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diff --git a/40612-0.txt b/40612-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..31faf92 --- /dev/null +++ b/40612-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14998 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40612 *** + + HARPER'S + + NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. + + VOLUME II. + + DECEMBER, 1850, TO MAY, 1851. + + + NEW YORK: + + HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, + + 329 & 331 PEARL STREET, + + FRANKLIN SQUARE. + + 1851. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + + +In bringing the SECOND VOLUME of the NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE to a close, +the Publishers would avail themselves of the occasion, to express their +profound appreciation of the favor with which it has been received, and +their earnest wish to render it still more deserving of the enlightened +patronage of the American community. They commenced the publication with +the firm conviction that it could be made the medium of valuable +information and mental enjoyment to the great mass of readers, and that +it would accordingly be sustained by their generous and cordial support. +Nor have they been deceived in their anticipations. The Magazine has +found a wider circulation with every monthly issue. The encomiums with +which it has been welcomed by the universal voice of the press, and the +verdict of intelligent readers, are a gratifying proof that the +Publishers have succeeded in their endeavor to adapt it to the wants of +the public mind. Encouraged by the experience of the first year of this +extensive literary enterprise, they are determined to spare no effort to +insure the succeeding volumes of the Magazine a still wider and more +favorable reception among all classes of readers. They intend it to be a +strictly national work. Devoted to no local interests, pledged to no +religious sect or political party, connected with no favorite movement +of the day, except the diffusion of intelligence, virtue, and +patriotism, it will continue to be conducted with the impartiality and +good faith, which it is equally the duty, the inclination, and the +interest of the Publishers to maintain. In addition to the choicest +productions of the English press, the Magazine will be enriched with +such original matter as in their opinion will enhance its utility and +attractiveness. The embellishments will be furnished by distinguished +artists, and selected no less for their permanent value as vehicles of +agreeable instruction than for the gratification of an æsthetic taste. +With the ample literary, artistic, and mechanical resources which the +Publishers have enlisted in the NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE, and their ambition +to give it a character of genuine, substantial, reliable excellence in +every department, they may assure its wide circle of patrons that its +subsequent issues will more than justify the distinguished reputation +which it has attained at this early period of its existence. + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME II. + + + Actors and their Salaries 403 + A Death-Bed. By JAMES ALDRICH 84 + A Dream and the Interpretation Thereof 816 + Address to Gray Hair 699 + An Agreeable Surprise 84 + A little Stimulant 361 + Anecdote of a Dog 97 + Anecdote of a Hawk 490 + Anecdotes of Napoleon 231 + Anecdotes of Serpents 663 + Anecdotes of Wordsworth 319 + An Empty House 103 + An Excellent Match 315 + Apology for Burns 334 + Bachelor's Christmas 399 + Beauties of the Law 543 + Births:--Mrs. Meek of a Son 672 + Birth of Crime 614 + Bona Lombardi Brunoro 155 + Carol for the New Year 396 + Chapter on Bears 546 + Chapter on Dreams 768 + Chapter on Shawls 39 + Chapter on Wolves 787 + Charles Wolfe 734 + Cheerful Views of Human Nature 242 + Child Commodore 641 + Climate of Canada 358 + Colds and Cold Water 110 + Conflict of Love 63 + Courtesy of Americans 846 + Crazed 401 + Crisis in the Affairs of Mr. John Bull 235 + Crocodile Battery 768 + Crystal Palace 584 + Curiosities of Railway Traveling 194 + Curran, the Irish Orator 497 + Dangers of Doing Wrong 226 + Darling Dorel 843 + Death of a Goblin 478 + Death of Howard 298 + Death of John Randolph 80 + Dog and Deer of the Army 407 + Domestic Life of Alexander, Emperor of Russia 99 + Edible Birds'-Nests of China 397 + Efforts of a Gentleman in search of Despair 521 + Encounter with an Iceberg 406 + England in 1850. By LAMARTINE 46 + Escape of Queen Mary from Lochleven Castle 22 + Fair in Munich 774 + Fashions for December 143 + Fashions for Early Winter 287 + Fashions for Later Winter 431 + Fashions for Early Spring 575 + Fashions for Spring 719 + Fashions for May 863 + Fate of a German Reformer 76 + Five Minutes too Late 647 + Fidgety People 662 + Flowers in the Sick Room 52 + Freaks of Nature 356 + French Revolutionists, Marat, Robespierre, and Danton 27 + Gabrielle; or, The Sisters 801 + Gamblers of the Rhine 61 + General Rosas and the Argentine Republic 484 + German Picture of the Scotch 25 + Ghost-Stories of Chapelizod 499 + Give Wisely! An Anecdote 121 + Gunpowder and Chalk 18 + Habits and Amusements of the London Costermongers 644 + Haunts of Genius--Gray, Burke, Milton, Dryden, and Pope 49 + Heart of John Middleton 449 + History and Mystery of the Glass-House 308 + Horrors of War 658 + Household of Sir Thomas More 616, 818 + How to be Idolized 640 + Incident in the First French Revolution 622 + Invitation to the Zoological Gardens 297 + Jane Eccles; or, Confessions of an Attorney 677 + Judge Not 626 + Lamartine on the Religion of Revolutionary Men 598 + Land, Ho!--A Sketch of Australia 357 + + LEAVES FROM PUNCH + + Preparatory Schools for Young Ladies; Ladies' Arithmetic; Netting + for Ladies, 285. A False Apple-ation; A Tête-à-Tête; Expected out + soon; Going down to a Watering-place; Attraction; 19th Cent'ry; + Putting the Cart before the Horse; A Narrow Escape; Division of + Labor; Animal Economy; A Holiday at the Public Offices, 429. + Lectures on Letters; Punch on Special Pleading; Smithfield Club + Cattle Show; Golden Opportunities; Universal Contempt of Court; + Startling Fact, 569. 1851; Please, Sir, shall I hold your Horse? + The Affairs of Grease; The War on Hats; Peace Offering; The Best + Law Book; Justice for Bachelors; The Weather, a Drama for + Every-Day Life; A Juvenile Party; the Kitchen Range of Art; + Reward of Merit, 713. Encouragement to Book-Lenders; Diplomacy + and Gastronomy, Supper at a Juvenile Party; One of the Juveniles + after the Party; Conversation-Books for 1851; To find Room in a + Crowded Omnibus; A File to Smooth Asperities; The Lowest Depth of + Meanness; A Little Bit of Humbug, 859. + + Letters and Letter Writing 35 + + LITERARY NOTICES. + + The Salamander; Spencer's Pastor's Sketches; Abbott's Madame + Roland; Stanton's Sketches of Reforms and Reformers; Gorree's + Churches and Sects of the United States; Cenotaph to a Woman of + the Burman Mission; Fleetwood's Life of Christ; Banbridge's + Scripture History for the Young; Poems by Grace Greenwood, 139. + Hawthorne's Grandfather's Chair; The Green Hand; The New + Englander; Bibliotheca Sacra; Maturin's Lyrics of Spain and Erin; + Holmes's Astræa; De Quincey's Essays; Bigelow's Jamaica in 1851; + Cantica Laudis; Young's Translations from Beranger, 140. + Andersen's Tales; Gem of the Western World; Our Saviour with + Prophets and Apostles; Sacred Scenes; National Cook-Book; Smith's + Relations between Scripture and Geology, 141. Life and Works of + John Adams; The Broken Bracelet; The Immortal; Boyd's edition of + Paradise Lost; General View of the Fine Arts; Artist's Chromatic + Hand-Book, 142. Reveries of a Bachelor; Richard Edney; Washburn's + Issue of Philosophic Thought, 281. The Memorial; Evening of Life; + Mrs. Knight's Memoir of Hannah More; Andrews' Latin Lexicon, 282. + Smith's Classical Dictionary; Mansfield's American Education; The + Ministry of the Beautiful; Green's History and Geography of the + Middle Ages; Christian Melodies; Sketch of Fowell Buxton; The + Manhattaner in New Orleans, 283. Redfield's Twelve Qualities of + Mind; Winter in Madeira; Gems by the Wayside; The World's + Progress; Vinet's Montaigne; Sumner's Orations; The Broken Bud; + Bardouac; Fadette; Memoir of Alexander Waugh; Chanticleer, 284. + Life and Times of Gen. Lamb; Memoir of James Handasyde Perkins; + Humboldt's Religious Thoughts and Opinions; Balmes's + Protestantism and Catholicity; Tappan's University Education, + 425. Gilfillan's Bards of the Bible; Webster's Dictionary, 426. + Celebrated Saloons; Home Ballads; History of my Pets; Cheever's + Island World of the Pacific; Life of Summerfield; Greek Exile; + Carpenter's Use and Abuse of Alcoholic Liquors; Mother's + Recompense; The Diosma; Poems by S.G. Goodrich, 427. Woodbury's + New Method of learning German; Poems by Frances A. and Metta V. + Fuller; Lives of the Queens of Scotland; Pendennis; Southey's + Life and Correspondence; Murray's Decline of Popery; Henry + Smeaton, 428. The Howadji; Crumbs from the Land o' Cakes; De + Quincey's Miscellaneous Essays; Hayward's Faust; Lavengro, 565. + Abbott's Malleville; Practical Cook-Book; Foster's Discourse on + Missions; Lewis's Restoration of the Jews; Anderson's Geography; + The Dove and the Eagle; Carter's Publications, 566. Hildreth's + United States; Lossing's Field Book; Du Barry's Progress of the + United States; Salander and the Dragon, 567. The Prairie; + Stanton's Address, and Street's Poem at Hamilton College; Lord + Holland's Foreign Reminiscences; Jane Bouverie; Mayhew's London + Labor and London Poor; The Moorland Cottage, 568. Johnson's + California and Oregon, 709. Mount Hope, 710. Parnassus in + Pillory, 711. Hawthorne's Twice Told Tales; Time the Avenger; + Porter's Educational Systems of the Puritans and the Jesuits; + Girlhood of Shakspeare's Heroines; Poetry from the Waverley + Novels; Whipple's Essays and Reviews; Loomis's Geometry and + Calculus; The City of the Silent; Blunt's Shipmaster's Assistant, + 712. Hawthorne's House of the Seven Gables, 855. Buttmann's Greek + Grammar; Lee's Ecclesiastical Manual; Dixon's Life of Penn; The + Rangers; Mulchinoch's Ballads; Foster's Christian Purity; Lyra + Catholica, 856. The Soldier of the Cross; Field's Irish + Confederates; Schmitz's History of Greece; Abbott's Franconia + Stories; London Labor and the London Poor; Dwight's Roman + Republic; De Quincey's Cæsars; Life on the Plains of the Pacific; + Hints to Sportsmen, 857. Curran and His Contemporaries; Gayarre's + Louisiana; Monge's Statics; Warreniana; Jung-Stilling's + Pneumatology; Tuckerman's Poems; Theory of Effect; Volcano + Diggings; Cooper's Wing and Wing; Irving's Conquest of Florida; + Banker's Common-Place Book, 858. + + Lively Turtle 52 + Lucy Cawthorne 633 + Lunatic Asylum in Palermo 183 + Madame Campan 153 + Mathematical Hermit 627 + Metal Founder of Munich 516 + Maurice Tiernay, the Soldier of Fortune. + By CHARLES LEVER 173, 364, 468, 737 + Michelet, the French Historian 353 + Milton and Wordsworth 201 + Mistakes in Personal Identity 69 + Modern Mummies 321 + + MONTHLY RECORD OF CURRENT EVENTS. + + UNITED STATES. + + POLITICAL AND GENERAL NEWS.--State of feeling on the Compromise + measures, 122. Letters of Washington Hunt to the Secession and + Anti-Rent Conventions, 122. Meeting at Castle Garden; Letter of + Mr. Webster; Nominations, 122. Constitution of Congress, 123. + State Convention in Georgia, 123. Meeting at Macon, 123. State of + Feeling in Georgia, 123. In South Carolina, 124. In Alabama; Gov. + Collier declines to call a State Convention; Letter of Mr. + Hilliard, 124. In Mississippi, 124. In Louisiana, 124. Letters of + Senators Downs and Soulé; Letter from the Congressional + delegation to the Governor, 124. Correspondence between Isaac + Hill and Mr. Webster, 125. Dinner to Mr. Clayton, 125. Opening of + Congress, 263. Message of President Fillmore, 133. Report of the + Secretary of War, 264. Of the Secretary of the Navy, 265. Of the + Postmaster General, 265. Of the Secretary of the Interior, 266. + Bill for the protection of fugitives in Vermont, 267. Message of + Gov. Ford of Virginia, 267. Of the Governor of Alabama, 267. Of + Mississippi, 267. Union majority in Georgia, 267. Message of Gov. + Bell of Texas, 268. Of Gov. Seabrook of South Carolina, 268. Of + Gov. Brown of Florida, 268. The Nashville Convention, 268. + Various Union meetings; and letters and speeches of Messrs. + Webster, Choate, Stuart, Woodbury, Hilliard, and others, 268, + 269, 270, 271. Reception of Mr. Clay in the Legislature of + Kentucky, 271. Letters of Messrs. Hamilton, Poinsett, and Rush, + 272. Speech of Mr. Clayton, 272. George Thompson, 272. General + News from California, 272, 410, 556, 701. General news from + Oregon, 273. Webster's reply to Hulsemann, 409, 848. Opening of + the Legislature of New York, and Message of Gov. Hunt, 409. + Message of Gov. Wright of Indiana, 410. Florida resolutions, 410. + Of Gov. Johnston of Pennsylvania, 410. Boundary Commission, 411, + 556, 701. Safety of the Steamer Atlantic, 555. Progress of + measures in Congress, 555. Action of the Legislature of North + Carolina in favor of Union, etc., 555. Indictment of Gov. + Quitman, 556. Thanksgiving in Texas, 556. Loss of the John Adams, + 556. Inaugural of Gov. Fort of New Jersey, 556. Letter of Gen. + Houston in favor of Union, 556. Action for Union in Delaware, + 556. Union meeting at Westchester, 556. Correspondence between a + British consul and the Governor of South Carolina respecting + imprisonment of colored seamen, 556. Indian hostilities in + California, 556, 701. Gold Bluffs on Trinity River, 556, 701. + Amount of gold shipped, 556. Adjournment of Congress, and notice + of measures acted upon, 700. Measures for the relief of Kossuth, + 700. The Postage bill, 700. Rescue of a fugitive slave in Boston, + 701. Homestead exemption in Illinois, 701. Exemption in Delaware, + 701. Free negroes in Iowa, 701. Germans in Texas, 701. + Manufactures at the South, 701. Quiet after Excitement, 847. New + York Common school law, 847. Canal enlargement bill, 847. + Legislative visit to New York, 847. The sergeant-at-arms and the + gamblers, 847. Ohio resolutions on the fugitive slave law, 847. + Virginia Union resolutions, 847. General Union feeling at the + South, 848. In South Carolina, 848. Mr. Hayne's disunion letter, + 848. Senator Phelp's letter, 848. Amin Bey, 848. New Constitution + of Ohio, 848. Virginia Constitutional Convention, 849. Socorro + tragedy, 849. + + ELECTIONS.--State elections in New York and New Jersey, 122. In + Ohio and Massachusetts, 123. General Congressional result, 123. + Election of U.S. Senators, 555, 701. Mr. Fish in New York, 555, + 847. + + MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. + + Capture of slaves at Rio, 127. General news from Mexico, 273, + 411, 557, 701, 849. Message of Herera, 457. Inauguration and + speech of Arista as President, 557. Affairs in Nicaragua; + discovery of gold; proceedings of Mr. Chatfield, the British + consul, 557. Intelligence from Valparaiso, 557. Hostilities + between Guatemala and San Salvador, 702. Gold in New Grenada, + 702. Route across the isthmus through Lake Nicaragua, 702. + Earthquake at Carthagena, 702. Peru, 702. Banishment of Buenos + Ayreans from Bolivia, 702. Prohibition of the landing of + liberated slaves in Brazil, 702. + + GREAT BRITAIN. + + Establishment of Catholic sees in England; Letter of Dr. + Ullathorne, 125. Speech of Lord Stanley on Protection, 125. + Tenant right in Ireland, 126. The Synod of Thurles, 126. Increase + of Crime, 126. Submarine telegraph, 126, 132. Illumination on + Arthur's Seat, 126. Speech of Prince Albert at York, 126. + Consuming smoke at Manchester, 127. Emigration, 127. Movements + for independence in New South Wales, 127. The Exhibition, 132, + 274, 278, 419, 558, 704, 851. Bridge at Westminster, 133. New + College at Glasgow, 133. Catholic excitement, 273, 558. Lord John + Russell's Durham Letter, 273. Cardinal Wiseman's Appeal, 273. Law + Reform, 273. Cotton in India, 274. Ornamental cemeteries in + London, 278. Tax on telegraphs, 278. General view of the state of + England, 411. Progress of the Catholic excitement, 413. Various + addresses, speeches, deputations, etc., 414. Attempts to increase + the supply of Cotton or to discover a substitute, 414. Famine in + the Highlands, 415. Opposition of the Cunarders to the American + steamers, 415. Increased value of silver, 415. Protest of the + Bishops of the Episcopal Church in Ireland, 558. The surplus, + 558. Austria demands the punishment of the assailants of Haynau, + 558. Disturbances at the Cape of Good Hope, 558. Opening of + Parliament; the Queen's Speech, 702. Ecclesiastical Titles Bill; + Free-trade motion; unsatisfactory Budget, 703. Defeat of + Ministers on franchise question; resignation of Ministers; + attempt to form new cabinet, 704. Queen Adelaide's pension, 704. + Petition for constitution for Cape of Good Hope, 704. Protestants + of Dublin and Duke of Wellington, 704. Viceroyalty of Ireland, + 704. Return of Cabinet to office, 848. Ecclesiastical Titles Bill + mutilated, 849. Checks to Ministers, 850. Arsenic Bill, 850. + Kaffir revolt, 850. Revolutionary Committee, 850. Miss Talbot and + the Convent Bill, 850. Public execution, 850. Monster address, + 850. Charges against Lord Torrington, 850. Coal-pit disaster, + 850. Adulteration of food, 850. Hungarian refugees, 850. New + expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, 851. + + FRANCE. + + Pretended Republican plot, 127. The President's attempt to secure + the army, 127. Quarrel between him and Changarnier, and between + the Assembly and Gen. Hautpoul, who resigns, 128. Opening of the + Assembly, and Message of the President, 275. Cavaignac and the + President, 276. Letter from the Duke of Nemours, 276. General + view of the state of France, 412. Credit passed for the army, + 415. Public baths, 415. Bill for the observance of the Sabbath, + 415. Luxury at the Elysée, 415. Progress of the quarrel between + the President and the Assembly; dismissal of Changarnier; + dissolution of the Ministries; President's tactics, 558, 704. + Dotation to the President refused, and his consequent action, + 704. Bill for the return of the Bourbons lost, 851. Speech of M. + Dufraisse, 851. The Orleanists and Legitimists, 851. The + Archbishop of Paris and the Bishop of Chartres, 851. Censure of + M. Michelet, 851. + + GERMANY, ETC. + + Hostilities in Schleswig-Holstein, 128. Catastrophe at Herrgott, + 129. Forest conflagration in Poland, 129. Constitutions for + Galicia and Bukowina, 129. Detailed statement of the German + question, 274. Warlike aspect, 275. General view of the continent + of Europe, 412. Peace prospects; Conference at Dresden, 415. + Return of the Elector of Hesse Cassel, 416. Internal affairs of + Austria, 416. Progress of affairs in the Dresden Conference; + understanding between Austria and Prussia for the depreciation of + the minor powers, 558, 705. Dresden Conference at fault, 851. + Policy of Austria and Prussia, 852. + + SPAIN, ITALY, AND PORTUGAL. + + Address of Mazzini, 127. Overthrow of the Constitution and of + liberty of the press in Tuscany, 129. Brigandage in the Roman + States, 130, 705. General view of the state of the south of + Europe, 413. Foreign troops in Rome, 416, 705. The Austrians in + Venice, 416. Condition of Sardinia, 416. Disruption of the + Spanish Cabinet, 416. Conspiracy under Mazzini, 705. Archbishop + Hughes at Rome, 705. Liberal ministry in Piedmont, 705. Austrian + movements, 852. Proclamations against political pamphlets, 852. + Washington's birthday at Rome, 852. Protestant chapel, 852. + + THE EAST. + + Contributions preparing for the Exhibition, 128. Affairs in + India, 127. Mortality at Hong Kong, 129. Cotton in Bombay, 129. + Insurrection in China, 129. The Hungarian refugees in Turkey, + 129. Conspiracy at Teheran, 130. Collisions between the Turks and + Christians, 276. Persecutions in Aleppo, 276. Disturbances in + Syria, 276. Canal between the Mediterranean and Red Seas, 419. + Napier's farewell, 705. Prospective annexations, 705. Suppression + of insurrection in China, 705. Death of Lin, 705. Difficulties in + Egypt, 705. Troubles at Bagdad, 705. Massacres in Southern + Africa, 705. + + LITERARY, SCIENTIFIC, AND PERSONAL. + + UNITED STATES.--Dinner to Mr. Webster at his native place, 130. + Amin Bey, 130. M. Vattemare; Statue of Calhoun; Wm. W. Story; Wm. + D. Gallagher, Prof. Filopanti; Daniel D. Barnard, 130. Crawford's + Washington; bust of Allen; monument to Warren; movements of + artists, 131. Gift-books and Annuals, 276. Lessing's Martyrdom of + Huss, 277. Ehninger's etchings, 277. Academy of Design lectures, + 277. Hawthorne, 277. Greek Slave, 277. Jenny Lind, 277, 852. + Third ring of Saturn, 277. Cultivation of tea, 277. Darley's + outlines, 277. Healey's portraits of Calhoun and Webster, 277. + Power's statue of America, 279. Mr. Webster on the Mayflower, + 416. Stephenson's statue of the Wounded Indian, 416. Panorama of + Pilgrim's Progress, 417. Mount's Lucky Throw, 417. Powell's + Burial of Fernando de Soto, 417. Prof. Hart's Female Prose + Writers, 417. Mrs. Hale's Female Biography, 417. Mr. Putnam's new + publications, 417. The Opera, 417. Paine's Water-gas, 417. + Dembinski, 417. Public lectures by various individuals, 277, 559, + 705. Presidential library, 559. Burns's birthday, 559. Dinner to + Mr. Hoe, 559. Books, 559. Papers of Citizen Genet, 559. Talvi, + 559. Panoramas, 705. Arrival of Tupper, 705. Celebration of + Washington's birth-day, 706. Irving to Ichabod Crane, 706. + Opening of Exhibition of Academy of Design, 852. Greenough's + Pioneer, 852. Healey's Calhoun, 852. Pictures by Wright, Duggan, + Stearns, and Richards, 852. Tupper as a lion, 853. Calhoun's Life + and Works, 853. Works of Alexander Hamilton, 853. Taylor's + El-Dorado in German, 853. First cotton sent to Liverpool, 853. + Dr. Goadby's insects, 853. Acquittal of the Cuban invaders, 853. + + FOREIGN.--Miss Howard's donation for hospital for widows, 126. + Sir John Franklin, 126, 132. Levi's Commercial Law, 131. + Wordsworth; Mazzini; Southey; Sir Robert Peel, 131. Idiots, 132. + Delaroche's Napoleon crossing the Alps, 132. Monument to Elliott; + Tindal, 132. Artists at Rome, 133. Duke of Wellington's sanctum, + 133. Gutzlaff, 133. Government of the Sandwich Islands, 133. + French exhibition of pictures, 134. Theatrical censorship, 134. + Joan of Arc, 134. Madame de Genlis, 134. The woorari, 134. + Suspension bridge across the Straits of Dover, 134. Barral and + Bixio, 135. Sundry German books, 135, 422. Statues to Thaer, + Gustavus Adolphus, Tegner, and Plettenberg, 135. Lessing's + Martyrdom of Huss, 135. Literary Society at Jerusalem, 135. + Polish literature, 135. Ticknor's Spanish Literature in German, + 136. Portrait of Constantine, 136. New locomotive, 136. + Meyerbeer, 136. Statue of Bavaria, 136. Kinkel, 136. + Miscellanies, 137, 138, 278. Literary pensions, 278, 560. The + Princess D'Este and the literary fund, 278. French voting + machine, 279. New aerostatic machine, 279. Rossini; Armand + Marrast; Jehan le Bel, 279. A common meridian, 279. Snail + telegraph, 279. Beranger, 280. Mock Message of the President of + France, 280. Theatrical quarrels in Brussels, 280. Heinrich + Heine, 280. Works of art for the King of Bavaria and the Emperor + of Russia, 280. Written language in Western Africa, 418. Earl of + Carlisle's lectures, 418. Walter Savage Landor, 418. The Napiers, + 418. Dr. Johnson and the Welsh bard, 418. Lawrence's portrait of + Peel, 418. Copyright to foreigners in England, 418. Copying + telegraph, 419. Monument to the Duke of Cambridge, 419. London + charities, 419. Windsor Reward Society, 419. Ragged Schools, 419. + Sale of the effects of O'Connell, 419. French telegraphs, 419. + Guizot on Washington and Monk, 420. Toussaint Louverture, 420. + St. Prix on Constitutional Law, 420. Effect of the French + Revolution on newspapers, 420. Cemeteries in Paris, 420. Carl + Ferd. Becker, 420. Bruno Bauer, 421. Brockhaus, 421. The Leipzig + Book-Fair, 422. Rauch's Monument to Frederick the Great, 422. + Tunnel under the Neva, 422. Translations into Russian, 422. Books + prohibited in Italy, 423. Destruction of vase in the Vatican, + 423. Oersted, 423. Passion-play at Ammergau, 423. Life of + Foscolo, 423. D'Arlincourt's L'Italie Rouge, 423. Statue to + Olbers, 423. Scandinavian literature, 423. Lamartine, 560, 706. + Bad spelling, 560. St. Peter's chair, 560. Layard, 560. Last + survivor of Cook's voyages, 561. Sir Roger de Coverley's chaplain + redivivus, 561. Fossils as manure, 561. New classical works in + Germany, 561. Mohammedan histories, 561. Ewald's Commentary, 561. + Miss Martineau's new work, 706. Mrs. Sherwood, 706. Knowles as a + controversialist, 706. England as it is, 706. Austrian view of + Hungarian affairs, 706. Newton's way of living, 706. Sundry + Books, 706. Remuneration of literature, 706. Talmudic + refinements, 707. Knight and Chambers on paper-tax, 707. MSS. of + Richelieu, 707. George the Fourth, and the library in the + Museum, 707. Appleyard on the Kaffir language, 707. Signals in + fog, 708. Velocity of light, 707. Hail in India, 708. Essence of + milk, 708. _Deutches Museum_, 853. _Causeries du Lundi_, 853. + Rare old editions, 853. Unique edition of La Fontaine, 853. + Victor Hugo, 853. New work of Origen, 853. Germania, 1850, 853. + Yeast: a Problem, 854. Landor to Duncan, 854. Dahomey and the + Dahomans, 854. Dynamical Theory of the Earth, 854. Memoirs of a + Literary Veteran, 854. Hartley Coleridge, 854. + + OBITUARIES. + + Richard M. Johnson, 125. Watkins; Lenau; Becker; Rottman; + Thomaschek, 133. Garnier, 134. Henry Fitzmaurice Hallam, 279. + Gustav Schwab; Count Brandenburgh; M. Alexandre; M. Sauve; Gen. + Bonnemain; Sir L. St. G. Skeffington; Mr. Raphall; M. Motteley; + Lord Nugent; Karl Aug. Espe; Martin D'Auche, 424. D.S. Kaufman, + 556. Mr. Ritchie, 560. Audubon, 561. Bem, 563. Viscount Alford; + Duke of Newcastle; Bastiat; Maxwell the novelist; Prof. + Schumacher, 564. Commissioner Lin, 705. Marquis of Northampton; + John Pye Smith; Charles Coquerel; Spontini, 708. Mrs. Shelley; + Joanna Baillie, 709. Isaac Hill; Mordecai M. Noah, 854. General + Brooke; Commodore Wadsworth; Samuel F. Jarvis; John S. Skinner, + 855. + + Morning with Moritz Retzsch 509 + My Novel; or, Varieties in English Life. + By SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON. 85, 251, 382, 524, 682, 825 + Mysteries of a Tea-Kettle 246 + New Phase of Bee-Life 488 + Napoleon and the Pope 791 + Night of Terror in a Polish Inn 41 + Night with an Earthquake 810 + Not all Alone 554 + Notes on the Nile 491 + Novelty Iron Works; with Description of Marine Steam Engines, + and their construction. By JACOB ABBOTT 721 + Passion for collecting Books 397 + Personal Appearance and Habits of Robert Southey 145 + Phantoms and Realities 457, 601, 753 + Pilchard Fishery on the Coast of Cornwall 630 + Plate Glass 668 + Plea for British Reptiles 813 + Prison Anecdote 628 + Procrastination 155 + Public Opinion and the Press 192 + Punch on Birds, Balloons, and Boluses 396 + Rattlin the Reefer's Dream 31 + Rats and Rat-Killers 202 + Recollections of Chantrey 322 + Recollections of Sir Robert Peel 328 + Reminiscence of the French Revolution 480 + Robber Outwitted 544 + Robber's Revenge 195 + Sailing in the Air 168, 323 + Saturday in a London-Market 656 + Sketches from Life 372 + Sketch of a Miser 620 + Sketch of my Childhood. By DE QUINCEY 156, 302 + Sloped for Texas 187 + Spring. By JAMES THOMSON 433 + Story of Fine-Ear 482 + Story of Giovanni Belzoni 947 + Story of Silver-Voice and her Sister Zoë 762 + Street Music in London 67 + Tale of Shipwreck 335 + Talleyrand 215 + The Broken Heart; or, the Well of Pen-Morfa 205 + The Champion.--An Incident in Spanish History 781 + The Deserted Village. By GOLDSMITH 1 + The Dumb Child 194 + Factory Boy 660 + The Fairy Queen 517 + The Farm Laborer.--The Father 674 + The Farm Laborer.--The Son 784 + The Fugitive King at Boscobel 10 + The Ghost that appeared to Mrs. Wharton 72 + The Gipsy in the Thorn-Bush 338 + The Golden Rule 120 + The Kaffir Trader 341 + The Marriage Settlement 330 + The Queen's Tobacco-Pipe 513 + The Stolen Fruit.--A Story of Napoleon's Childhood 822 + The Talisman.--A Fairy Tale 348 + The Traveler. By GOLDSMITH 289 + The Unlawful Gift 55 + The Unnamed Shell 747 + The Watcher 665 + The Wife's Stratagem 778 + The Woodstream 346 + Thomas Harlowe 599 + Uncle John; or, The Rough Road to Riches 840 + Victims of Science 698 + Visit to a Colliery 340 + Visit to a Copper Mine 652 + Visit to an English Dairy 165 + Volcano Girl 188 + Voyage in Search of Sir John Franklin 588 + Waiting for the Post 238 + Washington Irving 577 + Waste of War 810 + What becomes of all the pins? 597 + Wilberforce and Chalmers 824 + William Cullen Bryant 581 + William Penn's Conversion to Quakerism 613 + Winter Vision 359 + Wordsworth and Carlyle 201 + Young Man's Counselor 213 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + PAGE + 1. Portrait of Goldsmith 1 + 2. The hawthorn bush 1 + 3. To spurn imploring famine from the gate 2 + 4. Beside the bed where parting life was laid 3 + 5. The village master taught his little school 4 + 6. The village ale-house 5 + 7. The coy maid half willing to be press'd 5 + 8. As some fair female unadorned and plain 6 + 9. Here, while the courtier glitters in brocade 7 + 10. The poor, houseless, shivering female lies 7 + 11. Her fond husband strove to lend relief 8 + 12. As rocks resist the billows and the sky 9 + 13. Sketch of John Randolph of Roanoke 80 + 14. Visiting and Ball Costumes for December 143 + 15. Evening Costume 144 + 16. Coiffure for Ball 144 + 17. Portrait of Southey 145 + 18. Vale of Watenlath 148 + 19. Southey's Tomb 152 + 20. Portrait of Madame Campan 153 + 21. Portrait of Bona Lombardi Brunoro 155 + 22. Portrait of De Quincey 156 + 23. Preparatory School for Young Ladies 285 + 24. Costumes for Winter 287 + 25. Head-Dress and Corsage 288 + 26. Bonnet 288 + 27. Or where Campania's plain forsaken lies 289 + 28. As some lone miser visiting his store 290 + 29. The sports of children satisfy the child 291 + 30. The Swiss their stormy mansions tread 291 + 31. Breasts the air, and carols as he goes 292 + 32. Where snow-tracks mark the way 292 + 33. And dance, forgetful of the noontide hour 293 + 34. Embosom'd in the deep where Holland lies 294 + 35. Brighter streams than famed Hydaspes 294 + 36. Talent sinks, and merit weeps unknown 295 + 37. From their homes, a melancholy train 296 + 38. Riding the Elephant 297 + 39. Poking Fun at the Bear 297 + 40. The Pelican at Feed 297 + 41. Fellows of the Zoological Society 298 + 42. A false Apple-ation 429 + 43. A Tête-à-Tête 429 + 44. Expected out soon 429 + 45. Going down to a Watering-place 429 + 46. Attraction 429 + 47. Nineteenth Cent'ry 429 + 48. Putting the Cart before the Horse 430 + 49. A Narrow Escape 430 + 50. Division of Labor 430 + 51. Animal Economy 430 + 52. A Holiday at the Public Offices 430 + 53. Costumes for Later Winter 431 + 54. Ball Costume 432 + 55. Bonnets 432 + 56. Head-Dress 432 + 57. Come gentle Spring 433 + 58. Lend their shoulder, and begin their toil 434 + 59. Wafts all the pomp of life into your ports 434 + 60. The deer rustle through the brake 435 + 61. Blazing straw before his orchard burns 435 + 62. The shower is scarce to patter heard 436 + 63. While yet man lived in innocence 437 + 64. The song went round, and dance 437 + 65. Throw nice judging the delusive fly 439 + 66. You gayly drag your unresisting prize 439 + 67. Together let us tread the morning dews 440 + 68. Gather fresh flowers to grace thy hair 440 + 69. A gentle pair, by fortune sunk 442 + 70. They weeping eye their infant train 442 + 71. Hazel pendent o'er the plaintive stream 443 + 72. On the aerial summit takes the gale 444 + 73. Through Hagley Park, thy British Tempè 445 + 74. On the bank thrown amid drooping lilies 446 + 75. In soft anguish he consumes the day 446 + 76. Woos the bird of eve to mingle woes 446 + 77. Still interrupted by distracted dreams 446 + 78. The garden to the view its vistas open 447 + 79. By degrees the human blossom blows 448 + 80. Delightful task! to rear the tender thought 448 + 81. The Parcels Conveyance Company 569 + 82. Oscillation illustrated 569 + 83. Legendary G 569 + 84. Historical H 569 + 85. Selfish Ends 570 + 86. Pneumatical K 570 + 87. A Stilted Subject 570 + 88. Pisces 570 + 89. How doth the little busy Bee 570 + 90. Cock Robin 570 + 91. Assisting a pupil up the Gamut 571 + 92. Yawning 571 + 93. A startling Fact 574 + 94. Costumes for Early Spring 575 + 95. Morning Costume 576 + 96. Velvet Bonnet 576 + 97. Ribbon Bonnet 576 + 98. White Silk Bonnet 576 + 99. Portrait of Irving 577 + 100. Irving's Residence 580 + 101. Portrait of Bryant 581 + 102. Bryant's Residence 583 + 103. The Great Exhibition Building 585 + 104. Installing the Crow's Nest 588 + 105. Surrounded by Icebergs 591 + 106. The Prince Albert in Danger 593 + 107. The Arctic Discovery Ships at Midnight 594 + 108. Please, Sir, shall I hold your Horse 713 + 109. Bachelor's Bedroom 714 + 110. Married Couple's Bedroom 714 + 111. Elderly Servant 715 + 112. Youthful Attendant 715 + 113. A Juvenile Party 717 + 114. Reward of Merit 718 + 115. Costumes for Spring 719 + 116. Coiffure 720 + 117. Satin Bonnet 720 + 118. Miss's Straw Bonnet 720 + 119. View of the Novelty Works 721 + 120. Entrance to the Novelty Works 722 + 121. Plan of the Novelty Works 723 + 122. View of a Marine Steam-Engine 725 + 123. Cutting Engine 726 + 124. Bending and Punching Engines 726 + 125. Boring Engine 727 + 126. Riveting the Boilers 727 + 127. Filling the Ladles 728 + 128. Casting a Cylinder 728 + 129. The Explosion 729 + 130. Digging out the Cylinder 729 + 131. The Forges 730 + 132. Heating a Shaft 731 + 133. Forging a Shaft 731 + 134. The Lathes 732 + 135. Finishing 732 + 136. Departure of the Steamer Pacific 733 + 137. Encouragement to Book-Lenders 859 + 138. Supper at a Juvenile Party 860 + 139. A Juvenile after the Party 861 + 140. A Little Bit of Humbug 862 + 141. Promenade Costumes for May 863 + 142. Evening Costume 864 + 143. Morning Promenade Costume 864 + 144. Head-Dresses 864 + + + + + HARPER'S + + NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. + + NO. VII.--DECEMBER, 1850.--VOL. II. + + + + +THE DESERTED VILLAGE. + +BY OLIVER GOLDSMITH. + + +[Illustration: Portrait of Goldsmith] + + Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain, + Where health and plenty cheer'd the laboring swain, + Where smiling spring its earliest visit paid, + And parting summer's lingering blooms delay'd-- + Dear lovely bowers of innocence and ease, + Seats of my youth, when every sport could please-- + How often have I loiter'd o'er thy green, + Where humble happiness endear'd each scene; + How often have I paus'd on every charm-- + The sheltered cot, the cultivated farm, + The never failing brook, the busy mill, + The decent church that topp'd the neighboring hill, + The hawthorn bush with seats beneath the shade + For talking age and whispering lovers made; + How often have I bless'd the coming day + When toil remitting lent its turn to play, + And all the village train from labor free, + Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree-- + While many a pastime circled in the shade, + The young contending as the old survey'd, + And many a gambol frolick'd o'er the ground, + And sleights of art and feats of strength went round: + And still, as each repeated pleasure tir'd, + Succeeding sports the mirthful band inspir'd-- + The dancing pair that simply sought renown + By holding out to tire each other down, + The swain mistrustless of his smutted face + While secret laughter titter'd round the place, + The bashful virgin's sidelong looks of love, + The matron's glance that would those looks reprove. + These were thy charms, sweet village! sports like these, + With sweet succession, taught even toil to please; + These round thy bowers their cheerful influence shed; + These were thy charms--but all these charms are fled. + +[Illustration: The hawthorn bush] + + Sweet smiling village, loveliest of the lawn, + Thy sports are fled, and all thy charms withdrawn; + Amid thy bowers the tyrant's hand is seen, + And desolation saddens all thy green: + One only master grasps the whole domain, + And half a tillage stints thy smiling plain. + No more thy glassy brook reflects the day, + But chok'd with sedges works its weedy way; + Along thy glades, a solitary guest, + The hollow-sounding bittern guards its nest; + Amid thy desert-walks the lapwing flies, + And tires their echoes with unvaried cries; + Sunk are thy bowers in shapeless ruin all, + And the long grass o'ertops the mouldering wall; + And, trembling, shrinking from the spoiler's hand, + Far, far away thy children leave the land. + Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, + Where wealth accumulates and men decay; + Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade-- + A breath can make them, as a breath has made; + But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, + When once destroy'd, can never be supplied. + A time there was, ere England's griefs began, + When every rood of ground maintain'd its man: + For him light labor spread her wholesome store, + Just gave what life requir'd, but gave no more; + His best companions, innocence and health, + And his best riches, ignorance of wealth. + But times are altered; trade's unfeeling train + Usurp the land, and dispossess the swain: + Along the lawn, where scatter'd hamlets rose, + Unwieldy wealth and cumbrous pomp repose: + And every want to opulence allied, + And every pang that folly pays to pride. + These gentle hours that plenty bade to bloom, + Those calm desires that ask'd but little room, + Those healthful sports that grac'd the peaceful scene, + Liv'd in each look and brighten'd all the green-- + These, far departing, seek a kinder shore, + And rural mirth and manners are no more. + Sweet AUBURN! parent of the blissful hour, + Thy glades forlorn confess the tyrant's power. + Here, as I take my solitary rounds + Amid thy tangling walks and ruin'd grounds, + And, many a year elaps'd, return to view + Where once the cottage stood, the hawthorn grew-- + Remembrance wakes with all her busy train, + Swells at my breast, and turns the past to pain. + In all my wanderings round this world of care, + In all my griefs--and God has given my share-- + I still had hopes, my latest hours to crown, + Amid these humble bowers to lay me down; + To husband out life's taper at the close, + And keep the flame from wasting by repose. + I still had hopes, for pride attends us still, + Amid the swains to show my book-learn'd skill-- + Around my fire an evening group to draw, + And tell of all I felt, and all I saw; + And as an hare, whom hounds and horns pursue, + Pants to the place from whence at first she flew, + I still had hopes, my long vexations pass'd, + Here to return--and die at home at last. + O bless'd retirement, friend to life's decline, + Retreats from care, that never must be mine! + How happy he who crowns, in shades like these, + A youth of labor with an age of ease; + Who quits a world where strong temptations try-- + And, since 'tis hard to combat, learns to fly. + For him no wretches, born to work and weep, + Explore the mine, or tempt the dangerous deep, + No surly porter stands, in guilty state, + To spurn imploring famine from the gate; + But on he moves, to meet his latter end, + Angels around befriending virtue's friend-- + Bends to the grave with unperceiv'd decay, + While resignation gently slopes the way-- + And, all his prospects brightening to the last, + His heaven commences ere the world be pass'd. + +[Illustration: To spurn imploring famine from the gate] + + Sweet was the sound, when oft at evening's close + Up yonder hill the village murmur rose. + There as I pass'd, with careless steps and slow, + The mingling notes came soften'd from below: + The swain responsive as the milkmaid sung, + The sober herd that low'd to meet their young, + The noisy geese that gabbled o'er the pool, + The playful children just let loose from school, + The watch-dog's voice that bay'd the whispering wind, + And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind-- + These all in sweet confusion sought the shade + And fill'd each pause the nightingale had made. + But now the sounds of population fail, + No cheerful murmurs fluctuate in the gale, + No busy steps the grass-grown footway tread, + For all the bloomy flush of life is fled-- + All but yon widow'd, solitary thing, + That feebly bends beside the plashy spring, + She, wretched matron--forced in age, for bread, + To strip the brook with mantling cresses spread, + To pick her wintry faggot from the thorn, + To seek her nightly shed, and weep till morn-- + She only left of all the harmless train, + The sad historian of the pensive plain! + Near yonder copse, where once the garden smil'd, + And still where many a garden-flower grows wild-- + There, where a few torn shrubs the place disclose, + The village preacher's modest mansion rose. + A man he was to all the country dear; + And passing rich with forty pounds a year. + Remote from towns he ran his godly race, + Nor e'er had chang'd, nor wish'd to change, his place; + Unpractic'd he to fawn, or seek for power + By doctrines fashion'd to the varying hour. + Far other aims his heart had learn'd to prize-- + More skill'd to raise the wretched than to rise. + His house was known to all the vagrant train, + He chid their wanderings, but reliev'd their pain: + The long remember'd beggar was his guest, + Whose beard descending swept his aged breast; + The ruin'd spendthrift, now no longer proud, + Claim'd kindred there, and had his claims allow'd. + The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay, + Sat by his fire, and talk'd the night away-- + Wept o'er his wounds, or, tales of sorrow done, + Shoulder'd his crutch and show'd how fields were won. + Pleas'd with his guests, the good man learn'd to glow, + And quite forgot their vices in their woe; + Careless their merits or their faults to scan, + His pity gave ere charity began. + Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride, + And even his failings lean'd to virtue's side-- + But in his duty, prompt at every call, + He watch'd and wept, he pray'd and felt for all: + And, as a bird each fond endearment tries + To tempt its new-fledg'd offspring to the skies, + He tried each art, reprov'd each dull delay, + Allur'd to brighter worlds, and led the way. + Beside the bed where parting life was laid, + And sorrow, guilt, and pain by turns dismay'd, + The reverend champion stood: at his control + Despair and anguish fled the struggling soul; + Comfort came down the trembling wretch to raise, + And his last faltering accents whisper'd praise. + +[Illustration: Beside the bed where parting life was laid] + + At church with meek and unaffected grace, + His looks adorn'd the venerable place; + Truth from his lips prevail'd with double sway, + And fools who came to scoff remain'd to pray. + The service pass'd, around the pious man, + With steady zeal, each honest rustic ran; + Even children follow'd, with endearing wile, + And pluck'd his gown, to share the good man's smile: + His ready smile a parent's warmth express'd, + Their welfare pleas'd him, and their cares distress'd. + To them his heart, his love, his griefs were given, + But all his serious thoughts had rest in heaven: + As some tall cliff, that lifts its awful form, + Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm + Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread + Eternal sunshine settles on its head. + Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way, + With blossom'd furze unprofitably gay-- + There, in his noisy mansion, skill'd to rule, + The village master taught his little school. + A man severe he was, and stern to view; + I knew him well, and every truant knew: + Well had the boding tremblers learn'd to trace + The day's disasters in his morning face; + Full well they laugh'd with counterfeited glee + At all his jokes, for many a joke had he; + Full well the busy whisper, circling round, + Convey'd the dismal tidings when he frown'd-- + Yet he was kind, or if severe in aught, + The love he bore to learning was in fault. + The village all declar'd how much he knew; + 'Twas certain he could write, and cipher too, + Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage-- + And even the story ran that he could gauge. + In arguing too, the parson own'd his skill, + For even though vanquish'd he could argue still; + While words of learned length and thundering sound + Amaz'd the gazing rustics rang'd around-- + And still they gaz'd, and still the wonder grew + That one small head could carry all he knew. + +[Illustration: The village master taught his little school] + + But pass'd is all his fame: the very spot, + Where many a time he triumph'd, is forgot. + Near yonder thorn, that lifts its head on high, + Where once the sign-post caught the passing eye, + Low lies that house where nut-brown draughts inspir'd. + Where gray-beard mirth and smiling toil retir'd, + Where village statesmen talk'd with looks profound. + And news much older than their ale went round. + Imagination fondly stoops to trace + The parlor splendors of that festive place: + The whitewash'd wall, the nicely sanded floor, + The varnish'd clock that click'd behind the door-- + The chest contriv'd a double debt to pay, + A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day-- + The pictures plac'd for ornament and use, + The twelve good rules, the royal game of goose-- + The hearth, except when winter chill'd the day, + With aspen bows, and flowers, and fennel gay-- + While broken tea-cups, wisely kept for show, + Rang'd o'er the chimney, glistened in a row. + +[Illustration: The village ale-house] + + Vain, transitory splendors! could not all + Reprieve the tottering mansion from its fall? + Obscure it sinks; nor shall it more impart + An hour's importance to the poor man's heart: + Thither no more the peasant shall repair + To sweet oblivion of his daily care; + No more the farmer's news, the barber's tale, + No more the woodman's ballad shall prevail; + No more the smith his dusky brow shall clear, + Relax his ponderous strength, and lean to hear; + The host himself no longer shall be found + Careful to see the mantling bliss go round; + Nor the coy maid, half willing to be press'd, + Shall kiss the cup to pass it to the rest. + +[Illustration: The coy maid half willing to be press'd] + + Yes! let the rich deride, the proud disdain, + These simple blessings of the lowly train-- + To me more dear, congenial to my heart, + One native charm, than all the gloss of art. + Spontaneous joys, where nature has its play, + The soul adopts, and owns their first-born sway-- + Lightly they frolic o'er the vacant mind, + Unenvied, unmolested, unconfin'd; + But the long pomp, the midnight masquerade, + With all the freaks of wanton wealth array'd, + In these, ere triflers half their wish obtain, + The toiling pleasure sickens into pain-- + And, even while fashion's brightest arts decoy, + The heart distrusting asks, if this be joy. + Ye friends to truth, ye statesmen who survey + The rich man's joys increase, the poor's decay-- + 'Tis yours to judge how wide the limits stand + Between a splendid and an happy land + Proud swells the tide with loads of freighted ore, + And shouting folly hails them from her shore; + Hoards even beyond the miser's wish abound, + And rich men flock from all the world around; + Yet count our gains: this wealth is but a name + That leaves our useful product still the same. + Not so the loss. The man of wealth and pride + Takes up a space that many poor supplied-- + Space for his lake, his park's extended bounds, + Space for his horses, equipage, and hounds; + The robe that wraps his limbs in silken sloth + Has robbed the neighboring fields of half their growth; + His seat where solitary sports are seen, + Indignant spurns the cottage from the green; + Around the world each needful product flies, + For all the luxuries the world supplies; + While thus the land adorn'd for pleasure--all + In barren splendor feebly waits the fall. + As some fair female unadorn'd and plain, + Secure to please while youth confirms her reign + Slights every borrow'd charm that dress supplies, + Nor shares with art the triumph of her eyes-- + But when those charms are pass'd, for charms are frail, + When time advances, and when lovers fail-- + She then shines forth, solicitous to bless, + In all the glaring impotence of dress. + Thus fares the land, by luxury betray'd: + In nature's simplest charms at first array'd-- + But verging to decline, its splendors rise, + Its vistas strike, its palaces surprise; + While, scourg'd by famine, from the smiling land + The mournful peasant leads his humble band-- + And while he sinks, without one arm to save, + The country blooms--a garden and a grave. + +[Illustration: As some fair female unadorned and plain] + + Where then, ah! where shall poverty reside, + To 'scape the pressure of contiguous pride? + If to some common's fenceless limits stray'd + He drives his flock to pick the scanty blade, + Those fenceless fields the sons of wealth divide, + And even the bare-worn common is denied. + +[Illustration: Here, while the courtier glitters in brocade] + + If to the city sped--what waits him there? + To see profusion that he must not share; + To see ten thousand baneful arts combin'd + To pamper luxury, and thin mankind; + To see those joys the sons of pleasure know, + Extorted from his fellow-creatures' woe: + Here, while the courtier glitters in brocade, + There the pale artist plies the sickly trade; + Here, while the proud their long-drawn pomps display, + There the black gibbet glooms beside the way. + The dome where pleasure holds her midnight reign, + Here, richly deck'd, admits the gorgeous train-- + Tumultuous grandeur crowds the blazing square, + The rattling chariots clash, the torches glare. + Sure scenes like these no troubles e'er annoy: + Sure these denote one universal joy! + Are these thy serious thoughts?--ah! turn thine eyes + Where the poor houseless shivering female lies. + She once, perhaps, in village plenty bless'd, + Has wept at tales of innocence distress'd-- + Her modest looks the cottage might adorn, + Sweet as the primrose peeps beneath the thorn; + Now lost to all--her friends, her virtue fled, + Near her betrayer's door she lays her head-- + And, pinch'd with cold, and shrinking from the shower, + With heavy heart deplores that luckless hour + When idly first, ambitious of the town, + She left her wheel, and robes of country brown. + +[Illustration: The poor, houseless, shivering female lies] + + Do thine, sweet AUBURN! thine, the loveliest train, + Do thy fair tribes participate her pain? + Even now, perhaps, by cold and hunger led, + At proud men's doors they ask a little bread. + Ah, no! To distant climes, a dreary scene, + Where half the convex world intrudes between, + Through torrid tracts with fainting steps they go, + Where wild Altama murmurs to their woe. + Far different there from all that charm'd before, + The various terrors of that horrid shore; + Those blazing suns that dart a downward ray, + And fiercely shed intolerable day-- + Those matted woods where birds forget to sing + But silent bats in drowsy clusters cling-- + Those poisonous fields with rank luxuriance crown'd + Where the dark scorpion gathers death around-- + Where at each step the stranger fears to wake + The rattling terrors of the vengeful snake-- + Where crouching tigers wait their hapless prey, + And savage men more murderous still than they-- + While oft in whirls the mad tornado flies, + Mingling the ravag'd landscape with the skies. + Far different these from every former scene; + The cooling brook, the grassy-vested green, + The breezy covert of the warbling grove, + That only shelter'd thefts of harmless love. + Good Heaven! what sorrows gloom'd that parting day, + That call'd them from their native walks away, + When the poor exiles, every pleasure pass'd, + Hung round their bowers, and fondly look'd their last, + And took a long farewell, and wish'd in vain + For seats like these beyond the western main-- + And shuddering still to face the distant deep, + Return'd and wept, and still return'd to weep. + The good old sire, the first, prepar'd to go + To new-found worlds, and wept for others' woe-- + But for himself, in conscious virtue brave, + He only wish'd for worlds beyond the grave; + His lovely daughter, lovelier in her tears, + The fond companion of his helpless years, + Silent went next, neglectful of her charms, + And left a lover's for a father's arms; + With louder plaints the mother spoke her woes, + And bless'd the cot where every pleasure rose, + And kiss'd her thoughtless babes with many a tear, + And clasp'd them close, in sorrow doubly dear-- + While her fond husband strove to lend relief + In all the silent manliness of grief. + +[Illustration: Her fond husband strove to lend relief] + + O luxury! thou curs'd by Heaven's decree, + How ill exchang'd are things like these for thee; + How do thy potions, with insidious joy, + Diffuse their pleasures only to destroy! + Kingdoms by thee, to sickly greatness grown, + Boast of a florid vigor not their own; + At every draught more large and large they grow, + A bloated mass of rank, unwieldy woe-- + Till sapp'd their strength, and every part unsound, + Down, down they sink, and spread a ruin round. + Even now the devastation is begun, + And half the business of destruction done; + Even now, methinks, as pondering here I stand, + I see the rural virtues leave the land; + Down, where yon anchoring vessel spreads the sail, + That idly waiting flaps with every gale, + Downward they move--a melancholy band-- + Pass from the shore, and darken all the strand, + Contented Toil and hospitable Care, + And kind connubial Tenderness, are there-- + And Piety with wishes plac'd above, + And steady Loyalty, and faithful Love. + And thou, sweet Poetry! thou loveliest maid, + Still first to fly where sensual joys invade, + Unfit in these degenerate times of shame + To catch the heart, or strike for honest fame-- + Dear, charming nymph, neglected and decried, + My shame in crowds, my solitary pride-- + Thou source of all my bliss, and all my woe, + That found'st me poor at first, and keep'st me so-- + Thou guide by which the nobler arts excel, + Thou nurse of every virtue--fare thee well. + Farewell! and oh! where'er thy voice be tried, + On Tornea's cliffs or Pambamarca's side, + Whether where equinoctial fervors glow, + Or winter wraps the polar world in snow, + Still let thy voice, prevailing over time, + Redress the rigors of the inclement clime. + Aid slighted Truth: with thy persuasive strain + Teach erring man to spurn the rage of gain; + Teach him, that states of native strength possess'd, + Though very poor, may still be very bless'd; + That trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay, + As ocean sweeps the labor'd mole away-- + While self-dependent power can time defy, + As rocks resist the billows and the sky. + +[Illustration: As rocks resist the billows and the sky] + + + + +THE FUGITIVE KING AT BOSCOBEL; ADVENTURES OF THE MERRY MONARCH. + +BY AGNES STRICKLAND. + + +Boscobel House, which has obtained so much historical celebrity, in +connection with the romantic adventures of Charles II., after his defeat +at Worcester, is situated in Shropshire, on the borders of +Staffordshire, lying between Tong Castle and Brewood. It was built in +the reign of James I., by John Giffard, Esq., a Roman Catholic +gentleman, who, when it was completed, having invited his neighbors to a +house-warming feast, requested his friend, Sir Basil Brook, to give his +new-built mansion a name. Sir Basil called it "Boscobel," from the +Italian word, _boscobella_, because it was seated in the midst of many +fair woods. The founder of the house had caused various places of +concealment to be constructed, for the purpose of affording shelter to +proscribed persons of his own religion, whom the severity of the penal +laws often compelled to play at hide and seek, in queer corners. + +The first fugitive of note who sought refuge, in his distress, at +Boscobel House, was the unfortunate Earl of Derby, whose defeat at +Bolton-le-Moors, near Wigan, was the precursor to that of the young king +at Worcester, eight days later. The Earl of Derby, having escaped from +his lost battle, with Colonel Roscarrock and two servants, got into the +confines of Shropshire and Staffordshire, where he had the good luck to +encounter an old friend, Mr. Richard Snead, an honest gentleman of that +country, to whom he told the news of his own overthrow, and inquired if +he knew of any private house, near at hand, where he might repose +himself and his company in safety, till he could find an opportunity of +joining the king. Mr. Snead, like a good Samaritan, conducted his noble +friend to Boscobel House, where they arrived on Friday, August 29th, but +found no one at home, except William Penderel, the housekeeper, and his +wife, who, on their own responsibility, ventured to receive the noble +cavalier, his companion, and servants, and kindly entertained them till +the Sunday; and then, according to the earl's desire, conveyed them +safely to Gataker Park, nine miles on their way to Worcester, where he +arrived in time to take his part in that engagement which was +emphatically styled by Stapylton, the roundhead, "the setting of the +young king's glory." + +The Earl of Derby and Colonel Roscarrock were in close attendance on +Charles's person during the retreat from Worcester. They all made a +stand on Kinner Heath, on the road to Kidderminster, as the night set +in, to hold a consultation, when his majesty, being very tired, inquired +of them and Lord Wilmot, "If they thought there was any place where he +might venture to take a few hours' rest?" The Earl of Derby told him, +"how, in his flight from Wigan to Worcester, he had met with that _rara +avis_, a perfectly honest man, and a great convenience of concealment at +Boscobel House; which, nevertheless, he thought it his duty to inform +his majesty, was the abode of a recusant." At another time, some of the +party might have objected to the young sovereign going to such quarters, +but the danger being so imminent, now it was suggested, "that these +people being accustomed to persecutions and searches, were most likely +to possess the most ingenious contrivances to conceal him." At all +events, the king made up his mind to proceed thither. When this decision +was made known to Lord Talbot, he called for a young kinsman of the +recusant master of Boscobel, Mr. Charles Giffard, who was fortunately +among the sixty cavaliers who still shared the fortunes of their +fugitive king. Lord Talbot inquired of this gentleman, if he could +conduct his majesty to Boscobel. Charles Giffard cheerfully undertook to +do so, having with him a servant of the name of Yates, who understood +the country perfectly. + +At a house about a mile beyond Stourbridge, the king drank a little +water, and ate a crust of bread, the house affording no better +provision. After this scanty refection, his majesty rode on, discoursing +apart with Colonel Roscarrock about Boscobel House, and the security +which he and the Earl of Derby had enjoyed at that place. Another +privy-council was held, in the course of the journey, between the king +and his most trusty friends, at which it was agreed, that the secret of +his destination was too important to be confided to more than a select +few of his followers; and Charles Giffard was asked if it were not +possible to conduct him, in the first instance, to some other house in +the neighborhood, the better to mask his design of concealing himself at +Boscobel. The young cavalier replied, "Yes, there was another seat of +the Giffards, about half a mile from Boscobel--Whiteladies; so called +from its having been formerly a monastery of Cistercian nuns, whose +habit was white." On which the king, and about forty of the party, +separating themselves from the others, proceeded thither, under his +faithful guidance. They arrived at break of day; and Giffard, alighting +from his horse, told the king "that he trusted they were now out of +immediate danger of pursuit." George Penderel, who had the charge of the +house, opened the doors, and admitted the king and his noble attendants; +after which, the king's horse was brought into the hall, and they all +entered into an earnest consultation how to escape the fury of their +foes; but their greatest solicitude was for the preservation of the +king, who was, for his part, both tired and hungry with his forced +march. Col. Roscarrock immediately dispatched a boy, of the name of +Bartholomew Martin, to Boscobel, for William Penderel: Mr. Charles +Giffard sent for another of these trusty brethren, Richard Penderel, who +lived at Hobbal Grange, hard by. Both speedily obeyed the summons, and +were brought into the parlor, where they found their old acquaintance, +the Earl of Derby, who introduced them into the inner parlor, which +formed then the presence chamber of their throneless sovereign: the +earl, reversing the order of courtly etiquette on this occasion, instead +of presenting these two noble men, of low degree, to their royal master, +he presented him to them; addressing himself in particular to William +Penderel, and pointing at his majesty, he said, "This is the king; thou +must have a care of him, and preserve him, as thou didst me." + +William, in the sincerity of an honest heart, promised that he would do +so, while Charles Giffard was at the same time exhorting Richard +Penderel to have an especial care of his charge. + +The loyal associates next endeavored to effect a transformation in the +personal appearance of their royal master, by subjecting him to a +process very similar to that technically styled by gipsies, "cutting a +horse out of his feathers." In the first place, Richard Penderel trimmed +off his majesty's flowing black ringlets in a very blunt and irreverent +fashion, using his woodman's bill, which he happened to have in his +girdle, instead of scissors, none being at hand, and time being too +precious to stand on ceremony. His majesty was then advised to rub his +hands on the back of the chimney, and with them to besmear his face, to +darken his peculiar Italian-like complexion with a more swarthy tint. +This done, he divested himself of his blue ribbon and jeweled badge of +the Garter, and other princely decorations, his laced ruff and buff +coat, and put on a _noggen_ coarse shirt belonging to Edward Martin, a +domestic living in the house, and Richard Penderel's green suit and +leathern doublet, but had not time to be so exactly disguised as he was +afterward, for both William and Richard Penderel warned the company to +use dispatch, because there was a troop of rebels, commanded by Col. +Ashenhurst, quartered at Cotsal, but three miles distant, some of which +troop arrived within half an hour after the noble company was dispersed. + +Richard Penderel conducted the king out through a back door, unknown to +any of his followers, except a trusted few of the lords, who followed +him into the back premises, and as far as an adjacent wood, belonging to +the domain of Boscobel, called Spring Coppice, about half a mile from +Whiteladies, where they took a sorrowful farewell of him, leaving him +under the watchful care of three of the trusty Penderel +brethren--William, Humphrey, and George. The Earl of Derby and the other +gentlemen then returned to their comrades at Whiteladies, where, +mounting in hot haste, with the intrepid Charles Giffard for their +conductor, they scoured off on the north road; but a little beyond +Newport they were surrounded by the rebels, and after some resistance, +were made prisoners. Charles Giffard contrived to effect his escape from +the inn at Banbury, where they halted, but the loyal Earl of Derby, who +had sacrificed his own personal safety by resigning to his sovereign +the little city of refuge at Boscobel, instead of occupying it himself, +was subjected to the mockery of a pretended trial by the rebels, and +beheaded, although he had only surrendered on a solemn promise of +receiving quarter--promises which were never regarded by Cromwell and +his associates. The cool-blooded malignity with which, in his dispatch, +announcing his triumph at Worcester, Cromwell points out the noble +captives, whom the fortunes of war had placed in his magnanimous hands, +to his merciless tools as "_objects of their justice_," what was it but +signing their death-warrants by anticipation, before the mock trials +took place of the fore-doomed victims? and how revolting, after that +death-whoop, appears the Pharisaical cant of his concluding sentences: + +"The dimensions of this mercy are above my thoughts--it is, for aught I +know, a crowning mercy. I am bold humbly to beg that the fatness of +these continued mercies may not occasion pride and wantonness, as +formerly the like hath done to a chosen people." + +If Cromwell had understood the true meaning of the Saviour's words, "I +will have mercy, and not sacrifice," he would probably have acted more +like a Christian and written less like a Jew. + +"But to return," saith the quaint chronicler of Boscobel, "to the duty +of my attendance on his majesty in Spring Coppice. By that time Richard +Penderel had conveyed him to the obscurest part of it, it was about +sun-rising on Thursday morning, and the heavens wept bitterly at these +calamities, insomuch that the thickest tree in the wood was not able to +keep his majesty dry, nor was there any thing for him to sit on; +wherefore Richard went to Francis Yates's house, a trusty neighbor, who +had married his wife's sister, where he borrowed a blanket, which he +folded and laid on the ground for his majesty to sit on." A three-legged +stool would have been a luxury, at that comfortless period, to the +throneless monarch, who claimed three realms as his rightful +inheritance. + +Richard Penderel, when he borrowed the blanket of his sister-in-law, the +good-wife Yates, considerately begged her to provide a comfortable +breakfast and bring it to him, at a place which he appointed in the +wood. She presently made ready a mess of milk, and brought it, with +bread, butter, and eggs, to the cold, wet, and half-famished king. +Charles was, at first, a little startled at her appearance, but, +perceiving she came on a kindly errand, he frankly appealed to her +feminine compassion in these words: + +"Good woman, can you be faithful to a distressed cavalier?" + +"Yes, sir," she replied; "I will die rather than discover you!" + +The king, well satisfied with the honest plainness of her answer, was +able to eat with a hearty relish the simple fare she had brought him. +In the course of that day, he made up his mind to leave his woodland +retreat, and endeavor to get into Wales. Richard Penderel, having +consented to attend him in the capacity of a guide, conducted him first +to his own house, Hobbal Grange, "where the old good-wife Penderel had +not only the honor to see his majesty," pursues our authority, "but to +see him attended by her son." A greater honor far, it was for her to +feel that she was the mother of five sons, whom all the wealth of +England would not have bribed, nor all the terrors of a death of torture +intimidated, to betray their fugitive sovereign to those who thirsted +for his blood. Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, had less reason to +feel proud of her filial jewels, than this rustic English matron of her +brave Shropshire lads. She had lost a sixth son, who had been slain +fighting in the cause of King Charles I. Hobbal Grange was the paternal +farm where these six brethren, William, John, Richard, Humphrey, Thomas, +and George, were born. Thomas, George, and John, had all enlisted in the +service of the late king, and fought for him as long as he had an army +in the field; William was the house steward at Boscobel; Humphrey was +the miller at Whiteladies; and Richard rented a part of his mother's +farm and house, Hobbal Grange; he also pursued the business of a +woodman. At Hobbal Grange, the king's disguise was completed, and he was +furnished with a woodman's bill, to enable him the better to act the +part of Richard Penderel's man, and it was agreed that he should assume +the name of Will Jones. When all these arrangements had been made, and +his homely supper ended, his majesty set out at nine o'clock, with +intent to walk that night to Madely, in Shropshire, about five miles +from Whiteladies, within a mile of the river Severn, which he would have +to cross, in order to get into Wales. + +Charles found his clouted shoes so uneasy to his feet on this pedestrian +journey, that more than once he was fain to walk without, as less +painful. About two miles from Madely, in passing Evelin Mill, the king +and his trusty guide got an alarm; for Richard unwittingly permitting +the gate to clap, the miller came out and challenged them, by asking, +gruffly, "Who was there?" Richard, to avoid him, hastily drew the king +out of the usual track, and led him through a brook, which they were +compelled to ford, and the king's shoes getting full of water increased +the uneasiness of his galled and blistered feet. His majesty was +afterward wont, in recounting this adventure, to say, that "here he was +in great danger of losing his guide, but the rustling of Richard's +calf-skin breeches was the best direction he had to follow him in that +dark night." + +Charles was unconscious at the time how near he was to a party of his +own friends, who had just taken refuge in Evelin Mill, and that the +honest miller who had caused him so much alarm and distress by his +challenge, was only doing his duty by the fugitive cavaliers in keeping +guard to prevent a surprise from skulking foes or spies. + +His majesty arrived at Madely about midnight, in weary plight; Richard +conducted his royal master to the house of a loyal gentleman there, of +the name of Woolf, on whose integrity he knew he could rely. The family +had retired to rest, but Richard took the liberty of knocking till Mr. +Woolf's daughter came to the door and inquired, "Who that late comer +was?" he replied, "The king." An announcement that would, doubtless, +have put any young lady into a flutter at a period less disastrous to +royalty but such was the tragic romance of the epoch, that persons of +all classes were familiarized to the most startling events and changes; +the only source of surprise to honest gentlefolks was, the circumstance +of finding their heads safe on their own shoulders in the midst of the +horrors of military executions, which nearly decimated that +neighborhood. Miss Woolf neither questioned the fact, nor hesitated to +imperil herself and family by receiving the proscribed fugitive within +her doors. She knew the integrity of Richard Penderel, and appreciated +the tribute he paid to her courage and her truth, by confiding such a +trust to her. The king refreshed and reposed himself beneath this +hospitable roof for awhile, but as the rebels kept guard upon the +passage of the Severn, and it was apprehended that a party of them, who +were expected to pass through the town, might quarter themselves, which +frequently happened, in that house, it was judged safer for the royal +stranger to sleep in the adjacent barn. His majesty accordingly retired +thither, attended by his trusty guide and life-guardsman, Richard +Penderel, and remained concealed in that humble shelter the whole of the +next day. + +The intelligence which Mr. Woolf procured, meantime, was such as to +convince him that it would be too hazardous for the king to attempt to +prosecute his journey into Wales, and that the best thing he could do +would be to return to Boscobel House, as affording facilities for his +concealment till a safer opening for his retreat could be found. The +king being of the same opinion, it was resolved that he should retrace +his steps the next night, and meantime, his hands not being considered +sufficiently embrowned for the character he personated, Mrs. Woolf +brought some walnut-leaves and stained them. At eleven o'clock, he and +the faithful Richard Penderel resumed their march, but midway between +Madely and Boscobel, Charles was so completely overcome with grief, +fatigue, and the pain he endured from his blistered feet, in his +attempts to walk in the stiff shoes, that at last he flung himself on +the ground, "declaring life was not worth the struggle of preserving, +and that he would rather die than endure the misery he suffered." +Richard gave him such comfort as his kindly nature suggested, and +bidding him be of good cheer, and wait God's time for better fortunes, +at last persuaded him to make a successful effort to reach Boscobel. +They arrived in the immediate vicinity about three o'clock on the Sunday +morning; Richard left his majesty in the wood, while he went to +reconnoitre, not knowing whether a party of Cromwell's soldiers might +not have occupied the house in their absence. Fortunately, he found no +one there but William Penderel, his wife, and the brave cavalier, +Colonel Carlis, who had been the last man to retreat from Worcester, +and, having succeeded in making his escape, had been for some time +concealed in Boscobel Wood, and had come to ask relief of William +Penderel, his old acquaintance. Richard informed him and William +Penderel that the king was in the wood, and they all three went to pay +their devoir, and found his majesty sitting, like melancholy Jacques, on +the root of a tree. He was very glad to see the colonel, and proceeded +with him and the Penderels to Boscobel House, and there did eat bread +and cheese heartily, and, as an extraordinary treat, William's wife, +whom his majesty was pleased to address merrily by the title of "My dame +Joan," made a posset for him of thin milk and small beer--no "very +dainty dish," one would think, "to set before a king;" but doubtless, in +his present condition, more acceptable than the most exquisite plate of +_dilligrout_ that was ever served up by the lord of the Manor of +Bardolf, _cum privilegio_, at the coronation banquet of any of his royal +predecessors. + +"My dame Joan" also performed another charitable service for her +luckless liege lord, by bringing some warm water to bathe his galled and +travel-soiled feet. Colonel Carlis pulled off his majesty's shoes, which +were full of gravel, and his wet stockings, and there being no other +shoes that would fit the royal fugitive, the good wife rendered these +still more stiff and uncomfortable, in her zeal to dry them, by putting +hot embers in them while the colonel was washing his master's feet. + +When his majesty was thus refreshed, they all united in persuading him +to go back into the wood, having great reason to apprehend that the +roundhead troopers, who were then hunting the country round with +blood-hounds, on a keen scent for their prey, would come and search +Boscobel House. Humphrey Penderel, the miller, had been to Shefnal the +day before, to pay some military imposts to the roundhead Captain +Broadwaye, at whose house he encountered one of Cromwell's colonels, who +had just been dispatched from Worcester in quest of the king. This man, +having learned that the king had been at Whiteladies, and that Humphrey +dwelt in that immediate neighborhood, examined him strictly, and laid +before him both the penalty of concealing the royal fugitive "which," he +said, "was death without mercy, and the reward for discovering him, +which should be a thousand pounds ready money." + +Neither threats nor bribes could overcome the loyal integrity of the +stout-hearted miller, who pleaded ignorance so successfully that he was +dismissed, and hastening, to Boscobel, brought the alarming tidings of +the vicinity of the soldiers, and the price that had been set on his +majesty's head. + +The danger of his remaining in Boscobel House being considered imminent, +it was determined by the faithful brothers to conceal the king and +Colonel Carlis, whose life was in no less danger than that of his +master, in a thick spreading oak. Having made choice of one which +appeared to afford the greatest facility for concealment, they assisted +the king and Colonel Carlis to ascend it, brought them such provisions +as they could get, and a cushion for the king to sit on. In this +unsuspected retreat they passed the day. The king having gone through +much fatigue, and taken little or no rest for several nights, was so +completely worn out, that having placed himself in a reclining position, +with his head resting on Colonel Carlis's knee, he fell asleep, and +slumbered away some hours--the colonel being careful to preserve him +from falling. + +Pope's popular, but long suppressed line, + + "Angels who watched the royal oak so well," + +always makes me think that he must have been familiar with the following +incident which my father's mother, Elizabeth Cotterel, who was the +grand-daughter of a cadet of the old loyal family of that name, in +Staffordshire, and maternally descended from one of the honest Penderel +brothers, was accustomed to relate as a fact, derived from family +tradition, connected with the perils and hair-breadth escapes of Charles +II., at Boscobel. + +"The roundhead troopers," she said, "having tracked the king, first to +Whiteladies, and then to Boscobel Forest, were led, by the keen scent of +their bloodhounds, just at the twilight hour, to the very tree in which +he and Colonel Carlis were hidden. The traitors, a sergeant and five +others of the same company, made a halt under the Royal Oak, and began +to reconnoiter it, while their dogs came baying and barking round about +the trunk. Suddenly the leaves began to rustle, and one of the villains +cried out, + +"'Hallo! some one is surely hidden here!--look how the branches shake.' + +"'It will be worth a thousand pounds to us if it be the young king,' +said another. + +"Then the sergeant asked 'who would volunteer to ascend the tree, and +earn a larger share of the reward by taking the supposed prize alive;' +but, as no one appeared willing to risk the chance of encountering a +clapperclawing from the royal lion, dealt from a vantage height, he was +just giving the word for them to fire a volley into the tree, 'when, by +the grace of God,'" the old lady would add, with impressive solemnity, +"a white owl flew out from the thickest covert of the branches and +screeched 'fie upon them!' as well she might; whereupon the false +traitors hooted out a curse as bitter as that of Meroz on the poor bird, +and growled to each other 'that it was she that had misled their dogs, +and had stirred the leaves withal, to mock themselves; howsomever, they +would have a shot at her, to teach her better manners than to screech at +the soldiers of the Lord.' But though five of the sorry knaves banged +off their musketoons at the harmless bird, not one of them was marksman +enough to hit a feather of her. Lastly, the sergeant took out a printed +copy of the proclamation, promising 'the reward of a thousand pounds for +the apprehension of the young man, Charles Stuart, eldest son of the +late King Charles,' and fastened it on the trunk of the royal oak where +his majesty was sitting in the branches above them, hearing all they +said, and an eye-witness of their treason." + +The breathless interest which this oral chronicle was wont to excite +among juvenile loyalists of the third generation may be imagined, but +the old lady had another tradition, of yet more thrilling import, +engraven on the tablets of her memory, "derived, like the first," as she +declared, "from those who could well vouch for its authenticity." As it +forms a curious sequel to the other, and is really too good to be lost, +I take leave to relate it, without expecting my readers to put the same +degree of faith in my grandmother's traditionary lore as I have always +been dutifully accustomed to do. + +"The roundhead sergeant and his comrades, after they had retired from +the vicinity of the royal oak, proceeded to Hobbal Grange, to refresh +themselves at the expense of Richard Penderel, where, finding his wife +alone, rocking the cradle of her infant boy, who was not well and very +fractious, they, after she had brought out the best perry and mead the +house afforded began to cross-question her about the king's previous +appearance at Whiteladies, and, as they had done by her brother-in-law, +Humphrey Penderel, to ply her with alternate threats and temptations, in +order to induce her to discover any thing she might have learned on the +subject. The amount of the reward for the apprehension of the royal +fugitive had hitherto been concealed by Richard from his wife, probably +from the painful consciousness of her weak point. At any rate, she heard +it now with astonished ears, and the sergeant, in confirmation of his +statement, displayed one of the printed copies of the proclamation to +that effect. 'A thousand pounds!--a sum beyond her powers of +calculation! The price of blood!--what then? Some one would earn it, why +should not she?' She held parley with her besetting sin, and her desire +of 'the accursed thing' grew stronger. At that moment her husband +appeared, followed by the disguised king, who, cramped and exhausted +with sitting so many hours in the tree, was coming to her hearth to warm +and refresh himself, unconscious what unwelcome guests were already in +possession of the Grange. The young wife hastened to Richard Penderel, +showed him the paper, and whispered-- + +"'What is the king to us? A thousand pounds would make our fortunes.' + +"'I'll cleave thy skull next moment, woman, an' thou dost,' was Richard +Penderel's stern rejoinder, grasping his wood-ax with a significant +gesture. + +"He spoke in a tone which, though so low as to be audible to no other +ear than hers, thrilled every vein in her body with terror. She knew he +was a man who never broke his word, and she trembled lest the suspicions +of the sergeant and his gang should have been excited by the emotions +betrayed by her husband and herself during their brief passionate +conference. She glanced at them, and saw they were watching her husband +and scrutinizing the disguised king, who, yielding to the force of +habit, had forgot his assumed character of Richard's serving-man so far +as to seat himself uninvited on the only unoccupied stool in the room. +Luckily, the cross baby, offended at the presence of so many strangers, +set up his pipes, and began to scream and cry most lustily; at which +Mistress Richard Penderel, affecting to be in a violent passion, +snatched him out of the cradle, and thrusting him into the arms of the +astonished king, on whom she bestowed a sound box on the ear at the same +time, exclaimed, 'Thou lazy, good-for-naught fellow, wilt thou not so +much as put out thy hand to rock the cradle? Take the boy to thee, and +quiet him; he makes such a brawling, thy betters can't hear themselves +speak.' + +"The baby, finding himself in the hands of an unpracticed male nurse, +continued to scream, and the mother to scold, till the sergeant rose up, +with a peevish execration, implying that he would rather hear the roar +of all the cannon that were fired at Worcester, than a chorus like that; +and giving the word to his company, marched off in the full persuasion +that Charles was the awkwardest lout in Shropshire, and his mistress the +bitterest shrew he had seen for many a day." + +After this alarm, it was judged better for the king to return to +Boscobel House, and betake himself to the secret place of concealment, +where the Earl of Derby had been safely hidden before the battle of +Worcester. Dame Joan had provided some chickens that night, and cooked +them in her best style for supper, for her royal guest--a dainty to +which he had been unaccustomed for some time. She also put a little +pallet in the secret recess for his majesty's use, who was persuaded to +let William Penderel shave him, and cut his hair close with a pair of +scissors, according to the country fashion. Colonel Carlis told the +king, "Will was but a mean barber;" his majesty replied, "That he had +never been shaved by any barber before," and bade William burn the hair +he cut off. William, however, carefully preserved the royal locks, as +precious memorials of this adventure, which were afterward in great +request among the noble families of the neighborhood, who were eager to +obtain the smallest portion of those relics. + +After supper, Colonel Carlis asked the king, "What meat he would like +for his Sunday's dinner?" his majesty said, "Mutton, if it might be +had." Now, there was none in the house, and it was considered dangerous +for William to go to any place to purchase it; so Colonel Carlis +repaired to Mr. William Staunton's fold, chose the fattest sheep there, +stuck it with his dagger, and sent Will Penderel to bring it home.[1] + +On Sunday morning, Charles, finding his dormitory none of the best, rose +early, and entering the gallery near it, was observed to spend some time +in prayer. After the fulfillment of this duty, which was doubtless +performed with unwonted fervency, "his majesty, coming down into the +parlor, his nose fell a bleeding, which put his poor faithful servants +in a fright," till he reassured them, by saying it was a circumstance of +frequent occurrence. He was very cheerful that day, and merrily assisted +in cooking some mutton-collops from the stolen sheep provided by Colonel +Carlis, on which subject he was afterward fond of joking with that +devoted companion of his perils. The Penderel brothers, keeping watch +and ward, in readiness to give the alarm, if any soldiers approached the +mansion, the king felt himself in a state of security, "and spent some +part of this Lord's-day in a pretty arbor in Boscobel Garden, situated +on a mount, with a stone table and seats within. In this place, he +passed some time in reading, and commended it for its retiredness." + +John Penderel having, meantime, brought the welcome intelligence that +Lord Wilmot, to whom he had acted as guide when he left Whiteladies, had +found a safe asylum at the house of Mr. Whitgreave, of Mosely, the king +sent him back to inform those gentlemen "that he would join them there +at twelve that night." The distance being about five miles, John +returned to tell his majesty they would be in readiness to meet him +there. + +The king not being yet recovered from the effect of his walk to Madely +and back, it was agreed that he should ride on Humphrey's mill-horse, +which was forthwith fetched home from grass, and accoutred with a +pitiful old saddle and worse bridle. Before mounting, the king bade +farewell to Colonel Carlis, who could not safely attend him, being too +well known in that neighborhood. + +The night was dark and rainy, dismal as the fortunes of the fugitive +king, who, mounting Humphrey's mare, rode toward Mosely, attended by an +especial body-guard of the five Penderels and their brother-in-law, +Francis Yates; each of these was armed with a bill and pikestaff, having +pistols in their pockets. Two marched before, one on each side their +royal charge, and two came behind, a little in the rear--all resolutely +determined, in case of danger, to have shown their valor in defending +as well as they had done their fidelity in concealing their distressed +sovereign. After some experience of the horse's paces, the king +declared, "It was the heaviest, dull jade he ever bestrode." Humphrey, +who was the owner of the beast, wittily replied-- + +"My liege, can you blame the mare for going heavily when she bears the +weight of three kingdoms on her back?" + +When they arrived at Penford Mill, within two miles of Mr. Whitgreave's +house, his majesty was recommended by his guides to dismount, and +proceed the rest of the way on foot, being a more private path, and +nearer withal. At last, they arrived at the place appointed, which was a +little grove of trees, in a close near Mr. Whitgreave's house, called +Lea Soughes. There, Mr. Whitgreave and Mr. John Huddleston, the priest, +met his majesty, in order to conduct him, by a private way, to the +mansion, Richard and John Penderel, and Francis Yates continuing their +attendance, but William, Humphrey, and George returned to Boscobel with +the horse. Charles, not quite aware of this arrangement, was going on +without bidding them farewell, but turning back, he apologized to them +in these words: + +"My troubles make me forget myself: I thank you all." + +And so, giving them his hand to kiss, took a gracious leave of those +true liegemen. + +Mr. Whitgreave conducted the king into the secret chamber occupied by +Lord Wilmot, who was expecting his return with great impatience, fearing +lest the king should have missed his way, or been taken. As soon as +Wilmot saw his royal master, he knelt and embraced his knees, and +Charles, deeply moved, kissed him on the cheek, and asked, with much +solicitude: + +"What has become of Buckingham, Cleveland, and the others?" + +Wilmot could only answer, doubtfully, "I hope they are safe." Then +turning to Mr. Whitgreave and Huddleston, to whom he had not then +confided the quality of the fugitive cavalier for whom he had requested +this asylum, he said: + +"Though I have concealed my friend's name all this while, I must now +tell you this is my master, your master, and the master of us all." + +Charles gave his hand to Whitgreave and Huddleston for them to kiss, and +after commending their loyalty, and thanking them for their fidelity to +his friend, which, he assured them, he never should forget, desired to +see the place of concealment he was to occupy. Having seen it, and +expressed his satisfaction, he returned to Lord Wilmot's chamber, where, +his nose beginning to bleed again, he seated himself on the bedside, and +drew forth such a pocket-handkerchief as was never seen in royal hands +before, but it accorded with the rest of his array. Charles was dressed, +at that time, in an old leathern doublet, a pair of green breeches, and +a peasant's upper garment, known in this country by the name of a "jump +coat," of the same color; a pair of his own stockings, with the tops cut +off, because they were embroidered, a pair of stirrup stockings over +them, which had been lent him at Madely; a pair of clouted shoes, cut +and slashed, to give ease to the royal feet, an old gray, greasy hat, +without a lining, and a _noggen_ shirt, of the coarsest manufacture. Mr. +Huddleston, observing that the roughness of this shirt irritated the +king's skin so much as to deprive him of rest, brought one of his own, +made of smooth flaxen linen, to Lord Wilmot, and asked, "If his majesty +would condescend to make use of it?" which Charles gladly did. Mr. +Huddleston then pulled off his majesty's wet, uncomfortable shoes and +stockings, and dried his feet, when he found that some white paper, +which had been injudiciously put between his stockings and his skin, +having got rucked and rolled up, had served to increase, instead of +alleviating the inflammation. + +Mr. Whitgreave brought up some biscuits and a bottle of sack, for the +refreshment of his royal guest, who, after he had partaken of them, +exclaimed, with some vivacity, + +"I am now ready for another march; and if it shall please God to place +me once more at the head of eight or ten thousand good men, of one mind, +and resolved to fight, I should not despair of driving the rogues out of +my kingdom." + +Day broke, and the king, feeling in need of repose, was conducted to the +artfully concealed hiding-place, where a pallet was placed for his +accommodation, for his host durst not put him into a bed in one of the +chambers. + +After some rest taken in the hole, which was unfortunately too close and +hot to allow of comfortable repose, Charles rose, and seeing Mr. +Whitgreave's mother, was pleased to greet her with great courtesy, and +to honor her with a salute. His place, during the day, was a closet over +the porch, where he could see, unseen, every one who came up to the +house. + +That afternoon, a party of the roundhead soldiers arrived, with intent +to arrest Mr. Whitgreave, having had information that he had been at +Worcester fight. + +"If," said Lord Wilmot to him, "they carry you off, and put you to the +torture, to force you to confession, I charge you to give me up without +hesitation, which may, perhaps, satisfy them, and save the king." + +Charles was then lying on Mr. Huddleston's bed, but his generous host, +instead of caring for his own danger, hurried him away into the secret +hiding place; then, setting all the chamber doors open, went boldly down +to the soldiers, and assured them that the report of his having been in +the battle of Worcester was untrue, for he had not been from his own +home for upward of a fortnight; to which all his neighbors bearing +witness, the soldiers not only left him at liberty, but departed without +searching the house. + +The same day, only a few hours after his majesty had left Boscobel, two +parties of the rebels came thither in quest of him. The first, being a +company of the county militia, searched the house with some civility, +but the others, who were Captain Broadwaye's men, behaved in a very +ruffianly manner, searched the house with jealous scrutiny, plundered it +of every thing portable, and after devouring all the little stock of +provisions, presented a pistol at William Penderel, to intimidate him +into giving them some information, and much frightened "my dame Joan," +but failed to extort any confessions touching the royal guest who had so +recently departed. They also paid a second visit to Whiteladies, and not +only searched every corner in it, but broke down much of the wainscot, +and finished by beating a prisoner severely who had been frightened into +informing them that he came in company with the king from Worcester to +that place, and had left him concealed there. + +On the Tuesday, old Mrs. Whitgreave, who did her best to amuse her royal +guest, by telling him all the news she could collect, informed him that +a countryman, who had been up to the house that morning, had said "that +he heard that the king, on his retreat, had rallied and beaten his +enemies at Warrington Bridge, and that three kings had come in to his +assistance." + +"Surely," rejoined Charles, with a smile, "they must be the three kings +of Cologne come down from heaven, for I can imagine none else." + +Looking out of his closet window, that day, Charles saw two soldiers +pass the gate, and told Mr. Huddleston, "he knew one of them to be a +Highlander of his own regiment, who little thought his king and colonel +were so near." + +Mr. Huddleston had three young gentlemen under his care for education, +staying in the same house--young Sir John Preston, Mr. Thomas Patyn, and +Mr. Francis Reynolds. These he stationed at several garret windows that +commanded the road, to watch and give notice if they saw any soldiers +approaching, pretending to be himself in danger of arrest. The youths +performed this service with diligent care all day, and when they sat +down to supper, Sir John said merrily to his two companions, "Come, +lads, let us eat heartily, for we have been upon the life-guard to-day." + +Lord Wilmot's friend, Colonel Lane, of Bentley, had, previously to the +king's arrival, offered to pass him on to Bristol, as the escort of his +sister, Mrs. Jane Lane, who had fortunately obtained from one of the +commanders, a passport for herself and her groom to go to Bristol, to +see her sister, who was near her confinement. This offer Lord Wilmot had +actually accepted, when John Penderel, bringing him word that the king +was coming to Mosely, he generously transferred that chance for escape +to his royal master. Lord Wilmot, having apprised the colonel and fair +mistress Jane of the king's intention to personate her groom, Colonel +Lane came, by appointment, on Tuesday night, between twelve and one, to +the corner of Mr. Whitgreave's orchard, to meet and convey his majesty +to Bentley. The night was dark, and cold enough to render the loan of a +cloak, which Mr. Huddleston humbly offered for his sovereign's use, +extremely acceptable. Charles took his leave courteously of old Mrs. +Whitgreave, whom he kissed, and gave many thanks for his entertainment, +and used warm expressions of gratitude to her son and Mr. Huddleston, +telling them, "that he was very sensible of the danger with which their +concealing him might be attended to themselves," and considerately gave +them the address of a merchant in London, who should have orders to +supply them with money, and the means of crossing the sea, if they +desired to do so, and promised, "if ever God were pleased to restore him +to his dominions, not to be unmindful of their services to him." They +knelt and kissed his hand, and prayed Almighty God to bless and preserve +him, then reverentially attended him to the orchard, where Mr. +Whitgreave told Colonel Lane "he delivered his great charge into his +hands, and besought him to take care of his majesty." + +Charles proceeded safely to Bentley with Colonel Lane, where, as he was +to perform the part of a menial, he was under the necessity of taking a +seat by the kitchen fire, next morning, to prevent suspicion. + +The cook, observing that he appeared an idle hand, ordered him to "have +a care that the roast meat did not burn"--a command that must have +reminded the incognito majesty of England of the adventure of his +illustrious ancestor, Alfred, in the herdsman's cottage, when he got +into disgrace with the good wife by not paying a proper degree of +attention to the baking of the cakes. + +The same morning, we are told, a person suspected of being a spy and +informer, coming into Colonel Lane's kitchen, and casting a scrutinizing +eye on the king, observed that he was a stranger, and began to ask a +leading question or two, when one of the servants, who knew his royal +master, and feared he would commit himself, gave him two or three blows +with the basting ladle, and bade him "mind his own business, which was +to keep the spit going, and not turn round to prate, or he would get +basted by the cook." + +Charles only staid at Bentley, till some articles of Colonel Lane's +livery could be prepared for his use, before he escorted Mrs. Jane Lane +to Bristol, she riding on a pillion behind him, and Lord Wilmot +following at a little distance. Mistress Jane conducted herself with +great prudence and discretion to the royal bachelor during the journey, +treating him as her master when alone, and as her servant before +strangers. When they arrived at the house of her sister, Mrs. Norton, in +Bristol, the first person the king saw was one of his own chaplains +sitting at the door, amusing himself with looking at some people +playing at bowls. His majesty, after performing his duty as Colonel +Lane's servant, by taking proper care of the horse which had carried him +and his fair charge from Bentley, left the stable, and came into the +house, feigning himself sick of the ague, Mrs. Jane having suggested +that device as an excuse for keeping his room, which she had caused to +be prepared for him. The butler, who had been a royalist soldier in the +service of Charles I., entering the room to bring the sick stranger some +refreshment, as soon as he looked in his pale woe-worn face, recognized +the features of his young king, and falling on his knees, while the +tears overflowed his cheeks, exclaimed, + +"I am rejoiced to see your majesty." + +"Keep the secret from every one, even from your master," was the reply, +and the faithful creature rendered implicit obedience. He, and Mrs. Jane +Lane, constituted Charles's Privy Council at Bristol. No ship being +likely to sail from that port for a month to come, the king considered +it dangerous to remain there so long. He therefore repaired to the +residence of Colonel Wyndham, in Dorsetshire, where he was +affectionately welcomed by that loyal cavalier and his lady, who had +been his nurse. The venerable mother of the colonel, though she had lost +three sons and one grandchild in his service, considered herself only +too happy to have the honor of receiving him as her guest. + +Finally, after adventures too numerous to be recorded here, the fugitive +king succeeded in securing a passage toward the end of October, in a +little bark from Shoreham to Dieppe, where he landed in safety, more +than forty persons, some of them in very humble circumstances, having +been instrumental to his escape, not one of whom could be induced by the +large reward offered by the Parliament for his apprehension, to betray +him. + +A certain eloquent Scotch essayist, who endeavors to apologize for the +conduct of Algernon Sidney, and other worthies of his party, in +accepting the bribes of France by impugning the integrity of the English +character, and goes so far as to express a doubt whether there were an +honest man to be met with at that epoch, save Andrew Marvel, appears to +have forgotten the glorious instances of stainless honesty and virtue +afforded by the Penderel brothers, and other noble men of all degrees, +who proved themselves superior to all temptations that could be offered. + +When England had, by general acclamation, called home her banished king, +the five Shropshire brothers were summoned to attend him at Whitehall, +on Wednesday, the 13th of June, 1661, when his majesty was pleased to +acknowledge their faithful services, and signified his intention of +notifying his gratitude by a suitable reward, inquiring if they had any +particular favor to ask. They only asked an exemption from the penal +laws, with liberty for themselves and their descendants to enjoy the +free exercise of their religion, being members of the Romish church. +This request was granted, and their names, together with those of their +kinswoman Mrs. Yates, Mr. Huddleston, and Mr. Whitgreave, were +especially exempted in the statute from the pains and penalties of +recusancy. + +King Charles granted a moderate pension to them and their descendants +for ever. + +"The Oak," says a contemporary, whose pleasant little chronicle of +Boscobel was published in 1660, the year of the restoration, "is now +properly called 'The Royal Oake of Boscobel,' nor will it lose that name +while it continues a tree: and since his majesty's happy restoration +that those mysteries have been revealed, hundreds of people for many +miles round, have flocked to see the famous Boscobel, which, as you have +heard, had once the honor to be the palace of his sacred majesty, but +chiefly to behold the Royal Oake, which has been deprived of all its +young boughs by the visitors of it, who keep them in memory of his +majesty's happy preservation." + +Charles himself subsequently made a pilgrimage to the scene of his past +troubles: when he visited the Royal Oak, he was observed to gather a +handful of the acorns. Some of these he planted with his own hand in +Saint James's Park. A promising young tree, which sprang from one of +these acorns, which Charles had planted in the queen's pleasure garden, +within sight of his bed-chamber, in Saint James's Palace, and was +accustomed to water and tend with great pleasure, was called the King's +Royal Oak, and had become an object of interest to the people as a relic +of that popular sovereign; but was destroyed by Sarah, Duchess of +Marlborough, as soon as her husband obtained the grant of the ground on +which it stood, for the site of Marlborough House. This was regarded as +an outrage on popular feeling. + +Of all our national commemorations, that of the restoration of monarchy, +on the 29th of May, held the strongest hold on the affections of the +people; the firmness with which they continued to observe that +anniversary for a century after the expulsion of the royal line of +Stuart, affords a remarkable proof of the constitutional attachment of +this country to the cause of legitimacy. As long as that feeling lasted, +the grave of William Penderel, in St. Giles's church-yard, was duly +decked with oaken garlands by nameless loyalists of low degree, as often +as the 29th of May came round; and men, women, and children wore oak +leaves and acorns in memory of the fact, + + "That Penderel the miller, at risk of his blood, + Hid the king of the isle in the king of the wood." + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] When honest William Penderel subsequently waited on Mr. Staunton, +and acknowledged the abstraction of the sheep, offering, at the same +time, to pay for it, that loyal gentleman laughed heartily at the +incident, and said, "He was glad to hear that his majesty had tasted his +mutton, and much good might it do him." + + + + +[From Dickens's Household Words] + +GUNPOWDER AND CHALK. + + +Sir Valentine Saltear was a worthy gentleman, who had made a large +fortune by constantly exporting Irish linens and lawns to France (from +whence they came over to England as fine French goods), for which +service to the trade of the three countries a discerning minister had +obtained him the honor of knighthood. This fortune he had in part +expended in building for himself a great mansion on the sea-coast of +Kent, commanding a fine view of the country from the back windows, and +the great ocean from the front. Every room on the first and second +floors was furnished with a brass telescope, that could be screwed on to +the window-sash, or by means of a pedestal, into the window-sill. + +In the front of his house was a great field, in which he and his +visitors used to play at cricket. It was bounded by the high, white +chalk cliffs, which descended precipitously to the sea. + +The cliffs, however, were unfortunately much undermined by natural +caverns; so that every year, and, in fact, every time there was a storm +at sea, a large portion of the chalk-rock fell down, and in the course +of six or seven years he was obliged to rail off as "dangerous" a part +of the already reduced field in front of his house. He could now only +play at trap-ball, or battle-dore and shuttle-cock. + +Still the sea continued its encroachments, and in a few years more the +trap-ball was all over--it was too perilous, even if they had not +continually lost the ball--and he and his sons were reduced to a game at +long-taw, and hop-scotch. + +Clearly perceiving that in the course of a few years more his +field-sports would be limited to spinning a tee-totum before his +front-door, he engaged the services of an eminent architect and civil +engineer to build him a sea-wall to prevent the further encroachments of +the enemy. The estimate of expense was five thousand pounds, and, as a +matter of course, the work, by the time it was finished, cost ten +thousand. This was nearly as much as Sir Valentine Saltear had paid for +the building of his house. + +But the worst part of the business was, that the very next storm which +occurred at sea, and only a few weeks after, the waves dashed down, and +fairly carried away the whole of this protective wall. In the morning it +was clean gone, as though no such structure had been there, and a great +additional gap was made in the cliff, plainly showing that the watery +monster was quite bent on swallowing up Sir Valentine's house. He +brought an action for the recovery of the money he had paid for his +wall; but while this was pending, he saw his house being undermined from +day to day, and in sheer despair felt himself obliged to apply to a +still more eminent civil engineer. The estimate this gentleman made for +the construction of a sea-wall--one that would stand--was ten thousand +pounds. It might be a few pounds more or less--probably less. But the +recent experience of Sir Valentine making him fear that it would +probably be double that amount, he hesitated as to engaging the services +of this gentleman. He even thought of sending over to Ireland for fifty +bricklayers, carpenters, and masons, and superintending the work +himself. He was sure he could do it for six thousand pounds. It never +once occurred to him to pull down his house, and rebuild it on high +ground a quarter of a mile farther off. + +In this dangerous yet undecided state of affairs, Sir Valentine one +morning, breakfasting at his club in Waterloo Place, read in a newspaper +a notice of the grand mining operation and explosion that was to take +place at Seaford, the object of which was to throw down an immense mass +of chalk cliff, the broken fragments whereof would, at a comparatively +small cost, form a sea-wall, at an elevation of about one-fifth the +height of the parent rock. Why, here was Sir Valentine's own case! His +house was upon a very high chalk rock, and a sea-wall of one-fifth the +height would answer every purpose. The only difficulty was his present +proximity to the edge of the cliff. Still, he thought he could spare +thirty feet or so, without losing his door-steps, and this width being +exploded down to the base of the cliff, would constitute, by its fall, a +very capital mound of protection which might last for a century or more. +He therefore determined to see the explosion at Seaford, and if it +proved successful, to adopt the very same plan. + +Sir Valentine, accordingly, on the nineteenth of September, swallowed an +early cup of chocolate, and hurried off to the Brighton railway +terminus, and took his place in the Express train for Newhaven. It was a +return-ticket, first class, for which he paid the sum of one pound four +shillings. An Excursion train had started at nine o'clock, the +return-ticket first class, being only eleven shillings; but Sir +Valentine fearing that it would stop at every station on the way, and +might not be in time for the great event, had prudently chosen the +Express at Express price; namely, one pound four per ticket. There was +some confusion in the arrangements of the terminus, apparently +attributable to extensive additions and alterations in the buildings; +but there was no difficulty in receiving the money. + +The train started; its speed, though an Express, being nothing +particular. When it arrived at Lewes, the passengers all had to alight, +and wait for another train which was to take them on. At last a train +arrived. It was declared to be full! + +"Full!" cried Sir Valentine, "why, I have paid for the +Express!--first-class--one pound four." + +Full, however, this long train was. Presently a guard shouted that there +was room for three in a second-class carriage. + +"I secure one!" shouted Sir Valentine, holding up his fore-finger in a +threatening manner to the guard, and jumped in. In due time, and by no +means in a hurry, the "Express" train arrived. + +Out leaped Sir Valentine, and demanded of the first person he met how +far it was to Seaford? The man said he didn't know! to the utter +astonishment and contempt of the excited knight. He asked the next +person; who replied that he hadn't the very least idea, but they could +tell him at the "tap." Sir Valentine looked on all sides to see if there +were any cabs, flies, or vehicles of any kind, and descrying several in +a group at some little distance, made toward them at long running +strides--a boy who had overheard his question as to the distance, +following at his heels, and bawling--"Two miles as a crow flies!--four +miles by the road!--two miles as a cro-o-o-o!--four by the ro-o-o-o!" + +Arrived amidst the vehicles, the knight found nearly all of them either +engaged, or full, and it was only as a matter of favor that he was +admitted as "one over the number," to the inside of a small van without +springs; where, beside the heat and crushing, he had to endure a +thorough draught and three short pipes, all the way. + +The road wound round the base of a series of hills and other rising +ground, and a line of vehicles might be seen all along this serpentine +road, for two or three miles' distance; while a long unbroken line of +pedestrians were descried winding along the pathway across the fields. +After a very jolting and rumbling drive, Sir Valentine found himself +"shot out" with the rest of the company, in front of a small "public" +knocked up for the occasion, with a load or two of bricks and some +boards, and crowded to excess. Private carriages, flies, cabs, carts, +wagons, vans, were standing around, together with booths and +wheelbarrows, set out with apples, nuts, bread and cheese, and +ginger-beer of a peculiarly thin stream. Sir Valentine having +breakfasted early, hastily, and lightly, was by this time--a quarter to +two--extremely sharp set; he endeavored, therefore, to make his way into +the house to get a bottle of stout and some ham or cold beef for +luncheon. But after ten minutes' continuous efforts, he found he was +still between the door-posts, and the noisy, choked-up window of the +"bar," as far from his hopes as ever. He abandoned the attempt in +disgust--but not without addressing himself to a seafaring man who was +standing with his hands in his pockets, looking on: + +"Is this sense?" said the knight. "Do you call this common sense? Do you +think you are acting with any more reason than a dog possesses, to treat +the public in this way? Then, your own interest--look at it!" (pointing +to the crowd struggling in the door-way). "If you had any foresight, or +a head for the commonest arrangements, would you not have a barrel of +ale on wheels outside here?" + +The seafaring man swung round on his heel with a smile, and Sir +Valentine, having made his way into the field, obtained six pennyworth +of gingerbread and a dozen of small apples, with which provender he in +some sort revived his exhausted frame. He now bustled on toward the +foot of a broken embankment leading up to a lofty rising ground, the +summit being the cliffs, a large portion of which was shortly to be +detached, and thrown down by the explosion of a mine. The part to be +blown off was marked out by broad belts of white, where the chalk had +been thrown up, which made an imposing appearance even on the distant +heights. + +The sun shone brightly. All over the fields and fallow ground that lay +between the halting-place just described, and the foot of the steep +mount, the visitors were scattered--pedestrians, with here and there a +horseman; sight-seers--the old and the young--men of science from +various parts of the world--infantry soldiers, sappers and miners, +ladies and gentlemen, sailors, marines, country people, railway +laborers, policemen, boys and girls, and--far in the rear of all, with +disapproving looks--two or three old women in spectacles. Renovated by +his gingerbread and apples, Sir Valentine made his way manfully up the +steep grassy ascent of the hill, chalk mountain it might be more +properly termed, and, in the course of a quarter of an hour, he found +himself at the spot where the explosion was to take place. + +It was a tolerably level surface, of some hundred yards in diameter. +Transverse belts of excavated chalk, with several trenches and pits half +filled up, marked out the huge fragment of the solid mass which was to +be separated. The boundary was further indicated by small flagstaffs, +and also by sentinels, who prevented any of the visitors from +trespassing on the dangerous ground, whereon, of course, they all had a +half-delightful tingling wish to perambulate, and to feel themselves +liable to be blown to atoms by a premature explosion. + +Beneath the part marked off by the flagstaffs and sentinels, at a great +depth in the chalk rock, were buried many thousand (the Brighton Herald +said twenty-seven thousand!) pounds of gunpowder, distributed in +different chambers and galleries, one communicating with another by +means of a platina wire. This wire was carried up through the rock into +a little wooden house, in which certain chemical mysteries were being +secretly carried on by engineer officers. There was a little window in +front, out of which the mysterious officer now and then half thrust his +head, looked out, with profound gravity, upon the belts of chalk on the +space before him, and, without appearing to see any of the crowding +visitors, withdrew from the window. Presently another officer came, and +did the same. "Come like shadows," muttered Sir Valentine, "so depart!" + +But wishing that they might "show his eyes" the mysterious operations in +the little wooden house, however grievous it might be to his feelings, +our anxious knight hurried round to the back, where, he took it for +granted, there was some means of entrance, as he had seen no officer get +in at the window. He was right. There was a small narrow door of +planks, with a sentry standing before it, who wore a forbidding face of +much importance. And now a gentleman in blue spectacles approached, and +nodded to the sentinel, who tapped at the door. The door was unlocked, +and the favored man of science entered. Through the closing door, Sir +Valentine caught sight of a sort of long, shapeless table, covered with +chemical instruments and utensils, in short, an apparatus exciting great +curiosity. The door closed, just as Sir Valentine handed up his card to +the sentinel. The door was opened again--his card given in; somebody +took it, and it seemed to fly over a row of small white porcelain +painters' pallets, standing mid-deep in water, and then disappeared, as +the door was suddenly closed again. A voice within was heard to say, +impatiently, "I really am afraid we can't be disturbed!" + +"Can't you!" exclaimed Sir Valentine, addressing himself to a servant +girl, with a child in her arms, who was trying to get a peep in at the +door: "can't you, indeed! What treatment do you call this? Do you think +gentlemen would take the trouble to come _down_ here, such a distance, +and _up_ here such a height, if they did not expect to see all that +could possibly be seen? Is this your duty to the public who pays you? +Why should you conceal any thing from me? Am I not a person of +sufficient wealth and respectability to be allowed to know of all your +doings up here! What brings you here but the public service? Who is your +master? tell me that!" + +"Edward Smith, of Seaford," answered the girl, with an angry face; "but +I don't know as it's any business of yours!" + +Sir Valentine brushed past the girl with a "Pooh, pshaw!" Observing it +was announced, by a placard on one side of the little wooden house, that +the explosion would take place at three o'clock, he took out his watch +and found that it was already half-past two. It became important to +decide on the most advantageous place to take up a position, in order to +have the best view of the grand explosion. Some of the visitors--in +fact, a considerable number--had ascended to the very highest part of +the rock, which swept upward, with its green coating of grass to a +distance of a hundred and fifty or two hundred yards beyond the +dangerous spot. Another crowd took their posts at about the same +distance below the fatal spot, each crowd being widely scattered, the +boldest in each being nearest, the most timid the furthest off. Another +crowd--and this was the largest by far--had descended to the beach, to +see, from below, the fall of the great mass of lofty rock. Many had +taken boats, and rowed, or sailed out, to behold it from a more directly +opposite, yet safer position. + +Now, Sir Valentine Saltear, being an enthusiast in sight-seeing, had not +the least doubt but the way really to _enjoy_ the thing, would be to +stand upon the portion of the cliff that was to be thrown down; and, +leaping from crack to crack, and from mass to mass, as it majestically +descended, reach by this means the sea, into which a good dive forward +would render your escape from danger comparatively safe and easy. On +second thoughts, however, he saw that it was precarious, because if the +charge of powder were in excess of the weight to be separated, a great +mass of fragments might fly upward into the air, and who could say but +one of these might be the very place on which he himself was standing? +He, therefore, contented himself with advancing to the extreme edge of +the cliff, and peering over upon the beach below. The height was +prodigious; the crowds walking about below were of pigmy size. The boats +that were hovering about on the sea looked no bigger than mussel shells. +Sir Valentine once thought of going out in a boat, but immediately +recollecting that by doing so he should lose the fine effect of the +trembling of the earth, he at once abandoned the idea. If he mounted +above the scene of action he should lose the grandeur of the descent of +the mass; if he stood on the mount at some distance below it, he could +not see the surface crack and gape, though he might be exposed to flying +fragments. He, therefore, decided forthwith on going down to the beach, +and accordingly he hurried along the grassy slope, and then made his way +down a precipitous zig-zag fissure in the sand hill below, till he found +his feet rattling and limping over the stones of the beach. + +Here he was amid six or seven thousand people--many more than he had +seen from above--some walking about, some sitting in long rows or in +groups, on the damp shingles, some standing in knots--all speculating as +to how soon it would now be before the great explosion. A few flagstaffs +were planted, with several sentinels, to mark the line which no one was +allowed to pass; and this line was very strongly marked besides by a +dark crowd of the most fearless of the visitors. According to their +several degrees of apprehension, the crowds were scattered over the +beach at various distances, some of them being at least a mile and a +half off. + +Sir Valentine, after an examination of all the bearings of the case, +elected to have a place in the front row, close to the flagstaff; but, +taking into consideration the possibility that the explosion might send +up a great mass of fragments, which might come flying over that way, and +crush numbers by their fall, he looked round to try and secure a retreat +the instant he should see a black cloud of fragments in the air. The +front line would not be able to retreat in time, because, being crowded, +they would, in the panic of the moment, stumble over each other, and +falling pell-mell, become an easy prey to the descending chalk. Sir +Valentine, therefore, being not only an enthusiast, but also a man of +foresight, took his post to the extreme right of the line, so that he +could, if he saw need, retreat into the sea; to make sure of which, and, +at the same time, to have an unimpeded view, he now stood half up to +his knees in water. + +It was three o'clock--the hour of doom for the chalk in its contest with +gunpowder. A bugle sounded, and a movement of the sentries on the top of +the rock was discerned by the thousands of eyes looking up from the +beach. Many, also, who were above, suddenly thought they could better +their positions by moving further off. Below, on the beach, there was a +hush of voices; not a murmur was heard. Every body stood in his favorite +attitude of expectation. All eyes were bent upon the lofty projecting +cliff; and nearly every mouth was open, as if in momentary anticipation +of being filled with an avalanche of chalk. Again a bugle sounded--and +all was silence. Not a shingle moved. + +Presently there was a low, subterranean murmur, accompanied by a +trembling of the whole sea-beach--sea and all; no burst of explosion; +but the stupendous cliff was seen to crack, heave outward, and separate +in many places half way down; the upper part then bowed itself forward, +and almost at the same instant, the cliff seemed to bend out and break +at one-third of the way from the base, till, like an old giant falling +upon his knees, down it sank, pitching at the same time head foremost +upon the beach with a tremendous, dull, echoless roar. A dense cloud of +white dust and smoke instantly rose, and obscured the whole from sight. + +Every body kept his place a moment in silence--the front line then made +a rush onward--then abruptly stopped, bringing up all those behind them +with a jerk. Who knows but more cliff may be coming down? In the course +of half a minute the cloud of dust had sufficiently dispersed itself to +render the fallen mass visible. It formed a sort of double hill, about +one-fifth of the height of the rocks above, the outer hill nearest the +sea (which had been the head and shoulders of the fallen giant) being by +far the largest. It was made up of fragments of all sizes, from small +morsels, and lumps, up to huge blocks of chalk, many of which were two +or three feet in thickness, intermixed with masses of the upper crust, +having grass upon the upper surface. + +Toward this larger hill of broken masses of chalk, the front rank of the +cloud below, on the beach, now rushed. But after a few yards, they again +stopped abruptly, bringing every body behind them bump up against their +backs. Again, they moved on waveringly, when suddenly a small piece of +cracked rock detached itself from above, and came rolling down. Back +rushed the front line--a panic took place, and thousands retreated, till +they found the cliff was not coming after them, when they gradually drew +up, faced about, and returned to the onset. At length it became a +complete charge: the front rank made directly for the large broken +mound, in the face of clouds of drifting chalk-dust, and fairly carried +it by assault--mounting over blocks, or picking their way round about +blocks, or between several blocks, and through soft masses of chalk, and +so upward to the top--two soldiers, three sailors, a boy, and Sir +Valentine, being the first who reached it. Thereupon, they set up a +shout of victory, which was echoed by thousands from below. Fifty or +sixty more were soon up after them; and one enthusiast, who had a very +clever little brown horse, actually contrived to lead him up to the top, +and then mounted him, amid the plaudits of the delighted heroes who +surrounded him. Every body, horse and all, was covered with the +continual rain of chalk-dust. The heroes were all as white as millers. + +It was almost as difficult to descend as it had been to get up. However, +Sir Valentine managed to effect this with considerable alacrity, and +made his way hastily across the field to the little "public," with +intent to secure a fly, or other conveyance, before they were all +occupied by the numbers he had left behind him on the beach. Nothing +could be had: all were engaged. He walked onward hastily, and was +fortunate enough to overtake a large pleasure-cart, into which he got, +and, after suffering the vexation of seeing every vehicle pass them, he +at length arrived at the Newhaven railway station. + + + + +THE ESCAPE OF QUEEN MARY FROM LOCHLEVEN CASTLE. + +BY AGNES STRICKLAND. + + +The escape of Mary Queen of Scots, from Lochleven Castle, is one of the +most striking passages in the history of female royalty. The time, the +place, the beauty and exalted rank of the illustrious heroine, her +wrongs, and her distress, the chivalry and courage of the gallant +spirits who had undertaken to effect her deliverance, the peril of the +enterprise, and its success, combine all the elements of a romance. Yet +the adventure creates a more powerful impression related in the graphic +simplicity of truth, as it really befell, than when worked up with +imaginary circumstances into a tale of fiction, even by the magic pen of +Scott in the pages of "The Abbot." + +The fatal concatenation of events, which had the effect of entangling +the royal victim in the toils of her guileful foes, can not be developed +here. The broad outline of the outward and visible facts is familiar to +almost every reader, but to expose the undercurrent to view by +documentary evidences, and to make manifest the hidden workings of +iniquity, requires a wider field than these brief pages can afford. I +must, therefore, refer the public to my long-promised "Life of Mary +Stuart," which will shortly appear in my new series of royal female +biographies,[2] based on documentary sources, for particulars which can +scarcely fail of removing the obloquy with which mercenary writers, the +ready tools of self-interested calumniators, have endeavored to blacken +the name of this hapless lady. + +The confederate lords into whose hands Mary, confiding in their solemn +promises to treat her with all honor and reverence as their sovereign, +rashly surrendered herself, at Carberry-hill, not only shamelessly +violated their pact, but after exposing her to the most cruel insults +from the very abjects of the people, incarcerated her in the gloomy +fortress of Lochleven, under the jailorship of the mother of her +illegitimate brother, the Earl of Murray, and the wardership of the sons +that person had had by her late husband Sir Robert Douglas, of +Lochleven, for the Lady of Lochleven was a married woman when the Earl +of Murray was born.[3] + +It is scarcely possible to imagine a more doleful abiding place for the +fallen queen, in her affliction, than that which had been thus +injuriously and by a refinement of malice, selected for her by her +perfidious foes. The castle, which is of extreme antiquity, said indeed +to have been founded by Congal, a Pictish king, is of rude architecture, +consisting of a square donjon keep, flanked with turrets, and +encompassed with a rampart; it is built on a small island, almost in the +centre of the wild expanse of the deep, and oft-times stormy, waters of +the loch, which is fifteen miles in circumference. The castle island +consists of five acres, now overgrown with trees and brushwood. In the +midst of this desolation tradition points out one ancient stem, of +fantastic growth, said to have been planted by the royal captive as a +memorial of her compulsory residence in the castle. The boughs of this +tree, which is called "Queen Mary's Thorn," are constantly broken and +carried away as relics by the visitors, whom the interest attached to +the memory of that unhappy princess attracts to the spot, which her +sufferings have rendered an historic site of melancholy celebrity. + +The events of the long dreary months which Mary wore away in this +wave-encircled prison-house, bereft of regal state, deprived of exercise +and recreation, and secluded from every friend save her two faithful +ladies, and a little maiden of ten years old, the voluntary companions +of her durance, as well as the occupations wherewith she endeavored to +beguile her sorrowful hours, will be found very fully detailed in my +biography of that unfortunate queen, with many recently-discovered +facts. + +Toward the end of March, George Douglas, the youngest son of the Lady of +Lochleven, whose manly heart had been touched with generous sympathy, +or, as some assert, with a deep and enduring passion for his fair +ill-fated sovereign, made a bold and almost successful attempt to convey +her out of the castle, in the disguise of a laundress. The queen, +however, being identified by the whiteness and delicacy of her hands, +which she had raised to repel one of the rude boatmen, who endeavored +to remove her hood and muffler to get a sight of her face, she was +brought back, and George Douglas was expelled from the Castle with +disgrace. But though banished from his house, he lurked concealed in the +adjacent village, where he had friends and confederates, and, doubtless +inspired many an honest burgher and peasant with sympathy for the wrongs +of their captive sovereign, by his description of the harsh restraint to +which she was subjected within the grim fortress of Lochleven. At +Kinross he was joined by the faithful John Beton, and other devoted +servants of the queen, who were associated for the emancipation of their +royal mistress, and had long been lurking, in various disguises, among +the western Lomonds, to watch for a favorable opportunity of effecting +their object. + +Douglas had left, withal, an able coadjutor within the castle, a boy of +tender years, of mysterious parentage, and humble vocation, who was +destined to act the part of the mouse in Æsop's beautiful fable. This +unsuspected confederate was a youth of fifteen, who waited on the Lady +of Lochleven in the capacity of page. He is known in history by the +names of Willie Douglas, and the Little Douglas; in the castle he was +called the Lad Willie, the Orphan Willie, and the Foundling Willie,[4] +for he was found, when a babe, at the castle gates. Home, of Godscroft, +says, "He was the natural brother of George Douglas,"[5] a statement +perfectly reconcileable with the story of his first introduction into +the family of the late Laird of Lochleven. Such incidents are not of +unfrequent occurrence in the daily romance of life, and often has it +happened that the appeal made to the parental feelings of a profligate +seducer, in behalf of a guiltless child of sin and sorrow, has awakened +feelings of feminine compassion in the bosom of the injured wife, and +the forlorn stranger has received a home and nurture through her +charity. This appears to have been the case with regard to Little Willie +and the Lady of Lochleven; for, whether she suspected his connection +with the laird her husband or not, he was taken in, and brought up under +her auspices, and as attendant on her person. Frail as she had been in +her youth, and cruel and vindictive in her treatment of the lawful +daughter of her royal seducer, whom it irked her pride to consider as +her sovereign, it is nevertheless pleasant to trace out the evidence of +some good in the harsh Lady of Lochleven. + +The Foundling Willie remained in the castle, after the death of the old +laird, an orphan dependent in the family, but his subsequent actions +prove that he had received the education of a gentleman; for not only +could he read and write, but he understood enough of French and other +languages to be sent on secret missions to foreign princes. To these +acquirements Willie added courage, firmness, and address, seldom +paralleled in one of his tender years. + +There is not any circumstance in the course of Mary Stuart's career more +striking than the fact that, in this dark epoch of her life, when +deprived of all the attributes of royalty, oppressed, calumniated, and +imprisoned, two friends like George and Willie Douglas should have been +raised up for her in the family of her deadliest foes. The regent and +his confederates, men whose hands had been soiled with English gold, had +not calculated on the existence of the chivalric feelings which animated +those young warm hearts with the determination of effecting the +liberation of their captive queen. + +"Mary being deprived of pen and ink at this time," says her French +biographer, Caussin, "wrote her instructions with a piece of charcoal, +on her handkerchief, which she employed the boy Willie Douglas to +dispatch to the Lord Seton." John Beton, who still lay, perdue, among +the hills, was the ready bearer of this missive, and arranged every +thing for the reception and safe conduct of his royal mistress, in case +she should be fortunate enough to reach the shore in safety. For many +nights he, with Lord Seton, George Douglas, and others, kept watch and +ward on the promontory which commanded a view of the castle and the +lake, in expectation of being apprised, by signal, that the project was +about to be carried into effect. + +On Sunday, the second evening in May, all things being in readiness, and +the family at supper, Willie Douglas, who was waiting on the Lady of +Lochleven, contrived, while changing her plate, to drop a napkin over +the keys of the castle (which were always placed beside her during +meals), and having thus enveloped them, succeeded in carrying them off +unobserved. Hastening with them to the queen, he conducted her, by a +private stair, to the postern, and so to the water-gate of the castle, +which he took care to lock after him; and when the boat had gained +convenient distance from the shore, flung the keys into the water. These +mute memorials of the adventure were found covered with rust when the +loch was drained, early in the present century. They are now in the +possession of the Earl of Morton, at Dalmahoy House, where I saw them +and the rude iron chain which formerly linked them together, but which, +being rusted through, fell to pieces when taken out of the water. The +Lochleven keys are five in number, large and small, of antique +workmanship, and are all carefully enshrined in a casket lined with +velvet, and preserved as precious relics by the noble representatives of +the chivalric George Douglas. + +The boat which Willie the Orphan had adroitly secured for the service of +his captive sovereign, was that belonging to the castle, and the only +medium of communication for the castellan and his meiné with the shore. +Immediate pursuit was, therefore, almost impossible. The companions of +Queen Mary's flight were, her faithful attendant, Mary Seton, ever near +her in the hour of peril, and a little girl of ten years old, of whose +safety her majesty appeared tenderly careful, as she led her by the +hand. The other damsel, a French lady of the name of Quenede, gave a +remarkable proof of her personal courage and devotion to her royal +mistress; for, not being quick enough to reach the castle gate till it +was locked behind the retreating party, she fearlessly leaped out of the +window of the queen's apartment into the loch, and swam after the boat +till she was received within that little ark in her dripping garments. + +Meantime, Lord Seton and his gallant associates, who were anxiously +reconnoitring from their eyrie the progress of the little bark and its +precious freight across the lake, remained in a state of the greatest +excitement, not daring to believe that so feeble an instrument as the +orphan Willie had succeeded in achieving an exploit which the bravest +peers in Scotland might have been proud of having performed, and her own +royal kinsmen, the allied princes of France and Spain, had not ventured +to attempt. But all doubts and fears were dispelled when they recognized +the stately figure of their queen, distinguished from the other females +by her superior height, rising in the boat and giving the telegraphic +signal of her safety, as previously agreed, by waving her vail, which +was white with a crimson border, the royal colors of Scotland. The +moment that auspicious ensign was displayed, fifty horsemen, who had +lain concealed behind the hill, sprang to their saddles, and, with Lord +Seton at their head, galloped down to the shore, where George Douglas +and Beton, with another party of devoted friends, were already waiting +to receive and welcome their enfranchised sovereign, as she sprang to +the land. The fleetest palfreys that Scotland could supply had long been +provided, and concealed by George Douglas's trusty confederates in the +village, in anticipation of the success of this enterprise, and were now +ready caparisoned for the queen and her ladies. Mary mounted without +delay, and, attended by the faithful companions of her perils and +escape, scoured across the country at fiery speed, without halting, till +she reached North Queen's Ferry, about twenty miles from Lochleven. +Embarking in the common ferry-boat at that port, she and her company +crossed the rough waters of the Firth, and landed, tradition says, at +the ancient wooden pier, which formerly jutted out into the sea, just +above the town of South Queen's Ferry. There she was met and welcomed by +Lord Claud Hamilton, and fifty cavaliers and other loyal gentlemen, +eager to renew their homage, and burning to avenge her wrongs. + +Lord Seton conducted his royal mistress to his own castle at West +Niddry, distant seven miles from South Queen's Ferry, where she partook +of his hospitality, and enjoyed the repose of a few hours, after her +moonlight flitting. West Niddry now forms part of the fair domain of the +Earl of Hopeton. The roofless shell of the stately castle, which +afforded the first safe resting-place to the fugitive sovereign is +still in existence. The changes of the last few years have conducted the +railroad line between Edinburgh and Glasgow in close proximity to the +ruins of the feudal fortress, which gave rest and shelter to the royal +fugitive, after her escape from Lochleven. The gray mouldering pile, in +its lonely desolation, arrests for a moment the attention of the musing +moralist or antiquarian among the passengers in the trains that thunder +onward to their appointed goal through solitudes that recall high and +chivalric visions of the past. But Niddry Castle should be visited in a +quiet hour by the historical pilgrim, who would retrace in fancy the +last bright scene of Mary Stuart's life, when, notwithstanding the +forced abdication which had transferred the regal diadem of Scotland to +the unconscious brow of her baby-boy, she stood a queen once more among +the only true nobles of her realm, those whom English gold had not +corrupted, nor successful traitors daunted. + +One window in Niddry Castle was, within the memory of many persons in +the neighborhood, surmounted with the royal arms of Scotland, together +with a stone entablature, which, though broken, is still in existence, +in the orchard of the adjacent grange, inscribed in ancient letters with +the day of the month and the date of the year, and even the age of +George Lord of Seton, at the memorable epoch of his life when the +beauteous majesty of Scotland, whom he had so honorable a share in +emancipating from her cruel bondage, slept beneath his roof in safety. + +Lord Seton had been an old and faithful servant of his queen. He was the +master of the royal household, and had been present at her nuptials with +the beloved husband of her youth, King Francis II., of France. On her +return to Scotland, after the death of that sovereign, Mary offered to +advance Seton to the dignity of an earldom, but being the premier baron +in parliament, he refused to be the puisne earl, giving humble thanks to +her majesty for her proffered grace at the same time. Mary then wrote +the following extempore distich in Latin and also in French: + + "_Sunt comites ducesques denique reges; + Setoni dominum sit satis mihi._" + +which, in plain English, may be rendered thus: + + "Though earls and dukes, and even kings there be, + Yet Seton's noble lord sufficeth me." + +"After that unfortunate battle of Langside, the said Lord George Seton +was forced to fly to Flanders, and was there in exile two years, and +drove a wagon with four horses for his subsistence. His picture in that +condition," adds the quaint, kindred biographer of the noble family of +Seton, "I have seen drawn, and lively painted, at the north end of the +long gallery in Seton, now overlaid with timber. From Flanders, the said +Lord George went to Holland, and there endeavored to seduce the two +Scots regiments to the Spanish service, upon a design thereby to serve +his sovereign the queen, the king of Spain being very much her friend. +Which plot of his being revealed, the states of Holland did imprison +and condemn him to ride the cannon; but by the friendship and respect +the Scotch officers had to him, he was by them set at liberty, +notwithstanding this decision of the States."[6] + +Lord Seton outlived these troubles, he was preserved to enjoy the reward +of his integrity after those who pursued his life had been successively +summoned to render up an account of the manner in which they had +acquired and acquitted themselves of their usurped authority, till all +were clean swept away. It is a remarkable fact that the most relentless +of the persecutors of their hapless sovereign, Mary Stuart, especially +those who for a brief period were the most successful in their ambitious +projects, Murray, Lennox, Marr, Lethington, and Morton, all by violent +or untimely deaths preceded their royal victim to the tomb. + +James VI. testified a grateful sense of the services Lord Seton had +rendered to queen Mary, by preferring him and his sons to the most +honorable offices in his gift. + +Mary herself rewarded George Douglas to the utmost of her power, in +various ways, but above all by facilitating his marriage with a young +and beautiful French heiress of high rank, to whom he had formed an +attachment, and as his poverty was the only obstacle to this alliance, +she generously enabled him to make a suitable settlement on his bride +out of a portion of her French estates, which she assigned to him for +this purpose by deed of gift. "Services like his," as she wrote to her +uncle, "ought never to be forgotten." + +A simple black marble tablet in the chancel of Edensor Church, to the +left of the altar, marks the grave of John Beton, on which a Latin +inscription records the fact, "that he died at Chatsworth, in his +thirty-fourth year, worn out with the fatigues and hardships he had +encountered in the service of his royal mistress," adding as his best +and proudest epitaph, "that he had assisted in delivering that +illustrious princess from her doleful prison in the Laga Laguina." +(Lochleven.) + +Poetry is the handmaid as well as the inspiration of chivalry, and if +ever the deeds of brave and loyal gentlemen deserved to live in song, +surely the achievement of the loyal associates who rescued their +oppressed queen from her cruel captivity in Lochleven Castle, ought to +be thus commemorated, and their names had in remembrance long after "the +marble that enshrines their mortal remains has perished, and its imagery +mouldered away." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] "Lives of the Queens of Scotland, and English Princesses connected +with the regal succession of Great Britain." + +[3] See many dispatches from the English envoys resident in Scotland. +State Paper Office, from 1534 to 1536. + +[4] "Life of Lord Herries," edited by Pitcairne, Abbotsford Club, +p. 101. + +[5] "Life of James Earl of Morton," in the "Lives of the Douglases," +p. 302. + +[6] Continuation of the "History of the Houses of Seytoun, by Alexander, +Viscount Kingston. Printed for the Maitland Club." + + + + +[From Dickens's Household Words.] + +A GERMAN PICTURE OF THE SCOTCH. + + +A new play was recently produced at the principal theatre of Vienna, +which illustrates the notions of Scotchmen which obtain currency and +credence among the Germans. The scene is laid in St. Petersburgh; the +real hero is a little animal, known to dog-fanciers as a Scotch terrier; +but the nominal chief character is a banker from Glasgow, named +Sutherland. He had failed in his native place, but in Russia he became a +great man, for he was the favorite money-dealer of the Empress +Catherine. + +We all know the strength of a Scotch constitution, but we also know the +severity of a St. Petersburgh winter: yet Mr. Sutherland presents +himself to his audience, amidst the frozen scenery of that ice-bound +city, in what is believed abroad to be the regular everyday costume of a +citizen of Glasgow; namely, a kilt, jack-boots, and a cocked hat, with a +small grove of fine real feathers. Mr. Sutherland, despite his scanty +nether costume, appears to be in excellent health and spirits. He has +thriven so well in the world that, in accordance with a tolerably +correct estimate of the Caledonian national character, his relations at +home begin to pay court to him, and to send him presents. One indulges +him with the hero of the piece: the small, ugly, irate, snuffy quadruped +before mentioned. The banker takes it with a good-humored "Pish!" little +dreaming of the important part the little wretch is destined to play. He +had scarcely received the gift when the Empress passes by, sees the dog, +and desires to possess it, while the grateful Sutherland is too glad to +be able to gratify a royal caprice at so light a cost. + +She, in the fervency of her gratitude, named the dog after the donor--a +great compliment. + +Alas! one day, the dog, who had eaten too plentifully of _zoobrême_ +(chicken stewed with truffles), was seized with apoplexy and died; +though not without suspicion of having been poisoned by the prime +minister, a piece of whose leg he had digested the day before. The +Empress sighed far more over the loss of her dog, than she would have +done for that of the minister. The one might have been easily replaced: +she knew at least twenty waiting open-mouthed for the vacancy. But who +could replace her four-footed friend!--she mourns him as a loss utterly +irreparable. She orders the greatest mark of affectionate respect it is +possible to show to be performed on the dead terrier. + +The scene changes; it is night. The fortunate banker is seated at +dessert, after an excellent dinner of "mutton rosbif," and "hot-a-meale +pour-ridges, and patatas," indispensable to a North Briton; his legs are +crossed, his feet rest upon a monstrous fender, which he takes care to +inform us he has received from England, as he sits sipping his "sherri +port bier," and soliloquizing pleasantly over the various chances of his +life. He is just about to finish his evening with some "croc," the +English name for the pleasant invention of Admiral Grogram; his servant +enters, to announce that the chief executioner with a file of soldiers +have just dropped in, to say a word on a matter of business from the +Empress. + +The awful functionary, on stalking into the room, exclaimed, "I am +come--" + +"Well, I see you are," replied the banker, trying to be facetious, but +feeling like a man with a sudden attack of ague. + +"By command of the Empress!" + +"Long may she live!" ejaculates Sutherland, heartily. + +"It is really a very delicate affair," says the executioner; who, like +the French Samson, is a humane man; "and I do not know how to break it +to you." + +"Oh, pray, don't hesitate. What would you like to take?" asked the +banker, spilling the grog he tried to hand to the horrid functionary, +from sheer fright. + +The Envoy shakes his head grimly. "It is what we must all come to some +day," he adds, after a short pause. + +"What is? In Heaven's name do not keep me longer in suspense!" cries the +banker, his very visible knees knocking together with agonizing +rapidity. + +"I have been sent," answers the awful messenger; again he stops--looks +compassionately at his destined victim. + +"Well!" + +"By the Empress--" + +"I know!" + +"To have you--" + +"What?" + +"Stuffed!" said the Executioner mournfully. + +The banker shrieked. + +"Stuffed!" repeats the man, laconically, pointing to a bird in a glass +case, to prevent there being any mistake in Sutherland's mind as to the +nature of the operation he is to be called upon to undergo. + +The Executioner now lays his hand significantly on poor Sutherland's +collar, and looks into his face, as if to inquire if he had any +particular or peculiar fancy as to the mode in which he would like to go +through the preparatory operation of being killed. + +"I have brought the straw," he says, "and two assistants are without. +The Empress can not wait; and we have not got your measure for the glass +case yet." + +The banker looks the very picture of abject misery; but Britons, in +foreign comedies, are always ready to buy every thing, and the banker +had lived long enough in Russia to know the value of a bribe. He +therefore offers one so considerable, that his grim visitor is touched, +and endeavors to lull his sense of duty to sleep by a sophistry. + +"I was told, indeed, to have you stuffed," he reasons, "and got ready +for the Empress; but nothing was said about time; so I don't mind giving +you half an hour if you can satisfy these gentlemen"--and he turns to +his associates. + +It is briefly done. The banker pays like a man whose life depends on his +liberality--we suppose several millions--for the Executioner remarks +that he can not forget that a groom in England frequently receives +several thousands sterling a year; this is a very prevalent idea among +the Frankish and Teutonic nations of the Continent. We once heard a +Spanish general assert, in a large assembly, that the usual pay of an +English ensign was five hundred pounds a month, an idea doubtless +derived from some Iberian dramatist; and therefore a public functionary +like the Executioner must be remunerated proportionably higher. The +enormous pecuniary sacrifice gets for Sutherland some half-hour's +respite; which he wisely uses by flying to the British embassador, Sir +Bifstik, and awaits the result with great anguish. + +Sir Bifstik goes to the Empress. He is admitted. He asks if Her Majesty +be aware of the position of a British subject named Sutherland? + +"Excellent man," says Her Majesty, "No! What is it?" + +Sir Bifstik bows low at the tones of the Imperial voice, and now begins +to explain himself with something more than diplomatic haste; thinking, +perhaps, that already the fatal straw may be filling the banker's +members. + +Imperial Catherine does not, of course, consider the putting to death of +a mere Scotch banker, and making him in reality what some of his +brethren are sometimes called figuratively--a man of straw--worth this +fuss; and sets the embassador down in her mind as a person of wild +republican ideas, who ought to be recalled as soon as possible by his +government, and placed under proper surveillance; but, nevertheless, she +causes some inquiries to be made, and learns that it is in consequence +of her having ordered "Sutherland" to be stuffed that he is probably +then undergoing that operation. + +Sir Bifstik expresses such horror and consternation at this +intelligence, that the Empress believes his mind to be disordered. + +"What possible consequence can the accidental stuffing of a Scotch +banker be to you, milor?" she saith. + +"The ac-ci-den-t-al stuff-ings of a Scotcher Bankers!" in a German idiom +not generally used by our nobility, gasps Sir Bifstik, mechanically, +with pale lips and bristling hair. + +"Take him away! He is mad!" screams the Empress, thinking that no sane +person could be concerned about such a trifling affair, and in another +moment the most sacred of international laws would have been violated +(on the stage), and Great Britain insulted by profane hands being laid +on the person of her embassador, when all at once a light breaks over +the mind of Her Majesty--the recalling of something forgotten. She +exclaims, with a Russian _nonchalance_ quite cheering to behold, "Oh, I +remember; now it is easily explained. My poor little dog (I had +forgotten him too) died yesterday, and I wished his body to be +preserved. _Cher chien!_ His name was the same as that of the banker, I +think. Alas that cruel Death should take _my_ dog!" + +"But Mr. Sutherland has, perhaps, already been murdered!" gasps the +embassador. "I pray that your Majesty will lose no time in having him +released, should he be still alive!" + +"Ah, true! I never thought of that," returns the Empress. + +The order is finally issued, and Sutherland rescued, just as the +Executioner, grown angry at his unreasonable remonstrances, resolves to +delay no longer in executing the Imperial commands. To put the +_coup-de-grace_ on the comic agony of the poor banker, his immense red +crop of hair has, in that half hour of frightful uncertainty, turned +white as snow! + + + + +[From Hogg's Instructor.] + +THE FRENCH REVOLUTIONISTS, MARAT, ROBESPIERRE, AND DANTON. + +BY GEORGE GILFILLAN. + + +One obvious effect of the upheavings of a revolution is to develop +latent power, and to deliver into light and influence cast down and +crushed giants, such as Danton. But another result is the undue +prominence given by convulsion and anarchy to essentially small and +meagre spirits, who, like little men lifted up from their feet, in the +pressure of a crowd, are surprised into sudden exaltation, to be trodden +down whenever their precarious propping gives way. Revolution is a +genuine leveler: "small and great" meet on equal terms in its wide +grave; and persons, whose names would otherwise have never met in any +other document than a directory, are coupled together continually, +divide influence, have their respective partisans, and require the stern +alembic of death to separate them, and to settle their true positions in +the general history of the nation and the world. + +Nothing, indeed, has tended to deceive and mystify the public mind more +than the arbitrary conjunction of names. The yoking together of men in +this manner has produced often a lamentable confusion as to their +respective intellects and characteristics. Sometimes a mediocrist and a +man of genius are thus coupled together; and what is lost by the one is +gained by the other, while the credit of the whole firm is essentially +impaired. Sometimes men of equal, though most dissimilar intellect, are, +in defiance of criticism, clashed into as awkward a pair as ever stood +up together on the floor of a country dancing-school. Sometimes, for +purposes of moral or critical condemnation, two of quite different +degrees of criminality are tied neck and heels together, as in the dread +undistinguishing "marriages of the Loire." Sometimes the conjunction of +unequal names is owing to the artifice of friends, who, by perpetually +naming one favorite author along with another of established fame, hope +to convince the unwary public that they are on a level. Sometimes they +are produced by the pride or ambition, or by the carelessness or +caprice, of the men or authors themselves. Sometimes they are the +deliberate result of a shallow, though pretentious criticism, which sees +and specifies resemblances, where, in reality, there are none. +Sometimes they spring from the purest accidents of common circumstances, +common cause, or common abode, as if a crow and a thrush must be kindred +because seated on one hedge. From these, and similar causes, have arisen +such combinations as Dryden and Pope, Voltaire and Rousseau, Cromwell +and Napoleon, Southey and Coleridge, Rogers and Campbell, Hunt and +Hazlitt, Hall and Foster, Paine and Cobbett, Byron and Shelley, or +Robespierre and Danton. + +In the first histories of the French Revolution, the names of Marat, +Robespierre, and Danton occur continually together as a triumvirate of +terror, and the impression is left that the three were of one order, +each a curious compound of the maniac and the monster. They walk on, +linked in chains, to common execution, although it were as fair to tie +up John Ings, Judge Jeffreys, and Hercules Furens. A somewhat severer +discrimination has of late unloosed Marat from the other two, and +permitted Robespierre and Danton to walk in couples, simply for the +purpose of pointing more strongly the contrast between the strait-laced +demonism of the one, and the fierce and infuriated manhood of the other. +At least, it is for this purpose that we have ranked their names +together. + +Of Marat, too, however, we are tempted to say a single word--"Marah," +might he better have been called, for he was a water of bitterness. He +reminds us of one of those small, narrow, inky pools we have seen in the +wilderness, which seem fitted to the size of a suicide, and waiting in +gloomy expectation of his advent. John Foster remarked, of some small +"malignant" or other, that he had never seen so much of the "_essence_ +of devil in so little a compass." Marat was a still more compact +concentration of that essence. He was the prussic acid among the family +of poisons. His unclean face, his tiny figure, his gibbering form, his +acute but narrow soul, were all possessed by an infernal unity and +clearness of purpose. On the great clock of the Revolution--while Danton +struck the reverberating hours--while Robespierre crept cautiously but +surely, like the minute-hand, to his object--Marat was the everlasting +"tick-tick" of the smaller hand, counting, like a death-watch, the quick +seconds of murder. _He_ never rested; he never slumbered, or walked +through his part; he fed but to refresh himself for revolutionary +action; he slept but to breathe himself for fresh displays of +revolutionary fury. Milder mood, or lucid interval, there was none in +him. The wild beast, when full, sleeps; but Marat was never full--the +cry from the "worm that dieth not," within him being still, "Give, +give," and the flame in his bosom coming from that fire which is "never +to be quenched." + +If, as Carlyle seems sometimes to insinuate, earnestness be in itself a +divine quality, then should Marat have a high place in the gallery of +heroes; for if an earnest angel be admirable, chiefly for his +earnestness, should not an earnest imp be admirable, too? If a tiger be +respectable from his unflinching oneness of object, should not a toad, +whose sole purpose is to spit sincere venom, crawl amid general +consideration, too? If a conflagration of infernal fire be on the whole +a useful and splendid spectacle, why not honor one of its bluest and +most lurid flames, licking, with peculiar pertinacity, at some proud +city "sham?" But we suspect, that over Carlyle's imagination the quality +of greatness exerts more power than that of earnestness. A great +regal-seeming ruffian fascinates him, while the petty scoundrel is +trampled on. His soul rises to mate with the tiger in his power, but his +foot kicks the toad before it, as it is lazily dragging its +loathsomeness through the wet garden-beds. The devils, much admired as +they stood on the burning marl, lose caste with him when, entering the +palace of Pandemonium, they shrink into miniatures of their former +selves. Mirabeau, with Carlyle, is a cracked angel; Marat, a lame and +limping fiend. + +Some one has remarked how singular it is that all the heroes of the +French Revolution were _ugly_. It seems as curious to us that they were +either very large or very little persons. Danton was a Titan; Mirabeau, +though not so tall, was large, and carried a huge head on his shoulders; +whereas Marat and Napoleon were both small men. But the French found +their characteristic love of extremes gratified in all of them. Even +vice and cruelty they will not admire, unless sauced by some piquant +oddity, and served up in some extraordinary dish. A little, lean +corporal, like Napoleon, conquering the Brobdingnagian marshals and +emperors of Europe, and issuing from his nut-like fist the laws of +nations; a grinning death's head, like Voltaire, frightening Christendom +from its propriety, were stimulating to intoxication. But their talent +was gigantic, though their persons were not; whereas, Marat's mind was +as mean, and his habits as low, as his stature was small, and his looks +disgustful. Here, then, was the requisite French ragout in all its +putrid perfection. A scarecrow, suddenly fleshed, but with the heart +omitted--his rags fluttering, and his arms vibrating, in a furious wind, +with inflamed noddle, and small, keen, bloodshot eyes--became, for a +season, the idol of the most refined and enlightened capital in Europe. + +Had we traced, as with a lover's eye, the path of some beautiful flash +of lightning, passing, in its terrible loveliness, over the still +landscape, and seen it omitting the church spire, which seemed proudly +pointing to it as it passed--sparing the old oak, which was bending his +sacrificial head before its coming--touching not the tall pine into a +column of torch-like flame, but darting its arrow of wrath upon the +scarecrow, in the midst of a bean-field, and, by the one glare of +grandeur, revealing its "looped and ragged" similitude to a man, its +aspiring beggary, and contorted weakness--it would have presented us +with a fit though faint image of the beautiful avenger, the holy +homicide, the daughter of Nemesis by Apollo--Charlotte Corday--smiting +the miserable Marat. Shaft from heaven's inmost quiver, why wert thou +spent upon such a work? Beautiful, broad-winged bird of Jove, why didst +thou light on such a quarry? Why not have ranged over Europe, in search +of more potent and pernicious tyrants, or, at least, have run thy beak +into the dark heart of Robespierre? Why did a steel, as sharp and bright +as that of Brutus, when he rose "refulgent from the stroke," pierce only +a vile insect on the hem of a mantle, and not at once a mantle and a +man? Such questions are vain; for not by chance, but by decree, it came +about that a death from a hand by which a demi-god would have desired to +die, befell a demi-man, and that now this strange birth of nature shines +on us forever, in the light of Charlotte Corday's dagger and last +triumphant smile. + +Yet, even to Marat, let us be merciful, if we must also be just. A +monster he was not, nor even a madman; but a mannikin, of some energy +and acuteness, soured and crazed to a preternatural degree, and whose +fury was aggravated by pure fright. He was such a man as the apothecary +in "Romeo and Juliet" would have become in a revolution; but he, instead +of dealing out small doses of death to love-sick tailors and +world-wearied seamstresses, rose by the force of desperation to the +summit of revolutionary power, cried out for 80,000 heads, and died of +the assaults of a lovely patriotic maiden, as of a sun-stroke. And yet +Shakspeare has a decided _penchant_ for the caitiff wretch he so +graphically paints, and has advertised his shop to the ends of the +earth. So let us pity the poor vial of prussic acid dashed down so +suddenly, and by so noble a hand, whom mortals call Marat. Nature +refuses not to appropriate to her bosom her spilt poisons, any more than +her shed blooms--appropriates, however, only to mix them with kindlier +elements, and to turn them to nobler account. So let us, in humble +imitation, collect, and use medicinally, the scattered drops of poor +acrid Marat. + +Marat was essentially of the canaille--a bad and exaggerated specimen of +the class, whom his imperfect education only contributed to harden and +spoil. Robespierre and Danton belong, by birth and training, by feelings +and habits, to the middle rank--Robespierre sinking, in the end, below +it, through his fanaticism, and Danton rising above it, through his +genius and power. Both were "limbs of the law," though the one might be +called a great toe, and the other a huge Briarean arm; and, without +specifying other resemblances, while Marat lost his temper and almost +his reason in the _mêlée_ of the Revolution, both Robespierre and Danton +preserved to the last their self-possession, their courage, and the full +command of their intellectual faculties, amidst the reelings of the +wildest of revolutionary earthquakes, and the thick darkness of the +deepest canopy of revolutionary night. + +Robespierre reminds us much of one of the old Covenanters. Let not our +readers startle at this seemingly strange assertion. We mean the +_worst_ species of the old Covenanter--a specimen of whom is faithfully +drawn by Sir Walter in Burley, and in our illustrious clansman--the +"gifted Gilfillan." Such beings there did exist, and probably exist +still, who united a firm belief in certain religious dogmas to the most +woeful want of moral principle and human feeling, and were ready to +fight what they deemed God's cause with the weapons of the devil. Their +cruelties were cool and systematic; they asked a blessing on their +assassinations, as though savages were to begin and end their cannibal +meals with prayer. Such men were hopelessly steeled against every +sentiment of humanity. Mercy to their enemies seemed to them treason +against God. No adversary could escape from them. A tiger may feed to +repletion, or be disarmed by drowsiness; but who could hope to appease +the _ghost of a tiger_, did such walk? Ghosts of tigers, never +slumbering, never sleeping, cold in their eternal hunger, pursuing +relentlessly their devouring way, were the religious fanatics--the +Dalziels and Claverhouses, as well as the Burleys and Mucklewraths, of +the seventeenth century. + +To the same order of men belonged Robespierre, modified, of course, in +character and belief, by the influences of his period. The miscalled +creed of the philosophers of France in the eighteenth century, which, +with many of themselves, was a mere divertisement to their intellects, +or a painted screen for their vices, sunk deep into the heart of +Robespierre, and became a conviction and a reality with him. So far it +was well; but, alas! the creed was heartless and immoral, as well as +false. Laying down a wide object, it permitted every license of vice or +cruelty in the paths through which it was to be gained. Robespierre +became, accordingly, the worst of all sinners--a _sinner upon system_--a +political Antinomian, glorying in his shame, to whom blood itself became +at last an abstraction and a shadow; the guillotine only a tremendous +shuttle, weaving a well-ordered political web; and the tidings of the +fall of a thousand heads agreeably indifferent, as to the farmer the +news of a cleared hay or harvest field. + +That Robespierre had at the first any appetite for blood, is not now +asserted by his bitterest foe. That he ever even acquired such a +monstrous thirst, seems to us very unlikely. His only thought would be, +at the tidings of another death, "Another sacrifice to my _idea_; +another obstacle lifted out of its way." Nero's wish that his enemies +had but "one neck" was, we think, comparatively a humane wish. It showed +that he had no delight in the disgusting details, but only in the secure +result of their destruction. _He_ is the unnatural monster who protracts +the fierce luxury--who sips his deep cup of blood lingeringly, that he +may know the separate flavor of every separate drop, and who, like the +Cyclops in the cave, leaves some select victim to the last, as a _bonne +bouche_ to his sated appetite--"_Noman_ shall be the last to be +devoured." Robespierre, no more than Nero, was _up_ to such delicately +infernal cruelty. + +Carlyle frequently admits Robespierre's sincerity, and yet rates him as +little other than a sham. We account for this as we did in the case of +Marat. He is regarded as a SMALL sincerity; and the sincerity of a small +man contracts, to Carlyle's eye, something of the ludicrous air in which +a Lilliputian warrior, shouldering his straw-sized musket, and firing +his lead-drop bullets, seemed to Gulliver. "Bravo, my little hero!" +shouts the Titan, with a loud laugh, as he sees him, with "sky-blue +breeches," patronizing the houseless idea of a divine being, "prop away +at the tottering heavens, with that new nine-pin of thine; but why is +there not rather a little nice doll of an image in those showy +inexpressibles, to draw out, and complete the conversion of thy people? +and why not say, 'These be thy gods, O toy and toad-worshiping France!'" +To bring him to respect, while he admits, the sincerity, we would need +to disprove the smallness, of our Arras advocate. Now, compared to truly +great men, such as Cromwell--or to extraordinary men, such as Napoleon, +Mirabeau, and Danton--Robespierre was small enough. But surely it was no +pigmy, whose voice--calm, dispassioned, and articulate--ruled lunatic +France; who preserved an icy coolness amid a land of lava; who mastered, +though it was only for a moment, a steed like the Revolution; and who +threw from his pedestal, though it was by assailing in an unguarded +hour, a statue so colossal as Danton's. Rigid, Roman-like purpose--keen, +if uninspired, vision--the thousand eyes of an Argus, if not the head of +a Jove, or the fist of a Hercules--perseverance, honesty, and first-rate +business qualities--we must allow to Robespierre, unless we account for +his influence by Satanic possession, and say--either _no dunce aut +Diabolus_. Carlyle attributes his defeat and downfall to his +pertinacious pursuit of a shallow logic to its utmost consequences. +Probably he thus expresses, in his own way, the view we have already +sought to indicate. Robespierre was the sincere, consistent, unclean +apostle of an unclean system--a system of deism in theology--of +libertinism in morals--of mobocracy in politics--of a "gospel according +to Jean-Jacques"--a gospel of "liberty, equality, fraternity"--a liberty +ending in general bondage, an equality terminating in the despotism of +unprincipled talent, a fraternity dipping its ties in blood. With +faithful, unfaltering footstep, through good report and bad report, he +followed the genius of revolution in all her devious, dark, dangerous, +or triumphant paths, till she at last turned round in anger, like a +dogged fiend, and rent him in pieces. + +In dealing with Robespierre, we feel, more than with Marat, that we are +in contact with an intelligent human being, not an oddity, and mere +splinter of a man. His idea _led_, and at last _dragged_ him, but did +not devour nor possess him. His cruelty was more a policy, and less a +raging passion; and his great moral error lay in _permitting_ a theory, +opposed to his original nature, to overbear his moral sense, to drain +him of humanity, and to precipitate him to his doom. If he had resisted +the devil, he would have fled from him. + +In rising from Robespierre to Danton, we feel like one coming up from +the lower plains of Sicily into its western coast--the country of the +Cyclopes, with their one eye and gigantic stature; their courage, toil, +ferocity, impiety, and power. Danton _did_ tower Titanically above his +fellows, and, with little of the divine, was the strongest of the +earth-born. He had an "eye," like a shield of sight, broad, piercing, +and looking straight forward. His intellect was clear, intuitive, +commanding, incapable of the theoretical, and abhorrent of the +visionary. He was practical in mind, although passionate in temperament, +and figurative in speech. His creed was atheism, not apparently wrought +out by personal investigation, or even sought for as an opiate to +conscience, but carelessly accepted, as the one he found fashionable at +the time. His conduct, too, was merely the common licentiousness of his +country, taking a larger shape from his larger constitution and stronger +passions. His political faith was less definite and strict, but more +progressive and practical, and more accommodated to circumstances than +Robespierre's. His patriotism was as sincere as Robespierre's, but hung +about him in more voluminous folds. It was a toga, not a tunic. A sort +of lazy greatness, which seemed, at a distance, criminal indifference, +characterized him when in repose. His cupidity was as Cyclopean as his +capacity. Nothing less than a large bribe could fill such a hand. No +common goblet could satisfy such a maw. Greedy of money, for money's +sake, he was not. He merely wished to live, and all Paris knew what he +meant by living. And with all the royal sops to Cerberus, he remained +Cerberus still. Never had he made the pretensions of a Lord Russell, or +Algernon Sidney, and we know how they were subsidized. His "poverty, but +not his will consented." Had he lived in our days, a public +subscription--a "Danton testimonial, all subscriptions to be handed in +to the ---- office of Camille Desmoulins," would have saved this vast +needy patriot--this "giant worm of fire," from the disgrace of taking +supplies from Louis, and then laughing a wild laughter at his provider, +as he gnawed on at the foundations of his throne. + +In fact, careless greatness, without principle, was the key to Danton's +merits and faults--his power and weakness. Well did Madame Roland call +him "Sardanapalus." When he found a clover field, he rolled in it. When +he had nothing to do, he did nothing; when he saw the necessity of doing +something immediately, he could condense ages of action into a few +hours. He was like some terrible tocsin, never rung till danger was +imminent, but then arousing cities and nations as one man. And thus it +was that he saved his country and lost himself, repulsed Brunswick, and +sunk before Robespierre. + +It had been otherwise, if his impulses had been under the watchful +direction of high religious, or moral, or even political principle. This +would have secured unity among his passions and powers, and led to +steady and cumulative efforts. From this conscious greatness, and +superiority to the men around him, there sprung a fatal security and a +fatal contempt. He sat on the Mountain smiling, while his enemies were +undermining his roots; and while he said, "He dares not imprison me," +Robespierre was calmly muttering "I will." + +It seemed as if even revolution were not a sufficient stimulus to, or a +sufficient element for Danton's mighty powers. It was only when war had +reached the neighborhood of Paris, and added its hoarse voice to the +roar of panic from within, that he found a truly Titanic task waiting +for him. And he did it manfully. His words became "half battles." His +actions corresponded with, and exceeded his words. He was as calm, too, +as if he had created the chaos around him. That the city was roused, yet +concentrated--furious as Gehenna, but firm as fate, at that awful +crisis, was all Danton's doing. Paris seemed at the time but a +projectile in his massive hand, ready to be hurled at the invading foe. +His alleged cruelty was the result, in a great measure, of this habitual +carelessness. Too lazy to superintend with sufficient watchfulness the +administration of justice, it grew into the Reign of Terror. He was, +nevertheless, deeply to blame. He ought to have cried out to the mob, +"The way to the prisoners in the Abbaye lies over Danton's dead body;" +and not one of them had passed on. He repented, afterward, of his +conduct, and was, in fact, the first martyr to a milder regime. Not one +of his personal enemies perished in that massacre: hence the name +"butcher" applied to him is not correct. He did not dabble in blood. He +made but one fierce and rapid irruption into the neighborhood of the +"_red sea_," and returned sick and shuddering therefrom. + +His person and his eloquence were in keeping with his mind and +character. We figure him always after the pattern of Bethlehem Gabor, as +Godwin describes him: his stature gigantic, his hair a dead black, a +face in which sagacity and fury struggle for the mastery--a voice of +thunder. His mere figure might have saved the utterance of his +watchword, "We must put our enemies in fear." His face was itself a +"Reign of Terror." His eloquence was not of the intellectual, nor of the +rhetorical cast. It was not labored with care, nor moulded by art. It +was the full, gushing utterance of a mind seeing the real merits of the +case in a glare of vision, and announcing them in a tone of absolute +assurance. He did not indulge in long arguments or elaborate +declamations. His speeches were Cyclopean cries, at the sight of the +truth breaking, like the sun, on his mind. Each speech was a +peroration. His imagination was fertile, rugged, and grand. Terrible +truth was sheathed in terrible figure. Each thought was twin-born with +poetry--poetry of a peculiar and most revolutionary stamp. It leaped +into light, like Minerva, armed with bristling imagery. Danton was a +true poet, and some of his sentences are the strangest and most +characteristic utterances amid all the wild eloquence the Revolution +produced. His curses are of the streets, not of Paris, but of +Pandemonium; his blasphemies were sublime as those heard in the trance +of Sicilian seer, belched up from fallen giants through the smoke of +Etna, or like those which made the "burning marl" and the "fiery gulf" +quake and recoil in fear. + +Such an extraordinary being was Danton, resembling rather the Mammoths +and Megatheriums of geology than modern productions of nature. There was +no beauty about him why he should be desired, but there was the power +and the terrible brilliance, the rapid rise and rapid subsidence of an +Oriental tempest. Peace--the peace of a pyramid, calm-sitting and +colossal, amid long desolations, and kindred forms of vast and coarse +sublimity--be to his ashes! + +It is lamentable to contemplate the fate of such a man. Newly married, +sobered into strength and wisdom, in the prime of life, and with +mildness settling down upon his character, like moonlight on the rugged +features of the Sphinx, he was snatched away. "One feels," says Scott of +him, "as if the eagle had been brought down by a 'mousing owl.'" More +melancholy still to find him dying "game," as it is commonly +called--that is, without hope and without God in the world--caracolling +and exulting, as he plunged into the waters of what he deemed the +bottomless and the endless night; as if a spirit so strong as his could +die--as if a spirit so stained as his could escape the judgment--the +judgment of a God as just as he is merciful; but also--blessed be his +name!--as merciful as he is just. + + + + +[From Bentley's Miscellany.] + +RATTLIN THE REEFER'S DREAM. A TOUGH BUT TRUE YARN. + +BY ONE OF RATTLIN'S OLD SHIPMATES. + + +It was about the middle of August, 18--, that the _Old Lucifer_ was +cruising in the Monar Passage, a strait about forty miles wide, which +separates the eastern end of St. Domingo from the island of Porto Rico. +I was "middy" of the morning watch: it had been dead calm all night, but +the gentle trade-wind was rising with the rising sun, and morning was +glorious with the magic gilding of a tropical sky. Some time after eight +bells,[7] when Ned Rattlin, who was never very punctual or methodical +in any of his movements, came on deck to relieve me, and I was about to +hurry down to my breakfast of warm skilligalee, or, as our old French +negro, who served as midshipmen's steward and maid-of-all-work, with +true French tact for murdering the king's English, called it, +"giggeragee," Ralph seized me by the collar of my jacket, crying, + +"Avast! Careless, my boy; you really must not make sail for the cockpit +till you have heard the horrid dream which I had last night or this +morning, for I dreamt it twice over, and can not get it out of my head. +I must tell it to some one, and you are the only one that I dare tell it +to; I should be so confoundedly laughed at by the _servum pocus_ of the +cockpit; but you and I know each other, and have some pursuits and +feelings in common. We have our day-dreams and our night-dreams, and we +know that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of +in the philosophy of a midshipman's berth." + +Now, had not Ralph seized hold of me by the lappel of my jacket, as +before said, I should certainly have cut and run; for a reefer of +sixteen, who is just relieved from the morning-watch, which he has kept +for four hours, from four o'clock in the morning, and who has taken a +cold bath in the wash-deck tub, is not likely to be in a humor to let +his breakfast of cocoa or skilligalee grow cold. But, with the powerful +grip of Ralph's shoulder-of-mutton fist on my collar, there was no +chance of escape without tearing my jacket from clue to earring, which I +felt that I could not afford to do; for, as I have before remarked, +Ralph Rattlin was my senior by two years at least, and overtopped me in +height by a foot, or something near it. I therefore made a virtue of +necessity, and said, + +"Well, Jemmy, if you'll promise not to keep me long, and allow me, +first, to run down below and tell old Dom to keep my burgoo[8] warm, +I'll return and hear your wonderful dream, though I fancy it's all +gammon, and only manufactured to try the capacity of my swallow; because +you know that, like yourself, I have a bit of hankering after the +marvelous, and, as the negro Methodist said of the prophet Jonah, am 'a +tellible fellow for fish,' though I doubt whether, like him, I could +quite swallow a whale." + +"Well, then, make sail, you little flibbertigibbet, and make haste back, +that's a good fellow." + +The above elegant soubriquet he generally favored me with, when, in +Yankee parlance, I had "riled" him and got his "dander up," as was +always the case when he was called Jemmy Caster; he being but too +conscious that his long loose figure and shambling gait bore, at that +time, no small resemblance to those of a waister of that name, though he +afterward became a remarkably fine, handsome man, bearing a striking +resemblance, not without sufficient reason, to King George the Fourth. + +In a few minutes I had made arrangements with old Dominique for the safe +custody of my breakfast, and was again pacing the lee side of the +quarter-deck, by the side of my gigantic messmate. + +"And now, my dear Careless," said he, with unusual gravity, "if you can +be serious for a few minutes, I will relate to you this infernal dream, +which so preys upon my spirits that I do not feel like myself this +morning, and must unburden my mind. I dreamt, then, that I was on the +second dog-watch, as you know I shall be this evening; it was between +seven and eight bells, the night pitch-dark, with the wind blowing fresh +from the northeast, the ship under double-reefed topsails, and foresail +close hauled on the starboard tack, running at the rate of five knots as +I had found upon heaving the log. Suddenly the sea became like one sheet +of flame; its appearance was awfully grand; the head of every wave, as +it curled over and broke, diffused itself in broad streaks and flashes +of blue and white flame; and I involuntarily repeated to myself the two +lines of that singular, soul-freezing rhapsody, the 'Ancient Mariner,' +which, though descriptive of a very different state of the ocean from +that now presented to my imagination, I felt to be most applicable to +what I saw before me-- + + The water, like a witch's oils, + Burnt green, and blue, and white; + +and then, referring to the two preceding lines of the stanzas-- + + About, about, in reel and rout, + The death-fires danced at night. + +For that strangely wild and beautiful poem had taken a powerful hold on +my sleeping fancy. I asked myself, with a shudder, can there be +'death-fires?' And it seemed that the question uttered half aloud, had +no sooner passed my lips, than it received its answer in a most strange +and fearful manner; for a voice, like no human voice that I ever yet +heard, shrieked out, in a tone of horror and distress, that made my +blood run cold, 'Ship a-hoy--ship a-hoy!' I turned toward the lee +quarter, whence the voice came; and, jumping on a carronade-slide, I saw +the body of a man appearing out of the sea, from the waist upward, of +gigantic size, and of most forbidding--and at the same time +woeful--countenance. His body appeared covered with scales, like that of +a fish, which reflected the ghastly phosphoric light of the waters in +radiating hues of green and gold, and purple and violet. His ample jaws, +which opened from ear to ear, and which were furnished with a triple row +of saw-shaped teeth, like those of a shark, were fringed with a thick +curled beard and mustache, of pale sea-green, which fell in wavy +masses, mingling with long elf-locks of the same sickly hue, over his +broad breast and shoulders; his deep sunk eyes flashed out with a +strange unearthly light from beneath thick, overhanging eyebrows of that +self-same sea-green hue, and his head was surrounded and surmounted with +a waving diadem of 'green, and blue and white' flames, flashing upward, +and radiating sideways, and curling over their waving tops, so as to ape +the exact form of ostrich feathers. Awful as the figure was, and though +it made my flesh creep, yet dreaming as I was, I felt conscious that +there was something of the ridiculous attached to the _bizarrerie_ of +its appearance. You know my vein, Careless, and will give me credit for +a true exposition of my feelings, when I tell you that, though in a most +awful funk, I could not help adopting the words of _Trinculo_, and +asking myself, half aloud, + + What have we here--a man or a fish? + +I had not, till that moment, noticed the quarter-master of the watch, a +fine old weather-beaten seaman, who stood close to my side, and was, +like myself, attentively watching the movements of the strange +demon-like merman, who continued to follow the ship within a few fathoms +of the lee quarter-gallery, with a continual bowing or nodding motion of +the head, which caused his plumes of livid flame to flash and +corruscate, so that, to my eyes, they appeared to assume various forms +of terror, as of 'fiery flying serpents,' entwining his temples and +thence shooting upward, hissing and protruding their forked tongues, and +lashing the air with their wings and tails of flame; and then, again, +they subsided as before into the form of gracefully-curling ostrich +plumes; meanwhile he kept opening his terrific jaws, from which issued a +thin blue luminous vapor, as if in act to speak, but uttered no audible +sound, except that every now and then he would wring his huge hands, +which appeared to be webbed to the second joint of the fingers, like the +feet of a water fowl, and furnished with long, crooked nails like an +eagle's claws, and utter a wailing shriek so like the cry of a drowning +man, that it nearly drove me mad to hear it, and seemed to freeze my +very blood in my veins. Whether old Bitts, the quarter-master, had +really heard me quote the words of _Trinculo_, or whether, as all things +seem to work by supernatural influences in dreams, he had divined my +question by intuition, I know not, but he answered me at once. + +"'No, sir; believe an old sailor, that 'ere critter is neither man nor +fish; it is somebody far more terrible-like, and one that few living +sailors have ever set eyes on, though, mayhap, I may have seen him +before; mayhap, d'ye see, I can't tell when nor where, nor whether it +were sleeping or waking; howsomedever, be that as it will, I knows him +well enough, for sure that 'ere's old Davy himself--old Davy Jones--he's +come for some poor fellow's soul on board this here ship; and if you +wants to get rid of him, you'd better go down at once, and call the +captain up, that he may tell him to take what he wants and be off; for, +till that's done, he'll keep alongside the ship, and if he's kept too +long waiting, there's no saying but he may send a hurricane which may +sweep the _Old Lucifer_ and all her officers and crew, away down into +his locker.' + +"This hint was no sooner given, than I thought I went down into the +captain's cabin, where I found Captain Dure seated at the cabin-table, +just under the swinging lamp, as pale as death, and trembling from head +to foot like an aspen-leaf. + +"'Please, sir,' I said, touching my hat, as in duty bound, 'Davy Jones +has come alongside, and is waiting for somebody's soul; will you please +to come on deck, and tell him to take what he wants?' + +"'I know it,' said the captain, who seemed utterly unnerved with terror, +while the presence of the unearthly visitant seemed to + + ---- harrow up his soul, freeze his young blood; + Make his two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres; + His knotted and combined locks to part, + And each particular hair to stand on end + Like quills upon the fretful porcupine. + +"'I had a glimpse of him,' continued he, 'out of the quarter-gallery +window, and that's enough for me. Let the officer of the watch, or the +first lieutenant, tell him to take what he wants, and get rid of him.' + +"Now, it seemed to me in my dream that I was dreadfully annoyed at the +conduct of the captain in shrinking in such a dastardly manner from his +duty; for, from the moment that Bitts had informed me who the stranger +was and what he required, I had gone down and reported his advent to the +skipper, with as much coolness and unconcern as I should have done the +coming alongside of the admiral or any other great personage, and all my +terror seemed, for the time, to have vanished as soon as the strange +vision became connected with matters of routine or ship's duty. I, +therefore, addressed the captain again, as it seemed to me, in a tone +more authoritative than respectful: 'But, sir, you must come on deck; +for old Bill Bitts says that Davy Jones will hearken to nobody but the +captain or commander of the ship for the time being, and he knows Davy +of old; and says, that if you don't come up on deck soon and let him go, +the old fellow will send a hurricane that will blow the _Old Lucifer_ +out of the water, and that we shall find ourselves all, men and +officers, down in Davy Jones's locker before you can say Jack Robinson. +And I can tell you, sir, that the sky looks very ugly to windward.' + +"'Well, Ralph, my boy!' said the captain, apparently quite convinced by +my eloquent speech, which seemed to go down capitally in my dream, +though I guess I should soon be looking out for squalls at the +main-top-gallant-mast head, if I were to venture to address such a +cavalier harangue to the skipper in waking earnest. 'Well, Ralph, my +boy! give me your arm, and we'll go on deck, and give old Davy his due, +since it must be so.' And with my assistance the captain mounted the +companion-ladder, still trembling in every limb. + +"As soon as we came on deck, I led him over to the lee side of the +quarter-deck, and begged him to mount the carronade slide, and give his +unwelcome visitor the _congé d'élire_, for which he seemed waiting, +still bowing his head, waving his fiery plumes, and mopping and mowing, +and showing his treble row of teeth, as before. At the sight of the +frightful demon, the captain seemed more dead than alive, and ready to +fall from the gun-carriage, on which I was obliged to support him; he, +however, plucked up courage to shriek out, in a voice that trembled with +agitation, 'Whoever, or whatever you are, take what you want, and +begone;' and having said so, he sank powerless into my arms; upon which +the creature uttered one of its strange, thrilling shrieks as of a +drowning man, but which seemed mingled with a sort of shrill, demoniac +laughter, and disappeared below the waves--the waving plumes of his +singular head-gear flashing up half-mast high as he sank out of sight. +At the same moment, my eyes were somehow mysteriously directed from it, +and I saw Jacob Fell, the forecastle-man, fall dead into the arms of one +of his watch-mates, he, whom we call Cadaverous Jack, and whom you +christened the Ancient Mariner, because you said he went about his duty +looking so miserable, holding his head down on one side, as if he always +felt the weight of the murdered albatross hanging about his neck. +Immediately a heavy squall threw the ship on her beam-ends, and I +awoke"--which was the singular dream related to me by my quondam friend +and shipmate, with a gravity quite unusual with him, except when he +wanted to play upon the credulity of some of us youngsters, when he used +to assume the gravest possible countenance, though I could always, in +these cases, discern the lurking devil in his eyes. In this case, +however, I could discover no such appearance of fun and frolic; his +looks were, on the contrary, perfectly serious, and even allied to +sadness, in spite of the bravado with which he had assumed his usual +careless levity of manner in certain parts of his narration. I +determined, however, not to let him have the laugh against me, and +therefore said, "Come, come, Jemmy, you should tell that dream to the +marines; the sailors can't bolt it; it's rather too tough. We all of us +know that you are always dreaming, but you can't catch old birds with +such chaff. I am too old a sea-dog, and have sailed over too many +leagues of blue water to bite at such gammon." I prided myself much on +being Ralph's senior in the service by a couple of years or so, and felt +indignant that he should think of treating me as a youngster, because he +had about the same advantage of me in age. He, however, affirmed, in the +most solemn manner, that it was an actual _bonâ-fide_ dream, and that +it had been reiterated on his falling asleep again, though in broken and +disjointed patches, sometimes one part, sometimes another, of the +previous vision being presented to his sleepy fancy; but there was +always this horrible merman, with his shark's jaws and his flaming +tiara, and poor Jacob Fell lying dead in his messmate's arms. But +methinks I hear some nautical reader exclaim, "All stuff!" who ever +heard of two reefers telling their dreams, and chattering on the sacred +precincts of the quarter-deck of one of her Majesty's frigates, like a +guinea-pig and an embryo cadet on the quarter-deck of a Bengal trader? +Pardon, my noble sea-_hossifer_, but you must remember that the _Old +Lucifer_ was not the crack frigate--not the _Eos_, six-and-thirty, but +only a small frigate; and that, although she was blessed with a real +martinet of a first-lieutenant, yet, in point of discipline, she was +like most jackass frigates and sloops of war, _et hoc genus omne_, +little better than a privateer; besides, our Portuguese supernumerary +lieutenant was the officer of the watch, and Ralph had completely got +the weather-gage of him, and could do what he liked with the "pavior." +However, the dream was told me by Ralph nearly in the very words in +which I have given it, though, perhaps, not all on deck, for the subject +was renewed over our allowance of grog in the midshipmen's berth after +dinner, for nothing could drive it out of Rattlin's head, and he was all +that day singularly silent and _distrait_ on all other subjects. That +evening I had the first dog-watch; and when Rattlin came on deck at six +o'clock to relieve me, the sun was setting in a red and angry-looking +sky, and there was every symptom of a squally night. + +"Well, Percy," he said, "this sunset reminds me of my dream. I really +think old Davy will be among us before my watch is out." + +"Very well, Jemmy, I'll come on deck at seven bells and see," I replied, +as I ran down the companion for an hour's snooze, for, as my nautical +readers will be aware, I had the middle watch. Mindful of my promise, as +soon as I heard seven bells struck, I roused myself from the locker on +which I had stretched myself, and went on deck, and I was immediately +struck with the perfect coincidence of the weather, and all the +accessories to those described by Rattlin in his dream. The ship had +just been put about, and was now close hauled on the starboard tack; the +night pitch dark, the breeze freshening from the northeast, and the sea +beginning to assume that luminous appearance so frequently observable +under a dark sky and with a fresh breeze, but which, though generally +attributed to myriads of luminous animalculæ, has never yet been fully +and satisfactorily accounted for. I joined my friend Rattlin, and said +to him, in a low tone, "This looks, indeed, like your dream." + +"Yes," he answered, looking very pale and nervous; "it does, indeed. I +don't know what to make of it. Davy Jones will certainly lay hold of +some of us to-night." + +At this moment the first-lieutenant came on deck, followed by the +captain, whose sallow countenance, as he stood abaft the binnacle, and +the light fell on his face, looked rather more ghastly than usual. + +"I think, Mr. Silva," said the former, addressing the officer of the +watch, "we had better take another reef in the topsails; it looks very +squally to windward; it's drawing near to eight bells, so we'll turn the +hands up at once." + +"Mr. Rattlin," said Silva, "all hands reef topsails." + +"Boatswain's-mate," bawled out Rattlin, going forward on to the weather +gangway, "turn the hands up to reef topsails." + +"Ay, ay, sir;" and immediately his silver call was between his lips, and +after blowing a shrill prelude, his hoarse voice was heard proclaiming, +"All hands reef topsails, ahoy," which was re-echoed from the main-deck +by the call and voice of the boatswain's-mate of the watch below, and, +finally, by those of the boatswain himself, as the men came tumbling up +the fore and main hatchways, and were soon seen scampering up the +rigging, or making the best of their way to their various stations. In +less than five minutes the topsails were double-reefed, and the ship +again dashing the spray from her bows. It being now so near the time for +relieving the watch, the crew, with the exception of the idlers, all +remained on deck, and the topmen scattered in groups about the gangways +and forecastle. + +All at once the sky grew blacker than before, the breeze freshened, and +the surface of the sea became like one sheet of pale blue and white +flame. + +"Now, Careless," whispered Rattlin, actually trembling with excitement, +"my dream to the life!" + +The words had scarcely passed his lips, when such a shriek as I never +heard before or since, seemed to come out of the very depths of the +ocean, close under the ship's counter on the lee quarter. Every one +rushed to the lee gangway, or jumped on the quarter-deck guns, to look +in the direction from whence the sound came; but nothing could be seen. +Once more that doleful cry arose, and it seemed now rather more distant +from the ship, and then it ceased forever. + +"A man overboard!" cried the first lieutenant, who seemed the first to +recover his senses, seizing a grating of the companion-hatchway, and +flinging it over the lee bulwark, while the lieutenant of the watch did +the same with its fellow. "Down with helm, and heave her all aback--let +go the lee braces--lay the main-topsail to the mast--square away the +after-yards, my boys--lower the jolly-boat--jump into her, some of ye, +and cast off her fastenings." + +This latter command had, however, been obeyed ere it was issued, for the +captain of the mizen-top and myself had jumped into the boat, where we +were soon joined by three other mizen-top-men, and had her all clear for +lowering. Two other seamen stood with the boat's tackle-falls in their +hands. + +"Lower away," cried I; and down we went. + +During her descent, I had shipped the rudder, and we were soon pulling +away to leeward. In vain we pulled about for more than an hour in the +short, tumbling sea, which scintillated as it broke around us, and shed +a ghastly hue on our anxious countenances, while the + + Elfish light + Fell off in hoary flakes + +from the blades of our oars at every dip as they rose again from the +water. At length the stentorian voice of the first-lieutenant hailed us +to come on board, and we gave up our hopeless search, bringing with us +nothing but one of the gratings and the life-buoy, which had been thrown +overboard to support the drowning man, had he been fortunate enough to +lay hold on one or the other of them. Upon passing the word forward to +inquire whether any of the ship's company were missing, it was found +that Jacob Fell, the forecastle-man, had not been seen since he had laid +out with one of his watch-mates to stow the jib, which was hauled down +when the topsails were reefed; the other man had left him out on the +jib-boom, whence he must have fallen overboard; and it was supposed, +from his thrilling and unearthly shriek, that he had been seized by a +shark, as that part of the Carribean Sea is peculiarly infested by those +voracious creatures; and thus was most singularly accomplished my +shipmate Rattlin's dream. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] Time is regulated on board a king's ship by a half-hour glass, which +is placed in the binnacle, in charge of the quarter-master of the watch +on deck, and who when he turns the glass, passes the word forward to +strike the bell, which, in a man-of-war, is hung to the main-bitts, just +over the main-hatchway, and where it is consequently heard with facility +all over the ship. + +[8] Burgoo, or skilligalee, is the sea-term for what in Scotland is +called "parritch," and in Ireland "stirabout," namely, oatmeal boiled in +water. + + + + +[From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.] + +LETTERS AND LETTER WRITING. + + +Neither history nor tradition tells us aught of the first letter--who +was its writer, and on what occasion; how it was transmitted, or in what +manner answered. The Chinese, the Hindoo, and the Scandinavian +mythologies had each tales regarding the inventors of writing, and the +rest of those that by pre-eminence may be called human arts; but +concerning the beginner of mankind's epistolary correspondence, neither +they nor the classic poets--who by the way, volunteered many an +ingenious story on subjects far less important--have given us the least +account. + +Pope says: + + "Heaven first taught letters for some wretch's aid-- + Some banished lover, or some captive maid." + +The poet evidently refers to the letter-writing art, and it may be so, +for aught we can tell; but with all submission to his superior +knowledge, banished lovers and captive maids have rarely been the +transmitters of such useful inventions. Certainly, whoever first +commenced letter-writing, the world has been long his debtor. It is long +since the Samaritans wrote a letter against the builders of Jerusalem to +Artaxerxes, and it may be observed that the said letter is the earliest +epistle mentioned in any history. Older communications appear to have +been always verbal, by means of heralds and messengers. Homer, in his +account of all the news received and sent between the Greeks and +Trojans, never refers to a single letter. The scribe's occupation was +not altogether unknown in those days, but it must have been brought to +considerable perfection before efforts in the epistolary style were +made. That ancient language of picture and symbol, in which Egypt +expressed her wisdom, was undoubtedly the earliest mode of writing; but, +however, calculated to preserve the memory of great historical events +amid the daily life, and toil, and changes of nations, it was but poorly +fitted for the purpose of correspondence. How could compliments or +insinuations be conveyed by such an autograph? Letters must have been +brief and scanty in the hieroglyphic times; yet doubtless not without +some representations, for the unalphabeted of mankind have combined to +hold mutual intelligence by many a sign and emblem, especially in those +affairs designated of the heart, as they above all others contribute to +ingenuity. Hence came the Eastern language of flowers, which, with +Oriental literature and mythology, is now partially known over the +civilized world. In its native clime this natural alphabet is said to be +so distinctly understood, that the most minute intimations are expressed +by it; but the more frank and practical courtship of Europe has always +preferred the pen as its channel of communication, which, besides its +greater power of enlargement, prevents those mistakes into which the +imperfectly-initiated are apt to fall with flowers. For instance, there +is a story of a British officer in Andalusia who, having made a deep +impression on the heart of a certain alcaide's daughter, in one of the +small old towns of that half-Moorish province, and receiving from her +one morning a bouquet, the significance of which was--"My mother is in +the way now, but come to visit me in the twilight," supposed in his +ignorance, and perhaps presumption, that he was invited to an immediate +appointment: whereupon he hurried to the house, just in time to meet the +venerable signora, when the lady of his heart boxed his ears with her +own fair hands, and vowed she would never again send flowers to a stupid +Englishman. + +In fine contrast to this sample of misunderstanding stands forth the +dexterity with which an Irish serving-maid contrived to signify, by +symbols of her own invention, her pleasure, on a still more trying +occasion. Poor Kitty, though a belle in her class, could neither read +nor write; but her mistress's grown-up daughter undertook, as a labor of +love, to carry on a correspondence between her and a certain hedge +schoolmaster in the neighborhood, who laid siege to Kitty's heart and +hand on account of a small deposit in the savings' bank, and that +proverbial attraction which learned men are said to find in rather +illiterate ladies. The schoolmaster was, however, providently desirous +of fixing on the mind of his future partner an impression of his own +superiority sufficient to outlast the wear and tear of married life, and +therefore wooed chiefly by long and learned letters, to which Kitty +responded in her best style, leaving to her volunteer secretary what she +called "the grammar" of her replies; besides declaring, with many +hardly-complimentary observations on the schoolmaster's person and +manners, that she had not the slightest interest in the affair, but +only, in her own words, "to keep up the craythur's heart." Thus the +courtship had proceeded prosperously through all the usual stages, when +at length the question, _par excellence_, was popped (of course on +paper). Kitty heard that epistle read with wonted disdain; but, alas, +for human confidence! there was something in her answer with which she +could not trust the writer of so many; for after all her scorn, Kitty +intended to say, "Yes," and her mode of doing so merits commemoration. +In solitude that evening, beside the kitchen hearth, she sketched on a +sheet of white paper, with the help of a burned stick, a rude +representation of a human eye, and inclosing a small quantity of wool, +dispatched it next morning to the impatient swain by the hand of his +head scholar--those primitive tokens expressing to Kitty's mind the +important words, "I will," which the teacher, strange to say, understood +in the same sense; and their wedding took place, to the unqualified +amazement of Kitty's amanuensis. Epistolary forms and fashions have had +their mutations like all other human things. The old Eastern mode of +securing letters was by folding them in the shape of a roll, and winding +round them a thin cord, generally of silk, as the luxury of letters was +known only to the rich. In the case of billets-doux--for Eastern lovers +did not always speak by flowers when the pen was at their +command--enthusiastic ladies sometimes substituted those long silken +strings which, from time immemorial, the Oriental women have worn in +their hair--a proceeding which was understood to indicate the deepest +shade of devotedness. + +The mythic importance attached to these hair-strings must, indeed, have +been great, as history records that a certain prince, whose dominions +were threatened by Mithridates, the great king of Pontus--like other +great men, a troublesome neighbor in his day--sent the latter a +submissive epistle, offering homage and tribute, and bound with the +hair-strings of his nineteen wives, to signify that he and his were +entirely at the monarch's service. The custom of securing letters by +cords came through the Greek empire into Europe in the middle ages; but +the use of the seal seems still earlier, as it is mentioned in Old +Testament history. Ancient writers speak of it as an Egyptian Invention, +together with the signet-ring, so indispensable throughout the classic +world, and regarded as the special appendage of sovereignty in the +feudal times. + +Of all the letters the Egyptians wrote on their papyrus, no specimens +now remain, except perhaps those scrolls in the hands of mummies, +referred to by early Christian authors as epistles sent to deceased +friends by those unreturning messengers; and they, it may be presumed, +were at the best but formal letters, since no reply was ever expected. +The classic formula for correspondence, "Augustus to Julius, greeting," +is now preserved only in letters-patent, or similar documents. That +brief and unvarying style has long been superseded in every language of +Europe by a graduated series of endearing terms, rising with the +temperature of attachment, from "Dear Sir," or "Madam," to a limit +scarcely assignable, but it lies somewhere near "Adored Thomas" or +"Margery." + +Masters of the fine arts as they were, those ancient nations came far +short of the moderns in that of letter-writing. The few specimens of +their correspondence that have reached us are either on matters of +public business, or dry and dignified epistles from one great man to +another, with little life and less gossip in them. It is probable that +their practice was somewhat limited, as the facilities of the +post-office were unknown to Greece and Rome--the entire agency of modern +communication being to the classic world represented only by the post or +courier, who formed part of the retinue of every wealthy family. The +method of writing in the third person, so suitable for heavy business or +ceremony, is evidently a classical bequest. It does not appear to have +been practiced in England till about the beginning of the eighteenth +century, though it was early in use among the continental nations. Louis +XIV. used to say, it was the only style in which a prince should permit +himself to write; and in the far East, where it had been in still older +repute, the Chinese informed his missionaries that ever since they had +been taught manners by the Emperor Tae Sing, no inferior would presume +to address a man of rank in any other form, especially as a law of the +said emperor had appointed twenty blows of the bamboo for that +infraction of plebeian duty. + +Of all human writings, letters have been preserved in the smallest +proportion. How few of those which the best-informed actors in great +events or revolutions must have written, have been copied by elder +historians or biographers! Such documents are, by their nature, at once +the least accessible and the most liable to destruction; private +interests, feelings, and fears, keep watch against their publication; +but even when these were taken out of the way, it is to be feared that +the narrow-minded habit of overlooking all their wisdom deemed minute, +which has made the chronicles of nations so scanty, and many a life in +two volumes such dull reading, also induced learned compilers to +neglect, as beneath their search, the old letters bundled up in dusty +chest or corner, till they served a succeeding generation for waste +paper. Such mistakes have occasioned heavy losses to literature. Time +leaves no witnesses in the matters of history and character equal to +these. How many a disputed tale, on which party controversy has raged, +and laborious volumes have been written, would the preservation of one +authentic note have set at rest forever? + +The practical learning of our times, in its search after confirmation +and detail, amply recognizes the importance of old letters; and good +service has been done to both history and moral philosophy by those who +have given them to the press from state-paper office and family bureau. +In such collections one sees the world's talked-of-and-storied people as +they were in private business, in social relations, and in what might be +justly designated the status of their souls. In spite of the proverbial +truisms, that paper never refuses ink, and falsehood can be written as +well as spoken, the correspondence of every man contains an actual +portrait of the writer's mind, visible through a thousand disguises, and +bearing the same relation to the inward man that a correct picture bears +to the living face; without change or motion, indeed, but telling the +beholder of both, and indicating what direction they are likely to take. + +The sayings of wits and the doing of oddities long survive them in the +memory of their generation--the actions of public men live in history, +and the genius of authors in their works; but in every case the +individual, him or herself, lives in letters. One who carried this idea +still farther, once called letter-writing the Daguerreotype of +mind--ever leaving on the paper its true likeness, according to the +light in which it stands for the time; and he added, like the sun's +painting, apt to be most correct in the less pleasant lines and +lineaments. Unluckily this mental portraiture, after the fashion of +other matters, seems less perceptible to the most interested parties. +Many an unconcerned reader can at this day trace in Swift's epistles the +self-care and worship which neither Stella nor Vanessa could have seen +without a change in their histories. + +Cardinal Mazarin, however, used to say that an ordinary gentleman might +deceive in a series of interviews, but only a complete tactician in one +of letters; "that is," observed his eminence, "if people don't deceive +themselves." The cardinal's statement strikingly recalls, if it does not +explain, a contemporary remark, that the most successful courtships, in +the fullest sense of that word, were carried on with the help of secret +proxies in the corresponding department. The Count de Lauson, whose +days, even to a good old age, were equally divided between the Bastile +and the above-mentioned pursuit, in which he must have been rather at +home--for though a poor gentleman, with little pretensions to family, +still less to fortune, and no talents that the world gave him credit +for, he contrived in his youth to marry a princess of the blood-royal of +France, who had refused half the kings of Europe, and been an Amazon in +the war of the Frondé; and in his age a wealthy court belle--this Count +de Lauson declared that he could never have succeeded in his endeavors +after high matches but for a certain professional letter-writer of +Versailles, on whose death he is said to have poured forth unfeigned +lamentations in the presence of his last lady. Letters always appear to +have been peculiarly powerful in the count's country. Madame de Genlis, +whose "Tales of the Castle," and "Knights of the Swan" delighted at +least the juveniles of a now-departing generation, was believed to have +made a complete conquest, even before first sight, of the nobleman whose +name she bears, by a single letter, addressed to a lady at whose house +he was an admiring visitor, when she unadvisedly showed him the epistle. +An anxiously-sought introduction and a speedy marriage followed; but the +scandal-mongers of the period averred that their separation, which took +place some years after, was owing, among other circumstances, to an +anonymous letter received by the baron himself. + +Frederick the Great used to call the French the first letter-writers of +Europe, and it is probable that their national turn for clever gossip +gives to their epistles a sort of general interest, for in no other +country have letters formed so large a portion of published literature. +This was particularly true in Frederick's own age. Never did a death or +a quarrel take place--and the latter was not rare among the _savants_ of +that period--but comfort or satisfaction was sought in the immediate +publication of every scrap of correspondence, to the manifold increase +of disputes and heartburnings. Some of the most amusing volumes extant +were thus given to the world; and Madame Dunoyer's, though scarcely of +that description, must not be forgotten from the tale of its origin. +When Voltaire was a young attaché to the French embassy at the Hague, +with no reputation but that of being rather unmanageable by his family +and confessor, he was on billet-doux terms, it seems, with madame's +daughter; but madame found out that he was poor, or something like it, +for in no other respect was the lady scrupulous. Her veto was therefore +laid on the correspondence, which nevertheless survived under interdict +for some time, till Voltaire left the embassy, and it died of itself; +for he wrote the "Oedipe," became talked of by all Paris, and noticed by +the Marquis de Vellers. Gradually the man grew great in the eyes of his +generation, his fame as a poet and philosopher filled all Europe, not +forgetting the Hague; and when it had reached the zenith, Madame Dunoyer +collected his letters to her daughter, which remained in her custody, +the receiver being by this time married, and published them at her own +expense in a handsomely-bound volume. Whether to be revenged on fortune +for permitting her to miss so notable a son-in-law, or on him for +obeying her commands, it is now impossible to determine, but her book +served to show the world that the early billets-doux of a great genius +might be just as milk-and-watery as those of common people. + +Indeed letter-publishing seems to have been quite the rage in the +eighteenth century. The Secretary La Beaumelle stole all Madame de +Maintenon's letters to her brother, setting forth her difficulties in +humoring Louis XIV., and printed them at Copenhagen. Some copies were +obligingly forwarded to Versailles, but madame assured the king they +were beneath his royal notice, which, being confirmed by his confessor, +was of course believed; but the transaction looks like retributive +justice on her well-known practice of keeping sundry post-office clerks +in pay to furnish a copy of every letter sent or received by the +principal persons at court, not excepting even the royal family. Among +these were copied the celebrated letters of the Dauphiness Charlotte +Elizabeth of Bavaria, which now, in good plain print, present to all +readers of taste in that department a complete chronicle of all the +scandal, gossip, and follies of Versailles; and that princess, whose +pride stood so high on her family quarterings, was gravely rebuked, and +obliged to ask pardon seven years after for certain uncomplimentary +passages in her epistles regarding madame when she first came to court +as nursery governess to the king's children. + +Dangerous approvers have old letters been from throne to cottage. Many a +specious statement, many a fair profession, ay, and many a promising +friendship, have they shaken down. Readers, have a care of your deposits +in the post-office; they are pledges given to time. It is strange, +though true, how few historical characters are benefited by the +publication of their letters, surviving, as such things do, contemporary +interests and prejudices, as well as personal influence. + +There must be something of the salt that will not lose its savor there +to make them serve the writers in the eyes of posterity. What strange +confidence the age of hoop and periwig put in letter-writing! Divines +published their volumes of controversy or pious exhortation, made up of +epistles to imaginary friends. Mrs. Chapone's letters to her niece +nourished the wisdom of British belles; while Lord Chesterfield's to his +son were the glass of fashion for their brothers; and Madame de +Sévigné's to her daughter, written expressly for publication, afforded +models for the wit, elegance, and sentiment of every circle wherein her +language was spoken. The epistolary style's inherent power of +characterization naturally recommended it in the construction of their +novels, and many a tale of fame and fashion in its day, besides "La +Nouvelle Heloise," and "Sir Charles Grandison," was ingeniously composed +of presumed correspondence. + +Chinese literature is said to possess numerous fictions in that form; +but it is not to be regretted that modern novelists, whose name is more +than legion, pass it by in favor of direct narrative; for, under the +best arrangement, a number of letters can give but a series of views, +telling the principals' tale in a broken, sketchy fashion, and leaving +little room for the fortunes of second-rate people, who are not always +the lowest company in the novel. Tours and travels tell pleasantly in +letters, supposing of course the letters to be well written; for some +minds have such a wondrous affinity for the commonplace, that the most +important event or exciting scene sinks to the every-day level under +their pen. + +Sir Andrew Mitchell, who was British embassador to Prussia during the +seven years' war, writes from the camp before Prague concerning that +great battle which turned the scale of power in Germany, and served +Europe to talk of till the French Revolution, in a style, but for +quotations from the bulletin, suitable to the election of some civic +alderman; and a less known traveler, writing to a friend of the glare of +Moscow's burning, which he saw from a Russian country-house, reddening +the northern night, describes it as "a very impressive circumstance, +calculated to make one guard against fire." + +It has been remarked that, as a general rule, poets write the best, and +schoolmasters the worst letters. That the former, in common with +literary men of any order, should be at least interesting +correspondents, seems probable; but why the instructors of youth should +be generally stricken with deficiency in letter-writing is not so easy +of explanation. + +Some one has also observed that, independent of mental gifts and graces, +characters somewhat cold and frivolous generally write the most finished +letters, and instanced Horace Walpole, whose published epistles even in +our distant day command a degree of attention never to be claimed by +those of his superior contemporaries--the highly-gifted Burke, and the +profound Johnson. It may be that the court gossip in and upon which +Horace lived has done much for the letters from Strawberry Hill, but the +vein must have been there; and the abilities that shine in the world of +action or of letters, the conversational talents or worthiness of soul, +do not make the cleverest correspondent. + +Count Stadion, prime minister to the Elector of Mayence, according to +Goethe, hit on an easy method of making an impression by letters. He +obliged his secretary, Laroche, to practice his handwriting, which, it +appears, he did with considerable success; and, says the poet in his own +memoirs, being "passionately attached to a lady of rank and talent, if +he stopped in her society till late at night, his secretary was, in the +mean time, sitting at home, and hammering out the most ardent +love-letters; the count chose one of these, and sent it that very night +to his beloved, who was thus necessarily convinced of the +inextinguishable fire of her passionate adorer." + +"Hélas!" as Madame d'Epigny remarked, when turning over the printed +epistles of a deceased friend, "one can never guess how little truth +the post brings one;" but from the following tradition, it would seem +the less the better. Among the old-world stories of Germany are many +regarding a fairy chief or king, known from rustic times as Number Nip, +or Count-the-Turnips. One of his pranks was played in an ancient inn of +Heidelberg, where, on a December night, he mixed the wine with a certain +essence distilled from the flowers of Elfland, which had the effect of +making all who tasted it tell nothing but truth with either tongue or +pen till the morning. The series of quarrels which took place in +consequence round the kitchen fire belong not to the present subject; +but in the red parlor there sat, all from Vienna, a poet, a student, a +merchant, and a priest. After supper, each of these remembered that he +had a letter to write--the poet to his mistress, the merchant to his +wife, the priest to the bishop of his diocese, and the student to his +bachelor uncle, Herr Weisser of Leopoldstadt, who had long declared him +his heir. Somehow next morning they were all at the post-office +beseeching their letters back; but the mail had been dispatched, and the +tale records how, after that evening's correspondence, the poet's liege +lady dismissed him, the merchant and his wife were divorced, the priest +never obtained preferment, and none of the letters were answered except +the student's, whom Herr Weisser complimented on having turned out such +a prudent, sensible young man, but hoped he wouldn't feel disappointed, +as himself intended to marry immediately. + +The most curiously-characteristic letters now made public property are +those of Sir Walter Raleigh to Queen Elizabeth, written from the Tower +(to which the historian of the world was committed for wedding without +her majesty's permission), and in the highest tone of desperation that a +banished lover could assume; the correspondence between Frederick of +Prussia and Voltaire, then of France, after what was called their +reconciliation, beginning with the grandest compliments, and ending with +reminiscences of quite another kind, particularly that from the royal +pen, which opens with, "You, who from the heights of philosophy look +down on the weakness and follies of mankind," and concludes with the +charge of appropriating candle-ends; and the epistles of Rousseau during +his residence in England, which alternate between discoveries of black +conspiracies against his life and fame, and threats of adjournment to +the workhouse, if his friends would not assist him to live in a better +style than most country gentlemen of the period. + +There are printed samples with whose writers fame has been busy; but who +can say what curiosities of letter-writing daily mingle with the mass +that pours through the London Post-Office? Can it be this continual +custody and superintendence of so large a share of their +fellow-creatures' wisdom, fortunes, and folly, that endows post-office +functionaries in every quarter with such an amount of proverbial +crustiness, if the word be admissible? Do they, from the nature of their +business, know too much about the public to think them worth civility, +so that nobody has yet discovered a very polite postmaster or man? A +strange life the latter leads in our great cities. The truest +representative of destiny seems his scarlet coat, seen far through +street and lane: at one door he leaves the news of failure and ruin, and +at another the intelligence of a legacy. Here his message is the death +of a friend, while to the next neighbor he brings tidings of one long +absent, or the increase of kindred; but without care or knowledge of +their import, he leaves his letters at house after house, and goes his +way like a servant of time and fortune, as he is, to return again, it +may be, with far different news, as their tireless wheels move on. Are +there any that have never watched for his coming? The dwellers in +palaces and garrets, large families, and solitary lodgers, alike look +out for him with anxious hope or fear. Strange it is for one to read +over those letters so watched and waited for, when years have passed +over since their date, and the days of the business, the friendship, or +perhaps the wooing, to which they belong are numbered and finished! + +How has the world without and within been altered to the correspondents +since they were written? Has success or ill fortune attended the +speculations by which they set such store? What have been their effects +on outward circumstances, and through that certain channel, on the men? +Has the love been forgotten? Have the friends become strange or enemies? +Have some of them passed to the land whose inhabitants send back no +letters? And how have their places been filled? Truly, if evidence were +ever wanting regarding the uncertainty of all that rests on earth, it +might be found in a packet of old letters. + + + + +A CHAPTER ON SHAWLS. + + +We scarcely know a truer test of a gentlewoman's taste in dress than her +selection of a shawl, and her manner of wearing it: and yet if the truth +must be owned, it is the test from which few Englishwomen come with +triumph. Generally speaking, the shawl is not their forte, in fact they +are rather afraid of it. They acknowledge its comfort and convenience +for the open carriage, or the sea-side promenade, but rarely recognize +it for what it is, a garment capable of appearing the most feminine and +graceful in the world. They are too often oppressed by a heap of false +notions on the subject; have somehow an idea that a shawl is "old" or +"dowdy;" and yet have a dim comprehension that the costly shawls which +they more frequently hear of than see, must have some unimagined merits +to prove an excuse for their price. + +The Frenchwoman, on the contrary, has traditions about "Cashmeres," and +remembers no blank of ignorance on the subject. She played at dressing +her doll with one, you may be sure; chronicled as an epoch in her life, +her first possession of the real thing; holds it as precious as a +diamond, and as something to which appertains the same sort of intrinsic +value; and shrugs her shoulders with compassionate contempt at an +Englishwoman's ignorant indifference on this subject--just as a lover of +olives pities the coarse palate which rejects them. Truly the taste for +the shawl is a little inherent, and a great deal acquired and +cultivated; as appreciation for the highest attributes of every +department of art ever must be, from a relish for Canova's +_chefs-d'oeuvres_ down to a relish for M. Soyer's dishes. + +Of course among those we are addressing, there is a minority who do +know, and duly esteem a beautiful shawl: perhaps, from the possession of +wealth, they have long been accustomed to be surrounded by objects of +rare and exquisite fabric, and their practiced eyes would be quick at +detecting inferiority: perhaps without great riches or the personal +possession of valuable attire, a fine taste may have been cultivated by +circumstances: and perhaps they are Anglo-Indians, or the relatives and +near friends of Anglo-Indians, who know well a "Cashmere,"--measuring +every other shawl in the world by and from it--and to whom the word +conjures up a host of memories half sunshine and half shadow. + +It was not until quite the close of the last century, that Cashmeres +were prized in Europe. Travellers' tales had mentioned them, it is true, +but that was before the locomotive age, and when travelers were few, and +traveling unspeakably tedious; when soldiers went to India to hold and +increase their country's territory; when a few traders made princely +fortunes; but when every system of interchange was narrow and exclusive, +and people were taught to be content with clumsy common wares, instead +of raising them to excellence by the spur of competition. It is said +that in the year 1787, the embassadors of Tippoo Saib left behind them +at Paris a few Cashmere shawls--intended as gracious presents we +presume--but which were regarded solely as curiosities, and not even +much esteemed in that capacity, for we learn that they were employed as +dressing-gowns, and even used for carpeting! Not till after Napoleon's +expedition to Egypt did they become the rage; and a solid good resulted +from that campaign in the introduction of a fabric destined to be the +model of one of the most famous manufactures of the French. + +Madame Emile Gaudin, a lady of Greek extraction and a reigning beauty, +is reputed to have first worn a Cashmere shawl in Paris; but if we know +any thing of the "Consul's Wife," or the "Empress Josephine," she was +not very far behind, for her love of Cashmeres was next to her love of +flowers, as more than one anecdote might be called in to testify. What +scenes this history of an inanimate object conjures up to the mind's +eye. These leaders of fashion when the old century went out on the +young Republic of France, whose Master was already found--who were they? +The wives of men who were working out the destiny of Europe, guided by a +chief who, be he judged for good or evil, looms on the page of history +in giant proportions! + +As we have said, the Cashmere shawl became the rage. The farce of +pretended equality in France was acted out, and the curtain dropped on +it in preparation for quite a different tableau; people no longer risked +their lives by dressing elegantly, and it was not now expected that the +_soubrette_, the _blanchisseuse_, or the _poissonnière_ should dress +precisely the same as the lady of a general officer. There was wealth, +too, in the land, and the enormous sums demanded for these shawls were +readily forthcoming. Sums equivalent to two or three hundred pounds of +our money were commonly paid even for soiled worn articles, which had +done duty as turbans to Mogul soldiers, or girded a Bayadere's waist, or +been the sacerdotal garment of an idolatrous priest--and had very +frequently been thus used by more than one generation. It is true, the +durability of the fabric and the lasting properties of the dyes, +permitted the cleansing of these shawls with scarcely perceptible injury +or deterioration, but still it was only the intrinsic merit of the +thing, which could have overcome the natural repugnance which the known +or suspected history of a Cashmere must in many instances have +occasioned. + +The Levant traders had now large commissions, and the result was that +_new_ shawls were soon more easily procurable, but still bearing an +enormous price. This is readily accounted for, and a brief description +of the manufacture of Indian shawls will show how it is that they never +can be cheap:--The wool of the Thibet goat is the finest in the world, +and for the best shawls only the finest even of this wool is used. The +animals are shorn once a year, and a full-grown goat only produces about +eight ounces of wool of this first quality. There is every reason to +suppose that the climate has very much to do with the perfection of the +animal, for attempts to naturalize it elsewhere have all more or less +failed. The loom on which a Cashmere shawl is woven is of the rudest and +most primitive description, the warp being supported by two sticks, and +the woof entirely worked in by the human hand. This slow laborious +process permits a neatness and exactness of finish beyond the power of +any machinery to rival; and when we take into account a life-long +practice in the art, and--remembering the Hindoo "castes," which usually +limit a family to the exercise of a single craft--in most instances the +family secrets and traditions which have been preserved, we cease to +wonder at the perfection of the work. These Asiatic weavers, temperate +in their habits and readily contented, receive a wage of from +three-halfpence to twopence a day; but if their wants more nearly +approximated to those of an European laborer, what would an Indian +Cashmere be worth, when we are informed that from thirty to forty men +have sometimes been employed from eighteen months to two years in the +manufacture of a single shawl! There is something very kindling to the +imagination in the thought of these swarthy weavers, attired perhaps in +our Manchester calicoes, laboring patiently for weeks and months to +produce a fabric worthy of rank and royalty, without other than most +vague or false ideas of the scenes in which their work will be +displayed. + +The borders of these shawls are made in several pieces, sometimes as +many as from ten to twenty, and are afterward sewn together to form the +pattern; and by the border an Indian shawl may always be recognized from +a French or Paisley one, however close an imitation the latter may +appear. Every stitch of the border of the Indian shawl being worked by +the hand is distinct in itself, and may be pulled out--though it is not +very easily detached--without further injury to the fabric; whereas the +shawl made on a French or British loom has the border formed in one +piece, whence a long thread may at any time be readily drawn. Indeed +there is no surer test by which a lady may know a veritable Cashmere, +than by examining the border; but if she have a fine eye for color this +faculty will also assist her. The preparation of the dyes which the +Hindoos use is still a secret, of which they are very chary, removing +their operations to a distance whenever they have reason to dread +inquisitive lookers on. But the result in their fabrics is perceived in +the peculiar richness and clearness of their hues, and at the same time +absence of glare; the reds, blues, and greens, reminding one more of the +harmonious tints of old stained glass than any thing else. + +It must not, however, be supposed that in the progressive nineteenth +century, even this Asiatic manufacture has remained stationary. +Receiving the impetus of fashion, the shawls of Cashmere have become, +within the last dozen years, richer and more elaborate than ever; their +richness and elaboration of pattern necessitating even a firmer and more +substantial groundwork than heretofore, but still the method of their +manufacture remains unchanged, as might be expected from the +conservatism inseparable from semi-barbarism. London is now one of the +chief marts for Cashmeres. It may not be generally known that London +dealers send quantities of shawls to France, America, Russia, and even +Turkey, a convincing proof of the enterprise of British merchants. They +supply many other foreigners, especially finding a market among them for +the gold embroidered shawls, which are frequently worn on state +occasions at foreign courts. The duty on Indian shawls is now only about +five per cent. Twice a year there are public sales, to which dealers are +invited by catalogues sent to Paris and other continental cities. One of +the great merits of a Cashmere seems that it is really never out of +date; and when, comparing even the old "pine" patterns with the large +long shawls, the rich borders of which sweep in graceful flowing lines +into the very centre, we feel that they are still "of one family," and +hold together--if the comparison be not too fanciful--rich and poor, in +right clannish fashion. + +Some of the most modern and most costly Indian shawls _resemble_ in +pattern that of the long French Cashmere, simply however because the +French have _copied_ the Indian design. The gold and silver thread +employed for the embroidery of Cashmere shawls is usually prepared in +the following manner; and the chief seat of the manufacture is at +Boorhampoor, a city of the Deccan. A piece of the purest ore is beaten +into a cylindrical form about the size of a thick reed, and then beaten +out in length until it will pass through an orifice the eighth of an +inch in diameter; it is drawn through still finer perforations until it +is reduced to the proportion of a bobbin thread. Now a different plan is +pursued; the wire already produced is wound upon several reels which +work upon pivots, the ends of the thread being passed through still +finer holes, and then affixed to a large reel which is set rapidly in +motion and still further attenuates the threads. It is afterward +flattened on an anvil of highly polished steel, by a practiced and +dexterous workman; and by an ingenious process, a silk thread is +afterward plated, or sheathed as it were by this minute wire. It is +asserted that if a lump of silver be gilt in the first instance before +being drawn into wire, it will retain the gilding through all the +subsequent hard usage of hammering, winding, and drawing to which it is +subjected, coming out to the very last a gilded thread. It is easy to +understand that gold and silver thread of this pure description, unlike +tinsel finery, it is not liable to tarnish. + +There are few of our readers who can require telling that China crape is +made entirely of silk, and that shawls manufactured of it are generally +costly in proportion to the richness of the pattern. The foundation or +ground of the shawls is chiefly made at Nankin, and then sent to Canton +to be embroidered. The pattern is formed by two "needlemen," who work +together, the one passing the silk _down_, and the other from beneath +passing it _up_, while a third workman changes the silk for them when +necessary. Thus the apparent marvel of equal neatness on both sides is +accounted for, by the explanation of this simple method; but we have +quite failed, from examination of the work, to detect the process of +fastening on and off; with such mysterious ingenuity is this needful +operation performed. China crape shawls have been very fashionable of +late years, and almost defying vulgar imitation, are little likely to +fall into disrepute. + + + + +[From Tait's Magazine.] + +A NIGHT OF TERROR IN A POLISH INN. + +JOURNEY TO BRCZWEZMCISL. + + +I had but just quitted the university, and was a mere stripling, when I +received the appointment of judge-commissary at a little town in New +East Prussia, as the part of Poland was termed which, during the +partition of that country, had fallen to the share of Prussia. + +I will not weary the reader by giving any lengthened account of my +journey; the country was but one flat throughout, the men mere boors, +the officials uncouth, the accommodation execrable. Yet the people all +seemed happy enough. Man and beast have each their allotted elements. +The fish perishes when out of water--the elegance of a boudoir would +prove fatal to a Polish Jew. + +Well, to make my story short, I arrived one evening, a little before +sunset, at a place called, I believe (but should be sorry to vouch for +my accuracy), Brczwezmcisl, a pleasant little town enough. When I say +pleasant, to be sure I own that the streets were unpaved, the houses +begrimed with soot, and the natives not over refined either in manners +or person; but a man who works in a coal-mine is pleasant, after his +fashion, even as the pet _figurante_ of the day after hers. + +I had pictured to myself Brczwezmcisl, the place where I was to enter +upon my functions, as far more formidable than I in fact found it, and +perhaps on that account I was now prepared to term it pleasant. I +remember that the first time I tried to pronounce the name of the place +I very nearly brought on lock-jaw. Hence, no doubt, my gloomy +anticipations as to its appearance. Names certainly do influence our +ideas to a most marvelous extent. Moreover, what mainly contributed to +enhance my secret misgivings as to the town destined to enjoy the +benefit of my talents was the fact that I had never yet been so far from +home as to lose sight of its church steeple. I had a tolerable idea that +my way did not lead me in the vicinity of the Cannibal Islands, or of +the lands where men's heads "do grow beneath their shoulders;" but I was +not without some apprehension, as I journeyed on, of receiving an +occasional pistol-shot, or feeling the cold steel of a stiletto between +my ribs. + +My heart throbbed violently as I caught the first glimpse of +Brczwezmcisl. It appeared, at a distance, a vast plain, covered with +mud-heaps. But what mattered that to one of my imaginative powers? There +was my goal, there my entering scene in life. Not a soul did I know +there, with the exception of an old college acquaintance, named +Burkhardt, who had been but recently appointed collector of taxes at +Brczwezmcisl. I had apprised him of my near advent, and requested him to +provide me with temporary lodgings. The nearer I approached the town, +the keener waxed my esteem and friendship for Burkhardt, with whom I had +never been on terms of intimacy; indeed, my mother enjoined me always to +shun his society, seeing that his reputation for steadiness was not of +the highest. But now I was his till death. He was my only rallying point +in this wild Polish town; he was the sole plank to which I could cling. + +I am not of a superstitious character, but I own to a certain belief in +omens; and I had settled in my mind that it would be a lucky sign if the +first person we met coming out of the town gates should prove a young +woman, and the reverse if one of the other sex. As we were about to +enter the town a girl, to all appearance comely and well-made, issued +from the gate. Damsel of happy augury! Fain could I have quitted the +cumbrous vehicle, and cast my travel-worn frame prostrate at your feet. +I wiped my eye-glass that I might not lose one of her features, but +grave them for ever in the tablets of my memory. + +As she came nearer, I discovered to my dismay that my Brczwezmcisl Venus +was a thought hideous. Slim she was, good sooth, but it was the slimness +of one wasted by disease! shape and figure had she none. Her face was a +perfect surface, for some untoward accident had deprived her of her +nose; and had it not been for the merest apology for lips, her head +might have been taken for the skull of a skeleton. As we came yet +nearer, I remarked that the fair Pole was a warm patriot; for she put +out her tongue at me in derision of her nation's oppressors, whose +countryman I was. + +Under these happy auspices we entered the town, and halted at the +Post-office, newly decorated with the Prussian eagle, which would have +shown to much greater advantage, in all the glories of fresh paint, had +not some patriotic little street blackguards adorned it with a thick +coating of mud. + + +THE OLD STAROSTY.[9] + +I asked the postmaster very politely where I could find Mr. +Tax-collector Burkhardt. In order, I suppose, to convince me that even +in that remote corner of the globe officials were true to those habits +of courtesy and attention for which they are so eminently distinguished, +he suffered me to repeat my question six times ere he vouchsafed to +inquire, in his gruffest tones, what I wanted; a seventh time did I +reiterate my inquiry, and that, I flatter myself with a degree of +politeness that would have done honor to the most finished courtier. + +"In the old Starosty," he growled out. + +"Might I be permitted most respectfully to inquire whereabout this same +old Starosty may be located?" + +"I have no time. Peter show this person the way." + +And away went Peter and I, while the postmaster, who had no time to +answer me, lolled out of the window, with his pipe in his mouth, +watching us. Aha, my fine fellow, thought I, just let me catch you in +the hands of justice--whose unworthy representative I have here the +honor to be--and I'll make you rue the day you dared sport your +churlishness upon me. + +Peter, the Polish tatterdemalion, who escorted me, understood and spoke +so little German, that our conversation was extremely limited. His +sallow face and sharp features rendered him particularly +unprepossessing. + +"Tell me, my worthy friend," I asked, as we waded side by side through +the mud, "do you know Mr. Tax-collector Burkhardt?" + +"The old Starosty." + +"Good; but what can I do in your old Starosty?" + +"Die!" + +"God forbid! that does not at all chime in with my arrangements." + +"Stone-dead; die!" + +"Why, what have I done?" + +"Prussian--no Pole." + +"I am a Prussian, certainly." + +"Know that." + +"What do you mean by dying then?" + +"So, and so, and so;" and the fellow thrust the air as though he +clenched a dagger. He then pointed to his heart, groaned, and rolled his +eyes in a manner awful to behold. I began to feel rather uncomfortable, +for Peter had by no means the look of one beside himself; besides, the +understrappers at the post-office are seldom recruited from a lunatic +asylum. + +"I think we are at cross purposes, my excellent friend," I at length +resumed. "What do you mean by die?" + +"Kill!" and he gave me a wild sidelong glance. + +"How, kill?" + +"When night comes." + +"When night comes--this very night? Your wits are wool-gathering, +sirrah!" + +"Pole, yes; but no Prussian." + +I shook my head, and desisted from any further attempt at conversation. +We evidently could not make each other out. And yet there was fearful +meaning in the scoundrel's words. I was well aware of the inveterate +hatred felt by the Poles toward the Prussians, and how it had already +led to fatal collisions between them. What if the dunder-headed fellow +had meant to convey a warning to me? or perhaps he had involuntarily +betrayed the secret of a plot for the general massacre of every +Prussian. I mentally resolved to divulge the whole to my friend and +fellow-countryman Burkhardt, as we arrived at the so-termed Starosty. It +was constructed of stone, evidently of some antiquity, and situate in a +dull remote street. Ere we reached it I observed how each passer-by cast +a sly furtive glance up at its time-worn walls. My guide did the same; +and pointing to the door, he shuffled off without word or gesture of +salutation. + +It must be owned that my arrival and reception at Brczwezmcisl were none +of the most flattering. The discourteous damsel at the gate, the surly +New East Prussian postmaster, and the Pole, with his unintelligible +jargon, had put me on the very worst terms with my new place of sojourn +and office of judge-commissary. How I congratulated myself to think that +I was about to meet one who had, at least, breathed the same air as +myself! To be sure, Mr. Burkhardt was not held in the best repute at +home; but a man's character varies according to the circumstances of his +position, even were he still the same as of old. Better far a jovial +tippler than a sickly skeleton with her projected tongue; better far a +hare-brained gambler than the postmaster with his studied coarseness; +ay, better the company of a vaporing hector than that of a Polish +malcontent. The latter phase in Burkhardt's character even served to +elevate him in my eyes; for, between ourselves be it observed, my +gentleness and love of quiet, my steadiness and reserve, so oft the +theme of praise with mamma, would stand me but in sorry stead should any +rising of the people take place. Some virtues become vices in certain +positions. + +As I entered the old Starosty I was puzzled to know where to find my +dear and long-cherished friend Burkhardt. The house was very spacious. +The creaking of the rusty door-hinges resounded through the whole +building, yet without bringing any one to ascertain who might be there. + +I discovered an apartment on my left, and knocked gently at the door. As +my signal was unanswered by any friendly "Come in," I knocked more +loudly than before: still no answer. My knocks re-echoed through the +house. I waxed impatient, and yearned to clasp Burkhardt, the friend of +my soul, to my heart. I opened the door and went in. In the middle of +the room was a coffin. + +If I be always polite to the living, still more so am I to the dead. I +was about to retire as gently as I could, when a parting glance at the +coffin showed me that its hapless occupant was no other than the +tax-collector, Burkhardt, who had been called on, poor fellow, in his +turn, to discharge that great tax so peremptorily demanded of us by that +grim collector Death. There he lay regardless alike of flagon or dice +box, calm and composed as though he had never shared in the joys or +cares of this life. + +Indescribably shocked, I rushed from the chamber of death, and sought +relief in the long gloomy corridor. What on earth was to become of me +now? Here I was, hundreds of miles from my native home and the maternal +mansion, in a town whose very name I never had heard until I was sent to +un-Pole-ify it as judge-commissary! My sole acquaintance, the friend of +my heart, had shuffled off this mortal coil. What was I to do, where lay +my head, or how find the lodgings engaged for me by the dear departed? + +My gloomy reflections were here disturbed by the creaking of the door on +its rusty hinges, whose harsh grating jarred strangely on my nerves. + +A pert, flippant-looking livery-servant rushed up the stairs, +contemplated me with a broad stare of astonishment, and at length +addressed me. My knees shook beneath me. I suffered the fellow to talk +to me to his heart's delight, but for the first few moments fright +deprived me of all power of reply; and even had my state of mind +permitted me to speak, it would have amounted to much the same thing, +seeing that the man was speaking Polish. + +Perceiving that he remained without reply, he proceeded to address me in +German, which he spoke very fluently. I at length mustered up sufficient +courage to tell him my whole story, and the various adventures I had met +with since my arrival at the accursed town whose name it still +dislocated my jaws to pronounce. As he heard my name he assumed a more +respectful mien, took off his hat, and proceeded to give me the +following details, which, for the reader's benefit, I have compressed +into the smallest possible space. + +He informed me, to begin with, that his name was Lebrecht; that he had +served as interpreter and most faithful of domestics to Mr. +Tax-collector, of pious memory, until the preceding night, when it had +pleased Heaven to remove the excellent and ever to be lamented +tax-collector to another and a better world. The manner of his death was +perfectly in keeping with the tenor of his life. He had been passing the +evening at wine and cards with some Polish gentlemen. The fumes of the +wine aroused the Prussian pride of my friend, while it kindled to a yet +fiercer pitch the old Sarmatian patriotism of his companions. Words grew +high, blows were exchanged, and one of the party dealt my late friend +three or four blows with a knife, any one of which was of itself +sufficient to have extinguished life. In order to avoid incurring the +penalties of New East Prussian justice, the guilty parties had taken +themselves off--whither none could tell. My ever-to-be-regretted friend +had, shortly before his death, made all the requisite arrangements for +me, and hired a very experienced German cook, who would wait upon me at +a moment's notice. In the course of his narrative, Lebrecht led me to +infer, from several hints that he gave me, how the Poles were sworn foes +to the Prussians, and how I must expect to meet with such delicate +attentions as those lavished on me by the damsel at the gate. He +explained to me moreover, that my friend Peter was a muddle-headed +jackass, and that his pantomimic gestures referred, in all probability, +to the fate of my hapless friend. He warned me to be constantly on my +guard, as the infuriated Poles were evidently hatching some plot; as for +himself, he was fully determined to quit the town immediately after the +funeral of his late master. + +This narrative terminated, he conducted me up the broad stone staircase +to the apartments provided for me. Passing through a suite of lofty +rooms, very spacious, but very dreary to behold, we came to an apartment +of large dimensions, wherein was a press bedstead, with curtains of +faded yellow damask, an old table, whose feet had once been gilded, and +half a dozen dusty chairs. Suspended to the wall was an enormous +looking-glass, almost bereft of its reflecting powers, in a quaint, +old-fashioned frame, while the wall itself was garnished by +parti-colored tapestry, representing scenes from the Old Testament. Time +and the moth had done their work upon it, for it hung in tatters, and +waved to and fro at the slightest motion. King Solomon sat headless on +his throne of judgment, and the hands of the wicked elders had long +since mouldered away. I felt by no means at my ease in this my lonely +dwelling; far rather would I have taken up my quarters at the inn, and, +oh that I had done so! But I kept my own counsel, partly from sheer +nervousness, and partly because I did not wish to appear at all daunted +at being in such immediate vicinity with a corpse. Moreover, I +entertained no doubt but that Lebrecht and the experienced cook would +bear me company during the night. The former lost no time in lighting +the two candles that stood on the table, for it was fast getting dusk, +and then took his departure for the purpose of procuring me the means of +subsistence, and such like, to fetch my luggage, and to apprise the +aforesaid experienced cook that the time had arrived for her to enter +upon her functions. My luggage arrived in due time, likewise every +requisite for my meal; but no sooner had I re-imbursed Lebrecht the +money he had laid out for me than he wished me good-night, and went his +way forthwith. + +I misdoubted the fellow at once, for the moment he had swept up his +money he was off. I was on the point of rushing after him, to entreat +him not to leave me, but I held back for very shame. Why should I make +the wretch the confidant of my timidity? I had no doubt but that he +would spend the night in some room or other, to keep watch over the body +of his slaughtered master. The sound of the banging-to of the +street-door undeceived me at once; and that sound thrilled through my +very marrow. I hurried to the window, and beheld him scampering across +the street, as though the foul fiend were at his heels. He was soon out +of sight, leaving myself and the corpse sole tenants of the old +Starosty. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[9] Starosts were Poles of high birth, appointed as bailiffs or +vice-governors of the various districts and provinces. + + +THE SENTRY. + +I do not believe in ghosts, but yet at night-time I own to being +somewhat apprehensive of their appearance. This may seem to involve a +paradox, but I only state the fact. The death-like stillness of all +around, the time-worn tapestry that clung in fluttering shreds around +that dreary chamber, the consciousness of the body of a murdered man in +the room above, the deadly feud between the Prussian and the Pole, all +conspired to fill my soul with awe and apprehension. I hungered, but +could not eat. I wearied for repose, but could find none. I examined the +window, to ascertain if it could afford me egress in case of need, for I +should have been utterly lost in the labyrinth of chambers and corridors +necessary to traverse ere I could gain the door. To my dismay strong +iron bars forbade all hope of escape in that quarter. + +Suddenly the old Starosty seemed awakening to life. I heard doors open +and close, steps at some little distance, and the sound of voices in +animated conversation. I was at a loss how to account for this rapid +change in the state of affairs, but I felt that it boded me but little +good. It seemed as though I heard a warning voice saying, "'Tis thou +they seek! Did not that blundering Peter betray the secret of the +intended massacre? Save thyself ere it be too late." I shuddered in +every limb. Methought I saw the murderous band, how they thirsted for my +blood, and were concerting the method of my death. I heard their +footsteps approaching nearer and more near. Already had they reached the +ante-chamber leading to my apartment. They were muttering together in +low whispers. I sprang up, and bolted and barred the door, and, as I did +so, became aware that some one was endeavoring to open it on the other +side. I scarce dared breathe, lest my very breath should betray me. I +heard by their voices that they were Poles. As my unlucky stars would +have it, I must needs study a little Polish, by way of qualifying myself +for my official duties; and I could detect the words "blood," "death," +and "Prussians." My knees quaked, cold drops started to my brow. Again +was the attempt to open the door repeated, but it seemed as though the +intruders wished to avoid confusion, for I heard them depart, or rather +glide, from thence. + +Whether it were that the Poles had aimed at my life, or my property, or +whether they had determined upon another mode of attack, I resolved to +extinguish my candles, in order that their light might not betray me +from without. How could I tell but that one of the ruffians might not +fancy taking a shot at me through the windows? + +Night is friend to no man, and man has an instinctive dread of darkness, +else whence the terror of children, even before they have been scared by +the tale of goblin grim and spectre dire? No sooner was I in utter +obscurity than all manner of horrors, possible and impossible, crowded +upon me. I flung myself upon my bed, in the hopes of sleeping, but the +clothes seemed tainted with the foul odor of dead men's graves. If I sat +up it was worse; for ever and anon a rustling sound, as of some one near +me, caused me to shudder afresh. The form of the murdered man, with his +livid brow and half-glazed eye, seemed to stalk before me. What +prospects would I not have sacrificed but to be once more free! And now +the bells tolled the + + "Witching hour of night, + When church-yards yawn, and hell itself looks out." + +Each stroke vibrated upon my soul. In vain I called myself a +superstitious fool, a faint-hearted dastard: it availed me nothing. +Unable at length to bear up any longer, and nerved either by daring or +despair, I sprang from my seat, groped my way to the door, unbolted and +unbarred it, and resolved, albeit at the risk of my life, to gain the +street. + +Merciful heavens! what did I behold as I opened the door! I started and +staggered back. Little had I looked for such a grisly sentinel. + + +THE DEATH-THROES. + +By the dim flickering of an old lamp placed on a side-table, I saw +before me the murdered Tax-collector, lying in his bier, even as I had +seen him in the room above. But now I could perceive how his shirt, +which had previously been concealed by a pall, was dyed with the big +black gouttes of blood. I strove to rally my senses, to persuade myself +that the whole was the mere phantom of my over-heated imagination; but +as I stirred the coffin with my foot, till the corpse seemed as though +about to move and unclose its eyes, I could no longer doubt the fearful +reality of the spectacle before me. Almost paralyzed by fear, I rushed +to my room, and fell backward on my bed. + +And now a confused noise proceeded from the bier. Was the dead alive? +for the sound that I heard was of one raising himself with difficulty. A +low and suppressed moan thrilled in my ears, and I saw before me the +form of the murdered one; it strode through the door, entered my room, +then stalked awhile to and fro, and disappeared. As I again summoned up +my reason to my aid, the spectre, or the corpse, or the living dead, +gave my reason the lie by depositing its long, lank, livid length upon +my bed and across my body, its icy shoulders resting upon my neck, and +nearly depriving me of breath. + +How I escaped with life I can not explain to this present hour. Mortal +dread was upon me, and I must have remained a long while in a state of +unconsciousness; for as I heard from beneath my grisly burden the clock +sound, instead of its striking one--the signal for spirits to vanish--it +was striking two. + +I leave the horrors of my situation to the reader's imagination. The +smell of the charnel-house in my nostrils, and a yet warm corpse +struggling for breath, as though the death-rattle were upon him; while I +was benumbed by terror, and the hellish weight of the burden I bore. The +scenes in Dante's Hell fall far short of anguish such as was then mine. +I was too weak or terror-stricken to disengage myself from the corpse, +which seemed as if expiring a second time; for I conjectured that, while +senseless from loss of blood, the wretched man had been taken for dead, +and thrust forthwith, Polish fashion, into a coffin, and now lay dying +in good earnest. He seemed powerless alike for life and death, and I was +doomed to be the couch whereon the fearful struggle would terminate. + +I strove to fancy that all my adventures in Brczwezmcisl were but a +dream, and that I was laboring under an attack of nightmare, but +circumstances and surrounding objects were too strong to admit of any +such conclusion; still, I verily believe I should have finally succeeded +in convincing myself that it was all a vision, and nothing but a +vision, had not an incident more striking than any that hitherto +preceded, established, beyond the shadow of a doubt, the fact of my +being broad awake. + + +THE LIGHT OF DAY. + +It was day-break; not that I could perceive the light of heaven, for the +shoulders of my expiring friend impeded my view, but I inferred so from +the bustle in the street below. I heard the footsteps and voices of men +in the room; I could not make out the subject of their conversation, as +they talked in Polish, but I remarked that they were busy about the +coffin. Now, beyond a doubt, thought I, they are looking for the dead +man, and my deliverance is at hand; and so it proved, although it +happened after a fashion for which I was but little prepared. + +One of the exploring party smote so lustily with a stout bamboo upon the +extended form of the dead or dying, that he started up, and stood erect. +Some of the blows lighted upon my hapless person with such effect as to +make me yell out most vigorously, and take up a position directly in the +rear of the defunct. This old Polish and New East Prussian method of +restoring the dead to life proved, certainly, so efficacious in the +present instance, that I doubt whether the impassibility of death were +not preferable to the acute perceptions of the living. + +I now perceived that the room was filled by men, for the most part +Poles. The timely castigation had been administered by a police-officer +appointed to superintend the funeral. The Tax-collector still slept the +sleep of death in his coffin, which stood in the ante-chamber, whither +it had been transported by the drunken Poles, who had been ordered to +convey it to what had been formerly the porter's lodge. They had, +however, been pleased to select my ante-chamber as a fitting +resting-place for their charge, whom they confided to the watch of one +of their besotted comrades, who had slumbered at his post, and, awakened +probably by my entrance, had groped his way, with all the instinct of +one far gone in liquor, to my bed, and there slept off the fumes of his +potations. + +The preceding incidents had so thoroughly unmanned me as to bring on a +severe attack of fever, and for seven long weeks did I lie raving about +the horrors of that fearful night; and even now, albeit, thanks to the +Polish insurrection, I am no longer judge-commissary at Brczwezmcisl, I +can scarce think on my adventure in New East Prussia without a shudder. +However, I am always glad to relate it, as it contains a sort of +moral--to wit, that we ought not to fear that which we profess to +disbelieve. + + + + +ENGLAND IN 1850. + +BY LAMARTINE. + + +When a man is strongly preoccupied with the crisis under which his +country labors, every opportunity that arises is caught at to turn to +the profit of his compatriots the sights with which he is struck, and +the reflections with which those sights inspire him. Called by +circumstances of an entirely private nature to revisit England for some +time, after an absence of twenty years, it was impossible for me not to +be dazzled by the immense progress made by England during that lapse of +time, not only in population, in riches, industry, navigation, +railroads, extent, edifices, embellishments, and the health of the +capital, but also, and more especially, in charitable institutions for +the people, and in associations of real religious, conservative, and +fraternal socialism, between classes, to prevent explosions by the +evaporation of the causes which produce them, to stifle the murmurs from +below by incalculable benefits from above, and to close the mouths of +the people, not by the brutalities of the police, but by the arm of +public virtue. Very far from feeling afflicted or humiliated at this +fine spectacle of the operation of so many really popular works, which +give to England at the present moment an incontestable pre-eminence in +this respect over the rest of Europe, and over us, I rejoiced at it. To +asperse one's neighbor is to lower one's self. The rivalries between +nations are paltry and shameful when they consist in denying or in +hating the good that is done by our neighbors. These rivalries, on the +contrary, are noble and fruitful when they consist in acknowledging, in +glorifying, and in imitating the good which is done every where; instead +of being jealousies, these rivalries become emulation. What does it +signify whether a thing be English or French, provided it be a benefit? +Virtues have no country, or, rather, they are of every country; it is +God who inspires them, and humanity which profits by them. Let us then +learn, for one, how to admire. + +But I am told that these practical virtues of the English to the poorer, +the _proletaire_, the suffering classes, are nothing but the prudence of +selfishness! Even if that were the case, we ought still to applaud, for +a selfishness so prudent and so provident, a selfishness which could do +itself justice by so well imitating virtue, a selfishness which would +corrupt the people by charity and prosperity--such a selfishness as that +would be the most profound and most admirable of policies, it would be +the Machiavelism of virtue. But it is not given to selfishness alone to +transform itself so well into an appearance of charity; selfishness +restricts itself, while charity diffuses itself; without doubt there is +prudence in it, but there is also virtue, without doubt Old England, the +veritable patrician republic under her frontispiece of monarchy, feels +that the stones of her feudal edifice are becoming disjoined, and might +tumble under the blast of the age, if she did not bind them together +every day by the cement of her institutions in favor of her people. That +is good sense, but under that good sense there is virtue; and it is +impossible to remain in England for any length of time without +discovering it. The source of that public virtue is the religious +feeling with which that people is endowed more than many others; a +divine feeling of practical religious liberty, has developed at the +present moment, under a hundred forms, among them. Every one has a +temple to God, where every one can recognize the light of reason, and +adore that God, and serve him with his brothers in the sincerity, and in +the independence of his faith. Yes, there is, if you will, at the same +time, prudence, well-understood selfishness, and public virtue in the +acts of England, in order to prevent a social war. Let it be whatever +you like; but would that it pleased God that plebeian and proprietary +France could also see and comprehend its duty to the people! Would that +it pleased God that she could take a lesson from that intelligent +aristocracy! Would that she could, once for all, say to herself, "I +perish, I tremble, I swoon in my panics. I call at one time on the +Monarchy, at another on the Republic, at another on legitimacy, now on +illegitimacy--then on the Empire, now on the Inquisition--then on the +police, now on the sabre, and then on eloquence to save me, and no one +can save me but myself. I will save myself by my own virtue." + +I have seen England twice in my life: the first time in 1822. It was the +period when the Holy Alliance, recently victorious and proud of its +victories over the spirit of conquest of Napoleon, struggled against the +newly-born liberalism, and was only occupied in every where restoring +ancient regimes and ancient ideas. The government of England, held at +that time by the intelligent heirs of a great man (Mr. Pitt), was a +veritable contradiction to the true nature of the country of liberty; it +had taken up the cause of absolute sovereigns against the nations; it +made of the free and proud citizens of England the support and soldier +of the Holy Alliance; it blindly combated the revolution, with its +spirit and institutions, at home and every where else. England, by no +means comfortable under such a government, hardly recognized herself. +She felt by instinct that she was made to play the part of the _seide_ +of despotism and of the church, in place of the part of champion of +independent nationalities, and of the regulated liberty of thought which +Mr. Pitt had conceived for her. Thus her tribunes, her public papers, +her popular meetings, her very streets and public places rang with +indignation against her government and her aristocracy. The ground +trembled in London under the steps of the multitudes who assembled at +the slightest appeal or opportunity; the language of the people breathed +anger, their physiognomies hatred of class to class; hideous poverty +hung up its tatters before the doors of the most sumptuous quarters; +women in a state of emaciation, hectic children, and ghastly men were to +be seen wandering with a threatening carelessness about shops and +warehouses laden with riches; the constables and the troops were +insufficient, after the scandalous prosecution of the queen, to bridle +that perpetual sedition of discontent and of hunger. The painful +consciousness of a tempest hanging over Great Britain was felt in the +air. A cabinet, the author and victim of that false position, sank under +the effort. A statesman sought in despair a refuge against the +difficulties which he saw accumulating on his country, and which he +could no longer dominate but by force. I avow that I myself, at that +time young and a foreigner, and not yet knowing either the solidity or +the elasticity of the institutions and the manners of England, was +deceived, like every body else, by these sinister symptoms of a fall, +and that I prognosticated, as every body else also did, the approaching +decline and fall of that great and mysterious country. The ministry of +Mr. Canning placed me happily in the wrong. + +I saw England again in 1830, a few months after our revolution of July. +At that time the political government of England was moderate, +reasonable, and wise. It endeavored, as Lord Palmerston, as Sir Robert +Peel, as the Duke of Wellington have done, after the revolution of +February, to prevent a collision on the Continent between the revolution +and the counter-revolution. It then refused, as it refused in 1848, to +be a party to an anti-French or anti-republican coalition. It proclaimed +not only the right and independence of nationalities, but also the right +and independence of revolutions. It thus humanely avoided irritating the +revolutionists. It spared Europe the effusion of much blood. But in 1830 +it was the misery of the English and Irish _proletaires_ that frightened +the regards and brought consternation to the thoughts of observers. +Ireland was literally dying of inanition. The manufacturing districts of +the three kingdoms having produced more than the world could consume +during the fifteen years of peace, left an overflow of manufactures--the +masses emaciated, vitiated in body and mind, and vitiated by their +hatred against the class of society who possess. The manufacturers had +dismissed armies of workmen without bread. These black columns were to +be seen, with their mud-colored jackets, dotting the avenues and streets +of London, like columns of insects whose nests had been upset, and who +blackened the soil under their steps. + +The vices and brutishness of these masses of _proletaires_, degraded by +ignorance and hunger--their alternate poverty and debaucheries--their +promiscuousness of ages, of sexes, of dens of fetid straw, their bedding +in cellars and garrets--their hideous clamors, to be met with at certain +hours in the morning in certain lanes of the unclean districts of +London--when those human vermin emerged into the light of the sun with +howling groaning, or laughter that was really Satanic, it would have +made the masses of free creatures really envy the fate of the black +slaves of our colonies--masses which are abased and flogged, but, at all +events loathed! It was the recruiting of the army of Marius; all that +was wanting was a flag. Social war was visible there with all its +horrors and its furies--every body saw it, and I myself forboded it like +every body else. These symptoms struck me as such evidences of an +approaching overthrow for a constitution which thus allowed its vices to +stagnate and mantle, that, having some portion of my patrimony in +England, I hastened to remove it, and to place it where it would be +sheltered from a wreck which appeared to me to be inevitable. During +this time the aristocracy and the great proprietary of England appeared +insensible to these prognostics of social war, scandalized the eyes of +the public by the contrast of their Asiatic luxury with these +calamities, absented themselves from their properties during whole +years, and were traveling from Paris to Naples and to Florence, while at +the same time propagating speculative or incendiary liberalism with the +liberals of the Continent. Who would not have trembled for such a +country? + +This time (September, 1850) I was struck, on visiting England, with an +impression wholly opposed to the impressions which I have just depicted +to you. I arrived in London, and I no longer recognized that capital, +excepting by that immense cloud of smoke which that vast focus of +English labor or leisure raises in the heavens, and by that overflowing +without limit of houses, workshops, and chateaux, and agreeable +residences, that a city of 2,600,000 inhabitants casts year after year +beyond its walls, even to the depths of her forests, her fields, and her +hills. Like a polypus with a thousand branches, London vegetates and +engrafts, so to speak, on the common trunk of the city quarters on +quarters, and towns upon towns. These quarters, some for labor, and +others for the middle classes; some for the choice leisure of the +literary classes, and others for the luxury of the aristocracy and for +the splendor of the crown, not only attest the increase of that city +which enlarges itself in proportion to its inhabitants, but they testify +to the increase of luxury, of art, of riches, and of ease, of all which +the characters are to be recognized in the disposition, in the +architecture, in the ornaments, in the spaciousness, and in the comfort, +sometimes splendid, sometimes modest, of the habitations of man. In the +west two new towns--two towns of hotels and palaces--two towns of kings +of civilization, as the Embassador of Carthage would have said--have +sprung up. Toward the green and wooded heights of Hampstead--that St. +Cloud of London--is a new park, including pastures, woods, waters, and +gardens in its grounds, and surrounded by a circle of houses of opulent +and varied architecture, each of which represents a building capital +that it frightens one to calculate. Beyond this solitude inclosed in the +capital other towns and suburbs have commenced, and are rapidly climbing +these heights, step by step, and hillock after hillock. In these places +arise chapels, churches, schools, hospitals, penitentiary prisons on new +models, which take away from them their sinister aspect and +significance, and which hold out moral health and correction to the +guilty in place of punishment and branding. In these places are to be +seen hedges of houses appropriated to all the conditions of life and +fortune, but all surrounded by a court or a little garden, which affords +the family rural recollections, the breathing of vegetation, and the +feeling of nature present even in the very heart of the town. + +This new London, which is almost rural, creeps already up these large +hills, and spreads itself, from season to season, in the fields which +environ them, to go by lower, more active, and more smoky suburbs, to +rejoin, as far as the eye can see, the Thames, beyond which the same +phenomenon is reproduced on the hills and in the plains on the other +side. In surveying this the eye loses itself as if on the waves of the +ocean. On every side the horizon is too narrow to embrace that town, and +the town continues beyond the horizon; but every where also the sky, the +air, the country, the verdure, the waters, the tops of the oaks, are +mixed with that vegetation of stones, of marble, and of bricks, and +appears to make of new London, not an arid and dead city, but a fertile +and living province, which germinates at the same time with men and +trees, with habitations and fields; a city of which the nature has not +been changed, but in which, on the contrary, nature and civilization +respect each other, seek for and clasp each other, for the health and +joy of man, in a mutual embrace. + +Between these two banks of the river, and between its steeples and its +towers--between the tops of its oaks, respected by the constructors of +these new quarters--you perceive a movable forest of masts, which ascend +and descend perpetually the course of the Thames, and streak it with a +thousand lines of smoke, while the steamers, loaded with passengers, +stream out like a river of smoke above the river of water which carries +them. But it is not in the newly constructed quarters alone that London +has changed its appearance, and presents that image of opulence, of +comfort, and of labor, with thriving--the city itself, that furnace at +the same time blackened and infect of this human ebullition, has +enlarged its issues, widened its streets, ennobled its monuments, +extended and straightened its suburbs, and made them more healthy. The +ignoble lanes, with their suspicious taverns, where the population of +drunken sailors huddled together like savages in dregs and dust, have +been demolished. They have given place to airy streets, where the +passers-by, coming back from the docks, those entrepôts of the four +continents, pass with ease in carriages or on foot--to spacious and +clean houses, to modest but decent shops, where the maritime population +find, on disembarking, clothes, food, tobacco, beer, and all the objects +of exchange necessary for the retail trade of seaports: those streets +are now as well cleaned from filth, from drunkenness and obscenity, as +the other streets and suburbs of the city. One can pass through them +without pity and without disgust; one feels in them the vigilance of +public morality and the presence of a police which, if it can not +destroy vice, can at all events keep it at a distance from the eyes of +the passer-by, and render even the _cloacæ_ inoffensive. + +In the country districts and secondary towns around London the same +transformation is observable. The innumerable railways which run in +every direction all over England have covered the land with stations, +coal depôts, new houses for the persons employed, elegant offices for +the administration, viaducts, bridges over the lines to private +properties; and all these things impart to England, from the sea to +London, the appearance of a country which is being cleared, and where +the occupants are employed in running up residences for themselves. +Every thing is being built, and every thing is smoking, hurrying on, so +perfectly alive is this soil; one feels that the people are eager to +seize on the new sense of circulation which Providence has just bestowed +on man. + +Such is England in a physical sense, sketched broadly. As to political +England, the following are the changes which struck me. I describe them +as I reviewed them, with sincerity, it is true, but not unmixed with +astonishment. The appearance of the people in the streets is no longer +what filled me with consternation twenty years ago. In place of those +ragged bands of beggars--men, women, and children--who swarmed in the +narrow and gloomy streets of the manufacturing town, you will see +well-dressed workmen, with an appearance of strength and health, going +to work or returning peaceably from their workshop with their tools on +their shoulders; young girls issuing without tumult from the houses +where they work, under the superintendence of women older than +themselves, or of a father or brother, who brings them back to their +home; from time to time you see numerous columns of little children of +from five to eight years of age, poorly but decently clad, led by a +woman, who leaves them at their own doors, after having watched over +them all day. They all present the appearance of relative comfort, of +most exquisite cleanliness, and of health. You will perceive few, if +any, idle groups on the public ways, and infinitely fewer drunken men +than formerly; the streets appear as if purged of vice and wretchedness, +or only exhibit those which always remain the scum of an immense +population. + +If you converse in a drawing-room, in a public carriage, at a public +dinner table, even in the street, with men of the different classes in +England; if you take care to be present, as I did, at places where +persons of the most advanced opinions meet and speak; if you read the +journals, those safety-valves of public opinion, you must remain struck +with the extreme mildness of men's minds and hearts, with the temperance +of ideas, the moderation of what is desired, the prudence of the Liberal +Opposition, the tenderness evinced toward a conciliation of all +classes, the justice which all classes of the English population render +to each other, the readiness of all to co-operate, each according to his +means and disposition, in advancing the general good--the employment, +comfort, instruction, and morality of the people--in a word, a mild and +serene air is breathed in place of the tempest blast which then raged in +every breast. The equilibrium is re-established in the national +atmosphere. One feels and says to one's self, "This people can come to +an understanding with itself. It can live, last, prosper, and improve +for a long time in this way. Had I my residence on this soil, I should +not any longer tremble for my hearth." + +I except, it must be understood, from this very general character of +harmony and reconciliation, two classes of men whom nothing ever +satisfies--the demagogues and the extreme aristocrats--two tyrannies +which can not content themselves with any liberty, because they +eternally desire to subjugate the people--the one by the intolerance of +the rabble, the other by the intolerance of the little number. The +newspapers of the inexorable aristocracy, and of the ungovernable +radicalism, are the only ones that still contrast by their bitterness +with the general mildness of opinions in Great Britain. But some clubs +of Chartists, rendered fanatical by sophistry, and some clubs of +diplomatists, rendered fanatical by pride, only serve the better to show +the calm and reason which are more and more prevailing in the other +parts of the nation. The one make speeches to the emptiness of places +where the people are invited to meet, and the others pay by the line for +calumnies and invective against France and against the present age. No +one listens, and no one reads. The people work on. The intelligent +Tories lament Sir Robert Peel, and accept the inheritance of his +Conservative doctrines by means of progress. + +It appears that a superhuman hand carried away during that sleep of +twenty years, all the venom which racked the social body of this +country. If a Radical procession is announced, as on the 10th of April, +250,000 citizens, of all opinions, appear in the streets of London as +special constables, and preserve the public peace against these phantoms +of another time. Such is the present appearance of the public mind in +England to a stranger. + + + + +[From the Ladies' Companion.] + +THE HAUNTS OF GENIUS. GRAY, BURKE, MILTON, DRYDEN, AND POPE. + +BY MARY RUSSELL MITFORD. + + +Two summers ago I spent a few pleasant weeks among some of the loveliest +scenery of our great river. The banks of the Thames, always beautiful, +are nowhere more delightful than in the neighborhood of Maidenhead--one +side ramparted by the high, abrupt, chalky cliffs of Buckinghamshire; +the other edging gently away into our rich Berkshire meadows, checkered +with villages, villas, and woods. + +My own temporary home was one of singular beauty--a snug cottage at +Taplow, looking over a garden full of honeysuckles, lilies, and roses, +to a miniature terrace, whose steps led down into the water, or rather +into our little boat; the fine old bridge at Maidenhead just below us; +the magnificent woods of Cliefden, crowned with the lordly mansion (now, +alas! a second time burnt down), rising high above; and the broad +majestic river, fringed with willow and alder, gay with an ever-changing +variety--the trim pleasure-yacht, the busy barge, or the punt of the +solitary angler, gliding by placidly and slowly, the very image of calm +and conscious power. No pleasanter residence, through the sultry months +of July and August, than the Bridge cottage at Taplow. + +Besides the natural advantages of the situation, we were within reach of +many interesting places, of which we, as strangers, contrived--as +strangers usually do--to see a great deal more than the actual +residents. + +A six-mile drive took us to the lordly towers of Windsor--the most +queenly of our palaces--with the adjuncts that so well become the royal +residence, St. George's Chapel and Eton College, fitting shrines of +learning and devotion! Windsor was full of charm. The ghostly shadow of +a tree, that is, or passes for Herne's oak--for the very man of whom we +inquired our way maintained that the tree was apocryphal, although in +such cases I hold it wisest and pleasantest to believe--the very old +town itself, with the localities immortalized by Sir John and Sir Hugh, +Dame Quickly and Justice Shallow, and all the company of the Merry +Wives, had to me an unfailing attraction. To Windsor we drove again and +again, until the pony spontaneously turned his head Windsor-ward. + +Then we reviewed the haunts of GRAY, the house at Stoke Pogis, and the +church-yard where he is buried, and which contains the touching epitaph +wherein the pious son commemorates "the careful mother of many children, +one of whom only had the misfortune to survive her." To that spot we +drove one bright summer day, and we were not the only visitants. It was +pleasant to see one admirer seated under a tree, sketching the church, +and another party, escorted by the clergyman, walking reverently through +it. Stoke Pogis, however, is not without its rivals; and we also visited +the old church at Upton, whose ivy-mantled tower claims to be the +veritable tower of the "Elegy." A very curious scene did that old church +exhibit--that of an edifice not yet decayed, but abandoned to decay; an +incipient ruin, such as probably might have been paralleled in the +monasteries of England after the Reformation, or in the churches of +France after the first Revolution. The walls were still standing, still +full of monuments and monumental inscriptions; in some the gilding was +yet fresh, and one tablet especially had been placed there very +recently, commemorating the talents and virtues of the celebrated +astronomer, Sir John Herschell. But the windows were denuded of their +glass, the font broken, the pews dismantled, while on the tottering +reading-desk one of the great Prayer-books, all mouldy with damp, still +lay open--last vestige of the holy services with which it once +resounded. Another church had been erected, but it looked new and naked, +and every body seemed to regret the old place of worship, the roof of +which was remarkable for the purity of its design. + +Another of our excursions was to Ockwells--a curious and beautiful +specimen of domestic architecture in the days before the Tudors. Strange +it seems to me that no one has exactly imitated that graceful front, +with its steep roof terminated on either side by two projecting gables, +the inner one lower than the other, adorned with oak carving, regular +and delicate as that on an ivory fan. The porch has equal elegance. One +almost expects to see some baronial hawking party, or some bridal +procession issue from its recesses. The great hall, although its grand +open roof has been barbarously closed up, still retains its fine +proportions, its dais, its music gallery, and the long range of windows, +still adorned with the mottos and escutcheons of the Norreys's, their +kindred and allies. It has long been used as a farm-house; and one +marvels that the painted windows should have remained uninjured through +four centuries of neglect and change. Much that was interesting has +disappeared, but enough still remains to gratify those who love to +examine the picturesque dwellings of our ancestors. The noble staircase, +the iron-studded door, the prodigious lock, the gigantic key (too heavy +for a woman to wield), the cloistered passages, the old-fashioned +buttery-hatch, give a view not merely of the degree of civilization of +the age, but of the habits and customs of familiar daily life. + +Another drive took us to the old grounds of Lady Place, where, in +demolishing the house, care had been taken to preserve the vaults in +which the great Whig leaders wrote and signed the famous letter to +William of Orange, which drove James the Second from the throne. A +gloomy place it is now--a sort of underground ruin--and gloomy enough +the patriots must have found it on that memorable occasion: the tombs of +the monks (it had formerly been a monastery) under their feet, the +rugged walls around them, and no ray of light, except the lanterns they +may have brought with them, or the torches that they lit. Surely the +signature of that summons which secured the liberties of England would +make an impressive picture--Lord Somers in the foreground, and the other +Whig statesmen grouped around him. A Latin inscription records a visit +made by George the Third to the vaults; and truly it is among the places +that monarchs would do well to visit--full of stern lessons! + +Chief pilgrimage of all was one that led us first to Beaconsfield, +through the delightful lanes of Buckinghamshire, with their luxuriance +of hedge-row timber, and their patches of heathy common. There we paid +willing homage to all that remained of the habitation consecrated by the +genius of EDMUND BURKE. Little is left, beyond gates and outbuildings, +for the house has been burnt down and the grounds disparked; but still +some of his old walks remained, and an old well and traces of an old +garden--and pleasant it was to tread where such a man had trodden, and +to converse with the few who still remembered him. We saw, too, the +stalwart yeoman who had the honor not only of furnishing to Sir Joshua +the model of his "Infant Hercules," but even of suggesting the subject. +Thus it happened. Passing a few days with Mr. Burke at his favorite +retirement, the great painter accompanied his host on a visit to his +bailiff. A noble boy lay sprawling in the cradle in the room where they +sat. His mother would fain have removed him, but Sir Joshua, then +commissioned to paint a picture for the Empress Catherine, requested +that the child might remain, sent with all speed for pallet and easel, +and accomplished his task with that success which so frequently waits +upon a sudden inspiration. It is remarkable that the good farmer, whose +hearty cordial kindness I shall not soon forget, has kept in a manner +most unusual the promise of his sturdy infancy, and makes as near an +approach to the proportions of the fabled Hercules as ever +Buckinghamshire yeoman displayed. + +Beaconsfield, however, and even the cherished retirement of Burke, was +by no means the goal of our pilgrimage. The true shrine was to be found +four miles farther, in the small cottage at Chalfont St. Giles, where +Milton found a refuge during the Great Plague of London. + +The road wound through lanes still shadier and hedge-rows still richer, +where the tall trees rose from banks overhung with fern, intermixed with +spires of purple foxglove; sometimes broken by a bit of mossy +park-paling, sometimes by the light shades of a beech-wood, until at +last we reached the quiet and secluded village whose very first dwelling +was consecrated by the abode of the great poet. + +It is a small tenement of four rooms, one on either side the door, +standing in a little garden, and having its gable to the road. A short +inscription, almost hidden by the foliage of the vine, tells that MILTON +once lived within those sacred walls. The cottage has been so seldom +visited, is so little desecrated by thronging admirers, and has suffered +so little from alteration or decay, and all about it has so exactly the +serene and tranquil aspect that one should expect to see in an English +village two centuries ago, that it requires but a slight effort of fancy +to image to ourselves the old blind bard still sitting in that little +parlor, or sunning himself on the garden-seat beside the well. Milton is +said to have corrected at Chalfont some of the sheets of the "Paradise +Lost." The "Paradise Regained" he certainly composed there. One loves +to think of him in that calm retreat--to look round that poor room and +think how Genius ennobles all that she touches! Heaven forfend that +change in any shape, whether of embellishment or of decay, should fall +upon that cottage! + +Another resort of ours, not a pilgrimage, but a haunt, was the forest of +old pollards, known by the name of Burnham Beeches. A real forest it +is--six hundred acres in extent, and varied by steep declivities, wild +dells, and tangled dingles. The ground, clothed with the fine short turf +where the thyme and the harebell love to grow, is partly covered with +luxuriant fern; and the juniper and the holly form a fitting underwood +for those magnificent trees, hollowed by age, whose profuse canopy of +leafy boughs seems so much too heavy for the thin rind by which it is +supported. Mr. Grote has a house here on which we looked with reverence; +and in one of the loveliest spots we came upon a monument erected by +Mrs. Grote in memory of Mendelssohn, and enriched by an elegant +inscription from her pen. + +We were never weary of wandering among the Burnham Beeches; sometimes +taking Dropmore by the way, where the taste of the late Lord Grenville +created from a barren heath a perfect Eden of rare trees and matchless +flowers. But even better than amid that sweet woodland scene did I love +to ramble by the side of the Thames, as it bounded the beautiful grounds +of Lord Orkney, or the magnificent demesne of Sir George Warrender, the +verdant lawns of Cliefden. + +That place also is full of memories. There it was that the famous Duke +of Buckingham fought his no less famous duel with Lord Shrewsbury, while +the fair countess, dressed, rather than disguised, as a page, held the +horse of her victorious paramour. We loved to gaze on that princely +mansion--since a second time burnt down--repeating to each other the +marvelous lines in which our two matchless satirists have immortalized +the duke's follies, and doubting which portrait were the best. We may at +least be sure that no third painter will excel them. Alas! who reads +Pope or Dryden now? I am afraid, very much afraid, that to many a fair +young reader these celebrated characters will be as good as manuscript. +I will at all events try the experiment. Here they be: + + "In the first rank of these did Zimri stand + A man so various, that he seemed to be + Not one, but all mankind's epitome; + Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong, + Was every thing by starts and nothing long; + But in the course of one revolving moon, + Was chemist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon, + Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking + Besides ten thousand freaks that died in thinking. + Blest madman, who could every hour employ + With something new to wish or to enjoy!" + + DRYDEN. _Absalom and Achitophel._ + +Now for the little hunchback of Twickenham: + + "In the worst inn's worst room, with mat half hung, + The walls of plaster, and the floor of dung; + On once a flock-bed, but repaired with straw, + With tape-tied curtains never meant to draw, + The George and Garter dangling from that bed, + Where tawdry yellow strove with dirty red: + Great Villiers lies:--but, ah, how changed from him, + That life of pleasure, and that soul of whim, + Gallant and gay in Cliefden's proud alcove, + The bower of wanton Shrewsbury and love! + Or just as gay at council 'mid the ring + Of mimic statesmen and their merry king! + No wit to flatter left of all his store; + No fool to laugh at, which he valued more; + There, victor of his health, of fortune, friends + And fame, the lord of useless thousands ends?" + + POPE. _Moral Essays._ + + + + +FLOWERS IN THE SICK ROOM. + + +Among the terrors of our youth we well remember there were certain +poisonous exhalations said to arise from plants and flowers if allowed +to share our sleeping-room during the night, as though objects of +loveliness when seen by daylight took advantage of the darkness to +assume the qualities of the ghoul or the vampire. Well do we remember +how maternal anxiety removed every portion of vegetable life from our +bedroom, lest its gases should poison us before morning! This opinion, +and the cognate one that plants in rooms are always injurious, is +prevalent still, and it operates most unfavorably in the case of the +bed-ridden, or the invalid, by depriving them of a chamber garden which +would otherwise make time put off his leaden wings, and while away, in +innocent amusement, many a lagging hour. Now we assure our readers that +this is a popular superstition, and will endeavor to put them in +possession of the grounds on which our statement is founded. In doing +so, we do not put forth any opinions of our own, but the deductions of +science, for the truth of which any one acquainted with vegetable +physiology can vouch. + +Plants, in a growing state, absorb the oxygen gas of the atmosphere, and +throw off carbonic acid; these are facts, and as oxygen is necessary to +life and carbonic acid injurious to it, the conclusion has been jumped +at that plants in apartments _must_ have a deleterious influence. But +there is another fact equally irrefragable, _that plants feed on the +carbonic acid of the atmosphere_, and are, indeed, the grand instruments +employed in the laboratory of Nature for purifying it from the noxious +exhalations of animal life. From the spacious forests to the blade of +grass which forces itself up through the crevices of a street pavement, +every portion of verdure is occupied in disinfecting the air. By means +of solar light the carbonic acid, when taken in by the leaves, is +decomposed, its carbon going to build up the structure of the plant and +its disengaged oxygen returning to the air we breathe. It is true that +this process is stopped in the darkness, and that then a very small +portion of carbonic acid is evolved by plants; but as it is never +necessary for a patient to sleep in a room with flowers, we need say +nothing on that subject. Cleanliness, and other considerations, would +suggest having a bedroom as free as possible during the night, and our +object is answered if we show that vegetation is not injurious in the +day. That it is, on the contrary, conducive to health, is a plain +corollary of science. + +Perhaps the error we are speaking of may have originated from +confounding the effects of the _odors_ of plants with a general result +of their presence. Now, all strong scents are injurious, and those of +some flowers are specially so, and ought on no account to be patronized +by the invalid. But it happens, fortunately, that a very large class of +plants have either no scent at all, or so little as to be of no +consequence, so that there is still room for an extensive selection. +This, then, is _one_ rule to be observed in chamber gardening. Another +is, that the plants admitted should be in perfect health, for while +growing vegetation is healthful, it becomes noxious when sickly or dead. +Thirdly, let the most scrupulous cleanliness be maintained; the pots, +saucers, and the stands being often subjected to ablutions. Under this +head also we include the removal of dying leaves, and all flowers, +before they have quite lost their beauty, since it is well known that +the petals become unpleasant in some varieties as soon as the meridian +of their brief life is passed. By giving attention to these simple +regulations, a sick chamber may have its windows adorned with flowers +without the slightest risk to the health of the occupant, and in saying +this we open the way to some of the most gentle lenitives of pain, as +well as to sources of rational enjoyment. If those who can go where they +please, in the sunshine and the shade, can gather wild flowers in their +natural dwellings, and cultivate extensive gardens, still find pleasure +in a few favorites in-doors, how much more delight must such treasured +possessions confer on those whom Providence has made prisoners and who +must have their all of verdure and floral beauty brought to them! + + + + +[From Dickens's Household Words.] + +LIVELY TURTLE. + +A SKETCH OF A CONSERVATIVE. + + +I have a comfortable property. What I spend, I spend upon myself; and +what I don't spend I save. Those are my principles. I am warmly attached +to my principles, and stick to them on all occasions. + +I am not, as some people have represented, a mean man. I never denied +myself any thing that I thought I should like to have. I may have said +to myself "SNOADY"--that is my name--"you will get those peaches cheaper +if you wait till next week;" or, I may have said to myself, "Snoady, you +will get that wine for nothing, if you wait till you are asked out to +dine;" but I never deny myself any thing. If I can't get what I want +without buying it, and paying its price for it, I _do_ buy it and pay +its price for it. I have an appetite bestowed upon me; and, if I balked +it, I should consider that I was flying in the face of Providence. + +I have no near relation but a brother. If he wants any thing of me, he +don't get it. All men are my brothers; and I see no reason why I should +make his an exceptional case. + +I live at a cathedral town where there is an old corporation. I am not +in the Church, but it may be that I hold a little place of some sort. +Never mind. It may be profitable. Perhaps yes, perhaps no. It may, or it +may not, be a sinecure. I don't choose to say, I never enlightened my +brother on these subjects, and I consider all men my brothers. The negro +is a man and a brother--should I hold myself accountable for my position +in life, _to him_? Certainly not. + +I often run up to London. I like London. The way I look at it, is this. +London is not a cheap place, but, on the whole, you can get more of the +real thing for your money there--I mean the best thing, whatever it +is--than you can get in most places. Therefore, I say to the man who has +got the money, and wants the thing, "Go to London for it, and treat +yourself." + +When _I_ go, I do it in this manner. I go to Mrs. Skim's Private Hotel +and Commercial Lodging House, near Aldersgate-street, City (it is +advertised in "Bradshaw's Railway Guide," where I first found it), and +there I pay, "for bed and breakfast, with meat, two and ninepence per +day, including servants." Now, I have made a calculation, and I am +satisfied that Mrs. Skim can not possibly make much profit out of _me_. +In fact, if all her patrons were like me, my opinion is, the woman would +be in the Gazette next month. + +Why do I go to Mrs. Skim's when I could go to the Clarendon, you may +ask? Let us argue that point. If I went to the Clarendon I could get +nothing in bed but sleep; could I? No. Now, sleep at the Clarendon is an +expensive article; whereas, sleep at Mrs. Skim's, is decidedly cheap. I +have made a calculation and I don't hesitate to say, all things +considered, that it's cheap. Is it an inferior article, as compared with +the Clarendon sleep, or is it of the same quality? I am a heavy sleeper, +and it is of the same quality. Then why should I go to the Clarendon? + +But as to breakfast? you may say. Very well. As to breakfast. I could +get a variety of delicacies for breakfast at the Clarendon, that are out +of the question at Mrs. Skim's. Granted. But I don't want to have them! +My opinion is, that we are not entirely animal and sensual. Man has an +intellect bestowed upon him. If he clogs that intellect by too good a +breakfast, how can he properly exert that intellect in meditation, +during the day upon his dinner? That's the point. We are not to enchain +the soul. We are to let it soar. It is expected of us. + +At Mrs. Skim's I get enough for breakfast (there is no limitation to the +bread and butter, though there is to the meat), and not too much. I have +all my faculties about me, to concentrate upon the object I have +mentioned, and I can say to myself besides, "Snoady, you have saved six, +eight, ten, fifteen shillings, already to-day. If there is any thing you +fancy for your dinner, have it, Snoady, you have earned your reward." + +My objection to London, is, that it is the head-quarters of the worst +radical sentiments that are broached in England. I consider that it has +a great many dangerous people in it. I consider the present publication +(if it's "Household Words") very dangerous, and I write this with the +view of neutralizing some of its bad effects. My political creed is, let +us be comfortable. We are all very comfortable as we are--_I_ am very +comfortable as I am--leave us alone! + +All mankind are my brothers, and I don't think it Christian--if you come +to that--to tell my brother that he is ignorant, or degraded, or dirty, +or any thing of the kind. I think it's abusive, and low. You meet me +with the observation that I am required to love my brother. I reply, "I +do." I am sure I am always willing to say to my brother, "My good +fellow, I love you very much; go along with you; keep to your own road; +leave me to mine; whatever is, is right; whatever isn't, is wrong; don't +make a disturbance!" It seems to me, that this is at once the whole duty +of man, and the only temper to go to dinner in. + +Going to dinner in this temper in the city of London, one day not long +ago, after a bed at Mrs. Skim's, with meat-breakfast and servants +included, I was reminded of the observation which, if my memory does not +deceive me, was formerly made by somebody on some occasion, that man may +learn wisdom from the lower animals. It is a beautiful fact, in my +opinion, that great wisdom is to be learned from that noble animal the +turtle. + +I had made up my mind, in the course of the day I speak of, to have a +turtle dinner. I mean a dinner mainly composed of turtle. Just a +comfortable tureen of soup, with a pint of punch, and nothing solid to +follow, but a tender juicy steak. I like a tender juicy steak. I +generally say to myself when I order one, "Snoady, you have done right." + +When I make up my mind to have a delicacy, expense is no consideration. +The question resolves itself, then, into a question of the very best. I +went to a friend of mine who is a member of the Common Council, and with +that friend I held the following conversation. + +Said I to him, "Mr. Groggles, the best turtle is where?" + +Says he, "If you want a basin for lunch, my opinion is, you can't do +better than drop into Birch's." + +Said I, "Mr. Groggles, I thought you had known me better, than to +suppose me capable of a basin. My intention is to dine. A tureen." + +Says Mr. Groggles, without a moment's consideration, and in a determined +voice. "Right opposite the India House, Leadenhall-street." + +We parted. My mind was not inactive during the day, and at six in the +afternoon I repaired to the house of Mr. Groggles's recommendation. At +the end of the passage, leading from the street into the coffee-room, I +observed a vast and solid chest, in which I then supposed that a turtle +of unusual size might be deposited. But, the correspondence between its +bulk and that of the charge made for my dinner, afterward satisfied me +that it must be the till of the establishment. + +I stated to the waiter what had brought me there, and I mentioned Mr. +Groggles's name. He feelingly repeated after me, "A tureen of turtle, +and a tender juicy steak." His manner, added to the manner of Mr. +Groggles in the morning, satisfied me that all was well. The atmosphere +of the coffee-room was odoriferous with turtle, and the steams of +thousands of gallons, consumed within its walls, hung, in savory grease, +upon their surface. I could have inscribed my name with a penknife, if I +had been so disposed, in the essence of innumerable turtles. I preferred +to fall into a hungry reverie, brought on by the warm breath of the +place, and to think of the West Indies and the Island of Ascension. + +My dinner came--and went. I will draw a vail over the meal, I will put +the cover on the empty tureen, and merely say that it was wonderful--and +that I paid for it. + +I sat meditating, when all was over, on the imperfect nature of our +present existence, in which we can eat only for a limited time, when the +waiter roused me with these words. + +Said he to me, as he brushed the crumbs off the table, "Would you like +to see the turtle, sir?" + +"To see what turtle, waiter?" said I (calmly) to him. + +"The tanks of turtle below, sir," said he to me. + +Tanks of turtle! Good gracious! "Yes!" + +The waiter lighted a candle, and conducted me down stairs to a range of +vaulted apartments, cleanly white-washed and illuminated with gas, where +I saw a sight of the most astonishing and gratifying description, +illustrative of the greatness of my native country. "Snoady," was my +first observation to myself, "Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the +waves!" + +There were two or three hundred turtle in the vaulted apartments--all +alive. Some in tanks, and some taking the air in long dry walks littered +down with straw. They were of all sizes; many of them enormous. Some of +the enormous ones had entangled themselves with the smaller ones, and +pushed and squeezed themselves into corners, with their fins over +water-pipes, and their heads downward, where they were apoplectically +struggling and splashing, apparently in the last extremity. Others were +calm at the bottom of the tanks; others languidly rising to the surface. +The turtle in the walks littered down with straw, were calm and +motionless. It was a thrilling sight. I admire such a sight. It rouses +my imagination. If you wish to try its effect on yours, make a call +right opposite the India House any day you please--dine--pay--and ask to +be taken below. + +Two athletic young men, without coats, and with the sleeves of their +shirts tucked up to the shoulders, were in attendance on these noble +animals. One of them, wrestling with the most enormous turtle in +company, and dragging him up to the edge of the tank, for me to look at, +presented an idea to me which I never had before. I ought to observe +that I like an idea. I say, when I get a new one, "Snoady, book that!" + +My idea, on the present occasion, was--Mr. Groggles! It was not a turtle +that I saw, but Mr. Groggles. It was the dead image of Mr. Groggles. He +was dragged up to confront me, with his waistcoat--if I may be allowed +the expression--toward me; and it was identically the waistcoat of Mr. +Groggles. It was the same shape, very nearly the same color, only wanted +a gold watch-chain and a bunch of seals, to BE the waistcoat of Mr. +Groggles. There was what I should call a bursting expression about him +in general, which was accurately the expression of Mr. Groggles. I had +never closely observed a turtle's throat before. The folds of his loose +cravat, I found to be precisely those of Mr. Groggles's cravat. Even the +intelligent eye--I mean to say, intelligent enough for a person of +correct principles, and not dangerously so--was the eye of Mr. Groggles. +When the athletic young man let him go, and, with a roll of his head, he +flopped heavily down into the tank, it was exactly the manner of Mr. +Groggles as I have seen him ooze away into his seat, after opposing a +sanitary motion in the Court of Common Council! + +"Snoady," I couldn't help saying to myself, "you have done it. You have +got an idea, Snoady, in which a great principle is involved. I +congratulate you!" I followed the young man, who dragged up several +turtle to the brinks of the various tanks. I found them all the +same--all varieties of Mr. Groggles--all extraordinarily like the +gentlemen who usually eat them. "Now, Snoady," was my next remark, "what +do you deduce from this?" + +"Sir," said I, "what I deduce from this, is, confusion to those Radicals +and other Revolutionists who talk about improvement. Sir," said I, "what +I deduce from this, is, that there isn't this resemblance between the +turtles and the Groggleses for nothing. It's meant to show mankind that +the proper model for a Groggles, is a turtle; and that the liveliness +we want in a Groggles, is the liveliness of a turtle, and no more." +"Snoady," was my reply to this, "you have hit it. You are right!" + +I admired the idea very much, because, if I hate any thing in the world, +it's change. Change has evidently no business in the world, has nothing +to do with it, and isn't intended. What we want is (as I think I have +mentioned) to be comfortable. I look at it that way. Let us be +comfortable, and leave us alone. Now, when the young man dragged a +Groggles--I mean a turtle--out of his tank, this was exactly what the +noble animal expressed as he floundered back again. + +I have several friends besides Mr. Groggles in the Common Council, and +it might be a week after this, when I said, "Snoady, if I was you, I +would go to that court, and hear the debate to-day." I went. A good deal +of it was what I call a sound, old English discussion. One eloquent +speaker objected to the French as wearing wooden shoes; and a friend of +his reminded him of another objection to that foreign people, namely, +that they eat frogs. I had feared, for many years, I am sorry to say, +that these wholesome principles were gone out. How delightful to find +them still remaining among the great men of the City of London, in the +year one thousand eight hundred and fifty! It made me think of the +Lively Turtle. + +But I soon thought more of the Lively Turtle. Some Radicals and +Revolutionists have penetrated even to the Common Council--which +otherwise I regard as one of the last strongholds of our afflicted +constitution; and speeches were made, about removing Smithfield +Market--which I consider to be a part of that Constitution--and about +appointing a Medical Officer for the City, and about preserving the +public health; and other treasonable practices, opposed to Church and +State. These proposals Mr. Groggles, as might have been expected of such +a man, resisted; so warmly, that, as I afterward understood from Mrs. +Groggles, he had rather a sharp attack of blood to the head that night. +All the Groggles party resisted them too, and it was a fine +constitutional sight to see waistcoat after waistcoat rise up in +resistance of them and subside. But what struck me in the sight was +this, "Snoady," said I, "here is your idea carried out, sir! These +Radicals and Revolutionists are the athletic young men in shirt sleeves, +dragging the Lively Turtle to the edges of the tank. The Groggleses are +the turtle, looking out for a moment, and flopping down again. Honor to +the Groggleses! Honor to the Court of Lively Turtle! The wisdom of the +Turtle is the hope of England!" + +There are three heads in the moral of what I had to say. First, turtle +and Groggles are identical; wonderfully alike externally, wonderfully +alike mentally. Secondly, turtle is a good thing every way, and the +liveliness of the turtle is intended as an example for the liveliness +of man; you are not to go beyond that. Thirdly, we are all quite +comfortable. Leave us alone! + + + + +[From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.] + +THE UNLAWFUL GIFT; OR, KINDNESS REWARDED. + + +The chastened glory of a bright autumnal evening was shining upon the +yellow harvest fields of Bursley Farm, in the vicinity of the New +Forest, and tinting with changeful light the dense but broken masses of +thick wood which skirted the southern horizon, when Ephraim Lovegrove, a +care-cankered, worn-out dying man, though hardly numbering sixty years, +was, at his constantly and peevishly-iterated request, lifted from the +bed on which for many weeks he had been gradually and painfully wasting +away, and carried in an arm-chair to the door. From the cottage, +situated as it was upon an eminence, the low-lying lands of Bursley, and +its straggling homestead, which once called him master, could be +distinctly seen. The fading eyes of the old man wandered slowly over the +gleaming landscape, and a faint smile of painful recognition stole upon +his harsh and shriveled features. His only son, a fine handsome young +fellow, stood silently, with his wife, beside him--both, it seemed, as +keenly, though not, perhaps, as bitterly, impressed with the scene and +the thoughts it suggested; and their child, a rosy youngster of about +five years of age, clung tightly to his mother's gown, frightened and +awed apparently by the stern expression he read upon his father's face. +A light summer air lifted the old man's thin white locks, fanned his +sallow cheeks, and momently revived his fainting spirit. "Ay," he +muttered, "the old pleasant home, Ned, quiet, beautiful as ever. It's +only we who change and pass away." + +"The home," rejoined the son, "of which we have been robbed--lawfully +robbed." + +"I'm not so clear on that as I was," said Ephraim Lovegrove, slowly and +with difficulty. "It was partly our own want of foresight--mine, I mean, +of course: we ought not to have calculated on--" + +The old man's broken accents stopped suddenly. The strength which the +sight of his former home and the grateful breeze which swept up from the +valley awakened, had quickly faded; and the daughter-in-law, touching +her husband's arm, and glancing anxiously at his father's changing +countenance, motioned that he should be re-conveyed to bed. This was +done, and a few spoonfuls of wine revived him somewhat. Edward Lovegrove +left the cottage upon some necessary business; and his wife, after +putting her child to bed, re-entered the sick-room, and seated herself +with mute watchfulness by the bedside of her father-in-law. + +"Ye are a kind, gentle creature, Mary," said the dying man, whose +failing gaze had been for some time fixed upon her pale, patient face; +"as kind and gentle--more so, it seems to me, in this poor hovel, than +when we dwelt in yon homestead, from which you, with us, have been so +cruelly driven." + +"Murmuring, father," she replied, in a low, sweet voice, "would not help +us. It is surely better to submit cheerfully to a hard lot, than to +chafe and fret one's life away at what can not be helped. But it's easy +for me," she hastily added, fearing that her words might sound +reproachfully in the old man's ear--"it's easy for me, who have health, +a kind husband, and my little boy left me, to be cheerful, but it is +scarcely so for you, suffering in body and mind, and tormented in a +thousand ways." + +"Ay, girl, it has been a sharp trial; but it will soon be over. In a few +hours it will matter little whether old Ephraim Lovegrove lived and died +in a pig-sty or a palace. But I would speak of you. You and Ned should +emigrate. There are countries, I am told, where you would be sure to +prosper. That viper Nichols, I remember, once offered to assist--I could +never make out from what motive--from what--A little wine," he added +feebly. "The evening, for the time of the year, is very chilly: my feet +and legs are cold as stones." He swallowed the wine, and again addressed +himself to speak, but his voice was scarcely audible. "I have often +thought," he murmured, "as I lay here, that Symons, Nichols's clerk, +from a hint he dropped, knows something of--of--your mother and--and--" +The faint accents ceased to be audible; but the grasp of the dying man +closed tightly upon the frightened woman's hand, as he looked wildly in +her face as he drew her toward him, as if some important statement +remained untold. He struggled desperately for utterance, but the strife +was vain, and brief as it was fierce: his grasp relaxed, and with a +convulsive groan, Ephraim Lovegrove fell back and expired. + +The storm which had made shipwreck of the fortunes of Ephraim Lovegrove +had leveled with the earth prouder roof-trees than his. In early life he +had succeeded his father as the tenant of a farm in Wiltshire. He was +industrious, careful, and ambitious; and aided by the sum of £500, which +he received with his wife, and the high prices which agricultural +produce obtained during the French war, he was enabled, at the +expiration of his lease in Wiltshire, to become the proprietor of +Bursley Farm. This purchase was effected when wheat ranged from £30 to +£40 a load, at a proportionately exorbitant price of £5000. His savings +amounted to about one half of this sum, and the remainder was raised by +way of mortgage. Matters went on smoothly enough till the peace of 1815, +and the subsequent precipitate fall in prices. Lovegrove showed gallant +fight, hoping against hope that exceptional legislation would ultimately +bolster up prices to something like their former level. He was deceived. +Every day saw him sinking lower and lower; and in the sixth year of +peace he was reluctantly compelled to abandon the long since desperate +and hopeless struggle with adverse fortune. The interest on the borrowed +money had fallen considerably in arrear, and Bursley Farm was sold by +auction at a barely sufficient sum to cover the mortgage and accumulated +interest. The stock was similarly disposed of, and stout Ephraim +withdrew with his family to a small cottage in the neighborhood of his +old home, possessed, after his debts were discharged, of about thirty +pounds in money and a few necessary articles of furniture. The old man's +heart was broken: he took almost immediately to his bed, and after a +long agony of physical pain, aggravated and embittered by mental +disquietude and discontent, expired, as we have seen, worn out in mind +and body. + +The future of the surviving family was a dark and anxious one. Edward +Lovegrove, a frank, kindly-tempered young man, accustomed, in the golden +days of farming, to ride occasionally after the hounds, as well equipped +and mounted as any in the field, was little fitted for a struggle for +daily bread with the crowded competition of the world. He had several +times endeavored to obtain a situation as bailiff, but others more +fortunate, perhaps better qualified, filled up every vacancy that +offered, and the almost desperate man, but for the pleading helplessness +of his wife and child, would have sought shelter in the ranks of the +army--that grave in which so many withered prospects and broken hopes +lie buried. As usual with disappointed men, his mind dwelt with +daily-augmenting bitterness upon the persons at whose hands the last and +decisive blows which had destroyed his home had been received. Sandars +the mortgagee he looked upon as a monster of perfidy and injustice; but +especially Nichols the attorney, who had superintended and directed the +sale of the Bursley homestead, was regarded by him with the bitterest +dislike. Other causes gave intensity to this vindictive feeling. The son +of the attorney, Arthur Nichols, a wild, dissipated young man, had been +a competitor for the hand of Mary Clarke, the sole child of Widow +Clarke, and now Edward Lovegrove's wife. It was not at all remarkable or +surprising that young Nichols should admire and seek to wed pretty and +gentle Mary Clarke, but it was deemed strange by those who knew his +father's grasping, mercenary disposition, that _he_ should have been so +eager for the match, well knowing, as he did, for the payments passed +through his hands, that the widow's modest annuity terminated with her +life. It was also known, and wonderingly commented upon, that the +attorney was himself an anxious suitor for the widow's hand up to the +day of her sudden and unexpected decease, which occurred about three +years after her daughter's marriage with Edward Lovegrove. Immediately +after this event, as if some restraint upon his pent-up malevolence had +been removed, the elder Nichols manifested the most active hostility +toward the Lovegroves; and to his persevering enmity it was generally +attributed that Mr. Sandars had availed himself of the power of sale +inserted in the mortgage deed, to cast his unfortunate debtor helpless +and homeless upon the world. + +Sadly passed away the weary, darkening days with the young couple after +the old man's death. The expenses of his long illness had swept away the +little money saved from the wreck of the farm; and it required the +sacrifice of Edward's watch and some silver teaspoons to defray the cost +of a decent funeral. At last, spite of the thriftiest economy, all was +gone, and they were penniless. + +"You have nothing to purchase breakfast with to-morrow, have you, Mary?" +said the husband, after partaking of a scanty tea. The mother had +feigned only to eat: little Edward, whose curly head was lying in her +lap as he sat asleep on a low stool beside her, had her share. + +"Not a farthing," she replied, mildly, even cheerfully, and the glance +of her gentle eyes was hopeful and kind as ever. "But, bear up, Edward: +we have still the furniture; and were that sold at once, it would enable +us to reach London, where, you know, so many people have made fortunes, +who arrived there as poor as we." + +"Something must be done, that is certain," replied the husband. "We have +not yet received an answer from Salisbury about the porter's place I +have applied for." + +"No; but I would rather, for your sake, Edward, that you filled such a +situation at some place further off, where you were not so well known." + +Edward Lovegrove sighed, and, presently, rising from his chair, walked +toward a chest of drawers that stood at the further end of the room. His +wife, who guessed his intention--for the matter had been already more +than once hinted at--followed him with a tearful, apprehensive glance. +Her husband played tolerably well--wonderfully in the wife's +opinion--upon the flute, and a few weeks after their marriage, her +mother had purchased and presented him with a very handsome one with +silver keys. He used, in the old time, to accompany his wife in the +simple ballads she sang so sweetly--and now this last memorial of the +past, linked as it was with tender and pious memories, must be parted +with! Edward Lovegrove had not looked at it for months: his life, of +late so out of tune, would have made harsh discord of its music; and as +he took it from the case, and, from the mere force of habit, moistened +the joints, and placed the pieces together, a flood of bitterness +swelled his heart to think that this solace of "lang syne" must be +sacrificed to their hard necessities. He blew a few tremulous and +imperfect notes, which awakened the little boy, who was immediately +clamorous that mammy should sing, and daddy play, as they used to do. + +"Shall we try, Mary," said the husband, "to please the child?" Poor Mary +bowed her head: her heart was too full to speak. The flutist played the +prelude to a favorite air several times over, before his wife could +sufficiently command her voice to commence the song, and she had not +reached the end of the second line when she stopped, choked with +emotion, and burst into an agony of tears. + +"It is useless trying, Mary," said Edward Lovegrove, soothingly, as he +rose and put by the flute. "I will to bed at once, for to and from +Christchurch, where I must dispose of it, is a long walk." He kissed his +wife and child, and went up-stairs. The mother followed soon afterward, +put her boy to rest, and after looking wistfully for a few moments at +the worn and haggard features of her husband as he lay asleep, +re-descended the stairs, and busied herself with some necessary +household work. + +As she was thus employed, a slight tap at the little back window struck +her ear, and, looking sharply round, she recognized the pale, uncouth +features of Symons, lawyer Nichols' deformed clerk and errand-man, who +was eagerly beckoning her to open the casement. This was the person of +whom Ephraim Lovegrove had spoken just previous to his death. Symons, +who had never known father or mother, had passed his infancy and early +boyhood in the parish workhouse, from whence he had passed into the +service of Mr. Nichols, who, finding him useful, and of some capacity, +had retained him in his employ to the present time, but at so bare a +stipend, as hardly sufficed to keep body and soul together. Poor Symons +was a meek, enduring drudge, used to the mocks and buffets of the world; +and except under the influence of strong excitement, hardly dared to +rebel or murmur, even in spirit. His acquaintance with the Lovegrove +family arose from his being placed in possession of the furniture and +stock of Bursley Farm, under a writ of _fi. fa._ issued by Nichols. On +the day the inventory was taken, in preparation for the sale, a heavy +piece of timber, which he was assisting to measure, fell upon his left +foot, and severely crushed it. From his master he received only a +malediction for his awkwardness; but young Mrs. Lovegrove--not so much +absorbed in her own grief as to be indifferent to the sufferings of +others--had him brought carefully into the house, and herself tended his +painful hurt with the gentlest care and compassion, and ultimately +effected a thorough cure. This kindness to a slighted, deformed being, +who, before, had scarcely comprehended the meaning of the word, +powerfully effected Symons; and he had since frequently endeavored, in +his shy, awkward way, to testify the deep gratitude he felt toward his +benefactress, of whose present extreme poverty he, in common with every +other inhabitant of the scattered hamlet, had, of course, become fully +cognizant. Charity Symons--the parish authorities had so named him, in +order, doubtless that however high he might eventually rise in the +world, he should never ungratefully forget his origin--beckoned, as I +have said, eagerly to the lone woman, and the instant she opened the +casement, he thrust a rather heavy bag into her hand. + +"For you," he said, hurriedly: "I got it for next to nothing of Tom +Stares; but mind, not a word! God bless and reward you!" and before Mrs. +Lovegrove could answer a word, or comprehend what was meant, he had +disappeared. + +On opening the bag, the surprised and affrighted woman found that it +contained a fine hen-pheasant and a hare! No wonder she was alarmed at +finding herself in possession of such articles; for in those good old +days game could not be lawfully sold or purchased; and unless it could +be distinctly proved that it came by gift from a qualified killer, its +simple possession was a punishable offense. This pheasant and hare had +doubtless been poached by Tom Stares, a notorious offender against the +game-laws; but what was to be done? Spite of all the laws that were +enacted upon the subject, the peasant and farmer intellect of England +could never be made to attach a moral delinquency to the unauthorized +killing of game. A dangerous occupation, leading to no possible good, +and, eventually, sure to result in evil to the transgressor, prudent men +agreed it was; but as for confounding the stealing of a wooden spoon, +worth a penny, with the snaring of a hare, worth, perhaps, five +shillings--that never entered any body's head. And thus it happened that +Mrs. Lovegrove, though conscious that the hare and bird had been +illegally obtained, felt nothing of the instinctive horror and shame +that would have mantled her forehead, had she been made the recipient of +a stolen threepenny-worth of cheese or bacon. She recalled to mind the +journey her husband must take in the morning--he, weak, haggard for want +of food--of which here was an abundant present supply: her boy, too, who +had twice at tea-time, ere he fell asleep, asked vainly for more bread! +As these bitter thoughts glanced through her brain, a sharp double rap +at the door caused her to start like a guilty thing, and then hastily +undo her apron, and throw it over the betraying present. The door was +not locked, and the postman, impatient of delay, lifted the latch, and +stepped into the room. Was he soon enough to observe what was on the +table? Mary Lovegrove would have thought so, but for the unconcerned, +indifferent aspect of the man as he presented a letter, and said, "It's +prepaid: all right;" and without further remark, went away. The anxious +and nervous woman trembled so much, that she could hardly break the seal +of the letter; and the words, as she strove to make out the cramped hand +by the brilliant moonlight, danced confusedly before her eyes. At last +she was able to read. The letter was from Salisbury and announced that +Mr. Brodie "regretted to say, as he had known and respected the late +Ephraim Lovegrove, that he had engaged a person to fill the situation +which had been vacant, a few hours previous to his receiving Edward +Lovegrove's application." That plank, then, had sunk under them like all +the rest! A hard world, she thought, and but little entitled to +obedience or respect from the wretches trampled down in its iron course. +Edward should not, at all events, depart foodless on his morning's +errand; neither should her boy lack breakfast. On this she was now +determined, and with shaking hands and flushed cheek, she hastily set +about preparing the bird for the morning meal--a weak and criminal act, +if you will; but a mother seldom reasons when her child lacks food: she +only feels. + +Edward Lovegrove very easily reconciled himself to the savory breakfast +which awaited him in the morning; and he and his son were doing ample +justice to it--the wife, though faint with hunger, could not touch a +morsel--when the latch of the door suddenly lifted, and in hurried +Thompson the miller, and chief constable of the Hundred, followed by an +assistant. A faint scream escaped from Mrs. Lovegrove, and a fierce oath +broke from her husband's lips, as they recognized the new-comers, and +too readily divined their errand. + +"A charming breakfast, upon my word!" exclaimed the constable, laughing. +"Roasted pheasant--no less! Our information was quite correct, it +appears." + +"What is the meaning of this, and what do you seek here?" exclaimed +Edward Lovegrove. + +"You and this game, of which we are informed you are unlawfully +possessed. I hope," added the constable, a feeling, good sort of man--"I +hope you will be able to prove both this half-eaten pheasant and the +hare I see hanging yonder were presented to you by some person having a +right to make such gifts?" + +A painful and embarrassing pause ensued. It would have been useless, as +far as themselves were concerned, to have named Charity Symons, even had +Lovegrove or his wife been disposed to subject him to the penalties of +the law and the anger of his employer. + +"After all," observed the constable, who saw how matters stood, "it is +but a money penalty." + +"A money penalty!" exclaimed Lovegrove. "It is +imprisonment--ruin--starvation for my wife and child. Look at these bare +walls--these threadbare garments--and say if it can mean any thing +else!" + +"I am sorry for it," rejoined Thompson. "The penalty is a considerable +one: five pounds for each head of game, with costs; and I am afraid, if +Sir John Devereux's agent--lawyer Nichols--presses the charge, in +default of payment, six months' imprisonment! Sir John's preserves have +suffered greatly of late." + +"It is that rascal, that robber Nichols' doing then!" fiercely exclaimed +Lovegrove. "I might have guessed so; but if I don't pay him off both +for old and new one of these days--" + +"Tut--tut!" interrupted the constable: "it's no use calling names, nor +uttering threats we don't mean to perform. Perhaps matters may turn out +better than you think. In the mean time you must appear before Squire +Digby, and so must your hare and what remains of your breakfast." + +Arrived before the magistrate, the prisoner, taken in "_flagrant +délit_," had of course no valid defense to offer. The justice remarked +upon the enormity of the offense committed, and regretted, exceedingly +that he could not at once convict and punish the delinquent; but as the +statute required that two magistrates should concur in the conviction, +the case would be adjourned till that day week, when a petty sessions +would be held. In the mean time he should require bail in ten pounds for +the prisoner's appearance. This would have been tantamount to a sentence +of immediate imprisonment, had not the constable, who had been formerly +intimate with the Lovegroves, stepped forward and said, that if the +prisoner would give him his word that he would not abscond, he would +bail him. This was done, and the necessary formalities complete, the +husband and wife took their sad way homeward. + +What was now to be done? Their furniture, if sold at its highest value, +would barely discharge the penalties incurred, and they would be +homeless, penniless, utterly without resource? The wife wept bitterly, +accusing herself as the cause of this utter ruin; her husband indulged +in fierce and senseless abuse of Nichols, and in a paroxysm of fury +seized a sheet of letter-paper, tore it hastily in halves, and scribbled +a letter to the attorney full of threats of the direst vengeance. This +crazy epistle he signed 'A Ruined Man,' and without pausing to reflect +on what he was doing, dispatched his little boy to the post-office with +it. This mad proceeding appeared to have somewhat relieved him: he grew +calmer, strove to console his wife, went out and obtained credit at the +chandler's--the first time they had made such a request--for a few +necessaries; and after a short interval, the unfortunate couple were +once more discussing their sad prospects with calmness and +partially-renewed hope. More than once Edward Lovegrove wished he had +not sent the letter to Nichols; but he said nothing to his wife about +it, and she, it afterward appeared, had been so pre-occupied at the +time, as not to heed or inquire to whom or of what he was writing. + +On the third day after Edward Lovegrove's appearance before the +magistrate, he set off about noon for Christchurch, in order to dispose +of his flute--a sacrifice which could no longer be delayed. It was +growing late, and his wife was sitting up in impatient expectation of +his return, when an alarm of "Fire" was raised, and it was announced +that a wheat-rick belonging to Nichols, who farmed in a small way, was +in flames. Many of the villagers hastened to the spot; but the fire, by +the time they arrived, had been effectually got under, and after hanging +about the premises a short time, they turned homeward. Edward Lovegrove +joined a party of them, and incidently remarked that he had been to +Christchurch, where he had met young Nichols, and had some rough words +with him: on his return, the young man had passed him on horseback when +about two miles distant from the elder Nichols' house, and just as he +(Lovegrove) neared the attorney's premises, the rick burst into flames. +This relation elicited very little remark at the time, and bidding his +companion good-night, Lovegrove hastened home. + +"The constables are looking for you," said a young woman, abruptly +entering the chandler's shop, whither Edward Lovegrove had proceeded the +following morning to discharge the trifling debt he had incurred. + +"For me?" exclaimed the startled young man. + +"Yes, for you;" and, added the girl with a meaning look and whisper, +"_if you were near the fire last night_, I would advise you to make +yourself scarce for a time." + +Her words conveyed no definite meaning to Edward Lovegrove's mind. The +fire! Constables after him! He left the shop, and took with hasty steps, +his way to the cottage, distant over the fields about a quarter of a +mile. + +"Lawyer Nichols' fire," he muttered as he hurried along. "Surely they do +not mean to accuse me of that!" + +The sudden recollection of the threatening letter he had sent glanced +across and smote, as with the stroke of a dagger, upon his brain. "Good +God! to what have I exposed myself?" + +His agitation was excessive; and at the instant the constables, who had +been to his home in search of him, turned the corner of a path, a few +paces ahead, and came full upon him. In his confusion and terror he +turned to flee, but so weakly and irresolutely, that he was almost +immediately overtaken and secured. + +"I would not have believed this of you, Edward Lovegrove," exclaimed the +constable. + +"Believed what?" ejaculated the bewildered man. + +"That you would have tried to revenge yourself on Lawyer Nichols by such +a base, dastardly trick. But it's not my business to reproach you, and +the less _you_ say the better. Come along." + +As they passed on toward the magistrate's house, an eager and curious +crowd gradually collected and accompanied them; and just as they reached +Digby Hall, a distant convulsive scream, and his name frantically +pronounced by a voice which the prisoner but too well recognized, told +him that his wife had heard of his capture, and was hurrying to join +him. He drew back, but his captors urged him impatiently on; the +hall-door was slammed in the faces of the crowd, and he found himself +in the presence of the magistrate and the elder Nichols. + +The attorney, who appeared to be strongly agitated, deposed in substance +that the prisoner had been seen by his son near his premises a few +minutes before the fire burst out; that he had abused and assaulted +young Mr. Nichols but a few hours previously in the market at +Christchurch; and that he had himself received a threatening letter, +which he now produced, only two days before, and which he believed to be +in the prisoner's handwriting-- + +The prisoner, bewildered by terror, eagerly denied that he wrote the +letter. + +This unfortunate denial was easily disposed of, by the production, by +the constable, of a half sheet of letter-paper found in the cottage, the +ragged edge of which precisely fitted that of the letter. Edward +Lovegrove would have been fully committed at once, but that the +magistrate thought it desirable that the deposition of Arthur Nichols +should be first formally taken. This course was reluctantly acquiesced +in by the prosecutor, and the prisoner was remanded to the next day. + +The dismay of Charity Symons, when he found that his well-intentioned +present had only brought additional suffering upon the Lovegroves, was +intense and bitter; but how to help them, he knew not. He had half made +up his mind to obtain--no matter by what means--a sight of certain +papers which he had long dimly suspected would make strange revelations +upon matters affecting Mary Lovegrove, when the arrest of her husband on +a charge of incendiarism thoroughly determined him to risk the expedient +he had long hesitatingly contemplated. The charge, he was quite +satisfied in his own mind, was an atrocious fabrication, strongly as +circumstances seemed to color and confirm it. + +The clerk, as he sat that afternoon in the office silently pursuing his +ill-paid drudgery, noticed that his employer was strangely ill at ease. +He was restless, and savagely impatient of the slightest delay on the +most necessary question. Evening fell early--it was now near the end of +October, and Symons with a respectful bow, left the office. A few +minutes afterward, the attorney having carefully locked his desk, iron +chest, &c., and placed the keys in his pocket, followed. + +Two hours had elapsed, when Symons re-entered the house by the back way, +walked through the kitchen, softly ascended the stairs, and groped his +way to the inner, private office. There was no moon, and he dared not +light a candle; but the faint starlight fortunately enabled him to move +about without stumbling or noise. He mounted the office steps, and +inserted the edge of a sharp broad chisel between the lock and the lid +of a heavy iron-bound box marked 'C.' The ease and suddenness with which +the lid yielded to the powerful effort he applied to it, overthrew his +balance, and he with difficulty saved himself from falling on the +floor. The box was not locked, and on putting his hand into it, he +discovered that it was entirely empty! The tell-tale papers had been +removed, probably destroyed! At the moment Symons made this exasperating +discovery, the sound of approaching footsteps struck upon his startled +senses, and shaking with fright, he had barely time to descend the +steps, and coop himself up in a narrow cupboard under one of the desks, +when the Nicholses, father and son, entered the office--the former with +a candle in his hand. + +"We are private here," said the father in a low, guarded voice; "and I +tell you you _must_ listen to reason. + +"I don't like it a bit," rejoined the young man. "It's a cowardly, +treacherous business; and as for swearing I saw him near the fire when +it so strangely burst out, I won't do it at any price." + +"Listen to me, you foolish, headstrong boy," retorted the elder Nichols, +"before you decide on beggary for yourself, and ruin--the gallows, +perhaps, for me." + +"Wh-e-e-e-w! Why, what do you mean?" + +"I will tell you. You already know that Mary Woodhouse married Robert +Clarke against his uncle's consent; you also know that Robert Clarke +died about five years after the marriage, and that the seventy pounds a +year which the uncle allowed his nephew to keep him from starvation was +continued to be paid through me to his widow." + +"Yes, I have heard all this before." + +"But you do _not_ know," continued the attorney in an +increasingly-agitated voice, "that about six years after Robert Clarke's +death, the uncle so far relented toward the widow and daughter--though +he would never see either of them--as to increase the annuity to two +hundred pounds, and that at his death, four years since, he bequeathed +Mrs. Clarke five hundred pounds per annum, with succession to her +daughter: all of which sums, I, partly on account of your riot and +extravagance, have appropriated." + +"Good heaven, what a horrible affair! What would you have me do?" + +"I have told you. The dread of discovery has destroyed my health, and +poisoned my existence. Were he once out of the country, his wife would +doubtless follow him; detection would be difficult; conviction, as I +will manage it, impossible." + +There was more said to the same effect; and the son, at the close of a +long and troubled colloquy, departed, after promising to "consider of +it." + +He had been gone but a few minutes; the elder Nichols was silently +meditating the perilous position in which he had placed himself, when a +noiseless step approached him from behind, and a heavy hand was suddenly +placed upon his shoulder. He started wildly to his feet, and confronted +the stern and triumphant glance of the once humble and submissive +Charity Symons. The suddenness of the shock overcame him, and he +fainted. + +Mary Lovegrove, whose child had sobbed itself to sleep, was sitting in +solitude and darkness in the lower room of the cottage, her head bowed +in mute and tearless agony upon the table, when, as on a previous +evening, a tap at the back window challenged her attention. It was once +more Charity Symons. "What do you here again?" exclaimed the wretched +wife with some asperity of tone: "you no doubt intended well; but you +have nevertheless ruined, destroyed me." + +"Not so," rejoined the deformed clerk, his pale, uncouth, but expressive +features gleaming with wild exultation in the clear starlight. "God has +at last enabled me to requite your kindness to a contemned outcast. Fear +not for to-morrow. Your husband is safe, and you are rich." With these +words he vanished. + +On the next morning a letter was placed in the magistrate's hands from +Mr. Nichols, stating that circumstances had come to the writer's +knowledge which convinced him that Edward Lovegrove was entirely +innocent of the offense imputed to him; that the letter, which he had +destroyed, bore quite another meaning from that which he had first +attributed to it; and that he consequently abandoned the prosecution. On +further inquiry, it was found that the attorney had left his house late +the preceding night, accompanied by his son, had walked to Christchurch, +and from thence set off post for London. His property and the winding up +of his affairs had been legally confided to his late clerk. Under these +circumstances the prisoner was of course immediately discharged; and +after a private interview with Symons, returned in joy and gladness to +his now temporary home. He was accompanied by the noisy felicitations of +his neighbors, to whom his liberation and sudden accession to a +considerable fortune had become at the same moment known. As he held his +passionately-weeping wife in his arms, and gazed with grateful emotion +in her tearful but rejoicing eyes, he whispered, "That kind act of yours +toward the despised hunchback has saved me, and enriched our child. +'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy!'" + + + + +[From Dickens's Household Words.] + +THE GAMBLERS OF THE RHINE. + + +In literature, in science, in art, we find Germany quite on a level with +the present age. She has produced men and books equal to the men and +books of England or France, as the names of Goethe, Schiller, Humboldt, +Liebig, and a score of others bear testimony. But while in poetry, +philosophy, and science, she is on a par with the best portions of +modern Europe; in politics--in the practical science of government--she +is an indefinite number of centuries behindhand. Governmentally, she is +now where the English were during the Saxon Heptarchy, with seven or +more kingdoms in a space that might be well governed by one sceptre. +Where she might get along very well with two, she has a dozen petty +kings, and petty courts, and petty national debts, and petty +pension-lists, and paltry debased and confusing coinages, and petty +cabals, quarrels, and intermixture of contending interests. + +Out of this division of territory arises, of course, a number of small +poor princes; and as poor princes do not like to work hard when their +pockets are low, we find them busy with the schemes, shifts, and +contrivances, common from time immemorial with penniless people who have +large appetites for pleasure, small stomachs for honest work--real, +living, reigning dukes though they be, they have added to the royal +"businesses" to which they were born, little private speculations for +the encouragement of _rouge et noir_ and _roulette_. These small princes +have, in fact, turned gambling house keepers--hell-keepers, in the +vulgar but expressive slang of a London police court--proprietors of +establishments where the vicious and the unwary, the greedy hawk and the +silly pigeon, congregate, the one to plunder and the other to be +plucked. That which has been expelled from huge London, as too great an +addition to its vice, or, if not quite expelled, is carried on with +iron-barred doors, unequal at times to protect its followers from the +police and the infamy of exposure--that which has been outlawed from the +Palais Royal and Paris, as too bad even for the lax morality of a most +free-living city--that huge vice which caters to the low senses of +cunning and greediness, and tempts men to lose fortune, position, +character, even hope, in the frantic excitements of, perhaps, one +desperate night--such a vice is housed in fine buildings raised near +mineral springs, surrounded by beautiful gardens, enlivened by music, +and sanctioned by the open patronage of petty German princes holding +sway in the valley watered by the Rhine. In fact, unscrupulous +speculators are found to carry on German gaming-tables at German spas, +paying the sovereign of the country certain thousands of pounds a year +for the privilege of fleecing the public. + +The weakened in body are naturally weakened in mental power. The weak in +body are promised health by "taking the waters" at a German bath. The +early hours, the pleasant walks, the good music, the promised economy, +are inducements. The weakened mind wants more occupation than it finds, +for these places are very monotonous, and the gaming-table is placed by +the sovereign of the country in a noble room--the Kursaal, to afford +excitement to the visitor, and profits--the profits of infamy--to +himself. + +There are grades in these great gaming-houses for Europe. Taking them in +the order in which they are reached from Cologne, it may be said that +Wiesbaden is the finest town, having very pleasant environs, and the +least play. The Grand Duke of Nassau, therefore, has probably the +smallest share of the gaming-table booty. + +Homburg which comes next in order, is far more out of reach, is smaller, +duller--(it is indeed very, very dreary)--and has to keep its +gaming-tables going all the year round, to make up the money paid by the +lessees of the gambling-house to the duke. The range of the Taunus is at +the back of the "town" (a village about as large, imposing, and lively +as Hounslow), and affords its chief attraction. The rides are agreeable, +if the visitor has a good horse--(a difficult thing to get in that +locality)--and is fond of trotting up steep hills, and then ambling down +again. In beauty of position, and other attractions, it is very far +below both Wiesbaden and Baden. + +Baden-Baden is the third, and certainly most beautiful of these German +gambling-towns. The town nestles, as it were, in a sheltered valley, +opening among the hills of the Black Forest. In summer its aspect is +very picturesque and pleasant; but it looks as if in winter it must be +very damp and liable to the atmosphere which provokes the growth of +_goitre_. At Baden there is said to be more play than at the other two +places put together. From May till the end of September, _roulette_ and +_rouge et noir_--the mutter of the man who deals the cards, and the +rattle of the marble--are never still. The profits of the table at this +place are very large. The man who had them some years ago retired with +an immense fortune; and one of his successors came from the Palais Royal +when public gaming was forbidden in Paris, and was little less +successful than his predecessor. The permanent residents at Baden could +alone form any idea of the sums netted, and only such of those as were +living near the bankers. They could scarcely avoid seeing the bags of +silver, five franc pieces chiefly, that passed between the gaming-tables +and the bank. A profit of one thousand pounds a fortnight was thought a +sign of a bad season; and so it must have been, when it is calculated +that the gambling-table keeper paid the duke a clear four thousand +pounds a year as the regal share of the plunder, and agreed to spend two +thousand a year in decorating the town of Baden. The play goes on in a +noble hall called the Conversations House, decorated with frescoes and +fitted up most handsomely. This building stands in a fine ornamental +garden, with green lawns and fine avenues of tall trees; and all this +has been paid for by the profits of _roulette_ and _rouge et noir_. +Seeing this, it may cause surprise that people play at all; yet the +fascination is so great that, once within its influence, good +resolutions and common sense seem alike unequal to resistance. All seems +fair enough, and some appear to win, and then self-love suggests, "Oh, +my luck will surely carry me through!" The game is so arranged that some +win and some lose every game, the table having, it is said, only a small +percentage of chance in its favor. These chances are avowedly greater +at _roulette_ than at _rouge et noir_, but at both it is practically +shown that the player, in the long run, always loses. It is whispered +that, contrary to the schoolboy maxim, cheating _does_ thrive at German +baths; and those who have watched the matter closely, say a Dutch banker +won every season by following a certain plan. He waited till he saw a +heavy stake upon the table, and then backed the other side. He always +won. + +Go into one of the rooms at any of these places, and whom do you see? +The off-scourings of European cities--professional gamblers, ex-officers +of all sorts of armies; portionless younger brothers; pensioners; old +men and old women who have outlived all other excitements; a multitude +of silly gulls, attracted by the waters, or the music, or the +fascination of play; and a sprinkling of passing tourists, who +come--"just look in on their way," generally to be disappointed--often +to be fleeced. Young and handsome women are not very often seen playing. +Gaming is a vice reserved for middle age. While hearts are to be won, +dollars are not worth playing for. Cards, and rouge, and dyspepsy seem +to be nearly allied, if we may judge by the specimens of humanity seen +at the baths of Wiesbaden, Homburg, and Baden. The players--and player +and loser are almost synonymous terms--are generally thin and anxious; +the bankers, fat and stolid. As the brass whirls round, the table-keeper +has the look of a quiet bloated spider, seemingly passionless, but with +an eye that glances over every chance on the board. At his side see an +elderly man, pale and thin, the muscles of whose lower jaw are twitching +spasmodically, yet with jaded, forced resignation, he loses his last +five pounds. Next him is a woman highly dressed, with false hair and +teeth, and a great deal of paint. She has a card in her hand, on which +she pricks the numbers played, and thus flatters herself she learns the +best chances to take. Next to her see one of the most painful sights +these places display. A father, mother, and young girl are all trying +their fortune; the parents giving money to the child that they "may have +her good luck," reckless of the fatal taste they are implanting in her +mind. Next is a Jew, looking all sorts of agonies, and one may fancy he +knows he is losing in an hour, what it has cost him years of cunning and +self-denial to amass. And so on, round the table, we find ill-dressed +and well dressed Germans, French, Russians, English, Yankees, Irish, +mixed up together, in one eager crowd; thirsting to gain gold without +giving value in return; risking what they have in an insane contest +which they know has destroyed thousands before them; losing their money, +and winning disgust, despondency, and often despair and premature death. +Never a year is said to go by without its complement of ruined fools and +hasty suicides. The neighboring woods afford a convenient shelter; and a +trigger, or a handkerchief and a bough, complete the tragedy. + + + + +[From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.] + +THE CONFLICT OF LOVE--A TALE OF REAL LIFE. + + +In the north of France, near the Belgian frontier, is situated a small, +obscure town. It is surrounded by high fortifications, which seem ready +to crush the mean houses in the centre. Inclosed, so to speak, in a +net-work of walls, the poor little town has never sent a suburb to +wander on the smooth green turf outside; but as the population +increased, new streets sprang up within the boundary, crowding the +already narrow space, and giving to the whole the aspect of some huge +prison. + +The climate of the north of France during half the year is usually damp +and gloomy. I shall never forget the sensation of sadness which I felt +when obliged by circumstances to leave the gay, sunny south, and take up +my abode for a while in the town I have described. Every day I walked +out; and in order to reach the nearest gate, I had to pass through a +narrow lane, so very steep, that steps were cut across it in order to +render the ascent less difficult. Traversing this disagreeable alley, it +happened one day that my eyes rested on a mean-looking, gray-colored +house, which stood detached from the others. Seldom, indeed, could a ray +of sunshine light up its small, green-paned windows, and penetrate the +interior of its gloomy apartments. During the winter the frozen snow on +the steps made it so dangerous to pass through the narrow alley, that +its slippery pavement seemed quite deserted. I do not remember to have +met a single person there in the course of my daily walk; and my eye +used to rest with compassion on the silent gray house. "I hope," thought +I, "that its inhabitants are old--it would be fearful to be young +there!" Spring came; and in the narrow lane the ice changed into +moisture; then the damp gradually dried up, and a few blades of grass +began to appear beneath the rampart wall. Even in this gloomy passage +there were tokens of awakening life, but the gray house remained silent +and sad as before. Passing by it, as usual, in the beginning of June, I +remarked, placed on the window-sill of the open casement, a glass +containing a bunch of violets. "Ah," thought I, "there is a _soul_ +here!" + +To love flowers, one must either be young, or have preserved the +memories of youth. The enjoyment of their perfume implies something +ideal and refined; and among the poor a struggle between the necessities +of the body and the instincts of the soul. I looked at the violets with +a feeling of sadness, thinking that they probably formed the single +solace of some weary life. The next day I returned. Even in that gloomy +place the sweet rejoicing face of summer had appeared, and dissipated +the chill silence of the air. Birds were twittering, insects humming, +and one of the windows in the old gray house was wide open. + +Seated near it was a woman working busily with her needle. It would be +difficult to tell her age, for the pallor and sadness of her countenance +might have been caused as much by sorrow as by years, and her cheek was +shadowed by a profusion of rich dark hair. She was thin, and her fingers +were long and white. She wore a simple brown dress, a black apron, and +white collar; and I remarked the sweet, though fading bunch of violets +carefully placed within the folds of her kerchief. Her eyes met mine, +and she gently inclined her head. I then saw more distinctly that she +had just reached the limit which separates youth from mature age. She +had suffered, but probably without a struggle, without a murmur--perhaps +without a tear. Her countenance was calm and resigned, but it was the +stillness of death. I fancied she was like a drooping flower, which, +without being broken, bends noiselessly toward the earth. + +Every day I saw her in the same place, and, without speaking, we +exchanged a salutation. On Sundays I missed her, and concluded that she +walked into the country, for each Monday a fresh bunch of violets +appeared in the window. I conjectured that she was poor, working at +embroidery for her support; and I discovered that she was not alone in +the house, for one day a somewhat impatient voice called "Ursula!" and +she rose hastily. The tone was not that of a master, neither did she +obey the summons after the manner of a servant, but with an expression +of heartfelt readiness; yet the voice breathed no affection; and I +thought that Ursula perchance was not loved by those with whom she +lived. + +Time passed on, and our silent intimacy increased. At length each day I +gathered some fresh flowers, and placed them on the window-sill. Ursula +blushed, and took them with a gentle, grateful smile. Clustering in her +girdle, and arranged within her room, they brought summer to the old +gray house. It happened one evening that as I was returning through the +alley a sudden storm of rain came on. Ursula darted toward the door, +caught my hand as I was passing, and drew me into the narrow passage +which led to her room. Then the poor girl clasped both my hands in hers, +and murmured, softly, "Thanks!" It was the first time I had heard her +voice, and I entered her apartment. It was a large, low room, with a +red-tiled floor, furnished with straw chairs ranged along the walls. +Being lighted by only one small window, it felt damp and gloomy. Ursula +was right to seat herself close by the casement to seek a little light +and air. I understood the reason of her paleness--it was not that she +had lost the freshness of youth, but that she had never possessed it. +She was bleached like a flower that has blossomed in the shade. + +In the farthest corner of the room, seated on arm-chairs, were two +persons, an old man and woman. The latter was knitting without looking +at her work--she was blind. The man was unemployed: he gazed vacantly +at his companion without a ray of intelligence in his face: it was +evident that he had overpassed the ordinary limit of human life, and +that now his body alone existed. Sometimes in extreme old age the mind, +as though irritated by its long captivity, tries to escape from its +prison, and in its efforts, breaks the harmonious chord that links them +together. It chafes against the shattered walls; it has not taken +flight, but it feels itself no longer in a place of rest. + +These, then, were the inhabitants of the silent gray house--a blind old +woman, an imbecile old man, and a young girl faded before her time by +the sadness and gloom that surrounded her! Her life had been a blank; +each year had borne away some portion of her youth, her beauty, and her +hope, and left her nothing but silence and oblivion. I often returned to +visit Ursula, and one day, while I sat next her in the window, she told +me the simple story of her life. + +"I was born," said she, "in this house; and I have never quitted it; but +my parents are not natives of this country--they came here as strangers, +without either friends or relatives. When they married, they were +already advanced in life; for I can not remember them ever being young. +My mother became blind, and this misfortune rendered her melancholy and +austere; so that our house was enveloped in gloom. I was never permitted +to sing, or play, or make the slightest noise: very rarely did I receive +a caress. Yet my parents loved me: they never told me that they did; but +I judged their hearts by my own, and I felt that I loved them. My days +were not always as solitary as they are now; I had a sister"--Her eyes +filled with tears, but they did not overflow; they were wont to remain +hidden in the depths of her heart. After a few moments, she +continued--"I had an elder sister: like our mother, she was grave and +silent, but toward me she was tender and affectionate. We loved each +other dearly, and shared between us the cares which our parents +required. We never enjoyed the pleasure of rambling together through the +fields, for one always remained at home; but whichever of us went out, +brought flowers to the other, and talked to her of the sun, and the +trees, and the fresh air. In the evenings we worked together by the +light of a lamp; we could not converse much, for our parents used to +slumber by our side; but whenever we looked up, we could see a loving +smile on each other's face; and we went to repose in the same room, +never lying down without saying 'Good-night! I hope, dear sister, you +will sleep well!' Was it not a trial to part? Yet I do not murmur: +Martha is happy in heaven. I know not if it was the want of air and +exercise, or the dull monotony of her life, which caused the +commencement of Martha's illness, but I saw her gradually languish and +fade. I alone was disquieted by it; my mother did not see her, and she +never complained. With much difficulty I at length prevailed on my +sister to see a physician. Alas! nothing could be done: she lingered for +a time, and then died. The evening before her death, as I was seated by +her bed, she clasped my hand between her trembling ones: 'Adieu! my poor +Ursula!' she said: 'take courage, and watch well over our father and +mother. They love us, Ursula; they love us, although they do not often +say so. Take care of your health for their sake; you can not die before +them. Adieu! sister: don't weep for me too much, but pray to our +heavenly Father. We shall meet again, Ursula!' Three days afterward, +Martha was borne away in her coffin, and I remained alone with my +parents. When my mother first heard of my sister's death, she uttered a +loud cry, sprang up, took a few hasty steps across the room, and then +fell on the ground. I raised her up, and led her back to her arm-chair. +Since then she has not wept, but she is more silent than before, save +that her lips move in secret prayer. I have little more to tell. My +father became completely imbecile, and at the same time we lost nearly +the whole of our little property. I have succeeded in concealing this +loss from my parents; making money for their support by selling my +embroidery. I have no one to speak to since my sister's death; I love +books, but I have no time for reading--I must work. It is only on Sunday +that I breathe the fresh air; and I do not walk far, as I am alone. Some +years since, when I was very young, I used to dream while I sat in this +window. I peopled the solitude with a thousand visions which brightened +the dark hours. Now a sort of numbness has fallen on my thoughts--I +dream no more. While I was young, I used to hope for some change in my +destiny; now I am twenty-nine years old, and sorrow has chastened my +spirit: I no longer hope or fear. In this place I shall finish my lonely +days. Do not think that I have found resignation without a conflict. +There were times when my heart revolted at living without being loved, +but I thought of Martha's gentle words, 'We shall meet again, sister!' +and I found peace. Now I often pray--I seldom weep. And you, madam--are +you happy?" + +I did not answer this question of Ursula's. Speaking to her of happiness +would be like talking of an ungrateful friend to one whom he has +deserted. + +Some months afterward, on a fine autumn morning, as I was preparing to +go to Ursula, I received a visit from a young officer who had lately +joined the garrison. He was the son of an old friend of my husband's, +and we both felt a lively interest in his welfare. Seeing me prepared +for a walk, he offered his arm, and we proceeded toward the dwelling of +Ursula. I chanced to speak of her; and as the young officer, whom I +shall call Maurice d'Erval, seemed to take an interest in her story, I +related it to him as we walked slowly along. When we reached the old +gray house he looked at her with pity and respect, saluted her, and +withdrew. Ursula, startled at the presence of a stranger, blushed +slightly. At that moment she looked almost beautiful. I know not what +vague ideas crossed my brain, but I looked at her, and then, without +speaking, I drew the rich bands of her hair into a more becoming form, I +took a narrow black velvet collar off my own neck, and passed it round +hers, and I arranged a few brilliant flowers in her girdle. Ursula +smiled without understanding why I did so: her smile always pained +me--there is nothing more sad than the smile of the unhappy. They seem +to smile for others, not for themselves. Many days passed without my +seeing Maurice d'Erval, and many more before chance led us together near +the old gray house. + +It was on our return from a country excursion with a large gay party. On +entering the town, we all dispersed in different directions: I took the +arm of Maurice, and led him toward Ursula's abode. It was one of those +soft, calm autumn evenings, when the still trees are colored by the rays +of the setting sun, and every thing breathes repose. It is a time when +the soul is softened, when we become better, when we feel ready to weep +without the bitterness of sorrow. Ursula, as usual, was seated in the +window. A slanting ray of sunshine falling on her head lent an unwonted +lustre to her dark hair: her eyes brightened when she saw me, and she +smiled her own sad smile. Her sombre dress showed to advantage her +slender, gracefully-bending figure, and a bunch of violets, her favorite +flower, was fastened in her bosom. There was something in the whole +appearance of Ursula which suited harmoniously the calm, sad beauty of +the evening, and my companion felt it. As we approached, he fixed his +eyes on the poor girl, who, timid as a child of fifteen, hung down her +head, and blushed deeply. Maurice stopped, exchanged a few words with us +both, and then took his leave. But from that time he constantly passed +through the narrow alley, and paused each time for a moment to salute +Ursula. One day, accompanied by me, he entered her house. + +There are hearts in this world so unaccustomed to hope, that they can +not comprehend happiness when it comes to them. Enveloped in her +sadness, which, like a thick vail, hid from her sight all external +things, Ursula neither saw nor understood. She remained under the eyes +of Maurice as under mine--dejected and resigned. As to the young man, I +could not clearly make out what was passing in his mind. It was not love +for Ursula, at least so I thought, but it was that tender pity which is +nearly allied to it. The romantic soul of Maurice pleased itself in the +atmosphere of sadness which surrounded Ursula. Gradually they began to +converse; and in sympathizing with each other on the misery of life, +they experienced that happiness whose existence they denied. Months +passed on; the pleasant spring came back again; and one evening, while +walking with a large party, Maurice d'Erval drew me aside, and after +some indifferent remarks, said, "Does not the most exalted happiness +consist in making others share it with you? Is there not great sweetness +in imparting joy to one who would otherwise pass a life of tears?" I +looked at him anxiously without speaking. "Yes," said he, "dear friend, +go ask Ursula if she will marry me!" + +An exclamation of joy was my reply, and I hurried toward the gray house. +I found Ursula, as usual, seated at her work. Solitude, silence, and the +absence of all excitement had lulled her spirit into a sort of +drowsiness. She did not suffer; she even smiled languidly when I +appeared, but this was the only sign of animation she displayed. I +feared not giving a sudden shock to this poor paralyzed soul, or +stirring it into a violent tumult of happiness: I wanted to see if the +mental vigor was extinct, or merely dormant. I placed my chair next +hers, I took both her hands in mine, and fixing my eyes on hers, I said, +"Ursula, Maurice d'Erval has desired me to ask you if you will be his +wife!" + +The girl was struck as if with a thunderbolt; her eyes beamed through +the tears that filled them, and her blood, rushing through the veins, +mantled richly beneath her skin. Her chest heaved, her heart beat almost +audibly, and her hands grasped mine with a convulsive pressure. Ursula +had only slumbered, and now the voice of love awakened her. She loved +suddenly: hitherto she might, perchance, have loved unwittingly, but now +the vail was rent, and she _knew_ that she loved. + +After a few moments, she passed her hand across her forehead, and said, +in a low voice, "No: it is not possible!" + +I simply repeated the same phrase, "Maurice d'Erval asks you if you will +be his wife," in order to accustom her to the sound of the words, which, +like the notes of a harmonious chord, formed for her, poor thing, a +sweet, unwonted melody. + +"His wife!" repeated she with ecstasy; "his wife!" And running toward +her mother, she cried, "Mother, do you hear it? He asks me to be his +wife!" + +"Daughter," replied the old blind woman, "my beloved daughter, I knew +that, sooner or later, God would recompense your virtues." + +"My God!" cried Ursula, "what hast Thou done for me this day? _His wife! +beloved daughter!_" And she fell on her knees with clasped hands, and +her face covered with tears. At that moment footsteps were heard in the +passage. "It is he!" cried Ursula. "He brings life!" I hastened away, +and left Ursula glowing with tearful happiness to receive Maurice +d'Erval alone. + +From that day Ursula was changed. She grew young and beautiful under the +magic influence of joy, yet her happiness partook in some measure of her +former character: it was calm, silent, and reserved; so that Maurice, +who had first loved a pale, sad woman, seated in the shade, was not +obliged to change the coloring of the picture, although Ursula was now +happy. They passed long evenings together in the low, dull room, lighted +only by the moonbeams, conversing and musing together. + +Ursula loved with simplicity. She said to Maurice, "I love you--I am +happy--and I thank you for it!" The old gray house was the only scene of +these interviews. Ursula worked with unabated diligence, and never left +her parents. But the walls of that narrow dwelling no longer confined +her soul: it had risen to freedom, and taken its flight. The sweet magic +of hope brightens not only the future, but the present, and through the +medium of its all-powerful prism changes the coloring of all things. The +old house was as mean-looking and gloomy as ever, but one feeling, +enshrined in the heart of a woman, changed it to a palace. Dreams of +hope, although you fleet and vanish like golden clouds in the sky, yet +come, come to us ever! Those who have never known you, are a thousand +times poorer than those who live to regret you! + +Thus there passed a happy time for Ursula. But a day came when Maurice +entering her room in haste, said, "Dearest, we must hasten our marriage; +the regiment is about to be moved to another garrison, and we must be +ready to set out." + +"Are we going far, Maurice?" + +"Does it frighten my Ursula to think of seeing distant countries? There +are many lands more beautiful than this." + +"Oh, no, Maurice, not for myself, but for my parents: they are too old +to bear a long journey." Maurice looked at his betrothed without +speaking. Although he well knew that, in order to share his wandering +destiny, Ursula must leave her parents, yet he had never reflected +seriously on the subject. He had foreseen her grief, but confiding in +her affection, he had thought that his devoted love would soothe every +sorrow of which he was not himself the cause. It was now necessary to +come to an explanation; and sad at the inevitable pain which he was +about to inflict on his betrothed, Maurice took her hand, made her sit +down in her accustomed place, and said, gently, "Dearest, it would be +impossible for your father and mother to accompany us in our wandering +life. Until now, my Ursula, we have led a loving, dreamy life, without +entering soberly into our future plans. I have no fortune but my sword; +and now, at the commencement of my career, my income is so small, that +we shall have to submit together to many privations. I reckon on your +courage; but you alone must follow me. The presence of your parents +would only serve to entail misery on them, and hopeless poverty on us." + +"Leave my father and my mother!" cried Ursula. + +"Leave them, with their little property, in this house; confide them to +careful hands; and follow the fortunes of your husband." + +"Leave my father and my mother!" repeated Ursula. "But do you know that +the pittance they possess would never suffice for their support--that +without their knowledge, I work to increase it--and that, during many +years, I have tended them alone?" + +"My poor Ursula!" replied Maurice, "we must submit to what is +inevitable. Hitherto you have concealed from them the loss of their +little fortune; tell it to them now, as it can not be helped. Try to +regulate their expenditure of the little which remains; for, alas! we +shall have nothing to give them." + +"Go away, and leave them here! Impossible! I tell you, I must work for +them!" + +"Ursula, my Ursula!" said Maurice, pressing both her hands in his, "do +not allow yourself, I conjure you, to be carried away by the first +impulse of your generous heart. Reflect for a moment: we do not refuse +to give, but we have it not. Even living alone, we shall have to endure +many privations." + +"I can not leave them," said Ursula, looking mournfully at the two old +people slumbering in their arm-chairs. + +"Do you not love me, Ursula?" The poor girl only replied by a torrent of +tears. + +Maurice remained long with her, pouring forth protestations of love, and +repeating explanations of their actual position. She listened without +replying; and at length he took his leave. Left alone, Ursula leaned her +head on her hand, and remained without moving for many hours. Alas! the +tardy gloom of happiness which brightened her life for a moment was +passing away: the blessed dream was fled never to return! Silence, +oblivion, darkness, regained possession of that heart whence love had +chased them. During the long midnight hours who can tell what passed in +the poor girl's mind? God knew: she never spoke of it. + +When day dawned, she shuddered, closed the window, which had remained +open during the night, and, trembling from the chill which seized both +mind and body, she took paper and pen, and wrote--"Farewell, Maurice! I +remain with my father and my mother: they have need of me. To abandon +them in their old age would be to cause their death: they have only me +in the world. My sister, on her death-bed, confided them to me, saying, +'We shall meet again, Ursula!' If I neglected my duties, I should never +see her more. I have loved you well--I shall love you always. You have +been very kind, but I know now that we are too poor to marry. Farewell! +How hard to write that word! Farewell, dear friend--I knew that +happiness was not for me, URSULA." + +I went to the old gray house, and so did Maurice; but all our +representations were useless--she would not leave her parents. "I must +work for them!" she said. In vain I spoke to her of Maurice's love, and, +with a sort of cruelty, reminded her of her waning youth, and the +improbability of her meeting another husband. She listened, while her +tears dropped on the delicate work at which she labored without +intermission, and then in a low voice she murmured, "They would die: I +must work for them!" She begged us not to tell her mother what had +passed. Those for whom she had sacrificed herself remained ignorant of +her devotion. Some slight reason was assigned for the breaking off of +the marriage, and Ursula resumed her place and her employment near the +window, pale, dejected, and bowed down as before. + +Maurice d'Erval possessed one of those prudent, deliberating minds which +never allow themselves to be carried away by feeling or by impulse. His +love had a limit: he prayed and intreated for a time, but at length he +grew weary, and desisted. + +It happened one day, while Ursula was seated in her window, that she +heard a distant sound of military music, and the measured trampling of +many feet. It was the regiment departing. Tremblingly she listened to +the air, which sounded as a knell in her ears; and when the last faint +notes died away in the distance, she let her work fall on her lap, and +covered her face with her hands. A few tears trickled between her +fingers, but she speedily wiped them away, and resumed her work: she +resumed it for the rest of her life. On the evening of this day of +separation--this day when the sacrifice was consummated--Ursula, after +having bestowed her usual care on her parents, seated herself at the +foot of her mother's bed, and, bending toward her with a look, whose +tearful tenderness the blind old woman could not know, the poor deserted +one took her hand, and murmured softly, "Mother! you love me; do you +not? Is not my presence a comfort to you? Would you not grieve to part +with me, my mother?" + +The old woman turned her face to the wall, and said in a fretful tone, +"Nonsense, Ursula. I'm tired; let me go to sleep!" The word of +tenderness which she had sought as her only recompense was not uttered; +the mother fell asleep without pressing her daughter's hand; and the +poor girl, falling on her knees, poured out her sorrows in prayer to One +who could both hear and heal them. + +From that time Ursula became more pale, more silent, more cast down than +ever. The last sharp sorrow bore away all traces of her youth and +beauty. "All is ended!" she used to say; and all, save duty, _was_ ended +for her on earth. No tidings came of Maurice d'Erval. Ursula had pleased +his imagination, like some graceful melancholy picture, but time effaced +its coloring from his memory, and he forgot. How many things are +forgotten in this life! How rarely do the absent mourn each other long! + +One year after these events, Ursula's mother began visibly to decline, +yet without suffering from any positive malady. Her daughter watched and +prayed by her bed, and received her last benediction. "Once more she is +with thee, Martha!" sighed Ursula: "be it thine to watch over her in +heaven." She knelt down, and prayed by the side of the solitary old man. +She dressed him in mourning without his being conscious of it; but on +the second day he turned toward the empty arm-chair next his own, and +cried, "My wife!" + +Ursula spoke to him, and tried to divert his attention; but he repeated, +"My wife!" while the tears rolled down his cheeks. In the evening, when +his supper was brought, he turned away from it, and fixing his eyes on +the vacant chair, said, "My wife!" + +Ursula tried every expedient that love and sorrow could suggest; but in +vain. The old man continued watching the place which his wife was wont +to occupy; and refusing food, he would look at Ursula, and with clasped +hands, in the querulous tone of a child imploring some forbidden +indulgence, repeat, "My wife!" In a month afterward he died. His last +movement was to raise his clasped hands, look up to Heaven, and cry "My +wife!" as though he saw her waiting to receive him. When the last coffin +was borne away from the old gray house, Ursula murmured softly, "My God! +couldst thou not have spared them to me a little longer?" She was left +alone; and many years have passed since then. + +I left the dark old town and Ursula to travel into distant lands. By +degrees she ceased to write to me, and after many vain efforts to induce +her to continue the correspondence, I gradually lost all trace of her. I +sometimes ask myself, "What has been her fate? Is she dead?" Alas! the +poor girl was ever unfortunate: I fear she still lives! + + + + +STREET MUSIC IN LONDON. + + +"Charming place this," said a mad lady to us while looking out of a +window of the finest Lunatic Asylum in North Britain; "so retired, so +quiet, so genteel, so remote from the busy hum of men and women. The +view you perceive is lovely--quite sylvan (there were two trees in the +remote distance), 'Silence reigns around,' as the poet says, and then +you see, sir, _we do not allow street bands to come here_." + +On inquiry, we were told that this patient was a London literary lady. +Her mania, like Morose in Ben Jonson's Epicure, was against noise. She +constantly prayed for deafness. She walked in list shoes, and spoke in a +whisper as an example to others. The immediate cause of her confinement +had not been ascertained, but we have no doubt that she had been driven +stark mad by the street discord of the metropolis. We firmly believe her +case is not singular. Judging from our own experience of the extremest +brink of insanity, to which we have been occasionally driven by the +organic and Pandean persecutions to which we have been subjected, we +should say that much of the madness existing and wrought in this county +of Middlesex originates in street music. If Dr. Connolly can not bear +us out in this opinion, we shall be rather astonished. + +A man of thoughtful habit, and of a timid, or nervous temperament, has +only to take apartments in what lodging-house-keepers wickedly call, in +their advertisements, "a quiet neighborhood," to be tolerably sure of +making his next move in a strait waistcoat to an asylum for the insane. +In retired streets, squares, terraces, or "rows," where the more +pleasing music of cart, coach, and cab wheels does not abound, the void +is discordantly filled up by peripatetic concerts, which last all day +long. You are forced, each morning, to shave to the hundredth psalm +groaned out from an impious organ; at breakfast you are stunned by the +basses of a wretched waltz belched forth from a bass trombone; and your +morning is ruined for study by the tinkling of a barrel piano-forte; at +luncheon acute dyspepsia communicates itself to your vitals in the +stunning _buldering_ of a big-drum; tuneless trumpets, discordant +cornets, and blundering bass-viols form a running accompaniment of +discord to your afternoon walk; hurdy-gurdies, peradventure, destroy +your dinner; fiddles and harps squeak away the peace of your whole +evening; and, when you lay your distracted head on your pillow you are +robbed of sleep by a banditti of glee singers, hoarsely croaking, "Up +rouse ye then, my merry, merry men!" + +Yet this is a land of liberty, and every man's house is his castle! + +A man may have every comfort this world can afford--the prettiest house, +the sweetest wife, the most unexceptionable cook, lovely children, and a +good library--but what are these when the enjoyment they afford is +destroyed by an endless _charivari_; when domestic happiness is made +misery by street discord; when an English gentleman is denied what is +insured to every Pentonville prisoner--peace; when a wise legislation +has patented the silent system for convicts only, and supplies no +free-born Briton with a defense from hideous invasions of his inmost +privacy: a legislature which, here, in London, in the year of grace +eighteen hundred and fifty, where civilization is said to have made some +advances--permits bag-pipes! + +This is a subject upon which it is impossible, without the most +superhuman self-control, to write with calmness. + +Justice is supposed in this country to be meted out with an even hand. A +humane maxim says, "Better let ten guilty men escape, than one innocent +man suffer." Yet what have the public, especially of "quiet +neighborhoods," done; what crimes have we committed; what retribution +have we invoked; that we are to be visited with the indiscriminating +punishment, the excruciating agony, squealed and screeched into our ears +out of that instrument of ineffable torture, the Scotch bagpipe? If our +neighbor be a slanderer, a screw, a giver of bad dinners, or any other +sort of criminal for whom the law has provided no punishment and a +bag-pipe serenade be your mode of revenge on him, shut him up with a +piper or pipers in the padded room in Bedlam, or take him out to the +Eddystone lighthouse; but for the love of mercy, do not make us, his +unoffending neighbors, partakers of his probably just, but certainly +condign punishment! + +We have, however, a better opinion of human nature than to believe in +such extreme vindictiveness. We rather attribute these public +performances of sonorous savagery to the perverted taste of a few +unfortunate individuals, who pretend to relish the discords, and who +actually pay the kilted executioners of harmony. The existence of such +wretched amateurs might be doubted, if we did not remember that the most +revolting propensities are to be found among mankind. There _are_ people +who chew tobacco; a certain tribe of Polynesian aborigines deem +assafoetida the most delicious of perfumes; and Southey, in his Travels +in Spain, states that the Gallician carters positively refused to grease +their wheels because of the delight the creaking gave them. Yet although +the grating of wooden axles, or even the sharpening of saws, is music to +the pibroch, it appears from a variety of evidence that bad taste can +actually reach, even in the female mind, to the acme of encouraging and +patronizing street bagpipers. + +Do we wish to banish all music from the busy haunts of men? By no means. +Good music is sometimes emitted from our pavements--the kerb sends forth +here and there, and now and then, sounds not unworthy of the best +appointed orchestra. Where these superior street performers received +their musical education it is not our business to inquire; but their +arrangements of some of the most popular opera music, show that their +training has been strictly professional. Quintette, Sestette, and +Septette bands of brass and string are occasionally heard in the open +street, whose performances show that the pieces have been regularly +scored and rigidly rehearsed. "Tune, time, and distance" are excellently +kept; the pianos and fortes are admirably colored--there is no vamping +of basses; no "fudging" of difficult passages. We look upon such players +as musical missionaries who purvey the best music from the opera houses +and from the saloons of the nobility to the general public, to the +improvement of its musical taste. But where even these choice _pavé_ +professionists have us at a disadvantage is in their discoursing their +excellent music at precisely the times when we do _not_ want the sounds +of the charmer, charm he never so wisely. The habitant of the "quiet +neighborhood," fond as he is of _Casta Diva_ or the _Rosen Waltz_, would +rather not be indulged with them just as he is commencing to study a +complicated brief, or while he is computing the draft of a difficult +survey. When he wants music he likes to go to it; he never wants it to +come to him. + + + + +[From Dickens's Household Words.] + +MISTAKES IN PERSONAL IDENTITY. + + +There is no kind of evidence more infirm in its nature and against which +jurymen on legal trials should be more on their guard, than that +involving identity of person. The number of persons who resemble each +other is not inconsiderable in itself; but the number is very large of +persons who, though very distinguishable when standing side by side, are +yet sufficiently alike to deceive those who are without the means of +immediate comparison. + +Early in life an occurrence impressed me with the danger of relying on +the most confident belief of identity. I was at Vauxhall Gardens where I +thought I saw, at a short distance, an old country gentleman whom I +highly respected, and whose favor I should have been sorry to lose. I +bowed to him, but obtained no recognition. In those days the company +amused themselves by walking round in a circle, some in one direction, +some in the opposite, by which means every one saw and was seen--I say +in those days, because I have not been at Vauxhall for a quarter of a +century. In performing these rounds I often met the gentleman, and tried +to attract his attention, until I became convinced that either his +eyesight was so weakened that he did not know me, or that he chose to +disown my acquaintance. Some time afterward, going into the county in +which he resided, I received, as usual, an invitation to dinner; this +led to an explanation, when my friend assured me he had not been in +London for twenty years. I afterward met the person whom I had mistaken +for my old friend, and wondered how I could have fallen into the error. +I can only explain it by supposing that, if the mind feels satisfied of +identity, which it often does at the first glance, it ceases to +investigate that question, and occupies itself with other matter; as in +my case, where my thoughts ran upon the motives my friend might have for +not recognizing me, instead of employing themselves on the question of +whether or no the individual before my eyes was indeed the person I took +him for. + +If I had had to give evidence on this matter my mistake would have been +the more dangerous, as I had full means of knowledge. The place was well +lighted, the interviews were repeated, and my mind was undisturbed. How +often have I known evidence of identity acted upon by juries, where the +witness was in a much less favorable position (for correct observation) +than mine. + +Sometimes, a mistaken verdict is avoided by independent evidence. +Rarely, however, is this rock escaped, by cross-examination, even when +conducted with adequate skill and experience. The belief of the witness +is belief in a matter of opinion resulting from a combination of facts +so slight and unimportant, separately considered, that they furnish no +handle to the cross-examiner. A striking case of this kind occurs to my +recollection, with which I will conclude. + +A prisoner was indicted for shooting at the prosecutor, with intent to +kill him. The prosecutor swore that the prisoner had demanded his money, +and that upon refusal, or delay, to comply with his requisition, he +fired a pistol, by the flash of which his countenance became perfectly +visible; the shot did not take effect, and the prisoner made off. Here +the recognition was momentary, and the prosecutor could hardly have been +in an undisturbed state of mind, yet the confidence of his belief made a +strong impression on all who heard the evidence, and probably would have +sealed the fate of the prisoner without the aid of an additional fact of +very slight importance, which was, however, put in evidence, by way of +corroboration, that the prisoner, who was a stranger to the +neighborhood, had been seen passing near the spot in which the attack +was made about noon of the same day. The judge belonged to a class now, +thank God! obsolete, who always acted on the reverse of the +constitutional maxim, and considered every man guilty until he was +proved to be innocent. + +If the case had closed without witnesses on behalf of the prisoner, his +life would have been gone: fortunately, he possessed the means of +employing an able and zealous attorney, and more fortunately, it so +happened that several hours before the attack the prisoner had mounted +upon a coach, and was many miles from the scene of the crime at the hour +of its commission. + +With great labor, and at considerable expense, all the passengers were +sought out, and, with the coachman and guard, were brought into court, +and testified to the presence among them of the prisoner. An _alibi_ is +always a suspected defense, and by no man was ever more suspiciously +watched than by this judge. But when witness after witness appeared, +their names corresponding exactly with the way-bill produced by the +clerk of a respectable coach-office, the most determined skepticism gave +way, and the prisoner was acquitted by acclamation. He was not, however, +saved by his innocence, but by his good fortune. How frequently does it +happen to us all to be many hours at a time without having witnesses to +prove our absence from one spot by our presence at another! And how many +of us are too prone to avail ourselves of such proof in the instances +where it may exist! + +A remarkable instance of mistake in identity, which put the life of a +prisoner in extreme peril, I heard from the lips of his counsel. It +occurred at the Special Commission held at Nottingham after the riots +consequent on the rejection of the Reform Bill by the House of Lords, in +1831. + +The prisoner was a young man of prepossessing appearance, belonging to +what may be called the lower section of the middle rank of life, being a +framework knitter, in the employment of his father, a master +manufacturer in a small way. He was tried on an indictment charging him +with the offense of arson. A mob, of which he was alleged to be one, had +burned Colwick Hall, near Nottingham, the residence of Mr. Musters, the +husband of Mary Chaworth, whose name is so closely linked with that of +Byron. This ill-fated lady was approaching the last stage of +consumption, when, on a cold and wet evening in autumn, she was driven +from her mansion, and compelled to take refuge among the trees of her +shrubbery--an outrage which probably hastened her death. + +The crime, with its attendant circumstances, created, as was natural, a +strong sympathy against the criminals. Unhappily, this feeling, so +praiseworthy in itself, is liable to produce a strong tendency in the +public mind to believe in the guilt of a party accused. People sometimes +seem to hunger and thirst after a criminal, and are disappointed when it +turns out that they are mistaken in their man, and are, consequently, +slow to believe that such an error has been made. Doubtless, the +impression is received into the mind unconsciously; but although on that +ground pardonable, it is all the more dangerous. In this case, the +prisoner was identified by several witnesses as having taken an active +part in setting fire to the house. + +He had been under their notice for some considerable space of time: they +gave their evidence against him without hesitation, and probably the +slightest doubt of its accuracy. His defense was an _alibi_. The frame +at which he worked had its place near the entrance to the warehouse, the +room frequented by the customers and all who had business to transact at +the manufactory. He acted, therefore, as door-keeper, and in that +capacity had been seen and spoken with by many persons, who in their +evidence more than covered the whole time which elapsed between the +arrival of the mob at Colwick Hall and its departure. The _alibi_ was +believed, and the prisoner, after a trial which lasted a whole day, was +acquitted. + +The next morning he was to be tried again on another indictment, +charging him with having set fire to the castle at Nottingham. The +counsel for the prosecution, influenced by motives of humanity, and +fully impressed with the prisoner's guilt on both charges, urged the +counsel for the prisoner to advise his client to plead guilty, +undertaking that his life should be spared, but observing at the same +time that his social position, which was superior to that of the other +prisoners, would make it impossible to extend the mercy of the Crown to +him unless he manifested a due sense of his offenses by foregoing the +chance of escape. "You know," said they, "how rarely an _alibi_ obtains +credit with a jury. You can have no other defense to-day than that of +yesterday. The castle is much nearer than Colwick Hall to the +manufactory, and a very short absence from his work on the part of the +prisoner might reconcile the evidence of all the witnesses, both for him +and against him; moreover, who ever heard of a successful _alibi_ twice +running?" + +The counsel for the prisoner had his client taken into a room adjoining +the court, and having explained to him the extreme danger in which he +stood, informed him of the offer made by the prosecutors. The young man +evinced some emotion, and asked his counsel to advise what step he +should take. "The advice," he was answered, "must depend upon a fact +known to himself alone--his guilt or innocence. If guilty, his chance of +escape was so small, that it would be the last degree of rashness to +refuse the offer; if, on the other hand, he were innocent, his counsel, +putting himself in the place of the prisoner, would say, that no peril, +however imminent, would induce him to plead guilty." The prisoner was +further told, that in the course of a trial circumstances often arose at +the moment, unforeseen by all parties, which disclosed the truth; that +this consideration was in his favor, if he were innocent, but showed at +the same time that there were now chances of danger, if he were guilty, +the extent of which could not be calculated, nor even surmised. The +youth, with perfect self-possession, and unshaken firmness, replied, "I +am innocent, and will take my trial." He did so. Many painful hours wore +away, every moment diminishing the prisoner's chance of acquittal, until +it seemed utterly extinguished, when some trifling matter, which had +escaped the memory of the narrator, occurred, leading him to think it +was possible that another person, who must much resemble the prisoner, +had been mistaken for him. Inquiry was instantly made of the family, +whether they knew of any such resemblance; when it appeared that the +prisoner had a cousin so much like himself, that the two were frequently +accosted in the streets, the one for the other. The cousin had +absconded. + +It is hardly credible, though doubtless true, that a family of +respectable station could have been unaware of the importance of such a +fact, or that the prisoner, who appeared not deficient in intelligence, +and who was assuredly in full possession of his faculties, could be +insensible to its value. That either he or they could have placed such +reliance on his defense as to induce them to screen his guilty relative, +is to the last degree improbable, especially as the cousin had escaped. +Witnesses, however, were quickly produced, who verified the resemblance +between the two, and the counsel for the prosecution abandoned their +case, expressing their belief that their witnesses had given their +evidence under a mistake of identity. + +The narrator added, that an _alibi_ stood a less chance of favorable +reception at Nottingham than elsewhere, although in every place received +with great jealousy. In one of the trials arising out of the outrages +committed by the Luddites, who broke into manufactories and destroyed +all lace frames of a construction which they thought oppressive to +working men, an _alibi_, he said, had been concocted, which was +successful in saving the life of a man notoriously guilty, and which had +therefore added to the disrepute of this species of defense. The +hypothesis was, that the prisoner, at the time when the crime was +committed, at Loughborough, sixteen miles from Nottingham, was engaged +at a supper party at the latter place; and the prisoner, having the +sympathy of a large class in his favor, whose battle he had been +fighting, no difficulty was experienced by his friends in finding +witnesses willing to support this hypothesis on their oaths; but it +would have been a rash measure to have called them into the box +unprepared. And when it is considered how readily a preconcerted story +might have been destroyed by cross-examination, the task of preparing +the witnesses so as to elude this test, was one requiring no ordinary +care and skill. The danger would arise thus: Every witness would be kept +out of court, except the one in the box. He would be asked where he sat +at the supper? where the prisoner sat, and each of the other guests; +what were the dishes, what was the course of conversation, and so +forth--the questions being capable of multiplication _ad infinitum_; so +that, however well tutored, the witnesses would inevitably contradict +each other upon some matters, on which the tutor had not foreseen that +the witness would be cross-examined, or to which he had forgotten the +answer prescribed. The difficulty was, however, surmounted. After the +prisoner's apprehension, the selected witnesses were invited to a +mackerel supper, which took place at an hour corresponding to that at +which the crime was committed; and so careful was the ingenious agent +who devised this conspiracy against the truth that, guided by a sure +instinct, he fixed upon the same day of the week as that on which the +crime had been committed, though without knowing how fortunate it would +be for the prisoner that he took this precaution. When, on +cross-examination, it was found that the witnesses agreed as to the +order in which the guests were seated, the contents of the dishes, the +conversation which had taken place, and so forth; the counsel for the +crown suspected the plot, but not imagining that it had been so +perfectly elaborated, they inquired of their attorneys as to whether +there was any occurrence peculiar to the day of the week in question, +and were told that upon the evening of such a day, a public bell was +always rung, which must have been heard at the supper, if it had taken +place at the time pretended. The witnesses were separately called back +and questioned as to the bell. They had all heard it; and thus not only +were the cross-examiners utterly baffled, but the cross-examination gave +tenfold support to the examination in chief, that is, to the evidence as +given by the witnesses in answer to the questions put by the prisoner's +counsel in his behalf. + +The triumph of falsehood was complete. The prisoner was acquitted. When +however the attention of prosecutors is called to the possibility of +such fabrications they become less easy of management. The friends of a +prisoner are often known to the police, and may be watched--the actors +may be surprised at the rehearsal; a false ally may be inserted among +them; in short there are many chances of the plot failing. This, +however, is an age of improvement, and the thirty years which have +elapsed since the days of Luddism have not been a barren period in any +art or science. The mystery of cookery in dishes, accounts, and +_alibis_, has profited by this general advancement. The latest device +which my acquaintance with courts has brought to my knowledge is an +_alibi_ of a very refined and subtle nature. The hypothesis is, that the +prisoner was walking from point A to point Z, along a distant road, at +the hour when the crime was committed. The witnesses are supposed each +to see him, and some to converse with him, at points which may be +indicated by many or all the letters of the alphabet. Each witness must +be alone when he sees him, so that no two may speak to what occurred at +the same spot or moment of time; but, with this reservation, each may +safely indulge his imagination with any account of the interview which +he has wit to make consistent with itself, and firmness to abide by +under the storm of a cross-examination. "The force of _falsehood_ can no +farther go." No rehearsal is necessary. Neither of the witnesses needs +know of the existence of the others. The agent gives to each witness the +name of the spot at which he is to place the prisoner. The witness makes +himself acquainted with that spot, so as to stand a cross-examination as +to the surrounding objects, and his education is complete. But as +panaceas have only a fabulous existence, so this exquisite _alibi_ is +not applicable to all cases; the witness must have a reason for being on +the spot, plausible enough to foil the skill of the cross-examiner; and, +as false witnesses can not be found at every turn, the difficulty of +making it accord with the probability that the witness was where he +pretends to have been on the day and at the hour in question, is often +insuperable; to say nothing of the possibility and probability of its +being clearly established, on the part of the prosecution, that the +prisoner could not have been there. I should add, that, except in towns +of the first magnitude, it must be difficult to find mendacious +witnesses who have in other respects the proper qualifications to prove +a concocted _alibi_, save always where the prisoner is the champion of a +class; and then, according to my experience--sad as the avowal is--the +difficulty is greatly reduced. + +These incidents illustrate the soundness of the well known proposition, +that mixture of truth with falsehood, augments to the highest degree the +noxious power of the venomous ingredient. That man was no mean +proficient in the art of deceiving, who first discovered the importance +of the liar being parsimonious in mendacity. The mind has a stomach as +well as an eye, and if the bolus be neat falsehood, it will be rejected +like an overdose of arsenic which does not kill. + +Let the juryman ponder these things, and beware how he lets his mind +lapse into a conclusion either for or against the prisoner. To perform +the duties of his office, so that the days which he spends in the +jury-box will bear retrospection, his eyes, his ears, and his intellect +must be ever on the watch. A witness in the box, and the same man in +common life, are different creatures. Coming to give evidence, "he doth +suffer a law change." Sometimes he becomes more truthful, as he ought to +do, if any change is necessary; but unhappily this is not always so, and +least of all in the case of those whose testimony is often required. + +I remember a person, whom I frequently heard to give evidence quite out +of harmony with the facts, but I shall state neither his name nor his +profession. A gentleman who knew perfectly well the unpalatable +designation which his evidence deserved, told me of his death. I +ventured to think it was a loss which might be borne, and touched upon +his infirmity, to which my friend replied in perfect sincerity of heart, +"Well! after all, I do not think he ever told a falsehood in his +life--_out of the witness box_!" + + + + +[From Dickens's Household Words] + +THE GHOST THAT APPEARED TO MRS. WHARTON. + + +When my mother was a girl, some rumors began to steal through the town +where she lived, about something having gone amiss with old Mrs. +Wharton: for, if Mrs. Wharton was not known by all the townspeople, she +was known and respected by so many, that it was really no trifle when +she was seen to have the contracted brow, and the pinched look about the +nose that people have when they are in alarm, or living a life of deep +anxiety. Nobody could make out what was the matter. If asked, she said +she was well. Her sons were understood to be perfectly respectable, and +sufficiently prosperous; and there could be no doubt about the health, +and the dutifulness, and the cheerfulness, of the unmarried daughter who +lived with her. The old lady lived in a house which was her own +property; and her income, though not large, was enough for comfort. What +could it be that made her suddenly so silent and grave? Her daughter was +just the same as ever, except that she was anxious about the change in +her mother. It was observed by one or two that the clergyman had nothing +to say, when the subject was spoken of in his hearing. He rolled and +nodded his head, and he glanced at the ceiling and then stuck his chin +deep into his shirt-frill: but those were things that he was always +doing, and they might mean nothing. When inquired of about his opinion +of Mrs. Wharton's looks and spirits, he shifted his weight from one foot +to the other, as he stood before the fire with his hands behind him, and +said, with the sweet voice and winning manner that charmed young and +old, that, as far as he knew, Mrs. Wharton's external affairs were all +right; and, as for peace of mind, he knew of no one who more deserved +it. If the course of her life, and the temper of her mind, did not +entitle her to peace within, he did not know who could hope for it. +Somebody whispered that it would be dreadful if a shocking mortal +disease should be seizing upon her: whereupon he, Mr. Gurney, observed +that he thought he should have known if any such thing was to be +apprehended. As far as a fit of indigestion went, he believed she +suffered occasionally; but she did not herself admit even that. Dr. +Robinson, who was present, said that Mrs. Wharton's friends might be +quite easy about her health. She was not troubled with indigestion, nor +with any other complaint. People could only go on to ask one another +what could be the matter. One or two agreed that Mr. Gurney had made +very skillful answers, in which he was much assisted by his curious +customary gestures; but that he had never said that he did not know of +any trouble being on Mrs. Wharton's mind. + +Soon after this, a like mysterious change appeared to come over the +daughter; but no disasters could be discovered to have happened. No +disease, no money losses, no family anxieties were heard of; and, by +degrees, both the ladies recovered nearly their former cheerfulness and +ease of manner--nearly, but not altogether. They appeared somewhat +subdued, in countenance and bearing; and they kept a solemn silence when +some subjects were talked of, which often turn up by the Christmas +fireside. It was years before the matter was explained. My mother was +married by that time, and removed from her smoky native town, to a much +brighter city in the south. She used to tell us, as we grew up, the +story of Mrs. Wharton, and what she endured; and we could, if we had not +been ashamed, have gone on to say, as if we had still been little +children, "tell us again." When we were going into the north to visit +our grandparents, it was all very well to tell us of coal-wagons that we +should see running without horses, or iron rails laid down in the roads; +and of the keelmen rowing their keel-boats in the river, and, all at +once, kicking up their right legs behind them, when they gave the long +pull; and of the glass-houses in the town, with fire coming out of the +top of the high chimneys; and of the ever-burning mounds near the mouths +of the coal-pits, where blue and yellow flames leaped about, all night, +through the whole year round. It was all very well to think of seeing +these things; but we thought much more of walking past old Mrs. +Wharton's house, and, perhaps, inducing Mr. Gurney to tell us, in his +way, the story we had so often heard my mother tell in hers. + +The story was this: + +One midsummer morning Mrs. Wharton was so absent at breakfast, that her +daughter found all attempts at conversation to be in vain. So she +quietly filled the coffee-pot, which her mother had forgotten to do, +and, in the middle of the forenoon, ordered dinner, which she found her +mother had also forgotten. They had just such a breakfasting three times +more during the next fortnight. Then, on Miss Wharton crossing the hall, +she met her mother in bonnet and shawl, about to go out, so early as +half-past nine. The circumstance would not have been remarked, but for +the mother's confused and abashed way of accounting for going out. She +should not be gone long. She had only a little call to make, and so on. +The call was on Mr. Gurney. He had hardly done breakfast, when he was +told that Mrs. Wharton wished to speak with him alone. + +When he entered the study, Mrs. Wharton seemed to be as unready with her +words as himself; and when he shook hands with her, he observed that her +hand was cold. She said she was well, however. Then came a pause during +which the good pastor was shifting from one foot to the other, on the +hearth-rug, with his hands behind him, though there was nothing in the +grate but shavings. Mrs. Wharton, meantime, was putting her vail up and +down, and her gloves on and off. At last, with a constrained and painful +smile, she said that she was really ashamed to say what she came to say, +but she must say it; and she believed and hoped that Mr. Gurney had +known her long enough to be aware that she was not subject to foolish +fancies and absurd fears. + +"No one further from it," he dropped, and now he fixed his eyes on her +face. Her eyes fell under his, when she went on. + +"For some time past, I have suffered from a most frightful visitation in +the night." + +"Visitation! What sort of visitation?" + +She turned visibly cold while she answered, "It was last Wednesday +fortnight that I awoke in the middle of the night--that is between two +and three in the morning, when it was getting quite light, and I saw--" + +She choked a little, and stopped. + +"Well!" said Mr. Gurney, "What did you see?" + +"I saw at the bottom of the bed, a most hideous--a most detestable +face--gibbering, and making mouths at me." + +"A face!" + +"Yes; I could see only the face (except, indeed, a hand upon the +bedpost), because it peeped round the bedpost from behind the curtain. +The curtains are drawn down to the foot of the bed." + +She stole a look at Mr. Gurney. He was rolling his head; and there was a +working about his mouth before he asked-- + +"What time did you sup that night?" + +"Now," she replied, "you are not going to say, I hope, that it was +nightmare. Most people would; but I hoped that you knew me better than +to suppose that I eat such suppers as would occasion nightmare, or that +I should not know nightmare from reality." + +"But, my dear Mrs. Wharton, what else can I say?" + +"Perhaps you had better listen further, before you say any thing." + +He nodded and smiled, as much as to say that was true. + +"I have seen the same appearance on three occasions since." + +"Indeed!" + +"Yes, on three several nights, about the same hour. And, since the first +appearance, my supper has been merely a little bread and butter, with a +glass of water. I chose to exclude nightmare, as I would exclude any +thing whatever that could possibly cause an appearance so horrible." + +"What sort of face is it?" + +"Short and broad;--silly, and yet sly; and the features gibber and +work--Oh! fearfully!" + +"Do you hear it come and go?" + +"No. When I wake--(and I never used to wake in the night)--it is there: +and it disappears--to say the truth--while my eyes are covered; for I +can not meet its eyes. I hear nothing. When I venture a glance, +sometimes it is still there; sometimes it is gone." + +"Have you missed any property?" + +"No: nor found any trace whatever. We have lost nothing; and there is +really not a door or window that seems ever to have been touched: not an +opening where any one could get in or out." + +"And if there were, what could be the object? What does your daughter +say to it?" + +"Oh!" said Mrs. Wharton, rising quickly, "she does not, and indeed she +must not know a word of it. I ought to have said, at first, that what I +am telling you is entirely in confidence. If I told my daughter, it must +then go no further. We could not keep our servants a week, if it got +out. And if I should want to let my house, I could not find a tenant. +The value of the property would go down to nothing; and, in justice to +my daughter, I must consider that; for it is to be hers hereafter. And +we could never have a guest to stay with us. No one would sleep in the +house a single night. Indeed, you must not--" + +"Well, well: I will not mention it. But I don't see--" + +He paused; and Mrs. Wharton replied to his thought. + +"It is difficult to form conjectures--to say any thing, in such a case, +which does not appear too foolish to be uttered. But one must have some +thoughts; and perhaps--if one can talk of possibilities--it is possible +that this appearance may be meant for me alone; and therefore, if I can +conceal it from my daughter ... till I am convinced whether it is meant +for me alone." + +"I would soon try that," observed Mr. Gurney. Seeing Mrs. Wharton look +wistfully at him, he continued, + +"My advice is that you have your daughter sleep with you, after hearing +your story. Try whether she can see this face." + +"You do not think she would?" + +"I think she would not. My dear friend, if I were a medical man, I could +tell you facts which you are little aware of--anecdotes of the strange +tricks that our nerves play with us;--of delusions so like reality--" + +"Do you think I have not considered that?" exclaimed the poor lady. "Mr. +Gurney, I did not think that _you_ would try to persuade me out of my +senses, when I tell you, that four times I have seen in daylight, and +when wide awake, and in perfect health, what I have said." + +Mr. Gurney was very gentle; but, as he said, what _could_ he suggest but +indigestion, or some such cause of nervous disturbance? Yet his heart +smote him when his old friend laid her forehead again the mantle-piece, +and cried heartily. + +He did all he could. He tried indefatigably, though in vain, to persuade +her to let her daughter share the spectacle: and he went, the same day, +when Miss Wharton was out for her walk, and the servants were at dinner, +to examine the house. He made no discovery. The gratings of the +under-ground cellars were perfect. The attics had no trap-doors; and the +house had no parapet. The chimneys were too high and narrow for any one +to get in at the top. No window or door was ever found unfastened in the +morning. Mrs. Wharton did not think she could engage for courage enough +to get out of bed, or to look beyond the curtains. Nor could she promise +not to draw her curtains. The face had never appeared within them; and +they seemed a sort of protection where there was no other. + +Without having made any promises, she went so far as to start up in bed, +the next time she saw the face. The eyes winked horribly at her; the +head nodded--and was gone. The beating of her heart prevented her +hearing any thing that time; but once or twice during the autumn she +fancied she heard a light and swift footstep in the passage. She always +left her room-door open, for the sake of the same sort of feeling of +security that most people crave when they shut and bolt theirs. If this +was a ghost, bolts would not keep it out; and she could fly the more +easily through the open door if her terror should become too great to be +endured alone. For the first time, she now burned a night-light in her +chamber, as the nights lengthened, and not a dim, flickering rush +candle, but a steady wax-light. She knew that her daughter wondered at +the strange extravagance; but she could not bear darkness, or a very +feeble light, when the thing might be behind the curtain. + +Throughout October the visits were almost nightly. In the first week in +November they suddenly ceased, and so many weeks passed away without a +return, that Mrs. Wharton began to be a little alarmed about her own +wits, and to ask herself whether, after all, it was not possible that +this was a trick of the nerves. One night in January, that doubt, at +least, was settled; for there, at the same bed-post, was the same face. +Mrs. Wharton was now, after this interval, subdued at once. She had +borne, for half-a-year, her pastor's suspicions of her digestion and of +her wisdom, and now, she really wanted sympathy. She let him tell her +daughter (let him, rather than tell it herself, because he could make +light of it, and she could not); and she gladly agreed to let her +daughter sleep with her. For long, she gained nothing by it. During the +whole fortnight that the visits now continued, Miss Wharton never once +saw the face. She tried to wake the moment her mother touched her; she +tried to keep awake; but she never saw the face: and after that +fortnight, it did not come again till April. + +One bright May dawn, she saw it. Her mother pulled her wrist, and, she +waked up to a sight which burned itself in upon her brain. She +suppressed a shriek at the moment; but she could not tell Mr. Gurney of +it afterward, without tears. She wanted that day to leave the house +immediately; but the thought of her mother's long-suffering with this +horror, the consideration of the serious consequences of declaring +themselves ghost-seers in the town, and of the disastrous effect upon +their property, and of the harmlessness of the ghost, induced her to +summon up her courage, and bear on. She did more. When a little inured, +she one night sprang out of bed, rushed round the foot of it, and out +upon the landing. The stairs were still dim in the dawn; but she was +confident that she saw something moving there--passing down to the hall. +As soon as she could make the servants attend her, she told them she +believed somebody was in the house; and all the four women--two ladies +and two maids--went, armed with pokers and shovels, and examined the +whole house. They found nothing, neither in the chimneys, nor under the +beds, nor in any closet--nothing, from cellar to attic. And when the +maids had recovered a little, they agreed what a tiresome and wearying +thing it was when ladies took fancies. This was only their first night +of disturbance. Miss Wharton called them up three times more; and then +she gave the matter up. The servants thought her strangely altered, and +wished she might not be going to be ill. + +Thus matters went on for some years. The oddest thing was the +periodicity of the visits. In winter they were rare; but there was +generally a short series in or about January, after which they ceased +till the end of March, or the beginning of April. They went on through +nearly the whole summer, with one or two intervals of about a fortnight. +The servants never suspected even the existence of the mystery. Their +ladies never mentioned it; and no article was ever displaced at night. +The ladies became in time so accustomed to the appearance as to bear it +almost without uneasiness. It occurred to them sometimes, how odd it was +to be living under the weight of such a mystery; and they were silent +when ghosts were talked about, and felt and looked very serious when +they were laughed at: but their alarm had subsided. The Thing never did +them any harm; and they had now got merely to open drowsy eyes, to see +if it was there; and to drop asleep the moment it was there no longer. +This may seem strange to those who have not (and also to those who have) +seen ghosts; but we none of us know what we may come to; and these two +ladies reached the point of turning their heads on their pillows, +without much beating of the heart, under the gibbering of a hideous +ghost. + +One circumstance worth noting is, that the Thing once spoke. After one +of its mocking nods, it said, "I come to see you whenever I please." +When Mr. Gurney was told this, he asked whether the language was +English, and what sort of English it was. It must have been English, as +the ladies did not observe any thing remarkable. As to the dialect, it +had made no particular impression upon them, but when they came to +remember and consider, they thought it must have been the broad dialect +of the district, which they were accustomed to hear in the kitchen, and +in the streets and shops, every day. This was all. Amidst the multitude +of nightly visitations, no explanation--no new evidence--occurred for +several years. Mr. Gurney was not fond of being puzzled. His plan was to +dismiss from his mind what puzzled him. He seldom inquired after the +ghost; and when he did, he always received the same answer. + +One morning, after this lapse of years, Mr. Gurney called to ask the +ladies if they would like to join a party to see a glass-house. The +residents of manufacturing towns can not intrude in such places at their +own pleasure, but (as is well known) take their opportunity when an +arrival of strangers, or other such occasion, opens the doors of any +manufactory. Mr. Gurney was the first man in the town, in regard to +doing the honors of it. All strangers were introduced to him; and the +doors of all show-places flew open before him. He was wont to invite his +friends in turn to accompany him and his party of strangers to these +show-places; and he now invited the Whartons to the glass-house. Miss +Wharton was unavoidably engaged at the school, but her mother went. + +When the whole party were standing near one of the furnaces, observing +the coarsest kind of glass blowing--that of green-glass bottles--Mrs. +Wharton suddenly seized Mr. Gurney's arm with one hand, while with the +other she pointed, past the glare, to a figure on the other side of the +furnace. + +"That's the face!" she exclaimed, in great agitation; "keep quiet, and +pull down your vail," said Mr. Gurney in her ear. She drew back into the +shadow, and let down her vail, feeling scarcely able to stand. Mr. +Gurney did not offer her an arm; he had something else to do. + +"Who is that man?" he inquired of the foreman, who was showman at the +moment. The man inquired about looked scarcely human. He was stunted in +figure, large in face, and hideous--making all allowance for the puffing +out of his cheeks, as he blew vigorously at the end of the long pipe he +was twirling in his baboon-like hands. + +"That poor fellow, sir? His name is Middleton. He is a half-wit--indeed, +very nearly a complete idiot. He is just able to do what you see--blow +the coarsest sort of glass." + +Mr. Gurney wished to speak with him; and the poor creature was summoned. +He came grinning; and he grinned yet more when he was requested to show +the glass-house to the gentleman. Mrs. Wharton, with her vail down, hung +on her friend's arm; and they followed the idiot, who was remarkably +light-footed (for a wonder), to the place he was most fond of. He took +them down to the annealing chamber; and then he observed that it was "a +nice warm place o'nights." Being asked how he knew that, he began +pointing with his finger at Mrs. Wharton, and peeping under her bonnet. +Being advised to look him in the face, she raised her vail; and he +sniggled and giggled, and said he had seen her many a time when she was +asleep, and many a time when she was awake; and another lady, too, who +was not there. He hid himself down here when the other men went away--it +was so warm! and then he could go when he pleased, and see "_her_ +there," and the other, when they were asleep. Mr. Gurney enticed him to +whisper how he managed it; and then with an air of silly cunning, he +showed a little square trap-door in the wall, close by the floor, +through which he said he passed. It seemed too small for the purpose; +but he crept in and out again. On the other side, he declared, was Mrs. +Wharton's cellar. It was so. Far distant as the glass-house seemed from +her house, it ran back so far, the cellar running back also, that they +met. No time was lost in sending round to the cellar; and, by a +conversation held through the trap-door, it was ascertained that when +Mrs. Wharton's stock of coals was low, that is, in summer, and before a +fresh supply came in, in mid winter, Middleton could get in, and did get +in, almost every night. When he did not appear, it was only because the +coals covered the trap-door. + +Who shall say with what satisfaction the ladies watched the nailing up +of the trap-door, and with what a sense of blissful comfort they retired +to rest henceforth? Who shall estimate the complacency of the good +clergyman at this complete solution of the greatest mystery he had ever +encountered? Who will not honor the courage and fortitude of the ladies, +and rejoice that their dwelling escaped the evil reputation of being a +Haunted House? Lastly, who will not say that most of the goblin tales +extant may, if inquired into, be as easily accounted for as that +appertaining to the good Mrs. Wharton? which has this advantage over all +other ghost stories--it is perfectly and literally true. + + + + +[From Dickens's Household Words.] + +THE FATE OF A GERMAN REFORMER. A LIFE IN THREE PICTURES. + + +PICTURE THE FIRST. + +The winter of 1844 was a severe one in Germany. Both sides of the Rhine, +for many miles between Coblentz and Cologne, were frozen hard enough to +bear a horse and cart; and even the centre, save and except a thin +stream where the current persisted in displaying its urgent vitality, +was covered over with thin ice, or a broken film that was constantly +endeavoring to unite and consolidate its quivering flakes and particles. +We were staying in Bonn at this time. All the Englishmen in the town, +who were skaters, issued forth in pilot-coats or dreadnaught +pea-jackets, and red worsted comforters, with their skates dangling over +their shoulders. Holding their aching noses in their left hands, they +ran and hobbled through the slippery streets, and made their way out at +the town-gates near the University. They were on the way to +Popplesdorf--a little village about a mile distant from Bonn. We were +among them--red comforter round neck--skates over shoulder. + +The one great object in this little village is a somewhat capacious and +not unpicturesque edifice called the Schloss, or Castle, of Popplesdorf. +The outer works of its fortifications are a long avenue of trees, some +pretty fir groves and wooded hills, numerous vineyards, and a trim +series of botanic gardens. The embrasures of its walls are armed with +batteries of learned tomes; its soldiers are erudite professors and +doctors who have chambers there; students discourse on philosophy and +art, and swords and beer, and smoke forever on its peaceful drawbridge; +and, on the wide moat which surrounds it, Englishmen in red +comforters--at the time whereof we now speak--are vigorously skating +with their accustomed gravity. This scene was repeated daily for several +weeks, in the winter of 1844. + +One morning, issuing forth on the same serious business of life, we +perceived that the peasantry of Popplesdorf, who have occasion to come +to Bonn every market-day, had contrived to enliven the way and +facilitate the journey by the gradual construction of a series of +capital long slides. We stood and contemplated these lengthy curves, and +sweeps, and strange twisting stripes of silver, all gleaming in the +morning sun, and soon arrived at the conviction that it was no doubt the +pleasantest market-pathway we had ever seen. No one was coming or going +at this moment; for Popples is but a little _dorf_, and the traffic is +far from numerous, even at the busiest hours. Now, there was a peculiar +charm in the clear shining solitude of the scene, which gave us, at +once, an impression of loneliness combined with the brightest paths of +life and activity. + +And yet we gradually began to feel we should like to see +somebody--student or peasant--come sliding his way from Popplesdorf. It +was evidently the best, and indeed the correct mode for our own course +to the frozen moat of the castle. But before we had reached the +beginning of the first slide (for they are not allowed to be made quite +up to the town gates), we descried a figure in the distance, which, from +the course it was taking, had manifestly issued from the walls of the +castle. It was not a peasant--it was not one of our countrymen; be it +whom it might, he at least took the slides in first-rate style. As he +advanced, we discerned the figure of a tall man, dressed in a dark, +long-skirted frock coat, buttoned up to the throat, with a low-crowned +hat, from beneath the broad brim of which a great mass of thick black +hair fell heavily over his shoulders. Under one arm he held a great book +and two smaller ones closely pressed to his side, while the other hand +held a roll of paper, which he waved now and then in the air, to balance +himself in his sliding. Some of the slides required a good deal of +skill; they had awkward twirls half round a stone, with here and there a +sudden downward sweep. Onward he came, and we presently recognized him. +It was Dr. Gottfried Kinkel, lecturer on archæology; one of the most +able and estimable of the learned men in Bonn. + +Gottfried Kinkel was born in a village near Bonn, where his father was a +clergyman. He was educated at the Gymnasium of Bonn, and during the +whole of that period, he was especially remarkable, among companions by +no means famous for staid and orderly habits, as a very quiet, +industrious young man, of a sincerely religious bent of mind, which +gained for him the notice and regard of all the clergy and the most +devout among the inhabitants of the town. His political opinions were +liberal; but never went beyond those which were commonly entertained at +the time by nearly all men of education. He studied divinity at the +University, where he greatly distinguished himself in various branches +of learning, and obtained the degree of Doctor in Philosophy. + +He first preached at Cologne, and with great success, his oratory being +considered as brilliant as his reasonings were convincing. His sermons +were subsequently published, and became very popular, and he was chosen +as a teacher of Theology in the University of Bonn. + +He next turned his attention to the study of the Arts. On this subject +he wrote and published a History, and lectured on "Ancient and Mediæval +Art," both in the University and other public institutions, with +unparalleled success and applause. + +His labors at this period, and for a long time after, were very arduous, +generally occupying thirteen hours a day. Being only what is called a +"privat-docent," he did not as yet receive any salary at the University; +he was therefore compelled to work hard in various ways, in order to +make a small income. However, he did this very cheerfully. + +But his abandonment of Theology for these new studies, caused him the +loss of most of his devout friends. They shook their heads, and feared +that the change denoted a step awry from the true and severely marked +line of orthodox opinions. They were right; for he soon after said that +he thought the purity of religion would be best attained by a separation +of Church and State! + +Dr. Kinkel suffers no small odium for this; but he can endure it. He has +uttered an honest sentiment, resulting from his past studies; he has +become a highly applauded and deservedly esteemed lecturer on another +subject; he is, moreover, one of the best sliders in Bonn, and is now +balancing his tall figure (as just described) with books under one arm, +on his way to the University. + +Happy Gottfried Kinkel!--may you have health and strength to slide for +many a good winter to come!--rare Doctor of Philosophy, to feel +so much boyish vitality after twenty years of hard study and +seclusion!--fortunate lecturer on Archæology, to live in a country where +the simplicity of manners will allow a Professor to slide his way to his +class, without danger of being reproved by his grave and potent seniors, +or of shocking the respectable inhabitants of his town! + + +PICTURE THE SECOND. + +The Castle of Popplesdorf commands the most beautiful views of some of +the most beautiful parts of Rhenish Prussia; and the very best point +from which to look at them, is the window of the room that used to be +the study of Dr. Gottfried Kinkel. That used to be--and is not +now--alas, the day! But we must not anticipate evils; they will come +only too soon in their natural course. + +In this room, his library and study, we called to see Dr. Kinkel. There +he sat--dressing-gown, slippers, and cloud-compelling pipe. The walls +were all shelves, the shelves all books--some bound, some in boards, +"some in rags, and some in jags"--together with papers, maps, and +scientific instruments of brass and of steel. There stood the Hebrew, +Greek, and Roman authors; in another division, the Italian and French: +on the other side, in long irregular ranges, the old German and the +modern German; and near at hand, the Anglo-Saxon and English. What else, +and there was much, we had not time to note, being called to look out at +the window. What a window it was!--a simple wooden frame to what +exquisite and various scenery! Let the reader bear in mind, that it is +not winter now--but a bright morning in May. + +Close beneath the window lay the Botanic Gardens, with their numerous +parterres of flowers, their lines and divisions of shrubs and herbs. +Within a range of a few miles round, we looked out upon the peaceful +little villages of Popplesdorf and Kessenich, and the fertile plain +extending from Bonn to Godesberg--with gentle hills, vales, and ridges, +all covered with vineyards, whose young leaves gave a tender greenness +and fresh look of bright and joyous childhood to the scenery. Beyond +them we saw the Kessenicher Höhe, the blue slate roofs and steeples of +many a little church and chapel, and the broad, clear, serpent windings +of the Rhine, with the gray and purple range, in the distance, of the +Seven Mountains, terminating with the Drachenfels. Over the whole of +this, with the exception only of such soft, delicate shades and shadows +as were needful to display the rest, there lay a clear expanse of level +sunshine, so tender, bright, and moveless, as to convey an impression of +bright enchantment, which grew upon your gaze, and out of which rapture +you awoke as from a dream of fairy land, or from the contemplation of a +scene in some ideal sphere. + +Fortunate Dr. Kinkel, to have such a window as this! It was no wonder +that, besides his studies in Theology, in ancient and mediæval art, and +in ancient and modern languages--besides writing his History of the +Arts, and contributing learned papers to various periodicals--besides +preaching, lecturing, and public and private teaching, his soul was +obliged to compose a volume of poems--and again displease the severely +orthodox, by the absence of all prayers in verse, and the presence of a +devout love of nature. + + For, here, in their placidity, + Learning and Poesy abide; + Not slumbering on the unfathomed sea, + Yet all unconscious of the tide + That urges on mortality + In eddies, and in circles wide. + Ah, here, the soul can look abroad + Beyond each cold and narrow stream, + Enrich'd with gold from mines and ford, + Brought sparkling to the solar beam; + Yet be no miser with its hoard-- + No dreamer of the common dream. + +Thus sang Dr. Kinkel, in our imperfect translation thus inadequately +echoed; and here he wrought hard in his vocation, amid the smiles of +some of the loveliest of Nature's scenes. + +But besides the possession of all these books, and of this wonderful +window, Dr. Kinkel was yet more fortunate in his domestic relations. He +was married to an amiable, highly educated, and accomplished lady, who +endeavored, by all the means in her power, to assist his labors, and +render them less onerous by her own exertions. She was a very fine +musician, and a superior piano-forte player--one of the favorite pupils +of Moscheles, and afterward, we believe, of Mendelssohn. She divided her +time equally between assisting her husband, educating their child, and +giving private lessons in music; and because this accomplished hard +working couple did not find their energies quite worn out by toiling +for thirteen hours a day, they gave a private concert at the castle once +a month, at which a whole opera of Mozart or Weber was often gone +through--both the instrumental and vocal parts being by amateurs, or +pupils of Madam Kinkel. + +So, once again, we say, notwithstanding all these labors, Dr. Kinkel's +life in the Castle of Popplesdorf, was that of a fortunate and happy +man. At this period he was about two-and-thirty years of age. He could +not have been more; probably he was less. + + +PICTURE THE THIRD. + +It is the year 1848, and the Continental Revolutions are shaking all the +foreign thrones. Every body, not directly or indirectly in the pay of a +court, feels that the lot of the people should be ameliorated. The +populations of all nations have borne enormous burdens, with +extraordinary patience, for a very long time--say a thousand years--and, +at last, they have no more patience left. But what is all this to +abstract thought, to learning and science, to poetic raptures, and +picturesque ease? It has hitherto been regarded as too grossly material, +or of too coarse and common a practicality for the great majority of +those whose lives were passed in abstract studies and refinements. +Ay--but this must not continue. The world has come to a pass at which +_every_ soul must awake, and should be "up and doing." + +Dr. Gottfried Kinkel, now, besides his other honors and emoluments, and +private earnings, is installed as a salaried professor in the University +of Bonn. It can not be but such a man must awake, and take an interest +in these continental revolutions which are boiling up all round him. +Still, it is not likely he will step into the vortex or approach it. His +worldly position is strong against it--all his interests are against it; +moreover, he has a wife, and, besides he has now three children. + +Howbeit, Dr. Kinkel does rise with these events, and his wife, so far +from restraining him, feels the same enthusiastic patriotism, and +exhorts him to step forward, and swell the torrent of the time. He feels +strongly that Prussia should have a constitution; that her intellect and +sober character deserves a constitutional monarchy, like ours in +England, with such improvements as ours manifestly needs, and he places +himself at the head of the popular party in Bonn, where he delivers +public orations, the truthful eloquence and boldness of which startle, +delight, and encourage his audiences. + +He is soon afterward elected a member of the Berlin parliament. He sides +with the Left, or democratic party; he advocates the cause of the +oppressed people and the poor, he argues manfully and perseveringly the +real interests of all governments, in granting a rational amount of +liberty, showing, that in the present stage of the moral world, it is +the only thing to prevent violence, and to secure good order. His +speeches breathe a prophetic spirit. + +The revolution gathers fuel, more rapidly than can be well disposed, and +it takes fire at Baden. The names reach near and far--many are +irresistibly attracted. They have seen, and too well remember, the +faithlessness and treachery of governments--they believe the moment has +come to strike a blow which shall gain and establish the constitutional +liberty they seek. Dr. Kinkel immediately leaves his professorship; he +believes he ought now to join those who wield the sword, and peril their +lives in support of their principles. He proposes to hasten to Baden, to +defend the constitution framed by the Frankfort parliament. His +patriotic wife consents, and, in the evening, he takes leave of her, and +of his sleeping children. + +It must not be concealed that with this strong feeling in favor of a +constitutional monarchy, there was an infusion of principles of a more +sweeping character; nor would it be going too far to say that amid the +insurgents of Baden were some who entertained opinions not far removed +from red republicanism. Be this as it may, we are persuaded that Dr. +Kinkel's political principles and aims were purely of a constitutional +character, however he may have been drawn into the fierce vortex of men +and circumstances which surrounded him. + +Dr. Kinkel serves for eleven days in a free corps in Baden, where the +army of the insurgents have assembled. At the commencement of the +battle, he is wounded, and taken prisoner with arms in his hands. The +sequel of these struggles is well enough known; but the fate of the +prisoners who survived their wounds, must be noticed. + +According to the Prussian law, Dr. Kinkel should have been sentenced to +six years' confinement as a state prisoner. This sentence is accordingly +passed upon the other prisoners; and with a wise and commendable +clemency many are set free after a short time. But as Dr. Kinkel is a +man of high education and celebrity, it is thought best to give him a +very severe punishment, according to the old ignorance of what is called +"making an example," as if this sort of example did not provoke and +stimulate, rather than deter others; and, as if clemency were not only +one of the noblest attributes of royalty, but one of its best +safe-guards in its effect on the feelings of a people. + +Dr. Kinkel is, accordingly, sentenced to be imprisoned for life in a +fortress, as a state criminal; and away he is carried. + +But now comes into play the anger and resentment of many of those who +had once so much admired Kinkel, and held him up as a religious +champion, until the woeful day when he left preaching for the study of +the arts; and the yet more woeful, not to call it diabolical hour, when +he announced his opinion that a separation of Church and State might be +the best course for both. After a series of intrigues, the enemies of +Kinkel induce the king to alter the sentence; but in order to avoid the +appearance of unusual severity, it is announced that his sentence of +imprisonment in the fortress shall be _alleviated_, by transferring him +to an ordinary prison. In pursuance, therefore, of these suggestions of +his enemies, he is ordered to be imprisoned for life in one of the +prisons appropriated to the vilest malefactors--viz., to the prison of +Naugard, on the Baltic. + +Dr. Kinkel is dressed in sackcloth, and his head is shaved. His +wedding-ring is taken from him, and every little memento of his wife and +children which might afford him consolation. His bed is a sack of straw +laid upon a board. He has to scour and clean his cell, and perform every +other menial office. Light is allowed him only so long as he toils; and, +as soon as the requisite work is done, the light is taken away. Such is +his melancholy lot at the present moment! + +He who used to toil for thirteen hours a day amidst the learned +languages, and the works of antiquity, in the study of Theology, and of +the arts--the eloquent preacher, lecturer, and tutor--is now compelled +to waste his life, with all its acquirements, in spinning. For thirteen +hours every day, he is doomed to spin. By this labor he earns, every +day, threepence for the state, and a halfpenny for himself! This latter +sum, amounting to threepence a week, is allowed him in mercy, and with +it he is permitted to purchase a dried herring and a small loaf of +coarse brown bread--which, furthermore, he is allowed to eat as a Sunday +dinner--his ordinary food consisting of a sort of odious pap in the +morning (after having spun for four hours), some vegetables at noon, and +some bread and water at night. + +For months he has not enjoyed a breath of fresh air. He is allowed to +walk daily for half-an-hour in a covered passage; but even this is +refused whenever the jailor is occupied with other matters, and can not +attend to trifles. + +Dr. Kinkel has no books nor papers; there is nothing for him but +spinning--spinning--spinning! Once a month he is, by great clemency, +allowed to write one letter to his wife, which has to pass through the +hands of his jailor, who, being empowered to act as censor, judiciously +strikes out whatever he does not choose Madame Kinkel to know. All +sympathizing letters are strictly withheld from him, while all those +which severely take him to task, and censure his political opinions and +conduct, are carefully placed in his hands, when he stops to take his +breath for a minute from his eternal spinning. + +Relatives are not, by the law, allowed to see a criminal during the +first three months; after that time, they may. But after having been +imprisoned at Naugard three months--short of a day--Dr. Kinkel is +suddenly removed to another prison at Spandau, there to re-commence a +period of three months. By this device he is prevented from seeing his +wife, or any friend--all in a perfectly legal way. + +The jailor is strictly enjoined not to afford Dr. Kinkel any sort of +opportunity, either by writing or by any other means, of making +intercession with the king to obtain pardon, or the commutation of his +sentence into banishment. All these injunctions are fully obeyed by the +jailor--indeed the present one is more severe than any of the others. + +Nevertheless, the melancholy truth has oozed out--the picture has worn +its tearful way through the dense stone walls--and here it is for all to +see--and, we doubt not, for many to feel. + +Gottfried Kinkel, so recently one of the most admired professors of the +University of Bonn, one of the ornaments of the scholarship and +literature of modern Germany, now clothed in sackcloth, with shaven +head, and attenuated frame, sits spinning his last threads. He utters no +reproaches, no complaints; but bears his sufferings with a sweet +resignation that savors already of the angelic abodes to which his +contemplations are ever directed. He has entreated his wife to have his +heart buried amidst those lovely scenes on which he so often gazed with +serene rapture, from his study-window in the Castle of Popplesdorf. + +Those who behold this last picture and revert to the one where the +professor came happily sliding his way to his class at the University, +may perchance share the emotion which makes us pass our hands across our +eyes, to put aside the irrepressible tribute of sorrow which dims and +confuses the page before us. His worst enemies could never have +contemplated any thing so sad as this. Many, indeed, have already +relented--but let their interceding voices be heard before it is too +late. + +The literary men of no country are united, or they might move the whole +kingdom. Still less are the literary men of different countries united, +or they might move the world. But are they, therefore, without a common +sympathy for one another? We are sure this is not the case; and making +this appeal to the literary men of England, we believe it will not be in +vain. Nor are we without hope, that a strong sympathy of this kind, +being duly and respectfully made known to the King of Prussia, or to +Baron Manteufel, the Minister of the Interior, may induce His Majesty to +consider that, the revolution being at an end, clemency is not only the +"brightest jewel in a crown," but its noblest strength, and that, while +royal power can lose nothing, it must gain honor by remitting all +further punishment of one who has only shared in the political offense +of thousands who are now at liberty. All that the friends, at home and +abroad, of Gottfried Kinkel ask is--his liberation from prison, and a +permission to emigrate to England or America. + + + + +THE DEATH OF JOHN RANDOLPH. + + +[Illustration: Sketch of John Randolph of Roanoke[10]] + +John Randolph of Roanoke, as he always signed himself, one of the most +remarkable men this country has produced, died in 1833, at a hotel in +Philadelphia, while on his way to England for the benefit of his health. +A life of him which has just been published, written by the Hon. Hugh A. +Garland, contains a very detailed and interesting account of his last +days, in which the peculiarities of his character are clearly developed: + +When the approach of the boat to the landing of Potomac creek was +announced, he was brought out of the room by his servants, on a chair, +and seated in the porch, where most of the stage passengers were +assembled. His presence seemed to produce considerable restraint on the +company; and though he appeared to solicit it, none were willing to +enter into conversation; one gentleman only, who was a former +acquaintance, passed a few words with him; and so soon as the boat +reached the landing, all hurried off, and left him nearly alone, with +his awkward servants as his only attendants. An Irish porter, who seemed +to be very careless and awkward in his movements, slung a trunk round +and struck Mr. Randolph with considerable force against the knee. He +uttered an exclamation of great suffering. The poor Irishman was much +terrified, and made the most humble apology, but Mr. Randolph stormed at +him--would listen to no excuse, and drove him from his presence. This +incident increased the speed of the by-standers, and in a few minutes +not one was left to assist the dying man. + +Dr. Dunbar, an eminent physician, of Baltimore, witnessing what +happened, and feeling his sympathies awakened toward a man so feeble, +and apparently so near his end, walked up to the chair, as the servants +were about to remove their master, and said, "Mr. Randolph, I have not +the pleasure of your acquaintance, but I have known your brother from my +childhood; and as I see you have no one with you but your servants--you +appear to require a friend, I will be happy to render you any assistance +in my power, while we are together on the boat." He looked up, and fixed +such a searching gaze on the doctor as he never encountered before. But +having no other motive but kindness for a suffering fellow man, he +returned the scrutinizing look with steadiness. As Mr. Randolph read the +countenance of the stranger, who had thus unexpectedly proffered his +friendship, his face suddenly cleared up; and with a most winning smile, +and real politeness, and with a touching tone of voice, grasping the +doctor's hand, he said, "I am most thankful to you, sir, for your +kindness, for I do, indeed, want a friend." + +He was now, with the doctor's assistance, carefully carried on board, +and set down in the most eligible part of the cabin. He seemed to be +gasping for breath, as he sat up in the chair, having recovered a +little, he turned to the doctor, and said, "Be so good, sir, if you +please, as to give me your name." The doctor gave him his name, his +profession, and place of residence. + +"Ah! doctor," said he, "I am passed surgery--passed surgery!" "I hope +not, sir," the doctor replied. With a deeper and more pathetic tone, he +repeated, "_I am passed surgery._" + +He was removed to a side berth, and laid in a position where he could +get air; the doctor also commenced fanning him. His face was wrinkled, +and of a parched yellow, like a female of advanced age. He seemed to +repose for a moment, but presently he roused up, throwing round an +intense and searching gaze. The doctor was reading a newspaper. + +"What paper is that, doctor?" + +"The ---- _Gazette_, sir." + +"A very scurrilous paper, sir--a very scurrilous paper." + +After a short pause, he continued, "Be so good, sir, as to read the +foreign news for me--the debates in Parliament, if you please." + +As the names of the speakers were mentioned, he commented on each; +"Yes," said he, "I knew him when I was in England;" then went on to make +characteristic remarks on each person. + +In reading, the doctor fell upon the word budget; he pronounced the +letter _u_ short, as in _bud_--b[)u]dget. Mr. Randolph said quickly, but +with great mildness and courtesy, "Permit me to interrupt you for a +moment, doctor; I would pronounce that word b_u_dget; like _oo_ in +book." "Very well, sir," said the doctor, pleasantly, and continued the +reading, to which Mr. Randolph listened with great attention. Mr. +Randolph now commenced a conversation about his horses, which he seemed +to enjoy very much; Gracchus particularly, he spoke of with evident +delight. As he lay in his berth, he showed his extremities to the +doctor, which were much emaciated. He looked at them mournfully, and +expressed his opinion of the hopelessness of his condition. The doctor +endeavored to cheer him with more hopeful views. He listened politely, +but evidently derived no consolation from the remarks. Supper was now +announced; the captain and the steward were very attentive, in carrying +such dishes to Mr. Randolph as they thought would be pleasing to him. He +was plentifully supplied with fried clams, which he ate with a good deal +of relish. The steward asked him if he would have some more clams. "I do +not know," he replied; "doctor, do you think I could take some more +clams?" "No, Mr. Randolph; had you asked me earlier, I would have +advised you against taking any, for they are very injurious; but I did +not conceive it my right to advise you." "Yes, you had, doctor; and I +would have been much obliged to you for doing so. Steward, I can't take +any more; the doctor thinks they are not good for me." + +After the table was cleared off, one of the gentlemen--the one referred +to as a former acquaintance of Mr. Randolph's, observed that he should +like to get some information about the boats north of Baltimore. "I can +get it for you, sir," replied Mr. Randolph. "Doctor, do me the favor to +hand me a little wicker-basket, among my things in the berth below." The +basket was handed to him; it was full of clippings from newspapers. He +could not find the advertisement he sought for. The gentleman, with +great politeness, said, "Don't trouble yourself, Mr. Randolph." Several +times he repeated, "Don't trouble yourself, sir." At length Randolph +became impatient, and looking up at him with an angry expression of +countenance, said, "I do hate to be interrupted!" The gentleman, thus +rebuked, immediately left him. + +Mr. Randolph then showed another basket of the same kind, filled with +similar scraps from newspapers, and observed that he was always in the +habit, when any thing struck him in his reading, as likely to be useful +for future reference, to cut it out and preserve it in books, which he +had for that purpose; and that he had at home several volumes of that +kind. + +He showed his arrangements for traveling in Europe; and after a while, +seeing the doctor writing, he said, "Doctor, I see you are writing; will +you do me the favor to write a letter for me, to a friend in Richmond?" +"Certainly, sir." "The gentleman," he continued, "stands A, No. 1, among +men--Dr. Brockenbrough, of Richmond." The letter gave directions about +business matters, principally, but it contained some characteristic +remarks about his horses. He exulted in their having beaten the stage; +and concluded, "So much for blood. Now," said he, "sign it, doctor." + +"How shall I sign it, Mr. Randolph? sign it John Randolph of Roanoke?" + +"No, sir, sign it Randolph of Roanoke." + +It was done accordingly. "Now, doctor," said he, "do me the favor to add +a postscript." The postscript was added, "I have been so fortunate as to +meet with Dr. ----, of ----, on board this boat, and to form his +acquaintance, and I can never be sufficiently grateful for his kind +attentions to me." + +So soon as the letter was concluded, Mr. Randolph drew together the +curtains of his berth; the doctor frequently heard him groaning heavily, +and breathing so laboriously, that several times he approached the side +of the berth to listen if it were not the beginning of the +death-struggle. He often heard him, also, exclaiming, in agonized tones, +"Oh, God! Oh, Christ!" while he was engaged in ejaculatory prayer. + +He now became very restless, was impatient and irascible with his +servants, but continued to manifest the utmost kindness and courtesy +toward Dr. Dunbar. + +When the boat reached the wharf at Alexandria, where the doctor was to +leave, he approached the side of the berth, and said, "Mr. Randolph, I +must now take leave of you." He begged the doctor to come and see him, +at Gadsby's, then, grasping his hand, he said, "God bless you, doctor; I +never can forget your kind attentions to me." + +Next day he went into the Senate chamber, and took his seat in the rear +of Mr. Clay. That gentleman happened at the time to be on his feet, +addressing the Senate. "Raise me up," said Randolph, "I want to hear +that voice again." When Mr. Clay had concluded his remarks, which were +very few, he turned round to see from what quarter that singular voice +proceeded. Seeing Mr. Randolph, and that he was in a dying condition, he +left his place and went to speak to him; as he approached, Mr. Randolph +said to the gentleman with him, "Raise me up." As Mr. Clay offered his +hand, he said, "Mr. Randolph, I hope you are better, sir." "No, sir," +replied Randolph, "I am a dying man, and I came here expressly to have +this interview with you." + +They grasped hands and parted, never to meet more. + +Having accomplished the only thing that weighed on his mind, having +satisfied Mr. Clay, and the world, that, notwithstanding a long life of +political hostility, no personal animosity rankled in his heart, he was +now ready to continue on his journey, or to meet, with a lighter +conscience, any fate that might befall him. + +He hurried on to Philadelphia, to be in time for the packet, that was +about to sail from the Delaware. But he was too late; he was destined to +take passage in a different boat, and to a land far different from that +of his beloved England. It was Monday night when he reached the city, +and the storm was very high. His friends found him on the deck of the +steamboat, while Johnny was out hunting for a carriage. He was put into +a wretched hack, the glasses all broken, and was driven from hotel to +hotel in search of lodgings, and exposed all the time to the peltings of +the storm. He at length drove to the City Hotel, kept by Mr. Edmund +Badger. When Mr. Badger came out to meet him, he asked if he could have +accommodations. Mr. Badger replied that he was crowded, but would do the +best he could for him. On hearing this, he lifted up his hands, and +exclaimed, "Great God! I thank Thee; I shall be among friends, and be +taken care of!" + +Mr. Randolph was very ill. Dr. Joseph Parish, a Quaker physician, was +sent for. As he entered the room, the patient said, "I am acquainted +with you, sir, by character. I know you through Giles." He then told the +doctor that he had attended several courses of lectures on anatomy, and +described his symptoms with medical accuracy, declaring he must die if +he could not discharge the puriform matter. + +"How long have you been sick, Mr. Randolph?" + +"Don't ask me that question; I have been sick all my life. I have been +affected with my present disease, however, for three years. It was +greatly aggravated by my voyage to Russia. That killed me, sir. This +Russian expedition has been a Pultowa, a Beresina to me." + +The doctor now felt his pulse. "You can form no judgment by my pulse; it +is so peculiar." + +"You have been so long an invalid, Mr. Randolph, you must have acquired +an accurate knowledge of the general course of practice adapted to your +case." + +"Certainly, sir; at forty, a fool or a physician, you know." + +"There are idiosyncracies," said the doctor, "in many constitutions. I +wish to ascertain what is peculiar about you." + +"I have been an idiosyncracy all my life. All the preparations of +camphor invariably injure me. As to ether, it will blow me up. Not so +with opium; I can take opium like a Turk, and have been in the habitual +use of it, in one shape or another, for some time." + +Before the doctor retired, Mr. Randolph's conversation became curiously +diversified. He introduced the subject of the Quakers; complimented them +in his peculiar manner for neatness, economy, order, comfort--in every +thing. "Right," said he, "in every thing except politics--there always +twistical." He then repeated a portion of the Litany of the Episcopal +church, with apparent fervor. The following morning the doctor was sent +for very early. He was called from bed. Mr. Randolph apologized very +handsomely for disturbing him. Something was proposed for his relief. He +petulantly and positively refused compliance. The doctor paused and +addressed a few words to him. He apologized, and was as submissive as +an infant. One evening a medical consultation was proposed; he promptly +objected. "In a multitude of counsel," said he, "there is confusion; it +leads to weakness and indecision; the patient may die while the doctors +are staring at each other." Whenever Dr. Parish parted from him, +especially at night, he would receive the kindest acknowledgments, in +the most affectionate tones: "God bless you; He does bless you, and He +will bless you." + +The night preceding his death, the doctor passed about two hours in his +chamber. In a plaintive tone he said, "My poor John, sir, is worn down +with fatigue, and has been compelled to go to bed. A most attentive +substitute supplies his place, but neither he nor you, sir, are like +John; he knows where to place his hand on any thing, in a large quantity +of baggage prepared for a European voyage." The patient was greatly +distressed in breathing, in consequence of difficult expectoration. He +requested the doctor, at his next visit, to bring instruments for +performing the operation of bronchotomy, for he could not live unless +relieved. He then directed a certain newspaper to be brought to him. He +put on his spectacles, as he sat propped up in bed, turned over the +paper several times, and examined it carefully, then placing his finger +on a part he had selected, handed it to the doctor, with a request that +he would read it. It was headed "Cherokee." In the course of reading, +the doctor came to the word "omnipotence," and pronounced it with a full +sound on the penultimate--omni_po_tence. Mr. Randolph checked him, and +pronounced the word according to Walker. The doctor attempted to give a +reason for his pronunciation. "Pass on," was the quick reply. The word +impetus was then pronounced with the _e_ long, "imp_e_tus." He was +instantly corrected. The doctor hesitated on the criticism. "There can +be no doubt of it, sir." An immediate acknowledgment of the reader that +he stood corrected, appeared to satisfy the critic, and the piece was +concluded. The doctor observed that there was a great deal of sublimity +in the composition. He directly referred to the Mosaic account of +creation, and repeated, "'Let there be light, and there was light.' +There is sublimity." + +Next morning (the day on which he died), Dr. Parish received an early +and an urgent message to visit him. Several persons were in the room, +but soon left it, except his servant John, who was much affected at the +sight of his dying master. The doctor remarked to him, "I have seen your +master very low before, and he revived; and perhaps he will again." +"John knows better than that, sir." He then looked at the doctor with +great intensity, and said in an earnest and distinct manner, "I confirm +every disposition in my will, especially that respecting my slaves, whom +I have manumitted, and for whom I have made provision." + +"I am rejoiced to hear such a declaration from you, sir," replied the +doctor, and soon after, proposed to leave him for a short time, to +attend to another patient. "You must not go," was the reply; "you can +not, you shall not leave me. _John!_ take care that the doctor does not +leave the room." John soon locked the door, and reported, "Master, I +have locked the door, and got the key in my pocket: the doctor can't go +now." + +He seemed excited, and said, "If you do go, you need not return." The +doctor appealed to him as to the propriety of such an order, inasmuch as +he was only desirous of discharging his duty to another patient. His +manner instantly changed, and he said, "I retract that expression." Some +time afterward, turning an expressive look, he said again, "I retract +that expression." + +The doctor now said that he understood the subject of his communication, +and presumed the Will would explain itself fully. He replied, in his +peculiar way, "No, you don't understand it; I know you don't. Our laws +are extremely particular on the subject of slaves--a Will may manumit +them, but provision for their subsequent support, requires that a +declaration be made in the presence of a white witness; and it is +requisite that the witness, after hearing the declaration, should +continue with the party, and never lose sight of him, until he is gone +or dead. You are a good witness for John. You see the propriety and +importance of your remaining with me; your patients must make allowance +for your situation. John told me this morning, 'Master, you are dying.'" + +The doctor spoke with entire candor, and replied, that it was rather a +matter of surprise that he had lasted so long. He now made his +preparations to die. He directed John to bring him his father's breast +button; he then directed him to place it in the bosom of his shirt. It +was an old-fashioned, large-sized gold stud. John placed it in the +button hole of the shirt bosom--but to fix it completely, required a +hole on the opposite side. "Get a knife," said he, "and cut one." A +napkin was called for, and placed by John, over his breast. For a short +time he lay perfectly quiet, with his eyes closed. He suddenly roused up +and exclaimed, "Remorse! remorse!" It was thrice repeated--the last +time, at the top of his voice, with great agitation. He cried out, "Let +me see the word. Get a dictionary, let me see the word." "There is none +in the room, sir." "Write it down, then--let me see the word." The +doctor picked up one of his cards, "Randolph of Roanoke." "Shall I write +it on this card?" "Yes, nothing more proper." The word _remorse_, was +then written in pencil. He took the card in a hurried manner, and +fastened his eyes on it with great intensity. "Write it on the back," he +exclaimed--it was so done and handed him again. He was extremely +agitated, "Remorse! you have no idea what it is; you can form no idea of +it, whatever; it has contributed to bring me to my present +situation--but I have looked to the Lord Jesus Christ, and hope I have +obtained pardon. Now, let John take your pencil and draw a line under +the word," which was accordingly done. "What am I to do with the card?" +inquired the doctor. "Put it in your pocket--take care of it--when I am +dead, look at it." + +The doctor now introduced the subject of calling in some additional +witnesses to his declarations, and suggested sending down stairs for +Edmund Badger. He replied, "I have already communicated that to him." +The doctor then said, "With your concurrence, sir, I will send for two +young physicians, who shall remain and never lose sight of you until you +are dead; to whom you can make your declarations--my son, Dr. Isaac +Parish, and my young friend and late pupil, Dr. Francis West, a brother +of Captain West." + +He quickly asked, "Captain West of the Packet?" "Yes, sir, the same." +"Send for him--he is the man--I'll have him." + +Before the door was unlocked, he pointed toward a bureau, and requested +the doctor to take from it a remuneration for his services. To this the +doctor promptly replied, that he would feel as though he were acting +indelicately, to comply. He then waived the subject, by saying, "In +England it is always customary." + +The witnesses were now sent for, and soon arrived. The dying man was +propped up in the bed, with pillows, nearly erect. Being extremely +sensitive to cold, he had a blanket over his head and shoulders; and he +directed John to place his hat on, over the blanket, which aided in +keeping it close to his head. With a countenance full of sorrow, John +stood close by the side of his dying master. The four witnesses--Edmund +Badger, Francis West, Isaac Parish, and Joseph Parish, were placed in a +semi-circle, in full view. He rallied all the expiring energies of mind +and body, to this last effort. "His whole soul," says Dr. Parish, +"seemed concentrated in the act. His eyes flashed feeling and +intelligence. Pointing toward us, with his long index finger, he +addressed us." + +"I confirm all the directions in my Will, respecting my slaves, and +direct them to be enforced, particularly in regard to a provision for +their support." And then raising his arm as high as he could, he brought +it down with his open hand, on the shoulder of his favorite John, and +added these words, "Especially for this man." He then asked each of the +witnesses whether they understood him. Dr. Joseph Parish explained to +them, what Mr. Randolph had said in regard to the laws of Virginia, on +the subject of manumission--and then appealed to the dying man to know +whether he had stated it correctly. "Yes," said he, and gracefully +waving his hand as a token of dismission, he added, "The young gentlemen +will remain with me." + +The scene was now soon changed. Having disposed of that subject most +deeply impressed on his heart, his keen penetrating eye lost its +expression, his powerful mind gave way, and his fading imagination began +to wander amidst scenes and with friends that he had left behind. In two +hours the spirit took its flight, and all that was mortal of John +Randolph of Roanoke was hushed in death. At a quarter before twelve +o'clock, on the 24th day of June, 1833, aged sixty years, he breathed +his last, in a chamber of the City Hotel, No. 41, North Third-street, +Philadelphia. + +His remains were taken to Virginia, and buried at Roanoke, not far from +the mansion in which he lived, and in the midst of that "boundless +contiguity of shade," where he spent so many hours of anguish and of +solitude. He sleeps quietly now; the squirrel may gambol in the boughs +above, the partridge may whistle in the long grass that waves over that +solitary grave, and none shall disturb or make them afraid. + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[10] This sketch is from a portrait of RANDOLPH taken during his last +visit to England. It is said by those who remember him well, to present +an accurate and by no means caricatured or exaggerated representation of +his singular personal appearance, while walking in the streets. + + + + +AN AGREEABLE SURPRISE. + + +The ties of relationship are held most sacred in the imperial family of +Austria--Maria Louisa had been taught to reverence them from her +infancy. She was tenderly attached to every member of her family, and +when the preliminaries of her marriage with Napoleon were arranged, and +she knew that she was about to leave all who were so dear to her, and +with whom she had passed all her days, her heart sank within her, and +her tears flowed incessantly. The day came: she was to leave forever the +home of her childhood. She took a most affecting leave of all her +family, and then shut herself up in her own apartment, where, according +to etiquette, she was to remain till the French embassador who was to +conduct her to Paris went to hand her to the carriage. When Berthier, +Prince de Neufchatel, went into her cabinet for this purpose, he found +her weeping most bitterly. For some time she was unable to speak: at +length words of passionate grief found their way. + +"I can not help crying," she said; "every thing I look at, and that I am +going to leave, is so dear to me: there are my sister's drawings, my +mother herself worked this tapestry, these pictures were painted by my +uncle Charles." + +Thus she went on apostrophizing every article the room contained, even +the very carpets, and all her pets of whom she was so fond, so +cherished, and caressed; her singing birds, that she loved to sit and +listen to--these were all to be left behind--and the parrot that she +herself had taught to speak; but, above all, the little faithful dog, +the favorite companion, even he was not to accompany her--for it had +been said that the emperor did not like pet dogs. As she caressed the +little creature her tears fell faster. Berthier was sensibly touched by +the marks of affection bestowed by the young princess on all the objects +associated with home. He told her that all would not be in readiness +for their departure for a couple of hours. So the poor princess was +allowed the indulgence of her grief for a little while longer. But the +moment came, and she had to tear herself away from the scenes and the +friends that occupied all her affection. An enthusiastic greeting +awaited her from the crowds assembled to welcome her. Splendor +surrounded her on every side; but home and the dear friends were far +away. As Napoleon led her from the balcony of the Tuileries, where she +had been gazed at and hailed with acclamations of joy by the populace, +he said-- + +"Come, Louisa, I ought to give you some little reward for the happiness +which you have conferred on me--the great happiness which I have just +enjoyed. Nay, nay, don't be afraid to follow me," continued he, as he +led her along one of the narrow corridors of the palace, lit by a single +lamp; "nay, nay, don't be afraid to follow me." + +Suddenly they stopped at the door of a room wherein a dog was making +efforts to get out. The emperor opened the door--the favorite dog was +there. He testified his joy at again seeing his mistress by a thousand +wild pranks; bounding and jumping about her. The profusion of lamps by +which the room was lit up, discovered to Maria Louisa that it was +furnished with the very chairs and the carpets of her apartment at +Vienna. There were her sister's drawings, and the tapestry wrought by +her mother's hands; there were the pictures painted by her uncle +Charles; there was her parrot, and there her singing birds; and, above +all, the pet dog. Louisa was greatly affected and delighted by finding +herself surrounded by these dear, familiar objects. So well had Berthier +planned and executed this agreeable surprise for the disconsolate +princess, whom he had found weeping over all that had been endeared to +her by the fondest associations, that she never suspected his design in +delaying their departure from Vienna. + +"Come in, Berthier," said the emperor, opening a side door, "and let the +empress thank you. There, Louisa, thank him--embrace him who planned +this pleasure for you." + +How frequently genius effects great ends by the simplest means! It is +most interesting to see the greatest difficulties give way before its +magic influence. + + + + +A DEATH-BED. + +BY JAMES ALDRICH. + + + Her suffering ended with the day, + Yet lived she at its close, + And breathed the long, long night away, + In statue-like repose. + + But when the sun, in all his state, + Illumed the eastern skies, + She pass'd through Glory's morning-gate + And walk'd in Paradise! + + + + +[From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.] + +MY NOVEL; OR, VARIETIES IN ENGLISH LIFE. + +(_Continued from page 777._) + + +BOOK II.--INITIAL CHAPTER:--INFORMING THE READER HOW THIS WORK CAME TO +HAVE INITIAL CHAPTERS. + +"There can't be a doubt," said my father, "that to each of the main +divisions of your work--whether you call them Books or Parts--you should +prefix an Initial or Introductory Chapter." + +PISISTRATUS.--"Can't be a doubt, sir! Why so?" + +MR. CAXTON.--"Fielding lays it down as an indispensable rule, which he +supports by his example; and Fielding was an artistical writer, and knew +what he was about." + +PISISTRATUS.--"Do you remember any of his reasons, sir?" + +MR. CAXTON.--"Why, indeed, Fielding says very justly that he is not +bound to assign any reason; but he does assign a good many, here and +there--to find which, I refer you to _Tom Jones_. I will only observe, +that one of his reasons, which is unanswerable, runs to the effect that +thus, in every Part or Book, the reader has the advantage of beginning +at the fourth or fifth page instead of the first--'a matter by no means +of trivial consequence,' saith Fielding, 'to persons who read books with +no other view than to say they have read them--a more general motive to +reading than is commonly imagined; and from which not only law books and +good books, but the pages of Homer and Virgil, of Swift and Cervantes +have been often turned over.' There," cried my father triumphantly, "I +will lay a shilling to twopence that I have quoted the very words." + +MRS. CAXTON.--"Dear me, that only means skipping: I don't see any great +advantage in writing a chapter, merely for people to skip it." + +PISISTRATUS.--"Neither do I!" + +MR. CAXTON, dogmatically.--"It is the repose in the picture--Fielding +calls it 'contrast'--(still more dogmatically) I say there can't be a +doubt about it. Besides (added my father after a pause), besides, this +usage gives you opportunities to explain what has gone before, or to +prepare for what's coming; or, since Fielding contends with great truth, +that some learning is necessary for this kind of historical composition, +it allows you, naturally and easily, the introduction of light and +pleasant ornaments of that nature. At each flight in the terrace, you +may give the eye the relief of an urn or a statue. Moreover, when so +inclined, you create proper pausing places for reflection; and complete, +by a separate yet harmonious ethical department, the design of a work, +which is but a mere Mother Goose's tale if it does not embrace a general +view of the thoughts and actions of mankind." + +PISISTRATUS.--"But then, in these initial chapters, the author thrusts +himself forward and just when you want to get on with the _dramatis +personæ_, you find yourself face to face with the poet himself." + +MR. CAXTON.--"Pooh! you can contrive to prevent that! Imitate the chorus +of the Greek stage, who fill up the intervals between the action by +saying what the author would otherwise say in his own person." + +PISISTRATUS, slyly.--"That's a good idea, sir--and I have a chorus, and +a chorægus too, already in my eye." + +MR. CAXTON, unsuspectingly.--"Aha! you are not so dull a fellow as you +would make yourself out to be; and, even if an author did thrust himself +forward, what objection is there to that? It is a mere affectation to +suppose that a book can come into the world without an author. Every +child has a father, one father at least, as the great Condé says very +well in his poem." + +PISISTRATUS.--"The great Condé a poet!--I never heard that before." + +MR. CAXTON.--"I don't say he was a poet, but he sent a poem to Madame de +Montansier. Envious critics think that he must have paid somebody else +to write it; but there is no reason why a great captain should not write +a poem--I don't say a good poem, but a poem. I wonder, Roland, if the +Duke ever tried his hand at 'Stanzas to Mary,' or 'Lines to a sleeping +babe.'" + +CAPTAIN ROLAND.--"Austin, I'm ashamed of you. Of course the Duke could +write poetry if he pleased--something, I dare say, in the way of the +great Condé--that is something warlike and heroic, I'll be bound. Let's +hear!" + +MR. CAXTON, reciting-- + + "Telle est du Ciel la loi sèvère + Qu'il faut qu'un enfant ait un père; + On dit même quelque fois + Tel enfant en a jusqu'á trois." + +CAPTAIN ROLAND, greatly disgusted.--"Condé write such stuff!--I don't +believe it." + +PISISTRATUS.--"I do, and accept the quotation--you and Roland shall be +joint fathers to my child as well as myself." + + "Tel enfant en a jusqu'á trois." + +MR. CAXTON, solemnly.--"I refuse the proffered paternity; but so far as +administering a little wholesome castigation, now and then, I have no +objection to join in the discharge of a father's duty." + +PISISTRATUS.--"Agreed; have you any thing to say against the infant +hitherto?" + +MR. CAXTON.--"He is in long clothes at present; let us wait till he can +walk." + +BLANCHE.--"But pray whom do you mean for a hero?--and is Miss Jemima +your heroine?" + +CAPTAIN ROLAND.--"There is some mystery about the--" + +PISISTRATUS, hastily.--"Hush, Uncle; no letting the cat out of the bag +yet. Listen, all of you! I left Frank Hazeldean on his way to the +Casino." + + +CHAPTER II. + +"It is a sweet pretty place," thought Frank, as he opened the gate which +led across the fields to the Casino, that smiled down upon him with its +plaster pilasters. "I wonder, though, that my father, who is so +particular in general, suffers the carriage road to be so full of holes +and weeds. Mounseer does not receive many visits, I take it." + +But when Frank got into the ground immediately before the house, he saw +no cause of complaint as to want of order and repair. Nothing could be +kept more neatly. Frank was ashamed of the dint made by the pony's hoofs +in the smooth gravel; he dismounted, tied the animal to the wicket, and +went on foot toward the glass door in front. + +He rang the bell once, twice, but nobody came, for the old +woman-servant, who was hard of hearing, was far away in the yard, +searching for any eggs which the hen might have scandalously hidden from +culinary purposes; and Jackeymo was fishing for the sticklebacks and +minnows, which were, when caught, to assist the eggs, when found, in +keeping together the bodies and souls of himself and his master. The old +woman was on board wages--lucky old woman! Frank rang a third time, and +with the impetuosity of his age. A face peeped from the Belvidere on the +terrace. "Diavolo!" said Dr. Riccabocca to himself. "Young cocks crow +hard on their own dunghill; it must be a cock of a high race to crow so +loud at another's." + +Therewith he shambled out of the summer-house, and appeared suddenly +before Frank, in a very wizard-like dressing robe of black serge, a red +cap on his head, and a cloud of smoke coming rapidly from his lips, as a +final consolatory whiff, before he removed the pipe from them. Frank had +indeed seen the doctor before, but never in so scholastic a costume, and +he was a little startled by the apparition at his elbow, as he turned +round. + +"Signorino--young gentleman," said the Italian, taking off his cap with +his usual urbanity, "pardon the negligence of my people--I am too happy +to receive your commands in person." + +"Dr. Rickeybockey?" stammered Frank, much confused by this polite +address, and the low yet stately bow with which it was accompanied, +"I--I have a note from the Hall. Mamma--that is, my mother--and aunt +Jemima beg their best compliments, and hope you will come, sir." + +The Doctor took the note with another bow, and, opening the glass door, +invited Frank to enter. + +The young gentleman, with a schoolboy's usual bluntness, was about to +say that he was in a hurry, and had rather not; but Dr. Riccabocca's +grand manner awed him, while a glimpse of the hall excited his +curiosity--so he silently obeyed the invitation. + +The hall, which was of an octagon shape, had been originally paneled off +into compartments, and in these the Italian had painted landscapes, rich +with the sunny warm light of his native climate. Frank was no judge of +the art displayed; but he was greatly struck with the scenes depicted: +they were all views of some lake, real or imaginary--in all, dark-blue +shining waters reflected dark-blue placid skies. In one, a flight of +steps descended to the lake, and a gay group was seen feasting on the +margin: in another, sunset threw its rose-hues over a vast villa or +palace, backed by Alpine hills, and flanked by long arcades of vines, +while pleasure-boats skimmed over the waves below. In short, throughout +all the eight compartments, the scene, though it differed in details, +preserved the same general character, as if illustrating some favorite +locality. The Italian, did not, however, evince any desire to do the +honors to his own art, but, preceding Frank across the hall, opened the +door of his usual sitting-room, and requested him to enter. Frank did +so, rather reluctantly, and seated himself with unwonted bashfulness on +the edge of a chair. But here new specimens of the Doctor's handicraft +soon riveted attention. The room had been originally papered; but +Riccabocca had stretched canvas over the walls, and painted thereon +sundry satirical devices, each separated from the other by scroll-works +of fantastic arabesques. Here a Cupid was trundling a wheelbarrow full +of hearts, which he appeared to be selling to an ugly old fellow, with a +money-bag in his hand--probably Plutus. There Diogenes might be seen +walking through a market-place, with his lantern in his hand, in search +of an honest man, while the children jeered at him, and the curs snapped +at his heels. In another place, a lion was seen half dressed in a fox's +hide, while a wolf in a sheep's mask was conversing very amicably with a +young lamb. Here again might be seen the geese stretching out their +necks from the Roman Capitol in full cackle, while the stout invaders +were beheld in the distance, running off as hard as they could. In +short, in all these quaint entablatures some pithy sarcasm was +symbolically conveyed; only over the mantle-piece was the design graver +and more touching. It was the figure of a man in a pilgrim's garb, +chained to the earth by small but innumerable ligaments, while a phantom +likeness of himself, his shadow, was seen hastening down what seemed an +interminable vista; and underneath were written the pathetic words of +Horace, + + "Patriæ quis exul + Se quoque fugit?" + +"What exile from his country can fly himself as well?" The furniture of +the room was extremely simple, and somewhat scanty; yet it was arranged +so as to impart an air of taste and elegance to the room. Even a few +plaster busts and statues, though bought of some humble itinerant, had +their classical effect glistening from out stands of flowers that were +grouped around them, or backed by graceful screen-works formed from +twisted osiers, which, by the simple contrivance of trays at the bottom, +filled with earth, served for living parasitical plants, with gay +flowers contrasting thick ivy leaves, and gave to the whole room the +aspect of a bower. + +"May I ask your permission?" said the Italian, with his finger on the +seal of the letter. + +"Oh, yes," said Frank with _naïveté_. + +Riccabocca broke the seal, and a slight smile stole over his +countenance. Then he turned a little aside from Frank, shaded his face +with his hand, and seemed to muse. "Mrs. Hazeldean," said he at last, +"does me very great honor. I hardly recognize her hand-writing, or I +should have been more impatient to open the letter." The dark eyes were +lifted over the spectacles, and went right into Frank's unprotected and +undiplomatic heart. The Doctor raised the note, and pointed to the +characters with his forefinger. + +"Cousin Jemima's hand," said Frank, as directly as if the question had +been put to him. + +The Italian smiled. "Mr. Hazeldean has company staying with him?" + +"No; that is, only Barney--the Captain. There's seldom much company +before the shooting season," added Frank with a slight sigh; "and then +you know the holidays are over. For my part, I think we ought to break +up a month later." + +The Doctor seemed reassured by the first sentence in Frank's reply, and +seating himself at the table, wrote his answer--not hastily, as we +English write, but with care and precision, like one accustomed to weigh +the nature of words--in that stiff Italian hand, which allows the writer +so much time to think while he forms his letters. He did not therefore +reply at once to Frank's remark about the holidays, but was silent till +he had concluded his note, read it three times over, sealed it by the +taper he slowly lighted, and then, giving it to Frank, he said-- + +"For your sake, young gentleman, I regret that your holidays are so +early; for mine, I must rejoice, since I accept the kind invitation you +have rendered doubly gratifying by bringing it yourself." + +"Deuce take the fellow and his fine speeches! One don't know which way +to look," thought English Frank. + +The Italian smiled again, as if this time he had read the boy's heart, +without need of those piercing black eyes, and said, less ceremoniously +than before, "You don't care much for compliments, young gentleman?" + +"No, I don't indeed," said Frank heartily. + +"So much the better for you, since your way in the world is made: it +would be so much the worse if you had to make it!" + +Frank looked puzzled: the thought was too deep for him--so he turned to +the pictures. + +"Those are very funny," said he: "they seem capitally done--who did +'em?" + +"Signorino Hazeldean, you are giving me what you refused yourself." + +"Eh?" said Frank, inquiringly. + +"Compliments!" + +"Oh--I--no; but they are well done, arn't they, sir?" + +"Not particularly: you speak to the artist." + +"What! you painted them?" + +"Yes." + +"And the pictures in the hall?" + +"Those too." + +"Taken from nature--eh?" + +"Nature," said the Italian sententiously, perhaps evasively, "lets +nothing be taken from her." + +"Oh!" said Frank, puzzled again. + +"Well, I must wish you good morning, sir; I am very glad you are +coming." + +"Without compliment?" + +"Without compliment." + +"A _rivedersi_--good-by for the present, my young signorino. This way," +observing Frank make a bolt toward the wrong door. + +"Can I offer you a glass of wine--it is pure, of our own making?" + +"No, thank you, indeed, sir," cried Frank, suddenly recollecting his +father's admonition. "Good-by--don't trouble yourself, sir; I know my +way now." + +But the bland Italian followed his guest to the wicket, where Frank had +left the pony. The young gentleman, afraid lest so courteous a host +should hold the stirrup for him, twitched off the bridle, and mounted in +haste, not even staying to ask if the Italian could put him in the way +to Rood Hall, of which way he was profoundly ignorant. The Italian's eye +followed the boy as he rode up the ascent in the lane, and the Doctor +sighed heavily. "The wiser we grow," said he to himself, "the more we +regret the age of our follies: it is better to gallop with a light heart +up the stony hill than to sit in the summer-house and cry 'How true!' to +the stony truths of Machiavelli!" + +With that he turned back into the Belvidere; but he could not resume his +studies. He remained some minutes gazing on the prospect, till the +prospect reminded him of the fields, which Jackeymo was bent on his +hiring, and the fields reminded him of Lenny Fairfield. He walked back +to the house, and in a few moments re-emerged in his out-of-door-trim, +with cloak and umbrella, relighted his pipe, and strolled toward +Hazeldean village. + +Meanwhile Frank, after cantering on for some distance, stopped at a +cottage, and there learned that there was a short cut across the fields +to Rood Hall, by which he could save nearly three miles. Frank, however, +missed the short cut, and came out into the high road: a turnpike +keeper, after first taking his toll, put him back again into the short +cut; and finally, he got into some green lanes, where a dilapidated +finger-post directed him to Rood. Late at noon, having ridden fifteen +miles in the desire to reduce ten to seven, he came suddenly upon a wild +and primitive piece of ground, that seemed half chase, half common, with +slovenly tumble-down cottages of villainous aspect scattered about in +odd nooks and corners; idle dirty children were making mud pies on the +road; slovenly-looking women were plaiting straw at the thresholds; a +large but forlorn and decayed church, that seemed to say that the +generation which saw it built was more pious than the generation which +now resorted to it, stood boldly and nakedly out by the roadside. + +"Is this the village of Rood?" asked Frank of a stout young man breaking +stones on the road--sad sign that no better labor could be found for +him! + +The man sullenly nodded, and continued his work. + +"And where's the Hall--Mr. Leslie's?" + +The man looked up in stolid surprise, and this time touched his hat. + +"Be you going there?" + +"Yes, if I can find out where it is." + +"I'll show your honor," said the boor alertly. + +Frank reined in the pony, and the man walked by his side. + +Frank was much of his father's son, despite the difference of age, and +that more fastidious change of manner which characterizes each +succeeding race in the progress of civilization. Despite all his Eton +finery, he was familiar with peasants, and had the quick eye of one +country-born as to country matters. + +"You don't seem very well off in this village, my man?" said he, +knowingly. + +"No; there be a deal of distress here in the winter time, and summer +too, for that matter; and the parish ben't much help to a single man." + +"But the farmers want work here as well as elsewhere, I suppose?" + +"'Deed, and there ben't much farming work here--most o' the parish be +all wild ground loike." + +"The poor have a right of common, I suppose," said Frank, surveying a +large assortment of vagabond birds and quadrupeds. + +"Yes; neighbor Timmins keeps his geese on the common, and some has a +cow--and them be neighbor Jowles's pigs. I don't know if there's a +right, loike; but the folks at the Hall does all they can to help us, +and that ben't much: they ben't as rich as some folks; but," added the +peasant proudly, "they be as good blood as any in the shire." + +"I'm glad to see you like them, at all events." + +"Oh, yes, I likes them well eno'; mayhap you are at school with the +young gentleman?" + +"Yes." said Frank. + +"Ah! I heard the clergyman say as how Master Randal was a mighty clever +lad, and would get rich some day. I'se sure I wish he would, for a poor +squire makes a poor parish. There's the Hall, sir." + + +CHAPTER III. + +Frank looked right ahead, and saw a square house that, in spite of +modern sash-windows, was evidently of remote antiquity--a high conical +roof; a stack of tall quaint chimney-pots of red baked clay (like those +at Sutton Place in Surrey), dominating over isolated vulgar +smoke-conductors, of the ignoble fashion of present times; a dilapidated +groin-work, encasing within a Tudor arch a door of the comfortable date +of George III., and the peculiarly dingy and weather-stained appearance +of the small finely finished bricks, of which the habitation was +built--all showed the abode of former generations adapted with tasteless +irreverence to the habits of descendants unenlightened by Pugin, or +indifferent to the poetry of the past. The house had emerged suddenly +upon Frank out of the gloomy waste land, for it was placed in a hollow, +and sheltered from sight by a disorderly group of ragged, dismal, +valetudinarian fir-trees, until an abrupt turn of the road cleared that +screen, and left the desolate abode bare to the discontented eye. Frank +dismounted; the man held his pony; and, after smoothing his cravat, the +smart Etonian sauntered up to the door, and startled the solitude of the +place with a loud peal from the modern brass knocker--a knock which +instantly brought forth an astonished starling who had built under the +eaves of the gable roof, and called up a cloud of sparrows, tomtits, and +yellow-hammers, who had been regaling themselves among the litter of a +slovenly farm-yard that lay in full sight to the right of the house, +fenced off by a primitive, paintless wooden rail. In process of time a +sow, accompanied by a thriving and inquisitive family, strolled up to +the gate of the fence, and, leaning her nose on the lower bar of the +gate, contemplated the visitor with much curiosity and some suspicion. + +While Frank is still without, impatiently swingeing his white trowsers +with his whip, we will steal a hurried glance toward the respective +members of the family within. Mr. Leslie, the _pater familias_, is in a +little room called his 'study,' to which he regularly retires every +morning after breakfast, rarely reappearing till one o'clock, which is +his unfashionable hour for dinner. In what mysterious occupations Mr. +Leslie passes those hours no one ever formed a conjecture. At the +present moment he is seated before a little rickety bureau, one leg of +which (being shorter than the other), is propped up by sundry old +letters and scraps of newspapers; and the bureau is open, and reveals a +great number of pigeon-holes and divisions, filled with various odds and +ends, the collection of many years. In some of these compartments are +bundles of letters, very yellow, and tied in packets with faded tape; in +another, all by itself, is a fragment of plum-pudding stone, which Mr. +Leslie has picked up in his walks and considered a rare mineral. It is +neatly labeled "Found in Hollow Lane, May 21st, 1824, by Maunder Slugge +Leslie, Esq." The next division holds several bits of iron in the shape +of nails, fragments of horse-shoes, &c., which Mr. Leslie had also met +with in his rambles, and, according to a harmless popular superstition, +deemed it highly unlucky not to pick up, and, once picked up, no less +unlucky to throw away. _Item_, in the adjoining pigeon-hole, a goodly +collection of pebbles with holes in them, preserved for the same reason, +in company with a crooked sixpence: _item_, neatly arranged in fanciful +mosaics, several periwinkles, Blackamoor's teeth (I mean the shell so +called), and other specimens of the conchiferous ingenuity of Nature, +partly inherited from some ancestral spinster, partly amassed by Mr. +Leslie himself in a youthful excursion to the sea-side. There were the +farm-bailiff's accounts, several files of bills, an old stirrup, three +sets of knee and shoe buckles which had belonged to Mr. Leslie's father, +a few seals tied together by a shoe-string, a shagreen toothpick case, a +tortoiseshell magnifying glass to read with, his eldest son's first +copybooks, his second son's ditto, his daughter's ditto, and a lock of +his wife's hair arranged in a true-lover's knot, framed and glazed. +There were also a small mousetrap; a patent corkscrew, too good to be +used in common; fragments of a silver teaspoon, that had, by natural +decay, arrived at a dissolution of its parts; a small brown Holland bag, +containing halfpence of various dates, as far back as Queen Anne, +accompanied by two French _sous_, and a German _silber gros_; the which +miscellany Mr. Leslie magniloquently called "his coins," and had left in +his will as a family heirloom. There were many other curiosities of +congenial nature and equal value--"_quæ nunc describere longum est_." +Mr. Leslie was engaged at this time in what is termed "putting things to +rights"--an occupation he performed with exemplary care once a week. +This was his day; and he had just counted his coins, and was slowly +tying them up again, when Frank's knock reached his ears. + +Mr. Maunder Slugge Leslie paused, shook his head as if incredulously, +and was about to resume his occupation, when he was seized with a fit of +yawning which prevented the bag being tied for full two minutes. + +While such was the employment of the study--let us turn to the +recreations in the drawing-room, or rather parlor. A drawing-room there +was on the first floor, with a charming look-out, not on the dreary +fir-trees, but on the romantic undulating forest-land, but the +drawing-room had not been used since the death of the last Mrs. Leslie. +It was deemed too good to sit in, except when there was company; there +never being company, it was never sate in. Indeed, now the paper was +falling off the walls with the damp, and the rats, mice, and +moths--those "_edaces rerum_"--had eaten, between them, most of the +chair-bottoms and a considerable part of the floor. Therefore the parlor +was the sole general sitting-room; and being breakfasted in, dined, and +supped in, and, after supper, smoked in by Mr. Leslie to the +accompaniment of rum and water, it is impossible to deny that it had +what is called "a smell"--a comfortable wholesome family smell--speaking +of numbers, meals, and miscellaneous social habitation.--There were two +windows: one looked full on the fir-trees; the other on the farm-yard, +with the pigsty closing the view. Near the fir-tree window sate Mrs. +Leslie; before her, on a high stool, was a basket of the children's +clothes that wanted mending. A work-table of rosewood inlaid with brass, +which had been a wedding present, and was a costly thing originally, but +in that peculiar taste which is vulgarly called "Brumagem," stood at +hand: the brass had started in several places, and occasionally made +great havoc on the children's fingers and Mrs. Leslie's gown; in fact, +it was the liveliest piece of furniture in the house, thanks to that +petulant brass-work, and could not have been more mischievous if it had +been a monkey. Upon the work-table lay a housewife and thimble, and +scissors and skeins of worsted and thread, and little scraps of linen +and cloth for patches. But Mrs. Leslie was not actually working--she was +preparing to work; she had been preparing to work for the last hour and +a half. Upon her lap she supported a novel, by a lady who wrote much for +a former generation, under the name of "Mrs. Bridget Blue Mantle." She +had a small needle in her left hand, and a very thick piece of thread in +her right; occasionally she applied the end of the said thread to her +lips, and then--her eyes fixed on the novel--made a blind vacillating +attack at the eye of the needle. But a camel would have gone through it +with quite as much ease. Nor did the novel alone engage Mrs. Leslie's +attention, for ever and anon she interrupted herself to scold the +children; to inquire "what o'clock it was;" to observe that "Sarah would +never suit," and to wonder why Mr. Leslie would not see that the +work-table was mended. Mrs. Leslie had been rather a pretty woman. In +spite of a dress at once slatternly and economical, she has still the +air of a lady--rather too much so, the hard duties of her situation +considered. She is proud of the antiquity of her family on both sides; +her mother was of the venerable stock of the Daudlers of Daudle Place, a +race that existed before the Conquest. Indeed, one has only to read our +earliest chronicles, and to glance over some of those long-winded +moralizing poems which delighted the thanes and ealdermen of old, in +order to see that the Daudlers must have been a very influential family +before William the First turned the country topsy-turvy. While the +mother's race was thus indubitably Saxon, the father's had not only the +name but the peculiar idiosyncrasy of the Normans, and went far to +establish that crotchet of the brilliant author of _Sybil, or the Two +Nations_ as to the continued distinction between the conquering and +conquered populations. Mrs. Leslie's father boasted the name of +Montfydget; doubtless of the same kith and kin as those great barons +Montfichet, who once owned such broad lands and such turbulent castles. +A high-nosed, thin, nervous, excitable progeny, those same Montfydgets, +as the most troublesome Norman could pretend to be. This fusion of race +was notable to the most ordinary physiognomist in the _physique_ and in +the _morale_ of Mrs. Leslie. She had the speculative blue eye of the +Saxon, and the passionate high nose of the Norman; she had the musing +do-nothingness of the Daudlers, and the reckless have-at-everythingness +of the Montfydgets. At Mrs. Leslie's feet, a little girl with her hair +about her ears (and beautiful hair it was too), was amusing herself with +a broken-nosed doll. At the far end of the room, before a high desk, +sate Frank's Eton schoolfellow, the eldest son. A minute or two before +Frank's alarum had disturbed the tranquillity of the household, he had +raised his eyes from the books on the desk, to glance at a very tattered +copy of the Greek Testament, in which his brother Oliver had found a +difficulty that he came to Randal to solve. As the young Etonian's face +was turned to the light, your first impression, on seeing it, would have +been melancholy but respectful interest--for the face had already lost +the joyous character of youth--there was a wrinkle between the brows; +and the lines that speak of fatigue, were already visible under the eyes +and about the mouth; the complexion was sallow, the lips were pale. +Years of study had already sown, in the delicate organization, the seeds +of many an infirmity and many a pain; but if your look had rested longer +on that countenance, gradually your compassion might have given place to +some feeling uneasy and sinister, a feeling akin to fear. There was in +the whole expression so much of cold calm force, that it belied the +debility of the frame. You saw there the evidence of a mind that was +cultivated, and you felt that in that cultivation there was something +formidable. A notable contrast to this countenance, prematurely worn and +eminently intelligent, was the round healthy face of Oliver, with slow +blue eyes, fixed hard on the penetrating orbs of his brother, as if +trying with might and main to catch from them a gleam of that knowledge +with which they shone clear and frigid as a star. + +At Frank's knock, Oliver's slow blue eyes sparkled into animation, and +he sprang from his brother's side. The little girl flung back the hair +from her face, and stared at her mother with a look which spoke wonder +and fright. + +The young student knit his brows, and then turned wearily back to the +books on his desk. + +"Dear me," cried Mrs. Leslie, "who can that possibly be? Oliver, come +from the window, sir, this instant, you will be seen! Juliet, run--ring +the bell--no, go to the stairs, and say, 'not at home.' Not at home on +any account," repeated Mrs. Leslie nervously, for the Montfydget blood +was now in full flow. + +In another minute or so, Frank's loud boyish voice was distinctly heard +at the outer door. + +Randal slightly started. + +"Frank Hazeldean's voice," said he; "I should like to see him, mother." + +"See him," repeated Mrs. Leslie in amaze, "see him!--and the room in +this state!" + +Randal might have replied that the room was in no worse state than +usual; but he said nothing. A slight flush came and went over his pale +face; and then he leant his cheek on his hand, and compressed his lips +firmly. + +The outer door closed with a sullen, inhospitable jar, and a slip-shod +female servant entered with a card between her finger and thumb. + +"Who is that for? give it to me, Jenny," cried Mrs. Leslie. + +But Jenny shook her head, laid the card on the desk beside Randal, and +vanished without saying a word. + +"Oh, look, Randal, look up," cried Oliver, who had again rushed to the +window; "such a pretty gray pony!" + +Randal did look up; nay, he went deliberately to the window, and gazed a +moment on the high-mettled pony, and the well-dressed high-spirited +rider. In that moment changes passed over Randal's countenance more +rapidly than clouds over the sky in a gusty day. Now envy and +discontent, with the curled lip and the gloomy scowl; now hope and proud +self-esteem, with the clearing brow, and the lofty smile; and then all +again became cold, firm, and close as he walked back to his books, +seated himself resolutely, and said, half aloud, + +"Well, KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!" + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Mrs. Leslie came up in fidget and in fuss; she leant over Randal's +shoulder and read the card. Written in pen and ink, with an attempt at +imitation of printed Roman character, there appeared first, "MR. FRANK +HAZELDEAN;" but just over these letters, and scribbled hastily and less +legibly in pencil, was-- + +"Dear Leslie,--sorry you are out--come and see us--_Do_!" + +"You will go, Randal?" said Mrs. Leslie, after a pause. + +"I am not sure." + +"Yes, _you_ can go; _you_ have clothes like a gentleman; _you_ can go +any where, not like those children;" and Mrs. Leslie glanced almost +spitefully on poor Oliver's coarse, threadbare jacket, and little +Juliet's torn frock. + +"What I have I owe at present to Mr. Egerton, and I should consult his +wishes; he is not on good terms with these Hazeldeans." Then glancing +toward his brother, who looked mortified, he added, with a strange sort +of haughty kindness, "What I may have hereafter, Oliver, I shall owe to +myself; and then, if I rise, I will raise my family." + +"Dear Randal," said Mrs. Leslie, fondly kissing him on the forehead, +"what a good heart you have!" + +"No mother; my books don't tell me that it is a good heart that gets on +in the world; it is a hard head," replied Randal, with a rude and +scornful candor. "But I can read no more just now; come out, Oliver." + +So saying, he slid from his mother's hand and left the room. + +When Oliver joined him, Randal was already on the common; and, without +seeming to notice his brother, he continued to walk quickly and with +long strides in profound silence. At length he paused under the shade of +an old oak, that, too old to be of value save for firewood, had escaped +the ax. The tree stood on a knoll, and the spot commanded a view of the +decayed house--the old dilapidated church--the dismal, dreary village. + +"Oliver," said Randal, between his teeth, so that his voice had the +sound of a hiss, "it was under this tree that I first resolved to--" + +He paused. + +"What, Randal?" + +"Read hard; knowledge is power!" + +"But you are so fond of reading." + +"I?" cried Randal. "Do you think, when Wolsey and Thomas à-Becket became +priests, they were fond of telling their beads and pattering Aves? I +fond of reading!" + +Oliver stared; the historical allusions were beyond his comprehension. + +"You know," continued Randal, "that we Leslies were not always the +beggarly poor gentlemen we are now. You know that there is a man who +lives in Grosvenor-square, and is very rich--very. His riches come to +him from a Leslie; that man is my patron, Oliver, and he is very good to +me." + +Randal's smile was withering as he spoke. "Come on," he said, after a +pause--"come on." Again the walk was quicker, and the brothers were +silent. + +They came at length to a little shallow brook, across which some large +stones had been placed at short intervals, so that the boys walked over +the ford dryshod. "Will you pull me down that bough, Oliver?" said +Randal, abruptly, pointing to a tree. Oliver obeyed mechanically; and +Randal stripping the leaves, and snapping off the twigs, left a fork at +the end; with this he began to remove the stepping-stones. "What are you +about, Randal?" asked Oliver, wonderingly. + +"We are on the other side of the brook now; and we shall not come back +this way. We don't want the stepping-stones any more! away with them!" + + +CHAPTER V. + +The morning after this visit of Frank Hazeldean's to Rood Hall, the +Right Honorable Audley Egerton, member of Parliament, privy councilor, +and minister of a high department in the state--just below the rank of +the cabinet--was seated in his library, awaiting the delivery of the +post, before he walked down to his office. In the mean while he sipped +his tea, and glanced over the newspapers with that quick and +half-disdainful eye with which your practical man in public life is wont +to regard the abuse or the eulogium of the Fourth Estate. + +There is very little likeness between Mr. Egerton and his half-brother; +none indeed, except that they are both of tall stature, and strong, +sinewy, English build. But even in this last they do not resemble each +other; for the Squire's athletic shape is already beginning to expand +into that portly embonpoint which seems the natural development of +contented men as they approach middle life. Audley, on the contrary, is +inclined to be spare; and his figure, though the muscles are as firm as +iron, has enough of the slender to satisfy metropolitan ideas of +elegance. His dress--his look--his _tout ensemble_, are those of the +London man. In the first, there is more attention to fashion than is +usual among the busy members of the House of Commons; but then Audley +Egerton had always been something more than a mere busy member of the +House of Commons. He had always been a person of mark in the best +society, and one secret of his success in life has been his high +reputation as a "gentleman." + +As he now bends over the journals, there is an air of distinction in the +turn of the well-shaped head, with the dark brown hair--dark in spite of +a reddish tinge--cut close behind, and worn away a little toward the +crown, so as to give additional height to a commanding forehead. His +profile is very handsome, and of that kind of beauty which imposes on +men if it pleases women; and is therefore, unlike that of your mere +pretty fellows, a positive advantage in public life. It is a profile +with large features clearly cut, masculine, and somewhat severe. The +expression of his face is not open like the Squire's; nor has it the +cold closeness which accompanies the intellectual character of young +Leslie's; but it is reserved and dignified, and significant of +self-control, as should be the physiognomy of a man accustomed to think +before he speaks. When you look at him, you are not surprised to learn +that he is not a florid orator nor a smart debater--he is a "weighty +speaker." He is fairly read, but without any great range either of +ornamental scholarship or constitutional lore. He has not much humor; +but he has that kind of wit which is essential to grave and serious +irony. He has not much imagination, nor remarkable subtlety in +reasoning; but if he does not dazzle, he does not _bore_: he is too much +the man of the world for that. He is considered to have sound sense and +accurate judgment. Withal, as he now lays aside the journals, and his +face relaxes its austerer lines, you will not be astonished to hear that +he is a man who is said to have been greatly beloved by women, and still +to exercise much influence in drawing-rooms and boudoirs. At least no +one was surprised when the great heiress Clementina Leslie, kinswomen +and ward to Lord Lansmere--a young lady who had refused three earls and +the heir-apparent to a dukedom--was declared by her dearest friends to +be dying of love for Audley Egerton. It had been the natural wish of the +Lansmeres that this lady should marry their son, Lord L'Estrange. But +that young gentleman, whose opinions on matrimony partook of the +eccentricity of his general character, could never be induced to +propose, and had, according to the _on dits_ of town, been the principal +party to make up the match between Clementina and his friend Audley; for +the match required making-up despite the predilections of the young +heiress. Mr. Egerton had had scruples of delicacy. He avowed, for the +first time, that his fortune was much less than had been generally +supposed, and he did not like the idea of owing all to a wife, however +much he might esteem and admire her. L'Estrange was with his regiment +abroad during the existence of these scruples; but by letters to his +father, and to his cousin Clementina, he contrived to open and conclude +negotiations, while he argued away Mr. Egerton's objections; and, before +the year in which Audley was returned for Lansmere had expired, he +received the hand of the great heiress. The settlement of her fortune, +which was chiefly in the funds, had been unusually advantageous to the +husband; for though the capital was tied up so long as both +survived--for the benefit of any children they might have--yet, in the +event of one of the parties dying without issue by the marriage, the +whole passed without limitation to the survivor. In not only assenting +to, but proposing this clause, Miss Leslie, if she showed a generous +trust in Mr. Egerton, inflicted no positive wrong on her relations; for +she had none sufficiently near to her to warrant their claim to the +succession. Her nearest kinsman, and therefore her natural heir, was +Harley L'Estrange; and if he was contented, no one had a right to +complain. The tie of blood between herself and the Leslies of Rood Hall +was, as we shall see presently, extremely distant. + +It was not till after his marriage that Mr. Egerton took an active part +in the business of the House of Commons. He was then at the most +advantageous starting-point for the career of ambition. His words on the +state of the country took importance from his stake in it. His talents +found accessories in the opulence of Grosvenor-square, the dignity of a +princely establishment, the respectability of one firmly settled in +life, the reputation of a fortune in reality very large, and which was +magnified by popular report into the revenues of a Croesus. Audley +Egerton succeeded in Parliament beyond the early expectations formed of +him. He took, at first, that station in the House which it requires tact +to establish, and great knowledge of the world to free from the charge +of impracticability and crotchet, but which, once established, is +peculiarly imposing from the rarity of its independence; that is to say, +the station of the moderate man who belongs sufficiently to a party to +obtain its support, but is yet sufficiently disengaged from a party to +make his vote and word, on certain questions, matter of anxiety and +speculation. + +Professing Toryism (the word Conservative, which would have suited him +better, was not then known), he separated himself from the country +party, and always avowed great respect for the opinions of the large +towns. The epithet given to the views of Audley Egerton was +"enlightened." Never too much in advance of the passion of the day, yet +never behind its movement, he had that shrewd calculation of odds which +a consummate mastery of the world sometimes bestows upon +politicians--perceived the chances for and against a certain question +being carried within a certain time, and nicked the question between +wind and water. He was so good a barometer of that changeful weather +called Public Opinion that he might have had a hand in the _Times_ +newspaper. He soon quarreled, and purposely, with his Lansmere +constituents--nor had he ever revisited that borough, perhaps because it +was associated with unpleasant reminiscences in the shape of the +Squire's epistolary trimmer, and in that of his own effigies which his +agricultural constituents had burned in the corn-market. But the +speeches which produced such indignation at Lansmere, had delighted one +of the greatest of our commercial towns, which at the next general +election honored him with its representation. In those days, before the +Reform Bill, great commercial towns chose men of high mark for their +members; and a proud station it was for him who was delegated to speak +the voice of the princely merchants of England. + +Mrs. Egerton survived her marriage but a few years; she left no +children; two had been born, but died in their first infancy. The +property of the wife, therefore, passed without control or limit to the +husband. + +Whatever might have been the grief of the widower, he disdained to +betray it to the world. Indeed, Audley Egerton was a man who had early +taught himself to conceal emotion. He buried himself in the country, +none knew where, for some months: when he returned, there was a deep +wrinkle on his brow; but no change in his habits and avocations, except +that, shortly afterward, he accepted office, and thus became more busy +than ever. + +Mr. Egerton had always been lavish and magnificent in money matters. A +rich man in public life has many claims on his fortune, and no one +yielded to those claims with an air so regal as Audley Egerton. But +among his many liberal actions, there was none which seemed more worthy +of panegyric, than the generous favor he extended to the son of his +wife's poor and distant kinsfolks, the Leslies of Rood Hall. + +Some four generations back, there had lived a certain Squire Leslie, a +man of large acres and active mind. He had cause to be displeased with +his elder son, and though he did not disinherit him, he left half his +property to a younger. + +The younger had capacity and spirit, which justified the paternal +provision. He increased his fortune; lifted himself into notice and +consideration, by public services and a noble alliance. His descendants +followed his example, and took rank among the first commoners in +England, till the last male, dying, left his sole heiress and +representative in one daughter, Clementina, afterward married to Mr. +Egerton. + +Meanwhile the elder son of the fore-mentioned squire had muddled and +sotted away much of his share in the Leslie property; and, by low habits +and mean society, lowered in repute his representation of the name. + +His successors imitated him, till nothing was left to Randal's father, +Mr. Maunder Slugge Leslie, but the decayed house which was what the +Germans call the _stamm schloss_, or "stem hall" of the race, and the +wretched lands immediately around it. + +Still, though all intercourse between the two branches of the family had +ceased, the younger had always felt a respect for the elder, as the head +of the house. And it was supposed that, on her death bed, Mrs. Egerton +had recommended her impoverished namesakes and kindred to the care of +her husband. For, when he returned to town after Mrs. Egerton's death, +Audley had sent to Mr. Maunder Slugge Leslie the sum of £5000, which he +said his wife, leaving no written will, had orally bequeathed as a +legacy to that gentleman; and he requested permission to charge himself +with the education of the eldest son. + +Mr. Maunder Slugge Leslie might have done great things for his little +property with those £5000, or even (kept in the three-per-cents) the +interest would have afforded a material addition to his comforts. But a +neighboring solicitor having caught scent of the legacy, hunted it down +into his own hands, on pretense of having found a capital investment in +a canal. And when the solicitor had got possession of the £5000, he went +off with them to America. + +Meanwhile Randal, placed by Mr. Egerton at an excellent preparatory +school, at first gave no signs of industry or talent; but just before he +left it, there came to the school, as classical tutor, an ambitious +young Oxford man; and his zeal, for he was a capital teacher, produced a +great effect generally on the pupils, and especially on Randal Leslie. +He talked to them much in private on the advantages of learning, and +shortly afterward he exhibited those advantages in his own person; for, +having edited a Greek play with much subtle scholarship, his college, +which some slight irregularities of his had displeased, recalled him to +its venerable bosom by the presentation of a fellowship. After this he +took orders, became a college tutor, distinguished himself yet more by a +treatise on the Greek accent, got a capital living, and was considered +on the high road to a bishopric. This young man, then, communicated to +Randal the thirst for knowledge; and when the boy went afterward to +Eton, he applied with such earnestness and resolve that his fame soon +reached the ears of Audley; and that person, who had the sympathy for +talent, and yet more for purpose, which often characterizes ambitious +men, went to Eton to see him. From that time, Audley evinced great and +almost fatherly interest in the brilliant Etonian; and Randal always +spent with him some days in each vacation. + +I have said that Egerton's conduct, with respect to this boy, was more +praiseworthy than most of those generous actions for which he was +renowned, since to this the world gave no applause. What a man does +within the range of his family connections, does not carry with it that +_éclat_ which invests a munificence exhibited on public occasions. +Either people care nothing about it, or tacitly suppose it to be but his +duty. It was true, too, as the Squire had observed, that Randal Leslie +was even less distantly related to the Hazeldeans than to Mrs. Egerton, +since Randal's grandfather had actually married a Miss Hazeldean (the +highest worldly connection that branch of the family had formed since +the great split I have commemorated). But Audley Egerton never appeared +aware of that fact. As he was not himself descended from the Hazeldeans, +he never troubled himself about their genealogy; and he took care to +impress it upon the Leslies, that his generosity on their behalf, was +solely to be ascribed to his respect for his wife's memory and kindred. +Still the Squire had felt as if his "distant brother" implied a rebuke +on his own neglect of these poor Leslies, by the liberality Audley +evinced toward them; and this had made him doubly sore when the name of +Randal Leslie was mentioned. But the fact really was, that the Leslies +of Rood, had so shrunk out of all notice that the Squire had actually +forgotten their existence, until Randal became thus indebted to his +brother; and then he felt a pang of remorse that any one, save himself, +the head of the Hazeldeans, should lend a helping hand to the grandson +of a Hazeldean. + +But having thus, somewhat too tediously, explained the position of +Audley Egerton, whether in the world, or in relation to his young +_protégé_, I may now permit him to receive and to read his letters. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Mr. Egerton glanced over the pile of letters placed beside him, and +first he tore up some, scarcely read, and threw them into the +waste-basket. Public men have such odd out-of-the-way letters, that +their waste-baskets are never empty: letters from amateur financiers +proposing new ways to pay off the national debt; letters from America +(never free!) asking for autographs; letters from fond mothers in +country villages, recommending some miracle of a son for a place in the +king's service; letters from freethinkers in reproof of bigotry; letters +from bigots in reproof of freethinking; letters signed Brutus Redivivus, +containing the agreeable information that the writer has a dagger for +tyrants, if the Danish claims are not forthwith adjusted; letters signed +Matilda or Caroline, stating that Caroline or Matilda has seen the +public man's portrait at the Exhibition, and that a heart sensible to +its attractions may be found at No. -- Piccadilly; letters from beggars, +impostors, monomaniacs, speculators, jobbers--all food for the +waste-basket. + +From the correspondence thus winnowed, Mr. Egerton first selected those +on business, which he put methodically together in one division of his +pocket-book; and, secondly, those of a private nature, which he as +carefully put into another. Of these last there were but three--one from +his steward, one from Harley L'Estrange, one from Randal Leslie. It was +his custom to answer his correspondence at his office; and to his +office, a few minutes afterward, he slowly took his way. Many a +passenger turned back to look again at the firm figure, which, despite +the hot summer day, was buttoned up to the throat; and the black +frock-coat thus worn, well became the erect air, and the deep full chest +of the handsome senator. When he entered Parliament-street, Audley +Egerton was joined by one of his colleagues, also on his way to the +cares of office. + +After a few observations on the last debate, this gentleman said: + +"By the way, can you dine with me next Saturday, to meet Lansmere? He +comes up to town to vote for us on Monday." + +"I had asked some people to dine with me," answered Egerton, "but I will +put them off. I see Lord Lansmere too seldom, to miss any occasion to +meet a man whom I respect so much." + +"So seldom! True, he is very little in town; but why don't you go and +see him in the country? Good shooting--pleasant old-fashioned house." + +"My dear Westbourne, his house is '_nimium vicina Cremonæ_,' close to a +borough in which I have been burned in effigy." + +"Ha--ha--yes--I remember you first came into Parliament for that snug +little place; but Lansmere himself never found fault with your votes, +did he?" + +"He behaved very handsomely, and said he had not presumed to consider me +his mouthpiece; and then, too, I am so intimate with L'Estrange." + +"Is that queer fellow ever coming back to England?" + +"He comes, generally every year, for a few days, just to see his father +and mother, and then goes back to the Continent." + +"I never meet him." + +"He comes in September or October, when you, of course, are not in town, +and it is in town that the Lansmeres meet him." + +"Why does not he go to them?" + +"A man in England but once a year, and for a few days, has so much to do +in London, I suppose." + +"Is he as amusing as ever?" + +Egerton nodded. + +"So distinguished as he might be!" continued Lord Westbourne. + +"So distinguished as he is!" said Egerton, formally; "an officer +selected for praise, even in such fields as Quatre Bras and Waterloo; a +scholar, too, of the finest taste; and as an accomplished gentleman, +matchless!" + +"I like to hear one man praise another so warmly in these ill-natured +days," answered Lord Westbourne. "But, still, though L'Estrange is, +doubtless, all you say, don't you think he rather wastes his +life--living abroad?" + +"And trying to be happy, Westbourne? Are you sure it is not we who waste +our lives? But I can't stay to hear your answer. Here we are at the door +of my prison." + +"On Saturday, then?" + +"On Saturday. Good-day." + +For the next hour, or more, Mr. Egerton was engaged on the affairs of +the state. He then snatched an interval of leisure (while awaiting a +report, which he had instructed a clerk to make him), in order to reply +to his letters. Those on public business were soon dispatched; and +throwing his replies aside, to be sealed by a subordinate hand, he drew +out the letters which he had put apart as private. + +He attended first to that of his steward: the steward's letter was long; +the reply was contained in three lines. Pitt himself was scarcely more +negligent of his private interests and concerns than Audley +Egerton--yet, withal, Audley Egerton was said, by his enemies, to be an +egotist. + +The next letter he wrote was to Randal, and that, though longer, was far +from prolix: it ran thus: + +"DEAR MR. LESLIE--I appreciate your delicacy in consulting me, whether +you should accept Frank Hazeldean's invitation to call at the Hall. +Since you are asked, I can see no objection to it. I should be sorry if +you appeared to force yourself there; and, for the rest, as a general +rule, I think a young man who has his own way to make in life, had +better avoid all intimacy with those of his own age, who have no kindred +objects, nor congenial pursuits. + +"As soon as this visit is paid, I wish you to come to London. The report +I receive of your progress at Eton, renders it unnecessary, in my +judgment, that you should return there. If your father has no objection, +I propose that you should go to Oxford, at the ensuing term. Meanwhile, +I have engaged a gentleman, who is a fellow of Baliol, to read with you; +he is of opinion, judging only by your high repute at Eton, that you +may at once obtain a scholarship in that college. If you do so, I shall +look upon your career in life as assured. + + "Your affectionate friend, and + sincere well-wisher, + "A.E." + +The reader will remark that, in this letter, there is a certain tone of +formality. Mr. Egerton does not call his _protégé_ "Dear Randal," as +would seem natural, but coldly and stiffly, "Dear Mr. Leslie." He hints, +also, that the boy has his own way to make in life. Is this meant to +guard against too sanguine notions of inheritance, which his generosity +may have excited? + +The letter to Lord L'Estrange was of a very different kind from the +others. It was long, and full of such little scraps of news and gossip +as may interest friends in a foreign land; it was written gayly, and as +with a wish to cheer his friend; you could see that it was a reply to a +melancholy letter; and in the whole tone and spirit there was an +affection, even to tenderness, of which those who most liked Audley +Egerton would have scarcely supposed him capable. Yet, notwithstanding, +there was a kind of constraint in the letter, which perhaps only the +fine tact of a woman would detect. It had not that _abandon_, that +hearty self-outpouring, which you might expect would characterize the +letters of two such friends, who had been boys at school together, and +which did breathe indeed in all the abrupt rambling sentences of his +correspondent. But where was the evidence of the constraint? Egerton is +off-hand enough where his pen runs glibly through paragraphs that relate +to others; it is simply that he says nothing about himself--that he +avoids all reference to the inner world of sentiment and feeling. But +perhaps, after all, the man has no sentiment and feeling! How can you +expect that a steady personage in practical life, whose mornings are +spent in Downing-street, and whose nights are consumed in watching +Government bills through a committee, can write in the same style as an +idle dreamer amidst the pines of Ravenna or on the banks of Como. + +Audley had just finished this epistle, such as it was, when the +attendant in waiting announced the arrival of a deputation from a +provincial trading town, the members of which deputation he had +appointed to meet at two o'clock. There was no office in London at which +deputations were kept waiting less than at that over which Mr. Egerton +presided. + +The deputation entered--some score or so of middle-aged, +comfortable-looking persons, who nevertheless had their grievance--and +considered their own interests, and those of the country, menaced by a +certain clause in a bill brought in by Mr. Egerton. + +The Mayor of the town was the chief spokesman, and he spoke well--but in +a style to which the dignified official was not accustomed. It was a +slap-dash style--unceremonious, free, and easy--an American style. And, +indeed, there was something altogether in the appearance and bearing of +the Mayor which savored of residence in the Great Republic. He was a +very handsome man, but with a look sharp and domineering--the look of a +man who did not care a straw for president or monarch, and who enjoyed +the liberty to speak his mind, and "wallop his own nigger!" + +His fellow-burghers evidently regarded him with great respect; and Mr. +Egerton had penetration enough to perceive that Mr. Mayor must be a rich +man, as well as an eloquent one, to have overcome those impressions of +soreness or jealousy which his tone was calculated to create in the +self-love of his equals. + +Mr. Egerton was far too wise to be easily offended by mere manner; and, +though he stared somewhat haughtily when he found his observations +actually pooh-poohed, he was not above being convinced. There was much +sense and much justice in Mr. Mayor's arguments, and the statesman +civilly promised to take them into full consideration. + +He then bowed out the deputation; but scarcely had the door closed +before it opened again, and Mr. Mayor presented himself alone, saying +aloud to his companions in the passage, "I forgot something I had to say +to Mr. Egerton; wait below for me." + +"Well, Mr. Mayor," said Audley, pointing to a seat, "what else would you +suggest?" + +The Mayor looked round to see that the door was closed; and then, +drawing his chair close to Mr. Egerton's, laid his forefinger on that +gentleman's arm, and said, "I think I speak to a man of the world, sir." + +Mr. Egerton bowed, and made no reply by word, but he gently removed his +arm from the touch of the forefinger. + +MR. MAYOR.--"You observe, sir, that I did not ask the members whom we +return to Parliament to accompany us. Do better without 'em. You know +they are both in Opposition--out-and-outers." + +MR. EGERTON.--"It is a misfortune which the Government can not remember, +when the question is whether the trade of the town itself is to be +served or injured." + +MR. MAYOR.--"Well, I guess you speak handsome, sir. But you'd be glad to +have two members to support Ministers after the next election." + +MR. EGERTON, smiling.--"Unquestionably, Mr. Mayor." + +MR. MAYOR.--"And I can do it, Mr. Egerton. I may say I have the town in +my pocket; so I ought, I spend a great deal of money in it. Now, you +see, Mr. Egerton, I have passed a part of my life in a land of +liberty--the United States--and I come to the point when I speak to a +man of the world. I'm a man of the world myself, sir. And if so be the +Government will do something for me, why, I'll do something for the +Government. Two votes for a free and independent town like ours--that's +something, isn't it?" + +MR. EGERTON, taken by surprise.--"Really, I--" + +MR. MAYOR, advancing his chair still nearer, and interrupting the +official.--"No nonsense, you see, on one side or the other. The fact is, +that I've taken it into my head that I should like to be knighted. You +may well look surprised, Mr. Egerton--trumpery thing enough, I dare say; +still, every man has his weakness, and I should like to be Sir Richard. +Well, if you can get me made Sir Richard, you may just name your two +members for the next election--that is, if they belong to your own set, +enlightened men, up to the times. That's speaking fair and manful, isn't +it?" + +MR. EGERTON, drawing himself up.--"I am at a loss to guess why you +should select me, sir, for this very extraordinary proposition." + +MR. MAYOR, nodding good-humoredly.--"Why, you see, I don't go all along +with the Government; you're the best of the bunch. And maybe you'd like +to strengthen your own party. This is quite between you and me, you +understand; honor's a jewel!" + +MR. EGERTON, with great gravity.--"Sir, I am obliged by your good +opinion; but I agree with my colleagues in all the great questions that +affect the government of the country, and--" + +MR. MAYOR, interrupting him.--"Ah, of course, you must say so; very +right. But I guess things would go differently if you were Prime +Minister. However, I have another reason for speaking to you about my +little job. You see you were member for Lansmere once, and I think you +came in but by two majority, eh?" + +MR. EGERTON.--"I know nothing of the particulars of that election; I was +not present." + +MR. MAYOR.--"No; but luckily for you, two relatives of mine were, and +they voted for you. Two votes, and you came in by two! Since then, you +have got into very snug quarters here, and I think we have a claim on +you--" + +MR. EGERTON.--"Sir, I acknowledge no such claim; I was and am a stranger +to Lansmere; and, if the electors did me the honor to return me to +Parliament, it was in compliment rather to--" + +MR. MAYOR, again interrupting the official.--"Rather to Lord Lansmere, +you were going to say; unconstitutional doctrine that, I fancy. Peer of +the realm. But, never mind, I know the world; and I'd ask Lord Lansmere +to do my affair for me, only I hear he is as proud, as Lucifer." + +MR. EGERTON, in great disgust, and settling his papers before +him.--"Sir, it is not in my department to recommend to his Majesty +candidates for the honor of knighthood, and it is still less in my +department to make bargains for seats in Parliament." + +MR. MAYOR.--"Oh, if that's the case, you'll excuse me; I don't know much +of the etiquette in these matters. But I thought that, if I put two +seats in your hands, for your own friends, you might contrive to take +the affair into your department, whatever it was. But, since you say you +agree with your colleagues, perhaps it comes to the same thing. Now, you +must not suppose I want to sell the town, and that I can change and chop +my politics for my own purpose. No such thing! I don't like the sitting +members; I'm all for progressing, but they go _too_ much ahead for me; +and, since the Government is disposed to move a little, why I'd as lief +support them as not. But, in common gratitude, you see (added the Mayor, +coaxingly), I ought to be knighted! I can keep up the dignity, and do +credit to his Majesty." + +MR. EGERTON, without looking up from his papers.--"I can only refer you, +sir, to the proper quarter." + +MR. MAYOR, impatiently.--"Proper quarter! Well, since there is so much +humbug in this old country of ours, that one must go through all the +forms and get at the job regularly, just tell me whom I ought to go to." + +MR. EGERTON, beginning to be amused as well as indignant.--"If you want +a knighthood, Mr. Mayor, you must ask the Prime Minister; if you want to +give the Government information relative to seats in Parliament, you +must introduce yourself to Mr. ----, the Secretary of the Treasury." + +MR. MAYOR.--"And if I go to the last chap, what do you think he'll say." + +MR. EGERTON, the amusement preponderating over the indignation.--"He +will say, I suppose, that you must not put the thing in the light in +which you have put it to me; that the Government will be very proud to +have the confidence of yourself and your brother electors; and that a +gentleman like you, in the proud position of Mayor, may well hope to be +knighted on some fitting occasion. But that you must not talk about the +knighthood just at present, and must confine yourself to converting the +unfortunate political opinions of the town." + +MR. MAYOR.--"Well, I guess that chap there would want to do me! Not +quite so green, Mr. Egerton. Perhaps I'd better go at once to the +fountain-head. How d'ye think the Premier would take it?" + +MR. EGERTON, the indignation preponderating over the +amusement.--"Probably just as I am about to do." + +Mr. Egerton rang the bell; the attendant appeared. + +"Show Mr. Mayor the way out," said the Minister. + +The Mayor turned round sharply, and his face was purple. He walked +straight to the door; but, suffering the attendant to precede him along +the corridor, he came back with a rapid stride, and clenching his hands, +and with a voice thick with passion, cried, "Some day or other I will +make you smart for this, as sure as my name's Dick Avenel!" + +"Avenel!" repeated Egerton, recoiling--"Avenel!" + +But the Mayor was gone. + +Audley fell into a deep and musing reverie, which seemed gloomy, and +lasted till the attendant announced that the horses were at the door. + +He then looked up, still abstractedly, and saw his letter to Harley +L'Estrange open on the table. He drew it toward him, and wrote, "A man +has just left me, who calls himself Aven--" in the middle of the name +his pen stopped. "No, no," muttered the writer, "what folly to re-open +the old wounds there," and he carefully erased the words. + +Audley Egerton did not ride in the Park that day, as was his wont, but +dismissed his groom; and, turning his horse's head toward Westminster +Bridge, took his solitary way into the country. He rode at first slowly, +as if in thought; then fast, as if trying to escape from thought. He was +later than usual at the House that evening, and he looked pale and +fatigued. But he had to speak, and he spoke well. + + + + +ANECDOTE OF A DOG. + + +The Lyons diligence was just going to start from Geneva. I climbed on +the roof, and chose my place next the postillion: there was still a +vacant seat, and the porter, after closing the door of the _coupé_, +called "Monsieur Dermann!" A tall young man, with a German style of +countenance, advanced, holding in his arms a large black grayhound, +which he vainly tried to place on the roof. + +"Monsieur," said he, addressing me, "will you have the kindness to take +my dog?" + +Bending over, I took hold of the animal, and placed him on the straw at +my feet. I observed that he wore a handsome silver collar, on which the +following words were tastefully engraved: "_Bevis--I belong to Sir +Arthur Burnley, given him by Miss Clary_." + +His owner was, therefore, an Englishman; yet my fellow-traveler, who had +now taken his place by my side, was evidently either a Swiss or a +German, and his name was Dermann. Trifling as was the mystery, it +excited my curiosity, and, after two or three hours' pleasant +conversation had established a sort of intimacy between us, I ventured +to ask my companion for an explanation. + +"It does not surprise me," he answered, "that this collar should puzzle +you; and I shall have great pleasure in telling you the story of its +wearer. Bevis belongs to me, but it is not many years since he owned +another master whose name is on his collar. You will see why he still +wears it. Here Bevis! speak to this gentleman." + +The dog raised his head, opened his bright eyes, and laying back his +long ears, uttered a sound which might well pass for a salutation. + +M. Dermann placed the animal's head on his knees, and began to unfasten +the collar. + +Instantly Bevis drew back his head with a violent jerk, and darted +toward the luggage on the hinder part of the roof. There, growling +fiercely, he lay down, while his muscles were stiffened, and his eyes +glowing with fury. + +"You see, Monsieur, how determined he is to guard his collar; I should +not like to be the man who would try to rob him of it. Here, Bevis!" +said he, in a soft, caressing tone, "I won't touch it again, poor +fellow! Come and make friends!" + +The grayhound hesitated, still growling. At length he returned slowly +toward his master, and began to lick his hands; his muscles gradually +relaxed, and he trembled like a leaf. + +"There, boy, there," said M. Dermann, caressing him. "We won't do it +again, lie down now, and be quiet." + +The dog nestled between his master's feet, and went to sleep. My +fellow-traveler then turning toward me, began: + +"I am a native of Suabia, but I live in a little village of the +Sherland, at the foot of the Grimsel. My father keeps an inn for the +reception of travelers going to St. Gothard. + +"About two years since, there arrived at our house one evening a young +Englishman, with a pale, sad countenance; he traveled on foot, and was +followed by a large grayhound, this Bevis, whom you see. He declined +taking any refreshment, and asked to be shown to his sleeping-room. We +gave him one over the common hall, where we were all seated round the +fire. Presently we heard him pacing rapidly up and down; from time to +time uttering broken words, addressed no doubt to his dog, for the +animal moaned occasionally as if replying to, and sympathizing with his +master. At length we heard the Englishman stop, and apparently strike +the dog a violent blow, for the poor beast gave a loud howl of agony, +and seemed as if he ran to take refuge under the bed. Then his master +groaned aloud. Soon afterward he lay down, and all was quiet for the +night. Early next morning he came down, looking still more pale than on +the previous evening, and having paid for his lodging, he took his +knapsack and resumed his journey, followed by the grayhound, who had +eaten nothing since their arrival, and whose master seemed to take no +further notice of him, than to frown when the creature ventured to +caress him. + +"About noon, I happened to be standing at the door looking toward the +direction which the Englishman had taken when I perceived a dark object +moving slowly along. Presently I heard howls of distress, proceeding +from a wounded dog that was dragging himself toward me. I ran to him, +and recognized the Englishman's grayhound. His head was torn, evidently +by a bullet, and one of his paws broken. I raised him in my arms, and +carried him into the house. When I crossed the threshold he made evident +efforts to escape; so I placed him on the ground. Then, in spite of the +torture he was suffering, which caused him to stagger every moment, he +dragged himself up-stairs, and began to scratch at the door of the room +where his master had slept, moaning at the same time so piteously, that +I could scarce help weeping myself. I opened the door and with a great +effort he got into the room, looked about, and not finding whom he +sought he fell down motionless. + +"I called my father, and, perceiving that the dog was not dead, we gave +him all possible assistance, taking indeed as much care of him as though +he had been a child, so much did we feel for him. In two months he was +cured, and showed us much affection; we found it, however, impossible to +take off his collar, even for the purpose of binding up his wounds. As +soon as he was able to walk, he would often go toward the mountain and +be absent for hours. The second time this occurred we followed him. He +proceeded as far as a part of the road where a narrow defile borders a +precipice; there he continued for a long time, smelling and scratching +about. We conjectured that the Englishman might have been attacked by +robbers on this spot, and his dog wounded in defending him. However, no +event of the kind had occurred in the country, and, after the strictest +search, no corpse was discovered. Recollecting, therefore, the manner in +which the traveler had treated his dog, I came to the conclusion that he +had tried to kill the faithful creature. But wherefore? This was a +mystery which I could not solve. + +"Bevis remained with us, testifying the utmost gratitude for our +kindness. His intelligence and good-humor attracted the strangers who +frequented our inn, while the inscription on his collar, and the tale we +had to tell of him, failed not to excite their curiosity. + +"One morning in autumn, I had been out to take a walk, accompanied by +Bevis. When I returned, I found seated by the fire, in the common-hall, +a newly-arrived traveler, who looked round as I entered. As soon as he +perceived Bevis, he started and called him. The dog immediately darted +toward him with frantic demonstrations of joy. He ran round him, +smelling his clothes and uttering the sort of salutation with which he +honored you just now, and finally placing his fore-paws on the +traveler's knees began to lick his face. + +"'Where is your master, Bevis? Where is Sir Arthur?' said the stranger, +in English. + +"The noble dog howled piteously, and lay down at the traveler's feet. +Then the latter begged us to explain his presence. I did so; and as he +listened, I saw a tear fall on the beautiful head of the grayhound, whom +he bent over to caress. + +"'Monsieur,' said he, addressing me, 'from what you tell me, I venture +to hope that Sir Arthur still lives. We have been friends from +childhood. About three years since, he married a rich heiress, and this +dog was presented to him by her. Bevis was highly cherished for his +fidelity, a quality which unhappily was not possessed by his mistress. +She left her fond and loving husband, and eloped with another man. Sir +Arthur sued for a divorce and obtained it; then, having arranged his +affairs in England, he set out for the Continent, followed only by his +dog. His friends knew not whither he went; but it now appears that he +was here last spring. Doubtless, the presence of Bevis, evermore +recalling the memory of her who had so cruelly wronged him, must have +torn his heart, and at length impelled him to destroy the faithful +creature. But the shot not having been mortal, the dog, I imagine, when +he recovered consciousness, was led by instinct to seek the house where +his master had last slept. Now, Monsieur, he is yours, and I heartily +thank you for the kindness you have shown him.' + +"About ten o'clock the stranger retired to his room, after having +caressed Bevis, who escorted him to his door, and then returned to his +accustomed place before the fire. My parents and the servants had +retired to rest, and I prepared to follow their example, my bed being +placed at one end of the common-hall. While I was undressing, I heard a +storm rising in the mountains. Just then there came a knocking at the +door, and Bevis began to growl. I asked who was there? A voice +replied--'Two travelers, who want a night's lodging.' I opened a small +chink of the door to look out, and perceived two ragged men, each +leaning on a large club. I did not like their look, and knowing that +several robberies had been committed in the neighborhood, I refused them +admission, telling them that in the next village they would readily find +shelter. They approached the door, as though they meant to force their +way in; but Bevis made his voice heard in so formidable a manner, that +they judged it prudent to retire. I bolted the door and went to bed. +Bevis, according to his custom, lay down near the threshold, but we +neither of us felt inclined to sleep. + +"A quarter of an hour passed, when suddenly, above the wailing of the +wind, came the loud shrill cry of a human being in distress. Bevis +rushed against the door with a fearful howl; at the same moment came the +report of a gun, followed by another cry. Two minutes afterward I was on +the road, armed with a carbine, and holding a dark lantern; my father +and the stranger, also armed, accompanied me. As for Bevis, he had +darted out of the house, and disappeared. + +"We approached the defile which I mentioned before, at the moment when a +flash of lightning illumined the scene. A hundred yards in advance, we +saw Bevis grasping a man by the throat. We hurried on, but the dog had +completed his work ere we reached him; for two men, whom I recognized as +those who had sought admittance at our inn, lay dead, strangled by his +powerful jaws. Farther on, we discovered another man, whose bloody +wounds the noble dog was licking. The stranger approached him, and gave +a convulsive cry: it was Sir Arthur, the master of Bevis!" + +Here M. Dermann paused; the recollection seemed to overcome him; and he +stooped to caress the sleeping grayhound, in order to hide his emotion. +After awhile, he finished his recital in a few words. + +"Sir Arthur was mortally wounded, but he lived long enough to recognize +his dog, and to confess that, in a moment of desperation, he had tried +to kill the faithful creature, who now avenged his death, by slaying the +robbers who attacked him. He appointed the stranger his executor, and +settled a large pension on Bevis, to revert to the family of the +inn-keeper, wishing thus to testify his repentant love toward his dog, +and his gratitude to those who had succored him. + +"The grief of Bevis was excessive; he watched by his master's couch, +covering his dead body with caresses, and for a long time lay stretched +on his grave, refusing to take nourishment; and it was not until after +the lapse of many months that the affection of his new master seemed to +console him for the death of Sir Arthur." + +As my fellow-traveler finished his recital, the diligence stopped to +change horses at the little town of Mantua. Here M. Dermann's journey +ended, and having taken down his luggage, he asked me to assist the +descent of his dog. I shook hands with him cordially, and then called +Bevis, who, seeing me on such good terms with his master, placed his +large paws on my breast, and uttered a low, friendly bark. Shortly +afterward they both disappeared from my sight, but not from my memory, +as this little narrative has proved to my readers. + + + + +THE DOMESTIC LIFE OF ALEXANDER, EMPEROR OF RUSSIA. + +BY ALEXANDRE DUMAS, TRANSLATED BY MISS STRICKLAND. + + +The tragedy of which Paul I. was the victim, called Alexander to the +throne of all the Russias in the twenty-fourth year of his age. He had +been carefully educated under the eye of his grandmother, the able +Catharine. Her choice of a preceptor in La Harpe, a Swiss republican, +who had fraternized with the revolutionists of France, was a problem the +sovereigns of Europe could not solve; but after all, republicanism can +not be very far removed from despotism, if we may judge from its +consequences, since history shows us that republics end in despotic +sovereignties. Catharine was doubtless aware of this fact when she gave +La Harpe the direction of her grandson's education. It was prudent to +avoid Russian ascendency in a matter so important to herself, for +Catharine was a foreigner and a usurper, a fact of which a native +instructor might have availed himself to her disadvantage. In educating +her grandsons, the great empress excluded the fine arts. She wished to +make them rulers, not professors of music and painting; and she was +right; La Harpe inspired, it is said, his imperial pupil with lessons of +generosity and truth it was no easy task to eradicate during his +eventful life. The policy of Catharine made her determine to give wives +to her grandsons as soon as they were marriageable. Her jealousy, or her +profound judgment, made her overlook Paul in the succession of Russia, +by a mental but not a public exclusion. Alexander was destined by her to +the throne of which she had robbed his father Constantine, she proudly +hoped to place on one she designed to win from the Sultan, an ambitious +desire which was never realized. + +Three German princesses came to the court of St. Petersburg, in order +that Catharine might make choice of suitable brides for her grandsons. +The empress thoughtfully expected the arrival of her guests, whose +approach she watched from a window of her palace. + +The empress, whose motions were dignified and graceful, attached great +importance to deportment; she formed her opinions of young people by +that standard. The destinies of these princesses were decided the +instant they alighted from their traveling carriage. The first leaped +down without availing herself of the step. The empress shook her head, +"She will never be empress of Russia, she is too precipitate," was her +internal remark. The second entangled her feet in her dress, and with +difficulty escaped a fall. "She is not the empress, for she is too +awkward," and Catharine again turned her eyes on the carriage with +anxious curiosity. The third princess descended very gracefully; she was +beautiful, majestic, and grave. "Behold the future Empress of Russia," +said Catharine. This princess was Louisa of Baden. + +Catharine introduced these ladies to her grandsons, as the children of +the Duchess of Baden-Durlack, born Princess of Darmstadt, her early +friend, whose education she wished to finish at her court, since the +possession of their country by the French had left them without a home. +The great dukes saw through this artifice, and upon their return to +their own palace talked much of Catharine's _élèves_. + +"I think the eldest very pretty," said Alexander. + +"For my part," rejoined Constantine, "I consider them neither pretty nor +plain. They ought to be sent to Riga to the princes of Courland; they +are really quite good enough for them." + +The Empress Catharine was informed, that very day, of the opinion of her +grandsons. The admiration of Alexander for Louisa of Baden sympathized +with her intentions. The Grand Duke Constantine had done the personal +attractions of this young princess great injustice, for Louisa of Baden, +besides the freshness of her youth, had lovely fair ringlets, hanging in +rich profusion on her magnificent shoulders, a form light and flexible +as that of a fairy, and large blue eyes full of sweetness and +sensibility. The following day, the empress brought the princesses to +the palace of Prince Potemkin, which she had appointed for their +residence. While they were at their toilet, she sent them dresses, +jewels, and the cordon of St. Catharine. After chatting with them upon +the topics she considered suitable to their age, she asked to see their +wardrobe, which she examined, article by article, with interest and +curiosity. Having finished her scrutiny, she kissed the princesses, and +remarked, with an emphatic smile, + +"My friends, I was not so rich as you when I came to St. Petersburg." In +fact, Catharine was very poor when she arrived in Russia, but she left +her adopted country a heritage in Poland and the Crimea. + +The predilection of Alexander for Louisa of Baden was responded to by +that lovely princess. The grand duke at that time was a charming young +man, full of benevolence and candor, with the best temper in the world, +and the young German did not attempt to disguise her tenderness for him. +Catharine, in announcing to them that they were destined for each other, +believed she was rendering them perfectly happy. + +The behavior of the bride was admirably adapted to the circumstances in +which she was placed. She acquired the Russian language with grace and +facility, and accepted a new name with the tenets of the Greek religion. +She received those of Elizabeth Alexiowena, the same borne by the +imperial daughter of Peter the Great. + +Notwithstanding the fortunate presages of the Empress Catharine, this +early marriage was not one of happiness. The inconstancy of Alexander, +indeed, withered the nuptial garland while yet green on the brow of the +bride, and made it for her a crown of thorns. + +The tragedy that elevated Alexander to the throne, restored to the +devoted wife the wandering affections of her husband. His profound grief +made her sympathy necessary to him, and the young empress, almost a +stranger to Paul, wept for him like a true daughter. The secret tears of +Alexander were shed at night on the bosom of his consort, whose tender +concern for him consoled him for the restraint he imposed upon his +feelings during the day. + +The regretful remembrance of Alexander for his father, outlasted the +reviving affection he had during that dolorous period felt for his wife. + +The empress, still a young woman, was an old spouse, and the emperor had +inherited the passionate and inconstant temperament of Catharine. But, +gracious and smiling as he always was with the ladies, or polite and +friendly to the gentlemen, there crossed his brow from time to time a +gloomy shadow, the mute but terrible memorial of that dreadful night, +when he heard the death struggle of his father, and was conscious of his +agony without the power to save him. His perpetual smile was the mask +beneath which he disguised the anguish of his mind, and as he advanced +in life, this profound melancholy threatened to deepen into malady. He +did not yield, however, without maintaining a warfare with his remorse. +He combated memory with action. His reforms, his long and laborious +journeys, had but one aim. In the course of his reign, he is supposed to +have traversed fifty thousand leagues. But, however rapidly he performed +these journeys, he never deviated from the time he fixed for his setting +off or return, even by an hour, and he undertook them without guards and +without an escort. He, of course, met with many strange adventures, and +was amused with rendering his personal assistance whenever he met with +accidents or encountered difficulties by the wayside. In his journey to +Finland in company with Prince Pierre Volkouski, the imperial carriage +in traversing a sandy mountain rolled back, notwithstanding the efforts +of the coachman, upon which the emperor jumped out, and literally lent +his shoulder to the wheel, leaving his companion asleep. + +The rough motion of the carriage disturbed the slumbers of the prince, +who found himself at the bottom of the carriage and alone. He looked +about him with astonishment, when he perceived the emperor, with his +brow bedewed with perspiration, from the effects of his toil in +assisting to drag him and the vehicle to the top of the mountain, the +precise point at which he had awakened from his sleep. + +At another time, while traversing Little Russia, while the horses were +changing at a certain station, the emperor expressed his determination +to travel on foot for a few miles, ordering his people not to hasten +their arrangements, but to let him walk forward. Alone, with no mark of +distinction, dressed in a military great-coat, that gave no clew to the +rank of the wearer, the emperor traversed the town without attracting +attention, till he arrived at two roads, and found himself obliged to +inquire his way of an individual who was sitting before the door of the +last house smoking a pipe. This personage, like the emperor wore a +military great-coat, and by his pompous air seemed to entertain no small +opinion of his own consequence. + +"My friend, can you tell me which of these roads will bring me to ----?" +asked the emperor. + +The man of the pipe scanned him from head to foot, apparently surprised +at the presumption of a pedestrian, in speaking to such a dignitary as +himself, and between two puffs of smoke he growled out very disdainfully +the ungracious reply, "The right." + +"Thank you, sir," said the emperor, raising his hat with the respect +this uncivil personage seemed by his manner to command. "Will you permit +me to ask you another question?" + +"What do you want to know?" + +"Your rank in the army, if you please." + +"Guess," returned he of the pipe. + +"Lieutenant, perhaps?" + +"Go higher." + +"Captain?" rejoined the emperor. + +"Much higher;" and the smoker gave a consequential puff. + +"Major, I presume?" + +"Go on," replied the officer. + +"Lieutenant-colonel?" + +"Yes, you have guessed it at last, but you have taken some trouble to +discover my rank." + +The low bow of the emperor made the man with the pipe conclude he was +speaking to an inferior, so, without much ceremony, he said, "Pray, who +are you? for I conclude you are in the army." + +"Guess," replied the emperor, much amused with the adventure. + +"Lieutenant?" + +"Go on." + +"Captain?" + +"Much higher." + +"Major?" + +"You must still go on." + +"Lieutenant-colonel?" + +"You have not yet arrived at my rank in the army." + +The officer took his pipe out of his mouth. "Colonel, I presume." + +"You have not yet reached my grade." + +The officer assumed a more respectful attitude. "Your Excellency is then +Lieutenant-general?" + +"You are getting nearer the mark." + +The puzzled lieutenant-colonel kept his helmet in his hand, and looked +stupid and alarmed. + +"Then it appears to me that your Highness is Field-Marshal?" + +"Make another attempt, and perhaps you will discover my real position." + +"His Imperial Majesty!" exclaimed the officer, trembling with +apprehension, and dropping the pipe upon the ground, which was broken +into twenty pieces. + +"The same, at your service," replied the emperor, laughing. + +The poor lieutenant-colonel dropped upon his knees, uttering the words +in a pitiful tone, "Ah! sire, pardon me." + +"What pardon do you require?" replied the emperor. "I asked my way of +you, and you pointed it out, and I thank you for that service.--Good +day." + +The good-tempered prince then took the road to the right, leaving the +surly lieutenant-colonel ashamed and astonished at the colloquy he had +held with his sovereign. + +He gave a proof of intrepidity and presence of mind during a tempest +which befell him on a lake near Archangel, when, perceiving the pilot +overwhelmed with the responsibility his imperial rank laid upon him, he +said, "My friend, more than eighteen hundred years have elapsed, since a +Roman general, placed in similar circumstances, said to his pilot, 'Fear +not, for thou hast with thee Cæsar and his fortunes.' I am, however, +less bold than Cæsar; I therefore charge thee to think no more of the +emperor than of thyself or any other man, and do thy best to save us +both." The pilot took courage, and relieved from his burden by the +wisdom of his sovereign, guided the helm with a firm hand, and brought +the tempest-tossed skiff safely to the shore. + +The Emperor Alexander was not always so fortunate. He met with several +dangerous accidents, and his last journey to the provinces of the Don +nearly cost him his life. A fall from his droski hurt his leg, and left +him incurably lame. This misfortune was aggravated by his disregarding +the advice of his medical attendant, who prescribed rest for some days; +but Alexander, who was a strict disciplinarian, did not choose to delay +his return to St. Petersburg an hour beyond the time he had fixed. +Erysipelas attacked the limb, and the emperor was confined to his bed +for many weeks, and never recovered his lameness. The sight of his wife, +pale and melancholy, whom his infidelity had injured, increased his +mental despondency. That princess watched over him with the conjugal +tenderness which no neglect could extinguish, but her fair face had +forever lost the smile which once lighted up, like a sunbeam, every +beautiful feature, and he felt himself the cause of that secret sorrow +which had banished the bloom from her cheek and the smile from her lips. +Elizabeth had borne him two daughters, but her children had not survived +their fifth and seventh years. A childless mother and forsaken wife, +Elizabeth the Empress resembled no longer the bright Louisa of Baden, +the object of Alexander's first love, the princess who had shed tears of +happiness when the joyful start and impassioned look of her lover had +assured the Empress Catharine how willingly he accepted the hand of the +princess she had destined for him. The heart of the wife had never +swerved from her devotion; her love had increased with time, but she +knew not how to share his affections with a rival. + +Alexander was solitary in his habits; repose was necessary to a man who +loved privacy, and hated those prestiges of power which had surrounded +him from infancy. He had inherited his imperial grandmother's love for +Tzarsko Zelo, a palace situated between three and four leagues from St. +Petersburg. This palace stood upon the site of a cottage formerly +belonging to an old Dutch-woman named Sarah, a person well known to +Peter the Great, with whom that mighty prince was accustomed to chat and +drink milk. + +The fruitful plains covered with grass and waving corn, lately redeemed +by the plow from their native sterility, pleased the legislator who was +an _habitué_ at the abode of Sarah, and at the death of the old woman, +he presented the cottage to the Empress Catharine, with the surrounding +lands, as a suitable situation for a farm-house. Catharine, as simple in +her tastes as her imperial consort, gave her architect proper directions +respecting this grange. He, however, thought fit to build her a fine +mansion. Her daughter, the Empress Elizabeth, found this house too +costly for a farm-house, and too mean for an imperial residence. She +pulled it down and built a magnificent palace after the design of Count +Rastreti. This Russian had the barbarous taste to gild the building +within and without. The bas-reliefs, statues, caryatides, roof and +basement, glittered with a waste of this precious metal. The count +wished to make this palace surpass Versailles, and so it did in wealth +undoubtedly. The Empress Elizabeth invited the French embassador to the +fête she gave at the inauguration of her golden house, which outshone +even the celebrated one built by Nero. The palace of Tzarsko Zelo, was +considered by the whole court the eighth wonder of the world. + +The silence of the Marquis de Chetardie surprised her majesty, who with +some pique requested his opinion, adding, he appeared to think something +was wanting. + +"I am seeking for the case of this jewel, Madam," dryly replied the +embassador; a _bon mot_ which ought to have gained him a sitting in the +academy of St. Petersburg, where wit was a surer passport than learning. + +The golden roof of Tzarsko Zelo was ill-calculated to stand the rigor of +a Russian winter. The noble architect had built it for summer. Cold had +been forgotten in his calculation. The expensive repairs every spring +brought in its course, compelled Catharine the Great to sacrifice the +gilding. She had scarcely issued her orders, before a customer appeared +for the article she was excluding from her palace, for which a +speculator offered her an immense sum. The empress thanked him for a +liberal offer none but a Russian sovereign would have declined, assuring +him with a smile, "that she never sold her old chattels." + +This empress loved Tzarsko Zelo where she built the little palace for +her grandson Alexander, and surrounded it with spacious gardens, which +she was aware he loved. Bush, her architect, could discover no supply +from whence he could obtain water in the immediate neighborhood, yet he +prepared lakes, canals and fish-ponds, upon the responsibility of the +empress, being sure that his reservoirs would not long be empty if she +ordered water to come. His successor Baner did not leave the empress to +discover its source. He cast his eyes upon the estate of Prince +Demidoff, who possessed a super-abundant quantity of the precious fluid +the imperial gardens wanted. He mentioned the aridity of Tzarsko Zelo, +and the courteous subject dutifully bestowed his superfluous moisture +upon the imperial gardens. In despite of nature, copious streams rushed +forward, and at the bidding of the architect rose into cascades, ran +into canals, filled fish-ponds, and spread in expansive lakes. The +Empress Consort Elizabeth, upon beholding these wonders, playfully +remarked, "We may fall out with all Europe, but we must take care not to +quarrel with Prince Demidoff." In fact, that obliging noble could have +killed the whole court with thirst, by stopping the supply of water he +allowed to the imperial family. + +Educated at Tzarsko Zelo, Alexander was attached to a place filled with +the recollections of his infancy. He had learned there to walk; to +speak, to ride, to sail, to row. He had passed there the brightest and +happiest part of his life. He came with the first fine days, and only +left his favorite residence when the snows of winter compelled him to +take up his abode in the winter palace. + +Even in this luxurious solitude, where the emperor wished to enjoy the +repose which affords to princes the same pleasure amusement offers to +persons of less exalted rank, Alexander found his privacy invaded and +his attention claimed by those who had the temerity to break through the +invisible circle with which Russian etiquette fenced round a despotic +sovereign. + +A foreigner at St. Petersburg, in the summer of 1823, ventured to seek +the Emperor Alexander in the delicious gardens of Tzarsko Zelo, in order +to present a petition, with which delicate commission he had been +charged by a friend. He thus relates his adventure: + +"After a bad breakfast at the Hotel de la Restauration, I entered the +park, into which the sentinels permitted every body to walk without +opposition. Respect alone prevented the Russian subject from entering +the gardens, I knew, yet I was about to break this boundary and to +intrude myself upon the emperor's notice. I was told he passed a great +deal of his time in the shady walks, and I hoped chance would obtain for +me the interview I sought. Wandering about the grounds, I discovered the +Chinese town, a pretty group of five houses, each of which had its own +ice-house and garden. In the centre of this town, which is in the form +of a star, whose rays it terminates, stands a pavillion, which is used +either for a ball or concert-room, which surrounds a green court, at the +four corners of which are placed four mandarins, the size of life, +smoking their pipes. This Chinese town is inhabited by the +_aid-de-camps_ of the sovereign. Catharine, attended by her court, was +walking in this part of her garden, when she beheld, to her surprise, +the mandarins puffing forth real smoke, while their eyes appeared to +ogle her, and their heads to bow in the most familiar manner in the +world. She approached in order to find out the cause of this sudden +animation on the part of these statues. Immediately the loyal mandarins +descended from their pedestals, and made Chinese prostrations at her +feet, reciting some complimentary verses to the imperial lady, to please +whom they had transformed themselves into the images of the men with +pig-tails. She smiled, and quickly recognized them for the Prince de +Ligne, Potemkin, Count Segur, and M. de Cobentzal. + +"Leaving the Chinese town, I saw the huts of the lamas, where these +inhabitants of the south are kept and acclimated to a temperature very +different from that at the foot of the Cordilleras. These animals were +presented to the emperor by the Viceroy of Mexico, and their original +number of nine has been reduced, by the rigor of the Russian winters, to +five; from which, however, a numerous race have succeeded, who bear the +cold much better than the parent stock. + +"In the middle of the French garden stands a pretty dining-room, +containing the celebrated table of Olympus, imitated from a whim devised +by the Regent Orleans; where the wishes of the guests are supplied by +invisible hands from beneath. They have only to place a note in their +plate expressive of their desire, when the plate disappears, and in five +minutes after reappears with the article required. This magic originates +in a forecast which anticipates every possible want. A beautiful lady +finding her hair out of dress, wished for curling-irons, feeling assured +that such an odd request would defy even the enchantment of the Olympian +table to procure. She was astonished at finding her plate return with a +dozen pair. I saw the curious monument raised to commemorate three +favorite greyhounds, pets of the Empress Catharine. This pyramid, +erected by the French ambassador, Count Segur, contains two epitaphs: +one, by himself, is a sort of burlesque upon the old eulogistic style so +prevalent in the last century; the other is by Catharine, and may be +literally translated into English:-- + + "'Here lies the Duchess Anderson, + Who bit Mr. Rogerson.' + +"I visited successively the column of Gregory Orloff, the pyramid +erected in honor of the conqueror of Tchesma, and the grotto of +Pausilippo, and passed four hours wandering along the borders of lakes, +and traversing the plains and forests inclosed in these delicious +gardens, when I met an officer in uniform, who courteously raised his +hat. I asked a lad employed in taking a walk 'the name of this fine +gentleman,' for such he appeared to me to be. 'It is the emperor,' was +his reply. I immediately took a path which intersected that he had +taken, yet, when I had advanced about twenty steps, I stopped upon +perceiving him near me. + +"He divined, apparently, that respect to his person prevented me from +crossing his walk; he therefore kept on his way, while I awaited him in +the side walk, holding my hat in my hand. I perceived he limped in his +gait from the wound in his leg, which had lately re-opened; and I +remarked as he advanced the change that had taken place in his +appearance since I had seen him at Paris, nine years before. His +countenance, then so open and smiling, bore the expression of that deep +and devouring melancholy which it was said continually oppressed his +mind, yet his sorrowful features still were impressed with a character +of benevolence, which gave me courage to attempt the performance of my +hazardous commission. 'Sire,' said I, advancing a single step toward +him. + +"'Put on your hat, sir,' was his kind and gracious reply; 'the air is +too keen for you to remain uncovered.' + +"'Will your majesty permit--' + +"'Cover your head, sir, then; cover your head;' but, perceiving my +respect rendered me disobedient to his commands, he took my hat from my +hand, and with his own imperial one replaced it on my head. 'Now,' said +he, 'what do you wish to say to me?' + +"'Sire, this petition,' and I took the paper from my pocket, but the +action disturbed him, and I saw him frown. + +"'Sir, why do you pursue me here with petitions? do you know that I have +left St. Petersburg to be free from such annoyances?' + +"'Yes, sire, I am aware of it, nor dare I disguise the boldness of an +attempt for which I can only expect pardon from your benevolence. This, +however, seems to have some claim to your majesty's consideration, since +it is franked.' + +"'By whom?' inquired the emperor, with some quickness in his manner. + +"'By his Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Constantine, your majesty's +august brother.' + +"'Ah!' exclaimed the emperor, putting out his hand, but as quickly +withdrawing it again. + +"'I hope your majesty will for once infringe your custom, and will deign +to accept this supplication.' + +"'No, sir; I will not receive it; for to-morrow, I shall have a +thousand, and shall be compelled to desert these gardens, where it seems +I can no longer hope to enjoy privacy.' He perceived my disappointment +in my countenance, and his natural kindness would not suffer him to +dismiss me with a harsh refusal. Pointing with hand toward the church of +St. Sophia, he said--'Put that petition into the post-office in the +city, and I shall see it to-morrow, and the day after, you will have an +answer.' + +"I expressed my gratitude in animated terms. + +"'Prove it,' was his quick reply. + +"I declared my willingness to do any thing he required, as the test of +that feeling. + +"'Well, tell nobody that you have presented me a petition and got off +with impunity,' and he resumed his walk. + +"I followed his advice, and posted my paper, and three days after +received a favorable reply to my petition." + + + + +[From Eliza Cook's Journal.] + +AN EMPTY HOUSE; OR, STRUGGLES OF THE POOR. + + +Who has not seen at some time an empty house which has struck them as +the picture of desolation? They may know a hundred uninhabited +tenements, but they look as well kept and prosperous, as though they +would soon be filled again. They do not impress the senses in the same +way as that peculiar one, which appears to be condemned, like some +outcast, to perpetual seclusion in the midst of happy neighbors, who +mock, and flout, and taunt it with their bright windows and clean steps, +and fresh paint and shining door knobs and knockers, just as Mr. +Well-to-do, who is making money, and dresses well, and lodges +luxuriously and feeds plentifully, may treat with scorn poor +Do-nothing, who, unable to find employment of any sort, wears a patched +threadbare coat, dwells in a leaky garret, and does not know where on +earth to look for to-morrow's dinner. Indeed there is something more in +this comparison than appears at first sight, for the world of the +streets is apt to treat the empty house much as it does the +poverty-stricken man. The ragged lads who play about the avenues of +streets, and bask about the sunshiny nooks, draw back and cease their +jokes and are decorous in the presence of Mr. Trim or Mr. Broadcloth, +but they have a sarcasm or a coarse epithet for poor Patch, and for +poorer Tatter possibly a sly pebble or a dab of mud. + +Some years ago there was an empty house opposite to mine, which brought +such thoughts as these to my mind. There was a dirty bill in one of the +windows, and the remains of another upon one of the window shutters, +with directions where to inquire as to rent, &c., but nobody seemed to +dream of any body taking it. The neighborhood was a respectable one, and +in striking contrast with this one unfortunate tenement, and happy faces +at the windows of its neighbors seemed to make them crow over it, as +Mrs. Fruitful with her half-dozen of handsome children triumphs over +Mrs. Childless, who would give her ears to call the half of her friend's +little flock her own. Not that my empty house was utterly lonely either, +for its door-step was, in fine weather, the chosen resort of a group of +little specimens of humanity in dirt and rags, who from the seclusion of +some neighboring alley brought them chalk, and pieces of tiles and +slate, with which they scratched uncouth figures upon the doors and +shutters as high up as they could reach; and with mud from the gutter +they made their dirt pies, and left the remnants to accumulate upon the +dingy sill. There was a plentiful supply of stones, too, in the +macadamized road, and a large family of boys, unable to resist the +tempting opportunity for mischievous "shies," paid rough attentions to +the empty house with the flints, till the sunshine which had long been +denied admittance, through the dusty and begrimed panes, found its way +unimpeded through empty and dismantled sashes. Possibly, too, in +consequence of this, the very sparrows, usually so bold, which used to +build under the eaves and twitter upon the window sills and house-top, +forsook the ill-fated building and left it to its destiny. + +I do not know what it was, but there was something which powerfully +attracted my attention to the place, and I often sat at my window and +mused upon it. Sometimes I thought it was in Chancery, for it had just +the look of a house which the lawyers had thoroughly riddled; and +sometimes I thought it had the reputation of being haunted, for somehow +or other people always give ghosts credit for the very worst taste, and +seem to think them incapable of choosing any but the most uncomfortable +habitations. + +Passers-by would often stop to look at the house, and not unfrequently +some of them would look over it; and then the owner or his agent would +come with them, bringing the rusty key which turned with difficulty in +the lock, and setting free the creaking door, which moved so lazily upon +its hinges. This person was such a human likeness to the house, that I +sometimes wondered he did not, out of pure sympathy, come and live there +himself. He was a little battered-looking old man, whose rusty dirty +suit of black just matched the doors and shutters, and I could almost +fancy that his very spectacles, like the windows, were cracked and +broken by boys throwing stones at him. + +These inquiries, however, always resulted in nothing, except the great +discomfiture of the children, who held dominion over the door-step, and +who were always summarily routed and driven off by peevish exclamations +and feeble cuffs from the rusty little old man. I suppose most of those +who came were merely actuated by curiosity. I was more than once tempted +by the same motive to go and look at the inside myself, and those who +really had serious designs of settling there were frightened out of them +by the combined dismalness of the place, and the warder who had charge +of it. At last, there really was some sign of the empty house being let. +I noticed one evening that a respectable, quiet-looking young couple, +with an old lady in widow's weeds, whom I immediately decided was the +widowed mother of either husband or wife (for of course they were +husband and wife) went to look at the empty house, attended by the +little old man; and from the fact, that after looking at the premises +for a longer time than visitors usually did, the party came out, and, +contrary to custom, all four walked away together, I was led to suppose +that I might have opposite neighbors. + +The next morning, before I left home for business, I saw at once that I +was right as to the house having been taken. The little old man, +notwithstanding he looked so rusty, must have been a diligent, as well +as a quaint, old-fashioned fellow, for there were ladders and steps, and +painters, plumbers, bricklayers, and laborers all at work upon the +house. Some were upon the top replacing cracked tiles, others were +making the windows weather-proof, and others again were intent upon +counteracting the ravages of chalk, sharp slates, and dirt upon the +paint of the doors and window shutters. The group of children came as +usual, but they did not venture to attempt to take up their old station; +the apparition of the old man scared them from that, and perhaps they +were altogether too much struck with astonishment at the altered +character of the scene to attempt it. But they were very unwilling to +give up their old sovereignty and abandon the spot. They lingered +doubtfully for some days about the place, sometimes looking at the tall +ladders and the workmen, and sometimes sitting upon the heaps of broken +tiles and brickbats, watching the Irish hodman stirring the mortar +about, with much the same feelings, perhaps, as a red Indian lingers +about the white man's clearing, formerly the hunting-ground of his +fathers. Possibly the youngsters thought that all the men and ladders +might be cleared away, and that they would succeed to the again vacant +door-step, with the added advantages of a newly-painted door to scratch +upon, and these hallucinations were not thoroughly dispelled for about a +week, when they saw a charwoman scouring the passage and front steps. +That sufficed to wither all their hopes; repairs they could have +survived, for they remembered something of the sort once in their own +alley, but scrubbing and washing were entirely unmistakable, they +understood at once that somebody was "coming in," and dispersed to seek +another place of resort. + +It may be supposed that the diligence of the little old man, who never +left the laborers all day, soon had the little house fit for the +reception of its new inmates, in spite of occasional damages in the +glass department, till the boys became reconciled to its new smartness. +He was there the first thing in the morning, sitting on a three-legged +stool which I believe he brought with him, and he went to the public +house with the men when they had their meals, so that they should not +stay too long. Under such vigilant superintendence, the last ladder and +pair of steps were taken away in about a week, and the inmates--the two +young folks, and the old widow lady I have already mentioned, and their +household goods made their appearance. The furniture showed at a glance +that both the past and the present had contributed their quotas to the +household, for there were the old-fashioned, large-seated, heavy +high-backed chairs of half-a-century since, with a heavy, square table, +and a quaint, antique cabinet, matching well with the aged widowed +mother; while the light caned seats and other modern requisites, +represented the young people just entering upon life. I knew at once +what afterward I found to be the case, that by probably a hasty marriage +two households had been mingled into one. + +I was always a solitary, secluded man, given to make observations and to +pick up information about those who interested me, but not to cultivate +acquaintances, and so it was from what I saw from my windows and from +hearsay, that I picked up what I knew of the new comers. Slight as this +source of information may seem to be, it is wonderful what a deal of +knowledge of a certain kind is obtained in this manner; indeed, if any +one were to examine the sources of his own knowledge, he would find that +if not the largest, a very large proportion had been picked up from the +chit-chat of society. + +I was peculiarly favorably situated for acquiring knowledge in this way, +for my landlady, a chatty, good-tempered widow, knew the private history +of most of her neighbors, and was extremely well versed in the gossip +and scandal of the place; and her extensive knowledge, added to the +equally diversified lore of the fat old half-laundress, half-charwoman, +who had lived all her life in the vicinity (and was the very person who +had scared the before-mentioned urchins by scouring the once empty +house), and the tit-bits of sayings and doings, communicated by the +baker, butcher, green-grocer, and milkman, furnished a stock of history +which, reinforced by my own habits of observation, fully qualified me +for giving the little narrative which follows; and which I am tempted to +give to the world not so much for its intrinsic interest, or because it +contains any record of great deeds, but because it shows industry and +perseverance triumphing over the obstacles of the world, and bearing the +burdens of misplaced benevolence. + +To begin then our tale in earnest. The head of the house opposite was +Thomas Winthorpe, who acted as book-keeper to a large outfitting house +in the city. He was a rather taciturn, grave young man, and bore these +characteristics upon his face, but he was fond of knowledge, and had +acquired no small portion for a man in his position. Well-principled, +and untiringly energetic, and industrious, he had risen from a low +station more from the passive habit of steady good conduct, than the +active exercise of any brilliant qualities, and he felt a pride in the +fact; never hesitating, though he did not parade it, to utter the truth +that he was first hired to sweep the offices, light the fires, and do +other menial jobs. There was a striking similarity between him and his +little wife, Kate Winthorpe (who had just changed her name from +Stevens), which you saw in their faces, for Kate was grave, and +habitually rather silent too. But her gravity had a shade more of +pensiveness in it than Thomas's, which might have told the keen observer +that it had not the same origin. + +Such indeed was the fact, for what difficulty and early poverty had done +for Thomas, youthful plenty and after troubles had done for Kate though +the bright smiles which I could now and then see chasing the shadows +over Kate's comely but not pretty face, as she bade her husband good-by +in the morning or welcomed him home at night, told that happiness was +bringing back much of her original character. + +The old lady, Mrs. Stevens, Kate's mother, was a good sort of old lady, +so far as I could learn, with a respectful tenderness for Thomas, and a +fond affection for Kate, who had been the prop of her age and the solace +of her troubles; but without any thing remarkable in her character +beyond a meek resignation, which well supplied the place of a higher +philosophy, and led her cheerfully to accept the present and be content +with the past. + +So far as I could glean, Mrs. Stevens was the widow of a once affluent +yeoman in one of the western counties, who lived in the "good old +English style," liked his dogs, and gun, and horses, was not averse to +a run with the hounds--had a partiality for parish and club dinners, and +was fond of plenty of company at home. This sort of life might have done +tolerably well in the palmy times of farming, when with war prices, corn +was, as Hood has it, "at the Lord knows what per quarter;" but when +lower prices came with peace, and more industry and less expenditure was +required, poor Stevens was one of the first to feel the altered times, +and as he could not give up his old habits, difficulties began to press +upon and thicken around him. After a few years, creditors became +clamorous, and the landlord urgent for the payment of rent in arrear, +and the result was that he was compelled to give up his farm and sell +his stock, to save himself from a prison. This left him a small remnant +upon which, if he had been a prudent, self-denying man, he might have +begun the world afresh, but he took his downfall so much to heart, that +in a few months he died of his old enemy, the gout. + +Mrs. Stevens was thus left a widow with two children, Kate, a young girl +of fifteen or sixteen, and Charles, a fine young man of three or four +and twenty, who held a small farm in that neighborhood, and had hitherto +depended more upon his father's purse than his own industry. Little as +Mrs. Stevens knew of the world, she felt that it would not do to depend +upon Charles, who was one of those jolly, good-tempered, careless +fellows every body knows--men who go on tolerably well so long as all is +smooth, but wanting providence and foresight, are pretty sure to founder +upon the first dangerous rock ahead. To do Charles justice, however, he +would willingly have shared his home with his mother and sister, and for +a long time managed to remit enough to them to pay their rent. + +When the first grief of widowhood was over, Mrs. Stevens and her +daughter, without any very definite plan, but drawn by that strange +attraction that impels alike the helpless, the inexperienced, and the +ambitious to the great centres of population, came up to London with the +small sum of money which, after every debt had been scrupulously +discharged, was left to her. Beyond that resource she had none, save the +address of a first cousin who, report said, had grown very rich in +trade, and to whom she hoped she might look for aid and advice. In this, +however, she was speedily undeceived, for upon calling upon her cousin, +and introducing herself and Kate, she was received by the withered old +miser very curtly, and told that as he came up to London a poor boy with +five and ninepence in his pocket, and had managed to get on fairly, she +with fifty pounds in her pocket could do very well without help. Perhaps +if the widow had let Kate plead her suit she might have fared better, +for the old man patted Kate's back, and seemed to dip his hand in his +pocket with the half intention of making her a present, but it was only +a half intention, and the widow went away with a heavy heart, convinced +that she must not look for assistance in that quarter. + +I need not tell what little I know of the efforts of Mrs. Stevens to +find for herself a useful place in the great, busy, unfriendly, or at +least, coldly-indifferent world of London-life--how she found thousands +as eager and as anxious as herself--how, although she pinched and +stinted, and denied herself every luxury, she saw her small stock of +money silently wasting away, and no apparent means of getting more; all +these things are unhappily so every-day and commonplace, such mere +ordinary vulgar troubles, that every body knows them, and nobody cares +to hear more about them. + +At last one day, after a weary walk, under a scorching sky, in search of +employment, the widow and her daughter saw in the window of an +outfitter's shop, the welcome announcement "good shirt hands wanted." So +the widow and Kate entered, and with some little trembling saw the +person whose business it was to give work to the needlewomen, and made +known their errand. Mr. Sturt, a sharp, rather rough man, who had the +management of this department, said, "Yes, they did want 'hands,' but +they required some one to become security for the work given out." + +The widow's chagrin was as great now as her hopes had been high a few +minutes before, and she said at once that she did not know any one who +would become security, at which Mr. Sturt was turning coldly away; but +suddenly thinking of her cousin, she said to herself that he would +surely not refuse her this one favor, and she told Mr. Sturt that she +would try and come again, and timidly gave that gentleman her address. +As soon as the widow's back was turned, Mr. Sturt threw the address on +the floor, for he was perfectly sure of having plenty of applications, +and it did not matter to him whether the widow ever came again or not; +but Thomas Winthorpe, who was employed in a different department of the +business, happened to be a witness of the scene, had seen the widow's +hand shake, and lips quiver with hope and disappointment, and had marked +the anxious look of Kate; and with that sympathy which past poverty so +often begets for the poor, he picked up the "rejected address," +resolving that he would inquire, and if Mrs. Stevens and her daughter +deserved it, he would help them to the work. + +It was more than a year since Mrs. Stevens had seen her rich cousin, and +when she hastened to his house to prefer her humble petition it was shut +up, and all the information she could gain from the neighbors was, that +Mr. Norton had gone no one knew whither. This was a sad blow to Mrs. +Stevens and Kate; what to do they knew not, and as they wended their way +back to their now almost destitute home, their poverty appeared more +hopeless than ever; for disappointment is far harder to bear than mere +trouble, just as the sky never looks so dismal and threatening as when a +bright ray has just departed, and the sun has sunk behind a thick, dark +cloud. + +Thomas Winthorpe, however, carried his good intention into effect +directly he left business, and little as he was able to glean in their +neighborhood of their life and past history, he was convinced that Mrs. +Stevens and her daughter deserved help. How, however, to afford them +assistance without wounding their feelings was for some time a difficult +question; but at last he determined to become surety for them at the +shop without their knowledge, and then to call, as if it were a matter +of business, and tell them that they could have work. + +The next morning accordingly, he told Mr. Sturt that he intended to +become surety for Mrs. Stevens, and took no notice of that individual's +shrugs, and winks, and inuendoes--which were meant to insinuate a +sinister motive upon the part of Thomas--further than by looking at him +so fixedly and composedly, and withal with such an expression of +contempt, that Mr. Sturt, although not a very bashful personage, was +fairly confused; and in the evening Thomas called and introduced himself +to Mrs. Stevens, and told her that, in consequence of inquiries which +had been made, she might have the work when she pleased. The widow and +Kate, who had not stirred out of the house that day, and were in the +depths of despair, not knowing which way to turn for help, looked upon +Thomas as a preserving angel, and could have almost worshiped him for +the unexpected good news of which he was the bearer; nor was their +estimation of him lessened when the widow, remembering what had been +said about security, questioned him as to how that obstacle had been +overcome; and, after a few awkward attempts at parrying and +equivocation, Thomas, who was but a poor dissembler, confessed the +kindly part he had acted, and was overwhelmed with their expressions of +gratitude. From that moment they became intimate, and before the +interview, which was a somewhat long one, concluded, Thomas saw, partly +from their conversation, partly from the relics of furniture they had +managed to transport to London, that they had moved in a more +comfortable station, and were simple country folks; and with a feeling +possibly prompted by an unconscious heart-leaning to the quiet Kate, and +a latent wish to keep her away from the shop, he offered, as he lived +close by, to take their work to and fro for them, and so to save them +the trouble of going into the city, an offer which Mrs. Stevens who, in +her depressed circumstances, shrunk from strangers, and had no wish to +face the rough Mr. Sturt, thankfully accepted. + +From this time the widow and her daughter sat down earnestly to work, +and though luxuries are not the lot of those who live by shirt-making, +yet as the house they were employed by was a respectable one, and paid +something better than slop prices, and as Thomas contrived that they +should have the best description of work, and Charles Stevens, from +time to time, remitted to them sufficient to pay their rent, they, with +their simple wants, soon began to feel tolerably comfortable and +independent. Thomas, too, who was an orphan, did not neglect his +opportunities of knowing them better, and became a close and dear +acquaintance, whose coming every evening was regularly looked for. At +first, of course, he only made business calls, and now and then sat and +chatted afterward; then he brought a few flowers for their mantle-piece, +or a book, or newspaper, which he thought might amuse them; and, +by-and-by, he read to them: and, at last, business, instead of being the +primary object of his visits, was the last thing thought of, and left +till he was going away: occasionally, too, Thomas thought that they were +working too hard, and that a walk would do them good, and he became the +companion of their little promenades. + +Of course the experienced reader will see in all this that Thomas was in +love with Kate; and so he was, but Thomas was a prudent man. Kate was +young as well as himself; he had but a small salary, and it was better +to wait till he could offer Kate such a home as he should like to see +her mistress of. And Kate, what of her? did she love Thomas Winthorpe, +too? Well, we don't know enough of the female heart to answer such a +question. How should an old bachelor, indeed, get such knowledge? But, +perhaps, our better informed lady friends may be enabled to form an +opinion, when they are told that Kate began to dress herself with more +care, and to curl her luxuriant dark hair more sedulously, and that she +was more fidgety than her mother as the time for Thomas to call +approached, and grew fonder of reading the books he brought, and the +flowers of his giving. Mrs. Stevens, however, saw nothing of all this, +and Thomas never spoke of love, and Kate never analyzed her feelings, so +that we suppose if she was in love, she had glided into it so gently, +that she did not know it herself. + +Something like three years had passed away in this humble, but +tranquilly happy state of existence, during which Thomas had been +silently adding to his stock of furniture, and quietly saving money out +of his small salary, when a new misfortune fell upon the Stevenses. The +mother had had weak eyes when a child, but as she grew up to womanhood +the defect had disappeared. Still there was a latent tendency to +disease, which it seemed close application to needlework in her +declining years had developed. For a long time Mrs. Stevens had felt +this, but concealed it from Kate, till her eyes became so dim, that she +could not go on any longer, and Kate became aware of the truth. This was +a sad blow, and Kate, who had come to look instinctively to Thomas for +advice, took the opportunity, when her mother was out of the room for a +few minutes, at his next visit, to tell him the fact, and her fears that +her mother was going blind. This was their first confidence, which I +have been told goes a great way in love affairs, and from that time +they were drawn still closer together. Thomas advised immediate medical +assistance, and not liking to offer Kate the fee, arranged to get an +hour or two the next day but one, and accompany them to an eminent +oculist. This was done, and the surgeon, after examining the widow's +eyes, said that skill could do nothing for her, but that rest was +indispensable, and that she must not exert her sight. + +The whole of the work was now thrown upon Kate, and unmurmuringly did +the noble girl bend herself to the task of providing for herself and her +nearly blind mother. The first dawn of light saw her, needle in hand, +and Thomas found her at night stooping over her task. Their little walks +were given up, and she denied herself almost the bare necessaries of +life, so that her mother might not feel the change. This could not go +long without Kate's health suffering, and Thomas saw with grief the pale +cheek, and the thinning figure, and the red tinge round the eyelids, +which spoke of over-work and failing strength. These changes did not +improve Kate's good looks, but when did true love ever think of beauty? +He saw that the poor girl must soon break down, and then there were but +two courses open, either to offer his hand, which he was sure would be +accepted, or to offer them assistance. + +From motives of prudence, Thomas had rather that the time when he should +become a housekeeper for himself had been longer delayed; but he did not +like to offer her money, for he felt as though such an obligation would +make her feel dependent, and draw her from him; and so he resolved at +once to make her his wife, and save her from the fate which otherwise +seemed impending over her. + +How the declaration was made, and where, and whether or not there were +many blushes or smiles, or tears or kisses, I really do not know; but +from Thomas's practical manner, and Kate's earnest, truthful, +straightforward mind, and the length of time they had been as intimate +and confidential as brother and sister, I should think that there was +little of what some folk choose to call "the sentimental," although, +perhaps, there was not any the less of true sentiment. But certain it +is, that Thomas was accepted, the widow did not object, and all the +neighborhood soon knew that Kate Stevens and Thomas Winthorpe were about +to be married. + +Of course, as is usual upon such occasions, there was plenty of comment. +A good many young ladies who had done their best to "set their caps" at +Thomas, intensely pitied poor Kate for choosing such a quiet stupid sort +of fellow, and not a few old ladies, who would have jumped at Thomas for +a son-in-law, were "sincerely" glad that it was not their daughter. And +there was a universal chorus of prophecy, as to the troubles that +awaited the young couple; for what (said the prophets) could they do +with Thomas's small salary, and Kate's old mother, if they came to have +a family? and so forth. + +Kate and Thomas knew nothing of all this, and if they had, it would not +have affected them much, for confident in their quiet earnest affection +for each other, they looked forward to the future, not as a period of +easy enjoyment, but as one of effortful, though hopeful industry. The +preliminaries were soon arranged; Thomas had no friends to consult, and +Charles Stevens was glad to hear that his sister was about to be +married--a license was dispensed with, and the vulgarity of banns +resorted to to save expense. The bride was given away by a young +mechanic, a friend of Thomas's, whose sister acted as bridesmaid; there +was a quiet dinner at Thomas's lodgings, no wedding tour, and the next +day they went into the empty house, which had been done up for their +reception, and suited their scanty means, and when filled with the new +furniture of Thomas, and the old relics of the widow, Kate thought, ay, +and so did Thomas too, it made the most comfortable home they had ever +seen. I have purposely hurried over this part of my story, because it is +so very commonplace. After people have been deluged with brides in white +satin and Brussels lace vails, supported by a splendid train of +bridesmaids, all deluging their cambric-worked handkerchiefs in +sympathetic tears, what could I say for a marriage with a bride in plain +white, and Miss Jones, in a dyed silk, for a bridesmaid, and dry +pocket-handkerchiefs, into the bargain, to make it interesting? +Obviously nothing. Yet for all that, it was, possibly, as happy a +wedding as was ever solemnized at St. George's, Hanover-square, and +chronicled in the _Morning Post_, with half a dozen flourishes of +trumpets. + +My readers now know all about the people who came into the empty house, +and made it look as cheerful as it had before looked miserable. Of their +domestic life I, of course, knew little: they kept no servant, and Kate +was occasionally to be seen through the windows dusting and brushing +about; but long before Thomas came home she was neat, and even smart, +and her ready smile as she opened the door, told me how happy they were. +It made even me half romantic, and if I could have found just such +another Kate, I half thought that I should have renounced an old +bachelor's life. Of their pecuniary affairs I, of course, knew little, +but I saw that their baker called regularly, and that Kate went out with +her market-basket, and if they had run in debt I was sure that I should +have heard of it. + +After a little while, though, I began to notice that Thomas had a habit +which gave me some uneasiness for the future of the young couple. When +he came home he staid for about an hour, or just long enough to have his +tea, and then went out again for about two hours. It is true that he did +not exhibit any symptoms of dissipation when he returned, but I did not +like the habit. My mind, however, was set at rest by my landlady, who +could tell me all about it. She knew young Jones the cabinet-maker, who +was present at the wedding, and informed me that Thomas Winthorpe, who +was a good mechanic, employed his spare time in working with Jones, and +that both of them prudently put by the earnings of their leisure time as +a fund for future contingencies, so that my mind was set at rest upon +this point. + +In due time, a little Kate blessed the household of my opposite +neighbors, and next, a little Thomas, and every thing appeared to go on +as happily as ever; and the old grandmother who had only partially +recovered the use of her eyes, leading her little grand-daughter, and +led in her turn by Kate, who also carried the baby, would often go out +for a walk, leaving the servant girl in charge of the house (for +Thomas's salary having increased, they could afford to keep a girl now +without being extravagant), and a happier family group it would not be +easy to find. + +It was about this time, I observed a new addition to the family in the +shape of a stout, ruddy young man, who wore a green coat, with bright +buttons, and looked like a country farmer. I at once guessed that this +was Kate's brother, of whom I had heard, on a visit to his sister, and +though I was right as to the person, the other part of my guess was +incorrect. It was Charles Stevens, but he was not there upon a visit. +The fact was, that Charles, whose foresight never went the length of +looking a year ahead, had been totally ruined by a failure in the wheat +crops of his farm. All his property had been sold, and he left destitute +of every thing except a few pounds in his pocket, and without any great +stock of energy and intelligence to fall back upon, had sought the +refuge of his brother-in-law's roof, which, no doubt, was at first +cheerfully afforded him. But it was soon evident that Charles was likely +to bear heavily upon the Winthorpes, for he did not seem disposed to +exert himself to gain a livelihood. He appeared to lounge about the +house all day, and toward the evening, evidently to Thomas's chagrin, +came out to lean on the gate and smoke his pipe in the open air, thus +giving the house an air somewhat different from its former aspect of +respectability. I saw, too, as I sat up late reading (a bad habit of +mine) that a light burned till midnight in the Winthorpes' windows, and +sometimes hearing a heavy knocking, I looked out and saw at their door +the bright buttons of Charles Stevens shining in the light of the gas +lamp. + +So far as I could learn, Thomas Winthorpe never visited these offenses +of the brother upon his wife, but for her sake suppressed his +indignation at the careless, thoughtless, lazy habits of Charles, and +bore all in silence; but I heard that he talked of them to young Jones +and lamented the moral obligation he felt to support Charles even in +idleness. These feelings, we may be assured, were not lessened when Kate +made a third addition to the family, and passed through a long and +dangerous, and, of course, expensive illness, and I was told (the +gossips knew all this through Miss Jones, the bridesmaid) that Thomas +had been obliged to devote the earnings of his overtime to pay the +doctor's bill, and the quarter's rent, for which he had been unable +otherwise to provide. + +When Kate got up and resumed her family duties, there were other +indications of poverty in the household, one of which was that the +servant girl was discharged, notwithstanding that there was more +necessity than ever for her assistance. Kate's morning walks were given +up--she, as well as her husband, looked more careworn--the old +grandmother acted the part of housemaid, and Thomas wore a more +threadbare coat than usual. Nobody looked jolly and comfortable, except +the "ne'er do well," who was the cause of these uncomfortable changes, +but he looked as ruddy and careless, and smoked his pipe at the front +gate as composedly as ever, disturbed only by the recollection that he +had once been so much better off, and the knowledge that he had not so +much money to spend as he used to have; for by this time the cash he had +brought with him from the country, and of which he had never offered +Thomas a penny, was well-nigh gone. + +Still, Thomas, though hard-pressed, worked on patiently and +perseveringly, hoping for better times, and these fortunately were close +at hand. People say that "Troubles never come alone," and I am inclined +to think Fortune also sends her favors in showers. Be that as it may, +just at this time, Charles, who was getting disgusted at idleness +without plenty of pocket-money, received and accepted an offer to go out +to Australia, with an old farming acquaintance; and a few days more saw +his chest put into a cab, into which vehicle he followed, while Kate and +his mother (Thomas was away at business) bade him a tearful farewell; +and within a few days Thomas's employers, more than satisfied with his +conduct, promoted him to a post where his salary was doubled. + +What a change came over the house and family! The old servant girl came +back, and seemed so glad and brisk that she was never tired of work, and +made the place look brighter and neater than ever. The walks, too, were +resumed, and Thomas, justified in ceasing his evening work, made one of +the party after tea. Kate's cheek grew round and rosy again, and +Thomas's eye was brighter, and his old grave smile came back, as he +enjoyed the happiness and comfort he had so well earned: and to crown +all, I am told that the young Winthorpes will be very rich, for that +little rusty, shabby old man, who used to show the empty house, is Mrs. +Stevens's rich cousin, whom Kate had not recognized, and the old lady +was too short-sighted to notice, and who had left his former house, and +assumed the name of Willis, so that he might not be found out and +worried by his poor relations. My landlady informs me that the old man, +who knew his relations from the first, was struck with Thomas's +punctuality in always paying the rent on the day it was due, and by his +untiring industry (qualities which probably found an echo in his own +nature), and that the beautiful children (strange that such a little, +withered old miser should love blooming, careless children), have +completed his liking for the family. Thomas, however, has refused all +the old man's offers of assistance, and insists on continuing to pay the +rent for the house; and the old gentleman, who is now a frequent +visitor, and really does not look half so rusty as he used, unable in +any other way to confer obligations upon the family, has claimed to +stand godfather for the third child, and has bequeathed to the +youngsters all his large property, so we may fairly presume that the +worst difficulties of the Winthorpes are over, and that a happy future +is in store for them. + +Reader, my little tale, or, without plot as it is, you may say my long +gossip, is at an end. It began about an empty house, and has run through +the fortunes of a family. How like a path in life, where the first step +ushers us onward we know not where; or, to compare small things with +great, how like a philosopher picking up at random a simple stone, and +thence being led on to the comprehension of the physical history of the +world. But plotless tale, or rambling gossip, whichever it may be, I +hope it has not been without its usefulness, but that it has served as +one more piece of proof that integrity, charity, industry, and +self-denial, if they do not always command success, give a man the best +possible chance of obtaining it on the only condition which renders +success worth having, namely, the preservation of self-respect. + + + + +[From Tait's Edinburgh Magazine.] + +COLDS AND COLD WATER. + + +Who has not had a cold? or rather, who has not had many colds? Who does +not know that malady which commences with slight chilliness, an uneasy +feeling of being unwell, which does not justify abstinence from the +ordinary business and occupations of the day, but deprives one of all +satisfaction and enjoyment in them, and takes away all the salt and +savor of life, even as it deprives the natural palate of its proper +office, making all things that should be good to eat and drink vapid and +tasteless? Who does not know the pain in the head, the stiff neck, the +stuffy nose, the frequent sneeze, the kerchief which is oftener in the +hand than in the pocket? Such, with a greater or less amount of +peevishness, are the symptoms of the common cold in the head; which +torments its victim for two or three days, or perhaps as many weeks, and +then departs, and is forgotten. Few people take much notice of colds; +and yet let any one, who is even moderately liable to their attacks, +keep an account of the number of days in each year when he has been shut +out by a cold from a full perception of the pleasures and advantages of +life, and he will find that he has lost no inconsiderable portion of +the sum total of happy existence through their malign influence. How +many speeches in Parliament and at the Bar, that should have turned a +division or won a cause, have been marred because the orator has had a +cold which has confused his powers, stifled his voice, and paralyzed all +his best energies! How many pictures have failed in expressing the full +thoughts of the artist, because he has had a cold at that critical stage +of the work when all his faculties of head and hand should have been at +their best to insure the fit execution of his design! How many bad +bargains have been made, how many opportunities lost in business, +because a cold has laid its leaden hand upon them, and converted into +its own dull nature what might have resulted in a golden harvest! How +many poems--but no: poetry can have nothing in common with a cold. The +Muses fly at the approach of flannel and water-gruel. It is not poems +that are spoiled, but poets that are rendered of impossible existence by +colds. Can one imagine Homer with a cold, or Dante? But these were +southerns, and exempt by climate from this scourge of the human race in +Boreal regions. But Milton or Shakspeare, could they have had colds? +Possibly some parts of "Paradise Regained" may have been written in a +cold. Possibly the use of the handkerchief in "Othello," which is +banished as an impropriety by the delicate critics of France from their +version of the Moor of Venice, may have been suggested by familiarity +with that indispensable accessory in a cold. Colds are less common in +the clear atmosphere of Paris than in the thick and fog-laden air of +London; and this may account for the difference of national taste, on +this point. It is said of the great German Mendelssohn, that he always +composed sitting with his feet in a tub of cold water. This was not the +musician, but his grandfather, the metaphysician, and father of that +happy and contentedly obscure intermediate Mendelssohn, who used to say, +"When I was young, I was known as the son of the great Mendelssohn; and +now that I am old, I am known as the father of the great Mendelssohn." +But who ever was known to compose any thing while sitting with his feet +in a tub of _hot_ water, and with the composing draught standing on the +table at his side, to remind him that in the matter of composition he is +to be a passive, and not an active subject? How many marriages may not +have been prevented by colds? The gentleman is robbed of his courage, +and does not use his opportunity for urging his suit; or the lady +catches a cold, and appears blowing her nose, and with blanched cheeks +and moist eyes: + + "The sapphire's blue within her eyes is seen; + Her lips the ruby's choicest glow disclose; + Her skin is like to fairest pearls I ween; + But ah! the lucid crystal tips her nose." + +And so the coming declaration of love is effectually nipped in the bud +by the unromantic realities of the present catarrh. + +Napoleon, as is well known, lost the battle of Leipsig in consequence of +an indigestion brought on by eating an ill-dressed piece of mutton; and +Louis Philippe, in February, 1848, fled ignominiously from the capital +of his kingdom because he had a cold, and could not use the faculties +which at least might have secured for him as respectable a retreat to +the frontier as was enjoyed by his predecessor Charles the Tenth. He +might have shown fight; he might have thrown himself upon the army, or +upon the National Guard; he might have done a hundred things better for +his own fame, rather than get into a hack cab and run away. But it was +not to be: Louis Philippe had the influenza; and Louis Philippe with the +influenza was not the same man who had shown so much craft and decision +in the many previous emergencies of his long and eventful life. Louis +Philippe, without a cold, had acquitted himself creditably in the field +of battle, had taught respectably in schools, had contrived for himself +and his family the succession to a kingdom, had worked and plotted +through all the remarkable events with which his name is associated, and +by which it will ever be remembered in the romance of history; but Louis +Philippe, with a cold, subsided at once and ingloriously into simple +John Smith in a scratch-wig. + +Of places in which colds are caught it is not necessary to be +particular. For, as a late Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench laid it +down in summing up to a jury, in a case of sheep-stealing, after some +time had been wasted in showing that the stolen sheep had been +slaughtered with a particular knife--any knife will kill a sheep--so it +may be said that a cold may be caught any where: on the moor or on the +loch; traveling by land or by water; by rail or by stage; or in a +private carriage, or walking in the streets; or sitting at home or +elsewhere, in a draught, or out of a draught, but more especially in it. +Upon a statistical return of the places in which colds have been caught, +by persons of both sexes, and under twenty-one years of age, founded +upon the answers of the patients themselves, it appears that more colds +are caught upon the journey in going to school, and at church, than at +the theatre and in ball-rooms. Upon a similar return from persons liable +to serve as jurymen in London and Middlesex, it appears that a majority +of colds is caught in courts of justice; to which statement, perhaps, +more confidence is due than to the former, as it is not known that Dr. +Reid has ventilated any of the churches or theatres in the metropolis. +Indeed, if the ancient physical philosophers, who had many disputes upon +the first cause of cold, had enjoyed the advantage of living in our days +and country, they might have satisfied themselves on this matter, and at +the same time have become practically acquainted with the working of our +system of jurisprudence, by attending in Westminster Hall, when they +would go away perhaps with some good law, but most certainly with a very +bad cold in their heads. Upon the returns from ladies with grown-up +daughters and nieces, it appears from their own statements, that more +colds are caught at evening parties than any where else; which is in +remarkable discrepancy with the statements of the young ladies +themselves, as before mentioned. The same curious want of agreement is +found to prevail as to the number of colds caught on water-parties, +pic-nics, archery-meetings, and the like, which, according to one set of +answers, never give rise to colds, but which would certainly be avoided +by all prudent persons if they gave implicit belief to the other. + +Of the remedy for colds something may now be said. As with other evils, +the remedy may exist either in the shape of prevention or of cure, and +of course should be most sought after, by prudent people, in the former. +Much ancestral wisdom has descended to us in maxims and apothegms on the +prevention and management of colds. Like other venerable and traditional +lore which we are in the habit of receiving without questioning, it +contains a large admixture of error with what is really good and true; +and of the good and true much occasionally meets with undeserved +disparagement and contempt. Our grandmothers are right when they +inculcate an active avoidance of draughts of air, when they enjoin warm +clothing, and especially woolen stockings and dry feet. Their +recommendation of bed and slops is generally good, and their "sentence +of water-gruel" in most cases is very just, and better than any other +for which it could be commuted; but when they lay down the well-known +and authoritative dogma, stuff a cold and starve a fever, they are no +longer to be trusted. This is a pernicious saying, and has caused much +misery and illness. Certain lovers of antiquity, in their anxiety to +justify this precept, would have us to take it in an ironical sense. +They say, stuff a cold and starve a fever: that is, if you commit the +absurdity of employing too generous a diet in the earlier stages of a +cold, you will infallibly bring on a fever, which you will be compelled +to reduce by the opposite treatment of starvation. This, however, may be +rejected as mere casuistry, however well it may be intended by zealous +friends of the past. Our British oracles were not delivered in such +terms of Delphic mystery, but spoke out plain and straightforward; and +even this one permits of some justification with out doing violence to +the obvious meaning of the words. For every cold is accompanied with +some fever, the symptoms of which are more or less obvious, and it +indicates the presence in the system of something which ought not to be +there, and which is seeking its escape. Every facility should be given +to this escape which is consistent with the general safety of the +system. We may reasonably leave a window open, or a door upon the latch, +to favor the retreat of a disagreeable intruder, but we should not be +willing to break a hole in the wall of the house. All the remedies of +hot water for the feet, warming the bed, exciting gentle perspiration, +are directed to this object. Occasionally, the excitement of an evening +passed in society, especially if there is dancing, and in a room of +somewhat elevated temperature, is sufficient to carry off an incipient +cold. So a cold may be stopped, _in limine_, by the use of a few drops +of laudanum; and so, perhaps, the stimulus of some slight excess in +eating or drinking may operate to eject the advancing cold before it has +completely lodged itself in the system. But this is dangerous practice, +and the same object may be effected far more safely and surely by the +common nursing and stay-at-home remedies. + +Of all prophylactic or precautionary measures (in addition, of course, +to prudent attention to dress and diet), the best is the constant use of +the cold bath. It is only necessary to glance at the ironmongers' shops +to see that of late years the demand for all kinds of washing and +bathing apparatus has much increased, and that many persons are aware of +the importance of this practice. The exact method of applying the cold +element must depend on the constitution of the patient. For the very +vigorous and robust, the actual plunge-bath may not be too much; but few +are able to stand this, for the great abstraction of animal heat by the +surrounding cold fluid taxes the calorific powers of the system +severely; nor is a convenient swimming or plunge-bath generally +attainable. A late lamented and eminent legal functionary, who lived +near the banks of the Thames, bathed in the river regularly every +morning, summer and winter, and, it is said, used to have the ice +broken, when necessary, in the latter season. He continued this practice +to a good old age, and might have sat for the very picture of health. +The shower-bath has the merit of being attainable by most persons, at +any rate when at home, and is now made in various portable shapes. The +shock communicated by it is not always safe; but it is powerful in its +action, and the first disagreeable sensation after pulling the fatal +string is succeeded by a delicious feeling of renewed health and +vitality. The dose of water is generally made too large; and by +diminishing this, and wearing one of the high peaked or extinguisher +caps now in use, to break the fall of the descending torrent upon the +head, the terrors of the shower-bath may be abated, while all the +beneficial effects are retained. It has, however, the disadvantage of +not being easily carried about during absence from home, and the want of +it is a great inconvenience to those who are accustomed to use it. None +of the forms which are really portable are satisfactory, and all occupy +some time and trouble in setting up and taking down again, unless, +indeed, you are reckless of how and where you fix your hooks, and of the +state of the floor of the room after the flood has taken place, and +perhaps benevolently wish that the occupants of the room beneath should +participate in the luxury you have been enjoying. For nearly all +purposes the sponge is sufficient, used with one of the round flat baths +which are now so common. Cold water, thus applied, gives sufficient +stimulus to the skin, and the length of the bath, and the force with +which the water is applied, are entirely under command. The +sponging-bath, followed by friction with a rough towel, has cured +thousands of that habitual tendency to catch cold which is so prevalent +in this climate, and made them useful and happy members of society. The +large tin sponging-bath is itself not sufficiently portable to be +carried as railway luggage, but there are many substitutes. India-rubber +has been for some time pressed into this service, either in the shape of +a mere sheet to be laid on the floor, with a margin slightly raised to +retain the water, or in a more expensive form, in which the bottom +consists of a single sheet of the material, while the side is double, +and can be inflated so as to become erect, in the same manner as the +india-rubber air-cushions. Either form may be rolled up in a small +compass. The latter give a tolerably deep bath, capable of holding two +or three pails of water; but it is not very manageable when it has much +water in it, and must be unpopular with the housemaids. As there is no +stiff part about it, it is difficult, or rather impossible, for one +person to lift it for the purpose of emptying the water; and the air +must be driven out before it can be packed up again, which occasions a +delay which is inconvenient in rapid traveling. Besides, on the +Continent at least, where the essential element of water is not to be +had, except in small quantity, the excellence of holding much is thrown +away. Traveling-boxes have lately been made of that universal substance, +gutta-percha, which serve the double duty of holding clothes or books on +the roads, and of baths in the bed room. The top can be slipped off in a +moment, and is at once available as a bath; and when ever the whole box +is unpacked, both portions can be so employed. But the one disadvantage +which prevents gutta-percha from being adopted for many other purposes +tells against it here. It becomes soft and pliable at a very low +temperature, which unfits it for hot climates, and for containing hot +water in our own temperate regions. There is also the danger of burning +or becoming injured by the heat, if left incautiously too near the fire. +But for this drawback, it seems as if there was nothing to prevent every +thing from being made of gutta-percha. It is almost indestructible, +resists almost all chemical agents, and is easily moulded into any +required form. But like glass, it has its one fault. Glass is +brittle--gutta-percha can not resist moderate heat; and but for this, +these two materials might divide the world between them. It is related +that a certain inventor appeared before the Emperor Tiberius with a +crystal vessel, which he dashed on the pavement, and picked up unhurt; +in fact, he had discovered malleable glass, the philosopher's stone of +the useful arts. His ingenuity did not meet with the success it +deserved; for the emperor, whether alarmed at the novelty, and wishing +to protect the interests of the established glass-trade or wishing to +possess the wonderful vase, and to transmit it in the imperial +treasure-chambers as an unique specimen of the manufacture, immediately +ordered his head to be cut off, and the secret perished with him. Any +one who rediscovered it, or could communicate to the rival vegetable +product the quality of resisting heat, would make his fortune; and +although he might find the patent-office slow and expensive, would +nowadays be better rewarded by a discerning public than his unfortunate +predecessor was by the Roman tyrant. But to return to our baths: a very +good portable article may be made by having a wooden traveling-box, +lined with thin sheet zinc. It may be of deal or elm, and painted +outside. The lid may be arranged to slip on and off, like the rudder of +a boat, on eyes and pintles, or on common sliding hinges; and there may +be a movable tray, three or four inches deep, to be lined also with +zinc, which serves for holding the immediate dressing-apparatus, and all +that need be taken out for a single night's use. This tray, together +with the lid laid side by side on the floor, makes a fair enough +sponging-bath; and if the box itself is placed between them, and +half-filled with water, a most luxurious bathing-apparatus is at once +established. The zinc lining should be painted, or, what is still +better, japanned; and the lock should open on the side of the box, and +be fitted with a hinged hasp, which can be turned up, out of the way, +upon the side of the lid, when it is detached and in use as a bath. The +lock should not open upward in the edge of the box, or the water might +enter it, and damage the wards; and the hasps sticking up from the edge +of the lid would be in the way. A box on this plan has been made, and +has been in use for some months with perfect success, and may possibly +be exhibited for the instruction of foreigners in the Great Exposition +of 1851. The only objection is the increased weight arising from the +metallic lining; and this might be removed by employing sheet +gutta-percha in its place, or by relying on good workmanship and paint +alone to keep the box water-tight. The gutta-percha would, in this case, +be supported by the wood of the box, and could not get out of shape; but +it still would be liable to injury if used with warm water. + +Little need be said of sponges. The best fetch a high price, but are +probably most economical in the end; for a good sponge, used only with +cold water, will last a long time. There is an inferior kind of sponge, +very coarse, ragged and porous, which formerly was not sold for toilet +use, but which is now to be found in the shops, and is sold especially +for use in the sponging-bath. It is much cheaper than the fine sponge; +and readily takes up, and as readily gives out again, a large quantity +of water; and on the whole, may be recommended. Our old friend, +India-rubber, appears again as the best material of which the sponge-bag +can be made. Oil-skin is efficient while it lasts, but it is very easily +torn; and sponges are apt to be impatiently rammed into their bags in +last moments of packing. + +Armed with his sponge and his portable bath, a man may go through life, +defying some of its worst evils. Self-dubbed a Knight of the Bath, he +may look down with scorn upon the red ribbons and glittering baubles of +Grand Crosses and Commanders, and may view with that calm philosophy to +which nothing so much contributes as a state of high health the chances +and changes of a surrounding world of indigestions and catarrhs. With +his peptic faculties, in that state of efficiency in which the daily +cold effusion will maintain them, he will enjoy his own dinners; he will +not grudge his richer neighbor his longer and more varied succession of +dishes, and he will do his best to put his poorer one in the way to +improve his humbler and less certain repast. With his head and eyes +clear and free from colds, he will think and see for himself; and will +discern and act upon the truth and the right, disregarding the +contemptuous sneezes of those who would put him down, and the noisy +coughs of those who would drown his voice when lifted up in the name of +humanity and justice. + + + + +SINNERS AND SUFFERERS; OR, THE VILLAINY OF HIGH LIFE. + + +"Then you believe in the justice of this world, after the fashion of our +old nursery-tales, in which the good boy always got the plum-cake, and +the bad one was invariably put in the closet?" said Charles Monroe, +addressing at once Lady Annette Leveson and her temporary squire, old +Judge Naresby, as they paused in a moral disquisition, on which her +ladyship had employed the greater part of their afternoon's stroll +through Leveson Park, interrupted only by an occasional remark from her +niece Emma, a girl just returned from school, who hung on Charles's arm, +and called the party's attention to every woodland prospect and grand +old tree they passed. + +Lady Annette had relations in the peerage, though they were not reckoned +among the wealthiest of that body. Her husband had been similarly +connected, but he was long dead; and his childless widow's jointure +consisted of little more than a castellated mansion, a park, renowned +for the antiquity of its oaks, on the borders of one of the midland +counties, and an old-fashioned house in Park-lane, London. These +possessions were to descend, on her death, to the orphan daughter of her +husband's brother, who, having besides a dowery of some five thousand in +the funds, was, by the unanimous vote of her family, placed under Lady +Annette's guardianship. In speeding on that orphan girl's education from +one boarding-school to another, in dipping a short way into all the +popular philosophy of the age, and taking an easy interest in all its +social improvements, Lady Annette had spent her limited income and quiet +years, without the usual excitements of either working altar-cloths or +setting up a Dissenting chapel. Lady Annette was, of course, a sort of +positivist in her way. She had an almost material faith in virtue +rewarded. Good for good, love for love, was the substance of her creed +regarding time's returns; and being somewhat zealous in the doctrine, +she had exerted all her eloquence to prove it to the satisfaction of the +Judge. He was a man after her own faith and fortunes--well born, as it +is called, and gifted with a cool, clear head, which, just fitting him +for the study of law, and no more, had calmly raised him through the +intervening steps of his profession to the bench; but his experience of +life had been far wider, and he had seen certain occurrences in its +course which made him doubt her ladyship's philosophy. + +The Judge's opposition had ceased, nevertheless, and Lady Annette +remained mistress of the field when Charles Monroe volunteered the above +interpretation. Considering that, besides her title, the lady had full +twenty years the start of him in life's journey, the attack was bold; +but Charles was known at Leveson Park as her Scottish cousin, belonging +to a poor but honorable family north of Tweed, and already named as a +rising barrister, though comparatively young in the profession. He had +been engaged for sundry cases on the circuit which the Judge had just +completed--as concerned her ladyship's county, with a maiden assize, +where, after white gloves and congratulations had been duly presented, +the evening was devoted to a family dinner and chat with Lady Annette, +preparatory to justice and he taking their way on the morrow to the +neighboring shire. + +Lady Annette and the Judge were old acquaintances, and he had come early +enough to find the three among the old oaks, where it was pleasant to +talk in that bright summer afternoon till the dinner-hour and the rest +of the party arrived; so they found time for argument. + +"Well, Charles," said Lady Annette, whose habitually good temper seemed +slightly ruffled by her cousin's remark, "there are sounder lessons +taught men in the nursery than most of them practice in after-life; and +the teaching of those tales appears to me a truth verified by every +day's experience. Do we not see that industry and good conduct generally +bring the working-classes to comparative wealth, while the best families +are reduced by extravagance and profligacy? Does not even the popular +mind regard virtue with honor, and vice with contempt? Surely there is, +even in this world, an unslumbering Providence, which, eventually +rewards the good and punishes the wicked?" + +"Sometimes," said Charles. + +"Well, your response is amusing," said Lady Annette, smiling; "but let +us hear your view of the subject." + +"I fear it is not very definite," said her cousin. "Perhaps I am not +clearsighted enough; but this life has always seemed to me full of +inconsistencies and contradictions; yet, one thing I believe, that moral +goodness does not always lead to good fortune, nor moral evil to bad. +Sometimes that for which I have no name but the ancient one of friendly +stars, and sometimes a practical knowledge of men and things as they +are, or the want of these, conducts us to the one, or leaves us to the +other." + +"Oh, Charles, what a pity that pretty girl should be lame!" whispered +Emma, as they now emerged on a broad walk, which, being the most direct +route to a neighboring village, had been long open to pedestrians. And a +young girl, evidently of the servant class, who walked with considerable +difficulty, laid down a small bundle she carried, and leant for rest +against a mossy tree. The girl was not more than eighteen; her soft dark +hair, fine features, and small, but graceful figure, were singularly +attractive, in spite of a sickly pallor and remarkable lameness; but the +face had such an expression of fearless honesty and truth as made it +truly noble, and took the whole party's attention. + +"That's a fine face," said the Judge, when they had passed. "There looks +something like goodness there; and, _apropos_ of our controversy, it +somehow reminds me of a case which is to be tried to-morrow, in which +the principal witness is a young girl, who defended her master's house +single-handed against two burglars, and actually detained one of them +till he was arrested." + +"Oh, aunt, we must go to hear the case," said young Emma, earnestly. + +"It certainly will be interesting," said Lady Annette. "What a noble +girl in her station too! Charles, I hope you will allow there is some +probability of her being rewarded?" + +"Perhaps," said Charles. + +"Oh, never mind him," interrupted the Judge, who got very soon tired of +moral questions; "he debated the same subject with Thornley and me +t'other evening, and would have totally routed us if we had not taken +refuge in whist." + +Charles made no reply, for his attention was once more engaged by the +girl, who, with a flushed cheek, and all the speed she could muster, +passed them at that moment, and the Judge had succeeded in diverting +Lady Annette's thoughts to another channel. + +"Thornley should be an able antagonist," said she, "I am told he is very +clever. It was but t'other day that, in looking over one of his mother's +old letters from Florence, I recollected she had mentioned his Italian +tutor's predictions of the great figure he should make at Cambridge. By +the way, Charles, he was your class-fellow there. How far were they +fulfilled?" + +"The only time ever I remember him to make a figure," answered Charles, +vainly endeavoring to suppress a smile, "was, when he refused the +challenge of a wild Welsh student, on whose pranks he had been rather +censorious, saying a duel was contrary to his principles; and though the +Welshman actually insulted him in the very streets, he preferred a +formal apology to fighting." + +"What a high-principled young man!" exclaimed Lady Annette and her niece +in the same breath. + +"Yes," said the Judge, "so much conscientiousness and moral courage is +worth a world of talent." + +"It must be a comfort," continued her ladyship with enthusiasm, "to Mr. +Thornley, to find the pains bestowed on his son's education so well +repaid. Do you know he would never allow him to enter a public school, +saying, that knowledge in such places was paid for with both morals and +manners; and Edmund was educated under his own eye, by some of the best +scholars in Florence." + +"Mr. Thornley had great discernment," remarked the Judge; "I wonder he +didn't show it, more in his pecuniary affairs." + +"Ah, what a falling off was there!" half sighed Lady Annette. "It vexes +me to think of it, they were such old friends of ours. What a belle poor +Mrs. Thornley was!--they tell me she has grown very old and dowdy now. +And how he used to sport! and yet one might have known the estate would +go to creditors. But his misfortunes improved him greatly, they say, +turned his attention entirely to high subjects--Italian progress, and +all that. Do you know, when they lived in Florence, the Austrian police +had quite an eye upon him, and he was proud of that, poor man! I wish +you had seen his letters." + +Here her ladyship stopped short, for a figure was seen rapidly +approaching, which all the party know to be that of Edmund Thornley. The +gentleman whose education, character, and family history had been thus +freely discussed, was a tall, well-proportioned man, with fair +complexion, and curling auburn hair. There was something almost feminine +about his small mouth and pearly teeth; but his full blue eyes and +smooth white brow had no expression but those of health and youth, +retaining the latter to an extreme degree, though he was rather advanced +in the twenties. The story of his parentage and prospects, was already +talked over by the Thornleys' old friends in Leveson Park. An only son, +born in the ranks of English gentry, but brought up in Italy, to which +pecuniary embarrassment had early obliged his father to retire, he had +been educated, it was said, most carefully under the paternal roof, with +all home influences around him--sent first to the University of +Cambridge, and, subsequently, to the study of English law, partly by way +of scope for his talents, and partly, as the best provision for the heir +of a deeply-mortgaged estate. + +Edmund Thornley was a young man for whom friends did every thing. His +parents and tutors, in Italy, had promised and vowed great things in his +name, to his relatives in England; and, though they could not believe +the report, for he had, as yet, astonished neither Cambridge, nor the +Temple, it was proper for them to allow there was talent in him which +must come out some day, and all that interest and solicitation could do, +was done with the Thornleys' old acquaintances, to secure patronage for +their son. By that influence the judge had been induced to make choice +of him for his marshal, as it is legal etiquette to style a sort of +humble companion or assistant, on the circuit. Hitherto, he had filled +the post to his superior's entire satisfaction; but Naresby, who +specially understood the art of making his dependents useful, had that +day left him some letters to write previous to joining Lady Annette's +party. + +The hostess warmly welcomed the son of her old friends, whose doings she +had just canvassed. Charles received his former class-fellow with cold +civility; and, warned by the dinner-bell, the company adjourned to +Leveson Hall, in time to meet the rector and his lady, a quiet country +pair, who completed their party. It was soon manifest what advantage +Thornley's gentle, attentive manner, gave him in the eyes of the ladies +compared with the sometimes abrupt, and often careless address of their +Scotch cousin. Emma found him particularly agreeable; and the subject of +the approaching trial being renewed after dinner, both she and her aunt +were charmed with the enthusiastic admiration of the young girl's +courage and devotedness, which he expressed in the warmest terms; while +Charles merely hoped that those whom she had served so well, would not +forget her poverty. + +"Such," said Lady Annette, in a whispered dissertation on the contrast +of the young men, while she and the judge sat at whist by themselves, +"Such are the natural effects of a home education, and a mother's +influence." + +"Oh, yes," responded Naresby, somewhat confused by the cards which he +was shuffling; "Thornley is an excellent person, and very accommodating. +He never troubles one with a view of his own, like other lads." + +On the following day there was a crowded court-house in the assize town +of the neighboring county. The case to be tried had been the topic of +gossip and wonder there for many a week, and Lady Annette and her niece +were not the only members of the surrounding gentility among the +audience. Charles Monroe had the honor of escorting them, for the first +time in their lives, to a court of justice; and all his explaining +powers were put in requisition by Emma's whispered inquiries, till, the +usual preliminaries being gone through, the prisoner was placed at the +bar. He was a dark-looking, muscular fellow, whose way seemed to have +laid through the wild places of low life; but when he pleaded "Not +guilty," in a strong Welsh accent, some strange recollections appeared +to strike Charles, and he whispered to Lady Annette, "That man used to +look after game-dogs for Harry Williams, with whom Thornley wouldn't +fight at Cambridge; and they told me Harry had been expelled." + +"Yes," replied her ladyship, in a low, but triumphant tone, as she cast +a glance of more than approbation on the marshal, now occupying his +usual place near the judge; "men are even in this world rewarded +according to their works." + +Charles smiled incredulously, but his smile changed to a look of +surprised recognition, for the principal witness, who just then stood up +to take the oath, was none other than the girl they had met in Leveson +Park. Many a curious eye was turned on that fair honest face; the judge +himself seemed to recognize her, and the marshal to forget his habitual +composure, in astonishment that one so young and pretty, should be the +heroine of such a tale; but, without either the vanity or the +bashfulness nearly always allied to it, which would have upset most +young people in her position, the girl told her story modestly and +plainly, like one who felt she had done her duty, and made no display +about it. Her evidence was simply to the effect that her name was Grace +Greenside, that she was a servant at Daisy Dell--the local designation +of a property occupied by one of the better class of farmers in the +shire--and had been for two years maid-of-all-work at the farm-house, +which was situated in a solitary part of the country, and at some +distance from the high road. On the fifth of the previous month, it +being Sunday, and the other three servants having gone in different +directions, her mistress took their little boy and girl with them to the +parish church, about a mile distant, leaving her alone in the house, +with strict orders not to quit it, and admit none but special friends of +the family till their return; on account, as she believed, of a +considerable sum of money which her master had drawn from the bank but a +few days before, for the purchase of an adjoining farm. Soon after they +were gone, two men, one of whom was the prisoner, knocked loudly at the +front door, and demanded admission, which, owing to her orders, and +their suspicious appearance, she refused, when they tried to force an +entrance; but, arming herself with her master's loaded gun, she defended +the premises, which were well secured--being built, as the girl +described, in old fighting times--till, by sounding one of those +antiquated horns, kept for similar purposes in many an old country +house, she alarmed half the parish, and men were seen coming across the +fields, on which the assailants fled. The prisoner, however, carried +with him a fine vest of her master's, which, owing to an accident, had +been spread out to dry on a hedge hard by; and, bitterly blaming herself +for leaving the article within his reach, the girl pursued him in hopes +of recovering it, and actually overtook, laid hold of, and detained him +till the neighbors came up and completed the capture, in spite of his +blows, by which she had been so seriously injured as to be confined to +the house till the previous day, when she walked with great difficulty +about two miles to see her relatives. + +Her tale was confirmed by the evidence of several country people who +had assisted in securing the prisoner, by that of her master, a +hard-looking, worldly man, of her father, a clownish laborer, and of an +ill-tempered, slatternly woman, who proved to be her stepmother. Grace +dropped a courtesy, and quitted the witness-box, amid a general murmur +of applause. The jury, without retiring, found a unanimous verdict of +"Guilty;" and, after a lengthy address, equally divided between eulogy +of the girl's conduct and reprobation of the criminal's, not forgetting +some prophetic hints touching the future destiny of his companion who +had escaped, the judge commanded sentence of death to be recorded +against him, and a small sum of money to be immediately bestowed on +Grace, not only in testimony of the court's sense of her merits, but by +way of compensation for the injuries she had received, as his lordship +phrased it, "in the service of justice and good order." + +"A poor reward, but, perhaps, not unacceptable," thought Charles, +glancing at her apparel, which, though clean and neatly worn, was such +as indicated almost the lowest state of feminine funds, as with a +grateful countenance she stepped out to await the leisure of the court +functionaries in that matter, and another case came on. + +"Let us go now," said Lady Annette to her niece, "How very interesting +it was, and how delighted Edmund Thornley seemed!" + +"He has just gone out, aunt," remarked Emma, who had grown singularly +alive to the marshal's motions; and Charles, as he resumed the duties of +a cavalier, silently recollected that, throughout the trial, while +Thornley conversed with the judge or took notes for him, according to +custom, his eye had often wandered toward Grace Greenside, and he had +left the court the first unobserved moment after she quitted it. The +young barrister was, therefore, not surprised, on crossing one of the +outer divisions, to find him there by her side, talking in a most +animated manner. They were words of praise he had been uttering; and +there was a glow on the girl's cheek, and a light in her eye, which +neither the judge's encomiums nor the applause of a crowded court had +called forth; yet, at their approach, a sudden confusion came over +Thornley for an instant, but the next he saluted the ladies with his +usual courtesy, and more than his usual warmth. + +"You find me conversing with the heroine of Daisy Dell," said he; and +the remnant of his speech was so low, that Charles could only catch, +"artless simplicity," and "mind above her station." It reached the +girl's ear, nevertheless; and a wild, waking dream of hope, or passion, +or it might be vanity, passed over that young face. + +"Oh, aunt, let us speak to her," said Emma, and fully conscious of the +honor and reward which a few words from her patrician lips must confer +on plebeian merit, Lady Annette stepped up, and addressed some +complimentary inquiries to Grace. + +The gratified girl replied with many a courtesy. There was an +asking-leave look in young Emma's face as it turned to her aunt for a +moment, and then, like one determined to venture, she drew a small +turquoise ring from her finger, and pressed it into the girl's hand, +with a low whisper, "You have been very good and honest; take this from +me." + +"It is the first ring I ever wore," said Grace, endeavoring to force the +small circlet on one finger after another, which hard work had roughened +and expanded; but Emma's turquoise could find rest only on the little +one. "It is the lucky finger," said she, blushing to the brow; "and a +thousand thanks, my lady; but it is too fine for the like of me." + +"May it be lucky to you, my girl!" half murmured Charles, emptying his +light purse almost unperceived into her other hand, while Lady Annette +was assuring her that good conduct always had its reward; and before the +girl had time to thank him, he hurried away with the delighted Emma, +while Thornley conducted her ladyship to their carriage over the way. + +Scarce had Charles handed in his charge when one of his clients, who had +litigated a garden-fence for four years past, pounced upon him with a +lately-discovered evidence for his claim, which occupied some hours in +explanation; and before he returned to the court-house, Grace Greenside +had received her money, and went her way. The marshal was busy writing a +note for the Judge, and his lordship was passing sentence on a +turnip-stealer. + +Next day Charles gained the case touching the garden-fence, according to +the county newspapers, by a display of legal learning and eloquence +never before equaled in that court-house; but the same evening a letter +brought the hard-working barrister the joyful intelligence that a legal +appointment in one of the West India Islands, for which he had canvassed +and despaired till it was refused by some half-dozen of the better +provided, had been conferred upon him. + +It is doubtful if three years can pass over any spot of this inhabited +earth without bringing many changes, and they had brought its share to +the border of that midland county since Lady Annette convinced the +judge, and vanquished her Scotch cousin, on a great moral question, +among the old trees of Leveson Park. Leveson Park and Hall were lonely +now in the summer-time, for another uncle had died, leaving Emma some +additional thousands, and her aunt removed to the house in Park-lane +every London season, to have her properly brought out. + +In the adjoining shire, trials of still greater interest (for there was +a murder and two breaches of promise among them) had long superseded in +the popular mind the case of Daisy Dell; but the neighbors for miles +round that solitary farm-house still talked at intervals of Grace +Greenside, how a fine gentleman who had spoken to her in court came +many a day after the assizes privately about the fields to see her, and +how she had been seen driving away with him in a chaise from the end of +the green lane late one evening, when her mistress imagined she was busy +in the diary. The girl's relatives said he was nephew to the judge who +had been on the circuit that year, and would soon be a judge himself; +that he had taken Grace to London, and made a real lady of her; but +their neighbors knew the way of the world too well to place entire faith +in that statement, and the master of the house she had defended (it was +said gratuitously) gave it as his private judgment that the girl had +been ruined by being made so much of. + +The old house in Park-lane looked as comfortable as handsome but +antiquated furniture could make it. It was the height of the London +season, and Lady Annette Leveson had given a dinner-party--as it was +understood, by way of welcome to her cousin, Mr. Monroe, who had just +returned from Barbadoes, with an older look, a darker complexion, and +his footing made sure in Government employ at home. His residence was +now in London; and his near relationship, of which Lady Annette had +grown singularly mindful of late, made him an intimate visitor at her +house, where, on the present occasion, he did the honors to a number of +gentlemen, still conversing over their wine; while, as British etiquette +prescribes, Lady Annette had led the fairer portion of her company to +small talk and the drawing-room. + +Useful as Charles was often pronounced by her ladyship, and a rising +cousin as he had become, the assiduous attentions and quietly agreeable +manner of Edmund Thornley made much greater way in the secret favor of +both aunt and niece. Edmund was by this time called to the bar. He made +no great figure there, but friends were still doing for him, and he had +sundry relations who took care of his interests in London. The chief of +these was a brother-in-law of his father; but Miss Thornley had been his +first wife, and a second had reigned for eleven years in her stead. Mr. +Crainor was a barrister of the West-end, who worshiped respectability, +and had no family but two married daughters. It was through him that all +advices and letters of credit came from Italy, where Thornley senior +still found it convenient to sojourn; and he was Edmund's counselor in +all things. Being an acquaintance of Emma's last bequeathing uncle, that +gentleman had thought proper to make him one of his executors; he had, +consequently, considerable influence at the house in Park-lane, and was +believed to use it in favor of his nephew-in-law, who, shrewd people +said, might form an eligible connection there; but, as yet, rumor went +no further on the subject. There were also those who thought Charles +Monroe might be a successful rival, as his prospects were now more +promising, and his talents known to be superior; but Emma's private +opinion of him was, that he looked wonderfully old, had no sensibility, +and an almost vulgar way of conducting himself to ladies. He had left +her a school-girl, not sixteen, and found her a graceful, accomplished +woman of the harmlessly sentimental school, who shed tears at tragedies, +and gave largely, considering her purse, at charity sermons, made +collections of poetry, and never inquired beyond the surface of her own +circle, except regarding some very romantic story of real life. + +Edmund Thornley sat on an ottoman between Lady Annette and her niece, +turning over for their edification the leaves and plates of one of those +richly got up annuals so dear to London drawing-rooms at a period within +most people's memory. He never lingered long with the gentlemen, at +least, in Park-lane. + +"Oh, what a lovely picture!" said Emma, as a Swiss scene turned up. "And +that figure," she continued, pointing to one at a cottage door, "how +much it reminds of the girl--I forget her name--who defended the +farm-house against robbers. Don't you remember, Mr. Thornley, how you +called her the heroine of Daisy Dell?" + +"Oh, yes," said Edmund, after a trial of recollection. "It is like her, +but I think she was not quite so pretty." + +"Certainly not so tastefully dressed," said Lady Annette; "these Swiss +have so much the advantage of our peasantry; but she was a most +interesting creature. And yet, Mr. Thornley," added her ladyship, who +retained the taste for morality, "I fear the transaction did not turn +out to her benefit. They had strange reports in that part of the +country, and my niece and I have often observed her since we came to +London." + +"Oh, aunt!" interposed Emma, "but she dressed and looked so--so--very +properly. I am sure she has married some person of her choice, and lives +happily. It would just complete her story." + +The mention of a story after dinner, in the height of the London season, +is sufficient to wake up any drawing-room, and had its natural effect on +Lady Annette's. + +"Oh, pray what was it?" demanded half a dozen voices; and Emma was of +course obliged to relate the tale, with frequent applications for +assistance to Mr. Thornley, whose replies, though always brief, were +satisfactory, as he turned over the annual, apparently the least +interested person in the room. When they had marveled sufficiently over +her narrative, Lady Annette, being a little proud of Miss Leveson's +sentiments, felt bound to acquaint them with the episode of the ring, +which she had just finished when the first of the dining-room deserters +straggled in. + +"The last time I saw her she looked sickly and careworn--far worse than +that day we met her in the Park. You recollect it, Charles. We are +speaking of Grace Greenside," said Emma, addressing her aunt's cousin, +as he took the nearest seat. + +"What of her now?" said Charles, bending eagerly forward; but here Mr. +Crainor interposed, with a petition that Emma would sing them that +charming song with which she enchanted Lady Wharton's party, as he, and +in fact the whole company, was dying to hear it. In less than five +minutes, which were consumed in general pressing, Emma was conducted to +the piano by Mr. Thornley. There was a deal of music, tea, chit-chat, +and a breaking-up, but no more talk of Grace Greenside. + +"My dear boy," said Mr. Crainor, taking his nephew's arm with something +of the warmth of wine in his manner, when they were fairly in the +streets, it being eleven o'clock on a calm summer's night, and part of +their way the same. "My dear boy, you are not aware of what injury you +are doing to your best interests, as one may say, by keeping that girl +so long about you. She has been notorious; and notorious people--women, +I mean--are always dangerous. Weren't they talking of her at Lady +Annette's to-night? Depend on it, the story will ooze out, you are so +well known, and so much visited now. Then people will call you +dissipated, and I can't tell what. Such tales always spoil a man's +chances with advantageous ladies." + +"I was thinking of that myself," said Edmund; "but it's a delicate +point, and one wouldn't like a scene, you know." + +"True," responded his adviser; "but a little management will prevent +that. Captain Lancer is your man, if you want to get clear off. Just +introduce him, and the whole business is done." + +"Do you really think so?" said Edmund, with a languid smile. + +"I'll stake ten to one on it," replied Crainor; "Lancer has tenfold your +attractions for any woman, irresistible as you think yourself--a fine, +forward-looking military man, who has fought half a dozen duels, not to +speak of his experience. Don't you know the captain is married, though +he passes for a bachelor here? married an old ebony, with a whole +sugar-plantation in Jamaica, five years ago! That's what he sports upon; +while rum, they say, consoles the lady for his absence. He told me the +other day he was in want of some occupation, and I advise you to give +him one; but good night," added the sage counselor, for by this time +they were near Edmund's lodgings; and even through the gaslight a pale +face might be seen at the front window, looking anxiously out for him. + +Sadly indeed was Grace Greenside altered since the day when the four +passed her in the walk through Leveson Park. The lameness was long +gone--her naturally good constitution had shaken off the effects of that +fearful struggle; her dress was of somewhat better materials and a +neater cut. She herself had something of a town look about her, as one +whom three years' residence had made familiar with the noisy streets of +London; but in the thin face and sunken eyes there were lines of care, +and weary look, which told of lonely winter evenings and pining summer +days. For three long years the girl had shared Edmund Thornley's +apartments, in the strangely-blended capacities of mistress and valet. +That a maid-of-all-work in a solitary farm-house, who was eighteen, +could scarcely read, and had a cross stepmother, should have been +induced to enter on such a course by a man so far her superior in +fortune and education, not to speak of eight years' seniority, must be +matter of marvel to those only whose wisdom and virtue are of the +untried sort. But so it was; and farm-servant as she had been, it was +wonderful how little poor Grace was spoiled by her change of position. +It might be that the girl was by nature too simple or too honest to take +its ordinary advantages, such as they are; perhaps it was not fine +things and nothing to do alone that she expected in London with Edmund, +when leaving behind her good name and country summers--the only good +things that life had given her; at all events, she lived humble and +retired days, aiming only to take care of Thornley's domestic interest +to the utmost of her power, and make herself generally useful to him in +sickness and health. There was a suitability in that conduct to the +peculiar tastes of the gentleman. Like most selfish people, he was a +great admirer of self-devotedness in others; and, long after the days of +first fancy and flattery were over, continued to value Grace as a +contributor to his comfort, in the fashion of an easy chair or a good +fire. Did not she keep every thing in order for his comings and goings, +which, with Edmund Thornley, were as regular as the clock on the +mantle-piece, for he was a most quiet bachelor, and never forgot +himself; but now the convenience might cost him too dear, and must be +parted with, according to his uncle's counsel. So, with it on his mind, +and the usual calm smile on his face, he received her kindly greeting, +heard and repeated the intelligence of the day over a nice supper, and +retired to rest. + +Next day, Mr. Crainor introduced Captain Lancer to his nephew, at a +coffee-house; and Thornley brought him home to dine, and introduced him +to Grace, after which, as his servant remarked, "it was hextonishing how +often that ansum capting called, and how many messages the master sent +him home with to Miss Greenside; till one day he eard her speak +monstrous loud up stairs, and there was a door slammed, and the Capting +came down looking all of a eap." + +The servant might also have observed that, during the day, Grace looked +impatiently for his master; but Edmund did not come, for he and Captain +Lancer dined together at a tavern. + +The nights were growing long, and the harvest moon could be seen at +intervals through the fog and smoke of London. Grace thought how it +shone on corn-fields and laden orchards far away, and how long it was +since she left them; but other and more troubled thoughts passed +through her mind as she sat waiting for Thornley. It was not yet eight, +but that was his knock, and in another minute he stepped into the room. + +"Edmund, dear," said the girl, eager to unburden her mind, "I have a +strange story for you to-night. That Captain Lancer is a bad, bad man. +Would you believe it, Edmund, he told all sorts of stories on you this +day, and asked me to go with him to France, the villain!" + +"Indeed!" said Thornley, seating himself, with a look of prepared +resolution. "That was a good offer, Grace. The captain is very rich, and +might marry you." + +Grace stared upon him in blank astonishment. "You see," continued the +unmoved Edmund, "you and I can live together no longer; my character +would suffer, and my prospects too, Grace. You would not injure my +prospects? Besides, you want country air; it would be good for you to go +home a little time, and I would give you something handsome, and see you +off on the Middlesex coach." + +The amazement had passed from the girl's face now; for all that she had +half suspected, and tried not to believe so long, was proved true to +her. + +"Is it Emma Leveson you are going to marry?" she said, growing deadly +pale. + +"Perhaps," said Thornley. "But, dear me, what is the matter?" as Grace +looked down for an instant at the ring on her little finger, then sunk +down on a chair, and covered her face with her hands. + +"Here," continued Edmund, pulling out his pocket-book, which contained +the only consolation known to him, "I have not much to myself, but here +are two hundred pounds; it will make you live like a lady among them;" +and he laid the notes in her lap. + +Grace never looked at him or them; she sat for about a minute stiff and +silent, then rose, letting the bank-paper scatter on the carpet, and +walked quickly out. Edmund heard her go up stairs, and come down again; +there was a sound of the hall-door shutting quietly, and when he +inquired after it the servant told him Miss Greenside had gone without +saying any thing. Edmund gathered up the notes, and locked them in his +desk, smoked a cigar, read the _Court Journal_; but Grace did not come +back, nor did she ever again cross the threshold. When Thornley told Mr. +Crainor, on the earliest opportunity, that gentleman averred that the +girl had looked out for herself before Captain Lancer came, and Edmund +said, "It was wonderful that she left the notes behind her, for all the +money she could have was some savings in a little purse." + +One Sunday, about six weeks after the event we have related, Charles +Monroe, on search of a short way from the Scotch church to his chambers, +was passing through a poor but decent street, known as Cowslip-court, +though a Cowslip had never been seen there within the memory of man, +when his attention was attracted by an old woman in dingy black, looking +for something on the ground, with a most rueful countenance. + +"What have you lost, my good woman?" inquired Charles in some curiosity. + +"It's a ring, sir," said the dame, "was left me by a poor soul as was +buried this morning. Some people thought it strange to see her so young +by herself, but she wor a decent creature for all that, and did what she +could in honesty. First she took to sewing, sir; but that didn't do, for +she was sickly, and got worse, till at last she died, all alone in my +two-pair back. And I'm sure that ring wor a love-token, or something of +the sort, for she used to cry over it when no one was by, and once bade +me take it when she was gone, because I minded her in her sickness; and +I was just going to show it to Mrs. Tillet, when it dropped out of my +fingers. But lauk, sir, there it is!" + +"It's Emma Leveson's ring," said Charles, picking up the little +turquoise from among the dust at his feet. "Was the woman's name Grace +Greenside?" + +"Just the same sir," said its new owner, clutching at the ring; "an' she +was--" + +"A fool," added a more than half-intoxicated soldier, with a long pipe +in his mouth, lolling on the steps of an empty house as if they had been +a sofa. "I tell you she was a fool; and I was a gentleman once in my +day, but I was unfortunate. They wouldn't let me stay at college, though +I kept the gamest pack in Cambridge; and after that I took--to a variety +of business," said he, with another puff; "but if that girl had taken me +at my word, I would have stood by her. See the foolishness of women! She +would keep the old house, and transport Skulking Tom; he partly deserved +it for hitting her so hard, and there's what's come of it." With a +repetition of his last aphorism, the soldier smoked on, and Charles +after a minute inspection, recognized in the dirty and prematurely old +man his once boisterous class-fellow, Harry Williams. The time for +remonstrance or improvement was long past with him, and Charles had +grown a stranger to his memory; so, without word or sign of former +acquaintance, he purchased the ring from that communicative old woman at +about three times its lawful price, collected what further information +he could regarding the deceased, and went his way. + +"Ay," said Charles, gazing on the ring some time after, when the whole +particulars of her story were gathered, "had she been worse or wiser, +poor Grace would have fared better in this world;" and then he thought +of the ring's first owner. But, before the period of his musings, Lady +Annette and her niece had gone with some of their noble relations to +spend the winter in Italy, Edmund Thornley accompanying them on a visit +to his father's residence; and, in her latest letter to a confidential +cousin, Emma had mentioned that his fine sense of propriety, and his +enthusiasm for all that was great and good, made him a most delightful +companion on the Continent. + + + + +THE GOLDEN AGE. + + + The father sits, and marks his child + Through the clover racing wild; + And then as if he sweetly dream'd, + He half remembers how it seem'd + When he, too, was a reckless rover + Among the bee-beloved clover: + Pure airs, from heavenly places, rise + Breathing the blindness from his eyes, + Until, with rapture, grief, and awe, + He sees again as then he saw. + + As then he saw, he sees again + The heavy-loaded harvest wain, + Hanging tokens of its pride + In the trees on either side; + Daisies, coming out at dawn, + In constellations, on the lawn; + The glory of the daffodil; + The three black windmills on the hill, + Whose magic arms fling wildly by, + With magic shadows on the rye: + In the leafy coppice, lo, + More wealth than miser's dreams can show, + The blackbird's warm and woolly brood, + With golden beaks agape for food! + Gipsies, all the summer seen, + Native as poppies to the green; + Winter, with its frosts and thaws, + And opulence of hips and haws; + The mighty marvel of the snow; + The happy, happy ships that go, + Sailing up and sailing down, + Through the fields and by the town;-- + All the thousand dear events + That fell when days were incidents. + + And, then, his meek and loving mother-- + Oh, what speechless feelings smother + In his heart at thought of her! + What sacred, piercing sorrow mounts, + From new or unremembered founts, + While to thought her ways recur. + He hears the songs she used to sing; + His tears in scalding torrents spring; + Oh, might he hope that 'twould be given. + Either in this world, or in heaven, + To hear such songs as those again! + + --But life is deep and words are vain. + Mark yonder hedgerow, here and there + Sprinkled with Spring, but mainly bare; + The wither'd bank beneath, where blows, + In yellow crowds, the fresh primrose: + What skill of color thus could smite + The troubled heart-strings thro' the sight + What magic of sweet speech express + Their primeval tenderness? + Can these not utter'd be, and can + The day-spring of immortal man? + + + + +"GIVE WISELY!" AN ANECDOTE. + + +One evening, a short time since, the curate of B., a small village in +the north of France, returned much fatigued to his humble dwelling. He +had been visiting a poor family who were suffering from both want and +sickness; and the worthy old man, besides administering the consolations +of religion, had given them a few small coins, saved by rigid +self-denial from his scanty income. He walked homewards, leaning on his +stick, and thinking, with sorrow, how very small were the means he +possessed of doing good and relieving misery. + +As he entered the door, he heard an unwonted clamor of tongues, taking +the form of a by no means harmonious duet--an unknown male voice +growling forth a hoarse bass, which was completely overscreeched by a +remarkably high and thin treble, easily recognized by the placid curate +as proceeding from the well-practiced throat of his housekeeper, the +shrewish Perpetua of a gentle Don Abbondio. + +"A pretty business this, monsieur!" cried the dame, when her master +appeared, as with flashing eyes, and left arm a-kimbo, she pointed with +the other to a surly-looking man, dressed in a blouse, who stood in the +hall, holding a very small box in his hand. "This fellow," she +continued, "is a messenger from the diligence, and he wants to get +fifteen francs as the price of the carriage of that little box directed +to you, which I'm sure, no matter what it contains, can't be worth half +the money." + +"Peace, Nanette," said her master; and, taking the box from the man, who +at his approach, civilly doffed his hat, he examined the direction. + +It was extremely heavy, and bore the stamp of San Francisco, in +California, together with his own address. The curate paid the fifteen +francs, which left him possessed of but a few sous, and dismissed the +messenger. + +He then opened the box, and displayed to the astonished eyes of Nanette +an ingot of virgin gold, and a slip of paper, on which were written the +following words: + + "To Monsieur the Curate of B. + "A slight token of eternal gratitude, in remembrance of August +28th, 1848. + "CHARLES F----. + "Formerly sergeant-major in the --th regiment; now a gold-digger + in California." + +On the 28th of August, 1848, the curate was, on the evening in question, +returning from visiting his poor and sick parishioners. Not far from his +cottage he saw a young soldier with a haggard countenance and wild +bloodshot eyes, hastening toward the bank of a deep and rapid river, +which ran through the fields. The venerable priest stopped him, and +spoke to him kindly. + +At first the young man would not answer, and tried to break away from +his questioner; but the curate fearing that he meditated suicide, would +not be repulsed, and at length, with much difficulty, succeeded in +leading him to his house. After some time, softened by the tender +kindness of his host, the soldier confessed that he had spent in +gambling a sum of money which had been entrusted to him as +sergeant-major of his company. This avowal was made in words broken by +sobs, and the culprit repeated several times, "My poor mother! my poor +mother! if she only knew--" + +The curate waited until the soldier had become more calm, and then +addressed him in words of reproof and counsel, such as a tender father +might bestow on an erring son. He finished by giving him a bag +containing one hundred and thirty francs, the amount of the sum +unlawfully dissipated. + +"It is nearly all I possess in the world," said the old man, "but by the +grace of God you will change your habits, you will work diligently, and +some day, my friend, you will return me this money, which indeed belongs +more to the poor than to me." + +It would be impossible to describe the young soldier's joy and +astonishment. He pressed convulsively his benefactor's hand, and after a +pause, said, + +"Monsieur, in three months my military engagement will be ended. I +solemnly promise that, with the assistance of God, from that time I will +work diligently." So he departed, bearing with him the money and the +blessing of the good man. + +Much to the sorrow and indignation of Nanette, her master continued to +wear through the ensuing winter, his old threadbare suit, which he had +intended to replace by warm garments; and his dinner frequently +consisted of bread and _soupe maigre_. + +"And all this," said the dame, "for the sake of a worthless stroller, +whom we shall never see or hear of again!" + +"Nanette," said her master, with tears in his eyes, as he showed her the +massive ingot, whose value was three thousand francs, "never judge +hardly of a repentant sinner. It was the weeping Magdalen who poured +precious ointment on her Master's feet; it was the outlawed Samaritan +leper who returned to give Him thanks. Our poor guest has nobly kept his +word. Next winter my sick people will want neither food nor medicine; +and you must lay in plenty of flannel and frieze for our old men and +women, Nanette!" + + + + +MONTHLY RECORD OF CURRENT EVENTS. + + +POLITICAL AND GENERAL NEWS. + +UNITED STATES. + +In Politics the past month has been distinguished by the occurrence of +elections in several of the States, and by a general agitation, in every +section of the Union, of questions connected with the subject of +slavery. The discussions through the press and before public audiences, +have been marked by great excitement and bitterness, and have thus +induced a state of public feeling in the highest degree unfavorable to +that calm and judicious legislation which the critical condition of the +country requires. We recorded at the proper time, the passage by +Congress of the several measures generally known as the "peace measures" +of the session--the last of which was the bill making more effectual +provision for the recovery of fugitive slaves. Congress had no sooner +adjourned than these measures, and especially the last, became the theme +of violent public controversy. In the Northern States, several attempts +to regain possession of fugitives from slavery in New York, Boston, +Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and other places, were resisted with great +clamor, and served to inflame public feeling to a very unhealthy extent. +In our last number we mentioned some of the incidents by which this +agitation was marked. It influenced greatly the elections in New York, +Massachusetts, and other states, where nominations for Congress and +state officers were made with special reference to these questions. The +result of these elections is now to be recorded. + +In our last number we mentioned the action of the Whig State Convention +at Syracuse, the secession of forty members in consequence of the +adoption of a resolution approving the course of Senator SEWARD, and +their subsequent meeting at Utica, and renomination of the same ticket. +Mr. HUNT, the Whig candidate for Governor, wrote a letter expressing +acquiescence in the peace measures of Congress, but adding that the +Fugitive Slave Law contained many unjust provisions, and ought to +receive essential modifications. A convention representing the +Anti-Renters of the state afterward assembled, and nominated Mr. HUNT as +their candidate for Governor. On the 22d of October he wrote a letter to +the Committee declining to recognize the action of any organization +except that of the Whig party from which he had first received his +nomination, and adding that, if elected, his "Constitutional duties +could not be changed, nor his conduct in the discharge of them +influenced, by the course taken in the election by any particular class +of our citizens or any organization other than the party to which he +belonged." Under all circumstances, he said, it would be his highest aim +to execute his official trust with firmness and impartiality. He would +"be actuated by an honest desire to promote justice, to uphold the +supremacy of the law, to facilitate all useful reforms, to second +legitimate endeavors for the redress of public grievances, and to +protect the rights and advance the welfare of the whole people." + +In the City of New York, meantime, there had been a growing feeling of +apprehension at the tone of current political discussions and at the +opposition everywhere manifested at the North to the Fugitive Slave Law, +and on the 30th of October a very large public meeting was held at +Castle Garden of those who were in favor of sustaining all the peace +measures of Congress, and of taking such measures as would prevent any +further agitation of the question of slavery. Mr. GEORGE WOOD, an +eminent member of the New York Bar, presided. A letter was read from Mr. +WEBSTER, to whom the resolutions intended to be brought forward had been +sent, with an invitation to attend the meeting. The invitation was +declined, but Mr. WEBSTER expressed the most cordial approbation of the +meeting, and of its proposed action. He concurred in "all the political +principles contained in the resolutions, and stood pledged to support +them, publicly and privately, now and always, to the full extent of his +influence, and by the exertion of every faculty which he possessed." The +Fugitive Slave Law he said, was not such a one as he had proposed, and +should have supported if he had been in the Senate. But it is now "the +law of the land, and as such is to be respected and obeyed by all good +citizens. I have heard," he adds, "no man, whose opinion is worth +regarding, deny its constitutionality; and those who counsel violent +resistance to it, counsel that, which, if it take place, is sure to lead +to bloodshed, and to the commission of capital offenses. It remains to +be seen how far the deluded and the deluders will go in this career of +faction, folly, and crime. No man is at liberty to set up, or to affect +to set up, his own conscience as above the law, in a matter which +respects the rights of others, and the obligations, civil, social, and +political, due to others from him. Such a pretense saps the foundation +of all government, and is of itself a perfect absurdity; and while all +are bound to yield obedience to the laws, wise and well-disposed +citizens will forbear from renewing past agitation, and rekindling the +names of useless and dangerous controversy. If we would continue one +people, we must acquiesce in the will of the majority, constitutionally +expressed; and he that does not mean to do that, means to disturb the +public peace, and to do what he can to overturn the Government." The +resolutions adopted at the meeting, declared the purpose "to sustain the +Fugitive Slave Law and its execution by all lawful means:" and that +those represented at the meeting would "support no candidate at the +ensuing or any other election, for state officers, or for members of +Congress or of the Legislature, who is known or believed to be hostile +to the peace measures recently adopted by Congress, or any of them, or +in favor of re-opening the questions involved in them, for renewed +agitation." + +This meeting was followed by the nomination of a ticket, intended to +represent these views, and those candidates only were selected, from +both the party nominees, who were known or believed to entertain them. +Mr. SEYMOUR (Dem.) was nominated for Governor; Mr. CORNELL (Whig) for +Lieutenant Governor; Mr. MATHER (Dem.) for Canal Commissioner; and Mr. +SMITH (Whig) for Clerk of the Court of Appeals. This movement in New +York City in favor of these candidates, caused a reaction in favor of +the others in the country districts of the state. The election occurred +on the 5th of November, and resulted as follows: + + _Whigs._ _Democrats._ + + _Gov._ HUNT 214,353 SEYMOUR 214,095 + _Lieut. Gov._ CORNELL 210,721 CHURCH 217,935 + _Canal Com._ BLAKELY 213,762 MATHER 214,818 + _Prison Ins._ BAKER 207,696 ANGEL 217,720 + _Clerk_ SMITH 210,926 BENTON 217,840 + +From this it will be seen that Mr. HUNT was elected Governor, and all +the rest of the Democratic ticket was successful. Thirty-four members of +Congress were also elected, there being 17 of each political party. The +Legislature is decidedly Whig. In the Senate, which holds over from last +year, there is a Whig majority of 2; and of the newly elected members of +Assembly, 81 are Whigs, and 47 Democrats. This result derives special +importance from the fact that a U.S. Senator is to be chosen to succeed +Hon. D.S. DICKINSON, whose term expires on the 4th of March, 1851. The +vote on the Repeal of the Free School Law was as follows: + + Against repeal 203,501 + For repeal 168,284 + -------- + Majority against repeal 35,217 + +In NEW JERSEY a state election also occurred on the 5th of November. The +candidates for Governor were Dr. FORT, Democrat, and Hon. JOHN RUNK, +Whig. The result of the canvass was as follows: + + FORT 39,726 + RUNK 34,054 + ------- + Fort's majority 5,672 + +Five members of Congress were also elected, 4 of whom were Democrats, +and 1 Whig. + +In OHIO the election occurred in October, with the following result: + + WOOD, Democrat 133,092 Majority 11,997. + JOHNSTON, Whig 121,095 + SMITH, Abolitionist 13,826 + +Twenty-one members of Congress were elected, of whom 8 were Whigs, and +13 Democrats. + +In MASSACHUSETTS the election took place on the 12th of November, with +the following result for Governor--there being, of course, no election, +as a majority of all the votes cast is requisite to a choice: + + BRIGGS, Whig 55,351 + BOUTWELL, Democrat 36,245 + PHILLIPS, Free Soil 27,811 + +Of 9 Congressmen, 3 Whigs are chosen, and in 6 districts no choice was +effected. Hon. HORACE MANN, the Free Soil candidate, succeeded against +both the opposing candidates. To the State Senate 13 Whigs and 27 of the +Opposition were chosen; and to the House of Representatives 169 Whigs, +179 Opposition, and in 79 districts there was no choice. The vacancies +were to be filled by an election on the 25th of November. A U.S. Senator +from this State is also to be chosen, to succeed Hon. R.C. WINTHROP, who +was appointed by the Governor to supply the vacancy caused by Mr. +WEBSTER's resignation. + +No more elections for Members of Congress will be held in any of the +States (except to fill vacancies) until after March 4th, 1851. The terms +of 21 Senators expire on that day--of whom 8 are Whigs, and 13 +Democrats. Judging from the State elections already held there will be 6 +Whigs and 15 Democrats chosen to fill their places. The U.S. Senate will +then stand thus: + + Holding over 18 Whigs 23 Democrats. + New Senators 6 " 5 " + -- -- + Total 24 38 + +The House of Representatives comprises 233 members, of whom 127 have +already been chosen, politically divided as follows--compared with the +delegations from each State in the present Congress: + + 1850. 1848. + _Whig._ _Dem._ _Whig._ _Dem._ + + Missouri 3 2 5 + Iowa 2 1 1 + Vermont 3 1 3 1 + Florida 1 1 + Maine 2 5 2 5 + South Carolina 7 7 + Pennsylvania 9 15 15 9 + Ohio 8 13 10 11 + New York 17 17 32 2 + New Jersey 1 4 4 1 + Wisconsin 3 1 2 + Michigan 2 1 1 2 + Massachusetts[11] 3 3 + Illinois 1 6 1 6 + Delaware 1 1 + -- -- -- -- + 50 77 75 52 + +Should the remaining 16 States be represented in the next Congress +politically as at present, the Democratic majority would be about 30. In +reference to the contingency of the next presidential election devolving +upon the House, for lack of a choice by the people, 9 of the above +States would go Democratic, five of them Whig, and one (the State of New +York), would have no vote, its delegation being equally divided. The +delegations of the same States in the present Congress are as follows, +viz., 7 Whig, 7 Democratic, and one (Iowa) equally divided. + +While such have been the results of the elections in the Northern +States, and such the tone of public feeling there, a still warmer +canvass has been going on throughout the South. We can only indicate the +most prominent features of this excitement, as shown in the different +Southern States. + +In GEORGIA a State Convention of delegates is to assemble, by call of +the Executive, under an act of the Legislature, at Milledgeville, on the +10th of December: and delegates are to be elected. The line of division +is resistance, or submission, to the Federal Government. A very large +public meeting was held at Macon, at which resolutions were adopted, +declaring that, if the North would adhere to the terms of the late +Compromise--if they would insure a faithful execution of the Fugitive +Slave Bill, and put down all future agitation of the slavery +question--then the people of the South will continue to live in the +bonds of brotherhood, and unite in all proper legislative action for the +preservation and perpetuity of our glorious Union. Hon. HOWELL COBB, +Speaker of the House of Representatives, made a speech in support of +these resolutions. Hon. A.H. STEPHENS, R. TOOMBS, Senator BERRIEN, and +other distinguished gentlemen of both parties, have made efforts in the +same direction, and public meetings have been held in several counties, +at which similar sentiments were proclaimed. The general feeling in +Georgia seems to be in favor of acquiescence in the recent legislation +of Congress, provided the North will also acquiesce, and faithfully +carry its acts into execution. + +In SOUTH CAROLINA, the whole current of public feeling seems to be in +favor of secession. At a meeting held at Greenville, on the 4th of +November, Col. MEMMINGER made a speech, in which he expressed himself +in favor of a Confederation of the Southern States, and if that could +not be accomplished, then for South Carolina to secede from the Union, +stand upon and defend her rights, and leave the issue in the hands of +Him who ruleth the destinies of nations. He was answered by General +WADDY THOMPSON, who depicted forcibly and eloquently the ruinous results +of such a course as that advised, and repelled the charges of injustice +urged against the Northern States. The meeting, however, adopted +resolutions, almost unanimously, embodying the sentiments of Col. +MEMMINGER. And the tone of the press throughout the state is of the same +character. + +In ALABAMA public opinion is divided. A portion of the people are in +favor of resistance, and called upon Gov. COLLIER to convene a State +Convention, to take the matter into consideration. The Governor has +issued an address upon the subject, in which he declines to do so, at +present, until the course of other Southern States shall have been +indicated. He says that while all profess to entertain the purpose to +resist aggression by the Federal Legislature on the great southern +institution, public opinion is certainly not agreed as to the time or +occasion when resistance should be interposed, or as to the mode or +measure of it. He apprehends renewed efforts for the abolition of +slavery in the District of Columbia, and pertinacious exertions for the +repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law; that California will be divided into +several States, and that the North will thus acquire power enough so to +amend the Federal Constitution as to take away the right of +representation for the slaves--a result which he, of course, regards as +fatal to the South. He believes that any State has a right to secede +from the Union, at pleasure, but thinks that a large majority of the +people of Alabama, are strongly disinclined to withdraw from the +confederation, until other measures have been unsuccessfully tried to +resist further aggression. Under these circumstances, he recommends the +people of the State so to develop their resources, establish +manufactures, schools, shipping houses, &c., as to become really +independent of the North. This is the policy which, in his judgment, +will prove most effectual in securing the rights, and protecting the +interests of the South. Hon. Mr. HILLIARD has written a letter to the +citizens of Mount Meigs, declaring that, though opposed to the admission +of California, he sees nothing in the measures of the last session which +would justify the people of the Southern States in resisting them, or +furnish any ground for revolution. A very large mass meeting of the +citizens of Montgomery county, held on the 20th of October, adopted +resolutions, first reciting that a systematic and formidable +organization is in progress in some of the Southern States, having for +its object some form of violent resistance to the Compromise measures +passed by Congress at its last session; and that if this resistance is +carried out according to the plans of a portion of the citizens of the +Southern States, it must, inevitably, lead to a dissolution of the +Union; and that the Montgomery meeting, though they do not approve of +them all, do not consider these measures as furnishing any sufficient +and just cause for resistance; and then declaring, 1. That they will +rally under the flag of the Union. 2. That they will support no man for +any office, who is in favor of disunion, or secession, on account of any +existing law or act of Congress. 3. That they acquiesce in the recent +action of Congress. And, 4. That if the Compromise should be disturbed, +they will unite with the South in such measures of resistance as the +emergency may demand. + +In MISSISSIPPI the contest is no less animated. It was brought on by the +issuing of a proclamation by Gov. QUITMAN, calling a State Convention, +for the purpose of taking measures of redress. A private letter, written +by Gov. QUITMAN, has also been published, in which he avows himself in +favor of secession. On the last Saturday in October, a mass meeting was +held at Raymond, at which Col. JEFFERSON DAVIS was present, and made a +speech. He was strongly in favor of resistance, but was not clear that +it should be by _force_. He thought it possible to maintain the rights +of the South in the Union. He was willing, however, to leave the mode of +resistance entirely to the people, while he should follow their dictates +implicitly. Mr. ANDERSON replied to him, and insisted that the Federal +Government had committed no unconstitutional aggression upon the rights +of the South, and that they ought, therefore, to acquiesce in the recent +legislation of Congress. Senator FOOTE is actively engaged in canvassing +the state, urging the same views. He meets very violent opposition in +various sections. + +In LOUISIANA indications of public sentiment are to be found in the +position of the two United States Senators. Mr. DOWNS, in his public +addresses, takes the ground that the South might as well secede because +Illinois and Indiana are free States as because California is. He admits +that California is a large State, but he says she is not half so large +as Texas, a slave State, brought into the Union five years ago. Mr. +SOULÉ, the other Senator, having expressed no opinion upon the subject, +was addressed in a friendly note of inquiry first by Hon. C.N. STANTON, +asking whether he was in favor of a dissolution of the Union, of the +establishment of a Southern Confederacy, or of the secession of +Louisiana, because of the late action of Congress. Mr. SOULÉ, in his +reply, complains bitterly of the "vile abuse" heaped upon him, charges +his correspondent with seeking his political destruction, and refers him +to his speeches in the Senate for his sentiments upon these questions. A +large number of the members of his own party then addressed to Mr. SOULÉ +the same inquiries, saying that they did it from no feeling of +unkindness, but merely to have a fair and proper comprehension of his +opinions upon a most important public question. Mr. S., under date of +Oct. 30, replies, refusing to answer their inquiries, and saying that +their only object was to divide and distract the Democratic party. +Senator DOWNS, in reply to the same questions, has given a full and +explicit answer in the negative: he is not in favor of disunion or +secession. + +A letter written during the last session of Congress, dated January 7, +1850, from the Members of Congress from Louisiana, to the Governor of +that State, has recently been published. It calls his attention to the +constant agitation of the subject of slavery at the North, and to the +fact that the legislature of every Northern State had passed resolutions +deemed aggressive by the South, and urging the Governor to recommend the +Legislature of Louisiana to join the other Southern States in resisting +this action. The opinion is expressed that "decisive action on the part +of the Southern States at the present crisis, is not only not dangerous +to the Union, but that it is the best, many think, the only way of +saving it." + +Among the political events of the month is the publication of a +correspondence between Hon. ISAAC HILL, long a leader of the Democratic +party in New Hampshire, and Mr. WEBSTER, in regard to the efforts of the +latter to preserve the peace and harmony of the Union by allaying +agitation on the subject of slavery. Mr. HILL, under date of April 17, +wrote to Mr. WEBSTER expressing his growing alarm at the progress of +ill-feeling between the different sections of the country, and his +conviction that "all that is of value in the sound discrimination and +good sense of the American people will declare in favor of Mr. WEBSTER's +great speech in the Senate upon that subject. Its author," he adds, "may +stand upon that alone, and he will best stand by disregarding any and +every imputation of alleged inconsistency and discrepancy of opinion and +practice, in a public career of nearly half a century." Mr. WEBSTER, in +acknowledging the letter, speaks of it as "an extraordinary and +gratifying incident in his life," coming as it did from one who had long +"belonged to an opposite political party, espoused opposite measures, +and supported for high office men of very different political opinions." +They had not differed, however, in their devotion to the Union; and now, +that its harmony is threatened, it was gratifying to see that both +concurred in the measures necessary for its preservation. His effort, he +says, had been and would be to cause the billows of useless and +dangerous controversy to sleep and be still. He was ready to meet all +the consequences which are likely to follow the attempt to moderate +public feeling in highly excited times, and he cheerfully left the +speech to which Mr. HILL had alluded, "with the principles and +sentiments which it avows, to the judgment of posterity." + +A public dinner was given to the Hon. JOHN M. CLAYTON on the 16th of +November, by the Whigs of Delaware, at Wilmington, at which Mr. C. made +a long and eloquent speech in vindication of the policy pursued by the +late President TAYLOR and his Administration. He paid a very high +tribute to the personal character, moral firmness, patriotism, and +sagacity of the late President, and vindicated his course from the +objections which have been urged against it. He expressed full +confidence in the perpetuity of the Union, and ridiculed the +apprehensions that have been so widely entertained of its dissolution. A +large number of guests were present, and letters were read from many +distinguished gentlemen who had been invited but were unable to attend. +Preferences were expressed at the meeting for Gen. SCOTT as a candidate +for the Presidency in 1852. + +Colonel RICHARD M. JOHNSON, Vice President of the United States for four +years from 1836, died at Frankfort, Ky., on the 19th of November, aged +70. He has been a member of Congress, and Senator of the United States +from Kentucky, and acquired distinction under General Harrison in the +Indian war of 1812. At the time of his death he was a member of the +Kentucky Legislature. + + +GREAT BRITAIN. + +The event of the month which has excited most interest, has been the +establishment by the Pope of Roman Catholic jurisdiction in England. The +Pope has issued an Apostolic Letter, dated September 24th, which begins +by reciting the steps taken hitherto for the promotion of the Catholic +faith in England. Having before his eyes the efforts made by his +predecessors, and desirous of imitating their zeal, and carrying forward +to completion the work which they commenced, and considering that every +day the obstacles are falling off which stood in the way of the +extension of the Catholic religion, Pius IX. believes that the time has +come when the form of government should be resumed in England such as it +exists in other nations. He thinks it no longer necessary that England +should be governed by Vicars Apostolic, but that she should be furnished +with the ordinary episcopal form of government. Being confirmed in these +thoughts by the desires expressed by the Vicars Apostolic, the clergy +and laity, and the great body of English Catholics, and, also, by the +advice of the Cardinals forming the Congregation for Propagating the +Faith, the Pope decrees the re-establishment in England of a hierarchy +of bishops, deriving their titles from their own Sees, which he +constitutes in the various Apostolic districts. He then proceeds to +erect England into one archiepiscopal province of the Romish church, and +divides that province into thirteen bishoprics. + +The promulgation of this letter created throughout England a feeling of +angry surprise, and nearly the whole of London has teemed with the most +emphatic and earnest condemnation of the measure. In order somewhat to +mitigate the alarm of startled Protestantism, Dr. Ullathorne, an eminent +Catholic divine, has published a letter to show that the act is solely +between the Pope and his spiritual subjects, who have been recognized as +such by the English Emancipation Act, and that it does not in the +slightest degree interfere with the laws of England, in all temporal +matters. He shows that the jurisdiction which the Pope has asserted in +England, is nothing more than has been exercised by every communion in +the land, and that nothing can be more unfair than to confound this +measure, which is really one of liberality to the Catholics of England, +with ideas of aggression on the English government and people. In 1688, +he says, England was divided into four vicariates. In 1840, the four +were again divided into eight; and, in 1850, they are again divided and +changed into thirteen. This has been done in consequence of efforts +begun by the Catholics of England, in 1846, and continued until the +present time. By changing the Vicars Apostolic into Bishops in ordinary, +the Pope has given up the exercise of a portion of his power, and +transferred it to the bishops. This letter, with other papers of a +similar tenor, has somewhat modified the feeling of indignation with +which the Pope's proceeding was at first received, and attention has +been turned to the only fact of real importance connected with the +matter, namely, the rapid and steady increase of the Roman Catholics, by +conversions from the English Established Church. The _Daily News_, in a +paper written with marked ability, charges this increase upon the secret +Catholicism of many of the younger clergy, encouraged by ecclesiastical +superiors, upon the negligent administration of other clergymen, and +upon the exclusive character of the Universities. Very urgent demands +are made by the press, and by the clergy of the Established Church, for +the interference of the Government against the Pope's invasion of the +rights of England; but no indications have yet been given of any +intention on the part of ministers to take any action upon the subject. + +A good deal of attention has been attracted to a speech made by Lord +STANLEY, the leader of the Protectionist party in England, at a public +dinner, Oct. 4th, in which he urged the necessity, on the part of the +agricultural interests of the kingdom, of adapting themselves to the +free-trade policy, instead of laboring in vain for its repeal. The +speech has been very widely regarded as an abandonment of the +protective policy by its leading champion, and it is, of course, +considered as a matter of marked importance with reference to the future +policy of Great Britain upon this subject. The Marquis of Granby, on the +other hand, at the annual meeting of the Waltham Agricultural Society, +held on the 19th of October, again urged the necessity of returning to +the old system of protection, and exhorted reliance on a future +Parliament for its accomplishment. The subject of agriculture is +attracting an unusual degree of attention, and the various issues +connected with it, form a standard topic of discussion in the leading +journals. + +The Tenant Right question continues to be agitated with great +earnestness and ability in Ireland. A deputation from the Ulster Tenant +Right Provincial Committee waited on the Earl of Clarendon during his +visit to Belfast to present an address. The earl declined to receive +them, but wrote a letter, dated Sept. 18, in reply to one inclosing a +copy of the address. He expressed great satisfaction at the prevalence +of order and at the evidence of agricultural prosperity, and assured +them of the wish of the government to settle the rights of tenants on a +just and satisfactory basis. A great Tenant Right meeting was held at +Meath, October 10th, at which some 15,000 persons are said to have been +present. + +The Committee of Prelates appointed by the Synod of Thurles to carry +into execution the project of establishing a Catholic University in +Ireland, on the model of the Catholic University at Louvain, have +resolved that regular monthly collections, on the plan of that for the +Propagation of the Faith, be made throughout the kingdom by local +committees, of which the parochial clergy are to be ex-officio members. +They have published a long address to the Catholics of Ireland, +insisting on the grave evils to faith and morals of separating religion +from secular education, and calling loudly for support to their +projected establishment. + +The month has been distinguished in England by an extraordinary +prevalence of crime. Murders, burglaries, and other offenses against the +law have been frequent beyond all former experience. The details of +these incidents it is not worth while to give. The Household Narrative +gives a chapter, written after the manner of Ledru Rollin, in which the +state of England during the month of October is presented in a most +unpromising light. The writer says that, notwithstanding the gloominess +of the picture, every fact stated in it is true, and every inference is +false. There have also been an unusual number of accidents during the +month. + +Miss Howard, of York Place, has assigned over to trustees £45,000, for +the erection of twenty-one houses on her property at Pinner, near +Harrow, in the form of a crescent; the centre-house for the trustees, +the other twenty houses for the use of twenty widows, who are to occupy +them free of rent and taxes, and also to receive £50 a year clear of all +deductions. The widows of naval men to have the preference, then those +of military men, and, lastly, those of clergymen. This is justly +chronicled as an act of munificent charity. + +The Free Grammar School at Richmond, erected as a testimonial to the +memory of the late Canon Tate, who was one of the most successful +teachers in England, was opened with much ceremony on the 3d of October. + +A Temperance Festival was held on the 14th, at the London Tavern. The +company, between five and six hundred, were entertained with tea, +speeches, and temperance melodies. The principal speaker was Mr. George +Cruikshank, the celebrated artist, who was vehemently applauded. + +Negotiations have been entered into with the Lords of the Admiralty and +Government authorities for the establishment of a Submarine Telegraph +across St. George's Channel, upon a similar though much more extensive +scale to that now being undertaken between England and France. From the +extreme western coast of Ireland to Halifax, the nearest telegraphic +station in America, the distance is 2155 miles; and as this might be +accomplished by the steamers in five or six days, it is apprehended that +England, by means of telegraphic communication, may be put in possession +of intelligence from America in six days, instead of as now in twelve or +fourteen. + +The QUEEN and Prince ALBERT have returned from their visit to Scotland. +They remained at Balmoral till the 10th Oct., on the morning of which +day they departed for the South. They arrived at Edinburgh about seven +in the evening. Preparations had been made to give a loyal welcome; and +among the features of the demonstration, was a bonfire piled to the +height of forty feet on the summit of Arthur's Seat. The blazing mass +consisted of thirty tons of coal, a vast quantity of wood saturated with +oil and turpentine, and a thousand tar-barrels. It was kindled at five +o'clock, and the flames are said to have been seen by the Queen for many +miles of her route on both sides of the Forth. The party left Edinburgh +next morning, and arrived in the evening at Buckingham Palace; and on +Saturday, the 12th, they went to Osborne. + +Intelligence has been received from the Arctic Expedition in search of +Sir John Franklin. The North Star, which went out as a tender-ship to +the expedition of Sir John Clark Ross a year and a half ago, returned +unexpectedly to Spithead on the 28th of September, bringing dispatches +from the ships of the four expeditions which went out early this year. +The Prince Albert, a ship dispatched in July last, under Captain +Forsyth, to make a special search beyond Brentford Bay, returned to +Aberdeen on the 29th ult. Dispatches from Captain Ommaney, Captain +Penny, Sir John Ross, and Captain Forsyth, have been published by the +Admiralty; but they throw little or no light on the fate of the missing +voyagers. + +The British Government has decided to send all letters and newspapers +for the United States by the first steamer, whether American or English. +Hitherto they have invariably been detained for a British steamer, +unless specially marked for transmission by the American line. + +A Dublin paper states that Dr. WISEMAN, who has been made Archbishop of +Westminster by the Pope, is a native of Seville, where his parents, who +are natives of Waterford, Ireland, resided several years. His father was +a wine-merchant in Andalusia. + +The Lord Mayor of York gave a splendid entertainment to the Lord Mayor +of London, on the 25th of October, which was attended by a great number +of the leading men of England. Prince Albert was present, and made a +very sensible and pertinent extempore speech. Its leading feature was a +marked and impressive eulogy on Sir Robert Peel. In alluding to the +interest taken by Sir Robert in the great Industrial Exhibition, Prince +Albert took occasion to say that he had assurances of the most reliable +character that the works in preparation for the great Exhibition were +"such as to dispel all apprehension for the position which British +industry will maintain." + +At the meeting of the Canford Estate Agricultural Show on the 22d of +October, the lady of Sir John Guest made a brief but most admirable +speech, expressing her regard for the laboring classes of England, and +her earnest desire that the utmost efforts should be made for their +elevation and improvement. This unusual incident, and the admirable +spirit which it evinced, elicited great applause. + +The Town Council of Manchester are taking vigorous steps to compel the +manufacturers of that city to consume the smoke of their furnaces, and +thus to rid the city of the dense cloud which has hung over it hitherto. +The process is found to be perfectly practicable, and decidedly +economical. Some of the heaviest manufacturing establishments in the +city testify to a saving of _one-third_ in coal. The issue of the +experiment will be important. + +The rapid increase of burglaries and thefts in Birmingham has elicited +from Mr. D.H. Hill a suggestion for the suppression of crime, which is +regarded as pertinent and important by the leading journals. He proposes +that whenever a jury is satisfied that an accused party is addicted to +theft, he shall be compelled to prove a good character, and to show +means of subsistence, on penalty of being adjudged a thief, and punished +accordingly, under an old statute. + +Emigration from Ireland to the United States continues and increases. A +great part of those who leave are described by the Irish papers as being +farmers of the most respectable class, and considerable apprehensions +are expressed of the injurious effect of the movement on the prosperity +of the country. + +A letter from BRAZIL, written by Lieut. BAILEY of the royal navy, +details some rather prompt proceedings on his part in the capture of +slavers. He was sent out to the Brazil station, and arrived off Rio +Janeiro June 18th, and in sight of the harbor captured a vessel engaged +in slave-trading, and sank her the same night. On the 20th, he captured +a second, and sent her to St. Helena for adjudication; and on the 23d, +he seized another, taking her out of a Brazilian port, which has +hitherto been contrary to law. The affair excited a good deal of feeling +in Brazil, and was likely to lead to a misunderstanding with the English +government. The effect of such proceedings, in exasperating a government +which might be induced by friendly appeals to put an end to +slave-trading, is forcibly urged. + +The Paris correspondent of the London Times has developed an alleged +secret plot of the Red Republicans, to revive the revolutionary fever +throughout Europe, and the substance of his statements is also given in +the Paris _Patrie_--both accounts being evidently derived from the same +source. It is asserted that the Socialists have leagued themselves +together and that a secret congress of their chiefs was held in Paris on +the 2d of June, where they planned a gigantic conspiracy, the +ramifications of which extend to the whole of Europe, and even to the +heart of Russia, where it is said to menace a terrible explosion. The +motto which has been adopted is, "_Sans pitié ni merci_," and it has +been resolved that all the chiefs of states shall be assassinated. It is +added that in one of the numerous secret meetings held by the initiated +under the presidency of the principal agents, the death of the +Bonapartists was sworn, and would be the signal for the destruction of +all the Bourbons, and of all their friends and supporters. The threat +uttered by one of the German chiefs of the conspiracy was to the effect +that "on the field of battle we shall spare no one, and we will strike +down our dearest friends if they are not unconditional Communists." +After indicating the dépôts of arms formed by the Communist conspirators +in all the capitals where it has established seats, enumerating the +means employed to ensnare the foolish and the ambitious, and, in fact, +indicating all its resources and all its plans, the document informs us +that the object of the conspiracy is to arrive, by means of general +confusion and a sanguinary combat, at the extermination of all those who +possess a foot of land, or a coupon of _rente_, and that it has sworn +the oath of Hannibal against all the monarchies of Europe. _Plunder and +assassination form the basis of the plan._ The document terminates thus, +"The soil of Europe is undermined, so as to render a frightful +catastrophe imminent." The pretended revelation is ridiculed in nearly +all quarters. + +On the destruction of the Roman Republic, the Roman Representatives +appointed a National Committee, of which Mazzini was the head, with +extensive political powers. This committee has just issued an address, +dated at London, calling on all Italians and all Italian provinces to +join their standard, promising them eventual success. In the course of +the address they declare that they have effected such an organization of +the forces of the movement as circumstances permit, and insist on the +necessity of Italy becoming an independent nation. + +We have hitherto alluded to the public agitation started in the British +Colony of New South Wales in favor of independence, by Dr. Lang, who had +organized an association for the purpose of accomplishing the object +which he declared to be so desirable. The movement has been represented +by the English papers as being unsupported by the colonists, and as, +therefore, of no importance. We see, however, that Dr. Lang has recently +been elected mayor of the City of Sydney, which shows that the people +there, at least, have confidence in his character and respect for his +views. + + +FRANCE. + +Nothing important has occurred in France during the month, except a +change in the War Department, growing out of the supposed efforts of the +President to attach the army to his interests. On the 3d of October the +President reviewed a great body of troops near Versailles. He was +accompanied by the Minister of War, and by General Roguet, his +aid-de-camp. General Changarnier left Paris an hour before the +President. Though entitled to take the command he did not do so, General +Neumayer acting in his room. After the review the President gave a +collation to the officers and non-commissioned officers, and ordered +13,000 rations to be distributed to the soldiers. The President joined +the collation given to the general officers, but General Changarnier +declined being present, and returned to Paris. The frequency of these +reviews, the manner in which the troops were feasted by the President, +the manifestations made by the soldiers, and the rumor that a difference +of opinion existed between the President and General Changarnier on the +subject, led to an extraordinary meeting of the Commission of +Permanence. The Minister of War, General Hautpoul, having been called on +to explain the circumstances with reference to the late reviews, replied +that he wished to inform the Commission that he held no command from the +Assembly, and that, consequently, he could deny the right of the +Commission to put any questions to him. He, however, waived these +objections; and, in reply to the question, said that the accounts +published in the papers respecting the reviews were grossly exaggerated; +and that nothing whatever had occurred there of an unconstitutional or +an unmilitary character. The Minister further observed that it would be +impossible to publish an order of the day preventing the soldiers from +expressing their feelings of attachment and respect to the chief of the +State, and if it were possible he would not do so. With respect to the +review that was to take place on the following Thursday, he pledged +himself for the maintenance of the most complete tranquillity on that +occasion. When the Commission was about to separate, the President again +addressed the Minister of War, and said, "General Hautpoul, I am desired +by the committee to apprise you that in case General Changarnier be +removed from his command, or that any other steps be taken against him, +we are determined to convoke, forthwith, the Legislative Assembly." To +this the Minister made no reply, and the Commission adjourned. + +On Thursday the 10th, the review referred to by the Minister of War took +place. There were 25,000 troops, chiefly cavalry. The President was +accompanied by General Hautpoul, the Minister of War, and several other +general officers, besides his usual brilliant staff. When the defiling +of the troops in front of the President took place, he was loudly hailed +by part of the cavalry, who cried "Vive l'Empereur!" "Vive Napoleon!" +After the troops had defiled, the usual refreshments were served out to +them, and the President, accompanied by his staff, paid a visit to the +camp, but General Changarnier left the ground. + +The _Proces-verbal_ of the meeting of the Council of Permanence, held on +the 12th, drawn up by M. Dupin to the President, was to the following +effect: The violation of the promises made by the Minister of War, and +the unconstitutional manifestations, provoked or tolerated, are severely +blamed. The committee did not think proper to invite the Minister of War +to give further explanations. Deploring the incidents of the review, it +still expressed complete confidence in the loyalty of the army, and is +satisfied that the cries were not spontaneous on the part of the +soldiers, but instigated by certain officers. In order to avoid alarming +the country in the absence of imminent peril, it has not deemed proper +to convoke the Assembly; but it deeply disapproves reviews so frequent, +into which habits altogether unusual and foreign to military traditions +have been so boldly introduced. + +As a sequel to these disputes, General Hautpoul has found it necessary +to resign his place in the government, and has gone to Algeria as +governor of that colony. He is succeeded as Minister of War by General +Schramm. Soon after the accession of the latter, an official +notification appeared in the _Moniteur_ that General Neumayer had been +removed from the command of the 1st division and appointed to the 15th. +The reason given for this removal is said to be that General N., at the +last review at Satory, expressly enjoined the troops not to give +utterance to any cry whatever, deeming silence to be more strictly in +accordance with the regulations of the army, and in conformity, too, +with the instructions he had received from the Commander-in-Chief. This, +it is said, much displeased both Louis Napoleon and the Minister of War. +At all events, General Changarnier was greatly offended at the removal, +and a complete breach has occurred between him and the President. He +refuses to resign until the Assembly shall have passed judgment in the +matter. + + +THE DANISH WAR. + +The war between _Denmark and the Duchies_ is bloody and disastrous. The +army of Schleswig-Holstein has made several attempts to take the city of +Friedrichstadt by storm, none of which have been successful, and the +losses sustained by General Willisen have been considerable, +particularly in officers. After bombarding part of the town during the +whole of the 4th of October, the town was in the evening attacked by two +battalions of infantry and a detachment of riflemen. After a desperate +struggle, in which both sides must have suffered very heavy losses, the +Danes gave way a little, but only to seek the cover of new entrenchments +and barricades thrown up in the middle of the town. The resistance which +they met with here was so violent and determined, that notwithstanding +the most brilliant bravery, the Schleswig-Holsteiners were compelled to +retire at midnight. They took up a new position somewhat in advance of +the old, and the conflict was renewed on the following morning, but with +no better success. The fighting continued till near midnight. Sixteen +officers out of twenty belonging to the 5th battalion were slain. +General Christiansen covered the retreat with his battery, while the +flames of the burning city cast a ghastly light upon the retiring +troops. After the failure of this desperate assault, General Willisen +withdrew his troops from before Friedrichstadt. The heavy guns were +taken back to Rendsburg, and the two armies were again in the same +position they occupied before the 29th of September; the only result +having been the almost total destruction of the unfortunate town, and +the loss of many brave men on both sides. + +The Danish journals of the 16th state that orders have been issued for +the return to Copenhagen of all the Danish ships of war, except the +smaller craft, in consequence of the advanced season of the year, and +its accompanying storms, which render it nearly impossible for vessels +to hold to the coast. + +A rumor has obtained currency through the _Times_ that the aid extended +to the Schleswig-Holsteiners by Prussia, has led to the interference of +Russia and of France, and that these two powers have jointly proposed to +England that the three powers shall peremptorily require Prussia to +fulfill her recent engagement with Denmark, and withdraw the support she +still continues to give to the Schleswig-Holstein army. In the event of +Prussia hesitating to comply with this reasonable demand, Russia and +France are prepared to back it, by an invasion of the Silesian provinces +of Prussia on the one side, and the Rhenish on the other. The British +Government, in reply, it is said, declines to join with Russia and +France in such a note as that described, but proposes that all three +powers shall separately remonstrate with Prussia on her present breach +of faith with the Danish Government. These rumors have created a good +deal of interest and anxiety, as threatening the peace of Europe. + + +INDIA AND CHINA. + +The accounts from India are from Bombay to October 3, and from Calcutta +to September 21st. Great preparations were on foot for the great +Industrial Exhibition at London. The Maharajah has ordered specimens of +every kind of Cashmerian product to be got ready without delay. The +shawls intended for the purpose are described as remarkably splendid. +The heir to the throne, Rajah Runheer Singh, having heard of the +distinguished "success" at London of the Nepaul Envoy, is anxious to +visit England himself; but the prospect of a disputed succession, in the +event of his father's death, will probably keep him at home. + +The whole of _British India_ was tranquil, but the petty civil war on +the Nizam's borders still continued. + +The native state of _Oude_ seems inclined to rival the Nizam's +territories in anarchy and misgovernment. Some months since an English +officer was killed and two guns lost in an attack on the fort of a +refractory vassal of the King of Oude. A second event of the same nature +has occurred. The Rajah of Esanuggur had shown himself for some time +unwilling to pay the portion of revenue due from him to the Oude +government, and in endeavoring to obtain these dues from him, Lieut. P. +Orr, with a small party, had a brisk fight, each side losing a +considerable number. Lieut. Orr was forced to retreat, and took refuge +in the districts of a rival Rajah. + +The present aspect of the _Punjaub_ is most encouraging; the population, +now disarmed, have settled down into their former habits of industry. +The breadth of land under cultivation this season is said to be +unprecedented, and the crops are every where most promising. + +The most important piece of intelligence from _Hong-Kong_ is the +continuation of the fearful mortality among the British troops. This +mortality was chiefly in the 59th regiment, which had lost ninety men in +about two months. This sickness, therefore, is ascribed to the +unhealthiness of the barracks and the want of sufficient sanitary +precautions. The mortality, however, had begun to abate. + +A formidable _insurrection_ against the Chinese government had broken +out in the province of Kwang-si. The leader, who is named Li-ting-pang, +is said to be at the head of 50,000 men. He has assumed the title borne +by the highest Tartar generals, and threatens to exterminate the +present, and restore the old Chinese dynasty. + +In Bombay, the culture of cotton is rapidly extending. Two years ago, +the whole of the land under cultivation with American cotton in that +Presidency, was under twenty thousand acres. At the present moment the +quantity exceeds one hundred thousand acres, and there is every +certainty of a rapid increase taking place. + +At a court martial held in Bombay, Lieut. Rose was found guilty of a +want of spirit, in applying to the civil power for an escort of police +to protect him from Mr. Lang, editor of the Mofussilite, with whom he +had a quarrel. He was sentenced to be reprimanded by Sir Charles Napier, +and to lose his staff appointment. + + +TURKEY. + +The question as to the Hungarian refugees is not yet arranged. Numerous +communications have taken place on this subject between the Porte and +the Austrian internuncio, and a recent conference has been held between +the British embassador and General Aupick. The Divan, considering itself +pledged to Austria by its anterior declaration, is unwilling to break, +inconsiderately, an engagement of this nature, by which its relations +with the Court of Vienna might be gravely compromised. In order, +therefore, to conciliate all parties, the Porte has written on this +subject to its embassador at Vienna, directing him to confer with the +Austrian Cabinet on the modifications that it may be possible and +desirable to make in the situation of the refugees. The Russian Minister +affects not to interfere in this affair, but, notwithstanding this, it +is obvious to every one that he is in private communication with the +Austrian internuncio. The Turkish fleet, which had been for some time +cruising in the Archipelago, has returned to Constantinople. + + +TUSCANY. + +The Representative Constitution and the Liberty of the Press have been +destroyed in _Tuscany_. On the 23d Sept. two Decrees were promulgated; +the first announced the dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies and +declared that till a fresh convocation of the legislature, all power +would be exercised by the Grand Duke in the Council of State. The second +declared that no journal or periodical should be published without first +obtaining the written authorization of the Minister of the Interior, to +whom the names and other circumstances of the director and of the +proprietor of the printing establishment are to be communicated. + + +EASTERN AND SOUTHERN EUROPE. + +A frightful calamity has occurred at the place of pilgrimage called +Herrgott, in _Austria_. At one of the public-houses the pilgrims (of +whom there were 3000 assembled at Herrgott) were spending the night in +eating and drinking. While baking the fish the oven took fire. Behind +the inn were a number of stables and barns, in which hundreds of the +pilgrims were reposing, and almost all perished in the flames. Scarcely +half of the pilgrims were saved, and those who survived have for the +most part been much injured. + +From _Poland_ there is a singular account of a forest on fire. Near +Cracow, adjoining the line of railway, there is a large peat ground, +part of which runs below an immense forest. Some sparks from a +locomotive engine were blown in that direction, and fell on the peat. A +few days after, the ground in the forest was found to be very warm, and +some rumbling and crackling noises were heard. Several large trees fell +as if cut down by an ax, and the leaves of others withered. As it was +naturally considered that a subterranean fire must be burning under the +forest, the officers charged with the inspection of it caused large +trenches to be cut. This conjecture turned out to be well-founded, for +the fire soon afterward burst forth, and still continued its ravages. +The forest presented the appearance of a vast sea of flame, which was +every day extending. The country round to the extent of six leagues was +perfectly illuminated, and it has been found impossible to stop the +progress of the fire. + +The long expected Constitution for Galicia has at length appeared. That +Crown land will have three districts, Cracow, Lemberg, and +Stanislawow--each with a separate administration. In Cracow the specific +Polish, and in Stanislawow the Ruthennian element is prevalent. Lemberg, +the capital of Galicia, is the seat of the Provincial Government. In the +Lemberg district the two branches of the same race (the Sclavonic) are +mixed. + +The Constitution for the Bukowina has also been published. This remote +Crown land is divided into six districts or captaincies, which are under +the immediate control of the Stadtholder of the province, who has still +to be appointed. Count Goluchowski had been sworn in as Stadtholder of +Galicia. + +Letters from Ravenna, in the _Genoa Gazette_, give appalling accounts of +the progress of brigandage in the Roman states. Two persons, considered +as spies by the bandits, had been decapitated by them in the vicinity of +the above-mentioned town, and their heads placed on poles at a +cross-road. The diligence of Imola has lately been stopped and robbed of +1000 scudi (5500f.) belonging to the Pope. At Lugo, three individuals +carried off 11,000f. from a bank, and passed triumphantly through the +town with their booty, without any one daring to stop them. + +An extensive conspiracy has recently been discovered at Teheran. The +most influential members of the clergy were at the head of it, and its +object was to overthrow the present Shah, to replace him by a descendant +of Ali, and to drive all the Turks out of Persia. Numerous arrests have +been made at Teheran, and in the principal towns. The greater number of +those arrested belong to the body of Ulemas. + + +LETTERS, SCIENCE, ART, PUBLIC MEN, ETC. + +UNITED STATES. + +The past month has not been marked by any movements of importance in any +of these departments. Our publishers have generally confined their +issues to works especially intended for the holiday season. Most of our +public men have been recruiting themselves from the fatigues of the late +protracted session of Congress, or preparing, by taking part in the +political canvass, for the session that is at hand. Mr. CLAY was +received at Lexington with abundant demonstrations of enthusiastic +personal and political affection. He has remained at home during the +vacation. + +Mr. WEBSTER has been spending some weeks at his farm in Marshfield, and +at his native town, Franklin, N.H. During his stay at the latter place a +number of his old friends and neighbors paid him a visit, and sat down +to an old-fashioned dinner, at which friendly greetings were exchanged +with their distinguished host. The occasion was one of rare enjoyment. +Mr. WEBSTER's health has been very sensibly benefited by this greatly +needed interval of relaxation from public duties. In some remarks made +at an informal meeting with some friends in Boston, Mr. W. said that for +six months during the last session of Congress, he had not slept two +hours any one night. + +A public dinner was recently given at Boston to AMIN BEY, the Turkish +Envoy to the United States, by some of the merchants of Boston. THOMAS +B. CURTIS presided, and a large number of distinguished guests were +present. AMIN BEY replied to a toast complimentary to the Sultan, by +expressing his warm sense of the friendliness with which he had been +received in this country, and his earnest desire for an extension of +commerce and of mutual kind offices between his own government and that +of the United States. Mr. WEBSTER made a brief and eloquent response to +a toast thanking him for his efforts in behalf of the Union. In the +course of his remarks he said that "the slavery question New England +could only interfere with as a meddler: she had no more to do with it +than she had with the municipal government of a city in the Island of +Cuba." Very eloquent speeches, breathing similar sentiments, were made +by EDWARD EVERETT, Mr. WINTHROP, and others and J.P. BROWN Esq., the +interpreter of AMIN BEY, responded happily to a toast complimenting Hon. +GEORGE P. MARSH the American Minister at Constantinople. Mr. BROWN said +that as a diplomatist and a scholar Mr. Marsh enjoyed, in an eminent +degree, the respect and esteem of the enlightened young Sultan of +Turkey, and all his Ministers. + +M. ALEXANDRE VATTEMARE, who is known as the founder of the system of +International Exchanges, has taken leave of the United States in a very +warm and eloquent address, expressing his gratitude for the kindness of +his reception, his brilliant anticipations of the great results which +time will develop from the system to which he has devoted his life, and +commending it to the favor and aid of the American people. The world has +seen few instances of rarer or more disinterested devotion to high +public objects than this amiable and enthusiastic gentleman has +exhibited. + +The statue of JOHN C. CALHOUN, made by POWERS for the City of +Charleston, and which was lost by shipwreck off Fire Island, has been +recovered, and sent forward to its destination. The left arm was broken +off at the elbow: with this exception it was uninjured. + +At a recent meeting of the Academy of Design in New York, it was stated +by the president, Mr. DURAND, that the institution had incurred a +considerable debt beyond its resources, and mentioned a proposition that +the artists connected with it should paint pictures to be disposed of +for the benefit of the Academy. In regard to the mode of disposing of +them a raffle was suggested: but Mr. COZZENS, the President of the +Art-Union, being present as an honorary member, at once offered to +purchase them at such a price as might be fixed upon them by the +Academy. The proposition was at once accepted, and has given great and +general satisfaction as an indication of good feeling between two +institutions which have been sometimes represented as hostile to each +other. + +Mr. WM. D. GALLAGHER, who is very favorably known as a literary +gentleman of ability, has received the appointment of confidential clerk +in the Treasury Department at Washington. + +Mr. WILLIAM W. STORY, son of the late Judge STORY, has recently returned +from Italy, where he has been perfecting himself in the art of +sculpture, for which he abandoned the profession of law a few years +since. He brought with him a number of very beautiful models made while +at Rome. He has executed a bust of the distinguished jurist, his father, +for the Inner Temple, London. He will return to Rome in the spring. + +We understand that the painting and gilding of white china, imported +from England and France, is engaging considerable attention in this +country, and that there is one establishment in Boston where above a +hundred persons are constantly employed. + +Prof. FILOPANTI, an Italian scholar of some distinction, has been +delivering a series of lectures in New York, on the Influence of Secret +Societies on the Revolutions of Ancient and Modern Rome. + +Hon. DANIEL D. BARNARD has sailed for Europe to enter upon his duties as +American Minister at Berlin. Previous to his departure his fellow +citizens of Albany addressed him a very complimentary letter, expressing +their regret at the loss of his society, and their admiration of his +character. Mr. B. is one of the most cultivated and scholarly of +American statesmen. + +It is stated, though we know not upon what authority, that Col. BLISS is +preparing a History of the Campaigns of General TAYLOR. Such a work +would be of great value and interest, historically and in a literary +point of view. + +G.P.R. JAMES, Esq., is delivering his lectures on the History of +Civilization in different northern cities. He intends to spend the +winter at the South. He has placed one of his sons at Yale College, and +the other in the Law School at New Haven. + +Mr. CRAWFORD, the American sculptor, is soon to commence modeling the +statue of Washington, which our government has commissioned him to +execute. From a granite basement, in the form of a star of six rays, +rises a pedestal, upon which stands the equestrian statue, in bronze, +sixteen feet in height. The six points of the star are to be surmounted +with six colossal figures. The casting will be executed either at Paris +or Munich. + +Steps have been taken to erect a suitable monument to the memory of +General WARREN. A committee of which Mr. Everett was chairman have +reported in favor of a statue to be placed in Faneuil Hall, Boston. + +A bust of ETHAN ALLEN has just been completed by a Vermont artist, Mr. +KINNEY. He had a great deal of difficulty in procuring an accurate +likeness; the grandson of Allen, Colonel HITCHCOCK of the army, is said +to bear a striking personal resemblance to the old hero. + +The Bulletin of the American Art-Union contains information concerning +American Artists which has personal interest:-- + +DURAND has not yet removed from his residence on the Hudson. KENSETT and +CHAMPNEY have been sketching among the White Hills of New Hampshire. +CROPSEY is at his country studio, at Greenwood Lake. CHURCH and GIGNOUX +have returned from the coast of Maine with their portfolios well stocked +with sketches. RANNEY continues to work upon his picture of _Marion, +with his Army, crossing the Pedee_, which will soon be completed. +MATTESON, now residing at Sherburne, has nearly finished a picture +representing _A Trial Scene in the Backwoods_, which, it is said, will +advance his reputation. JONES, a sculptor who has a high reputation at +the West, has removed to New York; he has already modeled busts of +General Taylor, Lewis Cass, Henry Clay, Thomas Corwin, and other +notabilities, and is now employed on a spirited head of General Scott, +at the order of some friends in Detroit. + +EDWIN WHITE is diligently pursuing his studies in Paris. HALL, we +believe, has also gone to Paris from Düsseldorf. PAGE has arrived in +Florence, which place he intends to make his residence for several +months. He has formed a warm intimacy with POWERS, whose portrait he is +painting. WHITRIDGE and MCCONKEY have lately sent home several pictures +which indicate improvement, although they are somewhat tinged with the +mannerism of the Düsseldorf school, where these artists have been +studying so long. They propose to leave Germany very soon, and after +visiting Italy and France, to return home in the spring. LEUTZE is at +work on his great picture of _Washington Crossing the Delaware_. The +size of this painting is the same with that of those in the Rotunda of +the Capitol, twelve feet by eighteen feet. It will probably be completed +in the spring, when the artist intends to accompany it to this country, +from which he has been absent now about ten years. UPJOHN, the architect +was, by the last accounts, in Venice. GLASS has returned to his +residence at Kensington, near London, from the neighborhood of Haddon +Hall, where he has been assiduously engaged in sketching. He is at work +upon a group of paintings, illustrative of scenes in the wars of the +Stuarts. He is an artist of decided merit and increasing reputation. + + +GREAT BRITAIN. + +In ENGLAND very few books of special value or interest have been +published or announced. The most important book of the month is the +first part of a very able and laborious compilation on _Commercial Law_ +by Mr. LEONE LEVI. The object of the entire undertaking, is to survey +the principles and administration of all the various commercial laws of +foreign countries, with a view to a direct comparison with the +mercantile law of Great Britain. Mr. Levi appears to have been engaged +for years, with this object, in correspondence with the merchants of +upward of fifty countries remarkable more or less for distinct and +separate commercial usages; and to have obtained in every instance the +information he sought. His ultimate object, is the establishment of a +national and international code of commerce among all civilized +countries, rejecting what is inconvenient or unjust in all, and +retaining and codifying what is best in each. + +A life of WORDSWORTH, by the Rev. Christopher Wordsworth, is announced +as in press. Its appearance will be awaited with interest. + +M. MAZZINI has just republished his letters, orations, and other tracts +on Italy, with an eloquent and earnest appeal to the English people, in +a small volume entitled _Royalty and Republicanism in Italy_. M. Mazzini +repels in this book the charge so often brought against him of having +distracted and divided the forces of his native country, at the time +when they ought to have been concentrated on the paramount duty of +driving out the Austrians. + +A curious incident connected with American History is mentioned in the +closing volume of SOUTHEY's Life, which has just been published in +London. While JARED SPARKS was examining the state papers in the public +offices of the British Government, so much matter was ferreted out that +the government "wished to tell its own story," and SOUTHEY adds, that +his "pulse was felt," but he declined writing it on the ground that +others could perform the task as well, and he had other engagements on +hand. + +SOUTHEY, in 1829, declined a proposal from Fraser to write a popular +history of English literature in four volumes. It is to be regretted +that he did not write such a work. + +In a letter to a friend, speaking of the Foreign Review, SOUTHEY says +that of its contributors, he "only knows that _an Edinburgh person_, by +name Carlyle, has written the most striking papers on German +literature." This style of reference to one who is now one of the most +eminent English writers, strikes a reader as curious. In the same letter +he speaks of Heraud, as "a man of extraordinary powers, and not less +extraordinary industry and ardor." + +In 1835, Sir ROBERT PEEL wrote to SOUTHEY, informing him that he had +advised the king to "adorn the distinction of the baronetage with a name +the most eminent in literature, and which had claims to respect and +honor which literature alone could never confer"--that of SOUTHEY +himself. He accompanied this with a private letter, begging to know if +there was any way in which the possession of power would enable him to +be of service to Mr. SOUTHEY. The latter replied, in a letter marked by +the utmost propriety, declining the baronetcy, as he had not the means +of supporting it, and asking for an increase of his pension, which was +then £200. Sir Robert soon after added to this a new pension of £300, on +a public principle, "the recognition of literary and scientific eminence +as a public claim." He conferred, at the same time, a similar pension +on Professor Airey, of Cambridge, Mrs. Somerville, Sharon Turner, and +James Montgomery. + +The _Athenæum_ says that an experiment, set on foot by the liberality of +a few humane persons in the vicinity of London, has proved conclusively +that the number of idiots exceeds that of lunatics, and that very much +may be done, not only to promote their physical comfort, but to bring +the small germs of intellect which exist even in the most imbecile +minds, into intelligent and useful activity. Encouraged by this success, +they have appealed to the public for aid in establishing an institution +for the relief of that unfortunate class. They propose to erect a +building suitable for three hundred patients. + +The proprietors of the Marine Telegraph between England and France +propose, instead of laying a wire like the one which the storm broke +recently, to have new wires inclosed in ropes of four or five inches in +diameter--the first layer being made of gutta percha, and the outer one +of iron wire, all chemically prepared to resist the action of water and +the attacks of marine animalculæ. In each cable there will be four lines +of communication, and two cables will be laid down at a distance of +three miles apart, to provide for any accident that may happen to one of +them. The whole, it is said, will be ready in May next, and a grand +inauguration is proposed, Prince Albert being at one end of the wire and +Louis Napoleon at the other. + +A project is on foot to reclaim from the sea, at Norfolk, 32,000 acres +of land, said to be of great agricultural value. The estimated expense +of doing it is £640,000. + +Mr. Halliwell has addressed a letter to the _Times_, complaining of an +unauthorized republication in London of an edition of Shakspeare, with +introductions and notes by himself, published with considerable success +in New York. + +Miss Martineau has been exciting a good deal of mirth in England by a +published account of having succeeded in mesmerizing a sick cow. + +Dr. Maitland is urging the formation of a society to bring out new +editions of the most celebrated and least accessible works on Church +History. His plan is received with favor by the literary and religious +journals. + +The foundations of several old walls, supposed to have formed a Roman +burial mound, have recently been discovered in Hertfordshire, and means +have been adopted to give the locality a thorough exploration. Several +human skeletons were found in the vicinity. + +New statues of Newton, Shakspeare, Milton, and Bacon, are to be set up +on the four new pedestals in the British Museum; models of them have +been made by Sir Richard Westmacott. An elaborate piece of sculpture has +also been prepared for the tympanum of the pediment, representing the +progress of man from a savage condition up to the highest state of +intellectual advancement. + +Mr. GODWIN has addressed a letter to the Lord Mayor elect of London, on +the subject of improving the character of the annual city "show" on the +9th of November, and urging that some little invention and taste might +be exercised upon it, in lieu of repeating year after year the same dull +and effete routine. He thinks that so ancient a custom ought not to be +abandoned, and proposes to raise it out of the monotonous and prosaic +routine into which it has fallen, by the introduction, among other +changes, of emblems and works of art, accordant with its ancient +character, and worthy of the present time. + +The effect of the great Industrial Exhibition upon the health of London +is engaging considerable attention. It is estimated that not less than a +million of people will pour into the city at that time, and it is +contended by medical men of eminence that, unless wise and vigorous +measures be adopted, so vast and sudden an influx will create a +pestilence. The remedy proposed is to secure in some way the daily +distribution of the arrivals over a large area in London, and a series +of cheap trains which would carry off a portion of the pressure daily, +spreading the gathered millions over thirty or forty miles of movable +encampment. + +Sundry relics, ropes, canvas, bones, &c., were recently brought to +England by the Prince Albert, which were found at Cape Riley, in the +Arctic Seas, and were supposed to afford traces of Sir John Franklin. +They were submitted by the Admiralty to Captain Parry, Sir John +Richardson, and others for examination, and the conclusion arrived at +is, that they were left at Cape Riley by Sir John Franklin's expedition +about the year 1845. It is supposed that being stopped by ice, Sir John +remained there for a short time making observations, &c. The reports are +elaborate, and evince careful and minute investigation. The conclusion +at which they arrive is very generally credited, so that the first part +of Sir John's adventures in the Arctic Seas is supposed to be at length +known. + +The building for the Great Exhibition in London has been commenced, and +the work upon it goes forward with great rapidity. It is said that the +exhibition will probably have the effect to create several local museums +of great interest and importance. The advantages of such institutions, +especially to inventors, would be very great. + +DELAROCHE's great picture of "Napoleon crossing the Alps," has reached +London, where it is on exhibition. It is described as being wonderfully +exact in copying nature, but as lacking elevation of purpose and the +expression of sentiment. An officer in a French costume, mounted on a +mule, is conducted by a rough peasant through a dangerous pass, whose +traces are scarcely discernible through the deep-lying snow--and his +aid-de-camp is just visible in a ravine of the towering Alps. These +facts, the _Athenæum_ says, are rendered with a fidelity that has not +omitted the plait of a drapery, the shaggy texture of the four-footed +animal, nor a detail of the harness on his back. The drifting and the +imbedded snow, the pendent icicle which a solitary sun-ray in a +transient moment has made--all are given with the utmost truth. But the +lofty and daring genius that led the humble Lieutenant of Ajaccio to be +the ruler and arbiter of the destinies of the largest part of Europe, +will be sought in vain in the countenance painted by M. Delaroche. + +A curious discovery has been made in a collection of ancient marbles at +Marbury Hall, in Cheshire, formed at Rome in the middle of the last +century. A fragment of the frieze of the Parthenon has been found, and +is unmistakably identified by its exactly fitting the parent stone in +the British Museum. + +The people of Sheffield are subscribing and soliciting subscriptions in +other cities for a monument to the memory of the poet EBENEZER ELLIOTT. +It is not intended that the monument should be vast or expensive, but +that a neat cenotaph or column, at a cost of twelve or fifteen hundred +pounds, should be erected and placed in a position suitable to do honor +to the genius whose memory it is to perpetuate. + +The statue in honor of Chief Justice TINDAL is nearly completed. The +inscription for the pedestal, contributed by Justice TALFOURD, speaks of +the illustrious man in whose honor it is erected, as "a Judge, whose +administration of English law, directed by serene wisdom, animated by +purest love of justice, endeared by unwearied kindness, and graced by +the most lucid style, will be held by his country in undying +remembrance." + +The Roman Government has ordered the students of art, before admission +to the academies of the city, to be examined as to the state of their +morals and their opinions on politics. Mr. HELY, an English sculptor, +has been commanded to quit the Roman territories; the marriage of his +sister to the celebrated Dr. ACHILLI is supposed to have been the reason +for this command. The London papers complain that the Americans are the +only people in Rome who are permitted to "exhibit their political, +artistic, and religious heresies with impunity;" and they cite in proof +POWERS's emblematic statue of the Republic of America trampling under +its feet the kingly diadem; CRAWFORD's design for the monument to +WASHINGTON, which the _Athenæum_ says is original and striking; and the +fact, that the American residents have just obtained permission to erect +a Protestant Church, the first ever built in the Eternal City. + +A good deal of difficulty has been experienced in deciding on the +erection of a bridge at Westminster. The _Athenæum_, is reminded, by the +investigations, of a story told of a board of magistrates in the west of +Ireland who met to consider the propriety of erecting a new jail, when, +after a protracted and bewildering discussion, they formally passed +three resolutions; namely, that a new jail should be built--that the +materials of the old jail should be used in constructing the new +one--and that the prisoners should be kept as securely as possible in +the old jail until the new one was ready for their reception! + +A new college--with peculiar features which give it general interest--is +about to be established in Glasgow. It is to consist of two distinct +parts; the school proper and the college. In the first, as is deemed +suitable in a great commercial city, youths will be grounded in the +elements of a sound commercial education; in the second the senior +students will go through the usual course of preparation for the +Universities. The college is to be self-supporting, unsectarian, and +non-political. The fees are settled on a scale so low as to make the +trial interesting as an experiment--and the lectures are to be open to +ladies: a library and reading-room are to form parts of the +establishment. + +The _sanctum_ of the DUKE OF WELLINGTON at Walmer Castle is described as +a room of but ordinary size, destitute of ornament, and with but scanty +furniture, bearing very much the appearance of the apartment of a petty +officer in a garrison. On the right is an ordinary camp bedstead, with a +single horse-hair mattress, and destitute of curtains. Over this is a +small collection of books, comprising the best English classical +authors, French memoirs, military reports, official publications, and +Parliamentary papers. In the centre of the room is an ink-stained +mahogany table, at which the Duke is occupied in writing some two or +three hours each day; and near this is a smaller portable desk, used for +reading or writing while in bed; besides these, the furniture of the +room consists of some two or three chairs. The window looks out upon the +sea, and a door opens upon the ramparts where, until recently, the Duke +was always to be found as early as six o'clock, taking his morning +walk. + +GUTZLAFF, the missionary to China, presents one of the most striking +examples of activity upon record. He was born in 1803, in Pyritz, a +Pomeranian village, and commenced his missionary labors at about thirty +years of age. He is now on a journey through Europe, the object of which +is to establish a Christian Union for the evangelization of China. In +person he hardly realizes the usual romantic idea of a missionary hero. +He is short and stout, with a ruddy face, broad mouth, and eyelids +sleepily closed. His voice is strong and not pleasant; and he +gesticulates violently. It has been often remarked that persons who have +long resided among the American Indians, become assimilated to them in +personal appearance. A similar assimilation would seem to have taken +place in the person of Gutzlaff. His features have assumed an aspect so +thoroughly Chinese, that he is usually taken by them for a fellow +countryman. + +A correspondent of an English journal furnishes some personal sketches +of the men concerned in the government of the Sandwich Islands, which +have considerable interest. The king, TAMEHAMEHA III., according to this +writer, is a man of some education, for a native, and appears to take +some interest in matters of state. He was formerly addicted to +intemperance, but some years since, through the influence of the +missionaries, abandoned the habit; but is said lately to have returned +to it. He receives an income of $12,000, besides rents from his estates +to the amount of probably $25,000 more. All the principal departments of +government, with but a single exception, are filled by foreigners. The +Minister of Finance occupies the most important post, and exercises the +most powerful influence. This is Mr. G.P. JUDD, an American, a man of +good education and sound judgment, and undoubtedly the fittest man in +the kingdom for the post. The Minister of Foreign Affairs is Mr. R.C. +WYLLIE, a Scotchman. He was formerly a wealthy merchant, whom a roving +disposition brought into the Pacific in 1844. He is a clever, social +gentleman of nearly fifty years of age, who fills the office he holds +with decided ability, and resolutely declines all compensation for his +services. The Minister of the Interior is Mr. JOHN YOUNG, a half-breed, +whose father was an Englishman. He is about thirty-five years of age, +and is said to be the handsomest man in the Islands. He does no +discredit to his post, although like other half-breeds, he can hardly be +considered as of equal capacity to his European colleagues. The Minister +of Public Instruction is Rev. B. ARMSTRONG, until some two years ago a +missionary, who is said to be the best scholar in the Hawaiian language +in the islands. He and Mr. JUDD, exercise the real government of the +islands, which could hardly be in better hands. The salary of the +ministers is $3000 per annum. + +Lord JOHN RUSSELL has intrusted the execution of the national Peel +Monument to Mr. GIBSON at Rome. + +Great complaints are made of injury done to books, and other valuable +works, in the British Museum. + +Among the distinguished men who have died within the last month, we +notice Mr. WATKINS, the son-in-law and biographer of Ebenezer Elliott; +NIKOLAUS LENAU, a German poet, who died in a madhouse; C.F. BECKER, "the +genial," whose philological works have gained him a lasting reputation +in the world of letters; CARL ROTTMAN, painter to the King of Bavaria, +one of the first artists of the day; WENZEL JOHANN TOMASCHEK, one of +the first musical composers of modern times--"the ancient master of +Bohemian music," as he was fondly called at Prague. + + +FRANCE. + +M. Taboureau has discovered a method of converting the mud of the newly +macadamized Boulevards at Paris into bricks; and so confident is the +expectation of thus using it, that the government has invited bids for +the privilege of using it for a series of years. "Cheap as dirt" has +lost its meaning. + +A new shell has just been invented by a chemist named Lagrange, which is +said to be capable of sinking a ship of 120 guns in a few minutes. Some +experiments made with it in the presence of skillful officers were +entirely successful. + +An artist named Garnier died lately in Paris, whose only claim to +distinction lay in the incredibly long time which he spent on incredibly +poor pictures. One of them representing the entrance of Napoleon and +Marie Louise into the Tuileries, took him _thirty-seven_ years, and when +finished was a wretched daub. A notice of his life was read in the +Academy. + +The French papers state, that a number of workmen are employed in fixing +a wire from the Bastile to the Madeleine, as an experiment for a new +company that has proposed to establish an electric telegraph throughout +Paris for the transmission of messages. + +A Belgian engineer, M. Laveleye, proposes to connect the Seine and the +Rhine by means of a canal, by constructing which, navigation would be +open from London to the Black Sea and Constantinople, through the heart +of the Continent, and by means of the great watercourses on or near +whose banks lie the materials of nearly all the internal and external +trade of Europe. The estimated cost is £1,600,000. + +Preparations are in active progress for the grand exhibition of French +pictures and sculpture at the Palais National, which is to commence on +the 15th of December. The official notification which has been issued +directs artists to send in their works from the 2d to the 15th of +November. The exhibitors themselves are to choose the jury of selection, +each exhibitor naming any one he may think fit. The first exhibition of +the kind which ever took place in France was in 1673; and the first time +a selecting jury was formed was in 1745. After the Revolution of 1848 +the jury was abolished, and every body was allowed to exhibit; but this +was found to be impracticable for the future, and the present system of +the artists electing the jury themselves came into operation the +following year. For upward of a century, the members of the Academy of +Painting and Sculpture enjoyed the exclusive privilege of exhibiting. + +Although the censorship on theatrical pieces in Paris has been +re-established in even more than its wonted strictness, the prefect of +police does not think it sufficient. He has recently directed the +commissaries of police (there is one in every theatre every night) to +pay particular attention to every performance, and to notify him if +there be any thing "in the words, style, play, or costume of the actor, +or in the applause or disapprobation of the public," which may appear +politically objectionable. This proceeding of the prefect has caused +profound dissatisfaction in the theatrical circles. + +The Paris "_Débats_" announces two new works from the pen of M. GUIZOT, +to be published at the end of this month. The first is entitled "Monk; +Fall of the Republic, and Re-establishment of the Monarchy in England in +1660." The second is "Washington; Foundation of the Republic of the +United States of America." + +An experiment has been made at the arsenal of Metz, of mortars, hand +grenades, and bombs made of zinc, which has completely succeeded. + +A vessel arrived at Bordeaux on the 18th inst. from Canton, having on +board a curious collection of Chinese arms and costumes for the Museum +of Paris. + +Several works concerning Joan of Arc have recently been published in +France. The one which attracts most attention is devoted to her martial +exploits, and shows that she did not hesitate in combat to put her foe +to death with her own hand. It is also cited as completely exonerating +the English from the odium of having had any part in her horrid +execution, since it shows that she was tried, condemned, and executed by +the Inquisition--that the charges against her were purely and wholly +ecclesiastical; that her trial was conducted in the pure ecclesiastical +form, just as those of any other suspected sorcerer, witch, or heretic; +and that in virtue of ecclesiastical laws she was sentenced and burned. + +An article on Madame de Genlis and the system of education which she +adopted with the late King Louis Philippe, written by the eminent critic +and academician M. de Saint-Beuve, has excited some attention. The +writer dwells upon the prodigious memory of Louis Philippe, and says +that he knew a good deal of almost every possible subject, and had a +great faculty of displaying this multifarious knowledge in conversation. + +The members of the Académie des Sciences, at Paris, have lately been +racking their brains and wearying their tongues, in an attempt to decide +_what_ forms the centre of the earth--whether it be a globe of fire or a +huge furnace, as some say--a perfect void, as others maintain--a solid +substance, harder than granite, according to some--or a mass of water +according to others: but, as might readily be anticipated, these +discussions have had no practical or useful result. + +The subject which has excited most attention at the meetings of the +Academy has been the inquiry made in Algiers, by Bernard and Pelouze, +upon the fearful poison called the Woorari. The composition of this +deadly matter has long been kept a mysterious secret among the priests +and sorcerers of the Rio Negro and the Amazon. It was analyzed by +Humboldt, and the experiments that have now been made confirm his views. +It is a watery extract from a plant of the genus Strychnos. A weapon +with the smallest point covered with the matter kills as instantaneously +as prussic acid. Various experiments have been tried upon animals that +show how immediate is its action, and the singular changes that result +in the blood, which in a moment becomes of a death-black color, and does +not, after death, on exposure to air, recover its usual redness. + +The trials at Algiers have ceased to excite any attention. There are 66 +persons accused of a conspiracy to seize the Government; the reports +come down to the 13th of September. + +We learn from the Paris _Siècle_ that the Academy of Sciences has at +present under consideration a project of a most extraordinary character, +being neither more nor less than a suspension bridge between France and +England. M. Ferdinand Lemaitre proposes to establish an aerostatic +bridge between Calais and Dover. For this purpose he would construct +strong abutments, to which the platform would be attached. At a distance +of every 100 yards across the channel he would sink four barges, heavily +laden, to which would be fixed a double iron chain, of peculiar +construction. A formidable apparatus of balloons, of an elliptical form, +and firmly secured, would support in the air the extremity of these +chains, which would be strongly fastened to the abutments on the shore +by other chains. Each section of 100 yards would cost about 300,000f., +which would make 84,000,000f. for the whole distance across. These +chains, supported in the air at certain distances, would become the +point of support to this fairy bridge, on which the inventor proposes to +establish an atmospheric railway. This project has been developed at +great length by the inventor, and seems to be discussed with great +gravity by the Academy. + +MM. BARRAL and BIXIO, whose two former ascents in crazy and ill-fitted +balloons we noticed some time since, are now superintending the +construction of an aerial machine better adapted for enabling them to +pursue a course of studies in the atmosphere. Its dimensions are to be +fifty-four feet by forty-five, and will be capable of carrying up twenty +persons, if inflated with pure hydrogen; if with carbonated hydrogen, +twelve. We may now hope that the balloon will be redeemed from the +service of charlatanism, and will contribute to the advancement of +science. + + +GERMANY, ITALY, ETC. + +As a natural result of the disturbances in Germany, its current +literature has to a great extent assumed the form of political pamphlets +and romances. Among the works of more general interest, which have +recently made their appearance, we note the following: The Book of +Predictions and Prophecies: a complete collection of all the writings of +all the prominent prophets and seers of the present and past; to wit, of +Ailly, Bishop Müller, Peter Tarrel, &c., with predictions concerning +Jerusalem, Orval, the End of the World, &c. Popular History of the +Catholic Church, brought down to the present time, by J. SPORCHIL. The +Present: an Encyclopædic Representation of Contemporary History. This, +though in some respects, an independent work, may yet be considered as a +supplement to the celebrated Conversations-Lexicon. It is published in +parts, of which two or three appear each month, twelve parts forming a +volume. The Parts which have just been published, contain the history of +the German National Congress; the Hungarian Revolution; the Local and +Political state of Nassau; the Insurrection in Schleswig-Holstein in +1848; State and town of Frankfort. It is published by Brockhaus, of +Leipzig, who also announces New Dramatic Poems, by OEHLENSCHLAGER. +History of the Heretics of the Middle Ages, especially of the eleventh, +twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, by C.U. HAHN. Henrietta Herz, her +Life and Reminiscences, edited by J. FURST. The authoress passed a long +life on terms of intimate friendship with men of science and literature. +Her reminiscences, though written late in life, present a lively and +good-humored picture of the society of Berlin for a long course of +years, embracing sketches of Mirabeau, Jean Paul, Müller, the historian, +Schleiermacher, Humboldt, Ludwig Börne, and others. + +A bronze statue of the celebrated agriculturist, ALBERT THAER, has just +been erected at Leipzig. The costume is that of a German farmer, +slightly idealized, and wearing a broad mantle. The right hand is +raised as if in the act of teaching; the left holds a roll, with the +inscription, "National Husbandry;" and upon the marble pedestal is +inscribed, "The German Cultivators to the honored teacher, ALBERT +THAER." + +At the royal foundry in Munich preparations are making for casting in +bronze three colossal statues: that of Gustavus Adolphus, for +Göttenburg; that of the Swedish poet Tegner, for Stockholm; and that of +Walter of Plettenberg, a celebrated Livonian general, surnamed "The +Conqueror of the Russians." The last statue was modeled by Schwanthaler; +the others are the works of two young Swedish sculptors, MM. Fogelberg +and Quarnstroem, both residing in Rome. + +An extract of a private letter from Rome states that the Coliseum is in +process of restoration. + +LESSING'S great picture--"The Martyrdom of Huss," is described at length +by a Düsseldorf correspondent of the Leipzig _Grenzboten_. It is +eighteen feet by fifteen, and contains some twenty-seven figures of the +size of life; which, contrary to the practice of the French painters in +pictures of this size, are so carefully finished, that they can be +looked at close at hand. There is not a superfluous figure in the +picture--none introduced to fill a space, as is too frequently the case +in large paintings. The clearness of the general idea is not marred by +the effect of the separate parts: the artistic separation of the group +suffers the main figure first to attract the eye. In this picture +Lessing has given proof of his ability in landscape as well as in +figures. The next work upon which he is to be engaged is a large +picture, commissioned by the King of Prussia, representing the +imprisonment of Pope Paschal by Henry V. + +An association has been formed in Jerusalem for the investigation of +subjects connected with the Holy Land, including history, language, +numismatics, statistics, manufactures, commerce, agriculture, natural +history, and every other subject of literary and scientific research, +with the exception of religious controversy. From the names of those +engaged in the project, it is hoped that the association will make large +additions to our present stores of information respecting Palestine. + +The Leipzig journals contain notices of the recent productions of Polish +literature, which are not without interest even in this country. A +romance, by the Countess Ludwica Offolinska, recently published at +Cracow, has excited considerable attention. It is entitled "The Fate of +Sophia," and is written with great simplicity, and the deepest religious +feeling. The heroine receives at home a religious training, and then is +thrown out into the world. She appears in succession as the +waiting-maid, and then the friend of her mistress; then as maid to a +worn-out woman of fashion, and at last as governess to the children of +her first beloved mistress and friend. The sound principles she had +learned at her father's house, serve her as a defense amid all the +perils which surround her in her career. The same authoress has put +forth two comedies: "The Holy Christ," and "Vespers in the Country." + +VINCENT POL, a poet, and for a short time Professor of Geography in the +University of Cracow, is one of the most distinguished geographers of +the day. His "Glance at the Northern Waters of the Carpathians and their +Districts," is an earnest of important contributions to geographical +science from the Slavic countries. + +F. ANTONIEWICZ, an ecclesiastic, has published "A Festival-day Lecture +to our People," written with great eloquence. RYCHCICKI, otherwise known +as a historian, has put forth a "History of the celebrated Chancellor +Skarga, and a Description of the Century in which he lived." + +From the Warsaw press have appeared, among other works, "A Lexicon of +Polish Painters," comprising all artists who were born, or lived in +Poland, or whose works refer to that country. It is by RASTAWIECKI, +contains two volumes, and is ornamented with portraits. DORBRSKI'S "A +Few Words more about the Caucasus," is a continuation of a former work. + +From Wilna appears the "Athenæum," by the prolific KRASZWSKI. It +contains from the pen of the editor a work of great value, "Lithuania +under Witold," and a romance. "The Wilna Album" contains seventy sheets +of views of interesting and remarkable places in that city. + +There are now published in Russia 154 periodicals, of which 108 are in +Russian, 29 in German, 8 in French, 5 Polish, 3 Lettish, and 1 Italian. +Of these 64 are published in St. Petersburgh, 20 in the East-sea German +provinces, 13 in Moscow, 5 in Odessa, and 52 in the remaining parts of +the empire. + +BROCKHAUS, the great Leipzig publisher, announces a translation into +German of TICKNOR'S History of Spanish Literature, by Dr. R.H. JULIUS, +of Hamburg; with the assistance of FERDINAND WOLF, of Vienna, and other +scholars. The German editor has labored for several years in this +department of literature, and will also avail himself of Dozy's learned +work on Arabian-Spanish literature, which appeared in Holland in 1849. + +A paragraph in the London Builder states that a very curious discovery +has been made in the Mosque of St. Sophia, at Constantinople. In the +course of cleansing and repairing the interior, the original decorations +in mosaic have been brought to light, including, as it is said, a +portrait of Constantine. Drawings have been made, and are on their way +to England. The Sultan, to prevent the necessity of removing them, as +portraits are prohibited by the Koran, has considerately ordered them to +be covered up again. + +A newly invented locomotive steam engine has been tried at Charleroi, +with full success. The inventor, M. Hector de Callias, a Sardinian +engineer, proposes to increase the speed of locomotives, to give them an +adherence four times greater than they now have, and to decrease the +expense of fuel. By the pressure of only one atmosphere the wheels made, +in the trial referred to, 300 revolutions a minute, which would give a +speed of 24 leagues an hour. The Belgian Minister of Public Works has +appointed a committee of engineers to report to him on the experiments +which are to take place on the government lines, and has ordered every +assistance to be given to the inventor to facilitate his object. + +MEYERBEER is engaged in composing the music for the choruses of the +Eumenides of Æschylus, which is about to be represented at Berlin, at +the special request of the King of Prussia, who is passionately fond of +the old Greek drama. + +Interesting descriptions are given of the _Volks-Fest_, or great +festival of the Bavarian people, celebrated at Munich on the first of +October, in which the peasants from all the royal possessions receive +from the king, in presence of the assembled multitude, prizes for the +good results of their labor in rearing cattle, &c. The week this year +opened with wet weather, which did not, however, prevent the attendance +of an immense number of the people of all classes and conditions. The +King Maximilian, with his brother Otho, King of Greece, was present, +occupying a splendid pavilion in the centre, around which were ranged +boxes for the gentry and seats for the people. Three days were devoted +to the exhibition of cattle, grain, and agricultural products of all +kinds, intermingled with various sports and gymnastic exercises, and the +fourth was set apart for the unvailing of the gigantic statue of +_Bavaria_, the colossal gift of the Ex-King Ludwig to his people. This +great statue was commenced in 1844, and is now only so far finished as +to warrant the removal of the wooden screens by which it has been +concealed. It is fifty-four feet high, and stands upon a granite +pedestal of thirty feet. It is cast in bronze, of which not less than +125 tons were consumed, and is described as a work of imposing sublimity +and profound beauty. It has for the back-ground a white marble temple, +called the "Hall of Heroes," of Doric architecture, composed of a centre +and two wings, and forming a semi-circle behind the figure. To convey +some idea of the size of the statue it is stated that the face is equal +to the height of a man, the body twelve feet in diameter, the arm five, +the index finger six inches, and two hands can not cover the nail of the +great toe. The grandeur of the features is sanctified by the gracious +sweetness of the expression; the clustering hair falls on either side +from the noble brow, and is entwined with a circle of oak-leaves, one +uplifted arm holding the fame-wreath of laurel, the other grasping a +sword, beneath which sits the lion. Skins clothe the vast body to the +hips; solemn folds of massive drapery, passing off the large symmetry of +the limbs to the feet. The material difficulties attendant upon the +casting were very great. The unvailing of this great work was made the +occasion for a carnival of _fun_. Men of every trade brought for display +gigantic specimens of their respective callings, made upon the same +scale as the statue, which were exhibited with great parade and amidst +magnificent music, and processions, &c. After the multitude had been +collected in front, the screen was suddenly removed, and the colossal +statue stood revealed, and was greeted with shoutings, and the voice of +an immense band of singers. An oration in honor of the king was then +pronounced by Teichlein the painter, from the steps of the pedestal, +after which the throng dispersed. + +The director of the observatory at St. Petersburg, M. Kuppffer has +applied to the French government to establish a number of stations in +different parts of the country for taking meteorological observations, +with the view of aiding him in the vast studies he has been for some +time past making, respecting the climates of different countries. In +England and Germany it appears such stations have been formed, and have +proved of great utility. Before complying with M. Kuppffer's request, +the government has requested the opinion of the academy on the subject. +It can not but be favorable. It is pleasant to see the several nations +of Europe, in the midst of their fierce political dissensions and +struggles for supremacy, thus uniting for the promotion of science. + +In this number of the New Monthly will be found an interesting account +of the character and life of the distinguished German scholar, Kinkel, +who is imprisoned by the Prussian government for his liberal opinions. +Late European papers state that his friends requested permission for him +to continue a work he had commenced on the Fine Arts among the Christian +nations, but it was peremptorily refused. He is not allowed pens and +ink, or books of any kind, and it is said that he is treated with +unusual and cruel rigor. + +Artin Bey, late Prime Minister of Egypt, has not, as was expected, gone +on to Constantinople, but has retired to the mountains of Lebanon, in +Syria, where he awaits the final result of the step he took in flying +from Egypt. + +On the 17th Oct. Prince Paskiewitch completed the fiftieth year of his +service in the Russian army. The emperor held a grand review on that +day, and presented him personally with a Field Marshal's baton, in +acknowledgment of his fidelity. + +M. Freiberg, the director of the opera at Berlin, has brought an action +against Madame Fiorentina, for a breach of engagement, and against +Lumley, of London, for engaging her; he has laid his damages at eighty +thousand francs. + +The Pope has performed a popular act of clemency, by pardoning, only an +hour before the execution was to have taken place, the three individuals +convicted of complicity in the attempt to assassinate Col. Nardonic, +Chief of the Roman Police, on the 19th of June last. The attempt having +failed, Pius IX. commuted the pain of death to that of the hulks for +life, without hope of further remission. It was a political crime, the +death of the odious re-actionist having been decreed in a secret +democratic society. + +The commission appointed in Rome to ascertain and estimate the damage +done to the monuments of Rome, buildings, and ruins, during the siege of +the last year, have concluded their report, and fixed upon the sums of +508,800 francs, as the total, estimated in money, of the damage done by +the besieging French forces, and 1,565,275 francs, of that inflicted by +the Romans themselves. + +The rise of the Nile this year has been unsatisfactory. The river has +already begun to fall, and it is feared that a vast extent of land will +not have been sufficiently watered, and that next year's crops will be +short. + +A project has been started to erect a monument to Columbus, at Palos de +Maguer, opposite the Convent of St. Ann, whence the great discoverer set +sail on his first voyage. The design proposed is a colossal statue, +twenty feet high, surrounded by groups of figures, forming a base of +forty feet in circumference. The lowest estimate of the expense is +$100,000. + + +ITEMS OF GENERAL NEWS. + +A rather extraordinary contest has arisen between the manufacturers of +embroidered articles at Nancy and the wholesale merchants in Paris. The +former demand a complete prohibition of the imports of the articles +which they manufacture. The merchants, on the other hand, defend the +principle of the freedom of commerce, and demand that the embroidered +muslins of Switzerland be admitted into France. M. Dumas, the Minister +of Commerce, has pronounced in favor of the manufacturers of Nancy. + +During the last two years and a half, the houses of 1951 families have +been leveled in Kilrush, Ireland, and 408 other families have been +unhoused. + +The tide of emigration is continued as vigorously as ever. From Kerry +considerable numbers were proceeding to Cork and Limerick, to embark for +the United States. + +Preparations, it is said, are in active progress for the reorganization +of the Dublin Trades Union--a body which, some years since, possessed +considerable influence in the conduct of political affairs in the +metropolis. + +A society has been formed in London for the reform of abuses in the +Court of Chancery. + +It is proposed to erect a monument in Edinburgh to Wallace, the Scottish +hero. + +More than 2000 members of the Methodist Society have been expelled at +Bristol, because they are in favor of a reform in the polity of their +Society. + +A sailors' home on a large scale is about to be established at Plymouth. + +A great chess match, to be played by amateurs of all nations during the +Exhibition of 1851, is being arranged for. + +Five new whalers are to be added to the whaling fleet of Peterhead next +season. + +Large purchases of wine continue to be made in the Douro, at high +prices. + +Upwards of five hundred members have already joined the Liverpool +Freehold Land Society. + +A mummy brought from Thebes by Sir J.E. Tennent was unrolled in the +Museum at Belfast. + +Numerous bales of moss have lately been imported into London from Cork. + +Meyerbeer is at present at Paris, and has attended several public as +well as private concerts. + +The library left by Dr. Neander is to be sold by auction. There are +about 4000 volumes; among them some of the best editions of the old +church Fathers, presented by the theological students to Neander on his +birth-day. An attempt is making to purchase the library for the use of +the theological students at the University. The total sum demanded is +not more than $4000. + +An immense layer of sulphur has been discovered near Alexandria. It can +be obtained in large quantities so cheaply, that it is expected the +price of the article will be reduced in Europe. + +The English population of Madrid increases in a remarkable degree. The +Aranjuez railroad, the gas works, the mines of Guadalajara, and various +other industrial enterprises, afford employment to many of them. + +A verdict of manslaughter has been returned by the coroner's jury +against Captain Rowles, of the bark New Liverpool, lately arrived at +Southampton, in which some Lascar seamen had died from neglect. + +The Madrid aeronaut, when preparing last week for his aerial voyage over +Europe, to convince the world that a balloon can be guided in any +direction, found a large rent in the silk. The voyage has, therefore, +been delayed for some weeks. + +A steam company is on the eve of being formed at Constantinople for +towing vessels through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. The capital is +to be £150,000, in fifteen hundred shares of £100 each. The Sultan and +most of the ministers are on the list. + +A Transylvanian nobleman, writing to a friend in England, speaks of the +pleasure with which he read of the reception of Haynau in England. He +states that General Count Leiningen, an hour before his execution, said, +"You will see our infamous murder will excite the greatest sensation in +England, and I recommend Haynau not to venture on a visit to England, +for the people will stone him." + +The landed interest of the late Sir Robert Peel was not much under +£35,000 a year. + +A private in the 56th regiment of the line was sentenced to death by +court-martial in Paris for having struck a corporal. + +The circulation of all the Paris newspapers has greatly diminished, +under the operation of recent laws. + +About one hundred Mormons passed through Liverpool lately, on their way +to the Salt Lake Valley, North America. + +It is stated that about £70,000 was paid by the Government of Spain for +the steamships Hibernia and Caledonia. + +Louis Napoleon has purchased fifty head of fallow deer, of Mr. Fuller, +of England, with which to stock the park of St. Cloud. + +Leipsig fair, which has just terminated, proved very satisfactory. +Worsted and cotton goods of English manufacture were in good demand. + +A revolt has broken out in Morocco, in consequence of a decree by the +emperor, ordering the skins of all slaughtered animals to be considered +as his exclusive property. + +An iron lighthouse of vast dimensions is about to be erected on the +Fastnett, a solitary rock several miles out in the Atlantic, off the +coast of Cork and Kerry. + +In London, under the patronage of the Lady Mayoress, a large carpet is +in progress of preparation for the Exhibition. It is to be thirty feet +in length, twenty in width, and to consist of one hundred and fifty +squares. + +It is stated upon good authority, that in the articles of rice and +tobacco alone, a mercantile firm in Liverpool will this year realize +£300,000, supposed to be the largest sum ever made by any mercantile +house in Europe in one year. + +The foreign merchants and shippers of London have agreed to establish a +"club for all nations," to meet the requirements of the strangers, +merchants and others, who will be in town during the Exhibition of 1851. +The club will be provided, in addition to the usual accommodations, with +interpreters acquainted with all the languages of the East and of +Europe, guides and commissioners, and departments for information. A +committee of gentlemen, merchants of London, has been elected to carry +out the undertaking. + +About two years ago, the scientific world was surprised by the +announcement that Drs. Krapf and Rebman, who had been zealously employed +in connection with the Missionary Society in Eastern and Central Africa, +had discovered a mountain or mountains within one degree of the Equator, +and about two hundred miles distant from the sea, which were covered +with perpetual snow, and which there was every reason to suppose were no +other than Ptolemy's "Mountains of the Moon." It now appears that there +is no doubt of the fact. + +A curious exhibition is in course of preparation for the World's Fair, +by Mr. Wyld, M.P., the eminent map-engraver. He is constructing a huge +globe, of fifty-six feet in diameter, which will be provided with a +convenient mode of ingress and egress; the different countries of the +world will be represented upon the inner, and not upon the outer +surface, and the interior will be fitted up with galleries and +staircases, so as to enable the visitor to make a tour of the world, and +visit each of the countries whose industry or productions will be +displayed in the Great Exhibition. + +The wife of Mr. Maclean, late M.P. for Oxford, has been killed, by being +thrown from her carriage at Castellamare, near Naples. + +In many of the provincial towns a strong feeling prevails in favor of +making the Peel monument assume the shape of useful institutions, such +as libraries. + +A new monthly magazine, adapted to meet the wants of the advanced +section of the Nonconformists, has been announced. + +The inmates of St. Luke's Hospital were treated to the entertainments of +music and dancing at a lunatics' ball. The success of the experiment +will lead to its repetition. + +A new dock, called the Victoria Tidal Harbor, has been opened at +Greenock. + +Highway robbery is becoming very prevalent in the neighborhood of +Liverpool. + +A movement is in progress for the erection of a monument at Newcastle to +the late George Stephenson, "the father of railways." + +The great water-works for the supply of Manchester are rapidly +approaching completion. + +The _Manchester Guardian_ notices the arrival at Manchester of a +consignment of 250 bales of saw-ginned cotton from India. + +The trade of Paisley continues in a satisfactory state, and weavers are +in great demand. + +The tonnage of the port of Liverpool has increased from 1,223,318 tons, +in 1836, to 3,309,746 in 1849. + +The subscriptions of the City of London Committee toward the Great +Exhibition amount to £26,189 18s. 9d. + +The South Devon Railway Company lost £364,000 by the atmospheric bubble. + +The money sent by the Irish emigrants in America to their starving +relatives at home equals, it is said, the whole of the Irish poor-rates. + +The Prussian Commissioners, on the subject of the Exhibition of 1851, +have issued an address recommending a hearty co-operation in the design. + +The Koh-i-noor diamond, or Mountain of Light, will, it is said, be +placed among the collection of minerals at the Exhibition in Hyde Park +next year. + +The county expenditure for the West Riding of Yorkshire, was in 1824 +£38,860; in 1832 it had risen to £53,477; and went on increasing until +1847, when it had risen to £103,561. + +A French paper, the _Courrier du Nord_, says that the Minister of +Agriculture, while recently visiting the coal mines of the Anzin +Company, at Denain, discovered a rough diamond, fixed in a stone which +had been extracted from the coal. + +An Englishman, Col. Daniels, has left his estate of nearly two millions +of dollars to a bookseller in New Haven, Connecticut, who was kind to +him while sick and without friends in the United States. Two claimants +have appeared for the bequest. Mr. Levi H. Young and Mr. Charles S. +Uhlhorn, who were in partnership at the time referred to. + +The Hungarian exiles at Constantinople, it is said, are about to issue a +journal. The Italians there have published flying sheets for some time +past. + +A correspondent of a Philadelphia paper writes that caricatures on +American subjects abound in Paris. + +Capt. Stansbury, of the Topographical Engineers, and party, arrived at +St. Louis, Nov. 12, on their return from an exploring expedition to the +Great Salt Lake. + +A Paris paper asserts that Guizot refused a nomination as a candidate +for the National Assembly from the department of the Cher. + + + + +LITERARY NOTICES. + + +John S. Taylor has published the third edition of _The Salamander_, the +exquisite prose poem by Mrs. E. OAKES SMITH, which found such a cordial +appreciation from the most genial critical tastes on its first +publication. The present edition has received the title of _Hugo_, from +one of the principal characters in the story, though we think that a +more appropriate and suggestive name might have been _The Lost Angel_. +Under whatever title, however, the work belongs to a unique and most +difficult branch of literary composition. Essentially poetical in its +conception, it is clothed in the forms of prose, which the most +consummate artistic skill can hardly mould into an adequate expression +for such bold and lofty speculations as pervade the whole structure of +this work. The language, which is singularly beautiful and impressive, +is made the vehicle for an allegory of a very refined and subtle +character, appealing but indirectly to the mass of human sympathies, and +illuminated only by the dim and fitful light of the supernatural. It is +no wonder that the allegorical mode should present such potent +seductions to genius of the highest order. It leaves such ample scope to +the imagination, allows such indulgence to the largest liberty of +invention, and is so fruitful in materials for vivid and effective +illustration, that it offers the most enticing charm to writers whose +consciousness of power is embarrassed in the usual forms of expression. +At the same time, unless like the allegories of sacred history, the +import is too obvious to be mistaken, or like those of John Bunyan, it +lays open the secrets of universal experience, this mode of writing is +too far removed from the popular mind to contain the most powerful +elements of success. Even in the creative hands of Dante and Spenser, +the allegory is regarded rather as a hindrance than an aid, by the +warmest admirers of their poetry. Hence we consider it no discredit to +the author of "Hugo," that she has not entirely conquered the +difficulties of this style of literary art. Her production is studded +with beauties of thought and phrase that betray a genius of rare vigor +and versatility. She has nobly dared to deviate from the beaten track, +and has thus constructed a work, which must be regarded as a gem of +precious quality, for its exquisite brilliancy of coloring, its +transparent beauty of texture, and the vivid and natural truthfulness +with which it gives back the lights of a radiant imagination. + +_A Pastor's Sketches_, by Rev. ICHABOD S. SPENCER (published by M.W. +Dodd), is a unique volume, presenting a highly instructive record of the +experience of the author, during an active and varied pastoral +intercourse. The sketches, which are all drawn from real life, describe +the mental operations under the influence of strong religious emotion, +in a manner equally interesting to the psychologist and the theologian. +Most of the instances related occurred at a period of unusual +excitement, but they are free from any tincture of fanaticism, and may +be studied to advantage by all who are interested in the moral and +religious advancement of their fellow men. The author displays a +remarkable insight into human nature, a strong attachment to the +doctrines of the church in which he is a minister, a rare power of +close, consecutive reasoning, which is used with great effect in +disposing of skeptical objections, a fluency of language and a variety +and aptness of illustration, that must always make him a master in the +work of dealing with troubled, or erring, or diseased consciences. His +volume can not fail to become a favorite on the table of the pastor, +and, indeed, of all who are curious in the narratives of religious +experience. + +Harper and Brothers have published _The History of Madame Roland_, by +J.S.C. ABBOTT, an agreeable compilation of the principal events in the +life of that extraordinary woman, forming one of the most readable +volumes of the day. + +Baker and Scribner have published a second and revised edition of +_Sketches of Reforms and Reformers_, by HENRY B. STANTON, a work which +has attained a great and deserved popularity. It is written with vigor, +animation, and impartiality, presenting a lucid, systematic view of the +progress of political reform in Great Britain, with lively portraitures +of the most eminent men who have been distinguished in the movement. + +Lewis Colby has published _The Churches and Sects of the United States_, +by Rev. P. DOUGLASS GORREE, giving a brief account of the origin, +history, doctrines, church-government, mode of worship, usages, and +statistics of the various denominations in this country. The copious +information which it presents, although reduced within a narrow compass, +will be found to comprise most of the essential facts concerning the +different topics treated, and from the diligence and candor evinced by +the author, we have no doubt of its entire reliability. + +The same publisher has issued _A Cenotaph to a Woman of the Burman +Mission_, being a memoir of Mrs. HELEN M. MASON, whose devoted piety and +modest worth eminently entitled her to this feeling commemoration by her +husband. + +Tallis, Willoughby, and Co. continue the serial publication of _The Life +of Christ_, by JOHN FLEETWOOD, beautifully illustrated with steel +engravings; and _Scripture History for the Young_, by FREDERICK +BANBRIDGE, profusely embellished with appropriate plates, representing +the most remarkable incidents in the Old and New Testaments. + +Ticknor, Reed, and Fields have published a new volume of _Poems_ by +GRACE GREENWOOD, consisting of a selection from her contributions to the +Magazines, with several pieces which we have not before seen in print. +Like all the productions of that popular authoress, they are marked with +strong traces of individuality, varying with the mood of the moment, now +expressing a deep and melancholy pathos, and now gay with exuberant hope +and native elasticity of spirit. A transparent atmosphere of +intellectuality is the medium for the loftiest flights of her fancy, +inspiring confidence even in her most erratic excursions, and giving a +healthy tone to her glowing effusions of sentiment. + +We have also from Ticknor, Reed, and Fields a new edition of _The +Grandfather's Chair_, by NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, with _Biographical +Stories_ from the lives of Benjamin West, Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. Johnson, +Oliver Cromwell, Benjamin Franklin, and Queen Christina. Mr. Hawthorne's +narratives for juvenile reading are no less original and attractive in +their kind, than the admirable tales and descriptions by which he is +known to the majority of readers. + +A cheap edition of the powerful sea-story, _The Green Hand_, has been +published in one volume complete, by Harper and Brothers, enabling the +admirers of that racy production to enjoy its flavor without making "two +bites of the cherry." + +_The New-Englander_, for November (published at New Haven by J.B. +Carrington), is an able number of this bold and masculine periodical, +discussing various topics of interest with a healthy grasp of intellect, +and a fresh energy of expression, which show that it has escaped the +incubus of a lifeless religionism, and breathes a free, independent, and +aspiring spirit, equally removed from presumption and timidity. Among +the articles, is an elaborate and able reply to Professor Agassiz, on +"The Original Unity of the Human Race," an admirable Review of +"Tennyson's In Memoriam," a paper on California, with others of no less +interest. + +The _Bibliotheca Sacra_, conducted by B.B. EDWARDS, and E.A. PARK, for +November (Andover, W.I. Draper), abounds in choice and recondite +learning, with a sufficient sprinkling of popular articles to attract +the attention of general readers. "The Life and Character of De Wette" +gives an instructive account of the position and influence of that +eminent German theologian. The whole number is highly creditable to the +condition of sacred literature in this country. + +Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, Boston, have published _Lyrics of Spain and +Erin_, by EDWARD MATURIN, a neat volume of spirited and graceful poetry, +consisting of Spanish Ballads, Legends and Superstitions of Ireland, and +Miscellaneous Pieces. + +We have also from their press ASTRÆA, _A Phi Beta Kappa Poem_, by O.W. +HOLMES, gleaming with brilliant flashes of wit, and playfully scoring +some of the prevalent follies of the day; a volume of _Biographical +Essays_, by THOMAS DE QUINCEY, a work of extraordinary interest, as +presenting the judgment of that bold and vigorous thinker on such names +as Shakspeare, Pope, Lamb, Goethe, and Schiller; and _Numa Pompilius_, +translated from the French of FLORIAN, by J.A. FERRIS. + +_Jamaica in 1850_, by JOHN BIGELOW (published by Geo. P. Putnam), is +less a book of travels than a treatise on practical economy, suggested +by a short residence on that island during a part of last winter. The +largest portion of the volume is devoted to a discussion of the causes +to which the commercial and industrial decline of Jamaica may be +ascribed, and of the measures which, in the opinion of the author, would +restore that delightful and fertile island to more than its ancient +prosperity. The root of the evil, according to Mr. Bigelow, is to be +found in the degradation of labor, the non-residence of the landholders, +the encumbered condition of real estate, and the monopoly of the soil by +a small number of proprietors. He warmly maintains the importance of +developing the vast industrial resources of the island, and establishing +the laboring classes in a state of personal independence. His views are +set forth at considerable length, and with a variety of illustrations. +The discussion is often enlivened by descriptions of local customs and +manners, narratives of personal experience, and lively sketches of +incident and character. Mr. Bigelow's style has the fluency, ease, and +vivacity, with the occasional inaccuracies, which naturally proceed from +the habit of perpetual and rapid composition, inseparable from the +profession of a newspaper editor. Some portions of this volume have +already appeared in the _New York Evening Post_, of which Mr. Bigelow is +one of the conductors, where they produced a very favorable impression. +They lose none of their interest in the present form, and will be found +to present a mass of important information in an unusually agreeable +manner. + +Messrs. Tappan, Whittemore, and Mason have recently published _Cantica +Laudis; or, The American Book of Church Music_, being chiefly a +selection of chaste and elegant melodies from the most classic authors, +ancient and modern, with harmony parts; together with Chants, Anthems, +and other set pieces, for choirs and schools; to which are added, Tunes +for Congregational singing, by LOWELL MASON and GEORGE JAMES WEBB. Also, +by the same authors, _The Melodist_, a collection of popular and social +songs, original and selected, harmonized and arranged for soprano, alto, +tenor, and base voices. + +_Beranger; Two Hundred of his Lyrical Poems, done into English verse_, +by WILLIAM YOUNG (published by George P. Putnam), is a selection from +Beranger's Songs, of which one hundred have already appeared in a London +edition, and are here reproduced, after careful revision, the remainder +being now printed for the first time. On many accounts, Beranger is less +suited for representation in a foreign language than most poets who have +gained such wide popularity among their own countrymen. Many of his most +brilliant effusions have a strong tincture of licentiousness; they are +marked by a freedom of delineation and of language which every decent +English translator would wish to avoid; and their publication in any +other land than that of their origin, would be an ungracious enterprise. +Besides, his productions are singularly idiomatic in their style; +growing out of the current events of the day; abounding in local and +political allusions; and strongly impressed with the national +characteristics of France. The external form of these popular lyrics +seems to be the necessary costume of their spirit. You can not separate +one from the other without violating the integrity of the piece. Its +vitality resides in the light, airy, evanescent structure of the rhythm. +This delicate vase can not be broken without wasting the precious aromas +which it incloses. With these formidable difficulties in the way of the +translator, we must give Mr. Young the highest credit for the felicitous +manner in which he has accomplished his task. His selections are made +with an admirable balance of taste. He has excluded all pieces, that +could justly be condemned on the score of grossness or a frivolous +treatment of sacred things, while he has not yielded to the suggestions +of an over-fastidious and morbid prudery. The translation bears the +marks of pains-taking diligence and a scrupulous desire for accuracy. It +is the result of a profound study and a familiar knowledge of the +author. It renders the general outlines of the original with almost the +fidelity of a daguerreotype. The reader who has no acquaintance with +French poetry may obtain from it a sufficiently distinct idea of the +costume, the movement, and the verbal harmonies of Beranger. Nor is this +all. Many of the songs are alive and tremulous with gayety and feeling. +They are written as the author would have written in English. If the +racy and delicious flavor of the original is not always preserved, it is +no fault of the translator. Literary art has not yet discovered the +secret of retaining the freshness of inspiration through the process of +transplanting into a foreign tongue. A neat biographical sketch of +Beranger is a welcome appendage to the volume. + +C.S. Francis and Co. have issued a neat edition of HANS CHRISTIAN +ANDERSEN'S popular juveniles _The Story Teller_, _The Ugly Duck_, +_Little Ellie_, and other tales, illustrated with wood-engravings. + +_The Gem of the Western World_, published by Cornish, Lamport, and Co., +is the title of a new Annual for 1851, edited by Mrs. MARY E. HEWITT, +containing several original articles from her own pen, with +contributions from a variety of well-known popular writers. The +admirable taste of the editress is a guarantee for the excellence of the +literary matter which she has admitted into the volume. + +D. Appleton and Co. announce a magnificent collection of Gift-Books for +the approaching holidays, which in the chaste and elevated character of +their contents, and the exquisite beauty of their embellishments have +not been surpassed by any similar publications in this country. _Our +Saviour with Apostles and Prophets_, edited by Rev. Dr. WAINWRIGHT, +contains a series of portraits of the sacred personages described in the +text, from designs by Finden and other artists of acknowledged eminence +in England. They are beautifully engraved on steel, presenting with +great fidelity to character, the ideal traits of the prophets and +martyrs, whose features they are supposed to represent. Each plate is +accompanied with an original essay, prepared expressly for this volume, +and written with uniform propriety and good taste. The writers are among +the most distinguished American divines in their respective +denominations. They have performed the task assigned to them in the +preparation of this elegant work, with good judgment, fidelity, and +eminent success. Instead of attempting to "gild the refined gold" of the +sacred writers with the thin tinsel of modern rhetoric, they have +preserved the decorum appropriate to the subject, and expressed the +reflections which it suggests, in grave, modest, and forcible language. +Hence, this volume possesses an intrinsic value, as a work on Scripture +Biography, which recommends it to the notice of the religious public, +independently of the beauty and impressive character of its pictorial +illustrations. We are greatly indebted both to the Editor and the +Publishers for such a valuable addition to the tempting literature of +the holidays. + +Another of their illustrated publications, of a less expensive +character, is entitled _Sacred Scenes_, describing various passages in +the life of our Saviour by artistic representations, accompanied with +suitable selections from the works of distinguished English writers. + +_Evenings at Donaldson Manor_ is a charming collection of tales and +narratives from the pen of MARIA J. MCINTOSH, which with _Midsummer +Fays_, by SUSAN PINDAR, is adapted to the younger classes of readers, +forming beautiful and appropriate gifts for the season of social +congratulations and the exchanges of friendship and domestic affection. + +_The National Cook-Book_, by A LADY of Philadelphia, published by Robert +E. Peterson, is a treatise adapted to American tastes and habits, and +will, of course, be satisfactory to those who prefer a bill of fare in +their own language. Great attention has been paid to that department of +cookery exclusively adapted to the sick or convalescent, most of the +dishes having been prepared according to the directions of eminent +physicians of Philadelphia. + +_The Relation between the Holy Scriptures and some Parts of Geological +Science_, is reprinted by Robert E. Peterson, of Philadelphia, from the +fourth London edition, greatly enlarged by its veteran author, JOHN PYE +SMITH, the distinguished Professor of Divinity in the College at +Homerton. The work, which consists of a series of Lectures, illustrated +by copious notes, displays extensive and diligent research, uncommon +strength and fairness of argument, and an animated and impressive style. +It has met with brilliant success in England, and has gained a highly +favorable reputation in this country. + +Little and Brown, Boston, have issued the Second Volume of _The Works of +John Adams, with a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations_, by his +Grandson, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, the first volume, which has not yet +made its appearance, being reserved for the Life of President Adams, +announced on the title-page. The present volume is composed of a Diary, +some portions of an Autobiography, and Notes of the earlier debates in +the Provincial Congress at Philadelphia. The Diary was commenced in +1755, the year of the author's graduation at Harvard College, and +continues to 1778, the period of his first departure for Europe as Envoy +to the Court of Versailles. It presents a curious picture of the youth +and early manhood of the celebrated statesman, and of the gradual +development of political events till their consummation in the war of +the Revolution. The sketches which are also given of several of the +Massachusetts politicians, whose names have since become identified with +the history of their country, derive a peculiar interest from the +freedom and unconsciousness with which they are drawn, the writer having +no idea of publicity, and intending his record of current events as +merely the pastime of a leisure hour. His frank and copious details, +which are published without alteration by the Editor, often give an +amusing illustration of the domestic life of New England, and with a few +homely touches, reveal the spirit of the people which led to resistance +against British aggression. The manner in which the work has been +prepared for publication is in a high degree creditable to the fidelity, +impartiality, and excellent judgment of the Editor. He gives all +necessary explanations in cases of doubt or obscurity, but never +distracts the attention of the reader by a superfluity of comment. With +an evident tenderness for the reputation of his venerable relative, he +allows him to depict himself in genuine colors, making no attempt to +gloss over his infirmities, or to place his virtues in an exaggerated +light. The volume is issued in a style of great typographical elegance, +with a portrait of President Adams in his youth, and a very natural +sketch of the primitive old Yankee homestead in Quincy. + +_The Broken Bracelet and Other Poems_ (Phil., Lindsay and Blakiston), by +Mrs. C.H.W. ESLING, is the title of a volume of poems, which, in another +form, have been favorably received by the public, and are now collected +by the suggestion of the literary friends of the author, formerly Miss +Waterman. They are justly entitled to the compliment of a reprint, on +account of their true poetic sentiment, their graceful versification, +their delicate appreciation of beauty, and their pure and healthy +sympathies with the varied aspects of humanity. The poem, from which the +volume takes its name, is a romantic Italian story, abounding in natural +touches of pathos, and many of the smaller pieces show a depth of +feeling and versatility of expression that can not fail to make them +general favorites. + +_The Immortal; A Dramatic Romance, and Other Poems_, by JAMES NACK +(published by Stringer and Townsend), is introduced with a memoir of the +author, by GEORGE P. MORRIS, who gives an interesting description of the +circumstances which, at an early period of life, decided his future +position. Mr. Nack was the son of a merchant in the city of New York. He +soon displayed a love of study, which gave promise of future +intellectual distinction. His genius for poetry received a remarkably +precocious development. But he had scarcely attained his ninth year when +he met with a severe accident, which resulted in the total destruction +of his hearing. He was thus deprived of the power of articulation to so +great a degree, that he has since confined himself to writing as the +medium of intercourse with others. His natural energy and perseverance, +however, have enabled him to overcome the obstacles to literary culture, +which, to most persons, would have been insurmountable. The poetry in +the present volume, in addition to the interest excited by the situation +of the author, possesses the decided merits of a vivid imagination, +great tenderness and purity of feeling, and usually a chaste and +vigorous diction. + +Baker and Scribner have issued an edition of MILTON'S _Paradise Lost_, +in one handsome duodecimo volume, edited by Professor JAMES R. BOYD, +containing original, explanatory, and critical notes, with a copious +selection from the commentaries of Newton, Todd, Sir Egerton Brydges, +Stebbing, and others. The edition is illustrated by engravings from the +celebrated designs of Martin. + +_A General View of the Fine Arts_ (published by G.P. Putnam), is the +production of a lady, who, while devoting her leisure hours to its +composition, was practically engaged with the pallet and colors. It is +intended to diffuse a taste for the study of the fine arts, by gathering +into a small compass, the information which was before diffused through +many expensive and often inaccessible volumes. Under the different heads +of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, and Music, the author has +presented a variety of historical sketches, discussions of theoretical +principles, anecdotes of celebrated artists, and descriptions of their +most important productions. Without making any pretensions to entire +originality, the work displays a lucid arrangement, an extent of +information, and a pleasing vivacity of style, which give a very +favorable idea of the diligence, conscientiousness, critical judgment, +and artistic enthusiasm of the anonymous author. An appropriate +introduction by Huntington, the distinguished American painter, +accompanies the volume. + +G.P. Putnam has published the _Artist's Chromatic Hand-Book_, by JOHN P. +RIDNER, a convenient practical treatise on the properties and uses of +the different colors employed in painting. + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[11] Six vacancies. + + + + +Fashions for December. + + +[Illustration: FIG. 1.--VISITING AND BALL COSTUMES FOR DECEMBER] + +The extremely mild weather which has prevailed during the autumn, has +somewhat retarded the preparations for winter; yet the _modists_ have +not been unmindful of the passage of the months, and the fact that +December always promises frosts and snows. From Paris, the great +fountain of taste in dress, elegant bonnets have been received. Some are +of white, lilac, pink, and green satin, covered with black lace of rich +pattern; others are of black and colored velvets, trimmed with a small +feather on each side; the inside trimming composed of velvet flowers and +foliage, in tints harmonizing with the color of the bonnet. _Pardessus_, +wadded, and of the same material as the dress, are now generally worn, +the patterns varying but little from those depicted in our last Number. +Dresses, mantelets, and other articles of costume, are ornamented with +braid and embroidery. Embroidered silks are worn, of which the gray, +shot with white, and ornamented with embroidered flowers and foliage of +gray silk, the stems and tendrils being white, are most in vogue. The +corsage is low, open in front, sleeves demi-long. Another seasonable +material for a plain walking and in-door dress, is a French fabric +called _amure_, which consists of a mixture of silk and wool. It is +woven in dress lengths. + +The figure on the left in Figure 1, represents an elegant ball costume. +The dress is composed of white crape, the skirt, which is full, being +handsomely trimmed with white lace and fullings of crape put on at equal +distances; the upper row of lace, reaching to a little below the waist. +Plain low corsage, the top part encircled with a double fall of lace, +forming a kind of _berthe_, and headed with a narrow fulling of crape, +similar to that on the skirt. This _berthe_ entirely conceals the plain, +short sleeve; the whole is worn over a skirt of white satin. The hair is +simply arranged in a cable twist, being confined at the back with a gold +or silver comb. The figure on the right represents a visiting costume. +The dress is a rich plaided silk, composed of a mixture of purple, red, +green, and white. The skirt is made quite plain; low corsage, trimmed +with a double row of white lace across the front, one row standing up, +and the other drooping over the front. _Pardessus_ of the same material, +trimmed all round with a quilling of plain purple ribbon. This is +repeated upon the lower part of the pagoda sleeves, and also serves to +attach the _pardessus_ across the front of the bosom. Under pagoda +sleeves are of white lace. The bonnet is of _paille d'Italie_, lined +with white silk, and decorated with pink roses, the exterior having a +doubled plaited frill of white silk, and a beautiful white ostrich +feather. + +[Illustration: FIG. 2.--EVENING COSTUME] + +FIG. 2 represents an evening costume. The dress is of satin, of a rich +deep American primrose hue, the skirt made quite plain and very full, +_en petit train_; low pointed corsage, trimmed with a fulling of satin +ribbon, the same color as the dress, which is put on to form a kind of +shallow cape round the back part, and descends upon each side of the +front, finishing on either side of the point, and gradually narrowing +from the shoulders. It is trimmed with a fall of white lace upon the +lower edge, a narrower one forming a beading to the plaiting round the +neck. The centre of the corsage is adorned with _noeuds_ of the same +colored ribbon, placed at regular distances; the short sleeves finished +with a row of fulled ribbon, similar to that on the corsage, edged with +a very narrow lace. The _coiffure_ represents the front of the figure on +the left. + +[Illustration: FIG. 3.--COIFFURE FOR BALL] + +FIG. 3 is given chiefly to show an elegant style of _coiffure_ for a +ball or evening party. A portion of the hair is brought forward in +plaits, and fastened at the parting, at the top of the forehead, with a +rich pearl ornament, forming a kind of festoon on each side of the head. +The remainder of the front hair is disposed in a thick curl, which +descends to the curve of the neck. The dress is of lilac satin; the +skirt plain and full. The corsage is low, headed with white lace, and +trimmed on one shoulder, with fullings of satin ribbon, of the same +color as the dress, and upon the other with puffs and _noeuds_ of the +same. Open short sleeves composed of two deep falls of white lace. On +one side a fall of lace extends from the centre of the corsage, and +connects with the sleeves. + +FASHIONABLE COLORS depend entirely upon the complexion; for example, for +ladies who are brunettes, with a fresh color, light blue, straw color, +pink, and pale green, are most in favor; while those of a blonde +complexion universally adopt black, red, and very dark hues. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Words surrounded by _ are italicized. + +Obvious punctuation errors have been repaired, other punctuations have +been left as printed in the paper book. + +Erroneous page numbers in Table of Content corrected. + +Captions added or corrected to match List of Illustrations. + +Obvious printer's errors have been repaired, other inconsistent +spellings have been kept, including: +- use of hyphen (e.g. "bag-pipe" and "bagpipe"); +- accents (e.g. "dépôts" and "depôts"); +- proper names (e.g. "Leipzig" and "Leipsig"); +- capitalisation (e.g. "Post-Office" and "Post-office"); +- any other inconsistent spellings (e.g. "ambassador" and "embassador"). + +Following corrections are by removal or addition of a word: +- Pg 23, word "of" added (the course of Mary Stuart's career); +- Pg 60, word "a" added (in a low, guarded voice); +- Pg 73, word "get" removed (could get [get] in); +- Pg 135, word "the" removed (surnamed [the] "The Conqueror). + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. +VII, December 1850, Vol. II, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40612 *** |