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diff --git a/39278.txt b/39278.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..80f2b76 --- /dev/null +++ b/39278.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: 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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