with +the smiling babe lying on the hassock, her eyes fixed on the crucifix, +and the guilty glow ebbing from her cheeks, the door softly opened, and +the Earl of Bothwell stole into the chamber. Mary sprang to her feet as +if to reprove the insolent intruder, but a sense of modesty, which in +all her follies seemed never to have left her, succeeded to her +indignation, if indeed she felt any. She glanced at her dishabille with +a painful flush, and hastily seating herself, drew her uncovered feet, +which had been hastily thrust into a pair of furred slippers, under the +folds of her dressing gown, and then requested him to withdraw, in a +voice which betrayed as much of encouragement as of reproof. + +Without even noticing her request, Bothwell lifted the boy from the +hassock, and seating himself, addressed her in a low and gentle tone, +which he knew well how to assume. The erring woman listened to the +witchery of his voice, till the unnatural glow again died from her +cheek, and she sat with her eyes fixed on his, as a beautiful bird +yielding to the fascination of a serpent. + +"But thy wife," she said in a low irresolute tone, when Bothwell pressed +for a reply to what he had been urging, "much as Mary may love--much as +she may sacrifice, she cannot thrust a young and loving woman from a +heart she loves and puts her faith in." + +"Young and loving!" repeated Bothwell, with a sneer curling his haughty +lip, "young and loving!--truly your grace must have been strangely +misinformed;--she who styles herself Countess of Bothwell nearly doubles +the age of her unfortunate husband; and as for love, if she knows any, +it is for the broad acres which own him as their master." + +A scarcely perceptible smile dimpled the queen's mouth, as she heard +this account of her rival, but she made no reply, and Bothwell resumed +his tone of earnest entreaty. As he proceeded, his voice and manner +became more energetic. + +"Say that you consent," he said, "say but a word, and the breath of evil +shall never reach you;--say but your hand is mine as a token of assent, +and Bothwell will worship you like a very slave." + +The queen raised her hand, and though it trembled like an aspen, she +placed it in his. + +"It is thy queen who is the slave," she murmured in a broken voice, as +Bothwell raised the beautiful hand to his lips, and covered it with +rapturous kisses. + +As he relinquished her hand, it came in contact with that of the child. +As if an adder had stung her, she drew it back, and then with a sudden +gush of feeling snatched the boy to her bosom and covered it with tears +and kisses. Bothwell dreaded the influence of the pure maternal feeling +thus expressed. Gently forcing the young prince from her embrace, he +whispered-- + +"Trust him to me, dearest--trust him to one who would spill his heart's +blood, rather than give pain to mother or child," and pressing her hand +again to his lips, the arch-hypocrite left the room with the same +cautious tread he had entered it with. + +In a few moments after, he placed the young prince in charge with a +creature in his confidence, saying-- + +"See to it, that none of the Darnley faction get possession of the +brat,--keep him safe, or strangle him at once." + +On the next day the Earl of Bothwell left Sterling, and it was whispered +that he had been banished from court through the influence of the +English ambassador; but conjecture was lost in astonishment, and when, +two days after, the court at Sterling was broken up, and the queen, +while on her way to Edinburgh, was met by Bothwell, with a force of +eight hundred men, and conveyed to Dunbar by seeming violence, men stood +aghast at the news; but those who had marked their queen closely during +the few preceding days, concurred in the belief that she privately +sanctioned the disgraceful outrage. + + * * * * * + +It was a gloomy and ancient pile--that in which Bothwell had left his +deserted wife. In one of its apartments, beside a huge fire-place, in +which a few embers smouldered in a sea of ashes, sat an old and wrinkled +woman, spreading her withered palms for warmth, and occasionally turning +a wistful look to the narrow windows, against which the rain and sleet +were beating with real violence. As she listened, the tramp of +approaching horses was heard in the court below, and before she had time +to reach the door, it was flung open, and the Countess of Bothwell, +dripping with wet and tottering with fatigue, flung herself into the +arms of her old nurse. + +"Sorrow on me," exclaimed the good woman, striving to speak cheerful, +"how the child clings to my neck!--look up, lady-bird, and do not sob +so--I know but too well how thy journey has speeded--may the curses of +an old woman rest----" + +"Oh, Mabel, Mabel, do not curse him--do not--we cannot love as we will," +exclaimed the poor countess, clinging to the bosom of the old woman, as +if to bribe her from finishing the anathema. + +"Hush, darling, hush," replied old Mabel, pressing her withered lips +fondly to the pure forehead of her foster-child--"he who could help +loving thee----but hist, what is all this tramping in the court?--sit +down, and I will soon learn." + +The old woman divested the trembling young creature of her wet cloak and +proceeded to the hall. After a few minutes absence she returned +dreadfully agitated; her sunken eyes glowed like live coals, and her +bony fingers were clenched together as a bird clutches her prey. + +"My own darling," she said in a voice which she vainly strove to render +steady, "I had thought not to have given his cruel message, but----" + +"Speak on," said the poor young creature, raising her large eyes with +the expression of a scared antelope, "I can bear any thing now." + +But she broke off with a sudden and joyful cry, for the door had been +cautiously opened, and her long absent husband stood before her. +Forgetful of his estrangement--of his unkindness--of every thing but his +early love--she sprang eagerly to his bosom and kissed him again and +again, with the abandonment of a joyful child. It must have been a heart +of stone which could have resisted such unbounded tenderness. For one +moment, and but for one, she was pressed to her husband's heart, and +then he put her coldly away. + +"How is it that I find your lady here, after my express command to the +contrary?" he said, sternly addressing the old nurse, while he forced +the clinging arms of the countess from his neck. + +The poor young creature shrunk from his look, like a flower touched by a +sudden frost. Mabel threw her arm around her, and forced her to confront +her angry husband. + +"Why is she here!" shouted the old woman fiercely, "why is she here, in +her own home!--because I could not, would not kill her with her base +lord's message!--What! break her heart, and then thrust her forth to +die?--Villain!--double-dyed and cowardly villain!--may the curses of +a----" + +Before the old woman could finish her anathema, the enraged Earl had +stricken her grey head to the floor. The frightened countess fell on her +knees beside her; but, with a terrible imprecation, Bothwell commanded +his attendants to bear his victim from the room, and sternly ordered his +trembling wife to remain. + +"As you are here," he said, "it is not essential that we meet again; +your signature is necessary to this paper; please to affix it without +useless delay." + +The countess took the paper, which was a petition to the +Commissariot-Court for a divorce from her husband. Before she had read +the first line, every drop of blood ebbed from her face. She did not +faint, but with a degree of energy foreign to her character, she grasped +the paper in her hands, as if about to tear it. The Earl seized her +wrist, and fiercely demanded her signature. + +"Never--_never_!" exclaimed the poor wife, struggling in his grasp--"Oh, +Bothwell, you cannot wish it--you that so loved me--you that promised to +love me forever and ever--no, no! you do not mean it--you cannot put +your poor wife away thus!--I know that the little beauty you once prized +is gone, but tears and sorrow have dimmed it;--bear with me but a little +longer--say that you love me yet, and my bloom will come again;--look at +me, Bothwell, husband, _dear_ husband! and say that you did not mean +it--that you gave me that horrid paper to frighten me--say but that, and +your poor Ellen will worship you forever!" + +This energetic appeal had its effect, even in the hard hearted Earl. He +endured, and even partially returned the passionate caress with which +she had accompanied her words; and when she fell back exhausted in his +arms, he bore her to a seat and placed himself beside her. + +"Ellen," he said, "I will deal candidly with you--I _do_ love you, and +have, even while in pursuit of another; but you have yet to learn that +there is a stronger passion than love--_ambition_!" + +"You do love me--bless you, bless you! Bothwell, for saying so much," +she eagerly exclaimed, the affectionate young creature snatching his +hand between both hers, and covering it with joyful kisses. + +But her joy was of short duration. As the serpent uncoils its glittering +folds, so did Bothwell lay bare the depravity and ambition of his heart. +Artifice, persuasion and threats were used, and at length he prevailed. +The petition for a divorce was signed; but the heart of the poor +countess was broken by the effort. + +It is almost useless to tell the reader, that the queen of Scots had +consented to accompany Bothwell to his castle, but with the appearance +of compulsion, on the night of his intrusion into her chamber. It was to +prepare for the disgraceful visit, that he had sent orders for the +expulsion of his unfortunate wife--orders which old Mabel had never +delivered; and now that he had gained his object, in obtaining her +signature to the petition, he proceeded to give directions for the +castle to be put in order, for the reception of the royal guest. These +arrangements occupied him during most of the night. At length, weary +with exertion, he fell asleep in his chair. It was morning when he +awoke. The light came softly through a neighboring window, and there, at +his feet, with her head resting on his knees, and her thin, pale face +turned toward him, lay his wife, asleep. Rest had quieted his ambitious +thoughts. He was alone, in the stillness of a new day, with the gentle +victim of his aspiring passions lying at his feet, grieved and +heart-broken, her eyelids heavy with weeping, and every limb betraying +the sorrow which preyed upon her. For a moment his heart relented, and a +hot tear fell among her golden curls. Gently, as a mother would remove a +sleeping infant, he raised her head, laid it on the cushion of his +chair, and left her to her loneliness. + +On the next day the Countess of Bothwell left the castle with her nurse, +and not three hours after, Mary Stewart entered it in company with its +wicked lord. + +On the fourth day of Mary's sojourn at Dunbar, she, with the ladies of +her train, joined in a stag hunt, which the Earl had ordered for their +entertainment. The excitement of the chase had drawn Bothwell, for a +moment, from her bridal rein, when an old woman came from a neighboring +hut, and in a few ungracious words, invited the queen to rest a while. +Mary gracefully accepted the offered courtesy, and some of her +attendants would have followed her to the hut; but the old woman +motioned them back with a haughty wave of her hand, and conducted the +queen alone. There was no vestige of furniture in the room, except two +small stools and a narrow bed, on which the outlines of a human form +were visible. Grasping the queen's hand firmly in her own, the old woman +drew her to the bed, and throwing back a sheet, pointed with her long +fleshless finger to the form of a shrouded female. + +"Look!" she sternly exclaimed, fixing her keen eyes on the face of the +queen. + +Mary looked with painful interest on the thin face, as white and cold as +alabaster, with the golden hair parted from the pure forehead, and a +holy quiet settled on every beautiful feature. White roses were +scattered over the pillow, and the repose of the dead was heavenly. Mary +bent over the corpse, and her tears fell fast and thick among the fresh +flowers. + +"Alas, my poor Ellen!" she said, turning to the woman, who stood like a +statue pointing sternly to the body, "of what did she die?" + +"Of a broken heart!" replied the nurse coldly, and with the same icy +composure which had marked her conduct, she led her royal visitor to the +door, without speaking another word. + +Had she explained that Ellen Craigh and the Countess of Bothwell were +the same person, regret for the evil she had wrought might have checked +Mary in her career of folly. But the death of the deserted wife was kept +a secret among the few faithful followers who had accompanied her in her +wild expedition to Mary's court, and the nurse, on whose bosom she had +yielded up her life. While the courts of Scotland were agitated with the +divorce of Bothwell, the haughty man little knew that his gentle wife +had ceased to feel his cruelty. + + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Unusual spellings retained, but obvious spelling and punctuation errors +were fixed. + +Contraction variants retained, notably in "Jack Downing's Visit to +Portland," as features of narrator dialect. + +In several stories, notably "Courtship" and "Descriptions of the Divine +Being," the use of quotation marks was inconsistent, and has been +standardized. This required the addition of quotation marks in several +places. Where the non-use of quotation marks was consistent within a +story, no changes were made. + +Contents: Preface is on P. iii, not "7"(original); both "M--" in +Contents and "M***" on poem heading retained; "Deserted Wife" P. 272 is +correct--retained original placement above "Portland as it Was" in +Contents (author name starts with "S"). + +P. 13, "sum of $1,363,589,69,--" Number appears incomplete, but is +consistent with a separate publication of this article ["A Modest +Estimate of Our Own Country," in "The Americans at home; or Byeways, +backwoods, and prairies, ed. by the author of 'Sam Slick'," London: +Hurse and Blackett Publishers, 1854] which reads (on P. 125) "sum of +1,363,589,69 dollars,--" + +P. 34, "disapprobation run" changed to "disapprobation ran." + +P. 41, "guana" retained. Less-used alternate spelling for "iguana." + +P. 91, "Illiad" retained. Consistent with quote reference that follows. + +P. 115, "fourth-coming" changed to "forth-coming." + +P. 259, "full muturity" changed to "full maturity." + +P. 282, "died her cheek" changed to "died from her cheek." + +Hyphen variants retained when consistent within story. Otherwise +corrected to majority use in story. Variants retained due to different +stories or lack of majority in same story: birth-day and birthday, +broad-side and broadside, companion-way and companionway, grave-yard and +graveyard, juxta-position and juxtaposition, look-out and lookout, +noon-day and noonday, over-flowing and overflowing, rain-bow and +rainbow, re-appeared and reappeared, sky-sail and skysail, stair-way and +stairway, steam-boats and steamboats, sun-light and sunlight. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Portland Sketch Book, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PORTLAND SKETCH BOOK *** + +***** This file should be named 39278.txt or 39278.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/2/7/39278/ + +Produced by Roberta Staehlin, JoAnn Greenwood, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +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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